1. The copy of the Testament of Reuben, what things he charged his sons before he died in the
hundred and twenty-fifth year of his life. When he was sick two years after the death of Joseph,
his sons and his sons’ sons were gathered together to visit him. And he said to them, My children,
I am dying, and go the way of my fathers. And when he saw there Judah and Gad and Asher, his
brethren, he said to them, Raise me up, my brethren, that I may tell to my brethren and to my
children what things I have hidden in my heart, for from henceforth my strength faileth me. And
he arose and kissed them, and said, weeping: Hear, my brethren, give ear to Reuben your father,
what things I command you. And, behold, I call to witness against you this day the God of heaven,
that ye walk not in the ignorance of youth and fornication wherein I ran greedily, and I defiled the
bed of Jacob my father. For I tell you that He smote me with a sore plague in my loins for seven
months; and had not Jacob our father prayed for me to the Lord, surely the Lord would have
destroyed me. For I was thirty years old when I did this evil in the sight of the Lord, and for seven
months I was sick even unto death; and I repented for seven years in the set purpose of my soul
before the Lord. Wine and strong drink I drank not, and flesh entered not into my mouth, and I
tasted not pleasant food,39 mourning over my sin, for it was great. And it shall not so be done in
Israel.
2. And now hear me, my children, what things I saw in my repentance concerning the seven
spirits of error. Seven spirits are given against man from Beliar, and they are chief of the works
of youth; and seven spirits are given to him at his creation, that in them should be done every work
of man.40 The first (1) spirit is of life, with which man’s whole being is created. The second (2)
spirit is of sight, with which ariseth desire. The third (3) spirit is of hearing, with which cometh teaching. The fourth (4) spirit is of smelling, with which taste is given to draw air and breath. The
fifth (5) spirit is of speech, with which cometh knowledge. The sixth (6) spirit is of taste, with
which cometh the eating of meats and drinks; and by them strength is produced, for in food is the
foundation of strength. The seventh (7) spirit is of begetting and sexual intercourse, with which
through love of pleasure sin also entereth in: wherefore it is the last in order of creation, and the
first of youth, because it is filled with ignorance, which leadeth the young as a blind man to a pit,
and as cattle to a precipice.