Noah lived after going out of the ship 350 years. When his death came near, there gathered to him Shem, and Ham, and Japhet, and Arphaxad, and Salah. He made vows for them, and desired the presence of Shem his firstborn, and commanded him secretly, saying to him, “When I die, bury me. Go into the Ark of safety, and take out of it the body of our father Adam secretly, let no one with thee know. Make for it a large chest, and put it within. Prepare for thyself a store of bread and drink, and carry the chest in which is the body of our father. Take with thee Melchizedek, the son of Malih. Verily the Lord hath chosen him from the rest of your sons to minister before our father Adam. When thou reachest the centre of the earth, bury the body there, and set Melchizedek in the place for the service of the body and the praise before it. Verily the Angel of the Lord will go before you to guide you two to the place for the body, which is the centre of the earth. From it shall be seen the power of God. The four pillars of the world are joined together and have become one pillar, and from it shall be salvation to Adam and to all his children.” Thus it was written in the tables which Moses received from the hand of the Lord and broke at the time of his anger against his people. Noah strengthened Shem in receiving the testament, and told him that it was the Testament of Adam to Seth, and of Seth to Enos, and of Enos to Cainan, and of Cainan to Mahlaleel, and of Mahlaleel to Jared, and of Jared to Enoch, of Enoch to Methuselah, and of Methuselah to Lamech, and of Lamech to Noah; he made him swear that no one [else] should attend to p. 32what he commanded in regard to the body of Adam. When he had finished his testament, he died, being 950 years old, on a Wednesday. Shem embalmed him, and with him his other children put him on a bier and buried him. They raised a wail over him for forty days. Then Shem went secretly into the ship, and took out the body of Adam. He sealed the ship with his father’s seal. Then he desired the presence of Ham and Japhet and said to them, “Know that Noah my father commanded me to journey after his death to the elevated land and to go round it to the place of the sea, that I may attend to the state of its trees, and fruits and rivers. I have already resolved on this, and have left my wife and children with you; take heed to them till the time of my return.” They said to him, “Take with thee a man since thou hast resolved on this, for the land which thou hast described has wild beasts and hunting lions.” He said to them, “Verily, the Angel of God is with me, he is my Saviour.” His brethren called to him and said, “The Lord be with thee wherever thou dwellest.” Then he said to them, “Verily, our father at his death made me swear not to enter the ship nor allow any one [else] to enter it. I have received his testament, and sealed it with his seal, and beware that ye enter it not! ye, nor any of your children.” They pledged themselves to him concerning this. Then he approached the father and mother of Melchizedek and said to them, “I wish that you would give me Melchizedek that I may journey with him in my way.” They said to him, “He is before thee, as thou wouldest journey, take him with thee.” Then Shem called Melchizedek by night, and bore with him the body of Adam secretly. They went out, the Angel going before them, till he brought them to the place with the utmost speed. He said to them, “Set him down, for this is the centre of the earth.” And they put him down from their hands. When he came to the ground, the earth was cleft for him as a door, and the body was let down into it, and they put him in it. When the body rested in its place, the earth returned and covered it over. The place was called Gumgumah, “of a skull,” because in it was placed the p. 33 skull of the Father of mankind, and Gulgulah, because it was conspicuous in the earth, and was despised by its sons, for in it was the head of the hateful Dragon which seduced Adam. It was called also Otâriâ, which is, being interpreted, “the families of the world,” because to it is the gathering together of mankind. Shem said to Melchizedek son of Malih, “Know that thou art the priest of the Everlasting God, who hath chosen thee from the rest of men to minister before Him before the body of our father Adam. Accept the Lord’s choice of thee, and never leave this place. Do not marry any woman, do not shave thy hair, nor pare thy nails. Shed no blood for thyself, and sacrifice no beast. Do not build a building over this place. Let thine offerings before the Lord be of fine pure bread, and [let the] drink be of the juice of the vine. The Angel of the Lord is with thee for ever.” He wished him peace, and bade him farewell and embraced him, and returned to his dwelling. Then came to him Jozadak and Malih, the parents of Melchizedek. They asked him about him, and he told them that he had died on the road, and that he had looked after him and buried him. His father and his people sorrowed over him with a great sorrow. When Shem the righteous was 700 years old, he died, and his son Arphaxad looked after him, and Salah and Eber, and they buried him. When Arphaxad was thirty years old, he begat Salah his son, and when he was 465 years old, he died, and Salah and Eber looked after him. They buried him in the town that Arphaxad had built, known as Arphaxad (cod. Arbalsarbat). When Salah was thirty years old, he begat Eber, and when he had completed 430 years, he died. Eber and Peleg looked after him; he was buried in the town that Salah had built, known as Salḥadîb. When Eber was thirty years old, he begat Peleg, and when he had completed 434 years, he died; his son Peleg buried him, and Reu and Serug in the town which Eber had built and had called by his name. When Peleg attained 239 years, all the tribes of the sons of Shem, and Ham and Japhet gathered themselves together and journeyed to the elevated land; they found in the place known as Shinar a beautiful plain. They dwelt in it, and their speech was altogether p. 34Syriac, and it is called Resany, and Chaldaean; it is the tongue and speech of Adam. Verily the Syriac language is the Queen of languages and the most comprehensive; from it all other tongues are derived; Adam is a Syriac name. Whoever asserts that it is Hebrew tells a falsehood. Speakers of Syriac will not stand on the left of the Lord but on His right, for the writing of Syriac runs from right to left, and of others the way of the Persian from left to right. In the days of Peleg the nations built the tower at Babel, upon which their tongues were diversified and confounded and divided; because of their confusion the town was called Babel. Peleg was very much grieved about this when he saw the scattering of the nations in the regions of the earth. He died, and his son Reu, and Serug and Nahor buried him in the town which he had built and had called by his name. The earth became two portions among two chiefs of tribes; they allowed to every tribe and tongue a king and a chief; they appointed in the race of Japhet thirty-seven kings, and in the race of Ham sixteen kings. The kingdom of the sons of Japhet was from the border of the holy mountain and Mount Nod (?), which is in the borders of the East, to the Tigris and the side of Algaut: and from Bactria to the island town (or Gades = Cadix). The kingdom of the sons of Shem was from the land of Persia, that is from the borders of the East to the Hardasalgs sea among the borders of the West. They had authority also in the centre of the earth. When Reu was thirty-two years old, Serug was born to him; the length of his life being 232 years. At the end of 163 years of the life of Reu, Nimrod the giant reigned over the whole earth. The beginning of his kingdom was from Babel. It was he who saw in the sky a piece of black cloth and a crown; he called Sasan the weaver to his presence, and commanded him to make him a crown like it; and he set jewels in it and wore it. He was the first king who wore a crown. For this reason people who knew nothing about it, said that a crown came down to him from heaven. The length of his reign was sixty-nine years. He died in the days of Reu, and the third thousand p. 35since Adam was completed. In his days the people of Egypt set up a king over them called Firnifs. He reigned over them for sixty-eight years. In his days also a king reigned over the town of Saba and annexed to his kingdom the cities of Ophir and Havilah, his name was Pharaoh. He built Ophir with stones of gold, for the stones of its mountains are pure gold. After him there reigned over Havilah a king called Hayul. He built it and cemented it, and after the death of Pharaoh women reigned over Saba until the time of Solomon son of David. When he (Reu) was 239 years old, he died. Serug his son and Nahor buried him in the town called Oa‘nân, which Reu had built for himself. When Serug was thirty years old, his son Nahor was born to him. In the days of Serug idols were worshipped, and they were adored instead of God, and the people in that day were scattered in the earth; there was not among them a teacher nor a lawgiver, nor a guide to the way of truth, nor even a right way. They wandered and were rebellious and became a sect. Some of them worshipped the Sun and the Moon, some of them worshipped the sky, some of them worshipped images, some of them worshipped the stars, some of them worshipped the earth, some of them worshipped beasts, some of them worshipped trees, and some of them worshipped waters and winds and such like, for the Devil blinded their hearts and left them in darkness without light. No one among them believed in the Last Day and the Resurrection. When one of them died, his people made an image in his likeness, and put it upon his tomb, lest his memory should be cut off. The earth was filled with sins, and idols were multiplied in it, made in the likenesses of males and females.

