Book of Jasher 85
Chapter 85
1.
And king
Canaanite, who dwelt in the south, heard that the Israelites had come by the
way of the spies, and he arranged his forces to fight against the Israelites.
2.
And the children of
afraid of him, for he had a great and heavy army, so the children of
return to
3.
And the children of
about the distance of three days’ journey unto Maserath Beni Jaakon, for they
were greatly afraid on account of the king
4.
And the children of
get back to their places, so they remained in Beni Jaakon for thirty days.
5.
And when the children of Levi saw
that the children of
turn back, they were jealous for the sake of the Lord, and they rose up and
fought against the Israelites their brethren, and slew of them a great body,
and forced them to turn back to their place,
6.
And when they returned, king
arranging his host for battle against the Israelites.
7.
And
saying, If thou wilt deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly
destroy their cities.
8.
And the Lord hearkened to the voice
of
delivered the Canaanites into their hand, and he utterly destroyed them and
their cities, and he called the name of the place Hormah.
9.
And the children of
from
in Oboth, and they journeyed from Oboth and they pitched at Ije-abarim, in the
border of
10.
And the children of Israel sent to
Moab, saying, Let us pass now through thy land into our place, but the children
of Moab would not suffer the children of Israel to pass through their land, for
the children of Moab were greatly afraid lest the children of Israel should do
unto them as Sihon king of the Amorites had done to them, who had taken their
land and had slain many of them.
11.
Therefore
suffer the Israelites to pass through his land, and the Lord commanded the
children of
That they should not fight against
Israelites removed from
12.
And the children of
from the border of
came to the other side of Arnon, the border of
Amorites, and they pitched in the border of Sihon, king of the Amorites, in the
wilderness of Kedemoth.
13.
And the children of
messengers to Sihon, king of the Amorites, saying,
14.
Let us pass through thy land, we will
not turn into the fields or into the vineyards, we will go along by the king’s
highway until we shall have passed thy border, but Sihon would not suffer the
Israelites to pass.
15.
So Sihon collected all the people of
the Amorites and went forth into the wilderness to meet the children of
fought against
16.
And the Lord delivered Sihon king of
the Amorites into the hand of the children of
the people of Sihon with the edge of the sword and avenged the cause of
17.
And the children of
possession of the
the children of Ammon, and they took all the spoil of the cities.
18.
And
these cities, and
the cities of the Amorites.
19.
And all the children of
fight against the children of Ammon, to take their land also.
20.
So the Lord said to the children of
besiege the children of Ammon, neither stir up battle against them, for I will
give nothing to you of their land, and the children of
the word of the Lord, and did not fight against the children of Ammon.
21.
And the children of Israel turned and
went up by the way of Bashan to the land of Og, king of Bashan, and Og the king
of Bashan went out to meet the Israelites in battle, and he had with him many
valiant men, and a very strong force from the people of the Amorites.
22.
And Og king of
powerful man, but Naaron his son was exceedingly powerful, even stronger than
he was.
23.
And Og said in his heart, Behold now
the whole camp of
space of three parsa, now will I smite them at once without sword or spear.
24.
And Og went up
therefrom one large stone, the length of which was three parsa, and he placed
it on his head, and resolved to throw it upon the camp of the children of
the Israelites with that stone.
25.
And the angel of the Lord came and
pierced the stone upon the head of Og, and the stone fell upon the neck of Og
that Og fell to the earth on account of the weight of the stone upon his neck.
26.
At that time the Lord said to the
children of
afraid of him, for I have given him and all his people and all his land into
your hand, and you shall do to him as you did to Sihon.
27.
And Moses went down to him with a
small number of the children of
smote Og with a stick at the ankles of his feet and slew him.
28.
The children of
pursued the children of Og and all his people, and they beat and destroyed them
till there was no remnant left of them.
29.
Moses afterward sent some of the
children of
Jaazer, for Jaazer was a very famous city.
30.
And the spies went to Jaazer and
explored it, and the spies trusted in the Lord, and they fought against the men
of Jaazer.
31.
And these men took Jaazer and its
villages, and the Lord delivered them into their hand, and they drove out the
Amorites who had been there.
32.
And the children of
land of the two kings of the Amorites, sixty cities which were on the other
side of
brook of Arnon unto
33.
And the children of
and came into the plain of Moab which is on this side of
34.
And the children of Moab heard all
the evil which the children of Israel had done to the two kings of the
Amorites, to Sihon and Og, so all the men of Moab were greatly afraid of the
Israelites.
35.
And the elders of
the two kings of the Amorites, Sihon and Og, who were more powerful than all
the kings of the earth, could not stand against the children of
can we stand before them?
