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 30

Dinah ravished, 1-3. Slaughter of the Shechemites, 4-6. Laws against intermarriage
between Israel and the heathen, 7-17. Levi chosen for the priesthood on account
of his slaughter of the Shechemites, 18-23. Dinah recovered, 24. Jacob’s reproof,
25-6. (Cf. Gen. xxxiii.18, xxxiv.2, 4, 7, 13-14, 25-30, xxxv.5.)

And in the first year of the sixth week (2143 AM) he went up to Salem, to
the east of Shechem, in peace, in the fourth month.

And there they carried off Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, into the house of
Shechem, the son of Hamor, the Hivite, the prince of the land, and he lay with
her and defiled her, and she was a little girl, a child of twelve years.

And he besought his father and her brothers that she might be given to him
to wife. And Jacob and his sons were wroth because of the men of Shechem; for
they had defiled Dinah, their sister, and they spake to them with evil intent
and dealt deceitfully with them and beguiled them.

And Simeon and Levi came unexpectedly to Shechem and executed judgment on
all the men of Shechem, and slew all the men whom they found in it, and left not
a single one remaining in it: they slew all in torments because they had dishonoured
their sister Dinah.

And thus let it not again be done from henceforth that a daughter of Israel
be defiled; for judgment is ordained in heaven against them that they should destroy
with the sword all the men of the Shechemites because they had wrought shame in
Israel.

And the Lord delivered them into the hands of the sons of Jacob that they
might exterminate them with the sword and execute judgment upon them, and that
it might not thus again be done in Israel that a virgin of Israel should be defiled.

And if there is any man who wishes in Israel to give his daughter or his sister
to any man who is of the seed of the Gentiles he shall surely die, and they shall
stone him with stones; for he hath wrought shame in Israel; and they shall burn
the woman with fire, because she has dishonoured the name of the house of her
father, and she shall be rooted out of Israel.

And let not an adulteress and no uncleanness be found in Israel throughout
all the days of the generations of the earth; for Israel is holy unto the Lord,
and every man who has defiled (it) shall surely die: they shall stone him with
stones.

For thus has it been ordained and written in the heavenly tablets regarding
all the seed of Israel: he who defileth (it) shall surely die, and he shall be
stoned with stones.

And to this law there is no limit of days, and no remission, nor any atonement:
but the man who has defiled his daughter shall be rooted out in the midst of all
Israel, because he has given of his seed to Moloch, and wrought impiously so as
to defile it.

And do thou, Moses, command the children of Israel and exhort them not to
give their daughters to the Gentiles, and not to take for their sons any of the
daughters of the Gentiles, for this is abominable before the Lord.

For this reason I have written for thee in the words of the Law all the deeds
of the Shechemites, which they wrought against Dinah, and how the sons of Jacob
spake, saying: ‘We will not give our daughter to a man who is uncircumcised; for
that were a reproach unto us.’

And it is a reproach to Israel, to those who live, and to those that take
the daughters of the Gentiles; for this is unclean and abominable to Israel.

And Israel will not be free from this uncleanness if it has a wife of the
daughters of the Gentiles, or has given any of its daughters to a man who is of
any of the Gentiles.

For there will be plague upon plague, and curse upon curse, and every judgment
and plague and curse will come

upon him

: if he do this thing, or hide
his eyes from those who commit uncleanness, or those who defile the sanctuary
of the Lord, or those who profane His holy name, (then) will the whole nation
together be judged for all the uncleanness and profanation of this man.

And there will be no respect of persons (and no consideration of persons)
and no receiving at his hands of fruits and offerings and burnt-offerings and
fat, nor the fragrance of sweet savour, so as to accept it: and so fare every
man or woman in Israel who defiles the sanctuary.

For this reason I have commanded thee, saying: ‘Testify this testimony to
Israel: see how the Shechemites fared and their sons: how they were delivered
into the hands of two sons of Jacob, and they slew them under tortures, and it
was (reckoned) unto them for righteousness, and it is written down to them for
righteousness.

And the seed of Levi was chosen for the priesthood, and to be Levites, that
they might minister before the Lord, as we, continually, and that Levi and his
sons may be blessed for ever; for he was zealous to execute righteousness and
judgment and vengeance on all those who arose against Israel.

And so they inscribe as a testimony in his favour on the heavenly tablets
blessing and righteousness before the God of all:

And we remember the righteousness which the man fulfilled during his life,
at all periods of the year; until a thousand generations they will record it,
and it will come to him and to his descendants after him, and he has been recorded
on the heavenly tablets as a friend and a righteous man.

All this account I have written for thee, and have commanded thee to say to
the children of Israel, that they should not commit sin nor transgress the ordinances
nor break the covenant which has been ordained for them, (but) that they should
fulfil it and be recorded as friends.

But if they transgress and work uncleanness in every way, they will be recorded
on the heavenly tablets as adversaries, and they will be destroyed out of the
book of life, and they will be recorded in the book of those who will be destroyed
and with those who will be rooted out of the earth.

And on the day when the sons of Jacob slew Shechem a writing was recorded
in their favour in heaven that they had executed righteousness and uprightness
and vengeance on the sinners, and it was written for a blessing.

And they brought Dinah, their sister, out of the house of Shechem, and they
took captive everything that was in Shechem, their sheep and their oxen and their
asses, and all their wealth, and all their flocks, and brought them all to Jacob
their father.

And he reproached them because they had put the city to the sword for he feared
those who dwelt in the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites.

And the dread of the Lord was upon all the cities which are around about Shechem,
and they did not rise to pursue after the sons of Jacob; for terror had fallen
upon them.