Noah, the Demons, and Mastema

1 And in the third week of this jubilee the unclean demons began to lead astray Noah's grandchildren, and to make them go astray and destroy them. 2 And the sons of Noah came to Noah their father, and they told him concerning the demons which were leading astray and blinding and killing his grandsons. 3 And he prayed before the Lord his God, and said: 'God of the spirits of all flesh, who have shown mercy to me And have saved me and my sons from the waters of the flood, And have not caused me to perish as You did the people destined for destruction;⁠a For Your grace has been great toward me, And Your mercy to my soul has been great; Let Your grace extend over my sons, And do not let wicked spirits rule over them So that they do not destroy them from the earth. 4 But bless me and my sons, so that we may increase and multiply and fill the earth. 5 And You know how Your Watchers, the fathers of these spirits, acted in my day: and as for these spirits which are living, imprison them and hold them securely in the place of condemnation, and do not let them bring destruction on the sons of your servant, my God; for these are malicious, and created in order to destroy. 6 And do not let them rule over the spirits of the living; for You alone can rule over them. And do not let them have power over the sons of the righteous from now on and forevermore.' 7 And the Lord our God told us to bind all. 8 And the chief of the spirits, Mastema, came and said: 'Lord, Creator, let some of them remain before me, and let them listen to my voice, and do all that I shall say to them; for if some of them are not left to me, I shall not be able to exercise my authority as I wish on the human beings; for these are for corruption and leading astray before my judgment, for the wickedness of the human beings is great.' 9 And He said: Let the tenth part of them remain before him, and let nine parts descend into the place of condemnation.'⁠b 10 And He commanded one of us to teach Noah all their medicines; for He knew that they would not walk in uprightness, or strive to act righteously. 11 And we did according to all His words: we bound all the malicious evil ones in the place of condemnation and we left a tenth part of them so that they might be under Satan's authority on the earth. 12 And we explained to Noah all the medicines of their diseases, together with their deceptions, how he might heal them with herbs of the earth. 13 And Noah wrote down all things in a book as we instructed him concerning every kind of medicine. Thus the evil spirits were prevented from (hurting) the sons of Noah.⁠c 14 And he gave all that he had written to Shem, his eldest son; for he loved him far more than all his sons. 15 And Noah died and joined his ancestors, and was buried on Mount Lubar in the land of Ararat. 16 He completed nine hundred and fifty years in his life, nineteen jubilees and two weeks and five years [1659]. 17 And he lived longer on earth than other human beings except Enoch because of the righteousness, in which he was perfect. For Enoch's task was ordained for a testimony to the generations of the world, so that he should recount all the deeds of generation to generation, until the day of judgment.

The Tower of Babel

18 And in the thirty-third jubilee, in the first year in the second week, Peleg married a woman named Lomna the daughter of Sina'ar, and she bore him a son in the fourth year of this week, and he named him Reu; for he said: 'Look, human beings have become evil through the wicked purpose of building for themselves a city and a tower in the land of Shinar.' 19 For they departed from the land of Ararat eastward to Shinar; for in his days they built the city and the tower, saying, 'Come, let us climb it into heaven.' 20 And they began to build, and in the fourth week they made brick with fire, and the bricks served them for stone, and the clay with which they cemented them together was asphalt which comes out of the sea, and out of the fountains of water in the land of Shinar. 21 And they built it: forty-three years they were building it; its width was 203 bricks, and the height (of a brick) was the third of one; its height amounted to 5433 cubits and 2 palms, and (the extent of one wall was) thirteen stades (and of the other thirty stades). 22 And the Lord our God said to us: Look, they are one people, and (this) they begin to do, and now nothing will be withheld from them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another's speech,⁠d and they may be dispersed into cities and nations, and one purpose will no longer remain with them until the day of judgment.' 23 And the Lord descended, and we descended with him to see the city and the tower which the human beings had built. 24 And he confused their language, and they no longer understood one another's speech, and they ceased then to build the city and the tower. 25 For this reason the whole land of Shinar is called Babel, because the Lord confused all human language there, and from there they were dispersed into their cities, each according to his language and his nation. 26 And the Lord sent a mighty wind against the tower and overthrew it upon the earth, and it was between Asshur and Babylon in the land of Shinar, and they named it 'Overthrow'.⁠e

Canaan Takes Land outside His Allotment

27 In the fourth week in the first year [1639] in its beginning in the thirty-fourth jubilee, they were dispersed from the land of Shinar. 28 And Ham and his sons went into the land which he was to possess, which he acquired as his portion in the land of the south. 29 And Canaan saw the land of Lebanon to the river of Egypt, that it was very good, and he did not go into the land of his inheritance to the west (that is to) the sea, and he lived in the land of Lebanon, eastward and westward from the border of Jordan and from the border of the sea. 30 And Ham, his father, and Cush and Mizraim his brothers said to him: 'You have settled in a land which is not yours, and which did not fall to us by lot: do not do so; for if you do so, you and your sons will fall in the land and (be) cursed for rebellion; for through rebellion you have settled, and through rebellion your children will fall, and you shall be rooted out forever. 31 Do not settle in Shem's territory; for to Shem and to his sons it came by their lot. 32 Cursed are you, and cursed you shall be beyond all the sons of Noah, by the curse by which we bound ourselves by an oath in the presence of the holy judge, and in the presence of Noah our father.' 33 But he did not listen to them, and lived in the land of Lebanon from Hamath to the entering of Egypt, he and his sons to this day. 34 And for this reason that land is named Canaan. 35 And Japheth and his sons went toward the sea and lived in the land of their portion, and Madai saw the land of the sea and it did not please him, and he begged a (portion) from Elam and Asshur and Arpachshad, his wife's brother, and he lived in the land of Media, near to his wife's brother to this day. 36 And he called his home, and the home of his sons, Media, after the name of their father Madai.