The Lost Books of the Bible: The Great Rejected Texts
Page 82
24 And all the Egyptians said to the children of Israel, Remain here together in your stand and we will go and fight against the children of Esau and Ishmael; if these kings should gain over us, then you all come together on them and assist us, and the children of Israel did so.
25 Zepho the son of Eliphaz the son of Esau king of Chittim and Hadad the son of Bedad king of Edom and all their camps, and all the children of the east, and children of Ishmael, a people numerous as sand, encamped together in the valley of Pathros opposite Tachpanches.
26 Balaam the son of Beor the Syrian was there in the camp of Zepho, for he came with the children of Chittim to the battle, and Balaam was a man highly honored in the eyes of Zepho and his men.
27 Zepho said to Balaam, Try by divination for us that we may know who will win the battle, we or the Egyptians.
28 And Balaam rose up and tried the art of divination, and he was skillful in the knowledge of it, but he was confused and the work was destroyed in his hand.
29 And he tried it again but it did not succeed; Balaam despaired of it and left it and did not complete it, for this was from the Lord in order to cause Zepho and his people to fall into the hand of the children of Israel, who had trusted in the Lord, the God of their ancestors, in their war.
30 Zepho and Hadad put their forces in battle array, and all the Egyptians went alone against them, about three hundred thousand men, and not one man of Israel was with them.
31 All the Egyptians fought with these kings opposite Pathros and Tachpanches, and the battle was severe against the Egyptians.
32 The kings were stronger than the Egyptians in that battle, and about one hundred and eighty men of Egypt fell on that day, and about thirty men of the forces of the kings, and all the men of Egypt fled from before the king; so the children of Esau and Ishmael pursued the Egyptians, continuing to strike them to the place where the camp of the children of Israel was.
33 And all the Egyptians cried to the children of Israel, saying, Hurry to us and assist us and save us from the hand of Esau, Ishmael and the children of Chittim.
34 The hundred and fifty men of the children of Israel ran from their station to the camps of these kings, and the children of Israel cried to the Lord their God to deliver them.
35 And the Lord listened to Israel, and the Lord gave all the men of the kings into their hands, and the children of Israel fought against these kings; the children of Israel struck about four thousand of the kings' men.
36 The Lord threw a great consternation into the camp of the kings, so that the fear of the children of Israel fell on them.
37 And all the hosts of the kings fled from before the children of Israel and the children of Israel pursued them continuing to strike them to the borders of the land of Cush.
38 The children of Israel killed of them in the road two thousand men, and of the children of Israel not one fell.
39 When the Egyptians saw that the children of Israel had fought with such few men with the kings, and that the battle was so very severe against them,
40 All the Egyptians were greatly afraid of their lives on account of the strong battle, and all Egypt fled, every man hiding himself from the arrayed forces; they hid themselves in the road, and they left the Israelites to fight alone.
41 And the children of Israel inflicted a terrible blow on the kings' men, and they returned from them after they had driven them to the border of the land of Cush.
42 All Israel knew the thing which the men of Egypt had done to them, that they had fled from them in battle, and had left them to fight alone.
43 So the children of Israel also acted with cunning, and as the children of Israel returned from battle, they found some of the Egyptians in the road and struck them there.
44 And while they killed them, they said to them these words:
45 Why did you go from us and leave us, being a few people to fight against these kings who had many people to strike us, that you might thereby save your own souls?
46 And of some which the Israelites met on the road, the children of Israel spoke to each other, saying, Smite, strike, for he is an Ishmaelite, or an Edomite, or from the children of Chittim; they stood over him and killed him, and they knew that he was an Egyptian.
47 The children of Israel did these things cunningly against the Egyptians because they had deserted in battle and had fled from them.
48 And the children of Israel killed of the men of Egypt in the road in this manner about two hundred men.
49 All the men of Egypt saw the evil which the children of Israel had done to them, so all Egypt feared greatly the children of Israel, for they had seen their great power and that not one man of them had fallen.
50 So all the children of Israel returned with joy on their road to Goshen, and the rest of Egypt returned each man to his place.
CHAPTER 65
1 It came to pass after these things that all the counselors of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and all the elders of Egypt assembled and came before the king and bowed down to the ground, and they sat before him.
2 And the counselors and elders of Egypt spoke to the king, saying,
3 Behold the people of the children of Israel is greater and mightier than we are, and you know all the evil which they did to us in the road when we returned from battle.
4 And you have also seen their strong power, for this power is to them from their fathers, for only a few men stood up against a people numerous as the sand, and struck them at the edge of the sword; of themselves not one has fallen, so that if they had been numerous they would then have utterly destroyed them.
5 Now therefore give us counsel what to do with them, until we gradually destroy them from among us so they don’t become too numerous for us in the land.
