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Apocalypse of Abraham

About this book
Chapter 29

1 And I said: "Eternal [Mighty One]! And how long is an hour of the Age?" 2 And He said: "I have assigned twelve periods of this godless Age to rule among the pagans and your descendants;⁠ and until the end of the times it will be as you saw. 3 And calculate it and understand and look into the picture."

The Man Worshiped by the Nations

4 And I [looked and] saw a man going out from the left side of the pagans; and men and women and children went out from the side of the pagans in great crowds and worshiped him. 5 And while I was still looking, [many] came out from the right side, and some insulted that man, while some struck him; others, however, worshiped him.⁠ 6 [And] I saw how these worshiped him, and Azazel ran and worshiped him, and after kissing his face, he turned and stood behind him. 7 And I said: "Eternal, Mighty One! Who is the man insulted and beaten, who is worshiped by the pagans with Azazel?" 8 And He answered and said: "Listen, Abraham! The man whom you saw insulted and beaten and again worshiped is the relief (granted) by the pagans to the people who descend from you, in the last days, in this twelfth hour of the Age of godlessness. 9 But in the twelfth period of my final Age I will establish this man from your descendants, whom you saw (come) from my people; 10 everyone will follow this one, and those I call (will) join, (even) those who change in their plans. 11 And those whom you saw emerge from the left side of the picture, this means that many of the pagans will set their hopes on him; 12 and as for those whom you saw from your descendants on the right side, some insulting and striking, others worshiping him, many of them will be led into error because of him." 13 He, however, is testing those of your descendants who have worshiped him, in that twelfth hour of the End in order to shorten the Age of godlessness.⁠

Judgment and Deliverance

14 "Before the Age of the righteous begins to grow, my judgment will come on the lawless pagans through the people of your descendants who have been separated for me. 15 In those days I will bring on all creatures of the earth ten plagues through misfortune and disease and the sighs of their grieving souls. 16 I will bring this much on the human generations on the earth because of the provocation and the corruption of its creatures, by which they provoke me. 17 And then righteous men of your descendants will remain in their number, protected by me, hurrying in the glory of My Name to the place prepared in advance for them, which you saw devastated in the picture; 18 and they will live and be established through sacrifices and gifts of righteousness and truth in the Age of the righteous, 19 and will be joyful in Me continually; and they will destroy those who have destroyed them, And will insult those who have insulted them, And they will spit in the faces of those who slandered them, who are scorned by Me, 20 while they (the righteous) will see Me full of joy, being joyful with My people, and receiving those who return to Me [in repentance]. 21 See, Abraham, what you have seen. And [hear] what you have heard. And [take full knowledge of] what you have come to know. Go to your inheritance, And look, I am with you forever."

Texts in conversation

Compare Ladder of Jacob 4:1 and Apocalypse of Abraham 29:2

Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions · Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

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Summary

In the Ladder of Jacob, the twelve steps of Jacob’s ladder represent periods ruled by hostile kings. In the Apocalypse of Abraham, God divides the time before the end of the age into the same twelve periods of foreign rule over Abraham’s descendants.

Passages

Ladder of Jacob 4:1

Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions
1 But he said this to me: The ladder which you saw, which had twelve steps having two human faces which changed their appearance — now this ladder is this age, and the twelve steps are the times of this age, and the twenty-four faces are the kings of the lawless Gentiles of this age. 2 Under these kings [your children's children and the line] of your sons will be tested: they will rise up against the lawlessness of your descendants, and will lay this place waste through four descents of the sins of your descendants. 3 And from the wealth of the ancestors this palace will be built in the temple of the name of your God and your fathers; but through the anger of your descendants it will be desolate until the fourth descent of this age; for you saw four visions.
1–100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Ladder of Jacob

Apocalypse of Abraham 29:2

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
2 And He said: "I have assigned twelve periods of this godless Age to rule among the pagans and your descendants; and until the end of the times it will be as you saw. 3 And calculate it and understand and look into the picture." 4 And I [looked and] saw a man going out from the left side of the pagans; and men and women and children went out from the side of the pagans in great crowds and worshiped him. 5 And while I was still looking, [many] came out from the right side, and some insulted that man, while some struck him; others, however, worshiped him. 6 [And] I saw how these worshiped him, and Azazel ran and worshiped him, and after kissing his face, he turned and stood behind him.
70–150 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Apocalypse of Abraham

References

“... The lad- der in Jacob’s vision has twelve steps, on each of which sit two busts (Lad. Jac. 1.5). The ladder with its twelve steps represents this age with its twelve divisions; the twenty-four busts represent the kings of the ungodly nations of this age (Lad. Jac. 5.1–4). ...”
Kenneth R. Jones, Jewish Reactions to the Destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70: Apocalypses and Related Pseudepigrapha, JSJSup 151 (Leiden: Brill, 2011), 254.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Ladder of Jacob 4:1 and Apocalypse of Abraham 29:2

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