The Promise of Isaac

1 And on the new moon of the fourth month we appeared to Abraham, at the oak of Mamre, and we talked with him,⁠a and we announced to him that a son would be given to him by Sarah his wife. 2 And Sarah laughed, for she heard that we had spoken these words with Abraham, and we warned her, and she became afraid, and denied that she had laughed on account of the words. 3 And we told her the name of her son, as his name is ordained and written in the heavenly tablets (i.e.) Isaac, 4 And (that) when we returned to her at a set time, she would have conceived a son.

The Judgment of Sodom

5 And in this month the Lord executed his judgments on Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Zeboim, and all the region of the Jordan, and He burned them with fire and sulfur, and destroyed them until this day, just as [look] I have declared to you all their works, that they are wicked and extremely sinful, and that they defile themselves and commit sexual immorality in their flesh, and practice impurity on the earth. 6 And, in the same way, God will execute judgment on the places where they have done according to the impurity of the Sodomites, like the judgment of Sodom. 7 But we saved Lot; for God remembered Abraham, and sent him out from the middle of the destruction. 8 And he and his daughters committed sin upon the earth, such as had not been on the earth since the days of Adam until his time; for the man lay with his daughters. 9 And, look, it was commanded and engraved concerning all his descendants, on the heavenly tablets, to remove them and root them out, and to execute judgment upon them like the judgment of Sodom, and to leave none of the man's descendants on earth on the day of condemnation. 10 And in this month Abraham moved from Hebron, and departed and lived between Kadesh and Shur in the mountains of Gerar. 11 And in the middle of the fifth month he moved from there, and lived at the Well of the Oath. 12 And in the middle of the sixth month the Lord visited Sarah and did to her as He had spoken and she conceived. 13 And she bore a son in the third month, and in the middle of the month, at the time of which the Lord had spoken to Abraham, on the festival of the first fruits of the harvest, Isaac was born. 14 And Abraham circumcised his son on the eighth day: he was the first that was circumcised according to the covenant which is ordained forever. 15 And in the sixth year of the fourth week we came to Abraham, to the Well of the Oath, and we appeared to him [as we had told Sarah that we should return to her, and she would have conceived a son. 16 And we returned in the seventh month, and found Sarah pregnant before us] and we blessed him, and we announced to him all the things which had been decreed concerning him, that he should not die until he had fathered six more sons, and should see (them) before he died; but (that) in Isaac his name and line of descendants would continue: 17 And (that) all the descendants of his sons should be other nations, and be counted with the other nations; but from the sons of Isaac one should become a holy line of descendants, and should not be counted among the other nations. 18 For he should become the portion of the Most High, and all his descendants had fallen into the possession of God, so that they should be a people belonging to the Lord for (His) possession above all nations⁠b and that they should become a kingdom and priests and a holy nation. 19 And we went our way, and we announced to Sarah all that we had told him, and they both rejoiced with very great joy.

The Festival of Tabernacles

20 And he built there an altar to the Lord who had rescued him, and who was making him rejoice in the land where he lived as a foreigner, and he celebrated a festival of joy in this month seven days, near the altar which he had built at the Well of the Oath.⁠c 21 And he built booths for himself and for his servants on this festival, and he was the first to celebrate the feast of tabernacles on the earth. 22 And during these seven days he brought each day to the altar a burnt offering to the Lord, two oxen, two rams, seven sheep, one male goat, for a sin offering, so that he might atone by it for himself and for his descendants. 23 And, as a thank-offering, seven rams, seven young goats, seven sheep, and seven male goats, and their fruit offerings and their drink offerings; and he burned all the fat of it on the altar, a chosen offering to the Lord for a pleasing aroma. 24 And morning and evening he burned fragrant substances, frankincense and galbanum, and stacte, and nard, and myrrh, and spice, and costum; all these seven he offered, crushed, mixed together in equal parts (and) pure. 25 And he celebrated this feast during seven days, rejoicing with all his heart and with all his soul, he and all those who were in his house, and there was no foreigner with him, nor any that was uncircumcised. 26 And he blessed his Creator who had created him in his generation, for He had created him according to His good pleasure; for He knew and perceived that from him would arise the plant of righteousness for the eternal generations, and from him holy descendants, so that they should become like Him who had made all things. 27 And he blessed and rejoiced, and he named this festival the festival of the Lord, a joy acceptable to the Most High God. 28 And we blessed him forever, and all his descendants after him throughout all the generations of the earth, because he celebrated this festival in its season, according to the testimony of the heavenly tablets. 29 For this reason it is ordained on the heavenly tablets concerning Israel, that they shall celebrate the feast of tabernacles seven days with joy, in the seventh month, acceptable before the Lord — a statute forever throughout their generations every year. 30 And to this there is no limit of days; for it is ordained forever regarding Israel that they should celebrate it and live in shelters, and set wreaths upon their heads, and take leafy branches, and willows from the stream. 31 And Abraham took branches of palm trees, and the fruit of fine trees, and every day going around the altar with the branches seven times [a day] in the morning, he praised and gave thanks to his God for all things in joy.