Thursday, March 26, 2026 · 天火 · tianmu.org
Odes of Solomon
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Texts
Ode IIIOde 3 of the Odes of Solomon — eleven stanzas on divine love. The odist clothes himself in the love of the Lord and discovers reciprocal union: he would not have known how to love the Lord if the Lord had not loved him first. Who can discern love except the beloved? Where the Beloved rests, there the odist rests also. There is no jealousy with the Most High. The lover finds the Beloved; because he loves the Son he becomes a son. Whoever is joined to the Undying is undying. Whoever delights in Life shall live. The Spirit teaches humanity his ways. The imperative close: Be wise, and know, and be awakened.Ode IVOde 4 of the Odes of Solomon — fifteen stanzas on the immutable holiness and generosity of God. No one can change God's holy place or set it elsewhere. His holiness was conceived before the places were made. One hour of his faithfulness surpasses all days and years. Who can put on his grace and be injured? His seal is known; his creatures know it; his powers hold it; the archangels are clothed with it. He gave us fellowship — not because he lacked us, but because we lack him. Sprinkle your dew upon us; open your rich springs that flow with milk and honey. There is no regret with God. What he gave freely he gave — he will not draw it back. Everything was revealed to him as God, prepared from the beginning. And you, Lord, made all things.Ode IXOde 9 of the Odes of Solomon — twelve stanzas on the crown of truth. Open your ears and I will speak. Give me your souls, that I also may give you my soul. The word of the Lord and his will — the holy thought conceived concerning his Messiah. In the will of the Lord are your lives, and his thought is eternal life. Be enriched in God the Father. I proclaim peace to his saints. Those who have known him shall not perish. The crown of eternity is truth — blessed are those who set it upon their heads. A stone of great price, for battles were fought for the crown. And Righteousness took it, and gave it to you. Set the crown in the true covenant of the Lord, and all who have conquered shall be written in his book. And Victory sees you before her and wills your redemption. Hallelujah.Ode VOde 5 of the Odes of Solomon — fifteen stanzas of trust and defiance. The odist gives thanks for love, pleads not to be forsaken, and receives grace freely. Let the persecutors come: a cloud of darkness upon their eyes, a mist of gloom to darken them. Their scheming grows thick; their cunning turns upon their own heads. They plotted and it came to nothing. The Lord is my hope — I shall not fear. He is like a crown upon my head. If everything should be shaken, I stand firm. If all that is visible should perish, I shall not die. Because the Lord is with me, and I am with him.Ode VIOde 6 of the Odes of Solomon — eighteen stanzas in two movements. The first: the Spirit as harpist, moving through the odist's members as wind through a harp, destroying whatever is alien, for everything belongs to the Lord. The second: a stream goes forth and becomes a great broad river that sweeps the whole earth, shattered all barriers, flooded the Temple, and could not be held back by the restraints of men or the arts of those who dam up waters. All the thirsty drank and thirst was extinguished. From the Most High the drink was given. Blessed are the ministers of that drink. They refreshed parched lips. They raised the failing will. They seized souls back from death. They straightened limbs that had fallen. They gave strength and light. Everyone lived by the living waters forever.Ode VIIOde 7 of the Odes of Solomon — twenty-six stanzas, the great incarnation hymn. As the rush of wrath upon wickedness, so the rush of joy upon the beloved. My joy is the Lord and my course is toward him. He became like me so that I might receive him; in likeness he was reckoned like me so that I might put him on. I did not tremble when I saw him, because he is my grace. The Father of knowledge is the Word of knowledge. He who created Wisdom is wiser than his works. He who created me before I existed knew what I would do when I came to be. He is the fullness of the ages and their Father. He gave himself to be seen by those who are his, so they would not suppose they came of themselves. Toward knowledge he set his way, widened and lengthened it. He set upon it the footprints of his light. Hatred is lifted from the earth, drowned with jealousy. Ignorance is