Book 1: Creation and the Flood

1 Beginning with the first generation of mortal men down to the very last
2 I’ll prophesy each thing: what once has been,
3 and what is now, and what will yet happen to
4 the world through the impiety of men.

The Creation

5 First now God urges me to tell truly how the world came into being.
6 And you, shrewd mortal, prudently make known,
7 so that you never neglect my commands, the most high King, who brought into existence
8 the whole world, saying, “Let there be,” and there was.
9 For he established the earth, placing it
10 around Tartarus, and he himself gave the sweet light; he raised the heaven on high,
11 spread out the gleaming sea, and crowned the sky
12 with an abundance of bright-shining stars,
13 and adorned the earth with plants, and mixed sea
14 with rivers, and mixed the air with breezes
15 and watery clouds; and then, another race appointing, he gave fishes to the seas
16 and birds to the winds, and to the woods
17 the shaggy-necked beasts, and snakes that crawl,
18 and all things which now appear on the earth.
19 He made these by his word, and everything
20 was done speedily and with precision; for he was self-caused and from heaven looked down
21 and the world was finished exceedingly well.
22 And then after that he fashioned again
23 a living product, copying a new man
24 from his own image, beautiful, divine,
25 and told him to live in a heavenly garden, so that beautiful labors might be his care.
26 But in that fertile field of Paradise
27 he longed for conversation, being alone, and prayed that he might see another form
28 like his own. And at once, from man’s side
29 taking a bone, God himself made beautiful Eve,⁠a
30 a wedded spouse, and in that Paradise gave her to live with him. And, when he gazed
31 upon her, all of a sudden filled with joy
32 great admiration held his soul, he saw
33 a pattern so exact; and with wise words
34 flowing spontaneously he answered in turn
35 for God cared for all things. For they did not darken their minds with passion, nor concealed
36 their nakedness, but with hearts far from evil
37 even like wild beasts they walked with limbs exposed.

