YASHAR 29 (Jasher 29)

1 And Yitsḥaq son of Aḇraham became old and advanced in days, and his eyes became heavy through age; they were dim and could not see.

2 At that time Yitsḥaq called to Ĕsaw his son, saying, “Please get your weapons, your quiver and your bow. Rise up and go out into the field and get me some venison, and make me a tasty dish and bring it to me, that I may eat in order that I may baraḵ you before my death, as I have now become old and grey-headed.”

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

4 And Riḇqah heard all the words that Yitsḥaq had spoken to Ĕsaw, and she hastened and called her son Ya’aqoḇ, saying, “Thus did your father speak to your brother Ĕsaw, and thus did I hear. Now therefore hurry and do that which I shall tell you.

5 “Please rise up and go to the flock and bring me two fine kids of the goats, and I will get the tasty dish for your father, and you shall bring the tasty dish that he may eat before your brother has come from the hunt, in order that your father may baraḵ you.”

6 And Ya’aqoḇ hurried and did as his mother had commanded him, and he made the tasty dish and brought it before his father before Ĕsaw had come from his hunt.

7 And Yitsḥaq said to Ya’aqoḇ, “Who are you, my son?” And he said, “I am your first-born Ĕsaw. I have done as you ordered me. Now therefore please rise up and eat of my hunt, in order that your being may baraḵ me as you spoke unto me.”

8 And Yitsḥaq rose up and he ate and drank, and his heart was comforted, and he baraḵ Ya’aqoḇ and Ya’aqoḇ went away from his father. And as soon as Yitsḥaq had baraḵ Ya’aqoḇ and he had gone away from him, see Ĕsaw came from his hunt from the field, and he also made a tasty dish and brought it to his father to eat of it and to baraḵ him.

9 And Yitsḥaq said to Ĕsaw, “And who was he that has taken venison and brought it to me before you came and whom I baraḵ?” And Ĕsaw knew that his brother Ya’aqoḇ had done this, and the wrath of Ĕsaw was kindled against his brother Ya’aqoḇ that he had acted so toward him.

10 And Ĕsaw said, “Is he not rightly called Ya’aqoḇ? For he has taken me by the heel twice! He took away my birthright and now he has taken away my beraḵah.” And Ĕsaw wept greatly, and when Yitsḥaq heard the voice of his son Ĕsaw weeping, Yitsḥaq said to Ĕsaw, “What can I do, my son? Your brother came with deceit and took away your beraḵah.” and Ĕsaw hated his brother Ya’aqoḇ because of the beraḵah that his father had given him, and his wrath was greatly roused against him.

11 And Ya’aqoḇ was very much afraid of his brother Ĕsaw, and he rose up and fled to the house of Ĕḇer son of Shĕm, and he concealed himself there because of his brother. And Ya’aqoḇ was sixty-three years old when he went out from the land of Kena’an from Ḥeḇron, and Ya’aqoḇ was concealed in the house of Ĕḇer fourteen years because of his brother Ĕsaw. And there he continued to learn the Ways of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 and His Commandments.

12 And when Ĕsaw saw that Ya’aqoḇ had fled and escaped from him, and that Ya’aqoḇ had cunningly obtained the beraḵah, then Ĕsaw grieved exceedingly, and he was also displeased at his father and mother. And he also rose up and took his wife and went away from his father and mother to the land of Sĕ’ir, and he dwelt there. And Ĕsaw saw there a woman from among the daughters of Ḥĕth whose name was Basemath, the daughter of Ĕlon the Ḥittite, and he took her for a wife in addition to his first wife, and Ĕsaw called her name Aḏah, saying the beraḵah had in that time passed from him.

13 And Ĕsaw dwelt in the land of Sĕ’ir six months without seeing his father and mother. And afterward Ĕsaw took his wives and rose up and returned to the land of Kena’an, and Ĕsaw placed his two wives in his father’s house in Ḥeḇron.

14 And the wives of Ĕsaw grieved and provoked Yitsḥaq and Riḇqah with their works, for they did not walk in the Ways of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, but served their father’s mighty ones of wood and stone as their father had taught them, but they were more wicked than their father.

15 And they went according to the evil desires of their hearts, and they slaughtered and burnt incense to the Ba’als, and Yitsḥaq and Riḇqah became weary of them.

16 And Riḇqah said, “I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Ḥĕth. If Ya’aqoḇ takes a wife of the daughters of Ḥĕth, such as these which are of the daughters of the land, what good then is life to me?”

17 And in those days Aḏah the wife of Ĕsaw conceived and bore him a son, and Ĕsaw called the name of the son that was born unto him Eliphaz. And Ĕsaw was sixty-five years old when she bore him.

18 And Yishma’ĕl son of Aḇraham died in those days, in the sixty-fourth year of the life of Ya’aqoḇ. And all the days that Yishma’ĕl lived were one hundred and thirty-seven years and he died.

19 And when Yitsḥaq heard that Yishma’ĕl was dead he mourned for him, and Yitsḥaq lamented over him many days.

20 And at the end of fourteen years of Ya’aqob’s dwelling in the house of Ĕḇer, Ya’aqoḇ desired to see his father and mother, and Ya’aqoḇ came to the house of his father and mother to Ḥeḇron. And Ĕsaw had in those days forgotten what Ya’aqoḇ had done to him in having taken the beraḵah from him in those days.

