Book of Jubilees 46, 47

JUBILEES 46

Yacob dies and the children of Yisrael multiply

1 And it came to pass that after Yacob died the children of Yisrael multiplied in the land of Egypt, and they became a great nation, and they were of one accord in heart, so that brother loved brother and every man helped his brother, and they increased abundantly and multiplied exceedingly, ten [2242 A.M.] weeks of years, all the days of the life of Yoseph.
2 And there was no Satan nor any evil all the days of the life of Yoseph which he lived after his father Yacob, for all the Egyptians honored the children of Yisrael all the days of the life of Yoseph.
3 And Yoseph died being a hundred and ten years old; seventeen years he lived in the land of Canaan, and ten years he was a servant, and three years in prison, and eighty years he was under the king, ruling all the land of Egypt.
4 And he died and all his brethren and all that generation.
5 And he commanded the children of Yisrael before he died that they should carry his bones with them when they went forth from the land of Egypt.
6 And he made them swear regarding his bones, for he knew that the Egyptians would not again bring forth and bury him in the land of Canaan, for Makamaron, king of Canaan, while dwelling in the land of Assyria, fought in the valley with the king of Egypt and slew him there, and pursued after the Egyptians to the gates of 'Ermon.
7 But he was not able to enter, for another, a new king, had become king of Egypt, and he was stronger than he, and he returned to the land of Canaan, and the gates of Egypt were closed, and none went out and none came into Egypt.
8 And Yoseph died in the forty-sixth jubilee, in the sixth week, in the second year, and they buried him in the land of Egypt, and [2242 A.M.] all his brethren died after him.
9 And the king of Egypt went forth to war with the king of Canaan [2263 A.M.] in the forty-seventh jubilee, in the second week in the second year, and the children of Yisrael brought forth all the bones of the children of Yacob save the bones of Yoseph, and they buried them in the field in the double cave in the mountain.
10 And the most (of them) returned to Egypt, but a few of them remained in the mountains of Hebron, and Amram your father remained with them.
11 And the king of Canaan was victorious over the king of Egypt, and he closed the gates of Egypt.
12 And he devised an evil device against the children of Yisrael of afflicting them.
13 And he said to the people of Egypt: 'Behold the people of the children of Yisrael have increased and multiplied more than we. Come and let us deal wisely with them before they become too many, and let us afflict them with slavery before war come upon us and before they too fight against us; else they will join themselves unto our enemies and get them up out of our land, for their hearts and faces are towards the land of Canaan.’
14 And he set over them taskmasters to afflict them with slavery; and they built strong cities for Pharaoh, Pithom, and Raamses and they built all the walls and all the fortifications which had fallen in the cities of Egypt.
15 And they made them serve with rigour, and the more they dealt evilly with them, the more they increased and multiplied. And the people of Egypt abominated the children of Yisrael

JUBILEES 47

Pharaoh, king of Egypt kills all male babies born

1 And in the seventh week, in the seventh year, in the forty-seventh jubilee, your father went forth [2303 A.M.] from the land of Canaan, and you were born in the fourth week, in the sixth year thereof, in the [2330 A.M.] forty-eighth jubilee; this was the time of tribulation on the children of Yisrael.
2 And Pharaoh, king of Egypt, issued a command regarding them that they should cast all their male children which were born into the river.
3 And they cast them in for seven months until the day that you were born
4 And your mother hid you for three months, and they told regarding her. And she made an ark for you, and covered it with pitch and asphalt, and placed it in the flags on the bank of the river, and she placed you in it seven days, and your mother came by night and suckled you, and by day Miriam, your sister, guarded you from the birds.
5 And in those days Tharmuth, the daughter of Pharaoh, came to bathe in the river, and she heard your voice crying, and she told her maidens to bring you forth, and they brought you unto her.
6 And she took you out of the ark, and she had compassion on you.
7 And your sister said to her: 'Shall I go and call unto you one of the Hebrew women to nurse and suckle this babe for you?'
8 And she said (unto her): 'Go.' And she went and called your mother Jochebed, and she gave her wages, and she nursed you.
9 And afterwards, when you were grown up, they brought you unto the daughter of Pharaoh, and you didst become her son, and Amram your father taught you writing, and after you had completed three weeks they brought you into the royal court.
10 And you were three weeks of years at court until the time [2351-] when you didst go forth from the royal court and did see an Egyptian smiting your friend who was [2372 A.M.] of the children of Yisrael, and you did slay him and hide him in the sand.
11 And on the second day you did and two of the children of Yisrael striving together, and you did say to him who was doing the wrong: 'Why do you smite your brother?'
12 And he was angry and indignant, and said: 'Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Think you to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?' And you did fear and flee on account of these words.

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Book of Jubilees 43

JUBILEES 43

Yoseph reveals himself to his brothers

1 And he did as Yoseph had told him, and filled all their sacks for them with food and put their money in their sacks, and put the cup in Benjamin's sack.
2 And early in the morning they departed, and it came to pass that, when they had gone from there, Yoseph said to the steward of his house: 'Pursue them, run and seize them, saying, "For good you have requited me with evil; you have stolen from me the silver cup out of which my lord drinks." And bring back to me their youngest brother, and fetch (him) quickly before I go forth to my seat of judgment.'
3 And he ran after them and said to them according to these words.
4 And they said to him: 'YAHWEH forbid that your servants should do this thing, and steal from the house of your lord any utensil, and the money also which we found in our sacks the first time, we your servants brought back from the land of Canaan.
5 How then should we steal any utensil? Behold here are we and our sacks search, and wherever you find the cup in the sack of any man amongst us, let him be slain, and we and our asses will serve your lord.'
6 And he said to them: 'Not so, the man with whom I find, him only shall I take as a servant, and you shall return in shalom unto your house.'
7 And as he was searching in their vessels, beginning with the eldest and ending with the youngest, it was found in Benjamin's sack.
8 And they rent their garments, and laded their asses, and returned to the city and came to the house of Yoseph, and they all bowed themselves on their faces to the ground before him.
9 And Yoseph said to them: 'You have done evil.' And they said: 'What shall we say and how shall we defend ourselves? Our lord has discovered the transgression of his servants; behold we are the servants of our lord, and our asses also.'
10 And Yoseph said to them: 'I too fear YAHWEH; as for you, go you to your homes and let your brother be my servant, for you have done evil. Know you not that a man delights in his cup as I with this cup?
11 And yet you have stolen it from me.' And Yahudah said: 'O my lord, let your servant, I pray you, speak a word in my lord's ear two brothers did your servant's mother bear to our father: one went away and was lost, and has not been found, and he alone is left of his mother, and your servant our father loves him, and his life also is bound up with the life of this (lad).
12 And it will come to pass, when we go to your servant our father, and the lad is not with us, that he will die, and we shall bring down our father with sorrow unto death.
13 Now rather let me, your servant, abide instead of the boy as a bondsman unto my lord, and let the lad go with his brethren, for I became surety for him at the hand of your servant our father, and if I do not bring him back, your servant will hear the blame to our father forever.'
14 And Yoseph saw that they were all accordant in goodness one with another, and he could not refrain himself, and he told them that he was Yoseph.
15 And he conversed with them in the Hebrew tongue and fell on their neck and wept.
16 But they knew him not and they began to weep. And he said to them: 'Weep not over me, but hasten and bring my father to me; and you see that it is my mouth that speaks and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see.
17 For behold this is the second year of the famine, and there are
18 still five years without harvest or fruit of trees or ploughing. Come down quickly you and your households, so that you perish not through the famine, and do not be grieved for your possessions, for YAHWEH sent me before you to set things in order that many people might live.
19 And tell my father that I am still alive, and you, behold, you see that YAHWEH has made me as a father to Pharaoh, and ruler over his house and over all the land of Egypt.
20 And tell my father of all my splendor, and all the riches and splendor that YAHWEH has given me.'
21 And by the command of the mouth of Pharaoh he gave them chariots and provisions for the way, and he gave them all many-colored raiment and silver.
22 And to their father he sent raiment and silver and ten asses which carried corn, and he sent them away.
23 And they went up and told their father that Yoseph was alive, and was measuring out corn to all the nations of the earth, and that he was ruler over all the land of Egypt.
24 And their father did not believe it, for he was beside himself in his mind; but when he saw the wagons which Yoseph had sent, the life of his spirit revived, and he said: 'It is enough for me if Yoseph lives; I will go down and see him before I die.'

