“ But now, 0 Adam, thou shalt acknowledge My good deeds done to thee.”

81

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And God told His angels to take Adam and Eve, and to bear them up to the field of wheat,* which they found as before, with the bucket full of water. There they saw a tree, and found on it solid manna ; and wondered at God's power. And the angels commanded them to eat of the manna when they were hungry.

And God adjured Satan with a curse, not to come again, and destroy the field of corn.

Then Adam and Eve took of the corn, and made of it an offering,f and took it and offered it up on the mountain, the place where they had offered up their first offering of blood.

And they offered this oblation again on the altar they had built at first. And they stood up and prayed, and besought the Lord saying, e< Thus, 0 God, when we were in the garden, did our praises go up to Thee, like this offering; and our innocence! went up to the like incense. But now, O God, accept this offering from us, and turn us not back, reft§ of Thy mercy. ||

Then God said to Adam and Eve, “ Since ye have made this oblation and have offered it to Me, I shall make it My flesh,^f when I come down upon earth to save you; and I shall cause it to be offered continually upon an altar, for forgiveness and for mercy, unto those who partake of it duly."

And God sent a bright fire upon the offering of Adam and Eve, and filled it with brightness, grace, and light; and the Holy Ghost came down upon that oblation.

Then God commanded an angel to take fire-tongs, like a spoon,** and with it to take an offering and bring it to Adam

* Lit. place.

f 'O (tiros dk Kai 6 olvog twv aylufv pvvrTipiojv aiviypaTa. S. Athan., Qurnt. lxyii, yoI. ii, p. 414.

X Or, purity. § Or, bare.

|| The Arabic adds: And God wondered at Adam's wisdom, and Adam's deed pleased him.

Or, body.

** Used at the Eucharist in the East.

6

and Eve. And the angel did so, as God had commanded him, and offered it to them.

And the souls of Adam and Eve were brightened, and their hearts were filled with joy and gladness and with the praises of God.

And God said to Adam, “ This shall be unto you a custom, to do so, when affliction and sorrow come upon you. But your deliverance and your entrance into the garden, shall not be until the days are fulfilled, as [agreed] between you and Me; were it not so, I would, of My mercy and pity for- you, bring you back to My garden and to My favour for the sake of the offering you have just made to My name.”

Adam rejoiced at these words which he heard from God; and he and Eve worshipped before the altar, to which they bowed, and then went back to the Cave of Treasures.

And this took place at the end of the twelfth day after the eightieth day, from the time Adam and Eve came out of the garden.

And they stood up the whole night praying until morning; and then went out of the cave.

Then Adam said to Eve, with joy of heart, because of the offering they had made to God, and that had been accepted of Him, “Let us do this three times every week, on the fourth day [Wednesday], on the preparation day [Friday], and on the Sabbath [Sunday], all the days of our life.”

And as they agreed to these words between themselves, God was pleased with their thoughts, and with the resolution they had each taken with the other.

After this, came the Word of God to Adam, and said, “ O Adam, thou hast determined beforehand the days in which sufferings shall come upon Me, when I am made flesh; for they are the fourth [Wednesday], and the preparation day [Friday].

“ But as to the first day, I created in it all things, and I raised the heavens. And, again, through My rising again on

TWELFTH APPARITION OF SATAN.

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this day, will I create joy, and raise them on high, who believe in Me; 0 Adam, offer this oblation, all the days of thy life.” Then God withdrew His Word from Adam.

But Adam continued to offer this oblation thus, every week three times, until the end of seven weeks. And on the first day, which is the fiftieth, Adam made an offering as he was wont, and he and Eve took it and came to the altar before God, as He had taught them.

CHAPTER LXIX.

Twelfth apparition of Satan to Adam and Eve , while Adam was pray ing over the offering upon the altar ; when Sa tan smote him.

Then Satan, the hater of all good, envious of Adam and of his offering through which he found favour with God, hastened and took a sharp stone from among sharp iron-stones; appeared in the form of a man, and went and stood by Adam and Eve.

Adam was then offering on the altar, and had begun to pray, with his hands spread unto God.

Then Satan hastened with the sharp iron-stone he had with him, and with it pierced Adam on the right side, whence flowed blood and water, then Adam fell upon the altar like a corpse. And Satan fled.

Then Eve came, and took Adam and placed him below the altar. And there she stayed, weeping over him; while a stream of blood flowed from Adam's side upon his offering.

But God looked upon the death of Adam. He then sent His Word, and raised him up and said unto him, t€ Fulfil thy offering, for indeed, Adam, it is worth much, and there is no shortcoming* in it.”

God said further unto Adam, “ Thus will it also happen to * Also : lack, or imperfection, defect, or deficiency.

0 *

TEE BOOK OF ADAM ANT) EVF .

Me, on the earth, when I shall be pierced and blood shall flow, blood and water from My side, and run over My body, which is the true offering; and which shall be offered on the altar as a perfect offering.”

Then God commanded Adam to finish his offering, and when he had ended it he worshipped before God, and praised Him for the signs He had showed him.

And God healed Adam in one day, which is the end of the seven weeks ; and that is the fiftieth day.

Then Adam and Eve returned from the mountain, and went into the Cave of Treasures, as they were used to do. This completed for Adam and Eve, one hundred and forty days since their coming out of the garden.

Then they both stood up that night and prayed to God. And when it was morning, they went out, and went down westward of the cave, to the place where their com was, and there rested under the shadow of a tree, as they were wont.

But [when there] a multitude of beasts came all round them. It was Satan’s doing, in his wickedness; in order to wage war against Adam through marriage.

CHAPTER LXX. t*

Thirteenth apparition of Satan to Adam and Eve , to make war against him , through his marriage with Eve .

After this Satan, the hater of all good, took the form of an angel, and with him two others, so that they looked like the three angels who had brought to Adam, gold, incense, and myrrh.

They passed before Adam and Eve while they were under the tree, and greeted Adam and Eve with fair words that were full of guile.

But when Adam and Eve saw their comely mien, and [heard]

their sweet speech, Adam rose, welcomed them, and brought them to Eve, and they remained all together; Adam’s heart the while, being glad because he thought concerning them, that they were the same angels, who had brought him gold, incense, and myrrh.

Because, when they came to Adam the first time, there came upon him from them, peace and joy, through their bringing him good tokens; so Adam thought that they were come a second time to give him other tokens for him to rejoice withal. For he did not know it was Satan; therefore did he receive them with joy and companied with them.

Then Satan, the tallest of them, said, “ Rejoice, 0 Adam, and be glad. Lo, God has sent us to thee to tell thee something.”

And Adam said, “ What is it ?” Then Satan answered, “ It is a light thing, yet it is a word of God, wilt thou hear it from us and do it ? But if thou hearest not, we will return to God, and tell Him that thou wouldest not receive His word.”

And Satan said again to Adam, “ Fear not, neither let a trembling come upon thee; dost not thou know us ?”

But Adam said, “ I know you not.”

Then Satan said to him, “ I am the angel who brought thee gold, and took it to the cave '; this other one is he who brought thee incense; and that third one, is he who brought thee myrrh [when thou wast] on the top of the mountain, and who carried thee to the cave.

But as to [the other angels] our fellows, who bare you to the cave, God has not sent them with us this time; for He said to us, u You suffice.”

So when Adam heard these words he believed them, and said to these angels, “Speak the word of God, that I may receive it.”

And Satan said unto him, “ Swear, and promise me that thou wilt receive it.”

Then Adam said, “ I know not how to swear and promise.”

And Satan said to him, te Hold out thy hand, and put it inside my hand.”

Then Adam held out his hand, and put it into Satan’s hand ; when Satan said unto him, “ Say, now—so true* as God is living, rational, and speaking, who raised the heavens in the space, and established the earth upon the waters, and has created me out of the four elements, and out of the dust of the earth—I will not breakf my promise, nor renounce my word.” And Adam swore thus.

Then Satan said to him, “ Lo, it is now some time since thou earnest out of the garden, and thou knowest neither wickedness nor evil. But now God says to thee, to take Eve who came out of thy side, and to wed her, that she bear thee children, to comfort thee, and to drive from thee trouble and sorrow ; now this thing is not difficult, neither is there any scandal in it to thee.”

CHAPTER LXXI.

But when Adam heard these words from Satan, he sorrowed much, because of his oath and of his promise, and said, “ Shall I commit adultery with my [flesh and my] bones, and shall I sin against myself, for God to destroy me, and to blot me out from o£F the face of the earth ?

“ Since, when at first, I ate of the tree, He drove me out of the garden into this strange land, and deprived me of [my] bright nature, and brought death upon me. If, then, I should do this, He will cut off my life from the earth, and He will cast me into hell, and will plague me there a long time.

“ But God never spoke the words thou hast told me; and ye are not God’s angels, nor yet sent from Him. But ye are devils, come to me under the false appearance of angels. Away from me ; ye cursed of God !”

♦ Lit. as indeed.

f Lit. foul.

ADAM’S OATH TO SATAN .

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i.]

Then those devils fled from before Adam. And he and Eve arose, and returned to the Cave of Treasures, and went into it.

Then Adam said to Eve, " If thou sawest what I did, tell it not; for I sinned against God in swearing by His great name, and I have placed my hand another time into that of Satan.” Eve, then, held her peace, as Adam told her.

Then Adam arose, and spread his hands unto God, beseeching and entreating Him with tears, to forgive him what he had done. And Adam remained thus standing and praying forty days and forty nights. He neither ate nor drank until he dropped down upon the earth from hunger and thirst.

Then God sent His Word unto Adam, who raised him up from where he lay, and said unto him, “ 0 Adam, why hast thou sworn by My name, and why hast thou made agreement with Satan another time ? ”

But Adam wept, and said, “ 0 God, forgive me, for I did this unwittingly; believing they were God's angels.”

And God forgave Adam, saying to him, “ Beware of Satan.”

And He withdrew His Word from Adam.

Then Adam's heart was comforted; and he took Eve, and they went out of the cave, to make some food for their bodies.

But from that day Adam struggled in his mind about his wedding Eve; afraid as he was to do it, lest God should be wroth with him.

Then Adam and Eve went to the river of water, and sat on the bank, as people do when they enjoy themselves.

But Satan was jealous of them ; and would destroy them.

CHAPTER LXXII.

Fourteenth apparition of Satan to Adam and Eve ; as coming up out of the river, in the similitude of young maidens .

Then Satan, and ten from his hosts, transformed themselves into maidens, unlike any others in the whole world for grace.

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They came up out of the river in presence of Adam and Eve, and they said among themselves, “ Come, we will look at the faces of Adam and of Eve, who are of the men upon earth. How beautiful they are, and how different is their look from our own faces.” Then they came to Adam and Eve, and greeted them; and stood wondering at them.

Adam and Eve looked at them also, and wondered at their beauty, and said, “ Is there, then, under us, another world, with such beautiful creatures as these in it ? ”

And those maidens said to Adam and Eve, “ Yes, indeed, we are an abundant creation.”

Then Adam said to them, “ But how do you multiply ? ”

And they answered him, “We have husbands who wedded us, and we bear them children, who grow up, and who in their turn wed and are wedded, and also bear children; and thus we increase. And if so be, 0 Adam, thou wilt not believe us, we will show thee our husbands and our children.”

Then they shouted over the river as if to call their husbands and their children, who came up from the river, men and children; and every one came to his wife, his children being with him.

But when Adam and Eve saw them, they stood dumb, and wondered at them.

Then they said to Adam and Eve, “ You see our husbands and our children, wed Eve as we wed our wives, and you shall have children the same as we.” This was a device of Satan to deceive Adam.

Satan also thought within himself, “ God at first commanded Adam concerning the fruit of the tree, saying to him, g Eat not of it; else of death thou shalt die/ But Adam ate of it, and yet God did not kill him; He only decreed upon him death, and plagues and trials, until the day he shall come out of his body.

“ Now, then, if I deceive him to do this thing, and to wed Eve without God's commandment, God will kill him then.”

Therefore did Satan work this apparition before Adam and Eve; because he sought to kill him, and to make him disappear from off the face of the earth.

Meanwhile the fire of sin came upon Adam, and he thought of committing sin. But he restrained himself, fearing lest if he followed this advice [of Satan] God would put him to death.

Then Adam and Eve arose, and prayed to God, while Satan and his hosts went down into the river, in presence of Adam and Eve; to iet them see that they were going back to their own regions.

Then Adam and Eve went back to the Cave of Treasures, as they were wont; about evening time.

And they both arose and prayed to God that night. Adam remained standing in prayer, yet not knowing how to pray, by reason of the thoughts of his heart regarding his wedding Eve; and he continued so until morning.

And when light arose, Adam said unto Eve, “ Arise let us go below the mountain, where they brought us gold, and let. us ask the Lord concerning this matter.”

Then Eve said, “ What is that matter, 0 Adam ?”

And he answered her, (( That I may request the Lord to inform me about wedding thee; for I will not do it without His order, lest He make us perish, thee and me. For those devils have set my heart on fire, with thoughts of what they showed us, in their sinful apparitions.”

Then Eve said to Adam, “Why need we go below the mountain ? Let us rather stand up and pray in our cave to God, to let us know whether this counsel is good or not.”

Then Adam rose up in prayer and said, “ 0 God, Thou knowest that we transgressed against Thee, and from the moment we transgressed, we were bereft of our bright nature; and our body became brutish, requiring food and drink; and with animal desires.

“ Command us, O God, not to give way to them without Thy

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order, lest Thou bring us to nothing. For if Thou give us not the order, we shall be overpowered, and follow that advice [of Satan] ; and Thou wilt again make us perish.

t€ If not, then take our souls from us ; let us be rid of this animal lust. And if Thou give us no order respecting this thing, then sever Eve from me, and me from her; and place us each far away from the other.

“ Yet again, 0 God, when Thou hast put us asunder from each other, the devils will deceive us with their apparitions, and destroy our hearts, and defile our thoughts towards each other. Yet if it is not each of us towards the other, it will, at all events, be through their appearance when they show themselves to us.** Here Adam ended his prayer.

CHAPTER LXXIII.

. Then God looked upon the words of Adam that they were true, and that he could long await [His order], respecting the counsel of Satan.

And God approved Adam in what he had thought concerning this, and in the prayer he had offered in His presence; and the Word of God came unto Adam and said to him, “ 0 Adam, if only thou hadst had this caution at first, ere thou earnest out of the garden into this land !”

After that, God sent His angel who had brought gold, and the angel who had brought incense, and the angel who had brought myrrh to Adam, that they should inform him respecting his wedding Eve.

Then those angels said to Adam, “ Take the gold and give it to Eve as a wedding gift, and betroth her; then give her some incense and myrrh as a present; and be ye, thou and she, one flesh ”

Adam hearkened to the angels, and took the gold and put

it into Eve's bosom in her garment; and bethrothed her with his hand.

