Chronicles of Jerahmeel (Gaster, 1899) Reader

LXVI. (1) Nebuchadnezzar was not very much changed in his being from other men; but only in his appearance, in his mind, and in his language. He appeared to men like an ox as far as his navel (or stomach), and from his navel to his feet like a lion. He ate the herbs at first which other men eat, to show that he chewed his food like an ox, and became at last like a lion, in that he killed all the wicked. Many people went out to see him, but Daniel did not, because, during the time of his change, he was praying for him, so that the seven years became seven months. For forty days he roamed about among the wild beasts, and for the next forty days his heart became like that of any other man, and he wept on account of his sins. Again, for forty days he wandered about in caves, and for yet another

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forty days he roamed among the wild beasts until the seven months were completed.

(2) When, however, the Lord restored him to his former position he no longer reigned alone, but appointed seven judges, one for each year until the expiration of the seven years. And during this time, while he was repenting for his sins, he neither ate meat nor bread, nor drank any wine, but his food consisted of herbs and seed, according to Daniel's counsel. When, after the seven years of his punishment, he sat once more on the throne of his kingdom, he wished to make Daniel an heir among his sons, but Daniel said, ' Far be it from me to leave the inheritance of my fathers for that of the uncircumcised.'

(3) On the death of Nebuchadnezzar the Great, his son of the same name succeeded him. He built a temple to Bel in Babylon, and completed the city of Babylon. He surrounded it with the river, so that the enemy could not prevail against it. He increased the city and the temple of Bel tenfold, and added glory and honour, and in fifteen days (?) the building was complete.

(4) The king then, having placed a huge stone upon a mountain, planted a garden upon it, which was raised to a great height so as to enable his wife to gaze upon Media, the land of her birth, for she longed to behold it. This was the king who besieged Tyre for three years and ten months. When Nebuchadnezzar, the son of Nebuchad- nezzar the Great, died. Evil Merodach reigned in his stead.

(5) Now, in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin, King of Judah, on the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month. Evil Merodach, King of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, rescued Jehoiachin, King of Judah, from prison, and raised his throne above that of any other king in Babylon, and, changing his prison garments, he main- tained him as long as he lived. He did this because Nebuchadnezzar the Great did not keep his faith with him, for Evil Merodach was really his eldest son; but he made Nebuchadnezzar the Younger king, because he had humbled the wicked. They slandered him to his father, who

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placed him (Evil Merodach) in prison together with Jehoiachin, where they remained together until the death of Nebuchadnezzar, his brother, after whom he reigned.

(6) ' I fear my father Nebuchadnezzar,' he said, ' lest he rise from his grave, for just as he was changed back from an animal to a man, so in the same manner he may rise up from death to life.' But Jehoiachin advised him to take the corpse out of the grave, and, cutting it into 300 pieces, to give it to 300 vultures, and he said to him, ' Thy father will not rise up until these vultures have brought back the flesh of thy father, which they have eaten.' Evil Merodach had three sons, whose names were Eegosar ("iDTjn), Lebuzer- Dukh C^-n "iT-np), and Nabar ("i^^^, who was Belshazzar, with whom the Chaldean kingdom came to an end.

[Here commences the book of Joseph ben Gorion, with the exception of the first two pages, which contain an enumeration of the families and ancient kings, which I have written above in its proper place in the Book of the Generations.]

LXVII. (1) When God had visited upon Babylon all that He spake to His servants Isaiah and Jeremiah, the prophets, on behalf of Jerusalem, He raised up against them two mighty kings: Darius, King of Media, and Cyrus, King of Persia. And Cyrus entered into close friendship with Darius by taking his daughter to wife, so that they jointly rebelled against Belshazzar, King of the Chaldeans. This was the commencement of many fierce battles. At the outset the Chaldeans were victorious; but many fell on either side, and the Chaldeans fleeing, Cyrus and Darius pursued them until a distance of one day's journey from Babylon, and smote them and cut them to pieces. There Cyrus and Darius encamped with all their armies, and when the king Belshazzar saw them he sent out all the host of his mighty men — a thousand princes and the troops that were in the temple, a numerous and powerful band. At twilight all these marched out of Babylon, con- tinuing their march during the whole night. But at the

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break of morn they began to attack the camp of Darius and Cyrus, which at the onset became bewildered, and the camp of Media fled in confusion; but Cyrus and his men braced themselves up to fight against the Chaldeans, and prevented them from following the Median camp. In the night, when the battle had ceased, the slain of the Medes and Persians were found to be very numerous.

(2) On that same day, as the princes of Belshazzar saw that they had gained a victory, they came before King Belshazzar full of victory and strength. The king made a great feast for them, and many presents of silver and gold were given to them; and the king rejoiced with his 1,000 princes, and sat down to eat and drink with them. They prolonged the banquet until night. Now, Belshazzar had drunk too much, and while he was in a state of intoxication he ordered the golden vessels which had been in the temple of our God at Jerusalem to be brought to him — viz., those holy vessels which Nebuchadnezzar had seized when he exiled the Jews from Jerusalem to Babylon. He then defiled the holy vessels by drinking wine out of them, together with his 1,000 princes, his wives, and his concubines.

(3) But when our God beheld this profanation. He was angry and jealous (zealous) for His vessels, so He sent from His throne a scribe to write a severe rebuke for the king, and to acquaint him with the judgment which our God had decreed concerning his life and his kingdom. The scribe accordingly wrote upon the wall in red ink by the lamp of the king the following: 'He thought, He weighed. He separated.' The letters were written in Hebrew characters, but the writing was Aramaic. When the king saw the fingers writing — the other parts of the body he did not see, for the fingers were terrible and beautiful — he became bewildered and very much afraid, so that every limb of his body, his heart, and his very bones trembled.

(1) With the help of God I commence to write this my book without interruption. These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created on the day when the Lord God made heaven and earth. E. Eliezer, son of Hyrqanos, began his homily thus: ' Who can express all the mighty acts of God?' Is there anybody who can possibly give utterance to the mighty deeds of God and pro- claim all His praise? Not even the ministering angels can do this. It is only possible to recount part of His mighty deeds, to explain what He has done and what He in future wdll do, so that His great name may be exalted among the creatures whom He has created from one end of the world to the other, as it is said, ' Every generation shall praise Thy works.' Before the world was created God and His name alone existed. When it entered His mind to create the world, He drew the plan of a world, but it would not stand. This may be compared to the action of a man who wishes to build a palace: unless he plans out its foundations, its exits and its entrances, he cannot commence to build. Thus God planned the world before Him, but it would not stand until He created repentance. (2) Seven things were created prior to the creation of the world, viz.: the Law, repentance, the throne of glory, the Garden of Eden, Gehinnom, the site of the temple, and the name of the Messiah, and for all these things proof is to be found in the Scriptures.

(3) Eight things were created on the first day, viz., heaven and earth, light and darkness, that which was without form and void (Tohu va-Bohu), air and water; and the Spirit of God hovered over the surface of the waters. Some say day

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and night were also included in the first day of the creation, as it is said: ' And it was evening, and it was morning, one day.' Eight things were also created on the second day: The well (of Miriam), manna, the rod (of Moses), the rain- bow, the letters and the writing, the clothes (of Adam and Eve), and demons (Maziqim).

(4) Ten things were paramount in the thought of God at the creation, viz.: Jerusalem, the spirits of the patriarchs, the ways of the righteous, Gehinnom, the flood, the double tables of stone, the Sabbath, the temple, the ark, and the light of the future world. (5) Wherefrom were the heavens created? From the brilliancy of God's covering which He took up and spread as a garment, and the heavens went on extending until He said unto them, ' Be stayed,' and they stopped. (6) Whence was the earth created? From the snow beneath the throne of glory. God took it up and scattered it upon the waters, then the waters were congealed and became the dust of the earth, as it is said, ' For He says unto the snow. Become earth.' The boundaries of the heavens touch the waters of the ocean, for the waters of the ocean (Oqeanos) flow round the extremities of the heavens and the earth, and the extremities of the heavens are spread upon the waters of the ocean, as it is said, ' Who layeth the foundation of His upper chambers in the waters.' The heavens rise to an immense height in the form of a tent that is spread out, and mortals stand beneath it; its extremity is below, and its centre is above. This is the form of the heavens, their extremity is below and their centre above, so that all (God's) creatures, as it were, sit beneath it as in a tent, as it is said, ' He spread them out as a tent for dwelling therein.' (7) Four winds were created in the world, viz., the winds coming from the east, south, north, and west. From the eastern corner the light of the world goeth forth; from the south, the dews of blessing descend upon the world; from the west emanate the stores of snow, hail, cold and heat, and rains for the benefit of the world; the north corner of the world He created, but did not complete, for He said: Whoever declares himself

to be God, let him come and finish this corner which I have left, and then shall all know that he is a God. There the demons, earthquakes, evil spirits, and Shiddim dwell, and from there they come forth to the world, as it is said, ' Out of the north evil shall break forth ' (Jer. i. 14).

(8) On the second day He created the firmament, the angels, the heat of the living bodies, and the heat of Gehinnom. But were not the heavens created on the first day? as it is said, 'In the beginning God created the heavens.' What, then, is this heaven which was created on the second day? E. Eliezer says: That firmament which is above the heads of the four holy creatures, as it is said, ' In the likeness of a firmament above the holy creatures.' It appears like unto hoar-frost, consisting of precious stones and pearls; it lights up the whole heavens as the light which lights up the house, and as the sun which lights up the world at noon, as it is said, ' And light dwells with Him.' Simi- larly the righteous are destined in the future to enlighten the world, as it is said, ' And the wise will shine as the brightness of the firmament.' And if the firmament had not been created on the second day, the whole world would have been drowned by the waters from above, but the firmament now separates the upper from the lower waters. These angels, which were created on the second day, when sent by God, become winds, as it is said: ' He made His angels winds.' When they minister before Him, they become like fire, as it is said, ' His ministering angels are a flaming fire.' (9) Four bands of angels minister unto God, the first band, under Michael, on His right, the second, under Gabriel, in front of Him, the third, under Uriel, on His left, and the fourth, under Eaphael, behind Him. The Divine presence of God sits in the centre on a high and exalted throne, which is exceedingly majestic, and is suspended above in the air, and the appearance of its glory is like unto a carbuncle, one half is as fire, and the other half is as snow; a resplendent crown of glory rests upon His head, and upon His forehead is written the ineffable name of ' God.' His eyes overlook the whole earth; on

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His right is life, on His left death; a sceptre of fire is in His hand; a curtain is spread out before Him, (10) and the seven angels which ^Yere created first minister before Him within the curtain. His footstool is like fire and hail, and beneath the throne of glory, it has the appear- ance of sapphires; fire plays round about it; righteous- ness and justice are the supports of His throne; clouds of glory surround it, and the wheel, the ophan, the cherub, and the holy creatures sing praises unto Him. The throne is like sapphire; it stands upon four legs, and four holy creatures are attached to it; on each side are four faces and four wings, as it is said: ' There were four faces, which were four angels.' (11) When He speaks from the east, from between the two cherubim, He speaks in the direction of the face of man; when He speaks from the south. He speaks in the direction of the face of the lion; when from the west. He speaks in the direction of the oxen; when from the north, in the direction of the eagle; and opposite Him are the ophanim and the wheels of the chariot. When He sits upon the throne, high and exalted, and looks round the earth. His chariot being upon wheels, through the noise caused by the wheels of the chariot, lightnings and earthquakes are caused in the world. But when He traverses the heavens, He rides upon a swift cherub, as it is said, ' And He rode upon a swift cherub.' When He hastens to do a thing. He flies upon the wings of the wind, as it is said, ' And He flew upon the wings of the wind." (12) Two seraphim stand near Him, one on His right side and another on His left, each of which has six wings; with two each of them covers his face to prevent them gazing upon the Shekinah, and with two they each hide their legs so as not to remember the sin of the golden calf, and with two they fly, exulting in, and sanctifying. His great name. One answers while another proclaims, and one proclaims while the other answers, and they say, ' Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Hosts.' (13) The holy creatures stand with reverence and awe, with trembling and quaking, lest they

be consumed by the fire of the angels; and from then* faces streams down a fiery river, as it is said, ' And a river of fire flows before Him;' and the holy creatures do not know the place of His glory, but answer and exclaim wherever His glory be, ' Blessed is the glory of the Lord in His place.'

II. (1) On the third day the earth was like a plain, and the waters covered the face of the whole earth. When the word of God went forth, saying, ' Let the waters be gathered together,' the mountains were lifted up and scattered over the earth, and deep valleys were dug down in the bowels of the earth, into which the waters rolled and were gathered, as it is said, ' The gathering of waters He called seas.' The waters then immediately rose tumul- tuously to a great height and covered the face of the earth as at first, until God rebuked them and subdued them, and placed them under the hollow of His feet, and measured them in His palm, so that they could neither diminish nor increase. He surrounded the sea with sand as a fence, just as a man makes a fence for his vineyard. So that when the waters approach and see the fence before them they recede, as it is said, 'Will they not fear My signs, says the Lord.' (2) Before the waters were finally gathered together, the rivers and the fountains of the deep were created, for the earth was stretched over the waters just as a ship floating in the midst of the sea, as it is said, ' To spread out the earth over the waters.' (3) And God opened a gate in the Garden of Eden and brought forth all kinds of plants, every kind of tree yielding fruit after its kind, and every kind of grass. He took their seeds and planted them upon the earth, as it is said, ' Whose seed is within itself upon the earth.' He prepared food for His creatures before they were created, as it is said, ' Thou preparest a table before me.' (4) All the fountains of waters rise from the depths. B. Joshua said that the depth of the earth would take sixty years to w^alk through. There is one fountain close to Gehinnom which receives and gives out hot waters that delight man. (5) B. Jehudah says: Once every month

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rivulets ascend from the depths and water the face of the whole earth, as it is said, ' And a spray went up from the earth to water the garden.' The thick clouds pass on the sound of the water-courses to the seas, and the seas to the depths, and the depths to each other, and finally rise and give moisture to the clouds, as it is said, ' Who causes the vapours to ascend at the end of the earth.'

(6) The rains descend upon every place bidden them by the King, so that the earth immediately flourishes and becomes fertile. But when God wishes to bless the land and make it fertile and prosperous, so as to feed His creatures. He then opens His storehouse of good con- tained in the heavens and rains upon the earth, so that it immediately becomes fertile and produces the seed of blessing, as it is said, ' The Lord will open for thee His treasure of good.'

HI. (1) On the fourth day he formed two lights, one not larger than the other; they were identical both in their form and in their light, as it is said, ' And God made the two lights.' A quarrel ensued between them; one said to the other, ' I am greater than thou.' Therefore God, in order to make peace between them, enlarged the one and diminished the other, as it is said, 'And the greater to rule by day.' (2) E. Eliezer said that God uttered one word and the heavens were created to become the dwelling- place of the throne of the glory of His kingdom, as it is said, * By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,' but for the numerous host of heaven God exerted Himself more; He blew with the breath of His mouth, and all the host of the heavens were created, as it is said, ' And with the breath of His mouth all their host.' (3) All the stars and planets and the two lights were created at the beginning of the fourth night. One did not precede the other except by one minute particle of time; therefore, all the work of the sun is done slowly, while that of the moon is done quickly; what the sun takes twelve days to do the moon can do in one day; what the sun does during the whole year the moon does in thirty days, as it is explained in the chapters

of E. Eliezer. (4) Three letters of the meffable name of God are written upon the heart of the sun, and angels lead it. Those that lead it in the day do not lead it in the night, and those that lead it in the night do not lead it in the day. The sun rises in a chariot, and rides forth crowned as a bridegroom, as it is said, ' And he goeth forth from his canopy as a bridegroom.' The horns (the rays) and the fiery face of the sun look upon the earth in the summer, they would consume it with fire if the ice above would not temper the heat, as it is said, ' Nothing is hidden from his heat.' In the winter-time the sun turns his icy face to the earth, and were it not for the fire which warms the cold, the world would not be able to endure it, as it is said, ' Who can stand before his cold?' (5) The sun rises in the east and sets opposite in the west. The Shekinah always resides in the west, and the sun enters in its presence, and, bowing down before the King of kings, says: ' 0 Lord of the universe, I have fulfilled all Thy commands.' These are some of the ways of the sun. (6) The habitation of the moon is placed between the clouds and the thick darkness, which are like two dishes one above the other; within them the moon travels. These two clouds turn themselves towards the west, and the moon peeps out from between the two in the form of a little horn. On the first night of the new month one part is visible, on the second night a second portion, and so on until the middle of the month, when it is full moon. From the middle of the month onwards these two clouds turn them- selves eastwards, and that part of the moon which appeared first is the first to be covered by the tw^o clouds — on the first night one part, on the second night a second part, until the end of the month, when it is entirely covered. Whence do we know that the moon is between two clouds? Because it is said, ' The cloud is its clothing, and clouds of darkness its covering.'

IV. (1) The following seven planets God created and placed in order in the firmament for the benefit of the world; for by means of them people calculate the signs,

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seasons, and astronomical computations; the time of summer, the number of the hours, days and months, periods and festivals (appointed times), as it is said, ' They shall be for signs, for seasons, for days and for years.' (2) The seven days of the week are called after the seven planets, the Sun, Venus, Mercury, the Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars. On the first day Sol, i.e. the sun, rules, and this day is called Zondakh. On the second day the moon serves; it is called Luna, therefore the second day is called Lunedi, i.e., Mondakh. On the third day Mars serves; it is called Mars, hence Marsdi, i.e., Diensdakh. On the fourth day Mercury, or Marcurios, serves, therefore it is called Markusdi, i.e., Godansdakh. On the fifth day Jupiter serves; it is called lovis, hence lovisdi, i.e., Donnersdakh. On the sixth day Yenus, i.e., Veneri, serves, therefore the day is called Vindredi, that is Yredakh. On the seventh day Saturnus serves, therefore the day is called Sabbatdi, i.e., Satuldakh. (3) In what order are they placed in heaven? They are distributed there as sun and moon and the five planets. The firmament is divided into seven degrees, one above the other. There are seven distinct places for these seven planets; and this is their order: (4) The first degree is near the earth, and this lowest degree is the habitation of the moon, in which the moon makes a circuit round the firmament. The second degree is the habitation of Mercury, in which it describes its circuit in the firmament. The third degree is the habitation of Venus, in which it also describes its circuit in the firmament. The fourth degree is the middle of them, viz., the habitation of the sun, which completes its circuit of the heaven in twelve months. The fifth degree is the habitation of Mars, which makes its circuit in the firmament.^ The seventh degree is the highest of all, viz., the habitation of Saturn, which completes its circuit in three years. (5) This is the order of their work: Saturn is appointed over the poor and needy women, over faintness and sickness, diseases of the body, and over death. His appearance is like that of an 1 The sixth degree is missins^ in the MS.

old man with a sickle in his hand. (6) Mars is appointed over war (bloodshed) and the sword, over the wicked, over slander, over strife, battle, hatred, jealousy, quarrels, over warriors, wounds, injuries, bruises, over fire, water, and destruction. His appearance is like that of an armed w^arrior with a sword in his right hand, and he appears like a man of wrath and a stirrer up of strife. Wherever he turns wickedness ensues; he looks terrible in his coat of mail, and with the spear which he bears in his left hand. (7) Jupiter is appointed over life, peace and good, over prosperity, tranquillity, joy, pleasant conversation, re- joicings, riches, greatness, sovereignty and majesty. His appearance is like that of a valiant and noble-looking man, and his head is that of a ram. (8) Venus is appointed over kindness, favour, love, lust, passion, desire, marriage, the birth of man and animals, the fruits of the earth and the fruits of the tree. Its form is that of a young girl beautifully adorned, and swaying a branch of a tree in her hand. Mercury is appointed over wisdom, discretion, understanding, knowledge, and the active intellect en- abling one to unravel mysteries, to devise plans in every branch of work, and in the writings of any language. Its form is that of an old man with thin lips; he possesses wings, and the lower part of the body is like a dragon.

(9) The sun is appointed over hght, to separate light from darkness, and through it to enable us to calculate the days, months and years, and to do every kind of work, to make any cunning work, to walk any distance, and to migrate from city to city and from town to town. The moon holds the key of heaven and earth, and is appointed over morning and evening. She is set over all creatures, to lead them in the right or wrong way, although she has no power in herself either to do good or evil. But everything is done by order and command. Everything was created by means of the word of God.

(10) Hence the Rabbis have said that the orbit of the sun and the circuit of the moon, the order of the stars, the arrangement of the planets, the calculation of the circuits,

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the lengths of the days and the division of the hours, which are at first long and then become gradually shorter, are all the work of God.

V. On the fifth day He brought forth from the waters all manner of winged birds, male and female, all manner of locusts, and also the Leviathan, a serpent which holds all the dwellers of the lower waters between his two fins. The centre of the earth rests upon the huge serpents, which form food for the Leviathan. Every day he opens his mouth, and a huge serpent comes every day to feed him. It flies and flutters and enters the mouth of Leviathan, while God sports with it, as it is said, * Thou hast created this Leviathan to sport with it.'

VI. (1) On the sixth day He brought forth from the earth all kinds of animals, male and female, and the Behemoth that lies on a thousand hills, from which it obtains its food every day. In the night-time the food grows again as if the hills had not been touched, as it is said, ' Its food is from the produce of the mountains, and it drinks from the waters of the Jordan;' for the waters of the Jordan encompass all the land of Israel, one half of which is above, and the other of which is below the earth, as it is said, ' For He can draw up the Jordan in his mouth.' The Behemoth is preserved for the day on which it is to be brought as a sacrifice on the occasion of the great banquet of the righteous, as it is said, ' Its Maker will approach it with His sword.' (2) Everything in the world was origin- ally created before Adam, who was created last, on the sixth day, on the eve of Sabbath, lest people might say that God had a helper in the work of the creation.

(3) When God wished to create the world He called the company of angels commanded by the archangel Michael, and said unto them: ' Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness.' Whereupon they replied: ' What is man, that Thou shouldst remember him; and the son of man, that Thou shouldst think of him?' At this God immediately stretched forth His little finger among them and destroyed them, so that Michael alone was left.

