Life of Adam and Eve

Hungry and Grieving Outside Paradise

When they were driven out from paradise, they built themselves a shelter, and spent seven days mourning and lamenting in great grief.

But after seven days, they began to be hungry and started to look for food to eat, and they did not find it. Then Eve said to Adam: 'My lord, I am hungry. Go and look for (something) for us to eat. Perhaps the Lord God will turn back to us, pity us, and bring us back to the place in which we were before.

And Adam got up and walked seven days over all that land, and found no food such as they used to have in paradise. And Eve said to Adam: 'Will you kill me so that I may die? Perhaps God the Lord will bring you into paradise, for you have been driven from there because of me.' Adam answered: 'Stop saying such things, Eve, or God might bring another curse upon us. How is it possible that I should raise my hand against my own flesh? No, let us get up and look for something for us to live on, so that we do not perish.'

And they walked about and searched for nine days, and they found nothing like the food they used to have in paradise, but found only animals' food. And Adam said to Eve: 'The Lord has provided this for animals and beasts to eat; but we used to have angels' food. But it is just and right that we lament in the presence of God who made us. Let us repent with deep penitence: perhaps the Lord will be gracious to us and will pity us and give us a share of something to live on.'

Adam and Eve Repent in the Rivers

And Eve said to Adam: 'What is penitence? Tell me, what kind of penance should I perform? Let us not take on more work than we can endure, or the Lord will not listen to our prayers and will turn away His face from us, because we have not fulfilled what we promised. My lord, how much penance have you planned (to do) for I have brought trouble and anguish upon you?'

And Adam said to Eve: 'You cannot do as much as I can, but do only as much as you have the strength for. For I will spend forty days fasting, but get up and go to the river Tigris and lift up a stone and stand on it in the water up to your neck in the deep part of the river. And do not let any words come out of your mouth, since we are unworthy to address the Lord, for our lips are unclean from the unlawful and forbidden tree. And stand in the river water for thirty-seven days. But I will spend forty days in the water of Jordan, perhaps the Lord God will take pity upon us.'

And Eve walked to the river Tigris and did as Adam had told her. Adam also walked to the river Jordan and stood on a stone up to his neck in the water.

And Adam said: 'I tell you, water of Jordan, grieve with me, and gather around me all the swimming (creatures) in you, and let them surround me and mourn with me. Let them lament for me, not for themselves; for they are not the ones who have sinned; I have.' At once, all living things came and surrounded him, and, from that hour, the water of Jordan stood (still) and its current stopped.'

Satan Tricks Eve Again

Eighteen days passed; then Satan was angry and took on the brightness of angels, and went to Eve at the Tigris River, and found her weeping,⁠a and the devil himself pretended to grieve with her, and he began to weep and said to her: 'Come out of the river and stop lamenting. Stop grieving and moaning now. Why are you and your husband Adam anxious? The Lord God has heard your groaning and has accepted your penitence, and all of us angels have pleaded on your behalf and appealed to the Lord; and he has sent me to bring you out of the water and give you the nourishment which you had in paradise, and for which you are crying out. Now come out of the water and I will take you to the place where your food has been made ready.'

But Eve heard and believed and went out of the water of the river, and her flesh was (trembling) like grass, from the chill of the water. And when she had gone out, she fell on the earth and the devil raised her up and led her to Adam. But when Adam saw her and the devil with her, he wept and cried out and said: 'Eve, Eve, what has become of all your work of penance? How have you been trapped again by our adversary, who caused us to be separated from our home in paradise and spiritual joy?'

And when she heard this, Eve understood that (it was) the devil (who) had persuaded her to go out of the river; and she fell on her face on the earth and her sorrow, groaning, and wailing doubled. And she cried out and said: 'A curse on you, devil! Why do you attack us for no reason? What do you have to do with us? What have we done to you that you pursue us with such cunning? Or why do you attack us with such malice? Have we taken away your glory and left you without honor? Why do you harass us, you enemy (and persecute us) to death in wickedness and envy?'

Satan Explains Why He Was Thrown Out of Heaven

And with a heavy sigh, the devil spoke: 'Adam! All my hostility, envy, and sorrow are directed at you, since it is because of you that I have been expelled from my glory, which I possessed in the heavens among the angels and because of you I was thrown down to the earth.' Adam answered, 'What are you telling me? What have I done to you or how have I wronged you? Since you have received no harm or injury from us, why do you pursue us?'

