THE GREATER QUESTIONS OF MARY MAGDALENE
The Greater Questions of Mary, allegedly contained a bizarre account of Jesus and Mary Magdalene, in which Jesus takes Mary up to a high mountain and in her presence pulls a woman out of his side (much as God made Eve from the rib of Adam) and begins having sexual intercourse with her. When he comes to climax, however, he pulls out of her, collects his semen in his hand, and eats it, telling Mary, "Thus must we do, to live." Mary, understandably enough, faints on the spot (Epiphanius, The Panarion, book 26).
Jesus gave Mary a revelation, taking her aside to the mountain and praying; and he brought forth from his side a woman and began to unite with her, and showed that we must so do, that we may live; and Mary fell to the ground abashed. He raised her up again and said to her: Why didst thou doubt, O thou of little faith?
III PETER
Optatus mentions this lost letter of Peter.
Judge not your brother according to prejudice.
THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE MACEDONIANS
Clement of Alexandria mentions this lost letter of Paul.
The Lord is at hand, wherefore take care that we be not overtaken empty.
IV JOHN
Ps.-Cyprian mentions this lost letter of John.
So see me in you as one of you sees himself in water or in a mirror.
THE GOSPEL OF APELLES
Jerome says that Apelles composed a gospel called Apellis Evangelium.
Be good money changers! Save thyself and thy soul!
The Narrative of Lamech From the Midrash Tanchuma, Bereshit 11
1 For one hundred and thirty years, Cain became an angel of death, wandering and roaming about, accursed. Lamech, his descendant in the seventh generation, who was blind, would go hunting led about by his young son. At the sight of game, the lad would apprise his father of its whereabouts.
2 One time the lad said to his father: “I see some kind of beast in the distance.” Lamech sent his arrow in that direction, and Cain was slain. As they approached the corpse, the lad saw a horn protruding from the forehead of the slain creature, and he said to his father: “The corpse resembles a man, but a horn protrudes from its forehead.”
3 Thereupon, Lamech cried out: “Woe is me, it is my grandfather.” In his grief, he clasped his hands together, and accidentally struck the child’s head, killing him. As it is said: I can slay a man by a wound of mine and a child by a strike of mine.
4 The three remained where they were: Cain dead, the child slain, and Lamech blind. At nightfall his wives went out to search for them and found their grandfather dead, their son Tubal-cain slain, and Lamech. It was then that the earth swallowed up the four families: Enoch, Irad, Mehujael, and Methushael. Thereafter, Lamech served as the Angel of Death in fulfillment of the verse: Cain was avenged sevenfold, and Lamech seventy and seven.
5 Upon returning home, Lamech said to his wives: “Let us go to bed.” They replied: “You have slain our ancestor and our son Tubal-cain; we shall no longer go to bed with you.” He retorted: “Cain received his punishment only after seven generations, surely mine should be postponed for seventy and seven generations.” “We shall not listen to you,” they insisted. “Why should we give birth to one who will be dishonored?”
6 Thereupon, he said: “Let us go to the court for a decision.” They went to Adam, and Adah and Zillah cried out: “Oh, lord Lamech, our husband, has slain our grandfather.” Whereupon Lamech declared: “Did our grandfather kill unwittingly?” Adam replied: “Wives of Lamech, hearken to my words! Lamech says: Have I have slain a man intentionally? Therefore I say to you: Go and obey your husband.” They retorted: “O physician, heal your own lameness. You have not had sexual intercourse with your wife for one hundred and thirty years, yet you command us to do so.” Hence it is written in Scripture following this incident: And Adam lived a hundred and thirty years and begot his son in his own likeness.
7 Lamech lived a hundred and eighty-two years and begot his son, through whom the world was to be reestablished. He called him Noah, saying: This one will comfort us in our work and in the toil of our hand.
1 For one hundred and thirty years, Cain became an angel of death, wandering and roaming about, accursed. Lamech, his descendant in the seventh generation, who was blind, would go hunting led about by his young son. At the sight of game, the lad would apprise his father of its whereabouts.
2 One time the lad said to his father: “I see some kind of beast in the distance.” Lamech sent his arrow in that direction, and Cain was slain. As they approached the corpse, the lad saw a horn protruding from the forehead of the slain creature, and he said to his father: “The corpse resembles a man, but a horn protrudes from its forehead.”
3 Thereupon, Lamech cried out: “Woe is me, it is my grandfather.” In his grief, he clasped his hands together, and accidentally struck the child’s head, killing him. As it is said: I can slay a man by a wound of mine and a child by a strike of mine.
4 The three remained where they were: Cain dead, the child slain, and Lamech blind. At nightfall his wives went out to search for them and found their grandfather dead, their son Tubal-cain slain, and Lamech. It was then that the earth swallowed up the four families: Enoch, Irad, Mehujael, and Methushael. Thereafter, Lamech served as the Angel of Death in fulfillment of the verse: Cain was avenged sevenfold, and Lamech seventy and seven.
5 Upon returning home, Lamech said to his wives: “Let us go to bed.” They replied: “You have slain our ancestor and our son Tubal-cain; we shall no longer go to bed with you.” He retorted: “Cain received his punishment only after seven generations, surely mine should be postponed for seventy and seven generations.” “We shall not listen to you,” they insisted. “Why should we give birth to one who will be dishonored?”
6 Thereupon, he said: “Let us go to the court for a decision.” They went to Adam, and Adah and Zillah cried out: “Oh, lord Lamech, our husband, has slain our grandfather.” Whereupon Lamech declared: “Did our grandfather kill unwittingly?” Adam replied: “Wives of Lamech, hearken to my words! Lamech says: Have I have slain a man intentionally? Therefore I say to you: Go and obey your husband.” They retorted: “O physician, heal your own lameness. You have not had sexual intercourse with your wife for one hundred and thirty years, yet you command us to do so.” Hence it is written in Scripture following this incident: And Adam lived a hundred and thirty years and begot his son in his own likeness.
7 Lamech lived a hundred and eighty-two years and begot his son, through whom the world was to be reestablished. He called him Noah, saying: This one will comfort us in our work and in the toil of our hand.
The "Sixth" Book of Baruch
Quoted in Cyprian, Testimonia iii. 29
1 For the time shall come when ye and those that come after you shall seek me, desiring to hear a word of wisdom and understanding, and shall not find it.
2 But nations shall desire to see a wise man, and it shall not happen to them. Not that the wisdom of this world shall be lacking or shall fail the earth, neither shall the word of the law be wanting to the world.
3 For wisdom shall be among a few that keep watch and are silent and talk with one another in quiet, because some shall be afraid of them and fear them as evil men.
4 But these shall not even believe the word of the law of the Most High, and others gaping with their mouths shall not believe and shall believe, and shall be contradicting and contrary, and obstructing the spirit of truth.
5 And others shall be wise with the spirit of error and uttering their own words as the sayings of the Most High and the Mighty, and others shall be weak in faith: others capable and strong in the faith of the Most High and hateful to him that is strange thereto.
1 For the time shall come when ye and those that come after you shall seek me, desiring to hear a word of wisdom and understanding, and shall not find it.
2 But nations shall desire to see a wise man, and it shall not happen to them. Not that the wisdom of this world shall be lacking or shall fail the earth, neither shall the word of the law be wanting to the world.
3 For wisdom shall be among a few that keep watch and are silent and talk with one another in quiet, because some shall be afraid of them and fear them as evil men.
4 But these shall not even believe the word of the law of the Most High, and others gaping with their mouths shall not believe and shall believe, and shall be contradicting and contrary, and obstructing the spirit of truth.
5 And others shall be wise with the spirit of error and uttering their own words as the sayings of the Most High and the Mighty, and others shall be weak in faith: others capable and strong in the faith of the Most High and hateful to him that is strange thereto.
The Apocalypse of Elijah
The Apocalypse of Elijah is an anonymous apocryphal work presenting itself as a revelation given by an angel. Two versions are known today, a Coptic Christian fragmentary version and a Hebrew Jewish version. The title derives from mentions of Elijah within the text, although there is no other reason to assume that he is meant to be the author. This apocalypse is mentioned in the Apostolic Constitutions, the List of Sixty Books, the Synopsis of Pseudo-Athanasius, the Stichometry of Nicephorus, and the Armenian list of Mechithar. Origen, Ambrosiaster, and Euthalius ascribe I Cor. 2:9 to it: “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” If they are right, the apocalypse is pre-Pauline. The peculiar form in which this quotation appears appears in Clement of Alexandria, Protrepticus x. 94, and the Apostolic Constitutions vii. 32, shows that both have the same source, probably this apocalypse. Epiphanius ascribes to this work Eph. 5:14: “Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.” The Christian version is essentially a redaction of five originally separate works: A treatise on fasting and prayer. A prophecy concerning the Assyrians, of events that had actually already happened by the time the text was written. The kings mentioned within the section have not been identified with certainty. An account of the future arrival of a son of lawlessness, later re-edited by a Christian to refer to the Antichrist. It describes the Antichrist/son-of-lawlessness in detail, including mentioning that his eyebrows will reach to his ears, he is skinny legged, young but bald bar a tuft of grey hair at the front, and that he has a bare spot on the front of his hands. An account of martyrdoms of Elijah and Enoch (based on the death of the two witnesses in Revelation), the martyrdom of Tabitha (from the Book of Acts), and sixty other men. An account of the destruction of the son of lawlessness after the last judgment, later re-edited by a Christian to refer to the Antichrist.
The Coptic Apocalypse of Elijah
Twenty-two unpaginated folios of an Akhmimic text with fragments of a 23rd contain two separate texts: the first an anonymous apocalypse (pp.1-18), the second the Apocalypse of Elijah (pp.19-44), which, according to Steindorff, is a separate text that starts on a new page. In addition there are seven folios of a Sahidic text, containing fragments of an apocalypse of Sophonias and a parallel text of Elijah. All of these folios were part of a relatively small book in the collection of the library of the White Monastery at Sohag in Upper Egypt on the other side of the Nile from Akhmim, much of which has found its way piecemeal into European collections. The title ‘Apocalypse of Elijah’ can be supplied from another fragment in the Berlin Museum. The translation that follows is not intended to be a work of original scholarship, merely a translation of the Coptic text presented by Steindorff.
