Odes of Solomon 17–37

English translation by J. Rendel Harris (1911); the original is not shown

1 I was crowned by my God: my crown is living: 2 and I was justified in my Lord: my incorruptible salvation is He. 3 I was loosed from vanity, and I was not condemned: 4 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 saved; 5 and the thought of truth led me on. And I walked after it and did not wander: 6 and all that have seen me were amazed: and I was regarded by them as a strange person: 7 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 thought to the height of ⌜His⌝ truth. 8 And from thence He gave me the way of His precepts and I opened the doors that were closed, 9 and brake in pieces the bars of iron; but my iron melted and dissolved before me; 10 nothing appeared closed to me: because I was the door of everything. 11 And I went over all my bondmen to loose them; that I might not leave any man bound or binding: 12 and I imparted my knowledge without grudging: and my prayer was in my love: 13 and I sowed my fruits in hearts, and transformed them into myself: and they received my blessing and lived; 14 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 thee our head, the Lord Messiah. Hallelujah.

English translation by J. Rendel Harris (1911); the original is not shown

1 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. 2 My members were strengthened that they might not fall from His strength. 3 Sicknesses removed from my body, and it stood to the Lord by His will. For His Kingdom is true. 4 O Lord, for the sake of them that are deficient do not remove thy word from me! 5 Neither for the sake of their works do thou restrain from me thy perfection! 6 Let not the luminary be conquered by the darkness; nor let truth flee away from falsehood. 7 Thou wilt appoint me to victory; our Salvation is thy right hand. And thou wilt receive men from all quarters, 8 and thou wilt preserve whosoever is held in evils: 9 Thou art my God. Falsehood and death are not in thy mouth: 10 for thy will is perfection; and vanity thou knowest not, 11 nor does it know thee. 12 And error thou knowest not, 13 neither does it know thee. 14 And ignorance appeared like a blind man; and like the foam of the sea, 15 and they supposed of that vain thing that it was something great; 16 and they too came in likeness of it and became vain; and those have understood who have known and meditated; 17 and they have not been corrupt in their imagination; for such were in the mind of the Lord; 18 and they mocked at them that were walking in error; 19 and they spake truth from the inspiration which the Most High breathed into them; Praise and great comeliness to His name. Hallelujah.

English translation by J. Rendel Harris (1911); the original is not shown

1 A cup of milk was offered to me: and I drank it in the sweetness of the delight of the Lord. 2 The Son is the cup, and He who was milked is the Father: 3 and the Holy Spirit milked Him: because His breasts were full, and it was necessary for Him that His milk should be sufficiently released; 4 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: 5 and they who receive in its fulness are the ones on the right hand. 6 [The Spirit] opened the womb of the Virgin and she received conception and brought forth; and the Virgin became a Mother with many mercies; 7 and she travailed and brought forth a Son, without incurring pain; 8 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; 9 and she brought Him forth openly, and acquired Him with great dignity, 10 and loved Him in His swaddling clothes, and guarded Him kindly, and showed Him in Majesty. Hallelujah.

English translation by J. Rendel Harris (1911); the original is not shown

1 I am a priest of the Lord, and to Him I do priestly service: and to Him I offer the sacrifice of His thought. 2 For His thought is not like ⌜the thought of⌝ the world nor ⌜the thought of⌝ the flesh, nor like them that serve carnally. 3 The sacrifice of the Lord is righteousness, and purity of heart and lips. 4 Present your reins before Him blamelessly: and let not thy heart do violence to heart, nor thy soul to soul. 5 Thou shalt not acquire a stranger by ⌜the price of thy silver⌝, neither shalt thou seek to devour thy neighbour, 6 neither shalt thou deprive him of the covering of his nakedness. 7 But put on the grace of the Lord without stint; and come into His Paradise and make thee a garland from its tree, 8 and put it on thy head and be glad; and recline on His rest, and glory shall go before thee, 9 and thou shalt receive of His kindness and of His grace; and thou shalt be flourishing in truth in the praise of His holiness. Praise and honour be to His name. Hallelujah.

