t12papocrypha
Testament of Levi 19
Levi closes his final charge with a binary covenant choice — darkness or light, the law of Jehovah or the works of Beliar — and his sons answer by oath before the Lord, His angels, and their father himself. The tripartite witness structure mirrors the pattern required to seal any covenant act in the Holy Order: heaven, the mediating priest, and the covenant people responding in unison. Levi then dies at a hundred and thirty-seven years and is laid in Hebron beside Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, his burial placing him formally within the patriarchal covenant chain that the whole of his priestly lineage is meant to carry forward.
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And now, my children, ye have heard all; choose therefore for yourselves either the darkness or the light, either the law of the Lord or the works of Beliar. And we answered our father, saying, Before the Lord will we walk according to His law. And our father said, The Lord is witness, and His angels are witnesses, and I am witness, and ye are witnesses, concerning the word of your mouth. And we said, We are witnesses. And thus Levi ceased giving charge to his sons; and he stretched out his feet, and was gathered to his fathers, after he had lived a hundred and thirty-seven years. And they laid him in a coffin, and afterwards they buried him in Hebron, by the side of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob.