He then called the company of angels commanded by Gabriel, and said: ' Let us make man in our image.' They also replied: ' What is man, that Thou shouldst remember him?' God again stretched forth His finger and destroyed them. (4) He then called Boel and his company, and said to them: ' Let us make man in our own image.' At which Boel said to his associates: ' See what has happened to those who said. What is man that Thou shouldst remember him? they were all de- stroyed. If we repeat what they have said. He will do the same to us, and in the end He will perform His will. It is therefore better that we comply with His wish.' They therefore immediately answered, and said: ' Lord of the world, it is w^ell that Thou hast thought to create man; do Thou create him according to Thy will, and we shall act as attendants and servants upon him, and reveal unto him all our secrets.' (5) God then said to Boel: ' From this day henceforth thy name shall not be called Boel, but Raphael, because, through thy counsel, thou hast saved all thy host, so that they were not consumed like the other companies.' (6) God then called Gabriel, and said unto him: ' Go and bring Me dust from the four corners of the earth, and I will create man out of it.' Gabriel then went to gather dust from the earth, but the earth drove him away and would not allow him to take dust from it. Gabriel there- upon said: ' Why, 0 earth, dost thou not hearken to the voice of thy Lord, who founded thee upon the w^aters without props and without pillars?' The earth replied, and said: ' I am destined to become a curse, and to be cursed through man, and if God Himself does not take the dust from me, no one else shall ever do so.' (7) When God saw this He stretched forth His hand, took of the dust, and created therewith the first man on the sixth da3^ God created the matter of man in four colours, white, black, red and green. The bones and the sinews are white, the intestines black, the blood red, and the skin of the body green (livid). When the soul departs from the body, the body immediately becomes livid. (8) The Torah (Law) then

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said to God, ' 0 Lord of the universe, this man whom Thou hast created will be short-lived, and he will sin before Thee; what will become of him?' God replied: ' Is it to no purpose that I am called slow to anger, of abundant mercy and truth? He who returns to Me in repentance, I will pardon.' The Torah said, ' If so, do Thy will. (9) But why did God create man from the four corners of the earth, and not from the dust of one single spot?' ' Because man goeth to the four corners of the earth, and when he dies, the earth shall not be able to say. Thou wast not created from me, therefore thou shalt not be buried in me; go to the place whence thou wast created, and there be buried. Thus, wherever a man ends his days, there shall he rest. God created man poor and from dust, and to dust shall he return; therefore has the dust been taken from the four corners of the earth.'

(10) There are twelve hours in the day; in the first hour He gathered the dust for man, in the second He hardened it, in the third He shaped it in the form of man, in the fourth the soul was thrust into it, in the fifth man stood on his legs, in the sixth he gave names to all the birds and animals, in the seventh Eve was joined to him, in the eighth they produced two children, in the ninth they were commanded concerning the fruits of the trees, in the tenth he transgressed the command, in the eleventh he was judged, in the twelfth hour he was driven out, as it is said, ' And He drove Adam out of the Garden of Eden.'

(11) God kneaded and moulded the dust for the first man in a pure place. He covered him with skin and sinews, and gave to it a human shape, but there was not yet any breath or soul in it. What did God do? He breathed with the breath of His mouth, and thrust the soul into him, as it is said, 'And He breathed in his nostrils the breath of life' Adam then stood up and gazed above and below, saw all the creatures which God had created, and was amazed with wonderment, and he began to extol and praise his Creator, and said: 'How great are Thy works, 0 Lord!'

(12) He stood upon his feet, and was in the likeness of

God; his height extended from the east to the west, as it is said, 'Behind and in front Thou hast formed me.' Behind, that is the west, and in front, that is the east. All the creatures saw him and were afraid of him; they thought he was their creator, and prostrated themselves before him. Adam then said to the animals: ' Why do you come and prostrate yourselves before me? Come, let us all go and invest Him who created us with majesty and strength, and crown Him King over us. If the people do not show allegiance to the King, the King claims it by Himself, and if the people do not praise the King, the King causes Himself to be praised.' As soon as Adam had spoken, all the creatures assented and invested their Creator with majesty and strength, and proclaimed Him King over them, and said: ' The Lord the King is clothed with majesty.'

(13) Now, Adam walked about the Garden of Eden like one of the ministering angels. God said: ' Just as I am alone in My world, so is Adam; just as I have no com- panion, neither has Adam. To-morrow the creatures will say, " He does not propagate, he is surely our creator." It is not good for man to be alone, I will make a helpmeet for him.' (14) When the earth heard the word 'helpmeet' it shook and trembled, and said to its Creator: ' 0 Lord of the world, I am not able to provide for the whole of mankind.' To which God replied: ' I will feed the whole of mankind.' And God made a compact with the earth, and God created the sleep of life, so that when man lies down and goes to sleep, he is fed, strengthened and refreshed, and this is the healing and the feeding which God provides, as it is said, * Then I slept, then I felt refreshed.' God moreover assists the earth and waters it, so that it yields its fruits as food for all the creatures; but, in spite of all this, man obtains his food in toil and trouble.

(15) God had pity upon Adam; in order not to give him pain He caused a deep sleep to fall upon him, during which time He took the bone of one of his ribs and flesh from his heart and made of it a helpmeet for him, and placed her before him. When he awoke from his sleep and saw

18 [VI. 16

her standing before him, he said: ' This is woman; bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh.' (16) While he was yet alone, he was called Adam. K. Joshua b. Qorha said that his name was Adam on account of the flesh and blood (of which he was composed). God said to him, ' Thou art Adam.' But when a helpmeet was made for him he was called Living Being — i.e., Fiery Being (Heb. t^*N*). God then added two letters of His name to it and made the name of man to be c*^N*, and the name of woman nci'j^, saying, ' If they walk in My ways and observe My Command- ments, behold My name will abide with them and deliver them from all trouble; but if not, behold I will take away My name from them, so that their names will become again ^i^), i^i< ' — i.e., fire consuming fire.

YII. (1) God created ten canopies for Adam in the Garden of Eden, and all of them were made of precious stones, of pearls and of gold. Each bridegroom has as a rule but one canopy, a king has three, but in order to show great honour to the first man He made ten canopies for him in the Garden of Eden, as it is said, ' Thou hast been in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, the topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold; the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes (was prepared) for thee on the day when thou wast created.' These represent the ten canopies. The angels were beating their timbrels and dancing to the pipes, as it is said, * The workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes.'

(2) On the day when the first man was created God said to the ministering angels, ' Come, let us descend and show kindness to man and his helper, for upon kindness the world rests.' He further said, ' Kindness is much more acceptable to Me than the sacrifices of burnt-ofi'erings which the Israelites are destined in the future to offer to Me upon the altar,' as it is said, ' Eor kindness do I desire and not sacrifices.' The ministering angels walked before Adam like shepherds who watch the flocks of birds, as it

is said, * For He commanded His angels to watch over thee in all thy ways.' They were like unto a bridal pair, and God may be compared to a precentor, for just as the pre- centor in the midst of the congregation blesses the bridal pair under the canopy, so did God bless man and his helpmeet, as it is said, 'And God blessed them, and said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply.' And they did so, as it is said, ' And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived and bore him Cain, and said, I have begotten a man of the Lord.' Why was Cain thus called? Because he was formed from Adam and his wife and from God.

I will now add here the description of the formation of a child by these three agencies, as it is contained in the book called n^Tin ni^^"' (Yesirath ha-velad), which is as follows:

The Formation of the Child.

IX. (1) I will now proceed to explain the formation of the foetus which God created when man approaches his wife. God indicates it to the angel appointed over conception, whose name is Lailah. God says, ' Know that this night a woman will conceive. Take this sperm, place it in thy hand, and break it on the threshing-floor into three hundred and sixty-live particles.' He does so. He then takes the sperm in his hand, brings it to God, and says, ' 0 Lord of the world, I have done as Thou hast com- manded me, and now decree what is to become of it.' God then decrees that it will be either strong or weak, male or female, rich or poor, beautiful or ugly, long or short, wicked or righteous. (2) God then makes a sign to the angel appointed over spirits, and says, ' Bring me a certain spirit which is hidden in the Garden of Eden, whose name is So-and-so, and whose form is So-and-so.' This applies to all the spirits which are destined to be created, for from the very moment when the world was created all (these spirits) were prepared for men, as it is said, ' What has

2—2

20 [IX. 3

already been has been called by name.' The angel brmgs the (said) spirit, which, when it comes before God, bows down and prostrates itself before Him. (3) At that moment God says to the spirit, ' Enter thou this sperm.' The spirit then opens its mouth, and says, ' 0 Lord of the universe, I am satisfied with the world in which I have lived from the day on which Thou didst create me; if it please Thee, do not suffer me to enter this impure being, for I am holy and pure.' God replies, ' The world which I will cause thee to enter is better than the world in which thou hast lived; and when I created thee, I created thee only for this purpose.' (4) God then causes it to enter this new being against its will. The angel then returns and causes it to enter the womb of its mother. Two angels are prepared to watch the embryo (during pregnancy). A light shines upon the head of the child, by which it sees from one end of the world to the other. (5) In the morning the angel takes it, carries it into the Garden of Eden and shows it the righteous men who sit there in glory with crowns on their heads. The angel then says to the soul, ' My child, dost thou know who these are?' ' No,' it replies. The angel then says, * These people whom thou seest here were formed like thee in the womb of their mother. They went forth into the world and observed God's statutes, therefore they became worthy of this bliss. Know also that thou wilt at the end of thy days depart from the world, and if thou wilt be thought worthy to hearken unto the Law and the Commandments then thou wilt be likewise worthy of sitting with these in the place where I showed thee.'

(6) In the evening he carries it into Gehinnom, and shows it the sinners, whom the wicked angels beat with fiery staves. They cry ' Woe, woe!' but no mercy is shown them. The angel then says to the soul, ' Dost thou know, my child, who these are that burn?' ' No,' it replies. The angel answers, ' These were of the same mean origin as thou art. They went forth to the world and did not observe the commandments and judgments of God. Therefore they have come to this place of punishment. Know also, child,

that thou must ultimately quit this world.' (7) The angel walks about with it from morning until evening, and shows it every place which it is destined to tread, and the place where it will be buried. After this he shows it the world of the good and the world of the wicked, and in the evening he places it back again in the womb of its mother. God then encloses it within folded doors, as it is said, ' And He shut in the sea with doors, until it burst forth from the womb and became free.' It is further said, ' I will lay My words in thy mouth, and I will protect thee in the shadow of My hand.' God then said, ' Thus far shalt thou go, and no further;' and He sustains the child in the womb of its mother for nine months.

(8) At the end of that time the same angel comes and says to it, ' Come forth, for the time has come for thee to go forth into the world.' It replies, ' Have I not already told God that I am satisfied to remain in the place where I was accustomed to dwell? And He replied, "The place I will cause thee to enter is better than that world from which thou hast come." Now that it pleases me to remain here, why dost thou wish to remove me hence?' The angel replies, ' Thou must know that thou wast formed in the womb of thy mother against thy will, and now know that against thy will thou wilt be born, and wilt come forth into the world.' He then immediately strikes it, extinguishes the light, and brings it forth against its will. It then forgets whatever it had seen. As soon as it comes forth unto the world, it cries.

(9) And why does it cry? Because of the world it has left behind. For at that moment seven new worlds are await- ing it. In the first world it is like unto a king after whose welfare all people ask; all desire to see it and embrace it, and kiss it, because it is in the first year. In the second world it is like unto a swine which wallows in mire; a child does the same until it reaches two years. In the third world it is like unto a kid that skips and gambols about on the meadows. Thus, a child skips about here and there until it is five years of age. In the fourth world it is like unto a horse which strides along haughtily.

22 [IX. 9

In the same way does a child walk along proud of his youth until he is eighteen years old. In the fifth world he is like unto an ass upon whose shoulders burdens are placed. In the same manner burdens are heaped upon man's shoulders; he is given a wife by whom he begets children. He must wander to and fro in order to obtain food for them until he is about forty years old. In the sixth stage he is like unto a dog, insolent and wandering about in all places for food: stealing and robbing in one place and enjoying it in another. In the seventh stage he is like unto an ape, whose appearance is changed in every respect. All the household curse him and desire his death. Even the young children make fun of him, and even the smallest bird wakes him from his sleep. (10) Finally, the time arrives for him to quit this world. When that time arrives the same angel comes beside him and says to him. What is thy name?' To which he replies * So-and-so, and Why dost thou come to me to-day?' ' To take thee away from this world.' When he hears this he weeps, and his voice reaches from one end of the world to the other, but no creature hears his voice except the cock. ' Have I not already told thee,' he says, ' not to bring me forth from the world in which I have lived?' But the angel replies, ' Have I not already told thee that against thy will thou wast created, against thy will thou wast born, against thy will thou livest, and against thy will thou shalt die, also against thy will thou art bound to render account and reckoning before Him who said, and the world was made?'

(11) Behold, these are the four Divine hosts which God showed to Elijah the prophet, as it is said, ' And He said, Go out and stand upon the mountain before God.' God then said to Elijah, ' Behold, these are the four worlds through which man must pass. The great and strong wind is this world. After the wind comes the earthquake, i.e., after this world comes death, which causes the whole body of man to quake. After the earthquake comes the fire, i.e., after death there follows the judgment of Gehinnom,

which is fire, and after the judgment of Gehinnom there follows a voice, as it is said, ' A still, soft voice,' which is the voice of the last judgment. After this follows the judgment of the spirits that flit about in the air, and no one is left except God, as it is said, ' God alone shall be exalted on that day.' All this is included in the words of holy tradition spoken by David, King of Israel, who said, ' I was made in secret, I was formed in the nethermost parts of the earth.'

X. (1) The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. Happy is the man in wiiom there is wisdom combined with fear; one may be doing more, another less, pro- vided that his heart is turned to heaven. (2) AVoe to him whom this world leads astray; woe unto him who does not walk in the ways of God; woe unto him who hearkens to his evil inclination, or who does not listen to his Creator; woe to him whose pleader becomes his accuser; woe unto him who does not devote his heart to his Father in heaven; woe to him whose wheel of life has turned; woe unto the man who has been righteous and haS' turned wicked; woe to him who loses his life's work in a> rash moment, or causes the profanation of God's name.

(3) Certain punishments follow immediately upon the committal of sin, others come after a time. There are punishments which come one after the other, others simultaneously. Some punishments come upon man while he is asleep, others while he is awake; some come upon him heavily, others lightly; some affect part of the body, others the whole body; some, again, come upon one in his youth, while others come in his old age; some which he anticipates, others which he does not anticipate; some are open and some are hidden, others, again, are revealed to the whole world. And all the trouble, misery, and shame come upon man in consequence of sin and transgression. (4) Some bear their punishments with love; some worship God for fear of suffering in their sustenance or in their livelihood, or through the ill-health of their children, or through the punishment of Gehinnom. Some worship Him

24 [X. 4

in simplicity, in purity, in joy, and some in the hope that they may make others worthy of reward. Some, again, worship Him to guard themselves against punishments, as it is said, ' When they are in trouble, they seek Me early.' Everyone is judged while he is in full con- sciousness, and this applies to the living and the dead alike.

(5) When man is about to quit this world the angel appointed over him says, ' Pity this body that goes out of this world without having performed any good actions.' He looks at his two legs, and says, ' Woe unto those legs which have not walked in the ways of the Lord. Woe unto those thighs which have not been eager to run after God's Commandments. Woe unto the bowels which have enjoyed stolen property. Woe unto those hands which have occupied themselves with sin. Woe unto the mouth which has consumed the property of others. Woe unto the eyes which have desired the property of strangers. AVoe unto those ears which have not hearkened to reproof. Woe to that proud stature that has not bent in repentance. Woe unto the spirit that has not humbled itself before its Creator.' (6) The angel in anger bids him stand up for judgment to relate his deeds. He says, 'Know whence thou hast come, and whither thou art going — to a place of dust and worms. Who is the Judge, and before whom art thou to give account and reckoning? If thou art able to answer, then answer, for no one else can answer for thee; there is no remedy except good deeds, as it is written, " Thy righteousness shall go before thee." ' (7) What enjoyment can it be for man to look upon sin, since it is like fire to stubble, and like a sword to the neck, as an arrow to the liver, as chains to the feet, as darkness to the eyes, as gall to the mouth, and as chastisement to the body? Whoever induces another to swerve from the good path is cut off in the midst of his days, and whoever flatters a sinner, his days shall be shortened in this world. Whoever scoffs at the Commandments will have no mercy shown to him from heaven. (8) Whoever causes another to blush in

public will cause the book in which the sins of man are inscribed to be opened. Whoever scoffs at the poverty of the poor, behold he shall be brought low^, he will be ahungered while others shall eat before him. Whoever commits fraudulent transactions shall have no rest on the eve of the Sabbath; behold, all the joys which gladden his heart will be turned into mourning. He will be visited on the day of reckoning with terrible judgment and with much shame by relentless angels in the w^orld to come. Therefore it is said, ' And what wilt thou do on the day of visitation?' (9) He who sins with his eyes, those eyes shall become dim; he who sins with his mouth, behold his words shall not be heard; he who sins by giving false advice, behold his own prosperity shall vanish; he who sins in his thoughts, his days shall be a constant vexation; he who sins with his tongue, behold chastisement will overtake him; he who sins with his hand shall lose his honour; he who sins with his legs, the years of his life shall be shortened; whoever sins in his heart shall die of grief; whoever sins with his inclination, this very inclination shall turn his accuser; he who sins and causes others to sin shall bury his wife and his children during his lifetime; he who sins purposely, the decree of Divine judgment wdll be sealed against him; he who sins unwittingly is not in a good moral condition.

(10) What benefit has a man by sinning? his ultimate end is to quit this world for another, to go from light to darkness, from life to death, from sleep which is sweet to a sleep that is troubled; he is a prey for the w^orms; he passes from sweet dainties to the taste of dust; from beautiful garments to the shroud in the grave. But this is not all: he moreover loses his soul. Many rich men have lost their souls through their riches, such as Dathan and Abiram; and the wisdom of many a wise man has caused him to come to grief, as, for instance, Ahitophel, Doeg the Edomite, and Balaam, the wicked one. Likewise many mighty men have existed whose power has been the cause of their fall, as Samson, Abner, Asael, and Joab. Many also have reared

26 [X. 10

sons, but have had no joy from them, as Aaron, the High Priest, who had no joy from Nadab and Abihu. All this applies equally to the righteous as well as the wicked; death overtakes them all. There were also many beautiful ones, whose beauty was the cause of their downfall, such as Absalom and Adonijah ben Hagith. There have been many elders of the community who have departed this life without honour, such as the great Sanhedrin in the time of Zedekiah, who were slain by Nebuchadnezzar. And again, how many young people have been snatched away from their bridal canopy! (11) Thus, what advantage can possibly accrue to man by robbing and stealing? for, although he may thereby derive some temporal comfort, he must never- theless render account and reckoning before God. What benefit can man's joy be to him when it brings sorrow and grief upon him? What benefit is it for a man to inspire fear, since punishment will overtake him? What benefit his proud strut if it brings pains upon him? What benefit his evil meditation, which brings in its train many kinds of death? What benefit his deception, which dashes his prosperity to the ground? On account of this the righteous and the pious have no desire whatever for this world which is fleeting. But how do we know that this world is fleeting? Because it is said, ' For a wind has passed over it, and it is no more.'

(12) On the other hand, he is heir to the future world who keeps aloof from strife, from evil talk, from cause- less hatred, from inciting quarrels, who is truly modest, who is devout in his prayer, and confesses his sins before God. He it is who is loved by God. Therefore the righteous have resolved to claim no honours, and to refrain from pleasure. They have therefore placed a check upon their eyes, their mouths, their hands, and their feet, to prevent them from doing evil. The eye which does not sin is worthy to behold the face of the Divine glory, as it is said, ' Thine eyes shall behold the King in his beauty.' The heart that does not sin shall be worthy to see the Divine glory with abundant joy. The hand that does not

sin will be worthy of receiving every reward, as it is said, ' Behold the Lord God shall come with strength, and give him mastery in his arm.' The mouth that does not sin will be worthy of singing praises before God, as it is written, ' And thou shalt say. On that day I will praise Thee, 0 God.'

XI. (1) K. Abahu told the parable of three different men. One tills the ground, another works in silver and gold, and the third studies the law. When the time approaches for him who tills the ground to die, he says to his household, ' Give me some of my work, so that I do not go to the next world empty-handed.' To which they reply, ' Thou art foohsh. Hast thou not worked the field? and Scripture has already said, " The earth and its fulness belong to God," therefore thou hast nothing of thine own to bring.'

(2) When the end of him who works in silver and gold arrives, he says to his household, ' Give me some of my labour (work), that I may not go to the next world empty- handed.' But they reply, ' Thou art fooHsh. Thou hast worked in this world in silver and gold. Scripture has already said, " Mine is the silver, and Mine is the gold, saith the Lord;" therefore thou hast nothing of thine own to bring.'

(3) When the time arrives for him who studies the law (Torah) to quit this world, he says to his household, ' Give me of my labour, that I may not go to the next world empty-handed.' To him they say, '0 thou pious and righteous man, how can we give thee (the fruits) of thy labour? Hast thou not constantly occupied thyself with the law? But God will grant thee the reward of thy work, and shall receive thee with good grace. The ministering angels shall go forth to meet thee and exclaim, " Come thou in peace;" and concerning thee Scripture says, " Then shall thy light break forth as the morning." '

(4) Kabbi Jose says, ' If thou desirest to know the reward of the righteous in the world to come, come hither and learn it from what has befallen Adam. He was commanded to perform an easy precept, and because he transgressed it.

28 [XI. 5

God punished him and all subsequent generations with many kinds of death. Therefore the sages have said that, on the contrary, whoever studies and observes the law and performs good deeds shall be delivered from the punishment of Gehinnom and the sorrows of the grave.' E. Abahu mentions one of the proverbial sayings of Rabbi Isaac that the end of man is death, the end of animals is slaughter, and all are destined to die. (5) E. Jose says, ' Come hither and see the difference existing between man and animals; the latter are slain and flayed, and are not subjected to any judgment: whilst with refer- ence to man, how many chastisements and troubles does he bear in this world; and after his death, if he is a righteous man, his judgment is delayed; but if he is wicked, he is brought before the tribunal every year between Passover and Pentecost, as it is said, "And they shall go forth and look upon the carcases of the men, and it shall be at every new moon." (6) After man's death he is seen by all the other dead, and he appears to each just as they last saw him alive: some see him as a youth, others as an old man, just as each saw him before his own death, so that they should not think that any man lives for ever, and say when we were among the living we saw this or that man, and now how many hundreds of years have passed since we have seen them alive? (7) Therefore, when one dies the angel who guards the dead makes his soul assume various forms, so that all shall recognise him by seeing him just as they saw him in life. Then, in the event of one being con- demned afterwards to Gehinnom, he is enveloped with smoke and brimstone, so that one should not see the punishment of the other; and none should be put to shame before the other, except those who have publicly put others to shame.'

