CHRONICLE ONE:
THE NEVER-ENDING
STORY BEGINS
PREFACE
Come with me as I relate, in
chronological order,
the events as they happen.
Open the eyes of
your understanding, and
the doors of your
imagination, as you
read the Chronicles.
Immerse yourself in this
Other Realm,
and become an
observer of all that
follows........
CONTENTS
PREFACE
PART I
Chapter 1 King Jahmor
Chapter 2 Jörth
Chapter 3 The End of Perfection
Chapter 4 Disaster!
Chapter 5 Starting Afresh
Chapter 6 The Story of Boj
Chapter 7 Ramba
Chapter 8 Tol in Trouble
Chapter 9 Rambaha
Chapter 10 Rambaha and Chelebima
Chapter 11 Rambaha's Later Years
PART II
Chapter 12 Caisa
Chapter 13 Cajob
Chapter 14 Cajob The Family Man
Chapter 15 Cajob Returns to Nacana
Chapter 16 Cajob and Saue
Chapter 17 Revenge
Chapter 18 Sepjoh's Dreams
Chapter 19 Sepjoh the Slave
Chapter 20 Sepjoh the Administrator
Chapter 21 Cajob's Family Re-United
PART I
CHAPTER 1
KING JAHMOR
Aeternia was an invisible realm that occupied all the space that existed. It was filled with life invisible to those who were living in the physical realm, as they were in a completely different realm. Aeternia filled the entire universe.
In the beautiful Celestial City of Aeternia lived a powerful, but good, Supreme Being, who was three persons in one, all equal and subject to one another. The first was called King Jahmor. He deeply loved the other two persons, King Haissem and King Neshamah, and they loved him equally as much, like a close-knit family. They could read each other's minds, and communicate with each other with or without speaking. They wanted the very best for one another, and put each of the others' needs or wants before their own wants or needs. They were visible in Aeternia, but invisible elsewhere, only revealing themselves if they desired. They were spiritual beings.
They lived without the limits of time. They had always been there, and would live forever. They knew what was in the past, and what was in the future. As they had foreknowledge, they could plan future events, bearing in mind there would be other beings later who would have free will to choose a different path than they had planned for them, and an alternative route would need to be planned for when this happened.
These divine beings appreciated being surrounded by beautiful things, so Haissem and Neshamah enjoyed creating everything King Jahmor wanted. Haissem would speak out what King Jahmor wanted, and instantly Neshamah would make it happen. By Haissem's word, everything sprang into existence from nothing. The three of them were equally powerful, but their love for one another prevented any jealousy or power-play. They were very happy, just the three of them together, in the perfect place they had created. They were full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.
King Jahmor was so brilliant in appearance, that it was almost impossible to see what he was like, or what he was wearing, but from his waist up he looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and from his waist down he looked like fire, and brilliant light surrounded him. The radiance around him had the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day. He sat on a glorious, brilliant, golden throne, that was studded with jewels of all kinds, and decorated with all manner of intricate patterns. The throne-room floor was immense, and made of pure gold, that looked like a sea of glass, and there was a huge rainbow of emerald green encircling the throne. From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder.
King Haissem was dressed in a brilliant glistening-like-lightning white robe, reaching down to his feet, and with a golden sash around his chest. His head and hair were white as snow, and his eyes were blazing like fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. His face was very very bright, shining in all its brilliance.
King Neshamah was sylph-like, filmy and ethereal, clothed in filmy shining bright white material that obscured his entire shape and appearance. He seemed to float rather than walk, and had the appearance of someone walking just above the surface of the ground, and a beautiful scent of flowers wafted from him as he passed by. Brightness radiated from him. He was only visible in Aeternia. No-one other than the other Kings could see him anywhere else.
The Aeternial Royal Trio decided to create some special beings called Bruchemi, to inhabit Aeternia. These were beautiful, and were given the gifts of free will, great wisdom and perfection. These newcomers differed in size, shape and kind, according to what was planned for them. They were like a benevolent army of helpers, and would live for ever and ever.
The three Chief Messengers could fly, but could also hide their wings. Their leader was Fruleci. He was the model of perfection, and perfect in beauty. All three of them wore glistening bright white robes, but Fruleci's robe was also covered with jewels: ruby, topaz, emerald, chrysolite, onyx, jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and beryl, with settings and mountings of gold, prepared on the day he was created. His duties included the honour of being the Guardian Chief Messenger to King Jahmor, on the holy mount, which was covered with fiery stones on which he walked. He was also in charge of a third of the numerous creatures under him, directing and allocating to them the responsibility of composing music and playing musical instruments to please the Kings.
The other two Chief Messengers were Baelgri and Chalemi, each in charge of a third of the creatures under them. They were dressed in glistening bright white robes, but with a gold band around the chest.
The next in rank were the Abbir: huge, mighty and powerful messengers, able to fly instantly, at the speed of thought, to wherever the King commanded them.
Under them were powerful Malak (agents/messengers), and beneath them were the Shinan (the multitudes). All was in harmony among them. They all had their own responsibilities, and carried them out: obeying the King's orders, taking messages to the others, and a host of other duties.
Two huge Phemaris, with six wings each, guarded the sacred place in the temple of King Jahmor.
In front of King Jahmor's throne were four creatures, called Chai, covered with eyes, in front and behind. The first had a face like a lion, the second the face of an ox, the third the face of a man, and the fourth the face of an eagle. Each creature had six wings, and was covered with eyes all over, even under his wings. They continually gave “glory, honour and thanks to King Jahmor, who lives for ever”.
When King Jahmor wished to travel, he sat on a glorious sapphire throne suspended above four amazing creatures called Bruchemi. In appearance, these were like men, but they had four faces each around their heads, those of a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle. Their legs were straight, their feet like those of a calf, and they gleamed like burnished bronze. They each had four wings. Two of their wings were spread out upward, and under their wings on their four sides, they had the hands of a man. Their wings touched one another. Two wings covered each body. Each one went straight ahead, they did not turn as they moved. Fire moved back and forth among the creatures; it was bright, and lightning flashed out of it. The creatures sped back and forth like flashes of lightning. When the creatures moved, there was the sound of their wings, like the roar of rushing waters, like the tumult of an army, or the noise of a helicopter. When they stood still, they lowered their wings.
There was a wheel on the ground beside each creature. Each wheel was identical, and sparkled like olive-green chrysolite. Each wheel intersected a wheel. As they moved, they would go in any one of the four directions the creatures faced; the wheels did not turn about as the creatures went. Their rims were high and awesome, and all four rims were full of eyes all around. When the creatures moved, the wheels beside them moved; when the creatures stood still, they also stood still; and when the living creatures rose from the ground, the wheels also rose. Spread out above the heads of the creatures was what looked like an expanse, sparkling like ice, and awesome. Above that was the sapphire throne of King Jahmor.
King Jahmor, the saphire throne, and the four creatures were all inside fire, which was inside an immense cloud propelled by a windstorm, with lightning flashing, and surrounded by brilliant light. The centre of the fire looked like glowing metal.
The Kings really enjoyed discussing their various plans completely, and in detail, with one another. Their favourite plan, which they discussed a lot, was the creation of a special habitat, containing beings similar to themselves. They would be beautiful, but not as outstandingly glorious as the Kings, and they would be devoid of any of their Royal glory and power. They would be put in charge of looking after the other creatures that would be created, and also would work in the garden the Kings would make, before working on the other places that the Kings were going to create in the universe.
The Kings loved them in advance of their creation, and wanted these beloved new creatures to love them in return. They would give them free will, to be able to choose to love and serve them. The Kings wanted them to choose to love them for who they were. They wanted them to be companions they could talk to, and discuss things with. They didn't want them to be just obedient, with no desire to love them. They worked out all the “what ifs”, including what would happen if these creatures rebelled, and how they could solve the problem of rescuing those who stayed loyal to the Kings. They decided that when any of them rebelled, they would have to be punished. They would lose all their privileges, be unable to live for ever, and have to leave this wonderful place where they were living, to prevent them spoiling the habitat for the other creatures. They would have to fend for themselves instead of having all their needs met. They would no longer be immortal, and would eventually die. If they continued to rebel against the Kings, they would need to be sent, after they died, to a place created especially to hold the Bruchemi who would rebel against the Royal Kings, for ever and ever, There were so many ifs, buts and what ifs to decide in advance of creating them.
Unfortunately, meantime, Fruleci discovered his reflection, and started admiring his great beauty. He began to be proud of himself, and his appearance, and, foolish creature, considered himself better than King Jahmor, the Creator of all things, and decided to rebel against the King, and take control of Aeternia, despite the fact he was only a created being. He began rallying support from the individual Abbir, Malak and Shinan, and soon he had support from one-third of them. Then they made war against the Royal Trio and the loyal two-thirds of the various creatures. Eventually, Fruleci and his supporters were captured, and sentence was passed on them. King Jahmor exiled the rebels to the habitat he was in the process of creating, with no further access to Aeternia. He changed Fruleci's name to Tanas and changed his, and his supporters', appearance, to reflect their characters. Once that was done, King Jahmor continued with the creation of the habitat, which he called Jörth, into a beautiful place to live.
CHAPTER 2
JÖRTH
Plans for Jörth
Kings Jahmor, Haissem and Neshamah thoroughly discussed their ideas before they began their creation of all the things that would come into being. Aeternia was in a different realm, that included all of this new creation. They were eternal beings, so time didn't exist, so they created time, and began.
On the first day, they spoke into being billions of astral bodies: galaxies, stars, planets, and comets. All these were beautiful and colourful, but none would support life for the new creatures they were going to create, as these astral bodies were either too hot, too cold, or had poisonous gases, etc. and none had water, oxygen,carbon dioxide, nitrogen, or energy, or the right temperature for sustaining life. They were created purely to show time and tell several very special stories by their positions and names. The Kings commanded them to travel in specific orbits, each body in a different orbit from the other bodies, to prevent collisions. Each group would produce information to give answers to many questions much later on for the future inhabitants of Jörth, explaining why they were there on Jörth, and King Jahmor's plans for their future.
The Kings chose one particular galaxy in the middle of this huge astral expanse, which they called “space”. This galaxy contained many stars, but just one was chosen, Shemesh. This star had nine planets revolving around it, but on only one planet would there be life. They made sure it had everything on it to sustain that life. This grandscale creation would be just a sample of King Jahmor's creativity and diversity of design. It would declare it was King Jahmor's handiwork, and encourage the future creatures to know him as the Grand Designer and their Creator, and respect, honour and love him. They would be in awe of the beauty and colour and diversity of design, when they looked at the expanse above them, which they called “the sky”, and the rest of creation, and know it was the King's way of showing them he loved them.
The Kings then came down to visit the newly created habitat. It was as yet formless, and without any vegetation, or even light. It was a ball-shape, and they had commanded it to constantly rotate, and travel in an ellipse in the same direction, on a planned axis. Darkness loomed over the ice jacket atop the deep water over the entire surface. Neshama hovered over the water, waiting to create whatever they decided. At King Jahmor's order, Haissem commanded, “May there be light”, and there was light to inspect the new planet. King Jahmor was pleased, and said the light was good. They divided the light from the darkness, and called the light “day”, and the darkness “night”. They inspected the planet carefully, discussing plans for it.
There was no day or night in Aeternia, as the brightness and light emanating from the Kings illuminated all Aeternia, and there was no need to sleep, as they were eternal beings: they had always existed, and would continue to exist always and for ever. They lived outside of time. However, Jörth was a planet made to revolve constantly in time, and they had previously planned to start time the instant they started the creation of all things, on the first day, which consisted of evening and morning. They intended the future inhabitants to have the rest they needed, before they had to work. For that first day, they slowed time down on Jörth, so that the astral beings could reflect their light back to Jörth.
King Jahmor was very pleased with this first day's work of the week of Creation, and they returned to the Celestial City, and discussed more details of when they would carefully design each creature, or plant, uniquely, with their natural needs catered for.
They returned the second day, and altered the rate of time on Jörth back to what was to be normal from then on. It still varied, depending on where it was measured. On the top of mountains, it was faster than the rate at sea level. At King Jahmor's request, Haissem commanded, “May there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water.” So again, Neshamah separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. The force with which this separation took place ejected the broken ice jacket far into space, and it stayed outside of the orbit of the the nine planets orbiting the one star, in a layer around it. The excess water below drained into subterranean storage holders, under what would be called oceans and seas later. The water above evaporated, and became a thick cloud layer that protected the new planet from the harmful rays of the star heating the planet, and providing it with energy. King Jahmor called the expanse “sky”. Evening and morning had passed of the second day. “Another good day's work,” King Jahmor remarked.
The third day, Haissem commanded, “May the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” Immediately Neshamah made this happen. King Jahmor called the dry ground “land”, and the gathered waters he called “seas”. He was very pleased with the result, so he commanded, “May the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land, that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds”, and they were instantly created, and he was pleased with the result. Evening and morning had passed of the third day.
The next day, when they returned, at King Jahmor's command, Haissem spoke: “May there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons, days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on Jörth,” and immediately it was done. The light from the stars, galaxies, and other smaller similar things started showing their light in the sky, and King Jahmor gave them all individual names to distinguish one from another. He then instructed Haissem to command that of the two large light sources already made, the larger to govern the day, was to be called Shemesh, and the lesser to govern the night, was to be called Yareach, and Neshamah made all this happen. King Jahmor was pleased with this. Evening and morning had passed of the fourth day.
The following day, King Jahmor commanded Haissem to order that the water teem with living creatures, and that birds should fly above Jörth across the expanse of the sky. Neshamah brought all these into being. So Haissem and Neshamah created the great creatures of the sea, and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. They used a basic common plan for the design of each living creature, but changed each one's size and appearance to make them distinguishable from one another. They made male and female of each kind to enable them to reproduce and increase in numbers to populate the whole planet, in the sea, and on the land. King Jahmor was very pleased with the result. He blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number, and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on Jörth.” Evening and morning passed: the fifth day.
The day after, King Jahmor said, “May the land produce living creatures according to their kinds, livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind.” And Haissem spoke these into being. He made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. Male and female he made them, and again King Jahmor was pleased with the result.
Now the Royal Trio had planted a garden in the east, in a place called Delight. Haissem and Neshamah made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground – attractive trees that bore fruit that was good for food. In the middle of the garden was the tree of everlasting life, and the tree of all knowledge, good and evil. As yet, no rain had fallen on the land. The dew in the mornings watered the whole planet. Also a river, watering the garden, flowed from Delight, and split into four headwaters. The name of the first was the Nopish; it wound its way through the entire land of Lavahali, where there is gold. (The gold there is good-quality; there are also aromatic resin and onyx there.) The name of the second river is the Noghi; it winds through the entire land of Shuc. The name of the third river is the Gritris; it runs along the east side of Rushas. And the fourth river is the Setareuph.
Then King Jahmor said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all Jörth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So Haissem formed the first man, Mada (his name meant 'of the ground'), from the dust of the ground, and Neshamah breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. Haissem created man in his own image. King Jahmor (in human form) placed Mada in the Garden of Delight to work it, and take care of it. Then King Jahmor said to Mada, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of all Jörth, and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of Jörth, all the birds of the air, and all the creatures that move on the ground – everthing that has the breath of life in it – I give every green plant for food.” And so it was.
King Jahmor warned Mada, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of all knowledge, or you will die for certain.”
King Jahmor saw all that he had made, and thought it was very good. Evening and morning passed of the sixth day. Thus were the skies and space and Jörth completed in all their vast array.
By the seventh day, King Jahmor had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day, he rested from all his work. He blessed the seventh day, and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creation that he had done.
The climate was warm and humid, because of the great continuous expanse of clouds all around the atmosphere of the planet, blocking the UV rays coming from their heat and light source, Shemesh, which caused the trees and vegetation to grow huge, and the people about three meters tall and correspondingly large. There was plenty of food for all the inhabitants of Jörth. The animals that grew throughout their lives grew enormous, as they lived for a very long time. Mada and his descendants grew until they were nineteen years old, and then stopped growing vertically.
King Jahmor (in human form) brought the animals and birds to Mada to see what he would name them; and whatever he called each living creature, that became its name. So Mada gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the wild beasts, including the monsters and dragons of land and water.
But for Mada, no suitable helper was found. So King Jahmor put Mada into a deep sleep, and while he was sleeping, King Haissem (in human form) took one of his ribs, and closed up the place with flesh. Then he made a woman from the rib from Mada's side, and he brought her to the man. Mada said, “She is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; her name shall be Zoë, for she was taken out of man.” Zoë had the meaning 'life' or 'life-giving'. Mada and his wife, Zoë, were both naked, but they felt no shame. They had special bodies that emitted a brightness, and this hid the shape of their bodies.
King Jahmor blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill Jörth, and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” He told them, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole planet, and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of Jörth, all the birds of the air, and all the creatures that move on the ground – everything that has the breath of life in it – I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.
CHAPTER 3
THE END OF PERFECTION
The End of the Perfect Life
All this time, crafty Tanas had been lurking in the darkness while the Royal Trio had been busy in the grand work of creation. Once they had returned to the Celestial City, he crept out of his hiding-place and inspected the surroundings. He found a pool of water, and had a look at himself. What a horrible shock! He was dressed in black with an evil smirk on his face, with lumps and bumps galore, and his voice was gravelly, quite grating on the nerves. He was a spirit being, so found a serpent with arms and legs, and entered it. He could still talk and stand upright, but his voice changed to slithery smooth.
He had watched as the first two time-afflicted creatures had been created, and followed them wherever they went, studying them, working out where their weaknesses were. How he hated them, just as he hated the Royal Trio. He wanted revenge, to hurt King Jahmor and everyone he loved, but knew he couldn't do anything to the Aeternial inhabitants any more. So he decided to hurt these newcomers, as obviously, King Jahmor loved them. One afternoon, Zoë walked to the centre of the garden, where the two important trees were. Tanas followed her, and came alongside her. He said to her, “Did King Jahmor really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?”
She replied, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but the King did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.''
“No, you won't,” Tanas the serpent said to the woman. “The King knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like the King, knowing all things.”
When Zoë saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food, and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some, and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, their bodies were no longer shining and hiding their naked-ness, and they realised that they could see what the other one's body looked like because they were naked; so they sewed large leaves together, and made coverings for themselves.
When they heard the sound of King Jahmor walking in the garden, in the cool of the day, they hid from him among the trees of the garden. But the King called to the man, “Where are you, Mada?”
Mada answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
And the King said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?”
Then Mada decided to blame Zoë, so he said, “The woman you put here with me - she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
Then King Jahmor said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
She decided to put the blame on the snake, so replied, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
So the King said to Tanas, the serpent, “Because you have done this, you will crawl on your belly, and eat dust all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, but he will rule over you.”
To Mada he said, “Because you listened to your wife, and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow, you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you will return.”
King Jahmor killed two animals and skinned them, and made garments of skin for Mada and his wife (the first time blood had been shed), and clothed them. And the King said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of everlasting life and eat, and live for ever.” So the King banished him from the Garden of Desire to work the ground from which he had been taken. After the man and his wife were driven out, the King placed, on the east side of the Garden of Desire, two Phemaris and a flaming sword, flashing back and forth, to guard the way to the tree of life.
In The New World
Because there was an expanse of water-laden clouds over the entire planet, preventing dangerous ultraviolet rays, and other harmful things, coming from the atmosphere, this allowed people to live a very long time, and they were able to intermarry without any dangerous results for quite a long time. However, they were now unable to see King Jahmor any more. Their link with King Jahmor had died, so they could not hear his voice, unless the King chose. Mada and Zoë knew that the King was immortal, and their creator, so they knew they should worship him, and this they chose to do, and taught their children to worship him, when they later became parents.
In time, Mada and Zoë became parents of a baby boy called Kena. In those days, babies were given names that had meanings. Kena meant 'acquisition'. Later, they had another baby boy, who they called Bela (Bela meant 'grassy or meadow'). Bela kept flocks, and Kena worked the soil. In the course of time, Kena brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to King Jahmor, but Bela brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. King Jahmor looked with favour on Bela and his offering, by sending fire down from Aeternia, and burning up the offering, but on Kena and his offering, he did not look with favour. So Kena was very angry, as he had worked very hard to produce a beautiful offering of vegetables and grains for the King, and his face was downcast.
Then King Jahmor said to Kena, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, that is, offer me an animal sacrifice with its blood, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, evil is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.”
However, Kena was jealous of his brother, Bela, because his offering had been accepted by King Jahmor, while his own offering had been ignored. Despite what King Jahmor had told him, he brooded on this favouring of his brother for a long time. Later, Kena said to his brother Bela, “Let's go out to the field.” And while they were in the field, Kena attacked his brother, Bela, and killed him.
Then King Jahmor said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. Now you are under a curse, and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on Jörth.”
