The Book of Jubilees

Jubilees 45

The Book of Jubilees

From The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament

by R.H. Charles, Oxford: Clarendon Press,

1913.

Scanned and Edited by Joshua Williams, Northwest Nazarene College.

Chapter 45

Joseph receives Jacob, and gives him Goshen, 1-7. Joseph acquires all the land and its inhabitants for Pharaoh, 8-12. Jacob dies and is buried in Hebron, 13-15. His books given to Levi, 16. (Cf. Gen. xlvi.28-30; xlvii.11-13, 19, 20, 23, 24, 28; l.13.)

And Israel went into the country of Egypt, into the land of Goshen, on the new moon of the fourth (2172 AM). month, in the second year of the third week of the forty-fifth jubilee.

And Joseph went to meet his father Jacob, to the land of Goshen, and he fell on his father's neck and wept.

And Israel said unto Joseph: 'Now let me die since I have seen thee, and now may the Lord God of Israel be blessed the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac who hath not withheld His mercy and His grace from His servant Jacob.

It is enough for me that I have seen thy face whilst I am yet alive; yea, true is the vision which I saw at Bethel. Blessed be the Lord my God for ever and ever, and blessed be His name.'

And Joseph and his brothers eat bread before their father and drank wine, and Jacob rejoiced with exceeding great joy because he saw Joseph eating with his brothers and drinking before him, and he blessed the Creator of all things who had preserved him, and had preserved for him his twelve sons.

And Joseph had given to his father and to his brothers as a gift the right of dwelling in the land of Goshen and in Rameses and all the region round about, which he ruled over before Pharaoh. And Israel and his sons dwelt in the land of Goshen, the best part of the land of Egypt and Israel was one hundred and thirty years old when he came into Egypt.

And Joseph nourished his father and his brethren and also their possessions with bread as much as sufficed them for the seven years of the famine.

And the land of Egypt suffered by reason of the famine, and Joseph acquired all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh in return for food, and he got possession of the people and their cattle and everything for Pharaoh.

And the years of the famine were accomplished, and Joseph gave to the people in the land seed and food that they might sow (the land) in the eighth year, for the river had overflowed all the land of Egypt.

For in the seven years of the famine it had (not) overflowed and had irrigated only a few places on the banks of the river, but now it overflowed and the Egyptians sowed the land, and it bore much corn that year.

And this was the first year of (2178 AM) the fourth week of the forty-fifth jubilee.

And Joseph took of the corn of the harvest the fifth part for the king and left four parts for them for food and for seed, and Joseph made it an ordinance for the land of Egypt until this day.

And Israel lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years, and all the days which he lived were three jubilees, one hundred and forty-seven years, and he died in the fourth (2188 AM) year of the fifth week of the forty-fifth jubilee.

And Israel blessed his sons before he died and told them everything that would befall them in the land of Egypt; and he made known to them what would come upon them in the last days, and blessed them and gave to Joseph two portions in the land.

And he slept with his fathers, and he was buried in the double cave in the land of Canaan, near Abraham his father in the grave which he dug for himself in the double cave in the land of Hebron.

And he gave all his books and the books of his fathers to Levi his son that he might preserve them and renew them for his children until this day.

September 24, 2011
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Published in The Book of Jubilees
Written by LC Geerts

Jubilees 44

The Book of Jubilees

From The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament

by R.H. Charles, Oxford: Clarendon Press,

1913.

Scanned and Edited by Joshua Williams, Northwest Nazarene College.

Chapter 44

Jacob celebrates the feast of firstfruits, and encouraged by a vision goes down to Egypt, 1-10. Names of his descendants, 11-34. (Cf. Gen. xlvi.1-28.)

And Israel took his journey from Haran from his house on the new moon of the third month, and he went on the way of the Well of the Oath, and he offered a sacrifice to the God of his father Isaac on the seventh of this month.

And Jacob remembered the dream that he had seen at Bethel, and he feared to go down into Egypt.

And while he was thinking of sending word to Joseph to come to him, and that he would not go down, he remained there seven days, if perchance he could see a vision as to whether he should remain or go down.

And he celebrated the harvest festival of the first-fruits with old grain, for in all the land of Canaan there was not a handful of seed (in the land), for the famine was over all the beasts and cattle and birds, and also over man.

And on the sixteenth the Lord appeared unto him, and said unto him, 'Jacob, Jacob'; and he said, 'Here am I.' And He said unto him: 'I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham and Isaac; fear not to go down into Egypt, for I will there make of thee a great nation I will go down with thee, and I will bring thee up (again), and in this land shalt thou be buried, and Joseph shall put his hands upon thy eyes.

Fear not; go down into Egypt.'

And his sons rose up, and his sons' sons, and they placed their father and their possessions upon wagons.

And Israel rose up from the Well of the Oath on the sixteenth of this third month, and he went to the land of Egypt.

And Israel sent Judah before him to his son Joseph to examine the Land of Goshen, for Joseph had told his brothers that they should come and dwell there that they might be near him.

And this was the goodliest (land) in the land of Egypt, and near to him, for all (of them) and also for the cattle.

And these are the names of the sons of Jacob who went into Egypt with Jacob their father.

Reuben, the First-born of Israel; and these are the names of his sons Enoch, and Pallu, and Hezron and Carmi-five.

Simeon and his sons; and these are the names of his sons: Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and Jachin, and Zohar, and Shaul, the son of the Zephathite woman-seven.

Levi and his sons; and these are the names of his sons: Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari-four.

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

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

Zebulon and his sons; and these are the names of his sons: Sered, and Elon, and Jahleel-four.

And these are the sons of Jacob and their sons whom Leah bore to Jacob in Mesopotamia, six, and their one sister, Dinah and all the souls of the sons of Leah, and their sons, who went with Jacob their father into Egypt, were twenty-nine, and Jacob their father being with them, they were thirty.

And the sons of Zilpah, Leah's handmaid, the wife of Jacob, who bore unto Jacob Gad and Ashur.

And these are the names of their sons who went with him into Egypt. The sons of Gad: Ziphion, and Haggi, and Shuni, and Ezbon,

And the sons of Asher: Imnah, and Ishvah,

All the souls were fourteen, and all those of Leah were forty-four.

And the sons of Rachel, the wife of Jacob: Joseph and Benjamin.

And there were born to Joseph in Egypt before his father came into Egypt, those whom Asenath, daughter of Potiphar priest of Heliopolis bare unto him, Manasseh, and Ephraim-three.

And the sons of Benjamin: Bela and Becher and Ashbel, Gera, and Naaman, and Ehi, and Rosh, and Muppim, and Huppim, and Ard-eleven.

And all the souls of Rachel were fourteen.

And the sons of Bilhah, the handmaid of Rachel, the wife of Jacob, whom she bare to Jacob, were Dan and Naphtali.

And these are the names of their sons who went with them into Egypt. And the sons of Dan were Hushim, and Samon, and Asudi. and 'Ijaka, and Salomon-six.

And they died the year in which they entered into Egypt, and there was left to Dan Hushim alone.

And these are the names of the sons of Naphtali Jahziel, and Guni and Jezer, and Shallum, and 'Iv.

And 'Iv, who was born after the years of famine, died in Egypt.

And all the souls of Rachel were twenty-six.

And all the souls of Jacob which went into Egypt were seventy souls. These are his children and his children's children, in all seventy, but five died in Egypt before Joseph, and had no children.

And in the land of Canaan two sons of Judah died, Er and Onan, and they had no children, and the children of Israel buried those who perished, and they were reckoned among the seventy Gentile nations.

September 24, 2011
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Published in The Book of Jubilees
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Jubilees 43

The Book of Jubilees

From The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament

by R.H. Charles, Oxford: Clarendon Press,

1913.

