The Lost Books of the Bible: The Great Rejected Texts Page 45
23 On the day when the sons of Jacob killed Shechem it was written in the record in their favor in heaven that they had executed righteousness and uprightness and vengeance on the sinners, and it was written for a blessing.
24 They brought Dinah, their sister, out of the house of Shechem. They took everything that was in Shechem captive. They took 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 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 The dread of the Lord was on all the cities that are near Shechem. They did not fight or chase after the sons of Jacob, for terror had fallen on them.
[Chapter 31]
1 On the new moon of the month, Jacob spoke to all the people of his house, saying, “Purify yourselves and change your clothes, and let us get up and go to Bethel where I vowed a vow to Him on the day when I fled from Esau my brother. Let us do this because God has been with me and brought me into this land in peace. You must put away the strange gods that you raise among you.”
2 They gave up the strange gods and that which 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 broke them to pieces and destroyed them, and hid them under an oak, which is in the land of Shechem.
3 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, and his mother, Rebecca. He asked to come to Isaac. There, Jacob wished to offer his sacrifice.
4 Isaac said, “Let my son, Jacob, come, and let me see him before I die.”
5 Jacob went to his father, Isaac, and his mother, Rebecca, to the house of his father Abraham, and he took two of his sons with him, Levi and Judah.
6 Rebecca came out from the tower to the front of it to kiss Jacob and embrace him, for her spirit had revived when she heard, “Look Jacob your son has come,” and she kissed him.
7 She saw his two sons and she recognized them. She said to him, “Are these your sons, my son?” and she embraced them and kissed them, and blessed them, saying, “In you shall the offspring of Abraham become illustrious, and you shall prove a blessing on the earth.”
8 Jacob went in to Isaac his father, to the room where he lay, and his two sons were with him. He took his father’s hand, stooped down, he kissed him. Isaac held on to the neck of Jacob his son, and wept on his neck.
9 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? Because they look like you.”
10 He said to Isaac, “They were truly my sons, and you have clearly seen that they are truly my sons.”
11 They came near to him, and he turned and kissed them and embraced them both together.
12 The spirit of prophecy came down into his mouth, and he took Levi by his right hand and Judah by his left.
13 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 May the Lord give to you and your offspring greatness and great glory from among all flesh. May the Lord cause you and your offspring to draw near to Him to serve in His sanctuary like the angels of the presence (of the Lord) and as the holy ones. The offspring of your sons shall be for the glory and greatness and holiness of God. May He make them great throughout all the ages. They shall be judges and princes, and chiefs of all the offspring of the sons of Jacob. They shall speak the word of the Lord in righteousness, and they shall judge all His judgments in righteousness.
15 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 offspring of the beloved.
16 Your mother has called your name Levi, and rightly has she called your name. You will be joined to the Lord and be the companion of all the sons of Jacob. Let His table be your table, and let your sons eat from it. May your table be full throughout all generations, and let your food not fail in all the ages.
17 Let all who hate you fall down before you, and let all your adversaries be rooted out and perish. Blessed be he that blesses you, and cursed be every nation that curses you.”
18 To Judah he said, “May the Lord give you strength and power to put all that hate you under your feet. You and one of your sons will be a prince over the sons of Jacob. May your name and the name of your sons go out across every land and region.
19 Then shall the Gentiles fear you, and all the nations and people shall shake (with fear of you). In you will be the help of Jacob, and in you will be found the salvation of Israel.
20 When you sit on the throne, which honors of your righteousness, there shall be great peace for all the offspring of the sons of the beloved. Blessed be he that blesses you, and cursed be all that hate you, afflict you, or curse you. They shall be rooted out and destroyed from the earth.”
21 He turned, kissed him again, and embraced him, and rejoiced greatly because he had seen the sons of his son, Jacob, clearly and truly.
22 He stepped out from between his feet and fell down. He bowed down to him, and blessed them. He rested there with Isaac, his father, that night, and they ate and drank with joy.
23 He made the two sons of Jacob sleep, the one on his right hand and the other on his left. It was counted to him for righteousness.
24 Jacob told his father everything during the night about how the Lord had shown him great mercy, and how he had caused him to prosper in all his ways, and how he protected him from all evil.
25 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 In the morning, Jacob told his father, Isaac, the vow, which he had vowed to the Lord. He told him of the vision which he had seen, and that he had built an altar. He told him that everything was ready for the sacrifice to be made before the Lord as he had vowed. He had come to set him on a donkey.
