Thursday, December 19, 2024

Book of Jubilees 37, 38

JUBILEES 37

The sons of Esau with Esau make war wit Yacob

1 And on the day that Yitschaq the father of Yacob and Esau died, [2162 A.M.] the sons of Esau heard that Yitschaq had given the portion of the elder to his younger son Yacob and they were very angry.
2 And they strove with their father, saying 'Why has your father given Yacob the portion of the elder and passed over you, although you are the elder and Yacob the younger?'
3 And he said to them 'Because I sold my birthright to Yacob for a small mess of lentils, and on the day my father sent me to hunt and catch and bring him something that he should eat and bless me, he came with guile and brought my father food and drink, and my father blessed him and put me under his hand.
4 And now our father has caused us to swear, me and him, that we shall not mutually devise evil, either against his brother, and that we shall continue in love and in shalom each with his brother and not make our ways corrupt.'
5 And they said to him, 'We shall not hearken unto you to make shalom with him; for our strength is greater than his strength, and we are more powerful than he; we shall go against him and slay him, and destroy him and his sons. And if you will not go with us, we shall do hurt to you also.
6 And now hearken unto us: Let us send to Aram and Philistia and Moab and Ammon, and let us choose for ourselves chosen men who are ardent for battle, and let us go against him and do battle with him, and let us exterminate him from the earth before he grows strong.'
7 And their father said to them, 'Do not go and do not make war with him lest you fall before him.'
8 And they said to him, 'This too, is exactly your mode of action from your youth until this day, and you are putting your neck under his yoke. We shall not hearken to these words.'
9 And they sent to Aram, and to 'Aduram to the friend of their father, and they hired along with them one thousand fighting men, chosen men of war.
10 And there came to them from Moab and from the children of Ammon, those who were hired, one thousand chosen men, and from Philistia, one thousand chosen men of war, and from Edom and from the Horites one thousand chosen fighting men, and from the Kittim mighty men of war.
11 And they said to their father: Go forth with them and lead them, else we shall slay you.'
12 And he was filled with wrath and indignation on seeing that his sons were forcing him to go before them to lead them against Yacob his brother. But afterward he remembered all the evil which lay hidden in his heart against Yacob his brother;
13 And he remembered not the oath which he had sworn to his father and to his mother that he would devise no evil all his days against Yacob his brother.
14 And notwithstanding all this, Yacob knew not that they were coming against him to battle, and he was mourning for Leah, his wife, until they approached very near to the tower with four thousand warriors and chosen men of war.
15 And the men of Hebron sent to him saying, 'Behold your brother has come against you, to fight you, with four thousand girthed with the sword, and they carry shields and weapons'; for they loved Yacob more than Esau. So they told him; for Yacob was a more liberal and merciful man than Esau.
16 But Yacob would not believe until they came very near to the tower.
17 And he closed the gates of the tower; and he stood on the battlements and spoke to his brother Esau and said, 'Noble is the comfort wherewith you have come to comfort me for my wife who has died. Is this the oath that you did swear to your father and again to your mother before they died? You have broken the oath, and on the moment that you did swear to your father were you condemned.'
18 And then Esau answered and said to him, 'Neither the children of men nor the beasts of the earth have any oath of righteousness which in swearing they have sworn (an oath valid) forever; but every day they devise evil one against another, and how each may slay his adversary and foe.
19 And you do hate me and my children forever. And there is no observing the tie of brotherhood with you.
20 Hear these words which I declare unto you, ‘If the boar can change its skin and make its bristles as soft as wool, Or if it can cause horns to sprout forth on its head like the horns of a stag or of a sheep, Then will I observe the tie of brotherhood with you, And if the breasts separated themselves from their mother, for you have not been a brother to me.
21 And if the wolves make shalom with the lambs so as not to devour or do them violence, And if their hearts are towards them for good, Then there shall be shalom in my heart towards you.
22 And if the lion becomes the friend of the ox and makes shalom with him, And if he is bound under one yoke with him and ploughs with him, Then will I make shalom with you.
23 And when the raven becomes white as the raza, Then know that I have loved you And shall make shalom with you, You shall be rooted out, And your sons shall be rooted out, And there shall be no shalom for you'
24 And when Yacob saw that he was (so) evilly disposed towards him with his heart, and with all his soul as to slay him, and that he had come springing like the wild boar which comes upon the spear that pierces and kills it, and recoils not from it;
25 Then he spoke to his own and to his servants that they should attack him and all his companions.

JUBILEES 38

Yacob kills Esau

1 And after that Yahudah spoke to Yacob, his father, and said to him: 'Bend your bow, father, and send forth your arrows and cast down the adversary and slay the enemy; and may you have the power, for we shall not slay your brother, for he is such as you, and he is like you let us give him(this) honor.'
2 Then Yacob bent his bow and sent forth the arrow and struck Esau, his brother (on his right breast) and slew him.
3 And again he sent forth an arrow and struck 'Adoran the Aramaean, on the left breast, and drove him backward and slew him.
4 And then went forth the sons of Yacob, they and their servants, dividing themselves into companies on the four sides of the tower.
5 And Yahudah went forth in front, and Naphtali and Gad with him and fifty servants with him on the south side of the tower, and they slew all they found before them, and not one individual of them escaped.
6 And Levi and Dan and Asher went forth on the east side of the tower, and fifty (men) with them, and they slew the fighting men of Moab and Ammon.
7 And Reuben and Issachar and Zebulon went forth on the north side of the tower, and fifty men with them, and they slew the fighting men of the Philistines.
8 And Simeon and Benjamin and Enoch, Reuben's son, went forth on the west side of the tower, and fifty (men) with them, and they slew of Edom and of the Horites four hundred men, stout warriors; and six hundred fled, and four of the sons of Esau fled with them, and left their father lying slain, as he had fallen on the hill which is in 'Aduram.
9 And the sons of Yacob pursued after them to the mountains of Seir. And Yacob buried his brother on the hill which is in 'Aduram, and he returned to his house.
10 And the sons of Yacob pressed hard upon the sons of Esau in the mountains of Seir, and bowed their necks so that they became servants of the sons of Yacob.
11 And they sent to their father (to inquire) whether they should make shalom with them or slay them.
12 And Yacob sent word to his sons that they should make shalom, and they made shalom with them, and placed the yoke of servitude upon them, so that they paid tribute to Yacob and to his sons always.
13 And they continued to pay tribute to Yacob until the day that he went down into Egypt.
14 And the sons of Edom have not got quit of the yoke of servitude which the twelve sons of Yacob had imposed on them until this day.
15 And these are the kings that reigned in Edom before there reigned any king over the children of Yisrael [until this day] in the land of Edom.
16 And Bela, the son of Beor, reigned in Edom, and the name of his city was Danaba.
17 And Bela died, and Jobab, the son of Zara of Boser, reigned in his stead.
18 And Jobab died, and 'Asam, of the land of Teman, reigned in his stead.
19 And 'Asam died, and 'Adath, the son of Barad, who slew Midian in the field of Moab, reigned in his stead, and the name of his city was Avith.
20 And 'Adath died, and Salman, from 'Amaseqa, reigned in his stead.
21,22 And Salman died, and Saul of Ra'aboth (by the) river, reigned in his stead. And Saul died, and Ba'elunan, the son of Achbor, reigned in his stead.
23 And Ba'elunan, the son of Achbor died, and 'Adath reigned in his stead, and the name of his wife was Maitabith, the daughter of Matarat, the daughter of Metabedza'ab.
25 These are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom.


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