Apocalypse of Abraham 6:1-16

¹When I, Abraham, heard words like this from my father, I laughed in my mind,

²and I groaned in the bitterness and anger of my soul. I said, "How then is a

³figment of a body made by him (Terah) an aid for my father? Or can he have subordinated (his) body to his soul, his soul to a spirit, and the spirit to stupidity

⁴and ignorance?" And I said, "It is only proper to endure evil that I may throw

⁵my mind to purity and I will expose my thoughts clearly to him." I answered and said, "Father Terah, whichever of these gods you extol, you err in your thought.

⁶Behold, the gods of my brother Nahor standing in the holy sanctuary are more

⁷venerable than yours. For behold, Zouchaios, my brother Nahor's god is more venerable than your god Marumath because he is made of gold, valued by man.

⁸And if he grows old with time, he will be remolded, whereas Marumath, if h

⁹e is changed or broken, will not be renewed, because he is stone. What about Ioav, the god on the other god, who stands with Zouchaios? For he is also more venerable than the god Barisat; he is carved from wood and forged from silver. Because he too is a term of comparison, being valued by man according to external 10,11experience. But Barisat, your god, when he was still not carved, rooted in the

¹⁰earth, being great and wondrous, with branches and flowers; and praise...But

¹¹you made him with an axe, and by your skill he was made a god. And behold

¹²he has already dried up and his fatness has perished. He fell from the height to

¹³the earth, he came from greatness to smallness, and the appearance of his face

¹⁴wasted away. And, he himself was burned up by the fire and he became ashes

¹⁵and is no more. And you say, Let me make another and tomorrow he will make

¹⁶my food for me. But in perishing he left himself no strength for his (own) destruction."