Second Temple literature — Testaments · Aristeas · Maccabees · Wisdom · Sirach

1. Chapter 0
2. Chapter 1

Chapter 0

0:1THE Copy of the Testament of Reuben, even the commands which he gave his sons before he died in the hundred and twenty-fifth year of his life.

0:2Two years after the death of Joseph his brother, when Reuben fell ill, his sons and his sons' sons were gathered together to visit him.

0:3And he said to them: My children, behold I am dying, and go the way of my fathers.

0:4And seeing there Judah, and Gad, and Asher, his brethren, he said to them: Raise me up that I may tell to my brethren and to my children what things I have hidden in my heart, for behold now at length I am passing away.

0:5And he arose and kissed them, and said unto them: Hear, my brethren, and do ye my children, give ear to Reuben your father, in the commands which I give unto you.

0:6And behold I call to witness against you this day the God of heaven, that ye walk not in the sins of youth and fornication, wherein I was poured out, and defiled the bed of my father Jacob.

0:7And I tell you that he smote me with a sore plague in my loins for seven months; and had not my father Jamb prayed for me to the Lord, the Lord would have destroyed me.

0:8For I was thirty years old when I wrought the evil thing before the Lord, and for seven months I was sick unto death.

0:9And after this I repented with set purpose of my soul for seven years before the Lord.

0:10And wine and strong drink I drank not, and flesh entered not into my mouth, and I ate no pleasant food; but I mourned over my sin, for it was great, such as had not been in Israel.

0:11And now hear me, my children, what things I saw concerning the seven spirits of deceit, when I repented.

0:12Seven spirits therefore are appointed against man, and they are the leaders in the works of youth.

0:13And seven other spirits are given to him at his creation, that through them should be done every work of man.

0:14The first is the spirit of life, with which the constitution of man is created.

0:15The second is the sense of sight, with which ariseth desire.

0:16The third is the sense of hearing, with which cometh teaching.

0:17The fourth is the sense of smell, with which tastes are given to draw air and breath.

0:18The fifth is the power of speech, with which cometh knowledge.

0:19The sixth is the sense of taste, with which cometh the eating of meats and drinks; and by it strength is produced, for in food is the foundation. of strength.

0:20The seventh is the power of procreation and sexual intercourse, with which through love of pleasure sins enter in.

0:21Wherefore it is the last in order of creation, and the first in that of youth, because it is filled with ignorance, and leadeth the youth as a blind man to a pit, and as a beast to a precipice.

0:22Besides all these there is an eighth spirit of sleep, with which is brought about the trance of nature and the of death.

0:23With these spirits are mingled the spirits of error.

0:24First, the spirit of fornication is seated in the nature and in the senses;

0:25The second, the spirit of insatiableness in the belly;

0:26The third, the spirit of fighting, in the liver and gall.

0:27The fourth is the spirit of obsequiousness and chicanery, that through officious attention one may be fair in seeming.

0:28The fifth is the spirit of pride, that one may be boastful and arrogant.

0:29The sixth is the spirit of lying, in perdition and jealousy to practise deceits, and concealments from kindred and friends.

0:30The seventh is the spirit of injustice, with which are thefts and acts of rapacity, that a man may fulfil the desire of his heart; for injustice worketh together with the other spirits by the taking of gifts.

0:31And with all these the spirit of sleep is joined which is that of error and fantasy.

0:32And so perisheth every young man, darkening his mind from the truth, and not understanding the law of God, nor obeying the admonitions of his fathers, as befell me also in my youth.

0:33And now, my children, love the truth, and it will preserve you: hear ye the words of Reuben your father.

0:34Pay no heed to the face of a woman,

0:35Nor associate with another man's wife,

0:36Nor meddle with affairs of womankind.

0:37For had I not seen Bilhah bathing in a covered place, I had not fallen into this great iniquity.

0:38For my mind taking in the thought of the woman's nakedness, suffered me not to sleep until I had wrought the abominable thing.

0:39For while Jacob our father had gone to Isaac his father, when we were in Eder, near to Ephrath in Bethlehem, Bilhah became drunk and was asleep uncovered in her chamber.

0:40Having therefore gone in and beheld her nakedness, I wrought the impiety without her perceiving it, and leaving her sleeping departed.

0:41And forthwith an angel of God revealed to my father concerning my impiety, and he came and mourned over me, and touched her no more.

Chapter 1

1:1PAY no heed, therefore, my children, to the beauty of women, nor set your mind--on their affairs; but walk in singleness of heart in the fear of the Lord, and expend labour on good works, and on study and on your flocks, until the Lord give you a wife, whom He will, that ye suffer not as I did.

1:2For until my father's death I had not boldness to look in his face, or to speak to any of my brethren, because of the reproach.

1:3Even until now my conscience causeth me anguish on account of my impiety.

1:4And yet my father comforted me much, and prayed for me unto the Lord, that the anger of the Lord might pass from me, even as the Lord showed.

1:5And thenceforth until now I have been on my guard and sinned not.

1:6Therefore, my children, I say unto you, observe all things whatsoever I command you, and ye shall not sin.

1:7For a pit unto the soul is the sin of fornication, separating it from God, and bringing it near to idols, because it deceiveth the mind and understanding, and leadeth down young men into Hades before their time.

1:8For many hath fornication destroyed; because, though a man be old or noble, or rich or poor, he bringeth reproach upon himself with the sons of men and derision with Beliar.

1:9For ye heard regarding Joseph how he guarded himself from a woman, and purged his thoughts from all fornication, and found favour in the sight of God and men.

1:10For the Egyptian woman did many things unto him, and summoned magicians, and offered him love potions, but the purpose of his soul admitted no evil desire.

1:11Therefore the God of your fathers delivered him from every evil and hidden death.

1:12For if fornication overcomes not your mind, neither can Beliar overcome you.

1:13For evil are women, my children; and since they have no power or strength over man, they use wiles by outward attractions, that they may draw him to themselves.

1:14And whom they cannot bewitch by outward attractions, him they overcome by craft.

1:15For moreover, concerning them, the angel of the Lord told me, and taught me, that women are overcome by the spirit of fornication more than men, and in their heart they plot against men; and by means of their adornment they deceive first their minds, and by the glance of the eye instil the poison, and then through the accomplished act they take them captive.

1:16For a woman cannot force a man openly, but by a harlot's bearing she beguiles him.

1:17Flee, therefore, fornication, my children, and command your wives and your daughters, that they adorn not their heads and faces to deceive the mind: because every woman who useth these wiles bath been reserved for eternal punishment.

1:18For thus they allured the Watchers 17 who were before the flood; for as these continually beheld them, they lusted after them, and they conceived the act in their mind; for they changed themselves into the shape of men, and appeared to them when they were with their husbands.

1:19And the women lusting in their minds after their forms, gave birth to giants, for the Watchers appeared to them as reaching even unto heaven.

1:20Beware, therefore, of fornication; and if you wish to be pure in mind, guard your senses from every woman.

1:21And command the women likewise not to associate with men, that they also may be pure in mind.

1:22For constant meetings, even though the ungodly deed be not wrought, are to them an irremediable disease, and to us a destruction of Beliar and an eternal reproach.

1:23For in fornication there is neither understanding nor godliness, and all jealousy dwelleth in the lust thereof.

1:24Therefore, then I say unto you, ye will be jealous against the sons of Levi, and will seek to be exalted over them; but ye shall not be able.

1:25For God will avenge them, and ye shall die by an evil death. For to Levi God gave the sovereignty and to Judah with him and to me also, and to Dan and Joseph, that we should be for rulers.

1:26Therefore I command you to hearken to Levi, because he shall know the law of the Lord, and shall give ordinances for judgement and shall sacrifice for all Israel until the consummation of the times, as the anointed High Priest, of whom the Lord spake.

1:27I adjure you by the God of heaven to do truth each one unto his neighbour and to entertain love each one for his brother.

1:28And draw ye near to Levi in humbleness, of heart, that ye may receive a blessing from his mouth.

1:29For he shall bless Israel and Judah, because him hath the Lord chosen to be king over all the nation.

1:30And bow down before his seed, for on our behalf it will die in wars visible and invisible, and will be among you an eternal king.

1:31And Reuben died, having given these commands to his sons. And 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.

1. Chapter 0
2. Chapter 1
3. Chapter 2

Chapter 0

0:1THE copy of the words of Simeon, the things which he spake to his sons before he died, in the hundred and twentieth year of his life, at which time Joseph, his brother, died.

0:2For when Simeon was sick, his sons came to visit him. and he strengthened himself and sat up and kissed them, and said:--

0:3Hearken, my children, to Simeon your father and I will declare unto you what things I have in my heart.

0:4I was born of Jacob as my father's second son; and my mother Leah called me Simeon, because the Lord had heard her prayer.

0:5Moreover, I became strong exceedingly; I shrank from no achievement nor was I afraid of ought. For my heart was hard, and my liver was immovable, and my bowels without compassion.

0:6Because valour also has been given from the Most High to men in soul and body.

0:7For in the time of my youth I was jealous in many things of Joseph, because my father loved him beyond all.

0:8And I set my mind against him to destroy him because the prince of deceit sent forth the spirit of jealousy and blinded my mind, so that I regarded him not as a brother, nor did I spare even Jacob my father.

0:9But his God and the God of his fathers sent forth His angel, and delivered him out of my hands.

0:10For when I went to Shechem to bring ointment for the flocks, and Reuben to Dothan, where were our necessaries and all our stores, Judah my brother sold him to the Ishmaelites.

0:11And when Reuben heard these things he was grieved, for he wished to restore him to his father.

0:12But on hearing this I was exceedingly wroth against Judah in that he let him go away alive, and for five months I continued wrathful against him.

0:13But the Lord restrained me, and withheld from me the power of my hands; for my right hand was half withered for seven days.

0:14And I knew, my children, that because of Joseph this had befallen me, and I repented and wept; and I besought the Lord God that my hand might be restored and that I might hold aloof from all pollution and envy and from all folly.

0:15For I knew that I had devised an evil thing before the Lord and Jacob my father, on account of Joseph my brother, in that I envied him.

0:16And now, my children, hearken unto me and beware of the spirit of deceit and envy.

0:17For envy ruleth over the whole mind of a man, and suffereth him neither to eat nor to drink, nor to do any good thing. But it ever suggesteth to him to destroy him that he envieth; and so long as he that is envied flourisheth, he that envieth fadeth away.

0:18Two years therefore I afflicted my soul with fasting in the fear of the Lord, and I learnt that deliverance from envy cometh by the fear of God.

0:19For if a man flee to the Lord, the evil spirit runneth away from him and his mind is lightened.

0:20And henceforward he sympathiseth with him whom he envied and forgiveth those who are hostile to him, and so ceaseth from his envy.

Chapter 1

1:1AND my father asked concerning me, because he saw that I was sad; and I said unto him, I am pained in my liver.

1:2For I mourned more than they all, because I was guilty of the selling of Joseph.

1:3And when we went down into Egypt, and he bound me as a spy, I knew that I was suffering justly, and I grieved not.

1:4Now Joseph was a good man, and had the Spirit of God within him: being compassionate and pitiful, he bore no malice against me; but loved me even as the rest of his brethren.

1:5Beware, therefore, my children, of all jealousy and envy, and walk in singleness of heart, that God may give you also grace and glory, and blessing upon your heads, even as ye saw in Joseph's case.

1:6All his days he reproached us not concerning this thing, but loved us as his own soul, and beyond his own sons glorified us, and gave us riches, and cattle and fruits.

1:7Do ye also, my children, love each one his brother with a good heart, and the spirit of envy will withdraw from you.

1:8For this maketh savage the soul and destroyeth the body; it causeth anger and war in the mind, and stirreth up unto deeds of blood, and leadeth the mind into frenzy, and causeth tumult to the soul and trembling to the body.

1:9For even in sleep malicious jealousy gnaweth, and with wicked spirits disturbeth the soul, and causeth the body to be troubled, and waketh the mind from sleep in confusion; and as a wicked and poisonous spirit, so appeareth it to men.

1:10Therefore was Joseph comely in appearance, and goodly to look upon, because no wickedness dwelt in him; for some of the trouble of the spirit the face manifesteth.

1:11And now, my children, make your hearts good before the Lord, and your ways straight before men, and ye shall find grace before the Lord and men.

1:12Beware, therefore, of fornication, for fornication is mother of all evils, separating from God, and bringing near to Beliar.

1:13For I have seen it inscribed in the writing of Enoch that your sons shall be corrupted in fornication, and shall do harm to the sons of Levi with the sword.

1:14But they shall not be able to withstand Levi; for he shall wage the war of the Lord, and shall conquer all your hosts.

1:15And they shall be few in number, divided in Levi and Judah, and there shall be none of you for sovereignty, even as also our father prophesied in his blessings.

Chapter 2

2:1BEHOLD I have told you all things, that I may be acquitted of your sin.

2:2Now, if ye remove from you your envy and all stiff-neckedness, is a rose shall my bones flourish in Israel, and as a lily my flesh in Jacob, and my odour shall be as the odour of Libanus; and as cedars shall holy ones be multiplied from me for ever, and their branches shall stretch afar off.

2:3Then shall perish the seed of Canaan, and a remnant shall not be unto Amalek, and all the Cappadocians shall perish, and all Hittites shall be utterly destroyed.

2:4Then shall fail the land of Ham, and all the people shall perish.

2:5Then shall all the earth rest from trouble, and all the world under heaven from war.

2:6Then the Mighty One of Israel shall glorify Shem.

2:7For the Lord God shall appear on earth, and Himself save men,

2:8Then shall all the spirits of deceit be given to be trodden under foot, and men shall, rule over wicked spirits.

2:9Then shall I arise in Joy and will bless the Most High because of his marvellous works, because God hath taken a body and eaten with men and saved men.

2:10And now, my children,, and Judah, and obey Levi and Judah, and be not lifted up against these two tribes, for from them shall arise unto you the salvation of God.

2:11For the Lord shall raise up from Levi as it were a High Priest, and from Judah as it were a King, God and man, He shall save all the Gentiles and the race of Israel.

2:12Therefore I give you these commands that ye also may command your children, that they may observe them throughout their generations.

2:13And when Simeon had made an end of commanding his sons, he slept with fathers, an hundred and twenty years old.

2:14And they laid him in a wooden coffin, to take up his bones to Hebron. And they took them up secretly during a war of the Egyptians. For the bones of Joseph the Egyptians guarded in the tombs of the kings.

2:15For the sorcerers told them, that on the departure of the bones of Joseph there should be throughout all the land darkness and gloom, and an exceeding great plague to the Egyptians, so that even with a lamp a man should not recognize his brother.

2:16And the sons of Simeon bewailed their father.

2:17And they were in Egypt until the day of their departure by the hand of Moses.

Chapter 0

0:1THE copy of the words of Levi, the things which he ordained unto his sons, according to all that they should do, and what things should befall them until the day of judgement.

0:2He was sound in health when he called them to him; for it had been revealed to him that he should die.

0:3And when they were gathered together he said to them:

0:4I, Levi, was born in Haran, and I came with my father to Shechem.

0:5And I was young, about twenty years of age, when, with Simeon, I wrought vengeance on Hamor for our sister Dinah.

0:6And when I was feeding the flocks in Abel-Maul, the spirit of understand of the Lord came upon me, and I saw all men corrupting their way, and that unrighteousness had built for itself walls, and lawlessness sat upon towers.

0:7And I was grieving for the race of the sons of men, and I prayed to the Lord that I might be saved.

0:8Then there fell upon me a sleep, and I beheld a high mountain, and I was upon it.

0:9And behold the heavens were opened, and an angel of God said to me, Levi, enter.

0:10And I entered from the first heaven, and I saw there a great sea hanging.

0:11And further I saw a second heaven far brighter and more brilliant, for there was a boundless light also therein,

0:12And I said to the angel, Why is this so? And the angel said to me, Marvel not at this, for thou shalt see another heaven more brilliant and incomparable.

0:13And when thou hast ascended thither, Thou shalt stand near the Lord, and shalt be His minister, and shalt, declare His mysteries to men, and shalt proclaim concerning Him that shall redeem Israel.

0:14And by thee and Judah shall the Lord appear among men, saving every race of men.

0:15And from the Lord's portion shall be thy life, and He shall be thy field and vineyard, and fruits, gold, and silver.

0:16Hear, therefore, regarding the heavens which have been shown to thee.

0:17The lowest is for this cause gloomy unto thee, in that it beholds all the unrighteous deeds of men.

0:18And it has fire, snow, and ice made ready for the day of judgement, in the righteous judgement of God; for in it are all the spirits of the retributions for vengeance on men.

0:19And in the second are the hosts Of the armies which are ordained for the day of judgement, to work vengeance on the spirits of deceit and of Beliar.

0:20And above them are the holy ones.

0:21And in the highest of all dwelleth the Great Glory, far above all holiness.

0:22In the heaven next to it are the archangels, who minister and make propitiation to the Lord for all the sins of ignorance of the righteous;

0:23Offering to the Lord a sweet smelling savour, a reasonable and a bloodless offering.

0:24And in the heaven below this are the angels who bear answers to the angels of the presence of the Lord.

0:25And in the heaven next to this are thrones and dominions, in which always they offer praise to God.

0:26When, therefore, the Lord looketh upon us, all of us are shaken; yea, the heavens, and the earth, and the abysses are shaken at the presence of His majesty.

0:27But the sons of men, having no perception of these things, sin and provoke the Most High.

Chapter 1

1:1NOW, therefore, know that the Lord shall execute judgement upon the sons of men.

1:2Because when the rocks are being rent, and the sun quenched, and the waters dried up, and the fire cowering, and all creation troubled, and the invisible spirits melting away, and Hades taketh spoils through the visitations of the Most High, men will be unbelieving and persist in their iniquity.

1:3On this account with punishment shall they be judged.

1:4Therefore the Most High hath heard thy prayer, to separate thee from iniquity, and that thou shouldst become to Him a son, and a servant, and a minister of His presence.

1:5The light of knowledge shalt thou light up in Jacob, and as the sun shalt thou be to all the seed of Israel.

1:6And there shall be given to thee a blessing, and to all thy seed until the Lord shall visit all the Gentiles in His tender mercies for ever.

1:7And therefore there have been given to thee counsel and understanding, that thou mightest instruct thy sons concerning this;

1:8Because they that bless Him shall be blessed, and they that curse Him shall perish.

1:9And thereupon the angel opened to me the gates of heaven, and I saw the holy temple, and upon a throne of glory the Most High.

1:10And He said to me: Levi, I have given thee the blessing of the priesthood until I come and sojourn in the midst of Israel.

1:11Then the angel brought me down to the earth, and gave me a shield and a sword, and said to me: Execute vengeance on Shechem because of Dinah, thy sister, and I will be with thee because the Lord hath sent me.

1:12And I destroyed at that time the sons of Hamor, as it is written in the heavenly tables.

1:13And I said to him: I pray thee, O Lord, tell me Thy name, that I may call upon Thee in a day of tribulation.

1:14And he said: I am the angel who intercedeth for the nation of Israel that they may not be smitten utterly, for every evil spirit attacketh it.

1:15And after these things I awaked, and blessed the Most High, and the angel who intercedeth for the nation of Israel and for all the righteous.

Chapter 2

2:1AND when I was going to my father, I found a brazen shield; wherefore also the name of the mountain is Aspis, which is near Gebal, to the south of Abila.

2:2And I kept these words in my heart. And after this I counselled my father, and Reuben my brother, to bid the sons of Hamor not to be circumcised; for I was zealous because of the abomination which they had wrought on my sister.

2:3And I slew Shechem first, and Simeon slew Hamor. And after this my brothers came and smote that city with the edge of the sword.

2:4And my father heard these things and was wroth, and he was grieved in that they had received the circumcision, and after that had been put to death, and in his blessings he looked amiss upon us.

2:5For we sinned because we had done this thing against his will, and he was sick on that day.

2:6But I saw that the sentence of God was for evil upon Shechem; for they sought to do to Sarah and Rebecca as they had done to Dinah our sister, but the Lord prevented them.

2:7And they persecuted Abraham our father when he was a stranger, and they vexed his flocks when they were big with young; and Eblaen, who was born in his house, they most shamefully handled.

2:8And thus they did to all strangers, taking away their wives by force, and they banished them.

2:9But the wrath of the Lord came upon them to the uttermost.

2:10And I said to my father Jacob: By thee will the Lord despoil the Canaanites, and will give their land to thee and to thy seed after thee.

2:11For from this day forward shall Shechem be called a city of imbeciles; for as a man mocketh a fool, so did we mock them.

2:12Because also they had wrought folly in Israel by defiling my sister. And we departed and came to Bethel.

2:13And there again I saw a vision as the former, after we had spent there seventy days.

2:14And I saw seven men in white raiment saying unto me: Arise, put on the robe of the priesthood, and the crown of righteousness, and the breastplate of understanding, and the garment of truth, and the late of faith, and the turban of the head, and the ephod of prophecy.

2:15And they severally carried these things and put them on me, and said unto me: From henceforth become a priest of the Lord, thou and thy seed for ever.

2:16And the first anointed me with holy oil, and gave to me the staff of judgement.

2:17The second washed me with pure. water, and fed me with bread and wine even the most holy things, and clad me with a holy and glorious robe.

2:18The third clothed me with a linen vestment like an ephod.

2:19The fourth put round me a girdle like unto purple.

2:20The fifth gave me a branch of rich olive.

2:21The sixth placed a crown on my head.

2:22The seventh placed on my head a diadem of priesthood, and filled my hands with incense, that I might serve as priest to the Lord God.

2:23And they said to me: Levi, thy seed shall be divided into three offices, for a sign of the glory of the Lord who is to come.

2:24And the first portion shall be great; yea, greater than it shall none be.

2:25The second shall be in the priesthood.

2:26And the third shall be called by a new name, because a king shall arise in Judah, and shall establish a new priesthood, after the fashion of the Gentiles.

2:27And His presence is beloved, as a prophet of the Most High, of the seed of Abraham our father.

2:28Therefore, every desirable thing in Israel shall be for thee and for thy seed, and ye shall eat everything fair to look upon, and the table of the Lord shall thy seed apportion.

2:29And some of them shall be high priests, and judges, and scribes; for by their mouth shall the holy place be guarded.

2:30And when I awoke, I understood that this dream was like the first dream. And I hid this also in my heart, and told it not to any man upon the earth.

2:31And after two days I and Judah went up with our father Jacob to Isaac our father's father.

2:32And my father's father blessed me according to all the words of the visions which I had seen. And he would not come with us to Bethel.

2:33And when we came to Bethel, my father saw a vision concerning me, that I should be their priest unto God.

2:34And he rose up early in the morning, and paid tithes of all to the Lord through me. And so we came to Hebron to dwell there.

2:35And Isaac called me continually to put me in remembrance of the law of the Lord, even as the angel of the Lord showed unto me.

2:36And he taught me the law of the priesthood of sacrifices, whole burnt- offerings, first-fruits, freewill-offerings, peace-offerings.

2:37And each day he was instructing me, and was busied on my behalf before the Lord, and said to me: Beware of the spirit of fornication; for this shall continue and shall by thy seed pollute the holy place.

2:38Take, therefore, to thyself a wife without blemish or pollution, while yet thou are young, and not of the race of strange nations.

2:39And before entering into the holy place, bathe; and when thou offerest the sacrifice, wash; and again, when thou finishest the sacrifice, wash.

2:40Of twelve trees having leaves offer to the Lord, as Abraham taught me also.

2:41And of every clean beast and bird offer a sacrifice to the Lord.

2:42And of all thy first-fruits and of wine offer the first, as a sacrifice to the Lord God; and every sacrifice thou shalt salt with salt.

2:43Now, therefore, observe whatsoever I command you, children; for whatsoever things I have heard from my fathers I have declared unto you.

2:44And behold I am clear from your ungodliness and transgression, which ye shall commit in the end of the ages against the Saviour of the world, Christ, acting godlessly, deceiving Israel, and stirring up against it great evils from the Lord.

2:45And ye shall deal lawlessly together with Israel, so He shall not bear with Jerusalem because of your wickedness; but the veil of the temple shall be rent, so as not to cover your shame.

2:46And ye shall be scattered as captives among the Gentiles, and shall be for a reproach and for a curse there.

2:47For the house which the Lord shall choose shall be called Jerusalem, as is contained in the book of Enoch the righteous.

2:48Therefore when I took a wife I was twenty-eight years old, and her name was Melcha.

2:49And she conceived and bare a son, and I called his name Gersam, for we were sojourners in our land.

2:50And I saw concerning him, that he would not be in the first rank.

2:51And Kohath was born in the thirty-fifth year of my life, towards sunrise.

2:52And I saw in a vision that he was standing on high in the midst of all the congregation.

2:53Therefore I called his name Kohath which is, beginning of majesty and instruction.

2:54And she bare me a third son, in the fortieth year of my life; and since his mother bare him with difficulty, I called him Merari, that is, 'my bitterness,' because he also was like to die.

2:55And Jochebed was born. in Egypt, in my sixty-fourth year, for I was renowned then in the midst of my brethren.

2:56And Gersam took a wife, and she bare to him Lomni and Semei. And the sons of Kohath, Ambram, Issachar, Hebron, and Ozeel. And the sons of Merari, Mooli, and Mouses.

2:57And in the ninety-fourth year Ambram took Jochebed my daughter to him to wife, for they were born in one day, he and my daughter.

2:58Eight years old was I when I went into the land of Canaan, and eighteen years when I slew Shechem, and at nineteen years I became priest, and at twenty-eight years I took a wife, and at forty-eight I went into Egypt.

2:59And behold, my children, ye are a third generation. In my hundred and eighteenth year Joseph died.

Chapter 3

3:1AND now, my children, I command you: Fear the Lord your God with your whole heart, and walk in simplicity according to all His law.

3:2And do ye also teach your children letters, that they may have understanding all their life, reading unceasingly the law of God.

3:3For every one that knoweth the law of the Lord shall be honoured, and shall not be a stranger whithersoever he goeth.

3:4Yea, many friends shall he gain more than his parents, and many men shall desire to serve him, and to hear the law from his mouth.

3:5Work righteousness, therefore, my children, upon the earth, that ye may have it as a treasure in heaven.

3:6And sow good things in your souls, that ye may find them in your life.

3:7But if ye sow evil things, ye shall reap every trouble and affliction.

3:8Get wisdom in the fear of God with diligence; for though there be a leading into captivity, and cities and lands be destroyed, and gold and silver and every possession perish, the wisdom of the wise nought can take away, save the blindness of ungodliness, and the callousness that comes of sin.

3:9For if one keep oneself from these evil things, then even among his enemies shall wisdom be a glory to him, and in a strange country a fatherland, and in the midst of foes shall prove a friend.

3:10Whosoever teaches noble things and does them, shall be enthroned with kings, as was also Joseph my brother.

3:11Therefore, my children, I have learnt that at the end of the ages ye will transgress against the Lord, stretching out hands to wickedness against Him; and to all the Gentiles shall ye become a scorn.

3:12For our father Israel is pure from the transgressions of the chief priests [who shall lay their hands upon the Saviour of the world].

3:13For as the heaven is purer in the Lord's sight than the earth, so also be ye, the lights of Israel, purer than all the Gentiles.

3:14But if ye be darkened through transgressions, what, therefore, will all the Gentiles do living in blindness?

3:15Yea, ye shall bring a curse upon our race, because the light of the law which was given for to lighten every man this ye desire to destroy by teaching commandments contrary to the ordinances of God.

3:16The offerings of the Lord ye shall rob, and from His portion shall ye steal choice portions, eating them contemptuously with harlots.

3:17And out of covetousness ye shall teach the commandments of the Lord, wedded women shall ye pollute, and the virgins of Jerusalem shall ye defile; and with harlots and adulteresses shall ye be joined, and the daughters of the Gentiles shall ye take to wife, purifying them with an unlawful purification; and your union shall be like unto Sodom and Gomorrah,

3:18And ye shall be puffed up because of your priesthood, lifting yourselves up against men, and not only so, but also against the commands of God.

3:19For ye shall contemn the holy things with jests and laughter.

3:20Therefore the temple, which the Lord shall choose, shall be laid waste through your uncleanness, and ye shall be captives throughout all nations.

3:21And ye shall be an abomination unto them, and ye shall receive reproach and everlasting shame from the righteous judgement of God.

3:22And all who hate you shall rejoice at your destruction.

3:23And if you were not to receive mercy through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, our fathers, not one of our seed should be left upon the earth.

3:24And now I have learnt that for seventy weeks ye shall go astray, and profane the priesthood, and pollute the sacrifices.

3:25And ye shall make void the law, and set at nought the words of the prophets by evil perverseness.

3:26And ye shall persecute righteous men, and hate the godly; the words of the faithful shall ye abhor.

3:27And a man who reneweth the law in the power of the Most High, ye shall call a deceiver; and at last ye shall rush upon him to slay him, not knowing his dignity, taking innocent blood through wickedness upon your heads.

3:28And your holy places shall be laid waste even to the ground because of him.

3:29And ye shall have no place that is clean; but ye shall be among the Gentiles a curse and a dispersion until He shall again visit you, and in pity shall receive you through faith and water.

Chapter 4

4:1AND whereas ye have heard concerning the seventy weeks, hear also concerning the priesthood. For in each jubilee there shall be a priesthood.

4:2And in the first jubilee, the first who is anointed to the priesthood shall be great, and shall speak to God as to a father.

4:3And his priesthood shall be perfect with the Lord, and in the day of his gladness shall he arise for the salvation of the world.

4:4In the second jubilee, he that is anointed shall be conceived in the sorrow of beloved ones; and his priesthood shall be honoured and shall be glorified by all.

4:5And the third priest shall he taken hold of by sorrow.

4:6And the fourth shall be in pain, because unrighteousness shall gather itself against him exceedingly, and all Israel shall hate each one his neighbour.

4:7The fifth shall be taken hold of by darkness. Likewise also the sixth and the seventh.

4:8And in the seventh shall, be such pollution as I cannot express before men, for they shall know it who do these things.

4:9Therefore shall they be taken captive and become a prey, and their land and their substance shall be destroyed.

4:10And in the fifth week they shall return to their desolate country, and shall renew the house of the Lord.

4:11And in the seventh week shall become priests, who are idolaters, adulterers, lovers of money, proud, lawless, lascivious, abusers of children and beasts.

4:12And after their punishment shall have come from the Lord, the priesthood shall fail.

4:13Then shall the Lord raise up a new priest.

4:14And to him all the words of the Lord shall be revealed; and he shall execute a righteous judgement upon the earth for a multitude of days.

4:15And his star shall arise in heaven as of a king.

4:16Lighting up the light of knowledge as the sun the day, and he shall be magnified in the world.

4:17He shall shine forth as the sun on the earth, and shall remove all darkness from under heaven, and there shall be peace in all the earth.

4:18The heavens shall exult in his days, and the earth shall be glad, and the clouds shall rejoice;

4:19And the knowledge of the Lord shall be poured forth upon the earth, as the water of the seas;

4:20And the angels of the glory of the presence of the Lord shall be glad in him.

4:21The heavens shall be opened, and from the temple of glory shall come upon him sanctification, with the Father's voice as from Abraham to Isaac.

4:22And the glory of the Most High shall be uttered over him, and the spirit of understanding and sanctification shall rest upon him in the water.

4:23For he shall give the majesty of the Lord to His sons in truth for evermore;

4:24And there shall none succeed him for all generations for ever.

4:25And in his priesthood the Gentiles shall be multiplied in knowledge upon the earth, and enlightened through the grace of the Lord. In his priesthood shall sin come to an end, and the lawless shall cease to do evil.

4:26And he shall open the gates of paradise, and shall remove the threatening sword against Adam, and he shall give to the saints to eat from the tree of life, and the spirit of holiness shall be on them.

4:27And Beliar shall be bound by him, and he shall give power to His children to tread upon the evil spirits.

4:28And the Lord shall rejoice in His children, and be well pleased in His beloved ones for ever.

4:29Then shall Abraham and Isaac and Jacob exult, and I will be glad, and all the saints shall clothe themselves with joy.

4:30And now, my children, ye have heard all; choose, therefore, for yourselves either the light or the darkness, either the law of the Lord or the works of Beliar.

4:31And his sons answered him., saying, Before the Lord we will walk according to His law.

4:32And their father said unto them, The Lord is witness, and His angels are witnesses, and ye are witnesses, and I am witness, concerning the word of your mouth.

4:33And his sons said unto him: We are witnesses.

4:34And thus Levi ceased commanding his sons; and he stretched out his feet on the bed, and was gathered to his fathers, after he had lived a hundred and thirty-seven years.

4:35And they laid him in a coffin, and afterwards they buried him in Hebron, with I Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

1. Chapter 0
2. Chapter 1
3. Chapter 2
4. Chapter 3

Chapter 0

0:1THE copy of the words of Judah, what things he spake to his sons before he died.

0:2They gathered themselves together, therefore, and came to him, and he said to them: Hearken, my children, to Judah your father.

0:3I 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.

0:4I was swift in my youth, and obedient to my father in everything.

0:5And I honoured my mother and my mother's sister.

0:6And it came to pass, when I became a man, that my father blessed me, saying, Thou shalt be a king, prospering in all things.

0:7And the Lord showed me favour in all my works both in the field and in the house.

0:8I know that I raced a hind, and caught it, and prepared the meat for my father, and he did eat.

0:9And the roes I used to master in the chase, and overtake all that was in the plains.

0:10A wild mare I overtook, and caught it and tamed it.

0:11I slew a lion and plucked a kid out of its mouth.

0:12I took a bear by its paw and hurled it down the cliff, and it was crushed.

0:13I outran the wild boar, and seizing it as I ran, I tore it in sunder.

0:14A leopard in Hebron leaped upon my dog, and I caught it by the tail, and hurled it on the rocks, and it was broken in twain

0:15I found a wild ox feeding in the fields, and seizing it by the horns, and whirling it round and stunning it, I cast it from me and slew it.

0:16And when the two kings of the Canaanites came sheathed, in armour against our flocks, and much people with them, single handed I rushed upon the king of Hazor, and smote him on the greives and dragged him down, and so I slew him.

0:17And the other, the king of Tappuah, as he sat upon his horse, I slew, and so I scattered all his people.

0:18Achor, the king, a man of giant stature, I found, hurling javelins before and behind as he sat on horseback, and I took up a stone of sixty pounds weight, and hurled it and smote his horse, and killed it.

0:19And I fought with this other for two hours; and I clave his shield in twain, and I chopped off his feet, and killed him.

0:20And as I was stripping off his breastplate, behold nine men his companions began to fight with me,

0:21And I wound my garment on my hand; and I slung stones at them, and killed four of them, and the rest fled.

0:22And Jacob my father slew Beelesath, king of all the kings, a giant in strength, twelve cubits high.

0:23And fear fell upon them, and they ceased warring against us.

0:24Therefore my father was free from anxiety in the wars when I was with my brethren.

0:25For he saw in a vision concerning me that an angel of might followed me everywhere, that I should not be overcome.

0:26And in the south there came upon us a greater war than that in Shechem; and I joined in battle array with my brethren, and pursued a thousand men, and slew of them two hundred men and four kings.

0:27And I went up upon the wall, and I slew four mighty men.

0:28And so we captured Hazor, and took all the spoil.

0:29And the next day we departed to Aretan, a city strong and walled and inaccessible, threatening us with death.

0:30But I and Gad approached on the east side of the city, and Reuben and Levi on the west.

0:31And they that were upon the wall, thinking that we were alone, were drawn down against us.

0:32And so my brothers secretly climbed up the wall on both sides by stakes, and entered the city, while the men knew it not.

0:33And we took it with the edge of the sword.

0:34And as for those who had taken refuge in the tower, we set fire to the tower and took both it and, them.

0:35And as we were departing the men of Tappuah seized our spoil, and seeing this we fought with them.

0:36And we slew them. all and recovered our spoil.

0:37And when I was at the waters of Kozeba, the men of Jobel came against us to battle.

0:38And we fought with them and routed them; and their allies from Shiloh we slew, and we did not leave them power to come in against us.

0:39And the men of Makir came upon us the fifth day, to seize our spoil; and we attacked them and overcame them in fierce battle: for there was a host of mighty men amongst them, and we slew them before they had gone up the ascent.

0:40And when we came to their city their women rolled upon us stones from the brow of the hill on which the city stood.

0:41And I and Simeon had ourselves behind the town, and seized upon the heights, and destroyed this city also.

0:42And the next day it was told us that the king of the city of Gaash with. a mighty host was coming against us.

0:43I, therefore, and Dan feigned ourselves to be Amorites, and as allies went into their city.

0:44And in the depth of night our brethren came and we opened to them the gates; and we destroyed all the men and their substance, and we took for a prey all that was theirs, and their three walls we cast down.

0:45And we drew near to Thamna, where was all the substance of the hostile kings.

0:46Then being insulted by them, I was therefore wroth, and rushed against them to the summit; and they kept slinging against me stones and darts.

0:47And had not Dan my brother aided me, they would have slain me.

0:48We came upon them, therefore, with wrath, and they all fled; and passing by another way, they fought my father, and he made peace with them.

0:49And we did to them no hurt, and they became tributary to us, and we restored to them their spoil.

0:50And I built Thamna, and my father built Pabael.

0:51I was twenty years old when this war befell. And the Canaanites feared me and my brethren.

0:52And I had much cattle, and I had for chief herdsman Iram the Adullamite.

0:53And when I went to him I saw Parsaba, king of Adullam; and he spake unto us, and he made us a feast; and when I was heated he gave me his daughter Bathshua to wife.

0:54She bare me Er, and Onan and Shelah; and two of them the Lord smote: for Shelah lived, and his children are ye.

Chapter 1

1:1AND eighteen years my father abode in peace with his brother Esau, and his sons with us, after that we came from Mesopotamia, from Laban.

1:2And when eighteen years were fulfilled, in the fortieth year of my life, Esau, the brother of my father, came upon us with a mighty and strong people.

1:3And Jacob smote Esau with an arrow, and he was taken up wounded on Mount Seir, and as he went he died at Anoniram.

1:4And we pursued after the sons of Esau.

1:5Now they had a city with walls of iron and gates of brass; and we could not enter into it, and we encamped around, and besieged it.

1:6And when they opened not to us in twenty days, I set up a ladder in the sight of all and with my shield upon my head I went up, sustaining the assault of stones, upwards of three talents weight; and I slew four of their mighty men.

1:7And Reuben and Gad slew six others.

1:8Then they asked from us terms of peace; and having taken counsel with our father, we received them as tributaries.

1:9And they gave us five hundred cors of wheat, five hundred baths of oil, five hundred measures of wine, until the famine, when we went down into Egypt.

1:10And after these things my son Er took to wife Tamar, from Mesopotamia, a daughter of Aram.

1:11Now Er was wicked, and he was in need concerning Tamar, because she was not of the land of Canaan.

1:12And on the third night an angel of the Lord smote him.

1:13And he had not known her according to the evil craftiness of his mother, for he did not wish to have children by her.

1:14In the days of the wedding feast I gave Onan to her in marriage; and he also in wickedness knew her not, though he spent with her a year.

1:15And when I threatened him he went in unto her, but he spilled the seed on the ground, according to the command of his mother, and he also died through wickedness.

1:16And I wished to give Shelah also to her, but his mother did not permit it; for she wrought evil against Tamar, because she was not the daughters of Canaan, as she also herself was.

1:17And I knew that the race of the Canaanites was wicked, but the impulse of youth blinded my mind.

1:18And when I saw her pouring out wine, owing to the intoxication of wine I was deceived, and took her although my father had not counselled it.

1:19And while I was away she went and took for Shelah a wife from Canaan.

1:20And when I knew what she had done, I cursed her in the anguish of my soul.

1:21And she also died through her wickedness together with her sons.

1:22And after these things, while Tamar was a widow, she heard after two years that I was going up, to shear my sheep, and adorned herself in bridal array, and sat in the city Enaim by the gate.

1:23For it was a law of the Amorites, that she who was about to marry should sit in fornication seven days by the gate.

1:24Therefore being drunk with wine, I did not recognize her; and her beauty deceived me, through the fashion of her adorning.

1:25And I turned aside to her, and said: Let me go in unto thee.

1:26And she said: What wilt thou give me? And I gave her my staff, and my girdle, and the diadem of my kingdom in pledge.

1:27And I went in unto her, and she conceived.

1:28And not knowing what I had done, I wished to slay her; but she privily sent my pledges, and put me to shame.

1:29And when I called her, I heard also the secret words which I spoke when lying with her in my drunkenness; and I could not slay her, because it was from the Lord.

1:30For I said, Lest haply she did it in subtlety, having received the pledge from another woman.

1:31But I came not again near her while I lived, because I had done this abomination in all Israel.

1:32Moreover, they who were in the city said there was no harlot in the gate, because she came from another place, and sat for a while in the gate.

1:33And I thought that no one knew that I had gone in to her.

1:34And after this we came into Egypt to Joseph, because of the famine.

1:35And I was forty and six years old, and seventy and three years lived I in Egypt.

Chapter 2

2:1AND now I command you, my children, hearken to Judah your father, and keep my sayings to perform all the ordinances of the Lord, and to obey the commands of God.

2:2And walk not after your lusts, nor in the imaginations of your thoughts in haughtiness of heart; and glory not in the deeds and strength of your youth, for this also is evil in the eyes of the Lord.

2:3Since I also gloried that in wars no comely woman's face ever enticed me, and reproved Reuben my brother concerning Bilhah, the wife of my father, the spirits of jealousy and of fornication arrayed themselves against me, until I lay with Bathshua the Canaanite, and Tamar, who was espoused to my sons.

2:4For I said to my father-in-law: I will take counsel with my father, and so will I take thy daughter.

2:5And he was unwilling but he showed me a boundless store of gold in his daughter's behalf; for be was a king.

2:6And he adorned her with gold and pearls, and caused her to pour out wine for us at the feast with the beauty of women.

2:7And the wine turned aside my eyes, and pleasure blinded my heart.

2:8And I became enamoured of and I lay with her, and transgressed the commandment of the Lord and the commandment of my fathers, and I took her to wife.

2:9And the Lord rewarded me according to the imagination of my heart, inasmuch as I had no joy in her children.

2:10And now, my children, I say unto you, be not drunk with wine; for wine turneth the mind away from, the truth, and inspires the passion of lust, and leadeth the eyes into error.

2:11For the spirit of fornication hath wine as a minister to give pleasure to the mind; for these two also take away the mind of man.

2:12For if a man drink wine to drunkenness, it disturbeth the mind with filthy thoughts leading to fornication, and heateth the body to carnal union; and if the occasion of the lust be present, he worketh the sin, and is not ashamed.

2:13Such is the inebriated man, my children; for he who is drunken reverenceth no man.

2:14For, lo, it made me also to err, so that I was not ashamed of the multitude in the city, in that before the eyes of all I turned aside unto Tamar, and I wrought a great sin, and I uncovered the covering of my sons' shame.

2:15After I had drunk wine I reverenced not the commandment of God, and I took a woman of Canaan to wife.

2:16For much discretion needeth the man who drinketh wine, my children; and herein is discretion in drinking wine, a man may drink so long as he preserveth modesty.

2:17But if he go beyond this limit the spirit of deceit attacketh his mind, and it maketh the drunkard to talk filthily, and to transgress and not to be ashamed, but even to glory in his shame, and to account himself honourable.

2:18He that committeth fornication is not aware when he suffers loss, and is not ashamed when put to dishonour.

2:19For even though a man be a king and commit fornication, he is stripped of his kingship by becoming the slave of fornication, as I myself also suffered.

2:20For I gave my staff, that is, the stay of my tribe; and my girdle, that is, my power; and my diadem, that is, the glory of my kingdom.

2:21And indeed I repented of these things; wine and flesh I eat not until my old age, nor did I behold any joy.

2:22And the angel of God showed me that for ever do women bear rule over king and beggar alike.

2:23And from the king they take away his glory, and from the valiant man his might, and from the beggar even that little which is the stay of his poverty.

2:24Observe, therefore, my children, the right limit in wine; for there are in it four evil spirits--of lust, of hot desire, of profligacy, of filthy lucre.

2:25If ye drink wine in gladness, be ye modest in the fear of God.

2:26For if in your gladness the fear of God departeth, then drunkenness ariseth and shamelessness stealeth in.

2:27But if ye would live soberly do not touch wine at all, lest ye sin in words of outrage, and in fightings and slanders, and transgressions of the commandments of God, and ye perish before your time.

2:28Moreover, wine revealeth the mysteries of God and men, even as I also revealed the commandments of God and the mysteries of Jacob my father to the Canaanitish woman Bathshua, which God bade me not to reveal.

2:29And wine is a cause both of war and confusion.

2:30And now, I command you, my children, not to love money, nor to gaze upon the beauty of women; because for the sake of money and beauty I was led astray to Bathshua the Canaanite.

2:31For I know that because of these two things shall my race fall into wickedness.

2:32For even wise men among my sons shall they mar, and shall cause the kingdom of Judah to be diminished, which the Lord gave me because of my obedience to my father.

2:33For I never caused grief to Jacob, my father; for all things whatsoever he commanded I did.

2:34And Isaac, the father of my father, blessed me to be king in Israel, and Jacob further blessed me in like manner.

2:35And I know that from me shall the kingdom be established.

2:36And I know what evils ye will do in the last days.

2:37Beware, therefore, my children, of fornication, and the love of money, and hearken to Judah your father.

2:38For these things withdraw au from the law of God, and blind the inclination of the soul, and teach arrogance, and suffer not a man to have compassion upon his neighbour.

2:39They rob his soul of all goodness, and oppress him with toils and troubles, and drive away sleep from him, and devour his flesh.

2:40And he hindereth the sacrifices of God; and he remembereth not the blessing of God, he hearkeneth not to a prophet when he speaketh, and resenteth the words of godliness.

2:41For he is a slave to two contrary passions, and cannot obey God, because they have blinded his soul, and he walketh in the day as in the night.

2:42My children, the love of money leadeth to idolatry; because, when led astray through money, men name as gods those who are not gods, and it causeth him who hath it to fall into madness.

2:43For the sake of money I lost my children, and had not my repentance, and my humiliation, and the prayers of my father been accepted, I should have died childless.

2:44But the God of my fathers had mercy on me, because I did it in ignorance.

2:45And the prince of deceit blinded me, and I sinned as a man and as flesh, being corrupted through sins; and I learnt my own weakness while thinking myself invincible.

2:46Know, therefore, my children, that two spirits wait upon man-the spirit of truth and the spirit of deceit.

2:47And in the midst is the spirit of understanding of the mind, to which it belongeth to turn whithersoever it will.

2:48And the works of truth and the works of deceit are written upon the hearts of men, and each one of them the Lord knoweth.

2:49And there is no time at which the works of men can be hid; for on the heart itself have they been written down before the Lord.

2:50And the spirit of truth testifieth all things, and accuseth all; and the sinner is burnt up by his own heart, and cannot raise his face to the judge.

Chapter 3

3:1AND now, my children, I command you, love Levi, that ye may abide, and exalt not yourselves against him, lest ye be utterly destroyed.

