When the king heard their words, he was very angry and ordered Terah to be brought in front of him. The king said, "Have you heard what the conjurors have said? Now tell me the truth and if you speak the truth you will be acquitted."

When Terah saw that the king was very angry, he said to the king, "My lord and king, you have heard the truth, and what the sages have spoken is right."

The king said, "How could you do this thing, disobeying my orders and giving me a child that you did not father, and took payment for him? "

Terah answered the king, "Because I had tender feelings for my son at that time, so I took a son of my handmaid, and brought him to the king."

The king said, "Who advised you to this? Tell me! Do not hide anything from me, and then you will not die."

Terah was very frightened in the king's presence, and said to the king, "Haran my eldest son advised me to this!" At the time Abram was born, Haran was thirty-two years old. But Haran did not advise his father to do anything. Terah said this to the king in order to save his life, as he was very afraid. The king said to Terah, "Your son Haran who advised you to this will die by fire along with Abram. The death sentence is on him for disobeying the king's wish."

Haran at that time felt inclined to follow the ways of Abram, but he kept it to himself. Haran said to himself, "Now the king has seized Abram because of what Abram did, and it will come to pass, that if Abram triumphs over the king I will follow him, but if the king triumphs, then I will follow the king."

After Terah said this to the king about Haran his son, the king ordered Haran to be seized along with Abram. They brought them both, Abram and Haran his brother, to throw them into the fire. All the inhabitants of the land and the king's servants and princes and all the women and little ones were there that day.

The king's servants took Abram and his brother, and stripped them of all their clothes except their lower garments. They tied their hands and feet with linen cords, and the servants of the king lifted them up and threw them both into the furnace. The Lord loved Abram and he had mercy for him. The Lord came down and rescued Abram from the fire and he was not burned. But all the cords with which they tied him were burned, yet Abram stayed and walked around in the fire. Haran died when they threw him into the fire. He was burned to ashes, for his heart was not right with the Lord. The flame of the fire spread over the men who cast him into the fire, and they were burned, and twelve of them died.

Abram walked in the fire for three days and three nights. All the servants of the king saw him walking in the fire, and they said to the king, "We have seen Abram walking about in the midst of the fire, and even the lower garments which are on him are not burned, but the cord with which he was bound is burned!"

When the king heard their words he was upset and would not believe them. He sent other faithful princes to see the matter. They saw it and told the king, and the king left to go and see it, and he saw Abram walking around in the midst of the fire, and he saw Haran's body burned. The king wondered very much. The king ordered Abram to be taken out of the fire, but when his servants approached him to take him out and they were unable to, as the fire was around them and the flames reached at them from the furnace. The king's servants fled from it, but the king rebuked them and said, "Hurry and bring Abram out of the fire or you will die!"

The servants of the king again tried to bring Abram out, but the flames came at them and burned their faces and eight of them died. When the king saw that his servants were unable to approach the fire without being burned, the king called to Abram, "Servant of the God who is in heaven, go out of the fire and come here to me!"

Abram listened to the words, and left the fire and came and stood before the king. When Abram came out, the king and all his servants saw him coming before the king, with his lower garments on him, as they were not burned, but the cord with which he was tied was burned. The king said to Abram, "How is it that you were not burned in the fire?"

Abram said to the king, "The God of heaven and earth in whom I trust and who has everything in his power, delivered me from the fire into which you cast me."

Haran the brother of Abram was burned to ashes, and they looked for his body, and found it burned. Haran was eighty-two years old when he died in the fire of Casdim. The king, princes, and inhabitants of the land, seeing that Abram was delivered from the fire, came and bowed down to Abram. Abram said to them, "Do not bow down to me, but bow down to the God of the world who made you, and serve him, and follow his ways for he is the one who delivered me from this fire, and he is the one who created the lives and spirits of all men, and formed man in his mother's womb, and brought him into the world, and he is the one who will deliver those who trust him from all sorrow."

It seemed wonderful to the king and princes that Abram was saved from the fire and that Haran was burned. The king gave Abram many presents and his two head servants from the king's house. The name of one was Oni and the name of the other was Eliezer. All the kings, princes and servants gave Abram many gifts of silver and gold and pearls, and the king and his princes sent him away, and he went in peace.

Abram left the king peacefully, and many of the king's servants followed him. About three hundred men joined him. Abram returned on that day and went to his father's house, he and the men that followed him. Abram served the Lord his God all his life, and he followed his ways and his law.

From that day forward Abram encouraged men to serve the Lord. At that time Nahor and Abram took wives, the daughters of their brother Haran. The wife of Nahor was Milca and the name of Abram's wife was Sarai. Sarai, wife of Abram, was barren. She had no offspring in those times. Two years after Abram left the fire, and he was fifty-two years old of his life, king Nimrod sat in Babel on the throne. The king fell asleep and dreamed that he was standing with his troops and armies in a valley opposite the king's furnace. He looked up and saw a man who looked like Abram coming out of the furnace. He came and stood before the king with his drawn sword, and then sprang to the king with his sword. When the king fled from the man, as he was afraid, and while he was running, the man threw an egg at the king's head, and the egg became a great river. The king dreamed that all his troops sank in the river and died, and the king fled with three men who were in front of him and he escaped. The king looked at these men and saw that they were clothed in princely dresses as the garments of kings, and had the appearance and magnificence of kings.

While they were running, the river again turned to an egg in front of the king, and out of the egg came a young bird which went to the king, and flew at his head and plucked out the king's eye. The king was upset at the sight, and he awoke from his sleep and was agitated, and he felt a great terror. In the morning the king arose from his couch in fear. He ordered all the wise men and magicians to come to him, and he related his dream to them.

A wise servant of the king, whose name was Anuki, said to the king, "This is nothing else but the evil of Abram and his descendants which will spring up against my Lord and king in the future. The day will come when Abram and his descendants and the children of his household will war against my king, and they will strike all the king's armies and his troops. As for what you have said about three men which you saw like yourself, and who escaped, this means that only you will escape with three kings among the kings of the earth who will be with you in battle. That which you saw of the river which turned to an egg, and the young bird plucking out your eye, this means that the descendants of Abram will kill the king in the future. This is the interpretation of my king's dream, and the dream is true, and the interpretation which your servant has given you is right. So then my king, surely you know that it is now fifty-two years since your sages saw this at the birth of Abram, and if my king will allow Abram to live on the earth it will be to the harm of my lord and king, for the whole time that Abram is alive, neither you or your kingdom will be established. This was known at his birth, and why will not my king kill him to keep his evil from you in the future? Nimrod listened to what Anuki said, and he sent some of his servants to go secretly to seize Abram to bring him before the king to be put to death.

Eliezer, Abram's servant whom the king had given him, was at that time in the presence of the king, and he heard what Anuki had advised the king, and what the king had said about Abram's death. Eliezer said to Abram, "Hurry, leave and save your life, that you will not die through at hands of the king! He had a dream about you, and Anuki interpreted it, and Anuki advised the king about you."

Abram listened to Eliezer, and hurried for safety to the house of Noah and his son Shem. He hid himself there and found a place of safety. The king's servants went to Abram's house, but they could not find him, and they searched the country and he could not to be found. They searched in every direction and he was not to be found. When the king's servants could not find Abram they returned to the king, but the king's anger against Abram was calmed, as they did not find him, so the king put this matter about Abram our of his mind.

Abram was hidden in Noah's house for one month, until the king had forgotten the matter, but Abram was still afraid of the king. Terah secretly went to see Abram his son in the house of Noah. Terah was very important in the eyes of the king. Abram said to his father, "Do you know that the king intends to kill me, and to wipe out my name off the face of the earth under the advice of his wicked counsellors? Now who do you have here and what do you have in this land? Let us go together to Canaan, that we will be safe from his hands, so that you too won't die at his hands in the future. Do you not know or have you not heard, that it is not through love that Nimrod gave you all this honor, but it is only for his benefit that he gave it all to you? If he did you greater good than this, surely these are only the useless things of the world, as wealth and riches cannot help in the day of wrath and anger. Listen to my voice, and let us leave and go to Canaan, out of the reach of harm from Nimrod. Serve the Lord who created you on the earth and it will be well with you, and throw away all the useless things which you pursue. Abram stopped speaking, and then Noah and his son Shem said to Terah, "What Abram told you is true." Terah listened to Abram, and Terah did everything that Abram said, for this was from the Lord, that the king would not cause Abram's death.

Ch. 13

Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, the wife of his son Abram, and his entire household and went with them from Ur Casdim to Canaan. When they went as far as the land of Haran they stayed there, as it was excellent land for pasture, and large enough for those who accompanied them. The people of Haran saw that Abram was good and honest with God and men, and that the Lord his God was with him, and some of the people of Haran joined Abram. He taught them the instruction of the Lord and his ways. These men stayed with Abram in his house. Abram stayed in the land for three years, and after three years the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur Casdim, and delivered you from all your enemies. So then if you will listen to my voice and keep my commandments, my statutes and my laws, I will cause your enemies to fall before you, and I will increase your descendants like the stars of heaven. I will send my blessings on everything you do, and you will lack nothing. Go now; take your wife and all belonging to you and go to Canaan and stay there, and I will bless you."

Abram left. He took his wife and all belonging to him, and went to Canaan as the Lord had told him. Abram was fifty years old when he left Haran. Abram went to Canaan and lived in the city, and he there pitched his tent among the children of Canaan, inhabitants of the land. The Lord appeared to Abram when he went to Canaan, and said to him, "This is the land which I gave you and to your descendants after you forever, and I will make your descendants like the stars of heaven. I will give to your descendants as an inheritance all the lands that you see."

Abram built an altar in the place where God had spoken to him, and there Abram called on the name of the Lord. At that time, at the end of three years of Abram's living in Canaan, Noah died. It was the fifty-eighth year of the life of Abram. Noah lived for nine hundred and fifty years. Abram lived in Canaan, he, his wife, and all belonging to him, and everyone that accompanied him, together with those that joined him from the people of the land. However Nahor, Abram's brother, and Terah his father, and Lot the son of Haran and all belonging to them lived in Haran.

In the fifth year of Abram's living in Canaan the people of Sodom and Gomorrah and all the cities of the plain revolted from the power of Chedorlaomer, the king of Elam. All the kings of the cities of the plain had served Chedorlaomer for twelve years, and had given him a yearly tax. However, in the thirteenth year they rebelled against him. In the tenth year of Abram's living in Canaan there was a war between Nimrod the king of Shinar and Chedorlaomer the king of Elam, and Nimrod fought with Chedorlaomer and subdued him.

Chedorlaomer was at that time one of the princes of the armies of Nimrod. When all the people at the tower were scattered and those who stayed were also scattered over the face of the earth, Chedorlaomer went to the land of Elam and reigned over it and rebelled against his lord. In those times when Nimrod saw that the cities of the plain had rebelled, he arrogantly and angrily went to war with Chedorlaomer.

Nimrod assembled all his princes and subjects, about seven hundred thousand men, and went against Chedorlaomer. Chedorlaomer went out to meet him with five thousand men, and they prepared for battle in the valley of Babel which is between Elam and Shinar. The kings fought there, and Nimrod and his people were struck down before the people of Chedorlaomer. There about six hundred thousand of Nimrod's men fell, and Mardon the king's son fell among them.

Nimrod fled and returned in shame and disgrace to his land. He was under subjection to Chedorlaomer for a long time. Chedorlaomer returned to his land and sent princes of his army to the kings who lived around him, to Arioch the king of Elasar, and to Tidal the king of Goyim, and made covenant with them. They all obeyed his commands.

In the fifteenth year of Abram living in Canaan, which is the seventieth year of the life of Abram, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur Casdim to give you this land as an inheritance. So then walk before me completely and keep my commands, for I will give this land from the river Mitzraim to the great river Euphrates as an inheritance to you and your descendants. You will go to your fathers peacefully and in old age. The fourth generation will return here to this land and will inherit it forever."