Kena said to King Jahmor, “My punishment is more than I can bear. Today, you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on Jörth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”
But the King said to him, “Not so; if anyone kills Kena, he will suffer vengeance seven times over.” Then the King put a mark on Kena, so that no-one who found him would kill him. So Kena went out from the King's presence, and lived in the land of Ain, east of Desire.
After Bela had been killed, and Kena had left, Mada (at age 130 years) and Zoë had another baby, named Tesh, which meant 'compensation'. Mada lived another 800 years after Tesh was born, and had many other sons and daughters, as the King had commanded. These children intermarried and reproduced, and scattered into the country-side around there. Altogether, Mada lived 930 years, and then he died. When Tesh was 105 years old, he had a son, Sheno ('mortal'), and lived another 807 years, dying at 912 years of age. At that time, men began to call on the name of King Jahmor, and worship him.
Kena met and married one of his cousins, and in due time his wife gave birth to Cheno (meaning 'teacher'). To Cheno was born Irad, and one of his many descendants killed a young man for wounding him. The violence of Kena had continued through his family line.
CHAPTER 4
DISASTER!
The History of Tesh's Family
From then on, every kind of perversion occurred, and became common. People just didn't care who they hurt. They were selfish, and filled with bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.
When Sheno was 90 years old, he had a son called Nanek ('acquired'). Sheno lived another 815 years, and had other sons and daughters. Altogether he lived 905 years, and then he died.
When men began to increase in number on Jörth, and daughters were born to them, Tanas' rebellious Malak and Abbir saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. They produced half-breeds called Philimen, giants who became the heroes of old, men of renown. They became the heroes of epic stories handed down by word of mouth for centuries, and then written down much later in history, including all the mistakes and changes made over time.
When Nanek had lived 70 years, he became the father of Lelalaham ('Jahmor is splendour'). Nanek lived a further 840 years, and fathered other sons and daughters. Altogether, Nanek lived 910 years, and then he died.
The rebellious Malak and Abbir influenced mankind into becoming selfish, violent, wicked creatures, not at all like King Jahmor had intended them to be. There were those like Mada who worshipped the King, and all the others, like Kena, who turned away from the King, and made themselves the object of their worship, by doing what pleased themselves. There were armed hordes roaming the country-side, killing, raping, robbing anyone weaker than them.
When Lelalaham had lived 65 years, he became the father of Dejar ('descending'), and lived a further 830 years, and had other sons and daughters, and died at age 895 year old.
King Jahmor sent men to warn others everywhere they could reach, that they must turn from their wickedness and live a righteous life, and love, serve, and worship the King, or they would be destroyed. They did not listen, but often killed the messengers.
Dejar was 162 when he had Cheno ('teacher'), and lived a further 800 years, having many more sons and daughters, until he died at age 962 years.
Again, King Jahmor sent upright men to warn others everywhere they could reach that they must turn back to the old ways, and worship King Jahmor, or suffer the consequences. Instead of listening, the wicked ones mostly killed the messengers.
Cheno was 65 years old when he had Haleshumet ('after he dies it will come'). After he became the father of Haleshumet, Cheno loved and served King Jahmor 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Cheno lived 365 years. Cheno had a close, worshipful relationship with King Jahmor, then he disappeared from the face of Jörth, because King Jahmor took him to Aeternia without dying.
By now, there were few righteous men brave enough to reach out to others, because they were mostly half-breeds by now. King Jahmor had intended that each kind of animal remain pure, and not be mixed, but now there were terrible in-breedings, and interminglings between different kinds of animals which produced horrible attrocities, ugly creatures King Jahmor was horrified to see.
Judgment Decreed on the Wicked
King Jahmor saw how great man's wickedness had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart were only evil, all the time. The King was grieved that he had made man, and his heart was filled with pain. So he said, “I will destroy mankind, whom I have created, and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air – for I am grieved that I have made them.” But he knew the future, that Hano was going to be born of pure blood, and Hano found favour in the eyes of the King as he was a righteous man, and he and his family would be the only remaining pure-bred human beings left on Jörth.
When Haleshumet had lived 187 years, he became the father of Malech, and lived a further 782 years, and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Haleshumet lived 969 years, and then he died.
When Malech had lived 182 years, he had a son, and named him Hano, meaning 'rest', and said, “He will comfort us in the labour and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the King has cursed.” After Hano was born, Malech lived 595 years, and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Malech lived 777 years, and then he died.
Hano's Family
After Hano was 500 years old, he became the father of Mesh, Mah and Thejaph. Hano was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he worshipped King Jahmor. His blood was pure, there was no mixture with the wicked Malak and Abbir in him. His family was the only pure-blood human family left in the entire planet. King Jahmor saw how corrupt Jörth had become, and full of violence. He decided that he would reduce the future human beings' maximum age to 120 years.
King Jahmor told Hano, “I am going to put an end to all people, for Jörth is filled with violence because of them. I am going to destroy both them and Jörth. So make yourself a barge of cypress wood, make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. This is how you are to build it: The barge is to be a rectangle measuring 140 metres long by 23 metres wide by 14.5 metres high. Make a roof for it, and an opening for light by finishing the barge to within half a metre of the top. Put a door in the side of the barge, and make lower, middle and upper decks.'
“I am going to bring floodwaters on Jörth, to destroy all life under the skies, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on Jörth will perish. But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the barge – you and your wife, and your sons and their wives with you. You are to bring into the barge two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal, and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground, will come to you to be kept alive. You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten, and store it away as food for you and for them.” Hano did everything, just as the King commanded him.
King Jahmor was going to judge the wicked because the world was full of violence, and the human race had been contaminated by mating with the wicked angels. There was to be a huge flood over the whole planet. Hearing that, Hano, his wife, their three sons, Mesh, Mah and Thejap, and their three wives, started to build this huge box-like boat as King Jahmor had commanded him. The neighbours and others asked Hano what this huge structure was, and why was he building it, and Hano informed them that mankind had refused to listen to any of King Jahmor's messengers, who had warned them they must stop their wicked behaviour, or they would be destroyed by a world-wide flood. The neighbours, and all who enquired of Hano, laughed and scoffed at him, and did not believe what he was saying. There had never been a drop of rain previously. The dew in the mornings had watered the whole planet. They could not believe that the skies would send water down on them, enough to cover them – “Ridiculous!”, “Nonsense!!”, “Rubbish!!!” For 120 years, Hano and his family worked at building this huge barge, according to the instructions given to him by King Jahmor's messengers, and also warned all the people who would listen to them, but nobody would.
One day, a messenger from King Jahmor said that he had instructed pairs of animals to make their way onto this barge, to save them from extinction, so that they could continue after the flood, and multiply again. They had to have seven pairs of every kind of 'clean' animal (future herbivore), a male and its mate, and two of every kind of 'unclean' animal (future predator or carrion-eater), and also seven pairs of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout Jörth. There were all kinds of dragons (giant reptiles) and monsters all over the planet, of all shapes and sizes, all plant-eaters. The smaller ones came in pairs by themselves, and the King told Hano and family to collect the eggs, or juveniles, from the huge monsters and dragons roaming the planet, who were too big to come onto the barge themselves. He sent these monsters and dragons close to the barge, and each pair left two of their juveniles, or gently laid down the egg they each held in their mouths, for Hano and his family to pick up and take into the barge for hatching. All the other different kinds of animals made their way, pair after pair, onto the barge, and were taken down to their feeding/sleeping places.
Some of the really small creatures had to wait for an interval to be safe enough from big feet to venture up the gangway, and onto the barge. These were “parked” on a different level from the elephants, hippos, medium-sized monsters, etc. The largest animals were on the bottom level, in cages, for ballast, to keep the barge steady. The medium-sized animals were in cages on the middle level, and the small animals were in cages on the top level, with a room set apart for eggs to hatch, another for the juveniles to sleep and play, with four other rooms set apart for the four human married couples. There were many other rooms used for food stocks, and barrels of water, with pipes from storage places on the deck to catch rainwater for future drinking water. There was an ample layer of straw on the floors, where the animals were to be kept, but as they would be in an induced sleep from hibernation most of the time, there would not be much problem with waste to dispose of.
King Jahmor told them, “Seven days from now, I will send rain on Jörth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe, from the face of Jörth, every living creature I have made.” And Hano did all that the King commanded him. Hano and his wife, and their sons and their wives, entered the barge to escape the waters of the flood, and the King locked them in. This also shut out the rest of humanity. And after the seven days, the floodwaters came on Jörth, on the seventeenth day of the second month in the six hundredth year of Hano's life. On that day, all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the skies, from the huge water-clouds stored around Jörth from the time of creation, were opened. People from all around the area ran to the barge screaming out to be rescued, but could not scale the steep sides, and there was no ramp for them to get to the door to get in. It was terrible hearing all the screams and curses outside the barge, but Hano and his family were locked inside, and couldn't help them.
The rain fell on Jörth for forty days and forty nights. Earthquakes under the water re-shaped the continents, and raised mountains where there had been none before. The fast-moving waters quickly stripped all the vegetation from the land, and buried trees, shrubs, and all the animals and mankind. The slow-moving animals were drowned and covered by silt first, and faster animals, and mankind later, as they tried to run to higher ground to escape the waters. Fish and shellfish were buried completely by the silt, and fossilized. Later earthquakes lifted these in layers, and mixed them with layers from the tops of mountains. The silt covered them in layers, fossilizing them as further layers of silt built up and cut out the air supply, preventing rotting of the flesh or fibre. All over Jörth, they were fossilized complete: flesh, bones, and stomach contents, and turned to stone, as a record of this immense calamity, to be discovered by future generations as a witness to this huge catastrophe.
For forty days, the flood kept coming on Jörth, and as the waters increased, they lifted the barge high above the surface. The waters rose and spread all over Jörth, and the barge floated on the surface of the water. The waters rose higher and higher all over Jörth, and all the high mountains were covered. The waters continued rising, and covered the highest mountains to a depth of almost seven metres. Every living thing that moved on Jörth perished – birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over Jörth, and all mankind. Everything on dry land that breathed air died. Every living air-breathing thing on the face of the entire planet was wiped out. Only Hano and his family were left, and the creatures with him in the barge. The waters flooded Jörth for a hundred and fifty days.
Then King Jahmor sent a wind over Jörth, and the waters receded. Now the springs of the deep, and the floodgates of the skies had been closed, and the rain had stopped falling. As the waters receded, and poured off mountain ranges, they gouged out canyons and gorges. The water receded steadily from Jörth, mostly ending up in the oceans and seas around the land masses, but some was trapped in hollows, and formed lakes. At the end of a hundred and fifty days, the water had gone down, and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the boat came to rest on the mountains of Ratara. The waters continued to recede until the tenth month, and on the first day of the tenth month, the tops of the mountains became visible.
After forty days, Hano opened the window he had made in the barge, and sent out a raven, and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the surface. Then he sent out a dove to see if the water had receded from the ground, but the dove could find no place to perch, because there was water over all the surface of the planet, so it returned to Hano in the barge. He reached out his hand and took the dove, and brought it back inside the barge. He waited seven more days, and again sent out the dove from the barge. When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Hano knew that the water had receded from the ground. He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return to him.
By the first day of the first month of Hano's six hundred and first year, the water had dried up from the surface of Jörth. King Jahmor unlocked the door, and Hano then was able to open the door at the side of the barge, and saw that the surface of the ground was dry. By the twenty-seventh day of the second month, the ground was completely dry.
Then King Jahmor said to Hano, “Come out of the barge, all of you, and bring out all the creatures with you – the birds, the animals, and all the crawlng creatures – so they can multiply on Jörth, and be fruitful and increase in number upon it.”
1 So Hano and his family came out, and all the animals, birds, and crawling creatures - everything that moves on the land - came out of the barge, one kind after another.
Then Hano built an altar to King Jahmor and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. King Jahmor smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart, “Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I just have done. As long as Jörth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.”
Then King Jahmor blessed Hano and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number, and fill Jörth. The fear and dread of you will fall upon all the beasts of Jörth and all the birds of the air, upon every creature that moves along the ground, and upon all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hands. Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything. But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. And for your lifeblood, I will surely demand recompense. I will demand recompense from every animal, and from each man, too, I will demand recompense for the life of his fellow man. Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for I made man in my image.” Thus King Jahmor instituted capital punishment for deliberately murdering another person.
Then King Jahmor said to Hano and his sons: “I now establish my covenant with you, and with your descendants after you, and with every living creature that was with you, all those that came out of the barge with you, every living land creature. Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy Jörth.”
And he said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and Jörth. Whenever I bring clouds over Jörth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between me and all living creatures of every kind on Jörth.”
From then on, there were four seasons each year, Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. Depending on which area of Jörth and the season, as well as whether it was day or night, the climate could be very, very cold, very cold, cold, mild, temperate, warm, hot, very hot or very, very hot. The rainfall varied a lot too, and seedtime and harvest time varied according to location.
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SECRET MESSAGE HIDDEN IN THE SACRED WRITINGS OF THE HISTORY OF JÖRTH |
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NAME ENGLISH TRANSLATION |
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Mada Man |
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Tesh Appointed |
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Sheno Mortal |
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Nanek Sorrow |
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Lelalaham The Blessed Divine Lord |
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Dejar Shall come down |
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Cheno Teaching |
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Haleshumet His death shall bring |
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Malech Powerful |
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Hano Rest |
TIMELINE FROM MADA TO HANO
HANO Died at age 950 At age 500 fathered Mesh, Mah and Thejap
MALECH Died at age 777 At age 182 fathered Hano
HALESHUMET Died at age 969 At age 187 fathered Malech
CHENO Died at age 365 At age 65 fathered Haleshumet
DEJAR Died at age 962 At age 162 fathered Cheno
LELALAHAM Died at age 895 At age 65 fathered Dejar
NANEK Died at age 910 At age 70 fathered Lelalaham
SHENO Died at age 905 At age 90 fathered Nanek
TESH Died at age 912 At age 105 fathered Sheno
MADA Died at age 930 At age 130 fathered Tesh
CHAPTER 5
STARTING AFRESH
After the animals and birds were let out of the barge, they scattered as fast as they could, as they now feared mankind. They bred rapidly, and spread in numbers, still eating grass and leaves. It was only later that the carnivores began to prey on other animals, as the food supply lessened. Likewise, as supplies of meat diminished in one area, mankind travelled to another area to find food. They banded together to hunt the monsters, dragons and reptiles, and these mostly became extinct. Coastal peoples were able to catch fish to eat, and learned to preserve these in the good times, to feed on them in the times of want. Over time there were seasons of abundance of food, and there were also times of drought and famine, with mass migrations to find food elsewhere.
Now that the water storage place in the skies was emptied during the flood, there was nothing preventing the UV radiation from interfering with the copying process of genes. Mistakes made while copying the information in the DNA caused mutations in this new set of creatures. Over time, this resulted in deformities, disabilities, illnesses, etc. Also, as time went on, intermarrying had the effect of increasing the number of bad genes in a family, and various hereditary medical conditions became obvious. It took a command from King Jahmor to forbid marriage between close relatives to prevent these medical conditions from becoming detrimental in the general population. This was another good reason to travel away and mix with other people groups, to prevent duplication of bad genes from spreading.
After the flood, Hano lived 350 years, and he lived 950 years altogether, and then he died.
The sons of Hano who came out of the barge were Mesh, Mah and Thejaph. From them came all the nations, who spread out over Jörth after the flood.
Thejaph had seven sons, six of whom travelled north later on, and their descendents started various people groups in different countries, all wild and violent. The seventh son who didn't go with them went around the coast, and later on founded maritime peoples who spread out into their territories by their clans within their nations, all speaking the same language.
Mah had four sons, who spread out around from where they started, making that their homeland. One of his sons, Such, was the father of Mindor, who grew to be a mighty warrior on Jörth. He was a mighty hunter, and the capital of his kingdom was Noblyba. His descendents later scattered over a very large area.
Mesh had five sons. They later scattered into the eastern hill country.
The Great Tower
Now all of Jörth had one language and a common speech. As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Rashin, and settled there.
They said to each other, “Let's make bricks, and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, “Let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to Aeternia, so that we may make a name for ourselves, and not be scattered over the face of Jörth.”
But King Jahmor saw the city, and the tower that the men were building. King Jahmor said to Haissem and Neshamah, “If, as one people speaking the same language, they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language, so they will not understand each other.”
This he did, and the people suddenly could not understand one another, and became very frightened, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Confusion – because there the King confused the language of all of Jörth. So from there King Jahmor scattered them over the face of all of Jörth. Everywhere family groups went, they spoke one language, but every family group spoke a different language, so they tried to keep away from one another, to prevent misunderstandings leading to bloodshed. As they went, their skin colour changed. It became darker as the climate stayed very hot, as the melatonin in the skin tried to protect them. As others went to live in cooler climes, they didn't need as much protection from the melatonin, and their skins paled. As family groups stayed together as tribes, building up their numbers, their DNA ensured their facial characteristics stayed similar, with the climate giving them their similar skin colour over time, leading to different racial characteristics in different parts of Jörth, but all descended from the time of creation, from the original parents, Mada and Zoë, who were medium brown-skinned, to cope with the climate of the original Garden of Desire.
Mesh's Family Line
Two years after the flood, when Mesh was 100 years old, he became the father of Phaxadar. After this he lived 500 years and had other sons and daughters.
When Phaxadar was 35 years old, he became the father of Lahesh, and lived another 403 years and had other sons and daughters.
When Lahesh was 34 years old, he became the father of Bere, and lived a further 403 years, having other sons and daughters.
When Bere was 34 years old, he became father to Gelep, and lived a further 430 years and had other offspring.
When Gelep was 30 years old, he fathered Eru, and lived a further 209 years, having other children.
When Eru was 32 years old, he had Gruse, and lived a further 207 years and had other children.
When Gruse was 30 years old, he had Horan, and lived 200 more years and had other children.
When Horan was 29 years old, he had Thera, and lived 119 more years and had more children.
After Thera had lived 70 years, he became the father of Ramba, Horan and Narah.
One of the effects of the UV radiation coming through the atmosphere onto the surface of Jörth was that the age to which the people lived kept reducing until it reached the age King Jahmor decreed before the flood, one hundred and twenty years. Also, the size of the people reduced from giants to the average size of a person living today, probably because there was not the abundance of food available after the flood as there was before it. Pre-flood, the greenhouse effect of the clouds around the atmosphere kept the planet humid and at an even temperature everywhere, ideal for plants to grow abundantly. After the flood, the plants grew much smaller than the pre-flood plants, as the conditions for growth had completely changed. There were now four distinct seasons, with cold, temperate and hot climates at different times of the year, depending on geographic location. There were different rainfalls in various parts of the planet at different times of the year. And now there was radiation coming from outside the planet to interfere with growth patterns. Quite a different situation to that of previously. The result was that the very, very large animals soon died of hunger, or were killed off by mankind for food. Only medium to small animals could exist in this less hospitable terrain.
CHAPTER 6
THE STORY OF BOJ
Introduction
In the land of Zu there lived a man whose name was Boj. This man was blameless and upright; he feared King Jahmor and shunned evil. He had seven sons and three daughters, and he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of servants. He was the greatest man among all the people of the East.
His sons used to take turns holding feasts in their homes, and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. When a period of feasting had run its course, Boj would send and have them purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, “Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed King Jahmor in their hearts.” This was Boj's regular custom.
Boj's First Test
One day the creatures of Aeternia came to present themselves before King Jahmor, and Tanas also came with them. The King said to Tanas, “Where have you come from?”
Tanas answered the King, “From roaming through Jörth, and going to and fro in it.”
Then King Jahmor said to Tanas, “Have you considered my servant Boj? There is no-one on Jörth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears King Jahmor and shuns evil.”
“Does Boj fear King Jahmor for nothing?” Tanas replied. “Have you not put a hedge around him, and his household, and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But stretch out your hand, and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.”
The King said to Tanas, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.”
Then Tanas went out from the presence of King Jahmor.
One day, when Boj's sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother's house, a messenger came to Boj and said, “The oxen were ploughing, and the donkeys were grazing nearby, when the Baseans attacked, and carried them off. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
While he was still speaking, another messenger came in and said, “The fire of King Jahmor fell from the sky, and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
While he was still speaking, another messenger came in and said, “The Dalcheans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and carried them off. They put the servants to the sword; and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, “Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother's house, when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them, and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
At this, Boj got up, and tore his robe, and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said: “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I shall depart. King Jahmor gave, and the King has taken away; may the name of the King be praised.”
In all this, Boj did not sin by charging King Jahmor with wrongdoing.
Boj's Second Test
On another day, the creatures of Aeternia came to present themselves before King Jahmor, and Tanas also came with them to present himself before him. And the King said to Tanas, “Where have you come from?”
Tanas answered the King, “From roaming through Jörth, and going to and fro in it.”
Then King Jahmor said to Tanas, “Have you considered my servant Boj? There is no-one on Jörth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears King Jahmor and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.”
“Skin for skin!' Tanas replied. “A man will give all he has for his own life. But stretch out your hand, and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.”
