Full English Text of Book of Jubilees online

The Book of Jubilees (The book of Divisions)

Creation 3906 BC

Creation to Conquest = 50 Jubilees = 2450 years after creation

Creation to Conquest: A fictional Jewish chronology of real world history

170 BC

 

 

The Book of Jubilees

Read now: Full English Text of Book of Jubilees online

 

Introduction:

1.      Only the Greek Septuagint preserves the original chronology for the history of the world and creation at 5554 BC.

a.       Almost without exception, every historic chronology, both Jewish and Greek, had a date for the age of the earth that agreed with the Septuagint.

b.      The only two chronologies that agree with the modern Masoretic text are the corrupt book of Jubilees and Seder Olam.

c.       Jubilees of 49 or 50 years are never used in any symbolism in the New Testament including the book of Revelation.

2.      The book of Jubilees is worthless in every way, in regard to true and factual Bible chronology.

a.       Christians who use the book of Jubilees or Seder Olam Rabbah as true representation of Bible chronology are gravely mistaken.

b.      Jubilees and Seder Olam have confused Christians today who wrongly assume Jews and Rabbis today are authorities in their own chronolectal history.

c.       The truth is this, when a Rabbi gives any date for world history, ignore his answer and ask a Christian for the correct date.

d.      Without Christians, Jews today would be lost in both history and archeological dating.

e.      The book of jubilees must be rejected as the “Mother Goose” story of world history along its companion “Lord of the Rings” fiction novel called, Seder Olam.

3.      The book of Jubilees is a theologically driven, fictional and unrealistic chronology from the garden of Eden to the day Joshua crossed the Jordan at the conquest of Moses.

a.       Creation to Conquest = 50 Jubilees = 2450 years after creation

b.      This system is absolutely fictitious and unworkable when applied with real known history of the world by modern scholars and chronologers.

c.       Several major liberties/corrections were made in the book of Jubilees to make history fit world history from the garden of Eden in nice clean chunks of 49 years.

d.      Obviously such an approach is impossible given jubilees did not exist until the conquest in 1406 BC when they started counting year 1 of the first 49 year cycle.

e.      In this way, it is clear that Jubilees is driven by theology not factual chronological numbers for the history of the world.

4.      When was the first Jubilee? Answer: 1357 BC, the year before Joshua died (49 years after Joshua crossed the Jordan in 1406 BC.)

a.       The Sabbatical year and Jubilee cycles began the year Joshua crossed the Jordan in 1406 BC.

b.      The first Sabbatical year was 1399 BC, the year the tabernacle tent was moved from Gilgal to Shiloh where it stood for 305 years until the philistines captured the Ark of the Covenant and destroyed Shiloh.

c.       The first Jubilee was 1357 BC. Joshua died the following year in 1356 BC.

d.      Whereas the Moses tells us that the first Jubilee in world history occurred 49 years after they crossed the Jordan in 1406 BC, the book of Jubilees starts the cycle at creation.

e.      A huge problem for the book of Jubilees, is that the timing of Jubilees directly contradicts the timing in the Bible because it is impossible to have the Exodus of Moses in 1446 BC as a Jubilee year AND 49 years after Joshua crossed the Jordan in 1406 BC.

f.        This is likely why the book of Jubilees stopped at the exodus.

g.       The Seder Olam (160 AD) on the other hand, uses a similar cycle of Jubilees (50 years) and through a series of historical fictions and revisions, sets a Jubilee at 14 years + 49 after Joshua crossed the Jordan.

5.      What are Jubilees and Sabbatical years? Answer: 49 years and every seventh year.

a.       At Mt. Sinai, Moses defined a sabbatical year as every seventh year and a Jubilee as 49 years.

b.      a Jubilee is 49 years derived from a cycle of 7 sets of 7 sabbatical years. (7 x 7 years = 49 years).

                                                               i.      The book of Jubilees correctly uses the formula that a Jubilee = 49 years.

                                                             ii.      The Seder Olam (160 AD) and modern Jewish thinking wrongly sets a Jubilee at 50 years.

c.       A sabbatical year is every seventh year where the land was not farmed but left fallow.

d.      Sabbatical years and Jubilees were times that slaves were set free and all leased lands reverted back to the original owners or tribes.

6.      Dating the book of Jubilees: 170 BC

a.       “From the time that Jubilees became known in Europe until the end of the 19th century, scholars generally dated it to the 1st century c.e. The work of Bohn and Charles around the turn of the century led to a new agreement (apart from a few wildly divergent views, such as that of Zeitlin) that the book was composed at some point in the 2d century b.c.e. Bohn placed it in the middle of the century, Charles at the end. Since the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls and of fragments of Jubilees among them, the question of date has been approached from new angles. The paleographically determined date of some of the Hebrew fragments (4Qm 16 Jub^a and 4Qm 17 Jub^a) is ca. 100 b.c.e.—a date which virtually requires that one adopt an earlier time of composition than the one Charles defended. It seems clear that the book, which neither commands nor reflects separation from the remainder of the Jewish population but which manifests striking similarities with important teachings of the Scrolls, was written before the Qumran community was formed. There is no consensus about when this group exiled itself from the rest of the nation, but most scholars would now agree that the exodus to Qumran transpired during the high priestly tenure of either Jonathan (152–142) or Simon (142–134). This would imply that Jubilees was written no later than ca. 150–140 b.c.e. Several students of the book have found in it allusions to Maccabean wars; if they are correct, the book could not antedate ca. 166. However, others have argued that these allusions are open to other interpretations and that the apocalyptic passage in Jubilees 23 makes no reference to either the decrees of Antiochus IV forbidding the practice of Judaism (167) nor to the Maccabean response to these edicts. Nickelsburg and Goldstein have inferred from these circumstances that the book was written before 167. It should be added, though, that Jubilees 23 shares the standard opaqueness of apocalyptic language and that some passages in it have been interpreted by Charles and Davenport as references to the Maccabean uprising (e.g., v 20). Moreover, 4:19 may allude to 1 Enoch 83–90, which was written, it seems, after ca. 164 b.c.e. In general one may say that the book was probably written at some point between 170 and 140.” (ABD, Jubilees, book of)

7.      Manuscripts of the book of Jubilees:

a.       The book of jubilees is preserved in several manuscripts

b.      Many Dead Sea scroll fragments/scrolls/copies of Jubilees have been excavated showing it was widely read and known throughout the first century BC including the time of Christ and the early church.

8.      Authorship of the book of Jubilees: Synagogue Pharisee or Jerusalem Temple Sadducee?

a.       “There is strong reason to believe that Jubilees was written by a priest. This follows from the nature of the book with its heavy emphasis on priestly concerns, from the special attention devoted to the line of righteous men through whom the sacerdotal legislation was transmitted from earliest times, and from the extraordinary status of Levi among the sons of Jacob.” (ABD, Jubilees, book of)

b.      Not a Sadducee:

                                                               i.      The book of Jubilees 1:27 says “And he said to the angel of the presence, “Write for Moses…”

                                                             ii.      Because Sadducees reject Angels, resurrection and life after death, the author of Jubilees was NOT part of the Jerusalem high priest family at the Jerusalem temple.

c.       Jubilees rehabilitates Levi, making him into a model patriarch who is appointed priest and carries out priestly functions for his father and other family members. Levi is also presented as a member of a long priestly line through whom the writings of the ancestors were transmitted and preserved (see Jub. 45:16). It seems likely that the author of Jubilees was himself a priest.

D.       The book of Jubilees was likely written by a Pharisee and distributed to synagogues as opposed to the Sadducees who ran the Temple in Jerusalem.

9.      Overview of the book of Jubilees:

a.       “In Jubilees 1:27 the angel of the Presence is told by God on Mount Sinai: “Dictate to Moses (starting) from the beginning of creation until the time my temple is built among them throughout the ages of eternity.” This scope is wider than that contained in the present Book of Jubilees. It may be that the author never completed his plan to re-write Israel’s history up to the return from Exile in 586 BC, to the time when the Second Temple was built in 535-530 BC (my new date for the rebuilding of the Temple). The scope is further elaborated in 1:29f. “And the angel of the presence who was going along in front of the Israelite camp, took the tablets (which told) of the divisions of the years from the time the law and the testimony were created — for the weeks of their jubilees, year by year in their full number, and their jubilees from [the time of the creation until] the time of the new creation when the heavens, the earth, and all their creatures will be renewed . . . until the time when the temple of the Lord will be created in Jerusalem on Mt Zion.” The Book of Jubilees was written with the sole purpose of imposing a new, yearly calendar of 364 days on the Jewish people toward the end of the second century B.C. The year was made up of 364 days and was divisible by seven, so that every feast fell on the same day of the week. The year always began on a Wednesday (according to Qumran). The first two months of each quarter year had 30 days and the third month had 31 days, make 91 days per quarter. This system worked in the short term, but was disastrous in the long term, because every four years the calendar would fall one day behind the solar year. The new calendar was the creation of the author of the Book. Allied to this new, yearly calendar was another idea, namely, that God was working to a scheme of jubilee periods. God’s yardstick for measuring time was the jubilee of 49 years. The author’s goal was to fit the whole history of the Hebrew people, from Adam to the Entrance into Canaan under Joshua, into exactly fifty jubilees, covering the first 2450 years. By dividing Israel’s history into jubilee periods the simple would be draw toward his calendar, seeing it created the impression that God works in a very tidy manner, which He demonstrated in bringing the Hebrews out of Egypt exactly 430 years to the day. The author lived in a time when Daniel’s seventy weeks, or ten jubilees, reflected a heavenly calendar that contained the entire history of the world. The simple would have been impressed with the argument that all of world history has been written up in terms of jubilee periods. If so, then it was a simple step to believe that it must be possible to distribute the events between Genesis 1 and Exodus 12 over fifty jubilee periods, and thereby secure credibility for the author’s new calendar. The twin goals of the author are not given the same attention. Indeed, his new 364-day year is not utilised anywhere to prove his point. Instead, he appears to have focussed entirely on the more plausible case for jubilee eras, and in proving this to his own satisfaction, the hope was that his innovation of a new calendar year would be accepted by the simple as part and parcel of the revelation given to the author by the angel of God, who dictated the Book to the author. The Book was originally written in Hebrew (translated into Syriac) and translated into Greek, which became the base for the Latin and Ethiopic translations. No Greek version of Jubilees has ever been found, only citations in other works. But there is good evidence that the Ethiopic and Latin versions were made from a Greek version.” (The Chronology of The Book of Jubilees, Leslie McFall, 31 December 2013)

 

I. Jubilees does not make Shem as Melchizedek:

1.                A key factor in proving that the Jews corrupted their Genesis chronology in 160 AD at Zippori in their Hebrew pre-Masoretic Text is that Shem was NOT Melchizedek in the book of Jubilees.

a.                   In fact, in spite of the reduced time scales from the existing Hebrew pre-Masoretic Text and the Septuagint, the book of Jubilees has Shem die 66 years before Abraham was born making it impossible for him to be Melchizedek.

b.                   This proves that in 160 BC no one had ever considered making Shem into Melchizedek because the existing chronologies in the Greek LXX, Hebrew MT and Seder Olam SO make it impossible.

2.                The book of Jubilees has a compressed time scale like the book of Olam Seder but cannot accommodated the idea that Shem was Melchizedek.

3.                In the book of Jubilees the flood was in 1308 AC/2598 BC and Abraham was born in 1876 AC/2030 BC which computes to 568 years. Shem lives 502 years after the flood.

a.                   This means Shem is dies at age 600 and 66 years before Abraham was born.

b.                   This makes it impossible for Shem to be Melchizedek and explains why Jubilees rehearses the basic Bible story with out embellishments.

4.                In fact, the book of Jubilees never names Melchizedek directly but only in a passing reference as a basis for the Levitical tithe:

a.                   “upon Abram and his seed a tenth of the firstfruits to the Lord. And the Lord ordained it (as) an ordinance forever that they should give it to the priests, to those who minister before him so that they might possess it forever. And there is no limit of days for this law because he ordained it for eternal generations so that they might give one tenth of everything to the Lord: grain and wine and oil and oxen and sheep. And he gave (it) to his priests to eat and drink with rejoicing before him.” (book of Jubilees 13.25–27)

b.                   “Jubilees 13.22–29 is a summary of Genesis 14, the wars between the kings. Here again we meet characteristic modifications on the part of the author. Almost all of the Ethiopic manuscripts lack the section of the text where Genesis mentions Melchizedek. It is nearly certain, however, that the Melchizedek section belongs in the text because the preserved parts of Jub. 13.25 with the sequel in vv. 26–27 discuss tithing, a subject mentioned in the Melchizedek pericope. The gap in most of the Ethiopic copies can be explained as a scribal lapse (VanderKam 1989a: 2.81–82). The author uses the Melchizedek passage as the basis for the law of tithing. Abram tithed everything to the priest Melchizedek, according to Gen. 14:20; Jubilees adds: ‘[This tithe was] for Abram and his descendants the tithe of the firstfruits for the Lord. The Lord made it an eternal ordinance that they should give it to the priests who serve before him for them to possess it forever’ (v. 25). The text specifies that a tenth of everything belongs to the Lord, that is, to the priests; ‘seed, the vine, oil, cattle and sheep’ are mentioned (v. 26; see also 32.15). Biblical statements about tithes do not uniformly agree with this prescription. Deuteronomy 12:17–18 orders that the tithe of grain, wine and oil be eaten at the sanctuary by those who bring them (see Deut. 14:22–23, which adds the tithe of the seed). Nehemiah 13:5 refers to ‘the tithes of grain, wine and oil which were given by commandment to the Levites, singers and gate keepers, and the contributions for the priests’ (see also v. 12). The viewpoint expressed in Jubilees—that the priests should receive the tithes—seems a reasonable inference from the Melchizedek story in Genesis but it also reflects the priestly bias of the author.” (The Book of Jubilees, J. C. VanderKam, p48, 2001 AD)

5.                The book of Jubilees had Shem as firstborn:

a.                   While the book of Jubilees has, for the first time, Shem as the firstborn of Noah and older brother of Japheth, it never associates Shem with Melchizedek.

b.                   See also: Shem was second-born and NOT Melchizedek

c.                   “And Noah wrote everything in a book just as we taught him according to every kind of healing. And the evil spirits were restrained from following the sons of Noah. And he gave everything which he wrote to Shem, his oldest son, because he loved him much more than all of his sons.” (Book of Jubilees 10.13–14, 170 BC)

d.                   The book of Jubilees dates to 170 BC and is a corrupt chronology that fits world history into periods of 49 years. Jubilees makes Shem the first born at Noah’s age of 500:

e.                   “And the healing of all their illnesses together with their seductions we told Noah so that he might heal by means of herbs of the earth. ¹³ And Noah wrote everything in a book just as we taught him according to every kind of healing. And the evil spirits were restrained from following the sons of Noah. ¹⁴ And he gave everything which he wrote to Shem, his oldest son, because he loved him much more than all of his sons.” (Book of Jubilees 10.12–14)

f.                    This is significant and shows that in 170 BC, the Jews had not yet started teaching the false doctrine that Shem was Melchizedek even though the Jubilees chronology had Shem living at the time of Abraham.

g.                   When the book of Jubilees was written in 170 BC the Hebrew pre-Masoretic text chronology agreed with the longer ages found in the Septuagint.

 

II. Jubilees vs. Seder Olam Rabbah:

1.      Overview comparison of Jubilees and Seder Olam:

	Jubilees	Seder Olam
Date of authorship	170 BC	160 AD
Years per Jubilee	49 years per Jubilee	50 years per Jubilee
Jubilee cycle conflict with bible	No: Jubilees started when Joshua crossed the Jordan	Yes: The first jubilee cycle began 14 years after Joshua crossed the Jordan
Time span of chronology	creation to Exodus = 2450 years	creation to 135 AD = 3896 years
Creation date	3906 BC (estimated)	3761 BC
2450 years equals	Creation to Cross Jordan (exactly 50 Jubilees)	Creation to Exodus (exactly 49 Jubilees)

 

2.      Both the book of Jubilees (170 BC) and the Seder Olam (160 AD) feature a 2450 year period from creation down to Moses with two big differences.

a.       While both have the same start counting place at creation, the 2450 year period ends at the exodus in Seder Olam but the conquest in Jubilees.

b.      The second huge anomaly is that Jubilees uses the correct 49 year period for a Jubilee but Seder Olam uses, for the first time in history, a 50 year period for a Jubilee.

c.       This has confused Christians today who wrongly assume Jews and Rabbis today are authorities in their own chronolectal history.

 

2450 years of the Book of Jubilees vs Seder Olam
	Start point	Number of Jubilees	Years per Jubilee	End point
Jubilees	Creation	50	49	Conquest
Seder Olam	Creation	49	50	Exodus

 

III. Book of Jubilees vs. LXX, MT, SP and Seder Olam:

1.      Only the Greek Septuagint preserves the original chronology for the history of the world.

a.       Almost without exception, every historic chronology, both Jewish and Greek, had a date for the age of the earth that agreed with the Septuagint.

b.      The only two chronologies that agree with the modern Masoretic text are the corrupt book of Jubilees and Seder Olam.

2.      One of the clearest evidences that today’s Masoretic Hebrew text has corrupted chronological numbers in regard to the age of the earth and the flood of Noah, is the fact that they are in perfect agreement with the corrupt Jubilees and Seder Olam Rabbah.

a.       As we know, the Seder Olam, for example has the Persian Empire lasting only 52 years when it is universally known the real period is 205 years.

b.      The concept of squeezing world history from creation to Moses in 50 Jubilees and 2450 years creates serious problems with reality in the world of archeology and the general story of the Bible.

		Septuagint LXX 350 AD	Jubilees 170 BC	Seder Olam 160 AD	Masoretic MT 1008 AD	Samaritan SP 1065 AD
	Adam to Seth	230	130	130	130	130
	Seth to Enosh	205	98	105	105	105
	Enosh to Kenan	190	97	90	90	90
	Kenan to Malalael	170	70	70	70	70
	Malalael to Jared	165	66	65	65	65
	Jared to Enoch	162	61	162	162	62
	Enoch to Methuselah	165	65	65	65	65
	Methuselah to Lamech	167	65	187	187	67
	Lamech to Noah	188	55	182	182	53
	Noah to Shem	500	500	500	500	500
	Shem to Arphaxad	102	102	102	102	102
	Arphaxad to Kainam	135	64	-	-	-
	Kainam to Shelah	130	57	-	-	-
	Arphaxad to Shelah	-	-	35	35	135
	Shelah to Eber	130	71	30	30	130
	Eber to Peleg	134	64	34	34	134
	Peleg to Reu	130	12	30	30	130
	Reu to Serug	132	108	32	32	132
	Serug to Nahor	130	57	30	30	130
	Nahor to Terah	79	62	29	29	79
	Terah to Abraham	70 (130)	70	70	70 (130)	70
	Total years AC	3314	1874	1948	1948	2249
	Creation Date	5554 BC	3906 BC1	3761 BC	4174 BC	4475 BC

 1 Jubilees chronology is creation to Exodus so this is an estimation based upon Jewish thinking in 170 BC.

 

Full text of The Book of Jubilees (The book of Divisions)

 

The Book of Jubilees: A fictional Jewish chronology of real world history

 

The Book of JUBILEES

A fictional Jewish chronology of real world history

(The Book of Division)

160 BC

Title

*This is The Account of the Division of Days of the Law and the Testimony for Annual Observance according to their Weeks (of years) and their Jubilees throughout all the Years of the World just as the Lord told it to Moses on Mount Sinai when he went up to receive the tablets of the Law and the commandment by the word of the Lord, as he said to him, “Come up to the top of the mountain.”

Moses is summoned to the mountain

1 ¹* In the first year of the Exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt, in the third month on the sixteenth day of that month, the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Come up to me on the mountain, and I shall give you two stone tablets of the Law and the commandment, which I have written, so that you may teach them.”

² And Moses went up to the mountain of the Lord. And the glory of the Lord dwelt upon Mount Sinai, and a cloud overshadowed it for six days. ³ And he called to Moses on the seventh day from the midst of the cloud. And the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like fire burning on top of the mountain.

⁴ And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

Moses instructed to write a book

And the Lord revealed to him both what (was) in the beginning and what will occur (in the future), the account of the division of all of the days of the Law and the testimony. ⁵* And he said, “Set your mind on every thing which I shall tell you on this mountain, and write it in a book so that their descendants might see that I have not abandoned them on account of all of the evil which they have done to instigate transgression of the convenant which I am establishing between me and you today on Mount Sinai for their descendants. ⁶* And thus it will be, when all of these things happen to them, that they will know that I have been more righteous than they in all their judgments and deeds. And they will know that I have truly been with them.

Moses is told how the people will forsake the Lord in the land of promise

⁷* “And you, write for yourself all of these words which I shall cause you to know today, for I know their rebelliousness and their stubbornness before I cause them to enter the land which I swore to their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘I will give to your seed a land flowing with milk and honey.’ ⁸ And they will eat and be satisfied, and they will turn to strange gods, to those who cannot save them from any of their affliction. And this testimony will be heard as testimony against them, ⁹* for they will forget all of my commandments, everything which I shall command them, and they will walk after the gentiles and after their defilement and shame. And they will serve their gods, and they will become a scandal for them and an affliction and a torment and a snare. ¹⁰* And many will be destroyed and seized and will fall into the hand of the enemy because they have forsaken my ordinances and my commandments and the feasts of my covenant and my sabbaths and my sacred place, which I sanctified for myself among them, and my tabernacle and my sanctuary, which I sanctified for myself in the midst of the land so that I might set my name upon it and might dwell (there). ¹¹* And they will make for themselves high places and groves and carved idols. And each of them will worship his own (idol) so as to go astray. And they will sacrifice their children to the demons and to every work of the error of their heart.

The murder of prophets, the captivity, and the loss of the cult

¹²* “And I shall send to them witnesses so that I might witness to them, but they will not hear. And they will even kill witnesses. And they will persecute those who search out the Law, and they will neglect everything and begin to do evil in my sight. ¹³* And I shall hide my face from them, and I shall give them over to the power of the nations to be captive, and for plunder, and to be devoured. And I shall remove them from the midst of the land, and I shall scatter them among the nations. ¹⁴* And they will forget all of my laws and all of my commandments and all of my judgments, and they will err concerning new moons, sabbaths, festivals, jubilees, and ordinances.

Repentance and restoration

¹⁵* “And afterward they will turn to me from among the nations with all their heart and with all their soul and with all their might. And I shall gather them from the midst of all the nations. And they will seek me so that I might be found by them. When they seek me with all their heart and with all their soul, I shall reveal to them an abundance of peace in righteousness. ¹⁶* And with all my heart and with all my soul I shall transplant them as a righteous plant. And they will be a blessing and not a curse. And they will be the head and not the tail. ¹⁷* And I shall build my sanctuary in their midst, and I shall dwell with them. And I shall be their God and they will be my people truly and rightly. ¹⁸* And I shall not forsake them, and I shall not be alienated from the because I am the Lord their God.”

Moses’ prayer of intercession

¹⁹* And Moses fell upon his face, and he prayed and said, “O Lord, my God, do not abandon your people and your inheritance to walk in the error of their heart. And do not deliver them into the hand of their enemy, the gentiles, lest they rule over them and cause them to sin against you.

²⁰* “O Lord, let your mercy be lifted up upon your people, and create for them an upright spirit. And do not let the spirit of Beliar rule over them to accuse them before you and ensnare them from every path of righteousness so that they might be destroyed from before your face. ²¹* But they are your people and your inheritance, whom you saved by your great might from the hand of the Egyptians. Create a pure heart and a holy spirit for them. And do not let them be ensnared by their sin henceforth and forever.”

The Lord predicts a restoration of the people

²²* And the Lord said to Moses, “I know their contrariness and their thoughts and their stubbornness. And they will not obey until they acknowledge their sin and the sins of their fathers. ²³* But after this they will return to me in all uprighteousness and with all of (their) heart and soul. And I shall cut off the foreskin of their heart and the foreskin of the heart of their descendants. And I shall create for them a holy spirit, and I shall purify them so that they will not turn away from following me from that day and forever. ²⁴* And their souls will cleave to me and to all my commandments. And they will do my commandments. And I shall be a father to them, and they will be sons to me. ²⁵ And they will all be called ‘sons of the living God.’ And every angel and spirit will know and acknowledge that they are my sons and I am their father in uprightness and righteousness. And I shall love them.

Moses told again to write

²⁶* “And you write down for yourself all of the matters which I shall make known to you on this mountain: what (was) in the beginning and what (will be) at the end, what will happen in all of the divisions of the days which are in the Law and testimony and throughout their weeks (of years) according to the jubilees forever, until I shall descend and dwell with them in all the ages of eternity.”

The Angel of the presence is instructed to write the history for Moses

²⁷* And he said to the angel of the presence, “Write for Moses from the first creation until my sanctuary is built in their midst forever and ever. ²⁸* And the Lord will appear in the sight of all. And everyone will know that I am the God of Israel and the father of all the children of Jacob and king upon Mount Zion forever and ever. And Zion and Jerusalem will be holy.”

The Angel of the presence receives the tablets containing the history

²⁹* And the angel of the presence, who went before the camp of Israel, took the tablets of the division of years from the time of the creation of the law and testimony according to their weeks (of years), according to the jubilees, year by year throughout the full number of jubilees, from [the day of creation until]^l the day of the new creation when the heaven and earth and all of their creatures shall be renewed according to the powers of heaven and according to the whole nature of earth, until the sanctuary of the Lord is created in Jerusalem upon Mount Zion. And all of the lights will be renewed for healing and peace and blessing for all of the elect of Israel and in order that it might be thus from that day and unto all the days of the earth.

Description of six days of creation

2 ¹ And the angel of the presence spoke to Moses by the word of the Lord, saying, “Write the whole account of creation, that in six days the Lord God completed all his work and all that he created. And he observed a sabbath the seventh day, and he sanctified it for all ages. And he set it (as) a sign for all his works.”

²* For on the first day he created the heavens, which are above, and the earth, and the waters and all of the spirits which minister 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 darkness and snow and hail and frost,

and the angels of resoundings and thunder and lightning,

and the angels of the spirits of cold and heat and winter and springtime and harvest and summer,

and all of the spirits of his creatures which are in heaven and on earth.

And (he created) the abysses and darkness—both evening and night—and light—both dawn and daylight—which he prepared in the knowledge of his heart. ³ Then we saw his works and we blessed him and offered praise before him on account of all his works because he made seven great works on the first day.

⁴* And on the second day he made the firmament in the midst of the water. And the waters were divided on that day. One half of them went up above, and one half of them went down beneath the firmament (which is) in the middle over the surface of all of the earth. And he made only this (one) work on the second day.

⁵* On the third day he did as he said to the waters, “Let them pass from the surface of the whole earth into one place, and let the dry land appear.” ⁶ And the waters did as he said. And they turned aside from upon the surface of the earth into one place outside of this firmament. And dry land appeared. ⁷* And on that day he created for it all of the seas in each of their gathering places, and all of the rivers, and the gathering places of the waters on the mountains and in all the earth, and all of the ponds, and all of the dew of the earth, and the seed which is sown, and everything which is eaten, and trees which bear fruit and (other) trees, and the garden of Eden in Eden—in (the place of) luxury—and everything. These four great species the Lord made on the third day.

⁸* And on the fourth day he made the sun and the moon and the stars. And he set them in the firmament of heaven so that they might give light upon the whole earth and rule over the day and the night and separate light and darkness. ⁹ And the Lord set the sun as a great sign upon the earth for days, sabbaths, months, feast (days), years, sabbaths of years, jubilees, and for all of the (appointed) times of the years—¹⁰ and it separates the light from the darkness—and so that everything which sprouts and grows upon the earth might surely prosper. These three kinds he made on the fourth day.

¹¹* And on the fifth day he created the great sea monsters in the midst of the depths of the waters—for these were made by his hands as the first corporeal beings—and all the fish which move in the waters, and all the birds which fly, and all of their kind. ¹² And the sun rose above them to make them prosper and above everything which was on the earth, everything which sprouts from the earth, and every tree which bears fruit, and all flesh. These three kinds he made on the fifth day.

¹³* And on the sixth day he made all of the beasts of the earth and all of the cattle and everything which moves upon the earth. ¹⁴ And after all of this, he made man—male and female he made them—and he gave him dominion over everything which was upon the earth and which was in the seas and over everything which flies, and over beasts and cattle and everything which moves upon the earth or above the whole earth. And over all this he gave him dominion. And these four kinds he made on the sixth day. ¹⁵ And the total was twenty-two kinds. ¹⁶* And he completed all of his work on the sixth day, everything which is in the heavens and the earth and the seas and the depths and in the light and in the darkness and in every place.

The significance of the sabbath

¹⁷* And he gave us a great sign, the sabbath day, so that we might work six days and observe a sabbath from all work on the seventh day. ¹⁸ And he told us—all of the angels of the presence and all of the angels of sanctification, these two great kinds—that we might keep the sabbath with him in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹* And he said to us, “Behold I shall separate for myself a people from among all the nations. And they will also keep the sabbath. And I will sanctify them for myself, and I will bless them. Just as I have sanctified and shall sanctify the sabbath day for myself thus shall I bless them. And they will be my people and I will be their God. ²⁰* And I have chosen the seed of Jacob from among all that I have seen. And I have recorded him as my firstborn son, and have sanctified him for myself forever and ever. And I will make known to them the sabbath day so that they might observe therein a sabbath from all work.”

²¹* And thus he created therein a sign by which they might keep the sabbath with us on the seventh day, to eat and drink and bless the one who created all things just as he blessed and sanctified for himself a people who appeared from all the nations so that they might keep the sabbath together with us. ²² And he caused their desires to go up as pleasing fragrance, which is acceptable before him always.

²³ There were twenty-two chief men from Adam until Jacob, and twenty-two kinds of works were made before the seventh day. The former is blessed and sanctified, and the latter is also blessed and sanctified. One was like the other with respect to sanctification and blessing. ²⁴ And it was granted to the former that they should always be the blessed and sanctified ones of the testimony and the first law just as he had sanctified and blessed sabbath day on the seventh day.

The laws for keeping the sabbath

²⁵* He created heaven and earth and everything which he created in six days. And the Lord made the seventh day holy for all of his works. Therefore he commanded concerning it, “Let everyone who will do any work therein die. And also whoever defiles it let him surely die.”

²⁶* And you, command the children of Israel, and let them guard this day so that they might sanctify it and not do any work therein, and not defile it because it is more holy than any day. ²⁷* And everyone who pollutes it let him surely die. And anyone who will do any work therein, let him surely die forever so that the children of Israel might guard this day throughout their generations and not be uprooted from the land because it is a holy day and a blessed day. ²⁸ And every man who guards it and keeps therein a sabbath from all his work will be holy and blessed always like us.

