From-The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old
Testament
R.H. Charles
Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1913
xxviii 1 And we sat together before the gate of paradise, Adam
weeping with his face bent down to the earth, lay on the ground
lamenting. And seven days passed by and we had nothing
2 to eat and were consumed with great hunger, and I Eve cried with a
loud voice: 'Pity me, O Lord, My Creator; for my sake Adam suffereth
thus!'
xxxix 1 And I said to Adam: 'Rise up! my lord, that we may seek us
food; for now my spirit faileth me and my heart within me is brought
low.' Then Adam spake to me: 'I have thoughts of
2 killing thee, but I fear since God created thine image and thou
showest penitence and criest to God; hence my heart hath not departed
from thee.'
xxx 1 And Adam arose and we roamed through all lands and found
nothing to eat save nettles (and) grass of the field. And we returned
again to the gates of paradise and cried aloud and entreated: 'Have
compassion on thy creature.
2 O Lord Creator, allow us food.'
xxxi 1 And for fifteen days continuously we entreated. Then we
heard Michael the archangel and Joel
2 praying for us, and Joel the archangel was commanded by the Lord,
and he took a seventh part of paradise and gave it to us. Then
the
3 Lord said: 'Thorns and thistles shall spring up from under thy
hands; and from thy sweat shalt thou eat (bread), and thy wife shall
tremble when she looketh upon thee.'
xxxii 1 The archangel Joel said to Adam: 'Thus saith the Lord; I
did not create thy wife to command thee, but to obey; why art thou
obedient to thy wife?' Again Joel the archangcl bade Adam separate
the cattle and all kinds of flying and creeping things and animals,
both wild and tame; and to give names to all things. Then indeed
3 he took the oxen and began to plough.
xxxiii 1 Then the devil approached and stood before the oxen, and
hindered Adam in tilling the field and said to Adam: 'Mine are the
things of
2 earth, the things of Heaven are God's; but if thou wilt be mine,
thou shalt labour on the earth; but if thou wilt be God's, (pray) go
away to paradise.' Adam said: 'The things
3 of Heaven are the Lord's, and the things of earth and Paradise and
the whole Universe.'
xxxiv 1 The devil said: 'I do not suffer thee to till the field,
except thou write the bond that thou art mine.' Adam replied:
'Whosoever is lord of
2 the earth, to the same do I (belong) and my children.' Then the
devil was overcome with joy. (But Adam was not ignorant that the
Lord
3 would descend on earth and tread the devil under foot.) The devil
said: 'Write me thy
4 bond.' And Adam wrote: 'Who is lord of the earth, to the same do I
belong and my children.'
xxxv 1 Eve said to Adam, 'Rise up, my lord, let us pray to God in this cause that He set us free from that devil, for thou art in this strait on my account.'
But Adam said: 'Eve, since thou repentest of
2 thy misdeed, my heart will hearken to thee, for the Lord created
thee out of my ribs. Let us fast forty days perchance the Lord will
have pity on us and will leave us understanding and life.' I, for my
part, said: 'Do thou, (my) lord,
3 fast forty days, but I will fast forty-four.'
xxxvi 1 And Adam said to me: 'Haste thee to the river, named
Tigris, and take a great stone and place it under thy feet, and enter
into the stream and clothe thyself with water, as with a cloak, up to
the neck, and pray to God in thy heart and let no word proceed out of
thy mouth.' And
2 I said: 'O (my) lord, with my whole heart will I call upon God.'
And Adam said to me:
3 'Take great care of thyself. Except thou seest me and all my
tokens, depart not out of the water, nor trust in the words, which
are said to thee, lest thou fall again into the snare.' And
4 Adam came to Jordan and he entered into the water and he plunged
himself altogether into the flood, even (to) the hairs of his head,
while he made supplication to God and sent (up) prayers to Him.
xxxvii 1And there, the angels came together and all living creatures, wild and tame, and all birds that fly, (and) they surrounded Adam, like a wall, praying to God for Adam.
xxxviii 1 The devil came to me, wearing the form and brightness of
an angel, and shedding big teardrops, (and) said to me: 'Come out of
the water,
2 Eve, God hath heard thy prayers and (heard) us angels. God hath
fulfilled the prayers of those who intercede on thy behalf. God hath
sent me to thee, that thou mayst come out of the water.'
xxxix 1 But I (Eve) perceived that he was the devil and answered
him nothing. But Adam (when) he returned from Jordan, saw the devil's
footprints, and feared lest perchance he had deceived me; but when he
had remarked me standing in the water he was overcome with joy (and)
he took
2 me and led me out of the water.
xl 1 Then Adam cried out with a loud voice: 'Be silent, Eve, for already is my spirit straitened in my body; arise, go forth, utter prayers to God, till I deliver up my spirit to God.'
(Passage follows exactly parallel to Apocalypsis Mosis xxxii. seq., but in abbreviated form.)
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