Abram built an altar and called on the name of the Lord who appeared to him, and he put sacrifices n the altar to the Lord. At that time Abram returned to Haran to see his father and mother, and his father's household. Abram and his wife and all belonging to him returned to Haran, and Abram lived in Haran for five years. Many of the people of Haran, about seventy-two men, followed Abram. Abram taught them the instruction of the Lord and his ways, and he taught them to know the Lord. In those times the Lord appeared to Abram in Haran, and he said to him, "I said to you twenty years ago, 'Leave your land, your birth-place and your father's house, and go to the land which I have shown you to give it to you and to your children. In that land will I bless you, and make you a great nation, and make your name great, and you will be blessed of the families of the earth. So then leave this place, you, your wife, and all belonging to you, also every one born in your house and all the lives you have made in Haran, and bring them with you, and return to Canaan.'"

Abram arose and took his wife Sarai and all belonging to him and everything that were born to him in his house and the lives which they had made in Haran. They left for the Canaan. Abram went and returned to Canaan, according to the word of the Lord. Lot the son of his brother Haran went with him, and Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran to return to Canaan. He went to Canaan according to the word of the Lord to Abram. He pitched his tent and lived in the plain of Mamre, and with him was Lot his brother's son, and all belonging to him. The Lord again appeared to Abram and said, "I will give this land to your descendants," and he built an altar to the Lord who appeared to him, which is still there today in the plains of Mamre.

Ch. 14

In those times there was in Shinar a wise man who was very wise and of a beautiful appearance, but he was poor and destitute. His name was Rikayon and he was had difficulty supporting himself. He decided to go to Egypt, to Oswiris the son of Anom the king of Egypt, to show the king his wisdom, hoping that he would find favor in his sight, to raise him up and give him maintenance.

When Rikayon arrived in Egypt he asked the inhabitants of Egypt about the king. They told him the custom of the king of Egypt, as it was then the custom of the king of Egypt to leave his royal palace and to be seen abroad only one day in the year, and after that the king would return to his palace to stay there.

On the day when the king left he passed judgment in the land, and every one with a suit came before the king that day to put his request. When Rikayon heard of the custom in Egypt, given the fact that he was unable to come into the presence of the king, he was extremely upset. In the evening Rikayon went out and found a house in ruins, formerly a bakehouse in Egypt, and he stayed there all night in feeling bitter. He was starving and unable to sleep.

Rikayon wondered what to do in the town until the king made his appearance. He arose in the morning and walked around. He met those who sold vegetables and various sorts of seed with which they supplied the inhabitants. Rikayon wanted to do the same in order to make a living in the city, but he did not know the customs of the people, so was like a blind man among them. He obtained vegetables to sell them, but the rabble crowded around him and ridiculed him, and took his vegetables from him and left him with nothing.

He left there feeling bitter, and went sorrowfully to the bakehouse in which he had stayed all the night before, and he slept there the second night. Again that night again he wondered how he could save himself from starvation, and he devised a scheme. He left up in the morning and acted cleverly. He hired thirty strong men of the crowd, who had their war instruments in their hands, and he led them to the top of the Egyptian sepulchre, and he placed them there. He commanded them, "Thus says the king, 'Strengthen yourselves and brave, and do not let any man be buried here until two hundred pieces of silver are given, and then he may be buried.'"

Those men followed Rikayon's order to the people of Egypt all that year. In eight months time Rikayon and his men gathered great riches of silver and gold, and Rikayon took a large number of horses and other animals, and hired more men, and he gave them horses and they stayed with him. After one the year, at the time the king left into the town, all the inhabitants of Egypt assembled to speak to him about the work of Rikayon and his men. The king left on the appointed day, and all the Egyptians called to him, "May the king live forever! What have you done in the town to your servants, not allowing a dead body to be buried until so much silver and gold is given? Has anything like this ever happened on the whole earth, from the days of former kings - even from the days of Adam - to today, that the dead can only be buried for a set price? We know it is the custom of kings to take a yearly tax from the living, but you do not only do this, but you take a tax from the dead too day by day. Our king, we cannot bear this any more! The whole city is ruined for this reason, and do you not know it?"

When the king heard everything that they had spoken he was very angry, and his anger burned at this affair, as he had known nothing of it. The king said, "Who and where is the one who dares to do this wicked thing in my land without my consent? You will certainly tell me!"

They told him everything that Rikayon and his men had done. The king was very angry, and ordered Rikayon and his men to be brought in front of him. Rikayon took about a thousand make and female children, clothed them with embroidered silk, set them on horses and sent them to the king with his men. He also took a large quantity of silver and gold and precious stones and a strong, beautiful horse as a present for the king. He presented himself to the king with these, and bowed down to the earth in front of him, and the king, his servants and all the inhabitants of Egypt were amazed at Rikayon, and they saw his riches and the present that he had brought to the king. It greatly pleased the king and he was amazed at it.

When Rikayon sat in front of him the king asked him about everything he had done, and Rikayon spoke wisely before the king, his servants and all the inhabitants of Egypt. When the king heard the wise words of Rikayon, Rikayon found favor in his sight, and he met with grace and kindness from all the servants of the king and from all the inhabitants of Egypt, due to his wisdom and excellent speeches, and from that time they loved him greatly. The king answered Rikayon, "Your name will no more be called Rikayon but will be Pharaoh, as you exacted a tax from the dead," and he called him Pharaoh.

The king and his subjects loved Rikayon for his wisdom. They consulted with all the inhabitants of Egypt to make him Prefect under the king. All the inhabitants of Egypt and its wise men did so. It was made a law in Egypt. They made Rikayon the Pharaoh Prefect under Osiris the king of Egypt, and Rikayon the Pharaoh governed over Egypt, daily administering justice to the whole city, but Osiris the king judged the people one day in the year, when he went out to make his appearance. Rikayon the Pharaoh cunningly usurped the government of Egypt, and he exacted a tax from all the inhabitants of Egypt. All the inhabitants of Egypt greatly loved Rikayon the Pharaoh. They decreed to call every king that reigned over them and their descendants in Egypt, Pharaoh. So all the kings that reigned in Egypt from that time on were called Pharaoh.

Ch. 15

In that year there was a severe famine throughout Canaan, and the inhabitants of the land could not stay because the famine was severe. Abram and all belonging to him left and went to Egypt because of the famine. When they arrived at the stream called Mitzraim they stayed there some time to rest from the fatigue of the road.

Abram and Sarai were walking at the border of the Mitzraim stream, and Abram saw that his wife Sarai was very beautiful. Abram said to his wife Sarai, "As God has created you with such a beautiful appearance, I am afraid that Egyptians will kill me and take you away, as there is no fear of God is not in these places. You must certainly say that you are my sister to everyone who asks you, so that it may be well with me, and so that we may live and not be put to death.

Abram ordered the same to everyone that came with him to Egypt because of the famine. He ordered his nephew Lot, "If the Egyptians ask you about Sarai, say she is the sister of Abram."

With all these orders Abram did not instil confidence in them. He took Sarai and placed her in a chest and hid it among their vessels. Abram was greatly concerned about Sarai because of the wickedness of the Egyptians.

Abram and all belonging to him left the Mitzraim stream and went to Egypt, and they had barely entered the gates of the city when the guards said to them, "Give a tithe to the king from what you have, and then you may come into the town." Abram and those that were with him did so. Abram with the people that were with him went to Egypt. They brought the chest in which Sarai was hidden but the Egyptians saw the chest. The king's servants approached Abram and said, "What do you have you in this chest that we have not seen? Now open the chest and give a tithe to the king of everything that it contains."

Abram said, "I will not open this chest, but I will give you all you demand."

Pharaoh's officers answered Abram, "It is a chest of precious stones; give us the tithe."

Abram said, "I will give you everything you want, but you must not open the chest."

The king's officers pressed Abram. They reached the chest and opened it forcefully, and they saw a beautiful woman in the chest. When the kings' officers saw Sarai they were struck with admiration at her beauty. All the princes and servants of Pharaoh gathered to see Sarai, as she was very beautiful. The king's officers ran and told Pharaoh what they had seen, and they praised Sarai to the king. Pharaoh ordered her to be brought, and she came before the king.

Pharaoh was greatly pleased with her and struck with her beauty, and celebrated greatly on her account. He made presents to those who brought him the news about her. She was then brought to Pharaoh's house.

Abram was very upset because of his wife, and he prayed to the Lord to save her from Pharaoh. Sarai also prayed at that time, "Lord God, you told my lord Abram to leave his land and his father's house and go to Canaan, and you promised to do well with him if he performed your commands. However, we have done what you commanded us. We left our land and our families, and we went to a foreign land and to a people we did not know. We went to this land to avoid the famine, and this evil thing has happened to me. So then, Lord God, save us from this oppressor, and do well with me and show me your mercy."

The Lord listened to Sarai. The Lord sent an angel to save Sarai from Pharaoh. The king came and sat before Sarai and an angel of the Lord was standing over them. He appeared to Sarai and said to her, "Do not fear, for the Lord has heard your prayer."

The king approached Sarai and said to her, "Who is that man who brought you here?"

She answered, "He is my brother."

The king said, "We have a duty to make him great, to elevate him and to do to him all the good you command us to do."

Then the king sent abundant silver, gold and precious stones, together with cattle, men servants and maid servants to Abram. The king ordered Abram to be brought. Abram sat in the court of the king's house, and the king greatly praised Abram on that night. The king approached to speak to Sarai. As he reached out his hand to touch her, the angel struck him hard, and he was so terrified that he refrained from reaching out to her. When the king approached Sarai, the angel struck him to the ground. This happened all night, so the king was terrified. On that night the angel heavily struck all the servants of the king and his whole household because of Sarai. There was a great lamentation that night among the people of Pharaoh's house.

When Pharaoh saw the evil that befell him, he said, "Surely it is because of this woman that this has happened to me!" He went some distance from her and spoke nicely to her. The king said to Sarai, "Tell me please about the man with whom you came here."

Sarai said, "This man is my husband. I told you that he was my brother as I was afraid that you would put him to death for his wickedness."

The king kept away from Sarai, and the plagues of the angel of the Lord ceased on him and his household. Pharaoh knew that he was struck because of Sarai, and he was greatly surprised at this. In the morning the king called for Abram and said to him, "What have you done to me? Why did you tell me she was your sister? It was for this reason that I took her as a wife, and so this bad plague has come on me and my household. So then here is your wife. Take her and leave our land lest we all die because of her."

Pharaoh took more cattle, men servants, maid servants, silver and gold, to give to Abram, and he returned Sarai his wife to him. The king took a maiden whom he fathered by his concubines, and he gave her to Sarai as a handmaid. The king said to his daughter, "It is better for you my daughter to be a handmaid in this man's house than to be mistress in my house, after we have seen the evil that came on us because of this woman."

Abram and all belonging to him left Egypt. Pharaoh ordered some of his men to accompany him and those with him. Abram returned to Canaan, to the place where he had made the altar, where he had first pitched his tent. Lot, the son of Haran, Abram's brother, had a much cattle, flocks and herds and tents, for the Lord was bountiful to them because of Abram.

When Abram was living in the land the herdsmen of Lot bickered with the herdsmen of Abram, as their property was too large for them to remain together in the land, and the land could not support them because of their cattle.

When Abram's herdsmen went to feed their flocks, they would not go into the fields of the people of the land, but the cattle of Lot's herdsmen did, as they were allowed to feed in the fields of the people of the land. The people of the land saw this daily, so they went to Abram and quarrelled with him because of Lot's herdsmen.

Abram said to Lot, "What are you doing to me, to make me despicable to the inhabitants of the land by ordering your herdsman to feed your cattle in the fields of other people? Do you not know that I am a foreigner in this land among the children of Canaan? Why do you do this to me?"

Abram quarrelled daily with Lot over this, but Lot would not listen to Abram, and he continued to do the same so the inhabitants of the land came and told Abram. Abram said to Lot, "How long will you be a stumbling block to me with the inhabitants of the land? Now I beg you let there be no more quarrelling between us, as we are kinsmen. But I ask you separate from me. Go and choose a place where you will live with your cattle and all belonging to you, but keep at a distance from me, you and your household. Do not be afraid to leave me, for if anyone harms you, let me know and I will avenge your cause from him, only leave me."

