[Chapter 10]

 
1 And in the third week of this jubilee the unclean demons began to lead astray the children of
2 the sons of Noah, and to make to err and destroy them. And the sons of Noah came to Noah their father, and they told him concerning the demons which were leading astray and blinding and
3 slaying his sons' sons. And he prayed before the Lord his God, and said:
'God of the spirits of all flesh, who hast shown mercy unto me
And hast saved me and my sons from the waters of the flood,
And hast not caused me to perish as Thou didst the sons of perdition;

For Thy grace has been great towards me,
And great has been Thy mercy to my soul;

Let Thy grace 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 Thou bless me and my sons, that we may increase and Multiply and replenish the earth.
5 And Thou knowest how Thy 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 thy servant, my God; for these are malignant, and
6 created in order to destroy. And let them not rule over the spirits of the living; for Thou alone canst exercise dominion over them. And let them not have power over the sons of the righteous
7,8 from henceforth and for evermore.' And the Lord our God bade us to bind all. And the chief of the spirits, Mastema, came and said: 'Lord, Creator, let some of them remain before me, and let them harken 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
10 place of condemnation.' And one of us He commanded that we should teach Noah all their
11 medicines; for He knew that they would not walk in uprightness, nor strive in righteousness. And we did according to all His words: all the malignant evil ones we bound in the place of condemna-
12 tion and a tenth part of them we left that they might be subject before Satan on the earth. And we explained to Noah all the medicines of their diseases, together with their seductions, how he
13 might heal them with herbs of the earth. 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
14 (hurting) the sons of Noah. And he gave all that he had written to Shem, his eldest son; for he
15 loved him exceedingly above all his sons. And Noah slept with his fathers, and was buried on
16 Mount Lubar in the land of Ararat. Nine hundred and fifty years he completed in his life, nineteen
17 jubilees and two weeks and five years. [1659 A.M.] 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
18 unto generation, till the day of judgment. 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
19 a city and a tower in the land of Shinar.' 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
20 heaven.' 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
21 comes out of the sea, and out of the fountains of water in the land of Shinar. 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
22 was) thirteen stades (and of the other thirty stades). And the Lord our God said unto us: Behold, they are one people, and (this) they begin to do, and now nothing will be withholden 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
23 them till the day of judgment.' And the Lord descended, and we descended with him to see the
24 city and the tower which the children of men had built. And he confounded their language, and they no longer understood one another's speech, and they ceased then to build the city and the
25 tower. For this reason the whole land of Shinar is called Babel, because the Lord did there confound all the language of the children of men, and from thence they were dispersed into their
26 cities, each according to his language and his nation. And the Lord sent a mighty wind against the tower and overthrew it upon the earth, and behold it was between Asshur and Babylon in the
27 land of Shinar, and they called its name 'Overthrow'. 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
29 in the land of the south. 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
30 of the sea. And Ham, his father, and Cush and Mizraim his brothers said unto him: 'Thou hast settled in a land which is not thine, and which did not fall to us by lot: do not do so; for if thou dost do so, thou and thy sons will fall in the land and (be) accursed through sedition; for by sedition
31 ye have settled, and by sedition will thy children fall, and thou shalt be rooted out for ever. Dwell
32 not in the dwelling of Shem; for to Shem and to his sons did it come by their lot. Cursed art thou, and cursed shalt thou be beyond all the sons of Noah, by the curse by which we bound our-
33 selves by an oath in the presence of the holy judge, and in the presence of Noah our father.' But he did not harken unto them, and dwelt in the land of Lebanon from Hamath to the entering of
34,35 Egypt, he and his sons until this day. And for this reason that land is named Canaan. 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
36 this day. And he called his dwelling-place, and the dwelling-place of his sons, Media, after the name of their father Madai.

[Chapter 11]

 
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
2 he called his name Seroh, in the seventh year of this week in this jubilee. [1687 A.M.] 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
3 male and female slaves. 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. 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
5 assisted and seduced (them) into committing transgression and uncleanness. 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,
6 and to shed blood upon the earth. For this reason he called the name of Seroh, Serug, for every one
7 turned to do all manner of sin and transgression. 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
8 of Kaber, the daughter of his father's brother. 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
9 Chaldees to divine and augur, according to the signs of heaven. 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
10 daughter of Nestag of the Chaldees. 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
12 in the seed, the ravens picked (it) from the surface of the ground. And for this reason he called his name Terah because the ravens and the birds reduced them to destitution and devoured their
13 seed. 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
14 earth in their days. 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. And in the seventh year of this week [1876 A.M.] she bare him a son, and he called his name Abram,
15 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
17 separated himself from his father, that he might not worship idols with him. 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
18 his portion should not fall into error after uncleanness and vileness. 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
19 ravens, and Abram went forth with those that went, and the child was a lad of fourteen years. 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
20 not: return to the place whence ye came,' and they proceeded to turn back. And he caused the clouds of ravens to turn back that day seventy times, and of all the ravens throughout all the land
21 where Abram was there settled there not so much as one. 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
22 land of the Chaldees. 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
23 enough grain home and eat and were satisfied. 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 therefrom upon the share of the plough, and was hidden in the earth, and they no longer feared the
24 ravens. 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.

