Bookstore Home > Scripture Studies

Book of Jasher

J.H. Parry (Translator), Salt Lake City, Utah: J.H. Parry & Company, 1887, 5.25x8" softbound, 254 pages. Reprint by Archive Publishers, Grantsville, Utah.

This is the 1887 edition of The Book of Jasher published by J. H. Parry in Salt Lake City. It is a translation of a Hebrew work purported to be one of the lost books of the Bible. Of it the translator wrote:

"The ever memorable events and transactions recorded in scripture are with many others of the most interesting nature, comprehended in the Book of Jasher; and they are all arrayed in that style of simple, unadorned majesty and precision, which so particularly distinguished the genius of the Hebrew language; and this, together with other numerous internal evidences, it is presumed that the book is, with the exception of some doubtful parts, a venerable monument of antiquity . . . . "It contained a treasure of information concerning those early times, upon which the histories of other nations are either silent, or cast not a single ray of real light . . . and the evidence of the whole of its contents went to illustrate and confirm the great and inestimable truths which are recorded in divine history, down to a few years later than the death of Joshua, at which period the book closes."

Review Excerpt:

"There are at least three books published in modern times which have been called "The Book of Jasher", which are entirely different books. One is a Hebrew treatise on ethics, for which no one makes the claim of being a lost book of scripture. Another is an easily detected fraud, published in 1751, which claims to have been translated into English by Flaccus Albinus Alcuinus. It is still in print, so if you obtain a copy of the Book of Jasher, make sure it is not that one. It is sometimes called Pseudo-Jasher to distinguish it from the third Book of Jasher, which is a legitimate Hebrew document . . . When Titus destroyed Jerusalem in A.D. 70, an officer named Sidrus discovered a hidden library complete with a scholar hiding there. The officer had mercy on the man and took him and the books to his residence at what is now Seville, Spain, but was then called Hispalis, capital of the Roman province Hispalensis. The manuscript was donated to the Jewish college at Cordova, Spain, and after printing was invented, the Jewish scholars had the book printed in Hebrew in Venice in 1625. . . . This book, on the other hand, is implied to be a set of annals which have been handed down through a long series of authors. Nowhere is there any implication that is was all one big revelation given to a prophet in the manner that Genesis was given to Moses (Moses 1:40). Because the spirit of the book is that of a continual series of people adding to the work, much like the prophets of the Book of Mormon handing the plates down to the next author, I would not be surprised if interpolations were made in good faith to update the story somewhat of what had happened to the nations since the reign of the Judges. Thus, the method of modern scholars of discrediting the entire book because of a few interpolations and insisting on a late date for its origin is not compelling.

The translator of the 1840 edition agrees because he maintained that this book is indeed the book mentioned in the Old Testament. He concludes, "the book is, with the exception of some doubtful parts, a venerable monument of antiquity; and that, notwithstanding some few additions may have been made to it in comparatively modern times, it still retains sufficient to prove it a copy of the book referred to in Joshua 10 and 2 Samuel 1." . . .

Explicit evidence that the Book of Jasher was not considered scripture anciently is given in its Hebrew preface. The account is there quoted that when Ptolemy, king of Egypt, requested to have the Jewish holy books, the Israelites felt they could not give the gentiles their sacred writ, so they sent him the Book of Jasher. He was said to have prized it highly, but then discovered it was not their sacred law. When he confronted the Jews, they agreed to translate their Old Testament into Greek, which became known as the Septuagint. If this account is correct, as it appears to be, then even the Aprocrypha was probably considered more sacred than the Book of Jasher because it was included in the translation, whereas the Book of Jasher was not.

. . . L.D.S. people have something much better than the Dead Sea Scrolls for comparison. Let us instead compare the Book of Jasher to modern revealed scriptures. There are many specific details mentioned in the Book of Jasher which are not found in the Bible, but which are found in modern day revelation, especially in the Doctrine and Covenants (1835) and the Book of Moses (Inspired translation of Genesis, 1831), both of which were published before the Book of Jasher became available to the Prophet Joseph Smith in 1840. . . . To me, Jasher does not appear to be revelation, and it makes no claim to be. On the other hand, it really does look like an actual secular history. So to me, it appears most likely that the Book of Jasher is not only authentic, but that it composed from sources which were preserved on Noah's ark. If so, then its creation story predates that of Genesis. Abraham had access to such writings, and the Book of Jasher could have been handed down from Noah to Abraham (Abr. 1:31). . . .

After all the research effort made to produce this article, my conclusion is exactly the same as the conclusion of Mordecai M. Noah's introduction to the first English translation in 1840:

"Without giving it to the world as a work of Divine inspiration, or assuming the responsibility to say that it is not an inspired book, I have no hesitation in pronouncing it a work of great antiquity and interest, and a work that is entitled, even regarding it as a literary curiosity, to a great circulation among those who take pleasure in studying the Scriptures." --John P. Pratt, "How Did The Book of Jasher Know?", Meridian Magazine

Title: Book of Jasher

Retail Price: ~~$13.95~~

Your Price: Only $13.95

FAIR is not owned, controlled by or affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. All research and opinions provided on this site are the sole responsibility of FAIR, and should not be interpreted as official statements of LDS doctrine, belief or practice.

You can send comments/suggestions using our contact page.