Noah plants a vineyard and offers a sacrifice, 1-5. Becomes drunk and exposes his person, 6-9. The
cursing of Canaan and blessing of Shem and Japeth, 10-12 (cf. Gen. ix.20-8). Noah's sons
and grandsons and their cities, 13-19. Noah teaches his sons regarding the causes of the deluge
and admonishes them to avoid the eating of blood and murder, to keep the law regarding fruit
trees and let the land lie fallow every seventh year, as Enoch had directed, 20-39.
[Chapter 7]
- And in the seventh week in the first year [1317 A.M.] thereof, in this jubilee, Noah
planted vines on the mountain on which the ark had rested, named Lubar, one of the Ararat
Mountains, and they produced fruit in the fourth year, [1320 A.M.] and he guarded their fruit, and
gathered it in this year in the
seventh month.
- And he made wine therefrom and put it into a vessel, and kept it until
the fifth
year, [1321 A.M.] until the first day, on the new moon of the first month.
- And he
celebrated with joy the day of this feast, and he made a burnt sacrifice unto the Lord, one young
ox and one ram, and seven sheep, each a year old, and a kid of the goats, that he might make
atonement thereby for himself
and his sons.
- And he prepared the kid first, and placed some of its blood on the flesh
that was on the altar which he had made, and all the fat he laid on the altar where he made the
burnt sacrifice,
and the ox and the ram and the sheep, and he laid all their flesh upon the altar.
- And he
placed all their offerings mingled with oil upon it, and afterwards he sprinkled wine on the fire
which he had previously made on the altar, and he placed incense on the altar and caused a sweet
savour to
ascend acceptable before the Lord his God.
- And he rejoiced and drank of this wine, he
and his
children with joy.
- And it was evening, and he went into his tent, and being drunken he
lay down
and slept, and was uncovered in his tent as he slept.
- And Ham saw Noah his father
naked, and
went forth and told his two brethren without.
- And Shem took his garment and arose, he
and Japheth, and they placed the garment on their shoulders and went backward and covered the
shame
of their father, and their faces were backward.
- And Noah awoke from his sleep and
knew all that his younger son had done unto him, and he cursed his son and said: 'Cursed be
Canaan; an
enslaved servant shall he be unto his brethren.'
- And he blessed Shem, and said:
'Blessed be the
Lord God of Shem, and Canaan shall be his servant.
- God shall enlarge Japheth, and
God shall
dwell in the dwelling of Shem, and Canaan shall be his servant.'
- And Ham knew that
his father had cursed his younger son, and he was displeased that he had cursed his son. and he
parted from
his father, he and his sons with him, Cush and Mizraim and Put and Canaan.
- And he
built for
himself a city and called its name after the name of his wife Ne'elatama'uk.
- And
Japheth saw it, and became envious of his brother, and he too built for himself a city, and he
called its name after
the name of his wife 'Adataneses.
- And Shem dwelt with his father Noah, and he built a
city close to his father on the mountain, and he too called its name after the name of his wife
Sedeqetelebab.
- And behold these three cities are near Mount Lubar; Sedeqetelebab fronting the
mountain on its
east; and Na'eltama'uk on the south; 'Adatan'eses towards the west.
- And these are the
sons of Shem: Elam, and Asshur, and Arpachshad -this (son) was born two years after the flood-
and
Lud, and Aram.
- The sons of Japheth: Gomer and Magog and Madai and Javan, Tubal
and
Meshech and Tiras: these are the sons of Noah.
- And in the twenty-eighth jubilee
[1324-1372 A.M.] Noah began to enjoin upon his sons' sons the ordinances and commandments,
and all the judgments that he knew, and he exhorted his sons to observe righteousness, and to
cover the shame of their flesh, and to bless their Creator, and honour father and mother, and love
their neighbour, and guard their souls
from fornication and uncleanness and all iniquity.
- For owing to these three things came
the flood upon the earth, namely, owing to the fornication wherein the Watchers against the law
of their ordinances went a whoring after the daughters of men, and took themselves wives of all
which they
chose: and they made the beginning of uncleanness.
- And they begat sons the
Naphidim, and they were all unlike, and they devoured one another: and the Giants slew the
Naphil, and the
Naphil slew the Eljo, and the Eljo mankind, and one man another.
- And every one sold
himself
to work iniquity and to shed much blood, and the earth was filled with iniquity.
- And
after this they sinned against the beasts and birds, and all that moves and walks on the earth: and
much blood was shed on the earth, and every imagination and desire of men imagined vanity and
evil
continually.
- And the Lord destroyed everything from off the face of the earth; because
of the wickedness of their deeds, and because of the blood which they had shed in the midst of the
earth
He destroyed everything.
- 'And we were left, I and you, my sons, and everything that
entered with us into the ark, and behold I see your works before me that ye do not walk in
righteousness: for in the path of destruction ye have begun to walk, and ye are parting one from
another, and are envious one of another, and (so it comes) that ye are not in harmony, my sons,
each with his brother.
- For I see, and behold the demons have begun (their) seductions against you and against
your children and now I fear on your behalf, that after my death ye will shed the blood of men
upon the earth,
and that ye, too, will be destroyed from the face of the earth.
- For whoso sheddeth
man's blood, and whoso eateth the blood of any flesh, shall all be destroyed from the earth.
- And there shall not be left any man that eateth blood,
or that sheddeth the blood of man on the earth,
Nor shall there be left to him any seed or descendants living under heaven;
For into Sheol shall they go, And into the place of condemnation shall they descend,
And into the darkness of the deep shall they all be removed by a violent death.
- There shall be no blood seen upon you of all the blood there shall be all the days in
which ye have killed any beasts or cattle or whatever flies upon the earth, and work ye a good
work to your
souls by covering that which has been shed on the face of the earth.
- And ye shall not
be like him who eats with blood, but guard yourselves that none may eat blood before you: cover
the blood,
for thus have I been commanded to testify to you and your children, together with all
flesh.
- And suffer not the soul to be eaten with the flesh, that your blood, which is your life, may
not be required
at the hand of any flesh that sheds (it) on the earth.
- For the earth will not be clean from
the blood which has been shed upon it; for (only) through the blood of him that shed it will the
earth be
purified throughout all its generations.
- And now, my children, harken: work judgment
and righteousness that ye maybe planted in righteousness over the face of the whole earth, and
your
glory lifted up before my God, who saved me from the waters of the flood.
- And
behold, ye will go and build for yourselves cities, and plant in them all the plants that are upon the
earth, and moreover
all fruit-bearing trees.
- For three years the fruit of everything that is eaten will not be
gathered: and in the fourth year its fruit will be accounted holy [and they will offer the
first-fruits], acceptable before the Most High God, who created heaven and earth and all things.
Let them offer in abundance the first of the wine and oil (as) first-fruits on the altar of the Lord,
who receives it, and
what is left let the servants of the house of the Lord eat before the altar which receives
(it).
- And in the fifth year
make ye the release so that ye release it in righteousness and uprightness, and ye shall be
righteous,
and all that you plant shall prosper.
- For thus did Enoch, the father of your father
command Methuselah, his son, and Methuselah his son Lamech, and Lamech commanded me all
the things
which his fathers commanded him.
- And I also will give you commandment, my sons,
as Enoch commanded his son in the first jubilees: whilst still living, the seventh in his generation,
he commanded and testified to his son and to his son's sons until the day of his death.'
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