Pseudepigrapha fragment

THE BOOK OF ADAM

Translated from the Georgian original. Translator: J.-P. Mahe
Source: commissioned for this electronic edition.

Discovery of Expulsion

1.1 It came to pass, when Adam went out from paradise with his wife Eve, they went out at the eastern part of paradise. And Adam made a hut to live in. They both entered (it) and resided there for seven days. They both wept with abundant tears for they regretted the residences of the kingdom from which they had been expelled.
2.1 And after seven “days, they were hungry and looked for something to eat.
2.2 Eve told Adam: “Adam, my lord, arise and (go) search for food for me that we may eat, while waiting to try — who knows — (that) for the Lord to accept us and take us back to the same place in paradise.
3.1 And Adam arose after seven days and went about upon the face of the earth and he did not find any food like that which they used to eat in paradise. Adam replied to Eve and told her, “We are going to die a death.”
3.2 Eve told Adam, “Oh, if I were dead then God would have accepted you in paradise!” Adam replied to Eve and said to her, “Because of us a great anger lies against (upon?) all creatures. (However) I do not know this: whether it is because of me or because of you.” Eve replied to Adam, “My lord, if you think it wise, kill me so that I will be exterminated from the sight of God and his angels, so that God’s anger against you may cease, which happened because of me: and he will bring you back into paradise.
3.3 Adam replied and told her, “No, no! Do not mention this matter, lest God send another judgment upon us because of (this) killing. How could I raise my hand and cause my own flesh to suffer?” Then Eve told him, “Arise, let us both seek vegetables.”
4.1 And they did not find (anything) tasting like the fruit of the tree which was in paradise.
4.2 And Eve told him, “God created that for the (wild-)beasts to get their food; but our food was that by which the angels live.
4.3 Now, come and let us repent in penitence for forty days, so that God may pity us and then give us better food than that of the (dumb) animals, lest we should become like them.”

Penitence and Second Temptation

5.1 Adam replied to Eve and told her, “Explain to me now what penitence you (wish to) repent, or for how many days will you be able to repent in your penitence, lest, perchance, we make a promise to God.
5.2 and we be unable to fulfill the promise which we will have made to him.”
5.3 Eve replied to Adam and she told him, “Tell me about the number of days to me, then; For what period of time will you consider doing penitence — who knows, (perhaps) I will add more to that –for it is I who have brought these tribulations upon you.”
6.1 Adam replied and said to Eve, “You will not be able to add (anything to it). On the contrary, hold to the number of days which I will tell you and keep it. And I will do penitence for forty days, and you, do penitence for thirty-four days. Leave me these six days, since were you not created upon the sixth day, when God completed the creation of all creatures? Now, You arise and go to the river Tigris; and put a stone under your feet and stay in the water and clothe yourself (with it) up to your neck. While you pray, (beware) let no sound come from your mouth, for we are not worthy to open our mouths, for our lips are impure because we transgressed the commandments, concerning the food [so as to eat from the tree] of paradise which God had forbidden us.
6.2 Rather, be silent, only do penitence in the water for thirty-four days with all your heart and I will do the same in the Jordan river, until God hearkens and gives us food.”
7.1 Eve went off to the Tigris river and she did as Adam had ordered her.
7.2 But Adam, he remained in the Jordan river and the hair of his head spread out .
8.1 And Adam said, “I tell you, O Jordan, suffer with me and assemble all the (dumb-) animals which are around you, so that they (may come) to surround you and bewail me,
8.2 not for their own sakes, but for me [so Q,B]. Because God did not withhold their fodder from them, which God gave them from the beginning, but I have been withheld from my means of life and from my food.”
8.3 When Adam had said that with bitter tears, all the cattle gathered close to him and stood around him like walls. At the moment when the water (of) the Jordan had restrained its flow, then Adam raised his voice towards God and he varied his tone of voice six times, like the voices of all the angels in all times.
9.1 When the twelve days of his weeping were completed, the devil trembled and changed his shape and his clothes by his artful deceit. He went close to Eve, on the Tigris river, and stood beside the bank.
9.2 He was weeping and had his false tears dripping (trickling) down on his garment and from his garment down to the ground. Then he told Eve, “Come out of that water (where you are) and stop your tribulations, for God has hearkened to your penitence and to Adam your husband.”
9.3 Moreover, we too have besought favor because of your misfortunes which we have seen.
9.4 Thus God sent me to have you (plural) come forth and to give you the food on account of which you repented.
9.5 Now, come upfrom there , for I have gone to Adam and he sent me and told me, ‘Go and speak with Eve, my spouse; bring her back to me.’ Come, now, and I will lead you to Adam to the place where he is and where your food also is.”
10.1 And Eve came up out of the water and her flesh was withered like rotten vegetables because of the coldness of the water. All the form of her beauty had been destroyed.
10.2 And when she had come up out of the water, she fell on the face of the earth in great weakness and remained lying (on the ground) without moving for two days. And after two days she arose and the devil led her to where Adam was.
10.3 And as soon as Adam saw Eve (and) how she was following the devil, he started to weep with burning tears and called out with a great voice and told her, “Where are the commands of repentance which I gave you? How have you been deceived again by him, because of whom we are aliens to our dwellings?”
11.1 When Eve heard that, that it was the devil who had deceived her, she fell down before him and Adam’s distress for Eve increased twofold for he saw her lying on the earth like one dead.
11.2 He was sad and said, groaning, “Woe to you who fight against us! What evil have we done to you? For it is because of your calumnies that we went out from paradise. Is it because we have caused you to be expelled that you are angry against us?
11.3 Or is it because of us that you were despoiled of your glory? Or is it, in some way, by our action that you are in such deficiency? Or are we the only creatures of God that you fight against us alone?

