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and merits attention in many respects.' There is no doubt of its being a translation from a very ancient Hebraic manuscript. The idiom and style of the original differ altogether from the modern Rabbinical Hebrew, and possess all those characteristics which Gesenius, the most illustrious of Hebrew critics, has pointed out as distinguishing the ancient from the modern Hebrew. We find that great interest has been excited in this work, for a long time, in Europe, and elsewhere. Had the work been well known to the early ecclesiastical councils, it is not improbable that it would have formed an integral portion of the sacred writings, although most likely it would have taken rank among the books of the Apocrypha.—Philadelphia Gazette.

THE BOOK OF JASHER.-This work has been for several years in the progress of translation in England, and the original copy and manuscript and notes, have been purchased from the proprietor for publication in this country, and a very beautiful stereotyped edition in the Biblical form has just been completed by Mr. Gould. The Hebrew is pronounced by Jewish and Christian scholars and divines to be of the purest character. It was printed in Venice in 1613, from the manuscript or sacred rolls, which for centuries had remained in Spain, in the great Hebrew college of Cordova, under Abarbanel, in the eleventh century, and is now published for the first time in English. The Rev. Dr. Horn, in his notes, speaks of several fabrications of Jasher, and one in particular by Alcuin, which not many years since was published in Bristol, in England. That evident fabrication bears no analogy to the present work, which is of considerable length, commencing with the creation of man, and ending with the death of Joshua-confirming every fact in the Old Testament, and amplifying and carrying out details of intense interest.—Boston Post.

THE BOOK OF JASHER.-A work of much interest, whatever may be its claims to authenticity, has recently issued from the New York press. If it be the lost Book of Jasher,' referred to in Joshua and Samuel,' even with interpolations and crudities, it will be eagerly sought for, not only by the lovers of biblical criticism, but by the general reader; and if it be a fabrication altogether, its great antiquity will render it an object of curiosity.-Albany Argus.

THE BOOK OF JASHER.-This new work is just now exciting great attention among all who feel an interest in the Scriptures. It purports to be the book spoken of in the Bible, in Joshua and 2d Samuel, and is a narrative of the events from the creation of Adam to the death of Joshua. It differs but little from the Bible but enlarges upon each period of time, and is quite diffuse upon topics that in the Bible are treated with brevity. As to the authenticity of the work we are not prepared to speak, but we are sure that it will be perused with interest by every reader.-Phil. Spirit of the Times.

THE BOOK OF JASHER.-This is a most luxuriously-printed volume, and one which every lover of scriptural antiquity ought to possess. We fear it has been regarded with prejudice, because it was known among men of letters that a wretched counterfeit appeared in England in the laat century, got up by a journeyman printer, which purported to be a translation of the lost 'book of Jasher' referred to in Joshua and Second Samuel. The work before us is of a very different character. It is, beyond all question, a version, and a faithful one too, of the book referred to by that eminent scholar, Dr. Horne, which was said to have been discovered at the capture of Jerusalem by the Romans, and which was printed at Venice in 1613. There can be no reasonable doubt of its great antiquity, and we agree with the able editor, Major Noah, in pronouncing it a work of great interest.-New-York Mirror.

OR

THE BOOK OF JASHER;

REFERRED TO IN

JOSHUA AND SECOND SAMUEL.

FAITHFULLY TRANSLATED

FROM THE ORIGINAL HEBREW INTO ENGLISH.

NEW YORK:

PUBLISHED BY M. M. NOAH & A. S. GOULD,

AT 144 NASSAU-STREET.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year eighteen hundred and forty, by Mordecai M. Noah & Alexander S. Gould, in the office of the Clerk of the Southern District of New-York.

ALEX. S. GOULD, TYPOGRAPHER, 144 NASSAU-STREET.

STEREOTYPED BY R. C. VALENTINE, 45 GOLD-STREET.

BLEIAN

237 1913

RARY

PREFACE.

Ir is with pleasure that I am able to present to the American public the translation of the Book of Jasher, as referred to in Joshua and Second Samuel, which, after several years' negotiation with the owner and translator of the work in England, I have succeeded in obtaining.

There are many books named in the Old Testament, which are now classed among the missing books, or books supposed to have been lost amidst the many revolutions which have occurred in Judea. These books are not included in the Jewish Canons, and it is questionable whether there are any missing of what were considered as emanating from inspired writers; for, when the works enumerated in the Bible could not be found after the most diligent search, the inference was, that the names applied to other books, or that they were different versions of the same work.

Thus, the Book of the Covenant, (Exodus xxiv. 7.) was a mere collection of the injunctions and institutions delivered by the Almighty to Moses. So it might also be said of the Book of the Law, (Deut. xxxi. 9.) The Book of the wars of the Lord (Numbers xxi. 14.) cannot be found, and is every where spoken of as one of the missing books. Dr. Lightfoot, in his Chronicles, thinks that Moses refers to a book of his own composing, written by command of God, (Exodus xvii. 14.) We think, however, that the Book of Judges is the one referred to as the Book of the wars of the Lord; because, in that book we have all the exploits of the Hebrews detailed at length. We find in Chronicles and Kings a number of books

named, which are not to be found. The acts of David the King, written in the Book of Samuel the Seer, also in the Book of Nathan the Prophet, and also in the Book of Gad the Seer; the acts of Solomon are in the Book of Nathan the Prophet, and also in the Book of Abijah the Shulamite; the acts of Rehoboam in the Book of Shemaiah the Prophet; the acts of Jehoshaphat in the Book of Jehu. The journals of the kings of Judah and Israel; the three thousand and five songs, and a treatise on botany and animated nature, by this learned king, are lost; so also are the "Acts of Manasseh." These works, not having been found by Ezra, could not have been inserted in the Old Testament, and consequently cannot be considered as having been written by divine inspiration. Nevertheless, it would be assuming more than is required or necessary, to say that there were no other books in the time of Ezra, than those considered as divinely inspired. St. Austin says, "The penmen of the Sacred Scripture writ some things as they are, men with historical lore and diligence: other things they writ as prophets, by inspiration from God." We thus have a classification of their labors, both as historians and as prophets. The negligence of the Jews in ancient days, and their constant transition from one country to another, occasioned many losses of the sacred writings. The Book of Deuteronomy was lost for a long time. There were many books rejected by the Canons which are still objects of curiosity, and venerable for their antiquity. The prayer of King Manasseh, Bel and the Dragon, the two Books of Esdras, the Book of the Maccabees, and the Book of Enoch, recently found and translated from the Ethiopic. The Book of Jasher, referred to in Joshua and Second Samuel, has been long an object of great curiosity. Some of the Hebrew writers contend that it was the lives and acts of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and other patriarchs, who were called Jasherim, the Just. Dr. Lightfoot thinks it is the Book of the Wars of God, and so the reader may think in perusing the various battles it recounts. Grotius calls it a triumphal poem. Josephus says, "That by this book are to be understood certain records kept in some safe place on purpose, giving an account of what happened among the Hebrews from year to year, and called Jasher, or the upright, on account of the fidelity of the annals."

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