these

He wrote all these signs of all creation, which the Lord created, and wrote three hundred and sixty-six books, and handed them over to his sons and remained on earth thirty days, and was again taken up to heaven on the sixth day of the month Tsivan, on the very day and hour when he was born.

Besides all these there is an eighth spirit of sleep, with which is brought about the trance of nature and the of death.

With these spirits are mingled the spirits of error.

And with all these the spirit of sleep is joined which is that of error and fantasy. 32 And so perisheth every young man, darkening his mind from the truth, and not understanding the law of God, nor obeying the admonitions of his fathers, as befell me also in my youth.

Flee, therefore, fornication, my children, and command your wives and your daughters, that they adorn not their heads and faces to deceive the mind: because every woman who useth these wiles bath been reserved for eternal punishment.

For thus they allured the Watchers [*1] who were before the flood; for as these continually beheld them, they lusted after them, and they conceived the act in their mind; for they changed themselves into the shape of men, and appeared to them when they were with their husbands.

And Reuben died, having given these commands to his sons. And they placed him in a coffin until they carried him up from Egypt, and buried him in Hebron in the cave where his father was.

And when Reuben heard these things he was grieved, for he wished to restore him to his father.

And now, my children,, and Judah, and obey Levi and Judah, and be not lifted up against these two tribes, for from them shall arise unto you the salvation of God.

Therefore I give you these commands that ye also may command your children, that they may observe them throughout their generations.

But the sons of men, having no perception of these things, sin and provoke the Most High.

And after these things I awaked, and blessed the Most High, and the angel who intercedeth for the nation of Israel and for all the righteous.

And I kept these words in my heart. And after this I counselled my father, and Reuben my brother, to bid the sons of Hamor not to be circumcised; for I was zealous because of the abomination which they had wrought on my sister.

And my father heard these things and was wroth, and he was grieved in that they had received the circumcision, and after that had been put to death, and in his blessings he looked amiss upon us.

And they severally carried these things and put them on me, and said unto me: From henceforth become a priest of the Lord, thou and thy seed for ever.

For if one keep oneself from these evil things, then even among his enemies shall wisdom be a glory to him, and in a strange country a fatherland, and in the midst of foes shall prove a friend.

And in the seventh shall, be such pollution as I cannot express before men, for they shall know it who do these things.

And after these things my son Er took to wife Tamar, from Mesopotamia, a daughter of Aram.

And after these things, while Tamar was a widow, she heard after two years that I was going up, to shear my sheep, and adorned herself in bridal array, and sat in the city Enaim by the gate.

For the spirit of fornication hath wine as a minister to give pleasure to the mind; for these two also take away the mind of man.

And indeed I repented of these things; wine and flesh I eat not until my old age, nor did I behold any joy.

For I know that because of these two things shall my race fall into wickedness.

For these things withdraw au from the law of God, and blind the inclination of the soul, and teach arrogance, and suffer not a man to have compassion upon his neighbour.

And after these things shall a star arise to you from Jacob in peace,

And after these things shall Abraham and Isaac and Jacob arise unto life; and I and my brethren shall be chiefs of the tribes of Israel:

And Judah, when he had said these things, fell asleep; and his sons did according to all whatsoever he commanded them, and they buried him in Hebron, with his fathers.

Now these mandrakes were sweet-smelling apples which were produced in the land of Haran below a ravine of water.

Now there were two apples; and Leah said to Rachel: Let it suffice thee that thou hast taken my husband: wilt thou take these also?

And do you therefore give these commands to your children, that, if they sin, they may the more quickly return to the Lord; For He is merciful, and will deliver them, even to bring them back into their land.

So do you also these things, my children, and every spirit of Beliar shall flee from you, and no deed of wicked men shall rule over you;

And having said these things, he commanded his sons that they should carry him up to Hebron, and bury him there in the cave with his fathers.

And as he spoke these words, wailing as he did so, I was unable to bear his lamentations, and began to weep, and my liver was poured out, and all the substance of my bowels was loosened.

But meanwhile Reuben arose and said: Come, my brethren, let us not slay him, but let us cast him into one of these dry pits, which our fathers digged and found no water.

And after these things ye shall remember the Lord and repent, and He shall have mercy upon you, for He is merciful and compassionate.

And after these things shall there arise unto you the Lord Himself, the light of righteousness, and ye shall return unto your land.

And when he had said these things he fell asleep, at a good old age.

And when the body does all these things, the soul justifieth what is done, since it seeth not aright.

And when he had said these things he kissed them, and fell asleep at a good old age.

