THE BOOK OF NATANIA

1 In the fourth year of the reign of King Omri of Israel, there lived in Judah a merchant by the name of Nahshon. ² Nahshon was a good man, beloved by his wife and children, and respected by those in his community. His wealth was great, but he was a kind man and gave often to the poor and hungry.
³ Nahshon had a daughter named Natania, who was in her sixteenth year. Nahshon loved Natania more than his other children, for of them all she was the most beautiful. ⁴ It came to pass that Elad, a merchant from Israel, saw Natania and was smitten with her beauty, and he implored Nahshon with great entreaties to give to him his daughter in marriage. ⁵ But Nahshon was unwilling, and refused, because Elad lived a great distance away, and was moreover an old man.
⁶ But Elad sought Natania in private, and offered her jewels, and gold, and silver, if she would leave her father’s house and return to Israel with him. ⁷ And Natania refused, for she was repulsed by Elad, and had already many jewels of her own, which her father had given to her. ⁸ And Elad pressed her, and returned the following night to ask again. ⁹ On the third day, Natania still refused, and Elad became angry, and he struck Natania, and she fell upon a stone and was still.
¹⁰ Then Elad was afraid, because he thought that he had killed Natania, but when he looked more closely, he saw that she was still breathing, and he rejoiced in his heart. ¹¹ Then he stripped her of her clothes and had intercourse with her while she was senseless.
¹² But she recovered herself, and was afraid, because he had left his seed inside her. Yet she still would not consent to marry him. ¹³ And Elad left, and he did not attempt to persuade her again.
¹⁴ Natania knew that she would be stoned to death if it was discovered that she had lain with Elad, and so she kept secret his action. ¹⁵ And by chance she did not conceive, and so pretended still to be a virgin.
¹⁶ And the Lord was wrathful with Natania, for she had lied concerning her virginity, and moreover she had committed the sin of having intercourse before she was married, and did not cry out for help. ¹⁷ For this sin is punishable by death by stoning.
¹⁸ And the Lord said unto Natania, “Woe to you, for you have dishonoured your father and committed the sin of adultery.” ¹⁹ And Natania prostrated herself, and wept, and said, “I was taken while I slept, and knew not what I was doing.” ²⁰ And the Lord said, “For this reason you shall not die, but nonetheless your punishment shall be severe.”
²¹ And He sent a plague of cockroaches to her bed while she slept, and they infested her, and she awoke in great distress. And she cried out, “Have mercy, Lord, for they torment me, and I cannot rid myself of them.” ²² But from the Lord there was no answer.
²³ Natania slew the cockroaches by the thousand, but for each that she slew, two more arose from inside her womb. ²⁴ When morning came, those that were in her sheets and about her bed came between her legs, and entered her, though she tried to stop them. ²⁵ And thus when her mother came into her room, only dead cockroaches remained on the floor.
²⁶ Then the Lord wrought upon Natania an affliction of the bowel, so that her waste flowed unbidden, and she disgraced her father by dropping her waste before his guests. ²⁷ And in great fear she fled, and she made for herself a cloth with which to wrap her loins. ²⁸ And into the cloth poured her waste, but it did not overflow, and she did not foul the floor of her father’s house. ²⁹ And she emptied it into the river, six times on that first day, and seven times each day afterwards.
³⁰ Thus it was that during hours of darkness, her body was overrun with cockroaches, and during the day, she spilled waste into her loincloth.

