The First Book of Adam and Eve

Chapter XXXIV - Adam recalls the creation of Eve. He eloquently appeals for food and drink.

1 And on the morning of the forty-third day, they came out of the cave, sorrowful and crying. Their bodies were lean, and they were parched from hunger and thirst, from fasting and praying, and from their heavy sorrow on account of their transgression.

2 And when they had come out of the cave they went up the mountain to the west of the garden.

3 There they stood and prayed and besought God to grant them forgiveness of their sins.

4 And after their prayers Adam began to beg God, saying, "O my Lord, my God, and my Creator, You commanded the four elements* to be gathered together, and they were gathered together by Thine order.

5 Then You spread Your hand and created me out of one element, that of dust of the earth; and You brought me into the garden at the third hour, on a Friday, and informed me of it in the cave.

6 Then, at first, I knew neither night nor day, for I had a bright nature; neither did the light in which I lived ever leave me to know night or day.

7 Then, again, O Lord, in that third hour in which You created me, You brought to me all beasts, and lions, and ostriches, and fowls of the air, and all things that move in the earth, which You had created at the first hour before me of the Friday.

8 And Your will was that I should name them all, one by one, with a suitable name. But You gave me understanding and knowledge, and a pure heart and a right mind from you, that I should name them after Thine own mind regarding the naming of them.

9 O God, You made them obedient to me, and ordered that not one of them break from my sway, according to Your commandment, and to the dominion which You had given me over them. But now they are all estranged from me.

10 Then it was in that third hour of Friday, in which You created me, and commanded me concerning the tree, to which I was neither to go near, nor to eat thereof; for You said to me in the garden, 'When you eat of it, of death you shall die.'

11 And if You had punished me as You said, with death, I should have died that very moment.

12 Moreover, when You commanded me regarding the tree, I was neither to approach nor to eat thereof, Eve was not with me; You had not yet created her, neither had You yet taken her out of my side; nor had she yet heard this order from you.

13 Then, at the end of the third hour of that Friday, O Lord, You caused a slumber and a sleep to come over me, and I slept, and was overwhelmed in sleep.

14 Then You drew a rib out of my side, and created it after my own likeness and image. Then I awoke; and when I saw her and knew who she was, I said, 'This is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; from now on she shall be called woman.'

15 It was of Your good will, O God, that You brought a slumber in a sleep over me, and that You immediately brought Eve out of my side, until she was out, so that I did not see how she was made; neither could I witness, O my Lord, how awful and great are Your goodness and glory.

16 And of Your goodwill, O Lord, You made us both with bodies of a bright nature, and You made us two, one; and You gave us Your grace, and filled us with praises of the Holy Spirit; that we should be neither hungry nor thirsty, nor know what sorrow is, nor yet faintness of heart; neither suffering, fasting nor weariness.

17 But now, O God, since we transgressed Your commandment and broke Your law, You have brought us out into a strange land, and have caused suffering, and faintness, hunger and thirst to come over us.

18 Now, therefore, O God, we pray you, give us something to eat from the garden, to satisfy our hunger with it; and something wherewith to quench our thirst.

19 For, behold, many days, O God, we have tasted nothing and drunk nothing, and our flesh is dried up, and our strength is wasted, and sleep is gone from our eyes from faintness and crying.

20 Then, O God, we dare not gather anything from the fruit of trees, from fear of you. For when we transgress at first You spared us and did not make us die.

21 But now, we thought in our hearts, if we eat of the fruit of the trees, without God's order, He will destroy us this time, and will wipe us off from the face of the earth.

22 And if we drink of this water, without God's order, He will make an end of us and root us up at once.

23 Now, therefore, O God, that I am come to this place with Eve, we beg You to give us some fruit from the garden, that we may be satisfied with it.

24 For we desire the fruit that is on the earth, and all else that we lack in it."

* The medieval belief that there were only four elements—fire, earth, air, and water—was widely accepted until about 1500 AD when the current atomic theory was in its infancy.