Books 1 and 2 begin immediately after the expulsion from the
Garden of Eden, and end with the testament and translation of
Enoch. Great emphasis is placed in Book 1 on Adam's sorrow and helplessness in the
world outside the
garden. In Book 1, the punished
Serpent attempts to kill
Adam and
Eve, but is prevented by God, who again punishes the Serpent by rendering it mute and casting it to
India.
Satan also attempts to deceive and kill Adam and Eve several times. In one of his attempts on their life, he throws a boulder which ends up encompassing Adam and Eve. God eventually saves them and compares this event with the upcoming
Resurrection of Christ. God also predicts several other future Biblical events, including
Noah and the flood. In Book 2, the "
sons of God" who appear in are identified as the children of
Seth, and the "daughters of men" as women descended from
Cain, who successfully tempt most of the Sethites to come down from their mountain and join the Cainites in the valley below, under the instigation of Genun, son of
Lamech. This Genun invents musical instruments, generally attributed to
Jubal; however he also invents weapons of war, generally attributed to
Tubal-Cain. The Cainites, descended from Cain the first murderer, are described as exceedingly wicked, being prone to commit murder and incest. After seducing the Sethites, their offspring become the
Nephilim, the "mighty men" of Gen. 6 who are all destroyed in the deluge, as also detailed in other works such as
1 Enoch and
Jubilees. Books 3 and 4 continue with the lives of
Noah,
Shem,
Melchizedek, etc. through to the
destruction of Jerusalem by
Titus in AD 70. The genealogy from Adam to Jesus is given, as in the Gospels, but including also the names of the wives of each of Jesus' ancestors, which is extremely rare. ==Textual origin==