has escaped death? None of those who rule as kings is immortal; none of your forefathers have escaped the secret rite of death. They have all died. They have all departed into Hades. They are all gathered by the sickle of death. 10. But upon you I have not sent Death. I have not suffered any deadly disease to come upon you. I have not permitted the sickle of death to meet you. I have not allowed the nets of Hades to enfold you. I have never wished you to meet with any evil. 11. But for good comfort I have sent my commander-in-chief Michael to you, so that you may know your departure from the world and set your house in order and all that belongs to you, and that you may bless Isaac your beloved son. Now know that I have done this not wishing to grieve you. 12. Why then have you said to my commander-in-chief, \u2018I will not go with you\u2019? Why have you spoken in this way? Do you not know that if I give leave to Death, and he comes upon you, then I should see whether or not you would come?\u201d
\n9:1. The commander-in-chief, receiving the exhortations of the LORD went down to Abraham. Seeing him, the righteous one fell upon his face to the ground like one dead. 2. The commander-in-chief told him all that he had heard from the Most High. Then the holy and just Abraham, rising with many tears, fell at the feet of the incorporeal one. He begged him, saying: 3. \u201cI beg you, commander-in-chief of the hosts above, since you have wholly deigned to come yourself to me, a sinner and in all things your unworthy servant. I beseech you even now, commander-in-chief, to carry my word yet again to the Most High. You shall say to him, 4. \u2018Thus says Abraham your servant: \u201cLORD, LORD, in every work and word that I have asked of you, you have heard me and have fulfilled all my counsel. 5. Now, LORD, I do not resist your power, for I too know that I am not immortal but mortal. Since to your command all things yield and fear and tremble at the face of your power, I also fear. But I ask one request of you: 6. now, LORD and Master, hear my prayer, for while still in this body I desire to see all the inhabited earth and all the creations that you established by one word. When I see these, then if I shall depart from life, I shall be without sorrow.\u201d 7. So the commander-in-chief went back again and stood before God. He told him all, saying, \u201cThus says your friend Abraham, \u2018I desired to behold all the earth in my lifetime before I died.\u2019 8. The Most High, hearing this, again commanded the commander-in-chief Michael. He said to him, \u201cTake a cloud of light and the angels who have power over the chariots, and go down. Take the righteous Abraham upon a chariot of the cherubim and exalt him into the ether of heaven so that he may behold all the earth.\u201d
\n10:1. And the archangel Michael went down and took Abraham upon a chariot of the cherubim and exalted him into the ether of heaven. He led him upon the cloud together with sixty angels, and Abraham ascended upon the chariot over all the earth. 2. And Abraham saw the world as it was on that day. Some people were ploughing; others driving wagons. In one place, some people were herding flocks, and in another some were dancing and playing and making music with harps. In yet another place, some were struggling and arguing at law. Elsewhere people were weeping and having the dead in remembrance. 3. He saw newlyweds received with honor too. In a word, he saw all things that are done in the world, both good and bad. 4. Abraham, passing over them, saw swordsmen wielding in their hands sharpened swords. Abraham asked the commander-in-chief: \u201cWho are these?\u201d 5. The commander-in-chief said, \u201cThese are robbers, who intend to commit murder and to rob and burn and destroy.\u201d 6. Abraham said, \u201cLORD, LORD, hear my voice, and command that wild beasts may come out of the wood and devour them.\u201d 7. Even as he spoke there came wild beasts out of the wood and devoured them. 8. He saw in another place a man with a woman committing fornication with each other, 9. and he said, \u201cLORD, LORD, command that the earth may open and swallow them.\u201d Straightway the earth was cleft and swallowed them. 10. And he saw in another place people digging into a house and stealing other people\u2019s possessions, 11. and he said, \u201cLORD, LORD, command that fire may come down from heaven and consume them.\u201d Even as he spoke, fire came down from heaven and consumed them. 12. Straightway, there came a voice from heaven to the commander-in-chief, saying thus, \u201cCommander-in-chief Michael, command the chariot to stop! Turn Abraham away so that he may not see all the earth, 13. for if he beheld all who live in wickedness, he would destroy all creation! For behold, Abraham has not sinned and has no pity on sinners. 14. I have made the world. I desire not to destroy any one of them, but I delay the death of the sinner, so that he may repent and live. 15. Rather, take Abraham up to the first gate of heaven, so that he may see there the judgments and recompenses and so that he may repent of the souls of the sinners that he has destroyed.\u201d
\n11:1. So Michael turned the chariot and brought Abraham to the East, to the first gate of heaven. 2. Abraham saw two ways, the one narrow and contracted, the other broad and spacious. 3. There he saw two gates, the one broad on the broad way, and the other narrow on the narrow way. 4. Outside the two gates there he saw a man sitting on a gilded throne, and that man\u2019s appearance was fearsome, like the Master\u2019s. 5. They saw many souls driven by angels and led in through the broad gate and other souls, few in number, that were taken by the angels through the narrow gate. 6. When the wonderful one who sat upon the golden throne saw few entering through the narrow gate and many entering through the broad one, straightway that wonderful one tore the hairs of his head and the sides of his beard, and he threw himself on the ground from his throne, weeping and lamenting. 7. But when he saw many souls entering through the narrow gate, then he arose from the ground and sat upon his throne in great joy, rejoicing and exulting. 8. Abraham asked the commander-in-chief: \u201cMy lord commander-in-chief, who is this most marvelous man, adorned with such glory, and sometimes he weeps and laments, and sometimes he rejoices and exults?\u201d 9. The incorporeal one said: \u201cThis is the first-created Adam who is in such glory, and he looks upon the world because all are born from him. 10. When he sees many souls going through the narrow gate, he arises and sits upon his throne rejoicing and exulting in joy, because this narrow gate is that of the just, which leads to life; they who enter through it go into paradise. For this, then, the first-created Adam rejoices, because he sees the souls being saved. 11. When he sees many souls entering through the broad gate, however, he pulls out the hairs of his head and casts himself on the ground weeping and lamenting bitterly; for the broad gate is that of sinners, which leads to destruction and eternal punishment. For this, the first-formed Adam falls from his throne weeping and lamenting for the destruction of sinners, since they are many who are lost and few who are saved. 12. In seven thousand, there is scarcely found one soul saved, being righteous and undefiled.\u201d
\n12:1. While he was still saying these things to me, behold two angels, fiery in aspect and pitiless in mind and severe in look. They drove on thousands of souls, pitilessly lashing them with fiery whips. 2. The angel laid hold of one soul, and they drove all the souls in at the broad gate to destruction. 3. So we also went along with the angels, and we came within that broad gate. 4. Between the two gates stood a throne terrible of aspect, of terrible crystal, gleaming like fire. 5. Upon it sat a wondrous man bright as the sun, like to a son of God. 6. Before him stood a table like crystal, all of gold and fine linen. 7. Upon the table there was lying a book, the thickness of it six cubits, and the breadth of it ten cubits. 8. On the right and left of it stood two angels holding paper and ink and pen. 9. Before the table sat an angel of light, holding in his hand a balance. 10. On his left sat an angel all fiery, pitiless, and severe, holding in his hand a trumpet, having within it all-consuming fire with which to try the sinners. 11. The wondrous man who sat upon the throne himself judged and sentenced the souls. 12. The two angels on the right and on the left wrote down, the one on the right the righteousness and the one on the left the wickedness. 13. The one before the table, who held the balance, weighed the souls. 14. The fiery angel, who held the fire, tried the souls. 15. Abraham asked the commander-in-chief Michael: \u201cWhat is this that we behold?\u201d The commander-in-chief said: \u201cThese things that you see, holy Abraham, are the judgment and recompense. 16. Behold the angel holding the soul in his hand; he brought it before the judge. 17. The judge said to one of the angels that served him, \u2018Open this book for me, and find me the sins of this soul.\u2019 18. Opening the book, he found its sins and its righteousness equally balanced, and he neither gave it to the tormentors, nor to those that were saved, but he set it in the middle.\u201d
\n13:1. And Abraham said, \u201cMy lord commander-in-chief, who is this most wondrous judge? And who are the angels that write? And who is the angel like the sun, holding the balance? And who is the fiery angel holding the fire?\u201d 2. The commander-in-chief said, \u201cDo you see, most holy Abraham, the terrible man sitting upon the throne? This is the son of the first-created Adam, who is called Abel, whom the wicked Cain killed. 3. He sits thus to judge all creation, and he examines righteous people and sinners. For God has said: \u2018I shall not judge you, but every man shall be judged by man.\u2019 4. Therefore He has given to him (i.e., Abel) judgment, to judge the world until His great and glorious Arrival. That is when, righteous Abraham, there will be the perfect judgment and recompense, eternal and unchangeable, which no one can alter. 5. For every person has come from the first-created, and therefore they are first judged here by his son. 6. At the second Arrival they shall be judged by the twelve tribes of Israel, every breath and every creature. 7. Yet a third time they shall be judged, by the LORD God of all; then, indeed, the end of that judgment will be soon, and the sentence terrible, and there is none to deliver. 8. Thus, the judging of the world and the recompense will be carried out by three tribunals. For this reason a matter is not finally confirmed by one or two witnesses, but by three witnesses shall everything be established. 9. The two angels on the right hand and on the left, these are the ones who write down the sins and the righteousness: the one on the right hand writes down the righteousness, and the one on the left the sins. 10. The angel like the sun, holding the balance in his hand, is the archangel Dokiel, the just weigher, and he weighs the righteousnesses and sins with the righteousness of God. 11. The fiery and pitiless angel, holding the fire in his hand, is the archangel Puruel, who has power over fire, and tries the works of men through fire. 12. If the fire consumes the work of any person, the angel of judgment immediately seizes him, and carries him away to the place of sinners, a most bitter place of punishment.13. If the fire approves the work of anyone and does not seize upon it, that person is justified, and the angel of righteousness takes him and carries him up to be saved in the lot of the just. 14. And thus, most righteous Abraham, all things in all people are tried by fire and the balance.\u201d
\n14:1. Abraham said to the commander-in-chief: \u201cMy lord, commander-in-chief, the soul which the angel held in his hand, why was it judged to be set in the middle?\u201d 2. The commander-in-chief said, \u201cListen, righteous Abraham. Because the judge found its sinful deeds and its righteous deeds equal, he neither committed it to judgment nor to be saved, until the Judge of all shall come.\u201d 3. Abraham said to the commander-in-chief: \u201cWhat is still needed for the soul to be saved?\u201d 4. The commander-in-chief said: \u201cIf it obtains one righteous deed above its sins, it enters into salvation.\u201d 5. Abraham said to the commander-in-chief: \u201cCome here, commander-in-chief Michael, let us make prayer for this soul, and see whether God will hear us!\u201d The commander-in-chief said: \u201cAmen. Let it be so.\u201d 6. They made prayer and entreaty for the soul, and God heard them. When they rose up from their prayer, they did not see the soul standing there. 7. Abraham said to the angel: \u201cWhere is the soul that you held in the middle?\u201d 8. The angel answered: \u201cIt has been saved by your righteous prayer. Behold, an angel of light has taken it and carried it up into paradise.\u201d 9. Abraham said: \u201cI glorify the name of God, the Most High, and His immeasurable mercy.\u201d 10. And Abraham said to the commander-in-chief: \u201cI beseech you, archangel, hearken to my prayer. Let us again call upon the LORD and supplicate His compassion. 11. Let us entreat His mercy for the souls of the sinners whom I formerly, in my anger, cursed and destroyed, those whom the earth devoured, those whom the wild beasts tore in pieces, and those whom the fire consumed through my words. 12. Now I know that I have sinned before the LORD our God. Come then, Michael, commander-in-chief of the hosts above. Come, let us call upon God with tears, so that He may forgive me my sin, and grant them for me.\u201d 13. The commander-in-chief heard him, and they made entreaty before the LORD. When they had called upon him for a long time, there came a voice from heaven saying: 14. \u201cAbraham, Abraham, I have hearkened to your voice and your prayer. I forgive you your sin. Those whom you think I destroyed, I have called up and brought them into life by My exceeding kindness. 15. For a season I have requited them in judgment. Those whom I destroy while they are living upon earth, I will not requite in death.\u201d
\n15:1. The voice of the LORD said to the commander-in-chief: \u201cMichael, Michael, my servant, return Abraham to his house. Behold his end has drawn near, and the measure of his life is fulfilled. He shall set all things in order, and then you shall take him and bring him to me. 2. So the commander-in-chief, turning the chariot and the cloud, brought Abraham to his house. 3. Going into his chamber he sat upon his couch. 4. Sarah his wife came and embraced the feet of the incorporeal one. She spoke humbly, saying: \u201cI give you thanks, my lord, that you have brought my lord Abraham; for, behold, we had thought he was taken up from us!\u201d 5. His son Isaac also came and fell upon his neck. In the same way all his male and female slaves surrounded Abraham and embraced him, glorifying God. 6. The incorporeal one said to them: \u201cHearken, righteous Abraham. Behold your wife Sarah. Behold also your beloved son Isaac. Behold also all your male and female servants around you. 7. Make disposition of all that you have, for the day has drawn near when you shall depart from the body and go to the LORD once and for all.\u201d 8. Abraham said: \u201cHas the LORD said this? Or do you say this yourself?\u201d 9. The commander-in-chief answered: \u201cHear, righteous Abraham, the LORD has commanded, and I tell it you.\u201d 10. Abraham said: \u201cI will not go with you!\u201d 11. The commander-in-chief, hearing these words, immediately went forth from the presence of Abraham. He ascended into the heavens and stood before God the Most High. 12. He said, \u201cLORD Almighty, behold I have heard Your friend Abraham in all he has said to You, and I have fulfilled his requests. I have shown to him Your power and all the earth and sea that is under heaven. I have shown to him judgment and recompense by means of cloud and chariots. And, again, he says: \u2018I will not go with you!\u2019 \u201d 13. The Most High said to the angel: \u201cDoes My friend Abraham say this again, \u2018I will not go with you\u2019?\u201d 14. The archangel said: \u201cLORD Almighty, he says this, and I refrain from laying hands on him, because from the beginning he is Your friend, and he has done all things pleasing in Your sight. 15. There is no one like him on earth, not even Job the wondrous man. Therefore I refrain from laying hands on him. Command, therefore, Immortal King, what shall be done.\u201d
\n16:1. Then the Most High said: \u201cCall here Death, who is called the shameless countenance and the pitiless look.\u201d 2. Michael, the incorporeal one, went and said to Death: \u201cCome here. The LORD of creation, the immortal King, calls you.\u201d 3. Hearing this, Death shivered and trembled, being possessed with great terror. Coming with great fear, he stood before the invisible Father\u2014shivering, groaning, and trembling, awaiting the command of the LORD. 4. The invisible God said to Death: \u201cCome here, you bitter and fierce name of the world. Hide your fierceness, cover your corruption, and cast away your bitterness. Put on your beauty and all your glory, 5. and go down to Abraham my friend. Take him and bring him to me. But I tell you not to terrify him. Bring him with fair speech, for he is my friend.\u201d 6. Having heard this, Death went out from the presence of the Most High. He put on a robe of great brightness, and he made his appearance like the sun. He became fair and beautiful above the sons of men, assuming the form of an archangel, his cheeks flaming with fire, and he departed to Abraham. 7. Now the righteous Abraham went out of his chamber. He sat under the trees of Mamre, holding his chin in his hand and awaiting the coming of the archangel Michael. 8. Behold, a smell of sweet odor came to him and a flashing of light. Abraham turned and saw Death coming toward him in great glory and beauty. And Abraham arose and went to meet him, thinking that it was the commander-in-chief of God. 9. Death, beholding him, saluted him, saying: \u201cRejoice, precious Abraham, righteous soul, true friend of the Most High God, and companion of the holy angels!\u201d 10. Abraham said to Death: \u201cHail, you of appearance and form like the sun, most glorious helper, bringer of light, wondrous man! From where does your glory come to us? Who are you, and from where do you come?\u201d 11. Then Death said: \u201cMost righteous Abraham, behold I tell you the truth: I am the bitter cup of death.\u201d 12. Abraham said to him: \u201cNo\u2014but you are the beauty of the world. You are the glory and beauty of angels and people. You are fairer in form than every other, and yet you say: \u2018I am the bitter cup of death,\u2019 instead of \u2018I am fairer than every good thing\u2019?\u201d 13. Death said: \u201cI tell you the truth. What the LORD has named me, this too I tell you.\u201d 14. Abraham said: \u201cWhy have you come here?\u201d 15. Death said: \u201cI come for your holy soul.\u201d 16. Then Abraham said: \u201cI know what you mean, but I will not go with you.\u201d Death was silent and did not answer him at all.
\n17:1. Then Abraham arose and went into his house, and Death also accompanied him there. Abraham went up into his chamber, and Death went up with him. Abraham lay down upon his couch, and Death came and sat by his feet. 2. Then Abraham said: \u201cDepart! Depart from me, for I desire to rest upon my couch.\u201d 3. Death said: \u201cI will not depart until I take your spirit from you.\u201d 4. Abraham said to him: \u201cBy the immortal God, I charge you to tell me the truth. Are you Death?\u201d 5. Death said to him: \u201cI am Death. I am the destroyer of the world.\u201d 6. Abraham said: \u201cI beseech you, since you are Death, tell me if you come to all in this manner\u2014in such fairness and glory and beauty?\u201d 7. Death said: \u201cNo, my lord Abraham. Your righteous deeds and the boundless sea of your hospitality and the greatness of your love toward God have become a crown upon my head. In beauty and great peace and gentleness I approach the righteous. 8. To sinners, however, I come in great corruption and fierceness and the greatest bitterness and with fierce and pitiless look.\u201d 9. Abraham said: \u201cI beg you, hear me, and show me your fierceness and all your corruption and bitterness.\u201d 10. Death said: \u201cYou cannot behold my fierceness, most righteous Abraham.\u201d 11. Abraham said: \u201cYes, I shall be able to behold all your fierceness by means of the Name of the living God. The might of my God who is in heaven is with me.\u201d 12. Then Death took off all his comeliness and beauty and all his glory and the form like the sun with which he was clothed. 13. He put upon himself a tyrant\u2019s robe, and he made his appearance gloomy and fiercer than all kind of wild beasts and more unclean than all uncleanness. 14. He showed to Abraham seven fiery heads of dragons and fourteen faces\u2014one of flaming fire and great fierceness, a face of darkness, a most gloomy face of a viper, a face of a most terrible precipice, a face fiercer than an asp, a face of a terrible lion, and a face of a cerastes and basilisk. 15. He showed him also a face of a fiery scimitar, a sword-bearing face, and a face of lightning, lightening terribly, and a noise of dreadful thunder. 16. He showed him also another face of a fierce stormy sea, a fierce rushing river, a terrible three-headed dragon, and a cup mingled with poisons. 17. In short he showed to him great fierceness and unendurable bitterness, and every mortal disease as of the odor of Death. 18. Due to the great bitterness and fierceness, about seven thousand male and female servants died. 19. And the righteous Abraham came into faintness of death so that his breath failed him.
\n18:1. The all-holy Abraham, seeing these things, said to Death: \u201cI beg you, all-destroying Death, hide your fierceness, and put on your beauty and the shape that you had before.\u201d 2. Right away, Death hid his fierceness, and he put on his beauty that he had before. 3. Abraham said to Death: \u201cWhy have you done this\u2014slain all my servants and maidservants? Has God sent you here today for this purpose?\u201d 4. Death said: \u201cNo, my lord Abraham, it is not as you say. I was sent here on your account.\u201d 5. Abraham said to Death: \u201cHow then have these ones died? Has the LORD not spoken it?\u201d 6. Death said: \u201cBelieve, most righteous Abraham, that this too is wonderful, that you also were not taken away with them. Nevertheless I tell you the truth. 7. If the right hand of God had not been with you at that time, you also would have had to depart from this life.\u201d 8. The righteous Abraham said: \u201cNow I know that I have come into the faintness of death, so that my spirit fails. 9. Yet I beg you, all-destroying Death, since my servants have died before their time, come let us pray to the LORD our God so that He may hear us and raise up those who died by your fierceness before their time.\u201d 10. Death said: \u201cAmen. Let it be so.\u201d Therefore Abraham arose and fell upon the face of the ground in prayer, and Death did so together with him. 11. The LORD sent a spirit of life upon those who were dead, and they were made alive again. Then the righteous Abraham gave glory to God.
\n19:1. Going up into his chamber, he lay down, and Death came and stood before him. 2. Abraham said to him: \u201cDepart from me! I desire to rest, because my spirit is in faintness.\u201d 3. Death said: \u201cI will not depart from you until I take your soul.\u201d 4. With an austere countenance and angry look, Abraham said to Death: \u201cWho has ordered you to say this? You say these words of yourself boastfully. I will not go with you until the commander-in-chief Michael comes to me. I shall go with him. 5. And this too I tell you: if you desire that I accompany you, explain to me all your changes\u2014the seven fiery heads of dragons and what the face of the precipice is, and what the sharp sword, and what the loud-roaring river, and what the tempestuous sea that rages so fiercely. 6. Teach me also the unendurable thunder and the terrible lightning, and the evil-smelling cup mingled with poisons. Teach me concerning all these.\u201d 7. And Death answered: \u201cListen, righteous Abraham. For seven ages I destroy the world and lead all down to Hades. Kings and rulers, rich and poor, slaves and free, I convey to the depth of Hades.Because of this I showed you the seven heads of dragons. 8. The face of fire I showed you, because many die consumed by fire and behold death through a face of fire. 9. The face of the precipice I showed you, because many people die descending from the tops of trees or terrible precipices and losing their life, and they see death in the shape of a terrible precipice. 10. The face of the sword I showed you, because many are slain in wars by the sword, and they see death as a sword. 11. The face of the great rushing river I showed you because many are drowned and perish snatched away by the crossing of many waters and carried off by great rivers, and see death before their time. 12. The face of the angry raging sea I showed you because many in the sea falling into great surges and becoming shipwrecked are swallowed up and behold death as the sea. 13. The unendurable thunder and the terrible lightning I showed you because many people in the moment of anger meet with unendurable thunder and terrible lightning coming to seize upon people, and see death thus. 14. I showed you also the poisonous wild beasts, asps and basilisks, leopards and lions and lions\u2019 whelps, bears and vipers, and in short the face of every wild beast I showed you, most righteous one, because many people are destroyed by wild beasts, 15. and others by poisonous snakes, dragons and asps and cerastes and basilisks and vipers, breathe out their life and die. 16. I showed you also the destroying cups mingled with poison, because many people being given poison to drink by other people straightway depart unexpectedly.
\n20:1. Abraham said: \u201cI beseech you, is there also an unexpected death? Tell me.\u201d 2. Death said: \u201cTruly, truly, I tell you in the truth of God that there are seventy-two deaths. One is the just death, buying its fixed time, and many people in one hour enter into death being given over to the grave. 3. Behold, I have told you all that you have asked. Now I tell you, most righteous Abraham, to dismiss all counsel and to cease from asking anything once and for all. Come! Depart with me, as the God and Judge of all has commanded me.\u201d 4. Abraham said to Death: \u201cDepart from me just a little while, so that I may rest on my couch. I am very faint at heart. 5. Since I have seen you with my eyes, my strength has failed me, all the limbs of my flesh seem to me a weight as of lead, and my spirit is exceedingly distressed. Depart for a little while; for I have said I cannot bear to see your shape.\u201d 6. Then Isaac his son came and fell upon his breast weeping, and his wife Sarah came and embraced his feet, lamenting bitterly. 7. There came also his male slaves and female slaves, and they surrounded his couch, lamenting greatly. Abraham came into the faintness of death. 8. Death said to Abraham: \u201cCome, take my right hand, and may cheerfulness and life and strength come to you\u201d\u20149. for Death deceived Abraham. He took his right hand, and right away his soul adhered to the hand of Death! 10. Immediately the archangel Michael came with a multitude of angels and took up his precious soul in his hands in a divinely woven linen cloth. 11. They tended the body of the just Abraham with divine ointments and perfumes until the third day after his death and buried him in the Land of Promise, the oak of Mamre. 12. But the angels received his precious soul and ascended into heaven, singing the hymn of \u201cthrice holy\u201d to the LORD, the God of all, and they set it there to worship the God and Father. 13. After great praise and glory had been given to the LORD, there came the undefiled voice of the God and Father saying: 14. \u201cTake my friend Abraham into paradise, where are the tabernacles of my righteous ones and the abodes of my saints Isaac and Jacob in his bosom, where there is no trouble nor grief nor sighing but peace and rejoicing and life unending.\u201d<\/p>\n
Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs<\/p>\n
James L. Kugel<\/p>\n
The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs is a collection of last wills and testaments allegedly written by Jacob\u2019s twelve sons. These are not property wills, in which a person before his death allots his material possessions to relatives and friends, but \u201cethical wills,\u201d whereby the dying person seeks to pass on to his descendants some of the wisdom he has amassed in his lifetime.
\nSuch wills were a popular form of writing in Second Temple times. Anonymous authors created the testaments of numerous biblical figures: Adam, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Levi, Job, Moses, Solomon, and others. This form of writing was popular for various reasons. First, it allowed the anonymous authors to attribute their own ideas and opinions to authoritative figures from the Bible, thus giving them a cachet they would otherwise lack. (We know that at least some of these testaments were believed to be authentic during much of the Second Temple period and afterward.) Moreover, it was an accepted belief during this period that a person on his or her deathbed was privileged with a prophetic view of the future, and this allowed the anonymous author to have his biblical figure \u201cpredict\u201d things that had already happened\u2014adding to the apparent authenticity of his words as well as affording an opportunity to comment on Israel\u2019s recent history. At the same time, the pseudonymous biblical figure could speak of things that really were still in the future\u2014assuring readers that salvation was just around the corner and that Israel would soon return to its former glory, or warning them of policies or ideas that would lead to ruin. Finally, such testaments gave their writers an opportunity to preach: Do this and don\u2019t do that! Go with this group, avoid that group, and so forth.
