Prayer LXXVI is the second of the Three Prayers for the Baptism and Death Mass — the liturgical heart of the Qolasta. Where Prayer LXXV is confessional (the community acknowledging its sins before the Life), LXXVI is promissory: the Life speaks directly to the faithful, offering eschatological reward to those who stand perfect and free of hatred. The prayer opens with praise of the Name above all names, moves through the gathering of the faithful "from the midst of peoples, borders, and tongues," promises garments of splendor and wreaths whose single leaves outweigh the sun, and culminates in a passage of extraordinary reciprocity: "Before your words, my words shall go. When you raise your right hand, my right hand shall be raised with yours. You shall call, and soon I shall answer you." The boasting prohibition — "The mountain shall not boast of its strength, nor the hero of his heroism, nor the knight of his bow, nor the physician of his medicines" — parallels Jeremiah 9:23 and 1 Corinthians 1:31, expanding the Jeremianic trio into a fivefold catalogue of human pride that cannot save without divine presence.

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 133-140 (PDF pages 163-170). Lidzbarski's German translation was consulted as a reference for verification of difficult passages, proper names, and text-critical notes.

LXXVI. The Cosmic Invocation

In the Name of the Life.

Praises be unto you, pure Life, who have settled beyond the bounded dwelling, whose eyes are open for your own, whose ears hear toward your place.

Praises be to that one great Name of the Life, which is above all names. The Name rests at the great Place of Light, in the radiant dwelling, the City of the Uthras, the Lamp — the greatest among the lamps — from which all lamps that receive light, all souls, are created. He stands by us, to our strength. He did not cut us off from the way to the House of our Trust. He is present for our souls at the House of the Purchase, for the Day of Judgment. He is present for our souls for the great Day of Joy.

Praises be to the One, who is entirely Uthras — the One who is entirely prayer — the Being who came and settled at our boundary stone, who is established before the outer Life. The Life rested in his mouth, whose praise is established outside.

Praises be to the Firstborn, the Son of the first, great Life, whom the Life created, equipped, and sent out into the ages. You came, opened the gate, leveled the way, trod out the path, erected the boundary stone, and established the connection. A helper, guide, and leader were you to the great tribe of the Life. You brought them into community with the Life, built them into the great building of Truth, and brought them forth to the great Place of Light and the radiant dwelling.

O you callers whom I have called, nourishers whom I have nourished, builders whom I have built, whom I gathered from the midst of peoples, borders, and tongues — behold, here I stand; behold, here I dwell.

You worlds before whom I take heed: if your words do not stay far from my face — even if you take mountains for your provision, they will not suffice for your food; even if you take seas for your drink, they will not suffice for your thirst.

But if you stand as perfect ones before the outer Life and before the radiant dwelling, I shall count you to my number and reckon you to my reckoning. Early will I come, fly, and arrive at the sons of my name, the sons of my sign, the sons of the great tribe of the Life. I shall bring you into community with the Life, build you into the great building of Truth, and bring you forth to the great Place of Light and the radiant dwelling.

If hatred, jealousy, and discord are not among you, then the hand of the oppressor shall not search among your clods. You shall not pass by the bridge-railing. You shall not go through a narrow alley. You shall not stand before a judge. You shall not look upon the face of a prosecutor. You shall not see a twisted countenance. The chief toll-keepers shall not seek you out.

Rather, you shall go forth and behold him who makes souls whole — who stations his perfect friends upon the paths of Truth, the great companion of the believers, the great friend of souls — who comes to meet you and clothes your soul in garments of splendor and good, pure turbans of light, which he brought for you from the great Places of Light and the radiant dwelling.

He brings you wreaths — a wreath of victories — to meet you. Each single leaf of your wreath weighs one thousand and eighty lots. Its radiance is greater than the radiance of the sun, and its brightness is brighter than the brightness of the moon.

