View source for Book of Jubilees

{{Short description|Ancient Jewish religious work of 50 chapters}}
{{redirect|Jubilees|the Jewish legal concept|Jubilee (biblical)}}
{{Tanakh OT |deutero}}
{{use dmy dates|cs1-dates=ly|date=August 2023}}
[[File:Bernhard Beer Das Buch der Jubiläen und sein Verhältniss zu den Midraschim 1856.jpg|thumb|German translation of Jubilees, 1856]]

The '''Book of Jubilees'''{{efn|Also known as '''Lesser Genesis''', '''Leptogenesis''', and the '''Book of Division''' ({{langx|gez|መጽሐፈ ኩፋሌ|maṣiḥāfa kufale}}) by [[Haymanot]] Judaism, which is observed by members of the Ethiopian Jewish community.}} is an ancient [[Jewish apocrypha]]l text of 50 chapters (1,341 verses), considered [[Biblical canon|canonical]] by the [[Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church]], as well as by [[Haymanot|Haymanot Judaism]],<ref>{{cite book|first=Wolf|last=Leslau|author-link=Wolf Leslau|title=Falasha Anthology|publisher=Yale University Press|series=Yale Judaica Series|volume=6|year=1951|location=New Haven & London|page=xxviii|isbn=0-300-03927-1|url=http://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.188774/page/n25|quote=The Torah (''orit'') is written in Geez... The name applies not only to the Pentateuch but to the entire Old Testament, and the text is identical with that of the Christian Ethiopians. [V]arious apocrypha and pseudepigrapha such as... the Paralipomena of Baruch... are included.}}</ref> a denomination observed by members of the [[Beta Israel|Ethiopian Jewish community]]. Jubilees is considered one of the [[pseudepigrapha]] by the [[Eastern Orthodoxy|Eastern Orthodox]], [[Catholic Church|Catholic]], and [[Protestantism|Protestant]] churches.<ref name="Harris">[[Stephen L Harris|Harris, Stephen L.]], ''Understanding the Bible''. Palo Alto: Mayfield. 1985.</ref> Apart from Haymanot, the book is not considered canonical within any of the [[Jewish religious movements|denominations of Judaism]].

It was well known to [[Early Christianity|early Christians]], as evidenced by the writings of [[Epiphanius of Salamis|Epiphanius]], [[Justin Martyr]], [[Origen]], [[Diodorus of Tarsus]], [[Isidore of Alexandria]], [[Isidore of Seville]], [[Eutychius of Alexandria]], [[John Malalas]], [[George Syncellus]], and [[George Kedrenos]]. The text was also utilized by the community that collected the [[Dead Sea Scrolls]]. No complete Hebrew, Greek or Latin version is known to have survived, but the [[Geʽez]] version is considered to be an accurate translation of the fragments in [[Biblical Hebrew]] found in the [[Dead Sea Scrolls]].

The Book of Jubilees presents a "history of the division of the days of the law and of the testimony, of the events of the years, of their (year) weeks, of their jubilees throughout all the years of the world, as the Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai when he went up to receive the tables of the law and of the commandment"<ref>{{cite web |title=Book of Jubilees 1:1 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Book_of_Jubilees.1.1?lang=bi&lookup=%D7%95%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%95%D7%91%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%94%D7%9F&with=Lexicon&lang2=en |website=www.sefaria.org}}</ref> as revealed to [[Moses]] (in addition to the [[Torah]] or "Instruction") by [[Angels in Judaism|angels]] while he was on [[Mount Sinai]] for forty days and forty nights.<ref>{{cite web |title=Jubilees 1 |url=http://www.pseudepigrapha.com/jubilees/1.htm |website=www.pseudepigrapha.com}}</ref> The chronology given in Jubilees is based on multiples of seven. The [[Jubilee (biblical)|jubilee year]] is the year that follows the passage of seven "weeks of years" (seven cycles of [[shmita|sabbatical years]], or 49 total years), into which all of time has been divided.

