The serpent made every effort to persuade me that I had naught to fear—that God knew that in the day that Adam and I ate of the fruit of the tree, we should be as He Himself. It was jealousy that had made Him say,[118] "Ye shall not eat of it." In spite of all his urging, I remained steadfast and refused to touch the tree. Then the serpent engaged to pluck the fruit for me. Thereupon I opened the gate of Paradise, and he slipped in. Scarcely was he within, when he said to me, "I repent of my words, I would rather not give thee of the fruit of the forbidden tree." It was but a cunning device to tempt me more. He consented to give me of the fruit only after I swore to make my husband eat of it, too. This is the oath he made me take: "By the throne of God, by the cherubim, and by the tree of life, I shall give my husband of this fruit, that he may eat, too." Thereupon the serpent ascended the tree and injected his poison, the poison of the evil inclination, into the fruit,[119] and bent the branch on which it grew to the ground. I took hold of it, but I knew at once that I was stripped of the righteousness in which I had been clothed.[120] I began to weep, because of it and because of the oath the serpent had forced from me. The serpent disappeared from the tree, while I sought leaves wherewith to cover my nakedness, but all the trees within my reach had cast off their leaves at the moment when I ate of the forbidden fruit.[121] There was only one that retained its leaves, the fig-tree, the very tree the fruit of which had been forbidden to me.[122] I summoned Adam, and by means of blasphemous words I prevailed upon him to eat of the fruit. As soon as it had passed his lips, he knew his true condition, and he exclaimed against me: "Thou wicked woman, what bast thou brought down upon me? Thou hast removed me from the glory of God." At the same time Adam and I heard the archangel Michael[123] blow his trumpet, and all the angels cried out: "Thus saith the Lord, Come ye with Me to Paradise and hearken unto the sentence which I will pronounce upon Adam."[124] We hid ourselves because we feared the judgment of God. Sitting in his chariot drawn by cherubim, the Lord, accompanied by angels uttering His praise, appeared in Paradise. At His coming the bare trees again put forth leaves.[125] His throne was erected by the tree of life, and God addressed Adam: "Adam, where dost thou keep thyself in hiding? Thinkest thou I cannot find thee? Can a house conceal itself from its architect?"[126]