First Book of Adam and Eve
by
Rutherford Platt
Part 3 out of 3
commanded Adam concerning the fruit of the tree, saying to
him, 'Eat not of it; else of death you shall die.' But
Adam ate of it, and yet God did not kill him; He only
decreed on him death, and plagues and trials, until the day
he shall come out of his body.
11 Now, then, if I deceive him to do this thing, and to marry
Eve without God's permission, God will kill him then."
12 Therefore Satan worked this apparition before Adam
and Eve; because he sought to kill him, and to make him
disappear from off the face of the earth.
13 Meanwhile the fire of sin came over Adam, and he
thought of committing sin. But he restrained himself,
fearing that if he followed this advice of Satan, God would
put him to death.
14 Then Adam and Eve got up, and prayed to God, while
Satan and his hosts went down into the river, in presence
of Adam and Eve; to let them see that they were going back
to their own world.
15 Then Adam and Eve went back to the Cave of
Treasures, as they usually did; about evening time.
16 And they both got up and prayed to God that night.
Adam remained standing in prayer, yet not knowing how to
pray, by reason of the thoughts in his heart regarding his
marrying Eve; and he continued so until morning.
17 And when light came up, Adam said to Eve, "Get up,
let us go below the mountain, where they brought us gold,
and let us ask the Lord concerning this matter."
18 Then Eve said, "What is that matter, O Adam?"
19 And he answered her, "That I may request the Lord
to inform me about marrying you; for I will not do it
without His permission or else He will make us perish, you
and me. For those devils have set my heart on fire, with
thoughts of what they showed us, in their sinful
apparitions.
20 Then Eve said to Adam, "Why need we go below the
mountain? Let us rather stand up and pray in our cave to
God, to let us know whether this counsel is good or not."
21 Then Adam rose up in prayer and said, "O God, you
know that we transgressed against you, and from the moment
we transgressed, we were stripped of our bright nature; and
our body became brutish, requiring food and drink; and with
animal desires.
22 Command us, O God, not to give way to them without
Your permission, for fear that You will turn us into
nothing. Because if you do not give us permission, we
shall be overpowered, and follow that advice of Satan; and
You will again make us perish.
23 If not, then take our souls from us; let us be rid
of this animal lust. And if You give us no order
respecting this thing, then sever Eve from me, and me from
her; and place us each far away from the other.
24 Then again, O God, if You separate us from each
other, the devils will deceive us with their apparitions
that resemble us, and destroy our hearts, and defile our
thoughts towards each other. Yet if it is not each of us
towards the other, it will, at all events, be through their
appearance when the devils come to us in our likeness."
Here Adam ended his prayer.
Chapter LXXIII - The marriage of Adam and Eve.
1 Then God considered the words of Adam that they were
true, and that he could long await His order, respecting
the counsel of Satan.
2 And God approved Adam in what he had thought
concerning this, and in the prayer he had offered in His
presence; and the Word of God came to Adam and said to him,
"O Adam, if only you had had this caution at first, before
you came out of the garden into this land!"
3 After that, God sent His angel who had brought gold,
and the angel who had brought incense, and the angel who
had brought myrrh to Adam, that they should inform him
respecting his marriage to Eve.
4 Then those angels said to Adam, "Take the gold and
give it to Eve as a wedding gift, and promise to marry her;
then give her some incense and myrrh as a present; and be
you, you and she, one flesh."
5 Adam obeyed the angels, and took the gold and put it
into Eve's bosom in her garment; and promised to marry her
with his hand.
6 Then the angels commanded Adam and Eve to get up and
pray forty days and forty nights; when that was done, then
Adam was to have sexual intercourse with his wife; for then
this would be an act pure and undefiled; so that he would
have children who would multiply, and replenish the face of
the earth.
7 Then both Adam and Eve received the words of the
angels; and the angels departed from them.
8 Then Adam and Eve began to fast and pray, until the
end of the forty days; and then they had sexual
intercourse, as the angels had told them. And from the
time Adam left the garden until he wedded Eve, were two
hundred and twenty-three days, that is seven months and
thirteen days.
9 Thus was Satan's war with Adam defeated.
Chapter LXXIV - The birth of Cain and Luluwa.
Why they received those names.
1 And they lived on the earth working in order to keep
their bodies in good health; and they continued so until
the nine months of Eve's pregnancy were over, and the time
drew near when she must give birth.
