1
Levi, the third son of Jacob and Leah. A mystic and dreamer of dreams, a prophet.
THE copy of the words of Levi, the things which he ordained to his sons, according to all that they should do, and what things should befall them until the day of judgment.
2He was sound in health when he called them to him; for it had been revealed to him that he should die.
3And when they were gathered together he said to them:
4I, Levi, was born in Haran, and I came with my father to Shechem.
5And I was young, about twenty years of age, when, with Simeon, I wrought vengeance on Hamor for our sister Dinah.
6And when I was feeding the flocks in Abel-Maul, the spirit of understand of the Lord came upon me, and I saw all men corrupting their way, and that unrighteousness
had built for itself walls, and lawlessness sat upon towers.
7And I was grieving for the race of the sons of men, and I prayed to the Lord that I might be saved.
8Then there fell upon me a sleep, and I beheld a high mountain, and I was upon it.
9And behold the heavens were opened, and an angel of God said to me, Levi, enter.
10And I entered from the first heaven, and I saw there a great sea hanging.
11And further I saw a second heaven far brighter and more brilliant, for there was a boundless light also in it,
12And I said to the angel, Why is this so? And the angel said to me, Marvel not at this, for you shall see another heaven more brilliant and incomparable.
13And when you have ascended there, You shall stand near the Lord, and shall be His minister, and shall, declare His mysteries to men, and shall proclaim concerning Him who shall redeem Israel.
14And by you and Judah shall the Lord appear among men, saving every race of men.
15And from the Lord's portion shall be your life, and He shall be your field and vineyard, and fruits, gold, and silver.
16Hear, therefore, regarding the heavens which have been shown to you.
17The lowest is for this cause gloomy to you, in that it beholds all the unrighteous deeds of men.
18And it has fire, snow, and ice made ready for the day of judgment, in the righteous judgment of God. For in it are all the spirits of the retributions for vengeance on men.
19And in the second are the hosts Of the armies which are ordained for the day of judgment, to work vengeance on the spirits of deceit and of Beliar.
20And above them are the holy ones.
21And in the highest of all dwells the Great Glory, far above all holiness.
22In the heaven next to it are the archangels, who minister and make propitiation to the Lord for all the sins of ignorance of the righteous;
23Offering to the Lord a sweet smelling savor, a reasonable and a bloodless offering.
24And in the heaven below this are the angels who bear answers to the angels of the presence of the Lord.
25And in the heaven next to this are thrones and dominions, in which always they offer praise to God.
26When, therefore, the Lord looks upon us, all of us are shaken; yes, the heavens, and the earth, and the abysses are shaken at the presence of His majesty.
27But the sons of men, having no perception of these things, sin and provoke the Most High.
2
Levi urges piety and education.
NOW, therefore, know that the Lord shall execute judgment upon the sons of men.
2Because when the rocks are being rent, and the sun quenched, and the waters dried up, and the fire cowering. And all creation troubled, and the invisible spirits melting away, and Hades takes spoils through the visitations of the Most High, men will be unbelieving and persist in their iniquity.
3On this account with punishment shall they be judged.
4Therefore the Most High has heard your prayer, to separate
you from iniquity, and that you should become to Him a son, and a servant, and a minister of His presence.
5The light of Knowledge shall you light up in Jacob, and as the sun shall you be to all the seed of Israel.
6And there shall be given to you a blessing, and to all your seed until the Lord shall visit all the Gentiles in His tender mercies for ever.
7And therefore there have been given to you counsel and understanding, that you might instruct your sons concerning this;
8Because those who bless Him shall be blessed, and those who curse Him shall perish.
9And then the angel opened to me the gates of heaven, and I saw the holy temple, and upon a throne of glory the Most High.
10And He said to me: Levi, I have given you the blessing of the priesthood until I come and sojourn in the midst of Israel.
11Then the angel brought me down to the earth, and gave me a shield and a sword, and said to me: Execute vengeance on Shechem because of Dinah, your sister. And I will be with you because the Lord has sent me.
12And I destroyed at that time the sons of Hamor, as it is written in the heavenly tables.
