Oxford University Press
London 1932
I
The First Series of generations, which beginneth with the Patriarchs.
ADAM,
the first man, the king of those who are on the earth, according to the opinion of the Divine Book, was created on Friday, the sixth day of the month of NISAN, the first month of year one of the existence of the world, which began on the first day of the week (Sunday), the first day of the month of NISAN. Now ‘ANYANOS (ANIANUS) the monk, adducing testimonies from the Book of ENOCH, saith, that seventy years after the expulsion from PARADISE, ADAM knew EVE, and she brought forth CAIN. And after seven (or, seventy) year, she brought forth ABEL. And after fifty-three years CAIN slew ABEL, and ADAM and EVE mourned for him one hundred years. And then ADAM knew EVE again, and she brought forth SETH. And according to METHODIUS (3) thirty (or, three) years after they had gone forth from PARADISE [ADAM] begot CAIN together with KLIMYA (or KLIMA, or EKLIMA) his sister. And after another thirty years [ADAM] begot ABEL together with LABHUDHA (or, ‘ABHUDHA) his sister. And when ADAM was one hundred and thirty years old ABEL was killed, and when he was two hundred (4) and thirty years old he begot SETH. [4] All the years that ADAM lived were nine hundred and thirty years.
SETH
After ADAM [came] SETH his son. In the time of SETH, when his sons remembered the blessed life [which they had led] in PARADISE, they went up into the mountain of HERMON, and there they led a chaste and holy life, being remote from carnal intercourse (or, marriage); and for this reason they were called ‘IRE (i.e. ‘Watchers’, and ‘Sons of ‘ALOHIM’ (=Sons of God) ). Now SETH, being two hundred and five years old, begot ‘ANOSH; and all the years that SETH lived was nine hundred and twelve years.
ANOCH
After SETH [came] ‘ANOSH his son. He announced that he would call upon the Name of the Lord. Now, although he submitted to marriage, he was not neglectful in pleasing God, and he did so more than those who chose a life of virginity and who went up into [the mountain of HERMON] but who did not abide in (i.e. keep) their covenant. ‘ANOSH was one hundred and ninety years old when he begot KAINAN, and all his years were nine hundred and five.
KAINAN
After ‘ANOSH [came] KAINAN his son, who at the age of one hundred and seventy years begot MAHLALA’IL; and all the years of his life were nine hundred and ten years.
MAHLALA’IL
And after KAINAN [came] MAHLALA’IL his son, who at the age of one hundred and sixty-five years begot YARD; and all the years of his life were eight hundred and ninety-five years.
YARD
And after MAHLALA’IL [came] YARD his son, who, when he was one hundred and sixty and two years old begot HANOKH (ENOCH); and all the years of his life were nine hundred and sixty and two years. And in the fortieth year [of the life] of YARD, that is to say in the year one thousand of the world, the Sons of God, about two hundred souls, came down from the mountain of HERMON, because they had lost all hope of a return to PARADISE. And because they lusted for carnal intercourse with women, their brethren the sons of SETH and ANOSH despised them, and regarded them as transgressors of the covenant, and they refused to give them their daughters. And because of this they (i.e. the men from HERMON) went to the children of CAIN, and took wives, and begat mighty men of names, that is to say, men notorious for murders and robberies. Moreover, they set up over them the first king, a man whose name was SAMYAZOS, and when they began to quarrel with their brethren the children of SETH, they forced them also to set up a king over them, and they set up a king.
The first was a man whose name was ‘ALOROS.
And the second was ‘ALPAROS.
And the third was ‘ALMILON.
And the fourth was ‘AMMANON.
And the fifth was MIGHALAROS.
And the sixth was ‘AONOS, the shepherd.
[5] And the seventh was ‘AODHORANBOS.
And the eighth was ‘AMPESIS.
And the ninth was ‘AOTYARTIS,
And the tenth was KSISOTHROS (or KSISORTHOS) his son, in whose days the FLOOD took place.
All these were KHALDHAYE, that is to say ANCIENT SYRIANS, according to the tradition of the early writers. And because the greater number of [these] writers were GREEKS, they changed the sounds of the Chaldean names and did not pronounce them as they were pronounced in Chaldean fashion. For behold, also, in the case of ‘NOH’ (NOAH), which is a pure Syrian name, and is derived from nawha, yet they (i.e. the Greeks) call it ‘NOACHOS’. And it is not only the ancient [writers] who do this, but people who are living in our own days are in the habit of changing the pronunciation [of words], thus YA’KOB, which [is derived] from ‘Ekbha is called ‘AIAKOBHOS’, and BAR-SAWMA they call ‘SOMOS’; and many others.
