Book of Jubilees Reader

And Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Mesopotamia, to Laban the son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebecca, Jacob's mother.

And it came to pass after Jacob had arisen to go to Mesopotamia that the spirit of Rebecca was grieved after her son, and she wept.

And Isaac said to Rebecca: "My sister, weep not on account of Jacob, my son; for he goeth in peace, and in peace will he return.

The Most High God will preserve him from all evil, and will be with him; for He will not forsake him all his days; For I know that his ways will be prospered in all things wherever he goeth, until he return in peace to us, and we see him in peace.

Fear not on his account my sister, for he is on the upright path and he is a perfect man: and he is faithful and will not perish. Weep not."

And Isaac comforted Rebecca on account of her son Jacob, and blessed him.

And Jacob went from the Well of the Oath to go to Haran on the first year of the second week in the forty-fourth Jubilee,

and he came to Luz on the mountains, that is, Bethel, on the new moon of the first month of this week, and he came to the place at even

and turned from the way to the west of the road that night: and he slept there; for the sun had set.

And he took one of the stones of that place and laid it (at his head) under the tree, and he was journeying alone, and he slept.

And he dreamt that night, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven, and behold, the angels of the Lord ascended and descended on it: and behold, the Lord stood upon it.

And He spake to Jacob and said: "I am the Lord God of Abraham, thy father, and the God of Isaac; the land whereon thou art sleeping, to thee shall I give it, and to thy seed after thee.

And thy seed will be as the dust of the earth, and thou wilt increase to the west and to the east, to the north and the south, and in thee and in thy seed will all the families of the nations be blessed.

And behold, I shall be with thee, and shall keep thee whithersoever thou goest, and I shall bring thee again into this land in peace; for I shall not leave thee until I do everything that I told thee of."

And Jacob awoke from his sleep, and said, "Truly this place is the house of the Lord, and I knew it not."

And he was afraid and said:" Dreadful is this place which is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven."

And Jacob arose early in the morning, and took the stone which he had put under his head and set it up as a pillar for a sign, and he poured oil upon the top of it.

And he called the name of that place Bethel; but the name of the place was Luz at the first.

And Jacob vowed a vow unto the Lord, saying: "If the Lord will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and give me bread to eat and raiment to put on,

so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then shall the Lord be my God,

and this stone which I have set up as a pillar for a sign in this place, shall be the Lord's house, and of all that thou givest me, I shall give the tenth to thee, my God."

And he went on his journey, and came to the land of the east, to Laban, the brother of Rebecca,

and he was with him, and served him for Rachel his daughter one week.

And in the first year of the third week he said unto him: "Give me my wife, for whom I have served thee seven years;"

and Laban said unto Jacob. "I will give thee thy wife."

And Laban made a feast, and took Leah his elder daughter, and gave (her) to Jacob as a wife, and gave her Zilpah his handmaid for an handmaid;

and Jacob did not know, for he thought that she was Rachel. And he went in unto her, and behold, she was Leah;

and Jacob was angry with Laban, and said unto him: "Why hast thou dealt thus with me? Did not I serve thee for Rachel and not for Leah? Why hast thou wronged me?

Take thy daughter, and I will go; for thou hast done evil to me."

For Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah; for Leah's eyes were weak, but her form was very handsome; but Rachel had beautiful eyes and a beautiful and very handsome form.

And Laban said to Jacob: "It is not so done in our country, to give the younger before the elder." And it is not right to do this;

for thus it is ordained and written in the heavenly tables, that no one should give his younger daughter before the elder--but the elder one giveth first and after her the younger--and the man who doeth so, they set down guilt against him in heaven, and none is righteous that doeth this thing, for this deed is evil before the Lord....

And command thou the children of Israel that they do not this thing; let them neither take nor give the younger before they have given the elder, for it is very wicked.

And Laban said to Jacob: "Let the seven days of the feast of this one pass by, and I shall give thee Rachel, that thou mayest serve me another seven years, that thou mayest pasture my sheep as thou didst in the former week."

And on the day when the seven days of the feast of Leah had passed, Laban gave Rachel to Jacob, that he might serve him another seven years,

and he gave to Rachel Bilhah, the sister of Zilpah as a handmaid.

And he served yet other seven years for Rachel, for Leah had been given to him for nothing.

And the Lord opened the womb of Leah, and she conceived and bare Jacob a son, and he called his name Reuben, on the fourteenth day of the ninth month, in the first year of the third week.

But the womb of Rachel was closed, for the Lord saw that Leah was hated and Rachel loved.

And again Jacob went in unto Leah, and she conceived, and bare Jacob a second son, and he called his name Simeon, on the twenty-first of the tenth month, and in the third year of this week.

