Book of Jasher

About this text

Mentioned in Joshua 10:13 and 2 Samuel 1:18 as a source, but the original is lost. The version circulated today is a much later medieval composition, not the biblical source.

Significance

The biblical references confirm a real ancient text existed — but what survives today is not that text.

How to Read This Historical Text

Book of Jasher is included here as a historical and educational resource, not as Scripture and not as a replacement for the biblical canon. Readers may find it useful for understanding the ideas, debates, devotional language, and literary settings that surrounded Jewish and Christian communities in different periods.

Read this text with context in mind. Notice its era, category, and relationship to canonical passages, then compare its themes with the Bible itself. Some library works preserve valuable historical background, while others represent viewpoints that many Christian traditions rejected. Inclusion in this library does not mean endorsement of every claim or doctrine in the text.

For more about how The Bible Companion handles public-domain writings, Bible translations, attribution, and devotional material, see the Sources & Editorial Policy.

Key excerpts

"Is this not written in the Book of Jasher?" — the Bible itself references this lost work.

Scripture cross-references

• Joshua 10:13 — "Is not this written in the book of Jasher?" — the sun standing still
• 2 Samuel 1:18 — David's lament, referencing the Book of Jasher

Continue exploring

This text is one of 17 in the Early Jewish / Second Temple Texts category, and one of 62 across the entire library.