gospel of thaddaeus

8/14/2019 Gospel of Thaddaeus

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Kata ThaddaionAccording to Thaddaeus

A number of years back, I got interested in trying to put myself "inside"the heads of the gospel writers. I also wanted to brush the "sawdust ofthe classroom" off of what I'd learned in the field of biblical studies.

What follows is the result of my little exercise: an entire "early second-century apocryphal gospel," complete with scholarly essays. I omit the

detailed tables of texual parallels, as well as the approximately one-thirdof the Gospel of Thaddaeus which I also wrote up in the "original"

Greek...

The Gospel of Thaddaeus

An English TranslationOf the Critical Greek Text

Based on the Edessene Codex And Compared with the Fragments

1 2 3 4Fa197

By Academician Yu. Grigoriev

University of St. PetersburgSt. Petersburg, Russian Federation

University of Chicago Press 2004

The Gospel of Thaddaeus. Copyright 2004 by Yu. Grigoriev. All rights reserved.Printed in the United States of America by special arrangement with the University ofSt. Petersburg. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any mannerwhatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied

in critical articles and reviews. For information address the University of St. PetersburgPress, 1423 Ul. Yeltsin, St. Petersburg AK5230, Russian Federation. Publishedsimultaneously in the United Kingdom by the University of London, and in Russia by theUniversity of St. Petersburg.

Grigoriev, Yurii Stepanovich (1971--). The Gospel of Thaddaeus: An English Translation


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of the Critical Greek Text, Based on the Edessene Codex , and Compared with theFragments 1 2 3 4 Fa197. 1. New Testament studies-- Greek texts, translations,commentaries. 2. Apocryphal gospels. 3. Gospel of Thaddaeus. I. Ivanovna, AnastasiaFyodorovicha (1982--), joint translator. II. Title. 04-29849

Table of Contents

Foreword

According to Thaddaeus

I. Introduction II. Jesus' Ministry in Galilee

III. The Sermon on the Lake

IV. Jesus' Ministry in Galilee Continued

V. The Way to the Cross VI. The Journey to Jerusalem VII. The Ministry in Jerusalem

VIII. The Passion Narrative

IX. The Resurrection

Thaddaeus and the GospelsOld Testament Citations and Allusions

Luke and ThaddaeusMark and Thaddaeus

Other Writings and Thaddaeus

The Discovery of the Gospel of Thaddaeus

Some Brief Remarks Concerning the Gospel of Thaddaeus

Foreword

While field work is still in progress, we are pleased to make available thisEnglish translation of the critical Greek text of the Gospel of Thaddaeus.

I provide in the postscript some brief remarks on the provenance andimport of this writing.

A project such as this one does not approach completion without helpfrom divers sources, to whom sincere thanks are due.


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My thanks go first and foremost to Max Turner of the University ofChicago, and Vanessa James of the University of London, for their mostgracious invitation to join in the work on site at Edessa, and for theirunflagging support. I owe thanks also to my colleagues at the University

of St. Petersburg, especially I.N. Nekrich, Aleksandr Plekhanov, andSergei Shelepin, for extending to me on very short notice this year ofsabbatical leave. Special thanks go to my graduate assistant, NatashaIvanovna: she has rendered on-site help on a multitude of points, onlythe most obvious of which is her revision of my translation into Englishwhich is at once colloquial and in conformity with the RSV of the synopticparallels.

Finally, my deepest thanks go out to my friend and colleague, PyotrAfanasiev of SS. Cyril and Methodius Theological Seminary in Moscow.He deserves, on several counts, the appellation of renaissance man. His

always insightful criticism and dialogue have set the standard for the restof us who have studied the Thaddaean text.

--Yu. Grigoriev

According to Thaddaeus

I. Introduction

Preface

11The book of Jesus the Nazarene, the Christ of God. 2As it is written inthe scriptures, "Who has gone up to heaven, and come down? Who haswrapped up the waters in a garment? Who has dominion of all the endsof the earth? 3What is his name? Or what is his son's name? For Goddelivers the one who reverences him."

The Birth of Jesus

4Now in Nazareth of Galilee a woman, Mary by name, was betrothed to aman whose name was Joseph, a carpenter. 5But before they had cometogether, an angel appeared to her and said, "Fear not; for you arefavored before God. 6And the Holy Spirit will overshadow you, and youwill conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will call his nameJesus. 7And he will save his people Israel, all whom God calls; and he willbe called the Son of God, and he will reign for ever." 8And it came to pass


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as the angel from God had said; and she bore her son, and his name wascalled Jesus, but Joseph did not know her until he was born. 9And hisenemies said, "He is the son of a soldier." 10But all these things tookplace to fulfill what is written: 11"Behold, the virgin shall conceive, and

bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel."12

And he sprang upin his own place, as it is written, "Behold the man whose name is theBranch."

John the Baptist13Now John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptismof repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the prophet:14"Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thyway." 15And Judea and Jerusalem came out to him, and they werebaptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 16Now John wasclothed with camel's hair, and had a leather girdle around his waist, and

ate locusts and wild honey.

John's Preaching of Repentance17Now he said to those that came out to be baptized by him, "You broodof vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 18Bear fruitsthat befit repentance, and do not say to yourselves, 'We have Abrahamas our father'; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise upchildren to Abraham. 19Even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees;every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down andthrown into the fire." 20And he preached to them, saying, "I have

baptized you with water; but he who is mightier than I is coming, thethong of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie; and he will baptize youwith the Holy Spirit."

The Baptism of Jesus21And in the appointed season, Jesus came and was baptized by John inthe Jordan. 22And when he came up out of the water, he saw the heavensopened and the Spirit descended like a dove and rested upon him; 23anda voice came from the heavens, "Thou art my beloved Son; with thee Iam well pleased; and thou shalt reign for ever."

The Temptation24Then the Spirit took him out, as if by the hairs of his head, and broughthim out onto the great Mount Tabor. 25And he was there forty days andforty nights, being tempted by Satan; and the angels ministered to him.


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II. Jesus' Ministry in Galilee

Jesus Begins to Preach

21And Jesus heard in Bethany about the arrest of John. And so he wentinto Galilee. 2And there he preached the Good News of the kingdom ofGod, saying, "Repent; for the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God isat hand."

The Call of the First Four Disciples3And going by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two fishermen, Simon son ofJonah and Andrew the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea. 4Andthey had toiled all night and took nothing. 5And Jesus called to them,"Let down your nets on the other side for a catch." 6And when they haddone this, they took a great shoal of fish; and their nets were breaking.7

And when Simon saw it, he said, "Depart from me, for I am a sinfulman, O Lord." 8And Jesus spoke and answered them, "Follow me and Iwill make you fishers of men." 9And immediately they left everything andwere following him. 10And after he had gone on a little farther, he sawJames the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boatmending their nets. 11And immediately he called them; and they left theirfather Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and followed him.

The Calls of Levi and Thaddaeus12And he went out into the way; and as he went along, he saw Levi theson of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office, and he said to him, "Follow me."13And he rose and left everything and followed him. 14And two days later,as he was passing along, Jesus looked in the door of a workshop and sawThaddaeus, that is, Lebbaeus, mending a wheel. 15And he said to him,"Come away, follow me." And it fell silent in the shop, and Thaddaeus putdown his hammer and immediately followed him.

Teaching in the Synagogue at Capernaum16And they went down to Capernaum of Galilee. And on the sabbath hewas teaching them in the synagogue. 17And they were astonished at histeaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the

scribes.

The Healing of the Demoniac in the Synagogue18And immediately in the synagogue there was a man who had the spiritof an unclean demon; and he cried out, 19saying, "What have you to dowith us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? We know whoyou are, the Holy One of God." 20But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be


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silent, and come out of the man!" 21And the unclean spirit, convulsinghim and throwing him down, cried out and came out of him. 22And theywere all amazed and said to one another, "What is this? What is this newteaching of his? For with authority he command even the unclean spirits,

and they obey him."23

And reports of him went out at once throughout allthe surrounding region.

The Healing of Peter's Mother-in-Law24And Jesus arose and left the synagogue, and entered the house ofSimon and Andrew, with James and John. 25Now Simon's mother-in-lawlay sick with a fever, and they besought him for her. 26And he came andreached out his hand and took hold and lifted her up, and the fever lefther; and she served them.

The Sick Healed at Evening27That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick withvarious diseases, or possessed with demons. 28And the whole city wasgathered together about the door. 29And he healed many who were sick,and cast out many demons; and he rebuked the demons and would notpermit them to speak, because they knew him to be the Christ of God.