Then the angels commanded Adam and Eve, to arise and pray forty days and forty nights; and after that, that Adam should come in to his wife; for then this would be an act pure and undefiled; and he should have children who would multiply, and replenish the face of the earth.

Then both Adam and Eve received the words of the angels; and the angels departed from them.

Then Adam and Eve began to fast and to pray, until the end of the forty days ; and then they came together, as the angels had told them. And from the time Adam left the garden until he wedded Eve, were two hundred and twenty-three days, that is seven months and thirteen days.

Thus was Satan's war with Adam defeated.

CHAPTER LXXIY.

And they dwelt on the earth working, in order to continue in the well-being of their bodies; and were so until the nine months of Eve's child-bearing were ended, and the time drew near when she must be delivered.

Then she said unto Adam, "This cave is a pure spot by reason of the signs [wrought in] it since [we left] the garden ; and we shall again pray in it. It is not meet, then, that I should bring forth in it; let us rather repair to that of the sheltering rock, which Satan hurled at us, when he wished to kill us with it; but that was held up and spread as an awning over us by the command of God; and formed a cave."

Then Adam removed Eve to that cave; and when the time came that she should bring forth, she travailed much. So was Adam sorry, and his heart suffered for her sake ; for she was nigh unto death; that the word of God to her should be

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fulfilled: “ In suffering shalt thou bear a child, and in sorrow shalt thou bring forth thy child.”

But when Adam saw the strait in which Eve was, he arose and prayed to God, and said, “ 0 Lord, look upon me with the eye of Thy mercy, and bring her out of her distress.”

And God looked at His maid-servant Eve, and delivered her, and she brought forth her first-born son, and with him a daughter. Then Adam rejoiced at Eve's deliverance, and also over the children she had borne him. And Adam ministered unto Eve in the cave, until the end of eight days; when they named the son Cain,* and the daughter Luluwa.f 41

The meaning of Cain is tc hater,” because he hated his sister in their mother's womb; ere they came out of it. Therefore did Adam name him Cain.

But Luluwa means “ beautiful,” because she was more beautiful than her mother.

Then Adam and Eve waited until Cain and his sister were forty days old, when Adam said unto Eve, f ‘ We will make an offering and offer it up in behalf of the children.”

And Eve said, “ We will make one offering for the first-born son; and afterwards we shall make one for the daughter.”

CHAPTER LXXV.

Then Adam prepared an offering, and he and Eve offered it up for their children, and brought it to the altar they had built at first.

And Adam offered up the offering, and besought God to accept his offering.

Then God accepted Adam's offering, and sent a light from heaven that shone upon the offering. And Adam and the son drew near to the offering, but Eve and the daughter did not approach unto it.

♦ Eth. Cail.

f “ Luluwa ” is the Arabic for “ a pearl.”

Then Adam came down from upon the altar, and they were joyful; and Adam and Eve waited until the daughter was eighty days old; then Adam prepared an offering and took it to Eve and to the children; and they went to the altar, where Adam offered it up, as he was wont, asking the Lord to accept his offering.

And the Lord accepted the offering of Adam and Eve. Then Adam, Eve^and the children, drew near together, and came down from the mountain, rejoicing.

But they returned not to the cave in which they were born ; but came to the Cave of Treasures, in order that the children should go round it, and be blessed with the tokens [brought] from the garden.

But after they had been blessed with these tokens, they went back to the cave in which they were born.

However, before Eve had offered up the offering, Adam had taken her, and had gone with her to the river of water, in which they threw themselves at first; and there they washed themselves. Adam washed his body and Eve [hers also] clean, after the suffering and distress that had come upon them.

But Adam and Eve, after washing themselves in the river of water, returned every night to the Cave of Treasures, where they prayed and were blessed; and then went back to their cave, where the children were born.

So did Adam and Eve until the children had done sucking. Then, when they were weaned, Adam made an offering for the souls of his children; other than the three times he made an offering for them, every week.

When the days of nursing the children were ended. Eve again conceived, and when her days were accomplished she brought forth another son and daughter; and they named the son Abel, and the daughter Aklemia.

Then at the end of forty days, Adam made an offering for the son, and at the end of eighty days he made another offering

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for the daughter, and did by them, as he had done before by Cain and his sister Luluwa.

He brought them to the Cave of Treasures, where they received a blessing, and then returned to the cave where they were born. After the birth of these. Eve ceased from childbearing.

CHAPTER LXXYI.

And the children began to wax stronger, and to grow in stature; but Cain was hard-hearted, and ruled over his younger brother.

And oftentimes when his father made an offering, he would remain [behind] and not go with them, to ofEer up.

But, as to Abel, he had a meek heart, and was obedient to his father and mother, whom he often moved to make an ofEering, because he loved it; and prayed and fasted much.

Then came this sign to Abel. As he was coming into the Cave of Treasures, and saw the golden rods, the incense and the myrrh, he inquired of his parents Adam and Eve concerning them, and said unto them, €t How did you come by these V 9

Then Adam told him all that had befallen them. And Abel felt deeply about what his father told him.

Furthermore his father Adam told him of the works of God, and of the garden; and after that, he remained behind his father the whole of that night in the Cave of Treasures.

And that night, while he was praying, Satan appeared unto him under the figure of a man, who said to him, “ Thou hast oftentimes moved thy father to make an offering, to fast and to pray, therefore I will kill thee, and make thee perish from this world.”

But as for Abel, he prayed to God, and drove away [Satan] from him; and believed not the words of the devil. Then when

SATAN APPEARS TO GAIN .

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it was day, an angel of God appeared unto him, who said to him, u Shorten neither fasting, prayer, nor offering up an oblation unto thy God. For, lo, the Lord has accepted thy prayer. Be not afraid of the figure which appeared unto thee in the night, and who cursed thee unto death.” And the angel departed from him.

Then when it was day, Abel came to Adam and Eve, and told them of the vision he had seen. But when they heard it, they grieved much over it, yet said nothing to him [about it] ; they only comforted him.

But as to hard-hearted Cain, Satan came to him by night, showed himself and said unto him, i( Since Adam and Eve love thy brother Abel much more than they love thee, and wish to join him in marriage to thy beautiful sister, because they love him; but wish to join thee in marriage to his ill-favoured Bister, because they hate thee;

“ Now, therefore, I counsel thee, when they do that, to kill thy brother; then thy sister will be left for thee; and his sister will be cast away.”

And Satan departed from him. But the wicked One remained [behind] in the heart of Cain, who sought many a time, to kill his brother.

CHAPTER LXXVII.

But when Adam saw that the elder brother hated the younger, he endeavoured to soften their hearts, and said unto Cain, “ Take, 0 my son, of the fruits of thy sowing, and make an offering unto God, that He may forgive thee thy wickedness and thy sin.”

He said also to Abel, “ Take thou of thy sowing* and make an offering and bring it to God, that He may forgive thy wickedness and thy sin.”

* Different from Gen. iv, 4.

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Then Abel hearkened unto his father's voice, and took o£ his sowing, and made a good offering, and said to his father, Adam, “ Come with me, to show me how to offer it up."

And they went, Adam and Eve with him, and showed him how to offer up his gift upon the altar. Then after that, they stood up and prayed that God would accept Abel's offering.

Then God looked upon Abel and accepted his offering. And God was more pleased with Abel than with his offering, because of his good heart and pure body. There was no trace of guile in him.

Then they came down from the altar, and went to the cave in which they dwelt. But Abel, by reason of his joy at having made his offering, repeated it three times a week, after the example of his father Adam.

But as to Cain, he took no pleasure in offering; but after much anger on his father's part, he offered up his gift once; and when he did offer up, his eye was on the offering he made , 42 and he took the smallest of his sheep for an offering, and his eye was again on it.

Therefore God did not accept his offering, because his heart was full of murderous* thoughts.

And they all thus lived together in the cave in which Eve had brought forth, until Cain was fifteen years old, and Abel twelve years old.f

CHAPTER LXXVIII.

Then Adam said to Eve, “ Behold the children are grown up; we must think of finding wives for them."

Then Eve answered, “ How can we do it ?"

♦ Lit. destruction.

f Midr. Tankhuma (fol. 5), however, Bays that Cain and Abel were then about forty years old.

Then Adam said to her, “We will join Abel’s sister in marriage to Cain,* and Cain's sister to Abel."

Then said Eve to Adam, “ I do not like Cain because he is hard-hearted; but let them bide until we offer up unto the Lord in their behalf."

And Adam said no more.

Meanwhile Satan came to Cain in the figure of a man of the field, and said to him, “Behold Adam and Eve have taken counsel together about the marriage of you two; and they have agreed to marry Abel's sister to thee, and thy sister to him.

“ But if it was not that I love thee, I would not have told thee this thing. Yet if thou wilt take my advice, and hearken to me, I will bring thee on thy wedding day beautiful robes, gold and silver in plenty, and my relations will attendf thee."

Then Cain said with joy, “ Where are thy relations ?"

And Satan answered, “ My relations are in a garden in the north, whither I once meant to bring thy father Adam; but he would not accept my offer.

“ But thou, if thou wilt receive my [words] and if thou wilt come unto me after thy wedding, thou shalt rest from the misery in which thou art; and thou shalt rest and be better off than thy father Adam."

At these words of Satan Cain opened his ears, and leant towards his speech.

And he did not remain in the field, but he went to Eve, his mother, and beat her, and cursed her, and said to her, “ Why are ye about taking my sister to wed her to my brother ? Am I dead?"

His mother, however, quietedj him, and sent him to the field where he had been.

* Adam did so, in order to avoid marrying the brother to his sister of the same birth, and thus to prevent, as far as possible, consanguinity. Masudi., ch. iii, p. 63.

t Lit. assist or help.

% Or, beguiled.

7

Then when Adam came, she told him of what Cain had done.

But Adam grieved and held his peace, and said not a word.

Then on the morrow Adam said unto Cain his son, “ Take of thy sheep, young and good, 43 and offer them up unto thy God ; and I will speak to thy brother, to make unto his God an offering of corn.”

They both hearkened to their father Adam, and they took their offerings, and offered them up on the mountain by the altar.

But Cain behaved haughtily towards his brother, and thrust him from the altar, and would not let him offer up his gift upon the altar; but he offered his own upon it, with a proud heart, full of guile, and fraud.

But as for Abel, he set up stones [that were] near at hand, and upon that, he offered up his gift with a heart humble and free from guile.

Cain was then standing by the altar on which he had offered up his gift; and he cried unto God to accept his offering; but God did not accept it from him; neither did a divine fire come down to consume his offering.

But he remained standing over against the altar, out of humour and wroth, looking towards his brother Abel, to see if God would accept his offering or not.

And Abel prayed unto God to accept his offering. Then a divine fire came down and consumed his offering. And God smelled the sweet savour of his offering; because Abel loved Him and rejoiced in Him.

And because God was well pleased with him He sent him an angel of light in the figure of man who had partaken of his offering, because He had smelled the sweet savour of his offering, and they comforted Abel and strengthened his heart.

But Cain was looking on all that took place at his brother's offering, and was wroth on account of it.

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Then he opened his mouth and blasphemed God, because He had not accepted his offering.

But God said unto Cain, “ Wherefore is thy countenance sad? 44 Be righteous, that I may accept thy ofEering. Not against Me hast thou murmured, but against thyself.”

And God said this to Cain in rebuke, and because He abhorred him and his offering.

And Cain came down from the altar, his colour changed and of a woeful countenance, and came to his father and mother and told them all that had befallen him. And Adam grieved much because God had not accepted Cain’s offering.

But Abel came down rejoicing, and with a gladsome heart, and tcld his father and mother how God had accepted his ofEering. And they rejoiced at it and kissed his face.

And Abel said to his father, “ Because Cain thrust me from the altar, and would not allow me to ofEer my gift upon it, I made an altar for myself and offered [my] gift upon it.”

But when Adam heard this he was very sorry, because it was the altar he had built at first, and upon which he had offered his own gifts.

As to Cain, he was so sullen and so angry that he went into the field, where Satan came to him and said to him, “ Since thy brother Abel has taken refuge with thy father Adam, because thou didst thrust him from the altar, they have kissed his face, and they rejoice over him, far more than over thee.”

When Cain heard these words of Satan, he was filled with rage; and he let no one know. But he was laying wait to kill his brother, until he brought him into the cave, and then said to him :—*

“ 0 brother, the country is so beautiful, and there are such beautiful and pleasurable trees in it, and charming to look at! But brother, thou hast never been one day in the field to take thy pleasure therein.

7 *

* Lit. field.

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tf To-day, 0, my brother, I very much wish thou wouldest come with me into the field, 45 to enjoy thyself and to bless our fields and our flocks, for thou art righteous, and I love thee much, 0, my brother! but thou hast estranged thyself from me.”

Then Abel consented to go with his brother Cain into the field.

But before going out, Cain said to Abel, “ Wait for me, until I fetch a staff, because of wild beasts.”

Then Abel stood [waiting] in his innocence. But Cain, the froward, fetched a staff and went out.

And they began, Cain and his brother Abel, to walk in the way; Cain talking to him, and comforting him, to make him forget everything.

CHAPTER LXXIX.

Murder of Abel the Just , whom his brother , Gain the Infidel ,

did kill .

And so they went on, until they came to a lonely place, where there were no sheep; then Abel said to Cain, “ Behold, my brother, we are weary of walking; for we see none of the trees, nor of the fruits, nor of the verdure, nor of the sheep, nor any one of the things of which thou didst tell me. Where are those sheep of thine thou didst tell me to bless ? ”

Then Cain said to him, “ Come on, and presently thou shalt see many beautiful things, but go before me, until I come up to thee.”

Then went Abel forward, but Cain remained behind him.

And Abel was walking in his innocence, without guile; not believing his brother would kill him.

Then Cain, when he came up to him, comforted him with

GAIN KILLS EIS BROTHER ABEL.

101

*•]

[his] talk, walking a little behind him; then he hastened, and smote him with the staff, blow upon blow, until he was stunned.

But when Abel fell down upon the ground, seeing that his brother meant to kill him, he said to Cain, “ 0, my brother, have pity on me. By the breasts we have sucked, smite me not! By the womb that bare us and that brought us into the world, smite me not unto death with that staff! If thou wilt kill me, take one of these large stones, and kill me outright.”

Then Cain, the hard-hearted, and cruel murderer, took a large stone, and smote his brother with it upon the head, 46 until his brains oozed out, and he weltered in his blood, before him. And Cain repented not of what he had done.

But the earth, when the blood of righteous Abel fell upon it, trembled, as it drank his blood, and would have brought Cain to naught [for it].

And the blood of Abel cried mysteriously to God, to avenge him of his murderer.

Then Cain began at once to dig the earth [wherein to lay] his brother ; 47 for he was trembling from the fear that came upon him, when he saw the earth tremble on his account.

He then cast his brother into the pit [he made], and covered him with dust. 48 But the earth would not receive him; but it threw him up at once.

