A Prophecy of Esau and Jacob

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Chapter 41

¹ And in the forty-fifth jubilee, in the second week, (and) in the second year, Judah took for his first-born Er, a wife from the daughters of Aram, named Tamar. — Aram is where Syria is; its language is Aramaic; so was from where Haran was, their kinship region where Rebecca, Leah and Rachel, were from;

— perhaps Judah regretted taking Betasu’el, a Canaanite, for wife; and he wanted to make good by having his firstborn marrying a daughter from his kinmen; but Er, his firstborn, resented;

² But he hated, and did not lie with her, because his mother was of the daughters of Canaan, and he wished to take him a wife of the kinsfolk of his mother, but Judah, his father, would not permit him. — so Er, Judah’s firstborn, wanted a Canaanite to be his wife, but Judah prefered him to take one from his kinship from Haran; hence the crash;

³ And this Er, the first-born of Judah, was wicked, and the Lord slew him.

⁴ And Judah said to Onan, his brother ‘Go in to your brother’s wife and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her, and raise up seed to your brother.’

⁵ And Onan knew that the seed would not be his, (but) his brother’s only, and he went into the house of his brother’s wife, and spilt the seed on the ground, and he was wicked in the eyes of the Lord, and He slew him.

⁶ And Judah said to Tamar, his daughter-in-law: ‘Remain in your father’s house as a widow till Shelah my son be grown up, and I shall give you to him to wife.’

⁷ And he grew up; but Bedsu’el, the wife of Judah, did not permit her son Shelah to marry. And Bedsu’el, the wife of Judah, died in the fifth year of this week. — not allowing her son Shelah to marry Tamar would be another wicked thing before the Lord, and perhaps, the Lord slew her as well;

⁸ And in the sixth year Judah went up to shear his sheep at Timnah.

⁹ And they told Tamar: ‘Behold your father-in-law goeth up to Timnah to shear his sheep.’ And she put off her widow’s clothes, and put on a veil, and adorned herself, and sat in the gate adjoining the way to Timnah.

¹⁰ And as Judah was going along he found her, and thought her to be an harlot, and he said to her: ‘Let me come in to you;’ and she said to him ‘Come in,’ and he went in.

¹¹ And she said to him: ‘Give me my hire;’ and he said to her: ‘I have nothing in my hand save my ring that is on my finger, and my necklace, and my staff which is in my hand.’

¹² And she said to him ‘Give them to me until you do send me my hire’, and he said to her: ‘I will send to you a kid of the goats’; and he gave them to her, and she conceived by him.

¹³,And Judah went to his sheep, and she went to her father’s house.

¹⁴ And Judah sent a kid of the goats by the hand of his shepherd, an Adullamite, and he found her not; and he asked the people of the place, saying: ‘Where is the harlot who was here?’ And they said to him; ‘There is no harlot here with us.’

¹⁵ And he returned and informed him, and said to him that he had not found her: ‘I asked the people of the place, and they said to me: “There is no harlot here.” ‘ And he said: ‘Let her keep (them) lest we become a cause of derision.’

¹⁶ And when she had completed three months, it was manifest that she was with child, and they told Judah, saying: ‘Behold Tamar, your daughter-in-law, is with child by whoredom.’

¹⁷ And Judah went to the house of her father, and said to her father and her brothers: ‘Bring her forth, and let them burn her, for she has done uncleanness in Israel.’

¹⁸ And it came to pass when they brought her forth to burn her that she sent to her father-in-law the ring and the necklace, and the staff, saying: ‘Discern whose are these, for by him am I with child.’

¹⁹ And Judah acknowledged, and said: ‘Tamar is more righteous than I am.

²⁰ And therefore let them not burn her’ And for that reason she was not given to Shelah, and he did not again approach her.

²¹ And after that she bore two sons, Perez and Zerah, in the seventh year of this second week.

²² And thereupon the seven years of fruitfulness were accomplished, of which Joseph spoke to Pharaoh.

²³ And Judah acknowledged that the deed which he had done was evil, for he had lain with his daughter-in-law, and he esteemed it hateful in his eyes, and he acknowledged that he had transgressed and gone astray, for he had uncovered the skirt of his son, and he began to lament and to supplicate before the Lord because of his transgression.

²⁴ And we told him in a dream that it was forgiven him because he supplicated earnestly, and lamented, and did not again commit it.

