Dialogue of the Savior 6

1Judas asked: “Tell [us], Lord, what [existed] before [heaven and] earth had come into being?”

2The Lord said: “There was darkness and water, and [] a spirit was over the [water]. And I tell you [the truth]: Behold, what you look for and ask about [is] inside you, and it [possesses] the power and the secrecy [of the] spirit, because [it originates] from [the spirit]. Iniquity entered [to destroy] the mind [continually]. Behold, [. . .].”

3[Matthew] said: “Lord, tell us, where is [the soul] set up, and where does the true [mind] live?”

4The Lord [said]: “The fire of the spirit came into existence [between] those two, and thus [spirit] sprang into existence, and the true mind inside them. [Should] one set up the soul on high, then [it will be] be exalted.”

5Matthew asked him: [] “[Is not circumcision necessary], when it is understood [according to the true interpretation]?”

6The Lord [said: “Circumcision is] more profitable than is your [work. emove] from yourselves [what can] persecute you, even everything [inside] your hearts, because as your hearts [are circumcised], so [will you find] a way to conquer the powers above and below. And I say to you, let him [who possesses] power renounce [it and] repent, and let him who [understands] seek and find and rejoice.”

7Judas said: “Behold, see that everything is [precisely] like a sign over [the earth], and that is the reason they have come to exist in this manner.”

8The Lord [said]: “When the Father set up the world, he [gathered together] some of its water, and the word came forth from it. [] It underwent much [trouble, but] it was higher than the path [of the stars] surrounding the whole earth.”

9[He continued]: “The water that is gathered together [above] is beyond the stars, and [beyond] the water <is> a great inferno surrounding them like a wall. As soon as several of the internal entities had divided from the rest, time spans [began to be calculated].

10“When the [(whole) thing] had been set up, he looked [downward], the Father (who) said to it: ‘Go, [send forth something] from yourself, in order that [the earth] might not lack anything from generation to [generation, and] from age to age.’

11“So [it] sent forth from itself fountains of milk, fountains of honey, of oil, of wine, and good fruit and delicious tastes and healthy roots, [in order that] the earth might not lack anything from generation [to] generation, and from age to age.

12“It is above [. . .], [] stood [and displayed] its beauty [. . .]. And outside [there was a great light], brighter [than] the one that resembles it, because that one rules over [all] the aeons above and below. [Light was] extracted from the fire and strewn in the [firmament] above and below. Those over the heaven above and over the earth below hang from them. Everything hangs from them.”

13When Judas had heard this, he prostrated, falling on his knees, and praised the Lord.