GOSPEL OF THOMAS

GOSPEL OF THOMAS

These are the secret sayings which the Living Yeshua has spoken, and Didymos Judas Thomas in-scribed them.

1. And he {says}: Whoever finds the interpretation of these sayings shall not taste death.

2. Yeshua says: Let him who seeks not cease seeking until he finds; and when he finds he shall be troubled; and having been troubled he shall marvel, and he shall reign over the totality {and find repose}.

3. Yeshua says: If those who lead you say to you: Behold, the Sovereignty is in the sky!, then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you: It is in the sea!, then the fish {of the sea} will precede you. But the Sove-reignty {of God} is within you and it is without you. {Whoever recognizes himself shall find it; and when you recognize yourselves} you shall know that you are the Sons of the Living Father. Yet if you do not recognize yourselves, then you are impoverished and you are the impoverishment.

4. Yeshua says: The person old in days will not hesitate to ask a little child of seven days concerning the place of life—and he shall live. For many who are first shall become last, {and the last first}; and they shall become a single unity.

5. Yeshua says: Recognize Him who is in front of thy face, and what is hidden from thee shall be revealed to thee. For there is nothing concealed which shall not be manifest, {and nothing buried that shall not be raised}.

6. His Disciples ask him, saying to him: How do thou want us to fast, and how shall we pray? And how shall we give alms, and what diet shall we maintain? Yeshua says: Do not lie, and do not practice what you hate —for everything is revealed before the face of the sky. For there is nothing concealed that shall not be manifest, and there is nothing covered that shall remain without being exposed.

7. Yeshua says: Blest is the lion which the human eats—and the lion shall become human. And defiled is the human which the lion eats—and the [human] shall become [lion].

8. And he says: The [Sovereignty] is like a wise fisherman who cast his net into the sea. He drew it up from the sea full of small fish. Among them he found a large good fish. That wise fisherman, he threw all the small fish back into the sea, he chose the large fish without hesitation. Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear!

9. Yeshua says: Behold, the sower came forth—he filled his hand, he threw. Some indeed fell upon the road—the birds came, they gathered them. Others fell on the bedrock—and they did not take root down into the soil, and did not sprout grain skyward. And others fell among the thorns—they choked the seed, and the worm ate them. And others fell upon the good earth—and it produced good fruit up toward the sky, it bore 60-fold and 120-fold.

10. Yeshua says: I have cast fire upon the world—and behold, I guard it until it is ablaze.

11. Yeshua says: This sky shall be made to pass away, and the one above it shall be made to pass away. And the dead are not alive, and the living shall not die. In the days when you consumed the dead, you transformed it to life—when you come into the Light, what will you do? On the day when you were united, you became divided—yet when you have become divided, what will you do?

12. The Disciples say to Yeshua: We know that thou shall go away from us. Who is it that shall be Rabbi over us? Yeshua says to them: In the place that you have come, you shall go to Jacob the Righteous, for whose sake the sky and earth have come to be.

13. Yeshua says to his Disciples: Make a comparison to me, and tell me whom I resemble.  Shimon Kefa says to him: Thou art like a righteous angel. Matthew says to him: Thou art like a philosopher of the heart. Thomas says to him: Oh Teacher, my mouth will not contain saying whom thou art like! Yeshua says: I’m not thy teacher, now that thou have drunk, thou have become inebriated from the bubbling spring which I have measured out. And he takes him,  he withdraws, he speaks three words to him: ahyh ashr ahyh = I-Am Who I-Am Now when Thomas comes to his comrades, they inquire of him: What did Yeshua say to thee? Thomas says to them: If I tell you even one of the words which he spoke to me, you will take up stones to cast at me—and fire will come from the stones to consume you.

14. Yeshua says to them: If you fast, you shall beget transgression for yourselves. And if you pray, you shall be condemned. And if you give alms, you shall cause evil to your spirits. And when you go into any land to travel in the regions, if they receive you then eat what they set before you and heal the sick among them. For what goes into your mouth will not defile you—but rather what comes out of your mouth, that is what will defile you.

