Latin English Jubilees Palimpsest Project, based on James C. VanderKam (1989) and new readings 2017 Can be updated based on new evidence CC BY-SA ... he stayed there for two years. Then he went to the southern territory as far as Bahalot. There was a famine in the land. So Abram went to Egypt in the third year of the week. He lived in the land of Egypt for five years before his wife was taken from him by force. Tanais, the Egyptian city, was built at that time — seven years after Hebron. When the pharaoh took Abram's wife Sarah by force, the Lord punished the pharaoh and his household very severely because of Abram's wife Sarah. At that time he made Abram extremely wealthy with all (kinds of) sheep, cattle, donkeys, camels, horses, male and female servants, silver and very (much) gold. Lot — his brother's son — was also wealthy. The pharaoh returned Abram's wife Sarah to her husband and expelled him from the land of Egypt. He went to the place where he had first pitched his tent — at the location of the altar, with Ai on the east side and Bethel on the west. He blessed the Lord his God who had brought him back safely. During the forty-first jubilee, in the third year of the first week, he returned to this place. He offered sacrifices and called on the Lord's name: 'You, most high God, are my God forever and ever'. In the fourth year of this week Lot separated from him. He settled in Sodom. Now the Sodomite people were very sinful. They were evil in their hearts that Lot, his brother's son, had separated from him for he had no children. Lot was taken captive from him. But in the fourth year of this week — of the same jubilee — God said to Abram: 'Look up from where you are staying toward the west, the south, the east, and the north; because all the land which you see I will give to you and your descendants forever. I will make your descendants like the sands of the sea, for your descendants will not be counted. Now you — get up and walk its width. Look at everything because I will give it to your descendants'. Then Abram went to Hebron and lived ... '... him, make him numerous, and increase him very much. For he will father 12 princes, and I will make him into a larger nation. But my covenant I will establish with Isaac whom Sarah will bear for you at this time next year'. When he had finished speaking with him, God ascended from Abraham. Abraham did as God told him. He took his son Ishmael, all the men of his household, and those who had been purchased — every male, therefore, in his house; he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins at that time. On that day Abraham circumcised himself, the men of his household, his domestic servants, and also those who had been purchased from foreigners — he circumcised all. This law is (valid) for all the history of eternity. There is no omitting any day of the days for which an eternal ordinance has been commanded and written on the heavenly tablets. Anyone who is born, the flesh of whose private parts has not been circumcised by the eighth day, does not belong to the pact which God made for Abraham but to the people (meant for) destruction. Moreover, there is no sign on him that he belongs to God, but (he is meant) for destruction and for being destroyed from the earth, because he has violated the covenant of the Lord our God. For all the angels of the presence and all the archangels of blessing were from the days of their creation. In front of the angels of the presence and the angels of sanctification he sanctified Israel to be together with him and the angels of his holy places. Now you command the Israelites to keep the covenant of this sign throughout their history as an eternal covenant; then they will not be uprooted from the earth because he has determined in the ordinance of the covenant that it is to be kept forever on all the Israelites. For God did not draw near to himself either Ishmael, his sons, his brothers, or Esau. He did not choose any of them (simply) because they, too, were among Abraham's children, since he knew them. But he chose Israel to be his people. He sanctified them and ... ... all their actions — that they were hostile and very sinful, (that those) impure people would commit filthy acts in their flesh, and do abominable things on the earth. For God will execute judgment in the same way in the places where people have acted in the abominable ways of Sodom — in the same manner he will judge them. But we rescued Lot afterwards because God remembered Abraham so that he might deliver [read deliberaret; Ronsch, 102] him from the overthrow (of Sodom). Now he and his daughters [text reads sons] committed a sin on the earth the like of which was not committed on the entire earth from the time of Abraham [error for Adam] until him in that the man lay with his daughters. For it has now been commanded and written on the heavenly tablets with regard to all (his) descendants that such (people) will be removed and uprooted and that their judgment will be like the judgment of Sodom so that there may not be left among them any human descendants on the earth on the day of judgment. During this month Abraham departed from Hebron. He went and settled between Kadesh and Sur in the boundaries of Gerar. In the middle of the fifth month he removed himself from there and settled at the well of the oath. In the middle of the sixth month God visited Sarah and did for her as he had said. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son in the seventh month; in the middle of the month, at the time that God had told Abraham — on the festival of the firstfruits — Isaac was born. Abraham circumcised his son on the eighth day. He was the first to be circumcised according to the covenant which was ordained forever. In the sixth year of the fourth week we came to Abraham at the well of the oath. We appeared to him just as we had said to Sarah that we would return to her and she would have become pregnant with her son. We returned during the seventh month, and in front of us we found Sarah pregnant. We blessed him and and told him what had been decreed for him and in what way he would die, that he would become the father of six more sons, and that he would see them all before he died; but (that) through Isaac he would become numerous and have a reputation. All the descendants of his sons would become nations and be numbered with the nations. But one of Isaac's sons would become a holy progeny which would not be numbered with the nations; for he would become the share of the Most High, since all his descendants had fallen into that which God posseses; that they would become God's people sanctified out of all his nations; and that they would become a priestly kingdom and a holy people. Then we went on our way and told Sarah what we had reported to him. The two of them were extremely happy. There he built an altar for the Lord who had rescued him, and of his grace [corrupt, see Ronsch, 103] (was) in the country where he resided as an alien. He celebrated a joyful festival in this month — for seven days — near the altar. He constructed tents for himself and his servants during this festival. He was the first to celebrate the festival of tabernacles on the earth. During the days he was making — throughout each of the days — an offering [cf. Ronsch, 103-104] to the Lord on the altar: two bull calves, two rams, seven sheep, one goat for sins in order to have atonement made through it for himself and his descendants. And as a peace offering: seven rams, seven kids, seven sheep, seven he-goats as well as their (cereal)-offerings and their libations; and he would burn all their fat on the altar ... offering for a pleasing fragrance. In the morning and evening he would burn as a composite incense-offering [cf. Ronsch, 104]: frankincense, galbanum, stacte, nard, myrrh, aromatic spices, and costum. These seven clean kinds he would burn beaten and equally mixed. He celebrated this festival for seven days, being happy [cf. Ronsch, 105] with his whole heart and all his being — he and all those who belonged to his household. There was no foreigner with them; everyone was circumcised. He blessed his creator who had created him for he knew and ascertained that from him there would come a true plant for the history of eternity and (that) from him there would be holy descendants so that they should be like the one who had created everything. He gave a blessing and was very happy. He named this festival the festival of the days — a joy acceptable to the most high God. We blessed him eternally and all his descendants with him throughout all the history of the entire earth because he had celebrated this festival at its time in accord with the testimony of the heavenly tablets. For this reason it has been ordained on the heavenly tablets regarding Israel that the festival of tabernacles should be (celebrated) completely (?) with joy for seven days in the seventh month, acceptable in the Lord's presence — a law which is eternal throughout their history in every year. There will be no temporal limit because it is ordained forever that Israel should celebrate it, live in tents, and to place wreaths on their heads, to take thick branches and willow branch(es) from the stream. So Abraham took some palm branches [cf. Charles, 1895, reading de corde for de decore] and the fruit of good trees, and during all the days he would go around my altar with branches seven times. In the morning he would give praise and and joyfully laud [cf. Ronsch, 106] his God for all things. In the first year of the fifth week, in this jubilee, Isaac was weaned. Abraham gave a large banquet, and in the third month, on the day when his son Isaac was weaned. Now Ishmael, the son of Hagar the Egyptian servant girl, was in the place in front of his father Abraham. Abraham was very happy and blessed God because he saw his own sons and had not died childless. He remembered the message which he had told him on the day when Lot had separated from him. He was very happy because God had given him descendants on the earth to possess it. With his full voice he blessed (the one) who created everything. When Sarah saw Ishmael playing with Isaac and Abraham being extremely happy, she became jealous of Ishmael. She said to Abraham: 'Banish this servant girl and her son because the son of this servant girl will not be an heir with my son Isaac'. In Abraham's opinion the command regarding his servant girl and his son — that he should banish them from himself — seemed bad, but God said to Abraham ... He was startled and said: 'Yes'? I said to him: 'Do not lay your hand on the child and do not do anything to him because now I have shown that you fear your God. You have not refused me your first-born son'. Prince Mastema was put to shame [cf. Ronsch, 107]. Then Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns. Abraham went and took the ram. He offered it instead of his son Isaac. Abraham named that place 'The Lord Saw' so that it is said: 'In the mountain the Lord appeared'. This is Mt. Zion. He again called to Abraham by his name from heaven, since we were to speak to him in the Lord's name. He said: I have sworn by myself, says the Lord: because you have performed this command and have not refused on account of me your only son whom you love, I will indeed bless you and will indeed multiply your descendants (like) the stars in the sky and like the sand which is at [cf. Ronsch, 110] the seashore. Your descendants will possess [read hereditabit for hereditavit] the cities of their enemies. All the nations of the earth will be blessed through your descendants because of the fact that you have obeyed my command. I have made known to all that you are faithful to me in all that I have told you. Go in peace'. Then Abraham went to his servants. They set out and went into Beersheba. Abraham lived at the well of the oath. He used to celebrate the festival often — every year. For he used to celebrate joyfully those seven days also. He named it the festival of the Lord in accord with the