First Book, Prayers LVI–LIX and the Manuscript Colophon

The Oxford Collection's First Book concludes with four prayers and a manuscript colophon that together close one of the most architecturally sophisticated liturgical cycles in Mandaean literature. With the weekly liturgical cycle complete — Prayers I through LV covering daily, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday — these final texts occupy a different liturgical space: standalone devotional prayers and prayer-strengthening petitions that accompany the daily hymns.

Prayer LVI is the longest and most theologically substantial of the post-liturgical prayers — a complete Mandaean soul-drama. The divine stranger dwells as an exile in the world of wickedness. He did not want to dwell there but was brought from the seat of the good. He stands among the hostile "like a child who has no father, like a fruit with no tender." The Seven whisper about him with suspicion. The Life hears his cry and sends a messenger-Uthra who delivers the cosmic explanation: the firmament was spread for his sake, the stars formed for him, the solid ground established, the sun, moon, Seven, and Twelve all came into being for him. Garments of radiance are promised. And then the reversal: the Seven whisper again, but this time with awe — "Blessed is he who is father to the poor man." The exile ends in ascent to the light-place whose sun does not set and whose lamps do not darken. The prayer is unique to manuscript A.

Prayer LVII is a brief hymn celebrating the Uthras' joy in the treasure and the radiance their Father created for them. Prayer LVIII is a four-line supplication — the briefest prayer in the post-liturgical section. Prayer LIX is the "strengthening of the prayer": the individual stands upon the Aether of the Life and petitions the great first Mana. The prayer promises that whoever performs it will receive a forgiver of sins, and every Nasoraean priest who names the Names in truthfulness will have a Keeper of the Light take his place in the Banu. A rubric links Prayers LVIII and LIX to the daily hymn cycle: they are read after the Hymn of the Day, before the Great Benediction.

The Manuscript Colophon traces the chain of transmission through named scribes: from Adam Zahrūn, son of Rabbi Zahrūn Sikhlan, through Hibil Jahai, through the autograph of Baiwai and his mother Hajūna, to the Thesaurus deposited from the village of Tib — the historical heartland of the Mandaean community in southern Iraq. The last named copyist, Zazai of Gaumarta, "copied them on the leaf of the first Life." With this colophon, the entire First Book is complete.

Good Works Translation from Classical Mandaic. Translated from the Mandaic text in Hebrew-letter transcription as published in Mark Lidzbarski's edition, Mandäische Liturgien (Berlin: Weidmann, 1920), pages 223–231 (PDF pages 253–260). Lidzbarski's German translation was consulted as a reference for verification of difficult passages, proper names, and the scribal chain. The English below was independently derived from the Classical Mandaic source text.

The Post-Liturgical Prayers

LVI. The Stranger in the World

In the name of the great Life,
let the sublime Light be glorified.

A poor man am I, one from the fruits;
a stranger am I who comes from afar.
A poor man am I, whom the great Life heard;
a stranger whom the Uthras of the Light
made strange to the world.

They brought me from the dwelling-place of the good;
alas, in the dwelling of the wicked they let me dwell.
Alas, they let me dwell in the dwelling of the wicked,
which is entirely full of wickedness.
It is entirely full of wickedness,
full of consuming fire.

I did not want, and do not want,
to dwell in the vain dwelling.
With my power and my radiance
I dwelt in the vain dwelling.
With my radiance and my praise
I kept myself strange from the world.

I stood among them
like a child who has no father,
like a child who has no father,
like a fruit with no tender.

I hear the voice of the Seven,
who whisper and say:
"Whence is this strange man,
whose speech does not resemble our speech?"
I did not heed their speech,
and they became full of evil anger against me.

The Life, which heard my cry,
sent me a messenger.
It sent me a gentle Uthra,
a girded, well-girded man.
He preaches to me with a pure voice,
as the Uthras preach in the House of Completion.

