Book of Jasher 40
Chapter 40
1.
And the sons of Jacob led away all
the spoil of Gaash, and went out of the city by night.
2.
They were going out marching toward
the
inhabitants of Bethchorin were going to the castle to meet them, and on that
night the sons of Jacob fought with the inhabitants of Bethchorin, in the
3.
And all the inhabitants of Bethchorin
were mighty men, one of them would not flee from before a thousand men, and
they fought on that night upon the castle, and their shouts were heard on that
night from afar, and the earth quaked at their shouting.
4.
And all the sons of Jacob were afraid
of those men, as they were not accustomed to fight in the dark, and they were
greatly confounded, and the sons of Jacob cried unto the Lord, saying, Give
help to us O Lord, deliver us that we may not die by the hands of these
uncircumcised men.
5.
And the Lord hearkened to the voice
of the sons of Jacob, and the Lord caused great terror and confusion to seize
the people of Bethchorin, and they fought amongst themselves the one with the
other in the darkness of night, and smote each other in great numbers.
6.
And the sons of Jacob, knowing that
the Lord had brought a spirit of perverseness amongst those men, and that they
fought each man with his neighbor, went forth from among the bands of the
people of Bethchorin and went as far as the descent of the castle of
Bethchorin, and farther, and they tarried there securely with their young men
on that night.
7.
And the people of Bethchorin fought
the whole night, one man with his brother, and the other with his neighbor, and
they cried out in every direction upon the castle, and their cry was heard at a
distance, and the whole earth shook at their voice, for they were powerful
above all the people of the earth.
8.
And all the inhabitants of the cities
of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites and all the kings of
other side of the
noise of the shouting on that night.
9.
And they said, Surely these are the
battles of the Hebrews who are fighting against the seven cities, who came nigh
unto them; and who can stand against those Hebrews?
10.
And all the inhabitants of the cities
of the Canaanites, and all those who were on the other side of the Jordan, were
greatly afraid of the sons of Jacob, for they said, Behold the same will be
done to us as was done to those cities, for who can stand against their mighty
strength?
11.
And the cries of the Chorinites were
very great on that night, and continued to increase; and they smote each other
till morning, and numbers of them were killed.
12.
And the morning appeared, and all the
sons of Jacob rose up at daybreak and went up to the castle, and they smote
those who remained of the Chorinites in a terrible manner, and they were all
killed in the castle.
13.
And the sixth day appeared, and all
the inhabitants of
distance all the people of Bethchorin lying dead in the
about as the carcasses of lambs and goats.
14.
And the sons of Jacob led all the
spoil which they had captured from Gaash and went to Bethchorin, and they found
the city full of people like the sand of the sea, and they fought with them,
and the sons of Jacob smote them there till evening time.
15.
And the sons of Jacob did unto
Bethchorin as they had done to Gaash and Tapnach, and as they had done to
Chazar, to Sarton and to
16.
And the sons of Jacob took with them
the spoil of Bethchorin and all the spoil of the cities, and on that day they
went home to Shechem.
17.
And the sons of Jacob came home to
the city of
remained without the city, and they then rested there from the war, and tarried
there all night.
18.
And all their servants together with
all the spoil that they had taken from the cities, they left without the city,
and they did not enter the city, for they said, Peradventure there may be yet
more fighting against us, and they may come to besiege us in Shechem.
19.
And Jacob and his sons and their
servants remained on that night and the next day in the portion of the field
which Jacob had purchased from Hamor for five shekels, and all that they had
captured was with them.
20.
And all the booty which the sons of
Jacob had captured, was in the portion of the field, immense as the sand upon
the sea shore.
21.
And the inhabitants of the land
observed them from afar, and all the inhabitants of the land were afraid of the
sons of Jacob who had done this thing, for no king from the days of old had
ever done the like.
22.
And the seven kings of the Canaanites
resolved to make peace with the sons of Jacob, for they were greatly afraid of
their lives, on account of the sons of Jacob.
23.
And on that day, being the seventh
day, Japhia king of Hebron sent secretly to the king of Ai, and to the king of
Gibeon, and to the king of Shalem, and to the king of Adulam, and to the king
of Lachish, and to the king of Chazar, and to all the Canaanitish kings who
were under their subjection, saying,
24.
Go up with me, and come to me that we
may go to the sons of Jacob, and I will make peace with them, and form a treaty
with them, lest all your lands be destroyed by the swords of the sons of Jacob,
as they did to Shechem and the cities around it, as you have heard and seen.
25.
And when you come to me, do not come
with many men, but let every king bring his three head captains, and every
captain bring three of his officers.
26.
And come all of you to
go together to the sons of Jacob, and supplicate them that they shall form a
treaty of peace with us.
27.
And all those kings did as the king
of Hebron had sent to them, for they were all under his counsel and command,
and all the kings of Canaan assembled to go to the sons of Jacob, to make peace
with them; and the sons of Jacob returned and went to the portion of the field
that was in Shechem, for they did not put confidence in the kings of the land.
28.
