The First
Book of Adam and Eve details the life and times of Adam and Eve after they were
expelled from the garden to the time that Cain kills his brother Abel. It tells
of Adam and Eve's first dwelling - the Cave of Treasures; their trials and
temptations; Satan's many apparitions to them; the birth of Cain, Abel, and
their twin sisters; and Cain's love for his beautiful twin sister, Luluwa, whom
Adam and Eve wished to join to Abel. This book is considered by many scholars
to be part of the "Pseudepigrapha" (soo-duh-pig-ruh-fuh). The
"Pseudepigrapha" is a collection of historical biblical works that
are considered to be fiction. Because of that stigma, this book was not
included in the compilation of the Holy Bible. This book is a written history
of what happened in the days of Adam and Eve after they were cast out of the
garden. Although considered to be pseudepigraphic by some, it carries significant
meaning and insight into events of that time. It is doubtful that these
writings could have survived all the many centuries if there were no substance
to them. This book is simply a version of an account handed down by word of
mouth, from generation to generation, linking the time that the first human
life was created to the time when somebody finally decided to write it down.
This particular version is the work of unknown Egyptians. The lack of
historical allusion makes it difficult to precisely date the writing, however,
using other pseudepigraphical works as a reference, it was probably written a
few hundred years before the birth of Christ. Parts of this version are found
in the Jewish Talmud, and the Islamic Koran, showing what a vital role it
played in the original literature of human wisdom. The Egyptian author wrote in
Arabic, but later translations were found written in Ethiopic. The present
English translation was translated in the late 1800's by Dr. S. C. Malan and
Dr. E. Trumpp. They translated into King James English from both the Arabic
version and the Ethiopic version which was then published in The Forgotten
Books of Eden in 1927 by The World Publishing Company. In 1995, the text was
extracted from a copy of The Forgotten Books of Eden
CHAPTER I
The
crystal sea, God commands Adam, expelled from Eden ,
to live in the Cave
of Treasures
1 On the third day, God planted the
garden in the east of the earth, on the border of the world eastward, beyond
which, towards the sun-rising, one finds nothing but water, that encompasses
the whole world, and reaches to the borders of heaven.
2 And to the north of the garden there
is a sea of water, clear and pure to the taste, unlike anything else; so that,
through the clearness thereof, one may look into the depths of the earth.
3 And when a man washes himself in it,
he becomes clean of the cleanness thereof, and white of its whiteness — even if
he were dark.
4 And God created that sea of his own
good pleasure, for He knew what would come of the man He would make; so that
after he had left the garden, on account of his transgression, men should be
born in the earth. Among them are righteous ones who will die, whose souls God
would raise at the last day; when all of them will return to their flesh, bathe
in the water of that sea, and repent of their sins.
5 But when God made Adam go out of the
garden, He did not place him on the border of it northward. This was so that he
and Eve would not be able to go near to the sea of water where they could wash
themselves in it, be cleansed from their sins, erase the transgression they had
committed, and be no longer reminded of it in the thought of their punishment.
6 As to the southern side of the garden,
God did not want Adam to live there either; because, when the wind blew from
the north, it would bring him, on that southern side, the delicious smell of
the trees of the garden.
7 Wherefore God did not put Adam there.
This was so that he would not be able to smell the sweet smell of those trees,
forget his transgression, and find consolation for what he had done by taking
delight in the smell of the trees and yet not be cleansed from his
transgression.
8 Again, also, because God is merciful
and of great pity, and governs all things in a way that He alone knows — He
made our father Adam live in the western border of the garden, because on that side
the earth is very broad.
9 And God commanded him to live there
in a cave in a rock — the Cave
of Treasures
CHAPTER II
Adam
and Eve faint when they leave the Garden. God sends His Word to encourage them.
1 But when our father Adam, and Eve,
went out of the garden, they walked the ground on their feet, not knowing they
were walking.
2 And when they came to the opening of
the gate of the garden, and saw the broad earth spread before them, covered
with stones large and small, and with sand, they feared and trembled, and fell
on their faces, from the fear that came over them; and they were as dead.
3 Because — whereas until this time
they had been in the garden land, beautifully planted with all manner of trees —
they now saw themselves, in a strange land, which they knew not, and had never
seen.
4 And because, when they were in the
garden they were filled with the grace of a bright nature, and they had not
hearts turned toward earthly things.
5 Therefore God had pity on them; and
when He saw them fallen before the gate of the garden, He sent His Word to our
father, Adam and Eve, and raised them from their fallen state.
CHAPTER III
Concerning
the promise of the great five and a half days.
1 God said to Adam, "I have ordained
on this earth days and years, and you and your descendants shall live and walk
in them, until the days and years are fulfilled; when I shall send the Word
that created you, and against which you have transgressed, the Word that made
you come out of the garden, and that raised you when you were fallen.
2 Yes, the Word that will again save
you when the five and a half days are fulfilled."
3 But when Adam heard these words from
God, and of the great five and a half days, he did not understand the meaning of
them.
4 For Adam was thinking there would be
only five and a half days for him until the end of the world.
5 And Adam cried, and prayed to God to
explain it to him.
6 Then God in his mercy for Adam who
was made after His own image and likeness, explained to him, that these were 5,000
and 500 years; and how One would then come and save him and his descendants.
7 But before that, God had made this
covenant with our father, Adam, in the same terms, before he came out of the
garden, when he was by the tree where Eve took of the fruit and gave it to him
to eat.
8 Because, when our father Adam came
out of the garden, he passed by that tree, and saw how God had changed the
appearance of it into another form, and how it shriveled.
9 And as Adam went to it he feared,
trembled and fell down; but God in His mercy lifted him up, and then made this
covenant with him.
10 And again, when Adam was by the gate
of the garden, and saw the cherub with a sword of flashing fire in his hand,
and the cherub grew angry and frowned at him, both Adam and Eve became afraid
of him, and thought he meant to put them to death. So they fell on their faces,
trembled with fear.
11 But he had pity on them, and showed
them mercy; and turning from them went up to heaven, and prayed to the Lord,
and said;
12 "Lord, You sent me to watch at
the gate of the garden, with a sword of fire.
13 But when Your servants, Adam and
Eve, saw me, they fell on their faces, and were as dead. O my Lord, what shall
we do to Your servants?"
14 Then God had pity on them, and
showed them mercy, and sent His Angel to keep the garden.
15 And the Word of the Lord came to
Adam and Eve, and raised them up.
16 And the Lord said to Adam, "I
told you that at the end of the five and a half days, I will send my Word and
save you.
17 Strengthen your heart, therefore,
and stay in the Cave
of Treasures
18 And when Adam heard this Word from
God, he was comforted with that which God had told him. For He had told him how
He would save him.
CHAPTER IV
Adam
mourns over the changed conditions. Adam and Eve enter the Cave of Treasures
1 But Adam and Eve cried for having
come out of the garden, their first home.
2 And indeed, when Adam looked at his
flesh, that was altered, he cried bitterly, he and Eve, over what they had
done. And they walked and went gently down into the Cave of Treasures
3 And as they came to it, Adam cried
over himself and said to Eve, "Look at this cave that is to be our prison
in this world, and a place of punishment!
4 What is it compared with the garden?
What is its narrowness compared with the space of the other?
5 What is this rock, by the side of
those groves? What is the gloom of this cavern, compared with the light of the
garden?
6 What is this overhanging ledge of
rock to shelter us, compared with the mercy of the Lord that overshadowed us?
7 What is the soil of this cave compared
with the garden land? This earth, strewed with stones; and that, planted with
delicious fruit trees?"
8 And Adam said to Eve, "Look at
your eyes, and at mine, which before beheld angels praising in heaven; and they
too, without ceasing.
9 But now we do not see as we did; our
eyes have become of flesh; they cannot see like they used to see before."
10 Adam said again to Eve, "What
is our body today, compared to what it was in former days, when we lived in the
garden?"
11 After this, Adam did not want to
enter the cave, under the overhanging rock; nor would he ever want to enter it.
12 But he bowed to God's orders; and
said to himself, "Unless I enter the cave, I shall again be a transgressor."
CHAPTER V
Eve
makes a noble and emotional intercession, taking the blame on herself.
1 Then Adam and Eve entered the cave,
and stood praying, in their own tongue, unknown to us, but which they knew
well.
2 And as they prayed, Adam raised his
eyes and saw the rock and the roof of the cave that covered him overhead. This
prevented him from seeing either heaven or God's creatures. So he cried and
beat his chest hard, until he dropped, and was as dead.
3 And Eve sat crying; for she believed
he was dead.
4 Then she got up, spread her hands
toward God, appealing to Him for mercy and pity, and said, "O God, forgive
me my sin, the sin which I committed, and don't remember it against me.
5 For I alone caused Your servant to
fall from the garden into this condemned land; from light into this darkness;
and from the house of joy into this prison.
6 O God, look at this Your servant
fallen in this manner, and bring him back to life, that he may cry and repent
of his transgression which he committed through me.
7 Don't take away his soul right now;
but let him live that he may stand after the measure of his repentance, and do
Your will, as before his death.
8 But if You do not bring him back to
life, then, O God, take away my own soul, that I be like him, and leave me not
in this dungeon, one and alone; for I could not stand alone in this world, but
with him only.
9 For You, O God, caused him to fall asleep,
and took a bone from his side, and restored the flesh in the place of it, by
Your divine power.
10 And You took me, the bone, and make
me a woman, bright like him, with heart, reason, and speech; and in flesh, like
to his own; and You made me after the likeness of his looks, by Your mercy and
power.
11 O Lord, I and he are one, and You, O
God, are our Creator, You are He who made us both in one day.
12 Therefore, O God, give him life,
that he may be with me in this strange land, while we live in it on account of
our transgression.
13 But if You will not give him life,
then take me, even me, like him; that we both may die the same day."
14 And Eve cried bitterly, and fell on
our father Adam; from her great sorrow.
CHAPTER VI
God's
reprimand to Adam and Eve in which he points out how and why they sinned.
1 But God looked at them; for they had
killed themselves through great grief.
2 But He decided to raise them and
comfort them.
3 He, therefore, sent His Word to them;
that they should stand and be raised immediately.
4 And the Lord said to Adam and Eve,
"You transgressed of your own free will, until you came out of the garden
in which I had placed you.
5 Of your own free will have you
transgressed through your desire for divinity, greatness, and an exalted state,
such as I have; so that I deprived you of the bright nature in which you then
were, and I made you come out of the garden to this land, rough and full of
trouble.
6 If only you had not transgressed My
commandment and had kept My law, and had not eaten of the fruit of the tree
which I told you not to come near! And there were fruit trees in the garden
better than that one.
7 But the wicked Satan did not keep his
faith and had no good intent towards Me, that although I had created him, he
considered Me to be useless, and sought the Godhead for himself; for this I
hurled him down from heaven so that he could not remain in his first estate —
it was he who made the tree appear pleasant in your eyes, until you ate of it,
by believing his words.
8 Thus have you transgressed My
commandment, and therefore I have brought on you all these sorrows.
9 For I am God the Creator, who, when I
created My creatures, did not intend to destroy them. But after they had sorely
roused My anger, I punished them with grievous plagues, until they repent.
10 But, if on the contrary, they still
continue hardened in their transgression, they shall be under a curse forever."
CHAPTER VII
The
beasts are appeased.
1 When Adam and Eve heard these words
from God, they cried and sobbed yet more; but they strengthened their hearts in
God, because they now felt that the Lord was to them like a father and a
mother; and for this very reason, they cried before Him, and sought mercy from
Him.
2 Then God had pity on them, and said:
"O Adam, I have made My covenant with you, and I will not turn from it;
neither will I let you return to the garden, until My covenant of the great
five and a half days is fulfilled."
3 Then Adam said to God, "O Lord,
You created us, and made us fit to be in the garden; and before I transgressed,
You made all beasts come to me, that I should name them.
4 Your grace was then on me; and I
named every one according to Your mind; and you made them all subject to me.
5 But now, O Lord God, that I have
transgressed Your commandment, all beasts will rise against me and will devour
me, and Eve Your handmaid; and will cut off our life from the face of the
earth.
6 I therefore beg you, O God, that
since You have made us come out of the garden, and have made us be in a strange
land, You will not let the beasts hurt us."
7 When the Lord heard these words from
Adam, He had pity on him, and felt that he had truly said that the beasts of
the field would rise and devour him and Eve, because He, the Lord, was angry
with the two of them on account of their transgressions.
8 Then God commanded the beasts, and
the birds, and all that moves on the earth, to come to Adam and to be familiar
with him, and not to trouble him and Eve; nor yet any of the good and righteous
among their offspring.
9 Then all the beasts paid homage to
Adam, according to the commandment of God; except the serpent, against which
God was angry. It did not come to Adam, with the beasts.
CHAPTER VIII
The
"Bright Nature" of man is taken away.
1 Then Adam cried and said, "O
God, when we lived in the garden, and our hearts were lifted up, we saw the
angels that sang praises in heaven, but now we can't see like we used to; no,
when we entered the cave, all creation became hidden from us."
2 Then God the Lord said to Adam,
"When you were under subjection to Me, you had a bright nature within you,
and for that reason could you see things far away. But after your transgression
your bright nature was withdrawn from you; and it was not left to you to see
things far away, but only near at hand; after the ability of the flesh; for it
is brutish."
3 When Adam and Eve had heard these
words from God, they went their way; praising and worshipping Him with a
sorrowful heart.
4 And God ceased to commune with them.
CHAPTER IX
Water
from the Tree of Life. Adam and Eve near drowning.
1 Then Adam and Eve came out of the
Cave of Treasures, and went near to the garden gate, and there they stood to
look at it, and cried for having come away from it.
2 And Adam and Eve went from before the
gate of the garden to the southern side of it, and found there the water that watered
the garden, from the root of the Tree of Life, and that split itself from there
into four rivers over the earth.
3 Then they came and went near to that
water, and looked at it; and saw that it was the water that came forth from
under the root of the Tree of Life in the garden.
4 And Adam cried and wailed, and beat
his chest, for being severed from the garden; and said to Eve:
5 "Why have you brought on me, on
yourself, and on our descendants, so many of these plagues and punishments?"
6 And Eve said to him, "What is it
you have seen that has caused you to cry and to speak to me in this manner?"
7 And he said to Eve, "Do you not
see this water that was with us in the garden, that watered the trees of the
garden, and flowed out from there?
8 And we, when we were in the garden,
did not care about it; but since we came to this strange land, we love it, and
turn it to use for our body."
9 But when Eve heard these words from
him, she cried; and from the soreness of their crying, they fell into that water;
and would have put an end to themselves in it, so as never again to return and
behold the creation; for when they looked at the work of creation, they felt
they must put an end to themselves.
CHAPTER X
Their
bodies need water after they leave the garden.
1 Then God, merciful and gracious,
looked at them thus lying in the water, and close to death, and sent an angel,
who brought them out of the water, and laid them on the seashore as dead.
2 Then the angel went up to God, was
welcome, and said, "O God, Your creatures have breathed their last."
3 Then God sent His Word to Adam and
Eve, who raised them from their death.
4 And Adam said, after he was raised,
"O God, while we were in the garden we did not require, or care for this
water; but since we came to this land we cannot do without it."
5 Then God said to Adam, "While
you were under My command and were a bright angel, you knew not this water.
6 But now that you have transgressed My
commandment, you can not do without water, wherein to wash your body and make
it grow; for it is now like that of beasts, and is in want of water."
7 When Adam and Eve heard these words
from God, they cried a bitter cry; and Adam entreated God to let him return
into the garden, and look at it a second time.
8 But God said to Adam, "I have
made you a promise; when that promise is fulfilled, I will bring you back into
the garden, you and your righteous descendants."
9 And God ceased to commune with Adam.
CHAPTER XI
A
recollection of the glorious days in the Garden.
1 Then Adam and Eve felt themselves
burning with thirst, and heat, and sorrow.
2 And Adam said to Eve, "We shall
not drink of this water, even if we were to die. O Eve, when this water comes
into our inner parts, it will increase our punishments and that of our
descendants."
3 Both Adam and Eve then went away from
the water, and drank none of it at all; but came and entered the Cave of Treasures
4 But when in it Adam could not see
Eve; he only heard the noise she made. Neither could she see Adam, but heard
the noise he made.
5 Then Adam cried, in deep affliction,
and beat his chest; and he got up and said to Eve, "Where are you?"
6 And she said to him, "Look, I am
standing in this darkness."
7 He then said to her, "Remember
the bright nature in which we lived, when we lived in the garden!
8 O Eve! Remember the glory that rested
on us in the garden. O Eve! Remember the trees that overshadowed us in the
garden while we moved among them.
9 O Eve! Remember that while we were in
the garden, we knew neither night nor day. Think of the Tree of Life, from
below which flowed the water, and that shed lustre over us! Remember, O Eve,
the garden land, and the brightness thereof!
10 Think, oh think of that garden in
which was no darkness, while we lived in it.
11 Whereas no sooner did we come into
this Cave of Treasures
CHAPTER XII
How
darkness came between Adam and Eve.
1 Then Adam beat his chest, he and Eve,
and they mourned the whole night until the crack of dawn, and they sighed over
the length of the night in Miyazia.
2 And Adam beat himself, and threw
himself on the ground in the cave, from bitter grief, and because of the
darkness, and lay there as dead.
3 But Eve heard the noise he made in
falling on the ground. And she felt about for him with her hands, and found him
like a corpse.
4 Then she was afraid, speechless, and
remained by him.
5 But the merciful Lord looked on the
death of Adam, and on Eve's silence from fear of the darkness.
6 And the Word of God came to Adam and
raised him from his death, and opened Eve's mouth that she might speak.
7 Then Adam stood up in the cave and
said, "O God, why has light departed from us, and darkness covered us? Why
did you leave us in this long darkness? Why do you plague us like this?
8 And this darkness, O Lord, where was
it before it covered us? It is because of this that we cannot see each other.
9 For so long as we were in the garden,
we neither saw nor even knew what darkness is. I was not hidden from Eve,
neither was she hidden from me, until now that she cannot see me; and no
darkness came over us to separate us from each other.
10 But she and I were both in one
bright light. I saw her and she saw me. Yet now since we came into this cave,
darkness has covered us, and separated us from each other, so that I do not see
her, and she does not see me.
11 O Lord, will You then plague us with
this darkness?"
CHAPTER XIII
The
fall of Adam. Why night and day were created.
1 Then when God, who is merciful and
full of pity, heard Adam's voice, He said to him: —
2 "O Adam, so long as the good angel
was obedient to Me, a bright light rested on him and on his hosts.
3 But when he transgressed My
commandment, I deprived him of that bright nature, and he became dark.
4 And when he was in the heavens, in
the realms of light, he knew nothing of darkness.
5 But he transgressed, and I made him
fall from the heaven onto the earth; and it was this darkness that came over
him.
6 And on you, O Adam, while in My garden
and obedient to Me, did that bright light rest also.
7 But when I heard of your transgression,
I deprived you of that bright light. Yet, of My mercy, I did not turn you into
darkness, but I made you your body of flesh, over which I spread this skin, in
order that it may bear cold and heat.
8 If I had let My wrath fall heavily on
you, I should have destroyed you; and had I turned you into darkness, it would
have been as if I had killed you.
9 But in My mercy, I have made you as
you are; when you transgressed My commandment, O Adam, I drove you from the
garden, and made you come forth into this land; and commanded you to live in
this cave; and darkness covered you, as it did over him who transgressed My
commandment.
10 Thus, O Adam, has this night deceived
you. It is not to last forever; but is only of twelve hours; when it is over,
daylight will return.
11 Sigh not, therefore, neither be
moved; and say not in your heart that this darkness is long and drags on
wearily; and say not in your heart that I plague you with it.
12 Strengthen your heart, and be not
afraid. This darkness is not a punishment. But, O Adam, I have made the day,
and have placed the sun in it to give light; in order that you and your
children should do your work.
13 For I knew you would sin and
transgress, and come out into this land. Yet I wouldn't force you, nor be heard
over you, nor shut up; nor doom you through your fall; nor through your coming
out from light into darkness; nor yet through your coming from the garden into
this land.
14 For I made you of the light; and I
willed to bring out children of light from you and like to you.
15 But you did not keep My commandment
one day; until I had finished the creation and blessed everything in it.
16 Then, concerning the tree, I
commanded you not to eat of it. Yet I knew that Satan, who deceived himself,
would also deceive you.
17 So I made known to you by means of
the tree, not to come near him. And I told you not to eat of the fruit thereof,
nor to taste of it, nor yet to sit under it, nor to yield to it.
18 Had I not been and spoken to you, O
Adam, concerning the tree, and had I left you without a commandment, and you
had sinned — it would have been an offence on My part, for not having given you
any order; you would turn around and blame Me for it.
19 But I commanded you, and warned you,
and you fell. So that My creatures cannot blame Me; but the blame rests on them
alone.
20 And, O Adam, I have made the day so
that you and your descendants can work and toil in it. And I have made the
night for them to rest in it from their work; and for the beasts of the field
to go forth by night and look for their food.
21 But little of darkness now remains,
O Adam, and daylight will soon appear."
CHAPTER XIV
The
earliest prophesy of the coming of Christ.
1 Then Adam said to God: "O Lord,
take You my soul, and let me not see this gloom any more; or remove me to some
place where there is no darkness."
2 But God the Lord said to Adam,
"Indeed I say to you, this darkness will pass from you, every day I have
determined for you, until the fulfillment of My covenant; when I will save you
and bring you back again into the garden, into the house of light you long for,
in which there is no darkness*. I will bring you to it — in the kingdom of
heaven."
3 Again said God to Adam, "All
this misery that you have been made to take on yourself because of your
transgression, will not free you from the hand of Satan, and will not save you.
4 But I will. When I shall come down
from heaven, and shall become flesh of your descendants, and take on Myself the
infirmity from which you suffer, then the darkness that covered you in this
cave shall cover Me in the grave, when I am in the flesh of your descendants.
5 And I, who am without years, shall be
subject to the reckoning of years, of times, of months, and of days, and I
shall be reckoned as one of the sons of men, in order to save you."
6 And God ceased to commune with Adam.
* Reference: John 12:46
CHAPTER XV
Adam
and Eve grieve over the suffering of God to save them from their sins.
1 Then Adam and Eve cried and sorrowed
by reason of God's word to them, that they should not return to the garden
until the fulfillment of the days decreed on them; but mostly because God had
told them that He should suffer for their salvation.
CHAPTER XVI
The
first sunrise. Adam and Eve think it is a fire coming to burn them.
1 After this, Adam and Eve continued to
stand in the cave, praying and crying, until the morning dawned on them.
2 And when they saw the light returned
to them, they retrained from fear, and strengthened their hearts.
3 Then Adam began to come out of the
cave. And when he came to the mouth of it, and stood and turned his face
towards the east, and saw the sunrise in glowing rays, and felt the heat
thereof on his body, he was afraid of it, and thought in his heart that this
flame came forth to plague him.
4 He then cried and beat his chest,
then he fell on the ground on his face and made his request, saying: —
5 "O Lord, plague me not, neither
consume me, nor yet take away my life from the earth."
6 For he thought the sun was God.
7 Because while he was in the garden
and heard the voice of God and the sound He made in the garden, and feared Him,
Adam never saw the brilliant light of the sun, neither did its flaming heat
touch his body.
8 Therefore he was afraid of the sun
when flaming rays of it reached him. He thought God meant to plague him
therewith all the days He had decreed for him.
9 For Adam also said in his thoughts,
as God did not plague us with darkness, behold, He has caused this sun to rise
and to plague us with burning heat.
10 But while he was thinking like this
in his heart, the Word of God came to him and said: —
11 "O Adam, get up on your feet.
This sun is not God; but it has been created to give light by day, of which I
spoke to you in the cave saying, 'that the dawn would come, and there would be
light by day.'
12 But I am God who comforted you in
the night."
13 And God ceased to commune with Adam.
CHAPTER XVII
The
CHAPTER Of the Serpent.
1 The Adam and Eve came out at the
mouth of the cave, and went towards the garden.
2 But as they went near it, before the
western gate, from which Satan came when he deceived Adam and Eve, they found
the serpent that became Satan coming at the gate, and sorrowfully licking the
dust, and wiggling on its breast on the ground, by reason of the curse that
fell on it from God.
3 And whereas before the serpent was
the most exalted of all beasts, now it was changed and become slippery, and the
meanest of them all, and it crept on its breast and went on its belly.
