Thunder, Perfect Mind

NHC VI 13,1–32Sent from the Power

I was sent out from the Power, and I have come to those who contemplate me, and I have been found among those who seek me.

Look at me, you who contemplate me; you who hear, hear me. You who wait for me, take me to yourselves.

Do not drive me from your sight. Do not let your voice hate me, nor your hearing. Do not be ignorant of me anywhere, at any time. Be on guard: do not be ignorant of me.

For I am the first and the last. I am the honored one and the scorned one. I am the whore and the holy one. I am the wife and the virgin. I am the mother and the daughter. I am the limbs of my mother.

I am the barren one, and many are her children. I am she whose wedding is great, and I have not taken a husband.

I am the midwife and she who does not give birth. I am the comfort of my own labor pains. I am the bride and the bridegroom, and it is my husband who begot me.

I am my father's mother and my husband's sister, and he is my offspring.

NHC VI 13,32–14,15The Silence and the Voice

I am the slave of him who prepared me, and I am the ruler of my offspring. He is the one who begot me before time, on a day of birth, and he is my offspring in his time, and my power is from him.

I am the staff of his power in his youth, and he is the rod of my old age, and whatever he wills happens to me.

I am the silence that cannot be grasped and the insight whose remembrance is great. I am the voice whose sounds are many and the word whose appearances are many. I am the utterance of my own name.

NHC VI 14,15–34Why Do You Hate Me?

You who hate me, why do you love me and hate those who love me? You who deny me, confess me; you who confess me, deny me. You who speak the truth about me, lie about me; you who have lied about me, speak the truth about me.

You who know me, become ignorant of me; and those who have not known me — let them know me.

For I am knowledge and ignorance. I am shame and boldness. I am shameless; I am ashamed. I am strength and I am fear. I am war and peace.

Give heed to me: I am the disgraced one and the great one.

NHC VI 14,34–15,30Cast Out upon the Earth

Give heed to my poverty and my wealth.

Do not be arrogant toward me when I am cast out upon the earth, [and] you will find me among those who are to come.

Do not look at me on the dung heap and go away and leave me cast out, and you will find me in the kingdoms.

Do not look at me when I am cast out among the disgraced and in the least of places, and then laugh at me. And do not throw me down harshly among those who are in want.

But I, I am compassionate, and I am cruel.

Be on guard: do not hate my obedience and love my self-control. In my weakness, do not forget me, and do not be afraid of my power.

For why do you despise my fear and curse my pride?

But I am she who is in every fear, and boldness in trembling. I am she who is weak, and I am well in a place of pleasure. I am senseless, and I am wise.

NHC VI 15,31–16,31Greek and Barbarian

Why have you hated me in your counsels? For I shall be silent among those who are silent, and I shall appear and speak.

Why then have you hated me, you Greeks? Because I am a barbarian among the barbarians? For I am the wisdom of the Greeks and the knowledge of the barbarians. I am the judgment of the Greeks and of the barbarians.

I am the one whose image is great in Egypt, and the one who has no image among the barbarians.

I am the one who has been hated everywhere and who has been loved everywhere. I am the one who is called Life, and you have called me Death. I am the one who is called Law, and you have called me Lawlessness.

I am the one you have pursued, and I am the one you have seized. I am the one you have scattered, and you have gathered me together. I am the one before whom you have been ashamed, and you have been shameless toward me.

I am she who keeps no festival, and I am she whose festivals are many. I, I am godless, and I am she whose God is great.

I am the one you have thought about, and you have scorned me. I am unlearned, and it is from me that people learn. I am the one you have despised, and you think about me.

NHC VI 16,31–17,32When You Hide, I Will Appear

I am the one from whom you have hidden, and you appear to me. But whenever you hide yourselves, I myself will appear. [For whenever] you [appear], I myself [will hide] from you.

Those who have [...]* through the [...]* [...]* in senselessness [...]*.

Take me [... understanding]* out of grief, and receive me to yourselves out of understanding [and] grief. Receive me to yourselves out of places that are ugly and in ruin, and seize from those that are good, even if in ugliness.

Out of shame, receive me to yourselves shamelessly; and out of shamelessness and shame, rebuke my members in yourselves.

Come forward to me, you who know me and you who know my members, and establish the great ones among the small first creatures.

