The Book of Jubilees
From The
Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament
by R.H. Charles, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913
Scanned and Edited by Joshua Williams, Northwest Nazarene College
Moses receives the tables of the law and instruction on
past and future history which he is to inscribe in a book, 1-4. Apostasy of
Israel,5-9. Captivity of Israel and Judah, 10-13. Return of Judah and rebuilding
of the temple, 15-18. Moses' prayer for Israel, 19-21. God's promise to redeem
and dwell with them, 22-5, 28. Moses bidden to write down the future history of
the world (the Book of Jubilees?), 26. And an angel to write down the law, 27.
This angel takes the heavenly chronological tablets to dictate therefrom to
Moses, 29.
THIS is the history
of the division of the days of the law and of the testimony, of the events of
the years, of their (year) weeks, of their Jubilees throughout all the years of
the world, as the Lord spake to Moses on Mount Sinai when he went up to receive
the tables of the law and of the commandment, according to the voice of God as
he said unto him, 'Go up to the top of the Mount.'
[Chapter 1]
- And it came to pass in the
first year of the exodus of the children of Israel out of Egypt, in the
third month, on the sixteenth day of the month, [2450 Anno Mundi] that God
spake to Moses, saying: 'Come up to Me on the Mount, and I will give thee
two tables of stone of the law and of the commandment, which I have written,
that thou mayst teach them.'
- And Moses went up into the
mount of God, and the glory of the Lord abode on Mount Sinai, and a cloud
overshadowed it six days.
- And He called to Moses on the
seventh day out of the midst of the cloud, and the appearance of the glory
of the Lord was like a flaming fire on the top of the mount.
- And Moses was on the Mount
forty days and forty nights, and God taught him the earlier and the later
history of the division of all the days of the law and of the testimony.
- And He said: 'Incline thine
heart to every word which I shall speak to thee on this mount, and write
them in a book in order that their generations may see how I have not
forsaken them for all the evil which they have wrought in transgressing the
covenant which I establish between Me and thee for their generations this
day on Mount Sinai.
- And thus it will come to pass
when all these things come upon them, that they will recognise that I am
more righteous than they in all their judgments and in all their actions,
and they will recognise that I have been truly with them.
- And do thou write for thyself
all these words which I declare unto, thee this day, for I know their
rebellion and their stiff neck, before I bring them into the land of which I
sware to their fathers, to Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob, saying: ' Unto
your seed will I give a land flowing with milk and honey.
- And they will eat and be
satisfied, and they will turn to strange gods, to (gods) which cannot
deliver them from aught of their tribulation: and this witness shall be
heard for a witness against them. For they will forget all My commandments,
(even) all that I command them, and they will walk after the Gentiles, and
after their uncleanness, and after their shame, and will serve their gods,
and these will prove unto them an offence and a tribulation and an
affliction and a snare.
- And many will perish and they
will be taken captive, and will fall into the hands of the enemy, because
they have forsaken My ordinances and My commandments, and the festivals of
My covenant, and My sabbaths, and My holy place which I have hallowed for
Myself in their midst, and My tabernacle, and My sanctuary, which I have
hallowed for Myself in the midst of the land, that I should set my name upon
it, and that it should dwell (there).
- And they will make to
themselves high places and groves and graven images, and they will worship,
each his own (graven image), so as to go astray, and they will sacrifice
their children to demons, and to all the works of the error of their hearts.
- And I will send witnesses
unto them, that I may witness against them, but they will not hear, and will
slay the witnesses also, and they will persecute those who seek the law, and
they will abrogate and change everything so as to work evil before My eyes.
- And I will hide My face from
them, and I will deliver them into the hand of the Gentiles for captivity,
and for a prey, and for devouring, and I will remove them from the midst of
the land, and I will scatter them amongst the Gentiles.
- And they will forget all My
law and all My commandments and all My judgments, and will go astray as to
new moons, and sabbaths, and festivals, and jubilees, and ordinances.
- And after this they will turn
to Me from amongst the Gentiles with all their heart and with all their soul
and with all their strength, and I will gather them from amongst all the
Gentiles, and they will seek me, so that I shall be found of them, when they
seek me with all their heart and with all their soul.
- And I will disclose to them
abounding peace with righteousness, and I will remove them the plant of
uprightness, with all My heart and with all My soul, and they shall be for a
blessing and not for a curse, and they shall be the head and not the tail.
- And I will build My sanctuary
in their midst, and I will dwell with them, and I will be their God and they
shall be My people in truth and righteousness.
- And I will not forsake them
nor fail them; for I am the Lord their God.'
- And Moses fell on his face
and prayed and said, 'O Lord my God, do not forsake Thy people and Thy
inheritance, so that they should wander in the error of their hearts, and do
not deliver them into the hands of their enemies, the Gentiles, lest they
should rule over them and cause them to sin against Thee.
- Let thy mercy, O Lord, be
lifted up upon Thy people, and create in them an upright spirit, and let not
the spirit of Beliar rule over them to accuse them before Thee, and to
ensnare them from all the paths of righteousness, so that they may perish
from before Thy face.
- But they are Thy people and
Thy inheritance, which thou hast delivered with thy great power from the
hands of the Egyptians: create in them a clean heart and a holy spirit, and
let them not be ensnared in their sins from henceforth until eternity.'
- And the Lord said unto Moses:
'I know their contrariness and their thoughts and their stiffneckedness, and
they will not be obedient till they confess their own sin and the sin of
their fathers.
- And after this they will turn
to Me in all uprightness and with all (their) heart and with all (their)
soul, and I will circumcise the foreskin of their heart and the foreskin of
the heart of their seed, and I will create in them a holy spirit, and I will
cleanse them so that they shall not turn away from Me from that day unto
eternity.
- And their souls will cleave
to Me and to all My commandments, and they will fulfil My commandments, and
I will be their Father and they shall be My children.
- And they all shall be called
children of the living God, and every angel and every spirit shall know,
yea, they shall know that these are My children, and that I am their Father
in uprightness and righteousness, and that I love them.
- And do thou write down for
thyself all these words which I declare unto thee on this mountain, the
first and the last, which shall come to pass in all the divisions of the
days in the law and in the testimony and in the weeks and the jubilees unto
eternity, until I descend and dwell with them throughout eternity.'
- And He said to the angel of
the presence: Write for Moses from the beginning of creation till My
sanctuary has been built among them for all eternity.
- And the Lord will appear to
the eyes of all, and all shall know that I am the God of Israel and the
Father of all the children of Jacob, and King on Mount Zion for all
eternity. And Zion and Jerusalem shall be holy.'
- And the angel of the presence
who went before the camp of Israel took the tables of the divisions of the
years -from the time of the creation- of the law and of the testimony of the
weeks of the jubilees, according to the individual years, according to all
the number of the jubilees [according, to the individual years], from the
day of the [new] creation when the heavens and the earth shall be renewed
and all their creation according to the powers of the heaven, and according
to all the creation of the earth, until the sanctuary of the Lord shall be
made in Jerusalem on Mount Zion, and all the luminaries be renewed for
healing and for peace and for blessing for all the elect of Israel, and that
thus it may be from that day and unto all the days of the earth.
The history of the twenty-two distinct acts of creation
on the six days, 1-16. Institution of the Sabbath: its observance by the highest
angels, with whom Israel is afterwards to be associated, 17-32. (cf. Gen. i-ii.
3.)
[Chapter 2]
- And the angel of the presence
spake to Moses according to the word of the Lord, saying: Write the complete
history of the creation, how in six days the Lord God finished all His works
and all that He created, and kept Sabbath on the seventh day and hallowed it
for all ages, and appointed it as a sign for all His works.
- For on the first day He
created the heavens which are above and the earth and the waters and all the
spirits which serve before him -the angels of the presence, and the angels
of sanctification, and the angels [of the spirit of fire and the angels] of
the spirit of the winds, and the angels of the spirit of the clouds, and of
darkness, and of snow and of hail and of hoar frost, and the angels of the
voices and of the thunder and of the lightning, and the angels of the
spirits of cold and of heat, and of winter and of spring and of autumn and
of summer and of all the spirits of his creatures which are in the heavens
and on the earth, (He created) the abysses and the darkness, eventide
<and night>, and the light, dawn and day, which He hath prepared in
the knowledge of his heart.
- And thereupon we saw His
works, and praised Him, and lauded before Him on account of all His works;
for seven great works did He create on the first day.
- And on the second day He
created the firmament in the midst of the waters, and the waters were
divided on that day -half of them went up above and half of them went down
below the firmament (that was) in the midst over the face of the whole
earth. And this was the only work (God) created on the second day.
- And on the third day He
commanded the waters to pass from off the face of the whole earth into one
place, and the dry land to appear.
- And the waters did so as He
commanded them, and they retired from off the face of the earth into one
place outside of this firmament, and the dry land appeared.
- And on that day He created
for them all the seas according to their separate gathering-places, and all
the rivers, and the gatherings of the waters in the mountains and on all the
earth, and all the lakes, and all the dew of the earth, and the seed which
is sown, and all sprouting things, and fruit-bearing trees, and trees of the
wood, and the garden of Eden, in Eden and all plants after their kind.
- These four great works God
created on the third day. And on the fourth day He created the sun and the
moon and the stars, and set them in the firmament of the heaven, to give
light upon all the earth, and to rule over the day and the night, and divide
the light from the darkness.
- And God appointed the sun to
be a great sign on the earth for days and for sabbaths and for months and
for feasts and for years and for sabbaths of years and for jubilees and for
all seasons of the years.
- And it divideth the light
from the darkness [and] for prosperity, that all things may prosper which
shoot and grow on the earth.
- These three kinds He made on
the fourth day. And on the fifth day He created great sea monsters in the
depths of the waters, for these were the first things of flesh that were
created by his hands, the fish and everything that moves in the waters, and
everything that flies, the birds and all their kind.
- And the sun rose above them
to prosper (them), and above everything that was on the earth, everything
that shoots out of the earth, and all fruit-bearing trees, and all flesh.
- These three kinds He created
on the fifth day. And on the sixth day He created all the animals of the
earth, and all cattle, and everything that moves on the earth.
- And after all this He created
man, a man and a woman created He them, and gave him dominion over all that
is upon the earth, and in the seas, and over everything that flies, and over
beasts and over cattle, and over everything that moves on the earth, and
over the whole earth, and over all this He gave him dominion.
- And these four kinds He
created on the sixth day. And there were altogether two and twenty kinds.
- And He finished all his work
on the sixth day -all that is in the heavens and on the earth, and in the
seas and in the abysses, and in the light and in the darkness, and in
everything.
- And He gave us a great sign,
the Sabbath day, that we should work six days, but keep Sabbath on the
seventh day from all work.
- And all the angels of the
presence, and all the angels of sanctification, these two great classes -He
hath bidden us to keep the Sabbath with Him in heaven and on earth.
- And He said unto us: 'Behold,
I will separate unto Myself a people from among all the peoples, and these
shall keep the Sabbath day, and I will sanctify them unto Myself as My
people, and will bless them; as I have sanctified the Sabbath day and do
sanctify (it) unto Myself, even so will I bless them, and they shall be My
people and I will be their God.
- And I have chosen the seed of
Jacob from amongst all that I have seen, and have written him down as My
first-born son,and have sanctified him unto Myself for ever and ever; and I
will teach them the Sabbath day, that they may keep Sabbath thereon from all
work.'
- And thus He created therein a
sign in accordance with which they should keep Sabbath with us on the
seventh day, to eat and to drink, and to bless Him who has created all
things as He has blessed and sanctified unto Himself a peculiar people above
all peoples, and that they should keep Sabbath together with us.
- And He caused His commands to
ascend as a sweet savour acceptable before Him all the days . . .
- There (were) two and twenty
heads of mankind from Adam to Jacob, and two and twenty kinds of work were
made until the seventh day; this is blessed and holy; and the former also is
blessed and holy; and this one serves with that one for sanctification and
blessing.
- And to this (Jacob and his
seed) it was granted that they should always be the blessed and holy ones of
the first testimony and law, even as He had sanctified and blessed the
Sabbath day on the seventh day.
- He created heaven and earth
and everything that He created in six days, and God made the seventh day
holy, for all His works; therefore He commanded on its behalf that, whoever
does any work thereon shall die, and that he who defiles it shall surely
die.
- Wherefore do thou command the
children of Israel to observe this day that they may keep it holy and not do
thereon any work, and not to defile it, as it is holier than all other days.
- And whoever profanes it shall
surely die, and whoever does thereon any work shall surely die eternally,
that the children of Israel may observe this day throughout their
generations, and not be rooted out of the land; for it is a holy day and a
blessed day.
- And every one who observes it
and keeps Sabbath thereon from all his work, will be holy and blessed
throughout all days like unto us.
- Declare and say to the
children of Israel the law of this day both that they should keep Sabbath
thereon, and that they should not forsake it in the error of their hearts;
(and) that it is not lawful to do any work thereon which is unseemly, to do
thereon their own pleasure, and that they should not prepare thereon
anything to be eaten or drunk, and (that it is not lawful) to draw water, or
bring in or take out thereon through their gates any burden, which they had
not prepared for themselves on the sixth day in their dwellings.
- And they shall not bring in
nor take out from house to house on that day; for that day is more holy and
blessed than any jubilee day of the jubilees; on this we kept Sabbath in the
heavens before it was made known to any flesh to keep Sabbath thereon on the
earth.
- And the Creator of all things
blessed it, but he did not sanctify all peoples and nations to keep Sabbath
thereon, but Israel alone: them alone he permitted to eat and drink and to
keep Sabbath thereon on the earth.
- And the Creator of all things
blessed this day which He had created for blessing and holiness and glory
above all days.
- This law and testimony was
given to the children of Israel as a law for ever unto their generations.
Adam names all creatures, 1-3. Creaton of Eve and
enactment of Levitical laws of purification, 4-14. Adam and Eve in Paradise:
their sin and expulsion, 15-29. Law of covering one's shame enacted, 30-2. Adam
and Eve live in Êldâ, 32-5. (Cf.Gen. ii.18-25, iii.)
[Chapter 3]
- And on the six days of the
second week we brought, according to the word of God, unto Adam all the
beasts, and all the cattle, and all the birds, and everything that moves on
the earth, and everything that moves in the water, according to their kinds,
and according to their types: the beasts on the first day; the cattle on the
second day; the birds on the third day; and all that which moves on the
earth on the fourth day; and that which moves in the water on the fifth day.
- And Adam named them all by
their respective names, and as he called them, so was their name.
- And on these five days Adam
saw all these, male and female, according to every kind that was on the
earth, but he was alone and found no helpmeet for him.
- And the Lord said unto us: 'It
is not good that the man should be alone: let us make a helpmeet for him.'
- And the Lord our God caused a
deep sleep to fall upon him, and he slept, and He took for the woman one rib
from amongst his ribs, and this rib was the origin of the woman from amongst
his ribs, and He built up the flesh in its stead, and built the woman.
- And He awaked Adam out of his
sleep and on awaking he rose on the sixth day, and He brought her to him,
and he knew her, and said unto her: 'This is now bone of my bones and flesh
of my flesh; she shall be called [my] wife; because she was taken from her
husband.'
- Therefore shall man and wife
be one and therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and cleave
unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh.
- In the first week was Adam
created, and the rib -his wife: in the second week He showed her unto him:
and for this reason the commandment was given to keep in their defilement,
for a male seven days, and for a female twice seven days.
- And after Adam had completed
forty days in the land where he had been created, we brought him into the
garden of Eden to till and keep it, but his wife they brought in on the
eightieth day, and after this she entered into the garden of Eden.
- And for this reason the
commandment is written on the heavenly tablets in regard to her that gives
birth: 'if she bears a male, she shall remain in her uncleanness seven days
according to the first week of days, and thirty and three days shall she
remain in the blood of her purifying, and she shall not touch any hallowed
thing, nor enter into the sanctuary, until she accomplishes these days which
(are enjoined) in the case of a male child.
- But in the case of a female
child she shall remain in her uncleanness two weeks of days, according to
the first two weeks, and sixty-six days in the blood of her purification,
and they will be in all eighty days.'
- And when she had completed
these eighty days we brought her into the garden of Eden, for it is holier
than all the earth besides and every tree that is planted in it is holy.
- Therefore, there was ordained
regarding her who bears a male or a female child the statute of those days
that she should touch no hallowed thing, nor enter into the sanctuary until
these days for the male or female child are accomplished.
- This is the law and testimony
which was written down for Israel, in order that they should observe (it)
all the days.
- And in the first week of the
first jubilee, [1-7 A.M.] Adam and his wife were in the garden of Eden for
seven years tilling and keeping it, and we gave him work and we instructed
him to do everything that is suitable for tillage.
- And he tilled (the garden),
and was naked and knew it not, and was not ashamed, and he protected the
garden from the birds and beasts and cattle, and gathered its fruit, and
eat, and put aside the residue for himself and for his wife [and put aside
that which was being kept].
- And after the completion of
the seven years, which he had completed there, seven years exactly, [8 A.M.]
and in the second month, on the seventeenth day (of the month), the serpent
came and approached the woman, and the serpent said to the woman, 'Hath God
commanded you, saying, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?'
- And she said to it, 'Of all
the fruit of the trees of the garden God hath said unto us, Eat; but of the
fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden God hath said unto us,
Ye shall not eat thereof, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.'
- And the serpent said unto the
woman, 'Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that on the day ye shall
eat thereof, your eyes will be opened, and ye will be as gods, and ye will
know good and evil.
- And the woman saw the tree
that it was agreeable and pleasant to the eye, and that its fruit was good
for food, and she took thereof and eat.
- And when she had first covered
her shame with figleaves, she gave thereof to Adam and he eat, and his eyes
were opened, and he saw that he was naked.
- And he took figleaves and
sewed (them) together, and made an apron for himself, and ,covered his
shame.
- And God cursed the serpent,
and was wroth with it for ever . . .
- And He was wroth with the
woman, because she harkened to the voice of the serpent, and did eat; and He
said unto her: 'I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy pains: in sorrow
thou shalt bring forth children, and thy return shall be unto thy husband,
and he will rule over thee.'
- And to Adam also he said, '
Because thou hast harkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the
tree of which I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat thereof, cursed be
the ground for thy sake: thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee,
and thou shalt eat thy bread in the sweat of thy face, till thou returnest
to the earth from whence thou wast taken; for earth thou art, and unto earth
shalt thou return.'
- And He made for them coats of
skin, and clothed them, and sent them forth from the Garden of Eden.
- And on that day on which Adam
went forth from the Garden, he offered as a sweet savour an offering,
frankincense, galbanum, and stacte, and spices in the morning with the
rising of the sun from the day when he covered his shame.
- And on that day was closed the
mouth of all beasts, and of cattle, and of birds, and of whatever walks, and
of whatever moves, so that they could no longer speak: for they had all
spoken one with another with one lip and with one tongue.
- And He sent out of the Garden
of Eden all flesh that was in the Garden of Eden, and all flesh was
scattered according to its kinds, and according to its types unto the places
which had been created for them.
- And to Adam alone did He give
(the wherewithal) to cover his shame, of all the beasts and cattle.
- On this account, it is
prescribed on the heavenly tablets as touching all those who know the
judgment of the law, that they should cover their shame, and should not
uncover themselves as the Gentiles uncover themselves.
- And on the new moon of the
fourth month, Adam and his wife went forth from the Garden of Eden, and they
dwelt in the land of Elda in the land of their creation.
- And Adam called the name of
his wife Eve.
- And they had no son till the
first jubilee, [8 A.M.] and after this he knew her.
- Now he tilled the land as he
had been instructed in the Garden of Eden.
Cain and Abel and other children of Adam, 1-12. Enos,
Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, 13-15. Enoch and his history, 16-25. Four sacred
places, 26. Methuselah, Lamech, Noah, 27, 28. Death of Adam and Cain, 29-32.
Shem,Ham, and Japhet,32. (Cf. Gen. iv-v.)
[Chapter 4]
- And in the third week in the
second jubilee [64-70 A.M.] she gave birth to Cain, and in the fourth [71-77
A.M.] she gave birth to Abel, and in the fifth [78-84 A.M.] she gave birth
to her daughter Âwân.
- And in the first (year) of
the third jubilee [99-105 A.M.], Cain slew Abel because (God) accepted the
sacrifice of Abel, and did not accept the offering of Cain.
- And he slew him in the field:
and his blood cried from the ground to heaven, complaining because he had
slain him.
- And the Lord reproved Cain
because of Abel, because he had slain him, and he made him a fugitive on the
earth because of the blood of his brother, and he cursed him upon the earth.
- And on this account it is
written on the heavenly tables, 'Cursed is ,he who smites his neighbour
treacherously, and let all who have seen and heard say, So be it; and the
man who has seen and not declared (it), let him be accursed as the other.'
- And for this reason we
announce when we come before the Lord our God all the sin which is committed
in heaven and on earth, and in light and in darkness, and everywhere.
- And Adam and his wife mourned
for Abel four weeks of years, [99-127 A.M] and in the fourth year of the
fifth week [130 A.M.] they became joyful, and Adam knew his wife again, and
she bare him a son, and he called his name Seth; for he said 'GOD has raised
up a second seed unto us on the earth instead of Abel; for Cain slew him.'
- And in the sixth week [134-40
A.M.] he begat his daughter Azûrâ.
- And Cain took Âwân his
sister to be his wife and she bare him Enoch at the close of the fourth
jubilee. [190-196 A.M.] And in the first year of the first week of the fifth
jubilee, [197 A.M.] houses were built on the earth, and Cain built a city,
and called its name after the name of his son Enoch.
- And Adam knew Eve his wife
and she bare yet nine sons.
- And in the fifth week of the
fifth jubilee [225-31 A.M.] Seth took Azûrâ his sister to be his wife, and
in the fourth (year of the sixth week) [235 A.M.] she bare him Enos.
- He began to call on the name
of the Lord on the earth.
- And in the seventh jubilee in
the third week [309-15 A.M.] Enos took Nôâm his sister to be his wife, and
she bare him a son in the third year of the fifth week, and he called his
name Kenan.
- And at the close of the
eighth jubilee [325, 386-3992 A.M.] Kenan took Mûalêlêth his sister to be
his wife, and she bare him a son in the ninth jubilee, in the first week in
the third year of this week, [395 A.M] and he called his name Mahalalel.
- And in the second week of the
tenth jubilee [449-55 A.M.] Mahalalel took unto him to wife DinaH, the
daughter of Barakiel the daughter of his father's brother, and she bare him
a son in the third week in the sixth year, [461 A.M.] and he called his name
Jared, for in his days the angels of the Lord descended on the earth, those
who are named the Watchers, that they should instruct the children of men,
and that they should do judgment and uprightness on the earth.
- And in the eleventh jubilee
[512-18 A.M.] Jared took to himself a wife, and her name was Baraka, the
daughter of Râsûjâl, a daughter of his father's brother, in the fourth
week of this jubilee, [522 A.M.] and she bare him a son in the fifth week,
in the fourth year of the jubilee, and he called his name Enoch.
- And he was the first among
men that are born on earth who learnt writing and knowledge and wisdom and
who wrote down the signs of heaven according to the order of their months in
a book, that men might know the seasons of the years according to the order
of their separate months.
- And he was the first to write
a testimony and he testified to the sons of men among the generations of the
earth, and recounted the weeks of the jubilees, and made known to them the
days of the years, and set in order the months and recounted the Sabbaths of
the years as we made (them), known to him.
- And what was and what will be
he saw in a vision of his sleep, as it will happen to the children of men
throughout their generations until the day of judgment; he saw and
understood everything, and wrote his testimony, and placed the testimony on
earth for all the children of men and for their generations.
- And in the twelfth jubilee,
[582-88] in the seventh week thereof, he took to himself a wife, and her
name was Edna, the daughter of Danel, the daughter of his father's brother,
and in the sixth year in this week [587 A.M.] she bare him a son and he
called his name Methuselah.
- And he was moreover with the
angels of God these six jubilees of years, and they showed him everything
which is on earth and in the heavens, the rule of the sun, and he wrote down
everything.
- And he testified to the
Watchers, who had sinned with the daughters of men; for these had begun to
unite themselves, so as to be defiled, with the daughters of men, and Enoch
testified against (them) all.
- And he was taken from amongst
the children of men, and we conducted him into the Garden of Eden in majesty
and honour, and behold there he writes down the condemnation and judgment of
the world, and all the wickedness of the children of men.
- And on account of it (God)
brought the waters of the flood upon all the land of Eden; for there he was
set as a sign and that he should testify against all the children of men,
that he should recount all the deeds of the generations until the day of
condemnation.
- And he burnt the incense of
the sanctuary, (even) sweet spices acceptable before the Lord on the Mount.
- For the Lord has four places
on the earth, the Garden of Eden, and the Mount of the East, and this
mountain on which thou art this day, Mount Sinai, and Mount Zion (which)
will be sanctified in the new creation for a sanctification of the earth;
through it will the earth be sanctified from all (its) guilt and its
uncleanness through- out the generations of the world.
- And in the fourteenth jubilee
[652 A.M.] Methuselah took unto himself a wife, Edna the daughter of Azrial,
the daughter of his father's brother, in the third week, in the first year
of this week, [701-7 A.M.] and he begat a son and called his name Lamech.
- And in the fifteenth jubilee
in the third week Lamech took to himself a wife, and her name was Betenos
the daughter of Baraki'il, the daughter of his father's brother, and in this
week she bare him a son and he called his name Noah, saying, 'This one will
comfort me for my trouble and all my work, and for the ground which the Lord
hath cursed.'
- And at the close of the
nineteenth jubilee, in the seventh week in the sixth year [930 A.M.]
thereof, Adam died, and all his sons buried him in the land of his creation,
and he was the first to be buried in the earth.
- And he lacked seventy years
of one thousand years; for one thousand years are as one day in the
testimony of the heavens and therefore was it written concerning the tree of
knowledge: 'On the day that ye eat thereof ye shall die.' For this reason he
did not complete the years of this day; for he died during it.
- At the close of this jubilee
Cain was killed after him in the same year; for his house fell upon him and
he died in the midst of his house, and he was killed by its stones; for with
a stone he had killed Abel, and by a stone was he killed in righteous
judgment.
- For this reason it was
ordained on the heavenly tablets: With the instrument with which a man kills
his neighbour with the same shall he be killed; after the manner that he
wounded him, in like manner shall they deal with him.'
- And in the twenty-fifth [1205
A.M.] jubilee Noah took to himself a wife, and her name was `Emzârâ, the
daughter of Râkê'êl, the daughter of his father's brother, in the first
year in the fifth week [1207 A.M.]: and in the third year thereof she bare
him Shem, in the fifth year thereof [1209 A.M.] she bare him Ham, and in the
first year in the sixth week [1212 A.M.] she bare him Japheth.
The Angels of God marry the daughters of men, 1.
Corruption of all creation, 2-3. Punishment of the fallen angels and their
children, 4-9a. Final judgment announced, 9b-16. Day of Atonement, 17-18. The
deluge foretold, Noah builds the ark, the deluge, 19-32. (Cf. Gen.vi-viii.19.)
[Chapter 5]
- And it came to pass when the
children of men began to multiply on the face of the earth and daughters
were born unto them, that the angels of God saw them on a certain year of
this jubilee, that they were beautiful to look upon; and they took
themselves wives of all whom they chose, and they bare unto them sons and
they were giants.
- And lawlessness increased on
the earth and all flesh corrupted its way, alike men and cattle and beasts
and birds and everything that walks on the earth -all of them corrupted
their ways and their orders, and they began to devour each other, and
lawlessness increased on the earth and every imagination of the thoughts of
all men (was) thus evil continually.
- And God looked upon the
earth, and behold it was corrupt, and all flesh had corrupted its orders,
and all that were upon the earth had wrought all manner of evil before His
eyes.
- And He said that He would
destroy man and all flesh upon the face of the earth which He had created.
- But Noah found grace before
the eyes of the Lord.
- And against the angels whom
He had sent upon the earth, He was exceedingly wroth, and He gave
commandment to root them out of all their dominion, and He bade us to bind
them in the depths of the earth, and behold they are bound in the midst of
them, and are (kept) separate.
- And against their sons went
forth a command from before His face that they should be smitten with the
sword, and be removed from under heaven.
- And He said 'My spirit shall
not always abide on man; for they also are flesh and their days shall be one
hundred and twenty years'.
- And He sent His sword into
their midst that each should slay his neighbour, and they began to slay each
other till they all fell by the sword and were destroyed from the earth.
- And their fathers were
witnesses (of their destruction), and after this they were bound in the
depths of the earth for ever, until the day of the great condemnation, when
judgment is executed on all those who have corrupted their ways and their
works before the Lord.
- And He destroyed all from
their places, and there was not left one of them whom He judged not
according to all their wickedness.
- And he made for all his works
a new and righteous nature, so that they should not sin in their whole
nature for ever, but should be all righteous each in his kind alway.
- And the judgment of all is
ordained and written on the heavenly tablets in righteousness -even (the
judgment of) all who depart from the path which is ordained for them to walk
in; and if they walk not therein, judgment is written down for every
creature and for every kind.
- And there is nothing in
heaven or on earth, or in light or in darkness, or in Sheol or in the depth,
or in the place of darkness (which is not judged); and all their judgments
are ordained and written and engraved.
- In regard to all He will
judge,the great according to his greatness, and the small according to his
smallness, and each according to his way.
- And He is not one who will
regard the person (of any), nor is He one who will receive gifts, if He says
that He will execute judgment on each: if one gave everything that is on the
earth, He will not regard the gifts or the person (of any), nor accept
anything at his hands, for He is a righteous judge.
- [And of the children of
Israel it has been written and ordained: If they turn to him in
righteousness He will forgive all their transgressions and pardon all their
sins.
- It is written and ordained
that He will show mercy to all who turn from all their guilt once each
year.]
- And as for all those who
corrupted their ways and their thoughts before the flood, no man's person
was accepted save that of Noah alone; for his person was accepted in behalf
of his sons, whom (God) saved from the waters of the flood on his account;
for his heart was righteous in all his ways, according as it was commanded
regarding him, and he had not departed from aught that was ordained for him.
- And the Lord said that he
would destroy everything which was upon the earth, both men and cattle, and
- beasts, and fowls of the air,
and that which moveth on the earth. And He commanded Noah to make him an
ark, that he might save himself from the waters of the flood.