(8) Every man after death is brought to judgment, even if he should belong to the section of the righteous, stilL after a time his sins are visited. Thus Samuel said to Saul, ' To-morrow thou shalt be in my division.' Was not Samuel in Eamah, and Saul in another place? The

explanation is that he (Samuel) referred to the soul when he said, ' Thou wilt be with me in my division.' And we see that after a long lapse of time the house of Saul was judged on account of Saul and on account of the house of blood. Thus, the house of Saul was visited. Although he was called ' the chosen of the Lord,' yet His seed was judged.

XII. (1) E. Isaac ben Parnach has said that all man's iniquities are engraved upon his bones, as it is said, ' Their iniquities shall be upon their bones,' and all his merits shall be engraved upon his right hand, as it is said, ' The Lord is thy guard and thy protection on thy right hand.'

(2) E. Joshua ben Levi says that man's merits and sins are not testified to until the day of his death. Even frivolous conversation, which is not accounted as a sin, is mentioned only at the time of his death, as it is said, ' For behold He who has formed the mountains and created the wind will tell man what his conversation hath been.'

(3) Thus at his death three ministering angels come to him, one the angel of death, one a scribe, and a third who is appointed to accompany them. They say to him, ' Arise, for thy end has come.' To which he replies, ' I shall not rise, for my end has not yet arrived.' (4) Then the scribe proceeds to number his days and years. At that moment the man opens his eyes and sees the angel of death, whose length extends from one end of the world to the other; he quakes exceedingly and falls upon his face. (5) From the sole of his (the angel's) foot to the croAvn of his head he is full of eyes, his clothing is of fire, his covering of fire, he is surrounded by fire, he is all fire. In his hand he carries a fiery blade, from which hangs a bitter drop. This drop causes first death, then decomposition and the lividness of appearance, but man does not die until he has seen God, as it is said, ' For no man shall see Me and live;' but when he dies he shall see Him, as it is said, ' Before Him there shall bend all those who go down to the dust when he ceases to live.' (6) Then the man confesses every- thing he has done in the world. His mouth bears witness.

30 [XII. 7

and the Lord writes it down. * By Myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, that from My mouth shall go forth righteousness.' (7) If he is a man of perfect righteousness his soul is handed over to its owner. But if a man of consummate wickedness, he stiffens his neck and allows his evil inclination to prevail over him; hence the sages have said that a wicked man's evil inclination prevails over him even at his death. (8) E. Eliezer has said that just as he is stiffnecked in this world so is he at the Day of Judgment, as it is said, ' The wicked shall see and be angry.' (9) At the death of the righteous man three companies of ministering angels come to him. The first company says, 'A righteous man has perished from the earth.' The second company says, * Let him in peace come and rest upon their couches.' The third company says, * He goeth the straight path.' (10) But at the death of the wicked five angels of destruction come to him and say, ' The wicked shall return to SheoL'

The Beating of the Grave.

XIII. (1) K. Eliezer's pupils asked him, 'What judgment is there in the grave?' He replied, ' When a man quits Ijhis world, the angel of death comes to him and sits by his grave, and beating it with his hands, says, " Tell me thy name." "Flesh and blood is my name. It is revealed and known to Him who said, and the world was. But I do not know what my name is." Then immediately the soul re-enters his body. He stands up and is brought to judg- ment.' (2) Pi. Joshua ben Levi says, ' They bring a chain of iron, half of it burning like fire, half as cold as ice, and they beat him with it. At the first stroke his limbs get separated; at the second, his bones are scattered. Then the ministering angels gather them together, and re- storing him, beat him a third time, and demand of him an account and reckoning, and judge him measure for measure.

(3) On the second day they judge him in the same manner.

(4) On the third day they judge him further, and they

punish his two eyes, his two hands, his two feet and his two ears, his mouth and his tongue. Why are his eyes punished? Because he looked with them upon transgres- sion. Why his ears? Because he heard sinful utterances with them. Why his lips? Because he uttered with them words of foolishness. And why his tongue? Because he has testified falsely with it. Why his two hands? He committed violence and robbery with them. Why his two legs? Because he hastened with them to transgression.' E. Jehudah says, ' Whoever has gone to a married woman shall hang ignominiously in Gehinnom; and whoever slanders his neighbour shall be suspended by his tongue. (5) E. Meir, in the name of E. Joshua, says, ' The judgment in the grave is more severe than that in Gehinnom, for in Gehinnom only they are judged who are thirteen years old and upwards; but in the grave, stillborn children and perfectly righteous men, and even sucklings, are brought to judgment.' Hence the sages have said, ' He who dwells in the land of Israel and dies on Sabbath eve at the time of the blowing of the Shofar, as long as the sun shines he shall not see the judgment in the grave; whilst he who loves righteousness and chastisement, charitable deeds and hospitality to strangers, although not living in the land of Israel, shall see neither the judgment of the grave nor that in Gehinnom, as it is said, " From the midst of trouble I called to God, and He answered me." " From my trouble " refers to the beating in the grave. " From the depth of Sheol I cried." This refers to the punishment in Gehinnom.' (6) Ben Azay says, ' There are three kinds of punishments, one more severe than the other; more- over, they are all inflicted in the presence of God.' 'But,' asks E. Aqiba, ' are they all in God's presence?' ' Verily the angels inflict the punishment in the grave and also that in Gehinnom, but only the punishment of heaven alone is inflicted in the presence of God!' Three days are given over to the punishment in the grave, three days to that in Gehinnom, and three days to the punishment in heaven. If there is no charge against a man, he is not brought up

32 [XIII. 7

for judgment; but if there are charges against him, the judgment may last long. (7) The punishment of trans- gressing Israelites is twelve months in Gehinnom, as it is said, ' And it shall come to pass at the renewal of the new moon and at the renewal of the Sabbath.' Just as the weeks form a cycle, so the months form an annual cycle, and then shall all flesh prostrate themselves before God. E. Johanan ben Nuri says, ' The time extends from Passover until Pentecost, as it is said, " And from one festival to the other," during which the sabbaths are counted.' Some sinners are judged in Gehinnom from Passover until Pentecost, after which time they are acquitted; others, again, such as the consummately wicked of Israel, obtain no rest for the whole twelve months; (8) while others who have violated the whole of the law and the precepts and have sinned against the law of God, going the idolatrous way of the nations, shall have their bodies and souls burnt. Gehinnom vomits them out, and the north wind scatters them, so that they become ashes under the soles of the feet of the righteous, as it is said, ' And on account of the doings of the wicked, behold they shall become ashes beneath your feet on the day when I execute judgment.' (9) Further, those who leave the community, the apostates, traitors, renegades, scoffers, those who despise the festivals, deny the resurrection of the dead and the divinity of the law, are swallowed up by Gehinnom; the doors are locked upon them, and there they are left a prey to eternal punishment, as it is said, ' And they go forth and look upon the carcasses of those that have transgressed against Me, for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched.'

This is the Description of Gehinnom (Hell).

XIV. (1) Who can stand before its might, who can with- stand the fury of its wrath? E. Abahu opened his homily with the verse: ' Aluqah has two daughters called Hab, Hab.' E. Eliezer says that these are the two bands of

angels that stand at the gates of Gehinnom and say, ' Come! come!' Why is it called Gehinnom (Valley of Wailing)? Because the voice of its wailing traverses the world from one end to the other. And why is it called ' Tofteh ' (Enticer)? Because all enter therein enticed by their evil inclination.

(2) E. Johanan began his homily with the verse, ' Passing through the valley of weeping, they make it a valley of springs.' This means to say that the sinner confesses, just as the leper confesses; and he says: ' I have committed such and such a transgression in that place, on that day, in the presence of So-and-so, in that society.'

(3) Hell has three gates: one at the sea, the other in the wilderness, and the third in the inhabited part of the world. That at the sea is alluded to in Jonah: ' Out of the belly of Sheol cried I, and thou heardest my voice.' That of the wilderness is alluded to in Numbers: * So they and all that appertained to them went down alive unto Sheol.' And that in the inhabited portion of the world in Isaiah: ' Saith the Lord, whose fire is in Zion and His furnace in Jerusalem.'

(4) Five different kinds of fires are in hell: one devours and absorbs, another absorbs and does not devour, while another, again, neither devours nor absorbs. There is further fire devouring fire. (5) There are coals big as mountains, and coals big as hills, and coals huge like unto the Dead Sea, and coals like huge stones. There are rivers of pitch and sulphur flowing and fuming and seething.

(6) The punishment of the sinner is thus: The angels of destruction throw him to the flame of hell; this opens its mouth wide and swallows him, as it is said, ' Therefore Sheol hath enlarged her desire and opened her mouth without measure, and their glory and their multitude and their pomp, and he that rejoices among them, descends into it.' This all happens to him who has not done one single pious act which would incline the balance towards mercy; (7) whilst that man who possesses many virtues and good actions and learning, and who has suffered much, he is

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saved from hell, as it is said, ' Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff shall comfort me.' 'Thy rod' means the suffering, and 'Thy staff' signifies the law.

(8) E. Johanan began: ' The eyes of the wicked shall fail, and refuge is perished from them, and their hope shall be the giving up of the ghost.' That means, a body which is never destroyed, and whose soul enters a fire which is never extinguished; of these speaks also the verse, ' For their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched.'

XV. (1) E. Joshua, son of Levi, said, ' Once upon a time I was walking on my way, when I met the prophet Elijah. He said to me, " Would you like to be brought to the gate of hell?" I answered, " Yes!" So he showed me men hanging by their hair; and he said to me, " These were the men that let their hair grow to adorn themselves for sin." Others were hanging by their eyes; these were they that followed their eyes to sin, and did not set God before them. Others were hanging by their noses; these were they that per- fumed themselves to sin. Others were hanging by their tongues; these were they that had slandered. Others were hanging by their hands; these were they that had stolen and robbed. Others were hanging ignominiously; these were they that had committed adultery. Others were hanging by their feet; these were they that had run to sin. He showed me women hanging by their breasts; these were they that uncovered their breasts before men, to make them sin. (2) He showed me further men that were fed on fiery coals; these were they who had blasphemed. Others were forced to eat bitter gall; these were they that ate on fast-days. (3) He showed me further men eating fine sand; they are forced to eat it, and their teeth are broken; and the Almighty says to them, " 0 ye sinners! when you used to eat that which you stole and robbed it was sweet in your mouth; now you are not able to eat even this," as it is said, " Thou hast broken the teeth of the wicked " (4) He showed me further men who are thrown from fire to

snow, and from snow to fire; these were they that abused the poor who came to them for assistance; therefore are they thus punished, as it is said, " Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water." He showed me others who were driven from mountain to mountain, as a shepherd leads the flock from one mountain to another. Of these speaks the verse: '' They are appointed as a flock for Sheol. Death shall be their shepherd, and the upright shall have the dominion over them in the morning, and their form shall be for Sheol to consume, that there be no habitation for it." '

(5) K. Johanan said. For every sin there is an angel ap- pointed to obtain the expiation thereof; one comes first and obtains his expiation, then follows another, and so on until all the sins are expiated. As with a debtor who has many creditors, and who come before the king to claim their debts, and the king delivers him to them, and says, ' Take him and divide him between yourselves,' so also is the soul delivered in hell to cruel angels, and they divide it among themselves.

(6) Three descend to hell for ever, and do not ascend any more — the man who commits adultery, who blames his neighbour in public, and who is guilty of perjury. Others say, Those who seek honour for themselves by slandering their neighbours, and those who make intrigues between man and wife in order to create strife among them.

(7) On the eve of the Sabbath the sinners are led to two mountains of snow, where they are left until the end of the Sabbath, when they are taken back from there and brought again to their former places. An angel comes and thrusts them back to their former place in hell. Some of them take, however, snow and hide it in their armpits to cool them during the six days of the week, but the Almighty says unto them, ' Woe unto you who steal even in hell,' as it is said, ' Draught and heat consume the snow waters, in Sheol they sin.' That means to say, ' They sin even in Sheol.'

(8) Every twelvemonth the sinners are burned to ashes,

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and the wind disperses them and carries those ashes under the feet of the just, as it is said, ' And ye shall tread down the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the sole of your feet.' Afterwards, the soul is returned to them, and they come out black as the blackness of a pot, and they acknow- ledge the justice of their punishment, and say, ' Thou hast rightly sentenced us and rightly judged us. With Thee is righteousness and with us shame, as it is with us to-day.'

XVI. (1) There are five kinds of punishment in hell, and Isaiah, the son of Amos, saw them all. He entered the first compartment and saw there two men carrying pails full of water on their shoulders, and they pour that water into a pit, which, however, never fills. Isaiah said to God, ' 0 Thou who unveilest all that is hidden, unveil to me the secret of this.' And the Spirit of the Lord answered, ' These are the men who coveted the property of their neighbours, and this is their punishment.'

(2) He entered the second compartment, and he saw two men hanging by their tongues; and he said, ' 0 Thou who unveilest the hidden, reveal to me the secret of this.' He answered, ' These are the men who slandered, therefore they are thus punished.'

(3) He entered the third compartment, and he saw there men hanging by their organs. He said, ' 0 Thou who unveilest the hidden, reveal to me the secret of this.' And He answered, ' These are the men who neglected their own wives, and committed adultery with the daughters of Israel.'

(4) He entered the fourth compartment and saw there women hanging by their breasts, and he said, ' 0 Thou who unveilest the hidden, reveal to me the secret of this.' And He answered, ' These are the women who uncovered their hair and rent their veil, and sat in the open market- place to suckle their children, in order to attract the gaze of men and to make them sin; therefore they are punished thus.'

(5) He entered the fifth compartment, and found it full of smoke. There were all the princes, chiefs, and great

men, and Pharaoh, the wicked, presides over them and watches at the gate of hell, and he saith unto them, ' Why did you not learn from me when I was in Egypt?' Thus he sits there and watches at the gates of hell.

(6) There are seven compartments in hell, and in each of them are 7,000 rooms, in each room 7,000 windows, in each window (recess) there are 7,000 vessels filled with venom, all destined for slanderous writers and iniquitous judges. It is to that that Solomon alludes when he says, ' And thou mournest at thy latter end when thy flesh and thy body are consumed.'

(7) The other nations, however, and the idolators are punished in the seven compartments of hell, in each com- partment for a twelvemonth. And the river ' Dinur ' floweth from beneath the throne of glory and falleth over the heads of the sinners, and the sound travels from one end of the world to the other.'

(8) All these punishments are prepared for the apostates, for those who deny the resurrection of the dead, for the rene- gades, slanderers, and traitors. Of these King Solomon said, ' Their end shall be as bitter as wormwood.' None of these are saved unless they repent, acquire learning, and perform pious deeds. But at the end the Almighty will have pity on all His creatures, as it is said, ' For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth, for the spirit shall pass before Me and the souls which I have made.'

XVII. (1) There are besides in every compartment 7,000 holes (crevices), and in every hole there are 7,000 scorpions. Every scorpion has 300 slits (cavities); in every slit are 7,000 pouches of venom, and from each of these flow six rivers of deadly poison. When a man touches it, he immediately bursts, every limb is torn from him, his body is cleft asunder, and he falls dead upon his face. The angels of destruction collect his limbs, set them aright, and revive the man and place him upon his feet, and take their revenge upon him anew. This takes place in the uppermost compartment, which is called Sheol. The height thereof is 300 years' journey, the width 300 years' journey, and its length the same.

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(2) The second compartment is Beer Shahat, of the same height, width, and length. The third is Tit-Hayaven, of equal size. The fourth is Shaare Mavet, of the same size. The fifth, Abadon, of the same size. The sixth, Shaare Salmavet, of the same size. The seventh, Gehinnom, of the same size. Thus the length of hell is altogether 6,300 years' journey. [We read further that the fire of Gehinnom is one-sixtieth of the fire of Sha'are Salmavet, and so of every consecutive compartment till the fire of SheoL] Sheol consists half of fire and half of hail (ice), and when the sinners contained therein emerge from the fire they are tortured by the hail (ice), and when they emerge from the hail (ice) the fire burns them, and the angels who preside over them keep their souls within their bodies. As it is said, ' For their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched.'

(3) Every day the angel of death comes and drives them on like cattle from mountain to valley and from valley to mountain, as it is said, ' They are sent down to Sheol like sheep; death acts like a shepherd unto them.' The angels of destruction punish the sinners for twelve months in Gehinnom. After twelve months they revive their bodies and lower them to Shaare Mavet, where they are again punished for twelve months. Thence they are lowered into Shaare Salmavet, and after twelve months' punishment the}^ are lowered into Tit-Hayaven, and again after twelve months' punishment they are lowered into Beer Shahat. Thence, after the same lapse of time, to Abadon, and finally, after twelve months' punishment, they are lowered thence into Sheol, where they are seen by the righteous, who say, ' 0 Lord, who art merciful to all Thy creatures, let it be enough for them!' But God answers, 'It is not yet enough, for they have destroyed My temple, and have sold My children as slaves among the nations.' Thence they are lowered to Arqa, and placed beneath the river of fire that flows from beneath the heavenly throne, and he who is lowered into Arqa ascends no more.

(4) Above Arqa is Tehom, and above Tehom is Tohu.

Above this is Bohu, and above Bohu is the sea, and above the bottom of the sea are the ^Yaters. Above the ^Yaters is the inhabited world, on the surface of which rise the moun- tains and dales. This earth is inhabited by man and beasts, by the birds of the air and the fish of the sea. Therein is law, charity, and piety, and the fear of the Lord.

(5) At the time of judgment 6,000 angels of trembling surround man and lead him to the place of judgment, where they weigh his merit and his guilt in the balance. Then if his guilt turns the scale they lead him to Gehinnom and hand him over to the angels of terror, and these again to the angels of anguish, and these to the angels of trembling; the angels of trembling then to the angels of destruction, who hand him over to the angel of death. He throws him into the depth of Gehinnom, as it is said, 'And the angel of the Lord pushes him.'

(6) If, however, his merits turn the scale, they lead him to the gates of Paradise and hand him over to the minister- ing angels, who hand him over to the angels of peace, and these to the angels of mercy, who bestow great honour upon him in the Garden of Eden.

Paradise.

XVIII. (1) Pi. Joshua, son of Levi, tells, ' Paradise has two gates of carbuncle, and sixty myriads of ministering angels keep watch over them. Each of these angels shines with the lustre of the heavens. When the just man approaches them they divest him of the clothes in which he had been buried, and clothe him with eight cloths, woven out of clouds of glory, and place upon his head two crowns, one of precious stones and pearls, and the other of gold, and they place eight myrtles in his hand and praise him, and say to him, " Go and eat thy bread with joy." And they lead him to a place full of rivers (waters) surrounded by 800 species of roses and myrtles. Each one has a canopy according to his merits, as it is said, " For over all the glory shall be spread a canopy."

(2) ' And through it flow four rivers, one of oil, the other of

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balsam, the third of wine, and the fourth of honey. Every canopy is overgrown by a vine of gold, and thirty pearls hang down from it, each of them shining like the morning star. (3) In every canopy there is a table of precious stones and pearls, and sixty angels stand at the head of every just man, saying unto him, " Go and eat with joy of the honey, for thou hast worked assiduously in the law," of which it is said, " And it is sweeter than honey," " and drink of the wine preserved from the six days of Creation, for thou hast worked in the law which is compared with the wine," as it is said, " I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine." The least fair of them is as beautiful as Joseph and Johanan, and as the grains of the pomegranate lit up by the rays of the sun. There is no night, as it is said, " And the light of the righteous is as the shining light."

(4) ' And they undergo four transformations according to the four watches of the day. In the first watch the just is changed into a child, and he enters the compartment of children and tastes the joys of childhood. In the second watch he is changed into a youth, and there he enjoys the delights of youth. In the third watch he becomes a middle- aged man and rejoices accordingly. In the fourth watch he is changed into an old man: he enters the compartment of the old and enjoys the pleasures of mature age.

(5) ' In Paradise there are eighty myriads of trees in every corner; the meanest among them choicer than a garden of spices. In every corner there are sixty myriads of angels singing with sweet voices, and the tree of life stands in the middle and overshadoweth the whole of Paradise; and it has 500 tastes, each different from the others, and the per- fumes thereof vary likewise. (6) Over it hang seven clouds of glory, and the winds blow from all the four corners and waft its many odours from one end of the world to the other. Underneath sit the scholars and explain the law. These have each two canopies, one of stars and the other of sun and moon, and clouds of glory separate one from the other. Within this is the Eden containing 310 worlds,

as it is said, " That I may cause those that love Me to inherit Substance " (Prov. viii. 21) [the numerical value of the Hebrew word (l*'^) Substance is equivalent to 310].

(7) ' Here are the seven compartments of the just. In the first are the martyrs, as, for instance, E. 'Aqiba and his companions. In the second, those who were drowned. In the third, K. Johanan ben Zakkai and his disciples. The fourth group consists of those who were covered by the cloud of glory. The fifth group is that of the penitents, for the place occupied by a penitent not even a perfectly just man can occupy. The sixth group is that of children who have not yet tasted sin in their lives. The seventh group is that of the poor, who, notwithstanding their poverty, studied the law and the Talmud, and had followed a moral life. Of these speaks the verse, " For all that put their trust in Thee rejoice, and they shout for ever for joy.'

(8) ' And God Almighty sitteth in their midst, and expounds to them the law, as it is said, " Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with Me." And God hath not yet fully unveiled the glory which awaiteth the pious in the world to come, as it is said, " The eye hath not seen, 0 God, beside Thee, that which Thou workest for him that waiteth for Him." '

LXVIII. (1) Daniel was then brought before the king to read and interpret the writing, and he said to the king:

* Thou hast acted very foolishly, m that thou hast defiled the vessels of the temple of our God. Therefore our God, being zealous for His children and for His sanctuary, sent an angel to write these words. And these are the words which he has written, ' Shekel,' i.e., the enemy of the Lord, ' has been weighed in the balance and been found wanting. He will therefore rend the kingdom from His enemy, and will give it to Darius and Cyrus, who have given thee battle. Between them the kingdom shall be divided.'

(2) And the princes of the king heard this explanation from Daniel and that he reproved the king, saying, ' Hearken to me, I pray thee. King Belshazzar, and mark and under- stand my words. Didst thou not know that the Lord God of the heavens made thy father great, and raised him over all the kingdoms of the earth; that He caused him to rule, in His greatness, over the holy Land, over the kingdom of priests and the holy nation; and that he (Nebuchadnezzar) treated them with great cruelty; that he shed their blood as water, burnt the holy temple with fire, and sent the whole of God's inheritance into captivity to Babylon? That then his heart waxed mighty and his spirit proud, so that he said, "My hand is exalted, and my power has stood by me"; that he did not remember that the God of the world, who exalteth and maketh humble, had delivered all these things into his hands; nor did he think of this until the Lord humbled him by making him wander among the wild beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens; and not until he believed that the Lord God of heaven is He who slayeth and bringeth to life was he restored again to his palace? And thou, Belshazzar, hast received thy father's kingdom by the will of the God of heaven, and reignest over all the land in the same manner as thy father.

