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Testament of Reuben

Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs

Pseudepigrapha · 100 B.C.E. - 100 C.E.

The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs are accounts of deathbed speeches given by the sons of Jacob, by order of their age. Each ancestor reflects on key events in their life drawing on both the Hebrew bible and later exegetical traditions. While the earliest known forms of these writings reflect Jewish ideas, and were also found at Qumran, the versions of the Testaments we have now were no doubt edited by Christians and injected with Christian themes and motifs.

1The copy of the Testament of Reuben, the commands he gave his sons before he died in the hundred and twenty-fifth year of his life. 2 Two years after the death of his brother Joseph, when Reuben became sick, his sons and grandsons gathered to visit him. 3 He said to them: My children, I am dying and going the way of my fathers. 4 Seeing Judah, Gad, and Asher, his brothers, there, he said to them: Raise me up so I can tell my brothers and my children what I have hidden in my heart, for now at last I am passing away. 5 He got up and kissed them and said to them: Listen, my brothers, and pay attention, my children, to Reuben your father and the commands I give you. 6 I call the God of heaven as witness against you today, that you not walk in the sins of youth and sexual immorality, in which I was consumed and defiled the bed of my father Jacob. 7 I tell you that he struck me with a terrible plague in my body for seven months; and if my father Jacob had not prayed for me to the Lord, the Lord would have destroyed me. 8 I was thirty years old when I committed the sin before the Lord, and for seven months I was sick almost to the point of death. 9 After this I repented with firm resolve for seven years before the Lord. 10 I did not drink wine or strong drink, I did not eat meat, and I ate no pleasant food. Instead I mourned over my sin, for it was great, worse than anything that had been done in Israel.

2Now listen to me, my children, about the seven spirits of deceit that I saw when I repented. 2 Seven spirits are set against humanity, and they lead the way in the sins of youth. 3 Seven other spirits are given to a person at creation, so that through them every human activity is carried out. 4 The first is the spirit of life, which produces the human body. 5 The second is the sense of sight, which produces desire. 6 The third is the sense of hearing, which produces learning. 7 The fourth is the sense of smell, which produces taste along with the ability to breathe. 8 The fifth is the power of speech, which produces knowledge. 9 The sixth is the sense of taste, which produces the eating of food and drink; and from it comes strength, for in food is the foundation of strength. 10 The seventh is the power of reproduction and sexual desire, which produces sin by the love of pleasure. 11 That is why it is the last in order of creation but the first to awaken in youth, because it is full of ignorance. It leads a young person like a blind man into a pit, and like an animal off a cliff.

3Besides all these there is an eighth spirit of sleep, which produces the trance of nature and the likeness of death. 2 Mixed in with these are the spirits of error. First, the spirit of sexual immorality dwells in the body and the senses; the second, the spirit of greed, in the belly; the third, the spirit of fighting, in the liver and gall. 3 The fourth is the spirit of flattery and trickery, so that by giving too much attention a person may seem good. 4 The fifth is the spirit of pride, which makes a person boastful and arrogant. 5 The sixth is the spirit of lying, paired with ruin and jealousy, leading a person to deceive and hide things from family and friends. 6 The seventh is the spirit of injustice, which brings theft and greed, so that a person may get what his heart wants; for injustice works with the other spirits through bribery. 7 The spirit of sleep is joined to all of these—it is the spirit of error and fantasy. In this way every young man is ruined, his mind clouded from the truth, unable to understand the law of God or obey the warnings of his fathers, as happened to me in my youth. 8 Now, my children, love the truth and it will protect you. Listen to the words of Reuben your father. 9 Do not stare at the face of a woman, do not get involved with another man's wife, and do not get caught up in the affairs of women. 10 If I had not seen Bilhah bathing in a sheltered place, I would not have fallen into this great sin.[1] 11 Once my mind took hold of the thought of the woman's nakedness, it would not let me sleep until I had done the terrible thing. 12 While our father Jacob had gone to his father Isaac, when we were in Eder, near Ephrath in Bethlehem, Bilhah became drunk and fell asleep uncovered in her room. 13 I went in and saw her nakedness and committed the sin without her knowing, and I left while she was still sleeping. 14 Immediately an angel of God told my father what I had done, and he came and mourned over me, and never touched her again.

