XLVI. (1) And it came to pass when Pharaoh reigned
over Egypt that he changed the statutes of the first kings
and their laws, and made the yoke heavy upon all the
inhabitants of his land, and also upon the house of Jacob
he had no pity, through the counsel of Bala'am the
enchanter and his two sons, for they were then the king's
counsellors. The king then took counsel with his three
advisers — one of whom was named Eeuel the Midianite,
the second Job, and the third Bala'am of Petor — and said,
' Behold, the Israelites are becoming more numerous, and
mightier than we. Come, let us be wise, lest they grow
too numerous, and in the event of a war breaking out they
will assemble against us and fight us, and go up from
the land.'
(2) Then Eeuel the Midianite exclaimed, ' Long live the
king ! If it pleases the king, do not stretch forth thy hand
against them, because God has selected them of old and taken
them from all nations of the earth to be His inheritance.
For whoever of all the kings of the earth stretches forth his
hand against them their God will take vengeance upon him.
When Abraham went down to Egypt, and Pharaoh ordered
his wife Sarah to be brought to him, did not the Lord their
God send great plagues upon him and upon his house until
he restored Abraham's wife, and only through Abraham's
prayer was he healed ? Also in the case of Abimelech in
Gerar. As a punishment all his house was struck with
barrenness, even unto the animals. In a vision Abimelech
learned the cause, and that he must restore Abraham's
wife whom he had taken. After Isaac prayed for him and
his household, and entreated God on their behalf, they were
healed. (3) When Isaac was separated from his wife all
their fountains were dried up, and their fruit-bearing trees
did not yield their produce, and the breasts of their wives
and cows were dried up. Then Abimelech went to him
from Gerar, his pasturage, and Phichol, the captain of his
host. They prostrated themselves, and asked him to
entreat God for them and pray to Him. When he besought
God they were healed. Jacob was a simple man dwelling
in tents; by his integrity he was delivered from Esau, and
Laban the Aramean, and from all the kings of Canaan.
Who can stretch forth his hand against them without being
punished? Was it not thy father that promoted Joseph
over all the princes of Egypt, for through his wisdom he
rescued all the inhabitants from famine, and commanded
Jacob and his sons to go down to Egypt that the land of
Egypt be saved from further evil through their piety?
Now, if it seems good to thee, cease destroying them, and
if thou dost not wish to allow them to dwell in Egypt, send
them hence, and they will go to the land of Canaan.'
(4) Pharaoh was exceedingly angry with Keuel, so he
left the kingdom and went to Midian. He took Jacob's
staff with him. The king then said to Job, ' Give thy
118 [XLVI. 4
counsel. What shall be clone with these people?' But
Job briefly replied, ' Are not all the inhabitants of thy
country in thy hand ? Do thou what is pleasing in thine
eyes.' Then spake Bala'am of Petor to the king, ' If thou
thinkest to diminish them by fire, has not their God
delivered Abraham from the furnace of the Chaldeans ?
And if thou thinkest to destroy them by the sword, has not
Isaac been tested thereby, and a ram been given in his
stead ? Now, my lord the king, if thou seekest to blot out
their name, order their babes to be thrown into the sea,
because not one of them has yet been put to this test.'
(5) This advice pleasing the king, he issued a decree all
over Egypt, saying that every male born to the Hebrews
should be cast into the water. And it came to pass when
the males of the house of Jacob were cast into the river
that Moses was one of them. The Lord thereupon sent an
angel to deliver them, and thus he also was saved through
the daughter of Pharaoh. When Moses grew up in the
king's palace Pharaoh's daughter adopted him as her son,
and the whole of Pharaoh's household was afraid of him.
(6) One day it was reported to Bala'am that the son of '
Bityah (Pharaoh's daughter) wished to take his life.
Bala am the enchanter and his two sons therefore fled for
their lives and escaped to the land of Cush. And when
Qinqanos waged war with the peoples of the East and
Syria, Bala'am revolted against him and did not allow him
to enter the city. Cush was therefore besieged for nine
years, and during the siege Qinqanos died. The people
then crowned Moses the Levite as their king. (7) By his
wisdom Moses captured the city, and was placed upon the
throne of the kingdom with the crown upon his head.
