- And when the sons of Jacob went from the city of Sarton, they had gone about two hundred
cubits when they met the inhabitants of Tapnach coming toward them, for they went out to
fight with them, because they had smitten the king of Tapnach and all his men.
- So all that remained in the city of Tapnach came out to fight with the sons of Jacob, and
they thought to retake from them the booty and the spoil which they had captured from
Chazar and Sarton.
- And the rest of the men of Tapnach fought with the sons of Jacob in that place, and the
sons of Jacob smote them, and they fled before them, and they pursued them to the city of
Arbelan, and they all fell before the sons of Jacob.
- And the sons of Jacob returned and came to Tapnach, to take away the spoil of Tapnach,
and when they came to Tapnach they heard that the people of Arbelan had gone out to meet
them to save the spoil of their brethren, and the sons of Jacob left ten of their men in
Tapnach to plunder the city, and they went out toward the people of Arbelan.
- And the men of Arbelan went out with their wives to fight with the sons of Jacob, for their
wives were experienced in battle, and they went out, about four hundred men and women.
- And all the sons of Jacob shouted with a loud voice, and they all ran toward the inhabitants
of Arbelan, and with a great and tremendous voice.
- And the inhabitants of Arbelan heard the noise of the shouting of the sons of Jacob, and
their roaring like the noise of lions and like the roaring of the sea and its waves.
- And fear and terror possessed their hearts on account of the sons of Jacob, and they were
terribly afraid of them, and they retreated and fled before them into the city, and the sons of
Jacob pursued them to the gate of the city, and they came upon them in the city.
- And the sons of Jacob fought with them in the city, and all their women were engaged in
slinging against the sons of Jacob, and the combat was very severe amongst them the whole
of that day till evening.
- And the sons of Jacob could not prevail over them, and the sons of Jacob had almost
perished in that battle, and the sons of Jacob cried unto the Lord and greatly gained strength
toward evening, and the sons of Jacob smote all the inhabitants of Arbelan by the edge of the
sword, men, women and little ones.
- And also the remainder of the people who had fled from Sarton, the sons of Jacob smote
them in Arbelan, and the sons of Jacob did unto Arbelan and Tapnach as they had done to
Chazar and Sarton, and when the women saw that all the men were dead, they went upon
the roofs of the city and smote the sons of Jacob by showering down stones like rain.
- And the sons of Jacob hastened and came into the city and seized all the women and
smote them with the edge of the sword, and the sons of Jacob captured all the spoil and
booty, flocks and herds and cattle.
- And the sons of Jacob did unto Machnaymah as they had done to Tapnach, to Chazar and
to Shiloh, and they turned from there and went away.
- And on the fifth day the sons of Jacob heard that the people of Gaash had gathered
against them to battle, because they had slain their king and their captains, for there had
been fourteen captains in the city of Gaash, and the sons of Jacob had slain them all in the
first battle.
- And the sons of Jacob that day girt on their weapons of war, and they marched to battle
against the inhabitants of Gaash, and in Gaash there was a strong and mighty people of the
people of the Amorites, and Gaash was the strongest and best fortified city of all the cities of
the Amorites, and it had three walls.
- And the sons of Jacob came to Gaash and they found the gates of the city locked, and
about five hundred men standing at the top of the outer-most wall, and a people numerous as
the sand upon the sea shore were in ambush for the sons of Jacob from without the city at
the rear thereof.
- And the sons of Jacob approached to open the gates of the city, and whilst they were
drawing nigh, behold those who were in ambush at the rear of the city came forth from their
places and surrounded the sons of Jacob.
- And the sons of Jacob were enclosed between the people of Gaash, and the battle was
both to their front and rear, and all the men that were upon the wall, were casting from the
wall upon them, arrows and stones.
- And Judah, seeing that the men of Gaash were getting too heavy for them, gave a most
piercing and tremendous shriek and all the men of Gaash were terrified at the voice of
Judah's cry, and men fell from the wall at his powerful shriek, and all those that were from
without and within the city were greatly afraid of their lives.
- And the sons of Jacob still came nigh to break the doors of the city, when the men of Gaash threw stones and arrows upon them from the top of the wall, and
made them flee from the gate.
- And the sons of Jacob returned against the men of Gaash who were with them from
without the city, and they smote them terribly, as striking against gourds, and they could not
stand against the sons of Jacob, for fright and terror had seized them at the shriek of Judah.
