The first joy of trees.
1 BUT Aḏam and Ḥawwah, as they drew near to the cave, saw two fig-trees, covered with fruit, and overshadowing the cave.
2 Then Aḏam said to Ḥawwah, “It seems to me we have gone astray. When did these two trees grow here? It seems to me that the enemy wishes to lead us astray, Sayest thou that there is in the earth another cave than this?
3 “Yet, O Ḥawwah, let us go into the cave, and find in it the two figs; for this is our cave, in which we were. But if we should not find the two figs in it, then it cannot be our cave.”
4 They went then into the cave, and looked into the four corners of it, but found not the two figs.
5 And Aḏam wept and said to Ḥawwah, “Are we come to a wrong cave, then, O Ḥawwah? It seems to me these two fig-trees are the two figs that were in the cave.” And Ḥawwah said, “I, for my part, do not know.”
6 Then Aḏam stood up and prayed and said, “O Elohim, Thou didst command us to come back to the cave, to take the two figs, and then to return to Thee.
7 “But now, we have not found them. O Elohim, hast Thou taken them, and sown these two trees, or have we gone astray in the earth; or has the enemy deceived us? If it be real, then, O Elohim, reveal to us the secret of these two trees and of the two figs.”
8 Then came the Word of Elohim to Aḏam, and said unto him, “O Aḏam, when I sent thee to fetch the figs, Satan went before thee to the cave, took the figs, and buried them outside, eastward of the cave, thinking to destroy them; and not sowing them with good intent.
9 “Not for his mere sake, then, have these trees grown up at once; but I had mercy on thee and I commanded them to grow. And they grew to be two large trees, that you be overshadowed by their branches, and find rest; and that I make you see My power and My marvellous works.
10 “And, also, to show you Satan’s meanness, and his evil works, for ever since ye came out of the garden, he has not ceased, no, not one day, from doing you some harm. But I have not given him power over you.”
11 And Elohim said, “Henceforth, O Aḏam, rejoice on account of the trees, thou and Ḥawwah; and rest under them when ye feel weary. But eat not of their fruit, nor come near them.”
12 Then Aḏam wept, and said, “O Elohim, wilt Thou again kill us, or wilt Thou drive us away from before Thy face, and cut our life from off the face of the earth?
13 “O Elohim, I beseech Thee, if Thou knowest that there be in these trees either death or some other evil, as at the first time, root them up from near our cave, and wither them; and leave us to die of the heat, of hunger and of thirst.
14 “For we know Thy marvellous works, O Elohim, that they are great, and that by Thy power Thou canst bring one thing out of another, without one’s wish. For Thy power can make rocks to become trees, and trees to become rocks.”