They also gave him to wife the Cushite wife of the late
monarch. But Moses, fearing the God of his fathers, did
not approach her, for he remembered the oath which
Abraham made Eleazar his servant swear, saying, ' Thou
shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan for my
sons.' Isaac said likewise to Jacob when he fled on account
of Esau. ' Thou shalt not intermarry,' said he, ' with the
children of Ham, for remember that Noah said, " The
children of Ham should be servants to the children of
Shem and Jafeth." ' Therefore Moses feared the Lord,
and walked before Him in truth with all his heart. Nor
did he deviate from the path wherein his ancestors
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob walked. The kingdom of Cush
was firmly established through him, and, going to war with
Edom, the East of Palestine, and Syria, he conquered them,
and made them submit to Cush. The number of years
during which he sat upon the throne was forty, and in all
his battles he was successful, because the Lord God of his
fathers was with him.
(8) In the fortieth year of his reign, when he was sitting
upon the throne with his queen by his side, the queen said
to the princes in the presence of the people, ' Behold now,
during the whole of the forty years that this king has reigned
he has not once approached me, nor has he worshipped the
gods of Cush. Now, hearken ye unto me, 0 sons of Cush,
do not allow this man to reign over you any longer, but
let my son Mobros (DnniD) reign over you, for it is better
that you serve the son of 3^our master than a stranger, a
servant of the King of Egypt.' The people discussed the
matter until the evening. They then rose up early next
morning and crowned Mobros (Dnmn), the son of Qinqanos,
king over them. But the Cushites feared to lay hands on
Moses, for they remembered the oath they took to him.
So they gave him valuable gifts and sent him away with
great honour. Moses accordingly went forth thence, and
his reign over Cush thus came to an end.
(9) Moses was sixty-seven years of age when he went out
of Cush; for the thing came from God, as the time had
arrived which had been fixed from olden times when the
Israelites were to be freed from the children of Ham.
Moses then went to Midian, for he feared to return to
Egypt through fear of Pharaoh, and stayed by a well of
water. When the seven daughters of Eeuel the Midianite
came out to feed the sheep of their father, they came to the
well to draw the water for the sheep. But the Midianite
120 [XLYI. 9
shepherds drove them away, and Moses rose up and assisted
them m watering the sheep. Returning to their father,
they told him what the man had done for them. Reuel
{Le., Jethro the Kenite) then invited him into the house to
take a meal with him. Moses then related to him that he
hailed from Egypt, and that he had reigned over Cush; that
they had wrested the kingdom from him and had sent him
away. When Eeuel heard this, he said to himself, ' I shall
put this man in prison, by which I shall please the Cushites
from whom he fled.' Accordingly he put him in prison,
where he remained for ten years. But Zipporah, the
daughter of Reuel, had pity upon him, and fed him with
bread and water.
(10) At the end of the ten years she said to her father,
' Nobody seeks or inquires after this Hebrew whom thou
hast imprisoned these ten years. Now, if it seemeth
good to thee, my father, let us send and see whether he is
dead or alive.' Her father did not know that she had
supplied him with food. Reuel then answered and said,
' Is it possible for a man to be imprisoned twelve (?) years
without food and yet live ?' But Zipporah replied, ' Hast
thou not heard, 0 my lord, that the God of the Hebrews is
great and powerful, and that He works wonders at all
times ? That he delivered Abraham from the furnace of
the Chaldeans, Isaac from the sword, and Jacob from the
angel with whom he wrestled by the brook of Jabbok ?
That even for this man He has done many wonders; that
He delivered him from the river of Egypt and from the
sword of Pharaoh ? He will also be able to deliver him
from this place.' (11) This word pleased Reuel, and he
acted as she had asked. He therefore sent to the pit to see
what had become of him, and found him alive, standing erect,
and praying to the God of his ancestors. Having brought
him forth from the pit, he shaved him, changed his prison
garments, and gave him to eat. The man then went to the
garden of Reuel at the back of the palace, and prayed to
his God, who had done so many wonders for him. While
he was praying, he suddenly beheld a staff made of
sapphire fixed in the ground in the midst of the garden.
AVhen he approached it, he found engraved thereon the
name of the Lord of Hosts, the ineffable name. He read
that name, and pulled up the staff as lightly as a branch is
lifted up in a thickly-wooded forest, and it was a rod in his
hand.
(12) This was the same staff that was created in the
world among the works of God after He created the heavens
and the earth and all their hosts, the seas, rivers, and all
the fishes thereof. When Adam was driven from the
garden of Eden he took the staff with him and tilled the
ground from which he was taken. It then came into the
hands of Noah (son of Lamek), who handed it down to
Shem and his descendants until it reached Abraham the
Hebrew. He then handed over all his possessions to Isaac,
including the staff of wonders, which Isaac also inherited.