2 Then she said to Adam, "The signs placed in this
cave since we left the garden indicate that this is a pure
place and we will be praying in it again some time. It is
not appropriate then, that I should give birth in it. Let
us instead go to the sheltering rock cave that was formed
by the command of God when Satan threw a big rock down on
us in an attempt to kill us with it.
3 Adam then took Eve to that cave. When the time came
for her to give birth, she strained a lot. Adam felt
sorry, and he was very worried about her because she was
close to death and the words of God to her were being
fulfilled: "In suffering shall you bear a child, and in
sorrow shall you bring forth a child."
4 But when Adam saw the distress in which Eve was, he
got up and prayed to God, and said, "O Lord, look at me
with the eye of Your mercy, and bring her out of her
distress."
5 And God looked at His maid-servant Eve, and
delivered her, and she gave birth to her first-born son,
and with him a daughter.
6 The Adam rejoiced at Eve's deliverance, and also
over the children she had borne him. And Adam ministered
to Eve in the cave, until the end of eight days; when they
named the son Cain, and the daughter Luluwa.
7 The meaning of Cain is "hater," because he hated his
sister in their mother's womb; before they came out of it.
Therefore Adam named him Cain.
8 But Luluwa means "beautiful," because she was more
beautiful than her mother.
9 Then Adam and Eve waited until Cain and his sister
were forty days old, when Adam said to Eve, "We will make
an offering and offer it up in behalf of the children."
10 And Eve said, "We will make one offering for the first-born son
and then later we shall make one for the daughter."
Chapter LXXV - The family revisits the Cave of Treasures.
Birth of Abel and Aklia.
1 Then Adam prepared an offering, and he and Eve
offered it up for their children, and brought it to the
altar they had built at first.
2 And Adam offered up the offering, and asked God to
accept his offering.
3 Then God accepted Adam's offering, and sent a light
from heaven that shown on the offering. Adam and his son
drew near to the offering, but Eve and the daughter did not
approach it.
4 Adam and his son were joyful as they came down from
on the altar. Adam and Eve waited until the daughter was
eighty days old, then Adam prepared an offering and took it
to Eve and to the children. They went to the altar, where
Adam offered it up, as he was accustomed, asking the Lord
to accept his offering.
5 And the Lord accepted the offering of Adam and Eve.
Then Adam, Eve, and the children, drew near together, and
came down from the mountain, rejoicing.
6 But they returned not to the cave in which they were
born; but came to the Cave of Treasures, in order that the
children should go around in it, and be blessed with the
tokens brought from the garden.
7 But after they had been blessed with these tokens,
they went back to the cave in which they were born.
8 However, before Eve had offered up the offering,
Adam had taken her, and had gone with her to the river of
water, in which they threw themselves at first; and there
they washed themselves. Adam washed his body and Eve hers
also clean, after the suffering and distress that had come
over them.
9 But Adam and Eve, after washing themselves in the
river of water, returned every night to the Cave of
Treasures, where they prayed and were blessed; and then
went back to their cave, where their children were born.
10 Adam and Eve did this until the children had been
weaned. After they were weaned, Adam made an offering for
the souls of his children in addition to the three times
every week he made an offering for them.
11 When the children were weaned, Eve again conceived,
and when her pregnancy came to term, she gave birth to
another son and daughter. They named the son Abel and the
daughter Aklia.
12 Then at the end of forty days, Adam made an
offering for the son, and at the end of eighty days he made
another offering for the daughter, and treated them, as he
had previously treated Cain and his sister Luluwa.
13 He brought them to the Cave of Treasures, where
they received a blessing, and then returned to the cave
where they were born. After these children were born, Eve
stopped having children.
Chapter LXXVI - Cain becomes jealous of Abel because of his sisters.
1 And the children began to grow stronger and taller;
but Cain was hard-hearted, and ruled over his younger brother.
2 Often when his father made an offering, Cain would
remain behind and not go with them, to offer up.
3 But, as to Abel, he had a meek heart, and was obedient
to his father and mother. He frequently moved them
to make an offering, because he loved it. He prayed
and fasted a lot.
4 Then came this sign to Abel. As he was coming into
the Cave of Treasures, and saw the golden rods, the incense
and the myrrh, he asked his parents, Adam and Eve, to tell
him about them and asked, "Where did you get these from?"
