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The Gospel of Judas—that is, the Gospel of Judas Iscariot
1
—is a text that has been known by title from the comments of the heresiologist Irenaeus of Lyon but has been made available only recently. The Gospel of Judas communicates a series of conversations between Jesus and his students, and particularly Judas Iscariot. Within the text Judas is the only one of the students who understands who Jesus actually is, and he refers to Jesus, in terms familiar from gnostic and especially Sethian gnostic sources, as coming from the exalted realm of Barbelo—that is, in a name of apparent Hebrew derivation, from the realm of the highest manifestation of divinity, perhaps “god in four,” god in the holy four-letter name, Yahweh. Jesus, as a revealer of wisdom, proceeds to provide for Judas a series of insights into the nature of the divine and the character of the universe, and the emergence of the cosmos is recounted in brilliant detail, from the great invisible spirit above and the angelic emanations of light to the gloomy powers of the world of mortality below, named with the Aramaic names Nebro, Yaldabaoth, and Sakla. In the end Jesus says that he has told Judas everything, and that Judas will hand over to the authorities the mortal body Jesus has been using. That is precisely what Judas does at the end of the gospel.
The Gospel of Judas has been reassembled from papyrus fragments, but lacunae or gaps remain in the manuscript. (Some lacunae
have been filled with newly recovered fragments.) In this translation the Semitic name Yeshua is given for Jesus and Yehuda for Judas (or, one time, for the land of Judea), and several times rabbi
is used for master
(Coptic sah
; the word rabbi
, partially restored, is also present in one instance in the manuscript). Mihael is the angel Michael and Gavriel is the angel Gabriel. The celebration of the Pesach refers to Passover, and Adamas refers to Adam above, the ideal, heavenly human. The word Amen
is retained in the familiar authoritative formula of Jesus, “Amen I say to you.”
Secret Revelation
Here is the secret revelation Yeshua
had with Yehuda Iskariot in one week
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three days before the Pesach celebration.
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Yeshua Tells of Mysteries Beyond This World
When Yeshua came to live upon the earth
he did dynamic miracles and wonders
for the salvation of the peopled world.
While some walked in the way of justice,
others ambled about in their transgressions,
and so he called for twelve students to help.
He spoke to them about the mysteries
beyond the world and what would happen when
the end came upon them. And frequently
he wouldn’t come himself before his students:
mingled among them they would find a child.
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Yeshua Astonishes His Students
One day in Yehuda
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he went to his students.
He found them all sitting together as
they all were practicing group piety.
When he came near, they offered
a prayer of thanks over the bread. He laughed.
The students said, “Rabbi, why do you laugh
at us for giving thanks? Are we in error?”
He answered, saying to them, “I don’t laugh
at you. You are acting not of your own will
but so that through these things your god will know
your offerings of praise.” They said, “Rabbi,
you are the son of our own god.”
And Yeshua
told them, “How do you know me? Amen I say
to you, no generation of the people
who walk among you will know who I am.”
Angry Students
When the students had listened to all of this,
they broke into anger and fury. They
began to execrate him in their hearts.
When Yeshua noticed their deep ignorance
and interior weakness, he asked them,
“Why has your agitation made you furious?
The god who operates inside you
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spurs
the anger in your souls. Let any one of you
endowed with strength among human beings
produce the perfect human, and stand nea
r
so I can gaze on him face-to-face.”
They all replied to him, “We have that strength.”
Here their beings of spirit didn’t dare to stand
before him, except for Yehuda Iskariot.
He was able to stand before the figure
but couldn’t look him in the eye and turned
his face down and away. Yehuda said,
“I know who you are and where you come from.
You are from the deathless realm of the aeon
of Barbelo, the holy source of all,
and my mouth is unworthy to utter
the ineffable name of him who sent you.”
Yeshua Speaks to Yehuda Privately of His Fate
When Yeshua saw Yehuda brooding on the rest
of what is exalted, he motioned to him,
“Come here and I shall tell you mysteries
of the kingdom, not that you’ll go there,
but you’ll go through deep grief,
for someone will replace you to complete
the circle of the twelve before their god.”
Yehuda said to him, “When will you give
me these secrets? And when will the great day
of light spread dawn upon the generation?”
But by the time he spoke, Yeshua was gone
.
Yeshua Tells His Students of Earthly and Eternal Generations
Early in the morning Yeshua came again
before his students, and they said to him,
“Rabbi, after you left us you disappeared.
Where did you travel to, what did you do?”
Yeshua told them, “I went to a holy and great
dominion of another generation.”
