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The Nag Hammadi Library

    The Gospel of Thomas

Translated by Stephen Patterson and Marvin Meyer

(Visit the Gospel of Thomas Collection
    for other translations and additional information)

_____________________________________

These are the secret sayings that the living Jesus spoke and Didymos Judas Thomas
            recorded.

1. And he said, "Whoever discovers the interpretation of these sayings will not
            taste death."

2. Jesus said, "Those who seek should not stop seeking until they find. When they
            find, they will be disturbed. When they are disturbed, they will marvel, and will reign
            over all. [And after they have reigned they will rest.]"

3. Jesus said, "If your leaders say to you, 'Look, the (Father's) kingdom 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 will precede you. Rather, the (Father's) kingdom is within you and it
            is outside you.

When you know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will understand that you are
            children of the living Father. But if you do not know yourselves, then you live in
            poverty, and you are the poverty."

4. Jesus said, "The person old in days won't hesitate to ask a little child seven
            days old about the place of life, and that person will live.

For many of the first will be last, and will become a single one."

5. Jesus said, "Know what is in front of your face, and what is hidden from you
            will be disclosed to you.

For there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed. [And there is nothing buried
            that will not be raised.]"

6. His disciples asked him and said to him, "Do you want us to fast? How should we
            pray? Should we give to charity? What diet should we observe?"

Jesus said, "Don't lie, and don't do what you hate, because all things are
            disclosed before heaven. After all, there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed, and
            there is nothing covered up that will remain undisclosed."

7. Jesus said, "Lucky is the lion that the human will eat, so that the lion
            becomes human. And foul is the human that the lion will eat, and the lion still will
            become human."

8. And he said, "The person is like a wise fisherman who cast his net into the sea
            and drew it up from the sea full of little fish. Among them the wise fisherman discovered
            a fine large fish. He threw all the little fish back into the sea, and easily chose the
            large fish. Anyone here with two good ears had better listen!"

9. Jesus said, "Look, the sower went out, took a handful (of seeds), and scattered
            (them). Some fell on the road, and the birds came and gathered them. Others fell on rock,
            and they didn't take root in the soil and didn't produce heads of grain. Others fell on
            thorns, and they choked the seeds and worms ate them. And others fell on good soil, and it
            produced a good crop: it yielded sixty per measure and one hundred twenty per
            measure."

10. Jesus said, "I have cast fire upon the world, and look, I'm 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. During the days when you ate what
            is dead, you made it come alive. When you are 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 are going to leave us. Who will
            be our leader?"

Jesus said to them, "No matter where you are you are to go to James the Just, for
            whose sake heaven and earth came into being."

13. Jesus said to his disciples, "Compare me to something and tell me what I am
            like."

Simon Peter said to him, "You are like a just messenger."

Matthew said to him, "You are like a wise philosopher."

Thomas said to him, "Teacher, my mouth is utterly unable to say what you are
            like."

Jesus said, "I am not your teacher. Because you have drunk, you have become
            intoxicated from the bubbling spring that I have tended."

And he took him, and withdrew, and spoke three sayings to him. When Thomas came back to
            his friends they asked him, "What did Jesus say to you?"

Thomas said to them, "If I tell you one of the sayings he spoke to me, you will
            pick up rocks and stone me, and fire will come from the rocks and devour you."

14. Jesus said to them, "If you fast, you will bring sin upon yourselves, and if
            you pray, you will be condemned, and if you give to charity, you will harm your spirits.

When you go into any region and walk about in the countryside, when people take you in,
            eat what they serve you and heal the sick among them.

After all, what goes into your mouth will not defile you; rather, it's what comes out
            of your mouth that will defile you."

15. Jesus said, "When you see one who was not born of woman, fall on your faces
            and worship. That one is your Father."

16. Jesus said, "Perhaps people think that I have come to cast peace upon the
            world. They do not know that I have come to cast conflicts upon the earth: fire, sword,
            war.

For there will be five in a house: there'll be three against two and two against three,
            father against son and son against father, and they will stand alone."

