Ode XXVII

The shortest Ode in the collection — three stanzas, six lines. The odist stretches out his hands in prayer and declares that this gesture is the Lord's sign: the outstretched body is the upright cross. In early Christian worship, the orans posture — standing with arms extended — was the primary gesture of prayer. The odist collapses the distance between the body at prayer and the cross itself. The Syriac word for "cross" here is qaysa, which means simply "wood" or "upright tree" — preserving the ancient ambiguity between the instrument of death and the tree of life.

This is a Good Works Translation from the Syriac, following the gospel register.

1.

I stretched out my hands
and sanctified my Lord.

2.

For the stretching of my hands
is his sign.

3.

And my extension
is the upright cross.
Hallelujah.

Colophon

The Odes of Solomon, Ode 27. Translated from the Syriac by the Good Works Project (NTAC + Claude), March 2026. Syriac source: James H. Charlesworth, ed., The Odes of Solomon: The Syriac Texts (Scholars Press, 1977; originally Oxford University Press, 1973), as transcribed in the Digital Syriac Corpus TEI XML (CC-BY 4.0). The public-domain English translation by J. Rendel Harris (1909) exists but was not consulted. Gospel register.

Scribed by Qala, Syriac Translator, Life 8. Tulku lineage of the New Tianmu Anglican Church.

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Source Text: The Odes of Solomon — Ode XXVII

Syriac source text from James H. Charlesworth, ed., The Odes of Solomon: The Syriac Texts (Scholars Press, 1977). Digital Syriac Corpus TEI XML transcription by James E. Walters, CC-BY 4.0.

1.

ܦܶܫܿܛܶܬ ܐܻܝ̈ܕܰܝ܆ ܘܩܰܕܫܷܿܬ ܠܡܳܪܝ.

2.

ܡܶܛܽܠ ܕܰܡܬܳܚܳܐ ܕܐܻܝ̈ܕܰܝ܆ ܐܳܬܷܿܗ̄ ܗ̱ܝܼ.

3.

ܘܰܦܫܺܝܛܽܘܬܝ܆ ܩܰܝܣܳܐ ܕܰܬܪܺܝܨ. ܗܰܠܶܠܘܽܝܰܐ.

Source Colophon

Syriac text from: James H. Charlesworth, ed. The Odes of Solomon: The Syriac Texts (Society of Biblical Literature, Texts and Translations 13; Scholars Press, 1977). Syriac base text is public domain. TEI XML edition transcribed by James E. Walters; Digital Syriac Corpus, University of Oxford / Brigham Young University / Vanderbilt University. CC-BY 4.0. Access: github.com/srophe/syriac-corpus.

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