15. Yeshua says: When you see him who was not born of woman, prostrate yourselves upon your face and wor-ship him—he is your Father.

16. Yeshua says: People perhaps think that I have come to cast peace upon the world, and they do not know that I have come to cast conflicts upon the earth—fire, sword, war. For there shall be five in a house—three shall be against two and two against three, the father against the son and the son against the father. And they shall stand as solitaries.

17. Yeshua says: I shall give to you what eye has not seen and what ear has not heard and what hand has not touched and what has not arisen in the mind of mankind.

18. The Disciples say to Yeshua: Tell us how our end shall be.  Yeshua says: Have you then discovered the origin, so that you inquire about the end? For at the place where the origin is, there shall be the end. Blest is he who shall stand at the origin—and he shall know the end, and he shall not taste death.

19. Yeshua says: Blest is he who was before he came into Being. If you become Disciples to me and heed my sayings, these stones shall be made to serve you. For you have five trees in Paradise, which in summer are unmoved and in winter their leaves do not fall—whoever shall know them shall not taste death.

20. The Disciples say to Yeshua: Tell us what the Sovereignty of the Heavens is like. He says to them: It resem-bles a mustard seed, smaller than all (other) seeds—yet when it falls on the tilled earth, it produces a great plant and becomes shelter for the birds of the sky.

21. Mariam says to Yeshua: Whom are thy Disciples like? He says: They are like little children who are sojour-ning in a field which is not theirs. When the owners of the field come, they will say: Leave our field to us! They take off their clothing in front of them in order to yield it to them and to give back their field to them. Therefore I say, if the householder ascertains that the thief is coming, he will be alert before he arrives and will not allow him to dig thru into the house of his domain to carry away his belongings. Yet you, beware of the origin of the world—gird up your loins with great strength lest the bandits find a way to reach you, for they will find the advantage which you anticipate. Let there be among you a person of awareness—when the fruit ripened, he came quickly with his sickle in his hand, he reaped it. Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear!

22.Yeshua saw little children who are being suckled. He says to his Disciples: These little children who are being suckled are like those who enter the Sovereignty. They say to him: Shall we thus by becoming little children enter the Sovereignty? Yeshua says to them: When you make the two one, and you make the inside as the out-side and the outside as the inside and the above as the below, and if you establish the male with the female as a single unity so that the man will not act masculine and the woman not act feminine, when you establish eyes in the place of an eye and a hand in the place of a hand and a foot in the place of a foot (and) an image in the place of an image—then shall you enter [the Sovereignty].

23. Yeshua says: I shall choose you, one from a thousand and two from ten thousand—and they shall stand, be-coming a single unity.

24. His Disciples say: Show us thy place, for it is compulsory for us to seek it. He says to them: Whoever has ears, let him hear! Within a person of light there is light, and he illumines the entire world. When he does not shine, there is darkness.

25. Yeshua says: Love thy Brother as thy soul, protect him as the pupil of thine eye.

26. Yeshua says: The mote which is in thy Brother’s eye thou see, but the plank that is in thine own eye thou see not. When thou cast the plank out of thine own eye, then shall thou see clearly to cast the mote out of thy Brother’s eye.

27.(Yeshua says:) Unless you fast from the world, you shall not find the Sovereignty {of God}; unless you keep the week as Sabbath, you shall not behold the Father.

28. Yeshua says: I stood in the midst of the world, and incarnate I was manifest to them. I found them all drunk, I found no one among them athirst in his heart. And my soul was grieved for the sons of men, for they are blind in their minds and do not see that empty they have come into the world and that empty they are destined to come forth from the world. However, now they are drunk—when they shake off their wine, then shall they repent.

29.Yeshua says: If the flesh has come to be because of spirit, it is a marvel—yet if spirit because of the body, it would be a marvel among marvels. But I myself marvel at this: how this great wealth has been placed in this poverty (of this world).