[Chapter 12]

 
1 And it came to pass in the sixth week, in the seventh year thereof, [1904 A.M.] that Abram said to Terah his
2 father, saying, 'Father!' And he said, 'Behold, here am I, my son.' And he said,

'What help and profit have we from those idols which thou dost worship,
And before which thou dost bow thyself?

3 For there is no spirit in them,
For they are dumb forms, and a misleading of the heart.
Worship them not:

4 Worship the God of heaven,
Who causes the rain and the dew to descend on the earth
And does everything upon the earth,

And has created everything by His word,
And all life is from before His face.

5 Why do ye worship things that have no spirit in them?
For they are the work of (men's) hands,

And on your shoulders do ye bear them,
And ye have no help from them,

But they are a great cause of shame to those who make them,
And a misleading of the heart to those who worship them:
Worship them not.'

6 And his father said unto him, I also know it, my son, but what shall I do with a people who have
7 made me to serve before them? And if I tell them the truth, they will slay me; for their soul cleaves to them to worship them and honour them. Keep silent, my son, lest they slay thee.' And
9 these words he spake to his two brothers, and they were angry with him and he kept silent. And in the fortieth jubilee, in the second week, in the seventh year thereof, [1925 A.M.] Abram took to himself a wife,
10 and her name was Sarai, the daughter of his father, and she became his wife. And Haran, his brother, took to himself a wife in the third year of the third week, [1928 A.M.] and she bare him a son in the
11 seventh year of this week, [1932 A.M.] and he called his name Lot. And Nahor, his brother, took to himself
12 a wife. And in the sixtieth year of the life of Abram, that is, in the fourth week, in the fourth year thereof, [1936 A.M.] Abram arose by night, and burned the house of the idols, and he burned all that was in the
13 house and no man knew it. And they arose in the night and sought to save their gods from the
14 midst of the fire. And Haran hasted to save them, but the fire flamed over him, and he was burnt in the fire, and he died in Ur of the Chaldees before Terah his father, and they buried him in Ur of
15 the Chaldees. And Terah went forth from Ur of the Chaldees, he and his sons, to go into the land of Lebanon and into the land of Canaan, and he dwelt in the land of Haran, and Abram dwelt with
16 Terah his father in Haran two weeks of years. And in the sixth week, in the fifth year thereof, [1951 A.M.] Abram sat up throughout the night on the new moon of the seventh month to observe the stars from the evening to the morning, in order to see what would be the character of the year with regard
17 to the rains, and he was alone as he sat and observed. And a word came into his heart and he said: All the signs of the stars, and the signs of the moon and of the sun are all in the hand of the Lord. Why do I search (them) out?

18 If He desires, He causes it to rain, morning and evening;
And if He desires, He withholds it,
And all things are in his hand.'

19 And he prayed that night and said,
'My God, God Most High, Thou alone art my God,
And Thee and Thy dominion have I chosen.
And Thou hast created all things,
And all things that are the work of thy hands.

20 Deliver me from the hands of evil spirits who have dominion over the thoughts of men's hearts,
And let them not lead me astray from Thee, my God.

And stablish Thou me and my seed for ever
That we go not astray from henceforth and for evermore.'

21 And he said, 'Shall I return unto Ur of the Chaldees who seek my face that I may return to them, am I to remain here in this place? The right path before Thee prosper it in the hands of Thy servant that he may fulfil (it) and that I may not walk in the deceitfulness of my heart, O my God.'
22 And he made an end of speaking and praying, and behold the word of the Lord was sent to him through me, saying: 'Get thee up from thy country, and from thy kindred and from the house of thy father unto a land which I will show thee, and I shall make thee a great and numerous nation.

23 And I will bless thee
And I will make thy name great,
And thou shalt be blessed in the earth,
And in Thee shall all families of the earth be blessed,
And I will bless them that bless thee,
And curse them that curse thee.

24 And I will be a God to thee and thy son, and to thy son's son, and to all thy seed: fear not, from
25 henceforth and unto all generations of the earth I am thy God.' And the Lord God said: 'Open his mouth and his ears, that he may hear and speak with his mouth, with the language which has been revealed'; for it had ceased from the mouths of all the children of men from the day of the
26 overthrow (of Babel). And I opened his mouth, and his ears and his lips, and I began to speak
27 with him in Hebrew in the tongue of the creation. And he took the books of his fathers, and these were written in Hebrew, and he transcribed them, and he began from henceforth to study them, and I made known to him that which he could not (understand), and he studied them during the six
28 rainy months. And it came to pass in the seventh year of the sixth week [1953 A.M.] that he spoke to his father and informed him, that he would leave Haran to go into the land of Canaan to see it and
29 return to him. And Terah his father said unto him; Go in peace:

May the eternal God make thy path straight.
And the Lord [(be) with thee, and] protect thee from all evil,
And grant unto thee grace, mercy and favour before those who see thee,
And may none of the children of men have power over thee to harm thee;
Go in peace.

