The Book of the Cave of Treasures
Originally translated from the Syriac [Aramaic] by E. A. Wallis Budge, then edited by Christopher M. Weimer, then by myself, Yahchanan
The Book of the Cave of Treasures:
--The First Thousand Years
--The Second Thousand Years
--The Third Thousand Years
--The Fourth Thousand Years
--The Fifth Thousand Years
--The Five Hundred Years from the Second Year of Cyrus to the Birth of Messiyah
Also including: Testamentum Adami (Testament of Adam)
The Book of the Order of the Succession of Families from Adam to Messiyah
THE BOOK OF THE CAVE OF TREASURES
A history of the patriarchs and the kings their successors from the Creation to the Crucifixion of Messiyah
[The title of the work: The Scribe's Prayer]
By the might of our Master Yahshua Messiyah we begin to write the Book of the Succession of the Generations, that is to say, ME'ÂRATH GAZZÊ, which was composed by SAINT MÂR APHRÊM (i.e. Ephraim, commonly known as Ephraim Syrus, or Ephraim the Syrian, who died A.D. 373). O our Master, help me in your Mercy. Amein.
[THE FIRST THOUSAND YEARS: ADAM TO YARÊD (Jared).]
[The Creation. First Day.]
In the beginning, on the First Day, which was the First Day of the Week, the chief and firstborn of all the days, Yahwah created the heavens, the earth, the waters, the air, the fire, the hosts which are invisible (that is to say, the malaks, Archmalaks, Thrones, Lords, Principalities, Powers, Cherubim and Seraphim), all the ranks and companies of Spiritual beings, the Light, the Night, the Day-time, the gentle winds, and the strong winds (i.e. storms). All these were created on the First Day. On the First Day of the Week the Spirit of holiness hovered over the waters, and through the hovering thereof over the face of the waters, the waters were blessed so that they might become producers of offspring. They became hot, the whole nature of the waters glowed with heat, and the leaven of creation was united to them. As the mother-bird makes her young warm by the embrace of her closely covering wings, and the young birds acquire form through the warmth of the heat which [they derive] from her, so through the operation of the Spirit of holiness, the Spirit, the Paraclete, the leaven of the breath of life was united to the waters when He hovered over them.
[The Creation. Second Day.]
On the Second Day Yahwah made the Lower Heaven, and called it: REKÎ'A [that is to say: what is solid and fixed; firmament]. This He did that He might make known that the Lower Heaven does not possess the nature of the heaven which is above it, it is different in appearance from that heaven which is above it, for the heaven above it is of fire. That second heaven is: NÛHRÂ (i.e. Light). This lower heaven is: DARPÎTÎÔN. And because it has the dense nature of water it has been called: Rekî'a. On the Second Day Yahwah made a separation between the waters and the waters, that is to say, between the waters which were above [Rekî'a] and the waters which were below. The ascent of these waters which were above heaven took place on the Second Day, and they were like to a dense black cloud of thick darkness. Thus they were raised up there, and they mounted up, and behold, they stand above the Rekî'a in the air. They do not spread, and they make no motion to any side.
[The Creation. Third Day.]
On the Third Day Yahwah commanded the waters that were below the firmament (Rekî'a) to be gathered together in one place, and the dry land to appear. When the covering of water had been rolled up from the face of the earth, the earth showed itself to be in an unsettled and unstable state, that is to say, it was of a damp [or moist] and yielding nature. The waters were gathered together into seas that were under the earth, within it, and upon it. Yahwah made in the earth from below, corridors, shafts, and channels for the passage of the waters. The winds which come from within the earth ascend by means of these corridors and channels, and also the heat and the cold for the service of the earth. Now, as for the earth, the lower part of it is like to a thick sponge, for it rests on the waters. On this Third Day Yahwah commanded the earth. It brought forth herbs and vegetables, and it conceived in its interior trees, seeds, plants, and roots.
[The Creation. Fourth Day.]
On the Fourth Day Yahwah made the sun, the moon, and the stars. As soon as the heat of the sun was diffused over the surface of the earth, the earth became hard and rigid, and lost its flaccidity, because the humidity and the dampness [caused by] the waters were taken away from it. The Creator made the sphere of the sun of fire and filled it with light. Yahwah gave to the sphere of the moon and the stars bodies of water and air, and filled them with light. When the dust of the earth became hot, it brought forth all the trees, plants, seeds, and roots which were conceived inside it on the Third Day.
[The Creation. Fifth Day.]
On the Fifth Day Yahwah commanded the waters, and they brought forth all kind of fish of diverse appearances, creatures which move about, twist themselves, and wriggle in the waters, serpents, Leviathan, beasts of terrible aspects, and feathered fowl of the air and of the waters. And on this same day Yahwah made from the earth all the cattle, wild beasts, and all the reptiles which creep about upon the earth.
[The Creation. Sixth Day.]
On the Sixth Day, which is the Eve of the Sabbath, Yahwah formed man out of the dust, and Eve from his rib.
[The Creation. Seventh Day.]
On the Seventh Day Yahwah rested from His labors, and it is called: Sabbath.
[The Creation of Adam.]
Now the formation of Adam took place this way: On the Sixth Day, which is the Eve of the Sabbath, at the first hour of the day, when quietness was reigning over all the Ranks [of the malaks], and the hosts [of heaven], Yahwah said: Come you, let us make man in our image, and according to our likeness. Now by this word 'us' He makes known concerning the Glorious Persons. When the malaks heard this utterance, they fell into a state of fear and trembling, and they said to one another: A mighty miracle will be made manifest to us today, the likeness of Yahwah, our Maker. They saw the right hand of Yahwah opened out flat, stretched out over the whole world, and all creatures were collected in the palm of His right hand. They saw that He took from the whole mass of the earth one grain of dust, and from the whole nature of water one drop of water, and from all the air which is above one puff of wind, and from the whole nature of fire a little of its heat and warmth. The malaks saw that when these four feeble [inert] materials were placed in the palm of His right hand, that is to say, cold, heat, dryness, and moisture, Yahwah formed Adam. Now, for what reason did Yahwah make Adam out of these four materials unless it were that everything which is in the world should be in subordination to him through them? He took a grain from the earth in order that everything in nature which is formed of earth should be subject to him, a drop of water in order that everything which is in the seas and rivers should be his, a puff of air so that all kinds [of creatures] which fly in the air might be given to him, and the heat of fire so that all the beings that are fiery in nature, and the celestial hosts, might be his helpers.
Yahwah formed Adam with His holy hands, in His own image and likeness. When the malaks saw Adam's glorious appearance they were greatly moved by his beauty. They saw the image of his face burning with glorious splendor like the orb of the sun, and the light of his eyes was like the light of the sun, and the image of his body was like to the sparkling of crystal. When he rose at full length and stood upright in the center of the earth, he planted his two feet on that spot whereon was set up the Cross of our Redeemer, for Adam was created in Yerusalem. There he was arrayed in the apparel of sovereignty, there the crown of glory was set upon his head, there he was made king, priest, and prophet, there Yahwah made him to sit upon his honorable throne, and there Yahwah gave him dominion over all creatures and things. All the wild beasts, all the cattle, and the feathered fowl were gathered together. They passed before Adam, and he assigned names to them. They bowed their heads before him, everything in nature worshipped him, and submitted themselves to him. The malaks and the hosts of heaven heard the Voice of Yahwah saying to him: Adam. Behold, I make you king, priest, prophet, lord, head, and governor of everything which was made and created. They will be in subjection to you, and they will be yours. I give to you power over everything I created. When the malaks heard this speech they all bowed the knee and worshipped Him.
[THE REVOLT OF SATAN, AND THE BATTLE IN HEAVEN.]
When the prince of the lower order of malaks saw what great majesty was given to Adam, he was jealous of him from that day, and he did not wish to worship him. He said to his hosts: You will not worship him, and you will not praise him with the malaks. It is meet that you should worship me, because I am fire and spirit. I should not worship a thing of dust, which was fashioned of fine dust. The Rebel meditating these things would not render obedience to Yahwah. Of his own free will he asserted his independence, and separated himself from Yahwah. But he was swept away out of heaven and fell, and the fall of himself and of all his company from heaven took place on the Sixth Day, at the second hour of the day. And the apparel of their glorious state was stripped off them. His name was called Sâtânâ because he turned aside [from the right way], Shêdâ because he was cast out, and Daiwâ because he lost the apparel of his glory. Behold, from that time until the present day, he and all his hosts are stripped of their apparel, they go naked, and have horrible faces. When Sâtânâ was cast out from heaven, Adam was raised up so that he might ascend to Paradise in a chariot of fire. The malaks went before him, singing praises, the Seraphim ascribed holiness to him, and the Cherubim ascribed blessing. Amid cries of joy and praises Adam went into Paradise. As soon as Adam entered Paradise he was commanded to not eat of a [certain] tree. His entrance into heaven took place at the third hour of the Eve of the Sabbath [i.e. on Friday morning].
[THE MAKING OF EVE.]
Yahwah cast a sleep upon Adam, and he slept. Yahwah took a rib from the loins on the right side of Adam, and He made Khâwâ [Eve] from it. When Adam woke up, and saw Eve, he rejoiced in her greatly. Adam and Eve were in Paradise, clothed with glory and shining with praise, for three hours. Now this Paradise was situated on a high range of hills. It was thirty spans (according to the measurement of the spirit) higher than all the high mountains, and it surrounded the whole earth.
[NOTES.--Yahwah did not make Eve of earth, that she might not be considered something alien to Adam in nature. He did not take her from Adam's fore-parts, that she might not uplift herself against him; nor from his hind-parts, that she might not be accounted despicable; nor from his right side, that she might not have pre-eminence over him; nor from his head, that she might not seek authority over him; nor from his feet, that she might not be trampled down and scorned in the eyes of her husband. [He took her] from his left side, for the side is the place which unites and joins both front and back [Book of the Bee]. Further, Yahwah did not form Eve from Adam's head, that she might not carry her head proudly; nor from his eye, that she might not be curious; nor from his ear, that she might not be an eavesdropper; nor from his mouth, that she might not be gossiping; nor from his heart, that she might not be quarrelsome; nor from his hand, that she might not touch everything with her hand; nor from his feet, that she might not rove about (Berêshîth Rabbah).]
Now Moshe the prophet said that Yahwah planted Paradise in Eden and placed Adam there (Gen. 2:8).
[THE SYMBOLISM OF EDEN.]
Eden is the Holy Church, and the Church is the compassion of Yahwah, which He was about to extend to the children of men. Yahwah, according to His foreknowledge, knew what Satan had devised against Adam. So He set Adam beforehand in the bosom of His compassion, even as the blessed David sings concerning Him in the Psalm (90:1), saying: Yahwah, you are an abiding place for us throughout all generations. That is to say: You made us to have our abiding place in your compassion. When entreating Yahwah on behalf of the redemption of the children of men, David said: Remember your Church, which you did acquire in olden time (Psalm 74:2). That is to say: [Remember] your compassion, which you are about to spread over our feeble race. Eden is the Holy Church, and the Paradise which was in it is the land of rest, and the inheritance of life, which Yahwah prepared for all the holy children of men. Because Adam was priest, king, and prophet, Yahwah brought him into Paradise that he might minister in Eden, the Holy Church, even as the blessed man Moshe testified concerning him, saying: That he might serve Yahwah by means of priestly ministration with praise, and that he might keep that commandment which was entrusted to him by the compassion of Yahwah. Yahwah made Adam and Eve to dwell in Paradise. True is this word, and it proclaims the truth: The Tree of Life which was in the middle of Paradise prefigured the Redeeming Cross, which is the veritable Tree of Life, and this it was that was fixed in the middle of the earth.
[SATAN'S ATTACK ON ADAM AND EVE.]
When Satan saw that Adam and Eve were happy and joyful in Paradise, that Rebel was smitten sorely with jealousy, and he became filled with wrath. He went and took up his abode in the serpent. He raised him up, and made him to fly through the air to the skirts of Mount [Eden] whereon was Paradise. Now, why did Satan enter the body of the serpent and hide himself therein? Because he knew that his appearance was foul, and that if Eve saw his form, she would immediately run away from him. Now, the man who wished to teach the Greek language to a bird (now the bird that can learn the speech of men is called: babbaghah [parrot]) first brings a large mirror and places between himself and the bird. He then begins to talk to the bird, and immediately the parrot hears the voice of the man, it turns round, and when it sees its own form in the mirror, it becomes pleased, because it imagines that a fellow parrot is talking to it. Then it inclines its ear with pleasure, and listens to the words of the man who is talking to it, and it becomes eager to learn, and to speak Greek. In this manner (i.e. with the object of making Eve believe it was the serpent that spoke to her) did Satan enter in and dwell in the serpent, and he watched for the opportunity, and [when] he saw Eve by herself, he called her by her name. When she turned round towards him, she saw her own form [reflected] in him, and she talked to him. Satan led her astray with his lying words, because the nature of woman is soft [yielding].
When Eve heard from him concerning that tree, right away she ran quickly to it, and she plucked the fruit of disobedience from the tree of transgression of the command, and she ate. Then immediately she found herself stripped naked. She saw the hatefulness of her shame, she ran away naked, hid herself in another tree, and covered her nakedness with the leaves of it. She cried out to Adam, he came to her, she handed to him some of the fruit of which she had eaten, and he also ate of it. When he ate he also became naked. He and Eve made girdles for their loins of the leaves of the fig-trees, and they were arrayed in these girdles of ignominy for three hours. At mid-day they received [their] sentence of doom. Yahwah made for them tunics of skin which was stripped from the trees, that is to say, of the bark of the trees, because the trees that were in Paradise had soft barks, and they were softer than the byssus and silk from which the garments worn by kings are made. Yahwah dressed them in this soft skin, which was thus spread over a body of infirmities.
[Adam's stay in Paradise.]
At the third hour of the day Adam and Eve ascended into Paradise, and for three hours they enjoyed the good things thereof. For three hours they were in shame and disgrace, and at the ninth hour their expulsion from Paradise took place. As they were going forth sorrowfully, Yahwah spoke to Adam, heartened him, and said to him: Do not be sorrowful, O Adam, for I will restore your inheritance to you. Behold, see how greatly I love you, for though I cursed the earth for your sake, yet I withdrew you from the operation of the curse. As for the serpent, I fettered his legs in his belly, and I gave him the dust of the earth for food. I bound Eve under the yoke of servitude. Inasmuch as you transgressed my commandments get you forth, but do not be sad. After the fulfilment of the times which I allotted that you will be in exile outside [Paradise], in the land which is under the curse, behold, I will send my Son. He will go down [from heaven] for your redemption, He will sojourn in a Virgin, will put on a body [of flesh], and through Him redemption and a return will be effected for you. Command your sons, and order them to embalm your body after your death with myrrh, cassia, and stakte. They will place you in this cave, wherein I am making you to dwell today, during your expulsion from the regions of Paradise to that earth which is outside it. Whosoever will be left in those days will take your body with him, and will deposit it on the spot which I will show him, in the center of the earth. In that place redemption will be effected for you and for all your children. Yahwah revealed to Adam everything which the Son would suffer on behalf of him.
[Adam's expulsion from Paradise.]
When Adam and Eve went forth from Paradise, the door of Paradise was shut, and a cherub bearing a two-edged sword stood by it. Adam and Eve went down in . . . . . . . of spirit over the mountains of Paradise. They found a cave in the top of the mountain, so they entered, and hid themselves therein.
Now Adam and Eve were virgins, and Adam wished to know Eve his wife. Adam took from the skirts of the mountain of Paradise gold, myrrh, and frankincense, and he placed them in the cave. He blessed the cave, and consecrated it that it might be the house of prayer for himself and his sons. He called the cave: ME'ÂRATH GAZZÊ [CAVE OF TREASURES].
So Adam and Eve went down from that holy mountain [of Eden] to the slopes which were below it, and there Adam knew Eve his wife. [A marginal note in the manuscript says that Adam knew Eve thirty years after they went forth from Paradise.] Eve conceived and brought forth Cain and Lebhûdhâ, his sister, with him. Eve conceived again and she brought forth Hâbhîl (Abel) and Kelîmath, his sister, with him. When the children grew up, Adam said to Eve: Let Cain take to wife Kelîmath, who was brought forth with Abel, and let Abel take to wife Lebhûdhâ, who was brought forth with Cain. Cain said to Eve his mother: I will take to wife my twin sister Lebhûdhâ, and let Abel take to wife his twin sister Kelîmath. Now Lebhûdhâ was beautiful. When Adam heard these words, which were exceedingly displeasing to him, he said: It will be a transgression of the commandment for you to take [to wife] your sister, who was born with you. Nevertheless, take you to yourselves fruits of trees, and the young of sheep, and get you up to the top of this holy mountain. Go into the Cave of Treasures, offer up your offerings, make your prayers, and then you will consort with your wives. It came to pass that Adam, the first priest, and Cain and Abel, his sons, were going up to the top of the mountain. Satan entered into Cain [and persuaded him] to kill Abel, his brother, because of Lebhûdhâ. Because his offering was rejected and was not accepted before Yahwah, while the offering of Abel was accepted, Cain's jealousy of his brother Abel was increased. When they came down to the plain, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and he killed him with a blow from a stone of flint. Then Cain received the doom of death, instead of curses, and he became a fugitive and a wanderer all the days of his life. Yahwah drove him forth into exile in a certain part of the forest of Nôdh. Cain took his twin sister to wife and made the place of his abode there.
[The Birth of Seth.]
Adam and Eve mourned for Abel one hundred years. Then Adam knew his wife again, and she brought forth Seth, the Beautiful, a man mighty and perfect like to Adam. He became the father of the mighty men who lived before the Flood.
[The Posterity of Seth.]
To Seth was born: Ânôsh (Enos). Ânôsh begot: Kainân (Cainan). Kainân begot: Mahlâlâîl (Mahalaleel). These [are] the Patriarchs who were born in the days of Adam.
[The Death of Adam.]
When Adam had lived nine hundred and thirty years, that is to say, until the one hundred and thirty-fifth year of Mahlâlâîl, the day of his death drew near, and came. Seth, his son, and Ânôsh, and Kainân, and Mahlâlâîl gathered themselves together and came to him. They were blessed by him, and he prayed over them. He commanded his son Seth, and said to him: Observe, my son Seth, that which I command you today. On the day of your death give my command to Ânôsh, and repeat it to him, and let him repeat it to Kainân, and Kainân will repeat it to Mahlâlâîl, and let this [my] command be handed on to all your generations. When I die, embalm me with myrrh, cassia, and stakte, and deposit my body in the Cave of Treasures. Whosoever will be left of your generations in that day when your going forth from this country (which is round about Paradise) will take place, will carry my body with him. He will take it and deposit it in the center of the earth, for in that place redemption will be effected for me and for all my children. O my son Seth, you be governor of the sons of your people. You will rule them purely and holily in the fear of Yahwah. Keep your offspring separate from the offspring of Cain, the murderer.
When the report 'Adam is dying' was known generally, all his offspring gathered together, and came to him. That is to say, Seth, his son, and Ânôsh, and Kainân and Mahlâlâîl, they and their wives, and their sons, and their daughters. Adam blessed them. The departure of Adam from this world took place in the nine hundred and thirtieth year (according to the reckoning from the beginning) on the fourteenth day of the moon, on the sixth day of the month of Nîsân (April), at the ninth hour, on the day of the Eve of the Sabbath (Friday). At the same hour in which the Son of Man delivered up His soul to His Father on the Cross, our father Adam delivered up his soul to Him who fashioned him, and he departed from this world.
[The Burial of Adam.]
When Adam was dead his son Seth embalmed him, according as Adam had commanded him, with myrrh, cassia, and stakte. Adam's dead body was the first [body buried] in the earth. Grief for him was exceedingly sore, and Seth [and his sons] mourned for his death one hundred and forty days. They took Adam's body up to the top of the mountain, and buried it in the Cave of Treasures. After the families and peoples of the children of Seth buried Adam, they separated themselves from the children of Cain, the murderer. Seth took Ânôsh, his firstborn, and Kainân, and Mahlâlâîl, and their wives and children, and led them up into the glorious mountain where Adam was buried. Cain and all his descendants remained below on the plain where Cain slew Abel.
[The Rule of Seth.]
