The Eighth Repentance of Pistis Sophia

MacDermot Translation:

1. I have hoped in thee, 0 Lord. Let me not be put to shame for ever; save me in thy righteousness.

2. Incline thine ear to me; save me quickly, be to me a protecting God and a house of refuge to save me.

3. For thou art my support and my refuge; for the sake of thy name thou wilt guide me and nourish me.

4. And thou wilt bring me forth from this snare which they have hidden for me, for thou art my protector.

5. I will give up my spirit into thy hands. Thou hast saved me, 0 Lord, God of truth.

6. Thou hast hated those who idly keep to what is vain. But I have trusted;

7. And I will rejoice over the Lord, and I will be glad over thy mercy; for thou hast looked upon my humbleness, and thou hast saved my soul out of my necessities.

8. Thou hast not shut me in the hands of the enemy; thou hast set my feet in a wide place.

9. Have mercy on me, 0 Lord, for I am afllicted; my eye is troubled with anger; and my soul and my belly.

10. For my years have been spent in distress and my life has been spent in groanings; my power has become weak in poverty, and my bones are troubled.

11. I have become a reproach to all my enemies and my neighbours. I have become a fear to those that know me, and those that saw me ran away from me.

12. I have been forgotten like a corpse in their hearts; and I have become like a broken vessel.

13. I have heard contempt from many at my side who surrounded me; when they gathered together against me, they took counsel to take away my soul from me.

14. But I have trusted thee, 0 Lord, I have said: thou art my God.

15. My lots are in thy hands; save me from the hand of my enemies, and deliver me from those that persecute me.

16. Reveal thy face over thy servant, and save me in thy mercy, 0 Lord.

17. Let me not be put to shame, for I have cried to thee; Iet the impious be put to shame and turned to Amente.

18. Let the cunning lips be dumb, who speak iniquity against the righteous with pride and contempt.

Mead Translation:

1. On thee, O Light, have I hoped. Leave me not in the chaos; deliver me and save me according to thy gnosis.

2. Give heed unto me and save me. Be unto me a saviour, O Light, and save me and lead me unto thy light.

3. For thou art my saviour and wilt lead me unto thee. And because of the mystery of thy name lead me and give me thy mystery.

4. And thou wilt save me from this lion-faced power, which they have laid as a snare for me, for thou art my saviour.

5. And in thy hands will I lay the purification of my light; thou hast saved me, O Light, according to thy gnosis.

6. Thou art become wroth with them who keep watch over me and will not be able to lay hold of me utterly. But I have had faith in the Light.

7. I will rejoice and will sing praises that thou hast had mercy upon me and hast heeded and saved me from the oppression in which I was. And thou wilt set free my power out of the chaos.

8. And thou hast not left me in the hand of the lion-faced power; but thou hast led me into a region which is not oppressed.

9. Have mercy upon me, O Light, for they have oppressed me again. Because of thy commandment, the light in me is distracted and my power and my understanding.

10. My power hath begun to wane whiles I am in these afflictions, and the number of my time whiles I am in the chaos. My light is diminished, for they have taken away my power from me, and all the powers in me are tossed about.

11. I am become powerless in the presence of all the rulers of the æons, who hate me, and in the presence of the four-and-twenty emanations, in whose region I was. And my brother, my pair, was afraid to help me, because of that in which they have set me.

12. And all the rulers of the height have counted me as matter in which is no light. I am become as a material power which hath fallen out of the rulers,

13. And all who are in the æons said: She hath become chaos. And thereafter all the pitiless powers encompassed me together and proposed to take away the whole light in me.

14. But I have trusted in thee, O Light, and said: Thou art my saviour.

15. And my commandment, which thou hast decreed for me, is in thy hands. Save me out of the hands of the emanations of Self-willed, which oppress me and persecute me.

16. Send thy light over me, for I am as naught before thee, and save me according to thy compassion.

17. Let me not be despised, for I have sung praises unto thee, O Light. Let chaos cover the emanations of Self-willed, let them be led down into the darkness.

18. Let the mouth of them be shut up, who would devour me with guile, who say: Let us take the whole light in her,–although I have done them no ill.