And the sons of Jacob returned and
remained in the portion of the field ten days, and no one came to make war with
them.
29.
And when the sons of Jacob saw that
there was no appearance of war, they all assembled and went to the city of
sons of Jacob remained in Shechem.
30.
And at the expiration of forty days,
all the kings of the Amorites assembled from all their places and came to
king of
31.
And the number of kings that came to
peace with the sons of Jacob, was twenty-one kings, and the number of captains
that came with them was sixty-nine, and their men were one hundred and
eighty-nine, and all these kings and their men rested by
32.
And the king of
with his three captains and nine men, and these kings resolved to go to the
sons of Jacob to make peace.
33.
And they said unto the king of
before us with thy men, and speak for us unto the sons of Jacob, and we will
come after thee and confirm thy words, and the king of
34.
And the sons of Jacob heard that all
the kings of Canaan had gathered together and rested in Hebron, and the sons of
Jacob sent four of their servants as spies, saying, Go and spy these kings, and
search and examine their men whether they are few or many, and if they are but
few in number, number them all and come back.
35.
And the servants of Jacob went
secretly to these kings, and did as the sons of Jacob had commanded them, and
on that day they came back to the sons of Jacob, and said unto them, We came
unto those kings, and they are but few in number, and we numbered them all, and
behold, they were two hundred and eighty-eight, kings and men.
36.
And the sons of Jacob said, They are
but few in number, therefore we will not all go out to them; and in the morning
the sons of Jacob rose up and chose sixty two of their men, and ten of the sons
of Jacob went with them; and they girt on their weapons of war, for they said,
They are coming to make war with us, for they knew not that they were coming to
make peace with them.
37.
And the sons of Jacob went with their
servants to the gate of Shechem, toward those kings, and their father Jacob was
with them.
38.
And when they had come forth, behold,
the king of Hebron and his three captains and nine men with him were coming
along the road against the sons of Jacob, and the sons of Jacob lifted up their
eyes, and saw at a distance Japhia, king of Hebron, with his captains, coming
toward them, and the sons of Jacob took their stand at the place of the gate of
Shechem, and did not proceed.
39.
And the king of Hebron continued to
advance, he and his captains, until he came nigh to the sons of Jacob, and he
and his captains bowed down to them to the ground, and the king of Hebron sat
with his captains before Jacob and his sons.
40.
And the sons of Jacob said unto him,
What has befallen thee, O king of
thou come to us this day? what dost thou require from us? and the king of
Jacob, I beseech thee my lord, all the kings of the Canaanites have this day
come to make peace with you.
41.
And the sons of Jacob heard the words
of the king of
would not consent to his proposals, for the sons of Jacob had no faith in him,
for they imagined that the king of
deceitfully to them.
42.
And the king of Hebron knew from the
words of the sons of Jacob, that they did not believe his words, and the king
of Hebron approached nearer to Jacob, and said unto him, I beseech thee, my
lord, to be assured that all these kings have come to you on peaceable terms,
for they have not come with all their men, neither did they bring their weapons
of war with them, for they have come to seek peace from my lord and his sons.
43.
And the sons of Jacob answered the
king of Hebron, saying, Send thou to all these kings, and if thou speakest
truth unto us, let them each come singly before us, and if they come unto us
unarmed, we shall then know that they seek peace from us.
44.
And Japhia, king of Hebron, sent one
of his men to the kings, and they all came before the sons of Jacob, and bowed
down to them to the ground, and these kings sat before Jacob and his sons, and
they spoke unto them, saying,
45.
We have heard all that you did unto
the kings of the Amorites with your sword and exceedingly mighty arm, so that
no man could stand up before you, and we were afraid of you for the sake of our
lives, lest it should befall us as it did to them.
46.
So we have come unto you to form a treaty
of peace between us, and now therefore contract with us a covenant of peace and
truth, that you will not meddle with us, inasmuch as we have not meddled with
you.
47.
And the sons of Jacob knew that they
had really come to seek peace from them, and the sons of Jacob listened to
them, and formed a covenant with them.
48.
And the sons of Jacob swore unto them
that they would not meddle with them, and all the kings of the Canaanites swore
also to them, and the sons of Jacob made them tributary from that day forward.
49.
And after this all the captains of
these kings came with their men before Jacob, with presents in their hands for
Jacob and his sons, and they bowed down to him to the ground.
50.
And these kings then urged the sons
of Jacob and begged of them to return all the spoil they had captured from the
seven cities of the Amorites, and the sons of Jacob did so, and they returned
all that they had captured, the women, the little ones, the cattle and all the
spoil which they had taken, and they sent them off, and they went away each to
his city.
51.
And all these kings again bowed down
to the sons of Jacob, and they sent or brought them many gifts in those days,
and the sons of Jacob sent off these kings and their men, and they went
peaceably away from them to their cities, and the sons of Jacob also returned
to their home, to Shechem.
52.
And there was peace from that day
forward between the sons of Jacob and the kings of the Canaanites, until the
children of Israel came to inherit the land of Canaan.
