Apocalypse of Moses

Cain Kills Abel

This is the story of Adam and Eve after they had left Paradise. And Adam took his wife Eve and went up toward the east and stayed there eighteen years and two months. And Eve became pregnant and gave birth to two sons: Cain and Abel.

And after this, Adam and Eve were together and while they were sleeping, Eve said to her lord Adam: 'My lord, Adam, look, tonight I dreamed of the blood of my son Abel being poured into the mouth of Cain his brother and he went on drinking it without mercy. But he begged him to leave him a little of it. Yet he did not listen to him, but gulped it all down; it did not stay in his stomach, but came out of his mouth. And Adam said, 'Let us get up and go and see what has happened to them. (I fear) the enemy may be attacking them somewhere.'

And they both went and found Abel murdered by Cain his brother. And God says to Michael the archangel: 'Say to Adam: "Do not reveal the secret that you know to Cain your son, because he is a son of anger. But do not grieve, because I will give you another son in his place; he will show (to you) everything you will do. Do not tell him anything."' God said this to his archangel. But Adam kept these words in his heart, and Eve did too, though they grieved over Abel their son.

And after this, Adam had sex with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Seth. And Adam said to Eve: 'Look! We have had a son in place of Abel, whom Cain killed. Let us give glory to God and offer him a sacrifice.'

Adam Gets Sick

And Adam fathered thirty sons and thirty daughters and Adam lived nine hundred and thirty years. And he became sick and called out loudly and said, 'Let all my sons come to me so that I can see them before I die.' And everyone gathered, because the earth was inhabited in three regions. And Seth his son said to him: 'Father Adam, what illness do you have?' And he says, 'My children, I am being crushed by the weight of this pain.' And they say to him, 'What are pain and sickness?'

And Seth answered and said to him: 'Father, have you remembered the fruit you used to eat in paradise, and become sad because you long for it?' 'If that is so, tell me, (and) I will go and bring you fruit from paradise, because I will put dung on my head and will weep and pray that the Lord will listen to me and send his angel and I will bring it to you so that your pain will stop.' Adam says to him: 'No, my son Seth, but I have (much) sickness and pain!' Seth says to him: 'And how has this happened to you?'

And Adam said to him: 'When God made us, me and your mother, who is the reason I too am dying, He allowed us to eat from every tree in paradise, but He commanded us not to eat from that one tree, and because of this tree we will die. And the time approached for the angels who were guarding your mother to go up and worship the Lord, and I was far from her, and the enemy knew that she was alone and gave her the fruit, and she ate from the tree she had been told not to eat from. Then she also gave me some to eat.

'And God was angry with us, and the Lord came into paradise and called me in a terrifying voice and said: "Adam, where are you? And why are you hiding from me? Can a house hide from its builder?" And he says to me: "Since you have abandoned my covenant and disobeyed my command, I have struck your body with seventy afflictions; the first affliction causes pain in the eyes, the second affects your hearing, and all the other afflictions will happen to you in turn."'

Eve and Seth Search for the Oil of Mercy

As he said this to his sons, Adam groaned deeply and said: 'What should I do? I am in terrible pain.' And Eve wept and said: 'My lord Adam, get up and give me half of your pain and I will endure it; this has happened to you because of me; because of me you are overwhelmed by suffering and hardship.' But Adam said to Eve, 'Get up and go with our son Seth near to paradise, and put dirt on your heads and weep and pray to God to have mercy on me and send his angel to paradise, and give me oil from the tree from which it flows, and bring it to me, and I will anoint myself and find relief from my illness.'

A Wild Animal Attacks Seth

Then Seth and Eve went toward paradise, and Eve saw her son, and a wild animal attacking him, and Eve wept and said: 'How miserable I am; if I reach the day of the Resurrection, all those who have sinned will curse me saying: Eve has not kept the command of God.' And she spoke to the animal: 'You wicked animal, are you not afraid to fight the image of God? How was your mouth opened? How were your teeth made strong? How did you not remember your submission? Long ago you were made to submit to the image of God.'

Then the animal called out and said: 'Your greed and weeping, Eve, concern you rather than us, because (it is) through you that the animals began to rule. How was your mouth opened to eat from the tree God commanded you not to eat from? Because of this, our nature also has changed. So now you cannot bear it if I begin to question you.'

