نصوص أدبيّة: JTS 8998.7–8 + T-S K17.1

Folio 7r (first section)

1. In the Name of the Merciful One.
2. This is the book of the sentencing that was decreed upon Yeshuʿa son of Pandera. And it was in the year two of Tiberinus
3. Caesar, the king of Edom (i.e., Rome), he decreed a trial upon Yeshuʿa who rebelled against the God of Heaven, for he misled the people of the world
4. with a deed of magic. And he was from the town Nazareth in the land of the town Rome, which this thing happened
5. in the town of the Jews. On that day, on the twenty-eighth of the month of Elul, Pelatus the governor came into the market, 
6. and summoned Yehudah the orchard-man, and he took him before Rav Yehoshuʿa ben Rav Peraḥiah, the Nasi, [and brou]ght him before Marinus
7. the elder of the Jews and in front of a crowd of Sages, may their memory be for a blessing.  And they asked this Yehudah, and they said to him: “One whose name is Yeshuʿa, 
8. and he is misleading the people of the world with a deed of magic— do you know him?” And he said to them: “Yes, I know that he 
9. is misleading  people, and he is misled by magic, and also misleads the people of the world in a certain town. Now, if my master wishes
10. I will go and bring him.” (a few words omitted) With people sitting in front of him, and he was saying to them that “I will heal you,
11. and I will raise the dead and open the eyes of the blind.” And he also said to them: “I am God.” And they were bowing down to him.
12. And Yehudah the orchard-man caught him and brought him before them. They asked Yeshuʿa the wicked, 
13. and they said to him: “From which place are you, and from which nation?” And he said to them: “I am a Jew, and I am also a mamzer.”  They said to him:
14. “Your father—what was his name, and what were his deeds and his profession?” He said to  them: “My father’s name is Pandera, and (he is)
15. a Gentile person in Israel, and he was a man who plays.” “And your mother—what is her name and her doing?” He answered them:
16. “Her name is Miriam, and she plaits the hair of great women.” and my father died and Yoseph the carpenter came and married her.”
17. They said to him: “What is your name?” He said: “My name is Yeshuʿa, and my profession—I hunt the fish.” And they said to him: 
18. “You are empty (?) of all friends. Why empty (?) the birds? (?).” “And the books that are in your hands—are they new
19. or old?” He said: “Old, and I found them in Egypt, from those that belonged to Balaam son of Beor, and I heal
20. the sick with them.” They said to him: “We know that you roam the world, and you also do evil
21. deeds, and you sin and you mislead the people of the world with these books of yours. Now tell us
22. the truth, and if not—we will kill you.” He said to them: “You are my masters; I speak to you righteousness. Know
23. that the books that are in my hand are by Yoḥanan the Dyer, and I learned from him.”  Pelatus the governor answered 
24. and said to Rabbi Yehoshuʿa ben Peraḥiah the Nasi, and also to Marinus, the elder of the Jews: “From which place is this Yoḥanan
25. the Dyer?” He answered him and said to him: “In truth did Yeshuʿa the wicked say to us that these books belong to Yoḥanan the Dyer,
26. and this wicked Yeshuʿa did not write them, but Yoḥanan the Dyer did. And they sinned with them,
27. and also misled the people of the world. And our rabbis—may their memory be for a blessing—answered and said to Pelatus

Folio 7v (second section)

1. the governor: “Does our master wish to grant us authority, that we will kill these men, since they are dealing
2. with magic and with writings of falsehood, and they mislead people and say to them, ‘We have
3. authority to kill and also to revive’, and they make their souls liable to being killed. And they think that they are equal
4. with God. Please see what these people have done—they rose and misled many people, and brought them to
5. the desert, and now they will die of hunger; and also the money which is with them—it is the law to give it to our master,
6. (but) they will not let them give it.” And Pelatus the governor wrote and said: “If you wish, I too will send
7. for them, and will also bring Yoḥanan the Dyer, and we shall see what comes out of (one line or more omitted) who wears torn (garments),
8. and also Shimeʿon Kepha, and Binyamin who is cursed. And he (Pilatus) sent this one (?) with them, and he commanded and they went
9. to the town Kephar Naḥum (or, Tanḥum). And they found Yoḥanan imprisoned in jail, for
10. Tiberinus Caesar had imprisoned him, since he had been misleading the people of the world. And they brought Yoḥanan the Dyer,
11. the teacher of Yeshuʿa the wicked, before Yehoshuʿa ben R. Peraḥiah the Nasi and before Marinus the elder 
12. of (the) Jews, and before the governor. They answered and said to him: “These books that we found in the hand of Yeshuʿa
13. the wicked, your disciple—but if you tell us in truth, and if not, we will kill you by a sword.”
14. Yoḥanan the Dyer answered and said to them: “My masters! These books are books of magicians,
15. and Yeshuʿa the wicked wrote them, and I was in jail, since
16. since Tiberinus Caesar had imprisoned me. And I did not see Yeshuʿa the wicked, but he and his eleven disciples
17. wrote these books, and they are dealing with them and mislead (the) people of the world.
18. And they say about me that they (i.e., the books) are mine, and they are not mine, but he wrote them out of his own mind.”
19. Then they said to Yoḥanan the Dyer that: “The disciples of Yeshuʿa the wicked—what
20. are their names?” Yoḥanan answered and said to them: “These are their names—Naqi and Alqi and Rabbi and Tat
21. and Todah and Petrus and Netzer and Matai. These are their names.”  They said to him: “Who will go and bring them to us?”
22. Yehudah answered and said with Shimeʿon Kepha and Binyamin the cursed one. And they summoned
23. them and said: “Will you go and bring them?” And they said: “We will go.” They went to the town of Kephar

