Jubilees 37:1-24

¹On the day that Isaac, the father of Jacob and Esau, died, [2162 A.M.] the sons of Esau heard that Isaac had given the portion of the elder to his younger son Jacob, and they were very angry.

²They contended with their father, saying, 'Why has your father given Jacob the portion of the elder and passed over you, although you are the elder and Jacob the younger?'

³And he said to them, 'Because I sold my birthright to Jacob for a small dish of lentils, and on the day my father sent me to hunt and catch and bring him something that he might eat and bless me, he came with deceit and brought my father food and drink, and my father blessed him and put me under his hand.'

⁴'And now our father has caused us to swear, me and him, that we shall not devise evil against one another, and that we shall continue in love and in peace, each with his brother, and not make our ways corrupt.'

⁵They said to him, 'We shall not listen to you to make peace with him; for our strength is greater than his strength, and we are more powerful than he. We shall go against him and kill him, and destroy him and his sons. And if you will not go with us, we shall do harm to you also.'

⁶'And now listen to us: Let us send to Aram and Philistia and Moab and Ammon, and let us choose for ourselves chosen men who are eager for battle, and let us go against him and do battle with him, and let us exterminate him from the earth before he grows strong.'

⁷Their father said to them, 'Do not go and do not make war with him, lest you fall before him.'

⁸They said to him, 'This too is exactly your manner of action from your youth until this day, and you are putting your neck under his yoke. We shall not listen to these words.'

⁹So they sent to Aram, and to 'Aduram, the friend of their father, and they hired along with them one thousand fighting men, chosen men of war.

¹⁰And there came to them from Moab and from the children of Ammon, those who were hired, one thousand chosen men; and from Philistia, one thousand chosen men of war; and from Edom and from the Horites, one thousand chosen fighting men; and from the Kittim, mighty men of war.

¹¹And they said to their father, 'Go forth with them and lead them, or else we shall kill you.'

¹²He was filled with wrath and indignation on seeing that his sons were forcing him to go before them to lead them against Jacob his brother. But afterward he remembered all the evil which lay hidden in his heart against Jacob his brother; and he did not remember the oath which he had sworn to his father and to his mother that he would devise no evil all his days against Jacob his brother.

¹³Despite all this, Jacob did not know that they were coming against him to battle, and he was mourning for Leah, his wife, until they approached very near to the tower with four thousand warriors and chosen men of war.

¹⁴And the men of Hebron sent to him, saying, 'Behold, your brother has come against you, to fight you, with four thousand girded with the sword, and they carry shields and weapons'; for they loved Jacob more than Esau. So they told him, for Jacob was a more generous and merciful man than Esau.

¹⁵But Jacob would not believe it until they came very near to the tower.

¹⁶And he closed the gates of the tower; and he stood on the battlements and spoke to his brother Esau and said, 'A noble comfort this is, with which you have come to comfort me for my wife who has died! Is this the oath that you swore to your father and again to your mother before they died? You have broken the oath, and at the moment you swore to your father you were condemned.'

¹⁷Then Esau answered and said to him, 'Neither the children of men nor the beasts of the earth have any oath of righteousness which in swearing they have sworn as valid for ever; but every day they devise evil one against another, and how each may kill his adversary and foe.'

¹⁸'And you hate me and my children for ever. And there is no observing the tie of brotherhood with you.'

¹⁹'Hear these words which I declare to you: If the boar can change its skin and make its bristles as soft as wool, or if it can cause horns to sprout forth on its head like the horns of a stag or of a sheep, then will I observe the tie of brotherhood with you. And since the breasts have separated themselves from their mother, you have not been a brother to me.'

²⁰'And if the wolves make peace with the lambs so as not to devour or do them violence, and if their hearts are turned toward them for good, then there shall be peace in my heart toward you.'

²¹'And if the lion becomes the friend of the ox and makes peace with him, and if he is bound under one yoke with him and plows with him, then will I make peace with you.'

²²'And when the raven becomes white as the raza, then know that I have loved you and shall make peace with you. You shall be rooted out, and your sons shall be rooted out, and there shall be no peace for you.'

²³And when Jacob saw that he was so evilly disposed toward him in his heart, and with all his soul intent on killing him, and that he had come springing like the wild boar which comes upon the spear that pierces and kills it, and does not recoil from it,

²⁴then he spoke to his own people and to his servants that they should attack him and all his companions.