Book of Jubilees 11

JUBILEES 11

The Sons Of Noah Began To War And To Shed The Blood Of Men On The Earth, And To Eat Blood

1 And in the thirty-fifth jubilee, in the third week, in the first year [1681 A.M.] thereof, Reu took to himself a wife, and her name was 'Ora, the daughter of 'Ur, the son of Kesed, and she bare him a son, and he called his name Seroh, in the seventh year of this week in this jubilee. [1687 A.M.]
2 And the sons of Noah began to war on each other, to take captive and to slay each other, and to shed the blood of men on the earth, and to eat blood, and to build strong cities, and walls, and towers, and individuals (began) to exalt themselves above the nation, and to found the beginnings of kingdoms, and to go to war people against people, and nation against nation, and city against city, and all began to do evil, and to acquire arms, and to teach their sons war, and they began to capture cities, and to sell male and female slaves.
3 And Ur, the son of Kesed, built the city of 'Ara of the Chaldees, and called its name after his own name and the name of his father.
4 And they made for themselves molten images, and they worshipped each the idol, the molten image which they had made for themselves, and they began to make graven images and unclean simulacra, and malignant spirits assisted and seduced them into committing transgression and uncleanness.
5 And the prince Mastema exerted himself to do all this, and he sent forth other spirits, those which were put under his hand, to do all manner of wrong and sin, and all manner of transgression, to corrupt and destroy, and to shed blood upon the earth.
6 For this reason he called the name of Seroh, Serug, for every one turned to do all manner of sin and transgression.
7 And he grew up, and dwelt in Ur of the Chaldees, near to the father of his wife's mother, and he worshipped idols, and he took to himself a wife in the thirty-sixth jubilee, in the fifth week, in the first year thereof, [1744 A.M.] and her name was Melka, the daughter of Kaber, the daughter of his father's brother.
8 And she bare him Nahor, in the first year of this week, and he grew and dwelt in Ur of the Chaldees, and his father taught him the researches of the Chaldees to divine and augur, according to the signs of heaven.
9 And in the thirty-seventh jubilee in the sixth week, in the first year thereof, [1800 A.M.] he took to himself a wife, and her name was 'Ijaska, the daughter of Nestag of the Chaldees.
10 And she bare him Terah in the seventh year of this week. [1806 A.M.]
11 And the prince Mastema sent ravens and birds to devour the seed which was sown in the land, in order to destroy the land, and rob the children of men of their labours. Before they could plough in the seed, the ravens picked it from the surface of the ground.
12 And for this reason he called his name Terah because the ravens and the birds reduced them to destitution and devoured their seed.
13 And the years began to be barren, owing to the birds, and they devoured all the fruit of the trees from the trees: It was only with great effort that they could save a little of all the fruit of the earth in their days.
14 And in this thirty-ninth jubilee, in the second week in the first year, [1870 A.M.] Terah took to himself a wife, and her name was 'Edna, the daughter of 'Abram, the daughter of his father's sister.

Abram is Born
15 And in the seventh year of this week [1876 A.M.] she bare him a son, and he called his name Abram, by the name of the father of his mother; for he had died before his daughter had conceived a son.
16 And the child began to understand the errors of the earth that all went astray after graven images and after uncleanness, and his father taught him writing, and he was two weeks of years old, [1890 A.M.] and he separated himself from his father, that he might not worship idols with him.
17 And he began to pray to the Creator of all things that He might save him from the errors of the children of men, and that his portion should not fall into error after uncleanness and vileness.
18 And the seed time came for the sowing of seed upon the land, and they all went forth together to protect their seed against the ravens, and Abram went forth with those that went, and the child was a lad of fourteen years.
19 And a cloud of ravens came to devour the seed, and Abram ran to meet them before they settled on the ground, and cried to them before they settled on the ground to devour the seed, and said, ' Descend not: return to the place where you came,' and they proceeded to turn back.
20 And he caused the clouds of ravens to turn back that day seventy times, and of all the ravens throughout all the land where Abram was there settled there not so much as one.
21 And all who were with him throughout all the land saw him cry out, and all the ravens turn back, and his name became great in all the land of the Chaldees.
22 And there came to him this year all those that wished to sow, and he went with them until the time of sowing ceased: and they sowed their land, and that year they brought enough grain home and eat and were satisfied.
23 And in the first year of the fifth week [1891 A.M.] Abram taught those who made implements for oxen, the artificers in wood, and they made a vessel above the ground, facing the frame of the plough, in order to put the seed thereon, and the seed fell down there from upon the share of the plough, and was hidden in the earth, and they no longer feared the ravens.
24 And after this manner they made vessels above the ground on all the frames of the ploughs, and they sowed and tilled all the land, according as Abram commanded them, and they no longer feared the birds.

