Lost Books of the Bible (97 page)

18 Ishmael the son of Abraham died in those days, in the sixty-fourth year of the life of Jacob, and all the days that Ishmael lived were one hundred and thirty-seven years and he died.

19 And when Isaac heard that Ishmael was dead he mourned for him, and Isaac lamented over him many days.

20 At the end of fourteen years of Jacob's residing in the house of Eber, Jacob desired to see his father and mother, and Jacob came to the house of his father and mother to Hebron, and Esau had in those days forgotten what Jacob had done to him in having taken the blessing from him.

21 And when Esau saw Jacob coming to his father and mother he remembered what Jacob had done to him, and he was greatly incensed against him and he sought to kill him.

22 And Isaac the son of Abraham was old and advanced in days, and Esau said, Now my father's time is drawing nigh that he must die, and when he shall die I will kill my brother Jacob.

23 This was told to Rebecca, and she hurried and sent and called for Jacob her son, and she said to him, Arise, go and flee to Haran to my brother Laban and remain there for some time, until your brother's anger be turned from you and then shall you come back.

24 And Isaac called to Jacob and said to him, Take not a wife from the daughters of Canaan, for thus did our father Abraham command us according to the word of the Lord which he had commanded him, saying, Unto your offspring will I give this land; if your children keep my covenant that I have made with you, then I will also perform to your children that which I have spoken to you and I will not turn away from them.

25 Now therefore my son listen to my voice, to all that I shall command you, and refrain from taking a wife from among the daughters of Canaan; arise, go to Haran to the house of Bethuel your mother's father, and take to you a wife from there from the daughters of Laban your mother's brother.

26 Therefore be careful that you should not forget the Lord your God and all his ways in the land to which you go, and should get connected with the people of the land and pursue vanity and turn away from the Lord your God.

27 But when you come to the land there serve the Lord, do not turn to the right or to the left from the way which I commanded you and which you did learn.

28 And may the Almighty God grant you favor in the sight of the people of the earth, that you may take there a wife according to your choice; one who is good and upright in the ways of the Lord.

29 May God give to you and your descendants the blessing of your father Abraham, and make you prolific and reproduce, and may you become a multitude of people in the land where you go; may God cause you to return to this land, the land of your father's dwelling, with children and with great riches, with joy and with pleasure.

30 And Isaac finished commanding Jacob and blessing him, and he gave him many gifts, together with silver and gold, and he sent him away.   Jacob listened to his father and mother; he kissed them and arose and went to Padan-aram, and Jacob was seventy-seven years old when he went out from the land of Canaan from Beersheba.

31 When Jacob went away to go to Haran Esau called to his son Eliphaz, and secretly spoke to him, saying, Now hurry, take your sword in your hand and pursue Jacob and pass before him in the road, and lurk for him; kill him with your sword in one of the mountains, and take all belonging to him and come back.

32 Eliphaz the son of Esau was an active man and expert with the bow as his father had taught him, and he was a noted hunter in the field and a valiant man.

33 Eliphaz did as his father had commanded him, and Eliphaz was at that time thirteen years old; Eliphaz rose up and went and took ten of his mother's brothers with him and pursued Jacob.

34 He closely followed Jacob, and he lurked for him in the border of the land of Canaan opposite to the city of Shechem.

35 And Jacob saw Eliphaz and his men pursuing him; Jacob stood still in the place in which he was going, in order to know what this was, for he did not know the thing.  Eliphaz drew his sword and he went on advancing, he and his men, toward Jacob. And Jacob said to them, Why have you come here, and what does it mean that you pursue with your swords?

36 And Eliphaz came near to Jacob and he answered and said to him, Thus did my father command me, and now therefore I will not deviate from the orders which my father gave me.  When Jacob saw that Esau had spoken to Eliphaz to employ force, Jacob then approached and supplicated Eliphaz and his men, saying to him,

37 Behold all that I have and which my father and mother gave to me, that you should take and go from me, and do not kill me; may this thing be accounted to you a righteousness.

38 And the Lord caused Jacob to find favor in the sight of Eliphaz the son of Esau, and his men, and they listened to the voice of Jacob, and they did not put him to death; Eliphaz and his men took all belonging to Jacob together with the silver and gold that he had brought with him from Beersheba; they left him nothing.

39 Eliphaz and his men went away from him and they returned to Esau to Beersheba, and they told him all that had occurred to them with Jacob, and they gave him all that they had taken from Jacob.

40 Esau was indignant at Eliphaz his son, and at his men that were with him, because they had not put Jacob to death.

41 And they answered and said to Esau, Because Jacob supplicated us in this matter not to kill him, our pity was increased toward him, and we took all belonging to him and brought it to you.  Esau took all the silver and gold which Eliphaz had taken from Jacob and he put them by in his house.

42 At that time when Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob, and had commanded him, saying, You shall not take a wife from among the daughters of Canaan, and that the daughters of Canaan were bad in the sight of Isaac and Rebecca,

43 Then he went to the house of Ishmael his uncle, and in addition to his older wives he took Machlath the daughter of Ishmael, the sister of Nebayoth, for a wife.

