Pharaoh

A¹fter these things the king sent and assembled all his officers and servants, and all the princes and nobles belonging to the king, and they all came before the king.

² And the king said unto them, Behold you have seen and heard all the words of this Hebrew man, and all the signs which he declared would come to pass, and not any of his words have fallen to the ground. ³ You know that he has given a proper interpretation of the dream, and it will surely come to pass, now therefore take counsel, and know what you will do and how the land will be delivered from the famine. ⁴ Seek now and see whether the like can be found, in whose heart there is wisdom and knowledge, and I will appoint him over the land. ⁵ For you have heard what the Hebrew man has advised concerning this to save the land therewith from the famine, and I know that the land will not be delivered from the famine but with the advice of the Hebrew man, him that advised me. ⁶ And they all answered the king and said, The counsel which the Hebrew has given concerning this is good; now therefore, our lord and king, behold the whole land is in thy hand, do that which seemeth good in thy sight. ⁷ Him whom thou chooses, and whom thou in thy wisdom knowest to be wise and capable of delivering the land with his wisdom, him shall the king appoint to be under him over the land. ⁸ And the king said to all the officers: I have thought that since God has made known to the Hebrew man all that he has spoken, there is none so discreet and wise in the whole land as he is; if it seem good in your sight I will place him over the land, for he will save the land with his wisdom. ⁹ And all the officers answered the king and said, But surely it is written in the laws of Egypt, and it should not be violated, that no man shall reign over Egypt, nor be the second to the king, but one who has knowledge in all the languages of the sons of men. ¹⁰ Now therefore our lord and king, behold this Hebrew man can only speak the Hebrew language, and how then can he be over us the second under government, a man who not even knoweth our language? ¹¹ Now we pray thee send for him, and let him come before thee, and prove him in all things, and do as thou see fit. ¹² And the king said, It shall be done tomorrow, and the thing that you have spoken is good; and all the officers came on that day before the king. ¹³ And on that night the Lord sent one of his ministering angels, and he came into the land of Egypt unto Joseph, and the angel of the Lord stood over Joseph, and behold Joseph was lying in the bed at night in his master's house in the dungeon, for his master had put him back into the dungeon on account of his wife. ¹⁴ And the angel roused him from his sleep, and Joseph rose up and stood upon his legs, and behold the angel of the Lord was standing opposite to him; and the angel of the Lord spoke with Joseph, and he taught him all the languages of man in that night, and he called his name Jehoseph. ¹⁵ And the angel of the Lord went from him, and Joseph returned and lay upon his bed, and Joseph was astonished at the vision which he saw. ¹⁶ And it came to pass in the morning that the king sent for all his officers and servants, and they all came and sat before the king, and the king ordered Joseph to be brought, and the king's servants went and brought Joseph before Pharaoh. ¹⁷ And the king came forth and ascended the steps of the throne, and Joseph spoke unto the king in all languages, and Joseph went up to him and spoke unto the king until he arrived before the king in the seventieth step, and he sat before the king. ¹⁸ And the king greatly rejoiced on account of Joseph, and all the king's officers rejoiced greatly with the king when they heard all the words of Joseph. ¹⁹ And the thing seemed good in the sight of the king and the officers, to appoint Joseph to be second to the king over the whole land of Egypt, and the king spoke to Joseph, saying, ²⁰ Now thou didst give me counsel to appoint a wise man over the land of Egypt, in order with his wisdom to save the land from the famine; now therefore, since God has made all this known to thee, and all the words which thou hast spoken, there is not throughout the land a discreet and wise man like unto thee.

Read full chapter: The Book of Jasher 49 →

A¹nd it came to pass after these things, that all the counsellors of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and all the elders of Egypt assembled and came before the king and bowed down to the ground, and they sat before him.

