---
title: "The Kebra Nagast"
author: "Anonymous"
translator: "E. A. Wallis Budge"
languages: [en]
shelf: "Ethiopian"
section: 41 of 73
url: https://scriptura.si/works/kebra-nagast-budge/41/
cite: "Anonymous, tr. E. A. Wallis Budge, The Kebra Nagast, section 41. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/kebra-nagast-budge/41/"
---

# The Kebra Nagast

*Anonymous, tr. E. A. Wallis Budge*

The Ethiopian royal epic of Solomon, the Queen of Sheba and the Ark of the Covenant.

## 41. Chapters 77–80

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/kebra-nagast-budge/41/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/kebra-nagast-budge/41/#p-N

### 77. Concerning the King of Persia

[¶1] And the King of Persia is likewise of the seed of Shem, and we will inform you concerning the matters that relate to him. Judah begot two sons, and he brought in Tĕ‛Mâr (Tamar) for his eldest son, and he died. And Judah sent his younger son to her that he might raise up seed to his brother by his brother’s wife. And he did that which God hated, and he did not wish to raise up seed to his brother as his father Judah had commanded him. Now when he lay with Tamar he made his seed to go into the ground, so that it might not germinate in her womb and be called the seed of his brother, but he wished to raise up seed by his own wife in his own name. And when God saw his evil act He turned His face away from him and slew him. And Judah, the father-in-law of Tamar, brought her back, and set her in the house of her father, and said unto her kinsfolk, “Keep carefully this Israelitish woman, and let her not defile herself with an alien. For I have a little son, and if God will let him grow up I will give him to her.” And whilst Tamar was living as a widow in her father’s house, behold, Judah her father-in-law came to the place where his sheepfolds were to shear wool with great satisfaction and pleasure. And when Tamar heard that her father-in-law had come, she cast away from her the apparel of widowhood, and she put herself in splendid apparel, and she veiled herself after the manner of a harlot, and she followed him and sat down. And he sent a message to her, saying, “I wish to company with thee.” And she said unto him, “What wilt thou give me for my hire?” And he said unto her, “I will send to thee in the morning early a sucking lamb”; and she said unto him, “Give me a pledge until thou givest me the lamb.” And he gave her [his] staff, and ring, and the close-fitting cap that was under his headdress. And he companied with her, and she took [the things] and departed unto her house. And he sent the lamb unto her early in the morning. And his servants enquired and said, “Where is the house of the harlot?” And they said unto him, “There is no harlot in our town”; and they returned into their city and told him that there was no harlot in their town. And Judah said, “Leave ye [it]; the Will of God be done.”

[¶2] Then Tamar conceived and they told her father-in-law that she had conceived. And he went and took the elders of Israel to the father of Tamar, and he said unto him, “Bring to me thy daughter who hath conceived that we may stone her with stones even as Moses commanded, for she hath brought reproach upon the house of Israel.” And the father and kinsfolk of Tamar told her that her father-in-law spake thus. And she brought out the ring, and the staff, and the cap, and gave [them] to her father and her kinsfolk, and she said unto them, “The owner of these things hath seduced me; let them stone me with him with stones.” And when Judah saw his possessions he recognized [them] and he said, “Tamar is more righteous than I”; and he left her and came to his house. And Tamar brought forth twins, two nations, Fârês (Perez) and Zârâ. And Fârs (Persia) was founded in the name of Fârês, and he ruled over it and his seed after him, and they were called “Farasâwîyân” (Persians). Behold now, it is proved that the King of Persia is of the seed of Shem.

### 78. Concerning the King of Moab

[¶4] And the King of Moab is of the seed of Shem, and we will inform you how this hath come to pass. When God made Abraham to depart from his father’s country into the land of Kârân (Harran), He made Lot to pass over into the land of Sodom and Gomorrah. And when God wished to blot out the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, He sent His Angels Michael and Gabriel to bring out Lot and to burn up the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah; and they destroyed them and brought out Lot with his children. And his wife turned round so that she might see the city of her father and her mother. Now the wrath of God came down on the city of Sodom [in the form of] a rain of fire from heaven, which burned up mountains, and hills, and stones, and earth. And lightnings, and forked lightnings, and peals of thunder came down mingled with the crashing of the wrath of God, and a cloud of fire which made the heat to emit smoke. And when all this uproar was being heard the Angels said unto Lot, “Turn not round after ye have gone forth from the city, turn not round that ye die not the death.” But when ’Aḳmâbâ, the wife of Lot, heard this, she turned round, and she became a pillar of salt, and she existeth to this day, to this very day. And as for Lot, God made him to dwell in the mountains of Ararat. And he planted a new vineyard, and his daughters made their father to drink wine, and they plotted a wicked plot, and they said, “How (i.e., why) shall the possession of our father be wasted (or, blotted out)? Our mother hath been destroyed on the road, and there is no one to marry us here.” And they made their father drunk, and his elder daughter lay with him whilst his mind was clouded with wine, and Lot the righteous man did not know when his daughter lay with him and when she rose up from him, for his mind was clouded with strong drink. And Noah was drunk and naked before his wife and children, and he cursed his son who laughed at him; and [the act of lying with his daughter] was not reckoned against Lot as sin, for he did it unknowingly. And his elder daughter conceived and brought forth a child, and she called him “Moab”, which is, being interpreted, “From my father on my knee”. And he was the father of the Moabites and the Agarenes. Behold now, it is clear that the King of Moab is of the seed of Shem.

