13. Concerning ABRAHAM

The Kebra Nagast, by E.A. Wallis Budge, [1932], at sacred-texts.com

13. Concerning ABRAHAM

   And TÂRÂ (TERAH) begot a son and called him "ABRAHAM" (or, ABRÂM). And when ABRAHAM was twelve years old his father TERAH sent him to sell idols. And ABRAHAM said, "These are not gods that can make deliverance"; and he took away the idols to sell even as his father had commanded him. And he said unto those unto whom he would sell them, "Do ye wish to buy gods that cannot make deliverance, [things] made of wood, and stone, and iron, and brass, which the hand of an artificer hath made?" And they refused to buy p. 10 the idols from ABRAHAM because he himself had defamed the images of his father. And as he was returning he stepped aside from the road, and he set the images down, and looked at them, and said unto them, "I wonder now if ye are able to do what I ask you at this moment, and whether ye are able to give me bread to eat or water to drink?" And none of them answered him, for they were pieces of stone and wood; and he abused them and heaped revilings upon them, and they spake never a word. And he buffeted the face of one, and kicked another with his feet, and a third he knocked over and broke to pieces with stones, and he said unto them, "If ye are unable to deliver yourselves from him that buffeteth you, and ye cannot requite with injury him that injureth you, how can ye be called 'gods'? Those who worship you do so in vain, and as for myself I utterly despise you, and ye shall not be my gods." Then he turned his face to the East, and he stretched out his hands and said, "Be Thou my God, O Lord, Creator of the heavens and the earth, Creator of the sun and the moon, Creator of the sea and the dry land, Maker of the majesty of the heavens and the earth, and of that which is visible and that which is invisible; O Maker of the universe, be Thou my God. I place my trust in Thee, and from this day forth I will place my trust in no other save Thyself." And then there appeared unto him a chariot of fire which blazed, and ABRAHAM was afraid and fell on his face on the ground; and [God] said unto him, "Fear thou not, stand upright."¹ And He removed fear from him.

Footnotes

p. 10

¹ Compare Genesis xv. 1.