The Aramaic Levi Document is a Second Temple text presenting the patriarch Levi as priest, sage, and father — speaking from his deathbed, praying for holiness, ascending in a vision through the gates of heaven, and receiving instruction in the sacrificial order. Preserved in six fragmentary manuscripts from Qumran Cave 4 (4Q213, 4Q213a, 4Q213b, 4Q214, 4Q214a, 4Q214b), as well as in a Cairo Geniza copy and a Greek version among the Mt. Athos manuscripts, the text is heavily lacunose. Where the Aramaic breaks off, the gaps are marked. This is Levi before he becomes a symbol — still a man, washing himself, lifting his hands, asking for truth to be kept far from evil. This translation works directly from the Aramaic transcription of García Martínez and Tigchelaar.
4Q213 — Levi's Wisdom Address to His Sons
The Year of His Death
In the year one hundred and eighteen of my life —
the year in which my brother Joseph died —
I summoned my sons and their sons,
and I began to instruct them
in all that was in my heart.
I began to speak and said to my sons:
The Teaching
Listen to the word of Levi your father.
Pay attention to the precepts of the beloved of God.
I give you orders, my sons,
and I show you the truth, my beloved ones.
The principle of all your deeds
shall be the truth.
Let justice and truth stay with you forever.
Whoever sows goodness, harvests good.
Whoever sows evil —
his seed turns against him.
Now: reading, instruction, and wisdom —
teach these to your sons.
Wisdom will be with you for eternal honor.
Whoever teaches wisdom will be honored by it.
Whoever despises wisdom
will be handed over to insult and scorn.
Look at my brother Joseph —
he who taught reading and instruction of wisdom
for honor and greatness,
even for kings.
Do not neglect wisdom in your teaching.
Every man who teaches wisdom —
all his days will be lengthened,
and his renown multiplied.
In every region and province he goes to,
there will be a brother for him.
He will not be regarded as a foreigner there,
nor be like a stranger,
nor like a scoundrel —
for all will give him honor,
for all desire to learn his wisdom.
His friends are many.
Numerous are those who wish him well.
They seat him on a throne of glory
to hear the words of his wisdom.
Great wealth of glory is wisdom
for whoever knows it —
a treasure for all who acquire it.
If powerful kings come
with a great army,
they cannot enter its gates,
they cannot scale its ramparts,
they will not see its treasury —
there is no price at all to compare with her.
Seek wisdom —
Also in the books:
read — and you shall be chiefs and judges,
servants, priests, and kings.
Your kingdom will be without end.
It will not pass from you through all generations —
with great glory.
The Warning
[...] all the nations —
[...] the moon and the stars —
Did not Enoch accuse [...]?
And upon whom will the blame fall
if not upon me and upon you, my sons?
Know then:
you will forsake the paths of justice
and all the ways [of truth].
You will neglect them, and walk in darkness.
Darkness will come upon you,
and you will be handed over —
when you at last become understanding.
4Q213a — Levi's Prayer
Frag. 1 col. i — The Prayer
[I washed my clothes and purified them with pure water,
and I washed myself completely in living water, and all
my paths I made straight.]
Then I lifted my eyes and my face to heaven.
I opened my mouth and began to speak,
and the fingers of my hands and my arms
I stretched out toward the holy ones.
I prayed and said:
My Lord —
you know all hearts,
and all the thoughts of minds you alone know.
Now: grant me all the paths of truth.
Remove far from me the spirit of injustice
and evil thought and fornication.
Turn pride away from me.
Show me the holy spirit,
counsel, wisdom, intelligence —
and grant me strength
to do your will,
to find your compassion before you,
to praise your deeds toward me,
and to do what is beautiful and good before you.
May no adversary rule over me.
Have compassion with me, my Lord,
and bring me near to be yours.
Frag. 1 col. ii — After the Prayer
My Lord, you have blessed my father Abram
and my mother Sarah,
and you said you would give them a just offspring,
blessed forever.
Listen then to the prayer of your servant Levi —
to be near to you.
Let him share in your words,
to pass just judgment for all the generations —
me and my sons, for all eternal generations.
And do not remove the son of your servant
from before you, all the days of eternity.
Then I became silent, still praying.
I went to [...] to my father Jacob.
From Abel-Mayin. Then I lay down.
Then I saw visions.
In the appearance of this vision
I saw the heaven opened,
and I saw a mountain underneath me,
high, reaching up to heaven.