²⁹* Make known and recount to the children of Israel the judgment of the day that they should keep the sabbath thereon and not forsake it in the error of their hearts. And (make known) that it is not permitted to do work thereon which is unlawful, (it being) unseemly to do their pleasure thereon. And (make known) that they should not prepare thereon anything which will be eaten or drunk, which they have not prepared for themselves on the sixth day. And (make known that it is not lawful) to draw water or to bring in or to take out any work within their dwellings which is carried in their gates. ³⁰* And they shall not bring in or take out from house to house on that day because it is more holy and it is more blessed than any day of the jubilee of jubilees. On this day we kept the sabbath in heaven before it was made known to any human to keep the sabbath thereon upon the earth.

³¹ The Creator of all blessed it, but he did not sanctify any people or nations to keep the sabbath thereon with the sole exception of Israel. He granted to them alone that they might eat and drink and keep the sabbath thereon upon the earth. ³² And the Creator of all, who created this day for a blessing and sanctification and glory, blessed it more than all days. ³³* This law and testimony was given to the children of Israel as an eternal law for their generations.

The naming of animals

3 ¹* And in six days of the second week, by the word of the Lord, we brought to Adam all of the beasts, and all of the cattle, and all of the birds, and everything which moves on the earth, and everything which moves in the water, each one according to its kind, and each one according to its likeness: the beasts on the first day, and cattle on the second day, and the birds on the third day, and everything which moves upon the earth on the fourth day, and whatever moves in the water on the fifth day. ² And Adam named all of them, each one according to its name, and whatever he called them became their names. ³ And during these five days Adam was observing all of these, male and female according to every kind which was on the earth, but he was alone and there was none whom he found for himself, who was like himself, who would help him.

The creation of Eve

⁴ And the Lord said to us, “It is not good that the man should be alone. Let us make for him a helper who is like him.” ⁵ And the Lord out God cast a deep sleep upon him, and he slept. And he took one bone from the midst of his bones for the woman. And that rib was the origin of the woman from the midst of his bones. And he built up the flesh in place of it, and he constructed a woman.

⁶ And he awakened Adam from his sleep, and when he awoke, he stood up on the sixth day. And he brought her to him and he knew her and said to her, “This is now bone of my bone and flesh from my flesh. This one will be called my wife because she was taken from her husband.”

⁷ Therefore a man and woman shall be one. And therefore it shall be that a man will leave his father and his mother and he will join with his wife and they will become one flesh.

The laws of purification after childbirth

⁸* In the first week Adam was created and also the rib, his wife. And in the second week he showed her to him. And therefore the commandment was given to observe seven days for a male, but for a female twice seven days in their impurity.

⁹ And after forty days were completed for Adam in the land where he was created, we brought him into the garden of Eden so that he might work it and guard it. And on the eighth day his wife was also brought in. And after this she entered to the garden of Eden. ¹⁰* And therefore the command was written in the heavenly tablets for one who bears, “If she bears a male, she shall remain seven days in her impurity like the first seven days. And thirty-three days she shall remain in the blood of her purity. And she shall not touch anything holy. And she shall not enter the sanctuary until she has completed these days which are in accord with (the rule for) a male (child). ¹¹ And that which is in accord with (the rule for) a female is two weeks—like the two first weeks—in her impurity. And sixty-six days she shall remain in the blood of her purity. And their total will be eighty days.”

¹² And when she finished those eighty days, we brought her into the garden of Eden because it is more holy than any land. And every tree which is planted in it is holy. ¹³ Therefore the ordinances of these days were ordained for anyone who bears a male or female that she might not touch anything holy and she might not enter the sanctuary until these days are completed for a male or female. ¹⁴ This is the law and testimony which is written for Israel so that they might keep it always.

The first seven years in Eden

¹⁵ And during the first week of the first jubilee Adam and his wife had been in the garden of Eden for seven years tilling and guarding it. And we gave him work and we were teaching him to do everything which was appropriate for tilling. ¹⁶* And he was tilling. And he was naked, but he neither knew it nor was he ashamed. And he was guarding the garden from the birds and beasts and cattle and gathering its fruit and eating. And he used to set aside the rest for himself and his wife. And what was being guarded he set aside.

The Fall

¹⁷* At the end of seven years which he completed there, seven years exactly, in the second month on the seventeenth day, the serpent came and drew near to the woman. And the serpent said to the woman, “The Lord commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from any tree which is in the garden.’ ” ¹⁸ And she said to him, “The Lord said, ‘Eat from all of the fruit of the trees which are in the garden.’ But the Lord said to us, ‘You shall not eat from the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, and you shall not touch it lest you die.’ ” ¹⁹ And the serpent said to the woman, “It is not (true) that you shall surely die because the Lord knows that on the day you eat of it your eyes will become opened and you will become like gods, and you will know good and evil.”

²⁰ And the woman saw the tree that it was pleasant and it was pleasing to the eye and its fruit was good to eat and she took some of it and she ate. ²¹ And she first covered her shame with a fig leaf, and then she gave it to Adam and he ate and his eyes were opened and he saw that he was naked. ²² And he took a fig leaf and sewed it and made an apron for himself. And he covered his shame.

²³ And the Lord cursed the serpent and he was angry with it forever. And he was angry with the woman also because she had listened to the voice of the serpent and had eaten. And he said to her, ²⁴ “I will surely multiply your grief and your birth pangs. Bear children in grief. And to your husband is your return and he will rule over you.” ²⁵ And to Adam he said, “Because you listened to the voice of your wife and you ate from that tree from which I commanded you that you should not eat, the land shall be cursed because of you. Thorns and thistles shall sprout up for you. And eat your bread in the sweat of your face until you return to the earth from which you were taken because you are earth and to the earth you will return.”

Expulsion-day sacrifice and the law of covering shame

²⁶* And he made for them garments of skin and he dressed them and sent them from the garden of Eden. ²⁷* And on that day when Adam went out from the garden of Eden, he offered a sweet-smelling sacrifice—frankincense, galbanum, stacte, and spices—in the morning with the rising of the sun from the day he covered his shame. ²⁸* On that day the mouth of all the beasts and cattle and birds and whatever walked or moved was stopped from speaking because all of them used to speak with one another with one speech and one language. ²⁹ And he sent from the garden of Eden all of the flesh which was in the garden of Eden and all of the flesh was scattered, each one according to its kind and each one according to its family, into the place which was created for them. ³⁰ But from all the beasts and all the cattle he granted to Adam alone that he might cover his shame. ³¹ Therefore it is commanded in the heavenly tablets to all who will know the judgment of the Law that they should cover their shame and they should not be uncovered as the gentiles are uncovered.

The end of the first jubilee in ’Elda

³²* And on the first of the fourth month Adam and his wife went out from the garden of Eden and dwelt in the land of ’Elda, in the land of their creation. And Adam named his wife Eve. ^33,34 They had no son until the first jubilee but after this he knew her. ³⁵ And he tilled the land as he had been taught in the garden of Eden.

The first murder and the law of manslaughter

4 ¹* And in the third week in the second jubilee, she bore Cain. And in the fourth she bore Abel. And in the fifth she bore ’Awan, his daughter. ² And at the beginning of the third jubilee, Cain killed Abel because the sacrifice of Abel was accepted, but the offering of Cain was not accepted. ³ And he killed him in the field, and his blood cried out from the earth to heaven, making accusation because he killed him. ⁴ And the Lord rebuked Cain on account of Abel because he killed him. And he made him a fugitive on the earth because of the blood of his brother. And he cursed him upon the earth. ⁵* And therefore it is written in the heavenly tablets, “Cursed is one who strikes his fellow with malice. And all who have seen and heard shall say ‘so be it.’ And the man who saw and did not report (it) shall be cursed like him.” ⁶ * Therefore when we come before the Lord our God we will make known all of the sins which occur in heaven and earth and which are in the light or in the darkness or in any (place).

The descendants of Adam

⁷* And Adam and his wife were mourning four weeks of years on account of Abel. And in the fourth year of the fifth week they rejoiced. And Adam again knew his wife and she bore a son for him. And he named him Seth because he said, “The Lord has raised up another seed for us upon the earth in place of Abel because Cain killed him.” ⁸ And in the sixth week he begat ’Azūra, his daughter.

⁹ And Cain took his sister, ’Awan, as a wife, and she bore for him Enoch at the end of the fourth jubilee. And in the first year of the first week of the fifth jubilee, buildings were constructed in the land. And Cain built a city and he named it with the name of his son, Enoch. ¹⁰ And Adam knew Eve, his wife, and she bore nine more children.

¹¹ And in the fifth week of the fifth jubilee, Seth took ’Azūra, his sister, as a wife. And in the fourth year of that week, she bore for him Enos. ¹² He was first to call the name of the Lord upon the earth.

¹³ And in the seventh jubilee in the third week, Enos took Noam, his sister, as a wife. And she bore a son for him in the third year of the fifth week. And he named him Kenān.

¹⁴ And at the end of the eighth jubilee, Kenān took for himself a wife, Mu’aleleth, his sister, (as) a wife. And she bore a son for him in the ninth jubilee in the first week in the third year of that (week). And he called him Mahalalel.

¹⁵* And in the second week of the tenth jubilee, Mahalalel took for himself a wife, Dinah, the daughter of Baraki’el, the daughter of his father’s brother, as a wife. *And she bore a son for him in the third week in the sixth year. And he called him Jared because in his days the angels of the Lord, who were called Watchers, came down to the earth in order to teach the sons of man, and perform judgment and uprightness upon the earth.

The birth and work of Enoch

¹⁶* And in the eleventh jubilee Jared took for himself a wife and her name was Bāraka, the daughter of Rasuyal, the daughter of his father’s brother, as a wife, in the fourth week of that jubilee. And she bore a son for him in the fifth week, in the fourth year of the jubilee. And he called him Enoch.

¹⁷* This one was the first who learned writing and knowledge and wisdom, from (among) the sons of men, from (among) those who were born upon earth. And who wrote in a book the signs of the heaven according to the order of their months, so that the sons of man might know the (appointed) times of the years is according to their order, with respect to each of their months. ¹⁸ This one was the first (who) wrote a testimony and testified to the children of men throughout the generations of the earth. And their weeks according to jubilees he recounted; and the days of the years he made known. And the months he set in order, and the sabbaths of the years he recounted, just as we made it known to him. ¹⁹* And he saw what was and what will be in a vision of his sleep as it will happen among the children of men in their generations until the day of judgment. He saw and knew everything and wrote his testimony and deposited the testimony upon the earth against all the children of men and their generations.

²⁰* And in the twelfth jubilee in its seventh week, he took for himself a wife and her name was ’Edni, the daughter of Dan’el, his father’s brother, as a wife, and in the sixth year of this week she bore a son for him. And he called him Methuselah.

²¹* And he was therefore with the angels of God six jubilees of years. And they showed him everything which is on earth and in the heavens, the dominion of the sun. And he wrote everything, ²² and bore witness to the Watchers, the ones who sinned with the daughters of men because they began to mingle themselves with the daughters of men so that they might be polluted. And Enoch bore witness against all of them. ²³* And he was taken from among the children of men, and we led him to the garden of Eden for greatness and honor. And behold, he is there writing condemnation and judgment of the world, and all of the evils of the children of men. ²⁴* And because of him none of the water of the Flood came upon the whole land of Eden, for he was put there for a sign and so that he might bear witness against all of the children of men so that he might relate all of the deeds of the generations until the day of judgment. ²⁵ And he offered the incense which is acceptable before the Lord in the evening (at) the holy place on Mount Qater. ²⁶ For the Lord has four (sacred) places upon the earth: the garden of Eden and the mountain of the East and this mountain which you are upon today, Mount Sinai, and Mount Zion, which will be sanctified in the new creation for the sanctification of the earth. On account of this the earth will be sanctified from all sin and from pollution throughout eternal generations.

The generations from Enoch to Noah

²⁷* And in the fourteenth jubilee Methuselah took as his wife ’Edna, daughter of ’Azri’al, his father’s brother, as a wife, in the third week in the first year of that week. And he begot a son. And he called him Lamech.

²⁸* And in the fifteenth jubilee in the third week, Lamech took for himself a wife, and her name was Betenos, the daughter of Baraki’il, the daughter of his father’s brother, (as) a wife. And in that week she bore a son for him and he called him Noah, saying, “This one will console me from my grief and from all of my labor and from the land which the Lord cursed.”

The death of Adam

²⁹ And at the end of the nineteenth jubilee in the seventh week, in the sixth year, Adam died. And all of his children buried him in the land of his creation. And he was the first who was buried in the earth. ³⁰* And he lacked seventy years from one thousand years, for a thousand years are like one day in the testimony of heaven and therefore it was written concerning the tree of knowledge, “In the day you eat from it you will die.” Therefore he did not complete the years of this day because he died in it.

Abel avenged—law of retaliation

³¹* At the end of that jubilee Cain was killed one year after him. And his house fell upon him, and he died in the midst of his house. And he was killed by its stones because he killed Abel with a stone, and with a stone he was killed by righteous judgment. ³² Therefore it is ordained in the heavenly tablets:

“With the weapons with which a man kills his fellow

he shall be killed

just as he wounded him,

thus shall they do to him.”

The birth of Noah’s sons

³³* And in the twenty-fifth jubilee Noah took a wife for himself and her name was ‘Emzara, daughter of Rake’el, daughter of his father’s brother, as a wife, in the first year, in the fifth week. And in its third year she bore for him Shem. And in its fifth year she bore for him Ham. And in the first year of the sixth week she bore for him Japheth.

Corruption of all flesh when angels mate with humans

5 ¹* And when the children of men began to multiply on the surface of the earth and daughters were born to them, that the angels of the Lord saw in a certain year of that jubilee that they were good to look at. And they took wives for themselves from all of those whom they chose. And they bore children for them; and they were the giants. ²* And injustice increased upon the earth, and all flesh corrupted its way; man and cattle and beasts and birds and everything which walks on the earth. And they all corrupted their way and their ordinances, and they began to eat one another. And injustice grew upon the earth and every imagination of the thoughts of all mankind was thus continually evil.

The punishment of angels and annihilation of their offspring

³* And the Lord saw the earth, and behold it was corrupted and all flesh had corrupted its order and all who were on the earth had done every sort of evil in his sight. ⁴ And he said, “I will wipe out man and all flesh which I have created from upon the surface of the earth.” ⁵ But Noah alone found favor in the sight of the Lord.

⁶* And against his angels whom he had sent to the earth he was very angry. He commanded that they be uprooted from all their dominion. And he told us to bind them in the depths of the earth, and behold, they are bound in the midst of them, and they are isolated. ⁷ And against their children a word went forth from before his presence so that he might smite them with the sword and remove them from under heaven. ⁸ And he said, “My spirit will not dwell upon man forever; for they are flesh, and their days will be one hundred and ten years.” ⁹ And he sent his sword among them so that each one might kill his fellow and they began to kill one another until they all fell on the sword and they were wiped out from the earth. ¹⁰ And their parents also watched. And subsequently they were bound in the depths of the earth forever, until the day of great judgment in order for judgment to be executed upon all of those who corrupted their ways and their deeds before the Lord. ¹¹ And he wiped out every one from their places and not one of them remained whom he did not judge according to all his wickedness.

A new righteousness. The impartial judge will forgive

¹²* And he made for all his works a new and righteous nature so that they might not sin in all their nature forever, and so that they might all be righteous, each in his kind, always. ¹³ And the judgment of all of them has been ordained and written in the heavenly tablets without injustice. And (if)^d any of them transgress from their way with respect to what was ordained for them to walk in, or if they do not walk in it, the judgment for every (sort of) nature and every kind has been written. ¹⁴ And there is nothing excluded which is in heaven or on earth or in the light or in the darkness or in Sheol or in the depths or in the place of darkness. And all their judgments are ordained, written, and engraved. ¹⁵ He will judge concerning every one: the great one according to his greatness and the small one according to his smallness, and each one according to his way. ¹⁶* And he is not one who accepts persons, and he is not one who accepts gifts when he says that he will execute judgment upon each one. If one gave everything which is in the earth, he would not accept gifts or persons. And he would not accept (anything) from his hand because he is a righteous judge.

¹⁷* And for the children of Israel it has been written and ordained, “If they return to him in righteousness, he will forgive all of their sins and he will pardon all of their transgressions.” ¹⁸ It is written and it is ordained, “He ill have mercy on all who return from all their error, once each year.” ¹⁹ But to any who corrupted their way and their counsel before the Flood, he did not show partiality, except Noah alone, for he showed partiality to him for the sake of his sons whom he saved from the waters of the Flood (and) for his sake because his heart was righteous in all of his ways just as it was commanded concerning him. And he did not transgress anything which was ordained for him.

The Flood

²⁰* And the Lord said, “Let everything which is upon dry land be blotted out: men and cattle and beasts and birds of the heaven and whatever moves on the earth.” ²¹ And he commanded Noah to make an ark for himself so that he might save himself from the water of the Flood. ²² And Noah made an ark in all respects just as he commanded him in the twenty-second jubilee of years in the fifth week in the fifth year. ²³ And he entered it in the sixth year in the second month on the first of the second month until the sixteenth day. And he and everything which we brought to him entered into the ark. And the Lord shut it up from outside on the evening of the seventeenth.

²⁴* And the Lord opened the seven floodgates of heaven,

and the mouths of the springs of the great deep were seven mouths in number;

²⁵ and these floodgates sent down water from heaven forty days and forty nights,

and the springs of the deep sent up water until the whole world was full of water.

²⁶ And the water increased upon the earth,

fifteen cubits the water rose over every tall mountain;

and the ark rose from upon the earth,

and it moved upon the surface of the water.

²⁷ And all of the water stayed upon the surface of the earth five months, one hundred and fifty days. ²⁸ And the ark went and rested on the top of Lubar, one of the mountains of Ararat. ²⁹ And in the fourth month the springs of the great deep were closed and the floodgates of heaven were held shut. And on the new moon of the seventh month, all of the mouths of the deeps of the earth were opened. And the water began to go down into the depths below. ³⁰ And on the first of the tenth month, the heads of the mountains appeared, and on the first of the first month, the land appeared. ³¹ And the water dried up from upon the earth in the fifth week, in its seventh year. And on the seventeenth day in the second month, the land was dry. ³² And on its twenty-seventh day, he opened the ark and he sent out of it the beasts, and cattle and birds and whatever moved.

Debarkation and sacrifice

6 ¹* And on the first of the third month, he went out of the ark, and he built an altar on that mountain. ²* And he made atonement for the land. And he took the kid of a goat, and he made atonement with its blood for all the sins of the land because everything which was on it had been blotted out except those who were in the ark with Noah. ³* And he offered up the fat upon the altar. And he took a calf, a goat, a lamb, [kids], salt, a turtledove, and a young dove, and he offered up a burnt offering on the altar. And he placed upon them an offering kneaded with oil. And he sprinkled wine, and placed frankincense upon everything. And he offered up a sweet aroma which was pleasing before the Lord.

The covenant with Noah and laws prohibiting the eating of blood

⁴* And the Lord smelled the sweet aroma, and he made a covenant with him so that there might not be floodwaters which would destroy the earth. All the days of the earth, seed (time) and harvest will not cease. Cold and heat and summer and winter and day and night will not change their ordinances or cease forever. ⁵ “But as for you, increase and be multiplied on the earth and become many upon it, and become a blessing upon it. Fear and terror of you I will set upon everything which is on the land or in the sea. ⁶ And behold, I have given you all of the beasts and everything which flies and everything which moves upon the earth and in the water, the fish and everything, for food like the green herbs. And I have given you everything so that you might eat. ⁷ But flesh which is (filled) with life, (that is) with blood, you shall not eat—because the life of all flesh is in the blood—lest your blood be sought for your lives.

From the hand of every man,

from the hand of every (creature),

I will seek the blood of a man.

⁸ Whoever pours out the blood of a man,

by man his blood shall be poured out,

because in the image of the Lord he made Adam.

⁹ And as for you, increase and become many in the land.”

¹⁰ And Noah and his sons swore that they would not eat any blood which was in any flesh. And he made a covenant before the Lord God forever in all of the generations of the earth in that month.

¹¹* Therefore, he spoke to you so that you also might make a covenant with the children of Israel with an oath in this month upon the mountain. And you will sprinkle blood upon them on account of all of the words of the covenant which the Lord made with them for all time. ¹²* This testimony is written concerning you so that you might keep it always lest you ever eat any blood of the beasts or birds or cattle throughout all of the days of the earth. And the man who eats the blood of the beasts or cattle or birds throughout all of the days of the earth shall be uprooted, he and his seed from the earth. ¹³* And you, command the children of Israel not to eat any blood so that their names and seed might be before the Lord God always. ¹⁴* And there is no limit of days for this law because it is forever. They shall keep it for their generations so that they might make supplication on your behalf with blood before the altar on every day. And at the hour of daybreak and evening they will seek atonement on their own behalf continually before the Lord so that they might guard it and not be rooted out.

¹⁵ And he gave a sign to Noah and his children that there should not again be a flood upon the earth. ¹⁶ He set his bow in the clouds for a sign of the covenant which is forever, that the water of the Flood should therefore not be upon the earth to destroy it all of the days of the earth.

The feast of Shebuot

¹⁷* Therefore, it is ordained and written in the heavenly tablets that they should observe the feast of Shebuot in this month, once per year, in order to renew the is covenant in all (respects), year by year. ¹⁸* And all of this feast was celebrated in heaven from the day of creation until the days of Noah, twenty-six jubilees and five weeks of years. And Noah and his children kept it for seven jubilees and one week of years until the day of the death of Noah. And from the day of the death of Noah, his sons corrupted it until the days of Abraham, and they ate blood. ¹⁹ But Abraham alone kept it. And Isaac and Jacob and his sons kept it until your days, but in your days the children of Israel forgot it until you renewed it for them on this mountain.

²⁰ And you, command the children of Israel so that they might keep this feast in all of their generations as a commandment to them. One day per year in this month they shall celebrate the feast, ²¹* for it is the feast of Shebuot and it is the feast of the first fruits. This feast is twofold and of two natures. Just as it is written and engraved concerning it, observe it. ²² This is because I have written it in the book of the first law, which I wrote for you, so that you might observe it in each of its appointed times, one day per year. And I have told you its sacrificial offering so that the children of Israel might remember them and observe them in their generations in this month one day each year.

²³* And on the first of the first month and on the first of the fourth month and on the first of the seventh month and on the first of the tenth month are the days of remembrance and they are the days of appointed times in the four parts of the year. They are written and inscribed for an eternal witness. ²⁴ And Noah ordained them for himself as feasts for eternal generations because they were a memorial for him. ²⁵ And on the first of the first month, he was told to make an ark. And on it the land dried up, and he opened up and saw the land. ²⁶* And on the first of the fourth month, the mouths of the deeps of the abysses which were beneath were shut. And on the first of the seventh month, all of the mouths of the depths of the earth were opened, and the water began to go down into them. ²⁷ On the first of the tenth month the heads of the mountains appeared, and Noah rejoiced. ²⁸ And therefore he ordained them for himself as feasts of remembrance forever, and thus they are ordained. ²⁹ And they set them upon the heavenly tablets. Each one of them is thirteen weeks from one to another of the remembrances, from the first to the second, and from the second to the third, and from the third to the fourth. ³⁰ And all of the days which will be commanded will be fifty-two weeks of days, and all of them are a complete year. ³¹ Thus it is engraved and ordained on the heavenly tablets, and there is no transgressing in a single year, from year to year.

The danger in failing to observe a 364-day calendar

³²* And you, command the children of Israel so that they shall guard the years in this number, three hundred and sixty-four days, and it will be a complete year. And no one shall corrupt its (appointed) time from its days or from its feasts because all (of the appointed times) will arrive in them according to their testimony, and they will not pass over a day, and they will not corrupt a feast. ³³* But if they are transgressed, and they do not observe them according to his commandment, then they will corrupt all of their (fixed) times, and the years will be moved from within this (order), and they will transgress their ordinances. ³⁴* And all of the sons of Israel will forget, and they will not find the way of the years. And they will forget the new moons and (appointed) times and sabbaths. And they will set awry all of the ordinances of the years. ³⁵ For I know and henceforth I shall make you know—but not from my own heart, because the book is written before me and is ordained in the heavenly tablets of the division of days—lest they forget the feasts of the covenant and walk in the feasts of the gentiles, after their errors and after their ignorance.

³⁶ And there will be those who will examine the moon diligently because it will corrupt the (appointed) times and it will advance from year to year ten days. ³⁷ Therefore, the years will come to them as they corrupt and make a day of testimony a reproach and a profane day a festival, and they will mix up everything, a holy day (as) profaned and a profane (one) for a holy day, because they will set awry the months and sabbaths and feasts and jubilees. ³⁸ Therefore, I shall command you and I shall bear witness to you so that you may bear witness to them because after you have died your sons will be corrupted so that they will not make a year only three hundred and sixty-four days. And therefore, they will set awry the months and the (appointed) times and the sabbaths and the feasts, and they will eat all of the blood with all flesh.

Noah’s sacrifice

7 ¹* And in the seventh week in the first year in that jubilee, Noah planted a vine on the mountain on which the ark rested, whose name is Lubar, (one) of the mountains of Ararat. And it produced fruit in the fourth year, and he guarded its fruit; and he picked it in that year in the seventh month, ²* and he made wine from it, and he put it in a vessel, and he guarded it until the fifth year, until the first day on the first of the first month. ³* And on that day he made a feast with rejoicing. And he made a burnt offering to the Lord, one calf from the bulls, one ram, a lamb of seven years, and one kid of the goats in order that he might thereby seek atonement for himself and for his sons. ⁴ And he prepared the kid first. And he placed some of its blood on the flesh which was on the altar which he had made. And all of the fat and the bull and the ram and the lamb he offered up upon the altar, where he made the burnt offering. And he offered up all of their flesh upon the altar. ⁵ And he placed all of their sacrifice upon it, kneaded with oil. And after that, he sprinkled wine in the fire which he had placed upon the altar. And he presented frankincense upon the altar, and offered up a sweet odor which is pleasing before the Lord his God, ⁶ and rejoiced. And he drank some of that wine, he and his sons, with rejoicing.

The curse of Canaan and the blessing of Shem

⁷* And when evening came, he entered into his tent, and lay down drunk. And he slept, and was uncovered in his tent as he was sleeping. ⁸ And Ham saw Noah, his father, naked. And he went out, and told his two brothers outside. ⁹ And Shem took his garment, and he stood up, he and Japheth, and they placed the garment on their shoulders and, turning backward, they covered the shame of their father, and their faces were backward.

¹⁰ And Noah woke up from his wine, and knew everything which his youngest son had done to him. And he cursed his son and said, “Cursed is Canaan, let him be an enslaved servant of his brothers.” ¹¹ And he blessed Shem, and said:

“May the Lord, the God of Shem, be blessed.

And may Canaan be his servant.

¹² May the Lord enlarge Japheth,

and may the Lord dwell in the dwelling place of Shem,

and may Canaan be his servant.”

¹³ And Ham knew that his father cursed his youngest son, and it was disgusting to him that he cursed his son. And he separated from his father, he and his sons with him: Cush and Mizraim and Put and Canaan.

The cities of Noah’s three sons

¹⁴ And he (Ham) built a city for himself and he named it after his wife, Na’eltama’uk. ¹⁵ And Japheth saw it and was jealous of his brother. And he also built a city for himself and named it after his wife, ’Adataneses. ¹⁶ And Shem dwelt with his father, Noah, and built a city near his father on the mountain. And he also named it after his wife, Sedeqetelebab. ¹⁷ And behold, these three cities were near Mount Lubar, Sedeqetelebab was in front of the mountain on its east, and Na’eltama’uk was facing south, and ’Adataneses was toward the west.

The sons of Shem and Japheth

¹⁸* And these are the sons of Shem: Elam and Ashur and Arpachshad, who was born two years after the Flood, and Lud and Aram. ¹⁹ The sons of Japheth are: Gomer and Magog and Madai and Javon, Tubal and Meshech and Tiras. These are sons of Noah.

The testament of Noah: avoid fornication, blood pollution, injustice

²⁰* And in the twenty-eighth jubilee Noah began to command his grandsons with ordinances and commandments and all of the judgments which he knew. And he bore witness to his sons so that they might do justice and cover the shame of their flesh and bless the one who created them and honor father and mother, and each one love his neighbor and preserve themselves from fornication and pollution and from all injustice. ²¹* For on account of these three the Flood came upon the earth. For (it was) because of the fornication which the Watchers, apart from the mandate of their authority, fornicated with the daughters of men and took for themselves wives from all whom they chose and made a beginning of impurity. ²²* And they begot sons, the Naphidim, and all of them were dissimilar. And each one ate his fellow. The giants killed the Naphil, and the Naphil killed the Elyo, and the Elyo mankind, and man his neighbor. ²³* And everyone sold himself in order that he might do injustice and pour out much blood, and the earth was full of injustice. ²⁴ And afterward, they sinned against beasts, and birds and everything which moves or walks upon the earth. And they poured out much blood upon the earth. And all the thoughts and desires of men were always contemplating vanity and evil. ²⁵ And the Lord blotted out everything from the face of the earth on account of the evil of their deeds. And on account of the blood which they poured out in the midst of the land, he blotted out everything.

²⁶ “And we were left, I and you, my children, and everything which entered with us into the ark. And behold, I see your deeds before me that you have not been ones who walked in righteousness because you have begun to walk in the paths of corruption. And each one of you will be separated from his neighbor. And this one will be jealous of that one, and (I see) that you will not be together, O my sons, each one with his brother. ²⁷ For I see, and behold, the demons have begun to mislead you and your children. And now I fear for your sakes that after I die, you will pour out the blood of men upon the earth. And you will be blotted out from the surface of the earth. ²⁸* For all who eat the blood of man and all who eat the blood of any flesh will be blotted out, all of them, from the earth.

²⁹* And no man who eats blood or sheds the blood of man will remain upon the earth;

and neither seed nor posterity will remain alive for him under heaven.

For they will go down into Sheol,

and into the place of judgment they will descend.

And into the darkness of the depths they will all be removed with a cruel death.

³⁰* “And let no blood from any of the blood which is in anything be seen upon you on the day when you sacrifice any beast or cattle or what flies upon the earth. But do a good deed for yourselves by covering that which will be poured out upon the surface of the earth. ³¹* And you shall not be like one who eats with blood, but beware lest they should eat blood before you. Cover the blood, because thus I was commanded to testify to you and to your children together with all flesh. ³² And you shall not eat living flesh lest it be that your blood which is your life be sought by the hand of all flesh which eats upon the earth. ³³* For the land will not be cleansed of the blood which is poured out upon it, because by the blood of one who poured it out will the land be cleansed in all of its generations.