== Manuscripts ==
Until the discovery of extensive fragments among the [[Dead Sea Scrolls]], the earliest surviving manuscripts of Jubilees were four complete Geʽez texts dating to the 15th and 16th centuries and several quotations by the [[early Church Fathers]] such as [[Epiphanius of Salamis|Epiphanius]], [[Justin Martyr]], [[Origen]], [[Diodorus of Tarsus]], [[Isidore of Alexandria]], [[Augustine of Hippo]], [[Isidore of Seville]], [[Eutychius of Alexandria]], [[John Malalas]], [[George Syncellus]], and [[George Kedrenos]]. There is also a preserved fragment of a Latin translation of the Greek that contains about a quarter of the whole work.<ref name="Charles">{{cite book|year=1913|chapter-url=http://wesley.nnu.edu/biblical_studies/noncanon/ot/pseudo/jubilee.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090224002549/http://wesley.nnu.edu/biblical_studies/noncanon/ot/pseudo/jubilee.htm |archive-date=February 24, 2009|title=The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament|author=R. H. Charles |author-link=R. H. Charles |chapter=The Book of Jubilees |location=Oxford|publisher=Clarendon Press|via=Wesley Center Online}}</ref>

The [[Bible translations into Geʽez|Geʽez Biblical texts]], now numbering twenty-seven, are the primary basis for translations into English. Passages in the texts of Jubilees that are directly parallel to verses in Genesis do not directly reproduce either of the two surviving manuscript traditions.{{refn|1="A minute study of the text shows that it attests an independent form of the Hebrew text of Genesis and the early chapters of Exodus. Thus it agrees with individual authorities such as the Samaritan or the LXX, or the Syriac, or the Vulgate, or the Targum of Onkelos against all the rest. Or again it agrees with two or more of these authorities in opposition to the rest, as for instance with the Massoretic and Samaritan against the LXX, Syriac and Vulgate, or with the Massoretic and Onkelos against the Samaritan, LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate, or with the Massoretic, Samaritan and Syriac against the LXX or Vulgate." R.H. Charles, "7. Textual Affinities"<ref name="Charles"/>}} Consequently, even before the [[Qumran]] discoveries, [[R. H. Charles]] had deduced that the Hebrew original had used an otherwise unrecorded text for Genesis and for the early chapters of Exodus, one independent either of the [[Masoretic Text]] (𝕸) or of the Hebrew text that was the basis for the [[Septuagint]]. According to one historian, the variation among parallel manuscript traditions that are exhibited by the Septuagint compared with the 𝕸, and which are embodied in the further variants among the Dead Sea Scrolls, demonstrates that even canonical Hebrew texts did not possess any single "authorized" manuscript tradition before the [[Common Era]].<ref>Robin Lane Fox, a classicist and historian, discusses these multifarious sources of Old and New Testaments in layman's terms in ''Unauthorized Version'' (1992).</ref> Others{{who|date=November 2019}} write about the existence of three main textual manuscript traditions (namely the Babylonian, Palestinian and pre-𝕸 "proto" textual traditions). Although the pre-𝕸 text may have indeed been authoritative back then, arguments can be made for and against this concept.<ref>Hershel Shanks, an historian and archaeological scholar, provides various articles  that explore this issue in great depth, from various experts in the field of Dead Sea Scrolls research, in his book ''Understanding the Dead Sea Scrolls: A Reader from the Biblical Archaeology Review'', June 29, 1993"</ref>

Between 1947 and 1956, approximately fifteen scrolls of Jubilees were found in [[Qumran Caves|five caves at Qumran]], all written in [[Biblical Hebrew]]. The large number of manuscripts (more than for any Biblical books except for Psalms, Deuteronomy, Isaiah, Exodus, and Genesis, in descending order) indicates that Jubilees was widely used at Qumran. A comparison of the Qumran texts with the Geʽez version, performed by James VanderKam, found that the Geʽez was in most respects an accurate and literalistic translation.{{sfnp|VanderKam|2000|p=435}}

== Origins and date ==
[[Robert Charles (scholar)|R. H. Charles]] (1855–1931) became the first Biblical scholar to propose an origin for Jubilees. Charles suggested that the author of Jubilees may have been a [[Pharisees|Pharisee]] and that Jubilees was the product of the [[midrash]]im that had already been worked on in the [[Books of Chronicles]].<ref name="Charles" /> With the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran in 1947, Charles' Pharisaic hypothesis of the origin of Jubilees has been almost completely abandoned.

