Vileness

A wicked description of Sodom and Gomorrah
Jasher 18:11-17
In those days all the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, and of the whole 5 cities, were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the Lord and they provoked the Lord with their abominations, and they strengthened in aging abominably and scornfully before the Lord, and their wickedness and crimes were in those days great before the Lord.

And they had in their land a very extensive valley, about half a day’s walk, and in it there were fountains of water and a great deal of herbage surrounding the water. And all the people of Sodom and Gomorrah went there 4 times in the year, with their wives and children and all belonging to them, and they rejoiced there with timbrels and dances. And in the time of rejoicing, they would all rise and lay hold of their neighbor’s wives, and some, the virgin daughters of their neighbors, and they enjoyed them, and each man saw his wife and daughter in the hands of his neighbor and did not say a word. And they did so from morning to night, and they afterward returned home each man to his house and each woman to her tent; so they always did 4 times in the year.

Also when a stranger came into their cities and brought goods that he had purchased intending to dispose of there, the people of these cities would assemble, men, women, and children, young and old, and go to the man and take his goods by force, giving a little to each man until there was an end to all the goods of the owner which he had brought into the land. And if the owner of the goods quarreled with them, saying, “What is this work which you have done to me?” then they would approach to him one by one, and each would show him the little which he took and taunt him, saying, “I only took that little which you did give me;” and when he heard this from them all, he would arise and go from them in sorrow and bitterness of soul, when they would all arise and go after him, and drive him out of the city with great noise and tumult.

The tragedy of the traveler and Hedad
Jasher 18:18-43
And there was a man from the country of Elam who was leisurely going on the road, seated upon his donkey, which carried a fine mantle of divers colors, and the mantle was bound with a cord upon the donkey. And the man was on his journey passing through the street of Sodom when the sunset in the evening, and he remained there to abide during the night, but no one would let him into his house; and at that time there was in Sodom a wicked and mischievous man, one skillful to do evil, and his name was Hedad.

And he lifted his eyes and saw the traveler in the street of the city, and he came to him and said, “Where do you come from and where are you going?”

And the man said to him, “I am traveling from Hebron to Elam where I belong, and as I passed the sun set and no one would allow me to enter his house, though I had bread and water and also straw and provender for my donkey, and am short of nothing.”

And Hedad answered and said to him, “All that you will want will be supplied by me, but in the street, you will not abide all night.”

And Hedad brought him to his house, and he took off the mantle from the donkey with the cord and brought them to his house, and he gave the donkey straw and provender while the traveler ate and drank in Hedad’s house, and he abode there that night.

And in the morning the traveler rose up early to continue his journey, when Hedad said to him, “Wait, comfort your heart with a morsel of bread and then go,” and the man did so; and he remained with him, and they both ate and drank together during the day when the man rose to go.

And Hedad said to him, “Behold now the day is declining, you better remain all night that your heart may be comforted,” and he pressed him so that he tarried there all night, and on the 2nd day he rose early to go away, when Hedad pressed him, saying, “Comfort your heart with a morsel of bread and then go,” and he remained and ate with him also the 2nd day, and then the man rose to continue his journey.

And Hedad said to him, “Behold now the day is declining, remain with me to comfort your heart and in the morning rise early and go your way.”

And the man would not remain, but rose and saddled his donkey, and while he was saddling his donkey the wife of Hedad said to her husband, “Behold this man has remained with us for 2 days eating and drinking and he has given us nothing, and now will he go away from us without giving anything?”

And Hedad said to her, “Be silent.”

And the man saddled his donkey to go, and he asked Hedad to give him the cord and mantle to tie it upon the donkey. And Hedad said to him, “What do you mean?”

And he said to him, “That you my lord will give me the cord and the mantle made with divers colors which you did conceal with you in your house to take care of it.”

And Hedad answered the man, saying, “This is the interpretation of your dream, the cord which you did see, means that your life will be lengthened out like a cord, and having seen the mantle colored with all sorts of colors, means that you will have a vineyard in which you will plant trees of all fruits.”