30. Yeshua says: Where there are three gods, they are {godless. But where there is only one, I say that} I myself am with him. {Raise the stone and there you shall find me, cleave the wood and there am I.}

31. Yeshua says: No oracleis accepted in his own village, no physician heals those who know him.

32. Yeshua says: A fortified city built upon a high mountain cannot fall, nor can it be hidden.

33. Yeshua says: What thou shall hear in thy ear proclaim to other ears from your rooftops. For no one kindles a lamp and sets it under a basket nor puts it in a hidden place, but rather it is placed upon the lamp-stand so that everyone who comes in and goes out will see its light.

34.Yeshua says: If a blind person leads a blind person, both together fall into a pit.

35. Yeshua says: It is impossible for anyone to enter the house of the strong person to take it by force, unless he binds his hands—then he will plunder his house.

36. Yeshua says: Be not anxious in the morning about the evening nor in the evening about the morning, {neither for your [food] that you shall eat nor for [your garments] that you shall wear. You are much superior to the [wind-flowers] which neither comb (wool) nor [spin] (thread). When you are naked, what are [you wearing]? Or who can increase your stature? He Himself shall give to you your garment.}

37. His Disciples say: When will thou appear to us, and when shall we behold thee? Yeshua says: When you take off your garments without being ashamed, and take your garments and place them under your feet to tread on them as the little children do—then [shall you behold] the Son of the Living -One, and you shall not fear.

38. Yeshua says: Many times have you yearned to hear these sayings which I speak to you, and you have no one else from whom to hear them. There will be days when you will seek me but you shall not find me.

39. Yeshua says: The dogmatists and the scripturalists have received the keys of recognition, but they have hidden them. They did not enter, nor did they permit those to enter who wished to. Yet you—become astute as serpents and innocent as doves.

40. Yeshua says: A vine has been planted without the Father—and (as) it is not vigorous, it shall be pulled up by its roots and destroyed.

41. Yeshua says: Whoever has in his hand, to him shall (more) be given; and whoever does not have, from him shall be taken the little which he has.

42. Yeshua says: Become transients.

43. His Disciples say to him: Who art thou, that thou say these things to us? (Yeshua says to them:) From what I say to you, you do not recognize who I be, but rather you have become as those Judeans —for they love the tree but hate its fruit, and they love the fruit but hate the tree.

44. Yeshua says: Whoever vilifies the Father, it shall be forgiven him; and whoever vilifies the Son, it shall be forgiven him. Yet whoever vilifies the Sacred Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him—neither on earth nor in heaven.

45. Yeshua says: They do not harvest grapes from thorn-trees, nor do they gather figs from a briar-patch—for they give no fruit. A good person brings forth goodness out of his treasure; a bad person brings forth wickedness out of his evil treasure which is in his heart, and he speaks maliciously—for out of the abundance of the heart he brings forth wickedness.

46. Yeshua says: From Adam until John the Baptist there is among those born of women none more exalted than John the Baptist—so that his eyes shall not be broken. Yet I have said that whoever among you becomes childlike shall know the Sovereignty, and he shall be more exalted than John.

47a. Yeshua says: A person cannot mount two horses nor stretch two bows; and a slave cannot serve two masters —otherwise he will honor the one and despise the other.

47b. (Yeshua says:) No person drinks vintage wine and immediately desires to drink fresh wine. And they do not put fresh wine into old wineskins lest they burst, and they do not put vintage wine into new wineskins lest it sour. They do not sew an old patch on a new garment, because there would come a split.
48. Yeshua says: If two make peace with each other in this one house, they shall say to the mountain: Be moved!—and it shall be moved.

49.Yeshua says: Blest are the solitary and chosen—for you shall find the Sovereignty. Because you are from it, you shall return there.

50. Yeshua says: If they say to you: From whence have you come?, say to them: We have come from the Light, the place where the Light has come into being from Him alone; He himself [stood] and appeared in their images. If they say to you: Who are you?, say: We are his Sons and we are the chosen of the Living Father. If they ask you: What is the sign of your Father in you?, say to them: It is movement with repose.

51.His Disciples say to him: When will the repose of the dead occur, and when will the New World come? He says to them: That which you look for has (already) come, but you do not recognize it.

52. His Disciples say to him: Twenty-four prophets proclaimed in Israel, and they all spoke within thee. He says to them: You have ignored the Living- One who is facing you, and you have spoken about the dead.

