3 And he blessed the seventh day and sanctified ther, and shall cleave to his wife: and they shall it: because in it he had rested from all his work be two in one flesh. which God created and made.

25 And they were both naked; to wit, Adam and his wife: and were not ashamed. CHAP. III.

The serpent's craft. The fall of our first parents. Their punishment. The promise of a redeemer. more subtle than

of the beasts of the earth which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman: Why hath God commanded you, that you should not eat of every tree of paradise?

2 And the woman answered him, saying: Of the fruit of the trees that are in paradise, we do eat:

4 These are the generations of the heaven and the earth, when they were created in the day that the Lord God made the heaven and the earth:

5 And every plant of the field before it sprung up in the earth, and every herb of the ground be

fore it grew: for the Lord God had not rained upon the earth; and there was not a man to till the earth.

6 But a spring rose out of the earth, watering all the surface of the earth.

7 And the Lord God formed man of the slime of the earth: and breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul.

8 And the Lord God had planted a paradise of pleasure from the beginning: wherein he placed man whom he had formed.

9 And the Lord God brought forth of the ground all manner of trees, fair to behold, and pleasant to eat of: the tree of life* also in the midst of paradise: and the tree of knowledget of good and evil.

10 And a river went out of the place of pleasure to water paradise, which from thence is divided|| into four heads.

11 The name of the one is Phison: that is it which compasseth all the land of Hevilath, where gold groweth.

12 And the gold of that land is very good: there is found bdellium, and the onyx stone.

13 And the name of the second river is Gehon: the same is it that compasseth all the land of Ethiopia.

14 And the name of the third river is Tigris: the same passeth along by the Assyrians. And the fourth river is Euphrates.

15 And the Lord God took man, and put him into the paradise of pleasure, to dress it and to keep it.

16 And he commanded him, saying: Of every tree of paradise thou shalt eat:

17 But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat. For in what day soever thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt die the death.

18 And the Lord God said: It is not good for man to be alone: let us make him a help like unto himself.

23 And Adam said: This now is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of man.

24 Wherefore a man shall leave father and mo

create any new kinds of things. Though, as our Lord tells us, John v. 17. He still worketh, viz. by conserving and governing all things, and creating souls.

3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of paradise, God hath commanded us that we should not eat: and that we should not touch it, lest perhaps we die.

4 And the serpent said to the woman: No, you shall not die the death.

5 For God doth know that in what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened: and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

6 And the woman saw that the tree was good to eat, and fair to the eyes, and delightful to behold: and she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave to her husband, who did eat.

7 And the eyest of them both were opened: and when they perceived themselves to be naked, they sowed together fig-leaves and made themselves aprons.

8 And when they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in paradise at the afternoon air, Adam and his wife hid themselves from the face of the Lord God, amidst the trees of paradise.

9 And the Lord God called Adam, and said to him: Where art thou?

10 And he said: I heard thy voice in paradise; and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.

11 And he said to him: And who hath told thee that thou wast naked, but that thou hast eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat?

The tree of life. So called, because it had that quality, that by eating of the fruit of it, man would have been preserved in a constant state of health, vigour, and strength, and would not have died at all.

12 And Adam said: The woman, whom thou gavest me to be my companion, gave me of the tree, and I did eat.

And the eyes, &c. Not that they were blind before (for the woman saw that the tree was fair to the eyes, ver. 6.) nor yet that their eyes were opened to any more perfect knowledge of good; but only to the unhappy experience of having lost the good of original grace and innocence, and incurred the dreadful evil of sin. From whence followed a shame of their being naked; which they minded not before; because being now stript of original grace, they quickly began to be subject to the shameful rebellions of the flesh.

§ She shall crush. Ipsa, the woman: so divers of the fathers read this place, conformably to the Latin: others read it ipsum, viz. the seed. The sense is the same: for it is by her seed, Jesus ful serpent falsely attributed the power of impart-Christ, that the woman crushes the serpent's head.

The tree of knowledge. To which the deceit

13 And the Lord God said to the woman: Why hast thou done this? And she answered: The serpent deceived me, and I did eat.

14 And the Lord God said to the serpent: Because thou hast done this thing, thou art cursed among all cattle, and beasts of the earth: upon thy breast shalt thou go, and earth shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.

15 I will put enmities between thee and the woinan, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush§ thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel. 16 To the woman also he said: I will multiply

ing a superior kind of knowledge beyond that which God was pleased to give.

thy sorrows, and thy conceptions: in sorrow shalt the face of the earth: every one therefore that thou bring forth children, and thou shalt be under findeth me, shall kill me.‡ thy husband's power, and he shall have dominion over thee.

