Book of Jubilees Reader

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 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 ate 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.

And in the sixth year of this week 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 loveth 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 deviseth evil against his brother, know that from henceforth every one that deviseth evil against his brother will fall into his hand, and will be rooted out of the land of the living, and his seed will 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 will 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 will 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 will come upon the man who wisheth 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 shall give to the first-born." 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 ate 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, 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.

And on the day that Isaac the father of Jacob and Esau died, 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 hath 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 hath 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 groweth 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 ’Adurâm 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 hath 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 hath 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 shall 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 will be peace in my heart towards thee.

And if the lion becometh the friend of the ox and maketh peace with him, And if he is bound under one yoke with him and plougheth with him, Then shall I make peace with thee.

And when the raven becometh white as the râzâ, 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 cometh upon the spear that pierceth and killeth it, and recoileth not from it;

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

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 mayest 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 ’Adôrân 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 ’Adûrâm.

And the sons of Jacob pursued after them to the mountains of Seir. And Jacob buried his brother on the hill which is in ’Adûrâm, 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 Bâlâq, the son of Beor, reigned in Edom, and the name of his city was Danâbâ.

And Bâlâq died, and Jobab, the son of Zârâ of Bôsêr, reigned in his stead.

And Jobab died, and ’Asâm, of the land of Têmân, reigned in his stead. And ’Asâm died, and ’Adâth, 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 ’Adâth died, and Salman, from ’Amâsêqâ, reigned in his stead.

And Salman died, and Saul of Râ’abôth (by the) river, reigned in his stead.

And Saul died, and Ba’êlûnân, the son of Achbor, reigned in his stead.

And Ba’êlûnân, the son of Achbor, died, and ’Adâth reigned in his stead, and the name of his wife was Maiṭabîth, the daughter of Mâṭarat, the daughter of Mêtabêdzâ’ab.

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

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 hath a husband; that for him the punishment of death hath 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 everything, 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.

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 told his two dreams before him.

And he said before Pharaoh that his two dreams were one,

and he said unto him: "Seven years will come (in which there will be) plenty over all the land of Egypt, and after that seven years of famine, such a famine as hath 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 "’Êl ’Êl wa’ Abîrĕr,"

and he 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 Sĕphânṭîphâns, 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 produced abundantly, 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.

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