When Jacob fled to Padan Aram he took it with him, and
when he came to his father in Beersheba he did not leave
it behind. When he went down to Egypt he handed it
over to Joseph as a separate gift above that which he gave
to his other sons. After Joseph's death the princes of
Egypt dwelt in his house, and the staff came into the hand
of Eeuel the Midianite, who, when he left Egypt, took it
away with him and planted it in his own garden. All the
mighty men of King Qinqanos (Dl^p^^p) who wished to
Aved his daughter Zipporah tried to uproot it, but without
avail, so that it remained there in the garden until Moses,
to whom it rightly belonged, came and took it away.
W^hen Reuel saw the staff in Moses' hand he was astonished
(and knew that he was the redeemer of Israel). Eeuel
then gave Zipporah his daughter to Moses.
(13) Moses was seventy-seven years old when he came
out of prison, and took Zipporah the Midianite to wife.
And Zipporah went the ways of the women of Israel; she
did not even in the smallest thing fall short of the
righteousness of Sarah, Eebecca, Eachel, and Leah, the
pinnacles of the world. She conceived and bare a son,
whom she called Gershon, for he (Moses) said: ' I was a
122 [XLVI. 13
wanderer in a strange land '; but by the order of Reuel his
father-in-law the child was not circumcised. After the
lapse of three years she conceived again and bare another
son. After his circumcision Moses called his name Eleazar,
because (he said) ' The God of my father is my help, and
He delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh.'
XLYII. (1) At that time Moses used to tend the flocks
of Eeuel the Midianite behind the wilderness of Sin, with
his staff in his hand. But the Lord was zealous for His
people and His inheritance, and, hearing their cry, said He
would rescue them from the descendants of Ham, and give
them the land of Canaan. He appeared to Moses, His
servant, in Horeb, in a burning bush; but the fire did not
consume the bush. Then God called him from the midst
of the bush, and commanded him to go down to Egypt
to Pharaoh, King of Egypt, and to ask him to send away
His chosen people as free men. He showed him signs and
wonders to perform in Egypt that they might believe that
the Lord had sent him. God gave him confidence by
saying, ' Go, and return to Egypt, for those that sought thy
life are now dead, and they have no power to do thee
harm.' (2) Moses then returned to Midian, and related to
his father-in-law all that had happened. ' Go in peace,'
said he. So Moses arose and went away with his wife and
sons. They lodged at a certain place, and an angel came
down and attacked him for his transgression of the covenant
which God made with Abraham His servant, in that he
did not circumcise his eldest son, and he wanted to slay
him. Zipporah then immediately took one of the sharp
flint stones which she found there and circumcised her
son, and she rescued her husband from the power of the
angel.
(3) As Aaron the Levite was walking in Egypt by the
river God appeared to him, and said, * Go now, and meet
thy brother Moses in the wilderness.' He accordingly
went and met him on the mountain of God, and kissed him.
On beholding the woman and her children, he said to
Moses, ' Who are these?' 'These are,' said he, 'my wife
and sons whom God gave me in Midian.' But Aaron was
displeased, and he told him to send the woman and her
sons back to her father's house. This Moses did. And
Zipporah and her sons remained in the house of Eeuel, her
father, until the Lord visited His people, and delivered them
from Egypt from the hand of Pharaoh. (4) Moses and
Aaron then went alone to Egypt to the Israelites, whom
they told all that the Lord had spoken. Thereat the people
exceedingly rejoiced. The next morning they rose up early
and went to Pharaoh's house, taking the staff of God with
them.
(5) When they came to the gate of the king's palace they
saw there two young lions bound in iron chains. No one
could enter or pass out from within unless the king com-
manded it. The keepers on seeing them loosened the
chains, and by charms set the lions free to pounce upon
them; but Moses hastily waved his wand upon them, and
Moses and Aaron entered the king's palace, followed by the
young lions playing round them as a dog plays on seeing
its master coming home from the field. When Pharaoh
saw this he was greatly astonished, and still more confused
on account of these men, whose appearance was like that of
the children of God. The king then said to them, ' What
do you wish?' And Moses said, 'The Lord God of the
Hebrews has sent us to thee, saying, " Send out My people,
that they may serve Me." ' Pharaoh was greatly afraid of
them, and told them to go away and come again to-morrow,
which they did.