- And Noah made the ark in all
respects as He commanded him, in the twenty-seventh jubilee of years, in the
fifth week in the fifth year (on the new moon of the first month). [1307
A.M.]
- And he entered in the sixth
(year) thereof, [1308 A.M.] in the second month, on the new moon of the
second month, till the sixteenth; and he entered, and all that we brought to
him, into the ark, and the Lord closed it from without on the seventeenth
evening.
- And the Lord opened seven
flood-gates of heaven,
And the mouths of the fountains of the great deep, seven mouths in number.
- And the flood-gates began to
pour down water from the heaven forty days and forty nights,
And the fountains of the deep also sent up waters, until the whole world was
full of water.
- And the waters increased upon
the earth:
Fifteen cubits did the waters rise above all the high mountains,
And the ark was lift up above the earth,
And it moved upon the face of the waters.
- And the water prevailed on
the face of the earth five months -one hundred and fifty days.
- And the ark went and rested
on the top of Lubar, one of the mountains of Ararat.
- And (on the new moon) in the
fourth month the fountains of the great deep were closed and the flood-gates
of heaven were restrained; and on the new moon of the seventh month all the
mouths of the abysses of the earth were opened, and the water began to
descend into the deep below.
- And on the new moon of the
tenth month the tops of the mountains were seen, and on the new moon of the
first month the earth became visible.
- And the waters disappeared
from above the earth in the fifth week in the seventh year [1309 A.M.]
thereof, and on the seventeenth day in the second month the earth was dry.
- And on the twenty-seventh
thereof he opened the ark, and sent forth from it beasts, and cattle, and
birds, and every moving thing.
Sacrifice of Noah, 1-3 (cf. Gen. vii.20-2). God's
convenant with Noah, eating of blood forbidden, 4-10 (cf. Gen. ix. 1-17). Moses
bidden to renew this law against the eating of blood, 11-14. Bow set in the
clouds for a sign, 15-16. Feast of weeks instituted, history of its observances,
17-22. Feast of the new moons, 23-8. Division of the year into 364 days, 29-38.
[Chapter 6]
- And on the new moon of the
third month he went forth from the ark, and built an altar on that mountain.
- And he made atonement for the
earth, and took a kid and made atonement by its blood for all the guilt of
the earth; for everything that had been on it had been destroyed, save those
that were in the ark with Noah.
- And he placed the fat thereof
on the altar, and he took an ox, and a goat, and a sheep and kids, and salt,
and a turtle-dove, and the young of a dove, and placed a burnt sacrifice on
the altar, and poured thereon an offering mingled with oil, and sprinkled
wine and strewed frankincense over everything, and caused a goodly savour to
arise, acceptable before the Lord.
- And the Lord smelt the goodly
savour, and He made a covenant with him that there should not be any more a
flood to destroy the earth; that all the days of the earth seed-time and
harvest should never cease; cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day
and night should not change their order, nor cease for ever.
- 'And you, increase ye and
multiply upon the earth, and become many upon it, and be a blessing upon it.
The fear of you and the dread of you I will inspire in everything that is on
earth and in the sea.
- And behold I have given unto
you all beasts, and all winged things, and everything that moves on the
earth, and the fish in the waters, and all things for food; as the green
herbs, I have given you all things to eat.
- But flesh, with the life
thereof, with the blood, ye shall not eat; for the life of all flesh is in
the blood, lest your blood of your lives be required. At the hand of every
man, at the hand of every (beast) will I require the blood of man.
- Whoso sheddeth man's blood by
man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God made He man.
- And you, increase ye, and
multiply on the earth.'
- And Noah and his sons swore
that they would not eat any blood that was in any flesh, and he made a
covenant before the Lord God for ever throughout all the generations of the
earth in this month.
- On this account He spake to
thee that thou shouldst make a covenant with the children of Israel in this
month upon the mountain with an oath, and that thou shouldst sprinkle blood
upon them because of all the words of the covenant, which the Lord made with
them for ever.
- And this testimony is written
concerning you that you should observe it continually, so that you should
not eat on any day any blood of beasts or birds or cattle during all the
days of the earth, and the man who eats the blood of beast or of cattle or
of birds during all the days of the earth, he and his seed shall be rooted
out of the land.
- And do thou command the
children of Israel to eat no blood, so that their names and their seed may
be before the Lord our God continually.
- And for this law there is no
limit of days, for it is for ever. They shall observe it throughout their
generations, so that they may continue supplicating on your behalf with
blood before the altar; every day and at the time of morning and evening
they shall seek forgiveness on your behalf perpetually before the Lord that
they may keep it and not be rooted out.
- And He gave to Noah and his
sons a sign that there should not again be a flood on the earth.
- He set His bow in the cloud
for a sign of the eternal covenant that there should not again be a flood on
the earth to destroy it all the days of the earth.
- For this reason it is
ordained and written on the heavenly tablets, that they should celebrate the
feast of weeks in this month once a year, to renew the covenant every year.
- And this whole festival was
celebrated in heaven from the day of creation till the days of Noah
-twenty-six jubilees and five weeks of years [1309-1659 A.M.]: and Noah and
his sons observed it for seven jubilees and one week of years, till the day
of Noah's death, and from the day of Noah's death his sons did away with
(it) until the days of Abraham, and they eat blood.
- But Abraham observed it, and
Isaac and Jacob and his children observed it up to thy days, and in thy days
the children of Israel forgot it until ye celebrated it anew on this
mountain.
- And do thou command the
children of Israel to observe this festival in all their generations for a
commandment unto them: one day in the year in this month they shall
celebrate the festival.
- For it is the feast of weeks
and the feast of first fruits: this feast is twofold and of a double nature:
according to what is written and engraven concerning it, celebrate it.
- For I have written in the
book of the first law, in that which I have written for thee, that thou
shouldst celebrate it in its season, one day in the year, and I explained to
thee its sacrifices that the children of Israel should remember and should
celebrate it throughout their generations in this month, one day in every
year.
- And on the new moon of the
first month, and on the new moon of the fourth month, and on the new moon of
the seventh month, and on the new moon of the tenth month are the days of
remembrance, and the days of the seasons in the four divisions of the year.
These are written and ordained as a testimony for ever.
- And Noah ordained them for
himself as feasts for the generations for ever, so that they have become
thereby a memorial unto him.
- And on the new moon of the
first month he was bidden to make for himself an ark, and on that (day) the
earth became dry and he opened (the ark) and saw the earth.
- And on the new moon of the
fourth month the mouths of the depths of the abyss beneath were closed. And
on the new moon of the seventh month all the mouths of the abysses of the
earth were opened, and the waters began to descend into them.
- And on the new moon of the
tenth month the tops of the mountains were seen, and Noah was glad.
- And on this account he
ordained them for himself as feasts for a memorial for ever, and thus are
they ordained.
- And they placed them on the
heavenly tablets, each had thirteen weeks; from one to another (passed)
their memorial, from the first to the second, and from the second to the
third, and from the third to the fourth.
- And all the days of the
commandment will be two and fifty weeks of days, and (these will make) the
entire year complete. Thus it is engraven and ordained on the heavenly
tablets.
- And there is no neglecting
(this commandment) for a single year or from year to year.
- And command thou the children
of Israel that they observe the years according to this reckoning- three
hundred and sixty-four days, and (these) will constitute a complete year,
and they will not disturb its time from its days and from its feasts; for
everything will fall out in them according to their testimony, and they will
not leave out any day nor disturb any feasts.
- But if they do neglect and do
not observe them according to His commandment, then they will disturb all
their seasons and the years will be dislodged from this (order), [and they
will disturb the seasons and the years will be dislodged] and they will
neglect their ordinances.
- And all the children of
Israel will forget and will not find the path of the years, and will forget
the new moons, and seasons, and sabbaths and they will go wrong as to all
the order of the years.
- For I know and from
henceforth will I declare it unto thee, and it is not of my own devising;
for the book (lies) written before me, and on the heavenly tablets the
division of days is ordained, lest they forget the feasts of the covenant
and walk according to the feasts of the Gentiles after their error and after
their ignorance.
- For there will be those who
will assuredly make observations of the moon -how (it) disturbs the seasons
and comes in from year to year ten days too soon.
- For this reason the years
will come upon them when they will disturb (the order), and make an
abominable (day) the day of testimony, and an unclean day a feast day, and
they will confound all the days, the holy with the unclean, and the unclean
day with the holy; for they will go wrong as to the months and sabbaths and
feasts and jubilees.
- For this reason I command and
testify to thee that thou mayst testify to them; for after thy death thy
children will disturb (them), so that they will not make the year three
hundred and sixty-four days only, and for this reason they will go wrong as
to the new moons and seasons and sabbaths and festivals, and they will eat
all kinds of blood with all kinds of flesh.
Noah plants a vineyard and offers a sacrifice, 1-5.
Becomes drunk and exposes his person, 6-9. The cursing of Canaan and blessing of
Shem and Japeth, 10-12 (cf. Gen. ix.20-8). Noah's sons and grandsons and their
cities, 13-19. Noah teaches his sons regarding the causes of the deluge and
admonishes them to avoid the eating of blood and murder, to keep the law
regarding fruit trees and let the land lie fallow every seventh year, as Enoch
had directed, 20-39.
[Chapter 7]
- And in the seventh week in
the first year [1317 A.M.] thereof, in this jubilee, Noah planted vines on
the mountain on which the ark had rested, named Lubar, one of the Ararat
Mountains, and they produced fruit in the fourth year, [1320 A.M.] and he
guarded their fruit, and gathered it in this year in the seventh month.
- And he made wine therefrom
and put it into a vessel, and kept it until the fifth year, [1321 A.M.]
until the first day, on the new moon of the first month.
- And he celebrated with joy
the day of this feast, and he made a burnt sacrifice unto the Lord, one
young ox and one ram, and seven sheep, each a year old, and a kid of the
goats, that he might make atonement thereby for himself and his sons.
- And he prepared the kid
first, and placed some of its blood on the flesh that was on the altar which
he had made, and all the fat he laid on the altar where he made the burnt
sacrifice, and the ox and the ram and the sheep, and he laid all their flesh
upon the altar.
- And he placed all their
offerings mingled with oil upon it, and afterwards he sprinkled wine on the
fire which he had previously made on the altar, and he placed incense on the
altar and caused a sweet savour to ascend acceptable before the Lord his
God.
- And he rejoiced and drank of
this wine, he and his children with joy.
- And it was evening, and he
went into his tent, and being drunken he lay down and slept, and was
uncovered in his tent as he slept.
- And Ham saw Noah his father
naked, and went forth and told his two brethren without.
- And Shem took his garment and
arose, he and Japheth, and they placed the garment on their shoulders and
went backward and covered the shame of their father, and their faces were
backward.
- And Noah awoke from his sleep
and knew all that his younger son had done unto him, and he cursed his son
and said: 'Cursed be Canaan; an enslaved servant shall he be unto his
brethren.'
- And he blessed Shem, and
said: 'Blessed be the Lord God of Shem, and Canaan shall be his servant.
- God shall enlarge Japheth,
and God shall dwell in the dwelling of Shem, and Canaan shall be his
servant.'
- And Ham knew that his father
had cursed his younger son, and he was displeased that he had cursed his
son. and he parted from his father, he and his sons with him, Cush and
Mizraim and Put and Canaan.
- And he built for himself a
city and called its name after the name of his wife Ne'elatama'uk.
- And Japheth saw it, and
became envious of his brother, and he too built for himself a city, and he
called its name after the name of his wife 'Adataneses.
- And Shem dwelt with his
father Noah, and he built a city close to his father on the mountain, and he
too called its name after the name of his wife Sedeqetelebab.
- And behold these three cities
are near Mount Lubar; Sedeqetelebab fronting the mountain on its east; and
Na'eltama'uk on the south; 'Adatan'eses towards the west.
- And these are the sons of
Shem: Elam, and Asshur, and Arpachshad -this (son) was born two years after
the flood- and Lud, and Aram.
- The sons of Japheth: Gomer
and Magog and Madai and Javan, Tubal and Meshech and Tiras: these are the
sons of Noah.
- And in the twenty-eighth
jubilee [1324-1372 A.M.] Noah began to enjoin upon his sons' sons the
ordinances and commandments, and all the judgments that he knew, and he
exhorted his sons to observe righteousness, and to cover the shame of their
flesh, and to bless their Creator, and honour father and mother, and love
their neighbour, and guard their souls from fornication and uncleanness and
all iniquity.
- For owing to these three
things came the flood upon the earth, namely, owing to the fornication
wherein the Watchers against the law of their ordinances went a whoring
after the daughters of men, and took themselves wives of all which they
chose: and they made the beginning of uncleanness.
- And they begat sons the
Naphidim, and they were all unlike, and they devoured one another: and the
Giants slew the Naphil, and the Naphil slew the Eljo, and the Eljo mankind,
and one man another.
- And every one sold himself to
work iniquity and to shed much blood, and the earth was filled with
iniquity.
- And after this they sinned
against the beasts and birds, and all that moves and walks on the earth: and
much blood was shed on the earth, and every imagination and desire of men
imagined vanity and evil continually.
- And the Lord destroyed
everything from off the face of the earth; because of the wickedness of
their deeds, and because of the blood which they had shed in the midst of
the earth He destroyed everything.
- 'And we were left, I and you,
my sons, and everything that entered with us into the ark, and behold I see
your works before me that ye do not walk in righteousness: for in the path
of destruction ye have begun to walk, and ye are parting one from another,
and are envious one of another, and (so it comes) that ye are not in
harmony, my sons, each with his brother.
- For I see, and behold the
demons have begun (their) seductions against you and against your children
and now I fear on your behalf, that after my death ye will shed the blood of
men upon the earth, and that ye, too, will be destroyed from the face of the
earth.
- For whoso sheddeth man's
blood, and whoso eateth the blood of any flesh, shall all be destroyed from
the earth.
- And there shall not be left
any man that eateth blood, or that sheddeth the blood of man on the earth,
Nor shall there be left to him any seed or descendants living under heaven;
For into Sheol shall they go, And into the place of condemnation shall they
descend, And into the darkness of the deep shall they all be removed by a
violent death.
- There shall be no blood seen
upon you of all the blood there shall be all the days in which ye have
killed any beasts or cattle or whatever flies upon the earth, and work ye a
good work to your souls by covering that which has been shed on the face of
the earth.
- And ye shall not be like him
who eats with blood, but guard yourselves that none may eat blood before
you: cover the blood, for thus have I been commanded to testify to you and
your children, together with all flesh.
- And suffer not the soul to be
eaten with the flesh, that your blood, which is your life, may not be
required at the hand of any flesh that sheds (it) on the earth.
- For the earth will not be
clean from the blood which has been shed upon it; for (only) through the
blood of him that shed it will the earth be purified throughout all its
generations.
- And now, my children, harken:
work judgment and righteousness that ye maybe planted in righteousness over
the face of the whole earth, and your glory lifted up before my God, who
saved me from the waters of the flood.
- And behold, ye will go and
build for yourselves cities, and plant in them all the plants that are upon
the earth, and moreover all fruit-bearing trees.
- For three years the fruit of
everything that is eaten will not be gathered: and in the fourth year its
fruit will be accounted holy [and they will offer the first-fruits],
acceptable before the Most High God, who created heaven and earth and all
things. Let them offer in abundance the first of the wine and oil (as)
first-fruits on the altar of the Lord, who receives it, and what is left let
the servants of the house of the Lord eat before the altar which receives
(it).
- And in the fifth year make ye
the release so that ye release it in righteousness and uprightness, and ye
shall be righteous, and all that you plant shall prosper.
- For thus did Enoch, the
father of your father command Methuselah, his son, and Methuselah his son
Lamech, and Lamech commanded me all the things which his fathers commanded
him.
- And I also will give you
commandment, my sons, as Enoch commanded his son in the first jubilees:
whilst still living, the seventh in his generation, he commanded and
testified to his son and to his son's sons until the day of his death.'
Kâinâm discovers an inscription relating to the sun
and stars, 1-4. His sons, 5-8. Noah's sons and Noah divide the earth, 10-11.
Shem's inheritance, 12-21: Ham's, 22-4: Japheth's, 25-30. (Cf. Gen. x.)
[Chapter 8]
- In the twenty-ninth jubilee,
in the first week, [1373 A.M.] in the beginning thereof Arpachshad took to
himself a wife and her name was Rasu'eja, the daughter of Susan, the
daughter of Elam, and she bare him a son in the third year in this week,
[1375 A.M.] and he called his name Kainam.
- And the son grew, and his
father taught him writing, and he went to seek for himself a place where he
might seize for himself a city.
- And he found a writing which
former (generations) had carved on the rock, and he read what was thereon,
and he transcribed it and sinned owing to it; for it contained the teaching
of the Watchers in accordance with which they used to observe the omens of
the sun and moon and stars in all the signs of heaven.
- And he wrote it down and said
nothing regarding it; for he was afraid to speak to Noah about it lest he
should be angry with him on account of it.
- And in the thirtieth jubilee,
[1429 A.M.] in the second week, in the first year thereof, he took to
himself a wife, and her name was Melka, the daughter of Madai, the son of
Japheth, and in the fourth year [1432 A.M.] he begat a son, and called his
name Shelah; for he said: 'Truly I have been sent.'
- [And in the fourth year he
was born], and Shelah grew up and took to himself a wife, and her name was
Mu'ak, the daughter of Kesed, his father's brother, in the one and thirtieth
jubilee, in the fifth week, in the first year [1499 A.M.] thereof.
- And she bare him a son in the
fifth year [1503 A.M.] thereof, and he called his name Eber: and he took
unto himself a wife, and her name was 'Azûrâd, the daughter of Nebrod, in
the thirty-second jubilee, in the seventh week, in the third year thereof.
[1564 A.M.]
- And in the sixth year [1567
A.M.] thereof, she bare him son, and he called his name Peleg; for in the
days when he was born the children of Noah began to divide the earth amongst
themselves: for this reason he called his name Peleg.
- And they divided (it)
secretly amongst themselves, and told it to Noah.
- And it came to pass in the
beginning of the thirty-third jubilee [1569 A.M.] that they divided the
earth into three parts, for Shem and Ham and Japheth, according to the
inheritance of each, in the first year in the first week, when one of us who
had been sent, was with them.
- And he called his sons, and
they drew nigh to him, they and their children, and he divided the earth
into the lots, which his three sons were to take in possession, and they
reached forth their hands, and took the writing out of the bosom of Noah,
their father.
- And there came forth on the
writing as Shem's lot the middle of the earth which he should take as an
inheritance for himself and for his sons for the generations of eternity,
from the middle of the mountain range of Rafa, from the mouth of the water
from the river Tina, and his portion goes towards the west through the midst
of this river, and it extends till it reaches the water of the abysses, out
of which this river goes forth and pours its waters into the sea Me'at, and
this river flows into the great sea. And all that is towards the north is
Japheth's, and all that is towards the south belongs to Shem.
- And it extends till it
reaches Karaso: this is in the bosom of the tongue which looks towards the
south.
- And his portion extends along
the great sea, and it extends in a straight line till it reaches the west of
the tongue which looks towards the south: for this sea is named the tongue
of the Egyptian Sea.
- And it turns from here
towards the south towards the mouth of the great sea on the shore of (its)
waters, and it extends to the west to 'Afra, and it extends till it reaches
the waters of the river Gihon, and to the south of the waters of Gihon, to
the banks of this river.
- And it extends towards the
east, till it reaches the Garden of Eden, to the south thereof, [to the
south] and from the east of the whole land of Eden and of the whole east, it
turns to the east and proceeds till it reaches the east of the mountain
named Rafa, and it descends to the bank of the mouth of the river Tina.
- This portion came forth by
lot for Shem and his sons, that they should possess it for ever unto his
generations for evermore.
- And Noah rejoiced that this
portion came forth for Shem and for his sons, and he remembered all that he
had spoken with his mouth in prophecy; for he had said: 'Blessed be the Lord
God of Shem And may the Lord dwell in the dwelling of Shem.'
- And he knew that the Garden
of Eden is the holy of holies, and the dwelling of the Lord, and Mount Sinai
the centre of the desert, and Mount Zion -the centre of the navel of the
earth: these three were created as holy places facing each other.
- And he blessed the God of
gods, who had put the word of the Lord into his mouth, and the Lord for
evermore.
- And he knew that a blessed
portion and a blessing had come to Shem and his sons unto the generations
for ever -the whole land of Eden and the whole land of the Red Sea, and the
whole land of the east and India, and on the Red Sea and the mountains
thereof, and all the land of Bashan, and all the land of Lebanon and the
islands of Kaftur, and all the mountains of Sanir and 'Amana, and the
mountains of Asshur in the north, and all the land of Elam, Asshur, and
Babel, and Susan and Ma'edai, and all the mountains of Ararat, and all the
region beyond the sea, which is beyond the mountains of Asshur towards the
north, a blessed and spacious land, and all that is in it is very good.
- And for Ham came forth the
second portion, beyond the Gihon towards the south to the right of the
Garden, and it extends towards the south and it extends to all the mountains
of fire, and it extends towards the west to the sea of 'Atel and it extends
towards the west till it reaches the sea of Ma'uk -that (sea) into which
everything which is not destroyed descends.
- And it goes forth towards the
north to the limits of Gadir, and it goes forth to the coast of the waters
of the sea to the waters of the great sea till it draws near to the river
Gihon, and goes along the river Gihon till it reaches the right of the
Garden of Eden.
- And this is the land which
came forth for Ham as the portion which he was to occupy for ever for
himself and his sons unto their generations for ever.
- And for Japheth came forth
the third portion beyond the river Tina to the north of the outflow of its
waters, and it extends north- easterly to the whole region of Gog, and to
all the country east thereof.
- And it extends northerly to
the north, and it extends to the mountains of Qelt towards the north, and
towards the sea of Ma'uk, and it goes forth to the east of Gadir as far as
the region of the waters of the sea.
- And it extends until it
approaches the west of Fara and it returns towards 'Aferag, and it extends
easterly to the waters of the sea of Me'at.
- And it extends to the region
of the river Tina in a north-easterly direction until it approaches the
boundary of its waters towards the mountain Rafa, and it turns round towards
the north.
- This is the land which came
forth for Japheth and his sons as the portion of his inheritance which he
should possess for himself and his sons, for their generations for ever;
five great islands, and a great land in the north.
- But it is cold, and the land
of Ham is hot, and the land of Shem is neither hot nor cold, but it is of
blended cold and heat.
Subdivision of the three portions amongst the
grandchildren of Noah. Amongst Ham's children, 1: Shem's, 2-6: Japheth's, 7-13.
Oath taken by Noah's sons, 14-15.
[Chapter 9]
- And Ham divided amongst his
sons, and the first portion came forth for Cush towards the east, and to the
west of him for Mizraim, and to the west of him for Put, and to the west of
him [and to the west thereof] on the sea for Canaan.
- And Shem also divided
amongst his sons, and the first portion came forth for Ham and his sons, to
the east of the river Tigris till it approachcs the east, the whole land of
India, and on the Red Sea on its coast, and the waters of Dedan, and all the
mountains of Mebri and Ela, and all the land of Susan and all that is on the
side of Pharnak to the Red Sea and the river Tina.
- And for Asshur came forth
the second Portion, all the land of Asshur and Nineveh and Shinar and to the
border of India, and it ascends and skirts the river.
- And for Arpachshad came
forth the third portion, all the land of the region of the Chaldees to the
east of the Euphrates, bordering on the Red Sea, and all the waters of the
desert close to the tongue of the sea which looks towards Egypt, all the
land of Lebanon and Sanir and 'Amana to the border of the Euphrates.
- And for Aram there came
forth the fourth portion, all the land of Mesopotamia between the Tigris and
the Euphrates to the north of the Chaldees to the border of the mountains of
Asshur and the land of 'Arara.
- And there came forth for Lud
the fifth portion, the mountains of Asshur and all appertaining to them till
it reaches the Great Sea, and till it reaches the east of Asshur his
brother.
- And Japheth also divided the
land of his inheritance amongst his sons.
- And the first portion came
forth for Gomer to the east from the north side to the river Tina; and in
the north there came forth for Magog all the inner portions of the north
until it reaches to the sea of Me'at.
- And for Madai came forth as
his portion that he should posses from the west of his two brothers to the
islands, and to the coasts of the islands.
- And for Javan came forth the
fourth portion every island and the islands which are towards the border of
Lud.
- And for Tubal there came
forth the fifth portion in the midst of the tongue which approaches towards
the border of the portion of Lud to the second tongue, to the region beyond
the second tongue unto the third tongue.
- And for Meshech came forth
the sixth portion, all the region beyond the third tongue till it approaches
the east of Gadir.
- And for Tiras there came
forth the seventh portion, four great islands in the midst of the sea, which
reach to the portion of Ham [and the islands of Kamaturi came out by lot for
the sons of Arpachshad as his inheritance].
- And thus the sons of Noah
divided unto their sons in the presence of Noah their father, and he bound
them all by an oath, imprecating a curse on every one that sought to seize
the portion which had not fallen (to him) by his lot.
- And they all said, 'So be
it; so be it ' for themselves and their sons for ever throughout their
generations till the day of judgment, on which the Lord God shall judge them
with a sword and with fire for all the unclean wickedness of their errors,
wherewith they have filled the earth with transgression and uncleanness and
fornication and sin.
Evil spirits leads astray the sons of Noah, 1-2. Noah's
prayer, 3-6. Mastêmâ allowed to retain one-tenth of his subject spirits, 7-11.
Noah taught the use of herbs by the angels for resisting the demons, 12-14. Noah
dies, 15-17. Building of Babel and the confusion of tongues, 18-27. Canaan
seizes on Palestine, 29-34. Madai receives Media, 33-6.
[Chapter 10]
- And in the third week of
this jubilee the unclean demons began to lead astray the children of the
sons of Noah, and to make to err and destroy them.
- And the sons of Noah came to
Noah their father, and they told him concerning the demons which were
leading astray and blinding and slaying his sons' sons.
- And he prayed before the
Lord his God, and said:
'God of the spirits of all flesh, who hast shown
mercy unto me
And hast saved me and my sons from the waters of the flood,
And hast not caused me to perish as Thou didst the sons of perdition;
For Thy grace has been great towards me,
And great has been Thy mercy to my soul;
Let Thy grace be lift up upon my sons,
And let not wicked spirits rule over them
Lest they should destroy them from the earth.
- But do Thou bless me and my
sons, that we may increase and Multiply and replenish the earth.
- And Thou knowest how Thy
Watchers, the fathers of these spirits, acted in my day: and as for these
spirits which are living, imprison them and hold them fast in the place of
condemnation, and let them not bring destruction on the sons of thy servant,
my God; for these are malignant, and created in order to destroy.
- And let them not rule over
the spirits of the living; for Thou alone canst exercise dominion over them.
And let them not have power over the sons of the righteous from henceforth
and for evermore.'
- And the Lord our God bade us
to bind all.
- And the chief of the
spirits, Mastêmâ, came and said: 'Lord, Creator, let some of them remain
before me, and let them harken to my voice, and do all that I shall say unto
them; for if some of them are not left to me, I shall not be able to execute
the power of my will on the sons of men; for these are for corruption and
leading astray before my judgment, for great is the wickedness of the sons
of men.'
- And He said: Let the tenth
part of them remain before him, and let nine parts descend into the place of
condemnation.'
- And one of us He commanded
that we should teach Noah all their medicines; for He knew that they would
not walk in uprightness, nor strive in righteousness.
- And we did according to all
His words: all the malignant evil ones we bound in the place of condemnation
and a tenth part of them we left that they might be subject before Satan on
the earth.
- And we explained to Noah all
the medicines of their diseases, together with their seductions, how he
might heal them with herbs of the earth.
- And Noah wrote down all
things in a book as we instructed him concerning every kind of medicine.
Thus the evil spirits were precluded from (hurting) the sons of Noah.
- And he gave all that he had
written to Shem, his eldest son; for he loved him exceedingly above all his
sons.
- And Noah slept with his
fathers, and was buried on Mount Lubar in the land of Ararat.
- Nine hundred and fifty years
he completed in his life, nineteen jubilees and two weeks and five years.
[1659 A.M.]
- And in his life on earth he
excelled the children of men save Enoch because of the righteousness,
wherein he was perfect. For Enoch's office was ordained for a testimony to
the generations of the world, so that he should recount all the deeds of
generation unto generation, till the day of judgment.
- And in the three and
thirtieth jubilee, in the first year in the second week, Peleg took to
himself a wife, whose name was Lomna the daughter of Sina'ar, and she bare
him a son in the fourth year of this week, and he called his name Reu; for
he said: 'Behold the children of men have become evil through the wicked
purpose of building for themselves a city and a tower in the land of Shinar.'
- For they departed from the
land of Ararat eastward to Shinar; for in his days they built the city and
the tower, saying, 'Go to, let us ascend thereby into heaven.'
- And they began to build, and
in the fourth week they made brick with fire, and the bricks served them for
stone, and the clay with which they cemented them together was asphalt which
comes out of the sea, and out of the fountains of water in the land of
Shinar.
- And they built it: forty and
three years [1645-1688 A.M.] were they building it; its breadth was 203
bricks, and the height (of a brick) was the third of one; its height
amounted to 5433 cubits and 2 palms, and (the extent of one wall was)
thirteen stades (and of the other thirty stades).
- And the Lord our God said
unto us: Behold, they are one people, and (this) they begin to do, and now
nothing will be withholden from them. Go to, let us go down and confound
their language, that they may not understand one another's speech, and they
may be dispersed into cities and nations, and one purpose will no longer
abide with them till the day of judgment.'
- And the Lord descended, and
we descended with him to see the city and the tower which the children of
men had built.
- And he confounded their
language, and they no longer understood one another's speech, and they
ceased then to build the city and the tower.
- For this reason the whole
land of Shinar is called Babel, because the Lord did there confound all the
language of the children of men, and from thence they were dispersed into
their cities, each according to his language and his nation.
- And the Lord sent a mighty
wind against the tower and overthrew it upon the earth, and behold it was
between Asshur and Babylon in the land of Shinar, and they called its name
'Overthrow'.
- In the fourth week in the
first year [1688 A.M.] in the beginning thereof in the four and thirtieth
jubilee, were they dispersed from the land of Shinar.
- And Ham and his sons went
into the land which he was to occupy, which he acquired as his portion in
the land of the south.
- And Canaan saw the land of
Lebanon to the river of Egypt, that it was very good, and he went not into
the land of his inheritance to the west (that is to) the sea, and he dwelt
in the land of Lebanon, eastward and westward from the border of Jordan and
from the border of the sea.
