A Prophecy of Esau and Jacob

Chapter 29

¹ And it came to pass when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Laban went to shear his sheep; for they were distant from him a three days’ journey.

² And Jacob saw that Laban was going to shear his sheep, and Jacob called Leah and Rachel, and spoke kindly to them that they should come with him to the land of Canaan.

³ For he told them how he had seen everything in a dream, even all that He had spoken to him that he should return to his father’s house, and they said: ‘To every place wherever you go we will go with you.’

⁴ And Jacob blessed the God of Isaac his father, and the God of Abraham his father’s father, and he arose and mounted his wives and his children, and took all his possessions and crossed the river, and came to the land of Gilead, and Jacob hid his intention from Laban and told him not.

⁵ And in the seventh year of the fourth week Jacob turned (his face) toward Gilead in the first month, on the twenty-first of it. And Laban pursued after him and overtook Jacob in the mountain of Gilead in the third month, on the thirteenth of it.

⁶ And the Lord did not suffer him to injure Jacob; for he appeared to him in a dream by night. And Laban spoke to Jacob.

⁷ And on the fifteenth of those days Jacob made a feast for Laban, and for all who came with him, and Jacob swore to Laban that day, and Laban also to Jacob, that neither should cross the mountain of Gilead to the other with evil purpose.

⁸ And he made there a heap for a witness; wherefore the name of that place is called: ‘The Heap of Witness,’ after this heap.

⁹ But before they used to call the land of Gilead the land of the Rephaim; for it was the land of the Rephaim, and the Rephaim were born (there), giants whose height was ten, nine, eight down to seven cubits.

¹⁰ And their habitation was from the land of the children of Ammon to Mount Hermon, and the seats of their kingdom were Karnaim and Ashtaroth, and Edrei, and Misur, and Beon.

¹¹ And the Lord destroyed them because of the evil of their deeds; for they were very malignant, and the Amorites dwelt in their stead, wicked and sinful, and there is no people to-day which has wrought to the full all their sins, and they have no longer length of life on the earth.

¹² And Jacob sent away Laban, and he departed into Mesopotamia, the land of the East, and Jacob returned to the land of Gilead.

¹³ And he passed over the Jabbok in the ninth month, on the eleventh of it. And on that day Esau, his brother, came to him, and he was reconciled to him, and departed from him to the land of Seir, but Jacob dwelt in tents.

¹⁴ And in the first year of the fifth week in this jubilee he crossed the Jordan, and dwelt beyond the Jordan, and he pastured his sheep from the sea of the heap to Bethshan, and to Dothan and to the forest of Akrabbim.

¹⁵ And he sent to his father Isaac of all his substance, clothing, and food, and meat, and drink, and milk, and butter, and cheese, and some dates of the valley.

¹⁶ And to his mother Rebecca also four times a year, between the times of the months, between ploughing and reaping, and between autumn and the rain (season) and between winter and spring, to the tower of Abraham.

¹⁷ For Isaac had returned from the Well of the Oath and gone up to the tower of his father Abraham, and he dwelt there apart from his son Esau.

¹⁸ For in the days when Jacob went to Mesopotamia, Esau took to himself a wife Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael, and he gathered together all the flocks of his father and his wives, and went up and dwelt on Mount Seir, and left Isaac his father at the Well of the Oath alone.

¹⁹ And Isaac went up from the Well of the Oath and dwelt in the tower of Abraham his father on the mountains of Hebron,

²⁰ And there Jacob sent all that he sent to his father and his mother from time to time, all they needed, and they blessed Jacob with all their heart and with all their soul.

Chapter 30

¹ And in the first year of the sixth week he went up to Salem, to the east of Shechem, in peace, in the fourth month.

² And there they carried off Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, into the house of Shechem, the son of Hamor, the Hivite, the prince of the land, and he lay with her and defiled her, and she was a little girl, a child of twelve years.

³ And he besought his father and her brothers that she might be given to him to wife. And Jacob and his sons were angry because of the men of Shechem; for they had defiled Dinah, their sister, and they spoke to them with evil intent and dealt deceitfully with them and beguiled them.

⁴ And Simeon and Levi came unexpectedly to Shechem and executed judgment on all the men of Shechem, and slew all the men whom they found in it, and left not a single one remaining in it: they slew all in torments because they had dishonoured their sister Dinah.

