Testament of Naphtali 2

1My mother Bilhah was the daughter of Rotheus, the brother of Deborah, the nurse of Rebecca; she was born on the same day as Rachel. 10 And Rotheus was of the lineage of Abraham, a Chaldean, God-fearing, freeborn and noble. 11 And having been taken captive, he was bought by Laban; and Laban gave him his maidservant Eunan as a wife, and she bore a daughter, and he called her name Zelpha, after the name of the city in which he had been taken captive. 12 And after this she bore Bilhah, saying, ‘My daughter is one who renews.’ II. I was swift on my feet like a deer, and my father Jacob appointed me for every errand; and he indeed blessed me as a deer.

2For just as the potter knows how much the vessel can hold, and according to that brings the clay for it, so also the Lord, according to the likeness of the spirit, makes the body, and according to the body's capacity places the spirit in it.

3And there is no deficiency in it, not even by a third of a hair; for by weight and measure and rule every creation was made.

4And just as the potter knows the use of each one, as it is fit, so also the Lord knows the body, how long it will endure in good, and when it comes into evil.

5For there is no creation and no thought that the Lord does not know; for he created all things, and he created man in his own image.

6As a person's strength is, so also is his word, whether in the law of the Lord or in the works of Beliar.

7And just as there is a division between light and darkness, and between sight and hearing, so there is also a division between man and man, and between woman and woman; and it is not possible to say that in appearance one is inferior to another.

8For God made all things good in their order: the five senses in the head, and he joined the neck to the head; and he added hair for beauty, and the heart for understanding, the belly for excrement, the stomach for grinding, the windpipe for taking in air, the liver for anger, the gall for bitterness, the spleen for laughter, the kidneys for craftiness, the loins for strength, and the lungs for drawing in; and so the rest.

9So then, my children, let all your works be in order for good in the fear of God, and do nothing disorderly in contempt, nor outside its proper time.

10For if you say to the eye, “Hear,” it cannot; so neither, being in darkness, can you do the works of light.