beautiful maidens.
1 Then Satan, and ten from his hosts, transformed themselves into
maidens, unlike any others in the whole world for grace.
2 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
Eve, who are of the men on 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.
3 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?"
4 And those maidens said to Adam and Eve, "Yes, indeed, we are an
abundant creation."
5 Then Adam said to them, "But how do you multiply?"
6 And they answered him, "We have husbands who have married us, and we
bear them children, who grow up, and who in their turn marry and are
married, and also bear children; and thus we increase. And if so be, O
Adam, you will not believe us, we will show you our husbands and our
children."
7 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
man came to his wife, his children being with him.
8 But when Adam and Eve saw them, they stood dumb, and wondered at them.
9 Then they said to Adam and Eve, "See all our husbands and our
children? You should marry Eve, as we have married our husbands, so
that you will have children as we have." This was a device of Satan to
deceive Adam.
10 Satan also thought within himself, "God at first commanded Adam
concerning the fruit of the tree, saying to him, 'Eat not of it; else
of death you shall die.' But Adam ate of it, and yet God did not kill
him; He only decreed on him death, and plagues and trials, until the
day he shall come out of his body.
11 Now, then, if I deceive him to do this thing, and to marry Eve
without God's permission, God will kill him then."
12 Therefore Satan worked this apparition before Adam and Eve; because
he sought to kill him, and to make him disappear from off the face of
the earth.
13 Meanwhile the fire of sin came over Adam, and he thought of
committing sin. But he restrained himself, fearing that if he followed
this advice of Satan, God would put him to death.
14 Then Adam and Eve got up, and prayed to God, while Satan and his
hosts went down into the river, in presence of Adam and Eve; to let
them see that they were going back to their own world.
15 Then Adam and Eve went back to the Cave of Treasures, as they
usually did; about evening time.
16 And they both got up and prayed to God that night. Adam remained
standing in prayer, yet not knowing how to pray, by reason of the
thoughts in his heart regarding his marrying Eve; and he continued so
until morning.
17 And when light came up, Adam said to Eve, "Get up, let us go below
the mountain, where they brought us gold, and let us ask the Lord
concerning this matter."
18 Then Eve said, "What is that matter, O Adam?"
19 And he answered her, "That I may request the Lord to inform me about
marrying you; for I will not do it without His permission or else He
will make us perish, you and me. For those devils have set my heart on
fire, with thoughts of what they showed us, in their sinful apparitions.
20 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."
21 Then Adam rose up in prayer and said, "O God, you know that we
transgressed against you, and from the moment we transgressed, we were
stripped of our bright nature; and our body became brutish, requiring
food and drink; and with animal desires.
22 Command us, O God, not to give way to them without Your permission,
for fear that You will turn us into nothing. Because if you do not
give us permission, we shall be overpowered, and follow that advice of
Satan; and You will again make us perish.
23 If not, then take our souls from us; let us be rid of this animal
lust. And if You 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.
24 Then again, O God, if You separate us from each other, the devils
will deceive us with their apparitions that resemble us, 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 the devils come to us in our likeness." Here Adam
ended his prayer.