THE 114 SAYINGS OF YESHUAFind a saying.
Find a saying.
Listen. Read. Return.
Read the author-supplied Babylon manuscript across seven chambers, alongside eight public audio tracks including the opening.
The opening
What follows are the one hundred and fourteen sayings of Yeshua, as recorded in the Gospel of Thomas. These words were not written to be understood at once. They were written to be lived, returned to, and heard again. Listen with open ears. Let each saying settle before the next begins. We begin.
CHAMBER 1 · READ & LISTEN
Sayings 1–13
What does seeking ask of your attention before you settle on an answer?
Open the reading ↗CHAMBER 2 · READ & LISTENSayings 14–26
Which image opens a useful question, and where does your interpretation begin?
Open the reading ↗CHAMBER 3 · READ & LISTENSayings 27–45
What is being made visible, and how can you describe it without forcing a conclusion?
Open the reading ↗CHAMBER 4 · READ & LISTENSayings 46–63
What does the passage ask you to notice about purpose, attention or relationship?
Open the reading ↗CHAMBER 5 · READ & LISTENSayings 64–79
Which invitation in the reading would you like to examine more carefully?
Open the reading ↗CHAMBER 6 · READ & LISTENSayings 80–100
What is the difference between recognizing a word and carrying it into a considered action?
Open the reading ↗CHAMBER 7 · READ & LISTENSayings 101–114
How do you approach difficult language while keeping every person’s dignity central?
Open the reading ↗Search all 114 sayings
114 sayings
Saying 1"Whoever lives the interpretation of these words will no longer taste death."Chamber 1 ↗Saying 2"Whoever searches must continue to search until they find. When they find, they will be disturbed. And being disturbed, they will marvel and will reign over all…Chamber 1 ↗Saying 3"If those who guide you say, Look, the kingdom is in the sky, then the birds are closer than you. If they say, Look, it is in the sea, then the fish already kno…Chamber 1 ↗Saying 4"An aged person will not hesitate to ask a seven-day-old infant about the place of life, and that person will live. Many of the first will make themselves last,…Chamber 1 ↗Saying 5"Recognize what it is in front of you, and what is hidden from you will be revealed. There is nothing hidden that will not be revealed."Chamber 1 ↗Saying 6"Stop lying. Do not do that which is against your love. You are naked before heaven. What you hide will be revealed. Whatever is veiled will be unveiled."Chamber 1 ↗Saying 7"Fortunate is the lion eaten by a human, for lion becomes human. Unfortunate is the human eaten by a lion, for human becomes lion."Chamber 1 ↗Saying 8"A human being is like a good fisherman who casts his net into the sea. When he pulls it out, he finds a multitude of little fish. Among them there is one fine,…Chamber 1 ↗Saying 9"Once a sower went out and sowed a handful of seeds. Some fell on the road and were eaten by birds. Some fell among the thorns, which smothered their growth, an…Chamber 1 ↗Saying 10"I have sown fire upon the world, and now I tend it to a blaze."Chamber 1 ↗Saying 11"This sky will pass away, and the one above it will also pass away. The dead have no life, and the living have no death. On days when you ate what was dead, you…Chamber 1 ↗Saying 12"When you find yourself at that point, go to James, the just. All that concerns heaven and earth is his domain."Chamber 1 ↗Saying 13Thomas said: "Master, my mouth could never utter what you are like." Yeshua told him: "I am no longer your master, because you have drunk, and become drunken fr…Chamber 1 ↗Saying 14"If you fast, you will be at fault. If you pray, you will be wrong. If you give to charity, you will corrupt your mind. When you go into any land and walk throu…Chamber 2 ↗Saying 15"When you see someone who is not born from a womb, then prostrate yourselves and give worship, for this is your Father."Chamber 2 ↗Saying 16"People may think that I have come to bring peace to the world. They do not know that I have come to sow division upon the earth, fire, sword, war. When there a…Chamber 2 ↗Saying 17"I will give you that which no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no hand has touched, and no human heart has conceived."Chamber 2 ↗Saying 18"What do you know of the beginning, so that you now seek the end? Where the beginning is, the end will also be. Blessed are those who abide in the beginning, fo…Chamber 2 ↗Saying 19"Blessed is the one who is before existing. If you become my disciples and listen to my words, these stones will serve you. In paradise there are five trees tha…Chamber 2 ↗Saying 20"It is like a grain of mustard, the tiniest of all seeds. When it falls upon well-plowed ground, it becomes a great tree, where