4 And whereas it was the fairest of all
beasts, it had been changed, and was become the ugliest of them all. Instead of
feeding on the best food, now it turned to eat the dust. Instead of living, as
before, in the best places, now it lived in the dust.
5 And, whereas it had been the most
beautiful of all beasts, all of which stood dumb at its beauty, it was now
abhorred of them.
6 And, again, whereas it lived in one
beautiful home, to which all other animals came from elsewhere; and where it
drank, they drank also of the same; now, after it had become venomous, by
reason of God's curse, all beasts fled from its home, and would not drink of
the water it drank; but fled from it.
CHAPTER XVIII
The
mortal combat with the serpent.
1 When the accursed serpent saw Adam
and Eve, it swelled its head, stood on its tail, and with eyes blood- red,
acted like it would kill them.
2 It made straight for Eve, and ran
after her; while Adam standing by, cried because he had no stick in his hand
with which to hit the serpent, and did not know how to put it to death.
3 But with a heart burning for Eve,
Adam approached the serpent, and held it by the tail; when it turned towards
him and said to him: —
4 "O Adam, because of you and of
Eve, I am slippery, and go on my belly." Then with its great strength, it
threw down Adam and Eve and squeezed them, and tried to kill them.
5 But God sent an angel who threw the
serpent away from them, and raised them up.
6 Then the Word of God came to the
serpent, and said to it, "The first time I made you slick, and made you to
go on your belly; but I did not deprive you of speech.
7 This time, however, you will be mute,
and you and your race will speak no more; because, the first time My creatures
were ruined because of you, and this time you tried to kill them."
8 Then the serpent was struck mute, and
was no longer able to speak.
9 And a wind blew down from heaven by
the command of God and carried away the serpent from Adam and Eve, and threw it
on the seashore where it landed in India
CHAPTER XIX
Beasts
made subject to Adam.
1 But Adam and Eve cried before God.
And Adam said to Him: —
2 "O Lord, when I was in the cave,
I said this to you, my Lord, the beasts of the field would rise and devour me,
and cut off my life from the earth."
3 Then Adam, because of what had
happened to him, beat his chest and fell on the ground like a corpse. Then the
Word of God came to him, who raised him, and said to him,
4 "O Adam, not one of these beasts
will be able to hurt you; because I have made the beasts and other moving
things come to you in the cave. I did not let the serpent come with them
because it might have risen against you and made you tremble; and the fear of
it should fall into your hearts.
5 For I knew that the accursed one is
wicked; therefore I would not let it come near you with the other beasts.
6 But now strengthen your heart and
fear not. I am with you to the end of the days I have determined on you."
CHAPTER XX
Adam
wishes to protect Eve.
1 Then Adam cried and said, "O
God, take us away to some other place, where the serpent can not come near us
again, and rise against us. For fear that it might find Your handmaid Eve alone
and kill her; for its eyes are hideous and evil."
2 But God said to Adam and Eve,
"From now on, don't be afraid, I will not let it come near you; I have
driven it away from you, from this mountain; neither will I leave in it the
ability to hurt you."
3 Then Adam and Eve worshipped before
God and gave Him thanks, and praised Him for having delivered them from death.
CHAPTER XXI
Adam
and Eve attempt suicide.
1 Then Adam and Eve went in search of
the garden.
2 And the heat beat like a flame on
their faces; and they sweated from the heat, and cried before the Lord.
3 But the place where they cried was
close to a high mountain, facing the western gate of the garden.
4 Then Adam threw himself down from the
top of that mountain; his face was torn and his flesh was ripped; he lost a lot
of blood and was close to death.
5 Meanwhile Eve remained standing on
the mountain crying over him, thus lying.
6 And she said, "I don't wish to
live after him; for all that he did to himself was through me."
7 Then she threw herself after him; and
was torn and ripped by stones; and remained lying as dead.
8 But the merciful God, who looks over
His creatures, looked at Adam and Eve as they lay dead, and He sent His Word to
them, and raised them.
9 And said to Adam, "O Adam, all
this misery which you have brought on yourself, will have no affect against My
rule, neither will it alter the covenant of the 5,500 years."
CHAPTER XXII
Adam
in a gracious mood.
1 Then Adam said to God, "I dry up
in the heat, I am faint from walking, and I don't want to be in this world. And
I don't know when You will take me out of it to rest."
2 Then the Lord God said to him,
"O Adam, it cannot be now, not until you have ended your days. Then shall
I bring you out of this miserable land."
3 And Adam said to God, "While I
was in the garden I knew neither heat, nor languor, neither moving about, nor
trembling, nor fear; but now since I came to this land, all this affliction has
come over me.
4 Then God said to Adam, "So long
as you were keeping My commandment, My light and My grace rested on you. But
when you transgressed My commandment, sorrow and misery came to you in this
land."
5 And Adam cried and said, "O
Lord, do not cut me off for this, neither punish me with heavy plagues, nor yet
repay me according to my sin; for we, of our own will, transgressed Your
commandment, and ignored Your law, and tried to become gods like you, when
Satan the enemy deceived us."
6 Then God said again to Adam,
"Because you have endured fear and trembling in this land, languor and
suffering, treading and walking about, going on this mountain, and dying from
it, I will take all this on Myself in order to save you."
CHAPTER XXIII
Adam
and Eve strengthen themselves and make the first altar ever built.
1 Then Adam cried more and said,
"O God, have mercy on me, so far as to take on yourself, that which I will
do."
2 But God withdrew His Word from Adam
and Eve.
3 Then Adam and Eve stood on their
feet; and Adam said to Eve, "Strengthen yourself, and I also will
strengthen myself." And she strengthened herself, as Adam told her.
4 Then Adam and Eve took stones and
placed them in the shape of an altar; and they took leaves from the trees
outside the garden, with which they wiped, from the face of the rock, the blood
they had spilled.
5 But that which had dropped on the
sand, they took together with the dust with which it was mingled and offered it
on the altar as an offering to God.
6 Then Adam and Eve stood under the Altar
and cried, thus praying to God, "Forgive us our trespass* and our sin, and
look at us with Thine eye of mercy. For when we were in the garden our praises
and our hymns went up before you without ceasing.
7 But when we came into this strange
land, pure praise was not longer ours, nor righteous prayer, nor understanding
hearts, nor sweet thoughts, nor just counsels, nor long discernment, nor
upright feelings, neither is our bright nature left us. But our body is changed
from the likeness in which it was at first, when we were created.
8 Yet now look at our blood which is
offered on these stones, and accept it at our hands, like the praise we used to
sing to you at first, when in the garden."
9 And Adam began to make more requests
of God. * ORIGINAL OF THE LORD'S PRAYER SAID TO BE USED ABOUT 150 YEARS BEFORE
OUR LORD: Our Father, Who art in Heaven, be gracious unto us, O Lord our God,
hallowed be Your Name, and let the remembrance of Thee be glorified Heaven
above and upon earth here below. Let Your kingdom reign over us now and forever.
The Holy Men of old said remit and forgive unto all men whatsoever they have
done unto me. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil
thing; for Thine is the kingdom and Thou shalt reign in glory forever and
forevermore, AMEN.
CHAPTER XXIV
A
vivid prophecy of the life and death of Christ.
1 Then the merciful God, good and lover
of men, looked at Adam and Eve, and at their blood, which they had held up as
an offering to Him; without an order from Him for so doing. But He wondered at
them; and accepted their offerings.
2 And God sent from His presence a
bright fire, that consumed their offering.
3 He smelled the sweet savor of their
offering, and showed them mercy.
4 Then came the Word of God to Adam,
and said to him, "O Adam, as you have shed your blood, so will I shed My
own blood when I become flesh of your descendants; and as you died, O Adam, so
also will I die. And as you built an altar, so also will I make for you an
altar of the earth; and as you offered your blood on it, so also will I offer
My blood on an altar on the earth.
5 And as you sued for forgiveness
through that blood, so also will I make My blood forgiveness of sins, and erase
transgressions in it.
6 And now, behold, I have accepted your
offering, O Adam, but the days of the covenant in which I have bound you are
not fulfilled. When they are fulfilled, then will I bring you back into the
garden.
7 Now, therefore, strengthen your
heart; and when sorrow comes over you, make Me an offering, and I will be favorable
to you."
CHAPTER XXV
God
represented as merciful and loving. The establishing of worship.
1 But God knew that Adam believed he
should frequently kill himself and make an offering to Him of his blood.
2 Therefore He said to him, "O Adam,
don't ever kill yourself like this again, by throwing yourself down from that
mountain."
3 But Adam said to God, "I was
thinking to put an end to myself at once, for having transgressed Your
commandments, and for my having come out of the beautiful garden; and for the
bright light of which You have deprived me; and for the praises which poured
forth from my mouth without ceasing, and for the light that covered me.
4 Yet of Your goodness, O God, do not
get rid of me altogether; but be favorable to me every time I die, and bring me
to life.
5 And thereby it will be made known
that You are a merciful God, who does not want anyone to perish; who loves not
that one should fall; and who does not condemn any one cruelly, badly, and by
whole destruction."
6 Then Adam remained silent.
7 And the Word of God came to him, and
blessed him, and comforted him, and covenanted with him, that He would save him
at the end of the days determined for him.
8 This, then, was the first offering
Adam made to God; and so it became his custom to do.
CHAPTER XXVI
A
beautiful prophecy of eternal life and joy (v.15). The fall of night.
1 Then Adam took Eve, and they began to
return to the Cave
of Treasures
2 Then Adam said to Eve, "When we
were on the mountain we were comforted by the Word of God that conversed with
us; and the light that came from the east shown over us.
3 But now the Word of God is hidden
from us; and the light that shown over us is so changed as to disappear, and
let darkness and sorrow come over us.
4 And we are forced to enter this cave
which is like a prison, in which darkness covers us, so that we are separated
from each other; and you can not see me, neither can I see you."
5 When Adam had said these words, they
cried and spread their hands before God; for they were full of sorrow.
6 And they prayed to God to bring the
sun to them, to shine on them, so that darkness would not return to them, and
that they wouldn't have to go under this covering of rock. And they wished to
die rather than see the darkness.
7 Then God looked at Adam and Eve and
at their great sorrow, and at all they had done with a fervent heart, on
account of all the trouble they were in, instead of their former well-being,
and on account of all the misery that came over them in a strange land.
8 Therefore God was not angry with
them; nor impatient with them; but he was patient and forbearing towards them,
as towards the children He had created.
9 Then came the Word of God to Adam,
and said to him, "Adam, as for the sun, if I were to take it and bring it
to you, days, hours, years and months would all stop, and the covenant I have
made with you, would never be fulfilled.
10 But then you would be deserted and
stuck in a perpetual plague, and you would never be saved.
11 Yes, rather, bear long and calm your
soul while you live night and day; until the fulfillment of the days, and the
time of My covenant is come.
12 Then shall I come and save you, O
Adam, for I do not wish that you be afflicted.
13 And when I look at all the good
things in which you lived, and why you came out of them, then would I willingly
show you mercy.
14 But I cannot alter the covenant that
has gone out of My mouth; otherwise I would have brought you back into the
garden.
15 When, however, the covenant is
fulfilled, then shall I show you and your descendants mercy, and bring you into
a land of gladness, where there is neither sorrow nor suffering; but abiding
joy and gladness, and light that never fails, and praises that never cease; and
a beautiful garden that shall never pass away."
16 And God said again to Adam, "Be
patient and enter the cave, for the darkness, of which you were afraid, shall
only be twelve hours long; and when ended, light shall come up."
17 Then when Adam heard these words
from God, he and Eve worshipped before Him, and their hearts were comforted.
They returned into the cave after their custom, while tears flowed from their
eyes, sorrow and wailing came from their hearts, and they wished their soul
would leave their body.
18 And Adam and Eve stood praying until
the darkness of night came over them, and Adam was hid from Eve, and she from
him.
19 And they remained standing in
prayer.
CHAPTER XXVII
The
second tempting of Adam and Eve. The devil takes on the form of a beguiling
light.
1 When Satan, the hater of all good,
saw how they continued in prayer, and how God communed with them, and comforted
them, and how He had accepted their offering — Satan made an apparition.
2 He began with transforming his hosts;
in his hands was a flashing fire, and they were in a great light.
3 He then placed his throne near the
mouth of the cave because he could not enter into it by reason of their
prayers. And he shed light into the cave, until the cave glistened over Adam
and Eve; while his hosts began to sing praises.
4 And Satan did this, in order that
when Adam saw the light, he should think within himself that it was a heavenly
light, and that Satan's hosts were angels; and that God had sent them to watch
at the cave, and to give him light in the darkness.
5 So that when Adam came out of the
cave and saw them, and Adam and Eve bowed to Satan, then he would overcome Adam
thereby, and a second time humble him before God.
6 When, therefore, Adam and Eve saw the
light, fancying it was real, they strengthened their hearts; yet, as they were
trembling, Adam said to Eve:
7 "Look at that great light, and
at those many songs of praise, and at that host standing outside who won't come
into our cave. Why don't they tell us what they want, where they are from, what
the meaning of this light is, what those praises are, why they have been sent
to this place, and why they won't come in?
8 If they were from God, they would
come into the cave with us, and would tell us why they were sent."
9 Then Adam stood up and prayed to God
with a burning heart, and said:
10 "O Lord, is there in the world
another god besides You, who created angels and filled them with light, and
sent them to keep us, who would come with them?
11 But, look, we see these hosts that
stand at the mouth of the cave; they are in a great light; they sing loud
praises. If they are of some other god than You, tell me; and if they are sent
by you, inform me of the reason for which You have sent them."
12 No sooner had Adam said this, than
an angel from God appeared to him in the cave, who said to him, "O Adam,
fear not. This is Satan and his hosts; he wishes to deceive you as he deceived
you at first. For the first time, he was hidden in the serpent; but this time
he is come to you in the likeness of an angel of light; in order that, when you
worshipped him, he might enslave you, in the very presence of God."
13 Then the angel went from Adam and
seized Satan at the opening of the cave, and stripped him of the pretense he
had assumed, and brought him in his own hideous form to Adam and Eve; who were
afraid of him when they saw him.
14 And the angel said to Adam,
"This hideous form has been his ever since God made him fall from heaven.
He could not have come near you in it; he therefore transformed himself into an
angel of light."
15 Then the angel drove away Satan and
his hosts from Adam and Eve, and said to them, "Fear not; God who created
you, will strengthen you."
16 And the angel left them.
17 But Adam and Eve remained standing
in the cave; no consolation came to them; they divided in their thoughts.
18 And when it was morning they prayed;
and then went out to seek the garden. For their hearts were towards it, and
they could get no consolation for having left it.
CHAPTER XXVIII
The
Devil pretends to lead Adam and Eve to the water to bathe.
1 But when the crafty Satan saw them,
that they were going to the garden, he gathered together his host, and came in
appearance on a cloud, intent on deceiving them.
2 But when Adam and Eve saw him thus in
a vision, they thought they were angels of God come to comfort them about
having left the garden, or to bring them back again into it.
3 And Adam spread his hands before God,
beseeching Him to make him understand what they were.
4 Then Satan, the hater of all good,
said to Adam, "O Adam, I am an angel of the great God; and, behold the
hosts that surround me.
5 God has sent us to take you and bring
you to the border of the garden northwards; to the shore of the clear sea, and
bathe you and Eve in it, and raise you to your former gladness, that you return
again to the garden."
6 These words sank into the heart of
Adam and Eve.
7 Yet God withheld His Word from Adam,
and did not make him understand at once, but waited to see his strength;
whether he would be overcome as Eve was when in the garden, or whether he would
prevail.
8 Then Satan called to Adam and Eve,
and said, "Behold, we go to the sea of water," and they began to go.
9 And Adam and Eve followed them at
some little distance.
10 But when they came to the mountain
to the north of the garden, a very high mountain, without any steps to the top
of it, the Devil drew near to Adam and Eve, and made them go up to the top in
reality, and not in a vision; wishing, as he did, to throw them down and kill
them, and to wipe off their name from the earth; so that this earth should remain
to him and his hosts alone.
CHAPTER XXIX
God
tells Adam of the Devil's purpose. (v.4).
1 But when the merciful God saw that
Satan wished to kill Adam with his many tricks, and saw that Adam was meek and
without guile, God spoke to Satan in a loud voice, and cursed him.
2 Then he and his hosts fled, and Adam
and Eve remained standing on the top of the mountain, from there they saw below
them the wide world, high above which they were. But they saw none of the host which
time after time were by them.
3 They cried, both Adam and Eve, before
God, and begged for forgiveness of Him.
4 Then came the Word from God to Adam,
and said to him, "Know you and understand concerning this Satan, that he
seeks to deceive you and your descendants after you."
5 And Adam cried before the Lord God,
and begged and prayed to Him to give him something from the garden, as a token
to him, wherein to be comforted.
6 And God considered Adam's thought,
and sent the angel Michael as far as the sea that reaches India, to take from
there golden rods and bring them to Adam.
7 This did God in His wisdom in order
that these golden rods, being with Adam in the cave, should shine forth with
light in the night around him, and put an end to his fear of the darkness.
8 Then the angel Michael went down by
God's order, took golden rods, as God had commanded him, and brought them to
God.
CHAPTER XXX
Adam
receives the first worldly goods.
1 After these things, God commanded the
angel Gabriel to go down to the garden, and say to the cherub who kept it,
"Behold, God has commanded me to come into the garden, and to take from it
sweet smelling incense, and give it to Adam."
2 Then the angel Gabriel went down by
God's order to the garden, and told the cherub as God had commanded him.
3 The cherub then said,
"Well." And Gabriel went in and took the incense.
4 Then God commanded his angel Raphael
to go down to the garden, and speak to the cherub about some myrrh, to give to
Adam.
5 And the angel Raphael went down and
told the cherub as God had commanded him, and the cherub said,
"Well." Then Raphael went in and took the myrrh.
6 The golden rods were from the Indian
sea, where there are precious stones. The incense was from the eastern border
of the garden; and the myrrh from the western border, from where bitterness
came over Adam.
7 And the angels brought these things
to God, by the Tree of Life, in the garden.
8 Then God said to the angels,
"Dip them in the spring of water; then take them and sprinkle their water
over Adam and Eve, that they be a little comforted in their sorrow, and give
them to Adam and Eve.
9 And the angels did as God had
commanded them, and they gave all those things to Adam and Eve on the top of
the mountain on which Satan had placed them, when he sought to make an end of
them.
10 And when Adam saw the golden rods,
the incense and the myrrh, he was rejoiced and cried because he thought that
the gold was a token of the kingdom from where he had come, that the incense was
a token of the bright light which had been taken from him, and that the myrrh
was a token of the sorrow in which he was.
CHAPTER XXXI
They
make themselves more comfortable in the Cave of Treasures
1 After these things God said to Adam,
"You asked Me for something from the garden, to be comforted therewith,
and I have given you these three tokens as a consolation to you; that you trust
in Me and in My covenant with you.
2 For I will come and save you; and
kings shall bring me when in the flesh, gold, incense and myrrh; gold as a
token of My kingdom; incense as a token of My divinity; and myrrh as a token of
My suffering and of My death.
3 But, O Adam, put these by you in the
cave; the gold that it may shed light over you by night; the incense, that you
smell its sweet savor; and the myrrh, to comfort you in your sorrow."
4 When Adam heard these words from God,
he worshipped before Him. He and Eve worshipped Him and gave Him thanks,
because He had dealt mercifully with them.
5 Then God commanded the three angels,
Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, each to bring what he had brought, and give it to
Adam. And they did so, one by one.
6 And God commanded Suriyel and
Salathiel to bear up Adam and Eve, and bring them down from the top of the high
mountain, and to take them to the Cave
of Treasures
7 There they laid the gold on the south
side of the cave, the incense on the eastern side, and the myrrh on the western
side. For the mouth of the cave was on the north side.
8 The angels then comforted Adam and
Eve, and departed.
9 The gold was seventy rods*; the
incense, twelve pounds; and the myrrh, three pounds.
10 These remained by Adam in the Cave of Treasures
11 God gave these three things to Adam
on the third day after he had come out of the garden, in token of the three
days the Lord should remain in the heart of the earth.
12 And these three things, as they
continued with Adam in the cave, gave him light by night; and by day they gave
him a little relief from his sorrow. * A rod is a unit of linear measure
equivalent to 5.5 yards and also a unit of area measure equivalent to 30.25
square yards. In this case, the word rod simply means a kind of long, thin
piece of gold of unspecified size and weight. ** This is the original text
which appears to contain embedded editorial content: "These remained by
Adam in the House of Treasures; therefore was it called 'of concealment.' But
other interpreters say it was called the 'Cave of Treasures
CHAPTER XXXII
Adam
and Eve go into the water to pray.
1 And Adam and Eve remained in the Cave of Treasures
2 And when it dawned on the eighth day,
Adam said to Eve, "O Eve, we prayed God to give us something from the
garden, and He sent his angels who brought us what we had desired.
3 But now, get up, let us go to the sea
of water we saw at first, and let us stand in it, praying that God will again
be favorable to us and take us back to the garden; or give us something; or
that He will give us comfort in some other land than this in which we
are."
4 Then Adam and Eve came out of the
cave, went and stood on the border of the sea in which they had before thrown
themselves, and Adam said to Eve:
5 Come, go down into this place, and
come not out of it until the end of thirty days, when I shall come to you. And
pray to God with burning heart and a sweet voice, to forgive us.
6 And I will go to another place, and
go down into it, and do like you."
7 Then Eve went down into the water, as
Adam had commanded her. Adam also went down into the water; and they stood
praying; and besought the Lord to forgive them their offense, and to restore
them to their former state.
8 And they stood like that praying, until
the end of the thirty-five days.
CHAPTER XXXIII
Satan
falsely promises the "bright light."
1 But Satan, the hater of all good,
sought them in the cave, but found them not, although he searched diligently
for them.
2 But he found them standing in the
water praying and thought within himself, "Adam and Eve are standing like
that in that water praying to God to forgive them their transgression, and to
restore them to their former state, and to take them from under my hand.
3 But I will deceive them so that they
shall come out of the water, and not fulfil their vow."
4 Then the hater of all good, went not
to Adam, but he went to Eve, and took the form of an angel of God, praising and
rejoicing, and said to her:—
5 "Peace be to you! Be glad and rejoice!
God is favorable to you, and He sent me to Adam. I have brought him the glad
tidings of salvation, and of his being filled with bright light as he was at
first.
6 And Adam, in his joy for his restoration,
has sent me to you, that you come to me, in order that I crown you with light
like him.
7 And he said to me, 'Speak to Eve; if
she does not come with you, tell her of the sign when we were on the top of the
mountain; how God sent his angels who took us and brought us to the Cave of
Treasures; and laid the gold on the southern side; incense, on the eastern
side; and myrrh on the western side.' Now come to him."
8 When Eve hear these words from him,
she rejoiced greatly. And thinking Satan's appearance was real, she came out of
the sea.
9 He went before, and she followed him
until they came to Adam. Then Satan hid himself from her, and she saw him no
more.
10 She then came and stood before Adam,
who was standing by the water and rejoicing in God's forgiveness.
11 And as she called to him, he turned
around, found her there and cried when he saw her, and beat his chest; and from
the bitterness of his grief, he sank into the water.
12 But God looked at him and at his
misery, and at his being about to breathe his last. And the Word of God came
from heaven, raised him out of the water, and said to him, "Go up the high
bank to Eve." And when he came up to Eve he said to her, "Who told
you to come here?"
13 Then she told him the discourse of
the angel who had appeared to her and had given her a sign.
14 But Adam grieved, and gave her to
know it was Satan. He then took her and they both returned to the cave.
15 These things happened to them the
second time they went down to the water, seven days after their coming out of
the garden.
16 They fasted in the water thirty-five
days; altogether forty-two days since they had left the garden.
CHAPTER XXXIV
Adam
recalls the creation of Eve. He eloquently appeals for food and drink.
1 And on the morning of the forty-third
day, they came out of the cave, sorrowful and crying. Their bodies were lean,
and they were parched from hunger and thirst, from fasting and praying, and
from their heavy sorrow on account of their transgression.
2 And when they had come out of the
cave they went up the mountain to the west of the garden.
3 There they stood and prayed and
besought God to grant them forgiveness of their sins.
4 And after their prayers Adam began to
beg God, saying, "O my Lord, my God, and my Creator, You commanded the
four elements* to be gathered together, and they were gathered together by
Thine order.
