3 Meqabyan

The third and shortest book of Meqabyan, a theological meditation on the cosmic struggle between God and the Devil, the meaning of sin and repentance, and the certainty of bodily resurrection. Modernized from a Ge'ez translation; see A Note on Sources for full attribution.

3 Meqabyan Chapter 1

1. The islands of Egypt will rejoice concerning the kind and gentle one who is to come in the latter days - the one who will take vengeance against the Devil, the oppressor and deceiver who opposes the way of the Creator.
2. He will take vengeance against him, for pride has swelled in his mind, and he will bring his glory down to the earth and to humiliation.
3. And he said: "Who is above me? I will plunge into the depths of the sea, I will ascend into heaven, I will see the deep places, and I will seize the children of Adam like fledgling birds and hold them in my grasp.
4. I will grow strong against those who live on earth who have not done the will of God, since I devise pretexts against them to draw them away from the righteous law of God - and there is no one who can deliver them from my hand.
5. I will turn them onto a crooked path, so that they go to destruction with me.
6. "Therefore, those who love him and keep his law hate me; but those who have strayed and wandered away from their Lord come to me, and they love me, and they keep my covenant. I will harden their hearts and twist their thoughts so they do not return to their Creator, to God, and they will carry out my commands just as I have ordered them.
7. When I show them the riches of this world, I will lead their minds away from the straight path; and when I show them beautiful women and young maidens, I will draw them away from the straight path by these things.
8. When I show them the gleaming gems of Hendeke, and gold and silver, I will draw them away from the straight path by this as well, so that they return to my service.
9. When I show them fine clothing, white silk and red silk, cloaks and linen garments, I will draw them away from the straight path by this also and turn their thoughts toward me; and when I show them wealth and livestock as countless as sand, I will turn them to my service by this as well.
10. When I show them jealousy born of pride - over women, over anger, and over strife - I will turn them to my way by all these things.
11. When I show them signs, I will take up dwelling in the minds of their companions; I will plant within their minds something of the nature of a distinct sign; and I will display the sign of their words and lead them astray.
12. I will show signs to those in whom I have made my dwelling - whether through the movement of the stars, or the rising of clouds, or the breathing of fire, or the cries of wild beasts and birds, for these are my dwelling places - by all of these I will implant signs within their minds.
13. They will speak and give signs to their companions, and I will fulfill those signs beforehand, just as their diviners told them.
14. "I will make the sign of their words come to pass, so that those who have consulted them will be led astray and will pay them for it - knowing prophecies fulfilled just as they spoke, discerning between evil and good, everything happening to them as they said, everything done according to their words - so that they may tell their companions there are no wise ones like so-and-so and such-and-such.
15. When they speak thus, I rejoice, that those who perish and go astray through me may multiply greatly, and that the children of Adam may be ruined with me - for God brought me down from my glory because of their father Adam, because I refused to bow down to one beneath me.
16. "I will lead all his children who walk in my commands to destruction." I have a covenant from God who created me, that those whom I have led astray will be cast into the fire with me.
17. When he multiplied his wrath against me and commanded that I be bound and thrown into the depths of Gehenna and Sheol, I pleaded with my Lord; and when my Creator gave this command, I interceded before him, saying: "You have been angry with me, you have chastised me with your punishment, and you have struck me with your wrath - Lord my Master, grant me leave to speak one thing before you."
18. My Lord answered me: "Speak, and I will hear you." Then I began to plead with him, saying: Let those whom I have led astray, after I was cast down from my glory, be with me in the suffering I must endure.
19. But those who refused me, who did not go astray through me - who keep your commands, fulfill your will, and guard your word; who did not keep my commands, who refused when I tried to teach them, who were not led astray through me as I sought to lead them - let them belong to your kingdom; and let them receive the crown you gave me in the time when you loved me.
20. And to those authorities who were not driven out with me and were not called demons, give them my crown; and seat them at your right hand upon my throne, which has been left empty of me and my hosts.
21. Let them praise you as you desire; let them be as I and my hosts were. Since you have rejected me and loved those made from dust and earth, my authority has been stripped away and their authority has been exalted - so let them praise you as you desire."
22. My Lord answered and said to me: "Since you have led astray those who, though they saw and heard, did not love my work - let them be yours, according to your will and according to your word.
23. Those who abandoned my commands and the words of the scriptures and came to you - their destruction does not grieve me; let them be punished in Gehenna with you, together with all those you have led astray.
24. For you and for those who went astray through you, there is no escape from the punishment of Gehenna forever. You will suffer in fire for eternity."

