On Creation I

On the Foundation of Creation Memra Thirty-Six Again, on the Foundation of Creation The essence of the Creator established height and depth by the sign of His power, through the instrument of the voice, desiring to investigate His foundations. In the beginning, He fixed heaven and earth, water and air, and the stars of the height, and light and darkness, which was spread over all. He created creation from nothing by a small sign, and as in a moment, He concealed its face by means of darkness. The great wonder the Creator wrought at the beginning of His foundations: He built a house and closed its windows and filled them with darkness. Through causes, He desired to investigate His foundations, and for the teaching of rationality, His works were made ready. The stars of the heavens were created at the beginning of existence, and to their teaching, the voice of "Let there be light" was joined. "Let there be light" illuminates all, the Creator cried out, and He summoned the watchers of the heavens to hear the wonder. O the beauty of the voice of the Creator, which resounded from His mouth, and it roused the watchers of the height with the sounds of His words. O the command that with the instrument of the voice became the working, O the sign of His labor, His sign in the word that He made. "Let there be light" became a beautiful foundation that holds all, and in it, height and depth and the word that is in them were covered. The working was completed with the command, and light became, and it pursued darkness and cleared the air, which had been dark.

The ranks of the heights of the firmament blessed the Creator, who established the order and set the light, and made all things rejoice. He praised Him for the beauty of His work and testified with His voice to the greatness of the power of the Almighty. O voice, which from nothing made something! O command, which without delay concealed something! Through the instrument of the voice, the Creator desired to teach the known powers concerning His essence. They were not aware that He existed before His creations, nor did they know what He intended for their establishment. With a voice that became light, the firmament cried out, and with the action, praise cried out to set all things in order. At this opportunity, the voice sounded, but the voice that was to teach the spiritual ones the power of His hiddenness did not cease. Great was the voice that spoke at the beginning in the earth, and it made known that one Creator created everything. They raised their voices in perfect love and bowed before Him, and all the voices of holiness proclaimed to the King of the heights. The existence of light taught the power of the Creator, and it made known through the living coal of the voice His thanksgiving. One day completed the night of the day with the completion of light, and darkness began to seek the path for the second day. A great order established both of them in their authority, so that one would not be confused with the other by their courses.

On the second day the command went forth that the firmament be, and it divided the waters, half to the height and half to the earth. The firmament was placed in the midst of the waters, a hard barrier, and it held the waters above from its midst without being shaken. O command that hardened the soft nature of the waters, and made a hard nature that held the waters! O balance that divided the waters, a great weight, and suspended the two seas, to height and depth, like a roof for the house below, stretched under the firmament, which became a filling for the place of the earth for the house above. In the likeness of a white egg, the firmament bore a sign, and in it were formed the figures of the sun and the moon, sparks of light. Two luminaries, sparks of light, the firmament suspended, and their sparks gladdened the earth for the sustenance of life. From that first light that was, it made luminaries, and from it divided the sun and the moon, smaller sparks. From the pure source it fixed in the great sphere, and placed the treasure of light in the sphere of the moon, the trustworthy. From the great source it also gave light to the day, and that which is smaller and also dim to the quiet night. It limited the course of the sun and set twelve hours, so that when one completes its circuit, the place of its companion takes its turn. In two ways it made the great sun's course, so that the order of the path of the small moon might not be disturbed.

In the dwelling of man he runs on his path within the day, and he gives place to the small moon to revolve in his path. With a swift, strong course he runs between the two poles, while he encircles the circuit of height, night and day. At the time of dawn his two sides shine like a bride, and with the rays of the sun his growth makes the earth rejoice. At the time of evening he is darkened and becomes strong like a champion, when the darkness that is spread over him perceives and takes control. The small moon makes its run by means of changes, and in one month it ascends and descends twelve steps. The light of the moon is not bent towards the great sun when it meets him in the authority of height on the path of his course. For the life of man he sought a great dwelling place, and he set its foundations in firm waters and established its sides. He stretched out its shadow from the softness of the yielding waters, and he drew up waters from its midst like a vessel. He suspended the two luminaries, the sun and the moon, in the shadow of its house, and he cast the sign of his power and divided the hours. Praiseworthy is the Creator, wondrous are his works and great is his thought, who knew beforehand what would be needed for his work. The dense dwelling he made for creation, adorning all, two things he gathered and sought for two worlds. He made the lower one to be a helper for mortality, and he increased and filled it with fruits that are suitable for bodies.

