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“ In the sacred history we are presented with the only authentic, and, of course, the only valuable information concerning the origin of the universe, — of men and all other animated creatures, — of the gradual increase of the human race, — of the flood in the year A. M. 1656, of which mighty event there are existing evidences to the present day; evidences, so universal and so ponderous, that all the ingenuity of the sceptical geologists will never be able to remove them in order to make room for their plausible hypotheses. ”

“ As for me, my prayer is to him who dwells on high; may the Lord God assist me, and send me from on high his peace, favor, and faithfulness to help me, that he may lead me beside the still waters, and conduct me to the paths of righteousness for the sake of his great name, and for the sake of his law. ”

“ And the Lord said unto him, What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground where thou hast slain him.
30 For thou hast slain thy brother and hast dissembled before me, and didst imagine in thy heart that I saw thee not, nor knew all thy actions.
31 But thou didst this thing and didst slay thy brother for naught and because he spoke rightly to thee, and now, therefore, cursed be thou from the ground which opened its mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand, and wherein thou didst bury him. ”

“ The age in which we live has been, and continues to be, particularly distinguished by a laudable desire in the minds of men, to inquire into the various states of knowledge, and of the arts, as they existed in times anterior to the Christian era; animated with these noble and elevated views, a considerable number of individuals, greatly distinguished for their genius and learning, have in succession turned their attention to the East — to those celebrated countries, in which the arts of civilization and the lights of science first dawned upon, enlightened, and embellished human society. ”

“ This book gives a particular account of the instruction received by Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, from Shem and Eber, through which they became so excellent in piety and wisdom, their tutors in learning having lived to so great an age; and Shem particularly, who, being acquainted with all that was known before the flood, could therefore, strengthen his precepts of virtue, the true worship of God, and the necessary dependance upon him alone, by recording the awful events which he had seen.
The history of Joseph has always been considered one of the most admirable and interesting on record. ”

“ The magnificent and unequalled remains of the arts in Egypt, Babylonia, Assyria, Palestine, and Persia, have, from time to time, been visited and explored; and it has been amidst these fallen monuments of human grandeur, that the adventurous and enlightened traveller has found himself amply rewarded for his laborious and hazardous undertakings ”

“ And it came to pass that when God carried [5] us away with a mighty captivity by the hands of the kings of Edom, from city to city and from country to country in bitter anxiety, this book, called “The Generations of Adam” together with other books came into our hands, for they came from that house in Sevilia, and they came afterward to our city Napuli, which city is under the sway of the king of Spain, (whose glory may be exalted.) And when we saw these books, that they were books of all wisdom, we resolved in our minds to print them like all the books that came to our hands. ”

“ When a united number is intended to be expressed, the word all is used as in verse 35, when “Nimrod assembled all the sons of Cush, and their families, about four hundred and sixty men,” by this is meant that all those assembled of the families of Cush were four hundred and sixty men. Sufficient examples will be found in Jasher as well as in scripture, where (Hebrew characters) must be understood in this sense. I therefore understand in this verse, not that all mankind came to live in Shinar, but that all those that did come, resided in Shinar. ”

“ CHAPTER X.
1 And Peleg the son of Eber died in those days, in the forty-eighth year of the life of Abram son of Terah, and all the days of Peleg were two hundred and thirty-nine years.
2 And when the Lord had scattered the sons of men on account of their sin at the tower, behold they spread forth into many divisions, and all the sons of men were dispersed into the four corners of the earth.
3 And all the families became each according to its language, its land, or its city. ”

“ My Lord and king, I have heard thy words, and thy servant shall do all that his king desireth.
18 But my lord and king, I will tell thee what happened to me yesternight, that I may see what advice the king will give his servant, and then I will answer the king upon what he has just spoken; and the king said, Speak.
19 And Terah said to the king, Ayon, son of Mored, came to me yesternight, saying,
20 Give unto me the great and beautiful horse that the king gave thee, and I will give thee silver and gold, and straw and provender for its value ”

“ Jasher tells us, that when Nimrod was 40 years old, there was war between his brethren and the children of Japheth; (see verse 34;) and that they were under the power of their enemies; that with a few people, (of the children of Cush only,) he made war, and subdued them; and that they all came to dwell with him in Shinar. I have frequently had to remark that the word all must not in the Hebrew be taken in that latitude, as it would in the modern languages. ”

“ It was certainly a great age to contract matrimony, but it must be remembered that Noah was then getting on to five hundred years, and as he deferred marriage to this exceeding great age, he looked out for one of his own age. I suppose that Enoch’s daughter intended living secluded from men, like her father, until Noah, the best of men then living, applied to her. ”

“ It is also found written in the book of the Asmoneans which has come down to us, that in the days of Ptolemy king of Egypt, he ordered his servants to go and gather all the books of laws, and all the books of Chronicles which they could find in the world, so that he might become wise through them, and by examining them become acquainted with the subjects and events of the world, and to compile from them a book in all matters of jurisdiction regarding the affairs of life, thereby to exercise pure justice. ”