2 Natania was unhappy, for she hated the smell of her waste, which was constantly upon her. ² And she went to the priest, Eliab, who was old and lame. ³ Eliab had an affliction of the senses, and smelled not the waste in her loincloth.
⁴ But she told him of her plight, and of the manner of her sin of adultery. ⁵ And Eliab, being a kindly man, would not condemn her, but he said, “The Lord has been merciful upon you, and you must bear the punishment for as long as it is meted out. ⁶ For He is wise, and knoweth all, and will some day have mercy on you.
⁷ Then Natania’s heart was lightened, and she went on her way. And she resolved to accept her punishment for as long as it might last.
⁸ And it came to pass that the waste in her loincloth, whose quantity was so great that it almost overflowed, came to seem less evil to her, and she sat in it, and it gave her pleasure.
⁹ And she sought a secluded place, and removed her clothing, and covered herself with her waste, and enjoyed her own body. ¹⁰ And she diverted the flow of her waste into her womanhood, and was filled with it, even unto her womb.
¹¹ And the cockroaches therein were covered, and drowned, and the Lord was angry with Natania. ¹² And he said unto Natania, “You have defiled your body, and slain my servants, and have committed disgusting acts upon yourself. ¹³ Therefore your punishment shall increase tenfold.”
¹⁴ Natania wept, and implored Him to spare her further torment, but the Lord did not answer her.
¹⁵ That night, the Lord visited upon Natania an uncountable number of cockroaches, and among them were mingled centipedes and flies and worms that crawled within her. ¹⁶ And there were also slugs of large size, and leeches, and they filled her womb until she took on the appearance of a woman in her seventh month of pregancy.
¹⁷ And a fit of madness took hold of Natania, and she rent her clothing, and was naked, and she grasped many of the creatures in her hands, and pressed them between her legs. ¹⁸ And they passed into her, and she was glad, and hungered for more.
¹⁹ When morning came, she was like a woman ready to give birth, and her father and mother were distressed, and inquired of her how this could be. ²⁰ And she lay before them, and opened herself, and cockroaches and worms spilled on to the floor.

3 Natania’s father Nahshon thought her possessed, and he said to his wife, “We must seek the help of a priest, for I do not know what this sign means. ² Yet surely we will be obliged to burn our daughter to death, for clearly there is evil in her.” ³ And he wept, for he loved his child.
⁴ In haste he took Natania to Asher the priest, and Asher examined her, and was disgusted by the waste gathering in her loincloth. ⁵ And he saw the slugs, and the cockroaches, and the worms, and the leeches, and the flies that were laying eggs in her waste, and the crawling maggots that had hatched therein. ⁶ And he declared her unclean, and he instructed Nahshon to purify himself, and he cast Natania into a pit. ⁷ Then he went up to the temple to pray to the Lord.
⁸ And wild dogs found Natania, and they bit her, and attempted to have intercourse with her. ⁹ And she touched them in order to arouse their ardour, and she allowed them to mount her. ¹⁰ For the rest of that day she had intercourse with the dogs, and a host of their kin came to that place from the hills nearby. ¹¹ More than one hundred and fifty dogs spilled their seed into her womb that day.
¹² In the evening Asher returned, having been visited by the Lord in a vision. And he drove away the dogs, and took Natania out of the pit. ¹³ Then, as he had been instructed by the Lord, he led her into the wilderness, and there left her. ¹⁴ And he returned whence he had come, and said to Nahshon, “Your daughter has been burned to death for her many sins, as the Lord has instructed.”
¹⁵ Then Nahshon tore his clothes, and wept, and covered himself in ashes. And he returned home, and told his wife what had happened. ¹⁶ And they mourned their child.

4 But Natania was found in the wilderness by travellers from Sidon, who were worshippers of Baal, and they were amazed at the torrent of waste pouring from Natania. ² And they marvelled at the cockroaches and worms and slugs. ³ And they kept her for themselves, to enjoy her, and took her back with them to Sidon.
⁴ In Sidon Natania’s fame grew, and she became exalted as a handmaiden of Baal, and the men and women of Sidon worshipped her. ⁵ And she was bred with dogs, and with sheep, and with goats, and with horses, and with cattle, and snakes were thrust within her, and fish were placed into her womb, and worms and maggots of the earth, and frogs, and locusts, and the waste of animals.
⁶ And Natania came to enjoy these things, and ever sought for new ways to defile herself. ⁷ And she was brought a leper, and she pressed into herself the man’s arm, and when he withdrew it, his hand was no longer affixed to his wrist, but was still within Natania’s womb.
⁸ One night, the Lord came to Natania, and said unto her, “Natania, for your actions you deserve to die.” ⁹ And she wept, and begged him to have pity on her, saying, “All that I have done is as a result of my punishment.”
¹⁰ And the Lord took pity on her, and he said, “Go now, and empty from your womb all the foul things within. Cast off your Sidonite clothing, and return to your home. ¹¹ Go to the priest, and perform the ritual of purification three times. After the third time, your waste shall stop flowing, and you will be cleansed of your sin. ¹² No longer will cockroaches come to your bed at night, and no longer will worms and slugs invade your womb.”
¹³ Natania dried her eyes, and said, “But how shall I perform this? I will die in the wilderness before I can reach my home.”
¹⁴ And the Lord said, “Trust in the Lord your God.”