- And Ham, his father, and
Cush and Mizraim his brothers said unto him: 'Thou hast settled in a land
which is not thine, and which did not fall to us by lot: do not do so; for
if thou dost do so, thou and thy sons will fall in the land and (be)
accursed through sedition; for by sedition ye have settled, and by sedition
will thy children fall, and thou shalt be rooted out for ever.
- Dwell not in the dwelling of
Shem; for to Shem and to his sons did it come by their lot.
- Cursed art thou, and cursed
shalt thou be beyond all the sons of Noah, by the curse by which we bound
ourselves by an oath in the presence of the holy judge, and in the presence
of Noah our father.'
- But he did not harken unto
them, and dwelt in the land of Lebanon from Hamath to the entering of Egypt,
he and his sons until this day.
- And for this reason that
land is named Canaan.
- And Japheth and his sons
went towards the sea and dwelt in the land of their portion, and Madai saw
the land of the sea and it did not please him, and he begged a (portion)
from Ham and Asshur and Arpachshad, his wife's brother, and he dwelt in the
land of Media, near to his wife's brother until this day.
- And he called his
dwelling-place, and the dwelling-place of his sons, Media, after the name of
their father Madai.
Reu and Serug, 1 (cf. Gen. xi.20, 21). Rise of war and
bloodshed and eating of blood and idolatry, 2-7. Nachor and Terah, 8-14 (cf.
Gen. xi.22-30). Abram's knowledge of God and wonderful deeds, 15-24.
[Chapter 11]
- And in the thirty-fifth
jubilee, in the third week, in the first year [1681 A.M.] thereof, Reu took
to himself a wife, and her name was 'Ôrâ, the daughter of 'Ûr, the son of
Kesed, and she bare him a son, and he called his name Sêrôh, in the
seventh year of this week in this jubilee. [1687 A.M.]
- And the sons of Noah began
to war on each other, to take captive and to slay each other, and to shed
the blood of men on the earth, and to eat blood, and to build strong cities,
and walls, and towers, and individuals (began) to exalt themselves above the
nation, and to found the beginnings of kingdoms, and to go to war people
against people, and nation against nation, and city against city, and all
(began) to do evil, and to acquire arms, and to teach their sons war, and
they began to capture cities, and to sell male and female slaves.
- And 'Ûr, the son of Kesed,
built the city of 'Ara of the Chaldees, and called its name after his own
name and the name of his father. And they made for themselves molten images,
and they worshipped each the idol, the molten image which they had made for
themselves, and they began to make graven images and unclean simulacra, and
malignant spirits assisted and seduced (them) into committing transgression
and uncleanness.
- And the prince Mastêmâ
exerted himself to do all this, and he sent forth other spirits, those which
were put under his hand, to do all manner of wrong and sin, and all manner
of transgression, to corrupt and destroy, and to shed blood upon the earth.
- For this reason he called
the name of Sêrôh, Serug, for every one turned to do all manner of sin and
transgression.
- And he grew up, and dwelt in
Ur of the Chaldees, near to the father of his wife's mother, and he
worshipped idols, and he took to himself a wife in the thirty-sixth jubilee,
in the fifth week, in the first year thereof, [1744 A.M.] and her name was
Melka, the daughter of Kaber, the daughter of his father's brother.
- And she bare him Nahor, in
the first year of this week, and he grew and dwelt in Ur of the Chaldees,
and his father taught him the researches of the Chaldees to divine and
augur, according to the signs of heaven.
- And in the thirty-seventh
jubilee in the sixth week, in the first year thereof, [1800 A.M.] he took to
himself a wife, and her name was 'Ijaska, the daughter of Nestag of the
Chaldees.
- And she bare him Terah in
the seventh year of this week. [1806 A.M.]
- And the prince Mastêmâ
sent ravens and birds to devour the seed which was sown in the land, in
order to destroy the land, and rob the children of men of their labours.
Before they could plough in the seed, the ravens picked (it) from the
surface of the ground.
- And for this reason he
called his name Terah because the ravens and the birds reduced them to
destitution and devoured their seed.
- And the years began to be
barren, owing to the birds, and they devoured all the fruit of the trees
from the trees: it was only with great effort that they could save a little
of all the fruit of the earth in their days.
- And in this thirty-ninth
jubilee, in the second week in the first year, [1870 A.M.] Terah took to
himself a wife, and her name was 'Edna, the daughter of 'Abram, the daughter
of his father's sister. And in the seventh year of this week [1876 A.M.] she
bare him a son, and he called his name Abram, by the name of the father of
his mother;
- for he had died before his
daughter had conceived a son.
- And the child began to
understand the errors of the earth that all went astray after graven images
and after uncleanness, and his father taught him writing, and he was two
weeks of years old, [1890 A.M.] and he separated himself from his father,
that he might not worship idols with him.
- And he began to pray to the
Creator of all things that He might save him from the errors of the children
of men, and that his portion should not fall into error after uncleanness
and vileness.
- And the seed time came for
the sowing of seed upon the land, and they all went forth together to
protect their seed against the ravens, and Abram went forth with those that
went, and the child was a lad of fourteen years.
- And a cloud of ravens came
to devour the seed, and Abram ran to meet them before they settled on the
ground, and cried to them before they settled on the ground to devour the
seed, and said, ' Descend not: return to the place whence ye came,' and they
proceeded to turn back.
- And he caused the clouds of
ravens to turn back that day seventy times, and of all the ravens throughout
all the land where Abram was there settled there not so much as one.
- And all who were with him
throughout all the land saw him cry out, and all the ravens turn back, and
his name became great in all the land of the Chaldees.
- And there came to him this
year all those that wished to sow, and he went with them until the time of
sowing ceased: and they sowed their land, and that year they brought enough
grain home and eat and were satisfied.
- And in the first year of the
fifth week [1891 A.M.] Abram taught those who made implements for oxen, the
artificers in wood, and they made a vessel above the ground, facing the
frame of the plough, in order to put the seed thereon, and the seed fell
down therefrom upon the share of the plough, and was hidden in the earth,
and they no longer feared the ravens.
- And after this manner they
made (vessels) above the ground on all the frames of the ploughs, and they
sowed and tilled all the land, according as Abram commanded them, and they
no longer feared the birds.
Abram seeks to run Terah from idolatry, 1-8. Marries
Sarai, 9. Haran and Nachor, 9-11. Abram burns the idols: death of Haran, 12-14
(cf. Gen. xi.28). Terah and his family go to Haran, 15. Abram observes the stars
and prays, 16-21. Is bidden to go to Canaan and blessed, 22-4. Power of speaking
Hebrew given to him, 25-7. Leaves Haran for Canaan, 28-31. (Cf. Gen.
xi.31-xii.3.)
[Chapter 12]
- And it came to pass in the
sixth week, in the seventh year thereof, [1904 A.M.] that Abram said to
Terah his father, saying, 'Father!'
- And he said, 'Behold, here
am I, my son.' And he said,
'What help and profit have we from those idols which
thou dost worship,
And before which thou dost bow thyself?
- For there is no spirit in
them,
For they are dumb forms, and a misleading of the heart.
Worship them not:
- Worship the God of heaven,
Who causes the rain and the dew to descend on the earth
And does everything upon the earth,
And has created everything by His word,
And all life is from before His face.
- Why do ye worship things
that have no spirit in them?
For they are the work of (men's) hands,
And on your shoulders do ye bear them,
And ye have no help from them,
But they are a great cause of shame to those who
make them,
And a misleading of the heart to those who worship them:
Worship them not.'
- And his father said unto
him, I also know it, my son, but what shall I do with a people who have made
me to serve before them?
- And if I tell them the
truth, they will slay me; for their soul cleaves to them to worship them and
honour them.
- Keep silent, my son, lest
they slay thee.' And these words he spake to his two brothers, and they were
angry with him and he kept silent.
- And in the fortieth jubilee,
in the second week, in the seventh year thereof, [1925 A.M.] Abram took to
himself a wife, and her name was Sarai, the daughter of his father, and she
became his wife.
- And Haran, his brother, took
to himself a wife in the third year of the third week, [1928 A.M.] and she
bare him a son in the seventh year of this week, [1932 A.M.] and he called
his name Lot.
- And Nahor, his brother, took
to himself a wife.
- And in the sixtieth year of
the life of Abram, that is, in the fourth week, in the fourth year thereof,
[1936 A.M.] Abram arose by night, and burned the house of the idols, and he
burned all that was in the house and no man knew it.
- And they arose in the night
and sought to save their gods from the midst of the fire.
- And Haran hasted to save
them, but the fire flamed over him, and he was burnt in the fire, and he
died in Ur of the Chaldees before Terah his father, and they buried him in
Ur of the Chaldees.
- And Terah went forth from Ur
of the Chaldees, he and his sons, to go into the land of Lebanon and into
the land of Canaan, and he dwelt in the land of Haran, and Abram dwelt with
Terah his father in Haran two weeks of years.
- And in the sixth week, in
the fifth year thereof, [1951 A.M.] Abram sat up throughout the night on the
new moon of the seventh month to observe the stars from the evening to the
morning, in order to see what would be the character of the year with regard
to the rains, and he was alone as he sat and observed.
- And a word came into his
heart and he said: All the signs of the stars, and the signs of the moon and
of the sun are all in the hand of the Lord. Why do I search (them) out?
- If He desires, He causes it
to rain, morning and evening;
And if He desires, He withholds it,
And all things are in his hand.'
- And he prayed that night and
said,
'My God, God Most High, Thou alone art my God,
And Thee and Thy dominion have I chosen.
And Thou hast created all things,
And all things that are the work of thy hands.
- Deliver me from the hands of
evil spirits who have dominion over the thoughts of men's hearts,
And let them not lead me astray from Thee, my God.
And stablish Thou me and my seed for ever
That we go not astray from henceforth and for evermore.'
- And he said, 'Shall I return
unto Ur of the Chaldees who seek my face that I may return to them, am I to
remain here in this place? The right path before Thee prosper it in the
hands of Thy servant that he may fulfil (it) and that I may not walk in the
deceitfulness of my heart, O my God.'
- And he made an end of
speaking and praying, and behold the word of the Lord was sent to him
through me, saying: 'Get thee up from thy country, and from thy kindred and
from the house of thy father unto a land which I will show thee, and I shall
make thee a great and numerous nation.
- And I will bless thee
And I will make thy name great,
And thou shalt be blessed in the earth,
And in Thee shall all families of the earth be blessed,
And I will bless them that bless thee,
And curse them that curse thee.
- And I will be a God to thee
and thy son, and to thy son's son, and to all thy seed: fear not, from
henceforth and unto all generations of the earth I am thy God.'
- And the Lord God said: 'Open
his mouth and his ears, that he may hear and speak with his mouth, with the
language which has been revealed'; for it had ceased from the mouths of all
the children of men from the day of the overthrow (of Babel).
- And I opened his mouth, and
his ears and his lips, and I began to speak with him in Hebrew in the tongue
of the creation.
- And he took the books of his
fathers, and these were written in Hebrew, and he transcribed them, and he
began from henceforth to study them, and I made known to him that which he
could not (understand), and he studied them during the six rainy months.
- And it came to pass in the
seventh year of the sixth week [1953 A.M.] that he spoke to his father and
informed him, that he would leave Haran to go into the land of Canaan to see
it and return to him.
- And Terah his father said
unto him; Go in peace:
May the eternal God make thy path straight.
And the Lord [(be) with thee, and] protect thee from all evil,
And grant unto thee grace, mercy and favour before those who see thee,
And may none of the children of men have power over thee to harm thee;
Go in peace.
- And if thou seest a land
pleasant to thy eyes to dwell in, then arise and take me to thee and take
Lot with thee, the son of Haran thy brother as thine own son: the Lord be
with thee.
- And Nahor thy brother leave
with me till thou returnest in peace, and we go with thee all together.'
Abram journeys from Haran to Shechem in Canaan, thence
to Hebron and thence to Egypt, 1-14a. Returns to Canaan where Lot separates from
him, and receives the promise of Canaan and journeys to Hebron, 14b-21.
Chedorlaomer's attack on Sodom and Gomorrah: Lot taken captive, 22-4. Law of
tithes enacted, 25-9. (Cf. Gen. xii.4-10, 15-17, 19-20; xiii.11-18; xiv.8-14;
21-4.)
[Chapter 13]
- And Abram journeyed from
Haran, and he took Sarai, his wife, and Lot, his brother Haran's son, to the
land of Canaan, and he came into Asshur, and proceeded to Shechem, and dwelt
near a lofty oak.
- And he saw, and, behold, the
land was very pleasant from the entering of Hamath to the lofty oak.
- And the Lord said to him:
'To thee and to thy seed will I give this land.'
- And he built an altar there,
and he offered thereon a burnt sacrifice to the Lord, who had appeared to
him.
- And he removed from thence
unto the mountain . . . Bethel on the west and Ai on the east, and pitched
his tent there.
- And he saw and behold, the
land was very wide and good, and everything grew thereon -vines and figs and
pomegranates, oaks and ilexes, and terebinths and oil trees, and cedars and
cypresses and date trees, and all trees of the field, and there was water on
the mountains.
- And he blessed the Lord who
had led him out of Ur of the Chaldees, and had brought him to this land.
- And it came to pass in the
first year, in the seventh week, on the new moon of the first month, 1954
A.M.] that he built an altar on this mountain, and called on the name of the
Lord: 'Thou, the eternal God, art my God.'
- And he offered on the altar
a burnt sacrifice unto the Lord that He should be with him and not forsake
him all the days of his life.
- And he removed from thence
and went towards the south, and he came to Hebron and Hebron was built at
that time, and he dwelt there two years, and he went (thence) into the land
of the south, to Bealoth, and there was a famine in the land.
- And Abram went into Egypt in
the third year of the week, and he dwelt in Egypt five years before his wife
was torn away from him.
- Now Tanais in Egypt was at
that time built- seven years after Hebron.
- And it came to pass when
Pharaoh seized Sarai, the wife of Abram that the Lord plagued Pharaoh and
his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife.
- And Abram was very glorious
by reason of possessions in sheep, and cattle, and asses, and horses, and
camels, and menservants, and maidservants, and in silver and gold
exceedingly. And Lot also his brother's son, was wealthy.
- And Pharaoh gave back Sarai,
the wife of Abram, and he sent him out of the land of Egypt, and he
journeyed to the place where he had pitched his tent at the beginning, to
the place of the altar, with Ai on the east, and Bethel on the west, and he
blessed the Lord his God who had brought him back in peace.
- And it came to pass in the
forty-first jubilee in the third year of the first week, [1963 A.M.] that he
returned to this place and offered thereon a burnt sacrifice, and called on
the name of the Lord, and said: 'Thou, the most high God, art my God for
ever and ever.'
- And in the fourth year of
this week [1964 A.M.] Lot parted from him, and Lot dwelt in Sodom, and the
men of Sodom were sinners exceedingly.
- And it grieved him in his
heart that his brother's son had parted from him; for he had no children.
- In that year when Lot was
taken captive, the Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot had parted from him,
in the fourth year of this week: 'Lift up thine eyes from the place where
thou art dwelling, northward and southward, and westward and eastward.
- For all the land which thou
seest I will give to thee and to thy seed for ever, and I will make thy seed
as the sand of the sea: though a man may number the dust of the earth, yet
thy seed shall not be numbered.
- Arise, walk (through the
land) in the length of it and the breadth of it, and see it all; for to thy
seed will I give it.' And Abram went to Hebron, and dwelt there.
- And in this year came
Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, and Amraphel, king of Shinar, and Arioch king of
Sellasar, and Tergal, king of nations, and slew the king of Gomorrah, and
the king of Sodom fled, and many fell through wounds in the vale of Siddim,
by the Salt Sea.
- And they took captive Sodom
and Adam and Zeboim, and they took captive Lot also, the son of Abram's
brother, and all his possessions, and they went to Dan.
- And one who had escaped came
and told Abram that his brother's son had been taken captive and (Abram)
armed his household servants . . .
- . . . . for Abram, and for
his seed, a tenth of the first fruits to the Lord, and the Lord ordained it
as an ordinance for ever that they should give it to the priests who served
before Him, that they should possess it for ever.
- And to this law there is no
limit of days; for He hath ordained it for the generations for ever that
they should give to the Lord the tenth of everything, of the seed and of the
wine and of the oil and of the cattle and of the sheep.
- And He gave (it) unto His
priests to eat and to drink with joy before Him.
- And the king of Sodom came
to him and bowed himself before him, and said: 'Our Lord Abram, give unto us
the souls which thou hast rescued, but let the booty be thine.'
- And Abram said unto him: 'I
lift up my hands to the Most High God, that from a thread to a shoe-latchet
I shall not take aught that is thine lest thou shouldst say, I have made
Abram rich; save only what the young men have eaten, and the portion of the
men who went with me -Aner, Eschol, and Mamre. These shall take their
portion.'
Abram receives the promise of a son and of innumerable
descendants, 1-7. Offersa sacrifice and is told of his seed being in Egypt,
8-17. God's convenant with Abram, 18-20. Hagar bears Ishmael, 21-4. (Cf. Gen.
xv.; xvi.1-4, 11.)
[Chapter 14]
- After these things, in the
fourth year of this week, on the new moon of the third month, the word of
the Lord came to Abram in a dream, saying: 'Fear not, Abram; I am thy
defender, and thy reward will be exceeding great.'
- And he said: 'Lord, Lord,
what wilt thou give me, seeing I go hence childless, and the son of Maseq,
the son of my handmaid, is the Dammasek Eliezer: he will be my heir, and to
me thou hast given no seed.'
- And he said unto him: 'This
(man) will not be thy heir, but one that will come out of thine own bowels;
he will be thine heir.'
- And He brought him forth
abroad, and said unto him: 'Look toward heaven and number the stars if thou
art able to number them.'
- And he looked toward heaven,
and beheld the stars. And He said unto him: 'So shall thy seed be.'
- And he believed in the Lord,
and it was counted to him for righteousness.
- And He said unto him: 'I am
the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee the land
of the Canaanites to possess it for ever; and I will be God unto thee and to
thy seed after thee.'
- And he said: 'Lord, Lord,
whereby shall I know that I shall inherit (it)?'
- And He said unto him: 'Take
Me an heifer of three years, and a goat of three years, and a sheep of three
years, and a turtle-dove, and a pigeon.'
- And he took all these in the
middle of the month and he dwelt at the oak of Mamre, which is near Hebron.
- And he built there an altar,
and sacrificed all these; and he poured their blood upon the altar, and
divided them in the midst, and laid them over against each other; but the
birds divided he not.
- And birds came down upon the
pieces, and Abram drove them away, and did not suffer the birds to touch
them.
- And it came to pass, when the
sun had set, that an ecstasy fell upon Abram, and lo ! an horror of great
darkness fell upon him, and it was said unto Abram: 'Know of a surety that
thy seed shall be a stranger in a land (that is) not theirs, and they shall
bring them into bondage, and afflict them four hundred years.
- And the nation also to whom
they will be in bondage will I judge, and after that they shall come forth
thence with much substance.
- And thou shalt go to thy
fathers in peace, and be buried in a good old age.
- But in the fourth generation
they shall return hither; for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.'
- And he awoke from his sleep,
and he arose, and the sun had set; and there was a flame, and behold ! a
furnace was smoking, and a flame of fire passed between the pieces.
- And on that day the Lord made
a covenant with Abram, saying: 'To thy seed will I give this land, from the
river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates, the Kenites, the
Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Perizzites, and the Rephaim, the Phakorites,
and the Hivites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites,
and the Jebusites.
- And the day passed, and Abram
offered the pieces, and the birds, and their fruit offerings, and their
drink offerings, and the fire devoured them.
- And on that day we made a
covenant with Abram, according as we had covenanted with Noah in this month;
and Abram renewed the festival and ordinance for himself for ever.
- And Abram rejoiced, and made
all these things known to Sarai his wife; and he believed that he would have
seed, but she did not bear.
- And Sarai advised her husband
Abram, and said unto him: 'Go in unto Hagar, my Egyptian maid: it may be
that I shall build up seed unto thee by her.'
- And Abram harkened unto the
voice of Sarai his wife, and said unto her, 'Do (so).' And Sarai took Hagar,
her maid, the Egyptian, and gave her to Abram, her husband, to be his wife.
- And he went in unto her, and
she conceived and bare him a son, and he called his name Ishmael, in the
fifth year of this week [1965 A.M.]; and this was the eighty-sixth year in
the life of Abram.
Abram celebrates the feast of first fruits, 1-2: his
name changed and circumcision instituted, 3-14. Sarai's name changed and Isaak
promised, 15-21. Abraham, Ishmael, and all his household circumcised, 22-4.
Circumcision an eternal ordination, 25, 26. Israel shares this honour with the
highest angels who were created circumcised, 27-9. Israel subject to God alone:
other nations to angels, 30-2. Future faithlessness of Israel, 33-4. (Cf. Gen.
xvii.)
[Chapter 15]
- And in the fifth year of the
fourth week of this jubilee, [1979 A.M.] in the third month, in the middle
of the month, Abram celebrated the feast of the first-fruits of the grain
harvest.
- And he offered new offerings
on the altar, the first-fruits of the produce, unto the Lord, an heifer and
a goat and a sheep on the altar as a burnt sacrifice unto the Lord; their
fruit offerings and their drink offerings he offered upon the altar with
frankincense.
- And the Lord appeared to
Abram, and said unto him: 'I am God Almighty; approve thyself before me and
be thou perfect.
- And I will make My covenant
between Me and thee, and I will multiply thee exceedingly.'
- And Abram fell on his face,
and God talked with him, and said:
- 'Behold my ordinance is with
thee,
And thou shalt be the father of many nations.
- Neither shall thy name any
more be called Abram,
But thy name from henceforth, even for ever, shall be Abraham.
For the father of many nations have I made thee.
- And I will make thee very
great,
And I will make thee into nations,
And kings shall come forth from thee.
- And I shall establish My
covenant between Me and thee, and thy seed after thee, throughout their
generations, for an eternal covenant, so that I may be a God unto thee, and
to thy seed after thee.
- <And I will give to thee
and to thy seed after thee> the land where thou hast been a sojourner,
the land of Canaan, that thou mayst possess it for ever, and I will be their
God.'
- And the Lord said unto
Abraham: 'And as for thee, do thou keep my covenant, thou and thy seed after
thee: and circumcise ye every male among you, and circumcise your foreskins,
and it shall be a token of an eternal covenant between Me and you.
- And the child on the eighth
day ye shall circumcise, every male throughout your generations, him that is
born in the house, or whom ye have bought with money from any stranger, whom
ye have acquired who is not of thy seed.
- He that is born in thy house
shall surely be circumcised, and those whom thou hast bought with money
shall be circumcised, and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an eternal
ordinance.
- And the uncircumcised male
who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin on the eighth day, that
soul shall be cut off from his people, for he has broken My covenant.'
- And God said unto Abraham:
'As for Sarai thy wife, her name shall no more be called Sarai, but Sarah
shall be her name.
- And I will bless her, and
give thee a son by her, and I will bless him, and he shall become a nation,
and kings of nations shall proceed from him.'
- And Abraham fell on his
face, and rejoiced, and said in his heart: 'Shall a son be born to him that
is a hundred years old, and shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bring
forth?'
- And Abraham said unto God:
'O that Ishmael might live before thee!'
- And God said: 'Yea, and
Sarah also shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name Isaac, and I
will establish My covenant with him, an everlasting covenant, and for his
seed after him.
- And as for Ishmael also have
I heard thee, and behold I will bless him, and make him great, and multiply
him exceedingly, and he shall beget twelve princes, and I will make him a
great nation.
- But My covenant will I
establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to thee, in these days, in the
next year.'
- And He left off speaking
with him, and God went up from Abraham.
- And Abraham did according as
God had said unto him, and he took Ishmael his son, and all that were born
in his house, and whom he had bought with his money, every male in his
house, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin.
- And on the selfsame day was
Abraham circumcised, and all the men of his house, <and those born in the
house>, and all those, whom he had bought with money from the children of
the stranger, were circumcised with him.
- This law is for all the
generations for ever, and there is no circumcision of the days, and no
omission of one day out of the eight days; for it is an eternal ordinance,
ordained and written on the heavenly tablets.
- And every one that is born,
the flesh of whose foreskin is not circumcised on the eighth day, belongs
not to the children of the covenant which the Lord made with Abraham, but to
the children of destruction; nor is there, moreover, any sign on him that he
is the Lord's, but (he is destined) to be destroyed and slain from the
earth, and to be rooted out of the earth, for he has broken the covenant of
the Lord our God.
- For all the angels of the
presence and all the angels of sanctification have been so created from the
day of their creation, and before the angels of the presence and the angels
of sanctification He hath sanctified Israel, that they should be with Him
and with His holy angels.
- And do thou command the
children of Israel and let them observe the sign of this covenant for their
generations as an eternal ordinance, and they will not be rooted out of the
land.
- For the command is ordained
for a covenant, that they should observe it for ever among all the children
of Israel.
- For Ishmael and his sons and
his brothers and Esau, the Lord did not cause to approach Him, and he chose
them not because they are the children of Abraham, because He knew them, but
He chose Israel to be His people.
- And He sanctified it, and
gathered it from amongst all the children of men; for there are many nations
and many peoples, and all are His, and over all hath He placed spirits in
authority to lead them astray from Him.
- But over Israel He did not
appoint any angel or spirit, for He alone is their ruler, and He will
preserve them and require them at the hand of His angels and His spirits,
and at the hand of all His powers in order that He may preserve them and
bless them, and that they may be His and He may be theirs from henceforth
for ever.
- And now I announce unto thee
that the children of Israel will not keep true to this ordinance, and they
will not circumcise their sons according to all this law; for in the flesh
of their circumcision they will omit this circumcision of their sons, and
all of them, sons of Beliar, will leave their sons uncircumcised as they
were born.
- And there will be great
wrath from the Lord against the children of Israel. because they have
forsaken His covenant and turned aside from His word, and provoked and
blasphemed, inasmuch as they do not observe the ordinance of this law; for
they have treated their members like the Gentiles, so that they may be
removed and rooted out of the land. And there will no more be pardon or
forgiveness unto them [so that there should be forgiveness and pardon] for
all the sin of this eternal error.
Angels appear to Abraham in Hebron and Isaac again
promised, 1-4. Destruction of Sodom and Lot's deliverance, 5-9. Abraham at
Beersheba: birth of and circumcision of Isaac, whose seed was to be the portion
of God, 10-19. Institution of the feast of Tabernacles, 20-31. (Cf. Gen.
xviii.1, 10, 12; xix.24, 29, 33-7; xx.1, 4, 8; xxi. 1-4.)
[Chapter 16]
- And on the new moon of the
fourth month we appeared unto Abraham, at the oak of Mamre, and we talked
with him, and we announced to him that a son would be given to him by Sarah
his wife.
- And Sarah laughed, for she
heard that we had spoken these words with Abraham, and we admonished her,
and she became afraid, and denied that she had laughed on account of the
words.
- And we told her the name of
her son, as his name is ordained and written in the heavenly tablets (i.e.)
Isaac,
- And (that) when we returned
to her at a set time, she would have conceived a son.
- And in this month the Lord
executed his judgments on Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Zeboim, and all the
region of the Jordan, and He burned them with fire and brimstone, and
destroyed them until this day, even as [lo] I have declared unto thee all
their works, that they are wicked and sinners exceedingly, and that they
defile themselves and commit fornication in their flesh, and work
uncleanness on the earth.
- And, in like manner, God will
execute judgment on the places where they have done according to the
uncleanness of the Sodomites, like unto the judgment of Sodom.
- But Lot we saved; for God
remembered Abraham, and sent him out from the midst of the overthrow.
- And he and his daughters
committed sin upon the earth, such as had not been on the earth since the
days of Adam till his time; for the man lay with his daughters.
- And, behold, it was commanded
and engraven concerning all his seed, on the heavenly tablets, to remove
them and root them out, and to execute judgment upon them like the judgment
of Sodom, and to leave no seed of the man on earth on the day of
condemnation.
- And in this month Abraham
moved from Hebron, and departed and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur in the
mountains of Gerar.
- And in the middle of the
fifth month he moved from thence, and dwelt at the Well of the Oath.
- And in the middle of the
sixth month the Lord visited Sarah and did unto her as He had spoken and she
conceived.
- And she bare a son in the
third month, and in the middle of the month, at the time of which the Lord
had spoken to Abraham, on the festival of the first fruits of the harvest,
Isaac was born.
- And Abraham circumcised his
son on the eighth day: he was the first that was circumcised according to
the covenant which is ordained for ever.
- And in the sixth year of the
fourth week we came to Abraham, to the Well of the Oath, and we appeared
unto him [as we had told Sarah that we should return to her, and she would
have conceived a son.
- And we returned in the
seventh month, and found Sarah with child before us] and we blessed him, and
we announced to him all the things which had been decreed concerning him,
that he should not die till he should beget six sons more, and should see
(them) before he died; but (that) in Isaac should his name and seed be
called:
- And (that) all the seed of
his sons should be Gentiles, and be reckoned with the Gentiles; but from the
sons of Isaac one should become a holy seed, and should not be reckoned
among the Gentiles.
- For he should become the
portion of the Most High, and all his seed had fallen into the possession of
God, that it should be unto the Lord a people for (His) possession above all
nations and that it should become a kingdom and priests and a holy nation.
- And we went our way, and we
announced to Sarah all that we had told him, and they both rejoiced with
exceeding great joy.
- And he built there an altar
to the Lord who had delivered him, and who was making him rejoice in the
land of his sojourning, and he celebrated a festival of joy in this month
seven days, near the altar which he had built at the Well of the Oath.
- And he built booths for
himself and for his servants on this festival, and he was the first to
celebrate the feast of tabernacles on the earth.
- And during these seven days
he brought each day to the altar a burnt offering to the Lord, two oxen, two
rams, seven sheep, one he-goat, for a sin offering, that he might atone
thereby for himself and for his seed.
- And, as a thank-offering,
seven rams, seven kids, seven sheep, and seven he-goats, and their fruit
offerings and their drink offerings; and he burnt all the fat thereof on the
altar, a chosen offering unto the Lord for a sweet smelling savour.
- And morning and evening he
burnt fragrant substances, frankincense and galbanum, and stackte, and nard,
and myrrh, and spice, and costum; all these seven he offered, crushed, mixed
together in equal parts (and) pure.
