Book of Jasher 9
Chapter 9
1.
And
2.
thirty-nine years old when he took her; and the wife of
and bare a son, and he called his name
3.
And she conceived again and bare a
daughter, and she called her name Milca; and she
again conceived and bare a daughter, and she called her name Sarai.
4.
Haran was
forty-two years old when he begat Sarai, which was in
the tenth year of the life of Abram; and in those days Abram and his mother and
nurse went out from the cave, as the king and his subjects had forgotten the
affair of Abram.
5.
And when Abram came out from the
cave, he went to Noah and his son Shem, and he remained with them to learn the
instruction of the Lord and his ways, and no man knew where Abram was, and
Abram served Noah and Shem his son for a long time.
6.
And Abram was in Noah’s house
thirty-nine years, and Abram knew the Lord from three years old, and he went in
the ways of the Lord until the day of his death, as Noah and his son Shem had
taught him; and all the sons of the earth in those days greatly transgressed
against the Lord, and they rebelled against him and they served other gods, and
they forgot the Lord who had created them in the earth; and the inhabitants of
the earth made unto themselves, at that time, every man his god; gods of wood
and stone which could neither speak, hear, nor deliver, and the sons of men
served them and they became their gods.
7.
And the king and all his servants,
and Terah with all his household were then the first
of those that served gods of wood and stone.
20
8.
And Terah had twelve gods of large size, made of wood and
stone, after the twelve months of the year, and he served each one monthly, and
every month Terah would bring his meat offering and
drink offering to his gods; thus did Terah all the
days.
9.
And all that
generation were wicked in the sight of the Lord, and they thus made every man
his god, but they forsook the Lord who had created them.
10.
And there was not a
man found in those days in the whole earth, who knew the Lord (for they served
each man his own God) except Noah and his household, and all those who were
under his counsel knew the Lord in those days.
11.
And Abram the son
of Terah was waxing great in those days in the house
of Noah, and no man knew it, and the Lord was with him.
12.
And the Lord gave
Abram an understanding heart, and he knew all the works of that generation were
vain, and that all their gods were vain and were of no avail.
13.
And Abram saw the
sun shining upon the earth, and Abram said unto himself Surely now this sun
that shines upon the earth is God, and him will I serve.
14.
And Abram served
the sun in that day and he prayed to him, and when evening came the sun set as
usual, and Abram said within himself, Surely this cannot be God?
15.
And Abram still
continued to speak within himself, Who is he who made the heavens and the
earth? who created upon earth? where is he?
16.
And night darkened
over him, and he lifted up his eyes toward the west, north, south, and east,
and he saw that the sun had vanished from the earth, and the day became dark.
17.
And Abram saw the
stars and moon before him, and he said, Surely this is the God who created the
whole earth as well as man, and behold these his servants are gods around him:
and Abram served the moon and prayed to it all that night.
18.
And in the morning
when it was light and the sun shone upon the earth as usual, Abram saw all the
things that the Lord God had made upon earth.
19.
And Abram said unto
himself Surely these are not gods that made the earth and all mankind, but
these are the servants of God, and Abram remained in the house of Noah and
there knew the Lord and his ways’ and he served the Lord all the days of his
life, and all that generation forgot the Lord, and served other gods of wood
and stone, and rebelled all their days.
20.
And king Nimrod
reigned securely, and all the earth was under his control, and all the earth
was of one tongue and words of union.
21.
And all the princes
of Nimrod and his great men took counsel together; Phut,
Mitzraim, Cush and Canaan
with their families, and they said to each other, Come let us build ourselves a
city and in it a strong tower, and its top reaching heaven, and we will make
ourselves famed, so that we may reign upon the whole world, in order that the
evil of our enemies may cease from us, that we may reign mightily over them,
and that we may not become scattered over the earth on account of their wars.
22.
And they all went
before the king, and they told the king these words, and the king agreed with
them in this affair, and he did so.
23.
And all the
families assembled consisting of about six hundred thousand men, and they went
to seek an extensive piece of ground to build the city and the tower, and they
sought in the whole earth and they found none like one valley at the east of
the land of Shinar, about two days’ walk, and they
journeyed there and they dwelt there.
24.
And they began to
make bricks and burn fires to build the city and the tower that they had
imagined to complete.
25.
And the building of
the tower was unto them a transgression and a sin, and they began to build it,
and whilst they were building against the Lord God of heaven, they imagined in
their hearts to war against him and to ascend into heaven.
26.
And all these
people and all the families divided themselves in three parts; the first said
We will ascend into heaven and fight against him; the second said, We will
ascend to heaven and place our own gods there and serve them; and the third
part said, We will ascend to heaven and smite him with bows and spears; and God
knew all their works and all their evil thoughts, and he saw the city and the
tower which they were building.
27.
And when they were
building they built themselves a great city and a very high and strong tower;
and on account of its height the mortar and bricks did not reach the builders in
their ascent to it, until those who went up had completed a full year, and
after that, they reached to the builders and gave them the mortar and the
bricks; thus was it done daily.
28.
And behold these
ascended and others descended the whole day; and if a brick should fall from
their hands and get broken, they would all weep over it, and if a man fell and
died, none of them would look at him.
29.
And the Lord knew
their thoughts, and it came to pass when they were building they cast the
arrows toward the heavens, and all the arrows fell upon them filled with blood,
and when they saw them they said to each other, Surely we have slain all those
that are in heaven.
30.
For this was from
the Lord in order to cause them to err, and in order; to destroy them from off
the face of the ground.
31.
And they built the
tower and the city, and they did this thing daily until many days and years
were elapsed.
32.
And God said to the
seventy angels who stood foremost before him, to those who were near to him,
saying, Come let us descend and confuse their tongues, that one man shall not
understand the language of his neighbor, and they did so unto them.
33.
And from that day
following, they forgot each man his neighbor’s tongue, and they could not
understand to speak in one tongue, and when the builder took from the hands of
his neighbor lime or stone which he did not order, the builder would cast it
away and throw it upon his neighbor, that he would die.
34.
And they did so
many days, and they killed many of them in this manner.
35.
And the Lord smote
the three divisions that were there, and he punished them according to their
works and designs; those who said, We will ascend to heaven and serve our gods,
became like apes and elephants; and those who said, We will smite the heaven
with arrows, the Lord killed them, one man through the hand of his neighbor;
and the third division of those who said, We will ascend to heaven and fight
against him, the Lord scattered them throughout the earth.
36.
And those who were
left amongst them, when they knew and understood the evil which was coming upon
them, they forsook the building, and they also became scattered upon the face
of the whole earth.
37.
And they ceased
building the city and the tower; therefore he called that place
for there the Lord confounded the Language of the whole earth; behold it was at
the east of the
of
38.
And as to the tower
which the sons of men built, the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up one
third part thereof, and a fire also descended from heaven and burned another
third, and the other third is left to this day, and it is of that part which
was aloft, and its circumference is three days’ walk.
39.
And many of the
sons of men died in that tower, a people without number.
