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10001111APOCALYPSIS MOSIS
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20001112From-The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament
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30001113R.H. Charles
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40001114Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1913
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50001115This is the story of Adam and Eve after they had gone out of Paradise. And Adam knew his wife
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60001116Eve and went upwards to the sun-rising and abode there eighteen years and two months. And
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70001117Eve conceived and bare two sons; Adiaphotos, who is called Cain and Amilabes who is called Abel.
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80001121And after this, Adam and Eve were with one another and while they were sleeping, Eve said to Adam her lord: 'My lord, Adam, behold,
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90001122I have seen in a dream this night the blood of my son Amilabes who is styled Abel being poured into the mouth of Cain his brother and he went on drinking it without pity. But he begged him to leave him a little of it. Yet he hearkened
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100001123not to him, but gulped down the whole; nor did it stay in his stomach, but came out of his mouth. And Adam said, 'Let us arise and go
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11000111and see what has happened to them. (I fear) lest the adversary may be assailing them somewhere.'
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120001131And they both went and found Abel murdered. I by the hand of Cain his brother. And God
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130001132saith to Michael the archangel: 'Say to Adam: " Reveal not the secret that thou knowest to Cain thy son, for he is a son of wrath. But grieve not, for I will give thee another son in his stead; he shall show (to thee) all that thou shalt do. Do thou tell him nothing."' Thus spake the archangel
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140001133to Adam. But he kept the word in his heart, and with him also Eve, though they grieved concerning Abel their son.
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150001141And after this, Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bare Seth.
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160001142And Adam said to Eve: 'See! we have
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170001143begotten a son in place of Abel, whom Cain slew, let us give glory and sacrifice to God.'
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180001151And Adam begat thirty sons and thirty daughters and Adam lived nine hundred and thirty years; and he fell sick and cried with a loud
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190001152voice and said, 'Let all my sons come to me that I may see them before I die.'
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200001153And all assembled, for the earth was divided into three parts. And Seth his son said to him:
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210001154Father Adam, what is thy complaint?'
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220001155And he saith, 'MY children, I am crushed by the burden of trouble.' And they say to him, 'What is trouble?'
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230001161And Seth answered and said to him: 'Hast thou called to mind, father, the fruit of paradise of which thou usedst to eat, and hast been grieved in yearning for it?'
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240001162'If this be so, tell me, (and) I will go and
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250001163bring thee fruit from paradise. For I will set dung upon my head and will weep and pray that the Lord will hearken to me and send his angel (and bring me a plant from paradise), and I will bring it thee that thy trouble may cease from thee.'
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260001164Adam saith to him: 'Nay, my son Seth, but
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270001165I have (much) sickness and trouble!' Seth saith to him: 'And how hath this come upon thee?'
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280001171And Adam said to him: 'When God made us, me and your mother, through whom also I die, He gave us power to eat of every tree which is in paradise, but, concerning that one only, He charged us not to eat of it, and through this one we are to die. And the hour drew nigh for the angels
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290001172who were guarding your mother to go up and worship the Lord, and I was far from her, and the enemy knew that she was alone and gave to her, and she ate of the tree of which she had been told not to eat.
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300001173Then she gave also to me to eat.
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310001181And God was wroth with us, and the Lord came into paradise and called me in a terrible voice and said: "Adam, where art thou? And why hidest thou from my face? Shall the house be able to hide itself from its builder?" And he saith to me: "Since thou hast abandoned my covenant, I have brought upon thy body seventy-two strokes; the trouble of the first stroke is a pain of the eyes, the second stroke an affection of the hearing, and likewise in turn all the strokes shall befall thee."'
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320001191As he said this to his sons, Adam groaned sore and said: 'What shall I do? I am in great distress.'
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330001192And Eve wept and said: 'My lord
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340001193Adam, rise up and give me half of thy trouble and I will endure it; for it is on my account that this hath happened to thee, on my account thou art beset with toils and troubles.' But Adam
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350001194said to Eve, 'Arise and go with my son Seth near to paradise, and put earth upon your heads and weep and pray God to have mercy upon me and send his angel to paradise, and give me of the tree out of which the oil floweth, and bring it me, and I shall anoint myself and shall have rest from my complaint.'
