Book of Jasher (Sefer haYashar) 3 part 1/2

~11~ And it came to pass in the eighty-fourth year of Noah's life, and Enosh son of Sheth died, he was nine hundred and five years old at the time of his death. And in the seventy-ninth year and one hundred years of Noah's life, Kenan, a human, died. And all the days of Kenan will be nine hundred years and ten years, and he will die. And in the year thirty-four and two hundred years of Noah's life, Mahalalel ben Kenan died. And the days of Mahalalel were eight hundred and ninety-five years, and he died. And Jared ben Mahalalel died in those days, in the sixty-sixth year and three hundred years of Noah's life. And all the days of Jared were nine hundred and sixty-two years, and he died. And all the people who followed God died in those days before they saw the evil that God had spoken to do in the whole earth. And it came to pass from the end of many days and years to four hundred and eighty years of Noah's life, when all the human beings who were filled after God died from among the human race and only Methuselah remained in those days. And the Lord said to Noah to Methuselah saying, Speak and call to the sons of men to say, thus said the Lord turn from your evil ways and forsake your deeds, and the Lord comfort you for the evil that he spoke to do to you in the land and it shall not be. For thus said the Lord, I am giving you a period of twenty and one hundred years if you return to me again and forsake your evil ways and I also turn from the evil that I have spoken to you and you shall not rise, said the Lord. And Noah and Methuselah spoke all the words of God to all men day by day and spoke all those days. And all mankind did not listen to them, and did not incline their ears to their words and stiffen their necks. And the Lord set a time limit of twenty and one hundred years for them, if they returned again, and the Lord comforted them for the evil to not corrupt the land. And Noah the son of Lamech stopped taking a wife to bear sons because he said, Behold, God is corrupting the human race from the face of the earth, why should I have sons. And Noah was a righteous and innocent man in his generations, and God chose him to live from his seed a seed over the whole earth. And the Lord said to Noah, take a wife and beget sons, for I have seen you righteous before me in this generation. You and your sons with you shall live among the land. And Noah went and took a wife and chose Naomi, the daughter of Enoch, and she was five hundred and eighty years old.

~12~ And Noah was ninety-eight years old and four hundred years old, and took Naama to wife. And Naomi conceived and gave birth to a son and called his name Japheth, for Japheth is my God in the land. And she conceived again and gave birth to a son, and he called his name there, saying, "Mani Elohim, you are left to live among the earth." And Noah was five hundred and two years old, Naama's ballad is named after her. And the boys grew up and followed the ways of God, in all that their father Methuselah and Noah taught them. And to you my father Noah died in those days, because he did not walk in the ways of his father with all his heart, and he died in the ninety-fifth year and five hundred years of Noah's life. And all the days of Lamech will be seventy-seven years and seven hundred years, and he will die. And all the people who knew God all died that year, before God brought the evil on the people. Because God wanted to kill them so that no one who knew God, his brother and his relative would see the evil that God had spoken to do. At that time, God said to Noah and Methuselah, saying, Stand and read in the ears of all men all the things that I spoke to you in those days. Perhaps the people will return from their evil deeds, and I will comfort the evil and not bring it. And Noah and Methuselah stood up and read in the ears of all the people, all that God had spoken to them. And all the people will not hear nor incline their ear, all these things. And it came to pass after that, that God said to Noah, The end of all flesh has come before me because of the evil of their deeds, and I am corrupting the earth. And you took gopher trees and went to such and such an unknown place, and you made yourself a large ark and placed it in that place. And you shall make it, three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide, and thirty cubits tall. And you made an opening for yourself in her side, and to her mother it came from above and you redeemed her from inside and outside with kufr. And I will bring the flood of water upon the earth, to wash away all flesh under heaven, all that is in the land of sorrow. And you and your sons came and gathered all the animals, two by two, male and female, and brought them with you to the ark to live from them seed on the earth. And from all the food that is eaten by all the animals, gather to you in the ark, and it will be for you and for them to eat.

