Abraham's Last Words to and Blessings of Jacob (xxii. 10-30)

Abraham's Last Words to and Blessings of Jacob (xxii. 10-30).

10. And he called Jacob and said My son Jacob, may the God of all ⁴ bless thee and strengthen thee to do righteousness, and His will before Him, and may He choose thee and thy seed that ye may become a people for His inheritance according to His will alway. And do thou, my son, Jacob, draw near and kiss me." 11. And he drew near and kissed him, and he said:

"Blessed be my son Jacob
And all the sons of God Most High, unto all the ages:
May God give unto thee a seed of righteousness;
And some of thy sons may He sanctify in the midst of the whole earth;
May nations serve thee,

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And all the nations bow themselves before thy seed. ¹
12. Be strong in the presence of men,
And exercise authority over all the seed of Seth. ²
Then thy ways and the ways of thy sons will be justified,
So that they shall become a holy nation.
13. May the Most High God give thee all the blessings
Wherewith he hath blessed me
And wherewith He blessed Noah and Adam; ³
May they rest on the sacred head of thy seed from generation to generation for ever.
14. And may He cleanse thee from all unrighteousness and impurity,
That thou mayest be forgiven all (thy) transgressions; (and) thy sins of ignorance.
And may He strengthen thee,
And bless thee.
And mayest thou inherit the whole earth,
15. And may He renew His covenant with thee,
That thou mayest be to Him a nation for His inheritance ⁴ for all the ages,
And that He may be to thee and to thy seed a God in truth and righteousness throughout all the days of the earth.
16. And do thou, my son Jacob, remember my words,
And observe the commandments of Abraham, thy father:
Separate thyself from the nations,
And eat not with them: ⁵
And do not according to their works,
And become not their associate;
For their works are unclean,

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And all their ways are a pollution and an abomination and uncleanness.
17. They offer their sacrifices to the dead ¹
And they worship evil spirits, ²
And they eat over the graves, ³
And all their works are vanity and nothingness.
18. They have no heart to understand
And their eyes do not see what their works are,
And how they err in saying to a piece of wood: 'Thou art my God,'
And to a stone: 'Thou art my Lord and thou art my deliverer.' ⁴
[And they have no heart.] ⁵
19. And as for thee, my son Jacob,
May the Most High God help thee
And the God of heaven bless thee
And remove thee from their uncleanness and from all their error.
20. Be thou ware, my son Jacob, of taking a wife from any seed of the daughters of Canaan;
For all his seed is to be rooted out of the earth. ⁶
21, For, owing to the transgression of Ham, ⁷ Canaan erred, ⁸
And all his seed will be destroyed from off the earth and all the residue thereof,
And none springing from him will be saved on the day of judgment.
22. And as for all the worshippers of idols and the profane
 ⁹(b) There will be no hope for them in the land of the living;

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(e) And there will be no remembrance of them on the earth;
(c) For they will descend into Sheol,
(d) And into the place of condemnation will they go, ¹
As the children of Sodom were taken away from the earth
So will all those who worship idols be taken away.
23. Fear not, my son Jacob,
And be not dismayed, O son of Abraham:
May the Most High God preserve thee from destruction,
And from all the paths of error may He deliver thee.

[paragraph continues] 24. This house have I built for myself that I might put my name upon it in the earth: [it is given to thee and to thy seed for ever], ² and it will be named the house of Abraham; it is given to thee and to thy seed for ever; for thou wilt build my house ³ and establish my name before God for ever: thy seed and thy name will stand throughout all generations of the earth."

25. And he ceased commanding ⁴ him and blessing him. 26: And the two lay together on one bed, and Jacob slept in the bosom of Abraham, his father's father and he kissed him seven times, and his affection and his heart rejoiced over him. 27. ⁵ And he blessed him with all his heart and said: "The Most High God, the God of all, and Creator of all, who brought me forth from Ur of the Chaldees, that He might give me this land to inherit ⁶ it for ever, and that I might establish a holy seed--blessed be the Most High for ever." 28. And he blessed Jacob and said: "My son, over whom with all my heart and my affection I rejoice, may Thy grace and Thy mercy

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be lift up ¹ upon him and upon his seed alway. 29. And do not forsake him, nor set him at nought from henceforth unto the days of eternity, and may Thine eyes be opened upon him and upon his seed, ² that Thou mayest preserve him, and bless him, and mayest sanctify him as a nation for Thine inheritance; 30. And bless him with all Thy blessings from henceforth unto all the days of eternity, and renew Thy covenant and Thy grace with him and with his seed according to all Thy good pleasure unto all the generations of the earth."

Footnotes

123:4 i. e. of the universe; this idea often recurs in our author.

124:1 Verbally from Gen. xxvii. 29 (Isaac's blessing of Jacob).

124:2 i. e. all mankind (Charles).

124:3 Cf. xix. 27.

124:4 Cf. xxii, 9.

124:5 A strict observance of the dietary laws would make this practically impossible; cf. Dan. i. 8; Matt. ix. 11. The question was one of crucial importance in the early Maccabean period; cf. e. g. 1 Macc. i. 62.

125:1 Cf. Deut. xxvi. 14; Ecclus. xxx. 18, 19, etc.

125:2 Cf. 1 Cor. x. 20 (1 Enoch xix. i).

125:3 i.e. Partake of the sacrifices offered to the dead; cf. Deut. xxvi. 14 (according to one interpretation).

125:4 Cf. Jer. ii. 27.

125:5 Bracketed words a dittograph.

125:6 Cf. Gen. xxviii. i; Test. Levi ix. 10.

125:7 Cf. vii. 8.

125:8 Canaan wrongfully seized Palestine; cf. x. 29-34.

125:9 The four following lines have been transposed by Charles for the sake of parallelism.

126:1 Cf. vii. 29.

126:2 Bracketed words a dittograph.

126:3 "House" throughout this passage = "family."

126:4 i. e. giving the last commands; cf. Gen. xlix. 33 and often.

126:5 Charles suspects 27 may be an interpolation.

126:6 Cf. Gen. xv. 7; Neh. ix. 7.

127:1 Cf. Num. vi. 26.

127:2 Cf. 1 Kings viii. 29, 52; Dan. ix. 18.