Book of Jasher 38
Chapter 38
1.
And Ihuri king of
assist Elon, and he approached Jacob, when Jacob drew his bow that was in his
hand and with an arrow struck Ihuri which caused his death.
2.
And when Ihuri king of Shiloh was
dead, the four remaining kings fled from their station with the rest of the
captains, and they endeavored to retreat, saying, We have no more strength with
the Hebrews after their having killed the three kings and their captains who
were more powerful than we are.
3.
And when the sons of Jacob saw that
the remaining kings had removed from their station, they pursued them, and
Jacob also came from the heap of Shechem from the place where he was standing,
and they went after the kings and they approached them with their servants.
4.
And the kings and the captains with
the rest of their armies, seeing that the sons of Jacob approached them, were
afraid of their lives and fled till they reached the city of
5.
And the sons of Jacob pursued them to
the gate of the city of
smote a great smiting amongst the kings and their armies, about four thousand
men, and whilst they were smiting the army of the kings, Jacob was occupied
with his bow confining himself to smiting the kings, and he slew them all.
6.
And he slew Parathon king of Chazar
at the gate of the city of
afterward smote Susi king of Sarton, and Laban king of Bethchorin, and Shabir
king of Machnaymah, and he slew them all with arrows, an arrow to each of them,
and they died.
7.
And the sons of Jacob seeing that all
the kings were dead and that they were broken up and retreating, continued to
carry on the battle with the armies of the kings opposite the gate of Chazar,
and they still smote about four hundred of their men.
8.
And three men of the servants of
Jacob fell in that battle, and when
three of his servants had died, it grieved him greatly, and his anger burned
within him against the Amorites.
9.
And all the men that remained of the
armies of the kings were greatly afraid of their lives, and they ran and broke
the gate of the walls of the city of
all entered the city for safety.
10.
And they concealed themselves in the
midst of the city of
city of
large and extensive, and when all these armies had entered the city, the sons
of Jacob ran after them to the city.
11.
And four mighty men, experienced in
battle, went forth from the city and stood against the entrance of the city,
with drawn swords and spears in their hands, and they placed themselves
opposite the sons of Jacob, and would not suffer them to enter the city.
12.
And Naphtali ran and came between
them and with his sword smote two of them, and cut off their heads at one
stroke.
13.
And he turned to the other two, and
behold they had fled, and he pursued them, overtook them, smote them and slew
them.
14.
And the sons of Jacob came to the
city and saw, and behold there was another wall to the city, and they sought
for the gate of the wall and could not find it, and
the top of the wall, and Simeon and Levi followed him, and they all three
descended from the wall into the city.
15.
And Simeon and Levi slew all the men
who ran for safety into the city, and also the inhabitants of the city with
their wives and little ones, they slew with the edge of the sword, and the
cries of the city ascended up to heaven.
16.
And Dan and Naphtali sprang upon the
wall to see what caused the noise of lamentation, for the sons of Jacob felt
anxious about their brothers, and they heard the inhabitants of the city
speaking with weeping and supplications, saying, Take all that we possess in
the city and go away, only do not put us to death.
17.
And when Judah, Simeon, and Levi had
ceased smiting the inhabitants of the city, they ascended the wall and called
to Dan and Naphtali, who were upon the wall, and to the rest of their brothers,
and Simeon and Levi informed them of the entrance into the city, and all the
sons of Jacob came to fetch the spoil.
18.
And the sons of Jacob took the spoil
of the city of
and herds, and the property, and they took all that could be captured, and went
away that day from the city.
19.
And on the next day the sons of Jacob
went to Sarton, for they heard that the men of Sarton who had remained in the
city were assembling to fight with them for having slain their king, and Sarton
was a very high and fortified city, and it had a deep rampart surrounding the
city.
20.
And the pillar of the rampart was
about fifty cubits and its breadth forty cubits, and there was no place for a
man to enter the city on account of the rampart, and the sons of Jacob saw the
rampart of the city, and they sought an entrance in it but could not find it.
21.
For the entrance to the city was at
the rear, and every man that wished to come into the city came by that road and
went around the whole city, and he afterwards entered the city.
22.
And the sons of Jacob seeing they
could not find the way into the city, their anger was kindled greatly, and the
inhabitants of the city seeing that the sons of Jacob were coming to them were
greatly afraid of them, for they had heard of their strength and what they had
done to Chazar.
23.
And the inhabitants of the city of
Sarton could not go out toward the sons of Jacob after having assembled in the
city to fight against them, lest they might thereby get into the city, but when
they saw that they were coming toward them, they were greatly afraid of them,
for they had heard of their strength and what they had done to Chazar.
24.
So the inhabitants of Sarton speedily
took away the bridge of the road of the city, from its place, before the sons
of Jacob came, and they brought it into the city.
25.
And the sons of Jacob came and sought
the way into the city, and could not find it and the inhabitants of the city
went up to the top of the wall, and saw, and behold the sons of Jacob were
seeking an entrance into the city.
26.
