YASHAR 17 (Jasher 17)

1 And in those days, in the ninety-first year of the life of Aḇram, the children of the Ḥittites fought against the children of Tuḇal, for when 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 had scattered the sons of men upon the face of the earth, the children of the Ḥittites went and established themselves in the plain of Kanopia, and they built themselves cities there and dwelt by the river Tiḇre’u.

2 And the children of Tuḇal dwelt in Tusqanah, and their boundaries reached the river Tiḇre’u, and the children of Tuḇal built a city in Tusqanah, and they called the name Sabinah, after the name of Sabinah son of Tuḇal their father, and they dwell there to this day.

3 And it came to be at that time, the children of the Ḥittites fought against the children of Tuḇal, and the children of Tuḇal were smitten before the children of the Ḥittites. And the children of the Ḥittites caused three hundred and seventy men to fall from the children of Tuḇal.

4 And at that time the children of Tuḇal swore to the children of the Ḥittites, saying, “You shall not intermarry among us, and no man shall give his daughter to any of the sons of the Ḥittites.”

5 For all the daughters of Tuḇal were in those days lovely, for then no women were found in the whole earth so lovely as the daughters of Tuḇal.

6 And all who delighted in the good looks of women went to the daughters of Tuḇal and took wives from them. And the sons of men, sovereigns and princes, who greatly delighted in the good looks of women, took wives in those days from the daughters of Tuḇal.

7 And at the end of three years after the children of Tuḇal had sworn to the children of the Ḥittites not to give them their daughters for wives, about twenty men of the children of the Ḥittites went to take some of the daughters of Tuḇal, but they found none.

8 For the children of Tuḇal kept their oaths not to intermarry with them, and they would not break their oaths.

9 And in the days of harvest when the children of Tuḇal went into their fields to reap their harvest, the young men of the Ḥittites assembled and went to the city of Sabinah, and each man took a young woman from the daughters of Tuḇal, and they came to their cities.

10 And the children of Tuḇal heard of it and they went to fight against them, but they could not prevail over them, for the mountain was exceedingly high from them. And when they saw they could not prevail over them they returned to their land.

11 And at the turn of the year the children of Tuḇal went and hired about ten thousand men from those cities that were near them, and they went to fight against the children of the Ḥittites.

12 And the children of Tuḇal went to fight against the children of the Ḥittites, to destroy their land and to distress them, and in this battle the children of Tuḇal prevailed over the children of the Ḥittites, and the children of the Ḥittites, seeing that they were greatly distressed, lifted up the children which they had had by the daughters of Tuḇal upon the wall which had been built, to be before the eyes of the children of Tuḇal.

13 And the children of the Ḥittites said to them, “Have you come to fight against your own sons and daughters, and have we not been considered your flesh and bones from that time till now?”

14 And when the children of Tuḇal heard this they ceased to fight against the children of the Ḥittites, and they went away,

15 and they returned to their cities. And at that time the children of the Ḥittites assembled and built two cities by the sea, and they called one Purtu and the other Ariza.

16 And Aḇram son of Teraḥ was then ninety-nine years old.

17 At that time 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 appeared to him and He said to him, “I will establish My Covenant between Me and you, and I will greatly multiply your seed. And this is the Covenant which I make between you and I: that every male child be circumcised, you and your seed after you.

18 “At eight days old it shall be circumcised, and this Covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting Covenant.

19 “And now therefore your name shall no longer be called Aḇram, but Aḇraham, and your wife shall no longer be called Sarai, but Sarah.

20 “For I will baraḵ you both, and I will multiply your seed after you that you shall become a great nation, and sovereigns shall come forth from you.”