Then Seth speaks to the animal, 'Close your mouth and be quiet and move away from the image of God until the day of Judgment.' Then the animal says to Seth: 'Look, I am moving away from the image of God.' And he went to his tent.

Michael Refuses to Give Them the Oil

And Seth went with Eve near paradise, and they wept there, and prayed to God to send his angel and give them the oil of mercy. And God sent the archangel Michael and he spoke to Seth: 'Seth, man of God, do not exhaust yourself with prayers and pleas about the tree from which oil flows to anoint your father Adam. You cannot have it now. But go back to your father. His allotted lifespan has reached its end and he will die within three days. But when his soul departs, you will see the terrifying ascent of his soul.'

The angel said this and left them. And Seth and Eve came to the hut where Adam lay. And Adam says to Eve: 'Eve, what have you done to us? You have brought great anger on us: death ruling over all humanity.' And he says to her, 'Call all our children and our grandchildren and tell them how we broke the command.'

The Devil Recruits the Serpent

Then Eve says to them: 'Listen, all my children and grandchildren and I will tell you how the enemy deceived us. It happened that we were guarding paradise, each of us the portion God had assigned to us. I guarded the western and southern areas in my assigned portion. But the devil went to Adam's assigned portion, where the male creatures were, because God divided the creatures: he gave all the males to your father and all the females to me.

And the devil spoke to the serpent saying, "Get up, come to me." And he got up and came to him. And the devil says to him: "I hear that you are wiser than all the animals. Listen to me and I will speak with you. Why do you eat Adam's weeds rather than food from paradise? Get up and we will get him thrown out of paradise, just as we were thrown out because of him." The serpent says to him, "I am afraid the Lord may be angry with me." The devil says to him: "Do not be afraid; just be my vessel and I will speak a word through your mouth to deceive them."

The Serpent Tempts Eve

And immediately he hung from the wall of paradise, and when the angels went up to worship God, then Satan appeared in the form of an angel and sang hymns like the angels. And as he leaned over the wall, I saw him, like an angel. But he says to me: "Are you Eve?" And I said to him, "I am." "What are you doing in paradise?" And I said to him, "God put us here to guard it and eat from it." The devil answered through the mouth of the serpent: "You are doing well, but do you eat from every plant?" And I said: "Yes, we eat from all of them except one, which is in the middle of paradise, which God commanded us not to eat from, because He told us, on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die."

Then the serpent says to me, "As surely as God lives, I grieve for you, because I do not want you to be ignorant. But get up, (come) here, listen to me and eat and consider the value of that tree." But I said to him, "I am afraid God may be angry with me, as he told us." And he says to me: "Do not be afraid, because as soon as you eat from it, your eyes will open and you will be like gods, knowing good and evil. But God knew that you would be like Him, so he envied you and said, You must not eat from it. But pay attention to the plant and you will see its great glory." Yet I was afraid to take some of the fruit. And he says to me: "Come here, and I will give it to you. Follow me."

And I opened the entrance for him and he walked a little way, then turned and said to me: "I have changed my mind and I will not give you anything to eat until you swear to me to also give some to your husband." (And) I said, "What kind of oath should I swear to you? But I will tell you what I know: By the throne of the Master, and by the Cherubim and the Tree of Life! I will also give some to my husband to eat." And when he had gotten me to swear the oath, he went and put the poison of his evil onto the fruit he gave me to eat, and he bent the branch to the ground and I took some of the fruit and I ate.

Eve Realizes What She Has Done, and Adam Eats

And at that very moment my eyes were opened, and at once I knew that I was stripped of the righteousness with which I had been clothed (upon). And I wept and said to him: "Why have you done this to me? You have taken away the glory that clothed me." But I also wept about the oath, which I had sworn. But he climbed down from the tree and vanished. And I began to search my area, naked, for leaves to hide my shame, but I found none, because as soon as I had eaten, the leaves showered down from all the trees in my area, except the fig tree. But I took leaves from it and made myself a loincloth.

