Otherwise known as Odes of Solomon
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The Odes of Peace, more commonly known as the Odes of Solomon, are a collection of early Christian poems, in the form of odes, that were likely composed in the late 1st century or early 2nd century. They are known from early citations and various extant copies. The elaborate and beautiful language reflects the deity of Christ and exhibits a primordial Trinitarianism. While later Gnostic works cite the Odes, the Odes themselves are not Gnostic, and reflect, rather, a more orthodox view of the early Christian faith heavily influenced by wisdom literature. Ode 2 is not extant.
The Lord is on my head like a crown, || and I will not be without Him. They wove for me a crown of truth, || and it caused Your branches to bud in me. For it is not like a withered crown which does not bud, || but You live on my head, || and You have blossomed on my head. Your fruits are full-grown and perfect, || they are full of Your salvation.
. . . I put on. And His members are with Him. And I stand on them, || and He loves me: For I should not have known love, || if the Lord had not loved me. For who is able to distinguish love except the one that is loved? 5 I love the Beloved and my soul loves Him: And where His rest is, || there I am also; And I will be no stranger, for with the Lord Most High and Merciful there is no grudging. I have been united to Him, || for the lover has found the Beloved, And because I will love Him that is the Son, || I will become a son; For he that is joined to Him that is immortal, || will also himself become immortal; And he who has pleasure in the Living One, || will become living. This is the Spirit of the Lord, || which does not lie, || which teaches the sons of men to know His ways. Be wise and understanding and vigilant. Hallelujah!
No man, O my God, changes Your holy place; And it is not [possible] that he should change it and put it in another place, || because he has no power over it, For You have designed Your sanctuary before You made [other] places: That which is the elder will not be altered by those that are younger than itself. You have given Your heart, O Lord, to Your believers: You will never fail, || nor be without fruits, For one hour of Your faith is days and years. For who is there [that] put on Your grace, and is hurt? For Your seal is known, || and Your creatures know it, || and Your [heavenly] hosts possess it, || and the chosen chief-messengers are clad with it. You have given us Your fellowship. it was not that You were in need of us, || but that we are in need of You; Distill Your dews on us and open Your rich fountains that pour forth to us milk and honey, For there is no relenting with You that You should relent of anything that You have promised. And the end was revealed before You, || for what You gave, You gave freely, So that You may not draw them back and take them again, For all was revealed before You as God, || and ordered from the beginning before You; and You, O God, have made all things. Hallelujah!
I will give thanks to You, O Lord, || because I love You; O Most High, You will not forsake me for You are my hope: Freely I have received Your grace, || I will live thereby: My persecutors will come and not see me: A cloud of darkness will fall on their eyes; and an air of thick gloom will darken them: And they will have no light to see; they may not take hold on me. Let their counsel become thick darkness, || and what they have cunningly devised, || let it return on their own heads, For they have devised a counsel and it did not succeed; For my hope is on the Lord and I will not fear, || and because the Lord is my salvation, || I will not fear; and He is a garland on my head and I will not be moved; even if everything should be shaken, || I stand firm; And if all things visible should perish, || I will not die, || because the Lord is with me and I am with Him. Hallelujah!
As the hand moves over the harp, || and the strings speak, So speaks in my members the Spirit of the Lord, || and I speak by His love. For it destroys what is foreign and everything that is bitter: For thus it was from the beginning and will be to the end, || that nothing should be His adversary, || and nothing should stand up against Him. The Lord has multiplied the knowledge of Himself, || and is zealous that these things should be known, || which by His grace have been given to us. And the praise of His Name He gave us: our spirits praise His holy Spirit. For there went forth a stream that became a river great and broad; For it flooded and broke up everything and it brought [water] to the temple; And the restrainers of the children of men were not able to restrain it, || nor the arts of those whose business it is to restrain waters; For it spread over the face of the whole earth, || and filled everything: and all the thirsty on earth were given to drink of it; And thirst was relieved and quenched, || for from the Most High the drink was given. Blessed then are the ministers of that drink who are entrusted with that water They have assuaged the dry lips, || and the will that had fainted they have raised up; And souls that were near departing they have caught back from death; And limbs that had fallen they straightened and set up. They gave strength for their feebleness and light to their eyes, For everyone knew them in the Lord, || and they lived by the water of life forever. Hallelujah!