The dating of Jubilees has been problematic for Biblical scholars. While the oldest extant copies of Jubilees can be assigned [[Epigraphy|based on the handwriting]] to about 100 [[BCE]], there is much evidence to suggest Jubilees was written before this date.<ref>{{harvs|txt |author=VanderKam|year=1989|year2=2001|loc2=p. 18}}.</ref>{{sfnp|Boccacini|1998|p=86f}} Jubilees could not have been written very long prior. Jubilees at 4:17–25 records that [[Enoch]] "saw in a vision what has happened and what will occur", and the book contains many points of information otherwise found earliest in the [[Book of Enoch#Animal Apocalypse|Animal Apocalypse in 1 Enoch]], such as Enoch's wife being Edna.{{sfnp|Hanneken|2008|p=156}} The Animal Apocalypse claims to predict the [[Maccabean Revolt]], which occurred 167–160 BCE, and is commonly dated to that time.{{sfnp|Boccacini|1998|p=81f}}<ref>{{cite journal |title=Textual and Redactional Aspects of the Book of Dreams (1 Enoch 83-90) |author=Philip L. Tite |journal=Biblical Theology Bulletin |volume=31| pages=106f}}</ref> The direction of dependence has been controversial,{{sfnp|Kugel|2012|p=252, n.37}}{{sfnp|Hanneken|2008|p=143}} but the consensus since 2008 has been that the Animal Apocalypse came first and Jubilees after.<ref>{{cite book |author=Daniel C Olson |pages=108–109 n. 63 |title=A New Reading of the Animal Apocalypse of 1 Enoch: All Nations Shall Be Blessed" / With a New Translation and Commentary" |publisher=Brill |year=2013}}</ref> As a result, general reference works such as the [[Oxford Annotated Bible]] and the ''Mercer Dictionary of the Bible'' conclude the work can be dated to 160–150 BCE.<ref>{{harvs|txt |author=VanderKam|year=1989|year2=2001|loc2=pp. 17–21}}.</ref>

J. Amanda Guire argues that Jubilees was written in c. 170–150 BCE by a [[Palestine (region)|Palestinian]] [[Jew]] of "priestly background and [[Hasideans|Hassidic]] or [[Essenes|Essene]] persuasion", based on his knowledge of Canaanite geography, biblical festivals, and laws.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=McGuire |first=J. Amanda |date=2011 |title=Sacred Times: The Book of Jubilees at Qumran |url=https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1003&context=papers |journal=Papers |volume=2 |via=Digital Commons @ Andrews University}}</ref>

== Content ==
Jubilees covers much of the same ground as Genesis, but often with additional detail, and addressing Moses in the second person as the entire history of creation, and of Israel up to that point, is recounted in divisions of 49 years each, or "Jubilees".  The elapsed time from the creation, up to Moses receiving the scriptures upon Sinai during the Exodus, is calculated as fifty Jubilees, less the 40 years still to be spent wandering in the desert before entering Canaan – or 2,410 years.

Four classes of angels are mentioned: [[Angel of the Presence|angels of the presence]], angels of sanctifications, guardian angels over individuals, and angels presiding over the phenomena of nature. Enoch was the first man initiated by the angels in the art of writing, and wrote down, accordingly, all the secrets of astronomy, of chronology, and of the world's epochs. As regards demonology, the writer's position is largely that of the deuterocanonical writings from both New and Old Testament times.

