Scripture
The wider canon
Wisdom and Sirach, the scrolls from Qumran, 1 Enoch, and the gospels of Thomas, James, Mary, and the Savior. Read them as scripture — the same love, the same God.
Old and New Testament
Read the Holy Bible
Genesis through Revelation in the World English Bible.
- Nag HammadiSayings collected 1st–2nd century; Coptic book found 1945
Gospel of Thomas
A gospel of 114 sayings. Jesus speaks of a kingdom already within and among you, and of a love as careful as your own eyesight.
- Nag HammadiNag Hammadi, 4th-century Coptic copy of an earlier Greek text
Thomas on the nearness of God
Saying 77 imagines Christ as light in wood and stone. Read beside John 1 and Wisdom 7, it becomes a poem about a world already inhabited — not a treasure hunt for secret passwords.
- EnochMostly 3rd–1st century BCE; Aramaic fragments at Qumran
1 Enoch (Book of the Watchers)
A Jewish apocalypse that shaped how many second-Temple people imagined angels, injustice, and a coming repair. Jude quotes it. Ethiopian Christians kept it in the canon. Fragments in Cave 4 mean Jesus’ world knew Enoch’s voice.
- EnochParables of Enoch, often dated 1st century BCE–1st century CE
1 Enoch and the Son of Man
Before the gospels, some Jewish writers pictured a human-and-more figure called the Son of Man. Christians later heard Jesus’ own words in that register. The point for Yahad is not to flatten the difference, but to remember Jesus spoke a living Jewish language of hope.
- Dead Sea ScrollsCopied at Qumran, 2nd–1st century BCE
Community Rule (1QS)
The handbook of a Jewish sect that withdrew to the desert to live as children of light. Their seriousness about holiness, shared goods, and scripture is the air of Jesus’ century. Jesus does not copy them; he often walks the opposite direction — toward towns, tables, and enemies.
- Dead Sea ScrollsDead Sea Scrolls, Cave 4
Qumran Beatitudes (4Q525)
Blessed-sayings were at home in Jewish wisdom long before Matthew 5. 4Q525 blesses the one who seeks Wisdom and refuses slander. Set beside Jesus’ Beatitudes, you can hear both kinship and a shift: Jesus names the poor, the meek, and the peacemakers.
- Dead Sea ScrollsQumran, 1st century BCE–1st century CE
Thanksgiving Hymns (Hodayot)
Personal prayers of frailty and mercy. They remind us the desert community was not only rules; it was also tears and thanks. A good companion to the Psalms and to Jesus’ own prayers.
- ApocryphaJewish, likely Alexandria, 1st century BCE
Wisdom of Solomon
A hymn to a God who loves what God has made. Catholic, Orthodox, and many Anglican churches read it as scripture. It is one of the clearest “God is love” texts in the wider canon — and it is older than the New Testament.
- ApocryphaJerusalem, early 2nd century BCE
Sirach (Ecclesiasticus)
Jesus Ben Sira writes practical holiness: speech, friendship, money, the poor. The gospels’ wisdom flavor often sounds like this household. Sirach 4 could sit beside the Nazareth sermon without blushing.
- ApocryphaJewish novella, 3rd–2nd century BCE; fragments at Qumran
Tobit
A family story about exile, healing, and alms. Fragments of Tobit were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. Its golden rule lives in the same stream as Matthew 7:12.
- Nag HammadiA discourse of the risen Jesus to James and Peter
Secret Book of James
Jesus teaches fullness: be filled, so you will not be diminished. The kingdom is a seed that must fall into the earth.
- Nag HammadiA teaching conversation of Jesus with Matthew, Mary, and Judas
Dialogue of the Savior
Jesus speaks of rest, seeking, and light. When you take off the garment of shame, you will not be afraid.
- Nag HammadiThe Savior’s farewell, kept and told by Mary of Magdala
Gospel of Mary
Jesus teaches that the Son of Man is within you, and that the community must not lay down extra laws. Mary holds the words when the others lose their nerve.