5 Then You spread Your hand and created
me out of one element, that of dust of the earth; and You brought me into the
garden at the third hour, on a Friday, and informed me of it in the cave.
6 Then, at first, I knew neither night
nor day, for I had a bright nature; neither did the light in which I lived ever
leave me to know night or day.
7 Then, again, O Lord, in that third
hour in which You created me, You brought to me all beasts, and lions, and ostriches,
and fowls of the air, and all things that move in the earth, which You had
created at the first hour before me of the Friday.
8 And Your will was that I should name
them all, one by one, with a suitable name. But You gave me understanding and
knowledge, and a pure heart and a right mind from you, that I should name them
after Thine own mind regarding the naming of them.
9 O God, You made them obedient to me,
and ordered that not one of them break from my sway, according to Your
commandment, and to the dominion which You had given me over them. But now they
are all estranged from me.
10 Then it was in that third hour of
Friday, in which You created me, and commanded me concerning the tree, to which
I was neither to go near, nor to eat thereof; for You said to me in the garden,
'When you eat of it, of death you shall die.'
11 And if You had punished me as You
said, with death, I should have died that very moment.
12 Moreover, when You commanded me
regarding the tree, I was neither to approach nor to eat thereof, Eve was not
with me; You had not yet created her, neither had You yet taken her out of my
side; nor had she yet heard this order from you.
13 Then, at the end of the third hour
of that Friday, O Lord, You caused a slumber and a sleep to come over me, and I
slept, and was overwhelmed in sleep.
14 Then You drew a rib out of my side,
and created it after my own likeness and image. Then I awoke; and when I saw
her and knew who she was, I said, 'This is bone of my bones, and flesh of my
flesh; from now on she shall be called woman.'
15 It was of Your good will, O God,
that You brought a slumber in a sleep over me, and that You immediately brought
Eve out of my side, until she was out, so that I did not see how she was made;
neither could I witness, O my Lord, how awful and great are Your goodness and
glory.
16 And of Your goodwill, O Lord, You
made us both with bodies of a bright nature, and You made us two, one; and You
gave us Your grace, and filled us with praises of the Holy Spirit; that we
should be neither hungry nor thirsty, nor know what sorrow is, nor yet
faintness of heart; neither suffering, fasting nor weariness.
17 But now, O God, since we transgressed
Your commandment and broke Your law, You have brought us out into a strange
land, and have caused suffering, and faintness, hunger and thirst to come over
us.
18 Now, therefore, O God, we pray you,
give us something to eat from the garden, to satisfy our hunger with it; and
something wherewith to quench our thirst.
19 For, behold, many days, O God, we
have tasted nothing and drunk nothing, and our flesh is dried up, and our
strength is wasted, and sleep is gone from our eyes from faintness and crying.
20 Then, O God, we dare not gather
anything from the fruit of trees, from fear of you. For when we transgress at
first You spared us and did not make us die.
21 But now, we thought in our hearts,
if we eat of the fruit of the trees, without God's order, He will destroy us
this time, and will wipe us off from the face of the earth.
22 And if we drink of this water,
without God's order, He will make an end of us and root us up at once.
23 Now, therefore, O God, that I am
come to this place with Eve, we beg You to give us some fruit from the garden,
that we may be satisfied with it.
24 For we desire the fruit that is on
the earth, and all else that we lack in it." * The medieval belief that
there were only four elements - fire, earth, air, and water - was widely
accepted until about 1500 AD when the current atomic theory was in its infancy.
CHAPTER XXXV
God's
reply.
1 Then God looked again at Adam and his
crying and groaning, and the Word of God came to him, and said to him: —
2 "O Adam, when you were in My
garden, you knew neither eating nor drinking; neither faintness nor suffering;
neither leanness of flesh, nor change; neither did sleep depart from thine
eyes. But since you transgressed, and came into this strange land, all these
trials are come over you."
CHAPTER XXXVI
Figs.
1 Then God commanded the cherub, who
kept the gate of the garden with a sword of fire in his hand, to take some of
the fruit of the fig-tree, and to give it to Adam.
2 The cherub obeyed the command of the
Lord God, and went into the garden and brought two figs on two twigs, each fig
hanging to its leaf; they were from two of the trees among which Adam and Eve
hid themselves when God went to walk in the garden, and the Word of God came to
Adam and Eve and said to them, "Adam, Adam, where are you?"
3 And Adam answered, "O God, here
I am. When I heard the sound of You and Your voice, I hid myself, because I am
naked."
4 Then the cherub took two figs and
brought them to Adam and Eve. But he threw them to them from a distance; for
they might not come near the cherub by reason of their flesh, that could not
come near the fire.
5 At first, angels trembled at the
presence of Adam and were afraid of him. But now Adam trembled before the
angels and was afraid of them.
6 Then Adam came closer and took one
fig, and Eve also came in turn and took the other.
7 And as they took them up in their
hands, they looked at them, and knew they were from the trees among which they
had hidden themselves.
CHAPTER XXXVII
Forty-three
days of penance do not redeem one hour of sin (v.6).
1 Then Adam said to Eve, "Do you
not see these figs and their leaves, with which we covered ourselves when we
were stripped of our bright nature? But now, we do not know what misery and
suffering may come over us from eating them.
2 Now, therefore, O Eve, let us restrain
ourselves and not eat of them, you and I; and let us ask God to give us of the
fruit of the Tree of Life."
3 Thus did Adam and Eve restrain
themselves, and did not eat of these figs.
4 But Adam began to pray to God and to
beseech Him to give him of the fruit of the Tree of Life, saying thus: "O
God, when we transgressed Your commandment at the sixth hour of Friday, we were
stripped of the bright nature we had, and did not continue in the garden after
our transgression, more than three hours.
5 But in the evening You made us come
out of it. O God, we transgressed against You one hour, and all these trials
and sorrows have come over us until this day.
6 And those days together with this the
forty-third day, do not redeem that one hour in which we transgressed!
7 O God, look at us with an eye of
pity, and do not avenge us according to our transgression of Your commandment,
in Your presence.
8 O God, give us of the fruit of the
Tree of Life, that we may eat of it, and live, and turn not to see sufferings
and other trouble, in this earth; for You are God.
9 When we transgressed Your commandment,
You made us come out of the garden, and sent a cherub to keep the Tree of Life,
lest we should eat thereof, and live; and know nothing of faintness after we
transgressed.
10 But now, O Lord, behold, we have
endured all these days, and have borne sufferings. Make these forty-three days
an equivalent for the one hour in which we transgressed."
CHAPTER XXXVIII
"When
5500 years are fulfilled. . . ."
1 After these things the Word of God
came to Adam, and said to him:
2 "O Adam, as to the fruit on the
Tree of Life that you have asked for, I will not give it to you now, but only
when the 5500 years are fulfilled. At that time I will give you fruit from the
Tree of Life, and you will eat, and live forever, you, and Eve, and your righteous
descendants.
3 But these forty-three days cannot
make amends for the hour in which you transgressed My commandment.
4 O Adam, I gave you the fruit of the
fig-tree to eat in which you hid yourself. Go and eat of it, you and Eve.
5 I will not deny your request, neither
will I disappoint your hope; therefore, endure until the fulfillment of the
covenant I made with you."
6 And God withdrew His Word from Adam.
CHAPTER XXXIX
Adam
is cautious — but too late.
1 Then Adam returned to Eve, and said
to her, "Get up, and take a fig for yourself, and I will take another; and
let us go to our cave."
2 Then Adam and Eve took each a fig and
went towards the cave; the time was about the setting of the sun; and their
thoughts made them long to eat of the fruit.
3 But Adam said to Eve, "I am
afraid to eat of this fig. I know not what may come over me from it."
4 So Adam cried, and stood praying
before God, saying, "Satisfy my hunger, without my having to eat this fig;
for after I have eaten it, what will it profit me? And what shall I desire and
ask of you, O God, when it is gone?"
5 And he said again, "I am afraid
to eat of it; for I know not what will befall me through it."
CHAPTER XL
The
first Human hunger.
1 Then the Word of God came to Adam,
and said to him, "O Adam, why didn't you have this dread, or this fasting,
or this care before now? And why didn't you have this fear before you
transgressed?
2 But when you came to live in this
strange land, your animal body could not survive on earth without earthly food,
to strengthen it and to restore its powers."
3 And God withdrew His Word for Adam.
CHAPTER XLI
The
first Human thirst.
1 Then Adam took the fig, and laid it
on the golden rods. Eve also took her fig, and put it on the incense.
2 And the weight of each fig was that
of a water-melon; for the fruit of the garden was much larger than the fruit of
this land*.
3 But Adam and Eve remained standing
and fasting the whole of that night, until the morning dawned.
4 When the sun rose they were still
praying, but after they had finished praying, Adam said to Eve: —
5 "O Eve, come, let us go to the
border of the garden looking south; to the place from where the river flows,
and is parted into four heads. There we will pray to God, and ask Him to give
us some of the Water of Life to drink .
6 For God has not fed us with the Tree
of Life, in order that we may not live. Therefore, we will ask him to give us
some of the Water of Life, and to quench our thirst with it, rather than with a
drink of water of this land."
7 When Eve heard these words from Adam,
she agreed; and they both got up and came to the southern border of the garden,
at the edge of the river of water a short distance from the garden.
8 And they stood and prayed before the
Lord, and asked Him to look at them this once, to forgive them, and to grant
them their request.
9 After this prayer from both of them,
Adam began to pray with his voice before God, and said;
10 "O Lord, when I was in the garden
and saw the water that flowed from under the Tree of Life, my heart did not
desire, neither did my body require to drink of it; neither did I know thirst,
for I was living; and above that which I am now.
11 So that in order to live I did not
require any Food of Life, neither did I drink of the Water of Life.
12 But now, O God, I am dead; my flesh
is parched with thirst. Give me of the Water of Life that I may drink of it and
live.
13 Of Your mercy, O God, save me from
these plagues and trials, and bring me into another land different from this,
if You will not let me live in Your garden." * This is substantiated by
Genesis 3:7 whereby the leaves of the fig tree were large enough that Adam and
Eve could fashion garments from them.
CHAPTER XLII
A
promise of the Water of Life. The third prophecy of the coming of Christ.
1 Then came the Word of God to Adam,
and said to him:—
2 "O Adam, as to what you said,
'Bring me into a land where there is rest,' it is not another land than this,
but it is the kingdom of heaven where alone there is rest.
3 But you can not make your entrance
into it at present; but only after your judgment is past and fulfilled.
4 Then will I make you go up into the
kingdom of heaven, you and your righteous descendants; and I will give you and
them the rest you ask for at present.
5 And if you said, 'Give me of the
Water of Life that I may drink and live' — it cannot be this day, but on the
day that I shall descend into hell, and break the gates of brass, and bruise in
pieces the kingdoms of iron.
6 Then will I in mercy save your soul
and the souls of the righteous, to give them rest in My garden. And that shall
be when the end of the world is come.
7 And, again, in regards to the Water
of Life you seek, it will not be granted you this day; but on the day that I
shall shed My blood on your head in the land of Golgotha
8 For My blood shall be the Water of
Life to you at that time, and not to just you alone, but to all your descendants
who shall believe in Me; that it be to them for rest forever."
9 The Lord said again to Adam, "O
Adam, when you were in the garden, these trials did not come to you.
10 But since you transgressed My
commandment, all these sufferings have come over you.
11 Now, also, does your flesh require
food and drink; drink then of that water that flows by you on the face of the
earth.
12 Then God withdrew His Word from
Adam.
13 And Adam and Eve worshipped the
Lord, and returned from the river of water to the cave. It was noon-day; and
when they drew near to the cave, they saw a large fire by it. * This phrase indicates
that the bleeding will take place in an elevated position above the populace.
This is believed to be a reference to the cross whereby Christ bled profusely
above the people below. Golgotha (goal-goth-uh) was the hill outside the
walls of Jerusalem
CHAPTER XLIII
The
Devil attempts arson.
1 Then Adam and Eve were afraid, and
stood still. And Adam said to Eve, "What is that fire by our cave? We have
done nothing in it to cause this fire.
2 We neither have bread to bake
therein, nor broth to cook there. As to this fire, we have never known anything
like it, neither do we know what to call it.
3 But ever since God sent the cherub with
a sword of fire that flashed and lightened in his hand, from fear of which we
fell down and were like corpses, have we not seen the like.
4 But now, O Eve, behold, this is the
same fire that was in the cherub's hand, which God has sent to keep the cave in
which we live.
5 O Eve, it is because God is angry
with us, and will drive us from it.
6 O Eve, we have again transgressed His
commandment in that cave, so that He had sent this fire to burn around it, and
to prevent us from going into it.
7 If this be really so, O Eve, where
shall we live? And where shall we flee from before the face of the Lord? Since,
in regards to the garden, He will not let us live in it, and He has deprived us
of the good things thereof; but He has placed us in this cave, in which we have
borne darkness, trials and hardships, until at last we have found comfort therein.
8 But now that He has brought us out
into another land, who knows what may happen in it? And who knows but that the
darkness of that land may be far greater than the darkness of this land?
9 Who knows what may happen in that
land by day or by night? And who knows whether it will be far or near, O Eve?
Where it will please God to put us, may be far from the garden, O Eve? Or where
God will prevent us from beholding Him, because we have transgressed His commandment,
and because we have made requests of Him at all times?
10 O Eve, if God will bring us into a
strange land other than this, in which we find consolation, it must be to put
our souls to death, and blot out our name from the face of the earth.
11 O Eve, if we are further alienated
from the garden and from God, where shall we find Him again, and ask Him to
give us gold, incense, myrrh, and some fruit of the fig-tree?
12 Where shall we find Him, to comfort
us a second time? Where shall we find Him, that He may think of us, as regards
the covenant He has made on our behalf?"
13 Then Adam said no more. And they
kept looking, He and Eve, towards the cave, and at the fire that flared up
around it.
14 But that fire was from Satan. For he
had gathered trees and dry grasses, and had carried and brought them to the
cave, and had set fire to them, in order to consume the cave and what was in
it.
15 So that Adam and Eve should be left
in sorrow, and he should cut off their trust in God, and make them deny Him.
16 But by the mercy of God he could not
burn the cave, for God sent His angel around the cave to guard it from such a
fire, until it went out.
17 And this fire lasted from noon-day
until the break of day. That was the forty-fifth day.
CHAPTER XLIV
The
power of fire over man.
1 Yet Adam and Eve were standing and
looking at the fire, and unable to come near the cave from their dread of the
fire.
2 And Satan kept on bringing trees and
throwing them into the fire, until the flames of the fire rose up on high, and
covered the whole cave, thinking, as he did in his own mind, to consume the
cave with much fire. But the angel of the Lord was guarding it.
3 And yet he could not curse Satan, nor
injure him by word, because he had no authority over him, neither did he take
to doing so with words from his mouth.
4 Therefore the angel tolerated him,
without saying one bad word, until the Word of God came who said to Satan,
"Go away from here; once before you deceived My servants, and this time
you seek to destroy them.
5 Were it not for My mercy I would have
destroyed you and your hosts from off the earth. But I have had patience with
you, until the end of the world."
6 Then Satan fled from before the Lord.
But the fire went on burning around the cave like a coal-fire the whole day;
which was the forty-sixth day Adam and Eve had spent since they came out of the
garden.
7 And when Adam and Eve saw that the
heat of the fire had somewhat cooled down, they began to walk towards the cave
to get into it as they usually did; but they could not, by reason of the heat
of the fire.
8 Then they both began crying because
of the fire that separated them from the cave, and that came towards them,
burning. And they were afraid.
9 Then Adam said to Eve, "See this
fire of which we have a portion in us: which formerly yielded to us, but no
longer does so, now that we have transgressed the limit of creation, and
changed our condition, and our nature is altered. But the fire is not changed
in its nature, nor altered from its creation. Therefore it now has power over
us; and when we come near it, it scorches our flesh."
CHAPTER XLV
Why
Satan didn't fulfil his promises. Description of hell.
1 Then Adam rose and prayed to God,
saying, "See, this fire has separated us from the cave in which You have
commanded us to live; but now, behold, we cannot go into it."
2 Then God heard Adam, and sent him His
Word, that said: —
3 "O Adam, see this fire! How different
the flame and heat thereof are from the garden of delights and the good things
in it!
4 When you were under My control, all
creatures yielded to you; but after you have transgressed My commandment, they
all rise over you."
5 God said again to him, "See, O Adam,
how Satan has exalted you! He has deprived you of the Godhead, and of an
exalted state like Me, and has not kept his word to you; but has, after all,
become your enemy. He is the one who made this fire in which he meant to burn
you and Eve.
6 Why, O Adam, has he not kept his
agreement with you, not even one day; but has deprived you of the glory that
was on you — when you yielded to his command?
7 Do you think, Adam, that he loved you
when he made this agreement with you? Or that he loved you and wished to raise
you on high?
8 But no, Adam, he did not do all that
out of love to you; but he wished to make you come out of light into darkness;
and from an exalted state to degradation; from glory to abasement; from joy to
sorrow; and from rest to fasting and fainting."
9 God also said to Adam, "See this
fire kindled by Satan around your cave; see this wonder that surrounds you; and
know that it will encompass about both you and your descendants, when you obey
his command; that he will plague you with fire; and that you will go down into
hell after you are dead.
10 Then you will see the burning of his
fire, that will be burning around you and likewise your descendants. You will
not be delivered from it until My coming; just like you cannot go into your
cave right now because of the great fire around it; not until My Word comes and
makes a way for you on the day My covenant is fulfilled.
11 There is no way for you at present
to come from this life to rest, not until My Word comes, who is My Word. Then
He will make a way for you, and you shall have rest." Then God called with
His Word to the fire that burned around the cave, that it split itself in half,
until Adam had gone through it. Then the fire parted itself by God's order, and
a way was made for Adam*.
12 And God withdrew His Word from Adam.
* Reference: Exodus 14:21,22 and Joshua 3:15-17
CHAPTER XLVI
"How
many times have I delivered you out of his hand . . ."
1 Then Adam and Eve began again to come
into the cave. And when they came to the way between the fire, Satan blew into
the fire like a whirlwind, and caused the burning coal-fire to cover Adam and
Eve; so that their bodies were singed; and the coal-fire scorched them*.
2 And from the burning of the fire Adam
and Eve screamed, and said, "O Lord, save us! Leave us not to be consumed
and plagued by this burning fire; neither require us for having transgressed
Your commandment."
3 Then God looked at their bodies, on
which Satan had caused fire to burn, and God sent His angel that stayed the burning
fire. But the wounds remained on their bodies.
4 And God said to Adam, "See Satan's
love for you, who pretended to give you the Godhead and greatness; and, behold,
he burns you with fire, and seeks to destroy you from off the earth.
5 Then look at Me, O Adam; I created
you, and how many times have I delivered you out of his hand? If not, wouldn't
he have destroyed you?"
6 God said again to Eve, "What is
that he promised you in the garden, saying, 'As soon as you eat from the tree,
your eyes will be opened, and you shall become like gods, knowing good and
evil.' But look! He has burnt your bodies with fire, and has made you taste the
taste of fire, for the taste of the garden; and has made you see the burning of
fire, and the evil of it, and the power it has over you.
7 Your eyes have seen the good he has
taken from you, and in truth he has opened your eyes; and you have seen the garden
in which you were with Me, and you have also seen the evil that has come over
you from Satan. But as to the Godhead he cannot give it to you, neither fulfil
his speech to you. No, he was bitter against you and your descendants, that
will come after you."
8 And God withdrew His Word form them.
* At this time, the garments that the Lord had given them in Genesis 3:21 were
burned off so that Adam and Eve were again naked. Reference chapter L whereby
Adam and Eve seek garments with which to cover their nakedness..
CHAPTER XLVII
The
Devil's own Scheming.
1 Then Adam and Eve came into the cave,
yet trembling at the fire that had scorched their bodies. So Adam said to Eve:—
2 "Look, the fire has burnt our
flesh in this world; but how will it be when we are dead, and Satan shall
punish our souls? Is not our deliverance long and far off, unless God come, and
in mercy to us fulfil His promise?"
3 Then Adam and Eve passed into the
cave, blessing themselves for coming into it once more. For it was in their
thoughts, that they never should enter it, when they saw the fire around it.
4 But as the sun was setting the fire
was still burning and nearing Adam and Eve in the cave, so that they could not
sleep in it. After the sun had set, they went out of it. This was the
forty-seventh day after they came out of the garden.
5 Adam and Eve then came under the top
of hill by the garden to sleep, as they were accustomed.
6 And they stood and prayed God to
forgive them their sins, and then fell asleep under the summit of the mountain.
7 But Satan, the hater of all good,
thought within himself: "Whereas God has promised salvation to Adam by
covenant, and that He would deliver him out of all the hardships that have
befallen him — but has not promised me by covenant, and will not deliver me out
of my hardships; no, since He has promised him that He should make him and his descendants
live in the kingdom in which I once was — I will kill Adam.
8 The earth shall be rid of him; and
shall be left to me alone; so that when he is dead he may not have any
descendants left to inherit the kingdom that shall remain my own realm; God
will then be wanting me, and He will restore it to me and my hosts."
CHAPTER XLVIII
Fifth
apparition of Satan to Adam and Eve.
1 After this Satan called to his hosts,
all of which came to him, and said to him:
2 "O, our lord, what will you
do?"
3 He then said to them, "You know
that this Adam, whom God created out of the dust, is the one who has taken our
kingdom, come, let us gather together and kill him; or hurl a rock at him and
at Eve, and crush them under it."
4 When Satan's hosts heard these words,
they came to the part of the mountain where Adam and Eve were asleep.
5 Then Satan and his host took a huge
rock, broad and even, and without blemish, thinking within himself, "If
there should be a hole in the rock, when it fell on them, the hole in the rock
might come over them, and so they would escape and not die."
6 He then said to his hosts, "Take
up this stone, and throw it flat on them, so that it doesn't roll off them to
somewhere else. And when you have hurled it, get away from there quickly."
7 And they did as he told them. But as
the rock fell down from the mountain toward Adam and Eve, God commanded the
rock to become a dome over them, that did them no harm. And so it was by God's
order.
8 But when the rock fell, the whole earth
quaked with it, and was shaken from the size of the rock.
9 And as it quaked and shook, Adam and
Eve awoke from sleep, and found themselves under a dome of rock. But they
didn't know what had happened; because when the fell asleep they were under the
sky, and not under a dome; and when they saw it, they were afraid.
10 Then Adam said to Eve, "Wherefore
has the mountain bent itself, and the earth quaked and shaken on our account?
And why has this rock spread itself over us like a tent?
11 Does God intend to plague us and to
shut us up in this prison? Or will He close the earth over us?
12 He is angry with us for our having
come out of the cave, without His order; and for our having done so of our own
accord, without consulting Him, when we left the cave and came to this
place."
13 Then Eve said, "If, indeed, the
earth quaked for our sake, and this rock forms a tent over us because of our
transgression, then we will be sorry, O Adam, because our punishment will be
long.
14 But get up and pray to God to let us
know concerning this, and what this rock is that is spread over us like a
tent."
15 Then Adam stood up and prayed before
the Lord, to let him know what had brought about this difficult time. And Adam
stood praying like that until the morning. * The word "dome" is used
here but the text does not specifically suggest that the covering was round -
only that it covered them on all sides, however a dome is the most likely shape
that would have be able to withstand the impact with the ground. From verse
9 that says "when they saw
it" and verse
11 that says "shut us up in this
prison", we can conclude that the dome had holes in its sides that were
big enough to let in light and air but were too small to allow Adam and Eve to
escape. Another conclusion would be that the holes were large but too high up
for Adam and Eve to reach, however the former is more likely. ** In verse 7 of the next Chapter (XLIX), God tells
Adam and Eve that the ground was also lowered under them - "I commanded
... the rock under you to lower itself".
CHAPTER XLIX
The
first prophecy of the Resurrection.
1 Then the Word of God came and said:
2 "O Adam, who counselled you,
when you came out of the cave, to come to this place?"
3 And Adam said to God, "O Lord,
we came to this place because of the heat of the fire, that came over us inside
the cave."
4 Then the Lord God said to Adam,
"O Adam, you dread the heat of fire for one night, but how will it be when
you live in hell?
5 Yet, O Adam, don't be afraid, and don't
believe that I have placed this dome of rock over you to plague you with it.
