1 I saw the key-holders and guards of the gates of hell standing,⁠a like great serpents, and their faces like extinguished lamps,⁠b and their eyes of fire, their sharp teeth. 2 And I said to them, 'I wish I had never seen you. May no one from my family ever come to you.' 3 And I saw a blessed place there, where every creature was blessed and everyone lived in joy and boundless happiness, in eternal life. 4 Guards are posted at the great eastern gates of the sun: fiery angels who sing songs of triumph and never stop rejoicing in the presence of the righteous. 5 At the last coming they will lead out Adam with our ancestors and bring them there so that they may rejoice, as a man invites the people he loves to a feast. They arrive full of joy and talk together outside his house, gladly waiting for his feast, for its delights and its boundless wealth, for joy and celebration in the light, and for eternal life. 6 Then I said: My children, now I tell you this. Blessed is the one who fears God and serves him. And you, my children, learn to bring gifts to the Lord, so that you may enjoy life. 7 Blessed is the one who judges justly, 8 who clothes the naked and gives bread to the hungry, 9 who defends the widow and the orphan and helps everyone who is wronged. 10 Blessed is the one who turns away from the shifting path and walks the straight one. 11 Blessed is the one who sows the seeds of righteousness, for that person will reap sevenfold. 12 Blessed is the one in whom truth lives, so that they speak the truth to their neighbor. 13 Blessed is the one whose mouth speaks with mercy and gentleness. 14 And I saw all the Lord's works, how they are right, while some of the works of man are good, and others bad, and the deeds of those who tell malicious lies reveal who they are.