Works Biblical apocrypha The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs
IV.--The Testament of Judah Concerning Fortitude, and Love of Money, and Fornication.

15.

He that committeth fornication, and 1 uncovereth his nakedness, hath become the servant of fornication, and escapeth not 2 from the power thereof, even as I also was uncovered. For I gave my staff, that is, the stay of my tribe; and my girdle, that is, my power; and my diadem, that is, the glory of my kingdom. Then I repented for these things, and took no wine or flesh until my old age, nor did I behold any joy. And the angel of God showed me that for ever do women bear rule over king and beggar alike; and from the king they take away his glory, and from the valiant man his strength, and from the beggar even that little which is the stay of his poverty.

  1. Cd. Oxon. here reads the additional clause zemioumenos ouk aisthanetai kai adoxon ouk aischunetai. Kan gar tis basileuse, porneuon--perhaps omitted from Cd. Cant. through the homoeoteleuton. ↩

  2. Cd. Oxon. omits the negative. The basileia will then be that from which the man falls by his sin. ↩

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The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs
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Introductory Notice to The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs

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