The Lost Books of the Bible: The Great Rejected Texts Page 95

  53 And when Pharaoh heard this speech, he was greatly confused and was angry with a great rage, and said to him: 'Tell me the truth, oh man, and let me know who you really are!'

  54 And he told him the truth. 'I am Ahikar the scribe, greatest of the Private Councilors of king Sennacherib and I am his vizier and the Governor of his kingdom, and his Chancellor.'

  55 And he said to him, 'You have told the truth in this saying. But we have heard of Ahikar, that king Sennacherib has killed him, yet you seem to be alive and well.'

  56 And Ahikar said to him, 'Yes, so it was, but praise be to God, who knows what is hidden, for my lord the king commanded me to be killed, and he believed the word of licentious men, but the Lord delivered me, and blessed is he who trusts in Him.'

  57 And Pharaoh said to Ahikar, 'Go, and tomorrow be you here, and tell me a word that I have never heard from my nobles nor from the people of my kingdom and my country.'

  CHAP. VI.

  1 And Ahikar went to his dwelling, and wrote a letter, saying in it the following:

  2 'From Sennacherib king of Assyria and Nineveh to Pharaoh king of Egypt.

  3 'Peace be to you, my brother and what we make known to you by this is that a brother has need of his brother, and kings of each other, and my hope from you is that you would lend me nine hundred talents of gold, for I need it for the feeding of some of the soldiers, that I may spend it upon them. And after a little while I will send it you.'

  4 Then he folded the letter, and presented it to Pharaoh the next day.

  5 And when he saw it, he was perplexed and said to him, 'Truly I have never heard anything like this language from any one.'

  6 Then Ahikar said to him, 'Truly this is a debt which you owe to my lord the king.'

  7 And Pharaoh accepted this, saying, ' Ahikar, it is people like you who are honest in the service of kings.

  8 Blessed be God who has made you perfect in wisdom and has adorned you with philosophy and knowledge.

  9 And now, Ahikar, there remains what we desire from you, that you should build us a castle between heaven and earth.'

  10 Then said Ahikar, 'To hear is to obey. I will build you a castle according to your wish and choice; but, my lord, prepare us lime (calcium hydroxide) and stone and clay and workmen, and I have skilled builders who will build for you as you desire.'

  11 And the king prepared all that for him, and they went to a wide place. Ahikar and his boys came to it, and he took the eagles and the young men with him; and the king and all his nobles went and the whole city assembled, that they might see what Ahikar would do.

  12 Then Ahikar let the eagles out of the boxes, and tied the young men on their backs, and tied the ropes to the eagles' feet, and let them go in the air. And they soared upwards, until they remained between heaven and earth.

  13 And the boys began to shout, saying, 'Bring bricks, bring clay, that we may build the king's castle, for we are standing idle!'

  14 And the crowd was astonished and amazed and they wondered. And the king and his nobles wondered.

  15 And Ahikar and his servants began to beat the workmen and they shouted for the king's troops, saying to them, 'Bring to the skilled workmen what they want and do not hinder them from their work.'

  16 And the king said to him, 'You are mad. Who can bring anything up to that distance?'

  17 And Ahikar said to him, ' my lord, how shall we build a castle in the air? And if my lord the king were here, he would have built several castles in a single day.'

  18 And Pharaoh said to him, 'Go to your dwelling Ahikar, , and rest, for we have given up building the castle, and tomorrow come to me.'

  19 Then Ahikar went to his dwelling and the next day he appeared before Phanaoh. And Pharaoh said, ' Ahikar, what news is there of the horse of your lord? For when he neighs in the country of Assyria and Nineveb, and our mares hear his voice, they cast their young.' (Give birth before time and lose their young.)

  20 And when Ahikar heard this speech he went and took a cat, and bound her and began to flog her with a violent flogging until the Egyptians heard it, and they went and told the king about it. (Cats were sacred to the Egyprians.)

  21 And Pharaoh sent to bring back Ahikar, and said to him, ' Ahikar, why do you flog and beat that dumb beast like you do?'

  22 And Ahikar said to him, ' my lord the king, truly she has done an ugly deed to me, and has deserved this beating and flogging, for my lord king Sennacherib had given me a fine cock, and he had a strong true voice and knew the hours of the day and the night.

  23 And the cat got up this very night and cut off its head and went away, and because of this deed I have treated her to this beating.'

  24 And Pharaoh said to him, ' Ahikar, I see from all this that you are growing old and are senile, for between Egypt and Nineveh there are sixty-eight parasangs (around 10,000 paces), and how did she go this very night and cut off the head of your cock and come back?'

  25 And Ahikar said to him, ' my lord! if there were such a distance between Egypt and Nineveh, how could your mares hear when my lord the king's horse neighs and cast their young? And how could the voice of the horse reach to Egypt?'

  26 And when Pharaoh heard he knew that Ahikar had answered his questions.

  27 And Pharaoh said, ' Ahikar, I want you to make me ropes from the sands of the sea.'

  28 And Ahikar said to him, ' my lord the king, order them to bring me a rope out of the treasury that I may make one like it.'