The Fall of Humanity

38 And afterwards giving them commands
39 God showed them not to touch a certain tree;
40 but the terrible serpent drew them off by guile to go away to the fate of death
41 and to gain knowledge of both good and evil.
42 But the wife then first proved a traitor to God;
43 she gave, and urged the unknowing man to sin.
44 And he, persuaded by the woman’s words,
45 forgot the immortal Maker utterly, and treated plain commandments with neglect.
46 Therefore, instead of good, they received evil
47 according to their deed. And then the leaves of the sweet fig-tree they pierced and made into clothes
48 and put them on each other, and concealed
49 the sexual parts, because they were ashamed.
50 But on them the Immortal set his anger and cast them out of the immortal land.
51 For their living now in mortal land
52 was brought about, since they heard but did not keep
53 the word of the immortal mighty God.
54 And at once they, upon the fruitful soil
55 going out, were wet with their tears and groans; and to them then the immortal God himself
56 spoke a more excellent word: “Multiply,
57 increase, work constantly upon the earth, so that with the sweat of labor you may have
58 enough food.” So he spoke; and he made
59 the author of deceit to press the ground
60 on belly and on side, a crawling snake, driving him out severely; and he sent
61 bitter enmity between them and the one
62 is on the lookout to preserve his head,
63 but man his heel; for death is a near neighbor
64 of evil-plotting vipers and of men.
65 And then indeed the race was multiplied
66 as the Almighty himself commanded,
67 and there grew up one people on another
68 countless. And they adorned houses
69 of all kinds and made cities and their walls
70 well and expertly; and they were given a day of long time for a life much-loved;
71 for they did not, worn out with troubles, die,
72 but as subdued by sleep; most happy men of great heart, whom the immortal Savior loved,
73 the King, God. But they also transgressed,
74 struck with folly. For with impudence
75 they mocked their fathers and scorned their mothers; they did not know relatives, and they plotted
76 against their brothers. And they were impure,
77 having defiled themselves with human gore,
78 and they made wars. And then there came upon them
79 the last calamity sent from heaven,
80 which snatched the dreadful men away from life; and Hades then received them; it was called
81 Hades since Adam, having tasted death,
82 went first and earth surrounded him.
83 And therefore all men born upon the earth
84 are called to go to the homes of Hades.
85 But even in Hades all these when they came
86 had honor, since they were the earliest race.
87 But when Hades received these, secondly
88 of the surviving and most righteous men
89 God formed another very clever race
90 that cared for lovely works, and noble toils, distinguished reverence and solid wisdom;
91 and they were trained in arts of every kind,
92 finding inventions by their lack of means.
93 And one devised to till the land with plows,
94 another worked in wood, another cared
95 for sailing, and another watched the stars and practiced augury with winged birds;
96 and use of drugs had interest for one, while for another magic had a charm;
97 and others were in every other art
98 which men care for instructed, wide awake, industrious, worthy of that eponym
99 because they had a sleepless mind within
100 and a huge body; they were stout with mighty form but nevertheless they went down
101 into the terrible Tartarean chamber,
102 kept in firm chains to pay full penalty
103 in Gehenna of strong, furious, unquenchable fire.
104 And after these a third strong-minded race
105 appeared, a race of overbearing men and terrible, who worked among themselves
106 many evils. And fights, homicides,
107 and battles continually destroyed
108 those men of arrogant heart,
109 and from these afterward another race
110 proceeded, late-completed, youngest born,
111 blood-stained, perverse in counsel; these men
112 were in the fourth race; they spilled much blood,
113 nor did they fear God or have regard for men,
114 for maddening anger and grievous impiety
115 were sent upon them. And wars, homicides, and battles sent some into Erebus,
116 since they were arrogant, impious men.
117 But the heavenly God himself in anger afterwards removed the rest from his world,
118 casting them into mighty Tartarus
119 down under the foundation of the earth.
120 And later yet another race much worse
121 of men he made, to whom no good afterward
122 the Immortal formed, since they did many evils.
123 For they were much more violent than those,
124 perverse giants, foul language pouring out.

