The Thunder, Perfect Mind

¹I was sent forth from the power,

²and I have come to those who reflect upon me,

³and I have been found among those who seek after me.

⁴Look upon me, you who reflect upon me,

⁵and you hearers, hear me.

⁶You who are waiting for me, take me to yourselves.

⁷And do not banish me from your sight.

⁸And do not make your voice hate me, nor your hearing.

⁹Do not be ignorant of me anywhere or any time. Be on your guard!

¹⁰Do not be ignorant of me.

¹¹For I am the first and the last.

¹²I am the honored one and the scorned one.

¹³I am the whore and the holy one.

¹⁴I am the wife and the virgin.

¹⁵I am <the mother> and the daughter.

¹⁶I am the members of my mother.

¹⁷I am the barren one

¹⁸and many are her sons.

¹⁹I am she whose wedding is great,

²⁰and I have not taken a husband.

²¹I am the midwife and she who does not bear.

²²I am the solace of my labor pains.

²³I am the bride and the bridegroom,

²⁴and it is my husband who begot me.

²⁵I am the mother of my father

²⁶and the sister of my husband

²⁷and he is my offspring.

²⁸I am the slave of him who prepared me.

²⁹I am the ruler of my offspring.

³⁰But he is the one who begot me before the time on a birthday.

³¹And he is my offspring in (due) time,

³²and my power is from him.

³³I am the staff of his power in his youth,

³⁴and he is the rod of my old age.

³⁵And whatever he wills happens to me.

³⁶I am the silence that is incomprehensible

³⁷and the idea whose remembrance is frequent.

³⁸I am the voice whose sound is manifold

³⁹and the word whose appearance is multiple.

⁴⁰I am the utterance of my name.

⁴¹Why, you who hate me, do you love me,

⁴²and hate those who love me?

⁴³You who deny me, confess me,

⁴⁴and you who confess me, deny me.

⁴⁵You who tell the truth about me, lie about me,

⁴⁶and you who have lied about me, tell the truth about me.

⁴⁷You who know me, be ignorant of me,

⁴⁸and those who have not known me, let them know me.

⁴⁹For I am knowledge and ignorance.

⁵⁰I am shame and boldness.

⁵¹I am shameless; I am ashamed.

⁵²I am strength and I am fear.

⁵³I am war and peace.

⁵⁴Give heed to me.

⁵⁵I am the one who is disgraced and the great one.

⁵⁶Give heed to my poverty and my wealth.

⁵⁷Do not be arrogant to me when I am cast out upon the earth,

⁵⁸and you will find me in those that are to come.

⁵⁹And do not look upon me on the dung-heap

⁶⁰nor go and leave me cast out,

⁶¹and you will find me in the kingdoms.

⁶²And do not look upon me when I am cast out among those who

⁶³are disgraced and in the least places,

⁶⁴nor laugh at me.

⁶⁵And do not cast me out among those who are slain in violence.

⁶⁶But I, I am compassionate and I am cruel.

⁶⁷Be on your guard!

⁶⁸Do not hate my obedience

⁶⁹and do not love my self-control.

⁷⁰In my weakness, do not forsake me,

⁷¹and do not be afraid of my power.

⁷²For why do you despise my fear

⁷³and curse my pride?

⁷⁴But I am she who exists in all fears

⁷⁵and strength in trembling.

⁷⁶I am she who is weak,

⁷⁷and I am well in a pleasant place.

⁷⁸I am senseless and I am wise.

⁷⁹Why have you hated me in your counsels?

⁸⁰For I shall be silent among those who are silent,

⁸¹and I shall appear and speak,

⁸²Why then have you hated me, you Greeks?

⁸³Because I am a barbarian among the barbarians?

⁸⁴For I am the wisdom of the Greeks

⁸⁵and the knowledge of the barbarians.

⁸⁶I am the judgement of the Greeks and of the barbarians.

⁸⁷I am the one whose image is great in Egypt

⁸⁸and the one who has no image among the barbarians.

⁸⁹I am the one who has been hated everywhere

⁹⁰and who has been loved everywhere.

⁹¹I am the one whom they call Life,

⁹²and you have called Death.

⁹³I am the one whom they call Law,

⁹⁴and you have called Lawlessness.

⁹⁵I am the one whom you have pursued,

⁹⁶and I am the one whom you have seized.

⁹⁷I am the one whom you have scattered,

⁹⁸and you have gathered me together.

⁹⁹I am the one before whom you have been ashamed,

¹⁰⁰and you have been shameless to me.

¹⁰¹I am she who does not keep festival,

¹⁰²and I am she whose festivals are many.

¹⁰³I, I am godless,

¹⁰⁴and I am the one whose God is great.

¹⁰⁵I am the one whom you have reflected upon,

¹⁰⁶and you have scorned me.

¹⁰⁷I am unlearned,

¹⁰⁸and they learn from me.

¹⁰⁹I am the one that you have despised,

¹¹⁰and you reflect upon me.

¹¹¹I am the one whom you have hidden from,

¹¹²and you appear to me.

¹¹³But whenever you hide yourselves,

¹¹⁴I myself will appear.

¹¹⁵For whenever you appear,

¹¹⁶I myself will hide from you.

¹¹⁷Those who have [...] to it [...] senselessly [...].

¹¹⁸Take me [... understanding] from grief.

¹¹⁹and take me to yourselves from understanding and grief.

¹²⁰And take me to yourselves from places that are ugly and in ruin,

¹²¹and rob from those which are good even though in ugliness.

