The First Book of Adam and Eve

by Rutherford Platt




TABLE OF CONTENTS


Prologue

Chapter I - The crystal sea, God commands Adam, expelled from Eden, to
live in the Cave of Treasures.

Chapter II - Adam and Eve faint when they leave the Garden.  God sends
His Word to encourage them.

Chapter III - Concerning the promise of the great five and a half days.

Chapter IV - Adam mourns over the changed conditions.  Adam and Eve
enter the Cave of Treasures.

Chapter V - Eve makes a noble and emotional intercession, taking the
blame on herself.

Chapter VI - God's reprimand to Adam and Eve in which he points out how
and why they sinned.

Chapter VII - The beasts are appeased.

Chapter VIII - The "Bright Nature" of man is taken away.

Chapter IX - Water from the Tree of Life.  Adam and Eve near drowning.

Chapter X - Their bodies need water after they leave the garden.

Chapter XI - A recollection of the glorious days in the Garden.

Chapter XII - How darkness came between Adam and Eve.

Chapter XIII - The fall of Adam.  Why night and day were created.

Chapter XIV - The earliest prophesy of the coming of Christ.

Chapter XV - Adam and Eve grieve over the suffering of God to save them
from their sins.

Chapter XVI - The first sunrise.  Adam and Eve think it is a fire
coming to burn them.

Chapter XVII - The Chapter of the Serpent.

Chapter XVIII - The mortal combat with the serpent.

Chapter XIX - Beasts made subject to Adam.

Chapter XX - Adam wishes to protect Eve.

Chapter XXI - Adam and Eve attempt suicide.

Chapter XXII - Adam in a gracious mood.

Chapter XXIII - Adam and Eve strengthen themselves and make the first
altar ever built.

Chapter XXIV - A vivid prophecy of the life and death of Christ.

Chapter XXV - God represented as merciful and loving.  The establishing
of worship.

Chapter XXVI - A beautiful prophecy of eternal life and joy (v. 15).
The fall of night.

Chapter XXVII - The second tempting of Adam and Eve.  The devil takes
on the form of a beguiling light.

Chapter XXVIII - The Devil pretends to lead Adam and Eve to the water
to bathe.

Chapter XXIX - God tells Adam of the Devil's purpose. (v. 4).

Chapter XXX - Adam receives the first worldly goods.

Chapter XXXI - They make themselves more comfortable in the Cave of
Treasures on the third day.

Chapter XXXII - Adam and Eve go into the water to pray.

Chapter XXXIII - Satan falsely promises the "bright light."

Chapter XXXIV - Adam recalls the creation of Eve.  He eloquently
appeals for food and drink.

Chapter XXXV - God's reply.

Chapter XXXVI - Figs.

Chapter XXXVII - Forty-three days of penance do not redeem one hour of
sin (v. 6).

Chapter XXXVIII - "When 5500 years are fulfilled. . . ."

Chapter XXXIX - Adam is cautious--but too late.

Chapter XL - The first Human hunger.

Chapter XLI - The first Human thirst.

Chapter XLII - A promise of the Water of Life.  The third prophecy of
the coming of Christ.

Chapter XLIII - The Devil attempts arson.

Chapter XLIV - The power of fire over man.

Chapter XLV - Why Satan didn't fulfil his promises.  Description of
hell.

Chapter XLVI - "How many times have I delivered you out of his hand . .
."

Chapter XLVII - The Devil's own Scheming.

Chapter XLVIII - Fifth apparition of Satan to Adam and Eve.

Chapter XLIX - The first prophecy of the Resurrection.

Chapter L - Adam and Eve seek to cover their nakedness.

Chapter LI - "What is his beauty that you should have followed him?"

Chapter LII - Adam and Eve sew the first shirt.

Chapter LIII - The prophecy of the Western Lands and of the great flood.

Chapter LIV - Adam and Eve go exploring.

Chapter LV - The Conflict between God and Satan.

Chapter LVI - A chapter of divine comfort.