HANOKH (ENOKH)
And after YARD [came] HANOKH (ENOCH), who at the age of one hundred and sixty-five years begot MATHUSHLAH (METHUSELAH). And having pleased God for three hundred years he was translated to the place where God wished him [to be], and it is said, to Paradise, the place where the first ADAM was when he transgressed the command in days of old. Now this ENOCH made manifest before every man the knowledge of books and the art of writing. The ancient GREEKS say that ENOCH is HARMIS (HERMES) TRIS-MAGHISTOS (the ‘THRICE GREAT’), and it was he who taught men to build cities; and he established wonderful laws. And in his days one hundred and eighty cities were built; of which the smallest is URHAI (EDESSA). And he invented the science of the constellations and the courses (orbits?) of the stars. And he ordained that the children of men should worship God, and that they should fast, and pray, and give alms, and [make] votive offerings, and [pay] tithes. And he rejected the foods [which produced] impurities, and drunkenness. And he ordered festivals for the entrance of the sun into each Sign of the Zodiac, and for the New Moon, and for every star (planet?) when it entereth its house or when it riseth. And he commanded [men] to present offerings of perfumes (sweet incense?), and beasts for slaughter sacrificially, and wine, and offerings of first-fruits of every kind. And they say that he received all this doctrine (or, learning) from, AGHATHODAHMON (AGATHODAIMON), and they also say that’ AGHATHODAHMON was SETH, the son of ‘ADHAM, that is to say, the priest of the priest of ENOCH. And they also say that ‘ASKLAIPIDIS (AESCULAPIUS), the wise king, was a disciple of HERMES, that is to say, of ENOCH.
And when God translated ENOCH to Himself, ‘ASKLAIPYADIS (AESCULAPIUS) was greatly afflicted because the earth and the inhabitants thereof were deprived of his blessings and his wisdom. And he painted his picture in most marvellous fashion, as one who is being taken up into heaven, and he set up an image of HERMES in the temple in which he used to pray and worship God. And when went into that temple he used to sit down before it as he used to sit before him when he was alive, and he was blessed thereby. And it is said that this thing which had been made was the cause of the worship of images in the world. Now after many generations the Greeks imagined that that image was the image of ‘ASKLAIPYADIS (AESCULAPIUS), and for this reason they magnified it greatly, and they swore oaths by it before Christianity [existed]. For HIPPOCRATES said, ‘My disciples, I adjure you by the creator of death and life, and by the father of your father, ‘ASKLAIPYADIS’. And he said, ‘His name is derived etymologically from beauty , and light, and healing, and therefore it is right that every physician should be like unto him in purity, and chasteness, and holiness’. And GALEN said, ‘It is not seemly to deny the healing which cometh to the sick when they go into the temple of ‘ASKLAIPYADIS’. And HIPPOCRATES saith, ‘His staff on which he supported himself was the netaphta (i.e. marshmallow = hibiscum, or althaea ficifolia or offcinalis)’. And GALEN saith, ‘It indicateth moderation, which is the most excellent thing, because the marshmallow is half-way between heat and cold’.
MATHUSHLAH (METHUSELAH)
After ENOCH [came] MATHUSHLAH (METHUSELAH) his son. When he was one hundred and sixty and seven years old he begot LAMKH (LAMECH); all his days were nine hundred and sixty and two years.
LAMISH
After METHUSELAH [came] LAMECH his son. When he was five hundred years old he begot SHEM; all the days of his life were nine hundred and fifty years.
NOAH
In the six hundredth year of his [life] the FLOOD took place on the twenty-seventh day of [the month of] IYAR. There was heavy rain for forty days, and the waters increased and floated the ARK which NOAH had made, and he and his wife, and his three sons and their wives went into it by the command of God. And the waters rose up above the high mountains to a height of fifteen cubits. Then the wrath subsided, and on the twenty-seventh day of the month of IYAR of the year following, they went forth from the ARK, which they left in APAMAEA, the metropolis of PISIDIA.
According to what JOSEPHUS said: the years from ADAM to the FLOOD added together are two thousand, and two hundred, and forty and two.