The high one made a fair dwelling filled with good things, that spiritual ones might delight in it spiritually. For the earthly ones he made earthly desires, and for the heavenly ones he gave good things of the heavens. After the two dwellings, the knower of all was revealed, and he balanced heaven and earth, and they were in one place. For his desire preceded his power, and by his desire he formed for himself the works that he made. He perfected and completed heaven and earth, a house of spirit, and he increased and filled them with great wealth for those who dwell in them. He gathered the waters and made the seas, a great basin, and he joined the sign of his power, and the creatures moved. He gave birth to a womb of water, soft bodies, thick, and from the heavy ones, a light wing of flight. He commanded the earth, and it bore species and kinds, beasts of the field and animals of the forest and all species. He tilled the earth and cast into it the seed of life, and seeds grew, and trees rose up, and they bore fruit. He completed and finished the power of the Creator, all that was, and then he created the heir and lord of all creatures. With everything he made, he made a sound heard over his power, and when he created the dust of Adam, sound and word. With everything that came to be, he spoke and it was, and by the power of the image of man, he came to make.

He stretched out the heavens and did not summon another power to his aid. He again spread out the earth and did not take counsel with the advisors of his thought. He made the natures of the spiritual ones, fire and spirit, and did not reveal the mystery of the power of his essence to the orders of his people. In the creation of Adam, a new thought and also a new reflection arose, as he made him hear the voice of his high thoughts. Come, let us make a man in image and also in likeness, and he shall be ruler over all that is in the likeness of a king. How then, O Creator, do you change? A new thought and a new reflection in the dust of Adam. Why do you call a helper to yourself in the creation of your image, and what counsel did you take in the likeness you made? O dust that is cast, whose power is hidden and whose creation is exalted, secret mysteries are spoken in its formation. O mortal who is revealed and examines by his creation: the hypostases for one essence without beginning. By the composition of the image of Adam, the Father examines the equality of Son and Spirit, and everything became. He concealed the mystery of the examination of the hypostases from all that was, lest the spiritual ones perceive another power. In Adam, his image, as in a mystery, he revealed to the prophets that Son and Spirit are equal with the Father in one essence. In that which is in the likeness of nature, he proclaimed and taught equality, and in the one of death, he revealed and examined for you the three hypostases.

In Adam, the heir, he taught the third mystery of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one equality. This power, hidden from all, created everything and in the completion of all things, he composed man. He made one voice heard, the hidden one over all that was, and in the formation of Adam's image, he changed the voice. Come, let us make man, a speaking being in our image, and by the union of his soul and his body, bind all. Let him be a living being for the heavens in the life of the soul, also near to the corporeal in the composition of the body. And let the image, by its revelation, proclaim my hiddenness, and let it be ruler over all that was, to teach my lordship. In him, I reveal the hidden one over the natures of my pure ones, and in him, I teach the spiritual ones my authority over all. I honor his creation above all creation, for by hand and mouth I create him and breathe into him. With a hidden hand, I fashion him from his scattered dust, and from my mouth, I breathe into him the spirit of life. O nature without composition, hidden from all, who for the sake of dust diminished himself in the name of members. The Lord took scattered dust from the ground and composed Adam, a speaking image from the living. And he breathed into his face the breath of life from the spirit of his mouth, and Adam became a living soul, a speaking being.

To him alone, without a partner, he composed the creation, while teaching that in everything his sign is one. He completed and perfected the rational vessel that Life fashioned, and there is no likeness that resembles Adam, in whom the image was established. He cast the sleep of the sixth day, and Adam, the youth, was submerged, and he took a rib from his members and established the woman. He filled this body of his like the first, and from that which was his own he composed a body that resembles his own. A human being came to be who resembles a man from a human being, and he completed and there came to be a body and soul in the likeness of Adam. He slept, submerged, and did not perceive the dissolution of his body, and he awoke from his sleep and saw a man who resembles his body. The Creator set a visible seal by the Spirit in the furnace of his soul, and his mouth uttered new sounds of intimacy. This bone is from his members; by the name "woman" the man who establishes the dwelling is covered. He called her again by the name that is fitting, by which the name of the act is known, and he showed that she is the mother of life, the begetter of life. He subdued before him all the species that were on the earth, so that they might cast upon them the seal of his word, that they might be his own. He wrote letters on their skins, black as ink, and he learned the power to subdue them all as a master. In a place of clay he established letters for the earth-dwellers, and with them he placed letters in a place of eternity that is wondrous and glorious.

