1Behold now, we have told you these things as best we could in order to instruct you about the going forth from the body of our father the patriarch Jacob Israel. It is written in the divinely inspired scriptures and the ancient books of our fathers the apostles, even I, Athanasius your father.
2If you want confirmation of this testament of the patriarch Jacob, take the book of Genesis of the prophet Moses, the lawgiver, and read what is in it: your mind will be enlightened: you will find this, and more, written about it.
3And again, you will find mention of God and his angels, for God was a friend to the patriarchs while they were yet in the body and spoke with them many times in many passages of scripture.
4And you will find that he spoke too in many passages in scripture with the patriarch Jacob, saying, "I will bless your descendants and make them as many as the stars of heaven."
5And again, Jacob spoke with his son Joseph saying, "My God appeared to me in the land of Canaan at Luz: he blessed me saying: ‘I will bless you and make you too many to be counted, and peoples and nations shall spring from you; I will give this land to your descendants after you as a possession for all time.’"