As the impulse of anger against evil, || so is the impulse of joy over what is lovely, || and brings in of its fruits without restraint: My joy is the Lord and my impulse is toward Him; this path of mine is excellent, For I have a helper—the Lord. He has caused me to know Himself, || without grudging, by His simplicity: His kindness has humbled His greatness. He became like me, || in order that I might receive Him; He was reckoned like myself in order that I might put Him on; And I did not tremble when I saw Him, || because He was gracious to me. He became like my nature that I might learn Him, || And like my form, that I might not turn back from Him. The Father of knowledge is the word of knowledge: He who created wisdom is wiser than His works; And He who created me when I was yet not knew what I should do when I came into being, For what reason He pitied me in His abundant grace, || and granted me to ask from Him and to receive from His sacrifice, Because it is He that is incorruptible—the fullness of the ages and their Father. He has given Him to be seen of them that are His, || in order that they may recognize Him that made them, || and that they might not suppose that they came of themselves; For He has appointed knowledge as its way, || Has widened it and extended it, || and brought to all perfection, And set over it the traces of His light, || and I walked therein from the beginning even to the end. For by Him it was worked, || and He was resting in the Son, || and for its salvation He will take hold of everything. And the Most High will be known in His holy ones, || to announce to those that have songs of the coming of the Lord: That they may go forth to meet Him, || and may sing to Him with joy and with the harp of many tones. The seers will come before Him and they will be seen before Him, And they will praise the Lord for His love, || because He is near and beholds. And hatred will be taken from the earth, || and along with jealousy it will be drowned: For ignorance has been destroyed, || because the knowledge of the Lord has arrived. They who make songs will sing the grace of the Lord Most High; And they will bring their songs, || and their heart will be like the day, || and like the excellent beauty of the Lord their pleasant song; And there will neither be anything that breathes without knowledge nor any that is dumb, For He has given a mouth to His creation, || to open the voice of the mouth toward Him, || to praise Him, Confess His power, || and show forth His grace. Hallelujah!
Open, open your hearts to the exultation of the Lord, And let your love be multiplied from the heart and even to the lips, To bring forth living [and] holy fruit to the Lord, || and to talk with watchfulness in His light. Rise up, and stand erect, || You who once were brought low: Tell forth, you who were in silence, || that your mouth has been opened. You, therefore, that were despised, be lifted up from now on, || because your righteousness has been exalted. For the right hand of the Lord is with you, || and He is your helper; And peace was prepared for you, || before your war ever was. Hear the word of truth, || and receive the knowledge of the Most High. Your flesh has not known what I am saying to you: neither have your hearts known what I am showing to you. Keep My secret, || You who are kept by it. Keep My faith, || You who are kept by it. And understand My knowledge, || You who know Me in truth, Love Me with affection, || You who love! For I do not turn away My face from them that are Mine; For I know them and before they came into being I took knowledge of them, || and on their faces I set My seal, I fashioned their members, || [And] I prepared My own breasts for them, || that they might drink My holy milk and live thereby. I took pleasure in them and am not ashamed of them, For they are My workmanship and the strength of My thoughts. Who then will rise up against My handiwork, || or who is there that is not subject to them? I willed and fashioned mind and heart: and they are Mine, and by My own right hand I set My chosen ones, And My righteousness goes before them and they will not be deprived of My Name, || for it is with them. Ask, and abound, and abide in the love of the Lord, You beloved ones in the Beloved—those who are kept in Him that lives, And they that are saved in Him that was saved— And you will be found incorruptible in all ages through the Name of your Father. Hallelujah!
Open your ears and I will speak to you. Give me your souls that I may also give you my soul, The word of the Lord and His good pleasures, || the holy thought which He has devised concerning His Messiah. For in the will of the Lord is your salvation, || and His thought is everlasting life; and your end is immortality. Be enriched in God the Father, || and receive the thought of the Most High. Be strong and be redeemed by His grace. For I announce peace to you, || to you His holy ones, That none of those who hear may fall in war, || and that those again who have known Him may not perish, || and that those who receive may not be ashamed. Truth is an everlasting crown forever. Blessed are they who set it on their heads: It is a stone of great price; and there have been wars on account of the crown. And righteousness has taken it and has given it to you. Put on the crown in the true covenant of the Lord. And all those who have conquered will be written in His scroll. For their scroll is victory which is yours. And she [(Victory)] sees you before her and wills that you will be saved. Hallelujah!
The Lord has directed My mouth by His word, || and He has opened My heart by His light, || and He has caused His deathless life to dwell in Me, And He gave Me that I might speak the fruit of peace: To convert the souls of them who are willing to come to Him, || and to lead captive a good captivity for freedom. I was strengthened and made mighty and took the world captive; And it became to Me for the praise of the Most High, || and of God My Father. And the nations were gathered together who were scattered abroad. And I was unpolluted by My love for them, || because they confessed Me in high places: and the traces of the light were set on their heart, And they walked in My life and were saved and became My people forever and ever. Hallelujah!
