The Book of Jubilees

Jubilees 32

1And he abode that night at Bethel, and Levi dreamed that they had ordained and made him the priest of the Most High God, him and his sons for ever;

2and he awoke from his sleep and blessed the Lord.

3And Jacob rose early in the morning, on the fourteenth of this month, and he gave a tithe of all that came with him, both of men and cattle, both of gold and every vessel and garment, yea, he gave tithes of all.

4And in those days Rachel became pregnant with her son Benjamin. And Jacob counted his sons from him upwards and Levi fell to the portion of the Lord,

5and his father clothed him in the garments of the priesthood and filled his hands.

6And on the fifteenth of this month, he brought to the altar fourteen oxen from amongst the cattle, and twenty-eight rams, and forty-nine sheep, and seven lambs, and twenty-one kids of the goats as a burnt-offering on the altar of sacrifice, well pleasing for a sweet savour before God

7This was his offering, in consequence of the vow which he had vowed that he would give a tenth, with their fruit-offerings and their drink-offerings.

8And when the fire had consumed it, he burnt incense on the fire over the fire,

9and for a thank-offering two oxen and four rams and four sheep, four he-goats, and two sheep of a year old, and two kids of the goats;

10and thus he did daily for seven days.<br>And he and all his sons and his men were eating (this) with joy there during seven days

11and blessing and thanking the Lord, who had delivered him out of all his tribulation and had given him his vow.

12And he tithed all the clean animals, and made a burnt sacrifice, but the unclean animals he gave (not) to Levi his son, and he gave him all the souls of the men

13And Levi discharged the priestly office at Bethel before Jacob his father in preference to his ten brothers, and he was a priest there,

14and Jacob gave his vow: thus he tithed again the tithe to the Lord and sanctified it, and it became holy unto Him.

15And for this reason it is ordained on the heavenly tables as a law for the tithing again the tithe to eat before the Lord from year to year, in the place where it is chosen that His name should dwell,

16and to this law there is no limit of days for ever.<br>This ordinance is written that it may be fulfilled from year to year in eating the second tithe before the Lord in the place where it hath been chosen,

17and nothing shall remain over from it from this year to the year following.<br>For in its year shall the seed be eaten till the days of the gathering of the seed of the year, and the wine till the days of the wine, and the oil till the days of its season.

18And all that is left thereof and becometh old, let it be regarded as polluted: let it be burnt with fire, for it is unclean.

19And thus let them eat it together in the sanctuary, and let them not suffer it to become old.

20And all the tithes of the oxen and sheep shall be holy unto the Lord, and shall belong to His priests, which they will eat before Him from year to year; for thus is it ordained and engraven regarding the tithe on the heavenly tables.

21And on the following night, on the twenty-second day of this month, Jacob resolved to build that place, and to surround the court with a wall, and to sanctify it and make it holy for ever, for himself and his children after him.

22And the Lord appeared to him by night and blessed him and said unto him: "Thy name shall not be called Jacob, but Israel shall they name thy name."

23And He said unto him again: "I am the Lord who created the heaven and the earth, and I shall increase thee and multiply thee exceedingly, and kings will come forth from thee, and they will judge everywhere wherever the foot of the sons of men hath trodden.

24And I shall give to thy seed all the earth which is under heaven, and they will judge all the nations according to their desires, and after that they will get possession of the whole earth and inherit it for ever."

25And He finished speaking with him, and He went up from him, and Jacob looked till He had ascended into heaven.

26And he saw in a vision of the night, and behold an angel descended from heaven with seven tablets in his hands, and he gave them to Jacob, and he read them and knew all that was written therein which would befall him and his sons throughout all the ages.

27And he showed him all that was written on the tablets, and said unto him: "Do not build this place, and do not make it an eternal sanctuary, and do not dwell here; for this is not the place.

28Go to the house of Abraham thy father and dwell with Isaac thy father until the day of the death of thy father.

29For in Egypt thou wilt die in peace, and in this land thou wilt be buried with honour in the sepulchre of thy fathers, with Abraham and Isaac.

30Fear not, for as thou hast seen and read it, thus will it all be; and do thou write down everything as thou hast seen and read."

31And Jacob said: "Lord, how can I remember all that I have read and seen?" And he said unto him: "I will bring all things to thy remembrance." And he went up from him,

32and he awoke from his sleep, and he remembered everything which he had read and seen, and he wrote down all the words which he had read and seen.

33And he celebrated there yet another day, and he sacrificed thereon according to all that he sacrificed on the former days, and called its name "Addition,"

34for this day was added, and the former days he called "The Feast."<br>And thus it was manifested that it should be, and it is written on the heavenly tables:

35wherefore it was revealed to him that he should celebrate it, and add it to the seven days of the feast.<br>And its name was called "Addition," because that it was recorded amongst the days of the feast days, according to the number of the days of the year.

36And in the night, on the twenty-third of this month, Deborah Rebecca's nurse died, and they buried her beneath the city under the oak of the river, and he called the name of this place, "The river of Deborah," and the oak, "The oak of the mourning of Deborah."

37And Rebecca went and returned to her house to his father Isaac, and Jacob sent by her hand rams and sheep and he-goats that she should prepare a meal for his father such as he desired.

38And he went after his mother till he came to the land of Kabrâtân, and he dwelt there.

39And Rachel bare a son in the night, and called his name "Son of my sorrow"; for she suffered in giving him birth: but his father called his name Benjamin, on the eleventh of the eighth month in the first of the sixth week of this jubilee.

40And Rachel died there and she was buried in the land of Ephrath, the same is Bethlehem,

41and Jacob built a pillar on the grave of Rachel, on the road above her grave.