Odes of Solomon

tr. Harris, 1911

Chapter 19

¹A cup of milk was offered to me: and I drank it in the sweetness of the delight of the Lord. ²The Son is the cup, and He who was milked is the Father: ³and the Holy Spirit milked Him: because His breasts were full, and it was necessary for Him that His milk should be sufficiently released; ⁴and the Holy Spirit opened His¹ bosom and mingled the milk from the two breasts of the Father; and gave the mixture to the world without their knowing: ⁵and they who receive in its fulness are the ones on the right hand. ⁶[The Spirit] opened the womb of the Virgin and she received conception and brought forth; and the Virgin became a Mother with many mercies; ⁷and she travailed and brought forth a Son, without incurring pain; ⁸and because she was not sufficiently prepared², and she had not sought a midwife, (for He brought her to bear), she brought forth, as if she were a man³, of her own will⁴; ⁹and she brought Him forth openly, and acquired Him with great dignity, ¹⁰and loved Him in His swaddling clothes, and guarded Him kindly, and showed Him in Majesty. Hallelujah.

Notes

MS. her bosom.
Perhaps: and because there was not (pain) she was sufficient.
Batiffol: as it were a man: reading ὡς ἄνθρωπον for ὡς ἄνθρωπος.
Batiffol: by the will [of God]: cf. Joh. i. 13 ἐκ θελήματος.