His students asked, “What is the great generation
that lies above us, holier than we are,
and one that doesn’t glitter in our world?”
When Yeshua heard this, he laughed and said,
“Why are you mumbling in your hearts
about the strong and holy generation?
Amen I tell you, no one born in this aeon
will be able to glimpse that generation,
and no army of angels from the stars
will have dominion over that generation,
and no person of mortal birth can join it,
because that generation is not from
what has come to be
the generation of the people among them,
but it is from the generation of the great people
the powerful authorities
nor any of the powers
those by which you rule.”
When his students heard this, each of them sank,
spirit in turmoil, and couldn’t say a word
.
And on another day Yeshua came up
to be among them. And they said to him,
“Rabbi, we’ve seen you in a night vision,
in great dreams last night.” He answered,
“Why have you fled into hiding?”
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The Students Envision the Temple
They said, “We’ve seen a giant house. It has
a great altar inside. They are the twelve men.
We think that they are priests. There is a name,
and crowds of people are waiting at the altar
till the priests present the offerings.
We were there too.” Yeshua said,
“And what are these priests like?”
They answered, “Some fast for two weeks.
Some sacrifice their children, others wives,
all under ruses of humility
or praise. Some sleep with men, and others murder.
And some perform a multitude of sins
and lawless acts. And yet these men before
the altar constantly invoke your name,
and in their own deeds of sacrifice
they fill the altar with offerings.”
After their speech they were silent and troubled.
Yeshua Speaks about the Temple and Sacrifices at the Altar
Yeshua said to them, “Why are you troubled?
Amen I say to you, all the priests standing
before the altar proclaim my name. Agai
n
I say to you, my name has been set down
in writing in the generations of the stars
through the human generations.
They operate, planting trees that bear no fruit,
shamefully, and do so in my name.” He went on,
“Those whom you’ve seen presenting offerings
before the altar, they are the ones you are.
That is the god you serve, and you are those
twelve men you also saw. Cattle you saw
brought in for sacrifice mirror the many
people you lead astray before that same
altar. The ruler of the world
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will stand,
using my name in such a way, and generations
of those with faith and piety stand loyal
by him. Yet after him another man
will stand before you from the fornicators,
another from the child-slayers,
another from those who sleep with men,
from those who keep the fast, and from all
the others, from among the people of pollution,
lawlessness, and error. Some say, ‘We are like
angels.’ They are stars bringing an end to all.
And to this generation’s human beings
it is announced, ‘Look, now god has received
your sacrifice from a priest’s hands,’ meaning
a minister of error. But it is the lord
of the universe who commands and speaks.
On the last day they will be shamed and punished.”
Stop Sacrificing
Yeshua said to them, “Stop sacrificing animals.
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On the altar you lifted them up
,
and they are over your stars with your angels,
where they already have come to their end.
So let them be of no account before you,
and let them be clear to you.”
His students said, “Rabbi,
cleanse us from the
that we have done
through the deceit of the angels.”
Yeshua said to them,
“It is impossible
nor can a fountain quench the fire
of the whole peopled world,
nor can a city’s spring satisfy
all the generations,
except the great one, as is its destiny.
And a single lamp will not illumine
all the aeons,
except the second generation,
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nor can a baker feed all of creation
under heaven.” When the students heard this,
they said to him, “Master, help us, save us.”
The Stars
Yeshua told them, “Stop struggling with me.
Each of you has a star assigned to you
the stars will
I was not sent to the corruptible generation
but to the generatio
n
that is strong and incorruptible.
For no enemy has ruled over
that generation, nor any of the stars.
Amen I say to you, the pillar of fire
will fall quickly, and that generation
will not move stars.”
When Yeshua
said these things, he left
and took Yehuda Iskariot with him.
He said to him, “The water
of the lofty mountain
is from
that has not come
a spring of water for the tree
of this aeon after a time
but this has come to water
god’s paradise and the enduring generation,
because it won’t defile the walk through life
of that generation, forever and forever.”
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Yehuda Asks Yeshua about Bearing Fruit
Yehuda asked him, “Rabbi, what kind of fruit
does this generation yield?”
Yeshua replied,
“The souls of each human generation
will die. However, when these people end
the time within the kingdom
and the spirit leaves them,
their bodies die, but their souls
will stay alive, and they will be
risen above.
”
Yehuda asked,
“And what will all the other human generations
do?”
Yeshua said, “It is impossible
to sow seed upon rock and harvest fruit.
