Texts in Conversation
In Matthew, Jesus describes a large harvest with few workers. The Coptic Gospel of Thomas has nearly the same language, even in small connecting expressions, suggesting a link between the versions rather than just use of a familiar farming image.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Matthew 9:37
New Testament
36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were bewildered and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. 38 Therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest-ready fields.”
Gospel of Thomas 1:73
Nag Hammadi
72 A man said to him, “Tell my brothers to divide my father’s possessions with me.” He said to him, “Man, who has made me a divider?” He turned to his disciples and said to them, “I am not a divider, am I?” 73 Jesus said, “The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few; therefore, beg the Lord to send out laborers for the harvest.” 74 He said, “Lord, there are many around the well, but there is nothing in the well.”
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Notes and References
“... For the great majority of sayings, of course, we do not have Greek texts of Thomas. Nevertheless, many scholars have observed how close some Coptic sayings are to their Greek Synoptic counterparts. Kosnetter remarks, for example, that there is ‘völlig wörtliche Übereinstimmung’ between GTh 34 and Matthew 15.14. Grobel notes that ‘the seven words of 73a agree exactly with Sahidic Matt. ix. 37, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few” – even to the μέν and δέ’, and that ‘Logion 34 differs only in a tense, 39b only in a conjunction, 54 only in “Kingdom of the heavens” for “Kingdom of God”, and 62b only in the order of the clauses’. ...”
Gathercole, Simon
The Composition of the Gospel of Thomas: Original Language and Influences
(p. 139) Cambridge University Press, 2012
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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