Lost Books of the Bible (107 page)

23 And on that day, being the seventh day, Japhia king of Hebron sent secretly to the king of Ai, and to the king of Gibeon, and to the king of Shalem, and to the king of Adulam,
and to the king of Lachish, and to the king of Chazar, and to all the Canaanitish kings who were under their subjection, saying,

24 Go up with me, and come to me that we may go to the sons of Jacob, and I will make peace with them and form a treaty with them, that all your lands not be destroyed by the swords of the sons of Jacob as they did to Shechem and the cities around it, as you have heard and seen.

25 And when you come to me, do not come with many men, but let every king bring his three head captains and every captain bring three of his officers.

26 And come all of you to Hebron; we will go together to the sons of Jacob and request them to   form a treaty of peace with us.

27 And all those kings did as the king of Hebron had sent to them, for they were all under his counsel and command, and all the kings of Canaan assembled to go to the sons of Jacob to make peace with them; the sons of Jacob returned and went to the portion of the field that was in Shechem, for they did not put confidence in the kings of the land.

28 And the sons of Jacob returned and remained in the portion of the field ten days, and no one came to make war with them.

29 When the sons of Jacob saw that there was no appearance of war, they all assembled and went to the city of Shechem, and the sons of Jacob remained in Shechem.

30 And at the expiration of forty days, all the kings of the Amorites assembled from all their places and came to Hebron, to Japhia, king of Hebron.

31 The number of kings that came to Hebron to make peace with the sons of Jacob was twenty-one kings, and the number of captains that came with them was sixty-nine, and their men were one hundred and eighty-nine; all these kings and their men rested by Mount Hebron.

32 And the king of Hebron went out with his three captains and nine men, and these kings resolved to go to the sons of Jacob to make peace.

33 They said to the king of Hebron, Go before us with your men, speak for us to the sons of Jacob, and we will come after you and confirm your words, and the king of Hebron did so.

34 The sons of Jacob heard that all the kings of Canaan had gathered together and rested in Hebron, and the sons of Jacob sent four of their servants as spies, saying, Go and spy these kings, and search and examine their men whether they are few or many, and if they are but few in number, count them all and come back.

35 And the servants of Jacob went secretly to these kings, and did as the sons of Jacob had commanded them. On that day they came back to the sons of Jacob, and said to them, We came to those kings, and they are few in number; we counted them all, and surely there were two hundred and eighty-eight, kings and men.

36 The sons of Jacob said, They are but few in number, therefore we will not all go out to them.   In the morning the sons of Jacob rose up and chose sixty-two of their men, and ten of the sons of Jacob went with them; and they put on their weapons of war, for they said, They are coming to make war with us.  For they didn’t know that they were coming to make peace with them.

37 And the sons of Jacob went with their servants to the gate of Shechem, toward those kings, and their father Jacob was with them.

38 And when they had come forth, there the king of Hebron and his three captains and nine men with him were coming along the road toward the sons of Jacob; the sons of Jacob lifted up their eyes, and saw at a distance Japhia, king of Hebron, with his captains, coming toward them,  And the sons of Jacob took their stand at the place of the gate of Shechem, and did not proceed.

39 The king of Hebron continued to advance, he and his captains, until he came near to the sons of Jacob; he and his captains bowed down to them to the ground, and the king of Hebron sat with his captains in front of Jacob and his sons.

40 The sons of Jacob said to him, What has happened to you, O king of Hebron? Why have you come to us this day? What do you require from us? And the king of Hebron said to Jacob, I petition you my lord, all the kings of the Canaanites have this day come to make peace with you.

41 And the sons of Jacob heard the words of the king of Hebron; they would not consent to his proposals; the sons of Jacob had no faith in him, for they imagined that the king of Hebron had spoken deceitfully to them.

42 The king of Hebron knew from the words of the sons of Jacob that they did not believe his words, and the king of Hebron approached nearer to Jacob, and said to him, I beg you, my lord, to be assured that all these kings have come to you on peaceable terms, for they have not come with all their men, neither did they bring their weapons of war with them, for they have come to seek peace from my lord and his sons.

43 The sons of Jacob answered the king of Hebron, saying, Go to all these kings and if you speak truth to us, let them each come singly before us;  if they come to us unarmed, we shall then know that they seek peace from us.

44 And Japhia, king of Hebron, sent one of his men to the kings and they all came before the sons of Jacob, and bowed down to them to the ground; these kings sat before Jacob and his sons and spoke to them, saying,

45 We have heard all that you did to the kings of the Amorites with your sword and greatly mighty arm, so that no man could stand up before you; we were afraid of you for the sake of our lives, that it would happen to us as it did to them.

46 So we have come to you to form a treaty of peace between us, and now therefore contract with us a covenant of peace and truth, that you will not meddle with us, inasmuch as we have not meddled with you.

47 And the sons of Jacob knew that they had really come to seek peace from them.  And the sons of Jacob listened to them, and formed a covenant with them.

48 The sons of Jacob swore to them that they would not meddle with them, and all the kings of the Canaanites swore also to them, and the sons of Jacob made them pay tribute from that day forward.

