The Grapevine in the Garden of Eden

Third Baruch is a pseudepigraphic text likely written around the second century CE. In this book, Baruch, the scribe of the biblical prophet Jeremiah, laments the destruction of Jerusalem by King Nebuchadnezzar. An angel comforts him and guides him on a journey through five heavens, promising to reveal to him the secrets of God. In the excerpt below, the angel explains while touring the third heaven that the “tree” from which Adam and Eve ate was a grapevine and warns him against the dangers of drinking wine in excess. Third Baruch is extant in both Greek and Slavonic versions. The Slavonic text, from which this excerpt is translated, is itself a translation from a lost Greek original.