Book of Jasher — 1840 English Edition

Book of Jasher — 1840 English Edition 80

CHAPTER LXXX. 1. And at the end of two years, the Lord again sent Moses to Pha- raoh to bring forth the children of Israel, and to send them out of the land of Egypt. 2. And Moses went and came to the house of Pharaoh, and he spoke to him the words of the Lord who had sent him, but Pharaoh would not hearken to the voice of the Lord, and God roused his might in Egypt upon Pharaoh and his subjects, and God smote Pharaoh and his people with very great and sore plagues. 3. And the Lord sent by the hand of Aaron and turned all the waters of Egypt into blood, with all their streams and rivers. 4. And when an Egyptian came to drink and draw water, he looked into his pitcher, and behold all the water was turned into blood ; and when he came to drink from his cup the water in the cup became blood. 5. And when a woman kneaded her dough and cooked her victuals, their appearance was turned to that of blood. 6. And the Lord sent again and caused all their waters to bring forth frogs, and all the frogs came into the houses of the Egyptians. 7. And when the Egyptians drank, their bellies were filled with frogs and they danced in their bellies as they dance when in the river. 8. And all their drinking water and cooking water turned to frogs, also when they lay in their beds their perspiration bred frogs. 9. Notwithstanding all this the anger of the Lord did not turn from them, and his hand w^as stretched out against all the Egyptians to smite them with every heavy plague. 10. And he sent and smote their dust to lice, and the lice became in Egypt to the height of two cubits upon the earth. 1 1 . The lice were also very numerous, in the flesh of man and beast, in all the inhabitants of Egypt, also upon the king and queen the Lord sent the lice, and it grieved Egypt exceedingly on account of the lice. 12. Notwithstanding this, the an- ger of the Lord did not turn away, and his hand was still stretched out over Egypt. 13. And the Lord sent all kinds of beasts of the field into Egypt, and they came and destroyed all Egypt, man and beast, and trees, and all things that were in Egypt. 14. And the Lord sent fiery ser- pents, scorpions, mice, weazles, toads, together with others creeping in dust. 1 5. Flies, hornets, fleas, bugs* and gnats, each swarmt according to its kind. 16. And all reptiles and winged animals according to their kind came to Egypt and grieved the Egyptians exceedingly. 17. And the fleas and flies came * K^n> CiBB'fi are not found in the Hebrew Bible, but in the Mishnah and Talmud mean a bug and a gnat. See Bux. Rabb. Les. t See Parkhurst's Hebrew Lexicon upon any. In the Bible it is translated swarrn of flies, but this book explains the swarm to be a mixture of all sorts of animals, birds and insects, as 31J? means to mix. THE BOOK OF JASHER. 239 into the eyes and ears of the Egyp- tians. 18. And the hornet came upon them and drove them away, and they removed from it uito their inner rooms, and it pursued them. 19. And when tlie Egyptians hid themselves on account of the swarm of animals, they locked their doors after them, and God ordered the Sulanuth* which was in the sea, to come up and go into Egypt. 20. And she had long arms, ten cubits in Icnglli of the cubit of a man. 21. And she went upon the roofs and uncovered the raftcringt and flooring and cut them, and stretched forth her arm into the house and re- moved the lock and the bolt, and opened the houses of Egypt. 22. Afterward came the swarm of animals into the houses of Egypt, and the swarm of animals destroyed the Egyptians, and it grieved them exceedingly. 23. Notwithstanding this the an- ger of the Lord did not turn away from the Egyptians, and his hand was yet stretched forth against them. 24. And God sent the pestilence, and the pestilence pervaded Egypt, in the horses and asses, and in the camels, in herds of oxen and sheep and in man. 25. And when the Egyptians rose up early in the morning to take their cattle to pasture they found all their cattle dead. * n>x'?lD the name of a sea monster, I cannot find it in any of the Hebrew books. t n^MpDi mpnn nx, these two words are not found in the Bible, but are joined together in the Talmud, page 116, of Bava Mctziah, where there is a rabbinical dispute what these words mean ; mpn comes from mp to contisfnate, and na'Tj; comes from o^Scn^ nK laip^v Nehemiah, ch. 3, V. 8, which some Jewish commentators give, to build up ; see Buxton, Gesenius and Parkhurst. 26. And there remained of the cattle of the Egyptians only one in ten, and of the cattle belonging to Israel in Goshen not one died. 27. And God sent a burning in- flammation in the flesh of the Egyp- tians, which burst their skins, and it became a severe itch in all the Egyptians from the soles of their feet to the crowns of their heads. 28. And many boils were in their flesh, that their flesh wasted away until they became rotten and putrid. 29. Notwithstanding this tiie an- ger of the Lord did not turn away, and his hand was still stretched out over all Egypt. 30. And the Lord sent a very heavy hail, which smote their vines and broke their fruit trees and dried them up that they* fell upon them. 31 . Also every green herb became dry and perished, for a minglingt fire descended amidst the hail, there- fore the hail and the fire consumed all things. 32. Also men and beasts that were found abroad perished of the flames of fire and of the hail, and all the young % lions were exhausted. 33. And the Lord seni and brought nmnerous locusts into Egpyt, the Chasel, Salom Chargol, and Cha- gole,^ locusts each of its kind, which devoured all that the hail had left re- maining. * The trees became decayed and fell upon the Egyptians. t See Exodus, ch. 9, v. 24. X itJ'nJ on>03n Sdi it is thus in the modem edition, but in the Venice edition it is onoan which nmy mean villages, and the verb cni means likewise to extirpate, root up, that all the villages were destroyed ; see Psalms, ch. 9, v. 7 ; Jeremiah, ch. 31, v. 40 ; but I prefer the first. <J 3jn, Sjin, djjSd, "jion, four species of locusts mentioned in scripture and each translated lo- custs ; see Joel, 1, 4, and 2, 25. The dj?Sd is only found once. Levit. ch. 11, v. 22. 