 

The testament of Noah and the law of reserving first fruits

³⁴* “And now, my children, hear (and) do justice and righteousness so that you might be planted in righteousness on the surface of the whole earth, and your honor may be lifted up before my God who saved me from the water of the Flood. ³⁵ And behold, you will go and build for yourselves cities, and you will plant in them every plant which is upon the earth and every tree, moreover, which bears fruit. ³⁶* For three years its fruit will not be gathered from everything which may be eaten, but in the fourth year its fruit will be gathered. And let one offer up the first fruits which are acceptable before the Lord Most High, who made heaven and earth and everything, so that they might offer up in the juice the first of the wine and the oil as first fruits upon the altar of the Lord, who will accept it. And that which is left the servants of the house of the Lord will eat before the altar which receives (it). ³⁷* And in the seventh year make its release so that you might release it in righteousness and uprightness. And you will be righteous and all your plants will be upright, ³⁸ because, thus, Enoch, the father of your father, commanded Methuselah, his son, and Methuselah (commanded) Lamech, his son. And Lamech commanded me everything which his fathers commanded him. ³⁹* And I am commanding you, my sons, just as Enoch commanded his son in the first jubilees. While he was alive in his seventh generation, he commanded and bore witness to his son and his grandsons until the day of his death.”

Cainan’s discovery of astrological lore

8 ¹ And on the twenty-ninth jubilee in the first week, at its beginning Arpachshad took a wife and her name was Rasu’eya, daughter of Susan, daughter of Elam, as a wife. And she bore a son for him in the third year of that week, and he called him Cainan, ²* and the child grew. And his father taught him writing. And he went forth in order that he might seek a place where he could build a city. ³ And he found a writing which the ancestors engraved on stone. And he read what was in it. And he transcribed it. And he sinned because of what was in it, since there was in it the teaching of the Watchers by which they used to observe the omens of the sun and moon and stars within all the signs of heaven. ⁴ And he copied it down, but he did not tell about it because he feared to tell Noah about it lest he be angry with him because of it.

The descendants of Cainan

⁵* And in the thirtieth jubilee in the second week in its first year, he took a wife and her name was Melka, daughter of Madai, son of Japheth. And in its fourth year he begot a son and he called him Shelah because, he said, “I have certainly been sent out.”

⁶ And in the fourth year Shelah was born and he grew up. And he took a wife and her name was Mu’ak, daughter of Kesed, his father’s brother, as a wife in the thirty-first jubilee in the fifth week in the first year. And she bore a son for him in its fifth year, and he called him ’Eber.

⁷ And he took a wife, and her name was ’Azurad, daughter of Nebrod, in the thirty-second jubilee in the seventh week in its third year. ⁸ And in its sixth year she bore a son for him. And he called him Peleg because in the days when he was born the sons of Noah began dividing up the earth for themselves. Therefore he called him Peleg. ⁹ And they divided it in an evil (manner) among themselves, and they told it to Noah.

The division of the earth

¹⁰ And it came to pass at the beginning of the thirty-third jubilee, that they divided the land (in) three parts, for Shem, Ham, and Japheth, according to the inheritance of each, in the first year in the first week, while one of us who were sent was dwelling with them. ¹¹ And he called his children, and they came to him, they and their children. And he divided by lot the land which his three sons would possess. And they stretched out their hands and took the document from the bosom of Noah, their father.

Shem’s portion

¹²* And the lot of Shem was assigned in the document as the middle of the earth, which he would take for his possession and for his sons for eternal generations from the midst of the Rafa Mountains, from the mouth of the water of the river Tina. And his portion goes toward the west through the midst of this river, and it goes on until it draws near to the water of the abysses from which this river goes forth. And its waters pour forth into the Me’at Sea. And this river goes on into the Great Sea. And everything which is toward the north belongs to Japheth, and everything which is toward the south belongs to Shem. ¹³ And (his portion) goes on until it draws near Karaso, which is in the bosom of the tongue which looks toward the south. ¹⁴ And his portion goes on toward the Great Sea. And it goes straight until it draws near to the west of the tongue which looks toward the south because the name of this sea is the tongue of the Sea of Egypt. ¹⁵* And it is turned from there toward the south, toward the mouth of the Great Sea on the shore of the waters. And it goes on toward the west of ’Afra. And it goes on until it draws near the water of the river Gihon, and toward the south of the water of Gihon, toward the shore of that river. ¹⁶ And it goes on toward the east until it draws near to the garden of Eden toward its south, to the south and east of all the land of Eden, and to all of the east. And it turns in the east, and it comes forth until it draws near toward the last of the mountain whose name is Rafa. And it goes down toward the shore of the mouth of the Tina River. ¹⁷ This portion was assigned by lot to Shem and to his sons to possess it forever for his generations forever.

¹⁸ And Noah rejoiced because this portion was assigned to Shem and for his sons. And he remembered everything which he spoke with his mouth concerning him because he said:

May the Lord God of Shem be blessed,

and may the Lord dwell in the dwelling place of Shem.

¹⁹* And he knew that the garden of Eden was the holy of holies and the dwelling of the Lord. And Mount Sinai (was) in the midst of the desert and Mount Zion (was) in the midst of the navel of the earth. The three of these were created as holy places, one facing the other. ²⁰ And he blessed the God of gods, who placed in his mouth the word of the Lord, and also the Eternal God. ²¹* And he knew that a blessed portion and blessing had reached Shem and his sons for eternal generations: all the land of Eden, all of the land of the Red Sea, all of the land of the East, India, along the Red Sea, and its mountains, all of the land of Basa, all of the land of Lebanon, the islands of Caphtor, all of Mount Senir, Amanus, Mount Asshur, which is north, all of the land of Elam, Asshur, Babel, Susa, Media, all of the mountains of Ararat, and all of the region beyond the sea, which is beyond Mount Asshur, which is toward the north, the blessed and wide land. And everything which is in it is very good.

Ham’s portion

²²* And to Ham was assigned the second portion toward the other side of the Gihon, toward the south on the right of the garden. And it goes on toward the south, and it goes along all of the mountains of fire. And (his portion) goes on toward the west, toward the Atel Sea. And it goes on westward until it draws near the Ma’uk Sea, to which nothing descends without perishing. ²³ And it goes forth in the north to the end of Gadir. And it goes forth along the edge of the water of the sea into the waters of the Great Sea until it approaches the river Gihon. And it goes on along the Gihon River until it approaches the right side of the garden of Eden. ²⁴ And this is the land that went forth to Ham as a portion which he will possess forever for himself and for his children for their generations forever.

Japheth’s portion

²⁵* And for Japheth the third portion was assigned beyond the Tina River toward the north of the mouth of its waters. And it goes on toward the northeast of all of the region of Gog and everything east of it. ²⁶ And it goes on toward the north to the north. And it goes toward the mountains of Qelt toward the north, toward the Ma’uk Sea, and it comes toward the east of Gadir up toward the edge of the water of the sea. ²⁷ And it goes on until it draws near toward the west of Fereg and it returns toward ’Afreg. And it goes on toward the east, toward the water of the Me’at Sea. ²⁸ And it goes on toward the side of the Tina River, toward the northeast until it approaches the end of its waters, toward Mount Rafa. And it goes around to the north. ²⁹ This is the land which came to Japheth and to his sons as the portion of his inheritance which he will possess for himself and for his sons for their generations forever: the five great islands and a great land in the north. ³⁰ But it is cold, and the land of Ham is hot, but the land of Shem is not hot or cold because it is mixed with cold and heat.

The portions of the sons of Ham, Shem, and Japheth

9 ¹* And Ham divided (his land) among his sons. And the first portion was assigned to Cush toward the east, and west of him for Mizraim. And west of him for Put. And west of him for Canaan. And toward his west was the sea. ² And Shem also divided among his sons. And the first portion was assigned to Elam and his sons toward the east of the Tigris River until it approaches toward the east of all of the land of India, along the Red Sea on its shore, the waters of Dedan, and all of the mountains of Mebri and Elam all of the land of Susa, and everything which is beside Pharnak as far as the Red Sea and up to the Tina River. ³ And also to Asshur was assigned the second portion, all of the land of Asshur and Nineveh and Shina and as far as the vicinity of India. And then it goes up and skirts the river. ⁴ And to Arpachshad was assigned the third portion, all of the land of the region of Chaldea toward the east of the Euphrates, which is near the Red Sea, and all of the waters of the desert as far as the vicinity of the tongue of the sea which faces toward Egypt, all of the land of Lebanon and Senir and Amana as far as the vicinity of the Euphrates. ⁵ And to Aram the fourth portion was assigned, all of the land of Mesopotamia, between the Tigris and the Euphrates, toward the north of the Chaldeans up to the vicinity of Mount Asshur and the land of Arara. ⁶ And to Lud the fifth portion was assigned. Mount Asshur and everything pertaining to it until it approaches the Great Sea. And it draws near toward the east of Asshur, his brother.

And Japheth also divided the land of his inheritance between his sons. ^7,8* And the first portion was assigned to Gomer toward the east from the north side up to the river Tina. And in the north to Magog was assigned all of the inner parts of the north until it approaches toward the Sea of Me’at. ⁹ And to Madai his portion was assigned that he should take from the west of his two brothers as far as the islands and up to the coasts of the islands. ¹⁰* And to Javan the fourth portion was assigned, every island and the islands which are toward the side of Lud. ¹¹ And to Tubal the fifth portion was assigned in the midst of the tongue which draws near toward the side of Lud’s portion as far as the second tongue into the region beyond the second tongue into the third tongue. ¹² And to Meshech the sixth portion was assigned, everything on the other side of the third tongue until it approaches the east of Gadir. ¹³ And to Tiras the seventh portion was assigned, four great islands in the midst of the sea which approaches the portion of Ham. And the islands of Kamaturi were assigned by lot to the sons of Arpachshad as an inheritance for him.

The curse against violating boundaries

¹⁴ And thus the sons of Noah divided for their children before Noah, their father. And he made them all swear an oath to curse each and every one who desired to seize a portion which did not come in his lot. ¹⁵ And they all said, “So be it and so let it be to them and to their sons forever in their generations until the day of judgment in which the Lord God will judge them with a sword and with fire on account of all the evil of the pollution of their errors which have filled the earth with sin and pollution and fornication and transgression.”

Noah’s prayer against the demons

10 ¹* In the third week of that jubilee the polluted demons began to lead astray the children of Noah’s sons and to lead them to folly and to destroy them. ² And the sons of Noah came to Noah, their father, and they told him about the demons who were leading astray and blinding and killing his grandchildren. ³* And he prayed before the Lord his God and he said, “God of the spirits which are in all flesh, who has acted mercifully with me and saved me and my sons from the water of the Flood and did not let me perish as you did the children of perdition, because

Great was your grace upon me,

and great was your mercy upon my soul.

Let your grace be lifted up upon my sons,

and do not let the evil spirits rule over them,

lest they destroy them from the earth.

But bless me and my sons. And let us grow and increase and fill the earth. ^4,5 And you know that which your Watchers, the fathers of these spirits, did in my days and also these spirits who are alive. Shut them up and take them to the place of judgment. And do not let them cause corruption among the sons of your servant, O my God, because they are cruel and were created to destroy. ⁶ And let them not rule over the spirits of the living because you alone know their judgment, and do not let them have power over the children of the righteous henceforth and forever.”

The binding of nine tenths of the demons

And the Lord our God spoke to us so that we might bind all of them. ^7,8* And the chief of the spirits, Mastema, came and he said, “O Lord, Creator, leave some of them before me, and let them obey my voice. And let them do everything which I tell them, because if some of them are not left for me, I will not be able to exercise the authority of my will among the children of men because they are (intended) to corrupt and lead astray before my judgment because the evil of the sons of men is great.” ⁹* And he said, “Let a tenth of them remain before him, but let nine parts go down into the place of judgment.”

¹⁰ And he told one of us to teach Noah all of their healing because he knew that they would not walk uprightly and would not strive righteously. ¹¹ And we acted in accord with all of his words. All of the evil ones, who were cruel, we bound in the place of judgment, but a tenth of them we let remain so that they might be subject to Satan upon the earth. ¹² And the healing of all their illnesses together with their seductions we told Noah so that he might heal by means of herbs of the earth. ¹³ And Noah wrote everything in a book just as we taught him according to every kind of healing. And the evil spirits were restrained from following the sons of Noah. ¹⁴ And he gave everything which he wrote to Shem, his oldest son, because he loved him much more than all of his sons.

The death of Noah

¹⁵* And Noah slept with his fathers and was buried on Mount Lubar in the land of Ararat. ¹⁶ Nine hundred and fifty years he completed in his life, nineteen jubilees and two weeks and five years. ¹⁷ On account of his righteousness in which he was perfected, his life on earth was more excellent than (any of) the sons of men except Enoch, for the work of Enoch had been created as a witness to the generations of the world so that he might report every deed of each generation in the day of judgment.

The Tower of Babel

¹⁸* And in the thirty-third jubilee, in the first year of this second week, Peleg took a wife whose name was Lomna, daughter of Sina’ar. And she bore a son for him in the fourth year of that week. And he called him Reu because, he said, “Behold, the sons of man have become evil with perverse counsel so that they are building a city and a tower for themselves in the land of Shinar.” ¹⁹ For they departed from the land of Ararat toward the east into Shinar, because in his days they built a city and a tower, saying, “Come let us go up in it into heaven.”

²⁰ And they began building. And in the fourth week they baked bricks in fire, and bricks were for them like stones. And the mud with which they plastered was bitumen, which came out of the sea, and the springs of water in the land of Shinar. ²¹ And they built it; forty-three years they were building it. Its width was two hundred and three bricks. And the height of a brick was one third its length. Five thousand, four hundred and thirty-three cubits and two palms its height rose up. And thirteen stades (was its wall). ²² And the Lord our God said to us, “Behold, the people are one and they have begun working. Now nothing will escape them. Behold, let us go down and let us mix up their tongues so each one will not hear another’s word, and they will be scattered into cities and nations, and, therefore, one counsel will not reside with them until the day of judgment.”

²³ And the Lord went down and we went down with him. And we saw the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. ²⁴ And he mixed up their tongues, and, therefore, one did not hear another’s word. And so they ceased to build the city and the tower. ²⁵ Therefore, all of the land of Shinar is called Babel because there the Lord mixed up all the languages of the sons of men. And from there they were scattered into their cities according to each of their languages and nations. ²⁶* And the Lord sent a great wind upon the tower and overthrew it on the earth. And behold, it is between Asshur and Babylon in the land of Shinar and he called it “the Overthrow.”

Canaan’s seizure of land in Shem’s portion

²⁷ And in the fourth week in the first year in the beginning of it, in the thirty-fourth jubilee, they were scattered from the land of Shinar. ²⁸ And Ham and his sons went into the land which was his possession, which he found in his portion in the land of the south. ²⁹ But Canaan saw that the land of Lebanon as far as the river of Egypt was very good. And he did not go into the land of his inheritance toward the west, that is the sea, but he dwelt in the land of Lebanon, eastward and westward, from the bank of the Jordan and from the shore of the sea. ³⁰ And Ham, his father, and Cush and Mizraim, his brothers, said to him, “You have dwelt in a land which is not yours nor did it come forth for us by lot. Do not do this, because if you do this, you and your children will fall in the land and be cursed with sedition because by sedition you have dwelt and by sedition your children will fall and you will be uprooted forever. ³¹ Do not dwell in the dwelling of Shem because it came to Shem and his sons by lot. ³² You are cursed and you will be cursed more than all of the sons of Noah by the curse which we swore with an oath before the holy judge and before Noah, our father.” ³³* But he would not listen to them and he dwelt in the land of Lebanon from Hamath to the entrance of Egypt, he and his sons, until this day. ³⁴ And, therefore, that land is called Canaan.

The settlement of Japheth’s sons

³⁵ And Japheth and his sons went toward the sea, and they dwelt in the land of their portion, but Madai saw the land of the sea and it did not please him. And he begged it from Elam and Asshur and Arpachshad, from the brother of his wife. And he dwelt in the land of Media near his wife’s brother until this day. And he called his dwelling place and the dwelling place of his sons Media after their father, Madai.

The birth of Serug marks the rise of war and other evils

11 ¹* And in the thirty-fifth jubilee, in the third week, in the first year thereof, Reu took a wife and her name was ’Ora, daughter of ’Ur, son of Kesed. And she bore a son for him and he called him Seroh in the seventh year of that week in that jubilee. ² And the sons of Noah began fighting in order to take captive and to kill each other, to pour the blood of man upon the earth, to eat blood, to build fortified cities and walls and towers, so that (one) man will be raised up over the people, to set up the first kingdoms to go to war, people against people and nation against nation and city against city, and everyone (will act) to do evil and to acquire weapons of battle and to teach their sons war. And they began to take captive a city and to sell male and female slaves. ³ And ’Ur, the son of Kesed, built the city of ’Ur of the Chaldees and he named it after his name and his father’s name. ⁴ And they made for themselves molten images, and everyone worshiped the icon which they made for themselves as a molten image. And they began making graven images and polluted likenesses. And cruel spirits assisted them and led them astray so that they might commit sin and pollution. ⁵* And the prince, Mastema, acted forcefully to do all of this. And he sent other spirits to those who were set under his hand to practice all error and sin and all transgression, to destroy, to cause to perish and to pour out blood upon the earth. ⁶ Therefore he called the name of Seroh, “Serug,” because everyone had turned back to commit all sin and transgression.

The birth of Nahor

⁷* And he grew up and dwelt in ’Ur of the Chaldees near the father of his wife’s mother, And he used to worship idols. And he took a wife in the thirty-sixth jubilee, in the fifth week, in the first year thereof. And her name was Melka, daughter of Kaber, daughter of his father’s brother. ⁸ And she bore for him Nahor in the first year of that week. And he grew up and he dwelt in ’Ur among the Chaldeans, and his father taught him the researches of the Chaldeans in order to practice divination and astrology according to the signs of heaven.

The birth of Tenth marks a devastation by crows

⁹* And in the thirty-seventh jubilee, in the sixth week, in the first year thereof, he took a wife. And her name was ’Iyaska, daughter of Nestag of the Chaldees. And she bore for him Terah in the seventh year of that week. ^10,11 And Prince Mastema sent crows and birds so that they might eat the seed which was being sown in the earth in order to spoil the earth so that they might rob mankind of their labors. Before they plowed in the seed, the crows picked it off the surface of the earth. ¹² And therefore he called him Terah because the crows and birds were impoverishing them. And they ate their seed. ¹³ And the years began being barren because of the birds. And they ate all of the fruit of the trees from the groves. If ever they were able to save a little from all of the fruit of the earth in their days, it was with great effort.

The birth of Abram and his piety

¹⁴* And in this thirty-ninth jubilee, in the second week, in the first year, Terah took a wife and her name was ’Edna, daughter of ’Abram, daughter of his father’s sister. ¹⁵ And in the seventh year of that week, she bore a son for him, and he called him Abram, after the name of his mother’s father because he died before his daughter conceived a son. ¹⁶ And the lad began understanding the straying of the land, that everyone went astray after graven images and after pollution. And his father taught him writing. And he was two weeks of years old. And he separated from his father so that he might not worship the idols with him. ¹⁷ And he began to pray to the Creator of all so that he might save him from the straying of the sons of men, and so that his portion might not fall into straying after the pollution and scorn.

Abram’s successful efforts against the crows

¹⁸ And the seed time arrived for sowing in the land. And they all went out together so that they might guard their seed from before the crows. And Abram went out with those who went out. And the lad was fourteen years old. ¹⁹ And a cloud of crows came so that they might eat the seed, and Abram used to run up to them before they settled upon the earth. And he would call out to them before they settled upon the earth to eat seed, and he said, “Don’t come down. Return to the place whence you came.” And they turned back. ²⁰ And he caused the cloud of crows to turn back seventy times in that day. And none of the crows settled on any of the fields where Abram was, not one. ²¹ And all who were with him in all of the fields saw him as he was calling out. And all of the crows turned away. And his reputation was great in all the land of Chaldea. ²² And all who would sow came to him during that year. And he used to go with them until the seed time passed. And they sowed their land and harvested in that year enough food, and they ate and were satisfied.

²³ And in the first year of the fifth week, Abram taught those who were making the implements for oxen, the skilled carpenters. And they made implements above the ground facing the handle of the plow so that they might place seed upon it. And the seed would go down from within it onto the point of the plow, and it would be hidden in the earth. And therefore they were not afraid of the crows.²⁴ And they did likewise upon all of the plow handles above the ground. And they sowed and tilled all of the earth just as Abram commanded them. And therefore they were not afraid of the birds.

Abram’s plea to avoid idolatry

12 ¹ And it came to pass in the sixth week, in its seventh year, that Abram spoke to Terah, his father, saying, “O father.” And he said, “Behold, here I am, my son.” ² And he said:

“What help or advantage do we have from these idols before which you worship and bow down?

³* Because there is not any spirit in them,

for they are mute,

and they are the misleading of the heart.

Do not worship them.

⁴ Worship the God of heaven,

who sends down rain and dew upon the earth,

and who makes everything upon the earth,

and created everything by his word,

and all life is in his presence.

⁵* Why do you worship those who have no spirit in them?

Because they are works of the hands,

and you are carrying them upon your shoulders,

and there is no help from them for you,

except great shame for those who made them

and the misleading of the heart for those who worship them.

Do not worship them.”

⁶ And his father said to him, “I also know (that), my son, but what shall I do to the people who have made me minister before them? ⁷ And if I speak to them in righteousness, they will kill me because their souls cleave to them so that they might worship them and praise them. Be silent, my son, lest they kill you.” ⁸ And he told this matter to two of his brothers, and they were angry with him, and he kept quiet.

The marriages of Abram and his brothers

⁹* And in the fortieth jubilee, in the second week, in its seventh year, Abram took a wife and her name was Sarai, daughter of his father, and she became a wife for him.

¹⁰ And Haran, his brother, took a wife in the third year of the third week, and she bore a son for him in the seventh year of that week. And he called him Lot. ¹¹ And Nahor, his brother, took a wife.

Abram burns the house of idols

¹² In the sixtieth year of the life of Abram, i.e. the fourth week, in its fourth year, Abram arose in the night and burned the house of idols. And he burned everything in the house. And there was no man who knew. ¹³ And they rose up in the night, and they wanted to save their gods from the midst of the fire. ¹⁴ And Haran rushed to save them, and the fire flared up over him. And he was burned in the fire and died in Ur of the Chaldees before Tenth, his father. And they buried him in Ur of the Chaldees.

Departure to Haran

¹⁵* And Tenth went out of Ur of the Chaldees, he and his sons, so that they might come into the land of Lebanon and into the land of Canaan. And he dwelt in Haran. And Abram dwelt with Terah, his father, in Haran two weeks of years.

Abram’s night vigil

¹⁶ And in the sixth week, in its fifth year, Abram sat up during the night on the first of the seventh month, so that he might observe the stars from evening until daybreak so that he might see what the nature of the year would be with respect to rain. And he was sitting alone and making observations; ¹⁷ and a word came into his heart, saying, “All of the signs of the stars and the signs of the sun and the moon are all in the hand of the Lord. Why am I seeking?

¹⁸ If he desires, he will make it rain morning and evening,

and if he desires he will not send (it) down;

and everything is in his hand.”

¹⁹ And he prayed on that night, saying:

“My God, the Most High God, you alone are God to me.

And you created everything,

and everything which is was the work of your hands,

and you and your kingdom I have chosen.

²⁰ Save me from the hands of evil spirits

which rule over the thought of the heart of man,

and do not let them lead me astray from following you, O my God;

but establish me and my seed forever,

and let us not go astray henceforth and forever.”

²¹ And he said, “Shall I return unto Ur of the Chaldees who seek my face so that I should return to them? Or shall I dwell here in this place? Make the straight path prosper before you in the hand of your servant mat he might serve. And do not let me walk in the error of my heart, O my God.”

Abram is called to the land of promise

²²* And he finished talking and praying and behold, the word of the Lord was sent to him by my hand, saying, “Come forth from your land and from your kin and from your father’s house into the land which I shall show you, and I shall establish you as a great and numerous people.

²³ And I shall bless you

and I shall make your name great,

and you will be blessed in the land

and all the nations of the earth will bless themselves by you.

And whoever blesses you I shall bless

and whoever curses you I shall curse.

²⁴ And I shall be God for you and your son and for the son of your son and for all of your seed. Do not fear henceforth and for all the generations of the earth. I am your God.”

The revival of Hebrew

²⁵ And the Lord God said to me, “Open his mouth and his ears so that he might hear and speak with his mouth in the language which is revealed because it ceased from the mouth of all of the sons of men from the day of the Fall.” ²⁶ And I opened his mouth and his ears and his lips and I began to speak with him in Hebrew, in the tongue of creation. ²⁷* And he took his father’s books—and they were written in Hebrew—and he copied them. And he began studying them thereafter. And I caused him to know everything which he was unable (to understand). And he studied them (in) the six months of rain.

The blessing of Terah

²⁸ And it came to pass in the seventh year of the sixth week that he spoke with his father and let him know that he was going from Haran to walk (in) the land of Canaan so that he might see it and return to him. ²⁹ And Terah, his father, said to him:

“Go in peace.

May God eternal make straight your path

and the Lord be with you

and protect you from all evil

[and grant favor upon you and mercy and grace before those who see you.]^h

May none of the sons of men rule over you to do evil to you.

Go in peace.

³⁰ And when you have seen a land pleasant to your eyes to dwell in, come and take me to you. And take Lot, the son of Haran your brother with you (as) a son for yourself. The Lord be with you. ³¹ But Nahor, your brother, leave with me until you return in peace. And we will all go together with you.”

Abram’s sojourn at Bethel

13 ¹* And Abram went from Haran. And he took Sarai, his wife, and Lot, his brother Haran’s son, into the land of Canaan. And he came to Asshur. And he walked to Shechem. And he dwelt by a tall oak. ² And he saw, and behold the land was very pleasant from the entrance of Hamath to the tall oak. ³ And the Lord said to him, “To you and to your seed I will give this land.” ⁴ And he built there an altar and he offered up upon it a burnt offering to the Lord, who appeared to him.

⁵ And he removed from there into the mountain, with Bethel toward the west and Ai toward the east, and he pitched his tent there. ⁶ And he saw and behold, the land was wide and very good and everything was growing upon it: vines and figs and pomegranate trees, oaks and ilexes and terebinths and olive trees and cedars and cypresses and date trees and every tree of the field, and water was upon the mountains. ⁷ And he blessed the Lord who brought him out of Ur of Chaldees and brought him into this land. ⁸ And it came to pass in the first year, in the seventh week, on the first of the first month, (that) he built an altar on that mountain and he called on the name of the Lord: “You (are) my God, the eternal God.” ⁹ And he offered up a burnt offering to the Lord upon the altar so that he might be with him and not forsake him all the days of his life.

Abram travels south to Hebron and Egypt

¹⁰* And he arose from there and he went toward the South and he reached Hebron—and Hebron was built then. And he dwelt there two years. And he went to the land of the South as far as Bealoth. And there was a famine in the land. ¹¹ And Abram went into Egypt in the third year of the week and he stayed in Egypt five years before his wife was taken from him. ¹²* And Tanis of Egypt was built then, seven years after Hebron.

¹³ And it came to pass when Pharaoh took Sarai, the wife of Abram, that the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues on account of Sarai, the wife of Abram. ¹⁴ And Abram was honored with many possessions: sheep and oxen and asses and horses and camels and male and female servants and silver and much gold. And Lot, his brother’s son, also had possessions. ¹⁵ And Pharaoh returned Sarai, the wife of Abram. And he sent him out from the land of Egypt.

Abram returns to Bethel and is promised the land

*And he went to the place where he had pitched his tent first, to the place of the altar. Ai was east and Bethel west. And he blessed the Lord his God who brought him back in peace. ¹⁶ And it came to pass in that forty-first jubilee, in the third year of the first week, (that) he returned to this place. And he offered up upon it a burnt offering and he called upon the name of the Lord. And he said:

“You, O God, Most High, (are) my God

forever and ever.”

¹⁷* And in the fourth year of that week Lot separated from him. And Lot dwelt in Sodom. And the men of Sodom were great sinners. ¹⁸ And his heart was sad because his brother’s son had separated from him because he had no sons.

¹⁹* (It was) in that year, when Lot was taken captive, that the Lord spoke to Abram after Lot had separated from him, in the fourth year of that week: “Lift up your eyes from the place where you are dwelling toward the North and South and West and East ²⁰ because all of the land which you see I will give to you and your seed forever. And I will make your seed like the sands of the sea. (Even) if a man were able to number the sands of the earth, he would not (be able) to number your seed. ²¹* Arise and walk in the land in its length and its breadth and see all (of it) because I will give it to your seed.”

Abram at Hebron reacts to Lot’s capture

And Abram went to Hebron and he dwelt there. ²²* And in that year Chedorlaomer, king of Elam; and Amraphel, king of Shinar; and Arioch, king of Sellasar; and Tergal, king of the nations, came and killed the king of Gomorrah, but the king of Sodom fled. And many fell with wounds in the valley of Siddim, by the sea of salt. ²³ And they took captive Sodom and Adam and Zeboim. And they took Lot, the son of Abram’s brother, captive and all of his possessions. And he went to Dan. ²⁴ And one who escaped came and told Abram that his brother’s son had been taken captive. ²⁵ And he armed the servants of his house.

The law of the tithe

* … upon Abram and his seed a tenth of the firstfruits to the Lord. And the Lord ordained it (as) an ordinance forever that they should give it to the priests, to those who minister before him so that they might possess it forever. ²⁶ And there is no limit of days for this law because he ordained it for eternal generations so that they might give one tenth of everything to the Lord: grain and wine and oil and oxen and sheep. ²⁷ And he gave (it) to his priests to eat and drink with rejoicing before him.

Abram restores booty to the king of Sodom

²⁸* And the king of Sodom approached him and bowed down before him. And he said, “Our lord Abram, give us the people whom you saved, but let the booty belong to you.” ²⁹ And Abraham said to him, “I lift up my hand to the God Most High (that) I will (not) take anything of yours, (even) a thread or shoelace lest you say ‘I have made Abram rich,’ but only what the young men have eaten and the portion of the men who went with me, ’Aner and ’Eschol and Mamre. Let them take their portion.”

Abram’s dream and sacrifice at Mamre

14 ¹* And after these things, in the fourth year of this week, on the first of the third month, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a dream, saying, “Don’t fear, Abram. I am your defender and your reward (will be) very great.” ² And he said, “O Lord, O Lord what will you give me? I am going on without children. And the son of Maseq, the son of my handmaid, is Eliezer of Damascus. He will be my heir, but you have not given seed to me.” ³ And he said to him, “This one will not be your heir, but one who will come from your loins will be your heir.” ⁴ And he took him outside and he said to him, “Look into heaven and count the stars if you are able to count them.”

⁵ And he looked at the heaven and he saw the stars. And he said to him, “Thus shall your seed be.”

⁶ And he believed the Lord and it was counted for him as righteousness. ⁷ And he said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you from Ur of the Chaldees so that I might give you the land of the Canaanites to possess forever and (so that I might) be God for you and for your seed after you.” ⁸ And he said, “O Lord, O Lord, how shall I know that I shall inherit?” ⁹ And he said, “Take for me a young animal of three years and a goat of three years and a sheep of three years and a turtledove and a pigeon.”