Jesus Departs from Capernaum30And in the morning, a great while before day, he rose and went out intoa lonely place. 31And Simon and those who were with him pursued him,and they found him and said to him, "Every one is searching for you."32

And he said to them, "Let us go on to the nearby towns and cities, thatI may preach there also; for that is why I have come out."

First Preaching Tour in Galilee33And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues andcasting out demons.

Jesus Casts Seven Demons out of Mary

31Now when Jesus came to the city of Magdala, he went in and wasteaching there. And there came before him a prostitute whose name was

Mary, who had seven unclean spirits.2

And crying out with a loud voice,she said to him, "O Son of man, what have you to do with us?" 3AndJesus rebuked the unclean spirits, saying, "Pukou minnah," that is,"Come out of her!" And the unclean spirits were cast out of her and lefther. 4Now, this Mary of Magdala became one of the women who followedafter Jesus.


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The Cleansing of the Leper5Now while he was in one of the cities, a leper came to him beseechinghim, and kneeling said to him, "If you will, you can make me clean."6And Jesus got angry and stretched out his hand and touched him, and

said to him, "I will; be clean."7

And immediately the leprosy left him, andhe was made clean. 8And he sternly charged him, and threw him out atonce, and said to him, "Say nothing to any one; 9but go, show yourself tothe priest, and offer the gift for your cleansing as Moses commanded, fora proof to the people." 10But he went out and began to talk freely aboutit, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter atown, but was out in the country; 11and they came together to him, andhe returned to Capernaum.

The Healing of the Paralytic12And it was reported after some days that he was at home. And Jesus

was preaching the word to them. 13And many were gathered together, sothat there was no longer room for them, not even about the door. Andbehold, four men were coming to him carrying a paralytic on a pallet.14And finding no way to get near him because of the crowd, they went upon the roof and removed the tiles above him; and when they had madean opening, they let down the paralytic with his pallet in front of Jesus.15And when he saw their faith, he said, "My son, your sins are forgivenyou." 16Now some of the Pharisees and scribes there began to question intheir hearts, "Who is this that speaks thus? It is blasphemy! Who canforgive sins but God alone?" 17Now when Jesus perceived in his spirit

their questionings, he said to them, "Why do you question in yourhearts? 18Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Riseand walk'? 19But that you may know that the Son of man has authority onearth to forgive sins"-- he said to the man who was paralyzed-- "Rise,take up your pallet, go home." 20And he rose, and immediately took upthat on which he lay and went out before them, and went home. 21Andamazement seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, "We neversaw anything like this!"

The Question about Fasting22Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and people said tohim, "Why do these fast, but your disciples eat and drink?" 23And Jesussaid to them, "The wedding guests cannot fast while they have thebridegroom with them. 24The days will come, when the bridegroom istaken away from them, and then they will fast in those days. 25No onesews a piece from a new garment on an old garment; if he does, the newtears away from the old, and a worse tear is made. 26And no one puts


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new wine into old wineskins; if he does, the skins will burst through, andthe wine will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. 27But new winemust be kept in new skins and jars."

Plucking Grain on the Sabbath28On the second sabbath, while he was going through the grainfields, hisdisciples began to pluck and eat some heads of grain. 29And the Phariseessaid to him, "Look, why are you doing what it is not lawful to do on thesabbath?" 30And Jesus answered them and said, "Have you never readwhat David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him;31how when he entered the house of God, when Abimelech was highpriest, he took the bread of the presence, which it is not lawful for anybut the priests to eat, and he gave it to those with him, and they ate it?32But I say to you that the sabbath was created for man, not man for thesabbath."

A Man Gathering Sticks on the Sabbath33And on the same day, as he was going along, he saw a man picking upsticks on the sabbath. 34And Jesus said to him, "Man, if you know whatyou are doing, you are blessed; but if you do not know what you aredoing, you are accursed and a transgressor of the law."

The Man with the Withered Hand35And on another sabbath he entered the synagogue, and a man came tohim who had a withered hand. 36And they watched him, to see whether

he would heal him on the sabbath, so that they might find an accusationagainst him. 37So Jesus said to them, "I will ask you, is it lawful on thesabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?" But they weresilent. 38And he looked around at them in anger, grieved at their hardnessof heart, and said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." And he did so,and his hand was restored, as sound as the other. 39And Jesus said tothem, "The Son of man is lord of the sabbath." 40But they were filled withfury and considered with one another how to destroy him.

The Choosing of the Twelve41Now in those days he went up on the mountain, and called to him hisdisciples. 42And he appointed twelve of them, to be with him, and to besent out to preach 43and to have power to heal the sick and authority tocast out demons: 44Simon the son of Jonah, whom he surnamed Peter,and Andrew his brother; 45and James the son of Zebedee and John thebrother of James, whom together he called the Baneregez; 46andMatthew, and Thaddaeus, and Philip, and Nathanael the son of Talmai,


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and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Cananaean,and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. 47And he gathered them at thehouse of Simon Peter, and said to them, "I desire you to be my apostles,a witness to Israel."

III. The Sermon on the Lake

The Sermon on the Lake

41And Jesus went with his disciples and withdrew to the lake ofGennesaret, and there gathered about him many people from Galilee,and from Judea and Jerusalem and from about Tyre and Sidon, 2for theycame to him to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. 3And he toldhis disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, for they

pressed upon him that they might hear the word of God and that powermight come forth from him upon them. 4And getting into the boat, heasked the disciples to put out a little from the land. 5And he sat down,and from the boat he taught the crowd which was beside the lake uponthe land, and in his teaching he said to them:

The Beatitudes6"Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. 7But woe to youthat are rich, for you have received your consolation. 8Blessed are youthat hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. 9But woe to you that are fullnow, for you shall hunger. 10Blessed are you that weep now, for you shalllaugh. 11But woe to you that laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.12Blessed are you who serve as slaves now, for you shall rule inrighteousness. 13But woe to you who hold dominion now, for you shall bebrought down. 14Blessed shall you be when men hate you, and when theyrevile you and cast out your name as evil, on account of the Son of man!15Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for your reward is great in heaven;for so their fathers did to the prophets. 16But woe to you, when all menspeak well of you! Cry out, and call to the mountains to fall and coveryou; for so their fathers did to the false prophets.

On Love of One's Enemies17"But I say to you that hear, Love your enemies, do good to those whohate you, 18bless those who curse you, pray on behalf of those who abuseyou. 19Reprove one another not in wrath but in peace, for you will neverbe glad until you look upon your brother with love. 20Do not resist onewho is evil, but to him who strikes you on the right cheek, offer the leftalso; and from him who takes away your coat do not withhold even your


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shirt; 21and with him who forces you to carry a burden one mile, carry ittwo miles. 22And as you wish that men would do to you, do so yourself tothem. 23If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Foreven sinners love those who love them. 24And if you lend to those from

whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lendto sinners, to receive twice as much again. 25But love your enemies, andgive to every one who begs from you, expecting nothing in return. 26Sellyour possessions, and give alms; provide yourselves with a treasure inthe heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches, and neithermoth nor mildew destroys. 27For where your treasure is, there will yourheart be also; 28and you will be sons of my Father who is in the heavens.For he makes the sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain onthe just and on the unjust.

On Judging29"Show mercy that you may receive mercy; forgive that it may beforgiven unto you. 30As you judge so shall you be judged; and as you arekind so shall kindness be done to you. 31For the measure you give will bethe same measure you get back, and still more will be given you." 32Andhe told them parables. "Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they notboth fall into a pit? 33A disciple is not above his teacher, but let him whenhe is fully taught be like his teacher. 34How can you say to your brother,'Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,' when behold, there is alog in your own eye? 35You hypocrite, first take the log out of your owneye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your

brother's eye.

On Profaning the Holy36"So give away all that you possess; but let your alms sweat into yourpalms until you know to whom you give. 37Do not give dogs what is holy,lest they cast it down upon a dungheap; and do not throw your pearlsbefore swine, lest they trample them under foot and turn again and rendyou with their tusks."

"By their Fruits..."38And he said: "Grapes are not gathered from thorns, nor are figs pluckedfrom camel's thorn. They give no fruit. 39But a good man brings forthgood from his treasure. 40A wicked man brings forth evil from his eviltreasure which is in his heart, and says evil things; for from theabundance of the heart he brings forth evil things.

The Tower Built Upon the Rock


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41"Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,' and say that you are united with mein my bosom, and yet you do not do what I tell you? 42Every one whohears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: 43he islike a man building a tower, who dug deep, and laid the foundations upon

rock; and the rain fell, and a flood arose, and the sea broke against thattower, and could not shake it, because it had been founded upon therock. 44But he who hears my words and does not do them is like a manwho built a tower on the ground without a foundation, and the seabroke, and immediately it fell, and the ruin of that tower was great."

