(17) It is written in the Law concerning this, when God gave a command to Adam, "From every tree you may eat, but from the tree which is in the midst of Paradise do not eat, for on the day that you eat from it, you will surely die." But the serpent was wiser than all the animals that were in Paradise, and he persuaded Eve, saying, "On the day when you eat from the tree which is in the midst of Paradise, the eyes of your mind will be opened." And Eve obeyed, and she stretched forth her hand; she took from the tree and ate; she also gave to her husband with her. And immediately they knew that they were naked, and they took some fig-leaves (and) put them on as girdles.

(78) In that manner he also deceived our mother Eve, saying, [Gen. iii 5] If she did but eat of the forbidden tree, then she should be wise or witty, and be like God; but this smelling or stirring the council likewise rejecteth.

(32) And there the Devil bestirred himself, and slipt into the Serpent, (which he himself is, in his own proper Form,) and laid himself at the Tree, and strewed Sugar upon it; for he saw well that Eve was a Woman, and that she was infected with the four Elements; and although she did strive a little, and objected God's command [against the Devil,] yet she suffered herself very easily to be persuaded, when the lying Spirit said, That the Fruit would make her wise, and that her Eyes should be opened, and she be as God, knowing Good and Evil; yet he told her not, that (if she eat thereof) she must die; but [he said] she should be wise and fair; which Disease [Desire or Lust] sticks still in the Brains of the Woman, that she would fain be the fairest Beast.

(18) But God came at the time of evening, walking in the midst of Paradise. When Adam saw him, he hid himself. And he said, "Adam, where are you?" He answered (and) said, "I have come under the fig tree." And at that very moment, God knew that he had eaten from the tree of which he had commanded him, "Do not eat of it." And he said to him, "Who is it who has instructed you?" And Adam answered, "The woman whom you have given me." And the woman said, "It is the serpent who instructed me." And he (God) cursed the serpent, and called him "devil." And he said, "Behold, Adam has become like one of us, knowing evil and good." Then he said, "Let us cast him out of paradise, lest he take from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever."

Next, let me continue. When the rulers saw him and the woman who was with him erring in ignorance like beasts, they rejoiced greatly. When they learned that an immortal human was not going to pass them by, but that they would even have to fear the woman who had turned into a tree, they were troubled and said, “Is this, perhaps, the true human, who blinded us and taught us about this defiled woman who is like him, that we might be conquered?” Then the seven took counsel. They came to Adam and Eve timidly, and they said to him, “The fruit of every tree created for you in paradise may be eaten, but beware, don’t eat from the tree of knowledge. If you do eat, you will die.” After they gave them a great fright, they withdrew up to their authorities. Then came the one who is wiser than all creatures, who was called the beast. When he saw the likeness of their mother, Eve, he said to her, “What is it that god said to you? ‘Don’t eat from the tree of knowledge’?” She said, “He said not only ‘Don’t eat from it’ but also ‘Don’t touch it, lest you die.’” He said to her, “Don’t be afraid! You certainly shall not die. For he knows that when you eat from it your mind will be sobered and you will become like gods, knowing the difference between evil and good people. For he said this to you because he is jealous, so that you would not eat from it.” Now, Eve believed the words of the instructor. She looked at the tree and saw that it was beautiful and appealing, and she desired it. She took some of its fruit and ate, and she gave to her husband also, and he ate too. Then their minds opened. For when they ate, the light of knowledge shone for them. When they put on shame, they knew that they were naked with regard to knowledge. When they sobered up, they saw that they were naked, and they became enamored of one another. When they saw that their makers had beastly forms, they loathed them. They understood a great deal.

(92) Here it may be seen very plainly, that the Devil had lost his angelical Image; and comes now in the Form of a Serpent, with his murderous Lying, and beguiles the Woman. Because he had not been able to overthrow Adam wholly, therefore he sets upon the Woman; and promises her Wisdom, and the Riches of this World, and that she should be therein like God; the Devil mingled Lies and Truth together, and said, She shall be as God; but he meant, according to the Kingdom of this World, and according to the first Principle of the [fierce] Wrath, and let Paradise out; but Eve understood it, that she should continue in the Paradise, in the divine and pleasant Joy.

(91) So now when Adam and his Eve (after the Biting of the Apple) beheld themselves, then they perceived the monstrous Image and bestial Form, and they felt in themselves the Wrath of God, and the Fierceness of the Stars and Elements; for they took Notice of the Stomach and Guts, into which they had stuffed their earthly Fruit, which begun to a take Effect, and they saw their bestial Shame; and then they lift up their Minds towards Paradise, but they found it not; they ran trembling with Fear, and crept behind the Trees; for the Wrath had stirred their Essences in the Spirit with the earthly Fruit, and then came the Voice of God in the Center of the Gates of the Deep, and called Adam, and said; Adam, Where art thou? And he said, Here I am: And I am afraid, for I am naked. And the Lord said; Who hath told thee that thou art naked. Hast thou eaten of the Tree, whereof I said unto thee, that thou shouldst not eat thereof? And he said, The Woman gave to me, and I did eat. And he said unto the Woman, Why hast thou done so? And she said, The Serpent beguiled me, so that I did eat.

