Book of Jasher (Sefer haYashar) 7

~79~ And it happened in the fifty-ninth year of the life of Isaac son of Abraham, and Rebecca his wife was still barren in those days. And Rebekah said to Isaac, Lord, did I not hear that your mother Sarah was also barren in her days, until my Lord Abraham, your father, prayed for her and she conceived for him. Now stand up and pray to God, you too, and he will hear your prayer and remember us too, for the sake of his grace. And Isaac answered Rebekah his wife saying, Abraham my father had already prayed for me to our God to multiply my seed, now this barrenness was from you to us. And Rebekah said to him, but now get up and pray for me too, and God will hear your prayer and give me sons. And Yitzchak heard his wife's words, and they got up and Yitzchak and Rebekah went to the land of Moriah to pray there and to seek God there. And they came to that place, and Isaac stood and prayed before his wife to God because she was barren. And Isaac said, O God of heaven and earth, your goodness and mercy fill the whole earth, you who took my father from his father's house and from the land of his birth and brought him to this land and said to him, I will lay wait for your seed like the stars of the sky and the blue of the sea. Now your words which you spoke to my father will be believed, for you are our God, our eyes are on you to give us the seed of people when we promised that you are our God and our eyes are on you. And God heard the prayer of Isaac son of Abraham and granted him, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. And it came to pass in seven months, that the boys were running near her, and he was very, very fond of her, and jumped from their faces. And she said to all the women who were with her in the land, we will do to you like this thing that was done to me, and they said to her no. And she said to them, Why is this me? I had this thing of all the women who were in all the land. And she went to the land of Moriah to ask God for this matter, and she went there and beyond our son to ask and demand from them about this matter and to ask for it from God in this matter. And she also asked Avraham to ask and demand God for all this thing that happened to her. And they all asked God for this thing, and they answered her a word from God. They said to her, "Two children are in your womb, and two nations will arise from them, and one nation will adopt and multiply a young man." And her days for giving birth were fulfilled, and she knelt down and behold twins in her womb when God spoke to her. And the first came forth, all red like a mane of hair, and all the land called his name Esau, to say that he is whole from the belly. And after that his brother came out and his hand took hold of Esau's heel, so he called his name Jacob. And Yitzchak son of Avraham was sixty years old when he gave birth to them. And the boys will grow up to fifteen years, and they will come with people. And Esau was a man of schemes and tricks, and knew how to hunt game in the field. And Jacob was a perfect and wise man, dwelling in tents and shepherding sheep, and learning God's morals and the commandments of his father and mother.

~80~ And Isaac lived with his sons and his house with Abraham his father in the land of Canaan, when God commanded them. And Ishmael son of Avraham and his sons and all that belonged to them went and dwelt there in the land of Havilah and dwelt there. And all the sons of the concubines who belonged to Abraham went wherever they lived to the land of old, because Abraham fought over his son Isaac and gave them gifts and they went to them. And Avraham gave all that he had to Isaac his son and he also gave him all his charms. And they commanded him to say, did you not know and hear that the Lord is the God in heaven and on earth there is none other than Him. And he is the one who took me from my father's house and my homeland, and saved me from the light of demons and the counsel of the wicked because I trusted in him. And bring me to this place and give me all the greed of this land, I lack nothing. And he assured me and said to me, I will give all this land to your seed and he will inherit my commandments and my commandments and my teachings and the laws that I commanded you and that I will command them. And now, my son, listen to my voice and keep the commandments of the Lord your God, which I have commanded you, do not deviate from the straight path to the right and to the left, so that it may be good for you and your children after you forever. And remember the wonders of God and His grace that He did with us and that saved us from the clutches of our enemies, and God our God delivered them into our hands. And now all your commandments you shall observe, and the commandments of your God you shall not forsake, nor shall you serve other than him, so that it may be well with you and your seed after you. And you taught your sons and your offspring God's morals and his commandments, and you taught them the straight path that they should follow so that it would be good for them forever. And Isaac answered his father and said to him, I will do what my Lord has commanded, and the commandments of the Lord my God are not forbidden, as much as I have been commanded I will keep. And Abraham blessed his son Yitzchak and his sons, and Abraham taught Jacob God's morals and his ways. And it happened at that time that Abraham died, in the fifteenth year of the life of Jacob and Esau, the sons of Isaac. And all the days of Abraham will be seventy-five years and one hundred years. And he died and gathered to his people in a good return an old man and seven days old, and Isaac and Ishmael his sons buried him. And it came to pass when all the inhabitants of the land of Canaan heard that Abraham had died, and they all came with their kings and ministers and all their people to bury Abraham. And all the inhabitants of the land of Haran, and all the families of Abraham's house, and all the ministers and elders and all the sons of Abraham's concubines came, because they had heard that Abraham had died, and they would reward Abraham with kindness. And they all consoled Isaac his son, and buried Avraham in the cave he had bought from Ephron the Hittite and his sons for a burial plot.

