May He soon destroy the house,

and may all the works of those [who took part in making it] be destroyed and ruined.

May the right-hand part of the men of tested righteousness ascend,

that dwells in the place of the truthful.

From the whole Tibil

may that part ascend to the light.

Then may the whole Tibil be destroyed,

and the works in it perish.

Of a thousand may one ascend,

of ten thousand two.

May the souls of the Nasoraeans ascend

who did not partake of the food of the children of the Tibil.

They were not defiled by filth

and did not accept perversity and filth.

They did not accept perversity and filth

and were not held back in the turbidity of the Tibil,

were not held back by the works of the Tibil.

But the works of the Tibil

and their peoples and souls,

as well as Satan, the false messiah and the twelve gates

will go into the blazing fire.

But the truthful and faithful men will ascend

and behold the bright dwelling. —

God is held high and is victorious,

and victorious is the man who has gone hence.

Third Piece

The living water is drawn to the earthly world, and Silmai and Nidbai are appointed guardians over it. Before them the living water laments that it has been brought to the evil, lower world. The guardians comfort it with the thought that it is to serve for the baptism of the Mandaeans. The living water then expresses the fear that it will be called to account for its own and the Nasoraeans' sins. Silmai and Nidbai point out that the earthly world will one day come to an end; even its makers will then find mercy.

In the name of the great God

be glorified the exalted light. —

At the beginning of the creation of the living water

and at the end of all Jordans,

at the beginning of the drawing of the living water,

which was drawn from its place and came,

when the plan arose

and the water was formed from its place,

when the firmament was stretched out

and the earth was made firm,

when Adam, the man of flesh, came into being

and guardians were appointed over him,

when the soul was formed from its primal vessel,

went there and fell into the body,

then they planned to draw living water

and to cast it into the turbid water,

to draw courses of living water

and to appoint guardians over them.

The guardians who would be appointed over it

were to spread radiance over it,

were to speak with the voice of life

and to draw the root up hither.

They made the stream of living water

and entrusted it to the two first-born,

the first creation, which had come from God.

They made Silmai and Nidbai

and set them up as helpers.

They granted them enlightenment

and blessed them with a good blessing.

They granted them knowledge

more wondrous than all the world.

They granted them an exalted call,

to rouse the sleepers and make them rise.

They were to awaken the souls

that have stumbled away from the light.

They were to awaken and rouse them,

that they may lift their face to the place of light.

They drew the living water,

and it arrived in the world.

When the living water arrived from the House of God,

it was in grief and sighing.

It was in grief and in sighing,

and its strength diminished.

Its strength diminished,

and it said to Silmai and Nidbai:

"By whose power was I drawn

and cut off from my place?

Who has cut me off from knowledge,

which is more wondrous than all the world?

Who has cut me off from Truth and the primal vessel

and from the fellowship that is bound to its place and ascends thither?

Who has cut me off from the form

that the angels bear in the place of light?

Who has cut me off from the hidden speech

in which the two mountains converse?

Who has cut me off from the hidden speech

in which the great ones converse?

When shall I behold the form of the two faces

that honour one another?

For the place to which I go

is of dark form, which does not shine.

My strength is taken away,

and I shall be cut off in the turbid water.

In me wickedness forms,

from me lack and fault go forth.

Perverse things the rebels do to me,

and my understanding and my root are taken away.

Power over me is gained by the creatures

of the vain monsters.

Bodies are murdered in me,

and blood is poured out over me.

Wickedness gains the upper hand in the Tibil,

and my stumbling-blocks become many.

The rebels oppress me with floods of water,

and so the souls in me perish."

When the living water made this speech

to Silmai and Nidbai,

Silmai and Nidbai answered

and spoke from their place.

They spoke with their mighty speech

to the living water as follows:

"Be calm, living water, and quiet thyself,

for we will speak to thee about this and that.

We will speak to thee about the lack, the grief and the wickedness

that proceeded from the second,

about the wickedness that proceeded from the angel Ptahil,

who rose from the black water.

Ptahil rose from the black water,

and all the ugly, destructive works rose with him.

With him rose lack,

with him was sighing.

Yet because Abathur [raised] his pure right hand,

that his works might not perish,

because he ........ the souls,