CHAPTER 30

1 Jacob went forth continuing his road to Haran, and he came as far as mount Moriah, and he stayed there all night near the city of Luz.  The Lord appeared there to Jacob on that night and said to him, I am the Lord God of Abraham and the God of Isaac your father; the land on which you dwell I will give to you and your descendants.

2 Behold I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and I will reproduce your descendants as the stars of Heaven, and I will cause all your enemies to fall before you; when they  make war with you they shall not prevail over you, and I will bring you again to this land with joy, with children, and with great riches.

3 Jacob awoke from his sleep and he rejoiced greatly at the vision which he had seen, and he called the name of that place Bethel.

4 Jacob rose up from that place quite jubilant, and when he walked his feet felt light to him for joy, and he went from there to the land of the children of the East, and returned to Haran and  sat by the shepherd's well.

5 There he found some men going from Haran to feed their flocks, and Jacob made inquiries of them, and they said, We are from Haran.

6 And he said to them, Do you know Laban, the son of Nahor? And they said, We know him and look, his daughter Rachel is coming along to feed her father's flock.

7 While he was yet speaking with them, Rachel the daughter of Laban came to feed her father's sheep, for she was a shepherdess.

8 When Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of Laban, his mother's brother, he ran and kissed her and lifted up his voice and wept.

9 Jacob told Rachel that he was the son of Rebecca, her father's sister, and Rachel ran and told her father; Jacob continued to cry because he had nothing with him to bring to the house of Laban.

10 When Laban heard that his sister's son Jacob had come, he ran, kissed him and embraced him,  brought him into the house and gave him bread, and he ate.

11 And Jacob related to Laban what his brother Esau had done to him, and what his son Eliphaz had done to him in the road.

12 Jacob resided in Laban's house for one month, and Jacob ate and drank in the house of Laban, and afterward Laban said to Jacob, Tell me what shall be your wages, for how can you serve me for nothing?

13 Laban had no sons but only daughters; his other wives and handmaids were still unable to conceive in those days. These are the names of Laban's daughters which his wife Adinah had borne to him:  the name of the elder was Leah and the name of the younger was Rachel.  Leah was tender-eyed, but Rachel was beautiful and well favored, and Jacob loved her.

14 And Jacob said to Laban, I will serve you seven years for Rachel your younger daughter; and Laban consented to this and Jacob served Laban seven years for his daughter Rachel.

15 In the second year of Jacob's dwelling in Haran, that is in the seventy ninth year of the life of Jacob, Eber the son of Shem died; he was four hundred and sixty-four years old at his death.

16 And when Jacob heard that Eber was dead he grieved greatly; he lamented and mourned over him many days.

17 In the third year of Jacob's dwelling in Haran, Bosmath, the daughter of Ishmael, the wife of Esau, gave birth to him a son, and Esau called his name Reuel.

18 And in the fourth year of Jacob's residence in the house of Laban, the Lord visited Laban and remembered him on account of Jacob, and sons were born to him: his first born was Beor, his second was Alib, and the third was Chorash.

19 The Lord gave Laban riches and honor, sons and daughters, and the man increased greatly on account of Jacob.

20 In those days Jacob served Laban in all manner of work, in the house and in the field, and the blessing of the Lord was in all that belonged to Laban in the house and in the field.

21 In the fifth year Jehudith died, the daughter of Beeri, the wife of Esau, in the land of Canaan, and she had no sons but daughters only.

22 These are the names of her daughters which she gave birth to, to Esau:  the name of the elder was Marzith, and the name of the younger was Puith.

23 And when Jehudith died, Esau rose up and went to Seir to hunt in the field, as usual, and Esau lived in the land of Seir for a long time.

24 In the sixth year Esau took for a wife, in addition to his other wives, Ahlibamah, the daughter of Zebeon the Hivite, and Esau brought her to the land of Canaan.

25 And Ahlibamah conceived and gave birth to, to Esau, three sons:  Yeush, Yaalan, and Korah.

26 In those days, in the land of Canaan, there was a quarrel between
the herdsmen of Esau and the herdsmen of the inhabitants of the land of Canaan, for Esau's cattle and goods were too abundant for him to remain in the land of Canaan, in his father's house;  the land of Canaan could not bear him on account of his cattle.

27 And when Esau saw that his quarreling increased with the inhabitants of the land of Canaan, he rose up and took his wives and his sons and his daughters, and all belonging to him, and the cattle which he possessed, and all his property that he had acquired in the land of Canaan; he went away from the inhabitants of the land to the land of Seir, and Esau and all belonging to him lived in the land of Seir.

28 But from time to time Esau would go and see his father and mother in the land of Canaan, and Esau intermarried with the Horites, and he gave his daughters to the sons of Seir, the Horite.

29 He gave his elder daughter Marzith to Anah, the son of Zebeon, his wife's brother, and Puith he gave to Azar, the son of Bilhan the Horite; Esau lived in the mountain, he and his children, and they were prolific and multiplied.

CHAPTER 31

1 In the seventh year, Jacob's service to Laban was completed, and Jacob said to Laban, Give me my wife, for the days of my service are fulfilled; Laban did so, and Laban and Jacob assembled all the people of that place and they made a feast.