Chapter LVII - "Therefore I fell. . . . "

Chapter LVIII - "About sunset on the 53rd day. . ."

Chapter LIX - Eighth apparition of Satan of Satan to Adam and Eve.

Chapter LX - The Devil appears like an old man.  He offers "a place of
rest."

Chapter LXI - They begin to follow Satan.

Chapter LXII - Two fruit trees.

Chapter LXIII - The first joy of trees.

Chapter LXIV - Adam and Eve partake of the first earthly food.

Chapter LXV - Adam and Eve acquire digestive organs.  Final hope of
returning to the Garden is lost.

Chapter LXVI - Adam does his first day's work.

Chapter LXVII - "Then Satan began to lead astray Adam and Eve. . . ."

Chapter LXVIII - How destruction and trouble is of Satan when he is the
master.  Adam and Eve establish the custom of worship.

Chapter LXIX - Twelfth apparition of Satan to Adam and Eve, while Adam
was praying over the offering on the altar; when Satan beat him.

Chapter LXX - Thirteenth apparition of Satan, to trick Adam into
marrying Eve.

Chapter LXXI - Adam is troubled by the thought of marrying Eve.Chapter

Chapter LXXII - Adam's heart is set on fire.  Satan appears as beautiful
maidens.

Chapter LXXIII - The marriage of Adam and Eve.

Chapter LXXIV - The birth of Cain and Luluwa.  Why they received those
names.

Chapter LXXV - The family revisits the Cave of Treasures.  Birth of
Abel and Aklia.

Chapter LXXVI - Cain becomes jealous of Abel because of his sisters.

Chapter LXXVII - Cain, 15 years old, and Abel 12 years old, grow apart.

Chapter LXXVIII - Jealousy overcomes Cain.  He makes trouble in the
family.  How the first murder was planned.

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.




Prologue

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 and converted to electronic form by Dennis
Hawkins.  It was then translated into more modern English by simply
exchanging 'Thou' s for 'You's, 'Art's for 'Are's, and so forth.  The
text was then carefully re-read to ensure its integrity.




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 below the garden.




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,
of which I have before spoken to you."

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 than
darkness surrounded us all around; until we can no longer see each
other; and all the pleasure of this life has come to an end."




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
where they lived.  But when they got closer to it and saw it from a
distance, heavy sorrow fell on Adam and Eve when they looked at it.

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 on the third day.

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,' by reason of the bodies of
righteous men that were in it.




Chapter XXXII - Adam and Eve go into the water to pray.

1 And Adam and Eve remained in the Cave of Treasures until the seventh
day; they neither ate of the fruit the earth, nor drank water.

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
where Jesus was crucified. Its exact location is not precisely known,
but the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is believed to have been
constructed on this hill.

*** Reference: John 6:25 and 7:38




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, and
they stood praying in it the whole of that day, until the evening.

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; and when in it, they stood and prayed as they were
accustomed.

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.  But their flesh was dried up, and they were weak from
fasting and praying, and from the sorrow they felt at having trespassed
against God.




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.  And now, indeed,
when he saw that you and Eve both joined together in fasting and
praying, and that you came not out of the cave before the end of the
forty days, he wished to make your purpose vein, to break your mutual
bond; to cut off all hope from you, and to drive you to some place
where he might destroy you.

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, as they were used to do.  This completed for Adam and
Eve, one hundred and forty days since their coming out of the garden.

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, and went into it.

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, as they
usually did; about evening time.

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.  Birth of
Abel and Aklia.

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, where they prayed and
were blessed; and then went back to their cave, where their children
were born.

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, where they received a
blessing, and then returned to the cave where they were born.  After
these children were born, Eve stopped having children.




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, and saw the golden rods, the incense and the myrrh, he asked
his parents, Adam and Eve, to tell him about them and asked, "Where did
you get these from?"

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. . . .






End of Project Gutenberg's First Book of Adam and Eve, by Rutherford Platt