(Above image of the Gospel of Thomas
courtesy of the Institute for Antiquity and Christianity, Claremont
Graduate University)

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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 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
then, 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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