English translation by J. Rendel Harris (1911); the original is not shown

1 My arms I lifted up 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: 2 and I put off darkness and clothed myself with light, 3 and my soul acquired a body free from sorrow or affliction or pains. 4 And increasingly helpful to me was the thought of the Lord, and His fellowship in incorruption: 5 and I was lifted up in His light; and I served before Him, 6 and I became near to Him, praising and confessing Him; 7 my heart ran over and was found in my mouth: and it arose upon my lips; and the exultation of the Lord increased on my face, and His praise likewise. Hallelujah.

English translation by J. Rendel Harris (1911); the original is not shown

1 He who brought me down from on high, also brought me up from the regions below; 2 and He who gathers together the things that are betwixt is He also who cast me down: 3 He who scattered my enemies and my adversaries: 4 He who gave me authority over bonds that I might loose them; 5 He that overthrew by my hands the dragon with seven heads: and thou hast set me over his roots that I might destroy his seed. 6 Thou wast there and didst help me, and in every place thy name was a rampart to me. 7 Thy right hand destroyed his wicked poison; and thy hand levelled the way for those who believe in thee: 8 and thou didst choose them from the graves and didst separate them from the dead. 9 Thou didst take dead bones and didst cover them with bodies; 10 they were motionless, and thou didst give ⌜them⌝ energy for life. 11 Thy way was without corruption, and thy face; thou didst bring thy world to corruption: that everything might be dissolved, and then renewed, 12 and that the foundation for everything might be thy rock: and on it thou didst build thy Kingdom; and it became the dwelling-place of the saints. Hallelujah.

English translation by J. Rendel Harris (1911); the original is not shown

1 Joy is of the saints! and who shall put it on, but they alone? 2 Grace is of the elect! and who shall receive it except those who trust in it from the beginning? 3 Love is of the elect! And who shall put it on except those who have possessed it from the beginning? 4 Walk ye in the knowledge of the Most High without grudging: to His exultation and to the perfection of His knowledge. 5 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: 6 and many hands rushed to the letter to seize it and to take and read it: 7 and it escaped their fingers and they were affrighted at it and at the seal that was upon it. 8 Because it was not permitted to them to loose its seal: for the power that was over the seal was greater than they. 9 But those who saw it went after the letter that they might know where it would alight, and who should read it and who should hear it. 10 But a wheel received it and came over it: 11 and there was with it a sign of the Kingdom and of the Government: 12 and everything which tried to move the wheel it mowed and cut down: 13 and it gathered the multitude of adversaries, and bridged the rivers and crossed over and rooted up many forests and made a broad path. 14 The head went down to the feet, for down to the feet ran the wheel, and that which was a sign upon it. 15 The letter was one of command, for there were included in it all districts; 16 and there was seen at its [?] head, the head which was revealed, even the Son of Truth from the Most High Father, 17 and He inherited and took possession of everything. And the thought of the many was brought to nought, 18 and all the apostates hasted and fled away. And those who persecuted and were enraged became extinct. 19 And the letter was a great volume, which was wholly written by the finger of God: 20 and the name of the Father was on it, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, to rule for ever and ever. Hallelujah.

English translation by J. Rendel Harris (1911); the original is not shown

1 The Dove fluttered over the Messiah, because He was her head; and she sang over Him and her voice was heard: 2 and the inhabitants were afraid and the sojourners were moved: 3 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: 4 and no food was given to them because it did not belong to them; 5 and they sealed up the abysses with the seal of the Lord. And they perished, in the thought, those that had existed from ancient times; 6 for they were corrupt from the beginning; and the end of their corruption was life: 7 and every one of them that was imperfect perished: for it was not possible to give ⌜them⌝ a word that they might remain: 8 and the Lord destroyed the imaginations of all them that had not the truth with them. 9 For they who in their hearts were lifted up were deficient in wisdom, and so they were rejected, because the truth was not with them. 10 For the Lord disclosed His way, and spread abroad His grace: and those who understood it, know His holiness. Hallelujah.

English translation by J. Rendel Harris (1911); the original is not shown

1 I was rescued from my bonds and unto thee, my God, I fled: 2 for thou art the right hand of my Salvation and my helper. 3 Thou hast restrained those that rise up against me, 4 and I shall see him no more: because thy face was with me, which saved me by thy grace. 5 But I was despised and rejected in the eyes of many: and I was in their eyes like lead, 6 and strength was mine from thyself and help. 7 Thou didst set me a lamp at my right hand and at my left: and in me there shall be nothing that is not bright: 8 and I was clothed with the covering of thy Spirit, and thou didst remove from me my raiment of skin; 9 for thy right hand lifted me up and removed sickness from me: 10 and I became mighty in the truth, and holy by thy righteousness; and all my adversaries were afraid of me; 11 and I became admirable by the name of the Lord, and was justified by His gentleness, and His rest is for ever and ever. Hallelujah.