6 It came from Satan, who had promised
you the Godhead and majesty. It is he who threw down this rock to kill you
under it, and Eve with you, and thus to prevent you from living on the earth.
7 But, in mercy for you, just as that
rock was falling down on you, I commanded it to form an dome over you; and the
rock under you to lower itself.
8 And this sign, O Adam, will happen to
Me at My coming on earth: Satan will raise the people of the Jews to put Me to
death; and they will lay Me in a rock, and seal a large stone over Me, and I
shall remain within that rock three days and three nights.
9 But on the third day I shall rise
again, and it shall be salvation to you, O Adam, and to your descendants, to
believe in Me. But, O Adam, I will not bring you from under this rock until
three days and three nights have passed."
10 And God withdrew His Word from Adam.
11 But Adam and Eve lived under the
rock three days and three nights, as God had told them.
12 And God did so to them because they
had left their cave and had come to this same place without God's order.
13 But, after three days and three
nights, God created an opening in the dome of rock and allowed them to get out
from under it. Their flesh was dried up, and their eyes and hearts were
troubled from crying and sorrow.
CHAPTER L
Adam
and Eve seek to cover their nakedness.
1 Then Adam and Eve went forth and came
into the Cave of Treasures
2 And this took place at the end of the
fifty days after they had left the garden.
3 But Adam and Eve rose again and
prayed to God in the cave the whole of that night, and begged for mercy from
Him.
4 And when the day dawned, Adam said to
Eve, "Come! Let us go and do some work for our bodies."
5 So they went out of the cave, and
came to the northern border of the garden, and they looked for something to
cover their bodies with*. But they found nothing, and knew not how to do the
work. Yet their bodies were stained, and they were speechless from cold and
heat.
6 Then Adam stood and asked God to show
him something with which to cover their bodies.
7 Then came the Word of God and said to
him, "O Adam, take Eve and come to the seashore where you fasted before.
There you will find skins of sheep that were left after lions ate the
carcasses. Take them and make garments for yourselves, and clothe yourselves
with them.
CHAPTER XLVI, verse 1, says "Satan blew into
the fire ... so that their bodies were singed". At this time, the garments
that the Lord had given them in Genesis 3:21 were burned off so that Adam and
Eve were again naked.
CHAPTER LI
"What
is his beauty that you should have followed him?"
1 When Adam heard these words from God,
he took Eve and went from the northern end of the garden to the south of it, by
the river of water where they once fasted.
2 But as they were going on their way,
and before they got there, Satan, the wicked one, had heard the Word of God
communing with Adam respecting his covering.
3 It grieved him, and he hastened to
the place where the sheep-skins were, with the intention of taking them and
throwing them into the sea, or of burning them with fire, so that Adam and Eve
would not find them.
4 But as he was about to take them, the
Word of God came from heaven, and bound him by the side of those skins until
Adam and Eve came near him. But as they got closer to him they were afraid of
him, and of his hideous look.
5 Then came the Word of God to Adam and
Eve, and said to them, "This is he who was hidden in the serpent, and who
deceived you, and stripped you of the garment of light and glory in which you
were.
6 This is he who promised you majesty
and divinity. Where, then, is the beauty that was on him? Where is his
divinity? Where is his light? Where is the glory that rested on him?
7 Now his figure is hideous; he is
become abominable among angels; and he has come to be called Satan.
8 O Adam, he wished to take from you
this earthly garment of sheep-skins, and to destroy it, and not let you be
covered with it.
9 What, then, is his beauty that you
should have followed him? And what have you gained by obeying him? See his evil
works and then look at Me; at Me, your Creator, and at the good deeds I do you.
10 See, I bound him until you came and
saw him and beheld his weakness, that no power is left with him."
11 And God released him from his bonds.
CHAPTER LII
Adam
and Eve sew the first shirt.
1 After this Adam and Eve said no more,
but cried before God on account of their creation, and of their bodies that
required an earthly covering.
2 Then Adam said to Eve, "O Eve,
this is the skin of beasts with which we shall be covered, but when we put it
on, behold, we shall be wearing a token of death on our bodies. Just as the
owners of these skins have died and have wasted away, so also shall we die and
pass away."
3 Then Adam and Eve took the skins, and
went back to the Cave
of Treasures
4 And they thought how they could make
garments of those skins; for they had no skill for it.
5 Then God sent to them His angel to
show them how to work it out. And the angel said to Adam, "Go forth, and
bring some palm-thorns." Then Adam went out, and brought some, as the
angel had commanded him.
6 Then the angel began before them to
work out the skins, after the manner of one who prepares a shirt. And he took
the thorns and stuck them into the skins, before their eyes.
7 Then the angel again stood up and
prayed God that the thorns in those skins should be hidden, so as to be, as it
were, sewn with one thread.
8 And so it was, by God's order; they
became garments for Adam and Eve, and He clothed them therewith.
9 From that time the nakedness of their
bodies was covered from the sight of each other's eyes.
10 And this happened at the end of the
fifty-first day.
11 Then when Adam's and Eve's bodies
were covered, they stood and prayed, and sought mercy of the Lord, and forgiveness,
and gave Him thanks for that He had had mercy on them, and had covered their
nakedness. And they ceased not from prayer the whole of that night.
12 Then when the morning dawned at the
rising of the sun, they said their prayers after their custom; and then went
out of the cave.
13 And Adam said to Eve, "Since we
don't know what there is to the west of this cave, let us go out and see it
today." Then they came forth and went toward the western border.
CHAPTER LIII
The
prophecy of the Western Lands and of the great flood.
1 They were not very far from the cave,
when Satan came towards them, and hid himself between them and the cave, under
the form of two ravenous lions three days without food, that came towards Adam
and Eve, as if to break them in pieces and devour them.
2 Then Adam and Eve cried, and prayed
God to deliver them from their paws.
3 Then the Word of God came to them,
and drove away the lions from them.
4 And God said to Adam, "O Adam,
what do you seek on the western border? And why have you left of thine own
accord the eastern border, in which was your living place?
5 Now then, turn back to your cave, and
remain in it, so that Satan won't deceive you or work his purpose over you.
6 For in this western border, O Adam,
there will go from you a descendant, that shall replenish it; and that will
defile themselves with their sins, and with their yielding to the commands of
Satan, and by following his works.
7 Therefore will I bring over them the
waters of a flood, and overwhelm them all. But I will deliver what is left of
the righteous among them; and I will bring them to a distant land, and the land
in which you live now shall remain desolate and without one inhabitant in it.
8 After God had thus spoken to them,
they went back to the Cave
of Treasures
CHAPTER LIV
Adam
and Eve go exploring.
1 Then Adam and Eve stood up in the
cave and prayed the whole of that night until the morning dawned. And when the
sun was risen they both went out of the cave; their heads were wandering from
heaviness of sorrow and they didn't know where they were going.
2 And they walked in that condition to
the southern border of the garden. And they began to go up that border until
they came to the eastern border beyond which there was no more land.
3 And the cherub who guarded the garden
was standing at the western gate, and guarding it against Adam and Eve, lest
they should suddenly come into the garden. And the cherub turned around, as if
to put them to death; according to the commandment God had given him.
4 When Adam and Eve came to the eastern
border of the garden — thinking in their hearts that the cherub was not
watching — as they were standing by the gate as if wishing to go in, suddenly
came the cherub with a flashing sword of fire in his hand; and when he saw
them, he went forth to kill them. For he was afraid that God would destroy him
if they went into the garden without His order.
5 And the sword of the cherub seemed to
shoot flames a distance away from it. But when he raised it over Adam and Eve,
the flame of the sword did not flash forth.
6 Therefore the cherub thought that God
was favorable to them, and was bringing them back into the garden. And the
cherub stood wondering.
7 He could not go up to Heaven to
determine God's order regarding their getting into the garden; he therefore
continued to stand by them, unable as he was to part from them; for he was
afraid that if they should enter the garden without permission, God would destroy
him.
8 When Adam and Eve saw the cherub
coming towards them with a flaming sword of fire in his hand, they fell on
their faces from fear, and were as dead.
9 At that time the heavens and the
earth shook; and another cherubim came down from heaven to the cherub who
guarded the garden, and saw him amazed and silent.
10 Then, again, other angels came down
close to the place where Adam and Eve were. They were divided between joy and
sorrow.
11 They were glad, because they thought
that God was favorable to Adam, and wished him to return to the garden; and
wished to restore him to the gladness he once enjoyed.
12 But they sorrowed over Adam, because
he was fallen like a dead man, he and Eve; and they said in their thoughts,
"Adam has not died in this place; but God has put him to death, for his
having come to this place, and wishing to get into the garden without His
permission."
CHAPTER LV
The
Conflict between God and Satan.
1 Then came the Word of God to Adam and
Eve, and raised them from their dead state, saying to them, "Why did you
come up here? Do you intend to go into the garden, from which I brought you
out? It cannot be today; but only when the covenant I have made with you is
fulfilled."
2 Then Adam, when he heard the Word of
God, and the fluttering of the angels whom he did not see, but only heard the
sound of them with his ears, he and Eve cried, and said to the angels: —
3 "O Spirits, who wait on God,
look at me, and at my being unable to see you! For when I was in my former
bright nature, then I could see you. I sang praises as you do; and my heart was
far above you.
4 But now, that I have transgressed,
that bright nature is gone from me, and I am come to this miserable state. And
now I have come to this, that I cannot see you, and you do not serve me like
you used to do. For I have become animal flesh.
5 Yet now, O angels of God, ask God
with me, to restore me to that wherein I was formerly; to rescue me from this
misery, and to remove from me the sentence of death He passed on me, for having
trespassed against Him."
6 Then, when the angels heard these
words, they all grieved over him; and cursed Satan who had misled Adam, until
he came from the garden to misery; from life to death; from peace to trouble;
and from gladness to a strange land.
7 Then the angels said to Adam,
"You obeyed Satan, and ignored the Word of God who created you; and you
believed that Satan would fulfil all he had promised you.
8 But now, O Adam, we will make known
to you, what came over us though him, before his fall from heaven.
9 He gathered together his hosts, and
deceived them, promising to give them a great kingdom, a divine nature; and
other promises he made them.
10 His hosts believed that his word was
true, so they yielded to him, and renounced the glory of God.
11 He then sent for us — according to
the orders in which we were — to come under his command, and to accept his vein
promise. But we would not, and we did not take his advice.
12 Then after he had fought with God,
and had dealt forwardly with Him, he gathered together his hosts, and made war
with us. And if it had not been for God's strength that was with us, we could
not have prevailed against him to hurl him from heaven.
13 But when he fell from among us,
there was great joy in heaven, because of his going down from us. For if he had
remained in heaven, nothing, not even one angel would have remained in it.
14 But God in His mercy, drove him from
among us to this dark earth; for he had become darkness itself and a worker of
unrighteousness.
15 And he has continued, O Adam, to
make war against you, until he tricked you and made you come out of the garden,
to this strange land, where all these trials have come to you. And death, which
God brought to him, he has also brought to you, O Adam, because you obeyed him,
and trespassed against God."
16 Then all the angels rejoiced and
praised God, and asked Him not to destroy Adam this time, for his having sought
to enter the garden; but to bear with him until the fulfillment of the promise;
and to help him in this world until he was free from Satan's hand.
CHAPTER LVI
A
chapter of divine comfort.
1 Then came the Word of God to Adam,
and said to him: —
2 "O Adam, look at that garden of
joy and at this earth of toil, and behold the garden is full of angels, but
look at yourself alone on this earth with Satan whom you obeyed.
3 Yet, if you had submitted, and been
obedient to Me, and had kept My Word, you would be with My angels in My garden.
4 But when you transgressed and obeyed
Satan, you became his guests among his angels, that are full of wickedness; and
you came to this earth, that brings forth to you thorns and thistles.
5 O Adam, ask him who deceived you, to
give you the divine nature he promised you, or to make you a garden as I had
made for you; or to fill you with that same bright nature with which I had
filled you.
6 Ask him to make you a body like the
one I made you, or to give you a day of rest as I gave you; or to create within
you a reasonable soul, as I created for you; or to take you from here to some
other earth than this one which I gave you. But, O Adam, he will not fulfil
even one of the things he told you.
7 Acknowledge, then, My favor towards
you, and My mercy on you, My creature; that I have not avenged you for your
transgression against Me, but in My pity for you I have promised you that at
the end of the great five and a half days I will come and save you."
8 Then God said again to Adam and Eve,
"Get up, go down from here, before the cherub with a sword of fire in his
hand destroys you."
9 But Adam's heart was comforted by
God's words to him, and he worshipped before Him.
10 And God commanded His angels to
escort Adam and Eve to the cave with joy, instead of the fear that had come
over them.
11 Then the angels took up Adam and
Eve, and brought them down from the mountain by the garden, with songs and
psalms, until they arrived at the cave. There the angels began to comfort and
to strengthen them, and then departed from them towards heaven, to their
Creator, who had sent them.
12 But after the angels had departed
from Adam and Eve, Satan came with shamefacedness, and stood at the entrance of
the cave in which were Adam and Eve. He then called to Adam, and said, "O
Adam, come, let me speak to you."
13 Then Adam came out of the cave,
thinking he was one of God's angels that was come to give him some good
counsel.
CHAPTER LVII
"Therefore
I fell. . . . "
1 But when Adam came out and saw his
hideous figure, he was afraid of him, and said to him, "Who are you?"
2 Then Satan answered and said to him,
"It is I, who hid myself within the serpent, and who spoke to Eve, and who
enticed her until she obeyed my command. I am he who sent her, using my
deceitful speech, to deceive you, until you both ate of the fruit of the tree
and abandoned the command of God."
3 But when Adam heard these words from
him, he said to him, "Can you make me a garden as God made for me? Or can
you clothe me in the same bright nature in which God had clothed me?
4 Where is the divine nature you promised
to give me? Where is that slick speech of yours that you had with us at first,
when we were in the garden?"
5 Then Satan said to Adam, "Do you
think that when I have promised one something that I would actually deliver it
to him or fulfil my word? Of course not. For I myself have never even thought
of obtaining what I promised.
6 Therefore I fell, and I made you fall
by that for which I myself fell; and with you also, whosoever accepts my
counsel, falls thereby.
7 But now, O Adam, because you fell you
are under my rule, and I am king over you; because you have obeyed me and have
transgressed against your God. Neither will there be any deliverance from my
hands until the day promised you by your God."
8 Again he said, "Because we do
not know the day agreed on with you by your God, nor the hour in which you
shall be delivered, for that reason we will multiply war and murder on you and
your descendants after you.
9 This is our will and our good pleasure,
that we may not leave one of the sons of men to inherit our orders in heaven.
10 For as to our home, O Adam, it is in
burning fire; and we will not stop our evil doing, no, not one day nor one
hour. And I, O Adam, shall set you on fire when you come into the cave to live
there."
11 When Adam heard these words he cried
and mourned, and said to Eve, "Hear what he said; that he won't fulfil any
of what he told you in the garden. Did he really then become king over us?
12 But we will ask God, who created us,
to deliver us out of his hands."
CHAPTER LVIII
"About
sunset on the 53rd day. . ."
1 Then Adam and Eve spread their hands
before God, praying and begging Him to drive Satan away from them so that he
can't harm them or force them to deny God.
2 Then God sent to them at once, His
angel, who drove away Satan from them. This happened about sunset, on the
fifty-third day after they had come out of the garden.
3 Then Adam and Eve went into the cave,
and stood up and turned their faces to the ground, to pray to God.
4 But before they prayed Adam said to
Eve, "Look, you have seen what temptations have befallen us in this land.
Come, let us get up, and ask God to forgive us the sins we have committed; and
we will not come out until the end of the day next to the fortieth. And if we
die in here, He will save us."
5 Then Adam and Eve got up, and joined
together in entreating God.
6 They continued praying like this in
the cave; neither did they come out of it, by night or by day, until their
prayers went up out of their mouths, like a flame of fire.
CHAPTER LIX
Eighth
apparition of Satan of Satan to Adam and Eve.
1 But Satan, the hater of all good, did
not allow them to finish their prayers. For he called to his hosts, and they
came, all of them. Then he said to them, "Since Adam and Eve, whom we
deceived, have agreed together to pray to God night and day, and to beg Him to
deliver them, and since they will not come out of the cave until the end of the
fortieth day.
2 And since they will continue their
prayers as they have both agreed to do, that He will deliver them out of our
hands, and restore them to their former state, see what we shall do to
them." And his hosts said to him, "Power is thine, O our lord, to do
what you list."
3 Then Satan, great in wickedness, took
his hosts and came into the cave, in the thirtieth night of the forty days and
one; and he beat Adam and Eve, until he left them dead.
4 Then came the Word of God to Adam and
Eve, who raised them from their suffering, and God said to Adam, "Be
strong, and be not afraid of him who has just come to you."
5 But Adam cried and said, "Where
were you, O my God, that they should punish me with such blows, and that this
suffering should come over us; over me and over Eve, Your handmaiden?"
6 Then God said to him, "O Adam,
see, he is lord and master of all you have, he who said, he would give you
divinity. Where is this love for you? And where is the gift he promised?
7 Did it please him just once, O Adam,
to come to you, comfort you, strengthen you, rejoice with you, or send his
hosts to protect you; because you have obeyed him, and have yielded to his
counsel; and have followed his commandment and transgressed Mine?"
8 Then Adam cried before the Lord, and
said, "O Lord because I transgressed a little, You have severely punished
me in return for it, I ask You to deliver me out of his hands; or else have
pity on me, and take my soul out of my body now in this strange land."
9 Then God said to Adam, "If only
there had been this sighing and praying before, before you transgressed! Then
would you have rest from the trouble in which you are now."
10 But God had patience with Adam, and
let him and Eve remain in the cave until they had fulfilled the forty days.
11 But as to Adam and Eve, their
strength and flesh withered from fasting and praying, from hunger and thirst;
for they had not tasted either food or drink since they left the garden; nor
were the functions of their bodies yet settled; and they had no strength left
to continue in prayer from hunger, until the end of the next day to the fortieth.
They were fallen down in the cave; yet what speech escaped from their mouths,
was only in praises.
CHAPTER LX
The
Devil appears like an old man. He offers "a place of rest."
1 Then on the eighty-ninth day, Satan
came to the cave, clad in a garment of light, and girt about with a bright
girdle.
2 In his hands was a staff of light,
and he looked most awful; but his face was pleasant and his speech was sweet.
3 He thus transformed himself in order
to deceive Adam and Eve, and to make them come out of the cave, before they had
fulfilled the forty days.
4 For he said within himself, "Now
that when they had fulfilled the forty days' fasting and praying, God would
restore them to their former state; but if He did not do so, He would still be
favorable to them; and even if He had not mercy on them, would He yet give them
something from the garden to comfort them; as already twice before."
5 Then Satan drew near the cave in this
fair appearance, and said: —
6 "O Adam, get up, stand up, you
and Eve, and come along with me, to a good land; and don't be afraid. I am
flesh and bones like you; and at first I was a creature that God created.
7 And it was so, that when He had
created me, He placed me in a garden in the north, on the border of the world.
8 And He said to me, 'Stay here!' And I
remained there according to His Word, neither did I transgress His commandment.
9 Then He made a slumber to come over
me, and He brought you, O Adam, out of my side, but did not make you stay with
me.
10 But God took you in His divine hand,
and placed you in a garden to the eastward.
11 Then I worried about you, for that
while God had taken you out of my side, He had not let you stay with me.
12 But God said to me: 'Do not worry
about Adam, whom I brought out of your side; no harm will come to him.
13 For now I have brought out of his
side a help-meet* for him; and I have given him joy by so doing.' "
14 Then Satan said again, "I did
not know how it is you are in this cave, nor anything about this trial that has
come over you — until God said to me, 'Behold, Adam has transgressed, he whom I
had taken out of your side, and Eve also, whom I took out of his side; and I
have driven them out of the garden; I have made them live in a land of sorrow
and misery, because they transgressed against Me, and have obeyed Satan. And
look, they are in suffering until this day, the eightieth.'
15 Then God said to me, 'Get up, go to
them, and make them come to your place, and suffer not that Satan come near
them, and afflict them. For they are now in great misery; and lie helpless from
hunger.'
16 He further said to me, 'When you
have taken them to yourself, give them to eat of the fruit of the Tree of Life,
and give them to drink of the water of peace; and clothe them in a garment of
light, and restore them to their former state of grace, and leave them not in
misery, for they came from you. But grieve not over them, nor repent of that
which has come over them.
17 But when I heard this, I was sorry;
and my heart could not patiently bear it for your sake, O my child.
18 But, O Adam, when I heard the name
of Satan, I was afraid, and I said within myself, I will not come out because
he might trap me as he did my children, Adam and Eve.
19 And I said, 'O God, when I go to my
children, Satan will meet me in the way, and war against me, as he did against
them.'
20 Then God said to me, 'Fear not; when
you find him, hit him with the staff that is in thine hand, and don't be afraid
of him, for you are of old standing, and he shall not prevail against you.'
21 Then I said, 'O my Lord, I am old,
and cannot go. Send Your angels to bring them.'
22 But God said to me, 'Angels, verily,
are not like them; and they will not consent to come with them. But I have
chosen you, because they are your offspring and are like you, and they will
listen to what you say.'
23 God said further to me, 'If you
don't have enough strength to walk, I will send a cloud to carry you and set
you down at the entrance of their cave; then the cloud will return and leave
you there.
24 And if they will come with you, I
will send a cloud to carry you and them.'
25 Then He commanded a cloud, and it
bear me up and brought me to you; and then went back.
26 And now, O my children, Adam and
Eve, look at my old gray hair and at my feeble state, and at my coming from
that distant place. Come, come with me, to a place of rest."
27 Then he began to cry and to sob
before Adam and Eve, and his tears poured on the ground like water.
28 And when Adam and Eve raised their
eyes and saw his beard, and heard his sweet talk, their hearts softened towards
him; they obeyed him, for they believed he was true.
29 And it seemed to them that they were
really his offspring, when they saw that his face was like their own; and they
trusted him. * The existence of the two words helpmeet and helpmate, meaning
exactly the same thing, is a comedy of errors. God's promise to Adam, as
rendered in the King James version of the Bible, was to give him an help meet
for him (that is, a helper fit for him). In the
17th century
the two words help and meet in this passage were mistaken for one word,
applying to Eve, and thus helpmeet came to mean a wife. Then in the 18th
century, in a misguided attempt to make sense of the word, the spelling
helpmate was introduced. Both errors are now beyond recall, and both spellings
are acceptable.
CHAPTER LXI
They
begin to follow Satan.
1 Then he took Adam and Eve by the
hand, and began to bring them out of the cave.
2 But when they had come a little ways
out of it, God knew that Satan had overcome them, and had brought them out
before the forty days were ended, to take them to some distant place, and to
destroy them.
3 Then the Word of the Lord God again
came and cursed Satan, and drove him away from them.
4 And God began to speak to Adam and
Eve, saying to them, "What made you come out of the cave, to this
place?"
5 Then Adam said to God, "Did you
create a man before us? For when we were in the cave there suddenly came to us
a friendly old man who said to us, 'I am a messenger from God to you, to bring
you back to some place of rest.'
6 And we believed, O God, that he was a
messenger from you; and we came out with him; and knew not where we should go
with him."
7 Then God said to Adam, "See,
that is the father of evil arts, who brought you and Eve out of the Garden of Delights
8 Because he couldn't do anything to
you unless he showed himself in the likeness of you.
9 Therefore he came to you with a face
like your own, and began to give you tokens as if they were all true.
10 But because I am merciful and am
favorable to you, I did not allow him to destroy you; instead I drove him away
from you.
11 Now, therefore, O Adam, take Eve,
and return to your cave, and remain in it until the morning after the fortieth
day. And when you come out, go towards the eastern gate of the garden."
12 Then Adam and Eve worshipped God,
and praised and blessed Him for the deliverance that had come to them from Him.
And they returned towards the cave. This happened in the evening of the thirty-ninth
day.
13 Then Adam and Eve stood up and with
a fiery passion, prayed to God, to give them strength; for they had become weak
because of hunger and thirst and prayer. But they watched the whole of that
night praying, until morning.
14 Then Adam said to Eve, "Get up,
let us go towards the eastern gate of the garden as God told us."
15 And they said their prayers as they
were accustomed to do every day; and they left the cave to go near to the
eastern gate of the garden.