The Book of Jubilees narrates the genesis of [[angel]]s on the first day of Creation and the story of how a group of [[fallen angel]]s mated with mortal females, giving rise to a race of giants known as the [[Nephilim]], and then to their descendants, the [[Elioud]]. The Ethiopian version states that the "angels" were in fact the disobedient offspring of [[Seth]] (''Deqiqa Set''), while the "mortal females" were daughters of [[Cain and Abel|Cain]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Ethiopian Orthodox Church's canonical Amharic version of Jubilees, 5:21 |page=14 |url=http://good-amharic-books.com/images/PDFs/3-apoch-2-cr.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110614225402/http://good-amharic-books.com/images/PDFs/3-apoch-2-cr.pdf |archive-date=2011-06-14}}</ref> This is also the view held by [[Clementine literature]], [[Sextus Julius Africanus]], [[Ephrem the Syrian]], [[Augustine of Hippo]], and [[John Chrysostom]] among many early Christian authorities. Their hybrid children, the Nephilim in existence during the time of [[Noah]], were wiped out by the [[Genesis flood narrative|great flood]]. Jubilees also states that God granted ten percent of the disembodied spirits of the Nephilim to try to lead mankind astray after the flood.

Jubilees makes an incestuous reference regarding the son of Adam and Eve, Cain, and his wife. In chapter iv (1–12) (Cain and Abel), it mentions that Cain took his sister [[Aclima|Awan]] to be his wife and Enoch was their child. It also mentions that Seth (the third son of Adam and Eve) married his sister [[Azura (religious figure)|Azura]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://virtualreligion.net/iho/jubilees.html |title=Book of Jubilees|website=virtualreligion.net}}</ref>

According to this book, Hebrew is the language of Heaven, and was originally spoken by all creatures in the Garden, animals and man; however, the animals lost their power of speech when Adam and Eve were expelled. Following the Deluge, the earth was apportioned into three divisions for the three [[sons of Noah]], and his sixteen grandsons. After the destruction of the [[Tower of Babel]], their families were scattered to their respective allotments, and Hebrew was forgotten, until Abraham was taught it by the angels.

Jubilees also contains a few scattered allusions to the Messianic kingdom. Robert Henry Charles wrote in 1913: {{cquote|This kingdom was to be ruled over by a [[Messiah]] sprung, not from [[Levi]]{{emdash}}that is, from the Maccabean family{{emdash}}as some of his contemporaries expected{{emdash}}but from [[Kingdom of Judah|Judah]]. This kingdom would be gradually realized on earth, and the transformation of physical nature would go hand in hand with the ethical transformation of man until there was a new heaven and a new earth. Thus, finally, all sin and pain would disappear and men would live to the age of 1,000 years in happiness and peace, and after death enjoy a blessed immortality in the spirit world.<ref name="Charles" />}}

Jubilees insists (in Chapter&nbsp;6) on a 364&nbsp;day yearly calendar, made up of four quarters of 13 weeks each, rather than a year of 12&nbsp;lunar months, which it says is off by 10&nbsp;days per year (the actual number being about 11¼&nbsp;days). It also insists on a "Double Sabbath" each year being counted as only one day to arrive at this computation.

Jubilees 7:20–29 is possibly an early reference to the [[Noahide laws]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/8944-jubilees-book-of#1948 |access-date=2023-08-20 |title=JUBILEES, BOOK OF (Τὰ Ἰωβηλαῖα; known also as Little Genesis [ᾙ Κλεινὴ Γένεσις = "Bereshit Zuṭa"]; Apocalypse of Moses; Life of Adam) |author1=Crawford Howell Toy |author2=Kaufmann Kohler |website=Jewish Encyclopedia}}</ref>

== Reception ==
According to Kugel, an editor working during the [[Hasmonean dynasty|Hasmonean]] period used Jubilees as one of two sources for the creation of the [[Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs#Aramaic Levi Document|Aramaic Levi Document]].{{sfnp|Kugel|2012|p=342}} Jubilees remained a point of reference for priestly circles (although they disputed its calendric proposal), and the [[Temple Scroll]] and "[[Book_of_Enoch#The_Epistle_of_Enoch|Epistle of Enoch]]" are based on Jubilees.{{sfnp|Boccacini|1998|pp=99–101, 104–113 respectively}} It is the source for certain of the [[Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs]], for instance that of [[Reuben (son of Jacob)|Reuben]].{{sfnp|Kugel|2012|p=110}}

