YOḆELIM 10 (Jubilees 10)

1 And in the third week of this Yoḇĕl the unclean demons began to lead astray the children of the sons of Noaḥ, and to mislead and destroy them.

2 And the sons of Noaḥ came to Noaḥ their father, and they informed him concerning the demons which were, leading astray and blinding and slaying his sons’ sons.

3 And he prayed before 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 his Elohim, and said, “Elohim of the spirits of all flesh, who has shown kindness to me, and has saved my sons and I from the waters of the flood, and has not caused me to perish as You did the sons of destruction; for Your favour has been great towards me, and Your kindness has been great to my being. Let Your favour be lifted upon my sons, and let not wicked spirits rule over them lest they should destroy them from the earth.

4 “But may You baraḵ my sons and I, that we may increase and multiply and fill the earth.

5 “And You know how Your Watchers, the fathers of these spirits, acted in my day. And as for these spirits which are living, imprison them and hold them fast in the place of condemnation, and let them not bring destruction on the sons of your servant, my Elohim; for these are evil, and created in order to destroy.

6 “And let them not rule over the spirits of the living; for You alone exercise rule over them. And let them not have power over the sons of the righteous from this time and forever.”

7 And 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 our Elohim commanded us to bind all.

8 And the chief of the spirits, Mastĕma, came and said, “Aḏonai, Creator, let some of them remain before me, and let them listen to my voice, and do all that I shall say to them; for if some of them are not left to me, I shall not be able to execute the power of my purpose on the sons of men; for these are for corruption and leading astray before my right-ruling, for the wickedness of the sons of men is great.”

9 And He said, “Let the tenth part of them remain before him, and let nine parts descend into the place of condemnation.”

10 And one of us He commanded that we should teach Noaḥ all their medicines; for He knew that they would not walk in uprightness, nor strive in righteousness.

11 And we did according to all His words: all the wicked evil ones we bound in the place of condemnation, and a tenth part of them we left that they might be subject before Satan on the earth.

12 And we explained to Noaḥ all the medicines of their diseases, together with their accomplishments, how he might heal them with herbs of the earth.

13 And Noaḥ wrote down all matters in a Book as we instructed him concerning every kind of medicine. Thus the evil spirits were prevented from hurting the sons of Noaḥ.

14 And he gave all that he had written to Shĕm, his eldest son; for he loved him exceedingly above all his sons.

15 And Noaḥ slept with his fathers, and was buried on Mount Luḇar in the land of Ararat.

16 Nine hundred and fifty years he completed in his life, nineteen Yoḇelim and two weeks and five years.

17 And in his life on earth he excelled the children of men except Ḥanoḵ because of the righteousness, wherein he was perfect. For Ḥanoḵ’s office was ordained for a witness to the generations of the world, so that he should recount all the deeds of generation unto generation, till the Day of judgment.

18 And in the thirty-third Yoḇĕl, in the first year, in the second week, Peleḡ took a wife, whose name was Lomnah the daughter of Sina’ar. And she bore him a son in the fourth year of this week, and he called his name Re’u; for he said, “See, the children of men have become evil through the wicked purpose of building for themselves a city and a tower in the land of Shin’ar.”

19 For they departed from the land of Ararat eastward to Shin’ar; for in his days they built the city and the tower, saying, “Come, let us ascend thereby into the shamayim.”

20 And they began to build, and in the fourth week they made brick with fire, and the bricks served them for stone, and the clay with which they cemented them together was asphalt which comes out of the sea, and out of the fountains of water in the land of Shin’ar.

21 And they built it; forty-three years they were building it. Its breadth was two hundred and three bricks, and the height of a brick was the third of one. Its height amounted to five thousand, four hundred and thirty-three ammah and two tophaḥ, and the extent of one wall was thirteen stades and of the other thirty stades.

22 And 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 our Elohim said to us, “See, they are one people, and this they begin to do, and now naught shall be withheld from them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech, and they may be dispersed into cities and nations, and one purpose shall no longer endure with them till the day of judgment”

23 And 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 descended, and we descended with Him to see the city and the tower which the children of men had built.

24 And He confused their language, and they no longer understood one another’s speech, and they ceased then to build the city and the tower.

25 For this reason the whole land of Shin’ar is called Baḇel, because there 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 confounded all the language of the children of men, and from there they were dispersed into their cities, each according to his language and his nation.

26 And 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 sent a mighty wind against the tower and overthrew it upon the earth, and see, it was between Ashshur and Baḇel in the land of Shin’ar, and they called its name, ‘Overthrow.’

27 In the fourth week in the beginning of the first year in the thirty-fourth Yoḇĕl, they were dispersed from the land of Shin’ar.

28 And Ḥam and his sons went into the land which he was to occupy, which he acquired as his portion in the land of the South.

29 And Kena’an saw the land of Leḇanon to the river of Mitsrayim that it was very good, but he did not go into the land of his inheritance to the west that is to the sea, but he dwelt in the land of Leḇanon, eastward and westward from the border of Yardĕn and from the border of the sea.

30 And Ḥam, his father, and Kush and Mitsrayim, his brothers, said to him, “You have settled in a land which is not yours, and which did not fall to us by lot. Do not do so; for if you do so, you and your sons shall fall in the land and be accursed through rebellion; for by rebellion you have settled, and by rebellion your children shall fall, and you shall be rooted out forever.

31 “Do not dwell in the dwelling of Shĕm; for to Shĕm and to his sons it came by their lot.

32 “Cursed are you, and cursed shall you be over all the sons of Noaḥ, with the curse by which we bound ourselves with an oath in the presence of the qodesh Judge, and in the presence of Noaḥ our father.”

33 But he did not listen to them, and dwelt in the land of Leḇanon from Ḥamath as far as the entrance of Mitsrayim, he and his sons to this day.

34 And for this reason that land is named Kena’an.

35 And Yepheth and his sons went towards the sea and dwelt in the land of their portion. And Maḏai saw the land of the sea and it did not please him, and he begged a portion from Ĕylam and Asshur and Arpaḵshaḏ, his wife’s brother, and he dwelt in the land of Maḏai, near to his wife’s brother to this day.

36 And he called his dwelling, and the dwelling of his sons, Maḏai, after the name of their father Maḏai.