seven days during which he went and returned. It was ordained and written on the heavenly tablets regarding Israel and his descendants that they should celebrate the festival for seven days with great happiness. During the year of the first week in the forty-second jubilee, Abraham returned and lived opposite Hebron,*that is, Kiriath Arba, for two weeks of years. In the year of this third week of this jubilee, the days of Sarah's life were completed and she died in Hebron. When Abraham went to mourn for her, we tested whether he himself was patient and not faint-hearted in the words that he spoke. But in this respect he was found most patient and not disturbed, because he spoke with the Hittites in a patient spirit so that they would give him a place in which to bury his dead. God gave him a favorable reception before all who would see him. He mildly pleaded with the Hittites, and they gave him the double land of the cave which is opposite Mamre — that is, Hebron — for 400 silver pieces. They requested this from him: 'Allow us to give (it) to you for nothing'! Yet he did not take (it) from them for nothing but he gave as the price of the place the full amount of money. He bowed twice to them and afterwards buried his dead in the double cave. All the time of Sarah's life was 127 years — that is, two jubilees, four weeks less one year. This was the time of Sarah's life. This was the tenth test in which he was found, and in it Abraham was faithful and patient in spirit. He said the word about the promise of the land, to the effect that God said [omit illi dare, cf. Ronsch, 112] to him that he would give it to him and his descendants after him. He pleaded with them for a place to bury his dead because he was found to be faithful and was recorded on the heavenly tablets as the friend of God. In its fourth year Abraham took a wife for his son Isaac. Her name was Rebecca, the daughter of Bethuel (the son of Abraham's brother Nahor), the sister of Laban, the daughter of Bethuel. Bethuel was the son of Milcah, the wife of Abraham's brother Nahor. Abraham married a third wife whose name was Keturah — one of the daughters of his household servants — because Hagar died prior to Sarah. She gave birth to six sons for him — Zimran [cf. Ronsch, 112-13], Jokshan, Medai, Midian, Ishbak, and Oe — during two weeks of years. In the sixth week, during its second year, Rebecca gave birth to two sons for Isaac: Esau and Jacob. Jacob was gentle and upright, while Esau was harsh and a rustic, hairy man. Jacob used to live in tents. When they both grew up and became young men, Jacob learned (the art of) writing, but Esau did not learn (it) because he was a rustic man and a hunter. But he learned (the art of) warfare, and all the things that he did were harsh. Abraham loved Jacob but Isaac loved Esau. As Abraham observed Esau's behavior, he realized that through Jacob he would have posterity and a reputation. He summoned Rebecca and gave her orders about Jacob, since she loved Jacob more than Esau. He said to her: 'Daughter, take care of the reputation of my son Jacob because he will be for me ... on the earth and (will prove) a blessing for mankind and the glory of all my descendants. For I know that God has chosen him as his own holy people from all the peoples who are on the surface of the entire earth. Isaac now loves Esau more than Jacob, but I see that you rightly love Jacob. Increase your favor to him still more; may your eyes look at him lovingly because he will prove to be a blessing for us on the earth from now and throughout all the history of the earth. May your hands therefore grow strong and your mind be happy with your son Jacob because I love him more than all my sons; for he will be blessed forever and his descendants will also fill the entire earth. If, therefore, a man is able to count the sand on the earth, then his descendants, too, will be counted. All the blessings with which God blessed me and my descendants will belong to Jacob and his descendants for all time. Through his descendants my name and the name of my ancestors Shem, Noah, Enoch, Malalael, Enos, and Adam will be blessed. They will serve (the purpose of) laying heaven's foundations and making the earth firm so that all the luminaries of the firmament may be perceived'. Then Abraham summoned ... ... 'how they were condemned because of their wickedness; because they commingled with prostitutes, engaged in unclean acts, did every (kind of) abominable act, and disregarded the commandments. For that reason (be careful) that you, too, do not perhaps make your name into a curse, all your lives into a (reason for) hissing, and all your sons into something that is also destroyed by the sword. Then you will be accursed like Sodom, and all who remain of you like the people of Gomorrah. For this reason I testify to you, sons: love the God of heaven and hold fast to all his commandments. Do not follow all their abominations and all their uncleanness. You will not make for yourselves gods that are molten images or statues because they are something empty and will have no spirit in them. For they are made by hands, and all who trust in them trust in nothing. Therefore do not serve them or worship it. Rather, serve the most high God and worship him — worshiping and looking expectantly for his presence continually, and do what is true and just before him so that he may direct you, give you favor, make the rains fall for you morning and evening; bless all things that you have done on the earth; bless your food and water; and he will bless the products of your loins, the products of your land, the herds of your cattle, and the flocks of your sheep. You will become a blessing on the earth, and all the nations of the earth will be delighted with you. They will bless your sons in my name so that they may become a blessing as I, too, am'. When he had given gifts to Ishmael, his sons, and Keturah's sons and sent them away from his son Isaac ... ... his sons, Keturah's sons, and their sons ... and settled from Paran as far as the entrance of Babylon — in all the land toward the east opposite the desert. They mixed with one another, and their name has attached itself to the Arabs and to the Ishmaelites until the present. In the sixth year of the seventh week of this jubilee Abraham summoned his son Isaac and gave him orders as follows: T have grown old but do not know when I will die. I have reached the full number of my days. Now I am 175 years of age. Throughout my entire lifetime I have continually remembered our God and have searched for him with all my strength in order to do his entire will and to set a straight course in all his ways. Therefore I have personally hated idols and have despised those who serve them. I have devoted my heart and spirit to keep and do the will of the one who created me. For he is the living God. He is holy, faithful and just, and with him there is no favoritism for anyone so that he should accept bribes because "he is a just God and (there is) judgment against all who transgress his commands and despise his testimony. Now you, son, keep his commands, ordinances, and verdicts. Do not pursue abominable things and molten images. Do not eat any blood of any flesh, either of those which are on the earth or of those which fly in the air. If you kill a victim for a peace offering, kill it but pour out its blood onto the altar. All the blood of the sacrifice on the altar with the finest flour and prepared in oil with its libation — you will offer all these on the altar as a sacrifice. It is an aroma that is pleasing before God. You will offer the fat of the peace offering on the fire (which is) on the altar, and remove the fat which is on the stomach and all the fat which is on the internal organs and the two kidneys and all the fat which is on them and which is on the upper thigh and the liver that is on the lungs with the kidneys. In this way offer everything as a pleasant fragrance (which is) acceptable before the Lord, with their sacrifice and its libation as a pleasant fragrance — the food of the offering to the Lord. You will eat the meat during that day and on the next day; but the sun will not set ... ... Isaac's possessions in Beersheba were numerous. Isaac used to go and inspect what he still possessed and then return to his father. At this time Ishmael came to see his father, and both of them came together. Isaac slaughtered a sacrifice for the offering; he offered (it) on his father's altar which he had made in Hebron. He sacrificed a peace offering and prepared a joyful feast in front of his brother Ishmael. Rebecca made fresh bread out of new wheat. She gave it to her son Jacob to bring to his father Abraham some of the firstfruits of the land so that he would eat (it) and bless the Creator of everything before he died. Isaac, too, sent through Jacob the best of his peace offerings and wine to his father Abraham for him to eat and drink. Abraham ate and drank. Then he blessed the most high Lord who created the heavens and the earth, who made all the fat things of the earth, and gave them to mankind to eat, drink, and bless their Creator. 'Now I acknowledge (you), my God, because you have shown me this day. I am now 175 years of age, old and with (my) time completed. All my days have proved to be peace for me. The enemy's sword has not subdued me during all the days which you have given me and these my sons during all my lifetime until today. ... now your kindness and peace [rest] on this young man, Lord, and on his descendants so that they, of all the sons of the earth, may become your acceptable people and heritage from now until all the time of the earth's history throughout all ages'. Abraham summoned his son, that is, Jacob, and said: '(My) son Jacob, may the God of all bless and strengthen you to do before him what is true and what he wants; and choose you and your descendants to be his people and in his will throughout all time. Now you, (my) son Jacob, c ome close to me and kiss me'. So Jacob came close and kissed him. Then he said: 'May my son Jacob and all his sons be blessed to the most high God in all things. May God give you true descendants, and you will sanctify some of your sons within the entire earth. The nations will serve you, and all peoples will bow before your name. Be strong before people and exercise power among all of Seth's descendants. Then your ways and the ways of your sons will be justified so that they may become a holy people. May the most high God give you all the blessings with which he blessed me and blessed Noah and Adam. May they come to rest on the sacred head of your descendants throughout each and every generation forever. He will purify you from all filth and injustice so that he may forgive all your unjust acts and your sins of negligence. He will strengthen and bless you; you will possess the entire earth. You will renew his covenant with him so that you may be for him the people of heritage throughout all ages. He will truly and rightly be God for you and your descendants throughout all the time of the earth. Now you, (my) son Jacob, remember what I say and keep the commandments of your father Abraham. Separate from the nations, and do not eat with them, nor should you act as they do. You are not to become their companion, for their actions are something that is impure, and their entire way is something impure, abominable, and filthy. For they sacrifice to the dead, and they worship demons. They eat on tombs, and everything they do is empty and worthless. They have no mind to think, and their eyes do not see what they do and how they err in saying to (a piece of) wood: «You are my god»; or to a stone: «You are my Lord; you are (my) deliverer». They have no mind. As for you, (my) son Jacob, the most high God will help you, and the God of Adae will strengthen you. He will remove you from all their abominable acts and from al[l ... ... 