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 29

Jacob, departs secretly, 1-4. Laban pursues after him, 5-6. Covenant of Jacob
and Laban, 7-8. Abodes of the Amorites (anciently of the Rephaim) destroyed in
the time of the writer, 9-11. Laban departs, 12. Jacob is reconciled to Esau,
13. Jacob sends supplies of food to his parents four times a year to Hebron, 14-17,
19-20. Esau marries again, 18. (Cf. Gen. xxxi.3, 4, 10, 13, 19, 21, 23, 24, 46,
47; xxxii.22; xxxiii.10, 16.)

And it came to pass when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Laban went to shear
his sheep; for they were distant from him a three days’ journey.

And Jacob saw that Laban was going to shear his sheep, and Jacob called
Leah and Rachel, and spake kindly unto them that they should come with him to
the land of Canaan.

For he told them how he had seen everything in a dream, even all that He
had spoken unto him that he should return to his father’s house, and they said:
‘To every place whither thou goest we will go with thee.’

And Jacob blessed the God of Isaac his father, and the God of Abraham his
father’s father, and he arose and mounted his wives and his children, and took
all his possessions and crossed the river, and came to the land of Gilead, and
Jacob hid his intention from Laban and told him not.

And in the seventh year of the fourth week Jacob turned (his face) toward
Gilead in the first month, on the twenty-first thereof. (2135 AM) And Laban
pursued after him and overtook Jacob in the mountain of Gilead in the third
month, on the thirteenth thereof.

And the Lord did not suffer him to injure Jacob; for he appeared to him
in a dream by night. And Laban spake to Jacob.

And on the fifteenth of those days Jacob made a feast for Laban, and for
all who came with him, and Jacob sware to Laban that day, and Laban also to
Jacob, that neither should cross the mountain of Gilead to the other with evil
purpose.

And he made there a heap for a witness; wherefore the name of that place
is called: ‘The Heap of Witness,’ after this heap.

But before they used to call the land of Gilead the land of the Rephaim;
for it was the land of the Rephaim, and the Rephaim were born (there), giants
whose height was ten, nine, eight down to seven cubits.

And their habitation was from the land of the children of Ammon to Mount
Hermon, and the seats of their kingdom were Karnaim and Ashtaroth, and Edrei,
and Misur, and Beon.

And the Lord destroyed them because of the evil of their deeds; for they
were very malignant, and the Amorites dwelt in their stead, wicked and sinful,
and there is no people to-day which has wrought to the full all their sins,
and they have no longer length of life on the earth.

And Jacob sent away Laban, and he departed into Mesopotamia, the land of
the East, and Jacob returned to the land of Gilead.

And he passed over the Jabbok in the ninth month, on the eleventh thereof.
And on that day Esau, his brother, came to him, and he was reconciled to him,
and departed from him unto the land of Seir, but Jacob dwelt in tents.

And in the first year of the fifth week in this jubilee (2136 AM) he crossed
the Jordan, and dwelt beyond the Jordan, and he pastured his sheep from the
sea of the heap unto Bethshan, and unto Dothan and unto the forest of Akrabbim.

And he sent to his father Isaac of all his substance, clothing, and food,
and meat, and drink, and milk, and butter, and cheese, and some dates of the
valley.

And to his mother Rebecca also four times a year, between the times of the
months, between ploughing and reaping, and between autumn and the rain (season)
and between winter and spring, to the tower of Abraham.

For Isaac had returned from the Well of the Oath and gone up to the tower
of his father Abraham, and he dwelt there apart from his son Esau.

For in the days when Jacob went to Mesopotamia, Esau took to himself a wife
Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael, and he gathered together all the flocks of
his father and his wives, and went Up and dwelt on Mount Seir, and left Isaac
his father at the Well of the Oath alone.

And Isaac went up from the Well of the Oath and dwelt in the tower of Abraham
his father on the mountains of Hebron,

And thither Jacob sent all that he did send to his father and his mother
from time to time, all they needed, and they blessed Jacob with all their heart
and with all their soul.