Levi’s Dream and Jacob’s Tithes

1 And he stayed that night at Bethel, and Levi dreamed that they had ordained and made him the priest of the Most High God, him and his sons forever; and he awoke from his sleep and blessed the Lord. 2 And Jacob rose early in the morning, on the fourteenth of this month, and he gave a tithe of all that came with him, both of men and cattle, both of gold and every container and item of clothing, indeed, he gave tithes of all. 3 And in those days Rachel became pregnant with her son Benjamin. And Jacob counted his sons from him upwards and Levi fell to the portion of the Lord,⁠a and his father clothed him in the priestly robes and filled his hands.⁠b 4 And on the fifteenth of this month, he brought to the altar fourteen oxen from among the cattle, and twenty-eight rams, and forty-nine sheep, and seven lambs, and twenty-one young goats as a burnt-offering on the altar of sacrifice, well pleasing for a pleasing aroma before God. 5 This was his offering, because of the vow which he had vowed that he would give a tenth, with their fruit-offerings and their drink-offerings. 6 And when the fire had consumed it, he burned incense on the fire over the fire, and for a thank-offering two oxen and four rams and four sheep, four male goats, and two sheep of a year old, and two young goats; and thus he did daily for seven days. 7 And he and all his sons and his men were eating (this) with joy there during seven days and blessing and thanking the Lord, who had rescued him from all his troubles and had given him his vow. 8 And he tithed all the clean animals, and made a burnt sacrifice, but the unclean animals he gave (not) to Levi his son, and he gave him all the people. 9 And Levi performed the priest's duties at Bethel before Jacob his father rather than his ten brothers, and he was a priest there, and Jacob gave his vow: thus he tithed again the tithe to the Lord and sanctified it, and it became holy to Him.⁠c

The Commandment on Tithes

10 And for this reason it is ordained on the heavenly tablets as a commandment for the tithing again the tithe to eat before the Lord from year to year, in the place where it is chosen that His name should reside, and to this commandment there is no limit of days forever. 11 This ordinance is written that it may be fulfilled from year to year in eating the second tithe before the Lord in the place where it has been chosen, and nothing shall remain over from it from this year to the year following. 12 For in its year the seed shall be eaten until the days of the gathering of the seed of the year, and the wine until the days of the wine, and the oil until the days of its season. 13 And all that is left of it and becomes old, let it be regarded as polluted: let it be burned with fire, for it is unclean. 14 And thus let them eat it together in the sanctuary, and do not let them allow it to become old. 15 And all the tithes of the oxen and sheep shall be holy to the Lord, and shall belong to his priests, which they will eat before Him from year to year; for thus it is ordained and engraved regarding the tithe on the heavenly tablets.

Revelations to Jacob at Bethel

16 And on the following night, on the twenty-second day of this month, Jacob resolved to build that place, and to surround the court with a wall, and to sanctify it and make it holy forever, for himself and his children after him. 17 And the Lord appeared to him by night and blessed him and said to him: 'Your name shall not be called Jacob, but you shall be named Israel.' 18 And He said to him again: 'I am the Lord who created the heaven and the earth, and I will increase you and multiply you greatly, and kings shall descend from you, and they shall judge everywhere wherever human beings have set foot. 19 And I will give to your descendants all the earth which is under heaven, and they shall judge all the nations according to their desires, and after that they shall get possession of the whole earth and inherit it forever.' 20 And He finished speaking with him, and He went up from him, and Jacob looked until He had gone up into heaven. 21 And he saw in a vision of the night, and he saw an angel coming down from heaven with seven tablets in his hands, and he gave them to Jacob, and he read them and knew all that was written in them which would happen to him and his sons throughout all the ages. 22 And he showed him all that was written on the tablets, and said to him: 'Do not build this place, and do not make it an eternal sanctuary, and do not live here; for this is not the place. Go to the house of Abraham your father and live with Isaac your father until the day of the death of your father. 23 For in Egypt you shall die in peace, and in this land you shall be buried with honor in the tomb of your ancestors, with Abraham and Isaac. 24 Do not fear, for as you have seen and read it, thus it shall all be; and write down everything as you have seen and read.' 25 And Jacob said: 'Lord, how can I remember all that I have read and seen?' And he said to him: 'I will remind you of everything.' 26 And he went up from him, and he awoke from his sleep, and he remembered everything which he had read and seen, and he wrote down all the words which he had read and seen. 27 And he celebrated there yet another day,⁠d and he sacrificed on it according to all that he sacrificed on the earlier days, and named it 'Addition,' for this day was added and the earlier days he called 'The Feast '. 28 And thus it was made known that it should be, and it is written on the heavenly tablets: therefore it was revealed to him that he should celebrate it, and add it to the seven days of the feast. 29 And its name was called 'Addition,' because it was recorded among the days of the feast days, according to the number of the days of the year.

The Departure from Bethel

30 And in the night, on the twenty-third of this month, Deborah Rebekah's nurse died, and they buried her beneath the city under the oak of the river, and he named this place, 'The river of Deborah,' and the oak, 'The oak of the mourning of Deborah.' 31 And Rebekah went and returned to her house to his father Isaac, and Jacob sent with her rams and sheep and male goats so that she could prepare a meal for his father such as he desired. 32 And he went after his mother until he came to the land of Kabratan, and he lived there. 33 And Rachel bore a son in the night, and named him 'Son of my sorrow '; for she suffered in giving him birth: but his father named him Benjamin, on the eleventh of the eighth month in the first of the sixth week of this jubilee [2143]. 34 And Rachel died there and she was buried in the land of Ephrath, that is Bethlehem, and Jacob built a pillar on the grave of Rachel, on the road above her grave.