17. Jesus said, "I will give you what no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, what
            no hand has touched, what has not arisen in the human heart."

18. The disciples said to Jesus, "Tell us, how will our end come?"

Jesus said, "Have you found the beginning, then, that you are looking for the end?
            You see, the end will be where the beginning is.

Congratulations to the one who stands at the beginning: that one will know the end and
            will not taste death."

19. Jesus said, "Congratulations to the one who came into being before coming into
            being.

If you become my disciples and pay attention to my sayings, these stones will serve
            you.

For there are five trees in Paradise for you; they do not change, summer or winter, and
            their leaves do not fall. Whoever knows them will not taste death."

20. The disciples said to Jesus, "Tell us what Heaven's kingdom is like."

He said to them, "It's like a mustard seed, the smallest of all seeds, but when it
            falls on prepared soil, it produces a large plant and becomes a shelter for birds of the
            sky."

21. Mary said to Jesus, "What are your disciples like?"

He said, "They are like little children living in a field that is not theirs. When
            the owners of the field come, they will say, 'Give us back our field.' They take off their
            clothes in front of them in order to give it back to them, and they return their field to
            them.

For this reason I say, if the owners of a house know that a thief is coming, they will
            be on guard before the thief arrives and will not let the thief break into their house
            (their domain) and steal their possessions.

As for you, then, be on guard against the world. Prepare yourselves with great
            strength, so the robbers can't find a way to get to you, for the trouble you expect will
            come.

Let there be among you a person who understands.

When the crop ripened, he came quickly carrying a sickle and harvested it. Anyone here
            with two good ears had better listen!"

22. Jesus saw some babies nursing. He said to his disciples, "These nursing babies
            are like those who enter the (Father's) kingdom."

They said to him, "Then shall we enter the (Father's) kingdom as babies?"

Jesus said to them, "When you make the two into one, and when you make the inner
            like the outer and the outer like the inner, and the upper like the lower, and when you
            make male and female into a single one, so that the male will not be male nor the female
            be female, when you make eyes in place of an eye, a hand in place of a hand, a foot in
            place of a foot, an image in place of an image, then you will enter [the kingdom]."

23. Jesus said, "I shall choose you, one from a thousand and two from ten
            thousand, and they will stand as a single one."

24. His disciples said, "Show us the place where you are, for we must seek
            it."

He said to them, "Anyone here with two ears had better listen! There is light
            within a person of light, and it shines on the whole world. If it does not shine, it is
            dark."

25. Jesus said, "Love your friends like your own soul, protect them like the pupil
            of your eye."

26. Jesus said, "You see the sliver in your friend's eye, but you don't see the
            timber in your own eye. When you take the timber out of your own eye, then you will see
            well enough to remove the sliver from your friend's eye."

27. "If you do not fast from the world, you will not find the (Father's) kingdom.
            If you do not observe the sabbath as a sabbath you will not see the Father."

28. Jesus said, "I took my stand in the midst of the world, and in flesh I
            appeared to them. I found them all drunk, and I did not find any of them thirsty. My soul
            ached for the children of humanity, because they are blind in their hearts and do not see,
            for they came into the world empty, and they also seek to depart from the world empty.

But meanwhile they are drunk. When they shake off their wine, then they will change
            their ways."

29. Jesus said, "If the flesh came into being because of spirit, that is a marvel,
            but if spirit came into being because of the body, that is a marvel of marvels.

Yet I marvel at how this great wealth has come to dwell in this poverty."

30. Jesus said, "Where there are three deities, they are divine. Where there are
            two or one, I am with that one."

31. Jesus said, "No prophet is welcome on his home turf; doctors don't cure those
            who know them."

32. Jesus said, "A city built on a high hill and fortified cannot fall, nor can it
            be hidden."

33. Jesus said, "What you will hear in your ear, in the other ear proclaim from
            your rooftops.

After all, no one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, nor does one put it in a
            hidden place. Rather, one puts it on a lampstand so that all who come and go will see its
            light."

