Diatessaron

Tatian, ANF 9

A little while, and ye shall not behold me; and a little while again, and ye shall behold…

A little while, and ye shall not behold me; and a little while again, and ye shall behold me; because I go to the Father. 2His disciples therefore said one to another, What is this that he hath said unto us, A little while, and ye shall not behold me; and a little while again, and ye shall behold me: and, I go to my Father? 3And they said, What is this little while that he hath said? We know not what he speaketh. 4And Jesus perceived that they were seeking to ask him, and said unto them, Do ye inquire among yourselves concerning this, that I said unto you, A little while, and ye behold me not, and a little while again, and ye shall behold me? 5Verily, verily,¹ I say unto you, that ye shall weep and grieve, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your grief shall turn² to joy.

For, a woman when the time is come for her that she should bring forth, the arrival of the day of her bringing forth distresseth her: but whenever she hath brought forth a son, she remembereth not her distress, for joy at the birth of a man into the world. 7And ye now also grieve: but I shall see you, and your hearts shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you. 8And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. And verily, verily,³ I say unto you, All that ye ask my Father in my name, he will give you. 9Hitherto ye have asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be complete.

I have spoken unto you now in aenigmas:⁴ but there will come an hour when⁵ I shall not speak to you in aenigmas,⁶ but shall reveal unto you the Father plainly, in that day when⁷ ye shall ask in my name: 11and I say not unto you, that I shall entreat the Father for you; 12for the Father loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came forth from my Father. 13I came forth from my Father, and came into the world: and I leave the world, and go unto my Father. 14His disciples said unto him, Lo, thy speech is now plain, and thou hast not said one thing in an aenigma. 15Now, lo, we know that thou knowest everything, and needest not that any man should ask thee: and by this we believe that thou camest forth from God. 16Jesus said unto them, Believe that an hour cometh, 17and lo, it hath come, and ye shall be scattered, every one of you to his place, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. 18This have I said unto you, that in me ye may have peace. And in the world trouble shall overtake you: but be of good courage; for I have overcome the world.

This said Jesus, and lifted up his eyes unto heaven, and said, My Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son may glorify thee: 20as thou gavest him authority over all flesh, that all that thou hast given him, he might give them⁸ eternal life. 21And this is eternal life, that they should⁹ know that thou alone art true God, and that he whom thou didst send is Jesus the Messiah.¹⁰ 22I glorified thee in the earth, and the work which thou gavest me to do I have accomplished. 23And now glorify thou me, O Father, beside thee, with that glory which I had with thee before the world was. 24I made known thy name to the men whom thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them to me; and they have kept thy word. 25Now they¹¹ know that all that thou hast given me is from thee: 26and the sayings which thou gavest me I have given unto them; and they received them, and knew of a truth that I came forth from thee, and believed that thou didst send me. 27And I ask for their sake: and my asking is not for the world, but for those whom thou hast given me; for they are thine: 28and all that is mine is thine, and all that is thine is mine: and I am glorified in them. 29And now I am not in the world, and they are in the world, and I come to thee. My¹² holy Father, keep them in thy name which thou hast given unto me, that they may be one, as we are. 30When I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: and I kept those whom thou gavest unto me: and no man of them hath perished, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled. 31Now I come to thee: and this I say in the world, that my joy may be complete in them. 32I have given them thy word; and the world hated them, because they were not of the world, as I was not of the world. 33And I ask not this, that thou take them from the world, but that thou keep them from the evil one. 34They were not of the world, as I was not of the world. 35O Father, sanctify them in thy truth: for thy word is truth. 36And as thou didst send me into the world, I also send them into the world. 37And for their sake I sanctify myself, that they also may be sanctified in the truth. 38Neither for these alone do I ask, but for the sake of them that believe in me through their word; 39that they may be all one; as thou art in me, and I in thee, and so they also shall be one in us: that the world may believe that thou didst send me. 40And the glory which thou hast given unto 41me I have given unto them; that they may be one, as we are one; I in them, and thou in me, that they may be perfect into¹³ one; and that the world may know that thou didst send me, and that I¹⁴ loved them, as thou lovedst me. 42Father, and those whom thou hast given me, I wish that, where I am, they may be with me also; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation¹⁵ of the world. 43My righteous Father,¹⁶ and the world knew thee not, but I know thee; and they knew that thou didst send me; and I made known unto them thy name, and will make it known to them; 44that the love wherewith thou lovedst me may be in them, and I shall¹⁷ be in them.

Notes

Not quite the usual formula, there being here no article.
The Arabic might also be rendered be turned, but the Syriac is intransitive.
Not quite the usual formula, there being here no article (cf. also §47, 5).
Not the usual word for proverb or parable (cf. Syriac versions).
So Vat. MS. and Peshitta. The Borg. MS., followed by Ciasca, has and a time when.
Not the usual word for proverb or parable (cf. Syriac versions).
cf. Peshitta.
Lit. it or him.
In the Borg. MS. the sentence begins with that they might, the preceding clause being omitted.
The above is perhaps the most natural rendering of the Arabic; but the latter is really only an awkward word-for-word reproduction of the Peshitta, which means know thee, who alone art the God of truth, and him whom thou didst send, (even) Jesus the Messiah.
So Ciasca’s text. The Vat. MS. has I, with the Peshitta and probably Sinaitic.
So in Sinaitic. The Peshitta omits My.
Vat. MS. has as.
cf. Peshitta, as pointed in the editions.
cf. §17, 17, note.
The Arabic as it stands should mean My Father is righteous; but it is simply the ordinary Syriac reading, and is so rendered above.
Or perhaps may.