Cele 12 testamente ale patriarhilor, fiii lui Israel

3. Besides all these, there is an eighth (8) spirit of sleep, with which is created entrancement
of man’s nature, and the image of death. With these spirits are mingled the spirits of error. The
first (1), the spirit of fornication, dwelleth in the nature and in the senses; the second (2) spirit of
insatiateness in the belly; the third (3) spirit of fighting in the liver and the gall. The fourth (4) is
the spirit of fawning and trickery, that through over-officiousness a man may be fair in seeming.
The fifth (5) is the spirit of arrogance, that a man may be stirred up and become high-minded. The
sixth (6) is the spirit of lying, in perdition and in jealousy to feign words, and to conceal41 words
from kindred and friends. The seventh (7) is the spirit of injustice, with which are theft and
pilferings, that a man may work the desire of his heart; for injustice worketh together with the other
spirits by means of craft. Besides all these, the spirit of sleep, the eighth (8) spirit, is conjoined
with error and fantasy. And so perisheth every young man, darkening his mind from the truth, and
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not understanding the law of God, nor obeying the admonitions of his fathers, as befell me also in
my youth.
And now, children, love the truth, and it shall preserve you. I counsel you, hear ye Reuben
your father. Pay no heed to the sight of a woman, nor yet associate privately with a female under
the authority of a husband, nor meddle with affairs of womankind. For had I not seen Bilhah bathing
in a covered place, I had not fallen into this great iniquity.42 For my mind, dwelling on the woman’s
nakedness, suffered me not to sleep until I had done the abominable deed. For while Jacob our
father was absent with Isaac his father, when we were in Gader, near to Ephratha in Bethlehem,
Bilhah was drunk, and lay asleep uncovered in her chamber; and when I went in and beheld her
nakedness, I wrought that impiety, and leaving her sleeping I departed. And forthwith an angel of
God revealed to my father Jacob concerning my impiety, and he came and mourned over me, and
touched her no more.43
4. Pay no heed, therefore, to the beauty of women, and muse not upon their doings; but walk
in singleness of heart in the fear of the Lord, and be labouring in works, and roaming in study and
among your flocks, until the Lord give to you a wife whom He will, that ye suffer not as I did.
Until my father’s death I had not boldness to look stedfastly into the face of Jacob, or to speak to
any of my brethren, because of my reproach; and even until now my conscience afflicteth me by
reason of my sin. And my father comforted me; for he prayed for me unto the Lord, that the anger
of the Lord might pass away from me, even as the Lord showed me. From henceforth, then, I was
protected, and I sinned not. Therefore, my children, observe all things whatsoever I command you,
and ye shall not sin. For fornication is the destruction of the soul, separating it from God, and bringing it near to idols, because it deceiveth the mind and understanding, and bringeth down young
men into hell before their time. For many hath fornication destroyed; because, though a man be
old or noble, it maketh him a reproach and a laughing-stock with Beliar and the sons of men. For
in that Joseph kept himself from every woman, and purged his thoughts from all fornication, he
found favour before the Lord and men. For the Egyptian woman did many things unto him, and
called for magicians, and offered him love potions, and the purpose of his soul admitted no evil
desire. Therefore the God of my fathers delivered him from every visible and hidden death. For
if fornication overcome not the mind, neither shall Beliar overcome you.