And the traveler answered, saying, “Not so my lord, for I was awake when I gave you the cord and also a mantle woven with different colors, which you did take off the donkey to put them by for me.”

And Hedad answered and said, “Surely I have told you the interpretation of your dream and it is a good dream, and this is the interpretation thereof. Now the sons of men give me 4 pieces of silver, which is my charge for interpreting dreams, and of you only I require 3 pieces of silver.”

And the man was provoked at the words of Hedad, and he cried bitterly, and he brought Hedad to Serak judge of Sodom. And the man laid his cause before Serak the judge, when Hedad replied, saying, “It is not so, but thus the matter stands;” and the judge said to the traveler, “This man Hedad tells the truth, for he is famed in the cities for the accurate interpretation of dreams.”

And the man cried at the word of the judge, and he said, “Not so my Lord, for it was in the day that I gave him the cord and mantle which was upon the donkey, to put them by in his house;” and they both disputed before the judge, the one saying, “Thus the matter was,” and the other declaring otherwise.

And Hedad said to the man, “Give me 4 pieces of silver that I charge for my interpretations of dreams; I will not make any allowance; and give me the expense of the 4 meals that you did eat in my house.”

And the man said to Hedad, “Truly I will pay you for what I ate in your house, only give me the cord and mantle which you did conceal in your house.”

And Hedad replied before the judge and said to the man, “Did I not tell you the interpretation of your dream? the cord means that your days will be prolonged like a cord, and the mantle, that you will have a vineyard in which you will plant all kinds of fruit trees. This is the proper interpretation of your dream, now give me the 4 pieces of silver that I require as compensation, for I will make you no allowance.”

And the man cried at the words of Hedad and they both quarreled before the judge, and the judge gave orders to his servants, who drove them rashly from the house. And they went away quarreling from the judge, when the people of Sodom heard them, and they gathered about them and they exclaimed against the stranger, and they drove him rashly from the city.

And the man continued his journey upon his donkey with bitterness of soul, lamenting and weeping. And while he was going along he wept at what had happened to him in the corrupt city of Sodom.

The wicked ruling judges of the cities of Sodom
Jasher 19:1-7
And the cities of Sodom had 4 judges to 4 cities, and these were their names, Serak in the city of Sodom, Sharkad in Gomorrah, Zabnac in Admah, and Menon in Zeboyim. And Eliezer Abraham’s servant applied to them different names, and he converted Serak to Shakra, Sharkad to Shakrura, Zebnac to Kezobim, and Menon to Matzlodin.

And by desire of their 4 judges, the people of Sodom and Gomorrah had beds erected in the streets of the cities, and if a man came to these places they laid hold of him and brought him to one of their beds, and by force made him to lie in them. And as he lay down, 3 men would stand at his head and 3 at his feet, and measure him by the length of the bed, and if the man was less than the bed these 6 men would stretch him at each end, and when he cried out to them they would not answer him. And if he was longer than the bed they would draw together the 2 sides of the bed at each end, until the man had reached the gates of death. And if he continued to cry out to them, they would answer him, saying, “Thus will it be done to a man that comes into our land.”

And when men heard all these things that the people of the cities of Sodom did, they refrained from coming there.

The poor treated wickedly
Jasher 19:8-10
And when a poor man came to their land they would give him silver and gold, and cause a proclamation in the whole city not to give him a morsel of bread to eat, and if the stranger should remain there some days, and die from hunger, not having been able to obtain a morsel of bread, then at his death all the people of the city would come and take their silver and gold which they had given to him. And those that could recognize the silver or gold which they had given him took it back, and at his death, they also stripped him of his garments, and they would fight about them, and he that prevailed over his neighbor took them. They would after that carry him and bury him under some of the shrubs in the deserts; so they did all the days to anyone that came to them and died in their land.

