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.