(3) ' When thy two vassals, Darius and Cyrus, rebelled and made a conspiracy against thee, and went to battle against thy mighty army, thou didst send forth thy warriors to subdue them, and they returned to thee exceedingly elated with strength and glory; but thou

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didst not give thanks to thy Creator, who gave thee the very breath of thy hfe, but to thy idols of silver and gold, of iron and brass, of clay and earthenware, which cannot rescue nor save, which can do neither evil nor good. And thou didst burn bright the lamp for thy 1,000 warriors and princes. Then didst thou send for the holy vessels, which were sanctified to the God of heaven, who breathed into thee the breath of life, and in whose hand is thy spirit, to slay or to keep alive. And thou didst defile His vessels by drinking out of them, together with all thy servants, princes, wives, and concubines, and didst sing praises to thy idols. For this the Lord's anger was kindled against thee and thy people, since thou hast foolishly done this. He therefore sent His scribe to write down upon the wall of thy house thy end, and the end of thy kingdom. Behold the writing is written in Hebrew characters, but the language is Aramaic. The words are " Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin," which means that God has " numbered " the years of thy kingdom, which have been found completed; the seventy years (of the captivity) having come to an end. Thou hast been " weighed," and been found wanting. Therefore thy kingdom shall be " taken away" from thee, and given to the Medes and Persians.'

(4) When the king, the princes and the dignitaries of the kingdom heard this interpretation from Daniel, they were all greatly afraid, every one of them, their heart beat violently, and they were alarmed and trembled, and the king, being seized with dreadful pains through Daniel's words, fell upon his bed, sad and troubled, and mourning bitterly, while the rest of the princes returned to their houses in fear. When they went out through the gate they were in their excitement crushed and trampled on, and the king remained alone with his messengers and his household, and, being in great excitement and bewildered, he fell into a deep sleep, and slumbered like one of the dead through his fright and trembling. (5) Now, there was in the bedroom of the king a doorkeeper, one of the old ser- vants of Nebuchadnezzar, who was much honoured and

respected. Meditating in his heart, he said, ' Did not Daniel interpret all Nebuchadnezzar's dreams? and did not all his words come true, so that nothing he prophesied failed to be realized? Now he has told the king what is decreed concerning him, for the spirit of God is with him, and he does not lie. Why, therefore, should I not go, and, severing Belshazzar's head, run with it to Cyrus and Darius, the Kings of Media and Persia, and thereby find favour in their eyes?' And as he thought, so he did. Kising hastily in the twilight, he drew the sword from beneath the king's pillows, and with it smote Belshazzar, severing his head. He wandered all through the night until daybreak, and then went to the two kings with the head of Belshazzar in his hand.

(6) But when they saw it, both they and all the men trembled and gazed in fear at each other, as well as all the army. On asking the man for an explanation, he related all that Daniel had told Belshazzar, how he had defiled the holy vessels of the temple, and thus kindled the anger of the God of the heavens, who sent a messenger to write upon the wall in red ink opposite the candlestick. ' When I heard Daniel tell these things, I knew that it was all true and that nothing would fail to come to pass. On account of this I planned and hastened to perform this deed which now your eyes behold.'

(7) When the two kings heard the words of the ser- vant they feared the wrath of the God of heaven, and consequently humbled, prostrated and bowed themselves before the Lord of all things, saying, ' We know that Thou alone art God over all the hosts of heaven and over all the kingdoms of the earth, who removest and establishest kings, and who doest whatever Thou desirest. Thou knowest that this Belshazzar, the wicked grandson of the wicked Nebuchadnezzar, acted wickedly, and Thou hast therefore visited him to destroy him in the wrath of Thy anger in that he defiled the vessels of Thy holy sanctuary. Thou didst hand him over to be slaughtered by this chamberlain that his head may be brought before

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us. We now give thanks unto Thee, 0 God of the heavens, for the wonders which Thou hast wrought. If Thou wilt dehver his land into our possession and the valiant, mighty men thereof, we shall wreak vengeance upon them to satisfy the wrath of Thine anger. Then Thou wilt help us to free Thy servants from their captivity, to build Thy holy temple in Jerusalem, and to gather together the out- casts of Thy people, that they may once again worship Thee alone.' Having said this, they made a feast and rejoiced for three days.

(8) Then, marching into Babylon, they captured it, and, overthrowing the fortresses, slew the warriors at the edge of the sword, ripped up their women with child, slaughtered their old men in the streets, strangled their young men with ropes and dragged them with their horses along the streets, their virgins they trampled to death, and their young children they dashed against the rocks. (9) Thus God avenged the blood of His servants that was shed by the Babylonians and Chaldeans, and took vengeance for His city and His temple. These two kings overran all the streets with their mighty army, and, overthrowing all their palaces, burnt their most precious things, and, blowing upon their trumpets, raised a loud cry so that the earth was cleft asunder at their noise, and they said: ' Where are ye, ye mighty men of Babylon and ye valiant men, ye sinners of the whole earth. The battle is no longer yours.' They then set fire to everything that came before them until they rendered the whole of Babylon a waste land, like Sodom and Gomorrah, according to the word which God spake to His servants the prophets. (10) After this the two kings divided the whole kingdom of the Chaldeans by lot, so that Darius took for his portion Babylon, with all its inhabitants, and the great temple of the palace which Nebuchadnezzar had built; and Darius sat upon the throne of Belshazzar. Thus, while the great Babylon, with all its inhabitants, together with the land of Media, fell to the lot of Darius, the land of the Chaldeans, Assyria and Persia fell to the lot of Cyrus.

LXIX. (1) Now it came to pass, when Darius was firmly seated upon the throne of his kingdom in Babylon, that he ordered Daniel to be brought before him, and, placing for him a throne, he sat before Darius. Then said the king, ' Art thou Daniel?' ' I am,' said he. ' Then give me counsel what to do, for the spirit of the God of heaven is with thee; do not withhold it from me, for I am old now and wanting in strength. My active life wearies me, and continual wars make me faint; and now that my old age has begun, I am no longer able to bear the burden of my people, to judge between man and man, to reward the righteous and punish the wicked, for the thing is too heavy for me.'

(2) And Daniel replied: ' Let my lord the king appoint three officers, men of valour and truth, to take upon them- selves part of the responsibility, and let them judge betw^een man and man in order to relieve thee of the heaviness of the burden, and let the king rest in his palace. Then every matter that is too weighty for the judges shall be brought before the king, who shall decide. Thus the king and his throne shall be pure.' He did as he -was advised, for he appointed two princes of his host, with Daniel in authority over them, to judge the people, while he himself remained peaceably in his palace.

(3) Darius issued a decree throughout all his kingdom, saying, * The God of the heavens hath given me all these kingdoms of the earth, and the burden is too great for me to bear, for my soul is weary through old age. I have therefore taken advice of Daniel, who has given me true counsel, and I have hearkened unto him. I shall now rest in my palace so that the heaviness of the burden will be taken off my shoulders. Now give honour to the God of Daniel and believe in Him. Eise up early and seek Him, for He is the great God over all other gods. Let it be known to you that by the advice of Daniel have I done this. I have appointed over all my kingdom two princes of the host, to whose decisions all the people shall listen in all cases of trouble, so that the burden is made

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lighter for me; and Daniel have I appointed as overseer to these two princes, who are to obey him and to listen to all that he teaches them, and not to change his words, but to perform everything he commands them, for I have appointed him as a vicegerent, with the two princes of the army under him, and whoever violates this decree of the king shall forfeit his life.' All the people obeyed this decree, and the princes, governors, commanders and rulers of the provinces bestowed honour upon Daniel, for the holy Spirit was with him.

LXX. (1) Soon after this, however, the princes of the army, as well as the other chiefs, governors and dignitaries of the kingdom envied Daniel, and, meeting in counsel, they sought for some pretext by which they might over- throw Daniel. So they resolved to make a decree and a covenant that every man, old or young, belonging to the rulers or the princes, who shall during the next thirty days entreat any god, or ask a request from any being, except from the king alone, shall be given as food to lions, nor shall he be rescued by the hand of the king, or redeemed by his great wealth to annul the decree. Daniel was ignorant of their machinations, for they cunningly kept their secret from him, saying, ' If we do not trap him in a religious matter we shall not be able to overthrow him.' But they did not know that, as Daniel was faithful to his God, so would his God prove faithful to him.

(2) The men, having then written down what they had resolved to do, they each one of them signed it and sealed it with his seal, in order to give it greater authority. They thea waited upon the king with their writing, who took it and read it innocently without suspecting that it was a secret plot cunningly devised against Daniel. Therefore he confirmed the decree by sealing it with the king's seal, and giving it to his scribes to guard for the appointed time. (3) One day the men went to Daniel's house to spy, and, finding a girl playing about opposite the entrance of his house, they asked, ' Where is Daniel, and what is he doing?' And she replied, ' Behold, he is in

the upper chamber of his house, praying near the window which looks towards the holy temple at Jerusalem, and uttering praises and words of thanksgiving to his God.' Believing her, they went to the upper chamber, and found him on his knees with his hands spread towards heaven, for Daniel supplicated to God three times during the day.

(4) When these men came into Daniel's chamber he was not frightened, nor did he tremble at the noise of their voice, and he finished his prayer, when they all immediately seized him and brought him to the king. But when the king saw Daniel in the hands of the princes he trembled very greatly, and was astounded, for he then knew that it was against Daniel they had made and established such a decree. Then said the king to the princes, ' What have ye done to Daniel, and what have ye to do with him?* (5) And they replied, ' Have we not written down and sealed the decree in accordance with the law of Media and Persia, which cannot be changed or frustrated, that whoever prostrates himself to any being for the whole of this month other than to the king shall be consigned as food for the lions? Behold, Daniel was found in his house praying to his God, and thus this decree of the King of Media and Persia was violated, which cannot be. Now, since Daniel has mocked us in trying to set our laws at naught, give him into our hands, and we shall cast him into the den of lions, that no other person may attempt such a thing again in opposition to the laws of Media and Persia.' And the king answered the princes, saying, ♦ Ye have devised this plan against Daniel to attack him for your envy. Now, cease pursuing him, for he is a Jew, and his God is revered, glorious and mighty, who may visit you with His anger, and destroy you.' But the princes seized Daniel with their hands, ready to destroy him by casting him into the den of lions. The king, therefore, exerted all his strength to rescue him, but not one of them helped the king to save Daniel, for they were all eager for his downfall, and refused, therefore, to release him. But the king would not listen to the princes,

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and they strove with each other, the princes and the king, until sunset.

(6) When, however, they saw that the king was with him, they said with one accord, ' 0 king, know and mark well, if thou wilt not deliver him into our hands, we shall know that thou annullest the laws of Media and Persia.' As soon as the king saw that they were all of them bent on conspiring against him on account of Daniel, he let him go, delivering him into their power, and saying to them, ' Tell me, if God delivers him from the mouth of the lions, how will you hide your reproach and your shame, for ye shall surely be cast to the lions as food.' And they all replied, * So it shall be.' The king, having striven with the princes until it was late, said to Daniel, ' Behold, the princes have determined to cast thee into the den of lions, but the Lord God of the heavens, who hath given thee His holy Spirit, shall close their mouths and prevent them injuring thee; but I am innocent before thy God, for I sought to rescue thee, but could not.' Then, drawing Daniel forth, they cast him into the den in which ten lions were enclosed. Their daily fare consisted of ten sheep and ten human bodies. But they starved them, depriving them of their food, giving them nothing to eat, so that they should hasten to devour Daniel. When Daniel had, how- ever, descended to the den of lions they showed him a kind face, licked him, wagged their tails, and were as rejoiced to meet him as dogs are to see their master arrive home from the field. The princes rolled a great stone over the mouth of the pit, which the king sealed with his ring as well as with that of the princes, and they each went their way.

(7) Daniel, in the meantime, praised the name of his God all the night until the next morning with the voice of song and thanksgiving, while the lions crouched round about him, eager to hearken unto his song. But the king went to his house grieved and bitterly sad, eating no food, and drinking neither wine nor water. He forbad the musical instruments to be played before him, and did not

remove his garments, for he was grieved at heart for Daniel; his sleep also left him, for he was saddened at the princes' plot against Daniel. Then, turning over on his side and sighing, he said, ' Would that it were morning, to see what has become of Daniel.'

(8) On that same day, and at the same time as Daniel was cast into the den, behold the prophet Habakkuk, in the land of Judah, returned that evening from harvesting, and prepared a large dish to feed the reapers. While he was carrying his burden in his hand to supply the reapers with food, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ' Go thou with this food to My servant Daniel, in the land of the Chaldeans, to the den of lions, where he is cast.' 'But, 0 Lord God, who will lead me there,' said he, ' at this time, since the distance is so great for me?' And forthwith an angel of God lifted him by the lock of his hair, together with his food, and placed him in the midst of Daniel's den, where he put down the food. The angel then brought him forth thence, and restored him to his native place, whence he was taken before the reapers had had their meal. And Daniel uttered thanksgiving and praises to his God, in whose salvation he trusted, for whoever supplicates to his God communes with Him as well as one who studies His law, and he need not despair of His kindness.

(9) On the following morning at daybreak the king arose and hastily went to the den, and when he heard Daniel's voice singing and the beauty of his praises, he was not able to speak to him, for his voice was stifled through his sobbing. But, strengthening himself, he called out, * Daniel, Daniel, has God withheld thee from the mouth of the lions, and art thou not torn to pieces?' And Daniel replied, ' Indeed, God hath withheld me from the mouth of the lions, and hath closed their mouths, and prevented them from injuring me. They, on the contrary, rejoiced to meet me, just as my own household would rejoice, for thus my God, in whom I trust, has commanded, and yesterday food was even given to me through Habakkuk, through the spirit of my God; but, my lord the king, I have

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not sinned against thee, nor will any iniquity be found in me.'

(10) The king then sending for the princes, Daniel's enemies, they came to him as he was standing by the den. ' Know,' said he, ' and behold the seals of your rings; are they as ye sealed them, and has there been any mis- chief?' And examining the seals, they said, ' They are untouched and just as we have sealed them.' Then, com- manding the stone to be rolled away from the mouth of the pit, Daniel they brought forth, sound and perfect, without any blemish or hurt. The bystanders, being struck with wonder at the miracles of the God of Daniel, with a loud voice shouted, ' The God of Daniel is greater than all other gods.' The king then ordered his servants to lay hold of those princes, Daniel's enemies, together with their wives and children, and to cast them into the den of lions, and before they reached the floor of the den, the lions, who had not eaten any food since yesterday, roared at them, and, tearing them, crushed their bones and ground them to dust. They then continued roaring from their den so that the noise could be heard far off, and all the people trembled, and said, ' The lions have escaped from their den.'

LXXI. (1) The king then returned to his palace with Daniel, and the Lord showered upon Daniel honour and greatness, and he found favour and kindness in the eyes of the king. A command was then issued in the kingdom, saying: ' In all the land there is no god like the God of Daniel who performs miracles and wonders. May his God be with all the people of His inheritance, and cause them to prosper; and let the great temple of God be built in Judah, and I shall give silver and gold of my treasures for the building until it is completed.'

(2) He then issued orders to all the cities in the land of his rule, by means of runners and horsemen, to permit the Jews to go up to Jerusalem to build the temple of God. This happened in the first year of Cyrus's reign over the Chaldeans. Letters of the king were also sent to all the

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princes on the other side of the river and to the governors, to be in readiness to assist the Jews by attending to all their wants in the matter of the building, such as the supply of wood, stones, wheat, oil, and wine, until the building was completed, and rams and lambs for their sacrifices.

(3) The Jews then rose, all whose hearts were willing, to go up to the house of God. They numbered about four myriads, with Ezra the priest and scribe at their head, as well as Eliakim the priest, Jeshu'a, Mordecai, and the rest of the chiefs of the fathers belonging to Judah and Benjamin; and, journeying, they came to the other side of the river, and arrived at Jerusalem, where they com- menced to lay the foundation of the house of God. When this was finished, the work prospered. There then arose certain wicked men, enemies of the Jews, from the remnant of the nations, e.g., Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiya the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, all of whom wrote evil against the Jews. They sent a letter to the Kings of Media and Persia, saying, * Be it known to you that if ye build the city of Jerusalem it will be to you a snare, a great evil, and there will arise a great conspiracy against you; for in days of yore the Jews who dealt therein were strong and very hard, and destroyed the whole country. It was for this reason that Nebuchadnezzar, their enemy, exiled them to Babylon. Then the kings had rest, and each dwelt peacefully in his own place. Therefore we send to inform you of it, as we are faithful, for we have eaten at the table of the king, and far be it from us to allow the downfall of the kingdom.' As soon as the letter reached the King of Persia, the work was dis- continued until the second year of the reign of Darius.

LXXII. (1) Now, when Darius was seated on the throne of his kingdom, he sent for Daniel, the servant of God, to test his wisdom and to obtain his counsel. Having come before him, he tried him and proved him, and found him sevenfold wiser than report had told of him. He was therefore very pleased with him, and loved him, and

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appointed him to be his counsellor, as Darius had done before him.

(2) One day Darius held a feast in honour of Bel, the god of Babylon, and the king accordingly prepared an offering to be brought before Bel, the god of Babylon. The daily order of the offering consisted of 1 bullock, 10 rams, 10 sheep, 100 doves, 70 loaves of bread, and 10 barrels of wine, for the table of the god. On the day in question they arranged the table before Bel, and the king said to Daniel, ' Would that thou didst believe in the glory of our god Bel, who consumes what is laid upon this table.'

(3) And Daniel replied, ' Let not the heart of the king be deceived and be led astray, for it is vanity. There is no breath in it, but it is simply the work of the craftsman. How can it therefore eat or drink anything? It is the priests of Bel who eat the contents of this table, as well as the meal-offering and burnt-offering. Now% if thou wilt hearken unto me, and deliver these priests into my hand, I will show thee the deceit they practise upon thee and thy people, which causes you to prostrate yourselves to vanity and emptiness.' ' Let it be as thou hast spoken,' said the king. Daniel then commanded the porters of Bel to lock the temple and all its gates, except the one which the king and Daniel entered.

(4) Then said the king, * Bring me some ashes.' When they were brought he scattered them upon the floor of the house, and the priests were kept in ignorance of Daniel's advice. As soon as they had done this, the king and Daniel went out with their young men by the same gate, and, locking the door, the king sealed it with his own seal and with that of Daniel, and then both of them went back to the palace, and retired for the night.

(5) On the following morning the king sent for Daniel, to let him see and know what Bel had done. Coming to the gate of the temple, they found the seals just as they had been left; and the king said, ' Has there been any tampering with these seals?' And Daniel said * No,' and

commanded the seals to be removed. They then opened the gate, and saw that the contents of the table which they had arranged, from the bread even to the meat and wine, had all been consumed.

(6) As soon as the king saw this, he fell prostrate before Bel, and exclaimed, ' 0 Bel, great is thy name in the world, and who is like unto thee in might among all the other gods?' But Daniel answered, ' Let not the king say that, for Bel is but clay, earthenware, and brass, and cannot eat or drink. Look but upon the ashes which we have spread on the floor, and round about the temple and the table, and see whose footprints are these, for they are the traces of the consumers of Bel's table.' The king looked, and beheld the footprints of men, women, and children; (7) and sending forthwith for these seventy priests and ministers of Bel, he swore to them, saying, ' If ye will not tell me the truth, ye shall surely die.' They then showed him the secret entrances through which they came in and went out in the night, to eat the contents of the table. [Here one leaf of the MS. is missing.]

LXXIII. (1) The dragon felt the smell of the ashes and of the sacrifice, and he rejoiced to go out and see the offer- ing, and it opened its mouth, according to custom, and they cast it therein. After swallowing it, it raised itself on high, and turned to enter the cave again, when the princes said to the king, ' Is Daniel also able to destroy this god, which is a living god, just as he destroyed Bel and his priests and his altar, thus putting an end to his worship? Why does he not strive with this god, for, if he does, then we shall be avenged for the destruction of Bel and his temple.

(2) Then said the king to Daniel, ' Hearken to me, pray, and give ear to what I say. Canst thou lift up thy thoughts also against this great and mighty serpent god, and subdue him as thou didst Bel, in which there was no life? This, however, is mighty and strong, and who would dare rise up against it to do it evil? But Daniel replied, ' Let not the king err also in this, for it is but a beast, and can be subdued by the hand of man. It hath no spirit, and now,

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if my lord the king will permit me to go against this dragon, I shall slay it without either sword or stick or any warlike instrument, for it is but a reptile that crawls upon the earth, and the Lord set the fear of man in every beast, insect, and reptile, for in the image of God did He make man. I shall therefore destroy it just as I destroyed one of the graven images, but do not give power unto thy princes to do me evil.' ' Go thou and do what thou canst,' replied the king. The princes were, however, greatly re- joiced when the king told Daniel to strive with the dragon, for they said, ' Now will Daniel surely perish, for it is impossible for him to make a stand against the dragon.'

(3) Daniel then went from the king, and making iron instruments like wool combs, he joined them together back to back, with the points outward, forming a circle of hard and sharp points. This he rolled in all manner of poisonous fat and grease and other fatty substances, and beneath it he placed pitch and brimstone, until the points of the brass and the other piercing metals were concealed. Then, making it in the shape of an oblation, Daniel cast it into the dragon's mouth. The dragon hastily and greedily swallowed it, and seemed to enjoy it. Eut when it entered its mouth, and passed on to the entrails of its belly, the fat melted from off the iron prongs, so the sharp spikes pierced its entrails, and gave it such agony that it died on the morrow.

(4) It came to pass, three days after its death, that the Chaldeans and Babylonians came, as was their daily custom, to propitiate the dragon with an oblation, but it was not visible; only a horrible stench issued from the •cave. When they searched the cave they found that their god was slain, swollen up, and decaying. They became very grieved and full of wrath against Daniel, and they said, * Behold what is this Daniel has done to the two gods! for he has destroyed Bel and smitten the dragon. Now if the king deliver him into ©ur hands, he shall surely be slain; and if not, it must be made known to the king that he also shall surely not live.' When it reached the ears

of the king that the people had made a conspiracy against him, a command was issued to smite the leaders and princes, as well as those that rose up against Daniel, with the edge of the sword.