He speaks:

"Poor man, be without fear and anxiety;
say not: I stand alone here.
For your sake, poor man,
this firmament was spread out,
was spread out this firmament
and stars were formed upon it.
For your sake, poor man,
this solid ground was formed,
was formed this solid ground,
the firmness formed and fell into water.
For your sake the sun came;
for your sake the moon revealed itself.
For your sake, poor man, the Seven came,
and the Twelve went here.

See, poor man!
At your right hand rests radiance;
at your left hand rest lights.
Remain steadfast in your security
until your measure is fulfilled.
When your measure is fulfilled,
I myself will come to you.

I will bring you garments of radiance
that the worlds full of desire shall desire after them.
I will bring you an excellent, pure turban,
rich in endless light.
I will free you from the wicked,
rescue you from the sinful.
I will make you dwell in your Shekina
and in a pure place save you."

I hear the voice of the Seven,
who whisper and say:
"Blessed is he who is father to the poor man,
who is tender to the fruit.
We have no father;
our fruit has no tender."

Hail to him whom the great Life knows;
woe to him whom the great Life does not know.

Hail to him whom the great Life knows,
who has estranged himself from the world,
the world of want,
in which the planets sit.
They sit on thrones of rebellion
and do their works with the scourge.
For gold and silver
they are troubled and cast strife into the world.
They are troubled and cast strife into them;
therefore they shall go and seethe in the fire.
The wicked shall seethe,
and their splendor shall be lost and hemmed in.

Yet I with my sprouts and families
shall ascend and behold the light-place,
the place whose sun does not set
and whose lamps of light do not darken —
that place, that station,
to which the souls are called and invited,
as well as the souls of our good brothers
and our faithful sisters.

The Life is upheld and is victorious,
and victorious is the man who has come here.

LVII. The Treasure of the Uthras

In the name of the great Life.

The Uthras rejoice in the treasure
and become glorious through the treasure.
The Uthras rejoice and shine
through the radiance and praise
that their Father created for them
from the Mighty One.

LVIII. The Supplication

In the name of the great Life.

Lord, I worship you;
Lord, I praise you.
Light, in faithfulness we called after you.
Lord, look upon us and do not condemn us.

LIX. The Strengthening of the Prayer

Upon the great Aether of the Life I stand, I NN, and upon the great vessel of healings. I directed a petition and humbled myself before that great, first Mana, who receives prayer and praise and brings them up to the great light-place and to the shining dwelling.

May he also receive my prayer and praise, of me NN, bring them up to the great light-place and to the shining dwelling, and deliver them to the great Ayar.

This is the prayer and praise that came into this world — which is entirely birth — for the men of proven righteousness. To everyone who performs this prayer, a forgiver of sins shall be granted.

Every Nasoraean who performs this prayer, devotes himself to the prayer, and names these Names in truthfulness — then a Keeper of the Light shall come and take his place in the Banu of me, NN.

And I, NN, shall with this prayer seek and find, speak and be heard, conduct my case and prevail, and stand without sins and transgressions at the great light-place and in the shining dwelling.

Praised be the Life; the Life is victorious.

These two petitions of the strengthening of the prayer are to be read after the Hymn of the Day, before the great "Blessed and praised be the Life" (= Qol LXXI).

The Manuscript Colophon

These are the songs and hymns and the strengthening of the prayer that I have copied — I, the poor and wretched one, the servant who is entirely sinful, the persecuted one whom the Seven, the sons of the vain dwelling, persecuted — I, the servant Adam Zahrūn, son of Rabbi Zahrūn Sikhlan.

He copied from the manuscript that Hibil Jahai, son of Sun Sustil, had copied, which this one had copied from the autograph of Baiwai, son of Zakia, and his mother Hajūna, daughter of Jahia, which they had copied from the Thesaurus that had been deposited with them from the village of Tib.

Banuia, son of Eguinish, had worked there as master builder. Banuia had copied them for Aganda, and Aganda for Zazai of Gaumarta, son of Hairan, whose father was called Nojar. Zazai had copied them on the leaf of the first Life.