27 Isaac said to Jacob his son, “I am not able to go with you, for I am old and not able to endure the way. Go in peace, my son. I am one hundred and sixty-five years this day. I am no longer able to journey. Set your mother on a donkey and let her go with you.
28 I know that you have come on my account, my son. 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 fulfill the vow that you have vowed. Do not put off your vow, for you will be called to account for the vow. Now hurry to perform it, and may He who has made all things be pleased. It is to Him you have vowed the vow.”
30 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 Jacob remembered the prayer with which his father had blessed him and his two sons, Levi and Judah. He rejoiced and blessed the God of his fathers, Abraham and Isaac.
32 He said, “Now I know that my sons and I have an eternal hope in the God of all.” Thus is it ordained concerning the two. They recorded it as an eternal testimony to them on the heavenly tablets how Isaac blessed his sons.
[Chapter 32]
1 That night he stayed at Bethel, and Levi dreamed that they had ordained and made his sons and him the priests of the Most High God forever. Then he awoke from his sleep and blessed the Lord.
2 Jacob rose early in the morning, on the fourteenth of this month, and he gave a tithe for all that came with him, both of men and cattle, both of gold and every vessel and garment. Yes, he gave tithes of all.
3 In those days Rachel became pregnant with her son Benjamin. Jacob counted his sons starting from him and going to the oldest and Levi fell to the portion of the Lord. (Levi was the third son – three is the number of spiritual completeness.) His fa
ther clothed him in the garments of the priesthood and filled his hands.
4 On the fifteenth of this month, he brought fourteen oxen from among the cattle, and twenty-eight rams, and forty-nine sheep, and seven lambs, and twenty-one kids of the goats to the altar as a burnt-offering on the altar of sacrifice. The offering was well pleasing and a sweet odor before God.
5 This was his offering, done in acknowledgement of the vow in which he had promised that he would give a tenth, with their fruit-offerings and their drink- offerings.
6 When the fire had consumed it, he burnt incense over the fire, and for a thank-offering he sacrificed two oxen and four rams and four sheep, four male goats, and two sheep of a year old, and two kids of the goats. This he did daily for seven days.
7 He, his men, and all his sons were eating this with joy during seven days and blessing and thanking the Lord, who had delivered him out of all his tribulation and had given him His promise.
8 He tithed all the clean animals, and made a burnt sacrifice, but he did not give the unclean animals to Levi his son. He gave him (responsibility for) all the souls of the men. Levi acted in the priestly office at Bethel in the presence of Jacob his father, in preference to his ten brothers. He was a priest there, and Jacob gave his vow, and he gave a tithe to the Lord again and sanctified it, and it became holy to Him.
9 For this reason it is ordained on the heavenly tablets as a law for the offering of the tithe should be eaten in the presence of the Lord every year, in the place where it is chosen that His name should live and reside. This law has no limit of days forever.
10 This law is written so that it may be fulfilled every year. The second tithe should be eaten in the presence of the Lord, in the place where it has been chosen, and nothing shall be left over from it from this year to the following year.
11 In its year shall the seed be eaten until the days of the gathering of the seed of the year. The wine shall be consumed until the days of the wine, and the oil until the days of its season.
12 All that is left of it and all that becomes old will be regarded as spoiled, let it be burnt with fire, for it is unclean.
13 Let them eat it together in the sanctuary, and let them not permit it to become old.
14 All the tithes of the oxen and sheep shall be holy to the Lord, and shall belong to his priests. They will eat before Him from year to year, for thus is it ordained and written on the heavenly tablets regarding the tithe.
15 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 forever, for himself and his children after him.
16 The Lord appeared to him by night and blessed him and said to him, “Your name shall not be called Jacob, but they will call your name Israel.”
17 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 greatly, and kings shall come forth from you, and they shall be judges everywhere the foot of the sons of men have walked.
18 I will give to your offspring all the earth that is under heaven. They shall judge all the nations, as they desire. After that they shall possess the entire earth and inherit it forever.”
19 And He finished speaking with him, and He went up from him.
20 Jacob watched until He had ascended into heaven.
21 In a vision at night he saw an angel descend from heaven with seven tablets in his hands, and he gave them to Jacob, and he read them and knew all that was written on it that would happen to him and his sons throughout all the ages.
22 He showed him all that was written on the tablets, and said to him, “Do not build on this place, and do not make it an eternal sanctuary, and do not live here. This is not the place. Go to the house of Abraham your father and live with Isaac, your father, until the day he dies.
23 For in Egypt you will die in peace, and in this land you will be buried with honor in the sepulcher of your fathers, with Abraham and Isaac.