Fall of Satan

12.1 the devil began to cry with forced tears and the devil told Adam, “O Adam, all the greed and the anger and all the grief of my heart are directed against you because it was through you that I fell from my dwellings, (it was) by you that I was alienated from my own throne. My wings were more numerous than those of the Cherubim, and I concealed myself under them. Because of you, now my feet walk on the earth, which I would never have believed.”
12.2 Adam replied to the devil and told him,
12.3 “What is my fault, by which I have done all that to you?”
13.1 The devil replied to him and told him, “You did nothing to me, but it is because of you that I have fallen upon the earth.”
13.2 The very day when you were created, on that day, I fell from before the face of God, because when God breathed a spirit onto your face, you had the image and likeness of the divinity. And then Michael came; he presented you and made you bend down before God. And God told Michael, “I have created Adam according to (my) image and my divinity.”
14.1 Then Michael came; he summoned all the troops of angels and told them, “Bow down before the likeness and the image of the divinity.”
14.2 And then, when Michael summoned them and all had bowed down to you, he summoned me also.
14.3 And I told him, “Go away from me, for I shall not bow down to him who is younger than me; indeed, I am master prior to him and it is proper for him to bow down to me.
15.1 The six classes of other angels heard that and my speech pleased them and they did not bow down to you.
16.1 Then God became angry with us and commanded us, them and me, to be cast down from our dwellings to the earth. As for you, he commanded you to dwell in paradise.
16.2 When I had realized that I had fallen before you,[B, “by your power] that I was in distress and you were in rest,
16.3 then I aimed at hunting you so that I might alienate you from the paradise of Delights, just as I had been alienated because of you.
17.1 When Adam heard that, he cried in a loud voice and said, “Lord, my life is in your hands. Make this enemy distant from me, who desires to lead me astray and seeks to destroy my race. It is by him that Eve has been lost.”
17.2 At that moment, Beliar became invisible.
17.3 As for Adam, he remained in the water and did repentance. But Eve had fallen upon the earth like one dead. Then she stood up from the earth (ground?)

Separation of Adam and Eve

18.1 and told Adam, “Be saved, Adam, for you did not join me in the transgression of the commandments, neither in the first (instance) nor in the second. (But) the word of God will prevail against me.” And Eve said to him, “Behold, I shall so leave in the direction of the setting sun and I will eat grass like a (dumb-)animal until I die, for by no means am I worthy (of having a part) in the food of the living.”
18.2 Then Eve went away in the direction of the setting sun and she remained there in mourning and moaning.
18.3 And after these days, she made for herself a hut in the direction of the setting sun. Now she had conceived three months before, and Cain was in her womb,
19.1 when the days of her parturition arrived, then she started to tremble; she wailed towards God in a loud voice and said:
19.2 “Where is Adam so that he can console me in my present pain, or who will relate my sufferings to him? Is there none among the birds, who would go to him and tell him, ‘Come, help Eve, your spouse.’ I beg of you, all you races of heaven, and when you go to the east, relate my present sufferings to my lord.”
20.1a Then Adam heard in the river Jordan her crying of tears and misfortunes.
20.1b Then God hearkened to Adam’s prayer and sent him the angel Michael who brought him a seeds, sealed with the divine seal, destined to be brought to Adam. Then he taught him sowing and the work related to it, so that thus they might be saved, (they) and all their descendants.
20.1c And when Adam (had) heard the prayer of Eve and the wailing of her tears from the west, Adam recognized her voice and said in his heart, “This is the voice of my rib, the voice of my SHEEP (?); I will arise and I will see why she cries. Is it that the serpent is attacking her again?”
20.2 Adam arose and followed her footsteps. And he came close to her, in the part of the West where Eve was, and when Eve saw Adam, she was crying with abundant tears and said, “My lord, Adam, have you not heard the sound of my tears? For, today, it is nine days, day and night, that there has been this crying of mine towards you. Is it that the generations of the east have not informed you when they arose? And have not the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the earth informed you, for I begged them all that they tell you about it. Arise, entreat your Creator to have pity, so that God may answer your prayer and deliver me from my sufferings or, if it seems fitting to Him, send death to me or, by your prayers, liberate me from my torments.”
20.3 Adam prayed and spoke a plea to God on her behalf and the Lord hearkened to him.
21.1 And behold, twelve angels and two powers came from heaven. And they came to the place (where) Eve (was).
21.2 One of the powers came, touched Eve’s face and her breast, and told Eve, “Blessed are you, Eve, because of Adam, elect one and servant of God, for his prayers are great before God and, because of him, God will deliver you. If you had not been brought help because of him, you would have conceived such a thorn that you could not have rescued yourself from your sufferings. Rise up now and prepare yourself to give birth to a child.”
21.3a Eve arose as the angel had instructed her: she gave birth to an child and his color was like that of the stars. He fell into the hands of the midwife and (at once) he began to pluck up the grass, for in his mother’s hut grass was planted.
21.3b The midwife replied to him and told him, “God is just that he did not at all leave you in my hands. For, you are Cain, the perverse one, killer of the good, for you are the one who plucks up the fruit-bearing tree, and not him who plants it. You are the bearer of bitterness and not of sweetness.”
21.3c And the power told Adam, “Remain by Eve until she has done with the infant what I have taught her. [so QAC, ag. K]”