53. His Disciples say to him: Is circumcision beneficial to us or not? He says to them: If it were beneficial, their father would have begotten them circumcised from their mother. But the true spiritual circumcision has become entirely beneficial.

54. Yeshua says: Blest are the poor, for the Sovereignty of the Heavens is yours.

55. Yeshua says: Whoever does not hate his father and his mother, shall not be able to become a Disciple to me. And whoever does not hate his brothers and his sisters, and take up his own cross in my way, shall not be made worthy of me.

56. Yeshua says: Whoever has recognized the world has found a corpse —and whoever has found a corpse, of him the world is not worthy.

57. Yeshua says: The Sovereignty of the Father is like a person who has [good] seed. His enemy came by night, he sowed a weed among the good seed. The man did not permit (the workers) to uproot the weed; he says to them: ‘Lest perhaps you go forth saying: “We shall uproot the weed”, and you uproot the wheat along with it.’ For on the day of harvest the weeds will appear—they uproot them and burn them.

58. Yeshua says: Blest is the person who has suffered—he has found the Life!

59. Yeshua says: Behold the Living-One while you are alive, lest you die and seek to perceive him and be unable to see!

60. (They see) a Samaritan carrying a lamb, entering Judea. Yeshua says to them: (Why is) that-one (carrying) the lamb? They say to him: So that he may kill it and eat it. He says to them: While it is alive he will not eat it, but only after he kills it and it becomes a corpse. They say: Otherwise he will not be able to do it. He says to them: You yourselves, therefore—seek a place for yourselves in repose, lest you become corpses and be eaten.

61a. Yeshua says: Two will rest on a bed —the one shall die, the other shall live.

61b. Salome says: Who art thou, man? As if (sent) by someone, thou laid upon my bed and thou ate from my table.  Yeshua says to her: I-Am he who is from equality. To me have been given the things of my Father. (Salome says:) I’m thy Disciple. (Yeshua says to her:) Thus I say that whenever someone equalizes he shall be filled with light, yet whenever he divides he shall be filled with darkness.

62. Yeshua says: I tell my mysteries to those [who are worthy of] my mysteries. What thy right (hand) shall do, let not thy left (hand) ascertain what it does.

63. Yeshua says: There was a wealthy person who possessed much money, and he said: I shall utilize my money so that I may sow and reap and replant, to fill my storehouses with fruit so that I lack nothing. This is what he thought in his heart—and that night he died. Whoever has ears, let him hear!

64. Yeshua says: A person had guests. And when he had prepared the banquet, he sent his slave to summon the guests. He went to the first, he says to him: ‘My master invites thee.’ He replies: ‘I owe some money to some merchants; they are coming to me towards evening, I shall go to place an order with them—I beg to be excused from the banquet.’ He went to another, he says to him: ‘My master has invited thee.’ He replies to him: ‘I have bought a house and they require me for a day, I shall have no leisure-(time).’ He came to another, he says to him: ‘My master invites thee.’ He replies to him: ‘My friend is to be married and I shall arrange a feast; I shall not be able to come—I beg to be excused from the banquet.’ He went to another, he says to him: ‘My master invites thee.’ He replies to him: ‘I have bought a villa; I go to receive the rent, I shall not be able to come—I beg to be excused.’ The slave came, he said to his master: ‘Those whom thou have invited to the banquet have asked to be excused.’ The master says to his slave: ‘Go out to the roads, bring those whom thou shall find so that they may feast.’ Tradesmen and merchants shall not enter the places of my Father!

65. (Yeshua) says: A kind person had a vineyard. He gave it out to cultivators, so that they would work it and he would receive its fruit from them. He sent his slave, so that the tenants would give to him the fruit of the vineyard. They seized his slave, they beat him—a little more and they would have killed him. The slave went, he told it to his master. His master said: Perhaps they did not recognize him. He sent another slave—the tenants beat him also. Then the owner sent his son. He said: Perhaps they will obey my son. Since those tenants knew that he was the heir of the vineyard, they seized him, they killed him. Whoever has ears, let him hear!