- And he celebrated this feast
during seven days, rejoicing with all his heart and with all his soul, he
and all those who were in his house, and there was no stranger with him, nor
any that was uncircumcised.
- And he blessed his Creator
who had created him in his generation, for He had created him according to
His good pleasure; for He knew and perceived that from him would arise the
plant of righteousness for the eternal generations, and from him a holy
seed, so that it should become like Him who had made all things.
- And he blessed and rejoiced,
and he called the name of this festival the festival of the Lord, a joy
acceptable to the Most High God.
- And we blessed him for ever,
and all his seed after him throughout all the generations of the earth,
because he celebrated this festival in its season, according to the
testimony of the heavenly tablets.
- For this reason it is
ordained on the heavenly tablets concerning Israel, that they shall
celebrate the feast of tabernacles seven days with joy, in the seventh
month, acceptable before the Lord -a statute for ever throughout their
generations every year.
- And to this there is no limit
of days; for it is ordained for ever regarding Israel that they should
celebrate it and dwell in booths, and set wreaths upon their heads, and take
leafy boughs, and willows from the brook.
- And Abraham took branches of
palm trees, and the fruit of goodly trees, and every day going round the
altar with the branches seven times [a day] in the morning, he praised and
gave thanks to his God for all things in joy.
Expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael, 1-14. Mastêmâ
proposes that God should require Abraham to sacrifice Isaac in order to test his
love and obedience: Abraham's ten trials, 15-18. (Cf. Gen.xxi.8-21.)
[Chapter 17]
- And in the first year of the
fifth week Isaac was weaned in this jubilee, [1982 A.M.] and Abraham made a
great banquet in the third month, on the day his son Isaac was weaned.
- And Ishmael, the son of
Hagar, the Egyptian, was before the face of Abraham, his father, in his
place, and Abraham rejoiced and blessed God because he had seen his sons and
had not died childless.
- And he remembered the words
which He had spoken to him on the day on which Lot had parted from him, and
he rejoiced because the Lord had given him seed upon the earth to inherit
the earth, and he blessed with all his mouth the Creator of all things.
- And Sarah saw Ishmael playing
and dancing, and Abraham rejoicing with great joy, and she became jealous of
Ishmael and said to Abraham, 'Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the
son of this bondwoman will not be heir with my son, Isaac.'
- And the thing was grievous in
Abraham's sight, because of his maidservant and because of his son, that he
should drive them from him.
- And God said to Abraham 'Let
it not be grievous in thy sight, because of the child and because of the
bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, harken to her words and do
(them); for in Isaac shall thy name and seed be called.
- But as for the son of this
bondwoman I will make him a great nation, because he is of thy seed.'
- And Abraham rose up early in
the morning, and took bread and a bottle of water, and placed them on the
shoulders of Hagar and the child, and sent her away.
- And she departed and wandered
in the wilderness of Beersheba, and the water in the bottle was spent, and
the child thirsted, and was not able to go on, and fell down.
- And his mother took him and
cast him under an olive tree, and went and sat her down over against him, at
the distance of a bow-shot; for she said, 'Let me not see the death of my
child,' and as she sat she wept.
- And an angel of God, one of
the holy ones, said unto her, 'Why weepest thou, Hagar? Arise take the
child, and hold him in thine hand; for God hath heard thy voice, and hath
seen the child.'
- And she opened her eyes, and
she saw a well of water, and she went and filled her bottle with water, and
she gave her child to drink, and she arose and went towards the wilderness
of Paran.
- And the child grew and became
an archer, and God was with him, and his mother took him a wife from among
the daughters of Egypt.
- And she bare him a son, and
he called his name Nebaioth; for she said, 'The Lord was nigh to me when I
called upon him.'
- And it came to pass in the
seventh week, in the first year thereof, [2003 A.M.] in the first month in
this jubilee, on the twelfth of this month, there were voices in heaven
regarding Abraham, that he was faithful in all that He told him, and that he
loved the Lord, and that in every affliction he was faithful.
- And the prince Mastêmâ came
and said before God, 'Behold, Abraham loves Isaac his son, and he delights
in him above all things else; bid him offer him as a burnt-offering on the
altar, and Thou wilt see if he will do this command, and Thou wilt know if
he is faithful in everything wherein Thou dost try him.
- And the Lord knew that
Abraham was faithful in all his afflictions; for He had tried him through
his country and with famine, and had tried him with the wealth of kings, and
had tried him again through his wife, when she was torn (from him), and with
circumcision; and had tried him through Ishmael and Hagar, his maid-servant,
when he sent them away.
- And in everything wherein He
had tried him, he was found faithful, and his soul was not impatient, and he
was not slow to act; for he was faithful and a lover of the Lord.
Sacrifice of Isaac: Mastêmâ put to shame, 1-13.
Abraham again blessed: returns to Beersheba 14-19. (Cf. Gen. xxii. 1-19.)
[Chapter 18]
- And God said to him,
'Abraham, Abraham'; and he said, Behold, (here) am I.'
- And he said, Take thy beloved
son whom thou lovest, (even) Isaac, and go unto the high country, and offer
him on one of the mountains which I will point out unto thee.'
- And he rose early in the
morning and saddled his ass, and took his two young men with him, and Isaac
his son, and clave the wood of the burnt offering, and he went to the place
on the third day, and he saw the place afar off.
- And he came to a well of
water, and he said to his young men, 'Abide ye here with the ass, and I and
the lad shall go (yonder), and when we have worshipped we shall come again
to you.'
- And he took the wood of the
burnt-offering and laid it on Isaac his son, and he took in his hand the
fire and the knife, and they went both of them together to that place.
- And Isaac said to his father,
'Father;' and he said, 'Here am I, my son.' And he said unto him, 'Behold
the fire, and the knife, and the wood; but where is the sheep for the
burnt-offering, father?'
- And he said, 'God will
provide for himself a sheep for a burnt-offering, my son.' And he drew near
to the place of the mount of God.
- And he built an altar, and he
placed the wood on the altar, and bound Isaac his son, and placed him on the
wood which was upon the altar, and stretched forth his hand to take the
knife to slay Isaac his son.
- And I stood before him, and
before the prince Mastêmâ, and the Lord said, 'Bid him not to lay his hand
on the lad, nor to do anything to him, for I have shown that he fears the
Lord.'
- And I called to him from
heaven, and said unto him: 'Abraham, Abraham;' and he was terrified and
said: 'Behold, (here) am I.'
- And I said unto him: 'Lay not
thy hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything to him; for now I have shown
that thou fearest the Lord, and hast not withheld thy son, thy first-born
son, from me.'
- And the prince Mastêmâ was
put to shame; and Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold a ram
caught . . . by his horns, and Abraham went and took the ram and offered it
for a burnt-offering in the stead of his son.
- And Abraham called that place
'The Lord hath seen', so that it is said in the mount the Lord hath
seen: that is Mount Sion.
- And the Lord called Abraham
by his name a second time from heaven, as he caused us to appear to speak to
him in the name of the Lord.
- And he said: 'By Myself have
I sworn, saith the Lord,
Because thou hast done this thing,
And hast not withheld thy son, thy beloved son, from Me,
That in blessing I will bless thee,
And in multiplying I will multiply thy seed
As the stars of heaven, And as the sand which is on the seashore.
And thy seed shall inherit the cities of its
enemies,
- And in thy seed shall all
nations of the earth be blessed;
Because thou hast obeyed My voice,
And I have shown to all that thou art faithful unto Me in all that I have said
unto thee:
Go in peace.'
- And Abraham went to his young
men, and they arose and went together to Beersheba, and Abraham [2010 A.M.]
dwelt by the Well of the Oath.
- And he celebrated this
festival every year, seven days with joy, and he called it the festival of
the Lord according to the seven days during which he went and returned in
peace.
- And accordingly has it been
ordained and written on the heavenly tablets regarding Israel and its seed
that they should observe this festival seven days with the joy of festival.
Return of Abraham to Hebron. Death and burial of Sarah,
1-9. Marriage of Isaac and second marriage of Abraham. Birth of Esau and Jacob,
10-14. Abraham commends Jacob to Rebecca and blesses him, 15-31. (Cf. Gen.
xxiii.1-4, 11-16; xxiv.15; xxv.1-2, 25-7; xiii. 16.)
[Chapter 19]
- And in the first year of the
first week in the forty-second jubilee, Abraham returned and dwelt opposite
Hebron, that is Kirjath Arba, two weeks of years.
- And in the first year of the
third week of this jubilee the days of the life of Sarah were accomplished,
and she died in Hebron.
- And Abraham went to mourn
over her and bury her, and we tried him [to see] if his spirit were patient
and he were not indignant in the words of his mouth; and he was found
patient in this, and was not disturbed.
- For in patience of spirit he
conversed with the children of Heth, to the intent that they should give him
a place in which to bury his dead.
- And the Lord gave him grace
before all who saw him, and he besought in gentleness the sons of Heth, and
they gave him the land of the double cave over against Mamre, that is
Hebron, for four hundred pieces of silver.
- And they besought him saying,
We shall give it to thee for nothing; but he would not take it from their
hands for nothing, for he gave the price of the place, the money in full,
and he bowed down before them twice, and after this he buried his dead in
the double cave.
- And all the days of the life
of Sarah were one hundred and twenty-seven years, that is, two jubilees and
four weeks and one year: these are the days of the years of the life of
Sarah.
- This is the tenth trial
wherewith Abraham was tried, and he was found faithful, patient in spirit.
- And he said not a single word
regarding the rumour in the land how that God had said that He would give it
to him and to his seed after him, and he begged a place there to bury his
dead; for he was found faithful, and was recorded on the heavenly tablets as
the friend of God.
- And in the fourth year
thereof he took a wife for his son Isaac and her name was Rebecca [2020
A.M.] [the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Nahor, the brother of Abraham]
the sister of Laban and daughter of Bethuel; and Bethuel was the son of
Melca, who was the wife of Nahor, the brother of Abraham.
- And Abraham took to himself a
third wife, and her name was Keturah, from among the daughters of his
household servants, for Hagar had died before Sarah. And she bare him six
sons, Zimram, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah, in
the two weeks of years.
- And in the sixth week, in the
second year thereof, Rebecca bare to Isaac two sons, Jacob and Esau,
- and [2046 A.M.] Jacob was a
smooth and upright man, and Esau was fierce, a man of the field, and hairy,
and Jacob dwelt in tents.
- And the youths grew, and
Jacob learned to write; but Esau did not learn, for he was a man of the
field and a hunter, and he learnt war, and all his deeds were fierce.
- And Abraham loved Jacob, but
Isaac loved Esau.
- And Abraham saw the deeds of
Esau, and he knew that in Jacob should his name and seed be called; and he
called Rebecca and gave commandment regarding Jacob, for he knew that she
(too) loved Jacob much more than Esau.
- And he said unto her:
My daughter, watch over my son Jacob,
For he shall be in my stead on the earth,
And for a blessing in the midst of the children of men,
And for the glory of the whole seed of Shem.
- For I know that the Lord will
choose him to be a people for possession unto Himself, above all peoples
that are upon the face of the earth.
- And behold, Isaac my son
loves Esau more than Jacob, but I see that thou truly lovest Jacob.
- Add still further to thy
kindness to him,
And let thine eyes be upon him in love;
For he shall be a blessing unto us on the earth from henceforth unto all
generations of the earth.
- Let thy hands be strong
And let thy heart rejoice in thy son Jacob;
For I have loved him far beyond all my sons.
He shall be blessed for ever,
And his seed shall fill the whole earth.
- If a man can number the sand
of the earth,
His seed also shall be numbered.
- And all the blessings
wherewith the Lord hath blessed me and my seed shall belong to Jacob and his
seed alway.
- And in his seed shall my name
be blessed, and the name of my fathers, Shem, and Noab, and Enoch, and
Mahalalel, and Enos, and Seth, and Adam.
- And these shall serve
To lay the foundations of the heaven,
And to strengthen the earth,
And to renew all the luminaries which are in the firmament.
- And he called Jacob before
the eyes of Rebecca his mother, and kissed him, and blessed him, and said:
- 'Jacob, my beloved son, whom
my soul loveth, may God bless thee from above the firmament, and may He give
thee all the blessings wherewith He blessed Adam, and Enoch, and Noah, and
Shem; and all the things of which He told me, and all the things which He
promised to give me, may he cause to cleave to thee and to thy seed for
ever, according to the days of heaven above the earth.
- And the Spirits of Mastêmâ
shall not rule over thee or over thy seed to turn thee from the Lord, who is
thy God from henceforth for ever.
- And may the Lord God be a
father to thee and thou the first-born son, and to the people alway.
- Go in peace, my son.' And
they both went forth together from Abraham.
- And Rebecca loved Jacob, with
all her heart and with all her soul, very much more than Esau; but Isaac
loved Esau much more than Jacob.
Abraham admonishes his sons and his sons' sons to work
righteousness, observe circumcision, and refrain from impurity and idolatry,
1-10. Dismisses them with gifts, 11. Dwelling-places of the Ishmaelites and of
the sons of Keturah, 12-13. (Cf. Gen. xxv. 5-6.)
[Chapter 20]
- And in the forty-second
jubilee, in the first year of the seventh week, Abraham called Ishmael,
[2052 (2045?) A.M.] and his twelve sons, and Isaac and his two sons, and the
six sons of Keturah, and their sons.
- And he commanded them that
they should observe the way of the Lord; that they should work
righteousness, and love each his neighbour, and act on this manner amongst
all men; that they should each so walk with regard to them as to do judgment
and righteousness on the earth.
- That they should circumcise
their sons, according to the covenant which He had made with them, and not
deviate to the right hand or the left of all the paths which the Lord had
commanded us; and that we should keep ourselves from all fornication and
uncleanness, [and renounce from amongst us all fornication and uncleanness].
- And if any woman or maid
commit fornication amongst you, burn her with fire and let them not commit
fornication with her after their eyes and their heart; and let them not take
to themselves wives from the daughters of Canaan; for the seed of Canaan
will be rooted out of the land.
- And he told them of the
judgment of the giants, and the judgment of the Sodomites, how they had been
judged on account of their wickedness, and had died on account of their
fornication, and uncleanness, and mutual corruption through fornication.
- 'And guard yourselves from
all fornication and uncleanness,
And from all pollution of sin,
Lest ye make our name a curse,
And your whole life a hissing,
And all your sons to be destroyed by the sword,
And ye become accursed like Sodom,
And all your remnant as the sons of Gomorrah.
- I implore you, my sons, love
the God of heaven
And cleave ye to all His commandments.
And walk not after their idols, and after their
uncleannesses,
- And make not for yourselves
molten or graven gods;
For they are vanity,
And there is no spirit in them;
For they are work of (men's) hands,
And all who trust in them, trust in nothing.
- Serve them not, nor worship
them,
But serve ye the most high God, and worship Him continually:
And hope for His countenance always,
And work uprightness and righteousness before Him,
That He may have pleasure in you and grant you His
mercy,
And send rain upon you morning and evening,
And bless all your works which ye have wrought upon
the earth,
And bless thy bread and thy water,
And bless the fruit of thy womb and the fruit of thy
land,
And the herds of thy cattle, and the flocks of thy sheep.
- And ye will be for a
blessing on the earth,
And all nations of the earth will desire you,
And bless your sons in my name,
That they may be blessed as I am.
- And he gave to Ishmael and
to his sons, and to the sons of Keturah, gifts, and sent them away from
Isaac his son, and he gave everything to Isaac his son.
- And Ishmael and his sons,
and the sons of Keturah and their sons, went together and dwelt from Paran
to the entering in of Babylon in all the land which is towards the East
facing the desert.
- And these mingled with each
other, and their name was called Arabs, and Ishmaelites.
Abraham's last words to Isaac regarding idolatry, the
eating of blood, the offering of various sacrifices and the use of salt, 1-11.
Also regarding the woods to be used in sacrifice and the duty of washing before
sacrifice and of covering blood etc., 12-25.
[Chapter 21]
- And in the sixth year of the
seventh week of this jubilee Abraham called Isaac his son, and [2057 (2050?)
A.M.] commanded him: saying, 'I am become old, and know not the day of my
death, and am full of my days.
- And behold, I am one hundred
and seventy-five years old, and throughout all the days of my life I have
remembered the Lord, and sought with all my heart to do His will, and to
walk uprightly in all His ways.
- My soul has hated idols,
<and I have despised those that served them, and I have given my heart
and spirit> that I might observe to do the will of Him who created me.
- For He is the living God,
and He is holy and faithful, and He is righteous beyond all, and there is
with Him no accepting of (men's) persons and no accepting of gifts; for God
is righteous, and executeth judgment on all those who transgress His
commandments and despise His covenant.
- And do thou, my son, observe
His commandments and His ordinances and His judgments, and walk not after
the abominations and after the graven images and after the molten images.
- And eat no blood at all of
animals or cattle, or of any bird which flies in the heaven.
- And if thou dost slay a
victim as an acceptable peace offering, slay ye it, and pour out its blood
upon the altar, and all the fat of the offering offer on the altar with fine
flour and the meat offering mingled with oil, with its drink offering -offer
them all together on the altar of burnt offering; it is a sweet savour
before the Lord.
- And thou wilt offer the fat
of the sacrifice of thank offerings on the fire which is upon the altar, and
the fat which is on the belly, and all the fat on the inwards and the two
kidneys, and all the fat that is upon them, and upon the loins and liver
thou shalt remove, together with the kidneys.
- And offer all these for a
sweet savour acceptable before the Lord, with its meat-offering and with its
drink- offering, for a sweet savour, the bread of the offering unto the
Lord.
- And eat its meat on that day
and on the second day, and let not the sun on the second day go down upon it
till it is eaten, and let nothing be left over for the third day; for it is
not acceptable [for it is not approved] and let it no longer be eaten, and
all who eat thereof will bring sin upon themselves; for thus I have found it
written in the books of my forefathers, and in the words of Enoch, and in
the words of Noah.
- And on all thy oblations
thou shalt strew salt, and let not the salt of the covenant be lacking in
all thy oblations before the Lord.
- And as regards the wood of
the sacrifices, beware lest thou bring (other) wood for the altar in
addition to these: cypress, bay, almond, fir, pine, cedar, savin, fig,
olive, myrrh, laurel, aspalathus.
- And of these kinds of wood
lay upon the altar under the sacrifice, such as have been tested as to their
appearance, and do not lay (thereon) any split or dark wood, (but) hard and
clean, without fault, a sound and new growth; and do not lay (thereon) old
wood, [for its fragrance is gone] for there is no longer fragrance in it as
before.
- Besides these kinds of wood
there is none other that thou shalt place (on the altar), for the fragrance
is dispersed, and the smell of its fragrance goes not up to heaven.
- Observe this commandment and
do it, my son, that thou mayst be upright in all thy deeds.
- And at all times be clean in
thy body, and wash thyself with water before thou approachest to offer on
the altar, and wash thy hands and thy feet before thou drawest near to the
altar; and when thou art done sacrificing, wash again thy hands and thy
feet.
- And let no blood appear upon
you nor upon your clothes; be on thy guard, my son, against blood, be on thy
guard exceedingly; cover it with dust.
- And do not eat any blood for
it is the soul; eat no blood whatever.
- And take no gifts for the
blood of man, lest it be shed with impunity, without judgment; for it is the
blood that is shed that causes the earth to sin, and the earth cannot be
cleansed from the blood of man save by the blood of him who shed it.
- And take no present or gift
for the blood of man: blood for blood, that thou mayest be accepted before
the Lord, the Most High God; for He is the defence of the good: and that
thou mayest be preserved from all evil, and that He may save thee from every
kind of death.
- I see, my son,
That all the works of the children of men are sin and wickedness,
And all their deeds are uncleanness and an abomination and a pollution,
And there is no righteousness with them.
- Beware, lest thou shouldest
walk in their ways
And tread in their paths,
And sin a sin unto death before the Most High God.
Else He will [hide His face from thee
And] give thee back into the hands of thy transgression,
And root thee out of the land, and thy seed likewise from under heaven,
And thy name and thy seed shall perish from the whole earth.
- Turn away from all their
deeds and all their uncleanness,
And observe the ordinance of the Most High God,
And do His will and be upright in all things.
- And He will bless thee in
all thy deeds,
And will raise up from thee a plant of righteousness through all the earth,
throughout all generations of the earth,
And my name and thy name shall not be forgotten under heaven for ever.
- Go, my son in peace.
May the Most High God, my God and thy God, strengthen thee to do His will,
And may He bless all thy seed and the residue of thy seed for the
generations for ever, with all righteous blessings,
That thou mayest be a blessing on all the earth.'
- And he went out from him
rejoicing.
Isaac, Ishmael, and Jacob celebrate the feast of first
fruits at Beersheba with Abraham, 1-5. Prayer of Abraham, 6-9. Abraham's last
words to and blessings of Jacob, 10-30.
[Chapter 22]
- And it came to pass in the
first week in the forty-fourth jubilee, in the second year, that is, the
year in which Abraham died, that Isaac and Ishmael came from the Well of the
Oath to celebrate the feast of weeks -that is, the feast of the first fruits
of the harvest-to Abraham, their father, and Abraham rejoiced because his
two sons had come.
- For Isaac had many
possessions in Beersheba, and Isaac was wont to go and see his possessions
and to return to his father.
- And in those days Ishmael
came to see his father, and they both came together, and Isaac offered a
sacrifice for a burnt offering, and presented it on the altar of his father
which he had made in Hebron.
- And he offered a thank
offering and made a feast of joy before Ishmael, his brother: and Rebecca
made new cakes from the new grain, and gave them to Jacob, her son, to take
them to Abraham, his father, from the first fruits of the land, that he
might eat and bless the Creator of all things before he died.
- And Isaac, too, sent by the
hand of Jacob to Abraham a best thank offering, that he might eat and drink.
- And he eat and drank, and
blessed the Most High God,
Who hath created heaven and earth,
Who hath made all the fat things of the earth,
And given them to the children of men
That they might eat and drink and bless their Creator.
- 'And now I give thanks unto
Thee, my God, because thou hast caused me to see this day: behold, I am one
hundred three score and fifteen years, an old man and full of days, and all
my days have been unto me peace.
- The sword of the adversary
has not overcome me in all that Thou hast given me and my children all the
days of my life until this day.
- My God, may Thy mercy and
Thy peace be upon Thy servant, and upon the seed of his sons, that they may
be to Thee a chosen nation and an inheritance from amongst all the nations
of the earth from henceforth unto all the days of the generations of the
earth, unto all the ages.'
- And he called Jacob and
said: 'My son Jacob, may the God of all bless thee and strengthen thee to do
righteousness, and His will before Him, and may He choose thee and thy seed
that ye may become a people for His inheritance according to His will alway.
- And do thou, my son, Jacob,
draw near and kiss me.' And he drew near and kissed him, and he said:
'Blessed be my son Jacob
And all the sons of God Most High, unto all the ages:
May God give unto thee a seed of righteousness;
And some of thy sons may He sanctify in the midst of the whole earth;
May nations serve thee,
And all the nations bow themselves before thy seed.
- Be strong in the presence of
men,
And exercise authority over all the seed of Seth.
Then thy ways and the ways of thy sons will be
justified,
So that they shall become a holy nation.
- May the Most High God give
thee all the blessings
Wherewith He has blessed me
And wherewith He blessed Noah and Adam;
May they rest on the sacred head of thy seed from generation to generation for
ever.
- And may He cleanse thee from
all unrighteousness and impurity,
That thou mayest be forgiven all the transgressions; which thou hast
committed ignorantly.
And may He strengthen thee,
And bless thee.
And mayest thou inherit the whole earth,
- And may He renew His
covenant with thee.
That thou mayest be to Him a nation for His inheritance for all the ages,
And that He may be to thee and to thy seed a God in truth and righteousness
throughout all the days of the earth.
- And do thou, my son Jacob,
remember my words,
And observe the commandments of Abraham, thy father:
Separate thyself from the nations,
And eat not with them:
And do not according to their works,
And become not their associate;
For their works are unclean,
And all their ways are a Pollution and an abomination and uncleanness.
- They offer their sacrifices
to the dead
And they worship evil spirits,
And they eat over the graves,
And all their works are vanity and nothingness.
- They have no heart to
understand
And their eyes do not see what their works are,
And how they err in saying to a piece of wood: 'Thou
art my God,'
And to a stone: 'Thou art my Lord and thou art my deliverer.'
[And they have no heart.]
- And as for thee, my son
Jacob,
May the Most High God help thee
And the God of heaven bless thee
And remove thee from their uncleanness and from all their error.
- Be thou ware, my son Jacob,
of taking a wife from any seed of the daughters of Canaan;
For all his seed is to be rooted out of the earth.
- For, owing to the
transgression of Ham, Canaan erred,
And all his seed shall be destroyed from off the earth and all the residue
thereof,
And none springing from him shall be saved on the day of judgment.
- And as for all the
worshippers of idols and the profane
(b) There shall be no hope for them in the land of the living;
(c) And there shall be no remembrance of them on the earth;
(c) For they shall descend into Sheol,
(d) And into the place of condemnation shall they go,
As the children of Sodom were taken away from the
earth
So will all those who worship idols be taken away.
- Fear not, my son Jacob,
And be not dismayed, O son of Abraham:
May the Most High God preserve thee from
destruction,
And from all the paths of error may he deliver thee.
- This house have I built for
myself that I might put my name upon it in the earth: [it is given to thee
and to thy seed for ever], and it will be named the house of Abraham; it is
given to thee and to thy seed for ever; for thou wilt build my house and
establish my name before God for ever: thy seed and thy name will stand
throughout all generations of the earth.'
- And he ceased commanding him
and blessing him.
- And the two lay together on
one bed, and Jacob slept in the bosom of Abraham, his father's father and he
kissed him seven times, and his affection and his heart rejoiced over him.
- And he blessed him with all
his heart and said: 'The Most High God, the God of all, and Creator of all,
who brought me forth from Ur of the Chaldees that he might give me this land
to inherit it for ever, and that I might establish a holy seed-blessed be
the Most High for ever.'
- And he blessed Jacob and
said: 'My son, over whom with all my heart and my affection I rejoice, may
Thy grace and Thy mercy be lift up upon him and upon his seed alway.
- And do not forsake him, nor
set him at nought from henceforth unto the days of eternity, and may Thine
eyes be opened upon him and upon his seed, that Thou mayst preserve him, and
bless him, and mayest sanctify him as a nation for Thine inheritance;
- And bless him with all Thy
blessings from henceforth unto all the days of eternity, and renew Thy
covenant and Thy grace with him and with his seed according to all Thy good
pleasure unto all the generations of the earth.'
Abraham's death and burial, 1-8 (cf. Gen. xxv.7-10).
Decreasing years and increasing corruption of mankind: Messianic woes: universal
strife: the faithful rise up in arms to bring back the faithless: Israel invaded
by sinners of the Gentiles, 11-25. Renewed study of the law and renewal of
mankind: Messianic kingdom: blessed immortality of the righteous, 26-31.
[Chapter 23]
- And he placed two fingers of
Jacob on his eyes, and he blessed the God of gods, and he covered his face
and stretched out his feet and slept the sleep of eternity, and was gathered
to his fathers.
- And notwithstanding all this
Jacob was lying in his bosom, and knew not that Abraham, his father's
father, was dead.
- And Jacob awoke from his
sleep, and behold Abraham was cold as ice, and he said 'Father, father'; but
there was none that spake, and he knew that he was dead.
- And he arose from his bosom
and ran and told Rebecca, his mother; and Rebecca went to Isaac in the
night, and told him; and they went together, and Jacob with them, and a lamp
was in his hand, and when they had gone in they found Abraham lying dead.
- And Isaac fell on the face
of his father and wept and kissed him.
- And the voices were heard in
the house of Abraham, and Ishmael his son arose, and went to Abraham his
father, and wept over Abraham his father, he and all the house of Abraham,
and they wept with a great weeping.
- And his sons Isaac and
Ishmael buried him in the double cave, near Sarah his wife, and they wept
for him forty days, all the men of his house, and Isaac and Ishmael, and all
their sons, and all the sons of Keturah in their places; and the days of
weeping for Abraham were ended.
- And he lived three jubilees
and four weeks of years, one hundred and seventy-five years, and completed
the days of his life, being old and full of days.
- For the days of the
forefathers, of their life, were nineteen jubilees; and after the Flood they
began to grow less than nineteen jubilees, and to decrease in jubilees, and
to grow old quickly, and to be full of their days by reason of manifold
tribulation and the wickedness of their ways, with the exception of Abraham.
- For Abraham was perfect in
all his deeds with the Lord, and well-pleasing in righteousness all the days
of his life; and behold, he did not complete four jubilees in his life, when
he had grown old by reason of the wickedness, and was full of his days.
- And all the generations
which shall arise from this time until the day of the great judgment shall
grow old quickly, before they complete two jubilees, and their knowledge
shall forsake them by reason of their old age Land all their know- ledge
shall vanish away].
- And in those days, if a man
live a jubilee and a-half of years, they shall say regarding him: 'He has
lived long, and the greater part of his days are pain and sorrow and
tribulation, and there is no peace:
- For calamity follows on
calamity, and wound on wound, and tribulation on tribulation, and evil
tidings on evil tidings, and illness on illness, and all evil judgments such
as these, one with another, illness and overthrow, and snow and frost and
ice, and fever, and chills, and torpor, and famine, and death, and sword,
and captivity, and all kinds of calamities and pains.'
- And all these shall come on
an evil generation, which transgresses on the earth: their works are
uncleanness and fornication, and pollution and abominations.
- Then they shall say: 'The
days of the forefathers were many (even), unto a thousand years, and were
good; but behold, the days of our life, if a man has lived many, are three
score years and ten, and, if he is strong, four score years, and those evil,
and there is no peace in the days of this evil generation.'
- And in that generation the
sons shall convict their fathers and their elders of sin and
unrighteousness, and of the words of their mouth and the great wickednesses
which they perpetrate, and concerning their forsaking the covenant which the
Lord made between them and Him, that they should observe and do all His
commandments and His ordinances and all His laws, without departing either
to the right hand or the left.
- For all have done evil, and
every mouth speaks iniquity and all their works are an uncleanness and an
abomination, and all their ways are pollution, uncleanness and destruction.