 When Serug was 230 years old he died. His son Nahor, and Terah and Abraham buried him in the town which Serug had built and called it Serug. Terah was born to Nahor when he was twenty-nine years old. In the third year of the life of Nahor, God looked up through His remembrance at His creatures, and they were worshipping idols. He sent upon them earthquakes which destroyed all the idols. Their p. 36worshippers did not turn from their error, but persevered in their godlessness. In the twenty-sixth year of the rule of Terah appeared witchcraft. The beginning of it was that a rich man died; his son made a golden image of him and placed it upon his tomb as a mark [to] the people of his age, and appointed a young man to guard it. The Devil entered into the image, and spoke to its guardian from the tongue of the deceased and [with] his voice. The guardian told the son of the deceased about it. After some days robbers entered the dwelling of the deceased, and took all that belonged to his son, and his grief was greater at this, and they bewailed him beside the grave of his father. The Devil called to him from the image with a voice like the voice of his father, and said, “O my son, weep not. Bring me thy little son, to sacrifice him to me, and I will restore to thee all that has been taken from thee.” He brought his son to the tomb and sacrificed him to the Devil. When he had done this, the Devil entered him and taught him witchcraft, unveiled his mysteries, and taught him omens and auguries. Since that time people offer their children to Devils. At the completion of a hundred years of the life of Nahor, God, may His name be exalted! looked on the godlessness of men, and their sacrificing of their children to the Devils, and their adoration of images. God, may His names be sanctified, sent them raging winds which tore away the images and their worshippers, and buried them in the earth and strewed over them great mounds and towering hills, and they are below these unto this day. Some assert on this account that in the time of Terah there was a Deluge of wind. Wise men of India say that these mounds came into existence in the days of the Deluge. That is nonsense, for image-worship was after the Deluge of water, and the Deluge was not sent upon them for the worship of images; verily that was done because there was so much corruption on the earth among the children of Cain, and the musical instruments which they invented. There was no people inhabiting this rough wild land, but when p. 37our fathers were not found worthy of the neighbourhood of Paradise they were thrust away to it. Then they came out of the ship to this land, and were scattered amongst its regions. He talks nonsense who asserts that these elevated mounds have never ceased in the earth, for they have been formed since the time of the anger of God about idol-worship. They were turned topsy-turvy, and there is no mound on the earth beneath which a Devil with an image appeareth not. In the days of Nimrod the giant, he looked at fire from heaven, and fire came up from the earth. When Nimrod saw it he adored it, and appointed in the place where he saw it people to worship it, and to throw incense into it. Since that time magicians adore fire when they see it coming up from the heaven and from the earth, and they worship it to this day. A chief magician named Sasir found a spring of bountiful water at a place in the country of Atropatene. He erected upon it a white horse. Whoever bathed in that fountain worshipped this horse. The Magi honour the horse, and there is a sect of them who worship it to this day. Nimrod travelled till he arrived at the land of Mariûn. When he entered the city of Altûrâs he found there Bouniter the fourth son of Noah. Nimrod’s army was on a lake, and he went down there one day to bathe in it. When Nimrod saw Bouniter the son of Noah, he did obeisance to him. Bouniter said to him, “O giant king, why do you adore me?” Nimrod said to him, “I did thee homage because thou didst meet me.” Nimrod stayed with him three years that he might teach him wisdom and strategy, then he wandered away from him. He said to Nimrod, “Thou shalt not return a second time.” When Nimrod was passing through the East, he deposited books making known what Bouniter the son of Noah had taught him. The people were astonished at his wisdom. There was among the people entrusted with the worship of fire a man called Ardashir. When Ardashir saw the wisdom of Nimrod and the excellency of his star-gazing (Nimrod had a perfect genius), he envied him for this, and implored a Devil who had appeared to him beside the fire to teach him the wisdom of Nimrod. The Devil said to him, “Thou canst not do this until thou have p. 38fulfilled the magic rite, and its perfection is the marriage of mothers, daughters and sisters.” Ardashir answered him concerning this, and did what he commanded him about it. Since that time the Magi allow the wedlock of mothers, sisters and daughters. The Devil also taught Ardashir the knowledge of omens and auguries, and physiognomy, and fortune-telling, and divining and witchcraft, which were doctrines of the Devil, and the Chaldæans gave one another this doctrine; these were the Syrians, and some people say that it is the tongue of the Nabataeans. Every one who uses aught of these doctrines, his guilt before God is great. But the knowledge which Nimrod learned from Bounitar, verily Bounitar the son of Noah learned it from God, the great and glorious, for it is the counting of the stars, and the years and the months; the Greeks call this science Astronomy, and the Persians call it Astrology. Nimrod built great towns in the East, namely, Hadâniûn, Ellasar, Seleucia, Ctesiphon, Rûhîn, and the towns of Atrapatene, and Telalôn, and others that he chose for himself.

 When Terah, father of Abraham, reached two hundred and three years he died. Abraham and Lot buried him in the city of Haran. [God] commanded him that he should travel to the Holy Land. Abraham took with him Sarah his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and journeyed to the land of the Amorites. Abraham the Just was then seventy-five years old. When he reached eighty years, he fought with the nations and put them to flight and delivered Lot from them, and he had no child at that time, for Sarah was barren. When he returned from the war with the nations, God commanded him to journey and pass over to Mount Yâbûs. When he got there he met Melchizedek, priest of God. When Abraham saw him, he did homage to him and was blessed by him. He offered before him fine pure bread and drink. Melchizedek blessed Abraham and made vows for him. Thereupon God commanded Melchizedek to pare his nails. Melchizedek consecrated an offering of fine bread and drink. Abraham offered some p. 39of it, and paid to Melchizedek the tenth of his goods. Then God, may His names be sanctified, discoursed with Abraham the second time and said to him, “Thy reward shall be great with Me. Since thou hast received the blessing of Melchizedek and thou art worthy to receive from his hand the gift of bread and wine, I will bless thee, and will multiply thy seed.”

 When Abraham reached eighty-six years, Ishmael was born to him of Hagar the Egyptian bond-maid. Pharaoh of Egypt had given her to Sarah, the wife of Abraham, who was his sister by his father but not by his mother, for Terah married two wives; the name of the one was Yuta, she was the mother of Abraham, and she died when she gave birth to him; the name of the other was Nahdeef, and she was the mother of Sarah. Therefore Abraham answered as he said to the king of Egypt when he wished to do violence to Sarah, that “she is my sister.” When Abraham reached ninety-nine years, God came down to his house, and gave to Sarah a son. When he reached a hundred years, Isaac was born to him, the son whom God gave him of barren Sarah. When Isaac reached twelve years, Abraham offered him to God as all offering upon the hill Yâbûs, which is the place in which the Christ was crucified, and which is known as Golgolah. In it Adam was created; in it Abraham looked at the tree which bore the lamb by which Isaac was redeemed from sacrifice, and in it the body of Adam was laid. In it was the altar of Melchizedek, and in it David looked at the Angel of the Lord bearing a sword for the destruction of Jerusalem. Verily Abraham’s carrying up there of Isaac to the altar is a type of the crucifixion of the Christ for the salvation of Adam and his children. The proof of this is the saying of the Christ in the holy Gospel to the children of lsrael, that “your father Abraham did not cease to long to look on my days, and when he saw them, he rejoiced in them.” The lamb which Abraham saw hanging on the tree was a type of the slaying of the Christ in the body, which He had taken from us, and of His crucifixion also, because the lamb was not the child of a ewe and was worthy of being sacrificed. In that place Abraham saw what pertained p. 40to the salvation of Adam through the crucifixion of the Christ. In the hour that Abraham took up Isaac to the altar, Jerusalem began to be built, and the reason was this. When Melchizedek, priest of God, appeared to men, his fame reached the kings of the nations, and they came to him from every region to be blessed. Among those that came to him were Abimelech king of Gerar, Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Delassar (Ellasar), Kedarlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of men, Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, or Simeon king of the Amorites, and Simair king of Saba, Bislah king of Bela, Hiar king of Damascus, and Yaftar king of the deserts. When these kings, O my son Clement, saw Melchizedek king of Peace and priest of God, and heard his word, they honoured and applauded him and asked him to journey with them to their lands. He told them that he was not allowed to leave his place, in which God had appointed him to an office. Their unanimous counsel was that a city should be built for him at their expense, and that they should rule it. They built for him the Holy City, and delivered it to him, and Melchizedek called it Jerusalem.

 Then Maoalon king of Teman journeyed to Melchizedek when his fame reached him, and gave him noble and glorious presents. He honoured him when he saw him and heard his word. All kings and nations honoured him and called him the Father of Kings. Some people think that Melchizedek will not die, and bring as proof the saying of David the Prophet in his psalms, “Thou art a priest for ever after the figure of Melchizedek.” David does not wish (to say) in this his saying that he will not die, and how can this be when he is a man? But God honoured him and made him His priest, and in the Torah there is no mention of a beginning to his days. Therefore David sang as he sang about him. Moses does not make mention of him in his book, for he was only relating the genealogy of the Fathers. But Shem the son of Noah has told us in the books of the Testaments that Melchizedek was the son of Malih, son of Arphaxad, son of Shem, son of Noah; and his mother was Jozedek.

 In the hundredth year of Abraham there reigned in the East p. 41 a king called Karmos, he who built Shamshat, and Claudia, and Careem, and Leouza. He had a son called Cârân and three daughters; the name of the one being Shamshout, and the other Harzea, and the other Leouza, and he called these cities by their names. When Peleg had reached fifty years, Nimrod journeyed to the province of Mesopotamia, and built Nisibis, and Raha (Edessa), and Haran; to every city he put a wall, and he called the wall of Haran by the name of Harteeb, the wife of Sem, priest of the beautiful mountains. The people of Haran made an image in the form of this Sem, and worshipped it. Ba‘alsameen fell in love with Nalkeez wife of Nimroda, and Nimroda fled before Ba‘alsameen; on account of this the children of Israel wept over Nimroda and burnt the city of Haran in anger about him. When Sarah died, Abraham the famous (or the Friend, i.e. of God) married a woman named Kentoura, daughter of Yaftour king of the deserts. When Isaac, son of Abraham, reached forty years, Eleazar his servant journeyed in search of her who was named Rebecca for Isaac. When Abraham reached one hundred and seventy years he died; his sons Ishmael and Isaac buried him by the side of Sarah his wife. When Isaac reached sixty years, Rebecca his wife conceived Jacob and Esau. When the birth-pangs took hold of her, she went to Melchizedek; he blessed her and prayed over her. He said to her, “God has already formed two men in thy womb, who shall be chiefs of two great nations. The elder of them shall be beneath the younger. Each of them shall hate his brother, and the elder shall serve a man of the race of the other. I am servant of that man, whose name shall be called ‘the living God,’ and he shall come up upon a branch of cursing because of those who rebel against him.”