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3600011101Then Seth and Eve went towards paradise, and Eve saw her son, and a wild beast assailing him, and Eve wept and said: 'Woe is me; if
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3700011102I come to the day of the Resurrection, all those who have sinned will curse me saying: Eve hath not kept the commandment of God.' And she
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3800011103spake to the beast: 'Thou wicked beast, fearest thou not to fight with the image of God? How was thy mouth opened? How were thy teeth made strong? How didst thou not call to mind thy subjection? For long ago wast thou made subject to the image of God.' Then the beast
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3900011104cried out and said:
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4000011111It is not our concern, Eve, thy greed and thy wailing, but thine own; for (it is) from thee that the rule of the beasts hath arisen. How was thy
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4100011112mouth opened to eat of the tree concerning which God enjoined thee not to eat of it? On this account, our nature also hath been transformed. Now therefore thou canst not endure it,
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4200011113if I begin to reprove thee.'
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4300011121Then Seth speaketh to the beast, 'Close thy mouth and be silent and stand off from the image of God until the day of Judgment.' Then saith
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4400011122the beast to Seth: 'Behold, I stand off from the image of God.' And he went to his lair.
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4500011131And Seth went with Eve near paradise, and I they wept there, and prayed God to send his angel and give them the oil of mercy.
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4600011132And God
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4700011133sent the archangel Michael and he spake to Seth: 'Seth, man of God, weary not thyself with prayers and entreaties concerning the tree which floweth with oil to anoint thy father Adam. For it shall not be thine now, but in the end of the times.
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4800011134Then shall all flesh be raised up from Adam till that great day,-all that shall be of the holy people. Then shall the delights of paradise be given to them and God shall be in their midst. And they shall no longer sin before his face, for the evil heart shall be taken from them and there shall be given them a heart understanding the good and to serve God only.
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4900011135But do thou go back to thy father. For the
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5000011136term of his life hath been fulfilled and he will live three days from to-day and will die. But when his soul is departing, thou shalt behold the awful (scene of) his passing.'
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5100011141Thus spake the angel and departed from them. And Seth and Eve came to the hut where Adam was laid. And Adam saith to Eve: 'Eve, what
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5200011142hast thou wrought in us? Thou hast brought upon us great wrath which is death, [lording it over all our race].' And he saith to her, 'Call all
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5300011143our children and our children's children and tell them the manner of our transgression.'
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5400011151Then saith Eve to them: 'Hear all my children and children's children and I will relate to you
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5500011152how the enemy deceived us. It befell that we were guarding paradise, each of us the portion
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5600011153allotted to us from God. Now I guarded in my lot, the west and the south. But the devil went to Adam's lot, where the male creatures were. [For God divided the creatures; all the males he gave to your father and all the females he gave to me.]
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5700011161And the devil spake to the serpent saying, Rise up, come to me and I will tell thee a word
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5800011162whereby thou mayst have profit." And he arose and came to him. And the devil saith to him:
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5900011163"I hear that thou art wiser than all the beasts, and I have come to counsel thee. Why dost thou eat of Adam's tares and not of paradise? Rise up and we will cause him to be cast out of paradise, even
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6000011164as we were cast out through him." The serpent saith to him, "I fear lest the Lord be wroth with
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6100011165me." The devil saith to him: "Fear not, only be my vessel and I will speak through thy mouth words to deceive him."
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6200011171And instantly he hung himself from the wall of paradise, and when the angels ascended to
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6300011172worship God, then Satan appeared in the form of an angel and sang hymns like the angels. And I bent over the wall and saw him, like an angel. But he saith to me: "Art thou Eve?" And I said
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6400011173to him, "I am." 'What art thou doing in paradise?" And I said to him, "God set us to guard and
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6500011174to eat of it." The devil answered through the mouth of the serpent: 'Ye do well but ye do not eat
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6600011175of every plant." And I said: "Yea, we eat of all. save one only, which is in the midst of paradise, concerning which, God charged us not to eat of it: for, He said to us, on the day on which ye eat of it, ye shall die the death."
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6700011181Then the serpent saith to me, "May God live! but I am grieved on your account, for I would not have you ignorant. But arise, (come) hither, hearken to me and eat and mind the value of that tree."
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6800011182But I said to him, " I fear lest God be wroth with me as he told us." And he saith to me: "Fear not, for as soon as thou eatest of it, ye too shall be as God, in that ye shall know good and evil.
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6900011183But God perceived this that ye would be like Him, so he envied you and said, Ye shall not eat of
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7000011184it. Nay, do thou give heed to the plant and thou wilt see its great glory." Yet I feared to take of the fruit. And he saith to me: "Come hither, and I will give it thee. Follow me."