175 years. He completed his lifetime. He had grown old and (his) time was filled up. For the times of the ancients were as many as nineteen jubilees for (their) lives. After the flood the times of these jubilees began to decrease, to grow old more quickly, and the times of their lives to decrease because of the numerous difficulties and being wicked in their ways — with the exception of Abram. For Abraham was perfect with God in everything he did — being truly pleasing throughout all his lifetime. And yet (even) he had not completed four jubilees during his lifetime when he became old — because of the evil ones — and reached the end of his time. The generations that are to come into being from now until the day of the great judgment <but> will grow old quickly — before they complete two jubilees. The spirits of their knowledge will leave them. At that time, if a man lives a jubilee and one-half of years, it will be said about him: 'He has lived for a long time'. But the greater part of his time ... and distress without peace, because (there will be) blow upon blow, trouble upon trouble, distress upon distress, bad news upon bad news, disease upon disease, and every (kind of) bad punishment (like) this, together with epilepsy (?) and calamity; snow, frost, and ice; fever, cold, and choking; famine, death, sword, captivity, and every (sort of) blow (and) beating. All of these will happen to the generation which is evil, which commits sin on the earth along with impurity, sexual wrongs, contamination, their detestable actions. Then it will be said: 'The days of the ancient one were numerous — as many as 1000 years — and the days were good. But now the days of our lives, if a man has lived for a long time, are 70 years, and, if he is strong, 80'. They are evil and there is no peace during the days of that evil generation. During that generation the children will find fault with their fathers and elders because of sin and injustice and because of what they say and the great evils that they commit, because they abandon the covenant which God made between himself and them to observe and perform all his commandments, ordinances, and all his laws. There is no one who passes to the right or left. For all are evil; every mouth speaks what is evil. Everything that they do is impure and something hateful; all their ways are (characterized by) contamination ... abomination, and destruction. The earth will indeed be destroyed because of all that they do. There is no produce, wine, or oil because what they do is completely [evil ?] ... beasts, animals, birds, and all fish of the sea because of the evil of mankind. One group will struggle with another — that is, the young with the old, the old with the young; the poor with the rich, the lowly with the great; and the needy with the ruler — in the law regarding the covenant. For they have forgotten commandment, covenant, festival, month, sabbath, jubilee, and all verdicts. They will stand up with bow, swords, and warfare in order to bring them back to the way; but they will not be brought back until much blood is shed on the earth by each group. Those who escape will not depart into the true way; they will not turn from their wickedness because all will elevate themselves for (the purpose of) cheating and for wealth so that each one takes all things that belong to another. They will mention the great name neither truly nor rightly. They will defile the sanctuary with abominations of the truth and impurities. There will be great anger from the Lord for the actions of that generation. He will deliver to them the sword, judgment in captivity, plundering, and devouring. He will arouse against them the sinful nations who [will have] no ... of years. Abimelech gave orders as follows regarding him: 'Any man who troubles him or anything that belongs to him is to die'. Isaac prospered in the land of the Philistines and possessed much property, cattle, sheep, camels, donkeys, and many servants. He planted seeds in the land of the Philistines, and he harvested a hundred-fold. When Isaac had become very great, the Philistines grew jealous of him. (As for) all the wells that Abraham's servants had dug during Abraham's lifetime — the Philistines covered them up after Abraham's death and filled them with dirt. Then Abimelech said to Isaac: 'Leave us because you have become much too great for us'. So Isaac left that place with his (people) during the first year of the seventh week. Afterwards they again dug the water wells which the servants of his father Abraham had dug and the Philistines had filled up after his father Abraham's death. He called them by the names that his father had given them. Isaac's servants dug wells in the wadi and found there (?) flowing water. Then the shepherds of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's shepherds and said: 'The water is ours'. So Isaac named the well Difficulty 'because they were difficult for us'. They dug a second well, and they quarreled about it too. He named it Hostility. They dug a third well but did not quarrel about it. He named it Capacity. Isaac said: 'Now the Lord has enlarged us and multiplied us on the land'. ... during the first year of the first week. The Lord appeared to him that night — on the first day of the first month — and said to him: T am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid because I am with you and will bless you. I will make your descendants as numerous as the sand of the earth for the sake of my servant Abraham'. He built ... which his father had built. He called on the Lord's name and offered a sacrifice to the God of his father Abraham. They dug a well and found flowing water. But when Isaac's servants once more dug another well, they did not find water. They came and told Isaac that they had not found water. Isaac said: 'Because I have sworn an oath to the Philistines on this very day this has happened to us'. He named that place the well of the oath because there Abimelech, his companion Ahuzzath, and the leader of his army Phicol had sworn an oath. On that day Isaac realized that ... he had sworn an oath to make peace with him. On that day Isaac cursed the Philistines and said: 'May the Philistines be cursed from among all peoples at the day of anger and indignation. May God make them a disgrace, a curse, and (an object of) great indignation in the hands of the sinful nation(s) and in the hands of the Kittim. The just nation in judgment will eradicate them from beneath the sky, for they are enemies and opponents to my sons during their history on the earth. They will have no one left or anyone who escapes safe(ly) on the day of judgmental anger; but all the descendants of the Philistines (are meant) for ruin and destruction so that they may be removed from the surface of the earth. They will have no name left upon the earth. If he should go up to the sky. from there he would be brought down; where(ver) he would flee, from there he would be removed. If he should hide himself among the nations, from there he will be uprooted. If he should go down to Sheol, there his punishment will increase. There he will have no peace. If he should go away into captivity, his life will be in the power of all those who seek him; he will die in Sheol. He will have neither descendants nor name on the entire earth, because he is going to an eternal curse'. For this is the way it has been written and recorded against him on the heavenly tablets — that it may happen to him on the day of judgment so that he may be eradicated from the surface of the earth. In the second year of this week, in the jubilee, Rebecca summoned her son Jacob and spoke to him: 'Son, do not marry ...'. '... his advice, and he would get angry (and he would get angry) at me. Then I would bring a curse on myself, not a blessing'. But his mother Rebecca said to him: 'Let your curse be on me, son; just obey me'. So Jacob obeyed his mother Rebecca. He went and took two tender, excellent kids and brought them to his mother. His mother prepared them as food as he liked (them). Rebecca then took her older son Esau's favorite clothes that were present with her in the house. She dressed her younger son Jacob in them and put the goatskins around his forearms and shoulders and on the exposed parts of his neck. She then put the food which she had prepared and the bread into her son Jacob's hands. Jacob went in to his father and said: I am your son. I have done as you told me. Get up, have a seat, and eat some of what I have caught, father, so that you may bless me'. Isaac said to his son: 'How have you managed to find (it) so quickly, son'? Jacob said: 'The Lord your God guided (it) in front of me'. Then Isaac said to him: 'Come close to me and let me touch you, son, (so that I can tell) whether you are my son Esau'. Jacob came close to his father Isaac. When he touched him he said: 'The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are Esau's hands'. He did not recognize him because there was a turn of affairs from heaven to distract his mind. He did not recognize (him) because his hands were hairy like Esau's hands. So he blessed him. He said: 'Are you my son Esau'? Jacob said: T am your son'. Then Isaac said: 'Bring (it) to me and I will eat some of what you have caught, son, so that I may bless you'. He then brought him (food) and he ate; he brought him wine and he drank. His father Isaac said to him: 'Come close to me and kiss me, son'. He came close and kissed him. When he smelled the aroma of his clothes, he blessed him and said: 'Indeed the aroma of my son is like the aroma of a full field which God has blessed. May [God] grant to you ...' '... and to your descendants after you so that you may possess by inheritance the land where you wander as a foreigner and all the land which God gave to Abraham. Have a safe trip, son'. So Isaac sent Jacob away. He went to Mesopotamia, to Laban, the son of Bethuel the Aramean — the brother of Rebecca, Jacob's mother. When he was going to Mesopotamia, Rebecca grieved for her son Jacob and she cried. Isaac said to Rebecca: 'Sister, do not cry for my son Jacob because he will go safely and return safely. The most high God will guard him from every evil and will be with him. He will not abandon him for all time. For I know that all his ways will be directed wherever he goes until he returns safely to us and we see that he is safe. Therefore do not be afraid for him, my sister, because he is on the right way. He will be perfect — a true man. He will not be abandoned, Do not cry'. So Isaac was consoling Rebecca regarding her son Jacob, and he blessed him. In the forty-fourth jubilee, in the year of the second week, Jacob left the well of the oath to go to Haran. He arrived at Luz which is on the mountain — that is, Bethel — on the first day of the first month of this week. He arrived at the place in the evening, and turned off the road to the west of the highway. During this night he slept there because the sun had set. He took one of the stones of that place and set (it) at (the place where) his head (would be) beneath the tree. He was traveling and sleeping alone. That night he dreamed that a ladder was set up on the earth and its top was reaching heaven; that angels of God were going up and down on it; and that the Lord was reclining on it. He spoke with Jacob and said: T am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you are sleeping I will give to you and your descendants after you. Your descendants will be like the sand of the earth. They will become numerous toward the west, the east, the north, and the south. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your descendants. As for ...'. '... of your womb? Or have I abandoned you'? Since Rachel saw that Leah had given birth to four sons for Jacob — Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah — Rachel said to Jacob: 'Go in to my servant girl Bilhah. Then she will become pregnant and give birth to a son for me'. She gave her servant girl Bilhah as a wife. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son. He named him Dan in the ninth month of this sixth year of the week. Jacob once again went in to Bilhah. She became pregnant and gave birth to a second son for Jacob. Rachel named him Naphtali on the fifth of the seventh month during the second year of the fourth week. When Leah saw that she was held back and was not bearing children, she gave her maid Zilpah to Jacob as a wife. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son. Leah named him Gad. And on the twelfth of the eighth month of the third year of the fifth week he went in to her, and she gave birth to a son for him. She named him Asher. On the second of the tenth month during the fifth year of the fourth week, he went in to her. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son. He named him Issachar. On the fourth of the fifth month of the [fourth] year of the fourth week, she gave him to a nurse. Again Jacob went in to Leah. She became pregnant and gave birth to twins: a male and a female. She named the male Zebulun and the female Dinah. On the seventh of the seventh month of the sixth year of the fourth week, God was kind to Rachel. He opened her womb, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Joseph. On the first day of the fourth month, during the sixth (year) of the fourth week, at the time when Joseph was born, Jacob said to Laban: 'Give me my wives and my sons. I will go to my father Isaac and make a house for myself, because I have completed the years during which I served you in exchange for your two daughters. Then I will go to my father's house'. Laban said to Jacob: 'Wait for me in exchange for wages. Tend my sheep again, and I will give you (your) wages'. They agreed about the wages that he would give him .... ... (for) this (reason) that place is named the mound of testimony after that hill. For at first the land of Gilead was named the land of Rafaim because it is the land of the Refaim. There the Refaim — that is, the giants — were born whose heights were ten cubits, nine, eight cubits, and also seven cubits. The place where they lived (extended) from the land of the Ammonites as far as Mt. Hermon. Their royal centers were Karnaim, Mastarot, Edrei, ... Misur (?), ... and Seo. The Lord destroyed them because of the evil things they did, for they were very wicked. He made the Amorites live in their place — so evil and sinful that there is today no nation that has matched all their sins. They no longer have length of life on the earth. Jacob sent Laban away, and he went to Mesopotamia, to the eastern country. But Jacob returned to the land of Gilead. In the ninth month, Jacob, his eleven sons, crossed, and on the (same) day his brother Esau came to him. He was reconciled. Then he went from him to the land of Seir, while Jacob lived in tents. In the first year of the fifth week of this jubilee he crossed the Jordan. He settled on the other side of the Jordan and tended his sheep from the Salt Sea as far as the aggrum of Akrabbim. He deliverd to his father Isaac some of all his possessions: clothing, food, meat, things to drink, milk, butter, cheese, and dates from the valley. To his mother Rebecca (he sent goods) four times per year — between the seasons of the months, between plowing as far as the autumnal harvest, between the autumnal rains and the vernal rains — to Abraham's tower. For Isaac had returned from the well of the oath, had gone up to the tower of his father Abraham, and had settled there in his land and (that of) his son, because, at the time when Jacob went to Mesopotamia, Esau had married Mahalath, Ishmael's daughter. (He had gathered) his wife (and) all his father's flocks and had gone up and lived in Mt. Seir. He had left his father Isaac at the well of the oath. So Isaac had gone up from the well of the oath to the tower of his father Abraham in the mountain of Hebron. There Jacob would send whatever things were for his father or mother from time to time — all the things they needed in their every want. Then they would bless Jacob with all their mind and with all their being. During the first year of the sixth week he went up safely to Salem, to the east side of Shechem, in the fourth month. There Jacob's daughter Dinah was taken by force to the house of Shechem, the son of Hamor the Hivite, the ruler of the land. He defiled her since he slept with her. Now she was a small girl, twelve years of age. Afterwards he begged her father and all her brothers for her as a wife. Jacob and his sons were angry with the Shechemites because they had defiled their sister Dinah. They spoke deceptively with them. Simeon and Levi mocked them in a crafty way, and Simeon and Levi resolved to destroy them. They effected a punishment on the men of Shechem whom they found in it. They left absolutely no one in it, for they killed all in judgment because they had defiled their sister. ... will not be any more — that Israelite women should be defiled. For there is to be a punishment against them in heaven that they were to fight against Shechem ... with the sword, since they had done something shameful in Israel. The Lord handed them over to Jacob's sons for them to uproot them with the sword and for there to be punishment against them and so that there should not again be ... Israel — that an Israelite virgin should be defiled. Any man who is of the Israelites and to whom it is pleasing to give his daughter or his sister to any foreigner is to die. He is to be stoned because he has done something shameful in Israel. The woman is to be burned because she has defiled her father's house; she is to be uprooted from Israel. No fornicator or detestable thing is to be within Israel throughout all the time of the earth's history, for Israel is holy to the Lord. Any man who defiles it is to die by stones. For this is the way it has been written and ordained on the heavenly tablets regarding any descendant of Israel, since the one who defiles is to die and be stoned. This law will have no temporal limit. There will be no remission for it or any forgiveness; but rather the man who defiles his daughter within all of Israel is to be eradicated because he has given one of all his descendants to a foreigner and they have acted impiously by contaminating them. Now you, Moses, order the Israelites and testify to them that they are not to give any of their daughters to foreigners and that they are not to take any of their daughters for their sons because it is a despicable thing before the Lord. For this reason I have written for you in the words of the law the full account of what the Shechemites did to Dinah and how Jacob's sons said: 'We will not give our daughter to a man who has a foreskin because for us that would be a disgraceful thing. It is a disgraceful thing for the Israelites who give or take (in marriage) one of the foreign women because it is a despicable thing and an impure thing in all Israel. Israel will not become clean from that despicable thing if it has one of the foreign women, and we will not become clean (?) one of our daughters to all foreigners'. For it is blow upon blow and curse upon curse. All the punishments of blows and the curse of curses will come upon him (if) he does this; and if the one who does the despicable thing disregards (it) and looks away and defiles God's sanctuary and those who defile his holy name, then the entire nation will be condemned together because of all the despicable (acts) of this one. He will show no favoritism nor will he accept a sacrifice or burnt offering; nor will he smell a pleasing fragrance so that he should accept it. (So) is any man or woman in Israel to be who defiles the holy things. For this reason I have ordered you: 'Proclaim this testimony in Israel: «See what happened to the Shechemites and their children — how they were handed over to the men of Jacob's sons. They killed them in judgment. It was counted for them as a truthful act and was recorded as a just act for them». Levi's descendants were appointed as the priesthood and as levites to serve before the Lord as we too (do) for all time. Levi and his sons are blessed forever because he was eager for the truth so that he could carry out justice and revenge on all who were placed against Israel. So blessing and justice before the God of all are entered for him as a testimony on the heavenly tablets. The justice which the man would perform during his lifetime will be remembered at all times of the year. As far as 1000 years it will be offered. It will come to him and his descendants after him. He has been recorded on the heavenly tablets as a just friend'. I have written this entire message for you and have ordered you to tell the Israelites not to sin or transgress the statutes. Then they will not violate the covenant (which) was established for them so that they should perform them and be recorded as friends of God. But if they transgress the covenant and do what is despicable in any of the ways which have been recorded on the heavenly tablets, they will be the enemies of God. They will be erased from the book of life and will be recorded in the book of destructions, among those who are uprooted from the earth. On the day that Jacob's sons killed (the people of) Shechem, a written notice was entered in heaven for them (to the effect that) they had carried out what was true, justice, and revenge on them. They were recorded as a blessing. They led their sister Dinah from Shechem's house and captured all things that were in Shechem — their sheep and cattle; the donkeys; all their property and all their land — and brought everything to their father Jacob. He spoke to them (about) why they had destroyed (the people of) a city because he was afraid of the people who were living in the land — of the Canaanites and the Perizzites. A fear of the Lord was over all the cities which were around Shechem. They did not pursue Jacob in order to harm him because fear had fallen on them. On the first day of the month ... son, because they look like you'? He told him: 'They are indeed my sons. You have noticed correctly, father, that they are my sons'. When they came up to him, he turned and kissed them and hugged both of them together. A spirit of prophecy came into Isaac's mouth. He took Levi by his right hand and Judah by his left. He turned to Levi first and began to bless him first. He blessed Levi as follows: 'May the God of everything — and he is the Lord of the ages — bless you and your sons throughout all ages. May the Lord give you and your great descendants (the ability) to understand his glory. He will make your descendants (alone) out of all humanity approach him so that you may serve him in his sanctuary like the angels of the presence and like the holy ones. The descendants of your sons, too, will be like them in honor, greatness, and holiness. He will sanctify them throughout all ages. They will become princes and judges of all the descendants of Jacob. They will declare the word of God truly and will justly test all his verdicts. They will tell my ways to Jacob and my paths to Israel [Ronsch, 145]. The blessing of God will be given to his descendants, so that they may bless all the beloved descendants. Your mother named you Levi, and she has given you the right name. You will be for the adornment of God and a companion of all Jacob's sons. Your table will belong to you; you and your sons will eat (from) it. Your table will be filled throughout all ages; your food will not be lacking throughout all ages. All those who hate you will fall before you, and all your enemies will be destroyed and perish. For as the one (who) blesses you will be blessed, also if any nation curses you, it will be cursed'. Then he said to Judah: God will give you the power and strength to trample on all who hate you. You will be a prince — you and one of your sons. It will go and possess the entire earth and the regions. Then the peoples will be frightened before you; all the nations will be disturbed; all ...' '... the one who has made everything, to whom you made the prayer ...' He said to Rebecca: 'Go with your son'. So Rebecca went with her son Jacob and her nurse Deborah with