(38) Now when the Worm of Darkness saw the Command of God, it thought with itself, here thou wilt not prevail, thou art Spirit without Body, and contrariwise, Adam is corporeal, thou hast but a third Part in him, and besides, the Command is in the Way; thou wilt even slip [or creep] into the Essences, and flatter with the Spirit of this World, and take a creaturely Form upon thee, and send a Legate [or Ambassador] out of my Kingdom, clothed in the Form of a Serpent, and wilt persuade him to eat of the earthly Fruit, and then the Command destroys his Body, and the Spirit remains [to be] mine. Here now the Legate [or Ambassador,] the Devil, was very willing [and ready] at this, especially because Adam in Paradise was in his Place, where he should have been; and he thought with himself, now thou hast an Opportunity to be revenged; thou wilt mingle Lies and Truth so together, that Adam may not [observe or] understand it, [the Treachery,] and so thou wilt tempt him. Of the Tree of Knowledge [of] Good and Evil.

The authorities came up to their Adam. When they saw his female partner speaking with him, they became very excited and enamored of her. They said to one another, “Come, let us sow our seed in her,” and they pursued her. And she laughed at them for their foolishness and blindness. In their clutches she became a tree and left before them her shadowy reflection resembling herself, and they defiled it foully. And they defiled the seal of her voice, so that by the form they had modeled, together with their own image, they made themselves liable to condemnation. Then the female spiritual presence came in the form of the snake, the instructor, and it taught them, saying, “What did he say to you? Was it, ‘From every tree in the garden shall you eat, but from the tree of recognizing evil and good do not eat’?” The woman of flesh said, “Not only did he say ‘Don’t eat,’ but even ‘Don’t touch it. For the day you eat from it, you will surely die.’” The snake, the instructor, said, “It is not the case that you will surely die, for out of jealousy he said this to you. Rather, your eyes will open and you will be like gods, recognizing evil and good.” And the female instructing power was taken away from the snake, and she left it behind, merely a thing of the earth. And the woman of flesh took from the tree and ate, and she gave to her husband as well as herself, and those beings, who possessed only a soul, ate. And their imperfection became apparent in their lack of knowledge. They recognized that they were naked of the spiritual, and they took fig leaves and bound them around themselves. Then the chief ruler came, and he said, “Adam, where are you?”—for he did not understand what had happened. Adam said, “I heard your voice and was afraid because I was naked, and I hid.” The ruler said, “Why did you hide, unless it is because you have eaten from the tree from which alone I commanded you not to eat? You have eaten!” Adam said, “The woman you gave me gave me fruit and I ate.” And the arrogant ruler cursed the woman. The woman said, “The snake led me astray and I ate.” They turned to the snake and cursed its shadowy reflection, so it was powerless, and they did not comprehend that it was a form they themselves had modeled. From that day, the snake came to be under the curse of the authorities. Until the perfect human was to come, that curse fell on the snake. They turned to their Adam and took him and expelled him from the garden along with his wife, for they have no blessing, since they too are under the curse. Moreover, they threw human beings into great distraction and into a life of toil, so that their human beings might be occupied by worldly affairs and might not have the opportunity of being devoted to the holy spirit.

(22) And when God had created Man, then he planted a Garden in Eden towards the East, and placed him therein, and caused to spring up and grow all Manner of Fruit, delightful to behold, and all Sorts of Trees good to eat of; and the Tree of Life in the Midst of the Garden, and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. And when God had placed Man in the Garden, he commanded him, and said; You shall eat of every Tree in the Garden, but of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil thou shalt not eat; for in the Day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the Death. Here the Vail lies upon Moses, and they must be sharp [or piercing] Eyes that can behold the Face of Moses. God has not without Cause let Moses write this so very mystically, [hiddenly and obscurely.]

