Lost Books of the Bible (96 page)

10 When Esau saw the mighty men of Nimrod coming at a distance, he fled, and thereby escaped.  Esau took the valuable garments of Nimrod which Nimrod's father had bequeathed to Nimrod, with which Nimrod prevailed over the whole land; he ran and concealed them in his house.

11 Esau took those garments and ran into the city on account of Nimrod's men, and he came to 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 to his brother Jacob, Behold I shall die this day; 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 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 Jacob wrote all of this in a book and he testified the same with witnesses, and sealed it, and the book remained in the hands of Jacob.

15 When Nimrod the son of Cush died, his 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 The days that Nimrod reigned on 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 descendants of Abraham caused his death as he had seen in his dream.

17 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.  All the people of the house of Nimrod were for a long time enslaved to all the other kings of the land.

CHAPTER 28

1 In those days, after the death of Abraham, in that year the Lord brought a heavy famine in the land.  While the famine was raging in the land of Canaan, Isaac rose up to go down to Egypt on account of the famine, as his father Abraham had done.

2 And the Lord appeared that night to Isaac and said to him, Do not go down to Egypt but rise and go to Gerar, to Abimelech king of the Philistines, and remain there till the famine shall cease.

3 Isaac rose up and went to Gerar, as the Lord commanded him, and he remained there a full year.

4 And when Isaac came to Gerar, the people of the land saw that Rebecca his wife was of a beautiful appearance, and the people of Gerar asked Isaac concerning his wife, and he said, She is my sister, for he was afraid to say she was his wife that the people of the land should kill him on account of her.

5 The princes of Abimelech went and praised the woman to the king, but he answered them not, neither did he give attention to their words.

6 But he heard them say that Isaac declared her to be his sister, so the king reserved this within himself.

7 And when Isaac had remained three months in the land, Abimelech looked out the window, and he saw Isaac was sporting with Rebecca his wife, for Isaac lived in the outer house belonging to the king, so that the house of Isaac was opposite the house of the king.

8 And the king said to Isaac, What is this you have done to us in saying of your wife, She is my sister? How easily might one of the great men of the people have lain with her, and you would then have brought guilt on us.

9 And Isaac said to Abimelech, Because I was afraid that I die on account of my wife, therefore I said, She is my sister.

10 At that time Abimelech gave orders to all his princes and great men, and they took Isaac and Rebecca his wife and brought them before the king.

11 The king commanded that they should dress them in princely garments, and make them ride through the streets of the city, and proclaim before them throughout the land, saying, This is the man and this is his wife; whoever touches this man or his wife shall certainly die. And Isaac returned with his wife to the king's house, and the Lord was with Isaac and he continued to become great and lacked nothing.

12 And the Lord caused Isaac to find favor in the sight of Abimelech, and in the sight of all his subjects, and Abimelech acted well with Isaac, for Abimelech remembered the oath and the covenant that existed between his father and Abraham.

13 Abimelech said to Isaac, Behold the whole earth is before you; dwell wherever it may seem good in your sight until you shall return to your land.  Abimelech gave Isaac fields and vineyards and the best part of the land of Gerar, to sow and reap and eat the fruits of the ground until the days of the famine would have passed by.

14 And Isaac sowed in that land, and received a hundred-fold in the same year, and the Lord blessed him.

15 The man became great, and he had possession of flocks and possession of herds and a great store of servants.

16 When the days of the famine had passed away the Lord appeared to Isaac and said to him, Rise up, go forth from this place and return to your land, to the land of Canaan; Isaac rose up and returned to Hebron which is in the land of Canaan, he and all belonging to him as the Lord commanded him.

17 Ater this Shelach the son at Arpachshad died in that year, which is the eighteenth year of the lives of Jacob and Esau; all the days that Shelach lived were four hundred and thirty-three years and he died.

18 At that time Isaac sent his younger son Jacob to the house of Shem and Eber, and he learned the instructions of the Lord; Jacob remained in the house of Shem and Eber for thirty-two years; Esau his brother did not go for he was not willing to go, and he remained in his father's house in the land of Canaan.

19 Esau was continually hunting in the fields to bring home what he could get, so did Esau all the days.

20 Esau was a designing and deceitful man, one who hunted after the hearts of men and inveigled them, and Esau was a valiant man in the field; in the course of time he went as usual to hunt and  came as far as the field of Seir, the same is Edom.

21 And he remained in the land of Seir hunting in the field a year and four months.

22 Esau there saw in the land of Seir the daughter of a man of Canaan, and her name was Jehudith, the daughter of Beeri, son of Epher, from the families of Heth the son of Canaan.

23  Esau took her for a wife, and he came to her; forty years old was Esau when he took her, and he brought her to Hebron, the land of his father's dwelling place, and he lived there.