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Book of Jubilees 42

JUBILEES 42

Seven years of famine

1 And in the first year of the third week of the forty-fifth jubilee the famine began to come into the [2171 A.M.] land, and the rain refused to be given to the earth, for none whatever fell.
2 And the earth grew barren, but in the land of Egypt there was food, for Yoseph had gathered the seed of the land in the seven years of plenty and had preserved it.
3 And the Egyptians came to Yoseph that he might give them food, and he opened the store-houses where was the grain of the first year, and he sold it to the people of the land for gold.
4 And Yacob heard that there was food in Egypt, and he sent his ten sons that they should procure food for him in Egypt; but Benjamin he did not send, and arrived among those that went (there).
5 And Yoseph recognized them, but they did not recognise him, and he spoke unto them and questioned them, and he said to them; 'Are you not spies and have you not come to explore the approaches of the land?'
6 And he put them in ward. And after that he set them free again, and detained Simeon alone and sent off his nine brothers.
7 And he filled their sacks with corn, and he put their gold in their sacks, and they did not know.
8 And he commanded them to bring their younger brother, for they had told him their father was living and their younger brother.
9 And they went up from the land of Egypt and they came to the land of Canaan; and they told their father all that had befallen them, and how the lord of the country had spoken roughly to them, and had seized Simeon till they should bring Benjamin.
10 And Yacob said: 'Me have you bereaved of my children! Yoseph is not and Simeon also is not, and you will take Benjamin away. On me has your wickedness come.'
11 And he said: 'My son will not go down with you lest perchance he fall sick; for their mother gave birth to two sons, and one has perished, and this one also you will take from me. If perchance he took a fever on the road, you would bring down my old age with sorrow unto death.'
12 For he saw that their money had been returned to every man in his sack, and for this reason he feared to send him.
13 And the famine increased and became sore in the land of Canaan, and in all lands save in the land of Egypt, for many of the children of the Egyptians had stored up their seed for food from the time when they saw Yoseph gathering seed together and putting it in storehouses and preserving it for the years of famine.
14 And the people of Egypt fed themselves thereon during the first year of their famine.
15 But when Yisrael saw that the famine was very sore in the land, and that there was no deliverance, he said to his sons: 'Go again, and procure food for us that we die not.'
16 And they said: 'We shall not go; unless our youngest brother go with us, we shall not go.'
17 And Yisrael saw that if he did not send him with them, they should all perish by reason of the famine
18 And Reuben said: 'Give him into my hand, and if I do not bring him back to you, slay my two sons instead of his soul.'
19 And he said to him: 'He shall not go with you.' And Yahudah came near and said: 'Send him with me, and if I do not bring him back to you, let me bear the blame before you all the days of my life.'
20 And he sent him with them in the second year of this week on the [2172 A.m.] first day of the month, and they came to the land of Egypt with all those who went, and (they had) presents in their hands, stacte and almonds and terebinth nuts and pure honey.
21 And they went and stood before Yoseph, and he saw Benjamin his brother, and he knew him, and said to them: ‘Is this your youngest brother?' And they said to him: 'It is he.' And he said ‘YAHWEH be kind to you, my son!'
22 And he sent him into his house and he brought forth Simeon to them and he made a feast for them, and they presented to him the gift which they had brought in their hands.
23 And they eat before him and he gave them all a portion, but the portion of Benjamin was seven times larger than that of any of theirs.
24 And they eat and drank and arose and remained with their asses.
25 And Yoseph devised a plan whereby he might learn their thoughts as to whether thoughts of shalom prevailed amongst them, and he said to the steward who was over his house: 'Fill all their sacks with food, and return their money unto them into their vessels, and my cup, the silver cup out of which I drink, put it in the sack of the youngest, and send them away.'

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Book of Jubilees 39, 40

JUBILEES 39

The generations of Yacob

1, And Yacob dwelt in the land of his father's sojournings in the land of Canaan.
2 These are the generations of Yacob. And Yoseph was seventeen years old when they took him down into the land of Egypt, and Potiphar, an eunuch of Pharaoh, the chief cook bought him.
3 And he set Yoseph over all his house and the blessing of YAHWEH came upon the house of the Egyptian on account of Yoseph, and YAHWEH prospered him in all that he did.
4 And the Egyptian committed everything into the hands of Yoseph; for he saw that YAHWEH was with him, and that YAHWEH prospered him in all that he did.
5 And Yoseph's appearance was comely [and very beautiful was his appearance], and his master's wife lifted up her eyes and saw Yoseph, and she loved him and besought him to lie with her.
6 But he did not surrender his soul, and he remembered YAHWEH and the words which Yacob, his father, used to read from amongst the words of Abraham, that no man should commit fornication with a woman who has a husband; that for him the punishment of death has been ordained in the heavens before the Most High YAHWEH, and the sin will be recorded against him in the eternal books continually before YAHWEH.
7 And Yoseph remembered these words and refused to lie with her.
8 And she besought him for a year, but he refused and would not listen.
9 But she embraced him and held him fast in the house in order to force him to lie with her, and closed the doors of the house and held him fast; but he left his garment in her hands and broke through the door and fled without from her presence.
10 And the woman saw that he would not lie with her, and she calumniated him in the presence of his lord, saying 'Your Hebrew servant, whom you love, sought to force me so that he might lie with me; and it came to pass when I lifted up my voice that he fled and left his garment in my hands when I held him, and he brake through the door.'
11 And the Egyptian saw the garment of Yoseph and the broken door, and heard the words of his wife, and cast Yoseph into prison into the place where the prisoners were kept whom the king imprisoned.
12 And he was there in the prison; and YAHWEH gave Yoseph favour in the sight of the chief of the prison guards and compassion before him, for he saw that YAHWEH was with him, and that YAHWEH made all that he did to prosper.
13 And he committed all things into his hands, and the chief of the prison guards knew of nothing that was with him, for Yoseph did every thing, and YAHWEH perfected it.
14 And he remained there two years. And in those days Pharaoh, king of Egypt was wroth against his two eunuchs, against the chief butler, and against the chief baker, and he put them in ward in the house of the chief cook, in the prison where Yoseph was kept.
15 And the chief of the prison guards appointed Yoseph to serve them; and he served before them.
16 And they both dreamed a dream, the chief butler and the chief baker, and they told it to Yoseph.
17 And as he interpreted to them so it befell them, and Pharaoh restored the chief butler to his office and the (chief) baker he slew, as Yoseph had interpreted to them.
18 But the chief butler forgot Yoseph in the prison, although he had informed him what would befall him, and did not remember to inform Pharaoh how Yoseph had told him, for he forgot.

