The Abridged The Testament of Judah

1:1. Here are the words Judah said to his sons when he was about to pass away.

1:2. So, they all got together and came to him, and he started talking: Listen to me, my kids, I am your dad Judaire:

1:3. I was the fourth child of my dad Jacob; my mom Leah called me Judah because she was so grateful to have another son.

1:4. I was quick and energetic when I was young and always listened to what my dad told me.

1:5. And I always respected my mom and her sister.

1:6. When I grew up, my dad gave his blessing to me, telling me that I would be very successful and lead like a king.

1:7. And God helped me succeed in everything I did, whether it was out in the field or inside our home.

1:8. I once ran after a deer, caught it, made a meal out of it for my dad and he really enjoyed it.

1:9. I used to be really good at hunting deer and I could catch anything that roamed the open land.

1:10. I once chased down a wild horse, caught it, and trained it.

1:11. I killed a lion and saved a young goat from its mouth.

1:12. I grabbed a bear by its paw and threw it off a cliff, where it died.

1:13. I ran faster than a wild pig; as I caught up, I killed it.

1:14. When a leopard attacked my dog in Hebron, I grabbed its tail, swung it onto the rocks, and it died from the impact.

1:15. I came across a wild ox in the fields, grabbed its horns, spun it around to stun it, then threw it to the ground and killed it.

1:16. When two Canaanite kings in full armor brought their troops against our livestock herds, I single-handedly attacked the king of Hazor, hit him on his shin guards, took him down, and killed him.

1:17. Then there was another ruler, the king in the land of Tappuah. I struck him down while he was riding his horse, causing all his followers to run away.

1:18. Next, I encountered Achor, a very tall rival king, who was tossing spears around while sitting on his horse. I picked up a heavy rock that weighed around 60 pounds and threw it, hitting and killing his horse.

1:19. I engaged in combat with him for two hours, split his shield in half, cut off his legs, and then he died.

1:20. While I was taking off his armor, nine of his soldiers decided to attack me.

1:21. I quickly wrapped some cloth around my hand for protection and started hurling stones at them, managing to take down four of them as the others made their escape.

1:22. Meanwhile, Jacob my father defeated Beelesath—who was respected as the most powerful king and stood twelve units of measurement tall—with impressive strength.

1:23. The rest were overcome with fear and stopped their aggression towards us.

1:24. Henceforth, my father no longer worried about conflicts whenever I accompanied my brothers.

1:25. I had a vision where a powerful angel was always with me to keep me safe.

1:26. Further south, we got into even bigger battles than we had in Shechem. I fought alongside my siblings, chased down a thousand men, and killed 200 of them, including four chiefs.

1:27. I climbed on top of the walls and took down four strong fighters by myself.

1:28. As a result, we conquered the city of Hazor and claimed all the valuable items and resources there.

1:29. The next day, we moved on toward Aretan, a heavily fortified city that was practically impenetrable and whose people threatened to kill us.

1:30. My sibling Gad and I approached from the east side of the city; Reuben and Levi approached from the west.

1:31. The defenders on the walls assumed it was just us outside and confidently came down to face us.

1:32. Meanwhile, unknown to them, my other siblings had silently scaled the walls using ropes from both sides and invaded the city successfully.

1:33. We conquered it using swords.

1:34. We burned down the tower where some people had taken shelter and captured both the tower and the people.

1:35. When we were leaving, the people from Tappuah took our stolen goods; we saw this and fought them.

1:36. We killed them all and took back our stolen goods.

1:37. At the waters of Kozeba, the warriors from Job O'>

1:38. battled us. We fought and defeated them; we even killed their allies from Shiloh, ensuring they couldn't attack us again.

1:39. On the fifth day, the men from Makir attacked us to take our loot; we fought hard and won against their strong army, killing them before reaching higher ground.

1:40. In their city, women threw stones at us from a hilltop as we approached.

