The Book of Jasher (also spelled Jashar; ), which means the Book of the Upright or the Book of the Just Man, is a

lost book A lost literary work (referred throughout this article just as a lost work) is a document, literary work, or piece of multimedia, produced of which no surviving copies are known to exist, meaning it can be known only through reference, or litera ...

mentioned in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' non-canonical book. Numerous

forgeries Forgery is a white-collar crime that generally consists of the false making or material alteration of a legal instrument with the specific intent to defraud. Tampering with a certain legal instrument may be forbidden by law in some jurisdict ...

purporting to be rediscovered copies of this lost book have been written. A different interpretation identifies it as a reference to the

Pentateuch The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () o ...

, specifically the

Book of Genesis The Book of Genesis (from Greek language, Greek ; ; ) is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is the same as its incipit, first word, (In the beginning (phrase), 'In the beginning'). Genesis purpor ...

, an interpretation which is notably favored by the Jewish scholar

Rashi Shlomo Yitzchaki (; ; ; 13 July 1105) was a French rabbi who authored comprehensive commentaries on the Talmud and Hebrew Bible. He is commonly known by the List of rabbis known by acronyms, Rabbinic acronym Rashi (). Born in Troyes, Rashi stud ...

in his

commentary Commentary or commentaries may refer to: Publications * ''Commentary'' (magazine), a U.S. public affairs journal, founded in 1945 and formerly published by the American Jewish Committee * Caesar's Commentaries (disambiguation), a number of works ...

on the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' his commentary on Joshua). The title “Book of the Just Man” is the traditional Greek and Latin translation.

Biblical references

The book is mentioned twice in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Book of Joshua The Book of Joshua is the sixth book in the Hebrew Bible and the Old Testament, and is the first book of the Deuteronomistic history, the story of Israel from the conquest of Canaan to the Babylonian captivity, Babylonian exile. It tells of the ...

, while

Joshua Joshua ( ), also known as Yehoshua ( ''Yəhōšuaʿ'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: ''Yŏhōšuaʿ,'' Literal translation, lit. 'Yahweh is salvation'), Jehoshua, or Josue, functioned as Moses' assistant in the books of Book of Exodus, Exodus and ...

was winning a battle against

Adonizedek According to the Book of Joshua, Adonizedek ( ''ʾĂḏōnī-ṣeḏeq'', also transliterated Adoni-zedec) was king of Jerusalem at the time of the Israelite invasion of Canaan. According to Cheyne and Black, the name originally meant "Ṣedeḳ ...

(king of

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

) and his allies, Joshua prayed for the sun and moon to stand still. Joshua 10:13 then states: The presence of this event in a book of poetry has been interpreted as a poetic description of the prolonged battle. According to the

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

Jewish scholar Rashi, "Sefer HaYashar" in this verse refers to the

Jacob Jacob, later known as Israel, is a Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions. He first appears in the Torah, where he is described in the Book of Genesis as a son of Isaac and Rebecca. Accordingly, alongside his older fraternal twin brother E ...

's prophecy regarding Joshua's ancestor

Ephraim Ephraim (; , in pausa: ''ʾEp̄rāyīm'') was, according to the Book of Genesis, the second son of Joseph ben Jacob and Asenath, as well as the adopted son of his biological grandfather Jacob, making him the progenitor of the Tribe of Ephrai ...

—"His seed will fill the nations"—was fulfilled when Joshua's victory gave him renown among the various nations who heard of the victory.

In Samuel

According to the

Book of Samuel The Book of Samuel () is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Samuel) in the Old Testament. The book is part of the Deuteronomistic history, a series of books (Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings) that constitute a theological ...

, when

David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...

spoke his lament over the deaths of

Saul Saul (; , ; , ; ) was a monarch of ancient Israel and Judah and, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament, the first king of the United Monarchy, a polity of uncertain historicity. His reign, traditionally placed in the late eleventh c ...

and Jonathan, he began as follows: The

King James Version The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version (AV), is an Early Modern English Bible translations, Early Modern English translation of the Christianity, Christian Bible for the Church of England, wh ...

of the

English Bible More than 100 complete translations into English languages have been produced. Translations of Biblical books, especially passages read in the Liturgy can be traced back to the late 7th century, including translations into Old and Middle Eng ...

includes the words “the use of” in italics, material which its translator(s) added in order to render the text into what they considered understandable and comfortable English. According to some other translations such as the

English Standard Version The English Standard Version (ESV) is a translation of the Bible in contemporary English. Published in 2001 by Crossway, the ESV was "created by a team of more than 100 leading evangelical scholars and pastors." The ESV relies on recently pu ...

“The Bow” () which David taught is hypothesised as a poetic lament over the deaths of Saul and Jonathan.
ESV 2 Samuel 1:17-18 text reads: "And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and Jonathan his son, and he said it should be taught to the people of Judah; behold, it is written in the Book of Jashar. He said: …."
ESV 2 Samuel 1:18 footnote 1, at "he said ''it''," reads: "Septuagint; Hebrew ''the Bow,'' which may be the name of the lament's tune." According to this interpretation, this “Bow” refers to a lament or a tune in the Book of Jashar which that book also says was taught to the Israelites. The

Septuagint The Septuagint ( ), sometimes referred to as the Greek Old Testament or The Translation of the Seventy (), and abbreviated as LXX, is the earliest extant Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible from the original Biblical Hebrew. The full Greek ...

translation renders ''Sefer haYashar'' in both cases as the ”Book of the Just”. It also misses the reference to “the bow”. It reads:

In Kings

A possible third reference appears in

1 Kings 8 1 Kings 8 is the eighth chapter of the Books of Kings in the Hebrew Bible or the First Book of Kings in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. The book is a compilation of various annals recording the acts of the kings of Israel and Judah by a ...

. In the

(though not in the Hebrew text or most translations), verse 8:53 says that the preceding prayer of

Solomon Solomon (), also called Jedidiah, was the fourth monarch of the Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy), Kingdom of Israel and Judah, according to the Hebrew Bible. The successor of his father David, he is described as having been the penultimate ...

is written “in the book of song” (). The Hebrew version of “book of song” could be (), which is the same as ''Sefer HaYashar'' with two letters transposed. According to Alexander Rofeh, this suggests that the name ''Sefer HaYashar'' could be related to its function as a

hymnal A hymnal or hymnary is a collection of hymns, usually in the form of a book, called a hymnbook (or hymn book). They are used in congregational singing. A hymnal may contain only hymn texts (normal for most hymnals for most centuries of Christia ...

, and the second word might have originally been (, "song") or (, “he will sing”).

References

{{Authority control Lost Jewish texts Religious texts Book of Joshua Books of Samuel Books of Kings Lost books

Biblical references

In Samuel

In Kings

See also

References