her. They arrived at Bethel. When he recalled the blessing with which his father had blessed him and his two sons — Levi and Judah — he was very happy and blessed the God of his fathers Abraham and Isaac. Now I know that I and my sons have an eternal hope before the almighty God'. This is the way it was destined regarding the two and (this is) their share in the eternal testimonies on the heavenly tablets just as Isaac blessed them. That night they slept in Bethel. Levi dreamed as though he were appointed as priest of the most high God forever. When he awakened, he blessed God. When Jacob got up early in the morning on the fourteenth day of this month, he gave a tithe of everything which had come with him — from people to every living thing, and from money to all utensils and clothing. He gave a tithe of everything. At that time, when Rachel became pregnant with her son Benjamin, Jacob counted his sons from him. He went up (the list), and it came down on Levi in the Lord's share. His father put priestly clothes on him and ordained him on the fifteenth day of this month. On it he brought to the altar 14 young bulls from the cattle, 28 rams, 49 sheep, 7 kids, and 21 goats. These were burnt-offerings on the altar of offerings for a pleasant aroma before God. This was his gift because of the vow which he had made to give a tithe along with the sacrifices and with their wine. When the fire had consumed [it he would burn] incense on the fire above; and as a peace offering two young bulls, four rams, two year-old lambs, two goats. This is what he would do once daily during the seven days. He was blessing and uttering a song of praise to the God who had freed him from all his difficulties and because he had granted his vow. He tithed all .... wherever they make their footprint against mankind. I will give your descendants all of the blessings that are beneath the sky. They will rule and exercise power over all the nations just as they wish. Afterwards, they will gain the entire earth, and they will possess it forever'. When he had finished speaking with him, he went up from him, and Jacob kept watching until he had gone up from him into heaven. In a night vision he saw an angel of God coming down from heaven with seven boxwood tablets in his hand. He gave them to Jacob, and he read (them). He learned what things were written on them and what things would happen to him and his sons throughout all ages. After he had shown him what things were written on the boxwood tablets, he said to him: 'You will not build this place, and do not make it into an eternal temple. Do not live in this place because this will [not] be that place. But go to the place of your father Abraham — the tower — and live with your father Isaac until the day of your father's death. For you will die peacefully in Egypt and be buried honorably in this land; you will be put in the grave of your fathers with Abraham and Isaac. Do not be afraid because just as you have seen and read so will all the things which have all been written happen'. Then Jacob said: 'Lord, how shall I remember all the things that I have read and seen'? He said to him: T will remind you of all things'. When he had gone up from him, he awakened and remembered all the things that he had read and seen. He hid all the things that he read and seen. He celebrated one day there. On it he sacrificed as much as he had been sacrificing on the previous days. He named it Detaining because he was detained there one day. He named the previous days the Festival. This is the way it was revealed that they should be, and it was written on the heavenly tablets, for which reason it was revealed to him that he should celebrate that day and add (it) to the seven festal days. It was called Detaining because of the fact that it was added to the days of the festival in accord with the number of days in the year. On the twentieth day of this month, in the third night, Deborah, Rebecca's nurse, died. They buried her below the city, beneath the oak at the stream. They named that place the Stream of Deborah. Jacob went and returned to the tower of his father Isaac. Through her Jacob sent rams, sheep, and he-goats to make his father a meal as he would wish. He followed his mother until he reached Dabrata, and he remained there. During that night Rachel gave birth to a son. She named him Benjamin, i.e. (?) in this jubilee, on the tenth day of the eighth month, during the first year of the sixth week. Then Rachel died there and was buried in the country of Ephrathah, that is Bethlehem. Jacob built a pillar above Rachel's grave, on the road of her grave. Jacob went and rested to the south of the Tower of Ephrathah. He went to his father Isaac — he and his wife Leah — on the first day of the tenth month. When Reuben saw Bilhah, Rachel's maid — his father's concubine — bathing in water in a private place, he loved her. At night he entered secretly to Bilhah and found her sleeping alone in her bed in her tent. After he had slept with her, she awakened and there was Reuben with her on the bed. When she removed the covering, she took hold of him, shouted out, and realized that it was Reuben. He was confused by her. Once she had released her grip from him he ran away. She grieved terribly about this and told no one how he came. When Jacob came, she told him and said to Jacob: T am not pure for you because I am too contaminated for you, since Reuben defiled me and slept with me at night. I was sleeping and did not realize (it) until he uncovered my covering and slept with me'. Jacob was very angry at Reuben because he had slept with Bilhah. Jacob did not know .... ... shows [no] partiality and [accepts no] gifts. Tell them the words of this testament so that they may listen and be careful about them in order that they may not be destroyed or uprooted from the earth. For all who commit them on the earth before our God are something impure, something detestable, an offence, and something contaminated. It is a great sin on the earth because Israel is a holy people for the Lord its God. It is the people of (his) share; it is a priestly nation and a royal and holy one (?). No impurity is among the holy people. During the third year of this sixth week Jacob and all his sons went and took up residence at the tower of Abraham near his father Isaac and his mother Rebecca. These are the names of Jacob's sons: Reuben, the first-born, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun were Leah's sons. Rachel's sons were Joseph and Benjamin. Bilhah's sons were Dan and Naphtali. And Zilpah's sons were Gad and Asher. Leah's daughter Dinah was Jacob's only daughter. After they had come, they bowed to Isaac and Rebecca. When they saw them, they blessed Jacob and all his children. Isaac was extremely happy that he had seen the children of his younger son Jacob, and he blessed them. During the forty-fourth jubilee, in the sixth year of this week, Jacob sent his sons to tend their sheep — his servants were with them — to the field of Shechem. Seven Amorite kings assembled [against] them. They waited in the woods in order to kill them and take their sheep as booty ... But Jacob, Levi, Judah, and Joseph remained at the tower with their father Isaac because he was faint-spirited and they were unable to leave him. Benjamin was the youngest; for this reason he stayed with his father. Then came the kings of Saffo, the king of Arco, the king of Saragan, the king of Silo, the king of Gaas, the king of Boton, the king of Manesacer, and all who were living on the mountain and who were living in the forest in the land of Canaan. It was reported to Jacob: 'The Amorite kings have just ...'. '... everything I have done and all my thoughts [from the day I was born] until today — that at all times I... to do what is good ... for all. How shall I not do this matter about which you have ordered me — that 1 should do (it) for my father and brothers? But I ask: «Tell me, mother, what impropriety you have noticed in me so that I may turn away from it and experience the mercy of the Lord». Rebecca said to him: 'Son, throughout my entire [lifetime] I have noticed no improper act in you but only proper one(s). However, I will tell you the whole truth, son: I am dying during this year and will not even make it alive through this year. I will die and will not live more than ... 50 years. I am completing my lifetime'. Jacob laughed at what his mother was saying be[cause], but she was sitting in front of him and she was strong. She had lost none of her strength because she could go and come; and her teeth were strong. No sickness had harmed her throughout all her days. Jacob said to her: I would be fortunate if my lifetime approached your lifetime ........in me ...... in the way you have spoken with me about your death'. She went in ... to Isaac and said to him: I am making one request of you: that you make Esau swear that he will not harm his brother Jacob, not pursue him, and not act in hatred against him. For you know the way Esau thinks — that he has been mali-cious since his youth and that he is devoid of virtue because he .... my .... his brother. ..... all the things that he has done ........the day u[ntil] today — th[at] ... has taken by force (When) we would ask him in a pleading way for what belonged to us, ... as if he were being charitable to us. He is behaving bitterly toward you due to the fact that you blessed your perfect and true son Jacob since he has no evil ...'. ... He served God wholeheartedly and with his entire self and in line with the visible commands according to the division of the times of his generations. In the forty-fifth jubilee, during the fourth year of the second week Jacob's wife Leah died. They buried her in the twofold cave near his mother Rebecca. All her sons and his children came to mourn with him for his wife Leah and to comfort him regarding her because he was lamenting her. For he loved her very much from the time when her sister Rachel died because she was perfect and right in all her behavior and honored Jacob in all the time that he lived with her. He did not hear any bad word from her mounth because she was gentle and peaceful and ..... hono[r] He recalled all the things that she had done in her lifetime, and for this reason he loved her very much with all his heart and his person. On the day that Isaac, the father of Jacob and Esau, died Esau's sons heard that Isaac had given the older ... honor ... part to his younger son Jacob. They became very angry. They quarreled with Esau: 'Why has Jacob been placed before you when he is the younger, and (why) has your father given him the greater part and made you the inferior one'? Esau said to them: 'Because I gave the right of the first-born to Jacob in exchange for a little lentil broth. The day my father sent me to hunt game for him so that he could eat (it) and bless me, he came in a crafty way and brought in food and drink to my father. My father blessed him and put me under his control. Now our father has made us — me and him — swear that we will not aim at what is bad, the one against his brother, and that we will continue in (a state of) love and peace, each with his brother, so that we should not practice what is wrong toward one another'. They said to him: 'We will not listen to you in order to make peace with him because our strength is greater than his strength, and we are stronger men than he is. We will go against him, kill him, and destroy him and [his] sons in order that we may give him the honor'. Jacob then stretched his bow, shot an arrow, pierced his brother Esau on his right breast, and struck him down. He shot a second arrow and hit Adoram the Aramean on his left breast; he drove him back and killed him. After this Jacob's sons — they and their servants — went out, divided to the four sides of the tower. Judah went out first. Naphtali and Gad were with him, and 50 servants were with him on the south side of the tower. They killed whomever they found in front of them. No one at all escaped from them. Levi, Dan, and