The Parable of the Sower45And he told them more parables. "A sower went out to sow. 46And as hesowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds of the heavensdevoured it. 47And other seed fell on rocky ground, and immediately itsprang up; 48and when the sun rose it was scorched, and since it had no

root it withered away. 49Other seed fell among thorns; and the thornsgrew up and choked it. 50And other seed fell into good soil and broughtforth grain, and yielded thirtyfold and sixtyfold and one hundred twentyfold.

The Parable of the Lamp51"Now, is a lamp lit to be put under a bushel, or in a cellar, and not on astand? 52Your eye is the lamp of your body; so when your eye is sound,your whole body is full of light; but when it is not sound, your body is fullof darkness. 53There is light within the sons of light, and it illuminates the

whole world; if it does not illuminate it, it is darkness.54

For nothing ishid, except to be made manifest; nor anything secret, except to come tolight.

"Let Him Who Has Ears to Hear..."55"Let him who has ears, hear! Take heed then what you hear; 56for tohim who has will more be given; and from him who has not, even whathe has will be taken away."

The Kingdom Is in Your Midst57And he said to them: "If they who lead you say to you, 'Behold, thekingdom of God is in the heavens,' then the birds of the heavens willprecede you. 58If they say to you, 'It is in the sea,' then the fish willprecede you. And if they say, 'It is upon the earth,' then the cattle uponthe hills will precede you. 59But the kingdom is in your midst, and it isdrawing nigh upon you. 60Now you do not know my Father, but in thatday which is to come you shall be known, and you shall know that you


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are children of my Father who is in heaven. 61But you are in poverty, andindeed you are poverty, unless all men know you as children of myFather on account of your love."

IV. Jesus' Ministry in Galilee Continued

Healings at Gennesaret

51And after he had said all these things, the people were amazed. Andhe got out of the boat. 2And they brought sick people on their pallets tohim, and besought him that they might touch even the fringe of hisgarment; and as many as touched it were made well. 3And the uncleanspirits fell down before him and cried out; and he strictly ordered themnot to make him known, for they knew him to be the Son of God.

Stilling the Storm4Seeing that evening had come, he said to his disciples, "Let us go acrossto the other side of the lake." 5And leaving the crowd, they set out in theboat, and as they sailed he fell asleep. 6And a great storm of wind camedown on the lake, and the waves beat into the boat, and they were fillingwith water. 7But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and Jamesthe son of Zebedee awoke him and said to him, "Teacher, do you notcare if we perish?" 8And he awoke and rebuked the wind, and said to thesea, "Peace! Be still!" And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.9He said to them, "Why are you so afraid? Where is your faith?" 10Andthey were filled with awe, and said to one another, "Who then is this,that he commands, and even sea and wind obey him?"

The Centurion of Capernaum11And so they came again to Capernaum. Now a centurion had a slavewho was dear to him, who was sick and at the point of death. 12When heheard of Jesus, he sent word to him, asking him to come and heal hisslave. 13And he asked Jesus earnestly, and Jesus went with them. 14Whenhe was not far from the house, the centurion himself came out to him,saying, "Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. But

only say the word, and let my servant be healed.15

For I am a man setunder authority, with soldiers under me: and I say to one, 'Come,' andhe comes; and to another, 'Go,' and he goes; and to my slave, 'Do this,'and he does it." 16When Jesus heard this he marveled at him, and turnedand said to the multitude that followed him, "I tell you, never in Israelhave I found such faith." 17And when the centurion returned to his house,he found the slave well.


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The Widow's Son at Nain18Soon afterward Jesus went to a city called Nain, and his disciples wentwith him. 19As he drew near to the gate of the city, behold, a man who

had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she wasa widow; and a large crowd from the city came along with her. 20Andwhen Jesus saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, "Do notweep." 21And he came and touched the bier, and asked the bearers tostand still. And he said, "Young man, I say to you, arise." 22And the deadman sat up, and began to speak. And he gave him to his mother. 23Fearseized them all; and this report concerning him spread throughout all thesurrounding country.

The Woman with the Ointment24And two days later as he sat at table in the house of Matthew, many tax

collectors and sinners were sitting with Jesus and his disciples. 25And awoman came with an alabaster flask of ointment, and weeping, shebegan to wet his feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of herhead, and kissed his feet. 26Now when the Pharisees saw it, they said tothemselves, "If this man were a prophet, he would have known what sortof woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner." 27And then shebroke the flask, and anointed his feet with ointment. And again they saidto themselves indignantly, "Why was this ointment thus wasted? 28Forthis ointment might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii,and given to the poor." 29And when Jesus heard it, he said to them,

"Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick;for I came to call to repentance not the righteous, but sinners." 30Andthen Jesus said to them, "A certain creditor had two debtors; one owedfive hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 31And when they could not payhe forgave them both. Now which of them will love him more?" 32One ofthe Pharisees answered him, "The one to whom he forgave more." Andhe said to him, "You have judged rightly. 33And therefore I tell you, muchis forgiven her, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loveslittle." 34Then turning toward the woman he said, "Your sins are forgiven."35Then the Pharisees began to murmur among themselves, saying, "Whois this, who even forgives sins?" 36And he said to her, "Your faith hassaved you; go in peace."

Jesus' True Kindred37Then he went home; and the next day a crowd came together again, sothat he and his disciples could not eat. 38And when his mother and hisbrothers heard it, they went out to seize him, for they said, "He is beside


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himself." 39And they came to him, but not being able to reach him for thecrowd, they called him. 40And he was told, "Your mother and yourbrothers and your sisters are standing outside, asking for you." 41And heanswered and said to them, "Who are my mother or brothers?" 42And

stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, "These who do thewill of my Father are my brothers and mother and sisters."

The Walking on the Water43At evening, his disciples went down to the sea, where he made themget into the boat and go before him to the other side, to Bethsaida. 44Andafter he had taken leave of them, he went up on the mountain to pray.45And when evening came, it was dark, and the boat was already out onthe sea, and he was alone on the land. 46And he saw that they weredistressed in rowing, for the wind was greatly against them. And aboutthe fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. 47He

meant to pass by them, but when they saw him walking upon the seathey thought it was a ghost, and they all cried out; 48for they saw him,and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, "Takeheart, have no fear; it is I." 49And he got into the boat with them and thewind ceased. And they were utterly amazed.

The Gergesene Demoniac

61They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of theGergesenes. 2And when he had come out of the boat, there met him outof the tombs a man from the city with an unclean spirit, 3who livedamong the tombs; and no one could bind him any more, even with achain; 4for he had often been bound with fetters and chains, but thechains he wrenched apart, and the fetters he broke in pieces, and he wasdriven by the unclean spirit into the desert. 5And when he saw Jesusfrom afar, he ran and fell down and worshiped him; 6and said with a loudvoice, "What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Iadjure you by God, do not torment me." 7For he had said to him, "Comeout of the man, you unclean spirit!" 8And Jesus asked him, "What is yourname?" And he replied, "My name is Legion; for we are many." 9And theybegged him not to send them out of the country. 10Now a great herd of

swine was feeding there on the hillside; and they begged him, "Send usto the swine, let us enter them." 11So he gave them leave. And theunclean spirits came out of the man and entered the swine; and theherd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank intothe lake, and were drowned. 12When the herdsmen saw it, they fled, andtold it in the city and in the country. And people went out to see whathad happened. 13And they came to Jesus, and saw the man who had had


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the legion, sitting there clothed and in his right mind; and they wereafraid. 14And those who had seen it told what had happened to thedemoniac and to the swine. 15And they urged Jesus to depart from theirneighborhood, for they were seized with great fear. 16And as he was

getting into the boat, the man from whom the unclean spirits had gonebegged that he might be with him. 17But he refused, and said to him, "Gohome to your friends, and tell them how much the Lord has done foryou." 18And he went away, proclaiming throughout the Decapolis howmuch Jesus had done for him.

