Extra-Biblical Books? Part 4C: the “Book of Jubilees”

Extra-Biblical Books? Part 4C: the “Book of Jubilees”
Wednesday, July 8, 2026 by Dr. James W. Walraven

Categories: Contemporary issues / Scripture discussion / Spiritual warfare / The church / Thought for Today

The Book of Jubilees. Jubilees has been marketed as a missing secret biblical book, one of the many books omitted from Scripture. It was probably written between 160–150 BC, by a Jewish priest or scribe seeking to defend traditional Jewish Law against Hellenism. What complicates things a bit is that it is included in the Bible of some of the Ethiopian churches.

Jubilees is a retelling of Genesis, but the timeframe is set in terms of 49 year jubilee cycles, hence its name. After seven cycles of seven years Israel was to have a fiftieth jubilee year. Proberty was to revert to the original family ownership. Indeed in essence property could only be leased with payment being based on the number of years until the next jubilee when it would revert back to its original owner.

Many other special rules applied. For example no sowing of crops was to be done. The land was to rest every seventh year, and rest for a second year in a row during the 50th jubilee year. Israel was to trust that God would provide during those two years. See Leviticus 25:10–30 for details about the jubilee year. Israel never observed letting the land rest during that seventh year or the jubilee years. Oddly, in the “Book of Jubilees,” while the 49 year cycle is maintained, the jubilee cycle doesn’t include the 50th year (at least in the timeline of the edition referenced here).

There are numerous differences between Jubilees and Genesis. In the first chapter, the “angel of the presence of the Lord” tells Moses on Mt. Sinai all that will befall the Israelites. The creation of the angels becomes part of the first day of Creation. The Mosaic Law is backdated into Jubilees, and both Adam and Eve had to be ritually purified after God created them. Did God created them unclean in some way? Why after God’s very good perfect creation, would they need to be ritually purified? As there was no sin at that point, what did they need purificiaton from? That makes no sense.

In addition, Noah expounds on part of what would become the Law, and the Feast of Weeks is backdated into Noah’s time. For details on the actual Feast of Weeks, see Exodus 34:24ff.

Prior to the Fall, all animals could talk. Corruption comes not through Adam and Eve’s sin buth through the birth of the Nephilim, fathered by the Watchers. Evil spirits—the dead Nephilim—pollute the post-flood world. Legendary tales of Abram’s rejection of Terha’s idols are also added in.

Events recorded in Genesis are often skipped in Jubilees. Some of the omitted items include: the consequences of the Fall; Shechem’s rape of Dinah and Simeon and Levi’s murderous response; Tamar’s deception and Judah getting her pregnant; Jacob’s wrestling with what is best understood as the angel of the Lord; and Jacob’s blessing of his 12 sons. Notice that much of what is missing would be considered embarrassing within Jewish history. It also lets Adam and Eve off the hook for their choice that brought sin into this world.

When looking at all of the modifications found in Jubilees compared to Genesis, coupled with the very late date of its writing, it is clear that Jubilees is not inspired Scripture. It was not part of the Old Testament Scriptures. Regarding its placement in some Ethiopian Bibles, it is worth remembering that in ancient times Ethiopia was an isolated region, having little contact with other churches.

As with other supposedly suppressed “biblical” books, Jubilees does not offer a “true” accurate account of events. While it may be of some historical interest regarding Jewish thought in the second century prior to Christ’s birth, it is not Scripture. If read as supposed “truth,” as its marketers would wish, there is a real danger of it causing confusion, of drawing people away from what Scripture actually says.

In no way, shape, or form is the “Book of Jubilees” worth the hype and attention it is getting.

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