- Behold the earth shall be
destroyed on account of all their works, and there shall be no seed of the
vine, and no oil; for their works are altogether faithless, and they shall
all perish together, beasts and cattle and birds, and all the fish of the
sea, on account of the children of men.
- And they shall strive one
with another, the young with the old, and the old with the young, the poor
with the rich, the lowly with the great, and the beggar with the prince, on
account of the law and the covenant; for they have forgotten commandment,
and covenant, and feasts, and months, and Sabbaths, and jubilees, and all
judgments.
- And they shall stand
<with bows and> swords and war to turn them back into the way; but
they shall not return until much blood has been shed on the earth, one by
another.
- And those who have escaped
shall not return from their wickedness to the way of righteousness, but they
shall all exalt themselves to deceit and wealth, that they may each take all
that is his neighbour's, and they shall name the great name, but not in
truth and not in righteousness, and they shall defile the holy of holies
with their uncleanness and the corruption of their pollution.
- And a great punishment shall
befall the deeds of this generation from the Lord, and He will give them
over to the sword and to judgment and to captivity, and to be plundered and
devoured.
- And He will wake up against
them the sinners of the Gentiles, who have neither mercy nor compassion, and
who shall respect the person of none, neither old nor young, nor any one,
for they are more wicked and strong to do evil than all the children of men.
And they shall use violence against Israel and
transgression against Jacob,
And much blood shall be shed upon the earth,
And there shall be none to gather and none to bury.
- In those days they shall cry
aloud,
And call and pray that they may be saved from the hand of the sinners, the
Gentiles;
But none shall be saved.
- And the heads of the
children shall be white with grey hair,
And a child of three weeks shall appear old like a man of one hundred years,
And their stature shall be destroyed by tribulation and oppression.
- And in those days the
children shall begin to study the laws,
And to seek the commandments,
And to return to the path of righteousness.
- And the days shall begin to
grow many and increase amongst those children of men
Till their days draw nigh to one thousand years.
And to a greater number of years than (before) was the number of the days.
- And there shall be no old
man
Nor one who is <not> satisfied with his days,
For all shall be (as) children and youths.
- And all their days they
shall complete and live in peace and in joy,
And there shall be no Satan nor any evil destroyer;
For all their days shall be days of blessing and healing.
- And at that time the Lord
will heal His servants,
And they shall rise up and see great peace,
And drive out their adversaries.
And the righteous shall see and be thankful,
And rejoice with joy for ever and ever,
And shall see all their judgments and all their curses on their enemies.
- And their bones shall rest
in the earth,
And their spirits shall have much joy,
And they shall know that it is the Lord who executes judgment,
And shows mercy to hundreds and thousands and to all that love Him
- And do thou, Moses, write
down these words; for thus are they written, and they record (them) on the
heavenly tablets for a testimony for the generations for ever.
Isaac at the Well of Vision, 1 (cf. Gen. xxv. 11). Esau
sells his birthright, 2-7 (cf. Gen. xxv.29-34).
[Chapter 24]
- And it came to pass after
the death of Abraham, that the Lord blessed Isaac his son, and he arose from
Hebron and went and dwelt at the Well of the Vision in the first year of the
third week [2073 A.M.] of this jubilee, seven years.
- And in the first year of the
fourth week a famine began in the land, [2080 A.M.] besides the first
famine, which had been in the days of Abraham.
- And Jacob sod lentil
pottage, and Esau came from the field hungry. And he said to Jacob his
brother: 'Give me of this red pottage.' And Jacob said to him: 'Sell to me
thy [primogeniture, this] birthright and I will give thee bread, and also
some of this lentil pottage.'
- And Esau said in his heart:
'I shall die; of what profit to me is this birthright?
- 'And he said to Jacob: 'I
give it to thee.' And Jacob said: 'Swear to me, this day,' and he sware unto
him.
- And Jacob gave his brother
Esau bread and pottage, and he eat till he was satisfied, and Esau despised
his birthright; for this reason was Esau's name called Edom, on account of
the red pottage which Jacob gave him for his birthright.
- And Jacob became the elder,
and Esau was brought down from his dignity.
- And the famine was over the
land, and Isaac departed to go down into Egypt in the second year of this
week, and went to the king of the Philistines to Gerar, unto Abimelech.
- And the Lord appeared unto
him and said unto him: 'Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land that I
shall tell thee of, and sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee and
bless thee.
- For to thee and to thy seed
will I give all this land, and I will establish My oath which I sware unto
Abraham thy father, and I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and
will give unto thy seed all this land.
- And in thy seed shall all
the nations of the earth be blessed, because thy father obeyed My voice, and
kept My charge and My commandments, and My laws, and My ordinances, and My
covenant; and now obey My voice and dwell in this land.'
- And he dwelt in Gelar three
weeks of years.
- And Abimelech charged
concerning him, [2080-2101 A.M.] and concerning all that was his, saying:
'Any man that shall touch him or aught that is his shall surely die.'
- And Isaac waxed strong among
the Philistines, and he got many possessions, oxen and sheep and camels and
asses and a great household.
- And he sowed in the land of
the Philistines and brought in a hundred-fold, and Isaac became exceedingly
great, and the Philistines envied him.
- Now all the wells which the
servants of Abraham had dug during the life of Abraham, the Philistines had
stopped them after the death of Abraham, and filled them with earth.
- And Abimelech said unto
Isaac: 'Go from us, for thou art much mightier than we', and Isaac departed
thence in the first year of the seventh week, and sojourned in the valleys
of Gerar.
- And they digged again the
wells of water which the servants of Abraham, his father, had digged, and
which the Philistines had closed after the death of Abraham his father, and
he called their names as Abraham his father had named them.
- And the servants of Isaac
dug a well in the valley, and found living water, and the shepherds of Gerar
strove with the shepherds of Isaac, saying: 'The water is ours'; and Isaac
called the name of the well 'Perversity', because they had been perverse
with us.
- And they dug a second well,
and they strove for that also, and he called its name 'Enmity'. And he arose
from thence and they digged another well, and for that they strove not, and
he called the name of it 'Room', and Isaac said: 'Now the Lord hath made
room for us, and we have increased in the land.'
- And he went up from thence
to the Well of the Oath in the first year of the first week in the [2108
A.M.] forty-fourth jubilee.
- And the Lord appeared to him
that night, on the new moon of the first month, and said unto him: 'I am the
God of Abraham thy father; fear not, for I am with thee, and shall bless
thee and shall surely multiply thy seed as the sand of the earth, for the
sake of Abraham my servant.'
- And he built an altar there,
which Abraham his father had first built, and he called upon the name of the
Lord, and he offered sacrifice to the God of Abraham his father.
- And they digged a well and
they found living water.
- And the servants of Isaac
digged another well and did not find water, and they went and told Isaac
that they had not found water, and Isaac said: 'I have sworn this day to the
Philistines and this thing has been announced to us.'
- And he called the name of
that place the Well of the Oath; for there he had sworn to Abimelech and
Ahuzzath his friend and Phicol the prefect Or his host.
- And Isaac knew that day that
under constraint he had sworn to them to make peace with them.
- And Isaac on that day cursed
the Philistines and said: 'Cursed be the Philistines unto the day of wrath
and indignation from the midst of all nations; may God make them a derision
and a curse and an object of wrath and indignation in the hands of the
sinners the Gentiles and in the hands of the Kittim.
- And whoever escapes the
sword of the enemy and the Kittim, may the righteous nation root out in
judgment from under heaven; for they shall be the enemies and foes of my
children throughout their generations upon the earth.
- And no remnant shall be left
to them,
Nor one that shall be saved on the day of the wrath of judgment;
For destruction and rooting out and expulsion from the earth is the whole
seed of the Philistines (reserved),
And there shall no longer be left for these Caphtorim a name or a seed on
the earth.
- For though he ascend unto
heaven,
Thence shall he be brought down,
And though he make himself strong on earth,
Thence shall he be dragged forth,
And though he hide himself amongst the nations,
Even from thence shall he be rooted out;
And though he descend into Sheol,
There also shall his condemnation be great,
And there also he shall have no peace.
- And if he go into captivity,
By the hands of those that seek his life shall they slay him on the way,
And neither name nor seed shall be left to him on all the earth;
For into eternal malediction shall he depart.'
- And thus is it written and
engraved concerning him on the heavenly tablets, to do unto him on the day
of judgment, so that he may be rooted out of the earth.
Rebecca admonished Jacob not to marry a Canaanitish
woman, 1-3. Jacob promises to marry a daughter of Laban despite the urgent
requests of Esau that he should marry a Canaanitish woman, 4-10. Rebecca
blessees Jacob, 11-23. (Cf. Gen. xxviii.1-4.)
[Chapter 25]
- And in the second year of
this week in this jubilee, Rebecca called Jacob her son, and spake unto
[2109 A.M.] him, saying: 'My son, do not take thee a wife of the daughters
of Canaan, as Esau, thy brother, who took him two wives of the daughters of
Canaan, and they have embittered my soul with all their unclean deeds: for
all their deeds are fornication and lust, and there is no righteousness with
them, for (their deeds) are evil.
- And I, my son, love thee
exceedingly, and my heart and my affection bless thee every hour of the day
and watch of the night.
- And now, my son, hearken to
my voice, and do the will of thy mother, and do not take thee a wife of the
daughters of this land, but only of the house of my father, and of my
father's kindred. Thou shalt take thee a wife of the house of my father, and
the Most High God will bless thee, and thy children shall be a righteous
generation and a holy seed.'
- And then spake Jacob to
Rebecca, his mother, and said unto her: 'Behold, mother, I am nine weeks of
years old, and I neither know nor have I touched any woman, nor have I
betrothed myself to any, nor even think of taking me a wife of the daughters
of Canaan.
- For I remember, mother, the
words of Abraham, our father, for he commanded me not to take a wife of the
daughters of Canaan, but to take me a wife from the seed of my father's
house and from my kindred.
- I have heard before that
daughters have been born to Laban, thy brother, and I have set my heart on
them to take a wife from amongst them.
- And for this reason I have
guarded myself in my spirit against sinning or being corrupted in all my
ways throughout all the days of my life; for with regard to lust and
fornication, Abraham, my father, gave me many commands.
- And, despite all that he has
commanded me, these two and twenty years my brother has striven with me, and
spoken frequently to me and said: 'My brother, take to wife a sister of my
two wives'; but I refuse to do as he has done.
- I swear before thee, mother,
that all the days of my life I will not take me a wife from the daughters of
the seed of Canaan, and I will not act wickedly as my brother has done.
- Fear not, mother; be assured
that I shall do thy will and walk in uprightness, and not corrupt my ways
for ever.'
- And thereupon she lifted up
her face to heaven and extended the fingers of her hands, and opened her
mouth and blessed the Most High God, who had created the heaven and the
earth, and she gave Him thanks and praise.
- And she said: 'Blessed be
the Lord God, and may His holy name be blessed for ever and ever, who has
given me Jacob as a pure son and a holy seed; for he is Thine, and Thine
shall his seed be continually and throughout all the generations for
evermore.
- Bless him, O Lord, and place
in my mouth the blessing of righteousness, that I may bless him.'
- And at that hour, when the
spirit of righteousness descended into her mouth, she placed both her hands
on the head of Jacob, and said:
- Blessed art thou, Lord of
righteousness and God of the ages
And may He bless thee beyond all the generations of men.
May He give thee, my Son, the path of righteousness,
And reveal righteousness to thy seed.
- And may He make thy sons
many during thy life,
And may they arise according to the number of the months of the year.
And may their sons become many and great beyond the stars of heaven,
And their numbers be more than the sand of the sea.
- And may He give them this
goodly land -as He said He would give it to Abraham and to his seed after
him alway-
And may they hold it as a possession for ever.
- And may I see (born) unto
thee, my son, blessed children during my life,
And a blessed and holy seed may all thy seed be.
- And as thou hast refreshed
thy mother's spirit during her life,
The womb of her that bare thee blesses thee thus,
[My affection] and my breasts bless thee
And my mouth and my tongue praise thee greatly.
- Increase and spread over the
earth,
And may thy seed be perfect in the joy of heaven and earth for ever;
And may thy seed rejoice,
And on the great day of peace may it have peace.
- And may thy name and thy
seed endure to all the ages,
And may the Most High God be their God,
And may the God of righteousness dwell with them,
And by them may His sanctuary be built unto all the ages.
- Blessed be he that blesseth
thee,
And all flesh that curseth thee falsely, may it be cursed.'
- And she kissed him, and said
to him;
'May the Lord of the world love thee
As the heart of thy mother and her affection rejoice in thee and bless
thee.'
And she ceased from blessing.
Isaac scuds Esau for venison, 1-4. Rebecca instructs
Jacob to obtain the blessing, 5-9. Jacob under the person of Esau obtains it,
10-24. Esau brings in his venison and by his importunity obtains a blessing,
25-34. Threatens Jacob, 35. (Cf. Gen.xxvii.)
[Chapter 26]
- And in the seventh year of
this week Isaac called Esau, his elder Son, and said unto him: ' I am [2114
A.M.] old, my son, and behold my eyes are dim in seeing, and I know not the
day of my death.
- And now take thy hunting
weapons thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field, and hunt and catch
me (venison), my son, and make me savoury meat, such as my soul loveth, and
bring it to me that I may eat, and that my soul may bless thee before I
die.'
- But Rebecca heard Isaac
speaking to Esau.
- And Esau went forth early to
the field to hunt and catch and bring home to his father.
- And Rebecca called Jacob, her
son, and said unto him: 'Behold, I heard Isaac, thy father, speak unto Esau,
thy brother, saying: "Hunt for me, and make me savoury meat, and bring
(it) to me that
- I may eat and bless thee
before the Lord before I die." And now, my son, obey my voice in that
which I command thee: Go to thy flock and fetch me two good kids of the
goats, and I will make them savoury meat for thy father, such as he loves,
and thou shalt bring (it) to thy father that he may eat and bless thee
before the Lord before he die, and that thou mayst be blessed.'
- And Jacob said to Rebecca his
mother: 'Mother, I shall not withhold anything which my father would eat,
and which would please him: only I fear, my mother, that he will recognise
my voice and wish to touch me.
- And thou knowest that I am
smooth, and Esau, my brother, is hairy, and I shall appear before his eyes
as an evildoer, and shall do a deed which he had not commanded me, and he
will be wroth with me, and I shall bring upon myself a curse, and not a
blessing.'
- And Rebecca, his mother, said
unto him: 'Upon me be thy curse, my son, only obey my voice.'
- And Jacob obeyed the voice of
Rebecca, his mother, and went and fetched two good and fat kids of the
goats, and brought them to his mother, and his mother made them ~savoury
meat~ such as he loved.
- And Rebecca took the goodly
rainment of Esau, her elder son, which was with her in the house, and she
clothed Jacob, her younger son, (with them), and she put the skins of the
kids upon his hands and on the exposed parts of his neck.
- And she gave the meat and the
bread which she had prepared into the hand of her son Jacob.
- And Jacob went in to his
father and said: 'I am thy son: I have done according as thou badest me:
arise and sit and eat of that which I have caught, father, that thy soul may
bless me.'
- And Isaac said to his son:
'How hast thou found so quickly, my son?
- 'And Jacob said: 'Because
<the Lord> thy God caused me to find.'
- And Isaac said unto him: Come
near, that I may feel thee, my son, if thou art my son Esau or not.'
- And Jacob went near to Isaac,
his father, and he felt him and said: 'The voice is Jacob's voice, but the
hands are the hands of Esau,'
- and he discerned him not,
because it was a dispensation from heaven to remove his power of perception
and Isaac discerned not, for his hands were hairy as his brother Esau's, so
that he blessed him.
- And he said: 'Art thou my son
Esau? ' and he said: 'I am thy son': and he said, 'Bring near to me that I
may eat of that which thou hast caught, my son, that my soul may bless
thee.'
- And he brought near to him,
and he did eat, and he brought him wine and he drank.
- And Isaac, his father, said
unto him: 'Come near and kiss me, my son.
- And he came near and kissed
him. And he smelled the smell of his raiment, and he blessed him and said:
'Behold, the smell of my son is as the smell of a <full> field which
the Lord hath blessed.
- And may the Lord give thee of
the dew of heaven
And of the dew of the earth, and plenty of corn and oil:
Let nations serve thee,
And peoples bow down to thee.
- Be lord over thy brethren,
And let thy mother's sons bow down to thee;
And may all the blessings wherewith the Lord hath
blessed me and blessed Abraham, my father;
Be imparted to thee and to thy seed for ever:
Cursed be he that curseth thee,
And blessed be he that blesseth thee.'
- And it came to pass as soon
as Isaac had made an end of blessing his son Jacob, and Jacob had gone forth
from Isaac his father he hid himself and Esau, his brother, came in from his
hunting.
- And he also made savoury
meat, and brought (it) to his father, and said unto his father: 'Let my
father arise, and eat of my venison that thy soul may bless me.'
- And Isaac, his father, said
unto him: 'Who art thou? 'And he said unto him: 'I am thy first born, thy
son Esau: I have done as thou hast commanded me.'
- And Isaac was very greatly
astonished, and said: 'Who is he that hath hunted and caught and brought
(it) to me, and I have eaten of all before thou camest, and have blessed
him: (and) he shall be blessed, and all his seed for ever.'
- And it came to pass when Esau
heard the words of his father Isaac that he cried with an exceeding great
and bitter cry, and said unto his father: 'Bless me, (even) me also,
father.'
- And he said unto him: 'Thy
brother came with guile, and hath taken away thy blessing.' And he said:
'Now I know why his name is named Jacob: behold, he hath supplanted me these
two times: he took away my birth-right, and now he hath taken away my
blessing.'
- And he said: 'Hast thou not
reserved a blessing for me, father?' and Isaac answered and said unto Esau:
'Behold, I have made him thy lord,
And all his brethren have I given to him for servants,
And with plenty of corn and wine and oil have I strengthened him:
And what now shall I do for thee, my son?'
- And Esau said to Isaac, his
father:
'Hast thou but one blessing, O father?
Bless me, (even) me also, father: '
- And Esau lifted up his voice
and wept. And Isaac answered and said unto him:
'Behold, far from the dew of the earth shall be thy
dwelling,
And far from the dew of heaven from above.
- And by thy sword wilt thou
live,
And thou wilt serve thy brother.
And it shall come to pass when thou becomest great,
And dost shake his yoke from off thy neck,
Thou shalt sin a complete sin unto death,
And thy seed shall be rooted out from under heaven.'
- And Esau kept threatening
Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him, and he: said
in his heart: 'May the days of mourning for my father now come, so that I
may slay my brother Jacob.'
Rebecca alarmed at Esau's threats prevails on Isaac to
send Jacob to Mesopotamia, 1-12. Isaac comforts Rebecca on the departure of
Jacob, 13-18. Jacob's dream and vow at Bethel, 19-27. (Cf. Gen. xxviii.)
[Chapter 27]
- And the words of Esau, her
elder son, were told to Rebecca in a dream, and Rebecca sent and called
Jacob her younger son,
- and said unto him: 'Behold
Esau thy brother will take vengeance on thee so as to kill thee.
- Now, therefore, my son, obey
my voice, and arise and flee thou to Laban, my brother, to Haran, and tarry
with him a few days until thy brother's anger turns away, and he remove his
anger from thee, and forget all that thou hast done; then I will send and
fetch thee from thence.'
- And Jacob said: 'I am not
afraid; if he wishes to kill me, I will kill him.'
- But she said unto him: 'Let
me not be bereft of both my sons on one day.'
- And Jacob said to Rebecca
his mother: 'Behold, thou knowest that my father has become old, and does
not see because his eyes are dull, and if I leave him it will be evil in his
eyes, because I leave him and go away from you, and my father will be angry,
and will curse me. I will not go; when he sends me, then only will I go.'
- And Rebecca said to Jacob:
'I will go in and speak to him, and he will send thee away.'
- And Rebecca went in and said
to Isaac: 'I loathe my life because of the two daughters of Heth, whom Esau
has taken him as wives; and if Jacob take a wife from among the daughters of
the land such as these, for what purpose do I further live, for the
daughters of Canaan are evil.'
- And Isaac called Jacob and
blessed him, and admonished him and said unto him: 'Do not take thee a wife
of any of the daughters of Canaan;
- arise and go to Mesopotamia,
to the house of Bethuel, thy mother's father, and take thee a wife from
thence of the daughters of Laban, thy mother's brother.
- And God Almighty bless thee
and increase and multiply thee that thou mayest become a company of nations,
and give thee the blessings of my father Abraham, to thee and to thy seed
after thee, that thou mayest inherit the land of thy sojournings and all the
land which God gave to Abraham: go, my son, in peace.'
- And Isaac sent Jacob away,
and he went to Mesopotamia, to Laban the son of Bethuel the Syrian, the
brother of Rebecca, Jacob's mother.
- And it came to pass after
Jacob had arisen to go to Mesopotamia that the spirit of Rebecca was grieved
after her son, and she wept.
- And Isaac said to Rebecca:
'My sister, weep not on account of Jacob, my son; for he goeth in peace, and
in peace will he return.
- The Most High God will
preserve him from all evil, and will be with him; for He will not forsake
him all his days;
- For I know that his ways
will be prospered in all things wherever he goes, until he return in peace
to us, and we see him in peace.
- Fear not on his account, my
sister, for he is on the upright path and he is a perfect man: and he is
faithful and will not perish. Weep not.'
- And Isaac comforted Rebecca
on account of her son Jacob, and blessed him.
- And Jacob went from the Well
of the Oath to go to Haran on the first year of the second week in the
forty-fourth jubilee, and he came to Luz on the mountains, that is, Bethel,
on the new moon of the first month of this week, [2115 A.M.] and he came to
the place at even and turned from the way to the west of the road that
night: and he slept there; for the sun had set.
- And he took one of the
stones of that place and laid <it at his head> under the tree, and he
was journeying alone, and he slept.
- And he dreamt that night,
and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to
heaven, and behold, the angels of the Lord ascended and descended on it: and
behold, the Lord stood upon it.
- And he spake to Jacob and
said: 'I am the Lord God of Abraham, thy father, and the God of Isaac; the
land whereon thou art sleeping, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed
after thee.
- And thy seed shall be as the
dust of the earth, and thou shalt increase to the west and to the east, to
the north and the south, and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families
of the nations be blessed.
- And behold, I will be with
thee, and will keep thee whithersoever thou goest, and I will bring thee
again into this land in peace; for I will not leave thee until I do
everything that I told thee of.'
- And Jacob awoke from his
sleep, and said, 'Truly this place is the house of the Lord, and I knew it
not.' And he was afraid and said: 'Dreadful is this place which is none
other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.'
- And Jacob arose early in the
morning, and took the stone which he had put under his head and set it up as
a pillar for a sign, and he poured oil upon the top of it. And he called the
name of that place Bethel; but the name of the place was Luz at the first.
- And Jacob vowed a vow unto
the Lord, saying: 'If the Lord will be with me, and will keep me in this way
that I go, and give me bread to eat and raiment to put on, so that I come
again to my father's house in peace, then shall the Lord be my God, and this
stone which I have set up as a pillar for a sign in this place, shall be the
Lord's house, and of all that thou givest me, I shall give the tenth to
thee, my God.'
Jacob marries leah and Rachel, 1-10. His children by
Leah and Rachel and by their handmaids, 11-24. Jacob seeks to leave Laban, 25:
but stays on at a certain wage, 26-8. Jacob becomes rich, 29-30. (Cf. Gen.
xxix.1, 17, 18, 21-35; xxx.1-13,17-22, 24, 25, 28, 32, 39, 43; xxxi.1, 2.)
[Chapter 28]
- And he went on his journey,
and came to the land of the east, to Laban, the brother of Rebecca, and he
was with him, and served him for Rachel his daughter one week.
- And in the first year of the
third week [2122 A.M.] he said unto him: 'Give me my wife, for whom I have
served thee seven years '; and Laban said unto Jacob: 'I will give thee thy
wife.'
- And Laban made a feast, and
took Leah his elder daughter, and gave (her) to Jacob as a wife, and gave
her Zilpah his handmaid for an hand- maid; and Jacob did not know, for he
thought that she was Rachel.
- And he went in unto her, and
behold, she was Leah; and Jacob was angry with Laban, and said unto him:
'Why hast thou dealt thus with me? Did not I serve thee for Rachel and not
for Leah? Why hast thou wronged me?
- Take thy daughter, and I
will go; for thou hast done evil to me.' For Jacob loved Rachel more than
Leah; for Leah's eyes were weak, but her form was very handsome; but Rachel
had beautiful eyes and a beautiful and very handsome form.
- And Laban said to Jacob: 'It
is not so done in our country, to give the younger before the elder.' And it
is not right to do this; for thus it is ordained and written in the heavenly
tablets, that no one should give his younger daughter before the elder; but
the elder, one gives first and after her the younger -and the man who does
so, they set down guilt against him in heaven, and none is righteous that
does this thing, for this deed is evil before the Lord.
- And command thou the
children of Israel that they do not this thing; let them neither take nor
give the younger before they have given the elder, for it is very wicked.
- And Laban said to Jacob:
'Let the seven days of the feast of this one pass by, and I shall give thee
Rachel, that thou mayst serve me another seven years, that thou mayst
pasture my sheep as thou didst in the former week.'
- And on the day when the
seven days of the feast of Leah had passed, Laban gave Rachel to Jacob, that
he might serve him another seven years, and he gave to Rachel Bilhah, the
sister of Zilpah, as a handmaid.
- And he served yet other
seven years for Rachel, for Leah had been given to him for nothing.
- And the Lord opened the womb
of Leah, and she conceived and bare Jacob a son, and he called his name
Reuben, on the fourteenth day of the ninth month, in the first year of the
third week. [2122 A.M.]
- But the womb of Rachel was
closed, for the Lord saw that Leah was hated and Rachel loved.
- And again Jacob went in unto
Leah, and she conceived, and bare Jacob a second son, and he called his name
Simeon, on the twenty-first of the tenth month, and in the third year of
this week. [2124 A.M.]
- And again Jacob went in unto
Leah, and she conceived, and bare him a third son, and he called his name
Levi, in the new moon of the first month in the sixth year of this week.
[2127 A.M.]
- And again Jacob went in unto
her, and she conceived, and bare him a fourth son, and he called his name
Judah, on the fifteenth of the third month, in the first year of the fourth
week. [2129 A.M.]
- And on account of all this
Rachel envied Leah, for she did not bear, and she said to Jacob: 'Give me
children'; and Jacob said: 'Have I withheld from thee the fruits of thy
womb? Have I forsaken thee?'
- And when Rachel saw that
Leah had borne four sons to Jacob, Reuben and Simeon and Levi and Judah, she
said unto him: 'Go in unto Bilhah my handmaid, and she will conceive, and
bear a son unto me.' (And she gave (him) Bilhah her handmaid to wife).
- And he went in unto her, and
she conceived, and bare him a son, and he called his name Dan, on the ninth
of the sixth month, in the sixth year of the third week. [2127 A.M.]
- And Jacob went in again unto
Bilhah a second time, and she conceived, and bare Jacob another son, and
Rachel called his name Napthali, on the fifth of the seventh month, in the
second year of the fourth week. [2130 A.M.]
- And when Leah saw that she
had become sterile and did not bear, she envied Rachel, and she also gave
her handmaid Zilpah to Jacob to wife, and she conceived, and bare a son, and
Leah called his name Gad, on the twelfth of the eighth month, in the third
year of the fourth week. [2131 A.M.]
- And he went in again unto
her, and she conceived, and bare him a second son, and Leah called his name
Asher, on the second of the eleventh month, in the fifth year of the fourth
week. [2133 A.M.]
- And Jacob went in unto Leah,
and she conceived, and bare a son, and she called his name Issachar, on the
fourth of the fifth month, in the fourth year of the fourth week,[2132 A.M.]
and she gave him to a nurse.
- And Jacob went in again unto
her, and she conceived, and bare two (children), a son and a daughter, and
she called the name of the son Zabulon, and the name of the daughter Dinah,
in the seventh of the seventh month, in the sixth year of the fourth week.
[2134 A.M.]
- And the Lord was gracious to
Rachel, and opened her womb, and she conceived, and bare a son, and she
called his name Joseph, on the new moon of the fourth month, in the sixth
year in this fourth week. [2134 A.M.]
- And in the days when Joseph
was born, Jacob said to Laban: 'Give me my wives and sons, and let me go to
my father Isaac, and let me make me an house; for I have completed the years
in which I have served thee for thy two daughters, and I will go to the
house of my father.'
- And Laban said to Jacob:
'Tarry with me for thy wages, and pasture my flock for me again, and take
thy wages.'
- And they agreed with one
another that he should give him as his wages those of the lambs and kids
which were born black and spotted and white, (these) were to be his wages.
- And all the sheep brought
forth spotted and speckled and black, variously marked, and they brought
forth again lambs like themselves, and all that were spotted were Jacob's
and those which were not were Laban's.
- And Jacob's possessions
multiplied exceedingly, and he possessed oxen and sheep and asses and
camels, and menservants and maid-servants.
- And Laban and his sons
envied Jacob, and Laban took back his sheep from him, and he observed him
with evil intent.
Jacob, departs secretly, 1-4. Laban pursues after him,
5-6. Covenant of Jacob and Laban, 7-8. Abodes of the Amorites (anciently of the
Rephaim) destroyed in the time of the writer, 9-11. Laban departs, 12. Jacob is
reconciled to Esau, 13. Jacob sends supplies of food to his parents four times a
year to Hebron, 14-17, 19-20. Esau marries again, 18. (Cf. Gen. xxxi.3, 4, 10,
13, 19, 21, 23, 24, 46, 47; xxxii.22; xxxiii.10, 16.)
[Chapter 29]
- And it came to pass when
Rachel had borne Joseph, that Laban went to shear his sheep; for they were
distant from him a three days' journey.
- And Jacob saw that Laban was
going to shear his sheep, and Jacob called Leah and Rachel, and spake kindly
unto them that they should come with him to the land of Canaan.
- For he told them how he had
seen everything in a dream, even all that He had spoken unto him that he
should return to his father's house, and they said: 'To every place whither
thou goest we will go with thee.'
- And Jacob blessed the God of
Isaac his father, and the God of Abraham his father's father, and he arose
and mounted his wives and his children, and took all his possessions and
crossed the river, and came to the land of Gilead, and Jacob hid his
intention from Laban and told him not.