And then NOAH divided the earth among his three sons:
The Border of SHEM: From PERSIA and BHAKURTOS to HENDO (INDIA) and RINOKURA, [where are] the ASSYRIANS, the CHALDEANS, the LYDIANS (the LORIANS?), the SYRIANS, the HEBREWS, and the PERSIANS.
The Border of HAM: From RINOKURA to GADHIRON. And his sons are, the INDIANS, the HITAYE (HITTITES), the YABHOSAYE (the JEBUSITES), the HAWAYE (the HIVITES), the AMORITES, the GIRGASITES, the ‘ARODHAYE (the ARVADITES).
The Border of YAPHT (JAPHET): From MEDIA to GADHIRON, the north side. And his sons are the MACEDONIANS, the ARMENIANS, the MEDES, the GREEKS, the LATINS, the BYZANTINES, [and] the ‘IBHERAYE.
SHEM
After NOAH [came] SHEM his son. When he was one hundred and one years old he begot ‘ARPACHSHAR (ARPHAXAD); all [the days of] his life were two hundred years.
ARPHAXAD
After SHEM [came] ARPHAXAD his son. When he was one hundred and thirty years old he begot KAINAN; all [the days of] his life were four hundred and sixty and five years.
KAINAN
After ARPHAXAD [came] KAINAN his son. When he was one hundred and thirty years old he begot SHALAH; all [the days of] his life were four hundred and thirty years. Now EUSEBIUS doth not reckon this KAINAN and his years in his table of years; neither doth the Hebrew Book (i.e. the Bible: see Genesis xi. 12-14), and our Syrian Book doth not. But LUKE (see chap. iii, v. 36) mentioneth him in the Gospel. And according to what is said, it was he who invented CHALDAYUTHA (i.e. Astrology and the Art of Magic). His sons worshipped him as a god, and set up an image of him; thence began the worship of idols. And he built the city of HARRAN in the name of HARAN his son.
SHALAH
After KAINAN [came] SHALAH his son. When he was one hundred and thirty years old he begot ‘ABHAR (EBER); all [the days of] his life were four hundred and sixty years.
ABHAR (EBER)
After SHALAH [came] ‘ABHAR (EBER) his son. He was one hundred and thirty and three years old when he begot PALAGH (PELEG); all [the days of] his life were three hundred and forty-three years. And it is said that the HEBREWS derive their name from him.
PALAGH
After ‘ABHAR (EBER) [came] PALAGH his son. He was one hundred and thirty years when he begot ‘AR’O (REU); all [the days of] his life were three hundred and forty-three years.
And in the one hundred and first year of his [life] PANOPIS, the first king of EGYPT, reigned sixty-eight years.
And in the one hundred and fortieth year of PALAGH the earth was divided a second time, between the sons of NOAH. And to the sons of SHEM [8] came the inheritance from the middle of the inhabited world to the limit thereof on the east, [including] PALESTINE, ARABIA, and PHOENICIA, and the country of SYRIA, and all the country between the Two Rivers (MESOPOTAMIA), and HYRCANIA, and ‘ATHOR (ASSYRIA), and the country of SEN’AR (SHINAR), and BABIL, and KARDO, and all PERSIA, and NORTHERN INDIA and BACTRIANA. And to the sons of HAM [came the inheritance], the whole of the south, from east to west, INDIA (Central, Outer, and Southern), KUSH, SHEBHA, EGYPT, LYBIA, THEBAIS, AFRICA, and towards the north CILICIA, PAMPHYLIA, PISIDIA, MYSIA, PHRYGIA, LUKYA (LYCIA), LYDIA, and of the Islands [of the MEDITERRANEAN] CYPRUS, CHIOS, SICILY, and twenty others. And to the sons of JAPHET [came the inheritance], the whole of the north from east to west, the country of the ‘ALANAYE (GERMANS, RB: Alans?), the TURKS, MEDIA, ARMENIA, CAPPADOCIA, GALATIA, ASIA, MYSIA, TARKI (THRACE?), ‘ILADHA (HELLAS), the land of the GREEKS (IONIANS), the RHOMAYE (BYZANTINES), the SARMATIANS, the ‘ASKLABHE (SCLAVS), the BULGARS, the GALLAYE (GAULS?), the SPANIARDS as far as GADIRA.
