Young Folks' Bible in Words of Easy Reading. Josephine Pollard

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СКАЧАТЬ style="font-size:15px;">      And the man said, She whom thou dids't give me to be with me brought me some of the fruit, and I did eat.

      And God said to the man's wife, What is this that thou hast done?

      And she told God what the snake had said, and how she came to eat of the fruit, and God was wroth with them all. He said the snake should crawl on the ground and eat dust all the days of its life; and he told the wife she should know what it was to be sick and sad, and should have much grief and care.

      And God drove the man and his wife out of E-den, and would let them live no more in that fair place. And he sent an-gels to keep watch, and a sword of fire that would turn in all ways, so that the two whom God for their sins drove out of E-den could not get back to the home they had lost.

      And God told Ad-am that as he had paid heed to what his wife said, and did eat of the tree which the Lord had told him not to eat of, the ground should bear no more fruit for him by it-self, as it had done up to this time, and Ad-am would have to work hard all his life to raise food to eat, and when he died he would go back to the dust out of which he was made.

      But God told Ad-am and his wife that there was a way by which their souls might live on high when their flesh was laid in the ground. He said he would send One from the sky who would give his life for theirs: that is, he would be put to death for their sins. Then if they would turn from their sins, and give their hearts to the One who was to save them, God would not turn his face from them, but when they died they would have a home with him, and have no thought of sin.

      So Ad-am went forth to till the land, and he gave his wife the name of Eve. And they made coats out of the skins of beasts.

      

CAIN AND A-BEL OF-FER-ING SAC-RI-FI-CES TO GOD.

      Ad-am and his wife had two sons: Cain and A-bel. When they grew up to be men, Cain, who was the first-born, took care of a farm; A-bel kept a flock of sheep.

      They both had bad hearts, and at times would be led in-to sin, just as Ad-am and his wife had been. But when A-bel did wrong he was grieved, and sought to make peace with God. One day he brought a lamb from his flock, and killed it, and burnt it on a heap of stones. And the smoke went up on high.

      This act of A-bel's pleased God, for it was the sign that a Lamb was to be sent to the world to save men from their sins.

      But Cain kept on in his sins, and paid his vows to God not with a lamb, but with fruit or grain out of the field. This did not please God, and the smoke went not up on high. When Cain saw this he was in a rage, and showed by his looks that he was wroth with God. Yet God spoke to him in a kind voice, and said, Why art thou wroth? and why art thou so cast down?

      If Cain did right God told him he would be pleased with his gift; but if he did not do right, the fault was his own.

      Then Cain was wroth with A-bel, for he saw that God was pleased with A-bel's gift and not with his. And one day when both of them were out in the field he rose up and slew A-bel, and the blood ran out of A-bel's wounds and sank deep in the ground.

      As soon as this deed was done, God spoke to Cain, and said: Where is A-bel?

      Cain said, I know not. He is not in my care. Then God, who had seen the crime, and knew just how bad his heart was, said to Cain: What hast thou done? The voice of A-bel's blood cries to me from out the ground.

      And God told Cain that for his great sin he should move from place to place, as one who was in fear of his life, and had no home to stay in. And if he should plant aught in the field to bear food, it should not grow well. Weeds would come up and choke it, or it would bear leaves and no fruit, so that Cain would not have much to eat.

      

THE DEATH OF A-BEL.

      And Cain said if God drove him here and there on the face of the earth, and would not take care of him, all those who met him would want to kill him.

      But God said the man who hurt Cain would have a worse fate. God set a mark on Cain; what kind of a mark it was we are not told, but those who saw it would know it was Cain, and it would bring to their minds that God had said no man should kill him.

      Ad-am lived to be an old, old man, and had a large flock of chil-dren, who grew up and were wed, and they went off and made homes, and day by day were folks born in-to the world. When Ad-am died he was laid in the ground and went back to dust, as God had said he should when he went out of E-den.

      One of the men who lived in those days was named E-noch. It is said of him that he walked with God. That means that he loved God, and thought of him, and kept near him all the time, and did his best to please him.

      And E-noch did not die, but God took him up to be with him while he still lived, just as if he were to take up one of us.

      And E-noch had a son whose name was Me-thu-se-lah, who died at a great old age. In those times men lived more years than they do now, but in all the years since the world was made no man has been known to live to be as old as Me-thu-se-lah.

CHAPTER II.

       Table of Contents

      THE GREAT FLOOD; AND A GREAT TOWER.

      In the course of time, when there came to be more folks in the world, they grew fond of sin. They did not love God, or try to please him. And God was wroth with them, and said he would send a flood that would drown the world, and there should not be any dry land left for men, beasts, or birds to live on.

      But though most of the folks at that time were as bad as they could be, there was one good man in their midst, and his name was No-ah.

      

THE ARK.

      And God loved No-ah and told him what he meant to do. And God bade No-ah build an ark. This was a boat. It was to be made large, with rooms in it, and a great door on its side. And it was to be quite high, and to have a roof on top.

      And God told No-ah when the ark was done he and his sons and their wives should go in it.

      And he told No-ah to take in with him two of each kind of bird and of beast, and of bug, and of things that crept, and to take care of them in the ark so long as the flood should be on the earth; for all that were not in the ark would be sure to be drowned.

      So No-ah set out at once to build the ark; and it took him a great while to build it. When not at work on the ark, he would talk of God, and of his plan to send a flood to wash sin out of the world, and would urge the folks to give up their sins, and lead good lives. But they paid no heed to his words, and went from bad to worse all the time that No-ah was at work on the ark.

      When it was done God told No-ah to come in-to the ark, for he saw he was a good man who had done his best to serve him, and to bring the birds and beasts with him. For in a few days he would send the rain on the earth, and all that was left on it would be drowned.

       THE ARK

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