תמונות בעמוד
PDF
ePub

6 maians who dwelt in the city Save, and the Chorrites on the mountain of Seir as far as the pine grove of Pharan, which is 7 in the wilderness, they turned and came to the fountain of Judgment, which is Kades, and smote the princes of Amalek 8 and the Amorites, who dwelt in Asasonthamar. Then march

ed out the king of Sodom and the king of Gomorra and the 9 king of Adama and the king of Seboeim and the king of Balak, that is Segor, and drew up in array against them for battle in the salt vale, against Chodollogomar king of Elam and Thargal king of nations, and Amarphal king of Sennaar, and 10 Arioch king of Ellasar, four kings against five. Now in this salt vale there were wells of Asphaltus. And the king of Sodom and the king of Gomorra fled and fell there. And they 11 who were left fled to the hilly country. And they took all the

cavalry of Sodom and Gomorra and all their provisions and 12 departed. They took also Lot, Abram's brother's son and his

substance, when they went off, as he dwelt among the Sodo13 mites. And one of them who escaped, came and told Abram,

the traveller, who then dwelt near the oak grove of Mambre the Amorite, the brother of Eschol, and the brother of Au14 nan, who were in alliance with Abram. And when Abram

heard that his nephew Lot was carried away captive, he numbered his domestics, three hundred and eighteen men, and 15 pursued them to Dan. And in the night he and his servants fell upon them and smote them, and pursued them even to Choba, 16 on the left of Damascus. And he brought back all the cavalry

of the Sodomites. He brought back also his nephew Lot and 17 all his substance and the women and the people. And on his re

turn from the slaughter of Chodollogomar and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him, to the 18 valley of Sabu which was the king's dale. Melchisedek also the

king of Salem carried out bread and wine. Now he was a priest 19 of the most High God, and he blessed Abram, and said, May

Abram be blessed by God the Most High, who created the 20 heaven and the earth: And blessed be God the Most High who 21 hath delivered thy enemies into thy hands. And Abram gave

him a tenth of all. And the king of Sodom said to Abram, 22 Give me the men, but take the horses for thyself. Whereupon Abram said to the king of Sodom, With this uplifted hand of

23 mine I swear by the Lord the God Most High, who created the heaven and the earth, that of all which belong to thee I will 24 not take from a thread to a shoe latchet; that thou mayest not say, I have made Abram rich; save only what the young men have eaten, and the portion of these men who went with me, namely, Eschol, Aunan, Mambre. Let them take a portion.

XV.

After these things a word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram, I protect thee. Thy reward 2 shall be exceedingly great. Whereupon Abram said, O sovereign Lord, what wilt thou give me, seeing I die childless, and 3 the son of Masek my servant, this Damascus Eliezer-Then Abram said, seeing thou hast not given me seed, this servant 4 of mine is to be my heir. And immediately there came a voice of the Lord to him saying, He shall not be thy heir: but one 5 who shall spring from thee shall be thy heir. Then he led him out and said to him, Look up now to the heaven and count the 6 stars if thou canst number them. Then he said, So shall thy seed be. And Abram believed God and it was counted to him 7 for righteousness. Then he said to him, I am the God who brought thee out of the country of the Chaldees, that I might 8 give thee this land to inherit it. Whereupon he said, O sove9 reign Lord, how shall I know that I shall inherit it? And the Lord said to him, "Take for me a heifer of three years old and a she goat three years old and a ram three years old and a tur10 tle dove and a pidgeon." So he took for him all these and divid

ed them in halves and placed the halves opposite to one another, 11 but the birds he did not divide; but the birds alighted on the

carcases, on the two halves of them, and Abram sat down with 12 them. And at the going down of the sun an ecstacy came on

Abram, and lo! a great gloomy horror falleth upon him, and 13 it was said to Abram, Know assuredly that thy seed shall sojourn in a land not their own. And they shall be enslaved and 14 afflicted and humbled. Four hundred years. But the nation which

they shall serve I will judge. And after that they shall come 15 out hither with much wealth. Thou indeed shalt go to thy fa16 thers in peace, having been nourished in a good old age. And in the fourth generation they shall be brought back hither. For 17 the sins of the Amorites have not yet come to the full. And as

the sun was setting there was a flash of fire, and lo! a smoking furnace and lamps of fire passed between the halved parts. 18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram saying, 19 "Tothy seed I will give this land from the river of Egypt to the

great river Euphrates, the Kenites and the Kenezites, and 20 the Kedmonites and the Chettites and the Pherezites and the 21 Raphaeims and the Amorites and the Chananites and the Evites and the Gergesites and the Jebusites.