⁵ And thus let it not again be done from henceforth that a daughter of Israel be defiled; for judgment is ordained in heaven against them that they should destroy with the sword all the men of the Shechemites because they had brought shame in Israel.

⁶ And the Lord delivered them into the hands of the sons of Jacob that they might exterminate them with the sword and execute judgment upon them, and that it might not thus again be done in Israel that a virgin of Israel should be defiled.

⁷ And if there is any man who wishes in Israel to give his daughter or his sister to any man who is of the seed of the Gentiles he shall surely die, and they shall stone him with stones; for he has brought shame in Israel; and they shall burn the woman with fire, because she has dishonoured the name of the house of her father, and she shall be rooted out of Israel.

⁸ And let not an adulteress and no uncleanness be found in Israel throughout all the days of the generations of the earth; for Israel is holy to the Lord, and every man who has defiled (it) shall surely die: they shall stone him with stones.

⁹ For thus has it been ordained and written in the heavenly tablets regarding all the seed of Israel: he who defileth (it) shall surely die, and he shall be stoned with stones.

¹⁰ And to this law there is no limit of days, and no remission, nor any atonement: but the man who has defiled his daughter shall be rooted out in the middle of all Israel, because he has given of his seed to Moloch, and done impiously so as to defile it.

¹¹ And do you, Moses, command the children of Israel and exhort them not to give their daughters to the Gentiles, and not to take for their sons any of the daughters of the Gentiles, for this is abominable before the Lord.

¹² For this reason I have written for you in the words of the Law all the deeds of the Shechemites, which they did against Dinah, and how the sons of Jacob spoke, saying: ‘We will not give our daughter to a man who is uncircumcised; for that were a reproach to us.’

¹³ And it is a reproach to Israel, to those who live, and to those that take the daughters of the Gentiles; for this is unclean and abominable to Israel.

¹⁴ And Israel will not be free from this uncleanness if it has a wife of the daughters of the Gentiles, or has given any of its daughters to a man who is of any of the Gentiles.

¹⁵ For there will be plague upon plague, and curse upon curse, and every judgment and plague and curse will come : if he do this thing, or hide his eyes from those who commit uncleanness, or those who defile the sanctuary of the Lord, or those who profane His holy name, (then) will the whole nation together be judged for all the uncleanness and profanation of this man.

¹⁶ And there will be no respect of persons [and no consideration of persons] and no receiving at his hands of fruits and offerings and burnt-offerings and fat, nor the fragrance of sweet savour, so as to accept it: and so fare every man or woman in Israel who defiles the sanctuary.

¹⁷ For this reason I have commanded you, saying: ‘Testify this testimony to Israel: see how the Shechemites fared and their sons: how they were delivered into the hands of two sons of Jacob, and they slew them under tortures, and it was (reckoned) to them for righteousness, and it is written down to them for righteousness.

¹⁸ And the seed of Levi was chosen for the priesthood, and to be Levites, that they might minister before the Lord, as we, continually, and that Levi and his sons may be blessed for ever; for he was zealous to execute righteousness and judgment and vengeance on all those who arose against Israel.

¹⁹ And so they inscribe as a testimony in his favour on the heavenly tablets blessing and righteousness before the God of all:

²⁰ And we remember the righteousness which the man fulfilled during his life, at all periods of the year; until a thousand generations they will record it, and it will come to him and to his descendants after him, and he has been recorded on the heavenly tablets as a friend and a righteous man.

²¹ All this account I have written for you, and have commanded you to say to the children of Israel, that they should not commit sin nor transgress the ordinances nor break the covenant which has been ordained for them, (but) that they should fulfil it and be recorded as friends. — who is the narrator here, the ‘I’?

²² But if they transgress and work uncleanness in every way, they will be recorded on the heavenly tablets as adversaries, and they will be destroyed out of the book of life, and they will be recorded in the book of those who will be destroyed and with those who will be rooted out of the earth.

²³ And on the day when the sons of Jacob slew Shechem a writing was recorded in their favour in heaven that they had executed righteousness and uprightness and vengeance on the sinners, and it was written for a blessing.

²⁴ And they brought Dinah, their sister, out of the house of Shechem, and they took captive everything that was in Shechem, their sheep and their oxen and their donkeys, and all their wealth, and all their flocks, and brought them all to Jacob their father.