And again Jacob went in unto Leah, and she conceived, and bare him a third son, and he called his name Levi, in the new moon of the first month in the sixth year of this week.

And again Jacob went in unto her, and she conceived, and bare him a fourth son, and he called his name Judah, on the fifteenth of the third month, in the first year of the fourth week.

And on account of all this Rachel envied Leah, for she did not bear, and she said to Jacob: "Give me children";

and Jacob said: "Have I withheld from thee the fruits of thy womb? Have I forsaken thee?"

And when Rachel saw that Leah had borne four sons to Jacob, Reuben and Simeon and Levi and Judah, she said unto him: "Go in unto Bilhah my handmaid, and she will conceive, and bear a son unto me."

(And she gave (him) Bilhah her handmaid to wife.) And he went in unto her, and she conceived, and bare him a son, and he called his name Dan, on the ninth of the sixth month, in the sixth year of the third week.

And Jacob went in again unto Bilhah a second time, and she conceived, and bare Jacob another son, and Rachel called his name Naphtali, on the fifth of the seventh month, in the second year of the fourth week.

And when Leah saw that she had become sterile and did not bear, she envied (Rachel) and she also gave her handmaid Zilpah to Jacob to wife,

and she conceived, and bare a son, and Leah called his name Gad, on the twelfth of the eighth month, in the third year of the fourth week.

And he went in again unto her, and she conceived, and bare him a second son, and Leah called his name Asher, on the second of the eleventh month, in the fifth year of the fourth week.

And Jacob went in unto Leah, and she conceived, and bare a son, and she called his name Issachar, on the fourth of the fifth month, in the fourth year of the fourth week, and she gave him to a nurse.

And Jacob went in again unto her, and she conceived, and bare two (children), a son and a daughter, and she called the name of the son Zebulon, and the name of the daughter Dinah, in the seventh of the seventh month, in the sixth year of the fourth week.

And the Lord was gracious to Rachel, and opened her womb, and she conceived, and bare a son, and she called his name Joseph, on the new moon of the fourth month, in the sixth year in this fourth week.

And in the days when Joseph was born, Jacob said to Laban: "Give me my wives and sons, and let me go to my father Isaac, and let me make me an house;

for I have completed the years in which I have served thee for thy two daughters, and I will go to the house of my father."

And Laban said to Jacob: "Tarry with me for thy wages, and pasture my flock for me again, and take thy wages."

And they agreed with one another that he should give him as his wages those of the lambs and kids which were born black and spotted and white, (these) were to be his wages.

And all the sheep brought forth spotted and speckled and black, variously marked, and they brought forth again lambs like themselves, and all that were spotted were Jacob's and those which were not were Laban's.

And Jacob's possessions multiplied exceedingly, and he possessed oxen and sheep and asses and camels, and menservants and maidservants.

And Laban and his sons envied Jacob, and Laban took back his sheep from him, and he observed him with evil intent.

And it came to pass when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Laban went to shear his sheep; for they were distant from him a three days' journey.

And Jacob saw that Laban was going to shear his sheep, and Jacob called Leah and Rachel, and spake kindly unto them that they should come with him to the land of Canaan.

For he told them how he had seen everything in a dream, even all that He had spoken unto him that he should return to his father's house;

and they said: "To every place whither thou goest we will go with thee."

And Jacob blessed the God of Isaac his father, and the God of Abraham his father's father, and he arose and mounted his wives and his children, and took all his possessions and crossed the river, and came to the land of Gilead,

and Jacob hid his intention from Laban and told him not. And in the seventh year of the fourth week Jacob turned (his face) toward Gilead in the first month, on the twenty-first thereof.

And Laban pursued after him and overtook Jacob in the mountain of Gilead in the third month, on the thirteenth thereof.

And the Lord did not suffer him to injure Jacob; for He appeared to him in a dream by night.

And Laban spake to Jacob, And on the fifteenth of those days Jacob made a feast for Laban, and for all who came with him,

and Jacob sware to Laban that day, and Laban also to Jacob, that neither should cross the mountain of Gilead to the other with evil purpose.

And he made there a heap for a witness; wherefore the name of that place is called: "The Heap of Witness," after this heap.

But before they used to call the land of Gilead the land of the Rephaim; for it was the land of the Rephaim,

and the Rephaim were born (there), giants whose height was ten, nine, eight down to seven cubits.

And their habitation was from the land of the children of Ammon to Mount Hermon, and the seats of their kingdom were Karnaim and Ashtaroth, and Edrei, and Mîsûr, and Beon.

And the Lord destroyed them because of the evil of their deeds; for they were very malignant, and the Amorites dwelt in their stead, wicked and sinful,

and there is no people to-day which hath wrought to the full all their sins, and they have no longer length of life on the earth.

