Testament Of Levi
1926 anthology, complete selected publisher reading text
Rutherford H. Platt
31 And after two days I and Judah went up with our father Jacob to Isaac our father’s father.
32 And my father’s father blessed me according to all the words of the visions which I had seen. And he would not come with us to Bethel.
33 And when we came to Bethel, my father saw a vision concerning me, that I should be their priest unto God.
34 And he rose up early in the morning, and paid tithes of all to the Lord through me. And so we came to Hebron to dwell there.
35 And Isaac called me continually to put me in remembrance of the law of the Lord, even as the angel of the Lord showed unto me.
36 And he taught me the law of the priesthood of sacrifices, whole burnt-offerings, first-fruits, freewill-offerings, peace-offerings.
37 And each day he was instructing me, and was busied on my behalf before the Lord, and said to me: Beware of the spirit of fornication; for this shall continue and shall by thy seed pollute the holy place.
38 Take, therefore, to thyself a wife without blemish or pollution, while yet thou are young, and not of the race of strange nations.
39 And before entering into the holy place, bathe; and when thou offerest the sacrifice, wash; and again, when thou finishest the sacrifice, wash.
40 Of twelve trees having leaves offer to the Lord, as Abraham taught me also.
41 And of every clean beast and bird offer a sacrifice to the Lord.
42 And of all thy first-fruits and of wine offer the first, as a sacrifice to the Lord God; and every sacrifice thou shalt salt with salt.
43 Now, therefore, observe whatsoever I command you, children; for whatsoever things I have heard from my fathers I have declared unto you.
44 And behold I am clear from your ungodliness and transgression, which ye shall commit in the end of the ages against the Saviour of the world, Christ, acting godlessly, deceiving Israel, and stirring up against it great evils from the Lord.
45 And ye shall deal lawlessly together with Israel, so He shall not bear with Jerusalem because of your wickedness; but the veil of the temple shall be rent, so as not to cover your shame.
46 And ye shall be scattered as captives among the Gentiles, and shall be for a reproach and for a curse there.
47 For the house which the Lord shall choose shall be called Jerusalem, as is contained in the book of Enoch the righteous.
48 Therefore when I took a wife I was twenty-eight years old, and her name was Melcha.
49 And she conceived and bare a son, and I called his name Gersam, for we were sojourners in our land.
50 And I saw concerning him, that he would not be in the first rank.
51 And Kohath was born in the thirty-fifth year of my life, towards sunrise.
52 And I saw in a vision that he was standing on high in the midst of all the congregation.
53 Therefore I called his name Kohath which is, beginning of majesty and instruction.
54 And she bare me a third son, in the fortieth year of my life; and since his mother bare him with difficulty, I called him Merari, that is, ‘my bitterness,’ because he also was like to die.
55 And Jochebed was born. in Egypt, in my sixty-fourth year, for I was renowned then in the midst of my brethren.
56 And Gersam took a wife, and she bare to him Lomni and Semei. And the sons of Kohath, Ambram, Issachar, Hebron, and Ozeel. And the sons of Merari, Mooli, and Mouses.
57 And in the ninety-fourth year Ambram took Jochebed my daughter to him to wife, for they were born in one day, he and my daughter.
58 Eight years old was I when I went into the land of Canaan, and eighteen years when I slew Shechem, and at nineteen years I became priest, and at twenty-eight years I took a wife, and at forty-eight I went into Egypt.
59 And behold, my children, ye are a third generation. In my hundred and eighteenth year Joseph died.
CHAP. IV.
Levi shows how wisdom survives destruction. He has no use for scornful people.
AND now, my children, I command you: Fear the Lord your God with your whole heart, and walk in simplicity according to all His law.
2 And do ye also teach your children letters, that they may have understanding all their life, reading unceasingly the law of God.
3 For every one that knoweth the law of the Lord shall be honoured, and shall not be a stranger whithersoever he goeth.
4 Yea, many friends shall he gain more than his parents, and many men shall desire to serve him, and to hear the law from his mouth.
5 Work righteousness, therefore, my children, upon the earth, that ye may have it as a treasure in heaven.
6 And sow good things in your souls, that ye may find them in your life.
7 But if ye sow evil things, ye shall reap every trouble and affliction.
8 Get wisdom in the fear of God with diligence; for though there be a leading into captivity, and cities and lands be destroyed, and gold and silver and every possession perish, the wisdom of the wise nought can take away, save the blindness of ungodliness, and the callousness that comes of sin.
9 For if one keep oneself from these evil things, then even among his enemies shall wisdom be a glory to him, and in a strange country a fatherland, and in the midst of foes shall prove a friend.