² And the counsellors and elders of Egypt spoke unto the king, saying, ³ Behold the people of the children of Israel is greater and mightier than we are, and thou knowest all the evil which they did to us in the road when we returned from battle. ⁴ And thou hast also seen their strong power, for this power is unto them from their fathers, for but a few men stood up against a people numerous as the sand, and smote them at the edge of the sword, and of themselves not one has fallen, so that if they had been numerous they would then have utterly destroyed them. ⁵ Now therefore give us counsel what to do with them, until we gradually destroy them from amongst us, lest they become too numerous for us in the land. ⁶ For if the children of Israel should increase in the land, they will become an obstacle to us, and if any war should happen to take place, they with their great strength will join our enemy against us, and fight against us, destroy us from the land and go away from it. ⁷ So the king answered the elders of Egypt and said unto them, This is the plan advised against Israel, from which we will not depart, ⁸ Behold in the land are Pithom and Rameses, cities unfortified against battle, it behooves you and us to build them, and to fortify them. ⁹ Now therefore go you also and act cunningly toward them, and proclaim a voice in Egypt and in Goshen at the command of the king, saying, ¹⁰ All ye men of Egypt, Goshen, Pathros and all their inhabitants! the king has commanded us to build Pithom and Rameses, and to fortify them for battle; who amongst you of all Egypt, of the children of Israel and of all the inhabitants of the cities, are willing to build with us, shall each have his wages given to him daily at the king's order; so go you first and do cunningly, and gather yourselves and come to Pithom and Rameses to build. ¹¹ And whilst you are building, cause a proclamation of this kind to be made throughout Egypt every day at the command of the king. ¹² And when some of the children of Israel shall come to build with you, you shall give them their wages daily for a few days. ¹³ And after they shall have built with you for their daily hire, drag yourselves away from them daily one by one in secret, and then you shall rise up and become their task-masters and officers, and you shall leave them afterward to build without wages, and should they refuse, then force them with all your might to build. ¹⁴ And if you do this it will be well with us to strengthen our land against the children of Israel, for on account of the fatigue of the building and the work, the children of Israel will decrease, because you will deprive them from their wives day by day. ¹⁵ And all the elders of Egypt heard the counsel of the king, and the counsel seemed good in their eyes and in the eyes of the servants of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of all Egypt, and they did according to the word of the king. ¹⁶ And all the servants went away from the king, and they caused a proclamation to be made in all Egypt, in Tachpanches and in Goshen, and in all the cities which surrounded Egypt, saying, ¹⁷ You have seen what the children of Esau and Ishmael did to us, who came to war against us and wished to destroy us. ¹⁸ Now therefore the king commanded us to fortify the land, to build the cities Pithom and Rameses, and to fortify them for battle, if they should again come against us. ¹⁹ Whosoever of you from all Egypt and from the children of Israel will come to build with us, he shall have his daily wages given by the king, as his command is unto us. ²⁰ And when Egypt and all the children of Israel heard all that the servants of Pharaoh had spoken, there came from the Egyptians, and the children of Israel to build with the servants of Pharaoh, Pithom and Rameses, but none of the children of Levi came with their brethren to build.

Read full chapter: The Book of Jasher 65 →

A¹nd in those days Moses was feeding the flock of Reuel the Midianite his father-in-law, beyond the wilderness of Sin, and the stick which he took from his father-in-law was in his hand.

