Scroll of Reuben
Book One
🔥 Symbolic Meaning of Reuben’s Scroll Icon
The red thread wrapped around the shaft is not ornament—it is remnant. It recalls the bloodlines Reuben failed to honor: Leah’s ache, Jacob’s trust, and the covenant he was meant to bear. The thread trails into the dust, like legacy unwound. It is not severed, but it is forgotten—a silent grief running out into history.
Beneath it, a single flame burns, faint but living. It is what remains. Though the fire of Reuben’s authority has gone out, there is still memory, still confession, still mercy. That ember is not judgment—it is the Lord’s kindness. Reuben will never lead. But he will remember. And the scroll remembers with him.
All scroll icons, scribe symbols, and flame-marks are original works under copyright by Selah Publishing House.
Please do not reproduce without permission.
May you enjoy R.Selah’s version of The Testament of Reuben
On This SPH Adaptation of the Ancient Testaments
This work is a sacred retelling—
a devotional unfolding of The Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs,
the ancient farewell words attributed to the twelve sons of Jacob.
Part vision, part confession, part prophetic fire,
these texts have echoed across centuries in whispered scrolls and hidden witness.
Though long excluded from the biblical canon,
they remain voices of sorrow, warning, and longing—
deeply woven into the memory of sacred tradition.
This Selah adaptation draws from the public domain English edition
published in 1908 in The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament,
translated by R. H. Charles, Volume II (Oxford University Press).
We honor that foundation—
but we have reimagined every line with poetic clarity and spiritual reverence.
This is not a literal reproduction.
This is not a translation.
This is a labor of restoration.
We do not claim this is Scripture—
but we offer it with sacred regard.
Each line has been recast to carry the cadence of lament,
the pulse of repentance,
and the ache of a generational return.
Here, the ancient path is walked again—
not to replace the scrolls we know,
but to remember the voices we nearly forgot.
Selah.
For your convienance we have duplicated both the RH Platt, Jr. and the RH Charles versions at the bottom.
✍️ The Scroll of Reuben – (Selah Edition)
Adapted from R.H. Charles (1908). Copyright © 2025 Selah Publishing House.
 Section 1: The Sin and the Consequence
I, Reuben, son of Jacob and Leah, speak now.
These are the final words of my breath,
offered before the God of my fathers,
in the presence of my brothers and my children.
I am dying.
I return to the dust.
But before I go,
I uncover the things I once hid.
Judah is here.
Gad and Asher standing with him.
And to you, my children, and the seed of my children—
I say: raise me up from my bed.
Let me speak.
For I am about to pass away,
and I must pour out what remained locked in my heart.
Reuben kissed them.
And began.
Hear me.
Listen with your soul, not just your ears.
I call God of the heavens as a witness.
Walk not in the sins of youth,
nor in the fire of fornication,
which once poured through me like wind across dry reeds.
I defiled my father’s bed.
I did what should never have been done.
And the Lord saw me.
He struck me with a plague in my loins.
It burned for seven months.
My breath faltered.
My strength dissolved.
Had my father not prayed for me—
had Jacob not interceded—
I would have died beneath the hand of judgment.
I was thirty years old
when I did the evil thing before the Lord.
And for seven months, I lay sick,
closer to death than sleep.
But afterward,
I repented.
Not lightly.
Not in part.
For seven years I turned my face toward the Lord
and let nothing pleasant touch my lips.
I drank no wine.
I ate no meat.
I laid aside the foods that once brought joy.
Instead—I mourned.
I pressed my face into the dust
until it became mud.
I remembered my sin
until the taste of it soured every breath.
This sin—this fire—
was not a moment.
It was a severing.
There had been no sin like it in Israel.
Section 2: The Spirits that War Within
Listen to me, my children.
For what I saw in my repentance must now be yours to understand.
There are seven spirits of deceit
assigned to war against mankind.
They come in youth.
They come when wisdom is still soft.
And there are seven other spirits,
placed within you, by the Creator at your creation—
meant for good, for order, for knowing how to walk rightly.
