Hypostasis of the Archons 3

1The archons plotted and said, “Come, let us create a man to be soil of the earth.”

2They fashioned their creation as an entirely earthly being.

3The archons have bodies that are both female [and male], and their faces are the faces of beasts. They took [soil] from the earth and fashioned [their man] according to their own bodies and [according to the image] of God that had appeared [to them] on the water.

4They said, “[Come], let us seize the image through the form we have molded, [so that] the image may gaze upon its male counterpart [and become enamored with it], [] and so that we may grasp it in the form we have molded.” Because they were powerless, they did not understand the power of God.

5He blew into the man’s face, and the man received a soul, but he remained on the ground for several days. Because they were powerless, the archons could not make him rise. They kept blowing like stormy winds, trying to seize the image that had appeared to them on the waters, but they did not know its power.

6All these events happened by the will of the Father of the All.

7Afterward, the Spirit looked upon the soulish man on the ground. The Spirit came forth from the Adamic Land. It descended and made its dwelling within him, and that man became a living soul. The Spirit called his name Adam because he was found moving on the ground.

8A voice from indestructibility came forth to help Adam. The archons gathered all the animals of the earth and all the birds of the sky and brought them before Adam to learn what Adam might call them, so that he could give names to all the birds and all the animals.