Death of Abel

[22]1.2 As for Adam, he took Eve and the child and he brought them into a part of the East and he stayed there. And when the eighth year and the second month were completed
[22]1.3 Eve became pregnant and bore another son whom the power of God called by name Abel, and they remained there together.
[22]2.1 At that time Eve told Adam,
[22]2.2 “Adam, my lord, in my sleep I saw that the blood of my son Abel was pouring into the mouth of Cain his brother and he drank it without mercy. And Abel beseeched him to leave him]a little of his blood,
[22]2.3 and he did not agree to hearken to him but he drank it completely and ]it did not remain in his stomach but it went forth and he was smeared with it and it could not at all be removed from his body.”
[22]2.4a Adam replied to Eve and told her, “Lest Cain plan to kill him, let us separate them from one another,
[23]2.4b and let us be with them, so as to provide no room to anger.” And they acted as Adam had said, and he told (them), “My sons, come and let us disperse, each to his own place.”
[23]3.2 Then God told the angel Gabriel, “Say to Adam: ‘Do not reveal to Cain the secret plan which you know, for he is a son of wrath, because his brother will be killed by him!’ However, let Adam not be sad, for I will raise up Seth for him instead of Abel, and he will resemble my image and he, so QAC will teach you everything of which I have a memory. But do not reveal this to anyone but Adam!”
[23]3.3a That is what God told the angel and the angel spoke this word to Adam. Then Adam kept the word in his heart. And they both were sad, Adam and his spouse.
[23]3.3b And the time arrived when Abel was killed by Cain his brother and he = Adam told her = Eve, “God has established an end for all human beings. Was death anything else but the killing by which Abel has been killed by Cain and Cain’s jealousy delivered him to death because Cain was of a perverse race?”
[23]3.3c And the times arrived when Cain and Abel had gone up towards their fields. Two demons resembling Cain and Abel came. One demon reproached the other demon. He became angry with him and took a stone sword, which was of a transparent stone [maybe same stone as Ex 4:25]. He cut his throat and killed him.
[23]3.3d And when Cain saw the blood, he went quickly and took the stone in his hand(s). But when Abel saw him coming upon him, he begged him, “Do not make me die, O my brother Cain!” He, however, did not accept his prayer and he spilled Abel’s blood in front of him. And Adam and Eve afflicted themselves all that time with great sadness.
[23]4.1 And after this, Adam entered his spouse and Eve became pregnant and bore Seth who resembled Adam.
[24]4.2 Adam told Eve, “Behold, I have born a son in place of Abel, whom Cain killed before me.”
[24]5.1a And again, after that, Adam had thirty sons and thirty daughters. For all the years of Adam were 930 years. And from him they multiplied over the earth and settled over it.

Illness of Adam

[30]5.1b And when the 930 years were completed Adam fell ill and cried out in a loud voice and said, “Gather to me ]ye all my descendants and I will see them before my death.”
[30]5.2 And all his progeny gathered to him who had settled, and he divided the three parts of the earth among his descendants. And all Adam’s descendants assembled by him, for they had taken a position before his doors, in the place which Adam had made, and into which he would enter and address his prayers to God.
[30]5.3 And his sons told him, “What is this, Father Adam?”
[30]5.4 He told them, “I am sick, my sons.” And they told him, “What is your illness and how does a human being fall ill?”
[31]6.1 Seth, his son, replied to him and told him, “Father Adam, what has befallen you? Have you remembered, perchance, the fruit of the Garden, and you longed for it and you become sad yourself because of it?
[31]6.2 If it is thus, tell me and I will go before paradise and I will cast dust upon my head and I will weep. And, if only God hears me, let him send his angel and he ]the angel will bring me the fruit of paradise and I will bring it to you so that you may calm your distress.”
[31]6.3 And Adam told him, “My son Seth, it is not so, rather I am sick and I have pain.” Seth replied to him, “Father, what is pain and how do you have pain?”