The Hebrew Apocalypse of Elijah
Sefer Elijah or the ‘Book of Elijah’ was first published in an anthology of midrashic texts in Salonika in 1743. This version of the text was subsequently reprinted by Adolph Jellinek, ed., Bet ha-Midrasch: Sammlung kleiner Midraschim und vermischter Abhandlungen aus der jüdischen Literatur (6 vols.; Leipzig, 1853-77; repr., Jerusalem: Bamberger & Wahrmann, 1938), 3:65-68. Another edition based on the version of the work found in Munich Ms. Hebr. 222, a manuscript dating from the fifteenth century containing an anthology of brief midrashim, was prepared by Moses Buttenwieser, Die hebräische Elias-Apokalypse und ihre Stellung in der apokalyptischen Litteratur des rabbinischen Schrifttums und der Kirche (Leipzig: Eduard Pfeiffer, 1897). Even-Shmuel (Midreshey ge’ullah [2d ed.; Jerusalem: Mosad Bialik, 1954], 41-48) publishes an eclectic version which combines and harmonizes the editions of Jellinek and Buttenwieser. The same author has also published a later reworked version that is taken from a Yemenite manuscript of uncertain date. The present translation utilizes Buttenwieser as its base text with frequent reference to the variant renderings found in the edition published by Jellinek.
COPTIC VERSION A
I
1 The word of the LORD came to me saying, "Son of man, say to his people, 'why do you add sin to your sins and anger the Lord God who created you?'" 2 Don't love the world or the things which are in the world, for the boasting of the world and its destruction belong to the devil. 3 Remember that the Lord of glory, Who created everything, had mercy upon you so that He might save us from the captivity of this age. 4 For many times the devil desired not to let the sun rise above the earth and not to let the earth yield fruit, since he desires to consume men like a fire which rages in stubble, and he desires to swallow them like water. 5 Therefore, on account of this, the God of glory had mercy upon us, and He sent His Son to the world so that He might save us from the captivity. 6 He did not inform an angel or an archangel or any principality when He was about to come to us, but He changed Himself to be like a man when He was about to come to us so that He might save use from flesh. 7 Therefore become sons to Him since He is a father to you. 8 Remember that He has prepared thrones and crowns for you in heaven, saying, "Everyone who will obey Me will receive thrones and crowns among those who are Mine." 9 The Lord said, "I will write My name upon their forehead and I will seal their right hand, and they will not hunger or thirst. 10 Neither will the son of lawlessness prevail over them, nor will the thrones hinder them, but they will walk with the angels up to My city." 11 Now as for the sinners, they will be shamed and they will not pass by the thrones, but the thrones of death will seize them and rule over them because the angels will not agree with them. 12 They have alienated themselves from His dwellings. 13 Hear, O wise men of the land, concerning the deceivers who will multiply in the last times so that they will set down for themselves doctrines which do not belong to God, setting aside the Law of God, those who have made their belly their God, saying, "The fast does not exist, nor did God create it," making themselves strangers to the covenant of God and robbing themselves of the glorious promises. 14 Now these are not ever correctly established in the firm faith. Therefore don't let those people lead you astray. 15 Remember that from the time when He created the heavens, the Lord created the fast for a benefit to men on account of the passions and desires which fight against you so that the evil will not inflame you. 16 "But it is a pure fast which I have created," said the Lord. 17 The one who fasts continually will not sin although jealousy and strife are within him. 18 Let the pure one fast, but whenever the one who fasts is not pure he has angered the Lord and also the angels. 19 And he has grieved his soul, gathering up wrath for himself for the day of wrath. 20 But a pure fast is what I created, with a pure heart and pure hands. 21 It releases sin. It heals diseases. It casts out demons. 22 It is effective up to the throne of God for an ointment and for a release from sin by means of a pure prayer. 23 Who among you, if he is honored in his craft, will go forth to the field without a tool in his hand? Or who will go forth to the battle to fight without a breastplate on? 24 If he is found, will he not be killed because he despised the service of the king? 25 Likewise no one is able to enter the holy place if he is double minded. 26 The one who is double minded in his prayer is darkness to himself. And even the angels do not trust him. 27 Therefore be single-minded in the Lord at all times so that you might know every moment. II 1 Furthermore, concerning the kings of Assyria and the dissolution of the heaven and the earth and the things beneath the earth. 2 "Now therefore those who are Mine will not be overcome" says the Lord, "nor will they fear in the battle." 3 When they see a king who rises in the north, who will be called "the king of Assyria" and "the king of injustice," he will increase his battles and his disturbances against Egypt. 4 The land will groan together because your children will be seized. 5 Many will desire death in those days, but death will flee from them. 6 And a king who will be called "the king of peace" will rise up in the west. 7 He will run upon the sea like a roaring lion. 8 He will kill the king of injustice, and he will take vengeance on Egypt with battles and much bloodshed. 9 It will come to pass in those days that he will command a peace and a vain gift in Egypt. 10 He will give peace to these who are holy, saying, "The name of God is one." 11 He will give honors to the saints and an exalting to the places of the saints. 12 He will give vain gifts to the house of God. 13 He will wander around in the cities of Egypt with guile, without their knowing. 14 He will take count of the holy places. He will weigh the idols of the heathen. He will take count of their wealth. He will establish priests for them. 15 He will command that the wise men and the great ones of the people be seized, and they will be brought to the metropolis which is by the sea, saying, "There is but one language." 16 But when you hear, "Peace and joy exist," I will [. . .] 17 Now I will tell you his signs so that you might know him. 18 For he has two sons: one on his right and one on his left. 19 The one on his right will receive a demonic face, and he will fight against the name of God. 20 Now four kings will descend from that king. 21 In his thirtieth year he will come up to Memphis, and he will build a temple in Memphis. 22 On that day his own son will rise up against him and kill him. 23 The whole land will be disturbed. 24 On that day he will issue an order over the whole land so that the priests of the land and all of the saints will be seized, saying, "You will repay doubly every gift and all of the good things which my father gave to you." 25 He will shut up the holy places. He will take their houses. He will take their sons prisoner. 26 He will order and sacrifices and abominations and bitter evils will be done in the land. 27 He will appear before the sun and the moon. 28 On that day the priests of the land will tear their clothes. 29 Woe to you, O rulers of Egypt, in those days because your day has passed. 30 The violence being done to the poor will turn against you, and your children will be seized as plunder. 31 In those days the cities of Egypt will groan for the voice of the one who sells and the one who buys will not be heard. The markets of the cities of Egypt will become dusty. 32 Those who are in Egypt will weep together. They will desire death, but death will flee and leave them. 33 In those days, they will run up to the rocks and leap off, saying, "Fall upon us." And still they will not die. 34 A double affliction will multiply upon the whole land. 35 In those days, the king will command, and all the nursing women will be seized and brought to him bound. They will suckle serpents. And their blood will be drawn from their breasts, and it will be applied as poison to the arrows. 36 On account of their distress of the cities, he will command again, and all the young lads from twelve years and under will be seized and presented in order to teach them to shoot arrows. 37 The midwife who is upon the earth will grieve. The woman who has given birth will lift her eyes to heaven, saying, "Why did I sit upon the birth-stool, to bring forth a son to the earth?" 38 The barren woman and the virgin will rejoice, saying, "It is our time to rejoice, because we have no child upon the earth, but our children are in heaven." 39 In those days, three kings will arise among the Persians, and they will take captive the Jews who are in Egypt. They will bring them to Jerusalem, and the will inhabit it and dwell there. 40 Then when you hear that there is security in Jerusalem, tear you garments, O priests of the land, because the son of perdition will soon come. 41 In those days, the lawless one will appear in the holy places. 42 In those days the kings of the Persians will hasten and they will stand to fight with the kings of Assyria. Four kings will fight with three. 43 They will spend three years in that place until they carry off the wealth of the temple which is in that place. 44 In those days, blood will flow from Kos to Memphis. The river of Egypt will become blood, and they will not be able to drink from it for three days. 45 Woe to Egypt and those who are in it. 46 In those days, a king will arise in the city which is called "the city of the sun," and the whole land will be disturbed. He will flee to Memphis with the Persians. 47 In the sixth year, the Persian kings will plot an ambush in Memphis. They will kill the Assyrian king. 48 The Persians will take vengeance on the land, and they will command to kill all the heathen and the lawless ones. They will command to build the temples of the saints. 49 They will give double gifts to the house of God. They will say, "The name of God is one." 50 The whole land will hail the Persians. 51 Even the remnant, who did not die under the afflictions, will say, "The Lord has sent us a righteous king so that the land will not become a desert" 52 He will command that no royal matter be presented for three years and six months. The land will be full of good in an abundant well-being. 53 Those who are alive will go to those who are dead, saying, "Rise up and be with us in this rest." III 1 In the fourth year of that king, the son of lawlessness will appear, saying, "I am the Christ," although he is not. Don't believe him! 2 When the Christ comes, He will come in the manner of a covey of doves with the crown of doves surrounding Him. He will walk upon the heaven's vaults with the sign of the cross leading Him. 3 The whole world will behold Him like the sun which shines from the eastern horizon to the western. 4 This is how He will come, with all his angels surrounding Him. 5 But the son of lawlessness will begin to stand again in the holy places. 6 He will say to the sun, "Fall," and it will fall. He will say, "Shine," and it will do it. He will say, "Darken," and it will do it. 7 He will say to the moon, "Become bloody," and it will do it. 8 He will go forth with them from the sky. He will walk upon the sea and the rivers as upon dry land. 9 He will cause the lame to walk. He will cause the deaf to hear. He will cause the dumb to speak. He will cause the blind to see. 10 The lepers he will cleanse. The ill he will heal. The demons he will cast out. 11 He will multiply his signs and his wonders in the presence of everyone. 12 He will do the works which the Christ did, except for raising the dead alone. 13 In this you will know that he is the son of lawlessness, because he is unable to give life. 14 For behold I will tell you his signs so that you might know him. 15 He is a [. . .] of a skinny-legged young lad, having a tuft of gray hair at the front of his bald head. His eyebrows will reach to his ears. There is a leprous bare spot on the front of his hands. 16 He will transform himself in the presence of those who see him. He will become a young child. He will become old. 17 He will transform himself in every sign. But the signs of his head will not be able to change. 18 Therein you will know that he is the son of lawlessness. IV 1 The virgin, whose name is Tabitha, will hear that the shameless one has revealed himself in the holy places. And she will put on her garment of fine linen. 2 And she will pursue him up to Judea, scolding him up to Jerusalem, saying, "O shameless one, O son of lawlessness, O you who have been hostile to all the saints. 3 Then the shameless one will be angry at the virgin. He will pursue her up to the regions of the sunset. He will suck her blood in the evening. 4 And he will cast her upon the temple, and she will become a healing for the people. 5 She will rise up at dawn. And she will live and scold him, saying, "O shameless one, you have no power against my soul or my body, because I live in the Lord always. 6 And also my blood which you have cast upon the temple has become a healing for the people." 7 Then when Elijah and Enoch hear that the shameless one has revealed himself in the holy place, they will come down and fight with him saying, 8 Are you indeed not ashamed? When you attach yourself to the saints, because you are always estranged. 9 You have been hostile to those who belong to heaven. You have acted against those belonging to the earth. 10 You have been hostile to the thrones. You have acted against the angels. You are always a stranger. 11 You have fallen from heaven like the morning stars. You were changed, and your tribe became dark for you. 12 But you are not ashamed, when you stand firmly against God you are a devil. 13 The shameless one will hear and he will be angry, and he will fight with them in the market place of the great city. And he will spend seven days fighting with them. 14 And they will spend three and one half days in the market place dead, while all the people see them. 15 But on the fourth day they will rise up and they will scold him saying. "O shameless one, O son of lawlessness. Are you indeed not ashamed of yourself since you are leading astray the people of God for whom you did not suffer? Do you not know that we live in the Lord?" 16 As the words were spoken, they prevailed over him, saying, "Furthermore, we will lay down before the flesh for the spirit, and we will kill you since you are unable to speak on that day because we are always strong in the Lord. But you are always hostile to God. 17 The shameless one will hear, and he will be angry and fight them. 18 And the whole city will surround them. 19 On that day they will shout up to heaven as they shine while all the people and all the world see them. 20 The son of lawlessness will not prevail over them. He will be angry at the land, and he will seek to sin against the people. 21 He will pursue all of the saints. They and the priests of the land will be brought back bound. 22 He will kill them and destroy them [. . .] them. And their eyes will be removed with iron spikes. 23 He will remove their skin from their heads. He will remove their nails one by one. He will command that vinegar and lime be put in their nose. 24 Now those who are unable to bear up under the tortures of that king will take gold and flee over the fords to the desert places. They will lie down as one who sleeps. 25 The Lord will receive their spirits and their souls to Himself. 26 Their flesh will petrify. No wild animals will eat them until the last day of the great judgment. 27 And they will rise up and find a place of rest. But they will not be in the kingdom of the Christ as those who have endured because the Lord said, "I will grant to them that they sit on my right hand." 28 They will receive favor over others, and they will triumph over the son of lawlessness. And they will witness the dissolution of heaven and earth. 29 They will receive the thrones of glory and the crowns. 30 The sixty righteous ones who are prepared for this hour will hear. 31 And they will gird on the breastplate of the LORD, and they will run to Jerusalem and fight with the shameless one, saying, "All powers which the prophets have done from the beginning you have done. But you were unable to raise the dead because you have no power to give life. Therein we have known that you are the son of lawlessness." 32 He will hear, and he will be angry and command to kindle altars. 33 And the righteous ones will be bound. They will be lifted up and burned. V 1 And on that day the heart of many will harden and they will flee from him, saying, "This is not the Christ. The Christ does not kill the righteous. He does not pursue men so that he might seek them, but He persuades them with signs and wonders." 2 On that day the Christ will pity those who are His own. And He will send from heaven his sixty-four thousand angels, each of whom has six wings. 3 The sound will move heaven and earth when they give praise and glorify. 4 Now those upon whose forehead the name of Christ is written and upon whose hand is the seal both the small and the great, will be taken up upon their wings and lifted up before his wrath. 5 Then Gabriel and Uriel will become a pillar of light leading them into the holy land. 6 It will be granted to them to eat from the tree of life. They will wear white garments [. . .] and angels will watch over them. They will not thirst, nor will the son of lawlessness be able to prevail over them. 7 And on that day the earth will be disturbed, and the sun will darken, and peace will be removed from the earth. 8 The birds will fall on the earth, dead. 9 The earth will be dry. The waters of the sea will dry up. 10 The sinners will groan upon the earth saying, "What have you done to us, O son of lawlessness, saying I am the Christ, when you are the devil? 11 You are unable to save yourself so that you might save us. You produced signs in our presence until you alienated us from the Christ who created us. Woe to us because we listened to you. 12 Lo now we will die in a famine. Where indeed is now the trace of a righteous one and we will worship him, or where indeed is the one who will teach us and we will appeal to him. 13 Now indeed we will be wrathfully destroyed because we disobeyed the LORD. 14 We went to the deep places of the sea, and we did not find water. We dug in the rivers and papyrus reeds, and we did not find water." 15 Then on that day, the shameless one will speak, saying, "Woe to me because my time has passed by for me while I was saying that my time would not pass by for me. 16 My years became months and my days have passed away as dust passes away. Now therefore I will perish together with you. 17 Now therefore run forth to the desert. Seize the robbers and kill them. 18 Bring up the saints. For because of them, the earth yields fruit. For because of them the sun shines upon the earth. For because of them the dew will come upon the earth." 19 The sinners will weep saying, "You made us hostile to the LORD. If you are able, rise up and pursue them." 20 Then he will take his fiery wings and fly out after the saints. He will fight with them again. 21 The angels will hear and come down. They will fight with him a battle of many swords. 22 It will come to pass on that day that the Lord will hear and command the heaven and the earth with great wrath. And they will send for fire. 23 And the fire will prevail over the earth seventy-two cubits. It will consume the sinners and the devils like stubble. 24 A true judgment will occur. 25 On that day, the mountains and the earth will utter speech. The byways will speak with one another, saying, "Have you heard today the voice of a man who walks who has not come to the judgment of the Son of the LORD." 26 The sins of each one will stand against him in the place where they were committed, whether those of the day or of the night. 27 Those who belong to the righteous and [. . .] will see the sinners and those who persecuted them and those who handed them over to death in their torments. 28 Then the sinners in torment will see the place of the righteous. 29 And thus grace will occur. In those days, that which the righteous will ask for many times will be given to them. 30 On that day, the LORD will judge the heaven and the earth. He will judge those who transgressed in heaven, and those who did so on earth. 31 He will judge the shepherds of the people. He will ask about the flock of sheep, and they will be given to Him, without any deadly guile existing in them. 32 After these things, Elijah and Enoch will come down. They will lay down the flesh of the world, and they will receive their spiritual flesh. They will pursue the son of lawlessness and kill him since he is not able to speak. 33 On that day, he will dissolve in their presence like ice which was dissolved by a fire. He will perish like a serpent which has no breath in it. 34 They will say to him, "Your time has passed by for you. Now therefore you wand those who believe you will perish." 35 They will be cast into the bottom of the abyss and it will be closed for them. 36 On that day, the Christ, the King and all His saints will come forth from heaven. 37 He will burn the earth. He will spend a thousand years upon it. 38 Because the sinners prevailed over it, He will create a new heaven and a new earth. No deadly devil will exist in them. 39 He will rule with His saints, ascending and descending, while they are always with the angels and they are with the Christ for a thousand years. |
COPTIC VERSION B
I
1 The word of the Lord happened to me, saying. Son of man, say to this people: "Why do you add sins to your sins and give cause for wrath to the Lord God who made you." 2 Do not love the world or that which is in it, for the pride of the world is that of the devil together with its dissolution. 3 Remember that the Lord of glory who created everything has been merciful to you so that he might save us from the captivity of this age. 4 For many times the devil has desired not to let the sun shine upon the earth and not to let the earth bear fruit, wishing to devour people like a roaring fire, wishing to devour them like water. 5 For this reason the God of glory has been merciful. He sent his son to the world so that he might save us from this captivity. 6 He did not tell an angel who came to us, or archangel or any other power, but he changed himself into human form, coming to us so that he might save us [. . .] 7 Therefore be for him children [. . .], he being for you a father. 8 Remember that he has prepared for you thrones and crowns in heaven, "for everyone who listens to me will receive the thrones and crowns among those belonging to me.” 9 The Lord said, "I will write my name on their forehead and I will seal their right hand. They will not be hungry, they will not be thirsty; 10 Nor will the children of lawlessness have power over them nor will the thrones prevent them, but they will walk with angels to my city." 11 The sinners, however, will be shamed, and they will not pass beyond the thrones, but the thrones of death will seize and overpower them, for the angels do not agree with them; 12 And they have estranged themselves from his resting places. 13 Hear, wise men of the earth, about the deceivers who will multiply at the end of the ages, for they will adopt for themselves teachings that are not of God, they will disbelieve the law of God, those whose god is their belly saying. “There is no fasting and God has not created it”, estranging themselves from the covenant and depriving themselves of the glorious promises. 14 These are fixed for all ages in firm faith. Therefore, let not those deceive you. 15 Remember that the Lord created all fasts when he created the heavens as a benefit for people because of passions and desires that assail you, so that the evil one may not scorch you; 16 But it is a holy fasting that I have created, said the Lord. 17 He who fasts at all times will not sin, being zealous and fighting. 18 Let the holy person fast. The impure one who fasts makes the Lord and the angels angry; 19 And he tortures his soul, gathering for himself anger against the day of anger. 20 Pure fasting is what I have created with a pure heart and pure hands. 21 It forgives sins, it cures illnesses, it forces out demons; 22 It is effective up to the throne of God. In addition to these things, sins are forgiven with pure prayers. 23 Who of you will go to the field proud of his skill without a tool in his hand, or who will go to war without wearing armour? 24 If he is found, will he not be killed because he has despised the office of the king? 25 In this way it is not possible for anyone to go to the holy place when he is doubtful . 26 The one who is doubtful in his prayer, then [. . .] and nor do the angels agree with him. 27 Therefore be of one mind at all times in the Lord so that you will understand at every moment. II 1 Because of the Assyrian kings and the dissolution of heaven and earth and what is below the earth; 2 Now therefore they will not prevail against them, said the Lord, and they will not be afraid in war. 3 When they see a king rising in the north, he will be called the Assyrian king. The king of injustice will multiply his wars againt Egypt and its confusion. 4 The land will sigh together because your children will be seized. 5 There are many who will wish for death in those days. But death will elude them. 6 And a king will rise in the west, and he will be called the king of peace. 7 He will go across the sea like a lion roaring; 8 He will kill the king of injustice, he will avenge himself on Egypt in wars and much bloodshed. 9 It will happen in those days that he orders a peace from Egypt and an empty gift. 10 He will give peace to these saints, saying, "One is the name of God." 11 He will give honours to the saints and a high place to the saints. 12 He will give empty gifts to the house of God; 13 He will guilefully turn from the cities of Egypt without their knowing it; 14 He will count the holy places, he will measure the heathen idols, he will count their wealth, he will set up priests; 15 He will order the wise men of the land and the most important people to be seized and they will be taken to the metropolis on the sea, they saying, "A child in robbery." VERSES 16-30 are from VERSION A [16 But when you hear, "Peace and joy exist," I will . . . 17 Now I will tell you his signs so that you might know him. 18 For he has two sons: one on his right and one on his left. 19 The one on his right will receive a demonic face, and he will fight against the name of God. 20 Now four kings will descend from that king. 21 In his thirtieth year he will come up to Memphis, and he will build a temple in Memphis. 22 On that day his own son will rise up against him and kill him. 23 The whole land will be disturbed. 24 On that day he will issue an order over the whole land so that the priests of the land and all of the saints will be seized, saying, "You will repay doubly every gift and all of the good things which my father gave to you." 25 He will shut up the holy places. He will take their houses. He will take their sons prisoner. 26 He will order and sacrifices and abominations and bitter evils will be done in the land. 27 He will appear before the sun and the moon. 28 On that day the priests of the land will tear their clothes. 29 Woe to you, O rulers of Egypt, in those days because your day has passed. 30 The violence being done to the poor will turn against you, and your children will be seized as plunder.] 