JUBILEES 40

Pharaoh dreamed two dreams

1 And in those days Pharaoh dreamed two dreams in one night concerning a famine which was to be in all the land, and he awoke from his sleep and called all the interpreters of dreams that were in Egypt, and magicians, and told them his two dreams, and they were not able to declare them.
2 And then the chief butler remembered Yoseph and spoke of him to the king, and he brought him forth from the prison, and he told his two dreams before him.
3 And he said before Pharaoh that his two dreams were one, and he said to him: 'Seven years shall come (in which there shall be) plenty over all the land of Egypt, and after that seven years of famine, such a famine as has not been in all the land.
4 And now let Pharaoh appoint overseers in all the land of Egypt, and let them store up food in every city throughout the days of the years of plenty, and there will be food for the seven years of famine, and the land will not perish through the famine, for it will be very severe.'
5 And YAHWEH gave Yoseph favor and mercy in the eyes of Pharaoh, and Pharaoh said to his servants. We shall not find such a wise and discreet man as this man, for the spirit of YAHWEH is with him.'
6 And he appointed him the second in all his kingdom and gave him authority over all Egypt, and caused him to ride in the second chariot of Pharaoh.
7 And he clothed him with byssus garments, and he put a gold chain upon his neck, and (a herald) proclaimed before him ' 'El 'El wa 'Abirer,' and placed a ring on his hand and made him ruler over all his house, and magnified him, and said to him. 'Only on the throne shall I be greater than you.'
8 And Yoseph ruled over all the land of Egypt, and all the princes of Pharaoh, and all his servants, and all who did the king's business loved him, for he walked in uprightness, for he was without pride and arrogance, and he had no respect of persons, and did not accept gifts, but he judged in uprightness all the people of the land.
9 And the land of Egypt was at shalom before Pharaoh because of Yoseph, for YAHWEH was with him, and gave him favour and mercy for all his generations before all those who knew him and those who heard concerning him, and Pharaoh's kingdom was well ordered, and there was no Satan and no evil person (therein).
10 And the king called Yoseph's name Sephantiphans, and gave Yoseph to wife the daughter of Potiphar, the daughter of the priest of Heliopolis, the chief cook.
11 And on the day that Yoseph stood before Pharaoh he was thirty years old [when he stood before Pharaoh].
12 And in that year Yitschaq died. And it came to pass as Yoseph had said in the interpretation of his two dreams, according as he had said it, there were seven years of plenty over all the land of Egypt, and the land of Egypt abundantly produced, one measure (producing) eighteen hundred measures.
13 And Yoseph gathered food into every city until they were full of corn until they could no longer count and measure it for its multitude.

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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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Book of Jubilees 35, 36

JUBILEES 35

Rebecca commanded Yacob regarding his father Yitschaq

1 And in the first year of the first week of the forty-fifth jubilee [2157 A.M.] Rebecca called Yacob, her son, and commanded him regarding his father and regarding his brother, that he should honor them all the days of his life.
2 And Yacob said: 'I will do everything as you have commanded me; for this thing will be honor and greatness to me, and righteousness before YAHWEH, that I should honor them.
3 And you too, mother, know from the time I was born until this day, all my deeds and all that is in my heart, that I always think good concerning all.
4 And how should I not do this thing which you have commanded me, that I should honor my father and my brother!
5 Tell me, mother, what perversity have you seen in me and I shall turn away from it, and mercy will be upon me.'
6 And she said to him: 'My son, I have not seen in you all my days any perverse but (only) upright deeds. And yet I will tell you the truth, my son: I shall die this year, and I shall not survive this year in my life; for I have seen in a dream the day of my death, that I should not live beyond a hundred and fifty- five years: and behold I have completed all the days of my life which I am to live.'
7 And Yacob laughed at the words of his mother, because his mother had said to him that she should die; and she was sitting opposite to him in possession of her strength, and she was not infirm in her strength; for she went in and out and saw, and her teeth were strong, and no ailment had touched her all the days of her life.
8 And Yacob said to her: 'Blessed am I, mother, if my days approach the days of your life, and my strength remain with me thus as your strength: and you will not die, for you are jesting idly with me regarding your death.'
9 And she went in to Yitschaq and said to him: 'One petition I make unto you: make Esau swear that he will not injure Yacob, nor pursue him with enmity; for you know Esau's thoughts that they are perverse from his youth, and there is no goodness in him; for he desires after your death to kill him.
10 And you know all that he has done since the day Yacob his brother went to Haran until this day: how he has forsaken us with his whole heart, and has done evil to us; your flocks he has taken to himself, and carried off all your possessions from before your face.
11 And when we implored and besought him for what was our own, he did as a man who was taking pity on us.
12 And he is bitter against you because you did bless Yacob your perfect and upright son; for there is no evil but only goodness in him, and since he came from Haran unto this day he has not robbed us of aught, for he brings us everything in its season always, and rejoices with all his heart when we take at his hands and he blesses us, and has not departed from us since he came from Haran until this day, and he remains with us continually at home honoring us.'
13 And Yitschaq said to her: 'I, too, know and see the deeds of Yacob who is with us, how that with all his heart he honors us; but I loved Esau formerly more than Yacob, because he was the firstborn; but now I love Yacob more than Esau, for he has done manifold evil deeds, and there is no righteousness in him, for all his ways are unrighteousness and violence, and there is no righteousness around him.
14 And now my heart is troubled because of all his deeds, and neither he nor his seed is to be saved, for they are those who will be destroyed from the earth and who will be rooted out from under heaven, for he has forsaken YAHWEH the ALMIGHTY of Abraham and gone after his wives and after their uncleanness and after their error, he and his children.
15 And you do bid me make him swear that he will not slay Yacob his brother; even if he swear he will not abide by his oath, and he will not do good but evil only.
16 But if he desires to slay Yacob, his brother, into Yacob's hands will he be given, and he will not escape from his hands, for he will descend into his hands.
17 And fear you not on account of Yacob; for the guardian of Yacob is great and powerful and honored, and praised more than the guardian of Esau.'
18 And Rebecca sent and called Esau and he came to her, and she said to him: 'I have a petition, my son, to make to you, and do you promise to do it, my son.'
19 And he said: 'I will do everything that you say to me, and I will not refuse your petition.'
20 And she said to him: 'I ask you that the day I die, you will take me in and bury me near Sarah, your father's mother, and that you and Yacob will love each other and that neither will desire evil against the other, but mutual love only, and (so) you will prosper, my sons, and be honored in the midst of the land, and no enemy will rejoice over you, and you will be a blessing and a mercy in the eyes of all those that love you.'
21 And he said: 'I will do all that you have told me, and I shall bury you on the day you die near Sarah, my father's mother, as you have desired that her bones may be near your bones.
22 And Yacob, my brother, also, I shall love above all flesh; for I have not a brother in all the earth but him only: and this is no great merit for me if I love him; for he is my brother, and we were sown together in your body, and together came we forth from your womb, and if I do not love my brother, whom shall I love?
23 And I, myself, beg you to exhort Yacob concerning me and concerning my sons, for I know that he will assuredly be king over me and my sons, for on the day my father blessed him he made him the higher and me the lower.
24 And I swear unto you that I shall love him, and not desire evil against him all the days of my life but good only.'
25 And he swore unto her regarding all this matter. And she called Yacob before the eyes of Esau, and gave him commandment according to the words which she had spoken to Esau.
26 And he said: 'I shall do your pleasure; believe me that no evil will proceed from me or from my sons against Esau, and I shall be first in naught save in love only.'
27 And they eat and drank, she and her sons that night, and she died, three jubilees and one week and one year old, on that night, and her two sons, Esau and Yacob, buried her in the double cave near Sarah, their father's mother.