The King said to Tanas, “Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life.”
So Tanas went out from the presence of King Jahmor, and afflicted Boj with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. Then Boj took a piece of broken pottery, and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes.
His wife said to him, “Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse King Jahmor and die!”
He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from King Jahmor, and not trouble?”
In all this, Boj did not sin in what he said.
Boj's Three Friends
When Boj's three friends, Zapheli the Metanite, Libdad the Hushite and Pharoz the Thamanaite, heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathise with him and comfort him. When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognise him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. Then they sat on the ground with him seven days and seven nights. No-one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was.
After this, Boj opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth, elaborately and at length. Then Zapheli the Metanite told him that no-one was more righteous than King Jahmor, and man is born to trouble. Perhaps King Jahmor was correcting him for some sin he had committed.
Boj replied that his anguish was weighing him down, and he wanted to die. He insisted that he had not sinned. Why weren't his friends comforting him in his losses.
Libdad the Hushite insisted his children must have sinned and been punished. King Jahmor does not reject a blameless man.
Boj replied that the Creator of all things, who does miracles and wonders, is the Righteous One, and who can stand before him and not be affected? He insisted he was blameless, and that the King destroys both the blameless and the wicked. He wished he had never been born.
Pharoz the Thamanaite said that the mysteries of King Jahmor are beyond comprehension, but Boj must confess his sin and ask forgiveness.
Boj replied that despite being a laughing-stock to his friends, the King had done this to him for no good cause.
Zapheli the Metanite replied that Boj considered himself as good as the King for venting his anger against the Almighty.
Boj called them miserable comforters for their long-winded speeches blaming him for his own troubles. The King has assailed against him and stricken everything he loved, plus his own body.
Libdad the Hushite accused him of not knowing King Jahmor, and that was the reason for all the troubles that had come upon him.
Boj asked why they had attacked him ten times. He had been stripped of everything by the King for no good reason, as he insisted that he had not sinned. He told them that now he knew that his Redeemer lived, and in the end he would see him. He yearned to see him.
Pharoz the Thamanaite was disturbed to hear Boj's rebuke, and reiterated that the wicked only enjoy life for a short time, and then are punished by King Jahmor.
Boj felt they were mocking him, and pointed out that, in reality, the wicked enjoy themselves for a very long time, and often go to their death unpunished. Sometimes their sons are punished for the father's misdeeds. In life, how one lives is completely random, only decided by King Jahmor. Good men have terrible lives, bad men enjoy comfortable lives, another man dies young in full vigour, another dies after being ill or poor. It has nothing to do with what the friends were saying: that was purely a myth, that the wicked are punished and the good are not.
Zapheli the Metanite insisted that Boj must have been wicked to have been treated like he was. He insisted that Boj submit to King Jahmor, and be at peace with him, so that good may return to him.
Boj wanted to find King Jahmor and argue his case with him, so that he could be delivered from his agony.
Libdad the Hushite pointed out that no man could be righteous before King Jahmor: a man is just a maggot in his eyes.
Boj was disgusted with their advice. He felt the King had wronged him and denied him justice, but he would not speak wickedness as long as he lived. Mankind searches for riches by mining underground, but where can wisdom and understanding dwell? Only King Jahmor knows where wisdom and understanding are. He longed for the past, when King Jahmor blessed him and his family, and everybody respected him for his good works, but now he was being mocked by all and sundry, young and old alike. His life was ebbing away, and he was calling out to King Jahmor, but he did not reply to Boj. He recited all the good works he had done, to prove his innocence.
So these three men stopped talking to Boj, because he was righteous in his own eyes. But Hueli, son of Rabalek, became very angry with Boj for justifying himself rather than King Jahmor. He was also angry with the three friends, because they had found no way to refute Boj, and yet had condemned him. Now Hueli had waited before speaking to Boj because they were older than he, but when he saw that the three men had nothing more to say, his anger was aroused. He accused Boj of saying he was pure and without sin, clean and free from guilt, yet King Jahmor had found fault with him and punished him. He insisted that King Jahmor does speak to men, in visions or dreams, to warn men to change direction, from wrongdoing or pride, to prevent them going to the grave. He believed that possibly, if there were a Malak on his side as a mediator, one out of a thousand, to tell a man what is right for him, and pay a ransom for him, then he could be spared and restored by King Jahmor to his righteous state. He believed King Jahmor was just, and would bestow prosperity on those who obey and serve him, but death to those who do not obey and serve him. He warned Boj not to turn to wickedness, which he seemed to prefer to affliction.
Then King Jahmor answered Boj, and asked who it was that was talking rubbish. He asked where was Boj when he laid the foundation of Jörth? and who built the footings and cornerstone?
“Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, when I said, 'This far you may come and no farther.' Have the gates of death been shown to you? Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?
“Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or seen the storehouses of the hail, which I reserve for times of trouble, for days of war and battle? What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed, or the place where the east winds are scattered over Jörth? Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain, and a path for the thunderstorm, to water a land where no man lives, a desert with no-one in it, to satisfy a desolate wasteland and make it sprout with grass?
“Does the rain have a father? Who fathers the drops of dew? From whose womb comes the ice? Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens when the waters become hard as stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen?
“Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons? Do you know the laws of space? Can you set up King Jahmor's dominion over Jörth?
“Can you raise your voice to the clouds and cover yourself with a flood of water? Do you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, 'Here we are'? Who endowed the heart with wisdom, or gave understanding to the mind? Who has the wisdom to count the clouds? Who can tip over the water jars of the skies when the dust becomes hard and the clods of dirt stick together?
“Do you hunt the prey for the predator to satisfy their hunger, when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in a thicket? Who provides food for the birds when their young cry out to King Jahmor and wander about for lack of food?
“Do you know when the animals give birth? Do you watch when they bear their young? Do you count the months till they bear? Do you know the time they give birth? Their young thrive and grow strong in the wilds; they leave and do not return.
“Who set the wild animals free? I gave them the wasteland for their home. They range the hills for food.
“Do you give the horse his strength, or clothe his neck with a flowing mane? Do you make him leap like a locust, striking terror with his proud snorting? He paws fiercely, rejoicing in his strength, and charges into the fray. He laughs at fear, afraid of nothing; he does not shy away from the sword. The quiver rattles against his side, along with the flashing spear and lance. In frenzied excitement he eats up the ground; he cannot stand still when the trumpet sounds. At the blast of the trumpet he snorts, 'Aha!' He catches the scent of battle from afar, the shout of commanders and the battle cry.”
King Jahmor said to Boj: “Will the one who contends with the Almighty One correct him? Let him who accuses King Jahmor his Lord answer him!”
Then Boj answered the King: “I am unworthy – how can I reply to you? I have no answer.”
Then King Jahmor spoke to Boj: “Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself? Do you have an arm like King Jahmor's, and can your voice thunder like his?
“Look at the Mothebeh monster, which I made along with you and which feeds on grass like an ox. What strength he has in his loins, what power in the muscles of his belly! His tail sways like a cedar; the sinews of his thighs are close-knit. His bones are tubes of iron. He ranks first among the works of King Jahmor, yet his Maker can approach him with his sword. The hills bring him their produce, and all the wild animals play nearby. Under the lotus plant he lies, hidden among the reeds in the marsh. The lotuses conceal him in their shadow; the poplars by the stream surround him. When the river rages, he is not alarmed; he is secure, though Danjor should surge against his mouth. Can anyone capture him by the water hole, or trap him and pierce his nose?
“Can you pull in the veliathan dragon with a fishhook, or tie down his tongue with a rope? Can you put a cord through his nose or pierce his tongue with a hook? Will he keep begging you for mercy? Will he speak to you with gentle words? Will he make an agreement with you for you to take him as your slave for life? Can you make a pet of him like a bird, or put him on a leash for your girls? Will traders barter for him? Will they divide him up among the merchants? Can you fill his hide with harpoons or his head with fishing spears? If you lay a hand on him, you will remember the struggle, and never do it again! Any hope of subduing him is false; the mere sight of him is overpowering. No-one is fierce enough to rouse him. Who then is able to stand against me? Who has a claim against me that I must pay? Everything under Aeternia belongs to me.
“I will not fail to speak of his limbs, his strength and his graceful form. Who can strip off his outer coat? Who would approach him with a bridle? Who dares to open his mouth, ringed about with his fearsome teeth? His back has rows of shields tightly sealed together; each is so close to the next that no air can pass between. They are joined fast to one another, they cling together and cannot be parted. His snorting throws out flashes of light; his eyes are like the rays of dawn. Firebrands stream from his mouth; sparks of fire shoot out. Smoke pours from his nostrils, as from a boiling pot over a fire of reeds. His breath sets coals ablaze, and flames dart from his mouth. Strength resides in his neck; dismay goes before him. The folds of his flesh are tightly joined; they are firm and unmovable. His chest is hard as rock. When he rises up, the mighty are terrified; they retreat before his thrashing. The sword that reaches him has no effect, nor does the spear, the dart or the javelin. Iron he treats like straw and bronze like rotten wood. Arrows do not make him flee; slingstones are like chaff to him. His undersides are jagged potsherds, leaving a trail in the mud like a threshing-sledge. He makes the depths churn like a boiling cauldron and stirs up the sea like a pot of ointment. Behind him he leaves a glistening wake; one would think the deep had white hair. Nothing on Jörth is his equal – a creature without fear. He looks down on all that are haughty; he is king over all that are proud.”
Then Boj replied to King Jahmor: “I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted. You asked, 'Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?' Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. You said, 'Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.' My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore, I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”
Epilogue
After King Jahmor had spoken to Boj, he said to Zapheli the Metanite, “I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Boj has. So now take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Boj, and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Boj will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. You have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Boj has.” So Zapheli the Metanite, Libdad the Hushite and Pharoz the Thamanaite did what the King told them; and the King accepted Boj's prayer.
After Boj had prayed for his friends, King Jahmor made him prosperous again, and gave him twice as much as he had before. All his brothers and sisters, and everyone who had known him before, came and ate with him in his house. They comforted and consoled him over all the trouble the King had allowed to happen to him, and each one gave him a piece of silver and a gold ring.
The King blessed the latter part of Boj's life more than the first. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys. And he had another seven sons and three daughters. Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Boj's daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance along with their brothers.
After this, Boj lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. And so he died, old and full of years.
CHAPTER 7
THE STORY OF RAMBA
Thera became the father of Ramba, Hanor and Narah. Narah became the father of Tol. While his father, Thera, was still alive, Narah died in the land of his birth. In those days, they had arranged marriages, and women were considered property, and had no rights: they did as they were told, or suffer the consequences of their husband's or father's anger. Ramba and Hanor both got married. The name of Ramba's wife was Raisa, and the name of Hanor's wife was Limcha; she was the daughter of Narah, the father of both Limcha and Chasi. Now Raisa was unable to have children.
Thera took his son Ramba, his grandson Tol, son of Narah, and his daughter-in-law, Raisa, the wife of his son, Ramba, and together they set out to go to Nacana, but when they arrived in Narah, they settled there. Thera lived 205 years, and he died in Narah.
Ramba's Special Commission
King Jahmor appeared to Ramba and said, “Leave your country, your people, and your father's household, and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and whoever curses you, I will curse; and all peoples on Jörth will be blessed through you.”
So Ramba left, as the King had told him, and Tol went with him. Ramba was seventy-five years old when he set out from Narah. He took his wife Raisa, his nephew Tol, all the possessions they had accumulated, and the servants they had acquired in Narah, and they set out for the land of Nacana, and eventually they arrived there.
Ramba travelled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Herom at Chemesh. At that time, the land was inhabited by Nacanaites. King Jahmor appeared to Ramba and said, “To your offspring, I will give this land.” So Ramba built an altar there to King Jahmor, who had appeared to him.
From there, he went on towards the hills east of Bleteh and pitched his tent, with Bleteh on the west and Ia on the east. There he built an altar to the King, and called on the name of King Jahmor. Then Ramba set out and continued towards the Geven.
Ramba Visits Mizraim
Later, there was a famine in the land, and Ramba went down to Mizraim to live there for a while, because the famine was severe. As he was about to enter Mizraim, he said to his wife Raisa, “I know what a beautiful woman you are. When the Mizraimites see you, they will say, 'This is his wife.' Then they will kill me, but will let you live. Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake, and my life will be spared because of you.”
When Ramba entered Mizraim, the Mizraimites saw that Sarai was a very beautiful woman, and when Hoaraph's officials saw her, they praised her to Hoaraph, and she was taken into his palace. He treated Ramba well for her sake, and Ramba acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, menservants and maidservants, and camels.
But King Jahmor inflicted serious diseases on Hoaraph and his household, because of Ramba's wife Raisa. So Hoaraph summoned Ramba. “What have you done to me?” he said. “Why did you say, 'She is my sister,' so that I took her to be my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!” Then Hoaraph gave orders about Ramba to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and everything he had.
So Ramba went up from Mizraim to the Geven, with his wife and everything he had, and Tol went with him. Ramba had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold.
From the Geven, he went from place to place until he came to Bleteh, to the place between Bleteh and Ia where his tent had been earlier, and where he had first built an altar. There Ramba called on the name of King Jahmor.
Parting of the Ways
Now Tol, who was moving about with Ramba, also had flocks and herds and tents, but the land could not support them while they stayed together, for their possessions were too great to stay together. Quarrelling arose between Ramba's herdsmen and Tol's herdsmen. There were Nacanaites and Repizzites living in the land at that time.
So Ramba said to Tol, “Let's not have any quarrelling between you and me, or between your herdsmen and mine, for we are brothers. Is not the whole land before you? Let's part company. If you go to the left, I'll go to the right; if you go to the right, I'll go to the left.” That was very generous of Ramba, as he was senior to Tol, being Tol's uncle. He could have insisted on the better area for himself, but did not.
Tol looked up and saw that the whole plain of the Danjor was well watered, like the garden King Jahmor had planted, like the land of Mizraim, towards Roza. So Tol chose for himself the whole plain of the Danjor, and set out towards the east. The two men parted company: Ramba lived in the land of Nacana, while Tol lived among the cities of the plain, and pitched his tents near Modos. Now the men of Modos were wicked, and displeased King Jahmor by their very bad behaviour.
CHAPTER 8
TOL IN TROUBLE
Tol Captured
King Jahmor said to Ramba, after Tol had parted from him, “Lift up your eyes from where you are, and look north and south, east and west. All the land that you see, I will give to you and your offspring for ever. I will make your offspring like the dust of Jörth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.”
So Ramba moved his tents, and went to live near the great trees of Marem at Broneh, where he built an altar to the King.
At this time, Raphelam, king of Noblyba, Chario, king of Sellara, Rodekamoler, king of Mela, and Tilad, king of Moigi, went to war against Reba, king of Modos, Shabir, king of Morrogah, Banish, king of Mahad, Beshemer, king of Moibezi, and the king of Roza. All these latter kings joined forces in the Valley of Middis. For twelve years they had been subject to Rodekamoler, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled.
In the fourteenth year, Rodekamoler, and the kings allied with him, went out and defeated the Pheraites in Rothterash, the Zuzites in Mah, the Timeites in Havesh, and the Rohites in the hill country of Resi, as far as Rapan near the desert. Then they turned back, and went to Shedak, and they conquered the whole territory of the Kelamaites, as well as the Romaites who were living in Matar.
Then the kings of Modos, Morrogah, Mahad, Moibezi and Roza marched out, and drew up their battle lines in the Valley of Middis against Rodekamoler, king of Mela, Tilad, king of Moigi, Raphelam, king of Shinar, Chario, king of Sellara - four kings against five. Now the Valley of Middis was full of tar pits, and when the kings of Modos and Morrogah fled, some of the men fell into them, and the rest fled to the hills. The four kings seized all the goods of Modos and Morrogah, and all their food; then they went away. They also carried off Ramba's nephew, Tol, and his possessions, since he was living in Modos.
Someone who had escaped came and reported this to Ramba the Breweh. Now Ramba was living near the great trees of Marem the Romaite, a brother of Colesh and Rena, all of whom were allied with Ramba. When Ramba heard that his relative had been taken captive, he called out the 318 trained men born in his household, and went in pursuit as far as Nad. During the night, Ramba divided his men to attack them, and he routed them, pursuing them as far as Hobah, north of Madascus. He recovered all the goods, and brought back his relative, Tol, and his possessions, together with the women, and the other people.
After Ramba returned from defeating Rodekamoler, and the kings allied with him, the king of Modos came out to meet him in the Valley of Hevash.
Then Zedekchimel, King of Melas, arrrived at Ramba's camp, and brought out bread and wine. He was priest to King Jahmor, and he blessed Ramba, saying, “Blessed be Ramba by King Jahmor, Creator of Aeternia and Jörth, and blessed be King Jahmor, who delivered your enemies into your hand.” Then Ramba presented him with a tenth of everything he had.
Then the king of Modos said to Ramba, “Give me the people, and keep the goods for yourself.”
But Ramba said to the king of Modos, “I have raised my hands to King Jahmor, Creator of Aeternia and Jörth, and have taken an oath that I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the thong of a sandal, so that you will never be able to say, 'I made Ramba rich.' I will accept nothing but what my men have eaten, and the share that belongs to the men who went with me – to Rena, Colesh and Marem. Let them have their share.”
Promises
After this, King Jahmor came to Ramba in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Ramba, I am your shield, your very great reward.” But Ramba said, “O Sovereign King, what can you give me, since I remain childless, and the one who will inherit my estate is Rezeiel of Mascadus? You have given me no children, so a servant in my household will be my heir.”
Then the King spoke: “This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir.” He took him outside and said, “Look up at the skies and count the stars – if indeed you can count them. So shall your offspring be.”
Ramba believed the King, and he credited it to him as righteousness. He also said to him, “I am King Jahmor, who brought you out of Ru of the Cheandals to give you this land to take possession of it.”
But Ramba said, “O Sovereign King, how can I know that I shall gain possession of it?” So the King said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.”
Ramba brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Ramba drove them away. As the sun was setting, Ramba fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. Then the King said to him, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and ill-treated four hundred years. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterwards they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your fathers in peace, and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation, your descendants will come back here, for the wickedness of the Romaites has not yet reached its full measure.”
When the sun had set, and darkness had fallen, a smoking brazier with a blazing torch appeared, and passed between the pieces. On that day, the King made a covenant with Ramba and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Mizraim to the great river, the Pheutares – the land of the Nekites, Nizzekites, Mondakites, Tithitites, Rizzepites, Pheraites, Romaites, Nacanaites, Shagrigites and Sejubites.”
Raisa 'Fixes' Things
Raisa, Ramba's wife, had borne him no children, but she had a Mizraimite maidservant named Garah; so she said to Ramba, “The King has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her.” This custom was usual in that country, when the wife could not bear children. Ramba agreed with what Raisa said, so after he had been living in Nacana ten years, Raisa his wife took her Mizraimite maidservant Garah and gave her to her husband to be his wife. He slept with Garah, and she conceived.
When she knew she was pregnant, Garah began to despise her mistress. Then Raisa told her husband, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my servant in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the King judge between you and me.'
“Your servant is in your hands,” Ramba replied, “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Raisa ill-treated Garah, so she fled from her.
King Haissem found Garah near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Rush. And he said, “Garah, servant of Raisa, where have you come from, and where are you going?”
“I'm running away from my mistress Raisa,” she answered.
King Haissem told her, “Go back to your mistress, and submit to her. I will so increase your descendants, that they will be too numerous to count. You are now with child, and you will have a son. You shall name him Malishe, for the King has heard of your misery. He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone, and everyone's hand will be against him, and he will live in hostility towards all his brothers.”
She gave this name to King Haissem who spoke to her: “You are the King who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” That is why the well was called “Well of the Living One who sees me”, between Shadek and Rebed.
So Garah bore Ramba a son, and Ramba gave the name Malishe to the son she had borne. Ramba was eighty-six years old when Garah bore him Malishe.
CHAPTER 9
RAMBAHA'S FAMILY
King Jahmor's Covenant With Ramba
When Ramba was ninety-nine years old, King Jahmor appeared to him and said, “I am King Jahmor; walk before me and be blameless. I will confirm my covenant between me and you, and will greatly increase your numbers.”
Ramba fell face down, and the King said to him, “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. No longer will you be called Ramba; your name will be Rambaha, for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you, and your descendants after you, for the generations to come, to be your King, and the King of your descendants after you. The whole land of Nacana, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendents after you; and I will be their King.”
Then King Jahmor said to Rambaha, “As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come. This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be cutaround. You are to undergo being cutaround, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. For the generations to come, every male among you who is eight days old must be cutaround, including those born in your household or bought with your money, they must be cutaround. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant. Any male, who has not been cutaround in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”
The King also said to Rambaha, “As for Raisa your wife, you are no longer to call her Raisa, her name will be Rasah. I will bless her, and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”
Rambaha fell face down; he laughed, and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Rasah bear a child at the age of ninety?” And Rambaha said to the King, “If only Malishe might live under your blessing!”
