THE TESTAMENT OF JUDAH, THE FOURTH SON OF JACOB AND LEAH: 13 1 And now I command you, my children, hearken to Judah your father, and keep my sayings to 2 perform all the ordinances of the Lord, and to obey the commands of God. And walk not after your lusts, nor in the imaginations of your thoughts in haughtiness of heart; and glory not in the deeds 3 and strength of your youth, for this also is evil in the eyes of the Lord. Since I also gloried that in wars no comely woman’s face ever enticed me, and reproved Reuben my brother concerning Bilhah, the wife of my father, the spirits of jealousy and of fornication arrayed themselves against me, until I lay with Bathshua the Canaanite, and Tamar, who was espoused to my sons. For I said to my father-in-law: I will take counsel with my father, and so will I take thy daughter. And he was unwilling, but he showed me a boundless store of gold in his daughter’s behalf; for he was 5 a king. And he adorned her with gold and pearls, and caused her to pour out wine for us at the 6 feast with the beauty of women. And the wine turned aside my eyes, and pleasure blinded my 7 heart. And I became enamored of and I lay with her, and transgressed the commandment of the 8 Lord and the commandment of my fathers, and I took her to wife. And the Lord rewarded me according to the imagination of my heart, inasmuch as I had no joy in her children. 14 1 And now, my children, I say unto you, be not drunk with wine; for wine turneth the mind away 2 from the truth, and inspires the passion of lust, and leadeth the eyes into error. For the spirit of fornication hath wine as a minister to give pleasure to the mind; for these two also take away the 3 mind of man. For if a man drink wine to drunkenness, it disturbeth the mind with filthy thoughts leading to fornication, and heateth the body to carnal union; and if the occasion of the lust be 4 present, he worketh the sin, and is not ashamed. Such is the inebriated man, my children; for he 5 who is drunken reverenceth no man. For, lo, it made me also to err, so that I was not ashamed of the multitude in the city, in that before the eyes of all I turned aside unto Tamar, and I wrought 6 a great sin, and I uncovered the covering of my sons’ shame. After I had drunk wine I reverenced 7 not the commandment of God, and I took a woman of Canaan to wife. For much discretion needeth the man who drinketh wine, my children; and herein is discretion in drinking wine a man 8 may drink so long as he preserveth modesty. But if he go beyond this limit the spirit of deceit attacketh his mind, and it maketh the drunkard to talk filthily, and to transgress and not to be ashamed, but even to glory in his shame, and to account himself honourable. 15 1 He that committeth fornication is not aware when he suffers loss, and is not ashamed when put 2 to dishonour. For even though a man be a king and commit fornication, he is stripped of his 3 kingship by becoming the slave of fornication, as I myself also suffered. For I gave my staff, that is, the stay of my tribe; and my girdle, that is, my power; and my diadem, that is, the glory of my 4 kingdom. And indeed I repented of these things; wine and flesh I eat not until my old age, nor 5 did I behold any joy. And the angel of God showed me that for ever do women bear rule over 6 king and beggar alike. And from the king they take away his glory, and from the valiant man his might, and from the beggar even that little which is the stay of his poverty. 16 1 Observe, therefore, my children, the (rights limit in wine; for there are in it four evil spirits---of 2 lust, of hot desire, of profligacy of filthy lucre. If ye drink wine in gladness, be ye modest in the fear of God. For if in (your) gladness the fear of God departeth, then drunkenness ariseth and 3 shamelessness stealeth in. But if ye would live soberly do not touch wine at all, lest ye sin in words of outrage, and in fightings and slanders, and transgressions of the commandments of God, 4 and ye perish before your time. Moreover, wine revealeth the mysteries of God and men, even as I also revealed the commandments of God and the mysteries of Jacob my father to the Canaanitish 5 woman Bathshua, which God bade me not to reveal. And wine is a cause both of war and confusion. 17 1 And now, I command you, my children, not to love money, nor to gaze upon the beauty of women; because for the sake of money and beauty I was led astray to Bathshua the Canaanite. 2, 3 [For I know that because of these two things shall my race fall into wickedness. For even wise men among my sons shall they mar, and shall cause the kingdom of Judah to be diminished, which 4 the Lord gave me because of my obedience to my father. For I never caused grief to Jacob, my 5 father: for all things whatsoever he commanded I did. And Isaac, the father of my father, blessed 6 me to be king in Israel, and Jacob further blessed me in like manner. And I know that from me shall the kingdom be established. 18 1 And I know what evils ye will do in the last days.] 2 Beware, therefore, my children, of fornication, and the love of money, and hearken to Judah your father. 3 For these things withdraw you from the law of God, And blind the inclination of the soul, And teach arrogance, And suffer not a man to have compassion upon his neighbour 4 They rob his soul of all goodness, And oppress him with toils and troubles, And drive away sleep from him, And devour his flesh. 5 And he hindereth the sacrifices of God; And he remembereth not the blessing of God, He hearkeneth not to a prophet when he speaketh, And resenteth the words of godliness. 6 For he is a slave to two contrary passions, And cannot obey God, Because they have blinded his soul, And he walketh in the day as in the night. 19 1 My children, the love of money leadeth to idolatry; because, when led astray through money, men name as gods those who are not gods, and it causeth him who hath it to fall into madness 2 For the sake of money I lost my children, and had not my repentance, and my humiliation, and 3 the prayers of my father been accepted, I should have died childless. But the God of my fathers 4 had mercy on me, because I did it in ignorance. And the prince of deceit blinded me, and I sinned as a man and as flesh, being corrupted through sins; and I learnt my own weakness while thinking myself invincible. 