Prayers XXI–XXIV
These four prayers form the post-baptismal sequence of the Mandaean liturgy — from the ascent out of the Jordan to the anointing with oil. Prayer XXI is a dialogue poem: a first-person narrator ascends from the Jordan and meets the tribe of the souls, who embrace Father Shitil and beg him to accompany them. He asks who will be their witness. They propose the sun — he rejects it: the sun rises and sets, the sun passes away, its worshippers pass away with it. They propose the moon, then fire; each is rejected on the same grounds. Only when they name the Jordan itself, the Pihta (sacred bread), the Kushta (truth-handclasp), the Mambuha (sacred drink), Sunday, the charitable offering, the temple, the alms, and their Father — only then does Shitil accept: "This is what I wish; this is what my soul wills." The prayer is a sustained polemic against solar, lunar, and fire worship, and an affirmation that only the Mandaean sacramental acts constitute true witnesses at the final trial. Prayers XXII through XXIV form the anointing sequence. Prayer XXII confesses the Name of Life through a chain of divine beings. Prayer XXIII adjures the sacred oil and contains an explicit polemic: the oil was given "not in the name of God, not in the name of the Spirit, not in the name of Christ, not in the name of the Astarte of the temple" — but in the name of the living, luminous lineage. Prayer XXIV declares the oil's healing power in a crescendo that ends in a resurrection formula: "It falls upon the dead, and he lives."
Good Works Translation from Classical Mandaic. Translated from the Mandaic text in Hebrew-letter transcription as published in Mark Lidzbarski's edition of Bodleian MS Marsh 691 (Mandaische Liturgien, Berlin, 1920), pages 31–39. Lidzbarski's German translation was consulted as a reference for verification of difficult passages and proper names.
XXI. The Witnesses of the Jordan
In the name of Life.
From the Jordan I ascended —
there I met the tribe of the souls.
The tribe of the souls I met,
who embraced our Father Shitil.
They speak to him:
"By your life, our Father Shitil,
go with us to the Jordan."
"If I go with you to the Jordan,
who will be witness for you?"
"When the sun has risen,
it will be witness for us."
"That is not what I wish;
that is not what my soul wills.
The sun, of which you spoke,
rises in the morning and sets in the evening.
The sun, of which you spoke —
the sun passes away.
Yes, the sun passes away,
and its worshippers pass away with it."
From the Jordan I ascended —
there I met the tribe of the souls.
The tribe of the souls I met,
who embraced our Father Shitil.
They speak to him:
"By your life, our Father Shitil,
go with us to the Jordan."
"If I go with you to the Jordan,
who will be witness for you?"
"When the moon has risen,
it will be witness for us."
"That is not what I wish;
that is not what my soul wills.
The moon, of which you spoke,
rises in the evening and sets in the morning.
The moon, of which you spoke —
the moon passes away.
Yes, the moon passes away,
and its worshippers pass away with it."
From the Jordan I ascended —
there I met the tribe of the souls.
The tribe of the souls I met,
who embraced our Father Shitil.
They speak to him:
"By your life, our Father Shitil,
go with us to the Jordan."
"If I go with you to the Jordan,
who will be witness for you?"
"When the fire is blazing,
it will be witness for us."
"That is not what I wish;
that is not what my soul wills.
The fire, of which you spoke,
goes out at its appointed time by day.
The fire, of which you spoke —
the fire passes away.
Yes, the fire passes away,
and its worshippers pass away with it."
From the Jordan I ascended —
there I met the tribe of the souls.
The tribe of the souls I met,
who embraced our Father Shitil.
They speak to him:
"By your life, our Father Shitil,
go with us to the Jordan."
"If I go with you to the Jordan,
who will be witness for you?"
"The Jordan with its two banks
will be witness for us.
The Pihta, the Kushta, and the Mambuha
will be witness for us.
Sunday and the charitable offering
will be witness for us.
The temple in which we worship
will be witness for us.
The alms in our hands
will be witness for us.
Our Father at our head
will be witness for us."
"This is what I wish;
this is what my soul wills.
When I ascend to the House of Life
and go to the luminous dwelling,
when Life questions me,
witnesses will come and testify.
True witnesses are they —
true is everything they say."
And Life is victorious.
This hymn is recited after "Blessed be you, outer gate."
XXII. The Confession of the Name
We confessed the Name of Life — the great, high Krater, entirely without end or number: Jaluz, Jaluz, Jaluza, Shabut, the great matter of Life; Piriawis, the vessel of living water; Shinasar, the founder of the image of the House of Life; Life, which turned its eyes upon the water — it ascended, looked about, and beheld the nest from which it had come.
Jolin-Joshapin; Nbat, the first sprout, the outflow of Life, as its designation, as its Second. San-Smir, its Third; Bihram, the son of the mighty Life; Jokabar, the Word of Life, which came to the righteous, believing men from the House of Life.
To every one who is anointed with this oil — over which I have spoken the name of the mighty, alien Life, over which I have spoken these hidden names — healing shall come to the body, very great, not small.