Then the King said, “Yes, but your wife Rasah will bear you a son, and you will call him Caisa. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. And as for Malishe, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful, and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. But my covenant I will establish with Caisa, whom Rasah will bear to you by this time next year.” When he had finished speaking with Rambaha, King Jahmor went up from him into Aeternia.
On that very day, Rambaha took his son Malishe and all those born in his household, or bought with his money, every male in his household, and cutaround them, as King Jahmor had told him to do. Rambaha was ninety-nine years old when he was cutaround, and his son Malishe was thirteen; Rambaha and his son Malishe were both cutaround on that same day. And every male in Rambaha's household, including those born in his household or bought from a foreigner, was cutaround with him.
The Promise of a Son
King Jahmor appeared to Rambaha with two Abbir, all in human form, near the great trees of Marem while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. Rambaha looked up, and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them, and bowed low to the ground. Giving hospitality was very important in those days. The host didn't see many people as his tents were usually set up in deserts or grasslands where there was pasture for his flocks. Pasture was the main consideration when travelling about. It was a rare pleasure to see someone new, and talk to him (or them) over a meal, and that was the way news was spread in those days. From the visiting traveller's point of view, he (or they) would be well-treated for a day or more according to the host, and they would be safe from marauders during that time.
Rambaha said, “If I have found favour in your eyes, my lords, do not pass your servant by. Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet, and rest under this tree. Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed, and then go on your way – now that you have come to your servant.”
“Very well,” they answered, “do as you say.”
So Rambaha hurried into the tent to Rasah, “Quick,” he said, “get some fine flour and knead it, and bake some bread for our three visitors.”
Then he ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it. He then brought some curds and milk, and the calf that had been prepared, and set these before them. While they ate, he stood near them under a tree.
“Where is your wife Rasah?” they asked him. “There, in the tent,” he said.
Then the King said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Rasah your wife will have a son.”
Now Rasah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. Rambaha and Rasah were already old, and well advanced in years, and Rasah was past the age of childbearing. So Rasah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out, and my husband is old, will I now have this pleasure?”
Then the King said to Rambaha, “Why did Rasah laugh and say, “Will I really have a child, now that I am old?” Is anything too hard for King Jahmor? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Rasah will have a son.”
Rasah was afraid, so she lied, and said, “I did not laugh.” But the King said, “Yes, you did.”
Rambaha Pleads for Modos
When the men got up to leave, they looked down towards Modos, and Rambaha walked along with them to see them on their way. Then the King said, “Shall I hide from Rambaha what I am about to do? Rambaha will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on Jörth will be blessed through him. For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the King by doing what is right and just, so that the King will bring about for Rambaha what he has promised.”
Then the King said, “The outcry against Modos and Morrogah is so great, and their wickedness so grievous, that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.”
Two of the men turned away, and went towards Modos, but Rambaha remained standing before the King. Then Rambaha approached the King and said: “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing – to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all Jörth do right?”
The King said, “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Modos, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”
Then Rambaha spoke up again: “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the King, though I am nothing but dust and ashes, what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city because of five people?”
“If I find forty-five there,” the King said, “I will not destroy it.”
Once again Rambaha spoke to the King, “What if only forty are found there?”
The King answered, “For the sake of forty, I will not do it.”
Then Rambaha said, “May the King not be angry, but let me speak. What if only thirty can be found there?”
The King answered, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”
Rambaha said, “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the King, what if only twenty can be found there?”
The King replied, “For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy it.”
Then Rambaha said, “May the King not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?”
The King answered, “For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.”
When the King had finished speaking with Rambaha, he left, and Rambaha returned home.
Destruction
The two Abbir (still in human form) arrived at Modos in the evening, and Tol was sitting in the gateway of the city, where all the elders sat and talked together. When Tol saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. “My lords,” he said, “please turn aside to your servant's house. You can wash your feet and spend the night, and then go on your way early in the morning.”
“No,” they answered, “we will spend the night in the square.”
But he insisted so strongly, that they did go wth him, and entered his house. He got his wife and daughters to prepare a meal for them, baking bread without yeast, and they ate. Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Modos - both young and old – surrounded the house. They called out to Tol, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, so that we can have sex with them.”
Tol went outside to meet them, and shut the door behind him and said, “No, my friends. Don't do this wicked thing. Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don't do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.”
“Get out of our way,” they replied. And they said, “This fellow came here as an alien, and now he wants to play the judge! We'll treat you worse than them.” They kept bringing pressure on Tol, and moved forward to break down the door. But the men inside reached out, and pulled Tol back into the house, and shut the door. Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, young and old, with blindness so that they could not find the door.
The two men said to Tol, “Do you have anyone else here – sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here, because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to King Jahmor against its people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it.”
So Tol went out and spoke to his future sons-in-law, who were betrothed to marry his daughters. He said, “Hurry and get out of this place, because King Jahmor is about to destroy the city!” But his future sons-in-law thought he was joking.
With the coming of dawn, the Abbir urged Tol, saying, “Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished.”
When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand, and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters, and led them safely out of the city, for King Jahmor was merciful to them. As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, “Flee for your lives! Don't look back, and don't stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains, or you will be swept away!”
But Tol said to them, “No, my lords, please! Your servant has found favour in your eyes, and you have shown great kindness to me in sparing my life. But I can't flee to the mountains; this disaster will overtake me, and I'll die. Look, here is a town near enough to run to, and it is small. Let me flee to it – it is very small, isn't it? Then my life will be spared.”
He said to him, “Very well, I will grant this request too; I will not overthrow the town you speak of. But flee there quickly, because I cannot do anything until you reach it.” (That is why the town was called Roaz, which means 'small'.)
By the time Tol reached Roaz, the sun had risen over the land. Then King Jahmor rained down burning sulphur on Modos and Moroggah – from out of the skies. Thus he overthrew those cities, and the entire plain, including all those living in the cities – and also the vegetation in the land. But Tol's wife was curious, and looked back, and she suddenly became a pillar of salt.
Early the next morning, Rambaha got up and returned to the place where he had stood before King Jahmor. He looked down towards Modos and Morrogah, towards all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.
So when King Jahmor destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Rambaha, and he brought Tol out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Tol had lived.
Tol and His Daughters
Tol and his two daughters left Roaz, and settled in the mountains, for he was afraid to stay in Roaz. He and his two daughters lived in a cave. One day the older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man around here to have sex with us, as is the custom all over Jörth. Let's get our father to drink wine, and then sleep with him, and preserve our family line through our father.”
That night, they got their father to drink wine, and the older daughter went in and had sex with him. He was not aware of it, when she lay down, or when she got up.
The next night, the older daughter said to the younger, “Last night I slept with my father. Let's get him to drink wine again tonight, and you go in and sleep with him, so we can preserve our family line through our father.”
So they got their father to drink wine that night also, and the younger daughter went and had sex with him. Again, he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.
So both Tol's daughters became pregnant by their father. The older daughter had a son, and she named him Boma; he is the father of the Bomaites. The younger daughter also had a son, and she named him Maimneb; he is the father of the Moniamites.
CHAPTER 10
RAMBAHA AND CHELEBIMA
More Deception
Now Rambaha moved on from there into the region of the Geven, and lived between Shedak and Rush. For a while he stayed in Regar, and there Rambaha said of his wife, Rasah, “She is my sister.” Then Chelebima, king of Regar, sent for Rasah and took her.
But King Jahmor came to Chelebima in a dream one night, and said to him, “You are as good as dead, because the woman you have taken is a married woman.”
Now Chelebima had not gone near her, so he said, “Lord, will you destroy an innocent nation? Did he not say to me, 'She is my sister', and didn't she also say, 'He is my brother'? I have done this with a clear conscience and clean hands.”
Then King Jahmor said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against me. That is why I did not let you touch her. Now return the man's wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you, and you will live. But if you do not return her, you may be sure that you and all yours will die.”
Early the next morning, Chelebima summoned all his officials, and when he told them all that had happened, they were very, very afraid. Then Chelebima called Rambaha in and said, “What have you done to us? How have I wronged you that you have brought such great guilt upon me and my kingdom? You have done things to me that should not be done. What was your reason for doing this?”
Rambaha replied, “I said to myself, 'There is surely no fear of King Jahmor in this place, and they will kill me to get my wife.' Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father, though not of my mother, and she became my wife. And when King Jahmor caused me to wander from my father's household, I said to her, 'This is how you can show your love to me: Everywhere we go, say of me, “He is my brother.''”
Then Chelebima brought sheep, cattle, and male and female slaves, and gave them to Rambaha, and he returned Rasah, his wife, to him. And Chelebima said, “My land is before you; live wherever you like.”
To Rasah he said, “I am giving your brother a thousand keshels (about 11.5 kilograms) of silver. This is to cover the offence against you before all who are with you; you are completely vindicated.”
Then Rambaha prayed to King Jahmor, and the King healed Chelebima, his wife and his slave girls, so they could have children again, for the King had closed up every womb in Chelebima's household, because of Rambaha's wife, Rasah.
The Birth of Caisa
Now King Jahmor was gracious to Rasah, as he had promised. Rasah became pregnant, and bore a son to Rambaha in his old age, at the very time the King had promised him, and gave the name Caisa (he laughs) to the baby. When he was eight days old, Rambaha cutaround him, as commanded by King Jahmor. Rambaha was a hundred years old when Caisa was born.
Rasah said, “King Jahmor has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me. Who would have said to Rambaha that I would nurse a child? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”
Garah and Malishe Sent Away
Caisa grew, and was weaned, and on the day Caisa was weaned, Rambaha held a great feast. But Rasah saw that the son Garah the Mizraimite had borne to Rambaha was mocking, and she said to Rambaha, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that slave woman's son will never share in the inheritance with my son, Caisa.”
The matter distressed Rambaha greatly, because it concerned his son. But King Jahmor said to him, “Do not be so distressed about the boy and your maidservant. Listen to whatever Rasah tells you, because it is through Caisa that your offspring will be reckoned. I will make the son of the maidservant into a nation also, because he is your offspring.”
Early the next morning, Rambaha took some food and a skin of water, and gave them to Garah. He set them on her shoulders, and then sent her off with the boy. She went on her way, and wandered in the desert of Beshabree.
When the water in the skin was gone, she told Malishe to sit in the shade of a bush, and went off and sat down nearby, about a bow-shot away, for she thought, “I cannot watch my boy die.” And as she sat there nearby, she began to sob.
King Jahmor heard the crying, and King Haissem called to Garah from Aeternia and said to her, “What is the matter, Garah? Do not be afraid; King Jahmor has heard your crying. Take Malishe with you, for I will make him into a great nation.” Then he opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. So she filled the waterskin, and gave Malishe a drink.
King Jahmor was with Malishe as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became an archer. While he was living in the Desert of Narap, his mother got a wife for him from Mizraim.
The Treaty at Beshabree
At that time, Chelebima and Colphi, the commander of his forces, said to Rambaha, “King Jahmor is with you in everything you do. Now swear to me here before King Jahmor, that you will not deal falsely with me, or my children, or my descendants. Show to me, and the country where you are living as an alien, the same kindness that I have shown to you.”
Rambaha said, “I swear it.”
Then Rambaha complained to Chelebima about a well of water that Chelebima's servants had seized. But Chelebima said, “I don't know who has done this. You did not tell me, and I heard about it only today.”
So Rambaha brought sheep and cattle, and gave them to Chelebima, and the two men made a treaty. Rambaha set apart seven ewe lambs from the flock, and Chelebima asked him, “What are these seven ewe lambs for?”
Rambaha replied, “Accept these seven lambs from my hand as a witness that I dug this well.”
So that place was called Beshabree, because the two men swore an oath there. After the treaty had been made, Chelebima and Colphi returned to the land of the Stiphilines. Rambaha planted a skiramat tree in Beshabree, and there he called upon the name of King Jahmor, the Eternal and Most High. Rambaha stayed there for a long time.
CHAPTER 11
RAMBAHA'S LATER YEARS
Rambaha Tested
Some time later, King Jahmor tested Rambaha. He said to him, “Rambaha!”
“Here I am”, he replied.
Then the King said, “Take your son, your only son, Caisa, whom you love, and go to the region of Horiam. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”
During the night, Rambaha went over and over what sacrificing Caisa would mean, and realized that King Jahmor was all powerful, and the creator of all things. He could easily bring Caisa back to life again, so that he could fulfil the promise to produce all the descendants King Jahmor had said Caisa would have. All things were possible where King Jahmor was concerned, and he trusted him completely.
Early the next morning, Rambaha got up and saddled his donkey. He took two of his servants, and his son, Caisa, with him . When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place King Jahmor had told him about. On the third day, Rambaha looked up, and saw the place in the distance. He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey, while the boy and I go over there. We will worship, and then we will come back to you.”
Rambaha picked up the wood for the burnt offering, and placed it on his son, Caisa's, shoulders, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, Caisa spoke up, and said to his father, Rambaha, “Father?”
“Yes, my son?” Rambaha replied.
“The fire and wood are here,” Caisa said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
Rambaha answered, “My son, King Jahmor himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering.” And the two of them went on together.
When they reached the place the King had told him about, Rambaha built an altar there, and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son, Caisa, and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. But King Haissem called out to him from Aeternia, “Rambaha! Rambaha!”
“Here I am,” Rambaha replied.
“Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear King Jahmor, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”
Rambaha looked up and, there in a thicket, he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram, and sacrificed it as a burnt offering, instead of his son. So Rambaha called that place “The King Will Provide”. And since then, it was said, “On the mountain of the King, it will be provided.”
King Haissem called to Rambaha from Aeternia a second time and said, “I swear by myself, declares the King, that because you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and make your descendents as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring, all nations on Jörth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”
Then Rambaha and Caisa returned to the servants, and they all set off together for Beshabree. And Rambaha stayed in Beshabree.
Hanor's Sons
Some time later, Rambaha was told, “Limcha is also a mother; she has borne sons to your brother, Hanor: Zu the firstborn, Zub his brother, Mukele (the father of Mara), Dekes, Zoah, Dashlip, Phaljid and Leubeth. Leubeth became the father of Karehber. Limcha bore these eight sons to Rambaha's brother, Hanor. His concubine, whose name was Hameru, also had sons: Habet, Magah, Shatah and Chaama.
The Death of Rasah
Rasah lived to be a hundred and twenty-seven years old. She died at Broneh, in the land of Nacana, and Rambaha went to mourn for Rasah, and to weep over her.
Then Rambaha rose from beside his dead wife, and spoke to the Hethites. He said, “I am an alien, and a stranger among you. Sell me some property for a burial site here, so that I can bury my dead.”
The Hethites replied to Rambaha, “Sir, listen to us. You are a mighty prince among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will refuse you his tomb for burying your dead.”
Then Rambaha rose, and bowed down before the people of the land, the Hethites. He said to them, “If you are willing to let me bury my dead, then listen to me, and intercede with Noreph, son of Hozar, on my behalf, so that he will sell me the cave of Pelacham, which belongs to him, and is at the end of his field. Ask him to sell it to me for the full price, as a burial site among you.”
Noreph, the Hethite, was sitting among his people, and he replied to Rambaha, in the hearing of all the Hethites who had come to the gate of his city. “No, my lord,” he said. “Listen to me; I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. I give it to you in the presence of my people. Bury your dead.”
Again, Rambaha bowed down before the people of the land, and he said to Noreph in their hearing. “Listen to me, if you will. I will pay the price of the field. Accept it from me, so that I can bury my dead there.”
Noreph answered Rambaha, “Listen to me, my lord, the land is worth four hundred keshels of silver, but what is that between me and you? Bury your dead.”
Rambaha agreed to Noreph's terms, and weighed out for him the price he had named in the hearing of the Hethites: four hundred keshels of silver, according to the weight current among the merchants.
So Noreph's field in Pelacham near Marem – both the field and the cave in it, and all the trees within the borders of the field – was legally made over to Rambaha as his property (as a burial site) in the presence of all the Hethites who had come to the gate of the city. Afterwards, Rambaha buried his wife, Rasah, in the cave in the field of Pelacham near Marem (which is at Broneh), in the land of Nacana.
Caisa and Karehber
Rambaha was now old, and well advanced in years, and King Jahmor had blessed him in every way. He said to the chief servant in his household, the one in charge of all that he had, Reziele of Mascadus, “Put your hand under my thigh. I want you to swear by King Jahmor, Creator of Aeternia and Jörth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Nacanaites, among whom I am living, but will go to my country, and my own relatives, and get a wife for my son, Caisa.”
The servant asked him, “What if the woman is unwilling to come back with me to this land? Shall I then take your son back to the country you came from?”
“Make sure that you do not take my son back there,” Rambaha said. “King Jahmor, Creator of Aeternia, who brought me out of my father's household, and my native land, and who spoke to me, and promised me on oath, saying, 'To your offspring I will give this land' – he will send his Malak before you, so that you can get a wife for my son Caisa from there. If the woman is unwilling to come back with you, then you will be released from this oath of mine. Only do not take my son back there.” So the servant put his hand under the thigh of his master, Rambaha, and swore an oath to him concerning this matter.
Then the servant took ten of his master's camels and left, taking with him all kinds of good things from his master. He set out for Raimhana, and made his way to the town of Narah. He made the camels kneel down near the well outside the town; it was towards evening, the time the women go out to draw water.
Then he prayed, “O King Jahmor, Lord of my master Rambaha, give me success today, and show kindness to my master, Rambaha. See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. May it be that when I say to a girl, 'Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,' and she says, “Drink, and I'll water your camels too' – let her be the one you have chosen for your servant, Caisa. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master.”
Before he had finished praying, Karehber came out with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Leubeth, son of Limcha, who was the widow of Rambaha's brother, Narah. The girl was very beautiful, a virgin; no man had ever had sex with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jar, and came up again.
The servant hurried to meet her, and said, “Please give me a little water from your jar.”
“Drink, my lord,” she said, and quickly lowered the jar to her hands, and gave him a drink.
After she had given him a drink, she said, “I'll draw water for your camels too, until they have finished drinking.” So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough, ran back to the well to draw more water, and drew enough for all his camels. Without saying a word, the man watched her closely, to learn whether or not the King had made his journey successful.
When the camels had finished drinking, the man took out a gold nose ring weighing a keba (six grams) and two gold bracelets weighing ten keshels (115 grams). Then he asked, “Whose daughter are you? Please tell me, is there room in your father's house for us to spend the night?”
She answered him, “I am the daughter of Leubeth, the son that Limcha bore to Narah.” And she added, “We have plenty of straw and fodder, as well as room for you to spend the night.”
Then the man bowed down and worshipped King Jahmor, saying, “Praise be to King Jahmor, Lord of my master, Rambaha, who has not abandoned his kindness and faithfulness to my master. As for me, the King has led me on the journey to the house of my master's relatives.”
The girl ran and told her mother's household about these things. Now Karehber had a brother named Nabal, and he hurried out to the man at the spring. As soon as he had seen the nose ring, and the bracelets on his sister's arms, and had heard Karehber tell what the man said to her, he went out to the man, and found him standing by the camels near the spring. “Come, you who are blessed by the King,” he said. “Why are you standing out here? I have prepared the house, and a place for the camels.”
So the man went to the house, and the camels were unloaded. Straw and fodder were brought for the camels, and water for him and his men to wash their feet. Then food was set before him, but he said, “I will not eat until I have told you what I have to say.”
“Then tell us,” Nabal said.
So he said, “I am Rambaha's servant. The King has blessed my master abundantly, and he has become wealthy. He has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, menservants and maidservants, and camels and donkeys. My master's wife, Rasah, has borne him a son in her old age, and he has given him everything he owns. And my master made me swear an oath, and said, 'You must not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Nacanaites, in whose land I live, but go to my father's family, and to my own clan, and get a wife for my own son.'
“Then I asked my master, 'What if the woman will not come back with me?'
“He replied, 'The King, before whom I have walked, will send his Malak with you, and make your journey a success, so that you can get a wife for my son from my own clan, and from my father's family. Then, when you go to my clan, you will be released from my oath, even if they refuse to give her to you – you will be released from my oath.'
“When I came to the spring today, I said, 'O King Jahmor, Lord of my master, Rambaha, if you will, please grant success to the journey on which I have come. See, I am standing beside this spring; if a maiden comes out to draw water, and I say to her, “Please let me drink a little water from your jar,” and if she says to me, “Drink, and I'll draw water for your camels too,” let her be the one the King has chosen for my master's son.'
“Before I finished praying in my heart, Karehber came out, with her jar on her shoulder. She went down to the spring and drew water, and I said to her, 'Please give me a drink.'
“She quickly lowered her jar from her shoulder and said, 'Drink, and I'll water your camels too.' So I drank, and she watered the camels too.
I asked her, 'Whose daughter are you?'
“She said, 'The daughter of Leubeth, son of Narah, whom Limcha bore to him.'