And I cried out at that very moment, "Adam, Adam, where are you? Get up, come to me and I will show you a great secret." But when your father came, I spoke sinful words to him which have brought us down from our great glory. When he came, I opened my mouth and the devil was speaking, and I began to urge him and said, "Come here, my lord Adam, listen to me and eat some fruit from the tree God told us not to eat from, and you will be like a god." And your father answered and said, "I am afraid God may be angry with me." And I said to him, "Do not be afraid, because as soon as you have eaten you will know good and evil." And quickly I persuaded him, and he ate and at once his eyes were opened and he too realized he was naked. And he says to me, "Wicked woman! What have you done to us? You have taken away from me the glory of God."

God Punishes Adam, Eve and the Serpent

And at that same moment, we heard the archangel Michael blowing his trumpet and calling to the angels and saying: "The Lord says, Come with me to Paradise and hear the judgment I will pronounce on Adam." And when we heard the trumpet, we said, "God is coming to paradise to judge us." We were afraid and hid. And when God appeared in paradise, riding on the chariot of his cherubim with the angels going ahead of him and singing hymns of praise, all the plants of paradise, both in your father's assigned portion and mine, burst into bloom. And the throne of God was set up where the Tree of Life was.

And God called Adam saying, "Adam, where have you hidden, thinking I will not find you? Can the house be hidden from its builder?" Then your father answered, "Lord, we are not hiding because we think you cannot find us, but I was afraid, because I am naked, and your power made me feel ashamed, (my) Master." God says to him, "Who showed you that you are naked, unless you have abandoned my command, which I gave you to obey (it)?" Then Adam remembered the words that I spoke to him, (saying) "I will keep you safe in God's presence"; and he turned and said to me: "Why have you done this?" And I said, "The serpent deceived me."

God says to Adam: 'Since you have disregarded my command and have listened to your wife, the earth is cursed because of you. You will work it and it will not produce crops: thorns and thistles will grow for you, and you will eat your bread by the sweat of your face. You will suffer various illnesses; you will be crushed by bitterness, but you will not taste sweetness. Heat will exhaust you, and cold will make you suffer. The animals you ruled will rebel against you, because you have not obeyed my command.'

And the Lord turned to me and said: "Since you have listened to the serpent, and refused to listen to my command, you will suffer various illnesses, and in unbearable pain you will give birth to children and within an hour you will give birth, and lose your life, because of your intense pain and suffering. But you will confess and say: 'Lord, Lord, save me, and I will not return to the sin of the flesh.' And because of this I will judge you by your own words, because of the hostility which the enemy has planted in you. You will turn again to your husband, and he will rule you."

But he turned to the serpent in great anger and said: "Since you have done this, and become an ungrateful vessel and deceived those with careless hearts, you are cursed among all animals. You will lose the food you used to eat and will feed on dust all the days of your life: on your breast and your belly you will move, without hands or feet. You will have no ear or wing left, nor any of the limbs you used in your evil to trap them and get them thrown out of paradise; and I will put hostility between you and their descendants: he will watch your head and you will watch his heel until the day of Judgment."

Adam and Eve Are Thrown Out of Paradise

He said this and told the angels to have us thrown out of paradise: and as we were being driven out while we wailed loudly, your father Adam begged the angels and said: "Give me a little (space) so that I can beg the Lord to have compassion on me and pity me, because I alone have sinned." And they stopped driving him out and Adam cried out and wept saying: "Lord, forgive me for what I have done." Then the Lord says to the angels, "Why have you stopped driving Adam from paradise? Why do you not throw him out? Am I the one who has done wrong? Or is my judgment unjust?" Then the angels fell down on the ground and worshiped the Lord saying, "You are just, Lord, and your judgments are fair."

But the Lord turned to Adam and said: "I will not allow you to stay any longer in paradise." And Adam answered and said, "Lord, give me some fruit from the Tree of Life so that I can eat it before I am thrown out." Then the Lord spoke to Adam, "You cannot take any now, because I have commanded the cherubim with the flaming sword that turns (every way) to guard it from you so that you will not eat from it and live forever; But you carry the conflict the enemy has put inside you. Yet after you leave paradise, if you avoid all evil like someone about to die, I will raise you up when the Resurrection takes place and then you will be given the Tree of Life, and you will live forever."