15 And the Lord said to him: No, it shall not so be: but whosoever shall kill Cain, shall be punished seven-fold. And the Lord set a mark§ upon Cain, that whosoever found him should not kill him.

17 And to Adam he said: Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee, that thou shouldst not eat, cursed is the earth in thy work: with labour and toil shalt thou eat thereof all the days of thy life.

Is Thorns and stles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herbs of the earth.

19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the earth, out of which thou wast taken: for dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return.

20 And Adam called the name of his wife Eve: because she was the mother of all the living

21 And the Lord God made for Adam and his wife garments of skins, and clothed them.

22 And he said: Behold, Adam* is become as one of us, knowing good and evil: now therefore lest perhaps he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever.

23 And the Lord God sent him out of the paradise of pleasure, to till the earth from which he was taken.

24 And he cast out Adam: and placed before the paradise of pleasure Cherubims, and a flaming sword, turning every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

CHAP. IV.

The history of Cain and Abel. AND Adam knew Eve his wife; who cove ceived brought forth Cain, saying: I have gotten a man through God.

2 And again she brought forth his brother Abel. And Abel was a shepherd, and Cain a husband

man.

3 And it came to pass after many days, that Cain offered, of the fruits of the earth, gifts to the Lord.

4 Abel also offered of the firstlings of his flock, and of their fat: and the Lord had respect to Abel and to his offerings.

5 But to Cain and his offerings he had no respect: and Cain was exceeding angry, and his countenance fell.

6 And the Lord said to him: Why art thou angry? and why is thy countenance fallen?

If thou do well, shalt thou not receive? but if ill, shall not sin forthwith be present at the door? but the lust thereof shall be under thee, and thou shalt have dominion over it.

8 And Cain said to Abel his brother: Let us go forth abroad. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and slew him.

9 And the Lord said to Cain: Where is thy brother Abel? And he answered: I know not; am I my brother's keeper?

10 And he said to him: What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth to me from the earth.

11 Now therefore cursed shalt thou be upon the earth, which hath opened her mouth and received the blood of thy brother at thy hand.

12 When thou shalt till it, it shall not yield to thee its fruit: a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be upon the earth.

13 And Cain said to the Lord: My iniquity is greater than that I may deserve pardon.

14 Behold thou dost cast me out this day from

*Behold, Adam, &c. This was spoken by way of reproaching him with his pride, in alfecting a knowledge that might make him like to God.

16 And Cain went out from the face of the Lord, and dwelt as a fugitive on the earth at the east side of Eden.

ance of his sacrifice (as coming from a heart full of devotion:) and that, as we may suppose, by some visible token, such as sending fire from heaven upon his offerings.

Every one that findeth me shall kill me. His guilty conscience made him fear his own brothers and nephews; of whom, by this time, there might be a good number upon the earth; which had now endured near 130 years; as may be gathered from Gen. v. 3. compared with Chap. iv. 25. though in the compendious account given in the scripture only Cain and Abel are mentioned.

§ Set a mark, &c. The more common opinion of the interpreters of holy writ, supposes this mark to have been a trembling of the body; or a horror and consternation in his countenance.

His wife, &c. She was a daughter of Adam, and Cain's own sister; God dispensing with such marriages in the beginning of the world, as mankind could not otherwise be propagated.

¶He built a city, viz. In process of time, when his race was multiplied, so as to be numerous enough to people it. For in the many hundred years he lived, his race might be multiplied even to millions.

** I have slain a man, &c. It is the tradition of the Hebrews, that Lamech, in hunting, slew Cain, mistaking him for a wild beast: and that having discovered what he had done, he beat so unmercifully the youth, by whom he was led into that mistake, that he died of the blows.

tt Began to call upon, &c. Not that Adam and Seth had not called upon God, before the birth of Enos; but that Enos used more solemnity in the

+ Had respect, &c. That is, showed his accept-worship and invocation of God.

CHAP. V.

CHAP. VI.

The genealogy, age and death of the Patri- Man's sin is the cause of the deluge. Noe is archs from Adam to Noe. The translation of Henoch.

commanded to build the ark. ND after that men began to be multiplied upon the earth, and daughters were born to 2 The sons of God* seeing the daughters of men, that they were fair, took to themselves wives of all which they chose.

3 And God said: My spirit shall not remain in man for ever, because he is flesh, and his days

the book of the of Adam. A

In the day that God created man, he made them, him to the likeness of God.

2 He created them male and female; and blessed them: and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.

3 And Adam lived a hundred and thirty years, and begot a son to his own image and like-shall bet a hundred and twenty years. ness, and called his name Seth.