3 Meqabyan Chapter 2

1. "But those whom you could not mislead - as you could not mislead my servant Job - I will give them your throne as an inheritance with honor; and to those you could not lead astray, I will give them the kingdom of heaven," says the Almighty God.
2. And I will scheme against all the children of Adam in every way; if I am able to mislead them, I will not leave them to stand firm in good works - for I will plot against every child of Adam and make the desires of this world sweet to them.
3. Through the love of food and the love of drink and the love of clothing, through the love of talk, through giving and taking,
4. Through the love of hearing and the love of seeing, through the love of touching and the love of walking, through the multiplication of pride and words, through the love of sleep and dreams,
5. Through the multiplication of drink and drunkenness, through the multiplication of insults and anger, through the speaking of obscenity and foolish jesting,
6. Through quarreling with their neighbors in strife, through gazing at the beautiful women of this world, through smelling the fragrances of perfumes that intoxicate them -
7. Through all of these I will war against them so they cannot be saved; and because of them I will lead them far from God's path, so that they enter into the same ruin into which I fell from my throne, and are with me.
8. Then the prophet said: "You who are corrupt and who corrupt others! In your pride and hardness of heart, grieving your Creator and refusing to praise your Creator - when you departed from God's commandment and denied him, do you dare to boast this way over God's creation?
9. When your Creator was angry with you for your evil deeds, he cast you down. Why then do you take away the poor one whom the Creator formed from earth and dust, whom he made according to his will and established for his praise?
10. You who are subtle - formed from flame of fire and from wind - when you boast and say, 'I am the creator' of the one who created you,
11. Even as you were proud, God looked upon your evil deeds; he created Adam in your place to praise his name without ceasing; for you denied God with your armies.
12. Adam and his children were created to praise the name of God in place of the praise of you and your armies, whom God despised because of your pride; for you had exalted yourself above all the archangels.
13. Therefore God humbled you and separated you from all the commanders of the angels who are like you; you and your armies, created together in one counsel, departed from the praise of God because of your hardened minds and your proud consciences - and it was not against another, but against your own Creator that you were proud.
14. Therefore God created Adam from the dust of the earth, to be praised in humility, and gave him commandment and law not to eat the fruit of a certain tree.
15. He appointed him over all that he had created, and declared to him: 'Eat from every tree in the garden; but do not eat from the one tree that became the thorn of death, lest you bring death upon yourself.'
16. When you heard this word, you spat the poison of your mouth upon Eve, who had been taken from Adam's rib.
17. And through evil flattery you snatched away the pure lamb, to make him a lawbreaker like you.
18. When you deceived Eve - who was created like a gentle dove and did not know your cunning - you led her astray through your accomplished scheme and your twisted words and made her deny God; and after you had led astray that first creation, she went and led astray Adam, the first creation of God made from earth.
19. And through your pride you plunged him into unworthy chaos; you caused him to deny his Creator's word; and through your pride you destroyed the poor one.
20. Through your cunning you separated him from his Creator's love; through your scheming you drove him out of the garden of joy; through your stumbling block you made him forsake the food of paradise.
21. Through your lies you made him thirst for the drink of paradise; for from the beginning you had been at war with gentle Adam - to drag him down into Sheol, where you receive your punishment, and to tear him away from the love of his God who had brought him from non-existence into true existence.
22. Though he is earthly, in his soul and body and in his mind, God made him spiritual and speaking - one who honors and praises his Creator.
23. He created for him ten faculties that praise in many different modes, like a harp.

