The First Book Of Adam And Eve
1926 anthology, complete selected publisher reading text
Rutherford H. Platt
3 And God withdrew His Word from Adam.
CHAP. XLI.
The first Human thirst.
THEN Adam took the fig, and laid it on the golden rods. Eve also took her fig, and put it upon the incense.
2 And the weight of each fig was that of a water-melon; for the fruit of the garden was much larger than the fruit of this land.
3 But Adam and Eve remained standing and fasting the whole of that night, until the morning dawned.
4 When the sun rose they were at their prayers, and Adam said to Eve, after they had done praying:--
5 “O Eve, come, let us go to the border of the garden looking south; to the place whence the river flows, and is parted into four heads. There we will pray to God, and ask Him to give us to drink of the Water of Life.
6 “For God has not fed us with the Tree of Life, in order that we may not live. We will, therefore, ask him to give us of the Water of Life, and to quench our thirst with it, rather than with a drink of water of this land.”
7 When Eve heard these words from Adam, she agreed; and they both arose and came to the southern border of the garden, upon the brink of the river of water at some little distance from the garden.
8 And they stood and prayed before the Lord, and asked Him to look upon them this once, to forgive them, and to grant them their request.
9 After this prayer from both of them, Adam began to pray with his voice before God, and said:--
10 “O Lord, when I was in the garden and saw the water that flowed from under the Tree of Life, my heart did not desire, neither did my body require to drink of it; neither did I know thirst, for I was living; and above that which I am now.
11 “So that in order to live I did not require any Food of Life, neither did I drink of the Water of Life.
12 “But now, O God, I am dead; my flesh is parched with thirst. Give me of the Water of Life that I may drink of it and live.
13 “Of Thy mercy, O God, save me from these plagues and trials, and bring me into another land different from this, if Thou wilt not let me dwell in Thy garden.”
CHAP. XLII.
A promise of the Water of Life. The third prophecy of the coming of Christ.
THEN came the Word of God to Adam, and said unto him:--
2 “O Adam, as to what thou sayest, ‘Bring me into a land where there is rest,’ it is not another land than this, but it is the kingdom of heaven where alone there is rest.
3 “But thou canst not make thy entrance into it at present; but only after thy judgment is past and fulfilled.
4 “Then will I make thee go up into the kingdom of heaven, thee and thy righteous seed; and I will give thee and them the rest thou askest for at present.
5 “And if thou saidst, ‘Give me of the Water of Life that I may drink and live’--it cannot be this day, but on the day that I shall descend into hell, and break the gates of brass, and bruise in pieces the kingdoms of iron.
6 “Then will I in mercy save thy soul and the souls of the righteous, to give them rest in My garden. And that shall be when the end of the world is come.
7 “And, again, as regards the Water of Life thou seekest, it will not be granted thee this day; but on the day that I shall shed My blood upon thy head in the land of Golgotha.
8 “For My blood shall be the Water of Life unto thee, at that time, and not to thee alone, but unto all those of thy seed who shall believe in Me; that it be unto them for rest for ever.”
9 The Lord said again unto Adam, “O Adam, when thou wast in the garden, these trials did not come to thee
10 “But since thou didst transgress My commandment, all these sufferings have come upon thee.
11. “Now, also, does thy flesh require food and drink; drink then of that water that flows by thee on the face of the earth.”
12 Then God withdrew His Word from Adam.
13 And Adam and Eve worshipped the Lord, and returned from the river of water to the cave. It was noon-day; and when they drew near to the cave, they saw a large fire by it.
CHAP. XLIII.
The Devil attempts arson.
THEN Adam and Eve were afraid, and stood still. And Adam said to Eve, “What is that fire by our cave? We do nothing in it to bring about this fire.
2 “We neither have bread to bake therein, nor broth to cook there. As to this fire, we know not the like, neither do we know what to call it.
3 “But ever since God sent the cherub with a sword of fire that flashed and lightened in his hand, from fear of which we fell down and were like corpses, have we not seen the like.
4 “But now O Eve, behold, this is the same fire that was in the cherub’s hand, which God has sent to keep the cave in which we dwell.
5 “O Eve, it is because God is angry with us, and will drive us from it.
6 “O Eve, we have again transgressed His commandment in that cave, so that He had sent this fire to burn around it, and to prevent us from going into it.
7 “If this be really so, O Eve, where shall we dwell? And whither shall we flee from before the face of the Lord? Since, as regards the garden, He will not let us abide in it, and He has deprived us of the good things thereof; but He has placed us in this cave, in which we have borne darkness, trials and hardships, until at last we found comfort therein.