Scanned and Edited by Joshua Williams, Northwest Nazarene College.

Chapter 43

Joseph's plan to stay his brethren, 1-10. Judah's supplication, 11-13. Joseph makes himself known to his brethren and sends them back for his father, 14-24. (Cf. Gen. xliv.3-10, 12-18, 27-8, 30-2; xlv.1-2, 5-9, 12, 18, 20-1, 23, 25-8.)

And he did as Joseph had told him, and filled all their sacks for them with food and put their money in their sacks, and put the cup in Benjamin's sack.

And early in the morning they departed, and it came to pass that, when they had gone from thence, Joseph said unto the steward of his house: 'Pursue them, run and seize them, saying, "For good ye have requited me with evil; you have stolen from me the silver cup out of which my lord drinks." And bring back to me their youngest brother, and fetch (him) quickly before I go forth to my seat of judgment.'

And he ran after them and said unto them according to these words.

And they said unto him: 'God forbid that thy servants should do this thing, and steal from the house of thy lord any utensil, and the money also which we found in our sacks the first time, we thy servants brought back from the land of Canaan.

How then should we steal any utensil? Behold here are we and our sacks search, and wherever thou findest the cup in the sack of any man amongst us, let him be slain, and we and our asses will serve thy lord.'

And he said unto them: 'Not so, the man with whom I find, him only shall I take as a servant, and ye shall return in peace unto your house.'

And as he was searching in their vessels, beginning with the eldest and ending with the youngest, it was found in Benjamin's sack.

And they rent their garments, and laded their asses, and returned to the city and came to the house of Joseph, and they all bowed themselves on their faces to the ground before him.

And Joseph said unto them: 'Ye have done evil.' And they said: 'What shall we say and how shall we defend ourselves? Our lord hath discovered the transgression of his servants; behold we are the servants of our lord, and our asses also.

'And Joseph said unto them: 'I too fear the Lord; as for you, go ye to your homes and let your brother be my servant, for ye have done evil. Know ye not that a man delights in his cup as I with this cup? And yet ye have stolen it from me.'

And Judah said: 'O my lord, let thy servant, I pray thee, speak a word in my lord's ear two brothers did thy servant's mother bear to our father: one went away and was lost, and hath not been found, and he alone is left of his mother, and thy servant our father loves him, and his life also is bound up with the life of this (lad).

And it will come to pass, when we go to thy servant our father, and the lad is not with us, that he will die, and we shall bring down our father with sorrow unto death.

Now rather let me, thy servant, abide instead of the boy as a bondsman unto my lord, and let the lad go with his brethren, for I became surety for him at the hand of thy servant our father, and if I do not bring him back, thy servant will hear the blame to our father for ever.'

And Joseph saw that they were all accordant in goodness one with another, and he could not refrain himself, and he told them that he was Joseph.

And he conversed with them in the Hebrew tongue and fell on their neck and wept.

But they knew him not and they began to weep. And he said unto them: 'Weep not over me, but hasten and bring my father to me; and ye see that it is my mouth that speaketh and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see.

For behold this is the second year of the famine, and there are still five years without harvest or fruit of trees or ploughing.

Come down quickly ye and your households, so that ye perish not through the famine, and do not be grieved for your possessions, for the Lord sent me before you to set things in order that many people might live.

And tell my father that I am still alive, and ye, behold, ye see that the Lord has made me as a father to Pharaoh, and ruler over his house and over all the land of Egypt.

And tell my father of all my glory, and all the riches and glory that the Lord hath given me.'

And by the command of the mouth of Pharaoh he gave them chariots and provisions for the way, and he gave them all many-coloured raiment and silver.

And to their father he sent raiment and silver and ten asses which carried corn, and he sent them away.

And they went up and told their father that Joseph was alive, and was measuring out corn to all the nations of the earth, and that he was ruler over all the land of Egypt.

And their father did not believe it, for he was beside himself in his mind; but when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent, the life of his spirit revived, and he said: 'It is enough for me if Joseph lives; I will go down and see him before I die.'

September 24, 2011
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Jubilees 42

The Book of Jubilees

From The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament

by R.H. Charles, Oxford: Clarendon Press,

1913.

Scanned and Edited by Joshua Williams, Northwest Nazarene College.

Chapter 42

Owing to the famine Jacob sends his sons to Egypt for corn, 1-4. Joseph recognizes them and retains Simeon, and requires them to bring Benjamin when they returned, 5-12. Notwithstanding Jacob's reluctance his sons take Benjamin with them on their second journey and are entertained by Joseph, 13-25. (Cf. Gen. xli.54, 56; xlii.7-9, 13, 17, 20, 24-5, 29-30, 34-8; xliii.1-2, 4-5, 8-9, 11, 15, 23, 26, 29, 34; xliv. 1-2.)

And in the first year of the third week of the forty-fifth jubilee the famine began to come into the (2171 AM) land, and the rain refused to be given to the earth, for none whatever fell.

And the earth grew barren, but in the land of Egypt there was food, for Joseph had gathered the seed of the land in the seven years of plenty and had preserved it.

And the Egyptians came to Joseph that he might give them food, and he opened the store-houses where was the grain of the first year, and he sold it to the people of the land for gold.

And Joseph recognised them, but they did not recognise him, and he spake unto them and questioned them, and he said unto them; 'Are ye not spies and have ye not come to explore the approaches of the land? 'And he put them in ward.

And after that he set them free again, and detained Simeon alone and sent off his nine brothers.

And he filled their sacks with corn, and he put their gold in their sacks, and they did not know.

And he commanded them to bring their younger brother, for they had told him their father was living and their younger brother.

And they went up from the land of Egypt and they came to the land of Canaan; and they told their father all that had befallen them, and how the lord of the country had spoken roughly to them, and had seized Simeon till they should bring Benjamin.

And Jacob said: 'Me have ye bereaved of my children! Joseph is not and Simeon also is not, and ye will take Benjamin away. On me has your wickedness come.

'And he said: 'My son will not go down with you lest perchance he fall sick; for their mother gave birth to two sons, and one has perished, and this one also ye will take from me. If perchance he took a fever on the road, ye would bring down my old age with sorrow unto death.'

For he saw that their money had been returned to every man in his sack, and for this reason he feared to send him.

And the famine increased and became sore in the land of Canaan, and in all lands save in the land of Egypt, for many of the children of the Egyptians had stored up their seed for food from the time when they saw Joseph gathering seed together and putting it in storehouses and preserving it for the years of famine.

And the people of Egypt fed themselves thereon during the first year of their famine.

But when Israel saw that the famine was very sore in the land, and that there was no deliverance, he said unto his sons: 'Go again, and procure food for us that we die not.'

And they said: 'We shall not go; unless our youngest brother go with us, we shall not go.'

And Israel saw that if he did not send him with them, they should all perish by reason of the famine

And Reuben said: 'Give him into my hand, and if I do not bring him back to thee, slay my two sons instead of his soul.'

And he said unto him: 'He shall not go with thee.' And Judah came near and said: 'Send him with me, and if I do not bring him back to thee, let me bear the blame before thee all the days of my life.'

And he sent him with them in the second year of this week on the (2172 AM) first day of the month, and they came to the land of Egypt with all those who went, and (they had) presents in their hands, stacte and almonds and terebinth nuts and pure honey.

And they went and stood before Joseph, and he saw Benjamin his brother, and he knew him, and said unto them: Is this your youngest brother?' And they said unto him: 'It is he.' And he said The Lord be gracious to thee, my son!'

And he sent him into his house and he brought forth Simeon unto them and he made a feast for them, and they presented to him the gift which they had brought in their hands.

And they eat before him and he gave them all a portion, but the portion of Benjamin was seven times larger than that of any of theirs.

And they eat and drank and arose and remained with their asses.