The devil replied, 'Adam, what are you telling me? It is because of you that I have been hurled from that place. When you were formed, I was hurled out of the presence of God and banished from the company of the angels. When God breathed the breath of life into you and your face and likeness were made in the image of God, Michael also brought you and made (us) worship you in the sight of God; and God the Lord spoke: Here is Adam. I have made you in our image and likeness.'

And Michael went out and called all the angels saying: 'Worship the image of God as the Lord God has commanded.' And Michael himself worshiped first; then he called me and said: 'Worship the image of God the Lord.' And I answered, 'I have no (need) to worship Adam.' And since Michael kept urging me to worship, I said to him, 'Why do you urge me? I will not worship a being who is inferior and younger (than I). I was created before him; I already existed before he was made. It is his duty to worship me.'

When the angels, who were under me, heard this, they refused to worship him. And Michael says, 'Worship the image of God, but if you refuse to worship him, the Lord God will be angry with you.' And I said, 'If He is angry with me, I will place my throne above the stars of heaven and will be like the Highest.'

And God the Lord was angry with me and banished me and my angels from our glory; and because of you we were expelled from our homes into this world and hurled down to the earth. And at once we were overcome with grief, since we had been stripped of such great glory. And we were grieved when we saw you in such joy and luxury. And I cunningly deceived your wife and caused you to be expelled through her (doing) from your joy and luxury, as I have been driven out of my glory.

When Adam heard the devil say this, he cried out and wept and spoke: 'Lord my God, my life is in your hands. Banish this Adversary far from me, who seeks to destroy my soul, and give me his glory which he himself has lost.' And at that moment, the devil vanished before him. But Adam continued his penance, standing for forty days (on end) in the water of Jordan.

Eve Goes West and Gives Birth to Cain

And Eve said to Adam: 'Live, my Lord, for life has been granted to you, since you have committed neither the first nor the second error. But I have erred and been led astray for I have not kept the commandment of God; and now banish me from the light of your life and I will go to the west, and I will stay there, until I die.' And she began to walk toward the western regions and to mourn and to weep bitterly and groan aloud. And she built a shelter there, while she was carrying a child three months old in her womb.

And when the time for her to give birth approached, she began to be distressed with pains, and she cried aloud to the Lord and said: 'Pity me, Lord, assist me.' And she was not heard and the mercy of God did not encircle her. And she said to herself: 'Who will tell my lord Adam? I implore you, you lights of heaven, when you return to the east, carry a message to my lord Adam.'

But in that hour, Adam said: 'I have heard Eve crying out. Perhaps the serpent has fought with her again.' And he went and found her in great distress. And Eve said: 'From the moment I saw you, my lord, my grieving soul was refreshed. And now beg the Lord God on my behalf to listen to you and look at me and free me from my awful pains.' And Adam begged the Lord for Eve.

And look, twelve angels came and two 'powers', standing on the right and on the left of Eve; and Michael was standing on the right; and he stroked her from her face down to her breast and said to Eve: 'Blessed are you, Eve, for Adam's sake. Since his prayers and intercessions are great, I have been sent so that you may receive our help. Rise up now, and prepare yourself to give birth. And she bore a son and he was shining; and at once the baby rose up and ran and carried a blade of grass in his hands, and gave it to his mother, and he was named Cain.

Cain, Abel and Seth

And Adam carried Eve and the boy and led them east. And the Lord God sent various seeds with Michael the archangel and gave them to Adam and showed him how to work and cultivate the ground, so that they might have fruit by which they and all their generations might live. For afterward Eve conceived and bore a son, whose name was Abel; and Cain and Abel used to stay together. And Eve said to Adam: 'My lord, while I slept, I saw a vision, what seemed to be the blood of our son Abel in the hand of Cain, who was gulping it down in his mouth. That is why I am grieving.' And Adam said, 'How terrible it would be if Cain killed Abel. Yet let us separate them from each other, and let us build a separate home for each of them.'

And they made Cain a farmer, (but) Abel they made a shepherd; so that they could be kept apart in this way. And afterward, Cain killed Abel, but Adam was then one hundred and thirty years old, but Abel was killed when he was one hundred and twenty-two years old. And afterward Adam slept with his wife and he fathered a son and called his name Seth.

