nd died among the Chaldeans, in a
city of the Chaldeans, called Ur; and his monument is shown to this
day. These married their nieces. Nabor married Milcha, and Abram married
Sarai. Now Terah hating Chaldea, on account of his mourning for Ilaran,
they all removed to Haran of Mesopotamia, where Terah died, and was
buried, when he had lived to be two hundred and five years old; for the
life of man was already, by degrees, diminished, and became shorter than
before, till the birth of Moses; after whom the term of human life was
one hundred and twenty years, God determining it to the length that
Moses happened to live. Now Nahor had eight sons by Milcha; Uz and Buz,
Kemuel, Chesed, Azau, Pheldas, Jadelph, and Bethuel. These were all the
genuine sons of Nahor; for Teba, and Gaam, and Tachas, and Maaca, were
born of Reuma his concubine: but Bethuel had a daughter, Rebecca, and a
son, Laban.

CHAPTER 7. How Abram Our Forefather Went Out Of The Land Of The
Chaldeans, And Lived In The Land Then Called Canaan But Now Judea.

1. Now Abram, having no son of his own, adopted Lot, his brother Haran's
son, and his wife Sarai's brother; and he left the land of Chaldea
when he was seventy-five years old, and at the command of God went into
Canaan, and therein he dwelt himself, and left it to his posterity. He
was a person of great sagacity, both for understanding all things and
persuading his hearers, and not mistaken in his opinions; for which
reason he began to have higher notions of virtue than others had, and he
determined to renew and to change the opinion all men happened then to
have concerning God; for he was the first that ventured to publish this
notion, That there was but one God, the Creator of the universe; and
that, as to other [gods], if they contributed any thing to the happiness
of men, that each of them afforded it only according to his appointment,
and not by their own power. This his opinion was derived from the
irregular phenomena that were visible both at land and sea, as well as
those that happen to the sun, and moon, and all the heavenly bodies,
thus:--"If [said he] these bodies had power of their own, they would
certainly take care of their own regular motions; but since they do not
preserve such regularity, they make it plain, that in so far as they
co-operate to our advantage, they do it not of their own abilities,
but as they are subservient to Him that commands them, to whom alone we
ought justly to