Whoever steps upon it dies,

whoever sees it is scorched.

I beheld the dragons

that are cast into it and writhe.

I beheld the dragons

of every kind and every sort.

I beheld the vehicles of the people of darkness,

which are not alike one another.

I beheld the wicked rebels,

how they sit in vehicles.

I beheld the wicked rebels,

how they are clothed with the weapon of the wicked.

They are clothed with the weapon of the wicked

and plot evil against the place of light.

When I saw them,

I turned back to my Lord's house.

I came before God

and reported to Him how I had seen them.

I reported to Him about the king of darkness,

reported to Him about this and that.

As I had seen the things,

I reported them before God.

"How shall I travel to that place, the place of darkness,

into the darkness in which there is no ray of light,

to the vein of the water of the earth of darkness,

which seethes, rises up and writhes?

Whoever steps upon it dies,

whoever sees it is scorched."

I shall ascend to the Great One and say:

"Whence came the darkness,

whence came the darkness,

whence its inhabitants?

Whence come their works,

which are so ugly and dreadful?

Whence came its defect,

which is so vast,

whose sight is so ugly and dreadful,

which is all full of rifts?

All full of rifts it is.

Whence came the mighty, wicked fiends

who sit in the burning?

Whence came the black water,

which boils and writhes so?

Whoever steps upon it dies,

whoever sees it is scorched.

Whence came the dragons

that are cast into the water and writhe?

Whence came their vehicles,

whence the wicked who sit in them?

Whence came Hewath, the woman,

of every kind and every sort?"

When I spoke so before God,

God, my Lord, showed Himself in His fullness, without lack.

God knows it well,

God knows it and keeps silence.

God knows it well

and speaks to me:

"Come, that we may enlighten you, Manda d-Haije,

you vigorous, well-equipped Uthra.

Before all the worlds came into being,

this great fruit was there.

When the great fruit was in the great fruit,

the great King of Light, the Lord of Glory, came into being.

From the great King of Light, the Lord of Glory,

the great ether of splendour came into being.

From the great ether of splendour

the living fire came into being.

From the living fire

the light came into being.

By the power of the King of Light

life and the great fruit came into being.

The great fruit came into being,

and in it the river came into being.

The great river came into being,

the living water came into being.

The shining, glorious water came into being,

and from the living water all the Uthras came into being by My command."

Then I said before God:

"Since You were there, O Living One,

how did the darkness come into being?

How did the darkness come into being,

how did lack and fault come into being?"

When I had spoken so to God,

He was full of kindness.

God was full of kindness

and spoke to Manda d-Haije:

"You vigorous Uthra,

you vigorous, well-equipped Uthra,

you, vigorous Uthra, do you not know

how the darkness came into being,

how the darkness came into being,

how lack and fault came into being?"

When God spoke so to me,

I asked for permission to say how it was.

I spoke to the great God,

to the Living One, who was from of old:

"If I were not to speak about this,

I would not belong to the mighty.

But since I belong to the great,

God Himself has enlightened me as to how it was."

God spoke to me in His majesty,

[spoke to me] at His praise:

"We give you permission, vigorous Uthra,

vigorous, well-equipped Uthra,

we give you permission, vigorous Uthra,

to say how it was,

to teach the hidden Uthras,

to teach all the chosen,

how the Uthras of the hidden place came into being."

When God spoke so to me,

I repeated, with the praise of the Mighty One,

with joy in the great God,

what God had spoken to me, namely:

"You, Uthra, arise, go to the house of the great,

to the place where the mighty sit,

the place where the great sit,

that they may give you instruction about this and that."

When the Great One spoke so to me,

I went to the house of the mighty,

the place where the great sit,