Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs 4
(Traduction française en cours — texte anglais affiché)
1
The copy of the words of Judah, what things he spake to his sons before he died. They gathered themselves together, and came to him, and he said unto them: Hearken, my children, to Judah your father.
2
I was the fourth son born to my father Jacob, and Leah my mother named me Judah, saying: I give thanks to the Lord, because He hath given me a fourth son also.
3
I was swift in my youth and obedient to my father in everything. And I honoured my mother and my mother's sister.
4
I was a husbandman, and I fed the flock. And I grew to be a strong man in warfare, and I had the valour of a lion in the field.
5
Now I command you, my children, love Levi, that ye may endure, and exalt not yourselves against him, lest ye be utterly destroyed.
6
To me the Lord gave the kingdom and to him the priesthood, and He set the kingdom beneath the priesthood.
7
To me He gave the things upon the 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.
8
And now, my children, keep yourselves from fornication and the love of money, and hearken to Judah your father. For these things withdraw you from the law of God.
9
And they blind the inclination of the soul and teach arrogance, and suffer not a man to have compassion upon his neighbour. They rob his soul of all goodness, and oppress him with toils and troubles.
10
And now I am dying, and I tell you of a truth that unless ye keep yourselves from fornication and the love of money, in blindness also ye shall be, even as my blindness.