destroyed because the knowledge of the Lord has come. Let those who sing praise the grace of the Lord Most High. He gave a mouth to his creation to praise him. Confess his power and declare his grace.Ode VIIIOde 8 of the Odes of Solomon — twenty-four stanzas in two movements. The first: an exhortation to open the heart to the Lord's joy, to bring forth holy fruit, to rise from silence and speak. Peace is prepared before the battle. The second: the Lord speaks — hear the word of truth, receive the knowledge of the Most High. Your flesh shall not know what I say, nor your garments what I show. The Lord speaks as a mother: I fashioned their members, and my own breasts I prepared for them, that they might drink my holy milk and live by it. I took pleasure in them, and I am not ashamed. Before they existed I perceived them, and their faces I stamped. My righteousness goes before them. Ask and increase. Abide in the love of the Lord. The beloved in the Beloved. The saved in him who was saved. Without corruption you shall be found in all the worlds. Hallelujah.Ode XOde 10 of the Odes of Solomon — six stanzas on light, liberation, and the footprints of light. The Lord directed my mouth by his word and opened my heart by his light. He made his deathless life dwell in me, and gave me to speak the fruit of his peace — to turn the souls of those who desire to come to him, and to lead a goodly captivity to freedom. I was empowered and grew mighty and captivated the world, and it was mine for the glory of the Most High. And the peoples who had been scattered were gathered together. And the footprints of light were set upon their hearts, and they walked in my life and were redeemed, and they were with me forever and ever. Hallelujah.Ode XIOde 11 of the Odes of Solomon — twenty-four stanzas: the paradise vision. My heart was circumcised and its flower appeared, and grace sprouted in it and bore fruits for the Lord. The Most High circumcised me by his Holy Spirit, laid bare my inward parts, and filled me with his love. Speaking waters drew near to my lips from the spring of the Lord, without grudging. I drank and was intoxicated from living waters that do not die — and my intoxication was not without knowledge, but I abandoned vanities. I cast folly upon the earth and stripped it off. The Lord renewed me with his garment and possessed me by his light. I became like the earth that sprouts and rejoices in its fruits. The Lord was like the sun upon the face of the earth. He brought me to his Paradise, where the wealth of the Lord's delight is. Blessed are they who are planted in your land. For the place is vast in your Paradise, and there is nothing idle in it, but everything is full of fruits. Hallelujah.Ode XIIOde 12 of the Odes of Solomon — thirteen stanzas on the creative Word. Truth flows from the mouth like running water. The mouth of the Lord is the true Word and the gate of his light. The Most High gave the Word to his worlds as interpreters of his beauty, narrators of his glory, confessors of his thought, heralds of his mind, and teachers of his works. The swiftness of the Word is beyond telling. It never falls but stands forever. The worlds spoke through it to one another and those who were silent found speech. From it came love and concord. The dwelling of the Word is a human being, and its truth is love.Ode XIIIOde 13 of the Odes of Solomon — four stanzas on the Lord as mirror. Our mirror is the Lord: open your eyes and see yourselves in him. Learn where your faces are and proclaim praises to his Spirit. Wipe the stains from your faces, love his holiness and clothe yourselves in it — and you shall be without blemish at all times before him.Ode XIVOde 14 of the Odes of Solomon — ten stanzas of intimate petition. As the eyes of a son are upon his father, so the odist's eyes are upon the Lord at all times. The prayer asks for mercies, guidance, the right hand stretched out, deliverance from the evil one, and the harp of the Holy Spirit opened to praise in every melody. The Lord is sufficient for all our needs.Ode XIXOde XIX of the Odes of Solomon — the cup of milk: the Father milked by the Holy Spirit, and the Virgin who bore the Son without pain.Ode XLOde XL of the Odes of Solomon — honey and milk: my heart gushes praise, my soul shines in him, and his gain is immortal life.Ode XLIOde XLI of the Odes of Solomon — the great day: the Messiah in truth is one, known before the foundations of the world. A new praise from those who love him.Ode XLIIOde XLII of the Odes of Solomon — the Harrowing of Sheol: the Messiah descends, Death cannot endure his face, the dead cry out and are set free.Ode XVOde 15 of the Odes of Solomon — ten stanzas on the Lord as sun. As the sun is a joy to those who seek its day, so the Lord is joy. His rays raised the odist, his light dispersed all darkness. Eyes were given to see, ears to hear, the thought of knowledge to delight. The way of error abandoned, incorruption put on, corruption stripped off. Death destroyed, Sheol abolished. Deathless life arose in the land of the Lord and was given without diminishment to all who trust.Ode XVIOde XVI of the Odes of Solomon — a creation hymn declaring the odist’s craft as praise, and surveying the works of the Lord from earth and sea to stars and night.Ode XVIIOde XVII of the Odes of Solomon — the Redeemer’s descent: crowned in life, freed from vanity, opening iron gates, loosing every captive.Ode XVIIIOde XVIII of the Odes of Solomon — prayer that light not yield to darkness nor truth flee from falsehood, and praise for those who speak from the breath of the Most High.Ode XXOde XX of the Odes of Solomon — the priestly ode: the offering of the Lord is righteousness and purity. Come into his paradise and make yourself a crown from his tree.Ode XXIOde XXI of the Odes of Solomon — the odist strips off darkness and puts on light, raised into incorruptible fellowship.Ode XXIIOde XXII of the Odes of Solomon — the descent and triumph: the seven-headed dragon overthrown, dead bones clothed with bodies, and the kingdom built upon rock.Ode XXIIIOde XXIII of the Odes of Solomon — the Letter from the height: sent like an arrow, received by a wheel, revealing the Son of Truth. Written wholly by the finger of God.Ode XXIVOde XXIV of the Odes of Solomon — the dove descends upon the Messiah; the abysses are drowned and those without truth perish.Ode XXIXOde XXIX of the Odes of Solomon — drawn from Sheol and the mouth of death, given the rod of power, the enemy scattered like chaff.Ode XXVOde XXV of the Odes of Solomon — flight from bonds to God, clothed in Spirit, garments of skin removed, justified in kindness forever.Ode XXVIOde XXVI of the Odes of Solomon — the cosmic psalm: from east to west, south to north, his praise fills all. He who interprets shall be dissolved; that which is interpreted shall remain.Ode XXVIIOde 27 of the Odes of Solomon — the shortest Ode, only three stanzas. The odist stretches out his hands in prayer and sanctifies the Lord. The stretching of the hands is his sign. The extension of the body is the upright cross. The orans posture — arms wide in prayer — was the early Christian gesture of worship; the odist identifies it with the cross itself. The body at prayer becomes the tree of redemption.Ode XXVIIIOde XXVIII of the Odes of Solomon — the wings of the Spirit, persecution without destruction, holding water against bitterness. The mind of the Most High cannot be anticipated.Ode XXXOde XXX of the Odes of Solomon — the living spring: come, all you thirsty ones. Its waters are sweeter than honey, for they came forth from the lips of the Lord.Ode XXXIOde XXXI of the Odes of Solomon — the Messiah speaks: condemned though innocent, enduring like a solid rock battered by waves, to save his people and fulfil the promises.Ode XXXIIOde XXXII of the Odes of Solomon — joy from the heart, light from the indwelling, the Word from Truth, strengthened forever.Ode XXXIIIOde XXXIII of the Odes of Solomon — the perfect virgin proclaims: leave the ways of corruption, draw near, be saved. Those who put me on shall possess the new world.Ode XXXIVOde XXXIV of the Odes of Solomon — no hard road for the simple heart. The likeness of below is above. Everything is above, and below is nothing.Ode XXXIXOde XXXIX of the Odes of Solomon — the mighty rivers: the Lord walked upon the waters, and his footprints stand firm. Those who cross in faith shall not be moved.Ode XXXVOde XXXV of the Odes of Solomon — the gentle dew, the cloud of peace: carried like a child by his mother, nourished by the dew of the Lord, ascending to the Most High.Ode XXXVIOde XXXVI of the Odes of Solomon — borne by the Spirit before the face of the Lord: though a human being, named the Luminous One, the Son of God.Ode XXXVIIOde XXXVII of the Odes of Solomon — prayer from the lips of the heart: his word comes, giving the fruits of labour and rest in grace.Ode XXXVIIIOde XXXVIII of the Odes of Solomon — the chariot of truth: guided past the Deceiver and Error, planted by the Lord, whose fruits are forever.