And Jacob sent away Laban, and he departed into Mesopotamia, the land of the East, and Jacob returned to the land of Gilead. And he passed over the Jabbok in the ninth month, on the eleventh thereof.

And on that day Esau, his brother, came to him, and he was reconciled to him, and departed from him unto the land of Seir, but Jacob dwelt in tents.

And in the first year of the fifth week in this jubilee he crossed the Jordan, and dwelt beyond the Jordan, and he pastured his sheep from the sea of the heap unto Bethshan, and unto Dothan and unto the forest of Akrabbim.

And he sent to his father Isaac of all his substance, clothing, and food, and meat, and drink, and milk, and butter, and cheese, and some dates of the valley,

And to his mother Rebecca also four times a year, between the times of the months, between ploughing and reaping, and between autumn and the rain (season) and between winter and spring,

to the tower of Abraham. For Isaac had returned from the Well of the Oath and gone up to the tower of his father Abraham, and he dwelt there apart from his son Esau.

For in the days when Jacob went to Mesopotamia, Esau took to himself a wife Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael,

and he gathered together all the flocks of his father and his wives, and went up and dwelt on Mount Seir, and left Isaac his father at the Well of the Oath alone.

And Isaac went up from the Well of the Oath and dwelt in the tower of Abraham his father on the mountains of Hebron,

And thither Jacob sent all that he did send to his father and his mother from time to time, all they needed, and they blessed Jacob with all their heart and with all their soul.

And in the first year of the sixth week he went up to Salem, to the east of Shechem, in peace, in the fourth month.

And there they carried off Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, into the house of Shechem, the son of Hamor, the Hivite, the prince of the land, and he lay with her and defiled her,

and she was a little girl, a child of twelve years. And he besought his father and her brothers that she might be given to him to wife.

And Jacob and his sons were wroth because of the men of Shechem; for they had defiled Dinah, their sister, and they spake to them with evil intent and dealt deceitfully with them and beguiled them.

And Simeon and Levi came unexpectedly to Shechem and executed judgment on all the men of Shechem, and slew all the men whom they found in it, and left not a single one remaining in it:

they slew all in torments because they had dishonoured their sister Dinah.

And thus let it not again be done from henceforth that a daughter of Israel be defiled;

for judgment is ordained in heaven against them that they should destroy with the sword all the men of the Shechemites because they had wrought shame in Israel.

And the Lord delivered them into the hands of the sons of Jacob that they might exterminate them with the sword and execute judgment upon them,...

and that it might not thus again be done in Israel that a virgin of Israel should be defiled.

And if there is any man who wisheth in Israel to give his daughter or his sister to any man who is of the seed of the Gentiles he shall surely die, and they shall stone him with stones; for he hath wrought shame in Israel;

and they shall burn the woman with fire, because she hath dishonoured the name of the house of her father, and she shall be rooted out of Israel.

And let not an adulteress and no uncleanness be found in Israel throughout all the days of the generations of the earth; for Israel is holy unto the Lord,

and every man who hath defiled (it) shall surely die: they shall stone him with stones.

For thus hath it been ordained and written in the heavenly tables regarding all the seed of Israel: he who defileth (it) shall surely die, and he shall be stoned with stones.

And to this law there is no limit of days, and no remission, nor any atonement: but the man who hath defiled his daughter shall be rooted out in the midst of all Israel, because he hath given of his seed to Moloch, and wrought impiously so as to defile it.

And do thou, Moses, command the children of Israel and exhort them not to give their daughters to the Gentiles, and not to take for their sons any of the daughters of the Gentiles, for this is abominable before the Lord.

For this reason I have written for thee in the words of the Law all the deeds of the Shechemites, which they wrought against Dinah,

and how the sons of Jacob spake, saying: "We shall not give our daughter to a man who is uncircumcised;

for that were a reproach unto us." And it is a reproach to Israel, to those who give, and to those who take the daughters of the Gentiles; for this is unclean and abominable to Israel. And Israel will not be free

from this uncleanness if it hath a wife of the daughters of the Gentiles, or hath given any of its daughters to a man who is of any of the Gentiles. For there will be plague upon plague, and curse upon curse, and every judgment and plague and curse will come (upon him):

if he do this thing, or hide his eyes from those who commit uncleanness, or those who defile the sanctuary of the Lord, or those who profane His holy name, (then) will the whole nation together be judged for all the uncleanness and profanation of this (man).

And there will be no respect of persons [and no consideration of persons], and no receiving at his hands of fruits and offerings and burnt-offerings and fat, nor the fragrance of sweet savour, so as to accept it:

and so fare every man or woman in Israel who defileth the sanctuary.