Noah and the Warning of the Flood

125 The most faithful Noah, alone among all men, was most just and true, full of care⁠b
126 for the noblest works. And to him God himself
127 spoke from heaven: “Noah, take heart
128 in yourself and preach to all the people
129 repentance, so that they may all be saved.
130 But if, with shameless soul, they do not heed me I will utterly destroy the whole race
131 with mighty floods of waters. Quickly now
132 I command you to build an undecaying house
133 of strong planks, impervious to the wet.
134 I will put understanding in your heart,
135 and subtle skill, and rule of measurement and order; and I will take care of everything
136 so that you are saved, and all who live with you.
137 And I am He who is, and in your heart
138 discern it. I clothe myself with the heaven,
139 and cast the sea around me, and for me
140 earth is a footstool, and the air is poured around my body; and on every side
141 around me runs the chorus of the stars.
142 I have nine letters; I am of four syllables discern me. The first three have each
143 two letters, the remaining one the rest,
144 and five are mutes; and of the entire sum
145 the hundreds are twice eight and three times three tens along with seven. Now, knowing who I am,
146 do not be uninitiated in my lore.”
147 So he spoke; and great trembling seized him at what he heard. And then, within his mind
148 having contrived each matter, he begged
149 the people and began with words like these:
150 “Insatiable men, struck with great madness, whatever things you practiced they will not
151 escape God’s notice; for he knows all things,
152 immortal Savior overseeing all,
153 who told me to warn you, so that you do not perish.
154 Be sober, cut off evil, do not fight
155 each other by force with blood-guilty hearts, nor irrigate much land with human gore.
156 Revere, mortals, the supremely great
157 and fearless heavenly Creator, God
158 imperishable, whose dwelling is the sky;
159 and all of you, plead with him—he is kind—
160 for life of cities and of all the world, and of four-footed beasts and flying birds;
161 beg him to be gracious to all.
162 For when the whole unbounded world of men
163 is destroyed by loud waters you’ll raise
164 a fearful cry. And suddenly for you
165 the air will be disordered, and from heaven the fury of the mighty God will come
166 upon you. And it certainly will be
167 that the immortal Savior against men will send anger if you do not placate God
168 and from this time repent; and nothing more
169 fretful and evil lawlessly shall you
170 one to another do, but let there be a guarding of oneself by holy life.”
171 But when they heard him each turned up his nose,
172 calling him mad, a frenzy-stricken man.
173 And then again Noah raised this cry:
174 “Exceedingly wretched men, vile in heart,
175 unstable, leaving modesty behind and loving shamelessness, rapacious lords,
176 fierce sinners, false, insatiable, mischievous,
177 in nothing true, stealthy adulterers,
178 flippant in language, pouring out foul words,
179 not fearing the anger of God most high, kept
180 to the fifth generation to atone!
181 You do not wail at all, harsh men, but laugh;
182 you will laugh a sardonic smile, when there comes
183 that which I speak—God’s terrible coming flood,
184 when Eve’s polluted race, in the great earth
185 blooming perennial in impervious stem,
186 will, root and branch, disappear in one night,
187 and cities, men and all, the Earth-shaker will
188 from the depths scatter and destroy their walls.
189 And then the whole world of unnumbered men
190 will die. But how will I weep, how lament
191 in wooden house, how mix tears with waves?
192 For, if this water commanded by God comes,
193 earth will float, hills float, and even sky will float;
194 everything will be water, and all things
195 will be destroyed by waters. And the winds will stand still, and a second age will come.
196 Phrygia, you will, from the water’s crest,
197 first rise up, and you will first nourish another race of men, once again anew
198 beginning; and you will be nurse to all.”

Noah Enters the Ark

199 But when now to the lawless generation
200 he had thus vainly spoken, the Most High appeared, and once more cried aloud and said:
201 “The time has now come, Noah, to proclaim each thing, even all that I that day to you
202 promised and confirmed, and to complete, because of a people disobedient,
203 throughout the boundless world even all the things which generations of a former time
204 practiced, evil things innumerable.
205 But quickly enter with your sons
206 and their wives. Call as many as I command,
207 of tribes of beasts and creeping things and birds,
208 and in as many as I ordain for life
209 I will then put a willingness to go.”
210 So he spoke; Noah went out and aloud cried out and called. And then wife, sons and brides,
211 entered the house of wood; then also went
212 the other things, as many as God willed
213 to shut in. But when the fitting bolt was put
214 about the lid, and in its polished place
215 was fitted sideways, then there was carried out
216 at once the purpose of the God of heaven.
217 And he massed clouds, and hid the sun’s bright disk,
218 and moon, and stars, and circle of the heaven,
219 obscuring all things around; he thundered loud,
220 terror of mortals, sending out lightning; and all the winds together were aroused,
221 and all the veins of water were loosed
222 by the opening of great floodgates from heaven,
223 and from earth’s caverns and the tireless deep
224 appeared the myriad waters, and the whole
225 boundless earth was covered over. But that wondrous house swam on the water;
226 and torn by many furious waves, and struck
227 by force of winds, it rushed on fearfully;
228 but with its keel it cut the mass of foam
229 while the loud-babbling waters dashed around.
230 But when God deluged all the world with rains then also Noah took thought to observe
231 by counsels of the Immortal; for he now
232 had had enough of Nereus. And at once
233 he opened the house from the polished wall,
234 that was bound fast crosswise with skillful stays.
235 And looking out upon the mighty mass of boundless waters Noah on all sides—
236 and it was his lot to see it with his eyes!—
237 fear possessed and shook his heart mightily. And then the air became a little calm,
238 since it was weary of wetting all the world
239 many days; parting, then, it brought to light
240 how pale and blood-red was the mighty sky
241 and sun’s bright disk wearied; scarcely held
242 Noah his courage. And then far out
243 he sent a dove alone, that he might learn
244 if yet firm land appeared. But with tired wing,
245 flying round all things, she again returned; for the water had not yet ebbed away;
246 for it was deeply filling every place.
247 But after resting quietly for days
248 he sent the dove once more, to learn if yet
249 the many waters had ceased. And she flew
250 and flew on, and went over the earth and, resting her body lightly on the humid ground,
251 she came back again to Noah and bore
252 an olive branch—a great sign of news. Courage now filled them all, and great delight,
253 because they hoped to look upon the land.
254 But then after that yet another bird,
255 with black wings, he sent out as hastily; which, trusting to its wings, flew willingly,
256 and coming to the land stayed there.
257 And Noah knew the land was nearer now.
258 But when on dashing waves the divine craft
259 had here and there swum over ocean’s waves,
260 it was made fast upon the narrow shore.

