1Abraham lived out the full measure of his life, nine hundred and ninety-five years, and he spent all the years of his life in quietness, gentleness, and righteousness. This righteous man was extremely hospitable. He pitched his tent at the crossroads by the oak of Mamre and welcomed everyone, both rich and poor, kings and rulers, the injured and the helpless, friends and strangers, neighbors and travelers. The devout, all-holy, righteous, and hospitable Abraham entertained them all alike. 2 Yet even to him there came the common, unavoidable, bitter lot of death and the uncertain end of life. So the Lord God summoned his archangel Michael and said to him: Go down, chief-captain Michael, to Abraham and speak to him about his death, so that he may set his affairs in order. I have blessed him like the stars of heaven and like the sand on the seashore, and he has an abundance of long life and many possessions, and he is becoming extremely rich. 3 More than anyone else he is righteous in every kind of goodness, hospitable and loving to the end of his life. So go, archangel Michael, to Abraham, my beloved friend, and announce his death to him, and assure him with these words: At this time you will depart from this empty world, you will leave the body, and you will go to your own Lord among the good.[1]
2The chief-captain left the presence of God and went down to Abraham at the oak of Mamre. He found the righteous Abraham in the field nearby, sitting beside yokes of oxen for plowing, together with the sons of Masek and other servants, twelve in all. 2 When the chief-captain came to him, Abraham saw the chief-captain Michael approaching from a distance, looking like a strikingly handsome warrior, and he got up and went to meet him, as was his custom of meeting and entertaining all strangers. 3 The chief-captain greeted him and said: Greetings, most honored father, righteous soul chosen by God, true son of the heavenly one. Abraham said to the chief-captain: Greetings, most honored warrior, bright as the sun and more beautiful than any other person. You are welcome here. So I ask you, tell me where the youth of your years has come from. I am begging you, tell me where you have come from, from what army, and from what journey your beauty has arrived here. 4 The chief-captain said: Righteous Abraham, I come from the great city. I have been sent by the great king to take the place of a good friend of his, because the king has summoned him. 5 Abraham said: Come, my Lord, go with me as far as my field. The chief-captain said: I am coming. They went into the plowed field and sat down beside the group. 6 Abraham said to his servants, the sons of Masek: Go to the herd of horses and bring two horses that are quiet, gentle, and tame, so that this stranger and I may ride on them. 7 But the chief-captain said: No, my Lord Abraham, do not let them bring horses, for I never ride on any four-footed animal. Is my king not rich in goods of every kind, with power over both people and every kind of livestock? Still, I never ride on any four-footed animal. 8 Let us go, then, righteous soul, walking at an easy pace until we reach your house. Abraham said: Amen, let it be so.
3As they went on from the field toward his house, a cypress tree stood beside the road, and at the command of the Lord the tree cried out with a human voice, saying: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, who calls himself to those who love him. But Abraham kept the mystery hidden, thinking that the chief-captain had not heard the voice of the tree. 2 As they came near the house they sat down in the courtyard, and Isaac, seeing the face of the angel, said to his mother Sarah: My lady mother, the man sitting with my father Abraham is not one of the race of those who live on the earth. 3 Isaac ran and greeted him and fell at the feet of the Incorporeal One, and the Incorporeal One blessed him and said: The Lord God will grant you the promise he made to your father Abraham and to his descendants, and he will also grant you the precious prayer of your father and your mother. 4 Abraham said to his son Isaac: My son Isaac, draw water from the well and bring it to me in the vessel, so that we may wash the feet of this stranger, for he is tired from the long journey he has made to reach us. 5 Isaac ran to the well, drew water in the vessel, and brought it to them. Abraham went over and washed the feet of the chief-captain Michael, and Abraham's heart was moved, and he wept over the stranger. 6 Isaac, seeing his father weeping, wept as well, and the chief-captain, seeing them weeping, wept along with them. The tears of the chief-captain fell into the vessel, into the water of the basin, and became precious stones. Abraham, seeing this wonder and being astonished, quietly took the stones and kept the mystery hidden, holding it to himself in his heart.