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Book of Jubilees 10

JUBILEES 10

Unclean Demons Began To Lead The Sons Of Noah Astray

1 And in the third week of this jubilee the unclean demons began to lead astray the children of the sons of Noah, and to make to err and destroy them.
2 And the sons of Noah came to Noah their father, and they told him concerning the demons which were leading astray and blinding and slaying his sons' sons.
3 And he prayed before YAHWEH his Sovereign Ruler, and said: 'YAHWEH of the spirits of all flesh, who have shown mercy unto me And have saved me and my sons from the waters of the flood, And have not caused me to perish as You did the sons of perdition; For Your free unmerited pardon has been great towards me, And great has been Your mercy to my soul; Let Your free unmerited pardon be lift up upon my sons, And let not wicked spirits rule over them Lest they should destroy them from the earth.
4 But do You bless me and my sons, that we may increase and Multiply and replenish the earth.
5 And You know how Your Watchers, the fathers of these spirits, acted in my day: and as for these spirits which are living, imprison them and hold them fast in the place of condemnation, and let them not bring destruction on the sons of your servant, my Sovereign Ruler; for these are malignant, and created in order to destroy.
6 And let them not rule over the spirits of the living; for You alone can exercise dominion over them. And let them not have power over the sons of the righteous from henceforth and forevermore.'
7 And YAHWEH our Sovereign Ruler bade us to bind all.
8 And the chief of the spirits, Mastema, came and said: 'YAHWEH, Creator, let some of them remain before me, and let them listen to my voice, and do all that I shall say unto them; for if some of them are not left to me, I shall not be able to execute the power of my will on the sons of men; for these are for corruption and leading astray before my judgment, for great is the wickedness of the sons of men.'
9 And He said: Let the tenth part of them remain before him, and let nine parts descend into the place of condemnation.'
10 And one of us He commanded that we should teach Noah all their medicines; for He knew that they would not walk in uprightness, nor strive in righteousness.
11 And we did according to all His words: all the malignant evil ones we bound in the place of condemnation and a tenth part of them we left that they might be subject before Satan on the earth.
12 And we explained to Noah all the medicines of their diseases, together with their seductions, how he might heal them with herbs of the earth.
13 And Noah wrote down all things in a book as we instructed him concerning every kind of medicine. Thus the evil spirits were precluded from (hurting) the sons of Noah.
14 And he gave all that he had written to Shem, his eldest son; for he loved him exceedingly above all his sons.
15 And Noah slept with his fathers, and was buried on Mount Lubar in the land of Ararat.
16 Nine hundred and fifty years he completed in his life, nineteen jubilees and two weeks and five years. [1659 A.M.]
17 And in his life on earth he excelled the children of men save Enoch because of the righteousness, wherein he was perfect. For Enoch's office was ordained for a testimony to the generations of the world, so that he should recount all the deeds of generation unto generation, till the Day of Judgment.
18 And in the three and thirtieth jubilee, in the first year in the second week, Peleg took to himself a wife, whose name was Lomna the daughter of Sina'ar, and she bare him a son in the fourth year of this week, and he called his name Reu; for he said: 'Behold the children of men have become evil through the wicked purpose of building for themselves a city and a tower in the land of Shinar .'
19 For they departed from the land of Ararat eastward to Shinar; for in his days they built the city and the tower, saying, 'Go to, let us ascend thereby into heaven.'
20 And they began to build, and in the fourth week they made brick with fire, and the bricks served them for stone, and the clay with which they cemented them together was asphalt which comes out of the sea, and out of the fountains of water in the land of Shinar.
21 And they built it: forty and three years [1645-1688 A.M.] were they building it; its breadth was 203 bricks, and the height (of a brick) was the third of one; its height amounted to 5433 cubits and 2 palms, and (the extent of one wall was) thirteen stades (and of the other thirty stades).
22 And YAHWEH our Sovereign Ruler said to us: Behold, they are one people, and (this) they begin to do, and now nothing will be withheld from them. Go to, let us go down and confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech, and they may be dispersed into cities and nations, and one purpose will no longer abide with them till the Day of Judgment.'
23 And YAHWEH descended, and we descended with him to see the city and the tower which the children of men had built.
24 And he confounded their language, and they no longer understood one another's speech, and they ceased then to build the city and the tower.
25 For this reason the whole land of Shinar is called Babel, because YAHWEH did there confound all the language of the children of men, and from thence they were dispersed into their cities, each according to his language and his nation.
26 And YAHWEH sent a mighty wind against the tower and overthrew it upon the earth, and behold it was between Asshur and Babylon in the land of Shinar, and they called its name 'Overthrow'.
27 In the fourth week in the first year [1688 A.M.] in the beginning thereof in the four and thirtieth jubilee, were they dispersed from the land of Shinar.
28 And Ham and his sons went into the land which he was to occupy, which he acquired as his portion in the land of the south.
29 And Canaan saw the land of Lebanon to the river of Egypt, that it was very good, and he went not into the land of his inheritance to the west (that is to) the sea, and he dwelt in the land of Lebanon, eastward and westward from the border of Jordan and from the border of the sea.
30 And Ham, his father, and Cush and Mizraim his brothers said to him: 'You have settled in a land which is not yours, and which did not fall to us by lot: do not do so; for if you do, do so, you and your sons will fall in the land and (be) accursed through sedition; for by sedition you have settled, and by sedition will your children fall, and you shall be rooted out forever.
31 Dwell not in the dwelling of Shem; for to Shem and to his sons did it come by their lot.
32 Cursed are you, and cursed shall you be beyond all the sons of Noah, by the curse by which we bound ourselves by an oath in the presence of the kodesh judge, and in the presence of Noah our father.'
33 But he did not listen to them, and dwelt in the land of Lebanon from Hamath to the entering of Egypt, he and his sons until this day.
34 And for this reason that land is named Canaan.
35 And Japheth and his sons went towards the sea and dwelt in the land of their portion, and Madai saw the land of the sea and it did not please him, and he begged a (portion) from Ham and Asshur and Arpachshad, his wife's brother, and he dwelt in the land of Media, near to his wife's brother until this day.
36 And he called his dwelling-place, and the dwelling-place of his sons, Media, after the name of their father Madai.

