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Coptic Gospel of Thomas
P) These are the mysterious sayings which Jesus, the Living One, spoke, and which Didymos
Judas, who is called Thomas, wrote.
1) And He said, "Whoever hears these words (and) discovers their meaning will not ever
taste of death."
2) Jesus said, "The one who seeks should not leave off, (but) keep on seeking until he
finds. When he finds, he will be troubled (and) will marvel. When he is troubled (and)
when he marvels, then he will be surprised, (for) he will reign (and) rule over the All.
And when he rules then he will rest."
3) Jesus said, "Should those who lure (and) lead you say, 'Behold, the Kingdom is up in
the sky,' then the birds of the sky will beat you to it. If they should tell you, 'It is
under the earth, (or) in the sea,' then the fish of the sea will beat you to it. It is
rather that the Kingdom is both within you and without. Those of you who know yourselves
will find out that this is true. When you find out who you are, you will then become
known, and will recognize that you who are the sons of the living Father. But if you
do not know yourselves, you dwell in poverty and you are yourselves that poverty."
4) Jesus said, "Let the man who is old in days not hesitate to ask a small child of
seven days about the place of life, and he will come alive. For many who are first will
become last, and the last, first. They will indeed become one and the same."
5) Jesus said, "Know what is before your face and what is concealed from you will be revealed
to you. For nothing is hidden that will not be revealed, nor is anything buried that will
not be raised."
6) His disciples asked Him and said to Him, "How do you want
us to fast? How shall we pray? How shall we give alms? What diet
shall we observe?" Jesus said, "Do not tell lies, or do what
you hate, for all things are plain in the sight of Heaven, all things are disclosed
before truth. For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, and nothing has been
covered up that will not be uncovered."
7) Jesus said, "Blessed is the lion that becomes man when
consumed by man; and cursed is the man whom the lion consumes,
and the lion becomes man."
8) And He said, "The Kingdom is like a wise fisherman who cast
his net into the sea and drew it up from the sea full of small fish.
Among them the wise fisherman found a fine large fish. He threw
all the small fish back into the sea and chose the large fish
without difficulty. Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear."
9) Jesus said, "Now the sower went out, took a handful (of
seeds), and scattered them. Some fell on the road; the birds came
and gathered them up. Others fell on the rock, did not take root
in the soil, and did not produce ears. And others fell on thorns;
they choked the seed(s) and worms ate them. And others fell on
the good soil and produced good fruit: it bore sixty per measure
and a hundred and twenty per measure."
10) Jesus said, "I have cast fire upon the world, and see, I am
guarding it until it blazes."
11) Jesus said, "This heaven will pass away, and the one above
it will pass away. The dead are not alive, and the living will
not die. In the days when you consumed what is dead, you made it
what is alive. When you come to dwell in the light, what will you
do? On the day when you were one you became two. But when you
become two, what will you do?"
12) The disciples said to Jesus, "We know that You will depart
from us. Who is to be our leader?" Jesus said to them, "Wherever you are, you
are to go to James the righteous, for whose sake heaven
and earth came into being."
13) Jesus said to His disciples, "Compare me to someone and tell
Me whom I am like." Simon Peter said to Him, "You are like a righteous
angel." Matthew said to Him, "You are like a wise
philosopher." Thomas said to Him, "Master, my mouth is wholly
incapable of saying whom You are like."
Jesus said, "I am not your master. Because you have drunk,
you have become intoxicated by the bubbling spring which I have
measured out." And He took him and withdrew and told him
three things. When Thomas returned to his companions, they asked
him, "What did Jesus say to you?"
Thomas said to them, "If I tell you one of the things which
he told me, you will pick up stones and throw them at me; a fire
will come out of the stones and burn you up."
14) Jesus said to them, "If you fast, you will give rise to sin
for yourselves; and if you pray, you will be condemned; and if
you give alms, you will do harm to your spirits. When you go into
any land and walk about in the districts, if they receive you,
eat what they will set before you, and heal the sick among them.
