Acts of Thomas

Historical source scan page 307

280 THE ACTS OF JUDAS THOMAS. them from need and from care and from avarice. Lo, then, I have fulfilled Thy will and accomplished Thy work. I have been poor and needy, and a stranger and a slave, and despised and a prisoner, and hungry and thirsty, and naked and barefooted and weary for Thy sake. Let not my trust fail, nor my hope which (is) in Thee be put to shame. Let not my labours be in vain: and let not my toils be found fruitless. Let not my fastings and my urgent prayers perish, and let not my works which (are) in Thee be changed. Let not the enemy snatch away Thy wheat-seed from Thy land, and let not his tares be found in it;* for Thy land cannot receive his tares, and they cannot fall into the garners of Thy husbandman.” And, again he was saying: “I have planted Thy vine in the land; may it cast out roots downwards, and may its tendrils twine upwards, and may its fruits be seen in the land, and may those, who are worthy of Thee and whom Thou hast acquired, delight in them. Thy silver, which Thou gavest me, I have cast down upon Thy table; try it, and give it to me with its usury, as Thou hast promised. With Thy talent I have gained ten; let them be added to what was mine, as Thou hast pro- mised.” To my debtors I have remitted the talent; let not that which I have remitted,“ be demanded at my hand.* To the supper (cass) I have been invited and have come quickly, and have excused myself from the ® See S. Matthew, ch. xiii. 25. | > Compare 8. Matthew, ch. xxv. 14, seqq. ¢ Reading ܕܫܰܒܩܬܿ‎ for ܕܫܒܼܩܬ‎ . 4 Compare S. Matthew, ch. xviii. 23, seqq.