\nAll these features are present in the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs. Each of Jacob\u2019s sons discourses in turn on the lessons he has learned in life. The speakers hold forth on such matters as the proper path to be followed, sins to be avoided, and the fate that awaits their descendants in times to come. Each testament has a different focus, but a number of themes recur: nearly all predict that their offspring will ultimately go astray and suffer punishment\u2014exile and subjection\u2014as a result. Many, however, also hold out the hope for the reuniting of all of Israel\u2019s tribes and a return to the nation\u2019s former glory.<\/p>\n
Authorship and History<\/p>\n
The Testaments have a complicated, and much disputed, history of composition. That history probably begins in the Hasmonean period, sometime in the last half of the 2nd century BCE. The Hasmoneans had just taken over the management of the Jerusalem Temple\u2014and for all practical purposes, all political power in Judea as well\u2014following their successful campaign against Syria in the Maccabean revolt: Jonathan the Hasmonean was proclaimed high priest in 152 BCE, ousting the former priestly establishment. Not long afterward, a Hasmonean scribe compiled the Aramaic Levi Document (ALD), in which Jacob\u2019s son Levi, speaking in the first person, recounts how he was given a divine revelation conferring the priesthood on him and his descendants, and with it, temporal power as well: from his descendants would come \u201cpriests and judges \u2026 and kings\u201d (ALD 13:16). The purpose of this text was patently to legitimate the Hasmoneans\u2019 right to hold the high priesthood and temporal power as well, indeed, even to claim the title of \u201cking.\u201d (The first Hasmonean ruler to assume the title of \u201cking\u201d was apparently Aristobulus I, who ruled from 104\u2013103 BCE, but the de facto claim to temporal rule no doubt went back much earlier, starting in the time of Jonathan himself.)
\nSometime later\u2014at the end of the second or the start of the 1st century BCE\u2014came a writer with a rather different agenda, the author of what seems to have been the original, Hebrew version of the Testaments. He essentially wished to write a series of moral exhortations, in which each of Jacob\u2019s twelve sons, feeling the time of his death to be closing in, would exhort his children to follow the lessons he himself had learned in life. The result would be a series of twelve \u201cspiritual testaments\u201d that treated different aspects of the moral life. There were two problems with this plan, however. First, some of Jacob\u2019s sons had hardly been models of proper behavior: Reuben had slept with his father\u2019s concubine, Simeon and Levi had massacred all the inhabitants of Shechem in revenge for their sister\u2019s rape, and Judah had married a Canaanite woman and then slept with his own daughter-in-law. How could such people hold forth on morality?
\nTo this problem the author of the Testaments had a simple solution: the patriarchs would not all be paragons of virtue! On the contrary, Reuben, Simeon, Judah, and others would take the occasion of their deathbed address to their children in order to confess their wrongdoings: \u201cDon\u2019t make the same mistakes I did,\u201d they would say. This tactic does not characterize all the testaments, but it is present in quite a few, even some (Dan, Gad) whose Scriptural portraits scarcely suggested any sinfulness. In each such instance, the patriarch includes in his charge to his children his own heartfelt admonitions not to do as he himself did in his youth. The patriarchs also often report on their having been punished for their misdeeds and\/or on their sincere repentance after sinning. The twin principles of divine reward-and-punishment and the expiatory value of repentance were clearly central elements in the author\u2019s understanding of God\u2019s ways with humankind.
\nThe second problem faced by the Testaments\u2019 author was that the Bible actually said very little about Jacob\u2019s sons and their character\u2014with the exceptions already mentioned of Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, who all were involved in little episodes that revealed at least something of their natures. (A further exception\u2014perhaps the most important\u2014was Joseph, the altogether laudable central figure of a lengthy story that ran from Gen. 37 to 45.) But what of the other seven sons? The Bible said almost nothing about what sort of people they were, save for the little that could be gleaned from their involvement in the Joseph story and, a bit more substantially, from the words that Jacob addressed to each of them when he blessed his sons in Gen. 49. Rather than seeing this as a defect, however, the author of the Testaments saw it as an exegetical challenge: his mission was to pick up on the tiniest hints in Genesis\u2014principally in Jacob\u2019s blessings\u2014in order to invent a whole life-history or character portrait for such biblical non-entities as Issachar, Zebulon, Gad, Dan, and so forth.
\nIn this great undertaking, the author had a ready-made starting point. The ALD did, after all, present Levi as speaking in the first person, apparently in some sort of \u201cspiritual testament.\u201d All the Testaments\u2019 author had to do was translate parts of it into Hebrew and adapt it here and there to fit his purpose; then he would have a complete \u201cTestament of Levi,\u201d to which he could add eleven more testaments to complete the job. It was not laziness that caused him to start off by adopting large chunks of an existing text for part of his new book. Rather, it was because the ALD seemed to offer his book the possibility of a kind of outside legitimization. If\u2014as the Hasmoneans no doubt had claimed from the first\u2014the ALD was an ancient document written by the biblical Levi himself, then by inserting large chunks of it in Hebrew into his new composition, the author of the Testaments would seem to be proving that the other testaments in his book were the equally authentic work of Levi\u2019s brothers.
\nWhat might be thought of as the earliest version of the Testaments did not consist merely of moral exhortation, however. As mentioned, an ancient convention held that, just before death, a person is afforded a glimpse of things to come; so it is that nearly all the patriarchs report such visions, wherein they foresee that their descendants will sin and be exiled from their land. (The author of the Testaments of course knew that the various tribes would be exiled\u2014the so-called Ten Lost Tribes after the Assyrian conquest of the northern Kingdom of Israel in 722 BCE, and those of the Kingdom of Judah after the Babylonian conquest of 587\u201386 BCE.) These \u201cpredictions\u201d provided the author of the Testaments another opportunity to preach to his readership and, in particular, to urge them to be \u201cobedient to Levi\u201d and warn of the grave consequences that a failure to do so would bring down upon them.
\nThese passages are of great interest from the standpoint of the dating of the work; for, when in the history of the period would an author have considered obedience to Levi to be an important matter? The answer is hardly unequivocal, but such a call would certainly seem unlikely after the Roman conquest of Judah by Pompey (63 BCE). It was only before that time that obedience to \u201cLevi\u201d (= the Jerusalem priesthood) could have been any kind of political issue\u2014indeed, the call to obey Levi under any circumstances sounds as if it might belong to the time when the Hasmoneans were seeking to solidify their hold on political power, perhaps not long after the time of Aristobulus\u2019s self-proclamation as king. The fact that this call appears elsewhere in the Testaments as a call to obey Levi and Judah\u2014especially in T. Reub. 6:7\u20138, where the name of Judah seems clearly to have been added as an afterthought\u2014is likewise highly significant. It suggests that the earliest, \u201cpro-Hasmo-nean\u201d phase of the text was later modified to reflect a growing dissatisfaction with the political status quo (well known to have existed at various points among certain identifiable groups: the Pharisees, the Essenes, perhaps also the descendants of the old, priestly establishment that the Hasmoneans had ousted).
\nThe editor who apparently changed most of the \u201cobey Levi\u201d passages to \u201cobey Levi and Judah\u201d was probably also responsible for other changes as well, in particular the dire predictions of a corrupt priesthood (see T. Levi 14:5\u201318:1). It is hard to be more precise, but this writer probably wrote sometime in the first half of the 1st century BCE. He apparently held that concentrating all power in the priesthood was not only a mistake but also ran counter to the increasingly popular hope that someday the Davidic monarchy\u2014symbolized by Judah, David\u2019s tribe\u2014would return to the throne and the promise of eternal kingship that God had granted Judah (Gen. 49:10) would be realized.
\nThe insertion of this material supporting Judah and denouncing corruption in the priest-hood\u2014as well as perhaps other material unrelated to contemporary politics\u2014seems to constitute a second stage in the Testaments\u2019 composition. But this is hardly the end of the story. In particular, it is necessary to deal with the thorny issue of how, and with what changes of substance, an originally Hebrew compilation of twelve testaments turned into the Greek composition that was to form the basis of the book we actually possess, the Greek Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs.<\/p>\n
Language of Composition<\/p>\n
That the Greek Testaments include much material originally written in Hebrew and\/or Aramaic material is hardly open to question. In particular, the close relationship of the ALD and our current Testament of Levi\u2014often a matter of word-by-word correspondence\u2014provides one concrete example of how an indisputably Semitic original stands behind our current Greek book. Still more significant, the discovery of a fragment of a Testament of Naphtali among the Dead Sea Scrolls (4Q215) offers strong support for the idea that a complete book of the twelve testaments of Jacob\u2019s sons once existed in Hebrew. As noted, the \u201ctestament\u201d genre was a popular one in Second Temple times. Still, the discovery among the Dead Sea Scrolls of a fragment from a testament belonging to such a minor figure as Naphtali suggests that it probably was composed as part of a larger work, a collection of testaments of all of Jacob\u2019s twelve sons\u2014in other words, some version of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs. At the same time, this brief Qumran fragment is rather puzzling. It does share some elements with our existing Testament of Naphtali in the Greek Testaments, but it is also clearly different from the Greek in substance. If it was the base-text used by a Greek translator, then that translator was certainly an imaginative fellow, adding and changing things at will. And if he did that with the Testament of Naphtali, would he not have been just as free with the other testaments? To what extent, then, can the Greek Testaments be considered a translation, and to what extent a free reworking, of earlier material in Hebrew?
\nNo unequivocal answer to this question can be given. At times, our current Greek text clearly reveals itself to be translated from a Semitic original\u2014the evidence includes some mistakes whose existence can only be explained as translation errors. What is more, the Greek often demonstrates stylistic characteristics that bespeak a Semitic original\u2014turns of phrase or bits of syntax that seem strikingly un-Greek. At the same time, however, the Greek text as a whole features a great many Greek words or expressions that have no ready Hebrew or Aramaic equivalent. A number of different scenarios have been proposed to account for this somewhat contradictory evidence. One is that of a very free translation:instead of the normal process of fairly literal, phrase-by-phrase translating, one would have to imagine the translator reading a sentence (or a whole paragraph) in the Semitic original, then closing his or her eyes, and rethinking the whole sentence in idiomatic Greek. A second possibility is that of a two-stage translation. At first, rather literal translation was made, but then a later editor, disturbed at the foreign-sounding language, deliberately set out to re-phrase things in a more natural-sounding Greek; however, this was done somewhat inconsistently, with many of the old Hebraisms left in alongside the editor\u2019s sometimes striking departures from the original translator\u2019s text. Such an editor also threw in a few sentences and even paragraphs of his or her own\u2014Greek-sounding reflections that never were part of the original work. Yet a third possibility is that of a Greek-writing author who actually composed our Testaments: this person may indeed have had Hebrew or Aramaic source material close at hand (such as the ALD and the Hebrew Testament of Naphtali), and may even have quoted it or translated it literally at times; but most of his or her composition was, however much inspired by earlier material, composed de novo in Greek. The difference between these three scenarios is a matter of nuance, and it will probably never be possible to decide definitively on one or the other. Readers will find some of the evidence adduced in the commentary below.<\/p>\n
The Influence of Hellenism<\/p>\n
The whole history of the Testaments is wrapped up with that of Hellenization, the spread of Greek culture across the lands conquered by Alexander the Great in the late 4th century BCE\u2014including, of course, Judea. There was scarcely a Jew anywhere who was not influenced in some way by Hellenization during the closing centuries BCE and the early centuries of the Common Era (even after the Greeks had been supplanted in the Near East by their Roman successors). Such influence may be discerned even in the putative earliest, Hebrew stage of the Testaments. Its concern with the individual\u2019s moral perfection and the rooting out of such bad traits of character as anger and hatred, drunkenness and licentiousness certainly had its precedents in the biblical book of Proverbs and the Wisdom of Ben Sira; but it would be equally appropriate to see here the traces of Greek philosophy, and in particular the influence of the then-popular school of Stoicism. Anyone familiar with the extant writings of the later Stoics cannot help but think of, for example, Seneca\u2019s essays \u201cOn Anger,\u201d \u201cOn Mercy,\u201d and the like when these same traits are the center of discussion in the Testaments; the Stoic doctrine of simplicity and living in accordance with nature finds an eloquent equivalent in T. Iss. and its unceasing praise of the simple life.
\nWhen the Hebrew text of the Testaments was translated into Greek, those parts most resonant with Hellenistic thought may well have moved the Greek translator to embellish upon them. As already noted, there are many individual verses and even short passages that cannot easily be retroverted into Hebrew. The simplest explanation for these is that they were entirely reformulated from the Hebrew into the idiom of Greek philosophical discourse\u2014if not altogether invented, created out of whole cloth\u2014by the Greek translator. Of course, one should not carry this line of argument too far. When all is said and done, the Testaments are not a philosophical treatise but an exercise in imaginative biblical interpretation turned to the purpose of ethical preaching. Nevertheless, in their language, in their focus on moral perfection, and in some of their specific themes, the influence of Hellenism on the Greek Testaments is altogether apparent.<\/p>\n
A Christian Document<\/p>\n
In its present form, the Testaments make reference here and there to various Christian themes, and the significance of this fact has likewise been a matter of discussion among scholars. From an early date, some scholars of the Testaments concluded that these Christian elements were later interpolations into what had originally been a Jewish text; however, others have maintained the opposite position, that the Testaments is an essentially Christian work, created by a Christian author who, however much he may have availed himself of some oral and\/or written Jewish material, composed the Testaments from the beginning as a book of Christian piety. Although this hypothesis has not lacked supporters, the matter of Christian authorship does not seem to me quite as open to debate as the extent to which one should consider the Greek Testaments a translation or a free reworking of the Hebrew original.
\nWe have already glimpsed the existence of various exhortations to obey Levi, exhortations that would scarcely make any sense in a Christian document. (Indeed it is revealing that the Christian interpolator\u2014no doubt troubled by the implications of such passages but apparently unable to eliminate them from the well-established text\u2014tried to convert a few of them into predictions of the coming of the Christian messiah, whose genealogy for this purpose was connected with the tribes of Levi and Judah together.) Added to this is the text\u2019s abiding concern with altogether Jewish themes, such as 1) the eventual ingather-ing of the exiles, 2) the avoidance of marriage with Gentiles, 3) the centrality of obedience to, and study of, the Torah\u2019s commandments, 4) the burial of all the patriarchs in the Land of Israel, 5) the strict observance of dietary laws, 6) and the religious duty of supporting the temple priesthood. And on top of all this is the abundance of little bits of biblical interpretation that make sense only in Hebrew.
\nFinally\u2014and perhaps most significantly\u2014is all that the Testaments do not contain. How likely is it that a Christian writer would go to the trouble of writing ab initio the spiritual testaments of Jacob\u2019s twelve sons and then have them say so very little about the events of the Gospels or the message and mission of early Christianity? On balance, the Christian material in the Testaments is a small fraction of the whole, and even those ethical teachings that have (to my mind wrongly) been attributed to such a Christian writer include no attempt to connect those teachings to Jesus or his followers. What seems far more likely is that the sections in each testament that \u201cpredict\u201d the future (i.e., the disappearance of the Northern Kingdom, the fall of Jerusalem and Babylonian exile, the rise of a corrupt priesthood) attracted the attention of an early Christian, who saw in them the perfect opportunity to insert his own \u201cpredictions.\u201d This is how all the Christian interpolations entered the Testaments, and why they are a relatively small part of the whole.
\nSome of these points can be (and have been) argued against by supporters of the Christian-composition theory, but their arguments are, in my opinion, weak and overwhelmed by the evidence on the other side. In the last analysis (and after more than three centuries of scholarly debate), the most reasonable conclusion appears to be that the Testaments: 1) started off as a Jewish text in Hasmonean times; a text that 2) was later slightly revised while still in Hebrew, with specific insertions critical of the priesthood (as well as perhaps other material); 3) was still later freely translated into Greek with a number of a new passages added; and then finally 4) was supplemented by a relatively small and easily identifiable set of Christian interpolations.<\/p>\n
Significance<\/p>\n
The Testaments are one of the most significant pieces of writing to have survived from the Second Temple period. Particularly interesting is what they can teach us about ancient biblical interpretation, since each testament refers\u2014directly or indirectly\u2014to passages from the book of Genesis as well as other parts of what would become the Hebrew Bible. Some of the interpretive motifs found in the Testaments may have originated with the book\u2019s own author[s]; others appear to have been borrowed from earlier works, in particular, from Jubilees. It is striking that a number of the interpretive motifs found in the Testaments reappear in much the same form in later writings, particularly in the midrash of Rabbinic Judaism. Considered as a whole, the various bits of biblical interpretation in the Testaments provide a valuable set of clues, helping us to trace the development of biblical interpretation in a period that was crucial for the emergence of Rabbinic Judaism.
\nBut the Testaments also shine a light on, as it were, the soul of Judaism in this crucial period. The author sought to explore some of the most basic of ethical concerns: What makes people sin? What is it that prevents us, despite our best intentions, from doing the right thing all the time? Most important: what do we need to do to avoid the usual pitfalls and strive for moral perfection? On these fundamental issues the Testaments do not speak with one voice. As will be seen, some parts of the book seem to attribute human evil to outside sources, Spirits (with a capital S, angel-like emissaries sent from the wicked angel Beliar), who can enter people\u2019s minds and cause them to go astray. Other parts seem to treat human evil as a mainly internal affair: an urge (Gk.: diaboulion) inside us spurs us to do what we know to be wrong. (Sometimes, this evil urge is depicted as being at war with an opposite, good urge, much as in later Rabbinic Judaism.) Whatever the origins of such evil, the Testaments are full of advice as to how it is to be defeated, and this too makes of the book a unique contribution to our understanding of the emergence of Jewish (and Christian) ethics in this formative period.<\/p>\n
About This Translation and Commentary<\/p>\n
The Testaments have survived in more than a dozen medieval Greek manuscripts, as well as in a number of medieval Armenian and Slavonic translations. Scholars have studied the interrelationship of these various manuscripts, in an attempt both to reconstruct the earliest recoverable version of the Greek text as well as to use the manuscript evidence to discern different stages in the text\u2019s evolution. (For a time it was held, for example, that the relative paucity of Christian references in some of the Armenian manuscripts bore witness to the gradual growth of the Christian interpolations.) Neither of these efforts can be said to have fully succeeded. While the Greek manuscripts have been sorted into two basic families of texts that were further studied for their relationship to each other (along with their connection to the various medieval translations into other languages), none of this has allowed scholars to peer beyond a relatively late date\u2014the 9th century CE, by some estimations\u2014in the Testaments\u2019 history. This would still leave us many, many centuries\u2014and many acts of copying and recopying\u2014from the putative first edition of the Greek text. What is more, there is no single \u201cbest\u201d manuscript among the surviving ones that can be used as the basis for a translation into English; while textual criticism has allowed us to understand how some errors, omissions, and additions have crept into the manuscript tradition, translating the Testaments is still very much a matter of comparing and weighing variant readings\u2014verse by verse, indeed, word by word. For the same reason, scholars generally agree that textual criticism itself will not allow us to reconstruct the compositional history of the Testaments\u2014the manuscript evidence is simply inadequate to the task.<\/p>\n
GUIDE TO READING<\/p>\n
In preparing the current translation and commentary, I have relied principally on the scholarly edition of the Greek Testaments prepared by M. de Jonge (see below). Throughout, however, I have been guided by my own understanding of the text\u2019s early history (outlined above), which is rather different from de Jonge\u2019s, and this is one factor that has caused me to part ways here and there with his preferred readings. In particular\u2014save in those passages that clearly bear the stamp of having been composed originally in Greek\u2014I have often tried to \u201crethink\u201d the sentence in Hebrew to see if that can shed light on the putative original form. Since the actual words of the received Greek text often fall short of what I understand to have been the original meaning, I have sometimes inserted into my translation an explanatory word or two when literal rendering would leave the sense unclear. These explanatory words always appear in square brackets to distinguish them from what the Greek actually says. Sometimes, the Greek text appears to have acquired an extra word or an otherwise problematic phrasing; in these cases I have translated the Greek text as is but surrounded the word or words with angled brackets and explained the reason in the notes. On a few occasions, I have actually dared to try to restore the original version of the text when none of the extant versions is comprehensible; in those cases I have made specific mention of my restoration in the notes.
\nAs mentioned, my aim in both the translation and commentary has been to make sense of the text in the light of the Testaments\u2019 complicated evolution. Since the present volume is a collection of putatively Jewish writings (although some, like the Testaments, have clearly been supplemented by Christian additions and interpolations), I have removed the obviously Christian material from the body of the text and printed it in footnotes. (This is the same procedure as that followed by Charles in his 1908 translation, although I differ from Charles somewhat in my understanding of where specific Christian interpolations begin and end.) More than anything else, however, I have tried to focus my commentary on the bits of biblical interpretation that abound in the Testaments. This is an aspect of the Testaments that has sometimes been neglected in previous commentaries, but one that appears to have played a central role in the Testaments\u2019 composition.
\nAs with other compositions that retell biblical narratives, it is important to read the Testaments with a copy of the Bible at hand, since so much of it is concerned with biblical interpretation. Apart from actual narratives, such as the lengthy story of Joseph and his brothers (Gen. 37, 39\u201345), the Testaments depend to a large extent on the cryptic blessings that Jacob allotted to his twelve sons in Gen. 49.<\/p>\n
SUGGESTED READING<\/p>\n
Charles, R. H. The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs. London: Adam and Charles Black, 1908.
\nGreenfield, J., et al. The ALD: Edition, Translation, Commentary. Leiden: Brill, 2004.
\nHollander, H. W., and M. de Jonge. The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs: A Commentary. Leiden: Brill, 1986.
\nKugel, J. The Ladder of Jacob: Ancient Interpretations of the Biblical Story of Jacob and His Children. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006.
\nKugler, R. A. The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2001.
\nSlingerland, D. The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs: A Critical History of Research. Missoula MT: Scholar\u2019s Press, 1977.
\nStone, M. Selected Studies in Pseudepigrapha and Apocrypha, with Special Reference to the Armenian Tradition. Leiden: Brill, 1991.<\/p>\n
TRANSLATION<\/p>\n
The Testament of Reuben<\/p>\n
1:1 A copy of the testament of Reuben, the things that he commanded to his sons before he died in the one hundred and twenty-fifth year of his life. 1:2 Two years after the death of Joseph, when he [Reuben] became ill, his sons and grandsons came together to look after him. 1:3 And he said to them: My children, I am dying and going the way of my fathers. 1:4 And seeing his brothers Judah and Gad and Asher there, he said to them: Lift me up, brothers, so that I may tell my brothers and my children the things that are hidden in my heart, since I am now about to depart.
\n1:5 And getting up, he kissed them and said weeping: Listen, my brothers, and my children attend to your father Reuben, to the things that I am commanding you. 1:6 And behold, today I call the God of heaven to witness against you, that you not walk in the youthful ignorance and licentiousness into which I was poured out when I defiled the bed of my father Jacob. 1:7 For I tell you that He afflicted me with a great wound in my loins for seven months; and were it not that my father Jacob prayed to the LORD on my behalf\u2014for the LORD wished to kill me. 1:8 I was thirty years old when I did this evil before the LORD, and for seven months I was sick to the point of death. 1:9 But in the set purpose of my soul, for seven years I repented before the LORD. 1:10 I did not drink wine or strong drink, and meat did not enter my mouth, nor did I taste any appetizing bread, mourning over my sin\u2014for it was indeed great. And it shall not happen thus in Israel.
\n2:1 And now, listen to me, children, [to] what I saw in my repenting with regard to the seven Spirits of deceit. 2:2 Seven Spirits were established by Beliar against man and they are the beginning of the deeds of youth.
\n2:3 And seven other spirits were given to him at [his] creation, so that through them every deed of a man should be [accomplished]. 2:4 The first is the spirit of life, through which his [whole] make-up is created. The second is the spirit of sight, through which comes desire. 2:5 The third is the spirit of hearing, through which comes teaching. The fourth is the spirit of smell, through which are given the tastes to draw in air and breath. 2:6 The fifth of the spirit of speech, with which comes knowledge. 2:7 The sixth is the spirit of taste, with which comes the consumption of foods and drinks, and strength is created through these; for in food is the foundation of strength. 2:8 The seventh is the spirit of procreation and sexual intercourse, through which comes sin because of the love of pleasure. 2:9 That is why, [although] it is the last in [the order of] creation [it is] the first in youth, since it is filled with ignorance, which leads the young person like a blind man to a pit, and like a sheep over a cliff. 3:1 In addition to all these is an eighth spirit, [that] of sleep, through which is created the trance-like state [that occurs in] nature, as well as a likeness of death. 3:2 Infused in all these spirits is the Spirit of deceit.
\n3:3 The first, [the Spirit] of licentiousness, lodges in nature and in the senses; the second, the Spirit of insatiability, is in the stomach. 3:4 The third, the Spirit of contentiousness, is in the liver and bile; the fourth [is] the Spirit of flattery and hypocrisy, so that, by [a person\u2019s] exerting himself, he may appear to be charming. 3:5 The fifth is the Spirit of arrogance, [making a person] brag and boast; the sixth is the Spirit of lying out of depravity and envy, in order to falsify and hide things [even] from the members of one\u2019s family and household. 3:6 The seventh is the Spirit of injustice, through which theft and rapaciousness [come about], so as to satisfy the love of pleasure in his heart; for injustice cooperates with the other Spirits in the taking of bribes. 3:7 In addition to all these is the Spirit of sleep, the eighth Spirit, joined to deceit and imagination.