LXXIV. (1) Daniel having now grown old in years, came one day to the king, and prostrating himself before him, said, ' 0 my lord the king, behold old age has crept upon me, and I have now no more strength to stand and go to and fro. Behold, the lawless men of thy people have humbled me through their enmity, and have cast me twice into the den of lions, but God, in whom I put my trust, has delivered me. They meditated to take my soul, to deprive me of my life, through their zeal on behalf of their gods, but my God withheld me from their destruc- tion. My three friends also they cast into the fiery furnace to be burnt, and yet after all this we have not forsaken our God. Now, my lord the king, I pray thee allow me to go back to my native city and to my house, to worship the God of my fathers for the remainder of my days, for I am old and have no longer the power to restrain (check) the multitude of thy host.' And the king answered Daniel, saying, ' How can I listen to thy request to send thee away, seeing thou art a man of the God of heaven? If thou leavest me and departest from my side, how can my kingdom remain in its integrity? I am indeed aware that thou art an old man, and that thou hast no longer that strength for active life which the rulers of the kingdom ought to have; therefore, if thou wilt give me from among thy people a man of wisdom and understanding, and withal filled with the spirit of thy God as thou art, to remain with me in thy stead, then will I send thee away in peace to rest in thine own house, although my soul knoweth there is none esteemed thy equal among the sons of thy people.'

(2) Daniel then went forth from the presence of the king to the assembly of the exiles, and, finding there Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the son of Jechoniah, King of Judah, he selected him from among the people, and taking him by the hand, led him to the king, and said, ' Behold before

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thee the man who is to take my place. He is esteemed my equal, and is descended from Judah and from the chiefs of the royal seed. He is withal a man of valour, filled with the spirit of God, with knowledge and wisdom as myself, falling short of nothing that is in me, and he wdll be, as I have been, a faithful counsellor to thee. And now, do thou give me permission to depart for my native place for the short time I have to live.' The king, being confident of the truth of everything Daniel told him, gave him permission to depart. Daniel then made his obeisance, and the king embraced and kissed him, and having ordered many gifts to be presented to him, he sent him away.

(3) Thus did Zerubbabel take the place of Daniel, who gave all that the king presented him with to the suffering exiles, and then left for Shushan, his native place, in the land of Elam. There he worshipped the Lord among his brother exiles until the day of his death.

(4) Now, Zerubbabel was a man of valour, young and prosperous, understanding and wise, filled with the spirit of wisdom, for Daniel had put his hand upon him. He found favour in the eyes of the king, who loved him and appointed him chief of all the princes, and overseer of the two captains of the host and guardians of the king.

(5) One day, according to custom, all the princes assem- bled before the king, and the king said to them, ' Have ye seen in the whole of this land a man as wise and as full of understanding, in whom is the spirit of Daniel, as this man Zerubbabel?' And they answered, ' The king hath spoken the truth.'

(6) Now, about the time of noon, after they had all eaten, the king, as usual, lay upon his bed and slept. The two princes and guardians of the king then arose, as was customary, and Zerubbabel with them, and stood round the king's bedside until he awoke. On this occasion the king slept heavily, for he was drunk with wine; and the three young men, being weary of standing, proposed to test each other's wisdom by means of riddles, each one accord- ing to his wit, and they said, ' Let us write them down in a

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book, and place the book under the head of the king until he awake from his sleep/ when he would see the book, and understand its meaning.

(7) ' Then it shall be that the man whose words appear wiser than his two colleagues,' and whose riddles are superior to those of his brethren, should be made vice- gerent, and should also sit on the royal throne and in the royal chariot; that he should have free access to the presence of the king; that the vessels of his table should be of silver, and the reins of his horse of gold. That the crown of the vicegerent be placed upon his head; that he receive the portion of the vicegerent from the hand of the king; that every request be granted him, and that he be a friend of the king.' To this they all agreed, and, making a covenant in accordance therewith, they established it according to the laws of Media and Persia, which can never be altered.

(8) Then, bringing the pen and the scroll, they cast lots as to who should be the first to inscribe. The first wrote, ' On the earth there is no one so powerful as a king.' The second wrote, 'Wine is the strongest thing on earth.' x\nd Zerubbabel, who was the third, wrote, * There is nothing on the earth so powerful as woman.' When they had finished WTiting their words of wisdom, they placed the scroll under the king's pillow, but the king was awake, for though his eyes were closed yet he heard their whisperings; and when they placed the scroll under his pillow the king arose as if he had just woke from his sleep, and, rubbing his eyes with his two hands, he looked under his pillow, and saw the scroll which the three young men had written. Then opening it, he read it, and was perplexed about it, until all the princes, pashas, chiefs, governors, and heads of the provinces came to him. Then calling the three young men, he said, ' Bring me each one of you his writing, and let me listen to the interpretation of your riddles; then will I fulfil for the wisest of you three everything that is stated in the scroll to honour and.exalt him.'

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(9) The first one then approached to read what he had written, and said, ' Hearken, 0 king and princes, to my words. There is nobody on earth so powerful as a king.' The second, drawing near (the king), said, * There is nothing on earth so powerful as wine.' And the third, viz., Zerubbabel, exclaimed, ' There is nothing on earth so powerful as woman.' At this the king and the princes said, ' We have hearkened to your hidden sayings; now tell us the explanation, and we shall listen.'

LXXV. (1) And the first answered and said, ' 0 my lord the king, princes and mighty men, do ye not know the power of the king and the strength of his dominion over all the earth, over the sea, the isles, and over all languages? to slay or to keep alive? If he commands an army to march forth, they march forth armed; they turn not their heads, though they may stand face to face with death. If he command them to overthrow cities, they overthrow them; if to hew down mountains, or to pull down walls, they obey. If he command them to plough for him, they plough; they sow and reap his produce, for they fear the wrath of the king, who is mighty and lord over all, and no one dares frustrate his word; therefore believe ye my words that there is no one on earth so powerful as a king.' All the bystanders were astonished at his speech.

(2) The second now replied, saying, ' Though ye know the power of a king and the strength of his might, for he has dominion and rules over the land; yet wine is stronger than a king. It is true he has great power, but as soon as he drinks freely of wine, it overpowers him and inclines his heart to other things, he sings, plays and dances, for his heart is turned by the wine, so that he repulses his kin, approaches strangers, slays his friends, and confers honour upon strangers, and respects neither his father nor mother. (3) Do ye not know that such is the power of wine, when a man is drunk he cannot learn, but is rather prone to singing; he whispers to his neighbour and reveals secrets, and hidden things drop out of his mouth. Men full of sorrow the wine makes glad,

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and even if mourners and those whose hearts are grieved drink thereof, they rejoice and are merry. The drmiken one draws his sword against his neighbom-, and he gets fierce, and bashful men it makes bold. But when the wine has disappeared from them, they have forgotten all, and say, " We have not done this thing." Is thus wine not stronger than a king, as it rules over him; it makes man walk crookedly, he cannot see straight, and he con- tinues babbling things which he has not learned. Do ye not think that wine is therefore more powerful than a king, for such it does?' Thereat the men were greatly surprised. (4) After that the king summoned Zerubbabel, and said, * Tell me, I pray thee, thy riddle and its interpretation, as thy friends have done.' And he answered and said, ' Give ear and hearken unto me, 0 king and princes, governors and rulers, and all ye who stand here. Indeed, the king is stronger and greater than all; it is true that wine weakens the king through its strength, as my friends have said. Thus the power of both the king and wine cannot be denied; but woman is yet more powerful than either king or wine or any other strong drink. For why should she not be more powerful than the king? Did she not give birth to him, suckle him, sustain him, rear him, clothe him, wash him, and sometimes chastise him? Did she not rule over him as a mother does the child of her womb? When she was angry with him, did he not fear her rebuke? Did she not sometimes beat him and at other times censure him? If she lifted the rod to him, did he not run away from her in fear of her? Moreover, when he grows up to be a young man, he cannot forget his instructress, nor will rebel against her call. He always respects her as a son honours her who conceived him.

(5) ' Then looking about him, he beholds a woman fair to look upon, and desires her beauty to sport with. His heart inclines towards her, and he will not change his love for her for all the riches. It is then that he leaves his father and mother, forsaking them for her love and her beauty, and many are they that have been led astray

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through the love of woman; many are they that have acted fooHshly, and become mad for her sake; and many that have met their death for the sake of woman, and have fallen for her pride down into hell. Wise men also have been caught in her net, and much hatred has the frivolous one caused among brothers. Do ye not know and under- stand that if a man sees a comely woman, and he carries in his hands goodly things, will not his eyes gaze upon her, for his heart inclines towards her? If she answers him when he speaks to her on account of her beauty, will he not leave everything that he keeps in his hands to speak to her? for his heart is drawn near to her.

(6) ' Who is there that will not believe this, and confess the truth of this power of woman? Tell me, for whom do ye steal, for whom do ye rob, and for whom do ye gird yourselves — is it not for woman? Is it not for her that ye buy all the precious ornaments? is not the myrrh and the aloe for her? are not all the spices, perfumed oils, and frankincense for her? If a man break into a house, if he keeps the high roads, goes on the sea, on dry land, on the mountains; if he fight, commit murder, rob, plunder, and shed blood, to whom will he bring his spoil, if not to woman? Have I not seen the concubine of the King Apumasia (^<^^^*D1D^5), the daughter of Abyaush (CMN^n.s) of Makeden, take the crown of honour from off the king's head and place it on her own head, while he was seated on the throne beside her, and the king was pleased wdth her? But when she became angry, did not the king then hasten to appease her, and to reconcile her, and remove her anger?

(7) ' Who, then, is there that will not believe that woman's power is stronger than everything? She subdued Samson, enticed David, and inclined the heart of Solomon towards her. Many are her captives, and innumerable are those that are slain through her, and their number increases. And even if there be one man who rules the whole world, and before whose wrath all people tremble and shake, since he would be supreme, and although man is appointed

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to be the jDrmce, ruler, and king over her, and to her is given the desire of him, yet not even he would be able to conquer her and to rule over her. Even Adam, the father of all mankind, was induced by his wife to transgress the word of God, by which she destined him and his offspring to death. Also, in the days of Noah, the heavenly angels were led astray and took to them women. Who does not believe that this is known from the very beginning of the world, and will last to the end unaltered? This is the truth that I utter.

(8) ' Now, finally, let it be known to the king and to all my hearers that all is vanity here — the king who rules the earth, the wine that rules the king, and woman with her iniquity, who rules the three; but truth reigns supreme in heaven and on earth; in the seas and in the depths truth prevails before God and man; for where truth dwells there wickedness cannot abide, for the heavens and the earth are founded upon truth, and the Lord our God is true for ever.'

(9) After this all the people assembled there before the king exclaimed, 'It is true.' Then said the king to Zerubbabel, ' Come near to me.' When he approached, the king kissed him and embraced him in the presence of all the people, and said, ' Blessed be the Lord God of Zerubbabel, who hath given him the spirit of truth, for there is nothing like God's truth; everything else is vanity.' And the princes also exclaimed, ' Indeed, truth is greater than all things; nor can one stand up against it since it dwells in the heaven and in the earth, and upon it is everything based. True is the God of Zerubbabel, who hath given him the spirit of truth to praise and to glorify truth before God and man.'

LXXVI. (1) The king then commanded all the honours written in the scroll to be carried out for Zerubbabel, for he had found great favour in the eyes of the king and the two princes, his colleagues. And the king further said to Zerubbabel, ' Ask, in addition to what is written in the scroll, whatever thy soul desires and I will grant it, even

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to half the kmgdom.' And Zerubbabel answered and said, ' Eemember, my lord the king, the vow which thou and King Cyrus made to the God of heaven, viz., to build His house, and to restore His holy vessels, and to allow His captive people to worship Him in the temple that is called by His name, that they may pray to the great God of heaven for the welfare of thy reign, for thou must not delay the vow which thou madest to the heavenly God.'

(2) The king thereupon commanded the scribes to hasten and write down Zerubbabel' s request, to rebuild the ruins of Jerusalem. He then sent a message to Cyrus, King of Persia, to join hands with him in this work, and thus to fulfil their vow by establishing the house of God in Jerusalem. And Cyrus issued a proclamation throughout his kingdom, saying, ' Every one of God's people whose heart prompts him to go up to Jerusalem to lay the founda- tion of the temple and to build it, let him go, and I shall give everyone the pay of his labour from my treasures until the building is completed.'

(3) The king's scribes thereupon wrote down this pro- clamation on behalf of Darius, King of Media, and Cyrus, King of Persia, to the princes, governors, and rulers on the other side of the river, and to the Arameans, Tyrians, Samaritans, and to Asaph, governor of the garden of Lebanon, ' Be it known to you that it is our pleasure to send back to God's holy city the captives of His people, whom Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, sent into exile; to restore the vessels of the great and holy temple which is called by the name of the God of heaven; to build His altar, and to sacrifice thereon every day; to build the temple, and the Holy of Holies; to establish the palace according to its old form; and to restore the walls of Jerusalem. (4) When this edict reaches you, exert your- selves to assist them by supplying all their wants in silver and gold, brass, wood, and stones for the builders and hewers until the building is finished, and to give them whatever they ask for, wheat, barley, oil, or wine, and whatever they want for the buildings. For re-establishing

the sacrifices upon the altar ye shall give them oxen, calves, rams, sheep, he-goats, doves, flour oil, salt, to enable them to re-establish the altar, and to finish the whole work.'

(5) The Edomites were also commanded by these two kings to contribute their share in the service of the house of the Lord, because they had helped the Chaldeans to overthrow it; they were to give a yearly tribute of five talents of gold for strengthening the breach of the house, to rebuild the temple and the holy city. The Sidonians, Tyrians, and Edomites, as well as the servants of the king in the Lebanon, under the command of Asaph, keeper of the garden, were ordered to hew the wood from the Lebanon, and to drag it to the sea from the Lebanon and thence to the Sea of Joppa, to complete the work of the house of God. No man was to hinder them until everything was completed. Having written down all these details as the two kings commanded, the scribes sealed it, and handed it over to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and to Nehemiah, the son of Hachaliah.

LXXVIL (1) About this time Darius, King of Media, was taken very ill, and, being about to die, he called Cyrus, King of Persia, his son-in-law, his daughter's husband, and made him king in his stead, so that the kingdoms of Media and Persia were united into one; and wdien Darius the Mede was gathered to his people, Cyrus reigned over Media and Persia and the remainder of the country. He then issued a proclamation in all his kingdom, saying, 'Who- ever of you among the people of the Lord God of heaven is willing to go up to Jerusalem to the footstool of the great and mighty God, to build His house and His temple W'hich the wicked Nebuchadnezzar, who was more wicked than all his predecessors, overthrew, let him go up and assist in the building, and may His God be with everyone whose heart prompts him to do so. And I, Cyrus, servant of the living God, who set me upon this throne, shall provide from my riches and my treasury all the wants of the house of this mighty God who made me King of Media and Persia, and who assisted me to destroy the kingdom of the Chaldeans.'

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(2) Thus all the elders of the captivity, Ezra the scribe, Nehemiah, the son of Hachaliah, with the other chiefs of the captivity and the priests, went up to Jerusalem and built the temple of God and His altar, and arranged the wood and placed the flesh of sacrifice upon the altar. (3) Then they lifted up their voices and wept, while Ezra and Nehemiah, with the other chiefs of the captivity, prayed to God, and said: ' 0 Lord of the whole universe, Thou hast put it into the heart of the King of Persia to do honour to Thy house, and to send Thy servants and priests to make sacrifices to Thee and to offer Thy burnt-offerings as Thy servants, our pious forefathers, did before Thee. Behold we, also Thy servants, have come to this place, and have rebuilt Thy altar after the same pattern, and we offer sacrifices to Thee, and arrange the wood beneath the burnt-offering. But how can it be pleasing to Thee, 0 God, seeing that we offer strange fire, for the holy fire is no more, since it has been hidden by Jeremiah the prophet, Thy servant, and the other chiefs of the captivity whom Nebuchadnezzar sent into exile. What shall we do, 0 God of heaven? Give us counsel and help, for to Thee belongs dominion, to help us and to strengthen our hands.'

(4) Now, it happened while they were praying to the Lord in this wise, a very old man about 100 years of age, belonging to those priests who were exiled in the days of Nebuchadnezzar, was heard calling. Being rather deaf through old age, he summoned his six sons before him, and said, ' 0 my sons, if I have found favour in your eyes, carry me near the altar and place me opposite it that I may inhale the sweet-smelling frankincense of the altar, for I have not been deemed worthy of that pleasure for many years now. Let your kindness be extended to me that ye may hearken to me this once, that I may be enabled to smell it once more before I die. Ye shall be rewarded hy the holy God, for I have been a great burden to you.'

(5) His sons forthwith carried him into the midst of the assembled priests opposite the altar. When he heard the

noise of the multitude and the priests crying to God for the holy fire, the old man said to his sons, ' What ails the people that they cry?' And they replied, 'The priests are seeking the holy fire which is no longer to be found, as it has been hidden from them.' ' Carry me, then, near the priests and the heads of the fathers, and I shall tell them where it is, and where Jeremiah the prophet and the other priests who went into exile had concealed it.' (6) His sons carried him in the midst of the chiefs of the fathers, who asked him about it, and he told them where it was. Then, carrying the old man, and crossing the Brook of Kedron and the Valley of Hinnom, they ascended Mount Olives; and during their descent, when they faced the valley in the plain, the old man showed them a large stone sunk in the earth. Digging up the dust round about the stone, they rolled the stone away, and removing the lime beneath it, they opened the pit.

(7) Then said he to the young priests, ' Descend thither and take the fire, for there it was placed.' He repeated his command, whereupon they descended, and found there at the bottom of the pit something like the lees of oil, and like mud and honey. When they related this to Ezra and the priests, they replied, ' Bring up whatever ye find, and no stranger touch you until ye come to the altar. Then place what ye have carried away upon the altar, upon the burnt -offering, and upon the wood.' They went down and did as they were commanded; (8) and as soon as they did this a great fire suddenly burnt upon the altar, and grew into such huge flames that the priests and the people fled from before it, for they could not endure it. It licked the burnt-offering, and, travelling round the temple, cleansed it, after which it got considerably smaller, so that it re- mained only on the altar, as usual. From that day thence- forward a continual fire burnt upon the altar, as they placed the wood regularly upon it until the second cap- tivity.

(9) But the ark was not there, because Jeremiah took the ark with all the curtains which Moses, the servant of God,

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made in the wilderness, and he carried them up to Mount Nebo and placed them in a cave. The priests of that time pursued him to find out the place of the ark, and of the tablets, of the curtains of the tabernacle, and of the tent of the congregation. When Jeremiah looked behind him and saw the priests, he became angry with them, and swore to them ' you shall never discover the place you desired to know until I and Elijah appear. Then we shall restore the tabernacle and the tent of the congregation to its original place, as well as the ark of the testimony and the two tables of stone which it contains. Then we shall enter the Holy of Holies.'

(10) From that day our ancestors offered their sacrifices and burnt-offerings and continual offerings every day, for the kings of Persia had assisted them with gold and silver, with wheat, oil and wine, with oxen, sheep and rams, everything that they desired, year after year, for the kings of Persia loved the temple of our God, and its sanctuary they greatly honoured.

LXXVIII. (1) And Cyrus reigned over all the kingdoms of the earth, for our God strengthened his right hand so that he subdued many nations. He (God) opened before him the gates of iron and broke the doors of brass, and revealed to him hidden treasures, just as He had told through Isaiah the prophet to his people, the servants of Jacob and Israel whom He had chosen. And the hand of Cyrus was strengthened, and, going to battle, he captured all the land, all the fords of India, as well as those in the south, the whole land of Ethiopia, all the nations dwelling in the lands of the south (Arabia), and in the west as far as Sefarad, and in the north, the land of Moqedon, and all the land of Kaftor and Ararat, the whole of Alan {f?i^), Alasar (iD'PiS), and the mountains of Alaf {^^^), i.e., the mountains of darkness, as far as the Snow Mountains, which are impassable. The rest of his mighty deeds and his battles, are they not written in the Book of Chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia, and in the book of Joseph ben Gorion, the anointed priest of battle.

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who was exiled from Jerusalem in the reign of Yespasianus, and in the Book of Chronicles of the kings of Eome?

(2) Cyrus the king ended his days in battle, and died in the land of the Shittim; but this need not cause surprise, for we know that Saul, the anointed of the Lord, also died in battle, as well as King Josiah, the beloved of God. (3) When Cyrus went to the land of Shittim, he smote their king at the edge of the sword, together with his warriors, because they raised their hands against the king {i.e., him- self). And when they fell, the Shittites fled with their queen, Tamirah (.-n^Dn), and her son until they came to their fortresses, and there they shut themselves in. As soon as Cyrus saw that they had shut themselves in their castles and that no one went out or in, he enticed them out by a ruse, for he departed with all his camp as if seeking to find an escape, whereupon the Shittites, with ' Tamirah's son, came out of their castles to pursue them. When they had come out into the plain, Cyrus suddenly turned upon them, and smote 300,000 of their warriors, and among the slain was found the son of their queen Tamirah. Cyrus then took all the Shittites prisoners, except those who had escaped to the mountains with the warriors. AVhen Tamyris saw that her son had been slain with the other soldiers, she was exceedingly grieved, and went wandering about the mountains and valleys of the Shittites, lying in ambush. When Cyrus left the land of the Shittites, he being confident of his victory, never thought of any possible ambush; therefore his army passed on before him, and, being left behind with a few followers, he encamped between two mountains and lay there down to sleep.

(4) On the same night he was attacked by the woman, who was like a wild beast, like a lioness bereaved of her cubs, and like a bereaved bear. She smote the whole camp of Cyrus, numbering 200,000 mighty men of Persia, together with their king. Then, strengthening herself, she went to the dead body of Cyrus, and, cutting off his head and placing it in a leather bottle, which she filled with the blood of the slain,

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she said, * Drink and satisfy thyself with the hlood which thou hast been so fond of shedding these thirty years with- out tiring.'

(5) Cyrus being thus gathered to his people, Cambisa, his son, reigned in his stead. As soon as he was enthroned he went to Shittim and destroyed the remainder of its inhabitants, together with their queen, Tamirah, and all her offspring. After him, Ahasuerus arose and abohshed all the work of the temple, for the enemies of the Jews had increased, and had written accusations at the beginning of Ahasuerus' reign. Thus the service of the temple was stopped until the second year of the reign of Darius, King of Persia.