These are the first seven—the ones given by God:
- The Spirit of Life,
by which your body is formed and breath is given. - The Spirit of Sight,
by which desire begins its longing. - The Spirit of Hearing,
through which knowledge enters and instruction takes root. - The Spirit of Smell,
to taste the air and sense what is unseen. - The Spirit of Speech,
that carries wisdom or ruin by the tongue. - The Spirit of Taste,
where food becomes strength and pleasure tests the will. - And the Spirit of Procreation,
given for love, for covenant—
but made dangerous when ruled by ignorance or youth.
This last one, procreation,
the hunger that drives toward pleasure—
was created last,
but it is the first to awaken in a boy.
It rises like a blind guide,
leading the feet of the unguarded into pits they do not see.
And taunting beasts to the edge of cliffs.
And beyond these seven…
There is an eighth.
The Spirit of Sleep,
by which the body communicates with the Creator,
and the soul drifts toward death without dying.
Section 3: The Shadows of Error
These spirits alone are not evil.
But when twisted—when governed by deceit—
they become shadows that invade the heart.
I learned them.
I named them.
In my years of fasting,
they came, one by one, to tempt me.
These are the Seven Spirits of Error,
and they bind themselves to the soul through weakness.
- The Spirit of Fornication
—first and fiercest.
She waits in the senses, curling through thought like incense. - The Spirit of Insatiableness,
seated in the belly,
always hungering, never full. - The Spirit of Violence,
lodged in the liver and gall,
quick to anger, slow to mercy. - The Spirit of Flattery and Deceit,
that masks evil in politeness and seeks praise more than truth. - The Spirit of Pride,
which whispers, You deserve more,
and leads humanity to exalt themselves before they fall. - The Spirit of Lying,
born of jealousy and shame,
that darkens truth and hides sin beneath false faces. - And the Spirit of Injustice,
which teaches humanity to take what is not theirs,
to justify theft, to sell peace for favor.
These seven are joined by Sleep—
not rest, but illusion.
Not Sabbath, but slumber of the soul.
And through these, many young men perish.
They forget the truth.
They do not heed their fathers.
They do not know their Creator.
I was like them.
I walked in beauty’s direction.
I followed a woman’s shadow.
I fell into the pit with eyes wide open.
And now, my children—
love truth, it will preserve you.
Section 4: The Fall
Guard your eyes.
Guard your steps.
For sin enters not with force, but with fascination.
Do not look into the face of a woman
whose heart does not belong to you.
Do not walk near the shadow of another man’s wife.
Do not meddle in the things of women.
If I had turned away that morning—
if I had not lingered where modesty covered her—
I would not have fallen.
But I saw Bilhah.
Bathing.
A veil had been drawn.
She believed herself alone.
But I watched.
And that thought became a fire.
It stirred in my breath.
It unsettled my rest.
I could not sleep.
And so—when the camp was still,
and my father had gone to visit Isaac,
and Bilhah was sleeping from drink,
alone in her tent,
uncovered—
I entered.
I saw her nakedness.
I did not wake her.
I sinned.
I lay with her in silence.
She did not know.
And when I left,
I told no one.
But the angel of God saw.
And the Lord revealed it to Jacob, my father.
He wept.
He did not touch her again.
Section 5: The Cost
From that day forward,
I could not lift my face to him.
I could not stand in the presence of my brothers.
I could not speak.
I bore reproach in every breath.
Even now,
my conscience cuts me.
But my father—
he prayed for me.
He wept for me.
And the Lord had mercy.
I did not fall again.
From that day to this,
I have walked carefully.
I have not returned to that sin.
But I remember.
Section 6: The Warning
So I say this to you, my children:
Walk in singleness of heart
in the awe of the Father.
Spend your energy on good works,
study and providing for your family.
The sin of fornication is a pit for the soul.
It severs the spirit from God.
It binds the heart to idols.
It darkens the understanding.
It brings the soul to Sheol before its time.
It does not care if you are old or young, rich or poor.
It brings shame.
It brings mockery.
It brings laughter to Beliar, the enemy of our souls.
You have heard of your uncle Joseph.
How he guarded his heart.
How he turned from a woman and would not touch evil.
That is why the Lord lifted him.
The Egyptian woman summoned sorcerers.
She offered him charms and love potions.
But his soul was sealed.
He chose purity.
He chose fear of God.
He chose life.
And because of that,
he was preserved from death.
Hear me clearly, children of Reuben:
If fornication cannot rule your mind,
then Beliar cannot rule your destiny.