31 The cities of Egypt will all sigh in those days for they will not hear the voice of the one who sells and the one who buys. The market places of the cities of Egypt will become dust. 32 All who are in Egypt will weep. They will long for death. Death will flee and leave them. 33 In those days they will run to the rocks and jump off, saying, "Fall on us", and they will still not die. 34 A double tribulation will increase over the whole land in those days. 35 He will order kings to seize all women who are breast feeding to be brought to him bound and breast feed dragons to bring up their blood from their breasts and give them to the poisoned arrows. 36 Because of the difficulties in the cities he will also order every small child, twelve years and younger, to be seized and to be taught to throw arrows. 37 The midwife who is upon earth will mourn. The one who has given birth will look up to heaven, saying, "Why did I sit at brick to bear children to the earth." 38 The childless woman and the virgin will therefore rejoice, saying "It is time for us to rejoice because we have no children on earth, but our children are in heaven." 39 In those days three Persian kings will arise and they will take captive the Jews who are in Egypt and take them to Jerusalem to settle in it and live there. 40 Then if you hear that separation is what is in Jerusalem, tear up your garments, priests of the land, for it will not be long before he comes, the son of destruction. 41 The lawless one will appear in those days in the holy places. 42 The Persian kings in those days will escape to [. . .] with the Assyrian kings. Four kings will battle with three; 43 They will fight for three years in that place until they take the wealth of the temple that is in that place. 44 In those days blood will flow from Qus to Memphis. The river of Egypt will become blood, it will not be possible to drink from it for three days. 45 Woe to Egypt and those who live there. 46 In those days a king will arise in the city called the City of the Sun and the entire land will be in a state of turmoil and will flee down to Memphis. 47 In the sixth year the Persian kings will ambush the Assyrian king in Memphis and kill him. 48 The Persians will avenge themselves on the land and order all the heathens and the lawless to be killed. They will order the holy temples to be built; 49 And redouble their gifts to the house of God. They will say, "One is the name of God." 50 The entire land will worship the Persians. 51 The others, who have not died from the blows, will say, “It is a just king whom the Lord has sent to us that the land may not become waste." 52 He will order that nothing be given to the king for three years and six months. The land will be full of good things in great welfare. 53 The living will go before the dead, saying, “Arise and be with us in this rest.” III 1 In the fourth year of that king, the king of lawlessness will appear, saying, "I am Christ," though he is not, do not believe him. 2 Christ, when he comes, comes like a collecting place of doves, a crown of doves surrounding him, walking on the clouds of heaven, the sign of the cross drawn around him. 3 The entire world will see him like the sun that has shone from the east to the west. 4 This is how he will come, all his angels surrounding him. 5 The son of lawlessness will also throw out his hand to stand in the holy places. 6 He will say to the sun, "‘Fall", and it falls, he will say "Shine", and it shines, he will say "Become dark", and it does; 7 He will say to the moon, "Become blood", and it does. 8 He will go with them from heaven, he will walk on the sea and the rivers as on dry land. 9 The lame will walk. He will cause the deaf to hear, he will cause the dumb to speak, he will cause the blind to see; 10 He will purify the lepers and heal the sick. Those who have demons, he will drive them out. 11 He will increase his signs and miracles before everyone. 12 He will do things that Christ did, with the sole exception of raising the dead. 13 Through this you will know him that he is the son of lawlessness, that he has no power over the soul. 14 I will tell you about his signs so that you will know him: 15 He is a small [. . .] boy with thin legs, a spot of white hair on his forehead, [. . .], [. . .] his eyebrows coming to his ears, a [. . .] on his hands. 16 He will change before those who look after him. He will become a small child, he will become an old man; 17 He will change in all his signs, but the sign of his forehead is unchangeable. 18 In this you will know him that he is the son of lawlessness. IV 1 The virgin, whose name is Tabitha, will hear that the shameless one revealed himself in the holy places. She will clothe herself in garments of fine linen; 2 And pursue him to Judaea, reproving him, as far as Jerusalem, "O shameless one, son of lawlessness, the one who has been an enemy to all the saints; VERSES 3-14 are from VERSION A [3 Then the shameless one will be angry at the virgin. He will pursue her up to the regions of the sunset. He will suck her blood in the evening. 4 And he will cast her upon the temple, and she will become a healing for the people. 5 She will rise up at dawn. And she will live and scold him, saying, "O shameless one, you have no power against my soul or my body, because I live in the Lord always. 6 And also my blood which you have cast upon the temple has become a healing for the people." 7 Then when Elijah and Enoch hear that the shameless one has revealed himself in the holy place, they will come down and fight with him saying, 8 Are you indeed not ashamed? When you attach yourself to the saints, because you are always estranged. 9 You have been hostile to those who belong to heaven. You have acted against those belonging to the earth. 10 You have been hostile to the thrones. You have acted against the angels. You are always a stranger. 11 You have fallen from heaven like the morning stars. You were changed, and your tribe became dark for you. 12 But you are not ashamed, when you stand firmly against God you are a devil. 13 The shameless one will hear and he will be angry, and he will fight with them in the market place of the great city. And he will spend seven days fighting with them. 14 And they will spend three and one half days in the market place dead, while all the people see them.] 15 Shameless one, child of lawlessness, are you not ashamed to do this, misleading the people of God before whom you have no shame? Do you not know that we live in the Lord?" 16 They, saying the words they have overcome him, say, "In addition to these things we will leave the flesh of the spirit. We will kill you, it not being possible for you to speak on that day, for we are strong at all times in the Lord. You are an enemy of the Lord at all times." 17 The shameless one will listen, he will become angry, he will wage war on them; 18 And the entire city will surround them. 19 On that day they will cry jubilantly up to heaven, shining, the entire people seeing them and the whole world. 20 He will not overcome them, the son of lawlessness. He will go to the land and seek to sin against the people. 21 He will pursue all the saints and they will be brought bound with the priests of the land; 22 And he will kill them and he will [. . . . . . . . .] and their eyes will be plucked out with iron picks. 23 He will remove their skin and their heads. He will bring the priests one by one and order vinegar and a salt solution to be brought to their noses. 24 Those unable to withstand the tortures of that king, they will take gold and flee on the ferry to desert places. They will sleep like one asleep. 25 The Lord will receive their spirit and their souls. 26 Their bodies will become stones. Wild beasts will not eat them until the final day of the great judgement. 27 They will arise and find a resting place, but they will not be in the kingdom of Christ like those who resisted. For the Lord said, "I will give them (the opportunity) to sit at my right hand." 28 They will receive grace over the others. They will be kings over the son of lawlessness. They will see the dissolution of heaven and earth. 29 They will receive thrones and the glory of crowns. 30 The sixty just people will sit on the throne, these who are prepared for this hour. 31 They will be armed with armour of God. They will hasten to Jerusalem and do battle with the shameless one, saying, "Every power which the prophets have given since the beginning, you have exercised them, but you have been unable to raise the dead, because you do not have the power over the soul. This is how we know that you are the son of lawlessness." 32 He will hear, be angry and order altars to be set alight; 33 The just to be bound, to be put up and burned. V 1 On that day the heart of many will become hard against him. They will flee from him, saying, "This is not Christ. Christ does not kill the just. He does not persecute people when he seeks them, but he persuades them with signs and wonders." 2 In those days Christ will have mercy on those who are his. He will send his angels from heaven, they making sixty thousand and four hundred, each one with six wings. 3 The roar will move heaven and earth, as they praise and give glory. 4 These on whose forehead is written the name of Christ, on whose hands the seal. The great and small will be taken up on their wings and removed from before his anger. 5 Then Gabriel and Uriel will make a column of light, preceding them to the holy earth; 6 And they will be given to eat from the tree of life and they will wear [white] clothes [. . . . . .]. The angels will watch over them. They will not thirst nor will the son of lawlessness prevail against them. 7 On that day the earth will tremble [. . . the next line is unreadable. . .] 8 [. . .] the birds will fall dead to the earth; 9 The land will become desiccated, the waters of the sea will dry up; 10 The sinners will groan upon the earth, saying, "What have you done to us, son of lawlessness, saying that you were Christ, when in fact you are the devil? 11 "It is not possible for you to save yourself, and you want to save us. You have made signs before us until you estranged us from Christ who saved us. Woe to us, because we listened to you [. . . most of the next two lines are missing . . .] 12 [. . .] famine [. . .] a just person we will worship him or where is he, the one who teaches us that may call on him [. . .]. VERSES 13-23 are from VERSION A [13 Now indeed we will be wrathfully destroyed because we disobeyed the LORD. 14 We went to the deep places of the sea, and we did not find water. We dug in the rivers and papyrus reeds, and we did not find water." 15 Then on that day, the shameless one will speak, saying, "Woe to me because my time has passed by for me while I was saying that my time would not pass by for me. 16 My years became months and my days have passed away as dust passes away. Now therefore I will perish together with you. 17 Now therefore run forth to the desert. Seize the robbers and kill them. 18 Bring up the saints. For because of them, the earth yields fruit. For because of them the sun shines upon the earth. For because of them the dew will come upon the earth." 19 The sinners will weep saying, "You made us hostile to the LORD. If you are able, rise up and pursue them." 20 Then he will take his fiery wings and fly out after the saints. He will fight with them again. 21 The angels will hear and come down. They will fight with him a battle of many swords. 22 It will come to pass on that day that the Lord will hear and command the heaven and the earth with great wrath. And they will send for fire. 23 And the fire will prevail over the earth seventy-two cubits. It will consume the sinners and the devils like stubble.] 24 [. . .] in a court of truth. 25 On that day the hills and the earth will roar, the [. . .] will say to each other, "Have you heard today the voice of man walking without coming to the judgement of the Son of God?" 26 The sins of each one will confront him in the place where they were committed, whether those of the day or those of the night. 27 Those belonging to the just and the [. . .] will see the sinners being punished and those who pursued them and have betrayed them to death. 28 The sinners then [. . .] or they will see the place of the just, and in this way there will be grace. In those, what the just ask for, they will be given. 30 On that day the Lord will judge heaven and earth. He will judge those who have transgressed in heaven and those who have done so on earth. 31 He will judge the shepherds of the people. He will ask them about the flock of sheep. They will tell him without deceit. 32 After these things Elijah and Enoch will come down and put aside the flesh of this world and put on their spiritual flesh. They will pursue the the son of lawlessness and kill him, he being unable to speak. 33 On that day he will dissolve before them like ice dissolved by fire. He will be destroyed by like a dragon in which there is no breath. 34 They will say to him, "Your time has [. . .] to you. So now you will be destroyed together with those who believe in you." 35 They will perish in the pit of the abyss, which will be closed on them. 36 On that day Christ will come from heaven, the king of all the saints. 37 He will set fire to this earth. He will spend a thousand years on it; 38 Because the sinners have ruled on it. He will make a new heaven and a new earth. No devil [. . .] is in them; 39 As he goes up and down, they being with the angels at all times and with Christ a thousand years. |
HEBREW VERSION
1 ‘And he lay down and fell asleep beneath a broom-shrub. Then lo, this angel touched him and said, “Get up, eat!”’. Michael, ‘the great prince’ of Israel, revealed this mystery to the prophet Elijah at Mount Carmel; namely, the eschaton and what was scheduled to transpire at the End of Days at the end of the four empires and the things which would take place during the reign of the fourth ruler.