Again did Cain dig the earth and hid his brother in it ; but again did the earth throw him up on itself; until three times did the earth thus throw up on itself the body of Abel. The muddy earth threw him up the first time, because he was not the first creation; and it threw him up the second time and would not receive him, because he was righteous and good, and was killed without a cause; and the earth threw him up the third time and would not receive him, that there might remain before his brother a witness against him.

And so did the earth mock Cain, until the Word of God, came to him concerning his brother.

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Then was God angry, and much displeased* at Abel's death; and He thundered from heaven, and lightnings went before Him, and the Word of the Lord God came from heaven to Cain, and said unto him, “ Where is Abel thy brother ?"

Then Cain answered with a proud heart and a gruff voice,

How, 0 God ? am I my brother's keeper ?"

Then God said unto Cain, “ Cursed be the earth that has drunk the blood of Abel thy brother; and thou, be thou trembling and shaking; and this will be a sign unto thee, that whosoever finds thee, shall kill thee."

But Cain wept because God had said those words to him; and Cain said unto Him, “ 0 God, whosoever finds me shall kill me, and I shall be blotted out from the face of the earth."

Then God said unto Cain, “ Whosoever shall find thee shall not kill thee;" because before this, God had been saying to Cain, “I shall forego seven punishments on him who kills Cain." For as to the word of God to Cain, “ Where is thy brother ?" God said it in mercy for him, to try and make him repent.

For if Cain had repented at that time, and had said, “ 0 God, forgive me my sin, and the murder of my brother," God would then have forgiven him his sin.

And as to God saying to Cain, “ Cursed be the ground that has drunk the blood of thy brother " 49 that also, was God's mercy on Cain. For God did not curse him, but He cursed the ground; although it was not the ground that had killed Abel, and had committed iniquity.

For it was meet that the curse should fall upon the murderer; yet in mercy did God so manage His thoughts as that no one should know it, and turn away from Cain.

And He said to him, “Where is thy brother ?" To which he answered and said, “ I know not." Then the Creator said to him, “Be trembling and quaking."

Lit. sighed oyer, was grieved.

i.] CURSE AND PUNISHMENT OF CAIN.

Then Cain trembled and became terrified; and through this . sign did God make him an example* 50 before all the creation, as the murderer of his brother. Also did God bring trembling and terror upon him, that he might see the peace in which he was at first, and see also the trembling and terror he endured at the last; so that he might humble himself before God, and repent of his sin, and seek the peace he enjoyed at first.

And [in] the word of God that said, “ I will forego seven punishments on whomsoever kills Cain,” God was not seeking to kill Cain with the sword, but He sought to make him die of fasting, and praying and weeping by hard rule, until the time that he was delivered from his sin.

And the seven punishments are the seven generations during which God awaited Cain for the murder of his brother.

But as to Cain, ever since he had killed his brother, he could find no rest in any place; but went back to Adam and Eve, trembling, terrified, and defiled with blood.

When they saw him they grieved and wept, not knowing whence came his trembling and terror, and the blood with which he was bespattered.

Cain, then, came running to his sister that was born with him. But when she saw him, she was affrighted, and said unto him, (t 0, my brother, wherefore art thou come thus trembling V 9 And he said to her, “ I have killed my brother Abel in a certain place.”

* Or, notorious.

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BOOK II.

CHAPTER I.

When Luluwa heard Cain's words, she wept and went to call her father and mother, and told them how that Cain had killed his brother Abel.

Then they all cried aloud and lifted up their voices, and slapped their faces, and threw dust upon their heads, and rent asunder their garments, and went out and came to the place where Abel was killed.

And they found him lying on the earth, killed, and beasts around him; while they wept and cried because of this just one. From his body, by reason of its purity, went forth a smell of sweet spices. And Adam carried him, his tears streaming down his face ; and went to the Cave of Treasures, where he laid him, and wound him up with sweet spices and myrrh.

And Adam and Eve continued by the burial of him in great grief a hundred and forty days. Abel was fifteen and a half years old, and Cain seventeen years and a half . 1

As for Cain, when the mourning for his brother was ended, he took his sister Luluwa 2 and married her, without leave from his father and mother; for they could not keep him from her, by reason of their heavy heart.

He then went down to the bottom of the mountain, away from the garden, near to the place where he had killed his brother.

BIRTH OF SETH.

105

ii.]

And in that place were many [fruit] trees and forest trees. His sister bare him children, who [in their turn] began to multiply by degrees until they filled that place.

But as for Adam and Eye, they came not together after Abel’s funeral, for seven years. After this, however. Eve conceived; and while she was with child, Adam said to her, “ Come, let us take an offering and offer it up unto God, and ask Him to give us a fair child, in whom we may find comfort, and whom we may join in marriage to Abel’s sister.

Then they prepared an offering and brought it up to the altar, and offered it before the Lord, and began to entreat Him to accept their offering, and to give them a good offspring.

And God heard Adam and accepted his offering. Then, they worshipped, Adam, Eve, and their daughter, and came down to the Cave of Treasures and placed a lamp in it, to burn by night and by day, before the body of Abel.

Then Adam and Even continued fasting and praying until Eve’s time came that she should be delivered, when she said to Adam, “ I wish to go to the cave in the rock, to bring forth in it.”

And he said, “ Go, and take with thee thy daughter to wait on thee; but I will remain in this Cave of Treasures before the body of my son Abel.”

Then Eve hearkened to Adam, and went, she and her daughter. But Adam remained by himself in the Cave of Treasures.

CHAPTER II.

And Eve brought forth a son perfectly beautiful in figure and in countenance. His beauty was like that of his father Adam, yet more beautiful . 8

Then Eve was comforted when she saw him, and remained

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eight days in the cave; then she sent her daughter unto Adam [to tell him] to come and see the child and name him. But the daughter stayed in his place by the body of her brother, until Adam returned. So did she.

But when Adam came and saw the child's good looks, his beauty, and his perfect figure, he rejoiced over him, and was comforted for Abel. Then he named the child Seth , 4 that means, “ that God has heard my prayer, and has delivered me out of my affliction." But it means also “power and strength."

Then after Adam had named the child, he returned to the Cave of Treasures; and his daughter went back to her mother.

But Eve continued in her cave, until forty days were fulfilled, when she came to Adam, and brought with her the child and her daughter.

And they came to a river of water, where Adam and his daughter washed themselves, because of their sorrow for Abel; but Eve and the babe washed for purification.

Then they returned, and took an offering, and went to the mountain and offered it up, for the babe; and God accepted their offering, and sent His blessing upon them, and upon their son Seth; and they came back to the Cave of Treasures.

As for Adam, he knew not again his wife Eve, all the days of his life; neither was any more offspring born of them ; but only those five, Cain, Luluwa, Abel, Aklia,* and Sethf alone. J

But Seth waxed in stature and in strength; and began to fast and pray, fervently.§

CHAPTER III.

Fifteenth apparition of Satan to Adam and Eve , above the roof

of the cave .

As for our father Adam, at the end of seven years from the day he had been severed from his wife Eve, Satan envied him,

* Or, Aclemia.

f This does not agree with other accounts. See Fabric. Cod. Apoc. F. T., vol. i.

} i.e., without a twin sister. § Lit. with hard labour.

when he saw him thus separated from her; and strove to make him live with her again. 5

Then Adam arose andwent up above the Cave of Treasures; and continued to sleep there night by night. But as soon as it was light every day he came down to the cave, to pray there and to receive a blessing from it.

But when it was evening he went up on the roof of the cave, where he slept by himself, fearing lest Satan should overcome him. And he continued thus apart thirty-nine days.

Then Satan, the hater of all good, when he saw Adam thus alone, fasting and praying, appeared unto him in the form of a beautiful woman, who came and stood before him in the night of the fortieth day, and said unto him :—

“ 0 Adam, from the time ye have dwelt in this cave, we have experienced great peace from you, and your prayers have reached us, and we have been comforted about you.

“ But now, O Adam, that thou hast gone up over the roof of the cave to sleep, we have had doubts about thee, and a great sorrow has come upon us because of thy separation from Eve. Then again, when thou art on the roof of this cave, thy prayer is poured out, and thy heart wanders from side to side.

“ But when thou wast in the cave thy prayer was like fire gathered together; it came down to us, and thou didst find rest.

“Then I also grieved over thy children who are severed from thee; and my sorrow is great about the murder of thy son Abel; for he was righteous; and over a righteous man every one will grieve.

“ But I rejoiced over the birth of thy son Seth; yet after a little while I sorrowed greatly over Eve, because she is my sister. For when God sent a deep sleep over thee, and drew her out of thy side, He brought me out also with her. But He raised her by placing her with thee, while He lowered me.

“ I rejoiced over my sister for her being with thee. But God had made me a promise before, and said, € Grieve not; when

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Adam has gone up on the roof of the Cave of Treasures, and is separated from Eve his wife, I will send thee to him, thou shalt join thyself to him in marriage, and bear him five children, as Eve did bear him five/

“ And now, lo l God's promise to me is fulfilled; for it is He who has sent me to thee for the wedding; because if thou wed me, I shall bear thee finer and better children than those of Eve.

“ Then again, thou art as yet but a youth; end not thy youth in this world in sorrow; but spend the days of thy youth in mirth and pleasure. For thy days are few and thy trial is great. Be strong; end thy days in this % world in rejoicing. I shall take pleasure in thee, and thou shalt rejoice with me in this wise, and without fear.

“ Up, then, and fulfil the command of thy God/' she then drew near to Adam, and embraced him.

But when Adam saw that he should be overcome by her, he prayed to God with a fervent heart to deliver him from her.

Then God sent His Word unto Adam, saying , €€ 0 Adam, that figure is the one that promised thee the Godhead, and majesty; he is not favourably disposed towards thee; but shows himself to thee at one time in the form of a woman; another moment, in the likeness of an angel; on another occasion, in the similitude of a serpent; and at another time, in the semblance of a god; but he does all that only to destroy thy soul.

“ Now, therefore, 0 Adam, understanding thy heart, I have delivered thee many a time from his hands; in order to show thee that I am a merciful God; and that I wish thy good, and that I do not wish thy ruin."

CHAPTER IV.

Then God ordered Satan to show himself to Adam plainly, in his own hideous form.

n.] SATAN TEMPTS ADAM. 109

But when Adam saw him, he feared, and trembled at the sight of him.

And God said to Adam, “ Look at this devil,* and at his hideous look, and know that he it is who made thee fall from brightness into darkness, from peace and rest to toil and misery. And look, 0 Adam, at him, who said of himself that he is God ! Can God be black ? Would God take the form of a woman ? Is there any one stronger than God ? And can He be overpowered ?

“ See, then, 0 Adam, and behold him bound in thy presence, in the air, unable to flee away! Therefore, I say unto thee, be not afraid of him ; henceforth take care, and beware of him, in whatever he may do to thee.”

Then God drove Satan away from before Adam, whom He strengthened, and whose heart He comforted, saying to him, “ Go down to the Cave of Treasures, and separate not thyself from Eve; I will quell in you all animal lust. From that hour it left Adam and Eve, and they enjoyed rest by the commandment of God. But God did not the like to any one of Adam's seed; but only to Adam and Eve.

Then Adam worshipped before the Lord, for having delivered him, and for having layed his passions. And he came down from above the cave, and dwelt with Eve as aforetime. This ended the forty days of his separation from Eve.

CHAPTER Y.

As for Seth, when he was seven years old, he knew good and evil, and was consistent in fasting and praying, and spent all his nights in entreating God for mercy and forgiveness.

He also fasted when bringing up his offering every day, more than his father did; for he was of a fair countenance, like unto an angel of God. He also had a good heart,

* Lit. Diabolos.

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preserved the finest qualities of his soul; and for this reason he brought up his offering every day.

And God was pleased with his offering; but He was also pleased with his purity.* And he continued thus in [doing] the will of God, and of his father and mother, until he was seven years old.

After that, as he was coming down from the altar, having ended his offering, Satan appeared unto him in the form of a beautiful angel, brilliant with light; with a staff of light in his hand, himself girt about with a girdle of light.

He greeted Seth with a beautiful smile, and began to beguile him with fair words, saying to him, “ 0 Seth, why abidest thou in this mountain ? For it is rough, full of stones and of sand, and of trees with no good fruit on them; a wilderness without habitations and without towns; no good place to dwell in. But all is heat, weariness, and trouble.”

He said further, “ But we dwell in beautiful places, in another world than this earth. Our world is one of light and our condition isf of the best; our women are handsomer than any others; and I wish thee, 0 Seth, to wed one of them; because I see that thou art fair to look upon, and in this land there is not one woman good enough for thee. Besides, all those who live in this world, are only five souls.

“ But in our world there are very many men and many maidens, all more beautiful one than another. I wish, therefore, to remove thee hence, that thou mayest see my relations and be wedded to which ever thou likest.

“ Thou shalt then abide by me and be at peace; thou shalt be filled with splendour and light, as we are.

“ Thou shalt remain in our world, and rest from this world and the misery of it; thou shalt never again feel faint and weary; thou shalt never bring up an offering, nor sue for mercy; for thou shalt commit no more sin, nor be swayed by passions.

♦ Or, innocence.

f Lit. conditions are.

SATAN TEMPTS SETH.

Ill

ii.]

t€ And if thou wilt hearken to what I say, thou shalt wed one of my daughters; for with us it is no sin so to do ; neither is it reckoned animal lust.

“ For in our world we have no God; but we all are gods ; we all are of the light, heavenly, powerful, strong and glorious;”

CHAPTER VI.

When Seth heard these words he was amazed, and inclined his heart to Satan's treacherous speech, and said to him, “ Saidst thou there is another world created than this; and other creatures more beautiful than the creatures that are in this world

And Satan said, “ Yes; behold thou hast heard me; but I will yet praise them and their ways, in thy hearing.”

But Seth said to him, “ Thy speech has amazed me; and thy beautiful description [of it all].

€€ Yet I cannot go with thee to-day; not until I have gone to my father Adam and to my mother Eve, and told them all thou hast said to me. Then if they give me leave to go with thee, I will come.”

Again Seth said, “ I am afraid of doing any thing without my father's and mother's leave, lest I perish like my brother Cain, and like my father Adam, who transgressed the commandment of God. But, behold, thou knowest this place; come, and meet me here to-morrow.''

When Satan heard this, he said to Seth, “ If thou tellest thy father Adam what I have told thee, he will not let thee come with me. But hearken to me; do not tell thy father and mother what I have said to thee; but come with me today, to our world; where thou shalt see beautiful things and enjoy thyself there, and revel this day among my children, beholding them and taking thy fill of mirth ; and rejoice ever-

more. Then I shall bring thee back to this place to-morrow ; bat if thoa wouldest rather abide with me, so be it.”