Seth became the governor of the children of his people, and he ruled them in purity and holiness. Because of their purity they received the name which is the best of all names. They were called: the sons of Yahwah, they, their wives, and their sons. Thus they lived in that mountain in all purity and holiness, and in the fear of Yahwah. They went up on the skirts of [the mountain] of Paradise, and they became praisers and glorifiers of Yahwah in the place of that host of devils who fell from heaven. They dwelt in peace and happiness. There was nothing about which they needed to feel anxiety, they had nothing to weary or trouble them, and they had nothing to do except to praise and glorify Yahwah with the malaks. They heard continually the voices of the malaks who were singing praises in Paradise, which was situated at no great height above them (in fact, only about thirty spans, according to the measure of the spirit). They suffered neither toil nor fatigue, they had neither seed [time] nor harvest, but they fed themselves with the delectable fruits of glorious trees of all kinds, and they enjoyed the sweet scent and perfume of the breezes which were wafted forth to them from Paradise. [Thus lived] those holy men, who were indeed holy, and their wives were pure, and their sons were virtuous, and their daughters were chaste and undefiled. In them there was no rebellious thought, no envy, no anger, no enmity. In their wives and daughters there was no impure longing, and neither lasciviousness, nor cursing, nor lying was heard among them. The only oath which they used in swearing was: By the blood of Abel. They, their wives, and their children used to rise up early in the morning, go up to the top of that holy mountain, and worship there before Yahwah. They were blessed by the body of Adam their father. They lifted up their eyes to Paradise, praised Yahwah, and thus they did all the days of their life.
When Seth had lived nine hundred and thirteen years he became sick to death. Ânôsh his son, and Kainân, and Mahlâlâîl, and Yârêd (Jared), and Henôkh (Enoch), and their wives and their sons, gathered together and came to him, and they were blessed by him. He prayed over them, commanded them, made them to take an oath, and said to them: I will make you take an oath, to swear by the holy blood of Abel, that none of you will go down from this holy mountain to the children of Cain, the murderer. You know well the enmity which has existed between us and Cain from the day he killed Abel. Seth blessed Ânôsh, his son, gave him commands concerning the body of Adam, and he made him ruler over the children of his people. Seth ruled them in purity and in holiness, and he ministered diligently before the body of Adam. Seth died when he was nine hundred and twelve years old, on the seven-and-twentieth day of the blessed month of Âbh [August], on the second day of the week [Monday], at the third hour, in the twentieth year of the life of Enoch. Ânôsh, Seth's first-born son, embalmed his body and buried him in the Cave of Treasures, with his father Adam, and they made a mourning for him forty days.
[The Rule of Ânôsh.]
Ânôsh rose up to minister before Yahwah in the Cave of Treasures. He became the governor of the children of his people, he kept all the commandments which his father Seth commanded him, and he urged them to be constant in prayer.
In the days of Ânôsh, in his eight hundred and twentieth year, Lamech, the blind man, killed Cain, the murderer, in the Forest of Nôdh. Now this killing took place in the following manner. Lamech was relying on the youth, his son [Tubal-Cain], and the youth was setting straight his father's arm in the direction in which he saw the quarry. He heard the sound of Cain moving about, backwards and forwards, in the forest. Now Cain was unable to stand still in one place and to hold his peace. Lamech, thinking that it was a wild beast that was making a movement in the forest, raised his arm, and, having made ready, drew his bow, and shot an arrow towards that spot. The arrow smote Cain between his eyes, he fell down, and died. Thinking he had shot game, Lamech spoke to the youth, saying: Make haste, let us see what game we have shot. When they went to the spot, and the boy on whom Lamech leaned looked, he said to him: O my lord, you killed Cain. Lamech moved his hands to smite them together, and as he did so he smote the youth, and killed him also.
When Ânôsh had lived nine hundred and five years, and was sick to death, all the patriarchs gathered themselves together, and came to him, viz. Kainân, his first-born son, Mahlâlâîl, Yârêd, Enoch, and Matûshlah [Methuselah], they, their wives, and their sons. They were blessed by him, he prayed over them, commanded them, and spoke to them, saying: I make you to swear by the holy blood of Abel that not one of you will go down from this mountain to the plain, nor into the encampment of the children of Cain, the murderer. You will not mingle yourselves among them. Take good heed to this matter, for you well know what enmity has existed between us and them from the day whereon Cain killed Abel. He blessed Kainân, his son, and commanded him concerning the body of Adam, that he should minister before it all the days of his life, and that he should rule over the children of his people in purity and holiness. Ânôsh died at the age of nine hundred and five years, on the third day of the month of the First Teshrîn [October], on the day of the Sabbath, in the fifty-third year of the life of Methuselah. Kainân, his first-born, embalmed him and buried him in the Cave of Treasures, with Adam and Seth, his father. They made a mourning for him forty days.
[The Rule of Kainân.]
Kainân stood up before Yahwah to minister in the Cave of Treasures. He was an honorable and pure man, he governed the children of his people in the complete fear of Yahwah, and he fulfilled all the commandments of Ânôsh his father. When Kainân had lived nine hundred and twenty years, and was sick to death, all the Patriarchs gathered together and came to him. Mahlâlâîl his son, Yârêd, Enoch, Methuselah, and Lamech, they, their wives, and their children, and were blessed by him. He prayed over them and commanded them, saying: I make you swear by the holy blood of Abel that not one of you go down from this holy mountain into the camp of the children of Cain, the murderer, for you all know well what enmity has existed between us and them since the day whereon he killed Abel. He blessed his son Mahlâlâîl, admonished him concerning the body of Adam, and said to him: Behold, O my son Mahlâlâîl, minister before Yahwah in purity and holiness in the Cave of Treasures, and do not depart from the presence of the body of Adam all the days of your life. Be the governor of the children of your people, and rule them purely and holily. Kainân died, being nine hundred and twenty years old, on the thirteenth day of the month of Hezêrân [June], on the fourth day of the week [Wednesday], at mid-day, in the five and sixtieth year of [the life of] Lamech, the father of Noah. Mahlâlâîl, his son, embalmed him, buried him in the Cave of Treasures, and they made mourning for him forty days.
[The Rule of Mahlâlâîl.]
Mahlâlâîl rose up and ministered before Yahwah in the place of Kainân his father. He was constant in prayer by day and by night. He earnestly urged the children of his people to observe holiness and purity, and to pray without ceasing. When Mahlâlâîl had lived eight hundred and ninety-five years the day of his departure drew near, and he was sick to death. All the Patriarchs gathered together and came to him. Yârêd, his first-born, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, and Noah, they, their wives, and their children, and were blessed by him. He prayed over them, and commanded them, saying: I make you to swear by the holy blood of Abel, that not one of you will go down from this holy mountain. You will not permit any one of your descendants to go down to the plain, to the children of Cain, the murderer, for you all well know what enmity has existed between us and them from the day on which he killed Abel. He blessed Yârêd, his first-born, commanded him concerning the body of Adam, and revealed to him the place where he should make ready to go. He also commanded him, and made him to swear an oath, saying: You will not depart from the body of our father Adam all the days of your life, and you will be the governor of the children of your people, and will rule them in chastity and holiness. Mahlâlâîl died, [being] eight hundred and ninety-five years old, on the second day of the month Nîsân [April], on the first day of the week [Sunday], at the third hour of the day, in the four and thirtieth year of the life of Noah. Yârêd, his first-born, embalmed him, buried him in the Cave of Treasures, and the people made a mourning for him forty days.
[The Rule of Yârêd.]
Yârêd his son rose up and ministered before Yahwah [in the Cave of Treasures]. He was a perfect man, complete in all the virtues, and he was constant in prayer by day and by night. Because of the excellence of his life and conversation, his days were longer than those of all the children of his people. In the days of Yârêd, in the five hundredth year of his life, the children of Seth broke the oaths which their fathers had made them to swear. They began to go down from that holy mountain to the encampment of iniquity of the children of Cain, the murderer, and in this way the fall of the children of Seth took place.
IN THE FORTIETH YEAR OF YÂRÊD THE FIRST THOUSAND YEARS, FROM ADAM TO YÂRÊD, CAME TO AN END.
In these years the handicraftsmen of sin, the disciples of Satan, appeared. He was their teacher, he entered in and dwelt in them, and he poured into them the spirit of the operation of error, through which the fall of the children of Seth was to take place.
[THE SECOND THOUSAND YEARS: YÂRÊD TO THE FLOOD.]
OF THE TRANSMISSION OF THE ART OF PLAYING THE HARP, THAT IS TO SAY, OF MUSIC, AND SINGING AND DANCING.
Yôbâl (Jubal) and Tôbalkîn (Tubal-Cain), the two brothers, the sons of Lamech (the blind man who killed Cain), invented and made all kinds of instruments of music. Jôbâl made reed instruments, harps, flutes, and whistles, and the devils went and dwelt inside them. When men blew into the pipes, the devils sang inside them, and sent out sounds from inside them. Tôbalkîn made cymbals, sistra, and tambourines [drums]. Lasciviousness and fornication increased among the children of Cain, and they had nothing to occupy them except fornication (they had no obligation [to pay] tribute, and they had neither prince nor governor), eating, drinking, lasciviousness, drunkenness, dancing and singing to instruments of music, the wanton sportings of the devils, the laughter which affords pleasure to the devils, and the sounds of the furious lust of men neighing after women. Satan, finding [his] opportunity in this work of error, rejoiced greatly, because thereby he could compel the sons of Seth to come down from that holy mountain. They had been made to occupy the place of that army [of malaks] that fell [with Satan]. They were beloved by Yahwah, they were held in honour by the malaks, and were called: sons of Yahwah (even as the blessed David said in the psalm [82:6]: I said, you are gods, and all of you sons of the Most High).
Meanwhile fornication reigned among the daughters of Cain, and without shame [several] women would run after one man. One man would attack another, and they committed fornication in the presence of each other shamelessly. All the devils were gathered together in the camp of Cain. Unclean spirits entered into the women, and took possession of them. The old women were more lascivious than the maidens, fathers and sons defiled themselves with their mothers and sisters, sons did not even respect their own fathers, and fathers made no distinction between their sons [and other men]. Satan was made ruler of that camp. When the men and women were stirred up to lascivious frenzy by the devilish playing of the reeds which emitted musical sounds (by the harps which the men played through the operation of the power of the devils, and by the sounds of the tambourines and of the sistra which were beaten and rattled through the agency of evil spirits), the sounds of their laughter were heard in the air above them, and ascended to that holy mountain.
When the children of Seth heard the noise, uproar, and shouts of laughter in the camp of the children of Cain, about one hundred of them who were mighty men of war gathered together, and set their faces to go down to the camp of the children of Cain. When Yârêd heard their words and knew their intention, he became sorely afflicted. He sent, called them to him, and said to them: By the holy blood of Abel, I will have you swear that not one of you will go down from this holy mountain. Remember the oaths which our fathers Seth, Ânôsh, Kainân, and Mahlâlâîl made you to swear. Enoch said to them: Hearken, O you children of Seth, no man who will transgress the commandment of Yârêd, and [break] the oaths of our fathers, and go down from this mountain, will ever ascend it again. But the children of Seth would neither hearken to the commandment of Yârêd, nor to the words of Enoch, and they dared to transgress the commandment. Those hundred men, who were mighty men of war, went down [to the camp of Cain]. When they saw that the daughters of Cain were beautiful in form, and that they were naked and unashamed, the children of Seth became inflamed with the fire of lust. When the daughters of Cain saw the goodliness of the children of Seth, they gripped them like ravening beasts, and defiled their bodies. The children of Seth slew their souls by fornication with the daughters of Cain. When the children of Seth wished to go up [again] to that holy mountain, after they had come down and fallen, the stones of that holy mountain became fire in their sight. Having defiled their souls with the fire of fomication, Yahwah did not permit them to ascend to that holy place. Many others made bold and went down after them, and they, too, fell.
When Yârêd had lived nine hundred and sixty years the day of his departure approached, came near, and arrived. All the Patriarchs gathered themselves together and came to him. Enoch, his first-born, Methuselah, Lamech, and Noah, they, their wives, and their children, and were blessed by him. He prayed over them, and said to them: I make you swear by the holy blood of Abel that you will not go down from this holy mountain. I know Yahwah will not allow you to remain very much longer in this holy country. Inasmuch as you have transgressed the commandment of your fathers, you will surely be cast out into that outer country, and you will no longer have your habitation on the skirts [of the mountain] of Paradise. Take good heed to this. Let him who is among you who goes forth from this holy country take with him the body of our father Adam, with the offerings [of gold, frankincense, and myrrh] that are in the Cave of Treasures, and let him carry away and deposit the body in the place wherein he will be commanded by Yahwah to set it down. You, my son Enoch, do not depart from before the body of Adam, but minister before Yahwah purely and holily all the days of your life. Yârêd died, [being] nine hundred and sixty-two years old, on the thirteenth day of the month of Îyâr [May], on the day of the Eve of the Sabbath [Friday], at sunset, in the three hundred and sixty-sixth year of the life of Noah. Enoch his son embalmed him, buried him in the Cave of Treasures, and they made mourning for him forty days.
[The Rule of Enoch].
Enoch stood up to minister before Yahwah in the Cave of Treasures. The children of Seth turned aside from the right path, and willed to go down [to the children of Cain on the plain]. Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, and Noah mourned over them. Enoch ministered before Yahwah for fifty years in the three hundred and [sixty] fifth year of the life of Noah. When Enoch knew that Yahwah was about to remove him [from the earth], he called Methuselah, Lamech, and Noah, and said to them: I know Yahwah is angry with this generation, and that a pitiless judgment is decreed for the people. You are the chiefs of this generation and the remnant thereof, no other man will be born on this mountain who will be the chief of the children of his people. Take good heed to yourselves, and see that you minister before Yahwah in purity and holiness. When Enoch had given them his commandment in these words, Yahwah removed him to the Land of Life, to the delectable mansions which are round about Paradise, to that country which is beyond the reach of death. Of all the children of Seth there remained only these three Patriarchs in the Mountain of the Triumphant Ones: Methuselah, Lamech, and Noah. All the others had taken themselves to the encampment of the sons of Cain.
[The Rule of Noah.]
When Noah saw that sin increased in his generation, he preserved himself in virginity for five hundred years. Then Yahwah spoke to him, and said to him: Take Haykêl to you to wife, the daughter of Namûs, the daughter of Enoch, the brother of Methuselah. Yahwah revealed to him concerning the Flood which He was making ready to produce. He spoke to him, and said to him: One hundred and thirty years from this moment I will make a Flood.
[The Building of the Ark.]
Yahwah said to Noah: Make for yourself an ark for the saving of the children of your house. Build it [in the plain] below [this mountain], in the encampment of the children of Cain. You will cut down the timber for the same [from the trees that are on] this mountain. Thus will be the dimensions thereof. Its length will be three hundred cubits according to your cubit, its breadth will be fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits (above it will be finished off one cubit). Make three storeys in it. The lowermost will be for wild animals and cattle, the middle one will be for the birds and feathered fowl, and the topmost will be for you and the children of your house. Make in it cisterns for water and cupboards for food. Make to yourself a striking board of eshkar'a wood which will not rot, three cubits long and a cubit and a half in breadth. There will be a hammer of the same kind of wood, and with it you will strike [the board] three times in the day. Once in the morning that the workmen may be gathered together for the work of the ark, once at midday that they may eat food, and once at sunset so that they may cease from their labor. When you strike the board, and men hear the sound of the blows, they will say to you: What is this that you do? You will say to them: Yahwah is going to make a flood of waters. Noah did as Yahwah commanded him. There were born to him three sons within the space of a hundred years, Shem, Ham, and Yaphet, and they took to them wives of the daughters of Methuselah.
[The Death of Lamech.]
When Lamech had lived seven hundred and seventy years, he died during the lifetime of Methuselah, his father, forty years before the Flood, on the twenty-first day of the month of Ilûl [September], on the first day of the week [Sunday], in the sixty-eighth year of the life of Shem, the firstborn of Noah. Noah his firstborn embalmed him, and Methuselah his father swathed him for burial. They buried him in the Cave of Treasures, and mourned for him forty days.
[The Rule of Methuselah and Noah.]
Methuselah and Noah remained alone on the mountain, for all the children of Seth had gone down from the skirts of the mountain of Paradise to the plain where the children of Cain lived. Men, the children of Seth, had intercourse with the daughters of Cain, who conceived of them, and brought forth men, giants and the sons of giants, who were like to towers. Because of this certain ancient writers fell into error, and have written: The malaks came down from heaven, and had intercourse with men, and by them these famous giants were produced. But this is not true, for those who have written in this manner did not understand [the facts]. Behold, O my brother-readers, and know it is not in the nature of beings of the spirit to beget, neither is it in the nature of the devils (who are unclean beings, workers of wickedness, and lovers of adultery) to beget, because there are neither males nor females among them. Since the time when the malaks fell, not another malak has been added to their number. If the devils were able to have intercourse with women they would not leave unravished a single virgin in all the race of the children of men.
[The Death of Methuselah.]
When Methuselah had lived nine hundred and sixty-nine years, and the day of his departure drew near, Noah, Shem, Ham, Yaphet, and their wives, came to him. Now of all the posterity of Seth who had not gone down to the plain, only these eight souls were left: Noah, Shem, Ham, Yaphet, and their wives (no children were born to them before the Flood). When these gathered themselves together to Methuselah, and were blessed by him, he embraced them, kissed them sorrowfully, and wept over the fall of the children of Seth. He said to them: Of all the tribes and families of your fathers, this remnant [consisting] of eight souls alone is left. May the Father Yahwah of our fathers bless you! The Master Yahwah who formed our father Adam and Eve by themselves (and they were fruitful, multiplied, and the whole of the blessed land which was round about Paradise was filled with their progeny), will make you to be fruitful, to multiply, and the whole earth will be filled with you. He will save you from the terrible wrath which is decreed against this rebellious generation. He will be with you, and He will protect you. The gift which was given by Yahwah to our father Adam will go forth with you from this holy country. These three measures of the wheat of blessings which Yahwah gave to your father Adam will serve as leaven, and will be kneaded into your seed, and into the seed of your children, that is to say: Royalty, Priesthood, and Prophecy.
Hearken, Noah, you blessed of Yahwah. Behold, I am going forth from this world, like all my fathers, but you and your children will be saved. You will do everything which I am commanding you to do today, [for] Yahwah will make the Flood. When I die, embalm my body, and bury me in the Cave of Treasures with my fathers. Take your wife, your sons, and the wives of your sons, and get down from this holy mountain. Take with you the body of our father Adam, and these three offerings: gold, myrrh, and frankincense. Set the body of Adam in the middle of the Ark, and lay these offerings upon him. You and your sons will occupy the eastern part of the Ark, your wife and your son's wives will occupy the western part thereof. Your wives will not pass over to you, and you will not pass over to them. You will neither eat nor drink with them, and you will have no intercourse whatsoever with them until you go forth from the Ark. This generation provokes Yahwah to wrath, and He will neither permit them to be neighbors of [those who are in] Paradise, nor to praise Him with the malaks.
When the waters of the Flood subside from the face of the earth, and you go forth from the Ark, and you take up your abode in that land, you, O Noah, the blessed of Yahwah, will not depart from the Ark, from the body of our father Adam. Minister before Yahwah in the Ark purely and holily all the days of your life. These offerings will be placed in the east. Command Shem, your firstborn, to take up with him (after your death) the body of our father Adam, carry it, and deposit it in the middle of the earth. Let him establish there a man from among his descendants who will minister there. He will be one who is set apart (nezîrâ) all the days of his life. He will not take a wife, he will not shed blood, he will not offer up these offerings of wild animals and feathered fowl. He will offer to Yahwah bread and wine, for by these redemption will be made for Adam and all his posterity. The malak of Yahwah will go before him, and he will show him the place where the middle of the earth is situated. The apparel of him who will stand up there to minister before the body of Adam will be the skins of wild animals. He will not shave off the hair of his head, he will not cut his nails, but he will remain alone [in his natural state] because he is the priest of Yahwah, the Most High.
When Methuselah commanded Noah [to do] all these things, he died with tears in his eyes, and sorrow in his heart. He was nine hundred and sixty-nine years old when he died, on the fourteenth day of the month Âdhâr [March], on the first day of the week [Sunday], in the seventy-ninth year of the life of Shem, the son of Noah. Noah, his grandson, embalmed the body of Methuselah with myrrh, cassia, and stakte. Noah and his sons buried him in the Cave of Treasures, and they and their wives made mourning for him forty days.