And after PALAGH died and the sons of JAKTAN, his brother, saw that they had no inheritance, they set up three governors, SHEBHA, and ‘ASHER, and HAWILA, and they seized [other] countries. And men began to build fortresses (or, citadels) whereunto they might go and take refuge from the armour (or, weapons) of the sons of JAKTAN, for they were the first to begin to arm themselves. And when the sons of CANAAN, the son of HAM, the son of NOAH, saw that the land of PALESTINE and the land of LEBHNAN (LEBANON) were good, they sat down there and they did not wish to go to their inheritance, which was the western maritime regions of EGYPT.
‘AR’O (REU)
After PALAGH [came] ‘AR’O (REU) his son. When he was one hundred and thirty-three (?) years old he begot SEROGH (SERUG); all [the days of] his life were three hundred and thirty and seven years.
And in the seventieth year of REU the building of the Great Tower in the land of SEN’AR (SHINAR) began, and NEMRODH (NIMROD), the son of KUSH, fed the builders on the beasts which he hunted. And forty years after the Tower was finished God sent a wind and the Tower was overturned, and NEMRODH died in it. It was he who after the FLOOD reigned in BABIL. Now his royal crown was of woven work, even as ‘ASAPH wrote. And NEMRODH built three cities ‘ARACH (ERECH), ‘AKHAR (AKKAD), and KALYA (CALACH),that is to say ‘URHAI (EDESSA), NISIBIS, and SALIK (SELEUCIA). And the speech of them (i.e. the builders of the Tower) was divided into seventy languages. And the land of SEN’AR (SHINAR) was called ‘BABHEL’ that is to say, ‘Confusion’. And Saint [9] BASIL and MAR ‘APRIM (EPHREM) have decided that the first (i.e. oldest) language which existed before the division of tongues was SYRIAC, even as the word ‘BHOLBALA’ itself testifieth. But the pious JACOB and JOHN of YATHREB think that HEBREW was the first (i.e. oldest) language–the HEBREW which was preserved with ‘ABHER (EBER), for he was a righteous man and did not agree to the building of the Tower. Others think that the word ‘Hebrew’ is so called from ‘ABHRAHAM, who crossed the rivers (TIGRIS and EUPHRATES), and crossed the divided pieces (see Genesis xv. 17), and passed from the paganism of his father to the Faith which is in God.
SERUGH
After REU [came] SERUGH his son. When he was one hundred and thirty years old he begot NAHOR, and all [the days of] his life were three hundred and thirty years. Now in his days money and [womens’] chains (i.e. jewellery) appeared from OPHIR. And men made idols for the devils, and they relied for help upon demons.
And after NEMRODH arose the second king in BABEL, KAMBIROS; he reigned eighty-five years in the days of SERUGH. And he made war on the people who are called ‘KALTO’, and conquered [them], and he set their boundary in the mountains that were in their midst.
And after KAMBIROS rose up SAMIROS, the third king of the CHALDEANS; [he reigned] seventy and two years. And he made war on the GREEKS (IONIANS) and the CANAANITES and conquered them, and he built cities for the PARTHIANS and CHALDEANS. And he was the first among them to make weights (or, measures) and scales, and in his day silk and dyed fabrics appeared. And it is said that he had three eyes and horns. And at this time there rose up a second governor ‘APIPHANYOS [who reigned] for forty and six years. And he was the first who constructed a ship and rode (i.e. sailed) the sea.
And after him rose up the third governor in EGYPT, ATHANOPYOS (AITHIOPS?), and it was because he made war on the CUSHITES and conquered them that he was called by this name, whereof the interpretation is ‘CUSHITE’. And he slew SHEBHA. And after SHEBHA his daughter reigned forty years, and henceforward women began to reign over the CUSHITES.
And after ‘APIPHANYOS a fourth king rose up in EGYPT, PER’ON BARSANOS, [and he reigned] thirty and five years. From this time the name of ‘PER’ON’ (PHARAOH) [came into use].
NAHOR
After SERUGH [came] NAHOR his son. He was seventy-nine years old when he begat TARH (TERAH); and all [the days of] his life were two hundred and one years. At this time KASARONOS (BASARONOS) the PARTHIAN made war on SAMIROS (?) and killed him, [10] and he lifted (i.e. carried off) his horns and set them on his crown. And ‘ARODH, the CANANITE, saith, ‘In the twenty-fifth year of NAHOR the agony of JOB, the righteous man, took place. JOB was a rich man of BETH YAKTAN, and seven times by himself alone he contended with SATAN and conquered.’ ASAPH saith, ‘His agony took place after sixty years’, and others say that [the agony] was that of YOBHABH, the son of ZARH, of the children of ESAU (Genesis xxxvi. 33).
