Chapter 1 :

 God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and God created man in his own image.

And God formed man from the ground, and he blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul endowed with speech.

 And the Lord said, It is not good for man to be alone; I will make unto him a helpmeet.

 And the Lord caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept, and he took away one of his ribs, and he built flesh upon it, and formed it and brought it to Adam, and Adam awoke from his sleep, and behold a woman was standing before him.

And he said, This is a bone of my bones and it shall be called woman, for this has been taken from man; and Adam called her name Eve, for she was the mother of all living.

 And God blessed them and called their names Adam and Eve in the day that he created them, and the Lord God said, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.

And the Lord God took Adam and his wife, and he placed them in the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it; and he commanded them and said unto them, From every tree of the garden you may eat, but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat thereof you shall surely die.

And when God had blessed and commanded them, he went from them, and Adam and his wife dwelt in the garden according to the command which the Lord had commanded them.

 And the serpent, which God had created with them in the earth, came to them to incite them to transgress the command of God which he had commanded them.

 And the serpent enticed and persuaded the woman to eat from the tree of knowledge, and the woman hearkened to the voice of the serpent, and she transgressed the word of God, and took from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and she ate, and she took from it and gave also to her husband and he ate.

 And Adam and his wife transgressed the command of God which he commanded them, and God knew it, and his anger was kindled against them and he cursed them.

And the Lord God drove them that day from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which they were taken, and they went and dwelt at the east of the garden of Eden .

The crystal sea. God commands Adam, expelled from Eden, to dwell in the Cave of Treasures.

ON the third day, God planted the garden in the east of the earth, on the border of the world eastward, beyond which, towards the sun-rising, one finds nothing but water, that encompasses the whole world, and reaches unto the borders of heaven.

 And to the north of the garden there is a sea of water, clear and pure to the taste, like unto nothing else, so that, through the clearness thereof, one may look into the depths of the earth.

 And when a man washes himself in it, becomes clean of the cleanness thereof, and white of its whiteness-even if he were dark.

And God created that sea of His own good pleasure, for He knew what would come of the man He should make; so that after he had left the garden, on account of his transgression, men should be born in the earth, from among whom righteous ones should die, whose souls God would raise at the last day; when they should return to their flesh; should bathe in the water of that sea, and all of them repent of their sins.

 But when God made Adam go out of the garden, He did not place him on the border of it northward, lest he should draw near to the sea of water, and he and Eve wash themselves in it ,

be cleansed from their sins, forget the transgression they had committed, and he no longer

reminded of it in the thought of punishment.

 Then, again, as to the southern side of the garden, God was not pleased to let Adam dwell there; because, when the wind blew from the north, it would bring him, on that southern side, the delicious smell of the trees of the garden.

Wherefore God did not put Adam there, lest he should smell the sweet smell of those trees

forget his transgression, and find consolation for what he had done, take delight in the smell of

the trees, and not be cleansed from his transgression.

 Again, also, because God is merciful and of great pity, and governs all things in a way He alone knows-He made our father Adam dwell in the western border of the garden, because on that side the earth is very broad.

 And God commanded him to dwell there in a cave in a rock-the Cave of Treasures below the garden.

Episode 2 :

Adam and Eve faint upon leaving the Garden. God sends His word to encourage them.

 BUT when our father Adam, and Eve, went out of the garden, they trod the ground on their feet,

not knowing they were treading.

And when they came to the opening of the gate of the garden, and saw the broad earth spread

before them, covered with stones large and small, and with sand, they feared and trembled, and

fell on their faces, from the fear that came upon them; and they were as dead.

 Because-whereas they had hitherto been in the garden-land, beautifully planted with all

manner of trees-they now saw themselves, in a strange land, which they knew not, and had

never seen.

And because at that time they were filled with the grace of a bright nature, and they had not

hearts turned towards earthly things.

 Therefore had God pity on them; and when He saw them fallen before the gate of the garden,

He sent His Word unto father Adam and Eve, and raised them from their fallen state.

Concerning the promise of the great five days and a half.

GOD said to Adam, I have ordained on this earth days and years, and thou and thy seed shall

dwell and walk in it, until the days and years are fulfilled; when I shall send the Word that created

thee, and against which thou hast transgressed, the Word that made thee come out of the garden

and that raised thee when thou wast fallen.

Yea, the Word that will again save thee when the five days and a half are fulfilled.

 But when Adam heard these words from God, and of the great five days and a half, he did not

understand the meaning of them.

4 For Adam was thinking that there would be but five days and a half for him, to the end of the

world.

And Adam wept, and prayed God to explain it to him.

Then God in His mercy for Adam who was made after His own image and similitude, explained

to him, that these were 5,000 and 500 years; and how One would then come and save him and

his seed. But God had before that made this covenant with our father, Adam, in the same terms, he

came out of the garden, when he was by the tree whereof Eve took the fruit and gave it him to

eat.

 Inasmuch as when our father Adam came out of the garden, he passed by that tree, and saw

how God had then changed the appearance of it into another form, and how it withered.

And as Adam went to it he feared, trembled and fell down; but God in His mercy lifted him up,

and then made this covenant with him.

And, again, when Adam was by the gate of the garden, and saw the cherub with a sword of

flashing fire in his hand, and the cherub grew angry and frowned at him, both Adam and Eve

became afraid of him, and thought he meant to put them to death. So they fell on their faces,

and trembled with fear.

But he had pity on them, and showed them mercy; and turning from them went up to heaven,

and prayed unto the Lord, and said:-

 Lord, Thou didst send me to watch at the gate of the garden, with a sword of fire

 But when Thy servants, Adam and Eve, saw me, they fell on their faces, and were as dead.

O

my Lord, what shall we do to Thy servants?

Then God had pity on them, and showed them mercy, and sent His Angel to keep the garden.

And the Word of the Lord came unto Adam and Eve, and raised them up.

And the Lord said to Adam, I told thee that at the end of five days and a half, I will send my

Word and save thee.

Strengthen thy heart, therefore, and abide in the Cave of Treasures, of which I have before

spoken to thee.

And when Adam heard this Word from God, he was comforted with that which God had told

him. For He had told him how He would save him.