 When sixty years of Isaac’s life had passed, he built a city which he called Ail, and in his sixty-fourth year Jericho was built by the hand of seven kings, the king of the Hittites, the king of the Amorites, the king of the Jebusites, the king of the Canaanites, the king of the Girgashites, the king of the Hivites and the king of the [Perizzites?], and every one of them built p. 42a wall to it. But the town which was called Masr (Egypt), the king of the Copts had built. Ishmael was the first to work with a hand-mill, and it was called the mill of the kingdom. After one hundred and thirty years of the life of Isaac; that is in the seventy-seventh year of Jacob, God blessed Jacob, and he received the blessings of Isaac, and the blessing of Esau his brother by deceit. He journeyed to the land of the East. While he was on his journey, behold, a deep sleep came upon him. He prepared below his head seven stones and slept upon them. In his sleep he saw a ladder of fire whose top was in heaven, and its bottom on the earth. On it Angels were descending from it and ascending, and he saw the Lord sitting on the top. When he awoke he said, “Doubtless this place is the house of God.” He took the stones which were beneath his head and built them into an altar and anointed it with oil, and vowed there that he would give to God the tenth of all his goods as an offering. The power of this vision, O my son Clernent, is not difficult to those who know, for it is a prophecy of the coming of our Lord the Christ. Verily the ladder which Jacob saw was a sign of the Crucifixion, and the Angers coming down from Heaven [were] for the Gospel to Zacharia, and Mary, and the Magi and the shepherds. The place of the Lord’s seat at the top of the ladder was like the descent of our God the Christ from Heaven for our salvation, and the place where Jacob saw it was a type of the Church, which is being interpreted, the House of God. The stones are a type of the altar, and their being anointed with oil [a type] of the union of Godhead with Manhood. The vow which he made of a tenth of his goods is a type of the Eucharist. Jacob journeyed from the place of the vision till he came to the town of his uncle Laban. He saw a well of water, at which three flocks of sheep were lying down; over the mouth of the well was a great stone. Rachel, the daughter of Jacob’s uncle, was standing there with the sheep. Jacob came near to the well, removed the stone from its mouth, and watered the sheep that were with Rachel. Then he approached Rachel and kissed her. Jacob’s uncovering of the well was a type of Baptism, which was veiled from of old, and p. 43uncovered in the latter [days]. That which the priest gives to those whom he baptizes in the water is in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Know, O my son, that Jacob did not come forward to kiss Rachel until he had uncovered the well and watered her sheep from it. Likewise, I say that it is not permitted in the law of the Christ for any one to enter the Church till after baptism, for if he is baptized, he has become one of Christ’s sheep. The prophet Moses said in his book that Jacob wrought with his uncle Laban seven years for Rachel, whom he loved of Laban’s daughters, for she was at the height of beauty, but he gave him his ugly daughter. Like this was the story of Moses with the Jews whom God saved from the bondage of Pharaoh. On account of them he did not give the young girl, but he gave her who was old and faded. Verily the first girl whom he gave to Jacob had ugly eyes, and the second one was perfect in face and had beautiful eyes. The face of the first one was covered lest the children of Israel should look at its beauty; the second one had her face uncovered, and had a bright, and shining and beautiful personality. The girl with ugly eyes who was spouse of Jacob was the type of the people of his day whom he ruled; in his time there were prophets, and saints and pure ones, and there was little sin in them. The faded old woman whom Moses describes, she is the people of the children of Israel which went astray in the worship of idols, and left the worship of God; and the girl whose face was covered so that it was not possible for the children of Israel to look at her was the tribe that was established on the holy mount, which did not mingle with the children of Israel, and did not look at them, and if they had looked at it (the tribe), verily they would have imitated its good works. The better and brighter girl is the tribe which received the Lord of the world, the Christ, and worshipped Him in His Godhead. He enlightened our hearts by His holiness.

 When Jacob had reached sixty-nine years, Reuben was born to him, then followed him his brethren whom God brought out of the loins of Jacob; these were Simeon and Levi, Judah the ancestor of Mary, Issachar and Zebulun; Joseph and Benjamin p. 44the sons of the beautiful Rachel; Gad and Asher, sons of Zilpah; Dan and Naphtali, sons of Bilhah the maid of Rachel. Two years after the emigration of Jacob, he returned to Isaac his father. He lived after that fully thirty-one years of Levi’s life. When he reached one hundred and twenty years his father Isaac died. Twenty-three years afterwards he journeyed from Haran to the elevated land; Joseph was sold during the lifetime of Isaac, and he was a companion to Jacob in his sorrow. After the sale of Joseph, Isaac died; his sons Jacob and Esau buried him beside the grave of his father Abraham. After nine years Rebecca died, and was buried near the grave of Abraham. Judah married Hoshâ‘ the Canaanitess; Jacob was grieved at that because she was not of the children of Israel, and said to him, “By the God of Abraham and Isaac, do not mingle the seed of Canaan with us,” and he did not accept it from him. He begat from her Er and Onan [Cod. Othen] and Shelah. Judah wedded his son Er with Tamar the daughter of Kedar, son of Levi. Er wrought the deed of the people of Sodom, and God punished him for his deed. God killed him in answer to the prayer of Jacob, and the seed of Canaan was not mingled with his seed. Then this Tamar disguised herself, and sat in the middle of the way; Judah came together with her, not knowing that she was his daughter-in-law; she conceived by him, and bare Pharez and Zarah. At this time Jacob and his children journeyed to Egypt, and stayed with Joseph for seventeen years. When he had completed [a hundred] and forty-seven years of life he died, Joseph that day being fifty-six years old. The wise physicians of Pharaoh embalmed him. After this Joseph removed his body and placed it beside the bodies of his father and of his grandfather Abraham. Pharez the son of Judah begat Hezron, and Hezron begat Aram, and Aram begat Aminadab, and Aminadab begat Nahson, who was the most cunning of the sons of Judah. And Aminadab wedded Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest to a girl, and from her he begat Phinehas the priest, who by his prayer took away death from the people, and whose was the deed with the javelin. Know that the priesthood was from Aminadab among the people of Israel, and from Nahson the kinghood came among them. Look, p. 45O my son Clement, how from Judah came the priesthood and the kinghood among the children of Israel. Nahson begat a son, who is Salmon; Salmon begat Boaz. When Boaz was old, he married Ruth the Moabitess; in her was kinghood, for she was of the race of kings. She was of the children of Lot. God did not make Lot unclean for his cohabiting with his daughters, and did not attach blame to him, and did not depreciate his good deed in his support of his uncle Abraham in his exile, and his reception of the Angels in faith, but He put the kinghood into Ruth who was of his race, so that the Incarnation of our Lord the Christ was of the race of Abraham. Also [into] her, the wife of Solomon, son of David, by whom he begat. Solomon verily had six hundred free women and four hundred