My heart was split, || and its flower appeared; and grace sprang up in it: and it brought forth fruit to the Lord, For the Most High cleaved my heart by His Holy Spirit and searched my affection toward Him: and filled me with His love. And His opening of me became my salvation; and I ran in His way in His peace even in the way of truth: from the beginning and even to the end I acquired His knowledge, And I was established on the rock of truth, || where He had set me up; And speaking waters touched my lips from the fountain of the Lord plenteously, And I drank and was inebriated with the living water that does not die; And my inebriation was not one without knowledge, || but I forsook vanity and turned to my God, the Most High, And I was enriched by His bounty, || and I forsook the folly which is diffused over the earth; and I stripped it off and cast it from me: And the Lord renewed me in His raiment, || and possessed me by His light, || and from above He gave me rest in incorruption; And I became like the land which blossoms and rejoices in its fruits: And the Lord was like the sun shining on the face of the land; He lightened my eyes and my face received the dew—the pleasant fragrance of the Lord; And He carried me to His Paradise, || where the abundance of the pleasure of the Lord is; And I worshiped the Lord on account of His glory; and I said, “Blessed, O Lord, are they who are planted in Your land, || And those who have a place in Your Paradise; And they grow by the fruits of the trees. And they have changed from darkness to light. Behold! all Your servants are fair, who do good works, || and turn away from wickedness to the pleasantness that is Yours: And they have turned back the bitterness of the trees from them, || when they were planted in Your land; And everything became like a relic of Yourself, || and memorial forever of Your faithful works. For there is abundant room in Your Paradise, || and nothing is useless therein; But everything is filled with fruit; glory be to You, O God, the Delight of Paradise forever. Hallelujah!”
He has filled me with words of truth, || that I may speak the same; And like the flow of waters flows truth from my mouth, || and my lips show forth His fruit. And He has caused His knowledge to abound in me, || because the mouth of the Lord is the true Word, || and the door of His light; And the Most High has given Him to His generations, || which are the interpreters of His own beauty, || and the repeaters of His praise, || and the confessors of His counsel, || And the heralds of His thought, || And the chasteners of His servants. For the swiftness of the Word is inexpressible, || and like His expression is His swiftness and force; And His course knows no limit. He never fails, but He stands sure, || and He does not know descent nor the way of it. For as His work is, so is His end, || for He is light and the dawning of thought; And by Him the worlds talk to one another; and in the Word there were those that were silent; And from Him came love and concord; and they spoke to one another whatever was theirs; and they were penetrated by the Word; And they knew Him who made them, || because they were in concord; for the mouth of the Most High spoke to them; and His explanation ran by means of Him. For the dwelling-place of the Word is man, || and His truth is love. Blessed are they who by means thereof have understood everything, || and have known the Lord in His truth. Hallelujah!
Behold! the Lord is our mirror: open the eyes and see them in Him, || and learn the manner of your face, And tell forth praise to His Spirit, || and wipe off the filth from your face, || and love His holiness, || and clothe yourselves with it, And be without stain at all times before Him. Hallelujah!
As the eyes of a son to his father, || So are my eyes, O Lord, at all times toward You. For with You are my consolations and my delight. Do not turn Your mercies away from me, O Lord: and do not take Your kindness from me. Stretch out to me, O Lord, at all times Your right hand, || and be my guide even to the end, || according to Your good pleasure. Let me be well-pleasing before You, || because of Your glory and because of Your Name. Let me be preserved from evil, || and let Your meekness, O Lord, || abide with me, and the fruits of Your love. Teach me the psalms of Your truth, || that I may bring forth fruit in You, And open to me the harp of Your Holy Spirit, || that with all His notes I may praise You, O Lord. And according to the multitude of Your tender mercies, || so You will give to me; and hasten to grant our petitions; and You are able for all our needs. Hallelujah!
As the sun is the joy to them that seek for its daybreak, || so my joy is the Lord, Because He is my Sun, and His rays have lifted me up, and His light has dispelled all darkness from my face. In Him I have acquired eyes and have seen His holy day: Ears have become mine and I have heard His truth. The thought of knowledge has been mine, || and I have been delighted through Him. I have left the way of error, || and have walked toward Him, || And have received salvation from Him without grudging. And according to His bounty He has given to me, || And according to His excellent beauty He has made me. I have put on incorruption through His Name, || and have put off corruption by His grace. Death has been destroyed before my face, || and Sheol has been abolished by my word; And there has gone up deathless life in the Lord’s land, And it has been made known to His faithful ones, || and has been given without limit to all those that trust in Him. Hallelujah!