\n3:8 And thus every youth is destroyed, obscuring [his] mind from truth and not understanding God\u2019s Torah nor heeding the warnings of his father\u2014just as I myself suffered in my youth.
\n3:9 And now, children, love the truth and it will watch over you. Hear the words of Reuben your father. 3:10 Do not pay attention to a woman\u2019s looks, and do not be together with another man\u2019s woman, and do not be overly curious about women\u2019s business. 3:11 For if I had not seen Bilhah bathing in a hidden place, I would not have fallen into this great iniquity. 3:12 For [once] my mind had seized on [her] womanly nakedness, it would not let me sleep until I had done th[at] abomination. 3:13 For while Jacob our father had gone off to [visit] his father Isaac, when we were in Eder, near to Ephrat in Bethlehem, Bilhah got drunk and lay down and fell asleep uncovered in the bedroom. 3:14 And I entered and I saw her nakedness and I did that impiety, and leaving her asleep, I went out. 3:15 Thereafter, an angel of God revealed to my father Jacob concerning my impiety, and he came and grieved over me, and he touched her no more.
\n4:1 So do not pay attention to the beauty of women and do not be concerned with their business; instead, proceed in simplicity of heart, in the fear of the LORD, [by] exerting yourselves in good deeds and in Scripture\u2014and in [tending] your flocks\u2014until the LORD gives you a spouse with whom He is pleased, so that you not suffer as I did.
\n4:2 For right up to the death of my father, I did not have the effrontery to look Jacob in the eye or to speak to any of my brothers, because of their reproaches. 4:3 And to this day my conscience afflicts me concerning my sin. 4:4 And my father comforted me much, and he prayed to the LORD concerning me, so that the wrath of the LORD might depart from me, as [indeed] the LORD showed me; from that time until now, I have been on my guard and have not sinned.
\n4:5 Therefore, my children, keep everything that I am commanding you, and you will not sin. 4:6 For licentiousness is a trap for the soul, separating [it] from God and bringing [it] close to idols;for it deceives the mind and thought, and leads youths down to the underworld before their time. 4:7 Licentiousness has brought many [people] to ruin; even if someone is old or of noble birth, it brings upon him the reproof of the sons of men and is a stumbling block of Beliar. 4:8 It was because Joseph guarded himself from a woman and purified his thoughts from any licentiousness that he found favor in the sight of God and men. 4:9 For the Egyptian woman did many things to him, and called out magicians and brought him love potions, yet the disposition of his soul did not accept any evil desire. 4:10 That is why the God of our fathers saved him from any visible or hidden death. 4:11 For if licentiousness cannot overcome your mind, Beliar cannot overcome you.
\n5:1 For women are evil, my children; since they have no power or strength over a man, they resort to guile to draw him to themselves by [their physical] charms. 5:2 And anyone whom they cannot overcome by [their physical] charms, they overcome by craft. 5:3 Moreover, the angel of the LORD told me about them and taught me that women are overcome by the Spirit of licentiousness more [easily] than men, and that in the[ir] heart they plot against men; through adornments they first deceive [men\u2019s] minds, and through a glance they inject the poison, and then by the deed [itself] they capture [them]. 5:4 A woman cannot overcome a man by force, so she seduces him with her prostitute\u2019s [physical] charms.
\n5:5 So flee from licentiousness, my children, and tell your wives and your daughters not to adorn their heads and faces to trick the mind[s of men], because every woman indulging in such treachery is condemned to eternal punishment. 5:6 For it was thus that they [the women] bewitched the Watchers before the flood: as these [Watchers] kept seeing them continuously, they began to desire them, and they took hold of the act in the[ir] mind; transforming themselves into the shape of men, they appeared to them [i.e., the women] when they were cohabiting with their husbands. 5:7 And these [the women], desiring in the[ir] mind the [Watchers\u2019] apparitions, gave birth to giants. (For the Watchers had appeared to them as reaching up to heaven.)
\n6:1 So beware of licentiousness, and if you wish to be pure in thought, guard your senses from all females. 6:2 And tell these [i.e., women] not to go as a pair with men, so that they may be pure in thought as well. 6:3 For meeting one another continuously, even if no impiety is committed, becomes for them [the women] an incurable disease, and for us [men] a trap of Beliar\u2019s and an eternal reproach. 6:4 For licentiousness holds in itself neither understanding nor piety, and all of envy resides in the lust for it.
\n6:5 Therefore, you will be envious of the sons of Levi, and you will seek to be exalted over them, but you will not be able to. 6:6 For God will avenge them, and you will die an evil death. 6:7 For God granted leadership to Levi, and to Judah as well, and with them to me also, and to Dan and Joseph, that we should be leaders. 6:8 That is why I am commanding you to obey Levi, because he will know the Torah of the LORD and will give rulings for judgment and sacrifices on behalf of all Israel \u2026 6:9 I cause you to swear by the God of heaven, that each of you will act faithfully toward his fellow and lovingly toward his brother. 6:10 And approach Levi in humbleness of heart, so that you may receive a blessing from his mouth. 6:11 He shall bless Israel and Judah; for the LORD has chosen him to be king over all peoples. 6:12 Bow down to his descendants, for they have died on our behalf in visible and invisible battles, and they will be king[s] in you forever.
\n7:1 And Reuben died, having commanded his sons. 7:2 And they put him in a coffin until they carried him out of Egypt and buried him in Hebron, in the cave where his father was.<\/p>\n
The Testament of Simeon<\/p>\n
1:1 A copy of the words of Simeon, which he spoke to his sons before he died, in the hundred and twentieth year of his life, in the [same] year that Joseph died. 1:2 When Simeon was ill, his sons went to care for him, and he summoned his strength and sat up and kissed them, and said: The Testament of Levi<\/p>\n 1:1 A copy of the words of Levi that he commanded his sons before his death, concerning everything that they would do and everything that would happen to them until the Day of Judgment. 1:2 He was in good health when he called them to [come to] him, but it had been revealed to him that he was going to die; and when they had gathered together, he said to them: The Testament of Judah<\/p>\n 1:1 A copy of the words of Judah, which he spoke to his sons before he died.1:2 They gathered together and went to him, and he said to them: 1:3 Listen, my children, to your father Judah. I was the fourth son born to my father, and my mother named me Judah, saying, \u201cI give thanks to the LORD, because he gave me a fourth son.\u201d 1:4 I was eager and earnest in my youth and obeyed my father in everything. 1:5 and I honored my mother and my mother\u2019s sister. 1:6 And it happened that when I became a man, my father blessed me, saying: You will be a king, causing all things to prosper. 1:1 A copy of the words of Issachar. Having called to his children, he said to them: Listen, children, to Issachar your father, and give ear to the words of one beloved of the LORD. 1:2 I was born the fifth son of Jacob, in exchange for the mandrakes. 1:3 Reuben had been bringing some mandrakes from the field when Rachel came across him and took them away [from him]. 1:4 So Reuben started to cry, and Leah his mother came out at the sound [of his voice]. 1:5 (Now these [mandrakes] are fragrant apples that the land of Aram produces on a high place below [better: above] a watery ravine.) 1:1 A copy of [the testament of] Zebulon, which he ordered his children in the one hundred and fourteenth year of his life, two years after Joseph\u2019s death. 1:2 And he said to them: Listen to me, sons of Zebulon, attend to the words of your father. 1:3 I am Zebulon, a good gift to my parents. For when I was born, my father increased greatly both in flocks and in cattle, when with the streaked rods he obtained his share. 1:4 My children, I am not aware of having ever sinned in my life, save in thought. 1:5 And I do not remember having ever committed a transgression, except for the foolish mistake I made with regard to Joseph, when I covered for my brothers and did not tell my father what happened. 1:6 And I wept much in private, since I was afraid of my brothers: for they had all agreed that if anyone revealed the secret, he would be killed at sword-point. 1:7 Nevertheless, when they [first] wished to kill him [i.e., Joseph], I did warn them tearfully not to go through with this lawless act. The Testament of Dan<\/p>\n 1:1 A copy of the words of Dan, which he spoke to his sons in his last days, in the hundred and twenty-fifth year of his life. 1:2 Calling to his family, he said: Listen to my words, you sons of Dan; attend to the words of your father\u2019s mouth. 1:3 I have found it to be true, in my heart and in my whole life, that truthfulness along with fair treatment are proper and pleasing to God, while lying and anger are evil, because they teach people every wickedness. 1:4 I confess to you today, my children, that I rejoiced in my heart at [the idea of] Joseph\u2019s death, a true and good man, 1:5 and that I was pleased by Joseph\u2019s being sold [as a slave], because father loved him more than us. The Testament of Naphtali<\/p>\n 1:1 A copy of the testament of Naphtali, which he bequeathed at the time of his passing, in the one hundred and thirty-second year of his life. 1:2 When his sons gathered together in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, when he was in good health, he made a feast for them. 1:3 After he woke up the next morning, he said to them: I am about to die; and they did not believe him. 1:4 And blessing the LORD, he grew strong [and said] that after yesterday\u2019s feast he was dying. The Testament of Gad<\/p>\n 1:1 A copy of the testament of Gad\u2014the things he told his sons in the hundred and twenty-seventh year of his life, saying: 1:2 I was born a ninth son to Jacob, and I was courageous over the flocks. 1:3 I used to guard the flocks at night, and when a lion or a wolf or a leopard or a bear or any wild beast came to [attack] the flock, I would run after it and I would seize its leg in my hand and then I would whirl it around and throw it two stadia away, and so I would kill [it]. The Testament of Asher<\/p>\n 1:1 A copy of the testament of Asher: the things that he said to his sons, in the one hundred and twentysixth year of his life. 1:2 While he was still healthy, he said to them: Listen to your father, children of Asher, and I will inform you about everything that is proper in God\u2019s eyes. The Testament of Joseph<\/p>\n 1:1 A copy of the testament of Joseph. When he was about to die he called to his sons and his brothers and said to them: The Testament of Benjamin<\/p>\n 1:1 A copy of the words of Benjamin, which he commanded his sons after having lived for one hundred and twenty-five years. 1:2 And he kissed them and said: Just as Isaac was born to Abraham in his hundredth year, so I was born to Jacob. 1:3 Since my mother Rachel died giving birth to me, I had no milk. So I was nursed by Bilhah, her servant-girl. 1:4 For Rachel was barren for twelve years after she gave birth to Joseph; and she prayed to the LORD while fasting for twelve days, and she conceived and gave birth to me. 1:5 My father loved Rachel very much and prayed that he might see two sons [born] from her. 1:6 That is why I was called Benjamin, that is \u201cson of days.\u201d Testament of Moses<\/p>\n Kenneth Atkinson<\/p>\n The Testament of Moses, also known as the Assumption of Moses, purports to contain Moses\u2019s farewell discourse to his successor Joshua. Closely modeled after the book of Deuteronomy, it summarizes Jewish history from the entrance into the Promised Land until the Day of Judgment.<\/p>\n Authorship and History<\/p>\n The author is unknown. The Testament of Moses was likely written in Jerusalem, or elsewhere in Palestine. It survives in a single, incomplete, partly illegible 6th-century-CE. Latin manuscript in the Ambrosian Library in Milan, Italy. It was partially erased to copy a Christian text, which caused much damage to the manuscript. The Latin contains numerous misspellings and grammatical errors. It was likely translated from a Greek edition, which was translated from a Hebrew or Aramaic original. References in Christian literature to a Testament of Moses and an Assumption of Moses indicate either that the composition circulated under different names, or that our present text is a combination of two separate works. Scholars disagree whether the Testament of Moses was written during the 1st century BCE and later updated, or composed during the 1st century CE.<\/p>\n Significance<\/p>\n There are no citations to the Testament of Moses in Jewish literature. The work is largely a retelling of biblical stories. It is reminiscent of material in several Dead Sea Scrolls (1Q22, 4Q374, 4Q377, and 4Q378). Stories about Moses\u2019s ascension are also found in later Jewish writings.<\/p>\n GUIDE TO READING<\/p>\n The Testament of Moses is largely a rewriting of Deut. 31\u201334. The author assumes that the reader is familiar with Exodus, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, 1\u20132 Samuel, and 1\u20132 Kings.<\/p>\n SUGGESTED READING<\/p>\n Atkinson, Kenneth. \u201cTaxo\u2019s Martyrdom and the Role of the Nuntius in the Testament of Moses: Implications for Understanding the Role of Other Intermediary Figures.\u201d Journal of Biblical Literature 125 (Fall 2006): 453\u201376. TRANSLATION<\/p>\n 1:1[The first three lines of text are missing. There was probably some reference to the year of Moses\u2019s life when he delivered the farewell speech to Joshua. Cf. Deut 31:2; 34:7.] 2which is twenty five hundred years after the creation of the world, 3but according to an oriental chronology [\u2026] after the departure from Phoenecia. 4When, after the exodus, which had been led my Moses, the people had gone up to Amman across the Jordan, 5this is the prophecy which was made by Moses in the book of Deuteronomy. 10:1\u201cThen his kingdom will appear throughout his whole creation. 2Then will be filled the hands of the messenger, 3For the Heavenly One will arise from his kingly throne 4And the earth will tremble, even to its ends shall it be shaken. 5The sun will not give light. It will be turned wholly into blood. 7For God Most High will surge forth, 8Then you will be happy, O Israel! 9And God will raise you up to the heights. 10And you will behold from on high. 11\u201cBut you, Joshua son of Nun, keep these words and this book, 12for from my death and burial until his coming there will pass 250 times. 13And this is the course [three to five letters are lost] times which come until they be completed. 14However, I shall be asleep with my fathers. 15Therefore, you, Joshua son of Nun, be strong; for God has chosen you to be my successor in the same covenant.\u201d Testament of Kohath<\/p>\n Andrew D. Gross<\/p>\n The Aramaic composition Testament of Kohath (known from only a single manuscript, 4Q542), is preserved in three fragments, only one of which contains a substantial amount of text. The testament genre, well attested in both biblical and post-biblical literature, features a dying patriarch giving words of admonition and wisdom to his children and followers. Scholars generally group this text with the Testament of Levi and the Visions of Amram, as a trilogy of testaments featuring priestly patriarchs. The text emphasizes the role of the priests to serve as models of purity and rectitude, as well as their mandate to instruct the nation as a whole and their fellow priests in particular in these values (cf. Deut. 33:10). These attitudes toward the role of the priesthood in Jewish society overlap greatly with those found in the sectarian texts from Qumran, where the three extant fragments of this manuscript were discovered. While this could explain the presence of this text in the Qumran library, it was likely not a sectarian composition. SUGGESTED READING<\/p>\n Caquot, Andr\u00e9. \u201cGrandeur et puret\u00e9 du sacerdoce: Remarques sur le Testament de Qahat (4Q542).\u201d In Solving Riddles and Untying Knots: Biblical, Epigraphic, and Semitic Studies in Honor of Jonas C. Greenfield, edited by Ziony Zevit, Seymour Gitin, and Michael Sokoloff, 39\u201344. Winona Lake IN: Eisenbrauns, 1995. TRANSLATION<\/p>\n Column 1<\/p>\n 1. < \u2026 > God of Gods forever; and may he make his light shine upon you and make you know his great name Column 2<\/p>\n 1. I have taught you in truth now and forevermore.[ Testament of Job<\/p>\n Harold W. Attridge<\/p>\n The Testament of Job is representative of a widely used genre in Second Temple Judaism. The fictive setting is a deathbed scene in which a revered elder addresses his children. Biblical models were the blessing of Jacob on his sons (Gen. 47:29\u201350:14) and the book of Deuteronomy\u2014in effect, the last testament of Moses. Examples of this genre, which provided a vehicle for ethical instruction, include the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, the Testament of Abraham, the Testament of Jacob, and the Testament of Solomon. The Testament of Job is particularly close to the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, although it focuses not on a patriarch of Israel, but on a figure from the Writings. It uses the story of Job, which it embellishes at many points, as a model of the virtue of patience or endurance. It also highlights other virtues of Job, such as his generosity to the poor.<\/p>\n Authorship and History<\/p>\n The Testament of Job was probably composed in the 1st century BCE or CE. Although some scholars have speculated that it may have been written originally in Hebrew or Aramaic and translated into Greek, there are no sure linguistic indications of such a process and there are close affinities between the Testament and the Septuagint. Hence, it was most probably composed in Greek. The Testament was probably known to Tertullian, a Christian active in Carthage in the early 3rd century CE, in his work on patience (De patientia). The Testament survives in three Greek manuscripts dating from the 11th to the 14th centuries. It was also translated in antiquity into Coptic, the language of Christian Egypt. Of that translation there survives a partial text preserved on papyrus from the 5th century CE. By the 10th century, the Testament was also translated into Old Church Slavonic, of which three manuscripts survive. These Greek, Coptic, and Slavonic manuscripts suggest the popularity of the work, particularly in Christian circles of late antiquity. It was, however, condemned as an extracanonical apocryphon in the 6th-century Gelasian Decree and was ignored in the West through the Middle Ages. Significance<\/p>\n The Testament of Job offers a view into the world of readers of the biblical book of Job among Greek-speaking Jews of the Hellenistic period. The Testament displays a close relationship to the Greek translation of the book of Job, which differs in many respects from the Hebrew, or Masoretic text. The Testament often reflects those differences, but further expands the story. The Testament also offers evidence of other aspects of Jewish piety of the period, including hints of mysticism and magical practice in its final chapters. Its many poetic sections (chaps. 25, 32, 33, 43, 53) contain what may be examples of the hymns and liturgical poetry of the period. Although the text was suppressed, the memory of Job as an example of patience, forcefully expressed in the Testament, came to dominate Western Christian estimations of his significance.<\/p>\n GUIDE TO READING<\/p>\n The Testament of Job is framed by a prologue (chap. 1), which sets the stage for the story, and an epilogue (chaps. 51\u201353), which reports Job\u2019s death and burial and describes the ascent of his soul to heaven. The rest of the Testament describes the interactions between Job and various other characters: an angel (chaps. 2\u20135), Satan (chaps. 6\u201327), his three royal friends (chaps. 28\u201345), and his three daughters (chaps. 46\u201350). The interactions often echo language from various parts of canonical Job, in its Greek form. The author of the Testament delights in the practice, found in much Greek literature, of composing speeches in the person of his chief character. His interests are practical and not speculative. Hence the problem of theodicy\u2014how can bad things happen if God is good and omnipotent?\u2014posed so forcefully by the biblical book, receives only passing mention (37:5\u20137). Theological speculation is deemed useless and the character of Job here insists on the limits of human knowledge (38:5). What counts is a life of virtue in which patience looms large. What grounds the patience is the assurance of a heavenly reward, a \u201cthrone\u201d (33:3) for the righteous.<\/p>\n SUGGESTED READING<\/p>\n Collins, John J. Between Athens and Jerusalem, rev. ed. Grand Rapids MI: Erdmans, 2000. TRANSLATION<\/p>\n Prologue<\/p>\n TITLE<\/p>\n 1:1The book of the words of Job, the one called Jobab.<\/p>\n SETTING<\/p>\n 2Now on the day when, having fallen ill, he began to settle his affairs, he called his seven sons and his three daughters, 3whose names are Tersi, Choros, Hyon, Nike, Phoros, Phiphe, Phrouon, Hemera, Kasia, and Amaltheia\u2019s Horn. 4And when he had called his children he said, Gather round, my children. Gather round me so that I may show you the things which the LORD did with me and all the things which have happened to me. 1. Job and the Revealing Angel<\/p>\n JOB\u2019S PERPLEXITY OVER IDOLATRY<\/p>\n 2:1Now I used to be Jobab before the LORD named me Job. 2When I was called Jobab, I lived quite near a venerated idol\u2019s temple. 3As I constantly saw whole burnt offerings being offered up there, I began reasoning within myself saying, \u201cIs this really the God who made heaven and earth, the sea too, and our very selves? How shall I know?\u201d THE ANGEL\u2019S DISCOURSE OF IMPENDING CALAMITIES<\/p>\n 4:1The light answered me and said, \u201cYou shall be able to purge this place. But I am going to show you all the things which the LORD charged me to you.\u201d 2And I said, \u201cWhatever he has charged me, his servant, I will hear and do.\u201d 3Again he said, \u201cThus says the LORD: 4If you attempt to purge the place of Satan, death upon you. He will bring on you many plagues, 5he will take away for himself your goods, he will carry off your children. 6But if you are patient, I will make your name renowned in all generations of the earth till the consummation of the age. 7And I will return you again to your goods. It will be repaid to you doubly, 8so you may know that the LORD is impartial\u2014rendering good things to each one who obeys. 9And you shall be raised up in the resurrection. 10For you willl be like a sparring athlete, both enduring pains and winning the crown. 11Then will you know that the LORD is just, true, and strong, giving strength to his elect ones.\u201d<\/p>\n JOB\u2019S DESTRUCTION OF THE IDOL\u2019S SHRINE<\/p>\n 5:1And I, my little children, replied to him, \u201cTill death I will endure: I will not step back at all.\u201d 2After I had been sealed by the angel when he left me, my little children, then\u2014having arisen the next night\u2014I took fifty youths with me, struck off for the temple of the idol, and leveled it to the ground. 3And so I withdrew into my house, having ordered the doors to be secured.<\/p>\n 2. Job and Satan<\/p>\n A. SATAN\u2019S ATTACK AND JOB\u2019S TRAGEDY SATAN DISGUISED AS A BEGGAR<\/p>\n 6:1Listen, little children, and marvel. 2For as soon as I entered into my house and secured my doors, I charged the doorman thus, 3\u201cIf anyone should seek me today, give no report; but say, \u2018He has no time, for he is inside concerned with an urgent matter.\u2019 \u201d SATAN IMPLORES THE LORD FOR POWER OVER JOB<\/p>\n 8:1After he withdrew from me, when he had gone out under the firmament, 2he implored the LORD that he might receive authority over my goods. 3And then, when he had received the authority, he came and took away all my wealth.<\/p>\n B. JOB\u2019S GENEROSITY AND PIETY<\/p>\n His Philanthropy<\/p>\n 9:1So listen, for I will show you all the things which have befallen me, my losses. 2For I used to have 130,000 sheep; 3of them I designated 7,000 to be sheared for the clothing of orphans and widows, the poor, and the helpless. And I had a pack of 80 dogs guarding my flocks. I also had 200 other dogs guarding the house. 4And I used to have 9,000 camels; from them I chose 3,000 to work in every city. 5After I loaded them with good things, I sent them away into the cities and the villages, charging them to go and distribute to the helpless, to the destitute, and to all the widows. 6And I used to have 140,000 grazing she-asses. From these I marked off 500 and gave a standing order for their offspring to be sold and given to the poor and needy. His Hospitality<\/p>\n 10:1And I established in my house thirty tables spread at all hours, for strangers only. 2I also used to maintain twelve other tables set for the windows. 3When any stranger approached to ask alms, he was required to be fed at my table before he would receive his need. 4Neither did I allow anyone to go out of my door with an empty pocket. His Underwritten Charities<\/p>\n 11:1There were also certain strangers who saw my eagerness, and they too desired to assist in this service. 2And there were still others, at the time without resources and unable to invest a thing, who came and entreated me, saying, \u201cWe beg you, may we also engage in this service. We own nothing, however. 3Show mercy on us and lend us money so we many leave for distant cities on business and be able to do the poor a service. 4And afterward we shall repay you what is yours.\u201d His Fabulous Wealth in Cattle; the Buttered Mountains<\/p>\n 13:1Those who milked the cows grew weary, since milk flowed in the mountains. 2Butter spread over my roads, and from its abundance my herds bedded down in the rocks and mountains because of the births. 3So the mountains were washed over with milk and became as congealed butter. 4And my servants, who prepared the meals for the widows and the poor, grew tired and 5would curse me in contempt, saying, \u201cWho will give us some of his meat cuts to be satisfied?\u201d 6Nevertheless, I was quite kind.<\/p>\n His Musical Prowess<\/p>\n 14:1And I used to have six psalms and a ten-stringed lyre. 2I would rouse myself daily after the feeding of the widows, take the lyre, and play for them. And they would chant hymns. 3And with the psaltery I would remind them of God so that they might glorify the LORD. 4If my maidservants ever began murmuring, I would take up the psaltery and strum as payment in return. 5And thus I would make them stop murmuring in contempt. C. JOB\u2019S LOSSES<\/p>\n 1. His Cattle<\/p>\n 16:1As I was doing these things during the seven years after the angel had made the disclosure to me, 2then Satan\u2014when he had received the authority\u2014came down unmercifully 3and torched 7,000 sheep (which had been designated for the clothing of the widows), the 3,000 camels, and the 500 she-asses, and the 500 yoke of oxen. 4All these he destroyed by himself, according to the authority he received against me. 2. His Children<\/p>\n 17:1Then the devil, when he had come to know my heart, laid a plot against me. 2Disguising himself as<\/p>\n <\/s><\/s><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" has escaped death? None of those who rule as kings is immortal; none of your forefathers have escaped the secret rite of death. They have all died. They have all departed into Hades. They are all gathered by the sickle of death. 10. But upon you I have not sent Death. I have not suffered … <\/p>\n
\n2:1 Listen, children, listen to Simeon your father, to the things I have in my heart. 2:2 I was born to Jacob my father, his second son, and my mother Leah called me Simeon, because the LORD had heard her prayer. 2:3 I became [i.e., grew up to be] very strong: I did not shrink from any activity, nor did I fear any deed. 2:4 [Yet] my heart was hard and my liver was immovable and my innards had no compassion. 2:5 For courage [better: strength] is given to men from the Most High in [both] their souls and their bodies. 2:6 And at that time I was envious of Joseph, because our father loved him. 2:7 And I set my liver against him to kill him, because the Angel of deceit had sent the Spirit of envy and blinded my mind, so that I did not treat him as a brother\u2014indeed, I did not even spare [the feelings of] my father Jacob. 2:8 But his [Joseph\u2019s] God, and the God of his fathers, sent His angel and saved him [Joseph] from my hands. 2:9 For, when I went to Shechem to bring ointment for the flocks, and Reuben [went] to Dothan, where the things we needed and all our supplies were [kept], our brother Judah sold him to the Ishmaelites. 2:10 When Reuben came [back], he mourned, because he had wanted to return him safely to his father. 2:11 But I was angry with Judah because he had let him leave while still alive, and I stayed angry with him for five months about this matter. 2:12 But God restrained me and prevented me from [accomplishing] the action of my hands, for my right hand became half-withered for seven days. 2:13 And I knew, children, that it was on account of Joseph that this had happened to me, and I repented and wept, and I prayed to the LORD that my hand might be restored, and that I might refrain from all defilement and jealousy and any foolishness. 2:14 For I knew that what I had maliciously thought to do to my brother Joseph was wrong in the LORD\u2018s sight and my father Jacob\u2019s.