30 And if thou seest a land pleasant to thy eyes to dwell in, then arise and take me to thee and take
31 Lot with thee, the son of Haran thy brother as thine own son: the Lord be with thee. And Nahor thy brother leave with me till thou returnest in peace, and we go with thee all together.'

[Chapter 13]

 
1 And Abram journeyed from Haran, and he took Sarai, his wife, and Lot, his brother Haran's son, to the land of Canaan, and he came into Asshur, and proceeded to Shechem, and dwelt near
2 a lofty oak. And he saw, and, behold, the land was very pleasant from the entering of Hamath to
3 the lofty oak. And the Lord said to him: 'To thee and to thy seed will I give this land.' And
4 he built an altar there, and he offered thereon a burnt sacrifice to the Lord, who had appeared to
5 him. And he removed from thence unto the mountain . . . Bethel on the west and Ai on the
6 east, and pitched his tent there. And he saw and behold, the land was very wide and good, and everything grew thereon -vines and figs and pomegranates, oaks and ilexes, and terebinths and oil trees, and cedars and cypresses and date trees, and all trees of the field, and there was water on the
7 mountains. And he blessed the Lord who had led him out of Ur of the Chaldees, and had brought
8 him to this land. And it came to pass in the first year, in the seventh week, on the new moon of the first month, 1954 A.M.] that he built an altar on this mountain, and called on the name of the Lord: 'Thou,
9 the eternal God, art my God.' And he offered on the altar a burnt sacrifice unto the Lord that He
10 should be with him and not forsake him all the days of his life. And he removed from thence and went towards the south, and he came to Hebron and Hebron was built at that time, and he dwelt there two years, and he went (thence) into the land of the south, to Bealoth, and there was a famine
11 in the land. And Abram went into Egypt in the third year of the week, and he dwelt in Egypt
12 five years before his wife was torn away from him. Now Tanais in Egypt was at that time built-
13 seven years after Hebron. And it came to pass when Pharaoh seized Sarai, the wife of Abram that the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife.
14 And Abram was very glorious by reason of possessions in sheep, and cattle, and asses, and horses, and camels, and menservants, and maidservants, and in silver and gold exceedingly. And Lot also
15 his brother's son, was wealthy. And Pharaoh gave back Sarai, the wife of Abram, and he sent him out of the land of Egypt, and he journeyed to the place where he had pitched his tent at the beginning, to the place of the altar, with Ai on the east, and Bethel on the west, and he blessed the
16 Lord his God who had brought him back in peace. And it came to pass in the forty-first jubilee in the third year of the first week, [1963 A.M.] that he returned to this place and offered thereon a burnt sacrifice, and called on the name of the Lord, and said: 'Thou, the most high God, art my God for ever
17 and ever.' And in the fourth year of this week [1964 A.M.] Lot parted from him, and Lot dwelt in Sodom, and
18 the men of Sodom were sinners exceedingly. And it grieved him in his heart that his brother's
19 son had parted from him; for he had no children. In that year when Lot was taken captive, the Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot had parted from him, in the fourth year of this week: 'Lift up thine eyes from the place where thou art dwelling, northward and southward, and westward and
20 eastward. For all the land which thou seest I will give to thee and to thy seed for ever, and I will make thy seed as the sand of the sea: though a man may number the dust of the earth, yet
21 thy seed shall not be numbered. Arise, walk (through the land) in the length of it and the breadth of it, and see it all; for to thy seed will I give it.' And Abram went to Hebron, and dwelt there.
22 And in this year came Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, and Amraphel, king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Sellasar, and Tergal, king of nations, and slew the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Sodom
23 fled, and many fell through wounds in the vale of Siddim, by the Salt Sea. And they took captive Sodom and Adam and Zeboim, and they took captive Lot also, the son of Abram's brother, and
24 all his possessions, and they went to Dan. And one who had escaped came and told Abram that
25 his brother's son had been taken captive and (Abram) armed his household servants . . .
. . . . for Abram, and for his seed, a tenth of the first fruits to the Lord, and the Lord ordained it as an ordinance for ever that they should give it to the priests
26 who served before Him, that they should possess it for ever. And to this law there is no limit of days; for He hath ordained it for the generations for ever that they should give to the Lord the tenth of everything, of the seed and of the wine and of the oil and of the cattle and of the sheep.
27,28 And He gave (it) unto His priests to eat and to drink with joy before Him. And the king of Sodom came to him and bowed himself before him, and said: 'Our Lord Abram, give unto us the
29 souls which thou hast rescued, but let the booty be thine.' And Abram said unto him: 'I lift up my hands to the Most High God, that from a thread to a shoe-latchet I shall not take aught that is thine lest thou shouldst say, I have made Abram rich; save only what the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men who went with me -Aner, Eschol, and Mamre. These shall take their portion.'