=== In the Jewish tradition ===
It was not canonized into the Jewish canon and there is no official record of it in [[Pharisees|Pharisaic]] or [[Rabbinic literature|Rabbinical]] sources. According to Zvi Ron (2013), the Book of Jubilees may be categorized "as an early form of midrashic literature"; also some of its interpretations are preserved in later midrashic texts.<ref>Zvi Ron 2013, [https://jbqnew.jewishbible.org/assets/Uploads/413/jbq_41_3_full_issue.pdf THE BOOK OF JUBILEES AND THE MIDRASH ON THE EARLY CHAPTERS OF GENESIS.] The Jewish Bible Quarterly. Vol. 41, No. 3 (163)</ref> For example, Jubilees, in its long section on [[Enoch]],<ref>Jub. 4:16-26</ref> mentions the idea that Enoch was taken by angels to the Garden of Eden and learned astronomy from them. This idea can also be found in the ''[[Midrash Aggadah]]''.<ref>[https://www.sefaria.org/Midrash_Aggadah?tab=contents The ''Midrash Aggadah''] is dated to c.1020–1220 CE. It was first published from a single manuscript by [[Solomon Buber]] in 1894. - sefaria.org</ref> There it is also mentioned that Enoch was transformed into the angel [[Metatron]]. In Jubilees, the similar figure is known as the "Angel of the Presence". The idea that Enoch was taught by angels, while seen as controversial, is also found elsewhere in rabbinic literature.

''[[Midrash Tadshe]]'' was compiled in the early 11th-century, but it was based on a still earlier work by R. Pinchas b. Jair (end of second century A.D.).<ref>Robert Henry Charles 1917, [https://sacred-texts.com/bib/jub/jub05.htm The Book of Jubilees - AFFINITIES WITH OTHER LITERATURE.] - sacred-texts.com</ref> It has many parallels with Jubilees. Several sections of Midrash Tadshe are in entire agreement with Jubilees.

Other clear early evidence of Jubilees in Jewish tradition is in the [[Bereshit Rabba]] (5th century) and [[Pirkei De-Rabbi Eliezer|Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer]] (9th century).<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Falconer |first=Joshua |date=2019 |title=Familiar spirits in the Qurʾān: retracing the origins of the jinn |url=https://www.academia.edu/42941535 |journal=Henoch |language=English |volume=41 |issue=2 |pages=253 |issn=0393-6805}}</ref>

In Bereshit Rabba 55:4, for example, the interpretation of Genesis 22:1 ('The Offering of Isaac') is paralleled to some extent in Jubilees 17:16. Both texts "reshape the story of Abraham by shifting the origin of the test from God to other figures".<ref>[https://intertextual.bible/text/genesis-22.1-jubilees-17.15-genesis-rabbah-55.4 Comparative analysis.] - intertextual.bible</ref> According to J. van Ruiten, also a "comparable interpretation occurs in [the Qumran text] 4Q225, Philo Biblical Antiquities 32:1–4; b. Sanhedrin 89b".<ref>van Ruiten, J. Abraham in the Book of Jubilees: The Rewriting of Genesis 11:26-25:10 in the Book of Jubilees 11:14-23:8. Brill, 2012. pp. 211-212</ref>

Some other midrashim showing parallels are the [[Chronicles of Jerahmeel]], and especially the [[Midrash Vayisau]].

The ancient [[Book of Noah]] did not survive to our time. Yet two considerable sections of it were incorporated in Jubilees. It was also used extensively by the [[Book of Enoch]].<ref>Robert Henry Charles 1917, [https://sacred-texts.com/bib/jub/jub05.htm The Book of Jubilees - AFFINITIES WITH OTHER LITERATURE.] - sacred-texts.com</ref>

==== Ten trials of Abraham ====
{{main|Lech-Lecha}}
The Book of Jubilees presents the earliest reference for the rabbinical story of the 'Ten trials of Abraham'. According to Jubilees 19:8, Abraham endured ten trials of faith, and was found faithful and patient in spirit.<ref>[https://www.pseudepigrapha.com/jubilees/19.htm Jub 19:8.] R.H. Charles, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913 - pseudepigrapha.com</ref> Nevertheless, Jubilees does not list all of the ten trials, missing some in Jubilees 17:17.<ref>[https://www.pseudepigrapha.com/jubilees/17.htm Jub 17:17.] R.H. Charles, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913 - pseudepigrapha.com</ref>

