yet repay me according to my sin; for we, of our own will, transgressed Your commandment, and ignored Your law, and tried to become gods like you, when Satan the enemy deceived us."

6 Then God said again to Adam, "Because you have endured fear and trembling in this land, languor and suffering, treading and walking about, going on this mountain, and dying from it, I will take all this on Myself in order to save you."

Chapter XXIII - Adam and Eve strengthen themselves and make the first altar ever built.

1 Then Adam cried more and said, "O God, have mercy on me, so far as to take on yourself, that which I will do."

2 But God withdrew His Word from Adam and Eve.

3 Then Adam and Eve stood on their feet; and Adam said to Eve, "Strengthen yourself, and I also will strengthen myself." And she strengthened herself, as Adam told her.

4 Then Adam and Eve took stones and placed them in the shape of an altar; and they took leaves from the trees outside the garden, with which they wiped, from the face of the rock, the blood they had spilled.

5 But that which had dropped on the sand, they took together with the dust with which it was mingled and offered it on the altar as an offering to God.

6 Then Adam and Eve stood under the Altar and cried, thus praying to God, "Forgive us our trespass* and our sin, and look at us with Thine eye of mercy. For when we were in the garden our praises and our hymns went up before you without ceasing.

7 But when we came into this strange land, pure praise was not longer ours, nor righteous prayer, nor understanding hearts, nor sweet thoughts, nor just counsels, nor long discernment, nor upright feelings, neither is our bright nature left us. But our body is changed from the likeness in which it was at first, when we were created.

8 Yet now look at our blood which is offered on these stones, and accept it at our hands, like the praise we used to sing to you at first, when in the garden."

9 And Adam began to make more requests of God.

* ORIGINAL OF THE LORD'S PRAYER SAID TO BE USED ABOUT 150 YEARS BEFORE OUR LORD: Our Father, Who art in Heaven, be gracious unto us, O Lord our God, hallowed be Your Name, and let the remembrance of Thee be glorified Heaven above and upon earth here below.

Let Your kingdom reign over us now and forever. The Holy Men of old said remit and forgive unto all men whatsoever they have done unto me. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil thing; for Thine is the kingdom and Thou shalt reign in glory forever and forevermore, AMEN.

Chapter XXIV - A vivid prophecy of the life and death of Christ.

1 Then the merciful God, good and lover of men, looked at Adam and Eve, and at their blood, which they had held up as an offering to Him; without an order from Him for so doing. But He wondered at them; and accepted their offerings.

2 And God sent from His presence a bright fire, that consumed their offering.

3 He smelled the sweet savor of their offering, and showed them mercy.

4 Then came the Word of God to Adam, and said to him, "O Adam, as you have shed your blood, so will I shed My own blood when I become flesh of your descendants; and as you died, O Adam, so also will I die. And as you built an altar, so also will I make for you an altar of the earth; and as you offered your blood on it, so also will I offer My blood on an altar on the earth.

5 And as you sued for forgiveness through that blood, so also will I make My blood forgiveness of sins, and erase transgressions in it.

6 And now, behold, I have accepted your offering, O Adam, but the days of the covenant in which I have bound you are not fulfilled. When they are fulfilled, then will I bring you back into the garden.

7 Now, therefore, strengthen your heart; and when sorrow comes over you, make Me an offering, and I will be favorable to you."

Chapter XXV - God represented as merciful and loving. The establishing of worship.

1 But God knew that Adam believed he should frequently kill himself and make an offering to Him of his blood.

2 Therefore He said to him, "O Adam, don't ever kill yourself like this again, by throwing yourself down from that mountain."

3 But Adam said to God, "I was thinking to put an end to myself at once, for having transgressed Your commandments, and for my having come out of the beautiful garden; and for the bright light of which You have deprived me; and for the praises which poured forth from my mouth without ceasing, and for the light that covered me.

4 Yet of Your goodness, O God, do not get rid of me altogether; but be favorable to me every time I die, and bring me to life.

5 And thereby it will be made known that You are a merciful God, who does not want anyone to perish; who loves not that one should fall; and who does not condemn any one cruelly, badly, and by whole destruction."

6 Then Adam remained silent.

7 And the Word of God came to him, and blessed him, and comforted him, and covenanted with him, that He would save him at the end of the days determined for him.

8 This, then, was the first offering Adam made to God; and so it became his custom to do.

Chapter XXVI - A beautiful prophecy of eternal life and joy (v. 15). The fall of night.

1 Then Adam took Eve, and they began to return to the Cave of Treasures where they lived. But when they got closer to it and saw it from a distance, heavy sorrow fell on Adam and Eve when they looked at it.

2 Then Adam said to Eve, "When we were on the mountain we were comforted by the Word of God that conversed with us; and the light that came from the east shown over us.

3 But now the Word of God is hidden from us; and the light that shown over us is so changed as to disappear, and let darkness and sorrow come over us.

4 And we are forced to enter this cave which is like a prison, in which darkness covers us, so that we are separated from each other; and you can not see me, neither can I see you."

5 When Adam had said these words, they cried and spread their hands before God; for they were full of sorrow.

6 And they prayed to God to bring the sun to them, to shine on them, so that darkness would not return to them, and that they wouldn't have to go under this covering of rock. And they wished to die rather than see the darkness.

7 Then God looked at Adam and Eve and at their great sorrow, and at all they had done with a fervent heart, on account of all the trouble they were in, instead of their former well-being, and on account of all the misery that came over them in a strange land.

8 Therefore God was not angry with them; nor impatient with them; but he was patient and forbearing towards them, as towards the children He had created.

9 Then came the Word of God to Adam, and said to him, "Adam, as for the sun, if I were to take it and bring it to you, days, hours, years and months would all stop, and the covenant I have made with you, would never be fulfilled.

10 But then you would be deserted and stuck in a perpetual plague, and you would never be saved.

11 Yes, rather, bear long and calm your soul while you live night and day; until the fulfillment of the days, and the time of My covenant is come.

12 Then shall I come and save you, O Adam, for I do not wish that you be afflicted.

13 And when I look at all the good things in which you lived, and why you came out of them, then would I willingly show you mercy.

14 But I cannot alter the covenant that has gone out of My mouth; otherwise I would have brought you back into the garden.