And Adam said to Eve, 'Look, I have fathered a son, in place of Abel, whom Cain killed.' And after Adam had fathered Seth, he lived eight hundred years and fathered thirty sons and thirty daughters; in all sixty-three children. And they increased in number across the earth in their nations.

Adam Describes His Vision to Seth

And Adam said to Seth, 'Listen, my son Seth, so that I may tell you what I heard and saw after your mother and I had been driven out of paradise. When we were praying, Michael the archangel, a messenger of God, came to me. And I saw a chariot like the wind and its wheels were fiery and I was caught up into the Paradise of righteousness, and I saw the Lord sitting and his face was a blazing fire that no one could bear. And many thousands of angels were on the right and the left of that chariot.

When I saw this, I was overwhelmed, and terror seized me and I bowed down before God with my face to the earth. And God said to me, 'Look, you will die, since you have disobeyed the commandment of God, for you listened instead to your wife, whom I placed under your authority, so that you might make her follow your will. Yet you listened to her and ignored My words.'

And when I heard these words of God, I fell face down on the ground and worshiped the Lord and said, 'My Lord, All-powerful and merciful God, Holy and Righteous One, do not let the name that is mindful of Your majesty be blotted out, but turn my soul back, for I am dying and my breath will leave my mouth. Do not cast me out from Your presence, (me) whom You formed of the clay of the earth. Do not deny Your favor to the one You nourished.' And look! A word concerning you came to me and the Lord said to me, 'Since your days were fashioned, you have been created with a love of knowledge; therefore your descendants will never lose the (right) to serve Me.'

And when I heard these words, I threw myself on the earth and worshiped the Lord God and said, 'You are the eternal and supreme God; and all creatures give you honor and praise. 'You are the true Light gleaming above all light(s), the Living Life, infinite mighty Power. To You, the spiritual powers give honor and praise. You show the human race Your abundant mercy.' After I had worshiped the Lord, at once Michael, God's archangel, seized my hand and cast me out of the paradise of 'vision' and of God's command. And Michael held a rod in his hand, and he touched the waters, which were around paradise, and they froze hard.

And I went across, and Michael the archangel went across with me, and he led me back to the place from which he had caught me up. Listen, my son Seth, also to the rest of the secrets [and sacraments] that will come to pass, which were revealed to me, when I had eaten of the tree of knowledge, and knew and perceived what will happen in this age; [what God intends to do to the human race He created. The Lord will appear in a flame of fire (and) from the mouth of His majesty He will give commandments and statutes [from His mouth will proceed a two-edged sword] and they will sanctify Him in the house where His majesty lives. And He will show them the marvelous place of His majesty. And then they will build a house to the Lord their God in the land which He shall prepare for them and there they will disobey His statutes and their sanctuary will be burned up and their land will be left deserted and they themselves will be dispersed; because they have stirred up the anger of God. And once more He will bring them back from the places where they were scattered; and again they will build the house of God; and in the last time the house of God will be exalted greater than before. And once more wickedness will exceed righteousness. And afterward God will live with people on earth [in visible form]; and then, righteousness will begin to shine. And the house of God will be honored in that age and their enemies will no longer be able to hurt the people who believe in God; and God will raise up a faithful people for Himself, whom He shall save for eternity, and the ungodly shall be punished by God their king, the people who refused to love His law. Heaven and earth, nights and days, and all creatures shall obey Him, and not violate His commandment. Men shall not change their works, but they shall be changed from forsaking the law of the Lord. Therefore the Lord shall drive the wicked away from Himself, and the righteous shall shine like the sun, in the sight of God. And in that time, people shall be purified by water from their sins. But those who are unwilling to be purified by water shall be condemned. And happy will be the person who has governed his soul, when the Judgment takes place and the greatness of God is seen among people and their deeds are examined by God, the just judge.

Adam Gets Sick

After Adam reached nine hundred and thirty years of age, since he knew that his days were coming to an end, he said: 'Let all my sons gather around me, so that I may bless them before I die, and speak with them.' And they were assembled in three parts, in front of him, in the house of prayer, where they used to worship the Lord God. And they asked him (saying): 'What is troubling you, Father, that you have gathered us, and why do you lie on your bed?' Then Adam answered and said: 'My sons, I am sick and in pain.' And all his sons said to him: 'What does it mean, father, this illness and pain?'

