The First Book of Adam and Eve
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.