When Abram had said all this to Lot, then Lot left for the plain of Jordan. He saw that the whole place was well watered, and good for man as well as good pasture for the cattle. Lot left Abram and went to that place. He pitched his tent there and lived in Sodom, and they were separated from each other. Abram lived in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and he pitched his tent there. Abram stayed in that place for many years.

Ch. 16

At that time Chedorlaomer, the king of Elam, sent to all the neighboring kings, to Nimrod, the king of Shinar who was then under his power, and to Tidal, the king of Goyim, as well as to Arioch, the king of Elasar, with whom he made a covenant, and said, "Come to me and assist me to smite all the towns of Sodom and its inhabitants, as they have rebelled against me for thirteen years."

The four kings went up with all their camps, about eight hundred thousand men, and they struck every man they found in their road. The five kings of Sodom and Gomorrah, Shinab the king of Admah, Shemeber the king of Zeboyim, Bera the king of Sodom, Bersha the king of Gomorrah, and Bela the king of Zoar, went out to meet them, and they all assembled in the valley of Siddim.

The nine kings made war in the valley of Siddim, and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah were struck down before the kings of Elam. The valley of Siddim was full of lime pits and the kings of Elam pursued the kings of Sodom, and the kings of Sodom with their camps fled and fell into the lime pits, and everything that stayed went to the mountain for safety, and the five kings of Elam came after them and pursued them to the gates of Sodom, and they took everything that there was in Sodom. They plundered all the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, and they also took Lot, Abram's brother's son, and his property, and seized all the goods of the cities of Sodom, and then they left.

Unic, Abram's servant, who was in the battle, saw this, and told Abram everything that the kings had done to the cities of Sodom, and that they had taken Lot captive. Abram heard this, and he left up with about three hundred and eighteen men, and that night pursued the kings and struck them. They all fell before Abram and his men, and there was none remaining but the four kings who fled. Each left on his own road.

Abram recovered all the property of Sodom and Lot and his property, his wives and little ones and all belonging to him, so that Lot lacked nothing. When he returned from striking down the kings, he and his men passed the valley of Siddim where the kings had made war. Bera the king of Sodom, and the rest of his men that were with him, left the lime pits into which they had fallen to meet Abram and his men.

Adonizedek the king of Jerusalem, also called Shem, went out with his men to meet Abram and his people with bread and wine. They stayed together in the valley of Melech. Adonizedek blessed Abram, and Abram gave him a tenth of everything that he had brought from the spoil of his enemies, for Adonizedek was a priest of God.

All the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah who were there, with their servants, approached Abram and begged him to return their servants whom he had made captive, and to take all the property. Abram answered the kings of Sodom, "As the Lord lives who created heaven and earth, and who saved my life from all distressed, and who today saved me from my enemies, and handed them over to me, I will not take anything belonging to you, so that you cannot boast that I became rich from your property. For the Lord my God in whom I trust told me that I would lack nothing, and that the Lord my God would bless everything I did. So then, here is everything that belongs to you; take it and go! As the Lord lives I will not take from you from a living life down to a shoe lace or thread, apart from the expense of the food of those who went out with me to battle, as also the portions of the men who went with me, Anar, Ashcol, and Mamre, and their men, and those also who had stayed to watch the baggage, they will take their portion of the spoil."

The kings of Sodom gave Abram everything that he had said, and they urged him to take whatever he chose, but he would not. He sent away the kings of Sodom and the remainder of their men. He gave them orders about Lot, and they went to their respective places. He also sent away Lot, his brother's son, with his property, and he went with them. Lot returned to his home, to Sodom, and Abram and his people returned to their home to the plains of Mamre, which is in Hebron.

At that time the Lord again appeared to Abram in Hebron, and said to him, "Do not fear, your reward is very great. I will not leave you, until I will have multiplied you, and blessed you and made your descendants like the stars in heaven, which cannot be measured nor numbered. I will give your descendants all these lands that you see, as an inheritance forever. Be strong and do not fear, completely follow me."

In the seventy-eighth year of the life of Abram, Reu, the son of Peleg, died. He was two hundred and thirty-nine years old. Sarai, the daughter of Haran, Abram's wife, was still barren in those times and she did not bear a son or daughter to Abram. When she saw that she bore no children she took her handmaid Hagar, whom Pharaoh had given her, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife. Hagar had learned all the ways of Sarai as Sarai taught her, as was in no way deficient in following her good ways. Sarai said to Abram, "Here is my handmaid Hagar, go to her so that she may produce a child on my knees, I may also obtain children through her."

After Abram had lived for ten years in Canaan, which is the eighty-fifth year of Abram's life, Sarai gave Hagar to him. Abram listened to his wife Sarai, and he took his handmaid Hagar. Abram went to her and she conceived.

When Hagar saw that she had conceived she celebrated greatly, and despised her mistress. She said to herself, "This means that I am better in God's sight than Sarai my mistress, for the whole time that my mistress has been with my lord, she did not conceive, but the Lord has made me conceive by him in a short space of time."

When Sarai saw that Hagar had conceived by Abram, Sarai was jealous of her handmaid, and Sarai said to herself, "This must mean that she is better than I am."

Sarai said to Abram, "My wrong is on you, for when you prayed to the Lord for children why did you not pray on my account, that the Lord would give me descendants from you? When I speak to Hagar in your presence, she despises my words, because she has conceived, and you will say nothing to her! May the Lord judge between me and you for what you have done to me!"

Abram said to Sarai, "Your handmaid is under your control - do whatever you like to her." Sarai afflicted her, and Hagar fled from her to the desert. An angel of the Lord found her in the place where she had fled, at a well, and said to her, "Do not fear. I will multiply your descendants, and you will bear a son and you will call him Ishmael. Now then return to Sarai your mistress, and submit yourself to her."

Hagar called the place of that well Beer-lahai-roi. It is between Kadesh and the Bered desert. At that time Hagar returned to her master's house, and Hagar bore a son to Abram. Abram called him Ishmael, and he was eighty-six years old when he fathered him.

Ch. 17

In those times, in the ninety-first year of the life of Abram, the children of Chittim made war with the children of Tubal, as when the Lord had scattered men over the face of the earth, the children of Chittim had gone to live in the plain of Canopia, and had built cities there and lived by the river Tibreu. The children of Tubal lived in Tuscanah, and their boundaries reached the river Tibreu. The children of Tubal built a city in Tuscanan, and they called it Sabinah, after the name of Sabinah son of Tubal their father, and they live there today.

It was at that time the children of Chittim made war with the children of Tubal, and the children of Tubal were struck down before the children of Chittim, that the children of Chittim made three hundred and seventy men to fall before the children of Tubal. At that time the children of Tubal swore to the children of Chittim, and said, "You will not intermarry among us! No man will give his daughter to any of the sons of Chittim."

For all the daughters of Tubal were beautiful in those times. There were no women in the whole earth as beautiful as the daughters of Tubal. All who delighted in the beauty of women went to the daughters of Tubal and took wives from among them. Men, kings and princes, who greatly delighted in the beauty of women, took wives from among the daughters of Tubal.

Three years after the children of Tubal had sworn to the children of Chittim not to give them their daughters as wives, about twenty men of the children of Chittim went to take some of the daughters of Tubal, but found none. The children of Tubal kept their oaths not to intermarry with them, and they would not break their oaths. In the time of harvest, the children of Tubal went to their fields to get in their harvest, when the young men of Chittim assembled and went to the city of Sabinah. Each man took a young woman from the daughters of Tubal, and they went to their cities.

The children of Tubal heard about it and they went to make war with them, and they could not overcome them, as the mountain was exceedingly high. When they saw they could not prevail over them they returned to their land. At the revolution of the year the children of Tubal went and hired about ten thousand men from those cities that were near them, and they went to war with the children of Chittim. The children of Tubal went to war with the children of Chittim, intending destroy their land and distress them. The children of Tubal prevailed over the children of Chittim.

When the children of Chittim saw that they were greatly distressed, they lifted up the children which they had had by the daughters of Tubal, on the wall which had been built, to be seen by the children of Tubal. The children of Chittim said to them, "Have you come to make war with your own sons and daughters? Have we not been considered your flesh and blood from that time until now?"

When the children of Tubal heard this they stopped making war with the children of Chittim, and returned to their cities. The children of Chittim assembled and built two cities by the sea. They called one Purtu and the other Ariza. Abram the son of Terah was then ninety-nine years old. At that time the Lord appeared to him and said, "I will make my covenant between me and you. I will greatly multiply your descendants. This is the covenant I will make between me and you, that every male child is to be circumcised, you and your descendants after you. This is to happen at eight days of age. This covenant will be in your flesh as an everlasting covenant. So then your name will no more be called Abram but Abraham, and your wife will no more be called Sarai but Sarah. For I will bless you both, and I will multiply your descendants after you. You will become a great nation, and kings will come out of you."

Ch. 18

Abraham did everything that God had ordered him. He took the men of his household and those bought with his money. He circumcised them as the Lord had commanded him. There was not one left whom he did not circumcise. Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised as regards their foreskin. Ishmael was thirteen years old when he was circumcised. On the third day Abraham left his tent and sat at the door to enjoy the heat of the sun, as he was in pain.

The Lord appeared to him in the plain of Mamre, and sent three of his ministering angels to visit him. He was sitting at the door of the tent, and he looked up and saw three men coming from a distance. He left and ran to meet them. He bowed down to them and brought them into his house. He said to them, "If now I have found favor in your sight, turn in and eat some bread." He urged them, and they turned in. He gave them water and they washed their feet. He placed them under a tree at the door of the tent.

Abraham ran and took a tender good calf, and hurried to kill it. He gave it to his servant Eliezer to dress. Abraham went to Sarah into the tent, and he said to her, "Quickly prepare three measures of fine meal, knead it and make cakes to cover the pot containing the meat." She did so.

Abraham hurried and set before them butter, milk, beef and mutton, and gave it to them to eat until the flesh of the calf was sufficiently cooked, and they ate. When they had finished eating, one of them said to him, "I will return to you years of your life, and Sarah your wife will have a son."

The men afterward left and headed for the places to which they were sent. In those times the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, and of the whole five cities, were very wicked and sinful against the Lord and they provoked the Lord with their abominations. They were abominable and scornfully to the Lord. Their wickedness and crimes were in those times great in the Lord's sight.

In their land was an extensive valley, about half a day's walk, and in it there were fountains of water and a great deal of greenery surrounding the water. All the people of Sodom and Gomorrah went there four times a year, with their wives and children and all belonging to them, and they celebrated with timbrels and dances. At this time they would all rise and lay hold of their neighbor's wives, and some, the maiden daughters of their neighbors, and they enjoyed them, and each man saw his wife and daughter in the hands of his neighbor but did not say a word. They did so from morning to night, and afterwards they returned home - each man to his house and each woman to her tent. They always did so four times a year.

When a stranger came into their cities and brought goods which he had purchased to sell there, the people of the cities would assemble, men, women and children, young and old, and go to the man and steal his goods, giving a little to each man until there was an end to all the goods of the owner. If the owner of the goods quarreled with them, and said, "What have you done to me?" then they would approach him one by one, and each would show him the little which he took and taunt him, saying, "I only took a little that you gave me." When he heard this, he would leave them sadly and with bitterness. Then they would all follow him and drive him out of the city with great noise and commotion.

There was a man from the country of Elam who was leisurely going on the road, riding his donkey, which carried a fine mantle of different colors, and the mantle was bound with a cord on the donkey. The man was on his journey passing through the street of Sodom when the sun set in the evening, and he stayed there in order to stay for the night. However, no one would let him into their house. At that time there was a wicked and mischievous man in Sodom. He was a cunning evildoer, and his name was Hedad. He looked up and saw the traveler in the city street. He approached him and said, "Where do you come from and where are you going?"