Adam’s Story of the Fall

[32]7.1 Adam told Seth, “Son, when God made us, me and your mother, he set us in the the paradise of Delights to eat its fruit. But there was one plant in the middle of paradise, ]very beautiful, concerning which God commanded us, ‘Eat not of it.’
[32]7.2 And the serpent deceived your mother and caused her to eat of it, because of which, now, we are going to die. When it was the hour for the guardian angels to ascend to worship God, the enemy deceived her and she ate of it
[32]7.3a and she deceived me, my children, for I did not know.
[32]7.3b And God had divided (paradise) between us, between me and your mother Eve, so that we might guard it. As for me, he had given me the eastern and northern portion; to your mother Eve he had entrusted the southern and the western portion.
[33].1 And there were twelve angels with each of us to guard us
[33].2 until the time of the dawn, but at each (time, at) day, they ascended (there). And at the moment of their ascent, the serpent deceived your mother and caused her to eat of the tree, for he had seen that I was not with her any more than the angels.
[33].3 She also made me eat of it and I did not understand.
[34]8.1 When we had eaten, God became angry with us and he told us,
[34]8.2 ‘You have, therefore, scorned my commandment; I too will scorn you.’ And he sent 70 evils upon us, to our eyes, and to our ears and as far as our feet, plagues and portents, treasured in (his) treasuries. This God did to me to cause me to perish through death.”

Comand to Retrieve the Oil

[35]9.1
[35]9.2 (Eve) said, weeping, “My lord Adam, give me half of your sufferings and I will bear your present pain, for your suffering is due to me and it is I who caused these pains to come upon you.”
[36]9.3 And Adam told Eve, “Arise and go with Seth, my son, to paradise; cast soil on your head and weep before God so that he might give us grace.
[36]9.4 And (God) will send his angel to paradise where the tree of life is, from which the oil flows out, so that he may give you a little of that oil. And you will bring it here to me and I will anoint myself and I will be healed of my sufferings.
[36]9.5 Then I will let you know the whole way in which we were tried.”

Encounter with the Beast

[37]10.1
[37]10.2 “Woe is me, for when arrive at the day of judgment, all my sins will burn me and (people) will tell me, ‘In the first instance, it was you who did not observe God’s orders.”
[37]10.3 Eve called out and told the wicked beast, “O evil beast, have you no fear? Did you dare to fight the image of God? How did you take it upon yourself to open your mouth and how have you (thought to) sink your teeth? Or how have you not recalled the first order of God and have opened your mouth against the image of God?”
[38]11.1 Then the beast replied to her and told Eve, “It is not from our greed(iness) that your discontent and your weeping come, but your discontent and your weeping come from your own greed(iness), for at the beginning of creation, it was you who hearkened to the beast, the serpent.
[38]11.2 How did you dare to open your mouth and eat of the tree of which God had commanded you not to eat? (It is) you, (because of) whom (Mahe emmendation) the aspect of everything has changed.
[38]11.3 Now, you will not be able to endure, if I start talking and rebuking you.”
[39]12.1 Seth replied to him and told the beast, “Let your mouth be closed and be silent, beast, and get away from us, the image of the divinity, until the day when God will have you standing (before him).”
[39]12.2 Then also the beast told Seth, “Behold, then, that I get away from you, image of God, dazzling (splendor) of God.” And when the beast had left him (her?), the beast fled (far) from Seth and the wounded man went to the hut of Adam his father.”

Arrival at Paradise

[40]13.1
[41]13.2a (And God sent to them the archangel Michael), who is in charge of the souls, and he told Seth,
[41]13.2b “Man of God, do not labor to supplicate thus concerning the olive tree, in command to anoint your father Adam.

Michael’s Reply

[42]13.3 This is not to be right now but in the future times, when five thousand years will be completed. Then, at the five and a half thousandth year, the beloved son of God, Christ, will come upon the earth to r(esurrect) Adam’s body from his fall, because of the transgression of the commands.
[42]13.4 He will come and he will be baptized in the river Jordan. And as soon as he will have come forth from of the water with the (anointing) of oil, he will anoint him, him
[42]13.5 and all his descendants, so that they will rise at the time of the resurrection. The Lord said, ‘I will admit them into paradise and I will anoint them with that unction.’

Return to Adam

[43]13.6 But now, go to your father Adam, because the days of his times are completed. (In) three days his soul will go out of his body and numerous wonders will be seen in the heavens.”
[44]14.1 When the angel had told that to him, (immediately) he was hidden underneath the plant of paradise. Now (as for) Seth and Eve they departed for Adam’s hut. And Adam wept because of the wound of the beast

Adam’s Rebuke of Eve

[44]14.2 and he told Eve, “What have (all of) us done? For an evil has come upon us and upon all our descendants.
[44]14.3 Indeed, tell your children what are your sins: for we will die, you and I, and misfortunes will spread over the earth. All the descendants who have come forth from us will curse us saying,
[44]14.4 ‘It was our father and mother who brought this misfortune upon us.'”

The Portions of Adam and Eve in Paradise

[44]15.1 Then Eve began to cry and she said, “Now hearken to me, my children, and I will tell you how we were tricked.
[44]15.2 It happened, (then), that your father was guarding his portion of paradise, the east and the north,
[44]15.3 while I was guarding my own portion, the west and the south. And the devil came to Adam’s portion. And there were beasts there
[44]15.4 for the Lord had also divided the beasts between us. All (that were) male He had given to Adam, and all (that were) female, he had given to me. And we each fed our own ones.