birds of heaven will come to res…Chamber 2 ↗Saying 21Mary asked: "What are your disciples like?" He answered: "They are like little children who have gone into a field that does not belong to them. When the owners…Chamber 2 ↗Saying 22"When you make the two into one, when you make the inner like the outer, and the high like the low, when you make male and female into a single one, so that the…Chamber 2 ↗Saying 23"I will choose one of you from a thousand and two of you from ten thousand, and they will stand as one, alone and simple."Chamber 2 ↗Saying 24"Those who have ears, let them hear. There is light within people of light, and they shine it upon the whole world. If they do not shine it, what darkness?"Chamber 2 ↗Saying 25"Love your brother and sister as your soul. Protect them as you do the pupil of your eye."Chamber 2 ↗Saying 26"You see the sliver in your brother's eye, but you do not see the log in your own eye. When you remove the log from your eye, then you will see clearly enough t…Chamber 2 ↗Saying 27"If you do not fast from the world, you will not find the kingdom. If you do not celebrate the Sabbath as a Sabbath, you will not know the Father."Chamber 3 ↗Saying 28"I stood in the midst of the world and revealed myself to them in the flesh. I found them all intoxicated. Not one of them was thirsty, and my soul grieved for …Chamber 3 ↗Saying 29"If flesh came into being because of spirit, it is a wonder. But if spirit came into being because of flesh, it is a wonder of wonders. Yet the greatest of wond…Chamber 3 ↗Saying 30"Where there are three gods, they are gods. Where there are two or one, I am with them."Chamber 3 ↗Saying 31"No one is a prophet in his own village. No one is a physician in his own home."Chamber 3 ↗Saying 32"A strong city built upon a high mountain cannot be destroyed, cannot be hidden."Chamber 3 ↗Saying 33"What you hear with your ears, tell it to other ears, and proclaim it from the rooftops. No one lights a lamp so that it will be put under a basket or hidden so…Chamber 3 ↗Saying 34"When a blind person leads another blind person, they both fall into a pit."Chamber 3 ↗Saying 35"One cannot capture the house of the strong except by tying their hands. Then everything can be overturned."Chamber 3 ↗Saying 36"Do not worry from morning to evening, or from evening to morning, about having clothes to wear."Chamber 3 ↗Saying 37"On the day when you are naked as newborn infants who trample their clothing, then you will see the Son of the Living One and you will have no more fear."Chamber 3 ↗Saying 38"Often you have wanted to hear the words I speak to you now. No one else can say them to you. And the days will come when you seek me and do not find me."Chamber 3 ↗Saying 39"The Pharisees and the scribes have received the keys of knowledge and hidden them. They did not go within, and those who wanted to go there were prevented by t…Chamber 3 ↗Saying 40"A grapevine planted away from the Father has no vitality. It will be torn up by its roots and will perish."Chamber 3 ↗Saying 41"Whoever has something in hand will be given more. Whoever has nothing, even the little they have will be taken away."Chamber 3 ↗Saying 42"Be passers-by."Chamber 3 ↗Saying 43"Do you not know me from what I say to you? Or have you become like those Judeans? If they love the tree, they despise the fruit. If they love the fruit, they d…Chamber 3 ↗Saying 44"Whoever blasphemes against the Father will be forgiven, and whoever blasphemes against the Son will be forgiven. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit…Chamber 3 ↗Saying 45"Grapes are not picked from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, for they do not give fruit. The good offer goodness from the secret of their heart. The perver…Chamber 3 ↗Saying 46"From Adam to John the Baptist, no one born of a woman is higher than John the Baptist. Thus his eyes will not be destroyed. But I have said, Whoever among you …Chamber 4 ↗Saying 47"A man cannot ride two horses nor bend two bows. A servant cannot serve two masters, for he will honor one and disdain the other. No one drinks an old wine and …Chamber 4 ↗Saying 48"If two make peace with each other in a single house, then they can say to the mountain, Move, and it will move."Chamber 4 ↗Saying 49"Blessed are you, the whole ones and the chosen ones. You will find the kingdom, for you came from there and you will return."Chamber 4 ↗Saying 50"If they ask you from where you come, say, We were born of the light, there where light is born of light. It holds true and is revealed within their image. If t…Chamber 4 ↗Saying 51"What you are waiting for has already come, but you do not see it."Chamber 4 ↗Saying 52"You have disregarded the Living