concubines, and he obtained no child from any of them, because God, may His name be praised! wished that the seed of Canaan should not mingle with the seed of the chosen people from whom Jesus the Christ took flesh. The rest of the wives of Solomon were of the children of Canaan. Nevertheless Moses the Prophet of God related, for the responsible books, the chronicles of the children of Israel relate that Levi, when he entered Egypt with his father Jacob, begat there his son Amram the father of Moses. When Moses was born he was thrown out by his mother into the Egyptian Nile, and Sapphira the daughter of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, saved him from drowning and brought him up in her father’s palace. When he grew up and had finished forty years, he killed Casoum the Egyptian, chief of the swordsmen of Pharaoh. He fled to Reuel to the priest of Midian for fear of Pharaoh, and that because Sapphira had died before this, and if she had been still there, why should Moses have been afraid of Pharaoh? Moses married Zipporah daughter of Jethro, priest of Midian. She bare him two sons, these were Gershon and Eleazar, at the time of the birth of Joshua the son of Nun, and Moses’ age was fifty-two years. When he had completed eighty years, God spake to him from the thorn bush, and his tongue stammered out of fear for God, and he said, “O Lord, at the time when thou spakest to thy servant, his tongue stammered.” All his years were 120. He spent forty in Egypt, and p. 46forty in Midian, and he governed the children of Israel forty years in the wilderness. When he died, Joshua the son of Nun governed them thirty-one years. Then Chushan the Atheist governed them after him eight years. Then Othniel the son of Kenaz the brother of Caleb, for forty years. Then the Moabites enslaved the children of Israel for eighteen years. Then [God] prepared their deliverance from their hand. Their government was presided over by Ehud the son of Gera for eighty years. In the twenty-sixth year of the reign of this Ehud, the fourth thousand [year] from the beginning was finished. Then after him the famous Jabin presided over their government for an interval of twenty years, then Deborah and Barak looked after it for forty years. Then the Midianites conquered them, and enslaved them for seven years, then God saved them by the hand of Gideon. He presided over their government for forty years; then his son Abimelech for three years. Then Jufa (Tola) the son of Puah for twenty years, then a daughter of the Gileadite twenty-two years. Then the children of Ammon conquered the children of Israel and enslaved them for eighteen years, then God saved them by the hands of Jephthah, he who offered his daughter as a sacrifice before God. And Ibzan governed them for six years, then after him Elon son of Zebulon for ten years. Then Abdon for eight years. Then the Philistines fought with the children of Israel and subdued them and enslaved them for forty years, and God saved them by the hands of Samson. He governed them for twenty years, and after him they remained for twelve years without a leader. Then there arose to rule them Eli the priest, and he governed them for forty years, then Samuel for twenty-two years. In his time the children of Israel rebelled against God, and set up Saul as king over them; he was the first king among the children of Israel, and he governed them for forty years. In the days of Saul appeared the giant Goliath; he drove out the children of Israel and killed their young men. Then God sent against him David the Prophet, and he killed him; against Saul [He sent] the Philistines, and they killed him, because Saul left p. 47off seeking help from God, and sought help from devils. David the son of Jesse reigned over the children of Israel for forty years. Then after his Solomon reigned over them and did many wonderful things; amogst them his sending to the city of Ophir, and bringing out the gold from its mountains, and ships continued for thirty-six months carrying gold from its mountains. Also he built the city of Tadmor in the interior of the wilderness, and wrought in it many extraordinary things. When Solomon passed by Sabad, a building built by Kourhi and Abu Nigaf (they whom Nimrod had sent to Bila‘am the priest when he heard of his occupation with the stars, and he built there this altar to the Sun and a stone fort), Solomon built there also a city called the City of the Sun. Then Aradus, which is in the middle of the sea, was built at Solomon’s command and they praised him yet more for his wisdom. There journeyed to him the Queen of Sheba and she was obedient to his religious worship. There came up to him at his command Hiram king of Tyre, and had a real love for him; he had already been a friend to David before him. His reign was before the reign of David, and he remained to the last of King Zedekiah. Solomon took one thousand wives, as we said above about him; and they deteriorated his mind when he exceeded in his love to them, and they got the power to mock at him, and it caused him to slide away from the worship of God; he sacrificed to idols and worshipped them instead of the Lord. He died, after reigning for forty years, an idolator and an infidel. Then Hiram king of Tyre was seduced and forgot his humanity and disbelieved in God, and claimed divinity, and he said, “I sit in the heart of the seas like the sitting of a God”; and news of him came to Nebuchadnezzar, and he journeyed to him till he killed him. In the chronicles of the Hebrews, O my son Clement, [we learn] that in the days of this Hiram appeared the purple dye, and this [was that] a shepherd and his sheep were on the sea-shore, and he saw a dog of his gnawing with its mouth something that came out of the sea, and its mouth was filled with its blood. He looked at the blood, and had never seen the like of it. He took some p. 48clean wool and wiped this blood with it; with that he made a crown and put it upon his head. It had a brightness like the brightness of the sun or rays of fire. The news of it came to Hiram; he sent for him and wondered greatly at the beauty of his dye. He assembled the dyers of his kingdom and gave them a commission for its like, and they were amazed at this, until some of the wise men of his time possessed themselves of the purple shell-fish. He made garments for himself with its blood, and he rejoiced over this with a great joy. Thou, O my son, and all the Greeks, disagree with the Hebrews in this narrative. After Solomon, Rehoboam his son reigned, and defiled the land by the worship of idols, by much whoredom in the city of Jerusalem, and by sacrificing to devils. In his day the kingdom of the house of David was divided, and became two parts. In his fifth year journeyed Shishak king of Egypt to Jerusalem, and took possession of all that was in the treasuries of the Lord’s house and the treasuries of David and Solomon, the vessels of gold and silver, and he was strengthened by this in his power. He said to the Jews, “This is none of your earning; it is some of what your fathers brought out of Egypt at the time of their flight.” And Rehoboam the son of Solomon died an infidel, after he had reigned for seventeen years. Abia his son reigned after him, being twenty years old. He enslaved Jerusalem and destroyed it, and his mother Ma‘ka, the daughter of Abishalom, commended his deeds. He died after three years, and Asa reigned. He did right, and abolished the worship of the stars and the images, and whoredom from Jerusalem. He drove away his mother from his kingdom, because she committed adultery and built an altar to the idols. There came to him Azârâh king of Hind, and Asa put him to flight, and reigned for forty years, then he died. After him his son Jehoshaphat reigned, and he went in the way of his father in righteousness, but he loved the household of Ahab, and kept company with them. He built ships, and sent by them to the land