:"And the Lord knew that Abraham was faithful in all his afflictions; for He had tried him through his country and with famine, and had tried him with the wealth of kings, and had tried him again through his wife, when she was torn (from him), and with circumcision; and had tried him through Ishmael and Hagar, his maid-servant, when he sent them away." - Jubilees 17:17

The rabbinic [[Mishnah]] contains several versions of the ten trials. For example, [[Pirkei Avot|Mishnah Avot]] taught that Abraham suffered ten trials and withstood them all, demonstrating how great Abraham's love was for God.<ref name=Avot5:3>[http://www.sefaria.org/Pirkei_Avot.5.3 Mishnah Avot 5:3]</ref> The [[Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer]] also detailed the ten trials.<ref>[https://www.sefaria.org/Pirkei_DeRabbi_Eliezer.26 Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer, chapters 26–31].</ref>

Medieval commentators [[Rashi]] and [[Maimonides]] differed on what 10 trials Abraham faced.<ref>[[Nosson Scherman]], ''The Stone Edition: The Chumash'' (Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 1993), pages 100–01.</ref> Their interpretations can be compared.<ref>See the Table listing the comparisons in the article [[Lech-Lecha#Genesis_chapters_11%E2%80%9322|Lech-Lecha]]</ref>

=== Early Christian interpretation ===
It appears that [[Church Fathers|early Christian writers]] held the Book of Jubilees in high regard, as many of them cited and alluded to Jubilees in their writings.{{sfnp|Charles|1902|pp=[https://archive.org/details/bookofjubileesor00char/page/n81 lxxvii–lxxxvi]}} In relationship to the New Testament, the Book of Jubilees contains one of the earliest references to the idea that [[Ten Commandments|God gave the Law to Moses]] through an angelic mediator. This idea is likewise reflected in the [[Epistle to the Galatians]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Jubilees 1:28 / Galatians 3:19 |url=https://intertextual.bible/text/jubilees-1.28-galatians-3.19 |website=intertextual.bible}}</ref>

Ethiopic-speaking Christians translated Jubilees into [[Geʽez]] before the 6th century where it became part of the [[Ethiopic Bible]].<ref name=":02">{{Cite journal |last=Falconer |first=Joshua |date=2019 |title=Familiar spirits in the Qurʾān: retracing the origins of the jinn |url=https://www.academia.edu/42941535 |journal=Henoch |language=English |volume=41 |issue=2 |pages=258 |issn=0393-6805}}</ref>

In the Christian tradition of the [[Syriac language]], Jubilees is first received in extant sources from the mid-6th to early-7th century [[Cave of Treasures]], and then in Letter 13 to John of Litarba, and Scholion 10, both authored by [[Jacob of Edessa]] (d. 708). Later still is the [[Catena Severi]] (compiled 861), the Syriac reception of an Arabic chronicle of Agapius of Mabbug, and the writings of [[Michael the Syrian]] (d. 1199), [[Barhebraeus]] (d. 1286), and the Anonymous Chronicle by 1234.<ref name=":0" />

Jan van Reeth argues that the Book of Jubilees had great influence on the [[History of Islam|formation of early Islam]].{{refn|1={{harvp|Jan M.F. van Reeth|1992}}. Cf. also:<br/>• {{cite book |author=Klaus Berger |title=Die Urchristen |year=2008 |page=340 |publisher=Wiss. Buchges |place=Darmstadt |oclc=1074177423}}<br/>• {{cite book |editor1=Andrew Rippin |editor2=Roberto Tottoli |title=Books and Written Culture of the Islamic World: Studies Presented to Claude Gilliot on the Occasion of his 75th Birthday |publisher=Brill |year=2015 |page=280 ff |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YGHiBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA281 |isbn=978-90-04-28375-6}}}} Etsuko Katsumata, comparing the Book of Jubilees and the Quran, notices significant differences, especially regarding [[Abraham in Islam|Abraham's role in the Quranic narrative]]. He says that "The Quran has many passages in which Abraham expounds the errors in idolatry. In these passages, Abraham always addresses his words to local people, and he does not leave their land. This probably reflects Islam’s position that aims at converting idol worshippers to monotheistic religion and settling in their place of residence."{{sfnp|Katsumata|2012|pp=52–54}}