²⁵ And he reproached them because they had put the city to the sword for he feared those who dwelt in the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites.

²⁶ And the dread of the Lord was upon all the cities which are around about Shechem, and they did not rise to pursue after the sons of Jacob; for terror had fallen upon them.

Chapter 31

¹ And on the new moon of the month Jacob spoke to all the people of his house. saying: ‘Purify yourselves and change your garments, and let us arise and go up to Bethel, where I vowed a vow to Him on the day when I fled from the face of Esau my brother, because he has been with me and brought me into this land in peace, and put you away the strange gods that arc among you.’

² And they gave up the strange gods and that was in their ears and which was on their necks and the idols which Rachel stole from Laban her father she gave wholly to Jacob. And he burnt and brake them to pieces and destroyed them, and hid them under an oak which is in the land of Shechem.

³ And he went up on the new moon of the seventh month to Bethel. And he built an altar at the place where he had slept, and he set up a pillar there, and he sent word to his father Isaac to come to him to his sacrifice, and to his mother Rebecca.

⁴ And Isaac said: ‘Let my son Jacob come, and let me see him before I die.’

⁵ And Jacob went to his father Isaac and to his mother Rebecca, to the house of his father Abraham, and he took two of his sons with him, Levi and Judah, and he came to his father Isaac and to his mother Rebecca.

⁶ And Rebecca came forth from the tower to the front of it to kiss Jacob and embrace him; for her spirit had revived when she heard: ‘Behold Jacob your son has come;’ and she kissed him.

⁷ And she saw his two sons, and she recognised them, and said to him: ‘Are these your sons, my son?’ and she embraced them and kissed them, and blessed them, saying: ‘In you shall the seed of Abraham become illustrious, and you shall prove a blessing on the earth.’

⁸ And Jacob went in to Isaac his father, to the chamber where he lay, and his two sons were with him, and he took the hand of his father, and stooping down he kissed him, and Isaac clung to the neck of Jacob his son, and wept upon his neck.

⁹ And the darkness left the eyes of Isaac, and he saw the two sons of Jacob, Levi, and Judah, and he said: ‘Are these your sons, my son? for they are like you.’

¹⁰ And he said to him that they were truly his sons: ‘And you have truly seen that they are truly my sons.’

11 And they came near to him, and he turned and kissed them and embraced them both together.

¹² And the spirit of prophecy came down into his mouth, and he took Levi by his right hand and Judah by his left.

¹³ And he turned to Levi first, and began to bless him first, and said to him: May the God of all, the very Lord of all the ages, bless you and your children throughout all the ages.

¹⁴ And may the Lord give to you and to your seed greatness and great glory, and cause you and your seed, from among all flesh, to approach Him to serve in His sanctuary as the angels of the presence and as the holy ones. (Even) as they, shall the seed of your sons be for glory and greatness and holiness, and may He make them great to all the ages.

¹⁵ And they shall be judges and princes, and chiefs of all the seed of the sons of Jacob;

They shall speak the word of the Lord in righteousness,
And they shall judge all His judgments in righteousness.
And they shall declare My ways to Jacob
And My paths to Israel.
The blessing of the Lord shall be given in their mouths
To bless all the seed of the beloved.

¹⁶ Your mother has called your name Levi,

And justly has she called your name;
You shall be joined to the Lord
And be the companion of all the sons of Jacob;
Let His table be your,
And and your sons eat of it;
And may your table be full to all generations,
And your food fail not to all the ages.

¹⁷ And let all who hate you fall down before you,

And let all your adversaries be rooted out and perish;
And blessed be he that blesses you,
And cursed be every nation that curses you.’

¹⁸ And to Judah he said:

‘May the Lord give you strength and power
To tread down all that hate you;

¹⁹ A prince shall you be, you and one of your sons, over the sons of Jacob;

May your name and the name of your sons go forth and traverse every land and region.
Then shall the Gentiles fear before your face,
And all the nations shall quake
[And all the peoples shall quake].
In you shall be the help of Jacob,
And in you be found the salvation of Israel.

²⁰ And when you sittest on the throne of honour of your righteousness

There shall be great peace for all the seed of the sons of the beloved;
Blessed be he that blesseth you,
And all that hate you and afflict you and curse you
Shall be rooted out and destroyed from the earth and be accursed.’