¹⁰ And he took all of these in the middle of the month. And he was dwelling by the oak of Mamre, which is near Hebron. ¹¹ And he built an altar there. And he slaughtered all of these, and he poured out their blood upon the altar. And he divided them in the middle. And he placed them facing one another, but the birds he did not cut up. ¹² And the birds came down upon the pieces and Abram kept turning them away and he did not let the birds touch them.

¹³ And it came to pass when the sun set that a terror fell upon Abram. And behold a great dark horror fell upon him. And it was said to Abram, “Surely know that your seed will be strangers in an alien land. And they will serve them. And they will make them suffer four hundred years. ¹⁴ But I will judge the people whom they will serve. And afterward they will come forth from there with many is possessions. ¹⁵ And you will go to your fathers in peace and be buried in a good old age. ¹⁶ And in the fourth generation they will return here because the sins of the Amorites have not yet been completed.”

The covenant with Abram

¹⁷* And he woke up from his sleep and stood up. And the sun had set and there was a flame. And behold an oven was smoking and flames of fire passed between the pieces. ¹⁸ And on that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your seed I will give this land from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates River: 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.”

¹⁹ And that day passed and Abram offered up the pieces and the birds and their (fruit) offering and their libation. And the fire consumed them. ²⁰ And on that day we made a covenant with Abram just as we had made a covenant in that month with Noah. And Abram renewed the feast and the ordinance for himself forever.

Sarai offers her handmaid, Hagar, to Abram

²¹* And Abram rejoiced and he told all of these things to Sarai, his wife. And he believed that he would have seed, but she did not give birth. ²² And Sarai advised Abram, her husband, and she said to him, “Go into Hagar, my Egyptian maid. It may be that I will build seed for you from her.” ²³ And Abram heard his wife Sarai’s word and he said, “Do (it)!” And Sarai took Hagar, her Egyptian maid, and she gave her to Abram, her husband, so that she might be a wife. ²⁴ And he went into her. And she conceived and bore a son and he called him Ishmael, in the fifth year of that week. And that year was the eighty-sixth year in the life of Abram.

The offering of firstfruits and the covenant changing Abram’s name

15 ¹* In the fifth year of the fourth week of that jubilee in the third month, in the middle of the month, Abram made a feast of the firstfruits of the harvest of grain. ² And he offered up a new sacrifice upon the altar, the firstfruits of the food for the Lord, a bull and a goat and a sheep upon the altar (as) burnt offering to the Lord. And their (fruit) offering and their libation he offered up upon the altar with frankincense. ³ And me Lord appeared to Abram and he said to him, “I am God Shaddai. Be pleasing before me and be perfect. ⁴ And I will make my covenant between me and you and I will make you increase very much.”

⁵ And Abram fell on his face and the Lord spoke to him, saying, ⁶ “Behold, my ordinance is with you and you will be the father of many nations. ⁷ And your name therefore will not be called Abram, but your name will henceforth and forever be Abraham because I have established you (as) the father of many nations. ⁸ And I shall make you very great and I shall make you into nations. And kings will come from you. ⁹ And I shall establish my covenant between me and you and your seed after you in their generations for an eternal ordinance so that I might be God for you and your seed after you. ¹⁰ And I shall give to you and your seed after you the land where you sojourn, the land of Canaan, which you will possess forever. And I shall be God for them.”

¹¹ And the Lord said to Abraham, “And you also keep my covenant, you and your seed after you. And you will circumcise all of your males. And you shall circumcise your foreskins and it will be a sign of the eternal ordinance between me and you. ¹² And a son on the eighth day you will circumcise, every male in your generations, the servant of the house and whomever you purchase with money from all of the sons of the foreigner, whom you have acquired, who was not from your seed. ¹³ The (servant) born in your house will certainly be circumcised and the one whom you have purchased with money will be circumcised. And my covenant will be in your flesh for an eternal ordinance. ¹⁴ And whatever male is not circumcised, the flesh of whose foreskin was not circumcised on the eighth day, that soul shall be uprooted from its family because he has broken my covenant.” ¹⁵ And the Lord said to Abraham, “Sarai, your wife, will therefore not be called Sarai because Sarah is her name. ¹⁶ And I will bless her and I will give you a son from her. And I will bless him. And he will become a people. And kings of nations will come from him.”

Abraham’s concern for Ishmael

¹⁷* And Abraham fell on his face and he rejoiced and pondered in his heart whether a son would be born to one who was one hundred years old or (whether) Sarah, who was ninety years, would give birth. ¹⁸ And Abraham said to the Lord, “Would that Ishmael might live before you.” ¹⁹ And the Lord said, “Yes, but Sarah will bear a son for you and you will call him Isaac. And I shall raise up my covenant (as) an eternal covenant with him and with his seed after him. ²⁰ And concerning Ishmael I have heard you. And behold I shall bless him, and make him grow and increase him very much. And twelve princes he will beget. And I shall make him into a great people. ²¹ But my covenant I shall establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear for you in another year during these days.” ²² And he finished talking with him and the Lord ascended from Abraham.

The circumcision of Abraham’s household

²³* And Abraham did as the Lord said to him and he took Ishmael, his son, and all of the male servants of his house and also whomever he bought with money, every male who was in his house, and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins. ²⁴ And that very same day Abraham was circumcised and every man of his house and the servant of his house. And all of those who were purchased for money from the sons of aliens were also circumcised with him.

The laws of circumcision

²⁵ This law is for all the eternal generations and there is no circumcising of days and there is no passing a single day beyond eight days because it is an eternal ordinance ordained and written in the heavenly tablets. ²⁶ And anyone who is born whose own flesh is not circumcised on the eighth day is not from the sons of the covenant which the Lord made for Abraham since (he is) from the children of destruction. And there is therefore no sign upon him so that he might belong to the Lord because (he is destined) to be destroyed and annihilated from the earth and to be uprooted from the earth because he has broken the covenant of the Lord our God. ²⁷ Because the nature of all of the angels of the presence and all of the angels of sanctification was thus from the day of their creation. And in the presence of the angels of the presence and the angels of sanctification he sanctified Israel so that they might be with him and with his holy angels.

²⁸ And you command the sons of Israel and let them keep this sign of the covenant for their generations for an eternal ordinance. And they will not be uprooted from the land ²⁹ because the commandment was ordained for the covenant so that they might keep it forever for all of the children of Israel. ³⁰ For the Lord did not draw Ishmael and his sons and his brothers and Esau near to himself, and he did not elect them because they are the sons of Abraham, for he knew them. But he chose Israel that they might be a people for himself. ³¹* And he sanctified them and gathered them from all of the sons of man because (there are) many nations and many people, and they all belong to him, but over all of them he caused spirits to rule so that they might lead them astray from following him. ³²* But over Israel he did not cause any angel or spirit to rule because he alone is their ruler and he will protect them and he will seek for them at the hand of his angels and at the hand of his spirits and at the hand of all of his authorities so that he might guard them and bless them and they might be his and he might be theirs henceforth and forever.

A prediction of future faithlessness regarding circumcision

³³* And now I shall announce to you that the sons of Israel will deny this ordinance and they will not circumcise their sons according to all of this law because some of the flesh of their circumcision they will leave in the circumcision of their sons. And all of the sons of Beliar will leave their sons without circumcising just as they were born. ³⁴ And great wrath from the Lord will be upon the sons of Israel because they have left his covenant and have turned aside from his words. And they have provoked and blasphemed inasmuch as they have not done the ordinance of this law because they have made themselves like the gentiles to be removed and be uprooted from the land. And there is therefore for them no forgiveness or pardon so that they might be pardoned and forgiven from all of the sins of this eternal error.

Account of Sarah’s laughter

16 ¹* And on the new moon of the fourth month, we appeared to Abraham at the oak of Mamre and we talked with him and we also caused him to know that a son would be given to him by Sarah, his wife. ² And Sarah laughed because she heard that we discussed this matter with Abraham. And we reproached her. And she was afraid and denied that she laughed about the matter. ³ And we told her the name of her son Isaac—just as his name was ordained and written in the heavenly tablets—⁴ and (that) when we returned to her at a specific time she would have conceived a son.

The destruction of Sodom

⁵* And in that month the Lord executed the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah and Zeboim and all of the district of the Jordan. And he burned them with fire and sulphur and he annihilated them till this day just as (he said), “Behold, I have made known to you all of their deeds that (they were) cruel and great sinners and they were polluting themselves and they were fornicating in their flesh and they were causing pollution upon the earth.” ⁶ And thus the Lord will execute judgment like the judgment of Sodom on places where they act according to the pollution of Sodom.

The sin of Lot’s daughters

⁷* And we saved Lot because the Lord remembered Abraham and he brought him out from the midst of the overthrow. ⁸ And he and his daughters also committed sins upon the earth which were not (committed) on the earth from the days of Adam until his time because the man lay with his daughters. ⁹ And behold it is commanded and it is engraved concerning all of his seed in the heavenly tablets so that he will remove them and uproot them and execute their judgment just like the judgment of Sodom and so that he will not leave seed of man for him on the earth in the day of judgment.

Events surrounding the birth of Isaac at Beer-sheba

¹⁰* And in this month Abraham moved from Hebron and went and dwelt between Qadesh and Shur in the mountains of Gerar. ¹¹ And in the middle of the fifth month he moved from there and he dwelt by the Well of the Oath. ¹² And in the middle is of the sixth month the Lord visited Sarah and did for her as he had said. ¹³ And she conceived and she bore a son in the third month, in the middle of the month, in the time when the Lord told Abraham. Isaac was born on the feast of the firstfruits of the harvest. ¹⁴ And Abraham circumcised his son on the eighth day. He was the first one circumcised according to the covenant which was ordained forever.

¹⁵ And in the sixth year of the fourth week we went forth to Abraham at the Well of the Oath. And we appeared to him [just as we said to Sarah that we would return to her. And she had conceived a son. ¹⁶* And we returned in the seventh month and we found Sarah pregnant before us.]^b And we blessed him and we announced to him everything which was commanded for him that he would not die until he begot six more sons and he would see (them) before he died. And through Isaac a name and seed would be named for him. ¹⁷ And all of the seed of his sons would become nations. And they would be counted with the nations. But from the sons of Isaac one would become a holy seed and he would not be counted among the nations ¹⁸ because he would become the portion of the Most High and all his seed would fall (by lot) into that which God will rule so that he might become a people (belonging) to the Lord, a (special) possession from all people, and so that he might become a kingdom of priests and a holy people. ¹⁹* And we went our way and we announced to Sarah everything which we had told him. And both of them rejoiced very greatly.

Abraham observes the feast of Booths at Beer-sbeba

²⁰* And he built an altar there to the Lord who delivered him and who made him rejoice in the land of his sojourn. And he celebrated a feast of rejoicing in this month, seven days, near the altar which he built by the Well of the Oath. ²¹ And he built booths for himself and for his servants on that festival. And he first observed the feast of the booths on the earth. ²² And in these seven days he was making offering every day, day by day, on the altar a burnt offering to the Lord: two bulls, and two rams, and seven lambs, one kid on behalf of sins so that he might atone thereby on behalf of himself and his seed. ²³ And for a thank offering: seven rams and seven sheep and seven lambs and seven he-goats and their (fruit) offerings and their libations and all their fat he offered upon the altar as chosen burnt offering to the Lord for a sweet-smelling odor.

²⁴* And in the morning and evening he offered the fragrance of frankincense, and galbanum, and stacte, and nard, and myrrh, and spices, and costum. All seven of these he offered, crushed, mixed in equal parts (and) pure. ²⁵ And he observed this feast seven days, rejoicing with all his heart and with all his soul, he and all of those who were in his house. And there was no alien with him or any who were not circumcised. ²⁶* And he blessed his Creator who created him in his generation because by his will he created him for he knew and he perceived that from him there would be a righteous planting for eternal generations and a holy seed from him so that he might be like the one who made everything. ²⁷ And he blessed and rejoiced and called the name of this festival “the festival of the Lord,” a joy acceptable to God Most High.

²⁸ And we eternally blessed him and his seed who are after him in every generation of the earth because he observed this feast in its (appointed) time according to the testimony of the heavenly tablets. ²⁹* Therefore it is ordained in the heavenly tablets concerning Israel that they will be observers of the feast of booths seven days with joy in the seventh month which is acceptable before the Lord (as) an eternal law in their generations throughout all (time), year by year. ³⁰ And there is no limit of days for this because it is ordained forever concerning Israel so that they should observe it and they should dwell in tents and that they should place crowns on their heads and so that they should take branches of leaves and willow from the stream. ³¹ And Abraham took branches of palm trees and fruit of good trees and each day of the days he used to go around the altar with branches. Seven times per day, in the morning, he was praising and giving thanks to his God for all things.

The feast for the weaning of Isaac

17 ¹* In the first of the fifth week in that jubilee Isaac was weaned. And Abraham celebrated a great feast in the third month on the day that his son, Isaac, was weaned. ² And Ishmael, the son of Hagar, the Egyptian woman, was in the presence of Abraham, his father, in his place. And Abraham rejoiced and he blessed the Lord because he had seen his sons and had not died without sons. ³ And he remembered the word which was told to him on the day that Lot separated from him. And he rejoiced because the Lord had given him seed upon the earth so that they might inherit the land. And he blessed the Creator of all with all his eloquence.

The banishment of Hagar

⁴* And Sarah saw Ishmael playing and dancing and Abraham rejoicing very greatly. And she was jealous of Ishmael and she said to Abraham, “Drive out this girl and her son because the son of this girl will not inherit with my son, Isaac.” ⁵ And the matter was grievous in the sight of Abraham because of his maidservant and because of his son that he should drive them away from him. ⁶ And the Lord said to Abraham, “Let it not be grievous in your sight on account of the lad and the girl. (As for) everything which Sarah said to you, obey her words and do (it) because it is through Isaac that a name and seed will be named for you. ⁷ But regarding the son of this girl, I will make him into a great people because he is from your seed.”

⁸ And Abraham rose at the crack of dawn and he took bread and a water skin and set it on the shoulder of Hagar and the lad and he sent her away. ⁹ And she went and wandered in the desert of Beer-sheba and the water was used up from the skin and the lad thirsted and was unable to walk and he fell. ¹⁰ And his mother took him and cast him under one of the olive trees and she went and sat opposite him a distance of one (arrow) shot because, she said, “Let me not see the death of my child.” And sitting down, she wept.

¹¹ And an angel of the Lord, one of the holy ones, said to her, “What are you weeping for, Hagar? Having arisen, pick up the child and take him in your arms because the Lord has heard your voice and he has seen the child.” ¹² And she opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the water skin. And she gave the child a drink and arose and went toward the desert of Paran. ¹³ And the child grew and was a hunter. And the Lord was with him. And his mother took a wife for him from the maids of Egypt. ¹⁴ And she bore a son for him and he called him Nebaioth because, she said, “The Lord was near to me when I called to him.”

Mastema’s plot to test Abraham

¹⁵* And it came to pass in the seventh week, in its first year, in the first month, in that jubilee, on the twelfth of that month, that words came in heaven concerning Abraham that he was faithful in everything which was told him and he loved the Lord and was faithful in all affliction. ¹⁶ And Prince Mastema came and he said before God, “Behold, Abraham loves Isaac, his son. And he is more pleased with him than everything. Tell him to offer him (as) a burnt offering upon the altar. And you will see whether he will do this thing. And you will know whether he is faithful in everything in which you test him.”

¹⁷ And the Lord was aware that Abraham was faithful in all of his afflictions because he tested him with his land, and with famine. And he tested him with the wealth of kings. And he tested him again with his wife, when she was taken (from him), and with circumcision. And he tested him with Ishmael and with is Hagar, his maidservant, when he sent them away. ¹⁸ And in everything in which he tested him, he was found faithful. And his soul was not impatient. And he was not slow to act because he was faithful and a lover of the Lord.

The sacrifice of Isaac

18 ¹* And the Lord said to him, “Abraham, Abraham.” And he said, “Here I am.” ² And he said, “Take your beloved son, whom you love, Isaac, and go into the high land and offer him up on one of the mountains that I will make known to you.”

³ And he arose while it was still dark at daybreak and he loaded his ass and took two of his young men servants with him and Isaac, his son. And he split the wood of the sacrifice and he went to the place on the third day. And he saw the place from afar. ⁴ And he arrived at a well of water and he said to the young men, “Stay here with the ass and I and the child shall go. And when we have worshiped we shall return to you.”

⁵ And he took the wood of the sacrifice and put it on the shoulder of Isaac, his son, and he took the fire and the knife in his hand. And the two of them went together to that place. ⁶ And Isaac said to his father, “Father.” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” And he said to him, “Behold, the fire and the knife and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering, father?” ⁷ And he said, “The Lord will see about the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.”

And they drew near to the (holy) place of the mountain of the Lord. ⁸ And he built an altar and he placed the wood on the altar. And he bound Isaac, his son, and he placed him on the wood which was on top of the altar, and he stretched forth his hand, and took the knife in order to slaughter Isaac, his son.

⁹ And I stood before him and before Prince Mastema. And the Lord said, “Speak to him. Do not let his hand descend upon the child. And do not let him do anything to him because I know that he is one who fears the Lord.” ¹⁰ And I called out to him from heaven and I said to him, “Abraham, Abraham.” And he was terrified and said, “Here I am.” ¹¹ And I said to him, “Do not put forth your hand against the child and do not do anything to him because now I know that you are one who fears the Lord and you did not deny your firstborn son to me.”

¹² And Prince Mastema was shamed. And Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw a ram was caught in the thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. ¹³ And Abraham called that place “The Lord has seen,” so that it is said “in the mountain the Lord has seen.” It is Mount Zion.

¹⁴ And the Lord called Abraham by his name again from heaven just as he caused us to appear so that we might speak to him in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵ And he said, “I swear by myself, says the Lord, because you have done this thing and you have not denied your firstborn son, whom you love, to me that I shall surely bless you and I shall surely multiply your seed like the stars of heaven and like the sand of the seashore and your seed will inherit the cities of their enemies. ¹⁶* And all of the nations of the earth will bless themselves by your seed because you obeyed my word. And I have made known to all that you are faithful to me in everything which I say to you. Go in peace.”

¹⁷ And Abraham went to his young men and they got up and went (to) Beer-sheba together. And Abraham dwelt by the Well of the Oath. ¹⁸ And he observed this festival every year (for) seven days with rejoicing. And he named it “the feast of the Lord” according to the seven days during which he went and returned in peace. ¹⁹ And thus it is ordained and written in the heavenly tablets concerning Israel and his seed to observe this festival seven days with festal joy.

The death and burial of Sarah

19 ¹* In the first year of the first week in this forty-second jubilee Abraham returned and dwelt two weeks of years opposite Hebron, i.e. Kiryath Arba. ² And in the first year of the third week of this jubilee, the days of Sarah’s life were completed and she died in Hebron. ³ And Abraham went to weep for her and bury her.

And we were testing him whether he would exercise self-control. And he was not impatient with the words of his mouth and he was found self-controlled in this also and he was not filled with anxiety ⁴ because with the self-control of his spirit he spoke with the sons of Heth so that they might give him a place in which to bury his dead. ⁵ And the Lord gave him favor in the presence of all who saw him. And he begged politely from the sons of Heth and they sold him the land of the cave of Machpelah, which is opposite Mamre, i.e. Hebron, for four hundred silver (pieces). ⁶ And they begged him, saying, “Let us give (it) to you free.”

But he did not take (it) from their control free because he gave the price for the place (in) full silver. And he bowed down to them twice and afterward he buried his dead in the cave of Machpelah. ⁷ And all the days of the life of Sarah were one hundred and twenty-seven. These (are) two jubilees and four weeks and one year. These (are) the days of the life of Sarah. ⁸ This (is) the tenth trial with which Abraham was tried. And he was found faithful, controlled of spirit. ⁹* And he did not say a word concerning the rumor which was in the land that the Lord said he would give it to him and to his seed after him, but he begged a place there so that he might bury his dead because he was found faithful and he was recorded as a friend of the Lord in the heavenly tablets.

The marriage of Isaac and the birth of his children

¹⁰* And in the fourth year thereof he took a wife for his son, Isaac, and her name was Rebecca, daughter of Bethuel, the son of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, the sister of Laban and daughter of Bethuel. And Bethuel was the son of Melca, who was the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother. ¹¹ And Abraham took a third wife and her name was Keturah from the daughters of his household servants because Hagar died before Sarah. ¹² And she bore six sons for him: Zimram, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah, in two weeks of years.

¹³ And in the sixth week in the second year Rebecca bore two children for Isaac, Jacob and Esau. And Jacob was smooth and upright, but Esau was a fierce man and rustic and hairy. And Jacob used to dwell in the tents. ¹⁴ And the youths grew up and Jacob learned writing, but Esau did not learn because he was a rustic man and a hunter. And he learned war, and all of his deeds were fierce.

Abraham’s blessings for Jacob

And Abraham loved Jacob, but Isaac loved Esau. ^15,16* And Abraham saw the deeds of Esau and he knew that in Jacob a name and seed would be named for him. And he called Rebecca and he commanded concerning Jacob because he knew that she loved Jacob more than Esau. ¹⁷ And he said to her, “My daughter, guard my son Jacob because he will be in place of me upon the earth and for a blessing in the midst of the sons of men and a glory to all of the seed of Shem ¹⁸ because I know that the Lord will choose him for himself as a people who will rise up from all the nations which are upon the earth. ¹⁹ And behold, Isaac, my son, loves Esau more than Jacob, but I see you as one who loves Jacob rightly. ²⁰ Be even better to him and let your eyes be lovingly upon him because he will be for us a blessing upon the earth henceforth and for all generations of the earth. ²¹ Let your hands be strong and let your heart rejoice in your son, Jacob. Because I love him more than all of my sons. He will be blessed forever and his seed will be one which fills all of the earth. ²²* If a man is able to count the sand of the earth, then his seed will be counted. ²³ And all of the blessings with which the Lord blessed me and my seed will be for Jacob and his seed always. ²⁴ And in his seed my name will be blessed and the names of my fathers Shem and Noah, and Enoch, and Mahalalel, and Enos, and Seth, and Adam. ²⁵ And they will serve to establish heaven and to strengthen the earth and to renew all of the lights which are above the firmament.”

²⁶ And he called to Jacob in the sight of Rebecca, his mother, and he kissed him and blessed him, and said, ²⁷ “Jacob, my beloved son, whom my soul loves, may God from above the firmament bless and may he give you all of the blessings with which he blessed Adam and Enoch and Noah and Shem. And everything which he told me and everything which he said that he would give me may he cause to cleave to you and your seed forever according to the days of heaven above the earth. ²⁸* And may the spirit of Mastema not rule over you or over your seed in order to remove you from following the Lord who is your God henceforth and forever ²⁹ and may the Lord God be for you and for the people a father always and may you be a firstborn son. Go, my son, in peace.”

³⁰ And the two of them went out together from Abraham. ³¹ And Rebecca loved Jacob with all of her heart and all of her soul much more than Esau, but Isaac loved Esau more than Jacob.

Abraham’s farewell testimony for his children

20 ¹* And in the forty-second jubilee, in the first year on the seventh week, Abraham called Ishmael and his twelve children and Isaac and his two children and Keturah’s six children and their sons. ² And he commanded them (a) that they should guard the way of the Lord so mat they might do righteousness and each one might love his neighbor, and (b) that it should be thus among all men so that each one might proceed to act justly and rightly toward them upon the earth, and (c) that they should circumcise their sons in the covenant which he made with them, and (d) that they should not cross over either to the right or left from all of the ways which the Lord commanded us and (e) that we should keep ourselves from all fornication and pollution, and (f) that we should set aside from among us all fornication and pollution. ⁴* And when any woman or girl fornicates among you you will bum her with fire, and let them not fornicate with her after their eyes and hearts and let them not take wives from the girls of Canaan because the seed of Canaan will be rooted out of the land.

⁵ And he told them the judgment of the giants and the judgments of the Sodomites just as they had been judged on account of their evil. And on account of their fornication and impurity and the corruption among themselves with fornication they died.

⁶* And you guard yourself from all fornication and impurity,

and from all corruption of sin,

so that you might not make our name a curse,

and all your life a hissing,

and all your sons a destruction by the sword.

And you will be cursed like Sodom,

and all your remnant like the sons of Gomorrah.

⁷ I exhort you, my sons, love the God of heaven,

and be joined to all of his commands.

And do not go after their idols and after their defilement.

⁸* And do not make gods of molten or carved images for yourselves,

because it is vain and they have no spirit.

Because they are the work of hands,

and all those who trust in them trust in nothing.

Do not worship them and do not bow down to them.

⁹* But worship the Most High God,

and bow down to him continually,

and hope for his countenance always,

and do what is upright and righteous before him,

so that he might be pleased with you,

and grant you his mercy,

and bring down rain for you morning and evening,

and bless all your works

which you have made on the earth

and bless your food and your water,

and bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your land,

and the herds of your cattle and the flocks of your sheep.

¹⁰* And you will become a blessing upon the earth,

and all of the nations of the earth will desire you,

and they will bless your sons in my name,

so that they might be blessed just as I am.

¹¹ And he gave gifts to Ishmael and to his sons and to the sons of Keturah and he sent them away from Isaac, his son, and he gave everything to Isaac, his son. ¹² And Ishmael and his sons and the sons of Keturah and their sons went together and they dwelt from Paran to the entrance to Babylon in all of the land which faces the east opposite the desert. ¹³ And these mixed with each other, and they are called Arabs or Ishmaelites.

Abraham’s farewell testimony for Isaac

21 ¹* And in the sixth year of the seventh week of this jubilee Abraham called Isaac, his son, and he commanded him, saying, “I am old and I do not know the day of my death and I am filled with my days. ² Behold I am one hundred and seventy-five years old, and throughout all of the days of my life I have been remembering the Lord and sought with all my heart to do his will and walk uprightly in all his ways. ³ I hated idols, and those who serve them I have rejected. And I have offered my heart and spirit so that I might be careful to do the will of the one who created me ⁴* because he is the living God. And he is holy, and faithful, and he is more righteous than all (others) and there is no accepting of persons with him or accepting of gifts because he is a righteous God and he is the one who executes judgment with all who transgress his commandments and despise his covenant. ⁵* And you, my son, keep his commandments and ordinances and judgments, and do not follow pollutions or graven images or molten images. ⁶ * And do not eat any blood of beasts or cattle or any bird which flies in heaven. ⁷ And if you slaughter a sacrifice as an acceptable burnt offering of peace, slaughter it, but pour out its blood on the altar. And offer up all the fat of the burnt offering on the altar with fine flour kneaded with oil, together with its libation. You will offer it all together on the altar (as) a burnt offering, (as) a sweet aroma before the Lord, ⁸ and the fat of the thanksgiving offering you will place upon the fire which is on the altar. You shall remove the fat which is on the belly, all of the fat of the internal organs and the two kidneys, all of the fat which is on them and on the thighs and the liver together with the kidneys. ⁹* And you will offer all of this up as a sweet aroma which is acceptable before the Lord together with its (fruit) offering and its libation for a sweet odor, the bread of a burnt offering to the Lord. ¹⁰ And eat its flesh on that day and in the second (day), but do not let the sun of the second (day) set upon it until it is consumed. And do not let it remain until the third day because it will not be acceptable since it was not chosen. Therefore, it will not be eaten. And all of those who eat it will raise up sin against themselves. Because thus I have found written in the books of my forefathers and in the words of Enoch and in the words of Noah. ¹¹* And you shall put salt in all of your offerings, and you shall not omit the salt of the covenant from any of your offerings before the Lord. ¹²* And take caution with the wood of the offering that you do not bring wood for the offering except of such as these: cypress, bay, almond, fir, pine, cedar, juniper, fig, olive, myrtle, laurel, and asphalathos. ¹³ But place some of these trees under the burnt offering on the altar (with) their appearance tested. And you will not place any split or dark wood, (but) wood strong and pure which has no spots, perfect, and new growth. And you will not place old wood (there) because its aroma has gone out because there is not, therefore, an aroma upon it as before. ¹⁴ Except for these trees, there is none other that you will put on (the altar) because its aroma has separated and the smell of its aroma will go up to heaven. ¹⁵ Keep this commandment and do it, my son, so that you might act uprightly in all of your deeds. ¹⁶ And at all of the (appointed) times be pure in your body and wash yourself with water before you go to make an offering upon the altar. And wash your hands and your feet before you approach the altar. And when you have completed making the offering, wash your hands and feet again. ¹⁷ And let there not be seen any blood upon you or your garments. Be careful, my son, be extremely careful of blood. Cover it in the earth. ¹⁸* And, therefore, do not eat blood because it is life, and you shall not eat any blood. ¹⁹ And do not accept gifts for any human blood lest it be poured out in vain, without judgment, because it is blood which is poured out to cause sin for the earth. And the earth is not able to be purified of human blood except by blood of one who shed it. ²⁰ And you shall not accept gifts or tribute for human blood—blood through blood—so that you may be accepted before the Lord God Most High, and he will be the protector of the good, and so that you might guard yourself from all evil, and so that he might save you from all death,

²¹ I see, my son,

every deed of mankind, that (they are) sins and evils;

and all of their deeds are defilement and corruption and contamination;

and there is no righteousness with them.

²²* Be careful not to walk in their ways,

and to tread in their path,

or to commit a mortal sin before God Most High

so that he will hide his face from you,

and deliver you into the power of your sin,

and uproot you from the earth,

and your seed from beneath the sky,

and your name and seed will perish from all the earth.

²³ Turn yourself aside from all their deeds and from all their defilement;

and keep the commands of God Most High,

and perform his will, and act uprightly in all things.

²⁴ And he will bless you in all your deeds,

and he will raise up from you a righteous plant in all the earth throughout

all the generations of the earth;

and my name and your name shall not cease from beneath heaven forever.

²⁵ Go, my son, in peace. May God Most High, my God, and your God strengthen you to do his will, and may he bless all of your seed and the remnant of your seed for eternal generations with all righteous blessing so that you might be a blessing in all of the earth.” ²⁶ And he went out from him rejoicing.

Abraham’s celebration of the feast of firstfruits

22 ¹ And it came to pass in the first week of this forty-fourth jubilee in the second year, that year in which Abraham died, that Isaac and Ishmael came from the Well of the Oath to Abraham, their father, to observe the feast of Shebuot, which is the feast of the firstfruits of the harvest. And Abraham rejoiced because both of his children came, ² for Isaac had many possessions in Beer-sheba. And Isaac used to go and inspect his possessions and return to his father.

