Prayer of Adam and Eve

The Prayer of Adam and Eve

When Adam and Eve were driven from the Garden, they made a shelter and grieved seven days, mourning in great sorrow. After this they grew hungry and sought food, but found none such as they had in the Garden, only the food of beasts.

Then Adam said to Eve, “Let us repent before the LORD our God who made us, that perhaps he may be merciful and have pity on us, and give us by which we may live.” And he said, “Let us do penance: I for forty days, standing in the waters of the Jordan, and you for thirty-four, standing in the waters of the Tigris. Let no word pass our lips, for we are unworthy to call upon the LORD, since our lips are unclean from the forbidden and unlawful tree.”

So Eve went to the Tigris and stood in the water up to her neck, and Adam went to the Jordan and stood in the water up to his neck, and the very creatures of the river gathered and stood still around him, mourning with him.

And Adam cried out in his heart, saying:

To you, O LORD, I lift my voice;

let the waters bear my prayer,

and the deep be my witness.

I have sinned, O God; I have sinned;

I have listened to another voice

and forgotten yours.

Forgive me, who am dust,

and do not blot me out forever,

but remember the work of your hands.

[Here the adversary, taking the form of a shining messenger, sought to draw Eve out of the water by deceit a second time; and when she came out, her flesh was green with the cold of the water. But Adam discerned the deceiver and would not be moved, and stood firm in his penance.]

And the LORD heard, and in his mercy did not cast them away forever. [Meaning uncertain]