CHAPTER LV

The Conflict between God and Satan.

1 Then came the Word of God to Adam and Eve, and raised them from their dead state, saying to them, "Why did you come up here? Do you intend to go into the garden, from which I brought you out? It cannot be today; but only when the covenant I have made with you is fulfilled."

Then Adam, when he heard the Word of God, and the fluttering of the

angels whom he did not see, but only heard the sound of them with his ears, he and Eve cried, and said to the angels: --
"O Spirits, who wait on God, look at me, and at my being unable to

see you! For when I was in my former bright nature, then I could see you. I sang praises as you do; and my heart was far above you.
But now, that I have transgressed, that bright nature is gone from

me, and I am come to this miserable state. And now I have come to this, that I cannot see you, and you do not serve me like you used to do. For I have become animal flesh.
Yet now, O angels of God, ask God with me, to restore me to that

wherein I was formerly; to rescue me from this misery, and to remove from me the sentence of death He passed on me, for having trespassed against Him."
Then, when the angels heard these words, they all grieved over him;

and cursed Satan who had misled Adam, until he came from the garden to misery; from life to death; from peace to trouble; and from gladness to a strange land.
Then the angels said to Adam, "You obeyed Satan, and ignored the

Word of God who created you; and you believed that Satan would fulfil all he had promised you.
But now, O Adam, we will make known to you, what came over us though

him, before his fall from heaven.
He gathered together his hosts, and deceived them, promising to give

them a great kingdom, a divine nature; and other promises he made them.
His hosts believed that his word was true, so they yielded to him,

and renounced the glory of God.
He then sent for us -- according to the orders in which we were --

to come under his command, and to accept his vein promise. But we would not, and we did not take his advice.
Then after he had fought with God, and had dealt forwardly with Him,

he gathered together his hosts, and made war with us. And if it had not been for God's strength that was with us, we could not have prevailed against him to hurl him from heaven.
But when he fell from among us, there was great joy in heaven,

because of his going down from us. For if he had remained in heaven, nothing, not even one angel would have remained in it.
But God in His mercy, drove him from among us to this dark earth;

for he had become darkness itself and a worker of unrighteousness.
And he has continued, O Adam, to make war against you, until he

tricked you and made you come out of the garden, to this strange land, where all these trials have come to you. And death, which God brought to him, he has also brought to you, O Adam, because you obeyed him, and trespassed against God."
Then all the angels rejoiced and praised God, and asked Him not to

destroy Adam this time, for his having sought to enter the garden; but to bear with him until the fulfillment of the promise; and to help him in this world until he was free from Satan's hand.