And at [this] time a fifth king rose up in EGYPT, PHARAOH KARIMON; [he reigned] four years. And at this time two sons came to ‘ARMONIS, the CANAANITE, SEDHOM (SODOM) and ‘AMORA (GOMORRAH), and he built a city in the name of each of them, and he also built SA’AR (ZOAR) in the name of their mother.
And there rose up also a sixth king in EGYPT, PHARAOH ‘APINTOS; [he reigned] thirty and two years. This king sent to KASARONOS, the Parthian king, and he brought the writings and the doctrine (religion?) of the CHALDEES to EGYPT. And ‘APINTOS also built a city on the river NILE, and he named it ‘BABHULON’, that is to say BABEL. And ASAPH also saith that in the days of TARH the EGYPTIANS learned Chaldeeism, and they made an image of gold in honour of KINOS, the idol.
TARH
After NAHOR [came] TARH his son. When he was seventy years old he begot ABRAHAM; and all [the days of] his life was two hundred and seventy-five years. And in the fifth year of TARH a fifth king rose up in BABHIL, ARPAZADH; [he reigned] eighteen years, and then the kingdom of BABHIL came to an end for seven years, until BILOS (BELUS), the ASSYRIAN, rebelled against the CHALDEANS. And he made war upon them and upon the MEDES and conquered them, and he reigned over ASSYRIA and BABHIL, and over the whole of ASIA, with the exception of INDIA, for sixty and two years.
And in the fifth year of TARH the seventh king reigned over EGYPT, PHARAOH’ AURONKOS, for thirty and three years. And after this [king] the eighth king of EGYPT, PHARAOH SIMONOS, reigned for twenty years. And after this [king] the ninth king of EGYPT, ‘ARMINOS, reigned for twenty and seven years, and twenty years before ‘ABRAHAM was born DARMASUK (DAMASCUS) was built by MORFOS, and JOSEPHUS saith that ‘UZ, the son of ‘ARAM, built it.
ABRAHAM
After TARJH (TERAH) [came] ABRAHAM his son. He was one hundred years old when he begot ISAAC; all [the days of] his life were one hundred and seventy-five years. And when ABRAHAM was fifteen years of age he entreated [11] God and drove away the karkase (ravens? locusts?) which were destroying the country of the CHALDEANS and eating up their crops. At this time BILOS (BELUS) died, and a second king rose up in ASSYRIA, viz. his son NINOS (NINUS), [who reigned] for fifty and two years, and built NINEVEH. After that city RAIHBUTH (REHOBOTH) and RASAN and KALNAI (CAB’AH), that is to say, ‘ARBIL, and RISH ‘AYNA (RAS’AIN), and SALIK (SELEUCIA), were built. And JERUSALEM also was built by MELCHISEDEK, the CANAANITE.
And ABRAHAM burned the temple idols which was in UR OF THE CHALDEES, and HARAN his brother went to quench the fire, and he was burned to death therein. And for this reason ABRAHAM, when he was sixty years old, fled to HARRAN with TARH his father, and NAHOR his brother, and LOT, the brother of HARAN, who was burnt to death; and he dwelt therein for fourteen years. And then he departed from his father: from HARRAN and came to the land of CANAAN. And in his seventy-first year the war of KARDL’MAR (CHEDARLAOMER) took place. And when he was eighty and five years old, that is to say in the first year of the promise concerning EGYPT, he begot ISHMAEL by HAGHAR. ISHMAEL lived one hundred and thirty and seven years. And the fortieth year of the promise, reckoning from ADAM, was the year three thousand three hundred. And at that time SHAMIRAM (SEMlRAMIS) the wife of NINOS (NINUS) reigned over the ASSYRIANS forty-six (or, forty-five) years. And she built mounds because of the FLOOD.
And a tenth king rose up in EGYPT, PARANDOS, the THEBAN; he reigned forty and three years. And after him rose up in EGYPT the eleventh king, PHARAOH PANOS. This king snatched from ABRAHAM his wife SARA, and he returned her to him afterwards with gold, and silver, and stuffs, and sent him away from EGYPT. And after him the twelfth king, PHARAOH ‘ISOKOS, reigned over EGYPT twenty-one years. And after him the thirteenth king, PHARAOH SOSONOS, [reigned] forty-four years. And after him the fourteenth ktng, PHARAOH TARKOS (TARAKOS), [reigned] forty-four years.