LXXIX. (1) But our ancestors served the kings of Media and Persia with great loyalty, for they neither did them harm nor oppressed them. It was only in the time of Ahasuerus that the memory of Judah was nearly destroyed through the enmity of Haman the Amalekite, because Mordecai, a descendant of Saul, who smote the Amalekites from Havilah to Shur, a distance of several days, would not rise before him. He slew more than 500,000 Amalekites, and put to the sword their men, women, and children, to the number of thousands of thousands. It was for this reason that Haman, who was descended from them, cherished that hatred against the people of Judah, and especially against the tribe of Benjamin.

(2) Now, in the days of Ahasuerus, when Mordecai was sitting at the gate of the king he discovered a secret plot of two Persian princes, Bigthan and Teresh, whom he heard whispering and plotting to sever the head of the king while he lay in his bed, in order to carry it to the Macedonian king, for at that time the Macedonian empire was warring against the Persian kingdom. This plot Mordecai revealed to Esther, and she in her turn to the king, who commanded this act of loyalty on the part of Mordecai to be noted down in the Book of Chronicles, as well as the reward due to him. When, however, these two chamberlains were hanged it incurred the wrath of Haman,

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for they were his counsellors, and he, therefore, sought to blot out the name of Judah from under the heavens. But Mordecai discovered this plan of his and remembered the dream he had in the second year of the reign of Ahasuerus. (3) It was the following: There w^as a great earthquake, accompanied by a noise and the sound of wailing in the land, so that fear and terror fell upon all the inhabitants, and two immense dragons with terrible noise went against each other in battle, w^hereupon all the inhabitants ran towards the spot. Living among them was a small nation, and all the nations round about it rose up to destroy their memory from the face of the earth. On that day every- where it was thick darkness, and the small nation, being much oppressed, cried unto the Lord. The dragons con- tinued to fight furiously and nobody could separate them; when lo! Mordecai saw a small brook of water passing between the two dragons, which separated them, for the brook soon grew into an overflowing river, like the over- flowing of the Great Sea, so that it flooded the whole earth. The sun then shone upon the earth, and the small nation was raised to exaltation, while the proud ones were humbled, and peace and truth were restored in the world.

(4) Mordecai from that day always nursed that dream in his heart, and when Haman oppressed him, he said to Esther, 'Eemember the dream I narrated to thee in the days of thy youth. Now arise, and, beseeching the Lord for mercy, go into the presence of Ahasuerus; stand before him in all thy beauty, and plead the cause of thy people and thy kindred.' And Mordecai supplicated to God, saying, ' It is w^ell known and revealed to the throne of Thy glory, 0 Lord of the universe, that it was not from pride or haughtiness I refused to bow down to this Amalekite, but on account of the reverence I have for Thee I opposed him, refusing to bow down, for I fear Thee alone, 0 Lord of the universe, and would not, there- fore, give Thine honour to flesh and blood; therefore, I would prostrate myself to no being except Thy holy presence. And who am I that would not bow down to

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Haman? Yet for Israel's salvation I would lick the shoe upon his foot, and the dust upon which he walks. (5) 0 Lord, deliver them from his hand, that he may fall into the pit which he has dug for us, and be caught in the net which he has spread (hidden) under the feet of Thy pious men, that they may thereby know that Thou hast not forgotten the oath Thou didst swear; for Thou didst not deliver us into captivity because Thou wert not able to save us, but because of our sins and our iniquities, for we have sinned against Thee. But Thou, our God, art mighty in salvation; therefore save us, 0 Lord, from his hand; in our distress we call upon Thee to protect us, and to stand up in our midst to fight those who rise up against us. Eemember, we beseech Thee, that we are Thy portion; for of old, when Thou didst give the nations their inheritance, and when Thou didst separate the sons of men, we were Thy portion; the lot which Thou didst cast fell upon us to be chosen for Thy name. (6) Why, 0 God, should our enemies say we have no God? why should they open wide their mouth to swallow up Thy portion and praise their idols and vanities? We beseech Thee, 0 Lord, send salvation unto us; let them be ashamed of their idols and vanities, and let them place their hand upon their mouth and see Thy salvation, 0 Lord. Have mercy upon Thy people, and upon Thine inheritance. Do not close the mouths of those who praise Thee and proclaim Thy unity evening and morning continually. Turn our sorrow to joy and gladness, that we may live and give Thee thanks for the blessed salvation by which Thou wilt save us.' And all Israel cried unto the Lord for the trouble and sorrow which had come upon them.

Esther's Prayer.

LXXX. (1) And Esther fled to the Lord, for she feared the evil which was growing; and, stripping herself of her royal garments and the ornaments of her majesty, she clothed herself in sackcloth, and dishevelling the hair of her head, she put dust and ashes upon it. Then, afflicting

her soul with fasting, she fell upon her face in prayer, saying, ' 0 Lord God of Israel, who art the King of kings,' who art to be feared, who createdst the world, and who rulest over us, help Thine handmaid in her desolation, for she has no saviour except Thee. Behold, I dwell in the king's palace alone, without father or mother. Like an afflicted orphan begging charity from house to house, so do I beg for Thy mercy, from one window to the other in the palace of King Ahasuerus, and have done so from the time I was brought here until this present day. (2) 0 Lord, if it is pleasing to Thee, take my soul from my own hand; and if not, then deliver, I beseech Thee, the flock of Thy pasture from those lions who have risen up against them; for my father taught me that Thou didst redeem our forefathers from Egypt, and didst slay all the firstborn of the Egyptians. Thou didst bring Thy people forth thence with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and didst cause them to pass over the sea like a horse on dry land. Thou didst give them food from heaven, water from the cleft of the rock, and meat in plenty. Thou didst smite great and mighty kings before them, and caused them to inherit the goodly land. But when om^ ancestors sinned against Thy great name, then didst Thou deliver them into captivity; and here we are in exile to this day. My father further told me that, through Moses Thy servant. Thou didst say, " When also they shall be in the land of their enemies, I will never forsake them."

^ (B) ' Now, 0 Lord, Father of the fatherless, stand at the right hand of this orphan, who trusts in Thee, and grant me mercy when I am in the presence of King Ahasuerus, for I fear him as a kid fears the lion. Make lowly all his counsellors, that he may be humbled and subdued before the grace and beauty Thou hast given me. 0 my God, cause his heart to hate our enemies and to love Thy servants, for the heart of kings is in Thy hand. 0 Thou mighty, revered, and exalted God, deliver me from the fear and trembling which have taken hold of me, that I may go into his presence in Thy name, and come out in peace.'

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(4) On the third day Esther accordingly clothed herself in royal garments, and came before the king, who was sitting upon the throne, accompanied by her two hand- maidens. Upon one of them she placed her right hand, and leaned upon her, according to the royal custom, while the other maiden followed behind her to hold up her train, that the gold and precious stones should not touch the ground. Before him were seated all the potentates of the kingdom, who said one to the other, ' This woman is sure to be killed, since she has entered here without an appointed time.' One said, 'I will then take her royal garments'; a,nother, 'I shall take the ornaments on her feet'; and another, ' I will take the ornaments on her hands.' When Esther heard these remarks, she kept her face serene, and ■concealed the grief of her soul.

(5) The king, then raising his eyes to her, was much enraged that she had transgressed the law by coming into his presence without being called. When Esther noticed the king's anger and fury, she trembled, and, feeling faint, placed her head upon the maid at her right; but our Lord saw the oppression of His people, and had pity upon Israel and upon the trouble of the orphan who trusted in Him, and He made her find favour in the eyes of the king, for the Lord added beauty to her beauty and majesty to her majesty, and the king, rising in haste from his throne, ran towards Esther, and embraced and kissed her, and, taking her in his arms, said to her, ' What is this fear, 0 Queen Esther? for this decree of ours does not apply to thee, since thou art the queen, my friend and companion;' and, taking up the golden sceptre, he placed it into her hand, and added, ' Why dost thou not speak to me?' And Esther replied, * When I saw thee, 0 lord, my soul trembled before thine honour, and on account of the greatness of thy glory.'

(6) She then leaned her head once more upon her handmaid, for she was faint from fasting and from trouble. The king, however, was now very much alarmed at this, and wept before his wife, while all his ministers ■entreated her to speak to the king, in order to appease

his soul. And the Lord brought about that great salvation through Queen Esther and Mordecai. Haman and his sons were hanged upon the gallows, and all those who devised evil against Israel were slain at the edge of the sword, and Mordecai from that day forth was honoured in the king's palace.

[This is the letter which Haman sent (to the nations), for the purpose of causing the house of Jacob to perish.]

LXXXI. (1) 'I, Haman, who am great before the king, and second to him, who am the chief of the potentates, and seventh among the princes, and who am the most favoured in the kingdom — I, Haman, do write with the consent of all the prefects (eparchs), governors, rulers, and of all the kings of the East who lend their aid, and with the consent of all the royal princes. We all with one consent, with one mouth, with one speech, and in one language, write down, with the permission of King Ahasuerus, and seal it with his ring, so that it cannot be retracted, concermng the great eagle, whose wings were spread over the whole world, so that no bird, beast, or animal was able to stand before it, until the great Mede arose and smote it with one great blow, by which its wings were broken, its feathers plucked out, and its legs cut off, thereby giving the whole world rest, peace, and tranquillity, from the time it wandered from its nest until this very day. We now see that it wishes to grow and to increase its feathers and to spread out its wings again to cover us and the whole world, and to rend us in pieces in the same manner as it rent our fore- fathers who preceded us.

(2) ' On this account all the great men of Media and Persia have here assembled, and with the permission of the king we all of us with one counsel write to you to spread out nets to catch this eagle, whose strength again increases, and bring her back to her nest, to pluck out her feathers and to break her wings, to give her flesh to the birds of the heaven, to destroy her seed, to crush her young, and to root out her memory from the world. Our

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counsel is not like Pharaoh's, who decreed only concerning the males, leaving the females; nor as Esau's, who said, " Now that the days of my father's mourning draw nigh, I will kill my brother Jacob, and make his sons my servants "; nor like Amalek's, who pursued Israel, and slew the weak, but let the strong remain; nor like Nebuchadnezzar's, who exiled them, and, giving them rest, promoted some to the throne of the kingdom; nor like Sennacherib's, who brought them to a land like their own; (3) but with a united wish, we have decided to destroy and to blot out all the Jews, young and old, women and children, and all on one day, so that there be no seed left in the world, that their children act not as they did to our ancestors, to our fathers, and our great men, for those who did good to them they rewarded with evil. We would be justified even if we took only revenge for Pharaoh, who did many good deeds for them, for he made Joseph, a servant, king over them and over all Egypt, and when his father and brothers came to him, he gave them the very best part of the land to dwell in, and maintained them during the years of famine, so that his people increased and multiplied in the land, and a prophet arose among them, Moses by name, the son of Amram. He was a wizard, and brought upon Pharaoh, upon his household, and upon his land, great plagues, awful and extraordinary. The people then rose up in the middle of the night like thieves, and, after robbing their neighbours, went out of the land. But Pharaoh, with his army, pursued them for their property, and they entered the sea through the enchantments of the Israelites; but they did not know by what means they had entered, and they were all drowned in the sea, thus return- ing evil for good.

(4) ' When they arrived in the wilderness, a certain old man, a descendant of Esau, offered them a feast in honour of their ancestor Jacob, and after they had eaten and drunk and enjoyed his feast — Joshua their wizard did not cease with his enchantments — but they spread their hands and whispered with their lips, until our ancestors

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became weak through him, as it is said, " And Joshua weakened them "; nor was this alone sufficient for them, but they made a decree that our name should be blotted out, as it is said, " Thou shalt destroy the memory of Amalek." They did likewise to the kings of Midian who dwelt there, for they spoiled and slew the Midianite kings, their prophets and their priest they slew at the edge of the sword, and had no mercy upon them, as it is said, " And Balaam, the son of Beor, they slew with the sword, also Sihon and Og, the two Amorite kings." Also the thirty-one kings and seventy elders. Then arose their king, Saul, who destroyed all the seed of Amalek, and had not our ancestor Agag been preserved, there would not have been one single survivor. They strengthened themselves against our kingdom, and destroyed us, not by means of the spear or the sword, but, having built a large house, they entered therein, and when they came out, they caused the nations to fall down before their words by means of their wiles.'

(5) "When the nations of the world read this writing, they sent back word to Haman, saying, * Whatever thou hast written we know, but we fear lest they do the same to us as they did to our forefathers and our ancestors, for we shall perish at their hands. Cease, therefore, from them, for whoever touches them touches the apple of God's eye, for they are called " The people near to Him," as it is said, " And the children of Israel are the people near to Him; they are His beloved. His treasure, and His inheritance." Now, Haman, what wilt thou do? for see what happens to those who pursue them, see how the mighty men of the world have fallen beneath them. We therefore do not wish to lay hand upon them, for their God has called them the stone of foundation, and whenever it is moved He shall replace it.'

(6) Haman once more wTote to them, saying that ' their God, whom you fear so much, does not fight their battles, nor does He avenge their wrongs; He only did so in His youth, but now He has become weak, and has no more

16—2

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power to wreak vengeance; for if He had, why did He not deliver them from Nebuchadnezzar, who destroyed His house, burnt His temple, and slew His young men, and before whom He had no power, for the remnant was then exiled to his land (Babylon). And now though they are prisoners in our hands, we wish to intermarry with them, but they do not wish it. They, on the contrary, despise us, and account us as reptiles and creeping things; if a fly happens to fall into one of their cups, he throws it out and drinks the wine, and if one of us happens to touch the cup of one of them, he throws it on the ground and breaks it. If we ask them for anything, although we desire to return them double, in order to unite them to us, they do not wish it, but despise us and our kingdom. It is therefore our desire, with the king's consent, as well as the consent of the princes, rulers, governors, and pashas, to destroy them utterly from the world, both young and old, women and children, in one day, as it is said, " Come, and let us destroy them." '

(7) As soon as the surrounding nations heard this, with one accord they consented to destroy the Israelites, as it is said, ' Those kings counselled together,' etc. One day when Haman was walking along, with the princes of the kingdom following him, Mordecai, while walking in front of them, met three children just coming from school, and said to them, ' Tell me each of you what lesson you have learnt to-day.' The first one replied, ' Do not be hastily terrified.' The second replied, ' Take counsel together, and it shall be brought to nought;' and the third said, ' Until old age I am He.' On hearing these replies Mordecai rejoiced, and gave thanks to God. When Haman met him, he said, ' What did these children tell thee?' And he replied, 'They told me good tidings.' At this Haman's anger was kindled, and he commanded the children to be captured, saying, ' I will stretch forth my hand first against these children.' [End of the letter.]

LXXXII. (1) E. Isaak Kapha said Haman worked cun- ningly against Israel, for it is written, ' And when these days

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were fulfilled, the king made a feast unto all the people.' ' The people ' here referred to is Israel. Haman said to Ahasuerus, ' The God of these people hates lewdness, for it is written in the Torah, " Thou shalt not commit adultery." ' He, therefore, brought together lewd women, and making the banquet for them, decreed that they should comply with any man's wish, so as not to give the accused the excuse of saying that they had been forced to do such a thing by a decree of the king. As soon, however, as Mordecai perceived this, he said to the people, ' Do not go to this banquet, that you may not be led into temptation.' But the Jews disregarded Mordecai's advice, and went.

(2) R. Levi said that 18,560 men went to this banquet, and ate and drank until they were intoxicated with the wine. Our sages say that while they were at the table of this wicked man, Satan appeared before God, and accused Israel in these words, ' 0 Lord of the universe, how long wilt Thou cleave to this nation, who turn their hearts from Thee, who forsake Thee, and separate them- selves from Thee? Moreover, they do not turn to Thee in repentance, although the verse has been fulfilled in which it is written, '' I shall scatter you among the heathen." Therefore, if it is Thy will, let them perish from the world.' But God asked, 'What will become of My law?' And he replied, ' Let it remain for the higher beings.' Then said the Holy One, blessed be He, ' My mind is satisfied to destroy Israel.' (3) At that moment He wished to blot Israel out of the world, as it is said, ' I shall cease to remember man.' ' What is this nation to Me,' said the Lord, 'for whom My sorrow increases every day?' And God said to Satan, 'Go, and bring Me a scroll, that I may write thereon their destruction.' When Satan went out to fetch the scroll, he came face to face with the Law, which came forth to meet him in widow's garments groaning and weeping, and at the voice of her weeping the ministering angels cried, saying, 'If the Israelites are to be destroyed, what is the use of us?' And they wept aloud, as it is said, ' The Arelim cried abroad, and

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the angels of peace wept bitterly.' As soon as the sun, moon, stars, and planets heard it they clothed themselves with sackcloth, and lifted up their voice in lamentation, as it is said, ' The heavens and the earth clothed them- selves in blackness, and girded themselves with sackcloth;' as it is said, ' I will clothe the heavens with blackness, and make sackcloth their garment.' Then they all ex- claimed, ' 0 Lord of the universe, shall Israel be destroyed, who go from door to door wishing to study the law, observe the Sabbath, circumcision, and the commandments, and for whose sakes we were created? as it is said, " If not for My covenant, the day and the night and the ordinances of heaven and earth would not have been founded," and now shall they perish from the world?'

(4) At that moment Elijah w^ent to beseech the righteous men of yore, the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and said to them, ' 0 patriarchs, do ye not know that the heavens and the earth and all the heavenly host weep in the day, and cry in the night, and that the whole world is now like a travailing woman, while ye remain silent?' 'But why is this?' said they. 'Because Israel has been handed over to the slaughterer like sheep, to be blotted out from the face of the earth, and their name is to perish, as it is said, " Come, and let us destroy them." ' Then said Moses to Elijah, ' Is there a righteous man in this generation?' And he replied, ' Yes, there is one, and his name is Mordecai, the son of Jair.' ' Then go, and tell him to supplicate continually for mercy, and I shall do likewise.' 'But,' said Elijah, 'Moses, 0 faithful shepherd, against thy flock the decree has already been written down, and now they desire to put the seal on it.'

(5) ' Notice,' then said Moses to Elijah, ' whether it has been sealed with clay, for then our prayers may still be heard; but if it is sealed with blood, then what has been decreed will happen.' After this conversation Elijah, of blessed memory, forthwith went to Mordecai, as it is said, 'And Mordecai knew all that had happened,' and when he heard this, he rent his clothes, as it is said, ' And

Mordecai rent his clothes.' Then said Mordecai before God, ' 0 Lord of the universe, Thou hast sworn to our fore- fathers to make their seed as numerous as the stars of the heavens, and now we are accounted for as sheep to be slaughtered. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy

servants.'

(6) Then, gathering all the children of the school together, he afflicted them by depriving them of bread and water, and, clothing them in sackcloth, he placed them on ashes, so that they cried day and night, while the wicked Haman went to his house rejoicing, as it is written, ' And on that day Haman went home rejoicing, and with a merry heart, and calling his friends, -said, " Thus and thus has Queen Esther done." And he told them of his greatness, adding, '' But all this is not enough for me." And Zeresh, his wife, said to him to erect gallows for Mordecai, and it pleased him, and he erected a gallows. Cutting down a cedar from his garden, 50 cubits high and 15 cubits wide, he brought it out, and fixed it near his door, all the while singing praises and songs, and thinking in his heart that at the time of the reading of the ' Shema' ' he would hang Mordecai thereon. On the same day that he fixed it, it fell upon him; but Gabriel replaced it in its position, saying to him, ' To thee belongs this beautiful tree, and for thee was it established from the creation.'

(7) Haman then went out to seek Mordecai, and found him sitting at the head of the children, while they sat upon ashes girded with sackcloth, lamenting and crying. Having beaten them with chains of iron, he appointed keepers over them, saying, ' First shall these be slain, and afterwards I will hang Mordecai the Jew.' Their mothers then brought them bread and water, saying to them, ' Eat and drink, my children, before you die'; but they refused, and, swearing by the life of Mordecai, they placed their hands upon their books, and said, ' We shall not eat anything at all, but shall die in our fast.' (8) After rolling up his scroll, each one of them placed it at his heart, and when the hours of the night passed by their lamentation was heard on high,

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and the supplications of the patriarchs. The Holy One said, ' I hear the voices of kids and goats;' at which Moses replied, ' 0 Lord God of the universe, Father of the father- less, and Judge of the widows, these are not kids and goats, but the young of Thy people of the house of Israel, who sit fasting now for three days and three nights, bound in chains of iron; but to-morrow they are to be slaughtered like kids and goats, while the heart of the enemy re joiceth.' The mercy of God was then moved for them, so that He broke the seals, rent the decree, and frustrated the counsel of Haman and his plans, causing the salvation of Israel and Mordecai to spring forth, thus fulfilling what is written, ' I shall cut off the horns of the wicked; but the horns of the righteous shall be raised on high.'

LXXXIII. (1) It is written. On that same night the sleep of the king was disturbed. God at that time said to the patriarchs, ' They have been condemned to destruction;' they replied, ' 0 Lord of the universe, for what reason?' ' Because in the time of Nebuchadnezzar they did not sanctify My name, and made Me to be one who hath no power to deliver.' Whereupon they replied, ' Now, 0 Lord, do unto them what seems good to Thee.' But as soon as God saw that they bowed to justice. He arose from His throne of justice, and sat upon the throne of mercy. Then did the heavenly host address God, saying, ' Didst Thou not create the whole world for the sake of the Torah, which Thou gavest to Israel? do not all things exist for their sake? as it is said, " If not for My covenant I would not have created day and night." Therefore, if Thou destroyest this nation, what shall become of us?' But God replied, ' My children have not done well.' ' 0 Lord of the w^orld,' added they, ' it is revealed and known to Thee that they did this from fear.'

(2) The Lord was then filled with mercy for Israel, and, calling to the trees of the creation, He said, ' Who of you will be willing to serve as gallows for the wicked?' And the fig-tree replied, ' I am ready to be the gallows to hang that wicked man; for from me the Israelites brought the

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first ripe fruits into the temple, and not only this, but they were compared to me,' as it is said, ' I saw your fathers as the first ripe fruit on the fig-tree in its bud.' The vine also said, ' I will offer myself, for from me they obtained the drink-offering for the temple; and, moreover, to me they were compared,' as it is said, ' Israel is a budding vine.'