49 And after this all the captains of these kings came with their men before Jacob, with presents in their hands for Jacob and his sons, and they bowed down to him to the ground.

50 These kings then urged the sons of Jacob and begged of them to
return all the spoil they had captured from the seven cities of the Amorites, and the sons of Jacob did so; they returned all that they had captured, the women, the little ones, the cattle and all the spoil which they had taken, and they sent them off;  they went away each to his city.

51 And all these kings again bowed down to the sons of Jacob, and they sent or brought them many gifts in those days; the sons of Jacob sent off these kings and their men, and they went peaceably away from them to their cities, and the sons of Jacob also returned to their home, to Shechem.

52 And there was peace from that day forward between the sons of Jacob and the kings of the Canaanites, until the children of Israel came to inherit the land of Canaan.

CHAPTER 41

1 At the revolution of the year the sons of Jacob journeyed from Shechem, and they came to Hebron, to their father Isaac; they lived there, but their flocks and herds they fed daily in Shechem, for there was there in those days good and fattening pasture.  Jacob and his sons and all their household lived in the valley of Hebron.

2 It was in those days, in that year, being the hundred and sixth year of the life of Jacob, in the tenth year of Jacob's coming from Padan-aram, that Leah the wife of Jacob died; she was fifty-one years old when she died in Hebron.

3 Jacob and his sons buried her in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which is in Hebron, which Abraham had bought from the children of Heth for the possession of a burial place.

4 The sons of Jacob lived with their father in the valley of Hebron;  all the inhabitants of the land knew their strength and their fame went throughout the land.

5 Joseph the son of Jacob and his brother Benjamin, the sons of Rachel, the wife of Jacob, were yet young in those days, and did not go out with their brothers during their battles in all the cities of the Amorites.

6 And when Joseph saw the strength of his brothers and their greatness, he praised them and extolled them, but he ranked himself greater than them and extolled himself above them;  Jacob, his father, also loved him more than any of his sons for he was a son of his old age, and through his love toward him he made him a coat of many colors.

7 And when Joseph saw that his father loved him more than his brothers, he continued to elevate himself above his brothers, and he brought to his father evil reports concerning them.

8 The sons of Jacob seeing all of Joseph's conduct toward them, and that their father loved him more than any of them, hated him and could not ever speak peaceably to him.

9 Joseph was seventeen years old, and he was still magnifying himself above his brothers, and thought of raising himself above them.

10 At that time he dreamed a dream, and he came to his brothers and told them his dream, and he said to them, I dreamed a dream, and behold we were all binding sheaves in the field, and my sheaf rose and placed itself on the ground and your sheaves surrounded it and bowed down to it.

11 And his brothers answered him and said to him, What means this dream that you did dream? Do you imagine in your heart to reign or rule over us?

12 And he still came and told the thing to his father Jacob, and Jacob kissed Joseph when he heard these words from his mouth, and Jacob blessed Joseph.

13 When the sons of Jacob saw that their father had blessed Joseph and had kissed him, and that he loved him greatly, they became jealous of him and hated him all the more.

14 After this Joseph dreamed another dream and related the dream to his father in the presence of his brothers, and Joseph said to his father and brothers, Behold I have again dreamed a dream, and behold the sun and the moon and the eleven stars bowed down to me.

15 And his father heard the words of Joseph and his dream, and seeing that his brothers hated Joseph on account of this matter, Jacob therefore rebuked Joseph before his brothers on account of this thing, saying, What does this dream mean which you have dreamed, and this magnifying yourself before your brothers who are older than you are?

16 Do you imagine in your heart that I and your mother and your eleven brothers will come and bow down to you, that you speak these things?

17 And his brothers were jealous of him on account of his words and dreams; they continued to hate him, and Jacob reserved the dreams in his heart.

18 The sons of Jacob went one day to feed their father's flock in Shechem, for they were still herdsmen in those days; while the sons of Jacob were that day feeding in Shechem they delayed, and the time of gathering in the cattle was passed, and they had not arrived.

19 And Jacob saw that his sons were delayed in Shechem, and Jacob said within himself, Perhhaps the people of Shechem have risen up to fight against them, therefore they have delayed coming today.

20 And Jacob called Joseph his son and commanded him, saying, Behold your brothers are feeding in Shechem this day and look, they have not yet come back; therefore go and see where they are, and bring back word to me concerning the welfare of your brothers and the welfare of the flock.

21 And Jacob sent his son Joseph to the valley of Hebron; Joseph came for his brothers to Shechem, and could not find them, and Joseph went toward  the field which was near Shechem to see where his brothers had turned.  But he missed his road in the wilderness and didn’t know which way he should go.

22 And an angel of the Lord found him wandering in the road toward the field, and Joseph said to the angel of the Lord, I seek my brothers; have you not heard where they are feeding? And the angel of the Lord said to Joseph, I saw your brothers feeding here, and I heard them say they would go to feed in Dothan.

23 Joseph listened to the voice of the angel of the Lord, and he went to his brothers in Dothan and he found them in Dothan feeding the flock.