36.
Surely they sent us a message before
now to pass through our land on their way, and we would not suffer them, now
they will turn upon us with their heavy swords and destroy us; and Moab was
distressed on account of the children of Israel, and they were greatly afraid
of them, and they counselled together what was to be done to the children of
Israel.
37.
And the elders of
took one of their men, Balak the son of Zippor the Moabite, and made him king
over them at that time, and Balak was a very wise man.
38.
And the elders of
sent to the children of Midian to make peace with them, for a great battle and
enmity had been in those days between
from the days of Hadad the son of Bedad king of
Midian in the field of
days.
39.
And the children of
children of Midian, and they made peace with them, and the elders of Midian
came to the
peace in behalf of the children of Midian.
40.
And the elders of
with the elders of Midian what to do in order to save their lives from
41.
And all the children of Moab said to
the elders of Midian, Now therefore the children of Israel lick up all that are
round about us, as the ox licks up the grass of the field, for thus did they do
to the two kings of the Amorites who are stronger than we are.
42.
And the elders of Midian said to
Moab, We have heard that at the time when Sihon king of the Amorites fought
against you, when he prevailed over you and took your land, he had sent to Beor
the son of Janeas and to Balaam his son from Mesopotamia, and they came and
cursed you; therefore did the hand of Sihon prevail over you, that he took your
land.
43.
Now therefore send you also to Balaam
his son, for he still remains in his land, and give him his hire, that he may
come and curse all the people of whom you are afraid; so the elders of Moab
heard this thing, and it pleased them to send to Balaam the son of Beor.
44.
So Balak the son of Zippor king of
to Balaam, saying,
45.
Behold there is a people come out
from
cover the face of the earth, and they abide over against me.
46.
Now therefore come and curse this
people for me, for they are too mighty for me, peradventure I shall prevail to
fight against them, and drive them out, for I heard that he whom thou blessest
is blessed, and whom thou cursest is cursed.
47.
So the messengers of Balak went to
Balaam and brought Balaam to curse the people to fight against
48.
And Balaam came to Balak to curse
Lord said to Balaam, Curse not this people for it is blessed.
49.
And Balak urged Balaam day by day to
curse
hearkened not to Balak on account of the word of the Lord which he had spoken
to Balaam.
50.
And when Balak saw that Balaam would
not accede to his wish, he rose up and went home, and Balaam also returned to
his land and he went from there to Midian.
51.
And the children of
from the plain of Moab, and pitched by
Beth-jesimoth even unto Abel-shittim, at the end of the plains of
52.
And when the children of
plain of Shittim, they began to commit whoredom with the daughters of
53.
And the children of
children of
their tents opposite to the camp of the children of
54.
And the children of
of the children of
children of
their daughters and their wives of beautiful aspect and comely appearance, and
dressed them in gold and silver and costly garments.
55.
And the children of
women at the door of their tents, in order that the children of
them and turn to them, and not fight against
56.
And all the children of Moab did this
thing to the children of Israel, and every man placed his wife and daughter at
the door of his tent, and all the children of Israel saw the act of the
children of Moab, and the children of Israel turned to the daughters of Moab
and coveted them, and they went to them.
57.
And it came to pass that when a
Hebrew came to the door of the tent of Moab, and saw a daughter of Moab and
desired her in his heart, and spoke with her at the door of the tent that which
he desired, whilst they were speaking together the men of the tent would come out
and speak to the Hebrew like unto these words:
58.
Surely you know that we are brethren,
we are all the descendants of Lot and the descendants of Abraham his brother,
wherefore then will you not remain with us, and wherefore will you not eat our
bread and our sacrifice?
59.
And when the children of
overwhelmed him with their speeches, and enticed him by their flattering words,
they seated him in the tent and cooked and sacrificed for him, and he ate of
their sacrifice and of their bread.
60.
They then gave him wine and he drank
and became intoxicated, and they placed before him a beautiful damsel, and he
did with her as he liked, for he knew not what he was doing, as he had drunk
plentifully of wine.
61.
Thus did the children of Moab to
Israel in that place, in the plain of Shittim, and the anger of the Lord was
kindled against Israel on account of this matter, and he sent a pestilence
amongst them, and there died of the Israelites twenty-four thousand men.
62.
Now there was a man of the children
of Simeon whose name was Zimri, the son of Salu, who connected himself with the
Midianite Cosbi, the daughter of Zur, king of Midian, in the sight of all the
children of
63.
And Phineas the son of Elazer, the
son of Aaron the priest, saw this wicked thing which Zimri had done, and he
took a spear and rose up and went after them, and pierced them both and slew
them, and the pestilence ceased from the children of Israel.
