Bridegrooms wore wreaths, but the custom was later abolished. See further Introduction, p. xx f. 106:4 Cf. Lev. xxiii. 40. 106:5 According to later Jewish tradition it was only on the seventh day that the worshippers went round the altar seven times. Next: The Expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael (xvii. 1-14)
And in this month the Lord executed his judgments on Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Zeboim, 4 and all the region of the Jordan, and He burned them with fire and birnstone, and destroyed them until this day, even as [lo ] I have declared unto thee all their works, that they are wicked and sinners exceedingly, and that they defile themselves and commit fornication in their flesh, and work uncleanness on the earth.
And, in like manner, God will execute judgment on the places where they have done according to the uncleanness of the Sodomites, like unto the judgment of Sodom.
And he and his daughters committed sin upon the earth, such as had not been on the earth since the days of Adam till his time; for the man lay with his daughters.
And in the middle of the sixth month the Lord visited Sarah and did to her as he had said. And she conceived and bore a son in the third month, and in the middle of the month, at the time the Lord had told Abraham, at the feast of the firstfruits of the harvest, Isaac was born. And Abraham circumcised his son when he was eight days old; he was the first to be circumcised according to the covenant which was ordained for ever.
And (that) all the seed of his sons should be Gentiles, and be reckoned with the Gentiles; but from the sons of Isaac one should become a holy seed, and should not be reckoned among the Gentiles.
For he should become the portion of the Most High, 2 and all his seed had fallen into the possession of God, that it should be unto the Lord a people for (His) possession 3 above all nations and that it should become a kingdom and priests and a holy nation.
And he built there an altar to the Lord who had delivered him, and who was making him rejoice in the land of his sojourning, and he celebrated a festival of joy in this month seven days, 5 near the altar which he had built at the Well of the Oath.
And morning and evening he burnt fragrant substances, 9 frankincense and galbanum, and stacte, and nard, and myrrh, and spice, and costum; all these seven he offered, crushed, mixed together in equal parts (and) pure.
And he celebrated this feast during seven days, rejoicing with all his heart and with all his soul, he and all those who were in his house; and there was no stranger with him, nor any that was uncircumcised.
And he blessed his Creator who had created him in generation, for He had created him according to His good pleasure; for He knew and perceived that from him would arise the plant of righteousness 1 for the eternal generations, and from him a holy seed, so that it should become like Him who had made all things.
And we blessed him for ever, and all his seed after him throughout all the generations of the earth, because he celebrated this festival in its season, according to the testimony of the heavenly tables.
For this reason it is ordained on the heavenly tables concerning Israel, that they shall celebrate the feast of tabernacles seven days with joy, in the seventh month, acceptable before the Lord—a statute for ever throughout their generations every year.
And to this there is no limit of days; for it is ordained for ever regarding Israel that they should celebrate it and dwell in booths, and set wreathes upon their heads, 3 and take leafy boughs, and willows from the brook.
And Abraham took branches of palm trees, and the fruit of goodly trees, and every day going round the altar with the branches seven times 5 [paragraph continues ] [a day ] in the morning, he praised and gave thanks to his God for all things in joy. Footnotes 31. 12. 5. 21. 15. 10.