The Ark Reaches Phrygia

261 There is in Phrygia on the dark mainland
262 a steep, tall mountain; its name is Ararat,
263 because upon it all were to be saved
264 from death, and there was great desire of heart;
265 from there streams of the great river Marsyas spring.
266 There on a lofty peak the ark stayed
267 when the waters ceased, and then again from heaven
268 the divine voice of the great God this word
269 proclaimed: “Noah, guarded, faithful, just,
270 come boldly out, with your sons and your wife and the three brides, and fill all the earth,
271 increasing, multiplying, doing justice
272 to one another through all generations,
273 until to judgment every race of men
274 will come; for judgment will come to all.”
275 So spoke the divine voice. Then from his couch
276 Noah, encouraged, hastened on the land,
277 and with him went his sons and wife and brides,
278 and creeping things, and birds and quadrupeds,
279 and everything else went from the wooden house
280 into one place. And then Noah went out as eighth, most just of men, when on the waters
281 he had made full twice twenty days and one
282 because of the counsels of the mighty God.

The Generations after the Flood

283 Then a new stock of life again arose,
284 golden first, which indeed was sixth, and best,
285 from the time when the first-formed man appeared; its name is Heavenly, because all things to God
286 will be a care. First race of sixth age!
287 Mighty joy which I afterward shared,
288 when I escaped sheer ruin, by the waves
289 much tossed, with husband and with brothers-in-law,
290 stepfather and stepmother, and with wives of husband’s brothers suffering terribly.
291 Now I will sing fitting things: There will be
292 on the fig-tree a many-colored flower, and afterward the royal power and rule
293 Cronos will have. For three great-souled kings,
294 men most just, will distribute portions then,
295 and rule for many years, doing what is just
296 to men who care for toil and deeds of love.
297 And earth will glory in her many fruits
298 self-growing, yielding much grain for the race.
299 And the foster-fathers, ageless all their days,
300 will be far from chill and dreadful diseases they will die as if fallen asleep,
301 and into Acheron in the homes
302 of Hades they will go away, and there they will have honor, since they were a race
303 of blessed ones, fortunate heroes, whom
304 the Lord of Sabaoth gave a noble mind,
305 and with whom always he shared his counsels.
306 But they will be blessed even when they go
307 in Hades. And then afterward again
308 oppressive, strong, another second race
309 of earth-born men, the Titans. All excel
310 in figure, stature, growth; and there will be
311 one language, as of old from the first race
312 God implanted in their breasts. But even these,
313 having a haughty heart and rushing on
314 to ruin, will at last resolve to fight
315 against the starry heaven. And then the stream of the great ocean will pour upon them
316 its raging waters. But the mighty Lord of Sabaoth though enraged will check his anger,
317 because he promised that again no flood
318 should be brought upon men of evil soul. But when the great high-thundering God will cause
319 the boundless swelling of the many waters—
320 with their waves here and there rising high—
321 to cease from anger, and into other depths
322 of sea lessen their measure, setting bounds
323 by harbors and rough headlands around the land;

