Jubilees 17

The Expulsion of Ishmael

17 And in the first year of the fifth week Isaac was weaned, in this jubilee, and Abraham made a great feast in the third month on the day his son Isaac was weaned. 2And Ishmael, the son of the Egyptian Hagar, was before the face of his father in this place; and Abraham rejoiced and blessed the Lord, because that he could see sons to himself and had not died without sons. 3And he remembered the words which he had spoken to him on the day that Lot separated from him; and he rejoiced, because the Lord had given him seed on the earth to inherit the land; and he blessed with his whole mouth the Creator of all things.

4And when Sarah saw that Ishmael was playing and growing, and that Abraham was rejoicing exceedingly, she became jealous of Ishmael, and she said to Abraham: "Drive away this slave and her son, for the son of this one shall not inherit with my son Isaac." 5And these words were grievous in the eyes of Abraham, on account of his maid, and on account of his son, that he should drive them away from him.

6And the Lord said to Abraham: "Let it not be grievous in thy eyes concerning the child, and concerning the slave; all that Sarah says to thee, hear her words and do them, for in Isaac shall thy name and thy seed be called for thee. 7But the son of this slave I will make into a great nation, for he is of thy seed.

8And Abraham arose early in the morning and took bread and a bag of water and put them upon the shoulders of Hagar and of the boy and sent them away. 9And she went wandering about in the desert Beer-Sheba; and the water was finished from the bag, and the boy was thirsty, and was not able to walk, and he fell down. 10And his mother took him, and going, threw him under an olive tree, and she went and sat down opposite him, the distance of an arrow shot, saying: "I cannot see the death of my child"; and she sat weeping.

11And an angel of God, one of the holy ones, said to her: "Why dost thou weep, Hagar? arising, take the boy, and lead him by the hand, for the Lord has heard thy voice." 12And she looked at the bag and opened her eyes and saw a well of water, and she went and filled the bag with water and gave her boy to drink, and she arose and went toward the desert of Paran.

13And the boy grew and became a horseman, and the Lord was with him. 14And his mother took for him a wife from among the daughters of Egypt, and she bore him a son, and he called his name Nabemoth, for she said: "The Lord was near to me when I cried out to him."

Abraham to be Further Tested

15And it happened in the seventh week, in the first year thereof, in the first month of this jubilee, on the twelfth of this month, there was a word in the heavens concerning Abraham, that he was a believer in all that the Lord told him, and that he loved him, because in all temptations he was faithful. 16And the prince Mastema approached and said before God: "Behold Abraham loves Isaac his son, and esteems him more than all other things; say that he should bring him as a burnt offering on the altar and thou wilt see if he will do this word, and thou wilt know if he is a believer in everything with which thou triest him." 17And the Lord knew that Abraham was a believer in all trials which he spoke to him; for he had tried him in his country, and in the strange land, and had tried him with the wealth of kings, and had tried him again with his wife in that she was torn from him, and with the circumcision, and had tried him with Ishmael and Hagar his maid, when he sent them away, and in all in which he had tried him he was found faithful, and his soul did not become impatient, nor did he hesitate to do it, for he was faithful and a lover of God.