- And in the seventh year of
the fourth week Jacob turned (his face) toward Gilead in the first month, on
the twenty-first thereof. [2135 A.M.] And Laban pursued after him and
overtook Jacob in the mountain of Gilead in the third month, on the
thirteenth thereof.
- And the Lord did not suffer
him to injure Jacob; for he appeared to him in a dream by night. And Laban
spake to Jacob.
- And on the fifteenth of
those days Jacob made a feast for Laban, and for all who came with him, and
Jacob sware to Laban that day, and Laban also to Jacob, that neither should
cross the mountain of Gilead to the other with evil purpose.
- And he made there a heap for
a witness; wherefore the name of that place is called: 'The Heap of
Witness,' after this heap.
- But before they used to call
the land of Gilead the land of the Rephaim; for it was the land of the
Rephaim, and the Rephaim were born (there), giants whose height was ten,
nine, eight down to seven cubits.
- And their habitation was
from the land of the children of Ammon to Mount Hermon, and the seats of
their kingdom were Karnaim and Ashtaroth, and Edrei, and Misur, and Beon.
- And the Lord destroyed them
because of the evil of their deeds; for they were very malignant, and the
Amorites dwelt in their stead, wicked and sinful, and there is no people
to-day which has wrought to the full all their sins, and they have no longer
length of life on the earth.
- And Jacob sent away Laban,
and he departed into Mesopotamia, the land of the East, and Jacob returned
to the land of Gilead.
- And he passed over the
Jabbok in the ninth month, on the eleventh thereof. And on that day Esau,
his brother, came to him, and he was reconciled to him, and departed from
him unto the land of Seir, but Jacob dwelt in tents.
- And in the first year of the
fifth week in this jubilee [2136 A.M.] he crossed the Jordan, and dwelt
beyond the Jordan, and he pastured his sheep from the sea of the heap unto
Bethshan, and unto Dothan and unto the forest of Akrabbim.
- And he sent to his father
Isaac of all his substance, clothing, and food, and meat, and drink, and
milk, and butter, and cheese, and some dates of the valley.
- And to his mother Rebecca
also four times a year, between the times of the months, between ploughing
and reaping, and between autumn and the rain (season) and between winter and
spring, to the tower of Abraham.
- For Isaac had returned from
the Well of the Oath and gone up to the tower of his father Abraham, and he
dwelt there apart from his son Esau.
- For in the days when Jacob
went to Mesopotamia, Esau took to himself a wife Mahalath, the daughter of
Ishmael, and he gathered together all the flocks of his father and his
wives, and went Up and dwelt on Mount Seir, and left Isaac his father at the
Well of the Oath alone.
- And Isaac went up from the
Well of the Oath and dwelt in the tower of Abraham his father on the
mountains of Hebron,
- And thither Jacob sent all
that he did send to his father and his mother from time to time, all they
needed, and they blessed Jacob with all their heart and with all their soul.
Dinah ravished, 1-3. Slaughter of the Shechemites, 4-6.
Laws against intermarriage between Israel and the heathen, 7-17. Levi chosen for
the priesthood on account of his slaughter of the Shechemites, 18-23. Dinah
recovered, 24. Jacob's reproof, 25-6. (Cf. Gen. xxxiii.18, xxxiv.2, 4, 7, 13-14,
25-30, xxxv.5.)
[Chapter 30]
- And in the first year of the
sixth week [2143 A.M.] he went up to Salem, to the east of Shechem, in
peace, in the fourth month.
- And there they carried off
Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, into the house of Shechem, the son of Hamor,
the Hivite, the prince of the land, and he lay with her and defiled her, and
she was a little girl, a child of twelve years.
- And he besought his father
and her brothers that she might be given to him to wife. And Jacob and his
sons were wroth because of the men of Shechem; for they had defiled Dinah,
their sister, and they spake to them with evil intent and dealt deceitfully
with them and beguiled them.
- And Simeon and Levi came
unexpectedly to Shechem and executed judgment on all the men of Shechem, and
slew all the men whom they found in it, and left not a single one remaining
in it: they slew all in torments because they had dishonoured their sister
Dinah.
- And thus let it not again be
done from henceforth that a daughter of Israel be defiled; for judgment is
ordained in heaven against them that they should destroy with the sword all
the men of the Shechemites because they had wrought shame in Israel.
- And the Lord delivered them
into the hands of the sons of Jacob that they might exterminate them with
the sword and execute judgment upon them, and that it might not thus again
be done in Israel that a virgin of Israel should be defiled.
- And if there is any man who
wishes in Israel to give his daughter or his sister to any man who is of the
seed of the Gentiles he shall surely die, and they shall stone him with
stones; for he hath wrought shame in Israel; and they shall burn the woman
with fire, because she has dishonoured the name of the house of her father,
and she shall be rooted out of Israel.
- And let not an adulteress and
no uncleanness be found in Israel throughout all the days of the generations
of the earth; for Israel is holy unto the Lord, and every man who has
defiled (it) shall surely die: they shall stone him with stones.
- For thus has it been ordained
and written in the heavenly tablets regarding all the seed of Israel: he who
defileth (it) shall surely die, and he shall be stoned with stones.
- And to this law there is no
limit of days, and no remission, nor any atonement: but the man who has
defiled his daughter shall be rooted out in the midst of all Israel, because
he has given of his seed to Moloch, and wrought impiously so as to defile
it.
- And do thou, Moses, command
the children of Israel and exhort them not to give their daughters to the
Gentiles, and not to take for their sons any of the daughters of the
Gentiles, for this is abominable before the Lord.
- For this reason I have
written for thee in the words of the Law all the deeds of the Shechemites,
which they wrought against Dinah, and how the sons of Jacob spake, saying:
'We will not give our daughter to a man who is uncircumcised; for that were
a reproach unto us.'
- And it is a reproach to
Israel, to those who live, and to those that take the daughters of the
Gentiles; for this is unclean and abominable to Israel.
- And Israel will not be free
from this uncleanness if it has a wife of the daughters of the Gentiles, or
has given any of its daughters to a man who is of any of the Gentiles.
- For there will be plague upon
plague, and curse upon curse, and every judgment and plague and curse will
come upon him: if he do this thing, or hide his eyes from those who
commit uncleanness, or those who defile the sanctuary of the Lord, or those
who profane His holy name, (then) will the whole nation together be judged
for all the uncleanness and profanation of this man.
- And there will be no respect
of persons [and no consideration of persons] and no receiving at his hands
of fruits and offerings and burnt-offerings and fat, nor the fragrance of
sweet savour, so as to accept it: and so fare every man or woman in Israel
who defiles the sanctuary.
- For this reason I have
commanded thee, saying: 'Testify this testimony to Israel: see how the
Shechemites fared and their sons: how they were delivered into the hands of
two sons of Jacob, and they slew them under tortures, and it was (reckoned)
unto them for righteousness, and it is written down to them for
righteousness.
- And the seed of Levi was
chosen for the priesthood, and to be Levites, that they might minister
before the Lord, as we, continually, and that Levi and his sons may be
blessed for ever; for he was zealous to execute righteousness and judgment
and vengeance on all those who arose against Israel.
- And so they inscribe as a
testimony in his favour on the heavenly tablets blessing and righteousness
before the God of all:
- And we remember the
righteousness which the man fulfilled during his life, at all periods of the
year; until a thousand generations they will record it, and it will come to
him and to his descendants after him, and he has been recorded on the
heavenly tablets as a friend and a righteous man.
- All this account I have
written for thee, and have commanded thee to say to the children of Israel,
that they should not commit sin nor transgress the ordinances nor break the
covenant which has been ordained for them, (but) that they should fulfil it
and be recorded as friends.
- But if they transgress and
work uncleanness in every way, they will be recorded on the heavenly tablets
as adversaries, and they will be destroyed out of the book of life, and they
will be recorded in the book of those who will be destroyed and with those
who will be rooted out of the earth.
- And on the day when the sons
of Jacob slew Shechem a writing was recorded in their favour in heaven that
they had executed righteousness and uprightness and vengeance on the
sinners, and it was written for a blessing.
- And they brought Dinah, their
sister, out of the house of Shechem, and they took captive everything that
was in Shechem, their sheep and their oxen and their asses, and all their
wealth, and all their flocks, and brought them all to Jacob their father.
- And he reproached them
because they had put the city to the sword for he feared those who dwelt in
the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites.
- And the dread of the Lord was
upon all the cities which are around about Shechem, and they did not rise to
pursue after the sons of Jacob; for terror had fallen upon them.
Jacob goes to Bethel to offer sacrifice, 1-3 (cf. Gen.
xxxv.2-4, 7, 14). Isaac blesses Levi, 4-17, and Judah, 18-22. Jacob recounts to
Isaac how God prospered him, 24. Jacob goes to Bethel with Rebecca and Deborah,
26-30. Jacob blesses the God of his fathers, 31-2.
[Chapter 31]
- And on the new moon of the
month Jacob spake to all the people of his house. saying: 'Purify yourselves
and change your garments, and let us arise and go up to Bethel, where I
vowed a vow to Him on the day when I fled from the face of Esau my brother,
because he has been with me and brought me into this land in peace, and put
ye away the strange gods that arc among you.'
- And they gave up the strange
gods and that which was in their ears and which was on their necks and the
idols which Rachel stole from Laban her father she gave wholly to Jacob. And
he burnt and brake them to pieces and destroyed them, and hid them under an
oak which is in the land of Shechem.
- And he went up on the new
moon of the seventh month to Bethel. And he built an altar at the place
where he had slept, and he set up a pillar there, and he sent word to his
father Isaac to come to him to his sacrifice, and to his mother Rebecca.
- And Isaac said: 'Let my son
Jacob come, and let me see him before I die.'
- And Jacob went to his father
Isaac and to his mother Rebecca, to the house of his father Abraham, and he
took two of his sons with him, Levi and Judah, and he came to his father
Isaac and to his mother Rebecca.
- And Rebecca came forth from
the tower to the front of it to kiss Jacob and embrace him; for her spirit
had revived when she heard: 'Behold Jacob thy son has come'; and she kissed
him.
- And she saw his two sons,
and she recognised them, and said unto him: 'Are these thy sons, my son?'
and she embraced them and kissed them, and blessed them, saying: 'In you
shall the seed of Abraham become illustrious, and ye shall prove a blessing
on the earth.'
- And Jacob went in to Isaac
his father, to the chamber where he lay, and his two sons were with him, and
he took the hand of his father, and stooping down he kissed him, and Isaac
clung to the neck of Jacob his son, and wept upon his neck.
- And the darkness left the
eyes of Isaac, and he saw the two sons of Jacob, Levi, and Judah, and he
said: 'Are these thy sons, my son? for they are like thee.'
- And he said unto him that
they were truly his sons: 'And thou hast truly seen that they are truly my
sons'.
- And they came near to him,
and he turned and kissed them and embraced them both together.
- And the spirit of prophecy
came down into his mouth, and he took Levi by his right hand and Judah by
his left.
- And he turned to Levi first,
and began to bless him first, and said unto him: May the God of all, the
very Lord of all the ages, bless thee and thy children throughout all the
ages.
- And may the Lord give to
thee and to thy seed greatness and great glory, and cause thee and thy seed,
from among all flesh, to approach Him to serve in His sanctuary as the
angels of the presence and as the holy ones. (Even) as they, shall the seed
of thy sons be for glory and greatness and holiness, and may He make them
great unto all the ages.
- And they shall be judges and
princes, and chiefs of all the seed of the sons of Jacob;
They shall speak the word of the Lord in
righteousness,
And they shall judge all His judgments in righteousness.
And they shall declare My ways to Jacob
And My paths to Israel.
The blessing of the Lord shall be given in their
mouths
To bless all the seed of the beloved.
- Thy mother has called thy
name Levi,
And justly has she called thy name;
Thou shalt be joined to the Lord
And be the companion of all the sons of Jacob;
Let His table be thine,
And do thou and thy sons eat thereof;
And may thy table be full unto all generations,
And thy food fail not unto all the ages.
- And let all who hate thee
fall down before thee,
And let all thy adversaries be rooted out and perish;
And blessed be he that blesses thee,
And cursed be every nation that curses thee.'
- And to Judah he said:
'May the Lord give thee strength and power
To tread down all that hate thee;
A prince shalt thou be, thou and one of thy sons, over the sons of Jacob;
May thy name and the name of thy sons go forth and
traverse every land and region.
Then shall the Gentiles fear before thy face,
And all the nations shall quake
[And all the peoples shall quake].
- In thee shall be the help of
Jacob,
And in thee be found the salvation of Israel.
- And when thou sittest on the
throne of honour of thy righteousness
There shall be great peace for all the seed of the sons of the beloved;
Blessed be he that blesseth thee,
And all that hate thee and afflict thee and curse thee
Shall be rooted out and destroyed from the earth and be accursed.'
- And turning he kissed him
again and embraced him, and rejoiced greatly; for he had seen the sons of
Jacob his son in very truth.
- And he went forth from
between his feet and fell down and bowed down to him, and he blessed them
and rested there with Isaac his father that night, and they eat and drank
with joy.
- And he made the two sons of
Jacob sleep, the one on his right hand and the other on his left, and it was
counted to him for righteousness.
- And Jacob told his father
everything during the night, how the Lord had shown him great mercy, and how
he had prospered (him in) all his ways, and protected him from all evil.
- And Isaac blessed the God of
his father Abraham, who had not withdrawn his mercy and his righteousness
from the sons of his servant Isaac.
- And in the morning Jacob
told his father Isaac the vow which he had vowed to the Lord, and the vision
which he had seen, and that he had built an altar, and that everything was
ready for the sacrifice to be made before the Lord as he had vowed, and that
he had come to set him on an ass.
- And Isaac said unto Jacob
his son: 'I am not able to go with thee; for I am old and not able to bear
the way: go, my son, in peace; for I am one hundred and sixty-five years
this day; I am no longer able to journey; set thy mother (on an ass) and let
her go with thee.
- And I know, my son, that
thou hast come on my account, and may this day be blessed on which thou hast
seen me alive, and I also have seen thee, my son.
- Mayest thou prosper and
fulfil the vow which thou hast vowed; and put not off thy vow; for thou
shalt be called to account as touching the vow; now therefore make haste to
perform it, and may He be pleased who has made all things, to whom thou hast
vowed the vow.'
- And he said to Rebecca: 'Go
with Jacob thy son'; and Rebecca went with Jacob her son, and Deborah with
her, and they came to Bethel.
- And Jacob remembered the
prayer with which his father had blessed him and his two sons, Levi and
Judah, and he rejoiced and blessed the God of his fathers, Abraham and
Isaac.
- And he said: 'Now I know
that I have an eternal hope, and my sons also, before the God of all'; and
thus is it ordained concerning the two; and they record it as an eternal
testimony unto them on the heavenly tablets how Isaac blessed them.
Levi's dream at Bethel, 1. Levi chosen to the
priesthood, as the tenth son, 2-3. Jacob celebrates the feast of tabernacles and
offers tithes through Levi: also the second tithe, 4-9. Law of tithes ordained,
10-15. Jacob's visions in which Jacob reads on the heavenly tablets his own
future and that of his descendants, 16-26. Celebrates the eighty day of feast of
tabernacles, 27-9. Death of Deborah, 30. Birth of Benjamin and death of Rachel,
33-4. (Cf. Gen. xxxv.8,10, 11, 13, 16-20.)
[Chapter 32]
- And he abode that night at
Bethel, and Levi dreamed that they had ordained and made him the priest of
the Most High God, him and his sons for ever; and he awoke from his sleep
and blessed the Lord.
- And Jacob rose early in the
morning, on the fourteenth of this month, and he gave a tithe of all that
came with him, both of men and cattle, both of gold and every vessel and
garment, yea, he gave tithes of all.
- And in those days Rachel
became pregnant with her son Benjamin. And Jacob counted his sons from him
upwards and Levi fell to the portion of the Lord, and his father clothed him
in the garments of the priesthood and filled his hands.
- And on the fifteenth of this
month, he brought to the altar fourteen oxen from amongst the cattle, and
twenty-eight rams, and forty-nine sheep, and seven lambs, and twenty-one
kids of the goats as a burnt-offering on the altar of sacrifice, well
pleasing for a sweet savour before God.
- This was his offering, in
consequence of the vow which he had vowed that he would give a tenth, with
their fruit-offerings and their drink- offerings.
- And when the fire had
consumed it, he burnt incense on the fire over the fire, and for a
thank-offering two oxen and four rams and four sheep, four he-goats, and two
sheep of a year old, and two kids of the goats; and thus he did daily for
seven days.
- And he and all his sons and
his men were eating (this) with joy there during seven days and blessing and
thanking the Lord, who had delivered him out of all his tribulation and had
given him his vow.
- And he tithed all the clean
animals, and made a burnt sacrifice, but the unclean animals he gave (not)
to Levi his son, and he gave him all the souls of the men.
- And Levi discharged the
priestly office at Bethel before Jacob his father in preference to his ten
brothers, and he was a priest there, and Jacob gave his vow: thus he tithed
again the tithe to the Lord and sanctified it, and it became holy unto Him.
- And for this reason it is
ordained on the heavenly tablets as a law for the tithing again the tithe to
eat before the Lord from year to year, in the place where it is chosen that
His name should dwell, and to this law there is no limit of days for ever.
- This ordinance is written
that it may be fulfilled from year to year in eating the second tithe before
the Lord in the place where it has been chosen, and nothing shall remain
over from it from this year to the year following.
- For in its year shall the
seed be eaten till the days of the gathering of the seed of the year, and
the wine till the days of the wine, and the oil till the days of its season.
- And all that is left thereof
and becomes old, let it be regarded as polluted: let it be burnt with fire,
for it is unclean.
- And thus let them eat it
together in the sanctuary, and let them not suffer it to become old.
- And all the tithes of the
oxen and sheep shall be holy unto the Lord, and shall belong to his priests,
which they will eat before Him from year to year; for thus is it ordained
and engraven regarding the tithe on the heavenly tablets.
- And on the following night,
on the twenty-second day of this month, Jacob resolved to build that place,
and to surround the court with a wall, and to sanctify it and make it holy
for ever, for himself and his children after him.
- And the Lord appeared to him
by night and blessed him and said unto him: 'Thy name shall not be called
Jacob, but Israel shall they name thy name.'
- And He said unto him again:
'I am the Lord who created the heaven and the earth, and I will increase
thee and multiply thee exceedingly, and kings shall come forth from thee,
and they shall judge everywhere wherever the foot of the sons of men has
trodden.
- And I will give to thy seed
all the earth which is under heaven, and they shall judge all the nations
according to their desires, and after that they shall get possession of the
whole earth and inherit it for ever.'
- And He finished speaking
with him, and He went up from him. and Jacob looked till He had ascended
into heaven.
- And he saw in a vision of
the night, and behold an angel descended from heaven with seven tablets in
his hands, and he gave them to Jacob, and he read them and knew all that was
written therein which would befall him and his sons throughout all the ages.
- And he showed him all that
was written on the tablets, and said unto him: 'Do not build this place, and
do not make it an eternal sanctuary, and do not dwell here; for this is not
the place. Go to the house of Abraham thy father and dwell with Isaac thy
father until the day of the death of thy father.
- For in Egypt thou shalt die
in peace, and in this land thou shalt be buried with honour in the sepulchre
of thy fathers, with Abraham and Isaac.
- Fear not, for as thou hast
seen and read it, thus shall it all be; and do thou write down everything as
thou hast seen and read.'
- And Jacob said: 'Lord, how
can I remember all that I have read and seen? 'And he said unto him: 'I will
bring all things to thy remembrance.'
- And he went up from him, and
he awoke from his sleep, and he remembered everything which he had read and
seen, and he wrote down all the words which he had read and seen.
- And he celebrated there yet
another day, and he sacrificed thereon according to all that he sacrificed
on the former days, and called its name 'Addition,' for this day was added
and the former days he called 'The Feast '.
- And thus it was manifested
that it should be, and it is written on the heavenly tablets: wherefore it
was revealed to him that he should celebrate it, and add it to the seven
days of the feast.
- And its name was called
'Addition,' because that it was recorded amongst the days of the feast days,
according to the number of the days of the year.
- And in the night, on the
twenty-third of this month, Deborah Rebecca's nurse died, and they buried
her beneath the city under the oak of the river, and he called the name of
this place, 'The river of Deborah,' and the oak, 'The oak of the mourning of
Deborah.'
- And Rebecca went and
returned to her house to his father Isaac, and Jacob sent by her hand rams
and sheep and he-goats that she should prepare a meal for his father such as
he desired.
- And he went after his mother
till he came to the land of Kabratan, and he dwelt there.
- And Rachel bare a son in the
night, and called his name 'Son of my sorrow '; for she suffered in giving
him birth: but his father called his name Benjamin, on the eleventh of the
eighth month in the first of the sixth week of this jubilee. [2143 A.M.]
- And Rachel died there and
she was buried in the land of Ephrath, the same is Bethlehem, and Jacob
built a pillar on the grave of Rachel, on the road above her grave.
Reuben sins with Bilhah, 1-9 (cf. Gen. xxxv.21, 22).
Laws regarding incest, 10-20. Jacob's children, 22. (Cf. Gen. xxxv.23-7.)
[Chapter 33]
- And Jacob went and dwelt to
the south of Magdaladra'ef. And he went to his father Isaac, he and Leah his
wife, on the new moon of the tenth month.
- And Reuben saw Bilhah,
Rachel's maid, the concubine of his father, bathing in water in a secret
place, and he loved her.
- And he hid himself at night,
and he entered the house of Bilhah [at night], and he found her sleeping
alone on a bed in her house.
- And he lay with her, and she
awoke and saw, and behold Reuben was lying with her in the bed, and she
uncovered the border of her covering and seized him, and cried out, and
discovered that it was Reuben.
- And she was ashamed because
of him, and released her hand from him, and he fled.
- And she lamented because of
this thing exceedingly, and did not tell it to any one.
- And when Jacob returned and
sought her, she said unto him: 'I am not clean for thee, for I have been
defiled as regards thee; for Reuben has defiled me, and has lain with me in
the night, and I was asleep, and did not discover until he uncovered my
skirt and slept with me.'
- And Jacob was exceedingly
wroth with Reuben because he had lain with Bilhah, because he had uncovered
his father's skirt.
- And Jacob did not approach
her again because Reuben had defiled her. And as for any man who uncovers
his father's skirt his deed is wicked exceedingly, for he is abominable
before the Lord.
- For this reason it is written
and ordained on the heavenly tablets that a man should not lie with his
father's wife, and should not uncover his father's skirt, for this is
unclean: they shall surely die together, the man who lies with his father's
wife and the woman also, for they have wrought uncleanness on the earth.
- And there shall be nothing
unclean before our God in the nation which He has chosen for Himself as a
possession.
- And again, it is written a
second time: 'Cursed be he who lieth with the wife of his father, for he
hath uncovered his father's shame'; and all the holy ones of the Lord said
'So be it; so be it.'
- And do thou, Moses, command
the children of Israel that they observe this word; for it (entails) a
punishment of death; and it is unclean, and there is no atonement for ever
to atone for the man who has committed this, but he is to be put to death
and slain, and stoned with stones, and rooted out from the midst of the
people of our God.
- For to no man who does so in
Israel is it permitted to remain alive a single day on the earth, for he is
abominable and unclean.
- And let them not say: to
Reuben was granted life and forgiveness after he had lain with his father's
concubine, and to her also though she had a husband, and her husband Jacob,
his father, was still alive.
- For until that time there had
not been revealed the ordinance and judgment and law in its completeness for
all, but in thy days (it has been revealed) as a law of seasons and of days,
and an everlasting law for the everlasting generations.
- And for this law there is no
consummation of days, and no atonement for it, but they must both be rooted
out in the midst of the nation: on the day whereon they committed it they
shall slay them.
- And do thou, Moses, write
(it) down for Israel that they may observe it, and do according to these
words, and not commit a sin unto death; for the Lord our God is judge, who
respects not persons and accepts not gifts.
- And tell them these words of
the covenant, that they may hear and observe, and be on their guard with
respect to them, and not be destroyed and rooted out of the land; for an
uncleanness, and an abomination, and a contamination, and a pollution are
all they who commit it on the earth before our God.
- And there is no greater sin
than the fornication which they commit on earth; for Israel is a holy nation
unto the Lord its God, and a nation of inheritance, and a priestly and royal
nation and for (His own) possession; and there shall no such uncleanness
appear in the midst of the holy nation.
- And in the third year of this
sixth week [2145 A.M.] Jacob and all his sons went and dwelt in the house of
Abraham, near Isaac his father and Rebecca his mother.
- And these were the names of
the sons of Jacob: the first-born Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar,
Zebulon, the sons of Leah; and the sons of Rachel, Joseph and Benjamin; and
the sons of Bilhah, Dan and Naphtali; and the sons of Zilpah, Gad and Asher;
and Dinah, the daughter of Leah, the only daughter of Jacob.
- And they came and bowed
themselves to Isaac and Rebecca, and when they saw them they blessed Jacob
and all his sons, and Isaac rejoiced exceedingly, for he saw the sons of
Jacob, his younger son and he blessed them.
Warfare of the Amorite kings against Jacob and his
sons, 1-9. Jacob sends Joseph to visit his brethren, 10. Joseph sold and carried
down into Egypt, 11-12 (cf. Gen. xxxvii.14, 17, 18, 25, 32-6). Deaths of Bilhah
and Dinah, 15. Jacob mourns for Joseph, 13, 14, 17. Institution of Day of
Atonement on day when news of Joseph's death arrived, 18-19. Wives of Jacob's
son's, 20-1.
[Chapter 34]
- And in the sixth year of
this week of this forty-fourth jubilee [2148 A.M.] Jacob sent his sons to
pasture their sheep, and his servants with them to the pastures of Shechem.
- And the seven kings of the
Amorites assembled themselves together against them, to slay them, hiding
themselves under the trees, and to take their cattle as a prey.
- And Jacob and Levi and Judah
and Joseph were in the house with Isaac their father; for his spirit was
sorrowful, and they could not leave him: and Benjamin was the youngest, and
for this reason remained with his father.
- And there came the king[s]
of Taphu and the king[s] of 'Aresa, and the king[s] of Seragan, and the
king[s] of Selo, and the king[s] of Ga'as, and the king of Bethoron, and the
king of Ma'anisakir, and all those who dwell in these mountains (and) who
dwell in the woods in the land of Canaan.
- And they announced this to
Jacob saying: 'Behold, the kings of the Amorites have surrounded thy sons,
and plundered their herds.'
- And he arose from his house,
he and his three sons and all the servants of his father, and his own
servants, and he went against them with six thousand men, who carried
swords.
- And he slew them in the
pastures of Shechem, and pursued those who fled, and he slew them with the
edge of the sword, and he slew 'Aresa and Taphu and Saregan and Selo and
'Amani- sakir and Ga[ga]'as, and he recovered his herds.
- And he prevailed over them,
and imposed tribute on them that they should pay him tribute, five fruit
products of their land, and he built Robel and Tamnatares.
- And he returned in peace,
and made peace with them, and they became his servants, until the day that
he and his sons went down into Egypt.
- And in the seventh year of
this week [2149 A.M.] he sent Joseph to learn about the welfare of his
brothers from his house to the land of Shechem, and he found them in the
land of Dothan.
- And they dealt treacherously
with him, and formed a plot against him to slay him, but changing their
minds, they sold him to Ishmaelite merchants, and they brought him down into
Egypt, and they sold him to Potiphar, the eunuch of Pharaoh, the chief of
the cooks, priest of the city of 'Elew.
- And the sons of Jacob
slaughtered a kid, and dipped the coat of Joseph in the blood, and sent (it)
to Jacob their father on the tenth of the seventh month.
- And he mourned all that
night, for they had brought it to him in the evening, and he became feverish
with mourning for his death, and he said: 'An evil beast hath devoured
Joseph'; and all the members of his house [mourned with him that day, and
they] were grieving and mourning with him all that day.
- And his sons and his
daughter rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted for his son.
- And on that day Bilhah heard
that Joseph had perished, and she died mourning him, and she was living in
Qafratef, and Dinah also, his daughter, died after Joseph had perished.
- And there came these three
mournings upon Israel in one month. And they buried Bilhah over against the
tomb of Rachel, and Dinah also. his daughter, they buried there.
- And he mourned for Joseph
one year, and did not cease, for he said 'Let me go down to the grave
mourning for my son'.
- For this reason it is
ordained for the children of Israel that they should afflict themselves on
the tenth of the seventh month -on the day that the news which made him weep
for Joseph came to Jacob his father- that they should make atonement for
themselves thereon with a young goat on the tenth of the seventh month, once
a year, for their sins; for they had grieved the affection of their father
regarding Joseph his son.
- And this day has been
ordained that they should grieve thereon for their sins, and for all their
transgressions and for all their errors, so that they might cleanse
themselves on that day once a year.
- And after Joseph perished,
the sons of Jacob took unto themselves wives. The name of Reuben's wife is
'Ada; and the name of Simeon's wife is 'Adlba'a, a Canaanite; and the name
of Levi's wife is Melka, of the daughters of Aram, of the seed of the sons
of Terah; and the name of Judah's wife, Betasu'el, a Canaanite; and the name
of Issachar's wife, Hezaqa: and the name of Zabulon's wife, Ni'iman; and the
name of Dan's wife, 'Egla; and the name of Naphtali's wife, Rasu'u, of
Mesopotamia; and the name of Gad's wife, Maka; and the name of Asher's wife,
'Ijona; and the name of Joseph's wife, Asenath, the Egyptian; and the name
of Benjamin's wife, 'Ijasaka.
- And Simeon repented, and
took a second wife from Mesopotamia as his brothers.
Rebecca's admonition to Jacob and his reply, 1-8.
Rebecca asks Isaac to make Esau swear that he will not injure Jacob, 9-12. Isaac
consents, 13-17. Esau takes the oath and likewise Jacob, 18-26. Death of
Rebecca, 27.
[Chapter 35]
- And in the first year of the
first week of the forty-fifth jubilee [2157 A.M.] Rebecca called Jacob, her
son, and commanded him regarding his father and regarding his brother, that
he should honour them all the days of his life.
- And Jacob said: 'I will do
everything as thou hast commanded me; for this thing will be honour and
greatness to me, and righteousness before the Lord, that I should honour
them.
- And thou too, mother, knowest
from the time I was born until this day, all my deeds and all that is in my
heart, that I always think good concerning all.
- And how should I not do this
thing which thou hast commanded me, that I should honour my father and my
brother!