And Joseph devised a plan whereby he might learn their thoughts as to whether thoughts of peace prevailed amongst them, and he said to the steward who was over his house: 'Fill all their sacks with food, and return their money unto them into their vessels, and my cup, the silver cup out of which I drink, put it in the sack of the youngest, and send them away.'

September 24, 2011
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Published in The Book of Jubilees
Written by LC Geerts

Jubilees 41

The Book of Jubilees

From The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament

by R.H. Charles, Oxford: Clarendon Press,

1913.

Scanned and Edited by Joshua Williams, Northwest Nazarene College.

Chapter 41

Judah's sons and Tamar, 1-7. Judah's incest with Tamar, 8-18. Tamar bears twins, 21-2. Judah forgiven, because he sinned ignorantly and repented when convicted, and because Tamar's marriage with his sons had not been consummated, 23-8. (Cf. Gen. xxxviii.6-18, 20-6, 29-30; xli.13.)

And in the forty-fifth jubilee, in the second week, (and) in the second year, (2165 AM) Judah took for his first-born Er, a wife from the daughters of Aram, named Tamar.

But he hated, and did not lie with her, because his mother was of the daughters of Canaan, and he wished to take him a wife of the kinsfolk of his mother, but Judah, his father, would not permit him.

And this Er, the first-born of Judah, was wicked, and the Lord slew him.

And Judah said unto Onan, his brother 'Go in unto thy brother's wife and perform the duty of a husband's brother unto her, and raise up seed unto thy brother.'

And Onan knew that the seed would not be his, (but) his brother's only, and he went into the house of his brother's wife, and spilt the seed on the ground, and he was wicked in the eyes of the Lord, and He slew him.

And Judah said unto Tamar, his daughter-in-law: 'Remain in thy father's house as a widow till Shelah my son be grown up, and I shall give thee to him to wife.'

And he grew up; but Bedsu'el, the wife of Judah, did not permit her son Shelah to marry. And Bedsu'el, the wife of Judah, died (2168 AM) in the fifth year of this week.

And in the sixth year Judah went up to shear his sheep at Timnah. (2169 AM) And they told Tamar: 'Behold thy father-in-law goeth up to Timnah to shear his sheep.'

And she put off her widow's clothes, and put on a veil, and adorned herself, and sat in the gate adjoining the way to Timnah.

And as Judah was going along he found her, and thought her to be an harlot, and he said unto her: 'Let me come in unto thee'; and she said unto him Come in,' and he went in.

And she said unto him: 'Give me my hire'; and he said unto her: 'I have nothing in my hand save my ring that is on my finger, and my necklace, and my staff which is in my hand.'

And she said unto him 'Give them to me until thou dost send me my hire', and he said unto her: 'I will send unto thee a kid of the goats'; and he gave them to her, and he went in unto her, and she conceived by him.

And Judah went unto his sheep, and she went to her father's house.

And Judah sent a kid of the goats by the hand of his shepherd, an Adullamite, and he found her not; and he asked the people of the place, saying: 'Where is the harlot who was here?' And they said unto him; 'There is no harlot here with us.'

And he returned and informed him, and said unto him that he had not found her: 'I asked the people of the place, and they said unto me: "There is no harlot here." '

And he said: 'Let her keep (them) lest we become a cause of derision.' And when she had completed three months, it was manifest that she was with child, and they told Judah, saying: 'Behold Tamar, thy daughter-in-law, is with child by whoredom.'

And Judah went to the house of her father, and said unto her father and her brothers: 'Bring her forth, and let them burn her, for she hath wrought uncleanness in Israel.'

And it came to pass when they brought her forth to burn her that she sent to her father-in-law the ring and the necklace, and the staff, saying: 'Discern whose are these, for by him am I with child.'

And Judah acknowledged, and said: 'Tamar is more righteous than I am.

And therefore let them burn her not' And for that reason she was not given to Shelah, and he did not again approach her.

And after that she bare two sons, Perez (2170 AM) and Zerah, in the seventh year of this second week.

And thereupon the seven years of fruitfulness were accomplished, of which Joseph spake to Pharaoh.

And Judah acknowledged that the deed which he had done was evil, for he had lain with his daughter-in-law, and he esteemed it hateful in his eyes, and he acknowledged that he had transgressed and gone astray, for he had uncovered the skirt of his son, and he began to lament and to supplicate before the Lord because of his transgression.

And we told him in a dream that it was forgiven him because he supplicated earnestly, and lamented, and did not again commit it.

And he received forgiveness because he turned from his sin and from his ignorance, for he transgressed greatly before our God; and every one that acts thus, every one who lies with his mother-in-law, let them burn him with fire that he may burn therein, for there is uncleanness and pollution upon them, with fire let them burn them.

And do thou command the children of Israel that there be no uncleanness amongst them, for every one who lies with his daughter-in-law or with his mother-in-law hath wrought uncleanness; with fire let them burn the man who has lain with her, and likewise the woman, and He will turn away wrath and punishment from Israel.

And unto Judah we said that his two sons had not lain with her, and for this reason his seed was stablished for a second generation, and would not be rooted out.

For in singleness of eye he had gone and sought for punishment, namely, according to the judgment of Abraham, which he had commanded his sons, Judah had sought to burn her with fire.

September 24, 2011
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Jubilees 40

The Book of Jubilees

From The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament

by R.H. Charles, Oxford: Clarendon Press,

1913.

Scanned and Edited by Joshua Williams, Northwest Nazarene College.

Chapter 40

Pharoah's dreams and their interpretation, 1-4. Elevation and marriage of Joseph, 5-13. (Cf. Gen. xli.1-5, 7-9, 14 seqq., 25, 29-30, 34, 36, 38-43, 45-6, 49.)

And in those days Pharaoh dreamed two dreams in one night concerning a famine which was to be in all the land, and he awoke from his sleep and called all the interpreters of dreams that were in Egypt, and magicians, and told them his two dreams, and they were not able to declare (them).

And then the chief butler remembered Joseph and spake of him to the king, and he brought him forth from the prison, and he to)d his two dreams before him.

And he said before Pharaoh that his two dreams were one, and he said unto him: 'Seven years shall come (in which there shall be) plenty over all the land of Egypt, and after that seven years of famine, such a famine as has not been in all the land.

And now let Pharaoh appoint overseers in all the land of Egypt, and let them store up food in every city throughout the days of the years of plenty, and there will be food for the seven years of famine, and the land will not perish through the famine, for it will be very severe.'

And the Lord gave Joseph favour and mercy in the eyes of Pharaoh, and Pharaoh said unto his servants. We shall not find such a wise and discreet man as this man, for the spirit of the Lord is with him.'

And he appointed him the second in all his kingdom and gave him authority over all Egypt, and caused him to ride in the second chariot of Pharaoh.

And he clothed him with byssus garments, and he put a gold chain upon his neck, and (a herald) proclaimed before him ' 'El 'El wa 'Abirer,' and placed a ring on his hand and made him ruler over all his house, and magnified him, and said unto him. 'Only on the throne shall I be greater than thou.'

And Joseph ruled over all the land of Egypt, and all the princes of Pharaoh, and all his servants, and all who did the king's business loved him, for he walked in uprightness, for he was without pride and arrogance, and he had no respect of persons, and did not accept gifts, but he judged in uprightness all the people of the land.

And the land of Egypt was at peace before Pharaoh because of Joseph, for the Lord was with him, and gave him favour and mercy for all his generations before all those who knew him and those who heard concerning him, and Pharaoh's kingdom was well ordered, and there was no Satan and no evil person (therein).

And the king called Joseph's name Sephantiphans, and gave Joseph to wife the daughter of Potiphar, the daughter of the priest of Heliopolis, the chief cook.

And on the day that Joseph stood before Pharaoh he was thirty years old (when he stood before Pharaoh).