Then Seth answered, “ The spirit of my father and of my mother, hangs on me; and if I hide from them one day, they will die, and God will hold me guilty of sinning against them.*

€€ And except that they know I am come to thi3 place to bring up to it [my] offering, they would not be separated from me one hour; neither should I go to any other place, unless they let me. But they treat me most kindly, because I come back to them quickly.”

Then Satan said to him, “ What will happen to thee if thou hide thyself from them one night, and return to them at break of day?”

But Seth, when he saw how he kept on talking, and that he would not leave him—ran, and went up to the altar, and spread his hands unto God, and sought deliverance from Him.

Then God sent His Word, and cursed Satan, who fled from Him.

But as for Seth, he had gone up to the altar, saying thus in his heart, “ The altar is the place of offering, and God is there; a divine fire shall consume it; so shall Satan be unable to hurt me, and shall not take me away thence.”

Then Seth came down from the altar and went to his father and mother, whom he found in the way, longing to hear his voice; for he had tarried a while.

He then began to tell them what had befallen him from Satan, under the form of an angel.

But when Adam heard his account, he kissed his face, and warned him against that angel, telling him it was Satan who thus appeared to him. Then Adam took Seth, and they went to the Cave of Treasures, and rejoiced therein.

But from that day forth Adam and Eve never parted from

* Lit. of their sin.

SETH’S MARRIAGE.

-n.]

113

him, to whatever place he might go, whether for his offering or for any thing else.

This sign happened to Seth, when he was nine years old.

CHAPTER VII.

When our father Adam saw that Seth was of a perfect heart, he wished him to marry; lest the enemy should appear to him another time, and overcome him.

So Adam said to his son Seth, “I wish, 0 my son, that thou wed thy sister Aklia, Abel’s sister, that she may bear thee children, who shall replenish the earth, according to God’s promise to us.

“ Be not afraid, 0 my son ; there is no disgrace in it. I wish thee to marry, from fear lest the enemy overcome thee/’

Seth, however, did not wish to marry; but in obedience to his father and mother, he said not a word.

So Adam married him to Aklia.* And he was fifteen years old.

But when he was twenty years of age,t he begat a son, whom he called Enos; J and then begat other children than him.

Then Enos grew up, married, and begat Cainan.

Cainan also grew up, married, and begat Mahalaleel.

Those fathers were bom during Adam’s life-time, and dwelt by the Cave of Treasures.

Then were the days of Adam nine hundred and thirty years, and those of Mahalaleel one hundred. But Mahalaleel, when he was grown up, loved fasting, praying, and with hard labour,§ until the end of our father Adam’s days drew near.

* Called 'Qpaia by the Sethians. S. Epiph. ’Hares, xxxix, c. 5. Adam gave to Seth, Owain, Abel’s sister, in marriage. Eutych. Nazam air jaw., p. 18, see note

p. 106.

f A hundred and five years old. Entych. Nazam al-jaw. , p. 18.

J Trjv iStav adtXtpjjv *Aoaov&fi KaXovpkvijv yfipas, lykvvrjae rbv* Evwq. Cedren. i, Hist. Comp., p. 17.

§ i.e., continually and earnestly.

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CHAPTER VIII.

When our father Adam saw that his end was near, 6 he called his son Seth, who came to him in the Cave of Treasures, and he said unto him :—

" 0 Seth, my son, bring me thy children and thy children's children, that I may shed my blessing on them ere I die."

When Seth heard these words from his father Adam, he went from him, shed a flood of tears over his face,* and gathered together his children and his children's children, and brought them to his father Adam.

But when our father Adam saw them around him, he wept at having to be separated from them.

And when they saw him weeping, they all wept together, and fell upon his face saying, “ How shalt thou be severed from us, 0 our father ? And how shall the earth receive thee and hide thee from our eyes ?" Thus did they lament much, and in like words.f

Then our father Adam blessed them all, and said to Seth, after he had blessed them:—

“ 0 Seth, my son, thou knowest this world—that it is full of sorrow, and of weariness; and thou knowest all that has come upon us, from our trials in it. I therefore now command thee in these words : to keep innocency, to be pure and just, and trusting in God ; and lean not to the discourses of Satan, nor to the apparitions in which he will show himself to thee. But keep the commandments that I give thee this day; then give the same to thy son Enos; and let Enos give it to his son Cainan; and Cainan to his son Mahalaleel; so that this commandment abide firm among all your children. 7

u 0 Seth, my son, the moment I am dead take ye my body and wind it up with myrrh, aloes, and cassia, and leave me here

* Lit. down his cheeks.

f Or, strains.

ii.]

115

in this Cave of Treasures in which are all these tokens which God gave us from the garden.

“ 0 my son, hereafter shall a flood come 8 and overwhelm all creatures, and leave out only eight souls.

“ But, 0 my son, let those whom it will leave out from among your children at that time, take my body with them out of this cave; and when they have taken it with them, let the oldest among them command his children to lay my body in a ship until the flood has been assuaged, and they come out of the ship./^Then they shall take my body and lay it in the middle of the earth, shortly after they have been saved from the waters of the flood.

i€ For the place where my body shall be laid, is the middle of the earth; God shall come from thence and shall save all our kindred^/

€t But now, 0 Seth, my son, place thyself at the head of thy people; tend them and watch over them in the fear of God; and lead them in the good way. Command them to fast unto God; and make them understand they ought not to hearken to Satan, lest he destroy them.

“ Then, again, sever thy children and thy children's children from Cain's children; do not let them ever mix with those, nor come near them either in their words or in their deeds."

Then Adam let his blessing descend upon Seth, and upon his children, and upon all his children's children.

He then turned to his son Seth, and to Eve his wife, and said to them, “ Preserve this gold, this incense, and this myrrh, that God has given us for a sign; for in days that are coming, a flood will overwhelm the whole creation. But those who shall go into the ark shall take with them the gold, the incense, and the myrrh, together with my body; and will lay the gold, the incense, and the myrrh, with my body in the midst of the earth.

" Then, after a long time, the city in which the gold, the incense, and the myrrh are found with my body, shall be plun-

8 *

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dered. But when it is spoiled, the gold, the incense, and the myrrh shall be taken care of with the spoil that is kept; and naught of them shall perish, until the Word of God, made man shall come; when kings shall take them,* and shall o Set to Him, gold in token of His being King ; incense, in token of His being God of heaven and earth; and myrrh, in token of His passion.

“ Gold also, as a token of His overcoming Satan, and all our foes; incense as a token that He will rise from the dead, and be exalted above things in heaven and things in the earth ; and myrrh, in token that He will drink bitter gall; and [feel] the pains of hell from Satan.

u And now, 0 Seth, my son, behold I have revealed unto thee hidden mysteries, which God had revealed unto me. Keep my commandment, for thyself, and for thy people.”

CHAPTER IX.

When Adam had ended his commandment to Seth, his limbs were loosened, his hands and feet lost all power, his mouth became dumb, and his tongue ceased altogether to speak. He closed his eyes and gave up the ghost. 9

But when his children saw that he was dead, they threw themselves over him, men and women, old and young, weeping.

The death of Adam took place at the end of nine hundred and thirty years that he lived upon the earth ; on the fifteenth day of Barmudeh, after the reckoning of an epact of the sun, at the ninth hour. It was on a Friday, 10 the very day on which he was created, and on which he rested ; and the hour at which he died, was the same as that at which he came out of the garden.

Then Seth wound him up well, and embalmed him with plenty of sweet spices, from sacred trees and from the Holy

♦ i.e., the gold, the incense, and the myrrh.

THE DEATH OF ADAM.

117

ii.]

Mountain; and he laid his body on the eastern side of the inside of the cave, the side of the incense ; and placed in front of him a lamp-stand kept burning.

Then his children stood before him weeping and wailing over him the whole night until break of day.

Then Seth and his son Enos, and Cainan, the son of Enos, went out and took good offerings to present unto the Lord, and they came to the altar upon which Adam offered gifts to God, when he did offer.

But Eve said to them, “ Wait until we have first asked God to accept our offering, and to keep by Him the soul of Adam His servant, and to take it up to rest.”

And they all stood up and prayed . 11

CHAPTER X.

And when they had ended their prayer, the Word of God came and comforted them concerning their father Adam.

After this, they offered their gifts for themselves and for their father.

And when they had ended their offering, the Word of God came to Seth, the eldest among them, saying unto him, " O Seth, Seth, Seth, three times. As I was with thy father, so also shall I be with thee, until the fulfilment of the promise I made him—thy father [saying], I will send My Word and save thee and thy seed.

" But as to thy father Adam, keep thou the commandment he gave thee; and sever thy seed from that of Cain thy brother.”

And God withdrew His Word from Seth.

Then Seth, Eve, and their children, came down from the mountain to the Cave of Treasures.

But Adam was the first whose soul died in the land of

Eden,* in the Cave of Treasures ; for no one died before him, but his son Abel, who died murdered.

Then all the children of Adam rose up, and wept over their father Adam, and made offerings to him, one hundred and forty days.

CHAPTER XI.

After the death of Adam and of Eve, 11 Seth severed his children, and his children's children, from Cain's children. Cain and his seed went down and dwelt westward, below the place where he had killed his brother Abel. 13

But Seth and his children, dwelt northwards upon the mountain of the Cave of Treasures, in order to be near to their father Adam. And Seth the elder, tall and good, with a fine soul, and of a strong mind, stood at the head of his people; and tended them in innocence, penitence, and meekness, and did not allow one of them to go down to Cain's children. But because of their own purity, they were named “ Children of God," and they were with God, instead of the hosts of angels who fell; for they continued in praises to God, and in singing psalms unto Him, in their cave—the Cave of Treasures.

Then Seth stood before the body of his father Adam, and of his mother Eve, and prayed night and day, and asked for mercy towards himself and his children ; and that when he had some difficult dealing with a child. He would give him counsel.

But Seth and his children did not like earthly work, but gave themselves to heavenly things ; 14 for they had no other thought than praises, doxologies, and psalms unto God. Therefore did they at all times hear the voices of angels, praising and glorifying God; from within the garden, or when they were sent [by God] on an errand, or when they were going up to heaven.

* In the land in which he was created (the land of Eden). Kufale, p. 19 .

THE CHILDREN OF SETH.

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For Seth and his children, by reason of their own purity, heard and saw those angels. Then, again, the garden was not far above them, but only some fifteen spiritual cubits. Now one spiritual cubit answers to three cubits of man ;* altogether forty-five cubits.

Seth and his children dwelt on the mountain below the garden; they sowed not, neither did they reap; they wrought no food for the body, not even wheat; but only offerings. They ate of the fruit and of trees well flavoured [that grew] on the mountain where they dwelt.

Then Seth often fasted every forty days, as did also his eldest children. For the family of Seth smelled the smell of the trees in the garden, when the wind blew [that way]. They were happy, innocent, without sudden fear, there was no jealousy, no evil action, no hatred among them. There was no animal passion; from no mouth among them went forth either foul words or curse; neither evil counsel nor fraud. For the men of that time never swore, but under hard circumstances, when men must swear, they swore by the blood of Abel the just.f

But they constrained their children and their women every day in the cave to fast and pray, and to worship the most High God. They blessed themselves in the body of their father Adam, and anointed themselves with it. And they did so until the end of Seth drew near.

CHAPTER XII.

Then Seth, the just, called his son Enos, and Cainan, son of Enos, and Mahalaleel, son of Cainan, and said unto them “ As my end is near, I wish to build a roof over the altar on which gifts are offered

* Lit. of the arm.

f They dwelt on Mount Hermon leading a life of purity, and abstaining from marriage; wherefore were they called WaUhert and Sons of God. Bar. Hebr. Dyn^

They hearkened to his commandment and went out, all of them, both old and young, and worked hard at it, and built a beautiful roof over the altar.

And Seth's thought, in so doing, was that a blessing should come upon his children on the mountain; and that he should present an offering for them before his death.

Then when the building of the roof was completed, he commanded them to make offerings. They worked diligently at these, and brought them to Seth their father, who took them and offered them upon the altar; and prayed God to accept their offerings, to have mercy on the souls of his children, and to keep them from the hand of Satan.

And God accepted his offering, and sent His blessing upon him and upon his children. And then God made a promise to Seth, saying, " At the end of the great five days and a half, concerning which I have made a promise to thee and to thy father, I will send My Word and save thee and thy seed."

Then Seth and his children, and his children's children, met together, and came down from the altar, and went to the Cave of Treasures—where they prayed, and blessed themselves in the body of our father Adam, and anointed themselves with it.

But Seth abode in the Cave of Treasures, a few days, and then suffered—sufferings unto death.

Then Enos, his first-born son, came to him, with Cainan, his son, and Mahalaleel, Cainan's son, and Jared, the son of Mahalaleel, and Enoch, Jared's son, with their wives and children to receive a blessing from Seth.

Then Seth prayed over them, and blessed them, and adjured them by the blood of Abel the just, 16 saying, “ I beg of you, my children, not to let one of you go down from this Holy and pure Mountain. Make no fellowship with the children of Cain the murderer and the sinner, who killed his brother; for ye know, O my children, that we flee from him,

LAMEGH THE BLIND.

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121

and from all his sin with all our might because he killed his brother Abel/*

After having said this, Seth blessed Enos, his first-born son, and commanded him habitually to minister in purity before the body of our father Adam, all the days of his life; then, also, to go at times to the altar which he [Seth] had built. And he commanded him to feed his people in righteousness, in judgment and purity all the days of his life.

Then the limbs of Seth were loosened; his hands and feet lost all power; his mouth became dumb and unable to speak; and he gave up the ghost and died the day after his nine hundred and twelfth year; on the twenty-seventh day of the month Abib; Enoch being then twenty years old.

Then they wound up carefully the body of Seth, and embalmed him with sweet spices, and laid him in the Cave of Treasures, on the right side of our father Adam's body, and they mourned for him forty days. They offered gifts for him, as they had done for our father Adam.

After the death of Seth, Enos rose at the head of his people, whom he fed in righteousness, and judgment, as his father had commanded him . 16

But by the time Enos was eight hundred and twenty years old, Cain had a large progeny; for they married frequently, being given to animal lusts; until the land below the mountain, was filled with them.

CHAPTER XIII.

In those days lived Lamech the blind, who was of the sons of Cain. He had a son whose name was Atun,* and they two had much cattle.

But Lamech was in the habit of sending them [to feed] with a young shepherd,f who tended them; and who, when coming * In Arabic, it means hot, hard, hasty.' t Lamech’s grandson.

home in the evening wept before his grandfather, and before his father Atun and his mother Hazina, and said to them, “As for me, I cannot feed those cattle alone, lest one rob me of some of them, or kill me for the sake of them.” For among the children of Cain, there was much robbery, murder, and sin.

Then Lamech pitied him, and he said, " Truly, he [when alone], might be overpowered by the [men of this place.]”