As the work of the farmer is the plowshare, || and the work of the helmsman is the guidance of the ship, So also my work, my craft, is the psalm of the Lord, Because His love has nourished my heart, || and even to my lips He poured out His fruits. For my love is the Lord, || and I will therefore sing to Him: For I am made strong in His praise, || and I have faith in Him. I will open my mouth and His Spirit will utter in me || The glory of the Lord and His beauty, || the work of His hands and the operation of His fingers, The multitude of His mercies and the strength of His word. For the Word of the Lord searches out all things, || both the invisible and that which reveals His thought, For the eye sees His works and the ear hears His thought. He spread out the earth and settled the waters in the sea; He measured the heavens and fixed the stars; and He established the creation and set it up; And He rested from His works. Thus created things run in their courses, || and do their works: And they do not know how to stand and be idle; and His heavenly hosts are subject to His Word. The treasure-chamber of the light is the sun, || and the treasury of the darkness is the night; And He made the sun for the day that it may be bright, || but night brings darkness over the face of the land; And their cycles, one after another, speak the beauty of God. And there is nothing that is without the Lord, for He was before anything came into being, And the worlds were made by His word, || and by the thought of His heart. Glory and honor to His Name. Hallelujah!
I was crowned by My God—my crown is living; And I was justified in My Lord—my incorruptible salvation is He. I was loosed from vanity, || and I was not condemned; The choking bonds were cut off by her hands. I received the face and the fashion of a new person, || and I walked in it and was delivered. And the thought of truth led me on; And I walked after it and did not wander. And all that have seen Me were amazed: and I was regarded by them as a strange person. And He who knew and brought Me up is the Most High in all His perfection. And He glorified Me by His kindness, || and raised My thoughts to the height of His truth. And from there He gave Me the way of His precepts, || And I opened the doors that were closed, And broke in pieces the bars of iron, || but my iron melted and dissolved before Me; Nothing appeared closed to Me, || because I was the door of everything. And I went over to all My bound ones to loose them, || that I might not leave any man bound or binding. And I imparted My knowledge without grudging, || and My prayer was in My love; And I sowed My fruits in hearts, || and transformed them into Myself; and they received My blessing and lived; And they were gathered to Me and were saved, || because they were to Me as My own members, and I was their Head. Glory to You, our Head, the Lord Messiah. Hallelujah!
My heart was lifted up in the love of the Most High and was enlarged, || that I might praise Him for His Name’s sake. My members were strengthened that they might not fall from His strength. Sicknesses departed from my body, || and it stood to the Lord by His will, || For His kingdom is true. O Lord, for the sake of them that are deficient, do not remove Your word from me! Neither for the sake of their works do You restrain from me Your perfection! Do not let the luminary be conquered by the darkness, || nor let truth flee away from falsehood. You will appoint me to victory; Your right hand is our salvation. And You will receive men from all quarters. And You will preserve whosoever is held in evils: You are my God. Falsehood and death are not in Your mouth, For Your will is perfection, || and You do not know vanity, Nor does it know You. And You do not know error, Neither does it know You. And ignorance appeared like a blind man, || and like the foam of the sea, And they supposed of that vain thing that it was something great; And they, too, came in likeness of it and became vain; and those have understood who have known and meditated; And they have not been corrupt in their imagination, || for such were in the mind of the Lord; And they mocked at them that were walking in error; And they spoke truth from the inspiration which the Most High breathed into them. Praise and great honor to His Name. Hallelujah!
A cup of milk was offered to me, || and I drank it in the sweetness of the delight of the Lord. The Son is the cup and He who was milked is the Father: And the Holy Spirit milked Him, || because His breasts were full, || and it was necessary for Him that His milk should be sufficiently released; And the Holy Spirit opened His bosom and mingled the milk from the two breasts of the Father and gave the mixture to the world without their knowing: And they who receive in its fullness are the ones on the right hand. The Spirit opened the womb of the virgin and she received conception and brought forth; and the virgin became a mother with many mercies; And she travailed and brought forth a Son without incurring pain; And because she was not sufficiently prepared, || and she had not sought a midwife (for He brought her to bear) she brought forth, || as if she were a man, of her own will; And she brought Him forth openly, || and acquired Him with great dignity, And loved Him in His swaddling clothes and guarded Him kindly, || and showed Him in Majesty. Hallelujah!