5 Then Adam told him all that had befallen them. And
Abel felt deeply about what his father told him.
6 Furthermore his father, Adam, told him of the works
of God, and of the garden. After hearing that, Abel
remained behind after his father left and stayed the whole
of that night in the Cave of Treasures.
7 And that night, while he was praying, Satan appeared
to him under the figure of a man, who said to him, "You
have frequently moved your father into making offerings,
fasting and praying, therefore I will kill you, and make
you perish from this world."
8 But as for Abel, he prayed to God, and drove away
Satan from him; and did not believe the words of the devil.
Then when it was day, an angel of God appeared to him, who
said to him, "Do not cut short either fasting, prayer, or
offering up an offering to your God. For, look, the Lord
had accepted your prayer. Be not afraid of the figure
which appeared to you in the night, and who cursed you to
death." And the angel departed from him.
9 Then when it was day, Abel came to Adam and Eve, and
told them of the vision he had seen. When they heard it,
they grieved much over it, but said nothing to him about
it; they only comforted him.
10 But as to the hard-hearted Cain, Satan came to him
by night, showed himself and said to him, "Since Adam and
Eve love your brother Abel so much more than they love you,
they wish to join him in marriage to your beautiful sister
because they love him. However, they wish to join you in
marriage to his ugly sister, because they hate you.
11 Now before they do that, I am telling you that you
should kill your brother. That way your sister will be left
for you, and his sister will be cast away."
12 And Satan departed from him. But the devil
remained behind in Cain's heart, and frequently aspired to
kill his brother.
Chapter LXXVII - Cain, 15 years old, and Abel 12 years old, grow apart.
1 But when Adam saw that the older brother hated the
younger, he endeavored to soften their hearts, and said to
Cain, "O my son, take of the fruits of your sowing and make
an offering to God, so that He might forgive you for your
wickedness and sin."
2 He said also to Abel, "Take some of your sowing and
make an offering and bring it to God, so that He might
forgive you for your wickedness and sin."
3 Then Abel obeyed his father's voice, took some of
his sowing, and made a good offering, and said to his
father, Adam, "Come with me and show me how to offer it
up."
4 And they went, Adam and Eve with him, and they
showed him how to offer up his gift on the altar. Then
after that, they stood up and prayed that God would accept
Abel's offering.
5 Then God looked at Abel and accepted his offering.
And God was more pleased with Abel than with his offering,
because of his good heart and pure body. There was no
trace of guile in him.
6 Then they came down from the altar, and went to the
cave in which they lived. But Abel, by reason of his joy
at having made his offering, repeated it three times a
week, after the example of his father Adam.
7 But as to Cain, he did not want to make an offering,
but after his father became very angry, he offered up a
gift once. He took the smallest of his sheep for an
offering and when he offered it up, his eyes were on the
lamb.
8 Therefore God did not accept his offering, because
his heart was full of murderous thoughts.
9 And they all thus lived together in the cave in
which Eve had brought forth, until Cain was fifteen years
old, and Abel twelve years old.
Chapter LXXVIII - Jealousy overcomes Cain.
He makes trouble in the family.
How the first murder was planned.
1 Then Adam said to Eve, "Behold the children are
grown up; we must think of finding wives for them."
2 Then Eve answered, "How can we do it?"
3 Then Adam said to her, "We will join Abel's sister
in marriage to Cain, and Cain's sister to Abel.
4 The said Eve to Adam, "I do not like Cain because he
is hard-hearted; but let them stay with us until we offer
up to the Lord in their behalf."
5 And Adam said no more.
6 Meanwhile Satan came to Cain in the figure of a man
of the field, and said to him, "Behold Adam and Eve have
taken counsel together about the marriage of you two; and
they have agreed to marry Abel's sister to you, and your
sister to him.
7 But if it was not that I love you, I would not have
told you this thing. Yet if you will take my advice, and
obey me, I will bring to you on your wedding day beautiful
robes, gold and silver in plenty, and my relations will
attend you."
8 Then Cain said with joy, "Where are your relations?"
9 And Satan answered, "My relations are in a garden in
the north, where I once meant to bring your father Adam;
but he would not accept my offer.
10 But you, if you will receive my words and if you
will come to me after your wedding, you shall rest from the
misery in which you are; and you shall rest and be better
off than your father Adam."