Eliezer’s unfortunate encounter in Sodom
Jasher 19:11-22
And Eliezer went to Sodom, and he met a man of Sodom fighting with a stranger, and the man of Sodom stripped the poor man of all his clothes and went away. And this poor man cried to Eliezer and supplicated his favor on account of what the man of Sodom had done to him. And he said to him, “Why do you act thus to the poor man who came to your land?”

And the man of Sodom answered Eliezer, saying, “Is this man your brother, or have the people of Sodom made you a judge this day, that you speak about this man?”

And Eliezer strove with the man of Sodom on account of the poor man, and when Eliezer approached to recover the poor man’s clothes from the man of Sodom, he hastened and with a stone smote Eliezer in the forehead. And the blood flowed copiously from Eliezer’s forehead, and when the man saw the blood he caught hold of Eliezer, saying, “Give me my hire for having rid you of this bad blood that was in your forehead, for such is the custom and the law in our land.”

And Eliezer said to him, “You have wounded me and require me to pay you your hire?”

And Eliezer would not listen to the words of the man of Sodom. And the man laid hold of Eliezer and brought him to Shakra the judge of Sodom for judgment. And the man spoke to the judge, saying, “I beseech you, my lord, thus has this man done, for I smote him with a stone that the blood flowed from his forehead, and he is unwilling to give me my hire.”

And the judge said to Eliezer, “This man speaks truth to you, give him his hire, for this is the custom in our land.”

And Eliezer heard the words of the judge, and he lifted a stone and smote the judge, and the stone struck on his forehead, and the blood flowed copiously from the forehead of the judge, and Eliezer said, “If this then is the custom in your land give to this man what I should have given him, for this has been your decision, you did decree it.”

And Eliezer left the man of Sodom with the judge, and he went away.

The tragedy of Paltith, Lot’s daughter
Jasher 19:24b-35
And Paltith, daughter of Lot, grew up, and one of the men of Sodom took her for a wife.

And a poor man came into the city to seek maintenance, and he remained in the city some days, and all the people of Sodom caused a proclamation of their custom not to give this man a morsel of bread to eat until he dropped dead upon the earth, and they did so. And Paltith, the daughter of Lot, saw this man lying in the streets starved with hunger, and no one would give him anything to keep him alive, and he was just at the point of death. And her soul was filled with pity on account of the man, and she fed him secretly with bread for many days, and the soul of this man was revived. For when she went forth to fetch water she would put the bread in the water pitcher, and when she came to the place where the poor man was, she took the bread from the pitcher and gave it to him to eat; so she did many days.

And all the people of Sodom and Gomorrah wondered how this man could bear starvation for so many days. And they said to each other, “This can only be that he eats and drinks, for no man can bear starvation for so many days or live as this man has, without even his countenance changing”

And 3 men concealed themselves in a place where the poor man was stationed, to know who it was that brought him bread to eat. And Paltith, daughter of Lot, went forth that day to fetch water, and she put bread into her pitcher of water, and she went to draw water by the poor man’s place, and she took out the bread from the pitcher and gave it to the poor man and he ate it. And the 3 men saw what Paltith did to the poor man, and they said to her, “It is you then who has supported him, and therefore has he not starved, nor changed in appearance nor died like the rest.”

And the 3 men went out of the place in which they were concealed, and they seized Paltith and the bread which was in the poor man’s hand. And they took Paltith and brought her before their judges, and they said to them, “Thus did she do, and it is she who supplied the poor man with bread, therefore did he not die all this time; now therefore declare to us the punishment due to this woman for having transgressed our law.”

And the people of Sodom and Gomorrah assembled and kindled a fire in the street of the city, and they took the woman and cast her into the fire and she was burned to ashes.

The tragedy of a caring woman
Jasher 19:36-44
And in the city of Admah there was a woman to whom they did the like. For a traveler came into the city of Admah to abide there all night, to go home in the morning, and he sat opposite the door of the house of the young woman’s father, to remain there, as the sun had set when he had reached that place; and the young woman saw him sitting by the door of the house. And he asked her for a drink of water and she said to him, “Who are you?”