(6) When they were gone Pharaoh ordered Bala am the
enchanter, and Janis (d-j^) and Jambris (onnro^), his sons,
the wizards, and all the magicians of Egypt to be summoned
before him. He then related to them what these men had
spoken. The magicians then asked, ' How did these men
pass the lions that were chained at the gate of the palace ?'
' They waved their staves upon the lions,' said the king,
' and they let them loose, and they followed them just as
dogs who were pleased to meet them.' ' They are nothing
else than wizards like ourselves,' said Bala'am. ' Send now
124 [XLVII. 7
after them and let them come, and we shall try them.'
The king acted accordmgly.
(7) Taking the staff, they came before the king, and
repeated the words which they had spoken at first. ' But
how can one beheve,' said Pharaoh, ' that you are
messengers of God, and that by His word you have come
here? Give us a sign and we shall believe you.' Aaron
then threw his staff upon the ground, and it was immedi-
ately changed into a serpent. The magicians, seeing this,
did the same by their incantations, and the staff of each
one of them became a serpent; but Aaron's serpent at that
moment hfted its head, and, opening its mouth, swallowed
up the serpents of Pharaoh's magicians. Balaam the
wizard, seeing this, said, ' This has been done from time
immemorial, that one serpent should swallow up his
neighbour just as the fish swallow each other. But change
it back to a staff as we shall do, and then if thy staff' is
able to swallow ours we shall thereby know that the Spirit
of the Lord is with thee; but if it cannot swallow them,
then thou art a wizard as we are.' Aaron then hastily took
hold of the serpent by its tail, and it became a stick again.
This the magicians likewise did. Then Aaron, as previously,
cast his staff upon the ground, and it swallowed up those of
the magicians.
(8) Pharaoh then ordered the Book of Chronicles of the
Kings of Egypt to be brought to him; therein were
contained the names of all the gods of Egypt. When the
list was read over to Pharaoh, he said, ' I do not find your
God written in this book, nor do I know Him.' ' The Lord
God of gods is His name,' replied they (Moses and Aaron).
' But who is the Lord,' added Pharaoh, ' that I should
listen to His voice and send Israel forth ? I do not know
Him, and shall not allow the Israelites to go.' ' From the
days of our forefathers He has been called " The God of
the Hebrews." Now give us permission to go a journey
of three days in the wilderness to sacrifice unto the Lord,
for ever since we came down to Egypt He has not received
from our hands a burnt offering, meal offering, or sacrifice.
If, however, thou wilt not let us go forth, the Lord will
assuredly wax angry and smite the land of Egypt with
pestilence or with the sword.'
(9) ' Tell us something of His might and power,' said
Pharaoh. ' He created the heavens and all their host; the
earth and all it contains; the seas with all their fishes.
He it was who formed the light and wdio created the
darkness; who caused the rain to fall upon the earth to
irrigate it. He caused the young plants and the grass to
spring forth. He created man, animals, the beasts in the
forest, the birds in the heavens, and the fish in the seas.
Through Him they live, through Him they die. Did He
not create thee in the womb of thy mother, and give thee
the spirit of life ? did He not make thee grow up, and
place thee on the royal throne of Egypt ? He shall also
take away thy spirit and thy soul, and return thee to the
dust from which thou wast taken.' The anger of Pharaoh
was kindled, and he said, ' Who is there among all the gods
of the people that can do this ? Behold, I it was who
created the river, and who created myself.' He then drove
them out of his presence, and from that day he made the
slavery more oppressive than heretofore.
XLVni. (1) The Lord rose in His strength and smote
Pharaoh and his people with many great and terrible
plagues, and turned all their rivers to blood, so that when-
ever an Egyptian came to the river to draw water, as soon
as he looked into his pitcher, he found it turned to blood.
Whether for drinking or for kneading the dough, or for
boiling, it always looked like blood.