1:41. Simeon and I snuck away to the outskirts of the city, took control of the higher ground, and completely destroyed it as well.

1:42. The following day, we heard that the King of Gaash was approaching us with a large army.

1:43. Dan and I disguised ourselves as Amorites, pretending to be allies, and entered their city.

1:44. Late at night, our brothers arrived and we let them through the gates. We eliminated all the men and took everything they owned. We also demolished their three surrounding walls.

1:45. Next, we approached Thamna where all the rulers' valuable possessions were stored.

1:46. They insulted us which made me angry, so I attacked them at their high ground while they were throwing stones and arrows at me.

1:47. If it hadn't been for my brother Dan helping me, they might have killed me.

1:48. We struck them forcefully and they ran away. However, they encountered my father through a different route and he managed to make peace with them.

1:49. We caused them no harm and they paid us as subjects; we also returned what we took from them.

1:50. I built the city of Thamna and my father built Pabael.

1:51. I was twenty when I faced that war. The Canaanite people feared me and my siblings.

1:52. I owned a lot of livestock and appointed Iram the Adullamite as my main livestock manager.

1:53. When I went to visit him, I met Parsaba, the king of Adullam. He talked with us, hosted a feast for us, and when I was not fully aware of my actions, he offered his daughter Bathshua to me for marriage.

1:54. She gave birth to Er, Onan, and Shel-allah; God took away Er's and Onan’s lives: only Shel-allah survived, whose descendants you all are.

2:1. My father and his brother Esau lived in harmony with their families for eighteen years after we settled down from our journey from Mesopotamia and Laban.

2:2. However, after those eighteen years, when I was forty years old, Esau armed with a powerful force launched an attack against us.

2:3. In that battle, my father managed to hit Esau with an arrow; he eventually succumbed to his injury as he fled over Mount Seir and passed away at Anoniram.

2:4. We didn't stop there and continued chasing Esau's children.

2:5. They lived in a fortified city with iron walls and bronze gates that we couldn't penetrate; so we camped around it, laying siege as an attempt to break in.

2:6. When they didn't surrender after twenty days, I climbed up a ladder fully armored against the onslaught of very heavy stones to confront them myself and killed four of their champions.

2:7. Additionally, Reuben and Gad managed to kill six more of their fighters.

2:8. Following these battles, they were ready for peace talks; with our father's input, we agreed but subjected them to paying us taxes.

2:9. They compensated us with vast quantities of wheat, oil, and wine—five hundred measures each—which supported us until the crucial time when we had to relocate to Egypt due to a severe famine.

2:10. Afterwards, my son Er married Tamar, who came from Mesopotamia and was the daughter of Aram.

2:11. Er behaved horribly and was troubled by his marriage to Tamar because she came from outside Canaan.

2:12. Then, on the third night, an angel from God struck him down.

2:13. He hadn't slept with her due to his mother's sneaky influence; he didn't want to father children with her.

2:14. During the wedding celebrations, I arranged for Onan to marry her; but Onan also acted horribly and didn't sleep with her for a whole year.

2:15. When I confronted him, he slept with her but deliberately made sure not to have children, following his mother's orders—and he too died because of his horrible behavior.

2:16. I wanted to give Shelah to her as well, but his mother objected because she didn't like Tamar wasn't one of their own people from Canaan like she was.

2:17. I realized that Canaanites had a reputation for horrible behavior; however, youthful passion clouded my judgment.

2:18. When I saw Tamar pouring wine and got caught up in the drunkenness, I made a mistake and took her although my father had never given me such advice.

2:19. While I was gone, she chose a Canaanite woman to be Shelah's spouse.

2:20. When I found out what she had done, I angrily denounced her in my deep distress.

2:21. Due to her bad actions, she met her end, along with her sons.

2:22. Some time later, as Tamar remained a widow, she learned that I would be visiting to attend to my sheep after a couple of years. She got dressed up as if for a wedding and sat by the city gate in Enaim.