³ And in those days Ishmael came to see his father. And both of them came together, and Isaac slaughtered a sacrifice as a burnt offering and offered (it) up upon the altar of his father which he built in Hebron. ⁴ And he sacrificed a thank offering and made a feast of joy before Ishmael, his brother. And Rebecca made new round cakes of new grain. And she gave them to Jacob, her son, to take to Abraham, his father, from the firstfruits of the land so that he might eat and bless the Creator of all before he died. ⁵* And Isaac also sent by the hand of Jacob a good thank offering to Abraham so that he might eat and drink. ⁶ And he ate and drank and blessed God Most High who created heaven and earth and who made all the fat of the earth and gave it to the sons of man so that they might eat and drink and bless their Creator: ⁷ “And now I thank you, my God, because you have let me see this day. Behold, I am one hundred and seventy-five years old, and fulfilled in days. And all of my days were peaceful for me. ⁸* The sword of the enemy did not triumph over me in anything which you gave to me or my sons all of the days of my life until this day. ⁹* O my God, may your mercy and your peace be upon your servant and upon the seed of his sons so that they might become an elect people for you and an inheritance from all of the nations of the earth from henceforth and for all the days of the generations of the earth forever.”

Abraham’s blessing for Jacob

¹⁰ And he called Jacob and said, “My son, Jacob, may the God of all bless you and strengthen you to do righteousness and his will before him. And may he elect you and your seed so that you become a people for him who always belong to his inheritance according to his will. And you, my son, Jacob, draw near and kiss me.” ¹¹* And he drew near and kissed him. And he said:

“Blessed is my son, Jacob, and all his sons,

unto the Lord, Most High, forever.

May the Lord give you righteous seed,

and may he sanctify some of your sons in the midst of all the earth.

May the nations serve you,

and all the nations bow down before your seed.

¹²* Be strong before men;

and rule over all the seed of Seth,

then may your ways be righteous, and the ways of your sons,

in order to be a holy people.

¹³ May the Most High God give you all the blessings

(with) which he blessed me,

and (with) which he blessed Noah and Adam;

may they rest upon the holy head of your seed throughout each generation and forever.

¹⁴ May he cleanse you from all sin and defilement,

so that he might forgive all your transgressions, and your erring through ignorance.

May he strengthen you and bless you,

and may you inherit all of the earth.

¹⁵ And may he renew his covenant with you,

so that you might be a people for him, belonging to his inheritance forever.

And he will be God for you and for your seed in truth and righteousness

throughout all the days of the earth.

¹⁶* And you also, my son, Jacob, remember my words,

and keep the commandments of Abraham, your father.

Separate yourself from the gentiles,

and do not eat with them,

and do not perform deeds like theirs.

And do not become associates of theirs.

Because their deeds are defiled,

and all of their ways are contaminated, and despicable, and abominable.

¹⁷* They slaughter their sacrifices to the dead,

and to the demons they bow down.

And they eat in tombs.

And all their deeds are worthless and vain.

¹⁸ And they have no heart to perceive,

and they have no eyes to see what their deeds are,

and where they wander astray,

saying to the tree ‘you are my god,’

and to a stone ‘you are my lord, and you are my savior’;

and they have no heart.

¹⁹ But (as for) you, my son, Jacob,

may God Most High help you,

and the God of heaven bless you.

And may he turn you from their defilement,

and from all their errors.

²⁰* Be careful, my son, Jacob, that you do not take a wife from any of the

seed of the daughters of Canaan,

because all of his seed is (destined) for uprooting from the earth;

²¹ because through the sin of Ham, Canaan sinned,

and all of his seed will be blotted out from the earth,

and all his remnant,

and there is none of his who will be saved.

²²* And for all of those who worship idols and for the hated ones,

there is no hope in the land of the living;

because they will go down into Sheol.

And in the place of judgment they will walk,

and they will have no memory upon the earth.

Just as the sons of Sodom were taken from the earth,

so (too) all of those who worship idols shall be taken away.

²³ Do not fear, my son, Jacob,

and do not be in terror, O son of Abraham.

The Most High God shall protect you from destruction,

and from all the ways of error he will deliver you.

²⁴ This house I have built for myself so that I might cause my name to dwell upon it in the land. It has been given to you and to your seed forever. And it will be called the house of Abraham and will be given to you and to your seed forever because you will build my house, and you will raise up my name before God forever. Your seed and your name will remain in all the earth’s generations.”

A second blessing for Jacob

²⁵ And he ceased commanding him and blessing him. ²⁶ And both of them lay down together on one bed. And Jacob slept on the bosom of Abraham, his father’s father. And he kissed him seven (times), and his compassionate heart rejoiced over him, ²⁷* and he blessed him with all his heart and he said, “God Most High (is) the God of all, and Creator of all who brought me out from Ur of the Chaldees so that he might give me this land to inherit it forever and to raise up a holy seed so that the Most High may be blessed forever.” ²⁸ And he blessed Jacob, saying, “My son (is) one in whom I rejoice with all my heart and all my emotion. And may your favor and your mercy rest upon him and upon his seed always. ²⁹* And do not forsake him and neglect him henceforth and for the eternal days. And may your eyes be open upon him and upon his seed so that you might protect him and bless him and sanctify him for a people who belong to your heritage. ³⁰ And bless him with all of your blessings henceforth and for all of the eternal days. And renew your covenant and your mercy with him and with his seed with all your will in all of the earth’s generations.”

The death and burial of Abraham

23 ¹* And he placed the 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 eternal sleep, and he was gathered to his fathers. ²* During all of this (time) Jacob was lying on his bosom and did not know that Abraham, his grandfather, was dead. ³ And Jacob awoke from his sleep and, behold, Abraham was cold as ice, and he said, “O father, father!” And none spoke. And he knew that he was dead.

⁴ And he rose up 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 was also with them, and a lamp was in his hand. And when they went, they found Abraham lying dead. ⁵ And Isaac fell upon his father’s face and wept and kissed him. ⁶ And the sound was heard in Abraham’s house and Ishmael, his son, arose and went to Abraham, his father. And he wept for Abraham, his father, he and all of Abraham’s house, and they wept greatly. ⁷ And his sons, Isaac and Ishmael, buried him in the cave of Macnpelah near Sarah, his wife. And all of the men of his house and Isaac and Ishmael and all of their sons and all of the sons of Keturah wept for him forty days in their places. And the days of Abraham’s weeping were completed.

A discussion of the general decline in longevity

⁸* And he lived three jubilees and four weeks of years, one hundred and seventy-five years. And he completed the days of his life, being old and full of days. ⁹ For the days of the lives of the ancients were nineteen jubilees. And after the Flood they began to be less than nineteen jubilees and to grow old quickly and to shorten the days of their lives due to much suffering and through the evil of their ways—except Abraham. ¹⁰ For Abraham was perfect in all of his actions with the Lord and was pleasing through righteousness all of the days of his life. And behold, he did not complete four jubilees in his life until he grew old in the presence of evil (and) his days were full.

¹¹* And all of the generations which will arise henceforth and until the day of the great judgment will grow old quickly before they complete two jubilees, and their knowledge will forsake them because of their old age. And all of their knowledge will be removed. ¹² And in those days if a man will live a jubilee and a half, they will say about him, “He prolonged his life, but the majority of his days were suffering and anxiety and affliction. And there was no peace, ¹³* because plague (came) upon plague, and wound upon wound, and affliction upon affliction, and evil report upon evil report, and sickness upon sickness, and every evil judgment of this sort one with another: sickness, and downfall, and sleet, and hail, and frost, and fever, and chills, and stupor, and famine, and death, and sword, and captivity, and all plagues, and suffering.”

¹⁴ And all of this will come in the evil generation which sins in the land. Pollution is and fornication and contamination and abomination are their deeds. ¹⁵* Then they will say, “The days of the ancients were as many as one thousand years and good. But behold, (as for) the days of our lives, if a man should extend his life seventy years or if he is strong (for) eighty years, then these are evil. And there is not any peace in the days of this evil generation.”

The description of the future evil generation

¹⁶* And in this generation children will reproach their parents and their elders on account of sin, and on account of injustice, and on account of the words of their mouth, and on account of great evil which they will do, and on account of their forsaking the covenant which the Lord made between them and himself so that they might be careful and observe all of his commandments and his ordinances and all of his law without turning aside to the right or left. ¹⁷* For they all did evil and every mouth speaks of sin and all of their deeds (are) polluted and abominable. And all of their ways (are) contamination and pollution and corruption.

¹⁸* Behold, the land will be corrupted on account of all their deeds, and there will be no seed of the vine, and there will be no oil because their works are entirely faithless. And all of them will be destroyed together: beast, cattle, birds, and all of the fish of the sea on account of the sons of man. ¹⁹ Some of these will strive with others, youths with old men and old men with youths, the poor with the rich, the lowly with the great, and the beggar with the judge concerning the Law and the Covenant because they have forgotten the commandments and covenant and festivals and months and sabbaths and jubilees and all of the judgments. ²⁰ And they will stand up with bow and swords and war in order to return them to “the way,” but they will not be returned until much blood is shed upon the earth by each (group). ²¹ And those who escape will not be turned back from their evils to the way of righteousness because they will lift themselves up for deceit and wealth so that one shall take everything of his neighbor; and they will pronounce the great name but not in truth or righteousness. And they will pollute the holy of holies with their pollution and with the corruption of their contamination.

Punishment on that generation followed by repentance and God’s blessings

²² And there will be a great plague upon the deeds of that generation from the Lord and he will give them to the sword and to judgment and to captivity and pillage and destruction. ²³* And he will rouse up against them the sinners of the nations who have no mercy or grace for them and who have no regard for any persons old or young or anyone. For (they will be) cruel and powerful so that they will act more evilly than any of the sons of men.

*And they will cause turmoil in Israel and sin against Jacob;

and much blood will be shed upon the earth;

and there will be no one who will gather and no one who will bury.

²⁴* In those days, they will cry out and call and pray

to be saved from the hand of the sinners, the gentiles,

but there will be none who will be saved,

²⁵ and the heads of children will be white with gray hairs,

and an infant three weeks old will look aged

like one whose years (are) one hundred,

and their stature will be destroyed by affliction and torment.

²⁶ And in those days, children will begin to search the law,

and to search the commandments

and to return to the way of righteousness.

²⁷ And the days will begin to increase and grow longer

among those sons of men, generation by generation,

and year by year, until

their days approach a thousand years,

and to a greater number of years than days.

²⁸* And there (will be) no old men and none who is full of days.

Because all of them will be infants and children.

²⁹* And all of their days they will be complete

and live in peace and rejoicing

and there will be no Satan and no evil (one) who will destroy,

because all of their days will be days of blessing and healing.

³⁰ And then the Lord will heal his servants,

and they will rise up and see great peace.

And they will drive out their enemies,

and the righteous ones will see and give praise,

and rejoice forever and ever with joy;

and they will see all of their judgments and all of their curses among their enemies.

³¹* And their bones will rest in the earth,

and their spirits will increase joy,

and they will know that the Lord is an executor of judgment;

but he will show mercy to hundreds and thousands,

to all who love him.

³² And you, Moses, write these words because thus it is written and set upon the heavenly tablets as a testimony for eternal generations.

Jacob buys the right of firstborn from Esau

24 ¹* And it happened after the death of Abraham that the Lord blessed Isaac, his son. And he arose from Hebron and went to the Well of the Vision in the first year of the third week of this jubilee, and he lived there seven years.

²* And in the first year of the fourth week a famine began in the land other than the first famine which occurred in the days of Abraham. ³ And Jacob was cooking lentil soup, and Esau came in from the field hungry, and he said to Jacob, his brother, “Give me some of this reddish-colored soup.” And Jacob said to him, “Hand over your primogeniture (i.e.) this right of firstborn, and I will give you bread and also some of this lentil soup.” ⁴ And Esau thought, “I will die. Of what use is this right of firstborn to me?” And he said to Jacob, “I give it (to) you.” And Jacob said, “Swear to me today.” And he swore for him. ^5,6 And Jacob gave his brother, Esau, bread and soup. And he ate until he was satisfied. And Esau despised his right of firstborn. Therefore, Esau’s name was called Edom, on account of the reddish-colored soup which Jacob gave him for his right of firstborn. ⁷ And Jacob became the older one but Esau was lowered from his seniority.

Isaac’s sojourn at Gerar

⁸* And there was a famine upon the earth, and Isaac started to go down to Egypt in the second year of this week and he went to the Philistine king at Gerar, to Abimelek. ⁹ And the Lord appeared to him and he said to him, “Do not go down to Egypt. Dwell in the land where I shall tell you. And sojourn in that land. And I shall be with you and bless you ¹⁰ because I will give all of this land to you and to your seed. And I will carry out my oath which I swore to Abraham, your father. And I will multiply your seed as the stars of the sky. And I will give to your seed all of this land. ¹¹ And all of the nations of the earth will bless themselves by your seed because your father obeyed me and observed my restrictions and my commandments and my laws and my ordinances and my covenant. And now, obey my voice, and dwell in this land.” ¹² And he dwelt at Gerar three weeks of years. ¹³* And Abimelek gave orders concerning him and everything which was his, saying, “Any man who touches him or anything which is his let him surely die.”

An account of the wells dug by Jacob from Gerar to Beer-sheba

¹⁴* And Jacob grew prosperous among the Philistines and had many possessions: oxen, and sheep, and camels, and asses, and much property. ¹⁵ And he sowed in the land of the Philistines, and he raised grain one hundredfold. And Isaac became very wealthy, and the Philistines became jealous of him. ¹⁶ And all of the wells which the servants of Abraham dug during Abraham’s lifetime the Philistines stopped up and filled them with dirt after Abraham’s death. ¹⁷ And Abimelek said to Isaac, “Go away from us because you are much greater than we.”

And Isaac went away from there in the first year of the seventh week. And he sojourned in the valleys of Gerar, ¹⁸ and they dug again the wells of water which the servants of Abraham, his father, had dug—and the Philistines stopped them up after the death of Abraham, his father. And he named them just as his father, Abraham, had named them. ¹⁹ And the servants of Isaac dug wells in the valley, and they found running water. And the shepherds of Gerar became angry with the shepherds of Jacob, saying, “The water is ours.” And Isaac named that well “Harshness,” because they had been harsh with us.

²⁰ And they dug another well and they also contended about it. And he named it “Hostility.” And he rose from there, and they dug another well, but they were not angered about that, and he called it “Breadth,” and Isaac said, “Now the Lord has made wide (a place) for us. And we have increased in the land.” ²¹ And he went up from there to the Well of the Oath in the first year of the first week in the forty-fourth jubilee. ²² And the Lord appeared to him during that night, on the new moon of the first month, and he said to him, “I am the God of Abraham, your father. Do not fear, because I am with you and I shall bless you and I shall surely multiply your seed like the sand of the earth because of Abraham, my servant.” ²³ And he built an altar there where Abraham, his father, had built at first and called upon the name of the Lord and he offered a sacrifice to the God of Abraham, his father.

²⁴ And they dug a well and found running water. ²⁵ But the servants of Isaac dug another well and did not find water. And they went and told Isaac that they did not find water. And Isaac said, “I have sworn (an oath) on this day to the Philistines. And this thing has happened to us.” ²⁶ And he named that place “the Well of the Oath,” because he swore an oath there to Abimelek and to ‘Ahuzzat, his friend, and to Phicol, the commander of his army.

Isaac curses the Philistines

²⁷ And Isaac knew on that day that under pressure he swore an oath to them to make peace with them. ²⁸* And Isaac cursed the Philistines on that day, and he said, “Cursed be the Philistines for the day of wrath and anger from among all the nations. May the Lord make them as scorn and a curse and (the object of) wrath and anger at the hands of the sinners, the nations, and in the hands of the Kittim. ²⁹ And whoever escapes from the sword of the enemy and from the Kittim, may the righteous people uproot them from beneath the sky with judgment, because they will be enemies and foes to my sons in their generations upon the earth.

³⁰* And no remnant will be left to them,

nor one who escapes on the day of the wrath of judgment;

because all of the Philistine seed is (destined) for destruction and uprooting and removal from the earth.

And, therefore, there will not be any name or seed which remains upon the earth for any of the Caphtorim.

³¹* Because if they go up to heaven, from there they will fall;

and if they are set firm in the earth, from there they will be torn out;

and if they are hidden among the nations, from there they will be uprooted;

and if they go down to Sheol, even there their judgment will multiply,

and also there will be no peace for them there.

³² And if they go into captivity by the hand of those who seek their life, they will kill them along the way.

And neither name nor seed will be left for them in all the earth, because they shall walk in an eternal curse.”

³³ And thus it is written and engraved concerning him in the heavenly tablets to be done to him in the day of judgment so that they might be uprooted from the earth.

Rebecca gives instruction to Jacob regarding marriage

25 ¹* In the second year of this week, in this jubilee, Rebecca called Jacob, her son, and spoke to him, saying, “My son, do not take for yourself a wife from the daughters of Canaan as (did) Esau your brother, who took for himself two wives from the daughters of Canaan. And they have embittered my soul with all their impure deeds, because all of their deeds (are) fornication and lust. And there is not any righteousness with them because (their deeds are) evil. ²* And I love you very much, my son. And my heart and affection bless you at every hour of the day and (every) watch of the night. ³ And now, my son, heed my voice, and do the will of your mother. And do not take for yourself a wife from the daughters of this land, but from my father’s house and my father’s kin. You will take for yourself a wife from my father’s house. And the Most High God will bless you, and your children will be a righteous generation and a holy seed.”

Jacob’s response

⁴ And then Jacob spoke with Rebecca, his mother, and said to her, “Behold, O mother, I am nine weeks of years old. And I have not known or touched or been betrothed to any woman. Nor have I been thinking about taking for myself a wife from the daughters of Canaan, ⁵ because I recall, O mother, the words of Abraham, our father. For he commanded me that I should not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan because I should take for myself a wife from the seed of my father’s house and from my (own) kin. ⁶ I heard some time ago that daughters had been born to your brother, Laban. And I have set my heart upon them that I might take a wife from among them. ⁷ And, therefore, I have guarded myself in my soul lest I sin or be corrupted in any of my ways all the days of my life because my father, Abraham, gave me many commands regarding lust and fornication. ⁸ In spite of everything which he commanded me, for these twenty-two years my brother has contended with me and he frequently spoke with me and said, ‘My brother, take as a wife one of the sisters of my two wives.’ But I did not desire to do as he had done. ⁹ I swear, O mother, before you all the days of my life, that I will not take for myself a wife from the daughters of the seed of Canaan and I will not act wickedly as my brother has done. ¹⁰ Do not fear, O mother. Trust that I will do your will. And I will walk uprightly and will never corrupt my ways.”

Rebecca’s blessing for Jacob

¹¹ And then she lifted her face toward heaven and spread out the fingers of her hands and opened her mouth and blessed the Most High God who created heaven and earth. And she gave to him glory and praise. ¹² And she said, “May the Lord God be blessed, and may his holy name be blessed forever and ever, he who gave to me Jacob, a pure son and a holy seed; because he is yours and his seed will (belong) to you for all times and in all generations forever. ¹³ O Lord, bless him and place in my mouth a righteous blessing so that I might bless him.” ¹⁴* And at that time, when a spirit of truth descended upon her mouth, she placed her two hands upon the head of Jacob and said:

¹⁵ “Blessed are you, O Lord of righteousness and God of Ages;

and may he bless you more than all the generations of man.

May he grant to you the way of righteousness, my son;

and to your seed, may he reveal righteousness.

¹⁶ May he multiply your sons in your life(time);

may they rise up according to the number of the months of the year.

And may their sons be more numerous and greater than the stars of heaven;

and more than the sand of the sea, may their number increase.

¹⁷ And may he give to them this pleasant land,

just as he said that he would give it to Abraham and his seed after him always;

and may they hold it (as a) possession forever.

¹⁸ And may I see, O my son, that you shall have blessed sons in my lifetime;

and a blessed and holy seed, may all your seed be.

¹⁹ And just as you have given rest to your mother’s soul in her lifetime;

the womb of the one who bore you likewise blesses you.

My affection and my breasts are blessing you;

and my mouth and tongue are praising you greatly.

²⁰ Increase and overflow in the land,

and may your seed be perfected in every age in the joy of heaven and earth.

And may your seed be glad;

and on the great day of peace, may it have peace.

²¹* May your name and your seed stand for all the ages;

and may God Most High be their God.

And may the God of Righteousness dwell with them;

and with them may his sanctuary be built in all ages.

²² The one who blesses you will be blessed,

and all flesh which curses you falsely will be cursed.”

²³ And she kissed him and said to him:

“May the Lord of the world love you;

just as the heart and affection of your mother rejoices in you and blesses you.”

And she stopped blessing him.

The account of how Jacob received a blessing intended for Esau

26 ¹* And in the seventh year of this week Isaac called Esau, his elder son, and said to him, “My son, I am old, and behold my eyes are too dim to see. And I do not know the day of my death. ² And now take your hunting gear, your quiver and your bow. And go out to the field and hunt for me and catch something for me, my son. And prepare for me food, such as my soul desires. And fetch it to me so that I might eat and my soul might bless you before I die.” ³ Now Rebecca was listening as Isaac spoke to Esau. ⁴ And Esau went out early to the field so that he might snare and take something and bring it to his father. ⁵ And Rebecca called Jacob, her son, and said to him, “Behold, I heard Isaac, your father, speaking with Esau, your brother, saying, ‘Snare something for me and prepare food for me. And bring it to me. And I will eat, and bless you before the Lord before I die.’ ⁶ And now listen, my son, to my words which I command you. Go to your flock and take for me two good goat kids. And I will prepare them as food for your father just as he desires. And you shall take it in to your father and he will eat and bless you before the Lord before he dies. And you shall be blessed.” ⁷ And Jacob said to Rebecca, his mother, “O mother, I will not refuse anything which my father would eat and which would please him, but I am afraid, my mother, lest he recognize my voice and wish to touch me. ⁸ And you know that I am smooth and Esau, my brother, is hairy. And I shall become in his sight like one who acts wickedly and I shall be doing a deed which he did not command me to do. And he will be angry with me and I shall bring upon myself a curse and not a blessing.” ⁹ And Rebecca, his mother, said to him, “Upon me let your curse be, my son, but obey me.” ¹⁰ And Jacob obeyed Rebecca, his mother. And he went and took two good and fat goat kids. And he brought them to his mother. And his mother prepared them just as he liked. ¹¹ And Rebecca took the favorite clothing of her elder son, Esau, which was with her in the house. And she put it on Jacob, her youngest son, and hides of the goat kids she placed on his hands and on the bare parts of his neck. ¹² And she gave the stew and bread which she had prepared into the hand of Jacob, her son. ¹³ And Jacob entered to his father and said, “I am your son. I have done as you said to me. Come, and sit down and eat from what I have snared, O father, so that your soul might bless me.” And Isaac said to his son, “How have you found (it) so quickly, my son?” ^14,15 And Jacob said, “It is because your God directed me.” ¹⁶ And Isaac said to him, “Draw near, and let me touch you, my son, to know whether you are my son Esau or not.” ¹⁷ And Jacob drew near to Isaac, his father. And he touched him and said, ¹⁸ “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.”

*And he did not know him because the change was from heaven in order to distract his mind, and Isaac was unaware because his hands were hairy like the hands of Esau so that he blessed him. ¹⁹ And he said, “Are you my son Esau?” And he said, “I am your son.” And he said, “Bring it near to me and I will eat some of what you snared, my son, so that my soul might bless you.” ²⁰ And he brought it near to him, and he ate. And he brought him wine, and he drank. ²¹ And Isaac, his father, said, “Come to me and kiss me, my son.” And he drew near and he kissed him. ²² And he smelled the fragrance of the odor of his garments, and he blessed him and he said:

“Behold, the odor of my son is like the odor of a field which the Lord has blessed.

²³ May the Lord give and multiply to you from the dew of heaven and from the dew of earth,

and an abundance of wheat and oil may he multiply for you.

May nations serve you,

and the people bow down to you.

²⁴ Become a lord to your brothers,

and may your mother’s sons bow down to you.

And may all of the blessings with which the Lord blessed me and blessed Abraham, my father,

belong to you and to your seed forever.

May the one who curses you be cursed,

and the one who blesses you be blessed.”

²⁵ And it came to pass after Isaac ceased blessing his son Jacob, and after Jacob went out from Isaac, his father, that he hid himself. And Esau, his brother, arrived from his hunting. ²⁶ And he also prepared food and brought (it) to his father and said to his father, “Let my father arise and eat from what I have snared so that your soul may bless me,” ²⁷ And Isaac, his father, said to him, “Who are you?” And he said to him, “I am your firstborn, Esau, your son. I have done as you commanded me.” ²⁸ And Isaac was very greatly astonished, and he said, “Who is this who hunted and snared (game) and brought (it) to me, and I ate from all (of it) before you came, and I blessed him. And he and all his seed will be blessed forever.” ²⁹ And it came to pass when Esau heard the words of his father, Isaac, that he cried out with a very loud and bitter voice and said to his father, “Bless some also, O father!” ³⁰ And he said to him, “Your brother came fraudulently and took your blessings.” And he said, “Now I know why his name was called Jacob. Behold he has defrauded me twice. He has taken my right of firstborn and now he has taken my blessing.” ³¹ And he said, “Have you not retained a blessing for me, father?” And Isaac answered and said to Esau, “Behold, I have set him up as lord over you, and all his brothers I have given to him that they might be servants to him. And with abundance of wheat, and wine, and oil I have strengthened him. But for you, what shall I now establish, my son?” ³² And Esau said to Isaac, his father, “Is there only one blessing of yours, father? Bless me also, father.” And Esau raised his voice and wept. ³³ And Isaac answered and said to him:

“Behold, apart from the dew of the land shall be your dwelling,

and apart from the dew of heaven from above.

³⁴ And by your sword you shall live,

and you will serve your brother.

And it will happen when you become great,

and you will remove his yoke from your neck,

that then you will surely sin completely unto death,

and your seed will be rooted out from under heaven.”

Esau’s resolve to kill Jacob

³⁵* And Esau kept threatening Jacob on account of the blessing with which his father blessed him. And he said in his heart, “Now let the days of mourning for my father draw near. And I will kill Jacob, my brother.”

Rebecca and Isaac counsel Jacob to go to Haran

27 ¹* 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 she said to him, ² “Behold, Esau, your brother, will take vengeance in order to kill you. ³ So now, my son, obey me and arise and flee to Laban, my brother, to Haran. And dwell with him a few days until your brother’s anger is turned away and he abandons his anger with you and forgets the full extent of what you did to him. And I will send and bring you from there.” ⁴ And Jacob said, “I am not afraid. If he desires to kill me, I shall kill him.” ⁵ And she said to him, “(No), lest I be bereaved of both of my sons in one day.” ⁶ And Jacob said to Rebecca, his mother, “Behold, you know that my father is old. And he does not see because his eyes are dim. And if I leave him it will be grievous in his sight because I am leaving and going from you. And my father will be angry and curse me. I will not go. But when he sends me, only then will I go.” ⁷ And Rebecca said to Jacob, “I will go in and I will speak to him. And he will send you.” ⁸ And Rebecca entered and she said to Isaac, “I despise my life because of the two daughters of Heth whom Esau took as wives for himself. And if Jacob takes a wife from among the daughters of the land who are like these, why then shall I live, because the daughters of Canaan are evil.” ⁹ And Isaac called Jacob and he blessed him and admonished him and said to him, ¹⁰ “Do not take for yourself a wife from any of the daughters of Canaan. Arise and go into Mesopotamia to the house of Bethuel, your mother’s father, and take a wife for yourself from there, from the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother. ¹¹ And may God Almighty bless and increase and multiply you. And become a company of nations. And may he grant the blessings of my father, Abraham, to you and to your seed after you so that you will inherit the land of your sojournings and all of the land which the Lord gave to Abraham. Go, my son, in peace.” ¹² And Isaac sent Jacob. And he went to Mesopotamia, to Laban, the son of Bethuel, the Syrian, the brother of Rebecca, the mother of Jacob.

Isaac consoles Rebecca regarding Jacob’s future

¹³ And it came to pass after Jacob arose to travel to Mesopotamia that the spirit of Rebecca grieved after her son. And she wept. ¹⁴* And Isaac said to Rebecca, “My sister, do not weep on account of Jacob, my son, because in peace he will journey and in peace he will return. ¹⁵ God Most High will protect him from all evil and he will be with him because he will not forsake him all of his days, ¹⁶ for I know that he will make his ways prosper everywhere he goes until he returns to us in peace and we see him in peace. ¹⁷ Do not fear on his account, my sister, because he is upright in his way and he is a perfect man. And he is faithful. And he will not perish. Do not weep.” ¹⁸ And Isaac comforted Rebecca on account of Jacob, her son, and he blessed him.

Jacob’s dream and vow at Bethel

¹⁹* And Jacob went forth from the Well of the Oath in order to travel to Haran in the first year of the second week of the forty-fourth jubilee. And he arrived at Luz, which is in the mountains, i.e. Bethel, on the first of the first month of this week. And he reached the place when it was evening. And he turned aside from the way toward the west of the public road on that night. And he slept there because the sun had set. ²⁰ And he took one of the stones of that place and he placed it at his head beneath that tree and he was traveling alone, and he slept.

²¹ And he dreamed on that night and behold a staircase was set up upon the earth and its head touched heaven. And behold, angels of the Lord were going up and down upon it. And behold, the Lord was standing upon it. ²² And he spoke with Jacob and he said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham, your father and the God of Isaac. The land upon which you are sleeping I will give to you and to your seed after you. ²³ And your seed shall be like the sand of the earth. And you shall increase in the West and the East and North and South. And all the peoples of the nations will be blessed in you and in your seed. ²⁴ And behold, I shall be with you and I shall protect you everywhere you go. And I shall bring you back into this land in peace because I shall not forsake you until I do everything which I have said to you.” ²⁵ And Jacob awoke from his sleep and he said, “Truly this place is the house of the Lord, and I did not know it.” 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.”

²⁶ And rising early in the morning, Jacob took the stone which he had placed at his head and he set it up as a pillar for a sign. And he poured out oil on top of it and he named that place “Bethel.” But formerly the name of that area was Luz.

²⁷ And Jacob vowed a vow to the Lord, saying, “If the Lord will be with me and protect me in this way in which I am traveling, and if he will give me bread to eat and clothing to put on, and I return to the house of my father in peace, then the Lord will be my God and this stone which I have set up as a pillar for a sign in this place shall be the house of the Lord and everything which you have given me I will tithe to you, my God.”

Jacob is given Leah as a wife

28 ¹* And he traveled to the land of the East, to Laban, Rebecca’s brother. And he was with him and served him for Rachel, his daughter, one week. ² And in the first year of the third week, he said to him, “Give me my wife for whom I have served you seven years.” And Laban said to Jacob, “I will give you your wife.” ³ And Laban prepared a banquet and he took Leah, his elder daughter, and he gave her to Jacob as a wife. And he gave to her Zilpah, his handmaid, as an attendant. But Jacob did not know it because Jacob assumed that she was Rachel. ⁴ And he entered into her and behold, she was Leah. And Jacob was angry with Laban and he said to him, “Why have you treated me thus? Was it not for Rachel that I served you, and not for Leah? Why have you offended me? Take your daughter, and I will go because you have done evil against me.” ⁵ For Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah because the eyes of Leah were weak, but her appearance was very beautiful, and Rachel (had) good eyes and good appearance and she was very beautiful.