13And I said to him: I pray you, O Lord, tell me Your name, that I may call upon You in a day of tribulation.
14And he said: I am the angel who intercedes for the nation of Israel that they may not be
smitten utterly, for every evil spirit attacks it.
15And after these things I awaked, and blessed the Most High, and the angel who intercedes for the nation of Israel and for all the righteous.
3
Levi has visions and shows what rewards are in store for the righteous.
AND when I was going to my father, I found a brazen shield; wherefore also the name of the mountain is Aspis, which is near Gebal, to the south of Abila.
2And I kept these words in my heart. And after this I counseled my father, and Reuben my brother, to bid the sons of Hamor not to be circumcised. For I was zealous because of the abomination which they had wrought on my sister.
3And I killed Shechem first, and Simeon killed Hamor. And after this my brothers came and struck that city with the edge of the sword.
4And my father heard these things and was wroth, and he was grieved in that they had received the circumcision, and after that had been put to death, and in his blessings he looked amiss upon us.
5For we sinned because we had done this thing against his will, and he was sick on that day.
6But I saw that the sentence of God was for evil upon Shechem. For they sought to do to Sarah and Rebecca as they had done to Dinah our sister, but the Lord prevented them.
7And they persecuted Abraham our father when he was a stranger, and they vexed his flocks when they were big with young. And Eblaen, who was born in his house, they most shamefully handled.
8And thus they did to all strangers, taking away their wives by force, and they banished them.
9But the wrath of the Lord came upon them to the uttermost.
10And I said to my father Jacob: By you will the Lord despoil the Canaanites, and will give their land to you and to your seed after you.
11For from this day forward shall Shechem be called a city of imbeciles; for as a man mocks a fool, so did we mock them.
12Because also they had wrought folly in Israel by defiling my sister. And we departed and came to Bethel.
13And there again I saw a vision as the former, after we had spent there seventy days.
14And I saw seven men in white clothing saying to me: Arise, put on the robe of the priesthood, and the crown of righteousness, and the breastplate of understanding, and the garment of truth, and the late of faith, and the turban of the head, and the ephod of prophecy.
15And they severally carried these things and put them on me, and said to me: From henceforth become a priest of the Lord, you and your seed for ever.
16And the first anointed me with holy oil, and gave to me the staff of judgment.
17The second washed me with pure. water, and fed me with bread and wine even the most holy things, and clad me with a holy and glorious robe.
18The third clothed me with a linen vestment like an ephod.
19The fourth put round me a girdle like to purple.
20The fifth gave me a branch of rich olive.
21The sixth placed a crown on my head.
22The seventh placed on my head a diadem of priesthood, and filled my hands with incense, that I might serve as priest to the Lord God.
23And they said to me: Levi, your seed shall be divided into three offices, for a sign of the glory of the Lord who is to come.
24And the first portion shall be great; yes, greater than it shall none be.
25The second shall be in the priesthood.
26And the third shall be called by a new name, because a king shall arise in Judah, and shall establish a new priesthood, after the fashion of the Gentiles.
27And His presence is beloved, as a prophet of the Most High, of the seed of Abraham our father.
28Therefore, every desirable thing in Israel shall be for you and for your seed, and you shall eat everything fair to look upon, and the table of the Lord shall your seed apportion.
29And some of them shall be high priests, and judges, and scribes; for by their mouth shall the holy place be guarded.
30And when I awoke, I understood that this dream was like the first dream. And I hid this also
in my heart, and told it not to any man upon the earth.
31And after two days I and Judah went up with our father Jacob to Isaac our father's father.
32And 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.
33And when we came to Bethel, my father saw a vision concerning me, that I should be their priest to God.
34And 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.
35And Isaac called me continually to put me in remembrance of the law of the Lord, even as the angel of the Lord showed to me.
36And he taught me the law of the priesthood of sacrifices,
whole burnt-offerings, first-fruits, freewill-offerings, peace-offerings.
37And 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 your seed
pollute the holy place.
38Take, therefore, to thyself a wife without blemish or pollution, while yet you are young, and not of the race of strange nations.
