Chapter XLVIII

 Fifth apparition¹ of Satan to Adam and Eve.

 

 

1 After this Satan called to his hosts, all of which came to him, and said to him:—

 

2 "O, our lord, what will you do?"

 

3 He then said to them, "You know that this Adam, whom God created out of the dust, is the one who has taken our kingdom, come, let us gather together and kill him; or hurl² a rock at him and at Eve, and crush them under it."

 

4 When Satan's hosts heard these words, they came to the part of the mountain where Adam and Eve were asleep.

 

5 Then Satan and his host took a huge rock, broad and even, and without blemish³, thinking within himself, "If there should be a hole in the rock, when it fell on them, the hole in the rock might come over them, and so they would escape and not die."

 

6 He then said to his hosts, "Take up this stone, and throw it flat on them, so that it doesn't roll off them to somewhere else. And when you have hurled⁴ it, get away from there quickly."

 

7 And they did as he told them. But as the rock fell down from the mountain toward Adam and Eve, God commanded the rock to become a dome⁵ over them*, that did them no harm. And so it was by God's order.

 

8 But when the rock fell, the whole earth quaked with it**, and was shaken from the size of the rock.

 

9 And as it quaked and shook, Adam and Eve awoke from sleep, and found themselves under a dome of rock. But they didn't know what had happened; because when the fell asleep they were under the sky, and not under a dome; and when they saw it, they were afraid.

 

10 Then Adam said to Eve, "Wherefore has the mountain bent⁶ itself, and the earth quaked and shaken on our account? And why has this rock spread itself over us like a tent?

 

11 Does God intend to plague us and to shut us up in this prison? Or will He close the earth over us?

 

12 He is angry with us for our having come out of the cave, without His order; and for our having done so of our own accord, without consulting Him, when we left the cave and came to this place."

 

13 Then Eve said, "If, indeed, the earth quaked for our sake, and this rock forms a tent over us because of our transgression⁷, then we will be sorry, O Adam, because our punishment will be long.

 

14 But get up and pray to God to let us know concerning this, and what this rock is that is spread over us like a tent."

 

15 Then Adam stood up and prayed before the Lord, to let him know what had brought about this difficult time. And Adam stood praying like that until the morning.

 

 

* The word "dome" is used here but the text does not specifically suggest that the covering was round—only that it covered them on all sides, however a dome is the most likely shape that would have be able to withstand the impact with the ground. From verse 9 that says "when they saw it" and verse 11 that says "shut us up in this prison", we can conclude that the dome had holes in its sides that were big enough to let in light and air but were too small to allow Adam and Eve to escape. Another conclusion would be that the holes were large but too high up for Adam and Eve to reach, however the former is more likely.

 

** In verse 7 of the next chapter (XLIX), God tells Adam and Eve that the ground was also lowered under them—"I commanded … the rock under you to lower itself".

 

1 apparition   

n.幽灵，神奇的现象

参考例句：

• He saw the apparition of his dead wife.他看见了他亡妻的幽灵。
• But the terror of this new apparition brought me to a stand.这新出现的幽灵吓得我站在那里一动也不敢动。

2 hurl   

vt.猛投，力掷，声叫骂

参考例句：

• The best cure for unhappiness is to hurl yourself into your work.医治愁苦的最好办法就是全身心地投入工作。
• To hurl abuse is no way to fight.谩骂决不是战斗。

3 blemish   

v.损害；玷污；瑕疵，缺点

参考例句：

• The slightest blemish can reduce market value.只要有一点最小的损害都会降低市场价值。
• He wasn't about to blemish that pristine record.他本不想去玷污那清白的过去。

4 hurled   

v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂

参考例句：

• He hurled a brick through the window. 他往窗户里扔了块砖。
• The strong wind hurled down bits of the roof. 大风把屋顶的瓦片刮了下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 dome   

n.圆屋顶，拱顶

参考例句：

• The dome was supported by white marble columns.圆顶由白色大理石柱支撑着。
• They formed the dome with the tree's branches.他们用树枝搭成圆屋顶。

6 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

7 transgression   

n.违背；犯规；罪过

参考例句：

• The price can make an action look more like a transaction than a transgression.罚款让一个行为看起来更像是一笔交易而不是一次违法行为。
• The areas of transgression are indicated by wide spacing of the thickness contours.那幢摩天大楼高耸入云。