When the days of his mourning passed, Noah went into the Cave of Treasures, embraced and kissed the holy bodies of Seth, Ânôsh, Kainân, Mahlâlâîl, Yârêd, Methuselah, and Lamech his father. He was greatly moved, and tears gushed from his eyes. Noah carried the body of our father Adam, and [the body of] Eve. His firstborn Shem carried the gold, Ham carried the myrrh, Yaphet the frankincense, and they went forth from the Cave of Treasures. As they were coming down from that holy mountain they were smitten sorely with grief. They wept in agony because they were to be deprived of that holy place, the habitation of their fathers. Weeping painfully, wailing sorrowfully, and enveloped in gloom, they said:
Remain in peace! O holy Paradise, habitation of our father Adam.
He went forth from you alive, but stripped [of glory] and naked.
Behold, at his death he was deprived of your nearness.
He and his progeny were cast out into exile in that land of curses, to pass their days there in pain, sicknesses, labor, weariness, and in trouble.
Remain in peace, O Cave of Treasures!
Remain in peace, O habitation and inheritance of our Fathers!
Remain in peace, O our Fathers and Patriarchs!
Pray for us, O you who live in the dust, you friends and beloved ones of the Living Yahwah.
Pray for the remnant of your posterity which is left.
O you who propitiated Yahwah, make supplication to Him on our behalf in your prayers.
Remain in peace, O Ânôsh!
Remain in peace, O you ministers of Yahwah: Kainân, Mahlâlâîl, Yârêd, Methuselah, Lamech, and Enoch! Cry out in sorrow on our behalf.
Remain in peace, O Haven and Asylum of the malaks!
O you our Fathers, cry out in sorrow on our behalf, because you will be deprived of our society!
We cry out in sorrow because we are cast out into a bare land, for our habitation will be with the wild beasts.
As they were coming down from that holy mountain, they kissed the stones of it, and embraced the delectable trees thereof. In this way they came down: they wept with great sorrow, shed scalding [bitter] tears, and suffering sorely they descended to the plain. Noah went into the Ark, deposited the body of Adam in the middle of it, and he placed these offerings upon it.
Now in the year wherein Noah went into the Ark THE SECOND THOUSAND YEARS OF THE POSTERITY OF ADAM TO THE TIME OF THE FLOOD CAME TO AN END, according to what the Seventy Wise Writers told us.
[THE THIRD THOUSAND YEARS: FROM THE FLOOD TO THE REIGN OF REU.]
[Noah's entry into the Ark.]
The entrance of Noah into the Ark took place on the day of the eve of the Sabbath [Friday], on the seventeenth day of the blessed month of Îyâr [May]. On the Friday, in the morning [the third hour] the beasts and the cattle went into the lowermost storey, at midday all the feathered fowl and all the reptiles went into the middle storey, and at sunset Noah and his sons went into the Ark, on the east side of [the third storey] (his wife and the wives of his sons went to the west side). The body of Adam was deposited in the middle of the Ark, where also all the mysteries of The Way were deposited. Thus women in church will be on the west [side], and men on the east [side]; so that the men may not see the faces of the women, and the women may not see the faces of the men. It was the same in the Ark: the women were on the west [side], and the men on the east [side], and the body of our father Adam was placed between [them] like a raised stand [or, throne]. As quietness reigns in the Church between men and women, so also peace reigned in the Ark between the wild beasts, the feathered fowl, and the creeping things [or, reptiles]. As kings, judges, rich men, poor men, governors, sick men, and beggars live in concord (that is to say, in a general bond of peace), so also was it in the Ark. Lions, panthers, and savage beasts of prey lived in peace and harmony with the cattle. The beasts that were fierce and strong lived in peace with those that were timid and weak. The lion with the ox, the wolf with the lamb, the lion's whelp with the calf, the serpent with the dove, and the hawk with the sparrow.
[The Flood.]
When Noah and his sons went into the Ark, and his wife and the wives of his sons, on the seventeenth day of the month of Îyâr [May], at sunset, the door of the Ark was shut fast with Noah and his sons in captivity in the darkness. As soon as the door of the Ark was shut, the floodgates of the heavens were opened, the foundations of the earth were broken apart, and Ocean, that great sea which surrounds the whole world, poured forth its floods. While the floodgates of heaven were open, and the foundations of the earth were broken open, the storehouses of the winds burst their bonds. Storms and whirlwinds swept forth, and Ocean roared and hurled its floods upon the earth. The children of Seth who had defiled themselves in the mire of fornication ran to the door of the Ark, and begged Noah to open the door of the Ark to them. When they saw the flood water swirling about them and engulfing them on all sides, they were in great tribulation, and they tried to climb up the mountains of Paradise, but were unable to do so. Now the Ark was closed and sealed, and the malak of Yahwah stood over one side of it that he might act as the pilot. When the floods of waters mastered the children of Seth, and they began to drown in their great and mighty waves, then that which David spoke concerning them was fulfilled, saying: I said, you are gods, and all of you sons of the Most High. [Psalm 82:6] But since you did this, and you loved the fornication of the daughters of Cain, you will perish like them, so you will die even as they did.
When the Ark was lifted up from the earth by the mighty strength of the waters, all the children of men, the wild beasts, the feathered fowl, the cattle, the creeping things, and every [living] thing on the face of the earth was drowned. The waters of the Flood mounted up above all the tops of the high mountains fifteen cubits, according to the measure of the Spirit. [The cubit of the Holy Spirit = 3 ordinary cubits.] The flood waxed strong, and the waters lifted up the Ark until it reached the skirts [of the mountain] of Paradise. As the flood was blessed by Paradise, it bowed its head, kissed the skirts of Paradise, and turned itself back to destroy the whole earth. The Ark flew on the wings of the wind over the waters of the flood from east to west, and from north to south, and it marked out [by its path] a cross on the waters. The Ark flew about for one hundred and fifty days, and it came to rest on the mountains of Kardô [i.e. Ararat, the Jabal al-Jûdî of the Arabs, near Jazîrat ibn 'Umar] in the seventh month, that is to say, in the First Teshrî [October] on the seventeenth day thereof. Yahwah commanded the waters, and they became separated from each other. The celestial waters were taken up, and ascended to their own place above the heavens, where they came from. The waters which had risen up from the earth returned to the lowermost abyss [under the earth]. Those which belonged to the Ocean [which surrounds the whole world] returned to the innermost parts thereof. The waters which had been on the earth, and were assigned to it by the Divine Nod for the needs thereof from the beginning, remained upon it.
The waters diminished little by little until the tenth month, which is Shebât [February], and on the first day thereof the tops of the mountains appeared. Forty days later, on the tenth day of the month of Âdhâr [March], Noah opened the east window of the Ark, and sent forth a raven to bring back tidings. The raven departed and did not return. After the waters had diminished a little more from the earth, Noah sent forth a dove. It found no place to rest, and it returned to Noah to the Ark. After seven days he sent forth another dove, and it returned to him carrying in its beak an olive leaf. Now the dove figures for us the Two Covenants. In the First Covenant the spirit which spoke by the Prophets did not find a place of rest among that rebellious people [the Yisrayahites], and in the Second Covenant it rested on the peoples through the waters of baptism.
[Noah leaves the Ark.]
In the six hundred and first year of the life of Noah, on the first day of the month of Nîsân [April] the waters had dried up from the face of the earth. In the second month, which is Îyâr [May] (wherein Noah went into the Ark on the twenty-seventh day) on the first day of the week [Sunday], their going forth took place. He and his wife went forth, and his sons and their wives went with them. Now, when they went into the Ark they went in in separate companies, Noah and his sons [in one company], and his wife and their wives in another company, and the men did not know the women until they went forth from the Ark. All the wild beasts, all the cattle, all the feathered fowl, and all the creeping things went forth from the Ark on the first day of the week.
[Noah founds Themânôn, the city of the Eight.]
When they had gone forth Noah began work on the ground. They built a city and called the name of it: Themânôn [Eight], after the name of the eight souls who went forth from the Ark. Noah built an altar, and offered up upon it an offering of beasts that were clean and feathered fowl. Yahwah was appeased by the offering of Noah. He established with him an everlasting covenant, and swore an oath, saying: I will never again make a Flood. He took away the arrow of wrath from the bow which is in the clouds, and he stripped the string of anger from it, and spread it out [unbent it] in the clouds. Formerly, when the bow was bent in the firmament against that generation of the children of Cain, the murderer, they used to see the arrow of wrath placed in position on the string of anger, but after the Flood they did not see the arrow on the string.
[The Vineyard of Noah.]
When they went forth from the Ark, they sowed seed, planted a vineyard, and they pressed out new wine. Noah drew near, drank some of it, and immediately he became drunk. Having fallen asleep, his shame was seen. His son Ham saw the nakedness of his father, and did not cover it. He laughed at him and made a mock of him, and he ran and called his brothers that they also might make a mock of their father. When Shem and Yaphet heard of it they were dismayed exceedingly. They rose up, took a cloak, and walked backwards with their faces turned away that they might not see the nakedness of their father. They cast the cloak over him and covered him. When Noah woke up from the sleep of his wine, his wife told him about everything that had happened, and he also within himself knew what had happened to him. Noah was exceedingly angry with his son Ham, and he said: Cursed is Canaan, he will be a servant of servants to his brothers.
Why, since the whole of the folly was Ham's, was Canaan cursed, except that, when the youth grew up, and attained the full measure of his understanding, Satan entered into him, and became to him a teacher of sin? He renewed the work of the house of Cain, the murderer. He constructed and made reed instruments and harps, and the fiends and the devils went to them and dwelt therein. When wind was blown through them [the reeds], the devils sang inside them, and sent forth loud sounds. And when men struck the harps the devils became operative inside them. When Noah heard that Canaan did this, he was grieved sorely, because the work of error, through which the fall of the children of Seth took place, was renewed. By means of singing, lewd play, and the mad lasciviousness of the children of Cain, Satan had cast down the mighty men, the sons of Yahwah, into fornication. Through the music of reed pipes and harps sin had multiplied among the former generations until, at length, Yahwah became angry and made the Flood. Canaan was cursed because he had dared to do this, and his seed became a servant of servants, that is to say, to the Egyptians, the Cushites, the Mûsâyê (Mysians), [the Indians, and all the Ethiopians, whose skins are black]. Because Ham dared to make a mock of his father, all the days of his life he was called: vile [or: lascivious].
Noah in his lying down in sleep, having drunk wine, symbolizes the Cross of Messiyah, as the blessed man David sings in his Psalm concerning him, saying: Wake up, Master, like a sleeping man, and like a man whom wine has overcome. Let the heretics hold their peace who say: Yahwah was crucified. Here David calls him: Master. Even Kepha the Apostle said: This Yahushua, whom you crucified, Yahwah has made Master and Messiyah. He did not say: Yahwah (Allâhâ). He said: Master (Mâryâ); thus making known concerning the unity [oneness] of the Two Persons who were united in one sonship. When Noah woke up from his sleep he cursed Canaan, reduced his seed to slavery, and scattered his seed among the nations. When our Master rose from the dead He cursed the Jews, and scattered them among the nations. Now the seed of Canaan, as I have already said, are the Egyptians, and behold, they are scattered over the whole earth, and have been made servants of servants. And of what kind is this slavery of slavery? Behold, the Egyptians go round about all over the earth carrying loads on their backs [and necks]. Now, men who are not fettered under the yoke of slavery, when dispatched by their masters on journeys, do not march on their feet and carry loads, but they ride upon beasts in an honorable manner, like their masters. The seed of Ham are the Egyptians who carry loads, they march on the roads with their backs and necks breaking under their loads, and they wander round to the doors of the children of their brothers. The seed of Ham was reduced, through the folly of Canaan, to suffer this penalty, that is, to become servants even to servants.
[The Death of Noah.]
Noah lived three hundred and fifty years after he came forth from the Ark. When he was sick to death, Shem, Ham, Yaphet, Arpakhshar [Arphaxad], and Shâlah [Salah] gathered together to him. Noah called Shem, his firstborn, and said to him privately: Take heed, my son Shem, to what I say to you today. When I am dead, go into the Ark in which you were saved. Bring out the body of our father Adam, and let no man have knowledge of what you do. Take with you from this place provision for the way, bread and wine. Take with you Melchisedek, the son of Mâlâkh, because Yahwah chose him from among all your descendants that he may minister before Him in respect of the body of our father Adam. Take the body and place it in the center of the earth, and make Melchisedek sit down there. The malak of Yahwah will go before you, show you the way which you will go, and also the place where the body of Adam will be deposited (which is, indeed, the center of the earth). There the four quarters of the earth embrace each other. When Yahwah made the earth His power went before it. The earth ran after it, from [its] four quarters, like the winds and the swift breezes, and there His power stood still and was motionless. There redemption will be made for Adam, and for all his posterity. Now this story, or mystery, was handed down to us from Adam in all generations. Adam commanded Seth, and Seth commanded Ânôsh [Enos], and Ânôsh commanded Kainân [Cainan], and Kainân commanded Mahlâlâîl, and Mahlâlâîl commanded Yârêd, and Yârêd commanded Enoch, and Enoch commanded Methuselah, and Methuselah commanded Lamech, and behold, I command you today. Take heed that this story is never mentioned again in all your generations. Get up, take the body of Adam, and deposit it secretly in the place which Yahwah will show you until the day of redemption. When Noah had given all these commands to his son Shem, he died, [being] nine hundred and fifty years old, in the month of Îyâr [May], on the second day thereof, at the second hour of the first day of the week [Sunday]. Shem his son embalmed him, buried him in the city which he built [Themânôn], and they made a mourning for him forty days.
[The Departure of Shem with the body of Adam.]
After the death of Noah Shem did as his father commanded him. He went into the Ark by night, brought out the body of Adam from it, sealed the Ark with his father's seal, and no man perceived [what he did]. He called Ham and Yaphet, and said to them: My brothers, my father commanded me to go up and travel over the earth, even to the sea [the Mediterranean]. I am to see what the rivers are like, and then return to you. Behold, my wife and the children of my house are with you [in your care], let your eyes be upon them. His brothers said to him: Take with you a company of men from the camp, for the land is a desert waste, is shorn of inhabitants, and there are wild beasts therein. Shem said to them: The malak of Yahwah will go up with me, and he will save me from every evil thing. His brothers said to him: Go in peace, and may Yahwah the Father of our Fathers be with you. Shem said to Mâlâkh (the brother of Shâlâh [Salah], the son of [Cainan] and [grand]son of Arphaxad), the father of Melchisedek, and Yôzadhâk, his mother: Give me Melchisedek, that he may go up with me, and be a consolation for me on the road. Mâlâkh and Yôzadhâk, his mother, said to Shem: Take [him], and go in peace. Shem gave commands to his brothers, and said to them: My brothers, my father made me swear that neither I, nor any of your descendants, should go into the Ark. He sealed the Ark with his seal, and said to them: Let no man go near it.
[Shem carries the body of Adam to Golgotha.]
Shem took the body of Adam, and Melchisedek, and went forth by night from among his people. Behold, the malak of Yahwah, who was going before them, appeared to them. Their journey was very speedy, because the malak of Yahwah strengthened them until they arrived at that place. When they arrived at Gâghûltâ [Golgotha], which is the center of the earth, the malak of Yahwah showed Shem the place. When Shem deposited the body of our father Adam upon that place, the four quarters [of the earth] separated themselves from each other, and the earth opened itself in the form of a cross. Shem and Melchisedek deposited the body of Adam there. As soon as they laid it in the ground, the four quarters [of the earth] drew quickly together, enclosed the body of our father Adam, and the door of the created world was shut fast. That place was called Karkaphtâ [Skull], because the head of all the children of men was deposited there. It was called Gâghûltâ, because it was round [like the head], and Resîphtâ [a trampled-down thing], because the head of the accursed serpent, that is to say, Satan, was crushed there, and Gefîftâ [Gabbatha], because all the nations were to be gathered together to it.
[Shem's commands to Melchisedek.]
Shem said to Melchisedek: You are the priest of the Most High Yahwah, because Yahwah chose you alone to minister before Him in this place. You will dwell here continually, and will not depart from this place all the days of your life. You will not take a wife, you will not shave your head, and you will not pour out blood in this place. You will not offer up wild beasts nor feathered fowl, but you will offer up bread and wine always. You will not build a building in this place. Behold, the malak of Yahwah will come down to you and visit you continually. Shem embraced and kissed Melchisedek, blessed him, and he returned to his brothers. Mâlâkh the father of Melchisedek, and Yôzâdhâk his mother, said: Where is the young man? He said: He died on the journey, and I buried him there. They mourned greatly for him.
[The Generations of Shem.]
When Shem had lived six hundred years he died, and Arphakhshar, his son, and Shâlâh [Salah], and 'Abhâr [Eber], his sons, buried him.
Arphakhshar was thirty and five years old when he begot Shâlâh, and all the days of his life were four hundred and thirty-eight years, and he died. Shâlâh, his son, and 'Abhâr and Pâlâg [Peleg] buried him in Arpakhsharath, the city which he built after his own name.
Salah was thirty years old when he begot Eber, and all the days of his life were four hundred and thirty-three years, and he died. Eber, his son, and Peleg, and Ar'ô [Reu] buried [him on the] hill in Shelîhôn, the city which he built after his own name.
Eber [Hebrew means: children of Eber] was thirty and four years old when he begot Peleg. All the days of his life were four hundred and sixty-four years, and he died. Peleg his son and Reu and Sorôgh [Serug] buried him in 'Ebhrîn, the city which he built after his own name.
Peleg was thirty years old when he begot Reu. All the days of his life were two hundred and thirty-nine years, and he died (and they buried him in the city of Peleg, which he had built after his own name).
[The Migration to the land of Sêntar.]
In the days of Peleg all the tribes and families of the children of Noah gathered together, and went up from the East. They found a plain in the land of Sên'ar [Shinar, Sumer], and they all dwelled there. From Adam until this time they were all of one speech and one language. They all spoke this language, that is to say, SÛRYÂYÂ [Syrian], which is ÂRÂMÂYÂ [Aramaic], and this language is the king of all languages. Now, ancient writers have erred in that they said Hebrew was the first [language], and in this matter they have mingled an ignorant mistake with their writing. All the languages there are in the world are derived from Syrian, and all the languages in books are mingled with it. In the writing of the Syrians the left hand stretches out to the right hand, and all the children of the left hand [the heathen] draw near to the right hand of Yahwah. With the Greeks, Romans, and Hebrews, the right hand stretches out to the left. [Both Hebrew and Syriac are written from right to left, but Greek and Latin from left to right.]
In the days of Peleg the Tower which is in Babel was built, and there the tongues of men were confounded. From that place they were scattered over the face of all the earth. That place was called Babel, because tongues were confounded there.
After the division of tongues Peleg died in great sorrow, with tears in his eyes and grief in his heart, because in his days the earth was divided. His son Reu, and Serug, and Nâhôr buried him in Peleghîn, the city which he built after his own name. There were seventy-two tongues in the earth, and seventy-two heads of tribes [or families]. Each tribe and tongue made to themselves a chief like a king.
[The Posterity of Yaphet.]
The seed of Yaphet became thirty-seven nations and kingdoms: Gâmâr [Gomer], Yâwân, Mâdhâi, Tûbîl, Mâshêkh, Tîrês, and all the kingdoms of the Alânâyê. All these are the children of Yaphet.
And the sons of Hâm [Khem]: Kûsh [Nubia], Mesrîm [Egypt], Pôt [Put], Canaan, and all their children. And the sons of Shem: 'Îlâm [Elamites], Âshôr [Assyrians], Arpakhshar, Lôdh [Lud], Ârâm [Arameans, Damascenes, and Harranites], and all their children. Now the children of Yaphet clung to the borders of the east, from the Mountain of Nôdh, which is on the confines of the east, to the Tigris and the confines of the north, and from Baktôrônôs [Bactria] as far as Gadhrîôn [Gadarea]. The children of Shem held from Persia [in] the east as far as the sea of Tadhrasnkôs in the west. The middle of the earth belongs to them, they held sovereignty and dominion therein. The children of Ham occupy all the southern and a little of the western quarter.
Reu lived thirty-two years, and begot Serug. In the days of Reu, in his one hundred and thirtieth year, Nimrod, the mighty man, the first king on the earth, reigned, and he reigned sixty-nine years. The beginning of his kingdom was Babel. Nimrod saw the figure of a crown in the heavens, and he called Sîsân, the weaver, who wove a crown like to it, and he set it on his head. Because of this men used to say that the crown came down to him from heaven.
IN THE DAYS OF REU THE THIRD THOUSAND YEARS CAME TO AN END.