2 A wind from the Lord lifted me up and transported me to the southern part of the world, and I saw there a high place burning with fire where no creature was able to enter. Then the wind lifted me up and transported me to the eastern part of the world, and I saw there stars battling one another incessantly. Again the wind lifted me up and transported me to the western part of the world, and I saw there souls undergoing a painful judgment, each one in accordance with its deeds. 3 Then Michael said to me, ‘The appointed time for the End of Days will occur during the reign of a king who will be named Hrmlt. There are some that say that Trmyl’ will be his name.’ R. Simai says Hkšrt will be his name. R. Eleazar says Artaxerxes will be his name. R. Judah b. Betira says Cyrus will be his name. R. Šim‘ōn b. YoÐai says Khusrau will be his name. The halakhah in this case follows R. Šim‘ōn who said ‘Khusrau’ will be his name. 4 The last king who rules Persia shall come up against the Romans three successive years until he expands his gains against them for twelve months. Three mighty warriors will come up to oppose him from the west, but they will be handed over into his control. Then the lowliest of the kings, the son of a slave woman and whose name is Gīgīt, will confront him from the west. These will be his signs, for Daniel has already foreseen him: his face will be long, there will be a bald patch between his eyes, he will be very tall, the soles of his feet will be high, and his thighs will be thin. At that time he will attack the faithful people, and he will provoke at that time three agitations. All the constellations will be gathered together and move to one place. They will plunder houses and rob fields and strike the orphan and the widow in the bazaar, but if they perform penitence they will be forgiven. 5 On the twentieth day of Marheshvan, the world will be shaken ‘and the heavens and the earth will quake.’ On the twentieth day of Kislev, all Israel will stand in prayer and clamor before their heavenly Father, and a sword will descend and fall upon the nations of the world, in accordance with what scripture says: ‘The sword kills indiscriminately’. On the twentieth day of Nisan, the first group of exiles will depart from Babylon: they will number eighteen thousand men and women, and not a single one of them will perish. On the twenty-fifth day of Tishri, the second group of exiles will depart from the region of the River Sambatyon: they will number seventeen thousand, but twenty men and fifteen women will be slain from among them. On the twenty-fifth day of the eighth month, the third group of exiles will depart. They will weep and cry out on behalf of their brethren who were slain, and they will cry out in the desert for twenty-five days and not taste any food, living instead ‘on what issues from the mouth of the Lord’. The first group of exiles will not leave Babylon until the second group arrives there, as scripture affirms: ‘Writhe and push out, O daughter of Zion, like a woman giving birth. For you will now go out of the city and dwell in the countryside, and you shall come to Babylon. There you will be rescued; there will the Lord redeem you from the hand of your enemies’. 6 On the twentieth day of Nisan, a king shall come up from the west, ravaging and horrifying the world. He shall encroach upon ‘the holy beautiful mountain’ and burn it. Most cursed among women is the woman who gave birth to him: that is ‘the horn’ which Daniel foresaw, and that day will be one of torment and battle against Israel. 7 Demetrius son of Pōryphōs and Anfōlīpōs son of Panfōs will wage a second battle. Accompanying them will be ten myriads of cavalry, ten myriads of foot soldiers, and another ten myriads of troops concealed on ships. On the twentieth day of Ellul, the Messiah will come: his name is Yinnōn. On that same day Gabriel will descend and from the ninth to the tenth hour will destroy from the world ninety-two thousand people. On the twentieth day of Tebet, Mekketz, Qīrtalos, and all the cities allied with them will wage a third battle: a very large nation extending from the great plain unto Jaffa and Ashkelon. On the twentieth day of Shebat, the Messiah will come: angels of destruction will descend and destroy the whole of that multitude, and they will not leave alive a single soul. 8 It was regarding this time that God spoke about to Abraham: ‘Your progeny are destined to sink to the lowest level, as scripture states: “And you shall be low, and you will speak from the ground”, but afterwards they will be exalted higher than all the nations, as scripture affirms: “and the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth”.’ After this all the Gentile nations will come and prostrate themselves before every Israelite and lick off the dust from their feet, as scripture says: ‘kings will serve as your tutors, while their princesses will be your nursemaids; they will prostrate themselves face-down on the ground to you and lick off the dust from your feet’. 9 On the twentieth day of Adar, the Messiah will come, and with him will be thirty thousand righteous ones, as scripture attests: ‘Righteousness will be the wrap girdling his loins’. When the nations of the world behold this happening, immediately each one of them will putrefy, both it and its cavalry, as scripture says: ‘and this will be the affliction with which the Lord will strike all the nations, etc.’. At that time the Holy One, blessed be He, will address the nations of the world: ‘Woe to you, o wicked ones, who are alive at the cessation of the four world empires! All of you are to be expelled from the world, one wherein one kor of wheat will yield about nine hundred kors, and there will be analogous fantastic yields for wine and oil. Every tree will bear choice produce and fruits, as scripture states: “and you, o mountains of Israel, will make your branches yield, etc.”.’ And Israel will eat these fruits and rejoice for forty years. 10 After this the Holy One, blessed be He, will bring up Gog and Magog ‘and all their associates,’ and then all the peoples of the earth will assemble together and surround Jerusalem in order to make war. The Holy One, blessed be He, will come up and do battle with them. The Messiah will arrive, and with his help the Holy One, blessed be He, will wage war on them, as scripture forecasts: ‘then the Lord will go forth and fight with those nations as when He did battle on the day of war’. On that day mountains will quake and hills will shake and walls and towers will collapse. The Holy One, blessed be He, will gather all the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth to feast on their flesh and to drink their blood, as scripture says: ‘the vultures will spend summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth will spend winter upon them’. Israel will spend seven years burning their weaponry, as scripture states: ‘then the inhabitants of the cities of Israel will go out and set fire to the weaponry and burn it [. . .] for seven years’. It also says: ‘The house of Israel will spend seven months burying them in order to purify the land’. 11 These are the cities which will experience devastation: Jericho, Be’erot, Beth Hōrōn, Sīserīn, Milkah, Arad, Shallūm, Samaria, Beth Migdōl, Tyre, Beth alsawet, Lod, Būz, Beth ‘Aynam, Hamath, Sefar, adashah, Antioch, Alexandria, and ‘Edom.’ But as for all of the cities of Israel, fire and fiery angels will surround them, as scripture affirms: ‘and I will be a wall of fire encompassing it—utterance of the Lord’. Afterwards the final day will come: its duration will be that of forty days. The mountains and hills will shudder and quake, and the earth will cry out against the wicked, saying: ‘In such-and-such a place did so-and-so kill so-and-so,’ as scripture states: ‘the earth will reveal her blood-guilt, etc.’. 12 Elijah said: I beheld the dead taking form and their ‘dust’ being reshaped and made like the forms they had when they were formerly alive so that they might render praise to God, as scripture states: ‘See now that I indeed am He and there is no deity other than Me; I put to death and I resurrect, I sicken and I heal: none can escape from My power’. Also in Ezekiel it says: ‘and I looked, and behold, sinews were upon them’. The ministering angels opened their tombs and injected them with their ‘animating breaths,’ and they revivified. They stood them up on their feet. They shoved everyone who merited punishment into a large hollow place two hundred cubits long and fifty cubits wide. The eyes of the righteous will witness the downfall of all those who did not take pleasure in observing the Torah of the Holy One, blessed be He, as scripture states: ‘they will go out and see the corpses of those people who rebelled against Me [. . .]’ 13 Elijah said: I beheld fire and brimstone coming down upon the wicked from heaven, as scripture says: ‘the Lord will rain coals of fire and brimstone upon the wicked’. The Holy One, blessed be He, will move the Temple a great distance from the place of eternal torment so that the righteous will not hear the sound of the cry of the wicked suffering and seek to obtain mercy for them. ‘They will be as if they never were.’ 14 Elijah said: I saw Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the righteous ones in sitting postures, and the land before them was sown with every sort of delightful vegetation. That tree which the Holy One, blessed be He, had prepared was standing in the middle of the garden, as scripture says: ‘and there will grow by the stream on its bank on both sides every kind of fruit tree; their foliage will never wither, nor will their fruit ever fail’. Boats will come ‘from En-gedi as far as’ Eglayim bearing wealth and riches for the righteous ones. 15 Elijah, may his memory be for a blessing, said: I beheld a great city, both beautiful and glorious, descending from heaven wherein it had been built, as scripture states: ‘The already built Jerusalem, like the city associated to it’, perfectly constructed and with its people dwelling within it. It is situated by three thousand towers, with 20,000 ris separating each tower. Within the span of every ris are 25,000 cubits of emeralds, pearls, and other jewels, as scripture says: ‘I will inlay your battlements with gemstones’. 16 Elijah said: I saw the houses and the gates of the righteous with their thresholds and door-frames constructed of precious stones. I saw the treasuries of the Temple opened up to their doorways, and among them were Torah and peace, as scripture states: ‘all your children will be instructed by the Lord; your children will have great peace’, and it says: ‘those who love Your Torah have great peace’, and it says: ‘How great is Your beneficence which You have stored up for those who revere You’. End of Sefer Elijah, may his memory be for a blessing. |
FRAGMENTS
1 [Elias the prophet spake concerning Antichrist, of what aspect he is to appear at that time:] His head a flame of fire: his right eye mingled with blood, but the left bright having two pupils: his eyebrows white, and his lower lip large: his right thigh thin and his feet broad, and the great toe of his foot hath been broken.