²¹ And turning he kissed him again and embraced him, and rejoiced greatly; for he had seen the sons of Jacob his son in very truth.

²² And he went out from between his feet and fell down and bowed down to him, and he blessed them and rested there with Isaac his father that night, and they eat and drank with joy.

²³ And he made the two sons of Jacob sleep, the one on his right hand and the other on his left, and it was counted to him for righteousness.

— despite the birthright holder, I Chronicles 5:2 Joseph wasn’t in this blessings by Isaac, which seems unusual; second, as Jacob love Joseph more than any of the other sons, it is unbelievable that Jacob didnt bring him along with him; and

— third, that Jacob showed no feeling or reflection for having Joseph missed out this blessings by Isaac. Hence the biasness of the writer of the Book of Jubilees.

²⁴ And Jacob told his father everything during the night, how the Lord had shown him great mercy, and how he had prospered (him in) all his ways, and protected him from all evil.

²⁵ And Isaac blessed the God of his father Abraham, who had not withdrawn his mercy and his righteousness from the sons of his servant Isaac.

²⁶ And in the morning Jacob told his father Isaac the vow which he had vowed to the Lord, and the vision which he had seen, and that he had built an altar, and that everything was ready for the sacrifice to be made before the Lord as he had vowed, and that he had come to set him on an ass.

²⁷ And Isaac said to Jacob his son: ‘I am not able to go with you; for I am old and not able to bear the way: go, my son, in peace; for I am one hundred and sixty-five years this day; I am no longer able to journey; set your mother (on an ass) and let her go with you.

²⁸ And I know, my son, that you have come on my account, and may this day be blessed on which you have seen me alive, and I also have seen you, my son.

²⁹ May you prosper and fulfil the vow which you have vowed; and put not off your vow; for you shall be called to account as touching the vow; now therefore make haste to perform it, and may He be pleased who has made all things, to whom you have vowed the vow.’

³⁰ And he said to Rebecca: ‘Go with Jacob your son;’ and Rebecca went with Jacob her son, and Deborah with her, and they came to Bethel.

³¹ And Jacob remembered the prayer with which his father had blessed him and his two sons, Levi and Judah, and he rejoiced and blessed the God of his fathers, Abraham and Isaac.

³² And he said: ‘Now I know that I have an eternal hope, and my sons also, before the God of all;’ and thus is it ordained concerning the two; and they record it as an eternal testimony to them on the heavenly tablets how Isaac blessed them.

Chapter 32

¹ And he abode that night at Bethel, and Levi dreamed that they had ordained and made him the priest of the Most High God, him and his sons for ever; and he awoke from his sleep and blessed the Lord.

² And Jacob rose early in the morning, on the fourteenth of this month, and he gave a tithe of all that came with him, both of men and cattle, both of gold and every vessel and garment, yea, he gave tithes of all.

³ And in those days Rachel became pregnant with her son Benjamin. And Jacob counted his sons from him upwards and Levi fell to the portion of the Lord, and his father clothed him in the garments of the priesthood and filled his hands. — counting backward or upward would make Levi the tenth in the lineage of sonship, hence a tenth as tithe, but why counting backward or upward?

⁴ And on the fifteenth of this month, he brought to the altar fourteen oxen from amongst the cattle, and twenty-eight rams, and forty-nine sheep, and seven lambs, and twenty-one kids of the goats as a burnt-offering on the altar of sacrifice, well pleasing for a sweet savour before God.

⁵ This was his offering, in consequence of the vow which he had vowed that he would give a tenth, with their fruit-offerings and their drink-offerings.

⁶ And when the fire had consumed it, he burnt incense on the fire over the fire, and for a thank-offering two oxen and four rams and four sheep, four he-goats, and two sheep of a year old, and two kids of the goats; and thus he did daily for seven days.

⁷ And he and all his sons and his men were eating (this) with joy there during seven days and blessing and thanking the Lord, who had delivered him out of all his tribulation and had given him his vow.

⁸ And he tithed all the clean animals, and made a burnt sacrifice, but the unclean animals he gave (not) to Levi his son, and he gave him all the souls of the men

⁹ And Levi discharged the priestly office at Bethel before Jacob his father in preference to his ten brothers, and he was a priest there, and Jacob gave his vow: thus he tithed again the tithe to the Lord and sanctified it, and it became holy to Him.