4Abraham said to his son Isaac: Go, my beloved son, into the inner room of the house and make it beautiful. Spread out two couches for us there, one for me and one for this man who is with us today. 2 Prepare a seat for us there, and a lampstand, and a table with an abundance of every good thing. Make the room beautiful, my son, and spread out linen and purple and fine linen beneath us. 3 Burn every precious and excellent incense there, and bring sweet-smelling plants from the garden and fill our house with them. Light seven lamps full of oil, so that we may rejoice, for this man who is with us today is more glorious than kings or rulers, and his appearance surpasses that of everyone else. 4 Isaac prepared everything well, and Abraham took the archangel Michael and went into the room. They both sat down on the couches, and between them he placed a table with an abundance of every good thing. 5 Then the chief-captain got up and went out, as if he needed to relieve himself, and he went up to heaven in an instant and stood before the Lord and said to him: Lord and Master, let your power know that I am unable to remind that righteous man of his death, for I have not seen a man like him on the earth, compassionate, hospitable, righteous, truthful, devout, and refraining from every evil deed. 6 So now know, Lord, that I cannot remind him of his death. The Lord said: Go down, chief-captain Michael, to my friend Abraham, and do whatever he tells you, and eat with him whatever he eats. 7 I will send my Holy Spirit on his son Isaac, and I will put the thought of his father's death into Isaac's heart, so that even he may see his father's death in a dream. Isaac will tell the dream, and you will interpret it, and he himself will know his end. The chief-captain said: Lord, all the heavenly spirits are incorporeal, and they neither eat nor drink, yet this man has set a table before me with an abundance of all kinds of earthly and perishable good things. 8 Now, Lord, what am I to do? How can I avoid this, sitting at the same table with him? The Lord said: Go down to him and do not worry about this, for when you sit down with him I will send a devouring spirit on you, and it will consume everything on the table out of your hands and through your mouth. 9 Rejoice with him in everything. Only be sure to interpret the things of the vision well, so that Abraham may know the sickle of death and the uncertain end of life, and may dispose of all his possessions, for I have blessed him beyond the sand of the sea and like the stars of heaven.[2]
5Then the chief-captain went down to the house of Abraham and sat down with him at the table, and Isaac served them. 2 When the meal was over, Abraham prayed as was his custom, and the chief-captain prayed along with him, and each of them lay down to sleep on his own couch. 3 Isaac said to his father: Father, I would like to sleep with you in this room too, so that I may hear your conversation, for I love listening to the excellent conversation of this virtuous man. Abraham said: No, my son. Go to your own room and sleep on your own couch, so that we do not trouble this man. 4 So Isaac received their prayer and blessed them, then went to his own room and lay down on his couch. But the Lord put the thought of death into Isaac's heart as if in a dream, and about the third hour of the night Isaac woke up, got up from his couch, and came running to the room where his father was sleeping together with the archangel. 5 When Isaac reached the door he cried out: My father Abraham, get up and open the door for me quickly, so that I may come in and throw my arms around your neck and embrace you before they take you away from me. 6 So Abraham got up and opened the door for him, and Isaac came in and threw his arms around his neck and began to weep loudly. Abraham, moved in his heart, also wept loudly, and the chief-captain, seeing them weeping, wept as well. 7 Sarah, who was in her room, heard their weeping and came running to them and found them embracing and weeping. Sarah said through her tears: My Lord Abraham, why are you weeping like this? 8 Tell me, my Lord, has this brother whom we have entertained today brought you news about Lot, your brother's son, that he is dead? 9 Is this why you are grieving so? The chief-captain answered her: No, my sister Sarah, it is not as you say. I think your son Isaac saw a dream and came to us weeping, and when we saw him we were moved in our hearts and wept.
6Then Sarah, hearing how excellent the chief-captain's conversation was, knew at once that it was an angel of the Lord who was speaking. So Sarah signaled to Abraham to come out toward the door, and she said to him: My Lord Abraham, do you know who this man is? Abraham said: I do not know. Sarah said: You remember, my Lord, the three men from heaven whom we entertained in our tent beside the oak of Mamre, when you killed the flawless young goat and set a table before them. After the meat had been eaten, the young goat came back to life and nursed from its mother with great joy. Do you not realize, my Lord Abraham, that by their promise they gave us Isaac as the fruit of the womb? This man is one of those three holy men. Abraham said: Sarah, in this you speak the truth. Glory and praise from our God and Father. 2 Late in the evening, when I washed his feet in the basin, I said in my heart: These are the feet of one of the three men that I washed back then. And his tears that fell into the basin became precious stones. Shaking them out from his lap, he gave them to Sarah and said: If you do not believe me, look at these. Sarah took them, bowed down, greeted him, and said: Glory be to God, who shows us wonderful things. 3 And now know, my Lord Abraham, that some revelation is among us, whether it is evil or good!