24 It came to pass in those days, in the hundred and tenth year of the life of Isaac, that is in the fiftieth year of the life of Jacob, in that year Shem the son of Noah died; Shem was six hundred years old at his death.

25 And when Shem died Jacob returned to his father to Hebron which is in the land of Canaan.

26 And in the fifty-sixth year of the life of Jacob, people came from Haran, and Rebecca was told concerning her brother Laban the son of Bethuel.

27 The wife of Laban was unable to conceive in those days, and gave birth to no children, and also all his handmaids gave birth to none, to him.

28 And the Lord afterward remembered Adinah the wife of Laban, and she conceived and gave birth to twin daughters, and Laban named his daughters:  the name of the elder Leah, and the name of the younger Rachel.

29 And those people came and told these things to Rebecca, and Rebecca rejoiced greatly that the Lord had visited her brother and that he had gotten children.

CHAPTER 29

1  Isaac the son of Abraham became old and advanced in days, and his eyes became heavy through age; they were dim and could not see.

2 At that time Isaac called to Esau his son, saying, Get I pray you your weapons, your quiver and your bow; rise up and go forth into the field and get me some venison, make me savory meat and bring it to me that I may eat in order that I may bless you before my death, as I have now become old and gray-headed.

3 And Esau did so;  he took his weapon and went forth into the field to hunt for venison, as usual, to bring to his father as he had ordered him, so that he might bless him.

4 And Rebecca heard all the words that Isaac had spoken to Esau, and she hurried and called her son Jacob, saying, Thus did your father speak to your brother Esau, and thus did I hear, now therefore hurry and make that which I shall tell you.

5 Rise up and go, I pray you, to the flock and fetch me two fine kids of the goats; I will get the savory meat for your father and you shall bring the savory meat that he may eat before your brother will have come from the hunt, in order that your father may bless you.

6 And Jacob hurried and did as his mother had commanded him, and he made the savory meat and brought it before his father before Esau had come from his hunt.

7 And Isaac said to Jacob, Who are you, my son? And he said, I am your first born Esau.  I have done as you did order me, now therefore rise up I pray you and eat of my hunt, in order that your soul may bless me as you did speak to me.

8 And Isaac rose up and he ate and drank, and his heart was comforted; he blessed Jacob and Jacob went away from his father.  As soon as Isaac had blessed Jacob and had gone away from him, behold Esau came from his hunt in the field, and he also made savory meat and brought it to his father to eat thereof and to bless him.

9 And Isaac said to Esau, And who was he that has taken venison and brought it me before you came and whom I did bless? And Esau knew that his brother Jacob had done this, and the anger of Esau was set ablaze against his brother Jacob that he had acted thus toward him.

10 And Esau said, Is he not rightly called Jacob?  For he has supplanted me twice, he took away my birthright and now he has taken away my blessing.  And Esau wept greatly.  When Isaac heard the voice of his son Esau weeping, Isaac said to Esau, What can I do, my son, your brother came with subtlety and took away your blessing?  Esau hated his brother Jacob on account of the blessing that his father had given him, and his anger was greatly roused against him.

11 And Jacob was very much afraid of his brother Esau; he rose up and fled to the house of Eber the son of Shem, and he concealed himself there on account of his brother.  Jacob was sixty-three years old when he went forth from the land of Canaan from Hebron, and Jacob was concealed in Eber's house fourteen years on account of his brother Esau, and he continued there to learn the ways of the Lord and his commandments.

12 When Esau saw that Jacob had fled and escaped from him, and that Jacob had cunningly obtained the blessing, then Esau
grieved greatly.  He was also troubled at his father and mother;  he  rose up and took his wife and went away from his father and mother to the land of Seir, and he lived there.  Esau saw there a woman from among the daughters of Heth whose name was Bosmath, the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and he took her for a wife in addition to his first wife, and Esau called her name Adah, saying the blessing had in that time passed from him.

13 And Esau lived in the land of Seir six months without seeing his father and mother, and afterward Esau took his wives and rose up and returned to the land of Canaan.  And Esau placed his two wives in his father's house in Hebron.

14 The wives of Esau troubled and provoked Isaac and Rebecca with their works, for they walked not in the ways of the Lord, but served their father's gods of wood and stone as their father had taught them; they were more wicked than their father.

15 They went according to the evil desires of their hearts, and they sacrificed and burnt incense to the Baalim, and Isaac and Rebecca became weary of them.

16 And Rebecca said, I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth; if Jacob took a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these which are of the daughters of the land, what good then is life to me?

17 In those days Adah the wife of Esau conceived and gave birth to him a son, and Esau called the name of the son that was born to him Eliphaz, and Esau was sixty-five years old when she gave birth to him.