[THE FOURTH THOUSAND YEARS--FROM THE REIGN OF REU TO THE TWENTY-SIXTH YEAR OF THE LIFE OF EHUD.]
In the days of Reu, the Mesrâyê (who are the Egyptians) appointed their first king. His name was Puntos, and he reigned over them sixty-eight years. In the days of Reu a king reigned in Shebhâ [Sâba], in Ophir, and in Havilah. There reigned in Sâba sixty of the daughters of Sâba. For many years women reigned in Sâba, until the kingdom of Solomon, the son of David. The children of Ophir, that is, Send [Scindia?], appointed to be their Lophoron, who built Ophir with stones of gold. All the stones that are in Ophir are gold. The children of Havilah appointed Havîl to be their king, who built Havilah, that is, Hend [India?].
Reu died, being two hundred and thirty-nine years old. Serug his son, and Nâhôr and Tarah [Terah] buried him in Aor'în, the city which he built after his own name.
Serug lived thirty years and begot Nâhôr, and all the days of his life were two hundred and thirty years. In the days of Serug the worship of idols entered the world. In his days the children of men began to make themselves graven images, and it was at this time that the introduction of idols into the world took place. The children of men were scattered all over the earth. They had neither teachers nor lawgivers, no one to show them the way of truth wherein they should walk, and for this reason they became confused and fell into error. Some of them through their error adored the heavens, some of them worshipped the sun, moon and stars. Some of worshipped them the earth, wild beasts, birds, creeping things, trees, stones, the creatures of the sea, the waters, and the winds. Satan blinded their eyes so that they might walk in the darkness of error, because they had no hope of a resurrection. When one of them died they used to make an image of him, and set it up upon his grave, so that the remembrance [of his appearance] might not pass from before their eyes. Error having been sown broadcast in all the earth, and the land became filled with idols in the form of men and women. Then Serug died, being two hundred and thirty years old. Nâhôr, and Tarah, and Abraham his sons, buried him in Sarghîn, the city which he built after his own name.
Nâhôr was twenty-nine years old when he begot Terah. In the days of Nâhôr, in the seventieth year of his life, Yahwah looked upon the children of men and saw that they were worshipping idols. A great earthquake took place, all their houses were overturned and fell down. The people did not understand within themselves, and they added to their wickedness. Nâhôr died when he was one hundred and forty-seven years old. Terah his son and Abraham buried him.
Terah was seventy-five years old when he begat Abraham. In the days of Terah, in his ninetieth year, sorcery appeared on the earth in the city of Aôr [Ur], which Horon, the son of 'Abhâr, built. Now, there was in the city a certain man who was very rich, and he died at that time. His son made an image of him in gold, set it up upon his grave, and he appointed a young man to keep guard over it. Satan went and took up his abode in that image, and he spoke to that youth after the manner of his father. Thieves went into [his house], took everything the youth possessed, and he went out to the tomb of his father weeping. Satan spoke to him, saying: Do not weep in my presence. Go, fetch your little son, kill him here as a sacrifice to me, and then everything you lost will be returned to me here. The youth did as Satan told him, he killed his son, and bathed in his blood. Satan went forth immediately from that image [of gold], entered into the youth, taught him sorcery, enchantments, divination, and the lore of the Chaldeans: [how to tell] fortunes, [how to forecast] events, and [how to foretell] destinies. Behold, from that time the children of men began to sacrifice their sons to devils and to worship idols, for the devils entered into the images, and took up their abodes in them.
In the one hundredth year of the life of Nâhôr Yahwah saw that the children of men were sacrificing their sons to devils, and worshipping idols. He opened the storehouses of the wind, the gate of the whirlwind, and a blast of wind went forth in all the earth. It uprooted the images, and the places where offerings were made to devils. It swept together the idols, the images, and the pillared buildings, in a heap. The wind piled up great mounds [of earth] over them, [and they are there] to this day. To this blast of wind learned men gave the name of Wind-Flood. Certain who erred have said: These mounds existed [already] in the days of the Flood [of waters]. Now those who said these things erred greatly from the truth. Before the Flood [of waters] there were no idols in the earth. It was not because of idols that the Flood came, but because of the fornication of the daughters of Cain. At that time there were no men on this earth, which was a waste and a desert. Our fathers were cast forth in days of old, as it were, into exile, because they were not worthy to be neighbors of Paradise. Through the Ark they were driven forth to the mountains of Kardô, and from there they were scattered about throughout all the earth. These mounds came into being because of idols. In them are buried all the idols of that time, and all the devils who dwell in them are in these mounds, and there is no mound which does not have devils in it.
[Nimrod the fire-worshipper, and Yôntôn, son of Noah.]
In the days of Nimrod, the mighty man, a fire [volcano] appeared which ascended from the earth. Nimrod went down, looked at it, and worshipped it. He established priests to minister there, and to cast incense into it. From that day the Persians began to worship fire, [and they do so] to this day.
Sîsân the king found a spring of water in Drôghîn. He made a white horse and set it over it, and those who bathed in the water used to worship the horse. From that time the Persians began to worship that horse.
Nimrod went to Yôkdôrâ of Nôdh, and when he arrived at the Lake [Sea] of Atrâs, he found there Yôntôn, the son of Noah. (A marginal note in the Syriac manuscript adds: Noah begot this Yôntôn after the Flood, honoured him in many things, and sent him to the east to dwell there.) Nimrod went down, bathed in the Lake, came to Yôntôn, and did homage to him. Yôntôn said: You are a king, you do homage to me? Nimrod said to him: It is because of you I came down here. He remained with him for three years. Yôntôn taught Nimrod wisdom, and the art of revelation [divining], and he said to him: Do not come back to me again.
Nimrod went up from the east, began to practise the art of divining, and very many men marvelled at him. When Îdhâshîr [Ardeshir?] (the priest who ministered to the fire that ascended from the earth) saw that Nimrod was practising these exalted courses, he entreated the devil, who appeared in connection with that fire, to teach him the wisdom of Nimrod. As the devils were in the habit of destroying those who came near to them by sin, the devil said to the priest: A man cannot become a priest and a Mage until he has known carnally his mother, his daughter, and his sister. Îdhâshîr the priest did this. From that time the priests, the Mages, and the Persians took their mothers, their sisters, and their daughters [to wife]. This Îdhâshîr, the Mage, was the first to begin to study the Signs of the Zodiac, and [omens concerning] luck, fate, happenings, and motions of the eyes and eyelids, as well as all the other arts of the learning of the Chaldees. All this learning is the error of devils, and those who practise it will receive, together with the devils, the doom of Judgment. Because this art of divination (which was employed by Nimrod) was taught to him by Yôntôn, none of the orthodox doctors suppressed it. Nay, they even practised it. The Persians call it Gelyânâ [Revelation] and the Romans Estrômîôn [Astronomy]. But that [knowledge] which the Mages have, astrology, is sorcery and the teaching of devils. There are some who say that it does indeed [teach concerning] luck, happenings [future events], and fate, but these are in error. Nimrod built strong cities in the east: Babel, Nineveh, Râsân [Râs 'Ain], Selîk: [Seleucia], Ctesiphon, and Âdhôrbaighân. And he made three fortresses.
[The History of Abraham.]
Terah, the father of Abraham, lived two hundred and fifty years, and he died. Abraham and Lot buried him in Hârrân. There Yahwah spoke to Abraham, and said to him: Get you forth from your land, from among your people, and come to the land which I will show you. Abraham took his household, Sârâ his wife, and Lot, his brother's son. He went up to the land of the Amôrâyê [Amorites], and he was seventy-five years old when he crossed the desert from the Euphrates. He was eighty years old when he pursued the kings, and rescued Lot, his brother's son.
[NOTES: When still a boy, Abraham had no belief in idols, and, according to the Kebra Nagast (chapter xiii), when he was twelve years old his father sent him to sell idols. Abraham said: These are not gods that can make deliverance, and he took away the idols to sell even as his father commanded him. He said to those to whom he would sell them, Do you wish to buy gods that cannot make deliverance, things made of wood, stone, iron, and brass, which the hand of an artificer made? They (the people) refused to buy the idols from Abraham because he himself had defamed the images [idols] of his father. [An old tradition says that Terah made idols of mud, and it is possible that some of these may be represented by the terra-cotta figures of gods and goddesses which were found in such large numbers in recent years at Ur and other ancient sites in Babylonia.] As he was returning he stepped aside from the road, set the images down, looked at them, and said to them: I wonder now if you are able to do what I ask you at this moment, whether you are able to give me bread to eat, or water to drink? None of them answered him, for they were pieces of stone and wood. He abused them, heaped revilings upon them, and they never spoke a word. He hit the face of one, kicked another with his feet, a third he knocked over and broke to pieces with stones, and he said to them: If you are unable to save yourselves from him who hits you, and you cannot requite with injury him who injures you, how can you be called gods? Those who worship you do so in vain. As for myself I utterly despise you, you will not be my gods. Then he turned his face to the East, stretched out his hands, and said: Be my Master, O Yahwah, Creator of the heavens and the earth, Creator of the Sun and Moon, Creator of the sea and the dry land, Maker of the majesty of the heavens and the earth, of what is visible and what is invisible. O Maker of the universe, Yahwah. I place my trust in you, and from this day forth I will place my trust in no other save yourself. There appeared to him a chariot of fire which blazed. Abraham was afraid, and fell on his face on the ground. Yahwah said to him: Do not fear, stand upright.
On the day of the birth of Abraham the house shone with a bright light. Many people fell down, and there was a cry in a loud voice, which said: Woe is me! Woe is me! He who will crush my kingdom has been born. He who cried out wept, and described the events which should take place, saying: It is he who will burn down my abode. There were among the people certain men who said: Kill this child right away. Those who spoke this knew well that grace would be given to Abraham. Yahwah set mercy in the heart of the father of Abraham, and he said to the Satans: Where do you come from, you who tell me that I should kill my son who is a gracious gift of Yahwah? He reared the child. . . . . Abraham was circumcised by the hand of Gabriel and Michael, who helped him. From the Book of the Mysteries of Heaven and Earth.]
[Abraham and Melchisedek.]
And at that time Abraham had no son, because Sârâ was barren.
When he returned from the battle of the kings, the agency of Yahwah called him, and he crossed the mountain of Yâbhôs. Melchisedek, the king of Shâlîm [Salem], the priest of the Most High Yahwah, went forth to meet him. When Abraham saw Melchisedek, he made haste, fell upon his face, and did homage to him. He rose up from the ground, embraced him, kissed him, and was blessed by him. Melchisedek blessed Abraham. Abraham gave Melchisedek tithes [tenths] of everything which he had with him. Melchisedek made him to participate in the Holy Mysteries: the bread of the offering, and the wine of redemption. After Melchisedek blessed him, and made him to participate in the Holy Mysteries, Yahwah spoke to Abraham, and said to him: Your reward is exceedingly great. Since Melchisedek blessed you, and made you partake of bread and wine, I also will assuredly bless you, and I will assuredly multiply your seed.
When Abraham was eighty-six years old Ishmael was born to him by Hâghâr, the Egyptian woman, whom Pharaoh gave to Sârâ as a handmaiden. Sârâ was the sister of Abraham on the father's side, because Terah took two women to wife. When Yâwnû, the mother of Abraham, died, Terah took to wife a woman whose name was Naharyath [or, Shalmath, or, Tona, or, Tahdif], and of her Sârâ was born. It was because of this that Abraham said: She is my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother [Gen. 20:12].
[The Birth of Isaac.]
Abraham was ninety-nine years old when Yahwah went into his house and gave Sârâ a son, and he was one hundred years old when Isaac was born to him. Isaac was thirteen years old when his father took him and went up to the mountain of Yâbhôs [Jebus] to Melchisedek, the priest of Yahwah Most High. Now Mount Yâbhôs is the mountain of the Amôrâyê [Amorites]. In that place the Cross of Messiyah was set up, and on it grew the tree which held the ram that saved Isaac. That same place is the center of the earth, the grave of Adam, the altar of Melchisedek, Golgotha, Karkaftâ, and Gefîftâ [Gabbatha]. There David saw the malak bearing the sword of fire. There, too, Abraham took up Isaac his son for a burnt offering. He saw the Cross, Messiyah, and the redemption of our father Adam. The tree [thicket] was a symbol of the Cross of Messiyah our Savior, and the ram [caught] in its branches was the mystery of the manhood of the Word, the Only One. Because of this Paul cried out and said: If they had only known [it] they were not crucifying the Master of glory. Let the mouths of the heretics be stopped who in their madness impute passibility [mortality] to the Eternal Yahwah.
When Messiyah was eight days old, Yahusef [Joseph], the betrothed of Miryam [Mary], rose up to circumcise the Child according to the Law, and he circumcised Him according to the custom that was the Law. In like manner Abraham took up his son as an offering, but he at the same time [fore]saw in this [act] the crucifixion of Messiyah. This thing Messiyah openly proclaimed before the multitudes of the Jews, saying: Abraham your father wanted to see My days, he saw and was glad [Yahchanan 8:56]. Abraham saw the day of the redemption of Adam, he saw and rejoiced, and it was revealed to him that Messiyah would suffer on behalf of Adam.
[The founding of Yerusalem.]
In the same year Abraham offered up his son as an offering, Yerusalem was built. The beginning of the building of it was this way. Melchisedek appeared and showed himself to men. The kings of the nations heard his history, so they gathered together and came to him.
[The names of the kings who built Yerusalem are:]
Abimelech, king of Gâdhâr.
Âmarphîl, [Amraphel, Nimrod], king of Sen'âr [Sumer].
Arioch, king of Dâlâsâr.
Kardla'mar [Chedorlaomer], king of Elam.
Tar'îl [Tidal], king of the Gîlâyê.
Bârâ [Bera], king of Sodom.
Barshâ [Birsha], king of Gomorrah.
Shênâbh [Shinab], king of Adhâmâh.
Shamâ'ir [Shemeber], king of Zeboim.
Salâkh, king of Bâlâ'.
Tâbhîk, king of Damascus.
Baktôr, king of the desert.
These twelve kings gathered together and came to Melchisedek, king of Shâlim, the priest of the Most High Yahwah. When they saw his appearance, and heard his words, they asked him to go with them. He said to them: I am not able to go from this place to any other. They took counsel together about building him a city, and said to each other: Verily, he is the king of the whole earth, and the father of all kings. They built him a city, and made Melchisedek to live in it. Melchisedek called the name of it: Yerusalem [Yahwah is peace]. When Mâghôgh, the king of the south, heard [of this], he came to him, saw his appearance, spoke to him, and gave him offerings and gifts. Melchisedek was held in honor by all, and he was called the Father of Kings.
[Melchisedek.]
Now, concerning what the Apostle said: there was no beginning to his days, and no end to his life [Hebrews 7:3]. It is thought by simple folk that he was not a man at all, and in their error they have said concerning him that he was Yahwah. Yahwah forbid that there should have been no beginning to his days or end to his life. [The Apostle spoke thus] because when Shem, the son of Noah, took away Melchisedek from his parents, no word is said as to how old he was when he went up from the East, and it is not said how old he was at the time of his departure from this world. He was the son of Mâlâkh, the son of Arpakhshar, the son of Shem, he was not the son of one of the Patriarchs. The Apostle said that none of his father's family ever ministered at the altar [Hebrews 7:6]. The name of his father is not written in the genealogies, because Matthew and Luke (the Evangelists) [only] wrote down the [names of the] Fathers [in chief, i.e. Patriarchs]. For this reason neither the name of his father, nor the name of his mother, is known. The Apostle did not say that he had no parents, but [only] that they were not written down in Matthew and Luke.
[Kûmrôs.]
In the one hundredth year [of the life] of Abraham there was a king in the East whose name was Kûmrôs. He built Shemesht [Samosata], after the name of his son Shemeshtô, and Klawdîya [Claudias], after the name of his daughter Kâlôdh, and Pîrîn after the name of his son Pôrôn.
[Nimrod founds Nisibis, Harrân and Edessa.]
In the fiftieth year of [the life of] Reu, Nimrod went up and built Nisibis, Edessa, and Harrân, which is Edessa. Harrânîth, the wife of Dâsân, the priest of the mountain, surrounded it with a wall, and the people of Harrân made a statue of her and worshipped her. Baltîn, who was given to Tamûzâ [Tammuz] (because B'êlshemîn loved her, Tammuz fled before him) set fire to Harrân and burned it.
[The Death of Sârâ.]
When Sârâ, the wife of Abraham, died, Abraham took to wife Kentôrâ, the daughter of Baktôr, the king of the desert. There were born to him by her Zamrân, Yakshân, Mâdhân, Medhyân, Ashbâk, and Shôh. From these are sprung the Arabs.
[Isaac and Rebecca.]
When Isaac was forty years old, Eliezer, a son of the house of Abraham, went down and brought Rabkâ [Rebecca] from the east, and Isaac took her to wife. When Abraham died Isaac buried him by the side of Sârâ.
When Isaac was sixty years old Rebecca became with child of Esau and Jacob. Being sorely afflicted, she went to Melchisedek. He prayed over her, and said to her: Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples will be removed from your loins, that is to say, will go forth from your womb. One nation will be stronger than the other, and the elder will be in subjection to the younger, that is to say, Esau will be in subjection to Jacob.
[The founding of Jericho.]
In the sixty-seventh year of [the life of] Isaac, Jericho was built by seven kings, namely: the king of the Hittites, the king of the Amorites, the king of the Girgantes, the king of the Jebusites, the king of the Canaanites, the king of the Hivites, and the king of the Perizites. Each of them surrounded it with a wall. Now the son of Mesrîn [Mizraim], the king of the Egyptians, had founded Jericho in olden time [some say it was the first city in the world]. Ishmael made a mill of the hands [a handmill] in the desert, a mill of slavery [a mill to be worked by slaves].
[Jacob's Ladder.]
In the one hundred and third year of his life Isaac blessed Jacob, who was forty years old. Having received the blessing from his father, he went down into the desert of Beersheba, and lay down to sleep there. When he was lying down he took a stone and made a pillow of it. He saw in his dream, and behold, a ladder was set upon the earth. The top of it was in the heavens. The malaks of Yahwah were going up and coming down, and the Word stood at the top of it. Jacob woke up from his sleep, and said: This is truly the house of Yahwah. He took the stone of his pillow, made it an altar, and he anointed it with oil. He vowed a vow, and said: Of everything I have I will tithe for this stone. Now, it is manifest to those who possess understanding that the ladder which Jacob saw symbolizes the Cross of our Redeemer. The malaks who were going up and down were the ministers of Zechariah, Miryam, the Magi, and the shepherds. The Word who was standing at the top of the ladder symbolized Messiyah, who stood on the Cross that He might go down to redeem us.
[Jacob and Baptism.]
When Yahwah had shown the blessed Jacob the Cross of Messiyah by means of the Ladder of the malaks, the coming down of Messiyah for our redemption, the Church, the House of Yahwah, the altar by means of the stone, the offerings by means of the tithes, and the anointing by means of the oil, Jacob went down to the East that there Yahwah might show him baptism. Jacob looked, saw, and beheld three flocks of sheep lying down by a well. There was a great stone placed over the mouth of the well. Jacob drew near, rolled away the stone from the mouth of the well, and watered the sheep of his mother's brother. Having watered the flocks, he took Rachel and kissed her.
Now by 'Well' the blessed Jacob indicated [depicted] baptism, which was covered over [hidden] from the races of men, generations, and tribes. The three flocks of sheep which were lying down by the well are a type of the three divisions and three groups [who come] for baptism, namely, men, women, and children. That Jacob saw Rachel coming with the flocks, that he neither embraced her nor kissed her until he rolled away the stone from the well, and she had watered the flocks, is in accordance with the law of the sons of the Church, who neither embrace nor kiss the Lamb of Messiyah until baptism has opened [the way]. They go down into the waters, put on strength from them, and then the sons of the Church embrace and kiss. As Jacob served with Laban for seven years, and the woman he loved was not given to him, so also was it with the Jews, who served Pharaoh, king of Egypt, in slavery, and went forth. The Covenant of the Church, the Bride of Messiyah, was not given to them, but that Covenant which was old, worn out, and of no effect. Now the eyes of [Leah], the first woman whom Jacob took to wife, were shy, while the eyes of Rachel were beautiful, and her countenance was radiant. A covering [veil] was laid over the face of the first Covenant, so that the children of Yisrayah might not see the beauty of it. The second Covenant is wholly light. [NOTE: this book was written during the Pagan Roman Empire, and was forced to comply with catholic religion and doctrine!]