I am a priest of the Lord, || and to Him I do priestly service: and to Him I offer the sacrifice of His thought. For His thought is not like the thought of the world nor the thought of the flesh, || nor like them that serve carnally. The sacrifice of the Lord is righteousness, || and purity of heart and lips. Present your reins before Him blamelessly, || and do not let your heart do violence to heart, || nor your soul to soul. You will not acquire a stranger by the price of your silver, || Neither will you seek to devour your neighbor, Neither will you deprive him of the covering of his nakedness. But put on the grace of the Lord without limit; and come into His Paradise and make a garland from its tree; And put it on your head and be glad; and recline on His rest, || and glory will go before you, And you will receive of His kindness and of His grace; and you will be flourishing in truth in the praise of His holiness. Praise and honor be to His Name. Hallelujah!
I lifted up my arms to the Most High, || even to the grace of the Lord, || because He had cast off my bonds from me, || and my Helper had lifted me up to His grace and to His salvation. And I put off darkness and clothed myself with light, And my soul acquired a body free from sorrow, or affliction, or pains. And increasingly helpful to me was the thought of the Lord, || and His fellowship in incorruption: And I was lifted up in His light; and I served before Him, And I became near to Him, || praising and confessing Him; My heart ran over and was found in my mouth, || and it arose on my lips, || and the exultation of the Lord increased on my face, || and His praise likewise. Hallelujah!
He who brought Me down from on high, || also brought Me up from the regions below; And He who gathers together the things that are in between is He who also cast Me down; He who scattered My enemies and My adversaries had existed from ancient [times]. He who gave Me authority over bonds that I might loose them, He that overthrew the dragon with seven heads by My hands, || and set Me over his roots that I might destroy his seed— You were there and helped Me, || and in every place Your Name was a rampart to Me. Your right hand destroyed his wicked poison; and Your hand leveled the way for those who believe in You. And You chose them from the graves and separated them from the dead. You took dead bones and covered them with bodies. They were motionless, || and You gave them energy for life. Your way and Your face were without corruption; you brought Your world to corruption, || that everything might be dissolved, and then renewed, And that the foundation for everything might be Your rock: and on it You built Your Kingdom; and it became the dwelling-place of the holy ones. Hallelujah!
Joy is of the holy ones! and who will put it on, but they alone? Grace is of the chosen ones! and who will receive it except those who trust in it from the beginning? Love is of the chosen ones! And who will put it on except those who have possessed it from the beginning? Walk in the knowledge of the Most High without grudging: to His exultation and to the perfection of His knowledge. And His thought was like a letter; His will descended from on high, || and it was sent like an arrow which is violently [shot] from the bow: And many hands rushed to the letter to seize it and to take and read it, And it escaped their fingers, and they were frightened at it and at the seal that was on it, Because it was not permitted to them to loose its seal, || for the power that was over the seal was greater than they. But those who saw it went after the letter that they might know where it would descend, || and who should read it and who should hear it. But a wheel received it and came over it: And there was with it a sign of the Kingdom and of the government, And everything which tried to move the wheel it mowed and cut down. And it gathered the multitude of adversaries, || and bridged the rivers and crossed over, and rooted up many forests and made a broad path. The head went down to the feet, for the wheel ran down to the feet, || and that which was a sign on it. The letter was one of command, || for there were included in it all districts; And there was seen at its head, || the Head which was revealed—even the Son of Truth from the Most High Father, And He inherited and took possession of everything. And the thought of many was brought to nothing. And all the apostates hastened and fled away. And those who persecuted and were enraged became extinct, And the letter was a great volume, || which was wholly written by the finger of God: And the Name of the Father was on it, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, || to rule forever and ever. Hallelujah!
The Dove fluttered over the Messiah, || because He was her head; and she sang over Him and her voice was heard, And the inhabitants were afraid, and the sojourners were moved, The birds dropped their wings, and all creeping things died in their holes; and the abysses were opened which had been hidden, || and they cried to the Lord like women in travail: And no food was given to them, || because it did not belong to them; And they sealed up the abysses with the seal of the Lord, || And they perished in the thought [of] those that had existed from ancient times, For they were corrupt from the beginning; and the end of their corruption was life: And each of them that was imperfect perished, || for it was not possible to give them a word that they might remain, And the Lord destroyed the imaginations of all them that did not have the truth with them. For they who were lifted up in their hearts were deficient in wisdom, and so they were rejected, || because the truth was not with them. For the Lord disclosed His way and spread His grace abroad: and those who understood it know His holiness. Hallelujah!
