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."
