Lost Books of the Bible (113 page)

30 Esau took all that his father had left him after his death from his brother Jacob, and he took all the property, from man and beast, camel and ass, ox and lamb, silver and gold, stones and bdellium, and all the riches which had belonged to Isaac the son of Abraham; there was nothing left which Esau did not take to himself from all that Isaac had left after his death.

31 Esau took all this and he and his children went home to the land of Seir the Horite, away from his brother Jacob and his children.

32 And Esau had possessions among the children of Seir, and Esau returned not to the land of Canaan from that day forward.

33 The whole land of Canaan
became an inheritance to the children of Israel for an everlasting inheritance, and Esau with all his children inherited the mountain of Seir.

CHAPTER 48

1 In those days, after the death of Isaac, the Lord commanded and caused a famine on the whole earth.

2 At that time Pharaoh, king of Egypt, was sitting on his throne in the land of Egypt; he lay in his bed and dreamed dreams and Pharaoh saw in his dream that he was standing by the side of the river of Egypt.

3 While he was standing he saw seven fat fleshed and well favored cattle come up out of the river.

4 And seven other cattle, lean fleshed and ill favored, came up after them, and the seven ill favored ones swallowed up the well favored ones, and still their appearance was ill as at first.

5 And he awoke; he slept again and he dreamed a second time, and he saw seven ears of corn come up on one stalk, full and good, and seven thin ears blasted with the east wind sprang up after them, and the thin ears swallowed up the full ones, then Pharaoh awoke out of his dream.

6 In the morning the king remembered his dreams and his spirit was sadly troubled on account of his dreams, and the king hurried, sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt and the wise men, and they came and stood before Pharaoh.

7 And the king said to them, I have dreamed dreams, and there is none to interpret them; they said to the king, relate your dreams to your servants and let us hear them.

8 And the king related his dreams to them, and they all answered and said with one voice to the king, May the king live forever; this is the interpretation of your dreams.

9 The seven good cattle which you saw denotes seven daughters that will be born to you in the latter days, and the seven cattle which you saw come up after them and swallowed them up, are for a sign that the daughters which will be born to you will all die in the lifetime of the king.

10 And that which you saw in the second dream of seven full good ears of corn coming up on one stalk, this is their interpretation: that you will build to yourself in the latter days seven cities throughout the land of Egypt; that which you saw of the seven poor ears of corn springing up after them and swallowing them up while you saw them with your eyes, is for a sign that the cities which you will build will all be destroyed in the latter days, in the lifetime of the king.

11 And when they spoken these words the king did not incline his ear to their words, neither did he fix his heart on them, for the king knew in his wisdom that they did not give a proper interpretation of the dreams;  when they had finished speaking before the king, he answered them, saying, What is this thing that you have spoken to me? Certainly you have uttered falsely and spoken lies; therefore now give the proper interpretation of my dreams, that you may not die.

12 The king commanded after this, and he sent and called again for other wise men, and they came and stood before the king.  The king related his dreams to them, and they
all answered him according to the first interpretation; the king's anger was set ablaze and he was very upset. A nd the king said to them, Certainly you speak lies and utter falsehood in what you have said.

13 The king commanded that a proclamation should be issued throughout the land of Egypt, saying, It is determined by the king and his great men, that any wise man who knows and understands the interpretation of dreams, and will not come this day before the king, shall die.

14 The man that will declare to the king the proper interpretation of his dreams, there shall be given to him all that he will require from the king. And all the wise men of the land of Egypt came before the king, together with all the magicians and sorcerers that were in Egypt and in Goshen, in Rameses, in Tachpanches, in Zoar, and in all the places on the borders of Egypt; they all stood before the king.

15 And all the nobles and the princes, and the attendants belonging to the king, came together from all the cities of Egypt and they all sat before the king, and the king related his dreams before the wise men and the princes; all that sat before the king were astonished at the vision.

16 And all the wise men who were before the king were greatly divided in their interpretation of his dreams; some of them interpreted them to the king, saying, The seven good cattle are seven kings, who from the king's lineage will be raised over Egypt.

17 And the seven bad cattle are seven princes who will stand up against them in the latter days and destroy them;  the seven ears of corn are the seven great princes belonging to Egypt, who will fall in the hands of the seven less powerful princes of their enemies, in the wars of our lord the king.

18 And some of them interpreted to the king in this manner, saying, The seven good cattle are the strong cities of Egypt, and the seven bad cattle are the seven nations of the land of Canaan, who will come against the seven cities of Egypt in the latter days and destroy them.

19 And that which you saw in the second dream, of seven good and bad ears of corn, is a sign that the government of Egypt will again return to your descendants as at first.

