Chapter 16.
And the rulers of the synagogue, and the priests and the
Levites, when they heard these words from Joseph, became as dead, and
fell to the ground, and fasted until the ninth hour. And
Nicodemus, along with Joseph, exhorted Annas and Caiaphas, the priests
and the Levites, saying: Rise up and stand upon your feet, and
taste bread, and strengthen your souls, because to-morrow is the
Sabbath of the Lord. And they rose up, and prayed to God, and ate
and drank, and departed every man to his own house.
And on the Sabbath our teachers and the priests
and Levites sat questioning each other, and saying: What is this
wrath that has come upon us? for we know his father and mother.
Levi, a teacher, says: I know that his parents fear God, and do
not withdraw themselves from the prayers, and give the tithes thrice a
year.1853
| 1853 This would
seem to confirm the opinion that there were three tithes paid in the
year. Comp. Smith’s Dict., sub
voce. |
And when
Jesus was
born, his
parents brought him to this place, and gave sacrifices and
burnt-offerings to
God. And when the great
teacher Symeon took
him into his arms, he said, Now Thou sendest away Thy
servant,
Lord,
according to Thy word, in
peace; for mine
eyes have seen Thy
salvation,
which Thou hast prepared before the face of all the peoples: a
light for the revelation of the Gentiles, and the
glory of Thy people
Israel. And Symeon
blessed them, and said to
Mary his mother, I
give thee good news about this
child. And
Mary said, It is well,
my
lord. And Symeon said to her, It is well; behold, he
lies for
the fall and rising again of many in
Israel, and for a sign spoken
against; and of thee thyself a
sword shall go through the
soul, in
order that the reasoning of many
hearts may be
revealed.
1854
They say to the teacher Levi: How knowest thou
these things? Levi says to them: Do you not know that from
him I learned the law? The Sanhedrin say to him: We wish to
see thy father. And they sent for his father. And they
asked him; and he said to them: Why have you not believed my
son? The blessed and just Symeon himself taught him the
law. The Sanhedrin says to Rabbi Levi: Is the word that you
have said true? And he said: It is true. And the
rulers of the synagogue, and the priests and the Levites, said to
themselves: Come, let us send into Galilee to the three men that
came and told about his teaching and his taking up, and let them tell
us how they saw him taken up. And this saying pleased all.
And they sent away the three men who had already gone away into Galilee
with them; and they say to them: Say to Rabbi Adas, and Rabbi
Phinees, and Rabbi Haggai: Peace to you, and all who are with
you! A great inquiry having taken place in the Sanhedrin, we have
been sent to you to call you to this holy place, Jerusalem.
And the men set out into Galilee, and found them sitting
and considering the law; and they saluted them in peace. And the
men who were in Galilee said to those who had come to them: Peace
upon all Israel! And they said: Peace to you! And
they again said to them: Why have you come? And those who
had been sent said: The Sanhedrin call you to the holy city
Jerusalem. And when the men heard that they were sought by the
Sanhedrin, they prayed to God, and reclined with the men, and ate and
drank, and rose up, and set out in peace to Jerusalem.
And on the following day the Sanhedrin sat in the
synagogue, and asked them, saying: Did you really see Jesus sitting on the mountain
Mamilch teaching his eleven disciples, and did you see him taken
up? And the men answered them, and said: As we saw him
taken up, so also we said.
Annas says: Take them away from one another,
and let us see whether their account agrees. And they took them
away from one another. And first they call Adas, and say to
him: How didst thou see Jesus taken up? Adas says:
While he was yet sitting on the mountain Mamilch, and teaching his
disciples, we saw a cloud overshadowing both him and his
disciples. And the cloud took him up into heaven, and his
disciples lay upon their face upon the earth. And they call
Phinees the priest, and ask him also, saying: How didst thou see
Jesus taken up? And he spoke in like manner. And they again
asked Haggai, and he spoke in like manner. And the Sanhedrin
said: The law of Moses holds: At the mouth of two or three
every word shall be established.1855
Buthem, a
teacher, says: It is written in the
law, And
Enoch
walked with
God, and is not, because
God took him.
1856
Jairus, a
teacher, said: And
the
death of holy
Moses we have heard of, and have not seen it; for it
is written in the
law of the
Lord, And
Moses died from the mouth of the
Lord, and no man knoweth of his
sepulchre unto this day.
1857
And
Rabbi Levi said: Why
did
Rabbi Symeon say, when he saw
Jesus, “Behold, he
lies for the
fall and rising again of many in
Israel, and for a sign spoken
against?”
1858
And
Rabbi Isaac said: It is written in the
law, Behold, I send my
messenger before thy face, who shall go before thee to keep thee in
every good way, because my name has been called upon him.
1859
| 1859 Ex. xxiii. 20, 21; Mal. iii. 1; Matt. xi.
10. |
Then Annas and Caiaphas said: Rightly have
you said what is written in the law of Moses, that no one saw the death
of Enoch, and no one has named the death of Moses; but Jesus was tried
before Pilate, and we saw him receiving blows and spittings on his
face, and the soldiers put about him a crown of thorns, and he was
scourged, and received sentence from Pilate, and was crucified upon the
Cranium, and two robbers with him; and they gave him to drink vinegar
with gall, and Longinus the soldier pierced his side with a spear; and
Joseph our honourable father begged his body, and, as he says, he is
risen; and as the three teachers say, We saw him taken up into heaven;
and Rabbi Levi has given evidence of what was said by Rabbi Symeon, and
that he said, Behold, he lies for the fall and rising again of
many in Israel, and for a sign spoken against. And all the
teachers said to all the people of the Lord: If this was from the
Lord, and is wonderful in your eyes,1860
knowing you
shall know, O
house of
Jacob, that it is written,
Cursed is every one
that hangeth upon a
tree.
1861
And
another Scripture
teaches: The gods which have not made the
heaven and the
earth shall be
destroyed.
1862
And the
priests and the
Levites
said to each other: If his
memorial be until the
year that
is called Jobel,
1863
| 1863 i.e., the year
of jubilee. The original, ἕως
τοῦ σώμμου, is
not Greek. It is not easy to see what the passage means. It
may refer to Isa. lxi.
1–3. |
know that it
shall it
endure for ever, and he hath
raised for himself a new
people. Then the
rulers of the
synagogue, and the
priests and the
Levites,
announced to all
Israel, saying:
Cursed is that man who
shall
worship the
work of man’s
hand, and
cursed is the man who
shall
worship the creatures more than the Creator. And all the
people said,
Amen,
amen.
1864
And all the people praised1865
the
Lord, and said:
Blessed is the
Lord, who hath given
rest to His people
Israel, according to all that
He hath spoken; there hath not fallen one word of every good word of
His that He spoke to
Moses His
servant. May the
Lord our
God be
with us, as He was with our fathers: let Him not
destroy
us. And let Him not
destroy us, that we may incline our
hearts to
Him, that we may
walk in all His ways, that we may keep His
commandments and His judgments which He commanded to our
fathers.
1866
And the
Lord shall be for a king over all the
earth in that day; and there
shall be one
Lord, and His name one.
1867
The
Lord is our king: He shall
save us.
1868
There is none like Thee, O
Lord.
1869
Great art Thou, O
Lord, and great
is Thy name. By Thy
power heal us, O
Lord, and we shall be
healed:
save us, O
Lord, and we shall be
saved;
1870
because we are Thy lot and
heritage. And the
Lord will not leave His people, for His great
name’s sake; for the
Lord has begun to make us into His
people.
1871
And all, having sung praises, went away each man to his
own house, glorifying God; for His is the glory for ever and
ever. Amen.
————————————
E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