The man said to him, "I am traveling from Hebron to Elam where I belong. As I passed sunset, and no one would allow me to enter his house, although I had bread and water and also straw and feed for my donkey, and am short of nothing."

Hedad answered him, "You won't stay in the street at night. I'll provide everything that you need."

Hedad brought him to his house. He took the mantle off the donkey with the cord, and brought them to his house. He gave the donkey straw and feed while the traveler ate and drank in Hedad's house, and he stayed there that night. In the morning the traveler rose early to continue his journey, when Hedad said to him, "Wait, comfort yourself some bread and then go."

The man did so, and stayed with him. They both ate and drank together through the day, then the man rose to leave. Hedad said to him, "The day is almost over, so you had better stay all night for your peace of mind." He urged him, so he stayed there all night. On the second day he rose early to leave, when Hedad urged him, "Have some bread and then go."

He stayed and ate with him on the second day too, and then rose up to continue his journey. Hedad said to him, "The day is almost over, so you had better stay with me for your peace of mind and in the morning leave early."

The man would not remain, but rose and saddled his donkey, and while he was saddling his donkey Hedad's wife said to her husband, "This man has stayed with us for two days eating and drinking and has given us nothing, and now will he leave without giving us anything?"

Hedad said to her, "Be silent."

The man saddled his donkey to go, and he asked Hedad to give him the cord and mantle to tie it on the donkey.

Hedad said to him, "What are you saying?"

He said, "My lord, that you will give me the cord and the mantle made with different colors which you hid in your house to take care of it."

Hedad answered the man, "This is the interpretation of your dream. The cord which you saw means that your life will be lengthened like a cord. You seeing the mantle colored with all sorts of colors, means that you will have a vineyard in which you will plant trees of different kinds of fruits."

The traveler answered, saying, "No, my lord, I was awake when I gave you the cord and the mantle woven with different colors, which you took off the donkey to put hide for me."

Hedad answered, "I have certainly told you the interpretation of your dream and it is a good dream, and that is the interpretation of it. Now men give me four pieces of silver, which is my charge for interpreting dreams, yet from you I only require three pieces of silver."

The man was upset at the words of Hedad, and he cried bitterly. He brought Hedad to Serak, the judge of Sodom. The man laid his cause before Serak the judge, but Hedad said, "It is not so, but this is the matter."

The judge said to the traveler, "This man Hedad is telling you the truth, for he is famous in the cities for the accurate interpretation of dreams."

The man cried at the words of the judge, and said, "Not so my Lord, for I gave him the cord and mantle which was on the donkey, to put them aside in his house."

They both disputed before the judge. One said the case was this, but the other said the case was that. Hedad said to the man, "Give me the four pieces of silver that I charge for my interpretations of dreams. I will not make any allowance, and pay me for the four meals that you ate in my house."

The man said to Hedad, "I will certainly pay you for what I ate in your house, but give me the cord and mantle which you hid in your house."

Hedad said to the man before the judge, "Did I not tell you the interpretation of your dream? The cord means that your days will be prolonged like a cord, and the mantle means that you will have a vineyard in which you will plant all kinds of fruit trees. This is the correct interpretation of your dream, so now give me the four pieces of silver that I require as pay, as I will make you no allowance."

The man cried at the words of Hedad and they both quarreled before the judge. The judge gave orders to his servants to drive them from the house. They left the judge quarreling. The people of Sodom heard them. They gathered around them and they cried out against the stranger, and drove him from the city. The man continued his journey on his donkey with bitterness, crying and crying. As he was going along he cried at what had happened to him in the corrupt city of Sodom.

Ch. 19

The cities of Sodom had four judges to four cities. These were their names: Serak in the city of Sodom, Sharkad in Gomorrah, Zabnac in Admah, and Menon in Zeboyim. Eliezer Abraham's servant gave them different names, and he changed Serak to Shakra, Sharkad to Shakrura, Zebnac to Kezobim, and Menon to Matzlodin. By the wishes of their four judges the people of Sodom and Gomorrah had beds erected in the streets of the cities, and if a man went to these places they seized him and brought him to one of their beds, and forced him to lie in them. As he lay down, three men would stand at his head and three at his feet, and measure him by the length of the bed. If the man was less than the bed the six men would stretch him at each end, and when he cried out they would not answer him.

If he was longer than the bed they drew together the two sides of the bed at each end, until the man had reached the gates of death. If he continued to cry out, they would say to him, "This is what happens to a man who comes to our land."

When men heard everything that the people of the cities of Sodom did, they refrained from going there. When a poor man went to their land they would give him silver and gold, and make a proclamation in the whole city not to give him any bread to eat. If the stranger stayed there a few days, then died from hunger after not being able to obtain any bread, then at his death all the people of the city would come and take their silver and gold which they had given to him. Those who could recognize the silver or gold which they had given him took it back, and after his death they also stripped him of his clothes, and they would fight about them. The one that prevailed over his neighbor took them. After that they carried him and buried him under some of the shrubs in the deserts. They did this the whole time to any one who went to them and died in their land.

In the course of time Sarah sent Eliezer to Sodom to see Lot and ask after his welfare. Eliezer went to Sodom, and met a man of Sodom fighting with a stranger. The man of Sodom stripped the poor man of all his clothes and went away. The poor man cried to Eliezer and begged his favor because of what the man of Sodom had done to him. He said to him, "Why do you act like this to the poor man who went to your land?"

The man of Sodom answered Eliezer, "Is this man your brother, or have the people of Sodom made you a judge today to speak to this man?"

Eliezer argued with the man of Sodom over the poor man, and when Eliezer approached to recover the poor man's clothes from the man of Sodom, he struck Eliezer in the forehead with a stone. The blood flowed profusely from Eliezer's forehead. When the man saw the blood he caught hold of Eliezer and said, "Pay me for having rid you of this bad blood that was in your forehead, for this is the custom and the law in our land."

Eliezer said to him, "You have wounded me and asked me to pay you your hire," and Eliezer would not listen to the words of the man of Sodom. The man seized Eliezer and brought him to Shakra the judge of Sodom for judgment. The man said to the judge, "I beg you my lord, this is what this man has done. I struck him with a stone so that the blood flowed from his forehead. He is unwilling to pay me my hire."

The judge said to Eliezer, "This man speaks the truth to you, pay him as this is the custom in our land." Eliezer heard the words of the judge, and he picked up a stone and struck the judge. The stone struck on his forehead, and the blood flowed profusely from the forehead of the judge.

Eliezer said, "If then is the custom in your land, pay this man what I should have given him, as this has been your decision, for you decreed it."

Eliezer left the man of Sodom with the judge, and went away. After the kings of Elam made war with the kings of Sodom, the kings of Elam captured all the property of Sodom, and took Lot captive along with his property. When Abraham heard, he made war with the kings of Elam, and he recovered from their hands all the property of Lot as well as the property of Sodom. At that time Lot's wife bore him a daughter, and he called her Paltith, because God had delivered him and his whole household from the kings of Elam. Paltith Lot's daughter grew up, and one of the men of Sodom took her as a wife.

A poor man came into the city to look for sustenance, and he stayed in the city for a while. All the people of Sodom made a proclamation after their custom not to give this man any bread to eat, until he dropped dead on the ground. Paltith Lot's daughter saw this man lying in the streets starved with hunger, and no one would give him any thing to keep him alive. He was on the point of death. She was filled with pity for the man, and fed him secretly with bread for many days, and this man was revived. When she left to fetch water she put the bread in the water pitcher, and when she went to the place where the poor man was, she took the bread out of the pitcher and gave it him to eat, and she did this for many days.

All the people of Sodom and Gomorrah wondered how this man could withstand starvation for so long. They said to each other, "He must be eating and drinking, for no one can withstand starvation for so many days or live as this man has, without even his appearance changing. Three men hid themselves in a place where the poor man was stationed, to know who it was that brought him bread to eat. Paltith Lot's daughter left that day to fetch water, and she put bread into her pitcher of water. She went to draw water near the poor man's place, and she took out the bread from the pitcher and gave it to the poor man to eat. The three men saw what Paltith did to the poor man, and they said to her, "It is you then who have supported him! This is why has he not starved, or changed in appearance or died like the others."

The three men left the place in which they were hidden, and they seized Paltith and the bread which was in the poor man's hand. They took Paltith and brought her before their judges. They said to them, "This is what she did, and it is she who supplied the poor man with bread, so that he did not die all this time. Declare to us the punishment due to this woman for having sinned against our law."

The people of Sodom and Gomorrah assembled and kindled a fire in the street of the city. They took the woman and threw her into the fire and she was burned to ashes.

In the city of Admah there was a woman to whom they did the same thing. A traveler came into the city of Admah to stay there the night, with the intention of going home in the morning. He sat opposite the door of the house of the young woman's father, to stay there, as the sun had set when he arrived. The young woman saw him sitting by the door of the house. He asked her for a drink of water and she said to him, "Who are you?"

He answered, "Today I was going on the road, and reached here when the sun set, so I will stay here all night. In the morning I will rise early and continue my journey."

The young woman went into the house and fetched the man bread and water to eat and drink. This matter became known to the people of Admah, and they assembled and brought the young woman to the judges, to judge her for this act. The judge said, "The sentence of death must come on this woman because she sinned against our law, so then this is the decision about her."

The people of the cities assembled and brought out the young woman. They smeared her with honey from head to foot, as the judge had decreed, and they put her in front of a swarm of bees which were then in their hives. The bees flew on her and stung her and her whole body swelled. The young woman cried out because of the bees, but no one took notice of her or pitied her, and her cries went up to heaven.

The Lord was angry at this and at all the works of the cities of Sodom. They had abundance of food, and peace among them, but would not sustain the poor and needy. In those times their evil doings and sins became great in the Lord's sight. The Lord sent for two of the angels that had gone to Abraham's house to destroy Sodom and its cities. The angels left the door of Abraham's tent, after they had eaten and drunk, and they reached Sodom in the evening. Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom, and when he saw them he arose to meet them, and he bowed down to the ground. He urged them greatly and took them into his house. He gave them food which they ate, and they stayed all night in his house. The angels said to Lot, "Leave this place, you and all belonging to you, or you will be consumed in the sin of this city, for the Lord will destroy this place."

The angels seized the hand of Lot, the hand of his wife, the hands of his children, and all belonging to him, and they took him out and set him outside the cities. They said to Lot, "Escape for your life!" He fled and so did all belonging to him.

Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven on Sodom and on Gomorrah and on all these cities. He overthrew the cities, all the plains and all the inhabitants of the cities, and everything that grew on the ground.

Ado, Lot's wife, looked back to see the destruction of the cities, as her compassion was moved because of her daughters who stayed in Sodom, for they did not go with her. When she looked back she turned to a pillar of salt, and it is still there in that place today. The oxen which stood in that place daily licked up the salt to the ends of their feet, and in the morning it would spring forth anew, and they licked it up again that day.

Lot and two of his daughters that stayed with him escaped to the cave of Adullam, and they stayed there for some time. Abraham arose early in the morning to see what had been done to the cities of Sodom, and he saw the smoke of the cities going up like the smoke of a furnace. Lot and his two daughters stayed in the cave. They made their father drink wine, and they slept with him, for they said there was no man on the earth that could raise up descendants from them, for they thought that the whole earth was destroyed. They both lay with their father, and they conceived and bore sons. The first born named her son Moab, saying, "From my father I conceived him." He is the father of the Moabites today. The younger also called her son Benami. He is the father of the children of Ammon today.

After this Lot and his two daughters left there, and he lived on the other side of the Jordan with his two daughters and their sons. The sons of Lot grew up, and they took wives for themselves from Canaan. They fathered children and they were fruitful and multiplied.

Ch. 20

At that time Abraham traveled from the plain of Mamre, and went to the land of the Philistines, where he lived in Gerar. It was in the twenty-fifth year that Abraham had been in Canaan, and when he was one hundred years old, that Abraham arrived in Gerar in the land of the Philistines. When they entered the land he said to Sarah his wife, "Say you are my sister to anyone who asks you, so that we may escape the evil of the inhabitants of the land."

