The First Book of Adam and Eve

Chapter LXVI - Adam does his first day's work.

1 When it was morning, the day after they had eaten food, Adam and Eve prayed in the cave, and Adam said to Eve, "Look, we asked for food of God, and He gave it. But now let us also ask Him to give us a drink of water."

2 Then they got up, and went to the bank of the stream of water, that was on the south border of the garden, in which they had before thrown themselves. And they stood on the bank, and prayed to God that He would command them to drink of the water.

3 Then the Word of God came to Adam, and said to him, "O Adam, your body has become brutish, and requires water to drink. Take some and drink it, you and Eve, then give thanks and praise."

4 Adam and Eve then went down to the stream and drank from it, until their bodies felt refreshed. After having drunk, they praised God, and then returned to their cave, after their former custom. This happened at the end of eighty-three days.

5 Then on the eighty-fourth day, they took the two figs and hung them in the cave, together with the leaves thereof, to be to them a sign and a blessing from God. And they placed them there so that if their descendants came there, they would see the wonderful things God had done for them.

6 Then Adam and Eve again stood outside the cave, and asked God to show them some food with which they could nourish their bodies.

7 Then the Word of God came and said to him, "O Adam, go down to the westward of the cave until you come to a land of dark soil, and there you shall find food."

8 And Adam obeyed the Word of God, took Eve, and went down to a land of dark soil, and found there wheat* growing in the ear and ripe, and figs to eat; and Adam rejoiced over it.

9 Then the Word of God came again to Adam, and said to him, "Take some of this wheat and make yourselves some bread with it, to nourish your body therewith." And God gave Adam's heart wisdom, to work out the corn until it became bread.

10 Adam accomplished all that, until he grew very faint and weary. He then returned to the cave; rejoicing at what he had learned of what is done with wheat, until it is made into bread for one's use.

* In this book, the terms 'corn' and 'wheat' are used interchangeably. The reference is possibly used to indicate a type of ancient grain resembling Egyptian Corn also known as Durra. Durra is a wheat-like cereal grain frequently cultivated in dry regions such as Egypt.