~13~ And you chose for your sons three girls from among the daughters of men, and they were for your sons as wives. And Noah got up and made the ark that God had commanded him, and he did with it all that He commanded him. In the year five hundred and ninety-five Noah began to make the ark, and in the year six hundred years he finished the ark with all its words and all its judgment. And he made the ark for five years, when God commanded him. So Noah took the three daughters of Eliakim son of Methuselah to his sons as wives, when God commanded Noah. And it happened at that time that Methuselah son of Enoch died, sixty-nine years old and nine hundred years old at the time of his death. At that time after the death of Methuselah, God said to Noah, come you and all your household to the ark. I gather to you all the beasts of the earth and the beasts of the field and the birds of the air, and they all came and surrounded the ark. And you went out and you sat under the door of the ark, and all the animals and the cattle and the fowl will all gather and stand against you. And whatever comes from them and prostrates before you, you shall take, and give into the hand of your sons, and bring them to the ark, and all who stand against you, you shall leave. And God did this thing the next day, and a great many beasts and animals and birds came and they all surrounded the ark. And Noah went out and sat under the door, and all that lay before him of all flesh he brought to his sons to the ark, and all that stood against him he left in the land. And one lioness came and her two cubs with her, a male and a female, and they came and fought against Noah, all three of them. And the two cubs of that lioness stood up on her and struck her and she fled from their place, and she went away from there and they returned to their place and fell to the ground before Noah. And the lioness fled to her, and she will stand in the place of the lions. And Noah saw this deed and was very sad, and got up and took the two lioness cubs and brought them to the ark. And Noah brought into the ark of all the animals that were in the land, there was nothing left that Noah did not bring with him into the ark. Two and two came to Noah to the ark, and from the clean animal and from the clean fowl he brought seven seven when God commanded it. And all the beasts and the animals and the fowl, they are all still in that place. And they all turned the ark from side to side, and the rain had not yet been at that time for seven days. And God shook the whole earth on that day, and the sun darkened and the institutions of the world were upset. ~14~ And the whole earth shook and lightnings flashed and thunders rumbled, and a great voice rose up throughout the whole earth, the like of which was not known to its inhabitants. And God did this thing in order to startle the people of men to return to God, so that there would be no evil in the land. And yet the people did not return from their way, and they added to Haron even the Lord at that time and no one took heart for all this. And it came to pass for seven days in the six hundred years of Noah's life, and the waters of the flood were upon the earth. And all the springs of the abyss burst forth and the chimneys of the heavens opened, and the rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights. And Noah and his house and all the animals that were with him came to the ark from the waters of the flood, and God closed in on them. And all the people who remain in the land will be cut off from the rain because the water has greatly exceeded the land, and the cattle and the animals are still standing around the ark. And all mankind gathered together, about seven hundred thousand men and women, and they all came to Noah to the ark. And they all called to Noah to say, Open for us and we will come with you to the ark, and why should we die? And Noah answered them saying with a loud voice from the ark and said to them, have you not all rebelled against the Lord and said not He. And God brought upon you this evil, to destroy and destroy you from the face of the earth. Isn't this the thing that I spoke to you twenty and one hundred years ago this day and you did not hear the voice of God, and now you will desire to live in the land. And they all said to Noah, we are here, and we all sat until the Lord, but open to us, and we will live and not die. And Noah answered them, saying, "Behold, but now that you see the distress of your souls, return to God, and why not your Sabbath for twenty-one hundred years, which God has appointed for you for a time." And come now and speak this thing to me from the evil of your souls, even God will not listen to you and will not listen to you on this day and you will not succeed in your words today. And all the people reached to break the ark to come inside it from the rain, because they could not bear the rain on them. And God sent upon them all the animals and all the beasts that stand around the ark. And the animals will prevail over them, and they will stand and have mercy on the ark. And many of the animals died of them, and they were spared from that place, and they went each to his own way and scattered over the face of the whole earth. And the rain is still falling on the land and it will rain forty days and forty nights, and the water will be very, very heavy on the land.

