3,200 related texts · Page 51 of 67
He was a good man, generous and righteous, but life had dealt him a seriously cruel blow: blindness. But don't worry, this isn't a tragedy; it's a story of hope, faith, and a serio...
Today, we're diving into a fascinating slice of ancient history from the Book of Jasher, a non-canonical Jewish text filled with captivating stories and alternative perspectives on...
Sefer haYashar, as it's known in Hebrew, is an ancient text referenced in the Bible itself (Joshua 10:13 and (2 Samuel 1:1)8), though the version we have today is likely a medieval...
There are so many fascinating texts just lurking on the fringes, offering alternative perspectives and filling in the gaps in ways you wouldn't expect. Today, we're diving into one...
They were definitely outnumbered, and not exactly popular with the neighbors. But then, something amazing happened. Chapter 35 of the Book of Jasher opens with all the kings of the...
We all know the story from Genesis 34: how Jacob's daughter Dinah is defiled by Shechem, son of Hamor, and how Simeon and Levi exact a brutal revenge, slaughtering all the men of t...
That’s where texts like the Book of Jasher come in, offering us a glimpse into those "untold" stories. Chapter 40 of Jasher picks up right after the sons of Jacob have plundered Ga...
The Book of Jasher, a collection of Jewish legends and lore, fills in some of those gaps, offering a more detailed (and sometimes surprising) account.. So, the brothers have just t...
The Bible gives us glimpses, but the Book of Jasher, an ancient Hebrew text referenced in the Bible itself (Joshua 10:13, (2 Samuel 1:1)8), offers a more detailed narrative.. The c...
That’s exactly what happens to Pharaoh in Chapter 48 of the Book of Jasher. The story opens with a looming crisis: a famine. "In those days, after the death of Isaac, the Lord comm...
Remember Joseph, the favored son sold into slavery in Egypt? He's now a powerful figure, and his brothers, unknowingly standing before him, are begging for the release of their you...
The Book of Jasher, an ancient Hebrew text of uncertain origin, gives us a glimpse into that emotional reunion and the events that followed. It's a powerful story of family, faith,...
Book of Jasher, a fascinating, albeit non-canonical, work that expands upon biblical narratives. According to Jasher, Jacob lived in Egypt for seventeen years, reaching the ripe ol...
Chapter 64 of the Book of Jasher throws us right into one of those cycles. We're back in a world of ancient grudges and shifting alliances. Balaam, son of Beor – yes, that Balaam, ...
The Book of Jasher, a fascinating and controversial text referenced in the Bible itself (Joshua 10:13 and (2 Samuel 1:1)8), offers a compelling narrative. Chapter 65 plunges us rig...
We know him as the great leader, the lawgiver, the one who led the Israelites out of Egypt. But what about his birth, his infancy, those perilous first months? The Book of Jasher, ...
Today, we're diving into a fascinating, if somewhat tragic, tale from the Book of Jasher, a non-canonical Jewish text that fills in gaps left by the Torah. Our story unfolds in Egy...
The chapter opens with a change of leadership in Edom. Baal Channan, son of Achbor, dies and the Edomites reach out to find a new king. They settle on a man named Hadad. He reigns ...
The ancient Israelites certainly did! And this chapter of the Book of Jasher throws us right into the middle of their long, winding journey. Remember Korah's rebellion? The Book of...
We read about the conquest of Canaan in the Book of Joshua, but the story doesn't quite end there. The Book of Jasher, a non-canonical Jewish text that fills in some of the gaps in...
Before Eve, there was Lilith. According to the Alphabet of Ben Sira, a medieval text composed between 700 and 1000 CE, God didn't create Eve first. God created a woman from the sam...
Jewish tradition holds that a handful of people never died. They walked into Gan Eden - the Garden of Eden - while still alive, bypassing death entirely. The Alphabet of Ben Sira, ...
Buried in a cave near the Dead Sea for two thousand years, the War Scroll (Megillat HaMilchamah, מגילת המלחמה) lays out the most detailed battle plan ever written for the end of th...
The War Scroll doesn't just predict a cosmic battle—it choreographs one. Columns 7 through 9 of the scroll lay out the most elaborate angelic military operation in all of Jewish li...
The Book of Giants is one of the most remarkable texts found among the Dead Sea Scrolls—and it tells a story the Bible only hints at. In (Genesis 6:4), a single verse mentions the ...
The opening song of the Sabbath Sacrifice cycle establishes a structure that would influence Jewish mysticism for centuries: seven heavenly sanctuaries, each governed by an angelic...
The New Jerusalem text survives only in fragments from multiple Qumran caves, but what remains is extraordinary: a guided tour of the eschatological Jerusalem, the city that will e...
Near the end of the Thanksgiving Hymns collection comes a poem that captures the theology of the Qumran community in its purest form. The speaker—whether the Teacher of Righteousne...
Before Adam named the animals, God brought them before the angels and challenged them to do it first. They could not. Adam named every creature instantly. God turned to the angels ...
Esau had moved away from his brother Jacob, but the sages in the Chronicles of Jerahmeel say it was not because his hatred had cooled. "His anger did he bear perpetually, and he ke...
The period of the Judges was an era of divine intervention so direct that storms fought battles and fires executed corrupt leaders. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th...
Rabbi Eliezer's students asked him a direct question: what happens in the grave? According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle compiled by Jerahmeel ben...
Two bands of angels stand at the gates of Gehinnom (גהינום) and call out one word: "Come! Come!" According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle compiled ...
Every compartment of Gehinnom (the place of spiritual purification after death) contains 7,000 crevices. Every crevice contains 7,000 scorpions. Every scorpion has 300 cavities, an...
Daniel stood before King Belshazzar of Babylon and delivered the verdict no ruler wants to hear. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle compiled ...
Esther stripped off her royal garments and the ornaments of her majesty. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle translated by Moses Gaster in 189...
Haman wrote one of the most chilling documents in Jewish legend. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle translated by Moses Gaster in 1899, Haman...
Mattathiah was dying. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle preserved by Moses Gaster in 1899, the father of the Maccabean revolt called his fiv...
Antiochus Eupator, son of the infamous Antiochus Epiphanes, inherited his father's hatred of the Jews. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle pre...
The angels lifted Enoch onto their wings and carried him upward. The earth fell away beneath him. The air thinned. And then — the first heaven. They set him down on the clouds, and...
After the horror of the second heaven, the third was a revelation. Enoch looked down from where the angels placed him and saw a landscape of impossible beauty — a garden whose abun...
There was one final thing to do before Enoch could go home. God called one of the older angels — a terrible, menacing being, white as snow, with hands like ice and the appearance o...
The parade of demons continued. One by one the thirty-six spirits of the zodiac stepped forward before Solomon's throne, each confessing the disease it inflicts and the angel whose...
Uriel took Ezra back to the beginning. Before the portals of the world were in place. Before the winds blew or thunder sounded. Before the innumerable hosts of angels were gathered...
This isn't your typical biblical story. It’s a myth, a folk tale, preserved in the Israel Folktale Archives, about a wonder child who lived during the time of the Temple in Jerusal...
That's a glimpse into the world of the dybbuk. Our story begins in the mystical city of Safed, a center of Kabbalah in the Galilee. There lived a widow, known throughout the commun...
We all know the story: Moses, the parting of the waters, a miraculous escape. But what if there was someone else there, seeing even more than meets the eye? That someone was Serah ...
Jewish tradition has some pretty incredible answers. to the very first day of creation. According to Legends of the Jews by Ginzberg, on day one, God brought forth ten things. : te...