JUBILEES 36

Yitschaq called his two sons to instruct before he dies

1 And in the sixth year of this week [2162 A.M.] Yitschaq called his two sons Esau and Yacob, and they came to him, and he said to them: 'My sons, I am going the way of my fathers, to the eternal house where my fathers are.
2 Wherefore bury me near Abraham my father, in the double cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite, where Abraham purchased a sepulcher to bury in; in the sepulcher which I digged for myself, there bury me.
3 And this I command you, my sons, that you practice righteousness and uprightness on the earth, so that YAHWEH may bring upon you all that YAHWEH said that he would do to Abraham and to his seed.
4 And love one another, my sons, your brothers as a man who loves his own soul, and let each seek in what he may benefit his brother, and act together on the earth; and let them love each other as their own souls. And concerning the question of idols, I command and admonish you to reject them and hate them, and love them not, for they are full of deception for those that worship them and for those that bow down to them.
6 Remember you, my sons, YAHWEH ALMIGHTY of Abraham your father, and how I too worshipped Him and served Him in righteousness and in joy, that He might multiply you and increase your seed as the stars of heaven in multitude, and establish you on the earth as the plant of righteousness which will not be rooted out unto all the generations forever.
7 And now I shall make you swear a great oath -for there is no oath which is greater than it by the NAME magnificent and honored and great and splendid and wonderful and mighty, which created the heavens and the earth and all things together- that you will fear Him and worship Him.
8 And that each will love his brother with affection and righteousness, and that neither will desire evil against his brother from henceforth forever all the days of your life so that you may prosper in all your deeds and not be destroyed.
9 And if either of you devises evil against his brother, know that from henceforth everyone that devises evil against his brother shall fall into his hand, and shall be rooted out of the land of the living, and his seed shall be destroyed from under heaven.
10 But on the day of turbulence and execration and indignation and anger, with flaming devouring fire as He burnt Sodom, so likewise will He burn his land and his city and all that is his, and he shall be blotted out of the book of the discipline of the children of men, and not be recorded in the book of life, but in that which is appointed to destruction, and he shall depart into eternal execration; so that their condemnation may be always renewed in hate and in execration and in wrath and in torment and in indignation and in plagues and in disease forever. I say and testify to you, my sons, according to the judgment which shall come upon the man who wishes to injure his brother.
12 And he divided all his possessions between the two on that day and he gave the larger portion to him that was the first-born, and the tower and all that was about it, and all that Abraham possessed at the Well of the Oath.
13 And he said: 'This larger portion I will give to the firstborn.'
14 And Esau said, 'I have sold to Yacob and given my birthright to Yacob; to him let it be given, and I have not a single word to say regarding it, for it is his.'
15 And Yitschaq said, May a blessing rest upon you, my sons, and upon your seed this day, for you have given me rest, and my heart is not pained concerning the birthright, lest you should work wickedness on account of it.
16 May the Most High YAHWEH bless the man that works righteousness, him and his seed forever.'
17 And he ended commanding them and blessing them, and they eat and drank together before him, and he rejoiced because there was one mind between them, and they went forth from him and rested that day and slept.
18 And Yitschaq slept on his bed that day rejoicing; and he slept the eternal sleep, and died one hundred and eighty years old. He completed twenty-five weeks and five years; and his two sons Esau and Yacob buried him.
19 And Esau went to the land of Edom, to the mountains of Seir, and dwelt there.
20 And Yacob dwelt in the mountains of Hebron, in the tower of the land of the sojournings of his father Abraham, and he worshipped YAHWEH with all his heart and according to the visible commands according as He had divided the days of his generations.
21 And Leah his wife died in the fourth year of the second week of the forty- fifth jubilee, [2167 A.M.] and he buried her in the double cave near Rebecca his mother to the left of the grave of Sarah, his father's mother.
22 And all her sons and his sons came to mourn over Leah his wife with him and to comfort him regarding her, for he was lamenting her for he loved her exceedingly after Rachel her sister died;
23 For she was perfect and upright in all her ways and honored Yacob, and all the days that she lived with him he did not hear from her mouth a harsh word, for she was gentle and peaceable and upright and honorable.
24 And he remembered all her deeds which she had done during her life and he lamented her exceedingly; for he loved her with all his heart and with all his soul.

