The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs
The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs gathers the deathbed speeches of Jacob's twelve sons, from Reuben to Benjamin. Each patriarch gathers his children, confesses a sin from his own life (Reuben's lust, Simeon's envy, Judah's greed, Gad's hatred), and warns them against the vice it taught him while urging the opposing virtue. Woven through the moral teaching are visions of the heavens, the fall of the priesthood, a coming Messiah from Levi and Judah, the final judgment, and the resurrection of the patriarchs. It quotes and echoes the Book of Enoch and Jubilees, and it was widely read by early Christians. This edition follows the Ante-Nicene Fathers translation (Sinker, 1870), with chapters numbered in order from Reuben 1 through Benjamin 12. Verse numbers are this archive's own sentence divisions, not the traditional verse numbers.
📘 About This Book
Purpose
To teach ethics through the last words of Israel's twelve fathers, each confessing a sin and urging a virtue, and to set out hopes of a coming priestly and royal deliverer.
Audience
Jewish and later Christian readers of the Enochic and Jubilees tradition.
Did You Know?
- Twelve deathbed speeches, one for each son of Jacob, each ending with the patriarch's death and burial.
- A Jewish work with Christian additions, translated here from the Greek by Robert Sinker.
- The archive numbers its 142 chapters in one sequence; each chapter title gives the traditional reference, such as Levi 2.