16 Then Adam and Eve stood up and
prayed, and appealed to God to strengthen them, and to send them something to
satisfy their hunger.
17 But after they finished their
prayers, they were too weak to move.
18 Then came the Word of God again, and
said to them, "O Adam, get up, go and bring the two figs here."
19 Then Adam and Eve got up, and went
until they came near to the cave.
CHAPTER LXII
Two
fruit trees.
1 But Satan the wicked was envious,
because of the consolation God had given them.
2 So he prevented them, and went into
the cave and took the two figs, and buried them outside the cave, so that Adam
and Eve should not find them. He also had in his thoughts to destroy them.
3 But by God's mercy, as soon as those
two figs were in the ground, God defeated Satan's counsel regarding them; and
made them into two fruit trees, that overshadowed the cave. For Satan had
buried them on the eastern side of it.
4 Then when the two trees were grown,
and were covered with fruit, Satan grieved and mourned, and said, "It
would have been better to have left those figs where they were; for now,
behold, they have become two fruit trees, whereof Adam will eat all the days of
his life. Whereas I had in mind, when I buried them, to destroy them entirely,
and to hide them forever.
5 But God has overturned my counsel;
and would not that this sacred fruit should perish; and He has made plain my
intention, and has defeated the counsel I had formed against His
servants."
6 Then Satan went away ashamed because
he hadn't thought his plans all the way through.
CHAPTER LXIII
The
first joy of trees.
1 But Adam and Eve, as they got closer
to the cave, saw two fig trees, covered with fruit, and overshadowing the cave.
2 Then Adam said to Eve, "It seems
to me that we have gone the wrong way. When did these two trees grow here? It
seems to me that the enemy wishes to lead us the wrong way. Do you suppose that
there is another cave besides this one in the earth?
3 Yet, O Eve, let us go into the cave,
and find in it the two figs; for this is our cave, in which we were. But if we
should not find the two figs in it, then it cannot be our cave."
4 They went then into the cave, and
looked into the four corners of it, but found not the two figs.
5 And Adam cried and said to Eve,
"Did we go to the wrong cave, then, O Eve? It seems to me these two fig
trees are the two figs that were in the cave." And Eve said, "I, for
my part, do not know."
6 Then Adam stood up and prayed and
said, "O God, You commanded us to come back to the cave, to take the two figs,
and then to return to you.
7 But now, we have not found them. O
God, have you taken them, and sown these two trees, or have we gone astray in
the earth; or has the enemy deceived us? If it be real, then, O God, reveal to
us the secret of these two trees and of the two figs."
8 Then came the Word of God to Adam,
and said to him, "O Adam, when I sent you to fetch the figs, Satan went
before you to the cave, took the figs, and buried them outside, eastward of the
cave, thinking to destroy them; and not sowing them with good intent.
9 Not for his mere sake, then, have
these trees grown up at once; but I had mercy on you and I commanded them to
grow. And they grew to be two large trees, that you be overshadowed by their
branches, and find rest; and that I made you see My power and My marvelous
works.
10 And, also, to show you Satan's
meanness, and his evil works, for ever since you came out of the garden, he has
not ceased, no, not one day, from doing you some harm. But I have not given him
power over you."
11 And God said, "From now on, O
Adam, rejoice on account of the trees, you and Eve; and rest under them when
you feel weary. But do not eat any of their fruit or come near them."
12 Then Adam cried, and said, "O
God, will You again kill us, or will You drive us away from before Your face,
and cut our life from off the face of the earth?
13 O God, I beg you, if You know that
there be in these trees either death or some other evil, as at the first time,
root them up from near our cave, and with them; and leave us to die of the
heat, of hunger and of thirst.
14 For we know Your marvelous works, O
God, that they are great, and that by Your power You can bring one thing out of
another, without one's wish. For Your power can make rocks to become trees, and
trees to become rocks."
CHAPTER LXIV
Adam
and Eve partake of the first earthly food.
1 Then God looked at Adam and at his
strength of mind, at his endurance of hunger and thirst, and of the heat. And
He changed the two fig trees into two figs, as they were at first, and then
said to Adam and to Eve, "Each of you may take one fig." And they
took them, as the Lord commanded them.
2 And He said to them, "You must
now go into the cave and eat the figs, and satisfy your hunger, or else you
will die."
3 So, as God commanded them, they went
into the cave about sunset. And Adam and Eve stood up and prayed during the
setting sun.
4 Then they sat down to eat the figs;
but they knew not how to eat them; for they were not accustomed to eat earthly
food. They were afraid that if they ate, their stomach would be burdened and
their flesh thickened, and their hearts would take to liking earthly food.
5 But while they were thus seated, God,
out of pity for them, sent them His angel, so they wouldn't perish of hunger
and thirst.
6 And the angel said to Adam and Eve,
"God says to you that you do not have the strength that would be required
to fast until death; eat, therefore, and strengthen your bodies; for you are
now animal flesh and cannot subsist without food and drink."
7 Then Adam and Eve took the figs and
began to eat of them. But God had put into them a mixture as of savory bread
and blood.
8 Then the angel went from Adam and
Eve, who ate of the figs until they had satisfied their hunger. Then they put
aside what was left; but by the power of God, the figs became whole again,
because God blessed them.
9 After this Adam and Eve got up, and
prayed with a joyful heart and renewed strength, and praised and rejoiced
abundantly the whole of that night. And this was the end of the eighty-third
day.
CHAPTER LXV
Adam
and Eve acquire digestive organs. Final hope of returning to the Garden is
lost.
1 And when it was day, they got up and
prayed, after their custom, and then went out of the cave.
2 But they became sick from the food
they had eaten because they were not used to it, so they went about in the cave
saying to each other: —
3 "What has our eating caused to
happen to us, that we should be in such pain? We are in misery, we shall die!
It would have been better for us to have died keeping our bodies pure than to
have eaten and defiled them with food."
4 Then Adam said to Eve, "This
pain did not come to us in the garden, neither did we eat such bad food there.
Do you think, O Eve, that God will plague us through the food that is in us, or
that our innards will come out; or that God means to kill us with this pain before
He has fulfilled His promise to us?"
5 Then Adam besought the Lord and said,
"O Lord, let us not perish through the food we have eaten. O Lord, don't
punish us; but deal with us according to Your great mercy, and forsake us not
until the day of the promise You have made us."
6 Then God looked at them, and then
fitted them for eating food at once; as to this day; so that they should not
perish.
7 Then Adam and Eve came back into the
cave sorrowful and crying because of the alteration of their bodies. And they
both knew from that hour that they were altered beings, that all hope of returning
to the garden was now lost; and that they could not enter it.
8 For that now their bodies had strange
functions; and all flesh that requires food and drink for its existence, cannot
be in the garden.
9 Then Adam said to Eve, "Behold,
our hope is now lost; and so is our trust to enter the garden. We no longer
belong to the inhabitants of the garden; but from now on we are earthy and of
the dust, and of the inhabitants of the earth. We shall not return to the
garden, until the day in which God has promised to save us, and to bring us
again into the garden, as He promised us."
10 Then they prayed to God that He
would have mercy on them; after which, their mind was quieted, their hearts
were broken, and their longing was cooled down; and they were like strangers on
earth. That night Adam and Eve spent in the cave, where they slept heavily by
reason of the food they had eaten.
CHAPTER LXVI
Adam
does his first day's work.
1 When it was morning, the day after
they had eaten food, Adam and Eve prayed in the cave, and Adam said to Eve,
"Look, we asked for food of God, and He gave it. But now let us also ask
Him to give us a drink of water."
2 Then they got up, and went to the
bank of the stream of water, that was on the south border of the garden, in
which they had before thrown themselves. And they stood on the bank, and prayed
to God that He would command them to drink of the water.
3 Then the Word of God came to Adam,
and said to him, "O Adam, your body has become brutish, and requires water
to drink. Take some and drink it, you and Eve, then give thanks and
praise."
4 Adam and Eve then went down to the
stream and drank from it, until their bodies felt refreshed. After having
drunk, they praised God, and then returned to their cave, after their former custom.
This happened at the end of eighty-three days.
5 Then on the eighty-fourth day, they
took the two figs and hung them in the cave, together with the leaves thereof,
to be to them a sign and a blessing from God. And they placed them there so
that if their descendants came there, they would see the wonderful things God
had done for them.
6 Then Adam and Eve again stood outside
the cave, and asked God to show them some food with which they could nourish
their bodies.
7 Then the Word of God came and said to
him, "O Adam, go down to the westward of the cave until you come to a land
of dark soil, and there you shall find food."
8 And Adam obeyed the Word of God, took
Eve, and went down to a land of dark soil, and found there wheat* growing in
the ear and ripe, and figs to eat; and Adam rejoiced over it.
9 Then the Word of God came again to
Adam, and said to him, "Take some of this wheat and make yourselves some
bread with it, to nourish your body therewith." And God gave Adam's heart
wisdom, to work out the corn until it became bread.
10 Adam accomplished all that, until he
grew very faint and weary. He then returned to the cave; rejoicing at what he
had learned of what is done with wheat, until it is made into bread for one's
use. * In this book, the terms 'corn' and 'wheat' are used interchangeably. The
reference is possibly used to indicate a type of ancient grain resembling
Egyptian Corn also known as Durra. Durra is a wheat-like cereal grain frequently
cultivated in dry regions such as Egypt
CHAPTER LXVII
"Then
Satan began to lead astray Adam and Eve. . . ."
1 When Adam and Eve went down to the
land of black mud and came near to the wheat God had showed them and saw that
it was ripe and ready for reaping, they did not have a sickle to reap it with.
So they readied themselves, and began to pull up the wheat by hand, until it
was all done.
2 Then they heaped it into a pile; and,
faint from heat and from thirst, they went under a shady tree, where the breeze
fanned them to sleep.
3 But Satan saw what Adam and Eve had
done. And he called his hosts, and said to them, "Since God has shown to
Adam and Eve all about this wheat, wherewith to strengthen their bodies — and,
look, they have come and made a big pile of it, and faint from the toil are now
asleep — come, let us set fire to this heap of corn, and burn it, and let us
take that bottle of water that is by them, and empty it out, so that they may
find nothing to drink, and we kill them with hunger and thirst.
4 Then, when they wake up from their
sleep, and seek to return to the cave, we will come to them in the way, and
will lead them astray; so that they die of hunger and thirst; when they may,
perhaps, deny God, and He destroy them. So shall we be rid of them."
5 Then Satan and his hosts set the
wheat on fire and burned it up.
6 But from the heat of the flame Adam
and Eve awoke from their sleep, and saw the wheat burning, and the bucket of
water by them, poured out.
7 Then they cried and went back to the
cave.
8 But as they were going up from below
the mountain where they were, Satan and his hosts met them in the form of
angels, praising God.
9 Then Satan said to Adam, "O Adam,
why are you so pained with hunger and thirst? It seems to me that Satan has
burnt up the wheat." And Adam said to him, "Yes."
10 Again Satan said to Adam, "Come
back with us; we are angels of God. God sent us to you, to show you another
field of corn, better than that; and beyond it is a fountain of good water, and
many trees, where you shall live near it, and work the corn field to better purpose
than that which Satan has consumed."
11 Adam thought that he was true, and
that they were angels who talked with him; and he went back with them.
12 Then Satan began to lead astray Adam
and Eve eight days, until they both fell down as if dead, from hunger, thirst,
and faintness. Then he fled with his hosts, and left them.
CHAPTER LXVIII
How
destruction and trouble is of Satan when he is the master. Adam and Eve
establish the custom of worship.
1 Then God looked at Adam and Eve, and
at what had come over them from Satan, and how he had made them perish.
2 God, therefore, sent His Word, and
raised up Adam and Eve from their state of death.
3 Then, Adam, when he was raised, said,
"O God, You have burnt and taken from us the corn You have given us, and
You have emptied out the bucket of water. And You have sent Your angels, who
have caused us to lose our way from the corn field. Will You make us perish? If
this be from you, O God, then take away our souls; but punish us not."
4 Then God said to Adam, "I did
not burn down the wheat, and I did not pour the water out of the bucket, and I
did not send My angels to lead you astray.
5 But it is Satan, your master who did
it; he to whom you have subjected yourself; my commandment being meanwhile set
aside. He it is, who burnt down the corn, and poured out the water, and who has
led you astray; and all the promises he has made you were just a trick, a
deception, and a lie.
6 But now, O Adam, you shall acknowledge
My good deeds done to you."
7 And God told His angels to take Adam
and Eve, and to bear them up to the field of wheat, which they found as before,
with the bucket full of water.
8 There they saw a tree, and found on
it solid manna; and wondered at God's power. And the angels commanded them to
eat of the manna when they were hungry.
9 And God admonished Satan with a
curse, not to come again, and destroy the field of corn.
10 Then Adam and Eve took of the corn,
and made of it an offering, and took it and offered it up on the mountain, the
place where they had offered up their first offering of blood.
11 And they offered this offering again
on the altar they had built at first. And they stood up and prayed, and
besought the Lord saying, "Thus, O God, when we were in the garden, our praises
went up to you, like this offering; and our innocence went up to you like
incense. But now, O God, accept this offering from us, and don't turn us away,
deprived of Your mercy."
12 Then God said to Adam and Eve,
"Since you have made this offering and have offered it to Me, I shall make
it My flesh, when I come down on earth to save you; and I shall cause it to be
offered continually on an altar, for forgiveness and for mercy, for those who
partake of it duly."
13 And God sent a bright fire over the
offering of Adam and Eve, and filled it with brightness, grace, and light; and
the Holy Ghost came down on that offering.
14 Then God commanded an angel to take
fire tongs, like a spoon, and with it to take an offering and bring it to Adam
and Eve. And the angel did so, as God had commanded him, and offered it to
them.
15 And the souls of Adam and Eve were
brightened, and their hearts were filled with joy and gladness and with the
praises of God.
16 And God said to Adam, "This
shall be to you a custom, to do so, when affliction and sorrow come over you.
But your deliverance and your entrance in to the garden, shall not be until the
days are fulfilled as agreed between you and Me; were it not so, I would, of My
mercy and pity for you, bring you back to My garden and to My favor for the
sake of the offering you have just made to My name."
17 Adam rejoiced at these words which
he heard from God; and he and Eve worshipped before the altar, to which they
bowed, and then went back to the Cave
of Treasures
18 And this took place at the end of
the twelfth day after the eightieth day, from the time Adam and Eve came out of
the garden.
19 And they stood up the whole night
praying until morning; and then went out of the cave.
20 Then Adam said to Eve, with joy of
heart, because of the offering they had made to God, and that had been accepted
of Him, "Let us do this three times every week, on the fourth day
Wednesday, on the preparation day Friday, and on the Sabbath Sunday, all the
days of our life."
21 And as they agreed to these words
between themselves, God was pleased with their thoughts, and with the resolution
they had each taken with the other.
22 After this, came the Word of God to
Adam, and said, "O Adam, you have determined beforehand the days in which
sufferings shall come over Me, when I am made flesh; for they are the fourth
Wednesday, and the preparation day Friday.
23 But as to the first day, I created
in it all things, and I raised the heavens. And, again, through My rising again
on this day, will I create joy, and raise them on high, who believe in Me; O
Adam, offer this offering, all the days of your life."
24 Then God withdrew His Word from
Adam.
25 But Adam continued to offer this
offering thus, every week three times, until the end of seven weeks. And on the
first day, which is the fiftieth, Adam made an offering as he was accustomed,
and he and Eve took it and came to the altar before God, as He had taught them.
CHAPTER LXIX
Twelfth
apparition of Satan to Adam and Eve, while Adam was praying over the offering
on the altar; when Satan beat him.
1 Then Satan, the hater of all good,
envious of Adam and of his offering through which he found favor with God,
hastened and took a sharp stone from among the sharp iron stones; appeared in
the form of a man, and went and stood by Adam and Eve.
2 Adam was then offering on the altar,
and had begun to pray, with his hands spread before God.
3 Then Satan hastened with the sharp
iron stone he had with him, and with it pierced Adam on the right side, from
which flowed blood and water, then Adam fell on the altar like a corpse. And
Satan fled.
4 Then Eve came, and took Adam and
placed him below the altar. And there she stayed, crying over him; while a
stream of blood flowed from Adam's side over his offering.
5 But God looked at the death of Adam.
He then sent His Word, and raised him up and said to him, "Fulfil your
offering, for indeed, Adam, it is worth much, and there is no shortcoming in
it."
6 God said further to Adam, "Thus
will it also happen to Me, on the earth, when I shall be pierced and blood and
water shall flow from My side and run over My body, which is the true offering;
and which shall be offered on the altar as a perfect offering."
7 Then God commanded Adam to finish his
offering, and when he had ended it he worshipped before God, and praised Him
for the signs He had showed him.
8 And God healed Adam in one day, which
is the end of the seven weeks; and that is the fiftieth day.
9 Then Adam and Eve returned from the
mountain, and went into the Cave
of Treasures
10 Then they both stood up that night
and prayed to God. And when it was morning, they went out, and went down
westward of the cave, to the place where their corn was, and there rested under
the shadow of a tree, as they were accustomed.
11 But when there a multitude of beasts
came all around them. It was Satan's doing, in his wickedness; in order to wage
war against Adam through marriage.
CHAPTER LXX
Thirteenth
apparition of Satan, to trick Adam into marrying Eve.
1 After this Satan, the hater of all
good, took the form of an angel, and with him two others, so that they looked
like the three angels who had brought to Adam gold, incense, and myrrh.
2 They passed before Adam and Eve while
they were under the tree, and greeted Adam and Eve with fair words that were
full of deceit.
3 But when Adam and Eve saw their
pleasant expression, and heard their sweet speech, Adam rose, welcomed them,
and brought them to Eve, and they remained all together; Adam's heart the
while, being glad because he thought concerning them, that they were the same angels,
who had brought him gold, incense, and myrrh.
4 Because, when they came to Adam the
first time, there came over him from them, peace and joy, through their
bringing him good tokens; so Adam thought that they had come a second time to
give him other tokens for him to rejoice therewith. For he did not know it was
Satan; therefore he received them with joy and consorted with them.
5 Then Satan, the tallest of them,
said, "Rejoice, O Adam, and be glad. Look, God has sent us to you to tell
you something."
6 And Adam said, "What is
it?" Then Satan answered, "It is a simple thing, yet it is the Word
of God, will you accept it from us and do it? But if you will not accept it, we
will return to God, and tell Him that you would not receive His Word."
7 And Satan said again to Adam,
"Don't be afraid and don't tremble; don't you know us?"
8 But Adam said, "I do not know
you."
9 Then Satan said to him, "I am
the angel that brought you gold, and took it to the cave; this other angel is
the one that brought you incense; and that third angel, is the one who brought
you myrrh when you were on top of the mountain, and who carried you to the
cave.
10 But as to the other angels our fellows,
who bare you to the cave, God has not sent them with us this time; for He said
to us, 'You will be enough'. "
11 So when Adam heard these words he believed
them, and said to these angels, "Speak the Word of God, that I may receive
it."
12 And Satan said to him, "Swear,
and promise me that you will receive it."
13 Then Adam said, "I do not know
how to swear and promise."
14 And Satan said to him, "Hold
out your hand, and put it inside my hand."
15 Then Adam held out his hand, and put
it into Satan's hand; when Satan said to him, "Say, now — So true as God
is living, rational, and speaking, who raised the stars in heaven, and
established the dry ground on the waters, and has created me out of the four
elements*, and out of the dust of the earth — I will not break my promise, nor
renounce my word."
16 And Adam swore thus.
17 Then Satan said to him, "Look,
it is now some time since you came out of the garden, and you know neither
wickedness nor evil. But now God says to you, to take Eve who came out of your
side, and to marry her so that she will bear you children, to comfort you, and
to drive from you trouble and sorrow; now this thing is not difficult, neither
is there any scandal in it to you. * See the previous footnote in chapter XXXIV
regarding the 'four elements'.
CHAPTER LXXI
Adam
is troubled by the thought of marrying Eve.
1 But when Adam heard these words from
Satan, he sorrowed much, because of his oath and of his promise, and said,
"Shall I commit adultery with my flesh and my bones, and shall I sin
against myself, for God to destroy me, and to blot me out from off the face of
the earth?
2 Since, when at first, I ate of the
tree, He drove me out of the garden into this strange land, and deprived me of
my bright nature, and brought death over me. If, then, I should do this, He
will cut off my life from the earth, and He will cast me into hell, and will
plague me there a long time.
3 But God never spoke the words that
you have said; and you are not God's angels, and you weren't sent from Him. But
you are devils that have come to me under the false appearance of angels. Away
from me; you cursed of God!"
4 Then those devils fled from before
Adam. And he and Eve got up, and returned to the Cave of Treasures
5 Then Adam said to Eve, "If you
saw what I did, don't tell anyone; for I sinned against God in swearing by His
great name, and I have placed my hand another time into that of Satan."
Eve, then, held her peace, as Adam told her.
6 Then Adam got up, and spread his
hands before God, beseeching and entreating Him with tears, to forgive him what
he had done. And Adam remained thus standing and praying forty days and forty
nights. He neither ate nor drank until he dropped down on the ground from
hunger and thirst.
7 Then God sent His Word to Adam, who
raised him up from where he lay, and said to him, "O Adam, why have you sworn
by My name, and why have you made agreement with Satan another time?"
8 But Adam cried, and said, "O
God, forgive me, for I did this unwittingly; believing they were God's angels."
9 And God forgave Adam, saying to him,
"Beware of Satan."
10 And He withdrew His Word from Adam.
11 Then Adam's heart was comforted; and
he took Eve, and they went out of the cave, to prepare some food for their
bodies.
12 But from that day Adam struggled in
his mind about his marrying Eve; afraid that if he was to do it, God would be
angry with him.
13 Then Adam and Eve went to the river
of water, and sat on the bank, as people do when they enjoy themselves.
14 But Satan was jealous of them; and
planned to destroy them.
CHAPTER LXXII
Adam's
heart is set on fire. Satan appears as beautiful maidens.
1 Then Satan, and ten from his hosts,
transformed themselves into maidens, unlike any others in the whole world for
grace.
2 They came up out of the river in
presence of Adam and Eve, and they said among themselves, "Come, we will
look at the faces of Adam and Eve, who are of the men on earth. How beautiful
they are, and how different is their look from our own faces." Then they
came to Adam and Eve, and greeted them; and stood wondering at them.
3 Adam and Eve looked at them also, and
wondered at their beauty, and said, "Is there, then, under us, another
world, with such beautiful creatures as these in it?"
4 And those maidens said to Adam and
Eve, "Yes, indeed, we are an abundant creation."
5 Then Adam said to them, "But how
do you multiply?"
6 And they answered him, "We have
husbands who have married us, and we bear them children, who grow up, and who
in their turn marry and are married, and also bear children; and thus we
increase. And if so be, O Adam, you will not believe us, we will show you our
husbands and our children."
7 Then they shouted over the river as
if to call their husbands and their children, who came up from the river, men
and children; and every man came to his wife, his children being with him.
8 But when Adam and Eve saw them, they
stood dumb, and wondered at them.
9 Then they said to Adam and Eve,
"See all our husbands and our children? You should marry Eve, as we have
married our husbands, so that you will have children as we have." This was
a device of Satan to deceive Adam.
10 Satan also thought within himself,
"God at first commanded Adam concerning the fruit of the tree, saying to
him, 'Eat not of it; else of death you shall die.' But Adam ate of it, and yet
God did not kill him; He only decreed on him death, and plagues and trials,
until the day he shall come out of his body.
11 Now, then, if I deceive him to do
this thing, and to marry Eve without God's permission, God will kill him
then."
12 Therefore Satan worked this apparition
before Adam and Eve; because he sought to kill him, and to make him disappear
from off the face of the earth.
13 Meanwhile the fire of sin came over
Adam, and he thought of committing sin. But he restrained himself, fearing that
if he followed this advice of Satan, God would put him to death.
14 Then Adam and Eve got up, and prayed
to God, while Satan and his hosts went down into the river, in presence of Adam
and Eve; to let them see that they were going back to their own world.
15 Then Adam and Eve went back to the Cave of Treasures
16 And they both got up and prayed to
God that night. Adam remained standing in prayer, yet not knowing how to pray,
by reason of the thoughts in his heart regarding his marrying Eve; and he
continued so until morning.
17 And when light came up, Adam said to
Eve, "Get up, let us go below the mountain, where they brought us gold,
and let us ask the Lord concerning this matter."