Jairus' Daughter and the Woman with a Hemorrhage19Now Jesus and his disciples crossed again in the boat to the side; and agreat crowd gathered about him beside the sea. 20Then came a mannamed Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue; and he fell at his feet, 21andbesought him, saying, "My little daughter is dying. Come and touch her

with your hands, so that she may be made well, and live." 22As he went,a great crowd pressed round him. 23And a woman who had had a flow ofblood for twelve years, and had spent all that she had on manyphysicians and could not be healed, said to herself, "If I touch even thegarments of this Jesus, I shall be made well." 24So she came up behindhim and touched the fringe of his garment; and immediately her flow ofblood ceased, and she was healed. 25And Jesus, also perceiving in himselfthat power had gone forth from him, immediately said, "Who touchedthe blue of the fringe of my garment?" 26And Peter said to him, "Teacher,you see the crowd pressing round you." 27But Jesus said, "Some one

touched the blue of the fringe," and he looked around to see who haddone it. 28But the woman, seeing and hearing this, came in fear and felldown before him trembling, and declared to him the whole truth. 29Andhe said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace."30While he was still speaking, a man came from the ruler's house andsaid, "Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?" 31Butoverhearing this, Jesus answered the ruler of the synagogue, "Do notfear, only believe." 32And he permitted no one to enter with him, exceptPeter and James and John, and the father and mother of the girl. 33Andwhen they came to the house, they saw people weeping and wailing.34And he said to them, "Do not make a tumult and weep; for the child isnot dead but sleeping." 35And they laughed at him. But he threw them allout, and taking those whom he had called to be with him, he went inwhere the child was. 36And taking her by the hand he called to her,saying, "Talitha cumi"; which means, "Little girl, I say to you, arise."37And immediately the girl got up and walked (she was twelve years ofage), and they were amazed. 38And he directed them to give her


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something to eat, and strictly charged them that no one should knowthis.

Jesus Is Rejected at Nazareth39

And Jesus went away from there with his disciples, and came toNazareth, to his own country. 40And on the sabbath day he taught in thesynagogue, and he stood up to read. 41And many who heard him wereastonished at his teaching, and they said, "Whence is the wisdom that isgiven to this man? What mighty works are wrought by his hands! 42Is notthis the carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James and Judeand Joseph and Simon, and are not his sisters Deborah and Ruth andRachel here with us?" 43And they stumbled at him; and he said to them,"A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country, and amonghis own kin. Will you quote to me this proverb, 'No physician is able toheal himself'? 44Truly, I say to you, if the peace of God is rejected by

those who are near, it shall be proclaimed and heard and acceptedamong those who stand far off. This is the word of the Lord." 45And theywere furious. And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laidhis hands upon a few sick people and healed them. 46And marvelingbecause of their unbelief, he went his way among the villages teaching.

Commissioning the Twelve

71And he called the twelve together and gave them authority over theunclean spirits, and power to cure diseases, 2and he sent them out topreach the kingdom of God and to heal. 3And he charged them saying,"Take nothing for your journey except a staff; no bread, nor bag, normoney; but wear sandals and do not put on two tunics. 4And whereveryou enter a house, stay there until you leave a place. 5And wherever theyrefuse to hear you, when you leave, shake off the dust from your feet asa testimony against them; 6and it will be better for Sodom and Gomorrahat the last day than for that town." 7So they went out two by two throughthe villages and preached repentance. 8And they cast out many demons,and anointed with oil many that were sick and healed them.

The Return of the Apostles9

And on their return, the apostles told Jesus all that they had done andtaught. 10And he said to them, "Come away by yourselves for a while,and rest in a lonely place." For many were coming and going, and theyhad no leisure even to eat.

Five Thousand are Fed11And they went up into the boat to a lonely place by themselves. 12Now


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defiles him, for it comes out of his heart. 38If any man has ears to hear,let him hear!"

The Canaanite Woman

81And from there he arose and went away to the region around Tyre.

And a woman, whose daughter was possessed by an unclean spirit,heard of him, and came and fell down at his feet. 2Now the woman was aGentile. And she begged him to cast the unclean spirit out of herdaughter. 3And he refused, saying to her, "It is not right to take thechildren's bread and meat and throw it to the dogs." 4But she answeredhim, "Lord, even the dogs under the table are fed with the children'sscraps." 5And he said to her, "For this saying you may go your way; thedemon has left your daughter." 6And when she went home, she found herdaughter well, and the unclean spirit gone.

Jesus Heals a Deaf Mute7Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went to the Sea ofGalilee, through the region of the Decapolis. 8And they brought to him aman who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech; and theybesought him to lay his hands upon him. 9And taking him aside from themultitude privately, he put his fingers into the ears of the deaf man, andhe spat and touched his tongue; 10and looking up to the heavens, hesighed, and said to him, "Ephphatha," that is, "Be opened." 11And hisears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. 12Andthey were astonished beyond measure, saying, "He has done all thingswell; he even makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak."

A Blind Man is Healed at Bethsaida13And he came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blindman, and begged him to touch him. 14And he took the blind man by thehand, and brought him out of the village; and when he had spit on hiseyes and laid his hands upon him, he asked him, "Do you see anything?"15And he looked up and said, "I see men; but they look like trees,walking." 16Then again he placed his hands upon his eyes; and he lookedintently and was restored, and saw everything clearly. 17And he sent him

away saying, "Go your way, enter your home, and say nothing about it toany one in the town."

V. The Way to the Cross

Peter's Confession


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18And Jesus went on with his disciples to Caesarea Philippi; and on theway he asked them, "Who do men say that I am?" 19And they answeredhim, "John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, like one of theprophets." 20And he asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" And

Peter answered him, "You are the Christ of God."21

And he charged themto tell this to no one.

Jesus Foretells His Passion22And from then on he began to teach them that the Son of man mustsuffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and the chief priestsand the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 23AndPeter took him, and began to rebuke him angrily. 24But he turned andrebuked Peter, saying, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are not on theside of God, but of men."

"If Any Man would Come after Me..."25And he said to them, "If any man would come after me, let him denyhimself and take up his cross and follow me. 26For whoever would savehis life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.27For what does it profit a man, to gain the whole world and forfeit hisown life? 28For what can a man give in return for his life? 29For whoever isashamed of me and of my words in this evil age, of him will the Son ofman be ashamed when he comes with the angelic host in the glory of theFather. 30But truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who willnot taste death before they see that the kingdom of God has come with

power."

The Transfiguration31And six days after this, Jesus took with him Cephas and the sons ofZebedee, and led them up onto a great mountain in Galilee. 32And whenthey had come to the top, he was transfigured brightly before them, andhis garments became blinding, shining white, so that they were strickenwith terror. 33And behold, two men stood in glory on the mountain,talking with Jesus. 34And Cephas, turning about in fear, said to Jesus,"Rabbi, it is well that we are here; let three booths be set up, one for youand one for each of these men." 35And then a bright cloud overshadowedthem, and a voice spoke from the cloud, "This is my beloved Son, whoshall reign on earth as in heaven; listen to him!" 36And then they sawJesus only standing with them; and they asked him, "Were these angelswith whom you were talking?" 37And he said to them, "No, but Moses andElijah were manifest here to bear witness to the Son of man for yoursake; for I am come to fulfill in my witness all the law and the prophets."


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38And in those days they feared greatly, and told no one what they hadseen; for Jesus said to them, "Do not speak about this until the Son ofman rises from the dead."

The Coming of Elijah91And they asked him, "Why do the Pharisees and the scribes say thatfirst Elijah must come?" 2And he answered and said to them, "If Elijahcomes first to restore all things, of the Son of man it is written that heshould suffer many things and be treated with contempt. 3But I tell youthat Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it iswritten of him."

Jesus Heals a Boy Possessed by a Spirit4And a great crowd met him, and a man from the crowd cried, "Teacher, I

brought my son to you, for he has a dumb spirit;5

and it seizes him andhe cries out and it dashed him down and it convulses him. 6And I beggedyour disciples to cast it out, and they were not able." 7And Jesusanswered, "O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? Howlong am I to bear with you?" 8And the father of the child cried out withtears and said, "I believe; help my unbelief! If you can do anything, havepity on us and help us!" 9And Jesus said, "Bring your son to me." Andthey brought the boy to him; and when the spirit saw him, immediatelyit convulsed the boy. 10But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit andcommanded it to come out of him and never to enter him again. 11AndJesus lifted up the boy who had been healed by the hand, and gave himback to his father. 12And his disciples asked him, "Why could we not castit out?" 13And he said to them, "All things are possible to him whobelieves. But this kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer."

Jesus Foretells His Passion Again14As they went on from there they were passing secretly through Galilee,and Jesus said to his disciples, 15"The Son of man will be delivered intothe hands of men who will kill him, and on the third day he will be raisedup." 16But they did not understand this saying, and they were afraid toask him.

The Strange Exorcist17John said to him, "Master, we saw a man casting out demons in yourname, and we forbade him, because he was not following us." 18But Jesussaid, "Do not forbid him: for he who does a mighty work in my name willnot be able soon after to speak evil of me; 19and he who today is faraway will tomorrow be near me."


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bronze platter; and Herod lamented, but he was bound by his oath. 41Sowhen John had been beheaded, his disciples came and took his body,and laid it in a tomb.

The Kingdom Plundered42And when Jesus heard of it, he said, "The law and the prophets wereuntil John; but now the kingdom of God is plundered, and every oneenters it by force."