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Jasher, Chapter 16

1 At that time Chedorlaomer king of Elam sent to all the neighboring kings, to Nimrod, king of Shinar who was then under his power, and to Tidal, king of Goyim, and to Arioch, king of Elasar, with whom he made a covenant, saying, Come up to me and assist me, that we may smite all the towns of Sodom and its inhabitants, for they have rebelled against me these thirteen years.
2 And these four kings went up with all their camps, about eight hundred thousand men, and they went as they were, and smote every man they found in their road.
3 And the five kings of Sodom and Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboyim, Bera king of Sodom, Bersha king of Gomorrah, and Bela king of Zoar, went out to meet them, and they all joined together in the valley of Siddim.
4 And these nine kings made war in the valley of Siddim; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah were smitten before the kings of Elam.
5 And the valley of Siddim was full of lime pits and the kings of Elam pursued the kings of Sodom, and the kings of Sodom with their camps fled and fell into the lime pits, and all that remained went to the mountain for safety, and the five kings of Elam came after them and pursued them to the gates of Sodom, and they took all that there was in Sodom.
6 And they plundered all the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, and they also took Lot, Abram's brother's son, and his property, and they seized all the goods of the cities of Sodom, and they went away; and Unic, Abram's servant, who was in the battle, saw this, and told Abram all that the kings had done to the cities of Sodom, and that Lot was taken captive by them.
7 And Abram heard this, and he rose up with about three hundred and eighteen men that were with him, and he that night pursued these kings and smote them, and they all fell before Abram and his men, and there was none remaining but the four kings who fled, and they went each his own road.
8 And Abram recovered all the property of Sodom, and he also recovered Lot and his property, his wives and little ones and all belonging to him, so that Lot lacked nothing.
9 And when he returned from smiting these kings, he and his men passed the valley of Siddim where the kings had made war together.
10 And Bera king of Sodom, and the rest of his men that were with him, went out from the lime pits into which they had fallen, to meet Abram and his men.
11 And Adonizedek king of Jerusalem, the same was Shem, went out with his men to meet Abram and his people, with bread and wine, and they remained together in the valley of Melech.
12 And Adonizedek blessed Abram, and Abram gave him a tenth from all that he had brought from the spoil of his enemies, for Adonizedek was a priest before YAHWEH.
13 And all the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah who were there, with their servants, approached Abram and begged of him to return them their servants whom he had made captive, and to take unto himself all the property.
14 And Abram answered the kings of Sodom, saying, As YAHWEH lives who created heaven and earth, and who redeemed my soul from all affliction, and who delivered me this day from my enemies, and gave them into my hand, I will not take anything belonging to you, that you may not boast tomorrow, saying, Abram became rich from our property that he saved.
15 For YAHWEH my ALMIGHTY in whom I trust said unto me, You shall lack nothing, for I will bless you in all the works of your hands.
16 And now therefore behold, here is all belonging to you, take it and go; as YAHWEH lives I will not take from you from a living soul down to a shoetie or thread, excepting the expense of the food of those who went out with me to battle, as also the portions of the men who went with me, Anar, Ashcol, and Mamre, they and their men, as well as those also who had remained to watch the baggage, they shall take their portion of the spoil.