- Tell me, mother, what
perversity hast thou seen in me and I shall turn away from it, and mercy
will be upon me.'
- And she said unto him: 'My
son, I have not seen in thee all my days any perverse but (only) upright
deeds. And yet I will tell thee the truth, my son: I shall die this year,
and I shall not survive this year in my life; for I have seen in a dream the
day of my death, that I should not live beyond a hundred and fifty-five
years: and behold I have completed all the days of my life which I am to
live.'
- And Jacob laughed at the
words of his mother. because his mother had said unto him that she should
die; and she was sitting opposite to him in possession of her strength, and
she was not infirm in her strength; for she went in and out and saw, and her
teeth were strong, and no ailment had touched her all the days of her life.
- And Jacob said unto her:
'Blessed am I, mother, if my days approach the days of thy life, and my
strength remain with me thus as thy strength: and thou wilt not die, for
thou art jesting idly with me regarding thy death.'
- And she went in to Isaac and
said unto him: 'One petition I make unto thee: make Esau swear that he will
not injure Jacob, nor pursue him with enmity; for thou knowest Esau's
thoughts that they are perverse from his youth, and there is no goodness in
him; for he desires after thy death to kill him.
- And thou knowest all that he
has done since the day Jacob his brother went to Haran until this day: how
he has forsaken us with his whole heart, and has done evil to us; thy flocks
he has taken to himself, and carried off all thy possessions from before thy
face.
- And when we implored and
besought him for what was our own, he did as a man who was taking pity on
us.
- And he is bitter against thee
because thou didst bless Jacob thy perfect and upright son; for there is no
evil but only goodness in him, and since he came from Haran unto this day he
has not robbed us of aught, for he brings us everything in its season
always, and rejoices with all his heart when we take at his hands and he
blesses us, and has not parted from us since he came from Haran until this
day, and he remains with us continually at home honouring us.'
- And Isaac said unto her: 'I,
too, know and see the deeds of Jacob who is with us, how that with all his
heart he honours us; but I loved Esau formerly more than Jacob, because he
was the firstborn; but now I love Jacob more than Esau, for he has done
manifold evil deeds, and there is no righteousness in him, for all his ways
are unrighteousness and violence, [and there is no righteousness around
him.]
- And now my heart is troubled
because of all his deeds, and neither he nor his seed is to be saved, for
they are those who will be destroyed from the earth and who will be rooted
out from under heaven, for he has forsaken the God of Abraham and gone after
his wives and after their uncleanness and after their error, he and his
children.
- And thou dost bid me make him
swear that he will not slay Jacob his brother; even if he swear he will not
abide by his oath, and he will not do good but evil only.
- But if he desires to slay
Jacob, his brother, into Jacob's hands will he be given, and he will not
escape from his hands, [for he will descend into his hands.]
- And fear thou not on account
of Jacob; for the guardian of Jacob is great and powerful and honoured, and
praised more than the guardian of Esau.'
- And Rebecca sent and called
Esau and he came to her, and she said unto him: 'I have a petition, my son,
to make unto thee, and do thou promise to do it, my son.'
- And he said: 'I will do
everything that thou sayest unto me, and I will not refuse thy petition.'
- And she said unto him: 'I ask
you that the day I die, thou wilt take me in and bury me near Sarah, thy
father's mother, and that thou and Jacob will love each other and that
neither will desire evil against the other, but mutual love only, and (so)
ye will prosper, my sons, and be honoured in the midst of the land, and no
enemy will rejoice over you, and ye will be a blessing and a mercy in the
eyes of all those that love you.'
- And he said: 'I will do all
that thou hast told me, and I shall bury thee on the day thou diest near
Sarah, my father's mother, as thou hast desired that her bones may be near
thy bones.
- And Jacob, my brother, also,
I shall love above all flesh; for I have not a brother in all the earth but
him only: and this is no great merit for me if I love him; for he is my
brother, and we were sown together in thy body, and together came we forth
from thy womb, and if I do not love my brother, whom shall I love?
- And I, myself, beg thee to
exhort Jacob concerning me and concerning my sons, for I know that he will
assuredly be king over me and my sons, for on the day my father blessed him
he made him the higher and me the lower.
- And I swear unto thee that I
shall love him, and not desire evil against him all the days of my life but
good only.'
- And he sware unto her
regarding all this matter. And she called Jacob before the eyes of Esau, and
gave him commandment according to the words which she had spoken to Esau.
- And he said: 'I shall do thy
pleasure; believe me that no evil will proceed from me or from my sons
against Esau, and I shall be first in naught save in love only.'
- And they eat and drank, she
and her sons that night, and she died, three jubilees and one week and one
year old, on that night, and her two sons, Esau and Jacob, buried her in the
double cave near Sarah, their father's mother.
Isaac gives directions to his sons as to his burial:
exhorts them to love one another and makes them imprecate destruction on him who
injures his brother, 1-11. Divides his possessions, giving the larger portion to
Jacob, and dies, 12-18. Leah dies: Jacob's sons come to comfort him, 21-4.
[Chapter 36]
- And in the sixth year of
this week [2162 A.M.] Isaac called his two sons Esau and Jacob, and they
came to him, and he said unto them: 'My sons, I am going the way of my
fathers, to the eternal house where my fathers are.
- Wherefore bury me near
Abraham my father, in the double cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite,
where Abraham purchased a sepulchre to bury in; in the sepulchre which I
digged for myself, there bury me.
- And this I command you, my
sons, that ye practise righteousness and uprightness on the earth, so that
the Lord may bring upon you all that the Lord said that he would do to
Abraham and to his seed.
- And love one another, my
sons, your brothers as a man who loves his own soul, and let each seek in
what he may benefit his brother, and act together on the earth; and let them
love each other as their own souls.
- And concerning the question
of idols, I command and admonish you to reject them and hate them, and love
them not, for they are full of deception for those that worship them and for
those that bow down to them.
- Remember ye, my sons, the
Lord God of Abraham your father, and how I too worshipped Him and served Him
in righteousness and in joy, that He might multiply you and increase your
seed as the stars of heaven in multitude, and establish you on the earth as
the plant of righteousness which will not be rooted out unto all the
generations for ever.
- And now I shall make you
swear a great oath -for there is no oath which is greater than it by the
name glorious and honoured and great and splendid and wonderful and mighty,
which created the heavens and the earth and all things together- that ye
will fear Him and worship Him.
- And that each will love his
brother with affection and righteousness, and that neither will desire evil
against his brother from henceforth for ever all the days of your life so
that ye may prosper in all your deeds and not be destroyed.
- And if either of you devises
evil against his brother, know that from henceforth everyone that devises
evil against his brother shall fall into his hand, and shall be rooted out
of the land of the living, and his seed shall be destroyed from under
heaven.
- But on the day of turbulence
and execration and indignation and anger, with flaming devouring fire as He
burnt Sodom, so likewise will He burn his land and his city and all that is
his, and he shall be blotted out of the book of the discipline of the
children of men, and not be recorded in the book of life, but in that which
is appointed to destruction, and he shall depart into eternal execration; so
that their condemnation may be always renewed in hate and in execration and
in wrath and in torment and in indignation and in plagues and in disease for
ever.
- I say and testify to you, my
sons, according to the judgment which shall come upon the man who wishes to
injure his brother.
- And he divided all his
possessions between the two on that day and he gave the larger portion to
him that was the first-born, and the tower and all that was about it, and
all that Abraham possessed at the Well of the Oath.
- And he said: 'This larger
portion I will give to the firstborn.'
- And Esau said, 'I have sold
to Jacob and given my birthright to Jacob; to him let it be given, and I
have not a single word to say regarding it, for it is his.'
- And Isaac said, May a
blessing rest upon you, my sons, and upon your seed this day, for ye have
given me rest, and my heart is not pained concerning the birthright, lest
thou shouldest work wickedness on account of it.
- May the Most High God bless
the man that worketh righteousness, him and his seed for ever.'
- And he ended commanding them
and blessing them, and they eat and drank together before him, and he
rejoiced because there was one mind between them, and they went forth from
him and rested that day and slept.
- And Isaac slept on his bed
that day rejoicing; and he slept the eternal sleep, and died one hundred and
eighty years old. He completed twenty-five weeks and five years; and his two
sons Esau and Jacob buried him.
- And Esau went to the land of
Edom, to the mountains of Seir, and dwelt there.
- And Jacob dwelt in the
mountains of Hebron, in the tower of the land of the sojournings of his
father Abraham, and he worshipped the Lord with all his heart and according
to the visible commands according as He had divided the days of his
generations.
- And Leah his wife died in
the fourth year of the second week of the forty-fifth jubilee, [2167 A.M.]
and he buried her in the double cave near Rebecca his mother to the left of
the grave of Sarah, his father's mother
- and all her sons and his
sons came to mourn over Leah his wife with him and to comfort him regarding
her, for he was lamenting her for he loved her exceedingly after Rachel her
sister died;
- for she was perfect and
upright in all her ways and honoured Jacob,and all the days that she lived
with him he did not hear from her mouth a harsh word, for she was gentle and
peaceable and upright and honourable.
- And he remembered all her
deeds which she had done during her life and he lamented her exceedingly;
for he loved her with all his heart and with all his soul.
Esau's sons reproach him for his subordination to
Jacob, and constrain him to war with the assistance of 4,000 mercenaries against
Jacob, 1-15. Jacob reproves Esau, 16-17. Esau's reply, 18-25.
[Chapter 37]
- And on the day that Isaac
the father of Jacob and Esau died, [2162 A.M.] the sons of Esau heard that
Isaac had given the portion of the elder to his younger son Jacob and they
were very angry.
- And they strove with their
father, saying 'Why has thy father given Jacob the portion of the elder and
passed over thee, although thou art the elder and Jacob the younger?'
- And he said unto them
'Because I sold my birthright to Jacob for a small mess of lentils, and on
the day my father sent me to hunt and catch and bring him something that he
should eat and bless me, he came with guile and brought my father food and
drink, and my father blessed him and put me under his hand.
- And now our father has
caused us to swear, me and him, that we shall not mutually devise evil,
either against his brother, and that we shall continue in love and in peace
each with his brother and not make our ways corrupt.'
- And they said unto him, 'We
shall not hearken unto thee to make peace with him; for our strength is
greater than his strength, and we are more powerful than he; we shall go
against him and slay him, and destroy him and his sons. And if thou wilt not
go with us, we shall do hurt to thee also.
- And now hearken unto us: Let
us send to Aram and Philistia and Moab and Ammon, and let us choose for
ourselves chosen men who are ardent for battle, and let us go against him
and do battle with him, and let us exterminate him from the earth before he
grows strong.'
- And their father said unto
them, 'Do not go and do not make war with him lest ye fall before him.'
- And they said unto him,
'This too, is exactly thy mode of action from thy youth until this day, and
thou art putting thy neck under his yoke.
- We shall not hearken to
these words.' And they sent to Aram, and to 'Aduram to the friend of their
father, and they hired along with them one thousand fighting men, chosen men
of war.
- And there came to them from
Moab and from the children of Ammon, those who were hired, one thousand
chosen men, and from Philistia, one thousand chosen men of war, and from
Edom and from the Horites one thousand chosen fighting men, and from the
Kittim mighty men of war.
- And they said unto their
father: Go forth with them and lead them, else we shall slay thee.'
- And he was filled with wrath
and indignation on seeing that his sons were forcing him to go before (them)
to lead them against Jacob his brother.
- But afterward he remembered
all the evil which lay hidden in his heart against Jacob his brother; and he
remembered not the oath which he had sworn to his father and to his mother
that he would devise no evil all his days against Jacob his brother.
- And notwithstanding all
this, Jacob knew not that they were coming against him to battle, and he was
mourning for Leah, his wife, until they approached very near to the tower
with four thousand warriors and chosen men of war.
- And the men of Hebron sent
to him saying, 'Behold thy brother has come against thee, to fight thee,
with four thousand girt with the sword, and they carry shields and weapons';
for they loved Jacob more than Esau. So they told him; for Jacob was a more
liberal and merciful man than Esau.
- But Jacob would not believe
until they came very near to the tower.
- And he closed the gates of
the tower; and he stood on the battlements and spake to his brother Esau and
said, 'Noble is the comfort wherewith thou hast come to comfort me for my
wife who has died. Is this the oath that thou didst swear to thy father and
again to thy mother before they died? Thou hast broken the oath, and on the
moment that thou didst swear to thy father wast thou condemned.'
- And then Esau answered and
said unto him, 'Neither the children of men nor the beasts of the earth have
any oath of righteousness which in swearing they have sworn (an oath valid)
for ever; but every day they devise evil one against another, and how each
may slay his adversary and foe.
- And thou dost hate me and my
children for ever. And there is no observing the tie of brotherhood with
thee.
- Hear these words which I
declare unto thee,
If the boar can change its skin and make its
bristles as soft as wool,
Or if it can cause horns to sprout forth on its head like the horns of a stag or
of a sheep,
Then will I observe the tie of brotherhood with thee
And if the breasts separated themselves from their mother, for thou hast not
been a brother to me.
- And if the wolves make peace
with the lambs so as not to devour or do them violence,
And if their hearts are towards them for good,
Then there shall be peace in my heart towards thee
- And if the lion becomes the
friend of the ox and makes peace with him
And if he is bound under one yoke with him and ploughs with him,
Then will I make peace with thee.
- And when the raven becomes
white as the raza,
Then know that I have loved thee
And shall make peace with thee
Thou shalt be rooted out,
And thy sons shall be rooted out,
And there shall be no peace for thee'
- And when Jacob saw that he
was (so) evilly disposed towards him with his heart, and with all his soul
as to slay him, and that he had come springing like the wild boar which
comes upon the spear that pierces and kills it, and recoils not from it;
- then he spake to his own and
to his servants that they should attack him and all his companions.
War between Jacob and Esau. Death of Esau and overthrow
of his forces, 1-10. Edom reduced to servitude 'till this day', 11-14. Kings of
Edom, 15-24. (Cf. Gen. xxxvi.31-9.)
[Chapter 38]
- And after that Judah spake
to Jacob, his father, and said unto him: 'Bend thy bow, father, and send
forth thy arrows and cast down the adversary and slay the enemy; and mayst
thou have the power, for we shall not slay thy brother, for he is such as
thou, and he is like thee let us give him (this) honour.'
- Then Jacob bent his bow and
sent forth the arrow and struck Esau, his brother (on his right breast) and
slew him.
- And again he sent forth an
arrow and struck 'Adoran the Aramaean, on the left breast, and drove him
backward and slew him.
- And then went forth the sons
of Jacob, they and their servants, dividing themselves into companies on the
four sides of the tower.
- And Judah went forth in
front, and Naphtali and Gad with him and fifty servants with him on the
south side of the tower, and they slew all they found before them, and not
one individual of them escaped.
- And Levi and Dan and Asher
went forth on the east side of the tower, and fifty (men) with them, and
they slew the fighting men of Moab and Ammon.
- And Reuben and Issachar and
Zebulon went forth on the north side of the tower, and fifty men with them,
and they slew the fighting men of the Philistines.
- And Simeon and Benjamin and
Enoch, Reuben's son, went forth on the west side of the tower, and fifty
(men) with them, and they slew of Edom and of the Horites four hundred men,
stout warriors; and six hundred fled, and four of the sons of Esau fled with
them, and left their father lying slain, as he had fallen on the hill which
is in 'Aduram.
- And the sons of Jacob
pursued after them to the mountains of Seir. And Jacob buried his brother on
the hill which is in 'Aduram, and he returned to his house.
- And the sons of Jacob
pressed hard upon the sons of Esau in the mountains of Seir, and bowed their
necks so that they became servants of the sons of Jacob.
- And they sent to their
father (to inquire) whether they should make peace with them or slay them.
- And Jacob sent word to his
sons that they should make peace, and they made peace with them, and placed
the yoke of servitude upon them, so that they paid tribute to Jacob and to
his sons always.
- And they continued to pay
tribute to Jacob until the day that he went down into Egypt.
- And the sons of Edom have
not got quit of the yoke of servitude which the twelve sons of Jacob had
imposed on them until this day.
- And these are the kings that
reigned in Edom before there reigned any king over the children of Israel
[until this day] in the land of Edom.
- And Balaq, the son of Beor,
reigned in Edom, and the name of his city was Danaba.
- And Balaq died, and Jobab,
the son of Zara of Boser, reigned in his stead.
- And Jobab died, and 'Asam,
of the land of Teman, reigned in his stead.
- And 'Asam died, and 'Adath,
the son of Barad, who slew Midian in the field of Moab, reigned in his
stead, and the name of his city was Avith.
- And 'Adath died, and Salman,
from 'Amaseqa, reigned in his stead.
- And Salman died,and Saul of
Ra'aboth (by the) river, reigned in his stead.
- And Saul died, and
Ba'elunan, the son of Achbor, reigned in his stead.
- And Ba'elunan, the son of
Achbor died, and 'Adath reigned in his stead, and the name of his wife was
Maitabith, the daughter of Matarat, the daughter of Metabedza'ab.
- These are the kings who
reigned in the land of Edom.
Joseph set over Potiphar's house, 1-4. His purity and
imprisonment, 5-13. Imprisonment of Pharaoh's chief butler and chief baker whose
dreams Joseph interprets, 14-18. (Cf. Gen.xxxvii.2; xxxix.3-8, 12-15, 17-23;
xl.1-5, 21-3; xli.1.)
[Chapter 39]
- And Jacob dwelt in the land
of his father's sojournings in the land of Canaan. These are the generations
of Jacob.
- And Joseph was seventeen
years old when they took him down into the land of Egypt, and Potiphar, an
eunuch of Pharaoh, the chief cook bought him.
- And he set Joseph over all
his house and the blessing of the Lord came upon the house of the Egyptian
on account of Joseph, and the Lord prospered him in all that he did.
- And the Egyptian committed
everything into the hands of Joseph; for he saw that the Lord was with him,
and that the Lord prospered him in all that he did.
- And Joseph's appearance was
comely [and very beautiful was his appearance], and his master's wife lifted
up her eyes and saw Joseph, and she loved him and besought him to lie with
her.
- But he did not surrender his
soul, and he remembered the Lord and the words which Jacob, his father, used
to read from amongst the words of Abraham, that no man should commit
fornication with a woman who has a husband; that for him the punishment of
death has been ordained in the heavens before the Most High God, and the sin
will be recorded against him in the eternal books continually before the
Lord.
- And Joseph remembered these
words and refused to lie with her.
- And she besought him for a
year, but he refused and would not listen.
- But she embraced him and
held him fast in the house in order to force him to lie with her, and closed
the doors of the house and held him fast; but he left his garment in her
hands and broke through the door and fled without from her presence.
- And the woman saw that he
would not lie with her, and she calumniated him in the presence of his lord,
saying 'Thy Hebrew servant, whom thou lovest, sought to force me so that he
might lie with me; and it came to pass when I lifted up my voice that he
fled and left his garment in my hands when I held him, and he brake through
the door.'
- And the Egyptian saw the
garment of Joseph and the broken door, and heard the words of his wife, and
cast Joseph into prison into the place where the prisoners were kept whom
the king imprisoned.
- And he was there in the
prison; and the Lord gave Joseph favour in the sight of the chief of the
prison guards and compassion before him, for he saw that the Lord was with
him, and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper.
- And he committed all things
into his hands, and the chief of the prison guards knew of nothing that was
with him, for Joseph did every thing, and the Lord perfected it.
- And he remained there two
years. And in those days Pharaoh, king of Egypt was wroth against his two
eunuchs, against the chief butler, and against the chief baker, and he put
them in ward in the house of the chief cook, in the prison where Joseph was
kept.
- And the chief of the prison
guards appointed Joseph to serve them; and he served before them.
- And they both dreamed a
dream, the chief butler and the chief baker, and they told it to Joseph.
- And as he interpreted to
them so it befell them, and Pharaoh restored the chief butler to his office
and the (chief) baker he slew, as Joseph had interpreted to them.
- But the chief butler forgot
Joseph in the prison, although he had informed him what would befall him,
and did not remember to inform Pharaoh how Joseph had told him, for he
forgot.
Pharoah's dreams and their interpretation, 1-4.
Elevation and marriage of Joseph, 5-13. (Cf. Gen. xli.1-5, 7-9, 14 seqq., 25,
29-30, 34, 36, 38-43, 45-6, 49.)
[Chapter 40]
- And in those days Pharaoh
dreamed two dreams in one night concerning a famine which was to be in all
the land, and he awoke from his sleep and called all the interpreters of
dreams that were in Egypt, and magicians, and told them his two dreams, and
they were not able to declare (them).
- And then the chief butler
remembered Joseph and spake of him to the king, and he brought him forth
from the prison, and he to]d his two dreams before him.
- And he said before Pharaoh
that his two dreams were one, and he said unto him: 'Seven years shall come
(in which there shall be) plenty over all the land of Egypt, and after that
seven years of famine, such a famine as has not been in all the land.
- And now let Pharaoh appoint
overseers in all the land of Egypt, and let them store up food in every city
throughout the days of the years of plenty, and there will be food for the
seven years of famine, and the land will not perish through the famine, for
it will be very severe.'
- And the Lord gave Joseph
favour and mercy in the eyes of Pharaoh, and Pharaoh said unto his servants.
We shall not find such a wise and discreet man as this man, for the spirit
of the Lord is with him.'
- And he appointed him the
second in all his kingdom and gave him authority over all Egypt, and caused
him to ride in the second chariot of Pharaoh.
- And he clothed him with
byssus garments, and he put a gold chain upon his neck, and (a herald)
proclaimed before him ' 'El 'El wa 'Abirer,' and placed a ring on his hand
and made him ruler over all his house, and magnified him, and said unto him.
'Only on the throne shall I be greater than thou.'
- And Joseph ruled over all
the land of Egypt, and all the princes of Pharaoh, and all his servants, and
all who did the king's business loved him, for he walked in uprightness, for
he was without pride and arrogance, and he had no respect of persons, and
did not accept gifts, but he judged in uprightness all the people of the
land.
- And the land of Egypt was at
peace before Pharaoh because of Joseph, for the Lord was with him, and gave
him favour and mercy for all his generations before all those who knew him
and those who heard concerning him, and Pharaoh's kingdom was well ordered,
and there was no Satan and no evil person (therein).
- And the king called Joseph's
name Sephantiphans, and gave Joseph to wife the daughter of Potiphar, the
daughter of the priest of Heliopolis, the chief cook.
- And on the day that Joseph
stood before Pharaoh he was thirty years old [when he stood before Pharaoh].
- And in that year Isaac died.
And it came to pass as Joseph had said in the interpretation of his two
dreams, according as he had said it, there were seven years of plenty over
all the land of Egypt, and the land of Egypt abundantly produced, one
measure (producing) eighteen hundred measures.
- And Joseph gathered food
into every city until they were full of corn until they could no longer
count and measure it for its multitude.
Judah's sons and Tamar, 1-7. Judah's incest with Tamar,
8-18. Tamar bears twins, 21-2. Judah forgiven, because he sinned ignorantly and
repented when convicted, and because Tamar's marriage with his sons had not been
consummated, 23-8. (Cf. Gen. xxxviii.6-18, 20-6, 29-30; xli.13.)
[Chapter 41]
- And in the forty-fifth
jubilee, in the second week, (and) in the second year, [2165 A.M.] Judah
took for his first-born Er, a wife from the daughters of Aram, named Tamar.
- But he hated, and did not
lie with her, because his mother was of the daughters of Canaan, and he
wished to take him a wife of the kinsfolk of his mother, but Judah, his
father, would not permit him.
- And this Er, the first-born
of Judah, was wicked, and the Lord slew him.
- And Judah said unto Onan,
his brother 'Go in unto thy brother's wife and perform the duty of a
husband's brother unto her, and raise up seed unto thy brother.'
- And Onan knew that the seed
would not be his, (but) his brother's only, and he went into the house of
his brother's wife, and spilt the seed on the ground, and he was wicked in
the eyes of the Lord, and He slew him.
- And Judah said unto Tamar,
his daughter-in-law: 'Remain in thy father's house as a widow till Shelah my
son be grown up, and I shall give thee to him to wife.'
- And he grew up; but
Bedsu'el, the wife of Judah, did not permit her son Shelah to marry. And
Bedsu'el, the wife of Judah, died [2168 A.M.] in the fifth year of this
week.
- And in the sixth year Judah
went up to shear his sheep at Timnah. [2169 A.M.] And they told Tamar:
'Behold thy father-in-law goeth up to Timnah to shear his sheep.'
- And she put off her widow's
clothes, and put on a veil, and adorned herself, and sat in the gate
adjoining the way to Timnah.
- And as Judah was going along
he found her, and thought her to be an harlot, and he said unto her: 'Let me
come in unto thee'; and she said unto him Come in,' and he went in.
- And she said unto him: 'Give
me my hire'; and he said unto her: 'I have nothing in my hand save my ring
that is on my finger, and my necklace, and my staff which is in my hand.'
- And she said unto him 'Give
them to me until thou dost send me my hire', and he said unto her: 'I will
send unto thee a kid of the goats'; and he gave them to her, and he went
in unto her, and she conceived by him.
- And Judah went unto his
sheep, and she went to her father's house.
- And Judah sent a kid of the
goats by the hand of his shepherd, an Adullamite, and he found her not; and
he asked the people of the place, saying: 'Where is the harlot who was
here?' And they said unto him; 'There is no harlot here with us.'
- And he returned and informed
him, and said unto him that he had not found her: 'I asked the people of the
place, and they said unto me: "There is no harlot here." '
- And he said: 'Let her keep
(them) lest we become a cause of derision.' And when she had completed three
months, it was manifest that she was with child, and they told Judah,
saying: 'Behold Tamar, thy daughter-in-law, is with child by whoredom.'
- And Judah went to the house
of her father, and said unto her father and her brothers: 'Bring her forth,
and let them burn her, for she hath wrought uncleanness in Israel.'
- And it came to pass when
they brought her forth to burn her that she sent to her father-in-law the
ring and the necklace, and the staff, saying: 'Discern whose are these, for
by him am I with child.'
- And Judah acknowledged, and
said: 'Tamar is more righteous than I am.
- And therefore let them burn
her not' And for that reason she was not given to Shelah, and he did not
again approach her.
- And after that she bare two
sons, Perez [2170 A.M.] and Zerah, in the seventh year of this second week.
- And thereupon the seven
years of fruitfulness were accomplished, of which Joseph spake to Pharaoh.
- And Judah acknowledged that
the deed which he had done was evil, for he had lain with his
daughter-in-law, and he esteemed it hateful in his eyes, and he acknowledged
that he had transgressed and gone astray, for he had uncovered the skirt of
his son, and he began to lament and to supplicate before the Lord because of
his transgression.
- And we told him in a dream
that it was forgiven him because he supplicated earnestly, and lamented, and
did not again commit it.
- And he received forgiveness
because he turned from his sin and from his ignorance, for he transgressed
greatly before our God; and every one that acts thus, every one who lies
with his mother-in-law, let them burn him with fire that he may burn
therein, for there is uncleanness and pollution upon them, with fire let
them burn them.
- And do thou command the
children of Israel that there be no uncleanness amongst them, for every one
who lies with his daughter-in-law or with his mother-in-law hath wrought
uncleanness; with fire let them burn the man who has lain with her, and
likewise the woman, and He will turn away wrath and punishment from Israel.
- And unto Judah we said that
his two sons had not lain with her, and for this reason his seed was
stablished for a second generation, and would not be rooted out.
- For in singleness of eye he
had gone and sought for punishment, namely, according to the judgment of
Abraham, which he had commanded his sons, Judah had sought to burn her with
fire.
Owing to the famine Jacob sends his sons to Egypt for
corn, 1-4. Joseph recognizes them and retains Simeon, and requires them to bring
Benjamin when they returned, 5-12. Notwithstanding Jacob's reluctance his sons
take Benjamin with them on their second journey and are entertained by Joseph,
13-25. (Cf. Gen. xli.54, 56; xlii.7-9, 13, 17, 20, 24-5, 29-30, 34-8; xliii.1-2,
4-5, 8-9, 11, 15, 23, 26, 29, 34; xliv. 1-2.)
[Chapter 42]
- And in the first year of the
third week of the forty-fifth jubilee the famine began to come into the
[2171 A.M.] land, and the rain refused to be given to the earth, for none
whatever fell.
- And the earth grew barren,
but in the land of Egypt there was food, for Joseph had gathered the seed of
the land in the seven years of plenty and had preserved it.
- And the Egyptians came to
Joseph that he might give them food, and he opened the store-houses where
was the grain of the first year, and he sold it to the people of the land
for gold.
- <Now the famine was very
sore in the land of Canaan>, and Jacob heard that there was food in
Egypt, and he sent his ten sons that they should procure food for him in
Egypt; but Benjamin he did not send, and <the ten sons of Jacob>
arrived <in Egypt> among those that went (there).
- And Joseph recognised them,
but they did not recognise him, and he spake unto them and questioned them,
and he said unto them; 'Are ye not spies and have ye not come to explore the
approaches of the land? 'And he put them in ward.
- And after that he set them
free again, and detained Simeon alone and sent off his nine brothers.
- And he filled their sacks
with corn, and he put their gold in their sacks, and they did not know.
- And he commanded them to
bring their younger brother, for they had told him their father was living
and their younger brother.
- And they went up from the
land of Egypt and they came to the land of Canaan; and they told their
father all that had befallen them, and how the lord of the country had
spoken roughly to them, and had seized Simeon till they should bring
Benjamin.
- And Jacob said: 'Me have ye
bereaved of my children! Joseph is not and Simeon also is not, and ye will
take Benjamin away. On me has your wickedness come.
- 'And he said: 'My son will
not go down with you lest perchance he fall sick; for their mother gave
birth to two sons, and one has perished, and this one also ye will take from
me. If perchance he took a fever on the road, ye would bring down my old age
with sorrow unto death.'
- For he saw that their money
had been returned to every man in his sack, and for this reason he feared to
send him.
- And the famine increased and
became sore in the land of Canaan, and in all lands save in the land of
Egypt, for many of the children of the Egyptians had stored up their seed
for food from the time when they saw Joseph gathering seed together and
putting it in storehouses and preserving it for the years of famine.
- And the people of Egypt fed
themselves thereon during the first year of their famine.
- But when Israel saw that the
famine was very sore in the land, and that there was no deliverance, he said
unto his sons: 'Go again, and procure food for us that we die not.'
