YASHAR 19 (Jasher 19)

1 And the cities of Seḏom had four judges for four cities, and these were their names: Sĕraq in the city of Seḏom, Sharkaḏ in Amorah, Zaḇnaq in Aḏmah, and Mĕnon in Tseḇoyim.

2 And El’azar Aḇraham’s servant appointed to them different names, and he converted Sĕraq to Sharkaḏ, Sharkaḏ to Shakrura, Zaḇnaq to Kezoḇim, and Mĕnon to Matsloḏin.

3 And by desire of their four judges, the people of Seḏom and Amorah had beds erected in the streets of the cities, and if a man came to these places they laid hold of him and brought him to one of their beds, and by force made him to lie in them.

4 And as he lay down, three men would stand at his head and three at his feet, and measure him by the length of the bed. And if the man was less than the bed these six men would stretch him at each end, and when he cried out to them they would not answer him.

5 And if he was longer than the bed they would draw together the two sides of the bed at each end, until the man had reached the gates of death.

6 And if he continued to cry out to them, they would answer him, saying, “So shall it be done to a man that comes into our land!”

7 And when men heard all these matters that the people of the cities of Seḏom did, they refrained from coming there.

8 And when a poor man came to their land they would give him silver and gold, and send a call in the whole city not to give him a piece of bread to eat. And if the stranger should remain there some days, and die from hunger, not having been able to obtain a piece of bread, then at his death all the people of the city would come and take their silver and gold which they had given to him.

9 And those that could recognise the silver or gold which they had given him took it back. And at his death they also stripped him of his garments, and they would fight about them, and he that prevailed over his neighbour took them.

10 After that, they would carry him and bury him under some of the shrubs in the desert. So they did all the days to anyone that came to them and died in their land.

11 And in the course of time Sarah sent El’azar to Seḏom, to see Lot and inquire after his welfare.

12 And El’azar went to Seḏom, and he met a man of Seḏom fighting with a stranger. And the man of Seḏom stripped the poor man of all his clothes and went away.

13 And the poor man cried to El’azar and pleaded his favour because of what the man of Seḏom had done to him.

14 And he said to him, “Why do you act this way to the poor man who came to your land?”

15 And the man of Seḏom answered El’azar, saying, “Is this man your brother, or have the people of Seḏom made you a judge this day, that you speak about this man?”

16 And El’azar strove with the man of Seḏom because of the poor man, and when El’azar approached to recover the poor man’s clothes from the man of Seḏom, he hastened and with a stone smote El’azar on the forehead.

17 And the blood flowed exeedingly from El’azar’s forehead, and when the man saw the blood he caught hold of El’azar, saying, “Give me my payment for having rid you of this bad blood that was in your forehead, for such is the custom and the law in our land.”

18 And El’azar said to him, “You have wounded me and require me to pay you your payment?” and El’azar would not listen to the words of the man of Seḏom.

19 And the man laid hold of El’azar and brought him to Sharkaḏ the judge of Seḏom for judgment.

20 And the man spoke to the judge, saying, “Please, my master, so has this man done, for I smote him with a stone so that the blood flowed from his forehead, and he is unwilling to give me my payment.”

21 And the judge said to El’azar, “This man speaks truth to you. Give him his payment, for this is the custom in our land.” And El’azar heard the words of the judge, and he lifted up a stone and smote the judge. And the stone struck on his forehead, and the blood flowed exceedingly from the forehead of the judge. And El’azar said, “If this then is the custom in your land, give to this man what I should have given him, for this has been your decision; you decreed it.”

22 And El’azar left the man of Seḏom with the judge, and he went away.

23 And when the sovereigns of Ĕylam had fought against the sovereigns of Seḏom, the sovereigns of Ĕylam captured all the property of Seḏom, and they took Lot captive, with his property. And when it was told to Aḇraham he went and fought against the sovereigns of Ĕylam, and he recovered from their hands all the property of Lot as well as the property of Seḏom.

24 At that time the wife of Lot bore him a daughter, and he called her name Paltith, saying, “Because Elohim had delivered him and his whole household from the sovereigns of Ĕylam.” And Paltith daughter of Lot grew up, and one of the men of Seḏom took her for a wife.

25 And a poor man came into the city to seek a livelihood, and he remained in the city some days. And all the people of Seḏom sent a call, as was their custom, not to give the man a piece of bread to eat, until he dropped dead upon the earth, and they did so.

26 And Paltith the daughter of Lot saw the man lying in the streets starved with hunger, and no one would give him any matter to keep him alive, and he was just upon the point of death.

27 And her being was filled with pity because of the man, and she fed him secretly with bread for many days, and the being of this man was revived.

28 For when she went out to fetch water she would put the bread in the water pitcher, and when she came to the place where the poor man was, she took the bread from the pitcher and gave it him to eat; so she did many days.