17 And the kings of Sodom gave Abram according to all that he had said, and they pressed him to take of whatever he chose, but he would not.
18 And he sent away the kings of Sodom and the remainder of their men, and he gave them orders about Lot, and they went to their respective places.
19 And Lot, his brother's son, he also sent away with his property, and he went with them, and Lot returned to his home, to Sodom, and Abram and his people returned to their home to the plains of Mamre, which is in Hebron.
20 At that time YAHWEH again appeared to Abram in Hebron, and he said to him, Do not fear, your reward is very great before me, for I will not leave you, until I shall have multiplied you, and blessed you and made your seed like the stars in heaven, which cannot be measured nor numbered.
21 And I will give unto your seed all these lands that you see with your eyes, to them will I give them for an inheritance forever, only be strong and do not fear, walk before me and be perfect.
Year 2026
22 And in the seventy-eighth year of the life of Abram, in that year died Reu, the son of Peleg, and all the days of Reu were two hundred and thirty-nine years, and he died.
23 And Sarai, the daughter of Haran, Abram's wife, was still barren in those days; she did not bear to Abram either son or daughter.
24 And when she saw that she bare no children she took her handmaid Hagar, whom Pharaoh had given her, and she gave her to Abram her husband for a wife.
25 For Hagar learned all the ways of Sarai as Sarai taught her, she was not in any way deficient in following her good ways. 26 And Sarai said to Abram, Behold here is my handmaid Hagar, go to her that she may bring forth upon my knees, that I may also obtain children through her.
Year 2033
27 And at the end of ten years of Abram's dwelling in the land of Canaan, which is the eighty-fifth year of Abram's life, Sarai gave Hagar unto him.
28 And Abram hearkened to the voice of his wife Sarai, and he took his handmaid Hagar and Abram came to her and she conceived.
29 And when Hagar saw that she had conceived she rejoiced greatly, and her mistress was despised in her eyes, and she said within herself, This can only be that I am better before YAHWEH than Sarai my mistress, for all the days that my mistress has been with my lord, she did not conceive, but me YAHWEH has caused in so short a time to conceive by him.
30 And when Sarai saw that Hagar had conceived by Abram, Sarai was jealous of her handmaid, and Sarai said within herself, This is surely nothing else but that she must be better than I am.
31 And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon you, for at the time when you didst pray before YAHWEH for children why didst you not pray on my account, that YAHWEH should give me seed from you?
32 And when I speak to Hagar in your presence, she despises my words, because she has conceived, and you wilt say nothing to her; may YAHWEH judge between me and you for what you hast done to me.
33 And Abram said to Sarai, Behold your handmaid is in your hand, do unto her as it may seem good in your eyes; and Sarai afflicted her, and Hagar fled from her to the wilderness.
34 And an heavenly messenger of YAHWEH found her in the place where she had fled, by a well, and he said to her, Do not fear, for I will multiply your seed, for you shall bear a son and you shall call his name Ishmael; now then return to Sarai your mistress, and submit thyself under her hands.
35 And Hagar called the place of that well Beer-lahai-roi, it is between Kadesh and the wilderness of Bered.
Year 2034
36 And Hagar at that time returned to her master's house, and at the end of days Hagar bare a son to Abram, and Abram called his name Ishmael; and Abram was eighty-six years old when he begat him.

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