5 So Natania rose from her bed, and she went to the river, and emptied from herself the creatures and foulness that the Sidonites had pressed into her. ² And she removed her clothing, and bathed, and walked naked into the wilderness.
³ And the Lord sent cool breezes, and dew that fell during the day, and she had enough to drink, and was not scorched by the sun. ⁴ And on the third day she reached a spring, which was the beginning of a stream, and the stream led her back to her homeland.
⁵ The Lord came to Asher the priest, and told him to journey into the wilderness. ⁶ And on the second day, Asher found Natania, and he was amazed that she was alive.
⁷ Asher took Natania to the temple, and she performed the ritual of purification. And after the third time, her waste ceased to flow from her, and she rejoiced.
⁸ And Asher clothed her, and took her home, and Nahshon was overjoyed to see his daughter again. And he took her in, for Asher said that she was clean.

⁹ But in the sixth month after her return from Sidon, Natania made for herself another loincloth, for she remembered the pleasure she had once enjoyed, and longed to know it again. ¹⁰ And she put on the loincloth, and soiled it, and sat in it, and was happy.
¹¹ Every day she did this, though she took care to keep her actions secret from her mother and father.
¹² And one day she discovered the corpse of a sheep, which had been dead for three days. ¹³ And she took maggots from the body, and put them in her loincloth, and she rejoiced to feel them move against her. And she pressed them inside herself, and took off her robe, and lay in the sun and enjoyed her body.
¹⁴ The Lord saw what she did, and was angry, and he said unto her, “Natania, why do you defile yourself in this evil way?”
¹⁵ And Natania replied, “Have mercy, Lord! For I am weak, and easily tempted by the pleasures of the flesh.”
¹⁶ But the Lord said, “No more mercy will I show you.” ¹⁷ And at once, a stream of excrement came out of her bowels, and also out of her womanhood, for it was filling up her very womb. ¹⁸ And her breasts began to fill with liquid waste, and it sprayed from her nipples, and her stomach filled up with waste, and she vomited, and it poured from her mouth, and from her nostrils. And she choked on her waste, and was near to drowning.
¹⁹ By chance her father, Nahshon, passed by at that hour, and he threw himself to the ground beside his daughter in great distress. ²⁰ “O Lord,” he said, “please spare my most beloved daughter this fate. Has she not suffered enough?”
²¹ And the Lord replied to Nahshon, saying, “She wishes only to defile herself. No longer will I allow her to atone for her sins. She must only be punished.”
²² But Nahshon answered, “Then, Lord, let me, her father, atone for her sins. I will pay the price, if it should cost me everything I own.”
²³ And the Lord said, “And if you should lose everything, and she should keep sinning, what will you do then?”
²⁴ And Nahshon said, “I will give my life.” ²⁵ And the Lord said, “So be it. Go and give your home to the needy. Give away all of your possessions, down to the last grain of wheat. Give your wife and your other daughters away into slavery. ²⁶ Only then will I cease my punishment of Natania.”
²⁷ Then Nahshon wept, for it was a bitter price to pay. ²⁸ But he arose, and went to his eldest son Jadon, and said to him, “My heart is broken, for I must do a terrible thing in order to save my beloved daughter Natania.” ²⁹ And he told him what the Lord had said. ³⁰ And he said, “Tell my wife and my other daughters to prepare to visit my cousin Manoach in Zorah. Prepare wagons for them, and such supplies as would be customary for such a journey. ³¹ Then send my son Gefen ahead to Azekah, and tell him to go to the slave traders, and instruct them to wait at the crossroads of Beth-shemesh. ³² When you arrive yourselves at the crossroads, hand over my wife and daughters to the slave traders. ³³ Do not take any money for them; you are to give them freely.”
³⁴ And Jadon wept, for he loved his mother and sisters, and he begged Nahshon to change his mind, but his father would not be swayed.
³⁵ Then Jadon did as his father instructed, and he had wagons prepared, and he gathered to him his mother and sisters, and told them to enter the wagons, that they might journey to Zorah. ³⁶ And he sent his brother Gefen to Azekah, to instruct the slave traders as his father had said.