¹²²Out of shame, take me to yourselves shamelessly;

¹²³and out of shamelessness and shame,

¹²⁴upbraid my members in yourselves.

¹²⁵And come forward to me, you who know me

¹²⁶and you who know my members,

¹²⁷and establish the great ones among the small first creatures.

¹²⁸Come forward to childhood,

¹²⁹and do not despise it because it is small and it is little.

¹³⁰And do not turn away greatnesses in some parts from the smallnesses,

¹³¹for the smallnesses are known from the greatnesses.

¹³²Why do you curse me and honor me?

¹³³You have wounded and you have had mercy.

¹³⁴Do not separate me from the first ones whom you have known.

¹³⁵And do not cast anyone out nor turn anyone away

¹³⁶[...] turn you away and [... know] him not.

¹³⁷[...].

¹³⁸What is mine [...].

¹³⁹I know the first ones and those after them know me.

¹⁴⁰But I am the mind of [...] and the rest of [...].

¹⁴¹I am the knowledge of my inquiry,

¹⁴²and the finding of those who seek after me,

¹⁴³and the command of those who ask of me,

¹⁴⁴and the power of the powers in my knowledge

¹⁴⁵of the angels, who have been sent at my word,

¹⁴⁶and of gods in their seasons by my counsel,

¹⁴⁷and of spirits of every man who exists with me,

¹⁴⁸and of women who dwell within me.

¹⁴⁹I am the one who is honored, and who is praised,

¹⁵⁰and who is despised scornfully.

¹⁵¹I am peace,

¹⁵²and war has come because of me.

¹⁵³And I am an alien and a citizen.

¹⁵⁴I am the substance and the one who has no substance.

¹⁵⁵Those who are without association with me are ignorant of me,

¹⁵⁶and those who are in my substance are the ones who know me.

¹⁵⁷Those who are close to me have been ignorant of me,

¹⁵⁸and those who are far away from me are the ones who have known me.

¹⁵⁹On the day when I am close to you, you are far away from me,

¹⁶⁰and on the day when I am far away from you, I am close to you.

¹⁶¹[I am ...] within.

¹⁶²[I am ...] of the natures.

¹⁶³I am [...] of the creation of the spirits.

¹⁶⁴[...] request of the souls.

¹⁶⁵I am control and the uncontrollable.

¹⁶⁶I am the union and the dissolution.

¹⁶⁷I am the abiding and I am the dissolution.

¹⁶⁸I am the one below,

¹⁶⁹and they come up to me.

¹⁷⁰I am the judgment and the acquittal.

¹⁷¹I, I am sinless,

¹⁷²and the root of sin derives from me.

¹⁷³I am lust in (outward) appearance,

¹⁷⁴and interior self-control exists within me.

¹⁷⁵I am the hearing which is attainable to everyone

¹⁷⁶and the speech which cannot be grasped.

¹⁷⁷I am a mute who does not speak,

¹⁷⁸and great is my multitude of words.

¹⁷⁹Hear me in gentleness, and learn of me in roughness.

¹⁸⁰I am she who cries out,

¹⁸¹and I am cast forth upon the face of the earth.

¹⁸²I prepare the bread and my mind within.

¹⁸³I am the knowledge of my name.

¹⁸⁴I am the one who cries out,

¹⁸⁵and I listen.

¹⁸⁶I appear and [...] walk in [...] seal of my [...].

¹⁸⁷I am [...] the defense [...].

¹⁸⁸I am the one who is called Truth

¹⁸⁹and iniquity [...].

¹⁹⁰You honor me [...] and you whisper against me.

¹⁹¹You who are vanquished, judge them (who vanquish you)

¹⁹²before they give judgment against you,

¹⁹³because the judge and partiality exist in you.

¹⁹⁴If you are condemned by this one, who will acquit you?

¹⁹⁵Or, if you are acquitted by him, who will be able to detain you?

¹⁹⁶For what is inside of you is what is outside of you,

¹⁹⁷and the one who fashions you on the outside

¹⁹⁸is the one who shaped the inside of you.

¹⁹⁹And what you see outside of you, you see inside of you;

²⁰⁰it is visible and it is your garment.

²⁰¹Hear me, you hearers

²⁰²and learn of my words, you who know me.

²⁰³I am the hearing that is attainable to everything;

²⁰⁴I am the speech that cannot be grasped.

²⁰⁵I am the name of the sound

²⁰⁶and the sound of the name.

²⁰⁷I am the sign of the letter

²⁰⁸and the designation of the division.

²⁰⁹And I [...].

²¹⁰(3 lines missing)

²¹¹[...] light [...].

²¹²[...] hearers [...] to you

²¹³[...] the great power.

²¹⁴And [...] will not move the name.

²¹⁵[...] to the one who created me.

²¹⁶And I will speak his name.

²¹⁷Look then at his words

²¹⁸and all the writings which have been completed.

²¹⁹Give heed then, you hearers

²²⁰and you also, the angels and those who have been sent,

²²¹and you spirits who have arisen from the dead.

²²²For I am the one who alone exists,

²²³and I have no one who will judge me.

²²⁴For many are the pleasant forms which exist in numerous sins,

²²⁵and incontinencies,

²²⁶and disgraceful passions,

²²⁷and fleeting pleasures,

²²⁸which (men) embrace until they become sober

²²⁹and go up to their resting place.

²³⁰And they will find me there,

²³¹and they will live,

²³²and they will not die again.