The Book of Jubilees

From The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament

by R.H. Charles, Oxford: Clarendon Press,

1913.

Scanned and Edited by Joshua Williams, Northwest Nazarene
College.

Chapter 16

Angels appear to Abraham in Hebron and Isaac again promised, 1-4. Destruction
of Sodom and Lot’s deliverance, 5-9. Abraham at Beersheba: birth of and circumcision
of Isaac, whose seed was to be the portion of God, 10-19. Institution of the feast
of Tabernacles, 20-31. (Cf. Gen. xviii.1, 10, 12; xix.24, 29, 33-7; xx.1, 4, 8;
xxi. 1-4.)

And on the new moon of the fourth month we appeared unto Abraham, at the oak
of Mamre, and we talked with him, and we announced to him that a son would be
given to him by Sarah his wife.

And Sarah laughed, for she heard that we had spoken these words with Abraham,
and we admonished her, and she became afraid, and denied that she had laughed
on account of the words.

And we told her the name of her son, as his name is ordained and written in
the heavenly tablets (i.e.) Isaac,

And (that) when we returned to her at a set time, she would have conceived
a son.

And in this month the Lord executed his judgments on Sodom, and Gomorrah,
and Zeboim, and all the region of the Jordan, and He burned them with fire and
brimstone, and destroyed them until this day, even as (lo) I have declared unto
thee all their works, that they are wicked and sinners exceedingly, and that they
defile themselves and commit fornication in their flesh, and work uncleanness
on the earth.

And, in like manner, God will execute judgment on the places where they have
done according to the uncleanness of the Sodomites, like unto the judgment of
Sodom.

But Lot we saved; for God remembered Abraham, and sent him out from the midst
of the overthrow.

And he and his daughters committed sin upon the earth, such as had not been
on the earth since the days of Adam till his time; for the man lay with his daughters.

And, behold, it was commanded and engraven concerning all his seed, on the
heavenly tablets, to remove them and root them out, and to execute judgment upon
them like the judgment of Sodom, and to leave no seed of the man on earth on the
day of condemnation.

And in this month Abraham moved from Hebron, and departed and dwelt between
Kadesh and Shur in the mountains of Gerar.

And in the middle of the fifth month he moved from thence, and dwelt at the
Well of the Oath.

And in the middle of the sixth month the Lord visited Sarah and did unto her
as He had spoken and she conceived.

And she bare a son in the third month, and in the middle of the month, at
the time of which the Lord had spoken to Abraham, on the festival of the first
fruits of the harvest, Isaac was born.

And Abraham circumcised his son on the eighth day: he was the first that was
circumcised according to the covenant which is ordained for ever.

And in the sixth year of the fourth week we came to Abraham, to the Well of
the Oath, and we appeared unto him (as we had told Sarah that we should return
to her, and she would have conceived a son.

And we returned in the seventh month, and found Sarah with child before us)
and we blessed him, and we announced to him all the things which had been decreed
concerning him, that he should not die till he should beget six sons more, and
should see (them) before he died; but (that) in Isaac should his name and seed
be called:

And (that) all the seed of his sons should be Gentiles, and be reckoned with
the Gentiles; but from the sons of Isaac one should become a holy seed, and should
not be reckoned among the Gentiles.

For he should become the portion of the Most High, and all his seed had fallen
into the possession of God, that it should be unto the Lord a people for (His)
possession above all nations and that it should become a kingdom and priests and
a holy nation.

And we went our way, and we announced to Sarah all that we had told him, and
they both rejoiced with exceeding great joy.

And he built there an altar to the Lord who had delivered him, and who was
making him rejoice in the land of his sojourning, and he celebrated a festival
of joy in this month seven days, near the altar which he had built at the Well
of the Oath.

And he built booths for himself and for his servants on this festival, and
he was the first to celebrate the feast of tabernacles on the earth.

And during these seven days he brought each day to the altar a burnt offering
to the Lord, two oxen, two rams, seven sheep, one he-goat, for a sin offering,
that he might atone thereby for himself and for his seed.

And, as a thank-offering, seven rams, seven kids, seven sheep, and seven he-goats,
and their fruit offerings and their drink offerings; and he burnt all the fat
thereof on the altar, a chosen offering unto the Lord for a sweet smelling savour.

And morning and evening he burnt fragrant substances, frankincense and galbanum,
and stackte, and nard, and myrrh, and spice, and costum; all these seven he offered,
crushed, mixed together in equal parts (and) pure.

And he celebrated this feast during seven days, rejoicing with all his heart
and with all his soul, he and all those who were in his house, and there was no
stranger with him, nor any that was uncircumcised.

And he blessed his Creator who had created him in his generation, for He had
created him according to His good pleasure; for He knew and perceived that from
him would arise the plant of righteousness for the eternal generations, and from
him a holy seed, so that it should become like Him who had made all things.

And he blessed and rejoiced, and he called the name of this festival the festival
of the Lord, a joy acceptable to the Most High God.

And we blessed him for ever, and all his seed after him throughout all the
generations of the earth, because he celebrated this festival in its season, according
to the testimony of the heavenly tablets.

For this reason it is ordained on the heavenly tablets concerning Israel,
that they shall celebrate the feast of tabernacles seven days with joy, in the
seventh month, acceptable before the Lord -a statute for ever throughout their
generations every year.

And to this there is no limit of days; for it is ordained for ever regarding
Israel that they should celebrate it and dwell in booths, and set wreaths upon
their heads, and take leafy boughs, and willows from the brook.

And Abraham took branches of palm trees, and the fruit of goodly trees, and
every day going round the altar with the branches seven times (a day) in the morning,
he praised and gave thanks to his God for all things in joy.