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Jubilees

About this book

Jacob Leaves Laban

Chapter 29

1 And when Rachel had borne Joseph, Laban went to shear his sheep; for they were distant from him a three days' journey. 2 And Jacob saw that Laban was going to shear his sheep, and Jacob called Leah and Rachel, and spoke kindly to them that they should come with him to the land of Canaan. 3 For he told them how he had seen everything in a dream, even all that He had spoken to him that he should return to his father's house, and they said: 'To every place where you go we will go with you.' 4 And Jacob blessed the God of Isaac his father, and the God of Abraham his grandfather, and he set out and helped his wives and children mount, and took all his possessions and crossed the river, and came to the land of Gilead, and Jacob hid his intention from Laban and did not tell him. 5 And in the seventh year of the fourth week Jacob turned (his face) toward Gilead in the first month, on the twenty-first of it [2135]. And Laban pursued after him and overtook Jacob in the mountain of Gilead in the third month, on the thirteenth of it. 6 And the Lord did not allow him to injure Jacob; for he appeared to him in a dream by night. And Laban spoke to Jacob. 7 And on the fifteenth of those days Jacob made a feast for Laban, and for all who came with him, and Jacob swore to Laban that day, and Laban also to Jacob, that neither should cross the mountain of Gilead to the other with evil purpose. 8 And he made there a heap for a witness; therefore the name of that place is called: 'The Heap of Witness,' after this heap. 9 But previously they called the land of Gilead the land of the Rephaim; for it was the land of the Rephaim,⁠ and the Rephaim were born (there), giants whose height was ten, nine, eight down to seven cubits.⁠ 10 And their territory was from the land of the children of Ammon to Mount Hermon, and their royal capitals were Karnaim and Ashtaroth, and Edrei, and Misur, and Beon.⁠ 11 And the Lord destroyed them because of the evil of their deeds; for they were very wicked,⁠ and the Amorites lived in their place, wicked and sinful, and there is no people today which has committed to the full all their sins, and they have no longer a long life on the earth.

Jacob Meets Esau and Returns to His Parents

12 And Jacob sent away Laban, and he departed into Mesopotamia, the land of the East, and Jacob returned to the land of Gilead. 13 And he crossed the Jabbok in the ninth month, on the eleventh of it. And on that day Esau, his brother, came to him, and he was reconciled to him, and departed from him to the land of Seir, but Jacob lived in tents. 14 And in the first year of the fifth week in this jubilee [2136] he crossed the Jordan, and lived beyond the Jordan, and he pastured his sheep from the sea of the heap to Bethshan, and to Dothan and to the forest of Akrabbim. 15 And he sent to his father Isaac of all his possessions, clothing, and food, and meat, and drink, and milk, and butter, and cheese, and some dates of the valley. 16 And to his mother Rebekah also four times a year, between the times of the months, between plowing and reaping, and between autumn and the rain (season) and between winter and spring, to the tower of Abraham. 17 For Isaac had returned from the Well of the Oath and gone up to the tower of his father Abraham, and he lived there apart from his son Esau. 18 For in the days when Jacob went to Mesopotamia, Esau married Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael, and he gathered together all the flocks of his father and his wives, and went up and lived on Mount Seir, and left Isaac his father at the Well of the Oath alone. 19 And Isaac went up from the Well of the Oath and lived in the tower of Abraham his father on the mountains of Hebron, 20 And Jacob sent there all that he sent to his father and his mother from time to time, all they needed, and they blessed Jacob with all their heart and with all their soul.

Texts in conversation

Compare Genesis 14:5 and Jubilees 29:10

Hebrew Bible · Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions

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Summary

Genesis names Ashteroth Karnaim as the single place where raiding kings struck the Rephaim. Jubilees echoes that name but splits the one site into two separate cities of the giants, Ashtarot and Karnaim, mapping their lost kingdom.

Passages

Genesis 14:5

Hebrew Bible
4 For twelve years they had served Kedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled. 5 In the fourteenth year, Kedorlaomer and the kings who were his allies came and defeated the Rephaites in Ashteroth Karnaim, the Zuzites in Ham, the Emites in Shaveh Kiriathaim, 6 and the Horites in their hill country of Seir, as far as El Paran, which is near the desert.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis

Jubilees 29:10

Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions
9 But previously they called the land of Gilead the land of the Rephaim; for it was the land of the Rephaim, and the Rephaim were born (there), giants whose height was ten, nine, eight down to seven cubits. 10 And their territory was from the land of the children of Ammon to Mount Hermon, and their royal capitals were Karnaim and Ashtaroth, and Edrei, and Misur, and Beon. 11 And the Lord destroyed them because of the evil of their deeds; for they were very wicked, and the Amorites lived in their place, wicked and sinful, and there is no people today which has committed to the full all their sins, and they have no longer a long life on the earth.
170–125 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Jubilees

References

... Karnaim. The name is regularly combined with the next one (Ashteroth-karnaim); Genesis 14:5 says that Chedorlaomer and the allied kings defeated ‘the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim’ (for the name alone, see Amos 6:13). Ashtaroth. Besides being coupled with Karnaim, Ashtaroth appears alone as the place where King Og ruled (Deuteronomy 1:4; Joshua 13:12; compare also Joshua 9:10; 12:4). Edrei. This too was a city of the giant King Og (Deuteronomy 1:4; Joshua 13:12 [another passage where he is called a remnant of the Rephaim]; see also Numbers 21:33; Deuteronomy 3:1, 10 [in verse 5 Og is a remnant of the Rephaim]; Joshua 12:4). ...
James C. VanderKam, Jubilees: A Commentary (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2018), 805.

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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Genesis 14:5 and Jubilees 29:10

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