3:2For to me the Lord gave the kingdom, and to him the priesthood, and He set the kingdom beneath the priesthood.

3:3To me He gave the things upon the earth; to him the things in the heavens.

3:4As the heaven is higher than the earth, so is the priesthood of God higher than the earthly kingdom, unless it falls away through sin from the Lord and is dominated by the earthly kingdom.

3:5For the angel of the Lord said unto me: The Lord chose him rather than thee, to draw near to Him, and to eat of His table and to offer Him the first-fruits of the choice things of the sons of Israel; but thou shalt be king of Jacob.

3:6And thou shalt be amongst them as the sea.

3:7For as, on the sea, just and unjust are tossed about, some taken into captivity while some are enriched, so also shall every race of men be in thee: some shall be impoverished, being taken captive, and others grow rich by plundering the possessions of others.

3:8For the kings shall be as sea-monsters.

3:9They shall swallow men like fishes: the sons and daughters of freemen shall they enslave; houses, lands, flocks, money shall they plunder:

3:10And with the flesh of many shall they wrongfully feed the ravens and the cranes; and they shall advance in evil in covetousness uplifted, and there shall be false prophets like tempest, and they shall persecute all righteous men.

3:11And the Lord shall bring upon them divisions one against another.

3:12And there shall be continual wars in Israel; and among men of another race shall my kingdom be brought to an end, until the salvation of Israel shall come.

3:13Until the appearing of the God of righteousness, that Jacob, and all the Gentiles may rest in peace.

3:14And He shall guard the might of my kingdom for ever; for the Lord aware to me with an oath that He would not destroy the kingdom from my seed for ever.

3:15Now I have much grief, my children, because of your lewdness and witchcrafts, and idolatries which ye shall practise against the kingdom, following them that have familiar spirits, diviners, and demons of error.

3:16Ye shall make your daughters singing girls and harlots, and ye shall mingle in the abominations of the Gentiles.

3:17For which things' sake the Lord shall bring upon you famine and pestilence, death and the sword, beleaguering by enemies, and revilings of friends, the slaughter of children, the rape of wives, the plundering of possessions, the burning of the temple of God, the laying waste of the land, the enslavement of yourselves among the Gentiles.

3:18And they shall make some of you eunuchs for their wives.

3:19Until the Lord visit you, when with perfect heart ye repent and walk in all His commandments, and He bring you up from captivity among the Gentiles.

3:20And after these things shall a star arise to you from Jacob in peace,

3:21And a man shall arise from my seed, like the sun of righteousness,

3:22Walking with the sons of men in meekness and righteousness;

3:23And no sin shall be found in him.

3:24And the heavens shall be opened unto him, to pour out the spirit, even the blessing of the Holy Father; and He shall pour out the spirit of grace upon you;

3:25And ye shall be unto Him sons in truth, and ye shall walk in His commandments first and last.

3:26Then shall the sceptre of my kingdom shine forth; and from your root shall arise a stem; and from it shall grow a rod of righteousness to the Gentiles, to judge and to save all that call upon the Lord.

3:27And after these things shall Abraham and Isaac and Jacob arise unto life; and I and my brethren shall be chiefs of the tribes of Israel:

3:28Levi first, I the second, Joseph third, Benjamin fourth, Simeon fifth, Issachar sixth, and so all in order.

3:29And the Lord blessed Levi, and the Angel of the Presence, me; the powers of glory, Simeon; the heaven, Reuben; the earth, Issachar; the sea, Zebulun; the mountains, Joseph; the tabernacle, Benjamin; the luminaries, Dan; Eden, Naphtali; the sun, Gad; the moon, Asher.

3:30And ye shall be the people of the Lord, and have one tongue; and there shall be there no spirit of deceit of Beliar, for he shall be cast into the fire for ever.

3:31And they who have died in grief shall arise in joy, and they who were poor for the Lord's sake shall be made rich, and they who are put to death for the Lord's sake shall awake to life.

3:32And the harts of Jacob shall run in joyfulness, and the eagles of Israel shall fly in gladness; and all the people shall glorify the Lord for ever.

3:33Observe, therefore, my children, all the law of the Lord, for there is hope for all them who hold fast unto, His ways.

3:34And he said to them: Behold, I die before your eyes this day, a hundred and nineteen years old.

3:35Let no one bury me in costly apparel, nor tear open my bowels, for this shall they who are kings do; and carry me up to Hebron with you.

3:36And Judah, when he had said these things, fell asleep; and his sons did according to all whatsoever he commanded them, and they buried him in Hebron, with his fathers.

1. Chapter 0
2. Chapter 1

Chapter 0

0:1THE copy of the words of Issachar.

0:2For he called his sons and said to them: Hearken, my children, to Issachar your father; give ear to the words of him who is beloved of the Lord.

0:3I was born the fifth son to Jacob, by way of hire for the mandrakes.

0:4For Reuben my brother brought in mandrakes from the field, and Rachel met him and took them.

0:5And Reuben wept, and at his voice Leah my mother came forth.

0:6Now these mandrakes were sweet-smelling apples which were produced in the land of Haran below a ravine of water.

0:7And Rachel said: I will not give them to thee, but they shall be to me instead of children.

0:8For the Lord hath despised me, and I have not borne children to Jacob.

0:9Now there were two apples; and Leah said to Rachel: Let it suffice thee that thou hast taken my husband: wilt thou take these also?

0:10And Rachel said to her: Thou shalt have Jacob this night for the mandrakes of thy son,

0:11And Leah said to her: Jacob is mine, for I am the wife of his youth.

0:12But Rachel said: Boast not, and vaunt not thyself; for he espoused me before thee, and for my sake he served our father fourteen years.

0:13And had not craft increased on the earth and the wickedness of men prospered, thou wouldst not now see the face of Jacob.

0:14For thou art not his wife, but in craft wert taken to him in my stead.

0:15And my father deceived me, and removed me on that night, and did not suffer Jacob to see me; for had I been there, this had not happened to him.

0:16Nevertheless, for the mandrakes I am hiring Jacob to thee for one night.

0:17And Jacob knew Leah, and she conceived and bare me, and on account of the hire I was called Issachar.

0:18Then appeared to Jacob an angel of the Lord, saying: Two children shall Rachel bear, inasmuch as she hath refused company with her husband, and hath chosen continency.

0:19And had not Leah my mother paid the two apples for the sake of his company, she would have borne eight sons; for this reason she bare six, and Rachel bare the two: for on account of the mandrakes the Lord visited her.

0:20For He knew that for the sake of children she wished to company with Jacob, and not for lust of pleasure.

0:21For on the morrow also she again gave up Jacob.

0:22Because of the mandrakes, therefore, the Lord hearkened to Rachel.

0:23For though she desired them, she cat them not, but offered them in the house of the Lord, presenting them to the priest of the Most High who was at that time.

0:24When, therefore, I grew up, my children, I walked in uprightness of heart, and I became a husbandman for my father and my brethren, and I brought in fruits from the field according to their season.

0:25And my father blessed me, for he saw that I walked in rectitude before him.

0:26And I was not a busybody in my doings, nor envious and malicious against my neighbour.

0:27I never slandered any one, nor did I censure the life of any man, walking as I did in singleness of eye.

0:28Therefore, when I was thirty-five years old, I took to myself a wife, for my labour wore away my strength, and I never thought upon pleasure with women; but owing to my toil, sleep overcame me.

0:29And my father always rejoiced in my rectitude, because I offered through the priest to the Lord all first-fruits; then to my father also.

0:30And the Lord increased ten thousandfold His benefits in my hands; and also Jacob, my father, knew that God aided my singleness.

0:31For on all the poor and oppressed I bestowed the good things of the earth in the singleness of my heart.

0:32And now, hearken to me, my children, and walk in singleness of your heart, for I have seen in it all that is well-pleasing to the Lord. '

0:33The single-minded man coveteth not gold, he overreacheth not his neighbour, he longeth not after manifold dainties, he delighteth not in varied apparel.

0:34He doth not desire to live a long life, but only waiteth for the will of God.

0:35And the spirits of deceit have no power against him, for he looketh not on the beauty of women, lest he should pollute his mind with corruption.

0:36There is no envy in his thoughts, no malicious person maketh his soul to pine away, nor worry with insatiable desire in his mind.

0:37For he walketh in singleness of soul, and beholdeth all things in uprightness of heart, shunning eyes made evil through the error of the world, lest he should see the perversion of any of the commandments of the Lord.

0:38Keep, therefore, my children, the law of God, and get singleness, and walk in guilelessness, not playing the busybody with the business of your neighbour, but love the Lord and your neighbour, have compassion on the poor and weak.

0:39Bow down your back unto husbandry, and toil in labours in all manner of husbandry, offering gifts to the Lord with thanksgiving.

0:40For with the first-fruits of the earth will the Lord bless you, even as He blessed all the saints from Abel even until now.

0:41For no other portion is given to you than of the fatness of the earth, whose fruits are raised by toil.

0:42For our father Jacob blessed me with blessings of the earth and of first-fruits.

0:43And Levi and Judah were glorified by the Lord even among the sons of Jacob; for the Lord gave them an inheritance, and to Levi He gave the priesthood, and to Judah the kingdom.

0:44And do ye therefore obey them, and walk in the singleness of your father; for unto Gad hath it been given to destroy the troops that are coming upon Israel.

Chapter 1

1:1KNOW ye therefore, my children, that in the last times your sons will forsake singleness, and will cleave unto insatiable desire.

1:2And leaving guilelessness, will draw near to malice; and forsaking the commandments of the Lord, they will cleave unto Beliar.

1:3And leaving husbandry, they will follow after their own wicked devices, and they shall be dispersed among the Gentiles, and shall serve their enemies.

1:4And do you therefore give these commands to your children, that, if they sin, they may the more quickly return to the Lord; For He is merciful, and will deliver them, even to bring them back into their land.

1:5Behold, therefore, as ye see, I am a hundred and twenty-six years old and am not conscious of committing any sin.

1:6Except my wife I have not known any woman. I never committed fornication by the uplifting of my eyes.

1:7I drank not wine, to be led astray thereby;

1:8I coveted not any desirable thing that was my neighbour's.

1:9Guile arose not in my heart;

1:10A lie passed not through my lips.

1:11If any man were in distress I joined my sighs with his,

1:12And I shared my bread with the poor.

1:13I wrought godliness, all my days I kept truth.

1:14I loved the Lord; likewise also every man with all my heart.

1:15So do you also these things, my children, and every spirit of Beliar shall flee from you, and no deed of wicked men shall rule over you;

1:16And every wild beast shall ye subdue, since you have with you the God of heaven and earth and walk with men in singleness of heart.

1:17And having said these things, he commanded his sons that they should carry him up to Hebron, and bury him there in the cave with his fathers.

1:18And he stretched out his feet and died, at a good old age; with every limb sound, and with strength unabated, he slept the eternal sleep.

1. Chapter 0
2. Chapter 1

Chapter 0

0:1THE copy of the words of Zebulun, which he enjoined on his sons before he died in the hundred and fourteenth year of his life, two years after the death of Joseph.

0:2And he said to them: Hearken to me, ye sons of Zebulun attend to the words of your father.

0:3I, Zebulun, was born a good gift to my parents.

0:4For when I was born my father was increased very exceedingly, both in flocks and herds, when with the straked rods he had his portion.

0:5I am not conscious that I have sinned all my days, save in thought.

0:6Nor yet do I remember that I have done any iniquity, except the sin of ignorance which I committed against Joseph; for I covenanted with my brethren not to tell my father what had been done.

0:7But I wept in secret many days on account of Joseph, for I feared my brethren, because they had all agreed that if any one should declare the secret, he should be slain.

0:8But when they wished to kill him, I adjured them much with tears not to be guilty of this sin.

0:9For Simeon and Gad came against Joseph to kill him, and he said unto them with tears: Pity me, my brethren, have mercy upon the bowels of Jacob our father: lay not upon me your hands to shed innocent blood, for I have not sinned against you.

0:10And if indeed I have sinned, with chastening chastise me, my brethren, but lay not upon me your hand, for the sake of Jacob our father,

0:11And as he spoke these words, wailing as he did so, I was unable to bear his lamentations, and began to weep, and my liver was poured out, and all the substance of my bowels was loosened.

0:12And I wept with Joseph and my heart sounded, and the joints of my body trembled, and I was not able to stand.

0:13And when Joseph saw me weeping with him, and them coming against him to slay him, he fled behind me, beseeching them.

0:14But meanwhile Reuben arose and said: Come, my brethren, let us not slay him, but let us cast him into one of these dry pits, which our fathers digged and found no water.

0:15For for this cause the Lord forbade that water should rise up in them in order that Joseph should be preserved.

0:16And they did so, until they sold him to the Ishmaelites.

0:17For in his price I had no share, my children.

0:18But Simeon and Gad and six other of our brethren took the price of Joseph, and bought sandals for themselves, and their wives, and their children, saying:

0:19We will not eat of it, for it is the price of our brother's blood, but we will assuredly tread it under foot, because he said that he would be king over us, and so let us see what will become of his dreams.

0:20Therefore it is written in the writing of the law of Moses, that whosoever will not raise up seed to his brother, his sandal should be unloosed, and they should spit in his face.

0:21And the brethren of Joseph wished not that their brother should live, and the Lord loosed from them the sandal which they wore against Joseph their brother.

0:22For when they came into Egypt they were unloosed by the servants of Joseph outside the gate, and so they made obeisance to Joseph after the fashion of King Pharaoh.

0:23And not only did they make obeisance to him, but were spit upon also, falling down before him forthwith, and so they were put to shame before. the Egyptians.

0:24For after this the Egyptians heard all the evils that they had done to Joseph.

0:25And after he was sold my brothers sat down to eat and drink.

0:26But I, through pity for Joseph, did not eat, but watched the pit, since Judah feared lest Simeon, Dan, and Gad should rush off and slay him.

0:27But when they saw that I did not eat, they set me to watch him, till he was sold to the Ishmaelites.

0:28And when Reuben came and heard that while he was away Joseph had been sold, he rent his garments, and mourning, said:

0:29How shall I look on the face of my father Jacob? And he took the money and ran after the merchants but as he failed to find them he returned grieving.

0:30But the merchants had left the broad road and marched through the Troglodytes by a short cut.

0:31But Reuben was grieved, and ate no food that day.

0:32Dan therefore came to him and said: Weep not, neither grieve; for we have found what we can say to our father Jacob.

0:33Let us slay a kid of the goats, and dip in it the coat of Joseph; and let us send it to Jacob, saying: Know, is this the coat of thy son?

0:34And they did so. For they stripped off from Joseph his coat when they were selling him, and put upon him the garment of a slave.

0:35Now Simeon took the coat, and would not give it up, for he wished to rend it with his sword, as he was angry that Joseph lived and that he had not slain him.

0:36Then we all rose up and said unto him: If thou givest not up the coat, we will say to our father that thou alone didst this evil thing in Israel.

0:37And so he gave it unto them, and they did even as Dan had said.

Chapter 1

1:1AND now children, I you (sic) to keep the commands of the Lord, and to show mercy to your neighbours, and to have compassion towards all, not towards men only, but also towards beasts.

1:2For all this thing's sake the Lord blessed me, and when all my brethren were sick, I escaped without sickness, for the Lord knoweth the purposes of each.

1:3Have, therefore, compassion in your hearts, my children, because even as a man doeth to his neighbour, even so also will the Lord do to him.

1:4For the sons of my brethren were sickening and were dying on account of Joseph, because they showed not mercy in their hearts; but my sons were preserved without sickness, as ye know.

1:5And when I was in the land of Canaan, by the sea-coast, I made a catch of fish for Jacob my father; and when many were choked in the sea, I continued unhurt.

1:6I was the first to make a boat to sail upon the sea, for the Lord gave me understanding and wisdom therein.

1:7And I let down a rudder behind it, and I stretched a sail upon another upright piece of wood in the midst.

1:8And I sailed therein along the shores, catching fish for the house of my father until we came to Egypt.

1:9And through compassion I shared my catch with every stranger.

1:10And if a man were a stranger, or sick, or aged, I boiled the fish, and dressed them well, and offered them to all men, as every man had need, grieving with and having compassion upon them.

1:11Wherefore also the Lord satisfied me with abundance of fish when catching fish; for he that shareth with his neighbour receiveth manifold more from the Lord.

1:12For five years I caught fish and gave thereof to every man whom I saw, and sufficed for all the house of my father.

1:13And in the summer I caught fish, and in the winter I kept sheep with my brethren.

1:14Now I will declare unto you what I did.

1:15I saw a man in distress through nakedness in wintertime, and had compassion upon him, and stole away a garment secretly from my father's house, and gave it to him who was in distress.

1:16Do you, therefore, my children, from that which God bestoweth upon you, show compassion and mercy without hesitation to all men, and give to every man with a good heart.

1:17And if ye have not the wherewithal to give to him that needeth, have compassion for him in bowels of mercy.

1:18I know that my hand found not the wherewithal to give to him that needed, and I walked with him weeping for seven furlongs, and my bowels yearned towards him in compassion.

1:19Have, therefore, yourselves also, my children, compassion towards every man with mercy, that the Lord also may have compassion and mercy upon you.

1:20Because also in, the last days God will send His compassion on the earth, and wheresoever He findeth bowels of mercy He dwelleth in him.

1:21For in the degree in which a man hath compassion upon his neighbours, in the same degree hath the Lord also upon him.

1:22And when we went down into Egypt, Joseph bore no malice against us.

1:23To whom taking heed, do ye also, my children, approve yourselves without malice, and love one another; and do not set down in account, each one of you, evil against his brother.

1:24For this breaketh unity and divideth all kindred, and troubleth the soul, and weareth away the countenance.

1:25Observe, therefore, the waters, and know when they flow together, they sweep along stones, trees, earth, and other things.

1:26But if they are divided into many streams, the earth swalloweth them up, and they vanish away.

1:27So shall ye also be if ye be divided. Be not Ye, therefore, divided into two heads for everything which the Lord made .hath but one head, and two shoulders, two hands, two feet, and all the remaining members.

1:28For I have learnt in the writing of my fathers, that ye shall be divided in Israel, and ye shall follow two kings, and shall work every abomination.

1:29And your enemies shall lead you captive, and ye shall be evil entreated among the Gentiles, with many infirmities and tribulations.

1:30And after these things ye shall remember the Lord and repent, and He shall have mercy upon you, for He is merciful and compassionate.

1:31And He setteth not down in account evil against the sons of men, because they are flesh, and are deceived through their own wicked deeds.

1:32And after these things shall there arise unto you the Lord Himself, the light of righteousness, and ye shall return unto your land.

1:33And ye shall see Him in Jerusalem, for His name's sake.

1:34And again through the wickedness of your works shall ye provoke Him to anger,

1:35And ye shall be cast away by Him unto the time of consummation.

1:36And now, my children, grieve not that I am dying, nor be cast down in that I am coming to my end.

1:37For I shall rise again in the midst of you, as a ruler in the midst of his sons; and I shall rejoice in the midst of my tribe, as many as shall keep the law of the Lord, and the commandments of Zebulun their father.

1:38But upon the ungodly shall the Lord bring eternal fire, and destroy them throughout all generations.

1:39But I am now hastening away to my rest, as did also my fathers.

1:40But do ye fear the Lord our God with all your strength all the days of your life.

1:41And when he had said these things he fell asleep, at a good old age.

1:42And his sons laid him in a wooden coffin. And afterwards they carried him up and buried him in Hebron, with his fathers.

1. Chapter 0
2. Chapter 1

Chapter 0

0:1THE copy of the words of Dan, which he spake to his sons in his last days, in the hundred and twenty-fifth year of his life.

0:2For he called together his I family, and said: Hearken to my words, ye sons of Dan; and give heed to the words of your father.

0:3I have proved in my heart, and in my whole life, that truth with just dealing is good and well pleasing to God, and that lying and anger are evil, because they teach man all wickedness.

0:4I confess, therefore, this day to you, my children, that in my heart I resolved on the death of Joseph my brother, the true and good man. .

0:5And I rejoiced that he was sold, because his father loved him more than us.

0:6For the spirit of jealousy and vainglory said to me: Thou thyself also art his son.

0:7And one of the spirits of Beliar stirred me up, saying: Take this sword, and with it slay Joseph: so shall thy father love thee when he is dead.

0:8Now this is the spirit of anger that persuaded me to crush Joseph as a leopard crusheth a kid.

0:9But the God of my fathers did not suffer him to fall into my hands, so that I should find him alone and slay him, and cause a second tribe to be destroyed in Israel.

0:10And now, my children, behold I am dying, and I tell you of a truth, that unless ye keep yourselves from the spirit of lying and of anger, and love truth and longsuffering, ye shall perish.

0:11For anger is blindness, and does not suffer one to see the face of any man with truth.

0:12For though it be a father or a mother, he behaveth towards them as enemies; though it be a brother, he knoweth him not; though it be a prophet of the Lord, he disobeyeth him; though a righteous man, he regardeth him not; though a friend, he doth not acknowledge him.

0:13For the spirit of anger encompasseth him with the net of deceit, and blindeth his eyes, and through lying darkeneth his mind, and giveth him its own peculiar vision.

0:14And wherewith encompasseth it his eyes? With hatred of heart, so as to be envious of his brother.

0:15For anger is an evil thing, my children, for it troubleth even the soul itself.

0:16And the body of the angry man it maketh its own, and over his soul it getteth the mastery, and it bestoweth upon the body power that it may work all iniquity.

0:17And when the body does all these things, the soul justifieth what is done, since it seeth not aright.

0:18Therefore he that is wrathful, if he be a mighty man, hath a threefold power in his anger: one by the help of his servants; and a second by his wealth, whereby he persuadeth and overcometh wrongfully; and thirdly, having his own natural power he worketh thereby the evil.

0:19And though the wrathful man be weak, yet hath he a power twofold of that which is by nature; for wrath ever aideth such in lawlessness.

0:20This spirit goeth always with lying at the right hand of Satan, that with cruelty and lying his works may be wrought.

0:21Understand ye, therefore, the power of wrath, that it is vain.

0:22For it first of all giveth provocation by word; then by deeds it strengtheneth him who is angry, and with sharp losses disturbeth his mind, and so stirreth up with great wrath his soul.

0:23Therefore, when any one. speaketh against you, be not ye moved to anger, and if any man praiseth you as holy men, be not uplifted: be not moved either to delight or to disgust.

0:24For first it pleaseth the hearing, and so maketh the mind keen to perceive the grounds for provocation; and then being enraged, he thinketh that he is justly angry.

0:25If ye fall into any loss or ruin, my children, be not afflicted; for this very spirit maketh a man desire that which is perishable, in order that he may be enraged through the affliction.

0:26And if ye suffer loss voluntarily, or involuntarily, be not vexed; for from vexation ariseth wrath with lying.

0:27Moreover, a twofold mischief is wrath with lying; and they assist one another in order to disturb the heart; and when the soul is continually disturbed, the Lord departeth from it, and Beliar ruleth over it.

Chapter 1

1:1OBSERVE, therefore, my children, the commandments of the Lord, and keep His law; depart from wrath, and hate lying, that the Lord may dwell among you, and Beliar may flee from you.

1:2Speak truth each one with his neighbour. So shall ye not fall into wrath and confusion; but ye shall be in peace, having the God of peace, so shall no war prevail over you.

1:3Love the Lord through all your life, and one another with a true heart.

1:4I know that in the last days ye shall depart from the Lord, and ye shall provoke Levi unto anger, and fight against Judah; but ye shall not prevail against them, for an angel of the Lord shall guide them both; for by them shall Israel stand.

1:5And whensoever ye depart from the Lord, ye shall walk in all evil and work the abominations of the Gentiles, going a-whoring after women of the lawless ones, while with all wickedness the spirits of wickedness work in you.

1:6For I have read in the book of Enoch, the righteous, that your prince is Satan, and that all the spirits of wickedness and pride will conspire to attend constantly on the sons of Levi, to cause them to sin before the Lord.

1:7And my sons will draw near to Levi, and sin with them in all things; and the sons of Judah will be covetous, plundering other men's goods like lions.

1:8Therefore shall ye be led away with them into captivity, and there shall ye receive all the plagues of Egypt, and all the evils of the Gentiles.

1:9And so when ye return to the Lord ye shall obtain mercy, and He shall bring you into His sanctuary, and He shall give you peace.

1:10And there shall arise unto you from the tribe of Judah and of Levi the salvation of the Lord; and he shall make war against Beliar.

1:11And execute an everlasting vengeance on our enemies; and the captivity shall he take from Beliar the souls of the saints, and turn disobedient hearts unto the Lord, and give to them that call upon him eternal peace.

1:12And the saints shall rest in Eden, and in the New Jerusalem shall the righteous rejoice, and it shall be unto the glory of God for ever.

1:13And no longer shall Jerusalem endure desolation, nor Israel be led captive; for the Lord shall be in the midst of it [living amongst men], and the Holy One of Israel shall reign over it in humility and in poverty; and he who believeth on Him shall reign amongst men in truth.

1:14And now, fear the Lord, my children, and beware of Satan and his spirits.

1:15Draw near unto God and unto the angel that intercedeth for you, for he is a mediator between God and man, and for the peace of Israel he shall stand up against the kingdom of the enemy.

1:16Therefore is the enemy eager to destroy all that call upon the Lord.

1:17For he knoweth that upon the day on which Israel shall repent, the kingdom of the enemy shall be brought to an end.

1:18For the very angel of peace shall strengthen Israel, that it fall not into the extremity of evil.

1:19And it shall be in the time of the lawlessness of Israel, that the Lord will not depart from them, but will transform them into a nation that doeth His will, for none of the angels will be equal unto him.

1:20And His name shall be in every place in Israel, and among the Gentiles.

1:21Keep, therefore, yourselves, my children, from every evil work, and cast away wrath and all lying, and love truth and long-suffering.

1:22And the things which ye have heard from your father, do ye also impart to your children that the Saviour of the Gentiles may receive you; for he is true and long-suffering, meek and lowly, and teacheth by his works the law of God.

1:23Depart, therefore, from all unrighteousness, and cleave unto the righteousness of God, and your race will be saved for ever.

1:24And bury me near my fathers.

1:25And when he had said these things he kissed them, and fell asleep at a good old age.

1:26And his sons buried him, and after that they carried up his bones, and placed them near Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob.

1:27Nevertheless, Dan prophesied unto them that they should forget their God, and should be alienated from the land of their inheritance and from the race of Israel, and from the family of their seed.

1. Chapter 0
2. Chapter 1

Chapter 0

0:1THE copy of, the testament of Naphtali, which he ordained at the time of his death in the hundred and thirtieth year of his life.

0:2When his sons were gathered together in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, while still in good health, he made them a feast of food and wine.

0:3And after he was awake in the morning, he said to them, I am dying; and they believed him not.

0:4And as he glorified the Lord, he grew strong and said that after yesterday's feast he should die.

0:5And he began then to say: Hear, my children, ye sons of Naphtali, hear the words of your father.

0:6I was born from Bilhah, and because Rachel dealt craftly, and gave Bilhah in place of herself to Jacob, and she conceived and bare me upon Rachel's knees, therefore she called my name Naphtali.

0:7For Rachel loved me very much because I was born upon her lap; and when I was still young she was wont to kiss me, and say: May I have a brother of thine from mine own womb, like unto thee.

0:8Whence also Joseph was like unto me in all things, according to the prayers of Rachel.

0:9Now my mother was Bilhah, daughter of Rotheus the brother of Deborah, Rebecca's nurse, who was born on one and the self-same day with Rachel.

0:10And Rotheus was of the family of Abraham, a Chaldean, God-fearing, free-born, and noble.

0:11And he was taken captive and was bought by Laban; and he gave him Euna his handmaid to wife, and she bore a daughter, and called her name Zilpah, after the name of the village in which he had been taken captive.

0:12And next she bore Bilhah, saying: My daughter hastens after what is new, for immediately that she was born she seized the breast and hastened to suck it.

0:13And I was swift on my feet like the deer, and my father Jacob appointed me for all messages, and as a deer did he give me his blessing.

0:14For as the potter knoweth the vessel, how much it is to contain, and bringeth clay accordingly, so also doth the Lord make the body after the likeness of the spirit, and according to the capacity of the body doth He implant the spirit.

0:15And the one does not fall short of the other by a third part of a hair; for by weight, and measure, and rule was all the creation made.

0:16And as the potter knoweth the use of each vessel, what it is meet for, so also doth the Lord know the body, how far it will persist in goodness, and when it beginneth in evil.

0:17For there is no inclination or thought which the Lord knoweth not, for He created every man after His own image.

0:18For as a man's strength, so also in his work; as his eye, so also in his sleep; as his soul, so also in his word either in the law of the Lord or in the law of Beliar.

0:19And as there is a division between light and darkness, between seeing and hearing, so also is there a division between man and man, and between woman and woman; and it is not to be said that the one is like the other either in face or in mind.

0:20For God made all things good in their order, the five senses in the head, and He joined on the neck to the head, adding to it the hair also for comeliness and glory, then the heart for understanding, the belly for excrement, and the stomach for grinding, the windpipe for taking in the breath, the liver for wrath, the gall for bitterness, the spleen for laughter, the reins for prudence, the muscles of the loins for power, the lungs for drawing in, the loins for strength, and so forth.

0:21So then, my children, let all your works be done in order with good intent in the fear of God, and do nothing disorderly in scorn or out of its due season.

0:22For if thou bid the eye to hear, it cannot; so neither while ye are in darkness can ye do the works of light.

0:23Be ye, therefore, not eager to corrupt your doings through covetousness or with vain words to beguile your souls; because if ye keep silence in purity of heart, ye shall understand how to hold fast the will of God, and to cast away the will of Beliar.

0:24Sun and moon and stars, change not their order; so do ye also change not the law of God in the disorderliness of your doings.

0:25The Gentiles went astray, and forsook the Lord, and charged their order, and obeyed stocks and stones, spirits of deceit.

0:26But ye shall not be so, my children, recognizing in the firmament, in the earth, and in the sea, and in all created things, the Lord who made all things, that ye become not as Sodom, which changed the order of nature.

0:27In like manner the Watchers also changed the order of their nature, whom the Lord cursed at the flood, on whose account He made the earth without inhabitants and fruitless.

0:28These things I say unto you, my children, for I have read in the writing of Enoch that ye yourselves also shall depart from the Lord, walking according to all the lawlessness of the Gentiles, and ye shall do according to all the wickedness of Sodom.

0:29And the Lord shall bring captivity upon you, and there shall ye serve your enemies, and ye shall be bowed down with every affliction and tribulation, until the Lord have consumed you all.

0:30And after ye have become diminished and made few, ye return and acknowledge the Lord your God; and He shall bring you back into your land, according to His abundant mercy.

0:31And it shall be, that after that they come into the land of their fathers, they shall again forget the Lord and become ungodly.

0:32And the Lord shall scatter them upon the face of all the earth, until the compassion of the Lord shall come, a man working righteousness and working mercy unto all them that are afar off, and to them that are near.

Chapter 1

1:1FOR in the fortieth year of my life, I saw a vision on the Mount of Olives, on the east of Jerusalem, that the sun and the moon were standing still.

1:2And behold Isaac, the father of my father, said to us; Run and lay hold of them, each one according to his strength; and to him that seizeth them will the sun and moon belong.

1:3And we all of us ran together, and Levi laid hold of the sun, and Judah outstripped the others and seized the moon, and they were both of them lifted up with them.

1:4And when Levi became as a sun, lo, a certain young man gave to him twelve branches of palm; and Judah was bright as the moon, and under their feet were twelve rays.

1:5And the two, Levi and Judah, ran, and laid hold of them.

1:6And lo, a bull upon the earth, with two great horns, and an eagle's wings upon its back; and we wished to seize him, but could not.

1:7But Joseph came, and seized him, and ascended up with him on high.

1:8And I saw, for I was there, and behold a holy writing appeared to us, saying: Assyrians, Medes, Persians, Chaldeans, Syrians, shall possess in captivity the twelve tribes of Israel.

1:9And again, after seven days, I saw our father Jacob standing by the sea of Jamnia, and we were with him.

1:10And behold, there came a ship sailing by, without sailors or pilot; and there was written upon the ship, The Ship of Jacob.

1:11And our father said to us: Come, let us embark on our ship.

1:12And when he had gone on board, there arose a vehement storm, and a mighty tempest of wind; and our father, who was holding the helm, departed from us.

1:13And we, being tost with the tempest, were borne along over the sea; and the ship was filled with water, and was pounded by mighty waves, until it was broken up.

1:14And Joseph fled away upon a little boat, and we were all divided upon nine planks, and Levi and Judah were together.

1:15And we were all scattered unto the ends of the earth.

1:16Then Levi, girt about with sackcloth, prayed for us all unto the Lord.

1:17And when the storm ceased, the ship reached the land as it were in peace.

1:18And, lo, our father came, and we all rejoiced with one accord.

1:19These two dreams I told to my father; and he said to me: These things must be fulfilled in their season, after that Israel hath endured many things.

1:20Then my father saith unto me: I believe God that Joseph liveth, for I see always that the Lord numbereth him with you.

1:21And he said, weeping: Ah me, my son Joseph, thou livest, though I behold thee not, and thou seest not Jacob that begat thee.

1:22He caused me also, therefore, to weep by these words, and I burned in my heart to declare that Joseph had been sold, but I feared my brethren.

1:23And lo! my children, I have shown unto you the last times, how everything shall come to pass in Israel.

1:24Do ye also, therefore, charge your children that they be united to Levi and to Judah; for through them shall salvation arise unto Israel, and in them shall Jacob be blessed.

1:25For through their tribes shall God appear dwelling among men on earth, to save the race of Israel, and to gather together the righteous from amongst the Gentiles.

1:26If ye work that which is good, my children, both men and angels shall bless you; and God shall be glorified among the Gentiles through you, and the devil shall flee from you, and the wild beasts shall fear you, and the Lord shall love you, and the angels shall cleave to you.

1:27As a man who has trained a child well is kept in kindly remembrance; so also for a good work there is a good remembrance before God.

1:28But him that doeth not that which is good, both angels and men shall curse, and God shall be dishonoured among the Gentiles through him, and the devil shall make him as his own peculiar instrument, and every wild beast shall master him, and the Lord shall hate him.

1:29For the commandments of the law are twofold, and through prudence must they be fulfilled.

1:30For there is a season for a man to embrace his wife, and a season to abstain therefrom for his prayer.

1:31So, then, there are two commandments; and, unless they be done in due order, they bring very great sin upon men.

1:32So also is it with the other commandments.

1:33Be ye therefore wise in God, my children, and prudent, understanding the order of His commandments, and the laws of every word, that the Lord may love you,

1:34And when he had charged them with many such words, he exhorted them that they should remove his bones to Hebron, and that they should bury him with his fathers.

1:35And when he had eaten and drunken with a merry heart, he covered his face and died.

1:36And his sons did according to all that Naphtali their Father had commanded them.

1. Chapter 0
2. Chapter 1

Chapter 0

0:1THE copy of the testament of Gad, what things he spake unto his sons, in the hundred and twenty-fifth year of his life, saying unto them:

0:2Hearken, my children, I was the ninth son born to Jacob, and I was valiant in keeping the flocks.

0:3Accordingly I guarded at night the flock; and whenever the lion came, or the wolf, or any wild beast against the fold, I pursued it, and overtaking it I seized its foot with my hand and hurled it about a stone's throw, and so killed it.

0:4Now Joseph my brother was feeding the flock with us for upwards of thirty days, and being young, he fell sick by reason of the heat.

0:5And he returned to Hebron to our father, who made him lie down near him, because he loved him greatly.

0:6And Joseph told our father that the sons of Zilpah and Bilhah were slaying the best of the flock and eating them against the judgement of Reuben and Judah.

0:7For he saw that I had delivered a lamb out of the mouth of a bear, and put the bear to death; but had slain the lamb, being grieved concerning it that it could not live, and that we had eaten it.

0:8And regarding this matter I was wroth with Joseph until the day that he was sold.

0:9And the spirit of hatred was in me, and I wished not either to hear of Joseph with the ears, or see him with the eyes, because he rebuked us to our faces saying that we were eating of the flock without Judah.

0:10For whatsoever things he told our father, he believed him.

0:11I confess now my gin, my children, that oftentimes I wished to kill him, because I hated him from my heart.

0:12Moreover, I hated him yet more for his dreams; and I wished to lick 18 him out of the land of the living, even as an ox licketh up the grass of the field.

0:13And Judah sold him secretly to the Ishmaelites.

0:14Thus the God of our fathers delivered him from our hands, that we should not work great lawlessness in Israel.

0:15And now, my children, hearken to the words of truth to work righteousness, and all the law of the Most High, and go not astray through the spirit of hatred, for it is evil in all the doings of men.

0:16Whatsoever a man doeth the hater abominateth him: and though a man worketh the law of the Lord, he praiseth him not; though a man feareth the Lord, and taketh pleasure in that which is righteous, he loveth him not.

0:17He dispraiseth the truth, he envieth him that prospereth, he welcometh evil-speaking, he loveth arrogance, for hatred blindeth his soul; as I also then looked on Joseph.

0:18Beware, therefore, my children of hatred, for it worketh lawlessness even against the Lord Himself.

0:19For it will not hear the words of His commandments concerning the loving of one's--neighbour, and it sinneth against God.

0:20For if a brother stumble, it delighteth immediately to proclaim it to all men, and is urgent that he should be judged for it, and be punished and be put to death.

0:21And if it be a servant it stirreth him up against his master, and with every affliction it deviseth against him, if possibly he can be put to death.

0:22For hatred worketh with envy also against them that prosper: so long as it heareth of or seeth their success it always languisheth.

0:23For as love would quicken even the dead, and would call back them that are condemned to die, so hatred would slay the living, and those that had sinned venially it would not suffer to live.

0:24For the spirit of hatred worketh together with Satan, through hastiness of spirits, in all things to men's death; but the spirit of love worketh together with the law of God in long-suffering unto the salvation of men.

0:25Hatred, therefore, is evil, for it constantly mateth with lying, speaking against the truth; and it maketh small things to be great, and causeth the light to be darkness, and calleth the sweet bitter, and teacheth slander, and kindleth wrath, and stirreth up war, and violence and all covetousness; it filleth the heart with evils and devilish poison.

0:26These things, therefore, I say to you from experience, my children, that ye may drive forth hatred, which is of the devil, and cleave to the love of God.

0:27Righteousness casteth out hatred, humility destroyeth envy.

0:28For he that is just and humble is ashamed to do what is unjust, being reproved not of another, but of his own heart, because the Lord looketh on his inclination.

0:29He speaketh not against a holy man, because the fear of God overcometh hatred.

0:30For fearing lest he should offend the Lord, he will not do wrong to any man, even in thought.

0:31These things I learnt at last, after I had repented concerning Joseph.

0:32For true repentance after a godly sort destroyeth ignorance, and driveth away the darkness, and enlighteneth the eyes, and giveth knowledge to the soul, and leadeth the mind to salvation.

0:33And those things which it hath not learnt from man, it knoweth through repentance.

0:34For God brought upon me a disease of the liver; and had not the prayers of Jacob my father succoured me, it had hardly failed but my spirit had departed.

0:35For by what things a man transgresseth by the same also is he punished .

0:36Since, therefore, my liver was set mercilessly against Joseph, in my liver too I suffered mercilessly, and was judged for eleven months, for so long a time as I had been angry against Joseph.

Chapter 1

1:1AND now, my children, I exhort you, love ye each one his brother, and put away hatred from your hearts, love one another in deed, and in word, and in the inclination of the soul.

1:2For in the presence of my father I spake peaceably to Joseph; and when I had gone out, the spirit of hatred darkened my mind, and stirred up my soul to slay him.

1:3Love ye one another from the heart; and if a man sin against thee, speak peaceably to him, and in thy soul hold not guile; and if he repent and confess, forgive him.

1:4But if he deny it, do not get into a passion with him, lest catching the poison from thee he take to swearing and so thou sin doubly.

1:5Let not another man hear thy secrets when engaged in legal strife, lest he come to hate thee and become thy enemy, and commit a great sin against thee; for ofttimes he addresseth thee guilefully or busieth himself about thee with wicked intent.

1:6And though he deny it and yet have a sense of shame when reproved, give over reproving him.

1:7For be who denieth may repent so as not again to wrong thee; yea, he may also honour thee, and fear and be at peace with thee.

1:8And if he be shameless and persist in his wrong-doing, even so forgive him from the heart, and leave to God the avenging.

1:9If a man prospereth more than you, do not be vexed, but pray also for him, that he may have perfect prosperity.

1:10for so it is expedient for you.

1:11And if he be further exalted, be not envious of him, remembering that all flesh shall die; and offer praise to God, who giveth things good and profitable to all men.

1:12Seek out the judgments of the Lord, and thy mind will rest and be at peace.

1:13And though a man become rich by evil means, even as Esau, the brother of my father, be not jealous; but wait for the end of the Lord.

1:14For if he taketh away from a man wealth gotten by evil means He forgiveth him if he repent, but the unrepentant is reserved for eternal punishment.

1:15For the poor man, if free from envy he pleaseth the Lord in all things, is blessed beyond all men, because he hath not the travail of vain men.

1:16Put away, therefore, jealousy from your souls, and love one another with uprightness of heart.

1:17Do ye also therefore tell these things to your children, that they honour Judah and Levi, for from them shall the Lord raise up salvation to Israel.

1:18For I know that at the last your children shall depart from Him, and shall walk in O wickedness, and affliction and corruption before the Lord.

1:19And when he had rested for a little while, he said again; My children, obey your father, and bury me near to my fathers.

1:20And he drew up his feet, and fell asleep in peace.

1:21And after five years they carried him up to Hebron, and laid him with his fathers.

1. Chapter 0

Chapter 0

0:1THE copy of the Testament To Asher, what things he spake to his sons in the hundred and twenty-fifth year of his life.

0:2For while he was still in health, he said to them: Hearken, ye children of Asher, to your father, and I will declare to you all that is upright in the sight of the Lord.

0:3Two ways hath God given to the sons of men, and two inclinations, and two kinds of action, and two modes of action, and two issues.

0:4Therefore all things are by twos, one over against the other.

0:5For there are two ways of good and evil, and with these are the two inclinations in our breasts discriminating them.

0:6Therefore if the soul take pleasure in the good inclination, all its actions are in righteousness; and if it sin it straightway repenteth.

0:7For, having its thoughts set upon righteousness, and casting away wickedness, it straightway overthroweth the evil, and uprooteth the sin.

0:8But if it incline to the evil inclination, all its actions are in wickedness, and it driveth away the good, and cleaveth to the evil, and is ruled by Beliar; even though it work what is good, he perverteth it to evil.

0:9For whenever it beginneth to do good, he forceth the issue of the action into evil for him, seeing that the treasure of the inclination is filled with an evil spirit.

0:10A person then may with words help the good for the sake of the evil, yet the issue of the action leadeth to mischief.

0:11There is a man who showeth no compassion upon him who serveth his turn in evil; and this thing bath two aspects, but the whole is evil.

0:12And there is a man that loveth him that worketh evil, because he would prefer even to die in evil for his sake; and concerning this it is clear that it bath two aspects, but the whole is an evil work.

0:13Though indeed he have love, yet is he wicked who concealeth what is evil for the sake of the good name, but the end of the action tendeth unto evil.

0:14Another stealeth, doeth unjustly, plundereth, defraudeth, and withal pitieth the poor: this too bath a twofold aspect, but the whole is evil.

0:15He who defraudeth his neighbour provoketh God, and sweareth falsely against the Most High, and yet pitieth the poor: the Lord who commanded the law he setteth at nought and provoketh, and yet he refresheth the poor.

0:16He defileth the soul, and maketh gay the body; he killeth many, and pitieth a few: this, too, bath a twofold aspect, but the whole is evil.

0:17Another committeth adultery and fornication, and abstaineth from meats, and when he fasteth he doeth evil, and by the power of his wealth overwhelmeth many; and notwithstanding his excessive wickedness he doeth the commandments: this, too, hath a twofold aspect, but the whole is evil.

0:18Such men are hares; clean,--like those that divide the hoof, but in very deed are unclean.

0:19For God in the tables of the commandments hath thus declared.

0:20But do not ye, my children, wear two faces like unto them, of goodness and of wickedness; but cleave unto goodness only, for God hath his habitation therein, and men desire it.

0:21But from wickedness flee away, destroying the evil inclination by your good works; for they that are double-faced serve not God, but their own lusts, so that they may please Beliar and men like unto themselves.

0:22For good men, even they that are of single face, though they be thought by them that are double-faced to sin, are just before God.

0:23For many in killing the wicked do two works, of good and evil; but the whole is good, because he hath uprooted and destroyed that which is evil.

0:24One man hateth the merciful and unjust man, and the man who committeth adultery and fasteth: this, too, hath a twofold aspect, but the whole work is good, because he followeth the Lord's example, in that he accepteth not the seeming good as the genuine good.

0:25Another desireth not to see good day with them that not, lest be defile his body and pollute his soul; this, too, is double-faced, but the whole is good.

0:26For such men are like to stags and to hinds, because in the manner of wild animals they seem to be unclean, but they are altogether clean; because they walk in zeal for the Lord and abstain from what God also hateth and forbiddeth by His commandments, warding off the evil from the good.

0:27Ye see, my children, how that there are two in all things, one against the other, and the one is hidden by the other: in wealth is hidden covetousness, in conviviality drunkenness, in laughter grief, in wedlock profligacy.

0:28Death succeedeth to life, dishonour to glory, night to day, and darkness to light; and all things are under the day, just things under life, unjust things under death; wherefore also eternal life awaiteth death.

0:29Nor may it be said that truth is a lie, nor right wrong; for all truth is under the light, even as all things are under God.

0:30All these things, therefore, I proved in my life, and I wandered not from the truth of the Lord, and I searched out the commandments of the Most High, walking according to all my strength with singleness of face unto that which is good.

0:31Take heed, therefore, ye also, my children, to the commandments of the Lord, following the truth with singleness of face.

0:32For they that are double-faced are guilty of a twofold sin; for they both do the evil thing and they have pleasure in them that do it, following the example of the spirits of deceit, and striving against mankind.

0:33Do ye, therefore, my children, keep the law of the Lord, and give not heed unto evil as unto good; but look unto the thing that is really good, and keep it in all commandments of the Lord, having your conversation therein, and resting therein.

0:34For the latter ends of men do show their righteousness or unrighteousness, when they meet the angels of the Lord and of Satan.

0:35for when the soul departs troubled, it is tormented by the evil spirit which also it served in lusts and evil works.

0:36But if he is peaceful with joy he meeteth the angel of peace, and he leadeth him into eternal life.

0:37Become not, my children, as Sodom, which sinned against the angels of the Lord, and perished for ever.

0:38For I know that ye shall sin, and be delivered into the hands of your enemies; and your land shall be made desolate, and your holy places destroyed, and ye shall be scattered unto the four corners of the earth.

0:39And ye shall be set at nought in the dispersion vanishing away as water.

0:40Until the Most High shall visit the earth, coming Himself as man, with men eating and drinking, and breaking the head of the dragon in the water.

