Lectionary Readings for Friday, March 27th, 2020

Book of God’s Word Chapter 9, Chapter 10

Chapter 9

1. Came to Zarathustra, the All Pure, the voice of I’hua’Mazda, by the hosts of Haraiti:
Hear me, O Zarathustra; I am I’hua’Mazda. Hear thou of thy Creator, who created all
created things.

2. These are the chief first best places created: First, the earth and the air and the water,
and all the living that are on them and in them.

3. Out of darkness, void! Waste, and nothing was, as seeming nothing. And shaped He,
the Creator, Ormazd, the shape of things.

4. The living that live; the living that are dead; the first of all that breathed, created the
Creator, Ormazd.

5. With legs or wings, or hair or feathers, or naked; to crawl or walk or fly, created the
Creator, Ormazd, all the living.

6. To all to live a life; a right to live and die, out of the life of Ormazd gave He them life
and death.

7. Then asked Zarathustra, the All Pure, inquiring of I’hua’Mazda, saying: To whom else
hast thou these things spoken?

8. I’hua’Mazda said: Since, a million! Before, a million! To more than a thousand
millions. Then asked Zarathustra: Tell me one; of one, to one to whom thou hast
revealed? And then answered I’hua’Mazda: To Vivanho, the first of men who had words;
the first of women who had words. In the first best created days of pure men and pure
women I came, I revealed. Then Zarathustra, the All Pure, said:

9. To be all pure; to be all good; to be all wise; to be all holy; to do all good works; what
are these?

10. I’hua’Mazda said: These are to hear my voice, O Zarathustra. Then Zarathustra said:
To be all bad; to be all foolish; to be all evil thinking; to do evil works, what are these?

11. I’hua’Mazda said: These are not to hear my voice; these are Anra’mainyus, O
Zarathustra! Then Zarathustra inquired, saying: Is not the, — not to hear thy voice, a
person? Is the, — to hear thy voice, a person?

12. I’hua’Mazda said to Zarathustra, the All Pure: Anra’mainyus was a person; but he
is dead: Vivanho is a person, and he liveth to all the holy, to all the good, to all the
wise. But to all the evil, to all the bad, to all the foolish, Anra’mainyus is not dead.

13. Then inquired Zarathustra, the All Pure: Whence came All Good; whence came
all evil? Who is All Good; who is all evil? Then answered I’hua’Mazda to Zarathustra,
saying: Thou perceivest now, all evil must have a name; All Good must have a name.
Without names, no man could talk. Behold, I will write for thee, O Zarathustra, thou
All Pure. The mark I make first, thou shalt call the All Good, the Creator, the Master,
the Light! Here, then, have I made a circle and a cross and a leaf. (For these
characters with explanations, see Tablet Se’moin, BOOK OF SAPHAH, verses 8 and 9. -Ed.)

14. I’hua’Mazda said to Zarathustra, the All Pure: Whoever looketh upon this mark,
whoever seeth it, seeth the Name of All Names, the Creator. Whoever maketh this mark,
writeth the name of the All Good; whoever pronounceth this mark, pronounceth the name
of Ormazd, the All Master.

15. Then made I’hua’Mazda a circle, and painted four dark corners in it, and called it
Anra’mainyus, the Uh-druk, the opposition to All Truth, and All Light, and All Good.
And I’hua’Mazda explained to Zarathustra.

16. And, behold, there stood within the circle of evil, the name of All Good, the cross,
and it was light, and the corners were black. I’hua’Mazda called this mark FATE,
explaining to Zarathustra, the All Pure, saying: These three marks embrace all the created
creation; hence, the name of the third one is Fate, from which there is no escape, nor
separation, forever.

17. Zarathustra inquired of I’hua’Mazda, saying: Is evil, evil; is good, good? I’hua’Mazda
said: Evil is evil to man, but evil is not evil to Ormazd. Good is good to man; but good is
not good to Ormazd. Only two conditions are before Ormazd; not evil, nor good; but ripe
and unripe. To Ormazd, that which man calleth evil is unripe; to Ormazd, that which man
calleth good is ripe.

