Lost Books of the Bible (82 page)

18 But my lord and king, I will tell you what happened to me last night, that I may see what advice the king will give his servant, and then I will answer the king on what he has just spoken.  The king said, Speak.

19 And Terah said to the king, Ayon, son of Mored, came to me last night, saying,

20 Give to me the great and beautiful horse that the king gave you, and I will give you silver and gold, and straw and provender for its value; and I said to him, Wait till I see the king concerning your words, and behold whatever the king says, that will I do.

21 And now my lord and king, behold I have made this thing known to you, and the advice which my king will give to his servant, that will I follow.

22 The king heard the words of Terah, and his anger was set ablaze and he considered him in the light of a fool.

23 And the king answered Terah and said to him, Are you so silly, ignorant, or deficient in understanding to do this thing, to give your beautiful horse for silver and gold or even for straw and provender?

24 Are you so short of silver and gold that you should do this thing, because you cannot obtain straw and provender to feed your horse? And what is silver and gold to you, or straw and provender, that you should give away that fine horse which I gave you, like which there is none to be had on the whole earth?

25 The king left off speaking, and Terah answered the king, saying, Like to this has the king spoken to his servant;

26 I beseech you, my lord and king, what is this which you did say to me,  Give your son that we may kill him, and I will give you silver and gold for his value; what shall I do with silver and gold after the death of my son? Who shall inherit me? Certainly then at my death, the silver and gold will return to my king who gave it.

27 And when the king heard the words of Terah, and the parable which he brought concerning the king, it grieved him greatly and he was troubled at this thing, and his anger burned within him.

28 And Terah saw that the anger of the king was set ablaze against him, and he answered the king, saying, All that I have is in the king's power; whatever the king desires to do to his servant, that let him do, yea, even my son, he is in the king's power, without value in exchange, he and his two brothers that are older than he.

29 And the king said to Terah, No, but I will purchase your younger son for a price.

30 Terah answered the king, saying, I beseech you my lord and king to let your servant speak a word before you, and let the king hear
the word of his servant, and Terah said, Let my king give me three days' time till I consider this matter within myself, and consult with my family concerning the words of my king; and he pressed the king greatly to agree to this.

31 The king listened to Terah, and he did so and he gave him three days' time.  Terah went out from the king's presence, and he came home to his family and spoke to them all the words of the king; and the people were greatly afraid.

32 And it was in the third day that the king sent to Terah, saying, Send me your son for a price as I spoke to you; and should you not do this, I will send and kill all you have in your house, so that you shall not even have a dog remaining.

33 And Terah hurried (as the thing was urgent from the king), and he took a child from one of his servants, which his handmaid had born to him that day, and Terah brought the child to the king and received value for him.

34 And the Lord was with Terah in this matter, that Nimrod might not cause Abram's death.  The king took the child from Terah and with all his might dashed his head to the ground, for he thought it had been Abram; this was concealed from him from that day, and it was forgotten by the king, as it was the will of Providence not to suffer Abram's death.

35 And Terah took Abram his son secretly, together with his mother and nurse, and he concealed them in a cave, and he brought them their provisions monthly.

36 The Lord was with Abram in the cave and he grew up, and Abram was in the cave ten years, and the king and his princes, soothsayers and sages, thought that the king had killed Abram.

CHAPTER 9

1 And Haran, the son of Terah, Abram's oldest brother, took a wife in those days.

2 Haran was thirty-nine years old when he took her; and the wife of Haran conceived and gave birth to a son, and he called his name Lot.

3 She conceived again and gave birth to a daughter, and called her name Milca; and she again conceived and gave birth to a daughter and called her name Sarai.

4 Haran was forty-two years old when he had Sarai, which was in the tenth year of the life of Abram; and in those days Abram and his mother and nurse went out from the cave, as the king and his subjects had forgotten the affair of Abram.

5 When Abram came out from the cave, he went to Noah and his son Shem, and he remained with them to learn the instruction of the Lord and his ways; no man knew where Abram was, and Abram served Noah and Shem his son for a long time.

6 Abram was in Noah's house thirty-nine years, and Abram knew the Lord from three years old;  he went in the ways of the Lord until the day of his death, as Noah and his son Shem had taught him, and all the sons of the earth in those days greatly went contrary to the Lord, and they rebelled against him and they served other gods.  They forgot the Lord who had created them in the earth; and the inhabitants of the earth made to themselves, at that time, every man his god; gods of wood and stone which could neither speak, hear, nor deliver, and the sons of men served them and they became their gods.

7 The king and all his servants, and Terah with all his household were then the first of those that served gods of wood and stone.

8 And Terah had twelve gods of large size, made of wood and stone, after the twelve months of the year, and he served each one monthly, and every month Terah would bring his meat offering and drink offering to his gods; thus did Terah all the days.