He placed upon him the guardians of the garden, and they took hold of the keys, and he wrote for him the contract of his lordship by means of the command. He placed in their hands the authority over the fruits, the firstfruits of the tree of life, and he forbade him from the tree that produces death. He called Adam his image and set for him a boundary, that he should not approach nor take the fruit of the tree of knowledge. He said to him, "Do not eat from the tree that produces death; keep the command, and I will give you the fruit of life." Two trees the Creator set before his image, and he made a tree of life and a tree of death. Two signs, as a mystery, he set in the trees: the dwelling of the earth and the kingdom of heaven, that he might examine him. The command was like a ruler that stood guard, lest Adam, the youth, act rashly with their fruits. He revealed and examined him, as by a mystery, through the command: "I will give you new life if you do not sin." And when he knew that he would sin like a sinner, by the command he desired to test him as if he did not know. And when he knew that mortality was set in his nature, on account of the fruit he desired to frighten his posterity. By the command concerning the tree, he led him to the simple one, and brought to light his discernment by means of a test. The command was like a furnace for the testing of man, and the desire for the fruit like a touchstone for gold.

He spread out in it the air of the trees of fruit with his gold, of Adam. And he increased his beauty with the color of his food, and he showed his splendor. Good gold he created for Adam, he set up everything, and he concealed his splendor without knowledge like a covering. By means of the command, as a firstborn, he entered her grace, and with a smile he drew out his desire and showed his splendor. Mystically he commanded the serpent to the house of Adam, that without their permission the heights should not listen to the voice of the command. Between them this mystery was hidden from the corporeal ones, and it did not share with the knowledge of Adam the heavenly ones. The head of the air did not hear this command, and he did not know for what reason he was restrained from the fruit. A lack of clarity for himself, and he darkened from his own self, that he might see Adam, who had been made lord over all that was. Error led him, the slanderer, in the form of a serpent, that for some reason dust had been made king on the earth. It was not enough for the son of the living one that he had been called his image, but that height and depth should be subjected under his authority. He did not weary the dust of the earth which he had fashioned with his hands, but he cast the burden of his labor upon the spirits. No spirit stood firm in authority over the orders of my kind, nor did the word desire to examine the seals. Behold, this wandering dust of the earth, the son of the living one, with great counsel and thought he fashioned his creation.

He called him again his image when he increased him like a lord. And when he went to the angels in the service of his life: "Approach his side without a body, you do not see me; approach his side without a rider, you do not perceive me." That envious one was not able at the beginning of the times to change him and lead the man astray by means of forms. The serpent chose him to conceal his bitterness in him, and like a thorn among the parts of the flesh he sang a song of deceit. He sent the serpent, the bitter rider, to the daughter of man, so that when she saw the bodily things, she would accept his counsel. He sang a song of deceit in the ear of the flesh, sounds that were sweet, so that because of the taste she would cease and desist from the food. Lest the Creator set a boundary upon the trees, that they not enjoy their fruits like beasts. To the ear of Eve with a coarse voice, with the flesh, that he was ruler over the pleasure of all the fruits. From one only he restrained and all of them generated death, and without death for them because of this one all of them from his fruits. The cause of death that was hidden from the spirits, and he rejoiced and was confident that he found a place to cast his deceit. He worked the earth of hearing of the ears of the woman, the loose one, and he poured his seed, the poison, within her thought. Not death set, hidden in the tree, the serpent interpreted: the eyes of light give fruit to the one who eats from it.

The great power stood in awe of the tree by means of its fruit, and it was able to change and make a man like gods. The great mystery of divinity was hidden in the tree, and if you eat from its sweetness, you will ascend a step. And because of this, all of you, keep away from it lest you fall, lest you reach the great height of his divinity. Restrain yourselves, that you may not become for him objects of reproach, and that you may not be burned by the great name of his divinity. Go toward the fruit and eat from it, and see the light; and behold, Cain and Abel stood forth, a power of wisdom like gods. The woman saw the fruit of the tree of knowledge, and it pleased her, and she took and ate, and also gave to her husband, and he ate. She first heard the counsel and plucked the fruit, and her mouth hastened to the food, that she might become a god. By the eating of the fruit she desired to snatch the name of God and to take a step above her husband and to become head. By the passion of eating, mortals thought they would reach above, and below they became servants of command to the depth of Sheol. By the eating of the fruit, the earthly ones stood in lamentation, and they became dark and were covered from the nakedness of their members. The food became like a mirror for the movements of the soul, and it bent the senses outward by the beauty of the leaves. The lamentation of separation stood, the young of heart, and they covered the naked flesh of their members.

