Texts in Conversation

In the Life of Adam and Eve, Eve predicts two future judgments on humanity, by water and by fire, telling her children to record this warning on tablets. 2 Peter describes a similar tradition, a judgment by fire after judgment by water.
Share:
2500 BCE
1000+ CE

Life of Adam and Eve 49:3

Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions
1 Six days after, Adam died; and Eve perceived that she would die, (so) she assembled all her sons and daughters, Seth with thirty brothers and thirty sisters, 2 and Eve said to all, 'Hear me, my children, and I will tell you what the archangel Michael said to us when your father and I transgressed the command of God: 3 On account of your transgression, Our Lord will bring his judgment upon your descendants in anger, first by water, the second time by fire; the Lord will use these two to judge the whole human race.
Date: 20–50 CE (based on scholarly estimates)

2 Peter 3:7

New Testament
3 Above all, understand this: In the last days blatant scoffers will come, being propelled by their own evil urges 4 and saying, “Where is his promised return? For ever since our ancestors died, all things have continued as they were from the beginning of creation.” 5 For they deliberately suppress this fact, that by the word of God heavens existed long ago and an earth was formed out of water and by means of water. 6 Through these things the world existing at that time was destroyed when it was deluged with water. 7 But by the same word the present heavens and earth have been reserved for fire, by being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
Date: 120–130 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
Search:

Notes and References

#844
"... While the flood in Genesis was a punishment for that time, literarily, it also served as an eschatological foreshadowing of future punishment in 1 Enoch 10–11; 83–84; 93.4; L.A.B. 3.9; Ant. 1.70 and CD 4.10–18.11 ... On its own, fire appears as an instrument of divine punishment and destruction of the wicked. Later, a belief in a second universal judgment by fire developed. The 1st century CE document Life of Adam and Eve (49.1–50.2) narrates the creation of a table of stone and a table of clay to serve as a warning of the two universal judgments to come. The second universal judgment is intended to be a time when the wicked will be vanquished and a new heaven and a new earth will emerge. When the idea of the second universal judgment by fire emerged, it became a way for God to achieve the purpose of ridding the world of evil ..."

* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.

Your Feedback:

User Comments

Leave a Comment

Do you have questions or comments about these texts? Please submit them here.

Anonymous comments are welcome. All comments are subject to moderation.

User Comments

,

Find Similar Texts

Search by the same Books

Search by the same Reference

Compare the same Text Groups

Go to Intertext