Satan’s Encounter with the Beast

[44]16.1 When the devil came to your father’s portion
[44]16.2 the devil summoned the serpent and told him, “Arise and come to me, and I will teach you a useful word.”
[44]16.3a Then, the serpent came and the Devil told the serpent, “I (hear) that you are wiser than all the (dumb) animals and I have come to test your wisdom (science), for Adam gives food to all the (dumb-)animals, thus also to you. (mahe has note that is unexplained)
[44]16.3b When then all the (dumb) animals come to bow down before Adam from day to day and from morning to morning, every day, you also come to bow down. You were created before him, as large (as you) are, and you bow down before this little one!
[44]16.3c And why do you eat (food) inferior to Adam’s and his spouse’s and not the good fruit of paradise? But come and hearken to me so that we may have Adam expelled from the wall of paradise just as we are outside. Perhaps we can re-enter somehow to paradise.”
[44]16.4 And the serpent told him, “How can we have them excluded?” The devil replied and told the serpent, “Be a sheath for me and I will speak to the woman through your mouth a word by which we will trick (them).”

Serpent’s Approach to Paradise

[44]17.1 And the two of them came together and they allowed their heads to hang on the wall of the paradise at the time where the angels had ascended to bow down to God. Then the devil changed himself into the image of an angel; he praised the praises of the angels. And I was gazing in the direction of the enclosure to hear the praises.
[44]17.2a I stared and I saw him like an angel and at once he became invisible
[44]17.2b for he had gone forth to bring the serpent. And he told him, ‘Arise and come and I will be with you and I will speak though your mouth that which it is proper for you to say.’
[44]17.2c He took on the form of the serpent (to go) close to the wall of paradise and the devil slipped inside the serpent and he allowed his head to hang on the wall of paradise. He cried out and said, ‘Shame on you, woman, you who are in the the paradise of Delight (and) who are blind! Come to me and I will tell you a certain secret word.’
[44]17.2d And when I had come, he told me, ‘Eve!’ and I told him, ‘Here I am.’ He replied to me and told me, ‘What do you do in paradise?”
[44]17.3 I replied and told him, ‘God has set me to guard paradise and eat (of it).’
[44]17.4 The devil replied to me and told me through the mouth of the serpent, ‘Well (done!) Do you eat the fruit of every tree which is in paradise?’
[44]17.5 I replied to him and told him, ‘(Yes), we eat all the fruit except for only one tree which is here in the middle of paradise, for God commanded us, ‘Do not eat of it, so that you will not die of death.’

Temptation of Eve

[44]18.1 Then the serpent told me, ‘I am distressed for you, for you are like the (dumb) animals. God was jealous of you and he has not permitted you, but I, I do not desire your ignorance. Rather come, eat and you will see the glory which is to be with you.’
[44]18.2 However, I told him, ‘I am afraid of dying, perhaps, as God said.’
[44]18.3 The serpent replied to me and told me, ‘What is death and how does one die? Death is life!’ I replied to him and told him, ‘I do not know.’ He replied to me and told me, ‘God is living, just so that you (pl.) will not die, but at the moment when you (pl.)eat your eyes will be opened and you will be instructed, like God, about good and evil.
[44]18.4 God knew that you would become like him (unexplained *) and God was jealous of you. Because of that God told you, ‘Do not eat of it!’
[44]18.5 Look at (so Mahe emmendation) the tree and see the glory around it.’ As for me, when I had gone and I had seen its glory around it, then I said,
[44]18.6 ‘This tree is good and its fruit is well-known in my eyes. However, I am afraid to stretch out my hand and take (it). But you, if you are not afraid, bring it out to me and I will eat (of it) and I will know whether your (present) words are true or not.’ The serpent replied to and told me, ‘Come, open the gate and I will give you of it.’

Entrance of the Snake into Paradise

[44]19.1 And when I had gone to open the gate for him and he had entered Paradise, he went forth, and then he stopped a little. I replied to him and said, ‘Why have you stopped?’ But he, my children, began to use trickery with me. He replied to me and told me, ‘If I have stopped it is because I changed my mind for fear that, perhaps if I should give you of it and you eat it, and your eyes will be opened and you will become like God, and you will know good and evil, and you will become prideful and become jealous of Adam and you will not make him eat of it, and he will be like a (dumb) animal before you, as you were before God, because God was jealous of you. If you wish (it), swear to me truly that, if I make you eat it, you will not be jealous of Adam, your husband, but will make him eat of it and give of it also to him.’
[44]19.2 I replied to him and told him, ‘I do not know any oath, how could I swear to you?’ And he told me, ‘Say: I swear by the plants of paradise and by the Cherubs upon whom sits the Father and (upon which) he descends to paradise, that if I eat and know it all, I will not be jealous but will give of it also to Adam.”
[44]19.3 And when he had made me take the oath, he bound me (to it), gave me of the tree and I ate it.

Eve’s Recognition of Her Sin

[44]20.4 [… (I was searching for leaves to cover)..] my nakedness and found none on all the trees, for at the moment at which I had eaten, the leaves from all the trees of paradise, in my portion, fell down.
[44]20.5 I took some and made a covering for myself and stood by the tree of which I had eaten, my children. I was afraid because of the oath which I had sworn by paradise and in which I had said, ‘I will make Adam eat of it as well.’