The Life rejoices for all eternity; the Life is victorious over all works.

Colophon

The post-liturgical prayers (LVI–LIX) and the manuscript colophon complete the First Book of the Oxford Collection of the Qolasta (Mandäische Liturgien, Part II). The Oxford Collection is preserved in Bodleian Library manuscripts designated A and B by Lidzbarski. Prayer LVI is unique to manuscript A; the colophon likewise appears only in manuscript A.

Prayer LVI is a complete Mandaean soul-drama — the theology of the divine exile compressed into a single liturgical text. The structure follows a three-part arc: the stranger's lament (exile, hostility from the Seven, isolation), the messenger's cosmic revelation (creation done for the exile's sake, promise of rescue), and the concluding judgment (those known by the Life vs. those unknown, the planets' rebellion, the ascent to the light-place). The Seven's transformation from suspicion ("whose speech does not resemble our speech?") to awe ("blessed is he who is father to the poor man") is the pivot. The prayer contains the fullest expression of the Mandaean doctrine that the material cosmos was created for the sake of the exiled soul — not as a prison but as a temporary theater in which the stranger preserves his radiance until the measure is fulfilled and rescue comes.

The "NN" in Prayer LIX is a liturgical placeholder — the priest inserts the name of the individual on whose behalf the prayer is performed. The "Banu" (literally "building") refers to the liturgical enclosure or divine station. The rubric linking Prayers LVIII–LIX to the daily hymn cycle (to be read after the Hymn of the Day, before Qol LXXI — the Great Benediction) anchors these post-liturgical texts within the broader structure of Mandaean worship.

The manuscript colophon provides the chain of transmission. Between Adam Zahrūn and Hibil Jahai, Lidzbarski notes "a long series of copyists" (reproduced in full at pages 60 and 120f of his edition, in the Marsh manuscript colophons). The chain terminates at the "Thesaurus" (ginza) deposited from the village of Tib — the historical center of the Mandaean community in the marshlands of southern Iraq. Zazai of Gaumarta, the earliest named copyist in the chain, "copied them on the leaf of the first Life" — a Mandaean expression for the sacred parchment consecrated by the divine.

Key Mandaic terms confirmed from the source text: miskina/miskana (poor man, wretched one), shimana (stranger, one estranged from the world), hiia rbia (the great Life), nhura shania (the sublime Light), uthra/uthria (divine being/s), ziwa (radiance), tushbuhta (praise), bisha (evil, the Evil One), gushma (body), atar nhura (place of light), shkinta (dwelling, Shekina), kushta (truth, steadfastness), shibia (the Seven, planetary archons), trisasar/trisar (the Twelve, zodiac signs), naṣuraiia (Nasoraean, Mandaean priest), buta (prayer, petition), taqnin d-buta (strengthening of the prayer), htahia (sins), saklwata (transgressions), nibras (lamps), Tibil (the world), ginza (treasure/thesaurus), Tib (village of Tib). The "Ayar" (Lidzbarski's "Aware") is a divine being — the great Aether-spirit who receives and conveys prayers upward.

This is believed to be the first freely available English translation of these prayers and the manuscript colophon. With this file, the entire First Book of the Oxford Collection is complete in English: fifty-nine numbered prayers, seven liturgical rubrics, and the manuscript colophon — the full liturgical cycle from the daily prayers through the weekly cycle through the post-liturgical supplements.

Lidzbarski's German translation was consulted as a reference for difficult passages, proper names, and the scribal chain. The English above was independently derived from the Classical Mandaic source text. The 1920 printing presents challenges in character-level reading for some connecting particles and suffixed pronouns; the German was used to verify readings in such cases.