2:23. It was a custom of the Amorites for a woman ready for marriage to sit in that spot for seven days.

2:24. I got drunk on wine and didn’t recognize Tamar; I was captivated by her beauty and charmed by her outfit.

2:25. Drawn to her, I approached and proposed we have an intimate encounter.

2:26. She asked what she would get in return, and I offered my walking stick, belt, and my royal headdress as a security deposit.

2:27. After our encounter, she became pregnant.

2:28. I didn't realize at first what I had done, and I almost killed her in anger; however, she secretly sent me a reminder of our encounter, which made me realize my mistake.

2:29. When I spoke to her, I was shocked to hear her repeat the private things I had said during our intimate moment while I was impaired; and I understood that it was not my place to kill her, as it must have been a part of God's plan.

2:30. At first, I thought maybe she was sly and had actually been with someone else who gave her the reminder.

2:31. But after what happened, even though it stirred a lot of gossip in Israel, I never went close to her again.

2:32. People in the city were saying there were no prostitutes around because she didn't originally come from that area and only stayed by the city gate briefly.

2:33. And for a while, I believed that no one knew about my secretive visit to her.

2:34. Later on, we moved to Egypt to join Joseph because of widespread starvation.

2:35. At that time, I was 46 years old, and then I spent another 73 years living in Egypt.

3:1. Listen to me, my children—I am your father Judah. Remember my words, follow all of God's laws, and listen to God's commands.

3:2. Don't follow your deep cravings or be led by your prideful thoughts; and don't boast about your young strength or what you've done because that is also wrong in God’s view.

3:3. I used to take pride in never letting a beautiful woman distract me during battles, and I even criticized my brother Reuben about his affair with Bilhah, our father's wife. But then I faced my own struggles with jealousy and desire, which led me to have a relationship with Bathshua, a woman from Canaan, and Tamar who was promised to one of my sons.

3:4. I told Tamar's father that I would discuss things with my own father before deciding to marry his daughter.

3:5. He didn't agree at first but then showed me a huge quantity of gold he could offer for her; he was wealthy like a king.

3:6. He dressed her in gold and pearls and had her serve us wine during our feast—all done up the way beautiful women are.

3:7. The wine made me lose focus, and my infatuation clouded my judgment.

3:8. I fell for her charm, slept with her against God's rules as well as the rules set by my fathers, and then took her as my wife.

3:9. God rewarded me based on what was in my heart, since I found no joy in their success.

3:10. And now, my children, I advise you not to overindulize in wine; it can distract your mind from the truth and stir up a strong desire for physical pleasure, causing you to see things incorrectly.

3:11. The urge for physical relationships often uses wine as its way to make the mind feel good; these two can also take away a person’s clear thinking.

3:12. If someone drinks too much wine, they start thinking dirty thoughts that lead to impure actions, and their body craves physical contact; if they have the chance to follow through with these desires, they act on them without feeling any embarrassment.

3:13. That's what happens when you drink too much; someone who is drunk doesn’t respect anyone else.

3:14. See, being drunk led me to make mistakes too - I wasn't embarrassed by the crowd in the city when I approached Tamar publicly, doing something terribly wrong and revealing things about my sons that should have remained private.

3:15. When I was under the influence of wine, I ignored God’s rules and married a woman from Canaan.

3:16. It takes a lot of careful thought for someone who drinks wine; being consider wasate while drinking wine means drinking only enough to maintain your dignity.

3:17. If a person drinks too much, they let deceitful thoughts take over. This leads them to say and do disgraceful things without feeling embarrassed. Instead, they might even brag about their disgraceful behavior and believe themselves to be respectable.

3:18. Someone who engages in sexual behavior carelessly doesn't realize the damage they do to themselves, nor do they feel shame for their dishonorable actions.

3:19. It doesn't matter if you're a king or anyone with power; if you act carelessly in your sexual life, you become a prisoner to those actions—as I learned from my own experience.