Then Seth his son said: '(my) lord, perhaps you have longed for the fruit of paradise, which you used to eat, and therefore you are lying here in sadness? Tell me and I will go to the nearest gates of paradise and put dust on my head and throw myself down on the earth before the gates of paradise and lament and beg God with loud lamentation; perhaps he will listen to me and send his angel to bring me the fruit, for which you have longed.' Adam answered and said: 'No, my son, I do not long (for this), but I feel weakness and great pain in my body.' Seth answered, 'What is pain, my lord father? I do not know; but do not hide it from us, but tell us (about it).'

Adam Explains How They Disobeyed God

And Adam answered and said: 'Hear me, my sons. When God made us, me and your mother, and placed us in paradise and gave us every tree that bore fruit to eat, he forbade us to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, which is in the middle of paradise; (saying) 'Do not eat of it.' But God gave a part of paradise to me and (a part) to your mother: the trees of the eastern part and the north, which faces Aquilo, he gave to me, and to your mother he gave the part of the south and the western part.

(Moreover) God the Lord gave us two angels to guard us. The hour came when the angels had ascended to worship in the sight of God; at once the adversary [the devil] found an opportunity while the angels were absent and the devil led your mother astray to eat of the unlawful and forbidden tree. And she ate and gave some to me.

And immediately, the Lord God was angry with us, and the Lord said to me: 'Since you have abandoned my commandment and have not obeyed my word, which I confirmed to you; look, I will strike your body with seventy blows; you shall be tormented by various pains, beginning at your head and your eyes and your ears down to your toenails, and in every separate limb. God has assigned these as punishment. The Lord has sent all these things to me and to all our race.'

Eve Asks to Take On Adam's Pain

This is what Adam said to his sons, and he was seized with violent pains, and he cried out with a loud voice, 'What shall I do? I am in distress. The pains tormenting me are so cruel.' And when Eve saw him weeping, she also began to weep herself, and said: 'Lord my God, hand over to me his pain, for it is I who sinned.' And Eve said to Adam: 'My lord, give me a part of your pains, for this has come to you because of my fault.'

And Adam said to Eve: 'Rise up and go with my son Seth to the area near paradise, and put dust on your heads and throw yourselves on the ground and lament in the sight of God. Perhaps He will have pity (upon you) and send His angel across to the tree of His mercy, from which the oil of life flows, and will give you a drop of it, to anoint me with it, so that I may get relief from these pains that are consuming me.'

A Wild Animal Attacks Seth

Then Seth and his mother went off toward the gates of paradise. And while they were walking, look! A beast suddenly appeared [a serpent] and attacked and bit Seth. And as soon as Eve saw it, she wept and said: 'How miserable I am! I am cursed since I have not kept the commandment of God.' And Eve said to the serpent in a loud voice: 'Cursed beast! How (is it that) you have not been afraid to attack the image of God, but have dared to fight with it?'

The beast answered in human language: 'Is it not against you, Eve, that our malice (is directed)? Are you not the targets of our rage? Tell me, Eve, how did you open your mouth to eat the fruit? But now if I begin to rebuke you, you cannot bear it.'

Then Seth said to the beast: 'May God the Lord rebuke you. Be silent, be speechless, shut your mouth, cursed enemy of Truth, one who causes confusion and destruction. Be gone from the image of God till the day when the Lord God shall order you to be brought to the trial.' And the beast said to Seth: 'See, I leave the presence of the image of God, as you have said.' At once he left Seth, wounded by his teeth.

Michael Refuses to Give Them the Oil of Mercy

But Seth and his mother walked to the regions of paradise for the oil of mercy to anoint the sick Adam: and they arrived at the gates of paradise, (and) they took dust from the earth and placed it on their heads, and bowed with their faces to the ground and began to lament and make loud moaning, imploring the Lord God to pity Adam in his pains and to send His angel to give them the oil from the 'tree of His mercy'.

But when they had been praying and imploring for many hours, look, the angel Michael appeared to them and said: 'I have been sent to you from the Lord; God has placed me over human bodies. I tell you, Seth, (you) man of God, do not weep or pray and plead for the oil of the tree of mercy to anoint your father Adam for the pains of his body.