Section 7: The Final Charge
My sons, the snare of women is not their strength—
it is their beauty.
When they cannot seduce with outward charm,
they deceive with craft.
And the angel of the Lord taught me this:
Women fall to the spirit of fornication
more quickly than men.
And when it has entered their heart,
they begin to plot with their adornments.
They captivate first the eyes,
then the thoughts,
and finally the body.
They do not strike like warriors.
They beckon like mist.
Tell your wives and daughters:
Do not paint your faces to deceive.
Do not wear ornament to snare the soul.
Every woman who walks in such deception
has been marked for judgment.
For this is how they allured the Watchers—
the angels who came down before the flood.
As the women danced and adorned themselves,
the Watchers changed their form,
took on flesh,
and visited them even while their husbands slept.
From this union came the giants.
From that lust came the flood.
Section 8: A Prophetic Warning
So I say again: flee fornication.
If your heart desires purity,
then guard your senses from every unholy gaze.
And command the women likewise—
to walk in dignity,
to speak with restraint,
to honor what is sacred in themselves and others.
For even when sin is not committed with the body,
its suggestion is a disease.
And that disease leaves a stain not easily lifted.
In lust, there is no wisdom.
In jealousy, no righteousness.
And these two walk together.
I warn you now:
you will be jealous of the sons of Levi.
You will seek to rise above them.
But you will not succeed.
God has chosen Levi.
To him belongs the priesthood.
To him, the offering of judgment and sacrifice.
Until the end of days, he will carry the covenant.
Section 9: Bow Before the Line
Swear to me now—
before the God of heaven—
that you will walk in truth.
Love your brother.
Do no harm to your kin.
Do not contend with Levi, but honor him.
For through his seed, kings will rise.
But Levi—he will know the law.
He will teach it.
He will speak blessings for Israel
and Judah, because
he shall be king over all the nation.
Bow before his seed
 for on our behalf—
will die in wars seen and unseen.
And will be among us an eternal king.
Section 10: My Death
And now I go.
I have spoken what must be spoken.
I have given what must be given.
But let my words remain with you,
engraved deeper than any stone.
For I have seen shame,
and I have found mercy.
I have walked in fire,
and I have not been consumed.
Teach your children.
And teach their children.
That righteousness is not the absence of sin—
but the return to the One who still calls you holy.
Thus ends the testament of Reuben who died at the age of 125yrs. Two years after Joseph. They placed him in a coffin until they carried him up from Egypt and buried him in Hebron in the cave where his father was.
Copyright and Use
© 2025 Selah Publishing House. All rights reserved.
This adaptation is an original, copyrighted work.
It may not be copied, reproduced, distributed, or translated in part or in whole
without express written permission from Selah Publishing House.
We offer this digital edition freely for reading and reflection,
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For licensing, publishing, or educational use, please contact us directly.
The full collection will be published in print as:
The Final Words: A Devotional Journey through the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs
Poetic retellings · Reflections · Ancient texts
by Regina V. Roundtree-Wekesa
Selah Publishing House
Thank you for honoring the sacred intention of this work
Scroll of Reuben
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The Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs – Book One
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“I am Reuben—the one who watched and did not act.”
In this sacred retelling, the firstborn of Jacob breaks his silence. Through angelic flame-sight and the pen of the celestial scribe Azel, Reuben’s final words are revealed—not just what he did, but what he hid.
The scroll unveils a buried shame, a fractured legacy, and the unseen war that shaped a tribe.
This is not just confession. It is flame.
It is warning.
🔥 Begin where the silence began.
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The Testament of Reuben (original)
Ancient text - gently formatted
📜 Reader’s Note
On the Source and Spirit of the Text
The text you are about to read—The Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs—comes from one of the oldest and most evocative collections of sacred writings preserved outside the biblical canon. These are the imagined final words of Jacob’s twelve sons: confessions, prophecies, warnings, and blessings passed down as legacy.
The version presented here is drawn from the 1908 English translation by R. H. Charles, published in The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament (Volume II, Oxford University Press). It is now in the public domain and remains one of the most widely cited academic editions of the Testaments.
Though not considered canonical Scripture, these writings reflect the spiritual imagination of the Second Temple period, when the Jewish people were longing both backward toward covenant and forward toward Messianic hope. In these lines, we hear echoes of grief, repentance, and the enduring tension between righteousness and rebellion.