[Jacob's sons. The Death of Isaac.]
Jacob was seventy-seven years old when he received the blessing of Isaac, his father. He was eighty-nine years old when he begot Reuben, his firstborn, by Leah. The sons of Jacob are these:
Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar and Zebulon are the sons of Leah.
Yahusef and Benjamin were the sons of Rachel.
Gad and Asher were the sons of Zilpah, the handmaiden of Leah.
Dan and Naphtali were the sons of Bilhah, the handmaiden of Rachel.
After twenty years Jacob returned to Isaac his father. All the days of the life of Isaac were one hundred and eighty years (until the thirty-first year of the life of Levi), and he died in the one hundred and twentieth year of the life of Jacob. Twenty-three years after Jacob went up from Harrân, Yahusef was sold to the Midianites. He was sold during the lifetime of Isaac, and they mourned for him. When Isaac died Jacob and Esau, his sons, buried him with Abraham and Sârâ. Seven years later Rebecca died, and was buried with Abraham, Isaac, and Sârâ. Rachel died and was buried with them.
Judah, the son of Jacob, took to himself to wife Shû' [Shuah], the Canaanitess, and his father was grieved because he took to wife a woman of the seed of Canaan. Jacob said to Judah: May Yahwah the Father of our fathers Abraham and Isaac not permit the seed of Canaan to be mingled with our families. There were born to Judah by Shuah, the Canaanite woman, 'Îr [Er], Ônân, and Shêlâ [Shelah]. Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, Tâmâr. He consorted with her unnaturally, and Yahwah put him to death. Judah gave Tâmâr to Ônân, and as soon as his seed became available for Tâmâr he wasted it, and him also Yahwah put to death. Thus, Yahwah did not permit the seed of Canaan to mingle with the seed of Jacob, even as Jacob prayed Yahwah that the seed of Canaan, the firstborn of the lascivious Ham, might not be mingled among the generations of the Fathers. Yahwah made Tâmâr go out to the roadside. Judah lay with her in the passion of fornication, and she conceived and brought forth Peres [Pharez] and Zarah.
[Jacob in Egypt.]
Jacob and all his descendants went down into Egypt to Yahusef, and he lived in Egypt seventeen years. Jacob died, being one hundred and forty years old, and Yahusef was fifty-six years old when his father died, in the twelfth year of Kâhâth. The wise physicians of Pharaoh embalmed him. Yahusef took him up [to Canaan] and buried him with Abraham and Isaac his father.
[The Genealogies of the Tribes, the Children of Yisrayah.]
Now there are certain doctors who trace the genealogies of the Tribes from the death of Jacob, and who mix them together, but they do not do this in the light of knowledge. They set in the midst two genealogies: one of the Tribes, and the other of the Children of Yisrayah. Now fix your attention on these generations, and how they became mixed together. [When] they went forth from Egypt, Judah begot Pharez, Pharez begot Hesrôn [Hezron], Hezron begot Ârâm, Ârâm begot Amminadab, Amminadab begot Nahshôn [Nahson], and Nahshôn was he who became prince of Judah. Amminadab gave the sister of Nahshôn to 'Îr [so in the text, but read Eleazar], the son of Aaron, the priest. Of her was born Phinehas, the great priest, who prayed and the plague was stayed [Num. 25:7-8; Ps. 106:30]. Behold, I have shown you that from Amminadab, the priesthood of the children of Yisrayah was transmitted by the sister of Nahshôn, and the kingdom by Nahshôn her brother. Observe also that the priesthood and the kingdom were transmitted by Judah to the children of Yisrayah.
Nahshôn begot Shîlâ, that is to say, Salmôn, and Shîlâ begot Boaz. Observe now that the kingdom went forth from Boaz and Ruth, the Moabitess, for the old man Boaz took Ruth to wife so that Lot, the son of Abraham's brother, might have participation in the transmission of the kingdom. Yahwah did not deprive the righteous man Lot of the reward of his labor, because he had suffered in exile with Abraham, and he received the malaks of Yahwah in peace. That the righteous man Lot might not be reviled because he slept with his daughters, Yahwah granted that the royal succession might be maintained by the seed of both, and that Messiyah should be born of the seed of Lot and Abraham. From the seed of Ruth, the Moabitess, Obed was born, and from Obed, Jesse, and from Jesse, David, and from David, Solomon. These are the descendants of Ruth, the Moabitess, the daughter of Lot. Of Na'mâ [Naamah, 1 Kings 14:21], the Ammonitess, another daughter of Lot, whom Solomon took to wife, was born Rehoboam, who reigned after Solomon.
[Solomon.]
Solomon married many wives, seven hundred free-born women, and three hundred concubines. Of the thousand women which he took to wife, he had no son except from Naamab the Ammonitess. Why was it that Yahwah did not give him a son from these [others]? It was in order to prevent the wicked seed of the Canaanites, Jebusites, Amorites, Hittites, Gergasites, and the seed of the peoples whom Yahwah hated, from mingling in the succession of the genealogy of Yahshua Messiyah.
[NOTE from the Kebra Nagast, chapter lxvii: The malak of Yahwah went down to Solomon and said to him: From being a wise man you have turned yourself into a fool, from being a rich man you have turned yourself into a poor man, and from being a king you have turned yourself into a man of no account, through transgressing the commandment of Yahwah. The beginning of your evil was the taking of many wives by you, for through this you did transgress His Law, His decree, and the ordinance of Yahwah which Moshe wrote and gave to you, to Yisrayah, that you should not marry wives from alien peoples, but only from your kinsfolk and the house of your fathers, that your seed might be pure and holy, and that Yahwah might dwell with you. But you did hold the Law of Yahwah lightly, thinking you were wiser than Yahwah, and that you would get very many male children. But the foolishness of Yahwah is wiser than the wisdom of men, and He only gave you three sons: the one who carried off your glory into an alien land, and made the habitation of Yahwah to be in Ethiopia [the ark of the covenant went to Ethiopia! and when the Jews no longer had it, they were able to be conquered and carried away]; the one who is lame of foot, who will sit upon your throne for the people of Yisrayah, the son of the kin of your kin from Tarbâna, of the house of Judah; and the one who is the son of a Greek woman, a handmaiden, who in the last days will destroy Rehoboam and all your kin of Yisrayah; and this land will be his because he believes in Him that will come, the Savior]
[The chiefs of Yisrayah born in Egypt.]
Now the succession of the children of Yisrayah is this: Levi, Amram, Moshe, Yahshua [Joshua] the son of Nôn [Nun], and Caleb the son of Yôfannâ [Jephunneh]. These were born in Egypt.
[Moshe, Moses.]
When Moshe was born he was cast into the river. Shîpôr [in Ethiopic: Sephurah] the Egyptian woman, the daughter of Pharaoh, took him up, and he lived in the house of Pharaoh for forty years. Then he killed Pethkôm, the Egyptian, the chief of the bakers of Pharaoh. Now this was noised abroad in the house of Pharaoh. After Pharaoh's daughter Makrî, who was called Shîpôr Mesrên [Trumpet of Egypt], was dead, Moshe was afraid, and he fled to Midian, to Reuel, the Cushite, the priest of Midian.
Moshe took to wife Zipporah, the Cushite woman, daughter of the priest, and two sons were born to him: Gershom and Eliezer. In the second year of the life of Moshe, Yahshua, the son of Nôn, was born in Egypt. Moshe was eighty years old when Yahwah talked with him from out of the bush, and because of his fear his tongue halted, even as he said to Yahwah: Behold, my Master, from the day wherein you did speak to me I have been halting of tongue. Moshe lived in Egypt forty years, in the house of the priest of Midian forty years, and he passed forty years in governing the people. He died at the age of one hundred and twenty years on Mount Nebo.
[NOTES: From Adam until the death of Moshe was 3,868 years. MOSHE'S ROD: Adam cut the rod from a branch of the Tree of Good and Evil which grew in Paradise, and he used it as a staff all his life. It passed from hand to hand to Abraham, who smashed his father's idols with it. It went with him to Egypt, and when it came to Jacob he used it as a shepherd's crook. Judah received it and gave it to Tamar, and then a malak laid it up in the Cave of Treasures until Midian was built. A malak showed Jethro the Cave. He took the rod from it, and from him it went of its own free will to Moshe. The rod became a serpent, and it swallowed up the rod of Pôsdî, the sorceress. The rod was taken to the promised land by Yahshua, and Phineas hid it in the dust at the gate of Yerusalem, where it remained until Messiyah showed it to Yahusef, who took it to Egypt and brought it back to Nazareth. It passed to James, the brother of our Savior, but was stolen by Judas Iscariot, who gave it to the Jews who were crucifying our Savior, to them it became a judgment and a fall. Book of the Bee (chapter 30).]
[The Successors of Moshe.]
Yahshua, the son of Nôn, was the governor of the children of Yisrayah for twenty-seven years. After the death of Yahshua, the son of Nôn, Kûshân, the Wicked [Chushanrishathayim], was lord over the people for eighty years.
'Athnâîl [Othniel], the son of Kenaz, the brother of Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, was lord over Yisrayah for forty years.
Then the children of Yisrayah were in subjection to the Moabites for eighteen years.
Ahôr [Ehud], the son of Gera, ruled the children of Yisrayah for eighty years.
IN THE TWENTY-SIXTH YEAR OF HIS LIFE THE FOURTH THOUSAND YEARS CAME TO AN END.
[THE FIFTH THOUSAND YEARS. FROM THE TWENTY-SIXTH YEAR OF EHUD'S LIFE TO THE SECOND YEAR OF THE REIGN OF CYRUS.]
Nâbhîn [Jabin], who was dried up in body, ruled twenty years.
Deborah and Barak [ruled] forty years. The children of Yisrayah were in subjection to the Midianites seven years. Yahwah delivered them by the hands of Gideon, who ruled them forty years.
Abimelech his son reigned after him three years.
Tûla' [Tola], the son of Puah [ruled] twenty-three years.
Yâîr, the Gileadite, twenty-two years.
Again the children of Yisrayah were in subjection to the Ammonites eighteen years. Yahwah delivered them by the hand of Naphtah [Jephthah], the man who offered up his daughter as a sacrifice, and he ruled them six years.
Abhîsân [Ibzan of Bethlehem], who is Nahshôn, ruled them seven years.
Alôn [Elon], who was from Zebulon, ruled them ten years.
'Abhrôn [Abdon, the son of Hillel, the Pirathonite] ruled them eight years.
The children of Yisrayah were in subjection to the Philistines forty years. Yahwah delivered them by the hand of Samson, and he ruled them twenty years.
The children of Yisrayah lived without a governor for eighteen years, and then Eli the priest rose up and ruled them forty years.
Samuel rose up over them and ruled them twenty years. In the days of Samuel the children of Yisrayah provoked Yahwah to wrath (who delivered them from the servitude of the Egyptians). They made Saul, the son of Kish, king, and he reigned over them forty years.
In the days of Saul lived Gûlyâdh [Goliath], a giant of the Philistines. He came near, reviled Yisrayah, and blasphemed against Yahwah. David, the son of Jesse, killed him. David was praised in songs by the daughters of Yisrayah, and Saul persecuted him. The Philistines killed Saul because he forgot Yahwah, and took refuge with the devils.
[NOTE: The story of David and Goliath finds an interesting parallel in the history of Sanehat as found in an Egyptian papyrus in the Royal Library at Berlin. Sanehat fled from Egypt as the result of some political trouble, made his way into Palestine, where he settled down and prospered, and became a shêkh of great influence and importance. Then a certain man of Thennu went to Sanehat's tent, reviled him, and challenged him to fight him. This man was a mighty warrior, and was famed throughout the country for his strength, valor, and success. During the following night Sanehat made ready his dagger, spear, and bow. At daybreak all the tribes came to the place to witness the great duel which was to take place. The man of Thennu grasped his shield and his battle-axe, and then began to hurl his spears at Sanehat, but they either went wide or Sanehat managed in some way to avoid them. In any case, they failed to touch him. When the man of Thennu saw this, he lost his temper, and made a rush at Sanehat, meaning to close with him and dispatch him with his battle-axe. As he came on in his mad rage Sanehat hurled his short javelin at his head, it pierced his neck and remained fast in it. The man of Thennu uttered a prolonged shriek and then fell headlong on the ground, face downwards. Sanehat went to him, and, taking his foe's weapons from him, killed him with them. Then he took his stand on the dead body, shouted the cry of victory, and the onlookers rejoiced in his triumph and applauded him.]
David reigned over the children of Yisrayah forty years, and Solomon, his son, reigned forty years.
Solomon did great and wonderful things, and it was he who sent to Ophir and brought gold from the mountains of gold. The ships sailed the sea for thirty-six months, and then returned. It was he who built Tadmor [Palmyra] in the wilderness, and he carried out there great and wonderful works. When Solomon passed the borders of the mountain which is called Sâ'êr, he found there the altar which Pîôrzâkhâr, Pîôrzânâi, and Neznâdhôr had built. These were they whom Nimrod, the giant, sent to Balaam, the priest of the Mountain of Sâ'êr, because he heard that he was wont to consult the Signs of the Zodiac, and when they were passing the skirts of the mountain they built there an altar to the sun. When Solomon saw it he built a city there and called its name Nîâpôlîs [Heliopolis], that is to say, City of the Sun. Solomon also built Aradus [Arvad] in the midst of the sea. He became so famous and renowned that the report of his wise acts went out into all the ends of the earth. The Queen of Sheba went to hold conversation with him. Solomon loved Hiram, king of Tyre, greatly. Hiram reigned in Tyre five hundred years, from the days of the kingdom of David to the [days of] the kingdom of Zedekiah, and of all the kings of the children of Yisrayah. At length he forgot he was a man, so he blasphemed, and said: I am God, I sit upon the throne of God in the middle of the sea. Nebuchadnezzar the king killed him.
[NOTE: Solomon reigned over his large kingdom with the greatest wisdom ever found. He did not keep his soul, but inclined his heart to the love of women, and forgot Yahwah, who created him and gave him his kingdom. He died in his denial of Him, and in his sins. Book of Adam]
[The purple linen of Tyre.]
In the days of Hiram the purple apparel worn by kings appeared. As a dog was running along the sea-shore [at Tyre] he saw a purple shell-fish [the murex] coming up out of the water. He bit it, and right away his mouth was filled with the blood of that shell-fish. A certain shepherd who saw the dog brought a piece of woollen cloth and wiped the dog's mouth with it. He made that piece of woollen cloth into a crown [a kafîyah or head-cloth], and set it upon his head. As he walked along in the sun, those who saw him thought that rays of fire were coming forth from his head, and when Hiram heard [of this] he sent for the man. When he saw the woollen cloth he marvelled, and was astonished. All the dyers gathered together and marvelled at it. They set out to enquire into the matter, they found some of these shell-fish and rejoiced greatly.
[The Apostasy of Solomon.]
Solomon waxed exceedingly great. The food [provided for his table every day] consisted of forty oxen, one hundred head of sheep, thirty measures of fine flour, sixty measures of wheat, and three hundred measures of wine. Besides all this, stags, gazelle, wild antelopes, and other creatures of the desert. He became forward, transgressed the Law, and did not hearken to the commands of his father. He took to wife one thousand women from all the peoples whom Yahwah hated. In the time of his old age he gave himself up to women. He let them play with him, he hearkened to their words, and did their will. He denied the Father of David, his father. He built altars to devils, offered up sacrifices to idols and graven images, and he worshipped the work of the hands. Yahwah turned away His face from him, and he died. He reigned in Yerusalem forty-six years.
[NOTE: Solomon was seduced into idolatry by his wife, the daughter of Pharaoh. One day she beautified and scented herself for him, she behaved herself haughtily towards him, and treated him disdainfully. He said to her: What will I do? You have made your face evil towards me, your regard towards me is not as it was formerly, and your beautiful form is not as enticing as usual. Ask me, I will give you whatsoever you wish. I will perform it for you, so that you may make your face gracious towards me as formerly. She held her peace, and answered him never a word. He repeated to her the words that he would do whatsoever she wished. She said to him: Swear to me by Yahwah of Yisrayah that you will not play me false. He swore to her that he would give her whatsoever she asked for, and that he would do for her everything she told him. She tied a scarlet thread on the middle of the door of [the house of] her gods, and she brought three locusts and set them in the house of her gods. She said to Solomon: Come to me without breaking the scarlet thread, bend yourself, kill these locusts before me, and pull out their necks. And he did so. She said to him: I will now do your will, for you have sacrificed to my gods, and worshipped them. Now he did this because of his oath, so that he might not break his oath which she made him to swear, even though he knew it was an offence [sin] to enter into the house of her gods. Kebra Nagast (chapter lxiv).]
[Rehoboam.]
Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, reigned after him. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when [he began] to reign, and he polluted Yerusalem with fornication, the altars of devils, and the stink of heathendom. The kingdom of Yisrayah was torn in two. In the fifth year of his kingdom Shishak, the king of Egypt, went up against Yerusalem. He carried off all the treasure of the service of the house of Yahwah, all the treasure of the kingdom of David, and of that of Solomon, the vessels of gold and the vessels of silver. He magnified himself, and said: I am not taking away treasure which is yours, but the wealth which your fathers took out of Egypt. Rehoboam died in the heathen practices of his father Solomon.
Abijah his son reigned after him, he destroyed Yerusalem with fornication, and with heathen works. Melkâ, the mother of 'Abhd-Shâlôm, was his mother. He died in the heathen practices of his father.
Asa his son reigned after him for forty years in Yerusalem. He did what was good before Yahwah. He put away fornication from Yerusalem, and made an end of the heathen practices of his people, for he kept the commandments of Yahwah. He drove them [the idolators] out of his palace [kingdom], and made them to be a mockery before all the people, because they [taught] the offering of sacrifices to idols. Zerah of Judah went up against him, and Yahwah humbled him before Asa. Asa died in righteousness like his father David.
Jehosaphat his son reigned after him. He walked in the ways of Asa his father, he did that which was pleasing before Yahwah. Yahwah was angry with him because he was a friend of the house of Ahab, and for this reason Yahwah did not permit him to bring out gold from Ophir. He made ships to send there, and they were broken at Ezion Geber [1Kings 22:48]. He was thirty-two years old when he began to reign. The name of his mother was 'Azôbhâ, the daughter of Shâlâh. Jehosaphat died in his righteousness.
Joram reigned after him, and he was thirty-two years old when he began to reign. He reigned eight years in Yerusalem. He did not do what was pleasing before Yahwah, for he sacrificed at the altar of devils, and he died in his heathen practices.
Ahaziah his son reigned after him, he was twenty-two years old when [he began] to reign. He lived for one year in Yerusalem, and did evil things before Yahwah in that year. Because of the wickedness and iniquity he wrought, Yahwah delivered him into the hands of his enemies, and they killed him. When he was dead his mother [Athaliah] killed all the royal children of the house of David, imagining that she would uproot the children of the Jews. The only person of the seed of the royal house whom she did not slay was Joash, whom Yôshba' [Jehosheba], the daughter of Joram, the son of Jehosaphat, carried away secretly, and hid with her in her house.
[Reign of Ahab's sister.]
The sister of Ahab reigned seven years in Yerusalem. She polluted the city with fornication, for she commanded the women to play the whore without fear, and the men to commit adultery with the wives of their neighbors without incurring any penalty. She herself committed fornication like Jezebel, and she adopted all the heathen practices of the house of Ahab in Yerusalem.
[Reign of Joash.]
After seven years the children of Yerusalem considered whom they should make their king. Jehoiada the priest gathered them together in the house of Yahwah, in the temple Solomon built. When the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds were gathered together, Jehoiada the priest said to them: Who will be king and sit upon the throne of David, except [he is] a king, and the son of a king? When he showed him [Joash] to them they rejoiced with an exceedingly great joy. The captains of thousands, the captains of hundreds, the runners, and the messengers brought the kingdom to the house of Yahwah. The soldiers who were armed surrounded him on all sides, and Jehoiada the priest set him [Joash] upon the throne of David his father. [Joash] was seven years old when [he began] to reign, and he reigned forty years in Yerusalem. The name of his mother was Sûbhâ [Zibea] and she was from Beersheba. Athaliah [the mother of Ahaziah] was killed. Joash requited with evil the kindness which Jehoiada did him, after his death he shed the innocent blood of his sons. Joash died, and Amaziah his son reigned after him.
Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Yerusalem. The name of his mother was Yâhô'adhân [Joadan]. Amaziah died, and Uzziah his son reigned after him.