34. Jesus said, "If a blind person leads a blind person, both of them will fall
            into a hole."

35. Jesus said, "One can't enter a strong person's house and take it by force
            without tying his hands. Then one can loot his house."

36. Jesus said, "Do not fret, from morning to evening and from evening to morning,
            [about your food--what you're going to eat, or about your clothing--] what you are going
            to wear. [You're much better than the lilies, which neither card nor spin.

As for you, when you have no garment, what will you put on? Who might add to your
            stature? That very one will give you your garment.]"

37. His disciples said, "When will you appear to us, and when will we see
            you?"

Jesus said, "When you strip without being ashamed, and you take your clothes and
            put them under your feet like little children and trample them, then [you] will see the
            son of the living one and you will not be afraid."

38. Jesus said, "Often you have desired to hear these sayings that I am speaking
            to you, and you have no one else from whom to hear them. There will be days when you will
            seek me and you will not find me."

39. Jesus said, "The Pharisees and the scholars have taken the keys of knowledge
            and have hidden them. They have not entered nor have they allowed those who want to enter
            to do so.

As for you, be as sly as snakes and as simple as doves."

40. Jesus said, "A grapevine has been planted apart from the Father. Since it is
            not strong, it will be pulled up by its root and will perish."

41. Jesus said, "Whoever has something in hand will be given more, and whoever has
            nothing will be deprived of even the little they have."

42. Jesus said, "Be passersby."

43. His disciples said to him, "Who are you to say these things to us?"

"You don't understand who I am from what I say to you.

Rather, you have become like the Judeans, for they love the tree but hate its fruit, or
            they love the fruit but hate the tree."

44. Jesus said, "Whoever blasphemes against the Father will be forgiven, and
            whoever blasphemes against the son will be forgiven, but whoever blasphemes against the
            holy spirit will not be forgiven, either on earth or in heaven."

45. Jesus said, "Grapes are not harvested from thorn trees, nor are figs gathered
            from thistles, for they yield no fruit.

Good persons produce good from what they've stored up; bad persons produce evil from
            the wickedness they've stored up in their hearts, and say evil things. For from the
            overflow of the heart they produce evil."

46. Jesus said, "From Adam to John the Baptist, among those born of women, no one
            is so much greater than John the Baptist that his eyes should not be averted.

But I have said that whoever among you becomes a child will recognize the (Father's)
            kingdom and will become greater than John."

47. Jesus said, "A person cannot mount two horses or bend two bows.

And a slave cannot serve two masters, otherwise that slave will honor the one and
            offend the other.

Nobody drinks aged wine and immediately wants to drink young wine. Young wine is not
            poured into old wineskins, or they might break, and aged wine is not poured into a new
            wineskin, or it might spoil.

An old patch is not sewn onto a new garment, since it would create a tear."

48. Jesus said, "If two make peace with each other in a single house, they will
            say to the mountain, 'Move from here!' and it will move."

49. Jesus said, "Congratulations to those who are alone and chosen, for you will
            find the kingdom. For you have come from it, and you will return there again."

50. Jesus said, "If they say to you, 'Where have you come from?' say to them, 'We
            have come from the light, from the place where the light came into being by itself,
            established [itself], and appeared in their image.'

If they say to you, 'Is it you?' say, 'We are its children, and we are the chosen of
            the living Father.'

If they ask you, 'What is the evidence of your Father in you?' say to them, 'It is
            motion and rest.'"

51. His disciples said to him, "When will the rest for the dead take place, and
            when will the new world come?"

He said to them, "What you are looking forward to has come, but you don't know
            it."

52. His disciples said to him, "Twenty-four prophets have spoken in Israel, and
            they all spoke of you."

He said to them, "You have disregarded the living one who is in your presence, and
            have spoken of the dead."

53. His disciples said to him, "Is circumcision useful or not?"

He said to them, "If it were useful, their father would produce children already
            circumcised from their mother. Rather, the true circumcision in spirit has become
            profitable in every respect."

