Testament of Joseph 7

1So that you may learn that the wickedness of the ungodly will not prevail over those who fear God with self-control, look: taking some of it in your presence, I will eat. And after saying this, I said thus, “The God of my fathers and the angel of Abraham will be with me.” And I ate.

2But when she saw this, she fell on her face at my feet, weeping; and I raised her up and admonished her.

3And she agreed with me no longer to commit this impiety. Yet her heart was still set on evil, and she kept looking around for a way to ensnare me; and groaning, she would suddenly collapse, though she was not actually sick.

4And when her husband saw her, he said to her, “What has happened to your face?” She said to him, “I am in pain with anguish of heart, and the groanings of my spirit hold me fast.” And he healed her with words.

5Then, when she found an opportunity, she rushed in to me while her husband was still outside, and said to me, “I am choking, or I will throw myself down a cliff, if you do not lie with me.”

6But I, understanding that the spirit of Beliar was troubling her, prayed to the Lord and said to her,

7“Why, miserable woman, are you disturbed and thrown into turmoil, blinding yourself in sins? Remember that if you kill yourself, Astho, your husband’s concubine, your rival, will beat your children and wipe out your memory from the earth.”