And in that year Isaac died. And it came to pass as Joseph had said in the interpretation of his two dreams, according as he had said it, there were seven years of plenty over all the land of Egypt, and the land of Egypt abundantly produced, one measure (producing) eighteen hundred measures.

And Joseph gathered food into every city until they were full of corn until they could no longer count and measure it for its multitude.

September 24, 2011
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Published in The Book of Jubilees
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Jubilees 39

The Book of Jubilees

From The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament

by R.H. Charles, Oxford: Clarendon Press,

1913.

Scanned and Edited by Joshua Williams, Northwest Nazarene College.

Chapter 39

Joseph set over Potiphar's house, 1-4. His purity and imprisonment, 5-13. Imprisonment of Pharaoh's chief butler and chief baker whose dreams Joseph interprets, 14-18. (Cf. Gen.xxxvii.2; xxxix.3-8, 12-15, 17-23; xl.1-5, 21-3; xli.1.)

And Jacob dwelt in the land of his father's sojournings in the land of Canaan. These are the generations of Jacob.

And Joseph was seventeen years old when they took him down into the land of Egypt, and Potiphar, an eunuch of Pharaoh, the chief cook bought him.

And he set Joseph over all his house and the blessing of the Lord came upon the house of the Egyptian on account of Joseph, and the Lord prospered him in all that he did.

And the Egyptian committed everything into the hands of Joseph; for he saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord prospered him in all that he did.

And Joseph's appearance was comely (and very beautiful was his appearance), and his master's wife lifted up her eyes and saw Joseph, and she loved him and besought him to lie with her.

But he did not surrender his soul, and he remembered the Lord and the words which Jacob, his father, used to read from amongst the words of Abraham, that no man should commit fornication with a woman who has a husband; that for him the punishment of death has been ordained in the heavens before the Most High God, and the sin will be recorded against him in the eternal books continually before the Lord.

And Joseph remembered these words and refused to lie with her.

And she besought him for a year, but he refused and would not listen.

But she embraced him and held him fast in the house in order to force him to lie with her, and closed the doors of the house and held him fast; but he left his garment in her hands and broke through the door and fled without from her presence.

And the woman saw that he would not lie with her, and she calumniated him in the presence of his lord, saying 'Thy Hebrew servant, whom thou lovest, sought to force me so that he might lie with me; and it came to pass when I lifted up my voice that he fled and left his garment in my hands when I held him, and he brake through the door.'

And the Egyptian saw the garment of Joseph and the broken door, and heard the words of his wife, and cast Joseph into prison into the place where the prisoners were kept whom the king imprisoned.

And he was there in the prison; and the Lord gave Joseph favour in the sight of the chief of the prison guards and compassion before him, for he saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper.

And he committed all things into his hands, and the chief of the prison guards knew of nothing that was with him, for Joseph did every thing, and the Lord perfected it.

And he remained there two years. And in those days Pharaoh, king of Egypt was wroth against his two eunuchs, against the chief butler, and against the chief baker, and he put them in ward in the house of the chief cook, in the prison where Joseph was kept.

And the chief of the prison guards appointed Joseph to serve them; and he served before them.

And they both dreamed a dream, the chief butler and the chief baker, and they told it to Joseph.

And as he interpreted to them so it befell them, and Pharaoh restored the chief butler to his office and the (chief) baker he slew, as Joseph had interpreted to them.

But the chief butler forgot Joseph in the prison, although he had informed him what would befall him, and did not remember to inform Pharaoh how Joseph had told him, for he forgot.

September 24, 2011
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Published in The Book of Jubilees
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Jubilees 38

The Book of Jubilees

From The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament

by R.H. Charles, Oxford: Clarendon Press,

1913.

Scanned and Edited by Joshua Williams, Northwest Nazarene College.

Chapter 38

War between Jacob and Esau. Death of Esau and overthrow of his forces, 1-10. Edom reduced to servitude 'till this day', 11-14. Kings of Edom, 15-24. (Cf. Gen. xxxvi.31-9.)

And after that Judah spake to Jacob, his father, and said unto him: 'Bend thy bow, father, and send forth thy arrows and cast down the adversary and slay the enemy; and mayst thou have the power, for we shall not slay thy brother, for he is such as thou, and he is like thee let us give him (this) honour.'

Then Jacob bent his bow and sent forth the arrow and struck Esau, his brother (on his right breast) and slew him.

And again he sent forth an arrow and struck 'Adoran the Aramaean, on the left breast, and drove him backward and slew him.

And then went forth the sons of Jacob, they and their servants, dividing themselves into companies on the four sides of the tower.

And Judah went forth in front, and Naphtali and Gad with him and fifty servants with him on the south side of the tower, and they slew all they found before them, and not one individual of them escaped.

And Levi and Dan and Asher went forth on the east side of the tower, and fifty (men) with them, and they slew the fighting men of Moab and Ammon.

And Reuben and Issachar and Zebulon went forth on the north side of the tower, and fifty men with them, and they slew the fighting men of the Philistines.

And Simeon and Benjamin and Enoch, Reuben's son, went forth on the west side of the tower, and fifty (men) with them, and they slew of Edom and of the Horites four hundred men, stout warriors; and six hundred fled, and four of the sons of Esau fled with them, and left their father lying slain, as he had fallen on the hill which is in 'Aduram.

And the sons of Jacob pursued after them to the mountains of Seir. And Jacob buried his brother on the hill which is in 'Aduram, and he returned to his house.

And the sons of Jacob pressed hard upon the sons of Esau in the mountains of Seir, and bowed their necks so that they became servants of the sons of Jacob.

And they sent to their father (to inquire) whether they should make peace with them or slay them.

And Jacob sent word to his sons that they should make peace, and they made peace with them, and placed the yoke of servitude upon them, so that they paid tribute to Jacob and to his sons always.

And they continued to pay tribute to Jacob until the day that he went down into Egypt.

And the sons of Edom have not got quit of the yoke of servitude which the twelve sons of Jacob had imposed on them until this day.

And these are the kings that reigned in Edom before there reigned any king over the children of Israel (until this day) in the land of Edom.

And Balaq, the son of Beor, reigned in Edom, and the name of his city was Danaba.

And Balaq died, and Jobab, the son of Zara of Boser, reigned in his stead.

And Jobab died, and 'Asam, of the land of Teman, reigned in his stead.

And 'Asam died, and 'Adath, the son of Barad, who slew Midian in the field of Moab, reigned in his stead, and the name of his city was Avith.

And 'Adath died, and Salman, from 'Amaseqa, reigned in his stead.

And Salman died,and Saul of Ra'aboth (by the) river, reigned in his stead.

And Saul died, and Ba'elunan, the son of Achbor, reigned in his stead.

And Ba'elunan, the son of Achbor died, and 'Adath reigned in his stead, and the name of his wife was Maitabith, the daughter of Matarat, the daughter of Metabedza'ab.

These are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom.

September 24, 2011
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Jubilees 37

The Book of Jubilees

From The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament

by R.H. Charles, Oxford: Clarendon Press,

1913.

Scanned and Edited by Joshua Williams, Northwest Nazarene College.

Chapter 37

Esau's sons reproach him for his subordination to Jacob, and constrain him to war with the assistance of 4,000 mercenaries against Jacob, 1-15. Jacob reproves Esau, 16-17. Esau's reply, 18-25)

And on the day that Isaac the father of Jacob and Esau died, (2162 AM) the sons of Esau heard that Isaac had given the portion of the elder to his younger son Jacob and they were very angry.

And they strove with their father, saying 'Why has thy father given Jacob the portion of the elder and passed over thee, although thou art the elder and Jacob the younger?'