20 And in this reign the people of the cities of Egypt will turn against the seven cities of Canaan who are stronger than they are and will destroy them, and the government of Egypt will return to your descendants.

21 Some of them said to the king, This is the interpretation of your dreams; the seven good cattle are seven queens, whom you will take for wives in the latter days, and the seven bad cattle denote that those women will all die in the lifetime of the king.

22 And the seven good and bad ears of corn which you did see in the second dream are fourteen children, and it will be in the latter days that they will stand up and fight among themselves, and seven of them will strike the seven that are more powerful.

23 Some of them said these words to the king, The seven good cattle denote that seven children will be born to you, and they will kill seven of your children's children in the latter days; and the seven good ears of corn which you saw in the second dream are those princes against whom seven other less powerful princes will fight and destroy them in the latter days, and avenge your children's cause, and the government will again return to your offspring.

24 The king heard all the words of the wise men of Egypt and their interpretation of his dreams, and none of them pleased the king.

25 And the king knew in his wisdom that they did not altogether speak correctly in all these words, for this was from the Lord to frustrate the words of the wise men of Egypt in order that Joseph might go forth from the house of confinement, and in order that he should become great in Egypt.

26 The king saw that none among all the wise men and magicians of Egypt spoke correctly to him, and the king's wrath was set ablaze, and his anger burned within him.

27 And the king commanded that all the wise men and magicians should go out from before him, and they all went out from before the king with shame and disgrace.

28 Then the king commanded that a proclamation be sent throughout Egypt to kill all the magicians that were in Egypt, and not one of them should be allowed to live.

29 And the captains of the guards belonging to the king rose up, and each man drew his sword;  they began to strike the magicians of Egypt and the wise men.

30 After this Merod, chief butler to the king, came and bowed down before the king and sat before him.

31 The butler said to the king, May the king live forever, and his government be honored in the land.

32 You were angry with your servant in those days now two years past and did place me in the ward, and I was for some time in the ward, I and the chief of the bakers.

33 And there was with us a Hebrew servant belonging to the captain of the guard, his name was Joseph, for his master had been angry with him and placed him in the house of confinement, and he attended us there.

34 Some time after when we were in the ward, we dreamed dreams in one night, I and the chief of the bakers; we dreamed, each man according to the interpretation of his dream.

35 And we came in the morning and told them to that servant, and he interpreted to us our dreams, to each man according to his dream he correctly interpreted.

36 And it came to pass as he interpreted to us, so was the event; there fell not to the ground any of his words.

37 Now therefore my lord and king do not kill the people of Egypt for nothing; consider that the slave is still confined in the house by the captain of the guard his master, in the house of confinement.

38 If it pleases the king let him send for him that he may come before you and he will make known to you the correct interpretation of the dream which you did dream.

39 The king heard the words of the chief butler, and the king ordered that the wise men of Egypt should not be slain.

40 And the king ordered his servants to bring Joseph before him, and the king said to them, Go to him and do not terrify him that he be confused and will not know to speak properly.

41 The servants of the king went to Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon; the king's servants shaved him, and he changed his prison garment and came before the king.

42 The king was sitting on his royal throne in a princely dress surrounded with a golden ephod, and the fine gold which was on it sparkled, and the gem and the ruby and the emerald, together with all the precious stones that were on the king's head dazzled the eye, and Joseph wondered greatly at the king.

43 And the throne on which the king sat was covered with gold and silver and with onyx stones, and it had seventy steps.

44 It was their custom throughout the land of Egypt that every man who came to speak to the king, if he was a prince or one that was respected in the sight of the king, he ascended to the king's throne as far as the thirty-first step, and the king would descend to the thirty-sixth step and speak with him.

45 If he was one of the common people, he ascended to the third step, and the king would descend to the fourth and speak to him, as their custom was.  Also any man who understood to speak in all the seventy languages, he ascended the seventy steps, and went up and spoke till he reached the king.

46 And any man who could not complete the seventy, he ascended as many steps as the languages which he knew to speak in.

47 It was customary in those days in Egypt that no one should reign over them, but one who understood to speak in the seventy languages.

48 When Joseph came before the king he bowed down to the ground before the king, and he ascended to the third step, and the king sat on the fourth step and spoke with Joseph.

49 The king said to Joseph, I dreamed a dream, and there is no interpreter to interpret it properly, and I commanded  that all the magicians of Egypt and the wise men thereof should come before me;  I related my dreams to them, and no one has properly interpreted them to me.

50 After this I heard about you, that you are a wise man, and can correctly interpret every dream that you hear.

51 And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, Let Pharaoh relate his dreams that he dreamed; certainly the interpretations belong to God.  And Pharaoh related his dreams to Joseph, the dream of the cattle, and the dream of the ears of corn, and the king ceased speaking.