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The Nag Hammadi Codices (public-domain translations)

Anonymous (Coptic codices, 4th century) · tr. Samuel Zinner, ed. Mark M. Mattison · 2020s · 163,766 words

The buried library found in Egypt in 1945: Gnostic gospels, revelations, prayers and Hermetic treatises, in new translations from the Coptic given to the public domain.

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NHC I, 1 · The Prayer of Paul, the Apostle

The following translation has been committed to the public domain and may be freely copied and used, changed or unchanged, for any purpose. It is based on the Coptic text of Nag Hammadi Codex I, 1. The Nag Hammadi texts were written in the fourth century, subsequently buried, and then rediscovered in 1945. The Prayer of Paul the Apostle is an esoteric prayer.

This translation from the Coptic is by Samuel Zinner and was edited by Mark M. Mattison with the generous support of Other Gospels.

Symbols

[ ] Gap in the text (known as a “lacuna”)
( ) Editorial insertion to clarify the text
[A] Page number of the Coptic codex (hyperlinked)

[A] (One or two lines missing)
[your] light, grant me your [mercy].
My redeemer, redeem me, for [I am] yours,
the one who came forth from you.
You are [my] mind; give birth to me.
You are my house of treasures; open for me.
You [are] my fullness; embrace me.
You are repose; grant me [the] ungraspable perfection.

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Contents

  1. NHC I, 1 · The Prayer of Paul, the Apostle
  2. NHC I, 2 · The Secret Book of James
  3. NHC I, 4 · Treatise on the Resurrection
  4. NHC I, 5 · The Tripartite Tractate
  5. NHC II, 4 · The Substance of the Archons
  6. NHC II, 5 · On the Origin of the World
  7. NHC II, 6 · The Exegesis on the Soul
  8. NHC II, 7 · The Book of Thomas the Contender
  9. NHC III, 2 and NHC IV, 2 · The Sacred Book of the Great Unseen Spirit
  10. Codex III, 3 and Codex V, 1 · Eugnostos the Blessed
  11. NHC III, 4 and BG 8502, 3 · The Sophia of Jesus Christ
  12. NHC III, 5 · The Dialogue of the Savior
  13. NHC V, 2 · The Apocalypse of Paul
  14. NHC V, 4 · The Second Apocalypse of James
  15. NHC V, 5 · The Apocalypse of Adam
  16. NHC VI, 1 · The Acts of Peter and the Twelve Apostles
  17. NHC VI, 2 · The Thunder, Perfect Mind
  18. NHC VI, 3 · The Authentic Logos
  19. NHC VI, 4 · The Idea of Our Great Power
  20. NHC VI, 6 · The Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth
  21. NHC VI, 7 · The Prayer of Thanksgiving
  22. NHC VI, 8 · Excerpt from the Perfect Discourse
  23. NHC VII, 1 · The Paraphrase of Shem
  24. NHC VII, 2 · The Second Discourse of the Great Seth
  25. NHC VII, 3 · The Apocalypse of Peter
  26. NHC VII, 4 · The Teachings of Silvanus
  27. NHC VII, 5 · The Three Steles of Seth
  28. NHC VIII, 1 · Zostrianos
  29. NHC VIII, 2 and CT, 1 · The Letter of Peter to Philip
  30. NHC IX, 1 · Melchizedek
  31. NHC IX, 2 · The Thought of Norea
  32. NHC IX, 3 · The Testimony of Truth
  33. NHC X · Marsanes
  34. NHC XI, 1 · The Interpretation of Knowledge
  35. NHC XI, 2 · A Valentinian Exposition and Liturgical Readings
  36. NHC XI, 3 · The Stranger
  37. NHC XI, 4 · Hypsiphrone
  38. NHC XII, 1 · The Sentences of Sextus
  39. NHC XIII, 1 · Three Forms of Primal Thought
  40. NHC XIII, 2 · On the Origin of the World
  41. CT, 4 · The Book of the Stranger
  42. TC, 5 · Corpus Hermeticum XIII, On Rebirth
  43. BG 8502, 4 · The Act of Peter

About this edition

Source: Luminescence, L.L.C. (luminescence-llc.net) · othergospels.com

Public domain: Public domain by dedication: “committed to the public domain and may be freely copied and used, changed or unchanged, for any purpose” (Samuel Zinner, tr.; Mark M. Mattison, ed.).

What’s included: Every tractate the translators publish as a web page, in codex order (Codices I–XIII, then the Tchacos and Berlin codices), with their notes on the source and the symbols used. Page numbers of the Coptic codex are kept in [square brackets]; footnotes are not included. Not included: texts published only as PDFs (the Secret Writing According to John, the First Apocalypse of James) or hosted elsewhere (the Gospels of Truth, Thomas, Philip, Judas and Mary, and Plato’s Republic).

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