These things I say unto you, my children, for I have read in the writing of Enoch that ye yourselves also shall depart from the Lord, walking according to all the lawlessness of the Gentiles, and ye shall do according to all the wickedness of Sodom.

These two dreams I told to my father; and he said to me: These things must be fulfilled in their season, after that Israel hath endured many things.

These two dreams I told to my father; and he said to me: These things must be fulfilled in their season, after that Israel hath endured many things.

He caused me also, therefore, to weep by these words, and I burned in my heart to declare that Joseph had been sold, but I feared my brethren.

These things, therefore, I say to you from experience, my children, that ye may drive forth hatred, which is of the devil, and cleave to the love of God.

These things I learnt at last, after I had repented concerning Joseph.

Do ye also therefore tell these things to your children, that they honour Judah and Levi, for from them shall the Lord raise up salvation to Israel.

For there are two ways of good and evil, and with these are the two inclinations in our breasts discriminating them.

All these things, therefore, I proved in my life, and I wandered not from the truth of the Lord, and I searched out the commandments of the Most High, walking according to all my strength with singleness of face unto that which is good.

Therefore do ye also, my children, tell these things to your children, that they disobey Him not.

And when he had said these things unto them, he commanded them, saying: Bury me in Hebron.

These my brethren hated me, but the Lord loved me:

Owing to all these things I lay upon the ground, and besought God that the Lord would deliver me from her deceit.

For she wished to see me out of a desire of sin, but I was ignorant concerning all these things.

And these things shall come to pass in their season, in the last days.

And when he had said these things he stretched out his feet, and died at a good old age.

And when he had said these things, he said unto them: Know ye, therefore, my children, that I am dying.

For these things do I leave you instead of inheritance.

For all these things they gave us for an inheritance, saying: Keep the commandments of God, until the Lord shall reveal His salvation to all Gentiles.

And when he had said these things he stretched out his feet.

But with it all he had no child by any. of these women, who might be his heir.

THUS spake Haiqar, and when he had finished these injunctions and proverbs to Nadan, his sister's son, he imagined that he would keep them all, and he knew not that instead of that he was displaying to him weariness and contempt and mockery.

And when the king heard what was in the letter he was perplexed with a great perplexity and was wroth with a great and fierce wrath, and said, 'Ah, I have shown my wisdom! what have I done to Haiqar that he has written these letters to my enemies? Is this my recompense from him for my benefits to him?'

And they said to him, 'O our lord the king! know thou that there is none in thy kingdom who is acquainted with these questions except Haiqar, thy vizier and secretary.

Then said Haiqar to the king, 'Let my lord the king live for ever! These be the deeds of the children of the world. I have reared me a palm-tree that I might lean on it, and it bent sideways, and threw me down. 30 But, O my Lord! since I have appeared fore thee, let not care oppress thee! And the king said to him: 'Blessed be God, who showed thee mercy, and knew that thou wast wronged, and saved thee and delivered thee from being slain.

And Haiqar said, 'Command thy servants to take these ropes, and whenever thou desirest it, I will weave thee some like them.'

O my boy! what shall I say more to thee than these sayings? for the Lord knoweth what is hidden, and is acquainted with the mysteries and the secrets.

Of these he armed thirty thousand picked men and settled them in garrisons in the country districts.

(And even before this time large numbers of Jews had come into Egypt with the Persian, and in an earlier period still others had been sent to Egypt to help Psammetichus in his campaign against the king of the Ethiopians. But these were nothing like so numerous as the captives whom Ptolemy the son of Lagus transported.)

As I have already said Ptolemy picked out the best of these, the men who were in the prime of life and distinguished for their courage, and armed them, but the great mass of the others, those who were too old or too young for this purpose, and the women too, he reduced to slavery, not that he wished to do this of his own free will, but he was compelled by his soldiers who claimed them as a reward for the services which they had rendered in war.

Then Sosibius and some others who were present said [paragraph continues] 'Yes, but it will be a fit tribute to your magnanimity for you to offer the enfranchisement of these men as an act of devotion to the supreme God.

Extremely pleased with these arguments he gave orders that an addition should be made to the wages of the soldiers by the amount of the redemption money, that twenty drachmae should be paid to the owners for every slave, that a public order should be issued and that registers of the captives should be attached to it.

When the question was raised whether the sum of twenty talents was to be paid for these, the king ordered that it should be done, and thus he carried out his decision in the most comprehensive way.

For all affairs of state used to be carried out by means of decrees and with the most pains-taking accuracy by these Egyptian kings, and nothing was done in a slipshod or haphazard fashion.