4My children, do not pay attention to the beauty of women or get caught up in their business. Instead, live with a sincere heart in the fear of the Lord, and put your effort into good works, study, and your flocks, until the Lord gives you a wife according to his will, so that you do not suffer as I did. 2 Until my father died I did not have the courage to look him in the face or to speak to any of my brothers, because of the shame. 3 Even now my conscience causes me pain because of what I did. 4 Yet my father comforted me greatly and prayed for me to the Lord, that the anger of the Lord would pass from me, just as the Lord showed him. 5 From then until now I have been on my guard and have not sinned. 6 So, my children, I say to you: do everything I command you, and you will not sin. 7 Sexual immorality is a trap for the soul. It separates a person from God and draws him toward idols, because it corrupts the mind and leads young men down to Hades before their time.[2] 8 Sexual immorality has destroyed many. Whether a man is old or young, noble or common, rich or poor, he brings shame on himself before others and mockery from Beliar. 9 You have heard how Joseph guarded himself from a woman and cleansed his thoughts of all sexual immorality, and found favor in the sight of God and men. 10 The Egyptian woman did everything she could—she summoned magicians and offered him love potions—but the strength of his soul would not allow any evil desire. 11 Therefore the God of your fathers rescued him from every evil and from a hidden death. 12 If sexual immorality does not overcome your mind, then Beliar cannot overcome you either.

5Women are dangerous, my children. Since they have no direct power or strength over a man, they use tricks and their appearance to draw him to themselves. 2 Any man they cannot attract by their looks, they overcome by cunning. 3 The angel of the Lord told me that women are overcome by the spirit of sexual immorality more than men. In their hearts they scheme against men: first they captivate their minds through how they dress, then through a look they plant the desire, and finally through the act itself they capture them. 4 A woman cannot overpower a man directly, but through seduction she lures him. 5 So flee from sexual immorality, my children, and tell your wives and daughters not to dress up their heads and faces to deceive, because every woman who uses these tricks has been set aside for eternal punishment.[3] 6 This is how they seduced the Watchers before the flood. As the Watchers kept seeing them, they lusted after them and plotted the act in their minds. They transformed themselves into the shape of men and appeared to the women while they were with their husbands. 7 The women lusted in their minds after the appearance of the Watchers, and they gave birth to giants, for the Watchers had appeared to them as reaching all the way to heaven.[4]

6Guard yourselves against sexual immorality. If you want to be pure in mind, protect your senses from every woman. 2 Tell the women also not to spend time alone with men, so that they too may be pure in mind. 3 Even if the sinful act is never committed, constant contact is an incurable disease for them and an eternal disgrace for us before Beliar. 4 In sexual immorality there is no understanding and no godliness, and all jealousy is rooted in its desire. 5 I tell you that you will be jealous of the sons of Levi and will try to raise yourselves above them, but you will not succeed. 6 For God will avenge them, and you will die a terrible death. 7 God gave the ruling authority to Levi, and to Judah with him, and to me also, and to Dan and Joseph, so that we would be rulers. 8 Therefore I command you to listen to Levi, because he will know the law of the Lord and will establish rules for judgment and will offer sacrifice for all Israel until the end of the age, as the anointed High Priest of whom the Lord spoke. I urge you by the God of heaven to deal honestly with your neighbor and to show love to your brother. 9 Come close to Levi with a humble heart, so that you may receive a blessing from him. 10 For he will bless Israel and Judah, because the Lord has chosen him to rule over the whole nation. 11 Bow down before his descendants, for on our behalf they will die in wars both seen and unseen, and will be an eternal king among you.

7Reuben died, having given these commands to his sons. 2 They placed him in a coffin until they carried him up from Egypt and buried him in Hebron in the cave where his father was.