So Lamech arose, took a bow he had kept ever since he was a youth, ere he became blind, and he took large arrows, and smooth stones, and a sling which he had, and went to the field with the young shepherd, and placed himself behind the cattle; while the young shepherd watched the cattle. Thus did Lamech many days.

Meanwhile Cain, ever since God had cast him off, and had cursed him with trembling and terror, could neither settle nor find rest in any one place; but wandered from place to place.

[In his wanderings] he came to Lamech's wives, and asked them about him. They said to him, “ He is in the field with the cattle.”

Then Cain went to look for him; and [as] he came into the field, the young shepherd heard the noise he made, and the cattle herding together from before him.

Then said he to Lamech, “ 0 my lord, is that a wild beast or a robber ? ”

And Lamech said to him, “ Make me understand which way he looks, when he comes up.”

Then Lamech bent his bow, placed an arrow on it, and fitted a stone in the sling, and when Cain came out from the open country, the shepherd said to Lamech, “ Shoot, behold, he is coming.”

Then Lamech shot at Cain with his arrow and hit him in his side. And Lamech struck him with a stone from his sling, that fell upon his face, and knocked out both his eyes; then Cain fell at once and died. 17

LIFE AND DEATH OF ENOS.

123

ii.]

Then Lamech and the young shepherd came up to him, and found him lying on the ground. And the young shepherd said to him, “ It is Cain our grandfather, whom thou hast killed, 0 my lord !”

Then was Lamech sorry for it, and from the bitterness of his regret, he clapped his hands together, and struck with his flat palm the head of the youth, who fell as if dead; but Lamech thought it was a feint; so he took up a stone and smote him, and smashed his head until he died. 18

CHAPTER XIV.

When Enos was nine hundred years old, all the children of Seth, and of Cainan, and his first-born, with their wives and children, gathered around him, asking for a blessing from him.

He then prayed over them and blessed them, and adjured them by the blood of Abel the just, saying to them, “ Let not one of your children go down from this Holy Mountain, and let them make no fellowship with the children of Cain the murderer.”

Then Enos called his son Cainan and said to him, u See, 0 my son, and set thy heart on thy people, and establish them in righteousness, and in innocence; and stand ministering before the body of our father Adam, all the days of thy life.”

After this Enos entered into rest, aged nine hundred and eighty-five years; and Cainan wound him up, and laid him in the Cave of Treasures on the left of his father Adam; and made offerings for him, after the custom of his fathers.

CHAPTER XY.

After the death of Enos, Cainan stood at the head of his people in righteousness and innocence, as his father had

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commanded him; he also continued to minister before the body of Adam, inside the Cave of Treasures. 19

Then when he had lived nine hundred and ten years, suffering and affliction came upon him. And when he was about to enter into rest, all the fathers with their wives and children came to him, and he blessed them, and adjured them by the blood of Abel the just 20 saying to them, “ Let not one among you go down from this Holy Mountain; and make no fellowship with the children of Cain the murderer."

Mahalaleel, his first-born son, received this commandment from his father, who blessed him and died.

Then Mahalaleel embalmed him with sweet spices, and laid him in the Cave of Treasures, with his fathers; and they made offerings for him, after the custom of their fathers.*

CHAPTER XYI.

Then Mahalaleel stood over his people, and fed them in righteousness and innocence, and watched them to see they held no intercourse with the children of Cain.

He also continued in the Cave of Treasures praying and ministering before the body of our father Adam, asking God for mercy on himself and on his people; until he was eight hundred and seventy years old, when he fell sick.

Then all his children gathered unto him, to see him, and to ask for his blessing on them all, ere he left this world.

Then Mahalaleel arose and sat on his bed, his tears streaming down his face, and he called his eldest son Jared, who c&me to him.

He then kissed his face, and said to him, “ 0 Jared, my son, I adjure thee by Him who made heaven and earth, f to

* See also Eutych. Nazam p. 22.

f Mahalaleel adjured his son Jared, by the blood of Abel, not to let one of his children go down from the mountain to the children of Cain the accursed. Eutych. Nazam al-j-, p. 22.

DEATH OF MAHALALEEL.

125

nj

watch over thy people, and to feed them in righteousness and in innocence; and not to let one of them go down from this Holy Mountain to the children of Cain, lest he perish with them.

“ Hear, 0 my son, hereafter there shall come a great destruction upon this earth on account of them; God will be angry with the world, and will destroy them with waters.

“ But I also know that thy children will not hearken to thee, and that they will go down from this mountain and hold intercourse with the children of Cain, and that they shall perish with them.

<c 0 my son ! teach them, and watch over them, that no guilt attach to thee on their account.”

Mahalaleel said, moreover, to his son Jared, “ When I die, embalm my body and lay it in the Cave of Treasures, by the bodies of my fathers; then stand thou by my body and pray to God; and take care of them, and fulfil thy ministry before them, until thou enterest into rest thyself.”

Mahalaleel then blessed all his children; and then lay down on his bed, and entered into rest like his fathers.

But when Jared saw that his father Mahalaleel was dead, he wept, and sorrowed, and embraced and kissed his hands and his feet; and so did all his children.

And his children embalmed him carefully, and laid him by the bodies of his fathers. Then they arose, and mourned for him forty days.

CHAPTER XVII.

Then Jared kept his father’s commandment, and arose like a lion over his people. He fed them in righteousness and innocence, and commanded them to do nothing without his counsel. For he was afraid concerning them, lest they should go to the children of Cain.

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Wherefore did he give them orders repeatedly; and continued to do so until the end of the four hundred and eighty-fifth year of his life.

At the end of these said years, there came unto him this sign. As Jared was standing like a lion before the bodies of his fathers, praying and warning his people, Satan envied him, and wrought a beautiful apparition, because Jared would not let his Children do aught without his counsel.

Satan then appeared to him with thirty men of his hosts, in the form of handsome men; Satan himself being the elder and tallest among them, with a fine beard.

They stood at the mouth of the cave, and called out Jared, from within it.

He came out to them, and found them looking like fine men, full of light, and of great beauty. He wondered at their beauty and [at their] looks; and thought within himself whether they might not be of the children of Cain.

He said also in his heart, t€ As the children of Cain cannot come up to the height of this mountain, and none of them is so handsome as these appear to be; and among these men there is not one of my kindred—they must be strangers.”

Then Jared and they exchanged a greeting, and he said to the elder among them, " 0 my father, explain to me the wonder that is in thee, and tell me who these are, with thee; for they look to me like strange men.”

Then the elder began to weep, and the rest wept with him; and he said to Jared, “ I am Adam whom God made first ; and this is Abel my son, who was killed by his brother Cain, into whose heart Satan put to murder him.

(€ Then this is my son Seth, whom I asked of the Lord, who gave him to me, to comfort me instead of Abel.

“ Then this one is my son Enos, son of Seth, and that other one is Cainan, son of Enos, and that other one is Mahalaleel, son of Cainan, thy father.”

But Jared remained wondering at their appearance, and at the speech of the elder to him.

SATAN APPEARS TO JARED.

127

n.]

Then the elder said to him, “Marvel not, 0 my son; we live in the land north of the garden, which God created before the world. He would not let us live there, but placed us inside the garden, below which ye are now dwelling.

“ But, after that I transgressed. He made me come out of it, and I was left to dwell in this cave; great and sore troubles came upon me; and when my death drew near, I commanded my son Seth to tend his people well; and this my commandment is to be handed from one to another, unto the end of the generations to come.

“ But, 0 Jared, my son, we live in beautiful regions, while you live here in misery, as this thy father Mahalaleel informed me; telling me that a great flood will come and overwhelm the whole earth.

“ Therefore, O my son, fearing for your sakes, I rose and took my children with me, and came hither for us to visit thee and thy children; but I found thee standing in this cave weeping, and thy children scattered about this mountain, in the heat and in misery.

“ But, 0 my son, as we missed our way, and came as far as this, we found other men below this mountain; who inhabit a beautiful country, full of trees and of fruits, and of all manner of verdure; it is like a garden ; so that when we found them we thought they were you; until thy father Mahalaleel told me they were no such thing.

“ Now, therefore, 0 my son, hearken to my counsel, and go down to them, thou and thy children. Ye will rest from all this suffering in which ye are. But if thou wilt not go down to them, then, arise, take thy children, and come with us to our garden; ye shall live in our beautiful land, and ye shall rest from all this trouble, which thou and thy children are now bearing."

But Jared when he heard this discourse from the elder, wondered; and went hither and thither, but at that moment he found not one of his children.

Then he answered and said to the elder, " Why have you hidden yourselves until this day ?”

And the elder replied, “ If thy father had not told us, we should not have known it.”

Then Jared believed his words wei;e true.

So the elder said to Jared, “ Wherefore didst thou turn about, so and so ? ” And he said, “ I was seeking one of my children, to tell him about my going with you, and about their coming down to those about whom thou hast spoken to me.” When the elder heard Jared’s intention, he said to him, “ Let alone that purpose at present, and come with us; thou shalt see our country; if the land in which we dwell pleases thee, we and thou shall return hither and take thy family with us. But if our country does not please thee, thou shalt come back to thine own place.”

And the elder urged Jared, to go before one of his children came to counsel him [otherwise].

Jared, then, came out of the cave and went with them, and among them. And they comforted him, until they came to the top of the mountain of the sons of Cain.

Then said the elder to one of his companions, “ We have forgotten something by the mouth of the cave, and that is, the chosen garment we had brought to clothe Jared withal.”

He then said to one of them, “ Go back, thou, some one ; and we will wait for thee here, until thou come back. Then will we clothe Jared, and he shall be like us, good, handsome, and fit to come with us into our country.”

Then that one went back.

But when he was a short distance off, the elder called to him and said to him, “ Tarry thou, until I come up and speak to thee.”

Then he stood still, and the elder went up to him and said to him,“ One thing we forgot at the cave, it is this—to put out the lamp that burns inside it, above the bodies that are therein. Then come back to us, quick.”

JARED AMONG THE SONS OF CAIN.

129

ii.]

That one went, and the elder came back to his fellows and to Jared. And they came down from the mountain, and Jared with them; and they stayed by a fountain of water, near the houses of the children of Cain, and waited for their companion until he brought the garment [for Jared].

He, then, who went back [to the cave], put out the lamp, and came to them and brought a phantom with him and showed it them. And when Jared saw it he wondered at the beauty and grace thereof, and rejoiced in his heart, believing it was all true.

But while they were staying there, three of them went into houses of the sons of Cain, and said to them, “ Bring us to-day some food by the fountain of water, for us and our companions to eat.”

But when the sons of Cain saw them, they wondered at them and thought :* “ These are beautiful to look at, and such as we never saw before.” So they rose and came with them to the fountain of water, to see their companions.

They found them so very handsome, that they cried aloud about their places for others to gather together and come and look at these beautiful beings. Then they gathered around them both men and women.

Then the elder said to them, “We are strangers in your land, bring us some good food and drink, you and your women, to refresh ourselves with you.”

When those men heard these words of the elder, every one of Cain's sons brought his wife, and another brought his daughter, and so, many women came to them; every one addressing Jared either for himself or for his wife; all alike.

But when Jared saw what they did, his very soul wrenched itself from them; neither would he taste of their food or of their drink.

The elder saw him as he wrenched himselff from them, and

♦ Lit. said in their thoughts, i f Or, his soul wrenched itself from them.

9

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said to him, “ Be not sad ; I am the great elder, as thou shalt see me do, do thyself in like manner.”

Then he spread his hands and took one of the women, and five of his companions did the same before Jared, that he should do as they did.

But when Jared saw them working infamy he wept, and said in his mind,*—My fathers never did the like.

He then spread his hands and prayed with a fervent heart, and with much weeping, and entreated God to deliver him from their hands.

No sooner did Jared begin to pray than the elder fled with his companions; for they could not abide in a place of prayer.

Then Jared turned round but could not see them, but found himself standing in the midst of the children of Cain.

He then wept and said, “ 0 God, destroy me not with this race, concerning which my fathers have warned me; for now, O my Lord God, I was thinking that those who appeared unto me were my fathers; but I have found them out to be devils, who allured me by this beautiful apparition, until I believed them.

“ But now I ask Thee, 0 God, to deliver me from this race, among whom I am now staying, as Thou didst deliver me from those devils. Send Thy angel to draw me out of the midst of them ; for I have not myself power to escape from among them.”

When Jared had ended his prayer, God sent His angel in the midst of them, who [took Jared] and set him upon the mountain, and showed him the way, gave him counsel, and then departed from him. ,

CHAPTER XVm.

The children of Jared were in the habit of visiting him Iiour after hour, to receive his blessing and to ask his advice) for

* Lit. thought.

/

every thing they did; and when he had a work to do, they did it for him/

But this time when they went into the cave they found not Jared, but they found the lamp put out, and the bodies of the fathers thrown about, and voices came from them by the power of God, that said, “ Satan in an apparition has deceived our son, wishing to destroy him, as he destroyed our son Cain.”

They said also, “ Lord God of heaven and earth, deliver our son from the hand of Satan, who wrought a great and false apparition before him.” They also spake of other matters, by the power of God.

But when the children of Jared heard these voices they feared, and stood weeping for their father; for they knew not what had befallen him.

And they wept for him that day until the setting of the sun.

Then came Jared with a woeful countenance, wretched in mind and body, and sorrowful at having been separated from the bodies of his fathers.

But as he was drawing near to the cave, his children saw him, and hastened to the cave, and hung upon his neck, crying, and saying to him ," 0 father, where hast thou been, and [why hast thou] left us, as thou wast not wont to do ?” And again, “0 father, when thou didst disappear, the lamp over the bodies of our fathers went out, the bodies were thrown about, and voices came from them.”

When Jared heard this he was sorry, and went into the cave; and there found the bodies thrown about, the lamp put out, and the fathers themselves praying for his deliverance from the hand of Satan.

Then Jared fell upon the bodies and embraced them, and said, €C 0 my fathers, through your intercession, let God deliver me from the hand of Satan ! And I beg you will ask God to keep me and to hide me from him unto the day of my death/ 1

9*

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Then all the voices ceased save the voice of our father Adam, who spake to Jared by the power of God, just as one would speak to his fellow, saying, “ 0 Jared my son, offer gifts to God for having delivered thee from the hand of Satan; and when thou bringest those offerings, so be it, that thou offerest them on the altar on which I did offer. Then also, beware of Satan; for he deluded me many a time with his apparitions, wishing to destroy me, but God delivered me out of his hand.

“ Command thy people that they be on their guard against him; and never cease to offer up gifts to God.”

Then the voice of Adam also became silent; and Jared and his children wondered at this. Then they laid the bodies [as they were at first] ; and Jared and his children stood praying the whole of that night, until break of day.

Then Jared made an offering and offered it up on the altar, as Adam had commanded him. And as he went up to the altar, he prayed to God for mercy and for forgiveness of his sin, concerning the lamp going out.