3 Meqabyan Chapter 3

1. For you, your Creator formed one single thought within you - that, being sent forth as one who is sent, you would praise him perfectly.
2. But to Adam, ten thoughts were given: five evil thoughts and five good thoughts.
3. Moreover, he has many thoughts tossed about like the waves of the sea - like a whirlwind that lifts dust from the earth and scatters it, churned as the wind stirs up the waves of the sea. The thoughts in his heart are like countless raindrops; and arising from this uncountable multitude of thoughts, Adam's thought is likewise.
4. But your thought is one; for you are not of the flesh, and you have no other thought.
5. Yet you, dwelling within the mind of the serpent, destroyed Adam - who was one body - through evil flattery. And Eve heard the words of the serpent, and having heard, she did as it commanded her.
6. She came and deceived Adam, God's first creation, by making him eat the fruit of the fig tree; and because she transgressed the commandment of her Creator, she brought death upon herself and upon her children.
7. By God's righteous judgment they went out from Paradise; yet though they were cast out, he did not drive them far from Paradise. But in the land where they were exiled, he comforted them with the fruit of their wombs, with their children, and with the fruit of their land.
8. And when, in your jealousy, you drove them out of Paradise, God gave them flourishing plants from Paradise - so that they might plant them, and find comfort in the fruit of Paradise that God had given them and in the fruit of the earth -
9. so that their hearts might greatly rejoice upon seeing their children, and upon seeing Paradise and the fruit of the earth that the soil had brought forth; and when they ate of it, they would be fully comforted from the grief of being driven out of Paradise.
10. For God knows how to comfort his creation, and their hearts are comforted through their children and through the fruit of the earth.
11. For they were exiled to this land of thorns and thistles, and they sustain their hearts with grain and water.

3 Meqabyan Chapter 4

1. The Lord declared that He would redeem Adam; He will put you to shame, and He will save the lamb from the mouth of the wolf.
2. But you will go to destruction, taking with you the people you have bought.
3. Those who kept the law of God their Creator - so that He might make them His inheritance, and who, unlike you, did not transgress the law of God their Creator - those whom He hid from your evil works so that they might praise Him with His holy angels: they will rejoice with God their Creator.
4. But you - God, who had chosen you above all others like you so that you might praise Him with the angels, stripped you of the exalted throne because of your pride.
5. You became arrogant; you were called Diabolos; and your hosts were called demons.
6. But those who love God will become His own, like the holy angels; and the Seraphel and Kiruvel who praise Him spread their wings and praise Him without ceasing.
7. But you destroyed your praise through your pride and laziness, along with your tribe and your hosts who were created in your likeness, who should have praised Him forever.
8. Thinking that no one like you could be created, when you forgot the praise of God who created you - lest the praise of God who created you as the tenth tribe be lacking, and when you separated yourself from the unity of your brothers lest the praise of God who created you be lacking - 9 - and when you despised the praise of God who created you through the pride of your mind, and when He was angry with you and you were mocked, and when He cast you and your hosts into the depths of Gehenna -
9. He took earth from the ground with His holy hands; He added water, fire, and wind; and He created Adam in His image and likeness.
10. He appointed him over all the creatures He had made with His hands, so that His praise would be complete in your absence. The praise of the earthly one was joined to the praise of the heavenly ones, and their praise became equal.
11. But you were banished through your pride and the stiffness of your neck; you departed from the lordship of God who created you and destroyed yourself.
12. Know that His praise will not be lacking - for God, by His own will and counsel, has created those who praise Him - so that the praise due His divinity will never be diminished.
13. For He knows all things before they come to pass; He knew before He created you that you would transgress His commandment. There was a plan hidden with Him before the world was created, and when you rebelled, He created His servant Adam in His image and likeness.
14. Solomon said: "He brought me forth before the hills; before the world was accomplished, before the foundations of the earth were laid - 16 - before the foundations of the mountains and hills were set, before the paths of the world were established, before the light of the sun and moon shone, before the course of the stars and seasons was known - 17 - before night and day alternated, before the sea was bounded by sand, before all created things were created - 18 - before all that is seen today was seen, before every name now called was called - He created me." As Solomon declared: you and the angels like you, and His servant Adam, all existed within the mind of God.
15. When you rebelled, He created Adam so that His holy name might be praised; and when you grew proud, He created that humble servant Adam, made from earth, so that He might be praised through him.
16. For God hears the prayer of the poor from afar, and God loves the praise of the humble.
17. God disregards the ways of the proud, for He does not delight in the strength of the horse, nor does He take pleasure in the power of man.
18. But God is pleased with those who fear Him and who cry out and weep over their sins.
19. But you were unable to confess in repentance.
20. But that one of earth, weeping deeply before God over his sin, returned in repentance.
21. But you, through the pride of your heart and the stiffness of your neck, did not know the way of peace, nor did you know repentance; you were unable to confess before God your Creator with repentance, weeping, and tears.
22. But that poor one, made of ash and earth, returned through weeping and tears to the path of repentance, peace, and humility.
23. But you did not humble yourself - neither yourself nor the hardness of your heart - before God who created you.
24. But he humbled himself before God for the wrong he had done, confessed, and did not become proud.
25. That error was not created by him - it came from you, for you invented sin and brought it forth. And through your pride you drew him along with you toward your own destruction.
26. For He knew you both before He created you, and He knows your conduct; He knows that what was done came from the pride of your heart.
27. But that one, who had no prideful cunning, He restored through repentance, weeping, and tears.
28. But you, through the pride of your heart, were unable to confess in repentance. For a person who sins and does not confess in repentance makes his sin worse than his former sin.
29. But one who sins and confesses before God his Creator and weeps - he has truly repented; he has found the way of salvation so that the heart of his Lord may show compassion. He has confessed before his Lord, and his Lord will diminish the judgment He had previously planned to bring upon His servant, for the servant has confessed with much repentance and prostration. His former sins will be forgiven him.
30. And if he does not return to his former sin - if he does this - this is perfect repentance. And Adam did not forget to remember his Creator nor to confess before his Creator.
31. Therefore confess to your Creator in repentance; do not multiply sin against Him and against the works of His hands - for God who created them knows their weakness, since they are flesh and blood.
32. And after their soul departs, their body will become dust until the day that God has appointed.