4 Now giants were upon the earth in those

4 And the days of Adam, after he begot Seth, days. For after the sons of God went in to the were eight hundred years: and he begot sons and daughters of men, and they brought forth childaughters. dren, these are the mighty men of old, men of renown.

5 And all the time that Adam lived, came to nine hundred and thirty years, and he died. 6 Seth also lived a hundred and five years and begot Enos.

5 And God seeing that the wickedness of men was great on the earth, and that all the thought of their heart was bent upon evil at all times,

7 And Seth lived after he begot Enos, eight hundred and seven years, and begot sons and daughters.

6 It repented him§ that he had made man on the earth. And being touched inwardly with sorrow of heart,

8 And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years, and he died.

9 And Enos lived ninety years, and begot Cainan.

10 After whose birth he lived eight hundred and fifteen years, and begot sons and daughters. 11 And all the days of Enos were nine hundred and five years, and he died.

12 And Cainan lived seventy years, and begoted with God. Malaleel.

13 And Cainan lived after he begot Malaleel, eight hundred and forty years, and begot sons and daughters.

7 He said: I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth, from man even to beasts, from the creeping thing even to the fowls of the air, for it repenteth me that I have made them.

•

8 But Noe found grace before the Lord.

9 These are the generations of Noe: Noe was a just and perfect man in his generations, he walk

14 And all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years, and he died.

15 And Malaleel lived sixty-five years, and begot Jared.

16 And Malaleel lived after he begot Jared, eight hundred and thirty years, and begot sons and daughters.

10 And he begot three sons, Sem, Cham, and Japheth.

11 And the earth was corrupted before God, and was filled with iniquity.

12 And when God had seen that the earth was corrupted (for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth,)

13 He said to Noe: The end of all flesh is come before me, the earth is filled with iniquity through them, and I will destroy them with the earth.

14 Make thee an ark of timber planks: thou shalt make little rooms in the ark, and thou shalt pitch it within and without.

15 And thus shalt thou make it. The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits:|| the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.

17 And all the days of Malaleel were eight hundred and ninety-five years, and he died.

18 And Jared lived a hundred and sixty-two years, and begot Henoch.

19 And Jared lived after he begot Henoch, eight hundred years, and begot sons and daughters. 20 And all the days of Jared were nine hundred and sixty-two years, and he died.

21 And Henoch lived sixty-five years, and got Mathusala.

22 And Henoch walked with God: and lived after he begot Mathusala, three hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.

23 And all the days of Henoch were three hundred and sixty-five years.

24 And he walked with God, and was seen no more: because God took him.

25 And Mathusala lived a hundred and eighty-† His days shall be, &c. The meaning is, that man's days, which before the flood were usually seven years, and begot Lamech.

26 And Mathusala lived after he begot Lamech, 900 years, should now be reduced to 120 years. seven hundred and eighty-two years, and begot Or rather, that God would allow men this term of 120 years, for their repentance and conversion, sons and daughters. before he would send the deluge.

27 And all the days of Mathusala were nine + Giants. It is likely the generality of men behundred and sixty-nine years, and he died. 28 And Lamech lived a hundred and eighty-fore the flood were of a gigantic stature in comparison with what men now are. But these here two years, and begot a son.

29 And he called his name Noe, saying: This spoken of are called giants, as being not only tall same shall comfort us from the works and labours in stature, but violent and savage in their disposiof our hands on the earth, which the Lord hath tions, and mere monsters of cruelty and lust. § It repented him, &c. God, who is unchangecursed. 30 And Lamech lived after he begot Noe, fiveable, is not capable of repentance, grief, or any hundred and ninety-five years, and begot sons other passion. But these expressions are used to declare the enormity of the sins of men, which and daughters.

31 And all the days of Lamech came to seven was so provoking as to determine their Creator hundred and seventy-seven years, and he died. to destroy these his creatures, whom before he had And Noe, when he was five hundred years old, so much favoured. begot Sem, Cham, and Japheth.

|| Three hundred cubits, &c. The ark, accord

8

*The sons of God. The descendants of Seth and Enos are here called sons of God from their be-religion and piety: whereas the ungodly race of Cain, who by their carnal affections lay grovelling upon the earth, are called the children of men. The unhappy consequence of the former marrying with the latter, ought to be a warning to Christians to be very circumspect in their marriages; and not to suffer themselves to be determined in choice by their carnal passion, to the prejudice of virtue or religion.

21 And all flesh was destroyed that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beasts, and of all creeping things that creep upon the earth: com-and all men.

CHAP. VII.

23 And he destroyed all the substance that was Noe with his family go into the ark. The deluge upon the earth, from man even to beast, and the overflows the earth. creeping things and fowls of the air: and they