For what goes into your mouth will not defile you, but that which
issues from your mouth - it is that which will defile you."
15) Jesus said, "When you see one who was not born of woman,
prostrate yourselves on your faces and worship him. That one is
your Father."
16) Jesus said, "Men think, perhaps, that it is peace which I
have come to cast upon the world. They do not know that it is
dissension which I have come to cast upon the earth: fire, sword,
and war. For there will be five in a house: three will be against
two, and two against three, the father against the son, and the
son against the father. And they will stand solitary."
17) Jesus said, "I shall give you what no eye has seen and what
no ear has heard and what no hand has touched and what has never
occurred to the human mind."
18) The disciples said to Jesus, "Tell us how our end will be."
Jesus said, "Have you discovered, then, the beginning, that
you look for the end? For where the beginning is, there will the
end be. Blessed is he who will take his place in the beginning;
he will know the end and will not experience death."
19) Jesus said, "Blessed is he who came into being before he
came into being. If you become My disciples and listen to My
words, these stones will minister to you. For there are five
trees for you in Paradise which remain undisturbed summer and
winter and whose leaves do not fall. Whoever becomes acquainted
with them will not experience death."
20) The disciples said to Jesus, "Tell us what the Kingdom of
Heaven is like." He said to them, "It is like a mustard seed,
the smallest of all seeds. But when it falls on tilled soil,
it produces a great plant and becomes a shelter for birds of the
sky."
21) Mary said to Jesus, "Whom are Your disciples like?"
He said, "They are like children who have settled in a field
which is not theirs. When the owners of the field come, they will
say, 'Let us have back our field.' They (will) undress in their
presence in order to let them have back their field and give it
back to them. Therefore I say to you, if the owner of a house
knows that the thief is coming, he will begin his vigil before he
comes and will not let him into his house of his domain to carry
away his goods. You, then, be on your guard against the world.
Arm yourselves with great strength lest the robbers find a way to
come to you, for the difficulty which you expect will (surely)
materialize. Let there be among you a man of understanding. When
the grain ripened, he came quickly with his sickle in his hand
and reaped it. Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear."
22) Jesus saw infants being suckled. He said to His disciples,
"These infants being suckled are like those who enter the
Kingdom." They said to Him, "Shall we then, as children,
enter the Kingdom?"
Jesus said to them, "When you make the two one, and when you
make the inside like the outside and the outside like the inside,
and the above like the below, and when you make the male and the
female one and the same, so that the male not be male nor the
female female; and when you fashion eyes in the place of an eye,
and a hand in place of a hand, and a foot in place of a foot, and
a likeness in place of a likeness; then will you enter [the
Kingdom]."
23) Jesus said, "I shall choose you, one out of a thousand, and
two out of ten thousand, and they shall stand as a single one."
24) His disciples said to Him, "Show us the place where You are,
since it is necessary for us to seek it." He said to them, "Whoever has ears, let him
hear. There is light within a man of light, and it lights
up the whole world. If it does not shine, it is darkness."
25) Jesus said, "Love your brother like your soul, guard him
like the pupil of your eye."
26) Jesus said, "You see the mote in your brothers eye, but you
do not see the beam in your own eye. When you cast the beam out
of your own eye, then you will see clearly to cast the mote from
your brother's eye."
27) Jesus said: "Unless you fast unto the world, you will in no
way find the Kingdom of God; and unless you observe the Sabbath Day as a
Sabbath, you will not come to see the Father."
28) Jesus said, "I took my place in the midst of the world, and
I appeared to them in the flesh. I found all of them intoxicated;
I found none of them thirsty. And My soul became afflicted for
the sons of men, because they are blind in their hearts and do
not have sight; for empty they came into the world, and empty too
they seek to leave the world. But for the moment they are
intoxicated. When they shake off their wine, then they will
repent."