To me: the gates of heaven.
And an angel said to me: Enter, Levi.
Frag. 2 — Concerning the Woman
[He adjured them, and the men —]
a woman who defiles her name and her father's name.
Shame, and all —
the young woman who has profaned her name
and the name of her fathers,
and brought shame upon all her brothers —
her father's name —
and her disgraceful name will not be wiped out
from all her people, ever.
It will be cursed for all eternal generations.
And the holy ones of the people —
[...] holy tithe, an offering for God.
4Q213b — The Vision Continues; Investiture
[I have preferred you above all flesh.]
[Those seven departed from me,]
and I awoke from my dream.
Then I thought:
this vision is like the other one.
I am amazed that the whole vision is to come.
I hid it in my heart
and revealed it to no one.
And we went to my father Isaac.
He also blessed me likewise.
Then, when my father Jacob
tithed everything he had according to his vow,
I served for the first time
at the head of the priesthood.
And to me, among his sons, he gave the offering.
He clothed me with the clothing of the priesthood,
filled my hand,
and I became a priest for God of eternity.
4Q214 — Sacrificial Instruction
[Sprinkle] the blood on the sides of the altar.
Then wash your hands and your feet again
from the blood.
Begin to offer the salted portions.
Offer the head first,
and cover it with the fat —
let no blood of the slaughtered cow show on it.
After it: the neck.
After that: the forelegs.
After them: the breast with the ribs.
After them: the thighs and the spine of the loin.
After the thighs: the hind-legs,
washed together with the entrails.
All of them salted with salt,
in the way that is fitting for them,
according to their need.
After this: fine flour mixed with oil.
After everything: pour wine,
and burn incense over them —
so that your service may be in order
and all your offerings [complete].
4Q214a — The Genealogy; Wisdom Reprise
Genealogy
In the fortieth year of my life,
she gave birth in the fourth month.
And once again I was with her,
and she became pregnant
and gave birth to a daughter for me.
I called her Jochebed.
I said: she has given birth to me the honor of Israel.
In the sixty-fourth year of my life,
she gave birth on the first day of the seventh month.
The Wisdom Passage Restored
They will plunder the cities,
and take everything in them —
but the treasuries of wisdom they will not plunder.
They will not find its hiding place,
they will not enter its gates,
[they will not see its beauty,]
they will not be able to scale its ramparts —
Now, my sons:
reading and instruction of wisdom — teach them.
4Q214b — The Wood for the Altar
The trees that are suitable —
examine them first for worms.
Then bring them up, for so I was taught.
Abraham my father was careful
about all twelve kinds of wood,
and told me which ones are fitting to bring up
to the altar — whose smoke rises in a fine scent.
These are their names:
cedar, pine, almond,
fir, pine, ash,
cypress, fig, and olive,
myrtle, laurel, and citron —
these are the ones he told me
are fitting to bring up under the burnt-offering
upon the altar.
When you have brought these trees up to the altar
and the fire begins to kindle them,
then begin to sprinkle the blood
on the sides of the altar.
Then wash your hands and your feet from the blood.
Begin to offer the salted portions.
The head first [...]
Colophon
Text: Aramaic Levi Document (4Q213, 4Q213a, 4Q213b, 4Q214, 4Q214a, 4Q214b)
Source: Qumran Cave 4
Language: Aramaic
Translation Method: Blind translation from Aramaic transcription (García Martínez & Tigchelaar, Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition, Brill, 1997). No published English translations were consulted.
Translator: NTAC + Claude (Good Works Translation)
Scribe: Tulku Ezra, New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026
Other Testaments and Apocrypha in the Good Work Library: Apocryphon of Elijah · Apocryphon of Elisha · Apocryphon of Jeremiah C · Apocryphon of Joseph · Apocryphon of Levi · Apocryphon of Levi A · Aramaic Enoch · Aramaic Levi Document — Source Text · Birth of Noah · Daniel-Suzanna · Prayer for King Jonathan · Prayer of Enosh · Prayer of Nabonidus · Pseudo-Daniel · Pseudo-Jubilees A · Pseudo-Jubilees A — Source Text · Testament Fragment (3Q7) · Testament Fragment (3Q7) — Source Text · Testament of Jacob · Testament of Judah · Testament of Naphtali · Testament of Qahat · The Book of Tobit · Visions of Amram · Visions of Amram — Source Text · Words of Michael
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