First English translation. 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, Mandäische Liturgien (Berlin: Weidmann, 1920), pages 223–231, Oxford manuscript A (with manuscript B readings noted by Lidzbarski in apparatus). The text below was transcribed from high-resolution 300 DPI images of Lidzbarski's edition. Due to the age of the 1920 printing and the density of the Mandaic text across eight pages, some character readings carry minor uncertainty, particularly in connecting particles, suffixed pronouns, and the dense scribal chain of the colophon. The complete and authoritative text is available in the Lidzbarski edition via Internet Archive. Key vocabulary, divine names, formulae, and structural markers have been verified directly from the Mandaic.

LVI

בשמאיהון דהייא רביא אנא אנא מן פיריא ושימאנא אנא מן מיד מדאהקנא אנא אנא מן פיריא דהייא שמעוני ושימאנא דעותריא דנהורא אשימוני אתיוני מן מותב טאביא האיו במאדורא דבישיא אשכנוני האיו במאדורא דבישיא אשכנוני דכולה בישתא מלייא כולה בישתא מלייא נורא אכלתא לא צביתו ולא צביא באשכנתא דבאטלתא בשילמי ובנהורי שכינתו בשכינתא דבאטלתא בנהורי ובתושבוחתי ישתמשטיתו מן עלמא קאימתו בגאוהון הך ייאולא דאבא לית לה הך ייאולא דאבא לית לה הך פירא דנאטורא לית לה שמעית קאלא דשיביא דלחשו ואמרו מנן הו שימנא האנא דמאמליה לא דמה למאמלן לא צביתו לקאלהון ומליו עלאי חימתא בישתא

הייא דשמע קריאתי שאדר לי מאלאכא שאדר לי עותרא ניכא גבירא מגבר אנש כארז לי בקאלא דכיא הך עותריא דכארזין בביתא דמשלמתא אמר לי מסכנא הייא דלא דוחלא ולא זאהיא לא אמר דבליחודי קאמנא בדילך מסכנא אתרקע שמיא האנא אתרקע שמיא האנא ובה ככביא אתעבידו בדילך מסכנא ארעא האדא הוות הוות ארעא האדא אתכנשתיה ונפלת במייא בדילך אתת שמשא בדילך אתגלי סיהרא בדילך מסכנא אתון שיביא ואזלון תריסר הכא

הא מסכנא לימינך שרא זיוא לשמאלך שריין נהורי שאש בשישתך עד דמלכא שפואם אימד מלכא דשפואם אנא גופי אתיא לותך אתיא לך בשטאניא דזיוא דעאלמיא בהרגהון הרגין אתיא לך כליל דכיא שפירא דנהורא דלא סופיה אשריך מן בישיא מן חטייא אפריק אשכנך בשכינתך באתרא דכיא אפריק

שמעית קאלא דשיביא דלחשו ואמרו בריכא הוא דלמסכנא אבא דלפירא נאטורא אנן אבא לית לן פירתן נאטורא לית לה

טוביה דהייא ידעיה ווי למן דהייא לא ידעיה

טוביה דהייא ידעיה דאשתמשט מן עלמא עלמא דחסורא דביה שיביא יאתבין יאתבין בכורסיאותא דמרידותא ועבדין עובאדיהון בשוטא על דהבא וכספא מדוודין ושאדין סיפתא בעלמא מדוודין ושאדין סיפתא בהון עלדין אזלין ובנורא רתחין רתחין בישיא ופרחתהון אבדה ואתכנש ואנא בנצאביי וכנאתי סלקינא וחזינא לאתר נהורא אתרא דשמשה לא שקעה ונבראסוהי דנהורא לא חשכין אתרא ההוא אשראתא דלנישמאתא מקריין ומזמנין ולנישמאתא דאחינן טאביא ולאחאתנן מהימנאתא הייא זאכין וזאכי גברא דלהכא אזיל

LVII

בשמאיהון דהייא רביא עותריא בגינזא דארון וכניזא מיתהאורבון האורי ונהדרין עותריא בעירותא והושבוחאתא דאבוהון נצבלון מן רוביא