~15~ And all flesh that is on the earth will die in the water, from man to beast to animal to creeper to fowl of the sky, and only Noah and the rest will remain with him in the ark. And the waters increased and multiplied greatly on the earth, and they carried the ark and lifted it above the earth. And the ark will walk on the surface of the water and will turn over on the surface of the water back and forth here and there, and all the living things in it will turn over like the turning over of the scum in a pot. And there was great sorrow for the whole universe that was in the ark, and the ark thought to break. And all the animals that were in the ark were frightened, and the lions growled and the oxen bellowed and the wolves howled. And the whole universe that is in the ark speaks and shouts in its own language, and their voices are heard far away. And Noah and his sons shout and weep in their distress and they will see a very great awe, and they will reach the gates of death. And Noah prayed to God, and cried out to God about this thing and said: Please God, save us, for there is no strength in us to endure this evil that surrounds us, because we were surrounded by water breaks and the rivers of Belial in our time, the hardships of death preceded us. We answered God, we answered! We redeemed, turned to us and begged, redeemed and saved. And God heard Noah's voice, and God remembered him, and a wind passed over the face of the earth, and the waters returned, and the ark rested. And the springs of the deep and the chimneys of the sky were shut up, and the rain was shut up from the sky. And the water was scarce in those days, and the ark rested in the mountains of Ararat. And Noah opened the window of the ark at that time, and Noah called out to God again at that time and said: Please God, God of all the earth and the seas and all that is in them! You took my soul out of my prison in which I was put, because I was touched by my sighing very much. And God heard Noah's voice, and said to him: When you have completed a whole year, then you will go out. And for the period of the year until Noah completed a full year of his sitting in the ark, the waters receded from the earth and Noah removed the lid of the ark. At that time, on the twenty-seventh day of the second month, the earth was dry, but Noah and his sons and all that was with him did not leave the ark until God spoke to them. And it came to pass today that the Lord God said to go forth, and they all came out of the ark and went and returned, each to his way and each to his place.

~16~ And Noah and his sons dwelt in the land that God had spoken to them, and they served God all their days. And God blessed Noah and his sons when they came out of the ark. And he said to them multiply and multiply, and fill the whole earth. and himself and that they spread throughout the land, and multiplied in it. And these are the names of Noah's sons Japheth Ham and Shem and sons were born to them after the flood, because they took wives for them before the flood. These are the sons of Japheth, Gomer, and Magog, and Medi, and Jon, and Tobal, and Meshach, and Tiras, the sons of Sheva. And there will be sons of Gomer, Ashkenaz and Ripah and Tograma. And the sons of Magog, Eliharaf and Lobb. And my sons: Ahon, Zila, Honi, Liti. And the children of Yon: Elisha, Tarshish, Kitim, cousins. And Beni Toval: Arifi, Kashad, Tari. And the sons of Meshach: Haron, Zadon, Shibshani. And corn varieties: Beniov, Gira, Chizon, Lufrion, Gilk. These are the sons of Jephthah according to their families, and their subordinates in those days will be about four hundred and sixty men. And these are the sons of Ham, Cush and the Egyptians Put and Canaan, four sons. And there will be sons of Cush: grandfather, lot, grandmother, Reama, grandmother. And the sons of Rema Sheba and Dedan. And the Egyptians: Lod, Onam, Lahav, Neftuh, Patros, Kesloh, Button. And the sons of Pot: Gebal, Hadan, Bana, Eden. And the children of Canaan: Sidon, Hittite, Amerite, Gargshi, Hii, Araki, Sinai, Erodi, Zemre, Hamath. These are the sons of Ham in their families, and their subordinates in those days were about seven hundred and thirty men. And these are the sons of Shem: Elam, Ashur, Arpachshad, Lod, and Aram, five sons. And there will be sons of Elam: Shoshan, Mahol, Hermon. And the Assyrians: Mirs, Mukil. And the sons of Arpachshad: Shelah, Enar, Eshkol. And Bnei Lod: Pethor, Azion. And the sons of Aram: Oz, Hul, Gether, Mish. These are the sons of Shem in their families, and their number in those days was about three hundred and seventy people. These are the histories of Shem, Shem begat Arpachshad and Arpachshad begat Shelah and Shelah begat Eber. And before that he gave birth to two sons, one of whom was divided, because in his life the lives of men were divided and at the end of his days the earth was divided. And the second name he called Yaktan to say: The lives of men became smaller and smaller in his days. These are the sons of Yaktan: Almudad, Shelf, Hatz Mot, Yarah, Doram, Ozel, Dekla, Obel, Abimael, Sheba, Ophir, Havilah, Yobb. All these are my little ones. And Peleg his brother begat his brother, and his brother begat Srog, and Srog begat Nahor, and Nahor begat Terah. And Terah lived thirty-eight years and begat Haran and Nahor.

