(38) And this is as clear as the Sun, that as the poor Soul in us hangs between two Kingdoms, which both keep it altogether imprisoned, so must Christ hang between two Malefactors; take this into great Consideration, and weigh it well, it is a most serious Matter, and we see the whole terrible earnest [Severity,] that when the Soul of Christ broke off from the earthly Body, when it passed into the Anger of the Father, viz. into Hell, then the Earth trembled, and the stony Rocks cleft in sunder, also the Sun lost its Light; and this we see clearly, and understand it from the Mouth of Christ.

(2) It came to pass then, when Jesus had reached the heaven, after three hours, that all the powers of the heaven fell into agitation, and all were set in motion one against the other, they and all their æons and all their regions and all their orders, and the whole earth was agitated and all they who dwell thereon. And all men who are in the world fell into agitation, and also the disciples, and all thought: Peradventure the world will be rolled up. And all the powers in the heavens ceased not from their agitation, they and the whole world, and all were moved one against the other, from the third hour of the fifteenth day of the moon of Tybi until the ninth hour of the morrow. And all the angels and their archangels and all the powers of the height, all sang praises to the interiors of the interiors, so that the whole world heard their voices, without their ceasing till the ninth hour of the morrow.

(3) When then Jesus had said this, he said unto his disciples: "Who hath ears to hear, let him hear." "'1. Lord, God of my salvation, by day and by night have I cried unto thee. "'2. Let my weeping come before thee; incline thine ear to my supplication, O Lord. "'3. For my soul is full of evil, my life hath drawn nigh to the world below. "'4. I am counted among them who have gone down into the pit; I am become as a man who hath no helper. "'5. The free among the dead are as the slain who are thrown away and sleep in tombs, whom thou no more rememberest, and they are destroyed through thy hands. "'6. They have set me in a pit below, in darkness and shadow of death. "'7. Thy wrath hath settled down upon me and all thy cares have come upon me. (Selah.) "'8. Thou hast put away mine acquaintances far from me; they have made me an abomination for them. They have abandoned me, and I cannot go forth. "'9. My eye hath become dim in my misery; I have cried unto thee, O Lord, the whole day and have stretched forth my hands unto thee. "'10. Wilt thou not surely work thy wonders on the dead? Will not surely the physicians arise and confess thee? "'11. Will they not surely proclaim thy name in the tombs, "'12. And thy righteousness in a land which thou hast forgotten? "'13. But I have cried unto thee, O Lord, and my prayer shall reach thee early in the morning. "'14. Turn not thy face away from me. "15. For I am miserable, I am in sorrow from my youth up. And when I had exalted myself, I humbled myself and arose. "'16. Thy angers are come upon me and thy terrors have brought me into delusion. "'17. They have surrounded me as water; they have seized upon me the whole day long. "'18. My fellows hast thou kept far from me and my acquaintances from my misery.' "This is then the solution of the mystery of the fifth repentance which Pistis Sophia hath uttered, when she was oppressed in the chaos."

(1) While they then said this and wept together, then, on the ninth hour of the morrow, the heavens opened, and they saw Jesus descend, shining most exceedingly, and there was no measure for his light in which he was. For he shone more [radiantly] than at the hour when he had ascended to the heavens, so that men in the world cannot describe the light which was on him; and it shot forth light-rays in great abundance, and there was no measure for its rays, and its light was not alike together, but it was of divers kind and of divers type, some [rays] being more excellent than others . . .; and the whole light consisted together.

(46) But now we must not think, that the holy Man in Christ died, for that died not; but the mortal [Man] from the Kingdom of this World [is that which died,] that [was it which] cried (on the Cross) My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me! And we see very clearly the great Might [and Power] of the holy Man in Christ, when the Mortal (which was taken from this World) went into Death, how the holy almighty [Man] wrestled with Death, insomuch that the Elements shaked with it, and the Sun (which is the Light of the Nature of this World) lost its Splendor, as if it were then to perish; and then the living Champion in Christ fought with the Anger, and stood in the Hell of the Anger of God, and loosed the Soul (which he commended into his Father's Hands) quite off from the Anger of God, also from the Source [or Torment] of Hell; and this was that which David said; Thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell, nor permit thy holy [one] to perish.