²⁵ And he received forgiveness because he turned from his sin and from his ignorance, for he transgressed greatly before our God; and every one that acts thus, every one who lies with his mother-in-law, let them burn him with fire that he may burn therein, for there is uncleanness and pollution upon them, with fire let them burn them.

²⁶ And command the children of Israel that there be no uncleanness amongst them, for every one who lies with his daughter-in-law or with his mother-in-law has committed uncleanness; with fire let them burn the man who has lain with her, and likewise the woman, and He will turn away wrath and punishment from Israel.

²⁷ And to Judah we said that his two sons had not lain with her, and for this reason his seed was stablished for a second generation, and would not be rooted out.

²⁸ For in singleness of eye he had gone and sought for punishment, namely, according to the judgment of Abraham, which he had commanded his sons, Judah had sought to burn her with fire.

Chapter 42

¹ And in the first year of the third week of the forty-fifth jubilee the famine began to come into the land, and the rain refused to be given to the earth, for none whatever fell.

² And the earth grew barren, but in the land of Egypt there was food, for Joseph had gathered the seed of the land in the seven years of plenty and had preserved it.

³ And the Egyptians came to Joseph that he might give them food, and he opened the store-houses where was the grain of the first year, and he sold it to the people of the land for gold.

⁴ (Now the famine was very sore in the land of Canaan), and Jacob heard that there was food in Egypt, and he sent his ten sons that they should procure food for him in Egypt; but Benjamin he did not send, and arrived among those that went (there).

⁵ And Joseph recognised them, but they did not recognise him, and he spoke to them and questioned them, and he said to them; ‘Are you not spies and have you not come to explore the approaches of the land? ‘And he put them in ward.

⁶ And after that he set them free again, and detained Simeon alone and sent off his nine brothers.

⁷ And he filled their sacks with corn, and he put their gold in their sacks, and they did not know.

⁸ And he commanded them to bring their younger brother, for they had told him their father was living and their younger brother.

⁹ And they went up from the land of Egypt and they came to the land of Canaan; and they told their father all that had befallen them, and how the lord of the country had spoken roughly to them, and had seized Simeon till they should bring Benjamin.

¹⁰ And Jacob said: ‘Me have you bereaved of my children! Joseph is not and Simeon also is not, and you will take Benjamin away. On me has your wickedness come.

¹¹ ‘And he said: ‘My son will not go down with you lest perchance he fall sick; for their mother gave birth to two sons, and one has perished, and this one also you will take from me. If perchance he took a fever on the road, you would bring down my old age with sorrow to death.’

¹² For he saw that their money had been returned to every man in his sack, and for this reason he feared to send him.

¹³ And the famine increased and became sore in the land of Canaan, and in all lands save in the land of Egypt; for many of the children of the Egyptians had stored up their seed for food from the time when they saw Joseph gathering seed together and putting it in storehouses and preserving it for the years of famine.

¹⁴ And the people of Egypt fed themselves thereon during the first year of their famine.

¹⁵ But when Israel saw that the famine was very sore in the land, and that there was no deliverance, he said to his sons: ‘Go again, and procure food for us that we may not die.’

¹⁶ And they said: ‘We shall not go; unless our youngest brother go with us, we shall not go.’

¹⁷ And Israel saw that if he did not send him with them, they should all perish by reason of the famine.

¹⁸ And Reuben said: ‘Give him into my hand, and if I do not bring him back to you, slay my two sons instead of his soul.’ And he said to him: ‘He shall not go with you.’

¹⁹ And Judah came near and said: ‘Send him with me, and if I do not bring him back to you, let me bear the blame before you all the days of my life.’

²⁰ And he sent him with them in the second year of this week on the first day of the month, and they came to the land of Egypt with all those who went, and (they had) presents in their hands, stacte and almonds and terebinth nuts and pure honey. — reluctantly Jacob allowed Benjamin to go with them into Egypt;

²¹ And they went and stood before Joseph, and he saw Benjamin his brother, and he knew him, and said to them: Is this your youngest brother?’ And they said to him: ‘It is he.’ And he said ‘The Lord be gracious to you, my son!’

²² And he sent him into his house and he brought forth Simeon to them and he made a feast for them, and they presented to him the gift which they had brought in their hands.

²³ And they eat before him and he gave them all a portion, but the portion of Benjamin was seven times larger than that of any of theirs.

²⁴ And they eat and drank and arose and remained with their donkeys.

