(17) And it came to pass in the seventh week, in the first year thereof, in the first month in this jubilee, on the twelfth of this month, there were voices in heaven regarding Abraham, thathe was faithful in all that He told him, and thathe loved the Lord, and that in every affliction he was faithful.

(47) And in the seventh week, in the seventh 2303 am year, in the forty-seventh jubilee, thy father went forth from the land of Canaan, and thou wast born in the fourth week, in the sixth year thereof, in the 2330 am forty-eighth jubilee ; this was the time of tribulation on the children of Israel.

(10) And in his life on earth he excelled the children of men save Enoch because of the righteousness, wherein he was perfect. For Enoch's office was ordained for a testimony to the genera- tions of the world, so thathe should recount all the deeds of generation unto generation, till the day of judgment.

(33) Again, in diseases the seventh day is that of the crisis; and the fourteenth, in which nature struggles against the causes of the diseases. And a myriad such instances are adduced by Hermippus of Berytus, in his book On the Number Seven, regarding it as holy. And the blessed David delivers clearly to those who know the mystic account of seven and eight, praising thus: "Our years were exercised like a spider. The days of our years in them are seventy years; but if in strength, eighty years. And that will be to reign." That, then, we may be taught that the world was originated, and not suppose that God made it in time, prophecy adds: "This is the book of the generation: also of the things in them, when they were created in the day that God made heaven and earth." For the expression "when they were created" intimates an indefinite and dateless production. But the expression "in the day that God made," that is, in and by which God made "all things," and "without which not even one thing was made," points out the activity exerted by the Son. As David says, "This is the day which the Lord hath made; let us be glad and rejoice in it; " that is, in consequence of the knowledge imparted by Him, let us celebrate the divine festival; for the Word that throws light on things hidden, and by whom each created thing came into life and being, is called day.

(19) Wherefore Solomon also says, that before heaven, and earth, and all existences, Wisdom had arisen in the Almighty; the participation of which -that which is by power, I mean, not that by essence - teaches a man to know by apprehension things divine and human. Having reached this point, we must mention these things by the way; since the discourse has turned on the seventh and the eighth. For the eighth may possibly turn out to be properly the seventh, and the seventh manifestly the sixth, and the latter properly the Sabbath, and the seventh a day of work. For the creation of the world was concluded in six days.

(24) And it came to pass after the death of Abraham, that the Lord blessed Isaac his son, and he arose from Hebron and went and dwelt at the Well of the Vision in the first year of the third week of this jubilee, seven years.

(2) And the angel of the presence spake 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 Sabbath on the seventh day and hallowed it for all ages, and appointed it as a sign 7 i. e. in th« Messianic Kingdom. for all His works.

(8) By these seven letters were also made seven worlds, seven heavens, seven lands, seven seas, seven rivers, seven deserts, seven days (as before), seven weeks from Passover to Pentecost, and every seventh year a jubilee.

(31) Callimachus the poet also writes: "It was the seventh morn, and they had all things done." And again: "Among good days is the seventh day, and the seventh race." And: "The seventh is among the prime, and the seventh is perfect." And: "Now all the seven were made in starry heaven, In circles shining as the years appear."

(21) And in the sixth year of the seventh l ( ?205o) week of this jubilee Abraham called Isaac his son, and commanded him, saying : " I am become old, and know not the day of my death, and am full of my days.

(30) And Homer: "The seventh was sacred." And again: "It was the seventh day, and all things were accomplished." And again: "And on the seventh morn we leave the stream of Acheron."

(6) And on the new moon of the first month, and on the new moon of the fourth 8 " Of a double nature " in that (?) it commemorates the covenant with Noah, and also ha3 an agricultural character. •i.e. the Pentateuch. 7 Or "the .first day" (of the week) = Sunday. Con- sequently, Pentecost would always fall on the same day of the week, Sunday. This accords with the Sadducean view. f> THE, BOOK OF JUBILEES [chap, vi month, and on the new moon of the seventh month, and on the new moon of the tenth month are the days of remembrance, and the days of the seasons in the four divisions of the year. These are written and ordained as a testimony for ever.

(1) And He said to the angel of the presence : "Write7 for Moses from the beginning of creation till My sanctuary has been built among them for all eternity.

(4) And he was the first to write a testimony, and he testified to the sons of men among the generations of the earth, and recounted the weeks of the jubilees, and made known to them the days of the years, and set in order the months and re- counted the Sabbaths of the years as we made (them) known to him.

(31) "On a seven-stringed lyre we shall sing new hymns," writes a poet of note, teaching us that the ancient lyre was seven-toned. The organs of the senses situated on our face are also seven - two eyes, two passages of hearing, two nostrils, and the seventh the mouth. And that the changes in the periods of life take place by sevens, the Elegies of Solan teach thus: "The child, while still an infant, in seven years, Produces and puts forth its fence of teeth; And when God seven years more completes, He shows of puberty's approach the signs; And in the third, the beard on growing cheek With down o'erspreads the bloom of changing skin; And in the fourth septenniad, at his best In strength, of manliness he shows the signs; And in the fifth, of marriage, now mature, And of posterity, the man bethinks; Nor does he yet desire vain works to see.

(29) And again: "And on the seventh the sun's resplendent orb." And Homer: "And on the seventh then came the sacred day."

(26) Wherefore also man is said to have been made on the sixth day, who became faithful to Him who is the sign (tp epishmw), so as straightway to receive the rest of the Lord's inheritance. Some such thing also is indicated by the sixth hour in the scheme of salvation, in which man was perfected. Further, of the eight, the intermediates are seven; and of the seven, the intervals are shown to be six. For that is another ground, in which seven glorifies eight, and "the heavens declare to the heavens the glory of God."

(77) But seeing the power of all the seven spirits stood in this one, therefore also all the seven were kindled in the wrath, but yet only in the outward and comprehensible qualification or constitution.

(24) And he went up from thence to the Well of the Oath, in the first year of the first week in the forty-fourth jubilee.

(16) And we returned in the seventh month, and found Sarah with child before us] and we blessed him, and we announced to him all the things which had been decreed concerning him, thathe should not die till he should beget six sons more, and should see (them) before he died ; but (that) in Isaac should his name and seed be called : •