The First Book of Adam and Eve
Part 8
Chapter LXI
They begin to follow Satan.

1 Then he took Adam and Eve by the hand, and began to bring them out of the cave.

2 But when they had come a little ways out of it, God knew that Satan had overcome them, and had brought them out before the forty days were ended, to take them to some distant place, and to destroy them.

3 Then the Word of the Lord God again came and cursed Satan, and drove him away from them.

4 And God began to speak to Adam and Eve, saying to them, "What made you come out of the cave, to this place?"

5 Then Adam said to God, "Did you create a man before us? For when we were in the cave there suddenly came to us a friendly old man who said to us, 'I am a messenger from God to you, to bring you back to some place of rest.'

6 And we believed, O God, that he was a messenger from you; and we came out with him; and knew not where we should go with him."

7 Then God said to Adam, "See, that is the father of evil arts, who brought you and Eve out of the Garden of Delights. And now, indeed, when he saw that you and Eve both joined together in fasting and praying, and that you came not out of the cave before the end of the forty days, he wished to make your purpose vein, to break your mutual bond; to cut off all hope from you, and to drive you to some place where he might destroy you.

8 Because he couldn't do anything to you unless he showed himself in the likeness of you.

9 Therefore he came to you with a face like your own, and began to give you tokens as if they were all true.

10 But because I am merciful and am favorable to you, I did not allow him to destroy you; instead I drove him away from you.

11 Now, therefore, O Adam, take Eve, and return to your cave, and remain in it until the morning after the fortieth day. And when you come out, go towards the eastern gate of the garden."

12 Then Adam and Eve worshipped God, and praised and blessed Him for the deliverance that had come to them from Him. And they returned towards the cave. This happened in the evening of the thirty-ninth day.

13 Then Adam and Eve stood up and with a fiery passion, prayed to God, to give them strength; for they had become weak because of hunger and thirst and prayer. But they watched the whole of that night praying, until morning.

14 Then Adam said to Eve, "Get up, let us go towards the eastern gate of the garden as God told us."

15 And they said their prayers as they were accustomed to do every day; and they left the cave to go near to the eastern gate of the garden.

16 Then Adam and Eve stood up and prayed, and appealed to God to strengthen them, and to send them something to satisfy their hunger.

17 But after they finished their prayers, they were too weak to move.

18 Then came the Word of God again, and said to them, "O Adam, get up, go and bring the two figs here."

19 Then Adam and Eve got up, and went until they came near to the cave.

Chapter LXII
Two fruit trees.

1 But Satan the wicked was envious, because of the consolation God had given them.

2 So he prevented them, and went into the cave and took the two figs, and buried them outside the cave, so that Adam and Eve should not find them. He also had in his thoughts to destroy them.

3 But by God's mercy, as soon as those two figs were in the ground, God defeated Satan's counsel regarding them; and made them into two fruit trees, that overshadowed the cave. For Satan had buried them on the eastern side of it.

4 Then when the two trees were grown, and were covered with fruit, Satan grieved and mourned, and said, "It would have been better to have left those figs where they were; for now, behold, they have become two fruit trees, whereof Adam will eat all the days of his life. Whereas I had in mind, when I buried them, to destroy them entirely, and to hide them forever.

5 But God has overturned my counsel; and would not that this sacred fruit should perish; and He has made plain my intention, and has defeated the counsel I had formed against His servants."

6 Then Satan went away ashamed because he hadn't thought his plans all the way through.

Chapter LXIII
The first joy of trees.

1 But Adam and Eve, as they got closer to the cave, saw two fig trees, covered with fruit, and overshadowing the cave.

2 Then Adam said to Eve, "It seems to me that we have gone the wrong way. When did these two trees grow here? It seems to me that the enemy wishes to lead us the wrong way. Do you suppose that there is another cave besides this one in the earth?

3 Yet, O Eve, let us go into the cave, and find in it the two figs; for this is our cave, in which we were. But if we should not find the two figs in it, then it cannot be our cave."

4 They went then into the cave, and looked into the four corners of it, but found not the two figs.

5 And Adam cried and said to Eve, "Did we go to the wrong cave, then, O Eve? It seems to me these two fig trees are the two figs that were in the cave." And Eve said, "I, for my part, do not know."

6 Then Adam stood up and prayed and said, "O God, You commanded us to come back to the cave, to take the two figs, and then to return to you.

7 But now, we have not found them. O God, have you taken them, and sown these two trees, or have we gone astray in the earth; or has the enemy deceived us? If it be real, then, O God, reveal to us the secret of these two trees and of the two figs."