Come forward to childhood, and do not hate it because it is small and slight. And do not turn great things away, part by part, from small things, for the small things are known from the great.

* Text is missing here. The ancient copy is damaged, lost or unreadable at this point, so the gap is shown as a gap. Nothing has been left out by The Gnostic Library.

NHC VI 17,32–18,26I Know the First Ones

Why do you curse me and honor me? You have wounded, and you have had mercy.

Do not separate me from the first ones, whom you have [...]*. [...]* do not cast anyone [out] [...]* [...]* turn anyone away [...]* [...]* turn you away, and [...]* do not know him. [...]* what is mine [...]*.

I know the first ones, and those after them know me. But I am the mind of [...]* and the rest of [...]*.

I am the knowledge of my seeking, and the finding of those who seek me, and the command of those who ask of me, and the power of the powers, by my knowledge, of the angels who have been sent at my word, and of the gods in their seasons, by my counsel, and of the spirits of all people who exist with me, and of the women who exist within me.

I am she who is honored and she who is praised, and she who is despised with scorn. I am peace, and because of me war has come to be. And I am a stranger and a citizen.

* Text is missing here. The ancient copy is damaged, lost or unreadable at this point, so the gap is shown as a gap. Nothing has been left out by The Gnostic Library.

NHC VI 18,27–19,20Near and Far

I am substance, and she who has no substance. Those who are apart from my company do not know me, and those who are in my substance are the ones who know me.

Those who are near me have not known me, and those who are far from me are the ones who have known me. On the day when I am near [you, you] are far [from me], [and] on the day when I [am far] from [you, I am near] you.

[I am ...]* of the heart. [I am ...]* of the natures. I am [...]* of the creation of the spirits, [and of the] request of the souls.

[I am] restraint and what cannot be restrained. I am the joining and the dissolving. I am the abiding, and I am the dissolving. I am the one below, and they come up to me. I am judgment and acquittal.

I, I am without sin, and the root of sin comes from me. I am desire in appearance, and self-control of the heart is within me.

* Text is missing here. The ancient copy is damaged, lost or unreadable at this point, so the gap is shown as a gap. Nothing has been left out by The Gnostic Library.

NHC VI 19,20–20,11She Who Cries Out

I am the hearing that is welcome to everyone, and the speech that cannot be grasped. I am a mute who does not speak, and great is my multitude of words.

Hear me in gentleness, and learn from me in roughness.

I am she who cries out, and I am cast out upon the face of the earth. I am the one who prepares the bread and my mind within. I am the knowledge of my name. I am she who cries out, and I am the one who listens.

I appear and [...]* walk in [...]* [...]* seal of my [...]* [...]* I am [...]* the defense [...]*. I am she who is called Truth, and injustice [...]*. You honor me [...]* and you whisper against [me].

* Text is missing here. The ancient copy is damaged, lost or unreadable at this point, so the gap is shown as a gap. Nothing has been left out by The Gnostic Library.

NHC VI 20,11–26The Judge Within

You who are overcome, judge them before they pass judgment on you, for the judge and partiality are within you. If you are condemned by this one, who will acquit you? Or if you are acquitted by him, who will be able to hold you?

For what is inside you is what is outside you, and the one who fashions you on the outside has stamped it on your inside. And what you see outside you, you see inside you; it is plain to see, and it is your garment.

NHC VI 20,26–21,32Hear Me, You Hearers

Hear me, you hearers, and learn my words, you who know me. I am the hearing that is welcome in every matter; I am the speech that cannot be grasped. I am the name of the voice and the voice of the name. I am the sign of the writing and the showing of the division.

And I [...]* [...]* the light [...]* and [...]* hearers [...]* to you. [...]* the great power. And [...]* will not move the name. [...]* the one who created me. But I will speak his name.

Look then at his words and at all the writings that have been completed. Give heed then, you hearers, and you also, angels and those who have been sent, and you spirits who have risen from the dead.

For I am the one who alone exists, and I have no one who will judge me.

For many are the sweet forms that exist in numerous sins, in things done without restraint, and shameful passions, and pleasures that last a moment, which people hold on to until they become sober and run up to their place of rest. And they will find me there, and they will live, and they will not die again.

* Text is missing here. The ancient copy is damaged, lost or unreadable at this point, so the gap is shown as a gap. Nothing has been left out by The Gnostic Library.