Then Sarah and Isaac came in and talked with Abraham as he lay on his
bed. And Abraham said to Death, "I beseech thee, depart from me for a
little, for since I looked upon thee weakness is come upon me, and my
breath labours and my heart is troubled." Then said Death, "Kiss my
right hand and thy strength will return to thee, and thou wilt be
filled with joy." So Abraham kissed the hand of Death, and the soul
of Abraham clave to the hand of Death and left his body; and
straightway Michael was there and a multitude of angels with him, and
they accompanied the holy soul of Abraham and brought it into the
heavens into the presence of the Most High, there to abide
everlastingly in gladness and brightness in the place from which all
sorrow and sighing are fled away.
THE STORY OF ASENETH, JOSEPH'S WIFE
I
There was once a great man named Potipherah, who was high priest of
the city of On in Egypt; and he and his wife had no children. One day
he went into the temple to offer sacrifice, as was his custom. He went
alone, and when he entered the great courtyard of the temple, in the
middle of which stood the altar, he was astonished to see a little
child lying upon the altar. Without waiting to offer his sacrifice, he
hurried back to his wife. "What is the matter," said she, "that you
come back so hastily?" "I have seen a wonderful thing," he said; "the
gods have given us a child. The gates of the temple were locked, so
that no one could get into the court; yet there is a child there, lying
on the altar!" "What say you?" said his wife; "what can be the meaning
of it?" So they both hastened to the temple, and when Potipherah
opened the door of the courtyard, they saw, partly at least, how the
wonder had happened; for now there was an eagle perched upon the altar
with its wings spread out over the child--it was a little girl, quite
newly born--to protect it. They guessed that it was the eagle that had
brought the child, but, of course, they could not tell whose it was.
It was wrapped in swaddling-clothes, and these Potipherah's wife kept
carefully by her; for she thought the time might come when they might
be recognised by the parents of the little child; and indeed, years
afterwards, this proved to be the case.
In the meantime Potipherah and his wife kept the child and brought her
up, and treated her as their daughter; and they called her Aseneth.
She grew up to be very beautiful; she was quite unlike an Egyptian
girl, and might have been taken for a Hebrew maiden: tall as Sarah
and lovely as Rebekah or Rachel; so beautiful, in fact, that all the
sons of the princes and nobles of Egypt were in love with her, and
even the son of King Pharaoh himself said to his father, "Give me
Aseneth, the daughter of Potipherah, to wife." But Pharaoh said,
"Nay, my son, she is not of your rank; you must marry a queen;
remember, the daughter of the King of Moab is affianced to you."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account