0:41He shall save Israel and all the Gentiles, God speaking in the person of man.

0:42Therefore do ye also, my children, tell these things to your children, that they disobey Him not.

0:43For I have known that ye shall assuredly be disobedient, and assuredly act ungodly, not giving heed to the law of God, but to the commandments of men, being corrupted through wickedness.

0:44And therefore shall ye be scattered as Gad and Dan my brethren, and ye shall know not your lands, tribe, and tongue.

0:45But the Lord will gather you together in faith through His tender mercy, and for the sake of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

0:46And when he had said these things unto them, he commanded them, saying: Bury me in Hebron.

0:47And he fell asleep and died at a good old age.

0:48And his sons did as he had commanded them, and they carried him up to Hebron, and buried him with his fathers.

1. Chapter 0
2. Chapter 1

Chapter 0

0:1THE copy of the Testament of Joseph.

0:2When he was about to die he called his sons and his brethren together, and said to them:--

0:3My brethren and my children, hearken to Joseph the beloved of Israel; give ear, my sons, unto your father.

0:4I have seen in my life envy and death, yet I went not astray, but persevered in the truth--of the Lord.

0:5These my brethren hated me, but the Lord loved me:

0:6They wished to slay me, but the God of my fathers guarded me:

0:7They let me down into a pit, and the Most High brought me up again.

0:8I was sold into slavery, and the Lord of all made me free:

0:9I was taken into captivity, and His strong hand succoured me.

0:10I was beset with hunger, and the Lord Himself nourished me.

0:11I was alone, and God comforted me:

0:12I was sick, and the Lord visited me.

0:13I was in prison, and my God showed favour unto me;

0:14In bonds, and He released me;

0:15Slandered, and He pleaded my cause;

0:16Bitterly spoken against by the Egyptians, and He delivered me;

0:17Envied by my fellow-slaves, and He exalted me.

0:18And this chief captain of Pharaoh entrusted to me his house.

0:19And I struggled against a shameless woman, urging me to transgress with her; but the God of Israel my father delivered me from the burning flame.

0:20I was cast into prison, I was beaten, I was mocked; but the Lord granted me to find mercy, in the sight of the keeper of the prison.

0:21For the Lord doth not forsake them that fear Him, neither in darkness, nor in bonds, nor in tribulations, nor in necessities.

0:22For God is not put to shame as a man, nor as the son of man is he afraid, nor as one that is earth-born is He weak or affrighted.

0:23But in all those things doth He give protection, and in divers ways doth He comfort, though for a little space He departeth to try the inclination of the soul.

0:24In ten temptations He showed me approved, and in all of them I endured; for endurance is a mighty charm, and patience giveth many good things.

0:25How often did the Egyptian woman threaten me with death!

0:26How often did she give me over to punishment, and then call me back and threaten me, and when I was unwilling to company with her, she said to me:

0:27Thou shalt be lord of me, and all that is in my house, if thou wilt give thyself unto me, and thou shalt be as our master.

0:28But I remembered the words of my father, and going into my chamber, I wept and prayed unto the Lord.

0:29And I fasted in those seven years, and I appeared to the Egyptians as one living delicately, for they that fast for God's sake receive beauty of face.

0:30And if my lord were away from home, I drank no wine; nor for three days did I take my food, but I gave it to the poor and sick.

0:31And I sought the Lord early, and I wept for the Egyptian woman of Memphis, for very unceasingly did she trouble me, for also at night she came to me under pretence of visiting me.

0:32And because she had no male child she pretended to regard me as a son.

0:33And for a time she embraced me as a son, and I knew it not; but later, she sought to draw me into fornication.

0:34And when I perceived it I sorrowed unto death; and when she had gone out, I came to myself, and lamented for her many days, because I recognized her guile and her deceit.

0:35And I declared unto her the words of the Most High, if haply she would turn from her evil lust.

0:36Often, therefore, did she flatter me with words as a holy man, and guilefully in her talk praise my chastity before her husband, while desiring to ensnare me when we were alone.

0:37For she lauded me openly as chaste, and in secret she said unto me: Fear not my husband; for he is persuaded concerning thy chastity: for even should one tell him concerning us, he would not believe.

0:38Owing to all these things I lay upon the ground, and besought God that the Lord would deliver me from her deceit.

0:39And when she had prevailed nothing thereby, she came again to me under the plea of instruction, that she might learn the word of God.

0:40And she said unto me: If thou willest that I should leave my idols, lie with me, and I will persuade my husband to depart from his idols, and we will walk in the law by thy Lord.

0:41And I said unto her: The Lord willeth not. that those who reverence Him should be in uncleanness, nor doth He take pleasure in them that commit adultery, but in those that approach Him with a pure heart and undefiled lips.

0:42But she heed her peace, longing to accomplish her evil desire.

0:43And I gave myself yet more to fasting and prayer, that the Lord might deliver me from her.

0:44And again, at another time she said unto me: If thou wilt not commit adultery, I will kill my husband by poison; and take thee to be my husband.

0:45I therefore, when I heard this, rent my garments, and said unto her:

0:46Woman, reverence God, and do not this evil deed, lest thou be destroyed; for know indeed that I will declare this thy device unto all men.

0:47She therefore, being afraid, besought that I would not declare this device.

0:48And she departed soothing me with gifts, and sending to me every delight of the sons of men.

0:49And afterwards she sent me food mingled with enchantments.

0:50And when the eunuch who brought it came, I looked up and beheld a terrible man giving me with the dish a sword, and I perceived that her scheme was to beguile me.

0:51And when he had gone out I wept, nor did I taste that or any other of her food.

0:52So then after one day she came to me and observed the food, and said unto me: Why is it that thou hast not eaten of the food?

0:53And I said unto her: It is because thou hast filled it with deadly enchantments; and how saidst thou: I come not near to idols but to the Lord alone.

0:54Now therefore know that the God of my father hath revealed unto me by His angel thy wickedness, and I have kept it to convict thee, if haply thou mayst see and repent.

0:55But that thou mayst learn that the wickedness of the ungodly hath no power over them that worship God with chastity behold I will take of it and eat before thee.

0:56And having so said, I prayed thus: The God of my fathers and the angel of Abraham, be with me; and ate.

0:57And when she saw this she fell upon her face at my feet, weeping; and I raised her up and admonished her.

0:58And she promised to do this iniquity no more.

0:59But her heart was still set upon evil, and she looked around how to ensnare me, and sighing deeply she became downcast, though she was not sick.

0:60And when her husband saw her, he said unto her: Why is thy countenance fallen?

0:61And she said unto him: I have a pain at my heart, and the groanings of my spirit oppress me; and so he comforted her who was not sick.

0:62Then, accordingly seizing an opportunity, she rushed unto me while her husband was yet without, and said unto me: I will hang myself, or cast myself over a cliff, if thou wilt not lie with me.

0:63And when I saw the spirit of Beliar was troubling her, I prayed unto the Lord, and said unto her:

0:64Why, wretched woman, art thou troubled and disturbed, blinded through sins?

0:65Remember that if thou kill thyself, Asteho, the concubine of thy husband, thy rival, will beat thy children, and thou wilt destroy thy memorial from off the earth.

0:66And she said unto me: Lo, then thou lovest me; let this suffice me: only strive for my life and my children, and I expect that I shall enjoy my desire also.

0:67But she knew not that because of my lord I spake thus, and not because of her.

0:68For if a man hath fallen before the passion of a wicked desire and become enslaved by it, even as she, whatever good thing he may hear with regard to that passion, he receiveth it with a view to his wicked desire.

0:69I declare, therefore, unto you, my children, that it was about the sixth hour when she departed from me; and I knelt before the Lord all day, and all the night; and about dawn I rose up, weeping the while and praying for a release from her.

0:70At last, then, she laid hold of my garments, forcibly dragging me to have connexion with her.

0:71When, therefore, I saw that in her madness she was holding fast to my garment, I left it behind, and fled away naked.

0:72And holding fast to the garment she falsely accused me, and when her husband came he cast me into prison in his house; and on the morrow he scourged me and sent me into Pharaoh's prison.

0:73And when I was in bonds, the Egyptian woman was oppressed with grief, and she came and heard how I gave thanks unto the Lord and sang praises in the abode of darkness, and with glad voice rejoiced, glorifying my God that I was delivered from the lustful desire of the Egyptian woman.

0:74And often hath she sent unto me saying: Consent to fulfil my desire, and I will release thee from thy bonds, and I will free thee from the darkness.

0:75And not even in thought did I incline unto her.

0:76For God loveth him who in a den of wickedness combines fasting with chastity, rather than the man who in kings' chambers combines luxury with license.

0:77And if a man liveth in chastity, and desireth also glory, and the Most High knoweth that it is expedient for him, He bestoweth this also upon me.

0:78How often, though she were sick, did she come down to me at unlooked for times, and listened to my voice as I prayed!

0:79And when I heard her groanings I held my peace.

0:80For when I was in her house she was wont to bare her arms, and breasts, and legs, that I might lie with her; for she was very beautiful, splendidly adorned in order to beguile me.

0:81And the Lord guarded me from her devices.

Chapter 1

1:1YE see, therefore, my children, how great things patience worketh, and prayer with fasting.

1:2So ye too, if ye follow after chastity and purity with patience and prayer, with fasting in humility of heart, the Lord will dwell among you because He loveth chastity.

1:3And wheresoever the Most High dwelleth, even though envy, or slavery, or slander befalleth a man, the Lord who dwelleth in him, for the sake of his chastity not only delivereth him from evil, but also exalteth him even as me.

1:4For in every way the man is lifted up, whether in deed, or in word, or in thought.

1:5My brethren knew how my father loved me, and yet I did not exalt myself in my mind: although I was a child, I had the fear of God in my heart; for I knew that all things would pass away.

1:6And I did not raise myself against them with evil intent, but I honoured my brethren; and out of respect for them, even when I was being sold, I refrained from telling the Ishmaelites that I was a son of Jacob, a great man and a mighty.

1:7Do ye also, my children, have the fear of God in all your works before your eyes, and honour your brethren.

1:8For every one who doeth the law of the Lord shall be loved by Him.

1:9And when I came to the Indocolpitae with the Ishmaelites, they asked me, saying:

1:10Art thou a slave? And I said that I was a home-born slave, that I might not put my brethren to shame.

1:11And the eldest of them said unto me: Thou art not a slave, for even thy appearance doth make it manifest.

1:12But I said that I was their slave.

1:13Now when we came into Egypt they strove concerning me, which of them should buy me and take me.

1:14Therefore it seemed good to all that I should remain in Egypt with the merchant of their trade, until they should return bringing merchandise.

1:15And the Lord gave me favour in the eyes of the merchant, and he entrusted unto me his house.

1:16And God blessed him by my means, and increased him in gold and silver and in household servants.

1:17And I was with him three months and five days.

1:18And about that time the Memphian woman, the wife of Pentephris came down in a chariot, with great pomp, because she had heard from her eunuchs concerning me.

1:19And she told her husband that the merchant had become rich by means of a young Hebrew, and they say that he had assuredly been stolen out of the land of Canaan.

1:20Now, therefore, render justice unto him, and take away the youth to thy house; so shall the God of the Hebrews bless thee, for grace from heaven is upon him.

1:21And Pentephris was persuaded by her words, and commanded the merchant to be brought, and said unto him:

1:22What is this that I hear concerning thee, that thou stealest persons out of the land of Canaan, and sellest them for slaves?

1:23But the merchant fell at his feet, and besought him, saying: I beseech thee, my lord, I know not what thou sayest.

1:24And Pentephris said unto him: Whence, then, is the Hebrew slave?

1:25And he said: The Ishmaelites entrusted him unto me until they should return.

1:26But he believed him not, but commanded him to be stripped and beaten.

1:27And when he persisted in this statement, Pentephris said: Let the youth be brought.

1:28And when I was brought in, I did obeisance to Pentephris for he was third in rank of the officers of Pharaoh.

1:29And he took me apart from him, and said unto me: Art thou a slave or free?

1:30And I said: A slave.

1:31And he said: Whose?

1:32And I said: The Ishmaelites'.

1:33And he said: How didst thou become their slave?

1:34And I said: They bought me out of the land of Canaan.

1:35And he said unto me: Truly thou liest; and straightway he commanded me to be stripped and beaten.

1:36Now, the Memphian woman was looking through a window at me while I was being beaten, for her house was near, and she sent unto him saying:

1:37Thy judgement is unjust; for thou dost punish a free man who hath been stolen, as though he were a transgressor.

1:38And when I made no change in my statement, though I was beaten, he ordered me to be imprisoned, until, he said, the owners of the boy should come.

1:39And the woman said unto her husband: Wherefore dost thou detain the captive and wellborn lad in bonds, who ought rather to be set at liberty, and be waited upon?

1:40For she wished to see me out of a desire of sin, but I was ignorant concerning all these things.

1:41And he said to her: It is not the custom of the Egyptians to take that which belongeth to others before proof is given.

1:42This, therefore, he said concerning the merchant; but as for the lad, he must be imprisoned.

1:43Now after four and twenty days came the Ishmaelites; for they had heard that Jacob my father was mourning much concerning me.

1:44And they came and said unto me: How is it that thou saidst that thou wast a slave? and lo, we have learnt that thou art the son of a mighty man in the land of Canaan, and thy father still mourneth for thee in sackcloth and ashes.

1:45When I heard this my bowels were dissolved and my heart melted, and I desired greatly to weep, but I restrained myself that I should not put my brethren to shame.

1:46And I said unto them, I know not, I am a slave.

1:47Then, therefore, they took counsel to sell me, that I should not be found in their hands.

1:48For they feared my father, lest he should come and execute upon them a grievous vengeance.

1:49For they had heard that he was mighty with God and with men.

1:50Then said the merchant unto them: Release me from the judgement of Pentiphri.

1:51And they came and requested me, saying: Say that thou wast bought by us with money, and he will set us free.

1:52Now the Memphian woman said to her husband: Buy the youth; for I hear, said she, that they are selling him.

1:53And straightway she sent a eunuch to the Ishmaelites, and asked them to sell me.

1:54But since the eunuch would not agree to buy me at their price he returned, having made trial of them, and he made known to his mistress that they asked a large price for their slave.

1:55And she sent another eunuch, saying: Even though they demand two minas, give them, do not spare the gold; only buy the boy, and bring him to me.

1:56The eunuch therefore went and gave them eighty pieces of gold, and he received me; but to the Egyptian woman he said I have given a hundred.

1:57And though I knew this I held my peace, lest the eunuch should be put to shame.

1:58Ye see, therefore, my children, what great things I endured that I should not put my brethren to shame.

1:59Do ye also, therefore, love one another, and with long-suffering hide ye one another's faults.

1:60For God delighteth in the unity of brethren, and in the purpose of a heart that takes pleasure in love.

1:61And when my brethren came into Egypt they learnt that I had returned their money unto them, and upbraided them not, and comforted them.

1:62And after the death of Jacob my father I loved them more abundantly, and all things whatsoever he commanded I did very abundantly for them.

1:63And I suffered them not to be afflicted in the smallest matter; and all that was in my hand I gave unto them.

1:64And their children were my children, and my children as their servants; and their life was my life, and all their suffering was my suffering, and all their sickness was my infirmity.

1:65My land was their land, and their counsel my counsel.

1:66And I exalted not myself among them in arrogance because of my worldly glory, but I was among them as one of the least.

1:67If ye also, therefore, walk in the commandments of the Lord, my children, He will exalt you there, and will bless you with good things for ever and ever.

1:68And if any one seeketh to do evil unto you, do well unto him, and pray for him, and ye shall be redeemed of the Lord from all evil.

1:69For, behold, ye see that out of my humility and longsuffering I took unto wife the daughter of the priest of Heliopolis.

1:70And a hundred talents of gold were given me with her, and the Lord made them to serve me.

1:71And He gave me also beauty as a flower beyond the beautiful ones of Israel; and He preserved me unto old age in strength and in beauty, because I was like in all things to Jacob.

1:72And hear ye, my children, also the vision which I saw.

1:73There were twelve harts feeding: and the nine were first dispersed over all the earth, and likewise also the three.

1:74And I saw that from Judah was born a virgin wearing a linen garment, and from her, was born a lamb, without spot; and on his left hand there was as it were a lion; and all the beasts rushed against him, and the lamb overcame them, and destroyed them and trod them under foot.

1:75And because of him the angels and men rejoiced, and all the land.

1:76And these things shall come to pass in their season, in the last days.

1:77Do ye therefore, my children, observe the commandments of the Lord, and honour Levi and Judah; for from them shall arise unto you the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world, one who saveth all the Gentiles and Israel.

1:78For His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, which shall not pass away; but my kingdom among you shall come to an end as a watcher's hammock, which after the summer disappeareth.

1:79For I know that after my death the Egyptians will afflict you, but God will avenge you, and will bring you into that which He promised to your fathers.

1:80But ye shall carry up my bones with you; for when my bones are being taken up thither, the Lord shall be with you in light, and Beliar shall be in darkness with the Egyptians.

1:81And carry ye up Asenath your mother to the Hippodrome, and near Rachel your mother bury her.

1:82And when he had said these things he stretched out his feet, and died at a good old age.

1:83And all Israel mourned for him, and all Egypt, with a great mourning.

1:84And when the children of Israel went out of Egypt, they took with them the bones of Joseph, and they buried him in Hebron with his fathers, and the years of his life were one hundred and ten years.

1. Chapter 0
2. Chapter 1

Chapter 0

0:1THE copy of the words of Benjamin, which he commanded his sons to observe, after he had lived a hundred and twenty-five years.

0:2And he kissed them, and said: As Isaac was born to Abraham in his old age, so also was I to Jacob.

0:3And since Rachel my mother died in giving me birth, I had no milk; therefore I was suckled by Bilhah her handmaid.

0:4For Rachel remained barren for twelve years after she had borne Joseph; and she prayed the Lord with fasting twelve days, and she conceived and bare Me.

0:5For my father loved Rachel dearly, and prayed that he might see two sons born from her.

0:6Therefore was I called Benjamin, that is, a son of days.

0:7And when I went into Egypt, to Joseph, and my brother recognized me, he said unto me: What did they tell my father when they sold me?

0:8And I said unto him, They dabbled thy coat with blood and sent it, and said: Know whether this be thy son's coat.

0:9And he said unto me: Even so, brother, when they had stripped me of my coat they gave me to the Ishmaelites, and they gave me a loin cloth, and scourged me, and bade me run.

0:10And as for one of them that had beaten me with a rod, a lion met him and slew him.

0:11And so his associates were affrighted.

0:12Do ye also, therefore, my children, love the Lord God of heaven and earth, and keep His commandments, following the example of the good and holy man Joseph.

0:13And let your mind be unto good, even as ye know me; for he that bath his mind right seeth all things rightly.

0:14Fear ye the Lord, and love your neighbour; and even though the spirits of Beliar claim you to afflict you with every evil, yet shall they not have dominion over you, even as they had not over Joseph my brother.,

0:15How many men wished to slay him, and God shielded him!

0:16For he that feareth God and loveth his neighbour cannot be smitten by the spirit of Beliar, being shielded by the fear of God.

0:17Nor can he be ruled over by the device of men or beasts, for he is helped by the Lord through the love which he hath towards his neighbour.

0:18For Joseph also besought our father that he would pray for his brethren, that the Lord would not impute to them as sin whatever evil they had done unto him.

0:19And thus Jacob cried out: My good child, thou hast prevailed over the bowels of thy father Jacob.

0:20And he embraced him, and kissed him for two hours, saying:

0:21In thee shall be fulfilled the prophecy of heaven concerning the Lamb of God, and Saviour of the world, and that a blameless one shall be delivered up for lawless men, and a sinless one shall die for ungodly men in the blood of the covenant, for the salvation of the Gentiles and of Israel, and shall destroy Beliar and his servants.

0:22See ye, therefore, my children, the end of the good man?

0:23Be followers of his compassion, therefore, with a good mind, that ye also may wear crowns of glory.

0:24For the good man hath not a dark eye; for he showeth mercy to all men, even though they be sinners.

0:25And though they devise with evil intent. concerning him, by doing good he overcometh evil, being shielded by God; and he loveth the righteous as his own soul.

0:26If any one is glorified, he envieth him not; if any one is enriched, he is not jealous; if any one is valiant, he praiseth him; the virtuous man he laudeth; on the poor man he hath mercy; on the weak he hath compassion; unto God he singeth praises.

0:27And him that hath the grace of a good spirit he loveth as his own soul.

0:28If therefore, ye also have a good mind, then will both wicked men be at peace with you, and the profligate will reverence you and turn unto good; and the covetous will not only cease from their inordinate desire, but even give the objects of their covetousness to them that are afflicted.

0:29If ye do well, even the unclean spirits will flee from you; and the beasts will dread you.

0:30For where there is reverence for good works and light in the mind, even darkness fleeth away from him.

0:31For if any one does violence to a holy man, he repenteth; for the holy man is merciful to his reviler, and holdeth his peace.

0:32And if any one betrayeth a righteous man, the righteous man prayeth: though for a little he be humbled, yet not long after he appeareth far more glorious, as was Joseph my brother.

0:33The inclination of the good man is not in the power of the deceit of the spirit of Beliar, for the angel of peace guideth his soul.

0:34And he gazeth not passionately upon corruptible things, nor gathereth together riches through a desire of pleasure.

0:35He delighteth not in pleasure, he grieveth not his neighbour, he sateth not himself with luxuries, he erreth not in the uplifting of the eyes, for the Lord is his portion.

0:36The good inclination receiveth not glory nor dishonour from men, and it knoweth not any guile, or lie, or fighting or reviling; for the Lord dwelleth in him and lighteth up his soul, and he rejoiceth towards all men always.

0:37The good mind hath not two tongues, of blessing and of cursing, of contumely and of honour, of sorrow and of joy, of quietness and of confusion, of hypocrisy and of truth, of poverty and of wealth; but it hath one disposition, uncorrupt and pure, concerning all men.

0:38It hath no double sight, nor double hearing; for in everything which he doeth, or speaketh, or seeth, he knoweth that the Lord looketh on his soul.

0:39And he cleanseth his mind that he may not be condemned by men as well as by God.

0:40And in like manner the works of Beliar are twofold, and there is no singleness in them.

0:41Therefore, my children, I tell you, flee the malice of Beliar; for he giveth a sword to them that obey him.

0:42And the sword is the mother of seven evils. First the mind conceiveth through Beliar, and first there is bloodshed; secondly ruin; thirdly, tribulation; fourthly, exile; fifthly, dearth; sixthly, panic; seventhly, destruction.

0:43'Therefore was Cain also delivered over to seven vengeances by God, for in every hundred years the Lord brought one plague upon him.

0:44And when he was two hundred years old he began to suffer, and in the nine-hundredth year he was destroyed.

0:45For on account of Abel, his brother, with -all the evils was he judged, but Lamech with seventy times seven.

0:46Because for ever those, who are like Cain in envy and hatred of brethren, shall be punished with the same judgement.

Chapter 1

1:1AND do ye, my children, flee evil-doing, envy, and hatred of brethren, and cleave to goodness and love.

1:2He that hath a pure mind in love, looketh not after a woman with a view to fornication; for he hath no defilement in his heart, because the Spirit of God resteth upon him.

1:3For as the sun is not defiled by shining on dung and mire, but rather drieth up both and driveth away the evil smell; so also the pure mind, though encompassed by the defilements of earth, rather cleanseth them and is not itself defiled.

1:4And I believe that there will be also evil-doings among you, from the words of Enoch the righteous: that ye shall commit fornication with the fornication of Sodom, and shall perish, all save a few, and shall renew wanton deeds with women; and the kingdom of the Lord shall not be among you, for straightway He shall take it away.

1:5Nevertheless the temple of God shall be in your portion, and the last temple shall be more glorious than the first.

1:6And the twelve tribes shall be gathered together there, and all the Gentiles, until the Most High shall send forth His salvation in the visitation of an only-begotten prophet.

1:7And He shall enter into the first temple, and there shall the Lord be treated with outrage, and He shall be lifted up upon a tree.

1:8And the veil of the temple shall be rent, and the Spirit of God shall pass on to the Gentiles as fire poured forth.

1:9And He shall ascend from Hades and shall pass from earth into heaven.

1:10And I know how lowly He shall be upon earth, and how glorious in heaven.

1:11Now when Joseph was in Egypt, I longed to see his figure and the form of his countenance; and through the prayers of Jacob my father I saw him, while awake in the daytime, even his entire figure exactly as he was.

1:12And when he had said these things, he said unto them: Know ye, therefore, my children, that I am dying.

1:13Do ye, therefore, truth each one to his neighbour, and keep the law of the Lord and His commandments.

1:14For these things do I leave you instead of inheritance.

1:15Do ye also, therefore, give them to your children for an everlasting possession; for so did both Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob.

1:16For all these things they gave us for an inheritance, saying: Keep the commandments of God, until the Lord shall reveal His salvation to all Gentiles.

1:17And then shall ye see Enoch, Noah, and Shem, and Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, rising on the right hand in gladness,

1:18Then shall we also rise, each one over our tribe, worshipping the King of heaven, who appeared upon earth in the form of a man in humility.

1:19And as many as believe on Him on the earth shall rejoice with Him.

1:20Then also all men shall rise, some unto glory and some unto shame.

1:21And the Lord shall judge Israel first, for their unrighteousness; for when He appeared as God in the flesh to deliver them they believed Him not.

1:22And then shall He judge all the Gentiles, as many as believed Him not when He appeared upon earth.

1:23And He shall convict Israel through the chosen ones of the Gentiles, even as He reproved Esau through the Midianites, who deceived their brethren, so that they fell into fornication, and idolatry; and they were alienated from God, becoming therefore children in the portion of them that fear the Lord.

1:24If ye therefore, my children, walk in holiness according to the commandments of the Lord, ye shall again dwell securely with me, and all Israel shall be gathered unto the Lord.

1:25And I shall no longer be called a ravening wolf on account of your ravages, but a worker of the Lord distributing food to them that work what is good.

1:26And there shall arise in the latter days one beloved of the Lord, of the tribe of Judah and Levi, a doer of His good pleasure in his mouth, with new knowledge enlightening the Gentiles.

1:27Until the consummation of the age shall he be in the synagogues of the Gentiles, and among their rulers, as a strain of music in the mouth of all.

1:28And he shall be inscribed in the holy books, both his work and his word, and he shall be a chosen one of God for ever.

1:29And through them he shall go to and fro as Jacob my father, saying: He shall fill up that which lacketh of thy tribe.

1:30And when he had said these things he stretched out his feet.

1:31And died in a beautiful and good sleep.

1:32And his sons did as he had enjoined them, and they took up his body and buried it in Hebron with his fathers.

1:33And the number of the days of his life was a hundred and twenty-five years.

Chapter 0

0:1SINCE I have collected material for a memorable history of my visit to Eleazar the High Priest of the Jews, and because you, Philocrates, as you lose no opportunity of reminding me, have set great store upon receiving an account of the motives and object of my mission, I have attempted to draw up clear exposition of the matter for you, for I perceive that you possess a natural love of learning, a quality which is the highest possession of man--to be constantly attempting 'to add to his stock of knowledge and acquirements' whether through the study of history or by actually participating in the events themselves.

0:2It is by this means, by taking up into itself the noblest elements, that the soul is established in purity, and having fixed its aim on piety, the noblest goal of all, it uses this as its infallible guide and so acquires a definite purpose.

0:3It was my devotion to the pursuit of religious knowledge that led me to undertake the embassy to the man I have mentioned, who was held in the highest esteem by his own citizens and by others, both for his virtue and his majesty, and who had in his possession documents of the highest value to the Jews in his own country and in foreign lands for the interpretation of the divine law, for their laws are written on leather parchments in Jewish characters.

0:4This embassy then I undertook with enthusiasm, having first of all found an opportunity of pleading with the king on behalf of the Jewish captives who had been transported from Judea to Egypt by the king's father, when he first obtained possession of this city and conquered the land of Egypt.

0:5It is worth while that I should tell you this story, too, since I am convinced that you, with your disposition towards holiness and your sympathy with men who are living in accordance with the holy law, will all the more readily listen to the account which I purpose to set forth, since you yourself have lately come to us from the island and are anxious to hear everything that tends to build up the soul.

0:6On a former occasion too, I sent you a record of the facts which I thought worth relating about the Jewish race,--the record which I had obtained from the most learned high priests of the most learned land of Egypt.

0:7As you are so eager to acquire the knowledge of those things which can benefit the mind, I' feel it incumbent upon me to impart to you all the information in my power.

0:8I should feel the same duty towards all who possessed the same disposition but I feel it especially towards you since you have aspirations which are so noble, and since you are not only my brother in character, no less than in blood, but are one with me as well in the pursuit of goodness.

0:9For neither the pleasure derived from gold nor any other of the possessions which are prized by shallow minds confers the same benefit as the pursuit of culture and the study which we expend in securing it.

0:10But that I may not weary you by a too lengthy introduction, I will proceed at once to the substance of my narrative.

0:11Demetrius of Phalerum, the president of the king's library, received vast sum of money, for the purpose of collecting together, as far as he possibly could, all the books in the world.

0:12By means of purchase and transcription, he carried out, to the best of his ability, the purpose of the king.

0:13On one occasion when I was present he was asked, How many thousand books are there in the library? and he replied, 'More than two hundred thousand, O king, and I shall make endeavour in the immediate future to gather together the remainder also, so that the total of five hundred thousand may be reached. I am told that the laws of the Jews are worth transcribing and deserve a place in your library!

0:14'What is to prevent you from doing this?' replied the king. 'Everything that is necessary has been placed at your disposal!

0:15'They need to be translated,' answered Demetrius 'for in the country of the Jews they use a peculiar alphabet (just as the Egyptians, too, have a special form of letters) and speak a peculiar dialect.

0:16They are supposed to use the Syriac tongue, but this is not the case; their language is quite different.'

0:17And the king when he understood all the facts of the case ordered a letter to be written to the Jewish High Priest that his purpose (which has already been described) might be accomplished.

0:18Thinking that the time had come to press the demand, which I had often laid before Sosibius of Tarentum and Andreas, the chief of the bodyguard, for the emancipation of the Jews who had been transported from Judea by the king's father--for when by a combination of good fortune and courage he had brought his attack on the whole district of Coele-Syria and Phoenicia to a successful issue, in the process of terrorising the country into subjection, he transported some of his foes and others he reduced to captivity.

0:19The number of those whom he transported from the country of the Jews to Egypt amounted to no less than a hundred thousand.

0:20Of these he armed thirty thousand picked men and settled them in garrisons in the country districts.

0:21(And even before this time large numbers of Jews had come into Egypt with the Persian, and in an earlier period still others had been sent to Egypt to help Psammetichus in his campaign against the king of the Ethiopians. But these were nothing like so numerous as the captives whom Ptolemy the son of Lagus transported.)

0:22As I have already said Ptolemy picked out the best of these, the men who were in the prime of life and distinguished for their courage, and armed them, but the great mass of the others, those who were too old or too young for this purpose, and the women too, he reduced to slavery, not that he wished to do this of his own free will, but he was compelled by his soldiers who claimed them as a reward for the services which they had rendered in war.

0:23Having, as has already been stated, obtained an opportunity for securing their emancipation, I addressed the king with the following arguments. 'Let us not be so unreasonable as to allow our deeds to give the lie to our words.

0:24Since the law which we wish not only to transcribe but also to translate belongs to the whole Jewish race, what justification shall we be able to find for our embassy while such vast numbers of them remain in a state of slavery in your kingdom?

0:25In the perfection and wealth of your clemency release those who are held in such miserable bondage, since as I have been at pains to discover, the God who gave them their law is the God who maintains your kingdom.

0:26They worship the same God--the Lord and Creator of the Universe, as all other men, as we ourselves, O king, though we call him by different names, such as Zeus 3 or Dis.

0:27This name was very appropriately bestowed upon him by our first ancestors, in order to signify that He, through whom all things are endowed with life and come into being, is necessarily the Rider and Lord of the Universe.

0:28Set all mankind an example of magnanimity by releasing those who are held in bondage.'

0:29After a brief interval, while I was offering up an earnest prayer to God that He would so dispose the mind of the king that all the captives might be set at liberty--(for the human race, being the creation of God, is swayed and influenced by Him.

0:30Therefore with many divers prayers I called upon Him who ruleth the heart that the king might be constrained to grant my request.

0:31For I had great hopes with regard to the salvation of the men since I was assured that God would grant a fulfilment of my prayer.

0:32For when men from pure motives plan some action in the interest of righteousness and the performance of noble deeds, Almighty God brings their efforts and purposes to a successful issue)--the king raised his head and looking up at me with a cheerful countenance asked, 'How many thousands do you think they will number?'

0:33Andreas, who was standing near, replied, 'A little more than a hundred thousand.'

0:34'It is a small boon indeed,' said the king, 'that Aristeas asks of us!'

0:35Then Sosibius and some others who were present said 'Yes, but it will be a fit tribute to your magnanimity for you to offer the enfranchisement of these men as an act of devotion to the supreme God.

0:36You have been greatly honoured by Almighty God and exalted above all your forefathers in glory and it is only fitting that you should render to Him the greatest thank-offering in your power.'

0:37Extremely pleased with these arguments he gave orders that an addition should be made to the wages of the soldiers by the amount of the redemption money, that twenty drachmae should be paid to the owners for every slave, that a public order should be issued and that registers of the captives should be attached to it.

0:38He showed the greatest enthusiasm in the business, for it was God who had brought our purpose to fulfilment in its entirety and constrained him to redeem not only those who had come into Egypt with the army of his father but any who had come before that time or had been subsequently brought into the kingdom.

0:39It was pointed out to him that the ransom money would exceed four hundred talents.

0:40I think it will be useful to insert a copy of the decree, for in this way the magnanimity of the king, who was empowered by God to save such vast multitudes, will be made clearer and more manifest.

0:41The decree of the king ran as follows: 'All who served in the army of our father in the campaign against Syria and Phoenicia and in the attack upon the country of the Jews and became possessed of Jewish captives and brought them back to the city of Alexandria and the land of Egypt or sold them to others--and in the same way any captives who were in our land before that time or were brought hither afterwards--all who possess such captives are required to set them at liberty at once, receiving twenty drachmae per head as ransom money.

0:42The soldiers will receive this money as a gift added to their wages, the others from the king's treasury.

0:43We think that it was against our father's will and against all propriety that they should have been made captives and that the devastation of their land and the transportation of the Jews to Egypt was an act of military wantonness.

0:44The spoil which fell to the soldiers on the field of battle was all the booty which they should have claimed.

0:45To reduce the people to slavery in addition was an act of absolute injustice.

0:46Wherefore, since it is acknowledged that we are accustomed to render justice to all men and especially to those who are unfairly in a condition of servitude, and since we strive to deal fairly with all men according to the demands of justice and piety, we have decreed, in reference to the persons of the Jews who are in any condition of bondage in any part of our dominion, that those who possess them shall receive the stipulated sum of money and set them at liberty and that no man shall show any tardiness in discharging his obligations.

0:47Within three days after the publication of this decree, they must make lists of slaves for the officers appointed to carry out our will, and immediately produce the persons of the captives.

0:48For we consider that it will be advantageous to us and to our affairs that the matter should be brought to a conclusion.

0:49Any one who likes may give information about any who disobey the decree, on condition that if the man is proved guilty he will become his slave; his property, however, will be handed over to the royal treasury.'

0:50When the decree was brought to be read over to the king for his approval, it contained all the other provisions except the phrase 'any captives who were in the land before that time or were brought hither afterwards,' and in his magnanimity and the largeness of his heart the king inserted this clause and gave orders that the grant of money required for the redemption should be deposited in full with the paymasters of the forces and the royal bankers, and so the matter was decided and the decree ratified within seven days.

0:51The grant for the redemption amounted to more than six hundred and sixty talents; for many infants at the breast were emancipated together with their mothers.

0:52When the question was raised whether the sum of twenty talents was to be paid for these, the king ordered that it should be done, and thus he carried out his decision in the most comprehensive way.

Chapter 1

1:1WHEN this had been done, he ordered Demetrius to draw up a memorial with regard to the transcription of the Jewish books.

1:2For all affairs of state used to be carried out by means of decrees and with the most pains-taking accuracy by these Egyptian kings, and nothing was done in a slipshod or haphazard fashion.

1:3And so I have inserted copies of the memorial and the letters, the number of the presents sent and the nature of each, since every one of them excelled in magnificence and technical skill.

1:4The following is a copy of the memorial. The Memory of Demetrius to the great king. 'Since you have given me instructions O king, that the books which are needed to complete your library should be collected together, and that those which are defective should be repaired, I have devoted myself with the utmost care to the fulfilment of your wishes, and I now have the following proposal to lay before you.

1:5The books of the law of the Jews (with some few others) are absent from the library.

1:6They are written in the Hebrew characters and language and have been carelessly interpreted, and do not represent the original text as I am informed by those who know; for they have never had a king's care to protect them.

1:7It is necessary that these should be made accurate for your library since the law which they contain, inasmuch as it is of divine origin, is full of wisdom and free from all blemish.

1:8For this reason literary men and poets and the mass of historical writers have held aloof from referring to these books and the men who have lived and are living in accordance with them, because their conception of life is so sacred and religious, as Hecataeus of Abdera says.

1:9If it please you, O king, a letter shall be written to the High Priest in Jerusalem, asking him to send six elders out of every tribe--men who have lived the noblest life and are most skilled in their law--that we may find out the points in which the majority of them are in agreement, and so having obtained an accurate translation may place it in a conspicuous place in a manner worthy of the work itself and your purpose.

1:10May continual prosperity be yours!'

1:11When this memorial had been presented, the king ordered a letter to be written to Eleazar on the matter, giving also an account of the emancipation of the Jewish captives.

1:12And he gave fifty talents weight of gold and seventy talents of silver and a large quantity of precious stones to make bowls and vials and a table and libation cups.

1:13He also gave orders to those who had the custody of his coffers to allow the artificers to make a selection of any materials they might require for the purpose, and that a hundred talents in money should be sent to provide sacrifices for the temple and for other needs.

1:14I shall give you a full account of the workmanship after I have set before you copies of the letters. The letter of the king ran as follows:

1:15'King Ptolemy sends greeting and salutation to the High Priest Eleazar.

1:16Since there are many Jews settled in our realm who were carried off from Jerusalem by the Persians at the time of their power and many more who came with my father into Egypt as captives--large numbers of these he placed in the army and paid them higher wages than usual, and when he had proved the loyalty of their leaders he built fortresses and placed them in their charge that the native Egyptians might be intimidated by them.

1:17And I, when I ascended the throne, adopted a kindly attitude towards all my subjects, and more particularly to those who were citizens of yours--I have set at liberty more than a hundred thousand captives, paying their owners the appropriate market price for them, and if ever evil has been done to your people through the passions of the mob, I have made them reparation.

1:18The motive which prompted my action has been the desire to act piously and render unto the supreme God a thank-offering for maintaining my kingdom in peace and great glory in all the world.

1:19Moreover those of your people who were in the prime of life I have drafted into my army, and those who were fit to be attached to my person and worthy of the confidence of the court, I have established in official positions.

1:20Now since I am anxious to show my gratitude to these men and to the Jews throughout the world and to the generations yet to come, I have determined that your law shall be translated from the Hebrew tongue which is in use amongst you into the Greek language, that these books may be added to the other royal books in my library.

1:21It will be a kindness on your part and a reward for my zeal if you will select six elders from each of your tribes, men of noble life and skilled in your law and able to interpret it, that in questions of dispute we may be able to discover the verdict in which the majority agree, for the investigation is of the highest possible importance.

1:22I hope to win great renown by the accomplishment of this work.

1:23I have sent Andreas, the chief of my bodyguard and Aristeas--men whom I hold in high esteem--to lay the matter before you and present you with a hundred talents of silver, the first-fruits of my offering for the temple and the sacrifices and other religious rites.

1:24If you will write to me concerning your wishes in these matters, you will confer a great favour upon me and afford me anew pledge of friendship, for all your wishes shall be carried out as speedily as possible. Farewell!

1:25To this letter Eleazar replied appropriately as follows: 'Eleazar the High Priest sends greetings to King Ptolemy his true friend.

1:26My highest wishes are for your welfare and the welfare of Queen Arsinoe, your sister, and your children.

1:27I also am well. I have received your letter and am greatly rejoiced by your purpose and your noble counsel.

1:28I summoned together the whole people and read it to them that they might know of your devotion to our God.

1:29I showed them too the cups which you sent, twenty of gold and thirty of silver, the five bowls and the table of dedication, and the hundred talents of silver for the offering of the sacrifices and providing the things of which the temple stands in need.

1:30These gifts were brought to me by Andreas, one of your most honoured servants, and by Aristeas, both good men and true, distinguished by their learning, and worthy in every way to be the representatives of your high principles and righteous purposes.

1:31These men imparted to me your message and received from me an answer in agreement with your letter. I will consent to everything which is advantageous to you even though your request is very unusual.

1:32For you have bestowed upon our citizens great and never to be forgotten benefits in many ways.

1:33Immediately therefore I offered sacrifices on behalf of you, your sister, your children, and your friends, and all the people prayed that your plans might prosper continually, and that Almighty God might preserve your kingdom in peace with honour, and that the translation of the holy law might prove advantageous to you and be carried out successfully.

1:34In the presence of all the people I selected six elders from each tribe, good men and true, and I have sent them to you with a copy of our law.

1:35It will be a kindness, O righteous king, if you will give instruction that as soon as the translation of the law is completed, the men shall be restored again to us in safety. Farewell!

1:36The following are the names of the elders: Of the first tribe, Joseph, Ezekiah, Zachariah, John, Ezekiah, Elisha.

1:37Of the second tribe, Judas, Simon, Samuel, Adaeus, Mattathias, Eschlemias.

1:38Of the third tribe, Nehemia, Joseph, Theodosius, Baseas, Ornias, Dakis.

1:39Of the fourth tribe, Jonathan, Abraeus, Elisha, Ananias, Chabrias. . . .

1:40Of the fifth tribe, Isaac, Jacob, Jesus, Sabbataeus, Simon, Levi.

1:41Of the sixth tribe, Judas, Joseph, Simon, Zacharias, Samuel, Selemas.

1:42Of the seventh tribe, Sabbataeus, Zedekiah, Jacob, Isaac, Jesias, Natthaeus.

1:43Of the eighth tribe, Theodosius, Jason, Jesus, Theodotus, John, Jonathan.

1:44Of the ninth tribe, Theophilus, Abraham, Arsamos, Jason, Endemias, Daniel.

1:45Of the tenth tribe, Jeremiah, Eleazar, Zachariah, Baneas, Elisha, Dathaeus.

1:46Of the eleventh tribe, Samuel, Joseph, Judas, Jonathes, Chabu, Dositheus.

1:47Of the twelfth tribe, Isaelus, John, Theodosius, Arsamos, Abietes, Ezekiel.

1:48They were seventy-two in all. Such was the answer which Eleazar and his friends gave to the king's letter.

Chapter 2

2:1I WILL now Proceed to redeem my promise and give a description of the works of art.

2:2They were wrought with exceptional skill, for the king spared no expense and personally superintended the workmen individually.

2:3They could not therefore scamp any part of the work or finish it off negligently.

2:4First of all I will give you a description of the table.

2:5The king was anxious that this piece of work should be of exceptionally large dimensions, and he caused enquiries to be made of the Jews in the locality with regard to the size of the table already in the temple at Jerusalem.

2:6And when they described the measurements, he proceeded to ask whether he might make a larger structure.

2:7And some of the priests and the other Jews replied that there was nothing to prevent him.

2:8And he said that he was anxious to make it five times the size, but he hesitated lest it should prove useless for the temple services.

2:9He was desirous that his gift should not merely be stationed in the temple, for it would afford him much greater pleasure if the men whose duty it was to offer the fitting sacrifices were able to do so appropriately on the table which he had made.

2:10He did not suppose that it was owing to lack of gold that the former table had been made of small size, but there seems to have been, he said, some reason why it was made of--this dimension.

2:11For had the order been given, there would have been no lack of means.

2:12Wherefore we must not transgress or go beyond the proper measure.

2:13At the same time he ordered them to press into service all the manifold forms of art, for he was a man of the most lofty conceptions and nature had endowed him with a keen imagination which enabled him to picture the appearance which would be presented by the finished work.

2:14He gave orders too, that where there were no instructions laid down in the Jewish Scriptures, everything should be made as beautiful as possible.--

2:15When such instructions were laid down, they were to be carried out to the letter.

2:16They made the table two cubits 4 long, one cubit broad, one and a half cubits high fashioning it of pure solid gold.

2:17What I am describing was not thin gold laid over another foundation, but the whole structure was of massive gold welded together.

2:18And they made a border of a hand's breadth round about it.

2:19And there was a wreath of wave-work, engraved in relief in the form of ropes marvellously wrought on its three sides.

2:20For it was triangular in shape and the style of the work was exactly the same on each of the sides, so that whichever side they were turned, they presented the same appearance.

2:21Of the two sides under the border, the one which sloped down to the table was a very beautiful piece of work, but it was the outer side which attracted the gaze of the spectator.

2:22Now the upper edge of the two sides, being elevated, was sharp since, as we have said, the rim was three-sided, from whatever point of view one approached it.

2:23And there were layers of precious stones on it in the midst of the embossed cord-work, and they were interwoven with one another by an inimitable artistic device.

2:24For the sake of security they were all fixed by golden needles which were inserted in perforations in the stones.

2:25At the sides they were clamped together by fastenings to hold them firm.

2:26On the part of the border round the table which slanted upwards and met the eyes, there was wrought a pattern of eggs in precious stones, elaborately engraved by a continuous piece of fluted relief-work, closely connected together round the whole table.

2:27And under the stones which had been arranged to represent eggs the artists made a crown containing all kinds of fruits, having at its top clusters of grapes and ears of corn, dates also and apples, and pomegranates and the like, conspicuously arranged.

2:28These fruits were wrought out of precious stones, of the same colour as the fruits themselves and they fastened them edgeways round all the sides of the table with a band of gold.

2:29And after the crown of fruit had been put on, underneath there was inserted another pattern of eggs in precious stones, and other fluting and embossed work, that both sides of the table might be used, according to the wishes of the owners and for this reason the wave-work and the border were extended down to the feet of the table.

2:30They made and fastened under the whole width of the table a massive plate four fingers thick, that the feet might be inserted into it, and clamped fast with linch-pins which fitted into sockets under the border, so that which ever side of the table people preferred, might be used.

2:31Thus it became manifestly clear that the work was intended to be used either way.

2:32On the table itself they engraved a 'maeander,' having precious stones standing out in the middle of it, rubies and emeralds and an onyx too and many other kinds of stones which excel in beauty.

2:33And next to the 'maeander' there was placed a wonderful piece of network, which made the centre of the table appear like a rhomboid in shape, and on it a crystal and amber, as it is called, had been wrought, which produced an incomparable impression on the beholders.

2:34They made the feet of the table with heads like lilies, so that they seemed to be like lilies bending down beneath the table, and the parts which were visible represented leaves which stood upright.

2:35The basis of the foot on the ground consisted of a ruby and measured a hand's breadth high all round.

2:36It had the appearance of a shoe and was eight fingers broad.

2:37Upon it the whole expanse of the foot rested.

2:38And they made the foot appear like ivy growing out of the stone, interwoven with akanthus and surrounded with a vine which encircled it with clusters of grapes, which were worked in stones, up to the top of the foot.

2:39All the four feet were made in the same style, and everything was wrought and fitted so skilfully, and such remarkable skill and knowledge were expended upon making it true to nature, that when the air was stirred by a breath of wind, movement was imparted to the leaves, and everything was fashioned to correspond with the actual reality which it represented.

2:40And they made the top of the table in three parts like a triptychon, and they were so fitted and dovetailed together with spigots along the whole breadth of the work, that the meeting of the joints could not be seen or even discovered.

2:41The thickness of the table was not less than half a cubit, so that the whole work must have cost many talents.

2:42For since the king did not wish to add to its size he expended on the details the same sum of money which would have been required if the table could have been of larger dimensions.

2:43And everything was completed in accordance with his plan, in a most wonderful and remarkable way, with inimitable art and incomparable beauty.

2:44Of the mixing bowls, two were wrought in gold, and from the base to the middle were engraved with relief work in the pattern of scales, and between the scales Precious stones were inserted with great artistic skill.

2:45Then there was a 'maeander' a cubit in height, with its surface. wrought out of precious stones of many colours, displaying great artistic effort and beauty.

2:46Upon this there was a mosaic, worked in the form of a rhombus, having a net-like appearance and reaching right up to the brim.

2:47In the middle, small shields which were made of different precious stones, placed alternately, and varying in kind, not less than four fingers broad, enhanced the beauty of their appearance.

2:48On the top of the brim there was an ornament of lilies in bloom, and intertwining clusters of grapes were engraven all round.

2:49Such then was the construction of the golden bowls, and they held more than two firkins each.

2:50The silver bowls had a smooth surface, and were wonderfully made as if they were intended for looking-glasses, so that everything which was brought near to them was reflected even more clearly than in mirrors.

2:51But it is impossible to describe the real impression which these works of art produced upon the mind when they were finished.

2:52For, when these vessels had been completed and placed side by side, first a silver bowl and then a golden, then another silver, and then another golden, the appearance they presented is altogether indescribable, and those who came to see them were not able to tear themselves from the brilliant sight and entrancing spectacle.

2:53The impressions produced by the spectacle were various in kind.

2:54When men looked at the golden vessels, and their minds made a complete survey of each detail of workmanship, their souls were thrilled with wonder.

2:55Again when a man wished to direct his gaze to the silver vessels, as they stood before him, everything seemed to flash with light round about the place where he was standing, and afforded a still greater delight to the onlookers.

2:56So that it is really impossible to describe the artistic beauty of the works.

2:57The golden vials they engraved in the centre with vine wreaths.

2:58And about the rims they wove a wreath of ivy and myrtle and olive in relief work and inserted precious stones in it.

2:59The other parts of the relief work they wrought in different patterns, since they made it a point of honour to complete everything in a way worthy of the majesty of the king.

2:60In a word it may be said that neither in the king's treasury nor in any other, were there any works which equalled these in costliness or in artistic skill.

2:61For the king spent no little thought upon them, for he loved to gain glory for the excellence of his designs.

2:62For oftentimes he would neglect his official business, and spend his time with the artists in his anxiety that they should complete everything in a manner worthy of the place to which the gifts were to be sent.

2:63So everything was carried out on a grand scale, in a manner worthy of the king who sent the gifts and of the high priest who was the ruler of the land.

2:64There was no stint of precious stones, for not less than five thousand were used and they were all of large size.

2:65The most exceptional artistic skill was employed, so that the cost of the stones and the workmanship was five times as much as that of the gold.

Chapter 3

3:1I HAVE given you this description of the presents because I thought it was necessary.

3:2The next point in the narrative is an account of our journey to Eleazar, but I will first of all give you a description of the whole country.

3:3When we arrived in the land of the Jews we saw the city situated in the middle of the whole of Judea on the top of a mountain of considerable altitude.

3:4On the summit the temple had been built in all its splendour.

3:5It was surrounded by three walls more than seventy cubits high and in length and breadth corresponding to the structure of the edifice.

3:6All the buildings were characterised by a magnificence and costliness quite unprecedented.

3:7It was obvious that no expense had been spared on the door and the fastenings, which connected it with the door-posts, and the stability of the lintel.

3:8The style of the curtain too was thoroughly in proportion to that of the entrance.

3:9Its fabric owing to the draught of wind was in perpetual motion, and as this motion was communicated from the bottom and the curtain bulged out to its highest extent, it afforded a pleasant spectacle from which a man could scarcely tear himself away.

3:10The construction of the altar was in keeping with the place itself and with the burnt offerings which were consumed by fire upon it, and the approach to it was on a similar scale.

3:11There was a gradual slope up to it, conveniently arranged for the purpose of decency, and the ministering priests were robed in linen garments, down to their ankles.

3:12The Temple faces the east and its back is toward the west.

3:13The whole of the floor is paved with stones and slopes down to the appointed places, that water may be conveyed to wash away the blood from the sacrifices, for many thousand beasts are sacrificed there on the feast days.

3:14And there is an inexhaustible supply of water, because an abundant natural spring gushes up from within the temple area.

3:15There are moreover wonderful and indescribable cisterns underground, as they pointed out to me, at a distance of five furlongs all round the site of the temple, and each of them has countless pipes so that the different streams converge together.

3:16And all these were fastened with lead at the bottom and at the sidewalls, and over them a great quantity of plaster had been spread, and every part of the work had been most carefully carried out.

3:17There are many openings for water at the base of the altar which are invisible to all except to those who are engaged in the ministration, so that all the blood of the sacrifices which is collected in great quantities is washed away in the twinkling of an eye.

3:18Such is my opinion with regard to the character of the reservoirs and I will now show you how it was confirmed.

3:19They led me more than four furlongs outside the city and bade me peer down towards a certain spot and listen to the noise that was made by the meeting of the waters, so that the great size of the reservoirs became manifest to me, as has already been pointed out.

3:20The ministration of the priests is in every way unsurpassed both for its physical endurance and for its orderly and silent service.

3:21For they all work spontaneously, though it entails much painful exertion, and each one has a special task allotted to him.

3:22The service is carried on without interruption--some provide the wood, others the oil, others the fine wheat flour, others the spices; others again bring the pieces of flesh for the burnt offering, exhibiting a wonderful, degree of strength.

3:23For they take up with both hands the limbs of a calf, each of them weighing more than two talents, and throw them with each hand in a wonderful way on to the high place of the altar and never miss placing them on the proper spot.

3:24In the same way the pieces of the sheep and also of the goats are wonderful both for their weight and their fatness.

3:25For those, whose business it is, always select the beasts which are without blemish and specially fat, and thus the sacrifice which I have described, is carried out.

3:26There is a special place set apart for them to rest in, where those who are relieved from duty sit.

3:27When this takes place, those who have already rested and are ready to resume their duties rise up spontaneously since there is no one to give orders with regard to the arrangement of the sacrifices.

3:28The most complete silence reigns so that one might imagine that there was not a single person present, though there are actually seven hundred men engaged in the work, besides the vast number of those who are occupied in bringing up the sacrifices.

3:29Everything is carried out with reverence and in a way worthy of the great God.

3:30We were greatly astonished, when we saw Eleazar engaged in the ministration, at the mode of his dress, and the majesty of his appearance, which was revealed in the robe which he wore and the precious stones upon his person.

3:31There were golden bells upon the garment which reached down to his feet, giving forth a peculiar kind of melody, and on both sides of them there were pomegranates with variegated flowers of a wonderful hue.

3:32He was girded with a girdle of conspicuous beauty, woven in the most beautiful colours.

3:33On his breast he wore the oracle of God, as it is called, on which twelve stones, of different kinds, were inset, fastened together with gold, containing the names of the leaders of the tribes, according to their original order, each one flashing forth in an indescribable way its own particular colour.

3:34On his head he wore a tiara, as it is called, and upon this in the middle of his forehead an inimitable turban, the royal diadem full of glory with the name of God inscribed in sacred letters on a plate of gold . . . having been judged worthy to wear these emblems in the ministrations.

3:35Their appearance created such awe and confusion of mind as to make one feel that one had come into the presence of a man who belonged to a different world.

3:36I am convinced that any one who takes part in the spectacle which I have described will he filled with astonishment and indescribable wonder and be profoundly affected in his mind at the thought of the sanctity which is attached to each detail of the service.

3:37But in order that we might gain complete information, we ascended to the summit of the neighboring citadel and looked around us.

3:38It is situated in a very lofty spot, and is fortified with many towers, which have been built up to the very top, of immense stones, with the object, as we were informed, of guarding the temple precincts, so that if there were an attack, or an insurrection or an onslaught of the enemy, no one would be able to force an entrance within the walls that surround the temple.

3:39On the towers of the citadel engines of war were placed and different kinds of machines, and the position was much higher than the circle of walls which I have mentioned.

3:40The towers were guarded too by most trusty men who had given the utmost proof of their loyalty to their country.

3:41these men were never allowed to leave the citadel, except on feast days and then only in detachments, nor did they permit any stranger to enter it.

3:42They were also very careful when any command came from the chief officer to admit any visitors to inspect the place, as our own experience taught us.

3:43They were very reluctant to admit us--though we were but two unarmed men--to view the offering of the sacrifices.

3:44And they asserted that they were bound by an oath when the trust was committed to them, for they had all sworn and were bound to carry out the oath sacredly to the letter, that though they were five hundred in number they would not permit more than five men to enter at one time.

3:45The citadel was the special protection of the temple and its founder had fortified it so strongly that it might efficiently protect it.

Chapter 4

4:1THE size of the city is of moderate dimensions.

4:2It is about forty furlongs 5 in circumference, as far as one could conjecture.

4:3It has its towers arranged in the shape of a theatre, with thoroughfares leading between them now the crossroads of the lower towers are visible but those of the upper towers are more frequented.

4:4For the ground ascends, since the city is built upon a mountain.

4:5There are steps too which lead up to the crossroads, and some people are always going up, and others down and they keep as far apart from each other as possible on the road because of those who are bound by the rules of purity, lest they should touch anything which is unlawful.

4:6It was not without reason that the original founders of the city built it in due proportions, for they possessed clear insight with regard to what was required.

4:7For the country is extensive and beautiful.

4:8Some parts of it are level, especially the districts which belong to Samaria, as it is called, and which border on the land of the Idumeans, other parts are mountainous, especially those which are contiguous to the land of Judea.

4:9The people therefore are bound to devote themselves to agriculture and the cultivation of the soil that by this means they may have a plentiful supply of crops.

4:10In this way cultivation of every kind is carried on and an abundant harvest reaped in the whole of the aforesaid land.

4:11The cities which are large and enjoy a corresponding prosperity are well-populated, but they neglect the country districts, since all men are inclined to a life of enjoyment, for every one has a natural tendency towards the pursuit of pleasure.

4:12The same thing happened in Alexandria, which excels all cities in size and prosperity.

4:13Country people by migrating from the rural districts and settling in the city brought agriculture into disrepute: and so to prevent them from settling in the city, the king issued orders that they should not stay in it for more than twenty days. 6

4:14And in the same way he gave the judges written instructions, that if it was necessary to issue a summons against any one who lived in the country, the case must be settled within five days.

4:15And since he considered the matter one of great importance, he appointed also legal officers for every district with their assistants, that the farmers and their advocates might not in the interests of business empty the granaries of the city, I mean, of the produce of husbandry.

4:16I have permitted this digression because it was Eleazar who pointed out with great clearness the points which have been mentioned.

4:17For great is the energy which they expend on the tillage of the soil.

4:18For the land is thickly planted with multitudes of olive trees, with crops of corn and pulse, with vines too, and there is abundance of honey.

4:19Other kinds of fruit trees and dates do not count compared with these.

4:20There are cattle of all kinds in great quantities and a rich pasturage for them.

4:21Wherefore they rightly recognise that the country districts need a large population, and the relations between the city and the villages are properly regulated.

4:22A great quantity of spices and precious stones and gold is brought into the country by the Arabs.

4:23For the country is well adapted not only for agriculture but also for commerce, and the city is rich in the arts and lacks none of the merchandise which is brought across the sea.

4:24It possesses too suitable and commodious harbours at Askalon, Joppa, and Gaza, as well m at Ptolemais which was founded by the King and holds a central position compared with the other places named, being not far distant from any of them.

4:25The country produces everything in abundance, since it is well watered in all directions and well protected from storms.

4:26The river Jordan, as it is called, which never runs dry, flows through the land.

4:27Originally the country contained not less than 60 million acres-- though afterwards the neighbouring peoples made incursions against it-- and 600,000 men were settled upon it in farms of a hundred acres each.

4:28The river like the Nile rises in harvest-time and irrigates a large portion of the land.

4:29Near the district belonging to the people of Ptolemais it issues into another river and this flows out into the sea.

4:30Other mountain torrents, as they are called, flow down into the plain and encompass the parts about Gaza and the district of Ashdod.

4:31The country is encircled by a natural fence and is very difficult to attack and cannot be assailed by large forces, owing to the narrow passes, with theft overhanging precipices and deep ravines, and the rugged character of the mountainous regions which surround all the land.

4:32We were told that from the neighbouring mountains of Arabia copper and iron were formerly obtained.

4:33This was stopped, however, at the time of the Persian rule, since the authorities of the time spread abroad a false report that the working of the mines was useless and expensive in order to prevent their country from being destroyed by the mining in these districts and possibly taken away from them owing to the Persian rule, since by the assistance of this false report they found an excuse for entering the district.

4:34I have now, my dear brother Philocrates, given you all the essential information upon this subject in brief form.

4:35I shall describe the work of translation in the sequel.

4:36The High Priest selected men of the finest character and the highest culture, such as one would expect from their noble parentage.

4:37They were men who had not only acquired proficiency in Jewish literature but had studied most carefully that of the Greeks as well.

4:38They were specially qualified therefore for serving on embassies and they undertook this duty whenever it was necessary.

4:39They possessed a great facility for conferences and the discussion of problems connected with the law.

4:40They espoused the middle course--and this is always the best course to pursue.

4:41They abjured the rough and uncouth manner, but they were altogether above pride and never assumed an air of superiority over others, and in conversation they were ready to listen and give an appropriate answer to every question.

4:42And all of them carefully observed this rule and were anxious above everything else to excel each other in its observance and they were all of them worthy of their leader and of his virtue.

4:43And one could observe how they loved Eleazar by their unwillingness to be torn away from him and how he loved them.

4:44Far besides the letter which he wrote to the king concerning their safe return, he also earnestly besought Andreas to work for the same end and urged me, too, to assist to the best of my ability.

4:45And although we promised to give our best attention to the matter, he said that he was still greatly distressed, for he knew that the king out of the goodness of his nature considered it his highest privilege, whenever he heard of a man who was superior to his fellows in culture and wisdom, to summon him to his court.

4:46For I have heard of a fine saying of his to the effect that by securing just and prudent men about his person he would secure the greatest protection for his kingdom, since such friends would unreservedly give him the most beneficial advice.

4:47And the men who were now being sent to him by Eleazar undoubtedly possessed these qualities.

4:48And he frequently asserted upon oath that he would never let the men go if it were merely some private interest of his own that constituted the impelling motive-but it was for the common advantage of all the citizens that he was sending them.

4:49For, he explained, the good life consists in the keeping of the enactments of the law, and this end is achieved much more by hearing than by reading.

4:50From this and other similar statements it was clear what his feelings towards them were.

Chapter 5

5:1IT is worth while to mention briefly the information which he gave in reply to our questions.

5:2For I suppose that most people feel a curiosity with regard to some of the enactments in the law, especially those about meats and drinks and animals recognised as unclean.

5:3When we asked why, since there is but one form of creation, some animals are regarded as unclean for eating, and others unclean even to the touch (for though the law is scrupulous on most points, it is specially scrupulous on such matters as these) he began his reply as follows:

5:4'You observe,' he said, 'what an effect our modes of life and our associations produce upon us; by associating with the bad, men catch their depravities and become miserable throughout their life; but if they live with the wise and prudent, they find the means of escaping from ignorance and amending their lives.

5:5Our lawgiver first of all laid down the principles of piety and righteousness and inculcated them point by point, not merely by prohibitions but by the use of examples as well, demonstrating the injurious effects of sin and the punishments inflicted by God upon the guilty.

5:6For he proved first of all that there is only one God and that his power is manifested throughout the universe, since every place is filled with his sovereignty and none of the things which are wrought in secret by men upon the earth escapes His knowledge.

5:7For all that a man does and all that is to come to pass in the future are manifest to Him.

5:8Working out these truths carefully and having made them plain, he showed that even if a man should think of doing evil--to say nothing of actually effecting it,--he would not escape detection, for he made it clear that the power of God pervaded the whole of the law.

5:9Beginning from his starting point, he went on to show that all mankind except ourselves believe in the existence of many gods, though they themselves are much more powerful than the beings whom they vainly worship.

5:10For when they have made statues of stone and wood, they say that they are the images of those who have invented something useful for life and they worship them, though they have clear proof that they possess no feeling.

5:11For it would be utterly foolish to suppose that any one became a god in virtue of his inventions.

5:12For the inventors simply took certain objects already created and by combining them together, showed that they possessed a fresh utility: they did not themselves create the substance of the thing, and so it is a vain and foolish thing for people to make gods of men like themselves.

5:13For in our times there are many who are much more inventive and much more learned than the men of former days who have been deified, and yet they would never come to worship them.

5:14The makers and authors of these myths think that they are the wisest of the Greeks.

5:15Why need we speak of other infatuated people, Egyptians and the like, who place their reliance upon wild beasts and most kinds of creeping things and cattle, and worship them, and offer sacrifices to them both while living and when dead?

5:16Now our Lawgiver being a wise man and specially endowed by God to understand all things, took a comprehensive view of each particular detail, and fenced us round with impregnable ramparts and walls of iron, that we might not mingle at all with any of the other nations, but remain pure in body and soul, free from all vain imaginations, worshipping the one Almighty God above the whole creation.

5:17Hence the leading Egyptian priests having looked carefully into many matters, and being cognizant with our affairs, call us "men of God."

5:18This is a title which does not belong to the rest of mankind but only to those who worship the true God.

5:19The rest are men not of God but of meats and drinks and clothing.

5:20For their whole disposition leads them to find solace in these things are reckoned of no account, but throughout their things.

5:21Among our people such whole life their main consideration is the sovereignty of God.

5:22Therefore lest we should be corrupted by any abomination, or our lives be perverted by evil communications, he hedged us round on all sides by rules of purity, affecting alike what we eat, or drink, or touch, or hear, or see.

5:23For though, speaking generally, all things are alike in their natural constitution, since they are all governed by one and the same power, yet there is a deep reason in each individual case why we abstain from the use of certain things and enjoy the common use of others.

5:24For the sake of illustration I will run over one or two points and explain them to you.

5:25For you must not fall into the degrading idea that it was out of regard to mice and weasels and other such things that Moses drew up his laws with such exceeding care. 7

5:26All these ordinances were made for the sake of righteousness to aid the quest for virtue and the perfecting of character.

5:27For all the birds that we use are tame and distinguished by their cleanliness, feeding on various kinds of grain and pulse, such as for instance pigeons, turtle-doves, locusts, partridges, geese also, and all other birds of this class.

5:28But the birds which are forbidden you will find to be wild and carnivorous, tyrannising over the others by the strength which they possess, and cruelly obtaining food by preying of the tame birds enumerated above.

5:29And not only so, but they seize lambs and kids, and injure human beings too, whether dead or alive, and so by naming them unclean, he gave a sign by means of them that those, for whom the legislation was ordained, must practise righteousness in their hearts and not tyrannise over any one in reliance upon their own strength nor rob them of anything, but steer their course of life in accordance with justice, just as the tame birds, already mentioned, consume the different kinds of pulse that grow upon the earth and do not tyrannise to the destruction of their own kindred.

5:30Our legislator taught us therefore that it is by such methods as these that indications are given to the wise, that they must be just and effect nothing by violence, and refrain from tyrannising over others in reliance upon their own strength.

5:31For since it is considered unseemly even to touch such unclean animals, as have been mentioned, on account of their particular habits, ought we not to take every precaution lest our own characters should be destroyed to the same extent?

5:32Wherefore all the rules which he has laid down with regard to what is permitted in the case of these birds and other animals, he has enacted with the object of teaching us a moral lesson.

5:33For the division of the hoof and the separation of the claws are intended to teach us that we must discriminate between our individual actions with a view to the practice of virtue.

5:34For the strength of our whole body and its activity depend upon our shoulders and limbs.

5:35Therefore he compels us to recognise that we must perform all our actions with discrimination according to the standard of righteousness,-- more especially because we have been distinctly separated from the rest of mankind.

5:36For most other men defile themselves by promiscuous intercourse, thereby working great iniquity, and whole countries and cities pride themselves upon such vices.

5:37For they not only have intercourse with men but they defile their own mothers and even their daughters.

5:38But we have been kept separate from such sins.

5:39And the people who have been separated in the aforementioned way are also characterised by the Lawgiver as possessing the gift of memory.

5:40For all animals "which are cloven-footed and chew the cud" represent to the initiated the symbol of memory.

5:41For the act of chewing the cud is nothing else than the reminiscence of life and existence.

5:42For life is wont to be sustained by means of food, wherefor he exhorts us in the Scripture also in these words: "Thou shalt surely remember the Lord that wrought in thee those great and wonderful things."

5:43For when they are properly conceived, they are manifestly great and glorious; first the construction of the body and the disposition of the food and the separation of each individual limb and, for more, the organisation of the senses, the operation and invisible movement of the mind, the rapidity of its particular actions and its discovery of the arts, display an infinite resourcefulness.

5:44Wherefore he exhorts us to remember that the aforesaid parts are kept together by the divine power with consummate skill.

5:45For he has marked out every time and place that we may continually remember the God who rules and preserves us.

5:46For in the matter of meats and drinks he bids us first of all offer part as a sacrifice and then forthwith enjoy our meal.

5:47Moreover, upon our garments he has given us a symbol of remembrance, and in like manner he has ordered us to put the divine oracles upon our gates and doors as a remembrance of God.

5:48And upon our hands, too, he expressly orders the symbol to be fastened, clearly showing that we ought to perform every act in righteousness, remembering our own creation, and above all the fear of God.

5:49He bids men also, when lying down to sleep and rising tip again, to meditate upon the works of God, not only in word, but by observing distinctly the change and impression produced upon them, when they are going to sleep, and also their waking, how divine and incomprehensible the change from one of these states to the other is.

5:50The excellency of the analogy in regard to discrimination and memory has now been pointed out to you, according to our interpretation of "the cloven hoof and the chewing of the cud."

5:51For our laws have not been drawn up at random or in accordance with the first casual thought that occurred to the mind, but with a view to truth and the indication of right reason.

5:52For by means of the directions which he gives with regard to meats and drinks and particular cases of touching, he bids us neither to do nor listen to anything thoughtlessly nor to resort to injustice by the abuse of the power of reason.

5:53In the case of the wild animals, too, the same principle may be discovered.

5:54For the character of the weasel and of mice and such animals as these, which are expressly mentioned, is destructive.

5:55Mice defile and damage everything, not only for their own food but even to the extent of rendering absolutely useless to man whatever it falls in their way to damage.

5:56The weasel class, too, is peculiar: for besides what has been said, it has a characteristic which is defiling: It conceives through the ears and brings forth through the mouth.

5:57And it is for this reason that a like practice is declared unclean in men.

5:58For by embodying in speech all that they receive through the ears, they involve others in evils and work no ordinary impurity, being themselves altogether defiled by the pollution of impiety.

5:59And your king, as we are informed, does quite right in destroying such men.'

5:60Then I said 'I suppose you mean the informers, for he constantly exposes them to tortures and to painful forms of death.'

5:61'Yes,' he replied, 'these are the men I mean; for to watch for men's destruction is an unholy thing.

5:62And our law forbids us to injure any one either by word or deed.

5:63My brief account of these matters ought to have convinced you, that all our regulations have been drawn up with a view to righteousness, and that nothing has been enacted in the Scripture thoughtlessly or without due reason, but its purpose is to enable us throughout our whole life and in all our actions to practise righteousness before all men, being mindful of Almighty God.

5:64And so concerning meats and things unclean, creeping things, and wild beasts, the whole system aims at righteousness and righteous relationships between man and man.'

5:65He seemed to me to have made a good defence on all the points; for in reference also to the calves and rams and goats which are offered, he said that it was necessary to take them from the herds and flocks, and sacrifice tame animals and offer nothing wild, that the offerers of the sacrifices might understand the symbolic meaning of the lawgiver and not be under the influence of an arrogant self-consciousness.

5:66For he, who offers a sacrifice, makes an offering also of his own soul in all its moods.

5:67I think that these particulars with regard to our discussion are worth narrating, and on account of the sanctity and natural meaning of the law, I have been induced to explain them to you clearly, Philocrates, because of your own devotion to learning.

Chapter 6

6:1AND Eleazar, after offering the sacrifice, and selecting the envoys, and preparing many gifts for the king, despatched us on our journey in great security.

6:2And when we reached Alexandria, the king was at once informed of our arrival.

6:3On our admission to the palace, Andreas and I warmly greeted the king and handed over to him the letter written by Eleazar.

6:4The king was very anxious to meet the envoys, and gave orders that all the other officials should be dismissed and the envoys summoned to his presence at once.

6:5Now this excited general surprise, for it is customary for those who come to seek an audience with the king on matters of importance to be admitted to his presence on the fifth day, while envoys from kings or very important cities with difficulty secure admission to the Court in thirty days--but these men he counted worthy of greater honour, since he held their master in such high esteem, and so he immediately dismissed those whose presence he regarded as superfluous and continued walking about until they came in and he was able to welcome them.

6:6When they entered with the gifts which had been sent with them and the valuable parchments, on which the law was inscribed in gold in Jewish characters, for the parchment was wonderfully prepared and the connexion between the pageshad been so effected as to be invisible, the king as soon as he saw them began to ask them about the books.

6:7And when they had taken the rolls out of their coverings and unfolded the pages, the king stood still for a long time and then making obeisance about seven times, he said:

6:8'I thank you, my friends, and I thank him that sent you still more, and most of all God, whose oracles these are.'

6:9And when all, the envoys and the others who were present as well, shouted out at one time and with one voice: 'God save the King!' he burst into tears of joy.

6:10For his exaltation of soul and the sense of the overwhelming honour which had been paid him compelled him to weep over his good fortune.

6:11He commanded them to put the rolls back in their places and then after saluting the men, said: 'It was right, men of God, that I should first of all pay my reverence to the books for the sake of which I summoned you here and then when I had done that, to extend the right-hand of friendship to you.

6:12It was for this reason that I did this first.

6:13I have enacted that this day, on which you arrived, shall be kept as a great day and it will be celebrated annually throughout my life time.

6:14It happens also that it is the anniversary of my naval victory over Antigonus. Therefore I shall be glad to feast with you to-day.

6:15Everything that you may have occasion to use,' he said, 'shall be prepared for you in a befitting manner and for me also with you.'

6:16After they had expressed their delight, he gave orders that the best quarters near the citadel should be assigned to them, and that preparations should be made for the banquet.

6:17And Nicanor summoned the lord high steward, Dorotheus, who was the special officer appointed to look after the Jews, and commanded him to make the necessary preparation for each one.

6:18For this arrangement had been made by the king and it is an arrangement which you see maintained to-day.

6:19For as many cities as have special customs in the matter of drinking, eating, and reclining, have special officers appointed to look after their requirements.

6:20And whenever they come to visit the kings, preparations are made in accordance with their own customs, in order that there may be no discomfort to disturb the enjoyment of their visit.

6:21The. same precaution was taken in the case of the Jewish envoys.

6:22Now Dorotheus who was the patron appointed to look after Jewish guests was a very conscientious man.

6:23All the stores which were under his control and set apart for the reception of such guests, he brought out for the feast.

6:24He arranged the seats in two rows in accordance with the king's instructions.

6:25For he had ordered him to make half the men sit at his right hand and the rest behind him, in order that he might not withhold from them the highest possible honour.

6:26When they had taken their seats he instructed Dorotheus to carry out everything in accordance with the customs which were in use amongst his Jewish guests.

6:27Therefore he dispensed with the services of the sacred heralds and the sacrificing priests and the others who were accustomed to offer the prayers, and called upon one of our number, Eleazar, the oldest of the Jewish priests, to offer prayer instead.

6:28And he rose up and made a remarkable prayer. 'May Almighty God enrich you, O king, with all the good things which He has made and may He grant you and your wife and your children and your comrades the continual possession of them as long as you live!'

6:29At these words a loud and joyous applause broke out which lasted for a considerable time, and then they turned to the enjoyment of the banquet which had been prepared.

6:30All the arrangements for service at table were carried out in accordance with the injunction of Dorotheus.

6:31Among the attendants were the royal pages and others who held places of honour at the king's court.

6:32Taking an opportunity afforded by a pause in the banquet the king asked the envoy who sat in the seat of honour (for they were arranged according to seniority), how he could keep his kingdom unimpaired to the end?

6:33After pondering for a moment he replied, 'You could best establish its security if you were to imitate the unceasing benignity of God. For if you exhibit clemency and inflict mild punishments upon those who deserve them in accordance with their deserts, you will turn them from evil and lead them to repentance.' 8

6:34The king praised the answer and then asked the next man, how he could do everything for the best in all his actions?

6:35And he replied, 'If a man maintains a just bearing towards all, he will always act rightly on every occasion, remembering that every thought is known to God. If you take the fear of God as your starting-point, you will never miss the goal.'

6:36The king complimented this man, too, upon his answer and asked another, how he could have friends like-minded with himself?

6:37He replied, 'If they see you studying the interests of the multitudes over whom you rule; you will do well to observe how God bestows his benefits on the human race, providing for them health and food and--all other things in due season.'

6:38After expressing his agreement with the reply, the king asked the next guest, how in giving audiences and passing judgments he could gain the praise even of those who failed to win their suit?

6:39And he said, 'If you are fair in speech to all alike and never act insolently nor tyrannically in your treatment of offenders. And you will do this if you watch the method by which God acts. The petitions of the worthy are always fulfilled, while those who fail to obtain an answer to their prayers are informed by means of dreams or events of what was harmful in their requests and that God does not smite them according to their sins or the greatness of His strength, but acts with forbearance towards them.'

6:40The king praised the man warmly for his answer and asked the next in order, how he could be invincible in military affairs?

6:41And he replied, 'If he did not trust entirely to his multitudes or his warlike forces, but called upon God continually to bring his enterprises to a successful issue, while he himself. discharged all his duties in the spirit of justice.'

6:42Welcoming this answer, he asked another how he might become. an object of dread to his enemies.

6:43And he replied, 'If while maintaining a vast supply of arms and forces he remembered that these things were powerless to achieve a permanent and conclusive result. For even God instils fear into the minds of men by granting reprieves and making merely a display of the greatness of his power.'

6:44This man the king praised and then said to the next, 'What is the highest good in life?'

6:45And he answered, 'To know that God is Lord of the Universe, and that in our finest achievements it is not we who attain success but God who by his power brings all things to fulfilment and leads us to the goal.'

6:46The king exclaimed that the man had answered well and then asked the next how he could keep all his possessions intact and finally hand them down to his successors in the same condition?

6:47And he answered, 'By praying constantly to God that you may be inspired with high motives in all your undertakings and by warning your descendants not to be dazzled by fame or wealth, for it is God who bestows all these gifts and men never by themselves win the supremacy.'

6:48The king expressed his agreement with the answer and inquired of the next guest, how he could bear with equanimity whatever befell him?

6:49And he said, 'If you have a firm grasp of the thought that all men are appointed by God to share the greatest evil as well as the greatest good, since it is impossible for one who is a man to be exempt from these. But God to whom we ought always to pray, inspires us with courage to endure.'

6:50Delighted with the man's reply, the king said that all their answers had been good. 'I will put a question to one other,' he added, 'and then I will stop for the present: that we may turn our attention to the enjoyment of the feast and spend a pleasant time.'

6:51Thereupon he asked the man, 'What is the true aim of courage?'

6:52And he answered, 'If a right plan is carried out in the hour of danger in accordance with the original intention. For all things are accomplished by God to your advantage, O king, since your purpose is good.'

6:53When all had signified by their applause their agreement with the answer, the king said to the philosophers (for not a few of them were present), 'It is my opinion that these men excel in virtue and possess extraordinary knowledge, since on the spur of the moment they have given fitting answers to these questions which I have put to them, and have all made God the starting-point of their words.'

6:54And Menedemus, the philosopher of Eretria, said, 'True, O King--for since the universe is managed by providence and since we rightly perceive that man is the creation of God, it follows that all power and beauty of speech proceed from God.'

6:55When the king had nodded his assent to this sentiment, the speaking ceased and they proceeded to enjoy themselves. When evening came on, the banquet ended.

Chapter 7

7:1ON the following day they sat down to table again and continued the banquet according to the same arrangements.

7:2When the king thought that a fitting opportunity had arrived to put inquiries to his guests, he proceeded to ask further questions of the men who sat next in order to those who had given answers on the previous day.

7:3He began to open the conversation with the eleventh man, for there were ten who had been asked questions on the former occasion.

7:4When silence was established, he asked how he could continue to be rich?

7:5After a brief reflection, the man who had been asked the question replied--'If he did nothing unworthy of his position, never acted licentiously, never lavished expense on empty and vain pursuits, but by acts of benevolence made all his subjects well disposed towards himself. For it is God who is the author of all good things and Him man must needs obey.'

7:6The king bestowed praise upon him and then asked another how he could maintain the truth?

7:7In reply to the question he said, 'By recognizing that a lie brings great disgrace upon all men, and more especially upon kings. For since they have the power to do whatever they wish, why should they resort to lies? In addition to this you must always remember, O King, that God is a lover of the truth.

7:8The king received the answer with great delight and looking at another said, 'What is the teaching of wisdom?'

7:9And the other replied, 'As you wish that no evil should befall you, but to be a partaker of all good things, so you should act on the same principle towards your subjects and offenders, and you should mildly admonish the noble and good. For God draws all men to Himself by his benignity.'

7:10The king praised him and asked the next in order how he could be the friend of men?

7:11And he replied, 'By observing that the human race increases and is born with much trouble and great suffering: wherefore you must not lightly punish or inflict torments upon them, since you know that the life of men is made up of pains and penalties. For if you understood everything you would be filled with pity, for God also it pitiful!

7:12The king received the answer with approbation and inquired of the next, 'What is the most essential qualification for ruling?'

7:13'To keep oneself,' he answered, 'free from bribery and to practise sobriety during the greater part of one's life, to honour rightousness above all things, and to make friends of men of this type. For God, too, is a lover of justice!

7:14Having signified his approval, the king said to another, 'What is the true mark of piety?'

7:15And he replied, 'To perceive that God constantly works in the Universe and knows all things, and no man who acts unjustly and works wickedness can escape His notice. As God is the benefactor of the whole world, so you, too, must imitate Him and be void of offence!

7:16The king signified his agreement and said to another, 'What is the essence of kingship?'

7:17And he replied, 'To rule oneself well and not to be led astray by wealth or fame to immoderate or unseemly desires, this is the true way of ruling if you reason the matter well out. For all that you really need is yours, and God is free from need and benignant withal. Let your thoughts be such as become a man, and desire not many things but only such as are necessary for ruling!

7:18The king praised him and asked another man, how his deliberations might be for the best?

7:19And he replied, 'If he constantly set justice before him in everything and thought that injustice was equivalent to deprivation of life. For God always promises the highest blessings to the just!'

7:20Having praised him, the king asked the next, how he could be free from disturbing thoughts in his sleep?

7:21And he replied, 'You have asked me a. question which is very difficult to answer, for we cannot bring our true selves into play during the hours for sleep, but are held fast in these by imaginations that cannot be controlled by reason. For our souls possess the feeling that they actually see the things that enter into our consciousness during sleep. But we make a mistake if we suppose that we are actually sailing on the sea in boats or flying through the air9 or travelling to other regions or anything else of the kind. And yet we actually do imagine such things to be taking place.

7:22So far as it is possible for me to decide, I have reached the following conclusion. You must in every possible way, O King, govern your words and actions by the rule of piety that you may have the consciousness that you are maintaining virtue and that you never choose to gratify yourself at the expense of reason and never by abusing your power do despite to righteousness.

7:23For the mind mostly busies itself in sleep with the same things with, which it occupies itself when awake. And he who has all his thoughts and actions set towards the noblest ends establishes himself in righteousness both when he is awake and when he is asleep. Wherefore. you must be steadfast in the constant discipline of self.

7:24The king bestowed praise on the man and said to another--'Since you are the tenth to answer, when you have spoken, we will devote ourselves to the banquet.' And then he put the question, how can I avoid doing anything unworthy of myself?

7:25And he replied, 'Look always to your own fame and your own supreme position, that you may speak and think only such things as are consistent therewith, knowing that all your subjects think and talk about you. For you must not appear to be worse than the actors, who study carefully the rôle, which it is necessary for them to play, and shape all their actions in accordance with it. You are not acting a part, but are really a king, since God has bestowed upon you a royal authority in keeping with your character.'

7:26When the king had applauded loud and long in the most, gracious way, the guests were urged to seek repose. So when the conversation ceased, they devoted themselves to the next course of the feast.

7:27On the following day, the same arrangement was observed, and when the king found an opportunity of putting questions to the men, he questioned the first of those who had been left over for the next interrogation, What is the highest form of government?

7:28And he replied, 'To rule oneself and not to be carried away by impulses. For all men possess a certain natural bent of mind. It is probable that most men have an inclination towards food and drink and pleasure, and kings a bent towards the acquisition of territory and great renown. But it is good that there should be moderation in all things.

7:29What God gives, that you must take and keep, but never yearn for things that are beyond your reach.'

7:30Pleased with these words, the king asked the next, how he could be free from envy?

7:31And he after a brief pause replied, 'If you consider first of all that it is God who bestows on all kings glory and great wealth and no one is king by his own power. All men wish to share this glory but cannot, since it is the gift of God!

7:32The king praised the man in a long speech and then asked another, how he could despise his enemies?

7:33And he replied, 'if you show kindness to all men and win their friendship, you need fear no one. To be popular with all men is the best of good gifts to receive from God!

7:34Having praised this answer the king ordered the next man to reply to the question, how he could maintain his great renown?

7:35And he replied that 'If you are generous and large-hearted in bestowing kindness and acts of grace upon others, you will never lose your renown, but if you wish the aforesaid graces to continue yours, you must call upon God continually.'

7:36The king expressed his approval and asked the next, To whom ought a man to show liberality?

7:37And he replied, 'All men acknowledge that we ought to show liberality to those who are well disposed towards us, but I think that we ought to show the same keen spirit of generosity to those who are opposed to us that by this means we may win them over to the right and to what is advantageous to ourselves. But we must pray to God that this may be accomplished, for he rules the minds of all men.'

7:38Having expressed his agreement with the answer, the king asked the sixth to reply to the question, to whom ought we to exhibit gratitude?

7:39And he replied, 'To our parents continually, for God has given us a most important commandment with regard to the honour due to parents. In the next place He reckons the attitude of friend towards friend for He speaks of "a friend which is as thine own soul." You do well in trying to bring all men into friendship with yourself.'

7:40The king spoke kindly to him and then asked the next, What is it that resembles beauty in value?

7:41And he said, 'Piety, for it is the pre-eminent form of beauty, and its power lies in love, which is the gift of God. This you have already acquired and with it all the blessings of life.'

7:42The king in the most gracious way applauded the answer and asked another, how, if he were to fail, he could regain his reputation again in the same degree?

7:43And he said, 'It is not possible for you to fail, for you have sown in all men the seeds of gratitude which produce a harvest of goodwill, and this is mightier than the strongest weapons and guarantees the greatest security. But if any man does fail, he must never again do those things which caused his failure, but he must form friendships and act justly. For it is the gift of God to be able to do good actions and not the contrary.'

7:44Delighted with these words, the king asked another, how he could be free from grief?

7:45And he replied, 'If he never injured any one, but did good to everybody and followed the pathway of righteousness, for its fruits bring freedom from grief. But we must pray to God that unexpected evils such as death or disease or pain or anything of this kind may not come upon us and injure us. But since you are devoted to piety, no such misfortune will ever come upon you.'

7:46The king bestowed great praise upon him and asked the tenth, What is the highest form of glory?

7:47And he said, 'To honour God, and this is done not with gifts and sacrifices but with purity of soul and holy conviction, since all things are fashioned and governed by God in accordance with His will. Of this purpose you are in constant possession as all men can she from your achievements in the past and in the present.'

7:48With loud voice the king greeted them all and spoke kindly to them, and all those who were present expressed their approval, especially the philosophers. For they were far superior to them [i. e. the philosophers] both in conduct and in argument, since they always made God their starting-point.

7:49After this the king to show his good feeling proceeded to drink the health of his guests.

Chapter 8

8:1ON the following day the same arrangements were e for the banquet, and the king, as soon as an opportunity occurred, began to put questions to the men who sat next to those who had already responded, and he said to the first 'Is wisdom capable of being taught?'

8:2And he said, 'The soul is so constituted that it is able by the divine power to receive all the good and reject the contrary.'

8:3The king expressed approval and asked the next man, What is it that is most beneficial to health?

8:4And he said, 'Temperance, and it is not possible to acquire this unless God create a disposition towards it.'

8:5The king spoke kindly to the man and said to another, 'How can a man worthily pay the debt of gratitude to his parents?'

8:6And he said, 'By never causing them pain, and this is not possible unless God dispose the mind to the pursuit of the noblest ends.'

8:7The king expressed agreement and asked the next, how he could become an eager listener?

8:8And he said, 'By remembering that all knowledge is useful, because it enables you by the help of God in a time of emergency to select some of the things which you have learned and apply them to the crisis which confronts you. And so the efforts of men are fulfilled by the assistance of God.'

8:9The king praised him and asked the next How he could avoid doing anything contrary to law?

8:10And he said, 'If you recognize that it is God who has put the thoughts into the hearts of the lawgivers that the lives of men might be preserved, you will follow them.'

8:11The king acknowledged the man's answer and said to another, 'What is the advantage of kinship?'

8:12And he replied, 'If we consider that we ourselves are afflicted by the misfortunes which fall upon our relatives and if their sufferings become our own--then the strength of kinship is apparent at once, for it is only when such feeling is shown that we shall win honour and esteem in their eyes. For help, when it is linked with kindliness, is of itself a bond which is altogether indissoluble. And in the day of their prosperity we must not crave their possessions, but must pray God to bestow all manner of good upon them.'

8:13And having accorded to him the same praise as to the rest, the king asked another, how he could attain freedom from fear?

8:14And he said, 'When the mind is conscious that it has wrought no evil, and when God directs it to all noble counsels.'

8:15The king expressed his approval and asked another, how he could always maintain a right judgement?

8:16And he replied, 'If he constantly set before his eyes the misfortunes which befall men and recognized that it is God who takes away prosperity from some and brings others to great honour and glory.'

8:17The king gave a kindly reception to the man and asked the next to answer the question, how he could avoid a life of ease and pleasure?

8:18And he replied, 'If he continually remembered that he was the ruler of a great empire and the lord of vast multitudes, and that his mind ought not to be occupied with other things, but, he ought always to be considering how he could best promote their welfare. He must pray, too, to God that no duty might be neglected.'

8:19Having bestowed praise upon him, the king asked the tenth, how he could recognize those who were dealing treacherously with him?

8:20And he replied to the question, 'If he observed whether the bearing of those about him was natural and whether they maintained the proper rule of precedence at receptions and councils, and in their general intercourse, never going beyond the bounds of propriety in congratulations or in other matters of deportment. But God will incline your mind, O King, to all that is noble.'

8:21When the king had expressed his loud approval and praised them all individually (amid the plaudits of all who were present), they turned to the enjoyment of the feast.

8:22And on the next day, when the opportunity offered, the king asked the next man, What is the grossest form of neglect?

8:23And he replied, 'If a man does not care for his children and devote every effort to their education. For we always pray to God not so much for ourselves as for our children that every blessing may be theirs. Our desire that our children may possess self-control is only realized by the power of God.'

8:24The king said that he had spoken well and then asked another, how he could be patriotic?

8:25'By keeping before your mind,' he replied, 'the thought that it is good to live and die in one's own country. Residence abroad 10 brings contempt upon the poor and shame upon the rich as though they had been banished for a crime. If you bestow benefits upon all, as you continually do, God will give you favour with all and you will be accounted patriotic."

8:26After listening to this man, the king asked the next in order, how he could live amicably with his wife?

8:27And he answered, 'By recognizing that womankind are by nature headstrong and energetic in the pursuit of their own desires, and subject to sudden changes of opinion through fallacious reasoning, and their nature is essentially weak. It is necessary to deal wisely with them and not to provoke strife. For the successful conduct of life. the steersman must know the goal toward which he ought to direct his course. It is only by calling upon the help of God that men can steer a true course of life at all times.'

8:28The king expressed his agreement and asked the next, how he could be free from error?

8:29And he replied, 'If you always act with deliberation and never give credence to slanders, but prove for yourself the things that are said to you and decide by your own judgement the requests which are made to you and carry out everything in the light of your judgement, you will be free from error, O King. But the knowledge and practice of these things is the work of the Divine power.'

8:30Delighted with these words, the king asked another, how he could be free from wrath?

8:31And he said in reply to the question, 'If he recognized that he had power over all even to inflict death upon them, if he gave way to wrath, and that it would be useless and pitiful if he, just because he was lord, deprived many of life.

8:32What need was there for wrath, when all men were in subjection and no one was hostile to him? It is necessary to recognize that God rules the whole world in the spirit of kindness and without wrath at all, and you,' said he, 'O King, must of necessity copy His example.'

8:33The king said that he had answered well and then inquired of the next man, What is good counsel?

8:34'To act well at all times and with due reflection,' he explained, 'comparing what is advantageous to our own policy with the injurious effects that would result from the adoption of the opposite view, in order that by weighing every point we may be well advised and our purpose may be accomplished. And most important of all, by the power of God every plan of yours will find fulfilment because you practise piety.'

8:35The king said that this man had answered well, and asked another, What is philosophy?

8:36And he explained, 'To deliberate well in reference to any question that emerges and never to be carried away by impulses, but to ponder over the injuries that result from the passions, and to act rightly as the circumstances demand, practising moderation. But we must pray to God to instil into our mind a regard for these things.'

8:37The king signified his consent and asked another, how he could meet with recognition when traveling abroad?

8:38'By being fair to all men,' he replied, 'and by appearing to be inferior rather than superior to those amongst whom he was traveling. For it is a recognized principle that God by His very nature accepts the humble. And the human race loves those who are willing to be in subjection to them.'

8:39Having expressed his approval at this reply, the king asked another, how he could build in such a way that his structures would endure after him?