I was rescued from my bonds and to You, my God, I fled, For You are the right hand of my salvation and my helper. You have restrained those that rise up against me, And I will see him no longer, || because Your face was with me, || which saved me by Your grace. But I was despised and rejected in the eyes of many, || and I was like lead in their eyes, And strength was mine from Yourself and [Your] help. You set a lamp at my right hand and at my left, || and in me there will be nothing that is not bright. And I was clothed with the covering of Your Spirit, || and You removed my raiment of skin from me; For Your right hand lifted me up and removed sickness from me, And I became mighty in the truth, || and holy by Your righteousness; and all my adversaries were afraid of me. And I became admirable by the Name of the Lord, || and I was justified by His gentleness, || and His rest is forever and ever. Hallelujah!
I poured out praise to the Lord, for I am His: And I will speak His holy song for my heart is with Him. For His harp is in my hands, || and the odes of His rest will not be silent. I will cry to Him from my whole heart; I will praise and exalt Him with all my members. For from the east and even to the west is His praise; And from the south and even to the north is the confession of Him; And from the top of the hills to their utmost bound is His perfection. Who can write the psalms of the Lord, || or who read them? Or who can train his soul for life that his soul may be saved? Or who can press on the Most High, || so that with His mouth He may speak? Who is able to interpret the wonders of the Lord? For he who could interpret would be dissolved and would become that which is interpreted. For it suffices to know and to rest, || for in rest the singers stand, Like a river which has an abundant fountain, || and flows to the help of them that seek it. Hallelujah!
I stretched out my hands and sanctified my Lord, For the extension of my hands is His sign: And my expansion is the upright tree [[or cross]].
As the wings of doves over their nestlings, || and the mouth of their nestlings toward their mouths, So are also the wings of the Spirit over my heart. My heart is delighted and exults || like the baby who exults in the womb of his mother. I believed, therefore I was at rest, || for He in whom I have believed is faithful. He has richly blessed me, and my head is with Him, || and the sword will not divide me from Him, || nor the scimitar, For I am ready before destruction comes; and I have been set on His immortal pinions. And He showed me His sign: [Poured] forth and given me to drink, || and from that life is the spirit within me and it cannot die, for it lives. They who saw me marveled at me, || because I was persecuted, || and they supposed that I was swallowed up, || for I seemed to them as one of the lost; And my oppression became my salvation; and I was their reprobation because there was no seal in me. I was hated because I did good to every man, And they came around me like mad dogs || who ignorantly attack their masters, For their thought is corrupt and their understanding perverted. But I was carrying water in my right hand and their bitterness I endured by my sweetness: And I did not perish, || for I was not their brother nor was my birth like theirs. And they sought for my death and did not find it, || for I was older than the memorial of them; And vainly did they make attack on me, || And those who, without reward, came after me: They sought to destroy the memorial of Him who was before them. For the thought of the Most High cannot be anticipated; and His heart is superior to all wisdom. Hallelujah!
The Lord is my hope: in Him I will not be confounded. For according to His praise He made me, || and according to His goodness even so He gave to me, And according to His mercies He exalted me, || and according to His excellent beauty He set me on high, And brought me up out of the depths of Sheol, || and from the mouth of death He drew me. And You laid my enemies low, || And He justified me by His grace. For I believed in the Lord’s Messiah: and it appeared to me that He is the Lord. And He showed me His sign, || and He led me by His light, || and gave me the rod of His power That I might subdue the imaginations of the peoples, || and the power of the men of might, to bring them low, To make war by His word, || and to take victory by His power. And the Lord overthrew my enemy by His word: and he became like the stubble which the wind carries away; And I gave praise to the Most High because He exalted me—His servant and the son of His handmaid. Hallelujah!
Fill waters for yourselves from the living fountain of the Lord, || for it is opened to you: And come all you thirsty and take the drink; and rest by the fountain of the Lord. For it is fair and pure and gives rest to the soul. Its waters are much more pleasant than honey; And the honeycomb of bees is not to be compared with it. For it flows forth from the lips of the Lord, || And from the heart of the Lord is its name. And it came infinitely and invisibly: and until it was set in the midst, they did not know it. Blessed are they who have drunk from that and have found rest thereby. Hallelujah!