18 Then Eve said, "What is that
matter, O Adam?"
19 And he answered her, "That I
may request the Lord to inform me about marrying you; for I will not do it
without His permission or else He will make us perish, you and me. For those
devils have set my heart on fire, with thoughts of what they showed us, in
their sinful apparitions.
20 Then Eve said to Adam, "Why
need we go below the mountain? Let us rather stand up and pray in our cave to
God, to let us know whether this counsel is good or not."
21 Then Adam rose up in prayer and
said, "O God, you know that we transgressed against you, and from the
moment we transgressed, we were stripped of our bright nature; and our body
became brutish, requiring food and drink; and with animal desires.
22 Command us, O God, not to give way
to them without Your permission, for fear that You will turn us into nothing.
Because if you do not give us permission, we shall be overpowered, and follow
that advice of Satan; and You will again make us perish.
23 If not, then take our souls from us;
let us be rid of this animal lust. And if You give us no order respecting this
thing, then sever Eve from me, and me from her; and place us each far away from
the other.
24 Then again, O God, if You separate
us from each other, the devils will deceive us with their apparitions that
resemble us, and destroy our hearts, and defile our thoughts towards each
other. Yet if it is not each of us towards the other, it will, at all events,
be through their appearance when the devils come to us in our likeness."
Here Adam ended his prayer.
CHAPTER LXXIII
The
marriage of Adam and Eve.
1 Then God considered the words of Adam
that they were true, and that he could long await His order, respecting the
counsel of Satan.
2 And God approved Adam in what he had
thought concerning this, and in the prayer he had offered in His presence; and
the Word of God came to Adam and said to him, "O Adam, if only you had had
this caution at first, before you came out of the garden into this land!"
3 After that, God sent His angel who
had brought gold, and the angel who had brought incense, and the angel who had
brought myrrh to Adam, that they should inform him respecting his marriage to
Eve.
4 Then those angels said to Adam,
"Take the gold and give it to Eve as a wedding gift, and promise to marry
her; then give her some incense and myrrh as a present; and be you, you and
she, one flesh."
5 Adam obeyed the angels, and took the
gold and put it into Eve's bosom in her garment; and promised to marry her with
his hand.
6 Then the angels commanded Adam and
Eve to get up and pray forty days and forty nights; when that was done, then
Adam was to have sexual intercourse with his wife; for then this would be an
act pure and undefiled; so that he would have children who would multiply, and
replenish the face of the earth.
7 Then both Adam and Eve received the
words of the angels; and the angels departed from them.
8 Then Adam and Eve began to fast and
pray, until the end of the forty days; and then they had sexual intercourse, as
the angels had told them. And from the time Adam left the garden until he
wedded Eve, were two hundred and twenty-three days, that is seven months and
thirteen days.
9 Thus was Satan's war with Adam
defeated.
CHAPTER LXXIV
The
birth of Cain and Luluwa. Why they received those names.
1 And they lived on the earth working
in order to keep their bodies in good health; and they continued so until the
nine months of Eve's pregnancy were over, and the time drew near when she must
give birth.
2 Then she said to Adam, "The
signs placed in this cave since we left the garden indicate that this is a pure
place and we will be praying in it again some time. It is not appropriate then,
that I should give birth in it. Let us instead go to the sheltering rock cave
that was formed by the command of God when Satan threw a big rock down on us in
an attempt to kill us with it.
3 Adam then took Eve to that cave. When
the time came for her to give birth, she strained a lot. Adam felt sorry, and
he was very worried about her because she was close to death and the words of
God to her were being fulfilled: "In suffering shall you bear a child, and
in sorrow shall you bring forth a child."
4 But when Adam saw the distress in
which Eve was, he got up and prayed to God, and said, "O Lord, look at me
with the eye of Your mercy, and bring her out of her distress."
5 And God looked at His maid-servant
Eve, and delivered her, and she gave birth to her first-born son, and with him
a daughter.
6 The Adam rejoiced at Eve's deliverance,
and also over the children she had borne him. And Adam ministered to Eve in the
cave, until the end of eight days; when they named the son Cain, and the
daughter Luluwa.
7 The meaning of Cain is
"hater," because he hated his sister in their mother's womb; before
they came out of it. Therefore Adam named him Cain.
8 But Luluwa means
"beautiful," because she was more beautiful than her mother.
9 Then Adam and Eve waited until Cain
and his sister were forty days old, when Adam said to Eve, "We will make
an offering and offer it up in behalf of the children."
10 And Eve said, "We will make one
offering for the first-born son and then later we shall make one for the
daughter."
CHAPTER LXXV
The
family revisits the Cave
of Treasures
1 Then Adam prepared an offering, and
he and Eve offered it up for their children, and brought it to the altar they
had built at first.
2 And Adam offered up the offering, and
asked God to accept his offering.
3 Then God accepted Adam's offering,
and sent a light from heaven that shown on the offering. Adam and his son drew
near to the offering, but Eve and the daughter did not approach it.
4 Adam and his son were joyful as they
came down from on the altar. Adam and Eve waited until the daughter was eighty
days old, then Adam prepared an offering and took it to Eve and to the
children. They went to the altar, where Adam offered it up, as he was
accustomed, asking the Lord to accept his offering.
5 And the Lord accepted the offering of
Adam and Eve. Then Adam, Eve, and the children, drew near together, and came
down from the mountain, rejoicing.
6 But they returned not to the cave in
which they were born; but came to the Cave of Treasures, in order that the
children should go around in it, and be blessed with the tokens brought from
the garden.
7 But after they had been blessed with
these tokens, they went back to the cave in which they were born.
8 However, before Eve had offered up
the offering, Adam had taken her, and had gone with her to the river of water,
in which they threw themselves at first; and there they washed themselves. Adam
washed his body and Eve hers also clean, after the suffering and distress that
had come over them.
9 But Adam and Eve, after washing
themselves in the river of water, returned every night to the Cave of Treasures
10 Adam and Eve did this until the
children had been weaned. After they were weaned, Adam made an offering for the
souls of his children in addition to the three times every week he made an
offering for them.
11 When the children were weaned, Eve
again conceived, and when her pregnancy came to term, she gave birth to another
son and daughter. They named the son Abel and the daughter Aklia.
12 Then at the end of forty days, Adam
made an offering for the son, and at the end of eighty days he made another
offering for the daughter, and treated them, as he had previously treated Cain
and his sister Luluwa.
13 He brought them to the Cave of Treasures
CHAPTER LXXVI
Cain
becomes jealous of Abel because of his sisters.
1 And the children began to grow
stronger and taller; but Cain was hard-hearted, and ruled over his younger
brother.
2 Often when his father made an offering,
Cain would remain behind and not go with them, to offer up.
3 But, as to Abel, he had a meek heart,
and was obedient to his father and mother. He frequently moved them to make an
offering, because he loved it. He prayed and fasted a lot.
4 Then came this sign to Abel. As he
was coming into the Cave
of Treasures
5 Then Adam told him all that had befallen
them. And Abel felt deeply about what his father told him.
6 Furthermore his father, Adam, told
him of the works of God, and of the garden. After hearing that, Abel remained
behind after his father left and stayed the whole of that night in the Cave of Treasures
7 And that night, while he was praying,
Satan appeared to him under the figure of a man, who said to him, "You
have frequently moved your father into making offerings, fasting and praying,
therefore I will kill you, and make you perish from this world."
8 But as for Abel, he prayed to God,
and drove away Satan from him; and did not believe the words of the devil. Then
when it was day, an angel of God appeared to him, who said to him, "Do not
cut short either fasting, prayer, or offering up an offering to your God. For,
look, the Lord had accepted your prayer. Be not afraid of the figure which
appeared to you in the night, and who cursed you to death." And the angel
departed from him.
9 Then when it was day, Abel came to
Adam and Eve, and told them of the vision he had seen. When they heard it, they
grieved much over it, but said nothing to him about it; they only comforted
him.
10 But as to the hard-hearted Cain,
Satan came to him by night, showed himself and said to him, "Since Adam
and Eve love your brother Abel so much more than they love you, they wish to
join him in marriage to your beautiful sister because they love him. However,
they wish to join you in marriage to his ugly sister, because they hate you.
11 Now before they do that, I am
telling you that you should kill your brother. That way your sister will be
left for you, and his sister will be cast away."
12 And Satan departed from him. But the
devil remained behind in Cain's heart, and frequently aspired to kill his
brother.
CHAPTER LXXVII
Cain,
15 years old, and Abel 12 years old, grow apart.
1 But when Adam saw that the older
brother hated the younger, he endeavored to soften their hearts, and said to
Cain, "O my son, take of the fruits of your sowing and make an offering to
God, so that He might forgive you for your wickedness and sin."
2 He said also to Abel, "Take some
of your sowing and make an offering and bring it to God, so that He might
forgive you for your wickedness and sin."
3 Then Abel obeyed his father's voice,
took some of his sowing, and made a good offering, and said to his father,
Adam, "Come with me and show me how to offer it up."
4 And they went, Adam and Eve with him,
and they showed him how to offer up his gift on the altar. Then after that,
they stood up and prayed that God would accept Abel's offering.
5 Then God looked at Abel and accepted
his offering. And God was more pleased with Abel than with his offering,
because of his good heart and pure body. There was no trace of guile in him.
6 Then they came down from the altar,
and went to the cave in which they lived. But Abel, by reason of his joy at
having made his offering, repeated it three times a week, after the example of
his father Adam.
7 But as to Cain, he did not want to
make an offering, but after his father became very angry, he offered up a gift
once. He took the smallest of his sheep for an offering and when he offered it
up, his eyes were on the lamb.
8 Therefore God did not accept his
offering, because his heart was full of murderous thoughts.
9 And they all thus lived together in
the cave in which Eve had brought forth, until Cain was fifteen years old, and
Abel twelve years old.
CHAPTER LXXVIII
Jealousy
overcomes Cain. He makes trouble in the family. How the first murder was
planned.
1 Then Adam said to Eve, "Behold
the children are grown up; we must think of finding wives for them."
2 Then Eve answered, "How can we
do it?"
3 Then Adam said to her, "We will
join Abel's sister in marriage to Cain, and Cain's sister to Abel.
4 The said Eve to Adam, "I do not
like Cain because he is hard-hearted; but let them stay with us until we offer
up to the Lord in their behalf."
5 And Adam said no more.
6 Meanwhile Satan came to Cain in the
figure of a man of the field, and said to him, "Behold Adam and Eve have
taken counsel together about the marriage of you two; and they have agreed to
marry Abel's sister to you, and your sister to him.
7 But if it was not that I love you, I
would not have told you this thing. Yet if you will take my advice, and obey
me, I will bring to you on your wedding day beautiful robes, gold and silver in
plenty, and my relations will attend you."
8 Then Cain said with joy, "Where
are your relations?"
9 And Satan answered, "My relations
are in a garden in the north, where I once meant to bring your father Adam; but
he would not accept my offer.
10 But you, if you will receive my
words and if you will come to me after your wedding, you shall rest from the
misery in which you are; and you shall rest and be better off than your father
Adam."
11 At these words of Satan Cain opened
his ears, and leaned towards his speech.
12 And he did not remain in the field,
but he went to Eve, his mother, and beat her, and cursed her, and said to her,
"Why are you planning to take my sister to wed her to my brother? Am I
dead?"
13 His mother, however, quieted him,
and sent him to the field where he had been.
14 Then when Adam came, she told him of
what Cain had done.
15 But Adam grieved and held his peace,
and said not a word.
16 Then on the next morning Adam said
to Cain his son, "Take of your sheep, young and good, and offer them up to
your God; and I will speak to your brother, to make to his God an offering of
corn."
17 They both obeyed their father Adam,
and they took their offerings, and offered them up on the mountain by the
altar.
18 But Cain behaved haughtily towards
his brother, and shoved him from the altar, and would not let him offer up his
gift on the altar; but he offered his own on it, with a proud heart, full of
guile, and fraud.
19 But as for Abel, he set up stones
that were near at hand, and on that, he offered up his gift with a heart humble
and free from guile.
20 Cain was then standing by the altar
on which he had offered up his gift; and he cried to God to accept his offering;
but God did not accept it from him; neither did a divine fire come down to
consume his offering.
21 But he remained standing over
against the altar, out of humor and meanness, looking towards his brother Abel,
to see if God would accept his offering or not.
22 And Abel prayed to God to accept his
offering. Then a divine fire came down and consumed his offering. And God
smelled the sweet savor of his offering; because Abel loved Him and rejoice in
Him.
23 And because God was well pleased
with him, He sent him an angel of light in the figure of a man who had partaken
of his offering, because He had smelled the sweet savor of his offering, and
they comforted Abel and strengthened his heart.
24 But Cain was looking on all that
took place at his brother's offering, and was angry because of it.
25 Then he opened his mouth and blasphemed
God, because He had not accepted his offering.
26 But God said to cain, "Why do
you look sad? Be righteous, that I may accept your offering. Not against Me
have you murmured, but against yourself.
27 And God said this to Cain in rebuke,
and because He abhorred him and his offering.
28 And Cain came down from the altar,
his color changed and with a sad face, and came to his father and mother and
told them all that had befallen him. And Adam grieved much because God had not
accepted Cain's offering.
29 But Abel came down rejoicing, and
with a gladsome heart, and told his father and mother how God had accepted his
offering. And they rejoiced at it and kissed his face.
30 And Abel said to his father, "Because
Cain shoved me from the altar, and would not allow me to offer my gift on it, I
made an altar for myself and offered my gift on it."
31 But when Adam heard this he was very
sorry, because it was the altar he had built at first, and on which he had
offered his own gifts.
32 As to Cain, he was so resentful and
so angry that he went into the field, where Satan came to him and said to him,
"Since your brother Abel has taken refuge with your father Adam, because
you shoved him from the altar, they have kissed his face, and they rejoice over
him, far more than over you."
33 When Cain heard these words of
Satan, he was filled with rage; and he let no one know. But he was laying wait
to kill his brother, until he brought him into the cave, and then said to him: —
34 "O brother, the country is so
beautiful, and there are such beautiful and pleasurable trees in it, and
charming to look at! But brother, you have never been one day in the field to
take your pleasure in that place.
35 Today, O, my brother, I very much
wish you would come with me into the field, to enjoy yourself and to bless our
fields and our flocks, for you are righteous, and I love you much, O my
brother! But you have alienated yourself from me."
36 Then Abel consented to go with his
brother Cain into the field.
37 But before going out, Cain said to
Abel, "Wait for me, until I fetch a staff, because of wild beasts."
38 Then Abel stood waiting in his
innocence. But Cain, the forward, fetched a staff and went out.
39 And they began, Cain and his brother
Abel, to walk in the way; Cain talking to him, and comforting him, to make him
forget everything.
CHAPTER LXXIX
A
wicked plan is carried to a tragic conclusion. Cain is frightened. "Am I
my brother's keeper?" The seven punishments. Peace is shattered.
1 And so they went on, until they came
to a lonely place, where there were no sheep; then Abel said to Cain,
"Behold, my brother, we are tired from walking; for we see none of the
trees, nor of the fruits, nor of the flourishing green plants, nor of the
sheep, nor any one of the things of which you told me. Where are those sheep of
thine you told me to bless?"
2 Then Cain said to him, "Come on,
and you shall see many beautiful things very soon, but go before me, until I
catch up to you."
3 Then went Abel forward, but Cain
remained behind him.
4 And Abel was walking in his innocence,
without guile; not believing his brother would kill him.
5 Then Cain, when he came up to him,
comforted him with his talk, walking a little behind him; then he ran up to him
and beat him with the staff, blow after blow, until he was stunned.
6 But when Abel fell down on the
ground, seeing that his brother meant to kill him, he said to Cain, "O, my
brother, have pity on me. By the breasts we have sucked, don't hit me! By the
womb that bore us and that brought us into the world, don't beat me to death
with that staff! If you will kill me, take one of these large stones and kill
me outright."
7 Then Cain, the hard-hearted, and
cruel murderer, took a large stone, and beat his brother's head with it, until
his brains oozed out, and he wallowed in his blood, before him.
8 And Cain repented not of what he had
done.
9 But the earth, when the blood of
righteous Abel fell on it, trembled, as it drank his blood, and would have
destroyed Cain because of it.
10 And the blood of Abel cried mysteriously
to God, to avenge him of his murderer.
11 Then Cain began at once to dig the
ground wherein to lay his brother; for he was trembling from the fear that came
over him, when he saw the earth tremble on his account.
12 He then cast his brother into the
pit he made, and covered him with dust. But the ground would not receive him;
but it threw him up at once.
13 Again Cain dug the ground and hid
his brother in it; but again the ground threw him up on itself; until three
times the ground thus threw up on itself the body of Abel.
14 The muddy ground threw him up the
first time, because he was not the first creation; and it threw him up the
second time and would not receive him, because he was righteous and good, and
was killed without a cause; and the ground threw him up the third time and
would not receive him, that there might remain before his brother a witness
against him.
15 And so the earth mocked Cain, until
the Word of God, came to him concerning his brother.
16 Then was God angry, and much
displeased at Abel's death; and He thundered from heaven, and lightnings went
before Him, and the Word of the Lord God came from heaven to Cain, and said to
him, "Where is Abel your brother?"
17 Then Cain answered with a proud
heart and a gruff voice, "How, O God? Am I my brother's keeper?"
18 Then God said to Cain, "Cursed
be the earth that has drunk the blood of Abel your brother; and as for you, you
will always be trembling and shaking; and this will be a mark on you so that
whoever finds you, will kill you."
19 But Cain cried because God had said
those words to him; and Cain said to Him, "O God, whosoever finds me shall
kill me, and I shall be blotted out from the face of the earth."
20 Then God said to Cain, "Whoever
finds you will not kill you;" because before this, God had been saying to
Cain, "I shall put seven punishments on anyone that kills Cain." For
as to the word of God to Cain, "Where is your brother?" God said it
in mercy for him, to try and make him repent.
21 For if Cain had repented at that
time, and had said, "O God, forgive me my sin, and the murder of my
brother," God would then have forgiven him his sin.
22 And as to God saying to Cain,
"Cursed be the ground that has drunk the blood of your brother" That
also, was God's mercy on Cain. For God did not curse him, but He cursed the
ground; although it was not the ground that had killed Abel, and committed a
wicked sin.
23 For it was fitting that the curse
should fall on the murderer; yet in mercy did God so manage His thoughts as
that no one should know it, and turn away from Cain.
24 And He said to him, "Where is
your brother?" To which he answered and said, "I know not." Then
the Creator said to him, "Be trembling and quaking."
25 Then Cain trembled and became
terrified; and through this sign did God make him an example before all the creation,
as the murderer of his brother. Also did God bring trembling and terror over him,
that he might see the peace in which he was at first, and see also the
trembling and terror he endured at the last; so that he might humble himself
before God, and repent of his sin, and seek the peace that he enjoyed at first.
26 And in the word of God that said,
"I will put seven punishments on anyone who kills Cain," God was not
seeking to kill Cain with the sword, but He sought to make him die of fasting,
and praying and crying by hard rule, until the time that he was delivered from
his sin.
27 And the seven punishments are the
seven generations during which God awaited Cain for the murder of his brother.
28 But as to Cain, ever since he had
killed his brother, he could find no rest in any place; but went back to Adam
and Eve, trembling, terrified, and defiled with blood. . . .
THE SECOND PART
CHAPTER I
The grief stricken family. Cain marries Luluwa and they move away.
1 When Luluwa heard Cain's words,
she wept and went to call her father and mother, and told them how that Cain
had killed his brother Abel.
2 Then they all cried aloud and
lifted up their voices, and slapped their faces, and threw dust upon their
heads, and rent asunder their garments, and went out and came to the place
where Abel was killed.
3 And they found him lying on the
earth, killed, and beasts around him; while they wept and cried because of this
just one. From his body, by reason of its purity, went forth a smell of sweet
spices.
4 And Adam carried him, his tears
streaming down his face; and went to the Cave of Treasures
5 And Adam and Eve continued by the
burial of him in great grief a hundred and forty days. Abel was fifteen and a
half years old, and Cain seventeen years and a half.
6 As for Cain, when the mourning for
his brother was ended, he took his sister Luluwa and married her, without leave
from his father and mother; for they could not keep him from her, by reason of
their heavy heart.
7 He then went down to the bottom of
the mountain, away from the garden, near to the place where he had killed his
brother.
8 And in that place were many fruit
trees and forest trees. His sister bare him children, who in their turn began
to multiply by degrees until they filled that place.
9 But as for Adam and Eve, they came
not together after Abel's funeral, for seven years. After this, however, Eve
conceived; and while she was with child, Adam said to her, "Come, let us
take an offering and offer it up unto God, and ask Him to give us a fair child,
in whom we may find comfort, and whom we may join in marriage to Abel's sister."
10 Then they prepared an offering and
brought it up to the altar, and offered it before the Lord, and began to
entreat Him to accept their offering, and to give them a good offspring.
11 And God heard Adam and accepted
his offering. Then, they worshipped, Adam, Eve, and their daughter, and came
down to the Cave
of Treasures
12 Then Adam and Eve continued
fasting and praying until Eve's time came that she should be delivered, when
she said to Adam, "I wish to go to the cave in the rock, to bring forth in
it."
13 And he said, "Go, and take
with thee thy daughter to wait on thee; but I will remain in this Cave of Treasures
14 Then Eve hearkened to Adam, and
went, she and her daughter. But Adam remained by himself in the Cave of Treasures
CHAPTER II.
A third son is born to Adam and Eve.
1 And Eve brought forth a son perfectly
beautiful in figure and in countenance. His beauty was like that of his father
Adam, yet more beautiful.
2 Then Eve was comforted when she
saw him, and remained eight days in the cave; then she sent her daughter unto
Adam to tell him to come and see the child and name him. But the daughter
stayed in his place by the body of her brother, until Adam returned. So did
she.
3 But when Adam came and saw the
child's good looks, his beauty, and his perfect figure, he rejoiced over him,
and was comforted for Abel. Then he named the child Seth, that means,
"that God has heard my prayer, and has delivered me out of my
affliction." But it means also "power and strength."
4 Then after Adam had named the
child, he returned to the Cave
of Treasures
5 But Eve continued in her cave, until
forty days were fulfilled, when she came to Adam, and brought with her the
child and her daughter.
6 And they came to a river of water,
where Adam and his daughter washed themselves, because of their sorrow for
Abel; but Eve and the babe washed for purification.
7 Then they returned, and took an
offering, and went to the mountain and offered it up, for the babe; and God
accepted their offering, and sent His blessing upon them, and upon their son
Seth; and they came back to the Cave
of Treasures
8 As for Adam, he knew not again his
wife Eve, all the days of his life; neither was any more offspring born of
them; but only those five, Cain, Luluwa, Abel, Aklia, and Seth alone.
9 But Seth waxed in stature and in
strength; and began to fast and pray, fervently.
CHAPTER III.
Satan appears as a beautiful woman tempting Adam, telling him he is
still a youth. "Spend thy youth in mirth and pleasure." (12) The
different forms which Satan takes (15).
1 As for our father Adam, at the end
of seven years from the day he had been severed from his wife Eve, Satan envied
him, when he saw him thus separated from her; and strove to make him live with
her again.
2 Then Adam arose and went up above
the Cave of Treasures
3 But when it was evening he went up
on the roof of the cave, where he slept by himself, fearing lest Satan should
overcome him. And he continued thus apart thirty-nine days.
4 Then Satan, the hater of all good,
when he saw Adam thus alone, fasting and praying, appeared unto him in the form
of a beautiful woman, who came and stood before him in the night of the fortieth
day, and said unto him:
5 "O Adam, from the time ye
have dwelt in this cave, we have experienced great peace from you, and your
prayers have reached us, and we have been comforted about you.
6 "But now, O Adam, that thou
hast gone up over the roof of the cave to sleep, we have had doubts about thee,
and a great sorrow has come upon us because of thy separation from Eve. Then
again, when thou art on the roof of this cave, thy prayer is poured out, and
thy heart wanders from side to side.
7 "But when thou wast in the cave
thy prayer was like fire gathered together; it came down to us, and thou didst
find rest.
8 "Then I also grieved over thy
children who are severed from thee; and my sorrow is great about the murder of
thy son Abel; for he was righteous; and over a righteous man every one will
grieve.
