1A record of what Naphtali instructed at the time of his death, in the hundred and thirtieth year of his life. 2 When his sons were gathered together in the seventh month, on the first day, while he was still in good health, he gave them a feast of food and wine. 3 After he woke in the morning, he said to them: I am dying. But they did not believe him. 4 As he glorified the Lord, he grew strong and said that he would die after yesterday's feast. 5 Then he began to say: Hear me, my children, sons of Naphtali; listen to the words of your father. 6 I was born to Bilhah. Because Rachel acted cleverly and gave Bilhah to Jacob in place of herself, Bilhah conceived and bore me on Rachel's knees, and so Rachel named me Naphtali. 7 Rachel loved me very much because I was born on her lap, and when I was still young she used to kiss me and say: May I have a brother for you from my own womb, just like you. 8 And so Joseph turned out to be like me in every way, according to Rachel's prayers. 9 My mother Bilhah was the daughter of Rotheus, the brother of Deborah, Rebecca's nurse, and she was born on the very same day as Rachel. 10 Rotheus was of the family of Abraham, a Chaldean, God-fearing, freeborn, and noble. 11 He was taken captive and bought by Laban, who gave him his servant Euna as a wife. She bore a daughter and named her Zilpah, after the village where he had been taken captive. 12 Next she bore Bilhah, saying: My daughter is eager for what is new, for as soon as she was born she seized the breast and hurried to nurse.
2I was swift on my feet like a deer, and my father Jacob assigned me to carry all his messages, and he blessed me as a deer. 2 Just as the potter knows the vessel, how much it is to hold, and brings clay accordingly, so the Lord makes the body to match the spirit, and implants the spirit according to the body's capacity. 3 The one does not fall short of the other by even a third of a hair, for all creation was made by weight, measure, and standard. 4 As the potter knows the use of each vessel, what it is fit for, so the Lord knows the body, how long it will continue in goodness and when it will turn to evil. 5 There is no inclination or thought that the Lord does not know, for he created every person in his own image. 6 As a person's strength, so is his work; as his mind, so is his skill; as his purpose, so is his achievement; as his heart, so is his mouth; as his eye, so is his sleep; as his soul, so is his word, whether in the law of the Lord or in the works of Beliar. 7 Just as there is a division between light and darkness, between seeing and hearing, so there is a division between one person and another, and between one woman and another; and it cannot be said that one is like the other in face or in mind. 8 For God made everything good and in order: the five senses in the head, and he attached the neck to the head, adding hair as well for beauty and glory; then the heart for understanding, the belly for waste, the stomach for grinding food, the windpipe for taking in breath, the liver for anger, the gall for bitterness, the spleen for laughter, the kidneys for prudence, the muscles of the loins for power, the lungs for breathing in, the loins for strength, and so on. 9 So, my children, let everything you do be done in order, with good intent, in the fear of God, and do nothing in a disorderly way, out of contempt or at the wrong time. 10 If you tell the eye to hear, it cannot; and in the same way, while you are in darkness you cannot do the works of light.[1]
3So do not be eager to corrupt your deeds through greed or to deceive your souls with empty words; for if you keep silent with a pure heart, you will understand how to hold fast to the will of God and to cast away the will of Beliar.[2] 2 The sun, the moon, and the stars do not change their order; so you too must not change the law of God by the disorder of your deeds.[3] 3 The Gentiles went astray and abandoned the Lord; they changed their order and obeyed sticks and stones, the spirits of dishonesty. 4 But you must not be like that, my children. Recognize in the sky, the earth, the sea, and all created things the Lord who made everything, so that you do not become like Sodom, which changed the order of nature. 5 In the same way the Watchers also changed the order of their nature, and the Lord cursed them at the flood; because of them he made the earth uninhabited and barren.