[Chapter 14]

 
1 After these things, in the fourth year of this week, on the new moon of the third month, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a dream, saying: 'Fear not, Abram; I am thy defender, and
2 thy reward will be exceeding great.' And he said: 'Lord, Lord, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go hence childless, and the son of Maseq, the son of my handmaid, is the Dammasek Eliezer: he
3 will be my heir, and to me thou hast given no seed.' And he said unto him: 'This (man) will not
4 be thy heir, but one that will come out of thine own bowels; he will be thine heir.' And He brought him forth abroad, and said unto him: 'Look toward heaven and number the stars if thou
5 art able to number them.' And he looked toward heaven, and beheld the stars. And He said
6 unto him: 'So shall thy seed be.' And he believed in the Lord, and it was counted to him for
7 righteousness. And He said unto him: 'I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee the land of the Canaanites to possess it for ever; and I will be God unto thee and to
8 thy seed after thee.' And he said: 'Lord, Lord, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit (it)?'
9 And He said unto him: 'Take Me an heifer of three years, and a goat of three years, and a sheep
10 of three years, and a turtle-dove, and a pigeon.' And he took all these in the middle of the month
11 and he dwelt at the oak of Mamre, which is near Hebron. And he built there an altar, and sacrificed all these; and he poured their blood upon the altar, and divided them in the midst, and
12 laid them over against each other; but the birds divided he not. And birds came down upon the
13 pieces, and Abram drove them away, and did not suffer the birds to touch them. And it came to pass, when the sun had set, that an ecstasy fell upon Abram, and lo ! an horror of great darkness fell upon him, and it was said unto Abram: 'Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land (that is) not theirs, and they shall bring them into bondage, and afflict them four hundred
14 years. And the nation also to whom they will be in bondage will I judge, and after that they shall
15 come forth thence with much substance. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace, and be buried
16 in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall return hither; for the iniquity of the
17 Amorites is not yet full.' And he awoke from his sleep, and he arose, and the sun had set; and there was a flame, and behold ! a furnace was smoking, and a flame of fire passed between the
18 pieces. And on that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying: 'To thy seed will I give this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates, the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Perizzites, and the Rephaim, the Phakorites, and the Hivites, and the
19 Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites. And the day passed, and Abram offered the pieces, and the birds, and their fruit offerings, and their drink offerings, and
20 the fire devoured them. And on that day we made a covenant with Abram, according as we had covenanted with Noah in this month; and Abram renewed the festival and ordinance for himself
21 for ever. And Abram rejoiced, and made all these things known to Sarai his wife; and he believed
22 that he would have seed, but she did not bear. And Sarai advised her husband Abram, and said unto him: 'Go in unto Hagar, my Egyptian maid: it may be that I shall build up seed unto thee
23 by her.' And Abram harkened unto the voice of Sarai his wife, and said unto her, 'Do (so).' And Sarai took Hagar, her maid, the Egyptian, and gave her to Abram, her husband, to be his
24 wife. And he went in unto her, and she conceived and bare him a son, and he called his name Ishmael, in the fifth year of this week [1965 A.M.]; and this was the eighty-sixth year in the life of Abram.

[Chapter 15]

 
1 And in the fifth year of the fourth week of this jubilee, [1979 A.M.] in the third month, in the middle of the
2 month, Abram celebrated the feast of the first-fruits of the grain harvest. And he offered new offerings on the altar, the first-fruits of the produce, unto the Lord, an heifer and a goat and a sheep on the altar as a burnt sacrifice unto the Lord; their fruit offerings and their drink offerings he
3 offered upon the altar with frankincense. And the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him:
4 'I am God Almighty; approve thyself before me and be thou perfect. And I will make My covenant between Me and thee, and I will multiply thee exceedingly.' And Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, and said:

6 'Behold my ordinance is with thee,
And thou shalt be the father of many nations.

7 Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram,
But thy name from henceforth, even for ever, shall be Abraham.
For the father of many nations have I made thee.

And I will make thee very great,
And I will make thee into nations,
And kings shall come forth from thee.