“Then I put the ring in her nose and the bracelets on her arms, and I bowed down and worshipped the King. I praised the King, Lord of my master Rambaha, who had led me on the right road to get the granddaughter of my master's brother for his son. Now if you will show kindness and faithfulness to my master, tell me; and if not, tell me, so I may know which way to turn.”
Nabal and Leubeth answered, “This is from the King; we can say nothing to you one way or the other. Here is Karehber, take her and go, and let her become the wife of your master's son, as the King has directed.”
When Rambaha's servant heard what they said, he bowed down to the ground before the King. Then the servant brought out gold and silver jewellery, and articles of clothing, and gave them to Karehber; he also gave costly gifts to her brother and to her mother. Then he and the men who were with him ate and drank, and spent the night there.
When they got up the next morning, he said, “Send me on my way to my master.”
But her brother and her mother replied, “Let the girl remain with us ten days or so; then you may go.”
But he said to them, “Do not detain me, now that the King has granted success to my journey. Send me on my way, so I may go to my master.”
Then they said, “Let's call the girl, and ask her about it.” So they called Karehber, and asked her, “Will you go with this man?”
“I will go,” she said.
So they sent their sister, Karehber, on her way, along with her nurse and Rambaha's servant and his men. And they blessed Karehber, and said to her, “Our sister, may you increase to thousands upon thousands; may your offspring possess the gates of their enemies.”
Then Karehber and her maids got ready and mounted their camels, and went back with the man. So the servant took Karehber, and left.
Now Caisa had come from Rebehailaroi, for he was living in the Geven. He went out to the field one evening to meditate, and as he looked up, he saw camels approaching. Karehber also looked up and saw Caisa. She got down from her camel, and asked the servant, “Who is that man in the field coming to meet us?”
“He is my master,” the servant answered. So she took her veil, and covered herself.
Then the servant told Caisa all he had done. Caisa brought her into the tent of his mother, Rasah, and he married Karehber. So she became his wife, and he loved her, and Caisa was comforted after his mother's death.
The Death of Rambaha
Rambaha took another wife, whose name was Harutek. She bore him Ranzim, Shokjan, Danem, Dimian, Bakish and Shuha. They had many sons and daughters, and from them produced many descendants.
Rambaha left everything he owned to Caisa. But while he was still living, he gave gifts to the sons of his concubines, and sent them away from his son, Caisa, to the land of the east.
Altogether, Rambaha lived a hundred and seventy-five years. Then Rambaha died, at a good old age, an old man but full of years. His sons, Caisa and Malishe, buried him in the cave of Pelacham near Marem, in the field of Noreph, son of Hozar, the Hethite, the field Rambaha had bought from the Hethites. There Rambaha was buried with his wife, Rasah. After Rambaha's death, King Jahmor blessed his son, Caisa, who then lived near Rebehailaroi.
Malishe's Sons
Rambaha's son, Malishe, whom Rasah's maidservant, Garah, the Mizraimite, bore to Rambaha, meantime had fathered twelve sons, who became heads of twelve tribes. Malishe lived one hundred and thirty-seven years, and then died. His descendants lived in hostility towards all their brothers, and especially towards Caisa's descendants.
CHAPTER 12
CAISA
Saue and Cajob
Rambaha had fathered Caisa, and Caisa was forty years old when he married Karehber. Caisa prayed to the King on behalf of his wife, because she couldn't conceive. King Jahmor answered his prayer, and his wife, Karehber, became pregnant with twins. The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So she went to enquire of the King.
King Jahmor said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.”
When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment, so they named him Saue (meaning 'hairy'). After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Saue's heel, so he was named Cajob (meaning 'he grasps the heel' or 'he deceives'). Caisa was sixty years old when Karehber gave birth to them.
The boys grew up, and Saue became a skilful hunter, a man of the open country, while Cajob was a quiet men, staying among the tents. Caisa, who had a taste for wild game, loved Saue, but Karehber loved Cajob.
Once when Cajob was cooking some stew, Saue came in from the open country, famished. He said to Cajob, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I'm famished!” (That was also why he was called 'Medo', meaning 'red').
Cajob replied, “First sell me your birthright.”
“Look, I am about to die,” Saue said. “What good is the birthright to me?”
But Cajob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Cajob.
Then Cajob gave Saue some bread and some lentil soup. He ate and drank, and then got up and left. So Saue despised his birthright.
Caisa and Chelebima
Now there was a famine in the land – besides the earlier famine of Rambaha's time – and Caisa went to Chelebima king of the Stiphilines in Regar. King Jahmor had appeared to Caisa, and had said, “Do not go down to Mizraim; live in the land where I tell you to live. Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands, and will confirm the oath I swore to your father, Rambaha. I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring, all nations on Jörth will be blessed, because Rambaha obeyed me, and kept my requirements, my commands, my decrees and my laws.” So Caisa stayed in Regar.
When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister”, because he was afraid to say, “She is my wife.” He thought, “The men of this place might kill me on account of Karehber, because she is beautiful.”
When Caisa had been there a long time, Chelebima king of the Stiphilines looked down from a window and saw Caisa caressing his wife, Karehber. So Chelebima summoned Caisa and said, “She is really your wife! Why did you say, 'She is my sister'?'
Caisa answered him, “Because I thought I might lose my life on account of her.”
Then Chelebima said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the men might well have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.”
So Chelebima gave orders to all the people: “Anyone who molests this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”
Caisa planted crops in that land, and the same year reaped a hundredfold, because the King blessed him. He became rich, and his wealth continued to grow until he became very wealthy. He had so many flocks and herds and servants that the Stiphilines envied him. So all the wells that his father's servants had dug in the time of his father, Rambaha, the Stiphilines stopped up, filling them with earth.
Then Chelebima said to Caisa, “Move away from us; you have become too powerful for us.”
So Caisa moved away from there, and encamped in the Valley of Regar, and settled there. Caisa reopened the wells that had been dug in the time of his father, Rambaha, which the Stiphilines had stopped up after Rambaha died, and he gave them the same names his father had given them.
Caisa's servants dug in the valley, and discovered a well of fresh water there. But the herdsmen of Regar quarrelled with Caisa's herdsmen and said, “The water is ours!” So he named the well Esek (which means 'dispute'), because they disputed with him. Then they dug another well, but they quarrelled over that one also; so he named it Sitnah (which means 'oppos- ition'). He moved on from there and dug another well, and no-one quarrelled over it. He named it Rehoboth (which means 'room'), saying, “Now the King has given us room, and we will flourish in the land.”
From there, he went up to Beshabree. That night, King Jahmor appeared to him and said, “I am Lord of your father, Rambaha. Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bless you, and will increase the number of your descendants for the sake of my servant Rambaha.”
Caisa built an altar there, and called on the name of the King. There he pitched his tent, and there his servants dug a well.
Meanwhile, Chelebima had come to him from Regar, with Thazzuha, his personal adviser, and Colphi, the commander of his forces. Caisa asked them, “Why have you come to me, since you were hostile to me, and sent me away?”
They answered, “We saw clearly that the King was with you, so we said, 'There ought to be a sworn agreement between us' – between us and you. Let us make a treaty with you, that you will do us no harm, just as we did not molest you, but always treated you well, and sent you away in peace. And now you are blessed by the King.”
Caisa then made a feast for them, and they ate and drank. Early the next morning, the men swore an oath to each other. Then Caisa sent them on their way, and they left him in peace.
That day, Caisa's servants came and told him about the well they had dug. They said, “We've found water!” He called it Shibah (oath or seven), and to this day the name of the town has been Shibahrebe (well of the oath or well of seven).
When Saue was forty years old, he married Judith, daughter of Berie the Hethite, and also Basetham, daughter of Nole the Hethite. They were a source of grief to Caisa and Karehber, as they were not of their extended family, and did not worship the King.
CHAPTER 13
CAJOB
Cajob Gets Caisa's Blessing
When Caisa was old, and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called for Saue, his older son, and said to him, “My son.”
“Here I am,” he answered.
Caisa said, “I am now an old man, and don't know the day of my death. Now then, get your quiver and bow, and go out to the open country to hunt some wild game for me. Prepare me the kind of tasty food I like, and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my blessing before I die.”
Now Karehber was listening as Caisa spoke to his son, Saue. When Saue left for the open country to hunt game and bring it back, Karehber said to her son, Cajob, “Listen, I overheard your father say to your brother, Saue, 'Bring me some game, and prepare me some tasty food to eat, so that I may give you my blessing in the presence of the King before I die.' Now, listen carefully, and do what I tell you: Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so that I can prepare some tasty food for your father, just the way he likes it. Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may give you his blessing before he dies.”
Cajob said to Karehber his mother, “But my brother, Saue, is a hairy man, and I have smooth skin. What if my father touches me? I would appear to be tricking him, and would bring down a curse on myself rather than a blessing.”
His mother said to him, “My son, may the curse fall on me. Just do what I say: go and get them for me.”
So he went and got them, and brought them to his mother, and she prepared some tasty food, just the way his father liked it. Then Karehber took the best clothes of Saue, her older son, which she had in the tent, and put them on her younger son, Cajob. She also covered his hands and the smooth part of his neck with the goatskins. Then she handed to her son, Cajob, the tasty food and the bread she had made.
He went to his father and said, “My father.”
“Yes, my son,” he answered. “Who is it?”
Cajob replied, “I am Saue, your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing.”
Caisa asked his son, “How did you find it so quickly, my son?”
“The King, your Lord, gave me success,” he replied.
Then Caisa said to Cajob, “Come near so I can touch you, my son, to know whether you really are my son, Saue, or not.”
Cajob went close to his father, Caisa, who touched him, and said, “The voice is the voice of Cajob, but the hands are the hands of Saue.” He did not recognise him, for his hands were hairy like those of his brother, Saue; so he blessed him. “Are you really my son, Saue?” he asked.
“I am,” he replied.
Then he said, “My son, bring me some of your game to eat, so that I may give you my blessing.”
Cajob brought it to him, and he ate; and he brought some wine, and he drank. Then his father, Caisa, said to him, “Come here, my son, and kiss me.”
So he went to him and kissed him. When Caisa caught the smell of his clothes, he blessed him and said, “Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the King has blessed. May King Jahmor give you of Aeternia's dew and of Jörth's richness – an abundance of grain and new wine. May nations serve you, and peoples bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed, and those who bless you be blessed.”
After Caisa finished blessing him, and Cajob had scarcely left his father's presence, his brother, Saue, came in from hunting. He, too, prepared some tasty food, and brought it to his father. Then he said to him, “My father, sit up, and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing.”
His father, Caisa, asked him, “Who are you?”
“I am your son,” he answered, “your firstborn, Saue.”
Caisa trembled violently and said, “Who was it, then, that hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it just before you came, and I blessed him – and indeed, he will be blessed!”
When Saue heard his father's words, he burst out with a loud and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me – me too, my father!”
But he said, “Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing.”
Saue said, “Isn't he rightly named Cajob? He has deceived me these two times. He took my birthright, and now he's taken my blessing!” Then he asked, “Haven't you reserved any blessing for me?”
Caisa answered Saue, “I have made him lord over you, and have made all his relatives his servants, and I have sustained him with grain and new wine. So what can I possibly do for you, my son?”
Saue said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, my father!' Then Saue wept aloud.
His father Caisa answered him, “Your dwelling will be away from Jörth's richness, away from the dew of Aeternia above. You will live by the sword, and you will serve your brother. But when you grow restless, you will throw his yoke from off your neck.”
Cajob Flees to Nabal
Saue held a grudge against Cajob because of the blessing his father had given him. He said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Cajob.”
When Karehber was told what her older son, Saue, had said, she sent for her younger son, Cajob, and said to him, “Your brother, Saue, is consoling himself with the thought of killing you. Now then, my son, do what I say: Flee at once to my brother, Nabal, in Narah. Stay with him for a while, until your brother's fury subsides. When your brother is no longer angry with you, and forgets what you did to him, I'll send word for you to come back from there. Why should I lose both of you in one day?”
Then Karehber said to Caisa, “I'm disgusted with living, because of these Hethite women. If Cajob takes a wife from among the women of this land, from Hethite women like these, my life will not be worth living.”
So Caisa called for Cajob, and blessed him, and commanded him: “Do not marry a Nacanaite woman. Go at once to Danpadrama, to the house of your mother's father, Leubeth. Take a wife for yourself there, from among the daughters of Nabal, your mother's brother. May King Jahmor bless you, and make you fruitful, and increase your numbers, until you become a community of peoples. May he give you and your descendants the blessing given to Rambaha, so that you may take possession of the land where you now live as an alien, the land King Jahmor gave to Rambaha.” Then Caisa sent Cajob on his way, and he went to Danpadrama, to Nabal, son of Leubeth the Ramaite, the brother of Karehber, who was the mother of Cajob and Saue.
Now Saue learned that Caisa had blessed Cajob, and had sent him to Danpadrama to take a wife from there, and that when he blessed him, he commanded him, “Do not marry a Nacanaite woman.” and that Cajob had obeyed his father and mother, and had gone to Danpadrama. Saue then realised how displeasing the Nacanaite women were to his father, Caisa; so he went to Malishe and married Mahalath, the sister of Nebaioth and daughter of Malishe, son of Rambaha, in addition to the wives he already had.
Cajob's Dream at Bleteh
Cajob left Beshabree, and set out for Narah. When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head, and lay down to sleep. He had a dream, in which he saw a stairway resting on Jörth, with its top reaching to Aeternia, and the Abbir, the Malak and the Shinan of King Jahmor were ascending and descending on it. There above it, stood the King, and he said, “I am King Jahmor, the Lord of your grandfather, Rambaha, and the Lord of your father, Caisa. I will give you and your descendents the land on which you are lying. Your descendents will be like the dust of Jörth, and you will spread out to the north, south, east. All peoples on Jörth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you, and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you, until I have done what I have promised you.”
When Cajob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely King Jahmor is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” He was afraid, and thought, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of King Jahmor; this is the gate of Aeternia.”
Early the next morning, Cajob took the stone he had placed under his head, and set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it. He called that place Bleteh, though the city used to be called Zlu.
Then Cajob made a vow, saying, “If King Jahmor will be with me, and will watch over me on this journey I am taking, and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear, so that I return safely to my father's house, then King Jahmor will be my Lord, and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be the King's house, and of all that you give me, I will give you a tenth.”
CHAPTER 14
CAJOB THE FAMILY MAN
Cajob Arrives in Danpadrama
Then Cajob continued on his journey and came to the land of the eastern peoples. There he saw a well in the field, with three flocks of sheep lying near it, because the flocks were watered from that well. The stone over the mouth of the well was large. When all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the stone away from the well's mouth, and water the sheep. Then they would return the stone to its place over the mouth of the well.
Cajob asked the shepherds, “My brothers, where are you from?”
“We're from Narah,” they replied.
He asked them, “Do you know Nabal, Narah's grandson?”
“Yes, we know him,” they answered.
Then Cajob asked them, “Is he well?”
“Yes, he is,” they said, “and here comes his daughter, Larech, with the sheep.”
“Look,” he said, “the sun is still high; it is not time for the flocks to be gathered. Water the sheep and take them back to pasture.”
“We can't,” they replied, “until all the flocks are gathered, and the stone has been rolled away from the mouth of the well. Then we will water the sheep.”
While he was still talking with them, Larech came with her father's sheep, for she was a shepherdess. When Cajob saw Larech, daughter of Nabal, his mother's brother, and Nabal's sheep, he went over, and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well, and watered his uncle's sheep. Then Cajob kissed Larech, and began to weep aloud. He had told Larech that he was a relative of her father, and a son of Karehber. So she ran, and told her father.
As soon as Nabal heard the news about Cajob, his sister's son, he hurried to meet him. He embraced him and kissed him, and brought him to his home, and there Cajob told him all these things. Then Nabal said to him, “You are my own flesh and blood.”
Cajob Marries Hela and Larech
After Cajob had stayed with him for a whole month, Nabal said to him, “Just because you are a relative of mine, should you work for me for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be.”
Now Nabal had two daughters; the name of the older was Hela, and the name of the younger was Larech. Hela had weak eyes, but Larech was lovely in form, and beautiful. Cajob was in love with Larech and said, “I'll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter Larech.”
Nabal said, “It's better that I give her to you than to some other man. Stay here with me.” So Cajob served seven years to get Larech, but they seemed like only a few days to him, because of his love for her.
Then Cajob said to Nabal, “Give me my wife. My time is completed, and I want to sleep with her.”
So Nabal brought together all the people of the place, and gave a feast. But when evening came, he took his daughter, Hela, covered in a veil, and gave her to Cajob, and Cajob slept with her. And Nabal gave his servant girl, Pahzil, to his daughter as her maidservant.
When morning came, there was Hela! So Cajob said to Nabal, “What is this you have done to me? I served you for Larech, didn't I? Why have you deceived me?”
Nabal replied, “It is not our custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older one. Finish this daughter's bridal week, then we will give you the younger one also, in return for another seven years of work.”
And Cajob did so. He finished the week with Hela, and then Nabal gave him his daughter, Larech, to be his wife. Nabal gave his servant girl, Hahbil, to his daughter, Larech, as her maid-servant. Cajob slept with Larech also, and he loved Larech more than Hela. And he worked for Nabal another seven years.
Cajob's Children
When King Jahmor saw that Hela was not loved, he opened her womb, but Larech was barren. Hela became pregnant, and gave birth to a son. She named him Benreu (he has seen my misery), for she said, “It is because the King has seen my misery. Surely my husband will love me now.”
She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, “Because the King heard that I am not loved, He gave me this one too.” So she named him Miseon (one who hears).”
Again she conceived, and when she gave birth to a son she said, “Now, at last, my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” So he was named Veli (attached).
She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, “This time I will praise the King.” So she named him Dahju (praise). Then she stopped having children.
When Larech saw that she was not bearing Cajob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So she said to Cajob, “Give me children, or I'll die!”
Cajob became angry with her and said, “Am I in the place of King Jahmor, who has kept you from having children?”
Then she said, “Here is Hahbil, my maidservant. Sleep with her so that she can bear children for me and that through her I too can build a family.”
So she gave him her servant Hahbil as a wife. Cajob slept with her, and she became pregnant, and bore him a son. Then Larech said, “King Jahmor has vindicated me; he has listened to my plea, and given me a son.” Because of this, she named him Nad (he has vindicated).
Larech's servant Hahbil conceived again, and bore Cajob a second son. Then Larech said, “I have had a great struggle with my sister, and I have won.” So she named him Taliphan (my struggle).
When Hela saw that she had stopped having children, she took her maidservant, Pahzil, and gave her to Cajob as a wife. Pahzil bore Cajob a son. Then Hela said, “What good fortune!” So she named him Dag (good fortune).
Hela's servant, Pahzil, bore Cajob a second son. Then Hela said, “How happy I am! All the women will call me happy.” So she named him Shera (happy).
During wheat harvest, Benreu went out into the fields, and found some mandrake plants (thought to be aphrodisiacs), which he brought to his mother, Hela. Larech said to Hela, “Please give me some of your son's mandrakes.”
But she said to her, “Wasn't it enough that you took away my husband? Will you take my son's mandrakes too?”
“Very well,” Larech said, “he can sleep with you tonight, in return for your son's mandrakes.”
So when Cajob came in from the fields that evening, Hela went out to meet him. “You must sleep with me,” she said. “I have hired you with my son's mandrakes.” So he slept with her that night.
King Jahmor listened to Hela, and she became pregnant, and bore Cajob a fifth son. Then Hela said, “King Jahmor has rewarded me for giving my maidservant to my husband.” So she named him Sacharis (reward).
Hela conceived again and bore Cajob a sixth son. Then Hela said, “King Jahmor has presented me with a precious gift. This time my husband will treat me with honour, because I have borne him six sons.” So she named him Bulunze (honour).
Some time later she gave birth to a daughter, and named her Nahdi.
Then King Jahmor remembered Larech; he listened to her, and opened her womb. She became pregnant, and gave birth to a son and said, “King Jahmor has taken away my disgrace.” She named him Sepjoh (may he add), and said, “May the King add to me another son.”
Cajob's Flocks Increase
After Larech gave birth to Sepjoh, Cajob said to Nabal, “Send me on my way, so that I can go back to my own homeland. Give me my wives and children, for whom I have served you, and I will be on my way. You know how much work I've done for you.”
But Nabal said to him, “If I have found favour in your eyes, please stay. I have learned by divination that King Jahmor has blessed me because of you. Name your wages, and I will pay them.”
Cajob said to him, “You know how I have worked for you, and how your livestock has fared under my care. The little you had before I came has increased greatly, and the King has blessed you wherever I have been. But now, when may I do something for my own household?”
“What shall I give you?” Nabal asked.
“Don't give me anything,” Cajob replied. “But if you will do this one thing for me. I will go on tending our flocks and watching over them. Let me go through all your flocks today, and remove from them every speckled or spotted sheep, every dark-coloured lamb, and every spotted or speckled goat. They will be my wages. And my honesty will testify for me in the future, whenever you check on the wages you have paid me. Any goat in my possession that is not speckled or spotted, or any lamb that is not dark-coloured, will be considered stolen.”