54. Jesus said, "Congratulations to the poor, for to you belongs Heaven's
            kingdom."

55. Jesus said, "Whoever does not hate father and mother cannot be my disciple,
            and whoever does not hate brothers and sisters, and carry the cross as I do, will not be
            worthy of me."

56. Jesus said, "Whoever has come to know the world has discovered a carcass, and
            whoever has discovered a carcass, of that person the world is not worthy."

57. Jesus said, "The Father's kingdom is like a person who has [good] seed. His
            enemy came during the night and sowed weeds among the good seed. The person did not let
            the workers pull up the weeds, but said to them, 'No, otherwise you might go to pull up
            the weeds and pull up the wheat along with them.' For on the day of the harvest the weeds
            will be conspicuous, and will be pulled up and burned."

58. Jesus said, "Congratulations to the person who has toiled and has found
            life."

59. Jesus said, "Look to the living one as long as you live, otherwise you might
            die and then try to see the living one, and you will be unable to see."

60. He saw a Samaritan carrying a lamb and going to Judea. He said to his disciples,
            "that person ... around the lamb." They said to him, "So that he may kill
            it and eat it." He said to them, "He will not eat it while it is alive, but only
            after he has killed it and it has become a carcass."

They said, "Otherwise he can't do it."

He said to them, "So also with you, seek for yourselves a place for rest, or you
            might become a carcass and be eaten."

61. Jesus said, "Two will recline on a couch; one will die, one will live."

Salome said, "Who are you mister? You have climbed onto my couch and eaten from my
            table as if you are from someone."

Jesus said to her, "I am the one who comes from what is whole. I was granted from
            the things of my Father."

"I am your disciple."

"For this reason I say, if one is whole, one will be filled with light, but if one
            is divided, one will be filled with darkness."

62. Jesus said, "I disclose my mysteries to those [who are worthy] of [my]
            mysteries.

63. Jesus said,
            "There was a rich person who had a great deal of money. He said, 'I shall invest my
            money so that I may sow, reap, plant, and fill my storehouses with produce, that I may
            lack nothing.' These were the things he was thinking in his heart, but that very night he
            died. Anyone here with two ears had better listen!"

64. Jesus said, "A person was receiving guests. When he had prepared the dinner,
            he sent his slave to invite the guests.

The slave went to the first and said to that one, 'My master invites you.' That one
            said, 'Some merchants owe me money; they are coming to me tonight. I have to go and give
            them instructions. Please excuse me from dinner.'

The slave went to another and said to that one, 'My master has invited you.' That one
            said to the slave, 'I have bought a house, and I have been called away for a day. I shall
            have no time.'

The slave went to another and said to that one, 'My master invites you.' That one said
            to the slave, 'My friend is to be married, and I am to arrange the banquet. I shall not be
            able to come. Please excuse me from dinner.'

The slave went to another and said to that one, 'My master invites you.' That one said
            to the slave, 'I have bought an estate, and I am going to collect the rent. I shall not be
            able to come. Please excuse me.'

The slave returned and said to his master, 'Those whom you invited to dinner have asked
            to be excused.' The master said to his slave, 'Go out on the streets and bring back
            whomever you find to have dinner.'

Buyers and merchants [will] not enter the places of my Father."

65. He said, "A [...] person owned a vineyard and rented it to some farmers, so
            they could work it and he could collect its crop from them. He sent his slave so the
            farmers would give him the vineyard's crop. They grabbed him, beat him, and almost killed
            him, and the slave returned and told his master. His master said, 'Perhaps he didn't know
            them.' He sent another slave, and the farmers beat that one as well. Then the master sent
            his son and said, 'Perhaps they'll show my son some respect.' Because the farmers knew
            that he was the heir to the vineyard, they grabbed him and killed him. Anyone here with
            two ears had better listen!"

66. Jesus said, "Show me the stone that the builders rejected: that is the
            keystone."

67. Jesus said, "Those who know all, but are lacking in themselves, are utterly
            lacking."

68. Jesus said, "Congratulations to you when you are hated and persecuted; and no
            place will be found, wherever you have been persecuted."

69. Jesus said, "Congratulations to those who have been persecuted in their
            hearts: they are the ones who have truly come to know the Father.

Congratulations to those who go hungry, so the stomach of the one in want may be
            filled."

70. Jesus said, "If you bring forth what is within you, what you have will save
            you. If you do not have that within you, what you do not have within you [will] kill
            you."

71. Jesus said, "I will destroy [this] house, and no one will be able to build it
            [...]."

72. A [person said] to him, "Tell my brothers to divide my father's possessions
            with me."

He said to the person, "Mister, who made me a divider?"

He turned to his disciples and said to them, "I'm not a divider, am I?"

73. Jesus said, "The crop is huge but the workers are few, so beg the harvest boss
            to dispatch workers to the fields."

74. He said, "Lord, there are many around the drinking trough, but there is
            nothing in the well."

75. Jesus said, "There are many standing at the door, but those who are alone will
            enter the bridal suite."

76. Jesus said, "The Father's kingdom is like a merchant who had a supply of
            merchandise and found a pearl. That merchant was prudent; he sold the merchandise and
            bought the single pearl for himself.

So also with you, seek his treasure that is unfailing, that is enduring, where no moth
            comes to eat and no worm destroys."

77. Jesus said, "I am the light that is over all things. I am all: from me all
            came forth, and to me all attained.

Split a piece of wood; I am there.

Lift up the stone, and you will find me there."

78. Jesus said, "Why have you come out to the countryside? To see a reed shaken by
            the wind? And to see a person dressed in soft clothes, [like your] rulers and your
            powerful ones? They are dressed in soft clothes, and they cannot understand truth."

79. A woman in the crowd said to him, "Lucky are the womb that bore you and the
            breasts that fed you."

He said to [her], "Lucky are those who have heard the word of the Father and have
            truly kept it. For there will be days when you will say, 'Lucky are the womb that has not
            conceived and the breasts that have not given milk.'"

80. Jesus said, "Whoever has come to know the world has discovered the body, and
            whoever has discovered the body, of that one the world is not worthy."

81. Jesus said, "Let one who has become wealthy reign, and let one who has power
            renounce <it>."

82. Jesus said, "Whoever is near me is near the fire, and whoever is far from me
            is far from the (Father's) kingdom."

83. Jesus said, "Images are visible to people, but the light within them is hidden
            in the image of the Father's light. He will be disclosed, but his image is hidden by his
            light."

84. Jesus said, "When you see your likeness, you are happy. But when you see your
            images that came into being before you and that neither die nor become visible, how much
            you will have to bear!"

85. Jesus said, "Adam came from great power and great wealth, but he was not
            worthy of you. For had he been worthy, [he would] not [have tasted] death."

86. Jesus said, "[Foxes have] their dens and birds have their nests, but human
            beings have no place to lay down and rest."

87. Jesus said, "How miserable is the body that depends on a body, and how
            miserable is the soul that depends on these two."

88. Jesus said, "The messengers and the prophets will come to you and give you
            what belongs to you. You, in turn, give them what you have, and say to yourselves, 'When
            will they come and take what belongs to them?'"

89. Jesus said, "Why do you wash the outside of the cup? Don't you understand that
            the one who made the inside is also the one who made the outside?"

90. Jesus said, "Come to me, for my yoke is comfortable and my lordship is gentle,
            and you will find rest for yourselves."

91. They said to him, "Tell us who you are so that we may believe in you."

He said to them, "You examine the face of heaven and earth, but you have not come
            to know the one who is in your presence, and you do not know how to examine the present
            moment."

92. Jesus said, "Seek and you will find.

In the past, however, I did not tell you the things about which you asked me then. Now
            I am willing to tell them, but you are not seeking them."

93. "Don't give what is holy to dogs, for they might throw them upon the manure
            pile. Don't throw pearls [to] pigs, or they might ... it [...]."

