The Lost Books of the Bible: The Great Rejected Texts Page 86

  24 All the children of Israel were yet in the land of Egypt serving the Egyptians in all manner of hard work, and the hand of Egypt continued in severity over the children of Israel in those days.

  25 At that time the Lord struck Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he was afflicted with the plague of leprosy from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head; owing to the cruel treatment of the children of Israel this plague at that time was from the Lord on Pharaoh king of Egypt.

  26 For the Lord had listened to the prayer of his people the children of Israel, and their cry reached him on account of their hard work.

  27 Still his anger did not turn from them, and the hand of Pharaoh was still stretched out against the children of Israel. Pharaoh hardened his neck before the Lord, he increased his yoke over the children of Israel, and embittered their lives with all manner of hard work.

  28 When the Lord had inflicted the plague on Pharaoh king of Egypt, he asked his wise men and sorcerers to cure him.

  29 And his wise men and sorcerers said to him that if the blood of little children were put into the wounds he would be healed.

  30 Pharaoh listened to them, and sent his ministers to Goshen to the children of Israel to take their little children.

  31 And Pharaoh's ministers went and took the infants of the children of Israel from the bosoms of their mothers by force, and they brought them to Pharaoh daily, a child each day, and the physicians killed them and applied them to the plague; thus they did all the days.

  32 And the number of the children which Pharaoh killed was three hundred and seventy-five.

  33 But the Lord listened not to the physicians of the king of Egypt, and the plague went on increasing mightily.

  34 Pharaoh was ten years afflicted with that plague, still the heart of Pharaoh was more hardened against the children of Israel.

  35 At the end of ten years the Lord continued to afflict Pharaoh with destructive plagues.

  36 And the Lord struck him with a bad tumor and sickness in the stomach, and that plague turned to a severe boil.

  37 At that time the two ministers of Pharaoh came from the land of Goshen where all the children of Israel were, and went to the house of Pharaoh and said to him, We have seen the children of Israel slacken in their work and negligent in their labor.

  38 And when Pharaoh heard the words of his ministers, his anger was set ablaze against the children of Israel greatly, for he was greatly grieved at his bodily pain.

  39 And he answered and said, Now that the children of Israel know that I am ill, they turn and scoff at us. Now therefore harness my chariot for me, and I will take myself to Goshen and will see the scoff of the children of Israel with which they are deriding me. So his servants harnessed the chariot for him.

  40 And they took and made him ride on a horse, for he was not able to ride of himself.

  41 He took with him ten horsemen and ten footmen, and went to the children of Israel to Goshen.

  42 When they had come to the border of Egypt, the king's horse passed into a narrow place, elevated in the hollow part of the vineyard, fenced on both sides, the low plain country being on the other side.

  43 The horses ran rapidly in that place and pressed each other, and the other horses pressed the king's horse.

  44 And the king's horse fell into the low plain while the king was riding on it; he fell and the chariot turned over the king's face and the horse lay on the king, and the king cried out for his flesh was very sore.

  45 And the flesh of the king was torn from him, and his bones were broken and he could not ride; this thing was from the Lord to him, for the Lord had heard the cries of his people the children of Israel and their affliction.

  46 And his servants carried him on their shoulders,slowly and carefully, and they brought him back to Egypt, and the horsemen who were with him also came back to Egypt.

  47 They placed him in his bed and the king knew that his end was come to die, so Aparanith the queen his wife came and cried before the king, and the king wept a great weeping with her.

  48 And all his nobles and servants came on that day and saw the king in that affliction, and wept a great weeping with him.

  49 The princes of the king and all his counselors advised the king to cause one to reign in his stead in the land, whomever he would choose from his sons.

  50 The king had three sons and two daughters which Aparanith the queen his wife had borne to him, besides the king's children of concubines.

  51 And these were their names: the firstborn Othri, the second Adikam, and the third Morion, and their sisters: the name of the elder Bathia and of the other Acuzi.

  52 Othri the first born of the king was an idiot, impetuous and hurried in his words.

  53 But Adikam was a cunning and wise man and knowing in all the wisdom of Egypt, but of unseemly appearance, thick in flesh and very short in stature; his height was one cubit.

  54 And when the king saw Adikam his son intelligent and wise in all things, the king resolved that he should be king in his stead after his death.

  55 He took for him a wife Gedudah daughter of Abilot, and he was ten years old; she gave birth to, to him, four sons.

  56 And afterward he went and took three wives and had eight sons and three daughters.

  57 And the disorder greatly consumed the king, and his flesh stank like the flesh of a carcass cast on the field in summer time, during the heat of the sun.

  58 And when the king saw that his sickness had greatly strengthened itself over him, he ordered his son Adikam to be brought to him, and they made him king over the land in his place.

  59 At the end of three years the king died, in shame, disgrace, and disgust, and his servants carried him and buried him in the sepulcher of the kings of Egypt in Zoan Mizraim.

  60 But they embalmed him not as was usual with kings, for his flesh was putrid, and they could not approach to embalm him on account of the stench, so they buried him in haste.

  61 For this evil was from the Lord to him, for the Lord had rewarded him evil for the evil which in his days he had done to Israel.