66. Yeshua says: Show me the stone which the builders have rejected—it is the cornerstone.

67. Yeshua says: Whoever knows everything but himself, lacks everything.

68. Yeshua says: Blest are you when you are hated and persecuted; and you shall find no place there where you have been persecuted.

69a. Yeshua says: Blest are those who have been persecuted in their heart—they are those who have recognized the Father in truth.

69b. (Yeshua says:) Blest are the hungry, for the belly of him who desires shall be filled.

70. Yeshua says: When you bring forth that which is within yourselves, this that you have shall save you. If you do not have that within yourselves, this which you do not have within you will kill you.

71. Yeshua says: I shall destroy [this] house, and no one will be able to [re]build it.

72. [Someone says] to him: Tell my brothers to divide the possessions of my father with me. He says to him: Oh man, who made me a divider? He turned to his Disciples, he says to them: I’m not a divider, am I?

73. Yeshua says: The harvest is indeed plentiful, but the workers are few. Beseech therefore the Lord that he send forth workers to the harvest.

74. (Yeshua) says: Oh Lord, there are many around the well, yet no one in the well!

75. Yeshua says: There are many standing at the door, but the solitary are those who shall enter the Bridal-Chamber.

76. Yeshua says: The Sovereignty of the Father is like a tradesman having merchandise, who found a pearl. That tradesman was wise; he sold the merchandise, he bought that single pearl for himself. You yourselves, seek for His treasure, which perishes not, which endures—the place where no moth comes near to devour nor worm ravages.

77. Yeshua says: I-Am the Light above them all, I-Am the All. All came forth from me, and all attained to me (again). Cleave wood, I myself am there; lift up the stone and there you shall find me.

78. Yeshua says: Why did you come out to the wilderness—to see a reed shaken by the wind? And to see a person dressed in plush garments? [Behold, your] rulers and your dignitaries are those who are clad in plush garments, and they shall not be able to recognize the truth.

79. A woman from the multitude says to him: Blest is the womb which bore thee, and the breasts which nursed thee! He says to [her]: Blest are those who have heard the Logos of the Father and have maintained it in truth. For there shall be days when you will say: Blest is this womb which has not conceived and these breasts which have not nursed!

80. Yeshua says: Whoever has recognized the world has found the body; yet whoever has found the body, of him the world is not worthy.

81. Yeshua says: Whoever has been enriched, let him become sovereign; and whoever possesses power, let him renounce (it).

82. Yeshua says: Whoever is close to me is close to the fire, and whoever is far from me is far from the Sove-reignty.

83. Yeshua says: The images are manifest to mankind, and (yet) the light within them is hidden. He shall be revealed in the images of the Father’s light— (but as yet) his light conceals his image.

84. Yeshua says: When you see your reflection, you rejoice. Yet when you perceive your images, which have come into being from your Origin—which neither die nor represent —to what extent will they depend upon you?

85. Yeshua says: Adam came into existence from a great power and a great wealth, and (yet) he did not become worthy of you. For if he had been worthy, [he would] not [have tasted] death.

86. Yeshua says: [The foxes have their dens] and the birds have their nests, but the Son of Mankind has no place to lay his head for rest.

87. Yeshua says: Wretched is the body which depends upon (another) body, and wretched is the soul which de-pends upon their being together.

88. Yeshua says: The angels and the prophets are coming to you, and they shall bestow upon you what is yours. And you yourselves, give to them what is in your hands, and say among yourselves: On what day are they coming to receive what is theirs?

89. Yeshua says: Why do you wash the outside of the chalice? Do you not comprehend that He who creates the inside, is also He who creates the outside?

90. Yeshua says: Come unto me, for my yoga is natural and my lordship is gentle—and you shall find repose for yourselves.

91. They say to him: Tell us who thou art, so that we may believe in thee. He says to them: You scrutinize the face of the sky and of the earth—yet you have not recognized Him who is facing you, and you do not know to inquire of Him at this moment.

92.Yeshua says: Seek and you shall find. But those things which you asked me in those days, I did not tell you then. Now I wish to tell them, and you do not inquire about them.
93. (Yeshua says:) Give not what is sacred to the dogs, lest they throw it on the dung-heap. Cast not the pearls to the swine, lest they break (them) in pieces.