And he said unto them 'Because I sold my birthright to Jacob for a small mess of lentils, and on the day my father sent me to hunt and catch and bring him something that he should eat and bless me, he came with guile and brought my father food and drink, and my father blessed him and put me under his hand.

And now our father has caused us to swear, me and him, that we shall not mutually devise evil, either against his brother, and that we shall continue in love and in peace each with his brother and not make our ways corrupt.'

And they said unto him, 'We shall not hearken unto thee to make peace with him; for our strength is greater than his strength, and we are more powerful than he; we shall go against him and slay him, and destroy him and his sons. And if thou wilt not go with us, we shall do hurt to thee also.

And now hearken unto us: Let us send to Aram and Philistia and Moab and Ammon, and let us choose for ourselves chosen men who are ardent for battle, and let us go against him and do battle with him, and let us exterminate him from the earth before he grows strong.'

And their father said unto them, 'Do not go and do not make war with him lest ye fall before him.'

And they said unto him, 'This too, is exactly thy mode of action from thy youth until this day, and thou art putting thy neck under his yoke.

We shall not hearken to these words.' And they sent to Aram, and to 'Aduram to the friend of their father, and they hired along with them one thousand fighting men, chosen men of war.

And there came to them from Moab and from the children of Ammon, those who were hired, one thousand chosen men, and from Philistia, one thousand chosen men of war, and from Edom and from the Horites one thousand chosen fighting men, and from the Kittim mighty men of war.

And they said unto their father: Go forth with them and lead them, else we shall slay thee.'

And he was filled with wrath and indignation on seeing that his sons were forcing him to go before (them) to lead them against Jacob his brother.

But afterward he remembered all the evil which lay hidden in his heart against Jacob his brother; and he remembered not the oath which he had sworn to his father and to his mother that he would devise no evil all his days against Jacob his brother.

And notwithstanding all this, Jacob knew not that they were coming against him to battle, and he was mourning for Leah, his wife, until they approached very near to the tower with four thousand warriors and chosen men of war.

And the men of Hebron sent to him saying, 'Behold thy brother has come against thee, to fight thee, with four thousand girt with the sword, and they carry shields and weapons'; for they loved Jacob more than Esau. So they told him; for Jacob was a more liberal and merciful man than Esau.

But Jacob would not believe until they came very near to the tower.

And he closed the gates of the tower; and he stood on the battlements and spake to his brother Esau and said, 'Noble is the comfort wherewith thou hast come to comfort me for my wife who has died. Is this the oath that thou didst swear to thy father and again to thy mother before they died? Thou hast broken the oath, and on the moment that thou didst swear to thy father wast thou condemned.'

And then Esau answered and said unto him, 'Neither the children of men nor the beasts of the earth have any oath of righteousness which in swearing they have sworn (an oath valid) for ever; but every day they devise evil one against another, and how each may slay his adversary and foe.

And thou dost hate me and my children for ever. And there is no observing the tie of brotherhood with thee.

Hear these words which I declare unto thee,

If the boar can change its skin and make its bristles as soft as wool,
Or if it can cause horns to sprout forth on its head like the horns of a stag or of a sheep,
Then will I observe the tie of brotherhood with thee
And if the breasts separated themselves from their mother, for thou hast not been a brother to me.

And if the wolves make peace with the lambs so as not to devour or do them violence,
And if their hearts are towards them for good,
Then there shall be peace in my heart towards thee

And if the lion becomes the friend of the ox and makes peace with him
And if he is bound under one yoke with him and ploughs with him,
Then will I make peace with thee.

And when the raven becomes white as the raza,
Then know that I have loved thee
And shall make peace with thee
Thou shalt be rooted out,
And thy sons shall be rooted out,
And there shall be no peace for thee'

And when Jacob saw that he was (so) evilly disposed towards him with his heart, and with all his soul as to slay him, and that he had come springing like the wild boar which comes upon the spear that pierces and kills it, and recoils not from it;

then he spake to his own and to his servants that they should attack him and all his companions.

September 24, 2011
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Jubilees 36

The Book of Jubilees

From The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament

by R.H. Charles, Oxford: Clarendon Press,

1913.

Scanned and Edited by Joshua Williams, Northwest Nazarene College.

Chapter 36

Isaac gives directions to his sons as to his burial: exhorts them to love one another and makes them imprecate destruction on him who injures his brother, 1-11. Divides his possessions, giving the larger portion to Jacob, and dies, 12-18. Leah dies: Jacob's sons come to comfort him, 21-4)

And in the sixth year of this week (2162 AM) Isaac called his two sons Esau and Jacob, and they came to him, and he said unto them: 'My sons, I am going the way of my fathers, to the eternal house where my fathers are.

Wherefore bury me near Abraham my father, in the double cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite, where Abraham purchased a sepulchre to bury in; in the sepulchre which I digged for myself, there bury me.

And this I command you, my sons, that ye practise righteousness and uprightness on the earth, so that the Lord may bring upon you all that the Lord said that he would do to Abraham and to his seed.

And love one another, my sons, your brothers as a man who loves his own soul, and let each seek in what he may benefit his brother, and act together on the earth; and let them love each other as their own souls.

And concerning the question of idols, I command and admonish you to reject them and hate them, and love them not, for they are full of deception for those that worship them and for those that bow down to them.

Remember ye, my sons, the Lord God of Abraham your father, and how I too worshipped Him and served Him in righteousness and in joy, that He might multiply you and increase your seed as the stars of heaven in multitude, and establish you on the earth as the plant of righteousness which will not be rooted out unto all the generations for ever.

And now I shall make you swear a great oath -for there is no oath which is greater than it by the name glorious and honoured and great and splendid and wonderful and mighty, which created the heavens and the earth and all things together- that ye will fear Him and worship Him.

And that each will love his brother with affection and righteousness, and that neither will desire evil against his brother from henceforth for ever all the days of your life so that ye may prosper in all your deeds and not be destroyed.

And if either of you devises evil against his brother, know that from henceforth everyone that devises evil against his brother shall fall into his hand, and shall be rooted out of the land of the living, and his seed shall be destroyed from under heaven.

But on the day of turbulence and execration and indignation and anger, with flaming devouring fire as He burnt Sodom, so likewise will He burn his land and his city and all that is his, and he shall be blotted out of the book of the discipline of the children of men, and not be recorded in the book of life, but in that which is appointed to destruction, and he shall depart into eternal execration; so that their condemnation may be always renewed in hate and in execration and in wrath and in torment and in indignation and in plagues and in disease for ever.

I say and testify to you, my sons, according to the judgment which shall come upon the man who wishes to injure his brother.

And he divided all his possessions between the two on that day and he gave the larger portion to him that was the first-born, and the tower and all that was about it, and all that Abraham possessed at the Well of the Oath.

And he said: 'This larger portion I will give to the firstborn.'

And Esau said, 'I have sold to Jacob and given my birthright to Jacob; to him let it be given, and I have not a single word to say regarding it, for it is his.'

And Isaac said, May a blessing rest upon you, my sons, and upon your seed this day, for ye have given me rest, and my heart is not pained concerning the birthright, lest thou shouldest work wickedness on account of it.

May the Most High God bless the man that worketh righteousness, him and his seed for ever.'

And he ended commanding them and blessing them, and they eat and drank together before him, and he rejoiced because there was one mind between them, and they went forth from him and rested that day and slept.

And Isaac slept on his bed that day rejoicing; and he slept the eternal sleep, and died one hundred and eighty years old. He completed twenty-five weeks and five years; and his two sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

And Esau went to the land of Edom, to the mountains of Seir, and dwelt there.

And Jacob dwelt in the mountains of Hebron, in the tower of the land of the sojournings of his father Abraham, and he worshipped the Lord with all his heart and according to the visible commands according as He had divided the days of his generations.