- And the sons of Jacob slew all those men who were without the city, and the sons of
Jacob still drew nigh to effect an entrance into the city, and to fight under the city walls, but
they could not for all the inhabitants of Gaash who remained in the city had surrounded the
walls of Gaash in every direction, so that the sons of Jacob were unable to approach the city
to fight with them.
- And the sons of Jacob came nigh to one corner to fight under the wall, the inhabitants of
Gaash threw arrows and stones upon them like showers of rain, and they fled from under the
wall.
- And the people of Gaash who were upon the wall, seeing that the sons of Jacob could not
prevail over them from under the wall, reproached the sons of Jacob in these words, saying,
- What is the matter with you in the battle that you cannot prevail? can you then do unto the
mighty city of Gaash and its inhabitants as you did to the cities of the Amorites that were not
so powerful? Surely to those weak ones amongst us you did those things, and slew them in
the entrance of the city, for they had no strength when they were terrified at the sound of your
shouting.
- And will you now then be able to fight in this place? Surely here you will all die, and we will
avenge the cause of those cities that you have laid waste.
- And the inhabitants of Gaash greatly reproached the sons of Jacob and reviled them with
their gods, and continued to cast arrows and stones upon them from the wall.
- And Judah and his brothers heard the words of the inhabitants of Gaash and their anger
was greatly roused, and Judah was jealous of his God in this matter, and he called out and
said, O Lord, help, send help to us and our brothers.
- And he ran at a distance with all his might, with his drawn sword in his hand, and he
sprang from the earth and by dint of his strength, mounted the wall, and his sword fell from
his hand.
- And Judah shouted upon the wall, and all the men that were upon the wall were terrified,
and some of them fell from the wall into the city and died, and those who were yet upon the
wall, when they saw Judah's strength, they were greatly afraid and fled for their lives into the
city for safety.
- And some were emboldened to fight with Judah upon the wall, and they came nigh to slay
him when they saw there was no sword in Judah's hand, and they thought of casting him from
the wall to his brothers, and twenty men of the city came up to assist them, and they
surrounded Judah and they all shouted over him, and approached him with drawn swords,
and they terrified Judah, and Judah cried out to his brothers from the wall.
- And Jacob and his sons drew the bow from under the wall, and smote three of the men
that were upon the top of the wall, and Judah continued to cry and he exclaimed, O Lord help us, O Lord deliver us, and he cried out with a
loud voice upon the wall, and the cry was heard at a great distance.
- And after this cry he again repeated to shout, and all the men who surrounded Judah on
the top of the wall were terrified, and they each threw his sword from his hand at the sound of
Judah's shouting and his tremor, and fled.
- And Judah took the swords which had fallen from their hands, and Judah fought with them
and slew twenty of their men upon the wall.
- And about eighty men and women still ascended the wall from the city and they all
surrounded Judah, and the Lord impressed the fear of Judah in their hearts, that they were
unable to approach him.
- And Jacob and all who were with him drew the bow from under the wall, and they slew ten
men upon the wall, and they fell below the wall, before Jacob and his sons.
- And the people upon the wall seeing that twenty of their men had fallen, they still ran
toward Judah with drawn swords, but they could not approach him for they were greatly
terrified at Judah's strength.
- And one of their mighty men whose name was Arud approached to strike Judah upon the
head with his sword, when Judah hastily put his shield to his head, and the sword hit the
shield, and it was split in two.
- And this mighty man after he had struck Judah ran for his life, at the fear of Judah, and his
feet slipped upon the wall and he fell amongst the sons of Jacob who were below the wall,
and the sons of Jacob smote him and slew him.
- And Judah's head pained him from the blow of the powerful man, and Judah had nearly
died from it.
- And Judah cried out upon the wall owing to the pain produced by the blow, when Dan
heard him, and his anger burned within him, and he also rose up and went at a distance and
ran and sprang from the earth and mounted the wall with his wrath-excited strength.
- And when Dan came upon the wall near unto Judah all the men upon the wall fled, who
had stood against Judah, and they went up to the second wall, and they threw arrows and
stones upon Dan and Judah from the second wall, and endeavored to drive them from the
wall.
- And the arrows and stones struck Dan and Judah, and they had nearly been killed upon
the wall, and wherever Dan and Judah fled from the wall, they were attacked with arrows and
stones from the second wall.
- And Jacob and his sons were still at the entrance of the city below the first wall, and they
were not able to draw their bow against the inhabitants of the city, as they could not be seen
by them, being upon the second wall.
- And Dan and Judah when they could no longer bear the stones and arrows that fell upon
them from the second wall, they both sprang upon the second wall near the people of the city,
and when the people of the city who were upon the second wall saw that Dan and Judah had
come to them upon the second wall, they all cried out and descended below between the
walls.
- And Jacob and his sons heard the noise of the shouting from the people of the city, and
they were still at the entrance of the city, and they were anxious about Dan and Judah who
were not seen by them, they being upon the second wall.
- And Naphtali went up with his wrath-excited might and sprang upon the first wall to see
what caused the noise of shouting which they had heard in the city, and Issachar and
Zebulun drew nigh to break the doors of the city, and they opened the gates of the city and
came into the city.
- And Naphtali leaped from the first wall to the second, and came to assist his brothers, and
the inhabitants of Gaash who were upon the wall, seeing that Naphtali was the third who had
come up to assist his brothers, they all fled and descended into the city, and Jacob and all his
sons and all their young men came into the city to them.
- And Judah and Dan and Naphtali descended from the wall into the city and pursued the
inhabitants of the city, and Simeon and Levi were from without the city and knew not that the
gate was opened, and they went up from there to the wall and came down to their brothers
into the city.
- And the inhabitants of the city had all descended into the city, and the sons of Jacob came
to them in different directions, and the battle waged against them from the front and the rear,
and the sons of Jacob smote them terribly, and slew about twenty thousand of them men and
women, not one of them could stand up against the sons of Jacob.
- And the blood flowed plentifully in the city, and it was like a brook of water, and the blood
flowed like a brook to the outer part of the city, and reached the desert of Bethchorin.
- And the people of Bethchorin saw at a distance the blood flowing from the city of Gaash,
and about seventy men from amongst them ran to see the blood, and they came to the place
where the blood was.
- And they followed the track of the blood and came to the wall of the city of Gaash, and
they saw the blood issue from the city, and they heard the voice of crying from the inhabitants
of Gaash, for it ascended unto heaven, and the blood was continuing to flow abundantly like a
brook of water.
- And all the sons of Jacob were still smiting the inhabitants of Gaash, and were engaged in
slaying them till evening, about twenty thousand men and women, and the people of Chorin
said, Surely this is the work of the Hebrews, for they are still carrying on war in all the cities of
the Amorites.
- And those people hastened and ran to Bethchorin, and each took his weapons of war, and
they cried out to all the inhabitants of Bethchorin, who also girt on their weapons of war to go
and fight with the sons of Jacob.
- And when the sons of Jacob had done smiting the inhabitants of Gaash, they walked
about the city to strip all the slain, and coming in the innermost part of the city and farther on
they met three very powerful men, and there was no sword in their hand.
- And the sons of Jacob came up to the place where they were, and the powerful men ran
away, and one of them had taken Zebulun, who he saw was a young lad and of short stature,
and with his might dashed him to the ground.
- And Jacob ran to him with his sword and Jacob smote him below his loins with the sword,
and cut him in two, and the body fell upon Zebulun.
- And the second one approached and seized Jacob to fell him to the ground, and Jacob
turned to him and shouted to him, whilst Simeon and Levi ran and smote him on the hips with
the sword and felled him to the ground.
- And the powerful man rose up from the ground with wrath-excited might, and Judah came
to him before he had gained his footing, and struck him upon the head with the sword, and
his head was split and he died.
- And the third powerful man, seeing that his companions were killed, ran from before the
sons of Jacob, and the sons of Jacob pursued him in the city; and whilst the powerful man
was fleeing he found one of the swords of the inhabitants of the city, and he picked it up and
turned to the sons of Jacob and fought them with that sword.
- And the powerful man ran to Judah to strike him upon the head with the sword, and there
was no shield in the hand of Judah; and whilst he was aiming to strike him, Naphtali hastily
took his shield and put it to Judah's head, and the sword of the powerful man hit the shield of
Naphtali and Judah escaped the sword.
- And Simeon and Levi ran upon the powerful man with their swords and struck at him
forcibly with their swords, and the two swords entered the body of the powerful man and
divided it in two, length-wise.
- And the sons of Jacob smote the three mighty men at that time, together with all the
inhabitants of Gaash, and the day was about to decline.
- And the sons of Jacob walked about Gaash and took all the spoil of the city, even the little
ones and women they did not suffer to live, and the sons of Jacob did unto Gaash as they
had done to Sarton and Shiloh.
[Book of Jasher
Referred to in Joshua and Second Samuel.
faithfully translated (1840)
from the Original Hebrew into English.
A Reprint of Photo Lithographic Reprint of Exact Edition
Published by J.H. Parry & Co., Salt Lake City: 1887]