The First Book Of Adam And Eve
1926 anthology, complete selected publisher reading text
Rutherford H. Platt
4 And God said unto Adam, “See Satan’s love for thee, who pretended to give thee the Godhead and greatness; and, behold, he burns thee with fire, and seeks to destroy thee from off the earth.
5 “Then look at Me, O Adam; I created thee, and how many times have I delivered thee out of his hand? If not, would he not have destroyed thee?”
6 God said again to Eve, “What is that he promised thee in the garden, saying, ‘At the time ye shall eat of the tree, your eyes will be opened, and you shall become like gods, knowing good and evil.’ But lo! he has burnt your bodies with fire, and has made you taste the taste of fire, for the taste of the garden; and has made you see the burning of fire, and the evil thereof, and the power it has over you.
7 “Your eyes have seen the good he has taken from you, and in truth he has opened your eyes; and you have seen the garden in which ye were with Me, and ye have also seen the evil that has come upon you from Satan. But as to the Godhead he cannot give it you, neither fulfil his speech to you. Nay, he was bitter against you and your seed, that will come after you.”
8 And God withdrew His Word from them.
CHAP. XLVII.
The Devil’s own Scheming.
THEN Adam and Eve came into the cave, yet trembling at the fire that had scorched their bodies. So Adam said to Eve:--
2 “Lo, the fire has burnt our flesh in this world; but how will it be when we are dead, and Satan shall punish our souls? Is not our deliverance long and far off, unless God come, and in mercy to us fulfil His promise?”
3 Then Adam and Eve passed into the cave, blessing themselves for coming into it once more. For it was in their thoughts, that they never should enter it, when they saw the fire around it.
4 But as the sun was setting the fire was still burning and nearing Adam and Eve in the cave, so that they could not sleep in it. After the sun had set, they went out of it. This was the forty-seventh day after they came out of the garden.
5 Adam and Eve then came under the top of hill by the garden to sleep, as they were wont.
6 And they stood and prayed God to forgive them their sins, and then fell asleep under the summit of the mountain.
7 But Satan, the hater of all good, thought within himself: Whereas God has promised salvation to Adam by covenant, and that He would deliver him out of all the hardships that have befallen him-but has not promised me by covenant, and will not deliver me out of my hardships; nay, since He has promised him that He should make him and his seed dwell in the kingdom in which I once was--I will kill Adam.
8 The earth shall be rid of him; and shall be left to me alone; so that when he is dead he may not have any seed left to inherit the kingdom that shall remain my own realm; God will then be in want of me, and He will restore me to it with my hosts.
CHAP XLVIII.
Fifth apparition of Satan to Adam and Eve.
AFTER this Satan called to his hosts, all of which came to him, and said unto him:--
2 “O, our Lord, what wilt thou do?”
3 He then said unto them, “Ye know that this Adam, whom God created out of the dust, is he who has taken our kingdom. Come, let us gather together and kill him; or hurl a rock at him and at Eve, and crush them under it.”
4 When Satan’s hosts heard these words, they came to the part of the mountain where Adam and Eve were asleep.
5 Then Satan and his hosts took a huge rock, broad and even, and without blemish, thinking within himself, “If there should be a hole in the rock, when it fell on them, the hole in the rock might come upon them, and so they would escape and not die.”
6 He then said to his hosts, “Take up this stone, and throw it flat upon them, so that it roll not from them to somewhere else. And when ye have hurled it, flee and tarry not.”
7 And they did as he bid them. But as the rock fell down from the mountain upon Adam and Eve, God commanded it to become a kind of shed over them, that did them no harm. And so it was by God’s order.
8 But when the rock fell, the whole earth quaked with it, and. was shaken from the size of the rock.
9 And as it quaked and shook, Adam and Eve awoke from sleep, and found themselves under a rock like a shed. But they knew not how it was; for when they fell asleep they were under the sky, and not under a shed; and when they saw it, they were afraid.
10 Then Adam said to Eve, “Wherefore has the mountain bent itself, and the earth quaked and shaken on our account? And why has this rock spread itself over us like a tent?
11 “Does God intend to plague us and to shut us up in this prison? Or will He close the earth upon us?
12 “He is angry with us for our having come out of the cave without His order; and for our having done so of our own accord, without consulting Him, when we left the cave and came to this place.”
13 Then Eve said, “If, indeed, the earth quaked for our sake, and this rock forms a tent over us because of our transgression, then woe be to us, O Adam, for our punishment will be long.
14 “But arise and pray Ito God to let us know concerning this, and what this rock is, that is spread over us like a tent.”
15 Then Adam stood up and prayed before the Lord, to let him know about this strait. And Adam thus stood praying until the morning.
CHAP. XLIX.
The first prophecy of the Resurrection.
THEN the Word of God came and said:--
2 “O Adam, who counselled thee, when thou earnest out of the cave, to come to this place?”
3 And Adam said unto God, “O Lord, we came to this place because of the heat of the fire, that came upon us inside the cave.”
4 Then the Lord God said unto Adam, “O Adam, thou dreadest the heat of fire for one night, but how will it be when thou dwellest in hell?
5 “Yet, O Adam, fear not, neither say in thy heart that I have spread this rock as an awning over thee, to plague thee therewith.
6 “It came from Satan, who had promised thee the Godhead and majesty. It is he who threw down this rock to kill thee under it, and Eve with thee, and thus to prevent you from living upon the earth.