VI. The Journey to Jerusalem

Decision to Go to Jerusalem

101And knowing that the season had drawn near for him to be handed

over, Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem.

Jesus Is Rejected by Samaritans2And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a villageof the Samaritans, to make ready for him; 3but the people would notreceive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. 4And when hisdisciples James and John saw it, they said, "Lord, do you want us to bidfire come down from heaven and consume them, as Elijah did?" 5But heturned and rebuked them, saying, "You do not know what manner ofspirit you are of; for the Son of man came not to destroy men's lives butto save them." 6And they went on to another village.

On Following Jesus7As they were going along the road, a man said to him, "I will follow youwherever you go." 8And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birdsof the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head."9To another he said, "Follow me." But he said, "Lord, let me first go andbury my father." 10But he said to him, "Leave the dead to bury their owndead; but as for you, follow me." 11Another said, "I will follow you, Lord;but let me first say farewell to those at my home." 12Jesus said to him,"No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the

kingdom of God."13

And after this, Jesus said to his disciples, "Do you notsee? Many are near the well, but few are in the well. 14For he who is nearme is near the fire, and he who is far from me is far from the kingdom ofGod."

Commissioning the Seventy-Two15Then Jesus appointed seventy-two, and sent them out two by two, man


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and sister wife, into the towns of Galilee; 16and he breathed a share ofhis Spirit upon them. 17And he spoke and said to them, "The plain iswhite; the harvest is come. 18Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest tosend out laborers while it is the month of harvest. 19Go your way; carry

no purse, no bag, no staff;20

but when you come to a village, entersaying, 'Peace be to this house of peace!' 21And if a son of peace truly isthere, your peace shall rest upon his head; but if not, it shall return toyou. 22And remain in the same house while you remain in the village,eating the bread they provide and drinking the wine they provide; for thelaborer deserves his wages. 23And heal the sick and cast out demons inthe town, saying to the people, 'The kingdom of God has come near toyou.' 24But if they do not receive you, say in the streets, 'Even the dustthat clings to our feet, we wipe it off; nevertheless, hear this, that thekingdom of God has come near.'

Woes Pronounced on Galilean Cities25"Woe to you, Chorazin and Bethsaida! for if the mighty works done inyou had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented longago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 26But it shall be more tolerable in thatday for Tyre and Sidon than for you. 27And you, Capernaum, who havebeen exalted to the heavens, you shall be brought down to Hades!

"He Who Hears You, Hears Me"28"He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me, andhe who hears me hears him who sent me."

The Return of the Seventy-Two29The seventy-two returned in awe, saying, "Lord, we laid our hands onthe sick, and they have recovered; 30and neither serpent nor any deadlything can hurt us; 31and even the demons we cast out in your name!"32And Jesus said to them, "I saw Satan fall like a shooting star from theheavens into the darkness of the sea. 33Behold, I have given you greatauthority; 34nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the unclean spiritsare subject to you; but rejoice that your names are written in the bookwhich stands before the throne."

Jesus' Thanksgiving to the Father, and the Blessedness of the

Disciples35In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, "I thank thee,Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hidden these thingsfrom the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes; yea,Father, for so it was well-pleasing before thee." 36And turning to the


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disciples he said, "All things have been delivered to me by my Father;and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father isexcept the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.37Blessed are the ears which hear what you hear! 38For I tell you that

many prophets and angels desired to see what you see, and did not seeit, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it."

The Lawyer's Question39And a certain lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, "Teacher,which commandment is the first of all?" 40And Jesus answered and said tohim, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with allyour soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and yourneighbor as yourself. 41And all the other commandments are commentaryon these." 42And the lawyer said to him, "You are right, Teacher; for tolove God and to love your neighbor, is more than all whole burnt

offerings and sacrifices." 43But after that no one dared to ask him anyquestion.

The Parable of the Good Samaritan44And then Jesus, to show them who is their neighbor in the kingdom ofGod, told them a parable. 45"A man was journeying in the countryside,but he did not keep to the way, and he fell into a great ditch, so that helay there half-dead. 46Now a priest was going down that road; and whenhe saw him he passed by on the other side. 47So likewise a Levite, whenhe came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 48But a

Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was; and when he sawhim, he had compassion, 49and went to him and bound up his wounds,pouring on oil and wine; then he set him on his own beast and broughthim to an inn, and took care of him. 50And the next day he took outseven denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, 'Take care of him;and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.'51Which of these three, do you think, proved neighbor to the man who fellinto the ditch?" 52He said, "The one who showed mercy on him." AndJesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."

Mary and Martha53Now it happened that as they went on their way, he entered a village;and a woman named Martha received him into her house. 54And Mary satat the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. 55But Martha wasdistracted with much serving; and she went to him and said, "Lord, doyou not care that Mary has left me to serve alone, and that she sits atyour feet and asks you when the kingdom will come, while I toil?" 56And


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the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubledabout many things; 57but when the kingdom of God comes, two shall beas one, and the heights shall fathom the depths, and the woman shall bewith the man, the man and the woman together in the Spirit. 58But in this

age there shall be factions and divisions."

The Lord's Prayer

111And Jesus was praying, and when he ceased for a little while,Andrew said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught hisdisciples." 2And he said to them, "Whenever you pray, say, 'Our Father,our King, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. 3Thy kingdom come,thy Holy Spirit descend upon us and cleanse us. 4Give us today thycontinual bread. 5And forgive us our trespasses, for we ourselves forgiveevery one against whom we hold anything. And lead us not into

tribulation.'

Encouragement to Pray6"And I tell you, Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find;knock, and the door will be opened to you. 7For every one who asksreceives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks the door willbe opened. 8For what father among you, if his son asks for a bread, willgive him a stone; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion; 9or ifhe asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent? 10If you then,who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how muchmore will the heavenly Father give a good gift to those who ask him!"

The Beelzebul Controversy11Now scribes came down from Jerusalem and found him casting outdemons. 12And they said, "He is possessed by Beelzebul, and he casts outdemons by the prince of demons." 13But he called them to him, and saidto them, "How can Satan cast out Satan? 14Every kingdom dividedagainst itself is laid waste, and no house divided against itself will beable to stand. 15And if Satan also is divided against himself, then hecannot stand, but his kingdom is coming to an end. 16And if I cast outdemons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? 17But if it is

by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of Godhas come upon you. 18But no one can enter a strong man's palace andplunder his goods, unless he first overcomes and binds the strong man;then indeed he may plunder his house. 19He who is not with me is againstme, and he who does not gather with me scatters.

The Return of the Evil Spirit


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20"When the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he passes intowaterless places, through hill and dale, seeking rest. 21But finding nonehe says, I will return to my house from which I came. 22And when hecomes he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. 23Then he goes and

brings seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter anddwell there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first.24So when you are cleansed, be filled with the Holy Spirit, and givethanks to my Father who is in heaven."

The Sign of Jonah25Then the scribes and Pharisees, to test him, sought from him a signfrom heaven. 26They said to him, "Show us a sign of this kingdom, sothat we may see, and believe you." 27He said to them, "You test the faceof the heavens and the earth, and you do not know what is before you,and you cannot test this time. 28When you see a red sky in the evening,

you say, 'It will be fair weather'; and when you see a yellow sky in theevening, you say, 'It will be stormy.' 29And when you see the south windblowing, you say, 'There will be scorching heat'; but you do not knowhow to interpret the present time. 30You hypocrites! No sign shall begiven to this evil generation except the sign of Jonah. 31And I say to you,the queen of the South will arise at the judgment with this generationand condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to hear thewisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon ishere. 32The men of Nineveh will arise at the judgment with thisgeneration and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah,

and behold, something greater than Jonah is here."

The Leaven of the Pharisees33And turning to his disciples, he said, "Take heed, beware of the leavenof the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy."

Exhortation to Fearless Confession34And Jesus said to them, "Everything that is not before you will berevealed to you, for there is nothing hid which will not be revealed; norburied, which will not be raised. 35Therefore whatever you have said inthe dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in yourinner room shall be proclaimed from the rooftops. 36I tell you, you shallbe as lambs in the midst of wolves; But fear not, for it is your Father'sgood pleasure to give you the kingdom." 37And Peter answered and saidto him, "But Lord, what if the wolves tear the lambs?" 38And Jesus said tohim, "Let not the lambs after they are dead fear the wolves. 39For I tellyou, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that can do nothing to


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you. 40But fear him who, after you are dead, has authority over soul andbody to cast into the Gehenna of fire; yes, I tell you, fear him! 41Are notfive sparrows sold for two pennies? Yes, and not one of them is forgottenbefore God. 42Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. So fear

not; you are of more value than many sparrows.43

And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of man also willacknowledge before the angels of God; 44but he who denies me beforemen will be denied before the angels of God.