2 The angel of the Lord showed me a deep valley which is called Gehenna, burning with sulphur and pitch, and in that place are many souls of sinners, and thus are they tortured with divers torments. Some suffer hanging [. . .] by their tongues, some by their eyes, others hang head downward; women will be tormented by their breasts, and youths hanging by their hands; certain maidens are burned upon a gridiron and some souls are fixed with perpetual pain. Now by these divers torments is shown the act of every one. [. . .] They that hang by the tongues are blasphemers and also false witnesses: they that are hung by their eyes are they that have been offended in regard of sight, because they looked upon things done guiltily in concupiscence: but they that hang head downwards, these are they that hated the righteousness of God, being of evil counsel, neither did any agree with his brother: rightly, therefore, are they hung by the decree of punishment. But whereas women are commanded to be tormented in their breasts, these are they which gave their bodies unto men in lasciviousness, wherefore the men also will be hard by them in torments, hanging by their hands upon this account. 3 Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. 4 But the saints of the Lord shall inherit the glory of God and His power. Tell me what glory, O blessed one? That which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it come up upon the heart of man: and they shall rejoice at the kingdom of their Lord for ever. Amen. |
Unknown Apocryphal Fragments
These fragments (quotations) are found in various sources but the original texts are unknown to us.
1 Behold, the Lord taketh to Himself a nation from the midst of the nations, as a man taketh the firstfruits of his threshing floor: and there shall come forth out of that nation the holy of holies.
2 Enter ye into the store-chambers for a little moment, until my anger and wrath be overpast: and I will remember the good day and will raise you up out of your coffins.
3 But I am the vapour from a pot.
4 And Thou shalt raise me up and I will give thanks unto Thee.
5 I laid me down and slept and rose up, for Thou art with me.
6 Cleave unto the holy, for they that cleave to them shall be made holy.
7 The day of judgment cometh burning like a furnace, and certain of the heavens shall melt, and all the earth, melting like lead upon the fire; and then shall the secret and the manifest works of men appear.
8 Behold, I make the latter things as the first.
9 Enter ye into a land flowing with milk and honey, and have dominion over it.
10 And let them eat of the goat that is offered at the fast for all the sins. And let the priests alone all eat the intestine unwashed, with vinegar. Cursed is the other. And spit, all of you, upon it, and pierce it, and put the scarlet wool about its head, and so let it be cast into the wilderness.
11 And the land of Jacob was praised above all the earth. And there was a river flowing from the right, and there came up out of it goodly trees, and whosoever eateth of them shall live for ever.
12 And when shall these things be accomplished? The Lord saith: When a tree and wood shall lie down and arise, and when blood shall drop from a tree.
13 And it shall be, when the week is being accomplished, that the Temple of God shall be built gloriously in the name of the Lord.
14 The sun shall fail and the heaven shall be darkened, but the Almighty shall stand for ever: and the powers of the heaven shall be shaken, and the heavens shall be rolled up like a curtain, stretched out and pulled in, and the earth shall flee from the face of the Lord.
15 Things on earth will be in an ill plight when men put their faith in statues.
16 God poured out a little of that intelligent fire upon Sodom.
17 Good works are a prayer acceptable to the Lord.
18 Thou livedst in the enclosure of the people, thy children were blessed in the tabernacles of the fathers. Thou didst inherit the covenant of Israel.
19 Makers of war, strikers with their tails.
20 Whomsoever I smite, do thou pity.
21 Before the morning star I begat thee, and before the sun is his name. Blessed is he who was there before the coming of man into being. Blessed is he who was, before he was born.
22 He shall gather together all his power from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof: whom he hath called and whom he hath not called shall go with him: he shall make the sea white with the sails of his ships and the land plain black with the shields and the weapons: and every one that shall meet him in battle shall fall by the sword.
23 And I will command the fishes of the sea, and they shall vomit up the bones that are devoured, and I will make joint come to joint and bone to bone.
24 He shall be called a Nazarene.
Quotation Deleted From the Book of Ezra
Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho 71-72
And Ezra said to the people, This Passover is our Savior and our refuge. And if you have understood, and your heart has taken it in, that we shall humble Him on a standard, and thereafter hope in Him, then this place shall not be forsaken for ever, says the God of hosts. But if you will not believe Him, and will not listen to His declaration, you shall be a laughing-stock to the nations.
Pseudo-Daniel (4Q243-245)
The pseudo-Daniel portions that follow describe one or more occasions on which Daniel stood before King Belshazzar. Like Pseudo-Jeremiah, Second Ezekiel, and the Damascus Document, they furnish a tantalizingly mysterious and often apocalyptic view of history. This text refers to: 1. the flood and the tower of Babel; 2. the exodus from Egypt; 3. the exile to Babylon; 4. the first four kingdoms; 5. seemingly the Hellenistic era; and 6. probably the Roman era of the ‘last days’ or ‘end of time’.
[. . .] Daniel before [. . .] Belshazzar [. . .] after the flood [. . .] Noah from Lubar the mountain [. . .] a city [. . .] the tower; its height [. . .] upon the tower and [. . .] to visit the sons of [. . .] four hundred years [. . .] [. . .] all of them, and they will go out from Egypt by the hand of [. . .] and their crossing will be at the River Jordan [. . .] and their sons [. . .] the children of Israel preferred their presence of the false Gods to the presence of God. They were sacrificing their sons to the Demons of Falsehood, and God was angry at them and decided to give them into the power of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and to lay waste to their land before them by the hands of [. . .] members of the exilic community [. . .] and He scattered them [. . .] an oppression of seventy years [. . .] this great kingdom, and He will save them [. . .] powerful, a Kingdom of the Peoples [. . .] this is the first Kingdom [. . .] he will rule some number of years [. . .] Balakros [. . .] years [. . .] [. . .]-rhosthe son of [. . .] and [. . .]-rhos will rule thirty-five years [. . .] to say [. . .]. Evil has led astray [. . .] in this[time the called ones will be gathered [. . .] the Kings of the Peoples, and from that day on there shall be [. . .] Holy Ones and the Kings of the Peoples [. . .] they shall be doing until this day [. . .] and what [. . .] Daniel [. . .] a book that he gave [. . .] Kohath [. . .] Uzziah [. . .] Abiathar [. . .] Jehoniah [. . .] Simeon [. . .] David, Solomon [. . .] Ahaziah, [. . .] to bring Evil to an end [. . .] these will wander astray in blindness [. . .] these people. Then there shall arise [. . .] Holy Ones shall return [. . .] Evil.
The Gnostic Book of Baruch
Hippolytus of Rome called it the worst of the heresies, yet the Book of Baruch, attributed to a gnostic leader named Justin, remains virtually unknown today. Until perhaps the next big ancient manuscript find, the text only exists in part, preserved in the Refutation of All Heresies. Containing material obviously borrowed from the Old Testament, many scholars view it as an example of primitive Jewish Gnosticism with some later Hellenistic and Christian influences. The Book of Baruch is essentially a creation and redemption myth, designed to enlighten its readers as to the mysteries behind Justin’s cosmology. Unlike the dyadic gnostic stories, the Justinian one introduces a trio of deities: the almighty Good, decidedly gendered as male, and two creator demiurges, one male (Elohim) and one female (Edem or Israel). These demiurges we might denominate “Father Sky” and “Mother Earth,” and each displays both gender and sexual characteristics. It is their lustful sexual union that brings about heavenly beings, mankind, and animals.
1 I swear by that Good One who is above all, to guard these mysteries, and to divulge them to no one, and not to relapse from the Good One to the creature. Drink from life-giving water, which is a fountain of life-giving, bubbling water. For there has been a separation made between water and water; and there is water, that below the firmament of the wicked creation, in which earthly and animal men are washed; and there is life-giving water, above the firmament, of the Good One, in which spiritual and living men are washed; and in this Elohim washed Himself. and having washed did not repent. And when the prophet affirms, 'Take unto yourself a wife of whoredom, since the earth has abandoned itself to fornication, departing from following after the Lord;' that is, Edem departs from Elohim. In these words the prophet clearly declares the entire mystery, and is not hearkened unto by reason of the wicked machinations of Naas.
2 There are three unbegotten principles of the universe, two male and one female. Of the male, however, a certain one, is denominated good, and it alone is called after this manner, and possesses a power of prescience concerning the universe. But the other is father of all begotten things, devoid of prescience, and invisible. And the female is devoid of prescience, passionate, two-minded, two-bodied, in every respect, as far as the groin a virgin, and the parts below resembling a snake. This girl is styled Edem and Israel. And these principles of the universe are roots and fountains from which existing things have been produced, and there was not anything else. The Father who is devoid of prescience, beholding that half-woman Edem, passed into a concupiscent desire for her. This Father is called Elohim. Not less did Edem also long for Elohim, and the mutual passion brought them together into the one nuptial couch of love.