“ The ever memorable events and transactions recorded in Scripture are with many others of the most interesting nature, comprehended in the Book of Jasher; and they are all arrayed in that style of simple, unadorned majesty and precision, which so peculiarly distinguishes the genius of the Hebrew language; and this, together with other numerous internal evidences, it is presumed will go far te convince the Hebrew scholar that the book is, with the exception of some doubtful parts, a venerable monument of antiquity ”

“ May the king live!
23 And in some time after, when the kings and princes and the sons of men were speaking to Enoch, and Enoch was teaching them the ways of God, behold an angel of the Lord then called unto Enoch from heaven, and wished to bring him up to heaven to make him reign there over the sons of God, as he had reigned over the sons of men upon earth. ”

“ Her funeral is described as having been magnificent; and it is expressly mentioned, that it was attended by Shem, the son of Noah, Eber his son, king Abimelech, together with Anar, Ashcol and Mamre, and other great people of the land.
In the Bible, Sarah is the only woman whose age is given at her death; but it may be interesting to the reader to know, that Jasher generally states the ages of all the women who are particularly mentioned in the course of the history. ”

“ Woe to the eyes that beheld this! yet may the name of the Lord be blessed for the evil as well as for the good.
Fearing that this book might share the same fate as the others, I daily used the most persevering exertions in sending letters to some particular individuals in the city Argilia, in the city Titu, and in the city Pasia, to such as had been left, humbly beseeching them to search and inquire where might be the place of the glory of this book, and it was sought after and found to be hid in the hands of one of the individuals of the congregation, the wise and highly gifted Moses Chasan ”

“ Although this is the frequent manner of Scripture, to record events out of the regular order of succession, (an instance of which we find in Isaac, whose death is recorded in Gen. xxxv. 29, when we know from the calculations given us in Scripture, that Isaac’s death, must have taken place when Joseph was about 29 years old; and the description given in Jasher, of Isaac’s coming from Hebron to comfort Jacob upon the loss of Joseph, is beautiful,) it is of great importance, in its making a difference of 60 years in the chronology of the world. ”

“ This will rouse our hearts to faith in our God ; for how could ten men destroy seven cities, if their hearts had not been impressed with faith in the Lord!
The seventh use is, in the information it gives us of all the events that happened to Joseph in Egypt, with Potiphar and his wife and with the king of Egypt, for this will also rouse our hearts to the fear of the Lord, and to remove ourselves from all sin, so that it may be well with us in the latter end. ”

“ Buzar, Parzunac, Balgar, Elicanum, Ragbib, Tarki, Bid, Zebuc, Ongal and Tilmaz; all these spread and rested in the north and built themselves cities.
11 And they called their cities after their own names, those are they who abide by the rivers Hithlah and Italac unto this day.
12 But the families of Angoli, Balgar and Parzunac, they dwell by the great river Dubnee; and the names of their cities are also according to their own names. ”

“ And the beasts overpowered them and drove them from that place, and every man went his way and they again scattered themselves upon the face of the earth.
26 And the rain was still descending upon the earth, and it descended forty days and forty nights, and the waters prevailed greatly upon the earth; and all flesh that was upon the earth or in the waters died, whether men, animals, beasts, creeping things or birds of the air, and there only remained Noah and those that were with him in the ark. ”

“ We have no account in scripture of his being called Menachem, although the reason why he might have had that name is given as it is here: “this one will comfort us,” (Gen.) which does not so well accord with the name Noah, which means to rest. ”

“ When the officer saw this great sight he was greatly astonished, and said to the old man, why dost thou sit alone in this place, without any person remaining with thee? So the old man answered, for many years past was I aware of this second destruction of Jerusalem, so I built this house and made for myself a balcony, [3] and I brought with me these books to read, and I brought also sufficient provision, thinking thereby to [4] save my life. ”

“ The sword destroyed from without, and within was the terror of pestilence and famine, on account of the battles and contentions which took place between the sons of the old king Maruccus who had died, for each lifted himself up, saying, I will reign, and they devoured the Israelites with open mouth, so that very few remained of them, even a tithe of a tithe; many families and heads of the houses of their fathers were lost and destroyed and became as naught ”

“ I have compared a large portion of the translation of the Book of Jasher with the original Hebrew, and find it faithfully and eloquently rendered into English. The Hebrew itself is of a very pure character.
ISAAC NORDHIEMER,
Professor of oriental literature. ”

“ I have carefully compared three chapters of the translation with the original, and have no hesitation in saying that in general they give a correct representation of the author’s meaning, and as literal as the different idioms of the two languages would allow. In some instances however, it would have been desirable that every word of the Hebrew should have been rendered into English. For instance, in ch. i, v. 2, the translator has omitted the word dust, in mentioning man’s formation “from the ground,” and in v. ”