7Abraham left Sarah and went into the room and said to Isaac: Come here, my beloved son. Tell me the truth. What was it that you saw, and what happened to you that made you come to us in such a hurry? 2 Isaac answered him: My Lord, tonight I saw the sun and the moon above my head, surrounding me with its rays and giving me light. 3 As I gazed at this and rejoiced, I saw heaven open, and a man carrying light came down from it, shining brighter than seven suns. 4 This man, who was like the sun, came and took the sun away from my head and went back up into the heavens where he had come from, but I was deeply grieved that he took the sun away from me. 5 A little later, while I was still grieving and deeply troubled, I saw this man come out of heaven a second time, and he took the moon away from my head as well. I wept bitterly and called out to that man of light and said: Do not take my glory away from me, my Lord. Have pity on me and hear me. If you take the sun away from me, then leave the moon with me. 6 He said: Let them be taken up to the king above, for he wants them there. So he took them away from me, but he left the rays on me. The chief-captain said: Listen, righteous Abraham. The sun that your son saw is you, his father, and the moon likewise is Sarah, his mother. 7 The man carrying light who came down from heaven is the one sent from God who is to take your righteous soul from you. And now know, most honored Abraham, that at this time you will leave this worldly life and move on to God. 8 Abraham said to the chief-captain: What a strange wonder this is! So are you the one who will take my soul from me? 9 The chief-captain said to him: I am the chief-captain Michael, who stands before the Lord. I was sent to you to remind you of your death, and then I will return to him as I was commanded. 10 Abraham said: Now I know that you are an angel of the Lord and that you were sent to take my soul, but I will not go with you. Do whatever you have been commanded.
8When the chief-captain heard these words he vanished at once, and he went up into heaven and stood before God and reported everything he had seen in the house of Abraham. The chief-captain also said this to his Lord: This is what your friend Abraham says: I will not go with you, but do whatever you have been commanded. And now, Lord Almighty, does your glory and immortal kingdom have any further orders? 2 God said to the chief-captain Michael: Go to my friend Abraham once again and speak to him in this way: This is what the Lord your God says, the one who brought you into the land of promise, who blessed you beyond the sand of the sea and beyond the stars of heaven, who opened Sarah's barren womb and granted you Isaac as the fruit of the womb in old age. I tell you truly that I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your descendants, and I will give you everything you ask of me, for I am the Lord your God, and there is no other besides me. 3 Tell me why you have rebelled against me, and why there is grief in you, and why you rebelled against my archangel Michael. Do you not know that everyone who has come from Adam and Eve has died, and that none of the prophets has escaped death? None of those who rule as kings is immortal, and none of your ancestors has escaped the mystery of death. They have all died, they have all gone down into Hades, and they have all been gathered by the sickle of death. 4 But I have not sent death on you. I have not allowed any deadly disease to come on you, I have not permitted the sickle of death to meet you, I have not let the nets of Hades wrap around you, and I have never wanted any evil to happen to you. 5 For your comfort I have sent my chief-captain Michael to you, so that you may know about your departure from the world and set your house in order, along with everything that belongs to you, and bless Isaac your beloved son. And now know that I have done this without wanting to grieve you. 6 Why then have you said to my chief-captain: I will not go with you? Why have you spoken this way? Do you not know that if I gave death permission and he came upon you, then I would see whether you would come or not?