The abysses were dissolved before the Lord, || and darkness was destroyed by His appearance. Error went astray and perished at His hand, || and folly found no path to walk in, || and was submerged by the truth of the Lord. He opened His mouth and spoke grace and joy: and He spoke a new song of praise to His Name. And He lifted up His voice to the Most High, || And offered the sons that were with Him. And His face was justified, || for thus His holy Father had given to Him. Come forth, you that have been afflicted, and receive joy, || and possess your souls by His grace; and take immortal life to yourself. And they made Me a debtor when I rose up—me who had been a debtor: and they divided My spoil, || though nothing was due to them. But I endured, and held My peace, and was silent as if not moved by them. But I stood unshaken like a firm rock which is beaten by the waves and endures. And I bore their bitterness for humility’s sake, In order that I might redeem My people and inherit it, || and that I might not make void My promises || To the fathers to whom I promised the salvation of their seed. Hallelujah!
To the blessed there is joy from their hearts, || and light from Him that dwells in them, And words from the Truth, who was self-existent; for He is strengthened by the holy power of the Most High: and He is unmoved forever and ever. Hallelujah!
Again Grace ran and renounced the corruptor, || and came down on him to bring him to nothing— And he who caused destruction [and] perdition from before him, || and devastated all his order. And he stood on a lofty summit || And uttered his voice from one end of the earth to the other, And drew to himself all those who obeyed him, || For he did not appear as [the] evil one. But there stood a perfect virgin who was proclaiming, and calling, and saying, “O you sons of men, return! and you daughters of men, come! And forsake the ways of that corruptor and draw near to me, || and I will enter into you, || and will bring you forth from perdition, And make yourself wise in the ways of truth, || that you are not destroyed nor perish. Hear me and be redeemed! For I am telling of the Grace of God among you”: and by My means you will be redeemed and become blessed. I am your Judge; and they who have put Me on will not be injured, || but they will possess the new world that is incorruptible. My chosen ones walk in Me, || and I will make known My ways to them that seek Me, || and I will make them trust in My Name. Hallelujah!
No way is hard where there is a simple heart, Nor is there any wound where the thoughts are upright, Nor is there any storm in the depth of the illuminated thought. Where one is surrounded on every side by beauty, || there is nothing that is divided. The likeness of what is below is that which is above, || for everything is above. what is below is nothing but the imagination of those that are without knowledge. Grace has been revealed for your salvation. Believe, and live, and be saved. Hallelujah!
In quietness He distilled the dew of the Lord on me, And He caused the cloud of peace to rise over my head, || which guarded me continually; It was to me for salvation: everything was shaken, and they were frightened; And there came forth from them smoke and judgment; and I was keeping quiet in the order of the Lord. He was more than a shelter to me and more than a foundation. And I was carried like a child by its mother: and He gave me milk, || the dew of the Lord, And I grew great by His bounty, || and rested in His perfection, And I spread out my hands in the lifting up of my soul: and I was made right with the Most High, || And I was redeemed with Him. Hallelujah!
I rested in the Spirit of the Lord, || and the Spirit raised Me on high, And made Me stand on My feet in the height of the Lord, || before His perfection and His glory, || while I was praising Him by the composition of His songs. The Spirit brought Me forth before the face of the Lord, || and, although [the] Son of Man, || I was [also] named the Illuminate, the Son of God, While I was praised among the praising ones, || and I was great among the mighty ones. For according to the greatness of the Most High, || so He made Me; and like His own newness He renewed Me, || and He anointed Me from His own perfection. And I became one of His neighbors; and My mouth was opened like a cloud of dew, And my heart poured out as it were a gushing stream of righteousness, And my access to Him was in peace. and I was established by the Spirit of His government. Hallelujah!
I stretched out my hands to my Lord, || and to the Most High I raised my voice: And I spoke with the lips of my heart, || and He heard me when my voice reached Him; His answer came to me and gave me the fruits of my labors; And it gave me rest by the grace of the Lord. Hallelujah!
I went up to the light of Truth as if into a chariot: And the Truth took me and led me, || and carried me across pits and ravines; and from the rocks and the waves He preserved me. And He became to me a haven of salvation, || and He set me on the arms of immortal life; And He went with me and made me rest, || and did not permit me to wander because He was and is the Truth. And I ran no risk, || because I walked with Him; And I did not error in anything because I obeyed the Truth. For error flees away from Him and does not meet Him, || but the Truth proceeds in the right path. And whatever I did not know, He made clear to me, || all the poisons of error, || and the plagues of death which they think to be sweetness. And I saw the destroying of the destroyer, || when the bride who is corrupted is adorned: and the bridegroom who corrupts and is corrupted. And I asked the Truth, “Who are these?” and He said to me, “This is the deceiver and the error: And they are alike in the beloved and in his bride; and they lead astray and corrupt the whole world. And they invite many to the banquet, And give them to drink of the wine of their intoxication, || and remove their wisdom and knowledge, || and so they make them without intelligence; And then they leave them; and then these go about like madmen corrupting: seeing that they are without heart, || nor do they seek for it.” And I was made wise so as not to fall into the hands of the deceiver; and I congratulated myself because the Truth went with me, And I was established, and lived, and was redeemed, And my foundations were laid on the hand of the Lord, || because He established me. For He set the root, and watered it, and fixed it, and blessed it; and its fruits are forever. It struck deep, and sprung up, and spread out, and was full and enlarged. And the Lord alone was glorified in His planting and in His farming || by His care and by the blessing of His lips, By the beautiful planting of His right hand, || and by the discovery of His planting, || and by the thought of His mind. Hallelujah!
