Forbidden Gospels and Epistles, Complete

CHAPTER XI.

3 An­nas vis­its Joseph, per­ceives the Vir­gin big with child, 4 in­forms the high priest that Joseph had pri­vate­ly mar­ried her. 8 Joseph and Mary brought to tri­al on the charge. 17 Joseph drinks the wa­ter of the Lord as an or­deal, and re­ceiv­ing no harm, re­turns home.

THEN came An­nas the scribe, and said to Joseph, Where­fore have we not seen you since your re­turn?

2 And Joseph replied, Be­cause I was weary af­ter my jour­ney, and rest­ed the first day.

3 But An­nas turn­ing about per­ceived the Vir­gin big with child.

4 And went away to the priest, and told him, Joseph in whom you placed so much con­fi­dence, is guilty of a no­to­ri­ous crime, in that he hath de­filed the Vir­gin whom he re­ceived out of the tem­ple of the Lord, and hath pri­vate­ly mar­ried her, not dis­cov­er­ing it to the chil­dren of Is­rael.

5 Then said the priest, Hath Joseph done this?

6 An­nas replied, If you send any of your ser­vants you will find that she is with child.

7 And the ser­vants went, and found it as he said.

8 Up­on this both she and Joseph were brought to their tri­al, and the priest said un­to her, Mary, what hast thou done?

9 Why hast thou de­based thy soul, and for­got thy God, see­ing thou wast brought up in the Holy of Holies, and didst re­ceive thy food from the hands of an­gels, and heardest their songs?

10 Why hast thou done this?

11 To which with a flood of tears she an­swered, As the Lord my God liveth, I am in­no­cent in his sight, see­ing I know no man.

12 Then the priest said to Joseph, Why hast thou done this?

13 And Joseph an­swered, As the Lord my God liveth, I have not been con­cerned with her.

14 But the priest said, Lie not, but de­clare the truth; thou hast pri­vate­ly mar­ried her, and not dis­cov­ered it to the chil­dren of Is­rael, and hum­bled thy­self un­der the mighty hand (of God), that thy seed might be blessed:

15 And Joseph was silent.

16 Then said the priest (to Joseph), You must re­store to the tem­ple of the Lord the Vir­gin which you took thence.

17 But he wept bit­ter­ly, and the priest added, I will cause you both to drink the wa­ter of the Lord, which is for tri­al, and so your in­iq­ui­ty shall be laid open be­fore you.–[bit­ter wa­ter that causeth the curse]

18 Then the priest took the wa­ter, and made Joseph drink, and sent him to a moun­tain­ous place,

19 And he re­turned per­fect­ly well, and all the peo­ple won­dered that his guilt was not dis­cov­ered.

20 So the priest said, Since the Lord hath not made your sins ev­ident, nei­ther do I con­demn you.

21 So he sent them away.

22 Then Joseph took Mary, and went to his house, re­joic­ing and prais­ing the God of Is­rael.

CHAP. XII.

1 A de­cree from Au­gus­tus for tax­ing the Jews. 5 Joseph puts Mary on an ass, to re­turn to Beth­le­hem, 6 she looks sor­row­ful, 7 she laughs, 8 Joseph in­quires the cause of each, 9 she tells him she sees two per­sons, one mourn­ing and the oth­er re­joic­ing. 10 The de­liv­ery be­ing near, he takes her from the ass, and places her in a cave.

AND it came to pass, that there went forth a de­cree from the Em­per­or Au­gus­tus, that all the Jews should be taxed, who were of Beth­le­hem in Ju­daea.

2 And Joseph said, I will take care that my chil­dren be taxed; but what shall I do with this young wom­an?

3 To have her taxed as my wife I am ashamed; and if I tax her as my daugh­ter, all Is­rael knows she is not my daugh­ter.

4 When the time of the Lord’s ap­point­ment shall come, let him do as seems good to him.

5 And he sad­dled the ass, and put her up­on it, and Joseph and Si­mon fol­lowed af­ter her, and ar­rived at Beth­le­hem with­in three miles.

6 Then Joseph turn­ing about saw Mary sor­row­ful, and said with­in him­self, Per­haps she is in pain through that which is with­in her.

7 But when he turned about again, he saw her laugh­ing, and said to her,

8 Mary, how hap­pens it, that I some­times see sor­row, and some­times laugh­ter and joy in thy coun­te­nance?

9 And Mary replied to him, I see two peo­ple with mine eyes, the one weep­ing and mourn­ing, the oth­er laugh­ing and re­joic­ing.

10 And he went again across the way, and Mary said to Joseph, Take me down from the ass, for that which is in me press­es to come forth.

11 But Joseph replied, Whith­er shall I take thee? for the place is a desert.

12 Then said Mary again to Joseph, take me down, for that which is with­in me might­ily press­es me.

13 And Joseph took her down.

14 And he found there a cave, and let her in­to it.