\n3:1 And now, my children, beware of the Spirits of deceit and of jealousy, 3:2 since jealousy takes over a person\u2019s whole mind and will not allow him to eat or drink or do anything good. 3:3 [Rather,] it is always pushing him to kill the person of whom he is jealous, and so long as the person of whom he is jealous flourishes, he himself will wither away. 3:4 For two years\u2019 time, [therefore,] I afflicted my soul with fasting in the fear of the LORD, and I found out that freedom from jealousy comes through the fear of the LORD. 3:5 If a man flees to the LORD, the evil Spirit will depart from him, and his mind will be relieved, 3:6 and he will even feel some sympathy for the person of whom he was jealous and not be prejudiced against those who love him and so cease being jealous.
\n4:1 And [my] father asked about me\u2014since he saw that I was looking sullen\u2014and I said that I had been stricken in my liver. 4:2 [In truth,] I was mourning more than everyone else, because I was [so] guilty for the selling of Joseph. 4:3 [Later,] when we went down to Egypt and he [Joseph] imprisoned me as a spy, I knew that I was suffering justly and I was not sad. 4:4 And Joseph was a good man and he had the spirit of God in him, merciful and compassionate, and he did not bear a grudge against me but even loved me, as he did all the other brothers.
\n4:5 So beware, my children, of all envy and jealousy, and walk about in simplicity of soul and with a good heart, keeping in mind your father\u2019s brother [Joseph], so that God may grant you favor and glory and a blessing upon your heads, just as you saw [it happen] with him. 4:6 All his days he never reproached us concerning this matter, but loved us as his own soul and honored us beyond his own sons, and he granted us riches and cattle and fruits.
\n4:7 So you too, my beloved children, love each one his brother with a good heart, and keep the Spirit of jealousy away from you. 4:8 For it can make the soul [go] wild and destroy the body: it brings anger and conflict to the [soul\u2019s] disposition and provokes it even to bloodshed; and it throws the mind into disorder and it does not permit common sense to operate in people; rather, it deprives [a person] of sleep and brings turmoil to the soul and trembling to the body. 4:9 Even in sleep, some [sort of] malicious envy may delude and consume him, and with wicked Spirits upset his soul and cause the body to be disturbed and wake the mind from sleep in a state of confusion, so that he appears to men as some wicked, poisonous Spirit. 5:1 That is why Joseph was good-looking and handsome in appearance, since no wickedness dwelt within him\u2014for the face reveals any of the spirit\u2019s trouble.
\n5:2 So now, my children, make your hearts good in the LORD\u2018s sight and make straight your paths in the sight of men, and in this way you will find favor in the eyes of God and men. 5:3 And beware, therefore, of any licentiousness, because licentiousness is the mother of all evils, in that it estranges [one] from God and brings [one] close to Beliar. 5:4 For I have seen it written in the writings of Enoch that your sons after you will be destroyed by licentiousness and will [seek to] harm Levi by the sword. 5:5 But they will not prevail against Levi, for he will wage the war of the LORD and will overcome all your [descendants\u2019] battle lines, 5:6 and they will become few in number and will be divided in Levi and Judah, and there will be no one from you for sovereignty, just as my father foretold as well in his blessings.
\n6:1 Behold, I have told you everything in advance, so that I will not be [held to be] guilty for the sin of your souls. 6:2 But if you put aside from yourselves any ill will and stiff-neckedness, my bones [better:branches?] will blossom like a rose in Israel and
\n7:1 And now, my children, listen to Levi, and through Judah you will be redeemed; and do not rise up against those two tribes \u2026 7:2 For the LORD will raise up from Levi a high priest and from Judah a king \u2026 7:3 That is why I am commanding you all these things, so that you may command your children, that they should keep them for their generations.
\n8:1 And Simeon finished commanding his children and he slept with his fathers; [he was] one hundred and twenty years [old]. 8:2 And they placed him in a wooden coffin that would not waste away, to carry his bones up to Hebron. And they brought them up secretly in the war with the Egyptians. 8:3 But the Egyptians were keeping Joseph\u2019s bones in the palace treasure-house. 8:4 For the wizards had told them that there would be darkness and gloom in the whole land of Egypt on the departure of Joseph\u2019s bones [from Egypt], and a very great plague would [befall] the Egyptians, so that even with a lamp a person would be unable to recognize his brother.
\n9:1 And Simeon\u2019s sons grieved for their father according to the law of mourning. And they remained in Egypt until the day of the exodus from Egypt by the hand of Moses.<\/my><\/p>\n
\n2:1 I, Levi, was born in Haran, after which I went with Father to Shechem. 2:2 I was [still] young, around twenty years old, when along with Simeon I took revenge on Hamor for our sister Dinah.
\n2:3 While I was shepherding [the flocks] at Abelmaul, the Spirit of understanding of the LORD came to me, and I saw all men going astray, and that injustice had built walls for itself, and that lawlessness was enthroned in towers. 2:4 And I was grieved for the race of the sons of men, and I prayed to the LORD to be saved. 2:5 Then sleep fell upon me, and I saw a high mountain, and I was on it. 2:6 And behold, the skies were opened and an angel of the LORD said to me: Levi, enter. 2:7 And I entered the first heaven I saw there a great [body of] water, suspended. 2:8 And I saw a second heaven, more luminous and brighter, and the height of it was boundless. 2:9 And I said to the angel: Why is this so? And the angel said to me: Do not marvel over this, for you will see another heaven, brighter still and beyond compare, when you get there. 2:10 You will stand close to the LORD, and you will be his servant, and you will announce His secrets to men \u2026 2:12 And your livelihood will be from the LORD\u2018s portion, and He shall be your field, vineyard, fruits, silver, gold.
\n3:1 Hear, then, [what I have to say] about the heavens that have been shown to you. The lowest one is, by that very fact, gloomy-looking to you, since [as the lowest] it looks out on all the sins of men; 3:2 and it has fire, snow, ice, ready for the day of the judgment in God\u2019s righteous meting out of justice, for in it are all the Spirits of [various] afflictions [used] as punishments for the wicked. 3:3 And in the second are the forces of the armies [of angels], which are arrayed for the Day of Judgment, to punish the Spirits of deceit and of Beliar. 3:4 And in the highest heaven resides the Great Glory, in the holy of holies, far above all [other] holiness.
\n3:5 In it [i.e., the highest heaven], next [in rank] to Him, are the angels of the LORD\u2019s Presence, who serve and make atonement before the LORD for all the unwitting sins of the righteous, 3:6 offering to the LORD a sweet savor, a reasonable and bloodless sacrifice. 3:7 And in the lower heaven are the angels who carry the answers [better: repentances] to the angels of the LORD\u2018s Presence. 3:8 And in the one next to these are thrones and dominions, by whom praises are always [i.e., continually] offered to God. 3:9 And when the LORD looks out on us, we all tremble\u2014indeed, the heavens and the earth and the abysses [themselves] tremble at the presence of His majesty. 3:10 But humans do not perceive these things and [so] sin and provoke the Most High.
\n4:1 Now, therefore, know that the LORD will execute judgment on human beings, for when boulders are being split, and the sun is extinguished, and the waters are drying up, and the fire is trembling, and all of creation is in chaos, and the invisible Spirits are melting away, and the underworld is taking spoils at the suffering of the Most High, unbelieving people will [still] persist in their unrighteousness. That is why they will be sentenced to punishment.
\n4:2 Therefore the Most High has heard your prayer, to separate you from unrighteousness and to become a son to Him, a servant and a minister to His countenance. 4:3 You will cause the light of knowledge to shine in Jacob, and you will be like the sun to the whole seed of Israel. 4:4 And a blessing will be given to [better: \u201cby\u201d] you and to [better: \u201cby\u201d] all your seed \u2026 4:5 Therefore wisdom and understanding have been given to you, so that you may instruct your sons \u2026 5:1 Then the angel opened the gates of heaven to me, and I saw the holy temple, and the Most High on a glorious throne. 5:2 And He said to me: Levi, I have given you the blessings of the priesthood.
\n5:3 Then the angel led me [back] down to earth, and he gave me a shield and a sword, and he said to me: Execute judgment on Shechem because of your sister Dinah, and I will be with you, for the LORD has sent me. 5:4 And I finished off the sons of Hamor at that time, as it is written in the Heavenly Tablets. 5:5 And I said to him [i.e., the angel]: Please sir, tell me your name so that I can call upon you [again] in time of trouble. 5:6 And he said: I am the angel who intervenes on behalf of the people of Israel, so that no one can utterly destroy them. 5:7 And after these things I woke up and blessed the Most High.
\n6:1 And when I went to my father, I found a brass shield; that is why the name of the mountain is also Shield, which is near Gebal, to the south of Abila. 6:2 And I kept these words [better: things] in my heart. 6:3 After this I advised my father and my brother Reuben that he should tell the sons of Hamor not to be circumcised, since I was so stirred up by the outrage that they had committed in Israel. 6:4 And I killed Shechem first, and Simeon [killed] Hamor. 6:5 And after these things my brothers struck the city at sword-point.
\n6:6 And when Father heard this he became angry and aggrieved, because they had accepted the circumcision and after that had been killed, and in the blessings [of his children] he did otherwise [with Simeon and me]. 6:7 And we did sin, since we did this [thing] contrary to his wishes, and he became sick on that day. 6:8 But I saw that God\u2019s verdict on Shechem was negative, since they had sought to treat Sarah in the same manner as they did our sister Dinah, but that the LORD had prevented them. 6:9 And they likewise persecuted our ancestor Abraham when he was a stranger [in Canaan], and they ill-treated his flocks when they were pregnant [better: had grown numerous], and Eblae, his home-born one, they grievously tormented. 6:10 And they treated all strangers in this way, snatching away their wives and [then] sending them away. 6:11 But the LORD\u2018s wrath caught up with them in the end.
\n7:1 And I said to Father: Do not be angry, sir, for through you the LORD will reject the Canaanites, and He will give their land to you and your descendants after you. 7:2 For from this day on, Shechem will be called a city of fools; for just as someone mocks a fool, so we made a mockery of them\u20147:3 because they did indeed do a great folly in Israel by defiling our sister. 7:4 And taking our sister away from there, we then departed and went to Bethel.
\n8:1 And there I again had a vision like the previous one, after we had spent seventy [better: seven] days there. 8:2 And I saw seven men in white clothing, saying to me: Arise! Put on the tunic of priesthood, and the crown of righteousness, and the breastplate of understanding, and the robe of truth, and the frontlet of faith, and the turban of [? ], and the ephod of prophecy. 8:3 And they carried [these items] one by one and put [them] on me and said: Henceforth, be a priest of the LORD, you and your descendants forever.
\n8:4 And the first anointed me with holy oil and gave me the staff of judgment. 8:5 And the second washed me with pure water \u2026 and dressed me in a holy garment of glory. 8:6 The third clothed me with a linen vestment like an ephod. 8:7 The fourth girded me [with a belt] like purple. 8:8 The fifth gave me a branch of rich olive. 8:9 The sixth put a crown on my head. 8:10 The seventh put a priestly diadem on my head and filled my hands with incense, so that I might serve as a priest to the LORD.
\n8:11 And they said to me: Levi, your descendants will be divided into three offices \u2026 8:16 Everything desirable in Israel will be yours and your descendants\u2019, and you will eat everything that is attractive, and your descendants will share the LORD\u2019s table, 8:17 for from among them will come high priests and judges and scribes, for at their direction will the sanctuary be maintained. 8:18 And when I woke up, I understood that this was like the first [dream]. 8:19 And I hid this also in my heart and did not tell it to anyone on earth.
\n9:1 Two days later, Judah and I went up with our father Jacob to Isaac. 9:2 And my father\u2019s father blessed me in keeping with all the words of the visions that I had seen; but he did not wish to go with us to Bethel. 9:3 And when we came [back] to Bethel, my father Jacob had a vision concerning me, that I should be their priest before God. 9:4 And he got up early in the morning and paid tithes to the LORD on everything through me. 9:5 And [then] we went to Hebron to settle there.
\n9:6 And Isaac summoned me repeatedly in order to remind me of the Torah of the LORD, just as the angel of God had shown me. 9:7 And he taught me the law of the priesthood [and] of sacrifices: of whole burnt offerings, firstfruits, voluntary offerings, and peace offerings. 9:8 And every day he kept teaching me and busied himself before the LORD on my behalf. 9:9 And he said: Beware, my child, of the Spirit of licentiousness; for it will be persistent, and through your descendants it will pollute the sanctuary. 9:10 So acquire a wife for yourself while you are young, one without blemish or disqualifying feature, and not of the stock of a foreign nations. 9:11 And bathe before entering the sanctuary; and when you are [about to do the] sacrificing, wash; and again when you have finished the sacrifice, wash. 9:12 Make offerings to the LORD [only with the wood] of twelve [kinds of] trees that always have leaves, as Abraham taught me as well. 9:13 And of every [kind of] pure beast and pure bird [you may] offer as a sacrifice to the LORD, 9:14 and of all firstfruits and of wine offer the first [i.e., best] part to the LORD. And you shall salt every sacrifice with salt.
\n10:1 Now, therefore, keep these things that I am commanding you, children, for I have passed on to you the things that I heard from my fathers. 10:2 Behold, I [myself] am innocent of all the impiety and transgression that you will do in later times \u2026 leading Israel astray and causing great troubles to be sent against it by the LORD.
\n10:3 And together with [the rest of] Israel you will act lawlessly, until Jerusalem will not bear [you] because of your wickedness \u2026 so that your shame will not be covered. 10:4 And you will be scattered as captives among the nations, and there you will be for a reproach and a curse and a source of mockery. 10:5 For the house that the LORD will choose will be called Jerusalem, as is contained in the book of the righteous Enoch.
\n11:1 So I took a wife when I was twenty-eight years old, and her name was Melcha. 11:2 And she became pregnant and gave birth to a son, and I named him Gershom, since we were strangers in our own land. 11:3 But concerning him I saw that he would not be of the first order. 11:4 And Kohath was born in the thirty-fifth year [of my life], toward sunrise. 11:5 And I saw in a vision that he was standing high in the middle of a whole gathering [of people]. 11:6 That is why I called him Kohath, which means \u201cforemost in greatness\u201d and \u201cgathering together.\u201d 11:7 And she bore me a third [son], Merari, in the fortieth year of my life, and since his mother had a hard labor, she called him Merari, that is, \u201cmy bitterness,\u201d since he also died [better: since she was close to death]. 11:8 And Jochebed was born in Egypt in my sixty-fourth year, [and was called thus] since I was [the most] honored then among my brothers.
\n12:1 And Gershom took a wife, and she gave birth to Libni and Shime\u2019i. 12:2 And the sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. 12:3 And the sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. 12:4 And in my ninety-fourth year Amram married my daughter Jochebed; they had been born on the same day, he and my daughter. 12:5 I was eight years old when I entered the land of Canaan, and eighteen when I killed Shechem, and nineteen when I began [to function] as a priest, and twenty-eight when I was married and forty when I went down to Egypt. 12:6 And thus you, my children, are a third generation [after me]. 12:7 When I was one hundred and eighteen, Joseph died.
\n13:1 And now, my children, I command you: Fear the LORD and walk in simplicity according to His Torah. 13:2 And teach your children to read as well, so that they may have understanding throughout their lives by reading God\u2019s Torah unceasingly. 13:3 Everyone who knows God\u2019s Torah will be honored, and wherever he may wander, he will not be a foreigner. 13:4 He will gain many friends, more than his parents [better: many friends from his teaching], and many men will desire to serve him and to hear the Torah from his mouth. 13:5 And so, my children, act with righteousness on earth, so that you may find [it] in heaven. 13:6 And sow good things in your souls, so that you may find them in your life; but if you sow evil things, you will harvest every trial and tribulation. 13:7 Acquire wisdom through the fear of God, diligently; for even if exile should befall, and cities and countries are laid waste, and gold and silver and every possession are destroyed, no one can take away the wise man\u2019s wisdom, not even the blindness of impiety and the mutilations of sin. 13:8 For it will be to him a light even among enemies, and a homeland in a foreign country, and a friend amidst foes. 13:9 If he teaches these things and practices them, he will be enthroned with kings, as was my brother Joseph.
\n14:1 And now, my children, I have found out from the writing of Enoch that in the end you will act with impiety against the LORD, involving yourselves in all [manner of] evil, and your brothers will be put to shame because of you, and you will become a laughing-stock among the nations. 14:2 And our father Israel is innocent of the impiety of the high priests \u2026 14:3 For just as the sky is purer [i.e., brighter] than the earth in the LORD\u2018s eyes, so are you, the lights of Israel, [brighter] than all the nations. 14:4 But if you are darkened through impiety, what will be left for the nations to do, living in blindness? You will bring down a curse upon our people, because the light of the Torah, which was given to illuminate every man, this you wish to destroy by teaching commandments contrary to God\u2019s requirements.
\n14:5 You will rob the offerings of the LORD, and take the best parts before sacrificing [an animal] to the LORD, shamelessly eating [them] with prostitutes. 14:6 You will teach the commandments out of greed, you will render married women impure, and defile the virgins of Jerusalem, and you will keep company with prostitutes and adulteresses; you will marry the daughters of the nations, purifying them with purification contrary to the Torah, and your mating will be like [that of] Sodom and Gomorrah in impiety. 14:7 And you will be puffed up [with conceit] on account of your being priests, exalting yourselves over [other] people\u2014not only that, but over God\u2019s commandments\u201414:8 you will look down on the sancta [of the temple], laughing and joking.
\n15:1 Therefore the temple, which the LORD shall choose, will be made desolate because of your impurity, and you will be made captives [sent] to all the nations. 15:2 And you will be an abomination to them, and you will receive reproach and eternal shame through God\u2019s righteous justice. 15:3 And everyone who sees you will flee from you. 15:4 And were it not for our forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, not one of my descendants would be left on earth.
\n16:1 And now, I have found out from the book of Enoch that you will be led astray for seventy weeks [of years] and render the priesthood defiled and make the sacrifices impure. 16:2 And you will deny the Torah and dismiss the words of the prophets; in wicked perversity, you will persecute the righteous and hate the pious; you will loathe the words of truthful men. 16:3 A man who [seeks to] renew the Torah through the power of the Most High you will call a deceiver \u2026 16:4 And your sanctuary will be deserted because of this, polluted to the very ground. 16:5 And there will not be one place of yours that is pure; rather, you will be as a curse and a scattering among the nations \u2026
\n17:1 And just as you have heard about the seventy weeks [of years], so hear now about the priesthood. 17:2 For corresponding to each jubilee there will be [a] priesthood. In the first jubilee, the first one to be anointed to the priesthood will be great, and he shall speak to God as to a father. And his priesthood will be in accord with the LORD \u2026 17:3 In the second jubilee, the anointed [priest] will be conceived in the sorrow of those who are beloved. And his priesthood will be honored and glorified by all. 17:4 And the third priest will be taken in sorrow. 17:5 And the fourth will be in pain, because unrighteousness will be joined against him to the extreme, and all of Israel will hate one another. 17:6 The fifth will be overcome by darkness. 17:7 And likewise the sixth and the seventh. 17:8 In the seventh [jubilee] there will be defilement, of which I am unable to speak in the presence of men\u2014[but] those who do these things will know it [when it comes about]. 17:9 For that reason they will be taken as captives and plunder, and their land and their property will be ruined. 17:10 And in the fifth week they will return to their desolate country and they will restore the house of God. 17:11 And in the seventh week there will come priests who are idolators, adulterers, money-lovers\u2014arrogant, lawless, wanton, [sexual] abusers of children and animals. 18:1 And after their punishment has come at the hands of the LORD, the priesthood will cease.
\n18:2 Then the LORD will raise up a new priest, to whom all the words of the LORD will be revealed, and he will execute true justice on the earth for many days. 18:3 And his star will arise in heaven like a king\u2019s, lighting up the light of knowledge as the sun [lights] the day; and he will be glorified in the world \u2026 18:4 He will shine like the sun on the earth and will remove all darkness from under heaven, and there will be peace on all the earth. 18:5 The heavens will rejoice in his lifetime, and the earth will be glad; and the clouds will exult, and the knowledge of the LORD will be poured onto the earth like the water of the seas. And the angels of the
\n19:1 And now, my children, you have heard everything, so make your choice: either light or darkness, the LORD\u2018s Torah or the works of Beliar. 19:2 And his sons answered saying: We will walk with the LORD according to His Torah. 19:3 And their father said to them: The LORD is witness, and His angels are witnesses
\n19:4 And so Levi ceased commanding his sons [in this will] and he stretched out his feet and was gathered to his fathers, after he had lived one hundred and thirty-seven years.19:5 And they put him in a coffin and later buried him in Hebron, with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.<\/and><\/and><\/praise>\n
\n2:1 And the LORD gave me favor in all my doings, both in the field and at home, 2:2 as I saw when I raced a deer and caught it, and I made it into a meal for my father. 2:3 I would grab the gazelles as they ran, and catch up with anything [running] in the flatland. [Once] I overtook a wild mare and caught and trained [her]. 2:4 And I killed a lion and saved a kid from its mouth. I took a bear by its paw and rolled it down a precipice. 2:5 I chased a wild bore and caught it as I ran and ripped it to pieces. 2:6 In Hebron, a leopard jumped onto a dog, so I grabbed it by the tail and hurled it away and it was broken [limb from limb]. In the area of Gaza, 2:7 I seized by the horns a wild ox grazing in the field, and whirling it around, I stunned it, threw it down onto the ground, and killed it.
\n3:1 And when the
\n4:1 And toward the south we had a battle greater than the one in Shechem; and I took the field with my brothers; and I chased after a [group of] a thousand men, and I killed two hundred of them and four kings. 4:2 And I went up against them on the wall and killed two other kings. 4:3 So it was that we conquered Hebron and took all the kings\u2019 booty.
\n5:1 On the next day we went off to [S]Areta, a mighty walled city, inaccessible\u2014[and] a mortal threat to us. 5:2 Gad and I approached from the east of the city, and Reuben and Levi from the west. 5:3 And those who were on the wall, thinking that we were alone, were drawn away toward us. 5:4 And so my brothers secretly climbed up on both sides on stakes [i.e., ladders] and entered the city without them [i.e., the enemy] noticing, 5:5 and we took it at sword-point. And [as for] those who had fled to the tower to find refuge, we set the tower on fire and them with it. 5:6 And on our way out, [some] men from Tappuah [tried to] seize our prisoners, and entrusting these to our sons, we fought with them all the way to Tappuah. 5:7 And we killed them as well and burned their city, and we took as booty everything that was in it.
\n6:1 And when I was at the waters of Kozeba, the men of Yobel came against us to do battle. 6:2 And joining battle, we overcame them; and we killed their allies from Shiloh and did not give them a way through to come against us. 6:3 And those from Machir came upon us on the fifth day to take [back] the prisoners; and we attacked them and defeated them in fierce combat, for there were many tough [fighters] among them; but we killed them before they got up to the upper part. 6:4 But when we came to their city, their women folk rolled rocks down on us from the top of the hill on which the city stood. 6:5 And Simeon and I hid ourselves in the rear and we took the heights and destroyed the whole city.
\n7:1 And the next day, we were told that Ga\u2019ash, the city of kings, was coming against us with a great force. 7:2 So Dan and I pretended that we were Amorites and entered the city as if [we were their] co-fighters. 7:3 And our brothers came in the dead of night and we opened the gates to them; and we destroyed all of them [the townsmen] and their possessions, and we took everything of theirs as booty; [and] we razed their three walls to the ground. 7:4 [Next,] we came up to Timnah, which was the whole place of refuge of the fighting kings. 7:5 Then, I became angry after being taunted [by them], and I rushed against them to the summit, [while] they kept slinging down stones and [shooting] arrows at me. 7:6 And if my brother Dan had not fought alongside me, they would have killed me. 7:7 So we attacked them with furor, and they all fled; and taking a different way around, they pleaded with my father and he made peace with them. 7:8 And we did no harm to them, but we did make them tributaries of ours, and we
\n8:1 And I had many flocks and herds, and I had as [my] chief shepherd Hirah the Adullamite. 8:2 When I went to him I saw Barsa, the king of Adullam. And he made a feast for us, and having persuaded [me], he gave me his daughter Bathshua as a wife. 8:3 She bore to me Er and Onan and Shelah, and the LORD killed the [first] two childless; but Shelah lived, and you are his children.