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Book of Jubilees 33, 34

JUBILEES 33

Reuben laid with Bilhah and he uncovered his father's skirt

1 And Yacob went and dwelt to the south of Magdaladra'ef. And he went to his father Yitschaq, he and Leah his wife, on the new month of the tenth month.
2 And Reuben saw Bilhah, Rachel's maid, the concubine of his father, bathing in water in a secret place, and he loved her.
3 And he hid himself at night, and he entered the house of Bilhah [at night], and he found her sleeping alone on a bed in her house.
4 And he lay with her, and she awoke and saw, and behold Reuben was lying with her in the bed, and she uncovered the border of her covering and seized him, and cried out, and discovered that it was Reuben.
5 And she was ashamed because of him, and released her hand from him, and he fled.
6 And she lamented because of this thing exceedingly, and did not tell it to any one.
7 And when Yacob returned and sought her, she said to him: 'I am not clean for you, for I have been defiled as regards you; for Reuben has defiled me, and has lain with me in the night, and I was asleep, and did not discover until he uncovered my skirt and slept with me.'
8 And Yacob was exceedingly wroth with Reuben because he had lain with Bilhah, because he had uncovered his father's skirt.
9 And Yacob did not approach her again because Reuben had defiled her. And as for any man who uncovers his father's skirt his deed is wicked exceedingly, for he is abominable before YAHWEH.
10 For this reason it is written and ordained on the heavenly tablets that a man should not lie with his father's wife, and should not uncover his father's skirt, for this is unclean: they shall surely die together, the man who lies with his father's wife and the woman also, for they have wrought uncleanness on the earth.
11 And there shall be nothing unclean before YAHWEH our ALMIGHTY in the nation which He has chosen for Himself as a possession.
12 And again, it is written a second time: 'Cursed be he who lies with the wife of his father, for he has uncovered his father's shame'; and all the kodesh ones of YAHWEH said 'So be it; so be it.'
13 And do you, Mosheh, command the children of Yisrael that they observe this word; for it (entails) a punishment of death; and it is unclean, and there is no atonement forever to atone for the man who has committed this, but he is to be put to death and slain, and stoned with stones, and rooted out from the midst of the people of YAHWEH our ALMIGHTY.
14 For to no man who does so in Yisrael is it permitted to remain alive a single day on the earth, for he is abominable and unclean.
15 And let them not say: to Reuben was granted life and forgiveness after he had lain with his father's concubine, and to her also though she had a husband, and her husband Yacob, his father, was still alive.
16 For until that time there had not been revealed the ordinance and judgment and Torah in its completeness for all, but in your days (it has been revealed) as a Torah of seasons and of days, and an everlasting Torah for the everlasting generations.
17 And for this Torah there is no consummation of days, and no atonement for it, but they must both be rooted out in the midst of the nation: on the day whereon they committed it they shall slay them.
18 And do you, Mosheh, write it down for Yisrael that they may observe it, and do according to these words, and not commit a sin unto death; for YAHWEH our ALMIGHTY is judge, who respects not persons and accepts not gifts. And tell them these words of the covenant, that they may hear and observe, and be on their guard with respect to them, and not be destroyed and rooted out of the land; for an uncleanness, and an abomination, and a contamination, and a pollution are all they who commit it on the earth before our Sovereign Ruler.
20 And there is no greater sin than the fornication which they commit on earth; for Yisrael is a kodesh nation unto YAHWEH its Sovereign Ruler, and a nation of inheritance, and a priestly and royal nation and for (His own) possession; and there shall no such uncleanness appear in the midst of the kodesh nation.
21 And in the third year of this sixth week [2145 A.M.] Yacob and all his sons went and dwelt in the house of Abraham, near Yitschaq his father and Rebecca his mother.
22 And these were the names of the sons of Yacob: the first-born Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Yahudah, Issachar, Zebulon, the sons of Leah; and the sons of Rachel, Yoseph and Benjamin; and the sons of Bilhah, Dan and Naphtali; and the sons of Zilpah, Gad and Asher; and Dinah, the daughter of Leah, the only daughter of Yacob.
23 And they came and bowed themselves to Yitschaq and Rebecca, and when they saw them they blessed Yacob and all his sons, and Yitschaq rejoiced exceedingly, for he saw the sons of Yacob, his younger son and he blessed them.

JUBILEES 34

Yacob, his sons and servants slew the kings of the Amorites

1 And in the sixth year of this week of this forty-fourth jubilee [2148 A.M.] Yacob sent his sons to pasture their sheep, and his servants with them to the pastures of Shechem.
2 And the seven kings of the Amorites assembled themselves together against them, to slay them, hiding themselves under the trees, and to take their cattle as a prey.
3 And Yacob and Levi and Yahudah and Yoseph were in the house with Yitschaq their father; for his spirit was sorrowful, and they could not leave him: and Benjamin was the youngest, and for this reason remained with his father.
4 And there came the king[s] of Taphu and the king[s] of 'Aresa, and the king[s] of Seragan, and the king[s] of Selo, and the king[s] of Ga'as, and the king of Bethoron, and the king of Ma'anisakir, and all those who dwell in these mountains (and) who dwell in the woods in the land of Canaan.
5 And they announced this to Yacob saying: 'Behold, the kings of the Amorites have surrounded your sons, and plundered their herds.'
6 And he arose from his house, he and his three sons and all the servants of his father, and his own servants, and he went against them with six thousand men, who carried swords. 7 And he slew them in the pastures of Shechem, and pursued those who fled, and he slew them with the edge of the sword, and he slew 'Aresa and Taphu and Saregan and Selo and 'Amanisakir and Ga[ga]'as, and he recovered his herds.
8 And he prevailed over them, and imposed tribute on them that they should pay him tribute, five fruit products of their land, and he built Robel and Tamnatares.
9 And he returned in shalom, and made shalom with them, and they became his servants, until the day that he and his sons went down into Egypt.
10 And in the seventh year of this week [2149 A.M.] he sent Yoseph to learn about the welfare of his brothers from his house to the land of Shechem, and he found them in the land of Dothan.
11 And they dealt treacherously with him, and formed a plot against him to slay him, but changing their minds, they sold him to Ishmaelite merchants, and they brought him down into Egypt, and they sold him to Potiphar, the eunuch of Pharaoh, the chief of the cooks, priest of the city of 'Elew.
12 And the sons of Yacob slaughtered a kid, and dipped the coat of Yoseph in the blood, and sent it to Yacob their father on the tenth of the seventh month.
13 And he mourned all that night, for they had brought it to him in the evening, and he became feverish with mourning for his death, and he said: 'An evil beast has devoured Yoseph'; and all the members of his house [mourned with him that day, and they] were grieving and mourning with him all that day.
14 And his sons and his daughter rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted for his son.
15 And on that day Bilhah heard that Yoseph had perished, and she died mourning him, and she was living in Qafratef, and Dinah also, his daughter, died after Yoseph had perished.
16 And there came these three mournings upon Yisrael in one month. And they buried Bilhah over against the tomb of Rachel, and Dinah also his daughter, they buried there.
17 And he mourned for Yoseph one year, and did not cease, for he said 'Let me go down to the grave mourning for my son'.
18 For this reason it is ordained for the children of Yisrael that they should afflict themselves on the tenth of the seventh month -on the day that the news which made him weep for Yoseph came to Yacob his father- that they should make atonement for themselves thereon with a young goat on the tenth of the seventh month, once a year, for their sins; for they had grieved the affection of their father regarding Yoseph his son.
19 And this day has been ordained that they should grieve thereon for their sins, and for all their transgressions and for all their errors, so that they might cleanse themselves on that day once a year.
20 And after Yoseph perished, the sons of Yacob took unto themselves wives. The name of Reuben's wife is 'Ada; and the name of Simeon's wife is 'Adlba'a, a Canaanite; and the name of Levi's wife is Melka, of the daughters of Aram, of the seed of the sons of Terah; and the name of Yahudah's wife, Betasu'el, a Canaanite; and the name of Issachar's wife, Hezaqa: and the name of Zabulon's wife, Ni'iman; and the name of Dan's wife, 'Egla; and the name of Naphtali's wife, Rasu'u, of Mesopotamia; and the name of Gad's wife, Maka; and the name of Asher's wife, 'Ijona; and the name of Yoseph's wife, Asenath, the Egyptian; and the name of Benjamin's wife, 'Ijasaka.
21 And Simeon repented, and took a second wife from Mesopotamia as his brothers.