11 At these words of Satan Cain opened his ears, and
leaned towards his speech.
12 And he did not remain in the field, but he went to
Eve, his mother, and beat her, and cursed her, and said to
her, "Why are you planning to take my sister to wed her to
my brother? Am I dead?"
13 His mother, however, quieted him, and sent him to
the field where he had been.
14 Then when Adam came, she told him of what Cain had
done.
15 But Adam grieved and held his peace, and said not a
word.
16 Then on the next morning Adam said to Cain his son,
"Take of your sheep, young and good, and offer them up to
your God; and I will speak to your brother, to make to his
God an offering of corn."
17 They both obeyed their father Adam, and they took
their offerings, and offered them up on the mountain by the
altar.
18 But Cain behaved haughtily towards his brother, and
shoved him from the altar, and would not let him offer up
his gift on the altar; but he offered his own on it, with a
proud heart, full of guile, and fraud.
19 But as for Abel, he set up stones that were near at
hand, and on that, he offered up his gift with a heart
humble and free from guile.
20 Cain was then standing by the altar on which he had
offered up his gift; and he cried to God to accept his
offering; but God did not accept it from him; neither did a
divine fire come down to consume his offering.
21 But he remained standing over against the altar,
out of humor and meanness, looking towards his brother
Abel, to see if God would accept his offering or not.
22 And Abel prayed to God to accept his offering.
Then a divine fire came down and consumed his offering.
And God smelled the sweet savor of his offering; because
Abel loved Him and rejoice in Him.
23 And because God was well pleased with him, He sent
him an angel of light in the figure of a man who had
partaken of his offering, because He had smelled the sweet
savor of his offering, and they comforted Abel and
strengthened his heart.
24 But Cain was looking on all that took place at his
brother's offering, and was angry because of it.
25 Then he opened his mouth and blasphemed God,
because He had not accepted his offering.
26 But God said to cain, "Why do you look sad? Be
righteous, that I may accept your offering. Not against Me
have you murmured, but against yourself.
27 And God said this to Cain in rebuke, and because He
abhorred him and his offering.
28 And Cain came down from the altar, his color
changed and with a sad face, and came to his father and
mother and told them all that had befallen him. And Adam
grieved much because God had not accepted Cain's offering.
29 But Abel came down rejoicing, and with a gladsome
heart, and told his father and mother how God had accepted
his offering. And they rejoiced at it and kissed his face.
30 And Abel said to his father, "Because Cain shoved
me from the altar, and would not allow me to offer my gift
on it, I made an altar for myself and offered my gift on
it."
31 But when Adam heard this he was very sorry, because
it was the altar he had built at first, and on which he had
offered his own gifts.
32 As to Cain, he was so resentful and so angry that
he went into the field, where Satan came to him and said to
him, "Since your brother Abel has taken refuge with your
father Adam, because you shoved him from the altar, they
have kissed his face, and they rejoice over him, far more
than over you."
33 When Cain heard these words of Satan, he was
filled with rage; and he let no one know. But he was
laying wait to kill his brother, until he brought him into
the cave, and then said to him: --
34 "O brother, the country is so beautiful, and there
are such beautiful and pleasurable trees in it, and
charming to look at! But brother, you have never been one
day in the field to take your pleasure in that place.
35 Today, O, my brother, I very much wish you would
come with me into the field, to enjoy yourself and to bless
our fields and our flocks, for you are righteous, and I
love you much, O my brother! But you have alienated
yourself from me."
36 Then Abel consented to go with his brother Cain
into the field.
37 But before going out, Cain said to Abel, "Wait for
me, until I fetch a staff, because of wild beasts."
38 Then Abel stood waiting in his innocence. But
Cain, the forward, fetched a staff and went out.
39 And they began, Cain and his brother Abel, to walk
in the way; Cain talking to him, and comforting him, to
make him forget everything.
Chapter LXXIX - A wicked plan is carried to a tragic conclusion.
Cain is frightened. "Am I my brother's keeper?"
The seven punishments. Peace is shattered.
1 And so they went on, until they came to a lonely
place, where there were no sheep; then Abel said to Cain,
"Behold, my brother, we are tired from walking; for we see
none of the trees, nor of the fruits, nor of the
flourishing green plants, nor of the sheep, nor any one of
the things of which you told me. Where are those sheep of
thine you told me to bless?"