~81~ And all the inhabitants of the land of Canaan and all those who knew Abraham mourned Abraham for a whole year, and men and women told about him. And all the little children and all the inhabitants of the land all wept for Abraham, because Abraham was kind to everyone and because he was honest with God and people. And there was no one who feared God like Abraham, who feared his God from his youth, and worshiped God and walked in all his ways from his childhood all the days of his life until the day of his death. God was with him and saved him from the counsel of Nimrod and his men, and he fought with four kings of Elam and defeated them. And he brought all the people of the earth closer to the service of God, and he taught the ways of God to all the people of the earth and informed them of God. And he made a bush and planted a vineyard in it, and he always prepared bread in his house for all the inhabitants of the land to eat and to drink and for the week in his house. ויצל ה׳ את כל הארץ בעבור אברהם, ויושיעם ה׳ מחרון אפו אשר חרה אפו עליהם בימים ההם בעבור אברהם. And it came to pass after the death of Abraham, and God blessed his son Isaac and his sons, and God was with Isaac as He was with Abraham his father. Because Isaac kept all the commandments of God when his father Abraham commanded him, he did not deviate from the straight path that his father commanded him right and left. And Esau went at that time after Avraham's death to hunt game in the field, every once in a while to bring. And Nimrod, the king of Babylon, is Amarfel, once in a while he went with his heroes to hunt game in the field, and to walk in the wind of the day with his men. And Nimrod was hostile to Esau all the days, because jealousy fell into the heart of Nimrod against Esau all the days. And it came to pass on that day that Esau went hunting in the field, and found Nimrod walking in the desert with his two men. And all his heroes and men were with him in the desert, but they were far from him and went over him here and there to hunt. And Esau hid himself from Nimrod and lay in wait for him in the desert, and Nimrod and the people who were with him did not know. And Nimrod and his men will walk in the field to the wind of the day as often as possible, and to know where his men are hunting in the field. And Nimrod came and his two men who were with him, as far as the place they had made there. And Esau rose upon him suddenly from the ambush that lay in wait for him there, and drew his sword and hurried and ran to Nimrod and cut off his head from him.

~82~ And Esau fought with the two men who were with Nimrod in a great battle and they shouted at him, and they attacked them and killed them with his sword. And all Nimrod's heroes who went with him from the desert heard the sound of the cry from afar, and they recognized the voice of those two men. And they will run to know what it is and what it is, and they will find their king and his two men who are with him falling dead in the desert. And when Esau saw all the heroes of Nimrod coming from afar, Vince fled and escaped. And Esau took Nimrod's cute clothes that belonged to Nimrod, which his father had bequeathed, in which Nimrod conquered all the land, and Esau ran in them and hid them in his house. And Esau took those clothes and ran to the city from Nimrod's men, and he came to his father's house, exhausted and exhausted from fear, and his soul was very short of dying, and he felt very sorry for him. And Esau saw that his soul was ready to die and that he was sad, and he went to his brother Jacob and sat before him. And he said to Jacob his brother, Behold, I am going to die this day, and why is this my firstborn? And Jacob wised up to Esau in this matter, and sold his firstborn to Jacob because what God had for him. And Esau's share in the cave of the Field of Machpelah which Abraham bought from the sons of Het for the estate of the tomb of Esau sold to Jacob, and Jacob bought all these from his brother Esau at a price. And Jacob wrote all these in a book and appointed witnesses to it and signed it, and the book was in Jacob's hand. And Nimrod ben Cush when he died, and his men carried him and brought him to Bela and buried him in his city. And there will be all the days of Nimrod who lived, fifteen years and two hundred years and he died. And the days that Nimrod reigned over all the people of the land, eighty-five years and one hundred years. And Nimrod died by Esau's sword with shame and contempt, and Abraham's seed killed him when he saw it in his dream. And it happened when Nimrod died, and his kingdom was divided into many parts. And all the governments of Nimrod will be restored to all the kings of the land and after the death of Nimrod, all the people of the house of Nimrod will be slaves to all the kings of the land for many days.

