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 49

The Passover: regulations regarding its celebration. (Cf. Exod. xii.6, 9, 11,
13, 22-3, 30, 46; xv.22.)

Remember the commandment which the Lord commanded thee concerning the passover,
that thou shouldst celebrate it in its season on the fourteenth of the first
month, that thou shouldst kill it before it is evening, and that they should
eat it by night on the evening of the fifteenth from the time of the setting
of the sun.

For on this night -the beginning of the festival and the beginning of the
joy- ye were eating the passover in Egypt, when all the powers of Masthad
been let loose to slay all the first-born in the land of Egypt, from the first-born
of Pharaoh to the first-born of the captive maid-servant in the mill, and to
the cattle.

And this is the sign which the Lord gave them: Into every house on the lintels
of which they saw the blood of a lamb of the first year, into (that) house they
should not enter to slay, but should pass by (it), that all those should be
saved that were in the house because the sign of the blood was on its lintels.

And the powers of the Lord did everything according as the Lord commanded
them, and they passed by all the children of Israel, and the plague came not
upon them to destroy from amongst them any soul either of cattle, or man, or
dog.

And the plague was very grievous in Egypt, and there was no house in Egypt
where there was not one dead, and weeping and lamentation.

And all Israel was eating the flesh of the paschal lamb, and drinking the
wine, and was lauding, and blessing, and giving thanks to the Lord God of their
fathers, and was ready to go forth from under the yoke of Egypt, and from the
evil bondage.

And remember thou this day all the days of thy life, and observe it from
year to year all the days of thy life, once a year, on its day, according to
all the law thereof, and do not adjourn (it) from day to day, or from month
to month.

For it is an eternal ordinance, and engraven on the heavenly tablets regarding
all the children of Israel that they should observe it every year on its day
once a year, throughout all their generations; and there is no limit of days,
for this is ordained for ever.

And the man who is free from uncleanness, and does not come to observe it
on occasion of its day, so as to bring an acceptable offering before the Lord,
and to eat and to drink before the Lord on the day of its festival, that man
who is clean and close at hand shall be cut off: because he offered not the
oblation of the Lord in its appointed season, he shall take the guilt upon himself.

Let the children of Israel come and observe the passover on the day of its
fixed time, on the fourteenth day of the first month, between the evenings,
from the third part of the day to the third part of the night, for two portions
of the day are given to the light, and a third part to the evening.

This is that which the Lord commanded thee that thou shouldst observe it
between the evenings.

And it is not permissible to slay it during any period of the light, but
during the period bordering on the evening, and let them eat it at the time
of the evening, until the third part of the night, and whatever is left over
of all its flesh from the third part of the night and onwards, let them burn
it with fire.

And they shall not cook it with water, nor shall they eat it raw, but roast
on the fire: they shall eat it with diligence, its head with the inwards thereof
and its feet they shall roast with fire, and not break any bone thereof; for
of the children of Israel no bone shall be crushed.

For this reason the Lord commanded the children of Israel to observe the
passover on the day of its fixed time, and they shall not break a bone thereof;
for it is a festival day, and a day commanded, and there may be no passing over
from day to day, and month to month, but on the day of its festival let it be
observed.

And do thou command the children of Israel to observe the passover throughout
their days, every year, once a year on the day of its fixed time, and it shall
come for a memorial well pleasing before the Lord, and no plague shall come
upon them to slay or to smite in that year in which they celebrate the passover
in its season in every respect according to His command.

And they shall not eat it outside the sanctuary of the Lord, but before
the sanctuary of the Lord, and all the people of the congregation of Israel
shall celebrate it in its appointed season.

And every man who has come upon its day shall eat it in the sanctuary of
your God before the Lord from twenty years old and upward; for thus is it written
and ordained that they should eat it in the sanctuary of the Lord.

And when the children of Israel come into the land which they are to possess,
into the land of Canaan, and set up the tabernacle of the Lord in the midst
of the land in one of their tribes until the sanctuary of the Lord has been
built in the land, let them come and celebrate the passover in the midst of
the tabernacle of the Lord, and let them slay it before the Lord from year to
year.

And in the days when the house has been built in the name of the Lord in
the land of their inheritance, they shall go there and slay the passover in
the evening, at sunset, at the third part of the day.

And they shall offer its blood on the threshold of the altar, and shall
place its fat on the fire which is upon the altar, and they shall eat its flesh
roasted with fire in the court of the house which has been sanctified in the
name of the Lord.

And they may not celebrate the passover in their cities, nor in any place
save before the tabernacle of the Lord, or before His house where His name hath
dwelt; and they shall not go astray from the Lord.

And do thou, Moses, command the children of Israel to observe the ordinances
of the passover, as it was commanded unto thee; declare thou unto them every
year and the day of its days, and the festival of unleavened bread, that they
should eat unleavened bread seven days, (and) that they should observe its festival,
and that they bring an oblation every day during those seven days of joy before
the Lord on the altar of your God.

For ye celebrated this festival with haste when ye went forth from Egypt
till ye entered into the wilderness of Shur; for on the shore of the sea ye
completed it.