20 1 Know, therefore, my children, that two spirits wait upon man the spirit of truth and the spirit 2 of deceit. And in the midst is the spirit of understanding of the mind, to which it belongeth to turn whithersoever it will. 3 And the works of truth and the works of deceit are written upon the hearts of men, and each one of them the Lord knoweth. 4 And there is no time at which the works of men can be hid; for on the heart itself have they been 5 written down before the Lord. And the spirit of truth testifieth all things, and accuseth all; and the sinner is burnt up by his own heart, and cannot raise his face to the judge. 21 1 And now, my children, I command you, love Levi, that ye may abide, and exalt not yourselves 2 against him, lest ye be utterly destroyed. For to me the Lord gave the kingdom, and to him the 3 priesthood, and He set the kingdom beneath the priesthood. To me He gave the things upon the 4 earth; to him the things in the heavens. As the heaven is higher than the earth, so is the priesthood of God higher than the earthly kingdom, unless it falls away through sin from the Lord and is 5 dominated by the earthly kingdom. For the angel of the Lord said unto me: The Lord chose him rather than thee, to draw near to Him, and to eat of His table and to offer Him the first-fruits of thechoice things of the sons of Israel; but thou shalt be king of Jacob. 6 And thou shalt be amongst them as the sea. For as, on the sea, just and unjust are tossed about, some taken into captivity while some are enriched, so also shall every race of men be in thee: some shall be impoverished, being taken captive, and others grow rich by plundering the possessions of others. 7 For the kings shall be as sea-monsters. They shall swallow men like fishes: The sons and daughters of free men shall they enslave; Houses, lands, flocks, money shall they plunder: 8 And with the flesh of many shall they wrongfully feed the ravens and the cranes; And they shall advance in evil, in covetousness uplifted, 9 And there shall be false prophets like tempests, And they shall persecute all righteous men. 22 1 And the Lord shall bring upon them divisions one against another. And there shall be continual wars in Israel; 2 And among men of another race shall my kingdom be brought to an end, Until the salvation of Israel shall come, Until the appearing of the God of righteousness, That Jacob [and all the Gentiles] may rest in peace. 3 And He shall guard the might of my kingdom for ever; For the Lord sware to me with an oath that He would not destroy the kingdom from my seed for ever. 23 1 Now I have much grief, my children, because of your lewdness and witchcrafts, and idolatries which ye shall practise against the kingdom, following them that have familiar spirits, diviners, and 2 demons of error. Ye shall make your daughters singing girls and harlots, and ye shall mingle in 3 the abominations of the Gentiles. For which things’ sake the Lord shall bring upon you famine and pestilence, death and the sword, beleaguering by enemies, and revilings of friends, the slaughter of children, the rape of wives, the plundering of possessions, the burning of the temple of God,] the 4 laying waste of the land, the enslavement of yourselves among the Gentiles. And they shall make some of you eunuchs for their wives. 5 Until the Lord visit you, when with perfect heart ye repent and walk in all His commandments; and He bring you up from captivity among the Gentiles. 24 1 And after these things shall a star arise to you from Jacob in peace, And a man shall arise [from my seed], like the sun of righteousness, walking with the sons of men in meekness and righteousness; And no sin shall be found in him. 2 and the heavens shall be open unto him, To pour out the spirit, (even) the blessing of the Holy Father; 3 And He shall pour out the spirit of grace upon you; And ye shall be unto Him sons in truth, And ye shall walk in His commandments first and last. 4 [This Branch of God Most High, And this Fountain giving life unto all.] 5 Then shall the sceptre of my kingdom shine forth; And from your root shall arise a stem; 6 And from it shall grow a rod of righteousness to the Gentiles, To judge and to save all that call upon the Lord. 26 1 And after these things shall Abraham and Isaac and Jacob arise unto life, and I and my brethren shall be chiefs of the tribes of Israel: Levi first, I the second, Joseph third, Benjamin fourth, 2 Simeon fifth; Issachar sixth, and so all in order. And the Lord blessed Levi, and the Angel of the Presence, me; the powers of glory, Simeon; the heaven, Reuben; the earth, Issachar; the sea, Zebulun; the mountains, Joseph; the tabernacle, Benjamin; the luminaries, Dan; Eden, Naphtali; the sun, Gad; the moon, Asher. 3 And ye shall be the people of the Lord, and have one tongue; And there shall be there no spirit of deceit of Beliar, For he shall be cast into the fire for ever. 4 And they who have died in grief shall arise in joy , And they who were poor for the Lord’s sake shall be made rich, And they who are put to death for the Lord’s sake shall awake to life. 5 And the harts of Jacob shall run in joyfulness, And the eagles of Israel shall fly in gladness; And all the people shall glorify the Lord for ever. 26 1 Observe, therefore, my children, all the law of the Lord, for there is hope for all them who hold 2 fast unto His ways. And he said to them: Behold, I die before your eyes this day, a hundred and 3 nineteen years old. Let no one bury me in costly apparel, nor tear open my bowels, for this 4 shall they who are kings do; and carry me up to Hebron with you. And Judah, when he had said these things, fell asleep; and his sons did according to all whatsoever he commanded them, and theyburied him in Hebron, with his fathers.
Posted on: Wed, 26 Jun 2013 03:25:14 +0000
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