21 And when Ĕsaw saw Ya’aqoḇ coming to his father and mother he remembered what Ya’aqoḇ had done to him, and he was greatly wroth against him and sought to slay him.

22 And Yitsḥaq son of Aḇraham was old and advanced in days, and Ĕsaw said, “Now my father’s time is drawing near that he must die, and when he dies I will slay my brother Ya’aqoḇ.”

23 And this was told to Riḇqah, and she hastened and sent and called for Ya’aqoḇ her son, and she said to him, “Arise, go and flee to Ḥaran to my brother Laḇan, and remain there for some time, until your brother’s wrath be turned from you, and then you shall come back.

24 And Yitsḥaq called to Ya’aqoḇ and said to him, “Do not take a wife from the daughters of Kena’an, for thus did our father Aḇraham command us according to the Word of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 which He commanded him, saying, ‘Unto your seed I will give this land. If your children keep My Covenant that I have made with you, then I will also perform to your children that which I have spoken to you and I will not forsake them.’

25 “Now therefore my son listen to my voice, to all that I shall command you, and refrain from taking a wife from among the daughters of Kena’an. Arise, go to Ḥaran to the house of Bethu’ĕl your mother’s father, and take for yourself a wife from there from the daughters of Laḇan your mother’s brother.

26 “Therefore take heed lest you should forget 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 your Elohim and all His Ways in the land to which you go, and should join with the people of the land and pursue worthlessness and forsake 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 your Elohim.

27 “But when you come to the land, serve 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 there. Do not turn to the right or to the left from the Way which I commanded you and which you learned.

28 “And may the Almighty Elohim grant you favour in the sight of the people of the earth, that you may take there a wife according to your choice; one who is good and upright in the Ways of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄.

29 “And may Elohim give to you and your seed the beraḵah of your father Aḇraham, and make you fruitful and multiply you, and may you become a multitude of people in the land where you go. And may Elohim cause you to return to this land, the land of your father’s dwelling, with children and with great riches, with joy and with pleasure.”

30 And Yitsḥaq finished commanding Ya’aqoḇ and a beraḵah on him, and he gave him many gifts, together with silver and gold, and he sent him away. And Ya’aqoḇ listened to his father and mother; he kissed them and arose and went to Paddan Aram. And Ya’aqoḇ was seventy-seven years old when he went out from the land of Kena’an from Be’ĕrsheḇa.

31 And when Ya’aqoḇ went away to go to Ḥaran, Ĕsaw called to his son Eliphaz, and secretly spoke to him, saying, “Now hurry, take your sword in your hand and pursue Ya’aqoḇ and pass before him on the way. And lay in wait for him, and slay him with your sword on one of the mountains, and take all belonging to him and come back.”

32 And Eliphaz son of Ĕsaw was an active man and expert with the bow as his father had taught him, and he was a noted hunter in the field and a mighty man.

33 And Eliphaz did as his father had commanded him, and Eliphaz was at that time thirteen years old. And Eliphaz rose up and went and took ten of his mother’s brothers with him and pursued Ya’aqoḇ.

34 And he closely followed Ya’aqoḇ, and he lay in wait for him in the border of the land of Kena’an opposite to the city of Sheḵem.

35 And Ya’aqoḇ saw Eliphaz and his men pursuing him, and Ya’aqoḇ stood still in the place in which he was going, in order to know what this was, for he did not know the matter. And Eliphaz drew his sword and he went on advancing, he and his men, toward Ya’aqoḇ. And Ya’aqoḇ said to them, “What is it to do with you that you have come here, and what does it mean that you pursue with your swords?”

36 And Eliphaz came near to Ya’aqoḇ and he answered and said to him, “Thus did my father command me, and now therefore I will not deviate from the orders which my father gave me!” And when Ya’aqoḇ saw that Ĕsaw had spoken to Eliphaz to employ force, Ya’aqoḇ then approached and pleaded with Eliphaz and his men, saying to him,

37 “See, all that I have and which my father and mother gave to me, take for yourself and go from me, and do not slay me, and may this matter be accounted to you as righteousness.”

38 And 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 caused Ya’aqoḇ to find favour in the sight of Eliphaz son of Ĕsaw, and his men, and they listened to the voice of Ya’aqoḇ, and they did not put him to death. And Eliphaz and his men took all belonging to Ya’aqoḇ together with the silver and gold that he had brought with him from Be’ĕrsheḇa. They left him nothing.

39 And Eliphaz and his men went away from him and returned to Ĕsaw to Be’ĕrsheḇa, and they told him all that had occurred to them with Ya’aqoḇ, and they gave him all that they had taken from Ya’aqoḇ.

40 And Ĕsaw was wroth at Eliphaz his son, and at his men that were with him, because they had not put Ya’aqoḇ to death.

41 And they answered and said to Ĕsaw, “Because Ya’aqoḇ pleaded with us in this matter not to slay him, our compassion was aroused toward him, and we took all belonging to him and brought it to you.” And Ĕsaw took all the silver and gold which Eliphaz had taken from Ya’aqoḇ and he put them aside in his house.

42 At that time when Ĕsaw saw that Yitsḥaq had baraḵ Ya’aqoḇ, and had commanded him, saying, “You shall not take a wife from among the daughters of Kena’an,” and that the daughters of Kena’an were evil in the sight of Yitsḥaq and Riḇqah,

43 then he went to the house of Yishma’ĕl his uncle, and in addition to his older wives he took Maḥalath the daughter of Yishma’ĕl, the sister of Neḇayoth, for a wife.