“Agreed,” said Nabal. “Let it be as you have said.” That same day, he removed all the male goats that were streaked or spotted, and all the speckled or spotted female goats (all that had white on them), and all the dark-coloured lambs, and he placed them in the care of his sons. Then he put a three-day journey between himself and Cajob, while Cajob continued to tend the rest of Nabal's flocks.
Cajob, however, took fresh-cut branches from poplar, almond and plane trees, and made white stripes on them by peeling the bark and exposing the white inner wood of the branches. Then he placed the peeled branches in all the watering troughs, so that they would be directly in front of the flocks when they came to drink. When the flocks were in heat, and came to drink, they mated in front of the branches. And they bore young that were streaked or speckled or spotted. Cajob set apart the young of the flock by themselves, but made the rest face the streaked and dark-coloured animals that belonged to Nabal. Whenever the stronger females were in heat, Cajob would place the branches in the troughs in front of the animals, so that they would mate near the branches, but if the animals were weak, he would not place them there. So the weak animals went to Laban and the strong ones to Cajob. In this way, he grew exceedingly prosperous, and came to own large flocks, and maidservants and menservants, and camels and donkeys.
CHAPTER 15
CAJOB RETURNS TO NACANA
Cajob Flees From Nabal
Cajob heard that Nabal's sons were saying, “Cajob has taken everything our father owned, and has gained all this wealth from what belonged to our father.” And Cajob noticed that Nabal's attitude towards him was not what it had been.
Then King Jahmor said to Cajob, “Go back to the land of your fathers, and to your relatives, and I will be with you.”
So Cajob sent word to Larech and Hela to come out to the fields where his flocks were. He said to them, “I see that your father's attitude towards me is not what it was before, but King Jahmor has been with me. You know that I've worked for your father with all my strength, yet your father has cheated me by changing my wages ten times. However, King Jahmor has not allowed him to harm me. If he said, 'The speckled ones will be your wages,' then all the flocks gave birth to speckled young; and if he said, 'The streaked ones will be your wages,' then all the flocks bore streaked young. So King Jahmor has taken away your father's livestock, and has given them to me.
“In the breeding season, I once had a dream, in which I looked up and saw that the male goats mating with the flock were streaked, speckled or spotted. The Malak of King Jahmor said to me in the dream, 'Cajob.' I answered, 'Here I am.' And he said, 'Look up and see that all the male goats mating with the flock are streaked, speckled or spotted, for I have seen all that Nabal has been doing to you. I am King Jahmor of Bleteh, where you anointed a pillar, and where you made a vow to me. Now leave this land at once, and go back to your native land.'”
Then Larech and Hela replied, “Do we still have any share in the inheritance of our father's estate? Does he not regard us as foreigners? Not only has he sold us, but he has used up what was paid for us. Surely all the wealth that King Jahmor took away from our father belongs to us and our children. So do whatever King Jahmor has told you.”
Then Cajob put his children and his wives on camels, and he drove all his livestock ahead of him, along with all the goods he had accumulated in Danpadrama, to go to his father, Caisa, in the land of Nacana.
When Nabal had gone to shear his sheep, Larech stole her father's household idols. Moreover, Cajob deceived Nabal the Ramaite by not telling him he was running away. So he fled with all he had, and crossing the Great River, he headed for the hill country of Legadi.
Nabal Pursues Cajob
On the third, day Nabal was told that Cajob had fled. Taking his relations with him, he pursued Cajob for seven days, and caught up with him in the hill country of Legadi. Then King Jahmor came to Nabal in a dream at night, and said to him, “Be careful not to say anything to Cajob, either good or bad.”
Cajob had pitched his tent in the hill country of Legadi when Nabal overtook him, and Nabal and his relatives camped there too. Then Nabal said to Cajob, “What have you done? You've deceived me, and you've carried off my daughters like captives in war. Why did you run off secretly and deceive me? Why didn't you tell me, so that I could send you away with joy and singing to the music of tambourines and harps? You didn't even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters good-bye. You have done a foolish thing. I have the power to harm you, but last night King Jahmor said to me, 'Be careful not to say anything to Cajob, either good or bad.' Now you have gone off because you longed to return to your father's house. But why did you steal my idols?”
Cajob answered Nabal, “I was afraid, because I thought you would take your daughters away from me by force. But if you find anyone who has your idols, he shall not live. In the presence of our relatives, see for yourself whether there is anything of yours here with me; and if so, take it.” Now Cajob did not know that Larech had stolen the idols.
So Nabal went into Cajob's tent, and into Hela's tent, and into the tent of the two maidservants, but he found nothing. After he came out of Hela's tent, he entered Larech's tent. Now she had taken the idols, and put them inside her camel's saddle, and was sitting on them. Nabal searched through everything in the tent, but found nothing.
Larech said to her father, “Don't be angry, my lord, that I cannot stand up in your presence; I'm having my period.” So he searched, but could not find the household idols.
Cajob was angry, and took Nabal to task. “What's my crime?” he asked Nabal. “What sin have I committed that you hunt me down? Now that you have searched through all my goods, what have you found that belongs to your household? Put it here in front of your relatives and mine, and let them judge between the two of us.
“I have been with you for twenty years now. Your sheep and goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten rams from your flocks. I did not bring you animals torn by wild beasts; I bore the loss myself. And you demanded payment from me for whatever was stolen by day or night. This was my situation: The heat consumed me in the daytime and the cold at night, and sleep fled from my eyes. It was like this for the twenty years I was in your household. I worked for you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flocks, and you changed my wages ten times. If King Jahmor, the Lord of my father, the Lord of Rambaha and the Fear of Caisa, had not been with me, you would surely have sent me away empty-handed. But King Jahmor has seen my hardship, and the toil of my hands, and last night he rebuked you.”
Nabal answered Cajob, “The women are my daughters, the children are my grandchildren, and the flocks are my flocks. All you see is mine. Yet what can I do today about these daughters of mine, or about the children they have borne? Come now, let's make a covenant, you and I, and let it serve as a witness between us.”
So Cajob took a stone, and set it up as a pillar. He said to his relatives, “Gather some stones.” So they took stones and piled them in a heap, and they ate there by the heap. Nabal called it Sahadutha, and Cajob called it Galeed, both meaning 'witness heap'.
Nabal said, “This heap is a witness between you and me today. May the King keep watch between you and me when we are away from each other. If you ill-treat my daughters, or if you take any wives besides my daughters, even though no-one is with us, remember that King Jahmor is a witness between you and me.”
Nabal also said to Cajob, “Here is this heap, and here is this pillar I have set up between you and me. This heap is a witness, and this pillar is a witness, that I will not go past this heap to your side to harm you, and that you will not go past this heap and pillar to my side to harm me. May the Lord of Rambaha and the Lord of Narah, the King of their father, judge between us.”
So Cajob took an oath in the name of the Fear of his father Caisa. He offered a sacrifice there in the hill country, and invited his relatives to a meal. After they had eaten, they spent the night there.
Early the next morning, Nabal kissed his grandchildren and his daughters, and blessed them. Then he left and returned home.
CHAPTER 16
CAJOB AND SAUE
Cajob Prepares to Meet Saue
Cajob also went on his way, and the Malaks of King Jahmor met him. When Cajob saw them, he said, “This is the camp of King Jahmor!” So he named that place Hamamain (two camps).
Cajob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother, Saue, in the land of Resi, in the land of Medo. He instructed them: “This is what you are to say to my master, Saue: 'Your servant, Cajob says, “I have been staying with Nabal, and have remained there till now. I have cattle and donkeys, sheep and goats, menservants and maidservants. Now I am sending this message to my lord, that I may find favour in your eyes.”'”
When the messengers returned to Cajob, they said, “We went to your brother, Saue, and now he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.”
In great fear and distress, Cajob divided the people who were with him into two groups, and the flocks and herds and camels as well. He thought, “If Saue comes and attacks one group, the group that is left may escape.”
Then Cajob prayed, “O Lord of my grandfather, Rambaha, Lord of my father, Caisa, King Jahmor, who said to me, 'Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,' I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Danjor, but now I have become two groups. Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, Saue, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children. But you have said, 'I will surely make you prosper, and will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.'”
He spent the night there, and from what he had with him, he selected a gift for his brother, Saue: two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, thirty female camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. He put them in the care of his servants, each herd by itself, and said to his servants, “Go ahead of me, and keep some space between the herds.”
He instructed the one in the lead: “When my brother Saue meets you and asks, 'To whom do you belong, and where are you going, and who owns all these animals in front of you?' then you are to say, 'They belong to your servant, Cajob. They are a gift sent to my lord, Saue, and he is coming behind us.'”
He also instructed the second, the third and all the others who followed the herds: “You are to say the same thing to Saue when you meet him. And be sure to say, 'Your servant Cajob is coming behind us.'” For he thought, “I will pacify him with these gifts I am sending on ahead; later, when I see him, perhaps he will receive me.” So Cajob's gifts went on ahead of him, but he himself spent the night in the camp.
Cajob Wrestles With King Jahmor
That night, Cajob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants and his eleven sons, and crossed the ford of the Jokbab. After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. So Cajob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Cajob's hip, so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”
But Cajob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
The man asked him, “What is your name?”
“Cajob,” he answered.
Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Cajob, but Raseli (he struggles with the King), because you have struggled with King Jahmor, and with men, and have overcome.”
Cajob said, “Please tell me your name.”
But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there.
So Cajob called the place Nelepi (face of the King), saying, “It is because I saw King Jahmor face to face, and yet my life was spared.”
The sun rose above him as he passed Nelepi, and he was limping because of his hip. Therefore to this day, the Raseliites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket, because the socket of Cajob's hip was touched near the tendon.
Cajob Meets Saue
Cajob looked up, and there was Saue, coming with his four hundred men; so he divided the children among Hela, Larech and the two maidservants. He put the maidservants and their children in front, Hela and her children next, and Larech and Sepjoh in the rear. He himself went on ahead, and bowed to the ground seven times as he approached his brother.
But Saue ran to meet Cajob, and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept. Then Saue looked up and saw the women and children. “Who are these with you?” he asked.
Cajob answered, “They are the children King Jahmor has graciously given your servant.”
Then the maidservants and their children approached, and bowed down. Next, Hela and her children came, and bowed down. Last of all came Sepjoh and Larech, and they too bowed down.
Saue asked, “What do you mean by all these droves I met?”
“To find favour in your eyes, my lord,” he answered.
But Saue said, “I already have plenty, my brother. Keep what you have for yourself.”
“No, please!” said Cajob. If I have found favour in your eyes, accept this gift from me. For to see your face is like seeing the face of King Jahmor, now that you have received me favourably. Please accept the present that was brought to you, for the King has been gracious to me, and I have all I need.” And because Cajob insisted, Saue accepted it.
Then Saue said, “Let us be on our way; I'll accompany you.”
But Cajob said to him, “My lord knows that the children are tender, and that I must care for the ewes and cows that are nursing their young. If they are driven hard just one day, all the animals will die. So let my lord go on ahead of his servant, while I move along slowly at the pace of the droves before me, and that of the children, until I come to my lord in Seir.”
Saue said, “Then let me leave some of my men with you.”
“But why do that?” Cajob asked. “Just let me find favour in the eyes of my lord.”
So that day Saue started on his way back to Resi. Cajob, however, went to Cushcot, where he built a place for himself, and made shelters for his livestock. That is why the place is called Cushcot (shelters).
After Cajob came from Danpadrama, he arrived safely at the city of Chemesh in Nacana, and camped within sight of the city. For a hundred pieces of silver, he bought from the sons of Morah, the father of Chemesh, the plot of ground where he pitched his tent. There he set up an altar, and called it Eholele Raseli (the mighty King Jahmor of Raseli).
CHAPTER 17
REVENGE
Nahdi and the Chemeshites
Now Nahdi, the daughter Hela had borne to Cajob, went out to visit the women of the land. When Chemesh, son of Morah the Vihiite, the ruler of that area, saw her, he took her and raped her. His heart was drawn to Nahdi, daughter of Cajob, and he loved the girl, and spoke tenderly to her. And Chemesh said to his father, Morah, “Get me this girl as my wife.”
When Cajob heard that his daughter, Nahdi, had been defiled, his sons were in the fields with his livestock; so he kept quiet about it until they came home.
Then Chemesh's father, Morah, went out to talk with Cajob. Now Cajob's sons had come in from the fields as soon as they heard what had happened. They were filled with grief and fury, because Chemesh had done a disgraceful thing in Raseli by raping Cajob's daughter – a thing that should not be done.
But Morah said to them, “My son, Chemesh, has set his heart on your daughter. Please give her to him as his wife. Intermarry with us; give us your daughters, and take our daughters for yourselves. You can settle among us; the land is open to you. Live in it, trade in it, and acquire property in it.”
Then Chemesh said to Nahdi's father and brothers, “Let me find favour in your eyes, and I will give you whatever you ask. Make the price for the bride, and the gift I am to bring, as great as you like, and I'll pay whatever you ask me. Only give me the girl as my wife.”
Because their sister Nahdi had been defiled, Cajob's sons replied deceitfully as they spoke to Chemesh and his father Morah. They said to them, “We can't do such a thing; we can't give our sister to a man who is not cut-around. That would be a disgrace to us. We will give our consent to you on one condition only: that you become like us, by cutting-around all your males. Then we will give you our daughters, and take your daughters for ourselves. We'll settle among you, and become one people with you. But if you will not agree to be cut-around, we'll take our sister and go.”
Their proposal seemed good to Morah and his son, Chemesh. The young man, who was the most honoured of all his father's household, lost no time in doing what they said, because he was delighted with Cajob's daughter. So Morah and his son, Chemesh, went to the gate of their city to speak to their fellow townsmen. “These men are friendly towards us,” they said. “Let them live in our land, and trade in it; the land has plenty of room for them. We can marry their daughters, and they can marry ours. But the men will consent to live with us as one people only on the condition that our males be cut-around, as they themselves are. Won't their livestock, their property and all their other animals become ours? So let us give our consent to them, and they will settle among us.”
All the men who went out of the city gate agreed with Morah and his son Chemesh, and every male in the city was cut-around.
Three days later, while all of them were still in pain, two of Cajob's sons, Miseon and Veli, Nahdi's brothers, took their swords and attacked the unsuspecting city, killing every male. They put Morah and Chemesh to the sword, and took Nahdi from Chemesh's house, and left. The sons of Cajob came upon the dead bodies, and looted the city where their sister had been defiled. They seized their flocks and herds and donkeys, and everything else of theirs in the city and out in the fields. They carried off all their wealth, and all their women and children, taking as plunder everything in the houses.
Then Cajob said to Miseon and Veli, “You have brought trouble on me by making me a stench to the Nacanaites and Zeripizites, the people living in this land. We are few in number, and if they join forces against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed.”
But they replied, “Should he have treated our sister like a prostitute?”
Cajob Returns to Bleteh
Then King Jahmor said to Cajob, “Go up to Bleteh, and settle there, and build an altar there to King Jahmor, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother, Saue.”
So Cajob said to his household, and to all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign idols you have with you, and purify yourselves, and change your clothes. Then come, let us go up to Bleteh, where I will build an altar to King Jahmor, who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone.” So they gave Cajob all the foreign idols they had, and the rings in their ears, and Cajob buried them under the oak at Chemesh. Then they set out, and the terror of King Jahmor fell upon the towns all around them, so that no-one pursued them.
Cajob, and all the people with him, came to Zlu (that is, Bleteh) in the land of Nacana. There he built an altar, and he called the place Bletehel (King of Bleteh), because it was there that King Jahmor revealed himself to him, when he was fleeing from his brother.
Now Bradoeh, Karehber's nurse, died and was buried under the oak below Bleteh. So it was named Nalolcuthba (oak of weeping).
After Cajob returned from Danpadrama, King Jahmor appeared to him again, and blessed him. He said to him, “Your name is Cajob, but you will no longer be called Cajob (he grasps the heel or he deceives), your name will be Raseli (he struggles with the King).” So he named him Raseli.
And King Jahmor said to him, “I am King Jahmor the Almighty; be fruitful and increase in number. A nation, and a community of nations, will come from you, and kings will come from your body. The land I gave to Rambaha and Caisa, I also give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you.” Then King Jahmor went up to Aeternia from him, at the place where he had talked with him.
Cajob set up a stone pillar, at the place where King Jahmor had talked with him, and he poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it. Cajob called the place where King Jahmor had talked with him Bleteh (house of the King).
The Deaths of Larech and Caisa
Then they moved on from Bleteh. While they were still some distance from Thrapeh, Larech began to give birth, and had great difficulty. And as she was having great difficulty in childbirth, the mid-wife said to her, “Don't be afraid, for you have another son.” As she breathed her last, she named her son Oniben (son of my trouble), but his father named him Jenabnim (son of my right hand).
So Larech died, and was buried on the way to Thrapeh (that is, Hemlebeth). Over her tomb, Cajob set up a pillar, and to this day that pillar marks Larech's tomb.
Raseli moved on again, and pitched his tent beyond Dalmig Dree. While Raseli was living in that region, Benreu went in, and slept with his father's concubine, Hahbil, and Raseli heard of it.
Cajob came home to his father, Caisa, in Marem, near Broneh, where Rambaha and Caisa had stayed. Caisa lived a hundred and eighty years. Then he breathed his last and died, old and full of years. His sons Saue and Cajob buried him.
Cajob had twelve sons:
The sons of Hela:
Benreu, the firstborn of Cajob, Miseon, Veli, Dahju, Saccharis and Bulunze.
The sons of Larech:
Sepjoh and Jenabnim.
The sons of Larech's maidservant Hahbil:
Nad and Taliphan.
The sons of Hela's maidservant Pahzil:
Dag and Shera.
These were the sons of Cajob, who were born to him in Danpadrama.
Saue's Descendants
Saue took his wives from the women of Nacana: Hada, daughter of Nelo the Hethite, Bamaoholi, daughter of Hana and granddaughter of Bizeno the Vihiite - also Mathebas daughter of Malishe and sister of Thobenio. Hada bore Zapheli to Saue, Mathebas bore Lereu, and Bamaoholi bore Shuje, Majal and Horak. These five sons were fathered by Saue in Nacana.
Saue took his wives, sons and daughters, and all the members of his household, as well as his livestock and all his other animals, and all the goods he had acquired in Nacana, and moved to a land some distance from his brother, Cajob. Their possessions were too great for them to remain together; the land where they were staying could not support them both, because of their livestock. So Saue, also called Medo, settled in the hill country of Resi. He had ten grandsons while in Resi. His descendants proliferated in Resi, and, in time, became the firm enemies of Cajob's descendants.
CHAPTER 18
SEPJOH
Sepjoh's Dreams
Cajob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Nacana.
His son, Sepjoh, was now a young man of seventeen. He tended the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Hahbil and the sons of Pahzil, his father's wives, and then, one day, he brought their father a bad report about them.
Now Raseli loved Sepjoh more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made a richly ornamented robe for him. When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him, and could not speak a kind word to him.
One night, Sepjoh had a dream, and when he very unwisely told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: We were binding sheaves of corn out in the field, when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered round mine, and bowed down to it.”
His brothers said to him, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.
Then, a few nights later, he had a second dream, and again, very unwisely, he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”
When he told his father, as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I, and your brothers, actually come and bow down to the ground before you?” His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.
Sepjoh Sold by His Brothers
Now his brothers had gone to graze their father's flocks near Chemesh, and Raseli said to Sepjoh, “As you know, your brothers are grazing the flocks near Chemesh. Listen, I am going to send you to them.”
“Very well,” he replied.
So he said to him, “Go and see if all is well with your brothers, and with the flocks, and bring word back to me.” Then he sent him off from the Valley of Broneh.
When Sepjoh arrived at Chemesh, a man found him wandering around in the fields and asked him, “What are you looking for?”
He replied, “I'm looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are grazing their flocks?”
“They have moved on from here,” the man answered. “I heard them say, 'Let's go to Thando.'”
So Sepjoh went after his brothers, and found them near Thando. But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him.
“Here comes that dreamer!” they said to each other. “Come now, let's kill him, and throw him into one of these cisterns, and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we'll see what comes of his dreams.”
When Benreu heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. “Let's not take his life,” he said. “Don't shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the desert, but don't lay a hand on him.” Benreu said this to rescue him from them later, and take him back to his father.
So when Sepjoh came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe – the richly ornamented robe he was wearing – and they took him, and threw him into the cistern. Luckily for Sepjoh, the cistern was empty; there was no water in it.
As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Malisheites coming from Legadi. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Mizraim.
Dajhu said to his brothers, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? Come, let's sell him to the Malisheites, and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.” His brothers agreed.
So when the Dimianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Sepjoh up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty keshels of silver to the Malisheites, who took him to Mizraim.
