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Apocalypse of Abraham

About this book

Abraham Returns to Earth

Chapter 30

1 But while He was still speaking, I found myself on the earth. And I said: "Eternal, [Mighty One], I am no longer in the glory in which I was (while) above, and I do not understand in my heart what my soul longed to understand."

The Ten Plagues

2 And He said to me: "I will tell you what your heart desires, because you have tried to see the ten plagues which I have prepared for the pagans, and have prepared in advance for when the twelve hours of the earth have passed. 3 Listen to what I tell you; this is how it will happen: 4 the first (is) pain of great distress; the second, the burning of many cities; 5 the third, destruction of animals by epidemic disease;⁠ the fourth, hunger of the whole world and of its people; 6 the fifth, destruction among its rulers by earthquake and the sword;⁠ the sixth, increased hail and snow; 7 the seventh, the wild beasts will be their grave; the eighth, hunger and epidemic disease will take turns destroying them; 8 the ninth, punishment by the sword and fleeing in distress; the tenth, thunder and voices and destructive earthquake.⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare Exodus 9:3 and Apocalypse of Abraham 30:5

Hebrew Bible · Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

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Summary

In Exodus, God sends a disease that kills Egypt’s livestock as one of the plagues against Pharaoh. In the Apocalypse of Abraham, a similar disease among animals is one of the ten plagues God sends against the nations at the end of the age.

Passages

Exodus 9:3

Hebrew Bible
2 For if you refuse to release them and continue holding them, 3 then the hand of the Lord will surely bring a very terrible plague on your livestock in the field, on the horses, the donkeys, the camels, the herds, and the flocks. 4 But the Lord will distinguish between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, and nothing will die of all that the Israelites have.”’” 5 The Lord set an appointed time, saying, “Tomorrow the Lord will do this in the land.” 6 And the Lord did this on the next day; all the livestock of the Egyptians died, but of the Israelites’ livestock not one died. 7 Pharaoh sent representatives to investigate, and indeed, not even one of the livestock of Israel had died. But Pharaoh’s heart remained hard, and he did not release the people.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Exodus

Apocalypse of Abraham 30:5

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
2 And He said to me: "I will tell you what your heart desires, because you have tried to see the ten plagues which I have prepared for the pagans, and have prepared in advance for when the twelve hours of the earth have passed. 3 Listen to what I tell you; this is how it will happen: 4 the first (is) pain of great distress; the second, the burning of many cities; 5 the third, destruction of animals by epidemic disease; the fourth, hunger of the whole world and of its people; 6 the fifth, destruction among its rulers by earthquake and the sword; the sixth, increased hail and snow; 7 the seventh, the wild beasts will be their grave; the eighth, hunger and epidemic disease will take turns destroying them; 8 the ninth, punishment by the sword and fleeing in distress; the tenth, thunder and voices and destructive earthquake.
70–150 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Apocalypse of Abraham

References

“... The ten “plagues” here enumerated mark the distressful period which precedes the advent of the new Age; they correspond to the “signs” which are a common feature in the traditional eschatology; cf. 4 Ezra iv. 52-v. 13, vi. 13-28, ix. 1-6, xiii. 16 ff., Ap. Bar. xxv.-xxvii., xlviii. 30-38, lxx., 1 Enoch xcix. 4 f., 7-10, c. 1-6 (Dan. xii.). [...] Several of the “trumpets” announce judgements like the Egyptian plagues. [...] Cf. the fifth Egyptian plague (murrain among the cattle, Ex. ix. 1 ff.). ...”
G. H. Box with J. I. Landsman, The Apocalypse of Abraham (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1918), PDF 53.

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 9:3 and Apocalypse of Abraham 30:5

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