\n9:1 For eighteen years my father was at peace with his brother Esau, and his sons with us, after we had come from Mesopotamia, from Laban[\u2019s house]. 9:2 And when the eighteen years had passed, in the fortieth year of my life, my father\u2019s brother Esau came against us with a strong and powerful army. 9:3 And he was felled by Jacob\u2019s bow, and he was taken up [close to] dead to Mount Seir, and he died on the way, above Eiramna. 9:4 And we chased after Esau\u2019s sons. And they had a city with iron walls and brass gates. And we could not get inside, so we encircled it and began a siege against them.9:5 And when, after twenty days, they [still] had not opened [the city] to us, I set up a ladder and, with them looking on, went up with my shield over my head, pelted by stones up to three talents [in weight]; and once I was up, I killed four of their fighters. 9:6 And Reuben and Gad killed six more. 9:7 Then they asked us for [our] terms for a peace, and following the counsel of our father Jacob, we accepted them as tributaries. 9:8 And they gave us two hundred cors of wheat, five hundred baths of oil, fifteen hundred measures of wine, until we went down to Egypt.
\n10:1 After these things, my son Er married Tamar from Mesopotamia, the daughter of Aram. 10:2 But Er was wicked, and he was displeased with Tamar, since she was not from the land of Canaan. And an angel of the LORD killed him on the third night [after their marriage]. 10:3 He never had had relations with her, because of his unscrupulous mother, since [s]he did not want to have any children from her.10:4 During the days of the wedding feast, I gave her to Onan in levirate marriage. But he purposely did not have relations with her, though he was with her for a [whole] year.
\n10:5 And when I reproved him, he did lie with her, but he destroyed the seed on the ground, in keeping with his mother\u2019s command; and he likewise died because of his wickedness. 10:6 And I wished to give her to Shelah as a wife, but my wife Bathshua would not allow it; she was mistreating Tamar, because she was not one of the Canaanite women, as she herself was.
\n11:1 I [of course] knew that the people of Canaan were evil, but the [evil] impulse of youth blinded my heart. 11:2 And watching her pour out the wine\u2014[already] in a wine-induced stupor myself\u2014I was led astray and went to bed with her. 11:3 [Later,] she was the one who, when I was away, went and acquired a wife for Shelah from the land of Canaan. 11:4 When I found out what she had done, I cursed her in my anguish. 11:5 And she died as well, because of her sons\u2019 wickedness.
\n12:1 After these things, when Tamar was [still] a widow, she heard after two years [had passed] that I was going up to shear [my] sheep; she dressed up in bridal adornment and sat at the city of Enaim at the gate. 12:2 For it is a practice of the Amorites that [a woman] who was about to be married would sit in licentiousness for seven days at the gate. 12:3 Since I had been drinking at the \u201cwaters of Kozeba,\u201d I did not recognize her because of the wine\u2014and her beauty [also] deceived me, the way she had prettied herself up. 12:4 And turning aside to her, I said: \u201cLet me come in to you.\u201d And she said to me: \u201cWhat will you give me?\u201d And I gave her my staff and belt and kingly crown. And I lay with her, and she became pregnant.
\n12:5 [Later,] not knowing what she had done, I wished to kill her; but she sent me the pledged items secretly and [did not] put me to shame. 12:7 But [still,] I said, \u201cMaybe this is all a trick of hers, and she got the pledged items from some other woman. 12:9 [After all,] those who were in the city said that there had been no prostitute at the gate.\u201d (This was because she [Tamar] had come from somewhere else and had sat for [only] a while at the gate.) 12:10 \u201cSo,\u201d I thought, \u201cno one knows [and can testify] that she was the one I had gone in to.\u201d 12:6 And when I summoned her [for trial], I also heard the secret words
\n13:1 And now I command you, my children, listen to your father and keep my words [in mind], to carry out the LORD\u2018s statutes and obey the commandments of God. 13:2 And do not follow your desires nor the urgings of your [evil] impulse , in the arrogance of your heart; and do not boast of the feats of strength of your youth, since this too is wrong in the eyes of the LORD.
\n13:3 I myself used to boast that that no beautiful woman\u2019s face ever led me astray in [my] struggles, and I reproved my brother Reuben with regard to Bilhah, my father\u2019s wife; [but then] the Spirits of envy and licentiousness took up battle stations against me, until I met up with Bathshua the Canaanite and Tamar, who had been married to my own sons. 13:4 For I said to my [future] father-in-law, \u201cLet me talk it over with my father\u2014then I can acquire your daughter [as my wife].\u201d But he showed me a huge amount of gold that was in the name of his daughter; he was a king. 13:5 And he adorned her with gold and pearls and then had her pour out the wine for us at dinner, with that beauty women have. 13:6 And the wine caused my eyes to turn aside and pleasure blinded my heart. 13:7 Smitten with her, I slept with her and went against the LORD\u2018s commandment and the commandment of my fathers, and I married her. 13:8 And the LORD paid me back what my heart\u2019s disposition deserved, since I never had any pleasure in her children.
\n14:1 And now, my children, do not get drunk with wine, since wine turns one\u2019s mind away from the truth and instills the passion of lust and leads the eyes astray. 14:2 For the Spirit of licentiousness uses wine as [its] errand boy when it comes to [exciting] pleasure in the mind; and these two [together] are what saps a man\u2019s strength. 14:3 For if a person drinks wine and gets drunk, it rattles the mind with filthy thoughts\u2014to the point of licentiousness\u2014and heats up the body [with the desire] for sexual intercourse, so that if the opportunity to [fulfill his] lust should present itself, the person will unashamedly perform the sin. 14:4 Such is wine, my children; the drunken person is not ashamed before anyone. 14:5 Even I was taken in, so that I was not ashamed before the city\u2019s multitudes, but in the sight of all I turned aside to Tamar and did a great sin and uncovered the covering of my
\n15:1 A person who commits fornication has no awareness of what he is losing and is not ashamed of being dishonored. 15:2 For even if a king should commit fornication, he will\u2014once he has become the slave of fornication\u2014be stripped of his kingship, just as I myself was stripped. 15:3 For I gave up my staff, on which my [whole] tribe leans, and my belt, which is the power, and the crown, which is the glory of my kingship. 15:4 But I repented of these things: I took no wine or meat until old age, nor did I see any joy. 15:5 And the angel of God showed me that women will forever hold sway over king and beggar alike. 15:6 They take away a king\u2019s glory, and the warrior\u2019s power, and from the beggar even that little bit which is the support of his poverty.
\n16:1 So keep a limit, my children, on wine, for in it are four evil Spirits, those of lust, of burning desire, of debauchery, and of shameless greed. 16:2 If you drink wine at a party, [do so] in the fear of God, modestly; for if you drink immodestly and the fear of God is absent, then drunkenness ensues and shamelessness comes slinking in. 16:3 Otherwise, do not touch wine at all, so that you will not sin with provocative speech or brawling or slander or violation of God\u2019s commandments and die before your time. 16:4 Moreover, drunkenness reveals the secrets of God and men to outsiders; I as well revealed the commandments of God and the secrets of my father Jacob to Bathshua the Canaanite, and God has said not to reveal anything to them. And wine too is also a cause of battling and strife.
\n17:1 So I command you, my sons, not to be money-lovers and not to stare at women\u2019s beauty, since it was because of money and a beautiful body that I was led astray to Bathshua the Canaanite. 17:2 Indeed, I know that it is because of these two things that my people will be [led] into wickedness. 17:3 For they will corrupt even the wisest of my sons, and they will cause the kingdom of Judah to be diminished, which the LORD gave me because of my obedience to my father. 17:4 Never once did I disobey my father Jacob\u2019s orders, but I carried out everything he said. 17:5 And Isaac, my father\u2019s father, blessed me to be king over Israel, and Jacob likewise blessed me. 17:6 [Thus] I know that from me shall the kingship be established.
\n18:1 For I have read in the writings of the righteous Enoch the evil things that you will do in later times. 18:2 So guard yourselves, my children, from licentiousness and the love of money, and listen to your father Judah. 18:3 For these things cause [one] to turn from God\u2019s Torah, and blind the soul\u2019s disposition, and teach arrogance, and stop [a person] from showing mercy to his fellow. 18:4 They rob his soul of all goodness. and oppress him with toil and trouble, and drive away his sleep, and consume his flesh. 18:5 And he withholds the sacrifices of God [that he owes], and he does not remember the blessing, and he does not listen to the words of a prophet when he speaks and despises any words of divine reverence. 18:6 For when he is enslaved to [these] two passions, which are contrary to God\u2019s commandments, he cannot obey God, because they have blinded his soul, and he walks about in daylight as if it were night.
\n19:1 My children, the love of money leads to idol-worship, because in the deception [caused by] money, he treats as gods those who are not, and it [i.e., money] causes the one who possesses it to be hypnotized by it. 19:2 Because of money I lost my children, and if not for the repentance of my flesh and my fasting, as well as the prayers of my father Jacob, I would have died childless. 19:3 But the God of my fathers forgave me because I had acted in ignorance. 19:4 For the Angel of deceit blinded me, and I was as ignorant as a[ny] man [of] flesh corrupted through sin; but I came to realize my own weakness [where previously] I thought myself invincible.
\n20:1 So know, my children, that there are two Spirits that occupy themselves with a person, the Spirit of goodness and the Spirit of deceit. 20:2 And in-between is the mind\u2019s understanding, which inclines to whichever [of these two Spirits] it wishes. 20:3 And [people\u2019s] acts of truth and acts of deceit are recorded on people\u2019s hearts, and the LORD knows every one of them. 20:4 And at no time can the deeds of men be hidden, since they have been written down by the LORD [Himself]. 20:5 And the Spirit of truth warns everyone and [later] accuses everyone; and the sinner is burnt up from out of his own heart and cannot lift up his face to the Judge.
\n21:1 And now, my children, love Levi so that you may survive, and do not rise up against him, lest you be completely destroyed. 21:2 For to me the LORD gave kingship, and to Levi the priesthood, and He put kingship beneath the priesthood. 21:3 To me He gave the things that are on the earth; to him the things in the heavens. 21:4 Just as heaven is higher than the earth, so is the priesthood of God higher than the earthly kingdom (unless through sin it falls away from the LORD and is ruled over by the kingship on earth). 21:5 For the angel of the LORD said to me: The LORD has chosen him [Levi] over you to be close to Him, and to eat at His table, the firstfruits [and] the choice things of the children of Israel.21:6 But you will be king in Jacob. And you [i.e., your kingship] will be for them like the sea. For just as, on the sea, righteous and unrighteous men [can be] caught up in a tempest, [and] some are taken prisoner while others grow rich, so too will it be in you[r kingship] for every sort of person: some will be put in danger and taken prisoner, while others will strike it rich by plundering. 21:7 For kings, when they rule, are like sea-monsters: they swallow men like fish; they turn free sons and daughters into slaves, they plunder houses, lands, flocks, and money, 21:8 and in their wickedness they feed the flesh of many to the crows and ibises. Spurred on by [their] greed, they keep advancing to [new] evil. 21:9 And false prophets will come up like storms, and they will persecute all righteous men. 22:1 And the LORD will bring upon them divisiveness, [turning] one against the other, and there will be constant strife in Israel and my [better: your] kingdom will be brought to an end by men of other nations \u2026 22:3 Yet He will preserve my kingly rule forever; for the LORD swore to me with an oath that the kingship would not depart from my seed all the days, forever.
\n23:1 I am much aggrieved, my children, on account of the hedonism, the witchcraft, the acts of idol-worship of which you will be guilty
\n24:1 And after these things a star will arise for you from Jacob in peace, and a man will arise from my seed like the sun of righteousness, walking with people in humility and righteousness, and no sin will be found in him. 24:2 And the heavens will be opened to him \u2026 and he will pour out the spirit of kindness on you, 24:3 and you will be faithful sons to him and you will follow his decrees from beginning to end \u2026 24:5 Then the scepter of My kingdom will shine forth, and a stem will arise from your root: 24:6 and from it shall grow a rod of righteousness for the nations to judge and save all who call upon the LORD.
\n25:1 And after these things, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob will come back to life, and my brothers and I will be the heads of our tribes in Israel: Levi the first and I the second, Joseph the third, Benjamin the fourth, Simeon fifth, Issachar sixth, and so all in order. 25:2 And the LORD will bless Levi, and the angel of the Presence [will bless] me; the powers of glory, Simeon; the heaven, Reuben; the earth, Issachar; the sea, Zebulon; the mountains, Joseph; the tabernacle, Benjamin; the [heavenly] luminaries, Dan; Eden, Naphtali; the sun, Gad; the moon, Asher. 25:3 And the people of the LORD will be one, and one tongue; and there will no longer be any Spirit of deceit of [i.e., sent by] Beliar, since he will be thrown into the fire forever. 25:4 And those that died in grief will rise again in joy, and those in poverty for the LORD\u2018s sake will be made rich, and those in hunger will be fed, those who were in weakness will be strong, and those put to death for the LORD\u2018s sake will awaken in life [again], 25:5 and the deer of Jacob will run with gladness, and Israel\u2019s eagles will soar with joy, and the ungodly will mourn and sinners weep, and all the peoples will glorify the LORD forever.
\n26:1 So, my children, keep the whole Torah of the LORD, because there is hope for those who hold fast to His ways. 26:2 And he said to them: I am one hundred and nineteen years old, and I will die before your very eyes today. 26:3 Do not let anyone bury me in expensive clothing or cut open my innards, since this is what the royals are wont to do; and take me up to Hebron with you. 26:4 And having said these things, Judah fell asleep. And his sons did everything he had commanded them, and they buried him in Hebron with his ancestors.<\/against><\/sons\u2019><\/s><\/but><\/that><\/gave><\/with><\/as><\/two><\/p>\nThe Testament of Issachar<\/p>\n
\n1:6 Rachel said [to Leah], \u201cI won\u2019t give them to you\u2014let them be mine instead of children.\u201d 1:7 There were two apples. And Leah said, \u201cLet it be enough for you that you took away the husband of my virginity! Will you also take these?\u201d 1:8 Rachel said: \u201cWell then, let Jacob be yours tonight\u2014in exchange for your son\u2019s mandrakes.\u201d 1:9 But Leah said, \u201cDon\u2019t be so arrogant or boastful! Jacob [rightfully] belongs to me\u2014I am the wife of his youth.\u201d 1:10 Rachel said, \u201cOh really? He was engaged to me first, and it was because of me that he worked for our father for fourteen years. 1:11 But what can I do for you? People\u2019s deception and trickiness are just too much, indeed, deception [is what] succeeds on earth. If this were not so, you wouldn\u2019t even be seeing Jacob\u2019s face! 1:12 Because you\u2019re not [really] his wife! You were only put in my place through deception. 1:13 My father cheated me and stuck me somewhere else that night and did not let me see him\u2014because if I had been there, none of this would have happened.\u201d 1:14 And Rachel said, \u201cTake one mandrake, and in exchange for this I will rent him out to you for one night.\u201d 1:15 And Jacob knew Leah, and she conceived and gave birth to me, and I was called Issachar because of the hire.
\n2:1 Afterward, an angel of the LORD appeared to Jacob, saying \u201cRachel will give birth to two children, since she disdained sleeping with her husband and has preferred celibacy.\u201d 2:2 And if my mother Leah had not sold the two apples in exchange for sexual relations, she would have given birth to eight sons. That is why she gave birth to [only] six and Rachel gave birth to two, because the LORD visited her [Rachel] on account of the mandrakes. 2:3 For He saw that it was for the sake of [having] children that she wished to sleep with Jacob, and not because of lust. 2:4 For she gave up Jacob on the next day as well in order to take the other mandrake; thus it was because of the mandrakes that the LORD listened to Rachel. 2:5 But then, even though she desired them, she did not eat them, but dedicated them in the house of the LORD and offered them to the priest of the Most High, who was there at that time.
\n3:1 And so, when I grew up, my children, I walked in the uprightness of my heart, and I became a farmer for my fathers and my brothers and brought in the produce of the fields according to their seasons. 3:2 And seeing that I walked in simplicity, my father blessed me. 3:3 And I did not meddle [in other people\u2019s business] in my own affairs, and I was not jealous or begrudging of my fellow; 3:4 I did not slander anyone, nor did I disparage any man\u2019s [way of] life, but I walked in the simplicity of my eyes. 3:5 And so, at the age of thirty, I took a wife for myself (since [until then] hard work had consumed my strength and I could not think of any pleasure with a woman; because of my toil, sleep would overcome me). 3:6 And my father always was glad at my simplicity; no matter what I labored on, I would offer all the choice fruit and all the first crops\u2014first to the LORD through the priest, then to my father, and then I myself [would take the rest]. 3:7 And the LORD doubled the goods in my hand. And Jacob understood that the LORD was helping [me in] my simplicity; 3:8 for it was in the simplicity of my heart that I gave the good things of the earth to anyone poor or oppressed.
\n4:1 And now, children, listen to me and walk in simplicity of heart, since I have seen all the LORD\u2018s favor in it. 4:2 The person of simplicity does not covet gold, he does not overreach his neighbor. He does not hunger for complicated delicacies, he does not want different [sorts of] clothing; 4:3 he does not anticipate living a long time, but he merely waits for the will of God, 4:4 and [so] the Spirits of deceit have no power against him. For he does not look at any display of a woman\u2019s beauty, lest in turning aside [to see it], it pollute his mind. 4:5 Envy does not take over his disposition , nor ill will melt his soul, nor does he think insatiably about making money. 4:6 For he walks in a life of integrity and looks at all things in simplicity; his eyes do not absorb the evils [that come] from the world\u2019s deceptiveness, lest he distort anything in the commandments of the LORD.
\n5:1 So keep the Torah of God, my children, and acquire simplicity, walking without guile and not interfering with the commandments of the LORD or with the affairs of your neighbor. 5:2 But love the LORD and your neighbor; show mercy to the poor and the weak. 5:3 Bend your backs down to farming and busy yourselves in working the land in every [sort of] farm work, offering gifts to the LORD with thanksgiving. 5:4 For the LORD has blessed you with the firstfruits of the earth\u2019s produce, just as he has blessed all the holy ones, from Abel until now. 5:5 For no portion is given to you other than the fat of the land, whose fruits are [gotten] with toil. 5:6 Indeed, our father Jacob blessed me with blessings of the land and with the firstfruits. 5:7 And Levi and Judah were given [special] honor by the LORD among the sons of Jacob: for the LORD gave them an inheritance: to the one He gave the priesthood and to the other kingship. 5:8 Obey them, therefore, and walk about in your father\u2019s simplicity. For to Gad it is given to destroy the gangs that raid Israel.
\n6:1 I know, my children, that in last times your sons will abandon simplicity and cling to greed, and leaving off innocence, they will draw near to evil-doing, and abandoning the LORD\u2018s commandments, they will cleave to Beliar. 6:2 And leaving off farm-work, they will go off and follow their evil impulses, and they will be dispersed among the nations and will serve their enemies. 6:3 Therefore, tell these things to your children, so that, should they sin, they will straightaway return to the LORD. 6:4 For He is merciful and will rescue them, to return them to their land.
\n7:1 I am a hundred and twenty-two years old, and, concerning myself, I know of no sin
\n7:8 And he commanded them to take him up to Hebron and to bury him there in the cave with his fathers. 7:9 And he stretched out his feet and died, the fifth [son of Jacob], at a ripe old age, sound in every limb and strong; he slept the eternal sleep.<\/unto><\/s><\/p>\nThe Testament of Zebulon<\/p>\n
\n2:1 For Simeon and Gad angrily went against Joseph to kill him. Falling on his face, Joseph said to them: 2:2 \u201cHave mercy on me, my brothers, and take pity on our father Jacob\u2019s feelings. Do not lift up your hands against me to shed innocent blood\u2014for I have not sinned against you. 2:3 And even if I have sinned, then you can punish me with some punishment\u2014but do not lift up your hands [to murder your brother], for the sake of our father Jacob.\u201d 2:4 As he said these words, I was moved to pity and began to weep, and my liver was poured out within me, and the very foundation of my feelings collapsed upon my soul. 2:5 Joseph was crying as well, and I along with him, and my heart pounded and all my body\u2019s sinews trembled and I had no strength to stand. 2:6 And seeing me crying along with him while they were coming to kill him, he ran behind me, [all the while] entreating them.
\n2:7 But Reuben stood up and said: Brothers, let us not kill him! Let us throw him into one of these dry pits that our fathers dug and [in which] they did not find water. 2:8 That is why the LORD had prevented any water from rising up into them\u2014so that Joseph would stay safe. 2:9 And the LORD did this until they sold him to the Ishmaelites.
\n3:1 I did not share in the price [paid] for Joseph, children, 3:2 but Simeon and Gad and our other six brothers took the price [paid] for Joseph and bought sandals for themselves and their wives and children, saying, 3:3 \u201cWe will not eat of it, since this is the price of our brother\u2019s blood; let us instead tread it underfoot, in return for his having said that he would become king over us\u2014[now] let\u2019s see what will come of his dreams!\u201d 3:4 Therefore it is written in the book of the law of Enoch that someone who does not wish to raise up seed [=descendants] for his brother, his sandal shall be pulled off his foot and his face shall be spat upon. 3:5 And Joseph\u2019s brothers did not wish their brother to live, so the LORD pulled from their feet Joseph\u2019s sandal that they were wearing. 3:6 For when they went to Egypt, [their sandals] were pulled off at the gates by Joseph\u2019s servants, and they bowed down to Joseph in the manner of [bowing down to] Pharaoh. 3:7 And not only did they bow down to him, but they were also spat upon immediately as they fell down before him. And so it was that they were put to shame before the Egyptians. For after that, the Egyptians heard all the bad things that they had done to Joseph.
\n4:1 After they threw him into the pit, they sat down to eat. 4:2 But I did not taste food for two days and nights, feeling compassion for Joseph. Nor did Judah eat together with them; rather, he guarded the pit, because he was afraid that Simeon and Gad might make a run for it and kill him. 4:3 But when they saw that I was not eating either, they sent me to keep watch over him until he was sold. 4:4 He spent three days and three nights in the pit, so that when he was sold, he was starving. 4:5 When Reuben heard that he had been sold while he [Reuben] was away, he rent his clothing and lamented, saying, \u201cHow can I see my father Jacob\u2019s face?\u201d 4:6 And taking the money, he ran after the merchants, but he did not find anyone, since they had left the main road and taken a short cut through the [land of] Troglokolpites.
\n4:7 Reuben did not eat bread that day, so Dan approached [him], saying: 4:8 \u201cDo not cry or lament; I have found something that we can say to our father Jacob. 4:9 Let us slaughter a goat-kid and dip Joseph\u2019s coat [in its blood] and say: \u2018Recognize [this], if this is the coat of your son.\u201d And so they did. 4:10 For they had taken our father\u2019s coat off Joseph when they were about to sell him, and they had put on him some old clothes of a slave. 4:11 But Simeon held on to the coat and he did not want to give it up; he wanted to cut it up with his sword, since he was angry that he [Joseph] was [still] alive and he had not killed him. 4:12 Standing up against him, however, we all said together, \u201cIf you don\u2019t give it up, we will say that you alone did this evil in Israel.\u201d 4:13 So it was that he gave it up and they did as Dan had said.
\n5:1 And now, my children, I summon you to keep the LORD\u2018s commandments and to act mercifully toward your neighbor and to have compassion for everyone, not only for people, but also for animals. 5:2 It was for this that the LORD blessed me, and while all my brothers became sick, I got by without illness; for the LORD knows the inner thoughts of each [person]. 5:3 So have mercy in your innards, my children, for just as someone does to his neighbor, so shall the LORD do to him. 5:4 For my brothers\u2019 sons became sick and died because of Joseph, because they had no mercy in their innards, while my sons survived unharmed, as you know.
\n5:5 And [likewise,] when I was in the land of Canaan, I used to go to the coastline hunting for fish for my father Jacob; and while many were drowned in the sea, I remained unharmed. 6:1 I was the first to make a boat to sail the sea, because the LORD gave me intelligence and wisdom in this [matter]. 6:2 And I put down some wood at the back, and I stretched a sail on a straight piece of wood in the middle. 6:3 And sailing in it along the shores, I used to catch fish for my father\u2019s house until we went down to Egypt. 6:4 And I, feeling compassion, would give [even] to any stranger from my catch. 6:5 And if there was a stranger, or someone who was sick or aged, I would cook the fish and prepare it well, and set it before each person according to his need, receiving them [in my house] and sympathizing with them. 6:6 That is why the LORD gave me a plenteous catch of fish, since he who shares with his fellow will receive many times [more] from the LORD. 6:7 For five years I was a fisherman, sharing with every man I saw and providing for all my father\u2019s house. 6:8 I fished in the summer, and in the winter I would shepherd with my brothers.
\n7:1 Now let me tell you what I did. I saw someone who was in difficult straits\u2014naked, in winter-time\u2014and feeling compassion for him, I stole [better: took] a piece of clothing from my house and gave it secretly to the man in difficult straits. 7:2 So you too, my children, out of what God has granted you have compassion and mercy unwaveringly on everyone and give to every man with a good heart. 7:3 But if for a time you have nothing to give to a needy person, [at least] show sympathy for him with deep feelings of mercy. 7:4 I know that when my hand did not find anything for the moment to give to a needy person, I walked with him for seven stadia and wept, and my inner feelings were turned about with sympathy for him.
\n8:1 So you as well, my children, should therefore have compassion for everyone with mercy, so that the LORD may also have compassion and mercy on you. 8:2 Because in the last days God will send His compassion on earth, and wherever He finds feelings of mercy, there He will dwell. 8:3 For, as much as a man shows compassion for his fellow, so much will the LORD [show] for him. 8:4 When we went down to Egypt, Joseph did not bear a grudge against us; indeed, seeing me, he was moved to compassion. 8:5 So you, likewise, my children, contemplating him [Joseph, i.e., his example], don\u2019t hold any grudges; love one another and don\u2019t each keep track of the wrong [done by] his brother. 8:6 For this severs unity and divides the whole family and troubles the soul and destroys possessions.
