The First Book of Adam and Eve
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