1
This is the record concerning Yannes and Yambres, brothers known among the wise ishim of Mitsrayim, whose deeds became bound to the days when Mosheh and Aharon stood before Pharaoh.
2
Their house was connected with the priestly world of Mitsrayim, and their father is remembered in the surviving tradition as belonging to the line of Balaam and Petephres, a kohen associated with the cult of Apis.
3
They dwelt near Memphis and were instructed in the writings, signs, calculations, incantations, and hidden arts by which the wise ishim of the land sought to read events and command what they did not truly govern.
4
Yannes was the elder and stood foremost in reputation. Yambres was his brother and companion, sharing his books, his counsel, and his confidence in the arts of their house.
5
Because rulers sought them when omens troubled the land, they came to believe that skill itself was sovereignty and that whatever could be imitated could also be mastered.