of Ophir to bring gold from its mountains. God sunk his ships, and was angry with him and his mother p. 49Sem daughter of Uriah daughter of Shalom. When he had died, his son Joram reigned, being thirty-two years of age. He was disobedient, and sacrificed to devils, on account of his wife Aliah (Athaliah) daughter of Amsir (Omri) son of the sister of Ahab. He died an infidel. After him Ahaziah reigned, being twenty years of age. He was a shameless infidel. The Lord delivered him over to his enemies, and they killed him after one year of his reign. His mother took the kingdom to herself, and killed the kings’ sons, that thereby she might destroy the kingdom of the family of David. None were saved from her except Joash, for Jehosheba the daughter of Joram son of Jehoshaphat hid him. She increased adultery and infidelity in Jerusalem. She died after seven years, and the people of Jerusalem thought about who should reign over them, Jehoiada knew about that, and their choice fell upon none but Joash whom Jehoiada had hidden. He sent and brought [him] out to the house of the Lord; the warriors completely armed surrounded him and Jehoiada the priest seated him upon the throne of the family of David his father, he being seven years of age. His mother’s name was Zibiah of the family of Sheba. Jehoiada the priest covenanted with him that he should do righteousness before the Lord. When Jehoiada the priest died, Joash forgot his covenants, and did not know rightly what was administered from the throne of the family of David, nor the shedding of innocent blood. He died after he had reigned for forty years. After him his son reigned, and his mother’s name was Jehoaddan. He killed every one who had killed any one of his household, but spared their sons, for in this he followed the law of the Lord. He died after he had reigned for twenty-nine years, and his son Azariah reigned after him, being twenty years old. His mother’s name was Jecholiah. He did right before the Lord, save that he was bold about the priesthood, for which reason he became a leper, and God weakened the power of Isaiah the prophet from prophecy until this Azariah died, because he did not reprove him for his boldness about the priesthood. The duration of his reign was fifty-two p. 50years, and Jotham his son reigned after him, being twenty-five years of age, and his mother’s name was Jerusha the daughter of Dafma (Zadok). He did right, and the duration of his reign was sixteen years. After him his son Ahaz reigned, being twenty years of age; his mother’s name was Jahkebez the daughter of Levi. He did wickedly, and sacrificed to devils and idols. God was angry with him, and Tiglath son of Cardak, king of Assyria, came against him, and besieged him. Ahaz wrote himself down his vassal, and delivered Jerusalem up to the Assyrians, and he carried all the gold and silver that was in the temple of God to Assyria the regions of Tiglath. In his time the children of Israel were led captive, and went down to Babylon. The king of Assyria sent instead Babylonians to the land of Judah to dwell in it; and they complained of what befel them to the king of Assyria, and he sent to them Urijah one of the priests of the children of Israel that he might teach them the law of the Lord. When they knew it, the lions ceased from them, and went to the land of Babylon and to Samaria. When he (Ahaz) had completed sixteen years he died, and his son Hezekiah reigned after him, being twenty-five years old, and his mother’s name was Ahi (Abi) the daughter of Zechariah. He did right and broke the idols, and caused the sacrifices to cease, and cut up the serpent that Moses had made in the wilderness of the wandering (Tih), because the children of Israel were seduced in their worship of it. In the fourth year of his reign, Shalmanezer king of Assyria came to Jerusalem, and took captive the Israelites who were in it, and drove them away to a place beyond Babylon named Media. In the twenty-sixth year journeyed Sennacherib king of the province to the cities of Judah, and took captive those whom he found in them and their villages excepting Jerusalem. Verily it was saved by the prayer and cries of king Hezekiah. When Hezekiah was ill with his death-sickness, he grieved and wept because he had no son to reign after him; he prayed before the Lord, and said, “Lord, have mercy on Thy servant, and do not let him die without offspring; let not the kingdom fail from the house of David, nor the blessings cease which have come on the tribes in my days.” The Lord answered him, and told him that p. 51He had added to his life fifteen years; he recovered; a son was born to him, and he called him Manasseh. When twenty-six years of his reign were finished, and he was rejoicing in his son, he died. His son reigned after him, being twelve years old; his mother’s name was Hephzibah. He did wickedly, and his infidelity surpassed all the infidel kings that were before him in evil-doing. He built an altar to idols, and sacrificed to them; he defiled Jerusalem with corruption, and the worship of idols. He took Isaiah the prophet, and they sawed him with a wooden saw from the middle of his head to between his feet, because he had reproved him for his wicked deeds. Isaiah’s age that day was one hundred and twenty years, he began to prophesy when he was ninety years old. Then Manasseh repented about that, and turned to his Lord; he put on sackcloth, and imposed a fast upon himself [all] the days of his life. God accepted his repentance and he died. His son Amon reigned after him, being that day twenty-two years of age; his mother’s name was Musalmath the daughter of Hasoun. He did wicked deeds before the Lord, and burned his children in the fire. He reigned twelve years and he died. After him his son Josiah reigned, being sixty-eight years of age; his mother’s name was Arnea, daughter of Azariah son of Tarfeeb. He kept righteously the feast of the Passover, a feast such as the children of Israel had never kept since the time of the Prophet Moses; he abolished the sacrifices to the images, broke the idols, sawed them with saws, killed their worshippers, and burnt in the fire the bones of the prophets of the Honoured One. He cleansed Jerusalem from defilements. None like him reigned over the Jews before him nor after him. He remained there for thirty years, but Pharaoh king of Egypt killed him. After him his son Jehoahaz reigned, being twenty-two years of age; his mother’s name was Hamtoul the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. Not more than three months of his reign had passed when Pharaoh the lame bound him, made him fast with chains, and carried him to Egypt, and he died there. After him his brother Jehoiakim reigned, being twenty-five years of age; his mother’s name was Zobeed, daughter of Yerkuiah of the town of Al-Ramah. In the third year of his p. 52reign Nebuchadnezzar approached Jerusalem, reigned over it, and made him his vassal for three years. He rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar, and death overtook him. His son Jehoiachin reigned after him, being eighteen years of age; his mother’s name was Tahseeb the daughter of Lutanan of the people of Jerusalem. Nebuchadnezzar journeyed a second time to Jerusalem, bound him after three months of his reign, and carried him and his officers and the armies of his soldiers to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar in his first attack had bound the wife of Jehoiakim and other wives of the grandees and nobles of Jerusalem, and carried them to Babylon. The wife of Jehoiakim was pregnant that day, and in the way she gave birth to Daniel. In the Captivity were also Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael, sons of Johanan. The reason of this Captivity was that Jehoiachin had made a truce with Nebuchadnezzar, then they betrayed one another. When Johanan died, Zedekiah the uncle of Jehoiakim reigned after him, being twenty-one years