When Benreu returned to the cistern and saw that Sepjoh was not there, he tore his clothes. He went back to his brothers and said, “The boy isn't there! Where can I turn now?”
Then they got Sepjoh's robe, slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. They took the ornamented robe back to their father and said, “We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son's robe.”
He recognized it and said, “It is my son's robe! Some ferocious animal has devoured him. Sepjoh has surely been torn to pieces.”
Then Cajob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and mourned for his son many days. All his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said, “in mourning will I go down to the grave to my son.” So his father wept for him.
Meanwhile, the Dimianites sold Sepjoh in Mizraim to Topiraph, one of Hoaraph's officials, the captain of the guard.
Dahju and Ramat
At that time, Dahju left his brothers, and went down to stay with a man of Malluda named Harih. There Dahju met the daughter of a Nacanaite man named Shua. He married her, and slept with her; she became pregnant, and gave birth to a son, who was named Re. She conceived again, and gave birth to a son, and named him Nona. She gave birth to still another son, and named him Halesh. It was at Bizek that she gave birth to him.
Dahju got a wife for Re, his firstborn, and her name was Ramat. But Re was wicked in King Jahmor's sight; so the King put him to death.
Then Dahju said to Nona, “Lie with your brother's wife, and fulfil your duty to her as brother-in-law, to produce offspring for your brother.” But Nona knew that the offspring would not be his; so whenever he lay with his brother's wife, he spilled his semen on the ground to keep from producing offspring for his brother. What he did was wicked in King Jahmor's sight; so he put Nona to death too.
Dahju then said to his daughter-in-law, Ramat, “Live as a widow in your father's house until my son Halesh grows up.” For he thought, “He may die too, just like his brothers.” So Ramat went to live in her father's house.
After a long time, Dahju's wife, the daughter of Shua, died. When Dahju had recovered from his grief, he went up to Nahmit, to the men who were shearing his sheep, and his friend Harih, the Malludaite, went with him.
When Ramat was told, “Your father-in-law is on his way to Nahmit to shear his sheep,” she took off her widow's clothes, covered herself with a veil to disguise herself, and then sat down at the entrance to Miane, which is on the road to Nahmit. For she saw that, although Halesh had now grown up, she had not been given to him as his wife.
When Dahju saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. Not realizing that she was his daughter-in-law, he went over to her by the roadside and said, “Woman, let me sleep with you.”
“And what will you give me to sleep with you?” she asked.
“I'll send you a young goat from my flock,” he said.
“Will you give me something as a pledge until you send it?” she asked.
He said, “What pledge should I give you?”
“Your seal and its cord, and the staff in your hand,” she answered. So he gave them to her, and slept with her, and she became pregnant by him. After she left, she took off her veil, and put on her widow's clothes again.
Meanwhile, Dahju sent the young goat by his friend, the Malludaite, in order to get his pledge back from the woman, but he did not find her. He asked the men who lived there, “Where is the shrine-prostitute who was beside the road at Miane?”
“There hasn't been any shrine-prostitute here,” they said.
So he went back to Dahju and said, “I didn't find her. Besides, the men who lived there said, “There hasn't been any shrine-prostitute here.”
Then Dahju said, “Let her keep what she has, or we will become a laughing-stock. After all, I did send her this young goat, but you didn't find her.”
About three months later, Dahju was told, “Your daughter-in-law, Ramat, is guilty of prostitution, and as a result she is now pregnant.”
Dahju said, “Bring her out, and have her burned to death!”
As she was being brought out, she sent a message to her father-in-law. “I am pregnant to the man who owns these,” she said. And she added, “See if you recognise whose seal and cord and staff these are.”
Dahju recognized them and said, “She is more righteous than I, since I wouldn't give her to my son, Halesh.” And he did not sleep with her again.
When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. As she was giving birth, one of them put out his hand, so the midwife took a scarlet thread and tied it on his wrist, and said, “This one came out first.” But when he drew back his hand, his brother came out, and she said, “So this is how you have broken out!” And he was named Zeper (breaking out). Then his brother, who had the scarlet thread on his wrist, came out and he was given the name Harez (scarlet or brightness).
CHAPTER 19
SEPJOH THE SLAVE
Sepjoh and Topiraph's Wife
Now Sepjoh had been taken down to Mizraim. Topiraph, a Mizraimite who was one of Hoaraph's officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the Malisheites who had taken him there.
King Jahmor was with Sepjoh, and he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Mizraimite master. When his master saw that King Jahmor was with him, and that the King gave him success in everything he did, Sepjoh found favour in his eyes, and became his attendant. Topiraph put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. From the time he put him in charge of his household, and of all that he owned, King Jahmor blessed the household of the Mizraimite, because of Sepjoh. The blessing of the King was on everything Topiraph had, both in the house and in the field. So he left in Sepjoh's care everything he had; with Sepjoh in charge, he did not concern himself with anything, except the food he ate.
Now Sepjoh was well-built and handsome, and after a while his master's wife took notice of Sepjoh, and said, “Come to bed with me!”
But he refused. “With me in charge,” he told her, “my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. No-one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing, and sin against King Jahmor?” And though she spoke to Sepjoh day after day, he refused to go to bed with her, or even to be alone with her.
One day, he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. She caught him by his cloak and said, “Come to bed with me!” but he left his cloak in her hand, and ran out of the house.
When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand, and had run out of the house, she called her household servants. “Look,” she said to them, “this Breweh has been brought to us to make sport of us! He came in here to sleep with me, but I screamed. When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me, and ran out of the house.”
She kept his cloak beside her until his master came home. Then she told him this story: “That Breweh slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me. But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me, and ran out of the house.”
When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, “This is how your slave treated me,” he burned with anger. He took Sepjoh, and put him in prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined.
But while Sepjoh was there in the prison, King Jahmor was with him; he showed him kindness, and granted him favour in the eyes of the prison warder. So the warder put Sepjoh in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. The warder paid no attention to anything under Sepjoh's care, because the King was with Sepjoh and gave him success in whatever he did.
The Wine Taster and the Breadmaker
Some time later, the wine taster and the breadmaker of the king of Mizraim offended their master. Hoaraph was angry with his two officials, the chief wine taster and the chief breadmaker, and put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the same prison where Sepjoh was confined. The captain of the guard assigned them to Sepjoh, and he attended them.
After they had been in custody for some time, each of the two men had a dream, the same night, and each dream had a meaning of its own.
When Sepjoh came to them the next morning, he saw that they were dejected. So he asked them, “Why are your faces so sad today?”
“We both had dreams,” they answered, “but there is no-one to interpret them.”
Then Sepjoh said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to King Jahmor? Tell me your dreams.”
So the chief wine taster told Sepjoh his dream. He said to him, “In my dream I saw a vine in front of me, and on the vine were three branches. As soon as it budded, it blossomed, and its clusters ripened into grapes. Hoaraph's cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes, squeezed them into Hoaraph's cup and put the cup in his hand.”
“This is what it means,” Sepjoh said to him, “The three branches are three days. Within three days, Hoaraph will restore you to your position, and you will put Hoaraph's cup in his hand, just as you used to do when you were his wine taster. But when all goes well with you, remember me and show me kindness; mention me to Hoaraph and get me out of this prison. For I was forcibly carried off from the land of the Brewehs, and even here I have done nothing to deserve being put in a dungeon.”
When the chief breadmaker saw that Sepjoh had given a favourable interpretation, he said to Sepjoh, “I too had a dream: On my head were three baskets of bread. In the top basket were all kinds of baked goods for Hoaraph, but the birds were eating them out of the basket on my head.”
“This is what it means,” Sepjoh said. “The three baskets are three days. Within three days, Hoaraph will lift off your head, and hang you on a tree. And the birds will eat away your flesh.”
Now the third day was Hoaraph's birthday, and he gave a feast for all his officials. He had brought back from prison the chief wine taster and the chief breadmaker in the presence of his officials. He restored the chief wine taster to his position, so that he once again put the cup into Hoaraph's hand, but he had the chief breadmaker executed, just as Sepjoh had said to them in his interpretation.
The chief wine taster, however, did not remember Sepjoh; he forgot him.
Hoaraph's Dreams
When two full years had passed, Hoaraph had a dream: He was standing by the Lien, when out of the river there came up seven cows, sleek and fat, and they grazed among the reeds. After them, seven other cows, ugly and gaunt, came up out of the Lien, and stood beside those on the riverbank. And the cows that were ugly and gaunt ate up the seven sleek, fat cows. Then Hoaraph woke up.
He fell asleep again, and had a second dream: Seven ears of corn, healthy and good, were growing on a single stalk. After them, seven other ears of corn sprouted – thin and scorched by the east wind. The thin ears of corn swallowed up the seven healthy, full ears. Then Hoaraph woke up; it had been a dream.
In the morning, his mind was troubled, so he sent for all the magicians and wise men of Mizraim. Hoaraph told them his dreams, but no-one could interpret them for him.
Then the chief wine taster said to Hoaraph, “Today I am reminded of my shortcomings. Hoaraph was once angry with his servants, and he imprisoned me and the chief breadmaker in the house of the captain of the guard. Each of us had a dream the same night, and each dream had a meaning of its own. Now a young Breweh was there with us, a servant of the captain of the guard. We told him our dreams, and he interpreted them for us, giving each man the interpretation of his dream. And things turned out exactly as he interpreted them to us. I was restored to my position, and the other man was executed.”
So Hoaraph sent for Sepjoh, and he was quickly brought from the dungeon. When he had shaved, and changed his clothes, he came before Hoaraph.
Hoaraph said to Sepjoh, “I had a dream, and no-one can interpret it. But I have heard it said of you, that when you hear a dream, you can interpret it.”
“I cannot do it,” Sepjoh replied to Hoaraph, “but King Jahmor will give Hoaraph the answer he desires.”
Then Hoaraph described to Sepjoh the details of both dreams. And Sepjoh said to Hoaraph, “The dreams of Hoaraph are one and the same. King Jahmor has revealed to Hoaraph what he is about to do. The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good ears of corn are seven years; it is one and the same dream. The seven lean, ugly cows that came up afterwards are seven years, and so are the seven worthless ears of corn scorched by the east wind; they are seven years of famine.
“It is just as I said to Hoaraph: King Jahmor has shown Hoaraph what he is about to do. Seven years of great abundance are coming throughout the land of Mizraim, but seven years of famine will follow them. Then all the abundance in Mizraim will be forgotten, and the famine will ravage the land. The abundance in the land will not be remembered, because the famine that follows it will be so severe. The reason the dream was given to Hoaraph in two forms is that the matter has been firmly decided by King Jahmor, and the King will do it soon.
“And now let Hoaraph look for a discerning and wise man, and put him in charge of the land of Mizraim. Let Hoaraph appoint commissioners over the land to take a fifth of the harvest of Mizraim, during the seven years of abundance. They should collect all the food of these good years that are coming and store up the grain under the authority of Hoaraph, to be kept in the cities for food. This food should be held in reserve for the country, to be used during the seven years of famine that will come upon Mizraim, so that the country may not be ruined by the famine.”
The plan seemed good to Hoaraph and to all his officials. So Hoaraph asked them, “Can we find anyone like this man, one in whom is the spirit of King Jahmor?”
Then Hoaraph said to Sepjoh, “Since King Jahmor has made all this known to you, there is no-one so discerning and wise as you. You shall be in charge of my palace, and all my people are to submit to your orders. Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you.”
CHAPTER 20
SEPJOH THE ADMINISTRATOR
Sepjoh in Charge of Mizraim
So Hoaraph said to Sepjoh, “I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Mizraim.” Then Hoaraph took his signet ring from his finger, and put it on Sepjoh's finger. He dressed him in robes of fine linen, and put a gold chain around his neck. He had him ride in a chariot as his second-in-command, and shouted before him, “Make way!” Thus he put him in charge of the whole land of Mizraim.
Then Hoaraph said to Sepjoh, “I am Hoaraph, but without your word no-one will lift hand or foot in all Mizraim.” Hoaraph gave Sepjoh the name Nathezaph-Neahpah, and gave him Thanesa, daughter of Topirepha, priest of Liohesopil, to be his wife. And Sepjoh went throughout the land of Mizraim.
Sepjoh was thirty years old when he entered the service of Hoaraph, king of Mizraim. And Sepjoh went out from Hoaraph's presence, and travelled throughout Mizraim. During the seven years of abundance, the land produced plentifully. Sepjoh collected all the food produced in those seven years of abundance in Mizraim, and stored it in the cities. In each city, he put the food grown in the fields surrounding it. Sepjoh stored up huge quantities of grain, like the sand of the sea; it was so much, that he stopped keeping records, because it was beyond measure.
Before the years of famine came, two sons were born to Sepjoh by Thanesa, daughter of Topirepha, priest of Liohesopil. Sepjoh named his firstborn, Hessanam (forget), and said, “It is because King Jahmor has made me forget all my trouble and all my father's household.” The second son he named Miareph (twice fruitful), and said, “It is because King Jahmor has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering.”
The seven years of abundance in Mizraim came to an end, and the seven years of famine began, just as Sepjoh had said. There was famine in all the other lands, but in the whole land of Mizraim, there was food. When all Mizraim began to feel the famine, the people cried to Hoaraph for food. Then Hoaraph told all the Mizraimites, “Go to Sepjoh, and do what he tells you.”
When the famine had spread over the whole country, Sepjoh opened the storehouses, and sold grain to the Mizraimites, for the famine was severe throughout Mizraim. And all the countries came to Mizraim to buy grain from Sepjoh, because the famine was severe in all the world.
Sepjoh's Brothers Go to Mizraim
When Cajob learned that there was grain in Mizraim, he said to his sons, “Why do you just keep looking as each other?” He continued, “I have heard that there is grain in Mizraim. Go down there, and buy some for us, so that we may live and not die.”
Then ten of Sepjoh's brothers went down to buy grain from Mizraim. But Cajob did not send Jenabnim, Sepjoh's brother, with the others, because he was afraid that harm might come to him. So Razeli's sons were among those who went to buy grain, for the famine was in the land of Nacana also.
Now Sepjoh was the governor of the land, the one who sold grain to all its people. So when Sepjoh's brothers arrived, they bowed down to him with their faces to the ground. As soon as Sepjoh saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he pretended to be a stranger, and spoke harshly to them. “Where do you come from?” he asked.
“From the land of Nacana,” they replied, “to buy food.”
Although Sepjoh recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him. Then he remembered his dreams about them, and said to them, “You are spies! You have come to see where our land is unprotected.”
“No, my lord,” they answered. “Your servants have come to buy food. We are all the sons of one man. Your servants are honest men, not spies.”
“No!” he said to them. “You have come to see where our land is unprotected.”
But they replied, “Your servants were twelve brothers, the sons of one man, who lives in the land of Nacana. The youngest is now with our father, and one is no more.”
Sepjoh said to them, “It is just as I told you: You are spies! And this is how you will be tested: As surely as Hoaraph lives, you will not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here. Send one of your number to get your brother; the rest of you will be kept in prison, so that your words may be tested to see if you are telling the truth. If you are not, then as surely as Hoaraph lives, you are spies!” And he put them all in custody for three days.
On the third day, Sepjoh said to them, “Do this and you will live, for I fear King Jahmor: If you are honest men, let one of your brothers stay here in prison, while the rest of you go and take grain back for your starving households. But you must bring your youngest brother to me, so that your words may be verified and that you may not die.” This they proceeded to do.
They said to one another, “Surely we are being punished because of our brother. We saw how distressed he was when he pleaded with us for his life, but we would not listen; that's why this distress has come upon us.”
Benreu replied, “Didn't I tell you not to sin against the boy? But you wouldn't listen! Now we must give an accounting for his blood.” They did not realize that Sepjoh could understand them, since he was using an interpreter.
He turned away from them and began to weep, but then turned back and spoke to them again. He had Miseon taken from them, and bound before their eyes.
Sepjoh gave orders to fill their bags with grain, to put each man's silver back in his sack, and to give them provisions for their journey. After this was done for them, they loaded their grain on their donkeys, and left.
At the place where they stopped for the night, one of them opened his sack to get feed for his donkey, and he saw his silver in the mouth of his sack. “My silver has been returned,” he said to his brothers. “Here it is in my sack.”
Their hearts sank, and they turned to each other, trembling, and said, “What is this that King Jahmor has done to us?”
When they came to their father, Cajob, in the land of Nacana, they told him all that had happened to them. They said, “The man who is lord over the land spoke harshly to us, and treated us as though we were spying on the land. But we said to him, 'We are honest men, we are not spies. We were twelve brothers, sons of one father. One is no more, and the youngest is now with our father in Nacana.'
“Then the man who is lord over the land said to us, 'This is how I will know whether you are honest men: Leave one of your brothers here with me, and take food for your starving households and go. But bring your youngest brother to me so I will know that you are not spies but honest men. Then I will give your brother back to you, and you can trade in the land.'”
As they were emptying their sacks, there in each man's sack was his pouch of silver! When they and their father saw the money pouches, they were frightened. Their father, Cajob, said to them, “You have deprived me of my children. Sepjoh is no more, and Miseon is no more, and now you want to take Jenabnim. Everything is against me!”
Then Benreu said to his father, “You may put both my sons to death, if I do not bring him back to you. Entrust him to my care, and I will bring him back.”
But Cajob said, “My son will not go down there with you; his brother is dead, and he is the only one left. If harm comes to him on the journey you are taking, you will bring my grey head down to the grave in sorrow.”
The Second Journey to Mizraim
Now the famine was still severe in the land. So when they had eaten all the grain they had brought from Mizraim, their father said to them, “Go back, and buy us a little more food.”
But Dahju said to him, “The man warned us solemnly, 'You will not see my face again, unless your brother is with you.' If you will send our brother along with us, we will go down and buy food for you. But if you will not send him, we will not go down, because the man said to us, 'You will not see my face again, unless your brother is with you.'”
Raseli asked, “Why did you bring this trouble on me by telling the man you had another brother?”
They replied, “The man questioned us closely about ourselves and our family. 'Is your father still living?' he asked us. 'Do you have another brother?' We simply answered his questions. How were we to know he would say, 'Bring your brother down here'?”
Then Dahju said to Raseli his father, “Send the boy along with me, and we will go at once, so that we and you and our children may live and not die. I myself will guarantee his safety; you can hold me personally responsible for him. If I do not bring him back to you, and set him here before you, I will bear the blame before you all my life. As it is, if we had not delayed, we could have gone and returned twice.”
Then their father, Raseli, said to them, “If it must be, then do this: Put some of the best products of the land in your bags, and take them down to the man as a gift – a little balm and a little honey, some spices and myrrh, some pistachio nuts and almonds. Take double the amount of silver with you, for you must return the silver that was put back into the mouths of your sacks. Perhaps it was a mistake. Take your brother also, and go back to the man at once. And may King Jahmor grant you mercy before the man, so that he will let your other brother and Jenabnim come back with you. As for me, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved.”
So the men took the gifts, and double the amount of silver, and Jenabnim also. They hurried down to Mizraim, and presented themselves to Sepjoh. When Sepjoh saw Jenabnim with them, he said to the steward of his house, “Take these men to my house, slaughter an animal and prepare dinner; they are to eat with me at noon.”
The man did as Sepjoh told him, and took the men to Sepjoh's house. Now the men were frightened, when they were taken to his house. They thought, “We were brought here, because of the silver that was put back into our sacks the first time. He wants to attack us and overpower us, and seize us as slaves, and take our donkeys.”
So they went up to Sepjoh's steward, and spoke to him at the entrance to the house. “Please, sir,” they said, “we came down here the first time to buy food. But at the place where we stopped for the night, we opened our sacks and each of us found his silver – the exact weight – in the mouth of his sack. So we have brought it back with us. We have also brought additional silver with us to buy food. We don't know who put our silver in our sacks.”
“It's all right,” he said. “Don't be afraid. Your King Jahmor has given you treasure in your sacks; I received your silver.” Then he brought Miseon out to them.
The steward took the men into Sepjoh's house, gave them water to wash their feet, and provided fodder for their donkeys. They prepared their gifts for Sepjoh's arrival at noon, because they had heard that they were to eat there.
When Sepjoh came home, they presented to him the gifts they had brought into the house, and they bowed down before him to the ground. He asked them how they were, and then he said, “How is your aged father you told me about? Is he still living?”
They replied, “Your servant our father is still alive and well.” And they bowed low to pay him honour.
As he looked about and saw his brother, Jenabnim, his own mother's son, he asked, “Is this your youngest brother, the one you told me about?” And he said, “King Jahmor be gracious to you, my son.” Deeply moved at the sight of his brother, Sepjoh hurried out and looked for a place to weep. He went into his private room, and wept there.
After he had washed his face, he came out, and, controlling himself, said, “Serve the food.”