18. I’hua’Mazda went on explaining, saying: For sake of understanding, O Zarathustra; for
sake of not confounding, thou shalt call evil, evil; and good, good. Hear me, then, my
son:

19. Without green fruit, none could be ripe; without evil none could be good. So Ormazd
created all creation, and called it good; but lo, and behold, there was nothing to do. All
things moved not; as if dead, all things were as nothing.

20. Then Ormazd blew His breath outward, and every created thing went into motion.
And those at the front were called All Good, and those at the rear were called all evil.
Thus created the Creator the Good Creation and the Evil Creation; the I’hua’Mazda and
the Anra’mainyus.

Chapter 10

1. Then spake I’hua’Mazda to Zarathustra, the All Pure, saying: Thus thy Creator created
all things; and the time of the creation was as a time, and a time, and a time, and without
measure.

2. I’hua’Mazda said unto Zarathustra: Thus are the created creations; thus were the created
creations; thus shall ever be the created creations. The Light of all light is Ormazd; He
the Soul of all souls. These are the things seen and things unseen, created by Ormazd,
thy Creator: Mi, the Mother Almighty: Then is Voice, the Expression of things, the
All Speech, the All Communion, created by Ormazd, thy Creator, and by Mi, the
Almighty Mother, a virgin never before conceived, and this was Vivanho, the Son.

3. I’hua’Mazda said to Zarathustra, the All Pure: Behold me, O thou, Zarathustra! Here I
make one straight line; and now I make another straight line, and now another, all joined.

4. Then Zarathustra answered, saying: Thou hast made a triangle: What is the meaning, O
I’hua’Mazda? Then answered I’hua’Mazda, saying: Three in one, O Zarathustra: Father,
Mother, and Son; Ormazd, the ghost of all things; Mi, the seen and unseen, and Vivanho,
the expression of things.

5. I’hua’Mazda said unto Zarathustra: These three comprise all things; and all things are
but one; nor were there more, nor shall ever be. Nevertheless, O my son, each of these
hath a million parts, a thousand million parts, ten hundred thousand million parts. And
every part is like unto the whole; thou, O Zarathustra, also. For thou hast within thyself
those three attributes, and no more. And each and all created things have these three
attributes in them. Thus Ormazd created all the living creation; brothers and sisters
created He them, in likeness of himself, with three entities embraced in one; which
are, first, the ghost, the soul, which is incomprehensible; second, the beast, the figure,
the person, which is called individual; and, third, the expression, to receive and impart.

6. I’hua’Mazda said unto Zarathustra, the All Pure: To receive and to impart; what else
hath man; what more desireth he? Then I’hua’Mazda made a picture of a cow, and a
picture of a horse, a strong male horse dashing forth. And he asked Zarathustra, saying:
Which of these signifieth receiving; which of these signifieth to impart? And Zarathustra
perceived.

7. I’hua’Mazda said unto Zarathustra: To be negative is to be a cow; to be positive is to be
a horse.

8. Zarathustra inquired of I’hua’Mazda, saying: How many words are there, that can be
written words! Thou hast now written many wise words, full of meaning. How many
more words are there? Then answered I’hua’Mazda, saying: A thousand words and ten
thousand words would not be all; but ten times ten thousand hundred thousand, and those
are all the words created.

9. Then Zarathustra, the All Pure, said: Write me down all the words, and explain the
meaning of them to me, that I may go before the world teaching All Truth, so that men
will no longer be in darkness.

10. Then I’hua’Mazda wrote down tens of hundreds, and thousands of words, and
explained the meaning. After that, Zarathustra sat in the bushes for thirty days and thirty
nights, neither eating nor drinking nor sleeping. And then I’hua’Mazda revealed the
secrets of heaven and earth to him, and commanded him to write them in a book; the
which he did; and this was the first book, the Zarathustrian law, the I’hua’Mazdian law.