9 "But I rejoiced over the
birth of thy son Seth; yet after a little while I sorrowed greatly over Eve,
because she is my sister. For when God sent a deep sleep over thee, and drew
her out of thy side, He brought me out also with her. But HE raised her by
placing her with thee, while He lowered me.
10 "I rejoiced over my sister
for her being with thee. But God had made me a promise before, and said,
'Grieve not; when Adam has gone up on the roof of the Cave of Treasures, and is
separated from Eve his wife, I will send thee to him, thou shalt join thyself
to him in marriage, and bear him five children, as Eve did bear him five.'
11 "And now, lo! God's promise
to me is fulfilled; for it is He who has sent me to thee for the wedding; because
if thou wed me, I shall bear thee finer and better children than those of Eve.
12 "Then again, thou art as yet
but a youth; end not thy youth in this world in sorrow; but spend the days of
thy youth in mirth and pleasure. For thy days are few and thy trial is great.
Be strong; end thy days in this world in rejoicing. I shall take pleasure in
thee, and thou shall rejoice with me in this wise, and without fear.
13 "Up, then, and fulfil the command
of thy God," she then drew near to Adam, and embraced him.
14 But when Adam saw that he should
be overcome by her, he prayed to God with a fervent heart to deliver him from
her.
15 Then God sent His Word unto Adam,
saying, "O Adam, that figure is the one that promised thee the Godhead,
and majesty; he is not favourably disposed towards thee; but shows himself to
thee at one time in the form of a woman; another moment, in the likeness if an
angel; on another occasions, in the similitude of a serpent; and at another
time, in the semblance of a god; but he does all that only to destroy thy soul.
16 "Now, therefore, O Adam, understanding
thy heart, I have delivered thee many a time from his hands; in order to show
thee that I am a merciful God; and that I wish thy good, and that I do not wish
thy ruin."
CHAPTER IV.
Adam sees the Devil in his true colors.
1 Then God ordered Satan to show
himself to Adam plainly, in his own hideous form.
2 But when Adam saw him, he feared,
and trembled at the sight of him.
3 And God said to Adam, 'Look at
this devil, and at his hideous look, and know that he it is who made thee fall
from brightness into darkness, from peace and rest to toil and misery.
4 And look, O Adam, at him, who said
of himself that he is God! Can God be black? Would God take the form of a
woman? Is there any one stronger than God? And can He be overpowered?
5 "See, then, O Adam, and
behold him bound in thy presence, in the air, unable to flee away! Therefore, I
say unto thee, be not afraid of him; henceforth take care, and beware of him,
in whatever he may do to thee."
6 Then God drove Satan away from
before Adam, whom He strengthened, and whose heart He comforted, saying to him,
"Go down to the Cave
of Treasures
7 From that hour it left Adam and
Eve, and they enjoyed rest by the commandment of God. But God did not the like
to any one of Adam's seed; but only to Adam and Eve.
8 Then Adam worshipped before the
Lord, for having delivered him, and for having layed his passions. And he came
down from above the cave, and dwelt with Eve as aforetime.
9 This ended the forty days of his
separation from Eve.
CHAPTER V.
The devil paints a brilliant picture for Seth to feast his thoughts
upon.
1 As for Seth, when he was seven
years old, he knew good and evil, and was consistent in fasting and praying,
and spent all his nights in entreating God for mercy and forgiveness.
2 He also fasted when bringing up
his offering every day, more than his father did; for he was of a fair countenance,
like unto an angel of God. He also had a good heart, preserved the finest
qualities of his soul; and for this reason he brought up his offering every
day.
3 And God was pleased with his offering;
but He was also pleased with his purity. And he continued thus in doing the
will of God, and of his father and mother, until he was seven years old.
4 After that, as he was corning down
from the altar, having ended his offering, Satan appeared unto him in the form
of a beautiful angel, brilliant with light; with a staff of light in his hand,
himself girt about with a girdle of light.
5 He greeted Seth with a beautiful
smile, and began to beguile him with fair words, saying to him, "O Seth,
why abidest thou in this mountain? For it is rough, full of stones and of sand,
and of trees with no good fruit on them; a wilderness without habitations and
without towns; no good place to dwell in. But all is heat, weariness, and
trouble."
6 He said further, 'But we dwell in
beautiful places, in another world than this earth. Our world is one of light
and our condition is of the best; our women are handsomer than any others; and
I wish thee, O Seth, to wed one of them; because I see that thou art fair to
look upon, and in this land there is not one woman good enough for thee.
Besides, all those who live in this world, are only five souls.
7 "But in our world there are
very many men and many maidens, all more beautiful one than another. I wish,
therefore, to remove thee hence, that thou mayest see my relations and be
wedded to which ever thou likest.
8 "Thou shalt then abide by me
and be at peace; thou shalt be filled with splendour and light, as we are.
9 "Thou shalt remain in our
world. and rest from this world and the misery of it; thou shalt never again
feel faint and weary; thou shalt never bring up an offering, nor sue for mercy;
for thou shalt commit no more sin nor be swayed by passions.
10 "And if thou wilt hearken to
what I say, thou shalt wed one of my daughters; for with us it is no sin so to
do; neither is it reckoned animal lust.
11 "For in our world we have no
God; but we all are gods; we all are of the light, heavenly, powerful, strong
and glorious."
CHAPTER VI.
Seth's conscience helps him. He returns to Adam and Eve.
1 When Seth heard these words he was
amazed, and inclined his heart to Satan's treacherous speech, and said to him,
"Saidst thou there is an-other world created than this; and other
creatures more beautiful than the creatures that are in this world?"
2 And Satan said "Yes; behold
thou hast heard me; but I will yet praise them and their ways, in thy
hearing."
3 But Seth said to him, "Thy
speech has amazed me; and thy beautiful description of it all."
4 "Yet I cannot go with thee
to-day; not until I have gone to my father Adam and to my mother Eve, and told
them all thou hast said to me. Then if they give me leave to go with thee, I
will come."
5 Again Seth said, "I am afraid
of doing any thing without my father's and mother's leave, lest I perish like
my brother Cain, and like my father Adam, who transgressed the commandment of
God. But, behold, thou knowest this place; come, and meet me here
to-morrow."
6 When Satan heard this, he said to
Seth, "If thou tellest thy father Adam what I have told thee, he will not
let thee come with me.
7 But hearken to me; do not tell thy
father and mother what I have said to thee; but come with me to-day, to our
world; where thou shalt see beautiful things and enjoy thyself there, and revel
this day among my children, beholding them and taking thy fill of mirth; and
rejoice ever more. Then I shall bring thee back to this place to-morrow; but if
thou wouldest rather abide with me, so be it."
8 Then Seth answered, "The
spirit of my father and of my mother, hangs on me; and if I hide from them one
day, they will die, and God will hold me guilty of sinning against them.
9 "And except that they know I
am come to this place to bring up to it my offering, they would not be separated
from me one hour; neither should I go to any other place, unless they let me.
But they treat me most kindly, because I come back to them quickly."
10 Then Satan said to him, "What
will happen to thee if thou hide thyself from them one night, and return to
them at break of day?"
11 But Seth, when he saw how he kept
on talking, and that he would not leave him-ran, and went up to the altar, and
spread his hands unto God, and sought deliverance from Him.
12 Then God sent His Word, and cursed
Satan, who fled from Him.
13 But as for Seth, he had gone up to
the altar, saying thus in his heart. "The altar is the place of offering,
and God is there; a divine fire shall consume it; so shall Satan be unable to
hurt me, and shall not take me away thence."
14 Then Seth came down from the altar
and went to his father and mother, whom he found in the way, longing to hear
his voice; for he had tarried a while.
15 He then began to tell them what
had befallen him from Satan, under the form of an angel.
16 But when Adam heard his account,
he kissed his face, and warned him against that angel, telling him it was Satan
who thus appeared to him. Then Adam took Seth, and they went to the Cave of Treasures
17 But from that day forth Adam and
Eve never parted from him, to whatever place he might go, whether for his
offering or for any thing else.
18 This sign happened to Seth, when
he was nine years old.
CHAPTER VII.
Seth marries Aklia. Adam lives to see grand children and great grand children.
1 WHEN our father Adam saw that Seth
was of a perfect heart, he wished him to marry; lest the enemy should appear to
him another time, and overcome him.
2 So Adam said to his son Seth,
"I wish, O my son, that thou wed thy sister Aklia, Abel's sister, that she
may bear thee children, who shall replenish the earth, according to God's
promise to us.
3 "Be not afraid, O my son;
there is no disgrace in it. I wish thee to marry, from fear lest the enemy overcome
thee.'
4 Seth, however, did not wish to
marry; but in obedience to his father and mother, he said not a word.
5 So Adam married him to Aklia. And
he was fifteen years old.
6 But when he was twenty years of
age, he begat a son, whom he called Enos; and then begat other children than
him,
7 Then Enos grew up, married, and
begat Cainan.
8 Cainan also grew up, married, and
begat Mahalaleel.
9 Those fathers were born during
Adam's lifetime, and dwelt by the Cave
of Treasures
10 Then were the days of Adam nine
hundred and thirty years, and those of Mahalaleel one hundred. But Mahalaleel,
when he was grown up, loved fasting, praying, and with hard labours, until the
end of our father Adam's days drew near.
CHAPTER VIII.
Adam's remarkable last words. He predicts the Flood. He exhorts his offspring
to good. He reveals certain mysteries of life.
1 When our father Adam saw that his
end was near, he called his son Seth, who came to him in the Cave of Treasures,
and he said unto him:
2 "O Seth, my son bring me thy
children and thy children's children, that I may shed my blessing on them ere I
die."
3 When Seth heard these words from
his father Adam, he went from him, shed a flood of tears over his face, and
gathered together his children and his children's children, and brought them to
his father Adam.
4 But when our father Adam saw them
around him, he wept at having to be separated from them.
5 And when they saw him weeping,
they all wept together, and fell upon his face saying, "How shalt thou be
severed from us, O our father? And how shall the earth receive thee and hide
thee from our eyes?" Thus did they lament much, and in like words.
6 Then our father Adam blessed them
all, and said to Seth, after he had blessed them:
7 "O Seth, my son, thou knowest
this world - that it is full of sorrow, and of weariness; and thou knowest all
that has come upon us, from our trials in it I therefore flow command thee in
these words: to keep innocency, to be pure and just, and trusting in God; and
lean not to the discourses of Satan, nor to the apparitions in which he will
show himself to thee.
8 But keep the commandments that I
give thee this day; then give the same to thy son Enos; and let Enos give it to
his son Cainan; and Cainan to his son Mahalaleel; so that this commandment
abide firm among all your children.
9 "O Seth, my son, the moment I
am dead take ye my body and wind it up with myrrh, aloes, and cassia, and leave
me here in this Cave of Treasures in which are all these tokens which God gave
us from the garden.
10 "O my son, hereafter shall a
flood come and overwhelm all creatures, and leave out only eight souls.
11 "But, O my son, let those
whom it will leave out from among your children at that time, take my body with
them out of this cave; and when they have taken it with them, let the oldest
among them command his children to lay my body in a ship until the flood has
been assuaged, and they come out of the ship.
12 Then they shall take my body and
lay it in the middle of the earth, shortly after they have been saved from the
waters of the flood.
13 "For the place where my body
shall be laid, is the middle of the earth; God shall come from thence and shall
save all our kindred.
14 "But now, O Seth, my son,
place thyself at the head of thy people; tend them and watch over them in the
fear of God; and lead them in the good way. Command them to fast unto God; and
make them understand they ought not to hearken to Satan, lest he destroy them.
15 "Then, again, sever thy
children and thy children's children from Cain's children; do not let them ever
mix with those, nor come near them either in their words or in their
deeds."
16 Then Adam let his blessing descend
upon Seth, and upon his children, and upon all his children's children.
17 He then turned to his son Seth,
and to Eve his wife, and ,said to them, "Preserve this gold, this incense,
and this myrrh, that God has given us for a sign; for in days that are coming,
a flood will overwhelm the whole creation. But those who shall go into the ark
shall take with them the gold, the incense, and the myrrh, together with my
body; and will lay the gold, the incense, and the myrrh, with my body in the
midst of the earth.
18 "Then, after a long time, the
city in which the gold, the incense, and the myrrh are found with my body,
shall be plundered. But when it is spoiled, the gold the incense, and the myrrh
shall be taken care of with the spoil that is kept; and naught of them shall
perish, until the Word of God, made man shall come; when kings shall take them,
and shall offer to Him, gold in token of His being King; incense, in token of
His being God of heaven and earth; and myrrh, in token of His passion.
19 "Gold also, as a token of His
overcoming Satan, and all our foes; incense as a token that He will rise from
the dead, and be exalted above things in heaven and things in the earth; and
myrrh, in token that He will drink bitter gall; and feel the pains of hell from
Satan.
20 "And now, O Seth, my son, behold
I have revealed unto thee hidden mysteries, which God had revealed unto me.
Keep my commandment, for thyself, and for thy people."
CHAPTER IX.
The death of Adam.
1 When Adam had ended his commandment
to Seth, his limbs were loosened, his hands and feet lost all power, his mouth
became dumb, and his tongue ceased altogether to speak. He closed his eyes and
gave up the ghost.
2 But when his children saw that he
was dead, they threw themselves over him, men and women, old and young,
weeping.
3 The death of Adam took place at
the end of nine hundred and thirty years that he lived upon the earth; on the
fifteenth day of Barmudeh, after the reckoning of an epact of the sun, at the
ninth hour.
4 It was on a Friday, the very day
on which he was created, and on which he rested; and the hour at which he died,
was the same as that at which he came out of the garden.
5 Then Seth wound him up well, and
embalmed him with plenty of sweet spices, from sacred trees and from the Holy
Mountain; and he laid his body on the eastern side of the inside of the cave,
the side of the incense; and placed in front of him a lamp - stand kept
burning.
6 Then his children stood before him
weeping and wailing over him the whole night until break of day.
7 Then Seth and his son Enos, and
Cainan, the son of Enos, went out and took good offerings to present unto the
Lord, and they came to the altar upon which Adam offered gifts to God, when he
did offer.
8 But Eve said to them, "Wait
until we have first asked God to accept our offering, and to keep by Him the
soul of Adam His servant, and to take it up to rest."
9 And they all stood up and prayed.
CHAPTER X.
"Adam was the first. . ."
1 And when they had ended their
prayer, the Word of God came and comforted them concerning their father Adam.
2 After this, they offered their
gifts for themselves and for their father.
3 And when they had ended their offering,
the Word of God came to Seth, the eldest among them, saying unto him, "O
Seth, Seth, Seth, three times. As I was with thy father, so also shall I be
with thee, until the fulfilment of the promise I made him - thy father saying,
I will send My Word and save thee and thy seed.
4 "But as to thy father Adam,
keep thou the commandment he gave thee; and sever thy seed from that of Cain
thy brother."
5 And God withdrew His Word from
Seth.
6 Then Seth, Eve, and their children,
came down from the mountain to the Cave
of Treasures
7 But Adam was the first whose soul
died in the land of Eden , in the Cave of Treasures
8 Then all the children of Adam rose
up, and wept over their father Adam, and made offerings to him, one hundred and
forty days.
CHAPTER XI.
Seth becomes head of the most happy and just tribe of people who ever
lived.
1 After the death of Adam and of
Eve, Seth severed his children, and his children's children, from Cain's children.
Cain and his seed went down and dwelt westward, below the place where he had
killed his brother Abel.
2 But Seth and his children, dwelt
northwards upon the mountain of the Cave
of Treasures
3 And Seth the elder, tall and good,
with a fine soul, and of a strong mind, stood at the head of his people; and
tended them in innocence, penitence, and meekness, and did not allow one of
them to go down to Cain's children.
4 But because of their own purity,
they were named "Children of God," and they were with God, instead of
the hosts of angels who fell; for they continued in praises to God, and in
singing psalms unto Him, in their cave - the Cave of Treasures
5 Then Seth stood before the body of
his father Adam, and of his mother Eve, and prayed night and day, and asked for
mercy towards himself and his children; and that when he had some difficult
dealing with a child, He would give him counsel.
6 But Seth and his children did not
like earthly work, but gave themselves to heavenly things; for they had no
other thought than praises, doxologies, and psalms unto God.
7 Therefore did they at all times
hear the voices of angels, praising and glorifying God; from within the garden,
or when they were sent by God on an errand, or when they were going up to
heaven.
8 For Seth and his children, by reason
of their own purity, heard and saw those angels. Then, again, the garden was
not far above them, but only some fifteen spiritual cubits.
9 Now one spiritual cubit answers to
three cubits of man, altogether forty-five cubits.
10 Seth and his children dwelt on the
mountain below the garden; they sowed not, neither did they reap; they wrought
no food for the body. not even wheat; but only offerings. They ate of the fruit
and of trees well flavoured that grew on the mountain where they dwelt.
11 Then Seth often fasted every forty
days, as did also his eldest children. For the family of Seth smelled the smell
of the trees in the garden, when the wind blew that way.
12 They were happy, innocent, without
sudden fear, there was no jealousy, no evil action, no hatred among them. There
was no animal passion; from no mouth among them went forth either foul words or
curse; neither evil counsel nor fraud. For the men of that time never swore,
but under hard circumstances, when men must swear, they swore by the blood of
Abel the just.
13 But they constrained their children
and their women every day in the cave to fast and pray, and to worship the most
High God. They blessed themselves in the body of their father Adam, and
anointed themselves with it.
14 And they did so until the end of
Seth drew near.
CHAPTER XII.
Seth's family affairs. His death. The headship of Enos. How the outcast
branch of Adam's family fared.
1 Then Seth, the just, called his
son Enos, and Cainan, son of Enos, and Mahalaleel, son of Cainan, and said unto
them:
2 "As my end is near, I wish to
build a roof over the altar on which gifts are offered."
3 They hearkened to his commandment
and went out, all of them, both old and young, and worked hard at it, and built
a beautiful roof over the altar.
4 And Seth's thought, in so doing,
was that a blessing should come upon his children on the mountain; and that he
should present an offering for them before his death.
5 Then when the building of the roof
was completed, he commanded them to make offerings. They worked diligently at
these, and brought them to Seth their father who took them and offered them
upon the altar; and prayed God to accept their offerings, to have mercy on the
souls of his children, and to keep them from the hand of Satan.
6 And God accepted his offering, and
sent His blessing upon him and upon his children. And then God made a promise
to Seth, saying, "At the end of the great five days and a half, concerning
which I have made a promise to thee and to thy father, I will send My Word and
save thee and thy seed."
7 Then Seth and his children, and
his children's children, met together, and came down from the altar, and went
to the Cave of Treasures - where they prayed, and blessed themselves in the
body of our father Adam, and anointed themselves with it.
8 But Seth abode in the Cave of Treasures
9 Then Enos, his first - born son,
came to him, with Cainan, his son, and Mahalaleel, Cainan's son, and Jared, the
son of Mahalaleel, and Enoch, Jared's son, with their wives and children to
receive a blessing from Seth.
10 Then Seth prayed over them, and
blessed them, and adjured them by the blood of Abel the just, saying, "I
beg of you my children, not to let one of you go down from this Holy and pure
Mountain.
11 Make no fellowship with the children
of Cain the murderer and the sinner, who killed his brother; for ye know, 0 my children, that we flee from him,
and from all his sin with all our might because he killed his brother
Abel."
12 After having said this, Seth
blessed Enos, his first - born son, and commanded him habitually to minister in
purity before the body of our father Adam, all the days of his life; then,
also, to go at times to the altar which he Seth had built. And he commanded him
to feed his people in righteousness, in judgment and purity all the days of his
life.
13 Then the limbs of Seth were loosened;
his hands and feet lost all power; his mouth became dumb and unable to speak;
and he gave up the ghost and died the day after his nine hundred and twelfth
year; on the twenty - seventh day of the month Abib; Enoch being then twenty
years old.
14 Then they wound up carefull the
body of Seth, and embalmed him with sweet spices, and laid him in the Cave
Treasures, on the right side of our father Adam's body, and they mourned for
him forty days. They offered gifts for him, as they had done for our father
Adam.
15 After the death of Seth, Enos rose
at the head of his people, whom he fed in righteousness, and judgment, as his
father had commanded him.
16 But by the time Enos was eight
hundred and twenty years old, Cain had a large progeny; for they married
frequently, being given to animal lusts; until the land below the mountain, was
filled with them.
CHAPTER XIII.
"Among the children of Cain there was much robbery, murder and
Sin."
1 In those days lived Lamech the blind,
who was of the sons of Cain. He had a son whose name was Atun, and they two had
much cattle.
2 But Lamech was in the habit of
sending them to feed with a young shepherd, who tended them; and who, when
coming home in the evening wept before his grandfather, and before his father
Atun and his mother Hazina, and said to them, "As for me, I cannot feed
those cattle alone, lest one rob me of some of them, or kill me for the sake of
them." For among the children of Cain, there was much robbery, murder and
sin.
3 Then Lamech pitied him, and he
said, "Truly, he when alone, might be overpowered by the men of this
place."
4 So Lamech arose, took a bow he had
kept ever since he was a youth, ere he became blind, and he took large arrows,
and smooth stones, and a sling which he had, and went to the field with the
young shepherd, and placed himself behind the cattle; while the young shepherd
watched the cattle. Thus did Lamech many days.
5 Meanwhile Cain, ever since God had
cast him off, and had cursed him with trembling and terror, could neither
settle nor find rest in any one place; but wandered from place to place.
6 In his wanderings he came to
Lamech's wives, and asked them about him. They said to him, "He is in the
field with the cattle."
7 Then Cain went to look for him;
and as he came into the field, the young shepherd heard the noise he made, and
the cattle herding together from before him,
8 Then said he to Lamech, "O my
lord, is that a wild beast or a robber?"
9 And Lamech said to him, "Make
me understand which way he looks, when he comes up.
10 Then Lamech bent his bow, placed
an arrow on it, and fitted a stone in the sling, and when Cain came out from
the open country, the shepherd said to Lamech, "Shoot, behold, he is
coming."
11 Then Lamech shot at Cain with his
arrow and hit him in his side. And Lamech struck him with a stone from his
sling, that fell upon his face, and knocked out both his eyes; then Cain fell
at once and died.
12 Then Lamech and the young shepherd
came up to him, and found him lying on the ground. And the young shepherd said
to him, "It is Cain our grandfather, whom thou hast killed, O my
lord!"
18 Then was Lamech sorry for it, and
from the bitterness of his regret, he clapped his hands together, and struck
with his flat palm the head of the youth, who fell as if dead; but Lamech
thought it was a feint; so he took up a stone and smote him, and smashed his
head until he died.
CHAPTER XIV.
Time, like an ever rolling stream, bears away another generation of men.
1 When Enos was nine hundred years
old, all the children of Seth, and of Cainan, and his first-born, with their
wives and children, gathered around him, asking for a blessing from him.
2 He then prayed over them and
blessed them, and adjured them by the blood of Abel the just saying to them,
"Let not one of your children go down from this Holy Mountain
3 Then Enos called his son Cainan
and said to him, "See, O my son, and set thy heart on thy people, and establish
them in righteousness, and in innocence; and stand ministering before the body
of our father Adam, all the days of thy life."
4 After this Enos entered into rest,
aged nine hundred and eighty - five years; and Cainan wound him up, and laid
him in the Cave of Treasures on the left of his father Adam; and made offerings
for him, after the custom of his fathers.
CHAPTER XV.
The offspring of Adam continue to keep the Cave of Treasures
1 After
the death of Enos, Cainan stood at the head of his people in righteousness and
innocence, as his father had commanded him; he also continued to minister
before the body of Adam, inside the Cave
of Treasures
2 Then when he had lived nine hundred
and ten years, suffering and affliction came upon him. And when he was about to
enter into rest, all the fathers with their wives and children came to him, and
he blessed them, and adjured them by the blood of Abel, the just, saying to
them, "Let not one among you go down from this Holy Mountain; and make no
fellowship with the children of Cain the murderer."
3 Mahalaleel, his first - born son,
received this commandment from his father, who blessed him and died.
4 Then Mahalaleel embalmed him with
sweet spices, and laid him in the Cave
of Treasures
CHAPTER XVI.
The good branch of the family is still afraid of the children of Cain.
1 Then Mahalaleel stood over his
people, and fed them in righteousness and innocence, and watched them to see
they held no intercourse with the children of Cain.
2 He also continued in the Cave of Treasures
3 Then all his children gathered
unto him, to see him, and to ask for his blessing on them all, ere he left this
world.