For this reason I have commanded thee, saying: "Testify this testimony to Israel: see how the Shechemites fared and their sons: how they were delivered into the hands of two sons of Jacob, and they slew them under tortures,

and it was (reckoned) unto them for righteousness, and it is written down to them for righteousness. And the seed of Levi was chosen for the priesthood, and to be Levites, that they might minister before the Lord, as we, continually,

and that Levi and his sons may be blessed for ever; for he was zealous to execute righteousness and judgment and vengeance on all those who arose against Israel.

And so they inscribe as a testimony in his favour on the heavenly tables blessing and righteousness before the God of all: And we remember the righteousness which the man fulfilled during his life, at all periods of the year; until a thousand generations they will record it,

and it will come to him and to his descendants after him, and he hath been recorded on the heavenly tables as a friend and a righteous man.

All this account I have written for thee, and have commanded thee to say to the children of Israel, that they should not commit sin nor transgress the ordinances nor break the covenant which hath been ordained for them, (but) that they should fulfil it and be recorded as friends.

But if they transgress and work uncleanness in every way, they will be recorded on the heavenly tables as adversaries, and they will be destroyed out of the book of life, and they will be recorded in the book of those who will be destroyed and with those who will be rooted out of the earth.

And on the day when the sons of Jacob slew Shechem a writing was recorded in their favour in heaven that they had executed righteousness and uprightness and vengeance on the sinners, and it was written for a blessing.

And they brought Dinah, their sister, out of the house of Shechem,

and they took captive everything that was in Shechem, their sheep and their oxen and their asses, and all their wealth, and all their flocks, and brought them all to Jacob their father.

And he reproached them because they had put the city to the sword; for he feared those who dwelt in the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites.

And the dread of the Lord was upon all the cities which are around about Shechem, and they did not rise to pursue after the sons of Jacob; for terror had fallen upon them.

And on the new moon of the month Jacob spake to all the people of his house, saying: "Purify yourselves and change your garments,

and let us arise and go up to Bethel, where I vowed a vow to Him on the day when I fled from the face of Esau my brother, because He hath been with me and brought me into this land in peace,

and put ye away the strange gods that are among you." And they gave up the strange gods and that which was in their ears and which was on their necks, and the idols which Rachel stole from Laban her brother

she gave wholly to Jacob. And he burnt and brake them to pieces and destroyed them, and hid them under an oak which is in the land of Shechem.

And he went up on the new moon of the seventh month to Bethel. And he built an altar at the place where he had slept, and he set up a pillar there,

and he sent word to his father Isaac to come to him to his sacrifice, and to his mother Rebecca.

And Isaac said: "Let my son Jacob come, and let me see him before I die."

And Jacob went to his father Isaac and to his mother Rebecca, to the house of his father Abraham, and he took two of his sons with him, Levi and Judah, and he came to his father Isaac and to his mother Rebecca.

And Rebecca came forth from the tower to the front of it to kiss Jacob and embrace him; for her spirit had revived when she heard: "Behold Jacob thy son hath come";

and she kissed him. And she saw his two sons, and she recognised them, and said unto him: "Are these thy sons, my son?"

and she embraced them and kissed them, and blessed them, saying: "In you shall the seed of Abraham become illustrious, and ye will prove a blessing on the earth."

And Jacob went in to Isaac his father, to the chamber where he lay, and his two sons were with him,

and he took the hand of his father, and stooping down he kissed him, and Isaac clung to the neck of Jacob his son, and wept upon his neck.

And the darkness left the eyes of Isaac, and he saw the two sons of Jacob, Levi and Judah, and he said: "Are these thy sons, my son? for they are like thee."

And he said unto him that they were truly his sons: "And thou hast truly seen that they are truly my sons."

And they came near to him, and he turned and kissed them and embraced them both together.

And the spirit of prophecy came down into his mouth, and he took Levi by his right hand and Judah by his left. And he turned to Levi first, and began to bless him first,

and said unto him:, 'May the God of all, the very Lord of all the ages, bless thee and thy children throughout all the ages.

And may the Lord give to thee and to thy seed greatness and great glory, and cause thee and thy seed, from among all flesh, to approach Him to serve in His sanctuary

as the angels of the presence and as the holy ones. (Even) as they, will the seed of thy sons be for glory and greatness and holiness,

and may He make them great unto all the ages. And they will be princes and judges, and chiefs of all the seed of the sons of Jacob;

They will speak the word of the Lord in righteousness, And they will judge all His judgments in righteousness. And they will declare My ways to Jacob. And My paths to Israel.

The blessing of the Lord will be given in their mouths To bless all the seed of the beloved.

Thy mother hath called thy name Levi, And justly hath she called thy name; Thou wilt be joined to the Lord And be the companion of all the sons of Jacob;

Let His table be thine, And do thou and thy sons eat thereof; And may thy table be full unto all generations, And thy food fail not unto all the ages.