The First Book of Adam and Eve
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?