And Leah his wife died in the fourth year of the second week of the forty-fifth jubilee, (2167 AM) and he buried her in the double cave near Rebecca his mother to the left of the grave of Sarah, his father's mother

and all her sons and his sons came to mourn over Leah his wife with him and to comfort him regarding her, for he was lamenting her for he loved her exceedingly after Rachel her sister died;

for she was perfect and upright in all her ways and honoured Jacob,and all the days that she lived with him he did not hear from her mouth a harsh word, for she was gentle and peaceable and upright and honourable.

And he remembered all her deeds which she had done during her life and he lamented her exceedingly; for he loved her with all his heart and with all his soul.

September 24, 2011
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Jubilees 35

The Book of Jubilees

From The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament

by R.H. Charles, Oxford: Clarendon Press,

1913.

Scanned and Edited by Joshua Williams, Northwest Nazarene College.

Chapter 35

Rebecca's admonition to Jacob and his reply, 1-8. Rebecca asks Isaac to make Esau swear that he will not injure Jacob, 9-12. Isaac consents, 13-17. Esau takes the oath and likewise Jacob, 18-26. Death of Rebecca, 27)

And in the first year of the first week of the forty-fifth jubilee (2157 AM) Rebecca called Jacob, her son, and commanded him regarding his father and regarding his brother, that he should honour them all the days of his life.

And Jacob said: 'I will do everything as thou hast commanded me; for this thing will be honour and greatness to me, and righteousness before the Lord, that I should honour them.

And thou too, mother, knowest from the time I was born until this day, all my deeds and all that is in my heart, that I always think good concerning all.

And how should I not do this thing which thou hast commanded me, that I should honour my father and my brother!

Tell me, mother, what perversity hast thou seen in me and I shall turn away from it, and mercy will be upon me.'

And she said unto him: 'My son, I have not seen in thee all my days any perverse but (only) upright deeds. And yet I will tell thee the truth, my son: I shall die this year, and I shall not survive this year in my life; for I have seen in a dream the day of my death, that I should not live beyond a hundred and fifty-five years: and behold I have completed all the days of my life which I am to live.'

And Jacob laughed at the words of his mother. because his mother had said unto him that she should die; and she was sitting opposite to him in possession of her strength, and she was not infirm in her strength; for she went in and out and saw, and her teeth were strong, and no ailment had touched her all the days of her life.

And Jacob said unto her: 'Blessed am I, mother, if my days approach the days of thy life, and my strength remain with me thus as thy strength: and thou wilt not die, for thou art jesting idly with me regarding thy death.'

And she went in to Isaac and said unto him: 'One petition I make unto thee: make Esau swear that he will not injure Jacob, nor pursue him with enmity; for thou knowest Esau's thoughts that they are perverse from his youth, and there is no goodness in him; for he desires after thy death to kill him.

And thou knowest all that he has done since the day Jacob his brother went to Haran until this day: how he has forsaken us with his whole heart, and has done evil to us; thy flocks he has taken to himself, and carried off all thy possessions from before thy face.

And when we implored and besought him for what was our own, he did as a man who was taking pity on us.

And he is bitter against thee because thou didst bless Jacob thy perfect and upright son; for there is no evil but only goodness in him, and since he came from Haran unto this day he has not robbed us of aught, for he brings us everything in its season always, and rejoices with all his heart when we take at his hands and he blesses us, and has not parted from us since he came from Haran until this day, and he remains with us continually at home honouring us.'

And Isaac said unto her: 'I, too, know and see the deeds of Jacob who is with us, how that with all his heart he honours us; but I loved Esau formerly more than Jacob, because he was the firstborn; but now I love Jacob more than Esau, for he has done manifold evil deeds, and there is no righteousness in him, for all his ways are unrighteousness and violence, (and there is no righteousness around him.)

And now my heart is troubled because of all his deeds, and neither he nor his seed is to be saved, for they are those who will be destroyed from the earth and who will be rooted out from under heaven, for he has forsaken the God of Abraham and gone after his wives and after their uncleanness and after their error, he and his children.

And thou dost bid me make him swear that he will not slay Jacob his brother; even if he swear he will not abide by his oath, and he will not do good but evil only.

But if he desires to slay Jacob, his brother, into Jacob's hands will he be given, and he will not escape from his hands, (for he will descend into his hands.)

And fear thou not on account of Jacob; for the guardian of Jacob is great and powerful and honoured, and praised more than the guardian of Esau.'

And Rebecca sent and called Esau and he came to her, and she said unto him: 'I have a petition, my son, to make unto thee, and do thou promise to do it, my son.'

And he said: 'I will do everything that thou sayest unto me, and I will not refuse thy petition.'

And she said unto him: 'I ask you that the day I die, thou wilt take me in and bury me near Sarah, thy father's mother, and that thou and Jacob will love each other and that neither will desire evil against the other, but mutual love only, and (so) ye will prosper, my sons, and be honoured in the midst of the land, and no enemy will rejoice over you, and ye will be a blessing and a mercy in the eyes of all those that love you.'

And he said: 'I will do all that thou hast told me, and I shall bury thee on the day thou diest near Sarah, my father's mother, as thou hast desired that her bones may be near thy bones.

And Jacob, my brother, also, I shall love above all flesh; for I have not a brother in all the earth but him only: and this is no great merit for me if I love him; for he is my brother, and we were sown together in thy body, and together came we forth from thy womb, and if I do not love my brother, whom shall I love?

And I, myself, beg thee to exhort Jacob concerning me and concerning my sons, for I know that he will assuredly be king over me and my sons, for on the day my father blessed him he made him the higher and me the lower.

And I swear unto thee that I shall love him, and not desire evil against him all the days of my life but good only.'

And he sware unto her regarding all this matter. And she called Jacob before the eyes of Esau, and gave him commandment according to the words which she had spoken to Esau.

And he said: 'I shall do thy pleasure; believe me that no evil will proceed from me or from my sons against Esau, and I shall be first in naught save in love only.'

And they eat and drank, she and her sons that night, and she died, three jubilees and one week and one year old, on that night, and her two sons, Esau and Jacob, buried her in the double cave near Sarah, their father's mother.

September 24, 2011
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Jubilees 34

The Book of Jubilees

From The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament

by R.H. Charles, Oxford: Clarendon Press,

1913.

Scanned and Edited by Joshua Williams, Northwest Nazarene College.

Chapter 34

Warfare of the Amorite kings against Jacob and his sons, 1-9. Jacob sends Joseph to visit his brethren, 10. Joseph sold and carried down into Egypt, 11-12 (cf. Gen. xxxvii.14, 17, 18, 25, 32-6). Deaths of Bilhah and Dinah, 15. Jacob mourns for Joseph, 13, 14, 17. Institution of Day of Atonement on day when news of Joseph's death arrived, 18-19. Wives of Jacob's son's, 20-1)

And in the sixth year of this week of this forty-fourth jubilee (2148 AM) Jacob sent his sons to pasture their sheep, and his servants with them to the pastures of Shechem.

And the seven kings of the Amorites assembled themselves together against them, to slay them, hiding themselves under the trees, and to take their cattle as a prey.

And Jacob and Levi and Judah and Joseph were in the house with Isaac their father; for his spirit was sorrowful, and they could not leave him: and Benjamin was the youngest, and for this reason remained with his father.

And there came the king(s) of Taphu and the king(s) of 'Aresa, and the king(s) of Seragan, and the king(s) of Selo, and the king(s) of Ga'as, and the king of Bethoron, and the king of Ma'anisakir, and all those who dwell in these mountains (and) who dwell in the woods in the land of Canaan.

And they announced this to Jacob saying: 'Behold, the kings of the Amorites have surrounded thy sons, and plundered their herds.'

And he arose from his house, he and his three sons and all the servants of his father, and his own servants, and he went against them with six thousand men, who carried swords.