3:20. For me, I lost the symbols of my leadership and authority; the staff as the strength of my tribe, my belt as my power, and the crown as the honor of being king.

3:21. I regret these actions deeply; I stopped drinking wine and eating meat until my old age and didn's seek out any form of happiness.

3:22. God showed me that men are often controlled by their desires, whether they are kings or beggars.

3:23. Desires can strip kings of their honor, strong men of their strength, and even take from the poor what little they depend on.

3:24. So pay attention, my children, to how much wine you consume, because it can unleash negative desires—which include cravings for sex, strong impulses for foolish behaviors, addictions to making dirty money.

3:25. When you're drinking wine and having a good time, always stay respectful and mindful of God.

3:26. If you forget your respect for God when you're happy and partying, you'll start to overdrink, and that'll lead to embarrassing behavior.

3:27. But if you want to live with self-control, it's better not to drink wine at all, so you avoid saying hurtful things or getting into fights and trouble with God's rules; doing this may cause your life to end too soon.

3:28. Wine can reveal secrets about both divine matters and people's lives, just as I’ve shared God’s laws and private details about my father Jacob with Bathshua, the woman I wasn’t supposed to tell.

3:29. Wine often leads to conflict and chaos.

3:30. Here's my advice for you, my kids: don’t obssess over money or get caught up in the looks of others; those two things caused me to make bad decisions involving Bathshua from Canaan.

3:31. I am certain that these two temptations will lead my descendants down a bad path.

3:32. Even the smart ones among my children will be negatively affected by these temptations, which will weaken the rule of Judah that God granted me for obeying my father.

3:33. I've always made my father Jacob proud; I've followed all his instructions to the letter.

3:34. Isaac, who was my grandfather, said that I would become a ruler in Israel, and Jacob gave me his blessing for this too.

3:35. I'm sure that the leadership will come from me.

3:36. But, I know the terrible things you will end to do when the times reach their worst.

3:37. So, listen to me, my children: avoid sexual immorality and being obsessed with money; pay attention to what your father Judah says.

3:38. Those behaviors can lead you away from God's guidance, cloud your judgment, push you toward arrogance, and make you lose sympathy for others.

3:39. They strip away your goodness and pile on relentless difficulties and stress, stealing rest from you and wearing down your health.

3:40. Those ways can keep you from participating in religious practices properly, make you forget God's blessings, ignore advice from religious guides, and dislike spiritual teachings.

3:41. He is controlled by opposing desires and can't follow God, as these desires cloud his judgment, making him as blind in the daylight as he would be at night.

3:42. My kids, wanting too much money can lead to treating non-gods like gods; money misguides people to that point and can drive them insane.

3:43. Because of my greed, I almost lost my kids. If it wasn't for admitting my wrongs, truly feeling sorry, and my dad's prayers, I would have had no children.

3:44. But God had mercy on me because I didn't understand what I was doing.

3:45. Deception's leader tricked me—and in my mistakes and flaws as a human being—I realized I wasn't as strong as I thought.

3:46. So understand this, kids: two forces are with us—a spirit of truth and a spirit of deception.

3:47. Then there's the spirit that understands our thoughts, which can decide to lean towards either side.

3:48. The actions born from truth and those born from deception are imprinted on people's hearts and God knows each one of them.

4:1. Now, my children, I tell you to love Levi so you can thrive. Don't feel superior to him or you could end up in ruin.

4:2. Because God granted me authority over a kingdom and gave Levi the honor of serving God in a sacred role, and God decided that this role is less significant than the sacred one.

4:3. God gave me authority on Earth and gave Levi responsibilities in spiritual matters.

4:4. Just like the sky is above the land, serving God is considered above ruling a kingdom unless one strays from God's ways and lets earthly power take control.

4:5. Because God's messenger informed me: God prefers him over me to be close to God, to share in God's meals, and to present the finest offerings from Israel's people; but you will be the leader of Jacob's descendants.

