SHIM’ON 2 (Simeon 2)

1 Listen, my children, to Shim’on, your father, and I shall tell you the things which I have in my heart.

2 I was born of Ya’aqoḇ, a second son for my father; and Lĕ’ah, my mother, called me Shim’on because 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 had heard her prayer.

3 And I became extraordinarily strong; I did not hold back from any exploit, nor did I fear anything.

4 My heart was firm, my courage was high, and my feelings were dispassionate.

5 For by the Most High, manly courage is given to men in soul and body.

6 In the time of my youth I was jealous of Yosĕph, because my father loved him more than the rest of us.

7 I determined inwardly to destroy him, because the Prince of Error blinded my mind so that I did not consider him as a brother nor did I spare Ya’aqoḇ, my father.

8 But his Elohim and the Elohim of our fathers sent His messenger and delivered him from my hands.

9 For when I went to Sheḵem to procure ointment for the flocks, and Re’uḇĕn went to Dothan where our supplies and stores were, my brother Yahuḏah sold him to the Yishma’ĕlites.

10 When Re’uḇĕn heard this he was sorrowful, for he wanted to restore him to his father.

11 But when I heard it, I was furious with Yahuḏah because he had let him go away alive. For five months I was angry with him.

12 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 bound my hands and feet, however, and thus prevented my hands from performing their deeds, because for seven days my right hand became partly withered.

13 I knew, children, that this had happened to me because of Yosĕph, so I repented and wept. Then I prayed to 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 Elohim that my hand might be restored and that I might refrain from every defilement and grudge and from all folly, for I knew that I had contemplated an evil deed in the sight of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 and of Ya’aqoḇ, my father, on account of Yosĕph, my brother, because of my envying him.