9The chief-captain received the Lord's instructions and went down to Abraham, and when the righteous man saw him he fell face down on the ground like a dead man. The chief-captain told him everything he had heard from the Most High. 2 Then the holy and just Abraham got up with many tears and fell at the feet of the Incorporeal One and pleaded with him: I ask you, chief-captain of the armies above, since you have been willing to come yourself to me, a sinner and in all things your unworthy servant, I ask you even now, chief-captain, to carry my message once more to the Most High. Say to him: This is what Abraham your servant says: Lord, Lord, in every work and word that I have asked of you, you have heard me and have fulfilled all my plans. Now, Lord, I do not resist your power, for I too know that I am not immortal but mortal. 3 Since all things yield to your command and fear and tremble before your power, I fear as well, but I make one request of you. Now, Lord and Master, hear my prayer, for while I am still in this body I want to see the whole inhabited earth and all the created things that you established by a single word. Once I have seen these, then if I must depart from life I will go without sorrow. So the chief-captain went back again and stood before God and told him everything, saying: This is what your friend Abraham says: I have wanted to see the whole earth in my lifetime before I die. 4 When the Most High heard this he again gave orders to the chief-captain Michael and said to him: Take a cloud of light and the angels who have power over the chariots, and go down. Take the righteous Abraham up on a chariot of the cherubim and lift him high into the air of heaven so that he may see the whole earth.
10The archangel Michael went down and took Abraham up on a chariot of the cherubim and lifted him high into the air of heaven, and he led him on the cloud together with sixty angels, and Abraham rode on the chariot over all the earth. 2 Abraham saw the world as it was that day: some people plowing, others driving wagons, in one place men herding flocks and in another watching them by night, and dancing and playing music and harps, in another place men quarreling and going to court against each other, and elsewhere men weeping and remembering their dead. He also saw newlyweds being welcomed with honor. In short, he saw everything that is done in the world, both good and bad. 3 As Abraham passed over them he saw men carrying swords, wielding sharpened swords in their hands, and Abraham asked the chief-captain: Who are these? The chief-captain said: These are robbers who intend to commit murder, and to steal and burn and destroy. Abraham said: Lord, Lord, hear my voice and command that wild animals come out of the forest and devour them. Even as he spoke, wild animals came out of the forest and devoured them. 4 In another place he saw a man and a woman committing sexual immorality with each other, and he said: Lord, Lord, command that the earth open and swallow them. At once the earth split open and swallowed them. In another place he saw men breaking into a house and carrying off other people's possessions, and he said: Lord, Lord, command that fire come down from heaven and consume them. Even as he spoke, fire came down from heaven and consumed them. 5 At once a voice came from heaven to the chief-captain, saying: Chief-captain Michael, command the chariot to stop and turn Abraham away, so that he does not see the whole earth. If he sees everyone who lives in wickedness, he will destroy all creation. Abraham has not sinned, and he has no pity on sinners, but I made the world, and I do not want to destroy any one of them. I wait instead for the death of the sinner, until he turns back and lives. 6 Instead take Abraham up to the first gate of heaven, so that he may see the judgments and rewards there, and repent of the souls of the sinners that he has destroyed.
11So Michael turned the chariot and brought Abraham to the east, to the first gate of heaven. Abraham saw two roads, one narrow and confined, the other broad and spacious, and there he saw two gates, the broad one on the broad road and the narrow one on the narrow road. 2 Outside the two gates he saw a man sitting on a gilded throne, and the appearance of that man was terrifying, like that of the Lord. They saw many souls driven along by angels and led in through the broad gate, and other souls, few in number, taken by the angels through the narrow gate. When the marvelous one who sat on the golden throne saw few entering through the narrow gate and many entering through the broad one, he immediately tore the hair of his head and the sides of his beard, and threw himself from his throne to the ground, weeping and mourning. 3 But when he saw many souls entering through the narrow gate, he got up from the ground and sat on his throne in great joy, rejoicing and celebrating. Abraham asked the chief-captain: My Lord chief-captain, who is this most marvelous man, dressed in such glory, who sometimes weeps and mourns and sometimes rejoices and celebrates? The Incorporeal One said: This is Adam, the first created, who is in such glory, and he watches the world because everyone is born from him. When he sees many souls going through the narrow gate, he gets up and sits on his throne rejoicing and celebrating with joy, because this narrow gate belongs to the righteous and leads to life, and those who enter through it go into Paradise.[3] 4 This is why Adam, the first created, rejoices: because he sees the souls being saved. But when he sees many souls entering through the broad gate, he pulls out the hair of his head and throws himself on the ground, weeping and mourning bitterly, because the broad gate belongs to sinners and leads to destruction and eternal punishment. 5 This is why Adam, the first formed, falls from his throne weeping and mourning over the destruction of sinners, because many are lost and few are saved. Out of seven thousand, scarcely one soul is found saved, righteous and undefiled.