Where needed, light formatting has been applied for clarity. No content has been altered.
May this reintroduction stir reflection, reverence, and the desire to listen again—both to the ancient fathers and to the still, holy voice that speaks through memory.
Chapter 1
1 The copy of the Testament of Reuben, even the commands which he gave his sons before he
2 died in the hundred and twenty-fifth year of his life. Two years after the death of Joseph his
3 brother, when Reuben fell ill, his sons and his sons’ sons were gathered together to visit him. And
4 he said to them: My children, behold I am dying, and go the way of my fathers. And seeing there Judah, and Gad, and Asher, his brethren, he said to them: Raise me up, that I may tell to my brethren and to my children what things I have hidden in my heart, for behold now at length
5 I am passing away. And he arose and kissed them, and said unto them: Hear, my brethren, and
6 do ye, my children, give ear to Reuben your father in the commands which I give unto you. And behold I call to witness against you this day the God of heaven, that ye walk not in the sins of
7 youth and fornication, wherein I was poured out, and defiled the bed of my father Jacob. And I tell you that he smote me with a sore plague in my loins for seven months; and had not my father
8 Jacob prayed for me to the Lord, the Lord would have destroyed me. For I was thirty years old
9 when I wrought the evil thing before the Lord, and for seven months I was sick unto death. And
10 after this I repented with set purpose of my soul for seven years before the Lord. And wine and strong drink I drank not, and flesh entered not into my mouth, and I eat no pleasant food; but I mourned over my sin, for it was great, such as had not been in Israel.
Chapter 2
1 And now hear me, my children, what things I saw concerning the seven spirits of deceit, when
2 I repented. Seven spirits therefore are appointed against man, and they are the leaders in the works
3 of youth. [And seven other spirits are given to him at his creation, that through them should be
4 done every work of man. The first is the spirit of life, with which the constitution (of man) is
5 created. The second is the sense of sight, with which ariseth desire. The third is the sense of hearing, with which cometh teaching. The fourth is the sense of smell, with which tastes are given 6,
7 to draw air and breath. The fifth is the power of speech, with which cometh knowledge. The sixth is the sense of taste, with which cometh the eating of meats and drinks; and by it strength is
8 produced, for in food is the foundation of strength. The seventh is the power of procreation and
9 sexual intercourse, with which through love of pleasure sins enter in. Wherefore it is the last in order of creation, and the first in that of youth, because it is filled with ignorance, and leadeth the youth as a blind man to a pit, and as a beast to a precipice.
Chapter 3
1 Besides all these there is an eighth spirit of sleep, with which is brought about the trance of
2
3 nature and the image of death. With these spirits are mingled the spirits of error.] First, the spirit of fornication is seated in the nature and in the senses; the second, the spirit of insatiableness,
4 in the belly; the third, the spirit of fighting, in the liver and gall. The fourth is the spirit of
5 obsequiousness and chicanery, that through officious attention one may be fair in seeming. The fifth is the spirit of pride, that one may be boastful and arrogant. The sixth is the spirit of lying,
6 in perdition and jealousy to practise deceits, and concealments from kindred and friends. The seventh is the spirit of injustice, with which are thefts and acts of rapacity, that a man may fulfill the desire of his heart; for injustice worketh together with the other spirits by the taking of gifts. 7,
8 And with all these the spirit of sleep is joined which is (that) of error and fantasy.] And so perisheth every young man, darkening his mind from the truth, and not understanding the law of
9 God, nor obeying the admonitions of his fathers as befell me also in my youth. And now, my children, love the truth, and it will preserve you: hear ye the words of Reuben your father.
10 Pay no heed to the face of a woman, Nor associate with another man’s wife, Nor meddle with affairs of womankind.
11 For had I not seen Bilhah bathing in a covered place, I had not fallen into this great iniquity.
12 For my mind taking in the thought of the woman’s nakedness, suffered me not to sleep until I had
13 wrought the abominable thing. For while Jacob our father had gone to Isaac his father, when we were in Eder, near to Ephrath in Bethlehem, Bilhah became drunk and was asleep uncovered in her
14 chamber. Having therefore gone in and beheld nakedness, I wrought the impiety without her
15 perceiving it, and leaving her sleeping I departed. And forthwith an angel of God revealed to my father concerning my impiety, and he came and mourned over me, and touched her no more.