8:40And he replied to the question, 'If his creations were on a great and noble scale, so that the beholders would spare them for their beauty, and if he never dismissed any of those who wrought such works and never compelled others to minister to his needs without wages.

8:41For observing how God provides for the human race, granting them health and mental capacity and. all other gifts, he himself should follow His example by rendering to men a recompense for their arduous toil. The policy of a fair wage for a fair day's work is here seen to be not so modern as we sometimes think in what we are pleased to call this enlightened age. For it is the deeds that are wrought in righteousness that abide continually!

8:42The king said that this man, too, had answered well and asked the tenth, What is the fruit of wisdom?

8:43And he replied, 'That a man should be conscious in himself that he has wrought no evil and that he should live his life in the truth. Since it is from these, O mighty King, that the greatest joy and steadfastness of soul and strong faith in God accrue to you if you rule your realm in piety.'

8:44And when they heard the answer they all shouted with loud acclaim, and afterwards the king in the fullness of his joy began to drink their healths.

8:45And on the next day the banquet followed the same course as on previous occasions, and when the opportunity presented itself the king proceeded to put questions to the remaining guests, and he said to the first, 'How can a man keep himself from pride?'

8:46And he replied, 'If he maintains equality and remembers on all occasions that he is a man ruling over men. And God brings the proud to nought, and exalts the meek and humble!

8:47The king spoke kindly to him and asked the next, Whom ought a man to select as his counsellors?

8:48And he replied, 'Those who have been tested in many affairs and maintain unmingled goodwill towards him and partake of his own disposition. And God manifests Himself to those who are worthy that these ends may be attained.'

8:49The king praised him and asked another, What is the most necessary possession for a king?

8:50'The friendship and love of his subjects,' he replied, 'for it is through this that the bond of goodwill is rendered indissoluble. And it is God who ensures that this may come to pass in accordance with your wish.'

8:51The king praised him and inquired of another, What is goal of speech? And he replied, 'To convince your opponent by showing him his mistakes in a well-ordered army of arguments.

8:52For in this way you will win your hearer, not by opposing him, but by bestowing praise upon him with a view to persuading him. And it is by the power of God that persuasion is accomplished.'

8:53The king said that he had given a good answer, and asked another, how he could live amicably with the many different races who formed the population of his kingdom?

8:54'By acting the proper part towards each,' he replied, 'and taking righteousness as your guide, as you are now doing with the help of the insight which God bestows upon you.'

8:55The king was delighted by this reply, and asked another, 'Under what circumstances ought a man to suffer grief?'

8:56'In the misfortunes that befall our friends,' he replied, 'when we see that they are protracted and irremediable. Reason does not allow us to grieve for those who are dead and set free from evil, but all men do grieve over them because they think only of themselves and their own advantage. It is by the power of God alone that we can escape all evil!

8:57The king said that he had given a fitting answer, and asked another, how is reputation lost?

8:58And he replied, 'When pride and unbounded self-confidence hold sway, dishonour and loss of reputation are engendered. For God is the Lord of all reputation and bestows it where He will.'

8:59The king gave his confirmation to the answer, and asked the next man, To whom ought men to entrust themselves?

8:60'To those,' he replied, 'who serve you from goodwill and not from fear or self-interest, thinking only of their own gain. For the one is the sign of love, the other the mark of ill will and time-serving.

8:61For the man who is always watching for his own gain is a traitor at heart. But you possess the affection of all your subjects by the help of the good counsel which God bestows upon you.'

8:62The king said that he had answered wisely, and asked another, What is it that keeps a kingdom safe?

8:63And he replied to the question, 'Care and forethought that no evil may be wrought by those who are placed in a position of authority over the people, and this you always do by the help of God who inspires you with grave judgement.'

8:64The king spoke words of encouragement to him, and asked another, What is it that maintains gratitude and honour?

8:65And he replied, 'Virtue, for it is the creator of good deeds, and by it evil is destroyed, even as you exhibit nobility of character towards all by the gift which God bestows upon you.'

8:66The king graciously acknowledged the answer and asked the eleventh (since there were two more than seventy), how he could in time of war maintain tranquillity of soul?

8:67And he replied, 'By remembering that he had done no evil to any of his subjects, and that all would fight for him in return for the benefits which they had received, knowing that even if they lose their lives, you will care for those dependent on them. For you never fail to make reparation to any--such is the kind-heartedness with which God has inspired you.'

8:68The king loudly applauded them all and spoke very kindly to them and then drank a long draught to the health of each, giving himself up to enjoyment, and lavishing the most generous and joyous friendship upon his guests.

Chapter 9

9:1ON the seventh day much more extensive preparations were made, and many others were present from the different cities (among them a large number of ambassadors).

9:2When an opportunity occurred, the king asked the first of those who had not yet been questioned, how he could avoid being deceived by fallacious reasoning?

9:3And he replied, 'By noticing carefully the speaker, the thing spoken, and the subject under discussion, and by putting the same questions again after an interval in different forms. But to possess an alert mind and to be able to form a sound judgement in every case is one of the good gifts of God, and you possess it, O King.'

9:4The king loudly applauded the answer and asked another, Why is it that the majority of men never become virtuous?

9:5'Because,' he replied, 'all men are by nature intemperate and inclined to pleasure. Hence, injustice springs up and a flood of avarice. The habit of virtue is a hindrance to those who are devoted to a life of pleasure because it enjoins upon them the preference of temperance and righteousness. For it is God who is the master of these things.'

9:6The king said that he had answered well, and asked, What ought kings to obey? And he said, 'The laws, in order that by righteous enactments they may restore the lives of men. Even as you by such conduct in obedience to the Divine command have laid up in store for yourself a perpetual memorial.'

9:7The king said that this man, too, had spoken well, and asked the next, Whom ought we to appoint as governors?

9:8And he replied, 'All who hate wickedness, and imitating your own conduct act righteously that they may maintain a good reputation constantly. For this is what you do, O mighty King,' he said, 'and it is God who has bestowed upon you the crown of righteousness.'

9:9The king loudly acclaimed the answer and then looking at the next man said, 'Whom ought we to appoint as officers over the forces?'

9:10And he explained, 'Those who excel in courage and righteousness and those who are more anxious about the safety of their men than to gain a victory by risking their lives through rashness. For as God acts well towards all men, so too you in imitation of Him are the benefactor of all your subjects.'

9:11The king said that he had given a good answer and asked another, What man is worthy of admiration?

9:12And he replied, 'The man who is furnished with reputation and wealth and power and possesses a soul equal to it all. You yourself show by your actions that you are most worthy of admiration through the help of God who makes you care for these things.'

9:13The king expressed his approval and said to another, 'To what affairs ought kings to devote most time?'

9:14And he replied, 'To reading and the study of the records of official journeys, which are written in reference to the various kingdoms, with a view to the reformation and preservation of the subjects. And it is by such activity that you have attained to a glory which has never been approached by others, through the help of God who fulfils all your desires.'

9:15The king spoke enthusiastically to the man and asked another, how ought a man to occupy himself during his hours of relaxation and recreation?

9:16And he replied, 'To watch those plays which can be acted with propriety and to set before one's eyes scenes taken from life and enacted with dignity and decency is profitable and appropriate.

9:17For there is some edification to be found even in these amusements, for often some desirable lesson is taught by the most insignificant affairs of life. But by practising the utmost propriety in all your actions, you have shown that you are a philosopher and you are honoured by God on account of your virtue.'

9:18The king, pleased with the words which had just been spoken, said to the ninth man, how ought a man to conduct himself at banquets?

9:19And he replied, 'You should summon to your side men of learning and those who are able to give you useful hints with regard to the affairs of your kingdom and the lives of your subjects (for you could not find any theme more suitable or more educative than this) since such men are dear to God because they have trained their minds to contemplate the noblest themes--as you indeed are doing yourself, since all your actions are directed by God.'

9:20Delighted with the reply, the king inquired of the next man, What is best for the people? That a private citizen should be made king over them or a member of the royal family?

9:21And he replied, 'He who is best by nature. For kings who come of royal lineage are often harsh and severe towards their subjects. And still more is this the case with some of those who have risen from the ranks of private citizens, who after having experienced evil and borne their share of poverty, when they rule over multitudes turn out to be more cruel than the godless tyrants.

9:22But, as I have said, a good nature which has been properly trained is capable of ruling, and you are a great king, not so much because you excel in the glory of your rule and your wealth but rather because you have surpassed all men in clemency and philanthropy, thanks to God who has endowed you with these qualities.'

9:23The king spent some time in praising this man and then asked the last of all, What is the greatest achievement in ruling an empire?

9:24And he replied, 'That the subjects should continually dwell in a state of peace, and that justice should be speedily administered in cases of dispute.'

9:25These results are achieved through the influence of the ruler, when he is a man who hates evil and loves the good and devotes his energies to saving the lives of men, just as you consider injustice the worst form of evil and by your just administration have fashioned for yourself an undying reputation, since God bestows upon you a mind which is pure and untainted by any evil.'

9:26And when he ceased, loud and joyful applause broke out for some considerable time. When it stopped the king took a cup and gave a toast in honour of all his guests and the words which they had uttered.

9:27Then in conclusion he said, I have derived the greatest benefit from your presence. I have profited much by the wise caching which you have given me in reference to the art of ruling.'

9:28Then he ordered that three talents of silver should be presented to each of them, and appointed one of his slaves to deliver over the money.

9:29All at once shouted their approval, and the banquet became a scene of joy, while the king gave himself up to a continuous round of festivity.

Chapter 10

10:1I HAVE written at length and must crave your pardon, Philocrates.

10:2I was astonished beyond measure at the men and the way in which on the spur of the moment they gave answers which really needed a long time to devise.

10:3For though the questioner had given great thought to each particular question, those who replied one after the other had their answers to the questions ready at once and so they seemed to me and to all who were present and especially to the philosophers to be worthy of admiration.

10:4And I suppose that the thing will seem incredible to those who will read my narrative in the future.

10:5But it is unseemly to misrepresent facts which are recorded in the public archives.

10:6And it would not be right for me to transgress in such a matter as this. I tell the story just as it happened, conscientiously avoiding any error.

10:7I was so impressed by the force of their utterances, that I made an effort to consult those whose business it was to make a record of all that happened at the royal audiences and banquets.

10:8For it is the custom, as you know, from the moment the king begins to transact business until the time when he retires to rest, for a record to be taken of all his sayings and doings--a most excellent and useful arrangement.

10:9For on the following day the minutes of the doings and sayings of the previous day are read over before business commence, and if there has been any irregularity, the matter is at once set right.

10:10I obtained therefore, as has been said, accurate information from the public records, and I have set forth the facts in proper order since I know how eager you are to obtain useful information.

10:11Three days later Demetrius took the men and passing along the sea- wall, seven stadia long, to the island, crossed the bridge and made for the northern districts of Pharos.

10:12There he assembled them in a house, which had been built upon the sea-shore, of great beauty and in a secluded situation, and invited them to carry out the work of translation, since everything that they needed for the purpose was placed at their disposal.

10:13So they set to work comparing their several results and making them agree, and whatever they agreed upon was suitably copied out under the direction of Demetrius.

10:14And the session lasted until the ninth hour; after this they were set free to minister to their physical needs.

10:15Everything they wanted was furnished for them on a lavish scale. In addition to this Dorotheus made the same preparations for them daily as were made for the king himself—for thus he had been commanded by the king.

10:16In the early morning they appeared daily at the Court, and after saluting the king went back to their own place.

10:17And as is the custom of all the Jews, they washed their hands in the sea and prayed to God and then devoted themselves to reading and translating the particular passage upon which they were engaged, and I put the question to them, Why it was that they washed their hands before they prayed?

10:18And they explained that it was a token that they had done no evil (for every form of activity is wrought by means of the hands) since in their noble and holy way they regard everything as a symbol of righteousness and truth.

10:19As I have already said, they met together daily in the place which was delightful for its quiet and its brightness and applied themselves to their task.

10:20And it so chanced that the work of translation was completed in seventy-two days, just as if this had been arranged of set purpose.

10:21When the work was completed, Demetrius collected together the Jewish population in the place where the translation had been made, and read it over to all, in the presence of the translators, who met with a great reception also from the people, because of the great benefits which they had conferred upon them.

10:22They bestowed warm praise upon Demetrius, too, and urged him to have the whole law transcribed and present a copy to their leaders.

10:23After the books had been read, the priests and the elders of the translators and the Jewish community and the leaders of the people stood up and said, that since so excellent and sacred and accurate a translation had been made, it was only right that it should remain as it was and no alteration should be made in it

10:24And when the whole company expressed their approval, they bade them pronounce a curse in accordance with their custom upon anyone who should make any alteration either by adding anything or changing in any way whatever any of the words which had been written or making any omission.

10:25This was a very wise precaution to ensure that the book might be preserved for all the future time unchanged.

10:26When the matter was reported to the king, he rejoiced greatly, for he felt that the design which he had formed had been safely carried out.

10:27The whole book was read over to him and he was greatly astonished at the spirit of the lawgiver.

10:28And he said to Demetrius, 'How is it that none of the historians or 'the poets have ever thought it worth their while to allude to such a wonderful achievement?'

10:29And he replied, 'Because the law is sacred and of divine origin. And some of those who formed the intention of dealing with it have been smitten by God and therefore desisted from their purpose.'

10:30He said that he had heard from Theopompus that he had been driven out of his mind for more than thirty days because he intended to insert in his history some of the incidents from the earlier and somewhat unreliable translations of the law.

10:31When he had recovered a little, he besought God to make it clear to him why the misfortune had befallen him.

10:32And it was revealed to him in a dream, that from idle curiosity he was wishing to communicate sacred truths to common men, and that if he desisted he would recover his health.

10:33I have heard, too, from the lips of Theodektes, one of the tragic poets, that when he was about to adapt some of the incidents recorded in the book for one of his plays, he was affected with cataract in both his eyes.

10:34And when he perceived the reason why the misfortune had befallen him, he prayed to God for many days and was afterwards restored.

10:35And after, the king, as I have already said, had received the explanation of Demetrius on this point, he did homage and ordered that great care should be taken of the books, and that they should be sacredly guarded.

10:36And he urged the translators to visit him frequently after their return to Judea, for it was only right, he said, that he should now send them home.

10:37But when they came back, he would treat them as friends, as was right, and they would receive rich presents from him.

10:38He ordered preparations to be made for them to return home, and treated them most munificently.

10:39He presented each one of them with three robes of the finest sort, two talents of gold, a sideboard weighing one talent, all the furniture for three couches.

10:40And with the escort he sent Eleazar ten couches with silver legs and all the necessary equipment, a sideboard worth thirty talents, ten robes, purple, and a magnificent crown, and a hundred pieces of the finest woven linen, also bowls and dishes, and two golden beakers to be dedicated to God.

10:41He urged him also in a letter that if any of the men preferred to come back to him, not to hinder them.

10:42For he counted it a great privilege to enjoy the society of such learned men, and he would rather lavish his wealth upon them than upon vanities.

10:43And now Philocrates, you have the complete story in accordance with my promise.

10:44I think that you find greater pleasure in these matters than in the writings of the mythologists.

10:45For you are devoted to the study of those things which can benefit the soul, and spend much time upon it. I shall attempt to narrate whatever other events are worth recording, that by perusing them you may secure the highest reward for your zeal.

Chapter 0

0:1I cried unto the Lord when I was in distress [ ], Unto God when sinners assailed.

0:2Suddenly the alarm of war was heard before me; (I said), He will hearken to me, for I am full of righteousness.

0:3I thought in my heart that I was full of righteousness, Because I was well off and had become rich in children.

0:4Their wealth spread to the whole earth, And their glory unto the end of the earth.

0:5They were exalted unto the stars ; They said they would never fall.

0:6But they became insolent in their prosperity, wind). =)

0:7Their sins were in secret, And even I had no knowledge (of them).

0:8Their transgressions (went) beyond those of the heathen before them ; They utterly polluted the holy things of the Lord.

Chapter 1

1:12 x When the sinner waxed proud, with a battering-ram he cast down fortified walls, And Thou didst not restrain (him).

1:2Alien nations ascended Thine altar, They trampled (it) proudly with their sandals ;

1:3Because the sons of Jerusalem had defiled the holy things of the Lord, Had profaned with iniquities the offerings of God.

1:4Therefore He said: Cast them far from Me ;

1:5It was set at naught before God, It was utterly dishonoured ;

1:6The sons and the daughters were in grievous captivity, Sealed (?) (was) their neck, branded (?) (was it) among the nations.

1:7According to their sins hath He done unto them, For He hath left them in the hands of them that prevailed.

1:8He hath turned away His face from pitying them, Young and old and their children together ;

1:9For they had done evil one and all, in not hearkening.

1:10(9) And the heavens were angry, And the earth abhorred them ;

1:11For no man upon it had done what they did,

1:12(10) And the earth recognized all Thy righteous judgements, O God.

1:13(11) They set the sons of Jerusalem to be mocked at in return for (the) harlots in her ; Every wayfarer entered in in the full light of day.

1:14(12) They made mock with their transgressions, as they themselves were wont to do ; In the full light of day they revealed their iniquities, (13) And the daughters of Jerusalem were defiled in accordance with Thy judgement,

1:15Because they had defiled themselves with unnatural intercourse. (14) Iam pained in my bowels and my inward parts for these things.

1:16(15) (And yet) 1 will justify Thee, O God, in uprightness of heart, For in Thy judgements is Thy righteousness (displayed), O God.

1:17(16) For Thou hast rendered to the sinners according to their deeds, Yea according to their sins, which were very wicked.

1:18(17) Thou hast uncovered their sins, that Thy judgement might be manifest ;

1:19Thou hast wiped out their memorial from the earth. (18) God is a righteous judge, And He is no respecter of persons,

1:20(19) For the nations reproached Jerusalem, trampling it down ; Her beauty was dragged down from the throne of glory.

1:21(20) She girded on sackcloth instead of comely raiment, A rope (was) about her head instead of a crown.

1:22(21) She put off the glorious diadem which God had set upon her,

1:23In dishonour was her beauty cast upon the ground.

1:24(22) And I saw and entreated the Lord and said, Long enough, O Lord, has Thine hand been heavy on Israel, in bringing the nations upon (them).

1:25(23) For they have made sport unsparingly in wrath and fierce anger ;

1:26And they will make an utter end, unless Thou, O Lord, rebuke them in Thy wrath.

1:27(24) For they have done it not in zeal, but in lust of soul,

1:28Pouring out their;wrath upon us with a view to rapine.

1:29(25) Delay not, O God, to recompense them on (their) heads, To turn the pride of the dragon into dishonour.

1:30(26) And I had not long to wait before God showed me the insolent one Slain on the mountains of Egypt, Esteemed of less account than the least, on land and Sea ;

1:31(27) His body (, too,) borne hither and thither on the billows with much insolence, With none to bury (him), because He had rejected him with dishonour. (28) He reflected not that he was man,

1:32And reflected not on the latter end;

1:33(29) He said: I will be lord of land and sea; And he recognized not that it is God who is great, Mighty in His great strength.

1:34(30) He is king over the heavens, And judgeth kings and kingdoms.

1:35(31) (It is He) who setteth me up in glory, Yl Sag And bringeth down the proud to eternal destruction in dishonour, Because they knew Him not.

1:36(32) And now behold, ye princes of the earth, the judgement of the Lord, For a great king and righteous (is He), judging (all) that is under heaven.

1:37(33) Bless God, ye that fear the Lord with wisdom, : For the mercy of the Lord will be upon them that fear Him, in the Judgement ;

1:38(34) So that He will distinguish between the righteous and the sinner, (And) recompense the sinners for ever according to their deeds ; '

1:39(35) And have mercy on the righteous, (delivering him) from the affliction of the sinner, And recompensing the sinner for what he hath done to the righteous.

1:40(36) For the Lord is good to them that call upon Him in patience, Doing according to His mercy to His pious ones, Establishing (them) at all times before Him in strength.

1:41(37) Blessed be the Lord for ever before His servants.

Chapter 2

2:1Why sleepest thou, O my soul, And blessest not the Lord?

2:2Sing a new song, Unto God who is worthy to be praised. Esteemed of less account than the least. Held in less account than a person of the least position : so clearly 3 ; Sing and tbe wakeful against His awakingf, For good is a psalm (sung) to God from a glad heart.

2:3The righteous remember the Lord at all times, With thanksgiving and declaration of the righteousness of the Lord’s judgements.

2:4The righteous despiseth not the chastening of the Lord ; His will is always before the Lord.

2:5The righteous stumbleth and holdeth the Lord righteous: He falleth and looketh out for what God will do to him ;

2:6He seeketh out whence his deliverance will come.

2:7(6) The steadfastness of the righteous is from God their deliverer ; There lodgeth not in the house of the righteous sin upon sin.

2:8(7) The righteous continually searcheth his house, To remove utterly (all) iniquity (done) by him in error.

2:9(8) He maketh atonement for (sins of) ignorance by fasting and afflicting his soul,

2:10And the Lord counteth guiltless every pious man and his house.

2:11(9) The sinner stumbleth and curseth his life, The day when he was begotten, and his mother’s travail.

2:12(10) He addeth sins to sins, while he liveth (?) ;

2:13He falleth—verily grievous is his fall—and riseth no more. (11) The destruction of the sinner is for ever,

2:14And he shall not be remembered, when the righteous is visited. (12)

2:15This is the portion of sinners for ever.

2:16But they that fear the Lord shall rise to life eternal, And their life (shall be) in the light of the Lord, and shall come to an end no more.

Chapter 3

3:1Wherefore sittest thou, O profane (man), in the council of the pious, Seeing that thy heart is far removed from the Lord, Provoking with transgressions the God of Israel ?

3:2Extravagant in speech, extravagant in outward seeming beyond all (men), Is he that is severe of speech in condemning sinners in judgement.

3:3And his hand is first upon him as (though he acted) in zeal, And (yet) he is himself guilty in respect of manifold sins and of wantonness.

3:4His eyes are upon every woman without distinction ; His tongue lieth when he maketh contract with an oath.

3:5By night and in secret he sinneth as though unseen, With his eyes he talketh to every woman of evil compacts.

3:6He is swift to enter every house with cheerfulness as though guileless.

3:7(6) Let God remove those that live in hypocrisy in the company of the pious, (Even) the life of such an one with corruption of his flesh and penury.

3:8(7) Let God reveal the deeds of the men-pleasers, The deeds of such an one with laughter and derision ;

3:9(8) That the pious may count righteous the judgement of their God, When sinners are removed from before the righteous,

3:10(Even the) man-pleaser who uttereth law guilefully.

3:11(9) And their eyes (are fixed) upon any man’s house that is (still) secure, That they may, like (the) Serpent, destroy the wisdom of . . . with words of transgressors,

3:12(10) His words are deceitful that (he) may accomplish (his) wicked desire.

3:13He never ceaseth from scattering (families) as though (they were) orphans, (11) | Yea, he layeth waste a house on account of (his) lawless desire.

3:14He deceiveth with words, (saying,) There is none that seeth, or judgeth.

3:15(12) He fills one (house) with lawlessness, And (then) his eyes (are fixed) upon the next house, the psalmist, or to the leader of that party; adopting the latter view some have identified the profane man with To destroy it with words that give wing to (desire). (13) (Yet) with all these his soul, like Sheol, is not sated.

3:16Let his portion, O Lord, be dishonoured before thee ; Let him go forth groaning, and come home cursed.

3:17(15) Let his life be (spent) in anguish, and penury, and want, O Lord; Let his sleep be (beset) with pains and his awaking with perplexities.

3:18(16) Let sleep be withdrawn from his eyelids at night ; : Let him fail dishonourably in every work of his hands. t9 (17) Let him come home empty-handed to his house, And his house be void of everything wherewith he could sate his appetite.

3:19(17) Let him come home empty-handed to his house, And his house be void of everything wherewith he could sate his appetite.

3:20(18) (Let) his old age (be spent) in childless loneliness until his removal (by death). )

3:21(19) Let the flesh of the men-pleasers be rent by wild beasts, And (let) the bones of the lawless (lie) dishonoured in the sight of the sun.

3:22(20) Let ravens peck out the eyes of the hypocrites.

3:23For they have laid waste many houses of men, in dishonour, And scattered (them) in (their) lust ;

3:24(21) And they have not remembered God, Nor feared God in all these things ;

3:25But they have provoked God’s anger and vexed Him. (22) May He remove them from off the earth, Because with deceit they beguiled the souls of the flawless.

3:26(23) Blessed are they that fear the Lord in their flawlessness ;

3:27The Lord shall deliver them from guileful men and sinners, And deliver us from every stumbling-block of the lawless (men).

3:28(24) Let God destroy them that insolently work all unrighteousness, For a great and mighty judge is the Lord our God in righteousness.

3:29(28) Let Thy mercy, O Lord, be upon all them that love Thee.

Chapter 4

4:1O Lord God, I will praise Thy name with joy, In the midst of them that know Thy righteous judgements.

4:2For Thou art good and merciful, the refuge of the poor ;

4:3When I cry to Thee, do not silently disregard me.

4:4(3) For no man taketh spoil from a mighty man;

4:5Who, then, can take aught of all that Thou hast made, except Thou Thyself givest ?

4:6(4) For man and his portion (lie) before Thee in the balance ; He cannot add to, so as to enlarge, what has been prescribed by Thee. O God,

4:7(g) when we are in distress we call upon Thee for help, And Thou dost not turn back our petition, for Thou art our God.

4:8(6) Cause not Thy hand to be heavy upon us, Lest through necessity we sin. N

4:9(7) Even though Thou restore us not, we will not keep away ; But unto Thee will we come.

4:10(8) For if I hunger, unto Thee will I cry, O God; And 7hou wilt give to me.

4:11(9) Birds and fish dost Thou nourish, In that Thou givest rain to the steppes that green grass may spring up, (10) (So) to prepare fodder in the steppe for every living thing ;

4:12And if they hunger, unto Thee do they lift up their face.

4:13(11) Kings and rulers and peoples You dost nourish, O God ; And who is the help of the poor and needy, if not Thou, O Lord?

4:14(12) And Thou wilt hearken—for who is good and gentle but Thou ?>— Making glad the soul of the humble by opening Thine hand in mercy.

4:15(13) Man’s goodness is (bestowed) grudgingly and .. .; And if he repeat (it) without murmuring, even that is marvellous.

4:16(14) But Thy gift is great in goodness and wealth, And he whose hope is (set) on Thee shall have no lack of gifts.

4:17(15) Upon the whole earth is Thy mercy, O Lord, in goodness. ~18 (16) Happy is he whom God remembereth in (granting to him) a due sufficiency ; tg If a man abound overmuch, he sinneth.

4:18(16) Happy is he whom God remembereth in (granting to him) a due sufficiency ;

4:19If a man abound overmuch, he sinneth.

4:20(17) Sufficient are moderate means with righteousness, And hereby the blessing of the Lord (becomes) abundance with righteousness.

4:21(18) They that fear the Lord rejoice in good (gifts), And Thy goodness is upon Israel in Thy kingdom. Blessed is the glory of the Lord, for He is our king.

Chapter 5

5:1Happy is the man whose heart is fixed to call upon the name of the Lord ;

5:2When he remembereth the name of the Lord, he will be saved.

5:3(2) His ways are made even by the Lord, And the works of his hands are preserved by the Lord his God.

5:4(3) At what he sees in his bad dreams, his soul shall not be troubled

5:5And turn not Thy face from us, lest we go far from Thee ’.

5:6When he passes through rivers and the tossing of the seas, he shall not be dismayed.

5:7(4) He ariseth from his sleep, and blesseth the name of the Lord:

5:8When his heart is at peace, he singeth to the name of his God, (5) And he entreateth the Lord for all his house.

5:9And the Lord heareth the prayer of every one that feareth God, (6) And every request of the soul that hopes for Him doth the Lord accomplish.

5:10Blessed is the Lord, who showeth mercy to those who love Him in sincerity.

Chapter 6

6:1Make not Thy dwelling afar from us, O God; Lest they assail us that hate us without cause.

6:2For Thou hast rejected them, O God ; Let not their foot trample upon Thy holy inheritance.

6:3Chasten us Thyself in Thy good pleasure ; But give (us) not up to the nations;

6:4For, if Thou sendest pestilence, Thou Thyself givest it charge concerning us ;

6:5For Thou art merciful, And wilt not be angry to the point of consuming us.

6:6(6) While Thy name dwelleth in our midst, we shall find mercy ;

6:7And the nations shall not prevail against us. (7) For Thou art our shield,

6:8And when we call upon Thee, Thou hearkenest to us;

6:9For Thou wilt pity the seed of Israel for ever And Thou wilt not reject (them) : (9) But we (shall be) under Thy yoke for ever, And (under) the rod of Thy chastening.

6:10(10) Thou wilt establish us in the time that Thou helpest us, Showing mercy to the house of Jacob on the day wherein Thou didst promise (to help them).

Chapter 7

7:18 x Distress and the sound of war hath my ear heard, The sound of a trumpet announcing slaughter and calamity,

7:2The sound of much people as of an exceeding high wind, As a tempest with mighty fire sweeping through the Negeb,

7:3And I said in my heart, Surely (?) God judgeth us ;

7:4A sound I hear (moving) towards Jerusalem, the holy city.

7:5My loins were broken at what I heard, (5) my knees tottered ;

7:6My heart was afraid, my bones were dismayed like flax.

7:7(6) I said: They establish their ways in righteousness. (7) I thought upon the judgements of God since the creation of heaven and earth ; I held God righteous in His judgements which have been from of old.

7:8God laid bare their sins in the full light of day ; All the earth came to know the righteous judgements of God.

7:9In secret places underground their iniquities (were committed) to provoke (Him) to anger ;

7:10They wrought confusion, son with mother and father with daughter ;

7:11(10) They committed adultery, every man with his neighbour’s wife. They concluded covenants with one another with an oath touching these things ;

7:12(11) They plundered the sanctuary of God, as though there was no avenger.

7:13(12) They trode the altar of the Lord, (coming straight) from all manner of uncleanness ; And with menstrual blood they defiled the sacrifices, as (though these were) common flesh.

7:14(13) They left no sin undone, wherein they surpassed not the heathen.

7:15(14) Therefore God mingled for them a spirit of wandering ; And gave them to drink a cup of undiluted wine, that they might become drunken.

7:16(15) He brought him that is from the end of the earth, that smiteth mightily ;

7:17He decreed (?) war against Jerusalem, and against her land.

7:18(16) The princes of the land went to meet him with joy: they said unto him: Blessed be thy way! Come ye, enter ye in with peace.

7:19(17) They made the rough ways even, before his entering in; They opened the gates to Jerusalem, they crowned its walls.

7:20(18) As a father (entereth) the house of his sons, (so) he entered (Jerusalem) in peace ; He established his feet (there) in great safety.

7:21(19) He captured her fortresses and the wall of Jerusalem ;

7:22For God Himself led him in safety, while they wandered.

7:23(20) He destroyed their princes and every one wise in counsel ; He poured out the blood of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, like the water of uncleanness.

7:24(21) He led away their sons and daughters, whom they had begotten in defilement.

7:25(22) They did according to their uncleanness, even as their fathers (had done):

7:26They defiled Jerusalem and the things that had been hallowed to the name of God.

7:27(23) (But) God hath shown Himself righteous in His judgements upon the nations of the earth ;

7:28And the pious (servants) of God are like innocent lambs in their midst.

7:29(24) Worthy to be praised is the Lord that judgeth the whole earth in His righteousness. (

7:30(25) Behold, now, O God, Thou hast shown us Thy judgement in Thy righteousness ;

7:31Our eyes have seen Thy judgements, O God. (26) We have justified Thy name that is honoured for ever ;

7:32For Thou art the God of righteousness, judging Israel with chastening.

7:33(27) Turn, O God, Thy mercy upon us, and have pity upon us ;

7:34(28) Gather together the dispersed of Israel, with mercy and goodness ;

7:35For Thy faithfulness is with us. (29) And (though) we have stiffened our neck, yet Thou art our chastener ;

7:36(30) Overlook us not, O our God, lest the nations swallow us up, as though there were none to deliver.

7:37(31) But Thou art our God from the beginning, And upon Thee is our hope (set), O Lord ;

7:38(32) And we will not depart from Thee, For good are Thy judgements upon us,

7:39(33) Ours and our children’s be Thy good pleasure for ever: O Lord our Saviour, we shall never more be moved.

7:40(34) The Lord is worthy to be praised for His judgements with the mouth of His pious ones; And blessed be Israel of the Lord for ever.

Chapter 8

8:1When Israel was led away captive into a strange land, When they fell away from the Lord-who redeemed them,

8:2They were cast away from the inheritance, which the Lord had given them. (2) Among every nation (were) the dispersed of Israel according to the word of God,

8:3hat Thou mightest be justified, O God, in Thy righteousness by reason of our transgressions :

8:4For Thou art a just judge over all the peoples of the earth.

8:5(3) For from Thy knowledge none that doeth unjustly is hidden,

8:6And the righteous deeds of Thy pious ones (are) before Thee, O Lord; Where, then, can a man hide himself from Thy knowledge, O God?

8:7(4) Our works are subject to our own choice and power i To do right or wrong in the works of our hands ;

8:8And in Thy righteousness Thou visitest the sons of men.

8:9(5) He that doeth righteousness layeth up life for himself with the Lord ; And he that doeth wrongly forfeits his life to destruction ;

8:10For the judgements of the Lord are (given) in righteousness to (every) man and (his) house.

8:11(6) Unto whom art Thou good, O God, except to them that call upon the Lord ?

8:12Hecleanseth from sins a soul when it maketh confession, when it maketh acknowledgement ;

8:13For shame is upon us and upon our faces on account of all these things.

8:14(7) And to whom doth He forgive sins, except to them that have sinned ?

8:15Lhou blessest the righteous, and dost not reprove them for the sins that they have committed : And Thy goodness is upon them that sin, when they repent.

8:16(8) And, now, Thou art our God, and we the people whom Thou hast loved: Behold and show pity, O God of Israel, for we are Thine ; And remove not Thy mercy from us, lest they assail us.

8:17And didst set Thy name upon us, O Lord, And Thou wilt not reject (us) for ever.

8:18Thou madest a covenant with our fathers concerning us ; And we hope in Thee, when our soul turneth (unto Thee).

8:19The mercy of the Lord be upon the house of Israel for ever and ever.

Chapter 9

9:1Happy is the man whom the Lord remembereth with reproving, And whom He restraineth from the way of evil with strokes, That he may be cleansed from sin, that it may not be multiplied.

9:2He that maketh ready his back for strokes shall be cleansed, For the Lord is good to them that endure chastening.

9:3For He maketh straight the ways of the righteous, And doth not pervert (them) by His chastening.

9:4And the mercy of the Lord (is) upon them that love Him in truth, And the Lord remembereth His servants in mercy.

9:5For the testimony (is) in the law of the eternal covenant, The testimony of the Lord (is) on the ways of men in (His) visitation.

9:6Just and kind is our Lord in His judgements for ever, And Israel shall praise the name of the Lord in gladness.

9:7And the pious shall give thanks in the assembly of the people ; And on the poor shall God have mercy in the gladness (?) of Israel ;

9:8For good and merciful is God for ever, And the assemblies of Israel shall glorify the name of the Lord. The salvation of the Lord be upon the house of Israel unto everlasting gladness !

Chapter 10

10:1Blow ye in Zion on the trumpet to summon (the) saints, Cause ye to be heard in Jerusalem the voice of him that bringeth good tidings ; For God hath had pity on Israel in visiting them.

10:2Stand on the height, O Jerusalem, and behold thy children, From the East and the West, gathered together by the Lord ;

10:3(3) From the North they come in the gladness of their God, From the isles afar off God hath gathered them.

10:4(4) High mountains hath He abased into a plain for them ;

10:5The hills fled at their entrance. (5) The woods gave them shelter as they passed by;

10:6Every sweet-smelling tree God caused to spring up for them, | (6) That Israel might pass by in the visitation of the glory of their God.

10:7(7) Put on, O Jerusalem, thy glorious garments ; Make ready thy holy robe ; For God hath spoken good concerning Israel, for ever and ever.

10:8(8) Let the Lord do what He hath spoken concerning Israel and Jerusalem ; Let the Lord raise up Israel by His glorious name. (9) The mercy of the Lord be upon Israel for ever and ever.

Chapter 11

11:1Lord, deliver my soul from (the) lawless and wicked man, : From the tongue that is lawless and slanderous, and speaketh lies and deceit.

11:2Manifoldly twisted (?) are the words of the tongue of the wicked man, Even as .. . a fire that burneth up . . .

11:3to fill houses with a lying tongue, To cut down the trees of gladness . . .

11:4To involve households in warfare by means of slanderous lips. (4) May God remove far from the innocent the lips of transgressors by (bringing them to) want And may the bones of slanderers be scattered (far) away from them that fear the Lord !

11:5In flaming fire perish the slanderous tongue (far) away from the pious !

11:6(5) May the Lord preserve the quiet soul that hateth the unrighteous ; And may the Lord establish the man that followeth peace at home.

11:7(6) The salvation of the Lord be upon Israel His servant for ever ;

Chapter 12

12:1The right hand of the Lord hath covered me; The right hand of the Lord hath spared us.

12:2The arm of the Lord hath saved us from the sword that passed through, From famine and the death of sinners.

12:3Noisome beasts ran upon them: With their teeth they tore their flesh, And with their molars crushed their bones.

12:4But from all these things the Lord delivered us.

12:5(5) The righteous was troubled on account of his errors, Lest he should be taken away along with the sinners ;

12:6(6) For terrible is the overthrow of the sinner ; But not one of all these things toucheth the righteous.

12:7For not alike are the chastening of the righteous (for sins done) in ignorance, And the overthrow of the sinners.

12:8Secretly (?) is the righteous chastened, Lest the sinner rejoice over the righteous.

12:9(9) For He correcteth the righteous as a beloved son, And his chastisement is as that of a firstborn.

Chapter 13

13:1x Faithful is the Lord to them that love Him in truth, To them that endure His chastening,

13:2To them that walk in the righteousness of His commandments, In the law which He commanded us that we might live.

13:3(5) The pious of the Lord shall live by it for ever ; The Paradise of the Lord, the trees of life, are His pious ones.

13:4(4) Their planting is rooted for ever ; They shall not be plucked up all the days of heaven:

13:5For the portion and the inheritance of God is Israel. Siok. me. «3 ‘us’.

13:6(6) But not so are the sinners and transgressors, ae inl Who love (the brief) day (spent) in companionship with their sin ;

13:7Their delight is in fleeting corruption,

Chapter 14

14:115 x When I was in distress I called upon the name of the Lord, I hoped for the help of the God of Jacob and was saved ;

14:2For the hope and refuge of the poor art Thou, O God. ;

14:3(2) For who, O God, is strong except to give thanks unto Thee in truth?

14:4And wherein is a man powerful except in giving thanks to Thy name?

14:5(3) A new psalm with song in gladness of heart, The fruit of the lips with the well-tuned instrument of the tongue, The firstfruits of the lips from a pious and righteous heart—

14:6(4) He that offereth these things shall never be shaken by evil ; The flame of fire and the wrath against the unrighteous shall not touch him,

14:7(5) When it goeth forth from the face of the Lord against sinners, To destroy all the substance of sinners,

14:8(6) For the mark of God is upon the righteous that they may be saved. (7) Famine and sword and pestilence (shall be) far from the righteous,

14:9For they shall flee away from the pious as men pursued in war; (8) But they shall pursue sinners and overtake (them), And they that do lawlessness shall not escape the judgement of God ; (9) As by enemies experienced (in war) shall they be overtaken,

14:10For the mark of destruction is upon their forehead.

14:11(10) And the inheritance of sinners is destruction and darkness, And their iniquities shall pursue them unto Sheol beneath.

14:12(11) Their inheritance shall not be found of their children,

14:13For sins shall lay waste the houses of sinners. (12) And sinners shall perish for ever in the day of the Lord’s judgement,

14:14When God visiteth the earth with His judgement.

14:15(13) But they that fear the Lord shall find mercy therein, And shall live by the compassion of their God ; But sinners shall perish for ever.

Chapter 15

15:1When my soul slumbered (being afar) from the Lord, I had all but slipped down to the pit When (I was) far from God,

15:2my soul had been wellnigh poured out unto death,

15:3(I had been) nigh unto the gates of Sheol with the sinner,

15:4when my soul departed from the Lord God of Israel— Had not the Lord helped me with His everlasting mercy.

15:5He pricked me, as -a-horse is pricked, that I might serve Him, My saviour and helper at all times saved me.

15:6I will give thanks unto Thee, O God, for Thou hast helped me to (my) salvation ; And hast not counted me with sinners to (my) destruction.

15:7Remove not Thy mercy from me, O God, _ . Nor Thy memorial from my heart until I die.

15:8Rule’me, O God, (keeping me back) from wicked sin, X And from every wicked woman that causeth the simple to stumble.

15:9And let not the beauty of a lawless woman beguile me, Nor any one that is subject to (?) unprofitable sin.

15:10Establish the works of my hands before Thee, And preserve my goings in the remembrance of Thee.

15:11Protect my tongue and my lips with words of truth; Anger and unreasoning wrath put far from me.

15:12Murmuring, and impatience in affliction, remove far from me, When, if I sin, Thou chastenest me that I may return (unto Thee).

15:13But with goodwill and cheerfulness support my soul; When Thou strengthenest my soul, what is given (to me) will be sufficient for me.

15:14For if Zou givest not strength, Who can endure chastisement with poverty?

15:15When a man is rebuked by means of his corruption, Thy testing (of him) is in his flesh and in the affliction of poverty.

15:16If the righteous endureth in all these (trials), he shall receive mercy from the Lord.

Chapter 16

16:1O Lord, Thou art our King for ever and ever, For in Thee, O God, doth our soul glory.

16:2How long are the days of man’s life upon the earth? As are his days, so is the hope (set) upon him.

16:3But we hope in God, our deliverer 5) (2) that dvov is due to a misplaced gloss or a corrupt dittograph in ® (nnw nwa for NNW3); and (3) that carafOopa, For the might of our God is for ever with mercy, en Re

16:4And the kingdom of our God is for ever over the nations in judgement.

16:5(4) Thou, O Lord, didst choose David (to be) king over Israel, And swaredst to him touching his seed that never should his kingdom fail before Thee.

16:6(5) But, for our sins, sinners rose up against us; They assailed-us and thrust us out ; ; F : What Thou hadst not promised to them, they took away (from us) with violence.

16:7They in no wise glorified Thy honourable name; (6) They set a (worldly) monarchy in place of (that which was) their excellency ;

16:8They laid waste the throne of David in tumultuous arrogance. (7) But Thou, O God, didst cast them down, and remove their seed from the earth,

16:9In that there rose up against them a man that was alien to our race.

16:10(8) According to their sins didst Thou recompense them, O God; So that it befell them according to their deeds.

16:11(9) God showed them no pity ; He sought out their seed and let not one of them go free.

16:12(ro) Faithful is the Lord in all His judgements Which He doeth upon the earth.

16:13(11) The lawless one laid waste our land so that none inhabited it, They destroyed young and old and their children together.

16:14(12) In the heat of His anger He sent them away even unto the west, And (He exposed) the rulers of the land unsparingly to derision.

16:15(13) Being an alien the enemy acted proudly, And his heart was alien from our God.

16:16(14) And all . . . Jerusalem, As also the nations . . .

16:17(15) And the children of the covenant in the midst of the mingled peoples . . . There was not among them one that wrought in the midst of Jerusalem mercy and truth.

16:18(16) They that loved the synagogues of the pious fled from them, As sparrows that fly from their nest.

16:19(17) They wandered in deserts that their lives might be saved from harm, And precious in the eyes of them that lived abroad was any that escaped alive from them.

16:20(18) Over the whole earth were they scattered by lawless (men).

16:21(19) For the heavens withheld the rain from dropping upon the earth, ce were stopped (that sprang) perennial(ly) out of the deeps, (that ran down) from lofty moun- ains. For there was none among them that wrought righteousness and justice ; (20) _ From the chief of them to the least (of them) all were sinful ;

16:22The king was a transgressor, and the judge disobedient, and the people sinful.

16:23(21) Behold, O Lord, and raise up unto them their king, the son of David, At the time in the which Thou seest, O God, that he may reign over Israel Thy servant.

16:24(22) And gird him with strength, that he may shatter unrighteous rulers,

16:25And that he may purge Jerusalem from nations that trample (her) down to destruction. (23) Wisely, righteously

16:26he shall thrust out sinners from (the) inheritance, He shall destroy the pride of the sinner as a potter’s vessel.” (24) With a rod of iron he shall break in pieces all their substance,

16:27He shall destroy the godless nations with the word of his mouth ; (25) At his rebuke nations shall flee before him, And he shall reprove sinners for the thoughts of their heart.

16:28(26) And he shall gather together a holy people, whom he shall lead in righteousness, ; And he shall judge the tribes of the people that has been sanctified by the Lord his God.

16:29(27) And he shall not suffer unrighteousness to lodge any more in their midst, Nor shall there dwell with them any man that knoweth wickedness,

16:30~=6©For he shall know them, that they are al! sons of their God. in their cities to their gods.’ Literally rendered the text of J LH runs, ‘ And all things whatsoever he did in Jerusalem, as also the nations in the cities to their gods’; from this S seems to be derived through haplography of év (¢moinoev for émoinoev év). The alternative that S represents the original text of G& and that J L H is due to dittography of év might be considered, if it was not probable that the rois Oeois of J L H 5 was a mere substitute for the unintelligible, but probably earlier, reading of R—rovs 6covs. Similarly, ‘their cities’ (4) is probably a mere amplification of ‘the (28) And he shall divide them according to their tribes upon the land,

16:31And neither sojourner nor alien shall sojourn with them any more. (29) He shall judge peoples and nations in the wisdom of his righteousness. Se/ah.

16:32(30) And he shall have the heathen nations to serve him under his yoke ; And he shall glorify the Lord in a place to be seen of (?) all the earth ;

16:33And he shall purge Jerusalem, making it holy as of old:

16:34(31) So that nations shall come from the ends of the earth to see his glory, Bringing as gifts her sons who had fainted, F

16:35And to see the glory of the Lord, wherewith God hath glorified her. (32) And he (shall be) a righteous king, taught of God, over them,

16:36And there shall be no unrighteousness in his days in their midst, For all shall be holy and their king the anointed of the Lord.

16:37(33) For he shall not put his trust in horse and rider and bow, Nor shall he multiply for himself gold and silver for war, Nor shall he gather confidence from (?) a multitude (?) for the day of battle.

16:38(34) The Lord Himself is his king, the hope of him that is mighty through (his) hope in God. ( ) All nations (shall be) in fear before him,

16:39(35) For he will smite the earth with the word of his mouth for ever.

16:40He will bless the people of the Lord with wisdom and gladness,

16:41(36) And he himself (will be) pure from sin, so that he may rule/a great people. He will rebuke rulers, and remove sinners by the might of his word ;

16:42(37) And (relying) upon his God, throughout his days he will not stumble ; For God will make him mighty by means of (His) holy spirit, And wise by means of the spirit of understanding, with strength and righteousness.