The Lord said this and ordered us to be thrown out of paradise. But your father Adam wept before the angels in paradise and the angels say to him: "What do you want us to do, Adam?" And your father says to them, "Look, you are throwing me out. I beg you, let me take away fragrant herbs from paradise, so that I can make an offering to God after I have left paradise so that he will hear me." And the angels approached God and said: "Ja'el, Eternal King, my Lord, command that Adam be given sweet-smelling incense from paradise." And God allowed Adam to take sweet spices and fragrant herbs from paradise and seeds for his food. And the angels left him and brought four kinds: crocus and spikenard and calamus and cinnamon and the other seeds for his food: and, after taking these, he left paradise. And we were on the earth.

Now then, my children, I have shown you how we were deceived; and be careful not to violate what is good.'

Adam's Last Words to Eve

And when Eve had said this among her sons, while Adam was sleeping in his illness and had only one day left before dying from the sickness that had taken hold of him, she says to him: 'Why are you dying while I am still living, and how long will I live after your death? Tell me.' And Adam says to her: 'Do not worry about this, because you will not live long after me; both of us must die. And you will be buried in my grave. But when I die, leave me alone and do not let anyone touch me until the angel of the Lord says something about me. God will not forget me, but will look for the vessel he formed. And instead, get up now and pray to God until I give my spirit into the hands of the One who gave it to me, because we do not know how we will meet our Maker, whether He will be angry with us or turn to have mercy on us.'⁠a

Eve Confesses Her Sins

And Eve got up and went outside and fell on the ground and began to say: 'I have sinned, God, I have sinned, Father of All, I have sinned against You. I have sinned against the chosen angels. I have sinned against the Cherubim. I have sinned against Your unshakable Throne. I have sinned, Lord, I have sinned greatly before You and all sin in creation has begun because of what I have done.' While Eve was praying like this on her knees, (and) look, the angel of humanity came to her, and helped her stand up and said: 'Get up, Eve, (from your penitence), because, look, Adam your husband has left his body. Get up and see his spirit being carried up to his Maker.'

Eve Sees a Chariot of Light

And Eve got up and placed her hand over her face. And she looked steadily up into heaven, and saw a chariot of light, carried by four bright eagles, which could not have been born from a womb, and whose glory could not be described and whose faces could not be seen, and angels were going ahead of the chariot and when they came to the place where your father Adam was, the chariot stopped, and the Seraphim stood between your father and the chariot. And I saw golden incense burners and three libation bowls, and all the angels with incense burners and frankincense hurried to the incense-offering and blew on it and the smoke of the incense covered the heavens. And the angels fell down and worshiped God, crying out and saying, 'Ja'el, Holy One, forgive him, because he is Your image, and the work of Your holy hands.'

And I, Eve, saw two great and terrifying wonders standing in the presence of God and I wept because I was afraid, and I called out to my son Seth and said, 'Get up, Seth, from the body of your father Adam and come to me, and you will see a sight no human eye has ever seen, and they are praying for your father Adam.'

Then Seth got up and came to his mother and he says to her: 'What is troubling you? Why are you weeping?' (And) she says to him: 'Look up and see with your eyes the seven heavens open, and see how the body of your father lies face down and all the holy angels are praying for him and saying: "Forgive him, Father of All, because he is Your image." 'Please, my child Seth, what does this mean? And when will he be delivered into the hands of the Invisible Father, our own God? But who are the two Ethiopian figures who are standing nearby as prayers are offered for your father Adam?'

And Seth tells his mother that they are the sun and moon and they too bow down and pray for my father Adam. Eve says to him: 'And where is their light and why do they look so dark?' And Seth answers her, 'The light has not left them, but they cannot shine before the Light of the Universe, the Father of Lights; and for this reason their light has been hidden from them.'

An Angel Carries Adam to the Third Heaven

Now while Seth was saying this to his mother, look, an angel blew the trumpet, and all the angels who had been lying on their faces stood up, and they cried out in a terrifying voice and said: 'May the glory of the Lord (be) blessed by all His works, because He has had mercy on Adam the creature made by His hands.' But when the angels had said these words, look, one of the six-winged seraphim came and snatched up Adam and carried him away to the Acherusian lake, and washed him three times, then brought him before God. And he stayed there three hours, lying down, and after that the Father of all, sitting on his throne, reached out his hand, and took Adam and handed him over to the archangel Michael saying: 'Lift him up into Paradise to the third Heaven, and leave him there until that great and terrifying day when I will set the world in order.'⁠a Then Michael took Adam and left him where God told him. And all the angels sang an angelic hymn, amazed that Adam had been forgiven.