Chapter 4
1 Pay no heed, therefore, my children, to the beauty of women, nor set your mind on their affairs; but walk in singleness of heart in the fear of the Lord, and expend labour on good works, and on study and on your flocks, until the Lord give you a wife, whom He will, that ye suffer not as I did.
2 For until my father’s death I had not boldness to look in his face, or to speak to any of my brethren,
3 because of the reproach. Even until now my conscience causeth me anguish on account of my
4 impiety. And yet my father comforted me much and prayed for me unto the Lord, that the anger of the Lord might pass from me, even as the Lord showed. And thenceforth until now I have
5 been on my guard and sinned not. Therefore, my children, I say unto you, observe all things
6 whatsoever I command you, and ye shall not sin. For a pit unto the soul is the sin of fornication, separating it from God, and bringing it near to idols, because it deceiveth the mind and understanding,
7 and leadeth young men into hades before their time. For many hath fornication destroyed; because, though a man be old or noble, or rich or poor, he bringeth reproach upon
8 himself with the sons of men and derision with Beliar. For ye heard regarding Joseph how he guarded himself from a woman, and purged his thoughts from all fornication, and found favour in
9 the sight of God and men. For the Egyptian woman did many things unto him, and summoned
10 magicians, and offered him love potions, but the purpose of his soul admitted no evil desire. Therefore
11 the God of your fathers delivered him from every evil (and) hidden death. For if fornication overcomes not your mind, neither can Beliar overcome you.
Chapter 5
1 For evil are women, my children; and since they have no power or strength over man, they use
2 wiles by outward attractions, that they may draw him to themselves. And whom they cannot
3 bewitch by outward attractions, him they overcome by craft. For moreover, concerning them, the angel of the Lord told me, and taught me, that women are overcome by the spirit of fornication more than men, and in their heart they plot against men; and by means of their adornment they deceive first their minds, and by the glance of the eye instill the poison, and then through the accomplished
4 act they take them captive. For a woman cannot force a man openly, but by a harlot’s
5 bearing she beguiles him. Flee, therefore, fornication, my children, and command your wives and your daughters, that they adorn not their heads and faces to deceive the mind: because every woman
6 who useth these wiles hath been reserved for eternal punishment. For thus they allured the Watchers who were before the flood; for as these continually beheld them, they lusted after them, and they conceived the act in their mind; for they changed themselves into the shape of men, and
7 appeared to them when they were with their husbands. And the women lusting in their minds after their forms, gave birth to giants, for the Watchers appeared to them as reaching even unto heaven.
Chapter 6
1 Beware, therefore, of fornication; and if you wish to be pure in mind, guard your senses from every
2 woman. And command the women likewise not to associate with men, that they also may be pure
3 in mind. For constant meetings, even though the ungodly deed be not wrought, are to them an
4 irremediable disease, and to us a destruction of Beliar and an eternal reproach. For in fornication
5 there is neither understanding nor godliness, and all jealousy dwelleth in the lust thereof. Therefore, then I say unto you, ye will be jealous against the sons of Levi, and will seek to be exalted
6 over them; but ye shall not be able. For God will avenge them, and ye shall die by an evil death.
7 For to Levi God gave the sovereignty [and to Judah with him and to me also, and to Dan and
8 Joseph, that we should be for rulers]. Therefore I command you to hearken to Levi, because he shall know the law of the Lord, and shall give ordinances for judgement and shall sacrifice for all Israel until the consummation of the times, as the anointed High Priest, of whom the Lord spake,
9 I adjure you by the God of heaven to do truth each one unto his neighbour and to entertain love
10 each one for his brother. And draw ye near to Levi in humbleness of heart, that ye may receive
11 a blessing from his mouth. For he shall bless Israel and Judah, because him hath the Lord chosen to
12 be king over all the nation. And bow down before his seed, for on our behalf it will die in wars visible and invisible, and will be among you an eternal king.
Chapter 7Â
1, 2 And Reuben died, having given these commands to his sons. And they placed him in a coffin until they carried him up from Egypt, and buried him in Hebron in the cave where his father was.