Jubilees 2:1-33

¹The angel of the presence spoke to Moses according to the word of the Lord, saying: Write the complete history of the creation—how in six days the Lord God finished all His works and all that He created, and kept the Sabbath on the seventh day and hallowed it for all ages, and appointed it as a sign for all His works.

²For on the first day He created the heavens which are above, and the earth, and the waters, and all the spirits which serve before Him—the angels of the presence, and the angels of sanctification, and the angels [of the spirit of fire, and the angels] of the spirit of the winds, and the angels of the spirit of the clouds, and of darkness, and of snow and of hail and of hoar frost, and the angels of the voices and of the thunder and of the lightning, and the angels of the spirits of cold and of heat, and of winter and of spring and of autumn and of summer, and of all the spirits of His creatures which are in the heavens and on the earth. He created the abysses and the darkness, evening and night, and the light, dawn, and day, which He had prepared in the knowledge of His heart.

³Then we saw His works and praised Him, and gave praise before Him on account of all His works; for He created seven great works on the first day.

⁴On the second day He created the firmament in the midst of the waters, and the waters were divided on that day—half of them went up above and half of them went down below the firmament that was in the midst over the face of the whole earth. This was the only work God created on the second day.

⁵On the third day He commanded the waters to withdraw from the face of the whole earth into one place, and the dry land to appear.

⁶The waters did as He commanded them, and they retired from the face of the earth into one place outside of this firmament, and the dry land appeared.

⁷On that day He created for them all the seas according to their separate gathering-places, and all the rivers, and the gatherings of the waters in the mountains and on all the earth, and all the lakes, and all the dew of the earth, and the seed that is sown, and all sprouting things, and fruit-bearing trees, and trees of the wood, and the garden of Eden, in Eden, and all plants after their kind.

⁸These four great works God created on the third day. On the fourth day He created the sun and the moon and the stars, and set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon all the earth, and to rule over the day and the night, and to divide the light from the darkness.

⁹And God appointed the sun to be a great sign on the earth for days, for Sabbaths, for months, for feasts, for years, for Sabbaths of years, for jubilees, and for all seasons of the years.

¹⁰It divides the light from the darkness [and works] for prosperity, so that all things may prosper which shoot and grow on the earth. These three kinds He made on the fourth day.

¹¹On the fifth day He created great sea monsters in the depths of the waters, for these were the first creatures of flesh that were created by His hands—the fish and everything that moves in the waters, and everything that flies, the birds and all their kinds.

¹²The sun rose above them to cause them to prosper, and above everything that was on the earth, everything that shoots out of the earth, and all fruit-bearing trees, and all flesh. These three kinds He created on the fifth day.

¹³On the sixth day He created all the animals of the earth, and all cattle, and everything that moves on the earth.

¹⁴After all this He created man—a man and a woman He created them—and gave him dominion over all that is upon the earth, and in the seas, and over everything that flies, and over beasts, and over cattle, and over everything that moves on the earth, and over the whole earth; over all this He gave him dominion. These four kinds He created on the sixth day.

¹⁵Altogether there were twenty-two kinds. And He finished all His work on the sixth day—all that is in the heavens and on the earth, and in the seas and in the abysses, and in the light and in the darkness, and in everything.

¹⁶He gave us a great sign, the Sabbath day, that we should work six days, but keep Sabbath on the seventh day from all work.

¹⁷And all the angels of the presence, and all the angels of sanctification—these two great classes—He has commanded us to keep the Sabbath with Him in heaven and on earth.

¹⁸He said to us: 'Behold, I will set apart for Myself a people from among all the peoples, and they shall keep the Sabbath day; and I will sanctify them to Myself as My people, and I will bless them. As I have sanctified the Sabbath day and do sanctify it to Myself, so will I bless them, and they shall be My people and I will be their God.

¹⁹And I have chosen the seed of Jacob from among all that I have seen, and have recorded him as My firstborn son, and have sanctified him to Myself forever and ever; and I will teach them the Sabbath day, that they may keep Sabbath on it from all work.'

²⁰Thus He created in it a sign according to which they should keep Sabbath with us on the seventh day, to eat and to drink, and to bless Him who has created all things, just as He has blessed and sanctified to Himself a special people above all peoples, and that they should keep Sabbath together with us.

²¹And He caused His commands to ascend as a sweet fragrance acceptable before Him all the days...

²²There were twenty-two patriarchs of mankind from Adam to Jacob, and twenty-two kinds of work were made until the seventh day; this is blessed and holy, and the former is also blessed and holy; and the one serves together with the other for sanctification and blessing.

²³To this one (Jacob and his seed) it was granted that they should always be the blessed and holy ones of the first testimony and law, just as He had sanctified and blessed the Sabbath day on the seventh day.

²⁴He created heaven and earth and everything that He created in six days, and God made the seventh day holy for all His works; therefore He commanded concerning it that whoever does any work on it shall die, and that he who defiles it shall surely die.

²⁵Therefore command the children of Israel to observe this day, that they may keep it holy and not do any work on it, and not defile it, since it is holier than all other days.

²⁶Whoever profanes it shall surely die, and whoever does any work on it shall surely die eternally, so that the children of Israel may observe this day throughout their generations and not be rooted out of the land; for it is a holy day and a blessed day.

²⁷Everyone who observes it and keeps Sabbath on it from all his work will be holy and blessed throughout all days like us.

²⁸Declare and tell the children of Israel the law of this day, both that they should keep Sabbath on it, and that they should not forsake it in the error of their hearts; and that it is not lawful to do any work on it that is improper, to pursue their own pleasure on it, and that they should not prepare on it anything to be eaten or drunk, nor draw water, nor bring in or take out through their gates any burden which they had not prepared for themselves on the sixth day in their dwellings.

²⁹They shall not bring in nor take out from house to house on that day; for that day is more holy and blessed than any jubilee day of the jubilees. On this day we kept Sabbath in the heavens before it was made known to any flesh to keep Sabbath on it on the earth.

³⁰The Creator of all things blessed it, but He did not sanctify all peoples and nations to keep Sabbath on it—only Israel. Them alone He permitted to eat and drink and to keep Sabbath on it upon the earth.

³¹The Creator of all things blessed this day which He had created for blessing and holiness and glory above all days.

³²This law and testimony was given to the children of Israel as a law forever throughout their generations.

³³This law and testimony was given to the children of Israel as a law forever throughout their generations.