24 Do not fear. As you have seen and read it shall all be. Write down everything that you have seen and read.”
25 Jacob said, “Lord, how can I remember all that I have read and seen?” He said to him, “I will bring all things to your remembrance.”
26 He ascended from Jacob, and Jacob awoke from his sleep. He remembered everything that he had read and seen, and he wrote down all the words.
27 He celebrated there yet another day, and he sacrificed on that day as he had sacrificed on all the former days. He called its name “Addition,” because this day was added, and the former days he called “The Feast.”
28 It was made known and revealed to him and it is written on the heavenly tablets that he should celebrate the day, and add it to the seven days of the feast.
29 Its name was called “Addition,” because that it was recorded among the days of the feast days, according to the number of the days of the year.
30 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. He called the name of this place, “The river of Deborah,” and he called the oak, “The oak of the mourning of Deborah.”
31 Rebecca departed and returned to her house, to his father Isaac. Jacob sent rams and sheep and male goats by her so that she should prepare a meal for his father such as he desired.
32 He followed his mother until he came to the land of Kabratan, and he lived there.
33 Rachel gave birth to a son in the night, and called his name “son of my sorrow“, for she broke down while giving birth to him, but his father called his name Benjamin. This happened on the eleventh day of the eighth month in the first of the sixth week of this jubilee.
34 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.
[Chapter 33]
1 Jacob went and lived to the south of Magdaladra’ef. He and Leah, his wife, went to his father, Isaac, on the new moon of the tenth month.
2 Reuben saw Bilhah, Rachel’s maid, the concubine of his father, bathing in water in a secret place, and he loved her.
3 He hid himself at night, and he entered the house of Bilhah at night. He found her sleeping alone on a bed in her house.
4 He had sex with her. She awoke and saw that is was Reuben lying with her in the bed. She uncovered the border of her covering and grabbed him and cried out when she discovered that it was Reuben.
5 She was ashamed because of him and released her hand from him, and he fled.
6 Because of this, she mourned greatly and did not tell it to any one.
7 When Jacob returned and sought her, she said to him, “I am not clean for you. I have been defiled in regard to you. Reuben has defiled me, and has had sex with me in the night. I was asleep and did not realize he was there until he uncovered my skirt and had sex with me.”
8 Jacob was very angry with Reuben because he had sex with Bilhah, because he had uncovered his father’s skirt.
9 Jacob did not approach her again because Reuben had defiled her. And as for any man who uncovers his father’s skirt his deed is wicked greatly, for he is disgusting to the Lord.
10 For this reason it is written and ordained on the heavenly tablets that a man should not lie with his father’s wife,
and should not uncover his father’s skirt. This is unclean and they shall surely die together, the man who lies with his father’s wife and the woman also, for they have committed uncleanness on the earth.
11 There shall be nothing unclean before our God in the nation that He has chosen for Himself as a possession.
12 Again, it is written a second time, “Cursed be he who lies with the wife of his father, for he has uncovered his father’s shame.” All the holy ones of the Lord said, “So be it. So be it.”
13 “Moses, command the children of Israel so that they observe this word. It entails a punishment
of death. It is unclean, and there is no atonement forever for the man who has committed this. He is to be put to death. Kill him by stoning. Root him out from among the people of our God.
14 No man who does so in Israel will be permitted to remain alive a single day on the earth. He is abominable and unclean.
15 Do not let them say, “Reuben was granted life and forgiveness after he had sex with his father’s concubine, although she had a husband, and her husband, Jacob, his father, was still alive.“
16 Until that time the ordinance and judgment and law had not been revealed in its completeness for all. In your days it has been revealed as a law of seasons and of days. It is an everlasting law for all generations forever. For this law has no limit of days, and no atonement for it.
17 They must both be rooted out of the entire nation. On the day they committed it they shall be killed.
18 Moses, write it down for Israel that they may observe it, and do according to these words, and not commit a sin punishable by death. The Lord our God is judge, who does not respect persons (position) and accepts no gifts.
19 Tell them these words of the covenant, that they may hear and observe, and be on their guard with respect to them, and not be destroyed and rooted out of the land; for an uncleanness, and an abomination, and a contamination, and a pollution are all they who commit it on the earth before our God.
20 There is no greater sin on earth than fornication that they commit. Israel is a holy nation to the Lord its God, and a nation of inheritance. It is a priestly and royal nation and for His own possession. There shall appear no such uncleanness among the holy nation.
21 In the third year of this sixth week, Jacob and all his sons went and lived in the house of Abraham, near Isaac his father and Rebecca his mother.
22 These were the names of the sons of Jacob, the first-born