The Sin Against the Holy Spirit45"And I say to you, every sin will be forgiven, and every one who speaksa word against the Son of man will be forgiven; but he who blasphemesagainst the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven."

Warning Against Avarice

121And one of the multitude came and said to him, "Teacher, bid mybrother divide the inheritance with me." 2But he said to him, "Man, whomade me a judge over you?" 3And turning to his disciples, Jesus askedthem, "Am I a divider?" 4And he said to the crowd, "Take heed, andbeware of all covetousness; for a man's life does not consist in theabundance of his possessions."

The Parable of the Rich Fool5And he told them a parable, saying, "The land of a rich man broughtforth plentifully; 6and he thought to himself, 'What shall I do, for I havenowhere to store my crops?' 7And he said, 'I will do this: I will pull downmy barns, and build larger ones; and there I will store all my grain andmy goods. 8And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have ample goods laidup for many years; so take your ease."' 9But God said to him, 'Fool! Thisnight your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared,whose will they be?' 10So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and isnot rich toward God. Let him who has ears to hear, hear!"

Anxieties About Earthly Things11And Jesus said to his disciples, "Do not take care from morning to

evening or from evening to morning, for your clothes, what you shall puton, nor for your food, what you shall eat. 12For you are far better thanthe lilies, which neither spin nor weave; yet I tell you, even Solomon inall his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 13But if God so clothes thegrass which is alive in the field today and tomorrow is thrown into theoven, he himself will give you your garment, O men of little faith! 14Andhaving one garment, what do you lack? 15Or consider the birds of the


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heavens; they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse norbarn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you thanthe birds! 16Who can add to his span of life, or to his stature? 17If thenyou are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious

about the rest?18

For all the nations of the earth seek these things; andyour Father knows that you need them. 19Instead, seek the kingdom ofGod, and these things shall be yours as well."

Division in Households20And Jesus said to the multitudes, "I came to cast fire upon the earth;and how I am constrained until it is kindled! 21Do you think that I havecome to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division; 22forhenceforth in one house there will be five divided, three against two andtwo against three; 23they will be divided, father against son and sonagainst father, mother against daughter and daughter against her

mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-lawagainst her mother-in-law.

Agreement with One's Accuser24"So judge for yourselves what is right. 25As you go with your accuserbefore the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him on the way, lesthe drag you to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, andthe officer put you in prison. 26I tell you, you will never get out till youhave paid the very last copper."

Repentance or Destruction27There were some present at that very time who told him of theGalileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 28And heanswered them, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinnersthan all the other Galileans, because they suffered thus? 29I tell you, No;but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. 30Or those eighteenupon whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think thatthey were worse offenders than all the others who dwelt in Jerusalem? 31Itell you, No; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish."

The Parable of the Vintner32And he said to them, "There was a vintner who advanced ten thousanddenarii to the owner of a vineyard. 33And the vintner said to him, 'Pay mein new wine at the appointed season.' 34But when that day came, theowner of the vineyard could not pay his debt; for although some of thevines in his vineyard had borne grapes abundantly, others had borne nofruit at all. 35So he went in fear and shame to the vintner, and pleaded


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with him for clemency. 36He said to him, 'I can pay you only threethousand denarii, for some of my vines bore no fruit.' 37And the vintneranswered the owner and said, 'So be it. Turn over to me every clusterand every grape which you have, that they may be trodden out in the

winepress, and I will forgive your debt.38

But I am sending my servantsthrough the vineyard, and they shall uproot every vine which bore nofruit, and cast it into the fire.'"

Saulasau, Caulacau, Zeersam

131And as they were walking along the banks of the River Jordan,Thomas asked him, "Teacher, how shall we recognize the coming of thekingdom of God?" 2And Jesus answered him and said, "Thomas, Thomas,is it not written, 'Saulasau, Caulacau, Zeersam'?-- 3That is, order uponorder, canon upon canon, a little here, a little there? 4So measure

straight, and cut once, and let not your eye watch where your hand cuts;5for the coming of the kingdom of God is tribulation upon tribulation, andhope upon hope, yet a little, yet a little. 6But these things I tell you, thatyou may read the signs, and reading you may hope, and hoping you maykeep watch."

The Parable of the Seed Growing by Itself7And Jesus spoke to the disciples in parables, saying, "To what shall Iliken the kingdom of God? It is as if a man should scatter seed upon theground, 8and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed shouldsprout and grow, he knows not how. 9The earth produces of itself, firstthe blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. 10But when thegrain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest hascome. 11And he has grain enough to eat plentifully, and grain enough leftover to scatter seeds again."

The Parable of the Mustard Seed12And he said, "What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall Icompare it? 13It is like a grain of mustard seed, which is the smallest ofall the seeds on earth; 14yet when a man took and sowed it in his garden,it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its

branches.15

For if you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you could sayto the sycamine tree, 'Be rooted up, and be planted in the sea'; and itwould obey you."

The Parable of the Leaven16And again he said, "To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? 17It islike leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it


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was all leavened."

The Parable of the Mill18And he said to them, "The kingdom of God is like a mill to which men

brought their grain to have it threshed and ground.19

And they asked themiller for their flour; and he answered and said to them, 'The chaff is stillbeing flailed from the wheat upon the threshing floor.' 20And they askedthe miller again; and again he answered and said, 'The oxen are stilltreading it out.' 21And a third time they asked, and the miller said, 'Themillstone is grinding it exceedingly fine.' 22And at last he delivered theflour to them, and when it was baked the bread was raised up twentyfoldand fortyfold and eightyfold."

The Parable of the Small Seed in a Hidden Place23And Jesus asked and said to them, "When a husbandman has enclosed

a small seed in a hidden place, so that it is invisibly buried, how does itsabundance become immeasurable?" 24And when they were perplexed atthis, then Jesus, as he walked, stood still upon the verge of the RiverJordan. 25And stretching forth his right hand, he filled it with water andsprinkled it upon the shore; and thereupon the sprinkled water made theground moist, and it was watered before them, and brought forth fruit.

The Olive Tree and the Tribulation

141Now when Jesus and the disciples came to Pella, they went into thecity, and he sat and taught the people alongside the spring. 2And a youngman from the crowd asked him and said, "Rabbi, what if the tribulationshould break out tomorrow? 3Why should I arise early and work until thesun sets, if tomorrow the work of my hands will be consumed in fire?"4And Jesus answered and said to him, "Even if it were revealed to youthat tomorrow the wrath should come, still you shoul

The Discovery of the Gospel of Thaddaeus

Near Alexandria, at a site known as Tel-al-Faron, a Russianarchaeological team in 1997 uncovered a cache of ancient codices and


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scrolls which rivals in importance the historic finds at Qmran near theDead Sea. These Tel-al-Faron documents turned out to be a collection ofdiscarded and duplicate texts from the famed library of Alexandria, whichhad been set aside in a remote storage chamber, and so escaped the

general sack and burning of the library in the 7th

century A.D.

The attention of the scholarly world was immediately drawn when amongthe first documents published by Yu. Grigoriev and his team were twountil-now lost tragedies of the Greek playwright Aeschylus. Among theother documents eventually to see publication was the partial text of ahitherto unknown apocryphal gospel.

This document, designated Fa197, was an incomplete early 3rd centurycodex in a fair-to-poor state of preservation. The Greek uncial text wasinscribedAccording to Jude Thaddaeus. Biblical scholars began rapidly to

suspect that they had on their hands an unprecedented find, as internalindications pointed toward an extremely early origin for the work,perhaps in the first half of the second century. But because of theincompleteness of the text, work on the Gospel of Thaddaeus proceededslowly.

In 2003, a joint British-American archaeological team began to excavatethe site of the ancient city of Edessa, which now lies in the middle of theUnited Nations administered Red Zone comprising former territories outof Syria, Turkey, Greater Armenia, Kurdistan, and Iraq. The conclusion of

the Balkan War and the Turkish-Armenian War made it possible, for thefirst time in almost a decade, to enlist the support of the Turkishgovernment in reaching and excavating this site.

Academician Grigoriev was soon called in from the University of St.Petersburg to the Edessa site to consult on the find of a completeEdessene uncial codex inscribed Kata Thaddaion, According toThaddaeus. This codex, which was designated , proved to be acomplete copy of that text, about a third of which was also contained inFa197. was in an excellent state of preservation, and Grigoriev began animmediate critical study and translation of the text.

While he was engaged in this project, the team at Edessa unearthedfragments of four other copies of the Thaddaean text. These fragments,designated 1, 2, 3, and 4, were all of them in a poor state ofpreservation, and none of them contained much more than a tenth of thewhole. But together they provided some supplemental help to Grigoriev's


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critical work; 4, in particular, seems to be by a slim margin the oldest ofthe texts, followed by the complete codex .