That is the action of the defiled peoples
and of wisdom that is corrupted
the hand creating mortal people,
so their souls rise up to eternal
realms above. Amen I say to you,
no authority or angel or power can see
the realms that this great holy generation
And after Yeshua spoke these words he left.
Yehuda’s Vision
Yehuda said, “Rabbi, as you have heard
all the others, hear me. I’ve had a vision.”
When Yeshua heard this, he broke into laughter
and said to him, “You who are the thirteenth
daimon,
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why do you try so hard? But speak
to me, and I shall be here to hear you.”
Yehuda told him, “In the vision I saw
myself and the twelve students stoning me
and persecuting me most grievously.
I also came to the place where you were.
I saw a house of such
cosmic dimension that my eye
s
could not perceive the scope. Great people
surrounded it, and that house had a single
room,
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and in the middle of the house
was a crowd
I was saying, ‘Rabbi, take me in along
with all these people.’”
Yeshua answered, saying,
“Yehuda, your star led you astray. Further,
no person of mortal birth is worthy
to go into the house that you have seen.
It’s for the holy, solely for them. Neither sun
nor moon will have dominion there, nor day,
and yet the holy will live there forever
in the eternal realm with holy angels.
Look, I have revealed to you the mysteries
of the kingdom and I have taught you
about the error of the stars, and send
on the twelve aeons.”
Yehuda Asks What Will Happen to Him
Yehuda asked him, “Rabbi, could my seed,
my heritage, fall under the control of
the archons, who are rulers of this world?”
Yeshua answered, telling him, “Come here
that I may
But you know deepest sorrow when you see
the kingdom and all of its generation.”
When he heard this, Yehuda said to him,
“What good to me is what I have received
?
For you have set me apart
from that generation.”
Yeshua answered him,
saying, “You will become the thirteenth,
and you will be cursed by other generations.
In the end you will rule over them.
In the last days they will oppose you,
so you’ll not rise up to the holy generation.”
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Cosmology of the Spirit
Yeshua said, “Come here so I can teach you
what no person has ever seen,
for there exists a great and boundless realm
whose horizons not even a generation
of angels has looked upon. And therein
is the great invisible spirit,
which no eye of an angel has ever seen,
no thought of the heart has ever comprehended,
and it was never called by any name.
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“Then a luminous cloud of light appeared.
The spirit said, ‘Let an angel come into
being and he will become my attendant.’
A great angel, the enlightened divine
self-generated, emerged from the cloud.
Because of him four other angels came
into existence from another cloud,
and they became attendants for the angel,
the self-generated angel, who said,
‘Let Adamas come into being,’ and Adamas
emerged into being. And he create
d
the first luminary for him to reign over.
He said, ‘Let angels come into being
to serve him,’ and myriads suddenly came
into being. He said, ‘Let an enlightened
aeon come into being,’ and he came into
being. Then he created the second luminary
to reign over him, together with myriads
beyond number to serve and offer worship.
This is how he created other enlightened
aeons. He made them to reign over them,
and he created for them myriads of angels
beyond number to serve and offer worship.
Adamas and Luminaries
“Adamas was in the first luminous cloud
that no angel has ever seen among all
those who are called ‘god.’ He was
after the image
and after the likeness of the angel.
He made the incorruptible generation
of Seth appear to the twelve luminaries,
twenty-four of them.
He made seventy-two luminaries appear
in the incorruptible generation
in accordance with the spirit’s will.
Then the seventy-two luminaries
made three hundred sixty luminaries
appear in the incorruptible generation,
in accordance with the spirit’s will
that their number might be five for each.
“The twelve aeons of the twelve luminaries
constitute their father, with six heaven
s
for each aeon, so there are seventy-two
heavens for the seventy-two luminaries,
and for each of them five firmaments.
This comes to three hundred sixty
firmaments. They were given dominion
and a great army of angels beyond number,
for glory and adoration, and also
virgin spirits for glory and adoration
of all aeons, heavens, and their firmaments.
Cosmos, Chaos, and Underworld
“The entire multitude of those immortals
is called the cosmos—corruption, inviting
decay—by the father and the seventy-two
luminaries who are with the self-generated
and his seventy-two aeons. In the cosmos
appeared the first human
with his incorruptible powers. And the
aeon who appeared with his generation,
the aeon in whom are the cloud of knowledge
and the angel, is called El
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an aeon
and later it was said, ‘Let twelve
angels come into being to govern chaos and
the underworld.’ And look, from the cloud came
an angel. His face flashed with fire, his countenance
was defiled with blood, and his name was Nebro,
meaning ‘rebel’; others call him Yaldabaoth.