9 And I shall establish My covenant between Me and thee, and thy seed after thee, throughout their generations, for an eternal covenant, so that I may be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.
10 the land where thou hast been a sojourner,
11 the land of Canaan, that thou mayst possess it for ever, and I will be their God.' And the Lord said unto Abraham: 'And as for thee, do thou keep my covenant, thou and thy seed after thee: and circumcise ye every male among you, and circumcise your foreskins, and it shall be a token of
12 an eternal covenant between Me and you. And the child on the eighth day ye shall circumcise, every male throughout your generations, him that is born in the house, or whom ye have bought
13 with money from any stranger, whom ye have acquired who is not of thy seed. He that is born in thy house shall surely be circumcised, and those whom thou hast bought with money shall be circum-
14 cised, and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an eternal ordinance. And the uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin on the eighth day, that soul shall be cut off from
15 his people, for he has broken My covenant.' And God said unto Abraham: 'As for Sarai thy wife,
16 her name shall no more be called Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. And I will bless her, and give thee a son by her, and I will bless him, and he shall become a nation, and kings of nations shall
17 proceed from him.' And Abraham fell on his face, and rejoiced, and said in his heart: 'Shall a son be born to him that is a hundred years old, and shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bring forth?'
18,19 And Abraham said unto God: 'O that Ishmael might live before thee!' And God said: 'Yea, and Sarah also shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name Isaac, and I will establish My
20 covenant with him, an everlasting covenant, and for his seed after him. And as for Ishmael also have I heard thee, and behold I will bless him, and make him great, and multiply him exceedingly,
21 and he shall beget twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. But My covenant will
22 I establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to thee, in these days, in the next year.' And He left
23 off speaking with him, and God went up from Abraham. And Abraham did according as God had said unto him, and he took Ishmael his son, and all that were born in his house, and whom he had
24 bought with his money, every male in his house, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin. And on the selfsame day was Abraham circumcised, and all the men of his house, , and all those, whom he had bought with money from the children of the stranger, were
25 circumcised with him. This law is for all the generations for ever, and there is no circumcision of the days, and no omission of one day out of the eight days; for it is an eternal ordinance, ordained
26 and written on the heavenly tablets. And every one that is born, the flesh of whose foreskin is not circumcised on the eighth day, belongs not to the children of the covenant which the Lord made with Abraham, but to the children of destruction; nor is there, moreover, any sign on him that he is the Lord's, but (he is destined) to be destroyed and slain from the earth, and to be rooted out of
27 the earth, for he has broken the covenant of the Lord our God. For all the angels of the presence and all the angels of sanctification have been so created from the day of their creation, and before the angels of the presence and the angels of sanctification He hath sanctified Israel, that they should
28 be with Him and with His holy angels. And do thou command the children of Israel and let them observe the sign of this covenant for their generations as an eternal ordinance, and they will not be
29 rooted out of the land. For the command is ordained for a covenant, that they should observe it
30 for ever among all the children of Israel. For Ishmael and his sons and his brothers and Esau, the Lord did not cause to approach Him, and he chose them not because they are the children of
31 Abraham, because He knew them, but He chose Israel to be His people. And He sanctified it, and gathered it from amongst all the children of men; for there are many nations and many peoples, and all are His, and over all hath He placed spirits in authority to lead them astray from Him.
32 But over Israel He did not appoint any angel or spirit, for He alone is their ruler, and He will preserve them and require them at the hand of His angels and His spirits, and at the hand of all His powers in order that He may preserve them and bless them, and that they may be His and He
33 may be theirs from henceforth for ever. And now I announce unto thee that the children of Israel will not keep true to this ordinance, and they will not circumcise their sons according to all this law; for in the flesh of their circumcision they will omit this circumcision of their sons, and all of them,
34 sons of Beliar, will leave their sons uncircumcised as they were born. And there will be great wrath from the Lord against the children of Israel. because they have forsaken His covenant and turned aside from His word, and provoked and blasphemed, inasmuch as they do not observe the ordinance of this law; for they have treated their members like the Gentiles, so that they may be removed and rooted out of the land. And there will no more be pardon or forgiveness unto them [so that there should be forgiveness and pardon] for all the sin of this eternal error.

[Chapter 16]

