When, therefore, he had ceased talking to me, I saw another coming from a distance, very beautiful of countenance, and smiling, and his angels saying hymns: and I said to the angel who was with me: Has then each of the just an angel for companion? And he said to me: Each one of the saints has his own (angel) assisting him, and saying a hymn, and the one does not depart from the other. And I said: Who is this, Sir? And he said: This is Job. And approaching, he saluted me and said: Brother Paul, thou hast great praise with God and men. And I am Job, who laboured much for a period of thirty years from a plague in the blood; and verily in the beginning, the wounds which went forth from my body were like grains of wheat. But on the third day, they became as the foot of an ass; worms moreover which fell four digits in length: and on the third (day) the devil appeared and said to me: Say something against God and die. I said to him: If such be the will of God that I should remain under a plague all the time of my life till I die, I shall not cease from blessing the Lord, and I shall receive more reward. For I know that the labours of that world are nothing to the refreshment which is afterwards: for which cause blessed art thou, Paul, and blessed the nation which believed through thee.
50. When he had spoken thus far, another came calling from afar and saying: Blessed art thou, Paul, and blessed am I because I saw thee, the beloved of the Lord. And I asked the angel: Sir, who is this? And he answered and said unto me: This is Noe in the time of the deluge. And immediately we saluted each other: and greatly rejoicing he said to me: Thou art Paul the most beloved of God. And I asked him: Who art thou? And he said: I am Noe, who was in the time of the deluge. And I say to thee, Paul, that working for a hundred years, I made the ark, not putting off the tunic with which I was clad, nor did I cut the hair of my head. Till then also I cherished continence, not approaching my own wife: in those hundred years not a hair of my head grew in length, nor did my garments become soiled: and I besought men at all times saying: Repent, for a deluge of waters will come upon you. But they laughed at me, and mocked my words; and again they said to me: But this is the time of those who are able to play and sin freely, desiring her with whom it is possible to commit fornication frequently: for God does not regard this, and does not know what things are done by us men, and there is no flood of waters straightway coming upon this world. And they did not cease from their sins, till God destroyed all flesh which had the breath of life in it. Know then that God loveth one just man more than all the world of the impious. Wherefore, blessed art thou, Paul, and blessed is the nation which believes through thee.
51. And turning round, I saw other just ones coming from afar, and I asked the angel: Sir, who are those? And he answered me: These are Elias and Eliseus. [3950] And they saluted me: and I said to them: Who are ye? And one of them answered and said: I am Elias, the prophet of God; I am Elias who prayed, and because of my word, the heaven did not rain for three years and six months, on account of the unrighteousness of men. God is just and true, who doeth the will of his servants: for the angels often besought the Lord for rain, and he said: Be patient till my servant Elias shall pray and petition for this and I will send rain on the earth. [3951]
The End of the Vision of Saint Paul.
[3902] Theodosius the younger and Cynegius, Consuls, 388 a.d.
[3903] The waters (not in Greek version); rivers in Syriac.
[3904] The earth (not in Greek version, but in Syriac).
[3905] Cf. Test. of Abraham, Rec. B, iv.
[3906] Cf. Test. of Abraham, Rec. B, § 4.
[3907] Cf. Test. of Abraham, Rec. A, § 12.
[3908] Cf. Ascension of Isaiah ix. 9.
[3909] And the sun. Not in Greek: Elias in Syriac.
[3910] (Not in Syriac.)
[3911] Cf. Rev. of Peter. 15.
[3912] Cf. Enoch.
[3913] Cf.Papias. ap. Iren. Hær. v. 33. 3, 4.
[3914] (In Syriac, but not in Greek version.)
[3915] The Greek has not the golden ship, the angels or the walls. They are given in the Syriac.
[3916] Not in the Greek, but given in the Syriac. Cf. Genesis ii. 11 ff.
[3917] Names not in the Greek. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Moses and all the Prophets in the Syriac.
[3918] Names not in the Greek or Syriac.
[3919] Not in Greek, which here has the altar in the city and David. The Syriac is the same as the Latin.
[3920] Not in the Greek. Cf. Ascension of Isaiah viii. 36.
[3921] These letters are unintelligible. In the Greek version, the interpretation of Alleluia is given as thebel marematha, which is also unintelligible. In the Syriac the interpretation of Alleluia is correctly given.
[3922] Not in Greek or Syriac.
[3923] Not in the Greek or Syriac.
[3924] The Greek has here thieves and slanderers.
[3925] Passage probably corrupt.
[3926] Not in the Greek but in the Syriac.
[3927] Not in the Greek. The Syraic has simply those who trusted in their riches.
[3928] Cf. Rev. of Peter, 27.
[3929] Cf. Rev. of Peter, 31.
[3930] Cf. Rev. of Peter, 29.
[3931] Cf. Rev. of Peter, 24. Not in the Greek. The Syraic has darkness the torment of patriarchs, bishops, etc.
[3932] Cf. Rev. of Peter xxi. 30. Not in Syriac.
[3933] Cf. Rev. of Peter, 30. Not in the Greek.
[3934] Not in the Greek.
[3935] Not in the Greek.
[3936] Cf. Rev. of Peter, 24.
[3937] Cf. Rev. of Peter, 32. Not in the Greek.
[3938] Not in the Greek. Whole section omitted in the Syriac.
[3939] Cf. Rev. of Peter xxi. 23.
[3940] Cf. Rev. of Peter, 26.
[3941] Cf. Rev. of Peter. Fragments 4, 5.
[3942] Not in the Greek.
[3943] Not in the Greek.
[3944] Cf. Rev. of Peter, 27.
[3945] Not in the Greek.
[3946] Cf. Esdras, Ante-Nicene Lib., vol. xvi., p. 469.
[3947] Gabriel in the Greek version.
[3948] Lot and Job, in the Syriac but not in the Greek.
[3949] For adproprians read adpropinquans.
[3950] Elias and Eliseus. Latin and Syriac. The Greek has Enoch and Elijah.
[3951] The Latin version here breaks off abruptly, as does also the Greek. In the Syriac as translated by the Rev. J. Perkins, D.D. (cf. Journal of Sacred Literature, N. S., vi., 1865, p. 399), the narrative runs as follows: "And often the angels asked that he would give them rain, and he gave not, until I called upon him again; then he gave unto them. But blessed art thou, O Paul, that thy generation, and those thou teachest, are the sons of the Kingdom. And know thou, O Paul, that every man who believes through thee hath a great blessing, and a blessing is reserved for him." Then he departed from me. And the angel who was with me led me forth, and said unto me: "Lo, unto thee is given this mystery and revelation; as thou pleasest, make it known unto the sons of men." And I, Paul, returned unto myself, and I knew all that I had seen; and in life I had not rest that I might reveal this mystery, but I wrote it and deposited it under the ground and the foundation of a certain faithful man with whom I used to be, in Tarsus, a city of Cilicia. And when I was released from this life of time and stood before my Lord, thus said He unto me: "Paul, have we shown all these things unto thee, that thou shouldst deposit them under the foundation of a house? Then send, and disclose, concerning this Revelation that men may read it, and turn to the way of truth, that they also may not come to these bitter torments." Then follows the story of the discovery of the Revelation at Tarsus in the reign of Theodosius as given at the beginning of the Greek and Latin versions.
The Apocalypse of the Virgin.
------------------------