~17~ And Kush son of Ham son of Noah took a wife in those days, at the time of his old age. And she gave birth to a son and they called his name Nimrod, because at that time the people began to rebel and sin against God again. And the boy grew up and his father loved him very much, because he was his son. And Cush gave him the leather tunics that God made for Adam and his wife when they left the garden. And it came to pass after the death of Adam and his wife, that they gave the turbans to Enoch son of Jared, and Enoch took them to God and gave them to Methuselah his son. And when Methuselah died, Noah took them and brought them with him to the ark, and they were with him until they came out of the ark. And it happened when they left that Ham stole those tunics from his father's hand, and took them and hid them from his brothers, and when Ham gave birth to his firstborn Kush, he secretly gave him the tunics. And they will be with Cush many days, and he will also hide them from his sons and brothers. And it happened when Kush gave birth to Nimrod, and he gave him those clothes out of his love for him. And Nimrod grew up and was twenty years old, and put on those clothes. And Nimrod became strong when he put on the clothes, and God gave him strength and valor and he became a hunting hero in the land. He was a hunting hero in the field and hunted the animals, and built altars and sacrificed the animals on them before God. And Nimrod grew strong and stood up from his brothers and fought his brothers' battles against all their enemies around, and God gave all his brothers' enemies into his hand. And the Lord succeeded him time after time, in all his wars, and he reigned in the land. Therefore there was, for example, in those days when a man sent his apprentices to fight, and they called him Nimrod, who was a hunting hero in the land and was successful in his wars. He who prevailed over his brother and saved them from the hand of their enemies, so will God strengthen us and save us this day. And it happened when Nimrod was forty years old, and at that time there was a war between his brothers and the sons of Japheth, and his brothers were under the hand of their enemies. And Nimrod grew strong at that time and went and gathered all the children of Cush and all the families of Ham, about four hundred and sixty men. And he also hired all his lovers and all his acquaintances in front of about eighty men, and he gave their wages and went with them to war. And it happened on the way, and Nimrod strengthened the hearts of all the people who went with him, and he said to them, do not be afraid and do not be afraid, for a given will give all our enemies into our hands, and do to them as is good in your eyes. And all these people went, about five hundred and forty men, and fought against their enemies, and they signed and surrendered under their hand, and there rebelled against them commissioners in their places.

~18~ And he took some of their sons as collateral and they were all slaves to Nimrod and his brothers, and they turned and returned Nimrod and all the people who were with him to their places. And it came to pass when Nimrod returned from the war with joy, when he had defeated all his enemies, and all together appointed all his brothers and all his acquaintances to the front, and they made him king over them, and they put the royal crown on his head. And he put ministers and judges and leaders over his servants, and over all his people as the judgment of kings. And he made Terah ben Nahor the minister of his army, and raised him up and raised him above all the ministers that he had. And it happened when he reigned with all his will and when he defeated all his enemies around, and consulted with all his advisers to build him a city and they did so. And they will find a large valley opposite to the east of the sun, and they will build a large and very wide city for it there. And Nimrod called the name of the city that he built Shanar, because God shook his enemies from before him and captured them. And Nimrod sat in Shenar and reigned securely and fought with all his enemies and conquered them, and was successful in all his wars and his kingdom increased greatly. All the nations and all the tongues heard what he heard, and they will all gather together to him. And they brought him offerings and bowed down to him to the ground and gave thanks to the Lord and King over them, and they all sat with him in the city of Shanar. And Nimrod will reign in the land over all the sons of Noah, and they will all be under his hand and under his counsel. And the whole earth was one language, and one language. But Nimrod did not walk in the ways of God, and was judged by all the people who were before him, from the days of the flood until those days. And God made wood and stone and bowed down to them, and rebelled against God. And he taught all his servants and all the people of the land all his evil ways, and Mardon his son was also very guilty of his father and it was everyone who heard the deed of Mardon son of Nimrod and answered and said about him from the wicked came evil. Therefore, there was an example in all the land, as it is said, from the wicked came evil, and it was an example in the words of all people from that day forward until this day. And Terah ben Nahor, the minister of Nimrod's army, was very great in those days in the eyes of the king and in the eyes of all his servants, and the king and the ministers loved him and married him very much. And Terah took a wife, and her name was Amethlai, the daughter of Kerenbu, and Terah's wife conceived and bore a son in those days. Terah was seventy years old when you gave birth to him. And Terah called the name of his son Abram, who was born to him, to say that they raised him to be king in those days and took him above all the ministers who were with him.

