1,432 texts · Page 2 of 30
We all know the story of their destruction, but the Book of Jasher, a non-canonical Jewish text that elaborates on stories from the Hebrew Bible, really paints a vivid picture. Cha...
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...
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...
Ben Sira's reputation for impossible feats of knowledge—like counting every grain of wheat in a bushel at a glance—eventually reached the court of Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon. ...
Nebuchadnezzar doesn't believe Ben Sira actually knows what's in his garden. So the king proposes a test. He'll blindfold the boy, march his army past in separate battalions, and B...
Nebuchadnezzar wants to kill Ben Sira. He's just not very subtle about it. "I have a friend I hate," the king says, barely disguising his intentions, "and I want to kill him with f...
Every other Dead Sea Scroll was written on parchment or papyrus. The Copper Scroll (Megillat HaNechoshet, מגילת הנחושת) was inscribed on sheets of pure copper, rolled up and hidden...
The second half of the Pesher Habakkuk turns from cosmic prophecy to personal vendetta—and the story it tells has haunted historians for decades. According to the pesher, a figure ...
The Garden of Eden is not a meadow. It is a city of palaces. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle translated by Moses Gaster in 1899, there are...
When the people of Babylon decided to build a tower reaching heaven, everyone had to make bricks. Everyone had to write their name on their brick. But twelve men refused. According...
After the flood, the entire earth was split into three portions. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle translated by Moses Gaster in 1899, each ...
Nimrod was not merely a tyrant. He was the seed of the world's first false religion. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle translated by Moses G...
After the Tower of Babel, the descendants of the nations scattered into separate companies. The Kittim settled in the plain of Campania by the river Tiber, while the children of Tu...
Jephthah the Gileadite made a vow before battle: whatever came out of his house first to greet him upon his victorious return would be offered as a sacrifice to God. He crushed the...
The destruction of the Temple happened on the eve of the ninth of Av, on the outgoing of the Sabbath, in a Sabbatical year. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century...
In Babylon there lived a man named Jehoiachin whose wife Susanna was known for her beauty and her devotion to God. Her parents had raised her according to the Torah of Moses, and s...
Nebuchadnezzar's transformation was not a complete change from man to animal. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle translated by Moses Gaster i...
The fall of Babylon began with a friendship and ended with a finger. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle translated by Moses Gaster in 1899, G...
When a person is about to die, the angel assigned to them delivers a devastating eulogy. Not a eulogy of praise. A eulogy of regret. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12t...
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 ...
When Darius settled onto the throne of Babylon, his first act was not a military campaign or a political purge. He sent for Daniel. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th...
After Daniel walked out of the lions' den unharmed, the king returned with him to the palace and issued an extraordinary declaration. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12...
Darius summoned Daniel to test his wisdom and found him seven times wiser than any report had claimed. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle tra...
After Daniel exposed the fraud of the idol Bel and destroyed his altar, the Babylonian princes demanded a rematch. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew c...
Daniel had grown old. He came before the king one last time and asked permission to go home. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle translated by...
Zerubbabel won the riddle contest, but when King Darius offered him any reward up to half the kingdom, he asked for something no treasure could buy. According to the Chronicles of ...
Cyrus conquered the known world because God strengthened his hand. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle translated by Moses Gaster in 1899, God...
The hatred between Haman the Amalekite and Mordecai the Jew had deep ancestral roots. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle translated by Moses ...
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...
On the night King Ahasuerus could not sleep, something far stranger was happening in heaven. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle preserved by ...
The story of Israel's return from exile reads like a cascade of empires, each rising and falling at breathtaking speed. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Heb...
Ptolemy of Egypt was a book collector. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle preserved by Moses Gaster in 1899, the Macedonian king who ruled Eg...
Judah Maccabee did not wait to be attacked. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle preserved by Moses Gaster in 1899, when the Macedonian general...
When Judah Maccabee and the Hassidim entered Jerusalem, the Temple was an abomination. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle preserved by Moses ...
Eve dreamed of blood. Her son's blood. Pouring into the mouth of his brother. After their expulsion from Paradise, Adam and Eve journeyed eastward toward the sunrise and settled th...
God pronounced three curses. One for the man. One for the woman. One for the serpent. And with those three curses, the world as it had been ended forever. To Adam, God said: "Since...
Two men stood in the ashes of the world. Baruch and Jeremiah — the scribe and the prophet — whose hearts had been found pure from sin, who had not been captured when the city fell....
This is the letter that Baruch son of Neriah sent across the river Euphrates to the nine and a half tribes in exile. It may be the most hopeful document ever written from the rubbl...
The Book of Ezekiel, one of the most powerful and enigmatic texts in the Hebrew Bible, opens with just such an experience. We find Ezekiel, a priest, in exile, far from Jerusalem, ...
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...
The followers of the Ba'al Shem Tov, the founder of Hasidic Judaism, knew a thing or two about joy. Every year, they celebrated Simhat Torah – the culmination of Sukkot (the Festiv...
What became of Cain? The Bible tells us he wandered, marked and cursed, after the murder of his brother Abel. But the Torah is silent on the details of his death. So, naturally, th...
The story of Noah and the vine is a wild ride through temptation, disrespect, and divine retribution. According to Legends of the Jews, as retold by Ginzberg, Noah's troubles began...
We know that Noah and his family were spared, a fresh start for humanity. But, well, it didn't take long for things to go sideways again, did it? According to Ginzberg’s retelling ...
The story of the Tower of Babel is a classic tale exploring that very theme. It’s a story about ambition gone wild, about a collective "we can do anything" attitude that ultimately...
The stories are… well, let's just say they’re anything but ordinary. According to Legends of the Jews, as retold by Louis Ginzberg, Abraham's birth was shrouded in secrecy, hidden ...
Abraham didn't just decide one day to challenge the status quo. No, he was commanded by God, through the angel Gabriel, to confront Nimrod in Babylon. Can you picture it? The angel...