3 And from this intercourse the Father generated out of Edem unto himself twelve angels. And the names of the angels begotten by the Father are these: Michael, Amen, Baruch, Gabriel, Esaddaeus [. . .]. And of the maternal angels which Edem brought forth, the names in like manner have been subjoined, and they are as follows: Babel, Achamoth, Naas, Bel, Belias, Satan, Sael, Adonaeus, Leviathan, Pharao, Carcamenos, and Lathen.
4 Of these twenty-four angels the paternal ones are associated with the Father, and do all things according to His will; and the maternal angels are associated with Edem the Mother. And the multitude of all these angels together is Paradise as Moses speaks: 'God planted a garden in Eden towards the east,' that is, towards the face of Edem, that Edem might behold the garden--that is, the angels -- continually. The angels are trees of this garden, and the tree of life is the third of the paternal angels -- Baruch. And the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is the third of the maternal angels -- Naas. For so one ought to interpret the words of Moses, observing, 'Moses said these things disguisedly, from the fact that all do not attain the truth.' And Paradise being formed from the conjugal joy of Elohim and Edem, the angels of Elohim receiving from the most beauteous earth, that is, not from tile portion of Edem resembling a monster, but from the parts above the groin of human shape, and gentle -- in aspect, -- made man out of the earth. But out of the parts resembling a monster were produced wild beasts, and the rest of the animal creation. They made man, therefore, as a symbol of the unity and love between them; and they depute their own powers unto him, Edem the soul, but Elohim the spirit. And the man Adam was produced as a seal and memento of love, and as an everlasting emblem of the marriage of Edem and Elohim. And in like manner also Eve was produced as Moses has described, an image and emblem, as well as a seal, to be preserved for ever, of Edem. And in like manner also a soul was deposited in Eve, -- an image -- from Edem, but a spirit from Elohim. And there were given to them commandments, 'Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth,' that is, Edem; for so he wishes that it had been written. For the entire of the power belonging unto herself, Edem conferred upon Elohim a nuptial dowry. Whence from imitation of that primary marriage up to this day, women bring a dowry to their husbands, complying with a certain divine and paternal law that came into existence on the part of Edem towards Elohim.
5 And when all things were created as has been described by Moses -- both heaven and earth, and the things therein -- the twelve angels of the Mother were divided into four principles, and each fourth part of them is called a river -- Phison, and Gehon, and Tigris, and Euphrates as Moses stated. These twelve angels, being mutually connected, go about into four parts, and manage the world, holding from Edem a viceregal authority over the world. But they do not always continue in the same places, but move around as if in a circular dance, changing place after place, and at set times and intervals retiring to the localities subject to themselves. And when Phison holds sway over places, famine, distress, and affliction prevail in that part of the earth, for the battalion of these angels is niggardly. In like manner also there belong to each part of the four, according to the power and nature of each, evil times and hosts of diseases. And continually, according to the dominion of each fourth part, this stream of evil, just like a current of rivers, careers, according to the will of Edem, uninterruptedly around the world. And from some cause of this description has arisen the necessity of evil.
6 When Elohim had prepared and created the world as a result from joint pleasure, He wished to ascend up to the elevated parts of heaven, and to see that not anything of what pertained to the creation labored under deficiency. And He took His Own angels with Him, for His nature was to mount aloft, leaving Edem below: for inasmuch as she was earth, she was not disposed to follow upward her spouse. Elohim, then, coming to the highest part of heaven above, and beholding a light superior to that which He Himself had created, exclaimed, 'Open me the gates, that entering in I may acknowledge the Lord; for I considered Myself to be Lord.' A voice was returned to Him from the light, saying, 'This is the gate of the Lord: through this the righteous enter in.' And immediately the gate was opened, and the Father, without the angels, entered, advanced towards the Good One, and beheld what eye hath not seen, and ear hath not heard, and what hath not entered into the heart of man to conceive.
7 Then the Good One said to him, 'Sit thou on my right hand.' And the Father says to the Good One, 'Permit me, Lord, to overturn the world which I have made, for my spirit is bound to men. And I wish to receive it back from them.' Then the Good One replied to him, 'No evil canst thou do while thou art with me, for both thou and Edem made the world as a result of conjugal joy. Permit Edem, then, to hold possession of the world as long as she wishes; but do you remain with me.' Then Edem, knowing that she had been deserted by Elohim, was seized with grief, and placed beside herself her own angels. And she adorned herself after a comely fashion, if by any means Elohim, passing into concupiscent desire, might descend to her. When, however, Elohim, overpowered by the Good One, no longer descended to Edem, Edem commanded Babel to cause adulteries and dissolution of marriages among men. And she adopted this expedient in order that, as she had been divorced from Elohim, so also the spirit of Elohim, which is in men, being wrong with sorrow, might be punished by such separations, and might undergo precisely the sufferings which were being endured by the deserted Edem. And Edem gave great power to her third angel, Naas, that by every species of punishment she might chasten the spirit of Elohim which is in men, in order that Elohim, through the spirit, might be punished for having deserted his spouse, in violation of the agreements entered into between them. Elohim the father, seeing these things, sent forth Baruch, the third angel among his own, to succor the spirit that is in all men. Baruch then coming, stood in the midst of the angels of Edem in the midst of paradise -- for paradise is the angels, -- and issued to the man the following injunction: 'Of every tree that is in paradise thou mayest freely eat, but thou mayest not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,' which is Naas. Now the meaning is, that he should obey the rest of the eleven angels of Edem, for the eleven possess passions, but are not guilty of transgression. Naas, however, had committed sin, for he went in unto Eve, deceiving her, and debauched her; and such an act as this is a violation of law. He, however, likewise went in unto Adam, and had unnatural intercourse with him; and this is itself also a piece of turpitude, whence have arisen adultery and sodomy.
8 Henceforward vice and virtue were prevalent among men, arising from a single source -- that of the Father. For the Father having ascended to the Good One, points out from time to time the way to those desirous of ascending to him likewise. After having departed from Edem, he caused an originating principle of evil for the spirit of the Father that is in men. Baruch therefore was dispatched to Moses, and through him spoke to the children of Israel, that they might be converted unto the Good One. But the third angel, by the soul which came from Edem upon Moses, as also upon all men, obscured the precepts of Baruch, and caused his own peculiar injunctions to be hearkened unto. For this reason the soul is arrayed against the spirit, and the spirit against the soul. For the soul is Edem, but the spirit Elohim, and each of these exists in all men, both females and males. Again, after these occurrences, Baruch was sent to the Prophets, that through the Prophets the spirit that dwelleth in men might hear words of warning, and might avoid Edem and the wicked fiction, just as the Father had fled from Elohim. In like manner also -- by the prophets -- Naas, by a similar device, through the soul that dwells in man, along with the spirit of the Father, enticed away the prophets, and all of them were allured after him, and did not follow the words of Baruch, which Elohim enjoined.
9 Ultimately Elohim selected Hercules, an uncircumcised prophet, and sent him to quell the twelve angels of Edem, and release the Father from the twelve angels, those wicked ones of the creation. Babel clungs to him and enticed him away, and divested him of his power, viz., the commands of Baruch which Elohim issued. And in place of this power, Babel enveloped him in her own peculiar robe, that is, in the power of Edem, who is the power below; and in this way the prophecy of Hercules remained unfulfilled, and his works.
10 Finally, however, in the days of Herod the king, Baruch was dispatched, being sent down once more by Elohim; and coming to Nazareth, he found Jesus, son of Joseph and Mary, a child of twelve years, feeding sheep. And he announced to him all things from the beginning, whatsoever had been done by Edem and Elohim, and whatsoever would be likely to take place hereafter, and spoke the following words: 'All the prophets anterior to you have been enticed. Put forth an effort, therefore, Jesus, Son of man, not to be allured, but preach this word unto men, and carry back tidings to them of things pertaining to the Father, and things pertaining to the Good One, and ascend to the Good One, and sit there with Elohim, Father of us all.' And Jesus was obedient unto the angel, saying that, 'I shall do all things, Lord,' and proceeded to preach. Naas therefore wished to entice this one also.
11 Jesus, however, was not disposed to listen to his overtures, for he remained faithful to Baruch. Therefore Naas, being inflamed with anger because he was not able to seduce him, caused him to be crucified. He, however, leaving the body of Edem on the accursed tree, ascended to the Good One; saying, however, to Edem, 'Woman, thou retainest thy son,' that is, the natural and the earthly man. But Jesus himself commending his spirit into the hands of the Father, ascended to the Good One. Now the Good One is Priapus, and he it is who antecedently caused the production of everything that exists. On this account he is styled Priapus, because he previously fashioned all things according to his own design. For this reason in every temple is placed his statue, which is revered by every creature; and there are images of him in the highways, carrying over his head ripened fruits, that is, the produce of the creation, of which he is the cause, having in the first instance formed, according to His own design, the creation, when as yet it had no existence. When, therefore you hear that the swan went in unto Leda, and begat a child from her, learn that the swan is Elohim, and Leda Edem. And when an eagle went in unto Ganymede, know that the eagle is Naas, and Ganymede Adam. And when gold in a shower went in unto Danae and begat a child from her, recollect that the gold is Elohim, and Danae is Edem.
12 When, therefore, the prophet says, 'Hearken, O heaven, and give ear, O earth; the Lord hath spoken,' he means by heaven, the spirit which is in man from Elohim; and by earth, the soul which is in man along with the spirit; and by Lord, Baruch; and by Israel, Edem, for Israel as well as Edem is called the spouse of Elohim. 'Israel did not know me; for had he known me, that I am with the Good One, he would not have punished through paternal ignorance the spirit which is in men.'
1 I swear by that Good One who is above all, to guard these mysteries, and to divulge them to no one, and not to relapse from the Good One to the creature. Drink from life-giving water, which is a fountain of life-giving, bubbling water. For there has been a separation made between water and water; and there is water, that below the firmament of the wicked creation, in which earthly and animal men are washed; and there is life-giving water, above the firmament, of the Good One, in which spiritual and living men are washed; and in this Elohim washed Himself. and having washed did not repent. And when the prophet affirms, 'Take unto yourself a wife of whoredom, since the earth has abandoned itself to fornication, departing from following after the Lord;' that is, Edem departs from Elohim. In these words the prophet clearly declares the entire mystery, and is not hearkened unto by reason of the wicked machinations of Naas.