~19~ And it happened that night when Abram was born, and all the servants of Terah and all the wise men of Nimrod and all his harlots came and ate and drank in the house of Terah and rejoiced with him that night. And it happened when all the sages came out of Beit Terah and raised their eyes to the sky that night to the stars, and they saw and behold one very big star came from the east of the sun and ran in the sky and swallowed four stars from the four winds of heaven. And all the wise men of the king and all the captains died at that sight, and the wise men understood that thing and knew about it. And they said one to another, This is none other than the mother of the child that was born this night to Terah. Who celebrated and blessed and multiplied greatly and inherited the whole earth, he and his sons forever, and he and his seed killed great kings and they inherited their land. And all the sages and all the harlots went and came that night, each to his house. And it came to pass in the morning, that they all agreed together, all the sages and all the hartumim, and they all knew where their meeting was. And they spoke and said, one to another, here is the sight that we saw last night disappeared from the king and it was not known to him. And if he knew the matter to the king at the end of days, he said to us why did you hide the matter from me, and we all died. And now go and tell the king the sight we saw and the resolution of things, and we will clean. And they did so and they all went and came to the king and bowed down to him and said, Long live the king Long live the king. We have heard that a son was born to Terah, son of Nahur, a minister of your army, and we will come last night to his house and eat bread and drink and rejoice with him at night. And it came to pass when your servants left the house of Terah to go to our house to spend the night in their hotel, and we raised our eyes to the sky and looked and behold one very large star came from the east of the sun. And that star ran in a great race, and swallowed up four stars greater than the four winds of heaven. And your servants will be amazed at that sight that we saw and will be very frightened, and we will judge the sight and know with our wisdom the solution of that sight is correct. For on the child born to Terah was that thing, that he would grow and multiply greatly and destroy and kill all the kings of the earth and inherit all their land, he and his sons and his seed forever. And now, our lord the king, here we inform you of what we saw about this child, about rightly. If it is good for the king to give his father a price for that child, and kill him. Before he grew and multiplied in the land and his wickedness multiplied upon us in the land and we all perished, we and our children and our seed in his wickedness.

~20~ And the king heard their words and it was good in his eyes, and he sent and called Terah and Terah came before the king. And the king said to Terah, I was told that a son was born to you last night, and such and such will appear in heaven in his birth. And now give me that child and we will kill him before his evil grows upon us, and I will give you the price of his house full of silver and gold. And Terah answered the king and said to him, my lord the king, I have heard your words, whatever my lord the king wishes, let his servant do. However, my lord the king, I will tell you what happened to me last night until I see the king's advice to his servant, and then I will repay the king for his words. And the king said something. And he said, Go to the king, because Aion son of Mord came to me last night to my house at night, saying, Give me the good big horse that the king gave you, and I will give you the price of silver and gold, and your house will be full of hay and fodder. And I said to him until I see my lord the king about your words, and whatever the king speaks to me I will do. And now, my lord the king, here I have turned your ear to this matter, and whatever advice my lord the king gives to his servant, I will do it. And the king heard the words of Terah, and his nose became angry and he considered him a fool. And the king answered Terah and said to him, You are a fool and a fool or a fool for doing this thing. Because you will give your good horse in money or gold, even if in hay and fodder. You are the one who lacks silver and gold until you have no hay and fodder for your horses, because you will do this thing. What do you want in money or gold and even in hay and fodder because you will give your good horse that I gave you, which there is no horse like him in all the land. And the king was able to speak, and he answered the king to say like this my lord the king spoke to his servant. My lord the king, what is this thing that you spoke to me saying give your son and kill him and I will give you the price of silver and gold, what will I do with the silver or gold after the death of my son because who will succeed me. And it was at my death that silver and gold returned to my lord the king that they had given. And it came to pass when the king heard the words of Terah and the parable that he brought against the king, that he was very jealous of the king and scolded him for this thing, and his anger burned in him.