English translation by J. Rendel Harris (1911); the original is not shown

1 I poured out praise to the Lord, for I am His: 2 and I will speak His holy song, for my heart is with Him. 3 For His harp is in my hands, and the Odes of His rest shall not be silent. 4 I will cry unto Him from my whole heart: I will praise and exalt Him with all my members. 5 For from the east and even to the west is His praise: 6 and from the south and even to the north is the confession of Him: 7 and from the top of the hills to their utmost bound is His perfection. 8 Who can write the Psalms of the Lord, or who read them? 9 or who can train his soul for life, that his soul may be saved, 10 or who can rest on the Most High, so that with His mouth he may speak? 11 Who is able to interpret the wonders of the Lord? 12 For he who could interpret would be dissolved and would become that which is interpreted. 13 For it suffices to know and to rest: for in rest the singers stand, 14 like a river which has an abundant fountain, and flows to the help of them that seek it. Hallelujah.

English translation by J. Rendel Harris (1911); the original is not shown

1 I stretched out my hands and sanctified my Lord: 2 for the extension of my hands is His sign: 3 and my expansion is the upright tree (or cross).

English translation by J. Rendel Harris (1911); the original is not shown

1 As the wings of doves over their nestlings; and the mouth of their nestlings towards their mouths, 2 so also are the wings of the Spirit over my heart: 3 my heart is delighted and exults: like the babe who exults in the womb of his mother: 4 I believed; therefore I was at rest; for faithful is He in whom I have believed: 5 He has richly blessed me and my head is with Him: and the sword shall not divide me from Him, nor the scimitar; 6 for I am ready before destruction comes: and I have been set on His immortal pinions: 7 and immortal life has come forth and given me to drink, and from that life is the spirit within me, and it cannot die, for it lives. 8 They who saw me marvelled at me, because I was persecuted, and they supposed that I was swallowed up: for I seemed to them as one of the lost; 9 and my oppression became my salvation; and I was their reprobation because there was no zeal in me; 10 because I did good to every man I was hated, 11 and they came round me like mad dogs, who ignorantly attack their masters, 12 for their thought is corrupt and their understanding perverted. 13 But I was carrying water in my right hand, and their bitterness I endured by my sweetness; 14 and I did not perish, for I was not their brother nor was my birth like theirs, 15 and they sought for my death and did not find it: for I was older than the memorial of them; 16 and vainly did they make attack upon me and those who, without reward, came after me: 17 they sought to destroy the memorial of him who was before them: 18 for the thought of the Most High cannot be anticipated: and His heart is superior to all wisdom. Hallelujah.

English translation by J. Rendel Harris (1911); the original is not shown

1 The Lord is my hope: in Him I shall not be confounded. 2 For according to His praise He made me, and according to His goodness even so He gave unto me: 3 and according to His mercies He exalted me: and according to His excellent beauty He set me on high: 4 and brought me up out of the depths of Sheol: and from the mouth of death He drew me: 5 and thou didst lay my enemies low, and He justified me by His grace. 6 For I believed in the Lord's Messiah: and it appeared to me that He is the Lord; 7 and He showed him His sign: and He led me by His light, and gave me the rod of His power; 8 that I might subdue the imaginations of the peoples; and the power of the men of might to bring them low: 9 to make war by His word, and to take victory by His power. 10 And the Lord overthrew my enemy by His word; and he became like the stubble which the wind carries away; 11 and I gave praise to the Most High because He exalted ⌜me⌝ His servant and the son of His handmaid. Hallelujah.

English translation by J. Rendel Harris (1911); the original is not shown

1 Fill ye waters for yourselves from the living fountain of the Lord, for it is opened to you: 2 and come all ye thirsty, and take the draught; and rest by the fountain of the Lord. 3 For fair it is and pure and gives rest to the soul. Much more pleasant are its waters than honey; 4 and the honeycomb of bees is not to be compared with it. 5 For it flows forth from the lips of the Lord and from the heart of the Lord is its name. 6 And it came infinitely and invisibly: and until it was set in the midst they did not know it: 7 blessed are they who have drunk therefrom and have found rest thereby. Hallelujah.