12While he was still saying these things to me, two angels appeared, fiery in appearance, merciless in mind and severe in look, and they drove thousands of souls along, mercilessly whipping them with fiery lashes. The angel took hold of one soul, and they drove all the souls in through the broad gate to destruction. 2 So we went along with the angels and came inside that broad gate, and between the two gates stood a throne of terrifying appearance, made of terrifying crystal, gleaming like fire, and on it sat a marvelous man bright as the sun, like the Son of God. 3 In front of him stood a table like crystal, all of gold and fine linen, and on the table lay a book six cubits thick and ten cubits wide, and on its right and left stood two angels holding paper and ink and pen. 4 In front of the table sat an angel of light holding a balance in his hand, and on his left sat an angel entirely of fire, merciless and severe, holding a trumpet in his hand that contained all-consuming fire for testing the sinners. 5 The marvelous man who sat on the throne judged and sentenced the souls himself, and the two angels on the right and on the left wrote down the record, the one on the right the righteousness and the one on the left the wickedness. The one in front of the table, who held the balance, weighed the souls, and the fiery angel, who held the fire, tested the souls. Abraham asked the chief-captain Michael: What is this that we are seeing? The chief-captain said: These things that you see, holy Abraham, are the judgment and the repayment. 6 Then the angel holding the soul in his hand brought it before the judge, and the judge said to one of the angels who served him: Open this book for me, and find me the sins of this soul. Opening the book, he found its sins and its righteous deeds equally balanced, and he gave it neither to the tormentors nor to those who were saved, but set it in the middle.[4]
13Abraham said: My Lord chief-captain, who is this most marvelous judge? And who are the angels who write things down? And who is the angel like the sun, holding the balance? And who is the fiery angel holding the fire? The chief-captain said: Do you see, most holy Abraham, the terrifying man sitting on the throne? This is the son of Adam, the first created, the one called Abel, whom the wicked Cain killed. He sits there to judge all creation, and he examines righteous people and sinners. For God has said: I will not judge you, but every person born of a man will be judged. So he has given judgment to him, to judge the world until his great and glorious coming, and then, righteous Abraham, comes the perfect judgment and repayment, eternal and unchangeable, which no one can alter. 2 Every person has come from the first created, and so they are judged here first by his son, and at the second coming they will be judged by the twelve tribes of Israel, every breathing thing and every creature. But the third time they will be judged by the Lord God of all, and then the end of that judgment is near, and the sentence is terrifying, and there is no one to rescue them. So the judgment of the world and the repayment is carried out by three courts, and for this reason a matter is not finally confirmed by one or two witnesses, but everything is established by three witnesses. 3 The two angels on the right and on the left are the ones who write down the sins and the righteous deeds; the one on the right writes down the righteous deeds, and the one on the left the sins. The angel like the sun, holding the balance in his hand, is the archangel Dokiel, the just weigher, and he weighs the righteous deeds and the sins with the righteousness of God. The fiery and merciless angel, holding the fire in his hand, is the archangel Puruel, who has power over fire and tests what people have done by fire. If the fire consumes anyone's work, the angel of judgment immediately seizes him and carries him away to the place of sinners, a most bitter place of punishment.[5] 4 But if the fire approves someone's work and does not take hold of it, that person is justified, and the angel of righteousness takes him and carries him up to be saved among the righteous. So, most righteous Abraham, everything in everyone is tested by fire and by the balance.