39And before entering into the holy place, bathe; and when you offer the sacrifice, wash; and again, when you finish the sacrifice, wash.
40Of twelve trees having leaves offer to the Lord, as Abraham taught me also.
41And of every clean beast and bird offer a sacrifice to the Lord.
42And of all your first-fruits and of wine offer the first, as a sacrifice to the Lord God; and every sacrifice you shall salt with salt.
43Now, therefore, observe whatsoever I command you, children; for whatsoever things I have heard from my fathers I have declared to you.
44And behold I am clear from your ungodliness and transgression, which you shall commit in the end of the ages against the Savior of the world, Christ, acting godlessly, deceiving Israel, and stirring up against it great evils from the Lord.
45And you 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.
46And you shall be scattered as captives among the Gentiles, and shall be for a reproach and for a curse there.
47For the house which the Lord shall choose shall be called Jerusalem, as is contained in the book of Enoch the righteous.
48Therefore when I took a wife I was twenty-eight years old, and her name was Melcha.
49And she conceived and bare a son, and I called his name Gersam, for we were sojourners in our land.
50And I saw concerning him, that he would not be in the first rank.
51And Kohath was born in the thirty-fifth year of my life, towards sunrise.
52And I saw in a vision that he was standing on high in the midst of all the congregation.
53Therefore I called his name Kohath which is, beginning of majesty and instruction.
54And 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.
55And Jochebed was born. in Egypt, in my sixty-fourth year, for I was renowned then in the midst of my brethren.
56And 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.
57And 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.
58Eight years old was I when I went into the land of Canaan, and eighteen years when I killed 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.
59And behold, my children, you are a third generation. In my hundred and eighteenth year Joseph died.
4
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.
2And do you also teach your children letters, that they may have understanding all their life, reading unceasingly the law of God.
3For every one that knows the law of the Lord shall be honored, and shall not be a stranger whithersoever he goes.
4Yes, 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.
5Work righteousness, therefore, my children, upon the earth, that you may have it as a treasure in heaven.
6And sow good things in your souls, that you may find them in your life.
7But if you sow evil things, you shall reap every trouble and affliction.
8Get 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.
9For 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.
10Whosoever teaches noble things and does them, shall be enthroned with kings, as was also Joseph my brother.
11Therefore, my children, I have learned that at the end of the ages you will transgress against the Lord, stretching out hands to wickedness against Him. And to all the Gentiles shall you become a scorn.
12For our father Israel is pure from the transgressions of the chief priests [who shall lay their hands upon the Savior of the world].
13For as the heaven is purer in the Lord's sight than the earth, so also be you, the lights of Israel, purer than all the Gentiles.
14But if you be darkened through transgressions, what, therefore, will all the Gentiles do living in blindness?
15Yes, you shall bring a curse upon our race, because the light of the law which was given for to lighten every man this you desire to destroy by teaching commandments contrary to the ordinances of God.
16The offerings of the Lord you shall rob, and from His portion shall you steal choice portions, eating them contemptuously with harlots.
17And out of covetousness you shall teach the commandments of the Lord, wedded women shall you pollute, and the virgins of Jerusalem shall you defile. And with harlots and adulteresses shall you be joined, and the daughters of the Gentiles shall you take to wife, purifying them with an unlawful purification. And your union shall be like to Sodom and Gomorrah,
18And you shall be puffed up because of your priesthood, lifting yourselves up against men, and not only so, but also against the commands of God.
19For you shall despise the holy things with jests and laughter.
20Therefore the temple, which the Lord shall choose, shall be laid waste through your
uncleanness, and you shall be captives throughout all nations.
21And you shall be an abomination to them, and you shall receive reproach and everlasting shame from the righteous judgment of God.
22And all who hate you shall rejoice at your destruction.
23And if you were not to receive mercy through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, our fathers, not one of our seed should be left upon the earth.
24And now I have learned that for seventy weeks you shall go astray, and profane the priesthood, and pollute the sacrifices.
25And you shall make void the law, and set at nought the words of the prophets by evil perverseness.