The Coming and Life of Jesus

324 then also a child of the great God will
325 come, clothed in flesh, to men, and fashioned like
326 mortals in the earth; and he hears
327 four vowels, and two consonants in him
328 are twice announced; I will name the whole sum:
329 for eight ones, and as many tens on these,
330 and yet eight hundred will reveal the name to men insatiable; and discern
331 in your own understanding that the Christ
332 is the child of the immortal God most high. And he will fulfill God’s law, not destroy,
333 bearing his very image, and all things
334 he will teach. Priests will bring to him
335 and offer gold, and myrrh, and frankincense; for all these things he’ll also bring about.
336 But when a voice through the desert land
337 comes bearing news to men, and to all
338 calls to make straight paths, and from the heart
339 cast wickedness out and illuminate
340 with water all the bodies of mankind, that being born again they may no more
341 go astray at all from what is righteous—
342 and one of barbarous mind, by dances bound, cutting that voice off will give a reward—
343 then suddenly there will be a sign
344 to mortals, when, watched over, there will come
345 out of the land of Egypt a fair stone;
346 and on it the Hebrew people will stumble;
347 but by his guiding nations will be brought
348 together; for the God who rules on high
349 they also will know through him, and the way
350 in common light. For to chosen men he will show life eternal, but the fire
351 he will bring for ages on the lawless.
352 And then he will heal the sickly, and all who are blameworthy who will trust in him.
353 And then the blind will see, the lame will walk,
354 the deaf will listen, and the mute will speak.
355 He will drive out demons, and of the dead there will be an uprising; on the waves
356 he will walk; also in a desert place
357 he will satisfy five thousand with food from five loaves and a fish out of the sea,
358 and with the remnants of them, for the hope
359 of peoples, he will fill twelve baskets full.
360 And then Israel, drunken, will not discern,
361 nor will they hear, oppressed with feeble ears.
362 But when the maddening anger of the Most High
363 will come upon the Hebrews, and take faith
364 away from them, because they killed the Son
365 of the heavenly God; then also with foul lips
366 Israel will give him blows and poisoned spittle.
367 And gall for food and unmixed vinegar
368 for drink they will, with evil madness stricken
369 in spirit and in heart, give impiously,
370 not seeing with their eyes, more blind than moles,
371 more terrible than crawling poisonous beasts,
372 fast bound by heavy sleep. But when his hands
373 he will spread out and measure out all things,
374 and bear the crown of thorns, and they will pierce
375 his side with reeds, for which dark monstrous night will be for three hours in the midst of day,
376 then also the temple of Solomon will
377 bring to an end a mighty sign for men, when he goes to the house of Hades
378 proclaiming resurrection to the dead.
379 But when in three days he comes again
380 into the light, and show his form to men and teach all things, ascending in the clouds
381 into the house of heaven he will go
382 leaving the world a Gospel covenant.
383 And in his name a new shoot will blossom
384 from nations that are guided by the law
385 of the Mighty One. But also after this there will be wise guides, and then afterward
386 there will be a cessation of the prophets.
387 After that, when the Hebrew people reap their evil harvest, a Roman king will
388 utterly destroy much gold and silver.
389 And afterward other royal powers will
390 continuously arise as kingdoms perish,
391 and they will oppress mortals. But a great fall
392 will be for those men, when they begin
393 unrighteous arrogance. But when the temple
394 of Solomon in the holy land will fall,
395 cast down by barbarous men in bronze armor, and from the land the Hebrews will be driven
396 wandering and wasted, and among the wheat
397 they will mingle many weeds, there will be
398 evil contention among all mankind;
399 and the cities suffering outrage will lament
400 each other, in their breasts receiving anger of the great God, since they did evil work.