Adam Is Buried

After Adam received this joy, Michael the archangel called out to the Father about Adam. And God commanded that all the angels should gather in His presence, each according to his rank, and all the angels gathered, some holding incense burners in their hands, and others lyres, bowls and trumpets. And look! the 'Lord of Armies' approached and four winds pulled Him along and cherubim held the winds back and the angels from heaven escorted Him and they came down to earth, where the body of Adam was.

And God grieved deeply over him and says to him: 'Adam, what have you done? If you had kept my command, those who are bringing you down to this place would not now be celebrating. Yet, I tell you that I will turn their joy to grief and your grief I will turn to joy, and I will restore your former authority, and seat you on the throne of your deceiver. But he will be thrown into this place to see you sitting above him, then he and those who listened to him will be condemned, and he will grieve deeply when he sees you sitting on his throne.'

Then God spoke to the archangel Michael: 'Go to Paradise in the third heaven, and bring three linen cloths of silk and fine linen.' When they were brought, God commanded Michael, Gabriel and Uriel to prepare Adam for burial: 'Spread the cloths and cover the body of Adam and bring fragrant oil and pour it over him.' And they did so, and the three great angels prepared him for burial. And God said: 'Have Abel's body brought here too.' And they brought other linen cloths and prepared his (body) too. He had been unburied since the day Cain his brother killed him. Wicked Cain tried very hard to hide (him) but could not, because the earth would not accept him and his body sprang up from the ground and a voice came from the earth saying: 'I will not accept another body until the first creature taken from me returns the dust from which he was made.' At that time, the angels took it and placed it on a rock, until his father Adam was buried. After both were prepared for burial, God commanded that they be taken to the regions of paradise, to the spot where God took the dust and formed Adam, and He had the place dug for both of them. And God sent seven angels to paradise and they brought many fragrant spices and placed them in the earth, and they took the two bodies and placed them in the place they had dug out and built.

And God called and said, 'Adam, Adam.' And the body answered from the earth and said: 'Here I am, Lord.' And God says to him: 'I told you (that) you are dust and you will return to dust. I promise you the Resurrection again; I will raise you up in the Resurrection with all people who are your descendants.'

Eve Dies and Is Buried

After these words, God made a triangular seal and sealed the tomb, so that no one could do anything to him for six days until his rib returned to him. Then the Lord and his angels went to their place. And Eve too fell asleep when the six days were over. But while she was still alive, she wept bitterly over Adam's falling asleep, for she did not know where he had been placed. When the Lord came to paradise to bury Adam she was asleep, and so were her sons, except Seth, until He commanded Adam to be prepared for burial; and no one on earth knew, except her son Seth. And Eve prayed (in the hour of her death) to be buried in the same place as her husband Adam. And after she had finished her prayer, she says: 'Lord, Master, God of all goodness, do not separate me, your servant, from the body of Adam, because you made me from the parts of his body. But consider me worthy, even though I am unworthy and a sinner, to enter his dwelling, just as I was with him in paradise, the two of us never separated from each other; just as when we broke your command, we were (both) deceived and disobeyed your command, but were not separated. In the same way, Lord, do not separate us now.' But after she had prayed, she looked up toward heaven and groaned loudly and beat her chest and said: 'God of All, receive my spirit.'

And Michael came and taught Seth how to prepare Eve for burial. And three angels came and they buried her (body) where the bodies of Adam and Abel were. And after that Michael spoke to Seth and says: 'Prepare everyone who dies for burial in this way until the day of the Resurrection.' And after giving him this rule, he says to him: 'Do not mourn beyond six days, but on the seventh day, rest and be joyful that day, because on that very day, God is joyful (yes) and we angels are (too) with the righteous soul, who has left the earth.' The angel said this, and went up into heaven, glorifying (God) and saying: 'Allelujah. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord.' To the glory of God the Father. Amen.