8 Then came the Word of God to Adam, and said to him, "O Adam, when I sent you to fetch the figs, Satan went before you to the cave, took the figs, and buried them outside, eastward of the cave, thinking to destroy them; and not sowing them with good intent.

9 Not for his mere sake, then, have these trees grown up at once; but I had mercy on you and I commanded them to grow. And they grew to be two large trees, that you be overshadowed by their branches, and find rest; and that I made you see My power and My marvelous works.

10 And, also, to show you Satan's meanness, and his evil works, for ever since you came out of the garden, he has not ceased, no, not one day, from doing you some harm. But I have not given him power over you."

11 And God said, "From now on, O Adam, rejoice on account of the trees, you and Eve; and rest under them when you feel weary. But do not eat any of their fruit or come near them."

12 Then Adam cried, and said, "O God, will You again kill us, or will You drive us away from before Your face, and cut our life from off the face of the earth?

13 O God, I beg you, if You know that there be in these trees either death or some other evil, as at the first time, root them up from near our cave, and with them; and leave us to die of the heat, of hunger and of thirst.

14 For we know Your marvelous works, O God, that they are great, and that by Your power You can bring one thing out of another, without one's wish. For Your power can make rocks to become trees, and trees to become rocks."

Chapter LXIV
Adam and Eve partake of the first earthly food.

1 Then God looked at Adam and at his strength of mind, at his endurance of hunger and thirst, and of the heat. And He changed the two fig trees into two figs, as they were at first, and then said to Adam and to Eve, "Each of you may take one fig." And they took them, as the Lord commanded them.

2 And He said to them, "You must now go into the cave and eat the figs, and satisfy your hunger, or else you will die."

3 So, as God commanded them, they went into the cave about sunset. And Adam and Eve stood up and prayed during the setting sun.

4 Then they sat down to eat the figs; but they knew not how to eat them; for they were not accustomed to eat earthly food. They were afraid that if they ate, their stomach would be burdened and their flesh thickened, and their hearts would take to liking earthly food.

5 But while they were thus seated, God, out of pity for them, sent them His angel, so they wouldn't perish of hunger and thirst.

6 And the angel said to Adam and Eve, "God says to you that you do not have the strength that would be required to fast until death; eat, therefore, and strengthen your bodies; for you are now animal flesh and cannot subsist without food and drink."

7 Then Adam and Eve took the figs and began to eat of them. But God had put into them a mixture as of savory bread and blood.

8 Then the angel went from Adam and Eve, who ate of the figs until they had satisfied their hunger. Then they put aside what was left; but by the power of God, the figs became whole again, because God blessed them.

9 After this Adam and Eve got up, and prayed with a joyful heart and renewed strength, and praised and rejoiced abundantly the whole of that night. And this was the end of the eighty-third day.

Chapter LXV
Adam and Eve acquire digestive organs. Final hope of returning to the Garden is lost.

1 And when it was day, they got up and prayed, after their custom, and then went out of the cave.

2 But they became sick from the food they had eaten because they were not used to it, so they went about in the cave saying to each other: --

3 "What has our eating caused to happen to us, that we should be in such pain? We are in misery, we shall die! It would have been better for us to have died keeping our bodies pure than to have eaten and defiled them with food."

4 Then Adam said to Eve, "This pain did not come to us in the garden, neither did we eat such bad food there. Do you think, O Eve, that God will plague us through the food that is in us, or that our innards will come out; or that God means to kill us with this pain before He has fulfilled His promise to us?"

5 Then Adam besought the Lord and said, "O Lord, let us not perish through the food we have eaten. O Lord, don't punish us; but deal with us according to Your great mercy, and forsake us not until the day of the promise You have made us."

6 Then God looked at them, and then fitted them for eating food at once; as to this day; so that they should not perish.

7 Then Adam and Eve came back into the cave sorrowful and crying because of the alteration of their bodies. And they both knew from that hour that they were altered beings, that all hope of returning to the garden was now lost; and that they could not enter it.

8 For that now their bodies had strange functions; and all flesh that requires food and drink for its existence, cannot be in the garden.

9 Then Adam said to Eve, "Behold, our hope is now lost; and so is our trust to enter the garden. We no longer belong to the inhabitants of the garden; but from now on we are earthy and of the dust, and of the inhabitants of the earth. We shall not return to the garden, until the day in which God has promised to save us, and to bring us again into the garden, as He promised us."