Uzziah was sixteen years old when [he began] to reign, and he reigned fifty years in Yerusalem. The name of his mother was Îkhânyâ [Jechalia]. He did that which was good before Yahwah. Then he made bold to go into the Holy of Holies. He took the censer from the priest of Yahwah [Azariah], and burned incense in the temple of Yahwah. Because he did this leprosy covered his face. Because Yeshayah the prophet did not rebuke him, he was prevented from prophesying until Uzziah died. Jotham his son reigned in his stead.
Jotham was twenty-five years old when [he began] to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Yerusalem. The name of his mother was Îrûshâ [Jerusa], the daughter of Zadok. He did that which was good before Yahwah. He died, and Ahaz his son reigned after him.
[Ahaz a vassal of the King of Assyria.]
Ahaz was twenty years old when [he began] to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Yerusalem. The name of his mother was 'Aphin, the daughter of Levi. He did what is evil before Yahwah, and he sacrificed to devils. Tiglath-Pileser, the king of Assyria, went up against him. Ahaz wrote himself down in his letter as his servant, and the Assyrian held him in subjection. Ahaz sent to the king of Assyria the gold and silver [which were in] the house of Yahwah, [and in his days] the children of Yisrayah were carried off into captivity. The king sent for the men who came from Babel, so that they might dwell in the land instead of the children of Yisrayah, because they could kill the lions. The king of Assyria sent to them Ôrî the priest, and he taught them the laws. Ahaz died, and Hezekiah his son reigned after him.
[Hezekiah.]
Hezekiah was twenty-five years old when [he began] to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Yerusalem. The name of his mother was Akhi, the daughter of Zechariah. He did what is pleasing before Yahwah, for he smashed the altars, he cut in pieces the serpent of brass which Moshe made in the wilderness (because the children of Yisrayah used to worship it), and he abolished heathen practices in Yerusalem.
In the fourth year of his reign, Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, came up and carried away captive the rest of the children of Yisrayah, and he sent them into Media, beyond Babel.
[NOTE: Tiglath Pileser III having conquered Syria carried away into captivity the Yisrayahitish tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh. His successor Shelmaneser V, (727-722 B.C.) attacked Hosea, king of Yisrayah, conquered him and, because he was an ally of the king of Egypt, carried him off into captivity.]
In the twentieth year of Hezekiah, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, came up and took all the cities and towns of Judah, but through the prayer of Hezekiah Yerusalem was saved.
Hezekiah became sick to death. It was grievous to him, and he wept. There were certain men who blamed him, but why [his sickness] was grievous to him they never troubled to acquaint themselves. The sorrow of Hezekiah [came upon him] because when he became sick to death he had no son to reign after him. When he looked with the eyes of his soul and saw that he had no son to reign after him, he was afflicted, wept, and said: Woe is me! I must die childless, and that blessing which was given [to us] for six and forty generations has been cut off by me today. I have become the destroyer of the kingdom of David, and the succession of the kings of Judah is cut off today. This was [the cause of] the sorrow of Hezekiah. After he recovered from his sickness he waited fourteen years, and [then] Manasseh was born to him. Hezekiah died in great content, and left a son to sit upon the throne of David his father.
[Manasseh.]
Manasseh was twelve years old when [he began] to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Yerusalem. The name of his mother was Habhsîbhâh [Hephziba]. He was a man who was more evil and iniquitous than all those who had lived before him. He built altars to devils, sacrificed to idols, filled Yerusalem with iniquity, and provoked Yahwah to wrath. Because Yeshayah [Isaiah] the prophet rebuked him, he threatened him, sent men who were sons of iniquity, and they sawed Yeshayah the prophet in two with a saw between [two pieces of] wood, from his head downwards to his feet. Yeshayah was one hundred and twenty years old when they sawed him in two, and he was the prophet of Yahwah for ninety years. Manasseh repented after he killed Yeshayah. He put sackcloth on his body, decreed fasting for himself, and he ate bread with tears all the days of his life because he committed iniquity, and killed the prophet. Manasseh died, and Ammon reigned after him.
Ammon was twenty-two years old when [he began] to reign, and he reigned two years in Yerusalem. The name of his mother was Mashlemath. Ammon did evil before Yahwah, he made his sons to pass through fire. He died, and Josiah his son reigned after him. Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Yerusalem. The name of his mother was Yadhîdhâ [Jedida], the daughter of Azariah, from Bezkath. He did what was good before Yahwah, and he walked in all the way wherein his father David had walked. He turned aside neither to the right hand nor to the left. Pharaoh the Lame [Necho II] killed him, and Jehoahaz his son reigned after him.
Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when [he began] to reign, and he reigned three months in Yerusalem. The name of his mother was Hamtâl, the daughter of Jeremiah from Lebhnâ. He did what was evil before Yahwah, even as Manasseh did. Pharaoh the Lame, king of Egypt, took him prisoner in Diblath, in the land of Hamath, while he was king in Yerusalem, and he laid tribute on the land, one hundred talents of silver and ten talents of gold. Pharaoh the Lame made Eliakim, the son of Jonah, king instead of Josiah his father, and he made his name to be Jehoiakim. He carried away Jehoahaz, he went to Egypt, and died there. Jehoiakim gave silver and gold to Pharaoh. He laid [the payment] of silver and gold on the land according to the command of Pharoh's mouth. Every man, according to what it was right for him [to pay], brought silver and gold from the people of the land, according to the command of the mouth of Pharaoh the Lame.
Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when [he began] to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Yerusalem. The name of his mother was Zebhîdhâ, the daughter of Pedâyâ, from Ramah. He did what was evil before Yahwah, even as his fathers did. In his days Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babel, went up against Yerusalem, and Jehoiakim became his vassal for three years. Then he turned, rebelled against him, and Yahwah stirred up bands of robbers against him because of his sins. Jehoiakim slept with his fathers, and Jehoiachin his son reigned after him. The king of Egypt did not come forth again out of his country, for the king of Babel captured all the land that belonged to the king of Egypt from the river of Egypt to the river Euphrates.
Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when [he began] to reign, and he reigned three months in Yerusalem. The name of his mother was Neheshtâ, the daughter of Elyâthân, from Yerusalem. He did what is evil before Yahwah, even as his father did. At that time Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babel, went up against Yerusalem. The king of Babel took him with him in the eighth year of his kingdom. He brought out from there all the treasure of the house of Yahwah, and the treasure of the king's house. He carried off into captivity to Babel all [the people of] Yerusalem: Jehoiachin, his mother, his wives, and his nobles. The king brought captive to Babel all the men who had made war. The king of Babel made Methanyâ, the uncle [of Jehoiachin] king in his stead, and he called his name Zedekiah.
[The Capture of Yerusalem.]
Zedekiah was twenty years old when [he began] to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Yerusalem. The name of his mother was Hamtâl, the daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah. He did what was evil before Yahwah, even as did Jehoiakim, and the wrath of Yahwah fell upon Yerusalem. Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babel, and in the ninth year of his kingdom Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babel, came against Yerusalem, and the city was fettered with affliction [besieged] until the eleventh year of king Zedekiah. The city was torn open [its wall was breached], and all the mighty men of war fled from the city by night by way of the plain. The soldiers of the Chaldeans pursued the king, overtook him on the plain of Jericho, and all his soldiers were driven away from him. The Chaldeans captured Zedekiah, took him up to the king of Babel at Debhlath [Riblah], and he passed judgment upon him. The king of Babel killed the sons of Zedekiah the king before his eyes. He blinded the eyes of Zedekiah, bound him in chains, and carried him to Babel. Simeon the high priest, because he had freedom of speech with the commander of the [Chaldean] army, made a request to him. So the commander of the army gave him all the books of the Scriptures, and did not burn them. Simeon the high priest gathered them together and cast them into a pit [dry well]. Yerusalem was laid waste and made desolate. No man remained there except Yeremyah [Jeremiah] the Prophet, who sat and raised lamentations over it for twenty years. Yeremyah the Prophet died in Samaria, and the priest Ûr buried him in Yerusalem, according to the oath which the prophet made him to swear.
Now up to the time of the destruction of Yerusalem the Hebrew, Greek, and Syrian writers were in possession of the truth, and they were able to produce the registers of the genealogies of the tribes and the people. But from the destruction of Yerusalem and onwards there has been no truth in their writings, except as regards the heads of the tribes [the Patriarchs]), and they are unable to prove where the succession of the priests took its origin.
[Jehoiachin.]
Jehoiachin was bound in prison for thirty-seven years. After he came forth from prison he took to wife Gûlîth, the daughter of Eliakim, and he begot by her in Babel Shalathiel [Salathiel]. Jehoiachin died in Babel. Salathiel took to wife Hetbath, the daughter of Halkânâ, and he begot by her Zûrbâbhel [Zerubbabel], who took to wife Malkath, the daughter of Ezra the scribe, but no son was born to him by her in Babel. In the days of Zerubbabel, the prince of Judah, Cyrus the Persian reigned in Babel.
[Cyrus.]
Cyrus took to wife the daughter of Salathiel, the sister of Zerubbabel. He took her to wife according to the law of the Persians, and made her [his] queen. She entreated Cyrus to bring about the return of the children of Yisrayah [to Yerusalem]. Inasmuch as Zerubbabel was her brother, she was very insistent about the return [to Yerusalem] of those who were led away into captivity. Cyrus loved his wife as he loved himself, and he did for her what she wished. He sent forth heralds into all the land of Babel, ordering all the children of Yisrayah to gather themselves together. When they were gathered together Cyrus said to Zerubbabel, his wife's brother: Rise up, take with you all the children of your people, go up to Yerusalem in peace, [re]build the city of your fathers, dwell and reign therein. Because Cyrus brought about the return of the children of Yisrayah [to Yerusalem], Yahwah said: I took my servant Cyrus by his right hand (Isaiah 44:28-45:1). The name of Cyrus was called: My shepherd, the anointed of Yahwah; because his seed was received into the seed of David through Meshayyanath, the sister of Zerubbabel, whom he took to wife. The children of Yisrayah went up from Babel, and Zerubbabel became king over them. Yahshua, the son of Yôzâdâk, the son of Aaron, was high priest, even as the malak showed Zechariah the prophet, and said to him: These are the sons of the oil of consecration.
The people of the captivity went up in the second year of Cyrus, and the FIFTH THOUSAND YEARS CAME TO AN END.
THE FIVE HUNDRED YEARS FROM THE SECOND YEAR OF CYRUS TO THE BIRTH OF MESSIYAH.
When the people went up [to Yerusalem] they had no Books of the Prophets. Ezra the scribe went down into that pit [wherein Simeon had cast the Books]. He found a censer full of fire, and the perfume of the incense which rose up from it. Thrice he took some of the dust of those Books, and cast it into his mouth. Right away Yahwah made the spirit of prophecy to abide in him, and he renewed all the Books of the Prophets.
That same fire which was found in the pit became the holy fire in the house of Yahwah. Zerubbabel reigned in Yerusalem, Yahshua the son of Yôzâdâk was high-priest, and Ezra was the scribe of the Law and the Prophets. The children of Yisrayah celebrated a Passover when they went up from Babel. These are the three Passovers which the children of Yisrayah kept: the first was [kept] in Egypt in the days of Moshe, the the second was [kept] in the reign of Josiah, the third was [kept] when they went up from the land of Babel. Now an end was made to the Passover for them forever. From the first captivity of Yerusalem, that in which Daniel went down into captivity, to the reign of Cyrus the Persian, was seventy years according to the prophecy of Yeremyah. The children of Yisrayah began the [re]building of the Temple in the days of Zerubbabel, Yahshua the son of Yôzâdôk, and Ezra the scribe. The building was finished in six and forty years, even as it is written in the holy Gospel (Yahchanan 2:19).
[The genealogies of the later Yisrayahites.]
Now the genealogy of the tribes [families] was lost by the scribes. They were unable to show either where the heads of families took [their] wives, or where they came. I, however, possess the knowledge of the correct genealogy, and will show the truth to everyman. When the children of Yisrayah went up from Babylon:
Zerubbabel begot Abiud by Malkath, the daughter of Ezra the scribe.
Abiud took to wife Zakhyath, the daughter of Yahshua the son of Yôzâdâk, the priest, and begot Eliakim by her.
Eliakim took to wife Hâlâbh, the daughter of Dôrnîbh, and begot 'Azôr by her.
'Azôr took to wife Yalpath, the daughter of Hazôr, and begot Zadok by her.
Zadok took to wife Kaltîn, the daughter of Dôrnibh, and begot Akhîn by her.
Akhîn took to wife Heskath, the daughter of Ta'îl, and begot Eliud by her.
Eliud took to wife Beshtîn, the daughter of Hasâl, and begot Eleazar by her.
Eleazar took to wife Dîbath, the daughter of Tôlâh, and begot Mâtthân by her.
Mâtthân took to wife Sebhrath, the daughter of Phinehas, and begot Jacob and Yônâkhîr by her, two sons at one conception.
Jacob took to wife Hadbhîth, the daughter of Eleazur, and begot Yahusef by her.
Yônakhîr took Dînâ, the daughter of Pâkôdh, and begot Miryam by her, of whom was born the Messiyah.
Because none of the early writers could discover the order of succession of the generations of their fathers, the Jews urged the sons of the Church very strongly to show them [who were] the fathers of the blessed Miryam in the order of the succession of their families. They pressed the children of the Church to enquire into the genealogy of the families of their fathers, and to show them the truth. For the Jews call Miryam an adulteress. Here the mouth of the Jews is stopped, they believe Miryam was of the seed of the house of David, and of Abraham. Now the Jews have no table of succession which shows them the true order of the families of their fathers, because their books were burned three times: once in the days of Antiochus [IV Epiphanes], who raised up a persecution against them, polluted the Temple of Yahwah, and forced them to offer up sacrifices to idols; the second time in the days of [captivity]; and the third time in the days of Herod, when Yerusalem was destroyed. Because of this the Jews were greatly grieved, for they had no trustworthy table of the succession of the generations of their fathers. They toiled eagerly that they might obtain the truth, but they were unable to do so.
Now the Jews had many writers, and each of them wrote what he pleased. No two of them agreed in what they wrote, because they could not stand on a foundation of truth. Even our own writers, the children of the Church, cannot show us the certainty of the real truth. They cannot show how the ascent of the body of Adam to Golgotha took place, nor where came the fathers [ancestors] of Melchisedek, and the fathers of the blessed woman Miryam. The children of Yisrayah being urged by the Church, and being unable to ascertain the truth, waxed reckless, and wrote, as it were, in the madness of error. [Here the text is faulty and incomplete.] As concerning the table of succession of the sixty-three families, which [reach] from Adam to Messiyah, the Greek writers, the Hebrew writers, and the Syrian writers, can neither show where each head of a family took his wife, nor whose daughter she was. Now each divine teacher laid down for the Church one true doctrine, and they gave to believers the armor whereby they can fight and overcome her enemies. Besides this, the grace of Messiyah granted to us what was lacking in them, and this we will cast into the rich treasury [of their knowledge]. With great diligence we stir ourselves up to do this, even as our truly loving brother in Messiyah, the illustrious Nâmôsâyâ greatly desired. Although I procrastinate, through your love of learning you have not been tardy. Because of your loving kindness towards me, and also because I myself am eager to not withhold from you what you require of me, I will [here] write down the true table of succession. Hear, O my brother Nemesius the following table of succession which I write for you. None of the [Jewish] scholars has been able to light upon it. Following are the sixty-three generations from which the Incarnation of Messiyah is descended, and their order is this:
1. Adam begot Seth.
2. Seth took to wife Kelîmath, who was born with Abel, and begot by her Enos.
3. Enos took to wife Hannâ, the daughter of Jubal, the daughter of Hôh, the daughter of Seth, and begot by her Cainan.
4. Cainan took to wife Peryath, the daughter of Kôtûn, the daughter of Yarbâl, and begot by her Mahlâlâîl.
5. Mahlâlâîl took to wife Sehatpar, the daughter of Enos, and begot by her Yârêd [Jared].
6. Jared took to wife Zebhîdhâ, the daughter of Kuhlôn, the daughter of Kenan, and begot by her Enoch.
7. Enoch took to wife Zadhkîn, the daughter of Tôpîh, the daughter of Mahlâlâîl, and begot by her Methuselah.
8. Methuselah took to wife Sâkhûth, the daughter of Sôkhîn, and begot by her Lamech.
9. Lamech took to wife Kîpâr, the daughter of Tûthâth, the daughter of Methuselah, and begot by her Noah.
10. Noah took to wife Haykâl, the daughter of Namûs, and he begot by her Shem, Ham and Yaphet.
11. Shem begot Arpakhshar [Arphaxad].
12. Arphaxad begot Shâlâh [Salah].
13. Salah begot Âbhâr [Eber].
14. Eber begot Pâlâg [Peleg].
15. Peleg begot Ar'ô [Reu].
16. Reu begot Sârôgh [Serug].
17. Serug took to wife Kâhâl, the daughter of Peleg, who begot Nâhôr.
18. Nâhôr took to wife Napûsh, the daughter of Reu, and begot Tarah [Terah].
19. Terah took two wives, Yônâ and Salmûth. By Yônâ he begot Abraham, and by Salmûth he begot Sârâ [Sarah].
20. Abraham took to wife Sarah and begot Isaac.
21. Isaac took to wife Rebecca and begot Jacob.
22. Jacob took to wife Leah and begot Judah.
23. Judah begot Pars [Pharez] by Tamar.
24. Pharez begot Hezron.
25. Hezron begot Aram.
26. Aram begot Amminadab.
27. Amminadab begot Nahshôn [Nahasson].
28. Nahasson begot Salmon.
29. Salmon begot Boaz, by Rahab.
30. Boaz took to wife Ruth, the daughter of Lot, and begot Obed.
31. Obed begot Jesse.
32. Jesse begot David the king.
33. David took to wife Bathsheba, and begot Solomon by her.
34. Solomon begot Rehoboam.
35. Rehoboam begot Abijah.
36. Abijah begot Asa.
37. Asa begot Jehoshaphat.
38. Jehoshaphat begot Joram.
39. Joram begot Ahaziah.
40. Ahaziah begot Joash.
41. Joash begot Amaziah.
42. Amaziah begot Uzziah.
43. Uzziah begot Jotham.
44. Jotham begot Ahaz.
45. Ahaz begot Hezekiah.
46. Hezekiah begot Manasseh.
47. Manasseh begot Amon.
48. Amon begot Josiah.
49. Josiah begot Jehoiakim.
50. Jehoiakim begot Jehoiachin.
51. Jehoiachin begot Salathiel.
52. Salathiel begot Nedabijah.
53. Nedabijah begot Zerubbabel.
54. Zerubbabel begot Abiud.
55. Abiud begot Eliakim.
56. Eliakim begot Azor.
57. Azor begot Zadok.
58. Zadok begot Achin.
59. Achin begot Eliud.
60. Eliud begot Eleazar.
61. Eleazar begot Mâtthan.
62. Mâtthan took to wife Sabhrath, the daughter of Phinehas, and begot Jacob and Yônâkhîr.
63. Jacob took to wife Hadhbhîth, the daughter of Eleazar, and begot Yahusef, the betrothed of Miryam.
Yônâkhîr took to wife Dînâ, that is to say, Hannâ, the daughter of Pâkôdh, and sixty years after he took her to wife she brought forth Miryam, of whom was born Messiyah.
[The Genealogy of Miryam.]
Yahusef was the son of Miryam's uncle. By the fore-knowledge of Yahwah (Who knew Miryam would certainly be attacked by the Jews), Miryam was given to Yahusef, who was the son of her uncle, that he might take care of her. Observe, O our brother Nemesius, that the fathers of the blessed woman Miryam belonged to the succession of the generations of David.
Behold, I have set you upon a foundation of truth, which none of the [former] chroniclers found to stand upon. See how these sixty-three generations [reaching] from Adam to the birth of Messiyah, succeeded each other. The Jews also rejoiced because they found the generations of the families of their fathers.
Observe, O our brother Nemesius, that in the days of Cyrus the FIFTH THOUSAND [YEARS] CAME TO AN END. From the thousand [years] of Cyrus until the Passion of our Redeemer, the years were in number five hundred, according to the prophecy of Daniel, who prophesied and said: After sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be slain. These weeks make five hundred years.
Behold, from this time the mouth of the Jews is shut, for they dare to say the Messiah has not yet come. They must, then, do one of two things: either accept the prophecy of Daniel; or say; We do not accept it. The prophecy fulfilled itself, the weeks passed, the Messiyah was slain, and the Holy City was laid waste by Vespasian.