The rule regarding the marriage of the elder daughter first

⁶* And Laban said to Jacob, “It does not happen thus in our land, to give the younger woman before the elder.” And it is not right to do this because thus it is ordained and written in the heavenly tablets that no one should give his younger daughter before the elder because he should first give the elder and after her the younger. And they will write it down as sin in heaven concerning the man who acts thus. And no one who does this thing will be righteous because this deed is evil before the Lord. ⁷ And you command the children of Israel so that they will not do this thing: “Let not the younger woman be taken or given without the elder one being first (given) because that is very evil.” ⁸ And Laban said to Jacob, “Let the seven days of banquet for this woman continue and then I will give you Rachel so that you might serve me another seven years (and) pasture my sheep just as you did in the previous week.”

The marriage to Rachel and the birth of children

⁹* And on the day when the seven days of Leah’s banquet passed, Laban gave Rachel to Jacob so that he might serve him another seven years. And he gave to Rachel, Bilhah, the sister of Zilpah, as an attendant. ¹⁰ And he served seven years more on account of Rachel because Leah had been given to him gratis. ¹¹ And the Lord opened the womb of Leah and she conceived and she bore a son to Jacob, and be called him Reuben, on the fourteenth of the ninth month, in the first year of the third week. ¹² But the womb of Rachel was closed because the Lord saw that Leah was hated, but Rachel was loved. ¹³ And Jacob again went into Leah, and she conceived and she bore another son to Jacob, and he called him Simeon, on the twenty-first of the tenth month and in the third year of this week. ¹⁴ And Jacob again went into Leah and she conceived and she bore the third son to him and he called him Levi, on the first day of the first month, in the sixth year of is this week. ¹⁵ And again Jacob went into her and she conceived and she bore the fourth son to him and he called him Judah, on the fifteenth of the third month, in the first year of the fourth week. ¹⁶ And in all of this Rachel was jealous of Leah since she was not giving birth, and she said to Jacob, “Give me sons.” And Jacob said, “Have I withheld from you the fruit of your womb? Have I forsaken you?”

¹⁷ And when Rachel saw that Leah had borne four sons to Jacob, Reuben and Simeon and Levi and Judah, she said to him, “Go into Bilhah, my maid, and she will conceive and bear a son for me.” ¹⁸ And she gave Bilhah, her maid, to him so that she might be his wife. And he went into her and she conceived and she bore a son to him, and he called him Dan, on the ninth day of the sixth month in the sixth year of the third week. ¹⁹ And Jacob went into Bilhah again a second time, and she conceived and bore another son to Jacob, and Rachel called him Naphtali, on the fifth of the seventh month, in the second year of the fourth week. ²⁰ And when Leah saw that she was sterile and was not bearing children, she took and she also gave Zilpah, her attendant, to Jacob as a wife. And she conceived and bore a son to him and Leah called him Gad, on the twelfth of the eighth month in the third year of the fourth week. ²¹ And he went into her again and she conceived and bore another son to him, and Leah called him Asher, on the second of the eleventh month in the fifth year of the fourth week. ²² And Jacob went into Leah and she conceived and she bore a son and she called him Issachar, on the fourth day of the fifth month in the fourth year of the fourth week. And she gave him to a nurse. ²³ And Jacob went into her again and she conceived and she bore twins, a boy and a girl, and she called the boy Zebulun and the girl’s name was Dinah, in the seventh day of the seventh month in the sixth year of the fourth week. ²⁴ And the Lord had mercy upon Rachel and opened her womb. And she conceived and bore a son and called him Joseph, on the first of the fourth month in the sixth year of that fourth week.

Laban persuades Jacob to continue working for wages

²⁵* And at the time when Joseph was born, Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wives and my children. And let me go to my father, Isaac. And let me make a house for myself because I have completed the years which I served you for your two daughters. And I will travel to my father’s house.” ²⁶ And Laban said to Jacob, “Remain with me for your wages and pasture my flock for me again and accept your wages.” ²⁷ And they agreed with one another that he would give to him as his wages each of the lambs and kids which were born (and) on which there were black or spots or white. It would be his wages. ²⁸ And all of the sheep bore spotted (lambs) and ones which had variegated markings and ones which had various shades of black. And the sheep bore again lambs which looked like themselves and all which had markings belonged to Jacob and those which had no marking belonged to Laban. ²⁹ And the possessions of Jacob multiplied greatly. And he acquired oxen and sheep and asses and camels and male and female servants. ³⁰ And Laban and his sons were jealous of Jacob. And Laban collected his sheep from him, and kept watch on him with evil intent.

Jacob flees secretly to Gilead

29 ¹* And it came to pass after Rachel bore Joseph that Laban went to shear his sheep because they were the distance of a three days’ journey away from him. ² And Jacob saw that Laban was going to shear his sheep and Jacob called Leah and Rachel and spoke intimately with them so that they might go with him to the land of Canaan. ³ For he told them everything, as he had seen it in the dream, and everything which he told him, that he would return to the house of his father. And they said, “We will go with you anywhere you go.” ⁴ And Jacob blessed the God of Isaac, his father, and the God of Abraham, his father’s father. And he arose and loaded up his wives and children and took all of his possessions and crossed over the river and arrived at the land of Gilead. But Jacob concealed his intention from Laban and did not tell him.

The oath between Jacob and Laban and their separation

⁵* And in the seventh year of the fourth week, Jacob returned to Gilead, in the first month on the twenty-first day of the month. And Laban pursued him. And he found Jacob in the mountain of Gilead in the third month on the thirteenth day. ⁶ But the Lord did not permit him to deal cruelly with Jacob because he appeared to him in a dream at night. And Laban spoke to Jacob. ⁷ And on the fifteenth of those days Jacob prepared a banquet for Laban and for all who came with him. And Jacob swore to Laban on that day. And Laban also swore to Jacob that one would not cross over on the mountain of Gilead against the other with evil intent. ⁸ And they made there a heap for a witness. Therefore that place is called “the Heap of Witness” after this heap.

⁹ But formerly the land of Gilead was called “the land of Raphaim” because it was the land of the Raphaim. And the Raphaim were born as giants whose height was ten cubits, nine cubits, eight cubits, or down to seven cubits. ¹⁰ And their dwelling was from the land of the Ammonites to Mount Hermon and their royal palaces were in Qarnaim, and Ashtaroth, and Edrei, and Misur, and Beon. ¹¹ But the Lord destroyed them because of the evil of their deeds since they were very cruel. And the Amorites dwelt there instead of them, evil and sinful, and there is no people today who have fully equalled all of their sins. And therefore they had no length of life in the land.

¹² And Jacob dismissed Laban, and he traveled to Mesopotamia, the land of the East. And Jacob returned to the land of Gilead. ¹³* And he crossed over the Jabbok in the ninth month on the eleventh day of the month. And on that day Esau, his brother, came to him and was reconciled to him. And he went away from him to the land of Seir; but Jacob dwelled in tents.

Jacob’s respect for his parents contrasted with Esau’s disrespect

¹⁴ And in the first year of the fifth week in that jubilee, he crossed over the Jordan and he dwelt on the other side of the Jordan. And he was pasturing his sheep from the Sea of the Heap as far as Bethshan and Dothan and the forest of Akrabbim. ¹⁵ And he sent to his father, Isaac, some of all his possessions: clothing, and food, and meat, and drink, and milk, and butter, and cheese, and some dates of the valley. ¹⁶ And (he also sent) to his mother, Rebecca, four times per year—between the appointed times of the months and between plowing and reaping, and between fall and the rainy season and between winter and spring—to the tower of Abraham. ¹⁷ For Isaac had returned from the Well of the Oath and had gone up to the tower of his father, Abraham. And he dwelt there away from his son Esau ¹⁸* because in the days when Jacob journeyed to Mesopotamia, Esau took for himself as a wife Mahalath, daughter of Ishmael, and gathered together all of his father’s flocks and his own wives and went up and dwelt in Mount Seir. And he left his father, Isaac, alone at the Well of the Oath. ¹⁹ And Isaac went up from the Well of the Oath and dwelt in the tower of Abraham, his father, in the mountain of Hebron. ²⁰ And Jacob sent there everything which he sent to his father and mother from time to time, all of their needs. And they blessed Jacob with all their heart and all their soul.

Levi and Simeon avenge the shame of Dinah

30 ¹* And in the first year of the sixth week he went up to Salem, which is east of Shechem, in peace in the fourth month. ² And there Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, was snatched away to the house of Shechem, son of Hamor, the Hivite, the ruler of the land. And he lay with her and defiled her, but she was little, only twelve years old. ³ And he begged his father and her brothers that she be given to him as a wife, but Jacob and his sons were angry at the men of Shechem because they defiled Dinah, their sister. And so they spoke treacherously with them and defrauded them and seduced them. ⁴* And Simeon and Levi entered Shechem suddenly. And they executed judgment upon all of the men of Shechem and killed every man they found therein and did not leave in it even one. They killed everyone painfully because they had polluted Dinah, their sister. ⁵ And therefore let nothing like this be done henceforth to defile a daughter of Israel because the judgment was ordered in heaven against them that they might annihilate with a sword all of the men of Shechem because they caused a shame in Israel. ⁶ And the Lord handed them over into the hand of the sons of Jacob so that they might destroy them with the sword and execute judgment against them, and so that nothing like this might therefore happen in Israel to defile an Israelite virgin.

The law prohibiting marriage with foreigners

⁷* And if there is any man in Israel who wishes to give his daughter or his sister to any man who is from the seed of the gentiles, let him surely die, and let him be stoned because he has caused shame in Israel. And also the woman will be burned with fire because she has defiled the name of her father’s house and so she will be uprooted from Israel. ⁸ And do not let an adultress or defilement be found in Israel all of the days of the generations of the earth because Israel is holy to the Lord. And let any man who causes defilement surely die, let him be stoned ⁹ because thus it is decreed and written in the heavenly tablets concerning all of the seed of Israel: “Let anyone who causes defilement surely die. And let him be stoned.”

¹⁰ And there is no limit of days for this law. And there is no remission or forgiveness except that the man who caused defilement of his daughter will be rooted out from the midst of all Israel because he has given some of his seed to Moloch and sinned so as to defile it. ¹¹ And you, Moses, command the children of Israel and exhort them not to give any of their daughters to the gentiles and not to take for their sons any of the daughters of the gentiles because that is contemptible before the Lord. ¹²* Therefore I have written for you in the words of the law all of the deeds of the Shechemites which they did against Dinah and how the sons of Jacob spoke, saying, “We will not give our daughter to a man who is uncircumcised because that is a reproach to us.”

¹³ And it is a reproach to Israel, to those who give and those who take any of the daughters of the gentile nations because it is a defilement and it is contemptible to Israel. ¹⁴ And Israel will not be cleansed from this defilement if there is in it a woman from the daughters of gentiles or one who has given any of his daughters to a man who is from any of the gentiles. ¹⁵ For there will be plague upon plague and curse upon curse, and every judgment, and plague, and curse will come. And if he does this thing, or if he blinds his eyes from those who cause defilement and from those who defile the sanctuary of the Lord and from those who profane his holy name, (then) all of the people will be judged together on account of all of the defilement and the profaning of this one. ¹⁶ And there is no accepting of person or regarding appearance or taking from his hand either fruit or sacrifice or holocaust or fat or the aroma of sweet-smelling sacrifice so that he might accept it. And let any man or woman in Israel who defiled his sanctuary be (dealt with likewise). ¹⁷ Therefore I command you, saying, “Proclaim this testimony to Israel: ‘See how it was for the Shechemites and their sons, how they were given into the hand of the two children of Jacob and they killed them painfully. And it was a righteousness for them and it was written down for them for righteousness.’ ”

Levi is chosen for priesthood in recognition of his zeal

¹⁸* And the seed of Levi was chosen for the priesthood and levitical (orders) to minister before the Lord always just as we do. And Levi and his sons will be blessed forever because he was zealous to do righteousness and judgment and vengeance against all who rose up against Israel. ¹⁹ And thus a blessing and righteousness will be written (on high) as a testimony for him in the heavenly tablets before the God of all. ²⁰ And we will remember for a thousand generations the righteousness which a man did during his life in all of the (appointed) times of the year. And (it) will be written (on high) and it will come to him and his descendants after him. And he will be written down as a friend and a righteous one in the heavenly tablets.

A warning against breach of covenant

²¹ All of these words I have written for you, and I have commanded you to speak to the children of Israel that they might not commit sin or transgress the ordinances or break the covenant which was ordained for them so that they might do it and be written down as friends. ²² But if they transgress and act in all the ways of defilement, they will be recorded in the heavenly tablets as enemies. And they will be blotted out of the book of life and written in the book of those who will be destroyed and with those who will be rooted out from the land. ²³ And on the day that the children of Jacob killed Shechem he wrote (on high)^d for them a book in heaven that they did righteousness and uprightness and vengeance against the sinners and it was written down for a blessing.

The conclusion of the Shechem incident

²⁴* And they brought forth Dinah, their sister, from the house of Shechem and they took captive everything which was in Shechem: their sheep and their oxen and their asses and all their herds and all their goods. And they brought forth everything to Jacob, their father. ²⁵ And he spoke with them because they slaughtered the citizens, for he was afraid of those who inhabited the land: the Canaanites and the Perizzites. But the terror of the Lord was in all of the cities which surrounded Shechem and they did not rise up to pursue the sons of Jacob because a dread had fallen upon them.

The preparation for pilgrimage to Bethel

31 ¹* And on the first of the month, Jacob spoke to all of the men of his house, saying, “Purify and change your clothes, and having arisen, let us go up to Bethel, where on the day when I fled from the face of Esau, my brother, I made a vow to him who has been with me and has returned me unto this land in peace. Remove the strange gods that are among you.” ² And they handed over the strange gods and what was on their ears and what was on their necks and the idols which Rachel stole from Laban, her father, and she gave everything to Jacob, and he burned it and crushed it and destroyed it and hid it under an oak which was in the Land of Shechem.

Jacob invites his father to come to Bethel

³* And he went up on the first of the seventh month into Bethel. And he built an altar in the place where he had slept and had erected a pillar. And he invited his father, Isaac, and his mother, Rebecca, to come to him in the (time of) sacrifice. ⁴ And Isaac said, “Let my son Jacob come and let me see him before I die.”

Jacob’s visit to his father, Isaac

⁵ And Jacob went to his father, Isaac, and to his mother, Rebecca, at the house of his father, Abraham, and he took with him two of his sons, Levi and Judah. And he came to his father, Isaac, and his mother, Rebecca. ⁶ And Rebecca went out from the tower at the gates of the tower to kiss Jacob and embrace him because it revived her soul when she heard, “Behold, Jacob, your son, has arrived.” ⁷ And she kissed him, and she saw his two sons and she recognized them and she said to him, “Are these your sons, my son?” And she embraced them and kissed them and blessed them, saying, “In you may he bless the seed of Abraham, and may you become a blessing upon the earth.”

⁸ And Jacob went in to Isaac, his father, in the chamber where he was lying down, and his two children were with him. And he took the hand of his father, and, bowing down, he kissed him. And Isaac hung on the neck of Jacob, his son, and he wept on his neck. ⁹ And the darkness passed from the eyes of Isaac and he saw Jacob’s two sons, Levi and Judah, and he said, “Are these your sons, my son, because they resemble you?” ¹⁰ And he told him that they were truly his sons: “And certainly you have seen that they are truly my sons.”

The blessing of Levi

¹¹ And they drew near to him and he turned and kissed them and embraced the both of them together. ¹² And a spirit of prophecy came down upon his mouth. And he took Levi in his right hand and Judah in his left hand. ¹³* And he turned to Levi first and he began to bless him first, and he said to him, “May the God of all, i.e. the Lord of all ages, bless you and your sons in all ages. ¹⁴ May the Lord give you and your seed very great honor. May he draw you and your seed near to him from all flesh to serve in his sanctuary as the angels of the presence and the holy ones. May your sons’ seed be like them with respect to honor and greatness and sanctification. And may he make them great in every age. ¹⁵* And they will become judges and rulers and leaders for all of the seed of the sons of Jacob.

The word of the Lord they will speak righteously,

and all of his judgments they will execute righteously.

And they will tell my ways to Jacob,

and my paths to Israel.

The blessing of the Lord shall be placed in their mouth,

so that they might bless all of the seed of the beloved.

¹⁶* (As for) you, your mother has named you ‘Levi,’

and truly she has named you.

You will be joined to the Lord

and be the companion of all the sons of Jacob.

His table will belong to you,

and you and your sons will eat (from) it,

and in all generations your table will be full,

and your food will not be lacking in any age.

¹⁷ And all who hate you will fall before you,

and all your enemies will be uprooted and perish,

and whoever blesses you will be blessed,

and any nation which curses you will be cursed.”

The blessing of Judah

¹⁸ And to Judah he said:

“May the Lord give you might and strength

to tread upon all who hate you.

Be a prince, you and one of your sons for the sons of Jacob;

may your name and the name of your son be one which travels and goes about in all the lands and cities.

Then may the nations fear before your face,

and all of the nations tremble,

[and every nation trembles].

¹⁹ And with you will be the help of Jacob

and with you will be found the salvation of Israel.

²⁰ And on the day when you sit on your righteous throne of honor,

there will be great peace for all the seed of the beloved’s sons.

Whoever blesses you will be blessed,

and all who hate you and afflict you and curse you

will be uprooted and destroyed from the earth and they shall be cursed.”

Jacob’s visit with Isaac

²¹ And turning, he kissed him again and embraced him and rejoiced greatly because he had seen the sons of Jacob, his own true son. ²² And he withdrew from his embrace and fell down and bowed down to him. And he blessed them. And he rested there near Isaac, his father, during that night. And they ate and drank joyfully. ²³ And he made the two sons of Jacob sleep, one on his right and one on his left, and it was counted to him (as) righteousness. ²⁴ And Jacob told his father everything during the night, how the Lord had shown him great mercy, and how he had made all of his affairs prosper and protected him from all evil. ²⁵ And Isaac blessed the God of his father, Abraham, who did not withhold his mercy and his righteousness from the son of his servant Isaac.

Isaac’s farewell to Jacob

²⁶ And in the morning, Jacob told his father, Isaac, (about) the vow which he had made to the Lord and the vision which he had seen and that he had built an altar and everything was prepared to make a sacrifice before the Lord just as he had vowed and that he had come to set him upon an ass. ²⁷ And Isaac said to Jacob, his son, “I am not able to come with you because I have grown old and I am not able to endure on the way. Go, my son, in peace, because I am one hundred and sixty-five years old today. Therefore I am not able to travel. Set your mother (on the ass) and let her go with you. ²⁸ I know, my son, that you came for my sake. And let this day be blessed on which you have seen me alive and I have also seen you, my son. ²⁹ Prosper and perform the vow which you made and do not delay your vow because the vow will be sought. And now hasten to do it, and may the one who created everything, to whom you vowed the vow, be pleased.” ³⁰ And he said to Rebecca, “Go with Jacob, your son.” And Rebecca went with Jacob, her son. And Deborah (was) with her. And they reached Bethel.

Jacob reflects on the blessing of his sons

³¹ And Jacob remembered the prayer (with) which his father blessed him and his two sons, Levi and Judah, and he rejoiced and he blessed the God of his fathers, Abraham and Isaac. ³² And he said, “Now I know that I and my sons have an eternal hope before the God of all.” And thus it is ordained concerning the two of them, and it has been written (on high) for them as an eternal testimony in the heavenly tablets, just as Isaac blessed them.

Jacob’s tithe and sacrifice at Bethel

32 ¹* And he stayed that night in Bethel. And Levi dreamed that he had been appointed and ordained priest of the Most High God, he and his sons forever. And he woke from his sleep and blessed the Lord. ²* And Jacob rose early in the morning on the fourteenth of that month and he gave a tenth of everything which came with him: man, (and) beast, gold, (and) all (sorts of) vessels and clothes. And he gave a tenth of everything.

³ And in those days Rachel conceived Benjamin, her son. And Jacob counted his sons from him and upward, and (the lot of) Levi fell with the portion of the Lord. And his father put garments of the priesthood upon him and he filled his hands. ⁴* And on the fifteenth of this month he brought to the altar fourteen bulls from the herd and twenty-eight rams and forty-nine sheep and seven lambs and twenty-one kids of the goats (as) a burnt offering upon the altar of sacrifices, well pleasing for a sweet-smelling aroma before God. ⁵* This was his offering from the vow which he made to tithe together with their (fruit) offerings and their libations. ⁶ And when the fire consumed it he burned incense upon the fire above it. And for a thank offering: two bulls and four rams and four sheep and four he-goats and two lambs, each a year old, and two kids of the goats. Thus he did at dawn for seven days. ⁷ And it happened as he and all his sons and his men ate there joyfully for seven days that he blessed and praised the Lord, the one who delivered him from all his affliction and who granted him his prayers. ⁸ And he gave a tithe of every clean animal and he made a burnt offering, but the unclean animals he did (not)^b give to Levi, his son, but every human soul he gave to him. ⁹ And Levi served as priest in Bethel before Jacob, his father, (apart) from his ten brothers. And he was a priest there. And Jacob gave his vow. Thus he tithed a second tithe to the Lord and he sanctified it and it was sanctified to him.

The law of the tithe

¹⁰* And therefore it is decreed in the heavenly tablets as a law to tithe the tithe again in order to eat it before the Lord from year to year in the place where it is determined that his name shall dwell. And there is no limit of days to this law forever. ¹¹ This ordinance is written to observe it year after year to eat the second tithe before the Lord in the place where it is determined. And there is not to be (anything) left over from it from this year to the year which is to come. ¹² For in its year the grain will be eaten until the days of the harvest of the grain of the year, and the wine (will be drunk) until the days of the wine, and the olive (will be used) until the day of its season. ¹³ And everything which is left over from it and which grows old will be unclean. Let it be burned in the fire because it has become impure. ¹⁴ And thus they shall eat it together in the sanctuary and they shall not let it become old. ¹⁵* And the whole tithe of oxen and sheep is holy to the Lord and it will belong to the priests who will eat it before him year after year because it is so ordered and engraved on the heavenly tablets concerning the tithe.

Jacob’s vision which prevented him from sanctifying the court at Bethel

¹⁶ And in the second night, on the twenty-second day of this month, Jacob planned to build up that place and to build a wall around the court and to sanctify it and to make it eternally holy for himself and his sons after him. ¹⁷ And the Lord appeared to him in the night and blessed him and said to him, “Your name will not be called Jacob, but you will be named Israel.” ¹⁸ And he said to him again, “I am the Lord who created heaven and earth, and I shall increase you and multiply you very much. And there will be kings from you; they will rule everywhere that the tracks of mankind have been trod. ¹⁹* And I shall give to your seed all of the land under heaven and they will rule in all nations as they have desired. And after this all of the earth will be gathered together and they will inherit it forever.”

²⁰ And he finished speaking with him, and he went up from him. And Jacob watched until he went up into heaven. ²¹ And he saw in a vision of the night, and behold an angel was descending from heaven, and there were seven tablets in his hands. And he gave (them) to Jacob, and he read them, and he knew everything which was written in them, which would happen to him and to his sons during all the ages. ²² And he showed him everything which was written on the tablets. ²³ And he said to him, “Do not build this place, and do not make an eternal sanctuary, and do not dwell here because this is not the place. Go to the house of Abraham, your father, and dwell with Isaac, your father, until the day of your father’s death ²⁴ because you will die peacefully in Egypt and you will be buried honorably in this land in the tomb of your fathers with Abraham and Isaac. Do not fear, because just as you have seen and read, thus will everything come to pass. But you write down everything just as you have seen and read (it).” ²⁵ And Jacob said, “O Lord, how will I remember everything that I read and saw?” And he said to him, “I will cause you to remember everything.” ²⁶ And he went up from him and he woke up from his sleep and he recalled everything that he had read and seen and he wrote down all of the matters which he had read and seen.

The institution of the day of “Addition” to the feast

²⁷* And he observed there yet one (more) day and he sacrificed in it according to everything which he had been sacrificing on the previous days. And he called it “Addition” because that day was added, but the previous (days) he called “the feast.” ²⁸ And thus it was revealed that it should be. And it is written in the heavenly tablets. Therefore it was revealed to him so that he might observe it and add it to the seven days of the feast. ²⁹ And it was called “Addition” because it is written (on high) in the attestation of feast days according to the number of days of the year.

The death of Deborah

³⁰* And on the night of the twenty-third of that month Deborah, the nurse of Rebecca, died. And she was buried south of the city under the oak at the river. And that place was called “Deborah’s River” and the oak (was called) “the Oak of Sorrow for Deborah.”

Rebecca’s departure

³¹ And Rebecca went and returned to her house, to his father, Isaac, and Jacob sent in her hands rams and sheep and he-goats so that she might make for his father a meal such as he desired. ³² And he traveled after his mother until he approached the land of Kabrâtân. And he dwelt there.

The birth of Benjamin and death of Rachel

³³* And Rachel bore a son in the night and called him “son of my sorrow,” because she suffered when she bore him, but his father called him Benjamin, on the eleventh of the eighth month in the first year of the sixth week of that jubilee. ³⁴ And Rachel died there and she was buried in the land of Ephrata, i.e. Bethlehem. And Jacob built a pillar on the tomb of Rachel, on the road above her tomb.

The account of Reuben’s sin with Bilhah

33 ¹* And Jacob went and dwelt toward the south of Magdaladra’ef. And he and Leah, his wife, went to his father, Isaac, on the new moon of the tenth month. ² And Reuben saw Bilhah, the attendant of Rachel (and) his father’s concubine, washing in the water privately, and he desired her. ³ And hiding at night, he entered Bilhah’s house at night and found her sleeping in her bed, alone in her house. ⁴ And he lay with her. And she woke up and looked, and behold, Reuben was lying with her on the bed. And she uncovered the hem of her (skirt) and seized him and screamed and recognized that it was Reuben. ⁵ And she was ashamed because of him and released her hand from upon him. And he fled. ⁶* And she lamented greatly concerning this matter. And she did not tell anyone at all. ⁷ And when Jacob came and sought her, she said to him, “I am not clean for you since I have become polluted for you because Reuben has defiled me and lay with me at night, but I was sleeping and I was unaware until he had uncovered my skirt and lain with me.” ⁸ And Jacob was very angry with Reuben because he had lain with Bilhah, for he had uncovered his father’s robe. ⁹ And therefore Jacob did not draw near her since Reuben had defiled her. And the deed of any man who uncovers his father’s robe is very evil because he is despicable before the Lord.

The laws of incest

¹⁰* Therefore it is written and ordered in the heavenly tablets that a man should not lie with his father’s wife, and he should not uncover his father’s robe because that is defilement. They shall certainly die together, the man who lies with his father’s wife and also the wife because they have made a defilement upon the earth. ¹¹ And there shall be no defilement before our God among the people whom he has chosen for himself as a possession. ¹²* And again it is written a second time: “Let anyone who lies with his father’s wife be cursed because he has uncovered his father’s shame.” And all the holy ones of the Lord said, “So be it, so be it.”

¹³ And you, Moses, command the children of Israel and let them keep this word because it is a judgment worthy of death. And it is a defilement. And there is no forgiveness in order to atone for a man who has done this, forever, but only to execute him and kill him and stone him and to uproot him from the midst of the people of our God. ¹⁴ For any man who does this in Israel should not have life for a single day upon the earth because he is despicable and polluted.

The example of Reuben does not permit exception to law of incest

¹⁵ And let them not say, “Reuben had life and forgiveness after he lay with his father’s concubine and while she had a husband and while her husband, Jacob, his father, was alive.” ¹⁶* For the ordinance and judgment and law had not been revealed till then (as) completed for everyone, but in your days (it is) like the law of (appointed) times and days and an eternal law for everlasting generations. ¹⁷ And this law has no consummation of days. And also there is no forgiveness for it but only that both of them should be uprooted from the midst of the people. On the day when they have done this they shall be killed.

Moses is directed to warn people of laws of sexual defilement

¹⁸ And you, Moses, write for Israel, and let them keep this. And let them do according to these words. And let them not commit a sin worthy of death because the Lord out God is a judge who does not accept persons or gifts. ¹⁹ And say to them these words of the ordinance that they might hear and guard and watch themselves concerning them and they will not be destroyed or uprooted from the earth. For defiled, and an abomination, and blemished, and polluted are all who do them upon the earth before our God. ²⁰ And there is no sin greater than the fornication which they commit upon the earth because Israel is a holy nation to the Lord his God, and a nation of inheritance, and a nation of priests, and a royal nation, and a (special) possession. And there is nothing which appears which is as defiled as this among the holy people.

The children of Jacob appear before Isaac

²¹* And in the third year of this sixth week it came to pass as Jacob and all his sons were traveling that they dwelt (at) the house of Abraham near Isaac, his father, and Rebecca, his mother. ²² And these are the names of the children of Jacob: his firstborn, Reuben, and Simeon and Levi and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun, the sons of Leah. And the sons of Rachel (are) Joseph and Benjamin. And the sons of Bilhah (are) Dan and Naphtali. And the sons of Zilpah (are) Gad and Asher. And Dinah (is) the daughter of Leah, the only daughter of Jacob. ²³ And when they came, they bowed down to Isaac and Rebecca. And when they saw them, they blessed Jacob and all of his sons. And Isaac rejoiced greatly because he saw the sons of Jacob, his younger son. And he blessed them.

The sons of Jacob successfully defeat an Amorite coalition

34 ¹* And in the sixth year of this week from this forty-fourth jubilee, Jacob sent his sons with their servants to pasture their sheep in the field of Shechem. ² And while hiding themselves under the trees, seven kings of the Amorites assembled themselves to fight against them and to plunder their animals. ³ And Jacob and Levi and Judah and Joseph were at home with Isaac, their father, because his soul grieved him, and they were unable to leave him. And Benjamin was the youngest and therefore he dwelt with his father.

⁴ And the kings of Tafu, and the kings of ’Aresa, and the kings of Seragān, and the kings of Sèlo, and the kings of Gā’as, and the kings of Bethoron, and the king of Ma’anisakir, and all of those who dwelt in that mountain, who dwelt in the woods of the land of Canaan, came. ⁵ And they reported it to Jacob, saying that, “Behold, the kings of the Amorites have surrounded your sons and they have plundered their herds.” ⁶ And he and his three sons and all of his father’s servants and his servants arose from his house and went against them with six thousand men who carried swords. ⁷* And he killed them in the field of Shechem and he pursued those who fled and killed them with the edge of the sword. And he killed ’Aresa and Tafu and Seragān and Sèlo and Ma’anisakir and Gā’as, and he collected his herds. ⁸* And he prevailed over them and decreed a tribute against them so that they might give a tribute of five of the fruits of their land. And he built Robel and Tamnatares. ⁹ And he returned peacefully and he made peace with them and they became servants to him until the day he and his sons went down into Egypt.

