The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs

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Arthur Rosh, [06/11/25 20:04]

The Seven Deadly Sins classification going back to Evagrius, who learned it from Origen, who learned it from the Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs.

The vices to be eradicated are likened to the seven nations that the Hebrews expelled from the Promised Land according to:

Deuteronomy 7:1: "When the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land, which thou art going in to possess, and shall have destroyed many nations before thee, the [1] Hethite, and the [2] Gergezite, and the [3] Amorrhite, and the [4] Chanaanite, and the [5] Pherezite, and the [6] Hevite, and the [7] Jebusite, seven nations much more numerous than thou art, and stronger than thou".

Exodus 23:22-23: "But if thou wilt hear his voice, and do all that I speak, I will be an enemy to thy enemies, and will afflict them that afflict thee And my angel shall go before thee, and shall bring thee in unto the [1] Amorrhite, and the [2] Hethite, and the [3] Pherezite, and the [4] Chanaanite, and the [5] Hevite, and the [6] Jebusite, whom I will destroy". [Why does this verse only list 6, not 7? Perhaps ∵ pride is common to all the capital sins?]

These two texts play an important role in the tradition along with the Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs.