Testament of Joseph 4

1And when I understood, I was grieved unto death. But after she had gone out, I came to myself and mourned over her for many days, because I knew her deceit and her delusion.

2And I would speak to her words of the Most High, whether perhaps she might turn back from the evil desire.

3So then, many times, as to a holy man, she flattered me with words; and with deceit she praised my self-control before her husband, wishing to trip me up when we were alone.

4For she openly extolled me as self-controlled, but in secret she said to me, “Do not be afraid of my husband; for he is persuaded about your purity, and even if someone should tell him about us, he will not believe it.”

5In all these things I, lying on the ground, kept begging God that he would rescue me from her deceit.

6Since she accomplished nothing in this, she again began to come to me with words of instruction, wanting to learn the word of God.

7And she says to me, “If you want me to leave the idols, my kinsman, I will persuade my husband to withdraw from the idols, and we will walk before your Lord.”

8But I said to her, “The Lord does not will that those who revere him should be in uncleanness, nor does he delight in adulterers, but in those who draw near to him with a pure heart and undefiled lips.”

9But she kept contending, wanting to fulfill her desire.

10And I added fasting and prayer, so that the Lord might rescue me from her.