It is necessary that these should be made accurate for your library since the law which they contain, inasmuch as it is of divine origin, is full of wisdom and free from all blemish.

For this reason literary men and poets and the mass of historical writers have held aloof from referring to these books and the men who have lived and are living in accordance with them, because their conception of life is so sacred and religious, as Hecataeus of Abdera says.

Since there are many Jews settled in our realm who were carried off from Jerusalem by the Persians at the time of their power and many more who came with my father into Egypt as captives--large numbers of these he placed in the army and paid them higher wages than usual, and when he had proved the loyalty of their leaders he built fortresses and placed them in their charge that the native Egyptians might be intimidated by them.

Now since I am anxious to show my gratitude to these men and to the Jews throughout the world and to the generations yet to come, I have determined that your law shall be translated from the Hebrew tongue which is in use amongst you into the Greek language, that these books may be added to the other royal books in my library.

Now since I am anxious to show my gratitude to these men and to the Jews throughout the world and to the generations yet to come, I have determined that your law shall be translated from the Hebrew tongue which is in use amongst you into the Greek language, that these books may be added to the other royal books in my library.

If you will write to me concerning your wishes in these matters, you will confer a great favour upon me and afford me a new pledge of friendship, for all your wishes shall be carried out as speedily as possible. Farewell!

These gifts were brought to me by Andreas, one of your most honoured servants, and by Aristeas, both good men and true, distinguished by their learning, and worthy in every way to be the representatives of your high principles and righteous purposes.

These men imparted to me your message and received from me an answer in agreement with your letter. I will consent to everything which is advantageous to you even though your request is very unusual.

These fruits were wrought out of precious stones, of the same colour as the fruits themselves and they fastened them edgeways round all the sides of the table with a band of gold.

But it is impossible to describe the real impression which these works of art produced upon the mind when they were finished.

For, when these vessels had been completed and placed side by side, first a silver bowl and then a golden, then another silver, and then another golden, the appearance they presented is altogether indescribable, and those who came to see them were not able to tear themselves from the brilliant sight and entrancing spectacle.

In a word it may be said that neither in the king's treasury nor in any other, were there any works which equalled these in costliness or in artistic skill.

And all these were fastened with lead at the bottom and at the sidewalls, and over them a great quantity of plaster had been spread, and every part of the work had been most carefully carried out.

On his head he wore a tiara, as it is called, and upon this in the middle of his forehead an inimitable turban, the royal diadem full of glory with the name of God inscribed in sacred letters on a plate of gold . . . having been judged worthy to wear these emblems in the ministrations.

these men were never allowed to leave the citadel, except on feast days and then only in detachments, nor did they permit any stranger to enter it.

Other kinds of fruit trees and dates do not count compared with these.

This was stopped, however, at the time of the Persian rule, since the authorities of the time spread abroad a false report that the working of the mines was useless and expensive in order to prevent their country from being destroyed by the mining in these districts and possibly taken away from them owing to the Persian rule, since by the assistance of this false report they found an excuse for entering the district.

And the men who were now being sent to him by Eleazar undoubtedly possessed these qualities.

When we asked why, since there is but one form of creation, some animals are regarded as unclean for eating, and others unclean even to the touch (for though the law is scrupulous on most points, it is specially scrupulous on such matters as these) he began his reply as follows:

Working out these truths carefully and having made them plain, he showed that even if a man should think of doing evil--to say nothing of actually effecting it,--he would not escape detection, for he made it clear that the power of God pervaded the whole of the law.

The makers and authors of these myths think that they are the wisest of the Greeks.

For their whole disposition leads them to find solace in these things are reckoned of no account, but throughout their things.

All these ordinances were made for the sake of righteousness to aid the quest for virtue and the perfecting of character.

Our legislator taught us therefore that it is by such methods as these that indications are given to the wise, that they must be just and effect nothing by violence, and refrain from tyrannising over others in reliance upon their own strength.

Wherefore all the rules which he has laid down with regard to what is permitted in the case of these birds and other animals, he has enacted with the object of teaching us a moral lesson.

For life is wont to be sustained by means of food, wherefor he exhorts us in the Scripture also in these words: "Thou shalt surely remember the Lord that wrought in thee those great and wonderful things."

He bids men also, when lying down to sleep and rising tip again, to meditate upon the works of God, not only in word, but by observing distinctly the change and impression produced upon them, when they are going to sleep, and also their waking, how divine and incomprehensible the change from one of these states to the other is.

For the character of the weasel and of mice and such animals as these, which are expressly mentioned, is destructive.