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Book of Jubilees 32

JUBILEES 32

Levi is made the priest of the Most High YAHWEH

1 And he abode that night at Bethel, and Levi dreamed that they had ordained and made him the priest of the Most High YAHWEH, him and his sons forever; and he awoke from his sleep and blessed YAHWEH.
2 And Yacob rose early in the morning, on the fourteenth of this month, and he gave a tithe of all that came with him, both of men and cattle, both of gold and every vessel and garment, yes, he gave tithes of all.
3 And in those days Rachel became pregnant with her son Benjamin. And Yacob counted his sons from him upwards and Levi fell to the portion of YAHWEH, and his father clothed him in the garments of the priesthood and filled his hands.
4 And on the fifteenth of this month, he brought to the altar fourteen oxen from amongst the cattle, and twenty-eight rams, and forty-nine sheep, and seven lambs, and twenty-one kids of the goats as a burnt-offering on the altar of sacrifice, well pleasing for a sweet savor before YAHWEH.
5 This was his offering, in consequence of the vow which he had vowed that he would give a tenth, with their fruit-offerings and their drink offerings.
6 And when the fire had consumed it, he burnt incense on the fire over the fire, and for a thank-offering two oxen and four rams and four sheep, four he- goats, and two sheep of a year old, and two kids of the goats; and thus he did daily for seven days.
7 And he and all his sons and his men were eating (this) with joy there during seven days and blessing and thanking YAHWEH, who had delivered him out of all his tribulation and had given him his vow.
8 And he tithed all the clean animals, and made a burnt sacrifice, but the unclean animals he gave (not) to Levi his son, and he gave him all the souls of the men.
9 And Levi discharged the priestly office at Bethel before Yacob his father in preference to his ten brothers, and he was a priest there, and Yacob gave his vow: thus he tithed again the tithe to YAHWEH and sanctified it, and it became kodesh unto Him.
10 And for this reason it is ordained on the heavenly tablets as a Torah for the tithing again the tithe to eat before YAHWEH from year to year, in the place where it is chosen that His NAME should dwell, and to this Torah there is no limit of days forever.
11 This ordinance is written that it may be fulfilled from year to year in eating the second tithe before YAHWEH in the place where it has been chosen, and nothing shall remain over from it from this year to the year following.
12 For in its year shall the seed be eaten till the days of the gathering of the seed of the year, and the wine till the days of the wine, and the oil till the days of its season.
13 And all that is left thereof and becomes old, let it be regarded as polluted: let it be burnt with fire, for it is unclean.
14 And thus let them eat it together in the sanctuary, and let them not suffer it to become old.
15 And all the tithes of the oxen and sheep shall be kodesh unto YAHWEH, and shall belong to his priests, which they will eat before Him from year to year; for thus is it ordained and engraved regarding the tithe on the heavenly tablets.
16 And on the following night, on the twenty-second day of this month, Yacob resolved to build that place, and to surround the court with a wall, and to sanctify it and make it kodesh forever, for himself and his children after him.
17 And YAHWEH appeared to him by night and blessed him and said to him: 'Your name shall not be called Yacob, but Yisrael shall they name your name.'
18 And He said to him again: 'I am YAHWEH who created the heaven and the earth, and I will increase you and multiply you exceedingly, and kings shall come forth from you, and they shall judge everywhere wherever the foot of the sons of men has trodden.
19 And I will give to your seed all the earth which is under heaven, and they shall judge all the nations according to their desires, and after that they shall get possession of the whole earth and inherit it forever.'
20 And He finished speaking with him, and He went up from him, and Yacob looked till He had ascended into heaven.
21 And he saw in a vision of the night, and behold an malak descended from heaven with seven tablets in his hands, and he gave them to Yacob, and he read them and knew all that was written therein which would befall him and his sons throughout all the ages.
22 And he showed him all that was written on the tablets, and said to him: 'Do not build this place, and do not make it an eternal sanctuary, and do not dwell here; for this is not the place. Go to the house of Abraham your father and dwell with Yitschaq your father until the day of the death of your father.
23 For in Egypt you shall die in shalom, and in this land you shall be buried with honor in the sepulchre of your fathers, with Abraham and Yitschaq.
24 Fear not, for as you have seen and read it, thus shall it all be; and do you write down everything as you have seen and read.'
25 And Yacob said: 'YAHWEH, how can I remember all that I have read and seen? 'And he said to him: 'I will bring all things to your remembrance.'
26 And he went up from him, and he awoke from his sleep, and he remembered everything which he had read and seen, and he wrote down all the words which he had read and seen.
27 And he celebrated there yet another day, and he sacrificed thereon according to all that he sacrificed on the former days, and called its name 'Addition,' for this day was added and the former days he called 'The Feast '.
28 And thus it was manifested that it should be, and it is written on the heavenly tablets: wherefore it was revealed to him that he should celebrate it, and add it to the seven days of the feast.
29 And its name was called 'Addition,' because that it was recorded amongst the days of the feast days, according to the number of the days of the year.
30 And in the night, on the twenty-third of this month, Deborah Rebecca's nurse died, and they buried her beneath the city under the oak of the river, and he called the name of this place, 'The river of Deborah,' and the oak, 'The oak of the mourning of Deborah.'
31 And Rebecca went and returned to her house to his father Yitschaq, and Yacob sent by her hand rams and sheep and he-goats that she should prepare a meal for his father such as he desired.
32 And he went after his mother till he came to the land of Kabratan, and he dwelt there.
33 And Rachel bare a son in the night, and called his name 'Son of my sorrow '; for she suffered in giving him birth: but his father called his name Benjamin, on the eleventh of the eighth month in the first of the sixth week of this jubilee. [2143 A.M.]
34 And Rachel died there and she was buried in the land of Ephrath, the same is Bethlehem, and Yacob built a pillar on the grave of Rachel, on the road above her grave.