(36) And now when this earnest Business was taken in Hand, that the Saviour of the World hung on the Cross, as a Curse, and wrestled with Earth and Hell, he said, / thirst. O that great Thirst! The fierce wrathful Kingdom was weary, as also the Kingdom of this World, they desired Strength; and the Kingdom of Heaven thirsted after our Souls; it was a Thirst of all the three Principles.

(2) But the disciples sat together in fear and were in exceedingly great agitation and were afraid because of the great earthquake which took place, and they wept together, saying: "What will then be? Peradventure the Saviour will destroy all regions?" Thus saying, they wept together. [paragraph continues] It was of threefold kind, and the one [kind] was more excellent than the other. . . . The second, that in the midst, was more excellent than the first which was below, and the third, which was above them all, was more excellent than the two which were below. And the first glory, which was placed below them all, was like to the light which had come over Jesus before he had ascended into the heavens, and was like only itself in its light. And the three light-modes were of divers light-kinds, and they were of divers type, one being more excellent than the other. . . .

(3) When then Jesus said this, he chanted a song of praise in the great name. The regions of the ways of the midst hid themselves, and Jesus and his disciples remained in an air of exceedingly strong light.

(39) When he now had undergone all the Reproach and Sufferings, he said on the Cross, It is finished; while he yet lived in the earthly Body, he said it was finished; understand all that should have remained upon us eternally, and should have sprung up in us, with all the Ignominy in which he stood before Hell and the Kingdom of Heaven, he had all that laid upon him; concerning which Isaiah says, Surely, he bore our Infirmities, and took upon him our Transgressions; yet we held him as one smitten of God, tormented, and afflicted, but he took upon him our Diseases, and all our Miseries were laid upon him, and through his Wounds we are healed; we all went astray like Sheep, every one has looked upon his own Way; and yet we could not help ourselves, but we went as miserable half-slain Sheep, and we must let the Devil (in the Anger of God) do with us what he will; for we bear on us a monstrous Garment, and stand in great Ignominy before Heaven and Hell.

(2) "'1. Lord, give ear unto my supplication and let my voice reach unto thee. "'2. Turn not away thy face from me; incline thine ear unto me in the day when I am oppressed; quickly give ear to me on the day when I shall cry unto thee. "'3. For my days are vanished as smoke and my bones are parched as stone. "'4. I am scorched as the grass, and my heart is dried up; for I have forgotten to eat my bread. "'5. From the voice of my groaning my bones cleaved to my flesh. "'6. I am become as a pelican in the desert; I am become as a screech-owl in the house. "'7. I have passed the night watching; I am become as a sparrow alone on the roof. "'8. My enemies have reviled me all the day long, and they who honour me, have injured me. "'9. For I have eaten ashes instead of my bread and mixed my drink with tears, "'10. Because of thy wrath and thy rage; for thou hast lifted me up and cast me down. "'11. My days have declined as a shadow, and I am dried up as the grass, "'12. But thou, O Lord, thou endurest for ever, and thy remembrance unto the generation of generation[s]. "'13. Arise and have mercy upon Zion, for the time is come to have mercy upon her; the proper time is come. "'14. Thy servants have longed for her stones, and will take pity on her land. "'15. And the nations will have fear of the name of the Lord, and the kings of the earth have fear of thy sovereignty. "'16. For the Lord will build up Zion and reveal himself in his sovereignty. "17. He hath regarded the prayer of the humble and hath not despised their supplication. "'18. This shall be recorded for another generation, and the people who shall be created will praise the Lord. "'19. Because he hath looked down on his holy height; the Lord hath looked down from the heaven on the earth, "'20. To hear the sighing of those in chains, to loose the sons of those who are slain, "'21. To proclaim the name of the Lord in Zion and his praise in Jerusalem.' "This, my Lord, is the solution of the mystery of the repentance which Pistis Sophia hath uttered."

(71) Therefore we can say no otherwise of the Soul of Christ, but that he commended it into his Father's Hands, and the Father took it into his divine Power; it stood with its Root therein before; but its own Root was (without the Light of God) in the Anger. And now the Soul of Christ came with the Light of God into the Anger; and then the Devils trembled, for the Light took the Anger captive, and the Father (understand his Anger) in the Kingdom of Heaven was Paradise, and in Hell remained the Anger still. For the Light shut up the Principle of Hell, so (to be understood) that no Devil dares to take one Glimpse [of Light] in there, he is blind before the Light, and [the Light] is his Terror and Shame.