240 THE BOOK OF JASHER. 34. Then the Egyptians rejoiced at the locusts, although they consum- ed the produce of the field, and they caught them in abundance and salted them for food.* 35. And the Lord turned a mighty wind of the sea which took away all the locusts, even those that were salted, and thrust them into the Red Sea ; not one locust remained within the boundaries of Egypt. 36. And God sent darkness upon Egypt, that the whole land of Egypt and Pathros became dark for three days, so that a man could not see his hand when he lifted it to his mouth. 37. At that time died many of the people of Israel who had rebelled against the Lord and who would not hearken to Moses and Aaron, and believed not in them that God had sent them. 38. And who had said, we will not go forth from Egypt lest we per- ish with hunger in a desolate wil- derness, and who would not hearken to the voice of Moses. 39. And the Lord plagued them in the three days of darkness, and the Israelites buried them in those days, without the Egyptians know- ing of them or rejoicing over them. 40. And the darkness was very great in Egypt for three days, and any person who was standing when the darkness came, remained stand- ing in his place, and he that was sit- ting, remained sitting, and he that was lying continued lying in the same state, and he that was walking remained sitting upon the ground in the same spot; and this thing hap- pened to all the Egyptians, until the darkness had passed away. 41. And the days of darkness |l See Parkhurst upon naiN locusts under the root n3") passed away, and the Lord sent Mo- ses and Aaron to the children of Is- rael, saying, celebrate your feast and make your passover, for behold I come in the midst of the night amongst all the Egyptians, and I will smite all their first born, from the first born of a man to the first born of a beast, and when I see your passover, I will pass over you. 42. And the children of Israel did according to all that the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, thus did they in that night. 43. And it came to pass in the middle of the night, that the Lord went forth in the midst of Egypt, and smote all the first born of the Egyp- tians, from the first born of man to the first born of beast. 44. And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all tlie Egyptians, and there was a great cry throughout Egypt in that night, for there was not a house in which there was not a corpse. 45. Also the likenesses of the first born of Egypt, which were carved in the walls of their houses, were de- stroyed and fell to the ground. 46. Even the bones of their first born who had died before this and whom they had buried in their houses, were raked up by the dogs of Egypt on that night and dragged before the Egyptians and cast before them. 47. And all the Egyptians saw this evil which had suddenly come upon them, and all the Egyptians cried out with a loud voice. 48. And all the families of Egypt wept upon that night, each man for his son, and each man for his daugh- ter, being the first born, and the tu- mvilt of Egypt was heard at a dis- tance on that night. 49. And Bathia the daughter of THE BOOK OF JASHER. 241 Pharaoh* went forth with the king on that night to seek Moses and Aaron in their houses, and they found them in their houses, eating and drinking and rejoicing with all Is- rael. 50. And Bathia said to Moses, is this the reward for the good which I have done to thee, who have reared thee and stretched thee out, and thou hast brought this evil upon me and my fatiier's liouse ? 51. And Moses said to her, surely ten plagues did the Lord bring upon Egypt ; did any evil accrue to thee from any of them ? did one of them affect thee ? and she said, no. 52. And Moses said to her, al- though thou art the first born to thy mother, thou shall not die, and no evil shall reach thee in the midst of Egypt. 53. And she said, what advantage is it to me, when I see the king, my brother, and all his household and subjects in this evil, whose first born perish with all the first born of Egypt? 54. And Moses said to her, surely thy brother and his household, and subjects, the families of Egypt, would not hearken to the words of the Lord, therefore did this evil come upon them. 55. And Pharaoh king of Egypt approached Moses and Aaron, and some of the children of Israel who were with them in that place, and he prayed to them, saying, 56. Rise up and take your bre- thren, all the children of Israel who are in the land, with their sheep and oxen, and all belonging to them, they shall leave nothing remaining, only pray for me to the Lord your God. 57. And Moses said to Pharaoh, behold though thou art thy mother's * The former Pharaoh. 16 first born,* yet fear not, for thou wilt not die, for the Lord has command- ed that thou shalt live, in order to show thee his great might and strong stretched out arm, 58. And Pharaoh ordered the children of Israel to be sent away, and all the Egyptians strengthened themselves to send them, for they said, we are all perishing. 59. And all the Egyptians sent the Israelites forth, with great riches, sheep and oxen and precious things, according to the oath of the Lord between him and our father Abra- ham. 60. And the children of Israel de- layed going forth at night, and when the Egyptians came to them to bring them out, tliey said to them, are we thieves, that we should go forth at night ? 61. And the children of Israel asked of the Egyptians, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and gar- ments, and the children of Israel stripped the Egyptians. 62. And Moses hastened and rose up and went to the river of Egypt, and brought up from thence the cof- fin of Joseph and took it with him. 63. The children of Israel also brought up, each man his father's coflSn with him, and each man the coflinst of his tribe,