The brothers sell Joseph and deceive their father

¹⁰* And in the seventh year of this week he sent Joseph from his house to the land of Shechem in order that he might know about the welfare of his brothers, and he found them in the land of Dothan. ¹¹ And they acted fraudulently and made a plot against him to kill him, but they repented and sold him to a band of Ishmaelites. And they took him down to Egypt and sold him to Potiphar, a eunuch of Pharaoh, the chief guard, the priest of the city of Heliopolis. ¹² And the sons of Jacob slaughtered a kid and dipped Joseph’s garment into the blood and sent (it) to Jacob, their father, on the tenth of the seventh month. ¹³ And he lamented all of that night, because they had brought it to him in the evening. And he became feverish in lamenting his death, and said that, “A cruel beast has eaten Joseph.” And all of the men of his house lamented with him on that day. And it happened as they were mourning and lamenting with him all that day ¹⁴ that his sons and his daughter rose up to comfort him but he was not comforted concerning his son.

The death and burial of Bilhah and Dinah

¹⁵ And on that day Bilhah heard that Joseph had perished and she died while mourning for him. And she was dwelling in Qafratef. And Dinah, his daughter, also died after Joseph perished. And these three lamentations came upon Israel in a single month. ¹⁶ And they buried Bilhah opposite the tomb of Rachel, and they also buried Dinah, his daughter, there. ¹⁷ And it happened, as they lamented for Joseph one year, that he was not consoled, because he said, “I will go down to the grave lamenting for my son.”

A day of memorial established for the crime against Joseph

¹⁸* Therefore it is decreed for the children of Israel that they mourn on the tenth (day) of the seventh month—on the day when that which caused him to weep for Joseph came to Jacob, his father—so that they might atone for them(selves) with a young kid on the tenth (day) of the seventh month, once a year, on account of their sin because they caused the affection of their father to grieve for Joseph, his son. ¹⁹ And this day is decreed so that they might mourn on it on account of their sins and on account of all their transgressions and on account of all their errors in order to purify themselves on this day, once a year.

The wives of the sons of Jacob

²⁰* And after Joseph perished, the sons of Jacob took wives for themselves. The name of the wife of Reuben (was) ’Ada. And the name of the wife of Simeon (was) ’Adiba’a, a Canaanite. And the name of the wife of Levi (was) Melka, from the daughters of Aram, from the seed of the sons of Terah. And the name of the wife of Judah (was) Betasu’el, a Canaanite. And the name of the wife of Issachar (was) Hezaqa. And the name of the wife of Zebulun (was) Ni’iman. And the name of the wife of Dan (was) ’Egla. And the name of the wife of Naphtali (was) Rasu’u, who (was) Mesopotamian. And the name of the wife of Gad (was) Maka. And the name of the wife of Asher (was) ’Iyona. And the name of the wife of Joseph (was) Asenath, an Egyptian. And the name of the wife of Benjamin (was) ’Iyasaka. And Simeon repented and took another wife from Mesopotamia as his brothers had.

Rebecca’s conversation with Jacob predicting her death

35 ¹ And in the first year of the first week in this forty-fifth jubilee, Rebecca called to Jacob, her son. And she commanded him with regard to his father and brother that he should honor them all the days of Jacob’s life. ² And Jacob said, “I will do everything just as you have commanded me because this thing is an honor and a greatness for me and a righteousness for me before the Lord, that I should honor them. ³ And you, mother, know from the day I was born until this day all of my deeds and everything which is in my heart, that I always think of good for everyone. ⁴ And why would I not do this thing which you have commanded me, that I should honor my father and my brother. ⁵ Tell me, mother, what perversity you have seen against me and I will withdraw from it and mercy will be upon me.” ⁶ And she said, “My son, all my days I have never seen against you anything perverse but only uprightness. But I will rightly tell you, my son, (that) I shall die within this year, and I shall not pass through this year alive because I have seen in a dream the day of my death, that I shall not live more than one hundred and fifty-five years. And behold, I have completed all of the days of my life which I will live.”

⁷ And Jacob laughed about his mother’s words, because his mother said that she would die, but she was sitting opposite him, and her strength was in her. And she was not suffering loss of strength, because she was coming and going and seeing (clearly), and her teeth were sound, and no disease had touched her all the days of her life. ⁸ And Jacob said, “I (would be) happy, mother, if my days approached the days of your life and my powers were thus in me as your powers. And you will not die because you have spoken to me (in) idle jest concerning your death.”

Rebecca’s conversation with Isaac concerning Jacob and Esau

⁹ And she went in to Isaac and she said to him, “One request I beg of you. Make Esau swear that he will not harm Jacob and will not pursue him hostilely because you know Esau’s inclination, that it has been evil since his youth. [And there is no goodness in him because he wants to kill him after your death.]^{e 10} And you know everything that he has done from the day that Jacob, his brother, traveled to Haran until this day, that he abandoned us with all his heart and did evil with us. He gathered your flocks and robbed all of your possessions before your face. ¹¹ And while we were begging and asking for what was ours he acted like a man who was taking pity on us. ¹² And he is bitter against you because you blessed Jacob, your perfect and upright son, because he has no evil but only goodness. And since he came from Haran until this day he has not been depriving us of anything, for he has always been bringing us everything in its season. And he rejoices with his whole heart whenever we accept (anything) from his hand. And he has been blessing us and has not separated from us since he came from Haran until this day. But he has been dwelling with us continually at home honoring us.” ¹³ And Isaac said to her, “I know and see the deeds of Jacob, who is with us, that with all his heart he is honoring us. And I first loved Esau more than Jacob because he was born first, but now I love Jacob more than Esau because he has increasingly made his deeds evil. And he has no righteousness because all of his ways are injustice and violence. [And he has no righteousness around him.]^{f 14} And now my heart is vexed on account of all his deeds. And neither he nor his seed is to be saved for they will be destroyed from the earth, and they will be uprooted from under the heaven since he has forsaken the God of Abraham and he has gone after his wives and after their defilement and after their errors, (both) he and his sons. ¹⁵ And you say to me that I should make him swear that he will not kill his brother, Jacob. If he swears he will not abide by his oath, and he will not do goodness, but only evil. ¹⁶ But if he wishes to kill Jacob, his brother, he will be given into the hand of Jacob. And he will not escape from his hand because he will fall into his hand. ¹⁷ And you should not fear on account of Jacob because the protector of Jacob is greater and mightier and more honored and praised than the protector of Esau.”

Rebecca seeks assurances of fraternal love between Jacob and Esau

¹⁸ And Rebecca sent and called Esau. And he came to her and she said to him, “I have a request, my son, which I will ask of you. Say that you will do it, my son.” ¹⁹ And he said, “I will do everything which you say to me. And I will not refuse your request.” ²⁰ And she said to him, “I ask of you on the day when I die that you bring me and bury me near Sarah, your father’s mother, and that you and Jacob love one another, and that one will not seek evil for his brother, but only love him. And you will prosper, my sons, and be honored in the midst of the earth and the enemy will not rejoice over you. And you will become a blessing and a mercy in the sight of all who love you.” ²¹ And he said, “I shall do everything which you have been saying to me. And I shall bury you on the day when you die near Sarah, my father’s mother, just as you have desired so that your bones will be near her bones. ²² And Jacob, my brother, I shall love more than all flesh. And I have no brother in all the earth except him alone. And this is not a great (thing) for me if I love him because he is my brother and together we were sown in your belly and together we came forth from your womb. And if I do not love my brother, whom shall I love? ²³ But I beg of you only that you admonish Jacob concerning my sons because I know that he will certainly rule over me and my sons because on the day my father blessed him he set him above and me beneath. ²⁴ And I swear to you that I will love him and that I will not seek evil for him all the days of my life, but only good.” And he swore to her concerning all of these matters.

²⁵ And she called Jacob in the sight of Esau, and she commanded him according to what she had spoken with Esau. ²⁶ And he said, “I will do your pleasure. Trust me, that evil will not proceed from me or my sons against Esau and I will not act first in anything except to love (him) only.” ²⁷ And they ate and they drank, she and her sons, that night. And she died (at the age of) three jubilees and one week and one year on that night. And her two sons, Esau and Jacob, buried her in the cave of Machpelah near Sarah, their father’s mother.

Isaac’s farewell advice and blessings for Jacob and Esau

36 ¹* And in the sixth year of this week, Isaac called his two sons, Esau and Jacob. And they came to him and he said to them, “My sons, I am going in the way of my fathers to the eternal home where my fathers are. ² Bury me near Abraham, my father, in the cave of Machpelah in the field of Ephron the Hittite which Abraham acquired for a burial place there. In the tomb which I dug for myself there, bury me. ³ And I am commanding this, my sons, that you might perform righteousness and uprightness upon the earth so that the Lord will bring upon you everything which the Lord said that he would do for Abraham and for his seed. ⁴ And among yourselves, my sons, be loving of your brothers as a man loves himself, with each man seeking for his brother what is good for him, and acting together on the earth, and loving each other as themselves. ⁵ And regarding the matter of idols, I command you and admonish you to scorn them and hate them and not to love them because they are full of error for those who worship and bow down to them. ⁶ Remember, my sons, the Lord, the God of Abraham, your father, and (that) I subsequently worshiped and served him in righteousness and joy so that he might multiply you and increase your seed like the stars of heaven with regard to number and (so that) he will plant you on the earth as a righteous planting which will not be uprooted for all the eternal generations. ⁷ And now I will make you swear by the great oath—because there is not an oath which is greater than it, by the glorious and honored and great and splendid and amazing and mighty name which created heaven and earth and everything together—that you will fear him and worship him. ⁸ And (that) each one will love his brother with compassion and righteousness and no one will desire evil for his brother from now and forever all the days of your lives so that you will prosper in all your deeds and not be destroyed. ⁹ And if either of you seeks evil against his brother, know that hereafter each one who seeks evil against his brother will fall into his hands and be uprooted from the land of the living and his seed will be destroyed from under heaven. ¹⁰ And on the day of turmoil and execration and indignation and wrath, (then) with devouring burning fire just as he burned Sodom so too he will bum up his land and his city and everything which will be his. And he will be wiped out from the book of the discipline of mankind, and he will not be written (on high) in The Book of Life for (he is written) in the one which will be destroyed and pass on to eternal execration so that their judgment will always be renewed with eternal reproach and execration and wrath and torment and indignation and plagues and sickness. ¹¹ I have been speaking and exhorting you, my sons, according to the judgment which will come upon the man who desires to harm his brother.”

¹² And he divided all his possessions which he had with the two of them on that day, and he gave a larger (portion) to the one whose birth was first: both the tower and everything which surrounded it and everything which Abraham acquired at the Well of the Oath. ¹³ And he said, “I will surely increase this (portion) for the one whose birth was first.” ¹⁴ And Esau said, “I have sold to Jacob and I have delivered my right of seniority to Jacob and so let it be given to him, and there is not anything which I can say concerning it because it is his.” ¹⁵ And Isaac said, “May a blessing rest upon you and upon your seed on this day, my sons, because you have given rest to me, and my heart has not been grieved concerning the right of seniority lest you act perversely concerning it. ¹⁶ May the Lord Most High bless the man who does righteousness, him and his seed forever.”

¹⁷ And he finished commanding them and blessing them. And they ate and drank together before him. And he rejoiced because they were in mutual agreement. And they went out from him and they rested that day and they slept. ¹⁸* And Isaac slept on his bed on that day rejoicing. And he slept the eternal sleep. And he died at the age of one hundred and eighty years. He completed twenty-five weeks and five years. And his two sons, Esau and Jacob, buried him. ¹⁹ And Esau traveled to the land of Edom, to the mountain of Seir, and he dwelt there.

²⁰ And Jacob dwelt in Mount Hebron in the tower of the land of the sojourning of his father, Abraham. And he worshiped the Lord with all of his heart and according to the commands which were revealed (and) according to the division of the days of his generations.

The death of Leah

²¹ And Leah, his wife, died in the fourth year of the second week of the forty-fifth jubilee. And he buried her in the cave of Machpelah near Rebecca, his mother, and north of the tomb of Sarah, his father’s mother. ²² And all of her children and his children went out to weep with him for Leah, his wife, and to comfort him concerning her because he was lamenting her. ²³ For he loved her very much after Rachel, her sister, died since she was perfect and upright in all of her ways, and she honored Jacob. And in all of the days which she lived with him he never heard a harsh word from her mouth because she possessed gentleness, peace, uprightness, and honor. ²⁴ And he remembered all of her deeds which she had done in her life, and he lamented greatly for her because he loved her with all his heart and all his soul.

Esau’s sons reprove him for yielding to Jacob

37 ¹ And on the day that Isaac, the father of Jacob and Esau, died, the sons of Esau heard that Isaac had given the right of seniority to Jacob, his younger son, and they were very angry. ² And they argued with their father, saying, “Why, since you are the elder and Jacob the younger, did your father give the right of seniority to Jacob and abandon you?” ³ And he said to them, “Because I sold my right of firstborn to Jacob for a little dish of lentils. And on the day that my father sent me to hunt and snare [and bring to him]^d so that he might eat and bless me, he went with guile and brought food and drink to my father and my father blessed him and placed me under his hand. ⁴ And now our father has made us swear, (both) me and him, that we will not seek after evil, either one against his brother, but that we will continue with an affection and a peace, each one with his brother, so that we will not corrupt our ways.” ⁵ And they said, “We will not listen to you in order to make peace with him because our might is stronger than his might and we are stronger than he. We will go against him and we will kill and destroy him and his sons. And if you do not go with us we will do harm to you. ⁶ And now listen to us, and we will send to Aram and to Philistia and to Moab and to Ammon and we will choose for ourselves chosen men who are ardent in battle and we will go against him and we will fight with him and we will uproot him from the land before he seizes power.” ⁷ And their father said to them, “Do not go and make war with him lest you fall before him.” ⁸ And they said to him, “This very (thing) is your (type of) act from your youth until this day, and you put your neck under his yoke. But we will not listen to these words.”

Esau’s sons hire mercenaries for war against Jacob

⁹ And they sent to Aram and to Aduram, to their father’s friend, and they hired from them one thousand fighting men, chosen warriors. And they came to them: ¹⁰ from Moab and from the Ammonites, those who were hired, one thousand chosen men, and from Philistia one thousand chosen fighting men, and from Edom and from the Hurrians one thousand chosen fighting men, and from the Kittim strong men, warriors.

Esau’s approach to battle against Jacob

¹¹ And they said to their father, “Go forth with them and lead them. And if not, we will kill you.” ¹² And he was filled with wrath and indignation when he saw that his sons were forcing him to go before (them) in order to lead them to Jacob, his brother. ¹³ But afterward he remembered all of the evil which was hidden in his heart against Jacob, his brother, and he did not remember the oath which he swore to his father and his mother that he would not seek any evil against Jacob, his brother, all of his days.

¹⁴ And with all of this, Jacob did not know that they were coming against him for battle. But he was lamenting Leah, his wife, until they drew very near the tower with four thousand men, warriors and chosen fighting men. ¹⁵ And the men of Hebron sent to him, saying, “Behold, your brother has come up against you in order to fight with you with four thousand men (who are) girded (with) swords and bear shields and military weapons”; because they loved Jacob more than Esau. And they spoke to him because Jacob was a more generous and merciful man than Esau.

¹⁶ But Jacob did not believe (them) until they drew very close to the tower. ¹⁷ And he closed the gates of the tower and he stood on the battlement and spoke with his brother, Esau, and he said, “Is the consolation (with) which you have come in order to console me concerning my wife who died good? Is this the oath which you swore to your father and again to your mother before they died? You have sinned against the oath. And on the day when you swore to your father, you were condemned.” ¹⁸ And (at) that time, Esau answered and said to him:

“Mankind and beasts of the field have no righteous oath which they have surely sworn forever.

But daily they seek evil, one against the other, and each one (seeks) to kill his enemy and adversary.

¹⁹ And you will hate me and my sons forever.

And so there is no observing of fraternity with you.

[And Jacob said, “Do not act (thus), my brother. As for me, there is no evil in my heart against you. Do not plan evil against me. Know that there is a God and he sees what is hidden and requites to everyone according to his deeds. Calm down the heat of your anger and do not do anything rashly so that evil will come upon you.” Then Esau turned and said harshly:]^h

²⁰ Hear these words of mine which I will speak to you.

If a boar changes his hide and his bristles (and) makes (them) soft as wool,

and if he brings forth horns upon his head like the horns of a stag or sheep;

then I will observe fraternity with you.

[And if sucklings separate themselves from their mother, you would not be a brother to me.] 

²¹ And if the wolves make peace with lambs so as not to eat them or assault them,

and if their hearts are (set) upon them to do good,

then peace will be in my heart for you.

²² And if the lion becomes a friend of the ox,

and if he is bound with him in a single yoke,

and he plows with him and makes peace with him,

then I will make peace with you.

²³ And if the raven becomes white like the Raza bird,

then know that I will love you and I will make peace with you.

You will be uprooted,

and your sons will be uprooted,

but you will have no peace.”

²⁴ And when Jacob saw that he had planned evil against him from his heart and from his whole being so that he might kill him, and (that) he had come leaping like a wandering boar who had come upon a spear which was piercing him and killing him, and he would not withdraw from it, then he spoke to his own (followers) and to his servants so that they might attack him and all his friends.

The defeat of Esau and his forces

38 ¹* And afterward Judah spoke to Jacob, his father, and he said to him, “O father, stretch your bow and shoot your arrows and strike down the enemy and kill the adversary. And may you have might because we will not kill your brother (inasmuch as) he is near to you and with us he is like you with respect to honor.” ² And then when Jacob drew his bow and shot an arrow and struck Esau, his brother, on his right breast, he killed him. ³ And again, he shot an arrow and struck Adoran, the Aramean, in his left breast and drove him back and killed him.

⁴ And afterward, the sons of Jacob and their servants went forth to divide themselves on the four (sides) of the tower. ⁵ And Judah went out in front and Naphtali and Gad and fifty servants with him on the south side of the tower. And they killed everyone they found before them. And not a single one escaped from them. ⁶ And Levi and Dan and Asher went forth on the east side of the tower and fifty (men were) with them. And they killed the warriors of Moab and Ammon. ⁷ And Reuben and Issachar and Zebulun (went) forth on the north side of the tower and fifty (men were) with them. And they killed the fighting men of the Philistines. ⁸* And Simeon and Benjamin and Enoch, the son of Reuben, went forth on the west side of the tower, and fifty (men were) with them. And they killed four hundred strong men, warriors, of the Edomites and Hurrians. And six hundred fled. And the four sons of Esau fled with them and they left their slain father just as he had fallen on the hill which is in Aduram. ⁹ And the sons of Jacob pursued them as far as the mountain of Seir. But Jacob buried his brother in the hill which is in Aduram and he returned to his house.

¹⁰ And Jacob’s sons besieged the children of Esau on the mountain of Seir. And they bowed down their necks to become servants of the children of Jacob. ¹¹ And they sent to their father (to ask) whether they should make peace with them or whether they should kill them. ¹² And Jacob sent notice to his sons to make peace. And they made peace with them and placed a yoke of servitude upon them so that they might pay tribute to Jacob and his sons always. ¹³ And they continued paying tribute to Jacob until the day that he went down to Egypt. ¹⁴ And the children of Edom have not ceased from the yoke of servitude which the twelve sons of Jacob ordered upon them until today.

The kings of Edom

¹⁵* And these are the kings who ruled in Edom before a king ruled the children of Israel until today in the land of Edom. ¹⁶ And Balaq, son of Be’or, ruled in Edom. And the name of his city was Danaba. ¹⁷ And Balaq died, and Yobab, son of Zara, who was from Boser, ruled instead of him. ¹⁸ And Yobab died. And Asam, who was from the land of Teman, ruled instead of him. ¹⁹ And Asam died. And ’Adath, son of Barad, who killed Median in the field of Moab, ruled instead of him. And the name of his city was ’Avith. ²⁰ And ’Adath died. And Salman, who was from ’Amaseqa, ruled instead of him. ²¹ And Salman died. And Saul, who was from Ra’aboth, (by the) river, ruled instead of him. ²² And Saul died. And Ba’elunan, son of ’Achbor, ruled instead of him. ²³ And Ba’elunan, son of ’Achbor, died. And ’Adath ruled instead of him. And the name of his wife was Maitabith, daughter of Matarat, daughter of Metabedza’ab. ²⁴ These are the kings who ruled in the land of Edom.

Joseph in the house of Potiphar

39 ¹* And Jacob dwelt in the land of his father’s sojourning, (in) the land of Canaan. ² These are the generations of Jacob. And Joseph was seventeen years old (when) they brought him down into Egypt, and Potiphar, Pharaoh’s eunuch, the chief of the guard, bought him. ³ And he set Joseph over all of his house and the blessing of the Lord was upon the house of the Egyptian because of Joseph and the Lord caused everything which he did to prosper. ⁴ And the Egyptian left everything in the hands of Joseph because he saw that the Lord was with him and the Lord caused everything which he did to prosper.

⁵ And Joseph was good-looking and very handsome. And the wife of his master lifted up her eyes and saw Joseph and desired him. And she begged him to lie with her. ⁶ And he did not surrender himself but he remembered the Lord and the words which Jacob, his father, used to read, which were from the words of Abraham, that there is no man who (may) fornicate with a woman who has a husband (and) that there is a judgment of death which is decreed for him in heaven before the Lord Most High. And the sin is written (on high) concerning him in the eternal books always before the Lord. ⁷ And Joseph remembered these words and he did not want to lie with her. ⁸ And she begged him (for) one year. And he turned away and refused to listen to her.

⁹ And she embraced him and seized him in the house so that she might force him to lie with her. And she shut the door of the house and seized him. And he left his garment in her hand and he broke the door and fled outside (away) from her presence. ¹⁰ And that woman saw that he would not lie with her and she falsely accused him before his master, saying, “Your Hebrew servant, whom you love, desired to seduce me so that he might lie with me. And it came to pass when I raised my voice that he fled and he left his garment in my hand when I seized him. And he broke the door.”

Joseph in prison

¹¹ And the Egyptian saw Joseph’s garments and the broken door and he heard his wife’s story and he put Joseph in prison, in the place where the prisoners whom the king imprisoned stayed. ¹² And he was there in the prison and the Lord gave Joseph favor and mercy before the chief guard of the prison because he saw that the Lord was with him and the Lord caused everything which he did to prosper. And he left everything in his hands, and the chief guard of the prison knew nothing which was with him ¹³ because Joseph did everything, and the Lord perfected (it). ¹⁴ And he dwelt there two years.

And in those days, Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, was angry with two of his eunuchs, with the chief of the butlers and with the chief of the bakers. And he put them in prison, in the house of the chief of the guard, in the prison where Joseph was held. ¹⁵ And the chief of the guard of the prison ordered Joseph to serve them. And he served before them. ¹⁶ And both of them had a dream, the chief of the butlers and the chief of the bakers, and they told it to Joseph. ¹⁷ And just as he interpreted to them so it happened to them. And Pharaoh returned the chief of the butlers to his task, but he killed the baker just as Joseph interpreted for them. ¹⁸ But the chief of the butlers forgot Joseph in the prison when he made known to him what would happen to him, and he did not remember to tell the Pharaoh what Joseph told him because he forgot.

Joseph as an interpreter of Pharaoh’s dreams

40 ¹* And in those days, Pharaoh dreamed two dreams in a single night concerning the matter of the famine which would come upon all of the land. And he awoke from his sleep and called all of the interpreters of dreams and magicians who were in Egypt. And he told them of both of his dreams but they were unable to explain (them). ² Then the chief of the butlers remembered Joseph and he told the king about him. And he brought him out of the prison and told both of the dreams in his presence. ³ And he said in the presence of the Pharaoh that both of his dreams were one. And he said to him, “Seven years will come. Abundance will be in all the land of Egypt, but afterward seven years of famine, which (is) unlike any (previous) famine, (will be) in all the land. ⁴ And now let Pharaoh appoint overseers in all the land and let them store up food for a city within the city during the days of the plentiful years. And there will be food for the seven years of famine. And the land will not perish in the presence of the famine because it will be very severe.” ⁵ And the Lord gave Joseph favor and mercy in the sight of the Pharaoh. And the Pharaoh said to his servants, “We will not find a man wise and knowledgeable as this man because the spirit of the Lord is with him.”

Joseph becomes a ruler in Egypt

⁶* And he set him second in all his kingdom and he made him rule in all of Egypt and he made him ride upon the second chariot of the Pharaoh. ⁷* And he invested him with a garment of byssus and hung a golden chain on his neck and they proclaimed before him “El, El wa Abirer” and he gave him the signet ring on his hand and he made him rule over all his house and he made him great and he said to him, “I will not be greater than you except (regarding) the throne alone.” ⁸ And Joseph ruled in all the land of Egypt and all of the judges and all of the servants of the Pharaoh and all of those who did the king’s work loved him because he walked uprightly and he had no pompousness or arrogance or partiality, and there was no bribery because he ruled all the people of the land uprightly. ⁹ And the land of Egypt was at peace before the Pharaoh on account of Joseph because the Lord was with him and gave him favor and mercy for all his family before all who knew him and those who heard witness of him. And the kingdom of the Pharaoh was upright. And there was no Satan and there was no evil. ¹⁰ And the king called Joseph “Sephantiphans.” And he gave the daughter of Potiphar, the daughter of the priest of Heliopolis, the chief of the guard, to Joseph (as) a wife. ¹¹ And on the day that Joseph stood with the Pharaoh he was thirty years old, [when he stood with the Pharaoh.]^b

¹² And in that year Isaac died. And it came (about) just as Joseph related concerning the interpretation of the two dreams, and there were seven abundant years in all of the land of Egypt. And the land of Egypt was very fruitful, one measure (yielding) eighteen hundred measures. ¹³ And Joseph gathered the food of a city into the city until it was full of grain, until they were unable to count or measure it because of its magnitude.

The story of Judah and Tamar

41 ¹* And in the forty-fifth jubilee, in the second week, in the second year, Judah took a wife for Er, his firstborn, from the daughters of Aram, and her name was Tamar. ² But he hated (her) and would not lie with her because his mother was from the daughters of Canaan. And he wanted to take a wife from his mother’s people, but Judah, his father, did not permit him. ³ And Er, the firstborn of Judah, was evil and the Lord killed him. ⁴ And Judah said to ‘Onan, his brother, “Go to your brother’s wife and act as levirate and raise up seed for your brother.” ⁵ And ’Onan knew that the seed would not be his (but) only his brother’s and he entered the house of his brother’s wife and poured out (his) seed on the ground and he was evil in the sight of the Lord and he killed him. ⁶ And Judah said to Tamar, his daughter-in-law, “Remain at the house of your father as a widow until Selah, my son, grows up. And I will give you to him (as) a wife.” ⁷ And he grew up, but Bedsuel, Judah’s wife, did not permit Selah, her son, to marry. And Bedsuel, Judah’s wife, died in the fifth year of that week.

⁸ And in the sixth year, Judah went up in order to shear his sheep at Timnah. And they told Tamar, “Behold, your father-in-law is going up to shear his sheep at Timnah.” ⁹ And she put off the clothes of her widowhood. And she put on a veil. And she made herself beautiful and sat by the gates which are toward the Timnah road. ¹⁰ And when Judah walked along he found her and presumed that she was a prostitute. And he said to her, “Let me enter into you.” And she said to him, “Come on.” And he entered. ¹¹ And she said to him, “Give me my fee.” And he said to her, “I have nothing in my hand except my signet ring of my finger and my necklace and my staff which is in my hand.” ¹² And she said to him, “Give them to me until you send my fee to me.” And he said to her, “I will send to you a young goat.” And he gave them to her, and he was with her, and she became pregnant by him.

¹³ And Judah went to his sheep and she went to her father’s house. ¹⁴ And Judah sent a young goat in the hand of his shepherd, an Adulamite, but he did not find her. And he asked the men of the district, saying, “Where is the prostitute who was here?” And they said to him, “There is no prostitute here with us.” ¹⁵ And he returned and told him that he did not find (her). And he said, “I inquired of the men of the district. And they said to me, ‘There is no prostitute here.’ ” And he said, “Let her take (it) lest we become an object of scorn.” ¹⁶ And when she completed three months it was obvious that she was pregnant. And they told Judah, saying, “Behold, Tamar, your daughter-in-law is pregnant through prostitution.” ¹⁷ And Judah went to her father’s house and said to her father and her brothers, “Bring her out and let them burn her because she has caused a defilement in Israel.”

¹⁸ And it came to pass when they brought her out to burn her that she sent to her father-in-law the signet ring and the necklace and the staff. And she said, “Recognize whose these are because I am pregnant by him.” ¹⁹ And Judah recognized (them) and said, “Tamar was more righteous than I. And therefore let them not burn her.” ²⁰ And on account of that she was not given to Selah. And therefore he did not approach her again. ²¹ And after this she bore two children, Perez and Zerah, in the seventh year of this second week. ²²* And after this the seven years of full harvest which Joseph told Pharaoh (about) were completed.

Judah’s repentance

²³* And Judah knew that the deed which he did was evil because he lay with his daughter-in-law. And he condemned himself in his own sight. And he knew that he had sinned and gone astray because he uncovered the robe of his son. And he began to mourn and make supplication before the Lord on account of his sin. ²⁴ And we told him in a dream that it was forgiven him because he made great supplication and because he mourned and did not do it again.

Judah’s forgiveness contrasted with subsequent strict enforcement of the law

²⁵* And there was forgiveness for him because he turned from his sin and from his ignorance because the sin was great before our God. And anyone who does anything like this, who lies with his mother-in-law, they shall burn with fire so that he might burn in it because defilement and impurity have come upon them. In the fire they shall burn them.

²⁶* And you command the children of Israel and there will be no defilement in their midst because everyone who lies with his daughter-in-law or with his mother-in-law causes defilement. In the fire they shall burn the man who has lain with her and also the woman. And the wrath and punishment he will cause to cease from Israel.

²⁷ And we told Judah that his two sons had not Iain with her and therefore his seed stood for a second generation and it would not be uprooted ²⁸ because in the integrity of his eyes he went and sought judgment because by the judgment of Abraham, which he commanded his sons, Judah wanted to burn her with fire.

The arrival of the years of famine

42 ¹* In the first year of the third week of the forty-fifth jubilee the famine began to come upon the land and rain refused to be given to the land because there was nothing which would come down. ² And the earth suffered famine but in the land of Egypt there was food because Joseph gathered the grain of the land during the seven years of full harvest and he guarded it. ³ And Egypt came to Joseph so that he might give them food. And he opened up the storehouses where the wheat of the first year was and he sold it to the people of the land for gold.