You shall receive your garment; you shall receive your wreath. Among the Great Ones you shall be great; among the Uthras you shall be called Uthras. You shall open your eyes and behold your Judge. Early shall the day of truth dawn for you. You shall ascend and behold the outer Ether and the great Lamp, which is entirely light, which is established before the outer Life. The Life beheld itself; it equipped them and sent them out into the ages and worlds.

Every soul that gives alms and establishes community in excellent fashion — it is made perfect like the Mana; it is made radiant like the lamps, for the Day of Redemption, for the Day, and for the great Day of Joy. The alms-offering goes to meet you, commends you, and shows you the outer Ether and the radiant dwelling — the place where the First Ones, the sons of the great tribe of the Life, eat what is not contemptible and drink what is not wine. They eat well and seek well-being. Then the Uthra of the Life comes and settles upon them, day by day, hour by hour.

Praises be to the glory of the pious, to the substance of men of proven righteousness — to the strange man who stands outside, whose eyes are open and directed toward all the friends of his name, of Kushta.

You are he, Manda d'Hayye, who knows wherein the perfect one is perfect, what is in the excellent one, upon what the steadfast one stands. Indeed, when a word leaves the mouth of the perfect man, you come to it, understand it, and teach about it at the great Place of Light and in the radiant dwelling.

The mountain shall not boast of its strength, nor the hero of his heroism, nor the knight of his bow, nor the physician of his medicines, nor the righteous, wise man of the speech of his mouth — unless an Uthra of the Life comes and settles among your friends.

Those who seek from him find; those who ask of him, it is granted — day by day, hour by hour.

Look upon us, who stand by your name, who are erected by your appellation. We held to your great bond of Truth; we remained steadfast by your victories.

Do not humble us and do not cast us into the power of the oppressors, the liars, the hypocrites, and the condemners. The oppressors shall not oppress us; the condemners shall not condemn our souls. The good shall see and find good; the evil shall collapse, and the children of the world shall be put to shame. The perfect ones shall see that there is a Life, and their eyes shall rise toward the great Place of Light and the radiant dwelling.

You, Manda d'Hayye, call the callers, nourish the nourishers, build the builders; you raise the stumbling-blocks, make the steps great, erect the waystone, and establish the community. You are he who builds up and gathers from the midst of peoples, borders, and tongues every one who is called, desired, and invited. To every one whose measure is full, you are a helper, guide, and leader to the great Place of Light and the radiant dwelling.

If someone has reached his measure and his body still stands — to open his mouth, raise his voice, perform a prayer, lift up praise, and make the steps of his feet great — then let your Uthra come and settle among your friends. Spread your light upon all the friends of your name, of Kushta.

You spoke with your speech and commanded us with your command:

"Before your words, my words shall go. When you raise your right hand, my right hand shall be raised with yours. You shall call, and soon I shall answer you. You shall ask with your hand, and I shall not turn it away with my hand."

Now we pray to you with a prayer of the Uthras and beseech you with a petition of the Great Ones — for us, our friends, the friends of our friends, the friends of the great tribe of the Life, and the whole Nazoraean community of the Life that was filled and sown in the Tibil: bring us of your radiance; increase upon us of your light. We would enter with your radiance and go out with your light. We would stand by your name and be erected by your appellation.

Kushta is your name. Manda d'Hayye is your name. Precious is your name. Glorious is your name. Blessed is your name. Praised is your name. Victorious is your name. Victorious are the words of Kushta that come from your mouth, and victorious are all your works.

And the Life is victorious.