3 Meqabyan Chapter 5

1. Know the One who created you; do not forget the Holy One of Israel who established you and saved you. For when you were earth, He formed you in His image and likeness, and placed you in the garden so that you would rejoice and tend the earth.
2. But when you broke His commandment, He drove you out from that garden to this cursed earth - where thorns and thistles grow - and it was cursed on account of you.
3. For you are earth and it is earth; you are dust and it is dust; you are soil and it is soil. From it you eat, and to it you will return. You will be dust until He chooses to raise you, for all the sin and wrongdoing you have committed will be examined.
4. So know what you will give in return. Consider the evil and the good you have done in this world; weigh whether evil outweighs good or good outweighs evil, and reflect carefully.
5. If your good deeds are greater, it will be well for you - you will rejoice and be glad on the day when the dead are raised.
6. But if your evil deeds are greater, woe to you. You will receive your punishment according to the work of your hands and the wickedness of your heart. As you did evil to your neighbor and did not fear God, you will receive punishment according to your deeds.
7. If you betray your neighbor and swear falsely in the name of God, you will receive your punishment according to your deeds.
8. You make your word appear true to your neighbor through deception, while you yourself know that you have spoken a lie.
9. You persuade those around you and insist that your word is true; you multiply things that are not true; and you will receive your punishment according to your deeds. You betray your neighbor by saying, "I will give you," when you have no intention of giving.
10. When you sincerely said, "I will give," demons wait at your door like dogs and make you forget everything. And even when you rise up and wish to give, the wealth of this world makes you crave it - to hoard money that is of no use to you and that you cannot consume. For it is written: "They heap it up, yet they do not know for whom they are gathering it."
11. And again it is written: "The lying children of Adam falsify the scales; they pass from vanity to vanity, always and forever."
12. O people, do not put your hope in wickedness - in falsifying weights and measures, in stealing the wealth of others and adding it to your own by violence, in seizing your neighbor's wealth and your neighbor's fields, in everything by which you gain profit for yourselves at the expense of your neighbor.
13. If you do these things, you will receive according to your deeds.
14. O people, eat from what your hands have rightfully earned - do not trust in plunder. Do not desire to consume the wealth of others by seizing and snatching it unjustly and without right.
15. Even if you eat it, it will not satisfy you; even if you hoard it, it will not profit you - when you die, you will leave it behind for someone else.
16. And even if your wealth multiplies, do not let your heart grow proud. For the wealth of sinners is like smoke rising from a furnace, carried away by the wind. A little wealth gained honestly is better than the great wealth of sinners.