~83~ And it happened in those days after the death of Abraham, and God brought a great and heavy famine on the land that year. And it came to pass that there was a famine in the land of Canaan, and Isaac arose to go down from Egypt because of the famine, as Abraham his father did. And the Lord looked at Isaac that night and said to him, "Do not go down from Egypt, get up and go to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, and stay there until the famine is over." And Yitzchak got up and went to Gerra as God commanded him, and Yitzchak sat there for a whole year. And it came to pass when Yitzchak Gerara came, and the people of the land saw Rebekah his wife, for she was good looking. And all the people of Gerr asked Isaac about his wife, and he said, "She is my sister, because he was afraid to tell his wife, lest the people of the land kill him for her." And Abimelech's servants went and praised the woman to Abimelech, and Abimelech did not answer them a word and did not listen to their words. But he heard that he was told that the man said she is my sister, and the king knew this in his heart. And it came to pass at the end of three months that Isaac had sat in the land, and Abimelech looked out of the window and saw, and behold, Isaac was making fun of his wife Rebekah. Because Isaac sat in the outer house of the king, and the house of Isaac was against the house of the king. And the king said to Isaac, what is this thing that you did to us when you said about your wife, she is my sister. One of the greatest of the people almost slept with your wife, and you brought guilt upon us. And Isaac said to Abimelech that I was afraid lest I should die for my wife, therefore I said she is my sister. At that time, Abimelech ordered all his ministers and elders to take Isaac and his wife Rebekah and bring them before the king. And the king commanded, and they clothed both of them in royal clothing, and they rode in the city street. And they will call before them in all the land saying this is the man and this is his wife, everyone who touches this man and his wife must be put to death. And Isaac and his wife dwelt in the king's house, and the Lord was with Isaac, and he went and grew and lacked nothing. And God gave Isaac favor in the eyes of Abimelech and in the eyes of all his servants, and Abimelech did Isaac a favor. Because Abimelech remembered the oath and the covenant, which was between his father and Abraham. And Abimelech said to Isaac, Here is the whole land before you, as it seems good to you, go back until you return to your land. And Abimelech gave Isaac fields and vineyards and the best of the land to sow and reap and eat the fruit of the land, until the days of famine were over.

~84~ And Isaac sowed in that land, and in that year he found a hundred gates, and God blessed them. And the man grew up and he had a lot of sheep and a lot of cattle and a lot of work. And it came to pass when the days of the famine were over, that God looked upon Isaac and said to him, Get up, get out of this place and return to your land, the land of Canaan. And Isaac arose and dwelt in Hebron, which is in the land of Canaan, he and all that he had, as the Lord commanded him. And it came to pass after that, that Shelah son of Arpachshad died in that year, the eighteenth year of the life of Jacob and Esau. And there will be all the days of Shelah who lived, three and thirty years and four hundred years and he died. At that time, Yitzchak sent his younger son Jacob to his home there and moved, to learn God's morals and his Torah to know God. And Jacob went to Beit Shem and passed away and learned God's morals, and Jacob stayed in Beit Shem and passed thirty-two years. And Esau his brother did not go because he did not want to go, and he stayed in his father's house in the land of Canaan. And Esau was walking the field all the days to hunt game in the field to bring, so Esau would do all the days. And Esau was a man of thoughts and tricks and preys on the hearts of all people and steals their minds, and Esau was a mighty hero in the field. And there came a time when Esau went to the land of Seir to hunt once in a while, and he went and came until the field of Seir is an Edom field. And he sat there in the land of Esau hunting in the field for days and four months. And there Esau saw in the land Seir, the daughter of a Canaanite man, and her name was Judith, the daughter of Bari son of Ofer, of the family of Hat, son of Canaan. And Esau took a wife and came to her. Esau was forty years old when he took her and brought her to Hebron, the land of his father's residence, and he lived there. And it happened in those days that in the year of one hundred and ten years of the life of Isaac, it was the year of fifty years of the life of Jacob. At that time Ben Noah died there in that year, he was six hundred years old there when he died. And it came to pass when he died there, and Jacob returned to his father Hebron, which is in the land of Canaan. And in the fifty-sixth year of Jacob's life, people came from Haran and told Rebekah about Laban ben Bethuel her brother. Because Laban's wife was barren in those days and did not give birth, nor did all his mothers give birth to him. And God remembered Adina, Laban's wife after that, and she conceived and gave birth to two twin daughters. And he called the son the names of his daughters, the name of the eldest Leah and the name of the youngest Rachel. And those people came and told Rebekah these things, and Rebekah was very happy because God had blessed her brother and they would have sons.