(45) The serpent is true to the principle of wisdom, for it tempts man to the knowledge of himself. Therefore the knowledge of self resulted from man's disobedience to the Demiurgus, Jehovah. How the serpent came to be in the garden of the Lord after God had declared that all creatures which He had made during the six days of creation were good has not been satisfactorily answered by the interpreters of Scripture. The tree that grows in the midst of the garden is the spinal fire; the knowledge of the use of that spinal fire is the gift of the great serpent. Notwithstanding statements to the contrary, the serpent is the symbol and prototype of the Universal Savior, who redeems the worlds by giving creation the knowledge of itself and the realization of good and evil. If this be not so, why did Moses raise a brazen serpent upon a cross in the wilderness that all who looked upon it might be saved from the sting of the lesser snakes? Was not the brazen serpent a prophecy of the crucified Man to come? If the serpent be only a thing of evil, why did Christ instruct His disciples to be as wise as serpents?

(46) "I," the serpent answers, "am Satan who was stoned; I am the Adversary--the Lord who is against you, the one who pleads for your destruction before the Eternal Tribunal. I was your enemy upon the day that you were formed; I have led you into temptation; I have delivered you into the hands of evil; I have maligned you; I have striven ever to achieve your undoing. I am the guardian of the Tree of Knowledge and I have sworn that none whom I can lead astray shall partake of its fruits."

(8) The noble elect substance which is in him was more exalted. It created and it did not wound them. Therefore they issued a command, making a threat and bringing upon him a great danger, which is death. Only the enjoyment of the things which are evil did he allow him to taste, and from the other tree with the double (fruit) he did not allow him to eat, much less from the tree of life, so that they would not acquire honor [...] them, and so that they would not be [...] by the evil power which is called "the serpent." And he is more cunning than all the evil powers. He led man astray through the determination of those things which belong to the thought and the desires. made him transgress the command, so that he would die. And he was expelled from every enjoyment of that place.

[God planted] a garden, and humans [lived in the] garden. There are some [who dwell] with…God…. This garden [is where] it will be said to me, “…[eat] this and do not eat that, [as you] wish.” This is where I shall eat everything, where the tree of knowledge is. That tree killed Adam, but here the tree of knowledge has brought people back to life. That tree was the law. It can give knowledge of good and evil, but it neither freed Adam from evil nor made him good, and it brought death to those who ate of it. For when it was said, “Eat this and do not eat that,” death began.

(16) But when the Wisdom of God saw that Man, from the Spirit of the World, came to lust, to mingle himself with the four Elements, then came the Commandment and said; Thou shalt not eat of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Now the Knowledge of Good and Evil is not manifest in the Paradise, and in the Kingdom of Heaven, but only in what is proceeded out of the Element, in the Fierceness, there only stands the Knowledge of Evil manifest; and there only the Essences are capable of being kindled, and so therein Death sticks; of which God said, When thou eatest thereof thou shalt die.

(57) Thus now Adam with his Wife went (in great Lust and Joy) into the Garden of Eden, where Adam told her of the Commandment concerning the Tree: But Eve (being a Woman of this World) regarded it but little, and turned her from Adam to the Tree, and looked upon it with Lust; and the Lust instantly took hold of her; and the lying Devil (when she was talking with him, whom she knew not, neither had heard of any Devil) persuaded her, and she laid hold on the Tree, and broke off [an Apple,] and did eat of the Fruit of the four Elements and Stars, and gave to Adam; and when Adam saw that Eve died not, then he eat also.

(13) Therefore God here also gave him the Command, not to lust after the earthly Matrix, nor after her Fruit, which stood in the Corruptibility, and Transitoriness, but the Spirit of Man mot. He should eat of the Fruit, but no otherwise than of the paradisical Kind and Property, [and] not of the earthly Essences. For the paradisical Essences had imprinted themselves in all Fruits, therein they were very good to eat of, after an angelical Manner, and also pleasant to behold, or corporeal, as Moses also says. Now it may be asked, What then was properly the Tempting in Adam. The Gate of Good and Evil.

(37) And the Virtue in Adam said; I am upon Earth, and dwell in this World, and the World is mine, I will use it according to my Lust, [Will, and Pleasure.] Then came the Command of God (which i was received in the Center of God, out of the Circle [or Circumference] of the eternal Life,) and said: In the Day that thou eatest of the earthly Fruit, thou shalt die the Death: This Command was comprehended or enclosed (and hath its Original in the eternal Father) in the Center, where the eternal Father continually from Eternity generates his Heart or Son.

(48) And the serpent makes answer: "Behold, O Adam, the nature of thy Adversary!" The serpent disappears in a blinding sunburst of radiance and in its place stands an angel resplendent in shining, golden garments with great scarlet wings that spread from one corner of the heavens to the other. Dismayed and awestruck, the Adam falls before the divine creature.

(5) Therefore ye would beguile mankind of happy life (upon earth) and of Immortality (beyond it), since the Evil Spirit (has ruled) you with his evil mind. Yea, he has ruled you, (ye) who are of the Demon-gods, and with an evil word unto action, as his ruler (governs) the wicked !