4 Then Mahalaleel arose and sat on
his bed, his tears streaming down his face, and he called his eldest son Jared,
who came to him.
5 He then kissed his face, and said
to him, "O Jared, my son, I adjure thee by Him who made heaven and earth,
to watch over thy people, and to feed them in righteousness and in innocence;
and not to let one of them go down from this Holy Mountain to the children of
Cain, lest he perish with them.
6 "Hear, O my son, hereafter
there shall come a great destruction upon this earth on account of them; God
will be angry with the world, and will destroy them with waters.
7 "But I also know that thy
children will not hearken to thee, and that they will go down from this mountain
and hold intercourse with the children of Cain, and that they shall perish with
them.
8 "O my son! teach them, and
watch over them, that no guilt attach to thee on their account."
9 Mahalaleel said, moreover, to his
son Jared, "When I die, embalm my body and lay it in the Cave of Treasures,
by the bodies of my fathers; then stand thou by my body and pray to God; and
take care of them, and fulfil thy ministry before them, until thou enterest
into rest thyself."
10 Mahalaleel then blessed all his
children; and then lay down on his bed, and entered into rest like his fathers.
11 But when Jared saw that his father
Mahalaleel was dead, he wept, and sorrowed, and embraced and kissed his hands
and his feet; and so did all his children.
12 And his children embalmed him
carefully, and laid him by the bodies of his fathers. Then they arose, and
mourned for him forty days.
CHAPTER XVII.
Jared turns martinet. He is lured away to the land of Cain
1 Then Jared kept his father's commandment,
and arose like a lion over his people. He fed them in righteousness and
innocence, and commanded them to do nothing without his counsel. For he was
afraid concerning them, lest they should go to the children of Cain.
2 Wherefore did he give them orders
repeatedly; and continued to do so until the end of the four hundred and
eighty-fifth year of his life.
3 At the end of these said years,
there came unto him this sign. As Jared was standing like a lion before the
bodies of his fathers, praying and warning his people, Satan envied him, and
wrought a beautiful apparition, because Jared would not let his children do aught
without his counsel.
4 Satan then appeared to him with
thirty men of his hosts, in the form of handsome men; Satan himself being the
elder and tallest among them, with a fine beard.
5 They stood at the mouth of the
cave, and called out Jared, from within it.
6 He came out to them, and found
them looking like fine men, full of light, and of great beauty. He wondered at
their beauty and at their looks; and thought within himself whether they might
not be of the children of Cain.
7 He said also in his heart,
"As the children of Cain cannot come up to the height of this mountain,
and none of them is so handsome as these appear to be; and among these men
there is not one of my kindred - they must be strangers."
8 Then Jared and they exchanged a
greeting and he said to the elder among them, "0 my father, explain to me the wonder that is in thee, and tell me
who these are, with thee; for they look to me like strange men."
9 Then the elder began to weep, and
the rest wept with him; and he said to Jared, "I am Adam whom God made
first; and this is Abel my son, who was killed by his brother Cain, into whose
heart Satan put to murder him.
10 "Then this is my son Seth,
whom I asked of the Lord, who gave him to me, to comfort me instead of Abel.
11 "Then this one is my son
Enos, son of Seth, and that other one is Cainan, son of Enos, and that other
one is Mahalaleel, son of Cainan, thy father."
12 But Jared remained wondering at
their appearance, and at the speech of the elder to him.
13 Then the elder said to him,
"Marvel not, O my son; we live in the land north of the garden, which God
created before the world. He would not let us live there, but placed us inside
the garden, below which ye are now dwelling.
14 "But after that I
transgressed, He made me come out of it, and I was left to dwell in this cave;
great and sore troubles came upon me; and when my death drew near, I commanded
my son Seth to tend his people well; and this my commandment is to be handed
from one to another, unto the end of the generations to come.
15 "But, O Jared, my son, we
live in beautiful regions, while you live here in misery, as this thy father
Mahalaleel informed me; telling me that a great flood will come and overwhelm
the whole earth.
16 "Therefore, O my son, fearing
for your sakes, I rose and took my children with me, and came hither for us to
visit thee and thy children; but I found thee standing in this cave weeping,
and thy children scattered about this mountain, in the heat and in misery.
17 "But, O my son, as we missed
our way, and came as far as this, we found other men below this mountain; who
inhabit a beautiful country, full of trees and of fruits, and of all manner of
verdure; it is like a garden; so that when we found them we thought they were
you; until thy father Mahalaleel told me they were no such thing.
18 "Now, therefore, O my son,
hearken to my counsel, and go down to them, thou and thy children. Ye will rest
from all this suffering in which ye are. But if thou wilt not go down to them,
then, arise, take thy children, and come with us to our garden; ye shall live
in our beautiful land, and ye shall rest from all this trouble, which thou and
thy children are now bearing."
19 But Jared when he heard this discourse
from the elder, wondered; and went hither and thither, but at that moment he
found not one of his children.
20 Then he answered and said to the
elder, "Why have you hidden yourselves until this day?"
21 And the elder replied, "If
thy father had not told us, we should not have known it."
22 Then Jared believed his words were
true.
23 So that elder said to Jared,
"Wherefore didst thou turn about, so and so?" And he said, "I
was seeking one of my children, to tell him about my going with you, and about
their coming down to those about whom thou hast spoken to me."
24 When the elder heard Jared's intention,
he said to him, "Let alone that purpose at present, and come with us; thou
shalt see our country; if the land in which we dwell pleases thee, we and thou
shall return hither and take thy family with us. But if our country does not
please thee, thou shalt come back to thine own place."
25 And the elder urged Jared, to go
before one of his children came to counsel him otherwise.
26 Jared, then, came out of the cave
and went with them, and among them. And they comforted him, until they came to
the top of the mountain of the sons of Cain.
27 Then said the elder to one of his
companions, "We have forgotten something by the mouth of the cave, and
that is the chosen garment we had brought to clothe Jared withal."
28 He then said to one of them,
"Go back, thou, some one; and we will wait for thee here, until thou come
back. Then will we clothe Jared and he shall be like us, good, handsome, and
fit to come with us into our country."
29 Then that one went back.
30 But when he was a short distance
off, the elder called to him and said to him, "Tarry thou, until I come up
and speak to thee."
31 Then he stood still, and the elder
went up to him and said to him, "One thing we forgot at the cave, it is
this - to put out the lamp that burns inside it, above the bodies that are
therein. Then come back to us, quick."
32 That one went, and the elder came
back to his fellows and to Jared. And they came down from the mountain, and
Jared with them; and they stayed by a fountain of water, near the houses of the
children of Cain and waited for their companion until he brought the garment
for Jared.
33 He, then, who went back to the
cave, put out the lamp, and came to them and brought a phantom with him and
showed it them. And when Jared saw it he wondered at the beauty and grace
thereof, and rejoiced in his heart believing it was all true.
34 But while they were staying there,
three of them went into houses of the sons of Cain and said to them,
"Bring us to - day some food by the fountain of water, for us and our
companions to eat."
35 But when the sons of Cain saw
them, they wondered at them and thought: "These are beautiful to look at,
and such as we never saw before." So they rose and came with them to the
fountain of water, to see their companions.
36 They found them so very handsome,
that they cried aloud about their places for others to gather together and come
and look at these beautiful beings. Then they gathered around them both men and
women.
37 Then the elder said to them,
"We are strangers in your land, bring us some good food and drink, you and
your women, to refresh ourselves with you."
38 When those men heard these words
of the elder, every one of Cain's sons brought his wife, and another brought
his daughter, and so, many women came to them; every one addressing Jared
either for himself or for his wife; all alike.
39 But when Jared saw what they did,
his very soul wrenched itself from them; neither would he taste of their food
or of their drink.
40 The elder saw him as he wrenched
himself from them, and said to him, "Be not sad; I am the great elder, as
thou shalt see me do, do thyself in like manner."
41 Then he spread his hands and took
one of the women, and five of his companions did the same before Jared, that he
should do as they did.
42 But when Jared saw them working
infamy he wept, and said in his mind, - My fathers never did the like.
43 He then spread his hands and
prayed with a fervent heart, and with much weeping, and entreated God to
deliver him from their hands.
44 No sooner did Jared begin to pray
than the elder fled with his companions; for they could not abide in a place of
prayer.
45 Then Jared turned round but could
not see them, but found himself standing in the midst of the children of Cain.
46 He then wept and said, "O God,
destroy me not with this race, concerning which my fathers have warned me; for
now, O my Lord God, I was thinking that those who appeared unto me were my
fathers; but I have found them out to be devils, who allured me by this
beautiful apparition, until I believed them.
47 "But now I ask Thee, O God,
to deliver me from this race, among whom I am now staying, as Thou didst
deliver me from those devils. Send Thy angel to draw me out of the midst of
them; for I have not myself power to escape from among them."
48 When Jared had ended his prayer,
God sent His angel in the midst of them, who took Jared and set him upon the
mountain, and showed him the way, gave him counsel, and then departed from him.
CHAPTER XVIII.
Confusion in the Cave
of Treasures
1 The children of Jared were in the
habit of visiting him hour after hour, to receive his blessing and to ask his
advice for every thing they did; and when he had a work to do, they did it for
him.
2 But this time when they went into
the cave they found not Jared, but they found the lamp put out, and the bodies
of the fathers thrown about, and voices came from them by the power of God,
that said, "Satan in an apparition has deceived our son, wishing to
destroy him, as he destroyed our son Cain."
3 They said also, "Lord God of
heaven and earth, deliver our son from the hand of Satan, who wrought a great
and false apparition before him." They also spake of other matters, by the
power of God.
4 But when the children of Jared heard
these voices they feared, and stood weeping for their father; for they knew not
what had befallen him.
5 And they wept for him that day
until the setting of the sun.
6 Then came Jared with a woeful
countenance, wretched in mind and body, and sorrowful at having been separated
from the bodies of his fathers.
7 But as he was drawing near to the
cave, his children saw him, and hastened to the cave, and hung upon his neck,
crying, and saying to him, "O father, where hast thou been, and why hast
thou left us, as thou wast not wont to do?" And again, "O father,
when thou didst disappear, the lamp over the bodies of our fathers went out,
the bodies were thrown about, and voices came from them"
8 When Jared heard this he was
sorry, and went into the cave; and there found the bodies thrown about, the
lamp put out, and the fathers themselves praying for his deliverance from the
hand of Satan.
9 Then Jared fell upon the bodies
and embraced them, and said, "O my fathers, through your intercession, let
God deliver me from the hand of Satan! And I beg you will ask God to keep me
and to hide me from him unto the day of my death."
10 Then all the voices ceased save
the voice of our father Adam, who spake to Jared by the power of God, just as
one would speak to his fellow, saying, "O Jared, my son, offer gifts to
God for having delivered thee from the hand of Satan; and when thou bringest
those offerings, so be it that thou offerest them on the altar on which I did
offer. Then also, beware of Satan; for he deluded me many a time with his
apparitions, wishing to destroy me, but God delivered me out of his hand.
11 "Command thy people that they
be on their guard against him; and never cease to offer up gifts to God."
12 Then the voice of Adam also became
silent; and Jared and his children wondered at this. Then they laid the bodies
as they were at first; and Jared and his children stood praying the whole of
that night, until break of day.
13 Then Jared made an offering and
offered it up on the altar, as Adam had commanded him. And as he went up to the
altar, he prayed to God for mercy and for forgiveness of his sin, concerning
the lamp going out.
14 Then God appeared unto Jared on
the altar and blessed him and his children, and accepted their offerings; and
commanded Jared to take of the sacred fire from the altar, and with it to light
the lamp that shed light on the body of Adam.
CHAPTER XIX.
The children of Jared are led astray.
1 Then
God revealed to him again the promise He had made to Adam; He explained to him
the 5500 years, and revealed unto him the mystery of His coming upon the earth.
2 And God said to Jared, "As to
that fire which thou hast taken from the altar to light the lamp withal, let it
abide with you to give light to the bodies; and let it not come out of the cave,
until the body of Adam comes out of it.
3 But, O Jared, take care of the
fire, that it burn bright in the lamp; neither go thou again out of the cave
until thou receivest an order through a vision, and not in an apparition, when
seen by thee.
4 "Then command again thy
people not to hold intercourse with the children of Cain, and not to learn
their ways; for I am God who loves not hatred and works of iniquity."
5 God gave also many other commandments
to Jared, and blessed him. And then withdrew His Word from him.
6 Then Jared drew near with his children,
took some fire, and came down to the cave, and lighted the lamp before the body
of Adam; and he gave his people commandments as God had told him to do.
7 This sign happened to Jared at the
end of his four hundred and fiftieth year; as did also many other wonders, we
do not record. But we record only this one for shortness sake, and in order not
to lengthen our narrative.
8 And Jared continued to teach his
children eighty years; but after that they began to transgress the commandments
he had given them, and to do many things without his counsel. They began to go
down from the Holy
Mountain
9 Now the reason for which the children
of Jared went down the Holy
Mountain
CHAPTER XX.
Ravishing music; strong drink loosed among the sons of Cain. They don colorful
clothing. The children of Seth look on with longing eyes. They revolt from wise
counsel; they descend the mountain into the valley of iniquity. They can not
ascend the mountain again.
1 After
Cain had gone down to the land of dark soil, and his children had multiplied
therein, there was one of them, whose name was Genun, son of Lamech the blind
who slew Cain.
2 But as to this Genun, Satan came
into him in his childhood; and he made sundry trumpets and horns, and string
instruments, cymbals and psalteries, and lyres and harps, and flutes; and he
played on them at all times and at every hour.
3 And when he played on them, Satan
came into them, so that from among them were heard beautiful and sweet sounds,
that ravished the heart.
4 Then he gathered companies upon
companies to play on them; and when they played, it pleased well the children of
Cain, who inflamed themselves with sin among themselves, and burnt as with
fire; while Satan inflamed their hearts, one with another, and increased lust
among them.
5 Satan also taught Genun to bring
strong drink out of corn; and this Genun used to bring together companies upon
companies in drink-houses; and brought into their hands all manner of fruits
and flowers; and they drank together.
6 Thus did this Genun multiply sin
exceedingly; he also acted with pride, and taught the children of Cain to
commit all manner of the grossest wickedness, which they knew not; and put them
up to manifold doings which they knew not before.
7 Then Satan, when he saw that they
yielded to Genun and hearkened to him in every thing he told them, rejoiced
greatly, increased Genun's understanding until he took iron and with it made
weapons of war.
8 Then when they were drunk, hatred
and murder increased among them; one man used violence against another to teach
him evil taking his children and defiling them before him.
9 And when men saw they were overcome,
and saw others that were not overpowered, those who were beaten came to Genun,
took refuge with him, and he made them his confederates.
10 Then sin increased among them
greatly; until a man married his own sister, or daughter, or mother, and
others; or the daughter of his father's sister, so that there was no more distinction
of relationship, and they no longer knew what is iniquity; but did wickedly,
and the earth was defiled with sin; and they angered God the Judge, who had created
them.
11 But Genun gathered together
companies upon companies, that played on horns and on all the other instruments
we have already mentioned, at the foot of the Holy
Mountain ; and they did so in order
that the children of Seth who were on the Holy Mountain
12 But when the children of Seth
heard the noise, they wondered, and came by companies, and stood on the top of
the mountain to look at those below; and they did thus a whole year.
13 When, at the end of that year,
Genun saw that they were being won over to him little by little, Satan entered
into him, and taught him to make dyeing - stuffs for garments of divers
patterns, and made him understand how to dye crimson and purple and what not.
14 And the sons of Cain who wrought
all this, and shone in beauty and gorgeous apparel, gathered together at the
foot of the mountain in splendour, with horns and gorgeous dresses, and horse
races, committing all manner of abominations.
15 Meanwhile the children of Seth,
who were on the Holy Mountain, prayed and praised God, in the place of the
hosts of angels who had fallen; wherefore God had called them 'angels,"
because He rejoiced over them greatly.
16 But after this, they no longer
kept His commandment, nor held by the promise He had made to their fathers; but
they relaxed from their fasting and praying, and from the counsel of Jared
their father. And they kept on gathering together on the top of the mountain,
to look upon the children of Cain, from morning until evening, and upon what
they did, upon their beautiful dresses and ornaments.
17 Then the children of Cain looked
up from below, and saw the children of Seth, standing in troops on the top of
the mountain; and they called to them to come down to them.
18 But the children of Seth said to
them from above, "We don't know the way." Then Genun, the son of
Lamech, heard them say they did not know the way, and he bethought himself how
he might bring them down.
19 Then Satan appeared to him by
night, saying, "There is no way for them to come down from the mountain on
which they dwell; but when they come to-morrow, say to them, 'Come ye to the
western side of the mountain; there you will find the way of a stream of water,
that comes down to the foot of the mountain, between two hills; come down that
way to us."
20 Then when it was day, Genun blew
the horns and beat the drums below the mountain, as he was wont. The children
of Seth heard it, and came as they used to do.
21 Then Genun said to them from down
below, "Go to the western side of the mountain, there you will find the
way to come down."
22 But when the children of Seth
heard these words from him, they went back into the cave to Jared, to tell him
all they had heard.
23 Then when Jared heard it, he was
grieved; for he knew that they would transgress his counsel.
24 After this a hundred men of the
children of Seth gathered together, and said among themselves, "Come, let
us go down to the children of Cain, and see what they do, and enjoy ourselves
with them."
25 But when Jared heard this of the hundred
men, his very soul was moved, and his heart was grieved. He then arose with
great fervour, and stood in the midst of them, and adjured them by the blood of
Abel the just, "Let not one of you go down from this holy and pure
mountain, in which our fathers have ordered us to dwell."
26 But when Jared saw that they did
not receive his words, he said unto them, "O my good and innocent and holy
children, know that when once you go down from this holy mountain, God will not
allow you to return again to it."
27 He again adjured them, saying,
"I adjure by the death of our father Adam, and by the blood of Abel, of
Seth, of Enos, of Cainan, and of Mahalaleel, to hearken to me, and not to go
down from this holy mountain; for the moment you leave it, you will be reft of
life and of mercy; and you shall no longer be called 'children of God,' but
'children of the devil.'
28 But they would not hearken to his
words.
29 Enoch at that time was already
grown up, and in his zeal for God, he arose and said, "Hear me, O ye sons
of Seth, small and great-when ye transgress the commandment of our fathers, and
go down from this holy mountain-ye shall not come up hither again for
ever."
30 But they rose up against Enoch,
and would not hearken to his words, but went down from the Holy Mountain
31 And when they looked at the
daughters of Cain, at their beautiful figures, and at their hands and feet dyed
with colour, and tattooed in ornaments on their faces, the fire of sin was
kindled in them.
32 Then Satan made them look most
beautiful before the sons of Seth, as he also made the sons of Seth appear of
the fairest in the eyes of the daughters of Cain, so that the daughters of Cain
lusted after the sons of Seth like ravenous beasts, and the sons of Seth after
the daughters of Cain, until they committed abomination with them.
33 But after they had thus fallen
into this defilement, they returned by the way they had come, and tried to ascend
the Holy Mountain
34 And God was angry with them, and
repented of them because they had come down from glory, and had thereby lost or
forsaken their own purity or innocence, and were fallen into the defilement of
sin.
35 Then God sent His Word to Jared,
saying, "These thy children, whom thou didst call 'My children,' - behold
they have transgressed My commandment, and have gone down to the abode of
perdition, and of sin. Send a messenger to those that are left, that they may
not go down, and be lost."
36 Then Jared wept before the Lord,
and asked of Him mercy and forgiveness. But he wished that his soul might
depart from his body, rather than hear these words from God about the going
down of his children from the Holy
Mountain
37 But he followed God's order, and
preached unto them not to go down from that holy mountain, and not to hold
intercourse with the children of Cain.
38 But they heeded not his message,
and would not obey his counsel.
CHAPTER XXI.
Jared dies in sorrow for his sons who had gone astray. A prediction of
the Flood.
1 After this another company gathered
together, and they went to look after their brethren; but they perished as well
as they. And so it was, company after company, until only a few of them were
left.
2 Then Jared sickened from grief,
and his sickness was such that the day of his death drew near.
3 Then he called Enoch his eldest
son, and Methuselah Enoch's son, and Lamech the son of Methuselah, and Noah the
son of Lamech.
4 And when they were come to him he
prayed over them and blessed them, and said to them, "Ye are righteous,
innocent sons; go ye not down from this holy mountain; for behold, your
children and your children's children have gone down from this holy mountain,
and have estranged themselves from this holy mountain, through their abominable
lust and transgression of God's commandment.
5 "But I know, through the
power of God, that He will not leave you on this holy mountain, because your
children have transgressed His commandment and that of our fathers, which we
had received from them.
6 "But, O my sons, God will
take you to a strange land, and ye never shall again return to behold with your
eyes this garden and this holy mountain.
7 "Therefore, O my sons, set
your hearts on your own selves, and keep the commandment of God which is with
you. And when you go from this holy mountain, into a strange land which ye know
not, take with you the body of our father Adam, and with it these three
precious gifts and offerings, namely, the gold, the incense, and the myrrh; and
let them be in the place where the body of our father Adam shall lay.
8 "And unto him of you who
shall be left, O my sons, shall the Word of God come, and when he goes out of
this land he shall take with him the body of our father Adam, and shall lay it
in the middle of the earth, the place in which salvation shall be
wrought."
9 Then Noah said unto him, "Who
is he of us that shall be left?"
10 And Jared answered, "Thou art
he that shall be left. And thou shalt take the body of our father Adam from the
cave, and place it with thee in the ark when the flood comes.
11 "And thy son Shem, who shall
come out of thy loins, he it is who shall lay the body of our father Adam in
the middle of the earth, in the place whence salvation shall come."
12 Then Jared turned to his son
Enoch, and said unto him "Thou, my son, abide in this cave, and minister
diligently before the body of our father Adam all the days of thy life; and
feed thy people in righteousness and innocence."
13 And Jared said no more. His hands
were loosened, his eyes closed, and he entered into rest like his fathers. His
death took place in the three hundred and sixtieth year of Noah, and in the
nine hundred and eighty-ninth year of his own life; on the twelfth of Takhsas
on a Friday.
14 But as Jared died, tears streamed
down his face by reason of his great sorrow, for the children of Seth, who had
fallen in his days.
15 Then Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech and
Noah, these four, wept over him; embalmed him carefully, and then laid him in
the Cave of Treasures
16 And when these days of mourning
were ended, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech and Noah remained in sorrow of heart,
because their father had departed from them, and they saw him no more.
CHAPTER XXII.
Only three righteous men left in the world. The evil conditions of men
prior to the Flood.
1 But Enoch kept the commandment of
Jared his father, and continued to minister in the cave.
2 It is this Enoch to whom many
wonders happened, and who also wrote a celebrated book; but those wonders may
not be told in this place.
3 Then after this, the children of
Seth went astray and fell, they, their children and their wives. And when
Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech and Noah saw them, their hearts suffered by reason of
their fall into doubt full of unbelief; and they wept and sought of God mercy,
to preserve them, and to bring them out of that wicked generation.
4 Enoch continued in his ministry
before the Lord three hundred and eighty-five years, and at the end of that
time he became aware through the grace of God, that God intended to remove him
from the earth.
5 He then said to his son, "O
my son, I know that God intends to bring the waters of the Flood upon the
earth, and to destroy our creation.
6 "And ye are the last rulers
over this people on this mountain; for I know that not one will be left you to
beget children on this holy mountain; neither shall any one of you rule over
the children of his people; neither shall any great company be left of you, on
this mountain."
7 Enoch said also to them,
"Watch over your souls, and hold fast by your fear of God and by your
service of Him, and worship Him in upright faith, and serve Him in righteousness,
innocence and judgment, in repentance and also in purity."
8 When Enoch had ended his commandments
to them, God transported him from that mountain to the land of life, to the
mansions of the righteous and of the chosen, the abode of Paradise of joy, in
light that reaches up to heaven; light that is outside the light of this world;
for it is the light of God, that fills the whole world, but which no place can
contain.
9 Thus, because Enoch was in the
light of God, he found himself out of the reach of death; until God would have
him die.
10 Altogether, not one of our fathers
or of their children, remained on that holy mountain, except those three,
Methuselah, Lamech, and Noah. For all the rest went down from the mountain and
fell into sin with the children of Cain. Therefore were they forbidden that mountain,
and none remained on it but those three men.
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