Testament of Reuben 1

1A copy of the testament of Reuben, what he commanded his sons before he died, in the one hundred and twenty-fifth year of his life.

2Two years after the death of Joseph his brother, when Reuben had fallen sick, his sons and the sons of his sons gathered to visit him.

3And he said to them, “My children, behold, I am dying and going the way of my fathers.”

4Then, seeing Judah and Gad and Asher there, his brothers, he said to them, “Raise me up, so that I may tell my brothers and my children the things hidden in my heart; for behold, even now I am passing away.”

5And rising up, he kissed them and said to them, “Hear, my brothers and my sons; listen to Reuben your father in what I command you.”

6And behold, today I call the God of heaven to witness against you, that you not walk in the ignorance of youth and in sexual immorality, in which I was swept away and defiled the bed of my father Jacob.

7And I tell you that he struck me with a severe blow on my loins for seven months; and if my father Jacob had not prayed to the Lord for me, the Lord would have destroyed me.

8For I was thirty years old when I did evil before the Lord, and for seven months I was weakened to the point of death.

9And after this, with the resolve of my soul, I repented before the Lord for seven years.

10And I drank no wine or strong drink, and no meat entered my mouth, and I ate no bread of desire; but I was mourning over my sin, for it was great, such as had not happened in Israel.