Another angel, Sakla, also came from the cloud.
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So Nebro made six angels, with Sakla,
to be his assistants, and each of these
produced twelve angels in the heavens,
each one possessing a section of the sky.
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Rulers and Angels of the Underworld
“The twelve rulers spoke with the twelve angels,
‘Let each of you and let them a generation
and here are the five angels:
The first is Seth, who is called the Christ.
The second is Harmathoth, who is
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The third is Galila.
The fourth is Yobel.
The fifth is Adonaios.
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These are the five ruling the underworld,
and first of all they are over chaos.’
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Creation of People on the Earth
“Then Sakla said to his angels, ‘Let us make
a human being after the likeness and after
the image.’ They fashioned Adam and his wife
Eve, who in the cloud is known as Zoe,
which means ‘life.’ And by this name all generations
seek the man, and each of them calls the woman
by their own names. Now, Sakla didn’t command
produced, except
among the generations
which this
The angel said to Adam,
‘You shall live for a time with your children.’
”
Yehuda Asks about Adam’s Destiny
Yehuda said to Yeshua, “What is the value
of human life?”
Yeshua said,
“Why do you ponder these things? Adam
and his generation have lived their span
of life where he received his kingdom, and
with the longevity in keeping with his ruler.”
Yehuda said to Yeshua, “Does the human spirit
die?”
Yeshua said, “This is why god told Mihael
to give the people spirits only on loan
so that they might offer service, but the great one
ordered Gavriel to grant spirits to the great
generation, with no ruler commanding it,
but their spirit and their soul. Therefore,
the other souls ”
Yeshua Speaks of the Destruction of the Wicked
“ light chaos
seek after the spirit within you,
which you made to live
in flesh among the generations of
the angels. But god had knowledge brought
to Adam and those with him so that the kings
of chaos and the underworld might not
impose dominion over them.”
Yehuda
said to Yeshua, “So what will those generations
do?
”
Yeshua Explains Salvation History
Yeshua said, “Amen I say to you,
for all of them the stars bring events
to their consummation. When Sakla completes
the span of life assigned him, their first star
will sparkle with generations, and they
will finish what it is said they’d do.
They will fornicate in my name, will slay
their children, and they will
the aeons that bring their generations
which represent them to Sakla.
After that -rael
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will come
bringing the twelve tribes of Israel
from and the generations
will all serve Sakla,
also sinning in my name.
And your star will rule over
the thirteenth aeon.”
At this Yeshua laughed.
Yehuda said, “Rabbi, why are you laughing
Yeshua answered, saying, “I don’t laugh
at you but at the error of the stars,
because these six stars are wandering about
with these five combatants,
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and they
will all be destroyed along with their creatures.”
Yehuda said to Yeshua, “Those
who have been bathed in your name,
what will they do?
”
Yeshua said, “Amen I say
to you, this bathing in my name
will destroy the entire generation
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of the earthly man Adam. Tomorrow
they will torment the one who bears me.
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Amen I say to you, no hand
of mortal human will sin against me.
Amen I say to you, Yehuda,
those who offer sacrifices to Sakla
will all
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since upon the
all of them everything evil.
Yehuda Will Surpass Them All
“But you will surpass all of them, for you
will sacrifice the man who bears me.
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“Already your horn is raised,
your anger is on fire,
your star has passed by,
and your heart has grown strong.
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“Amen I say to you, your last become
and the kings have grown weak,
and the generations of the angels have grieved,
and those who are evil the ruler,
since he is destroyed. And then the image
of the great generation of Adam
will be exalted. Before there was heaven,
earth, and angels, that generation coming
from the eternal realms existed. And look
,
you have been told everything that is.
Raise your eyes and look at the cloud
and at the light within it and the stars
surrounding it. The star that leads the way
is your star.”
Yehuda raised his eyes and
saw the luminous cloud. And he entered
into it.
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Those standing on the ground heard
a voice coming from the cloud, saying,
“ great generation
image ”
Yehuda Hands Yeshua Over
And Yehuda saw Yeshua no more.
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All at once there was a disturbance
among the Jews
Their high priests murmured because he
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had gone into the guest room to pray. Yet
some of the scribes were there, watching sharply
and carefully in order to arrest him
while at prayer. They were afraid of the Jews,
who esteemed him as a prophet. They came
near Yehuda and said to him, “What are
you doing here? You are Yeshua’s student.”
He answered them just as they wished.
Yehuda received some money
and then he handed Yeshua over to them.
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