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Chapter 41.

And they went away from Capernaum into the city which is called Bethlehem; and Joseph lived with Mary in his own house, and Jesus with them.  And on a certain day Joseph called to him his first-born son James, 1688 and sent him into the vegetable garden to gather vegetables for the purpose of making broth.  And Jesus followed His brother James into the garden; but Joseph and Mary did not know this.  And while James was collecting the vegetables, a viper suddenly came out of a hole and struck his hand, 1689 and he began to cry out from excessive pain.  And, becoming exhausted, he said, with a bitter cry:  Alas! alas! an accursed viper has struck my hand.  And Jesus, who was standing opposite to him, at the bitter cry ran up to James, and took hold of his hand; and all that He did was to blow on the hand of James, and cool it:  and immediately James was healed, and the serpent died.  And Joseph and Mary did not know what had been done; but at the cry of James, and the command of Jesus, they ran to the garden, and found the serpent already dead, and James quite cured.


Footnotes

382:1688

According to the tradition preserved by Hegesippus and Tertullian, James and Judas were husbandmen.  See Apost. Const., ch. lxvii.

382:1689

Comp. Acts xxviii.


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