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Apocalypse of Abraham

About this book

Human Sin and Its Punishment

Chapter 24

1 And He said to me: "As for the nations and the people of your family who are (to be) separated after you, you see in the picture the burden (of destiny) that (is laid) on them, 2 and I will tell you what will happen, and how much will happen, in the last days. 3 Look now at everything in the picture." 4 And I looked and saw there what existed in creation before me; 5 I saw Adam, and Eve there with him, and with them the cunning Adversary, and Cain who acted lawlessly through the Adversary and the murdered Abel,⁠ (and) the destruction brought and inflicted on him through the lawless one. 6 I saw there also Impurity, and those who desire it, and its pollution,⁠ and their jealousy, and the fire of their corruption in the lowest parts of the earth. 7 I saw there Theft, and those who rush after it, and the arrangement [of their retribution, the judgment of the Great Court]. 8 I saw there naked men, with their foreheads against each other, and their disgrace, and the harm they did to their companions, and their retribution. 9 I saw there Desire, and in her hand the head of every kind of lawlessness [and her scorn and her waste assigned to destruction].

Texts in conversation

Compare Exodus 20:14 and Apocalypse of Abraham 24:6

Hebrew Bible · Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

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Summary

In Exodus, God forbids murder, adultery, theft, false witness, and coveting. In the Apocalypse of Abraham, Abraham sees these same sins in the same order, each with the punishment that comes as its consequence.

Passages

Exodus 20:14

Hebrew Bible
13 “You shall not murder. 14 “You shall not commit adultery. 15 “You shall not steal. 16 “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. 17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Exodus

Apocalypse of Abraham 24:6

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
4 And I looked and saw there what existed in creation before me; 5 I saw Adam, and Eve there with him, and with them the cunning Adversary, and Cain who acted lawlessly through the Adversary and the murdered Abel, (and) the destruction brought and inflicted on him through the lawless one. 6 I saw there also Impurity, and those who desire it, and its pollution, and their jealousy, and the fire of their corruption in the lowest parts of the earth. 7 I saw there Theft, and those who rush after it, and the arrangement [of their retribution, the judgment of the Great Court]. 8 I saw there naked men, with their foreheads against each other, and their disgrace, and the harm they did to their companions, and their retribution. 9 I saw there Desire, and in her hand the head of every kind of lawlessness [and her scorn and her waste assigned to destruction].
70–150 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Apocalypse of Abraham

References

“... Kugel posits a corruption at the Hebrew stage of transmission: erom (‘rwm), “na- ked,” from edim (‘dym), “witnesses,” which allows verses 24:5–9 to be seen as referring to the violation of the last five prohibitions of the Ten Commandments (murder, adultery, theft, false witness, and covetousness). ...”
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), 1472.

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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Exodus 20:14 and Apocalypse of Abraham 24:6

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