(2; After this all their waters brought forth frogs, so that
whenever an Egyptian drank of them, his stomach became
full of frogs, which croaked about in his entrails just as
they did in the river. Whether they kneaded or whether
they boiled, the water was filled with frogs. Even when
they lay down upon their beds, their very perspiration was
turned into frogs. (3) He then smote their dust so that it
became lice two cubits high; on their very bodies they lay
a handbreadth, as well on the king and queen as on the
126 [XLVIII. 3
people. Following this, the Lord sent against them the
wild beasts of the field to destroy them; serpents, vipers
and scorpions to injure them; mice, weasels, lizards, and
noxious reptiles; flies, hornets, and other insects to fly
into their eyes and ears; fleas, ants, and every species of
winged insect to torture them; they filled the innermost
recesses of their houses. When the Egyptians tried to
hide themselves in order to shut out and to escape the
wild beasts, the Lord ordered the sea-monster (octopus ?
noi'p^D) to ascend to Egypt. It has arms ten cubits in
length, according to the cubit of man. Eising to the roof,
it uncovered the roof and exposed the rafters; and it then
slid its arm inside the house; it wrenched off the bolt and
lock, and thus forced open the houses of the Egyptians..
In this manner the hordes of wild beasts got into the
palace of Pharaoh and his servants, and they worried them
greatly.
(4) And God sent a pestilence among the horses, asses,
camels, cattle and sheep. When the Egyptian rose early
in the morning and went out to his pasture, he found his
animals lying about dead, there remaining alive but one in
ten. (5) The Lord next sent a plague of fever among the
Egyptians, which afterw^ards broke out into severe boils,
which covered them from the sole of the foot to the crown
of the head. They broke, and their flesh was running with
streams of matter, until they wasted away and rotted, and
(6) the hail devastated all their vines and trees so that not
even the bark or the leaves were left: all their produce was
dried up, and a burning fiery flame played in the midst
of it. Even the men and animals found abroad were slain
by the flame, and all the libraries (houses of books) were
overthrown. (7) Various kinds of locust devoured every-
thing left by the hail; what one species left, the other
destroyed. The Egyptians, however, were glad to hunt
them and salt them for food. The Lord then raised a very
strong wind, which carried them all, including the salted
ones, into the Ked Sea, so that not a solitary one remained
in the whole of Egypt. (8) Darkness then covered the
XLVIIL 11] 127
earth for three clays, so that one could not see his o^Yn
hand before his eyes. During this period of darkness many
Hebrews who had rebelled against their Creator, rebelled
also against Moses and Aaron, saying: ' We shall not go
forth lest we die in the desolate wilderness by famine.'
God smote them by a plague, and they were buried during
these three days, lest the Egyptians should see them and
rejoice at their downfall. (9) All the firstborn of the
Egyptians were then slain from man to animal, even the
likeness of their firstborn engraved on the walls of their
houses was effaced and thrown to the ground. The bones of
their firstborn that were buried in their houses the dogs of
Egypt dragged away, and, breaking them to pieces, devoured
them before the very eyes of the people, so that their
descendants cried out in anguish. The people of Egypt
then hastened to accompany the servants of God, whom
they sent away with much riches and many gifts, according
to the oath which God sware at the Covenant between the
pieces.
(10) Moses went to Shihor (the Nile), and drawing up
the coffin of Joseph, took it away with him. The heads of
the tribes of Israel also assisted in bringing up each one
the coffins of his forefathers. Many of the heathen joined
them in their departure from Egypt and in their journey of
three days in the wilderness. (11) On the third day, how-
ever, they said to one another, ' Did not Moses and Aaron
tell Pharaoh that they wished to go a journey of three
days in the wilderness in order to sacrifice to the Lord
their God? now let us rise early to-morrow morning
and see if they return to Egypt to our lord; we shall
thereby know that they are to be believed, but if not,
we shall go to war against them and bring them back by
main force.' On the fourth day they accordingly rose
early, and found Moses and Aaron eating and drinking,
and celebrating a festival to their God. The rabble said
to them, ' Why do you not return to your master ?' Moses
replied: ' Because the Lord has warned us, saying, " Ye
shall no more return to Egypt, but ye shall go to a
128 [XLVIII. 12
land flowing with milk and honey, as I have sworn to your
fathers." '
(12) As soon as the rabble saw that they refused to
return, they went to war against the Israelites; but the
Israelites prevailed against them, causing great slaughter.
The remainder fled to Egypt to inform Pharaoh that the
people had fled. And the heart of Pharaoh and of his
servants was forthwith turned against them, so that they
pursued after them to bring them back to their burdens;
for the Egyptians repented after they had sent them away.
Pursuing them hastily, they at length overtook them while
they were encamping by the Eed Sea. There the Lord
wrought many miracles for the Hebrews through Moses,
His chosen servant, who stretched his staff upon the sea,
when the waters were immediately divided into twelve rents
(for the twelve tribes), through which they all passed over
dryshod, just as one passes along the highway. After
them came all the Egyptians. But they were all drowned
except Pharaoh, King of Egypt, who thereupon offered a
thanksgiving offering to the living God, and believed that
He was the living God. God then commanded Michael,
Gabriel, and Uriel, the heavenly princes, to bring him up
from the sea. So they brought him to the land of Nineveh,
where he remained for 500 years.
