Monday, December 16, 2024

Book of Jubilees 27, 28

JUBILEES 27

Rebecca calls Yacob and sends him to Laban

1 And the words of Esau, her elder son, were told to Rebecca in a dream, and Rebecca sent and called Yacob her younger son,
2 And said to him: 'Behold Esau your brother will take vengeance on you so as to kill you.
3 Now, therefore, my son, obey my voice, and arise and flee you to Laban, my brother, to Haran, and tarry with him a few days until your brother's anger turns away, and he remove his anger from you, and forget all that you have done; then I will send and fetch you from there.'
4,5 And Yacob said: 'I am not afraid; if he wishes to kill me, I will kill him.' But she said unto him: 'Let me not be bereft of both my sons on one day.'
6 And Yacob said to Rebecca his mother: 'Behold, you know that my father has become old, and does not see because his eyes are dull, and if I leave him it will be evil in his eyes, because I leave him and go away from you, and my father will be angry, and will curse me. I will not go; when he sends me, then only will I go.'
7 And Rebecca said to Yacob: 'I will go in and speak to him, and he will send you away.'
8 And Rebecca went in and said to Yitschaq: 'I loathe my life because of the two daughters of Heth, whom Esau has taken him as wives; and if Yacob take a wife from among the daughters of the land such as these, for what purpose do I further live, for the daughters of Canaan are evil.'
9 And Yitschaq called Yacob and blessed him, and admonished him and said to him:
10 'Do not take you a wife of any of the daughters of Canaan; arise and go to Mesopotamia, to the house of Bethuel, your mother's father, and take you a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother.
11 And YAHWEH Almighty bless you and increase and multiply you that you may become a company of nations, and give you the blessings of my father Abraham, to you and to your seed after you, that you may inherit the land of your sojournings and all the land which YAHWEH gave to Abraham: go, my son, in shalom.'
12 And Yitschaq sent Yacob away, and he went to Mesopotamia, to Laban the son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebecca, Yacob's mother.
13 And it came to pass after Yacob had arisen to go to Mesopotamia that the spirit of Rebecca was grieved after her son, and she wept.
14 And Yitschaq said to Rebecca: 'My sister, weep not on account of Yacob, my son; for he goes in shalom, and in shalom will he return.
15 The Most High YAHWEH will preserve him from all evil, and will be with him; for He will not forsake him all his days;
16 For I know that his ways will be prospered in all things wherever he goes, until he return in shalom to us, and we see him in shalom.
17 Fear not on his account, my sister, for he is on the upright path and he is a perfect man: and he is faithful and will not perish. Weep not.'
18 And Yitschaq comforted Rebecca on account of her son Yacob, and blessed him.
19 And Yacob went from the “Well of the Oath” to go to Haran on the first year of the second week in the forty-fourth jubilee, and he came to Luz on the mountains, that is, Bethel, on the new month of the first month of this week, [2115 A.M.] and he came to the place at even and turned from the way to the west of the road that night: and he slept there; for the sun had set.
20 And he took one of the stones of that place and laid under the tree, and he was journeying alone, and he slept.
21 And he dreamt that night, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven, and behold, the malakim of YAHWEH ascended and descended on it: and behold, YAHWEH stood upon it.
22 And he spoke to Yacob and said: 'I am YAHWEH ALMIGHTY of Abraham, your father, and the ALMIGHTY of Yitschaq; the land whereon you are sleeping, to you will I give it, and to your seed after you.
23 And your seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and you shall increase to the west and to the east, to the north and the south, and in you and in your seed shall all the families of the nations be blessed.
24 And behold, I will be with you, and will keep you wheresoever’s you go, and I will bring you again into this land in shalom; for I will not leave you until I do everything that I told you of.'
25 And Yacob awoke from his sleep, and said, 'Truly this place is the house of YAHWEH, and I knew it not.' And he was afraid and said: 'Dreadful is this place which is none other than the house of YAHWEH, and this is the gate of heaven.'
26 And Yacob arose early in the morning, and took the stone which he had put under his head and set it up as a pillar for a sign, and he poured oil upon the top of it. And he called the name of that place Bethel; but the name of the place was Luz at the first.
27 And Yacob vowed a vow unto YAHWEH, saying: 'If YAHWEH will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and give me bread to eat and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father's house in shalom, then shall YAHWEH be my Sovereign Ruler, and this stone which I have set up as a pillar for a sign in this place, shall be YAHWEH's house, and of all that you give me, I shall give the tenth to you, my ALMIGHTY.'

