Testament of Issachar 1

1A copy of the words of Issachar. For he called his sons and said to them, "Listen, children, to Issachar your father; give ear to the words of one beloved by the Lord.

2I was born as the fifth son to Jacob, as the wages for the mandrakes.

3For Reuben my brother brought mandrakes from the field, and Rachel met him and took them from him.

4But Reuben was weeping, and at his cry Leah my mother came out.

5These were fragrant fruits, which grow in the land of Haran below a watercourse.

6And Rachel said, "I will not give these to you, but I will keep them in exchange for children; for the Lord has overlooked me, and I have borne no children to Jacob."

7So there were two fruits. And Leah said to Rachel, “Let it be enough for you that you have taken my husband; will you also take these from me?”

8And Rachel said to her, “Let Jacob be with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.”

9But Leah said to her, “Jacob is mine, because I am the wife of his youth.”

10And Rachel said, “Do not boast, nor glorify yourself, for he was joined to me before you, and because of me he served our father fourteen years.”

11And had guile not multiplied upon the earth and the wickedness of men advanced, you would not be looking on the face of Jacob.

12But Laban deceived me with guile, and removed me that night, and did not allow Jacob to see me; for if I had been there, this would not have happened to him.

13But still, in exchange for the mandrakes I hire out to you one night with Jacob.

14And Rachel went on speaking and said, "I will take one of the mandrakes, and in exchange for the one I will hire him out to you for the night."

15And Jacob knew Leah, and she conceived and bore me; and because of this — the wages — I was called Issachar.