The tree from which they ate made a mystery, and they cast off their leaves; from it they covered themselves. At the end of the day, the voice of the Creator called out, while making the sounds of the walks heard within Paradise. O spirit that makes heard a voice without limbs, O one who knows all who question him about his image, you know where he is and question him while seeing him, making a voice heard and also calling him to turn his steps. Where are you, Adam? The revealed image searches for its covering. Where are you, the heir of your treasure, Lord over all my acquisitions? Through gracious and merciful deeds, they sought the lost one, and with a sweet voice, Adam, Adam. Where are you, Adam? The voice cried out to the dust, and the made one turned to the Maker with a sweet voice. I heard the sound of your walks and hid from the assembly, lest I be caught in my nakedness that spreads shame. How did I cast off your glory, king of the earth? And how did your servant become naked of the mystery? The cause took hold of the stone that was ashamed of the branch from which it came, when it thought it would not be condemned by the decree of the day. The woman who gave with me, she gave me the fruit and I ate; and if not for her, I would not have transgressed your command. Adam blamed the woman with a full mouth like a child, and asked the woman, "What is this evil that you have done?

And she also bowed to the cause with the serpent in the likeness of Adam. The serpent deceived, and she ate the fruit without his will. He did not ask the serpent why it deceived, for it was not the serpent that deceived, but he who spoke through it. The Creator pronounced a harsh judgment against the deceiver, and he bound and cast him into a prison of curses. Cursed be you from every creeping thing that moves on the earth, and from every swift course of your swiftness, that you may no longer deceive. Dust shall be your food from within the earth, and you shall not delight in the sweetness of fruit. A whip shall be for the punishment of your deception all your days, and your groans shall be your bonds without release. Your head shall be crushed and your coils shattered when you are conquered, and when you sin, you shall be struck on the mouth with blows. By the decree of judgment, the serpent was condemned as an informer, and with the curses upon the creatures, he cursed the evil one. He did not wish to reveal to the angels at the beginning of the sacrifices, lest their error increase on the earth in the name of gods. By this, the story of the informer is hidden, so that he might not think that any power can avail like the Creator. With the spirits that are clothed in light, he also was created, and he dwelt with the holy ones in the heights. The authority of the dominion of the air stood and trembled, and he fell from his rank like lightning because of Adam.

He cursed him for that he walks on his belly upon the earth, so that he no longer ascends to the heights because of his lightness. He also humbled and cut off the food of the wandering serpent, as it writhes on the face of the ground among the serpents. He made the serpent that kills man a serpent, and it became one that strikes at the heel of man in the crookedness of iniquity. He pursued the cunning one with hard bonds because of his folly, for he raised his staff against the daughter of man who heeded his counsel. With the pangs of childbirth he bound Eve who plucked the fruit, and because she was exalted, he humbled her head beneath the man. For Adam, his image, he finally cursed him with the decree of knowledge, that the hardness of the bonds might afflict his wife with the serpent and Eve. Cursed earth, because of you the king of the earth, the stars will err, and they will also give to you when you work it. With the sweat of your face you will eat bread when it is plowed, and your sowing and your harvest that you drink from the commands. Earth you are from the living one, and dust you will be, for you have loosed the words, loosed death, the ruler of your life. O Knower of All, who knows all, be a just judge, that he may show his wrath in the decree of his knowledge as if he does not know. He created Adam from the living one and called him his image, and he made his dust in the likeness of the dust of mortality. For this he placed from the beginning in the constitution of his body, that he might tremble on the path of mortality, that he might ask for life.

Not from wrath did he decree curses and pains that beget, nor did he introduce death upon the mortals through the elements. The natures that he placed in the nature of mortality he turned and placed poison like a serpent for the help of man. He knew the dust of Adam, that it would be just that death might begin and dissolve the structure of his body. It was revealed to him that the serpent would sin through the desire for the fruit, and he knew the evil inclination of his free will. Through the help of the tree he wished to make his speech wise, so that its free will might not be without discernment. He mounted the causes through the command that taught Adam that it was fitting for him to keep the order of the command of his Lord. Through the tree he revealed the hiddenness of his free will, and by the eating of the fruit he showed the power of his speech. Not through the tree did the power of free will stand, nor did silence make the speaker who knew these things. Not through the tree was death hidden that would enslave Adam, nor did the command make sinners for those after him. The structure of Adam’s body cries out that it was mortal, and the partnership of Eve, which was full of pains, is she. The whole world from its foundations bears witness to this, and fruits and seeds for the existence of seeds in completeness. Call them: the tree stood, knowledge not in its nature, but that the wisdom of Adam was tested through the cause of its fruit.