9 All that generation were wicked in the sight of the Lord, and they thus made every man his god, but they turned away from the Lord who had created them.

10 And there was not a man found in those days in the whole earth who knew the Lord (for they served each man his own god) except Noah and his household; and all those who were under his counsel knew the Lord in those days.

11 Abram the son of Terah was becoming great in those days in the house of Noah, and no man knew it, and the Lord was with him.

12 The Lord gave Abram an understanding heart, and he knew all the works of that generation were vain, and that all their gods were vain and were of no avail.

13 And Abram saw the sun shining on the earth, and Abram said to himself, Certainly now this sun that shines on the earth is God, and him will I serve.

14 And Abram served the sun in that day and he prayed to him, and when evening came the sun set as usual, and Abram said within himself, Certainly this cannot be God?

15 And Abram still continued to speak within himself, Who is he who made the heavens and the earth? Who created on earth? Where is he?

16 And night darkened over him; he lifted up his eyes toward the west, north, south, and east, and he saw that the sun had vanished from the earth, and the day became dark.

17 And Abram saw the stars and moon before him, and he said, Certainly this is the God who created the whole earth as well as man, and behold these his servants are gods around him: and Abram served the moon and prayed to it all that night.

18 And in the morning when it was light and the sun shone on the earth as usual, Abram saw all the things that the Lord God had made on earth.

19 And Abram said to himself, Certainly these are not gods that made the earth and all mankind, but these are the servants of God.  And Abram remained in the house of Noah and there knew the Lord and his ways.  He served the Lord all the days of his life, and all that generation forgot the Lord, and served other gods of wood and stone, and rebelled all their days.

20 And king Nimrod reigned securely, and all the earth was under his control, and all the earth was of one tongue and words of union.

21 And all the princes of Nimrod and his great men took counsel together: Phut, Mitzraim, Cush and Canaan with their families, and they said to each other, Come let us build ourselves a city and in it a strong tower and its top reaching heaven, and we will make ourselves famed so that we may reign on the whole world, in order that the evil of our enemies may cease from us; that we may reign mightily over them, and that we may not become scattered over the earth on account of their wars.

22 They all went before the king, and they told the king these words, and the king agreed with them in this affair, and he did so.

23 All the families assembled consisting of about six hundred thousand men, and they went to seek an extensive piece of ground to build the city and the tower, and they sought in the whole earth and they found none like one valley at the east of the land of Shinar, about two days' walk, and they journeyed there and they lived there.

24 And they began to make bricks and burn fires to build the city and the tower that they had imagined to complete.

25 And the building of the tower was to them a transgression and a sin, and they began to build it While they were building against the Lord God of heaven, they imagined in their hearts to war against him and to ascend into heaven.

26 And all these people and all the families divided themselves in three parts; the first said, We will ascend into heaven and fight against him; the second said, We will ascend to heaven and place our own gods there and serve them; and the third part said, We will ascend to heaven and strike him with bows and spears.  And God knew all their works and all their evil thoughts, and he saw the city and the tower which they were building.

27 They built themselves a great city and a very high and strong tower;  on account of its height, the mortar and bricks did not reach the builders in their ascent to it until those who went up had completed a full year, and after that, they reached the builders and gave them the mortar and the bricks; thus was it done daily.

28 And behold these ascended and others descended the whole day; and if a brick should fall from their hands and get broken, they would all weep over it; if a man fell and died, none of them would look at him.

29 The Lord knew their thoughts, and it came to pass when they were building they cast the arrows toward the heavens, and all the arrows fell on them filled with blood;  when they saw them they said to each other, Certainly we have slain all those that are in heaven.

30 For this was from the Lord in order to cause them to err, and in order to destroy them from off the face of the ground.

31 They built the tower and the city, and they did this thing daily until many days and years were elapsed.

32 And God said to the seventy angels who stood foremost before him, to those who were near to him, saying, Come let us descend and confuse their tongues, that one man shall not understand the language of his neighbor, and they did so to them.

33 From that day following, they forgot each man his neighbor's tongue, and they could not understand to speak in one tongue; when the builder took from the hands of his neighbor lime or stone which he did not order, the builder would cast it away and throw it on his neighbor, that he would die.

34 And they did so many days, and they killed many of them in this manner.

35 The Lord struck the three divisions that were there, and he punished them according to their works and designs; those who said, We will ascend to heaven
and serve our gods, became like apes and elephants;  those who said, We will strike the heaven with arrows, the Lord killed them, one man through the hand of his neighbor; and the third division of those who said, We will ascend to heaven and fight against him, the Lord scattered them throughout the earth.

36 Those who were left among them, when they knew and understood the evil which was coming on them, turned away from the building, and they also became scattered on the face of the whole earth.