(13) The Israelites then journeyed into the wilderness, and
Amaleq, the son of Eliphaz, the son of Esau, went to war
against them. With him there came an innumerable army
of wizards and enchanters. But the Lord delivered them
into the hand of Moses His servant and Joshua the son of
Nun, the Ephrathite, who put them to the edge of the sword.
Keuel the Midianite, Moses' father-in-law, then came out
into the wilderness to Moses, where he was encamping
by the mountain of God with Zipporah and his sons, and
dwelt with them among the Israelites. Moses next fought
against Sihon and Og, and captured their land. He then
fought against Midian and slew Evi, Eeqem, Sur, Hur
and Eeb'a, the five kings of Midian. (14) He put Bala'am
the enchanter and his two sons to the edge of the sword.
When Bala am the enchanter sa^Y Eleazar, the son of Aaron
the priest, and Pmehas his son, captains of the host of
Israel, following him for the purpose of slaying him, by
means of witchcraft he flew in the air, just as an eagle
is seen to fly heavenward. But, uttering the ineflable,
revered name of God, they brought him down to the earth,
and, capturing him, slew him with the rest of the princes of
Midian. The Canaanites who dwelt in the mountains also
descended with the Amaleqites to fight against Israel, but
the Lord delivered them into the hand of Moses and the
Israelites, who smote them utterly. (15) Moses w^as eighty
years old when he stood before Pharaoh, King of Egypt.
Through him the Lord redeemed Israel from Egypt. He
reigned over them in the wilderness forty years, during
which time the Lord maintained them by His mercy with
the bread of the mighty and the fowd of the heaven, and
from the flinty rock He brought forth fountains of w^ater for
them. The cloud of the Lord gently guided them by day
like children, and a pillar of fire by night, and during the
whole time of their travels in the wilderness neither their
garments nor their shoes wore out, and no goodness lacked
them there. (16) After travelling through the wdlderness of
Sin, they arrived at Mount Sinai on the third day of the third
month after their departure from Egypt. The word of the
Lord then came to Moses the Levite, saying, ' Come up to
the mountain, and I will give thee the tablets of stone, the
Law and the Commandments which I have written to teach
the Israelites.' Moses accordingly told the people to
sanctify themselves for three days, and on the third day,
that is, on the sixth day of the third month, he ascended
the mount. The Lord then gave the Israelites through
Moses the 613 precepts refined as silver and tried as gold,
accompanied by the sound of the trumpet, by thunders
and lightnings. They next erected a tabernacle, with its
vessels, for ministering to God, and the ark for the two
tablets and for the scroll of the Law. They also prepared
burnt-offerings, sacrifices, incense, frankincense, oil for the
consecration and for anointing therewith the tabernacle
130 [XLVIIT. 16
with its vessels and the priests of God, viz., Aaron and his
sons, who ministered before God and offered sacrifices and
incense for the congregation. They also made for them
garments of honour, and appointed the sons of Levi to
guard the tabernacle of the Lord, to minister to their
fellow-priests, and to sing hymns during the sacrifice.
They also offered frankincense within to avert the anger
and punishment of the Lord.
(17) In the fortieth year of their wanderings, Miriam the
prophetess died, on the tenth day of the first month, and
was buried in the wilderness of Sin, which is Qadesh. In
the same year, on the first day of the fifth month, Aaron
the priest died, and was buried on Mount Hor, and Eleazar
and Ithamar were appointed to minister in the place of
their father. The priesthood has remained in that family
as an inheritance throughout all generations. (18) In tha^t
same year on the seventh day of the twelfth month — i.e.,
Adar— Moses, the servant of the Lord, died, 120 years old,
and was buried in the valley at the nethermost part of the
Mount of Ebarim, and Joshua the son of Nun, the
Ephrathite, was appointed leader of the people. The rest
of the words of Moses relating to his power, his military
deeds, his entreaties and prayers on behalf of his people,
are they not written in the ' Sefer Hayashar,' which is the
Law of our God? Joshua the son of Nun rose up after
him. He led the Israelites across the Jordan and divided
the land by lots according to the word of God.
The Death of Aaron, of Blessed Memory.