[The Birth of Messiyah.]
Observe now, O you lover of learning, our brother Nemesius, in the forty-second year of the kingdom of Augustus, Messiyah was born in Bethlehem of Judah, as it is written in the Holy Gospel.
[The Star and the Magi.]
Now, it was two years before Messiyah was born that the star appeared to the Magi. They saw the star in the firmament of heaven, and the brilliancy of its appearance was brighter than that of every other star. Within it was a maiden carrying a child, and a crown was set upon his head. Now it was the custom of the ancient kings, and the Magi of the Chaldeans, to consult the Signs of the Zodiac about all the affairs of their lives. When the Magi saw the star they were perturbed, terrified, afraid, and the whole land of Persia was disturbed. The kings, the Magi, the Chaldeans, and the wise men of Persia, were stupefied. They were exceedingly afraid of the portent they saw. They said: Maybe the king of the Greeks has determined to wage war against the land of Nimrod. The Magi and the Chaldeans were terrified, and they consulted their books of wisdom. Through the might of the wisdom of their books they understood and learned, and stood upon the strength of the truth. Now, in truth, the Magi of the Chaldeans discovered that by means of the motions of the stars, to which they gave the name of Signs of the Zodiac, they were able to know and understand the importance of events before they took place. This same knowledge is also given to those who go down into the sea. By the motions of the stars they know beforehand when there is going to be a disturbance of the winds, when a violent storm is going to rise up against them, and whenever they are about to be threatened with danger from winds and waves. Thus also was it with the Magi. When they saw and read in the Revelation of Nimrod they discovered therein that a king was born in Judah, and the whole path of the Dispensation of Messiyah was revealed to them.
[NOTE: As touching the nature of that star, whether it was a star in its nature, or in appearance only, it is right to know that it was not of the other stars, but a secret power which appeared like a star. All the other stars that are in the firmament (and the sun and moon) perform their course from east to west. This one, however, made its course from north to south, for Palestine lies thus, over against Persia. This star was not seen by them at night only, but also during the day, at noon. It was seen at the time when the sun is particularly strong, because it was not one of the stars. Now the moon is stronger in its light than all the stars, but it is immediately quenched and its light dissipated by one small ray of the sun. This star overcame even the beams of the sun by the intensity of its light. Sometimes it appeared, and sometimes it was hidden entirely. It guided the Magi as far as Palestine. . . . . . This was not an ordinary movement of the stars, but a rational power. Moreover, it had no fixed path. It did not remain always in the height of heaven, but sometimes it came down, and sometimes it mounted up. Book of the Bee (chapter xxxviii).]
[The Signs of the Zodiac.]
[The names of the Babylonian Signs of the Zodiac were:
1 [Amel] Agru
2 Kakkab u Alap shame
3 Re'u kinu shame u Tu´ame rabuti
4 AL.LUL
5 Kalbu rabu
6 Shiru
7 Zibanitum
8 Akrabu
9 PA-BIL-SAG
10 SUHUR.MASH
11 Gula
12 DILGANU u Rikis nuni
(The sign placed before each name is the determinative for star.) |
| | |
Meaning of the name | Equivalent | Month name |
The Laborer | Goat | Nisannu |
Star and the Bull of heaven | Bull | Airu |
Faithful Shepherd of heaven and the Great Twins | Twins | Simanu |
The Tortoise | Crab | Duuzu |
The Great Dog [Lion] | Lion | Abu |
Virgin with ear of corn | Virgin | Ululu |
Scales | Libra | Tashritum |
The Scorpion | Scorpion | Arah shamna |
Enurta [the god] | Bow | Kislimu |
The Goat-fish | Capricornus | Tebetum |
The Great Star | Water-Bearer | Shabatu |
Star and the Band of Fishes | The Fishes | Addaru |
And straightaway, according to what they received from the tradition which was handed down to them by their fathers, they left the East, and went up to the mountains of Nôdh [Noah], which lie inside the entrances to the East from the lands on the skirts of the North. They took from them gold, myrrh, and frankincense. From this [passage] understand, O my brother Nemesius, that the Magi knew the whole service of the Dispensation of our Redeemer through the offerings they brought: the gold was for a king, the myrrh for a physician, and the frankincense for a priest. The Magi knew who He was, that He was a king, a physician, and a priest. When the son of the king of Sheba was a little boy his father brought him to a Rabbi. He learned the Book of the Hebrews better than all his companions and his fellow countrymen, and he said to all his slaves: It is written in all the books of genealogies that the king will be born in Bethlehem.
[The names of the Magi.]
These are those who bore offerings to the King, kings, the sons of kings:
1. HÔRMÎZDADH of Mâkhôzdî, king of Persia, dwelt in Lower Âdhôrghîn and was called: King of Kings.
2. ÎZGARAD [Yazdegerd], the king of Sâbhâ.
3. PERÔZÂDH, the king of Sheba, which is in the East.
[The Magi in Yerusalem.]
The Magi having made ready to go up, the kingdom of the mighty men of war was perturbed and terrified. There was with the Magi so mighty a following that all the cities of the East were in dismay before them, and Yerusalem also. When they entered the presence of Herod, he trembled before them, and he commanded them, saying: Depart in peace, seek diligently for the young Child, and when you find Him, come and show me, that I too may go and make obeisance to Him. Though deceit was hidden in Herod's heart, he offered homage with his mouth. When the Magi went up to Yerusalem there was great commotion in Judah, because of the edict of Augustus Caesar, which commanded that every man should be registered in his country, in the city of his fathers. Because of this Herod was greatly perturbed, and he said to the Magi: Go, search for Him. Now the Magi are called Magi because of the garb of Magianism in which the heathen kings arrayed themselves whensoever they offered up a sacrifice and made offerings to their gods. They made use of two different kinds of apparel. That which appertained to royalty [they wore] inside, and that which appertained to Magianism outside. Thus also was it with those who went up prepared to make offerings to Messiyah, they were arrayed in both kinds of apparel.
When the Magi went forth from Yerusalem, and from the presence of Herod, that same star which was their guide on the road appeared to them, and they rejoiced greatly. The star went on before them until they entered the cave, where they saw the young Child swathed in bands, and laid in a manger. While they were on their way up there they said within themselves: When we arrive there we will see mighty and wonderful things, according to the law and custom which prevail among royal personages when a king is born. Thus did they think they would find a royal palace in the land of Yisrayah, couches of gold with cushions laid upon them, the king and the son of the king arrayed in purple, awestruck soldiers and companies of royal troops, the nobles of the kingdom paying him honor by presenting gifts, tables laid out with meats fit for the king, vessels of drink standing in rows, and men servants and women servants serving in fear. Such were the things which the Magi expected to see, but they did not see them. They saw sights which were far better than these when they went into the cave. They saw Yahusef sitting in astonishment, and Miryam in a state of wonderment. There was no couch with cushions laid upon it, no table with food laid out upon it, and no sign of the preparations which accompany royal state. Although they saw all this humble estate and poverty, they had no doubt in their minds. They drew near in fear, made obeisance to Him in honor, and they offered to Him gold, myrrh, and frankincense. It was very grievous to Miryam and Yahusef that they had nothing to set before them, but the Magi fed themselves with food of their own providing.
[NOTES: In addition to the gold, frankincense, and myrrh which the Magi brought, they laid before the Child as an offering thirty zûzê of silver. Their weight was according to the weight of the sanctuary, but they were equal to six hundred pieces according to the weight of the country. (The Syriac zûzê = the Arabic dirham and the Greek drachme.) The thirty pieces were made by Terah, who gave them to Abraham, who gave them to Isaac. With them Isaac bought a village, and the man who received them took them to Pharaoh. Pharaoh sent them to David as a contribution towards the building of the Temple, and Solomon placed them round the door of the altar. Nebuchadnezzar carried them away to Babylon, gave them to certain royal Persian hostages, who took them to Persia and gave them to their parents. When the Magi set out for Yerusalem they took the thirty pieces (with their other offerings) out with them. They bought from certain shepherds at Edessa the garment without seam [John 19:23-24] which a malak gave to them. Abgar, king of Edessa, took the thirty pieces and the garment from the shepherds, and sent them to Messiyah. Messiyah kept the garment and sent the thirty pieces to the Jewish treasury. The priests gave them to Judas Iscariot for betraying Yahshua, but he repented and took them back to the priests. After Judas hanged himself the priests purchased a burial ground for strangers with the thirty pieces (Book of the Bee, chapter xliv).]
[The Circumcision of Messiyah.]
Messiyah was eight days old when the Magi presented their offerings, Miryam received them at the very time when Yahusef circumcised Messiyah. In truth, Yahusef circumcised Him according to the Law, but he only went through [imitated] the act of cutting, for no [flesh] whatsoever was cut off from Him. For as [a rod of] iron passes through the fire and cuts the rays thereof, without any part of it being cut off from it, so in like manner Messiyah was circumcised without anything being taken from Him.
[The Conversion of the Magi.]
The Magi lived with the Child three days, and they saw the hosts of heaven going up and coming down to Messiyah. They heard the sound of the praises of the malaks, who sang hymns and cried out: Holy, Holy, Holy, Mighty Yahwah, with whose praises the heavens and the earth are filled. They were in great fear, and in truth they believed in Messiyah, and said: This is the King who came down from heaven and become man. Perôzdhâdh answered, and said to them: Now I know the prophecy of Yeshayah is true. When I was in the school of the Hebrews I read in [the Book of] Yeshayah, and I found [written] therein thus: Unto us a child is born, to us a son is given. His Name will be called Wonderful, Counsellor, and Yahwah, Giant of the Worlds [Isaiah 9:6]. And it is written in another place: Behold, a virgin is with child, she will bring forth a son, and his name will be called Emmanuyah (which is, being interpreted, Yahwah with us) [Isaiah 7:14]. Because He became a man, and the malaks were coming down from heaven to Him, truly He is the Master of malaks and men. All the Magi believed, and said: Truly this King is Yahwah. Kings are born to us frequently, mighty men, and the sons of mighty men, are born to us on earth, but it is an unheard-of thing for the gods to come down to them. Right away they all rose up, and did homage to Him as Master and King of the world. After preparing food for their journey, they went back to their own country by a desert road.
[The Massacre of the Innocents.]
Now, there are certain men who will dispute this [statement], and say: Where was Messiyah when the children were massacred, for it is written that He was not found in the land of Judah? It was because of this massacre that He fled to Egypt, so that there might be fulfilled that which is written: From Egypt I called my Son [Hosea 11:1]. Know this also: when Messiyah entered Egypt all the idols therein were swept from their places, fell down, and were broken, so that there might be fulfilled that which is written: Behold, Yahwah rides on a swift cloud, enters Egypt, and the idols of Egypt will be broken before Him [Isaiah 19:1].
He did not return from Egypt [at once], but lived there until Herod died, and after him reigned Archelaus.
Now, you must know, O my brother Nemesius, that, even as I already told you, all the men who were under the rule of Herod were [included] in that registration for taxation, and the registration was completed in fifty days. It was not until this registration was completed and sealed, and until Herod had sealed it and sent it to Augustus in Rome, that the Messiah was searched for. Up to that time no children had been slain. It was during the commotion caused by that registration that Messiyah was born. When forty days after His birth had been fulfilled, Messiyah went into the Temple of Yahwah. Simeon the Aged, the son of Yahshua bar-Yôzâdhâk, in whose days the captivity went up from Babel, took Him in his arms. Now, Simeon was five hundred years old when he took Messiyah in his arms.
[The Flight into Egypt.]
Straightaway the malak said to Yahusef: Arise, take the young Child and His mother, and flee into Egypt. When the registration was completed, the Jews were dismissed, so that each man might depart to his own district and to his own village.
[Herod and Yahchanan the Baptist.]
Then Herod enquired for the Magi, and he was told: They went back to their own country. He was exceedingly angry, he sent right away and killed all the young children in Bethlehem, and in all the villages round about. When Herod passed among the slain children, and they did not find there [the body of] Yahchanan, the son of Zacharyah, he said: Truly, his son will reign over Yisrayah. For he had heard of what was said to Zacharyah by the malak, when he announced to him concerning [the birth of] Yahchanan. Herod sent to Zacharyah [and commanded him] to bring Yahchanan. Zacharyah said: I am a priest, I minister in the Temple of Yahwah. I do not know where the child and his mother are. Because of these words Zacharyah was killed between the bench [steps] and the altar. Now, Elizabeth had taken Yahchanan and gone forth into the desert.
[The Death of Herod.]
As for Herod, a divine punishment that was pitiless overtook him. He fell ill of a sickness through which he stank, his body melted away into a mass of worms, he suffered most grievous pains, and at length people were unable to come near him because of his putrid smell. Through that bitter suffering his soul departed into outer darkness. Nevertheless, by his death he destroyed many.
Herod had said to Archelaus his son, and to Shâlôm [Peace] his sister: As soon as I am dead, let those whom I have fettered in prison be slain. He had imprisoned one person from every house. He said: I know the Jews will feel great joy at my death. In order that they not rejoice and be glad while you are sorrowful and are weeping, let all those whom I have shut up in prison be slain, so that through their death they may cause lamentation unintentionally. Archelaus and Shâlôm did as Herod commanded them, and when this order was carried out in all Judah there remained not one house in which there was not lamentation, even as it was in Egypt [in days of old].
[Messiyah returns to Galilee.]
When Herod died, and his death was announced to Yahusef, he went back to Galilee. When Messiyah was thirty years old He was baptized by Yahchanan. Now Yahchanan was in the desert all the days of his life, and he lived upon the root which is called Kâmûs, which is wild honey. [According to some this root was like to a carrot.] In the twelfth year of the kingdom of Tiberius Messiyah suffered.
[Chronological statement.]
Understand now and see, O my brother Nemesius, that in the days of Yârêd, in his fortieth year, the FIRST Thousand Years came to an end. In the six hundredth year of Noah the SECOND Thousand Years came to an end. In the seventy-fourth year of Reu the THIRD Thousand Years came to an end. In the twenty-sixth year of Âhôr (Ehud) the FOURTH Thousand Years came to an end. In the second year of Cyrus the FIFTH Thousand Years came to an end. And in the five hundredth year of the SIXTH Thousand Years Messiyah was born in His human form.
[The Crucifixion of Messiyah.]
Know also that Messiyah dwelt in Miryam, suffered in Nazareth, was born in Bethlehem, was laid in a manger, was carried by Simeon in the Temple of Solomon, was reared in Galilee, was anointed by Miryam Magdalene, ate the Passover in the house of Nicodemus (the brother of Yahusef of Râmethâ), was bound in the house of Hannân, was struck with a reed in the house of Caiaphas, embraced the pillar and was scourged with a whip in the Praetorium of Pilate, and on Friday, on the first day of Nîsân [April], on the fourteenth day of the moon, our Redeemer died.
At the FIRST HOUR of Friday Yahwah fashioned Adam from the dust, and at the first hour of Friday Messiyah received spittle from the sons of Adam.
At the SECOND HOUR of Friday the wild beasts, the cattle, and the feathered fowl gathered themselves together to Adam, and he gave names to them as they bowed their heads before him. And at the second hour of Friday the Jews gathered themselves together against Messiyah, and they gnashed their teeth at Him, even as the blessed David said: Many bulls have gathered together round about me, bulls of Bashan have beset me round [Psalm 22:12].
At the THIRD HOUR of Friday a crown of glory was placed on the head of Adam, and at the third hour of Friday the crown of thorns was placed on the head of Messiyah.
THREE HOURS was Adam in Paradise and shining with splendor, and three hours was Messiyah in the Judgment Hall being beaten by creatures that were fashioned out of dust.
At the SIXTH HOUR Eve went up to the tree of the transgression of the commandment, and at the sixth hour Messiyah ascended the Cross, the Tree of Life.
At the SIXTH HOUR Eve gave to Adam the fruit of the gall of death, and at the sixth hour the crowd of iniquity gave to Messiyah vinegar and gall.
For THREE HOURS Adam remained under the Tree naked, and for three hours Messiyah was naked on the wood of the Cross. From the right side of Adam Eve went forth, the mother of mortal offspring; and from the right side of Messiyah went forth baptism, the mother of immortal offspring.
On Friday Adam and Eve sinned, and on Friday their sin was remitted.
On Friday Adam and Eve died, and on Friday they came alive.
On Friday Death reigned over them, and on Friday they were freed from his dominion.
On Friday Adam and Eve went forth from Paradise, and on Friday our Messiyah went into the grave.
On Friday Adam and Eve became naked, and on Friday Messiyah stripped Himself naked and clothed them.
On Friday Satan stripped Adam and Eve naked, and on Friday Messiyah stripped naked Satan and all his hosts, and put them to shame openly.
On Friday the door of Paradise was shut and Adam went forth, and on Friday it was opened and a robber went in.
On Friday the two-edged sword was given to the Cherub, and on Friday Messiyah smote with the spear, and broke the two-edged sword.
On Friday kingdom, priesthood, and prophecy were given to Adam, and on Friday priesthood, kingdom, and prophecy were taken from the Jews.
At the NINTH HOUR Adam went down into the lowest depth of the earth from the height of Paradise, and at the ninth hour Messiyah went down to the lowest depths of the earth, to those who lay in the dust, from the height of the Cross.
Know also that Messiyah was like to Adam in everything, even as it is written. In that very place where Melchisedek ministered as a priest, where Abraham offered up his son Isaac as an offering, the wood of the Cross was set up. That very same place is the center of the earth, and there the Four Quarters of the earth meet each other. When Yahwah made the earth His mighty power was running before it, and the earth was running after it. The power of Yahwah stood still and became motionless in Golgotha, and that same place forms the boundary of the earth. When Shem took up the body of Adam, that same place, which is the door of the earth, opened itself. When Shem and Melchisedek deposited the body of Adam in the center of the earth the Four Quarters of the earth closed in about it, and embraced Adam. Straightaway that opening was closed firmly, and all the children of Adam were not able to open it. When the Cross of Messiyah, the Redeemer of Adam and his sons, was set up upon it, the door of that place was opened in the face of Adam. When the Wood [the Cross] was fixed upon it, and Messiyah was smitten with the spear, and blood and water flowed down from His side, they ran down into the mouth of Adam. They became a baptism to him, and he was baptized.
Now when the Jews crucified Messiyah on the Wood, they divided His garments among them beneath the Cross, even as it is written. His tunic was of purple, which is the garment of royalty. When they stripped Him of the garment of royalty Pilate would not permit the Jews to array Him in ordinary garments, only in the actual garments of royalty, either purple or scarlet. By both of these it might be known that He was a king. It is impossible for any other man to wear purple, only a king can do this. One of the Evangelists said: The soldiers put on Him a purple robe [Mark 15:17, Yahchanan 19:2-5], and this is a true word and is highly credible. Another Evangelist uses the word scarlet [Matthew 27:28], and he proclaimed what was true. The scarlet garment indicates to us blood, and the purple garment water; for the scarlet one was like to blood, and the purple one was like to water. The scarlet garment proclaims the joyful and immortal nature of man, and the purple one the sad and mortal nature of man. Understand, therefore, O our brother Nemesius, that scarlet proclaims life.
Now the spies said prophetically to Rahab, the harlot: You will tie a thread of scarlet to the window [Yahshua 2:18] when they descended having been [well] entreated by her. Through her they prefigured a certain matter, for the window [symbolized] the side of Yahushua Messiyah, and the thread of scarlet His precious blood which produced life.
They [the Jews] wove a crown of spikes of thorn bushes, and set it upon His head. They arrayed Him in royal apparel, not knowing what they were doing. They bowed the knee, made obeisance to Him, and they spoke with their mouths, without being compelled to do so, saying: Hail to you, King of the Jews. Observe, O my brothers, that not even in His death did He lack the [sign of] royalty. When the Jews and the soldiers who were the servants of Herod and Pilate were struggling together to tear the tunic of Messiyah, to divide it among them, they did so because they all eagerly desired the beauty of the sight of it. The centurion who watched the Cross himself testified before all the crowd, saying: Verily, this man is the Son of Yahwah. And this centurion said to them: The orders which were given to me do not permit me to tear the apparel of royalty, but cast lots for it [and we will see] to whom it will come. When the Jews and the soldiers of the king cast lots, the lot fell upon one of the soldiers of Pilate. Now the tunic of Yahushua had no seam, but was woven whole in one piece. Whensoever there was a lack of rain in the place where it was deposited and taken care of, the people used to bring out the tunic, and as soon as they lifted it up towards heaven an abundance of rain fell. Also, whensoever the soldier who received it lacked rain for his crop, he brought out the tunic, and it worked this miracle. Now the tunic was taken away by force from the man who got it by Pilate, who sent it to the Emperor Tiberius. To us this tunic indicates the Orthodox Faith, which all the nations [joined] together are unable to cleave.
