The whole text survives in six manuscripts usually gathered in two families: the main manuscript of the first family is referred to as S[2] edited by Tixonravov in 1863,[3] while the main manuscripts of the other family, which preserve the text integrated in other material of the Tolkovaja Paleja, are referred to as A,[4] B[5] and K.[6] The first English translation was produced by E.H. Anderson and R.T. Haag, and appeared in 1898 in the Latter-day Saint magazine Improvement Era, under the title The Book of the Revelation of Abraham.
[9] The text must post-date 70 due to its knowledge of the destruction of the temple in 70 AD most prominently in the twenty-seventh chapter.
32–33, a text composed in the mid-fourth century and acting as the earliest extant source that can be reliably said to have known of the Apocalypse.
[12][13] The text contains some suspected interpolations of Bogomil origin, principally 20:5.7, 22:5, 9:7, and 23:4-10 according to Rubinkiewicz,[14] though this position has been disputed by Sacchi.
Yahoel's body is depicted as being like sapphire, his face like chrysolite, his hair like snow, his turban like the appearance of the rainbow, and his garments as purple, with a golden sceptre is in his right hand.
Licht writes: The Apocalypse has a large number of close parallels with traditions that appear in the rabbinic literature.
Although it is not clear if direct influence is present, it is considered that the rabbinic authors and the Apocalypse were operating in a shared interpretive framework/culture.
[16] The Bogomil sect in Bulgaria made use of Slavonic texts of the Apocalypse of Abraham, the Secrets of Enoch and the Ascension of Isaiah.
The editor's note highlighted parallels with the Mormon Book of Abraham (canonised as part of the Pearl of Great Price), including the idolatry of Terah and the premortal existence of spirits.
[19] Subsequent work by Mormon apologists has also drawn attention to parallels which the Apocalypse of Abraham shows with the Visions of Moses account canonised by the LDS Church as chapter 1 of the Selections from the Book of Moses within the aforementioned Pearl of Great Price,[a] although such arguments have come under criticism for presenting resemblance to works of pseudepigrapha as evidence in favour of a text's authenticity.