 
1 And on the new moon of the fourth month we appeared unto Abraham, at the oak of Mamre, and we talked with him, and we announced to him that a son would be given to him by Sarah his wife.
2 And Sarah laughed, for she heard that we had spoken these words with Abraham, and we admonished
3 her, and she became afraid, and denied that she had laughed on account of the words. And we told her the name of her son, as his name is ordained and written in the heavenly tablets (i.e.) Isaac,
4,5 And (that) when we returned to her at a set time, she would have conceived a son. And in this month the Lord executed his judgments on Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Zeboim, and all the region of the Jordan, and He burned them with fire and brimstone, and destroyed them until this day, even as [lo] I have declared unto thee all their works, that they are wicked and sinners exceedingly, and that they defile themselves and commit fornication in their flesh, and work uncleanness on the earth.
6 And, in like manner, God will execute judgment on the places where they have done according to
7 the uncleanness of the Sodomites, like unto the judgment of Sodom. But Lot we saved; for God
8 remembered Abraham, and sent him out from the midst of the overthrow. And he and his daughters committed sin upon the earth, such as had not been on the earth since the days of Adam till his
9 time; for the man lay with his daughters. And, behold, it was commanded and engraven concerning all his seed, on the heavenly tablets, to remove them and root them out, and to execute judgment upon them like the judgment of Sodom, and to leave no seed of the man on earth on the day
10 of condemnation. And in this month Abraham moved from Hebron, and departed and dwelt between
11 Kadesh and Shur in the mountains of Gerar. And in the middle of the fifth month he moved from
12 thence, and dwelt at the Well of the Oath. And in the middle of the sixth month the Lord visited
13 Sarah and did unto her as He had spoken and she conceived. And she bare a son in the third month, and in the middle of the month, at the time of which the Lord had spoken to Abraham, on
14 the festival of the first fruits of the harvest, Isaac was born. And Abraham circumcised his son on the eighth day: he was the first that was circumcised according to the covenant which is ordained
15 for ever. And in the sixth year of the fourth week we came to Abraham, to the Well of the Oath, and we appeared unto him [as we had told Sarah that we should return to her, and she would have
16 conceived a son. And we returned in the seventh month, and found Sarah with child before us] and we blessed him, and we announced to him all the things which had been decreed concerning him, that he should not die till he should beget six sons more, and should see (them) before he died; but
17 (that) in Isaac should his name and seed be called: And (that) all the seed of his sons should be Gentiles, and be reckoned with the Gentiles; but from the sons of Isaac one should become a holy
18 seed, and should not be reckoned among the Gentiles. For he should become the portion of the Most High, and all his seed had fallen into the possession of God, that it should be unto the Lord a people for (His) possession above all nations and that it should become a kingdom and priests and
19 a holy nation. And we went our way, and we announced to Sarah all that we had told him, and
20 they both rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And he built there an altar to the Lord who had delivered him, and who was making him rejoice in the land of his sojourning, and he celebrated a festival of joy in this month seven days, near the altar which he had built at the Well of the Oath.
21 And he built booths for himself and for his servants on this festival, and he was the first to celebrate
22 the feast of tabernacles on the earth. And during these seven days he brought each day to the altar a burnt offering to the Lord, two oxen, two rams, seven sheep, one he-goat, for a sin offering,
23 that he might atone thereby for himself and for his seed. And, as a thank-offering, seven rams, seven kids, seven sheep, and seven he-goats, and their fruit offerings and their drink offerings; and he burnt all the fat thereof on the altar, a chosen offering unto the Lord for a sweet smelling savour.
24 And morning and evening he burnt fragrant substances, frankincense and galbanum, and stackte, and nard, and myrrh, and spice, and costum; all these seven he offered, crushed, mixed together in
25 equal parts (and) pure. And he celebrated this feast during seven days, rejoicing with all his heart and with all his soul, he and all those who were in his house, and there was no stranger with him,
26 nor any that was uncircumcised. And he blessed his Creator who had created him in his generation, for He had created him according to His good pleasure; for He knew and perceived that from him would arise the plant of righteousness for the eternal generations, and from him a holy seed, so that it
27 should become like Him who had made all things. And he blessed and rejoiced, and he called the
28 name of this festival the festival of the Lord, a joy acceptable to the Most High God. And we blessed him for ever, and all his seed after him throughout all the generations of the earth, because
29 he celebrated this festival in its season, according to the testimony of the heavenly tablets. For this reason it is ordained on the heavenly tablets concerning Israel, that they shall celebrate the feast of tabernacles seven days with joy, in the seventh month, acceptable before the Lord -a statute for
30 ever throughout their generations every year. And to this there is no limit of days; for it is ordained for ever regarding Israel that they should celebrate it and dwell in booths, and set wreaths upon
31 their heads, and take leafy boughs, and willows from the brook. And Abraham took branches of palm trees, and the fruit of goodly trees, and every day going round the altar with the branches seven times [a day] in the morning, he praised and gave thanks to his God for all things in joy.

[Chapter 17]