Then God appeared unto Jared on the altar and blessed him and his children, and accepted their offerings ; and commanded Jared to take of the sacred fire from the altar, and with it to light the lamp that shed light on the body of Adam.

CHAPTER XIX.

Then God revealed to him again the promise He had made to Adam; He explained to him the 5500 years, and revealed unto him the mystery of His coming upon the earth.

And God said to Jared, “As to that fire which thou hast taken from the altar to light the lamp withal, let it abide with you to give light to the bodies; and let it not come out of the cave, until the body of Adam comes out of it.

But, 0 Jared, take care of the fire, that it burn bright in the lamp; neither go thou again out of the cave, until thou

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133

receivest [an order] through a vision, and not in an apparition, when seen by thee.

“ Then command again thy people not to hold intercourse with the children of Cain, and not to learn their ways; for I am God who loves not hatred and works of iniquity.”

God gave also many other commandments to Jared, and blessed him. And then withdrew His word from him.

Then Jared drew near with his children, took some fire, and came down to the cave, and lighted the lamp before the body of Adam; and he gave his people commandments as God had told him to do.

This sign happened to Jared at the end of his four hundred and fiftieth year; as did also many other wonders, we do not record. But we record only this one for shortness sake, and in order not to lengthen our narrative.

And Jared continued to teach his children eighty years; but after that they began to transgress the commandments he had given them, and to do many things without his counsel. They began to go down from the Holy Mountain one after another, and to mix with the children of Cain, in foul fellowships.

Now the reason for which the children of Jared went down the Holy Mountain, is this, that we will now reveal unto you.

CHAPTER XX.

After Cain had gone down to the land of dark soil,* and his children had multiplied therein,f there was one of them, whose name was Genun , 21 son of Lamech the blind who slew Cain.

But as to this Genun, Satan came into him in his childhood; and he made sundry trumpets and horns, and string instru-

* Lit black mnd.

f Kaiv —x0a/ia\6c uv — <ukh dk ri)v yrjv, tfri c iori rpe/xovaa [nod] ovvav —he inhabited a land that is trembling, being low. Oedren., Hist. Comp.,

ments, cymbals and psalteries, and lyres and harps, and flutes; and he played on them at all times and at every hour.* 28

And when he played on them, Satan came into them, so that from among them were heard beautiful and sweet sounds, that ravished the heart.f

Then he gathered companies upon companies to play on them; and when they played, it pleased well the children of Cain,J who inflamed themselves with sin among themselves, and burnt as with fire; while Satan inflamed their hearts one with another, and increased lust among them.

Satan also taught Genun to bring strong drink out of corn ;§ and this Genun used to bring together companies upon companies in drink-houses; and brought into their hands all manner of fruits and flowers; and they drank together.

Thus did this Genun multiply sin exceedingly; he also acted with pride, and taught the children of Cain to commit all manner of the grossest wickedness, which they knew not; and put them up to manifold doings which they knew not before.

Then Satan, when he saw that they yielded to Genun and hearkened to him in every thing he told them, rejoiced greatly* increased Genun's understanding, until he took iron and with it made weapons of war.

Then when they were drunk, hatred and murder increased among them; one man used violence against another to teach him [evil], taking his children and defiling them before him.

And when men saw they were overcome, and [saw] others that were not overpowered, those who were beaten came to Genun, took refuge with him, and he made them his confederates.

Then sin increased among them greatly; until a man married his own sister, or daughter, or mother, and others; or the daughter of his father's sister, so that there was no more

* Eutych., Nazam al-j ., p. 20.

} Lit. it seemed well in the eyes of.

f Lit. hearts.

§ Arab. “ that is now called beer.’’

distinction [of relationship],* and they no longer knew what is iniquity; but did wickedly, and the earth was defiled with sin; and they angered God the Judge, who had created them.

But Genun gathered together companies upon companies, that played on horns and on all the other instruments we have already mentioned, at the foot of the Holy Mountain; and they did so in order that the children of Seth who were on the Holy Mountain should hear it.

But when the children of Seth heard the noise, they wondered, and came by companies, and stood on the top of the mountain to look at those below; and they did thus a whole year.

When, at the end of that year, Genun saw that they were being won over to him little by little, Satan entered into him, and taught him to make dyeing-stuffs for garments of divers patterns, and made him understand how to dye crimson and purple, and what not.

And the sons of Cain who wrought all this, and shone in beauty and gorgeous apparel, gathered together at the foot of the mountain in splendour, with horns and gorgeous dresses, and horse races; committing all manner of abominations.

Meanwhile the children of Seth, who were on the Holy Mountain, prayed and praised God, in the place of the hosts [of angels] who had fallen; wherefore God had called them “ angels,” because He rejoiced over them greatly.

But after this, they no longer kept His commandment, nor held by the promise He had made to their fathers; but they relaxed from their fasting and praying, and from the counsel of Jared their father. And they kept on gathering together on the top of the mountain, to look upon the children of Cain, from morning until evening, and upon what they did, upon their beautiful dresses and oruaments.

Then the children of Cain looked up from below, and saw

* Until they knew not either parents or children. Entych., Nazam p. 25.

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the children of Seth, standing in troops on the top of the mountain; and they called to them to come down to them.

But the children of Seth said to them from above, “ We don’t know the way." Then Genun, the son of Lamech, heard them say they did not know the way, and he bethought himself how he might bring them down.

Then Satan appeared to him by night, saying, “ There is no way for them to come down from the mountain on which they dwell; but when they come to-morrow, say to them, ‘ Come ye to the western side of the mountain; there you will find the way of a stream of water, that comes down to the foot of the mountain, between two hills;. come down that way to us."

Then when it was day, Genun blew the horns and beat the drums below the mountain, as he was wont. The children of Seth heard it, and came as they used to do.

Then Genun said to them from down below, “ Go to the western side of the mountain, there you will find the way to come down."

But when the children of Seth heard these words from him, they went back into the cave to Jared, to tell him all they had heard.

Then when Jared heard it, he was grieved; for he knew that they would.transgress [his counsel].

After this a hundred men of the children of Seth gathered together , 23 and said among themselves, “ Come, let us go down to the children of Cain, and see what they do, and enjoy ourselves with them."

But when Jared heard this of the hundred men, his very soul was moved, and his heart was grieved. He then arose with great fervour, and stood in the midst of them, and adjured them by the blood of Abel the just, “ Let not one of you go down from this holy and pure mountain, in which our fathers have ordered us to dwell."

But when Jared saw that they did not receive his words, he said unto them, “ O my good and innocent and holy children.

THE FALLEN SONS OF SETH.

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know that when once you go down from this holy mountain, God will not allow you to return again to it.”

He again adjured them, saying, “I adjure by the death of our father Adam, and by the blood of Abel, of Seth, of Enos, of Cainan, and of Mahalaleel, to hearken to me, and not to go down from this holy mountain; for the moment you leave it, you will be reft of life and of mercy ;* * * § and you shall no longer be called 1 children of God/ but * children of the devil.*

But they would not hearken to his words.

Enoch at that time was already grown up, and in his zeal for God, he arose and said, “ Hear me, 0 ye sons of Seth, small and great—when ye transgress the commandment of our fathers, and go down from this holy mountain—ye shall not come up hither again for ever.” 34

But they rose up against Enoch, and would not hearken to his words, but went down from the Holy Mountain.

And when they looked at the daughters of Cain, at their beautiful figure, and at their hands and feet dyed with colour, and tattooed in ornaments on their faces, J the fire of sin was kindled in them.§

Then Satan made them look most beautiful before the sons of Seth, as he also made the sons of Seth appear of the fairest in the eyes of the daughters of Cain, so that the daughters of Cain lusted after the sons of Seth like ravenous beasts, and the sons of Seth after the daughters of Cain, until they committed abomination with them.||

But after they had thus fallen into this defilement, they returned by the way they had come, and tried to ascend the

* Those rebellious souls are for death, the sword, perdition, and extinction like a lamp. Cod. Nasar, ii, 148.

f S. Ephrem, Seim. 1, on Par., vol. iii, p. 564.

X A description of Egyptian women, of that, as well as of the present, day.

§ But the Author of evil unable to curse the holy life and happiness of the children of Seth tic rrjv utpaiorrira rwv Qvyarkpojv tS>v &v9punrvv 9 tjroi rov Kaiv avrovc irptiMrtv. Cedren., Hist. Comp., p. 17.

|| Eutychus tells the same in words that had better remain in the original.

Holy Mountain. But they could not, because the stones of that holy mountain were of fire flashing before them, by reason of which they could not go up again. 26

And God was angry with them, and repented of them, because they had come down from glory, and had thereby [lost or] forsaken their own purity [or innocence], and were fallen 26 into the defilement of sin. 27

Then God sent His Word to Jared, saying, “ These thy children, whom thou didst call ‘ My children/—behold they have transgressed My commandment, and have gone down to the abode of perdition, and of sin. Send a messenger to those that are left, that they may not go down, and be lost.”

Then Jared wept before the Lord, and asked of Him mercy and forgiveness. But he wished that his soul might depart from his body, rather than hear these words from God about the going down of his children from the Holy Mountain.

But he followed God's order, and preached unto them not to go down from that holy mountain, and not to hold intercourse with the children of Cain.

But they heeded not his message, and would not obey his counsel.

CHAPTER XXL

After this another company gathered together, and they went to look after their brethren; but they perished as well as they. And so it was, company after company, until only a few of them were left.

Then Jared sickened from grief,* and his sickness was such that the day of his death drew near.

Then he called Enoch his eldest son, and Methuselah Enoch's son, and Lamech the son of Methuselah, and Noah the son of Lamech.

* "Svv di iv xpovoig tov ’I aped xai liriKtiva Qappaicda xai pay da f aatXytia, poixda k ai adiKia. S. Epiph., Uceres., Lib. I, i, 5.

And when they were come to him he prayed over them and blessed them, and said to them, “ Ye are righteous, innocent sons; go ye not down from this holy mountain; for behold, your children and your children's children have gone down from this holy mountain, and have estranged themselves from this holy mountain, through their abominable lust and transgression of God's commandment.

t€ But I know, through the power of God, that He will not leave you on this holy mountain, 28 because your children have transgressed His commandment and that of our fathers, which we had received from them.

t€ But, 0 my sons, God will take you to a strange ]and, and ye never shall again return to behold with your eyes this garden and this holy mountain.

“ Therefore, 0 my sons, set your hearts on your own selves,* and keep the commandment of God which is with you. And when you go from this holy mountain, into a strange land which ye know not, take with you the body of our father Adam, and with it these three precious gifts and offerings, namely, the gold, the incense, and the myrrh; and let them be in the place where the body of our father Adam shall lay.

“ And unto him of you who shall be left, 0 my sons, shall the Word of God come, 39 and when he goes out of this land he shall take with him the body of our father Adam, and shall lay it in the middle of the earth, the place in which salvation shall be wrought."+

Then Noah said unto him, “ Who is he of us that shall be left?"

And Jared answered, “ Thou art he that shall be left. 80 And thou shalt take the body of our father Adam from the cave, and place it with thee in the ark when the flood comes.

a And thy son Shem, who shall come out of thy loins, he it

* Or, on your souls.

f See Ps. lxxiv. 12, and S. Athan. Qwoest. ad A., Vol. II, p. 393.

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is who shall lay the body of our father Adam in the middle of the earth, in the place whence salvation shall come."

Then Jared turned to his son Enoch, and said unto him, “Thou, my son, abide in this cave, and minister diligently* before the body of our father Adam all the days of thy life; and feed thy people in righteousness and innocence."

And Jared said no more. His hands were loosened, his eyes closed, and he entered into rest like his fathers. His death took place in the three hundred and sixtieth year of Noah, and in the nine hundred and eighty-ninth year of his own life; on the twelfth of Takhsasf on a Friday.

But as Jared died, tears streamed down his face by reason of his great sorrow, for the children of Seth, who had fallen in his days.

Then Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech and Noah, these four, wept over him; embalmed him carefully, and then laid him in the Cave of Treasures. Then they rose and mourned for him forty days.

And when these days of mourning were ended, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech and Noah remained in sorrow of heart, because their father had departed from them, and they saw him no more.

CHAPTER XXII.

But Enoch kept the commandment of Jared his father, and continued to minister in the cave.

It is this Enoch to whom many wonders happened, and who also wrote a celebrated book;J 81 but those wonders may not be told in this place.

Then after this, the children of Seth went astray and fell, they, their children and their wives. And when Enoch,

* Or, continually.

f That is—the Ethiopic December; whereas the Arabic original has Tiahrin (October), the month in which he was bora and also died.

t Lit. by whom also there is a celebrated book.

ENOCH’S ADVICE TO EI8 SONS .

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ii.]

Methuselah, Lamech and Noah saw them, their hearts suffered by reason of their fall into doubt full of unbelief; and they wept and sought of God mercy, to preserve them, and to bring them out of that wicked generation.

Enoch continued in his ministry before the Lord three hundred and eighty-five years, and at the end of that time he became aware through the grace of God, that God intended to remove him from the earth.

He then said to his son, "0 my son, I know that God intends to bring the waters of the Flood upon the earth, and to destroy our creation. 82

“ And ye are the last rulers over this people on this mountain; for I know that not one will be left you to beget children on this holy mountain; neither shall any one of you rule over the children of his people; neither shall any great company be left of you, on this mountain.”

Enoch said also to them, “ Watch over your souls, and hold fast by your fear of God and by your service of Him, and worship Him in upright faith, and serve Him in righteousness, innocence and judgment, in repentance and also in purity.” 83

When Enoch had ended his commandments to them, God transported him from that mountain to the land of life, to the mansions of the righteous and of the chosen, 34 the abode of Paradise of joy, in light that reaches up to heaven; light that is outside the light of this world; for it is the light of God, that fills the whole world, but which no place can contain.

Thus, because Enoch* was in the light of God, he found himself out of the reach of death; until God would have him die.

Altogether, not one of our fathers or of their children, remained on that holy mountain, except those three, Methuselah, Lamech, and Noah. For all the rest went down from the mountain and fell into sin with the children of Gain. Therefore were they forbidden that mountain, and none remained on it but those three men.

* See S. Ephrem, vol. ii, p. 325, for a sermon on Enoch.

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BOOK III.

CHAPTER L

Noah noticed from his youth up, how sin had multiplied, how wickedness prevailed; how generations of men perished, how sorrow increased, how righteous men diminished . 1

Therefore did he afflict his soul; he restrained his members, and retained his virginity; and grieved over the ruin wrought by the generations of men.

And this Noah habitually mourned and wept and was of a sad countenance ; and thus he held his soul in fasting, so that the enemy had no advantage over him, and did not come near him.

This Noah also, ever since he was a child with his parents,* never made them angry, never transgressed against them; nor ever did a thing without their advice. And when he was away from them, if he wished to pray or to do aught else ; he would ask of God, to guide him aright therein; wherefore God watched over him.

