Book of Jasher, Chapter 28 — Isaac in Gerar; Jacob in the House of Shem and Eber; Esau Takes Jehudith; Shem Dies; Leah and Rachel Born
1And in those days, after the death of Abraham, in that year the Lord brought a heavy famine on the land; and while the famine was raging in the land of Canaan, Isaac rose up to go down to Egypt on account of the famine, as his father Abraham had done.
2And the Lord appeared that night to Isaac, and he said to him, Do not go down to Egypt, but rise and go to Gerar, to Abimelech king of the Philistines, and remain there until the famine ceases.
3And Isaac rose up and went to Gerar, as the Lord had commanded him, and he remained there a full year.
4And when Isaac came to Gerar, the people of the land saw that Rebecca his wife was of beautiful appearance, and the people of Gerar asked Isaac concerning his wife, and he said, She is my sister — for he was afraid to say she was his wife, lest the people of the land should slay him on account of her.
5And the princes of Abimelech went and praised the woman to the king; but he did not answer them, nor did he attend to their words.
6But he heard them say that Isaac had declared her to be his sister — so the king kept this within himself.
7And when Isaac had remained three months in the land, Abimelech looked out at the window, and he saw — and behold, Isaac was sporting with Rebecca his wife; for Isaac dwelt in the outer house belonging to the king, so that the house of Isaac was opposite the house of the king.
8And the king said to Isaac, What is this you have done to us, in saying of your wife, She is my sister? How easily might one of the great men of the people have lain with her, and you would then have brought guilt upon us.
9And Isaac said to Abimelech, Because I was afraid that I would die on account of my wife, therefore I said, She is my sister.
10At that time Abimelech gave orders to all his princes and great men, and they took Isaac and Rebecca his wife, and brought them before the king.
11And the king commanded that they should dress them in princely garments, and make them ride through the streets of the city, and proclaim before them throughout the land, saying, This is the man and this is his wife: whoever touches this man or his wife shall surely die. And Isaac returned with his wife to the king's house; and the Lord was with Isaac, and he continued to grow great, and lacked nothing.
12And the Lord caused Isaac to find favor in the sight of Abimelech and in the sight of all his subjects; and Abimelech acted well with Isaac, for Abimelech remembered the oath and the covenant that existed between his father and Abraham.
13And Abimelech said to Isaac, Behold, the whole earth is before you: dwell wherever it may seem good in your sight, until you return to your land. And Abimelech gave Isaac fields and vineyards, and the best part of the land of Gerar, to sow and reap and eat the fruits of the ground, until the days of the famine should have passed.
14And Isaac sowed in that land, and received a hundredfold in the same year, and the Lord blessed him.
15And the man grew great, and he had possession of flocks and possession of herds and a great store of servants.
16And when the days of the famine had passed, the Lord appeared to Isaac and said to him, Rise up, go out from this place and return to your land, to the land of Canaan. And Isaac rose up and returned to Hebron, which is in the land of Canaan — he and all belonging to him — as the Lord had commanded him.
17And after this, Shelach the son of Arpachshad died in that year, which is the eighteenth year of the lives of Jacob and Esau; and all the days that Shelach lived were four hundred and thirty-three years, and he died.
18At that time Isaac sent his younger son Jacob to the house of Shem and Eber, and he learned the instructions of the Lord; and Jacob remained in the house of Shem and Eber for thirty-two years; and Esau his brother did not go, for he was not willing to go, and he remained in his father's house in the land of Canaan.
19And Esau was continually hunting in the fields, to bring home what he could catch; so Esau did all the days.
20And Esau was a designing and deceitful man, one who hunted after the hearts of men and beguiled them; and Esau was a valiant man in the field; and in the course of time he went, as usual, to hunt, and he came as far as the field of Seir — the same is Edom.
21And he remained in the land of Seir, hunting in the field, a year and four months.
22And Esau there saw, in the land of Seir, the daughter of a man of Canaan, and her name was Jehudith, the daughter of Beeri, son of Epher, from the families of Heth the son of Canaan.
23And Esau took her as a wife, and he came to her; forty years old was Esau when he took her; and he brought her to Hebron, the land of his father's dwelling place, and he dwelt there.
24And it came to pass in those days, in the hundred and tenth year of the life of Isaac — that is, in the fiftieth year of the life of Jacob — in that year died Shem the son of Noah; Shem was six hundred years old at his death.
25And when Shem died, Jacob returned to his father at Hebron, which is in the land of Canaan.
26And in the fifty-sixth year of the life of Jacob, people came from Haran, and Rebecca was told concerning her brother Laban, the son of Bethuel.
27For the wife of Laban was barren in those days and bore no children, and all his handmaids also bore none to him.
28And the Lord afterward remembered Adinah, the wife of Laban, and she conceived and bore twin daughters; and Laban called the names of his daughters — the name of the elder, Leah, and the name of the younger, Rachel.
29And those people came and told these things to Rebecca, and Rebecca rejoiced greatly that the Lord had visited her brother, and that he had gotten children.