 
1 And in the first year of the fifth week Isaac was weaned in this jubilee, [1982 A.M.] and Abraham made
2 a great banquet in the third month, on the day his son Isaac was weaned. And Ishmael, the son of Hagar, the Egyptian, was before the face of Abraham, his father, in his place, and Abraham rejoiced
3 and blessed God because he had seen his sons and had not died childless. And he remembered the words which He had spoken to him on the day on which Lot had parted from him, and he rejoiced because the Lord had given him seed upon the earth to inherit the earth, and he blessed with all his
4 mouth the Creator of all things. And Sarah saw Ishmael playing and dancing, and Abraham rejoicing with great joy, and she became jealous of Ishmael and said to Abraham, 'Cast out this
5 bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman will not be heir with my son, Isaac.' And the thing was grievous in Abraham's sight, because of his maidservant and because of his son,
6 that he should drive them from him. And God said to Abraham 'Let it not be grievous in thy sight, because of the child and because of the bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee,
7 harken to her words and do (them); for in Isaac shall thy name and seed be called. But as for
8 the son of this bondwoman I will make him a great nation, because he is of thy seed.' And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread and a bottle of water, and placed them on the shoulders
9 of Hagar and the child, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba, and the water in the bottle was spent, and the child thirsted, and was not able to go on,
10 and fell down. And his mother took him and cast him under an olive tree, and went and sat her down over against him, at the distance of a bow-shot; for she said, 'Let me not see the death of my
11 child,' and as she sat she wept. And an angel of God, one of the holy ones, said unto her, 'Why weepest thou, Hagar? Arise take the child, and hold him in thine hand; for God hath heard thy
12 voice, and hath seen the child.' And she opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water, and she went and filled her bottle with water, and she gave her child to drink, and she arose and went towards
13 the wilderness of Paran. And the child grew and became an archer, and God was with him, and his
14 mother took him a wife from among the daughters of Egypt. And she bare him a son, and he called
15 his name Nebaioth; for she said, 'The Lord was nigh to me when I called upon him.' And it came to pass in the seventh week, in the first year thereof, [2003 A.M.] in the first month in this jubilee, on the twelfth of this month, there were voices in heaven regarding Abraham, that he was faithful in all that He
16 told him, and that he loved the Lord, and that in every affliction he was faithful. And the prince Mastema came and said before God, 'Behold, Abraham loves Isaac his son, and he delights in him above all things else; bid him offer him as a burnt-offering on the altar, and Thou wilt see if he will do this command, and Thou wilt know if he is faithful in everything wherein Thou dost try him.
17 And the Lord knew that Abraham was faithful in all his afflictions; for He had tried him through his country and with famine, and had tried him with the wealth of kings, and had tried him again through his wife, when she was torn (from him), and with circumcision; and had tried him through
18 Ishmael and Hagar, his maid-servant, when he sent them away. And in everything wherein He had tried him, he was found faithful, and his soul was not impatient, and he was not slow to act; for he was faithful and a lover of the Lord.
 

[Chapter 18]

 
1,2 And God said to him, 'Abraham, Abraham'; and he said, Behold, (here) am I.' And he said, Take thy beloved son whom thou lovest, (even) Isaac, and go unto the high country, and offer him
3 on one of the mountains which I will point out unto thee.' And he rose early in the morning and saddled his ass, and took his two young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood of the
4 burnt offering, and he went to the place on the third day, and he saw the place afar off. And he came to a well of water, and he said to his young men, 'Abide ye here with the ass, and I and the
5 lad shall go (yonder), and when we have worshipped we shall come again to you.' And he took the wood of the burnt-offering and laid it on Isaac his son, and he took in his hand the fire and the
6 knife, and they went both of them together to that place. And Isaac said to his father, 'Father;' and he said, 'Here am I, my son.' And he said unto him, 'Behold the fire, and the knife, and the
7 wood; but where is the sheep for the burnt-offering, father?' And he said, 'God will provide for himself a sheep for a burnt-offering, my son.' And he drew near to the place of the mount of
8 God. And he built an altar, and he placed the wood on the altar, and bound Isaac his son, and placed him on the wood which was upon the altar, and stretched forth his hand to take the knife
9 to slay Isaac his son. And I stood before him, and before the prince Mastema, and the Lord said, 'Bid him not to lay his hand on the lad, nor to do anything to him, for I have shown that he fears
10 the Lord.' And I called to him from heaven, and said unto him: 'Abraham, Abraham;' and he
11 was terrified and said: 'Behold, (here) am I.' And I said unto him: 'Lay not thy hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything to him; for now I have shown that thou fearest the Lord, and hast
12 not withheld thy son, thy first-born son, from me.' And the prince Mastema was put to shame; and Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold a ram caught . . . by his horns, and Abraham
13 went and took the ram and offered it for a burnt-offering in the stead of his son. And Abraham called that place 'The Lord hath seen', so that it is said the Lord hath seen: that is
14 Mount Sion. And the Lord called Abraham by his name a second time from heaven, as he caused
15 us to appear to speak to him in the name of the Lord. And he said: 'By Myself have I sworn, saith the Lord,

Because thou hast done this thing,
And hast not withheld thy son, thy beloved son, from Me,
That in blessing I will bless thee,

And in multiplying I will multiply thy seed
As the stars of heaven, And as the sand which is on the seashore.

And thy seed shall inherit the cities of its enemies,
16 And in thy seed shall all nations of the earth be blessed;

Because thou hast obeyed My voice,
And I have shown to all that thou art faithful unto Me in all that I have said unto thee:
Go in peace.'

