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Pursah’s Gospel of Thomas These are the hidden sayings that the living J spoke and Didymus Judas Thomas recorded: 1. And he said, “Whoever discovers the interpretation of these sayings will not taste death.” 2. J 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 they will reign over all.” 3. J said, “If your teachers say to you, ‘Look, God’s Divine Rule is in the sky,’ then the birds will precede you. If they say to you, ‘It’s in the sea,’ then the fish will precede you. Rather, God’s Divine Rule is within you and you are everywhere. When you know yourself, you will be known, and you will understand that we are one. But if you don’t know yourself, you live in poverty, and you are the poverty.” 4. J said: “The person old in days should not hesitate to ask a little child the meaning of life, and that person will live. For many of the first will be last, and they will become a single one.” 5. 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. 6. The disciples asked him, “Do you want us to fast? How should we pray? Should we give to charity? What diet should we observe?” J said, “When you go into any region and walk in the countryside, and people take you in, eat what they serve you. After all, what goes into your mouth will not defile you; rather, it’s what comes out of your mouth that will reveal you.” 8. J said, “A wise fisherman cast his net into the sea. When he drew it up it was full of little fish. Among them he discovered a large, fine fish. He threw all the little fish back into the sea, and he chose the large fish. Anyone here with two good ears should listen.” 9. J said, “Look, the sower went out, took a handful of seeds, and scattered them. Some fell on the road, and the birds came and ate them. Others fell on the rocks, and they didn’t take root and didn’t produce grain. Others fell on the thorns, and they choked the seed and the 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.” 11. The dead are not alive, and the living will not die. 13. J said to the disciples, “Compare me to something and tell me what I’m like.” Simon Peter said to him, “You are like a just angel.” Matthew said to him, “You are like a wisdom teacher.” Thomas said to him, “Master, my mouth is utterly unable to say what you are like.” And he took him, and withdrew, and spoke three sayings to him. When Thomas came back to his friends, they asked him, “What did J 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 consume you.” 17. J said, “I will give you what no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, what no hand has touched, and what has not arisen in the human heart.” 18. The followers said to J, “Tell us how our end will be.” He said, “Have you discovered the beginning, then, so that you are seeking the end? For where the beginning is, the end will be. Fortunate is the one who stands at the beginning: That one will know the end and will not taste death.” 20. The disciples said to J, “Tell us what God’s Divine Rule is like.” He said to them, “It’s like a mustard seed. It’s 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.” 22. 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 the male will not be male and the female will not be female...then you will enter the Kingdom. 23. I shall choose you, one from a thousand and two from ten thousand, and they shall stand as a single one. 24. The 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 a light within a person of light, and it shines on the whole world. If it does not shine, it is dark.” 26. You see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but you do not see the log that is in your own eye. When you take the log out of your own eye, then you will see clearly enough to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. 28. I stood in the world and found them all drunk, and I did not find any of them thirsty. They came into the world empty, and they seek to leave the world empty. But meanwhile they are drunk. When they shake off their wine, they will open their eyes. 31. A prophet is not acceptable in his own town. A doctor does not heal those who know him. 32. J said, “A city built on a high hill and fortified cannot fall, nor can it be hidden.” 34. J said, “If a blind person leads a blind person, both of them will fall into a hole.” 36. Do not worry, from morning to night and from night until morning, about what you will wear. The lilies neither toil nor spin. 37. When you take your clothes off without guilt, and you 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. 40. A grapevine has been planted outside of the Father, but since it is not strong, it will be pulled up by its roots and shall pass away. 41. J said, “Whoever has something in hand will be given more, and whoever has nothing will be deprived of even the little they have.” 42. Be passersby. 45. Grapes are not harvested from thorn trees, nor are figs gathered from thistles. 47. A person cannot mount two horses or bend two bows. And a servant cannot serve two masters, or that servant 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 new wineskins, or it might spoil. An old patch is not sewn onto a new garment, since it would create a tear. 48. J said: “If two make peace with each other in a single house, they will say to the mountain, ‘Move over here!’ and it will move.” 49. Fortunate are those who are alone and chosen, for you will find the Kingdom. For you have come from it, and you will return there again. 51. The 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. The 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.” 54. Fortunate are the poor, for yours is the Father’s Kingdom. 56. Whoever has come to understand this world has found merely a corpse, and whoever has discovered the corpse, of that one the world is no longer worthy. 57. God’s Divine Rule is like a person who had good seed. His rival 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. J said, “Congratulations to the person who has forgiven and has found life.” 59. Look to the living One as long as you live. Otherwise, when you die and then try to see the living One, you will be unable to see. 61. I am the one who comes from what is whole. I was given from the things of my Father. Therefore, I say that if one is whole, one will be filled with light, but if one is divided, one will be filled with darkness. 62. J said, “I disclose my mysteries to those who are ready for my mysteries. Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.” 63. 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. 66. J. said, “Show me the stone that the builders rejected. That is the keystone.” 67. J said, “Those who know all, but are lacking in themselves, are completely lacking.” 70. J 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.” 72. A person said to him, “Tell my brothers to divide my father’s possessions with me.” He said to the person, “Brother, who made me a divider?” He turned to his disciples and said to them, “I’m not a divider, am I?” 75. J said, “There are many standing at the door, but those who are alone will enter the bridal suite.” 76. J said, “God’s Divine Rule is like a merchant who had a supply of merchandise and then found a pearl. That merchant was prudent; he sold the merchandise and bought the single pearl for himself. So also with you, seek the treasure that is unfailing, that is enduring, where no moth comes to eat and no worm destroys.” 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. J 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.” 85. J 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. J said, “Foxes have their dens and birds have their nests, but human beings have no place to lay down and rest.” 87. J said, “How miserable is the body that depends on a body, and how miserable is the soul that depends on these two.” 88. J 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. J 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. J 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. J 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.” 94. J said, “One who seeks will find. And for one who knocks, it shall be opened.” 95. J said, “If you have money, do not lend it at interest. Rather, give it to someone who will not pay you back.” 96. J said, “God’s Divine Rule 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. J said, “God’s Divine Rule 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 it was empty.” 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 the Father’s Kingdom.” 100. They showed J 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.” 103. J said, “Congratulations to those who know where the rebels are going to attack. They can get going, collect their Divine resources, and be prepared before the rebels arrive.” 106. J 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. J said, “God’s Divine Rule 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. J said, “Whoever drinks from my mouth shall become like me. I myself shall become that person, and the hidden things will be revealed to that person.” 109. J said, “God’s Divine Rule 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. J said, “Let one who has found the world, and has become wealthy, renounce the world.” 111. J said, “The Heavens and the earth will roll up in your presence, and whoever is living with the living one will not see death. Did not I say, ‘Those who have found themselves, of them the world is not worthy’?” 113. The disciples said to him, “When will the Kingdom come?” He said, “It will not come by watching for it. It will not be said, ‘Behold here,’ or ‘Behold there.’ Rather, the Kingdom of the Father is spread out upon the earth, and people do not see it.” * * * |