[[Donald Akenson]] describes the book as having "a calm and steady tone ... a quietly normal piece of religious writing, produced by a well-informed, concerned, but not agitated, follower of Yahweh who lives in the home land. Yet note what he is willing to do ... He does nothing less than correct the Books of Moses".<ref name="k518">{{cite book | last=Akenson | first=Donald| title=Saint Saul: A Skeleton Key to the Historical Jesus | publisher=Oxford University Press, USA | series=Oxford University Press paperback | year=2002 | isbn=978-0-19-515238-8 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dA8cZ8YuZS0C | access-date=4 March 2025 | page=}}</ref>

== Sources ==
* Jubilees bases its take on Enoch on the "Book of Watchers", 1 Enoch 1–36.{{sfnp|Boccacini|1998|p={{pn|date=August 2023}}}}
* Its sequence of events leading to the Flood match those of the "Dream Visions", 1 Enoch 83–90.

== See also ==
* [[Generations of Adam]]
* [[Wives aboard Noah's Ark]]
* [[Sefer haYashar (midrash)|The Book of Jasher]]

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

== Citations ==
{{Reflist}}

== References ==
* Martin Jr. Abegg. ''The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible''. San Francisco, CA: HarperCollins, 1999. {{ISBN|0-06-060063-2}}.
* Matthias Albani, Jörg Frey, Armin Lange. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=Lr5nal2Bq9YC&pg=PP13 Studies in the Book of Jubilees]''. Leuven: Peeters, 1997. {{ISBN|3-16-146793-0}}.
* [[Hanoch Albeck|Chanoch Albeck]]. ''{{lang|de|Das Buch der Jubiläen und die Halacha}}'' Berlin: Scholem, 1930.
* {{cite book |last=Boccacini |first=Gabriele |year=1998 |title=Beyond the Essene Hypothesis |publisher=Eerdmans}}
* {{Cite book|last=Charles|first=Robert Henry|author-link=Robert Henry Charles |title=The Ethiopic Version of the Hebrew Book of Jubilees |place=Oxford |publisher=Clarendon |year=1895 |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book|last=Charles|first=Robert Henry|author-link=Robert Henry Charles |title=The Book of Jubilees or the Little Genesis |publisher=Adam and Charles Black |location=London |year=1902 |url=https://archive.org/details/bookofjubileesor00char}}
* Gene L. Davenport. ''The Eschatology of the Book of Jubilees'' (SPB 20) Leiden: Brill, 1971.
* Albert-Marie Denis. ''{{lang|fr|Concordance latine du Liber Jubilaeorum sive parva Genesis}}'' ({{lang|fr|Informatique et étude de textes}} 4; Louvain: CETEDOC, 1973)
* [[August Dillmann]]. "Mashafa kufale sive Liber Jubilaeorum... aethiopice". Kiel, and London: Van Maack, Williams &Norgate, 1859.
* August Dillmann, and Hermann Rönsch. ''Das Buch der Jubiläen; oder, Die kleine Genesis''. Leipzig: 1874.
* John C. Endres. ''Biblical Interpretation in the Book of Jubilees'' (Catholic Biblical Quarterly Monograph Series 18) Washington: Catholic Biblical Association of America, 1987. {{ISBN|0-915170-17-5}}.
* {{Cite book |title=The Book of Jubilees Among the Apocalypses |year=2008 |first=Todd Russell |last=Hanneken}}
* {{cite journal|last=Katsumata|first=Etsuko|date=2012 |title=Abraham the Iconoclast: Different Interpretations in the Literature of the Second Temple Period, the Texts of Rabbinic Judaism, and the Quran|journal=Journal of the Interdisciplinary Study of Monotheistic Religions|volume=8 |pages=37–58}}
* {{cite book |last=Kugel |first=James L. |author-link=James L. Kugel |title=A walk through Jubilees: studies in the Book of Jubilees and the world of its creation |publisher=[[Brill Academic Publishers]] |year=2012 |isbn=978-900421768-3}}
* {{cite journal|author=Jan M.F. van Reeth|title=Le Prophète musulman en tant que Nâsir Allâh et ses antécédents: le "Nazôraios" évangélique et le livre des jubilés|journal=Orientalia Lovaniensia Periodica |year=1992 |volume=23|pages=251–274 |doi=10.2143/OLP.23.1.519174}}
* Michael Segal. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=lrywCQAAQBAJ&pg=PR3 The Book of Jubilees: Rewritten Bible, Redaction, Ideology and Theology]''. Leiden-Boston, 2007. {{ISBN|978-90-04-15057-7}}.
* Michel Testuz. ''{{lang|fr|Les idées religieuses du livre des Jubilés}}'' Geneva: Droz, 1960.
* {{cite book |last=VanderKam |first=James C. |year=1977 |title=Textual and Historical Studies in the Book of Jubilees |series=Harvard Semitic monographs |volume=14 |publisher=Missoula: Scholars Press}}
* {{cite book |last=VanderKam |first=James C. |year=1989a |title=The Book of Jubilees. A Critical Text |volume=I |place=Leuven |publisher=Peeters |isbn=978-90-429-0551-1}}
* {{cite book |last=VanderKam |first=James C. |year=1989b |title=The Book of Jubilees. Translation |place=Leuven |publisher=Peeters |isbn=978-90-429-0552-8}}
* {{cite book |last=VanderKam |first=James C. |year=2000 |chapter=The Book of Jubilees |editor1=L. H. Schiffman |editor2=J. C. VanderKam |title=Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls |volume=I |publisher=Oxford University Press}}
* {{cite book |last=VanderKam |first=James C. |year=2001 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P-vUAwAAQBAJ |title=The Book of Jubilees |place=Sheffield |series=Guides to Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha |publisher=[[Sheffield Academic Press]] |volume=9 |isbn=978-1-85075-767-2}}
* {{cite book |title=Jubilees: A Commentary in Two Volumes |last=VanderKam |first=James C. |publisher=Fortress Press |year=2018 |isbn=978-1-5064-3848-1}}
* {{cite book |title=Jubilees: The Hermeneia Translation |last=VanderKam |first=James C. |publisher=Fortress Press |year=2020 |isbn=978-1-5064-6704-7 |url=}}
* {{cite book |last=Wintermute |first=Orval S. |year=1985 |chapter=Jubilees |title=Old Testament Pseudepigrapha |editor=James H. Charlesworth |place=Garden City, NY |publisher=Doubleday |volume=2 |pages=35–142}}