\n9:1 Consider the waters: for when they go in one direction, they sweep along stones, pieces of wood, earth, sand. 9:2 But if they are divided into many [little] streams, the earth will [absorb and] obliterate them and they will be altogether negligible. 9:3 You will be too, if you are divided. 9:4 Do not be divided into two heads, for everything the LORD has made has only one head; He gave two shoulders, hands, feet, but all these limbs obey a single head.
\n9:5 [Yet] I know from the writing of my fathers that in later times you will depart from the LORD and you will be divided in Israel and will follow two kings and will perform every abomination and worship every idol. 9:6 And your enemies will lead you off as captives, and you will be ill-treated among the Gentiles with every illness and distress and pain of the soul. 9:7 But after these things you will remember the LORD and repent, and He will bring you back, because He is merciful and compassionate, not keeping a record of people\u2019s evil [deeds], since they are flesh and the Spirits of deceit lead them astray in all their affairs \u2026
\n10:1 And now, my children, do not grieve that I am dying, and do not be sad that I am leaving [you]. 10:2 I will rise again in your midst as a king amidst his sons, and I will rejoice amidst my tribe, with those who will have kept the LORD\u2018s Torah and the commandments of Zebulon, their father. 10:3 But on those who are wicked the LORD will bring an eternal fire and He will destroy them forever. 10:4 I, however, go to my rest, as did my fathers. 10:5 [As for] you: fear the LORD your God with all your strength, all the days of your lives. 10:6 And having said these things, he slept a goodly sleep; and his sons put him in a coffin. Afterward, they carried him up to Hebron and buried him with his fathers.<\/p>\n
\n1:6 The Spirit of envy and arrogance said to me: You\u2019re his son too! 1:7 And one of the [other] Spirits of Beliar joined in, saying to me: Take this sword and kill Joseph with it, and your father will love you after he is dead. 1:8 This was the Spirit of anger, who incited me to strike Joseph down, the way a tiger strikes down a kid. 1:9 But the God of our father Jacob did not surrender him into my hands [and arranged] that I should never find him alone; so that He did not allow me to carry out this transgression, lest two tribes in Israel be wiped out.
\n2:1 And now, my children, I am going to die, and [so] in truth I tell you that if you do not guard yourselves from the Spirit[s] of lying and of anger, and [instead] love truth and patience, you will perish. 2:2 For in anger there is blindness, so that no one [who is angry] can truly see a face. 2:3 For if it is [his] father or mother, he [the angry person] will act with them as with enemies; and if it is a brother, he will not [even] recognize him; if it is a prophet of the LORD, he will disobey; if it is a righteous man, he will not see him; he will not acknowledge a friend. 2:4 For the Spirit of anger traps him in nets of deceit and blinds his natural eyes, and with lying makes his thinking go dark, and [then] transmits to him his own way of seeing. 2:5 And what does he [i.e., the Spirit of anger] trap his eyes with? With hatred [in] the heart, so that he [the Spirit] gives him his [i.e., the Spirit\u2019s] own heart against his brother so that he [the person] will be jealous of him [his brother].
\n3:1 [The Spirit of] anger is evil, my children, for he becomes a soul to the soul. 3:2 For he takes over the body of the angry person, then gains dominion over the soul, then grants to the body his own power, so that it will perform any transgression. 3:3 And when the soul does so, it justifies what it does, because it does not see. 3:4 For that reason, a person who is angry, if he is a powerful man, has a threefold power in his anger: the first through the power and the support of his servants; the second through his wealth, by which he can persuade and win an unfair victory; and [then] he has the third, the natural power of his body to work evil on its own. 3:5 But [even] if the angry person is weak, he acquires a twofold power beyond that of [his ordinary] nature, for [the Spirit of] anger always helps them in breaking the law. 3:6 That Spirit always goes with [the Spirit of] lying at the right hand of Satan, so that his [Satan\u2019s] deeds may be accomplished with savagery and lying.
\n4:1 So therefore, recognize the power of [the Spirit of] anger, how deceptive he is! 4:2 For he first arouses [someone] to anger [expressed] in words, then he pushes him on [to anger expressed] in deeds, and [then] he [the Spirit of anger] stirs up his [the person\u2019s] disposition because of the bitter penalties incurred, and he thus churns up the [person\u2019s] soul to great anger. 4:3 Therefore, when someone says something against you, don\u2019t you be aroused to anger. And if someone praises you as being good, do not become conceited, and do not react with either pleasure or distaste. 4:4 For [just as] the first [better: the latter, i.e., flattery] is pleasant to hear, so does [the former] disturb the mind and make it eager to find out about the provocation; then the person, being enraged, thinks that he is right to be angry. 4:5 So if you should happen to incur any damage, or should something of yours be lost, do not be upset, my children; for the Spirit of anger will provoke you to desire the lost item, so that you fall into anger because of the longing [for it]. 4:6 [Even] if you should suffer damage [inflicted] voluntarily, my children, do not grieve [over it], for from grief he [the Spirit] stirs up anger and lying. 4:7 Anger with lying make for double the trouble, since they join together in order to stir up the [soul\u2019s] disposition; and when the soul is stirred up continuously, the LORD departs from it and Beliar holds sway over it.
\n5:1 Therefore, my children, keep the LORD\u2018s commandments and guard His Torah and turn aside from anger and despise lying, so that the LORD will dwell in your midst and Beliar will flee from you. 5:2 Speak the truth to each other, and you will not fall into wrath and agitation; peace will be yours, and the God of peace will be with you, and no war will overcome you. 5:3 Love the LORD with all your life [i.e., all your soul] and each other with a true heart.
\n5:4 For I know that in time to come, you will turn aside from the LORD and you will despise Levi and set yourselves against Judah\u2014but you will not overcome them, for an angel of the LORD leads both of them, and thanks to them Israel will prevail. 5:5 And when you turn aside from the LORD, you will follow into every wickedness, doing all the abominations of the Gentiles, whoring after the women of the lawless ones\u2014and in every forbidden union\u2014with all the Spirits of deceit at work within you. 5:6 For I have read in the book of the righteous Enoch that your guardian angel is Satan, and that all the Spirits of licentiousness and arrogance will [sometime in the future] turn their attention to Levi, and keep a close watch on Levi\u2019s sons, so as to make them sin before the LORD. 5:7 And my sons will draw near to Levi\u2019s sons and will sin with them in all things, while Judah\u2019s sons will lust after gain and will snatch up the wealth of other like lions. 5:8 Therefore, you will be led into captivity with them, and there you will suffer from all the plagues of Egypt and the wickedness of the Gentiles.
\n5:9 And so, once you return to the LORD, He will grant you mercy and bring you to His sanctuary and grant you peace. 5:10 And from the tribe of Judah and Levi the LORD\u2018s salvation will arise for you, and He Himself will make war against Beliar and in wreaking vengeance will grant victory to our fathers. 5:11 And He will take the [ones in] captivity away from Beliar, the souls of the holy ones, and return the disobedient hearts to the LORD and will grant eternal peace to those who call upon Him.
\n6:1 And now, my children, fear the LORD and guard yourselves against Satan and his Spirits. 6:2 Come close to God and to the angel who intercedes for you, for he is an intermediary between God and men for the peace of Israel, and he will stand up against the enemy\u2019s kingdom. 6:3 That is why the enemy is eager to trip up all those who call upon the name of the LORD. 6:4 For he knows that on the day that Israel believes, the enemy\u2019s kingdom will be brought to an end. 6:5 The angel of peace will strengthen Israel, so that it will not fall into the worst of evils \u2026 6:8 Therefore refrain, my children, from every evil deed, and cast aside all anger and lying, and love truth and patience. 6:9 And pass on the things that you have heard from your father to your children as well \u2026 6:10 So turn aside from all wickedness and cling to the righteousness of God\u2019s Torah, so that [your] people will be safe forever. 6:11 And bury me near my fathers.
\n7:1 And saying these things, he kissed them and slept an eternal sleep. 7:2 And his sons buried him. And afterward they brought up his bones to near to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 7:3 Yet as Dan had prophesied to them, that they would forget God\u2019s Torah and be estranged from the land of their inheritance and from the people of Israel and their own family and their seed, so it came to pass.<\/p>\n
\n1:5 Then he began speaking to his sons and said: Listen, my children, sons of Naphtali, listen to the words of your father. 1:6 Bilhah gave birth to me; and because Rachel acted in trickery and gave her servant girl Bilhah to Jacob in her stead, and she [then] gave birth to me on Rachel\u2019s knees, therefore I was called Naphtali. 1:7 And Rachel loved me very much, because I had been born on her knees, and while I was still tender, she kissed me and said: \u201cWould that I may yet see a brother of yours come out of my own womb [who will be] like you.\u201d 1:8 Therefore Joseph was like me in all things, in keeping with Rachel\u2019s prayer.
\n1:9 And my mother is Bilhah, the daughter of Rotheus, a brother of Deborah, Rebekah\u2019s nurse-maid; she [Bilhah] was born on the same day as Rachel. 1:10 And Rotheus was from Abraham\u2019s family\u2014a God-fearing Chaldean, a free man of noble birth. 1:11 But having been taken captive, he was bought by Laban [as a slave], and he [Laban] gave him his servant-girl Aina as a wife, and she gave birth to a daughter and he called her Zilpah after the city in which he [Rotheus] had been taken captive. 1:12 Then she gave birth to Bilhah, saying, \u201cMy daughter is eager for what is fresh\u201d\u2014for as soon as she was born, she was eager to nurse.
\n2:1 And since I was fleet of foot, like a deer, my father appointed me [to carry] all messages and announcements, and he also blessed me to be like a deer. 2:2 For just as the potter knows the vessel, how much it is to contain, and according to that brings the clay, so does the LORD form the body according to the likeness of the spirit, and according to the strength of the body He puts in the spirit. 2:3 And the one does not fall short of the other [even by] a third of a hair, for every creature of the Most High [is created] by weight and measure and standard. 2:4 And as the potter knows the use of each and every [vessel]\u2014what it is suited for\u2014so does the LORD know the [human] body\u2014how far it will keep going in goodness, and when it will begin in evil.
\n2:5 For there is no creature and there is no thought that the LORD does not know, since He created every person in His image. 2:6 For as is his [the person\u2019s] strength, so also his action; and as his mind, so also his skill; and as his intended plan, so also his accomplishment; and as his heart, so also his mouth; as his eye, so also his sleep; as his soul, so also his word, whether in the Torah of the LORD or the law of Beliar. 2:7 And just as there is a difference between light and darkness, [and between] seeing and hearing, so there is a difference between one man and another, one woman and another; and no one can say that one is the same as the other in appearances or in ideas.
\n2:8 For God made everything good in an order: the five senses in the head, and He connected the neck to the head, and hair for glory; a heart to understand and the belly to secrete to the stomach; the
\n3:1 So do not be eager to corrupt your deeds out of greed, or to deceive your souls with vain words; for if you keep silent in purity of heart, you will understand how to hold fast to God\u2019s will and to throw off the will of Beliar. 3:2 The sun and the moon and the stars do not change their order; so likewise, do not change God\u2019s Torah in the disorder of your deeds. 3:3 For the nations were led astray and abandoned the LORD; they changed their order and went after wood and stone, becoming followers of Spirits that mislead. 3:4 Not so are you, my children, who have recognized in the firmament, in the earth, the seas, and in all creatures the LORD who made them all; so that you will not become like [the population of] Sodom, which changed the order of its nature. So too did the Watchers change the order of nature, for which the LORD pronounced a curse upon them at [the time of] the flood, making the earth bereft of inhabitants and produce.
\n4:1 I say these things, my children, because I have learned from the holy book of Enoch that you as well will turn aside from the LORD and go after all the wickedness of the Gentiles, and will act as with all the transgression of Sodom. 4:2 And the LORD will bring captivity upon you, and you will be slaves to your enemies there, and you will be surrounded with every [form of] mistreatment and oppression, to the point of the LORD destroying all of you. 4:3 And after you have been made few [in number] and diminished, you will return and you will know the LORD your God; and He will bring you back to your land in accordance with His great mercy. 4:4 And it will be, when they return to the land of their fathers, they will once again forget the LORD and act sinfully \u2026
\n5:1 And in the fortieth year of my life, I had a vision on the Mount of Olives, to the east of Jerusalem, that the sun and the moon were standing still. 5:2 And behold, Isaac, my father\u2019s father, said to us: Run and [try to] seize, each of you as best he can, and the sun and the moon will belong to whoever manages to take hold of them. 5:3 And we all ran together and Levi got the sun, and then Judah was the first to seize the moon, and both of them were lifted up with them. 5:4 And Levi was like the sun, and a certain young man gave him twelve palm branches; and Judah was shining like the moon and beneath his feet were twelve rays [of light]. 5:5 And Levi and Judah ran toward each other and took hold of each other. 5:6 And behold, a bull was upon the earth, having two great horns and the wings of an eagle on its back. And we wished to grab hold of it but we could not. 5:7 Then Joseph caught up and seized it and was lifted up on high with it. 5:8 And then I saw\u2014for I was there\u2014and behold, a holy scroll appeared to us, saying that the Assyrians, the Medes, the Persians, Elamites, Gelachaeans, the Chaldeans, and Syrians would lead the twelve tribes of Israel into captivity.
\n6:1 And once again, after seven days, I saw our father Jacob standing on [the shore of] the sea of Jamnia, and we sons were with him. 6:2 And behold there was a ship arriving
\n7:1 I told these two dreams to my father, and he said to me: These things have to be fulfilled in their time, after Israel has suffered many things. 7:2 Then my father said to me: I believe that Joseph is [still] alive, since I constantly see that the LORD always numbers him along with you. 7:3 And weeping, he said: You are alive, Joseph my son, though I do not see you and you do not see [me], Jacob, your progenitor. 7:4 And he made it so that we too burst into tears over these words of his, and my innards burned to tell him that he [Joseph] had been sold, but I was afraid of my brothers.
\n8:1 And behold, my children, I have shown you the later times, for all these things will occur in Israel. 8:2 But you, order your sons to be united with Levi and Judah \u2026 8:4 If you do that which is good, my children, men and angels will bless you, and God will be honored through you among the nations, and the Devil will flee from you, and wild beasts will be afraid of you, and the LORD will love you and the angels will surround you. 8:5 For just as, if a man raises a child properly, he has a good remembrance, so also for a good deed there is a good remembrance before God. 8:6 But whoever does not do what is good, men and angels will curse [him], and God will be dishonored among the nations because of him, and the Devil will make him a household implement of his, and every wild animal will rule over him and the LORD will despise him.
\n8:7 For the Torah\u2019s commandments are twofold, and they must be carried out with care. 8:8 There is a time for [a man\u2019s] lying with his wife, and a time for abstaining [therefrom] for his prayer. 8:9 For the two are commandments, but if they are not done in their orderliness, they will bring sin; so is it likewise with the other commandments. 8:10 So be wise in God and careful, understanding the orderliness of His commandments and the laws of all activities, so that the LORD will love you.
\n9:1 And having commanded them many such things as these, he summoned them to take up his bones to Hebron and to bury [him] with his fathers. 9:2 And after eating and drinking with them in good humor, he covered his face and died. 9:3 And his sons did according to all that their father Naphtali had commanded them [to do].<\/full><\/reed><\/p>\n
\n1:4 And Joseph was shepherding with us for thirty days and, being [still] tender [of age] he took sick from the heat. 1:5 And he went back to Hebron to our father, and he made him lie down near to him, because he loved him. 1:6 And Joseph said to our father: the sons of Zilpah and Bilhah are slaying the best [of the flock] and eating them, contrary to the opinion of Judah and Reuben. 1:7 For he had seen that I saved a lamb from the mouth of a bear and killed it, but then I slaughtered the lamb (I was pained that it could not survive)\u2014and [so] we ate it. And [that was what] he said to our father.
\n1:8 And I was outraged at Joseph for this thing until the day he was sold down to Egypt. 1:9 And the Spirit of hatred was inside me, and I did not want to see Joseph, neither with my ears nor with my eyes; for he had [not] reproved us to our faces, [saying] that except for Judah we were [all] eating the sheep; [rather] everything he told to [our] father, he believed.
\n2:1 Now I confess my sin, children, that often I wanted to kill him, for I hated him down to my soul, and there was not a single drop of merciful feeling in me toward him. 2:2 And I hated him even more for his dreams, and I wished to lick him out of the land of the living as an ox licks up the grass of the field. 2:3 That is why Judah and I sold him to the Ishmaelites for thirty pieces of gold, and having hidden ten, we showed the rest to our brothers. 2:4 And thus through greed we were altogether determined to kill him. 2:5 But the God of my fathers saved him from my hand, lest I commit an outrage in Israel.
\n3:1 And now, my children, listen to words of truth, in order to perform righteousness and the whole Torah of the Most High; and do not be deceived by the Spirit of hatred, for it is evil in all the deeds of men. 3:2 No matter what a man does, the hater will despise [him]; if he keeps the LORD\u2018s Torah, he will not praise him [for it], if he fears the LORD and wishes justice, he will not love him. 3:3 He maligns the truth; he is jealous of the prosperous; he welcomes slander; he loves arrogance, for hatred blinds his soul\u2014as I myself looked upon Joseph.
\n4:1Therefore, my children, beware of hatred, because it is a transgression against the LORD Himself. 4:2 For it does not wish to hear the words of His commandments concerning love of neighbor, and [thus] it sins against God. 4:3 For if a brother should stumble, it wishes to announce it immediately to everyone, and it urges that he should be put on trial for it and punished and put to death. 4:4 And if he should be a slave, then it will incite him against his master, and rejoices over him in every [subsequent] affliction, [even] if it can somehow have him killed. 4:5 For hatred works [together] with jealousy, [so that] hearing and seeing the prosperity of those who succeed, he [the jealous hater] always falls ill. 4:6 For just as love would restore the dead back to life and bring back those who are condemned to die, so also does hatred seek to kill the living and does not want to keep alive even those who had sinned only a little. 4:7 For through impatience the Spirit of hatred cooperates with Satan in all things in order to kill people, while, through patience, the Spirit of love cooperates with God\u2019s Torah in order to save people.
\n5:1 Hatred is evil, for it always goes together with falsehood, speaking against truth: it makes small things into big ones, it turns light into darkness, says that sweet is bitter, and it teaches slander and anger and war and arrogance and every appetite for evil things, and it fills the heart with the Devil\u2019s poison. 5:2 And I say these things to you, my children, out of experience, so that you may drive out hatred and cling to the love of God. 5:3 Righteousness casts out hatred; humility annihilates hatred. For someone who is righteous and humble is ashamed to do evil; he is reproved not by someone else, but by his own heart, because the LORD is watching over his disposition. 5:4 He speaks ill of no man, since the fear of the Most High conquers hatred. 5:5 For, fearing that he might offend the LORD, he does not wish to harm anyone, even in his thoughts.
\n5:6 I finally learned these things myself, after I had repented for [what I did to] Joseph. 5:7 For true repentance [that is done] in accord with God[\u2018s will] destroys ignorance and puts darkness to flight, brings light to the eyes and grants knowledge to the soul and turns the disposition [of the soul] in the direction of salvation. 5:8 And what it has not learned from people, it will learn through repentance.5:9 For God afflicted me with a disease of the liver, and were it not for the prayers of my father Jacob, my spirit might almost have left me. 5:10 For by the very same things by which a person transgresses, by them he is also punished. 5:11 Consequently, since my liver was mercilessly set against Joseph, so was I mercilessly punished in my liver, suffering for eleven months, corresponding to the amount of time that I hated Joseph until he was sold.
\n6:1 And now, my children, each one of you love his brother and banish hate from your hearts, loving one another in action and in speech and in the soul\u2019s thought. 6:2 For in our father\u2019s presence I would speak peacefully with Joseph, but when I went out, the Spirit of hatred darkened my mind and stirred up my soul to kill him. 6:3 So you, love one another with your hearts, and if someone sins against you, speak to him in peace, having banished the poison of hatred; and do not let deceit hold sway in your soul. And if he, having confessed, repents, forgive him. 6:4 [But] if he denies [it], do not get into an argument with him, lest he swear [an oath] and you will have sinned doubly. 6:5 In a fight, do not let someone else hear your secret, lest he hate you and become your enemy and commit a great sin against you. For [it] often [happens that], having caught the poison [of hatred] from you, he may stab you in the back, or else meddle in your affairs for the worse. 6:6 If he denies [it], and [then,] having been reproved seems ashamed, keep silent, lest you provoke him; for someone who denies may [still] repent and commit no further offense toward you\u2014indeed, he may [even] honor you and respect [you] and be at peace [with you]. 6:7 But if he is without any shame and continues in [doing] wickedness, even so, forgive him from the heart and leave it to God to establish justice.
\n7:1 If someone is more successful than you, do not take it badly\u2014on the contrary, pray for him to succeed all the way, since it may redound to your benefit. 7:2 And if he is exalted even more, do not be jealous, but remember that all flesh will die: offer a hymn to the LORD, who provides all good things and who benefits all men. 7:3 Seek out the LORD\u2018s judgments, and [He will not] abandon [you] and you will be at ease. 7:4 And if someone becomes rich out of evil doings, as my uncle Esau did, do not be envious, but wait for the time of the LORD. 7:5 Either He takes away those things [acquired] wrongfully, or He forgives those who repent, or those who do not repent He punishes for eternity. 7:6 [In any case,] someone who is poor and [yet] does not envy, giving thanks to the LORD for all things\u2014such a person is richer than all men, because he does not have the annoyances of [other] men. 7:7 So banish hatred from your souls and love one another in the uprightness of your hearts.
\n8:1 So say these things to your children, so that they may honor Levi and Judah \u2026 8:2 But I know that eventually your children will turn away from them, and will [indulge] in every evil and wickedness and corruption before the LORD. 8:3 And having rested a bit, he said again to them: My children, obey your father, and bury me next to my fathers. 8:4 And having drawn up his feet, he peacefully fell asleep. And after five years they carried him up and buried him in Hebron with his fathers.<\/p>\n
\n1:3 God has given two paths to humanity, and two impulses, and two kinds of actions, and two ways of life, and two ends. 1:4 Thus, all things come in twos, one corresponding to the other. 1:5 There are [thus] two ways, of good and of evil, and along with them two impulses within our breasts that differentiate them. 1:6 Thus, if the soul chooses the good [impulse], everything it does will be [done] in righteousness, and [even] if it sins, it will repent right away. 1:7 For when a person\u2019s thoughts are set on righteous things and he rejects wickedness, he immediately overthrows what is evil and uproots the sin. 1:8 But if [the person\u2019s soul] opts for the [evil] impulse, then its every action will be in wickedness, and, having driven away the good, [it] will take hold of the bad; it will [eventually] be ruled by Beliar. [Then,] even if [the person] does something good, he [Beliar] will convert it into something bad. 1:9 For, should it [the soul] start to do something good, he [Beliar] arranges for the upshot of the action to work evil for him, for the [evil] impulse\u2019s storage chamber is now filled with the poison of an evil Spirit.
\n2:1: It may thus come about
\n2:5 Someone else may steal, act wrongly, rob, cheat, and [yet] take pity on the needy; here too there are two aspects, but the whole of it is evil. 2:6 By cheating his neighbor he angers God, and [to make matters worse] he swears falsely by the Most High; and [yet,] he shows pity to the pauper. He disdains and angers the LORD, who commanded the Torah, and [yet] he gives comfort to the needy. 2:7 He defiles the soul even as he dresses up the body; he kills many while showing mercy to a few; this too has two aspects to it, yet the whole is evil.
\n2:8 Another person commits adultery and fornicates, and [yet] abstains from foods; fasting, he [nonetheless] does evil; by his power and his wealth he overwhelms many, and [yet, even] in his excessive wickedness, he performs [some] commandments. Here too, there are two aspects, yet the whole of it is evil. 2:9 Such people are like pigs [and] rabbits, since they are halfway pure, yet in truth they are altogether impure, 2:10 for God has so said in the Heavenly Tablets.
\n3:1 So you, my children, do not become like these two-sided people, [people] of goodness and of wickedness; but cling solely to goodness, because that is where God resides and what men yearn for. 3:2 Flee from wickedness, doing away with the [evil] impulse by your good deeds; for two-sided people serve not God, but [only] their own desires\u2014in order to please Beliar and people like themselves.
\n4:1 Good and undivided people, even if the two-sided people consider them sinners, are righteous before God. 4:2 For many people who kill the wicked may [seem to be] doing two things, something good and something bad; but the [result of the] whole is good, because it has eradicated and destroyed what is evil. 4:3 There may be someone who hates the merciful but unjust man [or hates] the one who commits adultery and yet fasts; this too has two aspects to it, yet the whole action is good, indeed, he [i.e., the person who does this] is imitating the LORD, not accepting something that [merely] appears to be good with what is truly evil. 4:4 Another person does not want to enjoy a festival day with the profligate, lest he defile his mouth and corrupt his soul; this as well has two sides to it, but the whole of it is good. 4:5 Such men are comparable to gazelles and deer, since though they seem to be impure, like [most] wild animals, yet they are altogether pure; for [such people] walk in zealousness for God and [therefore naturally] turn aside from what God hates and forbids in His commandments, separating the bad from the good.
\n5:1 So you see, children, how there are twos in everything, one opposite the other, or one hidden underneath the other: 5:2 Death follows life, dishonor [follows] glory, night day, and darkness light; yet all things are under day; and [so likewise] all righteous deeds are under life; therefore eternal life awaits death. 5:3 And no one can say that truth is falsehood or right is wrong, since all truth is under the light, just as all things are under God.