10 Then they prayed to God that He would have mercy on them; after which, their mind was quieted, their hearts were broken, and their longing was cooled down; and they were like strangers on earth. That night Adam and Eve spent in the cave, where they slept heavily by reason of the food they had eaten.

Chapter LXVI
Adam does his first day's work.

1 When it was morning, the day after they had eaten food, Adam and Eve prayed in the cave, and Adam said to Eve, "Look, we asked for food of God, and He gave it. But now let us also ask Him to give us a drink of water."

2 Then they got up, and went to the bank of the stream of water, that was on the south border of the garden, in which they had before thrown themselves. And they stood on the bank, and prayed to God that He would command them to drink of the water.

3 Then the Word of God came to Adam, and said to him, "O Adam, your body has become brutish, and requires water to drink. Take some and drink it, you and Eve, then give thanks and praise."

4 Adam and Eve then went down to the stream and drank from it, until their bodies felt refreshed. After having drunk, they praised God, and then returned to their cave, after their former custom. This happened at the end of eighty-three days.

5 Then on the eighty-fourth day, they took the two figs and hung them in the cave, together with the leaves thereof, to be to them a sign and a blessing from God. And they placed them there so that if their descendants came there, they would see the wonderful things God had done for them.

6 Then Adam and Eve again stood outside the cave, and asked God to show them some food with which they could nourish their bodies.

7 Then the Word of God came and said to him, "O Adam, go down to the westward of the cave until you come to a land of dark soil, and there you shall find food."

8 And Adam obeyed the Word of God, took Eve, and went down to a land of dark soil, and found there wheat* growing in the ear and ripe, and figs to eat; and Adam rejoiced over it.

9 Then the Word of God came again to Adam, and said to him, "Take some of this wheat and make yourselves some bread with it, to nourish your body therewith." And God gave Adam's heart wisdom, to work out the corn until it became bread. 10 Adam accomplished all that, until he grew very faint and weary. He then returned to the cave; rejoicing at what he had learned of what is done with wheat, until it is made into bread for one's use.

* In this book, the terms 'corn' and 'wheat' are used interchangeably. The reference is possibly used to indicate a type of ancient grain resembling Egyptian Corn also known as Durra. Durra is a wheat-like cereal grain frequently cultivated in dry regions such as Egypt.

Chapter LXVII
"Then Satan began to lead astray Adam and Eve. . . ."

1 When Adam and Eve went down to the land of black mud and came near to the wheat God had showed them and saw that it was ripe and ready for reaping, they did not have a sickle to reap it with. So they readied themselves, and began to pull up the wheat by hand, until it was all done.

2 Then they heaped it into a pile; and, faint from heat and from thirst, they went under a shady tree, where the breeze fanned them to sleep.

3 But Satan saw what Adam and Eve had done. And he called his hosts, and said to them, "Since God has shown to Adam and Eve all about this wheat, wherewith to strengthen their bodies -- and, look, they have come and made a big pile of it, and faint from the toil are now asleep -- come, let us set fire to this heap of corn, and burn it, and let us take that bottle of water that is by them, and empty it out, so that they may find nothing to drink, and we kill them with hunger and thirst.

4 Then, when they wake up from their sleep, and seek to return to the cave, we will come to them in the way, and will lead them astray; so that they die of hunger and thirst; when they may, perhaps, deny God, and He destroy them. So shall we be rid of them."

5 Then Satan and his hosts set the wheat on fire and burned it up.

6 But from the heat of the flame Adam and Eve awoke from their sleep, and saw the wheat burning, and the bucket of water by them, poured out.

7 Then they cried and went back to the cave. 8 But as they were going up from below the mountain where they were, Satan and his hosts met them in the form of angels, praising God.

9 Then Satan said to Adam, "O Adam, why are you so pained with hunger and thirst? It seems to me that Satan has burnt up the wheat." And Adam said to him, "Yes."

10 Again Satan said to Adam, "Come back with us; we are angels of God. God sent us to you, to show you another field of corn, better than that; and beyond it is a fountain of good water, and many trees, where you shall live near it, and work the corn field to better purpose than that which Satan has consumed."

11 Adam thought that he was true, and that they were angels who talked with him; and he went back with them.

12 Then Satan began to lead astray Adam and Eve eight days, until they both fell down as if dead, from hunger, thirst, and faintness. Then he fled with his hosts, and left them.

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Table of Contents / Prologue
Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5
Part 6 / Part 7 / Part 8 / Part 9 / Part 10