As Abraham was living in the land of the Philistines, the servants of Abimelech, the king of the Philistines, saw that Sarah was exceedingly beautiful. They asked Abraham about her, and he said, "She is my sister."

The servants of Abimelech went to Abimelech, and said, "A man from Canaan has come to live in the land, and he has a sister who is very beautiful." Abimelech heard the words of his servants who praised Sarah to him. Abimelech sent his officers, and they brought Sarah to the king. Sarah arrived at the house of Abimelech. The king saw that Sarah was beautiful, and she greatly pleased him. He approached her and asked, "Who is that man to you with whom you went to our land?"

Sarah answered, "He is my brother, and we came from Canaan to live wherever we could find a place."

Abimelech said to Sarah, "My land is before you! Set your brother on any part of this land that pleases you, and it will be our duty to acclaim and elevate him over all the people of the land as he is your brother."

Abimelech sent for Abraham, and Abraham went to Abimelech. Abimelech said to Abraham, "I have given orders that you will be honored as you wish because of your sister Sarah."

Abraham left the king, and the king's present followed him. As at evening time, before sleep time, the king was sitting on his throne. A deep sleep fell on him, and he lay on the throne and slept until morning. He dreamed that an angel of the Lord went to him with a drawn sword in his hand. The angel stood over Abimelech, and wished to kill him with the sword. In his dream the king was terrified and said to the angel, "How have I sinned against you that you come to kill me with your sword?"

The angel answered Abimelech, "You will die because of the woman you brought to your house that night, as she is a married woman, the Abraham's wife who went to your house! Return her to that man, for she is his wife, and if you do not return her, you will surely die, you and all belonging to you."

On that night there was a great uproar in the land of the Philistines, as the inhabitants of the land saw the figure of a man standing with a drawn sword in his hand. He struck the inhabitants of the land with the sword, and kept striking them. That night the angel of the Lord struck the whole land of the Philistines, and there was a great confusion on that night. Every womb was closed and all their issues, and the hand of the Lord was on them because of Sarah, Abraham's wife, whom Abimelech had taken.

In the morning Abimelech arose terrified and confused and in great fear. He sent for his servants, and told his dream to them. The people were very afraid. One man standing among the servants of the king said to the king, "Sovereign king, restore this woman to her husband, for he is her husband. The same thing happened to the king of Egypt when this man went to Egypt. He said his wife was his sister, as this is what he does when he comes to live in a foreign land. Pharaoh sent and took this woman as a wife and the Lord brought severe plagues on him until he returned the woman to her husband. So then, sovereign king, last night in the whole land there was great consternation, pain and crying, and we know that it was because of the woman which you took. So then restore this woman to her husband, so that we do not die, and so that what happened to Pharaoh the king of Egypt and his subjects will not happen to us."

Abimelech hurried and had Sarah called for, and she came in front of him. He had Abraham called for, and he came in front of him. Abimelech said to them, "Why did you say you are brother and sister, which is why I took this woman as a wife?"

Abraham said, "Because I thought I should be out to death because of my wife."

Abimelech took flocks, herds, men servants, maid servants and a thousand pieces of silver and gave them to Abraham, and he returned Sarah to him. Abimelech said to Abraham, "The whole land is before you; live in it wherever you wish."

Abraham and Sarah, his wife, left the king's presence with honor and respect, and lived in the land, in Gerar. All the inhabitants of the land of the Philistines and the king's servants were still suffering from the plague which the angel had inflicted on them the whole night because of Sarah. Abimelech sent for Abraham and said, "Pray for your servants to the Lord your God, to take away this mortality from us."

Abraham prayed for Abimelech and his subjects. The Lord heard Abraham's prayer, and he healed Abimelech and all his subjects.

Ch. 21

After Abraham had lived in the land of the Philistines in Gerar for a year and four months, God visited Sarah, and the Lord remembered her, and she conceived and bore a son to Abraham. Abraham called his son which Sarah bore him, Isaac. Abraham circumcised his son Isaac at eight days old, as God had commanded Abraham to do to his descendants after him. Abraham was one hundred years old, and Sarah was ninety years old, when Isaac was born.

The child grew and was weaned, and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. Shem and Eber and all the important people of the land, and Abimelech the king of the Philistines, and his servants, and Phicol, the captain of his army, went to eat and drink and celebrate at the feast which Abraham made on the occasion of his son Isaac's weaning.

Terah, the father of Abraham, and Nahor his brother, came from Haran, they and all belonging to them, for they greatly celebrated when they heard that a son had been born to Sarah. They went to Abraham, and they ate and drank at the feast which Abraham made on the day of Isaac's being weaned. Terah and Nahor celebrated with Abraham. They stayed with him for many days in the land of the Philistines.

At that time Serug the son of Reu died, in the first year of the birth of Isaac son of Abraham. Serug died at the age of two hundred and thirty-nine years old.

Ishmael the son of Abraham was fourteen years old when Sarah bore Isaac to Abraham. God was with Ishmael the son of Abraham, and he grew up and learned to use the bow and became an archer. When Isaac was five years old he was sitting with Ishmael at the door of the tent. Ishmael went to Isaac and sat opposite him, and he took the bow and drew it and put the arrow in it, and intended to kill Isaac. Sarah saw what Ishmael intended to do to her son Isaac, and she was extremely upset. She sent for Abraham, and said to him, "Cast out this bondwoman and her son! Her son will not be heir with my son! This is what he intended to do to him today."

Abraham listened to Sarah. He rose early in the morning. He took twelve loaves and a bottle of water and gave them to Hagar, and sent her away with her son. Hagar went with her son to the desert. They lived in the desert of Paran with the inhabitants of the desert. Ishmael was an archer, and he lived in the desert for a long time. Afterwards he and his mother went to the land of Egypt, and they lived there. Hagar took a wife for her son from Egypt, and her name was Meribah. Ishmael's wife conceived and bore four sons and two daughters. Ishmael, his mother, his wife and children later went back to the desert. They made themselves tents in the desert, and lived in them. They continued to travel and then rest monthly and yearly.

God gave Ishmael flocks, herds and tents because of Abraham his father, and the man's livestock increased. Ishmael lived in deserts and in tents, traveling and resting for a long time, and he did not see his father. Some time later, Abraham said to Sarah his wife, "I will go and see my son Ishmael. I wish to see him. I haven't seen him for a long time."

Abraham rode one of his camels in to the desert to look for his son Ishmael, as he heard he was living in a tent in the desert with all belonging to him. Abraham went to the desert, and arrived at the tent of Ishmael about noon. He asked after Ishmael, and found Ishmael's wife sitting in the tent with her children. Ishmael her husband and his mother were not with them. Abraham asked Ishmael's wife, "Where has Ishmael gone?"

She said, "He has gone to the field to hunt."

Abraham was still sitting on the camel. He would not dismount as he had sworn to his wife Sarah that he would not get off the camel. Abraham said to Ishmael's wife, "My daughter, give me a little water to drink. I am fatigued from the journey."

Ishmael's wife answered Abraham, "We do not have water nor bread." She kept sitting in the tent and took no notice of Abraham, and did not ask him who he was. But she was beating her children in the tent, and was cursing them. She also cursed her husband Ishmael and reproached him. Abraham heard the words of Ishmael's wife to her children, and he was very angry and displeased.

Abraham called the woman to come out to him from the tent. The woman came out and stood opposite Abraham, as Abraham was still mounted on the camel. Abraham said to Ishmael's wife, "When your husband Ishmael comes home say this to him, 'A very old man from the land of the Philistines came here to seek you, and this was his appearance. I did not ask him who he was, and seeing you were not here he said to me, "When Ishmael your husband comes back, tell him this man said, 'When you come home put away this nail of the tent which you have placed here, and place another nail in its stead."'"

Abraham finished his instructions to the woman, then he turned and went homeward on the camel. After that Ishmael came from the chase with his mother, and returned to the tent. His wife said these words to him, "A very old man from the land of the Philistines came looking for you, and this was his appearance. I did not ask him who he was, and seeing you were not at home he said to me, 'When your husband comes home tell him,' says the old man, 'Put away the nail of the tent you have placed here and put another nail in its stead.'"

Ishmael heard his wife's words and knew that it was his father, and that his wife did not honor him. Ishmael understood his father's words that he had spoken to his wife. Ishmael listened to his father, and cast off that woman and she left.

Ishmael later went to Canaan, and took another wife and brought her to his tent to the place where he then lived. After three years Abraham said, "I will go again and see Ishmael my son. I haven't seen him for a long time."

He rode his camel and went to the desert, and reached Ishmael's tent about noon. He asked after Ishmael, and his wife came out of the tent and said, "My lord, he is not here, as he has gone to hunt in the fields, and to feed the camels."

The woman said to Abraham, "My lord, come into the ten, and eat some bread, for you must be tired after your journey."

Abraham said to her, "I won't stop as I am in a hurry to continue my journey, but give me a little water to drink, as I'm thirsty."

The woman hurried and ran into the tent. She brought out water and bread to Abraham, which she placed in front of him and she urged him to eat. He ate and drank and he was comforted and he blessed his son Ishmael. He finished his meal and blessed the Lord, and said to Ishmael's wife, "When Ishmael comes home say this to him, "A very old man from the land of the Philistines came here and asked after you, and as you were not here, I brought him out bread and water and he ate and drank and was comforted. He said these words to me, 'When Ishmael your husband comes home, say to him, "The nail of the tent which you have is very good, do not put it away from the tent."'"

Abraham finished commanding the woman, and he rode off home to the land of the Philistines. When Ishmael went to his tent his wife left to meet him happily and cheerfully. She said to him, "An old man came here from the land of the Philistines and this was his appearance. He asked after you and as you were not here, I brought out bread and water, and he ate and drank and was comforted. He said these words to me, 'When Ishmael your husband comes home, say to him, "The nail of the tent which you have is very good, do not put it away from the tent."'"

Ishmael knew that it was his father, and that his wife had honored him. The Lord blessed Ishmael.

Ch. 22

Ishmael then left and took his wife, his children, his cattle and all belonging to him. He traveled from there to his father in the land of the Philistines. Abraham told Ishmael his son the transaction with the first wife that Ishmael took. Ishmael and his children lived with Abraham for many days in that land, and Abraham lived in the land of the Philistines a long time, for twenty six years.

After that Abraham with his servants and all belonging to him left the land of the Philistines and went to a great distance away to Hebron, and they stayed there. The servants of Abraham dug wells of water, and Abraham and all belonging to him lived by the water. The servants of Abimelech the king of the Philistines heard that Abraham's servants had dug wells of water in the borders of the land. They came and quarreled with the servants of Abraham, and they robbed them of the large well which they had dug.

Abimelech the king of the Philistines heard of this, and he with Phicol the captain of his army and twenty of his men went to Abraham. Abimelech spoke to Abraham about his servants, and Abraham reprimanded Abimelech about the well of which his servants had robbed him. Abimelech said to Abraham, "As the Lord lives who created the whole earth, I did not hear what my servants had done to your servants until today."

Abraham took seven ewe lambs and gave them to Abimelech and said, "Take these, I pray you, from me so that it may be a testimony for me that I dug this well."

Abimelech took the seven ewe lambs which Abraham had given to him, as he had also given him cattle and herds in abundance. Abimelech swore to Abraham about the well, so he called that well Beersheba, for there they both swore about it. They both made a covenant in Beersheba. Abimelech left with Phicol the captain of his army and all his men, and they returned to the land of the Philistines. Abraham and all belonging to him lived in Beersheba and he was in that land for a long time.

Abraham planted a large grove in Beersheba, and he made to it four gates facing the four sides of the earth and planted a vineyard in it, so that if a traveler went to Abraham he entered any gate which was in his road, and stayed there and ate and drank and satisfied himself and then left. For the house of Abraham was always open to any men who passed and ate, who came daily to eat and drink in the house of Abraham. Any one who was hungry went to Abraham's house and Abraham gave him bread to eat and drink and be filled, and any one who came naked to his house he would clothe, and give him silver and gold and tell him about the Lord who had created him on the earth. Abraham did this all his life.