²⁵ And Joseph devised a plan whereby he might learn their thoughts as to whether thoughts of peace prevailed amongst them, and he said to the steward who was over his house: ‘Fill all their sacks with food, and return their money to them into their vessels, and my cup, the silver cup out of which I drink, put it in the sack of the youngest, and send them away.’

Chapter 43

¹ And he did as Joseph had told him, and filled all their sacks for them with food and put their money in their sacks, and put the cup in Benjamin’s sack.

² And early in the morning they departed, and it came to pass that, when they had gone from thence, Joseph said to the steward of his house: ‘Pursue them, run and seize them, saying, “For good you have requited me with evil; you have stolen from me the silver cup out of which my lord drinks.” And bring back to me their youngest brother, and fetch (him) quickly before I go forth to my seat of judgment.’

³ And he ran after them and said to them according to these words.

⁴ And they said to him: ‘God forbid that your servants should do this thing, and steal from the house of your lord any utensil, and the money also which we found in our sacks the first time, we your servants brought back from the land of Canaan.

⁵ How then should we steal any utensil? Behold here are we and our sacks search, and wherever you findest the cup in the sack of any man amongst us, let him be slain, and we and our donkeys will serve your lord.’

⁶ And he said to them: ‘Not so, the man with whom I find, him only shall I take as a servant, and you shall return in peace to your house.’

⁷ And as he was searching in their vessels, beginning with the eldest and ending with the youngest, it was found in Benjamin’s sack.

⁸ And they rent their garments, and laded their donkeys, and returned to the city and came to the house of Joseph, and they all bowed themselves on their faces to the ground before him.

⁹ And Joseph said to them: ‘You have done evil.’ And they said: ‘What shall we say and how shall we defend ourselves? Our lord has discovered the transgression of his servants; behold we are the servants of our lord, and our donkeys also.

¹⁰ ‘And Joseph said to them: ‘I too fear the Lord; as for you, go you to your homes and let your brother be my servant, for you have done evil. Do you not know that a man delights in his cup as I with this cup? And yet you have stolen it from me.’

¹¹ And Judah said: ‘O my lord, let your servant, I pray you, speak a word in my lord’s ear two brothers did your servant’s mother bear to our father: one went away and was lost, and has not been found, and he alone is left of his mother, and your servant our father loves him, and his life also is bound up with this lad’s life.

¹² And it will come to pass, when we go to your servant our father, and the lad is not with us, that he will die, and we shall bring down our father with sorrow to death.

¹³ Now rather let me, your servant, abide instead of the boy as a bondsman to my lord, and let the lad go with his brethren, for I became surety for him at the hand of your servant our father, and if I do not bring him back, your servant will hear the blame to our father for ever.’

¹⁴ And Joseph saw that they were all accordant in goodness one with another, and he could not refrain himself, and he told them that he was Joseph.

¹⁵ And he conversed with them in the Hebrew tongue and fell on their neck and wept.

¹⁶ But they knew him not and they began to weep. And he said to them: ‘Do not weep over me, but hasten and bring my father to me; and you see that it is my mouth that speaketh and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see.

¹⁷ For behold this is the second year of the famine, and there are still five years without harvest or fruit of trees or ploughing.

¹⁸ Come down quickly you and your households, so that you perish not through the famine, and do not be grieved for your possessions, for the Lord sent me before you to set things in order that many people might live.

¹⁹ And tell my father that I am still alive, and ye, behold, you see that the Lord has made me as a father to Pharaoh, and ruler over his house and over all the land of Egypt.

²⁰ And tell my father of all my glory, and all the riches and glory that the Lord has given me.’

²¹ And by the command of the mouth of Pharaoh he gave them chariots and provisions for the way, and he gave them all many-coloured raiment and silver.

²² And to their father he sent raiment and silver and ten donkeys which carried corn, and he sent them away.

²³ And they went up and told their father that Joseph was alive, and was measuring out corn to all the nations of the earth, and that he was ruler over all the land of Egypt.

²⁴ And their father did not believe it, for he was beside himself in his mind; but when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent, the life of his spirit revived, and he said: ‘It is enough for me if Joseph lives; I will go down and see him before I die.’

Chapter 44

¹ And Israel took his journey from Haran from his house on the new moon of the third month, and he went on the way of the Well of the Oath, and he offered a sacrifice to the God of his father Isaac on the seventh of this month.

² And Jacob remembered the dream that he had seen at Bethel, and he feared to go down into Egypt.