~85~ And Isaac the son of Abraham, an old man, came in the days, and his eyes were heavy with a beard and he was dark and could not see. At that time Isaac called to Esau saying, I pray thee, put down your weapon and your bow and get up, go out into the field and hunt by my side. And you made for me delicacies and you brought me and I ate it because of it I will bless you before I die, because I am old and retired. And Esau did so and took up his tools and went out into the field to hunt game once in a while, to bring to his father when he was commanded by whom he would bless him. And Rebekah heard all the things that Isaac spoke to Esau, and hurried and called Jacob her son to say. Thus and thus your father spoke to your brother Esau and thus and thus I heard, now hurry now and do what I will speak to you. Get up and please go to the flock and take two good goats from there for me, and I will make them delicacies for your father. And you brought the delicacies to your father and he ate before your brother came from his side, for which your father will bless you. And Jacob hurried and did as his mother commanded him, and he did for reasons and brought them before his father, before Esau came from his side. And Isaac said to Jacob, who are you, my son, and he said, I am the firstborn of Esau, and I have done when I obeyed. Now get up and come back and eat from me, because of which your soul blessed me when you spoke to me. And Isaac got up and ate and sat down and his heart was good and he blessed Jacob and went out with him, and behold Esau his brother came from the field by his side. And he also did good things, and came to his father to eat and bless him. Isaac said to Esau, "Who is the hunting party, and he came to me before you come and blessed him?" And Esau knew that his brother Jacob had done this thing. And Esau also resented his brother Jacob, because he did this thing to him. And Esau said the most, Jacob called his name, and Jacob took my firstborn twice, and Esau wept bitterly. And Isaac heard the voice of his son Esau crying, and Isaac said to Esau, what shall I do to you, my son? Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing. And they silenced Jacob his brother for the blessing that his father blessed, and his nose was very jealous of him. And Jacob was very afraid of his brother Esau, and got up and fled to the house of Eber son of Shem and hid there from his brothers.

~86~ And Jacob was sixty-three years old when he left the land of Canaan from Hebron, and Jacob hid in the house of Eber from his brother Esau for fourteen years, and there Jacob still learned the ways of God and His commandments. And Esau saw that Jacob had fled and escaped his hand, and that he had taken the blessing by deception. And Esau was greatly grieved and pitied him also for his father and his mother, and he also arose and took his wife and went to the land of Seir from the presence of his father and mother and dwelt there. And there Esau saw another woman from the daughters of Heth, and her name was the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and he took him as his wife. And Esau called her name a witness to the saying, because the blessing was a witness from him at that time. And Esau lived in the land of Seir for six months, and did not see the face of his father and mother. And it came to pass after that that Esau took his wives, and arose and dwelt in the land of Canaan. And Yoshav Esau his two wives Hebron, his father's house. And Esau's wives would anger and scold Isaac and Rebekah with their actions, because they did not walk in the ways of God and worshiped the God of their father, wood and stone, which their father had taught them. And they sinned greatly from their fathers and followed the whims of their evil hearts and sacrificed and sacrificed to their husbands, and Isaac and Rebekah were cut off from them. And Rebekah said to Isaac, "Take my life because of the daughters of Heth, if Jacob takes such a wife from among the daughters of the land, why should I live?" And it came to pass in those days that Ada Esau's wife conceived, and bore him a son. And Esau called the name of his son born to him Eliphaz, and Esau was sixty-five years old when he gave birth to him. And Ishmael son of Avraham died in those days, in the sixty-fifth year of Jacob's life. And there will be all the days of Ishmael who lived, thirty-seven years and one hundred years and he died. And Yitzchak heard that Ishmael had died and mourned him, and Yitzchak mourned for him for many days. And it came to pass at the end of fourteen years that Jacob had been sitting in Beit Eber, and Jacob longed for the face of his father and mother. And Jacob came to his father's and mother's house in Hebron, and Esau forgot in those days what his brother Jacob did to him for the blessing he took from him in those days. And when Esau saw that Jacob had come to his father and his mother, and he remembered what Jacob had done to him, he was very angry with him and wanted to kill him. And Isaac the son of Avraham, a very old man, came in the days, and Esau said, "Now here are the days of my father nearing death, and he was at his death, and I killed Jacob my brother."