² And it came to pass one day that a kid of goats strayed from the flock, and Moses pursued it and it came to the mountain of God to Horeb. ³ And when he came to Horeb, the Lord appeared there unto him in the bush, and he found the bush burning with fire, but the fire had no power over the bush to consume it. ⁴ And Moses was greatly astonished at this sight, wherefore the bush was not consumed, and he approached to see this mighty thing, and the Lord called unto Moses out of the fire and commanded him to go down to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, to send the children of Israel from his service. ⁵ And the Lord said unto Moses, Go, return to Egypt, for all those men who sought thy life are dead, and thou shalt speak unto Pharaoh to send forth the children of Israel from his land. ⁶ And the Lord showed him to do signs and wonders in Egypt before the eyes of Pharaoh and the eyes of his subjects, in order that they might believe that the Lord had sent him. ⁷ And Moses hearkened to all that the Lord had commanded him, and he returned to his father-in-law and told him the thing, and Reuel said to him, Go in peace. ⁸ And Moses rose up to go to Egypt, and he took his wife and sons with him, and he was at an inn in the road, and an angel of God came down, and sought an occasion against him. ⁹ And he wished to kill him on account of his first born son, because he had not circumcised him, and had transgressed the covenant which the Lord had made with Abraham. ¹⁰ For Moses had hearkened to the words of his father-in-law which he had spoken to him, not to circumcise his first born son, therefore he circumcised him not. ¹¹ And Zipporah saw the angel of the Lord seeking an occasion against Moses, and she knew that this thing was owing to his not having circumcised her son Gershom. ¹² And Zipporah hastened and took of the sharp rock stones that were there, and she circumcised her son, and delivered her husband and her son from the hand of the angel of the Lord. ¹³ And Aaron the son of Amram, the brother of Moses, was in Egypt walking at the river side on that day. ¹⁴ And the Lord appeared to him in that place, and he said to him, Go now toward Moses in the wilderness, and he went and met him in the mountain of God, and he kissed him. ¹⁵ And Aaron lifted up his eyes, and saw Zipporah the wife of Moses and her children, and he said unto Moses, Who are these unto thee? ¹⁶ And Moses said unto him, They are my wife and sons, which God gave to me in Midian; and the thing grieved Aaron on account of the woman and her children. ¹⁷ And Aaron said to Moses, Send away the woman and her children that they may go to her father's house, and Moses hearkened to the words of Aaron, and did so. ¹⁸ And Zipporah returned with her children, and they went to the house of Reuel, and remained there until the time arrived when the Lord had visited his people, and brought them forth from Egypt from the hand at Pharaoh. ¹⁹ And Moses and Aaron came to Egypt to the community of the children of Israel, and they spoke to them all the words of the Lord, and the people rejoiced an exceeding great rejoicing. ²⁰ And Moses and Aaron rose up early on the next day, and they went to the house of Pharaoh, and they took in their hands the stick of God.

Read full chapter: The Book of Jasher 79 →

A¹nd at the end of two years, the Lord again sent Moses to Pharaoh to bring forth the children of Israel, and to send them out of the land of Egypt.