³ And while he was thinking of sending word to Joseph to come to him, and that he would not go down, he remained there seven days, if perchance he could see a vision as to whether he should remain or go down.

⁴ And he celebrated the harvest festival of the first-fruits with old grain, for in all the land of Canaan there was not a handful of seed [in the land], for the famine was over all the beasts and cattle and birds, and also over man. — the harvest festival of the first-fruits according to them (the writer and believers) would be the fifteenth of their third month of their calendar;

⁵ And on the sixteenth the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, ‘Jacob, Jacob’; and he said, ‘Here am I.’

⁶ And He said to him: ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and Isaac; fear not to go down into Egypt, for I will there make of you a great nation. I will go down with you, and I will bring you up (again), and in this land shall you be buried, and Joseph shall put his hands upon your eyes. Fear not; go down into Egypt.’

⁷ And his sons rose up, and his sons’ sons, and they placed their father and their possessions upon wagons.

⁸ And Israel rose up from the Well of the Oath on the sixteenth of this third month, and he went to the land of Egypt.

⁹ And Israel sent Judah before him to his son Joseph to examine the Land of Goshen, for Joseph had told his brothers that they should come and dwell there that they might be near him.

¹⁰ And this was the best (land) in the land of Egypt, and near to him, for all (of them) and also for the cattle.

¹¹ And these are the names of the sons of Jacob who went into Egypt with Jacob their father Reuben, the First-born of Israel; and these are the names of his sons Enoch, and Pallu, and Hezron and Carmi-five.

¹² Simeon and his sons; and these are the names of his sons: Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and Jachin, and Zohar, and Shaul, the son of the Zephasite woman-seven.

¹³ Levi and his sons; and these are the names of his sons: Gershon, and Kohas, and Merari-four.

¹⁴ Judah and his sons; and these are the names of his sons: Shela, and Perez, and Zerah-four.

¹⁵ Issachar and his sons; and these are the names of his sons: Tola, and Phua, and Jasub, and Shimron-five.

¹⁷ Zebulon and his sons; and these are the names of his sons: Sered, and Elon, and Jahleel-four.

¹⁸ And these are the sons of Jacob and their sons whom Leah bore to Jacob in Mesopotamia, six, and their one sister, Dinah and all the souls of the sons of Leah, and their sons, who went with Jacob their father into Egypt, were twenty-nine, and Jacob their father being with them, they were thirty.

¹⁹ And the sons of Zilpah, Leah’s handmaid, the wife of Jacob, who bore to Jacob Gad and Ashur.

²⁰ And there are the names of their sons who went with him into Egypt. The sons of Gad: Ziphion, and Haggi, and Shuni, and Ezbon, (and Eri, and Areli, and Arodi-eight.

²¹ And the sons of Asher: Imnah, and Ishvah, (and Ishvi), and Beriah, and Serah, their one sister-six.

²² All the souls were fourteen, and all those of Leah were forty-four.

²³ And the sons of Rachel, the wife of Jacob: Joseph and Benjamin.

²⁴ And there were born to Joseph in Egypt before his father came into Egypt, those whom Asenath, daughter of Potiphar priest of Heliopolis bore to him, Manasseh, and Ephraim-three.

²⁵ And the sons of Benjamin: Bela and Becher and Ashbel, Gera, and Naaman, and Ehi, and Rosh, and Muppim, and Huppim, and Ard-eleven.

²⁶ And all the souls of Rachel were fourteen.

²⁷ And the sons of Bilhah, the handmaid of Rachel, the wife of Jacob, whom she bore to Jacob, were Dan and Naphtali.

²⁸ And these are the names of their sons who went with them into Egypt. And the sons of Dan were Hushim, and Samon, and Asudi.

²⁹ and ‘Ijaka, and Salomon-six. And they died the year in which they entered into Egypt, and there was left to Dan Hushim alone.

³⁰ And these are the names of the sons of Naphtali Jahziel, and Guni and Jezer, and Shallum, and ‘Iv.

³¹ And ‘Iv, who was born after the years of famine, died in Egypt.

³² And all the souls of Rachel were twenty-six.

³³ And all the souls of Jacob which went into Egypt were seventy souls. These are his children and his children’s children, in all seventy, but five died in Egypt before Joseph, and had no children.

³⁴ And in the land of Canaan two sons of Judah died, Er and Onan, and they had no children, and the children of Israel buried those who perished, and they were reckoned among the seventy Gentile nations.

~ by Joel on December 24, 2024.

Posted in Books of Ancients