3 Meqabyan Chapter 6

1. Think about the day you will die. Consider what will come upon you - the time when your soul will be separated from your body, the time when you will leave your wealth to another, and the time when you will travel a road you do not know.
2. Those who will receive you are evil; they are hideous in their appearance; they are terrifying in their presence; they will not hear your words, and you will not hear their words.
3. Because you did not do the will of your God, of the Lord, they will not answer you when you plead with them - and for this reason they will terrify you greatly.
4. But those who do the will of God have nothing to fear, for the demons fear them. As for the souls of sinners, the demons mock them.
5. The souls of righteous people rejoice greatly in the company of angels, for they despised this world, and it brings them immense joy. But the souls of sinners are received by evil angels.
6. The angels of mercy receive the souls of the righteous and the good, for they are sent from God to comfort them. But evil demons receive the souls of sinners, for they are sent from the devil to mock those sinful souls.
7. Woe to you, sinners! Weep for yourselves before the day of your death arrives, for after you die, the time that has passed will not return.
8. But while your time still remains, repent where you stand, so that when you come before God you may live in joy, free from suffering and sickness.
9. Let neither stubborn vice and idleness, nor the love of food and pleasure, be found in you - lest vain desire draw you away from God. For a body that has eaten beyond measure does not think on the name of God; the spirit of the devil dwells in it, and the spirit of life does not.
10. As Moses said, "Jacob ate and was satisfied, and he grew fat - he became thick, he became broad - and he forsook the Lord who made him.
11. And his life drew away from God." For gluttony without measure is to be like a horse without a bridle, and eating and drinking without restraint, and fornication, is to be like a wild donkey of the desert.
12. But one who eats with moderation will stand firm on God's foundation; he will stand like a cornerstone, like a walled fortress with a fence around it. For it is written, "The sinner flees though no one pursues him."
13. But the righteous man lives with the boldness of a lion.
14. Those who do not love God do not keep his word, and their hearts are not upright.
15. And God causes them, while they are still on earth, to find no rest - through trembling and fear, through the seizure of their wealth, bound by countless sufferings, their hands chained in the grip of their masters,
16. so that they find no relief from their suffering and their lives know no peace. He brings grief and terror upon them through afflictions of every kind that fill them with dread.

3 Meqabyan Chapter 7

1. Just as David said, "I trust in the Lord; I will not fear - what can man do to me?" - those who believe in the Lord have no fear or terror within them.
2. He also said, "Even if warriors surround me, I trust in him. I have asked one thing of the Lord, and that is what I seek: that whoever believes in him will live forever, and will not fear because of evil."
3. Who is the person who trusted in the Lord and was put to shame? Who is it that called upon him and was ignored?
4. For he has said, "I will love those who love me; I will honor those who honor me; and those who return to me I will protect." Who, then, is the person who placed their hope in him and was put to shame?
5. Rescue the lives of the widows; save them and protect them, so that God may deliver you from all who oppose you with evil. Guard them - and after you are gone, he will save your children as well. For the children of the righteous are blessed; they give generously and do not go without grain.

3 Meqabyan Chapter 8

1. Job believed in God. Because he did not neglect to praise God his Creator, God saved him from all the suffering that the devil - the enemy of the children of Adam - brought upon him. He did not let his heart be grieved by the suffering that came upon him, but instead he said, "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; what the Lord desired has come to pass. In all things, may the name of the Lord be praised in heaven and on earth."
2. And when God saw that the heart of Job was pure, God received him with great honor.
3. He also gave him wealth greater than his former wealth. Because Job had been exceedingly patient and had endured all the suffering that came upon him, God healed him of his wounds.
4. Likewise, if you endure the enemies that are sent against you, you will be blessed.
5. Endure - do not let your hearts be grieved by the suffering that has come upon you, so that God may be a refuge for you against those who hate you, and for your children and your children's children after you.
6. Believe in him, and he will be your refuge. Call upon him, and he will hear you. Hope in him, and he will forgive you. Pray to him, and he will be your Father.
7. Remember Esther and Mordecai, Judith and Gideon, Barak and Deborah, Samson and Jephthah,
8. and think also of others like them, whose enemies - hardened against believing in God - could not overcome them.
9. For God is truthful and shows no partiality. Those who desired to do evil against them received evil in return. But all those who fear him and practice righteousness - he protects their souls and gives them honor and abundance.
10. In their coming and going, in their dying and their living, in their sitting down and their rising up, he makes them glad - for it is he who saves, and it is he who puts to death.
11. He disciplines, and he forgives.
12. He brings to poverty and makes wealthy; he humbles, and he lifts to honor.

