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םפר הישר
OR
THE BOOK OF JASHER
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THIS IS THE BOOK OF THE GENERATIONS OF MAN WHOM GOD CREATED
UPON THE EARTH ON THE DAY WHEN THE LORD GOD MADE
HEAVEN AND EARTH.
CHAPTER I.
1. And God said let us make man
in our image, after our likeness, and
God created man in his own image.
2. And God formed man from the
ground, and he blew into his nostrils
the breath of life, and man became
a living soul endowed with speech.
3. And the Lord said it is not
good for man to be alone; I will
make unto him a helpmate.
4. And the Lord caused a deep
sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept,
and he took away one of his ribs,
and he built flesh upon it and formed it and brought it to Adam, and
Adam awoke from his sleep, and behold a woman was standing before
him.
5. And he said, this is a bone of my
bones and it shall be called woman,
for this has been taken from man;
and Adam called her name Eve, for
she was the mother of all living.
6. And God blessed them and
called their names Adam and Eve in
the day that he created them, and the Lord God said, be fruitful and
multiply and fill the earth.
7. And the Lord God took Adam
and his wife, and he placed them in
the garden of Eden to dress it and
to keep it; and he commanded them
and said unto them, from every tree
of the garden you may eat, but from
the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil you shall not eat, for in the
day that you eat thereof you shall
surely die.
8. And when God had blessed
and commanded them he went from
them, and Adam and his wife dwelt
in the garden according to the com-
mand which the Lord had commanded them.
9. And the serpent, which God
had created with them in the earth,
came to them to incite them to transgress the command of God which he
had commanded them.
10. And the serpent enticed and
persuaded the woman to eat from
the tree of knowledge, and the woman hearkened to the voice of the
serpent, and she transgressed the word of God, and took from the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil
and she ate, and she took from it
and gave also to her husband and he
ate.
11. And Adam and his wife transgressed the command of God which
he commanded them, and God knew
it, and his anger was kindled against
them and he cursed them,
12. And the Lord God drove them
that day from the garden of Eden,
to till the ground from which they
were taken, and they went and dwelt
at the east of the garden of Eden;
and Adam knew his wife Eve and she
bore two sons and three daughters.
13. And she called the name of
the first born Cain, saying, I have
obtained a man from the Lord, and
the name of the other slie called Abel,
for she said, in vanity we came into
the earth and in vanity we shall be
taken from it.
14. And the boys grew up and
their father gave them a possession
in the land; and Cain was a tiller
of the ground, and Abel a keeper of
sheep.
15. And it was at the expiration
of a few years, that they brought an
approximating offering to the Lord,
and Cain brought from the fruit of
the grotmd, and Abel brought from
the firstlings of his flock from the fat
thereof, and God turned and inclined
to Abel and his offering, and a fire
came down from the Lord from
heaven and consumed it.
16. And unto Cain and his offering the Lord did not turn, and he
did not incline to it, for he had
brought from the inferior fruit of the
ground before the Lord, and Cain
was jealous against his brother Abel
on account of this, and he sought a
pretext to slay him.
17. And in some time after, Cain
and Abel his brother went one day
into the field to do their work ; and
they were both in the field, Cain
tilling and ploughing his ground,
and Abel feeding his flock ; and the
flock passed that part which Cain
had ploughed in the ground, and it
sorely grieved Cain on this account.
18. And Cain approached his brother Abel in anger, and he said unto
him, what is there between me and
thee that thou comest to dwell and
bring tJiy flock to feed in my land ?
19. And Abel answered his brother Cain and said unto him, what
is there between me and thee, that
thou shah eat the flesh of my flock
and clothe thyself with their wool ?
20. And now therefore, put off
the wool of my sheep with which
thou hast clothed thyself, and recompense me for their fruit and flesh
which thou hast eaten, and when
thou shalt have done this, I will then
go from thy land as thou hast said?
21. And Cain said to his brother
Abel, surely if I slay thee this day,
who will require thy blood from me?
22. And Abel answered Cain,
saying, surely God who has made us
in the earth, he will avenge my cause,
and he will require my blood from
thee shouldst thou slay me, for the
Lord is the judge and arbiter, and it
is he who will requite man according
to his evil, and the wicked man according to the wickedness that he
may do upon earth.
23. And now, if thou shouldst
slay me here, surely God knoweth
thy secret views, and will judge thee
for the evil which thou didst declare
to do unto me this day.
24. And when Cain heard the
words which Abel his brother had
spoken, beheld the anger of Cain was kindled against his brother Abel
for declaring this thing.
25. And Cain hastened and rose
up, and took the iron part of his
ploughing instrument, with which he
suddenly smote his brother and he
slew him, and Cain spilt the blood
of his brother Abel upon the earth,
and the blood of Abel streamed upon
the earth before the flock.
26. And after this Cain repented
having slain his brother, and he was
sadly grieved, and he wept over him
and it vexed him exceedingly.
27. And Cain rose up and dug a
hole in the field, wherein he put his
brother's body, and he turned the
dust over it.
28. And the Lord knew what Cain
had done to his brother, and the Lord
appeared to Cain and said unto him,
where is Abel thy brother that was
with thee ?
29. And Cain dissembled, and
said, I do not know, am I my brother's keeper ? And the Lord said
unto him, what hast thou done? The
voice of thy brother's blood crieth
unto me from the ground where thou
hast slain him.
30. For thou hast slain thy brother
and hast dissembled before me, and
didst imagine in thy heart that I saw
thee not, nor knew all thy actions.
31. But thou didst this thing and
didst slay thy brother for naught and
because he spoke rightly to thee and
now, therefore, cursed be thou from
the ground which opened its mouth
to receive thy brother's blood from
thy hand, and wherein thou didst
bury him.
32. And it shall be when thou
shalt till it, it sliall no mare give thee
its strength as in the beginning, for
thorns and thistles shall the ground
produce, and thou sbalt be moving
and wandering in the earth * until the
day of thy death.
33. And at that time Cain went
out from the presence of the Lord
from the place where he was, and he
went moving and * wandering in the land towards the east of Eden, he
and all belonging to him.
34. And Cain knew his wife in
those days, and she conceived and
bare a son, and he called his name
Enoch, saying, in that time the Lord
began to give him rest and quiet in
the earth.
35. And at that time Cain also began to build a city: and he built the
city and he called the name of the
city Enoch, according to the name
of his son; for in those days the
Lord had given him rest upon the
earth, and he did not move about
and wander as in the beginning.
36. And Irad was born to Enoch,
and Irad begat Mechuyael and Mechuyael begat MethusaeL
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vs. 33: There is no mention made of the land of Nod; the word here used is גוד the participle present of the verb נורד to wander; the last letter of those verbs whose two final letters are similar, is sometimes dropped, and it might have been גוד with one daleth, like the word used in scripture נד without the vau, which is frequently omitted.
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