² And Moses went and came to the house of Pharaoh, and he spoke to him the words of the Lord who had sent him, but Pharaoh would not hearken to the voice of the Lord, and God roused his might in Egypt upon Pharaoh and his subjects, and God smote Pharaoh and his people with very great and sore plagues. ³ And the Lord sent by the hand of Aaron and turned all the waters of Egypt into blood, with all their streams and rivers. ⁴ And when an Egyptian came to drink and draw water, he looked into his pitcher, and behold all the water was turned into blood; and when he came to drink from his cup the water in the cup became blood. ⁵ And when a woman kneaded her dough and cooked her victuals, their appearance was turned to that of blood. ⁶ And the Lord sent again and caused all their waters to bring forth frogs, and all the frogs came into the houses of the Egyptians. ⁷ And when the Egyptians drank, their bellies were filled with frogs and they danced in their bellies as they dance when in the river. ⁸ And all their drinking water and cooking water turned to frogs, also when they lay in their beds their perspiration bred frogs. ⁹ Notwithstanding all this the anger of the Lord did not turn from them, and his hand was stretched out against all the Egyptians to smite them with every heavy plague. ¹⁰ And he sent and smote their dust to lice, and the lice became in Egypt to the height of two cubits upon the earth. ¹¹ The lice were also very numerous, in the flesh of man and beast, in all the inhabitants of Egypt, also upon the king and queen the Lord sent the lice, and it grieved Egypt exceedingly on account of the lice. ¹² Notwithstanding this, the anger of the Lord did not turn away, and his hand was still stretched out over Egypt. ¹³ And the Lord sent all kinds of beasts of the field into Egypt, and they came and destroyed all Egypt, man and beast, and trees, and all things that were in Egypt. ¹⁴ And the Lord sent fiery serpents, scorpions, mice, weasels, toads, together with others creeping in dust. ¹⁵ Flies, hornets, fleas, bugs and gnats, each swarm according to its kind. ¹⁶ And all reptiles and winged animals according to their kind came to Egypt and grieved the Egyptians exceedingly. ¹⁷ And the fleas and flies came into the eyes and ears of the Egyptians. ¹⁸ And the hornet came upon them and drove them away, and they removed from it into their inner rooms, and it pursued them. ¹⁹ And when the Egyptians hid themselves on account of the swarm of animals, they locked their doors after them, and God ordered the Sulanuth which was in the sea, to come up and go into Egypt. ²⁰ And she had long arms, ten cubits in length of the cubit of a man. ²¹ And she went upon the roofs and uncovered the raftering and flooring and cut them, and stretched forth her arm into the house and removed the lock and the bolt, and opened the houses of Egypt. ²² Afterward came the swarm of animals into the houses of Egypt, and the swarm of animals destroyed the Egyptians, and it grieved them exceedingly. ²³ Notwithstanding this the anger of the Lord did not turn away from the Egyptians, and his hand was yet stretched forth against them. ²⁴ And God sent the pestilence, and the pestilence pervaded Egypt, in the horses and asses, and in the camels, in herds of oxen and sheep and in man. ²⁵ And when the Egyptians rose up early in the morning to take their cattle to pasture they found all their cattle dead. ²⁶ And there remained of the cattle of the Egyptians only one in ten, and of the cattle belonging to Israel in Goshen not one died. ²⁷ And God sent a burning inflammation in the flesh of the Egyptians, which burst their skins, and it became a severe itch in all the Egyptians from the soles of their feet to the crowns of their heads. ²⁸ And many boils were in their flesh, that their flesh wasted away until they became rotten and putrid. ²⁹ Notwithstanding this the anger of the Lord did not turn away, and his hand was still stretched out over all Egypt. ³⁰ And the Lord sent a very heavy hail, which smote their vines and broke their fruit trees and dried them up that they fell upon them.

Read full chapter: The Book of Jasher 80 →

A²⁰nd they said each man to his brother, What is this which we have done, that we have sent Israel from our servitude?