6 For if the children of Israel should increase in the land, they will become an obstacle to us; if any war should happen to take place, they with their great strength will join our enemy against us, and fight against us, destroy us from the land and go away from it.
7 So the king answered the elders of Egypt and said to them, This is the plan advised against Israel, from which we will not depart,
8 Consider in the land are Pithom and Rameses, cities unfortified against battle; it’s best for you and us to build them, and to fortify them.
9 Now go also and act cunningly toward them, and proclaim a voice in Egypt and in Goshen at the command of the king, saying,
10 All ye men of Egypt, Goshen, Pathros and all their inhabitants! The king has commanded us to build Pithom and Rameses and to fortify them for battle; those among you of all Egypt, of the children of Israel and of all the inhabitants of the cities who are willing to build with us, you shall each have his wages given to him daily at the king's order. So go first and do cunningly and gather yourselves to come to Pithom and Rameses to build.
11 And while you are building, cause an announcement of this kind to be made throughout Egypt every day at the command of the king.
12 When some of the children of Israel shall come to build with you, you shall give them their wages daily for a few days.
13 And after they have built with you for their daily hire, drag yourselves away from them daily one by one in secret, and then you shall rise up and become their taskmasters and officers; you shall leave them afterward to build without wages; should they refuse, then force them with all your might to build.
14 And if you do this it will be well with us to strengthen our land against the children of Israel, for on account of the fatigue of the building and the work, the children of Israel will decrease, because you will deprive them of their wives day by day.
15 And all the elders of Egypt heard the counsel of the king, and the counsel seemed good in their eyes and in the eyes of the servants of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of all Egypt; they did according to the word of the king.
16 And all the servants went away from the king; they caused an announcement to be made in all Egypt, in Tachpanches and in Goshen, and in all the cities whi
ch surrounded Egypt, saying,
17 You have seen what the children of Esau and Ishmael did to us, who came to war against us and wished to destroy us.
18 Now therefore the king commanded us to fortify the land, to build the cities Pithom and Rameses, and to fortify them for battle, if they should again come against us.
19 Whoever of you from all Egypt and from the children of Israel will come to build with us, he shall have his daily wages given by the king, as his command is to us.
20 And when Egypt and all the children of Israel heard all that the servants of Pharaoh had spoken, there came persons from the Egyptians and the children of Israel to build with the servants of Pharaoh, Pithom and Rameses, but none of the children of Levi came with their brothers to build.
21 All the servants of Pharaoh and his princes came at first with deceit to build with all Israel as daily hired laborers, and they gave to Israel their daily hire at the beginning.
22 And the servants of Pharaoh built with all Israel, and were employed in that work with Israel for a month.
23 And at the end of the month, all the servants of Pharaoh began to withdraw secretly from the people of Israel daily.
24 And Israel went on with the work at that time, but they then received their daily wage, because some of the men of Egypt were yet carrying on the work with Israel at that time; therefore the Egyptians gave Israel their wage in those days in order that they, the Egyptians their fellow-workmen, might also take the pay for their labor.
25 At the end of a year and four months all the Egyptians had withdrawn from the children of Israel, so that the children of Israel were left alone engaged in the work.
26 And after all the Egyptians had withdrawn from the children of Israel they returned and became oppressors and officers over them, and some of them stood over the children of Israel as task masters, to receive from them all that they gave them for the pay of their labor.
27 And the Egyptians did in this manner to the children of Israel day by day, in order to afflict them in their work.
28 And all the children of Israel were alone engaged in the labor, and the Egyptians refrained from giving any pay to the children of Israel from that time forward.
29 When some of the men of Israel refused to work on account of the wages not being given to them, the exactors and the servants of Pharaoh oppressed them and struck them with heavy blows, and made them return by force to labor with their brothers; thus did all the Egyptians to the children of Israel all the days.
30 And all the children of Israel were greatly afraid of the Egyptians in this matter, and all the children of Israel returned and worked alone without pay.
31 The children of Israel built Pithom and Rameses; all the children of Israel did the work, some making bricks, and some building, and the children of Israel built and fortified all the land of Egypt and its walls. The children of Israel were engaged in work for many years, until the time came when the Lord remembered them and brought them out of Egypt.
32 But the children of Levi were not employed in the work with their brothers of Israel from the beginning to the day of their going forth from Egypt.
33 For all the children of Levi knew that the Egyptians had spoken all these words with deceit to the Israelites, therefore the children of Levi refrained from approaching the work with their brothers.
34 The Egyptians did not direct their attention to make the children of Levi work afterward, since they had not been with their brothers at the beginning, therefore the Egyptians left them alone.
35 And the hands of the men of Egypt were directed with continued severity against the children of Israel in that work, and the Egyptians made the children of Israel work with rigor.
36 The Egyptians embittered the lives of the children of Israel with hard work in mortar and bricks, and also in all manner of work in the field.