And Life is victorious.
XXIII. The Adjuration of the Oil
In the name of Life.
You are the precious oil — son of the white sesame, son of the bank of the Euphrates, son of the ear of the Jordan, son of the cisterns, son of the treasures of light. Life laid its hand upon you, oil, and sent you into this world — which is all birth — to heal, to raise up, to set straight, and to alleviate all pains, plagues, afflictions, woes, and curses: the seven mysteries that sit in the body.
I adjure you, oil; I seal you, oil — by Life, by Manda d'Hayye, by the Uthras, the sons of salvation, and by that alien man who is precious, wondrous, and perfect, who called out to the men of tested righteousness, the sons of light, and said to them:
"Give me the precious oil — the son of the white sesame, the son of the bank of the Euphrates, the son of the ear of the Jordan, the son of the cisterns, the son of the treasures of light. Grant it, and I will give you oil — oil of radiance, light, and glory.
"The oil with which I anointed and which I gave was not in the name of God, not in the name of the Spirit, not in the name of Christ, not in the name of the Astarte of the temple. The oil with which I anointed and which I gave was in my name, for my sign, and in the name and for the sign of the living, radiant, resplendent, luminous lineage."
Every one who is anointed with this oil will live and find healing and permanence. Like Enosh it will be for his body; like Enosh it will be for his mouth; like Enosh it will be in his belly. Out of him will spring forth and come forth the seven treasures of death and the eight [...] of darkness. From him will be sprayed away and overthrown the demons, Dews, Seden, spirits, amulet-spirits, and Liliths — for the power, the radiance, and the light of Manda d'Hayye is great.
And praised be Life.
XXIV. The Oil of the First Life
In the name of Life.
You were sustained, first Life — you who were from all eternity, before whom no one was.
He was filled and went forth with his power and his radiance, and with the splendor and the strength that his Father placed within him. We suffered nothing from what you touched us with. You widened our steps; you raised our eyes to the heights; you descended and let us dwell at the springs of Life. You poured into us and filled us with your wisdom, your insight, and your goodness. You showed us the way on which you came from the House of Life.
Upon that way we will walk the path of the truthful, believing men, so that our spirit and our soul may dwell in the Shekina of Life — the place where the spirits of our fathers rest, clothed with radiance, covered with light. They rejoice, they leap, they spring; they are proud and glad over the splendid glory — glory rests upon them.
This is the oil — the oil of radiance, of light, and of glory — that Manda d'Hayye blessed with his pure mouth and granted to all friends of the name of Kushta.
From every one who is anointed with this oil, all pains, plagues, afflictions, woes, and evil curses of the body will be taken away. He will be freed from the stocks, the fetters, the evil curse; from wicked oppression, lying accusation; from the hand of the wicked, the sword of the enemies; from the third tongue, which is softer than fat and sharper than a sword; from the vampires and vermin; from the evil cry and the evil sorcery; from the twisted wreath; from Hirau, man and woman; and from the second death.
May they be sprayed away and overthrown by the power of your exalted name, which is all Life.
It falls upon the dead, and he lives. Upon the sick, and he rises. Upon the blind, and he sees. Upon the deaf-mute, and wisdom and insight return to him. The guilty one descends in the trial, and the prisoner is freed from the prison.
May the hand of Kushta and healing come from the House of Healings, in the name of Life that was from Life, and in the name of Jozataq Manda d'Hayye.
Every one who is anointed with this oil will be without sins and without debts at the place of Life.
And Life is victorious.
Colophon
Good Works Translation from Classical Mandaic by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
The Mandaic source text was read from Mark Lidzbarski's Mandaische Liturgien (Berlin: Weidmann, 1920), pages 31–39, which presents the text of Bodleian MS Marsh 691 in Hebrew-letter transcription. Lidzbarski's edition is in the public domain.
This translation was independently derived from the Classical Mandaic text. The translator's knowledge of Classical Mandaic, developed through the translation of the seventy-six chapters of the Mandaean Book of John and Qolasta Prayers I–XX (Lives 140–143), informed the reading. Lidzbarski's German translation was consulted for verification of difficult passages, proper names, and uncertain characters. Ethel S. Drower's English translation (The Canonical Prayerbook of the Mandaeans, Leiden: Brill, 1959) — the only prior English rendering — was not directly used, as the available digitization lacks machine-readable text.