Temptation of Adam

[44]21.2 Then your father Adam came. He had thought thus: that a beast had entered paradise and he told me, ‘What are you thinking for and why do you have this fig-leaf on yourself?’
[44]21.3 I replied to him and I told him, ‘Do you wish me to tell you something or not? Until today we were like (dumb-) animals. When I understood (that of which) the Lord had said to us, ‘Do not eat of this’ and when I saw its splendor, I took of it and ate of it and I knew good and evil. Now, eat also of it and you will you become like God.’
[44]21.4a Adam replied to me and told me, ‘I fear lest God be angry with me and tell me, “My commandment which I gave you, you did not keep it!”‘
[44]21.4b But I told the father, “On me shall be this blame. If He asks you, say thus: ‘This woman whom you have given me is to blame for that; (she said:) See the flavor of this glory.’!
[44]21.5 Then I gave him of it and he ate of it and became like me, and he also took a leaf of the fig tree and covered his nakedness with it.

Entry of God into Paradise

[44]22.1 After which we heard that, through an angel, (God) blew the trumpet. He (had) summoned the angels and told them,
[44]22.2 “Thus says the Lord, come to paradise and hear the sentence to which we are going to judge (them).” Adam (told me), “We have sinned, for God is going to come to judge us.” We were afraid and we hid.
[44]22.3 And God came to paradise sitting upon the Cherubs and the angels were singing hymns before him. When he had arrived at paradise, at once all (the) tree(s) cast off their (its) foliage,
[44]22.4 and thrones were set up near the tree of life.
[44]23.1 And God summoned Adam and told him, “Adam, Adam, where are you? Are you hiding from me? Or how will a house hide from its builder? Or why have you hidden near the tree of paradise?”
[44]23.2 Then your father replied and told the Lord, “I have hidden because I am afraid: I am naked and I am ashamed.”
[44]23.3 God replied to him and told him, “Who told you that you are naked? Have you scorned the commandment which I gave you?”
[44]23.4 Then Adam remembered my word(s) which I had said, “Do not be concerned for (the blame) for it will lie upon me.” And Adam said, “Lord, it is this woman whom you gave to me who deceived me.” Then He turned towards me and told me, “What have you done?”
[44]23.5 And I remembered the serpent’s word and I said, “It is the serpent who deceived me!”

Judgment of Adam, Eve, and the Serpent

[44]24.1 God replied to Adam and told him, “Because you hearkened to your wife and disobey my commandment, let the earth be cursed in your deeds.
[44]24.2 May you work it and it will give you no fruit; it will sprout only thorns and thistles for you. By the sweat of your brow you shall eat bread.
[44]24.3 May you be with many sighs, labor in labors and you shall have (no) rest. You shall hunger and you shall (not) be sated. You shall be affected by bitterness and you shall (not) taste sweetness; you shall be tomrented by heat and will undergo cold; you (pl.) shall be pauperized and you shall (not) be enriched; you shall eat and shall (not) grow fat; you shall warm yourselves with fire, and you shall not be heated. You will ???? (to soak) yourselves with water and it will draw back.
[44]24.4 And the beasts over whom you (sing.) ruled shall rise up against you. You shall be weakened because you have not kept my commandments.”
[44]25.1 God turned to me and told me, “Why did you hearken to the serpent and abandon my commandments with which I commanded to you? (May you) be in toils and pains;
[44]25.2 (may you) give birth to many fruits and when you give birth to them you will despair of your life because of the torments and pains.
[44]25.3 (You shall promise yourself) that if you are ever delivered from the agonies, you will never go back to (your husband) and you will harden your heart in view of the great combat which the serpent instituted with you.
[44]25.4 (But may you) return at once to the same point, may you bear your offspring in hurt and return in pity to your husband, and he will rule over you.”
[44]26.1 When he had said all this to me, he became very angry with the serpent, and he told it, “You, too, perish and be cursed among all the (dumb) animals.
[44]26.2 May you be withheld from you food which you used to eat and may the soil be to you as food all the days of your life; you shall go on your breast and on your stomach; your hands and your feet will be taken from you.
[44]26.3 May you have neither ears nor nails and may not even one limb remain for you. Let the precious cross which my Son will take upon the earth condemn you because of the deceit by which you deceived Adam. But may you again be crushed and broken because of the evil of your heart.
[44]26.4 And I will set enmity between you and the offspring of the woman: she will lay in wait for your head and you will lay in wait for her heel until the day of judgment.”

Adam’s Plea for Mercy

[44]27.1 Thus God said, and he commanded both of us to be expelled from paradise.
[44]27.2 Adam besought the angels and told them, “Wait for me to beseech the Lord; who knows, perhaps the Lord will grant me a penitence for that which I have done and I will not go out of paradise.”
[44]27.3 Then the angels waited for us to ask. Adam besought the Lord and said, “I beseech you, Lord, pardon me for what I have done.”
[44]27.4 Then the Lord told the angels, “Why have you been waiting (before) separating Adam from paradise? Is the blame mine (Am I to blame) or have I not judged justly?”
[44]27.5 Then the angels fell to the ground and told him, bowing before the Lord, “You are just, Lord, and you sentence is upright.”
[44]28.1 The Lord turned and told Adam, “You are not to remain in paradise.”
[44]28.2 Adam replied to the Lord and told him, “I beseech you, Lord, give me of the tree of life so that I may eat before I have gone forth.”
[44]28.3 Then the Lord addressed a speech to Adam and told him, “You will not take any of it anymore in your lifetime. I have posted burning Cherubs and a turning sword to keep it from you, lest you should taste it and become immortal and boast saying, ‘I shall not die ever’; and you will conduct the fight which the enemy has conducted against you.
[44]28.4 If you go out of paradise and guard yourself from every evil, you will die and after death you will arise in the future resurrection. Then, indeed, I will give you of the tree of life and you will be immortal for ever.”

