Book of Jasher 27
Chapter 27
1.
And Esau at that time, after the
death of Abraham, frequently went in the field to hunt.
2.
And Nimrod king of
was Amraphel, also frequently went with his mighty
men to hunt in the field, and to walk about with his men in the cool of the
day.
3.
And Nimrod was observing Esau all the
days, for a jealousy was formed in the heart of Nimrod against Esau all the
days.
4.
And on a certain day Esau went in the
field to hunt, and he found Nimrod walking in the wilderness with his two men.
5.
And all his mighty men and his people
were with him in the wilderness, but they removed at a distance from him, and
they went from him in different directions to hunt, and Esau concealed himself
for Nimrod, and he lurked for him in the wilderness.
6.
And Nimrod and his men that were with
him did not know him, and Nimrod and his men frequently walked about in the
field at the cool of the day, and to know where his men were hunting in the
field.
7.
And Nimrod and two of his men that
were with him came to the place where they were, when Esau started suddenly
from his lurking place, and drew his sword, and hastened and ran to Nimrod and
cut off his head.
8.
And Esau fought a desperate fight
with the two men that were with Nimrod, and when they called out to him, Esau
turned to them and smote them to death with his sword.
9.
And all the mighty men of Nimrod, who
had left him to go to the wilderness, heard the cry at a distance, and they
knew the voices of those two men, and they ran to know the cause of it, when
they found their king and the two men that were with him lying dead in the
wilderness.
10.
And when Esau saw the mighty men of
Nimrod coming at a distance, he fled, and thereby escaped; and Esau took the
valuable garments of Nimrod, which Nimrod’s father had bequeathed to Nimrod,
and with which Nimrod prevailed over the whole land, and he ran and concealed
them in his house.
11.
And Esau took those garments and ran
into the city on account of Nimrod’s men, and he came unto his father’s house
wearied and exhausted from fight, and he was ready to die through grief when he
approached his brother Jacob and sat before him.
12.
And he said unto his brother Jacob,
Behold I shall die this day, and wherefore then do I want the birthright? And
Jacob acted wisely with Esau in this matter, and Esau sold his birthright to
Jacob, for it was so brought about by the Lord.
13.
And Esau’s portion in the cave of the
field of Machpelah, which Abraham had bought from the
children of Heth for the possession of a burial
ground, Esau also sold to Jacob, and Jacob bought all this from his brother
Esau for value given.
14.
And Jacob wrote the whole of this in
a book, and he testified the same with witnesses, and he sealed it, and the
book remained in the hands of Jacob.
15.
And when Nimrod the son of
men lifted him up and brought him in consternation, and buried him in his city,
and all the days that Nimrod lived were two hundred and fifteen years and he
died.
16.
And the days that Nimrod reigned upon
the people of the land were one hundred and eighty-five years; and Nimrod died
by the sword of Esau in shame and contempt, and the seed of Abraham caused his
death as he had seen in his dream.
17.
And at the death of Nimrod his
kingdom became divided into many divisions, and all those parts that Nimrod
reigned over were restored to the respective kings of the land, who recovered
them after the death of Nimrod, and all the people of the house of Nimrod were
for a long time enslaved to all the other kings of the land.
