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Apocalypse of Abraham

About this book

Azazel Challenges Abraham

Chapter 13

1 And I did everything as the angel commanded, and gave the angels, who had come to us, the divided animals, but the angel took the birds. 2 And I waited for the evening sacrifice. 3 And an unclean bird flew down on the carcasses, and I drove it away.⁠ 4 And the unclean bird spoke to me, and said: "What are you doing, Abraham, on the holy Heights, where no one eats or drinks, and there is not (any) human food there, but these consume everything with fire, and (will) burn you up. 5 Leave the man who is with you, and run away; for if you go up to the Heights they will destroy you. 6 And when I saw the bird speaking, I said to the angel: "What is this, my lord?" And he said: "This is godlessness, this is Azazel."⁠ 7 And he said to it: "Shame on you, Azazel! For Abraham's lot is in heaven, but yours on the earth. 8 Because you have chosen and loved this as the dwelling(place) of your impurity, the eternal mighty Lord therefore made you live on the earth 9 and through you comes every evil spirit of lies, and through you come anger and trials for the generations of godless people; 10 for God, the Eternal, Mighty One, has not allowed the bodies of the righteous to be in your power, so that in this way the life of the righteous and the destruction of the unclean may be made certain. 11 Listen, counselor, leave me in shame. For you have not been allowed to tempt all the righteous. 12 Leave this man!⁠ 13 You cannot deceive him, because he is an enemy of you and of those who follow you and love what you want. 14 For look, the garment that was once yours in heaven has been set aside for him,⁠ and the mortality that was his has been transferred to you."⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare Genesis 15:11 and Apocalypse of Abraham 13:3

Hebrew Bible · Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

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Summary

In Genesis, Abraham drives birds of prey away from his sacrifice. In the Apocalypse of Abraham, the bird of prey is Azazel, who swoops down on the sacrifice and tries to frighten Abraham out of ascending to heaven.

Passages

Genesis 15:11

Hebrew Bible
9 The Lord said to him, “Take for me a heifer, a goat, and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.” 10 So Abram took all these for him and then cut them in two and placed each half opposite the other, but he did not cut the birds in half. 11 When birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. 12 When the sun went down, Abram fell sound asleep, and great terror overwhelmed him. 13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign country. They will be enslaved and oppressed for 400 years. 14 But I will execute judgment on the nation that they will serve. Afterward they will come out with many possessions.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis

Apocalypse of Abraham 13:3

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
3 And an unclean bird flew down on the carcasses, and I drove it away. 4 And the unclean bird spoke to me, and said: "What are you doing, Abraham, on the holy Heights, where no one eats or drinks, and there is not (any) human food there, but these consume everything with fire, and (will) burn you up. 5 Leave the man who is with you, and run away; for if you go up to the Heights they will destroy you. 6 And when I saw the bird speaking, I said to the angel: "What is this, my lord?" And he said: "This is godlessness, this is Azazel." 7 And he said to it: "Shame on you, Azazel! For Abraham's lot is in heaven, but yours on the earth.
70–150 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Apocalypse of Abraham

References

“... “A bird of prey” in Gen. 15:11 is interpreted in Apocalypse as Azazel, imperson- alized Evil. Azazel plays an important role in Apocalypse: his origin is in heaven (14:4; cf. Isa. 14:12–15; 4Q180 1); he rules evil on earth (Apoc. Ab. 14) and tortures sinners in She’ol (31); his portion is the heathen (20; 22:5); he is a serpent who seduced the first humans (23:1–11); he greets an anti-messiah (29). ...”
Alexander Kulik, “Apocalypse of Abraham,” in Outside the Bible: Ancient Jewish Writings Related to Scripture, ed. James L. Kugel Louis H. Feldman and Lawrence H. Schiffman (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 2013), 1465.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Genesis 15:11 and Apocalypse of Abraham 13:3

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