37 The children of Israel called Melol the king of Egypt "Meror, king of Egypt," because in his days the Egyptians had embittered their lives with all manner of work.
38 And all the work wherein the Egyptians made the children of Israel labor, they exacted with rigor, in order to afflict the children of Israel. But the more they afflicted them, the more they increased and grew, and the Egyptians were grieved because of the children of Israel.
CHAPTER 66
1 At that time Hadad the son of Bedad king of Edom died; Samlah from Mesrekah, from the country of the children of the east, reigned in his place.
2 In the thirteenth year of the reign of Pharaoh king of Egypt, which was the hundred and twenty-fifth year of the Israelites going down into Egypt, Samlah had reigned over Edom eighteen years.
3 And when he reigned, he brought forth his army to go and fight against Zepho the son of Eliphaz and the children of Chittim, because they had made war against Angeas king of Africa, and they destroyed his whole army.
4 But he did not engage with him, for the children of Esau prevented him, saying, he was their brother; so Samlah listened to the voice of the children of Esau and turned back with all his forces to the land of Edom, and did not proceed to fight against Zepho the son of Eliphaz.
5 And Pharaoh king of Egypt heard this thing, saying, Samlah king of Edom has resolved to fight the children of Chittim, and afterward he will come to fight against Egypt.
6 When the Egyptians heard this matter, they increased the labor on the children of Israel, that the Israelites should do to them as they did to them in their war with the children of Esau in the days of Hadad.
7 So the Egyptians said to the children of Israel, Hurry and do your work, and finish your task, and strengthen the land, should the children of Esau your brothers come to fight against us, for on your account will they come against us.
8 And the children of Israel did the work of the men of Egypt day by day, and the Egyptians afflicted the children of Israel in order to lessen them in the land.
9 But as the Egyptians increased the labor on the children of Israel, so did the children of Israel increase and reproduce, and all Egypt was filled with the children of Israel.
10 And in the hundred and twenty-fifth year of Israel's going down into Egypt, all the Egyptians saw that their counsel did not succeed against Israel, but that they increased and grew and the land of Egypt and the land of Goshen were filled with the children of Israel.
11 So all the elders of Egypt and its wise men came before the king and bowed down to him and sat before him.
12 And all the elders of Egypt and the wise men there said to the king, May the king live forever; you did counsel us the counsel against the children of Israel, and we did to them according to the word of the king.
13 But in proportion to the increase of the labor so do they increase and grow in the land, and look the whole country is filled with them.
14 So now our lord and king, the eyes of all Egypt are on you to give them advice with your wisdom, by which they may rule over Israel to destroy them, or to diminish them from the land; the king answered them saying, Give your counsel in this matter that we may know what to do to them.
15 And an officer, one of the king's counselors, whose name was Job, from Mesopotamia, in the land of Uz, answered the king, saying,
16 If it please the king, let him hear the counsel of his servant; the king said to him, Speak.
17 And Job spoke before the king, the princes, and before all the elders of Egypt, saying,
18 Behold the counsel of the king which he advised formerly respecting the labor of the children of Israel is very good, and you must not remove from them that labor forever.
19 But this is the advice counselled by which you may lessen them, if it seems good to the king to afflict them.
20 Behold we have feared war for a long time, and we said, When Israel becomes prolific in the land, they will drive us from the land if a war would take place.
21 If it please the king, let a royal decree go forth, and let it be written in the laws of Egypt which shall not be revoked, that every male child bor
n to the Israelites, his blood shall be spilled on the ground.
22 And by your doing this, when all the male children of Israel will have died, the evil of their wars will cease; let the king do so and send for all the Hebrew midwives and order them in this matter to execute it. So the thing pleased the king and the prince; the king did according to the word of Job.
23 The king sent for the Hebrew midwives to be called, of which the name of one was Shephrah, and the name of the other Puah.
24 And the midwives came before the king, and stood in his presence.
25 the king said to them, When you do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them on the stools, if it be a son then you shall kill him, but if it be a daughter then she shall live.
26 But if you will not do this thing, then will I burn you up and all your houses with fire.
27 But the midwives feared God and did not listen to the king of Egypt nor to his words; when the Hebrew women brought forth to the midwife son or daughter, then did the midwife do all that was necessary to the child and let it live; thus did the midwives all the days.
28 And this thing was told to the king, and he sent and called for the midwives and he said to them, Why have you done this thing and have saved the children alive?
29 And the midwives answered and spoke together before the king, saying,
30 Let not the king think that the Hebrew women are as the Egyptian women, for all the children of Israel are vigorous, and before the midwife comes to them they are delivered, and as for us your handmaids, for many days no Hebrew woman has brought forth on us, for all the Hebrew women are their own midwives, because they are vigorous.
31 And Pharaoh heard their words and believed them in this matter, and the midwives went away from the king, and God dealt well with them; the people multiplied and increased greatly.