### 79. Concerning the King of Amalek

[¶6] And it came to pass that when the elder daughter of Lot had brought forth her son, she said unto the younger daughter, “Come now, let us make our father drink wine, so that thou also mayest company with him that, peradventure, thou mayest get offspring.” And again they prepared wine, and again they spoke to him the words of foolishness, and said unto him, “Drink wine, O our father, so that thy heart may be comforted”; and he, the simple man, drank and became drunk. And again, when he had drunk and his mind was clouded with wine, the younger daughter came and lay with him, and again he did not know of her lying with him, or of her rising up from him. And she also conceived and gave birth to a son, and she called his name “Ammon”, and he is the father of the Amalekites.

[¶7] Behold now, it is clear that the King of Amalek is of the seed of Shem.

### 80. Concerning the King of the Philistines

[¶9] And behold, the seed of Samson reigned over the Philistines. And Samson was of the seed of Dan, [one] of the twelve sons of Jacob, and he was the son of a handmaiden of Jacob; and we will inform you how this Samson came into being. The Angel of the Lord appeared to the mother of Samson and said unto her, “Keep thyself from all pollution, and company with no man except thy husband, for he who shall be born of thee shall be a Nazarite, holy to the Lord, and he shall be the deliverer of Israel from the hand of the Philistines.” And then she brought forth Samson. And again the Angel appeared unto her and said unto her, “Thou shalt not let a razor go upon his head, and he shall neither eat flesh nor [drink] wine, and he shall marry no strange woman but only a woman of his own kin and from the house of his father.” And how God gave him strength ye have heard in the Book of Judges. But he transgressed the commandment of God, and came and married a daughter of the uncircumcised Philistines. And because of this God was wroth, and He delivered him into the hands of men of the uncircumcised Philistines, and they blinded his eyes, and they made him act the buffoon in the house of their king. And he pulled the roof down upon them, and slew seven hundred thousand of them, and during his life he slew seven hundred thousand of them with iron, and stone, and [his] staff, and the jaw-bone of an ass. For their number was as that of the locusts, until he released Israel from the service of the Philistines.

[¶10] And then Dalîlâ (Delilah) conceived by Samson, and whilst she was with child Samson died with the Philistines; and Delilah brought forth a son and she called his name “Menahem”, which is, being interpreted, “Seed of the strong man”. Now Delilah was the sister of Maksâbâ, the wife of the King of the Philistines, and when Samson slew the King of the Philistines in the house with his people and his household, and he died with him, Delilah went to her sister Maksâbâ, the Queen of the Philistines. Now both women were beautiful, and they had no children, but both had conceived; Maksâbâ had been with child six months by Ḳwôlâsôn, the King of the Philistines, and Delilah had been with child four months by Samson; and the husbands of both were dead. And the two women loved each other exceedingly. And their love for each other was not like the love of sisters, but like that of the mother for the child, and of the child for the mother; even so was their love. And they lived together. And the dominion over those who were left of the slaughter [made] by Samson in the house of the king was in the hands of Maksâbâ, for none of the mighty men of war of the kingdom of the Philistines were left, and therefore Maksâbâ ruled over those that were left. And they spake unto her morning and evening, saying, “We have no other king except thyself, and except that one that shall go forth from thy belly. If our Lord Dâgôn will do a favour unto us that which is in thy belly shall be a son, who shall reverence our god Dâgôn and shall reign over us. And if it be a daughter we will make her to reign over us, so that thy name and the name of Ḳwôlâsôn our lord shall be your memorial over us.”

[¶11] And then Maksâbâ brought forth a man-child and all the men of the Philistines rejoiced, and they did homage to her and sang, saying, “Dâgôn and Bêl have honoured her and loved Maksâbâ, and the seed of Ḳwôlâsôn is found again from Maksâbâ.” And Delilah also bore a son, and the two women brought up the children in great state and dignity. And when the children were five years old they ate and played together before them, and the mothers made garments of costly stuff for them, and [set] daggers above their loins, and chains on their necks. And the people seated the son of Maksâbâ on the throne of his father, and made him king over the Philistines.