³⁷ When the wagons had left, Nahshon made immediate arrangements to give away all of his possessions, and he gave his house to a young shepherd, and his gold and jewels to the poor, and his fine clothes and his stores of grain to the hungry. ³⁸ And word spread of this to nearby towns, and many hundreds gathered to obtain a part of Nahshon’s wealth. ³⁹ But by evening there was nothing left to give away, and Nahshon was without home or possessions. All that he owned were the clothes on his back.
⁴⁰ And he returned to where Natania lay, and she was lying in a pool of waste, and it was still pouring from her. And he knew that his wife and daughters were still free.
⁴¹ Then Natania sat up, and her bowels were emptied, and no longer produced waste. And Nahshon wept, for he knew that his wife and daughters were now slaves.
⁴² Natania asked her father why he wept, and he told her of his bargain with the Lord. ⁴³ And she wept with him, and was filled with remorse, and took an oath to sin no more, for her father’s sake.

6 This is the fate of Nahshon’s wife and daughters. For they were given into slavery by his son Jadon, and they wept when they saw their fate, but there was no escape for them. ² And Nahshon’s daughter Sariah was taken to Moab, and sold for a good price, and was forced by her master to prostitute herself for many years.
³ And Yarona, who was to be married in the following month, was taken to Edom, and became the property of a cruel man named Hesed. ⁴ And Hesed would not allow her to live in his house, and she slept in the mud among the pigs. ⁵ And Hesed would often rape her, and also he would bind her with her legs held apart with ropes, and he would bring her dogs to have sex with, and horses. ⁶ And Yarona was miserable and wanted to die. But she lived for many years.
⁷ And Nahshon’s daughter Amaris, and his daughter Bethea, who were both beautiful to behold, were taken to Sidon and sold to the followers of Baal, and they were raped many times, and afterwards sacrificed upon the altar of Baal.
⁸ And Nahshon’s daughter Mara was bought by a farmer from the lands east of Tyre, and he treated her well, and later married her.
⁹ And Gevira, Nahshon’s wife, was sold to a carpenter, but she fled from him in the night, and lost herself in the wilderness, and was never seen again.

7 Three months passed, and Natania did not sin during that time, but her father’s grief was unassuaged, and she could not comfort him. ² She begged for food each day, but she and her father had little to eat. ³ Then Nahshon arose, and washed himself, and offered himself as an apprentice to an old weaver named Zerach, who had been recently widowed. And Zerach took pity on Nahshon, and took him in, and taught him his trade. ⁴ And he treated Natania like his own daughter.
⁵ One night the Lord decided to test Natania, to find out if she would turn back to her old ways. And he sent cockroaches to her bed, and they crawled on her skin. ⁶ And Natania rejoiced, and she gathered them together, and caused them to enter her womanhood, and as they moved inside her she took pleasure in her body.
⁷ Then the Lord was angry with her, and he said, “Truly you have not turned from your wicked ways, and therefore you must be punished again.” ⁸ And he sealed up her womanhood, and also her anus, so that the cockroaches could not escape from her, and she could no longer pass her waste.
⁹ And the Lord caused her bowels to fill with waste, and he made the cockroaches grow in size, so that Natania’s belly became enlarged, and Natania cried out in her agony, for it became greater than that of a woman about to give birth. ¹⁰ And she cut for herself a new opening between her legs with a knife, but the Lord sealed it up again. ¹¹ Seven times Natania cut herself, and seven times the Lord closed the wound. ¹² And still her belly grew, until she screamed from the pain of it.
¹³ And Natania turned the blade on her belly, and ripped it open, and her waste burst forth and covered the floor. ¹⁴ And among her filth were cockroaches of enormous size, which turned again and crawled on to her, and laid eggs in her opened womb. ¹⁵ And Natania was too weak to prevent them, for she was bleeding greatly. ¹⁶ Then the Lord sealed her wound, and she was made whole, and he reopened her womanhood and her anus. ¹⁷ But her belly remained large from the eggs inside her, which numbered in the hundreds.
¹⁸ And the Lord said, “Take care to keep your body pure, and do not defile it, for if you do, the eggs inside you will hatch, and the creatures that spring therefrom will grow, and they will devour you from the inside.”

¹⁹ Then Natania was afraid, and she ran from Zerach’s home in the darkness, and hid until morning. ²⁰ And she encountered a caravan of merchants travelling north, and she begged leave to accompany them. ²¹ Seeing that she was with child, as they thought, they were kind to her, and gave her a pillow on which to rest.
²² And the caravan went north, and she stayed with them, even as far as Sidon.

