Book of the upright

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The Book of the Upright (sometimes Book of Jaschar , Hebrew: סֶפֶר הַיָּשָׁר) is a collection of songs mentioned in the Old Testament that has not been preserved. The book is mentioned in two places in the Old Testament and there are the only surviving fragments. In Jos 10.13  EU :

And the sun stood still and the moon stood still until the people had taken vengeance on their enemies ,

and in 2 Sam 1,18  EU , where David's subsequent lament for the deaths of Saul and Jonathan (2 Sam 1: 19-27) is given as part of the book of the upright:

Israel, your pride is slain on your heights.
Oh, the heroes have fallen!
Do not report it in Gath,
do not announce it in Ashkelon's streets,
so that the daughters of the Philistines do not rejoice,
so that the daughters of the uncircumcised do not rejoice .
You mountains in Gilboa, no dew and no rain
fall on you, you deceptive fields.
For there the shield of the heroes was defiled,
the shield of Saul, as if it had not been anointed with oil.
Without the blood of the slain,
without the marrow of the heroes
, Jonathan's bow never returned;
Saul's sword
never returned unsuccessfully either.
Saul and Jonathan, beloved and dear ones,
are not separated in life and death.
They were faster than eagles,
stronger than lions.
Daughters of Israel, you must weep for Saul;
He has clothed you in delicious purple,
has pinned golden ornaments on your robes.
Oh, the heroes fell in the middle of the battle.
Jonathan lies slain on your heights.
Woe to me for you, my brother Jonathan.
You were very dear to me.
Your love for me was more wonderful
than the love of women.
Oh, the heroes have fallen,
the weapons of battle lost.

This song is said to have been sung as a bow song.

literature

  • Hans-Georg Gradl: Book and Revelation: Media and Mediality of the Johannes apocalypse. Herder, 2016, ISBN 978-3-45180613-1 , p. 72.
  • Raphael Breuer: The book of Joshua translated and explained. Aschaffenburg 1915. New edition: Matthias Morgenstern (Ed.), LIT Verlag, Berlin 2014, ISBN 978-3-64311500-3 , p. 101.