1. The copy of the words
of Simeon, what things he spake to his sons before he died, in the
hundred and twentieth year of his life, in the year in which Joseph
died. For they came to visit him when he was sick, and he
strengthened himself and sat up and kissed them, and said to
them:--
2. Hear, O my
children, hear Simeon your father, what things I have in my heart. I
was born of Jacob my father, his second son; and my mother Leah
called me Simeon, because the Lord heard her prayer. I became strong
exceedingly; I shrank from no deed, nor was I afraid of anything. For
my heart was hard, and my mind was unmoveable, and my bowels
unfeeling: because valour also has been given from the Most High to
men in soul and in body. And at that time I was jealous of Joseph
because our father loved him; and I set my mind against him to
destroy him, because the prince of deceit sent forth the spirit of
jealousy and blinded my mind, that I regarded him not as a brother,
and spared not Jacob my father. But his God and the God of his
fathers sent forth His angel, and delivered him out of my hands. For
when I went into Shechem to bring ointment for the flocks, and Reuben
to Dotham, where were our necessaries and all our stores, Judah our
brother sold him to the Ishmaelites. And when Reuben came he was
grieved, for he wished to have restored him safe to his father. But I
was wroth against Judah in that he let him go away alive, and for
five months I continued wrathful against him; but God restrained me,
and withheld from me all working of my hands, for my right hand was
half withered for seven days. And I knew, my children, that because
of Joseph this happened to me, and I repented and wept; and I
besought the Lord that He would restore my hand unto me, and that I
might be kept from all pollution and envy, and from all folly. For I
knew that I had devised an evil deed before the Lord and Jacob my
father, on account of Joseph my brother, in that I envied him.
3. And now,
children, take heed of the spirit of deceit and of envy. For envy
ruleth over the whole mind of a man, and suffereth him neither to
eat, nor to drink, nor to do any good thing: it ever suggesteth to
him to destroy him that he envieth; and he that is envied ever
flourisheth, but he that envieth fades away. Two years of days I
afflicted my soul with fasting in the fear of the Lord, and I learnt
that deliverance from envy cometh by the fear of God. If a man flee
to the Lord, the evil spirit runneth away from him, and his mind
becometh easy. And henceforward he sympathizeth with him whom he
envied, and condemneth not those who love him, and so ceaseth from
his envy.
4. And my
father asked concerning me, because he saw that I was sad; and I
said, I am pained in my liver. For I mourned more than they all,
because I was guilty of the selling of Joseph. And when we went down
into Egypt, and he bound the as a spy, I knew that I was suffering
justly, and I grieved not. Now Joseph was a good man, and had the
Spirit of God within him: compassionate and pitiful, he bore not
malice against me; nay, he loved me even as the rest of his brothers.
Take heed, therefore, my children, of all jealousy and envy, and walk
in singleness of soul and with good heart, keeping in mind the
brother of your father, that God may give to you also grace and
glory, and blessing upon your heads, even as ye saw in him. All his
days he reproached us not concerning this thing, but loved us as his
own soul, and beyond his own sons; and he glorified us, and gave
riches, and cattle, and fruits freely to us all. Do ye then also, my
beloved children, love each one his brother with a good heart, and
remove from you the spirit of envy, for this maketh savage the soul
and destroyeth the body; it turneth his purposes into anger and war,
and stirreth up unto blood, and leadeth the mind into frenzy, and
suffereth not prudence to act in men: moreover, it taketh away sleep,
and causeth tumult to the soul and trembling to the body. For even in
sleep some malicious jealousy, deluding him, gnaweth at his soul, and
with wicked spirits disturbeth it, and causeth the body to be
troubled, and the mind to awake from sleep in confusion; and as
though having a wicked and poisonous spirit, so appeareth it to
men.
5. Therefore
was Joseph fair in appearance, and goodly to look upon, because there
dwelt not in him any wickedness; for in trouble of the spirit the
face declareth it. And now, my children, make your hearts good before
the Lord, and your ways straight before men, and ye shall find grace
before God and men. And take heed not to commit fornication, for
fornication is mother of all evils, separating from God, and bringing
near to Beliar. For I have seen it inscribed in the writing of Enoch
that your sons shall with you be corrupted in fornication, and shall
do wrong against Levi with the sword. But they shall not prevail
against Levi, for he shall wage the war of the Lord, and shall
conquer all your hosts; and there shall be a few divided in Levi and
Judah, and there shall be none of you for sovereignty, even as also
my father Jacob prophesied in his blessings.
6. Behold, I
have foretold you all things, that I may be clear from the sin of
your souls. Now, if ye remove from you your envy, and all your
stiffneckedness, as a rose shall my bones flourish in Israel, and as
a lily my flesh in Jacob, and my odour shall be as the odour of
Libanus; and as cedars shall holy ones be multiplied from me for
ever, and their branches shall stretch afar off. Then shall perish
the seed of Canaan, and a remnant shall not be to Amalek, and all the
Cappadocians shall perish, and all the Hittites shall be utterly
destroyed. Then shall fail the land of Ham, and every people shall
perish. Then shall all the earth rest from trouble, and all the world
under heaven from war. Then shall Shem be glorified, because the Lord
God, the Mighty One of Israel, shall appear upon earth as man, and
saved by Him Adam. Then shall all the spirits of deceit be given to
be trampled under foot, and men shall rule over the wicked spirits.
Then will I arise in joy, and will bless the Most High because of His
marvellous works, because God hath taken a body and eaten with men
and saved men.
7. And now, my
children, obey Levi, and in Judah shall ye be redeemed: and be not
lifted up against these two tribes, for from them shall arise to you
the salvation of God. For the Lord shall raise up from Levi as it
were a Priest, and from Judah as it were a King, God and man. So
shall He save all the Gentiles and the race of Israel. Therefore I
command you all things, in order that ye also may command your
children, that they may observe them throughout their
generations.
8. And Simeon
made an end of commanding his sons, and slept with his fathers, being
an hundred and twenty years old. And they laid him in a coffin of
incorruptible wood, to take up his bones to Hebron. And they carried
them up in a war of the Egyptians secretly: for the bones of Joseph
the Egyptians guarded in the treasure-house of the palace; for the
sorcerers told them that at the departure of the bones of Joseph
there should be throughout the whole of Egypt darkness and gloom, and
an exceeding great plague to the Egyptians, so that even with a lamp
a man should not recognise his brother.
9. And the
sons of Simeon bewailed their father according to the law of
mourning, and they were in Egypt until the day of their departure
from Egypt by the hand of Moses.
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