8 Into the city of Sidon Natania rode on a donkey given to her by one of the merchants. ² And a few men saw her, and knew her, for they were followers of Baal. ³ And they rejoiced, and worshipped her, and they took her down from the donkey, and undressed her, and slung her beneath the donkey in a hammock. ⁴ And her ankles were tied above the donkey’s back, and its penis was thrust into her, and in this manner she rode through the streets.
⁵ When night fell, Natania was untied, and brought to the altar of Baal. ⁶ And she was afraid of the eggs inside her womb, and she spoke of them to those men that were with her. ⁷ They discussed the matter amongst themselves, and resolved to remove the eggs from Natania’s womb. ⁸ Then they sank their arms into her, even to the elbow, and they began to pull from her many white eggs, and also some cockroaches of huge size which had already hatched.
⁹ And Natania was emptied, and she took up again the disgusting practices which she had followed before in the presence of the worshippers of Baal. ¹⁰ And God was disgusted with her. ¹¹ And he appeared to Nahshon, and said, “See how your daughter thanks you for your sacrifice on her behalf. Now she fills herself with the dung of the worshippers of Baal, and their animals.”
¹² And Nahshon wept, for he still loved her, and he said, “Then take my life, O Lord, and spare her from further horrors. For my life is worth nothing if she is dead.”

¹³ Then the Lord was moved to pity, and he said, “Go to Sidon, and take her from the place where she lies in filth. But neither speak to her, nor look in her eyes, or you will be discovered, and the Sidonites will surely kill you.”
¹⁴ And Nahshon went quickly to Sidon, and he found his daughter, but by the Lord’s blessing he passed among the followers of Baal unseen. ¹⁵ And he took Natania by the hand, and would lead her away. ¹⁶ But on the threshold of Baal’s temple he hesitated, and he looked into her eyes, and the temple guards saw him, and seized him.

¹⁷ Then Natania pleaded for her father’s life, and the high priest of Baal heard her pleas, and agreed to spare him, if only he would have sex with her. For he hoped to corrupt Nahshon.
¹⁸ And Nahshon was disgusted, and refused, but he was tied to a rock, and his clothes were stripped from him, and Natania was brought before him. ¹⁹ And in order to save her father’s life, Natania touched him and made him aroused. Then she had intercourse with him, and in spite of his disgust, Nahshon spilled his seed in her. ²⁰ And the followers of Baal cheered to see this.

²¹ Then Natania, seeing the disgrace she had brought upon her father, pleaded with the men and women of Baal to let her go home with her father. And they allowed her to leave with him.
²² They returned to the house of Zerach, but Nahshon’s love for his daughter was no more, and he detested her for having sex with him. ²³ And the sight of her repulsed him, and he cursed her in his disgust, and he stripped her, and raped her. ²⁴ And she, knowing that the fault was hers, did not condemn him for his actions.
²⁵ Each night and each morning, Nahshon raped his daughter, and in due course she conceived, and bore a child to him. ²⁶ And they named the child Talmon, but the Lord loved him not, for he was a child of incest. ²⁷ And from the beginning the child was evil, for the milk which sprang from Natania’s breast was mingled with waste from her bowels, and as he grew to manhood, he often touched his mother between her legs, though she discouraged him. ²⁸ And one day he discovered that he was stronger than Natania, and he overpowered her, and raped her.
²⁹ And Natania’s screams awoke Nahshon, and he ran into the room, and he laughed to see his son and grandson raping his daughter. ³⁰ And he turned her over, while Talmon was still inside her, and he sank his manhood into her bowel, and she was filled with the seed of both men.
³¹ And Nahshon and Talmon laughed at her tears of sorrow, and they fetched dogs, and made her have sex with them, and also horses, and donkeys, and goats. ³² For Nahshon by this time had regained much of his wealth, and owned many animals.
³³ And they covered Natania in waste from the animals, and from themselves, and from herself, and they filled her with it. ³⁴ And her heart was heavy, for she had put such things behind her.

³⁵ Then the Lord was furious with Nahshon and with Talmon, and he sent a madness into Nahshon’s horses, and they turned on him and trampled him to death. ³⁶ And Talmon fled, but the Lord sent a blindness upon him, and he wandered confused until he fell into a ravine and was killed.
³⁷ And to Natania the Lord said, “Arise, and sin no more. And go out into the world, and tell the story of your perversions, and the consequences thereof, that others may be taught the folly of seeking forbidden pleasures."
³⁸ And Natania bowed before him, and she arose and went forth, and did as the Lord had instructed her. ³⁹ And she conceived and bore a daughter, that was Talmon’s, and she named the child Galya, which means ‘the Lord has redeemed’.