XVI. Still Sara, the wife of Abram, did not bear him children; 2 so having an Egyptian servant whose name was Agar, Sara said to Abram, Behold the Lord hath shut me up that I may not 3 bear. Go in therefore to my maid that I may have children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sara. And Sara the wife of Abram took Agar her Egyptian maid, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Chanaan, and gave her to Abram 4 her husband to be his wife. And he went in unto Agar and she

conceived. And when she saw that she was with child, her mis5 tress was contemptible in her sight. Whereupon Sara said to Abram, I am injured on thy account. I gave thee this maid of mine into thy bosom, and when she seeth that she is with child, 6 I am contemptible in her sight. God judge between me and thee. And Abram said to Sara, Behold thy maid is in thy hands, treat her as it seemeth good to thee. Thereupon Sara 7 treated her harshly, and she fled from her presence. But an angel of the Lord found her at the fountain of water in the wil8 derness at the fountain in the way to Sour. And the angel of the Lord said to her, Agar, thou servant of Sara, whence comest thou and whither art thou going? And she said I am And the angel of the Lord said to her, Return to thy mistress and submit to her 10 authority. Moreover the angel of the Lord said to her, I will

9 fleeing from the face of my mistress Sara.

multiply thy seed so that it shall not be numbered on account 11 of the multitude of it. Furthermore the angel of the Lord said to her, Behold thou art with child, and thou shalt bear a son and shalt call his name Ismael; for the Lord hath hearkened to 12 thy affliction. He will be a wild man. His hands will be against all, 13 and the hands of all, against him. And he shall dwell in front

of all his brethren." So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, "Thou the God who lookest upon me;" for said

14 she, I saw plainly him who appeared to me; for this cause 15 she called the well, The well before which I saw. Lo! it is be

tween Kades and Barad. And Agar bore Abram a son; and

Abram called his son whom Agar bore to him Ismael. XVII. Now Abram was eighty six years old when Agar bore Ismael 1 to Abram. And when Abram was ninety nine years old the

Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am thy God. 2 Be well pleasing in my sight, and be blameless and I will establish that covenant of mine between me and thee and 3 multiply thee exceedingly." Whereupon Abram fell on his face, 4 and God spake to him saying, "On my part lo! this is my co5 venant with thee, Thou shalt be the father of a multitude of na

tions, and thy name shall no more be called Abram but thy name shall be Abraham; because I have made thee the father of many 6 nations: And I will increase thee exceedingly, and cause thee to 7 become nations; and kings shall spring from thee: And I willestablish this my covenant with thee and thy seed after thee, throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be thy God 8 and the God of thy seed after thee. And I will give thee and thy seed after thee this land in which thou sojournest; even all the land of Chanaan for an everlasting possession, and I will be 9 their God." Moreover God said to Abraham, "On thy part thou shalt keep this my covenant; thou and thy seed after thee 10 throughout their generations. And this is the covenant which thou shalt keep between me and you, even thy seed after thee throughout their generations, Every male of you shall be cir 11 cumcised. Ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and 12 it shall be for a sign of the covenant between me and you. And the child of eight days old shall be circumcised among you. Every male throughout your generations, including the home born servant, and him who is bought with money from any 13 stranger, not of thy seed. Thy home born servant and he who is

bought shall surely be circumcised. And this my covenant shall 14 be on your flesh for an everlasting covenant. And with regard

15

to the uncircumcised male, the flesh of whose foreskin shall not be circumcised on the eighth day, that soul shall be cut off from its family, because it hath broken my covenant.”

Moreover God said to Abraham, "Sara thy wife shall not 16 be called Sara. Her name shall be Sarah. And I will bless her and give thee a son by her. And I will bless him. And he shall

17 become nations, and from him there shall be kings of nations." Upon this Abraham fell on his face and smiled, and said in his 18 heart, To him who is in his hundredth year shall a son be born? 19 and shall Sarah bring forth in her ninetieth year? And Abraham said to God, Let this Ismael live before thee. Whereupon God said to Abraham, Nay, behold Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name Isaak. And I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant to 20 be his God and the God of his seed after him. And as for Ismael, lo! I have hearkened to thee and behold I have blessed him, and I will increase him and multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget twelve nations, and I will make him a great na21 tion. But this covenant of mine I will establish with Isaak whom Sarah shall bear about this time next year."

22

And when God had finished talking with him, and had 23 ascended from him, Abraham took his son Ismael and all the servants born in his family and all those who were bought with money, even every male of the men in Abraham's family and circumcised their foreskins that very day, as God had ordered 24 him. Now Abraham was ninety nine years old when he was 25 circumcised in the flesh of his forėskin. And Ismael his son

was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of 26 his foreskin. In one and the same day were circumcised Abraham and his son Ismael and all the men of his household, both his home born servants and those bought from foreign nations. XVIII. Again God appeared to him at the Oak grove of Mambre.

As he was sitting at the door of his tent at noon, he raised his eyes 2 and looked, and lo! three men stood above him. And when he saw

them he ran to meet them from the door of his tent; and having 3 made obeisance to the ground, he said, My Lord, if I have 4 found favour in thy sight, pass not by thy servant. Let water, I

pray thee, be brought and let your feet be washed; and re5 fresh yourselves under this tree; and I will fetch bread that you may eat. And after that you may proceed on your jour ney, in as much as you have turned aside to your servant. 6 Whereupon he said, Do as thou hast said. Then Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said to her, Haste, and mix three measures of fine flour and make cakes on the hearth. 7 Then Abraham ran to the herd and took a calf tender and good

up

« הקודםהמשך »