\n5:4 I have tested all these things in my life, but I did not stray far from the LORD\u2018s truth, and I searched out the commandments of the Most High with all my strength, walking singlemindedly toward what is good. 6:1 May you as well, my children, attend to the commandments of the LORD, single-mindedly following the truth. 6:2 For people who are of two minds end up with a double punishment. Hate thex Spirits of deceit, who struggle against men. 6:3 Keep the LORD\u2018s Torah and do not consider evil as if it were good, but turn your attention [solely] to what is truly good, and keep it in all the LORD\u2018s commandments, turning back to it and making it your dwelling-place.
\n6:4 For, people\u2019s righteousness is shown by their end, whether they meet up with the angels of the LORD
\n7:1 Do not, children, be like [the people of] Sodom, who did not recognize the angels of the LORD and perished forever. 7:2 For I know that you will sin and will be given over into the hands of your enemies, and your land will be made desolate and your holy places destroyed, and you will be scattered to the four corners of the earth. And you will be considered as worthless in the dispersion as useless water \u2026 7:6 Because of this, you will be scattered like my brothers, Gad and Dan, who will not know their own lands and tribe and language. 7:7 But the LORD will faithfully gather you together because of [your] hope for His compassion [and] for the sake of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.
\n8:1 And having said these things to them, he [further] ordered them, saying: Bury me in Hebron. And having fallen into a good sleep, he died. 8:2 And after these things his sons did as he had ordered them, and they took him up and buried him with his fathers.<\/and><\/he><\/p>\n
\n1:2 My children and brothers, listen to Joseph, Israel\u2019s beloved. Pay attention, sons, to your father. 1:3 I have seen in my life envy and death: [but] I did not stray
\n2:1 And so it was that Photimar, the chief cook of Pharaoh, entrusted his household to me. 2:2 I struggled against a shameless woman, who urged me to sin with her; but the God of my father Israel guarded me from the burning fire. 2:3 I was imprisoned, I was flogged, I was mocked; but the LORD granted me to find pity with the jailer. 2:4 For He does not abandon those who fear Him, neither in darkness nor in chains, nor in tribulations, nor in need. 2:5 For unlike a man, God cannot be put to shame, nor does He fear like a human being, nor like one born on the earth can He grow weak or be pushed aside. 2:6 But He is close at hand in all places, and in various ways He provides comfort, though He may hold Himself aloof for a little while in order to put the soul\u2019s disposition to the test. 2:7 Through ten tests He showed that I was tried and true, [since] through all of them I persevered. Perseverance is a great medicine, and endurance produces many good things.
\n3:1 How often did the Egyptian woman threaten me with death! How often did she, after having turned me over to be punished, then call me back and threaten me [again] if I did not agree to sleep with her! [Or else] she would say to me: 3:2 You will be in charge of me and everything that is mine if you surrender yourself to me\u2014you will be like [my] master! 3:3 But I remembered the words of my father Jacob, so I would go into my room and pray to the LORD. 3:4 And I fasted throughout those seven years, but to the Egyptian I looked like someone who was living a sumptuous existence, for those who fast for God are granted a handsome face.
\n3:5 And if he [Potiphar] was away, I would not drink wine, but for three days I would take my rations and give them to the poor and the sick. 3:6 And I used to get up early to seek the LORD, and I would weep for the Egyptian woman from Memphis, since she greatly and endlessly importuned me\u2014even at night, she would come to me on the pretext of taking care of me. 3:7 Since she had no male child of her own, she would act as if I were her son. So I prayed to the LORD, and she gave birth to a male. 3:8 For a time she would embrace me as a son, and I had no idea [what she was up to]; in the end, [however,] she [tried to] draw me into licentiousness, 3:9 and when I realized, I was grieved to the point of death. And as soon as she left, I came back to myself, and I was saddened on her account for many days, because [now] I realized her trickery and deceit. 3:10 And I told her the words of the Most High, in the hope that she might repent of her evil lust.
\n4:1 How often did she flatter me, calling me a holy man, praising my self-restraint with deceitful words in the presence of her husband, but wishing only to trap me when we were alone. 4:2 In public, she would praise me as showing self-restraint, but in secret she would say to me: \u201cDon\u2019t worry about my husband\u2014he is already convinced of your self-restraint! Even if someone were to tell him about [the two of] us, he wouldn\u2019t believe it.\u201d 4:3 Amidst all these things I lay down on the ground in sack-cloth and I beseeched God, so that the LORD might save me from the Egyptian woman. 4:4 When she in no way succeeded, she again came to me under the pretext of [wanting] instruction, \u201cto learn the word of God.\u201d 4:5 And she said to me: If you want me to abandon the idols [that I worship,] then sleep with me, and I will persuade the Egyptian to give up idols and we will walk in the law of your LORD. 4:6 And I said to her, the LORD does not accept any who [would] worship Him in impurity, nor is He pleased by those who commit adultery. 4:7 At this she remained silent, wishing [only] to carry her desires to their conclusion. 4:8 For my part, I increased my fasting and prayer, so that the LORD would save me from her.
\n5:1 Once again, on another occasion, she said to me, If you do not want to commit adultery, I myself will kill the Egyptian [Potiphar]; then I can legally take you as my husband. 5:2 When I heard this I ripped my clothes and said: Woman! Fear the LORD and do not do this evil deed, lest you be cut off. I myself will tell everyone about this immoral scheme of yours. 5:3 Then she was afraid, [and,] imploring me not to tell anyone of her wickedness, 5:4 she left after showering me with gifts and sending every delight of the sons of men.
\n6:1 Then she sent me food that had been combined with sorcery. 6:2 And when the eunuch came and brought it in, I looked up and saw a fearsome man handing me a sword along with the dish, and I understood that her plan was to lead my soul astray. 6:3 And once he had gone out, I wept and tasted nothing of that [food] nor of anything else of her dishes.
\n6:4 The next day she came and saw the [uneaten] food and she said to me: Why haven\u2019t you eaten any of this food? 6:5 And I said to her: Because you have filled it with deadly enchantments. And how could you say, \u201cI will not come near to the idols, but only to the LORD.\u201d 6:6 Now, therefore, be informed that the God of my father revealed your wickedness to me through an angel. And I have kept it [the food] to prove you guilty [in the hope] that seeing it, you may repent. 6:7 But just to show you that the wickedness of immoral people cannot overcome those who worship God through self-restraint\u2014[and] taking the food right in front of her, I ate it at once, saying: May the God of my fathers and the angel of Abraham be with me! 6:8 And she fell on her face at my feet and wept; and I lifted her up and admonished her. 6:9 And she undertook not to do this impiety any more.
\n7:1 But her heart was still set on me for licentiousness, and she fell to the ground sighing. 7:2 And when the Egyptian [Potiphar] saw her, he said to her: Why is your face fallen? And she said: I am pained in my heart, and the sighing of my spirit puts me in distress. So he treated her with medicine, but she was not [really] ill.
\n7:3 Then [on another occasion] when her husband was away she rushed toward me and said to me: I will hang myself or throw myself into a well or over a cliff if you do not sleep with me! 7:4 But realizing that the Spirit of Beliar was tormenting her, I prayed to the LORD [on her behalf. Then] I said to her, 7:5 \u201cWhy are you so disturbed and upset? [Are you] blinded by sins? Remember that if you kill yourself, Setho, your husband\u2019s concubine\u2014your rival!\u2014will beat your children and destroy your memorial from the earth. 7:6 Then she said to me: So you do love me! It is enough for me [to know] that you care about my life and my children\u2019s. I can still expect that my desire [for you] will be fulfilled.
\n7:7 But she did not understand that I had spoken in this way not for her, but for my God. 7:8 For if someone submits to the passion of [i.e., created by] an evil desire and becomes enslaved to it, as she did, then [even] if he hears something good [i.e., true], he will [nevertheless always] understand it as referring to the passion to which he has yielded, on account of that evil desire. 8:1 I tell you, children, it was about the sixth hour when she left me. And I bowed down on my knees before the LORD the whole day and the whole night as well, and [only] around dawn did I get up, weeping and begging to be released from the Egyptian woman. 8:2 In the end she grabbed hold of my garment and drew me by force to lie with her. 8:3 But when I saw with what force she was insanely holding on to my garment, I ran away naked. 8:4 She [then] falsely accused me, and the Egyptian [Potiphar] put me in a prison in his house
\n9:1 And she often sent [messages] to me that said: If you agree to do what I desire, then I will loose your chains and set you free from darkness. 9:2 But I did not even consider giving in to her. [After all,] God loves the person who, in a dark pit, fasts with self-restraint, rather than someone who, in the chambers of a palace, lives it up with licentiousness. 9:3 (If someone who lives in self-restraint should desire to be honored, and if the Most High sees that it is fitting, He will grant this as well to him, as He granted it to me.)
\n9:4 How often, despite her being ill, did she use to come down to me at midnight to hear my voice as I prayed! But when I would hear her groan, I would stay still. 9:5 For when I was in her house, she used to bare her arms and breasts and legs to get me to lie with her\u2014and she was very beautiful, splendidly adorned in order to seduce me\u2014but the LORD saved me from her exertions.
\n10:1 So you see, my children, what patience and prayer, along with fasting, can accomplish. 10:2 And you, therefore, if you pursue self-restraint and chastity with patience and humility of heart, the LORD will dwell in your midst, since He loves self-restraint. 10:3 And wherever the Most High is dwelling, even if someone [there] should fall victim to [someone else\u2019s] jealousy, or to enslavement, or to false accusation, or darkness, the LORD, who [i.e., since He] dwells in him because of his [i.e., the person\u2019s] self-restraint, not only will save him from evil things, but will even exalt him and bring him honor, as He did with me.
\n10:4 For in all things is a man encompassed, in [his] action and word and thought. 10:5 My brothers understood how my father loved me\u2014and yet I did not exalt myself in my mind; even though I was [only] a child, I [already] had the fear of God in my heart, for I knew that everything passes. 10:6 And [so,] I took the measure of myself and honored my brothers, for it was out of fear for them that I kept silent when I was sold and did not tell the Ishmaelites about my family, that I was the son of Jacob, a great and powerful man.
\n11:1 And you, therefore, keep the fear of God before your eyes in all your doings and honor your brothers; for everyone who performs [the commandments of] the LORD\u2018s Torah is loved by Him. 11:2 When I went to the Indocolpites with the Ishmaelites, they asked me [who I was] and I said: I am their household slave, so that I would not put my brothers to shame. 11:3 The oldest of them said to me: You are no slave; your appearance indicates [this] about you. And he threatened me with death. But I said: I am their slave.
\n11:4 When we arrived in Egypt, they argued about me as to which one would pay more money [to the others] and take me [as his slave]. 11:5 So it seemed to everyone proper that I stay in Egypt with the one who sold their merchandise, until they should return, carrying [more] merchandise. 11:6 And the LORD gave me favor in the eyes of the merchant, and he entrusted his house to me. 11:7 And the LORD blessed him through my hand and filled him with silver and gold. 11:8 And I stayed with him three months and five days.
\n12:1 At that time the Memphian woman, the wife of Pentephres, passed by in great pomp, [riding] in a chariot, and she looked me over, because her eunuchs had told her about me. 12:2 And she said to her husband about the merchant: He has become rich by the hand of a Hebrew lad. They say that he was furtively stolen from the land of the Hebrews. 12:3 So now, try him out and release the young fellow to be your steward, and the God of the Hebrews will bless you, since favor from heaven is upon him.
\n13:1 And Pentephres, persuaded by her words, commanded that the merchant be brought, and said to him: What\u2019s this I hear, that you steal souls from the land of the Hebrews and sell them as slaves? 13:2 But the merchant fell upon his face and pleaded with him, saying: I beg of you, [my] lord, I do not know what you are talking about. 13:3 And he said to him: Then from where did you get this Hebrew slave? And he said: the Ishmaelites entrusted him to me [to keep] until they return.
\n13:4 But he did not believe him, and he ordered him to be flogged naked. And when he still stood by his words, Pentephres said: Let the young man be brought in. 13:5 And when I was brought in, I bowed down to the chief eunuch [Potiphar\/Pentephres]\u2014for he was third in rank among Pharaoh\u2019s chiefs, having wives and children and concubines; 13:6 And taking me aside, he said to me: Are you a slave or a freeman? And I said: a slave. 13:7 And he said: Whose slave are you? And I said: the Ishmaelites\u2019. 13:8 And he said to me again: How did you become a slave? And I said that they had bought me from the land of Canaan. 13:9 But he said to me: You\u2019re lying! And he at once ordered that I be flogged naked.
\n14:1 The Memphian woman was looking through the window as I was being flogged, and she sent [a message] to her husband, saying: You are treating him unfairly, since you are punishing a freeman who was kidnapped as if he were the one at fault. 14:2 When, having been beaten, I didn\u2019t change my statement, he ordered that they imprison me until (he said) the boy\u2019s owners come. 14:3 But the woman said to him: Why should you imprison someone [just because he was] taken captive\u2014and a wellborn lad at that! He should rather be set free and wait on you [as your servant]. 14:4 (She wanted to see me out of sinful desire, but I was ignorant of all such things.) 14:5 And he said to her: It is not the Egyptians\u2019 custom to take away what belongs to others before there is proof. 14:6 He was saying these things in reference to the merchant; but the boy [he said] is to be kept in prison.
\n15:1 After twenty-four days, the Ishmaelites arrived. Since they had heard that my father Jacob was mourning over me, they came to say: 15:2 Why should you have said that you are a slave, whereas now we know that you are the son of a great man in Canaan\u2014and your father is mourning [for you] there in sackcloth? 15:3 And again I wanted to weep, but I held myself back, so as not to put my brothers to shame. And I said: I do not know\u2014I am a slave! 15:4 They then resolved to sell me, lest I be found in their possession. 15:5 They were afraid of my father Jacob, lest he come and take painful revenge. For they had heard that he was \u201cmighty with God and with men.\u201d
\n15:6 Then the merchant said to them: Free me from the sentence [passed on me] by Pentephres.15:7 And they came and asked me to say that I was bought by them for money, and then [i.e., so that] he [Potiphar\/Pentephres] would set him [the merchant] free.
\n16:1 The Memphian woman instructed her husband to buy me, since \u201cI hear,\u201d she said, \u201cthat he is for sale.\u201d 16:2 And he sent a eunuch to the Ishmaelites to ask them to sell me \u2026 16:3 The eunuch, having tested them out, reported [back] to his mistress that \u201cThey\u2019re asking a huge price for the boy.\u201d 16:4 She sent another eunuch, saying: Even if they ask two minas of gold, offer [it]\u2014make sure not to be cheap with the money! Just buy the boy and bring him! 16:5 So he [the eunuch] gave them eighty pieces of gold for me but to the Egyptian woman he said he had given one hundred. 16:6 Even though I knew this, I kept silent, lest the eunuch be put to shame.
\n17:1 So you see, children, how much I endured in order not to put my brothers to shame. 17:2 So [may] you, therefore, likewise love one another, and patiently hide one another\u2019s failings. 17:3 For God is pleased when brothers are of one mind, and [pleased as well] in an honorable heart\u2019s commitment to loving. 17:4 And when my brothers came to Egypt, when they discovered that I had returned the money to them and I did not revile them, but rather that I comforted them, 17:5 And that after Jacob\u2019s death I continued to act lovingly toward them, and that I did everything that he had told me [to do]\u2014they were amazed. 17:6 I did not allow them to be wronged even in the slightest matter, and I gave them whatever I had. 17:7 Their children were my children, while my children were like their servants; their soul was my soul, and all their suffering was my suffering, and every illness of theirs was my own. My land was their land, and their counsel was my counsel. 17:8 And I did not arrogantly lord it over them for my own worldly glorification, but I acted as if I were one of the least [important] among them.
\n18:1 If, therefore, you also walk in the commandments of the LORD, my children, He will exalt you here and bless you with good things in eternity. 18:2 For if someone wishes to harm you, treat him kindly and pray for him, and you will be saved by the LORD from all harm. 18:3 You can see that, thanks to [my] patient endurance, I ended up marrying my master\u2019s daughter, and one hundred talents of gold were given to me with her, for the LORD made them my servants. 18:4 Moreover he made me handsome, even more handsome than Israel [=Jacob], and preserved me in strength and beauty into old age, since I was like Jacob in all things.
\n19:1 And now, my children, listen as well to the vision I had: 19:2 Twelve deer were grazing, and nine [of them] were scattered and dispersed over the earth; similarly, the other three [were scattered] on the following day \u2026 [Armenian text adds 19:3\u20136 as follows] 19:3 And I saw that the three deer became three lambs, and they cried out to the LORD and He brought them forth out of darkness into light and he brought them to a green and watered place. 19:4 And there they cried to the LORD until the nine deer were gathered to them and they became twelve like twelve sheep, and after a little they increased and became many flocks. 19:5 After this I saw and, behold, twelve bulls which were sucking from the one cow which, through the vast amounts of her milk, was making a sea. And the twelve flocks and the innumerable herds were drinking from it. 19:6 And the horns of the fourth bull were elevated up to the heavens and became like a wall for the flocks \u2026
\n19:8 [19:6 in some MSS.] So you, my children, keep the LORD\u2018s commandments and respect Judah and Levi \u2026 19:9 [some mss. 19:7] for [their] kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, which is unshakable. But my kingdom among you will reach its end like a watchman\u2019s hut in a garden, because after the summer it will disappear.
\n20:1 For I know that after my death the Egyptians will afflict you, but God will avenge you and will bring you to the land that He promised to your fathers. 20:2 But you shall carry up my bones with you; for when my bones are being carried up, the LORD will be with you in light, and Beliar will be with the Egyptians in darkness. 20:3 And carry up your mother Asenath to the road of Ephrat, and bury her next to Rachel your mother.
\n20:4 And having said these things, he stretched out his feet and slept the eternal sleep. 20:5 And all Israel and all Egypt mourned for him with great mourning. 20:6 And in the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, they took Joseph\u2019s bones with them, and they buried him in Hebron with his fathers, and the years of his life were one hundred and ten years.<\/and><\/in><\/p>\n
\n2:1 And when I entered Egypt and my brother Joseph recognized me, he said to me: What did they say to my father when they sold me [as a slave]? 2:2 And I said to him: They dipped your tunic in blood and sent to him and said: Recognize if this is the tunic of your son. 2:3 And he said to me: Quite so, my brother; for when the Ishmaelites took me, one of them took my tunic off of me and gave me a loin cloth and flogged me and told me to run. 2:4 But the one who had beaten me with a stick, a lion met him and killed him. 2:5 So his partners took fright and sold me to their comrades.
\n3:1 So you as well, my children, fear the LORD, the God of heaven and earth and keep His commandments, imitating that good and holy man Joseph. 3:2 And let your thought be [turned] to the good, just as you know m[ine to be]. Someone who keeps his thought [turned to the] good sees everything properly. 3:3 Fear the LORD and love your neighbor; and even if the Spirits of Beliar should seek to have you forced into every [sort of] evil, they will not gain control over you\u2014just as they did not with your brother Joseph.
\n3:4 How many men sought to kill him, but God protected him; for someone who fears God and loves his neighbor cannot be struck by a Spirit of Beliar, being protected by the fear of God. 3:5 Nor can the snares of men gain mastery over him, nor wild animals, since he is helped by the love that he has for his neighbor. 3:6 For Joseph even asked our father to pray on behalf of his sons, so that the LORD would not count as a sin any evil that they had done to him. 3:7 [Whereupon] Jacob cried out thus: \u201cO worthy child! You have [utterly] won over the feelings of your father Jacob!\u201d And he hugged him and kissed him for two hours \u2026 298
\n4:1 Thus you have seen, children, what a good man finally receives. Imitate his compassion with a willing heart, so that you, too, may be crowned with glory. 4:2 For a good man does not have a dark eye, but he has mercy on everyone, even if they are sinners. 4:3 And though they may conspire against him for ill, by doing good he overcomes the evil, being protected by God; and the righteous he loves as his own soul. 4:4 If someone is honored, he is not jealous; if someone is wealthy, he is not envious; if someone is heroic, he praises [him]; the prudent man he trusts; on the poor he has mercy; for the sick he feels sympathy; God he praises. 4:5 Whoever has the fear of God he defends; whoever loves God he joins together with; whoever denies the Most High he admonishes and causes to repent; and the one who has the grace of a good Spirit he loves as his own soul.
\n5:1 If your cast of mind is good, children, then even wicked men will be at peace with you, and the dissolute will so respect you that they turn to the good, and the greedy will not only turn away from what has attracted them, but they will even give away what they have gotten by their greed to people who are in need. 5:2 If you do good, the impure Spirits will flee from you, and even wild animals will themselves be afraid of you. 5:3 For where the light of good deeds exists in [a person\u2019s] thoughts, darkness flees from him. 5:4 If anyone mistreats a holy man, he will repent; for the holy man takes pity on his abuser and says nothing. 5:5 And if anyone betrays a righteous soul, then the righteous man prays; even though he is humiliated for a little while, it is not long before he appears in finer fettle, as happened with my brother Joseph.
\n6:1 The good man\u2019s disposition is not in the power of Deceit, Beliar\u2019s Spirit, but the angel of peace guides his soul. 6:2 And he does not eye covetously the things that [in any case] are subject to decay, nor does he accumulate wealth for the love of pleasure; 6:3 he takes no delight in pleasure. He does not cause his neighbor pain, he does not stuff himself on dainties, he does not fall into error by lifting up his eyes; for the LORD is his portion. 6:4 The good disposition is indifferent to glory or the dishonor of [i.e., given out by] men, and it is unacquainted with trickery or lying, disputing or insulting; for the LORD dwells in him [the good man] and illuminates his soul [so that] he always rejoices in everyone.6:5 The good cast of mind does not [let a person] speak with two tongues, of blessing and of cursing, of insulting and of praising, of sorrow and of joy, of inner calm and of mental agitation, of hypocrisy and of truth, of poverty and of wealth; but it has one, unmixed, pure attitude with regard to everyone. 6:6 It does not have double vision or [double] hearing, for whatever he does or says or sees, he knows that the LORD is watching his soul. 6:7 And he purifies his thought so that he will not be condemned by God or men. [By contrast,] everything that Beliar does is double, since he has no singleness.
\n7:1 Therefore, my children, flee from Beliar\u2019s evil, because he arms his followers with a sword. 7:2 The sword is the mother of seven evils.
\n8:1 So, my children, avoid evil[doing], jealousy, and hatred of a brother, and cling to goodness and love. 8:2 He whose thought is pure with regard to love does not look at a woman for [purposes of] licentiousness; for he has no defilement in his heart, since the spirit of God rests upon him. 8:3 For just as the sun is not defiled when it shines on dung and refuse, but rather dries up both and puts to flight the unpleasant odor, so pure thought, though surrounded by the defilements of the earth, instead builds up and is not itself defiled.
\n9:1 I divine from the words of the righteous Enoch that among you as well there will be doings [that are] not good: for you will fornicate with the licentiousness of Sodom, and you will die out, except for a few; then you will start up again [your] sensual relations with women, and the LORD\u2018s kingship will not be among you, since He will immediately remove it. 9:2 But the temple of God will be in your portion, and the last will be more glorious than the first. And the twelve tribes will be gathered together there \u2026
\n10:1 For when Joseph was in Egypt, I longed to see what he looked like, and [see] his face\u2019s form; and thanks to the prayers of my father Jacob I did see him, during the day, wide-awake, exactly the way he looked.
\n10:2 Know, therefore, that I am dying, my children. 10:3 Do truth and righteousness, therefore, each one with his fellow, and judgment to confirm, and keep the LORD\u2018s Torah and its commandments. 10:4 I am teaching you these things in place of any inheritance. So give them in turn to your children as an inheritance forever; that is what Abraham and Isaac and Jacob did as well. 10:5 For they bequeathed us all these things, saying, \u201cKeep God\u2019s commandments \u2026 \u201c 10:11 If you, my children, walk in holiness before the LORD\u2018s face, you will again dwell securely with me, and all Israel will be gathered together before the LORD. 11:1 And I will no longer be called a ravaging wolf because of your ravages, but a worker of the LORD, one who distributes food to those who do good \u2026 301
\n12:1 And when he had finished [uttering] his words, he said: I command you, my children, carry up my bones from Egypt, and bury me in Hebron next to my ancestors. 12:2 And Benjamin died, one hundred and twenty-five years old, at a ripe old age, and they placed him in a coffin. 12:3 And in the ninety-first year after the Israelites [entered] Egypt, they and their brothers brought up the bones of their fathers in secret, in the Canaanite war, and they buried them in Hebron at the feet of their ancestors. 12:4 Then they returned from the land of Canaan and dwelt in Egypt until the day of their departure from Egypt.<\/first,><\/p>\n
\nCharles, R. H. The Assumption of Moses: Translated from the Latin Sixth Century MS., the Unemended Text of which Is Published Herewith, Together with the Text in its Restored and Critically Emended Form. London: Adam and Charles Black, 1897.
\nHofmann, Johannes. Die Assumptio Mosis: Studien zur Rezeption massg\u00fcltiger \u00dcberlieferung. Leiden: Brill, 2000.
\nLicht, Jacob. \u201cTaxo, or the Apocalyptic Doctrine of Vengeance.\u201d Journal of Jewish Studies 12 (1961): 95\u2013103.
\nNickelsburg, George W. E., ed. Studies on the Testament of Moses: Seminar Papers. Cambridge: Society of Biblical Literature, 1973.
\nPriest, John. \u201cTestament of Moses (First Century AD): A New Translation and Introduction.\u201d In Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Volume 1, edited by James H. Charlesworth, 919\u201334. Garden City: Doubleday, 1983.