Yu. Grigoriev labored under the difficult conditions of a direct UN military

administration. It was difficult to impossible to obtain permission to bringarchaeological finds out of the Red Zone. And regulations designed toprevent importation of a nanovirus limited Grigoriev and the Edesseneteam to that computer hardware and software which could be obtainedlocally. This meant that work had to proceed on an ancient Intel 8088processor, with a long-obsolete dot-matrix printer.

The limited availability of soft fonts forced the adoption of a less-than-ideal Greek uncial font. UN anti-nanovirus regulations also forbid exportof any electronic media, so that the fruit of Grigoriev's labor-in-progresshas had to be brought out through UN checkpoints by a courier in hard-

copy form. It is a direct photofacsimile of this hard copy which is hereprovided to the academic community for the first time. It is hoped that aproper printing will be quickly available, as soon as AcademicianGrigoriev is able to leave his work in the Red Zone, and supervise theedition himself.

The present translation of the Gospel of Thaddaeus is based largely onthe codex , with critical comparison where appropriate to the othermanuscripts. But these fragments add little to our knowledge of the text,so that it would be small loss if our knowledge were based on alone.

Hence, this present preliminary English translation omits Grigoriev's fulltextual apparatus, which will appear with the forthcoming revisededition. Grigoriev's critical Greek text will also be supplied in the revisededition, along with a full critical commentary on the Thaddaean text. Theaccompanying pericope-by-pericope English translation in the presentedition is Grigoriev's, as revised by his graduate assistant, and broughtinto line, as far as is practicable, with the RSV text of the UBS Greek-English Synopsis Quattuor Evangeliorum, 3rd edn.

The footnotes are Grigoriev's own abridgment of his fuller textualcommentary in preparation. The availability at the Edessene site of a CD-ROM peripheral has provided on-site access to the full Migne texts of thePL and PG. However, the slowness of the primitive facilities hasprohibited anything like an exhaustive search of relevant passages in thepatristic literature.


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The Gospel of Thaddaeus has excited some interest among the generalpublic ever since Grigoriev's original find at Tel-al-Faron seven years ago.Indeed, not since the finding of the Dead Sea Scrolls has anarchaeological find of religious texts generated comparable curiosity and

controversy.

Yu. Grigoriev has provided a brief essay on the historical and criticalsignificance of the Gospel of Thaddaeus, making full use of his insightsgained during the ongoing work at Edessa. We present here, for the firsttime, an English translation of his remarks in full.

Brief Remarks Concerning the Gospel of Thaddaeus

In the work superscribed KATA THADDAION, "According to Thaddaeus,"we have an apocryphal gospel of the first importance, dating back to thesubapostolic era. This so-called Gospel of Thaddaeus, first known to us inan incomplete text, the Faronic Greek uncial Fa197, is now available in fullin the Edessene Greek uncial codex . The brief Edessene fragments 1 2

3 4, though they add little to our critical understanding of the text,demonstrate beyond a reasonable doubt that this work did originate froman early Christian community at Edessa.

The Gospel of Thaddaeus is the earliest complete apocryphal gospel wehave, earlier even by some years than the gnostic Gospel of Thomas, acomplete Coptic text of which was found near Nag Hammadi in 1946.The Thaddaean text must have been published some time in the firstquarter of the second century of the present era, perhaps about the year115.

The codex , which is in an excellent state of preservation, seems tohave been written shortly after the middle of the second century. Thefragment 4, which contains only portions of three chapters, may be

slightly older even than this. Although we cannot draw extensive text-critical conclusions from the Thaddaean text, yet when used withcaution, this text may due to its very early date have some light to shedon an early form of the Western text of Mk and Lk.

I would continue to dissent from the judgment of my colleague, P.Afanasiev, who assigns the publication of Thaddaeus to the final years of


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the first century. But still, it must now be recognized that we are dealinghere with a text which originated little more than a generation later thanthe first and third gospels, and (though it stands in quite anotherlineage) not too many years after the Johannine writings.

Thaddaeus is quite unique among the non-canonical gospels, of which wepossess several in whole or in part, in that it emanates from acommunity close to the mainstream of the early Christian traditions.Unlike the Gospel of Thomas, unlike the fragmentary Gospel of Peter, orthose gospels "according to the Hebrews" and "according to theEgyptians" which we know only by patristic quotation or from a few strayleaves, Thaddaeus is quite free of gnosticizing or docetizing tendencies.And unlike the many later "infancy gospels," Thaddaeus displays aremarkable sobriety and restraint.

Indeed, Thaddaeus belongs to the same general stream as our threecanonical synoptic gospels. We can only speculate what set ofcircumstances led to its early disappearance from circulation, and indeedits complete oblivion, after an early career in the church at Edessa, and adissemination which brought at least one copy as far afield as the famedlibrary of Alexandria.

The old Syriac literature from Edessa contains no hint of an earlierThaddaean gospel, despite the traditional linkage of the name of theApostle Jude Thaddaeus with the Edessene Abgar tradition, and despite

the not inconsiderable body of apocryphal literature extant in Syriac,much of it of a relatively early date, which originates from Edessa. Wecan only conclude that the Gospel of Thaddaeus, like Jude the Obscureunder whose pseudonym it was circulated, vanished early into anobscurity both dark and complete. It must have suffered a total eclipse inits place of origin well before the end of the second century: no trace ofits influence can be found in the Diatessaron of Tatian (ca 170), long sopopular in the Syriac church.

Indeed, on one point the discovery of the Gospel of Thaddaeus forces usto an historical reassessment. On the basis of admittedly tenuousevidence, it has long been the consensus of the scholarly community thatthe church at Edessa originated about the middle of the second century.This origin must now be assigned a terminus ad quem close to thebeginning of that century.

The unknown writer and redactor of Thaddaeus was clearly drawing on


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copious earlier traditions: he must have had copies of both Mk and Lk athand, and makes full use of them; Mt, on the other hand (to say nothingof the fourth gospel) was almost certainly unknown to him. Yet Tddisplays considerable redactorial restraint in drawing upon his sources,

and does not often expand upon them. At the same time, he sometimesexercises a certain measure of editorial boldness, which leads one tosuspect that, even where Td more or less follows Mk or Lk, he is oftennot altogether dependent on them.

For Td was redacted at the extreme point in the subapostolic era whenthere was still a substantial extra-synoptic oral and written traditionavailable to draw upon. Some of this has also come down to us throughother apocryphal gospels, or via patristic citation; and some of thepericopes which have thus been preserved, are parallelled in Td, as forexample the parable of the assassin, the parable of the woman and the

jar of meal, the exhortations to "be skilful bankers" and to "becomepassers-by," or Jesus' dispute with the official in the temple.

Interestingly, a not insignificant fraction of this material has parallels,often indirect, with logia in the gnostic Gospel of Thomas. But thismaterial, as it appears in Td, is quite free of the gnosticizing redactionwhich, a generation later, it has undergone in GTh. The Thaddaeanversion seems without exception to represent a more primitive, pre-gnostic stratum of this tradition. Overall it seems easier to hypothesizethat each of these apocryphal gospels, Td and GTh, was drawing

independently on a common stream of older tradition, than that one ofthem directly or even indirectly influenced the other.

Since recent scholarship has tended to locate the composition of GTh inEdessa ca 140, the Thaddaean finds at Edessa reopen the question ofwhere GTh was written. There seem to be three possibilities. (1) GThwas composed at Edessa, and its early career overlaps with the latercareer of Td. This leaves unexplained how GTh could have flourishedshoulder-to-shoulder with the very different Td; but an analogousproblem obtains for either gospel relative to the Diatessaron. (2) GThwas composed at another city in the Osrhoene, such as Samosata orCarrhae, and its career and that of Td were independent. Despite the apriorigeography of some biblical scholars, this is hardly impossible.(3) Or, to return to an older hypothesis, GTh was composed, or at leastreceived its final redaction, in Egypt.

But Td also seems to have yet other oral and written sources at his


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disposal. Some sayings and parables in Td-- such as the parable of theanvil, the parable of the vintner, or the lapidary little parable of the twoplowmen-- we find nowhere else outside of Td. It is yet open to questionwhether we can speak of a single homogeneous T source; one "pre-

Thomas, pre-Thaddaeus" T1 source, and another pre-Thaddaean T2source; or whether we are dealing here with several distinct strands ofwritten and oral tradition.