Abraham and his children and all belonging to him lived in Beersheba, and he pitched his tent as far as Hebron. Abraham's brother Nahor and his father and all belonging to them lived in Haran, as they did not come with Abraham to Canaan. Children were born to Nahor, which Milca the daughter of Haran, and sister of Sarah, Abraham's wife, bore to him. These are the names of those that were born to him: Uz, Buz, Kemuel, Kesed, Chazo, Pildash, Tidlaf, and Bethuel, being eight sons, these are the children of Milca which she bore to Nahor, Abraham's brother. Nahor had a concubine and her name was Reumah, and she also bore to Nahor, Zebach, Gachash, Tachash and Maacha, four sons. The children who were born to Nahor were twelve sons as well as his daughters, and they also had children born to them in Haran. The children of Uz, the first born of Nahor, were Abi, Cheref, Gadin, Melus, and Deborah their sister. The sons of Buz were Berachel, Naamath, Sheva, and Madonu. The sons of Kemuel were Aram and Rechob. The sons of Kesed were Anamlech, Meshai, Benon and Yifi. The sons of Chazo were Pildash, Mechi and Opher. The sons of Pildash were Arud, Chamum, Mered and Moloch. The sons of Tidlaf were Mushan, Cushan and Mutzi. The children of Bethuel were Sechar, Laban and their sister Rebecca. These are the families of the children of Nahor that were born to them in Haran.

Aram the son of Kemuel and Rechob his brother left Haran, and found a valley in the land by the Euphrates River. They built a city there, and they called the city after Pethor the son of Aram; that is Aram Naherayim today. The children of Kesed also went to live where they could find a place, and they found a valley opposite the land of Shinar and lived there. They there built themselves a city, and called the city Kesed after their father; that is the land Kasdim today. The Kasdim lived in that land and they were fruitful and multiplied greatly.

Terah, the father of Nahor and Abraham, took another wife in his old age. Her name was Pelilah, and she conceived and bore him a son and he called him Zoba. Terah lived for twenty-five years after he fathered Zoba. Terah died in that year, in the thirty-fifth year of Isaac the son of Abraham. Terah lived for two hundred and five years, and he was buried in Haran. Zoba the son of Terah lived for thirty years and fathered Aram, Achlis and Merik. Aram son of Zoba son of Terah had three wives and fathered twelve sons and three daughters. The Lord gave Aram the son of Zoba riches and possessions, and abundance of cattle, flocks and herds, and the man prospered greatly.

Aram the son of Zoba and his brother and all his household traveled from Haran, and they went to live where they found a place, for their property was too large for them to stay in Haran. They could not stay in Haran together with their brothers the children of Nahor. Aram the son of Zoba went with his brothers, and they found a valley at a distance toward the east country and they lived there. They also built a city there, and they called it Aram, after their eldest brother; that is Aram Zoba today.

Isaac the son of Abraham was growing up in those times, and Abraham his father taught him the way of the Lord, and the Lord was with him. When Isaac was thirty-seven years old, Ishmael his brother was going about with him in the tent. Ishmael boasted to Isaac, and said, "I was thirteen years old when the Lord told my father to circumcise us! I followed the Lord's order which he gave my father. I gave my life to the Lord, and I did not sin against his word which he commanded my father."

Isaac answered Ishmael, "Why do you boast to me about this, about a little bit of your flesh which you took from your body, which the Lord commanded you? As the Lord lives, the God of my father Abraham, if the Lord says to my father, 'Take your son Isaac and bring him up as an offering to me, I would happily do it."

The Lord heard what Isaac said to Ishmael, and it seemed good to him, and he thought to he would test Abraham on this matter. The day came when the sons of God placed themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with the sons of God before the Lord.

The Lord said to Satan, "Where have you come from?"

Satan answered the Lord, "From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down in it."

The Lord said to Satan, "What do you have to tell o me about all the children of the earth?"

Satan answered the Lord, "I have seen all the children of the earth who serve you and remember you when they want something from you. When you give them the thing which they want from you, they are at their ease, and abandon you and they remember you no more. Have you seen Abraham the son of Terah, who at first had no children, and he served you and erected altars to you wherever he came, and he made offerings on them, and he proclaimed your name continually to all the children of the earth? Now that his son Isaac is born, he has abandoned you. He has made a great feast for all the inhabitants of the land, but the Lord he has forgotten. He had not brought you an offering, not a burnt offering nor peace offering, neither ox, lamb nor goat of everything that he killed on the day that his son was weaned. From the time of his son's birth until now, thirty-seven years, he built no altar before you, nor brought any offering to you, as he saw that you gave him what he requested from you, and so he abandoned you."

The Lord said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Abraham? There is no one like him on the earth, a completely upright man before me, one that fears God and avoids evil. As I live, if I to say to him, 'Bring up Isaac your son before me,' he would not withhold him from me, even more so if I told him to bring up a burnt offering before me from his flock or herds."

Satan answered the Lord, "Speak to Abraham as you have said, and you will see today whether or he sins and cast aside your words."

Ch. 23

At that time the word of the Lord went to Abraham, and he said to him, "Abraham!"

He said, "Here I am."

He said to him, "Take your son, your only son whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah. Offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains which will be shown to you, and there will you see a cloud and the glory of the Lord."

Abraham said to himself, "How will I separate my son Isaac from Sarah his mother, in order to bring him up for a burnt offering to the Lord?"

Abraham came into the tent, and he sat before Sarah his wife, and said to her, "My son Isaac has grown up and he has not for some time studied the service of his God. Tomorrow I will take him to Shem, and Eber his son, and there he will learn the ways of the Lord. They will teach him to know the Lord as well as to know that when he prays continually to the Lord, he will answer him. So then he will know the ways of serving the Lord his God.

Sarah said, "You have spoken well! Go my lord and do as you have said, but don't take him too far from me, or let him stay there too long, as my life is bound within his life."

Abraham said to Sarah, "My good lady, let us pray to the Lord our God that he will do good with us."

Sarah took her son Isaac and he stayed everything that night with her. She kissed and embraced him, and gave him instructions until morning. She said to him, "My son, how can my life separate itself from you?" She still kissed him and embraced him, and she gave Abraham instructions about him.

Sarah said to Abraham, "My lord, I pray you, look after your son, and keep your eyes on him. I have no other son nor daughter but him. Do not abandon him! If he is hungry give him bread, and if he is thirsty give him water to drink. Do not let him go on foot, or let him sit in the sun. Do not let him go by himself on the road, and don't take anything from him by force, but do what he says."

Sarah cried bitterly the whole night because of Isaac, and gave him instructions until morning. In the morning Sarah selected a very fine beautiful garment from those garments she had in the house that Abimelech had given to her. She dressed Isaac her son with them. She put a turban on his head, and she enclosed a precious stone in the top of the turban. She gave them provisions for the road, and they left. Isaac went with his father Abraham, and some of their servants accompanied them to see them off the road. Sarah went out with them, and she accompanied them to the road to see them off, but they said to her, "Return to the tent."

When Sarah heard the words of her son Isaac she cried bitterly, and Abraham her husband cried with her, and their son cried with them too, and those who went with them cried greatly. Sarah caught hold of her son Isaac, and held him in her arms, and she embraced him and continued to weep with him. Sarah said, "Who knows if after today I will ever see you again?"

They still wept together, Abraham, Sarah and Isaac, and everyone who accompanied them on the road wept with them. Afterwards Sarah turned away from her son, crying bitterly, and all her men servants and maid servants returned with her to the tent.

Abraham went with Isaac his son to bring him as an offering to the Lord, as the Lord had commanded him. Abraham took two of his young men with him, Ishmael the son of Hagar and Eliezer his servant, and they went with them. While they were walking along the road the young men spoke these words to themselves. Ishmael said to Eliezer, "My father Abraham is going with Isaac to offer him as a burnt offering to the Lord, as the Lord commanded him. When he returns he will give me all he possesses, to inherit after him, for I am his first born."

Eliezer answered Ishmael, "Surely Abraham cast you away with your mother, and swore that you would not inherit anything he possesses, so to whom will he give everything that he has, with all his treasures, but to me his servant, who has been faithful in his house, who has served him night and day, and has done everything that he desired me? It is to me that he will bequeath everything that he possesses."

While Abraham was proceeding with his son Isaac along the road, Satan appeared to Abraham in the figure of a very old man, humble and with a contrite manner. He approached Abraham and said to him, "Are you silly or cruel to do this thing today to your only son? God gave you a son in your latter days, in your old age, and will you go and kill him today because he has committed no violence? Will you cause the life of your only son to perish from the earth? Do you not understand that this thing cannot be from the Lord? The Lord cannot do to man such evil on the earth to say to him, 'Go slaughter your child.'"

Abraham heard this and knew that it was the word of Satan who tried to draw him aside from the way of the Lord. Abraham would not listen to Satan's voice, and Abraham rebuked him so that he left. Satan went to Isaac, and he appeared to Isaac in the figure of a young man comely and well favored. He approached Isaac and said to him, "Don't you know that your old silly father is taking you to the slaughter today for nothing? So then, my son, do not listen to him! He's a silly old man! Don't let your precious life and beautiful figure be lost from the earth!"

Isaac heard this and said to Abraham, "Father, did you hear what this man said? This is what he said."

Abraham answered his son Isaac, "Beware of him and don't listen to him! He is Satan, trying to turn today from God's commands." Abraham still rebuked Satan, and Satan left them, and seeing he could not prevail over them he hid from them. He went and passed in front of them on the road. He transformed himself to a large stream of water on the road. Abraham and Isaac and his two young men reached that place, and they saw a stream which was as large and powerful as the mighty waters. They passed thought the stream, and the water at first reached their legs. They went deeper and the water reached up to their necks, and they were all terrified of the water. When they were going over the stream Abraham recognized the place, and he knew that there was no water there before.

Abraham said to his son Isaac, "I know this place and there was no stream or water here before, so it is this Satan who does all this to us, to draw us away today from God's commands."

Abraham rebuked him and said to him, "Satan, the Lord rebuke you! Leave us! We follow God's commands!"

Satan was terrified at the voice of Abraham, and he left them, and the place became dry as it was before. Abraham went with Isaac to the place that God had told him. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place which God had told him of at a distance. A pillar of fire appeared to him and it reached from the earth to heaven. A cloud of glory on the mountain appeared, and the glory of the Lord was seen in the cloud. Abraham said to Isaac, "My son, do you see in that mountain, which we see at a distance, what I see on it?"

Isaac said to his father, "I see and a pillar of fire and a cloud, and the glory of the Lord is on the cloud."

Abraham knew that his son Isaac was accepted by the Lord for a burnt offering. Abraham said to Eliezer and to Ishmael his son, "Do you also see what we see on the mountain which is at a distance?"

They answered, "We see nothing - it is just like any other mountain."

Abraham knew that they were not accepted by the Lord to go with them, so Abraham said to them, "Stay here with the donkey while Isaac my son and I go to that mountain and worship the Lord there, then return to you."

Eliezer and Ishmael stayed there as Abraham had commanded. Abraham took wood for a burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac. He took the fire and the knife, and they both went to that place. While they were going along Isaac said to his father, "Look, I see here the fire and wood, but where then is the lamb that is to be the burnt offering to the Lord?"

Abraham answered his son Isaac, "The Lord has chosen you my son, to be a complete burnt offering instead of the lamb."

Isaac said to his father, "I will do what the Lord said to you happily and cheerfully."

Abraham again said to Isaac his son, "Do you have any thought or counsel about this, which is not proper? Tell me my son, I pray you, do not conceal it not from me, my son."