²¹ And the Lord strengthened the hearts of all the Egyptians to pursue the Israelites, for the Lord desired to overthrow the Egyptians in the Red Sea. ²² And Pharaoh rose up and harnessed his chariot, and he ordered all the Egyptians to assemble, not one man was left excepting the little ones and the women. ²³ And all the Egyptians went forth with Pharaoh to pursue the children of Israel, and the camp of Egypt was an exceedingly large and heavy camp, about ten hundred thousand men. ²⁴ And the whole of this camp went and pursued the children of Israel to bring them back to Egypt, and they reached them encamping by the Red Sea. ²⁵ And the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and beheld all the Egyptians pursuing them, and the children of Israel were greatly terrified at them, and the children of Israel cried to the Lord. ²⁶ And on account of the Egyptians, the children of Israel divided themselves into four divisions, and they were divided in their opinions, for they were afraid of the Egyptians, and Moses spoke to each of them. ²⁷ The first division was of the children of Reuben, Simeon, and Issachar, and they resolved to cast themselves into the sea, for they were exceedingly afraid of the Egyptians. ²⁸ And Moses said to them, Fear not, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord which He will effect this day for you. ²⁹ The second division was of the children of Zebulun, Benjamin and Naphtali, and they resolved to go back to Egypt with the Egyptians. ³⁰ And Moses said to them, Fear not, for as you have seen the Egyptians this day, so shall you see them no more for ever. ³¹ The third division was of the children of Judah and Joseph, and they resolved to go to meet the Egyptians to fight with them. ³² And Moses said to them, Stand in your places, for the Lord will fight for you, and you shall remain silent. ³³ And the fourth division was of the children of Levi, Gad, and Asher, and they resolved to go into the midst of the Egyptians to confound them, and Moses said to them, Remain in your stations and fear not, only call unto the Lord that he may save you out of their hands. ³⁴ After this Moses rose up from amidst the people, and he prayed to the Lord and said, ³⁵ O Lord God of the whole earth, save now thy people whom thou didst bring forth from Egypt, and let not the Egyptians boast that power and might are theirs. ³⁶ So the Lord said to Moses, Why dost thou cry unto me? speak to the children of Israel that they shall proceed, and do thou stretch out thy rod upon the sea and divide it, and the children of Israel shall pass through it. ³⁷ And Moses did so, and he lifted up his rod upon the sea and divided it. ³⁸ And the waters of the sea were divided into twelve parts, and the children of Israel passed through on foot, with shoes, as a man would pass through a prepared road. ³⁹ And the Lord manifested to the children of Israel his wonders in Egypt and in the sea by the hand of Moses and Aaron. ⁴⁰ And when the children of Israel had entered the sea, the Egyptians came after them, and the waters of the sea resumed upon them, and they all sank in the water, and not one man was left excepting Pharaoh, who gave thanks to the Lord and believed in him, therefore the Lord did not cause him to perish at that time with the Egyptians.

Read full chapter: The Book of Jasher 81 →

A¹nd in the sixth year of the third week of the forty-ninth jubilee thou didst depart and dwell in 2372 A.M. the land of Midian, five weeks and one year. And thou didst return into Egypt in the second week in the second year in the fiftieth jubilee.

² And thou thyself knowest what He spake unto thee on 2410 A.M. Mount Sinai, and what prince Mastêmâ desired to do with thee when thou wast returning into Egypt on the way when thou didst meet him at the lodging-place. ³ Did he not with all his power seek to slay thee and deliver the Egyptians out of thy hand when he saw that thou wast sent to execute judgment and vengeance on the Egyptians? ⁴ And I delivered thee out of his hand, and thou didst perform the signs and wonders which thou wast sent to perform in Egypt against Pharaoh, and against all his house, and against his servants and his people. ⁵ And the Lord executed a great vengeance on them for Israel's sake, and smote them through (the plagues of) blood and frogs, lice and dog-flies, and malignant boils breaking forth in blains; and their cattle by death; and by hail-stones, thereby He destroyed everything that grew for them; and by locusts which devoured the residue which had been left by the hail, and by darkness; and by the death of the first-born of men and animals, and on all their idols the Lord took vengeance and burned them with fire. ⁶ And everything was sent through thy hand, that thou shouldst declare (these things) before they were done, and thou didst speak with the king of Egypt before all his servants and before his people. ⁷ And everything took place according to thy words; ten great and terrible judgments came on the land of Egypt that thou mightest execute vengeance on it for Israel. ⁸ And the Lord did everything for Israel's sake, and according to His covenant, which he had ordained with Abraham that He would take vengeance on them as they had brought them by force into bondage. ⁹ And the prince Mastêmâ stood up against thee, and sought to cast thee into the hands of Pharaoh, and he helped the Egyptian sorcerers, ¹⁰ and they stood up and wrought before thee the evils indeed we permitted them to work, but the remedies we did not allow to be wrought by their hands. ¹¹ And the Lord smote them with malignant ulcers, and they were not able to stand, for we destroyed them so that they could not perform a single sign. ¹² And notwithstanding all (these) signs and wonders the prince Mastêmâ was not put to shame because he took courage and cried to the Egyptians to pursue after thee with all the powers of the Egyptians, with their chariots, and with their horses, and with all the hosts of the peoples of Egypt.

Read full chapter: The Book of Jubilees 48 →