And he slew them in the pastures of Shechem, and pursued those who fled, and he slew them with the edge of the sword, and he slew 'Aresa and Taphu and Saregan and Selo and 'Amani- sakir and Ga(ga)'as, and he recovered his herds.

And he prevailed over them, and imposed tribute on them that they should pay him tribute, five fruit products of their land, and he built Robel and Tamnatares.

And he returned in peace, and made peace with them, and they became his servants, until the day that he and his sons went down into Egypt.

And in the seventh year of this week (2149 AM) he sent Joseph to learn about the welfare of his brothers from his house to the land of Shechem, and he found them in the land of Dothan.

And they dealt treacherously with him, and formed a plot against him to slay him, but changing their minds, they sold him to Ishmaelite merchants, and they brought him down into Egypt, and they sold him to Potiphar, the eunuch of Pharaoh, the chief of the cooks, priest of the city of 'Elew.

And the sons of Jacob slaughtered a kid, and dipped the coat of Joseph in the blood, and sent (it) to Jacob their father on the tenth of the seventh month.

And he mourned all that night, for they had brought it to him in the evening, and he became feverish with mourning for his death, and he said: 'An evil beast hath devoured Joseph'; and all the members of his house (mourned with him that day, and they) were grieving and mourning with him all that day.

And his sons and his daughter rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted for his son.

And on that day Bilhah heard that Joseph had perished, and she died mourning him, and she was living in Qafratef, and Dinah also, his daughter, died after Joseph had perished.

And there came these three mournings upon Israel in one month. And they buried Bilhah over against the tomb of Rachel, and Dinah also. his daughter, they buried there.

And he mourned for Joseph one year, and did not cease, for he said 'Let me go down to the grave mourning for my son'.

For this reason it is ordained for the children of Israel that they should afflict themselves on the tenth of the seventh month -on the day that the news which made him weep for Joseph came to Jacob his father- that they should make atonement for themselves thereon with a young goat on the tenth of the seventh month, once a year, for their sins; for they had grieved the affection of their father regarding Joseph his son.

And this day has been ordained that they should grieve thereon for their sins, and for all their transgressions and for all their errors, so that they might cleanse themselves on that day once a year.

And after Joseph perished, the sons of Jacob took unto themselves wives. The name of Reuben's wife is 'Ada; and the name of Simeon's wife is 'Adlba'a, a Canaanite; and the name of Levi's wife is Melka, of the daughters of Aram, of the seed of the sons of Terah; and the name of Judah's wife, Betasu'el, a Canaanite; and the name of Issachar's wife, Hezaqa: and the name of Zabulon's wife, Ni'iman; and the name of Dan's wife, 'Egla; and the name of Naphtali's wife, Rasu'u, of Mesopotamia; and the name of Gad's wife, Maka; and the name of Asher's wife, 'Ijona; and the name of Joseph's wife, Asenath, the Egyptian; and the name of Benjamin's wife, 'Ijasaka.

And Simeon repented, and took a second wife from Mesopotamia as his brothers.

September 24, 2011
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Jubilees 33

The Book of Jubilees

From The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament

by R.H. Charles, Oxford: Clarendon Press,

1913.

Scanned and Edited by Joshua Williams, Northwest Nazarene College.

Chapter 33

Reuben sins with Bilhah, 1-9 (cf. Gen. xxxv.21, 22). Laws regarding incest, 10-20. Jacob's children, 22. (Cf. Gen. xxxv.23-7.)

And Jacob went and dwelt to the south of Magdaladra'ef. And he went to his father Isaac, he and Leah his wife, on the new moon of the tenth month.

And Reuben saw Bilhah, Rachel's maid, the concubine of his father, bathing in water in a secret place, and he loved her.

And he hid himself at night, and he entered the house of Bilhah (at night), and he found her sleeping alone on a bed in her house.

And he lay with her, and she awoke and saw, and behold Reuben was lying with her in the bed, and she uncovered the border of her covering and seized him, and cried out, and discovered that it was Reuben.

And she was ashamed because of him, and released her hand from him, and he fled.

And she lamented because of this thing exceedingly, and did not tell it to any one.

And when Jacob returned and sought her, she said unto him: 'I am not clean for thee, for I have been defiled as regards thee; for Reuben has defiled me, and has lain with me in the night, and I was asleep, and did not discover until he uncovered my skirt and slept with me.'

And Jacob was exceedingly wroth with Reuben because he had lain with Bilhah, because he had uncovered his father's skirt.

And Jacob did not approach her again because Reuben had defiled her. And as for any man who uncovers his father's skirt his deed is wicked exceedingly, for he is abominable before the Lord.

For this reason it is written and ordained on the heavenly tablets that a man should not lie with his father's wife, and should not uncover his father's skirt, for this is unclean: they shall surely die together, the man who lies with his father's wife and the woman also, for they have wrought uncleanness on the earth.

And there shall be nothing unclean before our God in the nation which He has chosen for Himself as a possession.

And again, it is written a second time: 'Cursed be he who lieth with the wife of his father, for he hath uncovered his father's shame'; and all the holy ones of the Lord said 'So be it; so be it.'

And do thou, Moses, command the children of Israel that they observe this word; for it (entails) a punishment of death; and it is unclean, and there is no atonement for ever to atone for the man who has committed this, but he is to be put to death and slain, and stoned with stones, and rooted out from the midst of the people of our God.

For to no man who does so in Israel is it permitted to remain alive a single day on the earth, for he is abominable and unclean.

And let them not say: to Reuben was granted life and forgiveness after he had lain with his father's concubine, and to her also though she had a husband, and her husband Jacob, his father, was still alive.

For until that time there had not been revealed the ordinance and judgment and law in its completeness for all, but in thy days (it has been revealed) as a law of seasons and of days, and an everlasting law for the everlasting generations.

And for this law there is no consummation of days, and no atonement for it, but they must both be rooted out in the midst of the nation: on the day whereon they committed it they shall slay them.

And do thou, Moses, write (it) down for Israel that they may observe it, and do according to these words, and not commit a sin unto death; for the Lord our God is judge, who respects not persons and accepts not gifts.

And tell them these words of the covenant, that they may hear and observe, and be on their guard with respect to them, and not be destroyed and rooted out of the land; for an uncleanness, and an abomination, and a contamination, and a pollution are all they who commit it on the earth before our God.

And there is no greater sin than the fornication which they commit on earth; for Israel is a holy nation unto the Lord its God, and a nation of inheritance, and a priestly and royal nation and for (His own) possession; and there shall no such uncleanness appear in the midst of the holy nation.

And in the third year of this sixth week (2145 AM) Jacob and all his sons went and dwelt in the house of Abraham, near Isaac his father and Rebecca his mother.

And these were the names of the sons of Jacob: the first-born Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulon, the sons of Leah; and the sons of Rachel, Joseph and Benjamin; and the sons of Bilhah, Dan and Naphtali; and the sons of Zilpah, Gad and Asher; and Dinah, the daughter of Leah, the only daughter of Jacob.

And they came and bowed themselves to Isaac and Rebecca, and when they saw them they blessed Jacob and all his sons, and Isaac rejoiced exceedingly, for he saw the sons of Jacob, his younger son and he blessed them.

September 24, 2011
0
Published in The Book of Jubilees
Written by LC Geerts

Jubilees 32

The Book of Jubilees

From The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament

by R.H. Charles, Oxford: Clarendon Press,

1913.

Scanned and Edited by Joshua Williams, Northwest Nazarene College.