14Abraham said to the chief-captain: My Lord the chief-captain, the soul that the angel held in his hand, why was it sentenced to be set in the middle? The chief-captain said: Listen, righteous Abraham. Because the judge found its sins and its righteous deeds equal, he handed it over neither to judgment nor to salvation, until the judge of all comes. 2 Abraham said to the chief-captain: What is still lacking for the soul to be saved? The chief-captain said: If it gains one righteous deed more than its sins, it enters into salvation. Abraham said to the chief-captain: Come here, chief-captain Michael, let us pray for this soul and see whether God will hear us. 3 The chief-captain said: Amen, let it be so. They prayed and pleaded for the soul, and God heard them, and when they got up from their prayer they no longer saw the soul standing there. Abraham said to the angel: Where is the soul that you held in the middle? The angel answered: It has been saved by your righteous prayer, and an angel of light has taken it and carried it up into Paradise. Abraham said: I glorify the name of God, the Most High, and his immeasurable mercy. 4 Abraham said to the chief-captain: I beg you, archangel, listen to my prayer, and let us call on the Lord again, and ask for his compassion, and plead for his mercy for the souls of the sinners whom I once cursed and destroyed in my anger, whom the earth swallowed, and the wild animals tore to pieces, and the fire consumed at my word. Now I know that I have sinned before the Lord our God. Come then, Michael, chief-captain of the armies above, come, let us call on God with tears, so that he may forgive me my sin and give them back to me. 5 The chief-captain listened to him, and they made their plea before the Lord, and when they had called on him for a long time, a voice came from heaven saying: Abraham, Abraham, I have listened to your voice and your prayer, and I forgive you your sin. Those whom you think I destroyed, I have called up and brought into life by my great kindness. For a time I repaid them in judgment, and those whom I destroy while they live on earth, I will not repay in death.
15The voice of the Lord also said to the chief-captain Michael: Michael, my servant, take Abraham back to his house, because his end has come near and the measure of his life is complete. Let him put everything in order, and then take him and bring him to me. So the chief-captain turned the chariot and the cloud and brought Abraham to his house, and Abraham went into his room and sat on his couch. Sarah his wife came and took hold of the feet of the Incorporeal One, and she spoke humbly: I thank you, my Lord, that you have brought back my Lord Abraham, for we thought he had been taken up from us. 2 His son Isaac also came and threw his arms around his neck, and in the same way all his male and female slaves surrounded Abraham and embraced him, giving glory to God. The Incorporeal One said to them: Listen, righteous Abraham. Here is your wife Sarah, here is your beloved son Isaac, and here are all your male and female servants around you. 3 Settle everything you have, because the day has come near when you will leave the body and go to the Lord once and for all. Abraham said: Has the Lord said this, or are you saying it on your own? The chief-captain answered: Listen, righteous Abraham. 4 The Lord has given the command, and I am telling it to you. Abraham said: I will not go with you. When the chief-captain heard these words, he left Abraham's presence at once and went up into the heavens and stood before God the Most High, and said: Lord Almighty, I have listened to your friend Abraham in everything he has said to you, and I have granted his requests. I have shown him your power, and all the earth and sea that is under heaven. 5 I have shown him judgment and repayment by cloud and chariots, and still he says: I will not go with you. The Most High said to the angel: Does my friend Abraham say this again, I will not go with you? The archangel said: Lord Almighty, that is what he says, and I hold back from laying hands on him, because from the beginning he has been your friend and has done everything pleasing in your sight. There is no one like him on earth, not even Job, that marvelous man, and so I hold back from laying hands on him. Command then, Immortal King, what is to be done.
16Then the Most High said: Call Death here to me, the one called the shameless face and the merciless look. Michael the Incorporeal One went and said to Death: Come here. The Lord of creation, the immortal king, is calling you. When Death heard this, he shivered and trembled, seized with great terror, and he came in great fear and stood before the invisible Father, shivering, groaning and trembling, waiting for the command of the Lord. 2 Then the invisible God said to Death: Come here, you bitter and fierce name of the world. Hide your fierceness, cover your decay, throw your bitterness away from you, and put on your beauty and all your glory, and go down to Abraham my friend, and take him and bring him to me. But I also tell you now not to terrify him. Bring him with kind words, because he is my own friend. When Death heard this, he went out from the presence of the Most High and put on a robe of great brightness. He made his appearance like the sun and became lovely and beautiful beyond all human beings, taking the form of an archangel, with his cheeks flaming with fire, and he set out for Abraham. 3 Now the righteous Abraham went out of his room and sat under the trees of Mamre, resting his chin on his hand and waiting for the archangel Michael to come. A sweet fragrance reached him, and a flash of light, and Abraham turned and saw Death coming toward him in great glory and beauty. Abraham got up and went to meet him, thinking it was the chief-captain of God, and when Death saw him he greeted him and said: Greetings, precious Abraham, righteous soul, true friend of God the Most High, and companion of the holy angels. 4 Abraham said to Death: Greetings to you, whose appearance and form are like the sun, most glorious helper, bringer of light, marvelous man. Where does your glory come to us from, and who are you, and where do you come from? Then Death said: Most righteous Abraham, I am telling you the truth. I am the bitter lot of death. 5 Abraham said to him: No, you are the beauty of the world, you are the glory and beauty of angels and of people, you are lovelier in form than anyone else. Do you say, I am the bitter lot of death, rather than, I am lovelier than every good thing? Death said: I am telling you the truth. What the Lord has named me, that is what I tell you. Abraham said: Why have you come here? Death said: I have come for your holy soul. Then Abraham said: I know what you mean, but I will not go with you. And Death was silent and did not answer him a word.