  29 Then Ahikar went to the back of the house, and bored holes in the rough shore of the sea, and took a handful of sand of the sea in his hand and when the sun rose, and penetrated into the holes, he spread the sand in the sun till it became as if woven like ropes.

  30 And Ahikar said, 'Command your servants to take these ropes, and whenever you desire it, I will weave you some like them.'

  31 And Pharaoh said, ' Ahikar, we have a millstone here and it has been broken and I want you to sew it up.'

  32 Then Ahikar looked at it and found another stone.

  33 And he said to Pharaoh. ' My lord! I am a foreigner and I have no tool for sewing.

  34 But I want you to command your faithful shoemakers to cut awls from this stone, that I may sew that millstone.'

  35 Then Pharaoh and all his nobles laughed. And he said, 'Blessed be the Most High God, who gave you this wit and knowledge.'

  36 And when Pharaoh saw that Ahikar had overcome him, and returned him his answers, he at once became excited, and commanded them to collect for him three years' taxes, and to bring them to Ahikar.

  37 And he stripped off his robes and put them upon Ahikar, and his soldiers, and his servants, and gave him the expenses of his journey.

  38 And he said to him, 'Go in peace, strength of his lord and pride of his Doctors. Do any of the Sultans have a man like you? Give my greetings to your lord king Sennacherib, and tell him how we have sent him gifts, for kings are content with little.'

  39 Then Ahikar arose, and kissed king Pharaoh's hands and kissed the ground in front of him, and wished him strength and continuance, and abundance in his treasury, and said to him, ' my lord! I desire from you that not one of our countrymen may remain in Egypt.'

  40 And Pharaoh arose and sent heralds to proclaim in the streets of Egypt that not one of the people of Assyria or Nineveh should remain in the land of Egypt, but that they should go with Ahikar.

  41 Then Ahikar went and took leave of king Pharaoh, and journeyed, seeking the land of Assyria and Nineveh; and he had some treasures and a great deal of wealth.

  42 And when the news reached king Sennacherib that Ahikar was coming, he went out to meet him and rejoiced over him exceedingly with great joy and embraced him and kissed him, and said to him, 'Welcome home, kinsman, my brother Ahikar, the strength of my kingdom, and pride of my realm.

  43 Ask what you would have from me, even if you desire the half of my kingdom and of my possessions.

  44 Then said Ahikar unto him, ' my lord the king, live forever! Show favor
, my lord the king, to Abu Samik on my behalf, for my life was in the hands of God and in his.'

  45 Then Sennacherib the king said, 'Honor be to you, my beloved Ahikar! I will make the station of Abu Samik the swordsman higher than all my Private Councilors and my favorites.'

  46 Then the king began to ask him how he had got on with Pharaoh from his first arrival until he had come away from his presence, and how he had answered all his questions, and how he had received the taxes from him, and the changes of raiment and the gifts.

  47 And Sennacherib the king rejoiced with a great joy, and said to Ahikar, 'Take what you would desire to have of this tribute, for it is all within the grasp of your hand.'

  48 And Ahikar said: 'Let the king live forever! I desire nothing but the safety of my lord the king and the continuance of his greatness.

  49 My lord! What can I do with wealth and its like? But if you will show me favor, give me Nadan, my sister's son, that I may repay him for what he has done to me, and grant me his blood and hold me guiltless of it.'

  50 And Sennacherib the king said, 'Take him, I have given him to you,' And Ahikar took Nadan, his sister's son, and bound his hands with chains of iron, and took him to his home, and put a heavy fetter on his feet, and tied it with a tight knot, and after binding him like this, he cast him into a dark room, beside the retiring place (bed room), and appointed Nebu - hal as sentinel (guard) over him and commanded him to give him a loaf of bread and a little water every day.

  CHAP. VII,

  1 And whenever Ahikar went in or out he scolded Nadan, his sister's son, saying to him wisely:

  2 Nadan, my boy, I have done to you all that is good and kind. And you have rewarded me for it with what is ugly and bad and with killing.

  3 'My son, it is said in the proverbs: He who does not listen with his ear, they will make him listen with the scruff of his neck.'

  4 And Nadan said, 'For what cause are you angry with me?'

  5 And Ahikar said to him, 'Because I brought you up, and taught you, and gave you honor and respect and made you great, and raised you with the best of etiquette and manners, and seated you in my place that you might be my heir in the world, and you treated me with killing and repaid me with my ruin.

  6 But the Lord knew that I was wronged, and He saved me from the snare, which you had for me, for the Lord heals the broken hearts and hinders the envious and the arrogant.

  7 My boy, you have been to me like the scorpion which, when it strikes on brass, pierces it.

  8 My boy, you are like the gazelle who was eating the roots of the madder (the Rubia Peregrina plant yields a red dye – wild madder), and it said to her, "Eat of me today and take your fill, and tomorrow they will tan your hide in my roots."