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7100011191And I opened to him and he walked a little way, then turned and said to me: "I have changed my
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7200011192mind and I will not give thee to eat until thou swear to me to give also to thy husband." (And) I said. "What sort of oath shall I swear to thee? Yet what I know, I say to thee: By the throne of the
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7300011193Master, and by the Cherubim and the Tree of Life! I will give also to my husband to eat." And when he had received the oath from me, he went and poured upon the fruit the poison of his wickedness, which is lust, the root and beginning of every sin, and he bent the branch on the earth and I took of the fruit and I ate.
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7400011201And in that very hour my eyes were opened, and forthwith I knew that I was bare of the righteousness
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7500011202with which I had been clothed (upon), and I wept and said to him: "Why hast thou
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7600011203done this to me in that thou hast deprived me of the glory with which I was clothed?" But I wept also about the oath, which I had sworn. But he descended from the tree and vanished.
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7700011204And I began to seek, in my nakedness, in my part for leaves to hide my shame, but I found none, for, as soon as I had eaten, the leaves showered down from all the trees in my part, except the fig tree
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7800011205only. But I took leaves from it and made for myself a girdle and it was from the very same plant of which I had eaten.
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7900011211And I cried out in that very hour, 'Adam, Adam, where art thou? Rise up, come to me and
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8000011212I will show thee a great secret." But when your father came, I spake to him words of transgression
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8100011213[which have brought us down from our great glory]. For, when he came, I opened my mouth and the devil was speaking, and I began to exhort him and said, "Come hither, my lord Adam, hearken to me and eat of the fruit of the tree of which God told us not to eat of it, and thou shalt be as
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8200011214a God." And your father answered and said, "I fear lest God be wroth with me." And I said to
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8300011215him, "Fear not, for as soon as thou hast eaten thou shalt know good and evil." And speedily I persuaded him, and he ate and straightway his eyes were opened and he too knew his nakedness.
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8400011216And to me he saith, "O wicked woman! what have I done to thee that thou hast deprived me of the glory of God?"
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8500011221And in that same hour, we heard the archangel Michael blowing with his trumpet and calling to
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8600011222the angels and saying: "Thus saith the Lord, Come with me to Paradise and hear the judgement with which I shall judge Adam."
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8700011223And when God appeared in paradise, mounted on the chariot of his cherubim with the angels proceeding before him and singing hymns of praises, all the plants of paradise, both of your father's lot
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8800011224and mine, broke out into flowers. And the throne of God was fixed where the Tree of Life was.
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8900011231And God called Adam saying, "Adam, where art thou? Can the house be hidden from the presence
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9000011232of its builder? "Then your father answered; "It is not because we think not to be found by thee, Lord, that we hide, but I was afraid, because I am naked, and I was ashamed before thy might,
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9100011233(my) Master." God saith to him, "Who showed thee that thou art naked, unless thou hast forsaken my
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9200011234commandment, which I delivered thee to keep (it)." Then Adam called to mind the word which I spake to him, (saying) "I will make thee secure before God"; and he turned and said to me: "Why hast thou done this?" And I said, "The serpent deceived me."
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9300011241God saith to Adam: 'Since thou hast disregarded my commandment and hast hearkened to thy wife, cursed is the earth in thy labours. Thou shalt work it and it shall not give its strength: thorns and thistles shall spring up for thee, and in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread. [Thou shalt be in manifold toils; thou shalt be crushed by bitterness, but of sweetness shalt thou not taste.]
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9400011242Weary shalt thou be and shalt not rest; by heat shalt thou be tired, by cold shalt thou be straitened: abundantly shalt thou busy thyself, but thou shalt not be rich; and thou shalt grow fat, but come to no end.
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9500011243The beasts, over whom thou didst rule, shall rise up in rebellion against thee, for thou hast not kept my commandment."
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9600011251And the Lord turned to me and said: "Since thou hast hearkened to the serpent, and turned
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9700011252a deaf ear to my commandment, thou shalt be in throes of travail and intolerable agonies; thou shalt bear children in much trembling and in one hour thou shalt come to the birth, and lose thy
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9800011253life, from thy sore trouble and anguish. But thou shalt confess and say: 'Lord, Lord, save me, and
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9900011254I will turn no more to the sin of the flesh.' And on this account, from thine own words I will judge thee, by reason of the enmity which the enemy has planted in thee."