Apocalypse of Adam

The thirteen kingdoms — false sayings concerning the origin of the Illuminator. Each kingdom claims its own version of his coming. But the kingless generation alone speaks the truth.

1Hear, my son Seth: the Illuminator of knowledge shall come at the close of the days. He shall pass through the worlds and shall save them which are the seed of Noemi, the seed of Ham and Japheth — even the holy seed which hath kept the words of the eternal God.

2But the powers shall not understand his coming. They shall persecute him. They shall lay their hands upon him. They shall punish the flesh of the man upon whom the holy Spirit hath come.

3And the angels and all the generations of the powers shall use the name in error, asking: Whence cometh he? or: Whence have come the words of falsehood, which all the powers have failed to understand?

4Now the first kingdom saith of him that he came forth from a great prophet. A bird took him; it bare him up unto the mountain. He was nourished there. The angel of that mountain came forth, and gave him the glory and the power. So he came upon the water.

5And the second kingdom saith of him that he came forth from a great prophet. A bird came; it took up the child that was begotten. It bare him upon a high mountain. He was nourished by the bird of heaven. An angel came forth there. He said unto him: Arise. God hath given thee glory. He received glory and power. So he came upon the water.

6And the third kingdom saith of him that he came forth from a virgin womb. He was cast out of his city, he and his mother. He was brought to a desert place. He was nourished there. He came; he received glory and power. So he came upon the water.

7And the fourth kingdom saith of him that he came forth from a virgin. Solomon sought her, he and Phersalo and Sauel and his armies. They sought her, and Solomon himself sent the army of demons. They found her not. The virgin who was given them, that one was she whom they brought. Solomon took her. The virgin became pregnant. She bare the child. She nourished him on the border of the desert. When he had been nourished, he received glory and power from the seed by which he had been begotten. So he came upon the water.

8And the fifth kingdom saith of him that he came forth from a drop of heaven. He was cast into the sea. The abyss received him. It begat him; it caused him to come up unto the heaven. He received glory and power. So he came upon the water.

9And the sixth kingdom saith of him that an aeon went down unto an aeon below, that it might gather flowers. It became pregnant from the desire of the flowers. It begat him in that place. The angels of the flower-garden nourished him. He received glory and power there. So he came upon the water.

10And the seventh kingdom saith of him that he is a drop. It came from heaven unto the earth. Dragons brought him down unto the caves. He became a child. The Spirit came upon him. It bare him up unto the place out of which the drop had come. He received glory and power there. So he came upon the water.

11And the eighth kingdom saith of him that a cloud came upon the earth. It enveloped a rock. He came forth from it. The angels who were over the cloud nourished him. He received glory and power there. So he came upon the water.

12And the ninth kingdom saith of him that of the nine Muses one was set apart. She came up unto a high mountain. She sat there a season, that she might lust after herself, that she might become a male. She fulfilled her desire. She became great with child of her desire. She bare him. The angels who were over the desire nourished him. He received glory there and power. So he came upon the water.

13And the tenth kingdom saith of him that his god loved a cloud of desire. He begat him in his hand. He cast unto the cloud above him a portion of the drop, and he was begotten. He received glory and power there. So he came upon the water.

14And the eleventh kingdom saith of him that the father desired his own daughter. The daughter herself became pregnant of her father. She cast him forth into a tomb in the desert. The angel nourished him there. So he came upon the water.

15And the twelfth kingdom saith of him that he came forth from two illuminators. He was nourished there. He received glory and power. So he came upon the water.

16And the thirteenth kingdom saith of him that every birth of their ruler is a word, and that this word received a charge there. He received glory and power. So he came upon the water, that the desire of those powers might be fulfilled.

17But the kingless generation saith: God hath chosen him out of all the aeons. He hath caused a knowledge of the Undefiled One of truth to come into being in him. The great Illuminator came forth out of a foreign air, from a great aeon. He came not from a womb of flesh; nor from any of the kingdoms. He shone the great Light upon the seed of Seth. The cloud of the eternal Light hath received him. He came upon the water of life. So shall the powers be put to shame.