He called the end, giving life not from himself, but he formed in the mystery of the kingdom the fullness of life. By the bond in him, the decrees of the sign filled with poisons, and the end gave the terror of life to simplicity. Adam would not have endured the trial of bitterness, nor would he have been able to attain the hearing of the kingdom of height. Through weaknesses, as in milk, he set the foundation of inheritance, and he sealed it by the hand of nature with two seals. To the dwelling of the earth, he likened it by generative nature, and by the nature of life, he formed the seal of the kingdom of height. He filled paradise as a reward for the labors of the sign, and he guarded its fruits by the vigilance of the voice of his commands. His desire was glorious to water his course to the four rivers, and like a channel in the sea, he passes without being dissolved. Or the commands that guard the waters as in a vessel, and they are not dissolved for the desire that passes in the great basin. Or the beginning of the waters that divide the waters, and when one form existed, the watery elements were waters to waters. Not by weeping did the authority of the desire of the passing stand, but the power of the Creator is what guards the waters by the waters of the firmaments. That which created everything from nothing by the power of his greatness: he commanded the firmaments not to be mixed with their companions. To his power, he also added the son of the sign of the covenant, that the simple ones might be equal to the difficulties for the power of his will.

In this, the end divided the waters of the sign, that they might be witnesses to the greatness of the power of the All-Powerful. Like heralds, the end sent out to the four winds, that they might cry out while silent concerning his greatness. With joy, the great power proclaimed the end, and with pearls and gems he enriched the earth. With the Kushites, the end went out to the goat in the voice of his abundance, and while silent, he raised his horns and watered the earth. The Tigris cried out like a trumpet to the Assyrians, that the Creator, within the silent ones, heard the speakers. The Euphrates, like thunder, made its voice heard in its great course, and like a trumpet, it awakened the nations with the sound of its roar. Not the greatness of the rivers did Moses praise, but he attributed to the power of the Creator that the power of everything is able. And when his will is his treasure and his sign is wealth, the end is ready for the work of his hands like a potter. For six days he established everything, and on the seventh he rested from his labor, that one who completes everything. It was not difficult for the greatness of the power of that one who creates everything, that with one sign he might fashion and make everything that exists. For six days his ordinances were not lacking, that he might teach his power to the spiritual ones, that he who establishes everything. He was teaching while he was creating, a fitting light, that from nothing the power is able to make something.

And to them the sphere of the sun and the orbit of the moon made known that from nothing something is able to change and to give existence to something. Their orders stood amazed when they saw the great wonder that with the creation the activity was delayed. They learned the power of the Creator through his signs, and they believed that he alone is without beginning. At his command, authority stood to set in motion all things, and their movements halted at the activities of the earthly ones. To them a great wealth was hastened like the true ones, and they made them natures of mortality. Spiritual authority stood over all that came to be, and it empowered the sign of its power towards praise. To the Accuser it made him the head that stirs the air, and like a commander it delivered the spheres into his hand. The rod seized him by his authority, that rebellious one, and over the abyss he desired to be kindled in the height of his heart. And when he was unable to harm the power of being, he desired to darken the image of the Creator in place of the Creator. Through the smallness of Adam, the rebellious one raged against the Creator, while he supposed that he would harm the image of his own image. He deceived Adam with the desire for the fruit to eat and to die. When Adam died, he rejoiced against God in the death of Adam. Through the death of Adam, the rebellious one supposed that he had seized the honored name of the name of being of God the All.

the desire of the rebellious one to eat the fruit of the tree in the error of Adam, and his sign was cast down in the likeness of lightning from his authority. He made an end from his greatness and cast down his glory, and when he thought that he was hidden, his pain increased for him. In the decree of the judgment that Adam received, the rebellious one thought that from then on death would begin the dissolution of his body. For the evil thought did not ascend according to his will, and Adam did not die by his eating of the fruit as he thought. For his life was extended to nine hundred and more years, and his body cast down the desire of life for the preservation of his kind. He pursued the palate in the decree of judgment as if for a moment, and in the palate he found the sin, the cause of his death. Not the ends, but the beginnings of the dying ones stood in the decree of judgment; in that lamentation the Creator placed these ends that he touched. Great was the command of his Lord to him, and he became wise to himself, and in his creation he wrote letters instead of the palate. He found the sin that was the cause of mortality, and he established love towards the Creator who pursues and establishes him. These were the first of Adam towards the Creator, and not the houses did death enter without his will. For the help of Adam, the tree spoke like new things, that in the sign Adam learned the will of his Lord. All that happened in blood in Adam according to his will, and in his riding he bound the love of the whole that was.

Adam was guilty of all that happened, to repay glory to that Creator who would show his love to his creatures.