Saying 19: The Five Trees in Paradise
Blessed is the one who came into being before coming into being. There are five trees in Paradise, unchanged in summer and winter; whoever knows them will not taste death.
Commentary
The five trees are never identified, and interpretations have run from the five senses to the five books of the Torah to a Manichaean cosmology. Their unchanging state is the point: they stand outside the cycle of seasons and so outside death.
Parallels
John 8:58
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