Nisibis 34

Return to Ḥarrān At the sound of the daughter of the king, the physician Abraham, praiseworthy, came to Ḥarrān, for she was ill. He examined her, marvelled, and was astonished at the land of the Chaldeans. He reached Egypt; his whole body, his hair, and his sweat fell away, and he grieved and healed with the word of truth. “Abraham did not suffice for you; how much more would suffice for you, Ḥarrān, whose sickness was sweet to her?” The barren woman: blessed is he who, without ceasing, leaves her to childlessness, for he multiplies in every generation her helpers. The physician Jacob, renowned, came to Ḥarrān, for she was afflicted. He examined her, cast her off, and abandoned her, and did not tarry over her. Twenty years he toiled for her, and when he saw that she had also become deaf, he abandoned her and went away. Behold, the bitter waters and your sons are fierce. Ḥarrān, be healed by the cross. Babylon is the neighbour of that request which remained in your prayers?

Egypt is the neighbor of the Sodomites. But you, Ḥarrān, behold, I have placed you in the neighborhood of the glorious and beautiful Urhāy. The daughter who resembles you, your mother, is salt in the midst of the world, and she purifies your thoughts by her teaching. The hour that is empty within the vision is adorned by her. But you, Ḥarrān, behold, your vision is empty. Glorious and pure, she was adorned by her. With the blessings of the treasure before you, that you may please Jesus. Look at her and be pleased with her, that she may be for your covenant, lest she be for your burial. See Egypt, the sick one, who was healed by all medicines. And the Chaldean woman of idolatry perished in Ḥarrān. And when she was healed, there is no trust in her health, for in all diseases her cure is hidden. Babylon and Ḥarrān and Egypt, all three, third names, they sank and were clothed. What is the world like but a great statue that a craftsman saw? Its head is Babylon, its middle the land of Judah, in the form of the feet is placed Egypt. It is a great body, and great physicians labored over it. The good one, by his servants, extends his hand to the end, like a great physician to all limbs. And as Abraham the physician healed from the head downward, so also Moses healed from the feet upward. Or for the sick one, his medicines from all his limbs, and from health he is wondrously sweet to him. Blessed is he who, without cessation, leaves her for the sake of life, that she may increase in all generations her roots.

And just as the feeble foot was healed by Joseph for the land of Egypt, the prophets healed her as if she were a heart. Also David healed Babylon as if it were a head, which had gone astray in the desert and was captured and confessed. Egypt, a skilled physician with her remedies, her pains were bound by her will. The whole nature became ill, like a body in its fever of error. Its limbs were ashamed, the wondrous medicines, that it might be healed from the hidden fever of the self. And it stood and confessed to the physician of its life. Praise to him who healed the pains in all directions, for the feeble world was healed. It was not enough for him, however, that the world was healed by their remedies. See, the physician who suffices for all was adorned. He cut from his body, placed it on its pain, and healed the wound with his body and his blood. He healed her wound. Praise to the medicine of life, which sufficed and healed the pain of souls by his teaching. Jesus is the physician, and as he is the one who stands, so he is the one who heals. Thus by his hand I am healed. And as God, he knows the nature and the pain of the soul. He is both the doer and the sufferer, the physician and the medicine. Praise to him who did something that was not, and when again sin fell, he raised it up. The medicines of the world are able to heal only with pain. Very powerful is your hand for the living. For your wound, my Lord, very beloved is the palm of your hand, for even your finger is a touch of mercy. Blessed is he who from his brothers is blessed and gentle.

A power went forth and healed gently, a good thing that was not in the world, that the whole body might be strong. Do not be grieved, my Lord, in your mercy over one weak member. Hastily, the afflicted are mounted, my Lord, and your decree will be with them forever. A good thing that had decreed for the ear that was cut off—do not cut me off from you, for I have angered you.