Then God wrathfully spoke to Eve:
"Depart now from bliss! Thou shalt be ever under
the sway of men; with fear of men cruelly oppressed,920
thou shalt sorrowfully endure the heinousness of thine
offence and wait for death, and with weeping and wailing
and great anguish bring into the world thy sons and
daughters!"
Likewise to Adam did the Eternal Lord, Source of925
Light and Life, declare a cruel edict:
"Thou shalt seek another country, a joyless dwelling-
place, and wander in exile, naked and needy, driven930
away from the blessings of paradise; the separation of
soul and body is now ordained for thee. Lo, thou hast
wickedly originated sin: therefore thou shalt toil, and
win thy sustenance on earth by thyself, acquire it by
the sweat of thy face, and thus eat thy bread so long935
as thou livest here,—until ungentle disease, which thou
didst recently take to thyself with the apple, strikes
thee cruelly to the heart: then shalt thou die."
Behold, we learn thus how bitter afflictions and uni-940
versal miseries came upon us.
Thereupon the Guardian of Glory, our Creator, girded
them with clothing; the Lord bade them cover their
nakedness with some simple garments, and bade them
set forth and depart from paradise into a harder life.
Behind them, by God's command, a holy angel with a945
fiery sword shut the gate of their blissful home of peace
and joy; nor may any guileful sin-stained man ever fare
thither again, for the warder has might and strength950
who keeps for the Lord that greater life rich in glories.
Yet the Almighty, our First Father, would not take
away all comforts from Adam and Eve, though they had
fallen away from him: but he still let the lofty roof955
studded with holy stars stand as a solace for them, and
gave them ample possessions, and bade the seas and
land bring forth for the pair multitudes of each of the
young-producing species [necessary] for the sustenance960
of this life. So, after their sin, they inhabited a more
sorrowful land, a dwelling and country less fertile in
every kind of blessing than their former abode had
been, from which they had been driven out after their
misdeed.
Then they began, by God's command, to produce965
children, as the Lord had charged them. To begin
with, by Adam and Eve were brought into the world
two fair first-born sons, Cain and Abel. The books
tell us how these first toilers, loving brothers, gained970
their subsistence, riches and food: the one who was
elder born tilled the earth with his strength; the second
kept the flocks, helping his father, until a great number975
of days passed. They both brought an offering to the
Lord: the Prince of the Angels, King of all things, looked
upon Abel's offering with [favorable] eyes, but would
not consider the sacrifice of Cain; that caused strong
indignation in the heart of the man: rage arose in the980
youth's breast, livid hatred, and wrath by reason of
envy: then he wrought evil deeds with his hands, slew
his kinsman, his own brother, shed his blood,—yea,985
Cain [shed] Abel's. And the earth soaked up this blood
shed by murder, the life-blood of a man.
After this fatal blow woe was aroused, the long train
of afflictions: since then from this twig have hatefully
sprouted ever longer and stronger bitter branches: these990
branches of calamity spread far and wide over the nations
of men: hardly and sorely did the twigs of misery strike
the sons of men (and so they still do), from which the
broad leaves of all suffering began to spring. We may995
tearfully lament this account, this death-bringing fatal-
ity, and not in vain: but the fair woman injured us
[more] severely through the first sin which men dwelling
on earth ever committed against the Lord, since Adam1000
was filled with the breath of life by the mouth of God!