Three valuable gifts, than which there is nothing more valuable, were given to the Jews in olden time, namely, royalty, priesthood, and prophecy. Prophecy by the hand of Moshe, priesthood by the hand of Aaron, and royalty by the hand of David. These three gifts which the generations and families of the children of Yisrayah had enjoyed for [many] years were taken from them in one day. They were stripped of all three of them, and became aliens to them, that is to say, prophecy by the Cross, priesthood by the tearing of the tunic [of Messiyah], and royalty by the crown of thorns. Moreover, that spirit of compassion [propitiation] which dwelt in the Temple, in the Holy of Holies, abandoned them and departed. The curtain [veil] of the sanctuary was torn in two. And the Passover fled from them, for they never celebrated another Passover in it. Know, O my brothers, that when Pilate pressed them to go into the Judgment Hall, they said to him: We are unable to go into the Praetorium, because up to now we have not eaten the Passover.
When the sentence of death was passed on Yahushua by Pilate, they [the Jews] made haste and went into the sanctuary and brought out from there the carrying poles of the Ark of the Covenant, and out of them they made the Cross of Messiyah. Verily it was appropriate that these pieces of wood which used to carry the Covenant should also carry the Master of the Covenant. The Cross of Messiyah was formed of two pieces of wood which were of the same height, depth, length, and breadth. Paul the Apostle labored exceedingly that the Gentiles might know what was the might of the Cross, which embraced the height, depth, length, and breadth of the earth. When they raised up Messiyah, the Lamp of Light of all the earth, and set Him upon the candlestick of the Cross, the light of the sun became dark and was extinguished, and a covering of darkness was spread over the whole earth. Three nails were driven into the body of our Redeemer, two through His hands, and one through both His feet. And there were two thieves, one on His right hand and one on His left hand.
They handed out to Him vinegar and gall in a sponge. By the vinegar which they gave to Him it was made known concerning those whose will was changed from what it was formerly, that they had turned themselves from integrity to wickedness. By the gall was made known the bitterness of the accursed serpent which was in them. They showed that they also belonged to that good vineyard from which prophets, kings, priests, and they themselves had drunk. But because they became wicked heirs, who would not labor in the vineyard of my beloved, they produced husks instead of grapes, and the wine which they pressed out was sour. Having crucified the Heir on the Wood, they mixed some of the impurity of their wickedness with their sour wine, and gave Him to drink of the wine from the vineyard of the Gentiles. But He would not drink [saying]: Give me of that vine which My Father brought out of Egypt. Messiyah knew the prophecy of Moshe which was prophesied concerning them was fulfilled in them. Moshe said: Your grapes are grapes of gall, your clusters are bitter. Your poison is the poison of the serpent, and their head is that of a malignant viper. These are the things which you render to Yahwah [Deuteronomy 32:33].
Observe, O my brother Nemesius, that the blessed Moshe with the eye of the Spirit foresaw the things which they were going to do to Messiyah, [and said]: These are the things which you render to Yahwah. The congregation of the crucifiers was a decayed vine, its daughters were bitter grapes, and its sons were clusters of gall. Their head was Caiaphas, the malignant viper, and they were all evil serpents, all of them were filled with the venom of Satan, who is the Evil Serpent. Instead of the water of the rock which was given them to drink in the wilderness, they gave Him vinegar to drink; and instead of manna, the gall of the quail. They did not give Him a cup to drink from, but a sponge, so that they might show that the blessing of their fathers was swept away from them. Now this is evident from what follows: When a vessel is empty and there is no wine in it, they wash and wipe it with a sponge. Even so did the Jews do when they crucified Messiyah. With a sponge they wiped away and removed from themselves royalty, priesthood, prophecy, and the religion of Messiyah, and gave them to Messiyah (only the washed and empty vessels of their bodies remained).
The Law and the Prophets were fulfilled, and Adam was sent and saw the fountain of living water which was poured out from above for his redemption. Then Messiyah was smitten with the spear. Blood and water flowed down from His side, but they were not mingled with each other. For what reason did the blood come forth before the water? For two reasons. First, that through the blood life might be given to Adam, and then, after life and resurrection, the water for his baptism. Second, that through the blood He might show that He was immortal, and through the water He might show that He was mortal, and a bearer of sufferings. The blood and the water ran down into the mouth of Adam, and Adam was redeemed, and put on a garment of glory. Messiyah wrote the edict of His return with the blood of His own Person, and dispatched it by the thief.
When an end was made of everything, the writ of repudiation of the congregation was written, and the congregation became a thing cast aside. It was stripped of its glorious garments, even as in times of old David (through Yahwah's Spirit) said and prophesied: Even to the horns of the altar. Unto the horns of the altar [means] to the crucifixion of Messiyah. That is to say, to this pass were the festivals of the Jews brought.
[The Genealogy of Messiyah.]
From Adam to Seth; from Seth to Enos; from Enos to Cainan; from Cainan to Mahalâlâêl; from Mahalâlâêl to Jared; from Jared to Enoch; from Enoch to Methuselah; from Methuselah to Lamech; from Lamech to Noah; from Noah to Shem; from Shem to Arphaxad; from Arphaxad to Salah; from Salah to Eber; from Eber to Peleg; from Peleg to Reu; from Reu to Serug; from Serug to Nahor; from Nahor to Terah; from Terah to Abraham; from Abraham to Isaac; from Isaac to Jacob; from Jacob to Judah; from Judah to Pharez; from Pharez to Hesron; from Hesron to Aram; from Aram to Amminadab; from Amminadab to Nahasson; from Nahasson to Salmon; from Salmon to Boaz; from Boaz to Obed; from Obed to Jesse; from Jesse to David; from David to Solomon; from Solomon to Rehoboam; from Rehoboam to Abijah; from Abijah to Ara; from Ara to Jehoshaphat; from Jeshoshaphat to Joram; from Joram to Ahaziah; from Ahaziah to Joash; from Joash to Amaziah; from Amaziah to Uzziah; from Uzziah to Jotham; from Jotham to Ahaz; from Ahaz to Hezekiah; from Hezekiah to Manasseh; from Manasseh to Ammon; from Ammon to Josiah; from Josiah to Jehoahaz; from Jehoahaz to Jehoiakim; from Jehoiakim to Jehoiachin; from Jehoiachin to Salathiel; from Salathiel to Zerubbabel; from Zerubbabel to Abiud; from Abiud to Eliakim; from Eliakim to Azor; from Azor to Zadok; from Zadok to Achin; from Achin to Eliud; from Eliud to Eleazar; from Eleazar to Mathan; from Mathan to Jacob and Yônâkhîr; from Yônâkhîr to Miryam; from Miryam to the manger; from the manger to circumcision; from the circumcision to the Temple; from the Temple to Egypt; from Egypt to Galilee; from Galilee to Yerusalem; from Yerusalem to the Jordan; from the Jordan to the desert; from the desert to Judah; from Judah to the preaching; from the preaching to the Upper Chamber; from the Upper Chamber to the Passover; from the Passover to the Judgment Hall; from the Judgment Hall to the Cross; from the Cross to the grave; from the grave to the Upper Chamber; from the Upper Chamber to heaven; and from heaven to the throne. He sits on the right hand of His Father.
[The end of the two and sixty weeks.]
Observe, O our brother Nemesius, how the generations and families succeeded each other; from Adam to the Jews, and the Jews also from one [generation] to another until the Cross of Messiyah. From that time and onwards the festivals of the Jews have ceased, even as the blessed David said concerning them: Bind our festivals with chains even to the horns of the altar [Psalm 118:27]. The chains are the families which are linked each to the other, and the altar is the Cross of Messiyah. The festivals of the Jews succeeded each other until the Cross of Messiyah, in priesthood, royalty, prophecy, and Passover. But from the Cross of Messiyah up to the present they have all ceased, even as I said. The Jews no longer have among them a king, or a priest, or a prophet, or a Passover, even as Daniel prophesied concerning them, saying: After two and sixty weeks Messiyah will be slain, and the city of holiness will be laid waste until the completion of things decreed [Daniel 9:26]. That is to say, for ever and ever.
[Messiyah's body is embalmed and laid in the tomb made for Yahshua, the son of Nôn.]
When the end of all the Law and the Prophets came the Messiyah was hanging on the Cross. Yahusef (the brother of Nicodemus and Cleophas) went in to Pilate (now he was the bearer of the seal-ring of Pilate, and was a councillor, so had free intercourse with him) and asked for the body of our Redeemer. Pilate commanded that it should be given to him. When Yahusef had taken His body, straightaway Pilate commanded that the garden also in which the grave was situated should be given to him. It belonged to Yahusef, it was given to him as an inheritance by Phinehas, the Levite, the son of Yahusef's uncle. Now Yahusef was from Yerusalem, but he was a councillor in Râmthâ, and all the letters which were written during the whole period of Pilate's administration were sealed with the seal which Yahusef carried. When Yahusef took down the body of Yahushua from the Cross, the Jews ran and took the Cross, and brought it into the Temple, because [the pieces of wood thereof] were the bearing poles of the Ark of the Covenant. Nicodemos embalmed the body of Yahushua [and swathed it] in clean, new linen swathings. Yahusef made it ready for the grave, and buried it in a new tomb which was made for Yahshua, the son of Nôn, to be buried in. Because he saw with the eye of the Spirit, and the way of the Dispensation of Messiyah had appeared to him, he took the stone which had travelled about with the children of Yisrayah in the desert and placed it at the door of the tomb, and therefore he was not buried in it. When Yahusef, Nicodemus, and Cleophas buried Messiyah, they laid that stone before the door of the building of the tomb. The high priests, and men of the house of Pilate, went out and set seals on the grave and on the stone.
[The Cross of Messiyah.]
Now, my brother Nemesius, be amazed and give praise to Yahwah that all the straps [ligatures] of the . . . ... of Messiyah were joined together on the bearing poles of the Ark of the service of Yahwah and the covering of the sanctuary of propitiation. This was what Yahwah commanded Moshe: to make a breast-plate of judgment [Exodus 28:15] and of peace. Of judgment for the Jews who crucified Him, and of peace for the Gentiles who believe in him. His Cross was made of the wood of the Sanctuary, His grave was a new one, which was made for the death of Yahshua, the son of Nôn, and the stone [rock], which is Messiyah, had when in the desert given water to six hundred thousand people, and now it became an altar and gave life to all the Gentiles. The saying of the Apostle: that rock was Messiyah [1Corinthians 10:4] is true and well worthy of belief. Yahusef was a councillor in Râmthâ, Nicodemus was a teacher of the Law in Yerusalem, and Cleophas was the recorder of the Hebrews in 'Amâôs. Nicodemus prepared everything which was required for the Passover in the Upper Chamber, Yahusef made Him ready for burial and buried Him in his own inheritance, and Cleophas received Him into his house. When He rose from the dead these men became to Him true and faithful brothers.
[The trilingual inscription above the Cross.]
When Yahusef brought Him down from the Cross, he took away that inscription which was spread out above His head, that is to say, over the head of the Cross of Messiyah, because it was written by Pilate in Greek, Latin, and Hebrew. Why did Pilate write in it no word of the Syrians? Because the Syrians participated in no way whatsoever in the [shedding of the] blood of Messiyah. Pilate, a wise man and a lover of the truth, did not wish to write a lie as wicked judges do, but he did according to what is written in the Law of Moshe. Pilate wrote [the name] in the inscription [in the languages of] those who condemned the innocent in the order in which the killers of Messiyah laid their hands upon him, and he hung the writing above Him. Herod was a Greek, Caiaphas was a Hebrew, and Pilate a Roman. Now the Syrians had no part in the murder of Messiyah, and to this testifies Abhgar, king of Edessa, who wished to take Yerusalem and destroy it because the Jews crucified Messiyah.
[The Harrowing of Hell.]
Now the descent of Sheol [the grave] was not in vain, it was the cause of many benefits to our race. He dismissed Death from his domination. He preached the resurrection to those who were lying in the dust, and He pardoned those who had sinned against the Law. He laid waste Sheol, and killed sin. He put Satan to shame, made the devils sad, He abrogated sacrifices and offerings, made an apology for Adam, and abolished the festivals of the Jews.
[NOTE: According to the Coptic Book of the Resurrection, which is attributed to Bartholomew the Apostle, Messiyah broke down the doors of hell, smashed the bolts, and destroyed the doorposts and frames. He overthrew the blazing furnaces of brass, extinguished their fires, and, sweeping everything out of hell, He left it like a desert. He fettered the Shameless One, bound the ministers of Satan, and tied up a devil called Melkhir with a chain.]
[The Resurrection of Messiyah.]
Having risen from the grave on the third day, Messiyah appeared to Kîpâ [Kepha] and Yahchanan.
While Messiyah was in the grave, and the watchmen were sitting round about it, Simon Kepha conceived the design of giving the watchmen wine to drink so that they might become drunk and fall asleep, when he intended to rise up, open the tomb, and take out the body of Messiyah without breaking the seals on the tomb, so that the Jews might not say: Assuredly His disciples stole Him away. While the watchmen were eating and drinking, Messiyah rose up and showed Himself to Kîpâ, for He had indeed risen. Kepha believed that He was truly Messiyah, the Master of the heavens and the earth, and did not approach the tomb. Afterwards Messiyah appeared to the watchmen openly. He went to His disciples in the Upper Chamber, and Thomas felt Him. And He appeared to His disciples on the sea shore. Now, though Simon Kepha denied Him thrice before the Jews, he acknowledged Him thrice before the disciples. Messiyah delivered to him and committed to his hands all His flock, saying before His disciples: Feed for Me My sheep and lambs and ewes (that is to say: men, women, and children). Forty days after His Resurrection He bestowed upon the Apostles the laying on of hands of the priesthood, and He went up to heaven, and sat down on the right hand of His Father.
Then the Apostles gathered themselves together and went up into the Upper Chamber with Miryam, the Holy Virgin. Simon Kepha baptized Miryam; and Yahchanan, the virgin, received her [into his house]. They decreed a fast until they received the Spirit, the Paraclete, at Pentecost, they all being gathered together. Tongues [languages] were distributed among them, so that each of them might go and teach that nation in the tongue which he had received, so that there might never be strife among them.
Here ends the BOOK OF THE ORDER OF THE SUCCESSION OF FAMILIES FROM ADAM TO MESSIYAH, which is called the Cave of Treasures.
To Yahwah be glory forever!
TESTAMENTUM ADAMI (Testament of Adam)
THE HOURS OF THE DAY.
Moreover, understand concerning the hours of the day and of the night, how it is seemly that you should make supplication to Yahwah, and to pray to Him at each of His seasons. My Creator taught me all this, He told me the names of all the wild animals and beasts, and of the birds of heaven. Then Yahwah made me to understand the number of the hours of the day and of the night, and He told me how the malaks praise Yahwah. Understand, then, O my son, that at the first hour of the day the prayer of my children ascends to Yahwah. At the second hour the prayer and petition of the malaks take place. At the third hour the birds of the heavens praise Him. At the fourth hour the spiritual beings worship Him. At the fifth hour all the wild beasts and animals salute Him. At the sixth hour the petition of the Kîrûbêl [Cherubim] takes place. At the seventh hour all the malaks enter the presence of Yahwah, and go forth therefrom, for at this hour the prayer of every living thing ascends to Yahwah. At the eighth hour the shining denizens of heaven praise Him. At the ninth hour the malaks of Yahwah who stand before the throne of the Most High do homage to Him. At the tenth hour the Spirit overshadows the waters, and the devils flee away and remove themselves from the waters. If Yahwah's Spirit did not overshadow the waters at this hour every day, no one could drink of the waters, [for if he did] his flesh [body] would be destroyed by the evil devils. If the priest takes water at this hour and mixes with it holy oil, and anoints the sick and those who are possessed of foul spirits with the mixture, they will be healed of their sickness. At the eleventh hour the glorifyings of the righteous take place. And at the twelfth hour Yahwah, the Most High, receives the prayers and petitions of the children of men.
THE HOURS OF THE NIGHT.
At the first hour of the night the devils render thanks and praise to Yahwah Most High, and there is in them no evil and no harm for anyone until they have finished their service of homage. At the second hour of the night the fish and every creature that is in the waters praise Yahwah, and the wild beasts and the whales. At the third hour the fire praises Him (now it is in the lowest depth, and in that hour no one can address Him). At the fourth hour the Sûrâfêl [Seraphim] proclaim Him Holy. At the fifth hour the waters which are above the heavens praise Him. Now long ago I sat and listened to the malaks at this hour, and [marvelled] how they cried out. [Their cry] was like the noise of a mighty wheel, and they cried out like the waves of the sea with the voice of praise to Yahwah. At the sixth hour the clouds praise Yahwah in fear and trembling. At the seventh hour the earth is hushed in silence, and every creature upon it, and the waters slumbered. If at this hour the priest takes some water and mixes holy oil with it, and he with it anoints the sick and those who cannot sleep at night because of [their] pain, those who are sick will be healed, and those who are wakeful will fall asleep. At the eighth hour the earth makes grass and green herbs to grow, and makes the trees to put forth leaves and fruit. At the ninth hour the malaks perform their service of homage to Yahwah, and the prayer of the children of men comes into the presence of Yahwah the Most High. At the tenth hour the gates of heaven are opened. Yahwah hears the prayers of the children of the believers, and the petition which they ask from Yahwah is granted to them. At the sound of the wings of the Seraphim at that time the cocks crow and praise Yahwah. At the eleventh hour there is joy and gladness on all the earth, for the sun enters into the Garden [Paradise], and his light rises in all the ends of the world, and illumines every created thing. At the twelfth hour it is befitting for my children to stand up before Yahwah, and pay homage to Him, for at this hour there rests a great silence on all the heavenly beings.
ADAM FORETELLS THE COMING OF MESSIYAH.
Now therefore know all this, hearken to my word, understand that The Word of Yahwah Most High will come down upon the earth, even as He told me at the moment when He thrust me out from the Garden [Paradise]. He told me that His Word in later days should become man from a woman who was a virgin whose name was Miryam, and should hide in her, and put on flesh, and be born like a man with great power, and operative skill and knowledge. No one will know Him except Himself and him to whom He manifested [Himself]. Yahwah said that He should go about with people on the earth, grow in days and years, should perform signs and wonders openly, should walk upon the sea as upon dry land, should rebuke the sea and the winds openly and they should be subject to Him, and that He should cry out to the waves of the sea and they should make answer to Him speedily. He should make the blind to see, the lepers to be cleansed, the deaf to hear, the dumb to talk, should raise up paralytics, make the lame to walk, should turn many from error to the knowledge of Yahwah, and should drive out the devils from men.
Besides [these things] Yahwah spoke to me, saying: Do not be sorrowful, O Adam, for you did wish to become a god and did transgress my command. Behold, I will establish you, not at this present, but after a few days. Again He spoke to me, saying: I am Yahwah who made you to go forth from the Garden of Joy into the earth, which will shoot forth thorns and brambles, and you will dwell therein. Bend your back, make your knees to totter in old age, and I will make your flesh food for the worms. After five days and half a day [five thousand five hundred years] I will have compassion upon you, and show you mercy in the abundance of my compassion and my mercy. I will come down into your house, I will dwell in your flesh, and for your sake I will be pleased to be born like an [ordinary] child. For your sake I will be pleased to walk in the market place. For your sake I will be pleased to fast forty days. For your sake I will be pleased to accept baptism. For your sake I will be pleased to endure suffering. And for your sake I will be pleased to hang on the wood of the Cross. All these things [I will do] for your sake, O Adam.
To Him be praise, majesty, dominion, glory, worship, and hymns, with His Father and Yahwah's Spirit from this time forward and for ever and ever. Amein.
Furthermore, you must know, O my son, Seth, behold a Flood will come and wash the whole earth because of the children of Kâyal (Cain), the murderer, who killed his brother through jealousy, because of his sister Lûd. After the Flood and many weeks the latter days will come, everything will be completed, His time will come, fire will consume everything which is found before Yahwah, the earth will be sanctified, and the Master of masters will walk about on it.
Seth wrote down this Commandment and sealed it with his seal, and with the seal of his father Adam which he took with him from the Garden [Paradise], and with the seal of Eve his mother.