94. Yeshua [says:] Whoever seeks shall find. [And whoever knocks,] it shall be opened to him.

95. [Yeshua says:] If you have copper-coins, do not lend at interest—but rather give [them] to him who will not repay you.

96. Yeshua [says:] The Sovereignty of the Father is like [a] woman, she has taken a little leaven, she [has hidden] it in dough, she produced large loaves of it. Whoever has ears, let him hear!

97. Yeshua says: The Sovereignty of the [Father] is like a woman who is carrying a jar full of grain. (While) she was walking [on a] distant road, the handle of the jar broke, the grain streamed out behind her onto the road. She did not observe (it), she had noticed no accident. (When) she arrived in her house, she set the jar down—she found it empty.

98. Yeshua says: The Sovereignty of the Father is like someone who wishes to slay an eminent person. In his house he drew forth the sword, he thrust it into the wall in order to ascertain whether his hand would prevail. Then he slew the eminent person.

99. The Disciples say to him: Thy brothers and thy mother are standing outside. He says to them: Those here who do the will of my Father—these are my Brothers and my Mother. It is they who shall enter the Sovereignty of my Father.

100. They showed Yeshua a [denarius], and they say to him: The agents of Caesar demand taxes from us. He says to them: Give the things of Caesar to Caesar, give the things of God to God, and give to me what is mine.

101. (Yeshua says:) Whoever does not hate his father and his mother in my way, shall not be able to become a Dis-ciple to me. And whoever does [not] love his [Father] and his Mother in my way, shall not be able to become a [Disciple to] me. For my mother [bore my body], yet [my] True [Mother] gave me the life.
102. Yeshua says: Woe unto them, the dogmatists—for they are like a dog sleeping in the manger of oxen. For neither does he eat, nor does he allow the oxen to eat.

103. Yeshua says: Blest is the person who knows in [which] part the thieves enter, so that he shall arise and collect his [belongings] and gird up his loins before they come in.
104. They say [to him:] Come, let us pray today and let us fast! Yeshua says: What then is the transgression which I have committed, or in what have I been vanquished? But when the Bridegroom comes forth from the Bridal-Chamber, then let them fast and let them pray.

105. Yeshua says: Whoever shall acknowledge father and mother, shall be called the son of (a) harlot.

106. Yeshua says: When you make the two one, you shall become Sons of Mankind —and when you say to the mountain: ‘Be moved!’, it shall be moved.

107. Yeshua says: The Sovereignty is like a shepherd who has 100 sheep. One of them went astray, which was the largest. He left the 99, he sought for that one until he found it. Having wearied himself, he says to that sheep: ‘I desire thee more than 99.’
108. Yeshua says: Whoever drinks from my mouth shall become like me. I myself shall become as he is, and the secrets shall be revealed to him.

109. Yeshua says: The Sovereignty is like a person who had a treasure [hidden] in his field without being aware of it. And [after] his death, he bequeathed it to his [son. The] son was not aware (of it), he accepted that field, he sold [it]. And he came who purchased it—he plows, [he discovered] the treasure. He began to lend money at interest to whomever he wishes.

110. Yeshua says: Whoever has found the world and become enriched, let him renounce the world.

111. Yeshua says: The sky and the earth shall be rolled up in your presence; and he who lives from within the Living-One shall see neither death [nor fear]. Therefore Yeshua says: Whoever finds himself, of him the world is not worthy.

112. Yeshua says: Woe to the flesh which depends upon the soul, (and) woe to the soul which depends upon the flesh!

113. His Disciples say to him: When will the Sovereignty come? (Yeshua says:) It shall not come by watching (for it). They will not say ‘Behold here!’ or ‘Behold there!’ But rather the Sovereignty of the Father is spread upon the earth, and humans do not see it.

114. Shimon Kefa says to them: Let Mariam depart from among us, for women are not worthy of the life.  Yeshua says: Behold, I myself shall inspire her so that I make her male, in order that she also shall become a living spirit like you males. For every female who becomes male, shall enter the Sovereignty of the Heavens.