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Book of Jubilees 31

JUBILEES 31

Yacob went to his father Yitschaq and he blesses him

1 And on the new month of the month Yacob spoke to all the people of his house. saying: 'Purify yourselves and change your garments, and let us arise and go up to Bethel, where I vowed a vow to Him on the day when I fled from the face of Esau my brother, because he has been with me and brought me into this land in shalom, and put you away the strange gods that are among you.'
2 And they gave up the strange gods and that which was in their ears and which was on their necks and the idols which Rachel stole from Laban her father she gave wholly to Yacob. And he burnt and brake them to pieces and destroyed them, and hid them under an oak which is in the land of Shechem.
3 And he went up on the new month of the seventh month to Bethel. And he built an altar at the place where he had slept, and he set up a pillar there, and he sent word to his father Yitschaq to come to him to his sacrifice, and to his mother Rebecca.
4 And Yitschaq said: 'Let my son Yacob come, and let me see him before I die.'
5 And Yacob went to his father Yitschaq and to his mother Rebecca, to the house of his father Abraham, and he took two of his sons with him, Levi and Yahudah, and he came to his father Yitschaq and to his mother Rebecca.
6 And Rebecca came forth from the tower to the front of it to kiss Yacob and embrace him; for her spirit had revived when she heard: 'Behold Yacob your son has come'; and she kissed him.
7 And she saw his two sons, and she recognised them, and said to him: 'Are these your sons, my son?' and she embraced them and kissed them, and blessed them, saying: 'In you shall the seed of Abraham become illustrious, and you shall prove a blessing on the earth.'
8 And Yacob went in to Yitschaq his father, to the chamber where he lay, and his two sons were with him, and he took the hand of his father, and stooping down he kissed him, and Yitschaq clung to the neck of Yacob his son, and wept upon his neck.
9 And the darkness left the eyes of Yitschaq, and he saw the two sons of Yacob, Levi, and Yahudah, and he said: 'Are these your sons, my son? for they are like you.' 10 And he said to him that they were truly his sons: 'And you have truly seen that they are truly my sons'.
11 And they came near to him, and he turned and kissed them and embraced them both together.
12 And the spirit of prophecy came down into his mouth, and he took Levi by his right hand and Yahudah by his left.
13 And he turned to Levi first, and began to bless him first, and said to him: May the ALMIGHTY of all, the very YAHWEH of all the ages, bless you and your children throughout all the ages.
14 And may YAHWEH give to you and to your seed greatness and great splendor, and cause you and your seed, from among all flesh, to approach Him to serve in His sanctuary as the malakim of the presence and as the kodesh ones. (Even) as they, shall the seed of your sons be for splendor and greatness and kodeshness, and may He make them great unto all the ages.
15 And they shall be judges and princes, and chiefs of all the seed of the sons of Yacob; They shall speak the word of YAHWEH in righteousness, And they shall judge all His judgments in righteousness. And they shall declare My ways to Yacob And My paths to Yisrael. The blessing of YAHWEH shall be given in their mouths To bless all the seed of the beloved.
16 Your mother has called your name Levi, And justly has she called your name; You shall be joined to YAHWEH And be the companion of all the sons of Yacob; Let His table be yours, And do you and your sons eat thereof; And may your table be full unto all generations, And your food fail not unto all the ages.
17 And let all who hate you fall down before you, And let all your adversaries be rooted out and perish; And blessed be he that blesses you, And cursed be every nation that curses you.'
18 And to Yahudah he said: 'May YAHWEH give you strength and power To tread down all that hate you; A prince shall you be, you and one of your sons, over the sons of Yacob; May your name and the name of your sons go forth and traverse every land and region.
19 Then shall the Gentiles fear before your face, and all the nations shall quake [And all the peoples shall quake]. In you shall be the help of Yacob, And in you be found the salvation of Yisrael.
20 And when you sit on the throne of honor of your righteousness, There shall be great shalom for all the seed of the sons of the beloved; Blessed be he that blesses you, And all that hate you and afflict you and curse you Shall be rooted out and destroyed from the earth and be accursed.'
21 And turning he kissed him again and embraced him, and rejoiced greatly; for he had seen the sons of Yacob his son in very truth.
22 And he went forth from between his feet and fell down and bowed down to him, and he blessed them and rested there with Yitschaq his father that night, and they eat and drank with joy.
23 And he made the two sons of Yacob sleep, the one on his right hand and the other on his left, and it was counted to him for righteousness.
24 And Yacob told his father everything during the night, how YAHWEH had shown him great mercy, and how he had prospered (him in) all his ways, and protected him from all evil.
25 And Yitschaq blessed YAHWEH the ALMIGHTY of his father Abraham, who had not withdrawn his mercy and his righteousness from the sons of his servant Yitschaq.
26 And in the morning Yacob told his father Yitschaq the vow which he had vowed to YAHWEH, and the vision which he had seen, and that he had built an altar, and that everything was ready for the sacrifice to be made before YAHWEH as he had vowed, and that he had come to set him on an ass.
27 And Yitschaq said to Yacob his son: 'I am not able to go with you; for I am old and not able to bear the way: go, my son, in shalom; for I am one hundred and sixty-five years this day; I am no longer able to journey; set your mother (on an ass) and let her go with you.
28 And I know, my son, that you have come on my account, and may this day be blessed on which you have seen me alive, and I also have seen you, my son.
29 May you prosper and fulfill the vow which you have vowed; and put not off your vow; for you shall be called to account as touching the vow; now therefore make haste to perform it, and may He be pleased who has made all things, to whom you have vowed the vow.'
30 And he said to Rebecca: 'Go with Yacob your son'; and Rebecca went with Yacob her son, and Deborah with her, and they came to Bethel.
31 And Yacob remembered the prayer with which his father had blessed him and his two sons, Levi and Yahudah, and he rejoiced and blessed YAHWEH the ALMIGHTY of his fathers, Abraham and Yitschaq.
32 And he said: 'Now I know that I have an eternal hope, and my sons also, before the ALMIGHTY of all'; and thus is it ordained concerning the two; and they record it as an eternal testimony unto them on the heavenly tablets how Yitschaq blessed them.