And after SHAMIRAM (SEMIRAMIS) a fourth king reigned over the ASSYRIANS, viz. ZMAROS, for thirty-eight years. And in his days rose up the first king of the KRITAYE (CRETANS) [called] KARIS, who builded KRITI (CRETE).
ISSAC
After ABRAHAM [came] ISAAC his son. When he was sixty years old he begot JACOB; all the [days of] his life were one hundred and eighty years. And when he was fiffteen years old his father offered him [as a] [12] sacrifice. In his thirty-eighth year his mother SARA died, being one hundred and twenty-seven years old. And after one year he took RAPKA (REBECCA) to wife, and in his sixtieth year she conceived, and she went to MELCHISEDEK to inquire of the Lord concerning what she had conceived. And he said unto her, ‘There are two peoples in thy womb, and the one people shall be greater than the other’, viz. ESAU, who is ‘ADOM (EDOM) from whom [sprang] the EDOMITES, and JACOB from whom [sprang] the ISRAELITES. ABIMELECH was a friend to those of the house of ISAAC, and he it was who in the year one hundred of [the life of] ABRAHAM made war; and the Bible calls him King of GHADHAR (GERAR in Genesis xx. I) from the name of his city, and here [he is king] of the PHILISTINES, because of the many peoples over whom he reigned.
And in the days of ISAAC the fifth king of the ASSYRIANS rose up–‘ARIS; [he reigned] thirty years. And the fifteenth king of the EGYPTIANS, SETIS; [he reigned] nineteen years. This was the first king of the four kings who were called ‘SHEPHERDS’.
JACOB
After ISAAC [came] JACOB his son. When he was eighty-two years old he begot LEVI; all [the days of] his life were one hundred and forty-seven years. When he was seventy-seven years old ISAAC blessed him and sent him to HARRAN. And in the tenth year of LEVI, JACOB went up to ISAAC his father. In the third year of LEVI, JOSEPH was born, and in the twentieth year of LEVI, JOSEPH was sold, being seventeen years old. He was a slave for ten years and was in the prison house for three years, and [he stood] before PHARAOH for thirty years, and he was in authority in EGYPT for eighty years, and he died at the age of one hundred and forty years. And after ISAAC died the children of ESAU were subject to MOAB and. AMMON, and ‘ARAM, and they came to war against JACOB and his sons in HEBRON; and JACOB prevailed, and he smote ESAU with an arrow and killed him, and the children of ESAU were broken before the children of JACOB, and their allies fled. When JACOB was one hundred and thirty years old he went down to EGYPT, in the second year of the famine.
LEVI
After JACOB [came] LEVI his son. When he was forty-seven years old he begot KAHATH; all his life was one hundred and thirty and seven years. In his days the FLOOD which [came] in the days of ‘AGOGOS took place, when BILOS (BELUS) was reigning in ASSYRIA; and MAPOS (MEMPHIS) in EGYPT was built. And STASIKOROS [13] (or, STIKOROS) brought acrobatic dancing and games into the world, for his bringing up (or, education) had been among women. And MANOS (HUMANOS) the king displayed luxuriousness in his own person (?).
And that fourth Shepherd king, ‘APAPOS, reigned in EGYPT fourteen years. He it was who dreamed dreams and who made JOSEPH ruler, according to the histories of the CHALDEANS, and it seemeth likely that the ‘SHEPHERDS’ were called ‘KINGS’ because of JOSEPH’S brethren.
KAHATH
After LEVI [came] KAHATH (KOHATH) his son. When he was sixty years old he begot ‘AMRAM; all [the days of] his life were one hundred and thirty-three years.
AMRAM
After KAHATH [came] ‘AMRAM his son. He was seventy-five years old when he begot MOSES in the three hundred and fiftieth year of the promise; all [the days of] his life were one hundred and thirty and seven years. And in his days MAPROS reigned in EGYPT twelve years; and then TOMOTHOS (THOTHMES?) eighteen years; and then ‘AMONPATHIS (AMENOPHIS?) forty-three years. It was this king who began to strangle (i.e. drown) the children of the HEBREWS in the NILE.