of age; the seat of all the kings of the children of Israel was Jerusalem; the name of Zedekiah’s mother was Hamtoul; he was the last of the kings of the children of Israel. After eleven years of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar journeyed for the third time to the West, to pacify its cities, and the cities of the Euphrates, and of the Great Sea. He made his way through the islands of the sea, and took captive their people, he laid Tyre waste, and smote it with fire. He killed Hiram its king as we have already said. He entered Egypt to seek those of the children of Israel who had fled, and killed its Pharaoh. He returned by sea to Jerusalem, and was victorious there a second time. He bound Zedekiah, killed his sons Jerbala and Rahmut, and carried him blind and fettered with chains to Babylon. This was a punishment from God to him for his deed that he did to the prophet Jeremiah when he threw him into a miry well. Nebuchadnezzar appointed Jozadan (Nebuzaradan) the captain of his prison in Jerusalem until he had laid waste its wall, and burned the temple of the Lord which Solomon had built in it. He demolished the rest of the dwellings of Jerusalem, carried all the tools that he found of iron and brass, and the raiment which belonged to the house p. 53of the Lord to Babylon. Between Simeon the High Priest of Jerusalem and Jozadan captain of the prison to Nebuchadnezzar there was love and friendship. He asked if he would give him the old writings; he and Simeon carried them with him, being among the crowd of the Captivity. He saw a well in his way among the borders of the West; be laid the writings in it, and put with them a bronze vase, filled with glowing coals, and in it sweet smelling incense; he covered up this well, and went to Babylon. The devastation of Jerusalem was completed, and it became a waste. There was not one person in it, nor even a building save the tomb of the prophet Jeremiah. Jeremiah in his lifetime had dwelt in a place called Samaria; he commanded a man named Uriah that he should be buried in Jerusalem, and he did it. It was not known that this place was the grave of Jeremiah except at the devastation of Jerusalem.

 Now for the genealogies. The Syrians say that no one looked after them after the last devastation of Jerusalem, except among the tribe of the Philistines, and no one looked after the genealogy of the people among whom the children of Israel married, nor from whence was the beginning of the priesthood. Jehoiachin did not cease to be bound in the land of Babylon, and shut up in prison for thirty-seven years. Meanwhile there was born to Mardul a son named Mardahi, and the king let Jehoiachin out of the prison, and married him to Helmuth the daughter of Eliakim. By him she gave birth in the land of Babylon to a son, who was called Salathiel. Then he married another who was called Melkat the daughter of Ezra the teacher, and had no child by her in Babylon. At that time Cyrus reigned in Babylon. He married Masabet the sister of Zerubabel a nobleman of the Jews, according to the custom of Persia; he let her rule his affairs; she begged him to restore the children of Israel to Jerusalem, and he did this to its place where it had been before him. He commanded a herald to proclaim, that there should not remain one of the children of Israel, who should not present himself to Zerubabel his brother-in-law. When they were gathered together, he commanded him to take them to Jerusalem and that they should build it. The children p. 54of Israel returned to Jerusalem in the second year of the reign of Cyrus the Persian. At that time was completed the fifth thousand from the beginning. The children of Israel after their return to Jerusalem remained without a teacher to teach them the law of the Lord or any writings of the prophets. When Ezra saw this, he went to the well in which the Law had been put, uncovered it, and found the vase full of fire and incense, and he found the writings faded, there was no means to get them. God revealed to him that he should receive of them from His hands; he succeeded, and threw it on his mouth once, and twice and thrice, and God put into it the power of the spirit of prophecy; he kept all the writings, and that fire which was in the vase in the well was from the fire of Paradise which was in the house of the Lord. Zerubabel journeyed to Jerusalem as king over it. By Joshua son of Jozadak the High Priest and by Ezra, the writing of the Law and the Books of the Prophets were completed. After their return, the children of Israel kept the feast of the Passover, and all the feasts that they celebrated were three. The first was the feast of Moses in Egypt, the second the feast of Josiah, and the third after their return from Babylon in the days of Cyrus the Persian. The number of the years of the Captivity which Jeremiah the prophet mentions are seventy years. The children of Israel built the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem, and its building was finished by the hands of Zerubabel and Joshua the son of Jozadak the priest, and Ezra the scribe of the Law, in six and forty years. When the books of the genealogies were destroyed, the fathers were in despair about genealogy, and there was despair about it after them, until their accuracy was guaranteed by the secret books of the Hebrews. I relate this to thee, my son Clement, that when Zerubabel journeyed to Jerusalem, he married Malka the daughter of Ezra the teacher, and by her he begat a son called Abiud. She had already been the wife of Jehoiachin before him. When Abiud grew up, he married Ragib, daughter of Joshua the son of Jozadak the priest. By he he begat a son called Jehoiachim. Jehoiachim married a wife, and begat a son by her. When he grew up, he married p. 55Alfeet, daughter of Hesron, and by her he begat Zadok. Zadok married Felbin the daughter of Rahab, and by her he begat Atin. Atin married Hesheeb, daughter of Jula, and by he he begat Tur (Eliud). Tur (Eliud) married Salsin, daughter of Hasoul, and by her he begat Eleazar. Eleazar married Habeeth, daughter of Malih, and by her he begat Manar (Matthan). Manar (Matthan) married Seerâb, daughter of Phinehas, and by her he begat two sons in [one] womb. One of them was Jacob, who was called by two names, Joachim son of Yartâh. Jacob maried Had the daughter of Eleazar, and by her he begat Joseph. Joachim married Hannah, daughter of Ka‘rdal, and by her he begat Mary, by whom our Lord the Christ was incarnate. On account of our knowledge, O my son Clement, about the genealogy of the Lady Mary, and the genealogies of her ancestors, the Jews begin by assertions about us that we do not understand the genealogies, and we do not know them; and they venture to mock the mother of Light, the Lady Mary, the Virgin, and they attribute he genealogy to fornication, because they do not know that it was the Holy Ghost who came down on us, a company of twelve in the upper room of Zion, who taught us all that we need to know about the genealogies and the rest of the mysteries, as He had taught Azariah (Ezra) the teacher all the Law, so that he kept it and renewed it. Let the mouths of the cursed Jews now be stopped, and let them know assuredly that Mary the pure was of the race of Judah, also of the race of David, also of the race of Abraham; that they have nothing against the genealogies which the Holy Ghost taught us, and there is not a book left in their hands from which they can make a stand against genealogy, since their books have been burnt three times; the first time in the days of Antiochus, who defiled the temple of the Lord, and commanded sacrifices to idlos; the second by Herod at the time of the devastation of Jerusalem; and the third, hear, O blessed son, what the Holy Ghost has revealed to me, about the sixty-three fathers, whose names are registered, and how the pedigree came about to the tribe from which was incarnate our God the Christ.