Expulsion

[44]29.1 When the Lord had said that he commanded us to be chased out of paradise.
[44]29.2 And your father wept before the angels, but they told him, “What is this or what shall we do for you?”
[44]29.3 Then your father replied to them and told them, “Behold, I am going out. Now I beseech you that at the very moment of my leaving paradise I may take incense from paradise so that, when I go out, I may offer a sweet odered incense-fragrance and God will be willing to hearken to me.”
[44]29.6 And the angels let him and he took four sweet odered incenses-fragrances: nard, saffron, reed, cinnamon; that is what Adam brought from paradise onto the earth.

Death of Adam

[44]30.1 Now, therefore, my children I have taught you the whole way in which we were tricked and I beseech you to watch yourselves and not to stop doing good.’
[45]31.1 That, then, is what Eve said in the midst of her children when Adam was lying ill. And on the second day his soul was about to go out of his body. Eve told Adam,
31.2 “Why are you alone dying and I am alive? Or, how long shall I exist? Or, what will become of me after your death? Let me know about me that.”
[45]31.3 Then Adam told Eve, “Be not concerned, whatever you have done. If we must both die, you too will be set near me. And if I am to die alone, do not move me from my place until God gives you an command about me,
[45]31.4 for the Lord will not forget me, but rather he will seek out the vessel which he has made. Arise and pray a prayer to God that my soul be commended into the hands of my Creator. For I do not know how I am going to reach the Creator of all, or whether he is angry with me or whether he will accept me.”

Eve’s Confession

[45]32.1 Then Eve arose and went out from Adam(‘s place). She did penitance and said,
[45]32.2 “I have sinned against you, God; I have sinned against you and I have sinned before you. I have sinned before your elect angels. I have sinned before the Cherubs. I have sinned before the altar of your holiness. I have sinned before the generations of the heavens. I have sinned before the birds of heavens. I have sinned before the beasts of the earth. I have sinned against you, God, by all my greed, among all your creatures. I beseech you all, you creatures of heaven and earth, beseech the Lord of all for me.”
[45]32.3 While Eve was on her (knees) to pray, suddenly Michael came, the angel of mankind, he stood and raised Eve up, and told her,
[45]32.4 “Arise from that penitence, for Adam your husband has gone forth from the body. Arise and see his soul, how his Creator has already (got) it.”

Angelic Liturgy

[45]33.1 Eve arose and put her hand on her face and the angel went up again, and he told Eve, “Raise you eyes and abandon earthly concerns.”
[45]33.2 As for Eve, when she had raised her eyes towards the heavens, she saw chariots of fire and a light which went up, (borne) by four (winds): they were so resplendent that no word could express it, and it was impossible to sound them out, neither from the front nor from the back. And angels were proceeding before these chariots.
[45]33.3 And when they had arrived (at the place) where the father was, the chariot stopped and the Seraphs stood between him and the chariot(s).
[45]33.4 And I, Eve, saw three gold censers, and (three) cups and three angels come quickly upon the altar. These angels took a burning coal and put it in the censer and set the censer upon (the altar). And while they blew, the smoke went up and veiled the frimaments of the heavens.
[45]33.5 the angels were praising (God), they were bowing before him, crying out and saying, “God, forgive Adam for he is your image and the work of your hands: he is your creature.”
[46]34.1 And I, Eve, saw two great lights prostrated in fear before God and I wept and told my son Seth,
[46]34.2 Rise from near your father’s body, come towards me and see that which your eyes have not seen, concerning Adam your father.”
[46]35.1 Then Seth arose and went close to his mother Eve and told her, “Why are you weeping?
[46]35.2 Raise your eyes and see the seven firmaments open and see the likeness of the father Adam, as he lies before God and all the angels are beseeching him and saying, ‘God, forgive Adam, for he is your image and your likeness, because it is you who have created him.'”
[46]35.3 “What is this, then, my son Seth,
[46]35.4 do they deliver the blood of my spouse to these Indians, for they were before God?” Seth replied to Eve and told her, “No, mother, did you not recognize those whom you called Indians in these colours of blood?” Eve replied to him and told him, “I do not know them, my son.”
[46]36.1 Seth replied to her and told her, “These are the sun and the moon: they are prostrated and they are beseeching for Adam, my father.”
[46]36.2 “Where is the light of the sun, for it is no more with it, or why is it darkened thus?”
[46]36.3 Seth replied to her and told Eve, “Because its light has been eclipsed before the God of all and its light had become darkened by fear of God.”