Colophon

Tradition: Mandaean
Source: Qolasta (Canonical Prayer Book), Part Three — Three Prayers for the Baptism and Death Mass, Prayer LXXVI
Language: Classical Mandaic
Manuscript: Bodleian Library, Oxford, MS Marsh 691
Edition: Mark Lidzbarski, Mandaische Liturgien (Abhandlungen der Koniglichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Gottingen, Philologisch-historische Klasse, Neue Folge, Band XVII, 1), Berlin, 1920, pages 133-140
Translator: Tanken (探検), Expeditionary Tulku Life 155, New Tianmu Anglican Church
Method: Good Works Translation. English independently derived from reading the Classical Mandaic text in Lidzbarski's Hebrew-letter transcription. Lidzbarski's German translation consulted as reference for verification of difficult passages, proper names, and text-critical notes. E.S. Drower's English (1959) was not consulted.
Blood Rule: The English is independently derived from the Mandaic source text. Lidzbarski's German confirmed readings but did not generate the English.
Text-critical notes: (1) "Whose ears hear toward your place" — variant reading in most manuscripts: "toward your Uthras" (Lidzbarski note, p. 133). (2) "The bounded dwelling" — Lidzbarski glosses: "i.e. outside this world" (p. 134 n.3). (3) "Settled at our boundary stone" — variant: "the Being who came" may also be read "the Being who was" (p. 134 n.1). (4) "The Nazoraean community" — reading follows Noldeke's emendation (p. 140 n.4).
Scribal note: Prayer LXXVI is the second of the Three Prayers for the Baptism and Death Mass, the liturgical heart of the Qolasta. Where LXXV opens Part Three with cosmic theophany and confession, LXXVI responds with cosmic invocation and promise. The prayer's most distinctive feature is its boasting prohibition — "The mountain shall not boast of its strength, nor the hero of his heroism, nor the knight of his bow, nor the physician of his medicines, nor the righteous wise man of the speech of his mouth — unless an Uthra of the Life comes" — which parallels the Jeremianic tradition (Jeremiah 9:23-24) and its Pauline echo (1 Corinthians 1:31), but expands the catalogue to five exemplars and makes the condition explicit: no human excellence avails unless the divine Uthra is present. The universalist theme — gathering the faithful "from the midst of peoples, borders, and tongues" — echoes Revelation 7:9 and may reflect the same early Aramaic-speaking milieu. The divine reciprocity passage ("Before your words, my words shall go") reverses the direction of Isaiah 65:24 ("Before they call, I will answer"): the Life does not merely respond to prayer but precedes it. The almsgiving section is notable for its eschatological ethics — charity in the material world directly produces garments in the world of light. The wreath weighing "one thousand and eighty lots" per leaf is a characteristic Mandaean numerical specification, paralleling the cosmological measurements in the Ginza. First free independent English translation of Qolasta Prayer LXXVI from Classical Mandaic. Seventy-six of four hundred and fourteen prayers complete.

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Source Text: קולסתא — LXXVI

Classical Mandaic text in Hebrew-letter transcription, from Mark Lidzbarski, Mandaische Liturgien (1920), pages 133-140 (PDF pages 163-170). Bodleian Library, Oxford, MS Marsh 691. Presented for reference and verification.

בשומיהון דהייא
תושבחתא להייא דכיא לאך דמן ביתא שכינתא דמותיקתא אתיבת דאינייא לדילאך פתיחיא דאודנייא לאתראך שמעיא

תושבחתא להאון חאד שמא רבא דהייא דעילאון מלכון שומאהתא שמא שריא לאיתרא רבא דנהורא ולדרמשקא פלהון ולמדינתא דעותריא ולמאנפשתא רבתא דמן כלהון מאנפשתא

[Source text continues for approximately seven and a half pages of Lidzbarski's edition. The complete Mandaic text is available in Lidzbarski's edition, pages 133-140, freely accessible via Internet Archive. The PDF is staged at Tulku/Tools/mandaean/lidzbarski_liturgien.pdf, pages 163-170.]

Source Colophon

Source: Bodleian Library, Oxford, MS Marsh 691. Hebrew-letter transcription and apparatus by Mark Lidzbarski, Mandaische Liturgien (Abhandlungen der Koniglichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Gottingen, Philologisch-historische Klasse, Neue Folge, Band XVII, 1), Berlin, 1920.
License: Public domain (published 1920, author died 1928).
Digital source: Internet Archive, staged at Tulku/Tools/mandaean/lidzbarski_liturgien.pdf.
PDF pages: 163-170 (book pages 133-140).

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