4I tell you these things, my children, because I have read in the writing of Enoch that you yourselves will also turn away from the Lord, living according to all the lawlessness of the Gentiles, and you will commit all the wickedness of Sodom. 2 The Lord will bring captivity on you, and there you will serve your enemies and be weighed down with every affliction and trouble, until the Lord has worn you all away. 3 After you have been reduced and made few, you will return and acknowledge the Lord your God, and he will bring you back into your land, according to his abundant mercy. 4 But after they come into the land of their fathers, they will again forget the Lord and become ungodly. 5 The Lord will scatter them over the face of all the earth, until the compassion of the Lord comes, a man working righteousness and showing mercy to all who are far off and to those who are near.
5In the fortieth year of my life I saw a vision on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, in which the sun and the moon were standing still. 2 Isaac, my father's father, said to us: Run and take hold of them, each according to his strength, and the sun and moon will belong to whoever seizes them. 3 We all ran together, and Levi took hold of the sun, while Judah outran the others and seized the moon, and both of them were lifted up with them. 4 When Levi became like a sun, a young man gave him twelve branches of palm; and Judah was bright as the moon, and under their feet were twelve rays. 5 The two, Levi and Judah, ran and took hold of them. Then there appeared a bull on the earth, with two great horns and an eagle's wings on its back, and we wanted to seize it but could not. 6 But Joseph came, seized it, and rose up on high with it. 7 I saw this, for I was there, and a sacred writing appeared to us, saying: Assyrians, Medes, Persians, Chaldeans, and Syrians will hold the twelve tribes of Israel in captivity.
6Again, after seven days, I saw our father Jacob standing by the sea of Jamnia, and we were with him. 2 A ship came sailing by, without sailors or a pilot, and on it was written: The Ship of Jacob. 3 Our father said to us: Come, let us board our ship. 4 When he had gone aboard, a fierce storm arose, a mighty gale of wind, and our father, who was holding the helm, was taken from us. 5 Tossed by the storm, we were carried along over the sea; the ship filled with water and was battered by mighty waves until it broke apart. 6 Joseph escaped on a little boat, while the rest of us were scattered on nine planks, and Levi and Judah were together. 7 We were all scattered to the ends of the earth. 8 Then Levi, wrapped in sackcloth, prayed to the Lord for us all. 9 When the storm ceased, the ship reached the land safely. 10 Our father came, and we all rejoiced together.
7I told these two dreams to my father, and he said to me: These things must be fulfilled in their time, after Israel has endured many things. 2 Then my father said to me: I trust God that Joseph is alive, for I always see that the Lord counts him among you. And he said, weeping: Oh, my son Joseph, you are alive, though I cannot see you, and you cannot see Jacob who fathered you. 3 His words made me weep too, and I burned in my heart to reveal that Joseph had been sold, but I was afraid of my brothers.
8My children, I have shown you the last times, how everything will come to pass in Israel. 2 So you also must charge your children to stay united with Levi and Judah, for through them salvation will arise for Israel, and in them Jacob will be blessed. 3 For through their tribes God will appear on earth, dwelling among people, to save the race of Israel and to gather the righteous from among the Gentiles. 4 If you do what is good, my children, both people and angels will bless you; God will be glorified among the Gentiles through you, the devil will flee from you, the wild beasts will fear you, the Lord will love you, and the angels will hold fast to you.[4] 5 Just as a man who has trained a child well is remembered with kindness, so a good deed is remembered well before God. 6 But whoever does not do what is good, both angels and people will curse; God will be dishonored among the Gentiles through him, the devil will make him his own special instrument, every wild beast will dominate him, and the Lord will hate him. 7 For the commandments of the law are twofold, and they must be fulfilled with discernment. 8 There is a time for a man to be with his wife, and a time to abstain from her for his prayer. 9 So there are two commandments, and unless they are done in their proper order, they bring great sin upon people. 10 It is the same with the other commandments. 11 So be wise in God, my children, and discerning, understanding the order of his commandments and the rules for every matter, so that the Lord may love you.
9When he had instructed them with many such words, he urged them to carry his bones to Hebron and bury him with his fathers. 2 When he had eaten and drunk with a glad heart, he covered his face and died. 3 His sons did everything that their father Naphtali had commanded them.