And while he was on the mountain, he did not transgress against God in any one evil thing, nor did he wilfully depart from what pleased God; neither did he ever anger God.

Many were the wonderful things which happened to him, more than to any of his fathers before him, about the time of the Flood.

* Lit. father.

NOAH BUILDS THE ARK.

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And Noah continued in his virginity and in his obedience to God five hundred years; but after that it pleased God to raise him a seed; He therefore spake unto him, saying, “ Arise, 0 Noah, and take unto thyself a wife, that of her thou mayest have children that may be a comfort to thee; for thou art left alone, and thou shalt go out of this country unto a strange land; for the earth shall be peopled with thy posterity.”

Then when Noah heard this from God, he did not transgress His commandment, but took unto himself a wife, whose name was Haikal, the daughter of Abaraz, who was of the children of Enos's children, that went into perdition.

And she bare unto him three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japhet.

CHAPTER II.

After these things, God spake unto Noah about the Flood ; that it should come upon the earth, and destroy all creatures, so as not to let one of them be seen.

And God said unto Noah, “ Guard thy children; command them and make them understand not to have intercourse with the children of Cain, lest they perish with them.”.

And Noah hearkened to God's words, and kept his children on the mountain, and would not let them go down to the children of Cain.

Then God spake again unto Noah, saying, “Make unto thyself an ark of wood that will not rot; to be a deliverance to thee and to the men of thy house. 2

“ But begin to build it in the low land of Eden, in presence of the children of Cain, that they may see thee working at it; and if they will not repent they shall perish; and the blame shall rest on them.

“ But cut on this holy mountain, the trees whereof thou shalt make the ark; let the length of the ark be three hundred

THE BOOK OF ADAM AND EVE. [book

cubits, the breadth thereof fifty cubits, and the height thereof thirty cubits. 8

“ And when thou hast made and finished it, let there be in it on9 door above, and three compartments ;* and every compartment ten cubits high.

“ The first story shall be for lions, and beasts, animals and ostriches all together. The second story shall be for birds, and creeping things.

“And the third story shall be for thee and thy wife, and for thy sons and their wives.

“ And make in the ark wells for water, and openings to them, to draw water thereat, for drink to thee and to those that are with thee. And thou shalt line those wells with lead, both in and out.

“ And make in the ark store-houses for corn; for food to thee and to those that are with thee.

“Then make also unto thyself a trumpet 4 of ebony wood, three cubits long, one and a half cubit wide, with a mouthpiece of the same wood.

“ And thou shalt blow it three times; the first time in the morning, that the workmen [working] at the ark may hear it, and gather to their work. Then thou shalt blow it the second time, and when the workmen hear it, they will gather to their meal. And thou shall blow it a third time in the evening, for the workmen to go and rest from their labour.”

Ajid God said unto Noah, “ Go about among the people and tell them that a flood shall come and shall overwhelm them; and make the ark before their eyes.

“ And when they question thee about the making of the ark, tell them: God has commanded me to make it, that we may get into it, I and my children, and be saved from the waters of the Flood.”

But when Noah went about among them and told them, they

* Or, stories.

DEATH OF LAMEOH.

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in.]

laughed at him, and only committed adultery and revelled together all the more, and said, “That twaddling old man! Whence will ever the waters come, above the tops of high mountains ? We never saw water rise above mountains ; and this old man says, a flood is coming! ”

But Noah did all his works, as God had told him concerning them.

CHAPTER III.

And Noah begat his three sons, during the first hundred years he worked at the ark.

During these hundred years he ate no food, whence blood flows; the shoes on his feet were neither changed, nor worn, nor grown old.

During these hundred years also, he did not change his garments from off him, neither did they wear out, in the least; he did not change the staff in his hand, nor did the cloth about his head grow old; and the hair of his head neither increased nor grew less.

As to those three sons of Noah, the first of them is Shem; the next is Ham; and the third is Japhet. They married wives from among the daughters of Methuselah; as the wise LXXII interpreters have told us; as it is written in the first [sacred] book of the Greeks.

The life also of Lamech, Noah's father, was five hundred and fifty-three years; and when he drew nigh unto death, he called unto him his father Methuselah and his son Noah, and he wept before his father Methuselah and said unto him, “ Dismiss me, 0 my father, and bless me."

Then Methuselah blessed his son Lamech, and said, “ Not one of all our fathers died before his father, but the father [died] before his son, in order that there should be his son to bury him in the earth. Now, however, 0 my son, thou diest

10

before me, and I shall drink [the cup of] sorrow on thy account, ere I go out of the flesh.

“ Henceforth, 0 my son, behold the world is changed, and the [order] of deaths of men is changed : for from to-day the son shall die before his father; and the father shall not rejoice in his son, nor be satisfied with him. So also shall the son not be satisfied with his father, nor rejoice in him.”

Then Lamech died, and they embalmed him, and laid him in the Cave of Treasures. His death took place seven years before the Flood came; and his father Methuselah and his son Noah remained alone on the Holy Mountain.

But Noah went down every day to work at the ark, and came up at eventide. And he instructed his sons and their wives not to come down after him, and not to hold intercourse with the children of Cain.

For Noah was anxious about his sons, and said in his mind, “ They are young and might be overcome by passion.” So he went down by night; and gave old Methuselah directions about them.

CHAPTER IV.

*

But Noah preached repeatedly to the children of Cain, saying, " The flood will come and destroy you, if we do not repent.” But they would not ^hearken to him; they only laughed at him. 5

When the children of Seth went down from the Holy Mountain, and dwelt with the children of Cain, and defiled themselves with their abominations, there were born unto them children called Garsina,* who were giants, mighty men of valour, such as no other giants were of equal might. 6

Certain wise men of old wrote concerning them, and’ say in their [sacred] books, that angels came down from heaven, and ♦ A corruption of the Arabic term.

hi.] ABOUT THE RAGE OF 0IANT8. 147

mingled with the daughters of Cain, who bare unto them these giants.

But those [wise men] err in what they say. God forbid such a thing, that angels who are spirits,* should be found committing sin with human beings. Never; that cannot be. 7

And if such a thing were of the nature of angels, or Satans, that fell, they would not leave one woman on earth, undefiled. For Satans are very wicked and infamous. Moreover, they are not male and female by nature; but they are small, subtle spirits, that have been black ever since they transgressed.

But many men say, that angels came down from heaven, and joined themselves to women, and had children by them. This cannot be true.f But they were children of Seth, who were of the children of Adam, that dwelt on the mountain, high up [or suspended], while they preserved their virginity, their innocence and their glory like angels; and were then called “ angels of God/'

But when they transgressed and mingled with the children of Cain, and begat children, ill-informed men said, that angels had come down from heaven, and mingled with daughters of men, who bare them giants.

CHAPTER Y.

Then the ancient old man Methuselah who remained on the mountain with Noah's sons, lived nine hundred and eighty-seven years and then sickened; and his sickness was such that, on account of it, he must depart [from this world].

When Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japhet, became aware of it, they came to him with their wives, and wept before

* The Ethiopic construction is not quite correct here. The Arabic reads “ Angelic spirits.”

f See S. Matt, xxii, 30, and the same in S. Mark and in S. Luke. See also note 5 from the Coran. Sur. yi, xxxrii, and liii, etc.

10 *

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him, and said, “ 0 our father, and [our] elder, bless us, and pray God to have mercy on us when thou art gone from us.”

Then Methuselah said to them with a sorrowful heart, “ Hear me, 0 my dear children; for none of our fathers are left, but you, eight souls.

“ The Lord God created our father Adam and our mother Eve, and from them filled the earth [with] people in the neighbourhood of the garden, and multiplied their seed.

“But they have not kept'His commandment, and He will destroy them. But had they kept His commandment, He would then have filled heaven and earth with them.

“ Yet will I ask the Lord my God to bless you, to multiply you, and to spread your race in a strange land, to which ye shall go.

“And now, 0 my children, behold, God will bring you inside an ark unto a land to which ye have never been. And the Lord God of all our pure fathers, be with you !

“ And the glorious gifts God bestowed on our father Adam from the garden in this blessed Cave of Treasures, may He bestow them on you also !

“ These are the three glorious gifts which God made to Adam. The first is—kingdom wherein God made Adam king over His works. The second glorious gift is—priesthood, in that God breathed into his face a spirit of life. And the third glorious gift is—prophecy, for Adam prophesied concerning what God thought [of doing].

“ But I will ask the Lord my God, to bestow those three glorious gifts on your posterity ”

Then Methuselah said also to Noah, “ 0 Noah, thou art blessed of God. I warn thee and tell thee that I am going from thee to [be with] all our fathers that have gone before me.

“ But thou, who shalt be left alone with thy children on this holy mountain, keep the commandment I give thee, and forsake not anything of what I have told thee.

hi.] LAST WORDS OF METHUSELAH. 149

“ Behold my God shall quickly bring a flood upon the earth; embalm my body, and lay it in the Cave of Treasures.

“ Then take thy wife with thy sons and their wives, and go down from this holy mountain, and take with thee the body of our father Adam ; 8 go into the ark and lay it there, until the waters of the Flood are assuaged from off the face of the earth.

u 0 my son, when about to die, command thy first-born son Shem, to take Melchizedec,* son of Cainan, and grandson of Arphaxad ; 9 for that Melchizedec is priest of the Most High God ; 10 and to take with them the body of our father Adam from within the ark, and remove it and lay it in the earth.

u And Melchizedec shall stand ministering on that mountain that is in the middle of the earth, before the body of our father Adam for ever. For from that place, O Noah my son, God shall work salvation for Adam and for all of his seed that believe in God.”

Methuselah said also to Noah and to his sons, “ The angel of God will go with you, until you come to that place in the middle of the earth.”

Again Methuselah said to Noah, €t 0 my son, let him who ministers unto God and before the body of our father Adam, have a clothing of skin, and be girt about his loins with leather. Let him wear no ornament, but let his raiment be poor; let him be alone,t and stand praying our Lord God to watch over the body of our father Adam; for it is a body of great value before God.

“ And let him continue in his ministry, he the priest of the Most High God; for he is well pleasing unto God, and so is the ministry he fulfils before God.”

After this Methuselah commanded Noah [saying], “Mind, then, all these commandments, and keep them.”

Then Methuselah's hands were loosened; he ceased speak-

* The Arabic reads: “Melchizedec thy son’s son,” i.e., “Son of Shem,” as generally believed in the East.

f i.e., single.

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ing; he gradually closed his eyes, and entered into rest like all his fathers; his tears the time streaming down his cheeks, and his heart grieving at being separated from them [all] ; but mostly because of that mountain of the garden, on which not one of them was left; for God was purposed to destroy all creatures, and to blot them out from the face of the earth.

The rest of Methuselah took place when he was nine hundred and sixty-seven years old, on the twelfth of Magabit on a Sunday.

Then Noah and his sons embalmed him, weeping and sorrowing over him, and laid him in the Cave of Treasures. And they wailed over him with a great wailing, they and their wives, forty days. And when mourning and grief over Methuselah were ended, Noah and his sons began to do as Methuselah had commanded them.

CHAPTER YI.

After his death, Noah, his sons, and their wives came to the bodies of our fathers, worshipped them, and blessed themselves in them, weeping and being in the deepest grief.

But Noah had finished the ark, and not one workman was left in it. And he, with his sons, continued in prayer to God, asking Him to show them the way of safety.

When Noah and his sons had ended their prayers, God said unto him, “ Go thou into the Cave of Treasures, thou and thy sons, and take the body of our father Adam and lay it in the ark; likewise take the gold, the incense, and the myrrh, and lay them in the ark together with his body.”

And Noah hearkened to God's voice, and went into the Cave of Treasures, he and his sons; they worshipped the bodies of our fathers, and then Noah took the body of our father Adam, and carried it in the strength of God, not requiring the help of any one * n

* Lit. and would (or wished) not that one should help him.

in.] ADAM 9 8 BODY TAKEN TO THE ARK.

Then Shem his son, took the gold with him, and Ham carried the myrrh, and Japhet carried the incense; and they brought them out of the Cave of Treasures, their tears the while streaming down their cheeks.

Bat as they were bringing them out, the bodies among which Adam had been laid, cried out, " Are we then to be separated from thee, 0 our father Adam V 9

Then Adam's body answered, “ Oh, that I must part from you my sons, from this holy mountain ! Yet do I know, 0 my sons, that God will gather all our bodies together another time.

u But wait patiently until our Saviour have pity on us."

And the other bodies went on talking together, by the power of God's Word.

Then Adam asked God that the divine fire might remain in the lamp, before his sons, until the time when bodies shall rise again.

And God left the divine fire by them, to shed light on them. He then closed the cave upon them, and left not a trace to show [where it is] until the day of the Resurrection, when He will raise them up, like all other bodies.

Bat the discourse Adam held, and that too, he being dead, was by the command of God, who would show His wonders among the dead and the living.

After this let none of you say, that Adam's soul had already been under Satan's judgment. It was not so; but God commanded the souls of the dead, to come from under His hand; and to speak of the wonders of God from within their bodies." Then they returned to their places until the day of the sure deliverance that shall be unto them all.

CHAPTER VII.

But when Noah and his sons heard these voices from those dead bodies, they wondered greatly, and their faith in God was strengthened.

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Then they went out of the cave and began to go down from the Holy Mountain, weeping and wailing with a fervent heart, for their being thus parted from the holy mountain, the abode of their fathers.

And Noah and his sons went back and sought the cave, but could not find it. Then they broke out into bitter lamentation and deep sorrow; for they saw that from that day forth, they should have neither existence nor abode in it.

Then once more they raised their eyes and looked at the garden and at the trees [that were] in it, and they lifted up their voices in weeping and in loud crying, and said, “We salute thee in worship, 0 garden of joy ! 13 0 abode of brilliant beings, a place for the righteous! We salute thee, 0 place of joy that was the abode of our father Adam, the chief of creation; who, when he had transgressed, fell from thee; and then saw his body in life, naked and disgraced.

“ And we, behold, we depart from the Holy Mountain to the lower side of thee; neither shall we dwell in it, nor yet behold thee so long as we live. We wish God would remove thee with us to the country to which we shall go; but God would not remove thee into a cursed land.

“ But God will take us, and will bring us into that land with our children, until He has ended the punishment for our transgression of His commandment.”

Noah and his sons said also, “We salute thee, 0 cave,abode of the bodies of our holy fathers; we salute thee, 0 pure spot, hidden from our eyes, yet fit to have those bodies laid within thee ! The Lord God preserve thee, for the sake of the bodies of our fathers!

Again they said, “We greet you, 0 our fathers, righteous judges, and we ask you to pray for us before God, that He will have pity on us, and deliver us out of this passing world.

“We ask you to pray for us—for us, the only ones left of your seed; We give you a greeting of peace!

“ 0 Seth, great master, among the fathers, we greet thee

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with peace! 0 Holy Mountain abode of our fathers, we give

thee a greeting of peace ! ”

Then Noah and his sons wept again, and said, “ Alas, for us eight souls that are left! Behold we are taken away from the sight of the garden.”