16:43(38) And the blessing of the Lord (will be) with him: he will be strong and stumble not;

16:44(39) _ His hope (will be) in the Lord: who then can prevail against him ? (40) (He will be) mighty in his works, and strong in the fear of God,

16:45(He will be) shepherding the flock of the Lord faithfully and righteously, And will suffer none among them to stumble in their pasture.

16:46(41) He will lead them all aright, erirearcaer And there will be no pride among thém that any among them should be oppressed.

16:47(42) This (will be) the majesty of the king of Israel whom God knoweth ; He will raise him up over the house of Israel to correct_him,

16:48(43) His words (shall be) more refined than costly gold, the choicest ; In the assemblies he will judge the peoples, the tribes of the sanctified.

16:49His words (shall be) like the words of the holy ones in the midst of sanctified peoples.

16:50Blessed be they that shall be in those days, In that they shall see the good fortune of Israel which God shall bring to pass in the gathering) together of the tribes.

16:51May the Lord hasten His mercy upon Israel! May He deliver us from the uncleanness of unholy enemies ! The Lord Himself is our king for ever and ever.

Chapter 17

17:118 x Lord, Thy mercy is over the works of Thy hands for ever ; Thy goodness is over Israel with a rich gift.

17:2Thine eyes look upon them, so that none of them suffers want ;

17:3Thine ears listen to the hopeful prayer of the poor. (3) Thy judgements (are executed) upon the whole earth in mercy ;

17:4And Thy love (is) toward the seed of Abraham, the children of Israel. (4) Thy chastisement is upon us as (upon) a first-born, only-begotten son,

17:5s To turn back the obedient soul from folly (that is wrought) in ignorance.

17:6(5) May God cleanse Israel against the day of mercy and blessing, Against the day of choice when He bringeth back His anointed.

17:7(6) Blessed shall they be that shall be in those days, In that they shall see the goodness of the Lord which He shall perform for the generation that is to come,

17:8(7) Under the rod of chastening of the Lord’s anointed in the fear of his God, In the spirit of wisdom and righteousness and strength ;

17:9(8) That he may direct (every) man in the works of righteousness by the fear of God, That he may establish them all before the Lord,

17:10(9) A good generation (living) in the fear of God in the days of mercy. Selah.

17:11(10) Great is our God and glorious, dwelling in the highest.

17:12(It is He) who hath established in (their) courses the lights (of heaven) for determining seasons from year to year, And they have not turned aside from the way which He appointed them.

17:13(11) In the fear of God (they pursue) their path every day, From the day God created them and for evermore.

17:14(12) And they have erred not since the day He created them. Since the generations of old they have not withdrawn from their path, Unless God commanded them (so to do) by the command of His servants.

Chapter 0

0:1The Testament of Moses even the things which he commanded in the one hundred and twentieth

0:2year of his life, that is the two thousand five hundredth year from the creation of the world:

0:3[But according to oriental reckoning the two thousand and seven hundredth, and the four hundredth

0:4after the departure from Phoenicia], when the people had gone forth after the Exodus that was made

0:5by Moses to Amman beyond the Jordan, in the prophecy that was made by Moses in the book Deutero- 6,

0:6nomy: and he called to him Joshua the son of Nun, a man approved of the Lord, that he might be

0:7the minister of the people and of the tabernacle of the testimony with all its holy things, and that he

0:8might bring the people into the land given to their fathers, that it should be given to them according to the covenant and the oath, which He spake in the tabernacle to give (it) by Joshua: saying to Joshua

0:9these words: ‘(Be strong) and of a good courage so as to do with t

0:10manded that thou mayst be blameless unto God.’ So saith the Lord of the world. For He hath created

0:11the world on behalf of His people. But He was not pleased to manifest this purpose of creation from the foundation of the world, in order that the Gentiles might thereby be convicted yea to their own

0:12humiliation might by (their) arguments convict one another. Accordingly He designed and devised me, and He prepared me before the foundation of the world, that I should be the mediator of His

0:13covenant. /And now I declare unto thee that the time of the years of my life is fulfilled and Iam

0:14passing away to sleep with my fathers even in the presence of all the people. And receive thou this

0:15writing that thou mayst know how to preserve the books which I shall deliver unto thee: and thou shalt set these in order and anoint them with oil of cedar and put them away in earthen vessels in

0:16the place which He made from the beginning of the creation of the world, that His name should be called upon until the day of repentance in the visitation wherewith the Lord will visit them in the consummation of the end of the days. 21

Chapter 1

1:1And now they shall go by means of thee into the land which He determined and promised to give to

1:2their fathers, in the which thou shalt bless and give to them individually and confirm unto them their thy might all that has been com- inheritance in me and establish for them the kingdom, and thou shalt appoint them prefectures

1:3according to the good pleasure of their Lord in judgement and righteousness. And it shall come to pass five years after they enter into the land, that thereafter they shall be ruled by chiefs and 4kings for eighteen years, and during nineteen years the ten tribes shall break away. And the twelve tribes shall go down and transfer the tabernacle of the testimony. Then the God of heaven will make the court of His tabernacle and the tower of His sanctuary, and the two holy tribes shall

1:4be (there) established: but the ten tribes shall establish kingdoms for themselves according to their

1:5own ordinances. And they shall offer sacrifices throughout twenty years : and seven shall entrench the walls, and I will protect nine, but four shall transgress the covenant of the Lord, and profane the

1:6oath which the Lord made with them. And they shall sacrifice their sons to strange gods, and they

1:7shall set up idols in the sanctuary, to worship them. And in the house of the Lord they shall work impiety and engrave every form of beast, evex many abominations. I And in those days

Chapter 2

2:1a king from the east shall come against them and his cavalry shall cover their 2land. And he shall burn their colony with fire together with the holy temple of the Lord, and he shall

2:2carry away all the holy vessels. And he shall cast forth all the people, and he shall take them to the

2:3land of his nativity, yea he shall take the two tribes with him. Then the two tribes shall call upon the

2:4ten tribes, and shall march as a lioness on the dusty plains, being hungry and thirsty. And they shall cry aloud: ‘Righteous and holy is the Lord, for, inasmuch as ye have sinned, we too, in like manner,

2:5have been carried away with you, together with our children.’ Then the ten tribes shall mourn on

2:6hearing the reproaches of the two tribes, and they shall say: ‘What have we done unto you,

2:7brethren? Has not this tribulation come on all the house of Israel?’ And all the tribes shall mourn,

2:8crying unto heaven and saying : ‘God of Abraham God of Isaac and God of Ja ; f covenant which Thou didst make with them, and the oath which Thou aidee Sec os

2:9Thyself, that their seed should never fail from the land which Thou hast given them.’ Then thier II shall remember me, saying, in that day, tribe unto tribe and each man unto his neighbour : ‘Is not this that which Moses did then declare unto us in prophecies, who suffered many things in Egypt

2:10and in the Red Sea and in the wilderness during forty years: and assuredly called heaven and earth to witness against us, that we should not transgress His commandments, in the which he was

2:11a mediator unto us? Behold these things have befallen us after his death according to his declaration as he declared to us at that time, yea behold these have taken place even to our being carried away

2:12captive into the country of the east... Who shall be also in bondage for about seventy and seven years. 1

Chapter 3

3:1Then there shall enter one who is over them, and he shall spread forth his hands, and kneel upon his

3:2knees and pray on their behalf saying: ‘Lord of all, King on the lofty throne, who rulest the world, and didst will that this people should be Thine elect people, then (indeed) Thou didst will that Thou shouldst be called their God, according to the covenant which Thou didst make with their fathers.

3:3And yet they have gone in captivity in another land with their wives and their children, and

3:4taroundy} the gates of strange peoples and where there is great vanity. Regard and have compas-

3:5sion on them, O Lord of heaven.’ Then God will remember them on account of the covenant which

3:6He made with their fathers, and He will manifest His compassion in those times also. And He will put it into the mind of a king to have compassion on them, and he shall send them off to their land

3:7and country. Then some portions of the tribes shall go up and they shall come to their appointed

3:8place, and they shall anew surround the place with walls. And the two tribes shall continue in their prescribed faith, sad and lamenting because they will not be able to offer sacrifices to the Lord of their

3:9fathers. And the ten tribes shall increase and multiply among the Gentiles during the time of their captivity. t

Chapter 4

4:1And when the times of chastisement draw nigh and vengeance arises through the kings who share 2,

4:2in their guilt and punish them, they themselves also shall be divided as to the truth. Wherefore it hath been said: ‘They shall turn aside from righteousness and approach iniquity, and they shall defile with pollutions the house of their worship,’ and [because] ‘they shall go a whoring after

4:3strange gods.’ For they shall not follow the truth of God, but some shall pollute the altar with the

4:4(very) gifts which they offer to the Lord, who are not priests but slaves, sons of slaves. And in those times shall have respect unto desirable persons and receive gifts, an and pervert

4:5ment [on receiving presents]. And on this account the colony and the borders of their shall be filled with lawless deeds and iniquities: those who wickedly depart from the Lord shall be judges: they shall be ready to judge for money as each may wish. t I

Chapter 5

5:1Then there shall be raised up unto them kings bearing rule, and they shall call themselves priests of

5:2the Most High God: they shall assuredly work iniquity in the holy of holies. And an insolent king shall succeed them, who will not be of the race of the priests,a man bold and shameless, and he shall

5:3judge them as they shall deserve. And he shall cut off their chief men with the sword, and re

5:4destroy them in secret places, so that no one may know where their bodies are. He shall slay the

5:5old and the young, and he shall not spare. Then the fear of him shall be bitter unto them in their

5:6land. And he shall execute judgements on them as the Egyptians executed upon them, during

5:7thirty and four years, and he shall punish them. And he shall beget children, (who) succeeding him

5:8shall rule for shorter periods. Into their parts cohorts and a powerful king of the west shall come g who shall conquer them: and he shall take them captive, and burn a part of their temple with fire, (and) shall crucify some around their colony. t

Chapter 6

6:1And when this is done the times shall be ended, in a moment the (second) course shall be (ended) 2,

6:2the four hours shall come. They shall be forced.... And, in the time of these, destructive and

6:3impious men shall rule, saying that they are just. And these shall stir up the poison of their minds, being treacherous men, self-pleasers, dissemblers in all their own affairs and lovers of banquets at 5,

6:4every hour of the day, gluttons, gourmands.... Devourers of the goods of the (poor) saying that

6:5they do so on the ground of their justice, but zz reality to destroy them, complainers, deceitful, concealing themselves lest they should be recognized, impious, filled with lawlessness and iniquity

6:6from sunrise to sunset: saying: ‘We shall have feastings and luxury, eating and drinking, and we y shall esteem ourselves as princes.’ And though their hands and their minds touch unclean things, yet

6:7their mouth shall speak great things, and they shall say furthermore: ‘Do not touch me lest thou shouldst pollute me in the place (where I stand’)... 81

Chapter 7

7:1And there shall come upon them a second visitation and wrath, such as has not befallen them from the beginning until that time, in which He will stir up against them the king of the kings of the earth and one that ruleth with great power, who shall crucify those who confess to their circumcision :

7:2and those who conceal (it) he shall torture and deliver them up to be bound and led into prison.

7:3And their wives shall be given to the gods among the Gentiles, and their young sons shall be operated

7:4on by the physicians in order to bring forward their foreskin. And others amongst them shall be punished by tortures and fire and sword, and they shall be forced to bear in public their idols, polluted

7:5as they are like those who keep them. And they shall likewise be forced by those who torture them to enter their inmost sanctuary, and they shall be forced by goads to blaspheme with insolence the word, finally after these things the laws and what they had above their altar. 9: 2

Chapter 8

8:1Then in that day there shall be a man of the tribe of Levi, whose name shall be Taxo, who having seven sons shall speak to them exhorting (them): ‘Observe, my sons, behold a second ruthless (and) unclean visitation has come upon the people, and a punishment merciless and far exceeding the first.

8:2For what nation or what region or what people of those who are impious towards the Lord, who

8:3have done many abominations, have suffered as great calamities as have befallen us? Now, there- fore, my sons, hear me: for observe and know that neither did the fathers nor their forefathers

8:4tempt God, so as to transgress His commands. And ye know that this is our strength, and thus we

8:5will do. Let us fast for the space of three days and on the fourth let us go into a cave which is in

8:6a the field, and let us die rather than transgress the commands of the Lord of Lords, the God of our fathers. For if we do this and die, our blood shall be avenged before the Lord.

Chapter 9

9:1And then His kingdom shall appear throughout all His creation, And then Satan shall be no more, And sorrow shall depart with him. Then the hands of the angel shall be filled Who has been appointed chief, And he shall forthwith avenge them of their enemies. For the Heavenly One will arise from His royal throne, And He will go forth from His holy habitation With indignation and wrath on account of His sons. And the earth shall tremble: to its confines shall it be shaken : And the high mountains shall be made low And the hills shall be shaken and fall.

9:2And the horns of the sun shall be broken and he shall be turned into darkness ; And the moon shall not give her light, and be.turned wholly into blood. And the circle of the stars shall be disturbed.

9:3And the sea shall retire into the abyss, And the fountains of waters shall fail, And the rivers shall dry up. For the Most High will arise, the Eternal God alone, And He will appear to punish the Gentiles, And He will destroy all their idols.

9:4Then thou, O Israel, shalt be happy, And thou shalt }mount upon the necks and wings of the eagle, And they shall be endedj. g And God will exalt thee, And He will cause thee to approach to the heaven of the stars, yIn the place of their habitationf. ro And thou shalt look from on high and shalt see thy enemies in Ge(henna), And thou shalt recognize them and rejoice, And thou shalt give thanks and confess thy Creator. 11,12 And do thou, Joshua (the son of) Nun, keep these words and this book; For from my death

9:5[assumption] until His advent there shall be CCL times. And this is the course of the times which 14,

9:6they shall pursue till they are consummated. And I shall go to sleep with my fathers. Wherefore, Joshua thou (son of) Nun, (be strong and) be of good courage; (for) God hath chosen (thee) to be minister in the same covenant. 1

Chapter 10

10:1And when Joshua had heard the words of Moses that were so written in his writing all that he

10:2had before said, he rent his clothes and cast himself at Moses’ feet. And Moses comforted him and 3,

10:3wept with him. And Joshua answered him and said: ‘Why dost thou comfort me, (my) lord Moses? And how shali I be comforted in regard to the bitter word which thou hast spoken which has gone forth from thy mouth, which is full of tears and lamentation, in that thou departest from 5,

10:4this people? (But now) what place shall receive thee? Or what shall be the sign that marks (thy)

10:5sepulchre? Or who shall dare’to move thy body from thence as that of a mere man from place to g place? For all men when they die have according to their age their sepulchres on earth ; but thy sepulchre is from the rising to the setting sun, and from the south to the confines of the north : all 9,

10:6the world is thy sepulchre. My lord, thou art departing, and who shall feed this people? Or who tris there that shall have compassion on them and who shall be their guide by the way? Or who shall pray for them, not omitting a single day, in order that I may lead them into the land of ¢hezr fore-

10:7fathers? How therefore am I to foster this people asa father (his) only son, or as a mistress her daughter, a virgin who is being prepared to be given to the husband whom she will revere, while she guards her person from the sun and (takes care) that her feet are not unshod for running upon the

10:8ground. (And how) shall I supply them with food and drink according to the pleasure of their

10:9Will? For of them there shall be 600,000 (men), for these have multiplied to this degree through 1s thy prayers, (7) lord Moses. And what wisdom or understanding have I that I should judge or

10:10answer by word in the house (of the Lord)? And the kings of the Amorites also when they hear that we are attacking chem, believing that there is no longer among them the sacred spirit who was worthy of the Lord, manifold and incomprehensible, the lord of the word, who was eee all things, God’s chief prophet throughout the earth, the most perfect teacher in the world, [that he

10:11is no longer among them], shall say “Let us go against them. If the enemy have nw rie wrought impiously against their Lord, they have no advocate to offer prayers on their behalf to ie Lord, like Moses the great messenger, who every hour day and night had his knees fixed to the earth, praying and looking for help to Him that ruleth all the world with compassion and me oad

10:12ness, reminding 77m of the covenant of the fathers and propitiating the Lord with the oath. o1 they shall say: “ He is not with them: let us go therefore and destroy them from off the face of the

10:13earth.” What shall then become of this people, my lord Moses?’

Chapter 11

11:1And when Joshua had finished (these) words, he cast himself again at the feet of Moses. And Moses took his hand and raised him into the seat before him, and answered and said unto him : 3»

11:2‘ Joshua, do not despise thyself, but set thy mind at ease, and hearken to my words. All the nations which are in the earth God hath created and us, He hath foreseen them and us from the beginning of the creation of the earth unto the end of the age, and nothing has been neglected by Him even to

11:3the least thing, but all things He hath foreseen and caused all to come forth. (Yea) all things which are to be in this earth the Lord hath foreseen and lo! they are brought forward (into the

11:4light.... The Lord) hath on their behalf appointed me to (pray) for their sins and (make interces-

11:5sion) for them. For not for any virtue or strength of mine, but of His good pleasure have His com-

11:6passion and longsuffering fallen to my lot. For I say unto you, Joshua: it is not on account of the

11:7godliness of this people that thou shalt root out the nations. The lights of the heaven, the founda- tions of the earth have been made and approved by God and are under the signet ring of His right to hand. Those, therefore, who do and fulfil the commandments of God shall increase and be prospered :

11:8but those who sin and set at nought the commandments shall be without the blessings before men-

11:9tioned, and they shall be punished with many torments by the nations. But wholly to root out and

11:10destroy them is not permitted. For God will go forth who has foreseen all things for ever, and His covenant has been established and by the oath which...

Chapter 0

0:1AND it came to pass in the twenty-sixth year of the reign of Hezediah king of Judah that he called Manasseh his son. Now he was his only one.

0:2And he called him into the presence of Isaiah the son of Amoz the prophet, and into the presence of Josab the son of Isaiah, in order to deliver unto him the words of righteousness which the king himself had seen:

0:3And of the eternal judgments and torments of Gehenna, and of the prince of this world, and of his angels, and his authorities and his powers.

0:4And the words of the faith of the Beloved which he himself had seen in the fifteenth year of his reign during his illness.

0:5And he delivered unto him the written words which Samnas the scribe had written, and also those which Isaiah, the son of Amoz, had given to him, and also to the prophets, that they might write and store up with him what he himself had seen in the king's house regarding the judgment of the angels, and the destruction of this world, and regarding the garments of the saints and their going forth, and regarding their transformation and the persecution and ascension of the Beloved.

0:6In the twentieth year of the reign of Hezekiah, Isaiah had seen the words of this prophecy and had delivered them to Josab his son. And whilst he (Hezekiah) gave commands, Josab the son of Isaiah standing by.

0:7Isaiah said to Hezekiah the king, but not in the presence of Manasseh only did he say unto him: `As the Lord liveth, and th3e Spirit which speaketh in me liveth, all these commands and these words will be made of none effect by Manasseh thy son, and through the agency of his hands I shall depart mid the torture of my body.

0:8And Sammael Malchira will serve Manasseh, and execute all his desire, and he will become a follower of Beliar rather than of me:

0:9And many in Jerusalem and in Judea he will cause to abandon the true faith, and Beliar will dwell in Manasseh, and by his hands I shall be sawn asunder.'

0:10And when Hezekiah heard these words he wept very bitterly, and rent his garments, and placed earth upon his head, and fell on his face.

0:11And Isaiah said unto him: `The counsel of Sammael against Manasseh is consummated: nought will avail thee."

0:12And on that day Hezekiah resolved in his heart to slay Manasseh his son.

0:13And Isaiah said to Hezekiah: `The Beloved hath made of none effect thy design, and the purpose of thy heart will not be accomplished, for with this calling have I been called and I shall inherit the heritage of the Beloved.'

Chapter 1

1:1AND it came to pass after that Hezekiah died and Manasseh became king, that he did not remember the commands of Hezekiah his father, but forgat them, and Sammael abode in Manasseh and clung fast to him.

1:2And Manasseh forsook the service of the God of his father, and he served Satan and his angels and his powers.

1:3And he turned aside the house of his father, which had been before the face of Hezekiah (from) the words of wisdom and from the service of God.

1:4And Manasseh turned aside his heart to serve Beliar; for the angel of lawlessness, who is the ruler of this world, is Beliar, whose name is Mantanbuchus. and he delighted in Jerusalem because of Manasseh, and he made him strong in apostatizing (Israel) and in the lawlessness which were spread abroad in Jerusalem.

1:5And witchcraft and magic increased and divination and auguration, and fornication, a and adultery, and the persecution of the righteous by Manasseh and Belachira, and Tobia the Canaanite, and John of Anathoth, an by (Zadok) the chief of the works.

1:6And the rest of the acts, behold they are written in the book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.

1:7And, when Isaiah, the son of Amoz, saw the lawlessness which was being perpetrated in Jerusalem and the worship of Satan and his wantonness, he withdrew from Jerusalem and settled in Bethlehem of Judah.

1:8And there also there was much lawlessness, and withdrawing from Bethlehem he settled on a mountain in a desert place.

1:9And Micaiah the prophet, and the aged Ananias, and Joel and Habakkuk, and his son Josab, and many of the faithful who believed in the ascension into heaven, withdrew and settled on the mountain.

1:10They were all clothed with garments of hair, and they were all prophets. And they had nothing with them but were naked, and they all lamented with a great lamentation because of the going astray of Israel.

1:11And these eat nothing save wild herbs which they gathered on the mountains, and having cooked them, they lived thereon together with Isaiah the prophet. And they spent two years of days on the mountains and hills.

1:12And after this, whilst they were in the desert, there was a certain man in Samaria named Belchira, of the family of Zedekiah, the son of Chenaan, a false prophet, whose dwelling was in Bethlehem. Now Hezekiah the son of Chanani, who was the brother of his father, and in the days of Ahab, king of Israel, had been the teacher of the 400. prophets of Baal, had himself smitten and reproved Micaiah the son of Amada the prophet.

1:13And he, Micaiah, had been reproved by Ahab and cast into prison. (And he was) with Zedekiah the prophet: they were with Ahaziah the son of Ahab, king in Samaria.

1:14And Elijah the prophet of Tebon of Gilead was reproving Ahaziah and Samaria, and prophesied regarding Ahaziah that he should die on his bed of sickness, and that Samaria should be delivered into the had of Leba Nasr because he had slain the prophets of God.

1:15And when the false prophets, who were with Ahaziah the son of Ahab and their teacher Jalerjas of Mount Joel, had heard-

1:16Now he was a brother of Zedekiah - when they persuaded Ahaziah the king of Aguaron and (slew) Micaiah.

Chapter 2

2:1AND Belchira recognized and saw the place of Isaiah and the prophets who were with him; for he dwelt in the region of Bethlehem, and was an adherent of Manasseh. And he prophesied falsely in Jerusalem, and many belonging to Jerusalem were confederate with him, and he was a Samaritan.

2:2And it came to pass when Alagar Zagar, king of Assyria, had come and captive, and led them away to the mountains of the medes and the rivers of Tazon;

2:3This (Belchira), whilst still a youth, had escaped and come to Jerusalem in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, but he walked not in the ways of his father of Samaria; for he feared Hezekiah.

2:4And he was found in the days of Hezekiah speaking words of lawlessness in Jerusalem.

2:5And the servants of Hezekiah accused him, and he made his escape to the region of Bethlehem. And they persuaded...

2:6And Belchira accused Isaiah and the prophets who were with him, saying: `Isaiah and those who are with him prophesy against Jerusalem and against the cities of Judah that they shall be laid waste and (against the children of Judah and) Benjamin also that they shall go into captivity, and also against thee, O lord the king, that thou shalt go (bound) with hooks and iron chains':

2:7But they prophesy falsely against Israel and Judah.

2:8And Isaiah himself hath said: `I see more than Moses the prophet.'

2:9But Moses said: `No man can see God and live'; and Isaiah hath said: `I have seen God and behold I live.'

2:10Know, therefore, O king, that he is lying. And Jerusalem also he hath called Sodom, and the princes of Judah and Jerusalem he hath declared to be the people of Gomorrah. And he brought many accusations against Isaiah and the prophets before Manasseh.

2:11But Beliar dwelt in the heart of Manasseh and in the heart of the princes of Judah and Benjamin and of the eunuchs and of the councillors of the king.

2:12And the words of Belchira pleased him exceedingly, and he sent and seized Isaiah.

2:13For Beliar was in great wrath against Isaiah by reason of the vision, and because of the exposure wherewith he had exposed Sammael, and because through him the going forth of the Beloved from the seventh heaven had been made known, and His transformation and His descent and the likeness into which He should be transformed (that is) the likeness of man, and the persecution wherewith he should be persecuted, and the torturers wherewith the children of Israel should torture Him, and the coming of His twelve disciples, and the teaching, and that He should before the sabbath be crucified upon the tree, and should be crucified together with wicked men, and that He should be buried in the sepulchre,

2:14And the twelve who were with Him should be offended because of Him: and the watch of those who watched the sepulchre:

2:15And the descent of the angel of the Christian Church, which is in the heavens, whom He will summon in the last days.

2:16And that (Gabriel) the angel of the Holy Spirit, and Michael, the chief of the holy angels, on the third day will open the sepulchre:

2:17And the Beloved sitting on their shoulders will come forth and send out His twelve disciples;

2:18And they will teach all the nations and every tongue of the resurrection of the Beloved, and those who believe in His cross will be saved, and in His ascension into the seventh heaven whence He came:

2:19And that many who believe in Him will speak through the Holy Spirit:

2:20And many signs and wonders will be wrought in those days.

2:21And afterwards, on the eve of His approach, His disciples will forsake the teachings of the Twelve Apostles, and their faith, and their love and their purity.

2:22And there will be much contention on the eve of His advent and His approach.

2:23And in those days many will love office, though devoid of wisdom.

2:24And there will be many lawless elders, and shepherds dealing wrongly by their own sheep, and they will ravage (them) owing to their not having holy shepherds.

2:25And many will change the honour of the garments of the saints for the garments of the covetous, and there will be much respect of persons in those days and lovers of the honour of this world.

2:26And there will be much slander and vainglory at the approach of the Lord, and the Holy Spirit will withdraw from many.

2:27And there will not be in those days many prophets, nor those who speak trustworthy words, save one here and there in divers places,

2:28On account of the spirit of error and fornication and of vainglory, and of covetousness, which shall be in those, who will be called servants of that One and in those who will receive that One.

2:29And there will be great hatred in the shepherds and elders towards each other.

2:30For there will be great jealousy in the last days; for every one will say what is pleasing in his own eyes.

2:31And they will make of none effect the prophecy of the prophets which were before me, and these my visions also will they make of none effect, in order to speak after the impulse of their own hearts.

Chapter 3

3:1AND now Hezekiah and Josab my son, these are the days of the completion of the world.

3:2After it is consummated, Beliar the great ruler, the king of this world, will descend, who hath ruled it since it came into being; yea, he will descent from his firmament in the likeness of a man, a lawless king, the slayer of his mother: who himself (even) this king.

3:3Will persecute the plant which the Twelve Apostles of the Beloved have planted. Of the Twelve one will be delivered into his hands.

3:4This ruler in the form of that king will come and there will come and there will come with him all the powers of this world, and they will hearken unto him in all that he desires.

3:5And at his word the sun will rise at night and he will make the moon to appear at the sixth hour.

3:6And all that he hath desired he will do in the world: he will do and speak like the Beloved and he will say: "I am God and before me there has been none."

3:7And all the people in the world will believe in him.

3:8And they will sacrifice to him and they will serve him saying: "This is God and beside him there is no other."

3:9And they greater number of those who shall have been associated together in order to receive the Beloved, he will turn aside after him.

3:10And there will be the power of his miracles in every city and region.

3:11And he will set up his image before him in every city.

3:12And he shall bear sway three years and seven months and twenty-seven days.

3:13And many believers and saints having seen Him for whom they were hoping, who was crucified, Jesus the Lord Christ, after that I, Isaiah, had seen Him who was crucified and ascended and those also who were believers in Him - of these few in those days will be left as His servants, while they flee from desert to desert, awaiting the coming of the Beloved.

3:14And after (one thousand) three hundred and thirty-two days the Lord will come with His angels and with the armies of the holy ones from the seventh heaven with the glory of the seventh heaven, and He will drag Beliar into Gehenna and also his armies.

3:15And He will give rest of the godly whom He shall find in the body in this world, and the sun wil be ashamed:

3:16And to all who because of (their) faith in Him have execrated Beliar and his kings. But the saints will come with the Lord with their garments which are (now) stored up on high in the seventh heaven: with the Lord they will come, whose spirits are clothed, they will descend and be present in the world, and He will strengthen those, who have been found in the body, together with the saints, in the garments of the saints, and the Lord will minister to those who have kept watch in this world.

3:17And afterwards they will turn themselves upward in their garments, and their body will be left in the world.

3:18Then the voice of the Beloved will in wrath rebuke the things of heaven and the things of earth and the things of earth and the mountains and the hills and the cities and the desert and the forests and the angel of the sun and that of the moon, and all things wherein Beliar manifested himself and acted openly in this world, and there will be a resurrection and a judgment in their midst in those days, and the Beloved will cause fire to go forth from Him, and it will consume all the godless, and they will be as though they had not been created.

3:19And the rest of the words of the vision is written in the vision of Babylon.

3:20And the rest of the vision regarding the Lord, behold, it is written in three parables according to my words which are written in the book which I publicly prophesied.

3:21And the descent of the Beloved into Sheol, behold, it is written in the section, where the Lord says: "Behold my Son will understand." And all these things, behold they are written in the Psalms in the parables of David, the son of Jesse, and in the Proverbs of Solomon his son, and in the words of Korah, and Ethan the Israelite, and in the words of Asaph, and in the rest of the Psalms also which the angel of the Spirit inspired.

3:22(Namely) in those which have not the name written, and in the words of my father Amos, and of Hosea the prophet, and of Micah and Joel and Nahum and Jonah and Obadiah and Habakkuk and Haggai and Malachi, and in the words of Joseph the Just and in the words of Daniel.

Chapter 4

4:1ON account of these visions, therefore, Beliar was wroth with Isaiah, and he dwelt in the heart of Manasseh and he sawed him in sunder with a wooden saw.

4:2And when Isaiah was being sawn in sunder, Belchira stood up, accusing him, and all the false prophets stood up, laughing and rejoicing because of Isaiah.

4:3And Belchira, with the aid of Mechembechus, stood up before Isaiah, laughing deriding;

4:4And Belchira said to Isaiah: 'Say, "I have lied in all that I have spoken, and likewise the ways of Manasseh are good and right.

4:5And the ways also of Belchira and of his associates are good."

4:6And this he said to him when he began to be sawn in sunder.

4:7But Isaiah was (absorbed) in a vision of the Lord, and though his eyes were open, he saw them (not).

4:8And Belchira spake thus to Isaiah: "Say what I say unto thee and I will turn their hearts, and I will compel Manasseh and the princes of Judah and the people and all Jerusalem to reverence thee.

4:9And Isaiah answered and said: "So far as I have utterance (I say): Damned and accused be thou and all they powers and all thy house.

4:10For thou canst not take (from me) aught save the skin of my body."

4:11And they seized and sawed in sunder Isaiah, the son of Amoz, with a wooden saw.

4:12And Manasseh and Belchira and the false prophets and the princes and the people and all stood looking on.

4:13And to the prophets who were with him he said before he had been sawn in sunder: "Go ye to the region of Tyre and Sidon; for for me only hath God mingled the cup."

4:14And when Isaiah was being sawn in sunder, he neither cried aloud nor wept, but his lips spake with the Holy Spirit until he was sawn in twain.

4:15This, Beliar did to Isaiah through Belchira and Manasseh; for Sammael was very wrathful against Isaiah from the days of Hezekiah, king of Judah, on account of the things which he had seen regarding the Beloved.

4:16And on account of the destruction of Sammael, which he had seen through the Lord, while Hezekiah his father was still king. And he did according to the will of Satan.

Chapter 5

5:1The Vision Which Isaiah the Son of Amoz Saw: In the twentieth year of the reign of Hezekiah, king of Judah, came Isaiah the son of Amoz, and Josab the son of Isaiah to Hezekiah to Jerusalem from Galgala.

5:2And (having entered) he sat down on the couch of the king, and they brought him a seat, but he would not sit (thereon).

5:3And when Isaiah began to speak the words of faith and truth with King Hezekiah, all the princes of Israel were seated and the eunuchs and the councillors of the king. And there were there forty prophets and sons of the prophets: they had come from the villages and from the mountains and the plains when they had heard that Isaiah was coming from Galgala to Hezekiah.

5:4And they had come to salute him and to hear his words.

5:5And that he might place his hands upon them, and that they might prophesy and that he might hear their prophecy: and they were all before Isaiah.

5:6And when Isaiah was speaking to Hezekiah the words of truth and faith, they all heard a door which one had opened and the voice of the Holy Spirit.

5:7And the king summoned all the prophets and all the people who were found there, and they came. and Macaiah and the aged Ananias and Joel and Josab sat on his right hand (and on the left).

5:8And it came to pass when they had all heard the voice of the Holy Spirit, they all worshipped on their knees, and glorified the God of truth, the Most High who is in the upper world and who sits on High the Holy One and who rest among His holy ones.

5:9And they gave glory to Him who had thus bestowed a door in an alien world had bestowed (it) on a man.

5:10And as he was speaking in the Holy Spirit in the hearing of all, he became silent and his mind was taken up from him and he saw not the men that stood before him.

5:11Though his eyes indeed were open. Moreover his lips were silent and the mind in his body was taken up from him.

5:12But his breath was in him; for he was seeing a vision.

5:13And the angel who was sent to make him see was not of this firmament, nor was he of the angels of glory of this world, but he had come from the seventh heaven.

5:14And the people who stood near did (not) think, but the circle of the prophets (did), that the holy Isaiah had been taken up.

5:15And the vision which the holy Isaiah saw was not from this world but from the world which is hidden from the flesh.

5:16And after Isaiah had seen this vision, he narrated it to Hezekiah, and to Josab his son and to the other prophets who had come.

5:17But the leaders and the eunuchs and the people did not hear, but only Samna the scribe, and Ijoaqem, and Asaph the recorder; for these also were doers of righteousness, and the sweet smell of the Spirit was upon them. But the people had not heard; for Micaiah and Josab his son had caused them to go forth, when the wisdom of this world had been taken form him and he became as one dead.

Chapter 6

6:1AND the vision which Isaiah saw, he told to Hezekiah and Josab his son and Micaiah and the rest of the prophets, (and) said:

6:2At this moment, when I prophesied according to the (words) heard which ye heard, I saw a glorious angel not like unto the glory of the angels which I used always to see, but possessing such glory ad position that I cannot describe the glory of that angel.

6:3And having seized me by my hand he raised me on high, and I said unto him: "Who art thou, and what is thy name, and whither art thou raising me on high? for strength was given me to speak with him."

6:4And he said unto me: "When I have raised thee on high though the (various) degrees and made thee see the vision, on account of which I have been sent, then thou wilt understand who I am: but my name thou dost not know.

6:5Because thou wilt return into this thy body, but whither I am raising thee on high, thou wilt see; for for this purpose have I been sent."

6:6And I rejoiced because he spake courteously to me.

6:7And he said unto me: "Hast thou rejoiced because I have spoken courteously to thee?" And he said: "And thou wilt see how a grater also that I am will speak courteously and peaceably with thee."

6:8And His Father also who is greater thou wilt see; for for this purpose have I been sent from the seventh heaven in order to explain all these things unto thee."

6:9And we ascended to the firmament, I and he, and there I saw Sammael and his hosts, and there was great fighting therein and the angels of Satan were envying one another.

6:10And as above so on the earth also; for the likeness of that which is in the firmament is here ont he earth.

6:11And I said unto the angel (who was with me): "(What is this war and) what is this envying?"

6:12And he said unto me: "So has it been since this world was made until now, and this war (will continue) till He, whom thou shalt see will come and destroy him."

6:13And afterwards he caused me to ascend (to that which is) above the firmament: which is the (first) heaven.

6:14And there I saw a throne in the midst, and on his right and on his left were angels.

6:15And (the angels on the left were) not like unto the angels who stood on the right, but those who stood on the right had the greater glory, and they all praised with one voice, and there was a throne in the midst, and those who were out he left gave praise after them; but their voice was not such as the voice of those on the right, nor their praise like the praise of those.

6:16And I asked the angel who conducted me, and I said unto him: "To whom is this praise sent?"

6:17And he said unto me: "(it is sent) to the praise of (Him who sitteth in) the seventh heaven: to Him who rests in the holy world, and to His Beloved, whence I have been sent to thee. Thither is it sent."

6:18And again, he made me to ascend to the second heaven. now the height of that heaven is the same as from the haven to the earth and to the firmament.

6:19And (I saw there, as) in the first heaven, angels on the right and on the left, and a throne in the midst, and the praise of the angels in the second heaven; and he who sat on the throne in the second heaven was more glorious than all (the rest).

6:20And there was great glory in the second heaven, and the praise also was not like the praise of those who were in the first heaven.

6:21And I fell on my face to worship him, but he angel who conducted me did not permit me, but said unto me: "Worship neither throne nor angel which belongs to the six heavens - for for this cause I was sent to conduct thee j- until I tell thee in the seventh heaven.

6:22For above all the heavens and their angels has thy throne been placed, and thy garments and thy crown which thou shalt see."

6:23And I rejoiced with great joy, that those who love the Most High and His Beloved will afterwards ascend thither by the angel of the Holy Spirit.

6:24And he raise me to the third heaven, and in like manner I saw those upon the right and upon the left, and there was a throne there in the midst; but the memorial of this world is there unheard of.

6:25And I said to the angel who was with me; for the glory of my appearance was undergoing transformation as I ascended to each heaven in turn: "Nothing of the vanity of that world is here named."

6:26And he answered me, and said unto me: "Nothing is named on account of its weakness, and nothing is hidden there of what is done."

6:27And I wished to learn how it is know, and he answered me saying: "When I have raised thee to the seventh heaven whence I was sent, to that which is above these, then thou shalt know that there is nothing hidden from the thrones and from those who dwell in the heavens and from the angels. And the praise wherewith they praised and glory of him who sat on the throne was great, and the glory of the angels on the right hand and on the left was beyond that of the heaven which was below them.

6:28And again he raised me to the fourth heaven, and the height from the third to the height from the third to the forth heaven was greater than from the earth to the firmament.

6:29And there again I saw those who were on the right hand and those who were on the left, and him who sat on the throne was in the midst, and there also they were praising.

6:30And the praise and glory of the angels on the right was greater than that of those on the left.

6:31And again the glory of him who sat on the throne was greater than that of the angels on the right, and their glory was beyond that of those who were below.

6:32And he raised me to the fifth heaven.

6:33And again I saw those upon the right hand and on the left, and him who sat on the throne possessing greater glory that those of the forth heaven.

6:34And the glory of those on the right hand was greater than that of those on the left from the third to the fourth.

6:35And the glory of him who was on the throne was greater than that of the angels on the right hand.

6:36And their praise was more glorious than that of the fourth heaven.

6:37And I praised Him, who is not named and the Only-begotten who dwelleth in the heavens, whose name is not known to any flesh, who has bestowed such glory on the several heaves, and who makes great the glory of the angels, and more excellent the glory of Him who sitteth on the throne.

Chapter 7

7:1AND again he raised me into the air of the sixth heaven, and I saw such glory as I had not seen in the five heavens.

7:2For I saw angels possessing great glory.

7:3And the praise there was holy and wonderful.

7:4And I said to the angel who conducted me: "What is this which I see, my Lord?"

7:5And he said: "I am not thy lord, but thy fellow servant."

7:6And again I asked him, and I said unto him: "Why are there not angelic fellow servants (on the left)?"

7:7And he said: "From the sixth heaven there are no longer angels on the left, nor a throne set in the midst, but (they are directed) by the power of the seventh heaven, where dwelleth He that is not named and the Elect One, whose name has not been made known, and none of the heavens can learn His name.

7:8For it is He alone to whose voice all the heavens and thrones give answer. I have therefore been empowered and sent to raise thee here that thou mayest see this glory.

7:9And that thou mayest see the Lord of all those heavens and these thrones.

7:10Undergoing (successive) transformation until He resembles your form and likeness.

7:11I indeed say unto thee, Isaiah; No man about to return into a body of that world has ascended or seen what thou seest or perceived what thou hast perceived and what thou wilt see.

7:12For it has been permitted to thee in the lot of the Lord to come hither. And from thence comes the power of the sixth heaven and of the air."

7:13And I magnified my Lord with praise, in that through His lot I should come hither.

7:14And he said: "Hear, furthermore, therefore, this also from thy fellow servant: when from the body by the will of God thou hast ascended hither, then thou wilt receive the garment which thou seest, and likewise other numbered garments laid up (there) thou wilt see.

7:15And then thou wilt become equal to the angels of the seventh heaven.

7:16And he raised me up into the sixth heaven, and there were no (angels) on the left, nor a throne in the midst, but all had one appearance and their (power of) praise was equal.

7:17And (power) was given to me also, and I also praised along with them and that angel also, and our praise was like theirs.

7:18And there they all named the primal Father and His Beloved, the Christ, and the Holy Spirit, all with one voice.

7:19And (their voice) was not like the voice of the angels in the five heavens.

7:20Nor like their discourse but the voice was different there, and there was much light there.

7:21And then, when I was in the sixth heaven I thought the light which I had seen in the five heavens to be but darkness.

7:22And I rejoiced and praised Him who hath bestowed such lights on those who wait for His promise.

7:23And I besought the angel who conducted me that I should not henceforth return to the carnal world.

7:24I say indeed unto you, Hezekiah and Josab my son and Micaiah, that there is much darkness here.

7:25And the angel who conducted me discovered what I thought and said: "If in this light thou dost rejoice, how much more wilt thou rejoice, when in the seventh heaven thou seest the light where is the Lord and His Beloved whence I have been sent, who is to be called "Son" in this world.

7:26Not (yet) hath been manifested he shall be in the corruptible world and the garments, and the thrones, and the crowns which are laid up for the righteous, for those who trust in that Lord who will descend in your form. For the light which is there is great and wonderful.

7:27And as concerning thy not returning into the body thy days are not yet fulfilled for coming here."

7:28And when I heard (that) I was troubled, and he said: "Do not be troubled."

Chapter 8

8:1AND he took me into the air of the seventh heaven, and moreover I heard a voice saying: "How far will he ascend that dwelleth in the flesh?" And I feared and trembled.

8:2And when I trembled, behold, I heard from hence another voice being sent forth, and saying: "It is permitted to the holy Isaiah to ascend hither; for here is his garment."

8:3And I asked the angel who was with me and said: "Who is he who forbade me and who is he who permitted me to ascend?"

8:4And he said unto me: "He who forbade thee, is he who is over the praise-giving of the sixth heaven.

8:5And He who permitted thee, this is thy Lord God, the Lord Christ, who will be called "Jesus" in the world, but His name thou canst not hear till thou hast ascended out of thy body."

8:6And he raised me up into the seventh heaven, and I saw there a wonderful light and angels innumerable.

8:7And there I saw the holy Abel and all the righteous.

8:8And there I saw Enoch and all who were with him, stript of the garments of the flesh, and I saw them in their garments of the upper world, and they were like angels, standing there in great glory.

8:9And there I saw Enoch and all who were with him, stript of the garments of the flesh, and I saw them in their garments of the upper world, and they were like angels, standing there in great glory.

8:10But they sat not on their thrones, nor were their crowns of glory on them.

8:11And I asked the angel who was with me: "How is it that they have received the garments, but have not the thrones and the crowns?"

8:12And he said unto me: "Crowns and thrones of glory they do not receive, till the Beloved will descent in the form in which you will see Him descent will descent, I say into the world in the last days the Lord, who will be called Christ.

8:13Nevertheless they see and know whose will be thrones, and whose the crowns when He has descended and been made in your form, and they will think that He is flesh and is a man.

8:14And the god of that world will stretch forth his hand against the Son, and they will crucify Him on a tree, and will slay Him not knowing who He is.

8:15And thus His descent, as you will see, will be hidden even from the heavens, so that it will not be known who He is.

8:16And when He hath plundered the angel of death, He will ascend on the third day, and he will remain in that world five hundred and forty-five days.

8:17And then many of the righteous will ascend with Him, whose spirits do not receive their garments till the Lord Christ ascend and they ascend with Him.

8:18Then indeed they will receive their garments and thrones and crowns, when He has ascended into the seventh heaven."

8:19And I said unto him that which I had asked him in the third heaven:

8:20"Show me how everything which is done in that world is here made known."

8:21And whilst I was still speaking with him, behold one of the angels who stood nigh, more glorious than the glory of that angel, who had raised me up from the world.

8:22Showed me a book, but not as a book of this world and he opened it, and the book was written, but not as a book of this world. And he gave (it) to me and I read it, and lo! the deeds of the children of Israel were written therein, and the deeds of those whom I know (not), my son Josab.

8:23And I said: "In truth, there is nothing hidden in the seventh heaven, which is done in this world."

8:24And I saw there many garments laid up, and many thrones and many crowns.

8:25And I said to the angel: "Whose are these garments and thrones and crowns?"

8:26And he said unto me: "These garments many from that world will receive, believing in the words of That One, who shall be named as I told thee, and they will observe those things, and believe in them, and believe in His cross: for them are these laid up."

8:27And I saw a certain One standing, whose glory surpassed that of all, and His glory was great and wonderful.

8:28And after I had seen Him, all the righteous whom I had seen and also the angels whom I had seen came to Him. And Adam and Abel and Seth and all the righteous first drew near and worshipped Him, and they all praised Him with one voice, and I myself also gave praise with them, and my giving of praise was as theirs.

8:29And then all the angels drew nigh and worshipped and gave praise.

8:30And I was (again) transformed and became like an angel.

8:31And thereupon the angel who conducted me said to me: "Worship this One," and I worshipped and praised.

8:32And the angel said unto me: "This is the Lord of all the praise-givings which thou hast seen."

8:33And whilst he was still speaking, I saw another Glorious One who was like Him, and the righteous drew nigh and worshipped and praised, and I praised together with them. But my glory was not transformed into accordance with their form.

8:34And thereupon the angels drew near and worshipped Him.

8:35And I saw the Lord and the second angel, and they were standing.

8:36And the second whom I saw was on he left of my Lord. And I asked: "Who is this?" and he said unto me: "Worship Him, for He is the angel of the Holy Spirit, who speaketh in thee and the rest of the righteous."

8:37And I saw the great glory, the eyes of my spirit being open, and I could not thereupon see, nor yet could the angel who was with me, nor all the angels whom I had seen worshipping my Lord.

8:38But I saw the righteous beholding with great power the glory of that One.

8:39And my Lord drew nigh to me and the angel of the Spirit and He said: "See how it is given to thee to see God, and on thy account power is given to the angel who is with thee."

8:40And I saw how my Lord and the angel of the Spirit worshipped, and they both together praised God.

8:41And thereupon all the righteous drew near and worshipped.

8:42And the angels drew near and worshipped and all the angels praised.

