Nisibis 44

In the voice of his son, the good one created the body, which teaches the erring how great is the work of his hands. And for the worlds, the enduring one, the troubled one breathed forth the soul, which teaches how great a thing is from that of the beasts, which did not breathe. For that which is not breathed, its mouth is silent and mute, but this one which breathed, its mouth is also a speaker. A discourse: The soul and the body, my Lord, rejoice in your power. Weigh their worth for the human alongside that of the beasts, in the scales of judgment, and see them in the pasture, how like that of the brute. It is a gift of nature, and it is entirely a creature in every form. Thus also the art of living is a treasure of virtue, entirely in power, it is a gift of life. Look again at the composition of the beasts, and see that it was complete in its essence in every way. It is entirely equal in this, that it is entirely without reason, which concealed from the erring that they divided the nature of the human, so that when they set it as equal, they divided it: half under reason, and half without reason. A witness to the reward in the brute that is trained, that its labor is without reason, and its running without wage, and its suffering without recompense, and all of it without power, which teaches the human to be convinced that two in one yoke, their running is of exhaustion, their labor is of recompense, and their suffering is of victory. Behold, then, two species are suspended in weakness, that it is fitting for the running, the exhausted one of the beasts, and that it is fitting for the wage, the gentle one of the human, and that it is fitting without injustice, the creation which counsels the human.

the body and the soul, and he added to the beasts breaths without sin. Look again at the beasts, which were not constrained and added nothing to God. He who says that the constrained body, which added its fast to sorrow, is to be compared, and there is no profit for it, is to be compared. And better than the blood of Abel, his silence in the earth cries out for his redemption before the one who repays all. The killer of beasts learned that there is none who kills you, for the grave is itself with that body, and there is nothing in it that comes to profit. It is the word that all are free, the beginning, that as the beasts themselves are like their bodies, so too is the body destined to be like its soul in mystery. The scriptures for the separators, nature for the deniers, teach that the grave is filled with time, and that which does not pass to the world of profit is that which kills itself. Its beginning, the reconciler, adds that its end is to the world, it is contentious with all. The serpent that ate and its beginning, for here is the flying one and the birds and beasts, are covered by the blessing, and in it again they are eaten. In it the seed is reaped, in it the fruit is plucked, and it is not contentious whether it covers or plucks. And if that which is of destruction is the body of the son of man, to what is it contentious or not? The serpent and the killer, the seed that flew and multiplied, the fruit that ripened and sweetened, their heads to the farmer who delayed and did not pluck it, and did not strip it and separate the seed from within the ear. It is fitting according to your word that it be healed. That which does not kill the old man who sweetened its taste, that it might be loosed from that same one.

He imprisoned the heavy one, and all of the one who is to be left behind. The elders who were not sufficient. He learned from them the good. Truth to liars, for when the sword was good, it was gentle to the elder. The youth who hastened himself is amazed. He destroys childhood, which destroyed old age. He learned how beloved the body is to its creator. The elder of all the days is a bearer of afflictions. Everyone covers his death, and there is no one who kills him. For when he loves his death, many kill him by force. He learned in his foolishness how glorious he was, and how honored he was when he was in Paradise, and how great his praise was when he arose and was troubled.