4:6. You will be like the ocean among them.

4:7. As on the ocean where some are safe while some face danger, with some being captured and others getting wealthy from what's seized—every group will have similar experiences through you: some will lose everything and be under others' control, while others get rich by taking what belongs to someone else.

4:8. Kings will act like sea creatures.

4:9. They will consume people like predators do fish: they'll turn the children of the free into their slaves; they'll take over homes, lands, animals, and money.

4:10. They will cruelly feed the birds with many bodies; they'll get more corrupt as their greed grows, and false prophets will stir trouble just like a storm, attacking all those who live by strong moral principles.

4:11. God will cause conflict and division among them.

4:12. Wars will constantly happen in Israel; my kin's rule in other lands will end, but this will last until Israel's hopeful future arrives.

4:13. Until God, who embodies what is morally right, makes an appearance and ushers in a period of tranquility for both Jacob and every nation.

4:14. And God shall firmly maintain the strength of my rule forever; because God made an unbreakable promise not to let the realm fall from my family line ever again.

4:15. I'm deeply upset, my children, because you will act immorally and get involved in practices like magic and worshipping false gods. You'll follow those who claim to talk to spirits, tell fortunes, and lead you into make-believe errors.

4:16. You will turn your daughters into entertainers and prostitutes, and you'll adopt the shameful practices of other nations.

4:17. Because of these actions, God will send hunger and disease among you. You'll face death by violence, attacks from enemies, betrayal by friends, harm to your children, assault of your spouses, theft of your belongings, the destruction of God's place of worship, devastation of your land, and enslavement among foreign people.

4:18. Some of you will even be forced to become servants meant to guard the bedrooms of others.

4:19. All this will continue until the day God intervenes—after you truly regret what you have done and commit completely to following all of God's guidelines. Then God will rescue you from being captives in foreign lands.

4:20. After those events, peace will come to your people like a bright star emerging from Jacob (a metaphorical reference implying descent/heritage).

4:21. A man coming from my descendants will rise like the bright morning sun bringing justice and righteousness.

4:22. Living among people with gentleness and fairness;

4:23. And no wrongdoings will be seen in them.

4:24. They will experience openness to the divine presence, allowing their spirits to be enriched with a sacred blessing, and they will be covered with undeserved kindness;

4:25. You all will be treated as children who live by the truth, and you should always follow these divine guidelines, from beginning to end.

4:26. Then my reign will become notable; your lineage will produce a new leader; who will emerge as a fair ruler for nations, providing guidance and help to everyone who seeks divine assistance.

4:27. And following these events, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will return to live; whereas my siblings and I will become leaders of the tribes of Israel:

4:28. Leading with Levi first, myself second in line, then Joseph third, Benjamin fourth, Simeon fifth, Issachar sixth; all siblings following in sequence.

4:29. God blessed Levi with sacred leadership, and me with God's direct presence; Simeon with remarkable strengths, Reuben with the heavens; Issachar with the earth; Zebulun with the oceans; Joseph with the mountains; Benjamin with the temple; Dan with the celestial bodies; Naphtali with paradise’s abundance; Gad with the warmth of the sun and Asher with the calmness of the moon.

4:30. You all will stand as God's chosen people, speaking one language, where there will be no lies or deceit because it will all be purged by fire eternally.

4:31. Those who have passed away while mourning will come back to happiness, those who have had nothing because of their dedication to God will receive abundance, and sufferers who died for their faith in God will come back to life.

4:32. The descedants of Jacob will leap for joy like happy deer, while the descendants of Israel will soar like eagles lifted by contentment, and everyone will celebrate God endlessly.

4:33. So remember my children, follow all of God's guidance faithfully; there is always hope for those who cling to God's path.

4:34. Then he told them: Watch me as I pass away today at one hundred and nineteen years old.

4:35. DO not cover my body in expensive fabrics or disturb it after my death like they do for rulers; simply take me up to Hebron with you for burial.