Isaac answered his father Abraham, "My father, as the Lord lives and as you live, there is nothing in my heart to make me deviate right or left from what he has said to you. Neither limb nor muscle has moved or stirred at this, nor is there any thought or evil counsel in my heart over this. But I am happy and cheerful about this matter, and I say, 'Blessed is the Lord who has today chosen me to be a burnt offering to him.'"

Abraham was very happy at Isaac's words, and they went on and arrived at the place that the Lord had spoken of. Abraham approached to build the altar in that place. Abraham was crying, and Isaac took stones and mortar until they had finished building the altar. Abraham took the wood and placed it in on the altar which he had built. He took his son Isaac and tied him in on the wood which was on the altar, in order to kill him as a burnt offering to the Lord.

Isaac said to his father, "Tie me securely and then place me on the altar lest I turn and move, and break loose from the force of the knife on my flesh and so profane the burnt offering." Abraham did so. Isaac said to his father, "My father, after you have killed me and burnt me as an offering, take what's left of my ashes to give to Sarah my mother, and say to her, 'This is the sweet smelling fragrance of Isaac," but do not tell her this if she is sitting near a well or near any high place, or she may throw her life after me and die."

Abraham heard Isaac's words, and he raised his voice and cried. His tears gushed down on Isaac his son, and Isaac cried bitterly. He said to his father, "My father, hurry up and do with me as the will of the Lord our God has commanded you."

Abraham and Isaac celebrated that which the Lord had commanded them; but their eyes wept bitterly while their hearts celebrated. Abraham bound his son Isaac, and placed him on the altar on the wood. Isaac stretched his neck on the altar before his father, and Abraham stretched out his hand to take the knife to kill his son as a burnt offering to the Lord. At that time the angels of mercy went to the Lord and said to him about Isaac, "Lord, you are a merciful and compassionate King over everything you have created in heaven and in earth, and you support them all. Instead save your servant Isaac, and have pity and compassion on Abraham and Isaac his son, who are today performing your commands. Lord, have you seen how Isaac the son of Abraham your servant is tied down for slaughter like an animal? So then, Lord, let your pity be stirred for them."

At that time the Lord appeared to Abraham, and called to him from heaven, and said to him, "Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God by performing this act and not withholding your son, your only son, from me."

Abraham looked up and saw and that a ram was caught in a thicket by its horns. That was the ram which the Lord God had created on the earth on the day that he had made earth and heaven. For the Lord had prepared this ram from that day to be a burnt offering instead of Isaac.

This ram was approaching Abraham when Satan caught hold of him and entangled his horns in the thicket to prevent him approaching Abraham, so that Abraham would kill his son. Abraham, seeing the ram advancing to him and Satan withholding him, brought him to the altar. He untied his son Isaac from his binding, and he put the ram there instead of him. Abraham killed the ram on the altar, and offered it instead of Isaac.

Abraham sprinkled some of the blood of the ram on the altar, and said, "This is in the place of my son! May this be considered today as the blood of my son before the Lord."

Everything that Abraham did on this occasion by the altar, he would say, "This is instead of my son, and may it today be considered before the Lord in the place of my son."

Abraham finished the whole service by the altar, and the service was accepted by the Lord, and was considered as if it had been Isaac. The Lord blessed Abraham and his descendants on that day.

Satan went to Sarah, and he appeared to her as a humble, meek and very old man. Abraham was still engaged in the burnt offering before the Lord. He said to her, "Do you not know what Abraham has done with your only son today? He took Isaac and built an altar, and killed him! He brought him up as a sacrifice on the altar! Isaac cried before his father, but he did not look at him, or have compassion over him."

Satan repeated these words, and he left her. Sarah heard all Satan's words and she imagined him to be an old man from men who had been with her son, and had come and told her these things. Sarah lifted up her voice and cried out bitterly because of her son. She threw herself on the ground and she cast dust on her head, and said, "My son, Isaac my son, if only I had died instead of you today!"

She kept weeping and said, "I grieve for you, my son, my son Isaac, if only I had died today instead of you."

She kept weeping and said, "It grieves me that after that I have reared you and have brought you up, now my happiness is turned into sorrow over you. I longed for you, and cried and prayed to God until I bore you at ninety years old, but now today you have served as an offering for the knife and the fire. But I console myself with you, my son, in its being the word of the Lord, for you carried out the command of your God. Who can sin against the word of our God, in whose hands is the life of every living creature? You are just, Lord our God, for all your works are good and just. I also celebrate your commandment, and while my eyes cry bitterly my heart celebrates."

Sarah laid her head on the bosom of one of her handmaids, and she became as still as a rock. Later she arose and made inquiries until she went to Hebron, and she asked everyone she met walking on the road, and no one could tell her what had happened to her son. She went with her maid servants and men servants to Kireath-arba, which is Hebron, and asked about her son. She stayed there while she sent some of her servants to ask where Abraham had gone with Isaac. They looked for him in the house of Shem and Eber and they could not find him. They looked for him throughout the land and he was not there.

Satan went to Sarah in the shape of an old man. He came and stood before her, and said to her, "I spoke falsely to you. Abraham did not kill his son and he is not dead."

When she heard this she was exceedingly happy because of her son, and died from happiness. She died and was gathered to her people. When Abraham had finished his service he returned with his son Isaac to his young men, and they left and went to Beersheba, and came home. Abraham looked for Sarah, and could not find her. He made inquiries about her, and they said to him, "She went as far as Hebron to seek you both where you had gone, for this is what was she informed."

Abraham and Isaac went to Hebron, and when they found that she was dead they cried loudly and bitterly over her. Isaac fell on his mother's face and wept over her, and he said, "My mother, my mother, how have you left me, and where have you gone? How have you left me?"

Abraham and Isaac cried greatly and all their servants wept with them because of Sarah. They mourned over her with a great and heavy mourning.

Ch. 24

Sarah lived for one hundred and twenty-seven years. Sarah died, and Abraham left to seek a burial place to bury his wife Sarah, and he spoke to the children of Heth, the inhabitants of the land, and said, "I am a foreigner who lives in your land. Please give me a burial place in your land to bury my dead."

The children of Heth said to Abraham, "You may have it. Take your choice of our sepulchers to bury your dead - no one will prevent you from burying your dead."

Abraham said to them, "If you are agreeable to this, entreat on my behalf to Ephron, the son of Zochar, asking him to give me the cave of Machpelah which is at the end of his field. I will pay him whatever he wants for it."

Ephron lived among the children of Heth, and they called for him. He went to Abraham, and said, "I will do what you want."

Abraham said, "No, I will buy the cave and the field so that I can have it as a burial place forever."

Ephron answered, "Here are the field and the cave - pay whatever you like."

Abraham said, "I will only buy it for full payment from you, from those who go in the gate of your city, and from your descendants forever."

Ephron and all his brothers heard this. Abraham weighed out for Ephron four hundred shekels of silver and gave Ephron and all his brothers. Abraham recorded this transaction, and testified it with four witnesses. These are the names of the witnesses, Amigal son of Abishna the Hittite, Adichorom son of Ashunach the Hivite, Abdon son of Achiram the Gomerite, Bakdil the son of Abudish the Zidonite.

Abraham took the record of the purchase and placed it with his treasures, and this is what that Abraham wrote in the book: "That the cave and the field Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite and from his descendants, and from who that go out of his city and from their descendants forever, are to be a purchase for Abraham and his descendants and to his descendants, as a burial place forever."

He put a seal on it and testified it with witnesses. Surety for the field and the cave that was in it and everything that place was made sure to Abraham and to his descendants after him, from the children of Heth. It is at Mamre in Hebron, which is in Canaan. After this Abraham buried his wife Sarah there. That place and all its boundary were owned by Abraham and his descendants as burial place. Abraham buried Sarah with the ceremony that was observed at the interment of kings, and she was buried in very fine and beautiful garments. At her bier was Shem, his sons Eber and Abimelech, along with Anar, Ashcol and Mamre, and all the important people of the land followed her bier. Sarah lived for one hundred and twenty-seven years. Abraham made a great and heavy mourning, and performed the rites of mourning for seven days. All the inhabitants of the land comforted Abraham and Isaac his son because of Sarah. When the days of their mourning were over, Abraham sent away his son Isaac, and he went to the house of Shem and Eber to learn the ways of the Lord and his instructions. Abraham stayed there for three years.

At that time Abraham left with all his servants, and they returned homeward to Beersheba. Abraham and all his servants stayed in Beersheba. At the revolution of the year Abimelech the king of the Philistines died. He was one hundred and ninety-three years old at his death. Abraham went with his people to the land of the Philistines, and they comforted the whole household and all his servants. Then he went back home.

It was after the death of Abimelech that the people of Gerar took Benmalich his son who was only twelve years old, and they put him in the place of his father. They called him Abimelech after his father, as this was their custom in Gerar. Abimelech reigned instead of his father Abimelech his father, and he sat on his throne. Lot the son of Haran also died in those times, when Isaac was thirty-ninth years old. Lot was one hundred and forty years when he died. These are the children of Lot who were born to him by his daughters: the name of the firstborn was Moab, and the name of the second was Benami. The two sons of Lot took wives from Canaan, and they bore children to them. The children of Moab were Ed, Mayon, Tarsus, and Kanvil, four sons; these are fathers to the children of Moab today.

All the families of the children of Lot went to live wherever they went to, as they were fruitful and increased abundantly. They built themselves cities in the land where they lived, and they called the cities which they built after their own names. Nahor the son of Terah, brother to Abraham, died in those times when Isaac was forty. Nahor was one hundred and seventy-two years old when he died and he was buried in Haran.

When Abraham heard that his brother was dead he was very said, and he mourned over his brother for many days. Abraham called for Eliezer his head servant, to give him orders about his house, and he went to him. Abraham said to him, "I am old, and may die soon as I am very old. So then leave! Go and do not take a wife for my son from this place or from this land, from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom we live. Go to my land, to my birthplace, and take a wife for my son there. The Lord God of Heaven and earth who took me from my father's house and brought me to this place, said to me, 'I give this land your descendants as an inheritance forever.' He will send his angel to you to prosper your way, so that you can obtain a wife for my son from my family and from my father's house."

The servant answered his master Abraham and said, "I will go to your birthplace and to your father's house, and take a wife for your son from there. But if the woman isn't willing to follow me to this land, will I take your son back to the land of your birthplace?"

Abraham said to him, "Be careful not to bring my son here again, as the Lord before whom I follow will send his angel to prosper your way."

Eliezer did as Abraham ordered him. Eliezer swore to Abraham his master on this matter. Eliezer left and took ten of his master's camels and ten men of his master's servants with him. They went to Haran, the city of Abraham and Nahor, to fetch a wife for Isaac the son of Abraham. While they were away, Abraham sent to the house of Shem and Eber, and they brought out his son Isaac. Isaac went home to his father's house to Beersheba, while Eliezer and his men went to Haran. They stopped in the city by the watering place, and he made his camels to kneel down by the water and they stayed there. Eliezer, Abraham's servant, prayed and said, "God of Abraham my master, please send me I good speed today and show kindness to my master, and today please appoint a wife for my master's son from his family."

The Lord listened to Eliezer for the sake of his servant Abraham, and he happened to meet with the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, brother to Abraham, and Eliezer went to her house. Eliezer told them all his concerns, and that he was Abraham's servant, and they greatly celebrated at him. They all blessed the Lord who brought this about, and they gave him Rebecca, the daughter of Bethuel, as a wife for Isaac. The young woman was very beautiful and unmarried and was ten years old.

Bethuel and Laban and his children made a feast that night. Eliezer and his men came and ate and drank and celebrated there that night. Eliezer left in the morning, he and the men that were with him. He called to the whole household of Bethuel, "Send me away so that I can go to my master."

They left and sent away Rebecca and her nurse Deborah, the daughter of Uz, and gave her silver, gold, men servants and maid servants, and blessed her. They sent Eliezer away with his men. The servants took Rebecca, and he returned to his master to Canaan. Isaac took Rebecca and she became his wife, and he brought her into the tent. Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebecca, the daughter of his uncle Bethuel, as a wife.