29 And all the people of Seḏom and Amorah wondered how this man could bear starvation for so many days.

30 And they said to each other, “This can only be that he eats and drinks, for no man can bear starvation for so many days or live as this man has, without even his appearance changing.” And three men concealed themselves in a place where the poor man was stationed, to know who it was that brought him bread to eat.

31 And Paltith daughter of Lot went out that day to fetch water, and she put bread into her pitcher of water. And she went to draw water by the poor man’s place, and she took out the bread from the pitcher and gave it to the poor man and he ate it.

32 And the three men saw what Paltith did for the poor man, and they said to her, “It is you then who has supported him! And therefore he has not starved, nor changed in appearance nor died like the rest.”

33 And the three men came out of the place in which they were concealed, and they seized Paltith and the bread which was in the poor man’s hand.

34 And they took Paltith and brought her before their judges, and said to them, “Thus did she do, and it is she who supplied the poor man with bread, so he did not die all this time. Now therefore declare to us the punishment due to this woman for having transgressed our law.”

35 And the people of Seḏom and Amorah assembled and kindled a fire in the street of the city, and they took the woman and threw her into the fire and she was burned to ashes.

36 And in the city of Aḏmah there was a woman to whom they did the same.

37 For a traveller came into the city of Aḏmah to stay there all night, with the intention of going home in the morning, and he sat opposite the door of the house of the young woman’s father, to remain there, as the sun had gone down when he had reached that place. And the young woman saw him sitting by the door of the house.

38 And he asked her for a drink of water and she said to him, “Who are you?” and he said to her, “I was walking on the way today, and reached here when the sun went down, so I will stay here all night, and in the morning I will rise early and continue my journey.”

39 And the young woman went into the house and brought the man bread and water to eat and drink.

40 And this matter became known to the people of Aḏmah, and they assembled and brought the young woman before the judges, so that they should judge her for this deed.

41 And the judge said, “The judgment of death must pass upon this woman because she transgressed our law, and this therefore is the decision concerning her.”

42 And the people of those cities assembled and brought out the young woman, and rubbed her with honey from head to foot, as the judge had decreed, and they placed her before a swarm of bees which were then in their hives. And the bees flew upon her and stung her so that her whole body was swollen.

43 And the young woman cried out because of the bees, but no one took notice of her or pitied her, and her cries went up to the shamayim.

44 And 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 was provoked at this and at all the works of the cities of Seḏom, for they had a great amount of food, and had peace among them, and still would not sustain the poor and the needy. And in those days their evil doings and sins became great before 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄.

45 And 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 sent two of the messengers that had come to Aḇraham’s house, to destroy Seḏom and its cities.

46 And the messengers rose up from the door of Aḇraham’s tent, after they had eaten and drunk, and they reached Seḏom in the evening. And Lot was then sitting in the gate of Seḏom, and when he saw them he rose to meet them, and he bowed down to the ground.

47 And he pressed them greatly and brought them into his house, and he gave them food which they ate, and they stayed all night in his house.

48 And the messengers said to Lot, “Arise, go out from this place, you and all belonging to you, lest you be consumed in the iniquity of this city, for 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 will destroy this place.”

49 And the messengers laid hold upon the hand of Lot and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hands of his children, and all belonging to him, and they brought him out and put him outside the cities.

50 And they said to Lot, “Escape for your life!” And he fled and all belonging to him.

51 Then 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 rained upon Seḏom and upon Amorah and upon all these cities sulphur and fire from 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 out of the shamayim.

52 And He overthrew these cities, all the plain and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. And Ado the wife of Lot looked back to see the destruction of the cities, for her compassion was moved because of her daughters who remained in Seḏom, for they did not go with her.

53 And when she looked back she became a post of salt, and it is still in that place to this day.

54 And the oxen which stood in that place daily licked up the salt to the end of their feet, and in the morning it would spring forth anew, and they still lick it up to this day.

55 And Lot and two of his daughters that remained with him fled and escaped to the cave of Aḏullam, and they remained there for some time.

56 And Aḇraham rose early in the morning to see what had been done to the cities of Seḏom, and he looked and saw the smoke of the cities going up like the smoke of a furnace.

57 And Lot and his two daughters remained in the cave. And they made their father drink wine, and they lay with him, for they said there was no man upon earth that could raise up seed from them, for they thought that the whole earth was destroyed.

58 And they both lay with their father, and they conceived and bore sons. And the first-born called the name of her son Mo’aḇ, saying, “From my father I conceived him.” He is the father of the Mo’aḇites to this day.

59 And also the younger called her son Ben-Ammi; he is the father of the children of Ammon to this day.

60 And after this, Lot and his two daughters went away from there, and he dwelt on the other side of the Yardĕn with his two daughters and their sons. And the sons of Lot grew up, and they went and took for themselves wives from the land of Kena’an, and they brought forth children and they were fruitful and multiplied.