17Then Abraham got up and went into his house, and Death went along with him. Abraham went up to his room, and Death went up with him. Abraham lay down on his couch, and Death came and sat by his feet. Then Abraham said: Go away, go away from me, because I want to rest on my couch. 2 Death said: I will not go away until I take your spirit from you. Abraham said to him: By the immortal God I order you to tell me the truth. Are you death? Death said to him: I am Death. I am the destroyer of the world.[6] 3 Abraham said: I beg you, since you are Death, tell me whether you come to everyone like this, in such loveliness and glory and beauty. Death said: No, my Lord Abraham. It is your righteous deeds, and the boundless sea of your hospitality, and the greatness of your love toward God that have become a crown on my head. I approach the righteous in beauty and great peace and gentleness, but I come to sinners in great decay and fierceness and the deepest bitterness, and with a fierce and merciless look. Abraham said: I beg you, listen to me, and show me your fierceness and all your decay and bitterness. 4 Death said: You cannot look at my fierceness, most righteous Abraham. Abraham said: Yes, I will be able to look at all your fierceness through the name of the living God, because the power of my God in heaven is with me. Then Death took off all his loveliness and beauty, and all his glory and the sunlike form he was clothed in, and he put on a tyrant's robe. He made his appearance dark, fiercer than every kind of wild animal and more unclean than all uncleanness. He showed Abraham seven fiery heads of serpents and fourteen faces: one of flaming fire and of great fierceness, a face of darkness, a deeply gloomy face of a viper, a face of a most terrifying cliff, a face fiercer than an asp, a face of a terrifying lion, and a face of a cerastes and a basilisk. 5 He also showed him a face of a fiery scimitar, and a face carrying a sword, and a face of lightning flashing terribly, and the sound of dreadful thunder. He also showed him another face of a fierce stormy sea, and a fierce rushing river, and a terrifying three-headed serpent, and a cup mixed with poisons. In short, he showed him great fierceness and unbearable bitterness, and every deadly disease, like the stench of Death. 6 From that great bitterness and fierceness about seven thousand male and female servants died, and the righteous Abraham sank into a deathly faintness, so that his spirit failed him.
18When the all-holy Abraham saw these things, he said to Death: I beg you, all-destroying Death, hide your fierceness, and put on your beauty and the form you had before. At once Death hid his fierceness and put on the beauty he had before. 2 Abraham said to Death: Why have you done this and killed all my male and female servants? Did God send you here today for this purpose? Death said: No, my Lord Abraham, it is not as you say. I was sent here because of you. 3 Abraham said to Death: Then how did these people die? Has the Lord not spoken it? Death said: Believe me, most righteous Abraham, it is also astonishing that you were not taken away along with them. Still, I tell you the truth: if the right hand of God had not been with you at that time, you too would have had to leave this life. The righteous Abraham said: Now I know that I have sunk into a deathly faintness, so that my spirit is failing. But I beg you, all-destroying Death, since my servants have died before their time, come, let us pray to the Lord our God to hear us and raise up those who died before their time through your fierceness. Death said: Amen, let it be so. 4 So Abraham got up and fell face down on the ground in prayer, and Death did the same with him, and the Lord sent a spirit of life on those who were dead, and they were made alive again. Then the righteous Abraham gave glory to God.