~87~ And this thing was told to Rebekah, and she hastened and sent and called Jacob her son and said to him, get up, run, go to Laban, my brother. And you stayed with him for a few days until your brother was angry with you again, and then you will come. And Isaac called Jacob and commanded him and said to him, You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. Because this is how Abraham, our father, commanded us in the word of God, who commanded him to say, To your seed I have given this land. If your sons keep my covenant that I made with you, and I have also kept for your sons what I spoke to you and I will not leave them. And now, my son, listen to my voice to all that I command you, and stop taking a wife from the daughters of Canaan, get up, go to Harna, the house of Bethuel, your mother's father, and take a wife from there, from the daughters of your mother's brother's son. Therefore beware lest you forget the Lord your God and all his ways, in the land where you are going, and cling to the people of the land and pursue vanity and forsake the Lord your God. But when you come to the land and worship the Lord there, you will not deviate from the path that you were commanded and that you learned to turn right and left. And may God grant you mercy before the people of the land and take a wife according to your desire, her name, good and upright in the ways of God. And God will give you the blessing of Abraham your father to you and to your seed, and he will strengthen and strengthen you and you will be among the peoples in the land where you are going. And God returned you to this land, the land of your father's residence with sons and great wealth with joy and goodness. And Isaac was able to command Jacob and bless him, and gave him many gifts, silver and gold, and sent him away. And Jacob listened to his father and his mother and whispered to them, and got up and went to Padana Aram. And Jacob was seventy years old and seven years old, when he left the land of Canaan from Be'er Sheva. And it came to pass when Jacob went out to go to Harana, that Esau called Eliphaz his son and spoke to him secretly as said. Now hurry and take your sword in your hand, and you chased after Jacob and crossed before him to the road and ambushed him and killed him with your sword in one of the mountains and took everything that belonged to him and you came.

~88~ And Eliphaz son of Esau was a swift man and knew the bow when his father instructed him, and knew how to hunt game in the field and a hero of an army. And Eliphaz did as his father commanded him, and Eliphaz was thirteen years old at that time. And Eliphaz got up and went and took ten men with him, his mother's brother with him, and he chased after Jacob. And he will stick Jacob and lie in wait for him, on the border of the land of Canaan in front of the city of Nablus. And Jacob saw Eliphaz chasing after him, he and his men, and Jacob stood in the place where he went to know what it was because he did not know the thing. And Eliphaz drew his sword and went forth, and he and his men fought, in front of Jacob. And Jacob said to them, What is wrong with you that you have come so far and why are you chasing with your sword? And Eliphaz came near Jacob and answered and said to him thus and thus my father commanded me, and now I will not transgress his commandment which I commanded, and Jacob saw that Esau had spoken strongly to Eliphaz his son. And Jacob came and begged Eliphaz and the people who were with him, saying, Here is all that I have and that my father and mother gave me, take for yourself and go away from me and do not kill me, and have this thing with me for charity. And God gave Jacob favor in the eyes of Eliphaz son of Esau and his men, and they listened to Jacob's voice and not to his confusion. And Eliphaz and his men took everything that belonged to Jacob and the silver and gold that he had taken with him from Beersheba, leaving him nothing. And Eliphaz and his men went over him, and returned to Bara Sheba to Esau. And they told him all that had happened to them with Jacob, and they gave him all that they had taken from Jacob. And Esau beat Eliphaz his son and the men who were with him, because they did not kill Jacob. And they answered and said to Esau, because Jacob begged us for this matter, not to kill him, and our mercy will increase for him, and we will take all that he has and come. And Esau took all the silver and gold that Eliphaz had taken from Jacob's hand, and put them in his house. At that time, when Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and that he had commanded him not to take a wife from the daughters of Canaan, and that the daughters of Canaan were evil in the eyes of Isaac and Rebekah, he went to the house of his uncle Ishmael and took the illness of the daughter of Ishmael, the sister of the Prophets, for his wife.