And as they were coming down the mountain they greeted the stones, took them in their hands and put them upon their shoulders ; they stroked down the trees, and did so weeping. And they continued coming down from the mountain, until they came to the door of the ark.

Then Noah and his sons turned their faces to the east, and requested the Lord to have mercy on them, to save them, and to command them where to lay the body of our father Adam.

Then the Word of God came to Noah, saying, “Lift up the body of Adam to the third story [of the ark], and lay it there on the eastern side; and the gold, the incense and the myrrh together with him. 13

tf And thou and thy sons shall stand before him praying. But thy wife, and the wives of thy sons, shall be on the western side of the ark; and they and their wives shall not come together.”

Then when Noah heard these words from God, he and his sons went into the ark, and laid the body of our father Adam on the eastern side, and the three offerings together with him.

And Noah brought into the ark the body of Adam, on a Friday, at the second hour, on the twenty-seventh of the month of Gembot.

CHAPTER VIII.

Then God said unto Noah, " Go upon the top of the ark and blow the trump three times, that all beasts gather together unto the ark.”

But Noah said ," Shall the sound of the trump reach unto the ends of the earth to gather together the beasts and the birds ?”

Then God said unto him, “ It is not the sound of this trump alone that shall go forth, but My power shall go with it, to make it come into the ears of the beasts and of the birds.*

“ And when thou blowest thy trump, I will command My angel to blow the horn from heaven; and all these animals shall be gathered unto thee.”

Then Noah made haste and blew the trump, as God had told him. Then the angel blew the horn from heaven, until the earth quaked, and all creatures on it trembled.

Then all the beasts, birds and creeping things were gathered together at the third hour, on a Friday; when all the beasts, lions and ostriches went into the lower story at the third hour. Then at midday, came the birds and creeping things into the middle story; and Noah and his sons went into the third story, at the ninth hour of the day.

And when Noah, with his wife, his sons and their wives came into the upper story, he commanded the women to dwell on the western side; but Noah and his sons, with the body of our father Adam, dwelt on the eastern side.

CHAPTER IX.

And Noah stood asking God to save him from the waters of the Flood.

Then God talked to Noah, and said to him, “ Of every kind of birds, take one pair, male and female of the clean; and of the unclean also one pair, male and female. But also of the clean take six [more] pairs, male and female.”

* “ All these beasts, birds, and creeping things, shall come to thee by the hand of the angel who shall take and bring them to thee to keep them alive. Targ. Jonathan , in Gen. vii.

THE WATERS OF THE FLOOD.

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in.]

And Noah did all this. Then when they all had got into the ark, God shut to the door of the ark upon them by His power.

He then commanded the windows of heaven to open wide, and to pour down from them cataracts of water. And so it was ; by God's order.

And He commanded all fountains to burst open, and the depths to pour forth water, upon the face of the earth. So that the sea all round rose above the whole world, and surged, and the deep waters arose.

But when the windows of heaven opened wide, all stores [of water] and depths were opened, and all the stores* of the winds, and the whirlwind, thick mist, gloom and darkness spread abroad. The sun and moon and stars, withheld their light. It was a day of terror, such as had never been.

Then the sea all round, began to raise its waves on high like mountains; and it covered the whole face of the earth.

But when the sons of Seth, who were fallen into wickedness and adultery with the children of Cain, saw this, they then knew that God was angry with them ; and that Noah had told them the truth.

Then they all ran round the ark, to Noah, begging and entreating him to open for them the door of the ark; inasmuch as they could not climb the Holy Mountain, by reason of the stones thereof, that were like fire.

But as to the ark, it was closed and sealed by the power of God . 14 An angel of God sat upon the ark, and was like a captain to Noah, to his sons, and to all inside the ark.

And the waters of the flood increased on the children of Cain and overwhelmed them; and they began to sink, and the words of Noah were fulfilled, which he preached to them [saying], the waters of the Flood should come and drown them.

And the waters continued above and below over Noah and

* Lit. locks.

TEE BOOK OF ADAM AND EVE.

[book

his sons, until they were suspended in the ark; and by the strength of the water, the ark rose from the earth; and the flesh of every moving thing perished.

And the water rose until it covered the earth, and until it covered all high mountains ; 15 and the waters rose above them, and above the tops of high mountains fifteen cubits, by the cubit of the Holy Ghost, which is equal to* three cubits [of man]. So that the number of these were forty-five cubits [above the highest mountains].

And the water increased and bare the ark, and brought it to the lower side of the garden, which the waters, the rain, the whirlwind and all that went about on the earth—did worship. As did also Noah and his sons and all that was in the ark— they bowed in worship to the holy garden.

And the water returned to its former state, and destroyed every thing that was upon the earth and under heaven.

But the ark was floating on the waters and rose up before the winds; while the angel of God steered and led it from east to west. And the ark thus moved about on the face of the waters a hundred and fifty days.

After that, the ark stood upon the mountains of Ararat , 16 on the twenty-seventh day of the month of Tkamt.

CHAPTER X.

Then God sent again His order to Noah, saying, “Be quiet and wait until the waters are assuaged.”

Then the waters parted asunder and returned every water to its own place, where it was at first; the fountains ceased to pour forthf over the earth ; the depths that are on the face of the earth, ceased to rise; and the windows of heaven were closed. For floods of rain fell from heaven at the beginning of the Flood forty days and forty nights.

* Lit rendered by.

t Or, spread.

THE RAVEN AND THE DOVE.

157

hi.]

But on the first day of the eleventh month the tops of high mountains were seen ; and Noah waited yet forty days, and then opened the window he had made on the western side of the ark, and let go a raven, to see if the waters were assuaged from the face of the earth or not . 17

Then the raven went forth, but returned no more to Noah; for the harmless dove is the sign of the mystery of the Christian Church.

But Noah waited yet a little while after the waters were assuaged, and then sent out a dove, to see if the water had retired or not.

But when the dove went out; she found not a place whereon to rest her foot, and no abode ; and she returned to Noah.

Then Noah waited seven days more, and sent out the dove to see if the water had retired or not. And the dove came back to Noah, about eventide; and in her mouth was an olive-leaf.*

The meaning of the dove is, that she is taken as a figure of the old and of the new [covenants] . 18 The first time when she went out, and found nowhere to rest her feet, that is, a place of rest [is a figure of] the stiff-necked Jews, in whom no ^grace remained, nor any mercy whatever. Wherefore Christ, the meek one, who is figured in the dove, did not find among them rest for the sole of His feet.

But the second time when the dove found a place of rest [is a figure of] the nations that have received the glad tidings of the holy Gospel, and among whom Christ has found a resting-place.

CHAPTER XI.

In the six hundred and seventh year of Noah's life, on the second day of the month Barmudeh, the water dried from off

* Plucked on the Mount of Olives. Tar<7. Jonath in Gen. viii.

the earth. 19 And in the next month, which is Gembot, on the twenty-seventh day thereof, which is the day on which Noah went into the ark, on that self-same day did Noah also come out of the ark, on a Sunday.

But when Noah, his wife, his sons and their wives went out of the ark, they again came together, and did not part asunder one from another; at first, when they went into the ark, the men and the women remained apart, Noah fearing lest they should come together. But when the Flood was over, they again came together, the husband with his wife. 20

God also had sent great quietness over the beasts, the lions that were in the ark, and over the birds and creeping things, not to disagree among themselves.

Then Noah came out of the ark, and built an altar upon the mountain. And he stood, and requested the Lord to show him of what sacrifices he ought to take, and bring them unto Him in offerings.

Then God sent His Word to Noah, saying, “ 0 Noah, take of the clean kind, and offer of them upon the altar before me; and let the animals go out of the ark.”

Then Noah went into the ark, and took of clean birds as many as God had commanded him; and offered them up in offerings upon the altar before the Lord.*

CHAPTER XII.

Pattern of the covenant God made with Noah } when He showed him the how on the cloud in heaven .

And God smelled the smell of Noah's offerings, and He made a covenant with him, that the waters' of the flood should not again come upon the earth, henceforth and for ever.

* This was the altar built by Adam, on which he, Cain and Abel had offered sacrifices. Twrg. Jonathan , in Gen. viii. It was injured by the Flood; but Noah repaired it. Ibid,

NOAH BUILDS A CITY .

159

in.]

And this is the covenant God made with Noah :—

God said unto Noah, " I will make the bow of My covenant come out in the cloud; and when it appears, then men shall know that it is done in truth.

" And if I was wroth, when the bow was seen in the cloud, then [it would show] that My anger and the punishment I meant to bring upon men were over.

(€ Then, again, 0 Noah, I have made this bow of My covenant to be seen in heaven, in order that all creatures should see it, and think of the trials and afflictions that came upon them at first, and repent, and turn from their evil ways.”

And God accepted Noah's offering, and blessed him and his sons, and said unto them, “ Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the face of the earth.”

Then God commanded the earth to bring forth herb as it did of old, for beasts, for birds, and for all that moves on the earth.

Then Noah worshipped before God, with his sons and their wives; and they praised Him for the salvation He had wrought for them.

CHAPTER XIII.

After this Noah took his sons, and built them a city and called it Semanan ; 21 as they were eight souls that came out of the ark.

And Noah and his sons dwelt on that mountain about a hundred years, until he had children and children's children.

And Noah took a root of vine and planted it, and dressed it until it yielded fruit. 22 It was sweet, and Noah took some of it, and pressed wine out of it, and took it one night and drank of it, and was drunk. 23 And he came in to his wife unawares.

Then Ham, his son, came into the house in the morning and saw his father uncovered, and drunk with wine, and without sense to know anything.

THE BOOK OF ADAM AND EVE. [boo.

Then Ham his son kept on laughing at him, and said , €€ What is this thou bast done, 0 thou old man V*

But the old man understood not what he said; only Noah's wife understood it well.

Then Ham went out laughing at his father, and told his brothers Shem and Japhet what his father had done; and laughed at his parents.

But his brothers were angry with him, and rebuked him well for so doing; because they were-afraid of him, as regards the old man ; for Ham was rough and hard in his talk.

Then Shem and Japhet rose quickly, and took with them a coverlet, and put behind their backs that coverlet that reached unto their feet; and they walked backwards, and turned their face towards the way they had gone, until they came to their parents. Then they threw the coverlet over them, and went from them in haste, so as not to see them.

But on the morrow after this, Noah's wife told him what Ham had saidand what he had done.

Then was Noah very angry with his son Ham* for what he had done; and he cursed him, and made him servant of his brothers.

But Noah blessed Shem and Japhet, his sons, because they had behaved well to him.

Then Noah married another wife, who bare him seven children. And he continued to dwell on that mountain until the days drew near when he must depart [this life]. And Noah lived three hundred and fifty years after he came out of the ark.

Then he called his first-born son Shem, and conversed with him, saying, “ 0 my son, hearken unto what I command thee. 34

t( Behold [what] I command thee now [is], to hold good until I die and ye bury me. Then, when ye have ended mourning for me, go into the ark in which we were saved from the flood; then bring out of it the body of our father Adam; but * See the Coran, sur. v, and Hotting., Hist. Or p. 35, sq.

m.] NOAE’S LAST WORDS TO SEEM. 161

let no one know of it but one that is of thy seed. Then make a beautiful case for it, and lay it therein.

" Then take with thee some bread to be for provision unto thee by the way, and wine whereof to drink on thy way; for the land to which thou shalt go is rough and hungry.

“Then take Melchizedec the youngest son of Cainan,* thy son ; for God has chosen him from all generations of men, to stand before Him to worship and to minister unto Him, by the body of our father Adam. 25

“ Then lay the body of Adam in the midst of the earth; and set Melchizedec to stand by it; and show him how to fulfil his ministry before God.”

Moreover Noah said unto Shem his son, “ If ye will keep my commandment and go [as I tell you], an angel of the Lord will go with you, and show you the way, until ye come to the place where ye shall lay the body [of Adam] in the midst of the earth; for in that self-same place shall God work salvation for the whole world.

“ But, 0 my son, I know that our children forsook this good commandment, and went down the Holy Mountain, and mingled with the children of Cain, and that they perished with them in the waters of the Flood.

“ Know, 0 my son, that from Adam until this day, every one of the ancients, gave commandments to one of the rest, at the time of his resting from the flesh, and that they taught [these commandments] among themselves.

“ The first, 0 my son, who taught this commandment and made it plain, was our father Adam; he gave it to his son Seth, who received it.

“ Then Seth handed it to his son Enos who kept it. And Enos gave it to his son Cainan who kept it. Then Cainan gave it to his son Mahalaleel, who kept it, and handed it to his son Jared.

“ And’ Jared kept it and gave it to his son Enoch, who also

* Here the Arabic has Arphaxad, instead of Cainan see above, p. 149.

11

THE BOOK OF ADAM AND EVE.

[book

kept this commandment and gave it to his son Methuselah, who kept it, and gave it to his son Lamech who kept it, and who gave it to me, his son; and I have kept it.

“But my grandfather Methuselah also gave me a great commandment which I have kept; and which I give thee likewise. So, then, receive my commandment, and hold fast my words; and hide this mystery within thy heart; but reveal it not to one of all thy kindred. But go, and lay the body of our father Adam in the earth; and let it remain there unto the day of salvation.”

CHAPTER XIV.

But the ark was closed during the days of Noah; neither was any one allowed to touch it. Yet they went to it, blessed themselves in it, and talked about it.

Noah, however, went into it every evening, to light the lamp which he had made before our father Adam, and blessed himself in that body.

And he did not neglect his office regarding the lamp, as it was at first in the Cave of Treasures.

But as Noah knew that after him, the ark would not remain whole, and that his children would part asunder and* not return to look after the body of our father Adam, and that wickedness would increase in the earth and abominations among men, therefore did he command his son Shem to hasten to take the body of our father Adam,* and to remove it unto the middle of the earth; according to God's order.

CHAPTER XV.

Then when Noah had ended giving orders to his son Shem, concerning the body of our father Adam, Noah said to his son * See below, ch. xviii.

Shem, “ Bring hither to me thy brothers, and make them come near me.”

Then when they came to Noah, he looked at them and said unto them, “ 0 my sons, after my death ye shall part asunder, and sore troubles shall happen to your race.

“ But I will from now, divide among you the earth into three portions; as every one of you shall be settled in his own portion.

“Unto Shem my first-born son, shall his lot be from Jerusalem which is a great city, as far as Qardayun and Andika.* It takes in the border mountain that reaches unto Gefur, between the land of Egypt and that of the Philistines.

“ Unto my next son Ham, his portion shall be from Aris towards the south, unto Fardundan and unto Gaduriun, and unto the borders of the west.

“And unto my third son Japhet, his portion shall be from the corner of the west towards the south unto Damatha, a large tract of country; and all the north also as far as Aris.” 26