CHAPTER VII

The beasts are appeased.

1 When Adam and Eve heard these words from God, they cried and sobbed yet more; but they strengthened their hearts in God, because they now felt that the Lord was to them like a father and a mother; and for this very reason, they cried before Him, and sought mercy from Him.

Then God had pity on them, and said: "O Adam, I have made My

covenant with you, and I will not turn from it; neither will I let you return to the garden, until My covenant of the great five and a half days is fulfilled."
Then Adam said to God, "O Lord, You created us, and made us fit to

be in the garden; and before I transgressed, You made all beasts come to me, that I should name them.
Your grace was then on me; and I named every one according to Your

mind; and you made them all subject to me.
But now, O Lord God, that I have transgressed Your commandment, all

beasts will rise against me and will devour me, and Eve Your handmaid; and will cut off our life from the face of the earth.
I therefore beg you, O God, that since You have made us come out of

the garden, and have made us be in a strange land, You will not let the beasts hurt us."
When the Lord heard these words from Adam, He had pity on him, and

felt that he had truly said that the beasts of the field would rise and devour him and Eve, because He, the Lord, was angry with the two of them on account of their transgressions.
Then God commanded the beasts, and the birds, and all that moves on

the earth, to come to Adam and to be familiar with him, and not to trouble him and Eve; nor yet any of the good and righteous among their offspring.
Then all the beasts paid homage to Adam, according to the

commandment of God; except the serpent, against which God was angry. It did not come to Adam, with the beasts.