JUBILEES 28

Laban gives Leah his elder daughter to Yacob as a wife

1 And he went on his journey, and came to the land of the east, to Laban, the brother of Rebecca, and he was with him, and served him for Rachel his daughter one week.
2 And in the first year of the third week [2122 A.M.] he said to him: 'Give me my wife, for whom I have served you seven years '; and Laban said to Yacob: 'I will give you your wife.'
3 And Laban made a feast, and took Leah his elder daughter, and gave (her) to Yacob as a wife, and gave her Zilpah his handmaid for an handmaid; and Yacob did not know, for he thought that she was Rachel.
4 And he went in unto her, and behold, she was Leah; and Yacob was angry with Laban, and said to him: 'Why have you dealt this way with me? Did not I serve you for Rachel and not for Leah? Why have you wronged me?
5 Take your daughter, and I will go; for you have done evil to me.' For Yacob loved Rachel more than Leah; for Leah's eyes were weak, but her form was very handsome; but Rachel had beautiful eyes and a beautiful and very handsome form.
6 And Laban said to Yacob: 'It is not so done in our country, to give the younger before the elder.' And it is not right to do this; for thus it is ordained and written in the heavenly tablets, that no one should give his younger daughter before the elder; but the elder, one gives first and after her the younger -and the man who does so, they set down guilt against him in heaven, and none is righteous that does this thing, for this deed is evil before YAHWEH.
7 And command you the children of Yisrael that they do not this thing; let them neither take nor give the younger before they have given the elder, for it is very wicked.
8 And Laban said to Yacob: 'Let the seven days of the feast of this one pass by, and I shall give you Rachel, that you may serve me another seven years, that you may pasture my sheep as you didst in the former week.' And on the day when the seven days of the feast of Leah had passed, Laban gave Rachel to Yacob, that he might serve him another seven years, and he gave to Rachel Bilhah, the sister of Zilpah, as a handmaid.
10 And he served yet other seven years for Rachel, for Leah had been given to him for nothing.
11 And YAHWEH opened the womb of Leah, and she conceived and bare Yacob a son, and he called his name Reuben, on the fourteenth day of the ninth month, in the first year of the third week. [2122 A.M.]
12 But the womb of Rachel was closed, for YAHWEH saw that Leah was hated and Rachel loved.
13 And again Yacob went in unto Leah, and she conceived, and bare Yacob a second son, and he called his name Simeon, on the twenty-first of the tenth month, and in the third year of this week. [2124 A.M.]
14 And again Yacob went in unto Leah, and she conceived, and bare him a third son, and he called his name Levi, in the new month of the first month in the sixth year of this week. [2127 A.M.]
15 And again Yacob went in unto her, and she conceived, and bare him a fourth son, and he called his name Yahudah, on the fifteenth of the third month, in the first year of the fourth week. [2129 A.M.]
16 And on account of all this Rachel envied Leah, for she did not bear, and she said to Yacob: 'Give me children'; and Yacob said: 'Have I withheld from you the fruits of your womb? Have I forsaken you?'
17 And when Rachel saw that Leah had borne four sons to Yacob, Reuben and Simeon and Levi and Yahudah, she said to him: 'Go in unto Bilhah my handmaid, and she will conceive, and bear a son unto me.'
18 And she gave him Bilhah her handmaid to wife. And he went in unto her, and she conceived, and bare him a son, and he called his name Dan, on the ninth of the sixth month, in the sixth year of the third week. [2127 A.M.]
19 And Yacob went in again unto Bilhah a second time, and she conceived, and bare Yacob another son, and Rachel called his name Napthali, on the fifth of the seventh month, in the second year of the fourth week. [2130 A.M.]
20 And when Leah saw that she had become sterile and did not bear, she envied Rachel, and she also gave her handmaid Zilpah to Yacob to wife, and she conceived, and bare a son, and Leah called his name Gad, on the twelfth of the eighth month, in the third year of the fourth week. [2131 A.M.]
21 And he went in again unto her, and she conceived, and bare him a second son, and Leah called his name Asher, on the second of the eleventh month, in the fifth year of the fourth week. [2133 A.M.]
22 And Yacob went in unto Leah, and she conceived, and bare a son, and she called his name Issachar, on the fourth of the fifth month, in the fourth year of the fourth week,[2132 A.M.] and she gave him to a nurse.
23 And Yacob went in again unto her, and she conceived, and bare two (children), a son and a daughter, and she called the name of the son Zabulon, and the name of the daughter Dinah, in the seventh of the seventh month, in the sixth year of the fourth week. [2134 A.M.]
24 And YAHWEH was gracious to Rachel, and opened her womb, and she conceived, and bare a son, and she called his name Yoseph, on the new month of the fourth month, in the sixth year in this fourth week. [2134 A.M.]
25 And in the days when Yoseph was born, Yacob said to Laban: 'Give me my wives and sons, and let me go to my father Yitschaq, and let me make me an house; for I have completed the years in which I have served you for your two daughters, and I will go to the house of my father.'
26 And Laban said to Yacob: 'Tarry with me for your wages, and pasture my flock for me again, and take your wages.'
27 And they agreed with one another that he should give him as his wages those of the lambs and kids which were born black and spotted and white, (these) were to be his wages.
28 And all the sheep brought forth spotted and speckled and black, variously marked, and they brought forth again lambs like themselves, and all that were spotted were Yacob's and those which were not were Laban's.
29 And Yacob's possessions multiplied exceedingly, and he possessed oxen and sheep and asses and camels, and menservants and maid-servants.
30 And Laban and his sons envied Yacob, and Laban took back his sheep from him, and he observed him with evil intent.


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