¹⁰ And for this reason it is ordained on the heavenly tablets as a law for the tithing again the tithe to eat before the Lord from year to year, in the place where it is chosen that His name should dwell, and to this law there is no limit of days for ever.

¹¹ This ordinance is written that it may be fulfilled from year to year in eating the second tithe before the Lord in the place where it has been chosen, and nothing shall remain over from it from this year to the year following.

¹² For in its year shall the seed be eaten till the days of the gathering of the seed of the year, and the wine till the days of the wine, and the oil till the days of its season.

¹³ And all that is left of it and becomes old, let it be regarded as polluted: let it be burnt with fire, for it is unclean.

¹⁴ And thus let them eat it together in the sanctuary, and let them not suffer it to become old.

¹⁵ And all the tithes of the oxen and sheep shall be holy to the Lord, and shall belong to his priests, which they will eat before Him from year to year; for thus is it ordained and engraven regarding the tithe on the heavenly tablets.

¹⁶ And on the following night, on the twenty-second day of this month, Jacob resolved to build that place, and to surround the court with a wall, and to sanctify it and make it holy for ever, for himself and his children after him.

¹⁷ And the Lord appeared to him by night and blessed him and said to him: ‘Your name shall not be called Jacob, but Israel shall they name your name.’

¹⁸ And He said to him again: ‘I am the Lord who created the heaven and the earth, and I will increase you and multiply you exceedingly, and kings shall come forth from you, and they shall judge everywhere wherever the foot of the sons of men has trodden.

¹⁹ And I will give to your seed all the earth which is under heaven, and they shall judge all the nations according to their desires, and after that they shall get possession of the whole earth and inherit it for ever.’

²⁰ And He finished speaking with him, and He went up from him.

²¹ And Jacob looked till He had ascended into heaven. And he saw in a vision of the night, and behold an angel descended from heaven with seven tablets in his hands, and he gave them to Jacob, and he read them and knew all that was written therein which would befall him and his sons throughout all the ages.

²² And he showed him all that was written on the tablets, and said to him: ‘Do not build this place, and do not make it an eternal sanctuary, and do not dwell here; for this is not the place. Go to the house of Abraham your father and dwell with Isaac your father until the day of the death of your father.

²³ For in Egypt you shall die in peace, and in this land you shall be buried with honour in the sepulchre of your fathers, with Abraham and Isaac.

²⁴ Fear not, for as you have seen and read it, thus shall it all be; and write down everything as you have seen and read.’

²⁵ And Jacob said: ‘Lord, how can I remember all that I have read and seen? ‘And he said to him: ‘I will bring all things to your remembrance.’

²⁶ And he went up from him, and he awoke from his sleep, and he remembered everything which he had read and seen, and he wrote down all the words which he had read and seen.

²⁷ And he celebrated there yet another day, and he sacrificed thereon according to all that he sacrificed on the former days, and called its name ‘Addition,’ for this day was added and the former days he called ‘The Feast.’ — is this the 22nd “of the seventh month” (Chapter 31:3)? if so this would be added after the Last Great Day, or Shemini Atzeret.

²⁸ And thus it was manifested that it should be, and it is written on the heavenly tablets: wherefore it was revealed to him that he should celebrate it, and add it to the seven days of the feast.

²⁹ And its name was called ‘Addition,’ because that it was recorded amongst the days of the feast days, according to the number of the days of the year. — is this ‘Addition,’ feast celebrated by the Essenes?

³⁰ And in the night, on the twenty-third of this month, Deborah Rebecca’s nurse died, and they buried her beneath the city under the oak of the river, and he called the name of this place, ‘The river of Deborah,’ and the oak, ‘The oak of the mourning of Deborah.’

³¹ And Rebecca went and returned to her house to his father Isaac, and Jacob sent by her hand rams and sheep and he-goats that she should prepare a meal for his father such as he desired.

³² And he went after his mother till he came to the land of Kabratan, and he dwelt there.

³³ And Rachel bore a son in the night, and called his name ‘Son of my sorrow;’ for she suffered in giving him birth: but his father called his name Benjamin, on the eleventh of the eighth month in the first of the sixth week of this jubilee.

³⁴ And Rachel died there and she was buried in the land of Ephrath, the same is Bethlehem, and Jacob built a pillar on the grave of Rachel, on the road above her grave.

~ by Joel on December 17, 2024.

Posted in Books of Ancients