(3) Then said the pomegranate, ' I will offer myself, for the Israelites were compared to me,' as it is said, ' Like the heart of a pomegranate is thy temple.' And the walnut said, 'I will offer myself, for the Israelites were compared to me,' as it is said, ' I descended to the garden of nuts.' The citron also exclaimed, ' I will offer myself, for the Israelites praised God through me,' as it is said, 'And ye shall take you the fruit of goodly trees.' The willows of the brook said, ' They were compared to me,' as it is said, ' And they shall spring up among the grass, as willows by the water-courses.' The olive said, ' I will offer myself, for from me they kindled the lights in the temple,' as it is said, ' And they shall take unto me pure olive-oil '; * they were, moreover, compared to me,' as it is said, ' His majesty is like the olive, and, further, the green olive whose fruit is beautiful to look at.'

(4) The apple also said, ' I will offer myself, for the Israelites were compared to me,' as it is said, ' And the sweet smell of thy breath is like apples.' The cedar said, ' I will offer myself, for from me the holy temple was built, besides which the Israelites were compared to me,' as it is said, 'He shall grow like the cedar in Lebanon.' The thorn next said, 'I will serve as gallows, for the wicked were compared to me,' as it is said, ' But the ungodly shall he all as thorns to be thrust away.'

(5) As soon as the thorn had offered itself, the Lord silenced all the trees of the creation, saying, ' Since thou •offerest thyself, this wicked man, who desires to destroy My children, shall be hanged upon thee.' And at that moment that wicked man, summoning his wise men, said unto them, ' I will erect a tree, to hang Mordecai thereon.

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50 cubits high, that all the surrounding countries may see him hanging.' ' But there is no tree as high as that, except in thine own house.' This wicked man then destroyed the hall of his own house in order to obtain the materials required for the gallows, and taking the beam of thorn from his house, he fixed it; but it fell upon him, and thereby took his measurement. Then exclaimed Gabriel, ' This tree has been prepared for thee from the creation.'

(6) The sages say that Michael came to the bedside of Ahasuerus in the night, and disturbed his sleep, for he knocked him on the ground 366 times. When he arose, in great anger, he saw three companies before him, one of butchers, one of bakers, and the third of butlers, and said to them, ' Ye have given me poison, and you seek to kill me and to blot me out from the world.' But they answered, ' The same bread that Queen Esther and Haman ate thou atest, and the wine they drank thou also drankest. Let us see Esther and Haman, and if they are as thou art, then thou doest rightly; but if not, then why should we be killed?'

(7) When they found that Esther and Haman had suffered no harm, the king ordered the Book of Chronicles to be brought before him. On that same night Gabriel appeared in his dream before Ahasuerus, in the likeness of Haman, with a drawn sword in his hand, seeking to kill him. Rising confusedly from his sleep he exclaimed, ' Who is in the court?' And the young chamberlains of the king replied, ' Haman is in the court.' Then he thought, and said, ' The dream I have dreamt is true, and he has come here for no other reason than to slay me.' Then, commanding Haman to come into his presence, he said, ' I know that thou art a man of thought, and whoever follows thy counsel never fails. What shall be done to the man whom the king delights to honour?' Pievolving this in his mind, Haman thought, ' Whom can the king desire to honour more than me?'

(8) He therefore said to the king: ' Let the man whom the king desires to honour be clothed in the royal garments,.

and let one of the greatest men of the kmgdom walk m front of him and proclaim aloud these words, "Whoever will not bend himself or bow down before him shall be slain," and in addition, let the king's daughter be given him.' Then said the king to Haman, ' Go and do likewise to Mordecai the Jew who sits in the gate of the king.' ' But there are many Mordecais who sit in the king's gate, and is not a small province sufficient for him?' asked Haman. The king said, ' Let no word fail from all that thou hast said.'

[End of the letter of Haman. This is a Midrash, and is not to be found in the Book of Josippon.]

The Throne of Solomon, King of Israel.

LXXXIV. (1) 'In those days, when Ahasuerus sat (upon the throne).' The word nn::'D can only be understood as meaning ' sitting on a throne,' as it is said, 'When Ahasuerus sat upon the throne of his kingdom;' but with reference to Solomon, it is said, ' And Solomon sat upon the throne of the Lord as king over Israel.' It is related that the assembly of Israel said unto God, ' 0 Lord of the universe, this wicked man sits in the same place where Solomon has been sitting; do not make abominable the throne of Thy glory.' In the third year of his reign — for he busied him- self with this throne for three years — he sent for workmen to make a throne like unto that of Solomon, but they were unable to do so.

(2) And what was the throne of Solomon? The sages say that Solomon mounted his throne by six different ways, each way having steps. On each step there were two lions, one on the right and the other on the left, who did not remain quiet, but were active. And what did they do? When Solomon went up on the first step, the lions on the right stretched out their paws upon which a writing was engraved. He could not place his foot on the second step until he had read what was written on the lions' paws. It was, 'Ye shall not respect persons in judgment.'

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Turning now to the left, he read what the other lions had written on their paws, ' Thou shalt not accept any bribe.' (3) Thus at every step he had to read some portion of the law of judgment. All the steps were set with precious stones and pearls, red, white and green. Kinds of trees and species of the palm-trees were fixed on both sides of each step, and upon their branches there nestled all kinds of eagles, peacocks and birds. On the highest step were two huge pillars of ivory on the heads of the lions, and two golden hollow vines fragrant with every kind of perfume, which they exhaled whenever Solomon ascended the throne. The throne itself was made of ivory, overlaid with the gold of Ophir, and surrounded with precious stones and pearls. On either side of the throne a golden seat of honour was placed, one for Gad the seer, and the other for Nathan the prophet. (4) And seventy other seats of gold for the seventy judges of the Sanhedrim formed a circle round the central throne. In front of it was a lamp of gold, with its snuffers and censers and other appurtenances; and on one side of this lamp were seen in sculptured work the seven patriarchs of the world, viz., Adam, Noah, Shem, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Job, while on the other side were the seven pious men of the world, viz., Kehath, Amran, Moses, Aaron, Eldad, Medad and Hur, and on the top the form of a priest was seen kindling the light.

(5) On the steps approaching the throne were placed as many unclean animals as clean, all facing each other, on the first step the ox was placed opposite the lion; on the second, the goat opposite the wolf; on the third (third missing); on the fourth, the bear opposite the hart; on the fifth, the eagle opposite the dove; and on the sixth, the hawk opposite the turtledove. The ascent to the throne was made between these animals. As soon as Solomon placed his foot on the first step he turned round, and the lion immediately stretched out its paw on the right and the eagle its talon on the left. Upon these he leaned, and was spared the trouble of ascending himself because the same thing was done by the different animals and

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birds on each until he arrived at the top. (6) Then all the birds of every species began to chirp and sing, and the peacocks to shriek, and all the trees emitted their fragrant perfumes. A serpent of gold then encircled him, and, having seated him upon his throne, crept down beneath his feet. The eagles, nestling on the vines after wafting breezes of perfume with their wings, placed the crown upon his head, and, this done, all the beasts and birds with one accord exclaimed, ' Long may the kingdom of the house of David be established.' (7) After this a dove of gold opposite the throne brought a scroll of the law and placed it upon his knees. Then, laying it upon a golden reading-desk just by the throne, he read it to fulfil what is written, ' And it shall remain with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life.' Every step on the throne contained some verse in praise of the law\ On the first was written, ' The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul.' On the second, ' The testi- mony of the Lord is faithful, making the foolish (simple) wise.' On the third, ' The precepts of the Lord are just, rejoicing the heart. ■* On the fourth, ' The commandment of the Lord He created as an enlightenment to the eyes.' On the fifth, ' The fear of the Lord is pure, lasting for ever.' On the sixth, ' The judgments of the Lord are true, and are righteous, all of them.'

(8) When the people approached Solomon for judgment, the wheels of his throne turned, the oxen lowed, the lions roared, the bears howded, the lambs bleated, the eagles cried, the peacocks shrieked, the cocks crowed, the haw-ks screamed, and all the birds chirped, to terrify the plain- tiffs and the witnesses, so that they did not plead wrong cases, and the witnesses were not testifying falsely. On account of all this, it is said, ' The like of it will never be made in any kingdom.' When Ahasuerus was king, he tried for three years to have a throne made like that of Solomon, but in vain. [End of the throne of Solomon.]

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The Book of the Maccabee.

LXXXV. (1) In the first year of his reign, Cyrus tried to build the temple, but when Ahasuerus arose he pro- hibited it, and attempted to uproot the vineyard (of the Lord), but God exterminated him and the wicked Haman from the world, and he died. His son succeeded him. These are the kings mentioned, ' Darius,' ' Cyrus,' and ' Artaxerxes.' Then the people believed the prophets and were prosperous. In the second year of his reign he allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem to erect the holy temple and repair Jerusalem without let or hindrance. This was, indeed, a complete redemption. Then did Ezra, Zerub- babel, and his company for the second time go up to Jerusalem with another generation of the captivity, and they rebuilt Jerusalem and its walls. The towers they erected were very high and strong, and the temple contained more than did the first one, so that the first temple was deemed insignificant in comparison to it. The people on this account served Cyrus loyally for thirty-four years.

(2) After the rebuilding of the temple, Zerubbabel returned to Babylon and there died. His son, Meshullam, succeeded him, and in his days, in the fifty- second year of the kingdom of the Medes and Persians, the kingdom was formed. The last prophets, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, died at that time, and from that day prophecy ceased to exist in Israel, and the Echo of the Heavenly Voice (Bath Kol) took its place, and after that they had to consult the sages, until the Messiah will come and show us the right way.

(3) Thirty-four years after the rebuilding of the temple, Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, reigned, until Alexander the Macedonian, and first King of Greece, rose up against him in battle, and having killed him, took his kingdom. He reigned over Israel two years and captured every kingdom; he made the whole world subservient to him, for at that time, thirty-four years after the rebuilding of the temple, Alexander the Great was crowned, the son of Philippus,

King of Macedon, for he made the name of the Macedonian nation great, and smote the whole country. When he waged war against Darius he smote the land of Egypt, and slew in Alexandria double as many Jews as went out of Egypt. After conquering Edom, he marched along the sea-shore until he came to Acco, which he conquered, as well as Ashkalon and 'Aza. He then turned to go up to Jerusalem to smite it, because the Jews had made a covenant with Darius. After journeying with all his camp some distance, he arrived at a lodge, where he and his army encamped.

(4) On the same night, while he was lying in his bed in his tent, he opened his eyes and beheld a man standing over him, clothed in white linen, and with a drawn sword in his hand. The appearance of the sword was like lightning on a rainy day. When he lifted the sword over the head of the king, he was greatly afraid, and said, * Why will my lord smite his servant?' And the man replied, ' God hath sent me to conquer kings and many nations before thee, and I will go before thee to render thee assistance, but know now that thou shalt surely be slain, because thy heart is bent upon going to Jerusalem in order to injure God's priests and God's people.' ' I beseech thee, 0 lord,' replied the king, ' pardon the sin of thy servant, and if it is evil in thine eyes, I will return to my home.' 'Do not be afraid,' said the man; * go thy way to Jerusalem, and when thou comest before the gate of the city and seest a man clothed in white like me, having an appearance and form like mine, do thou immediately make thy obeisance to him and bow thyself to the ground before him; do whatever he bids thee and do not transgress his word, for the very day that thou rebellest against his word thou shalt be slain.'

(5) The king accordingly arose and went on his way to Jerusalem. When the High Priest heard that the king was coming against Jerusalem in great anger, he was exceedingly afraid, as were all the people, and he with the people went out at the gate of the city, and he stood

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before them clothed in white Hnen. As soon as Alexander beheld the priest, quickly dismounting from his chariot, he fell upon his face and bowed dow^n to him. But the generals of Alexander became very angry at this, and said, ' Why dost thou bow down to a man who has no strength for battle?' And the king replied, ' Because the man that goeth in front of me to subdue all the nations before me is in appearance and form like this man. I therefore bow down to him.'

(6) Then, going into our holy temple, he said to the priest, ' I will have my statue erected here, and will give much gold to the workmen, that it may be a remembrance of me. And they shall erect it between the Holy of Holies and the temple, so that my image be a remembrance in this great house of God.' But the priest replied, ' Present the gold for the maintenance of God's priests and the poor of His people, and I shall cause thee to be remembered for good, as thou wishest. All the children of the priests that are born this year shall be called by thy name, Alexander, and thou shalt be remembered when they w^orship in this house; but it is not permitted to place a graven image or any likeness in the house of our God.' The king then gave the gold according to the priest's request.

(7) He asked him to inquire of God on his behalf whether he should go to war with Darius, or abandon the plan. And the priest replied, ' He will surely be delivered into thy hand.' Then, bringing the Book of Daniel, he showed him the passage concerning the ram that gores on all sides, and the young of the goats which runs up to him and tramples upon him. ' Thou,' added he, ' art the young of the goats and Darius is the ram. Thou shalt therefore trample upon him and seize his kingdom.' Thereupon Alexander went to battle, and having slain Darius, captured all his kingdom, so that the Persian kingdom ceased to exist. Alexandria in Egypt was made the royal city.

(8) He ruled over all the nations just as a shepherd rules over his flock. He soon went over to India, travelling right across the country to its extremity, and extended his

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dominion, as we learn from the Talmud. E. Jose said, ' For six years he reigned in Elam, and afterwards spread his kingdom over the whole world.' He reigned altogether twelve years, and when he was on his way home to his house he died. Before his death, he divided his kingdom among his four chieftains. He made Ptolemy, the son of Lagi i^^iih), King of Egypt; Phillipos his brother King of Macedon, and Seleucus and Nicanor Kings of Syria and Babylon respectively; lastly, he made Antiochus, the great enemy of the Jews, King of Asia (n*^di;).' Daniel prophesied this event when he said that the goat would gore the ram and break down his kingdom, which would be given to the four winds of the heaven.

LXXXVI. (1) When Seleucus reigned over Macedonia, a very wicked, rebellious man of our own people, Simeon of the tribe of Benjamin, went to Seleucus, and, slandering the Jews, informed him of the riches contained in the temple at Jerusalem, saying that the treasures were heaped up in the treasury in endless quantities, and an abundance of gold and precious stones, and that it would be preferable to have it all placed in the treasury of Seleucus. The king thereupon sent for Eliodorus, the captain of his host, and bade him go to Jerusalem with his armies. On his arrival, Honiah the priest said to him, ' Why has my lord come to his servants?' ' Because of the vast amount of gold and precious stones which, the king has been informed, is contained in the treasury of your temple.' ' The only gold in the treasury,' said the priest, ' is that which King Seleucus and other kings presented to us, for the maintenance of orphans, widows and the poor. For this, we pray to God to grant long life to the king and his sons.'

(2) Eliodorus, however, would not listen to the priest, but placed guards round the temple until the following day, when the city was in great uproar through the lamenta- tion and cries of the people. The priests also called upon their God, and the old men and women and princes covered themselves with ashes and afflicted their souls with fasting.

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They withheld food from even the young, and milk from the sucklings. They cried to God to guard the treasury and the riches deposited therein. Even the young virgins spread out their hands through the windows of their houses, and besought the Lord for protection. And as to Honiah the priest, he afflicted his soul (by fasting), and having stripped himself of his garments of honour, clothed himself in sackcloth and ashes, for he was grief-stricken, and, from his appearance, one could imagine the sorrow that was in his heart.

(3) On the next day the enemy came with all his hosts and went into the temple shouting, but the Lord caused a strong and mighty sound of thunder to be heard, to- gether with an earthquake, and a tempest that overthrew mountains and shattered rocks. On hearing this, all his troops took to flight, and hid themselves wherever they could, so that he (Eliodorus) remained alone, and, lifting up his eyes, he saw an awe-inspiring man clothed in gold, decked with precious stones, and girt with implements of war. He was riding a splendid horse, that was plunging and rearing, trotting and galloping in the temple. Helio- dorus immediately ran away, but the horse felled him to the ground, standing over him. The man then commanded his two young servants, clothed in white linen, with staves in their hands, to smite Eliodorus very severely; and the two young men at his bidding stood one on each side of him, and beat him mercilessly until he became insensible and hovered between life and death.

(4) Young priests came then, and lifting him on their shoulders, carried him into his tent and placed him in his bed, where he lay motionless and dumb. He could neither speak nor partake of any food. When the elders of Macedon saw him in this state, they came to Honiah the priest, and, crying, entreated him in the following manner, ' 0 my lord, we beseech thee, pray for thy servant Eliodorus and all his servants who have come with him, that we may live and not die, for we know that there is no other God except yours, since all the gods of the nations are vanity and

emptiness, whilst yours is the God that created the world, and in whose hand is the soul of every living being.'

(5) The priest, then praying to God, offered up burnt- offerings and sacrifices, and the two young men that smote Eliodorus by the temple appeared to him and said, 'Arise, go to Honiah the priest, and bow down to his feet, since for his sake the Lord has had mercy upon thee.' Eliodorus accordingly arose, and, going to the priest, prostrated him- self, and blessing the Lord and the priest, gave much gold and silver to the treasury of the house of the Lord. Then hastening to Macedonia, he went to Seleucus the king, who asked, 'What of Jerusalem?' And Eliodorus replied, 'If thou hast any enemies that seek thy life, send them at once to Jerusalem, and let them go into the temple, where they will surely be killed, for the great God reigns in that place, and destroys all the enemies of Jerusalem and Judah.' He then told the king all that he had witnessed. And Seleucus no more sent his army to Jerusalem to do evil, but, on the contrary, every year until his death he sent a present to the temple, and the kings of the land loved to send their offerings to honour the temple at Jerusalem.

LXXXVII. (1) Now, Ptolemy the Macedonian, who was made King of Egypt, was a wise and clever king, who delighted much in books. He, therefore, commanded his two officers to collect very many of them. The names of these princes were Aristios and Andrios. Having collected together many Median and Persian books, besides others in all kinds of languages, the king said to them, ' How many books have you obtained?' ' Nine hundred and fifty,' they replied. Ptolemy laughed at this, and said, ' Go and add another fifty to make a thousand.'

(2) But Aristios and Andrios replied, '0 my lord, it is in vain that we weary ourselves to obtain these books, since they are useless. Now, if it please the king, let him write to the priest at Jerusalem, and he will send thee some wise men of that place, conversant with the Greek language, who will explain to thee their law, which is the holy writing, but the books we have copied are of no use.'

17—2

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(3) Acting upon their advice, the king made such a request of the priest who was in those days, and the high priest sent him seventy priests with Eleazar as their chief, the same Eleazar who was afterwards tried during the reign of Antiochus, and who died a martyr's death for his God.

(4) When Eleazar and these seventy priestly interpreters came to Egypt, Ptolemy, having put them in seventy different houses, one distinct from the other, provided each one with a scribe, and the priests interpreted the whole twenty-four books of the law, which these seventy elders then translated from Hebrew into Greek. As soon as it was finished, Eleazar brought the various copies to the king, who, after reading each one of them, found that they were all of one mind, and that the interpretations of all were identical. (5) The king was much rejoiced at this, and, presenting Eleazar and the seventy elders with much money, sent them back to Jerusalem. He further gave 150,000 men of Judah their freedom, besides presenting them each with fifty drachmas of gold, and a table of pure gold weighing 1,000 talents for the temple. Upon it he engraved the land of Egypt, and the course of the river Nile in Egypt, by which the country is watered, and inlaid it with precious stones, so that the like of it had never been seen in all the land. This the King Ptolemy sent as a present to the temple of the great and awe-inspiring God of the whole world.

(6) A long time after this, Antiochus was made King of Macedonia, while Ptolemy, King of Egypt, was gathered to his people, and another Ptolemy succeeded him. But Antiochus rose up against him, and having slain him, captured the whole land of Egypt, over which he reigned. (7) In those days fierce battles began to be fought against the people of Judah, for after Antiochus had smitten Egypt he became very proud, and issued a proclamation to every people, commanding them to bow down to the image of the king. And all the nations obeyed. But the godless men of our people, Menelaos, Simeon, Alkimos, and others,

incited Antiochus to do evil to the Israelites. At this time a great miracle was seen in Jerusalem. There were seen forty men riding between heaven and earth on what seemed like horses of fire. The riders carried in their hands partly golden implements of war, with which they fought one against the other for forty days. At this the wicked men of our people went to King Antiochus, and said, * Behold, we have seen a miracle in Jerusalem, and the people say that Antiochus the king is dead, and are rejoicing at the downfall of our lord.' (8) The king was greatly angered at this, and immediately went to Jerusalem and smote them with the edge of the sword, so that there was a great slaughter in the city. A great multitude were sent into exile, and the assembly of the Hassidim scattered. They fled to the forest, and fed upon the grass as animals, and hid themselves in the forest like wild beasts, for Antiochus was not satisfied with slaying many, but he sent many more into captivity, and when he left the land of Judah, he left his ofiicers to afilict the people, and he left Phillipos the Pelusian. They are Phrygians (nna ^D^psD), and so are also the Trojans (^J''nn), of whom the Eomans are descended. Phillipos belonged to that race. The king left him there to oppress the Israelites, commanding him thus, * Whoever is willing to bow down to the image I set up, and to eat of the flesh of the swine, shall live, but all who refuse shall be slain without mercy. Prohibit also this people from observing the Sabbath, and from circumcising their children.'

LXXXVIII. (1) The king then returned to Macedonia, and, having left Phillipos in the land of Judah, he (PhilHp) acted according to the word of the king, and prohibited the people of Judah from studying the Torah and from per- forming the service of their God. He supported the wicked and the rebellious of our people, and slew many of the con- gregation of the Hassidim.

(2) At that time two women were discovered who had circumcised their children. They hanged them by their breasts, and hurled them with their children from the top

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of a tower; they burst open and died. (3) After this Eleazar, the chief of the priests, of whom we have spoken as having gone to Egypt in the days of Ptolemy, was captured and brought to PhiUip. And Phillip said to him, 'Eleazar, thou art a wise man and a man of understanding, now, do not transgress the command of the king, but eat of the flesh of his sacrifice.' But Eleazar replied, ' Far be it from me to set aside the command of my God for the per- formance of the command of the king.' Then did Phillip call him aside and say, * Thou knowest that I have loved thee now for many years, therefore I have pity for thy soul and for thy old age. Now let a portion of the flesh of your own sacrifices which you are allowed to eat be brought to thee, and eat it before the people so that they will say thou eatest of the flesh of the king's sacrifice. By this means thou canst save thy life and not die.'

(4) When Eleazar heard this he thought of the greatness of his honour and of the sanctity of his glory, and said to Phillip, ' I am now ninety years old, and have never yet served my God with deceit, nor is it meet for me now to do so and to deceive man, for then the young men will say, " Since Eleazar, although ninety years of age, has frustrated the law of his God, we can also do so," and they will thus bring destruction upon themselves. Now, far be it from me to defile my holiness, to taint the purity of my old age, and to cause these young men with me to waver, and give them the pretext for saying, " Eleazar, although ninety years of age, has sinned against his God, and has chosen to serve the vanities of the nations; let us do like- wise." For even if I escape from your hands to-day, I cannot escape God, for no man can, either living or dead, since His dominion extends over the living to bring death upon them, and over the dead to quicken them to life. I shall therefore die true to my faith, and shall leave my power behind to my people and my young men, so that when they see me give up my life so readily, they will desire to follow my example, and thus keep their Torah precious, and will choose a worthy death.'

