Nisibis 36

From the depth of his voice, the Lord subdued his power and seized him, that the living death might give life to Adam. His hands were given to the crown of thorns, instead of the hand that plucked the fruit; he swallowed upon his palate in the house of the serpent. Instead of the mouth that ate at the time and cast out, Adam set his foot. His feet fixed the nail; the Lord sent forth that which is bent, with bitterness and sweet strength. The Lord of the serpent that crept in deceit, the upright one: blessed is he who conquered and revived the dead for his praise. If you are God, show your power; and if you are a human, heal your power; and if you are the one who sought Adam, go your way, bound by his sins. Here, the cherubim and seraphim cannot, that they might be redeemers in his place; there is no mortality in them that can come. He himself, in his place, opens the mouth of Sheol, and stands, bringing him up from her, who swallowed him and shut him in, and forever. Where, where is the one who conquered all the wise? And behold, in the corners, Sheol hides from me. Come, see, son of Joseph, and behold the wonders: the voices of the mighty, the great one of Shamshon, and the interpretation of Goliath the harsh; again, the son of the mighty, he who made for himself a bed of iron and lay in it; from her, his covering and his casting down, to that mystery at the gate of Sheol, his lowering. Where, alone, have you conquered the many? And the solitary one seeks to conquer me. Prophets, priests, and the righteous of the daughter, you conquered kings in their ranks and the mighty in their armies.

The righteous with their ribs cast the shadows of corpses. He casts into Sheol, and however much he wins in it, she is thirsty. Whether near or far, he cut down the gate of Sheol and brought it to her. For silver, the hunt of the rich was disdained, and they did not bribe with their offerings. The masters of slaves did not send from their place that a slave might go instead of his master, and a poor man instead of a rich man, or an old man instead of a begetter. The wise of the beasts are able to make peace with their faces in hands that do not enter. The thirsty one makes peace; he called every man, and I came, whatever I was commanded, I did. What is this measure, or the son of a measure? And what is the kind of that measure that conquers? The scribe of the generations is before me. Behold, I entered, I labored, and I called the names of those from Adam to here, and every man from the dead does not err. Generations, generations, behold, they are written on my limbs because of your snares. Behold, Jesus, I entered, I made a reckoning, that I might show you that there is none who escapes from my hands. For two men, indeed, without deceit, whose names are lost in Sheol: your father and Elijah did not come before me. In the whole creation I sought to find, even to where the dove descended, I descended, I groped, and there is none to find. And he who hoped for Paradise went up and was saved; a cherub of power guards it. Jacob saw the ladder, that on it they might ascend to heaven. What is the measure that eats the salt of the sea? And the two banks alone in the field? This is the harvest that he casts, and every day.

The furnaces like reapers cut down, alone he bears. He buries their palms, and the battles are hastened. The rocks release the gatherers, the fools are astray. Both sides bring forth from the midst. With a great harvest that he reaped alone. He says, "I, I who have done," says Death. In the sea and on dry land, all are distressed. The ten thousands that Ba’al hunted came. Also the creatures of the deep, the reptile, the bird, and the beast. The old, the young, and the children, all of them are your captives. Or the son of Mary who reigns, he is my authority over all. Your cross, how it conquered me! For behold, on the wood you laughed and conquered from the beginning. I desired, then, that he would speak and increase. For there are no lacking words, nor are words sought, for behold, the servants cry out, the near ones, not like you, he trusts alone. For the simple, over the hidden things that were, he is for them a consolation. When, when, then, if you are very lacking, give the near haste, that your distant provision may also be amazed. Death completes his saying in his victory, and the voice of the Lord thunders in Sheol. And he cries out and shouts, "Look, the graves, one by one!" The images to Death, Sheol seized him, who from the abyss did not see. The lightning flashed in her, the sparks from the watchers who had gone up and brought out the dead to the path of that dead one who lives for all. The dead went out and the living were shamed. This is what they thought, that they had conquered the one who revives all. But then, he gave me the day of his coming.

Death said, "He made a feast for me, he gave me the lamb from Egypt." From both houses the first fruits, heaps upon heaps, from the furnaces. At the gate of Sheol he shut me out; this one said, "At the feast, he robbed Sheol of the dead, ten he took and led away from me." That lamb filled the tombs for me. This one, however, empties the tombs that were full. The death of Jesus was a market for me; I chose his life rather than his death. That dead one, whose death helped me, rejoices in the death of everyone; but in his own death he is angry. He would turn the living into mockery; while he was alive, three died. My brother and my father-in-law, now by his death, at the gate of Sheol, where the dead are stripped of life, I would have gone and devoured, I would run and seize the gates of Sheol before that dead one, whose death robbed me. Whoever hears will marvel at my folly, that from a dead one outside, all the dead seek to go out. This one, however, presses to enter; he sets life against Sheol, and my dead he brings in and buries for me. Now, the living rock that settled in her, the cold and dark caverns of Sheol, Death saw the watchers in Sheol, not the dying in place of the dying, and said, "David's to the tomb, go up to him." For in both, it is the market of the dead that went out from Sheol. The watchers who do not die went up to her; behold, one to his tomb, he sat upon it, and his companion, another, at his feet. I sought from him and persuaded him.

He took the ass and went up to his kingdom. Do not cut me off, Jesus the Good. The words that my boasting spoke before you— woe, that when he saw your crucifixion he did not live. He would have been divided, for you are both man and God. Woe, that he would have seen your power and not believed that you are also God. So now in both respects I have learned to confess that you are both man and God. That the dead may not return to Sheol, the Lord has placed the house of life. He has set up the exchange. Jesus the King, accept my request, and with my request take the ass for yourself. For Adam the great ass that bore you, in whom all the dead are hidden, as when you received him, in him all the living were concealed. You gave the first ass. Adam's body has now gone up; rule over all. And when I hear your trumpet, I will come with my hands and bring out the dead at your coming. The King of Life conquered and ascended from the mouth of Sheol like a victor. Woe to the side of the left that was covered with spirits and demons of the air, with Satan and Death, with pain, with sin and Sheol. Mourning, joy to the side of the right. Days were in this day of the great one, therefore great praise shall be given to him who died and lives, who revives all and gives life.