3 Meqabyan Chapter 9

1. Whether in heaven or on earth, whether subtle or solid, all things belong to him; all things endure within his established order.
2. None can transgress the law and commandment of the Creator of all the world. Even the eagle soaring through the sky - he directs its path wherever he pleases.
3. The path of the serpent through the rock - he directs it wherever he pleases. The path of a ship through the sea - no one knows its way except God alone.
4. Whether it is the soul of the righteous or the soul of the sinner, once it has departed from the body, no one knows the path the soul travels except God alone.
5. If it wanders through the wilderness or through the mountains, who knows the way it wanders? If it flies like a bird, or if it becomes like the dew of Armonei that falls upon the clefts of the mountains,
6. or if it becomes like a swirling wind, like lightning that cuts straight through its path,
7. or if it becomes like the stars that shine over the deep, or like the sand of the seashore that gathers in the midst of the deep,
8. or if it becomes like the rock of the horizon that stands firm at the edge of the sea's depth, like a tree that sprouts beside flowing waters and yields its beautiful fruit,
9. or if it becomes like stubble that the heat of the sun scorches, which the wind then lifts and carries to a barren place where no trace of it can be found, or like a vanishing mist whose trace cannot be found - who knows?
10. Who then knows the way of God? Who are his counselors? With whom did he take counsel?
11. The thought of God is hidden from man - who can follow his purpose?
12. Who is able to search out the counsel and wisdom of God? For he founded the earth upon the waters and established it without a peg; in his perfect wisdom he set the heavens firm upon the wind and spread the upper waters like a tent.
13. He commanded the clouds to pour rain upon the earth; he makes grass grow and causes countless fruits to spring up as food for man, so that all may rejoice together in God.
14. God gives all his blessings, joy, and abundance to the children of men - so that, filled with the fruit of the earth he has given them, they might praise God.
15. He clothes them with beautiful garments and gives them every desired blessing, together with the joy and delight granted to those who fulfill the will of God.
16. To those who keep the commandments of God, he gives glory, love, and joy in the heavenly dwelling place he has prepared for their fathers.
17. To those who have lived in his worship and his judgment - whom he protected and provided for, whom he raised up and honored, guiding them to observe his law and to seek his ordinances, and who have not departed from his commandment - he gives glory and favor. And I have seen what God does in this world for his friends: he weakens their enemies and guards their lives.
18. He gives them everything they ask and fulfills their desires. Therefore, do not depart from the commandment of God; fulfill the will of God.
19. Do not depart from his commandment and his law - lest he grow angry with you, lest he destroy you all at once, lest he sweep you away in his wrath, lest you be driven out from the inheritance of your fathers where you once dwelt, and lest your dwelling place become Gehenna forever, from which there is no escape.
20. Before your souls depart from your bodies, keep the will of God your Creator, so that your deeds may be found good when you stand before God.
21. For the kingdom of heaven and earth belongs to him alone; authority and dominion are his; bitterness and forgiveness belong to him alone.
22. For he makes rich and makes poor; he humbles and he exalts.
23. David spoke of him and said, "Man resembles vanity; his days pass like a shadow.
24. But you, O Lord, live forever; your name endures from generation to generation."
25. Again he said, "Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom; your dominion endures from generation to generation." You took the kingdom from Saul and gave it to David.
26. Yet there is no one who can appoint you; there is no one who can remove you; there is no one who can see you - but you see all things.
27. Your kingdom will never be abolished throughout all generations and forever. No one rules over him, yet he rules over all; and he sees all things.
28. For he created man in his image and likeness, and he searches the heart and the mind - so that they may praise him, know his worship with an upright and undoubting heart, and not bow down to other gods instead of God alone, who created them, provided for them, honored them, and raised them up.
29. But they refused to worship God who created them; instead they bow down to stone and wood, to silver and gold made by human hands.
30. They offer sacrifices to these idols until the smoke of their offerings rises to the sky, as if presenting them before God; and all the sins they have committed through their idol worship will rise up to accuse them.
31. They did not keep the commandments of God that they had been taught. Instead, they learned to bow down to idols, to practice every kind of corrupt and unworthy deed, to consult the stars, to practice sorcery and idolatry, to pursue evil desires, and to do every work that God hates.
32. They do all these things because they do not love to praise God; lacking good deeds, they fail to save themselves from sin and wrongdoing, and fail to be commended before God and his angels.
33. When all rise together from their graves where they were buried and their bones had decayed, their souls will stand naked before God; and the souls of the righteous will dwell in the houses of light prepared for the good.
34. But the souls of sinners will dwell in darkness. When the graves are opened, the bodies will rise, and the souls will return to the bodies from which they had previously been separated.
35. They will stand naked before God, just as they were born naked; and all the sins they committed from their childhood until that day will be laid bare.
36. They will carry their sins as a burden upon their shoulders; whether they sinned little or much, they will receive according to the deeds they have done.