And the inhabitants of the city
reproached the sons of Jacob from the top of the wall, and they cursed them,
and the sons of Jacob heard the reproaches, and they were greatly incensed, and
their anger burned within them.
27.
And the sons of Jacob were provoked
at them, and they all rose and sprang over the rampart with the force of their
strength, and through their might passed the forty cubits’ breadth of the
rampart.
28.
And when they had passed the rampart
they stood under the wall of the city, and they found all the gates of the city
enclosed with iron doors.
29.
And the sons of Jacob came near to
break open the doors of the gates of the city, and the inhabitants did not let
them, for from the top of the wall they were casting stones and arrows upon
them.
30.
And the number of the people that
were upon the wall was about four hundred men, and when the sons of Jacob saw
that the men of the city would not let them open the gates of the city, they
sprang and ascended the top of the wall, and Judah went up first to the east
part of the city.
31.
And Gad and Asher went up after him
to the west corner of the city, and Simeon and Levi to the north, and Dan and
Reuben to the south.
32.
And the men who were on the top of
the wall, the inhabitants of the city, seeing that the sons of Jacob were
coming up to them, they all fled from the wall, descended into the city, and
concealed themselves in the midst of the city.
33.
And Issachar and Naphtali that
remained under the wall approached and broke the gates of the city, and kindled
a fire at the gates of the city, that the iron melted, and all the sons of
Jacob came into the city, they and all their men, and they fought with the
inhabitants of the city of Sarton, and smote them with the edge of the sword,
and no man stood up before them.
34.
And about two hundred men fled from
the city, and they all went and hid themselves in a certain tower in the city,
and
to the tower and he broke down the tower, which fell upon the men, and they all
died.
35.
And the sons of Jacob went up the
road of the roof of that tower, and they saw, and behold there was another
strong and high tower at a distance in the city, and the top of it reached to
heaven, and the sons of Jacob hastened and descended, and went with all their
men to that tower, and found it filled with about three hundred men, women and
little ones.
36.
And the sons of Jacob smote a great
smiting amongst those men in the tower and they ran away and fled from them.
37.
And Simeon and Levi pursued them,
when twelve mighty and valiant men came out to them from the place where they
had concealed themselves.
38.
And those twelve men maintained a
strong battle against Simeon and Levi, and Simeon and Levi could not prevail
over them, and those valiant men broke the shields of Simeon and Levi, and one
of them struck at Levi’s head with his sword, when Levi hastily placed his hand
to his head, for he was afraid of the sword, and the sword struck Levi’s hand,
and it wanted but little to the hand of Levi being cut off.
39.
And Levi seized the sword of the
valiant man in his hand, and took it forcibly from the man, and with it he
struck at the head of the powerful man, and he severed his head.
40.
And eleven men approached to fight
with Levi, for they saw that one of them was killed, and the sons of Jacob
fought, but the sons of Jacob could not prevail over them, for those men were
very powerful.
41.
And the sons of Jacob seeing that
they could not prevail over them, Simeon gave a loud and tremendous shriek, and
the eleven powerful men were stunned at the voice of Simeon’s shrieking.
42.
And Judah at a distance knew the
voice of Simeon’s shouting, and Naphtali and Judah ran with their shields to
Simeon and Levi, and found them fighting with those powerful men, unable to
prevail over them as their shields were broken.
43.
And Naphtali saw that the shields of
Simeon and Levi were broken, and he took two shields from his servants and
brought them to Simeon and Levi.
44.
And Simeon, Levi and Judah on that
day fought all three against the eleven mighty men until the time of sunset,
but they could not prevail over them.
45.
And this was told unto Jacob, and he
was sorely grieved, and he prayed unto the Lord, and he and Naphtali his son
went against these mighty men.
46.
And Jacob approached and drew his
bow, and came nigh unto the mighty men, and slew three of their men with the
bow, and the remaining eight turned back, and behold, the war waged against
them in the front and rear, and they were greatly afraid of their lives, and
could not stand before the sons of Jacob, and they fled from before them.
47.
And in their flight they met Dan and
Asher coming toward them, and they suddenly fell upon them, and fought with
them, and slew two of them, and Judah and his brothers pursued them, and smote
the remainder of them, and slew them.
48.
And all the sons of Jacob returned
and walked about the city, searching if they could find any men, and they found
about twenty young men in a cave in the city, and Gad and Asher smote them all,
and Dan and Naphtali lighted upon the rest of the men who had fled and escaped
from the second tower, and they smote them all.
49.
And the sons of Jacob smote all the
inhabitants of the city of Sarton, but the women and little ones they left in
the city and did not slay them.
50.
And all the inhabitants of the city
of Sarton were powerful men, one of them would pursue a thousand, and two of
them would not flee from ten thousand of the rest of men.
51.
And the sons of Jacob slew all the
inhabitants of the city of Sarton with the edge of the sword, that no man stood
up against them, and they left the women in the city.
52.
And the sons of Jacob took all the
spoil of the city, and captured what they desired, and they took flocks and
herds and property from the city, and the sons of Jacob did unto Sarton and its
inhabitants as they had done to Chazar and its inhabitants, and they turned and
went away.