Folio 8r (third section)

1. and were wandering after them, and they (i.e., the disciples) heard and ran away to the town
2. Africa, and hid under a certain tree, and they were dealing with magic, which
3. they learned from Yeshuʿa the wicked, and they were under the root of the tree.
4. And Matai, and Altagius, and Alqi and Paulus and Petrus and Zakai ran away from them. And those who remained—
5. brought them before Rabbi Yehoshuʿa ben Peraḥiah the Nasi, and before Marinus the elder of the Jews, and before Pelatus,
6. and before the crowd of people. And they saw him, and he was standing, this
7. Yeshuʿa the wicked; Yoḥanan was also standing. They said to Naqi: “Why is your name called
8. Naqi?” He answered them and said to them: “About me David—peace be upon him—said, ‘Neqi hands and a pure heart, etc.’.”
9. They answered and said to him: “You are light(-minded) and a fool who fooled all living creature! Not thus said the king
10. (i.e., David), for in God’s Torah it is written thus, ‘and He shall naqe not yenaqe’.” And he ordered and they threw him into a fiery furnace.
11. And after him they summoned Matai, and said to him: “Why is your name called Matai?” He answered and said to them:
12. “About me King David said, ‘Matai will I come and be seen before God?’” They answered and said to him: “You are (more)
13. light(-minded) and a fool than all living creatures! Not thus said David, peace be upon him, about you (in) the Bible, for
14. it says afterwards, ‘Matai will he die, and his name perish’” And they  ordered, and they cut Matai’s head off from his body.
15. After him they summoned Beni, and they said to him: “Why is your name called Beni?” He answered:
16. “About me the Torah says, ‘Israel is beni, the firstborn’.” They answered and said to him: “Not thus did the Torah speak about you. You
17. are light(-minded) and a fool! for thus said the Torah, ‘Behold I will kill binkha, the firstborn’.” And they decreed,
18. and they burned him in the fire.  After him they summoned Netzer, and they said to him: “Why is your name called Netzer?”
19. He answered them: “About me the prophet Isaiah prophesied, ‘and a netzer will grow from its roots’.” They answered him: “You light(- minded) person!
20. Not thus did Isaiah the prophet speak about you, but thus did he speak— ‘And you were cast out of your tomb like a detested netzer’.”
21. And they stoned him with a stone, and he died. After him they summoned Todah. They said to him: “Why is your name called Todah?”

Folio 8v (fourth section)

1. He answered them and said: “Thus did David say about me, ‘Come to His gates with todah, to his courtyards with praise’.”
2. They answered and said to him: “Light(-minded)! Not thus did he say; you are light(-minded) and a fool in the world of all living creatures! And (was it) not about you
3. that the Torah said thus, ‘And when you sacrifice a sacrifice of todah, etc.’? ‘He who sacrifices todah honors me’.” And he ordered, and they executed
4. Todah. After this Pelatus the governor said to Rabbi Yehoshuʿa ben Peraḥiah the Nasi
5. Marinus the elder of the Jews and to the crowds of people: “The disciples of Yeshuʿa the wicked
6. have been killed. And now, what shall we do with those whose names are Yeshuʿa and Yoḥanan, and what shall we judge concerning them,
7. and what do they deserve by law and by trial?” They answered and said: “We will not try
8. them until we send to King Tiberinus Caesar and tell him that we caught
9. people who were dealing with the law (?) of magicians; (and) now, what do you command
10. that we do with them?” And they sent a messenger to him. He sent to them and answered them that: 
11. “You sent to me concerning magicians; send them to me!” And they sent to him
12. Yeshuʿa and Yoḥanan, to King Caesar. And Yehoshuʿa
13. and Marinus and Pelatus and the crowds also went with them. When he saw (them), he said to Yeshuʿa the wicked
14. and to Yoḥanan: “What are you, and what are your doings?”  They answered and said to him: “We are the sons of God,
15. and we are dealing with the Torah.” Caesar said to them: “What authority do you have?” He said to him:
16. “We can kill and revive, and grant children to a woman without sexual intercourse with a man.”
17. When Caesar heard their words he ridiculed them. He answered and said to them: “I have
18. a daughter—can you grant her a son without sexual intercourse with a man?” They answered and said: “We can produce
19. offspring without sexual intercourse with a man.” He ordered, and she was brought to them. And they spoke in their sorcery 
20. words of magic, and Caesar saw that she was pregnant. And he said to them: “What is she 
21. pregnant with?” They said: “A male.”  And Caesar commanded, and they were imprisoned until Caesar’s daughter would give birth.
22. The Master of the Universe commanded the angel who is in charge of the house of the one who is born and of the womb,