One who is in your presence, and you have spoken of the dead."Chamber 4 ↗Saying 53"If it were useful, fathers would engender sons born circumcised from their mothers. Rather, it is the circumcision in spirit that is truly useful."Chamber 4 ↗Saying 54"Blessed are you, the poor, for yours is the kingdom of heaven."Chamber 4 ↗Saying 55"Whoever cannot free themselves from their father and their mother cannot become My disciple. Whoever cannot free themselves from their brother and sister and d…Chamber 4 ↗Saying 56"Whoever knows the world discovers a corpse, and whoever discovers a corpse cannot be contained by the world."Chamber 4 ↗Saying 57"The kingdom of the Father is like the man who had some good seed. His enemy came at night and sowed weeds among the good seed. The man would not allow them to …Chamber 4 ↗Saying 58"Blessed are those who have undergone ordeals. They have entered into life."Chamber 4 ↗Saying 59"Look to the Living One while you are alive. If you wait until you are dead, you will search in vain for the vision."Chamber 4 ↗Saying 60They saw a Samaritan carrying a lamb, entering into Judea. He said to His disciples, "What will the man do with the lamb?" They answered, "He will kill it and e…Chamber 4 ↗Saying 61"Two will lie on a single bed. One will die, the other will live." Salome asked: "Who are You, Sir? Where do You come from, You who lie on my bed and eat at my …Chamber 4 ↗Saying 62"I reveal my mysteries to those who become worthy. Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing."Chamber 4 ↗Saying 63"There was once a rich man with a great amount of money who said, I will use my money for sowing, reaping, planting, and filling my silos with grain, so that I …Chamber 4 ↗Saying 64"There was a man who invited some visitors. After preparing the meal, he sent his servant to summon the guests. The servant went to the first and said, My maste…Chamber 5 ↗Saying 65"A good man had a vineyard, which he gave to tenants to work and harvest the fruit for him. He sent his servant to collect the fruit of the vine. But the tenant…Chamber 5 ↗Saying 66"Show me the stone rejected by the builders. That is the cornerstone."Chamber 5 ↗Saying 67"Those who know the All, yet do not know themselves, are deprived of everything."Chamber 5 ↗Saying 68"Blessed are you when they hate you and persecute you. There is a place where you are not persecuted, that they will never find."Chamber 5 ↗Saying 69"Blessed are those who have been persecuted in their hearts, for they have known the Father in truth. Blessed are those who are hungry, for they will be fulfill…Chamber 5 ↗Saying 70"When you bring forth that within you, then that will save you. If you do not, then that will kill you."Chamber 5 ↗Saying 71"I will overturn this house and none will be able to rebuild it."Chamber 5 ↗Saying 72A man said to him, "Speak to my brothers that they may share with me my father's property." Yeshua answered him, "Who made me into a divider?" Turning to his di…Chamber 5 ↗Saying 73"The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. Pray the Master to send more workers to the harvest."Chamber 5 ↗Saying 74"There are many who stand round the well, but no one to go down into it."Chamber 5 ↗Saying 75"Many are standing by the door, but only those who are alone and simple — Monachos — can enter the bridal chamber."Chamber 5 ↗Saying 76"The kingdom of the Father is like the merchant who had a load of goods to sell. Then he saw a pearl. The merchant was wise and sold his goods to buy the pearl.…Chamber 5 ↗Saying 77"I am the light that shines on everyone. I am the all. The all came forth from me, and the all came into me. Split the wood, and I am there. Turn over the stone…Chamber 5 ↗Saying 78"Why do you roam the countryside? To see some reeds shaken by the wind? To see people like your kings and courtiers in elegant clothes? They wear fine clothes, …Chamber 5 ↗Saying 79A woman in the crowd said to him, "Blessed are the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you." He answered, "Blessed are those who listen to the word o…Chamber 5 ↗Saying 80"Whoever knows the world discovers the body. But the world is unworthy of whoever discovers the body."Chamber 6 ↗Saying 81"Whoever has become rich, may he become king. Whoever has power, may he renounce it."Chamber 6 ↗Saying 82"Whoever is near to me is near to the fire. Whoever is far from me is far from the kingdom."Chamber 6 ↗Saying 83"When images become visible to people, the light that is in them is hidden. In the icon of the light of the Father it will be manifest, and the icon veiled by t…Chamber 6 ↗Saying 84"When you see your true likeness you rejoice. But when you see your icons, those that were before you existed and