The Thunder, Perfect Mind
Translated by George W. MacRae
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I was sent forth from the power,
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and I have come to those who reflect upon me,
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and I have been found among those who seek after me.
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Look upon me, you who reflect upon me,
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and you hearers, hear me.
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You who are waiting for me, take me to yourselves.
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And do not banish me from your sight.
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And do not make your voice hate me, nor your hearing.
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Do not be ignorant of me anywhere or any time. Be on your guard!
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Do not be ignorant of me.
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For I am the first and the last.
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I am the honored one and the scorned one.
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I am the whore and the holy one.
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I am the wife and the virgin.
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I am <the mother> and the daughter.
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I am the members of my mother.
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I am the barren one
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and many are her sons.
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I am she whose wedding is great,
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and I have not taken a husband.
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I am the midwife and she who does not bear.
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I am the solace of my labor pains.
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I am the bride and the bridegroom,
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and it is my husband who begot me.
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I am the mother of my father
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and the sister of my husband
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and he is my offspring.
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I am the slave of him who prepared me.
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I am the ruler of my offspring.
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But he is the one who begot me before the time on a birthday.
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And he is my offspring in (due) time,
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and my power is from him.
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I am the staff of his power in his youth,
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and he is the rod of my old age.
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And whatever he wills happens to me.
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I am the silence that is incomprehensible
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and the idea whose remembrance is frequent.
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I am the voice whose sound is manifold
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and the word whose appearance is multiple.
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I am the utterance of my name.
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Why, you who hate me, do you love me,
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and hate those who love me?
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You who deny me, confess me,
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and you who confess me, deny me.
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You who tell the truth about me, lie about me,
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and you who have lied about me, tell the truth about me.
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You who know me, be ignorant of me,
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and those who have not known me, let them know me.
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For I am knowledge and ignorance.
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I am shame and boldness.
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I am shameless; I am ashamed.
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I am strength and I am fear.
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I am war and peace.
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Give heed to me.
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I am the one who is disgraced and the great one.
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Give heed to my poverty and my wealth.
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Do not be arrogant to me when I am cast out upon the earth,
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and you will find me in those that are to come.
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And do not look upon me on the dung-heap
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nor go and leave me cast out,
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and you will find me in the kingdoms.
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And do not look upon me when I am cast out among those who
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are disgraced and in the least places,
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nor laugh at me.
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And do not cast me out among those who are slain in violence.
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But I, I am compassionate and I am cruel.
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Be on your guard!
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Do not hate my obedience
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and do not love my self-control.
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In my weakness, do not forsake me,
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and do not be afraid of my power.
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For why do you despise my fear
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and curse my pride?
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But I am she who exists in all fears
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and strength in trembling.
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I am she who is weak,
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and I am well in a pleasant place.
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I am senseless and I am wise.
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Why have you hated me in your counsels?
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For I shall be silent among those who are silent,
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and I shall appear and speak,
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Why then have you hated me, you Greeks?
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Because I am a barbarian among the barbarians?
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For I am the wisdom of the Greeks
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and the knowledge of the barbarians.
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I am the judgement of the Greeks and of the barbarians.
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I am the one whose image is great in Egypt
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and the one who has no image among the barbarians.
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I am the one who has been hated everywhere
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and who has been loved everywhere.
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I am the one whom they call Life,
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and you have called Death.
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I am the one whom they call Law,
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and you have called Lawlessness.
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I am the one whom you have pursued,
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and I am the one whom you have seized.
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I am the one whom you have scattered,
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and you have gathered me together.
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I am the one before whom you have been ashamed,
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and you have been shameless to me.
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I am she who does not keep festival,
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and I am she whose festivals are many.
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I, I am godless,
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and I am the one whose God is great.
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I am the one whom you have reflected upon,
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and you have scorned me.
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I am unlearned,
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and they learn from me.
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I am the one that you have despised,
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and you reflect upon me.
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I am the one whom you have hidden from,
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and you appear to me.
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But whenever you hide yourselves,
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I myself will appear.
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For whenever you appear,
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I myself will hide from you.
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Those who have [...] to it [...] senselessly [...].