Asher went out on the east side of the tower, and 50 were with them. They killed the Moabite and Ammonite warriors. Reuben, Issachar, and Zebulun went out and their 50 with them. They also killed the Philistine warriors. Simeon, Benjamin, and Enoch — Reuben's son — went out on the west side of the tower, and their 50 were with them. Of (the people of) Edom and the Horites they killed 400 warriors and 600 and the four sons of Esau ran away with them. They left the body of their father thrown on the hill that is in Adurin. Jacob's sons pursued them as far as Mt. Seir, while Jacob buried his brother Esau on the hill that is in Adurin and then returned to the tower. Jacob's sons besieged Esau's sons in Mt. Seir. They subjugated them to become servants for Jacob's sons. They sent to their father Jacob (to ask) whether they should make peace with them. They placed the yoke of fear on them so that they should give honor to Jacob and his sons for all time. They continued giving honor to Jacob until the day of his descent to Egypt. The Edomites have not extricated themselves from the yoke of fear which Jacob's sons imposed on them until today. These are the kings who ruled in Edom — before a kingship ruled the Israelites — until today in the land of Edom. Barad, son of Beor, and the name of his city ... She approached him and held on to him in the house in order to compel him and so that he would sleep with her. She closed the doors of the house and held on to him. Joseph left his clothes and, having opened the door, ran away from her to the outside. When the woman saw that he had defied her, she accused him falsely to her husband in front of his master: 'That Hebrew slave of yours whom you love tried to force me so that he could sleep with me. When I shouted, he ran outside, left his clothes in my hands with whic[h I grabjbed his clothes from below ...' When the Egyptian saw Joseph's clothes and the broken door, he believed what his wife said. He put Joseph in prison in the place where the prisoners of the king were held. While he was there in the prison, the Lord gave him a favorable reception before the chief of the prison and a kind reception before him because he saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord was directing all the things that Joseph did. For that reason he handed everything over to him. The chief of the prison knew nothing of what was done in the prison because Joseph would do all these things and the Lord would direct them. He remained there for two years. At that time the pharaoh, the king of Egypt, became angry at two of his eunuchs, i.e. the butlers and the chief baker. He put them in prison, in the house of the chief cook, in the prison where Joseph, too, was held. The chief of the prison appointed Joseph to serve them. So he would serve in their presence. The men — the chief butler and the chief baker — had dreams and told them to Joseph. Things turned out for them just as Joseph interpreted for them. The pharaoh restored the chief butler to his position, but he hanged the chief baker as Joseph had told him. The chief butler forgot Joseph in prison although he had informed him (about) what would happen to him. He did not remember so that king pharaoh could intervene and release Joseph because he forgot. At that time the pharaoh had two dreams in one night about the famine which would come on the ... land. When he awakened, he summoned all the dream interpreters who were in his kingdom and the enchanters. He told them his dreams, but they were unable to interpret his dreams for him. Then the chief butler remembered Joseph. After he had told king pharaoh about him, he brought him from prison and he related [his] two dreams in his presence ... He interpreted .... '... two dreams are one. But there will be seven successive years of abundance in the entire land of Egypt; and in the same way a seven-year famine will be in the entire land. Now let the pharaoh appoint throughout the entire land of Egypt overseers who are to collect the individual cities' food and store it during the seven years of abundance as food which will be for the seven years of famine. Then the land will not be destroyed because of the famine, since it will be very severe over the entire land'. God gave Joseph a favorable and kind reception before the pharaoh. The pharaoh said to his servants: 'Will we be able to find a man more wise and knowledgeable than this one is, for the spirit of God is with him'? He appointed him as the second to himself in his entire kingdom and as one who had authority over all the land of Egypt; and he put him on the second chariot which was the pharaoh's. He dressed him with clothing made of linen and put a gold chain on his neck. They made a proclamation before him: 'Elel and habirel'. He put a signet ring on his hand and made him ruler over his entire household. He made him great and said: T will not be greater than you except with regard to my throne only'. So Joseph took control over the entire land of Egypt. All of the pharaoh's princes, his servants, and all who were doing the king's work loved him because he conducted himself in a truthful way. In him there was no arrogance, pri[de ... ... his daughter-in-law [Tajmar: 'Remain in your father's house as a widow until my son Selon grows up. Then I will give you to him as a wife'. He grew up, but Judah's wife Batsua did not allow her son Selon to marry her. Judah's wife Bethsua died during the fifth year of this week. In its sixth year Judah went up to shear his sheep in Timnah. Tamar was told: 'Your father-in-law is now going up to shear his sheep in Timnah'. Then she put aside her widow's clothing from herself, put on the best clothes, made herself up, and sat down at the gate near the road to Timnah. When Judah arrived, he found her and supposed that she was a prostitute. He said to her: 'Let me come in to you'. She said: 'Come in'. So he came in to her. She said to him: 'Give me my fee'. He said: T have nothing with me except the ring which I have on my finger, a neck chain, and the staff which is in my hand'. She said to him: 'Give them to me until you send my fee'. Judah said: 'I am sending you a kid'. He gave them to her. After he was with her, she became pregnant by him. Then Judah went to the sheep. He sent the kid to her through his shepherd Adollam (?), but he did not find her. He asked the men of that area: 'Where is the prostitute who was here?' They said to him: 'There is no prostitute here with us'. When he returned, he told Judah: 'I did not find her. But I also asked the men of that area and they said that there was no prostitute in that area'. Judah said: 'Let her have them so that she does not mock us'. When three months were completed for her, she was visibly pregnant. Judah was told: 'Your daughter-in-law Tamar is now pregnant'. Judah came to her father's house and said to her father and brothers: 'Bring her out and let her be burned because she has done something impure in Israel'. When she was brought out to be burned, she sent the ring, the neck chain, and the staff to her father-in-law and said: 'Recognize whose these are; I am pregnant by him'. ... ... but in the land of Egypt there was food because Joseph had gathered the grain of the land during the seven years of abundance and was keeping it. When the Egyptians came to Joseph so that he would give them food, he opened the storehouses in which the grain was and gave (it) to them to eat during the first year because he was selling (it) to them. But the famine was very severe in the land of Canaan. Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, so he sent his ten sons to get food for him. But he did not send Benjamin with them. Jacob's ten sons arrived in Egypt. Joseph recognized them, but they did not recognize him. Joseph addressed them harshly and said to them: 'You have come to investigate the land'. He then imprisoned them. He sent and summoned them; when he had taken Simeon from them, he bound him and sent his nine brothers away. He filled their containers and returned their money to them. He ordered them regarding their youngest brother that they were to bring him. Jacob's sons went up from the land of Egypt and came to the land of Canaan. They told their father what had happened to them and how the ruler of the land had spoken harshly with them and was holding Simeon 'until we should present our brother Benjamin to him'. Jacob said: 'Me you have deprived of children. Joseph does not exist nor does Simeon exist; if you take Benjamin, you are also making your evil full on me'. He said: 'My son will not go with you lest he should ever become ill on the way. For their mother gave birth to these two boys; one has died, and if you take this one and he would catch some sickness on the way, you would bring down my old age with sorrow to the depths'. For they said to him that their money was also returned to them with their containers, and Jacob was afraid to send him with them. Now the famine grew increasingly severe in the land because many Egyptians had kept their seed in storage place(s), that is, after they saw Joseph collecting grain and placing (it) in storehouses so that it would be kept for the years of the famine. The Egyptians] ate it ... ... the land of Egypt [suffer] ed from the famine, Joseph gained the whole land of Egypt for the pharaoh in exchange for food. For he acquired the people, the cattle, and everything for the pharaoh. When the seven years of the famine were completed, Joseph gave seed and food to the people of the land so that they could seed the land in the eighth year because the river had overflowed the entire land of Egypt. For during the seven years of the famine it had not overflowed and had irrigated only a few places at the river bank. The Egyptians seeded their land during the eighth year and gathered good produce that year. That was the first year of the fifth week in the forty-fifth jubilee. Joseph took a fifth of everything that had been produced in the land of Egypt as the royal share, and he gave them four parts for food and seed. Joseph made this a law for all the Egyptians in the entire land of Egypt until today. Israel lived for 17 years in the land of Egypt. All of the years of his life that he lived were three jubilees — 147 years. Then he departed and died. During the forty-fifth jubilee, in the fourth year of the fifth week, Israel blessed his sons before he died. He told what would happen to them in the land of Egypt in the last days. He blessed them and blessed Joseph doubly in the land. He slept with his fathers and was buried near his father Abraham in the double cave in the land of Canaan — in the grave which he had dug for himself in Hebron. He gave all his books and the books of his father to his son Levi so that he could preserve them and renew them for his sons until today. After the death of Jacob, the children of Israel became numerous in the land of Egypt. They became a great nation; and they were of the same mind so that each one loved the others. Each one joined his neighbor. The king of Canaan conceived an evil plan in order to make them suffer. At that time the Egyptians said: 'The nation of the Israelites has now greatly increased and they have become more numerous than we are. Come on, therefore, let us make them suffer before they multiply and let us humble them through their works so that war may not come our way, and then they, too, will fight against us to (?) our enemies as they leave our land because their mind(s) and faces (look) toward the land of Canaan'. The king appointed taskmasters over them to make them surfer through their works. They built fortified cities for the pharaoh — Pithom, Ramses, and Oon. They built every wall which had been destroyed in the cities of Egypt. They reduced them to slavery by force, but however much they would humble them the more they would multiply. The Egyptians considered the Israelites detestable. During the forty-seventh jubilee, in the seventh year of its seventh week, his father came from the land of Canaan. He was born during the fourth week, in its sixth year, in the forty-eighth jubilee. This was the time of distress for the Israelites. The pharaoh, the king of Egypt, had given orders regarding them that they were to throw their sons — all the males who were born to them — into the river. They continued throwing (them in) for seven months until the time when you were born. Your mother hid you for three months. Then they told about her. As she was afraid, she made a box, covered it with asphalt and pitch, and put it at the river bank. She put you in it for seven days. Your mother would come at night and nurse you; during the day your sister Miriam would protect you from the birds. At that time Tcrmot, the pharaoh's daughter, went out to bathe in the river and he^rd you crying. She told her slave to bring the baby to her, so they brought you. She took you out of the box and pitied you. Then your sister said to her: T will go and summon for you, if you wish, a Hebrew woman who will nurse him for you'. She said to her: 'Go'. She summoned her and your mother Jochebet. She gave that woman wages ... taught ........ When [you had] completed] ..... weeks ... they [brou]ght you into the royal court. You remained ..... for three weeks of years until the time when you went from the royal court and saw the Egyptian beating your brother. You struck him, dug into the ground, and buried him in the sand. On the next day you found two of the Israelites fighting. You said to the one who was beating his fellow: 'Why are you beating your brother?' He became angry with indignation ... said: 'Who appointed you as ruler or judge over us? Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?' ... because of this ... During the forty-ninth jubilee, in the sixth year of the third week, you went and lived in the land of Midfian] ... for five weeks and one year. In the fiftieth jubilee, in the second week, during its second year, you returned to Egypt. You yourself know the one who spoke with you at Mt. Sinai and what the prince of Mastema wanted to do to you while you were returning to Egypt — on the way on which you passed him, at the lodging place. Did he not wish with all his strength to kill you so that they could save the Egyptians from your power because he saw that you were sent to carry out punishment and to take revenge on the Egyptians? I rescued you from his power. You performed the signs and miracles which you were sent to perform in Egypt and against the pharaoh, all his house, and all his nation. God effected .... a great revenge on account of Israel. He struck them with blood, frogs, gnats (?), dog flies, bad sore(s) which ........... their cattle with death; and with hailstones he annihilated all their plants; locusts ate the things that were left from the hail; with darkness; (and with the death) of their first-born of men and cattle. The Lord took revenge on all the gods of the Egyptians ... ... throughout [all] your lifetime so that you may celebrate (it) each year, once a year, on its days, in accord with its law. It will not pass by nor will it be (away) from its days and from month to month. For it is an eternal statute and it is written on the heavenly tablets regarding all the Israelites that they are to celebrate them each year on its day, once a year, throughout their history. It has no temporal limit because it is ordained forever. The man who is pure but does not know how to celebrate it on its prescribed day — to bring a sacrifice that is acceptable before the Lord, to eat and drink before the Lord on his festal day — will be destroyed, namely, the man who is impure and who is nearby, because he did not bring a sacrifice to the Lord at its time. That man will bear responsibility for his own sin. The Israelites will come and celebrate the passover at its time — on the fourteenth day of the first month — until the evening, from the third part of it until the third part of the night. For two parts of the day are in the light and a third part in the evening. This is what the Lord commanded you — to celebrate it in the evening. One is not to sacrifice at any hour of the daylight but in the evening and one is to eat it during the evening hours in the third part of the night. Any of the meat that is left over from the third part of the night — this is to be burned. It is not boiled in water nor will it be eaten raw; but you will eat it carefully roasted on a fire — its head with the internal parts and its feet you will roast on a fire. None of its bones is to be broken. There is to be no distress among the Israelites on this day. Therefore the Lord ordered the Israelites to celebrate the passover on its specific day. No bone of it is to be broken on it because it is a festal day and a day which has been commanded. There is to be no passing over from day to day, from month and month but (it is to be celebrated) at its time. Now you order the Israelites to celebrate the passover each year during their history, once a year on its specific day. Then it will be an acceptable testimony before God and no plague will come from him to destroy and to extirpate them during that year in which they will celebrate the passover at its time in accord with all its commands. It will not be eaten outside of the Lord's sanctuary but at the Lord's tabernacle. All the Israelite throng will celebrate it at its time. Every man who passes (?) in the census — from 20 years of age and above — is to eat it in the sanctuary of our God before the Lord, because this is the way it has been commanded and written — that it is to be eaten in his sanctuary. When the Israelites enter the land which they will possess — the land of Canaan — and live in God's tabernacle in the middle of the land in one of their tribes (until the day when God's temple will be built in the land), they will come and celebrate the passover before God's tabernacle each year. At the time when the house will be built in the Lord's name in the land which they will possess, there they will offer and sacrifice the passover until evening — about sunset — in the third part of the day. They will offer its blood on the base of the altar. They will offer the fat on the fire of the altar and will eat the meat roasted on a fire in the courtyard of the sanctuary in the name of the Lord. They will not be able to celebrate the passover in their cities, in any place, except before the Lord's tabernacle or before the house in which his name has resided. Then they will not go astray from the Lord. Now you, Moses, order the Israelites to keep the statute of the passover, and as it was commanded to you tell them throughout each and every year, at the time of its days and throughout the festival of unleavened bread so that they may eat unleavened bread for seven days, celebrate its festival, and bring a sacrifice befo[re the Lord] each day during the seven joyful days ... Latin English Jubilees Palimpsest Project, based on Johannes Tromp (1992) and new readings 2017 Can be updated based on new evidence CC BY-SA ... which is the two thousand five-hundredth year since the creation of the earth —but according to those who live in the East the number is the ... and ... th-, and the ... th since the departure from Phoenicia, when the people left; after the departure that took place through Moses, until Amman over the Jordan; (sc. the book) of the prophecy, which was given by Moses according to the book of Deuteronomy, when he called unto him Joshua, the son of Nun, a man deemed worthy by the Lord to be the (sc. Moses’) successor for the people and for the tabernacle of the testimony with all its holy objects, and to lead the people into the land that was given to their fathers, so that it would be given to them on account of the covenant, and on account of the oath—the things he (sc. Moses) said in the tabernacle, namely that he (sc. God) would give it (sc. the land) through Joshua; saying to Joshua: “Keep this word, and promise to do impeccably everything that is commanded, according to your zeal. Therefore, thus says the Lord of the world. —For he created the world on behalf of his people, but he did not also reveal this purpose of the creation from the beginning of the world, so that the nations would be put to disgrace on their account, and, through their deliberations among themselves, to their own humiliation disgrace themselves. Therefore, he has devised and invented me, I who have been prepared from the beginning of the world to be the mediator of his covenant. But now, I will reveal it (sc. the purpose of God’s creation) to you, because the time of the years of my life is fulfilled, and I win go to the resting-place of my fathers, and before the entire people ... You, however, receive this writing, which serves to acknowledge the trustworthiness of the books which I will hand to you, and you must order them, embalm them, and put them in earthenware jars in a place which he made from the beginning of the creation of the world, so that his name be invoked; until the day of repentance, in the visitation with which the Lord will visit them in the fulfilment of the end of days. But now, they will enter through you into the land which he decided and promised to give to their fathers. And in it (sc. the land) you must give blessings, and you must give to each of them their share in it, and you must found for them a kingdom and arrange for them local rule according to their Lord’s wish in justice and righteousness. ... , however, after they will have entered into their land in the ...th year, and afterwards, they will be ruled by princes and kings for eighteen years, but in the nineteenth the ten tribes will break themselves loose. And the two tribes will separate themselves and transfer the tabernacle of the testimony. Then the heavenly God will fasten the pole of his tabernacle and the tower of his sanctuary, and the two (sc. tribes) will be appointed as holy tribes. The ten tribes, however, will establish for themselves kingdoms according to their own ordinances. And they will offer sacrifices for twenty years. And in the seventh they will surround themselves with walls, and as the ninth will have elapsed they will also abandon the covenant of the Lord, and defile the alliance the Lord made with them. And they will sacrifice their children to foreign gods, and erect idols in the tabernacle and serve them, and they will act disgraciously in the house of the Lord, and sculpt many idols of all kinds of animals. In those days a king from the East will come to them, and his cavalry will cover their land, and he will burn their city with fire, including the holy house of the Lord, and he will carry off all holy objects; and he will expel the entire people and lead them to his fatherland, and he will lead the two tribes with him. Then the two tribes will call upon the ten tribes, and they will retire into the fields like a lioness, covered with dust, starving and thirsting. And they will cry: ‘Righteous and holy is the Lord! Truly, because you have sinned, we and our children have been carried off just like you.’ Then the ten tribes will weep, hearing the reproaches of the two tribes, and they will say: ‘What can we say to you, brethren? Has not this distress come over the entire house of Israel?’ And all tribes will weep, crying unto heaven, and saying: ‘God of Abraham, and God of Isaac, and God of Jacob, remember your covenant, which you made with them, and the oath, which you swore by yourself, that their seed would never be absent from the land that you gave to them!’ Then, on that day, they will remember me, each tribe saying to the other, and each man to his neighbour: ‘Is it not this, the things which Moses formerly testified to us in his prophecies? Moses, who suffered many things in Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in the desert, during forty years. And having testified, he also called on heaven and earth to be witnesses, lest we should transgress his commandments, which he had mediated to us. But since then, these things have come over us, in accordance with his words and his solemn confirmation, which be testified to us in those days, and which have come true up to our expulsion into the land of the East.’ And they will be slaves there for seventy-seven years. Then someone will enter who is above them, and he will spread his arms and bend his knees, and pray for them, saying: ‘Lord, King of All in the throne on high, who rulest the world, who wanted this people to be your elect people. Then you wanted to be called their God, according to the covenant which you made with their fathers. But (now) they have gone as captives into a foreign land, with their wives and children, and to the gate of the gentiles, where there is great sadness. Behold, and have mercy on them, heavenly Lord!’ Then God will remember them, on account of the covenant which he had made with their fathers, and he will manifest his mercy in these days, too. And he will give it into the heart of the king to have mercy on them, and to let them return to their land and region. Then some parts of the tribes will go up, and they will come in the place that was appointed to be theirs, and they will rampart the place anew. But the two tribes will hold on to the allegiance that was ordained for them, mourning and weeping, because they will not be able to bring offerings to the Lord of their fathers. And the ten tribes will be more and more absorbed among the nations in a time of tribulations. And when the times of judgment will approach, revenge will come through kings who participate in crime and who will punish them. And they themselves will move away from the truth; wherefore it has been said: ‘They will avoid justice and turn to iniquity,’ and: ‘they will will defile the house of their worship with pollutions,’ and that ‘they will go whoring after foreign gods’. For they will not follow the truth of God, but some people will defile the altar with the offerings they will bring to the Lord, (sc. people) who are not priests, but slaves born of slaves. For the scholars who will be their teachers in those times will favour the persons that please them, and accept gifts; and they will sell legal settlements, accepting fees. And so their city and dwelling-place will be filled with crimes and injustice against God, since those who will do them will be impious judges: they will continually judge according to their own liking. Then, kings will arise for them to assume government, and they will proclaim themselves priests of the Most High God. They will act most impiously against the Holy of Holies. And a petulant king will succeed them, who will not be of priestly stock, a wicked and cruel man. And he will rule over them as they deserve. He will kill their men of distinction, and he will bury their corpses at unknown places, so that no one knows where their corpses are. He will kill old and young, and he will not spare. Then there will be bitter fear of him in their land. And he will judge them like the Egyptians for 34 years, and he will punish them. And he will bring forth children who will succeed him. They will rule for shorter periods. Cohorts will come into their territory, and a mighty king from the West, who will defeat them, and lead them off in chains. And he will burn part of their temple with fire, some he will crucify near their city. ... ... And pestilent and impious men will rule over them, who proclaim themselves to be righteous. And they will excite their wrathful souls; they will be deceitful men, self-complacent, hypocrites in all their dealings, and who love to debauch each hour of the day, devourers, gluttons, ... who eat the possessions of, saying they do this out of compassion ... murderers, complainers, liars, hiding themselves lest they be recognized as impious, full of crime and iniquity, from sunrise to sunset saying: ‘Let us have extravagant banquets, let us eat and drink. And let us act as if we are princes’. And their hands and minds will deal with impurities, and their mouth will speak enormities, saying in addition to all this: ‘Keep off, do not touch me, lest you pollute me... ’ And suddenly revenge and wrath will come over them, such as there will never have been over them since eternity until that time, in which he will raise for them the king of the kings of the earth, and a power with great might, who will hang on the cross those who confess circumcision, but who will torture those who deny it. And he will lead them chained into captivity, and their wives will be divided among the gentiles, and their sons will be operated on as children by physicians in order to put on them a foreskin. But they will be punished by torments, and with fire and sword, and they will be forced to carry publicly their idols. that are defiled, just like those who touch them. And they will also be forced by those who torture them to enter into their hidden place, and they will be forced with goads to disgracefully blaspheme the word. Finally, after these things (sc. they will be forced to blaspheme) also the laws through the things they will have upon their altar. Then, on that day, there will be a man from the tribe of Levi, whose name will be Taxo, who, having seven sons, will speak to them, saying: ‘See, my sons, behold, a second, cruel and unclean retribution is made against the people, and a punishment without mercy, and it surpasses the first one. For what nation, or what land, or what people rebellious against the Lord, having committed many crimes, has suffered woes as great as have come over us? Now then, my sons, hear me! See, then, and know that neither our parents, nor their ancestors have tempted God by transgressing his commandments. Surely you know that here lies our strength. And this we shall do: Let us fast for three days, and on the fourth day let us enter into the cave which is in the field, and let us die rather than transgress the commandments of the Lord of lords, the God of our fathers. For as we shall do this and die, our blood will be avenged before the Lord.’ And then his kingdom will appear in his entire creation. And then the devil will come to an end, and sadness will be carried away together with him. Then, the hands of the messenger, when he will be in heaven, will be filled, and he will then avenge them against their enemies. For the Heavenly One will rise from his royal throne, and he will go out from his holy habitation with anger and wrath on account of his sons. And the earth will tremble until its extremes it will be shaken, and the high mountains will be made low, and they will be shaken, and the valleys will sink. The sun will not give its light, and the horns of the moon will turn into darkness. and they will be broken; and (sc. the moon) will entirely be turned into blood, and the orbit of the stars will be upset. And the sea will fall back into the abyss, and the fountains of the waters will defect and the rivers will recoil. For the Highest God, the sole Eternal One, will rise, and he will manifest himself in order to punish the nations, and to destroy all their idols. Then you will be happy, Israel, and you will mount on the neck and the wings of an eagle, and they will be filled, and God will exalt you, and make you live in the heaven of the stars, the place of his habitation. And you will look down from above, and you will see your enemies on the earth, and you will recognize them. And you will rejoice, and you will thank and praise your Creator. But you, Joshua son of Nun, keep these words and this book. For from my death, my being taken away, until his (sc. God’s) advent, there will be 250 times that will happen. And this is the course of events that will come to pass, until they will be completed. But I shall go to the resting-place of my fathers. Therefore you, Joshua son of Nun, be strong. It is you, whom God has chosen to be my successor to his covenant.” And when Joshua had heard Moses’ words as they were written in his writing. everything they foretold, he rent his clothes and fell at Moses' feet. And Moses comforted him and wept with him. And Joshua answered him and said: “Why do you terrify me, lord Moses, and how will I hide myself from what you have said with the bitter voice that came from your mouth, and which is full of tears and sighs, because you will presently go away from this people? What place will receive you, or what will be the monument on your grave, or who, being human. will dare to carry your body from one place to another? For all who die when their time has come have a grave in the earth. But your grave extends from the East to the West, and from the North to the extreme South. The entire world is your grave. Lord, you are leaving. And who will feed this people, or who will be there to take mercy on them, and who will be their leader on the way, or who will pray for them, not omitting one single day, so that I can lead them into the land of the Amorites? How will I be able to <guard> this people, like a father his only son, or like a woman her daughter—a virgin who is being prepared to be given to a man—, and who is anxious to protect her (sc. daughter’s) body from the sun and her feet from going unshod over the ground? And whence will I procure for them the food and drink they urgently need? For their <number> was a hundred thousand, but now they have grown into this multitude here only because of your prayers, lord Moses. And what wisdom or understanding have I to administer justice or pronounce a verdict in accordance with the words of the Lord? Furthermore, the kings of the Amorites, after they have heard—whilst believing that they can defeat us—, that the holy and sacred spirit, the worthy one before the Lord, the versatile and inscrutable lord of the word, the trusted one in everything, the divine prophet for this world. the perfect teacher for this earth, is no longer with them, will say: Let us go at them. If the enemies will sin against their Lord once more, there is no longer an advocate for them, who will supplicate to the Lord for them, as Moses was, the great messenger, who bent his knees on earth every hour of the day and of the night, praying; and who could look at him who rules the entire world with mercy and justice, reminding him of the covenant with the fathers. and placating the Lord with his oath’; surely they will say: ‘He is no longer with them. Let us go, then, and let us wipe them from the face of the earth.’ What then will happen to this people, lord Moses?” And after Joshua finished speaking, he again fell at Moses’ feet. But Moses took his hand and raised him up into the seat before him. And he answered and said to him: “Joshua, do not think too lightly of yourself, but show yourself free from care. And give heed to my words.” God has created all nations on earth, and he foresaw us, them as well as us, from the beginning of the creation of the earth until the end of the world. And nothing has been overlooked by him, not even the smallest detail, but he has seen and known everything beforehand. When he made them, the Lord saw beforehand all things that were to happen in this world. And behold, ... will be taken away. The Lord has appointed me for them and for their sins, that I should pray and supplicate for them; yet not on account of my virtue or strength, but out of long-suffering his mercy and his patience have befallen me. Therefore, I say to you, Joshua, not on account of the piety of this people will you defeat the nations. All the firmaments of heaven and fundaments of the earth are made as approved of by God, and they are under the ring of his right hand. If they therefore do the commandments of God perfectly, they will grow and prosper. But the sinners and those who neglect the commandments <must> miss the goods that have been foretold, and they will be punished by the nations with many torments. But it cannot happen that he will exterminate and leave them entirely. For God, who sees everything beforehand in eternity, will go out, and his covenant stands firm. And through the oath which ...