- And they said: 'We shall not
go; unless our youngest brother go with us, we shall not go.'
- And Israel saw that if he
did not send him with them, they should all perish by reason of the famine
- And Reuben said: 'Give him
into my hand, and if I do not bring him back to thee, slay my two sons
instead of his soul.'
- And he said unto him: 'He
shall not go with thee.' And Judah came near and said: 'Send him with me,
and if I do not bring him back to thee, let me bear the blame before thee
all the days of my life.'
- And he sent him with them in
the second year of this week on the [2172 A.m.] first day of the month, and
they came to the land of Egypt with all those who went, and (they had)
presents in their hands, stacte and almonds and terebinth nuts and pure
honey.
- And they went and stood
before Joseph, and he saw Benjamin his brother, and he knew him, and said
unto them: Is this your youngest brother?' And they said unto him: 'It is
he.' And he said The Lord be gracious to thee, my son!'
- And he sent him into his
house and he brought forth Simeon unto them and he made a feast for them,
and they presented to him the gift which they had brought in their hands.
- And they eat before him and
he gave them all a portion, but the portion of Benjamin was seven times
larger than that of any of theirs.
- And they eat and drank and
arose and remained with their asses.
- And Joseph devised a plan
whereby he might learn their thoughts as to whether thoughts of peace
prevailed amongst them, and he said to the steward who was over his house:
'Fill all their sacks with food, and return their money unto them into their
vessels, and my cup, the silver cup out of which I drink, put it in the sack
of the youngest, and send them away.'
Joseph's plan to stay his brethren, 1-10. Judah's
supplication, 11-13. Joseph makes himself known to his brethren and sends them
back for his father, 14-24. (Cf. Gen. xliv.3-10, 12-18, 27-8, 30-2; xlv.1-2,
5-9, 12, 18, 20-1, 23, 25-8.)
[Chapter 43]
- And he did as Joseph had
told him, and filled all their sacks for them with food and put their money
in their sacks, and put the cup in Benjamin's sack.
- And early in the morning
they departed, and it came to pass that, when they had gone from thence,
Joseph said unto the steward of his house: 'Pursue them, run and seize them,
saying, "For good ye have requited me with evil; you have stolen from
me the silver cup out of which my lord drinks." And bring back to me
their youngest brother, and fetch (him) quickly before I go forth to my seat
of judgment.'
- And he ran after them and
said unto them according to these words.
- And they said unto him: 'God
forbid that thy servants should do this thing, and steal from the house of
thy lord any utensil, and the money also which we found in our sacks the
first time, we thy servants brought back from the land of Canaan.
- How then should we steal any
utensil? Behold here are we and our sacks search, and wherever thou findest
the cup in the sack of any man amongst us, let him be slain, and we and our
asses will serve thy lord.'
- And he said unto them: 'Not
so, the man with whom I find, him only shall I take as a servant, and ye
shall return in peace unto your house.'
- And as he was searching in
their vessels, beginning with the eldest and ending with the youngest, it
was found in Benjamin's sack.
- And they rent their
garments, and laded their asses, and returned to the city and came to the
house of Joseph, and they all bowed themselves on their faces to the ground
before him.
- And Joseph said unto them:
'Ye have done evil.' And they said: 'What shall we say and how shall we
defend ourselves? Our lord hath discovered the transgression of his
servants; behold we are the servants of our lord, and our asses also.
- 'And Joseph said unto them:
'I too fear the Lord; as for you, go ye to your homes and let your brother
be my servant, for ye have done evil. Know ye not that a man delights in his
cup as I with this cup? And yet ye have stolen it from me.'
- And Judah said: 'O my lord,
let thy servant, I pray thee, speak a word in my lord's ear two brothers did
thy servant's mother bear to our father: one went away and was lost, and
hath not been found, and he alone is left of his mother, and thy servant our
father loves him, and his life also is bound up with the life of this (lad).
- And it will come to pass,
when we go to thy servant our father, and the lad is not with us, that he
will die, and we shall bring down our father with sorrow unto death.
- Now rather let me, thy
servant, abide instead of the boy as a bondsman unto my lord, and let the
lad go with his brethren, for I became surety for him at the hand of thy
servant our father, and if I do not bring him back, thy servant will hear
the blame to our father for ever.'
- And Joseph saw that they
were all accordant in goodness one with another, and he could not refrain
himself, and he told them that he was Joseph.
- And he conversed with them
in the Hebrew tongue and fell on their neck and wept.
- But they knew him not and
they began to weep. And he said unto them: 'Weep not over me, but hasten and
bring my father to me; and ye see that it is my mouth that speaketh and the
eyes of my brother Benjamin see.
- For behold this is the
second year of the famine, and there are still five years without harvest or
fruit of trees or ploughing.
- Come down quickly ye and
your households, so that ye perish not through the famine, and do not be
grieved for your possessions, for the Lord sent me before you to set things
in order that many people might live.
- And tell my father that I am
still alive, and ye, behold, ye see that the Lord has made me as a father to
Pharaoh, and ruler over his house and over all the land of Egypt.
- And tell my father of all my
glory, and all the riches and glory that the Lord hath given me.'
- And by the command of the
mouth of Pharaoh he gave them chariots and provisions for the way, and he
gave them all many-coloured raiment and silver.
- And to their father he sent
raiment and silver and ten asses which carried corn, and he sent them away.
- And they went up and told
their father that Joseph was alive, and was measuring out corn to all the
nations of the earth, and that he was ruler over all the land of Egypt.
- And their father did not
believe it, for he was beside himself in his mind; but when he saw the
wagons which Joseph had sent, the life of his spirit revived, and he said:
'It is enough for me if Joseph lives; I will go down and see him before I
die.'
Jacob celebrates the feast of firstfruits, and
encouraged by a vision goes down to Egypt, 1-10. Names of his descendants,
11-34. (Cf. Gen. xlvi.1-28.)
[Chapter 44]
- And Israel took his journey
from Haran from his house on the new moon of the third month, and he went on
the way of the Well of the Oath, and he offered a sacrifice to the God of
his father Isaac on the seventh of this month.
- And Jacob remembered the
dream that he had seen at Bethel, and he feared to go down into Egypt.
- And while he was thinking of
sending word to Joseph to come to him, and that he would not go down, he
remained there seven days, if perchance he could see a vision as to whether
he should remain or go down.
- And he celebrated the
harvest festival of the first-fruits with old grain, for in all the land of
Canaan there was not a handful of seed [in the land], for the famine was
over all the beasts and cattle and birds, and also over man.
- And on the sixteenth the
Lord appeared unto him, and said unto him, 'Jacob, Jacob'; and he said,
'Here am I.' And He said unto him: 'I am the God of thy fathers, the God of
Abraham and Isaac; fear not to go down into Egypt, for I will there make of
thee a great nation I will go down with thee, and I will bring thee up
(again), and in this land shalt thou be buried, and Joseph shall put his
hands upon thy eyes.
- Fear not; go down into
Egypt.'
- And his sons rose up, and
his sons' sons, and they placed their father and their possessions upon
wagons.
- And Israel rose up from the
Well of the Oath on the sixteenth of this third month, and he went to the
land of Egypt.
- And Israel sent Judah before
him to his son Joseph to examine the Land of Goshen, for Joseph had told his
brothers that they should come and dwell there that they might be near him.
- And this was the goodliest
(land) in the land of Egypt, and near to him, for all (of them) and also for
the cattle.
- And these are the names of
the sons of Jacob who went into Egypt with Jacob their father.
- Reuben, the First-born of
Israel; and these are the names of his sons Enoch, and Pallu, and Hezron and
Carmi-five.
- Simeon and his sons; and
these are the names of his sons: Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and Jachin,
and Zohar, and Shaul, the son of the Zephathite woman-seven.
- Levi and his sons; and these
are the names of his sons: Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari-four.
- Judah and his sons; and
these are the names of his sons: Shela, and Perez, and Zerah-four.
- Issachar and his sons; and
these are the names of his sons: Tola, and Phua, and Jasub, and
Shimron-five.
- Zebulon and his sons; and
these are the names of his sons: Sered, and Elon, and Jahleel-four.
- And these are the sons of
Jacob and their sons whom Leah bore to Jacob in Mesopotamia, six, and their
one sister, Dinah and all the souls of the sons of Leah, and their sons, who
went with Jacob their father into Egypt, were twenty-nine, and Jacob their
father being with them, they were thirty.
- And the sons of Zilpah,
Leah's handmaid, the wife of Jacob, who bore unto Jacob Gad and Ashur.
- And these are the names of
their sons who went with him into Egypt. The sons of Gad: Ziphion, and
Haggi, and Shuni, and Ezbon, <and Eri>, and Areli, and Arodi-eight.
- And the sons of Asher:
Imnah, and Ishvah, <and Ishvi>, and Beriah, and Serah, their one
sister-six.
- All the souls were fourteen,
and all those of Leah were forty-four.
- And the sons of Rachel, the
wife of Jacob: Joseph and Benjamin.
- And there were born to
Joseph in Egypt before his father came into Egypt, those whom Asenath,
daughter of Potiphar priest of Heliopolis bare unto him, Manasseh, and
Ephraim-three.
- And the sons of Benjamin:
Bela and Becher and Ashbel, Gera, and Naaman, and Ehi, and Rosh, and Muppim,
and Huppim, and Ard-eleven.
- And all the souls of Rachel
were fourteen.
- And the sons of Bilhah, the
handmaid of Rachel, the wife of Jacob, whom she bare to Jacob, were Dan and
Naphtali.
- And these are the names of
their sons who went with them into Egypt. And the sons of Dan were Hushim,
and Samon, and Asudi. and 'Ijaka, and Salomon-six.
- And they died the year in
which they entered into Egypt, and there was left to Dan Hushim alone.
- And these are the names of
the sons of Naphtali Jahziel, and Guni and Jezer, and Shallum, and 'Iv.
- And 'Iv, who was born after
the years of famine, died in Egypt.
- And all the souls of Rachel
were twenty-six.
- And all the souls of Jacob
which went into Egypt were seventy souls. These are his children and his
children's children, in all seventy, but five died in Egypt before Joseph,
and had no children.
- And in the land of Canaan
two sons of Judah died, Er and Onan, and they had no children, and the
children of Israel buried those who perished, and they were reckoned among
the seventy Gentile nations.
Joseph receives Jacob, and gives him Goshen, 1-7.
Joseph acquires all the land and its inhabitants for Pharaoh, 8-12. Jacob dies
and is buried in Hebron, 13-15. His books given to Levi, 16. (Cf. Gen.
xlvi.28-30; xlvii.11-13, 19, 20, 23, 24, 28; l.13.)
[Chapter 45]
- And Israel went into the
country of Egypt, into the land of Goshen, on the new moon of the fourth
[2172 A.M]. month, in the second year of the third week of the forty-fifth
jubilee.
- And Joseph went to meet his
father Jacob, to the land of Goshen, and he fell on his father's neck and
wept.
- And Israel said unto Joseph:
'Now let me die since I have seen thee, and now may the Lord God of Israel
be blessed the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac who hath not withheld His
mercy and His grace from His servant Jacob.
- It is enough for me that I
have seen thy face whilst I am yet alive; yea, true is the vision which I
saw at Bethel. Blessed be the Lord my God for ever and ever, and blessed be
His name.'
- And Joseph and his brothers
eat bread before their father and drank wine, and Jacob rejoiced with
exceeding great joy because he saw Joseph eating with his brothers and
drinking before him, and he blessed the Creator of all things who had
preserved him, and had preserved for him his twelve sons.
- And Joseph had given to his
father and to his brothers as a gift the right of dwelling in the land of
Goshen and in Rameses and all the region round about, which he ruled over
before Pharaoh. And Israel and his sons dwelt in the land of Goshen, the
best part of the land of Egypt and Israel was one hundred and thirty years
old when he came into Egypt.
- And Joseph nourished his
father and his brethren and also their possessions with bread as much as
sufficed them for the seven years of the famine.
- And the land of Egypt
suffered by reason of the famine, and Joseph acquired all the land of Egypt
for Pharaoh in return for food, and he got possession of the people and
their cattle and everything for Pharaoh.
- And the years of the famine
were accomplished, and Joseph gave to the people in the land seed and food
that they might sow (the land) in the eighth year, for the river had
overflowed all the land of Egypt.
- For in the seven years of
the famine it had (not) overflowed and had irrigated only a few places on
the banks of the river, but now it overflowed and the Egyptians sowed the
land, and it bore much corn that year.
- And this was the first year
of [2178 A.M.] the fourth week of the forty-fifth jubilee.
- And Joseph took of the corn
of the harvest the fifth part for the king and left four parts for them for
food and for seed, and Joseph made it an ordinance for the land of Egypt
until this day.
- And Israel lived in the land
of Egypt seventeen years, and all the days which he lived were three
jubilees, one hundred and forty-seven years, and he died in the fourth [2188
A.M.] year of the fifth week of the forty-fifth jubilee.
- And Israel blessed his sons
before he died and told them everything that would befall them in the land
of Egypt; and he made known to them what would come upon them in the last
days, and blessed them and gave to Joseph two portions in the land.
- And he slept with his
fathers, and he was buried in the double cave in the land of Canaan, near
Abraham his father in the grave which he dug for himself in the double cave
in the land of Hebron.
- And he gave all his books
and the books of his fathers to Levi his son that he might preserve them and
renew them for his children until this day.
Prosperity of Israel in Egypt, 1-2. Death of Joseph,
3-5. War between Egypt and Canaan during which the bones of all the sons of
Jacob except Joseph are buried at Hebron, 6-11. Egypt oppresses Israel, 12-16.
(Cf. Gen. l.22, 25-6; Exod. i.6-14.)
[Chapter 46]
- And it came to pass that
after Jacob died the children of Israel multiplied in the land of Egypt, and
they became a great nation, and they were of one accord in heart, so that
brother loved brother and every man helped his brother, and they increased
abundantly and multiplied exceedingly, ten [2242 A.M.] weeks of years, all
the days of the life of Joseph.
- And there was no Satan nor
any evil all the days of the life of Joseph which he lived after his father
Jacob, for all the Egyptians honoured the children of Israel all the days of
the life of Joseph.
- And Joseph died being a
hundred and ten years old; seventeen years he lived in the land of Canaan,
and ten years he was a servant, and three years in prison, and eighty years
he was under the king, ruling all the land of Egypt.
- And he died and all his
brethren and all that generation.
- And he commanded the
children of Israel before he died that they should carry his bones with them
when they went forth from the land of Egypt.
- And he made them swear
regarding his bones, for he knew that the Egyptians would not again bring
forth and bury him in the land of Canaan, for Makamaron, king of Canaan,
while dwelling in the land of Assyria, fought in the valley with the king of
Egypt and slew him there, and pursued after the Egyptians to the gates of
'Ermon.
- But he was not able to
enter, for another, a new king, had become king of Egypt, and he was
stronger than he, and he returned to the land of Canaan, and the gates of
Egypt were closed, and none went out and none came into Egypt.
- And Joseph died in the
forty-sixth jubilee, in the sixth week, in the second year, and they buried
him in the land of Egypt, and [2242 A.M.] all his brethren died after him.
- And the king of Egypt went
forth to war with the king of Canaan [2263 A.M.] in the forty-seventh
jubilee, in the second week in the second year, and the children of Israel
brought forth all the bones of the children of Jacob save the bones of
Joseph, and they buried them in the field in the double cave in the
mountain.
- And the most (of them)
returned to Egypt, but a few of them remained in the mountains of Hebron,
and Amram thy father remained with them.
- And the king of Canaan was
victorious over the king of Egypt, and he closed the gates of Egypt.
- And he devised an evil
device against the children of Israel of afflicting them and he said unto
the people of Egypt: 'Behold the people of the children of Israel have
increased and multiplied more than we.
- Come and let us deal wisely
with them before they become too many, and let us afflict them with slavery
before war come upon us and before they too fight against us; else they will
join themselves unto our enemies and get them up out of our land, for their
hearts and faces are towards the land of Canaan.'
- And he set over them
taskmasters to afflict them with slavery; and they built strong cities for
Pharaoh, Pithom, and Raamses and they built all the walls and all the
fortifications which had fallen in the cities of Egypt.
- And they made them serve
with rigour, and the more they dealt evilly with them, the more they
increased and multiplied.
- And the people of Egypt
abominated the children of Israel
Birth of Moses, 1-4. Adopted by Pharaoh's daughter,
5-9. Slays an Egyptian and flees (into Midian), 10-12. (Cf. Exod. i.22; ii.
2-15.)
[Chapter 47]
- And in the seventh week, in
the seventh year, in the forty-seventh jubilee, thy father went forth [2303
A.M.] from the land of Canaan, and thou wast born in the fourth week, in the
sixth year thereof, in the [2330 A.M.] forty-eighth jubilee; this was the
time of tribulation on the children of Israel.
- And Pharaoh, king of Egypt,
issued a command regarding them that they should cast all their male
children which were born into the river.
- And they cast them in for
seven months until the day that thou wast born
- And thy mother hid thee for
three months, and they told regarding her. And she made an ark for thee, and
covered it with pitch and asphalt, and placed it in the flags on the bank of
the river, and she placed thee in it seven days, and thy mother came by
night and suckled thee, and by day Miriam, thy sister, guarded thee from the
birds.
- And in those days Tharmuth,
the daughter of Pharaoh, came to bathe in the river, and she heard thy voice
crying, and she told her maidens to bring thee forth, and they brought thee
unto her.
- And she took thee out of the
ark, and she had compassion on thee.
- And thy sister said unto
her: 'Shall I go and call unto thee one of the Hebrew women to nurse and
suckle this babe for thee?'
- And she said <unto
her>: 'Go.' And she went and called thy mother Jochebed, and she gave her
wages, and she nursed thee.
- And afterwards, when thou
wast grown up, they brought thee unto the daughter of Pharaoh, and thou
didst become her son, and Amram thy father taught thee writing, and after
thou hadst completed three weeks they brought thee into the royal court.
- And thou wast three weeks of
years at court until the time [2351-] when thou didst go forth from the
royal court and didst see an Egyptian smiting thy friend who was [2372 A.M.]
of the children of Israel, and thou didst slay him and hide him in the sand.
- And on the second day thou
didst and two of the children of Israel striving together, and thou didst
say to him who was doing the wrong: 'Why dost thou smite thy brother?'
- And he was angry and
indignant, and said: 'Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? Thinkest
thou to kill me as thou killedst the Egyptian yesterday?' And thou didst
fear and flee on account of these words.
Moses returns from Midian to Egypt. Mastêmâ seeks to
slay him on the way, 1-3. The ten plagues, 4-11. Israel goes forth out of Egypt:
the destruction of the Egyptians on the Red Sea, 12-19. (Cf. Exod. ii.15; iv.19,
24; vii. seqq.)
[Chapter 48]
- And in the sixth year of the
third week of the forty-ninth jubilee thou didst depart and dwell <in
[2372 A.M.] the land of Midian>, five weeks and one year. And thou didst
return into Egypt in the second week in the second year in the fiftieth
jubilee.
- And thou thyself knowest
what He spake unto thee on [2410 A.M.] Mount Sinai, and what prince Mastêmâ
desired to do with thee when thou wast returning into Egypt <on the way
when thou didst meet him at the lodging-place>.
- Did he not with all his
power seek to slay thee and deliver the Egyptians out of thy hand when he
saw that thou wast sent to execute judgment and vengeance on the Egyptians?
- And I delivered thee out of
his hand, and thou didst perform the signs and wonders which thou wast sent
to perform in Egypt against Pharaoh, and against all his house, and against
his servants and his people.
- And the Lord executed a
great vengeance on them for Israel's sake, and smote them through (the
plagues of) blood and frogs, lice and dog-flies, and malignant boils
breaking forth in blains; and their cattle by death; and by hail-stones,
thereby He destroyed everything that grew for them; and by locusts which
devoured the residue which had been left by the hail, and by darkness; and
<by the death> of the first-born of men and animals, and on all their
idols the Lord took vengeance and burned them with fire.
- And everything was sent
through thy hand, that thou shouldst declare (these things) before they were
done, and thou didst speak with the king of Egypt before all his servants
and before his people.
- And everything took place
according to thy words; ten great and terrible judgments came on the land of
Egypt that thou mightest execute vengeance on it for Israel.
- And the Lord did everything
for Israel's sake, and according to His covenant, which he had ordained with
Abraham that He would take vengeance on them as they had brought them by
force into bondage.
- And the prince Mastêmâ
stood up against thee, and sought to cast thee into the hands of Pharaoh,
and he helped the Egyptian sorcerers,
- and they stood up and
wrought before thee the evils indeed we permitted them to work, but the
remedies we did not allow to be wrought by their hands.
- And the Lord smote them with
malignant ulcers, and they were not able to stand, for we destroyed them so
that they could not perform a single sign.
- And notwithstanding all
(these) signs and wonders the prince Mastêmâ was not put to shame because
he took courage and cried to the Egyptians to pursue after thee with all the
powers of the Egyptians, with their chariots, and with their horses, and
with all the hosts of the peoples of Egypt.
- And I stood between the
Egyptians and Israel, and we delivered Israel out of his hand, and out of
the hand of his people, and the Lord brought them through the midst of the
sea as if it were dry land.
- And all the peoples whom he
brought to pursue after Israel, the Lord our God cast them into the midst of
the sea, into the depths of the abyss beneath the children of Israel, even
as the people of Egypt had cast their children into the river He took
vengeance on 1,000,000 of them, and one thousand strong and energetic men
were destroyed on account of one suckling of the children of thy people
which they had thrown into the river.
- And on the fourteenth day
and on the fifteenth and on the sixteenth and on the seventeenth and on the
eighteenth the prince Mastêmâ was bound and imprisoned behind the children
of Israel that he might not accuse them.
- And on the nineteenth we let
them loose that they might help the Egyptians and pursue the children of
Israel.
- And he hardened their hearts
and made them stubborn, and the device was devised by the Lord our God that
He might smite the Egyptians and cast them into the sea.
- And on the fourteenth we
bound him that he might not accuse the children of Israel on the day when
they asked the Egyptians for vessels and garments, vessels of silver, and
vessels of gold, and vessels of bronze, in order to despoil the Egyptians in
return for the bondage in which they had forced them to serve.
- And we did not lead forth
the children of Israel from Egypt empty handed.
The Passover: regulations regarding its celebration.
(Cf. Exod. xii.6, 9, 11, 13, 22-3, 30, 46; xv.22.)
[Chapter 49]
- Remember the commandment
which the Lord commanded thee concerning the passover, that thou shouldst
celebrate it in its season on the fourteenth of the first month, that thou
shouldst kill it before it is evening, and that they should eat it by night
on the evening of the fifteenth from the time of the setting of the sun.
- For on this night -the
beginning of the festival and the beginning of the joy- ye were eating the
passover in Egypt, when all the powers of Mastêmâ had been let loose to
slay all the first-born in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh
to the first-born of the captive maid-servant in the mill, and to the
cattle.
- And this is the sign which
the Lord gave them: Into every house on the lintels of which they saw the
blood of a lamb of the first year, into (that) house they should not enter
to slay, but should pass by (it), that all those should be saved that were
in the house because the sign of the blood was on its lintels.
- And the powers of the Lord
did everything according as the Lord commanded them, and they passed by all
the children of Israel, and the plague came not upon them to destroy from
amongst them any soul either of cattle, or man, or dog.
- And the plague was very
grievous in Egypt, and there was no house in Egypt where there was not one
dead, and weeping and lamentation.
- And all Israel was eating
the flesh of the paschal lamb, and drinking the wine, and was lauding, and
blessing, and giving thanks to the Lord God of their fathers, and was ready
to go forth from under the yoke of Egypt, and from the evil bondage.
- And remember thou this day
all the days of thy life, and observe it from year to year all the days of
thy life, once a year, on its day, according to all the law thereof, and do
not adjourn (it) from day to day, or from month to month.
- For it is an eternal
ordinance, and engraven on the heavenly tablets regarding all the children
of Israel that they should observe it every year on its day once a year,
throughout all their generations; and there is no limit of days, for this is
ordained for ever.
- And the man who is free from
uncleanness, and does not come to observe it on occasion of its day, so as
to bring an acceptable offering before the Lord, and to eat and to drink
before the Lord on the day of its festival, that man who is clean and close
at hand shall be cut off: because he offered not the oblation of the Lord in
its appointed season, he shall take the guilt upon himself.
- Let the children of Israel
come and observe the passover on the day of its fixed time, on the
fourteenth day of the first month, between the evenings, from the third part
of the day to the third part of the night, for two portions of the day are
given to the light, and a third part to the evening.
- This is that which the Lord
commanded thee that thou shouldst observe it between the evenings.
- And it is not permissible to
slay it during any period of the light, but during the period bordering on
the evening, and let them eat it at the time of the evening, until the third
part of the night, and whatever is left over of all its flesh from the third
part of the night and onwards, let them burn it with fire.
- And they shall not cook it
with water, nor shall they eat it raw, but roast on the fire: they shall eat
it with diligence, its head with the inwards thereof and its feet they shall
roast with fire, and not break any bone thereof; for of the children of
Israel no bone shall be crushed.
- For this reason the Lord
commanded the children of Israel to observe the passover on the day of its
fixed time, and they shall not break a bone thereof; for it is a festival
day, and a day commanded, and there may be no passing over from day to day,
and month to month, but on the day of its festival let it be observed.
- And do thou command the
children of Israel to observe the passover throughout their days, every
year, once a year on the day of its fixed time, and it shall come for a
memorial well pleasing before the Lord, and no plague shall come upon them
to slay or to smite in that year in which they celebrate the passover in its
season in every respect according to His command.
- And they shall not eat it
outside the sanctuary of the Lord, but before the sanctuary of the Lord, and
all the people of the congregation of Israel shall celebrate it in its
appointed season.
- And every man who has come
upon its day shall eat it in the sanctuary of your God before the Lord from
twenty years old and upward; for thus is it written and ordained that they
should eat it in the sanctuary of the Lord.
- And when the children of
Israel come into the land which they are to possess, into the land of
Canaan, and set up the tabernacle of the Lord in the midst of the land in
one of their tribes until the sanctuary of the Lord has been built in the
land, let them come and celebrate the passover in the midst of the
tabernacle of the Lord, and let them slay it before the Lord from year to
year.
- And in the days when the
house has been built in the name of the Lord in the land of their
inheritance, they shall go there and slay the passover in the evening, at
sunset, at the third part of the day.
- And they shall offer its
blood on the threshold of the altar, and shall place its fat on the fire
which is upon the altar, and they shall eat its flesh roasted with fire in
the court of the house which has been sanctified in the name of the Lord.
- And they may not celebrate
the passover in their cities, nor in any place save before the tabernacle of
the Lord, or before His house where His name hath dwelt; and they shall not
go astray from the Lord.
- And do thou, Moses, command
the children of Israel to observe the ordinances of the passover, as it was
commanded unto thee; declare thou unto them every year and the day of its
days, and the festival of unleavened bread, that they should eat unleavened
bread seven days, (and) that they should observe its festival, and that they
bring an oblation every day during those seven days of joy before the Lord
on the altar of your God.
- For ye celebrated this
festival with haste when ye went forth from Egypt till ye entered into the
wilderness of Shur; for on the shore of the sea ye completed it.
Laws regarding the jubilees, 1-5, and the Sabbath,
6-13.
[Chapter 50]
- And after this law I made
known to thee the days of the Sabbaths in the desert of Sin[ai], which is
between Elim and Sinai.
- And I told thee of the
Sabbaths of the land on Mount Sinai, and I told thee of the jubilee years in
the sabbaths of years: but the year thereof have I not told thee till ye
enter the land which ye are to possess.
- And the land also shall keep
its sabbaths while they dwell upon it, and they shall know the jubilee year.
- Wherefore I have ordained
for thee the year-weeks and the years and the jubilees: there are forty-nine
jubilees from the days of Adam until this day, [2410 A.M.] and one week and
two years: and there are yet forty years to come (lit. 'distant') for
learning the [2450 A.M.] commandments of the Lord, until they pass over into
the land of Canaan, crossing the Jordan to the west.
- And the jubilees shall pass
by, until Israel is cleansed from all guilt of fornication, and uncleanness,
and pollution, and sin, and error, and dwells with confidence in all the
land, and there shall be no more a Satan or any evil one, and the land shall
be clean from that time for evermore.
- And behold the commandment
regarding the Sabbaths -I have written (them) down for thee- and all the
judgments of its laws.
- Six days shalt thou labour,
but on the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it ye shall
do no manner of work, ye and your sons, and your men- servants and your
maid-servants, and all your cattle and the sojourner also who is with you.
- And the man that does any
work on it shall die: whoever desecrates that day, whoever lies with (his)
wife, or whoever says he will do something on it, that he will set out on a
journey thereon in regard to any buying or selling: and whoever draws water
thereon which he had not prepared for himself on the sixth day, and whoever
takes up any burden to carry it out of his tent or out of his house shall
die.
- Ye shall do no work whatever
on the Sabbath day save what ye have prepared for yourselves on the sixth
day, so as to eat, and drink, and rest, and keep Sabbath from all work on
that day, and to bless the Lord your God, who has given you a day of
festival and a holy day: and a day of the holy kingdom for all Israel is
this day among their days for ever.
- For great is the honour
which the Lord has given to Israel that they should eat and drink and be
satisfied on this festival day, and rest thereon from all labour which
belongs to the labour of the children of men save burning frankincense and
bringing oblations and sacrifices before the Lord for days and for Sabbaths.
- This work alone shall be
done on the Sabbath-days in the sanctuary of the Lord your God; that they
may atone for Israel with sacrifice continually from day to day for a
memorial well-pleasing before the Lord, and that He may receive them always
from day to day according as thou hast been commanded.
- And every man who does any
work thereon, or goes a journey, or tills (his) farm, whether in his house
or any other place, and whoever lights a fire, or rides on any beast, or
travels by ship on the sea, and whoever strikes or kills anything, or
slaughters a beast or a bird, or whoever catches an animal or a bird or a
fish, or whoever fasts or makes war on the Sabbaths:
- The man who does any of
these things on the Sabbath shall die, so that the children of Israel shall
observe the Sabbaths according to the commandments regarding the Sabbaths of
the land, as it is written in the tablets, which He gave into my hands that
I should write out for thee the laws of the seasons, and the seasons
according to the division of their days.
Herewith is completed the account of the division of
the days.