Chapter 9

9:1AND thereupon I heard the voices and the giving of praise, which I had heard in each of the six heavens, ascending and being heard there:

9:2And all were being sent up to that Glorious One whose glory I could not behold.

9:3And I myself was hearing and beholding the praise (which was given) to Him.

9:4And the Lord and the angel of the Spirit were beholding all and hearing all.

9:5And all the praises which are sent up from the six heavens are not only heard, but seen.

9:6And I heard the angel who conducted me and he said: "This is the Most High of the high ones, dwelling in the holy world, and resting in His holy ones, who will be called by the Holy Spirit through the lips of the righteous the Father of the Lord."

9:7And I heard the voice of the Most High, the Father of my Lord, saying to my Lord Christ who will be called Jesus:

9:8"Go forth and descent through all the heavens, and thou wilt descent to the firmament and that world: to the angel in Sheol thou wilt descend, but to Haguel thou wilt not go.

9:9And thou wilt become like unto the likeness of all who are in the five heavens.

9:10And thou wilt be careful to become like the form of the angels of the firmament and the angels also who are in Sheol.

9:11And none of the angels of that world shall know that Thou art with Me of the seven heavens and of their angels.

9:12And they shall not know that Thou art with Me, till with a loud voice I have called (to) the heavens, and their angels and their lights, (even) unto the sixth heaven, in order that you mayest judge and destroy the princes and angels and gods of that world, and the world that is dominated by them:

9:13For they have denied Me and said: "We alone are and there is none beside us."

9:14And afterwards from the angels of death Thou wilt ascend to Thy place. And Thou wilt not be transformed in each heaven, but in glory wilt Thou ascend and sit on My right hand.

9:15And thereupon the princes and powers of that world will worship Thee."

9:16These commands I heard the Great Glory giving to my Lord.

9:17And so I saw my Lord go forth from the seventh heaven into the sixth heaven.

9:18And the angel who conducted me from this world was with me and said unto me: "Understand, Isaiah, and see the transformation and descent of the Lord will appear."

9:19And I saw, and when the angels saw Him, thereupon those in the sixth heaven praised and lauded Him; for He had not been transformed after the shape of the angels there, and they praised Him and I also praised with them.

9:20And I saw when He descended into the fifth heaven, that in the fifth heaven He made Himself like unto the form of the angels there, and they did not praise Him (nor worship Him); for His form was like unto theirs.

9:21And then He descended into the forth heaven, and made Himself like unto the form of the angels there.

9:22And when they saw Him, they did not praise or laud Him; for His form was like unto their form.

9:23And again I saw when He descended into the third heaven, and He made Himself like unto the form of the angels in the third heaven.

9:24And those who kept the gate of the (third) heaven demanded the password, and the Lord gave (it) to them in order that He should not be recognized. And when they saw Him, they did not praise or laud Him; for His form was like unto their form.

9:25And again I saw when He descended into the second heaven, and again He gave the password there; those who kept the gate proceeded to demand and the Lord to give.

9:26And I saw when He made Himself like unto the form of the angels in the second heaven, and they saw Him and they did not praise Him; for His form was like unto their form.

9:27And again I saw when He descended into the first heaven, and there also He gave the password to those who kept the gate, and He made Himself like unto the form of the angels who were on the left of that throne, and they neither praised nor lauded Him; for His form was like unto their form.

9:28But as for me no one asked me on account of the angel who conducted me.

9:29And again He descended into the firmament where dwelleth the ruler of this world, and He gave the password to those on the left, and His form was like theirs, and they did not praise Him there; but they were envying one another and fighting; for here there is a power of evil and envying about trifles.

9:30And I saw when He descended and made Himself like unto the angels of the air, and He was like one of them.

9:31And He gave no password; for one was plundering and doing violence to another.

Chapter 10

10:1AFTER this I saw, and the angel who spoke with me, who conducted me, said unto me: "Understand, Isaiah son of Amoz; for for this purpose have I been sent from God."

10:2And I indeed saw a woman of the family of David the prophet, named Mary, and Virgin, and she was espoused to a man named Joseph, a carpenter, and he also was of the seed and family of the righteous David of Bethlehem Judah.

10:3And he came into his lot. And when she was espoused, she was found with child, and Joseph the carpenter was desirous to put her away.

10:4But the angel of the Spirit appeared in this world, and after that Joseph did not put her away, but kept Mary and did not reveal this matter to any one.

10:5And he did not approach May, but kept her as a holy virgin, though with child.

10:6And he did not live with her for two months.

10:7And after two months of days while Joseph was in his house, and Mary his wife, but both alone.

10:8It came to pass that when they were alone that Mary straight-way looked with her eyes and saw a small babe, and she was astonished.

10:9And after she had been astonished, her womb was found as formerly before she had conceived.

10:10And when her husband Joseph said unto her: "What has astonished thee?" his eyes were opened and he saw the infant and praised God, because into his portion God had come.

10:11And a voice came to them: "Tell this vision to no one."

10:12And the story regarding the infant was noised broad in Bethlehem.

10:13Some said: "The Virgin Mary hath borne a child, before she was married two months."

10:14And many said: "She has not borne a child, nor has a midwife gone up (to her), nor have we heard the cries of (labour) pains." And they were all blinded respecting Him and they all knew regarding Him, though they knew not whence He was.

10:15And they took Him, and went to Nazareth in Galilee.

10:16And I saw, O Hezekiah and Josab my son, and I declare to the other prophets also who are standing by, that (this) hath escaped all the heavens and all the princes and all the gods of this world.

10:17And I saw: In Nazareth He sucked the breast as a babe and as is customary in order that He might not be recognized.

10:18And when He had grown up he worked great signs and wonders in the land of Israel and of Jerusalem.

10:19And after this the adversary envied Him and roused the children of Israel against Him, not knowing who He was, and they delivered Him to the king, and crucified Him, and He descended to the angel (of Sheol).

10:20In Jerusalem indeed I was Him being crucified on a tree:

10:21And likewise after the third day rise again and remain days.

10:22And the angel who conducted me said: "Understand, Isaiah": and I saw when He sent out the Twelve Apostles and ascended.

10:23And I saw Him, and He was in the firmament, but He had not changed Himself into their form, and all the angels of the firmament and the Satans saw Him and they worshipped.

10:24And there was much sorrow there, while they said: "How did our Lord descend in our midst, and we perceived not the glory which has been upon Him, which we see has been upon Him from the sixth heaven?"

10:25And He ascended into the second heaven, and He did not transform Himself, but all the angels who were on the right and on the left and the throne in the midst.

10:26Both worshipped Him and praised Him and said: "How did our Lord escape us whilst descending, and we perceived not?"

10:27And in like manner He ascended into the third heaven, and they praised and said in like manner.

10:28And in the fourth heaven and in the fifth also they said precisely after the same manner.

10:29But there was one glory, and from it He did not change Himself.

10:30And I saw when He ascended into the sixth heaven, and they worshipped and glorified Him.

10:31But in all the heavens the praise increased (in volume).

10:32And I saw how He ascended into the seventh heaven, and all the righteous and all the angels praised Him. And then I saw Him sit down on the right hand of that Great Glory whose glory I told you that I could not behold.

10:33And also the angel of the Holy Spirit I saw sitting on the left hand.

10:34And this angel said unto me: "Isaiah, son of Amoz, it is enough for thee;... for thou hast seen what no child of flesh has seen.

10:35And thou wilt return into thy garment (of the flesh) until thy days are completed. Then thou wilt come hither."

10:36These things Isaiah saw and told unto all that stood before him, and they praised. And he spake to Hezekiah the King and said: "I have spoken these things."

10:37Both the end of this world;

10:38And all this vision will be consummated in the last generations.

10:39And Isaiah made him swear that he would not tell (it) to the people of Israel, nor give these words to any man to transcribe.

10:40...such things ye will read. and watch ye in the Holy Spirit in order they ye may receive your garments and thrones and crowns of glory which are laid up in the seventh heaven.

10:41On account of these visions and prophecies Sammael Satan sawed in sunder Isaiah the son of Amoz, the prophet, by the hand of Manasseh.

10:42And all these things Hezekiah delivered to Manasseh in the twenty-sixth year.

10:43But Manasseh did not remember them nor place these things in his heart, but becoming the servant of Satan he was destroyed. Here endeth the vision of Isaiah the prophet with his ascension.

Chapter 0

0:1Now Philopater, on learning from those who came back that Antiochus had made himself master of the places which belonged to himself, sent orders to all his footmen and horsemen, took with him his sister Arsinoe, and marched out as far as the parts of Raphia, where Antiochus and his forces encamped.

0:2And one Theodotus, intending to carry out his design, took with him the bravest of the armed men who had been before committed to his trust by Ptolemy, and got through at night to the tent of Ptolemy, to kill him on his own responsibility, and so to end the war.

0:3But Dositheus, called the son of Drimulus, by birth a Jew, afterward a renegade from the laws and observances of his country, conveyed Ptolemy away, and made an obscure person lie down in his stead in the tent. It befel this man to receive the fate which was meant for the other.

0:4A fierce battle then took place; and the men of Antiochus prevailing, Arsinoe continually went up and down the ranks, and with dishevelled hair, with tears and entreaties, begged the soldiers to fight manfully for themselves, their children, and wives; and promised that if they proved conquerors, she would give them two minæ of gold apiece.

0:5It thus fell out that their enemies were defeated in hand-to-hand encounter, and that many of them were taken prisoners.

0:6Having vanquished this attempt, the king then decided to proceed to the neighbouring cities, and encourage them.

0:7By doing this, and by making donations to their temples, he inspired his subjects with confidence.

0:8The Jews also sent some of their council and of their elders to him. The greetings, guest-gifts, and congratulations on the past, bestowed by them, filled him with the greater eagerness to visit their city.

0:9Having arrived at Jerusalem, sacrificed, and offered thank-offerings to the Greatest God, and done whatever else was suitable to the sanctity of the place, and entered the inner court,

0:10he was so struck with the exact magnificence of the place, and so wondered at the orderly arrangements of the temple, that he conceived the purpose of entering the sanctuary itself.

0:11And when they told him that this was not permissible, none of the nation, no, nor even the priests in general, but only the supreme high priest of all, and he only once in a year, being allowed to go in, he would by no means give way.

0:12Then they read the law to him; but he persisted in obtruding himself, exclaiming, that he ought to be allowed: and saying, Be it that they were deprived of this honour, I ought not to be.

0:13And he put the question, Why, when he entered all temples, none of the priests who were present forbad him?

0:14He was thoughtlessly answered by some one, That he did wrong to boast of this.

0:15Well; since I have done this, said he, be the cause what it may, shall I not enter with or without your consent?

0:16And when the priests fell down in their sacred vestments imploring the Greatest God to come and help in time of need, and to avert the violence of the fierce aggressor, and when they filled the temple with lamentations and tears,

0:17then those who had been left behind in the city were scared, and rushed forth, uncertain of the event.

0:18Virgins, who had been shut up within their chambers, came out with their mothers, scattering dust and ashes on their heads, and filling the streets with outcries.

0:19Women, but recently separated off, left their bridal chambers, left the reserve that befitted them, and ran about the city in a disorderly manner.

0:20Newborn babes were deserted by the mothers or nurses who waited upon them; some here, some there, in houses, or in fields; these now, with an ardour which could not be checked, swarmed into the Most High temple.

0:21Various were the prayers offered up by those who assembled in this place, on account of the unholy attempt of the king.

0:22Along with these there were some of the citizens who took courage, and would not submit to his obstinacy, and his intention of carrying out his purpose.

0:23Calling out to arms, and to die bravely in defence of the law of their fathers, they created a great uproar in the place, and were with difficulty brought back by the aged and the elders to the station of prayer which they had occupied before.

0:24During this time the multitude kept on praying.

0:25The elders who surrounded the king strove in many ways to divert his haughty mind from the design which he had formed.

0:26He, in his hardened mood, insensible to all persuasion, was going onwards, with the view of carrying out this design.

0:27Yet even his own officers, when they saw this, joined the Jews in an appeal to Him who has all power, to aid in the present crisis, and not wink at such overweening lawlessness.

0:28Such was the frequency and the vehemence of the cry of the assembled crowd, that an indescribable noise ensued.

0:29Not the men only, the very walls and floor seemed to sound forth; all things preferring dissolution rather than to see the place defiled.

Chapter 1

1:1Now was it that the high priest Simon bowed his knees over against the holy place, and spread out his hands in reverent form, and uttered the following supplication:

1:2O Lord, Lord, King of the heavens, and Ruler of the whole creation, Holy among the holy, sole Governor, Almighty, give ear to us who are oppressed by a wicked and profane one, who exulteth in his confidence and strength.

1:3It is thou, the Creator of all, the Lord of the universe, who art a righteous Governor, and judgest all who act with pride and insolence.

1:4It was thou who didst destroy the former workers of unrighteousness, among whom were the giants, who trusted in their strength and hardihood, by covering them with a measureless flood.

1:5It was thou who didst make the Sodomites, those workers of exceeding iniquity, men notorious for their vices, an example to after generations, when thou didst consume them with fire and brimstone.

1:6Thou didst make known thy power when thou causedst the bold Pharaoh, the enslaver of thy people, to pass through the ordeal of many and diverse inflictions.

1:7And thou rolledst the depths of the sea over him, when he made pursuit with chariots, and with a multitude of followers, and gavest a safe passage to those who put their trust in thee, the Lord of the whole creation.

1:8These saw and felt the works of thine hands, and praised thee the Almighty.

1:9Thou, O King, when thou createdst the illimitable and measureless earth, didst choose out this city: thou didst make this place sacred to thy name, albeit thou needest nothing: thou didst glorify it with thy illustrious presence, after constructing it to the glory of thy great and honourable name.

1:10And thou didst promise, out of love to the house of Israel, that should we fall away from thee, and become afflicted, and then come to this house and pray, thou wouldest hear our prayer.

1:11Verily thou art faithful and true.

1:12And whereas thou didst often aid our fathers when hard pressed, and in low estate, and deliveredst them out of great dangers,

1:13see now, holy King, how through our many and great sins we are borne down, and made subject to our enemies, and are become weak and powerless.

1:14We being in this low condition, this bold and profane man seeks to dishonour this thy holy place, consecrated out of the earth to the name of thy Majesty.

1:15Thy dwelling-place, the heaven of heavens, is indeed unapproachable to men.

1:16But since it seemed good to thee to exhibit thy glory among thy people Israel, thou didst sanctify this place.

1:17Punish us not by means of the uncleanness of their men, nor chastise us by means of their profanity; lest the lawless ones should boast in their rage, and exult in exuberant pride of speech, and say,

1:18We have trampled upon the holy house, as idolatrous houses are trampled upon.

1:19Blot out our iniquities, and do away with our errors, and shew forth thy compassion in this hour.

1:20Let thy mercies quickly go before us. Grant us peace, that the cast down and broken hearted may praise thee with their mouth.

1:21At that time God, who seeth all things, who is beyond all Holy among the holy, heard that prayer, so suitable; and scourged the man greatly uplifted with scorn and insolence.

1:22Shaking him to and fro as a reed is shaken with the wind, he cast him upon the pavement, powerless, with limbs paralyzed; by a righteous judgment deprived of the faculty of speech.

1:23His friends and body-guards, beholding the swift recompense which had suddenly overtaken him, struck with exceeding terror, and fearing that he would die, speedily removed him.

1:24When in course of time he had come to himself, this severe check caused no repentance within him, but he departed with bitter threatenings.

1:25He proceeded to Egypt, grew worse in wickedness through his beforementioned companions in wine, who were lost to all goodness;

1:26and not satisfied with countless acts of impiety, his audacity so increased that he raised evil reports there, and many of his friends, watching his purpose attentively, joined in furthering his will.

1:27His purpose was to inflict a public stigma upon our race; wherefore he erected a pillar at the tower-porch, and caused the following inscription to be engraven upon it:

1:28That entrance to their own temple was to be refused to all those who would not sacrifice; that all the Jews were to be registered among the common people; that those who resisted were to be forcibly seized and put to death;

1:29that those who were thus registered, were to be marked on their persons by the ivy-leaf symbol of Dionysus, and to be set apart with these limited rights.

1:30To do away with the appearance of hating them all, he had it written underneath, that if any of them should elect to enter the community of those initiated in the rites, these should have equal rights with the Alexandrians.

1:31Some of those who were over the city, therefore, abhorring any approach to the city of piety, unhesitatingly gave in to the king, and expected to derive some great honour from a future connection with him.

1:32A nobler spirit, however, prompted the majority to cling to their religious observances, and by paying money that they might live unmolested, these sought to escape the registration:

1:33cheerfully looking forward to future aid, they abhorred their own apostates, considering them to be national foes, and debarring them from the common usages of social intercourse.

Chapter 2

2:1On discovering this, so incensed was the wicked king, that he no longer confined his rage to the Jews in Alexandria. Laying his hand more heavily upon those who lived in the country, he gave orders that they should be quickly collected into one place, and most cruelly deprived of their lives.

2:2While this was going on, an invidious rumour was uttered abroad by men who had banded together to injure the Jewish race. The purport of their charge was, that the Jews kept them away from the ordinances of the law.

2:3Now, while the Jews always maintained a feeling of unswerving loyalty towards the kings,

2:4yet, as they worshipped God, and observed his law, they made certain distinctions, and avoided certain things. Hence some persons held them in odium;

2:5although, as they adorned their conversation with works of righteousness, they had established themselves in the good opinion of the world.

2:6What all the rest of mankind said, was, however, made of no account by the foreigners;

2:7who said much of the exclusiveness of the Jews with regard to their worship and meats; they alleged that they were men unsociable, hostile to the king's interests, refusing to associate with him or his troops. By this way of speaking, they brought much odium upon them.

2:8Nor was this unexpected uproar and sudden conflux of people unobserved by the Greeks who lived in the city, concerning men who had never harmed them: yet to aid them was not in their power, since all was oppression around; but they encouraged the Jews by sympathizing with them in their troubles, and expected a favourable turn of affairs:

2:9He who knoweth all things, will not, said they , disregard so great a people.

2:10Some of the neighbours, friends, and fellow dealers of the Jews, even called them secretly to an interview, pledged them their assistance, and promised to do their very utmost for them.

2:11Now the king, elated with his prosperous fortune, and not regarding the superior power of God, but thinking to persevere in his present purpose, wrote the following letter to the prejudice of the Jews.

2:12King Ptolemy Philopater, to the commanders and soldiers in Egypt, and in all places, health and happiness!

2:13I am right well; and so, too, are my affairs.

2:14Since our Asiatic campaign, the particulars of which ye know, and which by the aid of the gods, not lightly given, and by our own vigour, has been brought to a successful issue according to our expectation,

2:15we resolved, not with strength of spear, but with gentleness and much humanity, as it were to nurse the inhabitants of Cœle-Syria and Phœnicia, and to be their willing benefactors.

2:16So, having bestowed considerable sums of money upon the temples of the several cities, we proceeded even as far as Jerusalem; and went up to honour the temple of these wretched beings who never cease from their folly.

2:17To outward appearance they received us willingly; but belied that appearance by their deeds. When we were eager to enter their temple, and to honour it with the most beautiful and exquisite gifts,

2:18they were so carried away by their old arrogance, as to forbid us the entrance; while we, out of our forbearance toward all men, refrained from exercising our power upon them.

2:19And thus, exhibiting their enmity against us, they alone among the nations lift up their heads against kings and benefactors, as men unwilling to submit to any thing reasonable.

2:20We then, having endeavoured to make allowance for the madness of these persons, and on our victorious return treating all people in Egypt courteously, acted in a manner which was befitting.

2:21Accordingly, bearing no ill-will against their kinsmen [at Jerusalem], but rather remembering our connection with them, and the numerous matters with sincere heart from a remote period entrusted to them, we wished to venture a total alteration of their state, by bestowing upon them the rights of citizens of Alexandria, and to admit them to the everlasting rites of our solemnities.

2:22All this, however, they have taken in a very different spirit. With their innate malignity, they have spurned the fair offer; and constantly inclining to evil,

2:23have rejected the inestimable rights. Not only so, but by using speech, and by refraining from speech, they abhor the few among them who are heartily disposed towards us; ever deeming that their ignoble course of procedure will force us to do away with our reform.

2:24Having then, received certain proofs that these Jews bear us every sort of ill-will, we must look forward to the possibility of some sudden tumult among ourselves, when these impious men may turn traitors and barbarous enemies.

2:25As soon, therefore, as the contents of this letter become known to you, in that same hour we order those Jews who dwell among you, with wives and children, to be sent to us, vilified and abused, in chains of iron, to undergo a death, cruel and ignominious, suitable to men disaffected.

2:26For by the punishment of them in one body we perceive that we have found the only means of establishing our affairs for the future on a firm and satisfactory basis.

2:27Whoever shall shield a Jew, whether it be old man, child, or suckling, shall with his whole house be tortured to death.

2:28Whoever shall inform against the Jews , besides receiving the property of the person charged, shall be presented with two thousand drachmæ from the royal treasury, shall be made free, and shall be crowned.

2:29Whatever place shall shelter a Jew, shall, when he is hunted forth, be put under the ban of fire, and be for ever rendered useless to every living being for all time to come.

2:30Such was the purport of the king's letter.

Chapter 3

3:1Wherever this decree was received, the people kept up a revelry of joy and shouting; as if their long-pent-up, hardened hatred, were now to shew itself openly.

3:2The Jews suffered great throes of sorrow, and wept much; while their hearts, all things around being lamentable, were set on fire as they bewailed the sudden destruction which was decreed against them.

3:3What home, or city, or place at all inhabited, or what streets were there, which their condition did not fill with wailing and lamentation?

3:4They were sent out unanimously by the generals in the several cities, with such stern and pitiless feeling, that the exceptional nature of the infliction moved even some of their enemies. These, influenced by sentiments of common humanity, and reflecting upon the uncertain issue of life, shed tears at this their miserable expulsion.

3:5A multitude of aged hoary-haired men, were driven along with halting bending feet, urged onward by the impulse of a violent, shameless force to quick speed.

3:6Girls who had entered the bridal chamber quite lately, to enjoy the partnership of marriage, exchanged pleasure for misery; and with dust scattered upon their myrrh-anointed heads, were hurried along unveiled, and, in the midst of outlandish insults, set up with one accord a lamentable cry in lieu of the marriage hymn.

3:7Bound, and exposed to public gaze, they were hurried violently on board ship.

3:8The husbands of these, in the prime of their youthful vigour, instead of crowns wore halters round their necks; instead of feasting and youthful jollity, spent the rest of their nuptial days in wailings, and saw only the grave at hand.

3:9They were dragged along by unyielding chains, like wild beasts: of these, some had their necks thrust into the benches of the rowers; while the feet of others were enclosed in hard fetters.

3:10The planks of the deck above them barred out the light, and shut out the day on every side, so that they might be treated like traitors during the whole voyage.

3:11They were conveyed accordingly in this vessel, and at the end of it arrived at Schedia. The king had ordered them to be cast into the vast hippodrome, which was built in front of the city. This place was well adapted by its situation to expose them to the gaze of all comers into the city, and of those who went from the city into the country. Thus they could hold no communication with his forces; nay, were deemed unworthy of any civilized accommodation.

3:12When this was done, the king, hearing that their brethren in the city often went out and lamented the melancholy distress of these victims,

3:13was full of rage, and commanded that they should be carefully subjected to the same (and not one whit milder) treatment.

3:14The whole nation was now to be registered. Every individual was to be specified by name; not for that hard servitude of labour which we have a little before mentioned, but that he might expose them to the before-mentioned tortures; and finally, in the short space of a day, might extirpate them by his cruelties.

3:15The registering of these men was carried on cruelly, zealously, assiduously, from the rising of the sun to its going down, and was not brought to an end in forty days.

3:16The king was filled with great and constant joy, and celebrated banquets before the temple idols. His erring heart, far from the truth, and his profane mouth, gave glory to idols, deaf and incapable of speaking or aiding, and uttered unworthy speech against the Greatest God.

3:17At the end of the above-mentioned interval of time, the registrars brought word to the king that the multitude of the Jews was too great for registration,

3:18inasmuch as there were many still left in the land, of whom some were in inhabited houses, and others were scattered about in various places; so that all the commanders in Egypt were insufficient for the work.

3:19The king threatened them, and charged them with taking bribes, in order to contrive the escape of the Jews : but was clearly convinced of the truth of what had been said.

3:20They said, and proved, that paper and pens had failed them for the carrying out of their purpose.

3:21Now this was the active interference of the unconquerable Providence which assisted the Jews from heaven.

Chapter 4

4:1Then he called Hermon, who had charge of the elephants. Full of rage, altogether fixed in his furious design,

4:2he commanded him, with a quantity of unmixed wine and handfuls of incense [infused] to drug the elephants early on the following day. These five hundred elephants were, when infuriated by the copious draughts of frankincense, to be led up to the execution of death upon the Jews.

4:3The king, after issuing these orders, went to his feasting, and gathered together all those of his friends and of the army who hated the Jews the most.

4:4The master of the elephants, Hermon, fulfilled his commission punctually.

4:5The underlings appointed for the purpose went out about eventide and bound the hands of the miserable victims, and took other precautions for their security at night, thinking that the whole race would perish together.

4:6The heathen believed the Jews to be destitute of all protection; for chains fettered them about.

4:7They invoked the Almighty Lord, and ceaselessly besought with tears their merciful God and Father, Ruler of all, Lord of every power,

4:8to overthrow the evil purpose which was gone out against them, and to deliver them by extraordinary manifestation from that death which was in store for them.

4:9Their litany so earnest went up to heaven.

4:10Then Hermon, who had filled his merciless elephants with copious draughts of mingled wine and frankincense, came early to the palace to certify the king thereof.

4:11He, however, who has sent his good creature sleep from all time, by night or by day thus gratifying whom he wills, diffused a portion thereof [now] upon the king.

4:12By this sweet and profound influence of the Lord he was held fast, and thus his unjust purpose was quite frustrated, and his unflinching resolve greatly falsified.

4:13But the Jews, having escaped the hour which had been fixed, praised their holy God, and again prayed him who is easily reconciled to display the power of his powerful hand to the overweening Gentiles.

4:14The middle of the tenth hour had well nigh arrived, when the master-bidder, seeing the guests who were bidden collected, came and shook the king.

4:15He gained his attention with difficulty, and hinting that the mealtime was getting past, talked the matter over with him.

4:16The king listened to this, and then turning aside to his potations, commanded the guests to sit down before him.

4:17This done, he asked them to enjoy themselves, and to indulge in mirth at this somewhat late hour of the banquet.

4:18Conversation grew on, and the king sent for Hermon, and enquired of him, with fierce denunciations, why the Jews had been allowed to outlive that day.

4:19Hermon explained that he had done his bidding over night; and in this he was confirmed by his friends.

4:20The king, then, with a barbarity exceeding that of Phalaris, said, That they might thank his sleep of that day. Lose no time, and get ready the elephants against to-morrow, as you did before, for the destruction of these accursed Jews.

4:21When the king said this, the company present were glad, and approved; and then each man went to his own home.

4:22Nor did they employ the night in sleep, so much as in contriving cruel mockeries for those deemed miserable.

4:23The morning cock had just crowed, and Hermon, having harnessed the brutes, was stimulating them in the great colonnade.

4:24The city crowds were collected together to see the hideous spectacle, and waited impatiently for the dawn.

4:25The Jews, breathless with momentary suspense, stretched forth their hands, and prayed the Greatest God, in mournful strains, again to help them speedily.

4:26The sun's rays were not yet shed abroad, and the king was waiting for his friends, when Hermon came to him, calling him out, and saying, That his desires could now be realized.

4:27The king, receiving him, was astonished at his unwonted exit; and, overwhelmed with a spirit of oblivion about everything, enquired the object of this earnest preparation.

4:28But this was the working of that Almighty God who had made him forget all his purpose.

4:29Hermon, and all his friends, pointed out the preparation of the animals. They are ready, O king, according to your own strict injunction.

4:30The king was filled with fierce anger at these words; for, by the Providence of God regarding these things, his mind had become entirely confused. He looked hard at Hermon, and threatened him as follows:

4:31Your parents, or your children, were they here, to these wild beasts a large repast they should have furnished; not these innocent Jews, who me and my forefathers loyally have served.

4:32Had it not been for familiar friendship, and the claims of your office, your life should have gone for theirs.

4:33Hermon, being threatened in this unexpected and alarming manner, was troubled in visage, and depressed in countenance.

4:34The friends, too, stole out one by one, and dismissed the assembled multitudes to their occupations.

4:35The Jews, having heard of these events, praised the glorious God and King of kings, because they had obtained this help, too, from him.

4:36Now the king arranged another banquet after the same manner, and proclaimed an invitation to mirth.

4:37And he summoned Hermon to his presence, and said, with threats, How often, O wretch, must I repeat my orders to thee about these same persons?

4:38Once more, arm the elephants against the morrow for the extermination of the Jews.

4:39His kinsmen, who were reclining with him, wondered at his instability, and thus expressed themselves:

4:40O king, how long dost thou make trial of us, as of men bereft of reason? This is the third time that thou hast ordered their destruction. When the thing is to be done, thou changest thy mind, and recallest thy instructions.

4:41For this cause the feeling of expectation causes tumult in the city: it swarms with factions; and is continually on the point of being plundered.

4:42The king, just like another Phalaris, a prey to thoughtlessness, made no account of the changes which his own mind had undergone, issuing in the deliverance of the Jews. He swore a fruitless oath, and determined forthwith to send them to Hades, crushed by the knees and feet of the elephants.

4:43He would also invade Judea, and level its towns with fire and the sword; and destroy that temple which the heathen might not enter, and prevent sacrifices ever after being offered up there.

4:44Joyfully his friends broke up, together with his kinsmen; and, trusting in his determination, arranged their forces in guard at the most convenient places of the city.

4:45And the master of the elephants urged the beasts into an almost maniacal state, drenched them with incense and wine, and decked them with frightful instruments.

4:46About early morning, when the city was now filled with an immense number of people at the hippodrome, he entered the palace, and called the king to the business in hand.

4:47The king's heart teemed with impious rage; and he rushed forth with the mass, along with the elephants. With feelings unsoftened, and eyes pitiless, he longed to gaze at the hard and wretched doom of the above-mentioned Jews .

4:48But the Jews , when the elephants went out at the gate, followed by the armed force; and when they saw the dust raised by the throng, and heard the loud cries of the crowd,

4:49thought that they had come to the last moment of their lives, to the end of what they had tremblingly expected. They gave way, therefore, to lamentations and moans: they kissed each other: those nearest of kin to each other hung about one another's necks: fathers about their sons, mothers their daughters: other women held their infants to their breasts, which drew what seemed their last milk.

4:50Nevertheless, when they reflected upon the succour before granted them from heaven, they prostrated themselves with one accord; removed even the sucking children from the breast, and

4:51sent up an exceeding great cry, entreating the Lord of all power to reveal himself, and have mercy upon those who now lay at the gates of Hades.

Chapter 5

5:1And Eleazar, an illustrious priest of the country, who had attained to length of days, and whose life had been adorned with virtue, caused the presbyters who were about him to cease to cry out to the holy God, and prayed thus:

5:2O King, mighty in power, most high, Almighty God, who regulatest the whole creation with thy tender mercy,

5:3look upon the seed of Abraham, upon the children of the sanctified Jacob, thy sanctified inheritance, O Father, now being wrongfully destroyed as strangers in a strange land.

5:4Thou destroyedst Pharaoh, with his host of chariots, when that lord of this same Egypt was uplifted with lawless hardihood and loud-sounding tongue. Shedding the beams of thy mercy upon the race of Israel, thou didst overwhelm him with his proud army.

5:5When Sennacherim, the grievous king of the Assyrians, glorying in his countless hosts, had subdued the whole land with his spear, and was lifting himself against thy holy city, with boastings grievous to be endured, thou, O Lord, didst demolish him and didst shew forth thy might to many nations.

5:6When the three friends in the land of Babylon of their own will exposed their lives to the fire rather than serve vain things, thou didst send a dewy coolness through the fiery furnace, and bring the fire upon all their adversaries.

5:7It was thou who, when Daniel was hurled, through slander and envy, as a prey to lions down below, didst bring him back again unhurt to light.

5:8When Jonah was pining away in the belly of the sea-bred monster, thou didst look upon him, O Father, and recover him to the sight of his own.

5:9And now, thou who hatest insolence; thou who dost abound in mercy; thou who art the protector of all things; appear quickly to those of the race of Israel, who are insulted by abhorred, lawless Gentiles.

5:10If our life has during our exile been stained with iniquity, deliver us from the hand of the enemy, and destroy us, O Lord, by the death which thou preferrest.

5:11Let not the vain-minded congratulate vain idols at the destruction of thy beloved, saying, Neither did their God deliver them.

5:12Thou who art All-powerful and Almighty, O Eternal One, behold! have mercy upon us who are being withdrawn from life, like traitors, by the unreasoning insolence of lawless men.

5:13Let the heathen cower before thy invincible might to-day, O glorious One, who hast all power to save the race of Jacob.

5:14The whole band of infants and their parents with tears beseech thee.

5:15Let it be shewn to all the nations that thou art with us, O Lord, and hast not turned thy face away from us; but as thou saidst that thou wouldst not forget them even in the land of their enemies, so do thou fulfil this saying, O Lord.

5:16Now, at the time that Eleazar had ended his prayer, the king came along to the hippodrome, with the wild beasts, and with his tumultuous power.

5:17When the Jews saw this, they uttered a loud cry to heaven, so that the adjacent valleys resounded, and caused an irrepressible lamentation throughout the army.

5:18Then the all-glorious, all-powerful, and true God, displayed his holy countenance, and opened the gates of heaven, from which two angels, dreadful of form, came down, and were visible to all but the Jews.

5:19And they stood opposite, and filled the enemies' host with confusion and cowardice; and bound them with immoveable fetters.

5:20And a cold shudder came over the person of the king, and oblivion paralysed the vehemence of his spirit.

5:21They turned back the animals upon the armed forces which followed them; and the animals trod them down, and destroyed them.

5:22The king's wrath was converted into compassion; and he wept at his own machinations.

5:23For when he heard the cry, and saw them all on the verge of destruction, with tears he angrily threatened his friends, saying,

5:24Ye have governed badly; and have exceeded tyrants in cruelty; and me your benefactor ye have laboured to deprive at once of my dominion and my life, by secretly devising measures injurious to the kingdom.

5:25Who has gathered here, unreasonably removing each from his home, those who, in fidelity to us, had held the fortresses of the country?

5:26Who has thus consigned to unmerited punishments those who in good will towards us from the beginning have in all things surpassed all nations, and who often have engaged in the most dangerous undertakings?

5:27Loose, loose the unjust bonds; send them to their homes in peace, and deprecate what has been done.

5:28Release the sons of the almighty living God of heaven, who from our ancestors' times until now has granted a glorious and uninterrupted prosperity to our affairs.

5:29These things he said: and they, released the same moment, having now escaped death, praised God their holy Saviour.

5:30The king then departed to the city, and called his financier to him, and bade him provide a seven days' quantity of wine and other materials for feasting for the Jews. He decided that they should keep a gladsome festival of deliverance in the very place in which they expected to meet with their destruction.

5:31Then they who were before despised and nigh unto Hades, yea, rather advanced into it, partook of the cup of salvation, instead of a grievous and lamentable death. Full of exultation, they parted out the place intended for their fall and burial into banqueting booths.

5:32Ceasing their miserable strain of woe, they took up the subject of their fatherland, hymning in praise God their wonder-working Saviour. All groans, all wailing, were laid aside: they formed dances in token of serene joy.

5:33So, also, the king collected a number of guests for the occasion, and returned unceasing thanks with much magnificence for the unexpected deliverance afforded him.

5:34Those who had marked them out as for death and for carrion, and had registered them with joy, howled aloud, and were clothed with shame, and had the fire of their rage ingloriously put out.

5:35But the Jews, as we just said, instituted a dance, and then gave themselves up to feasting, glad thanksgivings, and psalms.

5:36They made a public ordinance to commemorate these things for generations to come, as long as they should be sojourners. They thus established these days as days of mirth, not for the purpose of drinking or luxury, but because God had saved them.

5:37They requested the king to send them back to their homes.

5:38They were being enrolled from the twenty-fifth of Pachon to the fourth of Epiphi, a period of forty days: the measures taken for their destruction lasted from the fifth of Epiphi till the seventh, that is, three days.

5:39The Ruler over all did during this time manifest forth his mercy gloriously, and did deliver them all together unharmed.

5:40They feasted upon the king's provision up to the fourteenth day, and then asked to be sent away.

5:41The king commended them, and wrote the subjoined letter, of magnanimous import for them, to the commanders of every city.

Chapter 6

6:1King Ptolemy Philopator to the commanders throughout Egypt, and to all who are set over affairs, joy and strength.

6:2We, too, and our children are well; and God has directed our affairs as we wish.

6:3Certain of our friends did of malice vehemently urge us to punish the Jews of our realm in a body, with the infliction of a monstrous punishment.

6:4They pretended that our affairs would never be in a good state till this took place. Such, they said, was the hatred borne by the Jews to all other people.

6:5They brought them fettered in grievous chains as slaves, nay, as traitors. Without enquiry or examination they endeavoured to annihilate them. They buckled themselves with a savage cruelty, worse than Scythian custom.

6:6For this cause we severely threatened them; yet, with the clemency which we are wont to extend to all men, we at length permitted them to live. Finding that the God of heaven cast a shield of protection over the Jews so as to preserve them, and that he fought for them as a father always fights for his sons;

6:7and taking into consideration their constancy and fidelity towards us and towards our ancestors, we have, as we ought, acquitted them of every sort of charge.

6:8And we have dismissed them to their several homes; bidding all men everywhere to do them no wrong, or unrighteously revile them about the past.

6:9For know ye, that should we conceive any evil design against, or in any manner aggrieve them, we shall ever have as our opposite, not man, but the highest God, the ruler of all might. From Him there will be no escape, as the avenger of such deeds. Fare ye well.

6:10When they had received this letter, they were not forward to depart immediately. They petitioned the king to be allowed to inflict fitting punishment upon those of their race who had willingly transgressed the holy God, and the law of God.

6:11They alleged that men who had for their bellies' sake transgressed the ordinances of God, would never be faithful to the interests of the king.

6:12The king admitted the truth of this reasoning, and commended them. Full power was given them, without warrant or special commission, to destroy those who had transgressed the law of God boldly in every part of the king's dominions.

6:13Their priests, then, as it was meet, saluted him with good wishes, and all the people echoed with the Hallelujah. They then joyfully departed.

6:14Then they punished and destroyed with ignominy every polluted Jew that fell in their way;

6:15slaying thus, in that day, above three hundred men, and esteeming this destruction of the wicked a season of joy.

6:16They themselves having held fast their God unto death, and having enjoyed a full deliverance, departed from the city garlanded with sweet-flowered wreaths of every kind. Uttering exclamations of joy, with songs of praise, and melodious hymns they thanked the God of their fathers, the eternal Saviour of Israel.

6:17Having arrived at Ptolemais, called from the specialty of that district Rose-bearing, where the fleet, in accordance with the general wish, waited for them seven days,

6:18they partook of a banquet of deliverance, for the king generously granted them severally the means of securing a return home.

6:19They were accordingly brought back in peace, while they gave utterance to becoming thanks; and they determined to keep these days during their sojourn as days of joyfulness.

6:20These they registered as sacred upon a pillar, when they had dedicated the place of their festivity to be one of prayer. They departed unharmed, free, abundant in joy, preserved by the king's command, by land, by sea, and by river, each to his own home.

6:21They had more weight than before among their enemies; and were honoured and feared, and no one in any way robbed them of their goods.

6:22Every man received back his own, according to inventory; those who had obtained their goods, giving them up with the greatest terror. For the greatest God wrought with perfectness wonders for their salvation.

6:23Blessed be the Redeemer of Israel unto everlasting. Amen.

Chapter 0

0:1PHILOSOPHICAL in the highest degree is the question I propose to discuss, namely whether the Inspired Reason is supreme ruler over the passions; and to the philosophy of it I would seriously entreat your earnest attention.

0:2For not only is the subject generally necessary as a branch of knowledge, but it includes the praise of the greatest of virtues, whereby I mean self-control.

0:3That is to say, if Reason is proved to control the passions adverse to temperance, gluttony and lust, it is also clearly shown to be lord over the passions, like malevolence, opposed to justice, and over those opposed to manliness, namely rage and pain and fear.

0:4But, some may ask, if the Reason is master of the passions, why does it not control forgetfulness and ignorance? their object being to cast ridicule.

0:5The answer is that Reason is not master over defects inhering in the mind itself, but over the passions or moral defects that are adverse to justice and manliness and temperance and judgement; and its action in their case is not to extirpate the passions, but to enable us to resist them successfully.

0:6I could bring before you many examples, drawn from various sources, where Reason has proved itself master over the passions, but the best instance by far that I can give is the noble conduct of those who died for the sake of virtue, Eleazar, and the Seven Brethren and the Mother.

0:7For these all by their contempt of pains, yea, even unto death, proved that Reason rises superior to the passions.

0:8I might enlarge here in praise of their virtues, they, the men with the Mother, dying on this day we celebrate for the love of moral beauty and goodness, but rather would I felicitate them on the honours they have attained.

0:9For the admiration felt for their courage and endurance, not only by the world at large but by their very executioners, made them the authors of the downfall of the tyranny under which our nation lay, they defeating the tyrant by their endurance, so that through them was their country purified.

0:10But I shall presently take opportunity to discuss this, after we have begun with the general theory, as I am in the habit of doing, and I will then proceed to their story, giving glory to the all-wise God.

0:11Our enquiry, then, is whether the Reason is supreme master over the passions.

0:12But we must define just what the Reason is and what passion is, and how many forms of passion there are, and whether the Reason is supreme over all of them.

0:13Reason I take to be the mind preferring with clear deliberation the life of wisdom.

0:14Wisdom I take to be the knowledge of things, divine and human, and of their causes.

0:15This I take to be the culture acquired under the Law, through which we learn with due reverence the things of God and for our worldly profit the things of man.

0:16Now wisdom is manifested under the forms of judgement and justice, and courage, and temperance.

0:17But judgement or self-control is the one that dominates them all, for through it, in truth, Reason asserts its authority over the passions.

0:18But of the passions there are two comprehensive sources, namely, pleasure and pain, and either belongs essentially also to the soul as well as to the body.

0:19And with respect both to pleasure and pain there are many cases where the passions have certain sequences.

0:20Thus while desire goes before pleasure, satisfaction follows after, and while fear goes before pain, after pain comes sorrow.

0:21Anger, again, if a man will retrace the course of his feelings, is a passion in which are blended both pleasure and pain.

0:22Under pleasure, also, comes that moral debasement which exhibits the widest variety of the passions.

0:23It manifests itself in the soul as ostentation, and covetousness, and vain-glory, and contentiousness, and backbiting, and in the body as eating of strange meat, and gluttony, and gormandizing in secret.

0:24Now pleasure and pain being as it were two trees, growing from body and soul, many offshoots of these passions sprout up; and each man's Reason as master-gardener, weeding and pruning and binding up, and turning on the water and directing it hither and thither, brings the thicket of dispositions and passions under domestication.

0:25For while Reason is the guide of the virtues it is master of the passions.

0:26Observe, now, in the first place, that Reason becomes supreme over the passions in virtue of the inhibitory action of temperance.

0:27Temperance, I take it, is the repression of the desires; but of the desires some are mental and some physical, and both kinds are clearly controlled by Reason; when we are tempted towards forbidden meats, how do we come to relinquish the pleasures to be derived from them?

0:28Is it not that Reason has power to repress the appetites? In my opinion it is so.

0:29Accordingly when we feel a desire to eat water-animals and birds and beasts and meats of every description forbidden to us under the Law, we abstain through the predominance of Reason.

0:30For the propensions of our appetites are checked and inhibited by the temperate mind, and all the movements of the body obey the bridle of Reason.

0:31And what is there to be surprised at if the natural desire of the soul to enjoy the fruition of beauty is quenched?

0:32This, certainly, is why we praise the virtuous Joseph, because by his Reason, with a mental effort, he checked the carnal impulse. 11

0:33And Reason is proved to subdue the impulse not only of sexual desire, but of all sorts of covetings. For he, a young man at the age when physical desire is strong, by his Reason quenched the impulse of his passions.

0:34For the Law says, 'Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor anything that is thy neighbour's.'

0:35Verily, when the Law orders us not to covet, it should, I think, confirm strongly the argument that the Reason is capable of controlling covetous desires, even as it does the passions that militate against justice.

0:36How else, can a man, naturally gormandizing and greedy and drunken, be taught to change his nature, if the Reason be not manifestly the master of the passions?

0:37Certainly, as soon as a man orders his life according to the Law, if he is miserly he acts contrary to his nature, and lends money to the needy without interest, and at the seventh-year periods cancels the debt.

0:38And if he is parsimonious, he is overruled by the Law through the action of Reason, and refrains from gleaning his stubbles or picking the last grapes from his vineyards.

0:39And with regard to all the rest we can recognize that Reason is in the position of master over the passions or affections.

0:40For the Law ranks above affection for parents, so that a man may not for their sakes surrender his virtue, and it overrides love for a wife, so that if she transgress a man should rebuke her, and it governs love for children, so that if they are naughty a man should punish them, and it controls the claims of friendship, so that a man should reprove his friends if they do evil.

0:41And do not think it a paradoxical thing when Reason through the Law is able to overcome even hatred, so that a man refrains from cutting down the enemy's orchards, and protects the property of the enemy from the spoilers, and gathers up their goods that have been scattered.

0:42And the rule of Reason is likewise proved to extend through the more aggressive passions or vices, ambition, vanity, ostentation, pride, and backbiting.

0:43For the temperate mind repels all these debased passions, even as it does anger, for it conquers even this.

0:44Yea, Moses when he was angered against Dathan and Abiram did not give free course to his wrath, but governed his anger by his Reason.

0:45For the temperate mind is able, as I said, to win the victory over the passions, modifying some, while crushing others absolutely.

0:46Why else did our wise father Jacob blame the houses of Simeon and Levi for their unreasoning slaughter of the tribe of the Shechemites, saying, 'Accursed be their anger!'

0:47For had not Reason possessed the power to restrain their anger he would not have spoken thus.

0:48For in the day when God created man, he implanted in him his passions and inclinations, and also, at the very same time, set the mind on a throne amidst the senses to be his sacred guide in all things; and to the mind he gave the Law, by the which if a man order himself, he shall reign over a kingdom that is temperate, and just, and virtuous, and brave.

Chapter 1

1:1WELL then, someone may ask, if Reason is master of the passions why is it not master of forgetfulness and ignorance?

1:2But the argument is supremely ridiculous. For Reason is not shown to be master over passions or defects in itself, but over those of the body.

1:3For example, none of you is able to extirpate our natural desire, but the Reason can enable him to escape being made a slave by desire.

1:4None of you is able to extirpate anger from the soul, but it is possible for the Reason to come to his aid against anger.

1:5None of you can extirpate a malevolent disposition, but Reason can be his powerful ally against being swayed by malevolence.