The sons of Jacob travel to Egypt for grain

⁴* [And the famine was very severe in the land of Canaan.]^b And Jacob heard that there was food in Egypt and he sent ten of his sons to get food for him in Egypt, but he did not send Benjamin. [And the ten sons of Jacob]^b arrived [in Egypt]^b with those who were traveling (there). ⁵ And Joseph knew them, but they did not know him. And he spoke with them and interrogated them and said to them, “Are you men not spies? And you have come to examine the paths of the land.” And he locked them up. ⁶ But afterward he released them again, and he made only Simeon stay. And he sent his nine brothers away. ⁷ And he filled their grain sacks with grain and he also put their gold in their grain sacks, but they did not know (it). ⁸ And he commanded them that they should bring their little brother because they told him that their father was alive and also their little brother.

The sons of Jacob recount their adventures in Egypt

⁹* And they went up from the land of Egypt. And they arrived in the land of Canaan, and told their father everything just as they experienced (it) and how the overseer of the district had spoken harshly with them and held Simeon until they would bring Benjamin. ¹⁰ And Jacob said, “You have therefore bereaved me. Joseph is not (here) and Simeon is not (here) either and you will take Benjamin. Your evil has therefore come upon me.” ¹¹ And he said, “My son will not go down with you—perhaps he might become ill—because their mother bore two, and one has perished, and you will take this one from me. If perhaps he became feverish on the way then you would send down my old age to death in grief.” ¹² For he saw that the money of each one had been returned in his sack, and he feared to send him on account of that.

The famine causes the sons of Jacob to return to Egypt

¹³* But the famine increased and became severe in the land of Canaan and in all the earth except in the land of Egypt. For many of the Egyptians stored up their grain for food after they saw that Joseph was gathering grain and placing it in storehouses and guarding it for the year of famine. ¹⁴ And the men of Egypt ate it in the first year of their famine. ¹⁵ And when Israel saw that the famine was very severe in the land and there was no escaping, he said to his sons, “Go, return, and get food for us lest we die.” ¹⁶ And they said, “We shall not go. If our little brother does not come with us, we shall not go.” ¹⁷ And Israel saw (that) if he did not send him with them they would all be destroyed due to the famine. ¹⁸ And Reuben said, “Place him in my hands, and if I do not return him to you, kill both of my sons for his life.” And he said to him, “He will not go with you.” ¹⁹ And Judah drew near and said, “Send him with me. And if I do not return him to you, I will be guilty before you all the days of my life.”

²⁰ And he sent him with them in the second year of that week on the first of the month and they arrived at the district of Egypt with all of those who were traveling (there). And their presents (were) in their hands: stacte, almonds, terebinth nuts, and pure honey. ²¹ And they arrived and stood before Joseph. And he saw Benjamin, his brother, and he knew him. And he said to them, “Is this your little brother?” And they said to him, “He is.” And he said, “May the Lord be merciful to you, my son.” ²² And he sent him into his house. And he brought Simeon to them, and made a banquet for them. And they presented him with his gift, which they brought in their hands. ²³ And they ate before him. And he gave a portion to all of them. And he increased Benjamin’s portion seven times more than any of their portions. ²⁴ And they ate and drank, and got up and stayed with their asses.

²⁵ And Joseph thought of an idea by means of which he might learn their thoughts, whether they had thoughts of peace for one another. And he said to the man who was over his house, “Fill all of their bags with food for them. And also return their money to them in the midst of their containers. And place my cup from which I drink, the silver cup, in the bag of the youngest one and send them off.”

Joseph’s stratagem to test his brothers

43 ¹* And he did as Joseph told him. And he filled all their bags for them (with) food. And he also put their money in their bags. And the cup he put in Benjamin’s bag. ² And (at) daybreak in the morning, they went. And it came to pass when they departed from there, that Joseph said to the man of his house, “Pursue them. Run and reproach them, saying, ‘You have repaid me evil in place of good. You have robbed me of the silver cup from which my lord drinks.’ And return to me their little brother. And hurry, bring (him) before I go to my judgment seat.”

³ And he ran after them and he spoke to them according to these words. ⁴ And they said to him, “May God forbid that your servants would do this thing or steal any vessel from your lord’s house. But rather our money which we found at first in our bags your servants have brought back from the land of Canaan. ⁵ Therefore, why would we steal any vessel? Behold, search both us and our animals and wherever you find the cup, in the bag of any one of our men, let him be killed, and both we and our asses will become slaves to your lord.” ⁶ And he said to them, “It will not be so, (but) with the man with whom I find it, he alone, I will take as a servant, but you will return in peace to your house.”

⁷ And when he searched in their baggage, he started from the eldest and ended with the youngest. And it was found in the bag of Benjamin. ⁸ And they tore their clothes and loaded up their donkeys and returned to the city. And they reached Joseph’s house, and they all bowed to him with their face on the ground. ⁹ And Joseph said to them, “You have done evil.” And they said, “What can we say? (With) what can we defend ourselves? Our lord has found the guilt of his servants. Behold, we (are) servants of our lord and also our donkeys.” ¹⁰ And Joseph said to them, “I fear the Lord. You, go to your houses, but let your brother alone be my servant because you have done evil. Did you not know that a man would be pleased with his cup as I am with this cup? And you stole it from me.” ¹¹ And Judah said, “I pray, O lord, let me, your servant, speak a word in my lord’s ear. His mother bore two brothers to our father, your servant. One went forth and was lost, and was not found. ¹² And he alone was left from his mother, and your servant, our father, loves him. And his life is bound with the life of this (one). And it will come to pass that if we go to your servant, our father, and if the lad is not with us, he will die. And we will bring down our father to death with sorrow. ¹³ And let me, your servant, remain alone instead of the child as a servant to my lord, and let the lad go with his brothers because I was put as a pledge for him at the hand of your servant, our father. And if I should not return him your servant will always be guilty to our father.”

Joseph reveals himself to his brothers

¹⁴* And Joseph saw that the heart of all of them was in accord one with another for good. And he was unable to control his emotion and he told them that he was Joseph. ¹⁵ And he conversed with them in the Hebrew language and embraced their necks and wept. But they did not recognize him. And they began to weep. ¹⁶ And he said to them, “Do not weep for me, but hasten and bring my father to me. And I shall see him before I die even as the eyes of my brother Benjamin see. ¹⁷ For behold this is the second year of famine, and there will still be five years. And there will be no harvest or fruit of the tree or plowing. ¹⁸ Hasten, come down, you and your households, lest you be destroyed in the famine. And you shall not grieve for your possessions. For the Lord has sent me first to prepare before you so that many people might live. ¹⁹ And tell my father that I am still alive and behold, you were seeing that the Lord ordained me as a father to the Pharaoh and so that I might rule in his house and over all the land of Egypt. ²⁰ And tell my father about all my honor and all the wealth and honor which the Lord has given to me.”

The brothers return to Canaan to get their father

²¹* And by the word of the mouth of the Pharaoh he gave them chariots and provisions for the way. And he gave them all clothing of many colors and money. ²² And he also sent to their father clothing and money and ten asses which were carrying wheat. And he sent them off. ²³ And they went up and they told their father that Joseph was alive and that he was distributing grain to all of the people of the land. And he ruled over all the land of Egypt. ²⁴ And their father did not believe because there was a confusion in his mind. And after this he saw the chariots which Joseph sent and the life of his soul was renewed. And he said, “It is enough for me if Joseph is alive. I will go down and I will see him before I die.”

Jacob observes a feast of firstfruits at Beer-sheba

44 ¹* And Israel rose up from Haran, from his house on the first of the third month and he went by the way of the Well of the Oath. And he offered up a sacrifice to the God of his father, Isaac, on the seventh day of that month. ² And Jacob recalled the dream which he dreamed in Bethel, and he was afraid to go down into Egypt. ³ And as he was planning to send to Joseph so that he might come to him, and he would not go down, he remained there seven days (to learn) if he would see a vision (concerning) whether he should remain or go down. ⁴ And he observed the feast of the harvest of the firstfruits from old wheat for there was not in the whole land of Canaan a handful of any seed in the land because there was a famine for all the wild animals and the cattle and the birds and also man.

Jacob’s theophany at Beer-sheba

⁵* And on the sixteenth day the Lord appeared to him and he said to him, “Jacob, Jacob.” And he said to him, “Here I am.” And he again said to him, “I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and Isaac. Do not fear to go down to Egypt because I will make you into a great people there. ⁶ I shall go down with you and I shall bring you (back) and you will be buried in this land. And Joseph will place his hand upon your eyes. Do not fear. Go down into Egypt.”

The preparation for the journey to Egypt

⁷* And his children and grandchildren rose up and they loaded their father and their possessions on the chariots. ⁸ And Israel rose up from the Well of the Oath on the sixteenth day of this third month and he went to the land of Egypt. ⁹ And Israel sent Judah before him to Joseph, his son, so that he might examine the land of Goshen, for Joseph told his brothers that they should come to dwell there so they might be his neighbor. ¹⁰ And it was the best in the land of Egypt. And it was near him for all (of them) and for the cattle.

A list of the children of Jacob

¹¹* And these are the names of the sons of Jacob who went into Egypt with their father, Jacob. ¹² Reuben was the firstborn of Israel. And these (are) the names of his sons: Enoch, and Pallu, and Hezron, and Carmi—five.

¹³ 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 a Zephathite woman—seven.

¹⁴ Levi and his sons; and these (are) the names of his sons: Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari—four.

¹⁵ Judah and his sons; and these are the names of his sons: Shela, and Perez, and Zerah—four.

¹⁶ Issachar and his sons; and these are the names of his sons: Tola, and Phua, and Jasub, and Shimron—five.

¹⁷ Zebulun and his sons; and these are the names of his sons: Sered, and Elon, and Jahleel—four. ¹⁸ And these are the sons of Jacob and their sons whom Leah bore to Jacob in Mesopotamia, six, plus one girl, Dinah, their sister. And all of the persons who (were) sons of Leah and their sons, who entered Egypt with Jacob, their father, were twenty-nine. And Jacob, their father, was with them. And they totaled thirty.

¹⁹ And the sons of Zilpah, the attendant of Leah, the wife of Jacob, which she bore to Jacob, were Gad and Asher. ²⁰ And these are the names of their sons who entered into Egypt with him.

The sons of Gad (are) Ziphion, and Gaggi, and Shuni, and Ezbon, and Eri, and Areli, and Arodi—eight.

²¹ And the sons of Asher (are) Imnah, and Ishvah, [and Ishvi], and Beriah, and Serah, their one sister—six. ²² And all of the persons (were) fourteen. And the total of Leah was forty-four.

²³ And the sons of Rachel, who (was) the wife of Jacob, (were) Joseph and Benjamin.

²⁴ And (sons) were born to Joseph in Egypt before his father entered Egypt whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphar, the priest of Heliopolis, bore to him, (namely) Manasseh and Ephraim—three.

²⁵ And the sons of Benjamin (are) Bela, and Becher, and Ashbel, and Gera, and Naaman, and Ehi, and Rosh, and Muppim, and Huppim, and Ard—eleven. ²⁶ And all of the persons of Rachel were fourteen.

²⁷ And the sons of Bilhah, the attendant of Rachel, the wife of Jacob, which she bore to Jacob, (are) Dan and Naphthali, and these are the names of their sons who entered Egypt with them.

²⁸ And the sons of Dan (are) Hushim, and Samon, and Asudi, and ’Ijaka, and Solomon—six. ²⁹ And they died during the year they entered Egypt and there was left to Dan only Hushim.

³⁰ And these are the names of the sons of Naphthali: Jaziel, and Guni, and Jezer, and Shallum, and ’Iv. ³¹* And ’Iv, who was born after the years of the famine, died in Egypt. ³² And all of the persons of Rachel were twenty-six.

³³ And all of the persons of Jacob who entered Egypt were seventy persons. Therefore all these sons and grandsons of his were seventy, but five died in Egypt before Joseph, and they had no children. ³⁴ And two sons of Judah, Er and Onan, died in the land of Canaan. And they had no children. And the children of Israel buried those who perished. And they were set among the seventy nations.

The family of Jacob is settled in Goshen

45 ¹* And Israel entered into the land of Egypt into the land of Goshen on the first of the fourth month in the second year of the third week of the forty-fifth jubilee. ² And Joseph came to greet his father, Jacob, in the land of Goshen. And he embraced the neck of his father and wept. ³ And Israel said to Joseph, “Let me die now after I have seen you. And now let the Lord, the God of Israel, be blessed, the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac, who did not withhold his mercy and his kindness from his servant Jacob. ⁴ It is enough for me that I have seen your face while I was alive, for the vision which I saw in Bethel was certainly true. May the Lord my God be blessed forever and ever and blessed (be) his name.”

⁵ And Joseph and his brothers ate bread before their father, and they drank wine. And Jacob rejoiced very greatly because he saw Joseph eating and drinking with his brothers before him. And he blessed the Creator of all who kept him and kept for him his twelve sons. ⁶ And Joseph gave to his father and his brothers (as) a gift that they might dwell in the land of Goshen and Ramses and all of the districts (belonging) to them which he ruled over before the Pharaoh. And Israel and his sons dwelt in the land of Goshen, the best of the land of Egypt. And Israel was one hundred and thirty years old when he entered Egypt. ⁷ And Joseph provided bread for his father and his brothers and their possessions, as much as was sufficient for them for the seven years of famine.

Joseph’s skill as an administrator

⁸* And the land of Egypt suffered in view of the famine. And Joseph gathered all of the land of Egypt for the Pharaoh by means of the food. And men and their cattle and everything he acquired for Pharaoh. ⁹ And the years of the famine were completed. And Joseph gave seed and food to the people who were in the land so that they might sow the land in the eighth year because the river was full in all the land of Egypt. ¹⁰ For during the seven years of famine it was not full. And it did not irrigate except a few places by the shore of the river. But now it was full and the Egyptians sowed the land and it bore much wheat in that year. ¹¹ And that was the first year of the fourth week of the forty-fifth jubilee. ¹² And Joseph took for the king one fifth of everything which bore fruit, and he left four parts for them for food and seed. And Joseph set it up as an ordinance for the land of Egypt until this day.

The death of Jacob

¹³* And Israel lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years, and all of the days which he lived were three jubilees, one hundred and forty-seven years. And he died in the fourth year of the fifth week of the forty-fifth jubilee. ¹⁴ And Israel blessed his sons before he died. And he told them everything which was going to happen to them in the land of Egypt and in the latter days; he made them know how it would come upon them. And he blessed them and he gave to Joseph a double portion upon the land. ¹⁵ And he slept with his fathers. And he was buried in the cave of Machpelah in the land of Canaan near Abraham, his father, in the tomb which he excavated for himself in the cave of Machpelah in the land of Hebron. And he gave all of his books and his fathers’ books to Levi, his son, so that he might preserve them and renew them for his sons until this day.

The death of Joseph and his generation

46 ¹* And it came to pass after Jacob died that the children of Israel increased in the land of Egypt. And they became a numerous people, and they were all in accord in their hearts so that each one loved his brother and each man helped his brother, and they increased exceedingly and increased very much for ten weeks of years, all the days of the life of Joseph. ² And there was no Satan or anything evil all the days of the life of Joseph which he lived after his father, Jacob, because all of the Egyptians were honoring the children of Israel all the days of the life of Joseph. ³* And Joseph died at one hundred and ten years of age. And seventeen years he dwelt in the land of Canaan and ten years he remained as a slave and three years in the prison and eighty years under the king ruling all of the land of Egypt. ⁴ And he died and all of his brothers and all of that generation.

The removal of Jacob’s bones and a comment on Joseph’s burial

⁵* And he commanded the children of Israel before he died to carry his bones at the time when they would go out of the land of Egypt. ⁶ And he made them swear an oath concerning his bones because he knew that Egypt would not again bring them forth and bury them in the land of Canaan because when Makamaron, the king of Canaan, was dwelling in the land of Asshur, he fought in the valley with the king of Egypt. And he killed him there. And he pursued after the Egyptians as far as the gates of Ermon. ⁷ And he was unable to enter because another new king ruled Egypt and he was stronger than he. And he returned to the land of Canaan and the gates of Egypt were shut up and there was none who could leave or enter Egypt. ⁸ And Joseph died in this forty-sixth jubilee in the sixth week in the second year. And they buried him in the land of Egypt. And all of his brothers died after him.

The removal of the bones of the children of Jacob

⁹ * And the king of Egypt went forth to fight with the king of Canaan in this forty-seventh jubilee in the second week in the second year. And the children of Israel brought forth the bones of the children of Jacob, all except the bones of Joseph. And they buried them in the field in the cave of Machpelah in the mountain. ¹⁰And many returned into Egypt but a few of them were left in Mount Hebron. And Amram, your father, was left with them.

The children of Israel are reduced to slavery

¹¹* And the king of Canaan was victorious over the king of Egypt and he closed the gates of Egypt. ¹² And he conceived an evil thought against the children of Israel so that he might cause them to suffer. And he said to the men of Egypt, ¹³ “Behold, the people of the sons of Israel have grown and increased more than we. Come let us act wisely concerning them before they increase. And let us cause them to suffer in slavery before war comes to us, or before they battle with us, or if not (that, then) they will mix with our enemy. And they will depart from our land because their hearts and their faces are upon the land of Canaan.”

¹⁴ And they appointed over them taskmasters to make them suffer in slavery. And they built strengthened cities for Pharaoh, Pithorn, and Ramses. And they built all of the walls and all of the ramparts which had fallen in the cities of Egypt. ¹⁵ And they made them slaves by force. And to the extent that they acted cruelly against them, they likewise increased and multiplied. ¹⁶ And the men of Egypt regarded the sons of Israel as defiled.

The birth and early life of Moses

47 ¹* And in the seventh week, in the seventh year in this forty-seventh jubilee, your father came from the land of Canaan. And you were born in the fourth week, in the sixth year, in this forty-eighth jubilee, which were days of affliction upon the children of Israel. ²* And the king of Egypt, Pharaoh, issued an order concerning them that they should throw all of their male children who were bom into the river. ³ And they continued throwing (them into the river) seven months, until the day when you were born. And your mother hid you three months, and they reported concerning her. ⁴ And she made an ark for you. And she covered it with pitch and asphalt. And she placed it among the reeds by the shore of the river and she placed you in it seven days. And your mother came in the night and suckled you and (in) the day Miriam, your sister, guarded you from the birds.

⁵ And in those days Tharmuth, the daughter of Pharaoh, came in order to bathe in the river and she heard your voice as you were crying and she told her maids to fetch you. And they brought you to her. ⁶ And she took you from the ark and had pity on you. ⁷ And your sister said to her, “Shall I go and call for you one of the Hebrew women who will nurse and suckle the infant for you?” And she said to her, “Go!” ⁸* And she went and called your mother, Jochebed. And she gave a wage to her. And she nursed you.

⁹ And after this when you had grown they brought you to the daughter of Pharaoh and you became her son. And Amram, your father, taught you writing. And after you completed three weeks (of years) they brought you into the royal court. ¹⁰* And you were in the court three weeks of years until the day when you went out of the royal court. And you saw an Egyptian beating your friend who was from the children of Israel. And you killed him and hid him in the sand. ¹¹ And on the second day you found two of the children of Israel striving together. And you said to that one who was acting falsely, “Why are you striking your brother?” ¹² And he was angry and indignant and said, “Who set you as a ruler and judge over us? Do you also desire to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?” And you were afraid and you fled because of those words.

Moses’ experience in Midian and encounter with Mastema

48 ¹* And on the sixth year of the third week of the forty-ninth jubilee you went and dwelt in the land of Midian five weeks and one year and you returned to Egypt on the second week in the second year in the fiftieth jubilee. ²* And you know what was related to you on Mount Sinai, and what Prince Mastema desired to do with you when you returned to Egypt, on the way when you met him at the shelter. ³ Did he not desire to kill you with all of his might and save the Egyptians from your hand because he saw that you were sent to execute judgment and vengeance upon the Egyptians? ⁴ And I delivered you from his hand and you did the signs and wonders which you were sent to perform in Egypt against Pharaoh, and all his house, and his servants, and his people.

The plagues on Egypt

⁵* And the Lord executed great vengeance upon them on account of Israel. And he smote them with blood, and frogs, and lice, and dog flies; and evil boils which break out (as) blisters; and their cattle with death; and hailstones with which he destroyed everything which sprouted up for them; and with locust who ate the remainder which was left from the hail; and with darkness, and (with death of) the firstborn of men, and cattle; and upon all of their gods the Lord took vengeance and he burned them with fire. ⁶ And everything was sent in your hand to announce before it was done. And you related it to the king of Egypt before all of his servants and before his people. ⁷ And everything happened according to your word, ten great and cruel judgments came on the land of Egypt so that you might execute vengeance upon it for Israel. ⁸* And the Lord did everything on account of Israel and according to his covenant which he made with Abraham that he would take vengeance upon them just as they had made them serve by force.

The escape from Egypt and a discussion of Mastema’s deeds

⁹* And Prince Mastema stood up before you and desired to make you fall into the hand of Pharaoh. And he aided the magicians of the Egyptians, and they stood up and acted before you. ¹⁰ Thus we let them do evil, but we did not empower them with healing so that it might be done by their hands. ¹¹* And the Lord smote them with evil wounds and they were unable to stand because we destroyed (their ability) to do any single sign. ¹²* And despite all the signs and wonders, Prince Mastema was not shamed until he had become strong and called to the Egyptians so that they might pursue after you with all the army of Egyptians, with their chariots, and with their horses, and with all the multitude of the peoples of Egypt.

¹³ And I stood between the Egyptians and Israel, and we delivered Israel from his hand and from the hand of his people. And the Lord brought them out through the midst of the sea as through dry land. ¹⁴* And all of the people whom he brought out to pursue after Israel the Lord our God threw into the middle of the sea into the depths of the abyss beneath the children of Israel. Just as the men of Egypt cast their sons into the river he avenged one million. And one thousand strong and ardent men perished on account of one infant whom they threw into the midst of the river from the sons of your people.

¹⁵ And on the fourteenth day, and on the fifteenth, and on the sixteenth, and on the seventeenth, and on the eighteenth Prince Mastema was bound and shut up from (coming) after the children of Israel so that he might not accuse them. ¹⁶ And on the nineteenth day we released them so that they might help the Egyptians and pursue after the children of Israel. ¹⁷* And he hardened their hearts and strengthened them. And it was conceived of by the Lord our God that he might smite the Egyptians and throw them into the midst of the sea. ¹⁸ And on the fourteenth day we bound him so that he might not accuse the children of Israel on the day when they were requesting vessels and clothing from the men of Egypt—vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and vessels of bronze—so that they might plunder the Egyptians in exchange for the servitude which they subjected them to by force. ¹⁹ And we did not bring the children of Israel from Egypt in their nakedness.

The feast of Passover, its institution and observance

49 ¹* Remember the commandment which the Lord commanded you concerning Passover, that you observe it in its time, on the fourteenth of the first month, so that you might sacrifice it before it becomes evening and so that you might eat it during the night on the evening of the fifteenth from the time of sunset. ² For on this night there was the beginning of the feast and there was the beginning of joy. You continued eating the Passover in Egypt and all of the powers of Mastema were sent to kill all of the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh to the firstborn of the captive maidservant who was at the millstone and to the cattle. ³ And this is the sign which the Lord gave to them in every house where they saw the blood of a year-old lamb upon its doors so that they would not enter into the house to kill, they would pass over so that all who were in the house might be saved because the sign of the blood was on its doors.

⁴ And the host of the Lord did everything which the Lord commanded them. And they passed over all the children of Israel. And the plague did not come upon them to destroy any life from them whether cattle or men or dogs. ⁵ And there was a very great plague in Egypt. And there was no house in Egypt in which there was no corpse and weeping and lamenting. ⁶ And all of Israel remained eating the flesh of the Passover and drinking wine and praising and blessing and glorifying the Lord the God of their fathers. And they were prepared to depart from the yoke of Egypt and from evil slavery.

⁷ And you, remember this day all of the days of your life and observe it from year to year all the days of your life, once per year on its day according to all of its law and you will not delay (one) day from (its) day or from (one) month to (another) month. ⁸ For it is an eternal decree and engraved upon the heavenly tablets for all of the children of Israel that they might observe it in each and every year in its day once per year in all of their generations. And there is no limit of days because it is ordained forever.

⁹* And (as for) the man who is purified and does not come so that he might observe it on its appointed day to bring a gift which is acceptable before the Lord and to eat and to drink before the Lord on the day of his feast, that man who is purified and nearby shall be uprooted because he did not bring a gift of the Lord in its (appointed) time. That man shall lift up sin upon himself. ¹⁰ So that the children of Israel will be ones who come and observe Passover on its appointed day on the fourteenth of the first month between the evenings from the third (part) of the day until the third (part) of the night because two parts of the day are given for light and one third for evening. ¹¹ This is what the Lord commanded you so that you might observe it between the evenings.

¹² And it is not fitting to sacrifice it during any time of light except during the time of the border of evening. And they shall eat it during the time of evening until a third of the night. And what is left of all its flesh from the third of the night and beyond, they shall burn with fire. ¹³ And it is not fitting that they should boil it in water. And they shall not eat it raw but roasted in the fire, cooked with care, its head with its inner organs and with its feet. They shall roast it in fire without breaking any of its bones within it because no bone of the children of Israel will be broken. ¹⁴ Therefore the Lord commanded the children of Israel to observe the Passover on its appointed day. And it is not fitting to break any bone from it because it is the day of the feast and it is the day of the command. And there is no passing over in it (one) day from (its) day or from month (to) month because it shall be observed on the day of the feast.

¹⁵ And you command the children of Israel to observe the Passover in their days in every year, once per year, on its appointed day. And it will come as an acceptable memorial from before the Lord. And the plague will not come to kill or to smite during that year when they have observed the Passover in its (appointed) time in all (respects) according to his command.

¹⁶ And it is not fitting to eat it outside of the sanctuary of the Lord, but facing the sanctuary of the Lord. And all the people of the congregation of Israel will observe it in its (appointed) time. ¹⁷* And all the men who come on its day will eat it in the sanctuary of your God before the Lord, whoever is twenty years or older, because thus it is written and decreed that they shall eat it in the sanctuary of the Lord.

¹⁸ And whenever the children of Israel enter into the land which they will possess, into the land of Canaan, they will set up the tabernacle of the Lord in the midst of the land, in one of their tribes, until the sanctuary of the Lord is built upon the land. And it will come to pass when they come and observe the Passover in the midst of the tabernacle of the Lord that they will sacrifice it before the Lord from year to year. ¹⁹* And in the days when a house is built in the name of the Lord in the land of their inheritance, they shall go there and they shall sacrifice the Passover at evening when the sun is setting on the third (part) of the day. ²⁰ And they shall offer up its blood on the threshold of the altar. And its fat they shall place on the fire which is above the altar. And they shall eat its flesh cooked in fire within the court of the house which is sanctified in the name of the Lord. ²¹ And they shall not be able to observe the Passover in their cities or in any district except before the tabernacle of the Lord or before his house in which his name dwells. And let them not stray from after the Lord.

²² And you, Moses, command the children of Israel so that they shall keep the ordinance of the Passover just as it was commanded to you so that you might relate to them its annual (occurrence) each year, both its period of days and the feast of unleavened bread so that they might eat unleavened bread for seven days so that they might observe its feast, and so that they might bring its gift, day by day, during those seven days to rejoice before the Lord upon the altar of your God. ²³* For this feast you observed with nervousness when you went out from Egypt until you entered into the wilderness of Sur because you completed it on the shore of the sea.

The laws pertaining to the sabbath

50 ¹* And after this law I made you know the days of the sabbaths in the wilderness of Sin which is between Elim and Sinai. ²* And I also related to you the sabbaths of the land on Mount Sinai. And the years of jubilee in the sabbaths of years I related to you. But its year I have not related to you until you enter into the land which you will possess. ³* And the land will keep its sabbaths when they dwell upon it. And they will know the year of jubilee.

⁴ On account of this I ordained for you the weeks of years, and the years, and the jubilees (as) forty-nine jubilees from the days of Adam until this day and one week and two years. [2410 years after creation] And they are still forty further years to learn the commands of the Lord until they cross over the shore of the land of Canaan, crossing over the Jordan to its western side. [50^th jubilee from creation or 2450 years] ⁵ And jubilees will pass until Israel is purified from all the sin of fornication, and defilement, and uncleanness, and sin and error. And they will dwell in confidence in all the land. And then it will not have any Satan or any evil (one). And the land will be purified from that time and forever.

⁶ And behold the commandment of the sabbaths I have written for you and all of the judgments of its law. ⁷* Six days you will work, but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord your God. You shall not do any work in it, you, or your children, or your manservant or your maidservant, or any of your cattle or the stranger who is with you. ⁸* And let the man who does anything on it die. Every man who will profane this day, who will lie with his wife, and whoever will discuss a matter that he will do on it so that he might make on it a journey for any buying or selling, and whoever draws water on it, which was not prepared for him on the sixth day, and whoever lifts up anything that he will carry to take out of his tent or from his house, let him die. ⁹ You shall not do any work upon the day of the sabbath except what you prepared for yourself on the sixth day to eat and to drink and to rest and to observe a sabbath from all work of that day and to bless the Lord your God who gave to you the day of festival and the holy day. And a day of the holy kingdom for all Israel is this day among their days always. ¹⁰ For great is the honor which the Lord gave to Israel to eat and to drink and to be satisfied on this day of festival and to rest in it from all work of the occupations of the children of men except to offer incense and to bring gifts and sacrifices before the Lord for the days and the sabbaths. ¹¹ This work alone shall be done on the day of the sabbath in the sanctuary of the Lord your God so that they might atone for Israel (with) continual gift day by day for an acceptable memorial before the Lord. And so that he might accept them forever, day by day, just as he commanded you.

¹²* And (as for) any man who does work on it, or who goes on a journey, or who plows a field either at home or any (other) place, or who kindles a fire, or who rides on any animal, or who travels the sea in a boat, and any man who slaughters or kills anything, or who slashes the throat of cattle or bird, or who snares any beast or bird or fish, or who fasts or makes war on the day of the sabbath, ¹³ let the man who does any of these on the day of the sabbath die so that the children of Israel might keep the sabbath according to the commands of the sabbaths of the land just as it was written in the tablets which he placed in my hands so that I might write for you the law of each time and according to each division of its days.

The account of the division of days is finished here.

 

The Septuagint LXX “Scripture Cannot Be Broken”
Start Here: Master Introduction and Index
Six Bible Manuscripts
1446 BC Sinai Text (ST)	1050 BC Samuel’s Text (SNT)	623 BC Samaritan (SP)	458 BC Ezra’s Text (XIV)	282 BC Septuagint (LXX)	160 AD Masoretic (MT)
Research Tools
OT Textual Variants	Messianic expectation	300 OT quotes in NT	Canon of the Bible	Chronology Charts	Seder Olam Rabbah
Steve Rudd, November 2017 AD: Contact the author for comments, input or corrections

 

By Steve Rudd: November 2017: Contact the author for comments, input or corrections.

 

 

Go to: Main Bible Manuscripts Page

Go to: Main Ancient Synagogue Start Page

Go To Start: WWW.BIBLE.CA