p. 56

 The beginning of genealogies.

 Adam begat Seth. Seth married Aclima, sister of Abel, and by her begat Enos. Enos married a woman called Hita, daughter of Mahmouma of the sons of Har son of Seth, and by her begat Cainan. Cainan married Karith, daughter of Kersham son of Maheâl, and by her begat Mahlaleel. Mahlaleel married Teshabfatir, daughter of Enos, and by her begat Jared. Jared married Zebeeda, daughter of Kargilan son of Cainan, and by her begat Enoch. Enoch married Jardakin, daughter of Terbah son of Mahlaleel, and by her begat Methuselah. Methuselah married Rahoub, daughter of Serkeen son of Enoch, and by her begat Lamech. Lamech married Kifar, daughter of Jutab son of Methuselah, and by her begat Noah. Noah married Haikal, daughter of Mashamos son of Enoch, and by her begat Sem. Sem married Leah, daughter of Nasih, and by her begat Arphaxad. Arphaxad married Fardou, daughter of Salweh son of Japhet, and by her begat Salah. Salah married Muldath, daughter of Kahin son of Sem, and by her begat Obed (Eber). Obed (Eber) married Rasdah sister of Melchisedek, daughter of Malih son of Arphaxad, and by her begat Peleg. Peleg married Hadeeb, daughter of Hamlâh, and by her begat Jareu (Reu). Jareu (Reu) married Tanaa‘b, daughter of Obed (Eber), and by her begat Serug. Serug married Feel, and by her begat Nahor. Nahor married a wife, A‘âkris daughter of Reu, and by her begat Tarah. Tarah married two wives, one of them Juta, and the other Salmat, by Juta he begat Abraham and by Salmat Sarah. Abraham married Sarah, daughter of this Salmat his father’s wife, and by her begat Isaac. Isaac married a wife called Rebecca, daughter of Fathâel, and by her begat Jacob. Jacob married Leah, daughter of Laban, and by her begat Judah. Judah begat Pharez by Tamar. Pharez son of Judah married Afdeeb, daughter of Levi, and by her begat Hesron. Hesron married Farteeb, daughter of Zebulon, and by her begat Aram. Aram married Safuza, daughter of Judah, and by her begat Aminadab. Aminadab married Baruma, daughter of Hesron, and by her begat Nahshon. Nahshon married Aram, daughter p. 57of Adam, and by her begat Salmon. Salmon married Saleeb (Rahab), daughter of Aminadab, and by her begat Boaz. Boaz married Aroof (Ruth), daughter of Lot, and by her begat Obed. Obed married Nefut, daughter of Shela, and by her begat Asse (Jesse). Asse (Jesse) married Amrat, daughter of Othan, and by her begat David. David married Balseba‘ (Bathsheba), daughter of Joutân son of Shela, and by her begat Solomon. Solomon married Naama, daughter of Maheel, and by her begat Rehoboam: who had none like him. Rehoboam married Naheer, daughter of Al, and by her begat Abia. Abia married Maachah the daughter of Abishalom, and by her bcgat Asa. Asa married Auzbah the daughter of Shalih, and by her begat Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat married Na‘mna the daughter of Amon, and by her begat Joram. Joram married Tala‘ia, daughter of Amoi, and by her begat Ahaz. Ahaz married Suma the daughter of Balhi, and by her begat Amaziah. Amaziah married Kama, daughter of Caram, and by her begat Uzziah. Uzziah married Jerousa, daughter of Zadok, and by her begat Jeream (Jotham). Jeream (Jotham) married Jahfat, daughter of Hani, and by her begat Ahaz. Ahaz married Ahir, daughter of Zachariah, and by her begat Hezekiah. Hezekiah married Hephzibah, daughter of Jarmoun, and by her begat Manasseh. Manasseh married Artida, daughter of Azuriah, and by her begat Aman. Aman married Tarib, daughter of Murka, and by her begat Josiah. Josiah married Hamtoul, daughter of Armeed (Jeremiah), and by her begat Jehoahaz. Jehoahaz married a woman and had no sons by her. Jehoiakim reigned after the death of his brother, and married a woman called Carteem, daughter of Haluta, and by her begat Salaeel (Salathiel). Salaeel (Salathiel) married Hamtat, daughter of Eliakim, and by her begat Zerubabel. Zerubabel married Malkut, daughter of Ezra, and by her begat Armeed (Abiud). Armeed (Abiud) married Awarkeeth, daughter of Zadok, and by her begat Jachim. Jachim married Hali, daughter of Zurniem, and by her begat A‘zor. A‘zor married Afi, daughter of Hasor, and by her begat Sadoc. Sadoc married Faltir, daughter of Dorteeb, and by her begat Asham Joteed. Joteed Asham married Hasgab, daughter of Jula, and by her p. 58begat Liud (Eliud). Liud (Eliud) married Shabshetin, daughter of Hubaballia, and by her begat Eleazar. Eleazar married Hanbeth, daughter of Jula, and by her begat Mathan. Mathan married Seerab, daughter of Phinehas, and by her begat Jacob. Jacob married Harteeb, daughter of Eleazar, and by her begat Joachim, known as Jonahir. Joachim married Hannah, and returned to the house of Eleazar. And after sixty years of his marriage to her, he begat by her Mary the Virgin, her by whom the Christ became incarnate. Joseph the Carpenter was the son of her [paternal] uncle Laha, and therefore his vote did not fall against her when Ram, priest of the children of Israel, delivered her to a man who should be surety for her. It was in the hidden work of God (may He be glorious and exalted!) and in the mystery of His knowledge that there was no escape from the Jews reproaching Mary the pure on account of her bearing the Christ. To our Master and our God and our Lord Jesus the Christ be praise and power and greatness and dignity and worship with the Father and the Holy Ghost from now unto all time and throughout all ages. Amen.