Aggada -- Translations into English; Bible. Old Testament -- Legends; Jewish legends; Midrash -- Translations into English
In the morning, Judah said to Jacob, "Father, thou didst fight the
whole of yesterday, and thou art weary and exhausted. Let me fight this
day." When the warriors caught sight of Judah's lion face and his lion
teeth, and heard his lion voice, they were greatly afraid. Judah hopped
and jumped over the army like a flea, from one warrior to the next,
raining blows down upon them incessantly, and by evening he had slain
eighty thousand and ninety-six men, armed with swords and bows. But
fatigue overcame him, and Zebulon took up his station at his brother's
left hand, and mowed down eighty thousand of the enemy. Meantime Judah
regained some of his strength, and, rising up in wrath and fury, and
gnashing his teeth with a noise like unto thunder claps in midsummer,
he put the army to flight. It ran a distance of eighteen miles, and
Judah could enjoy a respite that night.
But the army reappeared on the morrow, ready for battle again, to take
revenge on Jacob and his children. They blew their trumpets, whereupon
Jacob spake to his sons, "Go forth and fight with your enemies."
Issachar and Gad said that this day they would take the combat upon
themselves, and their father bade them do it while their brothers kept
guard and held themselves in readiness to aid and relieve the two
combatants when they showed signs of weariness and exhaustion.
The leaders of the day slew forty-eight thousand warriors, and put to
flight twelve myriads more, who concealed themselves in a cave.
Issachar and Gad fetched trees from the woods, piled the trunks up in
front of the opening of the cave, and set fire to them. When the fire
blazed with a fierce flame, the warriors spoke, saying: "Why should we
stay in this cave and perish with the smoke and the heat? Rather will
we go forth and fight with our enemies, then we may have a chance of
saving ourselves." They left the cave, going through openings at the
side, and they attacked Issachar and Gad in front and behind. Dan and
Naphtali saw the plight of their brothers and ran to their assistance.
They laid about with their swords, hewing a way for themselves to
Issachar and Gad, and, united with them, they, too, opposed the foe.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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