2 Then Cain said to him, "Come on, and you shall see
many beautiful things very soon, but go before me, until I
catch up to you."
3 Then went Abel forward, but Cain remained behind him.
4 And Abel was walking in his innocence, without guile;
not believing his brother would kill him.
5 Then Cain, when he came up to him, comforted him with his talk,
walking a little behind him; then he ran up to him and beat him
with the staff, blow after blow, until he was stunned.
6 But when Abel fell down on the ground, seeing that
his brother meant to kill him, he said to Cain, "O, my
brother, have pity on me. By the breasts we have sucked,
don't hit me! By the womb that bore us and that brought us
into the world, don't beat me to death with that staff!
If you will kill me, take one of these large stones
and kill me outright."
7 Then Cain, the hard-hearted, and cruel murderer,
took a large stone, and beat his brother's head with it,
until his brains oozed out, and he wallowed in his blood,
before him.
8 And Cain repented not of what he had done.
9 But the earth, when the blood of righteous Abel fell
on it, trembled, as it drank his blood, and would have
destroyed Cain because of it.
10 And the blood of Abel cried mysteriously to God, to
avenge him of his murderer.
11 Then Cain began at once to dig the ground wherein
to lay his brother; for he was trembling from the fear that
came over him, when he saw the earth tremble on his account.
12 He then cast his brother into the pit he made, and
covered him with dust. But the ground would not receive
him; but it threw him up at once.
13 Again Cain dug the ground and hid his brother in it;
but again the ground threw him up on itself; until three times
the ground thus threw up on itself the body of Abel.
14 The muddy ground threw him up the first time,
because he was not the first creation; and it threw him up
the second time and would not receive him, because he was
righteous and good, and was killed without a cause; and the
ground threw him up the third time and would not receive
him, that there might remain before his brother a witness
against him.
15 And so the earth mocked Cain, until the Word of
God, came to him concerning his brother.
16 Then was God angry, and much displeased at Abel's
death; and He thundered from heaven, and lightnings went
before Him, and the Word of the Lord God came from heaven
to Cain, and said to him, "Where is Abel your brother?"
17 Then Cain answered with a proud heart and a gruff
voice, "How, O God? Am I my brother's keeper?"
18 Then God said to Cain, "Cursed be the earth that
has drunk the blood of Abel your brother; and as for you,
you will always be trembling and shaking; and this will be
a mark on you so that whoever finds you, will kill you."
19 But Cain cried because God had said those words to him;
and Cain said to Him, "O God, whosoever finds me shall kill me,
and I shall be blotted out from the face of the earth."
20 Then God said to Cain, "Whoever finds you will not kill you;"
because before this, God had been saying to Cain,
"I shall put seven punishments on anyone that kills Cain."
For as to the word of God to Cain, "Where is your brother?"
God said it in mercy for him, to try and make him repent.
21 For if Cain had repented at that time, and had
said, "O God, forgive me my sin, and the murder of my
brother," God would then have forgiven him his sin.
22 And as to God saying to Cain, "Cursed be the ground
that has drunk the blood of your brother" That also, was
God's mercy on Cain. For God did not curse him, but He
cursed the ground; although it was not the ground that had
killed Abel, and committed a wicked sin.
23 For it was fitting that the curse should fall on
the murderer; yet in mercy did God so manage His thoughts
as that no one should know it, and turn away from Cain.
24 And He said to him, "Where is your brother?"
To which he answered and said, "I know not."
Then the Creator said to him, "Be trembling and quaking."
25 Then Cain trembled and became terrified; and
through this sign did God make him an example before all
the creation, as the murderer of his brother. Also did God
bring trembling and terror over him, that he might see the
peace in which he was at first, and see also the trembling
and terror he endured at the last; so that he might humble
himself before God, and repent of his sin, and seek the
peace that he enjoyed at first.
26 And in the word of God that said, "I will put seven
punishments on anyone who kills Cain," God was not seeking
to kill Cain with the sword, but He sought to make him die
of fasting, and praying and crying by hard rule, until the
time that he was delivered from his sin.
27 And the seven punishments are the seven generations
during which God awaited Cain for the murder of his brother.
28 But as to Cain, ever since he had killed his
brother, he could find no rest in any place; but went back
to Adam and Eve, trembling, terrified, and defiled with blood. . . .
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