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Book of Jubilees 30

JUBILEES 30

Son of Hamor defiles Dinah the daughter of Yacob

1 And in the first year of the sixth week [2143 A.M.] he went up to Salem, to the east of Shechem, in shalom, in the fourth month.
2 And there they carried off Dinah, the daughter of Yacob, into the house of Shechem, the son of Hamor, the Hivite, the prince of the land, and he lay with her and defiled her, and she was a little girl, a child of twelve years.
3 And he besought his father and her brothers that she might be given to him to wife. And Yacob and his sons were wroth because of the men of Shechem; for they had defiled Dinah, their sister, and they spoke to them with evil intent and dealt deceitfully with them and beguiled them.
4 And Simeon and Levi came unexpectedly to Shechem and executed judgment on all the men of Shechem, and slew all the men whom they found in it, and left not a single one remaining in it: they slew all in torments because they had dishonored their sister Dinah.
5 And thus let it not again be done from henceforth that a daughter of Yisrael be defiled; for judgment is ordained in heaven against them that they should destroy with the sword all the men of the Shechemites because they had wrought shame in Yisrael
6. And YAHWEH delivered them into the hands of the sons of Yacob that they might exterminate them with the sword and execute judgment upon them, and that it might not thus again be done in Yisrael that a virgin of Yisrael should be defiled.
7 And if there is any man who wishes in Yisrael to give his daughter or his sister to any man who is of the seed of the Gentiles he shall surely die, and they shall stone him with stones; for he has wrought shame in Yisrael; and they shall burn the woman with fire, because she has dishonored the name of the house of her father, and she shall be rooted out of Yisrael.
8 And let not an adulteress and no uncleanness be found in Yisrael throughout all the days of the generations of the earth; for Yisrael is kodesh unto YAHWEH, and every man who has defiled it shall surely die: they shall stone him with stones.
9 For thus has it been ordained and written in the heavenly tablets regarding all the seed of Yisrael: he who defiles it shall surely die, and he shall be stoned with stones.
10 And to this Torah there is no limit of days, and no remission, nor any atonement: but the man who has defiled his daughter shall be rooted out in the midst of all Yisrael, because he has given of his seed to Moloch, and wrought impiously so as to defile it.
11 And do you, Mosheh, command the children of Yisrael and exhort them not to give their daughters to the Gentiles, and not to take for their sons any of the daughters of the Gentiles, for this is abominable before YAHWEH.
12 For this reason I have written for you in the words of the Torah all the deeds of the Shechemites, which they wrought against Dinah, and how the sons of Yacob spoke, saying: 'We will not give our daughter to a man who is uncircumcised; for that were a reproach unto us.'
13 And it is a reproach to Yisrael, to those who live, and to those that take the daughters of the Gentiles; for this is unclean and abominable to Yisrael.
14 And Yisrael will not be free from this uncleanness if it has a wife of the daughters of the Gentiles, or has given any of its daughters to a man who is of any of the Gentiles.
15 For there will be plague upon plague, and curse upon curse, and every judgment and plague and curse will come: if he do this thing, or hide his eyes from those who commit uncleanness, or those who defile the sanctuary of YAHWEH, or those who profane His kodesh NAME, (then) will the whole nation together be judged for all the uncleanness and profanation of this man.
16 And there will be no respect of persons [and no consideration of persons] and no receiving at his hands of fruits and offerings and burnt-offerings and fat, nor the fragrance of sweet savor, so as to accept it: and so fare every man or woman in Yisrael who defiles the sanctuary.
17 For this reason I have commanded you, saying: 'Testify this testimony to Yisrael: see how the Shechemites fared and their sons: how they were delivered into the hands of two sons of Yacob, and they slew them under tortures, and it was (reckoned) unto them for righteousness, and it is written down to them for righteousness.
18 And the seed of Levi was chosen for the priesthood, and to be Levites, that they might minister before YAHWEH, as we, continually, and that Levi and his sons may be blessed forever; for he was zealous to execute righteousness and judgment and vengeance on all those who arose against Yisrael.
19 And so they inscribe as a testimony in his favour on the heavenly tablets blessing and righteousness before the ALMIGHTY of all:
20 And we remember the righteousness which the man fulfilled during his life, at all periods of the year; until a thousand generations they will record it, and it will come to him and to his descendants after him, and he has been recorded on the heavenly tablets as a friend and a righteous man.
21 All this account I have written for you, and have commanded you to say to the children of Yisrael, that they should not commit sin nor transgress the ordinances nor break the covenant which has been ordained for them, (but) that they should fulfill it and be recorded as friends.
22 But if they transgress and work uncleanness in every way, they will be recorded on the heavenly tablets as adversaries, and they will be destroyed out of the book of life, and they will be recorded in the book of those who will be destroyed and with those who will be rooted out of the earth.
23 And on the day when the sons of Yacob slew Shechem a writing was recorded in their favour in heaven that they had executed righteousness and uprightness and vengeance on the sinners, and it was written for a blessing.
24 And they brought Dinah, their sister, out of the house of Shechem, and they took captive everything that was in Shechem, their sheep and their oxen and their asses, and all their wealth, and all their flocks, and brought them all to Yacob their father.
25 And he reproached them because they had put the city to the sword for he feared those who dwelt in the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites.
26 And the dread of YAHWEH was upon all the cities which are around about Shechem, and they did not rise to pursue after the sons of Yacob; for terror had fallen upon them.

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Book of Jubilees 29

JUBILEES 29

After Rachel had borne Yoseph, Yacob leaves Laban secretly

1 And it came to pass when Rachel had borne Yoseph, that Laban went to shear his sheep; for they were distant from him a three days' journey.
2 And Yacob saw that Laban was going to shear his sheep, and Yacob called Leah and Rachel, and spoke kindly unto them that they should come with him to the land of Canaan.
3 For he told them how he had seen everything in a dream, even all that He had spoken unto him that he should return to his father's house, and they said: 'To every place where you go we will go with you.'
4 And Yacob blessed YAHWEH the ALMIGHTY of Yitschaq his father, and the ALMIGHTY of Abraham his father's father, and he arose and mounted his wives and his children, and took all his possessions and crossed the river, and came to the land of Gilead, and Yacob hid his intention from Laban and told him not.
5 And in the seventh year of the fourth week Yacob turned his face toward Gilead in the first month, on the twenty-first thereof. [2135 A.M.] And Laban pursued after him and overtook Yacob in the mountain of Gilead in the third month, on the thirteenth thereof.
6 And YAHWEH did not suffer him to injure Yacob; for he appeared to him in a dream by night.
7 And Laban spoke to Yacob. And on the fifteenth of those days Yacob made a feast for Laban, and for all who came with him, and Yacob swore to Laban that day, and Laban also to Yacob, that neither should cross the mountain of Gilead to the other with evil purpose.
8 And he made there a heap for a witness; wherefore the name of that place is called: 'The Heap of Witness,' after this heap.
9 But before they used to call the land of Gilead the land of the Rephaim; for it was the land of the Rephaim, and the Rephaim were born (there), giants whose height was ten, nine, eight down to seven cubits.
10 And their habitation was from the land of the children of Ammon to Mount Hermon, and the seats of their kingdom were Karnaim and Ashtaroth, and Edrei, and Misur, and Beon.
11 And YAHWEH destroyed them because of the evil of their deeds; for they were very malignant, and the Amorites dwelt in their stead, wicked and sinful, and there is no people to-day which has wrought to the full all their sins, and they have no longer length of life on the earth.
12 And Yacob sent away Laban, and he departed into Mesopotamia, the land of the East, and Yacob returned to the land of Gilead.
13 And he passed over the Jabbok in the ninth month, on the eleventh thereof. And on that day Esau, his brother, came to him, and he was reconciled to him, and departed from him to the land of Seir, but Yacob dwelt in tents.
14 And in the first year of the fifth week in this jubilee [2136 A.M.] he crossed the Jordan, and dwelt beyond the Jordan, and he pastured his sheep from the sea of the heap unto Bethshan, and unto Dothan and unto the forest of Akrabbim.
15 And he sent to his father Yitschaq of all his substance, clothing, and food, and meat, and drink, and milk, and butter, and cheese, and some dates of the valley.
16 And to his mother Rebecca also four times a year, between the times of the months, between ploughing and reaping, and between autumn and the rain (season) and between winter and spring, to the tower of Abraham.
17 For Yitschaq had returned from the ‘Well of the Oath’ and gone up to the tower of his father Abraham, and he dwelt there apart from his son Esau.
18 For in the days when Yacob went to Mesopotamia, Esau took to himself a wife Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael, and he gathered together all the flocks of his father and his wives, and went up and dwelt on Mount Seir, and left Yitschaq his father at the ‘Well of the Oath’ alone.
19 And Yitschaq went up from the ‘Well of the Oath’ and dwelt in the tower of Abraham his father on the mountains of Hebron,
20 And thither Yacob sent all that he did send to his father and his mother from time to time, all they needed, and they blessed Yacob with all their heart and with all their soul.

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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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