And he said to her, “I was this day going on the road and reached here when the sun set, so I will abide here all night, and in the morning I will arise early and continue my journey.”

And the young woman went into the house and fetched the man bread and water to eat and drink. And this affair became known to the people of Admah, and they assembled and brought the young woman before the judges, that they should judge her for this act. And the judge said, “The judgment of death must pass upon this woman because she transgressed our law, and this therefore is the decision concerning her.”

And the people of those cities assembled and brought out the young woman, and anointed her with honey from head to foot, as the judge had decreed, and they placed her before a swarm of bees which were then in their hives, and the bees flew upon her and stung her that her whole body was swelled. And the young woman cried out on account of the bees, but no one took notice of her or pitied her, and her cries ascended to heaven.

And the Lord was provoked at this and at all the works of the cities of Sodom, for they had an abundance of food, and had tranquility among them, and still would not sustain the poor and the needy, and in those days their evil doings and sins became great before the Lord.

Abraham discusses Sodom with YHWH
Genesis 18:23-33
And Abraham drew near, and said, “Will you also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Peradventure there be 50 righteous within the city: will you also destroy and not spare the place for the 50 righteous that are therein? That be far from you to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from you: shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?”

And the LORD said, “If I find in Sodom 50 righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.”

And Abraham answered and said, “Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak to the LORD, which is but dust and ashes: peradventure there shall be 45 righteous: will you destroy all the city for 5 less?”

And he said, “If I find there 45, I will not destroy it.”

And he spoke to him yet again, and said, “Peradventure there shall be 40 found there.”

And he said, “I will not do it for 40’s sake.”

And he said to him, “Oh let not the LORD be angry, and I will speak: Peradventure there shall 30 be found there.”

And he said, “I will not do it if I find 30 there.”

And he said, “Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak to the LORD: Peradventure there shall be 20 found there.”

And he said, “I will not destroy it for 20’s sake.”

And he said, “Oh let not the LORD be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure 10 shall be found there.”

And he said, “I will not destroy it for 10’s sake.”

And the LORD went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned to his place.

The two angels arrive in Sodom and meet with Lot
Genesis 19:1-3, Jasher 19:45-47
And the Lord sent for 2 of the angels that had come to Abraham’s house, to destroy Sodom and its cities. And the angels rose from the door of Abraham’s tent after they had eaten and drunk, and they reached Sodom in the evening, and Lot was then sitting in the gate of Sodom, and when he saw them he rose to meet them, and he bowed down his face to the ground.

And he said, “Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray, into your servant’s house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and you will rise up early, and go on your ways.”

And they said, “No; but we will abide in the street all night.”

And he pressed upon them greatly, and they turned in to him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat.

The men of Sodom attempt evil acts with the angels
Genesis 19:4-11
But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter. And they called to Lot, and said to him, “Where are the men which came to you this night? Bring them out to us, that we may know them.”

And Lot went out at the door to them, and shut the door after him, and said, “I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly. Behold now, I have 2 daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out to you, and do to them as is good in your eyes: only to these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof.”

And they said, “Stand back.”

And they said again, “This one fellow came to sojourn, and he desires to be a judge: now will we deal worse with you than with them.”

And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door. But the men put forth their hand and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut the door. And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great: so that they wearied themselves to find the door.

Lot tries to convince his family that the angels will destroy Sodom
Genesis 19:12-14
And the men said to Lot, “Have you here any besides? Son in law, and your sons, and your daughters, and whatsoever you have in the city, bring them out of this place: For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the LORD, and the LORD has sent us to destroy it.”

And Lot went out, and spoke to his sons-in-law, who married his daughters, and said, “Up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city.”

But he seemed as one that mocked his sons-in-law.