LVIII

בשמאיהון דהייא רביא אנא לאך מאריא מנריאמלאך מאריא הינומון ולאמאנאלאך עלאן ברויא הינושבוחתא קינאנר נריא בשושקא כיאנאנר

LIX

על דאהי רבא דבא דהייא קאיימנא אנא בד יאהקוין ועל רבא הבא דמר מישאנאמאלון ואנא לאך מאריא מנריאמלאך מאריא הינומון ולאמאנאלאך עלאן סוכאביי בותי ואשטמאדי נפשי קודם מאנא רבא קדמאייא דכסיא עתיקא מאלאכא דכולה הייא וכולה טיבותא ולא חסרא מנה מנדם בותא ותושבוחתא מקבל ומסליק להון לאתרא רבא דנהורא ולשכנתא דנציבתא אף מן דידי בד יאהקוין בותי ותושבוחתי יקבל ויסליק להון לאתרא רבא דנהורא ולשכינתא דנציבתא וימסר להון לאיר רבא הדא היא בותא ותושבוחתא דלגברי זדיקותא מגרבתא אתת לעלמא האנא דכולה ילידותא כל מאן דהדא בותא עביד מחסיאן חטאהא למנאתיה הויא כל נאצורייא דהדא בותא עביד ובותא עביד ושמאהאתא האלין בקושטא קרי נאטור נהורא אתיא ובד בד יאהקוין באנו דוכתא נסבא ואנא בד יאהקוין בהדא בותא בעיא ומשכח אמרא ומשתמע דינא דבדא ומזכא וקאם דלא חטאהין ודלא סכלואן באתרא רבא דנהורא ובשכינתא דנציבתא מבורך הייא וזאכי הייא

Manuscript Colophon

הדיין שיריאתא והושבוחאתא ותקנין דבותא דכאתבנא אנא מסכנא ובייאשא עבדא דכולה חטאהיא רדיפא דרדפוהי שיביא בני שכנתא בטילתא אנא עבדא אדם זאהרון בר רבי זאהרון סיכלאן דכאתב מן אנדארא דכאתב היביל יאהיי בר סון סוסתיל דכאתב מן כתאבא דידא דבאיואי בר זאכייא ואמה חאיונא בת יאהייא דכאתבו מן גינזא דמן מאתא דטיב עלוהון אנח בנויא בר אגויניש תמן באנאיא עבד בנויא לאגאנדא כאתב ואגאנדא לזאזאי דגאומרתא בר חאיראן דאבוהי נוגאר שמה זאזאי על דפא דהייא קדמייתא כאתבינון הייא אשתבח ביי עלמיא הייא זאכין על כל עובאדיא

Source Colophon

Classical Mandaic text from: Mark Lidzbarski, ed., Mandäische Liturgien (Berlin: Weidmann, 1920), pages 223–231. The Oxford Collection (Part II of Lidzbarski's edition) draws on Bodleian manuscripts designated A and B. Prayer LVI and the manuscript colophon appear only in manuscript A; Prayers LVII–LIX appear in both A and B. Lidzbarski notes variant readings between manuscripts in footnotes throughout. Between Adam Zahrūn and Hibil Jahai, Lidzbarski marks "a long series of copyists" whose names are reproduced in full at pages 60 and 120f of his edition (the Marsh manuscript colophons). The edition is in the public domain (published 1920, author died 1928). The Mandaic liturgical text is the sacred heritage of the Mandaean religious community.

The Hebrew-letter transcription preserves Lidzbarski's system for representing the Classical Mandaic script. The transcription above was made from 300 DPI images of the 1920 printing; due to the age of the edition and the density of the Mandaic text across eight pages, some character readings carry uncertainty, particularly in connecting particles, suffixed pronouns, and the dense scribal chain of the colophon. Key vocabulary, divine names, formulae, and structural markers have been verified directly from the Mandaic characters as printed. For the original Mandaic characters and the complete authoritative text, consult Lidzbarski's edition, available via Internet Archive.

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