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Take me [... understanding] from grief.
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and take me to yourselves from understanding and grief.
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And take me to yourselves from places that are ugly and in ruin,
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and rob from those which are good even though in ugliness.
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Out of shame, take me to yourselves shamelessly;
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and out of shamelessness and shame,
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upbraid my members in yourselves.
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And come forward to me, you who know me
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and you who know my members,
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and establish the great ones among the small first creatures.
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Come forward to childhood,
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and do not despise it because it is small and it is little.
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And do not turn away greatnesses in some parts from the smallnesses,
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for the smallnesses are known from the greatnesses.
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Why do you curse me and honor me?
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You have wounded and you have had mercy.
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Do not separate me from the first ones whom you have known.
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And do not cast anyone out nor turn anyone away
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[...] turn you away and [... know] him not.
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[...].
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What is mine [...].
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I know the first ones and those after them know me.
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But I am the mind of [...] and the rest of [...].
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I am the knowledge of my inquiry,
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and the finding of those who seek after me,
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and the command of those who ask of me,
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and the power of the powers in my knowledge
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of the angels, who have been sent at my word,
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and of gods in their seasons by my counsel,
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and of spirits of every man who exists with me,
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and of women who dwell within me.
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I am the one who is honored, and who is praised,
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and who is despised scornfully.
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I am peace,
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and war has come because of me.
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And I am an alien and a citizen.
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I am the substance and the one who has no substance.
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Those who are without association with me are ignorant of me,
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and those who are in my substance are the ones who know me.
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Those who are close to me have been ignorant of me,
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and those who are far away from me are the ones who have known me.
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On the day when I am close to you, you are far away from me,
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and on the day when I am far away from you, I am close to you.
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[I am ...] within.
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[I am ...] of the natures.
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I am [...] of the creation of the spirits.
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[...] request of the souls.
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I am control and the uncontrollable.
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I am the union and the dissolution.
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I am the abiding and I am the dissolution.
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I am the one below,
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and they come up to me.
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I am the judgment and the acquittal.
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I, I am sinless,
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and the root of sin derives from me.
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I am lust in (outward) appearance,
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and interior self-control exists within me.
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I am the hearing which is attainable to everyone
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and the speech which cannot be grasped.
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I am a mute who does not speak,
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and great is my multitude of words.
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Hear me in gentleness, and learn of me in roughness.
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I am she who cries out,
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and I am cast forth upon the face of the earth.
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I prepare the bread and my mind within.
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I am the knowledge of my name.
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I am the one who cries out,
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and I listen.
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I appear and [...] walk in [...] seal of my [...].
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I am [...] the defense [...].
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I am the one who is called Truth
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and iniquity [...].
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You honor me [...] and you whisper against me.
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You who are vanquished, judge them (who vanquish you)
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before they give judgment against you,
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because the judge and partiality exist in you.
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If you are condemned by this one, who will acquit you?
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Or, if you are acquitted by him, who will be able to detain you?
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For what is inside of you is what is outside of you,
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and the one who fashions you on the outside
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is the one who shaped the inside of you.
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And what you see outside of you, you see inside of you;
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it is visible and it is your garment.
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Hear me, you hearers
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and learn of my words, you who know me.
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I am the hearing that is attainable to everything;
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I am the speech that cannot be grasped.
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I am the name of the sound
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and the sound of the name.
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I am the sign of the letter
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and the designation of the division.
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And I [...].
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(3 lines missing)
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[...] light [...].
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[...] hearers [...] to you
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[...] the great power.
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And [...] will not move the name.
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[...] to the one who created me.
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And I will speak his name.
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Look then at his words
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and all the writings which have been completed.
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Give heed then, you hearers
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and you also, the angels and those who have been sent,
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and you spirits who have arisen from the dead.
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For I am the one who alone exists,
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and I have no one who will judge me.
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For many are the pleasant forms which exist in numerous sins,
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and incontinencies,
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and disgraceful passions,
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and fleeting pleasures,
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which (men) embrace until they become sober
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and go up to their resting place.
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And they will find me there,
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and they will live,
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and they will not die again.
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