\nTromp, Johannes. The Assumption of Moses: A Critical Edition with Commentary. Leiden: Brill, 1993.
\nvan Henten, Jan Willem. \u201cMoses as Heavenly Messenger in Assumptio Mosis 10:2 and Qumran Passages.\u201d Journal of Jewish Studies 54 (Autumn 2003): 216\u201327.<\/p>\n
\n6Moses called himself to Joshua, the son of Nun, a man approved by the LORD, 7that Joshua might become the minister for the people in the tent of testimony which contained all holy objects, 8and that he might lead the people into the land which had been promised to their fathers, 9(the land) which he, in the tent, had declared by covenant and oath that he would give through the leadership of Joshua. 10Then Moses spoke to Joshua this word, \u201cGo forward with all your strength, that you may do everything which has been commanded in such a way as will cause you no blame in the sight of God. 11For this is what the LORD of the world decreed. 12He created the world on behalf of his people, 13but he did not make this purpose of creation openly known from the beginning of the world so that the nations might be found guilty by their own (mistaken) discussions (of creation\u2019s purpose).
\n14\u201cBut he did design and devise me, who (was) prepared from the beginning of the world, to be the mediator of his covenant. 15Therefore, I shall speak plainly to you. The years of my life have come to an end and, in the presence of the entire community, I am going to sleep with my fathers. 16But (you) take this writing so that later you will remember how to preserve the books which I shall entrust to you. 17You shall arrange them, anoint them with cedar, and deposit them in earthenware jars in the place which (God) has chosen from the beginning of the creation of the world, 18(a place) where his name may be called upon until the day of recompense when the LORD will surely have regard for his people.
\n2:1\u201d [\u2026] (The people), under your leadership, will enter into the land which (God) firmly promised to give their fathers, 2In that land, you will bless them and give each of them their individual portions, further, you shall firmly establish a kingdom for them and, with discernment and justice, you shall appoint local magistrates in accordance with the will of the LORD. 3Then, (some) years after they shall have entered their land, they shall be ruled by leaders and princes for eighteen years. (But during a period) of nineteen years the ten tribes will separate themselves.
\n4\u201c(During the first-mentioned time) the twelve tribes will move the tent of testimony to the place where the God of heaven will build a place for his sanctuary. The two holy tribes will be settled there. 5But the ten tribes will establish for themselves their own kingdom with its own ordinances. 6(The two tribes will) offer sacrifices in the chosen place for twenty years. 7Seven will strongly build the walls, and I will protect nine. (Four), however, will violate the covenant of the LORD and defile the oath which the LORD made with them. 8They will offer their sons to foreign gods and they will set up idols in the Temple that they may worship them. 9(Yes), even in the house of the LORD they will perpetuate idolatry and carve images of all sorts of animals.
\n3:1\u201c[\u2026] in those days a king against them from the east and (his) cavalry will overrun their land. 2And with fire he will burn their city with the holy Temple of the LORD and he will carry off all the holy vessels. 3And he will exile all the people and will lead them to his own land, yea the two tribes he will take with him.
\n4\u201cThen, considering themselves a lioness in a dusty plain, hungry and parched, the two tribes will call upon the ten tribes, 5and shall declare loudly, \u2018Just and holy is the LORD. For just as you sinned, likewise we, with our little ones, have now been led out with you.\u2019 6Then, hearing the reproachful words of the two tribes, the ten tribes will lament 7and will say, \u2018What shall we, with you, do, brothers? Has not this tribulation come upon the whole house of Israel?\u2019 8Then all the tribes will lament, crying out to heaven and saying, 9\u2019God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob, remember your covenant which you made with them, and the oath which you swore to them by yourself, that their seed would never fail from the land which you have given them.\u2019
\n10\u201cThen, in that day, they will remember me, saying from tribe to tribe even each man to his neighbor, 11\u2019Is this not that which was made known to us in the prophecies by Moses, who suffered many things in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years 12(when) he solemnly called heaven and earth a witness against us that we should not transgress God\u2019s commandments of which he had become the mediator for us? 13These things which have come upon us since that time are according to his admonition declared to us at that time. And (those words) have been confirmed even to our being led as captives in the land of the East.\u2019 14And they will be as slaves for about seventy-seven years.
\n4:1\u201cThen one who is over them will come upon the scene, and he will stretch forth his hands, and bow his knees and pray for them, saying 2\u2019LORD of all, king on the lofty throne, you who rules the world, who has willed that his people be for you a chosen people, yea, who has willed to be called their God according to the covenant which you made with their fathers, 3yet they, with their wives and children, have gone as captives into a foreign land, surrounded by the gates of strangers where there is great majesty. 4Have regard for them, and have compassion for them, O heavenly LORD.\u2019
\n5\u201cThen God will remember them because of the covenant which he made with their fathers and he will openly show his compassion. 6And in those times he will inspire a king to have pity on them and send them home to their own land. 7Then some parts of the tribes will arise and come to their appointed place, and they will strongly build its walls. 8Now, the two tribes will remain steadfast in their former faith, sorrowful and sighing because they will not be able to offer sacrifices to the LORD of their fathers. 9But the ten tribes will grow and spread out among the nations during the time of their captivity.
\n5:1\u201cAnd when the times of exposure come near and punishment arises through kings who (though) sharing their crimes yet punish them, 2then they themselves will be divided as to the truth. 3Consequently the word was fulfilled that they will avoid justice and approach iniquity; and they will pollute the house of their worship with the customs of the nations; and they will play the harlot after foreign gods. 4For they will not follow the truth of God, but certain of them will pollute the high altar by [four to six letters are lost] the offerings which they have placed before the LORD. They are not (truly) priests (at all), but slaves, yea sons of slaves. 5For those who are the leaders, their teachers, in those times will become admirers of avaricious persons, accepting (polluted) offerings, and they will sell justice be accepting bribes. 6Therefore, their city and the full extent of their dwelling places will be filled with crimes and iniquities. For they will have in their midst judges who will act with impiety toward the LORD and will judge just as they please.
\n6:1\u201cThen powerful kings will rise over them, and they will be called priests of the Most High God. They will perform great impiety in the Holy of Holies. 2And a wanton king, who will not be of a priestly family, will follow them. He will be a man rash and perverse, and he will judge them as they deserve. 3He will shatter their leaders with the sword, and he will (exterminate them) in secret places so that no one will know where their bodies are. 4He will kill both old and young, showing mercy to none.
\n5\u201cThen fear of him will be heaped upon them in their land, 6and for thirty-four years he will impose judgments upon them as did the Egyptians, and he will punish them. 7And he will beget heirs who will reign after him for shorter periods of time. 8After his death there will come into their land a powerful king of the West who will subdue them; 9and he will take away captives, and a part of their temple he will burn with fire. He will crucify some of them around their city.
\n7:1\u201cWhen this has taken place, the times will quickly come to an end. 2[\u2026] 3Then will rule destructive and godless men, who represent themselves as being righteous, 4but who will (in fact) arouse their inner wrath, for they will be deceitful men, pleasing only themselves, false in every other way imaginable, (such as) loving feasts at any hour of the day\u2014devouring, gluttonous.
\n5\u201d[Seven lines of the text are either totally missing or are so broken as to permit no translation.] 6But really they consume the goods of the (poor), saying their acts are according to justice, 7(while in fact they are simply) exterminators, deceitfully seeking to conceal themselves so that they will not be known as completely godless because of their criminal deeds (committed) all day long, 8saying, \u2018We shall have feasts, even luxurious winings and dinings. Indeed, we shall behave ourselves as princes.\u20199They, with hand and mind, will touch impure things, yet their mouths will speak enormous things, and they will even say, 10\u2018Do not touch me, lest you pollute me in the position I occupy \u2026\u2019
\n8:1\u201cAnd there will come upon them [\u2026] punishment and wrath such as has never happened to them from the creation till that time when he stirs up against them a king of the kings of the earth who, having supreme authority, will crucify those who confess their circumcision. 2Even those who deny it, he will torture and hand them over to be led to prison in chains. 3And their wives will be given to the gods of the nations and their young sons will be cut by physicians to bring forward their foreskins. 4Still others among them will be punished by torture, both by fire and sword, and they will be compelled to bear publicly (as burdens) idols which are polluted just as those who revere them are polluted. 5Likewise, they will be compelled by their torturers to enter into their secret place, where they will be compelled to blaspheme outrageously the word, and finally, (to blaspheme) both their laws and what they had placed upon their own altar.
\n9:1\u201cThen, even as he was speaking, there will be a man from the tribe of Levi whose name is Taxo. He, having seven sons, will speak earnestly to them, 2\u2019See (my) sons, behold a second punishment that has befallen the people; cruel, impure, going beyond all bounds of mercy\u2014even exceeding the former one. 3For which nation or which province or which people, who have (all) done many crimes against the LORD, have suffered such evils as have covered us? 4Now, therefore, sons, heed me. If you investigate, you will surely know that never did (our) fathers not their ancestors tempt God by transgressing his commandments. 5Yea, you will surely know that this is our strength. Here is what we shall do. 6We shall fast for a three-day period and on the fourth day we shall go into a cave, which is in the open country. There let us die rather than transgress the commandments of the LORD of LORDs, the God of our fathers. 7For if we do this, and do die, out blood will be avenged before the LORD.\u2019<\/p>\n
\nThen the devil will have an end.
\nYea, sorrow will be lead away with him.<\/p>\n
\nWho is in the highest place appointed.
\nYea, he will at once avenge them of their enemies.<\/p>\n
\nYea, he will go forth from his holy habitation
\nwith indignation and wrath on behalf of his sons.<\/p>\n
\nAnd the high mountains will be made low.
\nYea, they will be shaken, as enclosed valleys will they fall.<\/p>\n
\nAnd in darkness the horns of the moon will flee.
\nYea, they will be broken in pieces.<\/p>\n
\nYea, even the circle of the stars will be thrown into disarray.
\n6And the sea all the way to the abyss will retire,
\nto the sources of waters which fail.
\nYea, the rivers will vanish away.<\/p>\n
\nthe Eternal One alone.
\nIn full view will he come to work vengeance on the nations.
\nYea, all their idols he will destroy.<\/p>\n
\nAnd you will mount up above the necks and the wings of an eagle.
\nYea, all things will be fulfilled.<\/p>\n
\nYea, he will fix you firmly in the heaven of the stars,
\nin the place of their habitations.<\/p>\n
\nYea, you will see your enemies on the earth.
\nAnd recognizing them, you will rejoice.
\nAnd you will give thanks.
\nYea, you will confess your creator.<\/p>\n
\n11:1And when Joshua heard the words of Moses, so written in his testament, all the things which he had said, he tore his garments and fell at Moses\u2019s feet. 2And Moses, though he wept with him, encouraged him, 3and Joshua replied to him, saying, 4\u201cWhy do you console me, master Moses, and in what way may I be consoled concerning that bitter message spoken, which has gone forth from your mouth, a message full of tears and sobbings? Because you are departing from this people [five to seven letters lost] 5What place will receive you 6or where will be the marker of your sepulcher? 7Or who as a man will dare to move your body from place to place? 8For all who die, there are appropriately their sepulchers in the earth, but your sepulcher is from the rising to the setting of the sun, and from the South to the limits of the North, the whole world is your sepulcher.
\n9Now, master, you are going away, and who will sustain this people? 10Or who will have compassion on them, and will be for them a leader on (their) way? 11Or who will pray for them, not omitting a single day, so that I may lead the people into the land of their forefathers? 12How, therefore, can I be (guardian) of this people, as a father is to his only son, or as a mother is to her virgin daughter (who) is being prepared to be given to a husband; a mother who is disquieted, guarding (the daughter\u2019s) body from the sun and (seeing to it) that (the daughter\u2019s) feet are not without shoes when she runs upon the ground? 13[five to seven letters are lost] can I be responsible for food for them as they desire and drink according to their will? 14[six to eight letters are lost] for there were 100,000 of them, but they have, by your prayers, increased so much, master Moses. 15And what wisdom and intelligence do I have, either to judge or give an opinion in the house [five to seven letters are lost] 16Moreover, when the kings of the Amorites hear (of your death), believing that there is no longer with us that sacred spirit, worthy of the LORD, manifold and incomprehensible, master of leaders, faithful in all things, the divine prophet for the whole earth, the perfect teacher in the world, now believing that they can storm us, they will say \u2018Let us go up against them. 17If the enemies have, up till now, but a single time, acted impiously against their LORD, there is (now) no advocate for them who will bear messages to the LORD on their behalf in the way that Moses was the great messenger. He, in every hour both day and night, had his knees fixed to the earth, praying and looking steadfastly toward him who governs the whole earth with mercy and justice, reminding the LORD of the ancestral covenant and the resolute oath. 18Thus they will say, \u2018He is no longer with them, Therefore, let us go up and crush them from the face of the earth.\u2019 19What, then, will happen to these people, master Moses?\u201d
\n12:1And when he had finished (speaking these) words, Joshua again fell at the feet of Moses. 2And Moses grasped his hand and raised him in to the seat before him, and responding to him, he said, 3\u201cJoshua, do not demean (yourself), but free yourself from care and pay attention to my words. 4God has created all the nations which are in the world (just as he created) us. And he has forseen both them and us from the beginning of the creation of the world even to the end of the age. Indeed, nothing, to the least thing, has been overlooked by him. But, (rather), he has seen all things and he is the cause of all. 5[\u2026] has seen beforehand all things which may come to be in the world, and, behold, they have come to pass [twelve to eighteen letters are lost] 6established me for them, and for their sins [eleven to seventeen letters are lost] and [four to seven letters are lost] on their behalf. 7Yet (this is) not on account of either my strength or weakness, (it is) imply that his mercies and long-suffering have lighted on me. 8Likewise, I say to you, Joshua, that it is not on account of the piety of this people that you will drive out to the nations. 9All of the supports of the canopy of heaven, created and declared good by God, are indeed under the ring of his right hand. 10Therefore, those who truly fulfill the commandments of God will flourish and will finish the good way, 11but those who sin by disregarding the commandments will deprive themselves of the good things which were declared before. They, indeed, will be punished by the nations with many tortures. 12But it is not possible for the nations to drive them out or extinguish them completely. 13For God, who has forseen all things in the world, will go forth, and his covenant which was established, and by the oath which \u2026 \u201c[MS ends]<\/p>\n
\nThough Kohath\u2019s name (sometimes written Qahat) is not preserved in the extant portions of this text, we can identify him as the speaker by his references to \u201cLevi, my father,\u201d and \u201cAmram, my son\u201d (cf. Num. 3:19, 26:58). Because much of the text\u2019s narrative context has been lost, some scholars are more circumspect about classifying this text as a testament and thus refer to this work as \u201cThe Admonitions of Kohath.\u201d
\nThe three extant fragments were discovered in Cave 4 at Qumran and have been dated paleographically to the late 2nd century BCE. Carbon-14 dating of this manuscript, however, has suggested a date at least two centuries earlier. Some attribute this wide divergence in dating, unparalleled for other scrolls that underwent Carbon-14 testing, to contamination of the sample.<\/p>\n
\nCook, Edward M. \u201cRemarks on the Testament of Kohath from Qumran Cave 4.\u201d JJS 44 (1993): 205\u201319.
\nDrawnel, Henryk. \u201cThe Literary Form and Didactic Content of the Admonitions (Testament) of Qahat.\u201d In From 4QMMT to Resurrection: M\u00e9langes qumraniens en hommage \u00e0 \u00c9mile Puech, edited by Florentino Garc\u00eda Mart\u00ednez, Annette Steudel, and Eibert Tigchelaar, 55\u201373. STDJ 61. Leiden: Brill, 2008.
\nPuech, \u00c9mile. \u201cLe Testament de Qahat en aram\u00e9en de la grotte 4 (4QTQah).\u201d RevQ 15, nos. 57\u201358 (1991): 23\u201354.
\n\u2014\u2014\u2014. Qumr\u00e2n Grotte 4. XXII. Textes aram\u00e9ens premi\u00e8re partie 4Q529\u2013549. DJD 31. Oxford: Clarendon, 2001, 257\u201382, Pl. XV.<\/p>\n
\n2. so that you will know him, for he is the God of Eternity and the LORD of all deeds and ruler
\n3. of all (people) to do with them according to his will. And he will make for you joy and gladness to your children in the generations
\n4. of truth forever. And now, my children, guard carefully the inheritance that has been vouchsafed to you
\n5. and that your fathers have given to you and do not give your inheritance to strangers or your heritage
\n6. to assimilation, so that you become low and foolish in their eyes and they despise you; for
\n7. they will become foreigners to you and they will be authorities over you. Therefore hold on to the command of Jacob
\n8. your father; hold fast to the judgments of Abraham, and to the righteous acts of Levi and of me; and be holy and pure
\n9. from all [inte]rmixture, and holding on to truth, and walking in honesty, and not with a double heart,
\n10. but rather in a pure heart, and in a good and true spirit; and (thus) you will ascribe to me among you a good name, and joy
\n11. to Levi, and gladness to J[a] cob, and happiness to Isaac, and praise to Abraham, because you have kept
\n12. and passed on [the] inheritance that your fathers have left you, truth, and righteousness, and honesty,
\n13. and perfection, and puri[ty, and ho]liness, and pr[ie]sthood, according to all that I have commanded you and according to all that<\/p>\n
\n2. all the commands of truth will come upon you[
\n3. the eternal blessings will dwell upon you and[
\n4. (will) remain for all the eternal generations and no more will[
\n5. from your chastisement and you will rise up to give judgment on[
\n6. and to behold the sins of all the sinners of eternity(?)[
\n7. and in fire and in the abysses and in all the caverns to frighten[
\n8. in the generations of truth and all the children of evil will pass away[
\n9. And now to you, Amram my son, I command[
\n10. [and to your children] and to their children I command[
\n11. and they gave (it) to Levi my father, and Levi my father to me g[ave
\n12. all my writings as a witness that you should be careful of them I
\n13. to you. In them is great merit when they are passed on with you I<\/p>\n
\nThe author of the Testament of Job is unknown. Although the work was preserved in Christian circles, there is nothing explicitly Christian about its teaching. The Testament does contain beliefs that were shared by early Christians regarding the character of Satan as an inimical deceiver and the fate of the soul, and even the belief that the bodies of Job\u2019s dead children were taken up into heaven (T. Job 39:13). Yet such beliefs are attested in other Jewish sources of the Second Temple period. Their presence in Christian sources is evidence of the movement\u2019s Jewish roots. There are, moreover, some specifically Jewish concerns, such as the prohibition on marrying outside the faith (45:3). Hence, the author was probably a Jewish teacher in Egypt, interested, like the authors of other testaments, in providing a vehicle for ethical instruction. He may have had some connection with a group of pious Jews known as the Therapeutae, who are described by the Alexandrian philosopher and interpreter of Scripture Philo. There are, however, some scholars who believe that the Testament may be a Christian composition.<\/p>\n
\nDavila, James R. The Provenance of the Pseudepigrapha: Jewish, Christian, or Other? JSJS Sup 105. Leiden: Brill, 2005.
\nJacobs, I. \u201cLiterary Motifs in the Testament of Job.\u201d JJS 21 (1970): 1\u201310.
\nKee, Howard Clark. \u201cSatan, Magic, and Salvation in the Testament of Job.\u201d In SBL: 1974 Seminar Papers, edited by George MacRae, 1:53\u201376. Cambridge MA: SBL, 1974.
\nKnibb, M.A., and P. van der Horst, Studies on the Testament of Job. SNTSMS 66. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989.
\nKohler, K. \u201cThe Testament of Job: An Essene Midrash on the Book of Job Reedited and Translated with Introductory and Exegetical Notes.\u201d In Semitic Studies in Memory of Rev. Dr. Alexander Kohut, edited by G. Kohut; Berlin: S. Calvary, 1897.
\nKraft, Robert A., with Harold Attridge, R. Spittler, and Janet Timbie. The Testament of Job According to the SV Text. SBL Texts and Translations 5. Pseudepigrapha Series 4. Missoula MT: Scholars Press, 1974.
\nSpittler, R. \u201cTestament of Job: A New Translation and Introduction.\u201d In The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, edited by James Charlesworth, 1:829\u201368. Garden City NY: Doubleday, 1985.<\/p>\n
\n5I am your father Job, fully engaged in endurance. But you are a chosen and honored race from the seed of Jacob, the father of your mother. 6For I am from the sons of Esau, the brother of Jacob, of whom is your mother Dinah, from whom I begot you. (My former wife died with ten other children in a bitter death.) 7So hear me, children, and I will show you the things which have befallen me.<\/p>\n
\n3:1One night as I was in bed a loud voice came to me in a very bright light saying, \u201cJobab, Jobab!\u201d 2And I said, \u201cYes? Here I am.\u201d And he said, \u201cArise, and I will show you who this is whom you wish to know. 3This one whose whole burnt offerings they bring and whose drink offerings they pour is not God. Rather, his is the power of the devil, by whom nature is deceived.\u201d
\n4When I heard these things, I fell on my bed worshipping and saying, 5\u201cMy LORD, who came for the salvation of my soul, 6I beg you\u2014if this is indeed the place of Satan by whom men are deceived\u2014grant me authority to go and purge his place so that I may put an end to the drink offerings being poured for him. 7Who is there to forbid me, since I rule this region?\u201d<\/p>\n
\n4So while I was inside Satan knocked at the door, having disguised himself as a beggar. 5And he said to the doormaid, \u201cTell Job I wish to meet with him.\u201d 6When the doormaid came and told me these things, she heard me say to report that I had no time just now.
\n7:1When he heard that, Satan departed and put a yoke on his shoulders. And when he arrived, he spoke to the doormaid saying, 2\u201cSay to Job, \u2018Give me a loaf of bread from your hands, so I may eat.\u2019 \u201d3So I gave a burnt loaf of bread to the girl to give to him and said to him, 4\u201cExpect to eat my loaves no longer, for you are estranged from me.\u201d
\n5Then the doormaid, ashamed to give him the burnt and ashen loaf of bread 6(for she did not know he was Satan), took the good loaf of her own and gave it to him. 7And when he received it and knew what had occurred he said to the girl, \u201cOff with you, evil servant. Bring the loaf of bread given you to be given me.\u201d 8The girl wept with deep grief, saying, \u201cTruly, you well say I am an evil servant. 9For if I were not, I would have done just as it was assigned to me by my master.\u201d And when she returned, she brought him the burnt loaf of bread, saying to him, 10\u201cThus says my lord, \u2018You shall no longer eat from my loaves at all, for I have been estranged from you. 11Yet I have given you this loaf of bread in order that I may not be accused of providing nothing to a begging enemy.\u2019 \u201d
\n12When he heard these things, Satan sent the girl back to me saying, \u201cAs this loaf of bread is wholly burnt, so shall I do to your body also. For within the hour, I will depart and devastate you.\u201d 13And I replied to him, \u201cDo what you will. For if you intend to bring anything on me, I am prepared to undergo whatever you inflict.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n7From all regions people began coming to me for a meeting. The four doors of my house stood open. 8And I gave a standing order to my house servants that these doors should stand open, having this in view: Possibly, some would come asking alms, and because they might see me sitting at the door, would turn back ashamed, getting nothing. Instead, whenever they would see me sitting at one door, they could leave through another and take as much as they needed.<\/p>\n
\n5I used to have 3,500 yoke of oxen. And I chose from them 500 yoke and designated them for plowing, which they could do in any field of those who would use them. 6And I marked off their produce for the poor, for their table. 7I also used to have fifty bakeries from which I arranged for the ministry of the table for the poor.<\/p>\n
\n5When I heard these things, I would rejoice that they would take anything at all from me for the care of the poor. 6And receiving their note eagerly, I would give them as much as they wished, 7taking no security from them except a written note. 8So they would go out at my expense.
\n9Sometimes they would succeed in business and give it to the poor. 10But at other times, they would be robbed. And they would come and entreat me saying, \u201cWe beg you, be patient with us. Let us find how we might be able to repay you.\u201d 11Without delay, I would bring before them the note and read it granting cancellation as the crowning feature and saying, \u201cSince I trusted you for the benefit of the poor, I will take nothing back from you.\u201d 12Nor would I take anything from my debtor.
\n12:1On occasion, a man cheerful at heart would come to me saying, \u201cI am not wealthy enough to help the destitute. Yet I wish to serve the poor today at your table.\u201d 2When it was agreed, he would be compelled to take wages from me as I would say, \u201cI know you are a workingman counting on and looking for your wages. You must accept.\u201d 3Nor did I allow the wage earner\u2019s pay to remain at home with me in my house.<\/p>\n
\n15:1After the ministry of my service, my children daily took their supper. 2They went in to their older brother to dine with him, 3taking along with them their three sisters also. The urgent matters were left with the maidservants, 4since my sons also sat at table with the male slaves who served.
\nI therefore early would offer up sacrifices on their behalf according to their number, 300 doves, 50 goat\u2019s kids, and 12 sheep. 5I issued a standing order for all that remained after the rites to be furnished to the poor. And I would say to them, \u201cTake these things remaining after the rites, so that you may pray on behalf of my children. 6Possibly, my sons may have sinned before the LOrd through boasting by saying with disdain, 7\u2019We are the sons of this rich man, and these goods are ours. 8Why then do we also serve?\u2019 \u201d For pride is an abomination before God. 9And again, I offered up a select calf on the altar of God, lest my sons may have thought evil things in their heart toward God.<\/p>\n
\n5The rest of my herds were confiscated by my fellow countrymen, who 6had been well treated by me, but who now rose up against me and took away the remainder of my animals. 7They reported to me the destruction of my goods, but I glorified God and did not blaspheme.<\/p>\n