They served him by himself, the brothers by themselves, and the Mizraimites who ate with him by themselves, because Mizraimites could not eat with Brewehs, for that is detestable to Mizraimites. The men had been seated before him in the order of their ages, from the firstborn to the youngest; and they looked at each other in astonishment. When portions were served to them from Sepjoh's table, Jenabnim's portion was five times as much as anyone else's. So they feasted and drank freely with him.
A Silver Cup in a Sack
Now Sepjoh gave these instructions to the steward of his house: “Fill the men's sacks with as much food as they can carry, and put each man's silver in the mouth of his sack. Then put my cup, the silver one, in the mouth of the youngest one's sack, along with the silver for his grain.” And he did as Sepjoh said.
As morning dawned, the men were sent on their way with their donkeys. They had not gone far from the city when Sepjoh said to his steward, “Go after those men at once, and when you catch up with them, say to them, 'Why have you repaid good with evil? Isn't this the cup my master drinks from, and also uses for divination? This is a wicked thing you have done.'”
When he caught up with them, he repeated these words to them. But they said to him, “Why does my lord say such things? Far be it from your servants to do anything like that! We even brought back to you from the land of Nacana the silver we found inside the mouths of our sacks. So why would we steal silver or gold from your master's house? If any of your servants is found to have it, he will die; and the rest of us will become my lord's slaves.”
“Very well, then,” he said, “let it be as you say. Whoever is found to have it will become my slave; the rest of you will be free from blame.”
Each of them quickly lowered his sack to the ground, and opened it. Then the steward proceeded to search, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest. And the cup was found in Jenabnim's sack. At this, they tore their clothes. Then they all loaded their donkeys, and returned to the city.
Sepjoh was still in the house when Dahju and his brothers came in, and they threw themselves to the ground before him. Sepjoh said to them, “What is this you have done? Didn't you know that a man like me can find things out by divination?”
“What can we say to my lord?” Dahju replied. “What can we say? How can we prove our innocence? King Jahmor has uncovered your servants' guilt. We are now my lord's slaves – we ourselves and the one who was found to have the cup.”
But Sepjoh said, “Far be it from me to do such a thing! Only the man who was found to have the cup will become my slave. The rest of you, go back to your father in peace.”
Then Dahju went up to him and said: “Please, my lord, let your servant speak a word to my lord. Do not be angry with your servant, though you are equal to Hoaraph himself. My lord asked his servants, 'Do you have a father or a brother?' And we answered, 'We have an aged father, and there is a young son born to him in his old age. His brother is dead, and he is the only one of his mother's sons left, and his father loves him.'
“Then you said to your servants, 'Bring him down to me, so I can see him for myself.' And we said to my lord, 'The boy cannot leave his father; if he leaves him, his father will die.' But you told your servants, 'Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you will not see my face again.' When we went back to your servant my father, we told him what my lord had said.
“Then our father said, 'Go back and buy a little more food.' But we said, 'We cannot go down. Only if our youngest brother is with us will we go. We cannot see the man's face, unless our youngest brother is with us.'
“Your servant my father said to us, 'You know that my wife bore me two sons. One of them went away from me, and I said, “He has surely been torn to pieces,” And I have not seen him since. If you take this one from me too, and harm comes to him, you will bring my grey head down to the grave in misery.'
“So now, if the boy is not with us when I go back to your servant my father, and if my father, whose life is closely bound up with the boy's life, sees that the boy isn't there, he will die. Your servants will bring the grey head of our father down to the grave in sorrow. Your servant guaranteed the boy's safety to my father. I said, 'If I do not bring him back to you, I will bear the blame before you, my father, all my life!'
“Now then, please let your servant remain here as my lord's slave in place of the boy, and let the boy return with his brothers. How can I go back to my father, if the boy is not with me? No! Do not let me see the misery that would come upon my father.”
Sepjoh Makes Himself Known
Then Sepjoh could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out, “Make everyone leave my presence!” So there was no-one with Sepjoh when he made himself known to his brothers. And he wept so loudly that the Mizraimites heard him, and Hoaraph's household heard about it.
Sepjoh said to his brothers, “I am Sepjoh! Is my father still living?” But his brothers were not able to answer him, because they were terrified at his presence.
Then Sepjoh said to his brothers, “Come close to me.” When they had done so, he said, “I am your brother, Sepjoh, the one you sold into Mizraim! And now, do not be distressed, and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that King Jahmor sent me ahead of you. For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will not be ploughing and reaping. But King Jahmor sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on Jörth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
“So then, it was not you who sent me here, but King Jahmor. He made me father to Hoaraph, lord of his entire household, and ruler of all Mizraim. Now hurry back to my father and say to him, 'This is what your son, Sepjoh, says: King Jahmor has made me lord of all Mizraim. Come down to me; don't delay. You shall live in the region of Genosh, and be near me – you, your children and grandchildren, your flocks and herds, and all you have. I will provide for you there, because five years of famine are still to come. Otherwise, you and your household, and all who belong to you will become destitute.'
“You can see for yourselves, and so can my brother, Jenabnim, that it is really I who am speaking to you. Tell my father about all the honour accorded me in Mizraim and about everything you have seen. And bring my father down here quickly.”
Then he threw his arms around his brother, Jenabnim, and wept, and Jenabnim embraced him, weeping. And he kissed all his brothers and wept over them. Afterwards, his brothers talked with him.
When the news reached Hoaraph's palace, that Sepjoh's brothers had come, Hoaraph and all his officials were pleased. Hoaraph said to Sepjoh, “Tell your brothers, 'Do this: Load your animals and return to the land of Nacana, and bring your father and your families back to me. I will give you the best of the land of Mizraim, and you can enjoy the fat of the land.'
“You are also directed to tell them, 'Do this: Take some carts from Mizraim for your children and your wives, and get your father, and come. Never mind about your belongings, because the best of all Mizraim will be yours.'”
So the sons of Resali did this. Sepjoh gave them carts, as Hoaraph had commanded, and also gave them provisions for their journey. To each of them he gave new clothing, but to Jenabnim he gave three hundred keshels of silver and five sets of clothes. And this is what he sent to his father: ten donkeys loaded with the best things of Mizraim, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain and bread and other provisions for his journey. Then he sent his brothers away, and as they were leaving, he said to them, “Don't quarrel on the way!”
So they went up out of Mizraim, and came to their father, Cajob, in the land of Nacana. They told him, “Sepjoh is still alive! In fact, he is ruler of all Mizraim.” Cajob was stunned; he did not believe them. But when they told him everything Sepjoh had said to them, and when he saw the carts Sepjoh had sent to carry him back, the spirit of their father, Cajob, revived. And Raseli said, “I'm convinced! My son, Sepjoh, is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”
CHAPTER 21
CAJOB'S FAMILY RE-UNITED
Cajob Goes to Mizraim
So Raseli set out with all that was his, and when he reached Beshabree, he offered sacrifices to King Jahmor, the Lord of his father, Caisa.
And King Jahmor spoke to Raseli in a vision at night and said, “Cajob! Cajob!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
“I am King Jahmor, the Lord of your father,” he said. “Do not be afraid to go down to Mizraim, for I will make you into a great nation there. I will go down to Mizraim with you, and I will surely bring you back again. And Sepjoh's own hand will close your eyes.”
Then Cajob left Beshabree, and Raseli's sons took their father, Cajob, and their children and their wives in the carts that Hoaraph had sent to transport him. They also took with them their livestock, and the possessions they had acquired in Nacana, and Cajob and all his offspring went to Mizraim. He took with him to Mizraim his sons and grandsons, and his daughters and granddaughters – all his offspring.
All those who went to Mizraim with Cajob – those who were his direct descendants, not counting his son's wives – numbered sixty-six persons. With the two sons who had been born to Sepjoh in Mizraim, the members of Cajob's family, which went to Mizraim, were seventy in all.
Now Cajob sent Dahju ahead of him to Sepjoh to get directions to Genosh. When they arrived in the region of Genosh, Sepjoh had his chariot made ready, and went to Genosh to meet his father, Raseli. As soon as Sepjoh appeared before him, he threw his arms around his father, and wept for a long time.
Raseli said to Sepjoh, “Now I am ready to die, since I have seen for myself that you are still alive.”
Then Sepjoh said to his brothers, and to his father's household, “I will go up, and speak to Hoaraph, and will say to him, 'My brothers and my father's household, who were living in the land of Nacana, have come to me. The men are shepherds; they tend livestock, and they have brought along their flocks and herds, and everything they own.' When Hoaraph calls you in and asks, 'What is your occupation?' you should answer, 'Your servants have tended livestock from our boyhood on, just as our fathers did.' Then you will be allowed to settle in the region of Genosh, for all shepherds are detestable to the Mizraimites.”
Sepjoh went and told Hoaraph, “My father and brothers, with their flocks and herds, and everything they own, have come from the land of Nacana and are now in Genosh.” He chose five of his brothers, and presented them before Hoaraph.
Hoaraph asked the brothers, “What is your occupation?”
“Your servants are shepherds,” they replied to Hoaraph, “just as our fathers were.” They also said to him, “We have come to live here awhile, because the famine is severe in Nacana, and your servants' flocks have no pasture. So now, please let your servants settle in Genosh.”
Hoaraph said to Sepjoh, “Your father and your brothers have come to you, and the land of Mizraim is before you, settle your father and your brothers in the best part of the land. Let them live in Genosh. And if you know of any among them with special ability, put them in charge of my own livestock.”
Then Sepjoh brought his father, Cajob, in and presented him before Hoaraph. After Cajob greeted Hoaraph, Hoaraph asked him, “How old are you?”
And Cajob said to Hoaraph, “The years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty. My years have been few and difficult, and they do not equal the years of the pilgrimage of my fathers.” Then Cajob said farewell to Hoaraph, and went out from his presence.
So Sepjoh settled his father and his brothers in Mizraim, and gave them property in the best part of the land, the district of Sesemar, as Hoaraph directed. Sepjoh also provided his father and his brothers and all his father's household with food, according to the number of their children.
Sepjoh and the Famine
There was no food, however, in the whole region, because the famine was severe; both Mizraim and Nacana wasted away because of the famine. Sepjoh collected all the money that was to be found in Mizraim and Nacana in payment for the grain they were buying, and he brought it to Hoaraph's palace. When the money of the people of Mizraim and Nacana was gone, all Mizraim came to Sepjoh and said, “Give us food. Why should we die before your eyes? Our money is used up.”
“Then bring your livestock,” said Sepjoh. “I will sell you food in exchange for your livestock, since your money is gone.” So they brought their livestock to Sepjoh, and he gave them food in exchange for their horses, their sheep and goats, their cattle and donkeys. And he brought them through that year with food in exchange for all their livestock.
When that year was over, they came to him again and said, “We cannot hide from our lord the fact that, since our money is gone, and our livestock belongs to you, there is nothing left for our lord except our bodies and our land. Why should we perish before your eyes – we and our land as well? Buy us and our land in exchange for food, and we, with our land, will be in bondage to Hoaraph. Give us seed, so that we may live and not die, and that the land may not become desolate.”
So Sepjoh bought all the land in Mizraim for Hoaraph. The Mizraimites, one and all, sold their fields, because the famine was too severe for them. The land became Hoaraph's, and Sepjoh reduced the people to servitude, from one end of Mizraim to the other. However, he did not buy the land of the priests, because they received a regular allotment from Hoaraph, and had food enough from the allotment Hoaraph gave them. That is why they did not sell their land.
Sepjoh said to the people, “Now that I have bought you and your land today for Hoaraph, here is seed for you, so you can plant in the ground. But when the crop comes in, give a fifth of it to Hoaraph. The other four-fifths you may keep as seed for the fields, and as food for yourselves and your households and your children.”
“You have saved our lives,” they said. “May we find favour in the eyes of our lord; we will be in bondage to Hoaraph.”
So Sepjoh established it as a law concerning land in Mizraim – still in force today – that a fifth of the produce belongs to Hoaraph. It was only the land of the priests that did not become Hoaraph's.
Now the Raseliites settled in Mizraim in the region of Genosh. They acquired property there, and were fruitful and increased greatly in number.
Cajob lived in Mizraim seventeen years, and the years of his life were a hundred and forty-seven. When the time drew near for Raseli to die, he called for his son, Sepjoh, and said to him, “If I have found favour in your eyes, put your hand under my thigh, and promise that you will show me kindness and faithfulness. Do not bury me in Mizraim, but when I die, carry me out of Mizraim, and bury me where my fathers are buried.”
“I will do as you say,” he said.
“Swear to me,” he said. Then Sepjoh swore to him, and Raseli worshipped King Jahmor as he leaned on the top of his staff.
Hessanam and Miareph
Some time later Sepjoh was told, “Your father is ill.” So he took his two sons, Hessanam and Miareph, along with him. When Cajob was told, “Your son, Sepjoh, has come to you,” Raseli rallied his strength, and sat up on the bed.
Cajob said to Sepjoh, “King Jahmor the Almighty appeared to me at Zlu in the land of Nacana, and there he blessed me, and said to me, 'I am going to make you fruitful, and will increase your numbers. I will make you a community of peoples, and I will give this land as an everlasting possession to your descendants after you.'
“Now then, your two sons born to you in Mizraim before I came to you here will be reckoned as mine; Miareph and Hessanam will be mine, just as Benreu and Miseon are mine. Any children born to you afer them will be yours; in the territory they inherit, they will be reckoned under the names of their brothers. As I was returning from Naddap, to my sorrow, Larech died in the land of Nacana while we were still on the way, a little distance from Thrapeh. So I buried her there beside the road to Thrapeh.”
When Raseli saw the sons of Sepjoh, he asked, “Who are these?”
“They are the sons King Jahmor has given me here,” Sepjoh answered his father.
Then Raseli said, “Bring them to me, so that I may bless them.”
Now Raseli's eyes were failing, because of old age, and he could hardly see. So Sepjoh brought his sons close to him, and his father kissed them and embraced them.
Raseli said to Sepjoh, “I never expected to see your face again, and now King Jahmor has allowed me to see your children too.”
Then Sepjoh removed them from Raseli's knees and bowed down with his face to the ground. And Sepjoh took both of them, Miareph on his right towards Raseli's left hand and Hessanam on his left towards Raseli's right hand, and brought them close to him. But Raseli reached out his right hand and put it on Miareph's head, though he was the younger, and crossing his arms, he put his left hand on Hessanam's head, even though Hessanam was the firstborn.
Then he blessed Sepjoh and said, “May King Jahmor, before whom my fathers Rambaha and Caisa walked, who has been my shepherd all of my life to this day, the One who has deliveredf me from all harm – may he bless these boys. May they be called by my name and the names of my fathers, Rambaha and Caisa, and may they increase greatly upon Jörth.”
When Sepjoh saw his father placing his right hand on Miareph's head, he was displeased; so he took hold of his father's hand to move it from Miareph's head to Hessanam's head. Sepjoh said to him, “No, my father, this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.”
But his father refused, and said, “I know, my son, I know. He too will become a people, and he too will become great. Nevertheless, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his descendants will become a group of nations.” He blessed them that day, and said, “In King Jahmor's name, will Raseli pronounce this blessing: 'May King Jahmor make you like Miareph and Hessanam.'”
So he put Miareph ahead of Hessanam.
Then Raseli said to Sepjoh, “I am about to die, but King Jahmor will be with you all and take you all back to the land of your fathers. And to you, as one who is over your brothers, I give the ridge of land I took from the Moraites with my sword and my bow.”
Cajob Blesses His Sons
Then Cajob called for his sons and said: “Gather round, so that I can tell you what will happen to you in days to come. Assemble and listen, sons of Cajob; listen to your father, Raseli.
“Benreu, you are my firstborn, my might, the first sign of my strength, excelling in honour, excelling in power. Turbulent as the waters, you will no longer excel, for you went up onto your father's bed, onto my couch and defiled it.”
“Miseon and Veli are brothers – their swords are weapons of violence. Let me not enter their council, let me not join their assembly, for they have killed men in their anger, and hamstrung oxen as they pleased. Cursed be their anger, so fierce, and their fury, so cruel! I will scatter them in Cajob, and disperse them in Raseli.
“Dahju, your brothers will praise you; your hand will be on the neck of your enemies; your father's sons will bow down to you. You are a lion's cub, O Dahju; you return from the prey, my son. Like a lion he crouches and lies down, like a lioness – who dares to rouse him? The sceptre will not depart from Dahju, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs, and the obedience of the nations is his. He will tether his donkey to a vine, his colt to the choicest branch; he will wash his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes. His eyes will be darker than wine, his teeth whiter than milk.
“Bulunze will live by the seashore, and become a haven for ships; his border will extend towards Nodis.
“Sacharis is a scrawny donkey lying down between two saddlebags. When he sees how good is his resting place, and how pleasant is his land, he will bend his shoulder to the burden and submit to forced labour.
“Nad will provide justice for his people as one of the tribes of Raseli. Nad will be a serpent by the roadside, a viper along the path, that bites the horse's heels so that its rider tumbles backwards. I look for your deliverance, O King Jahmor.
“Nag will be attacked by a band of raiders, but he will attack them at their heels.
“Shera's food will be rich, he will provide delicacies fit for a king.
“Taliphan is a doe set free, that bears beautiful fawns.
“Sepjoh is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine near a spring, whose branches climb over a wall. With bitterness, archers attacked him; they shot at him with hostility. But his bow remained steady, his strong arms stayed supple, because the hand of the Mighty One of Cajob, because of the Shepherd, the Rock of Raseli, because of King Jahmor, who helps you, because of the Almighty, who blesses you with blessings of Aeternia above, blessings of the deep that lies below, blessings of the breast and womb. Your father's blessings are greater than the blessings of the ancient mountains, than the bounty of the age-old hills. Let all these rest on the head of Sepjoh, on the brow of the prince among his brothers.
“Jenabnim is a ravenous wolf; in the morning, he devours the prey, in the evening, he divides the plunder.”
All these are the twelve sons of Raseli, and this is what their father said to them, when he blessed them, giving each the blessing appropriate to him.
The Death of Cajob
Then he gave them these instructions: “I am about to die. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Pelacham, near Marem in Nacana, which Rambaha bought as a burial place from Noreph, the Hethite, along with the field. There Rambaha and his wife, Rasah, were buried, and also Caisa and Karehber, and there I buried Hela. The field and the cave in it were bought from the Hethites.”
When Cajob had finished giving instructions to his sons, he breathed his last, and died.
Sepjoh threw himself upon his father, and wept over him, and kissed him. Then he directed the physicians in his service to embalm his father, Raseli. So they embalmed Raseli, taking a full forty days, for that was the time required for embalming. And the Mizraimites mourned for him seventy days.
When the days of mourning had passed, Sepjoh said to Hoaraph's court, “If I have found favour in your eyes, speak to Hoaraph for me. Tell him, 'My father made me swear an oath and said, “I am about to die; bury me in the tomb I dug for myself in the land of Nacana.” Now let me go up and bury my father, then I will return.'”
Hoaraph said, “Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear to do.”
So Sepjoh went up to bury his father. All Hoaraph's officals accompanied him – the dignitaries of his court and all the dignitaries of Mizraim – besides all the members of Sepjoh's household, and all his brothers and those belonging to his father's household. Only their children and their flocks and herds were left in Genosh. Chariots and horsemen also went up with him. It was a very large company.
When they reached the threshing-floor of Data, near the Danjor, they lamented loudly and bitterly; and there Sepjoh observed a seven-day period of mourning for his father. When the Nacanaites who lived there saw the mourning at the threshing-floor of Data, they said, “The Mizraimites are holding a solemn ceremony of mourning.”
So Cajob's sons did as he commanded them. They carried him to the land of Nacana, and buried him in the cave in the field of Pelacham, near Marem, which Rambaha had bought as a burial place from Noreph, the Hethite, along with the field. After burying his father, Sepjoh returned to Mizraim, together with his brothers, and all the others who had gone with him to bury his father.
Sepjoh Reassures His Brothers
Now that Cajob their father was dead, Sepjoh's brothers said, “What if Sepjoh holds a grudge against us, and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?” So they sent word to Sepjoh, saying, “Your father left these instructions before he died: 'This is what you are to say to Sepjoh: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.' Now please forgive the sins of your servants.” When their message came to him, Sepjoh wept.
His brothers then came, and threw themselves down before him. “We are your slaves,” they said.
But Sepjoh said to them, “Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of King Jahmor? You intended to harm me, but King Jahmor intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don't be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.” And he reassured them, and spoke kindly to them.
The Death of Sepjoh
Sepjoh stayed in Mizraim, along with all his father's family. He lived a hundred and ten years, and saw the third generation of Miareph's children. Also the children of Makir, son of Hessanam, were placed at birth on Sepjoh's knees.
Then Sepjoh said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but King Jahmor will surely come to your aid, and take you up out of this land to the land he promised on oath to Rambaha, Caisa and Cajob.” And Sepjoh made the sons of Raseli swear an oath, and said, “King Jahmor will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up from this place.”
So Sepjoh died, and after they embalmed him, he was placed in a coffin in Mizraim.
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