~21~ And Terah saw that the king was also angry with him and answered and said to the king, "Here is all that I have in the king's hand." Whatever my lord the king wishes to do to his servant, he will do, and even my son here is in the king's hand without price, he and his two older brothers. And the king said, don't worry, not because I will buy your little son at a price. And the king answered and said, My lord the king, let your servant speak, please speak before you. And the king heard the words of his servant, and the king said, Speak, for I hear. And Terah said, may my lord the king give me time for three days until I speak to my soul and to my house the words of my lord the king, and I will forgive them for this thing. And the king heard El Terah and did so, and gave him time for three days. And Terah went out from the presence of the king and went and came to his house, and he spoke to them all the words of the king and the people were greatly afraid. And it came to pass on the third day, that the king sent to Terah, saying, Send me your son for the price as I spoke to you. And if you do not do this thing, I will send and kill all that is in your house, and they will not leave you until you urinate on the wall. And Terah hastened, because the king's word was necessary for him, and he took the child from one of his slaves, which his handmaid bore to him on the day that he gave birth to Abram. And he brought that child to the king, and took his price. And it happened, O Lord, that you would be afraid of this thing, so that I did not kill Abram and rebelled. And the king took the boy from Terah's hand and smashed his brain to the ground with his hand, and killed him because he thought it was Abram. And the matter was hidden from that day on and was forgotten from the heart of the king, because it was from God that Abram would not die. And Terah secretly took his son Abram and his mother and his nurse and hid them in a cave, and gave them their sustenance every month in his month. And God kept Abram in that cave and he grew, and Abram was in the cave for ten years. And the king and all his ministers and servants and all the princes and wise men of the king thought that the king had killed Abram. And Haran son of Terah, Abram's older brother than him, took a wife in those days, because Haran had been married thirty-nine years. And Haran's wife conceived and bore him a son, and he called his name Lot. And she conceived again and gave birth to a daughter, and called her name Malka. And she conceived again and gave birth to a daughter, and she called her name Cheri. Haran was forty-two years old when he gave birth to Sarai, in the tenth year of Abram's life.

~22~ In those days Abram and his mother and his nurse came out of the cave, when the king and his servants forgot about Abram. And it came to pass when Abram came out of the cave, and he went to Noah and there his son, and he sat with them to learn God's morals and his ways, and no one knew Abram. And Abram served Noah and his son Shem for many days. And Abram lived in Noah's house thirty-nine years. And Abram knew God from the age of three, and walked in the ways of God until the day of his death when Noah instructed him and named his son. And all the people of the land sinned greatly against God in those days, and rebelled against Him and worshiped other Gods and forgot God who created them in the land. And all the people of the earth made them their gods in those days, gods of wood and stone that they would not hear, nor speak, nor save, and men would serve them, and they would be their gods. And the king and all his servants and Terah and all his house were first in those days, for all the workers wood and stone. And there will be twelve great Gods, Gods of wood and stone for twelve months, and each one will serve his month. And every month in his month he would offer a offering and sacrifice to his God, and he would bow down to them and worship them, that's how he would do Terah all the days. And that whole generation was bad in the eyes of God, and they did this to their God and to God, whom they left behind. And no one was found in those days in all the land who knew God, because everyone served his God. Besides Noah and his household and all who were under their counsel, they knew God in those days. And Abram son of Terah was growing in those days in Noah's house, and no one knew that God was with him. And God gave Abram a listening heart and understanding, knowing everything that that generation will do that is vain. And all their gods whom they serve are vain, and there is no profit in them. And Abram saw the sun in the land, and Abram said to his heart, But now this sun that has risen over the whole earth is God, and I will worship him. And Abram worshiped the sun that day, and prayed to it that day. And it came to pass in the evening, and the sun came as a judgment, and Abram said in his heart, But now this is not God. And Abram spoke again in his heart, who made the heavens and the earth and who created all this man on the earth where is he. And the night darkened upon him, and he lifted up his eyes to the sea, and to the north, and to the Negev, and to the east, and saw, and behold, the sound of the sun, silence over the earth, and the day darkened.