that never die and never manifest, what grande…Chamber 6 ↗Saying 85"Adam was produced by a great power and a great wealth, yet he was not worthy of you. If he had been worthy, he would not have known death."Chamber 6 ↗Saying 86"Foxes have their holes and birds have their nests. The Son of Man has no place to lay his head and rest."Chamber 6 ↗Saying 87"Wretched is the body that depends on another body. Wretched is the soul that depends on both."Chamber 6 ↗Saying 88"Angels and prophets will come to you and give you what is yours. And you, too, should give what you have and ask yourselves, When will the time come for them t…Chamber 6 ↗Saying 89"Why do you wash the outside of the cup? Do you not understand that the one who made the outside also made the inside?"Chamber 6 ↗Saying 90"Come to me. My yoke is good, my command is gentle, and you will find repose within you."Chamber 6 ↗Saying 91They said to him, "Tell us who you are so that we may believe in you." He answered them, "You search the face of heaven and earth, but you do not recognize the …Chamber 6 ↗Saying 92"Seek, and you shall find. Yet those things you asked me about before, and which I did not tell you, I am willing to reveal now, but you no longer ask."Chamber 6 ↗Saying 93"Do not give sacred things to dogs, for they may treat them as dung. Do not throw pearls to swine, for they may treat them as rubbish."Chamber 6 ↗Saying 94"Whoever seeks will find. Whoever knocks from inside, it will open to them."Chamber 6 ↗Saying 95"If you have money, do not lend it with interest, but give it to the one who will never pay you back."Chamber 6 ↗Saying 96"The kingdom of the Father is like the dough in which a woman has hidden some yeast. It becomes transformed into good bread. Those who have ears, let them hear.…Chamber 6 ↗Saying 97"The kingdom of the Father is like the woman who carried a jar of flour. After she walked a long way, the handle of the jar broke and the flour began to spill b…Chamber 6 ↗Saying 98"The kingdom of the Father is like the man who wanted to kill a man of power. First, he unsheathed his sword at home and thrust it into the wall to test his str…Chamber 6 ↗Saying 99His disciples said to him, "Your brothers and your mother are waiting outside." He replied, "Those who do my Father's will are my brothers and my mother. It is …Chamber 6 ↗Saying 100They showed Yeshua a gold coin and said to him, "Caesar's agents demand that we pay taxes." He answered them, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, give to God what…Chamber 6 ↗Saying 101"Whoever does not hate their father and mother as I do cannot become my disciple. And whoever does not love their father and mother as I do cannot become my dis…Chamber 7 ↗Saying 102"Wretched are the Pharisees. They are like the dog lying in the cow's manger. He cannot eat and will not let the cows eat."Chamber 7 ↗Saying 103"Blessed are they who know at what time of night the thieves will come. They will be awake, gathering their strength and strapping on their belts before the thi…Chamber 7 ↗Saying 104They said to him, "Come let us pray and fast today." Yeshua answered, "What wrong have I done? How have I been defeated? When the bridegroom leaves the bridal c…Chamber 7 ↗Saying 105"He who knows his father and his mother, will they call him the son of a whore?"Chamber 7 ↗Saying 106"When you make the two into one, you will be a son of man. And when you say, Mountain, move, it will move."Chamber 7 ↗Saying 107"The kingdom is like the shepherd with a hundred sheep. One of them disappeared. It was the most beautiful. The shepherd left the other ninety-nine sheep and lo…Chamber 7 ↗Saying 108"Whoever drinks from my mouth will become like me, and I will become them. And what was hidden from them will be revealed."Chamber 7 ↗Saying 109"The kingdom is like the man who had a hidden treasure in his field. He did not know it was there. When he died, he left the field to his son, who knew nothing …Chamber 7 ↗Saying 110"Whoever has found the world and become wealthy, may they renounce the world."Chamber 7 ↗Saying 111"The heavens and the earth will roll up before you. The living who come from the living will know neither fear nor death. For it is said, Whoever has self-knowl…Chamber 7 ↗Saying 112"Wretched is the flesh that depends on the soul. Wretched is the soul that depends on the flesh."Chamber 7 ↗Saying 113"When will the kingdom come?" Yeshua answered, "It will not come by watching for it. No one will be saying, Look, here it is, or Look, there it is. The kingdom …Chamber 7 ↗Saying 114Simon Peter said to him, "Mary should leave us, for women are not worthy of the life." Yeshua answered, "This is how I will guide her so that she becomes man. S…Chamber 7 ↗