  9 My boy, you have been to me like a man who saw his comrade naked in the chilly time of winter; and he took cold water and poured it upon him.

  10 My boy, you have been to me like a man who took a stone, and threw it up to heaven to stone his Lord with it. And the stone did not hit, and did not reach high enough, but it became the cause of guilt and sin.

  11 My boy, if you had honored me and respected me and had listened to my words you would have been my heir, and would have reigned over my dominions.

  12 My son, know you that if the tail of the dog or the pig were ten cubits long it would not approach to the worth of the horse's even if it were like silk.

  13 My boy, I thought that you would have been my heir at my death; and you through your envy and your insolence desired to kill me. But the Lord delivered me from your cunning.

  14 My son, you have been to me like a trap which was set up on the dunghill, and there came a sparrow and found the trap set up. And the sparrow said to the trap, "What are you doing here?" Said the trap, "I am praying here to God."

  15 And the lark asked it also, "What is the piece of wood that you hold?" Said the trap, "That is a young oak-tree on which I lean at the time of prayer.

  16 The lark said: "And what is that thing in your mouth?" Said the trap: "That is bread and food which I carry for all the hungry and the poor who come near me."

  17 The lark said: "Now then may I come forward and eat, for I am hungry?" And the trap said to him, "Come forward." And the lark approached that it might eat.

  18 But the trap sprang up and seized the lark by its neck

  19 And the lark said to the trap, "If that is your bread for the hungry, God does not accept your alms or your kind deeds.

  20 And if that is your fasting and your prayers, God does not accept your fast nor your prayer, and God will not bring to fruition what is good concerning you."

  21 My boy, you have been to me as a lion who made friends with an ass, and the ass kept walking in front of the lion for a time; and one day the lion sprang upon the ass and ate it up.

  22 My boy, you have been to me like a weevil in the wheat. It is good for nothing but to spoil the wheat and chew at it.

  23 My boy, you have been like a man who sowed ten measures of wheat, and when it was harvest time, he arose and reaped it, and gathered it, and threshed it, and toiled over it to the very end, and it turned out to be ten measures, and its master said to it: " you lazy thing! You have not grown and you have not shrunk."

  24 My boy, you have been to me like the quail that had been hurled into the net. She could not save herself, but she called out to the quails, so that she might throw (lure) them into the net with her.

  25 My son, you have been to me like the dog that was cold and it went into the potter's house to get warm.

  26 And when it had gotten warm, it began to bark at them, and they chased it out and beat it, so that it would not bite them.

  27 My son, you have been to me like the pig who went into the hot bath with people of quality, and when it came out of the hot bath, it saw a filthy hole and it went down and, wallowed in it.

  28 My son, you have been to me like the goat, which joined its comrades on their way to the sacrifice, and it was unable to save itself.

  29 My boy, the dog which is not fed from its hunting becomes food for flies.

  30 My son, the hand which does not labor and plough but is greedy and deceitful shall be cut off from its shoulder.

  31 My son, the eye in which light is not seen, the ravens shall pick at it and pluck it out.

  32 My boy, you have been to me like a tree, and men were cutting its branches, and the tree said to them, "If something of me were not in your hands, you would not be able to cut me."

  33 My boy, you are like the cat to which they said: "cease thieving until we make a chain of gold for you and feed you with sugar and almonds."

  34 And she said, "I cannot forget the craft of my father and my mother."

  35 My son, you have been like the serpent riding on a thorn-bush when he was in the middle of a river, and a wolf saw them and said, "bad behavior upon bad behavior, let him who is more of a troublemaker than they lead both of us."

  36 And the serpent said to the wolf, "The lambs and the goats and the sheep which you have eaten all your life, will you return them to their fathers and to their parents or not?"

  37 Said the wolf, "No." And the serpent said to him, "I think that after myself (between the two of us) you are the worst of us."

  38 My boy, I fed you with good food and you did not feed me with dry bread.

  39 My boy, I gave you sugared water to drink and good syrup, and you did not give me water from the well to drink.

  40 My boy, I taught you, and brought you up, and you dug a (pit for a) hiding-place for me and did conceal me.

  41 My boy, I brought you up with the best upbringing and trained you like a tall cedar; and you have twisted and bent me.

  42 My boy, it was my hope for you that you would build me a fortified castle, that I might be concealed from my enemies in it, and you became to me like one burying (me) in the depth of the earth; but the Lord took pity on me and delivered me from your deceit.

  43 My boy, I wished you well, but you rewarded me with evil and ha
tefulness, and now I would desire tears from your eyes, and make you food for dogs, and cut out your tongue, and take off your head with the edge of the sword, and reward you for your abominable deeds.'

  44 And when Nadan heard this speech from his uncle Ahikar, he said: ' my uncle! Deal with me according to your knowledge, and forgive me my sins, for who is there who has sinned like me, or who is there who forgives like you?

  45 Accept me, my uncle! Now I will serve in your house, and groom your horses and sweep up the dung of your cattle, and feed your sheep, for I am the wicked and you are the righteous: I am the guilty and you the (one) forgiving.'