English translation by J. Rendel Harris (1911); the original is not shown

1 The abysses were dissolved before the Lord: and darkness was destroyed by His appearance: 2 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. 3 He opened His mouth and spake grace and joy: and He spake a new song of praise to His name: 4 and He lifted up His voice to the Most High, and offered to Him the sons that were with Him. 5 And His face was justified, for thus His holy Father had given to Him. 6 Come forth, ye that have been afflicted and receive joy, and possess your souls by His grace; and take to you immortal life. 7 And they made me a debtor when I rose up, me who had not been a debtor: and they divided my spoil, though nothing was due to them. 8 But I endured and held my peace and was silent, as if not moved by them. 9 But I stood unshaken like a firm rock which is beaten by the waves and endures, 10 And I bore their bitterness for humility's sake: 11 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.

English translation by J. Rendel Harris (1911); the original is not shown

1 To the blessed there is joy from their hearts, and light from Him that dwells in them: 2 and words from the Truth, who was self-originate: for He is strengthened by the holy power of the Most High: and He is unperturbed for ever and ever. Hallelujah.

English translation by J. Rendel Harris (1911); the original is not shown

1 Again Grace ran and forsook corruption, and came down in Him to bring it to nought; 2 and He destroyed perdition from before Him, and devastated all its order; 3 and He stood on a lofty summit and uttered His voice from one end of the earth to the other: 4 and drew to Him all those who obeyed Him; and there did not appear as it were an evil person, 5 but there stood a perfect virgin who was proclaiming and calling and saying, 6 O ye sons of men, return ye, and ye daughters of men, come ye: 7 and forsake the ways of that corruption and draw near unto me, and I will enter into you, and will bring you forth from perdition, 8 and make you wise in the ways of truth: that you be not destroyed nor perish: 9 hear ye me and be redeemed. For the grace of God I am telling among you: and by my means you shall be redeemed and become blessed. 10 I am your judge; and they who have put me on shall not be injured: but they shall possess the new world that is incorrupt: 11 my chosen ones walk in me, and my ways I will make known to them that seek me, and I will make them trust in my name. Hallelujah.

English translation by J. Rendel Harris (1911); the original is not shown

1 No way is hard where there is a simple heart. 2 Nor is there any wound where the thoughts are upright: 3 nor is there any storm in the depth of the illuminated thought: 4 where one is surrounded on every side by beauty, there is nothing that is divided. 5 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. 6 Grace has been revealed for your salvation. Believe and live and be saved. Hallelujah.

English translation by J. Rendel Harris (1911); the original is not shown

1 The dew of the Lord in quietness He distilled upon me: 2 and the cloud of peace He caused to rise over my head, which guarded me continually; 3 it was to me for salvation: everything was shaken and they were affrighted; 4 and there came forth from them a smoke and a judgment; and I was keeping quiet in the order of the Lord: 5 more than shelter was He to me, and more than foundation. 6 And I was carried like a child by his mother: and He gave me milk, the dew of the Lord: 7 and I grew great by His bounty, and rested in His perfection, 8 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.

English translation by J. Rendel Harris (1911); the original is not shown

1 I rested on the Spirit of the Lord: and ⌜the Spirit⌝ raised me on high: 2 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. 3 ⌜The Spirit⌝ brought me forth before the face of the Lord: and, although a son of man, I was named the Illuminate, the Son of God; 4 while I praised amongst the praising ones, and great was I amongst the mighty ones. 5 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: 6 and I became one of His neighbours; and my mouth was opened, like a cloud of dew; 7 and my heart poured out as it were a gushing stream of righteousness, 8 and my access ⌜to Him⌝ was in peace; and I was established by the spirit of His government. Hallelujah.

English translation by J. Rendel Harris (1911); the original is not shown

1 I stretched out my hands to my Lord: and to the Most High I raised my voice: 2 and I spake with the lips of my heart; and He heard me, when my voice reached Him: 3 His answer came to me, and gave me the fruits of my labours; 4 and it gave me rest by the grace of the Lord. Hallelujah.