  62 And he died with terror and with shame, and his son Adikam reigned in his place.

  CHAPTER 77

  1 Adikam was twenty years old when he reigned over Egypt, he reigned four years.

  2 In the two hundred and sixth year of Israel's going down to Egypt did Adikam reign over Egypt, but he continued not so long in his reign over Egypt as his fathers had continued their reigns.

  3 For Melol his father reigned ninety-four years in Egypt, but he was sick ten years and died, for he had been wicked before the Lord.

  4 And all the Egyptians called the name of Adikam Pharaoh like the name of his fathers, as was their custom to do in Egypt.

  5 And all the wise men of Pharaoh called the name of Adikam Ahuz, for short it’s called Ahuz in the Egyptian language.

  6 Adikam was greatly ugly, and he was a cubit and a span and he had a great beard which reached to the soles of his feet.

  7 And Pharaoh sat on his father's throne to reign over Egypt, and he conducted the government of Egypt in his wisdom.

  8 While he reigned he exceeded his father and all the preceding kings in wickedness, and he increased his yoke over the children of Israel.

  9 He went with his servants to Goshen to the children of Israel, and he strengthened the labor over them and he said to them, Complete your work, each day's task, and let not your hands slacken from our work from this day forward as you did in the days of my father.

  10 He placed officers over them from among the children of Israel, and over these officers he placed taskmasters from among his servants.

  11 And he placed over them a measure of bricks for them to do according to that number, day by day, and he turned back and went to Egypt.

  12 At that time the taskmasters of Pharaoh ordered the officers of the children of Israel according to the command of Pharaoh, saying,

  13 Thus says Pharaoh, Do your work each day, and finish your task, and ob
serve the daily measure of bricks; diminish not anything.

  14 And it shall come to pass that if you are deficient in your daily bricks, I will put your young children in their stead.

  15 And the taskmasters of Egypt did so in those days as Pharaoh had ordered them.

  16 And whenever any deficiency was found in the children of Israel's measure of their daily bricks, the taskmasters of Pharaoh would go to the wives of the children of Israel and take infants of the children of Israel to the number of bricks deficient, they would take them by force from their mother's laps, and put them in the building instead of the bricks;

  17 While their fathers and mothers were crying over them and weeping when they heard the weeping voices of their infants in the wall of the building.

  18 And the taskmasters prevailed over Israel, that the Israelites should place their children in the building, so that a man placed his son in the wall and put mortar over him, while his eyes wept over him, and his tears ran down on his child.

  19 And the taskmasters of Egypt did so to the babes of Israel for many days, and no one pitied or had compassion over the babes of the children of Israel.

  20 And the number of all the children killed in the building was two hundred and seventy, some whom they had built on instead of the bricks which had been left deficient by their fathers, and some whom they had drawn out dead from the building.

  21 And the labor imposed on the children of Israel in the days of Adikam exceeded in hardship that which they performed in the days of his father.

  22 The children of Israel sighed every day on account of their heavy work, for they had said to themselves, Certainly when Pharaoh dies, his son will rise up and lighten our work!

  23 But they increased the latter work more than the former, and the children of Israel sighed at this and their cry ascended to God on account of their labor.

  24 God heard the voice of the children of Israel and their cry in those days, and God remembered to them his covenant which he had made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

  25 And God saw the burden of the children of Israel and their heavy work in those days, and he determined to deliver them.

  26 Moses the son of Amram was still confined in the dungeon in those days, in the house of Reuel the Midianite, and Zipporah the daughter of Reuel supported him with food secretly day by day.

  27 Moses was confined in the dungeon in the house of Reuel for ten years.

  28 And at the end of ten years which was the first year of the reign of Pharaoh over Egypt, in the place of his father,

  29 Zipporah said to her father Reuel, No person inquires or seeks after the Hebrew man, whom you bound in prison now ten years.

  30 So therefore, if it seems good in your sight, let us send and see whether he is living or dead. But her father knew not that she had supported him.

  31 And Reuel her father answered and said to her, Has ever such a thing happened that a man would be shut up in a prison without food for ten years, and that he should live?

  32 And Zipporah answered her father, saying, Certainly you have heard that the God of the Hebrews is great and mighty, and does wonders for them at all times.

  33 He it was who delivered Abraham from the Chaldeans, and Isaac from the sword of his father, and Jacob from the angel of the Lord who wrestled with him at the ford of Jabbuk.

  34 Also with this man he has done many things; he delivered him from the river in Egypt and from the sword of Pharaoh, and from the children of Cush, so also he can deliver him from famine and make him live.

  35 And the thing seemed good in the sight of Reuel, and he did according to the word of his daughter, and sent to the dungeon to ascertain what became of Moses.

  36 He s saw, and behold the man Moses was living in the dungeon, standing on his feet, praising and praying to the God of his ancestors.

  37 And Reuel commanded Moses to be brought out of the dungeon, so they shaved him and he changed his prison garments and ate bread.

  38 And afterward Moses went into the garden of Reuel which was behind the house, and he there prayed to the Lord his God, who had done mighty wonders for him.