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(5) As soon, however, as Phillipos heard these words, he turned exceedingly cruel, and commanded his men to bind the pious old man and to beat him. They thereupon smote him with all manner of weapons without pity, and he groaned, saying, ' 0 Lord my God, who hast caused me to reach this old age, Thou knowest that I was able to deliver my soul from such a death, but did not wish to do so on account of my love for Thee. Now they smite so cruelly and fiercely that I would not be able to bear it were it not for my fear of Thee, which renders them as nothing in my eyes, and I suffer them willingly.' While he was still speaking these words his life closed, and he left might to his people and power to his young men.

LXXXIX. (1) Seven brothers with their mother wero then seized and sent to the king, for the king had not yet departed from Jerusalem, and because the swine's flesh was abhorred by the Jews and stank and was despised by them, therefore the cruelties against them were increased, and he tore their flesh as that of an ox.

(2) When the flrst son was brought before the king, he said, ' Why waste words to teach us, for we have already been taught by our forefathers? We are prepared to suffer death for the Lord and His law.' The king was furious at this, and, ordering a pan of brass to be brought, placed it on the fire. Then, ordering his tongue to be cut out, his hands and legs and the skin of his head to be cut off, he placed them all in the frying-pan in the sight of his brothers; the rest of his body they cast in a large brass pot placed upon the hot coals. When he was near death the king commanded the fire to be removed from under the pot so that he should not die too quickly, so as to terrify his brothers and his mother. But they, on the contrary, encouraged each other and fortified each other when they saw that their brother gave up his life for the Lord and His Torah, and said to each other, * See what Moses, the servant of the Lord, said in his song, *' He shall be comforted in His servants." Even now the Lord is comforted in us for all the evil which He has purposed to do to His people, and He will have compassion upon them.'

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(3) As soon as the first died, the second brother was brought. They said to him, ' Listen to the command of the king. Why die in great torture as thy brother?' And he repUed, ' Make haste with the sword and with the fire, and do not do one whit less to me than ye did to my brother, for I do not fall short of my brother in piety and the fear of God.' Every limb was then commanded to be cut off and placed in the frying-pan on the fire. He then said, ' Hear me, thou cruel king: art thou able to bind up these our souls which thou robbest us of? Behold, they shall walk to God, who has given them to us — to the light that is with the Lord. We shall yet live a life that has no limit or end when He awakeneth the dead of His people and the slain of His servants.'

(4) Thus died the second brother. When the third was brought, he looked at the king, and, stretching out his right hand towards the king, said, * What business of thine is it to destroy us, 0 thou enemy and foe? All this comes from Heaven, and we receive it with love, but thy tortures are despicable in our eyes, as nothing before us, since we expect honour and favour from Heaven. He will grant us the reward of our actions.' The king and all his princes were astonished at the bravery of the youth.

(5) After his death the fourth brother was brought. * What,' said he, ' have I to do with thee, 0 thou wicked man? We die for the Lord, and He will again bring us back to life, but thou shalt never rise again.'

(6) When the fifth was brought, he said, ' Do not imagine that God has forsaken us, for on account of His great love has He brought us to this honour. Thou reviler and blas- phemer, the Lord hates thee and stirs thee up to do unto us whatever thou wilt, but a great vengeance will be taken upon thee and thy seed, and His anger will be kindled against thee and all thy household.'

(7) After his death the sixth brother was brought before the king, and he said, ' We know our wickedness, for we have sinned against the Lord, and now our souls are given over to death as an atonement for our people; but now be-

cause thy heart prompts thee to do this thmg to the servants of our God and to fight against God; behold, He shall fight against thee and uproot thee from the face of the earth.'

(8) The seventh and last brother was but a young lad, yet the mother, who had seen her seven sons slain on one day, neither feared nor trembled, but, standing upright by the corpses of her sons, she lifted up her voice and cried, saying, ' 0 my son! 0 my son! I do not know how you were formed in my womb, nor did I give you the breath and soul which you had, nor bring you out of my womb, nor raise you, nor make you grow, or your flesh which is now offered as a sacrifice; God formed it. He wove the sinews and covered it with skin, and caused hair to grow upon it. He then breathed in your nostrils the breath of life. And since you give up all this for His sake, He will restore them to you, and will renew^ your body. He will give you the reward of your actions, and happy are ye, my sons, for all this.'

(9) At this the king was very much taken aback, in that the woman had subdued him. ' Bring me the seventh one,' said he, ' and perhaps, as he is but a young lad, I may be able to entice him with soft words to do our will, but do not let this woman boast of me, saying, ' I have conquered King Antiochus in exhorting my sons to die for our God.'

(10) According to the king's command, the seventh lad was brought, and the king implored him, and took an oath to enrich him with silver and gold, with cattle and many servants, to make him viceregent, and to let him rule over the whole kingdom. But when the lad despised the words of the king, the king summoned the mother to him, and said, ' 0 good woman, have pity upon this child, and be merciful to the fruit of thy womb; induce him to perform my will and to escape.' And the woman answered, ' Give him to me, and I shall entice him with kind words.' This being done, she led him aside, and having kissed kim, and rejoiced at the king's shame and confusion, said, * 0 my son, thou whom I carried in my womb for nine months.

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and whom I suckled for three years, after which I sustained thee with food until this very day, give up all this proffered honour, and fear the God of whom I taught thee. (11) Now, 0 my son, look toward the heaven, and behold the land, the sea, the waters, and the fire, which by the word of the Lord were created. But man is merely flesh and blood and as nothing before Him. Do not fear this cruel man, but give up thy life for the sake of the Lord. Go the same way as thy brothers. Would that I could now see where thy brothers are, and the greatness of their glory before the Lord. My son, cleave to thy brothers, and thy lot shall be cast in their glory. I shall go there with you, and rejoice with you as on the days of your marriage. I shall be with you in your righteousness.'

(12) While she was yet speaking the lad answered, and said, ' Why do you delay me, and will not leave me to go and join my holy brothers? I will not listen to the king, but to the law of our God, which He has given through the hand of Moses to the people of Israel, which this cruel enemy of God has put to shame and reviled. Woe unto thee, woe unto thee! Whither wilt thou go? whither wilt thou flee? whither wilt thou run? and where wilt thou hide thyself from our God, 0 enemy, foe, and wicked man, for He still keeps us alive, and has glorified and exalted us over all nations? But thou who art insolent enough to stretch forth thy hand against His servants, it were better thou hadst not been born. Thou wicked fool Antiochus, who wast begotten of tainted folly, hast committed evil against thyself, but Thou hast done good unto us, and if we endure and bear these tortures in this world, we shall be taken to the life and light of the world where there is no darkness, but eternal life without death. (13) But thou wilt be the abomination of all creatures, and wilt be abhorred of our God when He takes vengeance upon thee. Thou shalt die an unnatural death, plagued with dreadful plagues. Thou shalt descend to the bottom of hell. Thou shalt be drawn into darkness, where there is no life or light, but darkness and shades; where there

is no repose or rest, but trouble, sorrow, brimstone, and fire. This will be thy portion of the Lord and thy lot from our God, 0 man of blood and wicked man. But God will have mercy upon His people. Until now His wrath has rested upon us, but He will henceforth be angry no longer with His people, bat will repent of what He has done to us at the beginning, although He did so in truth and in righteousness, for w^e acted wickedly. He will return and have mercy upon us, and will grant us eternal life.' King Antiochus now became exceedingly angry because he would not perform his will, and therefore increased the tortures, and acted much more cruelly to him than he had done to the others. Thus died the seventh.

(14) The mother then stood by the corpses of her sons, and, spreading out her hands, she said, ' 0 exalted and aw^e-inspiring God, 0 God of the universe, now will I come; now will I die with my sons in the place which Thou hast prepared for them.' While she was yet speaking she finished her days upon earth, falling upon the dead bodies of her sons, her spirit went forth, and she died with them.

XC. (1) The king then went on his way to Macedon, and commanded Phillip and the captains whom he had left in the land of Judah, saying, ' Blot out the very memory of Judah from the face of the earth, and let him who but mentions the name " Jew " be slain; but let all those live who are willing to be assimilated with our people, and be called " Javan." ' (2) Accordingly Phillip and the captains with him destroyed all whom he discovered observing the Torah, with the exception of those who fled with Mattathiah, the son of Jochanan to Mod'aith. For Mattathiah would not bear the reproach of the uncircumcised, but was zealous for his God, and, weeping, he said, ' Woe unto me, 0 my mother, that thou didst give me birth to behold the breach of my people.'

(3) Then he sent his son Judah secretly to say to the Jews, ' Whoever of you are on the side of the Lord, come to me.' There gathered unto him a 'large assembly of

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Hassidim, and Mattathiah addressed them in the follow- ing words, ' Why multiply words? The only thing that remains for us to do is to pray and to fight. Let us strengthen ourselves and die in battle, but not as sheep led to slaughter.' When they heard these words they all of them took courage (braced themselves up), and said each one to his neighbour, ' To thy tent, 0 Judah. Eule again over thine own land. It is enough, King Antiochus. Now sharpen thy sword, 0 people of Judah, and beware of thy life, 0 nation of Macedon.' From that day the Macedonian yoke was broken asunder from the shoulders of Judah.

(4) When Phillip and the chiefs of the king heard these words they went against them with a large army. When they were going against them, they found on the way men, women, and children of Judah in a cave all observing the Sabbath. Coming to the entrance of the cave, they said to them, ' Come out and profane the Sabbath, and perform the command of the king and live, and do not allow yourselves to die.' But they said, * We shall not come out nor shall we profane the Sabbath day. Let the heavens and the earth be witness that we die in our integrity.' Phillip then commanded fire to be brought and placed at the mouth of the cave. Then, placing some wood upon it, he filled the cave with smoke, so that they were all suffocated.

(5) The chiefs of the king then marched upon Matta- thiah, to the mount of Mod'aith, and found him, his sons, his brothers, and a few of his people of the assembly of the Hassidim fully armed for war, for they had brought their wives and children to that mountain. The chiefs of the king approached Mattathiah with words of peace, saying, * 0 honoured among thy people, perform the command of the king and live and do not die.' (6) But Mattathiah answered very proudly, saying, ' I obey the command of my King; do you obey the command of yours.' At this the chiefs were confused, and, being silent, did not say another word; for they wondered at Mattathiah, and were thinking how they could capture and slay him as they had

slain the other pious men. (7) But suddenly one of the rene- gade Jews among the chiefs of the king said, ' I am aston- ished at the chiefs of the king and his army. How long will ye hold your peace and not perform the command of the king by rising up against Mattathiah, who was insolent enough to refuse to obey the king's command?' And after he had spoken thus he unsheathed his sword, and, cutting off the head of a swine, he took it in his hand and carried it to the altar which they had built to sacrifice to the king's vanities. Then, placing the head of the swine upon the altar, he offered it with frankincense to the idols of Antiochus. (8) When Mattathiah beheld this he was exceedingly wroth, and his fury burnt within him. Then, drawing his sword, he leaped upon the sacrificing Jew, and, severing his head from his body, he held it up on high before the chief of the king who approached Matta- thiah, while the body fell down from the altar upon which he stood. He also killed the king's chief, and put the rest of them to flight, levelling to the ground a number of the crowd. Then, sounding the Shofar, he gave the signal for war. (9) He was the first one to raise his hand against the Macedonian kingdom. He also commanded us to fight on the Sabbath, and he will stand by us to defend us in this matter. It is written in the book of Joseph ben Gorion the priest. (10) Mattathiah with his sons and brothers then marched forth, and with them a large band of the Hassidim. They pursued those who had hidden themselves, and smote and discomfited them, until there did not remain one in the whole land of Judah. They then circumcised their sons. Thus, great salvation was brought about by the Lord through Mattathiah.

XCI. (1) Now, the days of Mattathiah were drawing to a close, so, calling his five sons to his bedside, he encouraged them and exhorted them, saying, ' I know that now fierce battles will be waged in the land of Judah, since we have been stirred up to fight for our people. Now, my sons, be zealous for your God, for His sanctuary, and for His people. Fight, and do not be afraid of death; if you die

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in battle, you will be received among your brethren, and their portion shall be shared with you, for to all our ancestors who have been zealous for God, God has given honour and favour. Did not our ancestor Pinehas receive the everlasting covenant, and did not our other ancestors who were zealous for the Lord receive their reward from the Lord?' (2) Then, addressing Simeon his son, he said, ' I know the wisdom that God has put in thy heart; withhold not, then, thy counsel from this people, and be to thy brethren as a father, and they shall hearken to thee and to all thy counsels, since our God has given thee might and wisdom.' (3) Next Mattathiah called his son Judah, who came and stood before him; and he said, ' 0 my son Judah, who art called Maccabee (^''2Da) on account of thy power, I know, my son, that thou art a man of war, and that God has given thee strength and might, and a heart like a lion's that flees from nothing. Now, my son, honour the Lord with all the strength the Lord hath granted thee; fight His battles without stopping; do not be reluctant to travel the four corners of the land — east, west, south and north — to capture the country from the power of the uncircumcised; be to them the captain of their host and the anointed of battle.' Then, bringing out a horn of oil, he poured it upon his head, and thus anointed him for battle, while all the people raised a shout, and, blowing upon their trumpets, exclaimed, 'Long live the anointed!' (4) When he had finished his exhortation to his sons, he died and was gathered to his people, and Judah his son, sur- named Maccabee, arose in his place. He had the assistance of his brothers, his father's household, and all the assembly of the Hassidim. And Judah was glad to fight the battles of Israel. Having clothed himself in a coat of mail as a warrior, and equipped himself with the implements of war, he looked like one of the sons of Anak. He protected the camp of Israel with his sword, and, pursuing the enemy, he crushed out their life. He burnt the sinners with the fire of his mouth, confounded the wicked with terror, and confused all the evil-doers through fear of him, for he

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appeared to them just as a roaring lion seeking prey appears to cattle. Jacob rejoiced at his deeds and was glad at his actions, for he confounded great kings, so that his name rang from one end of the world to the other, and people con- tinually spoke of the wars he waged. Blessed be his name among the people of Israel; peace and repose be upon his righteous couch, and blessing on his holy bed, for he has not withheld his soul from death to defend Israel, God's people, and has slain all the wicked of the people of Judah who led the Israelites astray.

XCII. (1) When Apolonius, the captain of the Mace- donian host, heard these things, he said, ' Who is it that dared to rebel against our lord the king?' And he gathered unto him a large and strong multitude of Macedonian warriors, and marched forwards to fight against Israel. Judah went out to meet him, and a very fierce battle ensued between the Macedonians and the assembly of the Hassidim. During the battle Judah saw Apolonius standing in the midst of the Macedonian company, and ran towards him in the fury of his anger into the valley, and, smiting right and left and in front of him, he cut down the mighty men of Greece just as the reaper cuts down the sheaves and the corn of his harvest. Then, approaching Apolonius, he smote him with the edge of the sword and felled him to the ground. Then, putting the Greeks and Macedonians to flight, they fled in haste, and Judah and the assembly of the Hassidim pursued them and smote them with a very great slaughter, and, having taken their spoil, Judah seized Apolonius's sword and fought with it all his life. (2) When Seron (I'li^p), the captain of the host of Syria, heard this he said, * I will go and fight against Judah, and thus make a name for myself.' Then, summoning all his people, he went to Beth-Horon. Judah, becoming aware of this, said to his men, ' There is no time for delay; let us go out to them, although our brethren the Hassidim have gone away from us; for if we wait until they return, our enemies will say we are afraid of them.' Therefore Judah marched all

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the night long; at daybreak, when the people suddenly beheld in the distance a strong and mighty army, they said to Judah, ' How can we who are so few go to war against this great multitude?' But Judah replied, ' Cry unto heaven, and ye shall be saved, for the battle is in the hands of the Lord to deliver the many into the hands of the few; it is in His power to save either with a multitude or with a few.' (3) Judah then went sideways near the enemy's camp, and suddenly leaping upon them, he struck terror into them, and thereby Seron with all his men were put in confusion. Judah pursued him, and, overtaking him, smote him. On that day as many as 800 corpses of the Syrians were found piled up in heaps on the field. Those that remained fled into the land of the Philistines, and the fear of Judah fell upon all the nations.

(4) Now, as soon as Antiochus heard these things, he was very much vexed, and gathering together all his people and all the nations under his rule, mustered a strong and mighty army, and divided it into two portions. With one half he went to (Persia), for the Persians had revolted from the Macedonian rule when they saw that the people of Judah had rebelled. The other half he handed over to Lysias (ni<^D^'?), of his own kin, and of royal Macedonian descent, saying to him, ' Thou knowest all that Judah, the son of Mattathiah, has done to my two chiefs, Apolonius and Seron, and to all their host. Therefore, go now and smite all the inhabitants of Judah, and my son Eopator (-I'lDS'i^^i-J) will go with thee. I myself will go to Persia and uproot the nation that rebelled against me.'

(5) Accordingly, Antiochus the king went to Persia, and left Lysias in command to wage war against Judah and look after his son. Lysias chose for himself Tolmios (D^^^rD^in), who is Ptolemy, Nicanor, and Gorgias, men of valour, send- ing with them 40,000 young warriors on foot and 7,000 horsemen, and the entire armies of both Syria and Philistia joined them in marching against Judah to destroy it. When Judah and all the elders of Israel heard this they proclaimed a fast, and clothed themselves in sackcloth, and

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placing dust upon their heads, cried unto the Lord. (6) After the fast Judah numbered his people, and appointed over them captains of thousands, captains of hundreds, captains of fifties, and captains of tens. Then marching into the field, he issued an order in the camp, saying, * Whoever has planted a vineyard or built a house, and whoever is betrothed or faint-hearted, let him return home;' and many of them returned. There thus remained 7,000 valiant men, chosen warriors, of whom one would not have run away before a hundred enemies.

(7) Judah then marched on to meet Nicanor, who had brought many merchants with him, for he intended to sell to them the young men and the young women whom he would capture and carry into captivity from Judah. He went into the valley to meet Judah. Judah, coming out of the assembly of the Hassidim who were with him, called upon the Lord, saying, ' 0 exalted God, who hast ruled from the creation until this time, who causeth battles to cease, and in whose hands is power and might to exalt or to humble, subdue and humble this nation before the lowly of Thy people, for Thou wilt subdue nations under us and peoples under our feet.' After his prayer, the priests blew their holy trumpets, and all the people raised a shout. Then did Judah leap into battle, and smote the camp of Nicanor with heavy slaughter, so that they fled before him. Pursuing them with his army, he continued to slay them in their flight. The number of the slain was 9,000. They then returned and took their spoil, and the gold w^hich the merchants had brought with them to purchase the Israelitish youths. This they distributed among the poor, and then rested in that place, for the battle was fought on the sixth day.

XCIIL (1) Departing thence, Judah went to Bakires (D^on) and Timothios, and a severe battle ensued be- tween them, in which he himself killed on that day twenty Macedonian warriors. Bakires and Timothios took to flight, and Judah pursued them, but did not overtake them, for they went to Ashtaroth Karnaim. But he

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captured Phillipio, the man who had done so much evil in Judah. When Judah approached him he turned from the way he was going into a house in the vicinity. Judah then ordered his men to overthrow the house upon him, and to burn him to death in that place. He thus avenged the death of Eleazar and the blood of those pious men which Phillipio had shed. They then returned to strip the slain and they sent the spoil to Jerusalem. (2) Nicanor fled thence and escaped, for he had stripped himself of his purple coat, and dressed himself in a poor man's coat, so that he could not be recognised. In this way he came to Macedon and related to Lysias all that had happened.

(3) At that time King Antiochus returned from Persia, ashamed in that the Persians had made him flee the country of Ecbatana, and when he was informed of all Judah had done to his chiefs, and how he had smitten them, he was filled with wrath and fury. He reviled and blasphemed, and said, ' I will go to Jerusalem, and make it a burial-ground, and will fill it with the carcasses of the slain.' He then summoned together all his people, his charioteers and horsemen, a large and mighty multitude. (4) But the Lord had a jealous care for His people, for His city, and His temple, and remembering all the evil Antiochus did to His people. He required the blood of those pious men from Antiochus, and therefore plagued him with boils and with an internal disease. Yet he was not humbled through this, but said, ' Press on, ye charioteers; press on, ye horsemen; press on, ye soldiers. I will go to Jerusalem, and will carry out my intention, for who can stand before me? Is not the sea and the dry land mine, to change their being according to my will? Can I not transform the earth into sea and the sea into earth?' When he had finished speaking thus he mounted his chariot, and went with his huge army in the direction of Jerusalem. With him were many elephants, and his camp was enormous.

(5) Now, while on the journey, his chariot happened to pass in front of one of the elephants, and it trumpeted.

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At this the horses took fright, and slipping down, over- turned the chariot, and threw Antiochus out of it. As a result of the fall, his bones were broken, for he was a stout and very heavy man. The Lord, however, heaped up plagues upon him, and his flesh stank. The stench of his body was like that of a dead man cast upon the field in the height of the summer. As soon as his servants lifted him upon their shoulders, they had to cast him back again to the ground and run away, for they could not possibly approach him or carry him on account of the dreadful stench of the flesh of that reviler, and blasphemer, and enemy of God. (6) Now, when his army became weary, and he also became sick unto death of the stench arising froD2 his body, he knew then that the hand of the Lord had touched him, and being humbled and made lowly, he exclaimed, ' The Lord is righteous, who humbleth the proud and humiliates the wicked like me, for I have done all this wickedness to His people and to His pious men. It is for this that all these evils have overtaken me.' He then made a vow, saying, ' If the Lord will heal me from this disease, I will go to Jerusalem and fill it with silver and gold; I will spread carpets of purple in all the streets, and will give all my treasury to the temple of the great God. I will circumcise my foreskin, and will go about the whole land exclaiming in a loud voice, ' There is no God in the whole world like the God of Israel.'

(7) But the Lord did not hearken to his prayer, nor did He give ear to him, for all the way Antiochus the Cruel was travelling his flesh fell off from his bones, until finally his very bowels fell out upon the ground. Thus his life came to an end. He died in shame and disgrace and in a strange land. Eopator, his son, succeeded him.