2 There are three unbegotten principles of the universe, two male and one female. Of the male, however, a certain one, is denominated good, and it alone is called after this manner, and possesses a power of prescience concerning the universe. But the other is father of all begotten things, devoid of prescience, and invisible. And the female is devoid of prescience, passionate, two-minded, two-bodied, in every respect, as far as the groin a virgin, and the parts below resembling a snake. This girl is styled Edem and Israel. And these principles of the universe are roots and fountains from which existing things have been produced, and there was not anything else. The Father who is devoid of prescience, beholding that half-woman Edem, passed into a concupiscent desire for her. This Father is called Elohim. Not less did Edem also long for Elohim, and the mutual passion brought them together into the one nuptial couch of love.
3 And from this intercourse the Father generated out of Edem unto himself twelve angels. And the names of the angels begotten by the Father are these: Michael, Amen, Baruch, Gabriel, Esaddaeus [. . .]. And of the maternal angels which Edem brought forth, the names in like manner have been subjoined, and they are as follows: Babel, Achamoth, Naas, Bel, Belias, Satan, Sael, Adonaeus, Leviathan, Pharao, Carcamenos, and Lathen.
4 Of these twenty-four angels the paternal ones are associated with the Father, and do all things according to His will; and the maternal angels are associated with Edem the Mother. And the multitude of all these angels together is Paradise as Moses speaks: 'God planted a garden in Eden towards the east,' that is, towards the face of Edem, that Edem might behold the garden--that is, the angels -- continually. The angels are trees of this garden, and the tree of life is the third of the paternal angels -- Baruch. And the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is the third of the maternal angels -- Naas. For so one ought to interpret the words of Moses, observing, 'Moses said these things disguisedly, from the fact that all do not attain the truth.' And Paradise being formed from the conjugal joy of Elohim and Edem, the angels of Elohim receiving from the most beauteous earth, that is, not from tile portion of Edem resembling a monster, but from the parts above the groin of human shape, and gentle -- in aspect, -- made man out of the earth. But out of the parts resembling a monster were produced wild beasts, and the rest of the animal creation. They made man, therefore, as a symbol of the unity and love between them; and they depute their own powers unto him, Edem the soul, but Elohim the spirit. And the man Adam was produced as a seal and memento of love, and as an everlasting emblem of the marriage of Edem and Elohim. And in like manner also Eve was produced as Moses has described, an image and emblem, as well as a seal, to be preserved for ever, of Edem. And in like manner also a soul was deposited in Eve, -- an image -- from Edem, but a spirit from Elohim. And there were given to them commandments, 'Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth,' that is, Edem; for so he wishes that it had been written. For the entire of the power belonging unto herself, Edem conferred upon Elohim a nuptial dowry. Whence from imitation of that primary marriage up to this day, women bring a dowry to their husbands, complying with a certain divine and paternal law that came into existence on the part of Edem towards Elohim.
5 And when all things were created as has been described by Moses -- both heaven and earth, and the things therein -- the twelve angels of the Mother were divided into four principles, and each fourth part of them is called a river -- Phison, and Gehon, and Tigris, and Euphrates as Moses stated. These twelve angels, being mutually connected, go about into four parts, and manage the world, holding from Edem a viceregal authority over the world. But they do not always continue in the same places, but move around as if in a circular dance, changing place after place, and at set times and intervals retiring to the localities subject to themselves. And when Phison holds sway over places, famine, distress, and affliction prevail in that part of the earth, for the battalion of these angels is niggardly. In like manner also there belong to each part of the four, according to the power and nature of each, evil times and hosts of diseases. And continually, according to the dominion of each fourth part, this stream of evil, just like a current of rivers, careers, according to the will of Edem, uninterruptedly around the world. And from some cause of this description has arisen the necessity of evil.
6 When Elohim had prepared and created the world as a result from joint pleasure, He wished to ascend up to the elevated parts of heaven, and to see that not anything of what pertained to the creation labored under deficiency. And He took His Own angels with Him, for His nature was to mount aloft, leaving Edem below: for inasmuch as she was earth, she was not disposed to follow upward her spouse. Elohim, then, coming to the highest part of heaven above, and beholding a light superior to that which He Himself had created, exclaimed, 'Open me the gates, that entering in I may acknowledge the Lord; for I considered Myself to be Lord.' A voice was returned to Him from the light, saying, 'This is the gate of the Lord: through this the righteous enter in.' And immediately the gate was opened, and the Father, without the angels, entered, advanced towards the Good One, and beheld what eye hath not seen, and ear hath not heard, and what hath not entered into the heart of man to conceive.
7 Then the Good One said to him, 'Sit thou on my right hand.' And the Father says to the Good One, 'Permit me, Lord, to overturn the world which I have made, for my spirit is bound to men. And I wish to receive it back from them.' Then the Good One replied to him, 'No evil canst thou do while thou art with me, for both thou and Edem made the world as a result of conjugal joy. Permit Edem, then, to hold possession of the world as long as she wishes; but do you remain with me.' Then Edem, knowing that she had been deserted by Elohim, was seized with grief, and placed beside herself her own angels. And she adorned herself after a comely fashion, if by any means Elohim, passing into concupiscent desire, might descend to her. When, however, Elohim, overpowered by the Good One, no longer descended to Edem, Edem commanded Babel to cause adulteries and dissolution of marriages among men. And she adopted this expedient in order that, as she had been divorced from Elohim, so also the spirit of Elohim, which is in men, being wrong with sorrow, might be punished by such separations, and might undergo precisely the sufferings which were being endured by the deserted Edem. And Edem gave great power to her third angel, Naas, that by every species of punishment she might chasten the spirit of Elohim which is in men, in order that Elohim, through the spirit, might be punished for having deserted his spouse, in violation of the agreements entered into between them. Elohim the father, seeing these things, sent forth Baruch, the third angel among his own, to succor the spirit that is in all men. Baruch then coming, stood in the midst of the angels of Edem in the midst of paradise -- for paradise is the angels, -- and issued to the man the following injunction: 'Of every tree that is in paradise thou mayest freely eat, but thou mayest not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,' which is Naas. Now the meaning is, that he should obey the rest of the eleven angels of Edem, for the eleven possess passions, but are not guilty of transgression. Naas, however, had committed sin, for he went in unto Eve, deceiving her, and debauched her; and such an act as this is a violation of law. He, however, likewise went in unto Adam, and had unnatural intercourse with him; and this is itself also a piece of turpitude, whence have arisen adultery and sodomy.
8 Henceforward vice and virtue were prevalent among men, arising from a single source -- that of the Father. For the Father having ascended to the Good One, points out from time to time the way to those desirous of ascending to him likewise. After having departed from Edem, he caused an originating principle of evil for the spirit of the Father that is in men. Baruch therefore was dispatched to Moses, and through him spoke to the children of Israel, that they might be converted unto the Good One. But the third angel, by the soul which came from Edem upon Moses, as also upon all men, obscured the precepts of Baruch, and caused his own peculiar injunctions to be hearkened unto. For this reason the soul is arrayed against the spirit, and the spirit against the soul. For the soul is Edem, but the spirit Elohim, and each of these exists in all men, both females and males. Again, after these occurrences, Baruch was sent to the Prophets, that through the Prophets the spirit that dwelleth in men might hear words of warning, and might avoid Edem and the wicked fiction, just as the Father had fled from Elohim. In like manner also -- by the prophets -- Naas, by a similar device, through the soul that dwells in man, along with the spirit of the Father, enticed away the prophets, and all of them were allured after him, and did not follow the words of Baruch, which Elohim enjoined.
9 Ultimately Elohim selected Hercules, an uncircumcised prophet, and sent him to quell the twelve angels of Edem, and release the Father from the twelve angels, those wicked ones of the creation. Babel clungs to him and enticed him away, and divested him of his power, viz., the commands of Baruch which Elohim issued. And in place of this power, Babel enveloped him in her own peculiar robe, that is, in the power of Edem, who is the power below; and in this way the prophecy of Hercules remained unfulfilled, and his works.
10 Finally, however, in the days of Herod the king, Baruch was dispatched, being sent down once more by Elohim; and coming to Nazareth, he found Jesus, son of Joseph and Mary, a child of twelve years, feeding sheep. And he announced to him all things from the beginning, whatsoever had been done by Edem and Elohim, and whatsoever would be likely to take place hereafter, and spoke the following words: 'All the prophets anterior to you have been enticed. Put forth an effort, therefore, Jesus, Son of man, not to be allured, but preach this word unto men, and carry back tidings to them of things pertaining to the Father, and things pertaining to the Good One, and ascend to the Good One, and sit there with Elohim, Father of us all.' And Jesus was obedient unto the angel, saying that, 'I shall do all things, Lord,' and proceeded to preach. Naas therefore wished to entice this one also.
11 Jesus, however, was not disposed to listen to his overtures, for he remained faithful to Baruch. Therefore Naas, being inflamed with anger because he was not able to seduce him, caused him to be crucified. He, however, leaving the body of Edem on the accursed tree, ascended to the Good One; saying, however, to Edem, 'Woman, thou retainest thy son,' that is, the natural and the earthly man. But Jesus himself commending his spirit into the hands of the Father, ascended to the Good One. Now the Good One is Priapus, and he it is who antecedently caused the production of everything that exists. On this account he is styled Priapus, because he previously fashioned all things according to his own design. For this reason in every temple is placed his statue, which is revered by every creature; and there are images of him in the highways, carrying over his head ripened fruits, that is, the produce of the creation, of which he is the cause, having in the first instance formed, according to His own design, the creation, when as yet it had no existence. When, therefore you hear that the swan went in unto Leda, and begat a child from her, learn that the swan is Elohim, and Leda Edem. And when an eagle went in unto Ganymede, know that the eagle is Naas, and Ganymede Adam. And when gold in a shower went in unto Danae and begat a child from her, recollect that the gold is Elohim, and Danae is Edem.
12 When, therefore, the prophet says, 'Hearken, O heaven, and give ear, O earth; the Lord hath spoken,' he means by heaven, the spirit which is in man from Elohim; and by earth, the soul which is in man along with the spirit; and by Lord, Baruch; and by Israel, Edem, for Israel as well as Edem is called the spouse of Elohim. 'Israel did not know me; for had he known me, that I am with the Good One, he would not have punished through paternal ignorance the spirit which is in men.'