'For I tell you that in no way will you be able to receive any of it except in the last days.' [When five thousand five hundred years have been fulfilled, the most beloved king Christ, the son of God, will come to earth, to revive the body of Adam and with him to revive the bodies of the dead. He Himself, the Son of God, when He comes will be baptized in the river of Jordan, and when He has come out of the water of Jordan, then He will anoint all who believe in Him with the oil of mercy. And the oil of mercy shall be from generation to generation for those who are ready to be born again of water and the Holy Spirit to eternal life. Then the most beloved Son of God, Christ, descending to earth shall lead your father Adam to Paradise to the tree of mercy.]

'But you, Seth, go to your father Adam, since the time of his life is fulfilled. Six days from now, his soul shall leave his body and when it has left, you shall see great wonders in heaven and on earth and the lights of heaven. With these words, at once Michael departed from Seth. And Eve and Seth returned bearing with them fragrant herbs, namely nard and crocus and calamus and cinnamon.

Adam Blames Eve

And when Seth and his mother had reached Adam, they told him how the beast [the serpent] bit Seth. And Adam said to Eve: 'What have you done? You have brought a great plague upon us, transgression and sin for all our generations: and tell your children what you have done after my death, [for our descendants shall toil and fail but they shall lack what they need and curse us (and) say, Our parents, who were at the beginning, have brought all evils upon us].' When Eve heard these words, she began to weep and moan.

Adam Dies and Is Buried

And just as Michael the archangel had foretold, Adam died after six days. When Adam perceived that the hour of his death was near, he said to all his sons: 'Look, I am nine hundred and thirty years old, and if I die, bury me toward the east in the field by that dwelling.' And when he had finished everything he had to say, he gave up his spirit. (Then) the sun was darkened and the moon

and the stars for seven days, and Seth in his mourning leaned over and embraced his father's body, and Eve was looking at the ground with hands folded over her head, and all her children wept very bitterly. And look, Michael the angel appeared and stood at the head of Adam and said to Seth: 'Rise up from the body of your father and come to me and see what the Lord God has decided about him. He is His creature, and God has pitied him.' And all angels blew their trumpets, and cried:

'Blessed are you, Lord, for you have had pity on Your creature.'

Then Seth saw the hand of God stretched out holding Adam and he handed him over to Michael, saying: 'Let him be in your care until the day of Judgment in punishment, until the last years when I will turn his sorrow into joy. Then he shall sit on the throne of the one who took his place.' And the Lord said again to the angels Michael and Uriel: 'Bring me three cloths of fine linen and spread them out over Adam and other linen cloths over Abel his son and bury Adam and Abel his son.' And all the 'powers' of angels marched ahead of Adam, and the sleep of the dead was consecrated. And the angels Michael and Uriel buried Adam and Abel in the regions of Paradise, in the sight of Seth and his mother [and no one else], and Michael and Uriel said: 'Just as you have seen here, bury your dead.'

Eve Gives Her Last Instructions and Dies

Six days after, Adam died; and Eve perceived that she would die, (so) she assembled all her sons and daughters, Seth with thirty brothers and thirty sisters, and Eve said to all, 'Hear me, my children, and I will tell you what the archangel Michael said to us when your father and I transgressed the command of God: On account of your transgression, Our Lord will bring his judgment upon your descendants in anger, first by water, the second time by fire; the Lord will use these two to judge the whole human race.⁠a

But listen to me, my children. Then make tablets of stone and others of clay, and write on them the whole story of my life and your father's (all) that you have heard and seen from us. If the Lord judges our race by water, the tablets of clay will be dissolved and the tablets of stone will remain; but if he judges by fire, the tablets of stone will be broken up and the tablets of clay will be baked (hard).' When Eve had said all this to her children, she spread out her hands to heaven in prayer, and bent her knees to the earth, and while she worshiped the Lord and gave him thanks, she gave up her spirit. Afterward, all her children buried her with loud lamentation.

Michael Says to Mourn for Only Six Days

When they had been mourning four days, (then) Michael the archangel appeared and said to Seth: 'Man of God, do not mourn for your dead more than six days, for the seventh day is the sign of the resurrection and the rest of the coming age; on the seventh day the Lord rested from all His works.' Then Seth made the tablets.