t12papocrypha
Testament of Judah 16
Judah warns his sons against wine by naming four spirits it opens the soul to — lust, wrath, riot, and covetousness — while acknowledging that sobriety alone does not secure righteousness; the tongue without wine is still capable of slander, strife, and transgression. The chapter's sharpest edge is covenantal: drunkenness caused Judah to disclose the commandments of God and the sealed mysteries of Jacob to a Canaanite woman, Bathshua, to whom God had forbidden their disclosure. Sacred knowledge is not merely personal — it is governed by covenant fidelity, and any spirit that strips away fear of God becomes a vehicle for profaning what was sealed.
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Observe therefore, my children, moderation in wine; for there are in it four evil spirits—of (1) lust, of (2) wrath, of (3) riot, of (4) filthy lucre. If ye drink wine in gladness, with shamefacedness, with the fear of God, ye shall live. For if ye drink not with shamefacedness, and the fear of God departeth from you, then cometh drunkenness, and shamelessness stealeth in. But ''even'' if ye drink not at all, take heed lest ye sin in words of outrage, and fighting, and slander, and transgression of the commandments of God; so shall ye perish before your time. Moreover, wine revealeth the mysteries of God and men to aliens, even as I also revealed the commandments of God and the mysteries of Jacob my father to the Canaanitish Bathshua, to whom God forbade to declare them. And wine also is a cause of war and confusion.
