Before he was made
The Recitation begins the account before Adam exists. The Lord God tells the angels what is coming, and they ask a question.
And, when your Lord said to the angels, "Indeed, I will make upon the earth a successive authority." They said, "Will You place upon it one who causes corruption therein and sheds blood, while we declare Your praise and sanctify You?" The God said, "Indeed, I know that which you do not know."
Their worry is not dismissed. It is answered with knowledge they do not have. The Recitation also says what the man was to be made of: clay from an altered black mud, and then the Lord God's own breathing into him (The Recitation 15:26–29).
Made, and named
The Torah tells the making in one sentence.
The Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
He is put in a garden to cultivate and keep it (Genesis 2:15). The animals are brought to him to see what he will call them, and whatever he calls each one becomes its name (Genesis 2:19).
The Recitation tells the same gift the other way about: Adam was taught the names, all of them, and when the angels could not supply them, he did (The Recitation 2:31–33). Then the angels are told to prostrate before Adam, and all do except one, who refuses out of arrogance (The Recitation 2:34).
The Lord God revealed to us in the Torah that it is not good for the man to be alone, and a woman is made and brought to him (Genesis 2:18–22).
One tree
He may freely eat of every tree in the garden but one (Genesis 2:16–17). The Recitation gives the same permission and the same single exception (The Recitation 7:19).
The argument comes from outside. In the Torah the serpent says she will not surely die, and that her eyes will be opened and she will know good and evil (Genesis 3:4–5). In the Recitation the whisper is that the tree was forbidden only so they would not become angels or live forever, and he swears he is a sincere adviser (The Recitation 7:20–21).
Both say what happens next in almost the same words: they eat, they see themselves, and they cover themselves with leaves of the garden (Genesis 3:7, The Recitation 7:22).
Then comes a difference worth stating plainly. In the Torah, the Lord God asks, and the man says the woman gave it to him, and the woman says the serpent deceived her (Genesis 3:12–13). In the Recitation, they answer together.
They said, "Our Lord, we have wronged ourselves, and if You do not forgive us and have mercy upon us, we will surely be among the losers."
Each book says what it says. We do not smooth one into the other.
Sent out
The ground is hard now. Bread will cost sweat, and the body goes back where it came from (Genesis 3:19). They are sent out of Eden to till the ground (Genesis 3:23). The Recitation records the same sending down, with the Earth given as a place of settlement and provision for a time (The Recitation 2:36).
And then the turn. In the Recitation the account does not stop at the exile.
Then Adam received from his Lord words, and He accepted his repentance. Indeed, it is He who is the Accepting of repentance, the Merciful.
Chapter 20 says it in two signs: Adam disobeyed his Lord and erred, then his Lord chose him and turned to him in forgiveness and guided (The Recitation 20:121–122). Words came down to him. He said them back. He was met.
Two sons
The first family learns what the angels had asked about. Cain brings an offering from the ground and Abel brings the firstborn of his flock, and one is accepted and one is not (Genesis 4:3–5).
The Lord God warns Cain before anything happens: if you do well it will be lifted up, and if not, sin crouches at the door, and you are to rule over it (Genesis 4:7). He does not rule over it. In the field he kills his brother, and when asked where Abel is, he says he does not know (Genesis 4:8–9).
The Recitation tells the same event and gives the brother a speech the Torah does not record.
"If you should raise your hand against me to kill me - I shall not raise my hand against you to kill you. Indeed, I fear The God, Lord of the worlds."
Afterwards a crow scratches at the ground, showing the killer how to bury his brother, and he is filled with regret (The Recitation 5:31).
Adam and his wife are given another son, Seth, in place of Abel (Genesis 4:25). The line runs on from there, and Luke traces it back to him: "the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God" (Luke 3:38). Adam had no father, which is perhaps the plainest sign of what that phrase carries: what is a son of God?
What the Lord God said of him
He said of the making: let us make man in our image, after our likeness (Genesis 1:26), and He blessed them (Genesis 1:28). He said to the angels, about the objection they raised, "Indeed, I know that which you do not know" (The Recitation 2:30).
He taught him the names, all of them (The Recitation 2:31). And when Adam had failed and turned back, He chose him, turned to him in forgiveness, and guided him (The Recitation 20:122).
The first man is also the first to be forgiven. That is not a footnote to the story. It is the ending of it.
A prayer
Lord God Almighty, You formed us from dust and breathed into us, and You taught us the names of things before we knew what to do with them. We have wronged ourselves as our father Adam wronged himself. Teach us the words to say back to You. Accept our turning, as You accepted his, and guide us. You are the Accepting of repentance, the Merciful.
Questions people might ask
Why did the Lord God make Adam if the angels objected?
He said, "I know that which you do not know" (The Recitation 2:30). The objection was heard and answered with His knowledge, not dismissed.
Was Adam punished for ever?
No. He was sent out of the garden, and he was forgiven (The Recitation 2:37). The Lord God revealed to us in the Torah that He made clothes for him before he went (Genesis 3:21).
What happened to his sons?
Cain killed Abel out of envy, and the Lord God asked him where his brother was (Genesis 4:8-10). The Recitation tells it too, and says that whoever kills one soul is as if he killed all mankind (The Recitation 5:27-32).