94. Jesus [said], "One who seeks will find, and for [one who knocks] it will be
            opened."

95. [Jesus said], "If you have money, don't lend it at interest. Rather, give [it]
            to someone from whom you won't get it back."

96. Jesus [said], "The Father's kingdom is like [a] woman. She took a little
            leaven, [hid] it in dough, and made it into large loaves of bread. Anyone here with two
            ears had better listen!"

97. Jesus said, "The [Father's] kingdom is like a woman who was carrying a [jar]
            full of meal. While she was walking along [a] distant road, the handle of the jar broke
            and the meal spilled behind her [along] the road. She didn't know it; she hadn't noticed a
            problem. When she reached her house, she put the jar down and discovered that it was
            empty."

98. Jesus said, "The Father's kingdom is like a person who wanted to kill someone
            powerful. While still at home he drew his sword and thrust it into the wall to find out
            whether his hand would go in. Then he killed the powerful one."

99. The disciples said to him, "Your brothers and your mother are standing
            outside."

He said to them, "Those here who do what my Father wants are my brothers and my
            mother. They are the ones who will enter my Father's kingdom."

100. They showed Jesus a gold coin and said to him, "The Roman emperor's people
            demand taxes from us."

He said to them, "Give the emperor what belongs to the emperor, give God what
            belongs to God, and give me what is mine."

101. "Whoever does not hate [father] and mother as I do cannot be my [disciple],
            and whoever does [not] love [father and] mother as I do cannot be my [disciple]. For my
            mother [...], but my true [mother] gave me life."

102. Jesus said, "Damn the Pharisees! They are like a dog sleeping in the cattle
            manger: the dog neither eats nor [lets] the cattle eat."

103. Jesus said, "Congratulations to those who know where the rebels are going to
            attack. [They] can get going, collect their imperial resources, and be prepared before the
            rebels arrive."

104. They said to Jesus, "Come, let us pray today, and let us fast."

Jesus said, "What sin have I committed, or how have I been undone? Rather, when
            the groom leaves the bridal suite, then let people fast and pray."

105. Jesus said, "Whoever knows the father and the mother will be called the child
            of a whore."

106. Jesus said, "When you make the two into one, you will become children of
            Adam, and when you say, 'Mountain, move from here!' it will move."

107. Jesus said, "The (Father's) kingdom is like a shepherd who had a hundred
            sheep. One of them, the largest, went astray. He left the ninety-nine and looked for the
            one until he found it. After he had toiled, he said to the sheep, 'I love you more than
            the ninety-nine.'"

108. Jesus said, "Whoever drinks from my mouth will become like me; I myself shall
            become that person, and the hidden things will be revealed to him."

109. Jesus said, "The (Father's) kingdom is like a person who had a treasure
            hidden in his field but did not know it. And [when] he died he left it to his [son]. The
            son [did] not know about it either. He took over the field and sold it. The buyer went
            plowing, [discovered] the treasure, and began to lend money at interest to whomever he
            wished."

110. Jesus said, "Let one who has found the world, and has become wealthy,
            renounce the world."

111. Jesus said, "The heavens and the earth will roll up in your presence, and
            whoever is living from the living one will not see death."

Does not Jesus say, "Those who have found themselves, of them the world is not
            worthy"?

112. Jesus said, "Damn the flesh that depends on the soul. Damn the soul that
            depends on the flesh."

113. His disciples said to him, "When will the kingdom come?"

"It will not come by watching for it. It will not be said, 'Look, here!' or 'Look,
            there!' Rather, the Father's kingdom is spread out upon the earth, and people don't see
            it."

[Saying probably added to the original collection at a later date:]

            114. Simon Peter said to them, "Make Mary leave us, for females don't deserve
            life."

Jesus said, "Look, I will guide her to make her male, so that she too may become a
            living spirit resembling you males. For every female who makes herself male will enter the
            kingdom of Heaven."

    Selection from Robert J. Miller, ed., The Complete Gospels:
      Annotated Scholars Version. (Polebridge Press, 1992, 1994).

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