t12papocrypha
Testament of Judah 26
Judah closes his life with a final charge to keep the law of the Lord, naming it the ground of covenant hope. He dies at one hundred nineteen years, refuses the burial honors of kings despite bearing the royal scepter in his own lineage, and asks to be carried to Hebron — the burial ground of the patriarchs — to rest with his fathers. His sons execute his instructions without deviation. The scene is quiet obedience on both sides: a dying father ordering his house, sons completing the covenant chain by honoring the patriarch's body in the land of promise.
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Observe, therefore, my children, all the law of the Lord, for there is hope for all them who follow His way aright. And he said to them: I die before your eyes this day, a hundred and nineteen years old. Let no one bury me in costly apparel, nor tear open my bowels, for this shall they who are kings do: and carry me up to Hebron with you. And Judah, when he had said these things, fell asleep; and his sons did according to all whatsoever he commanded them, and they buried him in Hebron with his fathers.