== External links ==
* [https://archive.org/details/bookofjubileesor00char/page/n7 The text translated by R.H. Charles, 1902, with introduction and notes.]
* [http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=582&letter=J ''Jewish Encyclopedia'' entry]
* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08535a.htm The ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' view]
* [http://www.ntcanon.org/lists.shtml Development of the Canon]
* [http://earlyjewishwritings.com/jubilees.html Jubilees at earlyjewishwritings.com]
* [http://www.tau.ac.il/~hacohen/Jubil/Jubilp%201.html Ge'ez text of Jubilees (first page)]
* [https://www.academia.edu/5955414/Ethiopic_Jubilees_Reading_Guide_11_1-10_The_Rise_of_Civilization Ethiopic Jubilees Reading Guide: 11:1-10]
* [https://www.academia.edu/6136703/Ethiopic_Jubilees_Reading_Guide_The_Aqedah_17_15-18_16 Ethiopic Jubilees Reading Guide: 17:15-18:16]
* {{librivox book | title=Book of Jubilees}}

{{Jewish Apocrypha}}{{Books of the Bible}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:2nd-century BC books]]
[[Category:Ancient Hebrew texts]]
[[Category:Book of Jubilees| ]]
[[Category:Enoch (ancestor of Noah)]]
[[Category:Jewish apocrypha]]
[[Category:Nephilim]]
[[Category:Old Testament pseudepigrapha]]
[[Category:Texts attributed to Moses]]