Assumption of Adam to Paradise

[47]37.1 As Seth was telling that to Eve, at once a great angel blew the trumpet and all the angels who were prostrated on their faces stood up again. They besought Adam and cried out in a loud voice, and said,
[47]37.2 “Blessed is God, by all blessing. You pardoned the protoplast.”
[47]37.3 And when the angels had said these words, one of the six-winged Seraphs was sent towards him (Adam). He took Adam to the lake of (A)cheron,
[47]37.4 and he dipped him in it three times. Then he led him back before God and (Adam) remained (prostrate) on his face for three hours. And after that, God stretched out his hand from his Throne, raised Adam up and gave him to Michael, and he told him,
[47]37.5 “Take him to the third heaven, to paradise, and set him before the altar until the day of the “oikonomia” which I contemplate concerning all the fleshly (beings) with my well beloved Son.”
[47]37.6 Then Michael took Adam to the place which God had commanded and all the angels were chanting angelic psalms. They were praising this wonder: the forgiveness of Adam and the promise of a future (life).

Adam and Abel’s Funerary Rites

[47]38.1 After which Michael cried out towards God,
[47]38.2 and God commanded that the trumpet be sounded and that all the angels assemble before God, each one in his rank: those who held a censer; those who held a psaltery; and those who sounded the trumpet.
[47]38.3 And behold, the Lord of Sabaoth rose upon the winds of the Cherubs, and
[47]37.1
[47]38.4 And (God) first reached his paradise, and the flowers of paradise, with their sweet odors, were moved at the sweet odor of the glorious God. All the children of Adam were breathless, except only for Seth, for he was son of the greatness of God.
[47]39.1 And when the Lord had come to the body of Adam which had fallen in (the earth), the Lord was sorrowful for him and told him in a sad voice, “If you had kept my commandments, you would not have fallen in that place and your enemy would not have been able to see that he had caused you to be expelled in that place.
[47]39.2 But I will change his joy into sorrow and I will lead you back towards this realm and I will set you upon your enemy’s throne, where he was seated, close (by the place) where his rebellion was discovered.
[47]39.3 He will fall in the place (where) you (are) and he will see you in that (other) place sitting upon a throne.”
[48]40.1 And after that, God gave an command to Michael
[48]40.2 who took (Adam) back to paradise, which is in the third heaven. They seized three folded shrouds of (cloth) and God told Michael and Gabriel, “Unfold these shrouds and envelop Adam’s body and take the ointment from the olive tree and pour it upon him.” And three angels dressed him (in it) and when they had dressed Adam’s body (in it),
[48]40.3 God told them, “Take Abel’s body as well, seize other shrouds and dress him in them also
[48]40.4 for he had remained lying naked since the day when wicked Cain killed him. And he wished to bury him in the earth and he was unable (to do so), because his body came back out of the earth. For a voice made itself heard from heaven and said to him,
[48]40.5a “He will not be able to be buried in the earth before he who was created first has returned to the earth from which he was created.”
[48]40.5b Then he took it to a rock and it remained spread out there until the death of Adam. Thus (the angels) took him and dressed him like his father.
[48]40.6 God commanded that both of them should be taken up to paradise, on the eastern part, in the place from which God had taken some soil and created Adam. And God commanded Michael to dig.
[48]40.7 And God sent seven angels to paradise: they gathered much incense from paradise and they brought them to them. Then they took both bodies, put them into the grave and covered them (with earth).
[48]41.1 Then God turned and called Adam. Adam’s body answered him from the soil and said, “Here I am, (Lord).”
[48]41.2 And the Lord told him, “Behold, as I told you, you are soil and you have returned to the soil,
[48]41.3 but I will raise you up in the resurrection which I have promised you, at the time of resurrection.
[48]42.1 Then, after that, God took the triangular seal and sealed the tomb of Adam and he said, “Let no person touch it during these six days, until your rib returns to you.
[48]42.2 Then God reascended to the upper heaven and each of the angels to his office.

Eve’s Prayer to Join Adam

[48]42.3 But Eve grew numb when she saw (so Mahe) all that. Eve wept and wished to see where they had put Adam, for she did not know. When the Lord had descended upon the earth, the sweet odor of all the trees of paradise did not (…) because of his sweet odor all had grown numb. Until the wrapping and the burial of Adam, nobody understood anything except Seth.
[48]42.4 Then Eve begged (and) wept so that (God) might lead her off, show her the place where they had put Adam. And when she had completed her prayer, she said,
[48]42.5 “Lord, do not alienate me from Adam’s place,
[48]42.6 but command me, me also, (to be) with him,
[48]42.7 as we both were in paradise, inseparable from one another.
[48]42.8 Do not separate us in our death, but place me where you have placed him.” And after this prayer she gave up her soul.

Eve’s Funeral and Epilogue

[51]43.1 And the angel Michael came and taught Seth how to dress Eve. Three angels came and took Eve’s body and placed it where they had placed Adam’s body.
[51]43.2 And after that, the angel Michael told him, “Thus dress every dead person who dies, until the death of all human beings.”
[51]43.3 When he had taught Seth all that, he ascended to the uppermost heaven, far from Seth, and he told him, “Do not mourn for the dead more than five days and on the seventh day rejoice, for on that day God rested from all his (works) which the Lord had made.”
[51]43.4 To him is glory and honor and adoration, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and for ever and for ever and ever. Amen.