The Tree of Knowledge, The Beast, & Paradise | Nag Hammadi Scriptures

Nag Hammadi Codex

On the Origin of the World

118,6-121

The Tree of Knowledge of Good & Evil & The Beast

When the rulers saw Adam and the woman with him in error and ignorance, like animals, they were very pleased.

Then they found out that the immortal human was not going to pass them by and they would even have to fear the woman who turned into a tree. They were troubled and said, "Could this be the one who blinded us and taught us about the defiled woman who resembles the true human, in order to overpower us?"

The seven hatched a plot. They approached Adam and Even carefully and said to him, "You. may eat the fruit of every tree created for you in paradise, but be careful not to eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge. If you eat, you will die." They gave them a great fright and withdrew up to their authorities.

The beast, the wisest of all creatures, came by. when it saw the likeness of their mother, Eve, it said to her, "What did God say to you? 'Do not eat from the tree of knowledge'?"

She said, "He not only said, 'Do not eat from it,' but 'Do not touch it, or you will die.'"

The beast said to her, "Don't be afraid. You certainly will not die. He knows that when you eat from it your minds will become sober and you will be like gods, knowing the difference between evil and good people. He said this to you because he is jealous, so that you would not eat from it."

Eve believed the words of the instructor. She looked at the tree and saw it was beautiful and appealing and she liked it. She took some of its fruits and ate, and she gave it to her husband too, and he also ate. Their minds opened.

When they had eaten,

the light of knowledge shone on them.

When they clothed themselves with shame,

they knew they were stripped of knowledge.

When they became sober,

they saw they were naked

and they fell in love.

When they saw their makers looked like beasts,

they loathed them.

They understood a great deal

The Rulers Confront Adam & Eve in Paradise

When the rulers realized that Adam and Eve had broken their commandment, they entered paradise and came to Adam and Eve with an earthquake and a great threat, in order to see what happened as a result of the help that was given. Adam and Eve were very much disturbed, and they hid in the trees in paradise. The rulers did not know where they were, and they said, "Adam, where are you?"

Adam said, "I'm here. I was ashamed and hid because I was afraid of you."

They said to him, ignorantly, "Who told you about the shame with which you clothed yourselves? Unless you ate from the tree!"

Adam said, "The woman you gave me gave it to me, and I ate."

The rulers said to Eve, "What have you done?"

She answered and said, "The instructor urged me to eat, and I ate."

The rulers approached the instructor. Their eyes were blinded by it, and they could not do anything to it. They were powerless, and they cursed it. Then they came to the woman, and they cursed her and her children. After the woman they cursed Adam and the earth and the fruit because of him. Everything they created they cursed. There is no blessing from them. God cannot come from evil.

Since then, the authorities have known for certain that there is something stronger than they. They simply recognized that their commandment was broken. Great envy came into the world just because of the immortal human.

When the rulers saw that their Adam had acquired different knowledge, they wanted to test him. They gathered all the domestic animals, wild beasts of the earth, and the birds of the sky, and brought them to Ada to see what he would call them. When he saw them, he gave names to the creatures of the rulers.

The rulers were troubled that Adam had recovered from all his anguish. They gathered together and made a plan and said, "Look, Adam had become like one of us, and he knows the difference between light and darkness. Now perhaps he will go astray as he did with the tree of knowledge and will come to the tree of life and eat from it, and become immortal and rule and despise us and consider all our glory to be foolish. And he will denounce us and the world.

So they threw Adam and Eve out of paradise.

What they had done did not satisfy them. They were still afraid. So they went to the tree of life and set great dreadful things around it, fiery living creatures called cherubim, and among them they put a flaming sword, constantly turning in a terrifying way, so that no one from earth might ever enter that place.