Chapter 32

Levi's dream at Bethel, 1. Levi chosen to the priesthood, as the tenth son, 2-3. Jacob celebrates the feast of tabernacles and offers tithes through Levi: also the second tithe, 4-9. Law of tithes ordained, 10-15. Jacob's visions in which Jacob reads on the heavenly tablets his own future and that of his descendants, 16-26. Celebrates the eighty day of feast of tabernacles, 27-9. Death of Deborah, 30. Birth of Benjamin and death of Rachel, 33-4. (Cf. Gen. xxxv.8,10, 11, 13, 16-20.)

And he abode that night at Bethel, and Levi dreamed that they had ordained and made him the priest of the Most High God, him and his sons for ever; and he awoke from his sleep and blessed the Lord.

And Jacob rose early in the morning, on the fourteenth of this month, and he gave a tithe of all that came with him, both of men and cattle, both of gold and every vessel and garment, yea, he gave tithes of all.

And in those days Rachel became pregnant with her son Benjamin. And Jacob counted his sons from him upwards and Levi fell to the portion of the Lord, and his father clothed him in the garments of the priesthood and filled his hands.

And on the fifteenth of this month, he brought to the altar fourteen oxen from amongst the cattle, and twenty-eight rams, and forty-nine sheep, and seven lambs, and twenty-one kids of the goats as a burnt-offering on the altar of sacrifice, well pleasing for a sweet savour before God.

This was his offering, in consequence of the vow which he had vowed that he would give a tenth, with their fruit-offerings and their drink- offerings.

And when the fire had consumed it, he burnt incense on the fire over the fire, and for a thank-offering two oxen and four rams and four sheep, four he-goats, and two sheep of a year old, and two kids of the goats; and thus he did daily for seven days.

And he and all his sons and his men were eating (this) with joy there during seven days and blessing and thanking the Lord, who had delivered him out of all his tribulation and had given him his vow.

And he tithed all the clean animals, and made a burnt sacrifice, but the unclean animals he gave (not) to Levi his son, and he gave him all the souls of the men.

And Levi discharged the priestly office at Bethel before Jacob his father in preference to his ten brothers, and he was a priest there, and Jacob gave his vow: thus he tithed again the tithe to the Lord and sanctified it, and it became holy unto Him.

And for this reason it is ordained on the heavenly tablets as a law for the tithing again the tithe to eat before the Lord from year to year, in the place where it is chosen that His name should dwell, and to this law there is no limit of days for ever.

This ordinance is written that it may be fulfilled from year to year in eating the second tithe before the Lord in the place where it has been chosen, and nothing shall remain over from it from this year to the year following.

For in its year shall the seed be eaten till the days of the gathering of the seed of the year, and the wine till the days of the wine, and the oil till the days of its season.

And all that is left thereof and becomes old, let it be regarded as polluted: let it be burnt with fire, for it is unclean.

And thus let them eat it together in the sanctuary, and let them not suffer it to become old.

And all the tithes of the oxen and sheep shall be holy unto the Lord, and shall belong to his priests, which they will eat before Him from year to year; for thus is it ordained and engraven regarding the tithe on the heavenly tablets.

And on the following night, on the twenty-second day of this month, Jacob resolved to build that place, and to surround the court with a wall, and to sanctify it and make it holy for ever, for himself and his children after him.

And the Lord appeared to him by night and blessed him and said unto him: 'Thy name shall not be called Jacob, but Israel shall they name thy name.'

And He said unto him again: 'I am the Lord who created the heaven and the earth, and I will increase thee and multiply thee exceedingly, and kings shall come forth from thee, and they shall judge everywhere wherever the foot of the sons of men has trodden.

And I will give to thy seed all the earth which is under heaven, and they shall judge all the nations according to their desires, and after that they shall get possession of the whole earth and inherit it for ever.'

And He finished speaking with him, and He went up from him. and Jacob looked till He had ascended into heaven.

And he saw in a vision of the night, and behold an angel descended from heaven with seven tablets in his hands, and he gave them to Jacob, and he read them and knew all that was written therein which would befall him and his sons throughout all the ages.

And he showed him all that was written on the tablets, and said unto him: 'Do not build this place, and do not make it an eternal sanctuary, and do not dwell here; for this is not the place. Go to the house of Abraham thy father and dwell with Isaac thy father until the day of the death of thy father.

For in Egypt thou shalt die in peace, and in this land thou shalt be buried with honour in the sepulchre of thy fathers, with Abraham and Isaac.

Fear not, for as thou hast seen and read it, thus shall it all be; and do thou write down everything as thou hast seen and read.'

And Jacob said: 'Lord, how can I remember all that I have read and seen? 'And he said unto him: 'I will bring all things to thy remembrance.'

And he went up from him, and he awoke from his sleep, and he remembered everything which he had read and seen, and he wrote down all the words which he had read and seen.

And he celebrated there yet another day, and he sacrificed thereon according to all that he sacrificed on the former days, and called its name 'Addition,' for this day was added and the former days he called 'The Feast '.

And thus it was manifested that it should be, and it is written on the heavenly tablets: wherefore it was revealed to him that he should celebrate it, and add it to the seven days of the feast.

And its name was called 'Addition,' because that it was recorded amongst the days of the feast days, according to the number of the days of the year.

And in the night, on the twenty-third of this month, Deborah Rebecca's nurse died, and they buried her beneath the city under the oak of the river, and he called the name of this place, 'The river of Deborah,' and the oak, 'The oak of the mourning of Deborah.'

And Rebecca went and returned to her house to his father Isaac, and Jacob sent by her hand rams and sheep and he-goats that she should prepare a meal for his father such as he desired.

And he went after his mother till he came to the land of Kabratan, and he dwelt there.

And Rachel bare a son in the night, and called his name 'Son of my sorrow '; for she suffered in giving him birth: but his father called his name Benjamin, on the eleventh of the eighth month in the first of the sixth week of this jubilee. (2143 AM)

And Rachel died there and she was buried in the land of Ephrath, the same is Bethlehem, and Jacob built a pillar on the grave of Rachel, on the road above her grave.

September 24, 2011
0
Published in The Book of Jubilees
Written by LC Geerts

The Book of Jubilees (1030)

From The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament

A page of the Book of Jubilees

See the video about Jubilees in 20 parts:

Children categories

by Dr. Herman L. Hoeh

A Dissertation Presented to The Faculty of the Ambassador College Graduate School of Education In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy

1963 1966, 1969 Edition

BY W. SCOTT-ELLIOT

THE THEOSOPHICAL PUBLISHING HOUSE, LTD.; LONDON

[1904]

Scanned at sacred-texts.com, March 2004. John Bruno Hare, redactor. This text is in the public domain in the United States. These files may be used for any non-commercial purpose, provided this notice of attribution is left intact.

Containing an Account

OF THE

Original of the Earth

AND OF ALL THE

GENERAL CHANGES

Which it hath already undergone

OR

IS TO UNDERGO

Till the CONSUMMATION of all Things

by Thomas Burnet

The Second Edition,

LONDON

Printed by R. Norton, for Walter Kettilby, at the Biƒhops-Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard

[1691]

De Dea Syria, by Lucian of Samosata

by Herbert A. Strong and John Garstang

[1913]

The Book of Jubilees

From The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament

Chapter 45

The Book of Jubilees

From The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament

Chapter 44

The Book of Jubilees

From The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament

Chapter 43

The Book of Jubilees

From The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament

Chapter 42

The Book of Jubilees

From The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament

Chapter 41

The Book of Jubilees

From The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament

Chapter 40

The Book of Jubilees

From The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament

Chapter 39

The Book of Jubilees

From The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament

Chapter 38

The Book of Jubilees

From The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament

Chapter 37

The Book of Jubilees

From The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament

Chapter 36

More...

The Book of Jubilees

From The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament

Chapter 35

The Book of Jubilees

From The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament

Chapter 34

The Book of Jubilees

From The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament

Chapter 33

The Book of Jubilees

From The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament

Chapter 32

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