19Going up into his room, he lay down, and Death came and stood in front of him. Abraham said to him: Go away from me, because I want to rest, since my spirit is faint. Death said: I will not leave you until I take your soul. 2 With a stern face and an angry look Abraham said to Death: Who ordered you to say this? You speak these words on your own, out of pride, and I will not go with you until the chief-captain Michael comes to me, and then I will go with him. But I tell you this as well: if you want me to go with you, explain to me all your transformations, the seven fiery heads of serpents, and what the face of the cliff is, and the sharp sword, and the loud-roaring river, and the storm-tossed sea that rages so fiercely. Teach me also about the unbearable thunder, and the terrifying lightning, and the foul-smelling cup mixed with poisons. 3 Teach me about all of these. Death answered: Listen, righteous Abraham. For seven ages I destroy the world and lead everyone down to Hades. Kings and rulers, rich and poor, slaves and free people, I escort them to the depths of Hades, and that is why I showed you the seven heads of serpents. I showed you the face of fire because many die consumed by fire and see death through a face of fire. I showed you the face of the cliff because many people die falling from the tops of trees or from terrifying cliffs and lose their life, and they see death in the shape of a terrifying cliff. I showed you the face of the sword because many are killed in wars by the sword, and they see death as a sword. 4 I showed you the face of the great rushing river because many are drowned and perish, swept away while crossing deep waters and carried off by great rivers, and they see death before their time. I showed you the face of the angry raging sea because many at sea fall into great waves and are shipwrecked and swallowed up, and they see death as the sea. I showed you the unbearable thunder and the terrifying lightning because many people, in a moment of anger, meet with unbearable thunder and terrifying lightning that comes to seize them, and so they see death. 5 I also showed you the poisonous wild animals, asps and basilisks, leopards and lions and lion cubs, bears and vipers, and in short I showed you the face of every wild animal, most righteous one, because many people are destroyed by wild animals, and others by poisonous snakes, serpents and asps and cerastes and basilisks and vipers, and they breathe out their life and die. I also showed you the destroying cups mixed with poison, because many people, given poison to drink by others, depart at once and unexpectedly.
20Abraham said: I beg you, is there also an unexpected death? Tell me. Death said: Truly, truly, I tell you in the truth of God that there are seventy-two deaths. One is the just death, which keeps to its appointed time, and many people in a single hour enter into death and are given over to the grave. 2 I have told you everything you asked. Now I tell you, most righteous Abraham, to set aside all deliberation, and stop asking anything more once and for all, and come, go with me, as the God and judge of all has commanded me. Abraham said to Death: Leave me for a little longer, so that I may rest on my couch, because I am very faint at heart. Ever since I saw you with my own eyes my strength has failed me, all the limbs of my body feel to me like a weight of lead, and my spirit is deeply distressed. 3 Leave for a little while, because as I have said, I cannot bear to see your form. Then his son Isaac came and fell on his chest weeping, and his wife Sarah came and took hold of his feet, mourning bitterly. His male and female slaves also came and surrounded his couch, mourning loudly. Abraham sank into a deathly faintness, and Death said to Abraham: Come, take my right hand, and may gladness and life and strength come to you. Death was deceiving Abraham, and Abraham took his right hand, and at once his soul clung to the hand of Death. 4 Immediately the archangel Michael came with a multitude of angels and took up his precious soul in his hands in a divinely woven linen cloth, and they cared for the body of the righteous Abraham with divine ointments and perfumes until the third day after his death, and buried him in the land of promise at the oak of Mamre. But the angels received his precious soul and went up into heaven, singing the hymn of the thrice holy to the Lord, the God of all, and they set it there to worship God the Father. 5 After great praise and glory had been given to the Lord, and Abraham had bowed down to worship, the undefiled voice of God the Father came, saying: Take my friend Abraham into Paradise, where the dwelling places of my righteous ones are, and the homes of my holy ones Isaac and Jacob in his embrace, where there is no trouble or grief or sighing, but peace and rejoicing and life without end. And let us also, my beloved brothers, imitate the hospitality of the patriarch Abraham and reach his virtuous way of life, so that we may be counted worthy of eternal life, giving glory to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, to whom be glory and power forever. Amen.