MOSES
After ‘AMRAM [came] MOSES his son. He ruled over the children of ISRAEL when he was eighty years old, and he led the people in the wilderness forty years. When he was born he was cast into the river, and the daughter of ‘AMONPATHIS (AMENOPHIS?), whose name was TREMOTHISA, who is RA’OSA (RA’MOSO) whom the HEBREWS call ‘DAMARIS’, the wife of KANPARA, the king of MAPAS (MEMPHIS), found him and saved him from the waters, and brought him up as a son of hers. And when he was ten years old YANES and YAMBRES taught him wisdom, as ‘ARTAMONIS showeth in his Epistle; this [fact] is not written in the Book of the Law, but the Apostle PAUL (Acts vii. 22) mentioneth it.
And in his twenty-second year PHARAOH ‘AMONPATHIS began to compel the HEBREWS to throw (i.e. cast or mould) bricks and to build the city of, ARMOPOLIS (sic) (HERMOPOLIS?). And he also conquered the CUSHITES, and he took RA’OSA, the daughter of SOROS (ZOROS?) their king to wife. And the people were ascribing this victory to MOSES, and saying, ‘he hath taken this RA’OSA to wife’. And because of this KANPARA (?) was jealous of him, [because he wished to marry RA’OSA, but] was unable to do so until DAMARIS his wife was dead. Then he sent a certain KHANOTHIS to kill him. But MOSES prevailed and killed [14] this man, and fled into ARABIA, to RA’U’IL, the MIDIANITE. And when he was forty years old, he took to wife ZEPORA (ZIPPORAH), the daughter of YATHRON (JETHRO) the son of RA’U’IL, the MIDIANITE, the son of DARAN, the son of YAKSHAN, the son of ABRAHAM by KENTORA his wife. The expositors say that YATHRON (JETHRO) is RA’U’IL.
And at this time a flood took place, the third, in THESSALY in the days of DOKALYON (DEUCALION); and a great conflagration in KUSH in the days of PARATON; and the famous war of the CHALDEANS with the PHOENICIANS; and EUNOMIUS invented the art of signs (i.e. the alphabet?); and MENANDER invented comedy; and KHYARON and ‘ASCLEPIADIS [the art of] healing.
And when MOSES was eighty years old, that is to say, in the four hundred and thirtieth year of the promise, he was commanded by God to take the HEBREWS out from EGYPT. And when the HEBREWS had passed over in the middle of the sea on dry land, PHARAOH PSONOS, who rose [as king] after ‘AMONPATHIS, and all his army were drowned in the SEA OF SUPH. Now when those EGYPTIANS who had not sallied forth with PHARAOH saw the destruction of those who had sallied forth, each one with the labour which was found in his hands made an [object of] fear for himself and worshipped it, as if forsooth by means of it he had been prevented from the going forth [which was] the cause of the disaster. And in that year MOSES warred with ‘AMALIK (AMALEK). And he went up into the mountain in the third month and received the LAW and the JUDGEMENTS for ISRAEL. And from the time when God said unto ABRAHAM, ‘Know well that thy seed shall be dweller[s] and sojourner[s] in a country which is not theirs’, must be counted the four hundred and thirty years of the subjugation, as it is written in the BOOK OF EXODUS, and this also PAUL testifieth, although in the first Book, GENESIS, four hundred years only are written. And from ADAM to the death of MOSES is three thousand eight hundred (or, four hundred) and fifty years, according to ANIANUS the monk, and this computation agreeth with his. According to the Septuagint, however, it is three thousand eight hundred (or, four hundred) and eighty-two years, and according the Syrian and Hebrew [Books] it is two thousand four hundred and twenty [years]. MOSES lived in EGYPT forty years, and in MIDIAN forty years, and in the desert forty years.
(1) The numbers in brackets refer to the pages of Bedjan’s [Syriac] text.
(2) The writer of a Chronicle now lost.
(3) Bishop of Tyre; martyred about A.D. 300.
(4) A GENERAL WARNING by BEDJAN. Various statements will be found in this HISTORY which do not agree with the Book of the Law of the Syrians which is called ‘peshitta’, especially those which refer to the number of the years of the world, the lives of the Patriarch, and so on. It is not seemly for us to stumble over these because our author made use of the Book of the Law according to the Seventy (i.e. the Septuagint), and the Book of the Law according to the SAMARITANS, and other ancient [versions of the] Scriptures, and he wrote down in historical fashion the opinion of each one of them even as he found it.