Jubilees 35

Jacob's Pledge to Honor Isaac and Esau

35 And in the first year of the first week of the forty-fifth jubilee, Rebecca called her son Jacob and gave him command concerning his father and concerning his brother, that he should honor them all the days of the life of Jacob. 2And Jacob said: "I will do all thou commandest me, for this thing will be honor and greatness to me and righteousness before the Lord, that I should honor them. 3And thou, my mother, knowest me from the time I was born until this day, all my deeds and everything that is in my heart, that always I think good concerning all. 4And how should I not do this which thou hast commanded me, that I should honor my father and my brother? 5Tell me, my mother, what perversity thou seest in me? 6And I am far removed from him, and gentleness is in me."

Rebecca's Impending Death

7And she said to him: "My son, all my days I have not seen in thee any perversity, and no depraved actions, but righteousness. 8But in truth I tell thee, my son, I will die in this year, and will not get beyond this year in my life, for I saw in a dream the day of my death, that I should not live beyond one hundred and fifty-five years. 9And behold, I have completed all the days of my life which I was to live."

10And Jacob laughed at the words of his mother, because she said that she would die, and she was sitting opposite him with her strength upon her, without any decrease of strength, for she went in and out, and saw, and her teeth were strong, and no ailment had touched her all the days of her life. 11And Jacob said to her: "Happy am I, my mother, if my days approach the days of thy life, and my strength abide in me as thy strength; and thou wilt not die, for in vain dost thou speak with me concerning thy death."

"The Watchman of Jacob is Great!"

12And she went in to Isaac, and said to him: "One petition I ask of thee: let Esau swear that he will not harm Jacob, and will not persecute him in enmity, for thou knowest the thoughts of Esau, that he was terrible from his youth on, and there is not gentleness in him; for he desires after thy death to kill him. 13And thou knowest how he has done all the days from the day when Jacob, his brother, went to Haran to this day, that he has left us with his whole heart, and does evil with us. 14He has collected thy flocks, and all thy possessions he robs from before thy face, and when we entreated and asked for what was ours, he did as a man that practises usury on us. 15And he is bitter at thee because thou didst bless that perfect and righteous son Jacob; for in him there is no evil, but goodness. 16And since he came from Haran to this day, he has not deprived us of the least; but he brings us everything in its time and always, and he rejoices in his whole heart when we take anything from his hands, and he blesses us and does not separate from us since he came from Haran to the present day, and he lives with us ever in our house, honoring us."

17And Isaac said to her: "I know and I see the deeds of Jacob with us, that with all his heart he honors us; but I loved Esau formerly more than Jacob, on account of his birth; but now I love Jacob more than Esau, because he has increased in evil doings, and there is no righteousness in him, for all his ways are injustice and violence, and there is no righteousness in him at all. 18And now my heart trembles concerning all his deeds, and neither he nor his seed shall abide, for they shall be destroyed from the earth, and they shall be rooted out from under heaven; for he has deserted the God of Abraham, and goes after his women after uncleanness and after error, he and his children.

19And thou dost tell me that I shall make him swear not to kill Jacob: even if he swears he will not keep to his oath, and will not do good but evil. 20And if he desires to kill his brother Jacob, he shall be given into the hands of Jacob and shall not escape from his hands, but fall into his hands. 21And thou fear not concerning Jacob, for the watchman of Jacob is great and powerful, and honored and worshipped above the watchman of Esau."

Rebecca Seeks to Reconcile Jacob and Esau

22And Rebecca sent for and called Esau, and he came to her, and she said to him, "One prayer I have, my son, which I ask of thee, and grant it, that thou mayest do what I ask of thee, my son."

23And he said to her: "I will do all that thou tellest me, and will not refuse anything that thou askest."

24And she said to him: "I ask of thee that the day I die thou wilt take me and bury me near the grave of Sarah, the mother of thy father, and that thou and thy brother Jacob will love each other, and that neither will undertake evil against his brother, but love him, so that ye may be prosperous, my son, and be honored in the midst of the land and that an enemy may not rejoice over you, and that ye may be a blessing and mercy before the eyes of all that love you."

25And he said: "I will do all that thou sayest to me, and I will bury thee on the day of thy death near Sarah, the mother of thy father, as thou lovest her bones, that they shall be near to thy bones. 26But Jacob, my brother, I will love above all flesh, and I have no other brother in all the world except him alone, and this is not a great thing for me that I shall love him, for he is my brother, and together we were sown in thy womb, and together we came forth from thee, and if I do not love my brother, whom shall I love? 27And I then beg of thee that thou wilt exhort Jacob concerning me and concerning my children, for I know that he will rule as king over me and over my children, for on the day when my father blessed him, he made him the higher and me the lower. 28And I swear to thee that I will love him and will not seek out evil against him all the days of my life, but only good."

29And he swore to her concerning this whole matter.

30And she called Jacob before the eyes of Esau, and commanded him according to the words she had spoken with Esau. 31And he said, "I will do thy pleasure, promising that no evil shall proceed from me and from my sons against Esau, my brother, and nothing shall be shown him except love."

The Repose of Rebecca

32And they ate, and drank, she and her sons, on this day, and she died, three jubilees and one week and one year old, in this night, and her two sons, Esau and Jacob, buried her in the cave near Sarah, the mother of their father.