Great rivers are the power of the Lord: And they carry headlong those who despise Him, || and entangle their paths; And they sweep away their fords, || and catch their bodies, and destroy their lives. For they are swifter than lightning and more rapid, || and those who cross them in faith are not moved; And those who walk on them without blemish will not be afraid. For the sign in them is the Lord; and the sign is the way of those who cross in the Name of the Lord; Therefore put on the Name of the Most High, || and know Him and you will cross without danger, || for the rivers will be subject to you. The Lord has bridged them by His word; and He walked and crossed them on foot: And His footsteps stand firm on the water, || and are not injured; they are as firm as a tree that is truly set up. And the waves were lifted up on this side and on that, || but the footsteps of our Lord Messiah stand firm, and are not obliterated, and are not defaced. And a way has been appointed for those who cross after Him, and for those who adhere to the course of faith in Him and worship His Name. Hallelujah!
As the honey distills from the comb of the bees, And the milk flows from the woman that loves her children; So also is my hope on You, my God. As the fountain gushes out its water, So my heart gushes out the praise of the Lord, and my lips utter praise to Him, || and my tongue His psalms, And my face exults with His gladness, and my spirit exults in His love, and my soul shines in Him. And reverence confides in Him, || and redemption stands assured in Him. And His inheritance is immortal life, || and those who participate in it are incorruptible. Hallelujah!
All the Lord’s children will praise Him, || and will collect the truth of His faith. And His children will be known to Him. Therefore, we will sing in His love. We live in the Lord by His grace, || and we receive life in His Messiah. For a great day has shined on us: and marvelous is He who has given us of His glory. Therefore, let all of us unite together in the Name of the Lord, || and let us honor Him in His goodness, And let our faces shine in His light, || and let our hearts meditate in His love by night and by day. Let us exult with the joy of the Lord. All those that see me will be astonished, || For I am from another race; For the Father of truth remembered me—He who possessed me from the beginning. For His bounty begot me, || and the thought of His heart. And His Word is with us in all our ways— The Savior who makes alive and does not reject our souls; The Man who was humbled, || and exalted by His own righteousness. The Son of the Most High appeared in the perfection of His Father, And light dawned from the Word that was before time in Him. The Messiah is truly one; and He was known before the foundation of the world, That He might save souls forever by the truth of His Name: a new song arises from those who love Him. Hallelujah!
1 I stretched out my hands and approached my Lord, 2 For the stretching of my hands is His sign. 2 My expansion is the outspread tree [[or cross]], which was set up on the way of the Righteous One. 4 And I became of no account to those who did not take hold of Me and I will be with those who love Me. 5 All my persecutors are dead; and they sought after Me who hoped in Me, || because I was alive. 6 And I rose up and am with them; and I will speak by their mouths, 7 For they have despised those who persecuted them. 8 And I lifted up over them the yoke of My love. 9 Like the arm of the bridegroom over the bride, 10 So was My yoke over those that know Me; 11 And as the couch that is spread in the house of the bridegroom and bride, 12 So is My love over those that believe in Me. 13 And I was not rejected though I was reckoned to be so. 14 I did not perish [forever], || though they devised it against Me. 13 Sheol saw Me and was made miserable: 16 Death cast Me up and many along with Me. 17 I had gall and bitterness, || and I went down with him to the utmost of his depth: 18 And the feet and the head he let go, || for they were not able to endure My face. 19 And I made a congregation of living men among his dead men, || and I spoke with them by living lips, 20 Because My word will not be void. 21 And those who had died ran toward Me, || and they cried and said, “Son of God, have pity on us, || and do with us according to Your kindness. 22 And bring us out from the bonds of darkness, || and open to us the door by which we will come out to You. 23 For we see that our death has not touched You. 24 Let us also be redeemed with You, || for You are our Redeemer.” 25 And I heard their voice, || and I sealed My Name on their heads; 26 For they are free men, and they are Mine. Hallelujah!