1 Then came the Word of God to Adam and Eve, and raised them from their
dead state, saying to them, "Why did you come up here? Do you intend
to go into the garden, from which I brought you out? It cannot be
today; but only when the covenant I have made with you is fulfilled."
2 Then Adam, when he heard the Word of God, and the fluttering of the
angels whom he did not see, but only heard the sound of them with his
ears, he and Eve cried, and said to the angels:--
3 "O Spirits, who wait on God, look at me, and at my being unable to
see you! For when I was in my former bright nature, then I could see
you. I sang praises as you do; and my heart was far above you.
4 But now, that I have transgressed, that bright nature is gone from
me, and I am come to this miserable state. And now I have come to
this, that I cannot see you, and you do not serve me like you used to
do. For I have become animal flesh.
5 Yet now, O angels of God, ask God with me, to restore me to that
wherein I was formerly; to rescue me from this misery, and to remove
from me the sentence of death He passed on me, for having trespassed
against Him."
6 Then, when the angels heard these words, they all grieved over him;
and cursed Satan who had misled Adam, until he came from the garden to
misery; from life to death; from peace to trouble; and from gladness to
a strange land.
7 Then the angels said to Adam, "You obeyed Satan, and ignored the Word
of God who created you; and you believed that Satan would fulfil all he
had promised you.
8 But now, O Adam, we will make known to you, what came over us though
him, before his fall from heaven.
9 He gathered together his hosts, and deceived them, promising to give
them a great kingdom, a divine nature; and other promises he made them.
10 His hosts believed that his word was true, so they yielded to him,
and renounced the glory of God.
11 He then sent for us--according to the orders in which we were--to
come under his command, and to accept his vein promise. But we would
not, and we did not take his advice.
12 Then after he had fought with God, and had dealt forwardly with Him,
he gathered together his hosts, and made war with us. And if it had
not been for God's strength that was with us, we could not have
prevailed against him to hurl him from heaven.
13 But when he fell from among us, there was great joy in heaven,
because of his going down from us. For if he had remained in heaven,
nothing, not even one angel would have remained in it.
14 But God in His mercy, drove him from among us to this dark earth;
for he had become darkness itself and a worker of unrighteousness.
15 And he has continued, O Adam, to make war against you, until he
tricked you and made you come out of the garden, to this strange land,
where all these trials have come to you. And death, which God brought
to him, he has also brought to you, O Adam, because you obeyed him, and
trespassed against God."
16 Then all the angels rejoiced and praised God, and asked Him not to
destroy Adam this time, for his having sought to enter the garden; but
to bear with him until the fulfillment of the promise; and to help him
in this world until he was free from Satan's hand.
Chapter LVI - A chapter of divine comfort.
1 Then came the Word of God to Adam, and said to him:--
2 "O Adam, look at that garden of joy and at this earth of toil, and
behold the garden is full of angels, but look at yourself alone on this
earth with Satan whom you obeyed.
3 Yet, if you had submitted, and been obedient to Me, and had kept My
Word, you would be with My angels in My garden.
4 But when you transgressed and obeyed Satan, you became his guests
among his angels, that are full of wickedness; and you came to this
earth, that brings forth to you thorns and thistles.
5 O Adam, ask him who deceived you, to give you the divine nature he
promised you, or to make you a garden as I had made for you; or to fill
you with that same bright nature with which I had filled you.
6 Ask him to make you a body like the one I made you, or to give you a
day of rest as I gave you; or to create within you a reasonable soul,
as I created for you; or to take you from here to some other earth than
this one which I gave you. But, O Adam, he will not fulfil even one of
the things he told you.
7 Acknowledge, then, My favor towards you, and My mercy on you, My
creature; that I have not avenged you for your transgression against
Me, but in My pity for you I have promised you that at the end of the
great five and a half days I will come and save you."
8 Then God said again to Adam and Eve, "Get up, go down from here,
before the cherub with a sword of fire in his hand destroys you."
9 But Adam's heart was comforted by God's words to him, and he
worshipped before Him.
10 And God commanded His angels to escort Adam and Eve to the cave with
joy, instead of the fear that had come over them.
11 Then the angels took up Adam and Eve, and brought them down from the
mountain by the garden, with songs and psalms, until they arrived at
the cave. There the angels began to comfort and to strengthen them,
and then departed from them towards heaven, to their Creator, who had
sent them.
12 But after the angels had departed from Adam and Eve, Satan came with
shamefacedness, and stood at the entrance of the cave in which were
Adam and Eve. He then called to Adam, and said, "O Adam, come, let me
speak to you."
13 Then Adam came out of the cave, thinking he was one of God's angels
that was come to give him some good counsel.