3 Meqabyan Chapter 10

1. If you do not believe in the resurrection of the dead, listen to how many souls rise in the rainy season even before they are born; for the Spirit of God hovers over them just as he first breathed into them.
2. From the beginning, he commanded them by his word that they should die.
3. While their flesh decays, they rise again as he wills, and again they are renewed.
4. Again, when rain falls and satisfies the earth, they rise up and live just as they were made at first.
5. All living things made alive by the blood-soul, all that move upon the earth and all that water brings forth - he commanded them and they were created; for the Spirit of God hovered over the waters, and through his Spirit and his Word, the blood-soul is given to them.
6. You who say that the dead do not rise - you who are blind of heart - consider this: for through his Spirit and his Word, things are created without father or mother. If you have wisdom, how can you say that the dead will not rise by the Word of God, their Creator?
7. But you - repent, and return to your faith; for the dead who have become ash and dust in the grave will rise by the Word of God.
8. They rise through the dew of mercy that comes from God, as his Word declared from the beginning; and that Word goes everywhere and raises the dead as he wills.
9. Know that you will rise and stand before him; do not imagine, as you think, that you will remain in the grave.
10. It is not so. According to the works you have done on earth - whether good or evil - you will rise and receive your reward, for this is the day of judgment.
11. At the time of resurrection you will receive the penalty for every sin you have committed; you will settle the full debt recorded from your childhood up to that time; and you have no excuse to use to deny your sins, as you do with the affairs of this world.
12. You have no excuse there to make your false words appear true before you, or to present the lies you have spoken as truth.
13. For the Word of God dwells in you and speaks against you, because the soul knows all the evil deeds you have done and will expose you before God, its Creator.
14. There you will be put to shame because of the sins you have committed. Hurry to repent here before you reach that place, so that you are not shamed on the day of judgment before the angels and people, but rather that you may be praised together with those who are praised for their good works.
15. Those who praise God together with the angels receive their reward from their Creator without shame, and they rejoice. But if you did not do good works while you were alive in the flesh, you have no share with the righteous.
16. When you had knowledge, and when you had wealth and goods, you did not prepare yourself; and when you had money, you did not feed the hungry - your regret will be worthless.
17. When you had clothing, you did not clothe the naked; and when you had authority, you did not deliver the wronged.
18. When you had knowledge, you did not teach the sinful person to repent and return, so that God might forgive the sins he committed in ignorance; and when you had strength, you did not fight against the demons that attack you so that you could overcome.
19. When you had endurance, you did not fast or pray - not to please the flesh that is in the world, but to subdue yourself to righteousness and to mortify the fleshly desires of your youth.
20. It is not in worldly pleasures, nor in delicious foods and passing drink, nor in fine clothing, nor in adorning oneself with gold and silver.
21. It is not in the precious jewels of Hendeke, nor in chrysolite or emerald; these are not the fitting adornment of a person.
22. The true adornment of a person is purity, wisdom and knowledge - loving rightly, without jealousy and without envy, without suspicion and without strife.
23. It is so that you may receive your reward together with those who inherited the holy land with patience and knowledge, and who hope for the Kingdom of Heaven at the time of resurrection - loving your neighbor as yourself, doing no evil to one who has done you evil, and so that you may enter the dwelling given to those who endured suffering.
24. Do not say, "We will not rise after death"; for the devil has cut off the hope of those who say and believe this, so that they may not be saved at the resurrection, and they will know it when the resurrection comes upon them. Those who sinned in ignorance will deeply grieve at the time of resurrection as their sins are brought to their memory, because they did not believe they would rise on that day.
25. Therefore they will be condemned for the evil of their works done on earth, and they will witness the very resurrection they denied - the resurrection in which they rise together in the flesh.
26. They will weep then because they did not make their works good. It would have been better for them to have wept in this world than to weep there.
27. If we do not weep here of our own will, there they will make us weep against our will. If we do not prepare repentance here, we are preparing for ourselves worthless and useless wailing and weeping there.
28. Prepare good works so that you may pass from death to life, from this passing world to the higher Kingdom of Heaven, and from this earthly light to the heavenly light.
29. Refuse the pleasures of earth, so that you may rejoice in the Kingdom of Heaven with unending joy together with those who believe in the resurrection of the dead - from now until forever. Amen. Give Glory and praise due to YAH forever - and the third book that speaks the words of Meqabyan are fulfilled.