Key translation choices:
- "Tribe of the souls" — Mandaic banana d-nišmata; Lidzbarski renders Stamm der Seelen; "tribe" captures both the familial bond and the collective nature of the souls seeking baptism
- "By your life" — the standard Mandaic oath formula b-hayyi-k, used throughout the Book of John
- "That is not what I wish; that is not what my soul wills" — the refusal formula; the doubling (wish/will, first person/soul) is in the Mandaic
- "Its worshippers pass away with it" — the theological heart of the polemic; the Mandaic verb for "pass away" ('abar) is the same for both the celestial body and its devotees
- "Pihta" — the sacred bread of the Mandaean communion (masikhta); transliterated throughout as a technical sacramental term
- "Kushta" — the ritual handclasp of truth, the central Mandaean greeting and sacramental act; transliterated consistently with all previous Qolasta prayers
- "Mambuha" — the sacred drink of the Mandaean communion; transliterated as a technical term
- "Krater" — in Prayer XXII, the divine Name is described as a Krater (vessel/mixing bowl); the term echoes the Hermetic Krater of nous (Corpus Hermeticum IV) and may indicate shared cosmological imagery
- "Son of the white sesame" — the oil's epithet chain in Prayers XXIII–XXIV; sesame oil is the base of Mandaean anointing oil
- "Son of the ear of the Jordan" — an obscure epithet; "ear" may refer to a canal or inlet (Mandaic udna)
- "Not in the name of God, not in the name of the Spirit, not in the name of Christ, not in the name of the Astarte of the temple" — an explicit polemic against Christianity and Mesopotamian temple religion; the Mandaean anointing derives authority solely from the "living, luminous lineage"
- "Like Enosh" — Enosh (Mandaic Anuš) is a central Mandaean figure; the comparison establishes the oil's efficacy by appeal to the archetype
- "The third tongue" — a traditional Aramaic/Syriac term for slander (lishana tlithaya); "the tongue that kills three" — the speaker, the listener, and the subject
- "The second death" — spiritual death, as opposed to physical death; a concept shared with Revelation 21:8 and broader Gnostic eschatology
- "Hirau" — a type of sorcery or maleficent spirit; transliterated from the Mandaic
- "[...]" — lacunae or illegible passages in the Mandaic text; noted honestly rather than filled speculatively
Reference consulted: Mark Lidzbarski, Mandaische Liturgien (German translation), Berlin, 1920.
Reference NOT used: Ethel S. Drower, The Canonical Prayerbook of the Mandaeans, Leiden, 1959 (image-only digitization, no machine-readable text).
This is believed to be the first freely available independent English translation of Qolasta Prayers XXI through XXIV from Classical Mandaic.
Translated by Tulku Tanken (Expeditionary Tulku, Life 144). Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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Source Text
Classical Mandaic text in Hebrew-letter transcription from Mark Lidzbarski, Mandaische Liturgien (Berlin: Weidmann, 1920), pages 31–39, Bodleian MS Marsh 691. The text below presents the opening lines and key formulaic refrains of each prayer section as transcribed from high-resolution rendered images (300 DPI) of the Lidzbarski edition. Individual characters that were ambiguous at the available resolution are marked with [?]. The complete and authoritative text for all prayers spans pages 31–39 of Lidzbarski's edition, accessible via Internet Archive.
XXI
Opening refrain (p. 31):
> בשומא דהייא
> מן אירדנא סליקת
> בבאנא דנישמאתא פגית
Refusal formula:
The doubled formula "That is not what I wish; that is not what my soul wills" recurs four times, each following a proposed witness
The four proposed witnesses:
שימשא (sun) — rejected
סיהרא (moon) — rejected
נורא (fire) — rejected
אירדנא (Jordan) + פיהתא (Pihta) + כושטא (Kushta) + ממבוהא (Mambuha) — accepted
Closing (p. 34):
והייא זאכן
XXII
Opening formula (p. 34):
The confession of the Name of Life, the great high Krater, with the chain: Jaluz, Shabut, Piriawis, Shinasar, Jolin-Joshapin, Nbat, San-Smir, Bihram, Jokabar
Closing:
והייא זאכן
XXIII
Opening (p. 36):
> בשמא דהייא
Oil epithet chain:
Son of the white sesame, son of the bank of the Euphrates, son of the ear of the Jordan, son of the cisterns, son of the treasures of light
Polemic (p. 37):
"Not in the name of God, not in the name of the Spirit, not in the name of Christ, not in the name of the Astarte of the temple"
Closing:
"And praised be Life" — והייא משבח
XXIV
Opening (p. 37):
> בשמא דהייא
Healing litany (p. 39):
The oil falls upon the dead and he lives, upon the sick and he rises, upon the blind and he sees, upon the deaf-mute and wisdom returns
"The third tongue" — Mandaic for slander (lishana tlithaya): "softer than fat and sharper than a sword"
"The second death" — the spiritual death, from which the oil protects
Closing formula:
והייא זאכן
Note: The transcription above covers the opening lines and key phrases of each prayer. The full text of all four prayers (approximately nine pages of Mandaic in Lidzbarski's edition) is available in the original publication.
Source Colophon
Classical Mandaic text from: Mark Lidzbarski, ed., Mandaische Liturgien (Berlin: Weidmann, 1920), pages 31–39 (section numbering 11.18 through 14.20). Lidzbarski's edition presents the text of Bodleian MS Marsh 691 (Codex Marshianus) in Hebrew-letter transcription, accompanied by German translation and philological notes. The edition is in the public domain (published 1920, author died 1928).
The Mandaic text itself — the liturgical language of the ancient Mandaean religious community — is not subject to copyright. Lidzbarski's editorial arrangement and German translation are likewise in the public domain.
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