Ch. 25

At that time that Abraham again took a wife in his old age. Her name was Keturah, and she was from Canaan. She bore Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak and Shuach, six sons, to him. The children of Zimran were Abihen, Molich and Narim. The sons of Jokshan were Sheba and Dedan, and the sons of Medan were Amida, Joab, Gochi, Elisha and Nothach, and the sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Chanoch, Abida and Eldaah. The sons of Ishbak were Makiro, Beyodua and Tator. The sons of Shuach were Bildad, Mamdad, Munan and Meban. These are the families of the children of Keturah the Canaanite woman who she bore to Abraham the Hebrew.

Abraham sent them all away, and gave them gifts. They left his son Isaac to live wherever they could find a place. They all went to the mountain at the east, and they built six cities in which they live today. But the children of Sheba and Dedan, the children of Jokshan, with their children, did not live with their brothers in their cities, and they traveled and encamped in the countries and deserts. The children of Midian, the son of Abraham, went to the east of the land of Cush. There they found a large valley in the eastern country, and they stayed there and built a city, and they lived in it. That is the land of Midian today.

Midian lived in the city which he built, he and his five sons and all belonging to him. Here are the names of the sons of Midian: Epher, Chanoch, Abida and Eldaah. The sons of Ephah were Methach, Meshar, Avi and Tzanua. The sons of Epher were Ephron, Zur, Alirun and Medin. The sons of Chanoch were Reuel, Rekem, Azi, Alyoshub and Alad. The sons of Abida were Chur, Melud, Kerury, Molchi, and the sons of Eldaah were Miker, and Reba, and Malchiyah and Gabol. These are the names of the Midianites according to their families, and later the families of Midian spread throughout the land of Midian.

Here are the generations of Ishmael the son Abraham, whom Hagar, Sarah's handmaid, bore to Abraham. Ishmael took a wife from the land of Egypt. Her name was Ribah, the same as Meribah. Ribah bore to Ishmael Nebayoth, Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam and their sister Bosmath. Ishmael cast away his wife Ribah, and she left him and returned to Egypt to the house of her father, and lived there. She had been very bad in the sight of Ishmael and in the sight of his father Abraham. Ishmael later took a wife from Canaan. Her name was Malchuth, and she bore to him Nishma, Dumah, Masa, Chadad, Tema, Yetur, Naphish and Kedma. These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, being twelve princes according to their nations, and the families of Ishmael later spread out.

Ishmael took his children and all the property that he had gained, together with those of his household and all belonging to him, and went to live elsewhere. They lived near the desert of Paran, and owned from Havilah to Shur, that is before Egypt as you go toward Assyria. Ishmael and his sons lived in the land, and they had children born to them. They were fruitful and increased abundantly.

Here are the names of the sons of Nebayoth the first born of Ishmael: Mend, Send, Mayon, and the sons of Kedar were Alyon, Kezem, Chamad and Eli. The sons of Adbeel were Chamad and Jabin. The sons of Mibsam were Obadiah, Ebedmelech and Yeush; these are the families of the children of Ribah Ishmael's wife. The sons of Mishma the son of Ishmael were Shamua, Zecaryon and Obed. The sons of Dumah were Kezed, Eli, Machmad and Amed. The sons of Masa were Melon, Mula and Ebidadon, and the sons of Chadad were Azur, Minzar and Ebedmelech, and the sons of Tema were Seir, Sadon and Yakol. The sons of Yetur were Merith, Yaish, Alyo, and Pachoth, and the sons of Naphish were Ebed-Tamed, Abiyasaph and Mir, and the sons of Kedma were Calip, Tachti, and Omir. These were the children of Malchuth Ishmael's wife.

All these are the families of Ishmael, and they lived in those lands in which they had built cities. Rebecca the daughter of Bethuel, the Abraham's wife's son Isaac, was barren in those times as she had no offspring. Isaac lived with his father in Canaan, and the Lord was with Isaac. Arpachshad the son of Shem the son of Noah died in those when Isaac was forty-eighth years old. Arpachshad lived until the age of four hundred and thirty-eight years.

Ch. 26

When Isaac the son of Abraham was fifty-nine years old, Rebecca his wife was still barren. Rebecca said to Isaac, "Truly I have heard, my lord, that your mother Sarah was barren until my Lord Abraham, your father, prayed for her and she conceived by him. So then stand up, pray you also to God and he will hear your prayer and remember us through his mercies."

Isaac answered his wife Rebecca, " Abraham has already prayed for me to God to multiply his descendants, so then this barrenness must happen."

Rebecca said to him, "But now you pray, so that the Lord will hear your prayer and grant me children."

Isaac listened to his wife. Isaac and his wife left and went to the land of Moriah to pray there and to seek the Lord. When they arrived, Isaac prayed to the Lord because his wife was barren. Isaac said, "Lord God of heaven and earth, whose goodness and mercies fill the earth, who took my father from his father's house and from his birthplace, and brought him to this land, and said to him, 'I will give the land to your descendants,' and you promised him, 'I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven and as the sands of the sea,' now may your words which you spoke to my father be verified. For you are the Lord our God, and our eyes are on you to give us descendants, as you promised us, for you are the Lord our God and our eyes are on you alone."

The Lord heard the prayer of Isaac the son of Abraham, and Rebecca his wife conceived. In about seven months after the children struggled together within her, and she was in great pain as she was tired because of them. She said to all the women in the land, "Did such a thing ever happen to you?"

They said, "No."

She said to them, "Why am I the only one of all the women on the earth that this is happening to?"

She went to the land of Moriah to seek the Lord over this, and she went to Shem and Eber his son to make inquiries of them over this matter. She also asked Abraham to seek the Lord about it all. They all inquired of the Lord about this matter, and they brought her word from the Lord and told her, "There are two children are in your womb, and two nations will rise from them. One nation will be stronger than the other, and the greater will serve the younger."

When it was time for her to deliver, she knelt down, and she gave birth to twins, as the Lord had told her. The first came out red all over like a hairy garment, and all the people of the land called him Esau, saying, "This one was made complete from the womb."

After that came his brother, and his hand took hold of Esau's heel, so they called him Jacob. Isaac, the son of Abraham, was sixty years old when he fathered them. The boys grew to their fifteenth year, and they became men. Esau was a cunning and deceitful man, and an expert hunter in the field, whereas Jacob was a completely wise man who lived in tents, fed the flocks and learned the instructions of the Lord and the commands of his father and mother.

Isaac and the children of his household lived with his father Abraham in Canaan, as God had commanded them. Ishmael the son of Abraham went with his children and all belonging to them, and they returned to the land of Havilah, where they lived. All the children of Abraham's concubines went to live in the land of the east, for Abraham had sent them away from his son with gifts.

Abraham gave everything that he had to his son Isaac, and he also gave him all his treasures. He commanded him, "Do you not understand that the Lord is God in heaven and in earth, and there is no other apart from him? It was he who took me from my father's house, from my birth place, and gave me all the delights on the earth. It was he who saved me from bad advice, as I trusted him. He brought me to this place, and he saved me from Ur Casdim. He said to me, 'I will give all these lands to your descendants, and they will inherit them when they keep my commandments, my statutes and my judgments that I have commanded you, and which I will command them.'

"So then, my son, listen to my voice, and keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and do not turn from the right way. Then it will all go well for you with you and your children after you forever. Remember the wonderful works of the Lord, and the kindness that he has shown toward us in saving us from our enemies. The Lord our God caused them to fall into our hands. Do not turn away from the commandments of your God, and serve none beside him, so that it may be well with you and your descendants after you. Teach your children and your descendants instructions of the Lord and his commandments, and teach them justice, so that it may be well with them forever."

Isaac answered his father, "I will do what my Lord has commanded me. I will not depart from the commands of the Lord my God. I will do everything that he commanded me."

Abraham blessed his son Isaac, and his children. Abraham taught Jacob the instruction of the Lord and his ways. It was at that time that Abraham died, in the fifteenth year of the life of Jacob and Esau, the sons of Isaac. Abraham lived to the age of hundred and seventy-five years. He died at a good old age, old and satisfied. Isaac and Ishmael his sons buried him. When the inhabitants of Canaan heard that Abraham was dead, they all came with their kings and princes and all their men to bury Abraham. All the inhabitants of the land of Haran, all the families of the house of Abraham, all the princes and important people, and the sons of Abraham by the concubines, all came when they heard of Abraham's death. They paid back Abraham's kindness, and comforted Isaac his son. They buried Abraham in the cave which he bought from Ephron the Hittite and his children as a burial place.

All the inhabitants of Canaan, and everyone who had known Abraham, wept for Abraham for a whole year, and men and women mourned over him. All the little children and all the inhabitants of the land wept over Abraham, as Abraham had been good to them all, and because he had been just with God and men. There was not a man who feared God like Abraham did, for he had feared his God from his youth and had served the Lord all his life, from his childhood to the day of his death.

The Lord was with him and saved him from the counsel of Nimrod and his people, and when he made war with the four kings of Elam he conquered them. He brought all the children of the earth into the service of God, and he taught them the ways of the Lord. He formed a grove and planted a vineyard in it, and he had always prepared meat and drink in his tent for those who passed through the land, so that they might satisfy themselves in his house. The Lord God saved the whole earth because of Abraham. It was after Abraham's death that God blessed his son Isaac and his children, and the Lord was with Isaac as he had been with his father Abraham, for Isaac kept all the commandments of the Lord as Abraham his father had commanded him. He did not err from the right path just as his father had commanded him.

Ch. 27

Esau at that time, after the death of Abraham, frequently went out to the field to hunt. Nimrod the king of Babel, also called Amraphel, also frequently went out with his mighty men to hunt in the field, and to walk around with his men in the cool of the day. Nimrod always had his eye on Esau as he was always jealous of him.

On a certain day Esau went in the field to hunt, and found Nimrod walking in the desert with his two men. All his mighty men and people were with him in the desert, but they went a little in different directions from him to hunt. Esau hid himself from Nimrod, and he lurked looking for him in the desert. Nimrod and his men did not recognize him. Nimrod and his men frequently walked about in the field at the cool of the day, to know where his men were hunting in the field.

Nimrod and two of his men went to the place where they were, when Esau suddenly jumped out of his hiding place, and drew his sword, and hurried to Nimrod and cut off his head. Esau fought a desperate fight with the two men with Nimrod, and when they called out to him, Esau turned to them and killed them with his sword. All the mighty men of Nimrod who had left him to go to the desert, heard the cry at a distance, and they knew the voices of those two men, and they ran to know what had happened. They found their king and the two men who were with him lying dead in the desert. When Esau saw the mighty men of Nimrod coming at a distance, he fled, to safety.

Esau took Nimrod's valuable garments of Nimrod, which Nimrod's father had bequeathed to Nimrod, and with which Nimrod prevailed over the whole land, and he ran and hid them in his house. Esau took those garments and ran into the city because of Nimrod's men. He arrived at his father's house wearied and exhausted from fight, and he was ready to die through grief when he approached his brother Jacob and sat in front of him. He said to his brother Jacob, "I will die today! What's the point of the birthright? "

Jacob acted wisely with Esau over this matter, and Esau sold his birthright to Jacob. The Lord made this happen. Esau's portion in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham had bought from the children of Heth for a burial ground, Esau also sold to Jacob. Jacob bought all this from his brother Esau for payment given. Jacob recorded all this in a book, and he testified the same with witnesses, and sealed it, and the book stayed in Jacob's hands.

When Nimrod the son of Cush died, his men lifted him up and brought him in consternation. They buried him in his city. Nimrod was two hundred and fifteen years when he died. He had reigned for one hundred and eighty-five years. Nimrod died by the sword of Esau in shame and contempt. The descendants of Abraham had caused his death as he had seen in his dream. Upon Nimrod's death, his kingdom was split up into many divisions, and all parts that Nimrod reigned over were restored to the respective kings of the land, who recovered them after his death, and all the people of the house of Nimrod were enslaved for a long time to all the other kings of the land.

Ch. 28