26And you shall persecute righteous men, and hate the godly; the words of the faithful shall you abhor.
27And a man who renews the law in the power of the Most High, you shall call a deceiver. And at last you shall rush upon him to slay him, not knowing his dignity, taking innocent blood through wickedness upon your heads.
28And your holy places shall be laid waste even to the ground because of him.
29And you shall have no place that is clean. But you shall be among the Gentiles a curse and a dispersion until He shall again visit you, and in pity shall receive you through faith and water.
5
He prophesies the coming of the Messiah. This was written 100 years before Christ.
AND whereas you have heard concerning the seventy weeks, hear also concerning the priesthood. For in each jubilee there shall be a priesthood.
2And in the first jubilee, the first who is anointed to the priesthood shall be great, and shall speak to God as to a father.
3And his priesthood shall be perfect with the Lord, and in the day of his gladness shall he arise for the salvation of the world.
4In the second jubilee, he who is anointed shall be conceived in the sorrow of beloved ones; and his priesthood shall be honored and shall be glorified by all.
5And the third priest shall he taken hold of by sorrow.
6And the fourth shall be in pain, because unrighteousness shall gather itself against him very, and all Israel shall hate each one his neighbor.
7The fifth shall be taken hold of by darkness. Likewise also the sixth and the seventh.
8And in the seventh shall, be such pollution as I cannot express before men, for they shall know it who do these things.
9Therefore shall they be taken captive and become a prey, and their land and their substance shall be destroyed.
10And in the fifth week they shall return to their desolate country, and shall renew the house of the Lord.
11And in the seventh week shall become priests, who are idolaters, adulterers, lovers of money, proud, lawless, lascivious, abusers of children and beasts.
12And after their punishment shall have come from the Lord, the priesthood shall fail.
13Then shall the Lord raise up a new priest.
14And to him all the words of the Lord shall be revealed; and he shall execute a righteous judgment upon the earth for a multitude of days.
15And his star shall arise in heaven as of a king.
16Lighting up the light of knowledge as the sun the day, and he shall be magnified in the world.
17He shall shine forth as the sun on the earth, and shall remove all darkness from under heaven, and there shall be peace in all the earth.
18The heavens shall exult in his days, and the earth shall be glad, and the clouds shall rejoice;
19And the knowledge of the Lord shall be poured forth upon the earth, as the water of the seas;
20And the angels of the glory of the presence of the Lord shall be glad in him.
21The heavens shall be opened, and from the temple of glory shall come upon him sanctification, with the Father's voice as from Abraham to Isaac.
22And the glory of the Most High shall be uttered over him, and the spirit of understanding and sanctification shall rest upon him in the water.
23For he shall give the majesty of the Lord to His sons in truth for evermore;
24And there shall none succeed him for all generations for ever.
25And in his priesthood the Gentiles shall be multiplied in Knowledge upon the earth, and enlightened through the grace of the Lord. In his priesthood shall sin come to an end, and the lawless shall cease to do evil.
26And he shall open the gates of paradise, and shall remove the threatening sword against Adam, and he shall give to the saints to eat from the tree of life, and the spirit of holiness shall be on them.
27And Beliar shall be bound by him, and he shall give power to His children to tread upon the evil spirits.
28And the Lord shall rejoice in His children, and be well pleased in His beloved ones for ever.
29Then shall Abraham and Isaac and Jacob exult, and I will be glad, and all the saints shall clothe themselves with joy.
30And now, my children, you have heard all; choose, therefore, for yourselves either the light or the darkness, either the law of the Lord or the works of Beliar.
31And his sons answered him., saying, Before the Lord we will walk according to His law.
32And their father said to them, The Lord is witness, and His angels are witnesses, and you are witnesses, and I am witness, concerning the word of your mouth.
33And his sons said to him: We are witnesses.
34And thus Levi ceased commanding his sons; and he stretched out his feet on the bed, and was gathered to his fathers, after he had lived a hundred and thirty-seven years.
35And they laid him in a coffin, and afterwards they buried him in Hebron, with I Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob.