Reuben sins with Bilhah, 1-9 (cf. Gen. xxxv.21, 22). Laws regarding incest, 10-20. Jacob's
children, 22. (Cf. Gen. xxxv.23-7.)
[Chapter 33]
- And Jacob went and dwelt to the south of Magdaladra'ef. And he went to his father
Isaac, he
and Leah his wife, on the new moon of the tenth month.
- And Reuben saw Bilhah,
Rachel's maid,
the concubine of his father, bathing in water in a secret place, and he loved her.
- And he
hid himself at night, and he entered the house of Bilhah [at night], and he found her sleeping alone
on a bed in
her house.
- And he lay with her, and she awoke and saw, and behold Reuben was lying
with her in the bed, and she uncovered the border of her covering and seized him, and cried out,
and discovered
that it was Reuben.
- And she was ashamed because of him, and released her hand from
him, and he
fled.
- And she lamented because of this thing exceedingly, and did not tell it to any
one.
- And when Jacob returned and sought her, she said unto him: 'I am not clean for thee, for I
have been defiled as regards thee; for Reuben has defiled me, and has lain with me in the night,
and I was
asleep, and did not discover until he uncovered my skirt and slept with me.'
- And Jacob
was exceedingly wroth with Reuben because he had lain with Bilhah, because he had uncovered
his
father's skirt.
- And Jacob did not approach her again because Reuben had defiled her.
And as for any man who uncovers his father's skirt his deed is wicked exceedingly, for he is
abominable before
the Lord.
- For this reason it is written and ordained on the heavenly tablets that a man
should not lie with his father's wife, and should not uncover his father's skirt, for this is unclean:
they shall surely die together, the man who lies with his father's wife and the woman also, for they
have
wrought uncleanness on the earth.
- And there shall be nothing unclean before our God
in the nation
which He has chosen for Himself as a possession.
- And again, it is written a second
time: 'Cursed be he who lieth with the wife of his father, for he hath uncovered his father's
shame'; and all the
holy ones of the Lord said 'So be it; so be it.'
- And do thou, Moses, command the
children of Israel that they observe this word; for it (entails) a punishment of death; and it is
unclean, and there is no atonement for ever to atone for the man who has committed this, but he
is to be put to death and slain, and stoned with stones, and rooted out from the midst of the
people of our God.
- For to no man who does so in Israel is it permitted to remain alive a single day on the
earth, for he
is abominable and unclean.
- And let them not say: to Reuben was granted life and
forgiveness after he had lain with his father's concubine, and to her also though she had a husband,
and her husband
Jacob, his father, was still alive.
- For until that time there had not been revealed the
ordinance and judgment and law in its completeness for all, but in thy days (it has been revealed)
as a law of
seasons and of days, and an everlasting law for the everlasting generations.
- And for
this law there is no consummation of days, and no atonement for it, but they must both be rooted
out in the midst
of the nation: on the day whereon they committed it they shall slay them.
- And do
thou, Moses, write (it) down for Israel that they may observe it, and do according to these words,
and not commit a sin unto death; for the Lord our God is judge, who respects not persons and
accepts not gifts.
- And tell them these words of the covenant, that they may hear and observe, and
be on their guard with respect to them, and not be destroyed and rooted out of the land; for an
uncleanness, and an abomination, and a contamination, and a pollution are all they who commit it
on the earth before
our God.
- And there is no greater sin than the fornication which they commit on earth;
for Israel is a holy nation unto the Lord its God, and a nation of inheritance, and a priestly and
royal nation and for (His own) possession; and there shall no such uncleanness appear in the midst
of the holy
nation.
- And in the third year of this sixth week [2145 A.M.] Jacob and all his sons
went and dwelt in the house
of Abraham, near Isaac his father and Rebecca his mother.
- And these were the names
of the sons of Jacob: the first-born Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulon, the sons of
Leah; and the sons of Rachel, Joseph and Benjamin; and the sons of Bilhah, Dan and Naphtali;
and the sons of Zilpah, Gad and Asher; and Dinah, the daughter of Leah, the only daughter of
Jacob.
- And they
came and bowed themselves to Isaac and Rebecca, and when they saw them they
blessed Jacob and all his sons, and Isaac rejoiced exceedingly, for he saw the sons of Jacob, his
younger son and he blessed them.
Chapter: 1 | 2 | 3 |
4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 |
38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 |
44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 |
50
From The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament
by R.H. Charles, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913
Scanned and Edited by Joshua Williams, Northwest Nazarene College