  39 It was while he prayed he looked opposite to him, and there a sapphire stick was placed in the ground, which was planted in the midst of the garden.

  40 He approached the stick and looked, and saw the name of the Lord God of hosts was engraved on it, written and developed on the stick.

  41 And he read it and stretched forth his hand and he plucked it like a forest tree from the thicket, and the stick was in his hand.

  42 This is the stick with which all the works of our God were performed, after he had created heaven and earth and all the host of them, seas, rivers and all their fish.

  43 And when God had driven Adam from the garden of Eden, he took the stick in his hand and went and tilled the ground from which he was taken.

  44 The stick came down to Noah and was given to Shem and his descendants, until it came into the hand of Abraham the Hebrew.

  45 And when Abraham had given all he had to his son Isaac, he also gave to him this stick.

  46 When Jacob had fled to Padan-aram, he took it into his hand, and when he returned to his father he had not left it behind him.

  47 Also when he went down to Egypt he took it into his hand and gave it to Joseph, one portion above his brothers, for Jacob had taken it by force from his brother Esau.

  48 After the death of Joseph, the nobles of Egypt came into the house of Joseph, and the stick came into the hand of Reuel the Midianite; when he went out of Egypt, he took it in his hand and planted it in his garden.

  49 And all the mighty men of the Kinites tried to pluck it when they endeavored to get Zipporah his daughter, but they were unsuccessful.

  50 That stick remained planted in the garden of Reuel until he who had a right to it came and took it.

  51 And when Reuel saw the stick in the hand of Moses, he wondered at it, and he gave him his daughter Zipporah for a wife.

  CHAPTER 78

  1 At that time Baal Channan son of Achbor, king of Edom, died and was buried in his house in the land of Edom.

  2 After his death the children of Esau sent to the land of Edom, and took from there a man who was in Edom, whose name was Hadad, and they made him king over them in the place of Baal Channan, their king.

  3 And Hadad reigned over the children of Edom forty-eight years.

  4 When he reigned he resolved to fight against the children of Moab to bring them under the power of the children of Esau as they were before, but he was not able to because the children of Moab heard this thing, and they rose up and hurried to elect a king over them from among their brothers.

  5 Afterward they gathered together a large crowd, and sent them to the children of Ammon their brothers for help to fight against Hadad king of Edom.

  6 And Hadad heard the thing which the children of Moab had done, and was greatly afraid of them, and refrained from fighting against them.

  7 In those days Moses, the son of Amram, in Midian, took Zipporah, the daughter of Reuel the Midianite, for a wife.

  8 And Zipporah walked in the ways of the daughters of Jacob, she was nothing short of the righteousness of Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah.

  9 And Zipporah conceived and gave birth to a son and he called his name Gershom, for he said, I was a stranger in a foreign land; but he circumcised not his foreskin, at the command of Reuel his father-in-law.

  10 And she conceived again and gave birth to a son, but circumcised his foreskin, and called his name Eliezer, for Moses said, Because the God of my fathers was my help and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh.

  11 And Pharaoh king of Egypt greatly increased the labor of the children of Israel in those days, and continued to make his yoke heavier on the children of Israel.

  12 And he ordered an announcement to be made in Egypt, saying, Give no more straw to the people to make bricks with, let them go and gather themselves straw as they can find it.

  13 Also the num
ber of bricks which they shall make let them give each day, and diminish nothing from them, for they are idle in their work.

  14 And the children of Israel heard this, and they mourned and sighed, and they cried to the Lord on account of the bitterness of their souls.

  15 And the Lord heard the cries of the children of Israel, and saw the oppression with which the Egyptians oppressed them.

  16 And the Lord was zealous for his people and his inheritance, and heard their voice, and he resolved to take them out of the affliction of Egypt, to give them the land of Canaan for a possession.

  CHAPTER 79

  1 Iin those days Moses was feeding the flock of Reuel the Midianite his father-in-law, beyond the wilderness of Sin, and the stick which he took from his father-in-law was in his hand.

  2 And it came to pass one day that a kid of goats strayed from the flock, and Moses pursued it and it came to the mountain of God to Horeb.

  3 When he came to Horeb the Lord appeared there to him in the bush, and he found the bush burning with fire, but the fire had no power over the bush to consume it.

  4 Moses was greatly astonished at this sight because the bush was not consumed, and he approached to see this mighty thing; the Lord called to Moses out of the fire and commanded him to go down to Egypt to Pharaoh king of Egypt, to send the children of Israel from his service.

  5 And the Lord said to Moses, Go, return to Egypt for all those men who sought your life are dead, and you shall speak to Pharaoh to send forth the children of Israel from his land.

  6 The Lord showed him to do signs and wonders in Egypt before the eyes of Pharaoh and the eyes of his subjects, in order that they might believe that the Lord had sent him.

  7 Moses listened to all that the Lord had commanded him, and he returned to his father-in-law and told him these things, and Reuel said to him, Go in peace.

  8 Moses rose up to go to Egypt and took his wife and sons with him; he was at an inn in the road, and an angel of God came down, and sought an occasion against him.