1:6Reason is not the extirpate of the passions, but their antagonist.

1:7The case of the thirst of King David may serve at least to make this clearer.

1:8For when David had fought the live-long day against the Philistines, and by the help of our country's warriors had slain many of them, he came at eventide, all fordone with sweat and toil, to the royal tent, around which was encamped the whole army of our ancestors.

1:9So all the host fell to their evening meal; but the king, being consumed with an intense thirst, though he had abundance of water, was unable to slake it.

1:10Instead, an irrational desire for the water that was in the possession of the enemy with growing intensity burned him up and unmanned and consumed him.

1:11Then when his body-guard murmured against the craving of the king, two youths, mighty warriors, ashamed that their king should lack his desire, put on all their armour, and took a water-vessel, and scaled the enemy's ramparts; and stealing undetected past the guards at the gate, they searched through all the enemy's camp.

1:12And they bravely found the spring, and drew from it a draught for the king.

1:13But David, though still burning with the thirst, considered that such a draught, reckoned as equivalent to blood, was a grievous danger to his soul.

1:14Therefore, opposing his Reason to his desire, he poured out the water as an offering to God.

1:15For the temperate mind is able to conquer the dictates of the passions, and to quench the fires of desire, and to wrestle victoriously with the pangs of our bodies though they be exceeding strong, and by the moral beauty and goodness of Reason to defy with scorn all the domination of the passions.

1:16And now the occasion calls us to set forth the story of the self- controlled Reason.

1:17At a time when our fathers enjoyed great peace through the due observance of the Law, and were in happy case, so that Seleucus Nicanor, the king of Asia, sanctioned the tax for the temple-service, and recognized our polity, precisely then, certain men, acting factiously against the general concord, involved us in many and various calamities.

1:18Onias, a man of the highest character, being then high priest and having the office for his life, a certain Simon raised a faction against him, but since despite every kind of slander he failed to injure him on account of the people, he fled abroad with intent to betray his country.

1:19So he came to Apollonius, the governor of Syria and Phoenicia and Cilicia, and said, 'Being loyal to the king, I am here to inform you that in the treasuries of Jerusalem are stored many thousands of private deposits, not belonging to the temple account, and rightfully the property of King Seleucus.'

1:20Apollonius having made inquiry into the details of the matter, praised Simon for his loyal service to the king, and hastening to the court of Seleucus, disclosed to him the valuable treasure; then, after receiving authority to deal with the matter, he promptly marched into our country, accompanied by the accursed Simon and a very powerful army, and announced that he was there by the king's command to take possession of the private deposits in the treasury.

1:21Our people were deeply angered by this announcement, and protested strongly, considering it, an outrageous thing for those who had entrusted their deposits to the temple treasury to be robbed of them, and they threw all possible obstacles in his way.

1:22Apollonius, however, with threats, made his way into the temple.

1:23Then the priests in the temple and the women and children besought God to come to the rescue of his Holy Place that was being violated; and when Apollonius with his armed host marched in to seize the moneys, there appeared from heaven angels, riding upon horses, with lightning flashing from their arms, and cast great fear and trembling upon them.

1:24And Apollonius fell down half-dead in the Court of the Gentiles, and stretched out his hands to heaven, and with tears he entreated the Hebrews that they would make intercession for him and stay the wrath of the heavenly host.

1:25For he said that he had sinned and was worthy even of death, and that if he were given his life he would laud to all men the blessedness of the Holy Place.

1:26Moved by these words, Onias, the high-priest, although most scrupulous in other cases, made intercession for him lest king Seleucus should possibly think that Apollonius had been overthrown by a human device and not by divine justice.

1:27Apollonius, accordingly, after his astonishing deliverance departed to report to the king the things that had befallen him.

1:28But Seleucus dying, his successor on the throne was his son Antiochus Epiphanes, an overweening terrible man; who dismissed Onias from his sacred office, and made his brother Jason high-priest instead, the condition being that in return for the appointment Jason should pay him three thousand six hundred and sixty talents yearly.

1:29So he appointed Jason high-priest and made him chief ruler over the people.

1:30And he (Jason) introduced to our people a new way of life and a new constitution in utter defiance of the Law; so that not only did he lay out a gymnasium on the Mount of our fathers, but he actually abolished the service of the temple.

1:31Wherefore the divine justice was kindled to anger and brought Antiochus himself as an enemy against us.

1:32For when. be was carrying on war with Ptolemy in Egypt and heard that the people of Jerusalem had rejoiced exceedingly over a report of his death, he immediately marched back against them.

1:33And when he had plundered the city he made a decree denouncing the penalty of death upon any who should be seen to live after the law of our fathers.

1:34But he found all his decrees of no avail to break down the constancy of our people to the Law, and he beheld all his threats and penalties utterly despised, so that even women for circumcising their sons, though they knew beforehand what would be their fate, were flung, together with their offspring, headlong from the rocks.

1:35When therefore his decrees continued to be contemned by the mass of the people, he personally tried to force by tortures each man separately to eat unclean meats and thus abjure the Jewish religion.

1:36Accordingly, the tyrant Antiochus, accompanied by his councillors, sat in judgement on a certain high place with his troops drawn up around him in full armour, and he ordered his guards to drag there every single man of the Hebrews and compel them to eat swine's flesh and things offered to idols; but if any should refuse to defile themselves with the unclean things, they were to he tortured and put to death.

1:37And when many had been taken by force, one man first from among the company was brought before Antiochus, a Hebrew whose name was Eleazar, a priest by birth, trained in knowledge of the law, a man advanced in years and well known to many of the tyrant's court for his philosophy.

1:38And Antiochus, looking on him, said: 'Before I allow the tortures to begin for you, O venerable man, I would give you this counsel, that you should eat of the flesh of the swine and save your life; for I respect your age and your grey hairs, although to have worn them so long a time, and still to cling to the Jewish religion, makes me think you no philosopher.

1:39For most excellent is the meat of this animal which Nature has graciously bestowed upon us, and why should you abominate it? Truly it is folly not to enjoy innocent pleasures, and it is wrong to reject Nature's favours.

1:40But it will be still greater folly, I think, on your part if with idle vapouring about truth you shall proceed to defy even me to your own punishment.

1:41Will you not awake from your preposterous philosophy? Will you not fling aside the nonsense of your calculations and, adopting another frame of mind befitting your mature years, learn the true philosophy of expediency, and how to my charitable counsel, and have pity on your own venerable age?

1:42For consider this, too, that even if there be some Power whose eye is upon this religion of yours, he will always pardon you for a transgression done under compulsion.'

1:43bus urged by the tyrant to the unlawful eating of unclean meat, Eleazar asked permission to speak; and receiving it, he began his speech before the court as follows:

1:44'We, O Antiochus, having accepted the Divine Law as the Law of our country, do not believe any stronger necessity is laid upon us than that of our obedience to the Law.

1:45Therefore we do surely deem it right not. in any way whatsoever to transgress the Law.

1:46And yet, were our Law, as you suggest, not truly divine, while we vainly believed it to be divine, not even so would it be right for us to destroy our reputation for piety.

1:47Think it not, then, a small sin for us to eat the unclean thing, for the transgression of the Law, be it in small things or in great, is equally heinous; for in either case equally the Law is despised.

1:48And you scoff at our philosophy, as if under it we were living in a manner contrary to reason.

1:49Not so, for the Law teaches us self-control, so that we are masters of all our pleasures and desires and are thoroughly trained in manliness so as to endure all pain with readiness; and it teaches justice, so that with all our various dispositions we act fairly, and it teaches righteousness, so that with due reverence we worship only the God who is.

1:50Therefore do we eat no unclean meat; for believing our Law to be given by God, we know also that the Creator of the world, as a Lawgiver, feels for us according to our nature.

1:51He has commanded us to eat the things that will be convenient for our souls, and he has forbidden us to eat meats that would be the contrary.

1:52But it is the act of a tyrant that you should compel us not only to transgress the Law, but should also make us eat in such manner that you may mock at' this defilement so utterly abominable to us.

1:53But you shall not mock at me thus, neither will I break the sacred oaths of my ancestors to keep the Law, not even though you tear out mine eyes and bum out mine entrails.

1:54I am not so unmanned by old age but that when righteousness is at stake the strength of youth returns to my Reason.

1:55So twist hard your racks and blow your furnace hotter. I do not so pity mine old age as to break the Law of my fathers in mine own person.

1:56I will not belie thee, O Law that wast my teacher; I will not desert thee, O beloved self-control; I will not put thee to shame, O wisdom- loving Reason, nor will I deny ye, O venerated priesthood and knowledge of the Law.

1:57Neither shalt thou sully the pure mouth of mine old age and my lifelong constancy to the Law. Clean shall my fathers receive me, unafraid of thy torments even to the death.

1:58For thou indeed mayest be tyrant over unrighteous men, but thou shalt not lord it over my resolution in the matter of righteousness either by thy words or through thy deeds.'

Chapter 2

2:1BUT when Eleazar replied thus eloquently to the exhortations of the tyrants, the guards around him dragged him roughly to the torturing place.

2:2And first they unclothed the old man, who was adorned with the beauty of holiness.

2:3Then binding his arms on either side they scourged him, a herald standing and shouting out over against him, 'Obey the orders of the king!'

2:4But the great-souled and noble man, an Eleazar in very truth, was no more moved in his mind than if he were being tormented in a dream; yea, the old man keeping his eyes steadfastly raised to heaven suffered his flesh to be tom by the scourges till he was bathed in blood and his sides became a mass of wounds; and even when he fell to the ground because his body could no longer support the pain he still kept his Reason erect and inflexible.

2:5With his foot then one of the cruet guards as he fell kicked him savagely in the side to make him get up.

2:6But he endured the anguish, and despised the compulsion, and bore up under the torments, and like a brave athlete taking punishment, the old man outwore his tormentors.

2:7The sweat stood on his brow, and he drew his breath in hard gasps, till his nobility of soul extorted the admiration of his tormentors themselves.

2:8Hereupon, partly in pity for his old age, partly in sympathy for their friend, partly in admiration of his courage, some of the courtiers of the king went tip to him and said:

2:9'Why, O Eleazar, dost thou madly destroy thyself in this misery? We will bring to thee of the seethed meats, but do thou feign only to partake of the swine's flesh, and so save thyself.'

2:10And Eleazar, as if their counsel did but add to his tortures, cried loudly: 'No. May we sons of Abraham never have so evil a thought as with faint heart to counterfeit a part unseemly to us.

2:11Contrary to Reason, indeed, were it for us, after living unto the truth till old age, and guarding in lawful guise the repute of so living, now to change and become in our own persons a pattern to the young of impiety, to the end that we should encourage them to eat unclean meat.

2:12Shame were it if we should live on a little longer, during that little being mocked of all men for cowardice, and while despised by the tyrant as unmanly should fail to defend the Divine Law unto the death.

2:13Therefore, O sons of Abraham, do ye die nobly for righteousness' sake; but as for you, O minions of the tyrant, why pause ye in your work?'

2:14So they, seeing him thus triumphant over the tortures and unmoved even by the pity of his executioners, dragged him to the fire.

2:15There they cast him on it, burning him with cruelly cunning devices, and they poured broth of evil odour into his nostrils.

2:16But when the fire already reached to his bones and he was about to give up the ghost, he lifted up his eyes to God and said:

2:17'Thou, O God, knowest that though I might save myself I am dying by fiery torments for thy Law. Be merciful unto thy people, and let our punishment be a satisfaction in their behalf. Make my blood their purification, and take my soul to ransom their souls,,

2:18And with these words the holy man nobly yielded up his spirit under the torture I and for the sake of the Law held out by his Reason even against the torments unto death.

2:19Beyond question, then, the Inspired Reason is master over the passions; for if his passions or sufferings had prevailed over his Reason we should have credited them with this evidence of their superior power.

2:20But now his Reason having conquered his passions, we properly attribute to it the power of commanding them.

2:21And it is right that we should admit that the mastery lies with Reason, in cases at least where it conquers pains that come from outside ourselves; for it were ridiculous to deny it.

2:22And my proof covers not only the superiority of Reason to pains, but its superiority to pleasures also; neither does it surrender to them.

Chapter 3

3:1FOR the Reason of our father Eleazar, like a fine steersman steering the ship of sanctity on the sea of the passions, though buffeted by the threats of the tyrant and swept by the swelling waves of the tortures, never shifted for one moment the helm of sanctity until he sailed into the haven of victory over death.

3:2No city besieged with many and cunning engines ever defended itself so well as did that holy man when his sacred soul was attacked with scourge and rack and flame, and he moved them who were laying siege to his soul through his Reason that was the shield of sanctity.

3:3For our father Eleazar, setting his mind film as a beetling sea-cliff, broke the mad onset of the surges of the passions.

3:4O priest worthy of thy priesthood, thou didst not defile thy holy teeth, nor didst thou befoul with unclean meat thy belly that had room only for piety and purity.

3:5O confessor of the Law and philosopher of the Divine life! Such should those be whose office is to serve the Law and defend it with their own blood and honourable sweat in the face of sufferings to the death.

3:6Thou, O father, didst fortify our fidelity to the Law through thy steadfastness unto glory; and having spoken in honour of holiness thou didst not belie thy speech, and didst confirm the words of divine philosophy by thy deeds, O aged man that wast more forceful than the tortures.

3:7O reverend elder that wast tenser-strung than the flame, thou great king over the passions, Eleazar.

3:8For as our father Aaron, armed with the censer, ran through the massed congregation against the fiery angel and overcame him, so the son of Aaron, Eleazar, being consumed by the melting heat of the fire, remained unshaken in his Reason.

3:9And yet most wonderful of all, he, being an old man, with the sinews of his body unstrung and his muscles relaxed and his nerves weakened, grew a young man again in the spirit of his Reason and with Isaac-like Reason turned the hydra-headed torture to impotence.

3:10O blessed age, O reverend grey head, O life faithful to the Law and perfected by the seal of death!

3:11Assuredly, then, if an old man despised the torments unto death for righteousness' sake it must be admitted that the Inspired Reason is able to guide the passions.

3:12But some perhaps may answer that not all men are masters of the passions because not all men have their Reason enlightened.

3:13But as many as with their whole heart make righteousness their first thought, these alone are able to master the weakness of the flesh, believing that unto God they die not, as our patriarchs, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, died not, but that they live unto God.

3:14Therefore there is-nothing contradictory in certain persons appearing to be slaves to passion in consequence of the weakness of their Reason.

3:15For who is there that being a philosopher following righteously the whole rule of philosophy, and having put his trust in God, and knowing that it is a blessed thing to endure all hardness for the sake of virtue, would not conquer his passions for the sake of righteousness?

3:16For the wise and self-controlled man alone is the brave ruler of the passions.

3:17Yea, by this means even young boys, being philosophers by virtue of the Reason which is according to righteousness, have triumphed over yet more grievous tortures.

3:18For when the tyrant found himself notably defeated in his first attempt, and impotent to compel an old man to eat unclean meat, then truly in violent rage he ordered the guards to bring others of the young men of the Hebrews, and if they would eat unclean meat to release them after eating it, but if they refused, to torture them yet more savagely.

3:19And under these orders of the tyrant seven brethren together with their aged mother were brought prisoners before him, all handsome, and modest, and well-born,--and generally attractive.

3:20And when the tyrant saw them there, standing as if they were a festal choir with their mother in the midst, he took notice of them, and struck by their noble and distinguished bearing he smiled at them, and calling them nearer said:

3:21'O young men, I wish well to each one of you, and admire your beauty, and honour highly so large a band of brothers; so not only do I advise you not to persist in the madness of that old man who has already suffered, but I even entreat of you to yield to me and become partakers in my friendship.

3:22For, as I am able to punish those who disobey my orders, so am I able to advance those who do obey me.

3:23Be assured then that you shall be given positions of importance and authority in my service if you will reject the ancestral law of your polity.

3:24Share in the Hellenic life, and walk in a new way, and take some pleasure in your youth; for if you drive me to anger with your disobedience you will compel me to resort to terrible penalties and put every single one of you to death by torture.

3:25Have pity then on yourselves, whom even I, your opponent, pity for your youth and your beauty.

3:26Will you not consider with yourselves this thing, that if you disobey me there is nothing before you but death in torments?'

3:27With these words he ordered the instruments of torture to be brought forward in order to persuade them by fear to eat unclean meat.

3:28But when the guards had produced wheels, and joint-dislocators, and racks, and bone-crushers, and catapults, and cauldrons, and braziers, and thumb-screws, and iron claws, and wedges, and branding irons, the tyrant spoke again and said:

3:29'You had better feel fear, my lads, and the justice you worship will pardon your unwilling transgression.'

3:30But they, hearing his persuasions, and seeing his dreadful engines, not only showed no fear but actually arrayed their philosophy in opposition to the tyrant, and by their right Reason did abase his tyranny.

3:31And yet consider; supposing some amongst them to have been faint- hearted and cowardly, what sort of language would they have used? would it not have been to this effect?

3:32'Alas! miserable creatures that we are and foolish above measure! When the king invites us and appeals to us on terms of kind treatment shall we not obey him?

3:33Why do we encourage ourselves with vain desires and dare a disobedience that is to cost us our lives? Shall we not, O men my brothers, fear the dread instruments and weigh well his threats of the tortures, and abandon these empty vaunts and this fatal bragging?

3:34Let us take pity on our own youth and have compassion on our mother's age; and let us lay to heart that if we disobey we shall die.

3:35And even the divine justice will have mercy on us, if compelled by necessity we yield to the king in fear. Why should we cast away from us this dear life and rob ourselves of this sweet world?

3:36Let us not strive against necessity nor with vain confidence invite our torture.

3:37Even the Law itself does not willingly condemn us to death, we being in terror of the instruments of torture.

3:38Why does such contentiousness inflame us and a fatal obstinacy find favour with us, when we might have a peaceful life by obeying the king?'

3:39But no such words escaped these young men at the prospect of the torture, nor did such thoughts enter into their minds.

3:40For they were despisers of the passions and masters over pain.

Chapter 4

4:1AND thus no sooner did the tyrant conclude his urging of them to eat unclean meat than all with one voice together, and as with one soul, said to him:

4:2'Why dost thou delay, O tyrant? We are ready to die rather than transgress the commandments of our fathers.

4:3For we should be putting our ancestors also to shame, if we did not walk in obedience to the Law and take Moses as our counsellor.

4:4O tyrant that counsellest us to transgress the Law, do not, hating us, pity us beyond ourselves.

4:5For we esteem thy mercy, giving. us our life in return for a breach of the Law, a thing harder to bear than death itself.

4:6Thou wouldst terrify us with thy threats of death under torture, as if a little while ago thou hadst learned nothing from Eleazar.

4:7But if the old men of the Hebrews endured the tortures for righteousness' sake, yea, until they died, more befittingly will we young men die despising the torments of thy compulsion, over which he our aged teacher also triumphed.

4:8Make trial therefore, O tyrant. And if thou takest our lives for the sake of righteousness, think not that thou hurtest us with thy tortures.

4:9For we through this our evil entreatment and our endurance of it shall win the prize of virtue; but thou for our cruel murder shalt suffer at the hands of divine justice sufficient torment by fire for ever.'

4:10These words of the youths redoubled the wrath of the tyrant, not at their disobedience only but at what he considered their ingratitude.

4:11So by his orders the scourgers brought forward the eldest of them and stripped him of his garment and bound his hands and arms on either side with thongs.

4:12But when they had scourged him till they were weary, and gained nothing thereby, they cast him upon the wheel.

4:13And on it the noble youth was racked till his bones were out of joint. And as joint after joint gave way, he denounced the tyrant in these words:

4:14'O thou most abominable tyrant, thou enemy of the justice of heaven and bloody-minded, thou dost torment me in this fashion not for manslaying nor for impiety but for defending the Law of God.'

4:15And when the guards said to him, 'Consent to eat, that so you may be released from your tortures,' he said to them, 'Your method, O miserable minions, is not strong enough to lead captive my Reason. Cut off my limbs, and burn my flesh, and twist my joints; through all the torments I will show you that in behalf of virtue the sons of the Hebrews alone are unconquerable.'

4:16As he thus spake they set hot coals upon him besides, and intensifying the torture strained him yet tighter on the wheel.

4:17And all the wheel was besmeared with his blood, and the heaped coals were quenched by the humours of his body dropping down, and the rent flesh ran round the axles of the machine.

4:18And with his bodily frame already in dissolution this great-souled youth, like a true son of Abraham, groaned not at all; but as if he were suffering a change by fire to incorruption, he nobly endured the torment, saying:

4:19'Follow my example, O brothers. Do not for ever desert me, and forswear not our brotherhood in nobility of soul.

4:20War a holy and honourable warfare on behalf of righteousness, through which may the just Providence that watched over our fathers become merciful unto his people and take vengeance on the accursed tyrant.'

4:21And with these words the holy youth yielded up the ghost.

4:22But while all were wondering at his constancy of soul, the guards brought forward the second in age of the. sons, and grappling him with sharp-clawed hands of iron they fastened him to the engines and the catapult.

4:23But when they heard his noble resolve in answer to their question, 'Would he eat rather than he tortured?' these panther-like beasts tore at his sinews with claws of iron, and rent away all the flesh from his cheeks, and tore off the skin from his head.

4:24But he steadfastly enduring this agony said, 'How sweet is every form of death for the sake of the righteousness of our fathers!'

4:25And to the tyrant he said, 'O most ruthless of tyrants, doth not it seem to thee that at this moment thou thyself sufferest tortures worse than mine in seeing thy tyranny's arrogant intention overcome by my endurance for righteousness' sake?

4:26For I am supported under pain by the joys that come through virtue, whereas thou art in torment whilst glorying in thy impiety; neither shalt thou escape, O most abominable tyrant, the penalties of the divine wrath.'

4:27And when he had bravely met his glorious death, the third son was brought forward and was earnestly entreated by many to taste and so to save himself.

4:28But he answered in a loud voice, 'Are ye ignorant that the same father begat me and my brothers that are dead, and the same mother gave us birth, and in the same doctrines was I brought up?

4:29I do not forswear the noble bond of brotherhood.

4:30Therefore if ye have any engine of torment, apply it to this body of mine; for my soul ye cannot reach, not if ye would.'

4:31But they were greatly angered at the bold speech of the man, and they dislocated his hands and his feet with their dislocating engines, and wrenched his limbs out of their sockets, and unstrung them; and they twisted round his fingers, and his arms, and his legs, and his elbow- joints.

4:32And in no wise being able to strangle his spirit they stripped off his skin, taking the points of the fingers with it, and tore in Scythian fashion the scalp from his head, and straightway brought him to the wheel.

4:33And on this they twisted his spine till he saw his own flesh hanging in strips and great gouts of blood pouring down from his entrails.

4:34And at the point of death he said, 'We, O most abominable tyrant, suffer thus for our upbringing and our virtue that are of God; but thou for thy impiety and thy cruelty shall endure torments without end.'

4:35And when' this man had died worthily of his brothers, they brought up the fourth, and said to him, 'Be not thou also mad with the same madness as thy brethren, but obey the king and save thyself.'

4:36But he said unto them, 'For me ye have no fire so exceeding hot as to make me a coward.

4:37By the blessed death of my brethren, by the eternal doom of the tyrant, and by the glorious life of the righteous, I will not deny my noble brotherhood.

4:38Invent tortures, O tyrant, in order that thou mayest learn thereby that I am brother of those who have been already tortured.'

4:39When he heard this the bloodthirsty, murderous, and utterly abominable Antiochus bade them cut out his tongue.

4:40But he said, 'Even if thou dost remove my organ of speech, God is a hearer also of the speechless.

4:41Lo, I put out my tongue ready: cut it out, for thou shalt not thereby silence my Reason.

4:42Gladly do we give our bodily members to be mutilated for the cause of God.

4:43But God will speedily pursue after thee; for thou cuttest out the tongue that sang songs of praise unto him.'

4:44But when this man also was put to a death of agony with the tortures, the fifth sprang forward saying, 'I shrink not, O tyrant, from demanding the torture for virtue's sake.

4:45Yea, of myself I come forward, in order that, slaying me also, thou mayest by yet more misdeeds increase the penalty thou owest to the justice of Heaven.

4:46O enemy of virtue and enemy of man, for what crime dost thou destroy us in this way?

4:47Doth it seem evil to thee that we worship the Creator of all and live according to his virtuous Law?

4:48But these things are worthy of honours not of tortures, if thou didst understand human aspirations and hadst hope of salvation before God.

4:49Lo, now thou art God's enemy and makest war on those that worship God.'

4:50As he spake thus the guards bound him and brought him before the catapult; and they tied him thereto on his knees, and, fastening them there with iron clamps, they wrenched his loins over the rolling 'wedge' so that he was completely curled back like a scorpion and every joint was disjointed.

4:51And thus in grievous strait for breath and anguish of body he exclaimed, 'Glorious, O tyrant, glorious against thy will are the boons that thou bestowest on me, enabling me to show my fidelity to the Law through yet more honourable tortures.'

4:52And when this man also was dead, the sixth was brought, a mere boy, who in answer to the tyrant's inquiry whether he was willing to eat and be released, said:

4:53'I am not so old in years as my brethren, but I am as old in mind. For we were born and reared for the same purpose and are equally bound also to die for the same cause; so if thou chooseth to torture us for not eating unclean meat, torture.'

4:54As he spake these words they brought him to the wheel, and with care they stretched him out and dislocated the bones of his back and set fire under him.

4:55And they made sharp skewers red-hot and ran them into his back, and piercing through his sides they burned away his entrails also.

4:56But he in the midst of his tortures exclaimed, 'O contest worthy of saints, wherein so many of us brethren, in the cause of righteousness, have been entered for a competition in torments, and have not been conquered!

4:57For the righteous understanding, O tyrant, is unconquerable.

4:58In the armour of virtue I go to join my brothers in death, and to add in myself one strong avenger more to punish thee, O deviser of the tortures and enemy of the truly righteous.

4:59We six youths have overthrown thy tyranny. 'For is not thine impotence to alter our Reason or force us to eat unclean meat an overthrow for thee?

4:60Thy fire is cool for us, thy engines of torture torment not, and thy violence is impotent.

4:61For the guards have been officers for us, not of a tyrant, but of the Divine Law; and therefore have we our Reason yet unconquered.'

Chapter 5

5:1AND when this one also died a blessed death, being cast into the cauldron, the seventh son, the youngest of them all, came forward.

5:2But the tyrant, although fiercely exasperated by his brethren, felt pity for the boy, and seeing him there already bound he had him brought near, and sought to persuade him, saying: 'Thou seest the end of the folly of thy brethren; for through their disobedience they have been racked to death. Thou, too, if thou dost not obey, wilt thyself also be miserably tortured and put to death before thy time; but if thou dost obey thou shalt be my friend, and thou shalt be advanced to high office in the business of the kingdom.'

5:3And while thus appealing to him he sent for the boy's mother, in order that in her sorrow for the loss of so many sons she might urge the survivor to obey and be saved.

5:4But the mother, speaking in the Hebrew tongue, as I shall tell later on, encouraged the boy, and he said to the guards, 'Loose me, that I may speak to the king and to all his friends with him.'

5:5And they, rejoicing at the boy's request, made haste to loose him.

5:6And running up to the red-hot brazier, 'O impious tyrant,' he cried, 'and most ungodly of all sinners, art thou not ashamed to take thy blessings and thy kingship at the hands of God, and to slay his servants and torture the followers of righteousness?

5:7For which things the divine justice delivers thee unto a more rapid and an eternal fire and torments which shall not leave hold on thee to all eternity.

5:8Art thou not ashamed, being a man, O wretch with the heart of a wild beast, to take men of like feelings with thyself, made from the same elements, and tear out their tongues, and scourge and torture them in this manner?

5:9But while they have fulfilled their righteousness towards God in their noble deaths, thou shalt miserably cry "Woe is met" for thy unjust slaying of the champions of virtue.'

5:10And then standing on the brink of death he said, 'I am no renegade to the witness borne by my brethren.

5:11And I call upon the God of my fathers to be merciful unto my nation.

5:12And thee will he Punish both in this present life and after that thou art dead.'

5:13And with this prayer he cast himself into the red-hot brazier, and so gave up the ghost.

5:14If therefore the seven brethren despised the tortures even to the death, it is universally proved that the Inspired Reason is supreme lord over the passions.

5:15For if they had yielded to their passions or sufferings and eaten unclean meat we should have said that they had been conquered thereby.

5:16But in this cam it was not so; on the contrary by their Reason, which was commended in the sight of God, they rose superior to their passions.

5:17And it is impossible to deny the supremacy of the mind; for they won the victory over their passions and their pains.

5:18How can we do otherwise than admit right Reason's mastery over passion with these men who shrank not before the agonies of burning?

5:19For even as towers on harbour-moles repulse the assaults of the waves and offer a calm entrance to those entering the haven, so the seven-towered right Reason of the youths defended the haven of righteousness and repulsed the tempestuousness of the passions.

5:20They formed a holy choir of righteousness as they cheered one another on, saying:

5:21'Let us die like brothers, O brethren, for the Law.

5:22Let us imitate the Three Children at the Assyrian court who despised this same ordeal of the furnace.

5:23Let us not turn cravens before the proof of righteousness.'

5:24And one said, 'Brother, be of good cheer,' and another, 'Bear it out nobly'; and another recalling the past, 'Remember of what stock ye are, and at whose fatherly hand Isaac for righteousness' sake yielded himself to be a sacrifice.'

5:25And each and all of them together, looking at each other brightly and very boldly, said, 'With a whole heart will we consecrate ourselves unto God who gave us our souls, and let us lend our bodies to the keeping of the Law.

5:26Let us not fear him who thinketh he kills; for a great struggle and peril of the soul awaits in eternal torment those who transgress the ordinance of God.

5:27Let us then arm ourselves with divine Reason's mastery of the passions.

5:28After this our passion, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob shall receive us, and all our forefathers shall praise us.'

5:29And to each separate one of the brothers, as they were dragged off, those whose turn was yet to come said, 'Do not disgrace us, brother, nor be false to our brethren already dead.'

5:30You are not ignorant of the love of brethren, whereof the divine and all-wise Providence has given an inheritance to those who are begotten though their fathers, implanting it in them even through the mother's womb; wherein brethren do dwell the like period, and take their form during the same time, and are nourished from the same blood, and are quickened with the same soul, and are brought into the world after the same space, and they draw milk from the same founts, whereby their fraternal souls are nursed together in arms at the breast; and they are knit yet closer through a common nurture and daily companionship and other education, and through our discipline under the Law of God.

5:31The feeling of brotherly love being thus naturally strong, the seven brethren had their mutual concord made yet stronger. For trained in the same Law, and disciplined in the same virtues, and brought up together in the upright life, they loved one another the more abundantly. Their common zeal for moral beauty and goodness heightened their mutual concord, for in conjunction with their piety it rendered their brotherly love more fervent.

5:32But though nature, companionship, and their virtuous disposition increased the ardour of their brotherly love, nevertheless the surviving sons through their religion supported the sight of their brethren, who were on the rack, being tortured to death; nay more, they even encouraged them to face the agony, so as not only to despise their own tortures, but also to conquer their passion of brotherly affection for their brethren.

5:33O Reasoning minds, more kingly than kings, than freemen more free, of the harmony of the seven brethren, holy and well attuned to the keynote of piety!

5:34None of the seven youths turned coward, none shrunk in the face of death, but all hastened to the death by torture as if running the road to immortality.

5:35For as hands and feet move in harmony with the promptings of the soul, so those holy youths, as if prompted by the immortal soul of religion, went in harmony to death for its sake.

5:36O all-holy sevenfold companionship of brethren in harmony!

5:37For as the seven days of the creation of the world do enring religion, so did the youths choir-like enring their sevenfold companionship, and made the terror of the tortures of no account.

5:38We now shudder when we hear of the suffering of those youths; but they, not only seeing it with their eyes, nor merely hearing the spoken, imminent threat, but actually feeling the pang, endured it through; and that in the torture by fire, than which what greater agony can be found?

5:39For sharp and stringent is the power of fire, and swiftly did it bring their bodies to dissolution.

5:40And think it not wonderful if with those men Reason triumphed over the tortures, when even a woman's soul despised a yet greater diversity of pains; for the mother of the seven youths endured the torments inflicted on each several one of her children.

5:41But consider how manifold are the yearnings of a mother's heart, so that her feeling for her offspring becomes the centre of her whole world; and indeed, here, even the irrational animals have for their young an affection and love similar to men's.

5:42For example, among the birds, the tame ones sheltering under our roofs defend their nestlings; and those that nest upon the mountain tops, and in the rock clefts, and in the holes of trees, and in the branches, and hatch their young there, do also drive away the intruder.

5:43And then, if they be unable to drive him away, they flutter around the nestlings in a passion of love, calling to them in their own speech, and they give succour to their young ones in whatever fashion they can.

5:44And what need have we of examples of the love of offspring among irrational animals, when even the bees, about the season of the making of the comb, fend off intruders, and stab with their sting, as with a sword, those who approach their brood, and do battle against them even to the death?

5:45But she, the mother of those young men, with a soul like Abraham, was not moved from her purpose by her affection for her children.

Chapter 6

6:1REASON of the sons, lord over the passions! O religion, that wast dearer to the mother than her children!

6:2The mother, having two choices before her, religion and the present saving alive of her seven sons according to the tyrant's promise, loved rather religion, which saveth unto eternal life according to God.

6:3O how may I express the passionate love of parents for children? We stamp a marvellous likeness of our soul and of our shape on the tender nature of the child, and most of all through the mother's sympathy with her children being deeper than the father's.

6:4For women are softer of soul than men, and the more children they bear the more do they abound in love for them.

6:5But, of all mothers, she of the seven sons abounded in love beyond the rest, seeing that, having in seven child-bearings felt maternal tenderness for the fruit of her womb, and having been constrained because of the many pangs in which she bore each to a close affection, she nevertheless through the fear of God rejected the present safety of her children.

6:6Ay, and more than that, through the moral beauty and goodness of her sons and their obedience to the Law, her maternal love for them was made stronger.

6:7For they were just, and temperate, and brave and great-souled, and lovers of each other and of their mother in such manner that they obeyed her in the keeping of the Law even unto death.

6:8But nevertheless, though she had so many temptations to yield to her maternal instincts, in no single instance did the dreadful variety of tortures have power to alter her Reason; but the mother urged each son separately, and all together, to die for their religion.

6:9O holy nature, and parental love, and yearning of parents for offspring, and wages of nursing, and unconquerable affection of mothers!

6:10The mother, seeing them one by one racked and burned, remained unshaken in soul for religion's sake.

6:11She saw the flesh of her sons being consumed in the fire, and the extremities of their hands and feet scattered on the ground, and the flesh-covering, torn off from their heads right to their cheeks, strewn about like masks.

6:12O mother, who now knew sharper pangs than the pangs of labour! O woman, alone among women, the fruit of whose womb was perfect religion!

6:13Thy firstborn, giving up the ghost, did not alter thy resolution, nor thy second, looking with eyes of pity on thee under his tortures, nor thy third, breathing out his spirit.

6:14Neither didst thou weep when thou beheldest the eyes of each amid the torments looking boldly on the same anguish, and sawest in their quivering nostrils the signs of approaching death.

6:15When thou sawest the flesh of one son being severed after the flesh of another, and hand after hand being cut off, and head after head being flayed, and corpse cast upon corpse, and the place crowded with spectators on account of the tortures of thy children, thou sheddest not a tear.

6:16Not the melodies of the sirens nor the songs of swans with sweet sound do so charm the hearer's ears, as sounded the voices of the sons, speaking to the mother from amid the torments.

6:17How many and how great were the tortures with which the mother was tormented while her sons were being tortured with torments of rack and fire!

6:18But Inspired Reason lent her heart a man's strength under her passion of suffering, and exalted her to make no account of the present yearnings of mother-love.

6:19And although she saw the destruction of her seven children and the many and varied forms of their torments, the noble mother willingly surrendered them through faith in God.

6:20For she beheld in her own mind, even as it had been cunning advocates in a council-chamber, nature, and parenthood, and mother- love, and her children on the rack, and it was as if she, the mother, having the choice between two votes in the case of her children, one for their death and one to save them alive, thereupon regarded not the saving of her seven sons for a little time, but, as a true daughter of Abraham, called to mind his God-fearing courage.

6:21O mother of the race, vindicator of our Law, defender of our religion, and winner of the prize in the struggle within thyself!

6:22O woman, nobler to resist than men, and braver than warriors to endure!

6:23For as the Ark of Noah, with the whole living world for her burden in the world-whelming Deluge, did withstand the mighty surges, so thou, the keeper of the Law, beaten upon every side by the surging waves of the passions, and strained as with strong blasts by the tortures of thy sons, didst nobly weather the storms that assailed thee for religion's sake.

6:24Thus then, if one both a woman and advanced in years, and the mother of seven sons, endured the sight of her children being tortured to death, the Inspired Reason must confessedly be supreme ruler over the passions.

6:25I have proved, accordingly, that not only have men triumphed over their sufferings, but that a woman also has despised the most dreadful tortures.

6:26And not so fierce were the lions around Daniel, not so hot was the burning fiery furnace of Mishael, as burned in her the instinct of motherhood at the sight of her seven sons being tortured.

6:27But by her religion-guided Reason the mother quenched her passions, many and strong as they were.

6:28For there is this also to consider, that had the woman been weak of spirit, despite her motherhood, she might have wept over them, and perchance spoken thus:

6:29'Ah, thrice wretched me, and more than thrice wretched! Seven children have I borne and am left childless!

6:30In vain was I seven times with child, and to no profit was my ten months' burden seven times borne, and fruitless have been my nursings, and sorrowful my sucklings.

6:31In vain for you, O my sons, did I endure the many pangs of labour, and the more difficult cares of your upbringing.

6:32Alas, for my sons, that some were yet unwed, and those that were wedded had begotten no children; I shall never see children of yours, nor shall I be called by the name of grandparent.

6:33Ah me, that had many beautiful children, and am a widow and desolate in my woe! Neither will there be any son to bury me when I am dead!'

6:34But the holy and God-fearing mother wailed not with this lamentation over any one of them, neither besought she any to escape death, nor lamented over them as dying men; but, as though she had a soul of adamant and were bringing forth the number of her sons, for a second time, into immortal life, she besought rather and entreated of them that they should die for religion's sake.

6:35O mother, warrior of God in the cause of religion, old and a woman, thou didst both defeat the tyrant by thy endurance, and wast found stronger than a man, in deeds as well as words.

6:36For verily when thou wast put in bonds with thy sons, thou stoodest there seeing Eleazar being tortured, and thou spakest to thy sons in the Hebrew tongue:

6:37'My sons, noble is the fight; and do ye, being called thereto to bear witness for our nation, fight therein zealously on behalf of the Law of our fathers.

6:38For it would be shameful if, while this aged man endured the agony for religion's sake, you that are young men shrank before the pain.

6:39Remember that for the sake of God ye have come into the world, and have enjoyed life, and that therefore ye owe it to God to endure all pain for his sake; for whom also our father Abraham made haste to sacrifice his son Isaac, the ancestor of our nation; and Isaac, seeing his father's hand lifting the knife against him, did not shrink.

6:40And Daniel, the just man, was cast to the lions, and Ananias, Azarias, and Mishael were flung into the furnace of fire, and they endured for God's sake.

6:41And ye also, having the same faith unto God, be not troubled; for it were against Reason that ye, knowing righteousness, should not withstand the pains.'

6:42With these words the mother of the seven encouraged every single one of her sons to die rather than transgress the ordinance of God; they themselves also knowing well that men dying for God live unto God, as live Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the patriarchs.

Chapter 7

7:1SOME of the guards declared that when she also was about to be seized and put to death, she cast herself on the pyre in order that no man might touch her body.

7:2O mother, that together with thy seven sons didst break the tyrant's force, and bring to nought his evil devices, and gavest an example of the nobleness of faith.

7:3Thou wert nobly set as a roof upon thy sons as pillars, and the earthquake of the torments shook thee not at all.

7:4Rejoice therefore, pure-souled mother, having the hope of thy endurance certain at the hand of God.

7:5Not so majestic stands the moon amid the stars in heaven as thou, having lit the path of thy seven starlike sons unto righteousness, standest in honour with God; and thou art set in heaven with them.

7:6For thy child-bearing was from the son of Abraham.

7:7And had it been lawful for us to paint, as might some artist, the tale of thy piety, would not the spectators have shuddered at the mother of seven sons suffering for righteousness' sake multitudinous tortures even unto death?

7:8And indeed it were fitting to inscribe these words over their resting- place, speaking for a memorial to future generations of our people: HERE LIE AN AGED PRIEST AND A WOMAN FULL OF YEARS AND HER SEVEN SONS THROUGH THE VIOLENCE OF A TYRANT DESIRING TO DESTROY THE HEBREW NATION. THEY VINDICATED THE RIGHTS OF OUR PEOPLE LOOKING UNTO GOD AND ENDURING THE TORMENTS EVEN UNTO DEATH.

7:9For truly it was a holy war which was fought by them. For on that day virtue, proving them through endurance, set before them the prize of victory in incorruption in everlasting life.

7:10But the first in the fight was Eleazar, and the mother of the seven sons played her part, and the brethren fought.

7:11The tyrant was their adversary and the world and the life of man were the spectators.

7:12And righteousness won the victor and gave the crown to her athletes. Who but wondered at the athletes of the true Law?

7:13Who were not amazed at them? The tyrant himself and his whole council admired their endurance, whereby they now do both Stand beside the throne of God and live the blessed age.

7:14For Moses says, 'All also who have sanctified themselves are under thy hands.'

7:15And these men, therefore, having sanctified themselves for God's sake, not only have received this honour, but also the honour that through them the enemy had no more power over our people, and the tyrant suffered punishment, and our country was purified, they having as it were become a ransom for our nation's sin; and through the blood of these righteous men and the propitiation of their death, the divine Providence delivered Israel that before was evil entreated.

7:16For when the tyrant Antiochus saw the heroism of their virtue, and their endurance under the tortures, he publicly held up their endurance to his soldiers as an example; and he thus inspired his men with a sense of honour and heroism on the field of battle and in the labours of besieging, so that he plundered and overthrew all his enemies.

7:17O Israelites, children born of the seed of Abraham, obey this Law, and be righteous in all ways, recognizing that Inspired Reason is lord over the passions, and over pains, not only from within, but from without ourselves; by which means those men, delivering up their bodies to the torture for righteousness' sake, not only won the admiration of mankind, but were deemed worthy of a divine inheritance.

7:18And through them the nation obtained peace and restoring the observance of the Law in our country hath captured the city from the enemy.

7:19And vengeance hath pursued the tyrant Antiochus upon earth, and in death he suffers punishment.

7:20For when he failed utterly to constrain the people of Jerusalem to live like Gentiles and abandon the customs of our fathers, he thereupon left Jerusalem and marched away against the Persians.

7:21Now these are the words that the mother of the seven sons, the righteous woman, spake to her children:

7:22'I was a pure maiden, and I strayed not from my father's house, and I kept guard over the rib that was builded into Eve.

7:23No seducer of the desert, no deceiver in the field, corrupted me; nor did the false, beguiling Serpent sully the purity of my maidenhood; I lived with my husband all the days of my youth; but when these my sons were grown up, their father died.

7:24Happy was he; for he lived a life blessed with children, and he never knew the pain of their loss.

7:25Who, while he was yet with us, taught you the Law and the prophets. He read to us of Abel who was slain by Cain, and of Isaac who was offered as a burnt-offering, and of Joseph in the prison.

7:26And he spake to us of Phineas, the zealous priest, and he taught you the song of Ananias, Azarias, and Mishael in the fire.

7:27And he glorified also Daniel in the den of lions, and blessed him; and he called to your minds the saying of Isaiah,

7:28"Yea even though thou pass through the fire, the flame shall not hurt thee."

7:29He sang to us the words of David the psalmist, "Many are the afflictions of the just."

7:30He quoted to us the proverb of Solomon, "He is a tree of life to all them that do his will."

7:31He confirmed the words of Ezekiel, "Shall these dry bones live?" For he forgat not the song that Moses taught, which teaches, "I will slay and I will make alive. This is your life and the blessedness of your days."'

7:32Ah, cruel was the day, and yet not cruel, when the cruel tyrant of the Greeks set the fire blazing for his barbarous braziers, and with his passions boiling brought to the catapult and back again to his tortures the seven sons of the daughter of Abraham, and blinded the eyeballs of their eyes, and cut out their tongues, and slew them with many kinds of torment.

7:33For which cause the judgement of God pursued, and shall pursue, the accursed wretch.

7:34But the sons of Abraham, with their victorious mother, are gathered together unto the place of their ancestors, having received pure and immortal souls from God, to whom be glory for ever and ever.

Chapter 0

0:1Love righteousness, ye that be judges of the earth: think of the Lord with a good (heart,) and in simplicity of heart seek him.

0:2For he will be found of them that tempt him not; and sheweth himself unto such as do not distrust him.

0:3For froward thoughts separate from God: and his power, when it is tried, reproveth the unwise.

0:4For into a malicious soul wisdom shall not enter; nor dwell in the body that is subject unto sin.

0:5For the holy spirit of discipline will flee deceit, and remove from thoughts that are without understanding, and will not abide when unrighteousness cometh in.

0:6For wisdom is a loving spirit; and will not acquit a blasphemer of his words: for God is witness of his reins, and a true beholder of his heart, and a hearer of his tongue.

0:7For the Spirit of the Lord filleth the world: and that which containeth all things hath knowledge of the voice.

0:8Therefore he that speaketh unrighteous things cannot be hid: neither shall vengeance, when it punisheth, pass by him.

0:9For inquisition shall be made into the counsels of the ungodly: and the sound of his words shall come unto the Lord for the manifestation of his wicked deeds.

0:10For the ear of jealousy heareth all things: and the noise of murmurings is not hid.

0:11Therefore beware of murmuring, which is unprofitable; and refrain your tongue from backbiting: for there is no word so secret, that shall go for nought: and the mouth that belieth slayeth the soul.

0:12Seek not death in the error of your life: and pull not upon yourselves destruction with the works of your hands.

0:13For God made not death: neither hath he pleasure in the destruction of the living.

0:14For he created all things, that they might have their being: and the generations of the world were healthful; and there is no poison of destruction in them, nor the kingdom of death upon the earth:

0:15(For righteousness is immortal:)

0:16But ungodly men with their works and words called it to them: for when they thought to have it their friend, they consumed to nought, and made a covenant with it, because they are worthy to take part with it.

Chapter 1

1:1For the ungodly said, reasoning with themselves, but not aright, Our life is short and tedious, and in the death of a man there is no remedy: neither was there any man known to have returned from the grave.

1:2For we are born at all adventure: and we shall be hereafter as though we had never been: for the breath in our nostrils is as smoke, and a little spark in the moving of our heart:

1:3Which being extinguished, our body shall be turned into ashes, and our spirit shall vanish as the soft air,

1:4And our name shall be forgotten in time, and no man shall have our works in remembrance, and our life shall pass away as the trace of a cloud, and shall be dispersed as a mist, that is driven away with the beams of the sun, and overcome with the heat thereof.