Adam and Eve Make Themselves More Comfortable in the Cave of Treasures

Adam and Eve Make Themselves More Comfortable in the Cave of Treasures on the Third Day.

1 After these things God said to Adam, "You asked Me for something from the garden, to be comforted therewith, and I have given you these three tokens as a consolation to you; that you trust in Me and in My covenant with you.

2 For I will come and save you; and kings shall bring me when in the flesh, gold, incense and myrrh; gold as a token of My kingdom; incense as a token of My divinity; and myrrh as a token of My suffering and of My death.

3 But, O Adam, put these by you in the cave; the gold that it may shed light over you by night; the incense, that you smell its sweet savor; and the myrrh, to comfort you in your sorrow."

4 When Adam heard these words from God, he worshipped before Him. He and Eve worshipped Him and gave Him thanks, because He had dealt mercifully with them.

5 Then God commanded the three angels, Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, each to bring what he had brought, and give it to Adam. And they did so, one by one.

6 And God commanded Suriyel and Salathiel to bear up Adam and Eve, and bring them down from the top of the high mountain, and to take them to the Cave of Treasures.

7 There they laid the gold on the south side of the cave, the incense on the eastern side, and the myrrh on the western side. For the mouth of the cave was on the north side.

8 The angels then comforted Adam and Eve, and departed.

9 The gold was seventy rods*; the incense, twelve pounds; and the myrrh, three pounds.

10 These remained by Adam in the Cave of Treasures**.

11 God gave these three things to Adam on the third day after he had come out of the garden, in token of the three days the Lord should remain in the heart of the earth.

12 And these three things, as they continued with Adam in the cave, gave him light by night; and by day they gave him a little relief from his sorrow.

* A rod is a unit of linear measure equivalent to 5.5 yards and also a unit of area measure equivalent to 30.25 square yards. In this case, the word rod simply means a kind of long, thin piece of gold of unspecified size and weight.

** This is the original text which appears to contain embedded editorial content: "These remained by Adam in the House of Treasures; therefore was it called 'of concealment.' But other interpreters say it was called the 'Cave of Treasures,' by reason of the bodies of righteous men that were in it.

Adam and Eve entered the Cave of Treasures and Pray

Chapter V - Eve makes a noble and emotional intercession, taking the blame on herself.

1 Then Adam and Eve entered the cave, and stood praying, in their own tongue, unknown to us, but which they knew well.

2 And as they prayed, Adam raised his eyes and saw the rock and the roof of the cave that covered him overhead. This prevented him from seeing either heaven or God's creatures. So he cried and beat his chest hard, until he dropped, and was as dead.

3 And Eve sat crying; for she believed he was dead.

4 Then she got up, spread her hands toward God, appealing to Him for mercy and pity, and said, "O God, forgive me my sin, the sin which I committed, and don't remember it against me.

5 For I alone caused Your servant to fall from the garden into this condemned land; from light into this darkness; and from the house of joy into this prison.

6 O God, look at this Your servant fallen in this manner, and bring him back to life, that he may cry and repent of his transgression which he committed through me.

7 Don't take away his soul right now; but let him live that he may stand after the measure of his repentance, and do Your will, as before his death.

8 But if You do not bring him back to life, then, O God, take away my own soul, that I be like him, and leave me not in this dungeon, one and alone; for I could not stand alone in this world, but with him only.

9 For You, O God, caused him to fall asleep, and took a bone from his side, and restored the flesh in the place of it, by Your divine power.

10 And You took me, the bone, and make me a woman, bright like him, with heart, reason, and speech; and in flesh, like to his own; and You made me after the likeness of his looks, by Your mercy and power.

11 O Lord, I and he are one, and You, O God, are our Creator, You are He who made us both in one day.

12 Therefore, O God, give him life, that he may be with me in this strange land, while we live in it on account of our transgression.

13 But if You will not give him life, then take me, even me, like him; that we both may die the same day."

14 And Eve cried bitterly, and fell on our father Adam; from her great sorrow.

Adam and Eve enter the Cave of Treasures and Mourn

Chapter IV - Adam mourns over the changed conditions. Adam and Eve enter the Cave of Treasures.

1 But Adam and Eve cried for having come out of the garden, their first home.

2 And indeed, when Adam looked at his flesh, that was altered, he cried bitterly, he and Eve, over what they had done. And they walked and went gently down into the Cave of Treasures.

3 And as they came to it, Adam cried over himself and said to Eve, "Look at this cave that is to be our prison in this world, and a place of punishment!

4 What is it compared with the garden? What is its narrowness compared with the space of the other?

5 What is this rock, by the side of those groves? What is the gloom of this cavern, compared with the light of the garden?

6 What is this overhanging ledge of rock to shelter us, compared with the mercy of the Lord that overshadowed us?

7 What is the soil of this cave compared with the garden land? This earth, strewed with stones; and that, planted with delicious fruit trees?"

8 And Adam said to Eve, "Look at your eyes, and at mine, which before beheld angels praising in heaven; and they too, without ceasing.

9 But now we do not see as we did; our eyes have become of flesh; they cannot see like they used to see before."

10 Adam said again to Eve, "What is our body today, compared to what it was in former days, when we lived in the garden?"

11 After this, Adam did not want to enter the cave, under the overhanging rock; nor would he ever want to enter it.

12 But he bowed to God's orders; and said to himself, "Unless I enter the cave, I shall again be a transgressor."

The crystal sea, God Commands Adam, Epelled from Eden, to Live in the Cave of Treasures.

Chapter I - The crystal sea, God commands Adam, expelled from Eden, to live in the Cave of Treasures.

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

2 And to the north of the garden there is a sea of water, clear and pure to the taste, unlike anything else; so that, through the clearness thereof, one may look into the depths of the earth.

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

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

5 But when God made Adam go out of the garden, He did not place him on the border of it northward. This was so that he and Eve would not be able to go near to the sea of water where they could wash themselves in it, be cleansed from their sins, erase the transgression they had committed, and be no longer reminded of it in the thought of their punishment.

6 As to the southern side of the garden, God did not want Adam to live there either; because, when the wind blew from the north, it would bring him, on that southern side, the delicious smell of the trees of the garden.

7 Wherefore God did not put Adam there. This was so that he would not be able to smell the sweet smell of those trees, forget his transgression, and find consolation for what he had done by taking delight in the smell of the trees and yet not be cleansed from his transgression.

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

9 And God commanded him to live there in a cave in a rock—the Cave of Treasures below the garden.