~23~ And Abram saw the moon and the stars before him and said, But now here is God who created the whole earth and all man and behold these are his servants before him. And Abram worshiped the moon, and prayed to it all that night. And it came to pass in the morning, and he said today, and the sun rose upon the earth as a judgment. And Abram saw all these things which the Lord God had done in the land. And Abram said in his heart, But now these are not gods who made the earth and all man, but they are God's servants. And Abram sat in Noah's house and Abram knew God there and his ways, and Abram served God all the days of his life. And that whole generation forgot God, and worshiped other Gods, wood and stone, and rebelled against God forever. And King Nimrod reigned for sure, and the whole land was under his hand. And all the land had one language, and one language. And all the ministers of Nimrod and all his greatness at that time, Put and Egypt and Cush and Canaan consulted their families. And they said one to another, Let us build a city and in it a tower and a strong fortress with its head in the sky and let us make a name for ourselves so that we may be rulers over the whole world. And so that the evil of our enemies will cease from us, and we will reign over them with strength and not spread over the whole earth from their wars. And they went and they all came before the king and said these things to the king, and the king thanked them for this thing and they did so. And all the families gathered, about six hundred thousand people, and they went to ask for a very wide land to build the city and the tower, and they asked all over the country and they found only one valley in the land that a boy walked for two years and they all went to it and sat there. And they began to burn the white embers and burn them with fire, to build the city and the tower that they had planned. And they had the building of the tower for crime and sin, and they began to build it, and they built and rebelled against God, the God of heaven, and thought in their hearts to fight against him and ascend to heaven. And all these people and the families were divided into three parts, and one said, let us go up to heaven and fight him. And the second said, Let us ascend the heavens and place our God there, and worship them there. And the third said the sky will ascend, and we will strike it down with bows and spears. And God knew all their deeds and all their evil thoughts, and saw the city and the tower they were building.

~24~ And it happened that they were builders, and they built a great city for them and a tower in it that was high and very, very strong. Because due to the many heights, the material and the bricks will not reach the builder's ownership until the immigrants have completed a full year. And after that they will come to the builders and give them the material and the bricks, this is what they will do to them every day. And there will be those who come up and those who come down, all day long. And it will happen when a brick falls from their hands and breaks and they all cry over it, and when a man falls and dies none of them looks at him. And God knew their thoughts, and it happened when they were building and they shot the arrows into the sky and all the arrows fell on them full of blood. And when they saw it, they said one to another, But behold, we have killed all that is in heaven. Because from God it was for the sake of the people, and for their destruction from the face of the earth. And they built the tower and the city and did this thing day after day, until they were full of many days and years. And the Lord said to the seventy angels standing first in front of him and those closest to him, saying, Let us go down and waste their language there, so that they will neither hear nor understand each other's language, and he will do the same to them. And from that day forward they forgot each other's language, and they would not understand how to speak together in one language. And it came to pass when one said to another, Give me a stone to build, and he gave him material. And when he said give material, he gave him a stone. And it happened when the builder took the material or the stone from his neighbor's hand that he did not say, and the builder threw it out of his hand and fell upon his neighbor and died. And they did this thing for many days, and many of them died because of this thing. And God struck the three parts that were there, and punished them according to their works and their thoughts. Those who said let us ascend to heaven and worship our God there, (turned) into monkeys and ivories. And those who said the heavens are crippled with arrows, the Lord killed each by the hand of another. And the third one, which said, Let us ascend to heaven and fight against it, God spread them throughout the land. And those who remained in them when they knew and understood the evil that was coming upon them, and they left the building and they too scattered over the whole land. And they stopped building the city and the tower. That's why he called that place Babel, because there in Babylon, the tongue of the whole earth, here is a prelude to the land of a boy, and that tower which men built, the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the third of it, and fire also came down from heaven and burned the other third. And the third of it remains until this day, and it will be from it that hangs in the wind of heaven and it will be the course of its shadow for three days. And many of the people will die in that tower that year, until they have no number.