Another clear example of an additional source can be found in Td'spassion narrative. Mk and Lk have made an obvious impact on Td'saccount of the passion. But order, wording, and detail make it abundantlyclear that Td is drawing primarily-- not on Mk or Lk-- but rather on athird, not dissimilar, but quite distinctive and independent passionnarrative. (Indeed, the initial lines of Td's account of the triumphal entryread much like the opening of a free-standing text! If anything of the

sort ever stood in the sources behind the Marcan and Lucan accounts, itwas effaced in Mk and Lk by redactional sandpaper.)

Still another example is the idiosyncratic "Johannine symposium," asummary of Thaddaean spirituality in chapter 19 of Td which seems tobe drawing on leaves from an older dialogue gospel. This older sourcemay underlie, not only this non-synoptic intrusion into the text of Td, butalso certain passages in chapters 5 and 8 of Jn.

And yet another example would be Td's brief infancy narrative, really

much more restrained than that in either Mt or Lk, which seems to drawon a written annunciation tradition of considerable antiquity, which Tdmay well share in common with Lk. That Td relies on this older tradition,when he has the much more expansive account of Lk in front of him,typifies his editorial restraint. The kind of recklessness which was findingits way into the surviving independent oral tradition by this time (aswitness even some of the fragments of Papias which have come down tous) seldom finds its way past the editorial judgment of Td.

Thus, though Td seldom really extends the historical purchase we gainthrough the synoptics, when he does depart from or extend their scope,the Thaddaean text is sometimes not unworthy of consideration. Forexample, in an otherwise unattested addition to the pericopes concerningthe call of the first disciples, Td recounts the call of Thaddaeus. Theinclusion, not to say the invention, of this incident would be amplyaccounted for by the association of the apostle with the Edessene Abgarlegends, and the founding of the church at Edessa. The naming of him as


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"Thaddaeus, that is, Lebbaeus" excites further critical suspicion as anevident conflation, even though, as is well known, "Lebbaios" is ahellenization of the Aramaic cognate to the Greek "Thaddaios."

But the critic is brought up short by the casual remark of Td thatThaddaeus was a wheelwright, who was called by Jesus "while mending awheel" in his shop. It is hard to see why the author of Td should haveinvented such an odd and otherwise unattested detail, unless it werefounded at the least on a very old tradition, but for this passage now lostto us.

As a redactor, Td displays great freedom in locating within the text suchtraditions which he is drawing neither from Mk nor from Lk: suchpericopes are found scattered throughout his text, often alongsidematerial with a similar theme or key words. But their distribution is

uneven.

In the Galilean ministry, outside the Sermon on the Lake and a fewscattered pericopes, these non-Markan, non-Lucan traditions make theirpresence felt in a verse here, a change in wording there. Much of thissection of Td-- chapters 2 through 9-- gives the impression of a very fineparquet-work of Marcan and Lucan materials, with an occasional detail oraccent from other sources.

It has been remarked that, in the journey to Jerusalem, Lk opens the

meandering stream of Mk out into a wide river through the wholesaleinsertion of special Lucan material. We might well say that Td evenfurther broadens Lk's river into a flood plain. In this section of Td--chapters 10 through 20-- Td inserts numerous pericopes, and indeedentire chapters, from his special Thaddaean material. Td displays a likingfor grouping material of similar theme, or similar key words, intochapter-length symposia: chapter 13, a symposium on the growth of thekingdom; chapter 14, the Pellan symposium; chapter 16, a symposiumon discipleship; chapter 18, a symposium on children; and chapter 19,the already-mentioned idiosyncratic Johannine symposium.

As a table of gospel parallels will show, outside the opening and closingsections of his gospel, Td generally follows the overall order of Lk whenhe can. However, he does not hesitate to relocate Lucan material when itsuits his purpose, e.g. the call of Levi, which he splits up and uses in twoseparate places; or the sayings and incidents relating to children, all ofwhich Td gathers together in one place. Occasionally Td omits Lucan


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material, e.g. the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. And in twosections, Td follows Mk instead of Lk: the sayings from Mk 4, which Lkscatters throughout, are gathered together and included in the Sermonon the Lake; and Mk 6:45-8:26, which Lk omits but much of which Td

includes toward the end of the Galilean ministry.

Even a preliminary historical-critical analysis of Td is a task which lies yetin the future. For the moment, we must content ourselves with theforegoing, quite tentative outline. And for the present we must also becontent with a brief sketch of some of the salient and distinctive themesand motifs of Td.

Throughout Td, both on a large and on a small scale, there is a strikingmotif of interchange between word and deed. Of course, the broad-scalecontrast between the more act-oriented Galilean ministry and the more

discursive journey toward Jerusalem is inherited by Td from Mk and Lk.

But we also find throughout Td little touches such as the editorial remarkat the opening of the Sermon on the Lake (4:3) that the people "pressedupon [Jesus] that they might hear the word of God and that power mightcome forth from him upon them." Or again, the act of cleansing theTemple (21:29-33) is immediately followed by Jesus' discursive disputewith a chief priest in the Temple (21:34-42), an incident without parallelin the synoptics. Examples could be multiplied almost indefinitely. Wehave but to read a few verses further (21:46) to discover the chief

priests and scribes conspiring against Jesus: "For they said to oneanother, 'You see how the people are following after his teaching and hissigns.'"

Also prominent in Td is a stress on election and call. In the Thaddaeanaccount of the raising of Jairus' daughter, Td redacts the text to read,"And taking those whom he had called to be with him, [Jesus] went inwhere the child was." (6:36)

This motif, as developed by Td, binds up within itself elements, not onlyof the priority of God within the divine-human relationship, but also afocus on the mission of the Thaddaean community; the universal thrustof the kingdom; and the grace of God. Already within Td's annunciationstory (1:7) we read, "And he will save his people Israel, all whom Godcalls." At the end of Td's gospel, in a logion which finds a parallel in theEpistle of Barnabas, the risen Christ tells his disciples, "I pray earnestlythat you not be found many called but few chosen." (26:44) Perhaps the


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characteristic note of the Thaddaean notion of call is to be found in aredactional comment which Td appends to a saying also found, in a muchmore gnosticized form, in divers patristic sources: "Split wood: thekingdom of God is there. Lift up the stone, and there you will find it. For

the Spirit of God is moving in the midst of you, and whoever is knownand called by my Father will find the kingdom." (17:21-22)

Not altogether unconnected with this vision of call is another peculiartrait of the Thaddaean text, namely, the personalization of the Twelve. InTd, as in the canonical gospels, Peter is the leading figure of the Twelve;but the other disciples are mentioned by name more often, and standforth as individuals much more sharply, than in the synoptics. Indeed,each of the Twelve, in the course of Td's gospel, has at least one"speaking part."

And in Td the figure of Mary Magdalene is noticeably more prominentthan in the synoptics. Jesus' exorcism of her, merely alluded to in Mk16:9 and Lk 8:2, is recounted in Td 3:1-4. In 10:53-58, Td so redactsthe text that the Magdalene displaces the sister of Martha! In theJohannine symposium, Mary poses a question to Jesus, on a par with theother disciples (19:24). And in a passage which may represent thepseudonymous writer's signature (cf. the fleeing neaniskos of Mk 14:51),when Peter reproves Mary after she returns from the empty tomb,Thaddaeus (instead of, as in another apocryphal account, Matthew)intervenes: "If the Lord has called her to be a worthy witness, who are

you to reject her? For truly the Lord has loved her." (26:12)

It was the triumph of Conzelmann to lay forth the realized eschatology ofLuke's gospel, in contrast with the tone of imminent expectation in Mk. IfMk is to be dated about the year 65, and Lk about 80, then Td might bedated, very roughly and tentatively, around the year 115. In Td there iswhat we might call an eschatological "restringing of the bow": even moretime has passed for Td than for Lk, and still noparousia. Td's solution tothis, quite the opposite of Lk's (although apparently in reaction against asolution not unlike the Lucan), is to heighten the tension between theLord's promise and the Lord's tarrying, the "already" and the "not yet" ofthe Thaddaean community's experience and expectation. Each term ofthe dialectic is stressed all the more. The bow of eschatologicalexpectation is restrung, and in the restringing it is stretched taut.

It is in this light that we are to view the favorite Thaddaean theme of thecoming tribulation, as even in Td's version of the Lord's Prayer (11:5).


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Along with the expectation of tribulation, there is also a repeatedcommand to watch and wait, as in the unparalleled dominical logion in13:5, "These things I tell you, that you may read the signs, and readingyou may hope, and hoping you may keep watch." In Td's version of the

parable of the woman and the jar of meal (17:25-28), we find a detailnot attested in the parallel in GTh 97: the woman did not notice the jarleaking, "for she was not watching." And Td includes among the lastwords of the risen Christ, before his exaltation to heaven: "So keepwatch, and proclaim the gospel... for t

gospel of thaddaeus

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