17 And Abraham went to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beersheba, and Abraham [2010 A.M.]

 18 dwelt by the Well of the Oath. And he celebrated this festival every year, seven days with joy, and he called it the festival of the Lord according to the seven days during which he went and
19 returned in peace. And accordingly has it been ordained and written on the heavenly tablets regarding Israel and its seed that they should observe this festival seven days with the joy of festival.

[Chapter 19]

 
1 And in the first year of the first week in the forty-second jubilee, Abraham returned and dwelt
2 opposite Hebron, that is Kirjath Arba, two weeks of years. And in the first year of the third week
3 of this jubilee the days of the life of Sarah were accomplished, and she died in Hebron. And Abraham went to mourn over her and bury her, and we tried him [to see] if his spirit were patient and he were not indignant in the words of his mouth; and he was found patient in this, and was not
4 disturbed. For in patience of spirit he conversed with the children of Heth, to the intent that they
5 should give him a place in which to bury his dead. And the Lord gave him grace before all who saw him, and he besought in gentleness the sons of Heth, and they gave him the land of the double
6 cave over against Mamre, that is Hebron, for four hundred pieces of silver. And they besought him saying, We shall give it to thee for nothing; but he would not take it from their hands for nothing, for he gave the price of the place, the money in full, and he bowed down before them twice, and after
7 this he buried his dead in the double cave. And all the days of the life of Sarah were one hundred and twenty-seven years, that is, two jubilees and four weeks and one year: these are the days of the
8 years of the life of Sarah. This is the tenth trial wherewith Abraham was tried, and he was found
9 faithful, patient in spirit. And he said not a single word regarding the rumour in the land how that God had said that He would give it to him and to his seed after him, and he begged a place there to bury his dead; for he was found faithful, and was recorded on the heavenly tablets as the friend of
10 God. And in the fourth year thereof he took a wife for his son Isaac and her name was Rebecca [2020 A.M.] [the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Nahor, the brother of Abraham] the sister of Laban and daughter of Bethuel; and Bethuel was the son of Melca, who was the wife of Nahor, the brother of Abraham.
11 And Abraham took to himself a third wife, and her name was Keturah, from among the daughters of his household servants, for Hagar had died before Sarah. And she bare him six sons, Zimram,
12 and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah, in the two weeks of years. And in
13 the sixth week, in the second year thereof, Rebecca bare to Isaac two sons, Jacob and Esau, and [2046 A.M.] Jacob was a smooth and upright man, and Esau was fierce, a man of the field, and hairy, and Jacob
14 dwelt in tents. And the youths grew, and Jacob learned to write; but Esau did not learn, for he
15 was a man of the field and a hunter, and he learnt war, and all his deeds were fierce. And Abraham
16 loved Jacob, but Isaac loved Esau. And Abraham saw the deeds of Esau, and he knew that in Jacob should his name and seed be called; and he called Rebecca and gave commandment regarding
17 Jacob, for he knew that she (too) loved Jacob much more than Esau. And he said unto her:

My daughter, watch over my son Jacob,
For he shall be in my stead on the earth,
And for a blessing in the midst of the children of men,
And for the glory of the whole seed of Shem.

18 For I know that the Lord will choose him to be a people for possession unto Himself, above all
19 peoples that are upon the face of the earth. And behold, Isaac my son loves Esau more than Jacob, but I see that thou truly lovest Jacob.

20 Add still further to thy kindness to him,
And let thine eyes be upon him in love;
For he shall be a blessing unto us on the earth from henceforth unto all generations of the earth.

21 Let thy hands be strong
And let thy heart rejoice in thy son Jacob;
For I have loved him far beyond all my sons.

He shall be blessed for ever,
And his seed shall fill the whole earth.

22 If a man can number the sand of the earth,
His seed also shall be numbered.

23 And all the blessings wherewith the Lord hath blessed me and my seed shall belong to Jacob and
24 his seed alway. And in his seed shall my name be blessed, and the name of my fathers, Shem, and
25 Noab, and Enoch, and Mahalalel, and Enos, and Seth, and Adam. And these shall serve

To lay the foundations of the heaven,
And to strengthen the earth,
And to renew all the luminaries which are in the firmament.

26 And he called Jacob before the eyes of Rebecca his mother, and kissed him, and blessed him, and
27 said: 'Jacob, my beloved son, whom my soul loveth, may God bless thee from above the firmament, and may He give thee all the blessings wherewith He blessed Adam, and Enoch, and Noah, and Shem; and all the things of which He told me, and all the things which He promised to give me, may he cause to cleave to thee and to thy seed for ever, according to the days of heaven above the
28 earth. And the Spirits of Mastema shall not rule over thee or over thy seed to turn thee from the
29 Lord, who is thy God from henceforth for ever. And may the Lord God be a father to thee and
30 thou the first-born son, and to the people alway. Go in peace, my son.' And they both went forth
31 together from Abraham. And Rebecca loved Jacob, with all her heart and with all her soul, very much more than Esau; but Isaac loved Esau much more than Jacob.

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