Sacred Texts · The Avesta

The Avesta, the Gathas, and the Way of Jesus

The Gathas of Zarathushtra confess one wise Lord who set the sun and stars their course, call each soul to choose good over the Lie in thought, word, and deed, and long for a renovation that will make the world deathless. The Yashts await a coming Saoshyant, a savior yet to rise. Again and again this ancient faith runs close to the hope of the Gospel. This page reproduces 9 of its best-known passages in public-domain translations, each with a clearly-labelled Christian comparison. Read the sources, and see for yourself.

Translation: Lawrence H. Mills (1887), The Zend-Avesta, Part III (The Yasna, Visparad, Afrinagan, Gahs and Miscellaneous Fragments), Sacred Books of the East vol. XXXI, public domain, via the Internet Archive (item zendavesta03darm). Reproduced in context; Mills’ round and square brackets are his own clarifying insertions, and embedded footnote marks in the scanned text were removed. Chapter and verse follow the standard Yasna numbering.

Translation: James Darmesteter (1883), The Zend-Avesta, Part II (The Sirozahs, Yasts and Nyayis), Sacred Books of the East vol. XXIII, public domain, accessed via the American Edition (1898) hosted at avesta.org (digital edition © 1995 Joseph H. Peterson; the underlying Darmesteter translation is public domain). Reproduced in context; verse numbers follow the standard Yasht numbering.

9 passages that point toward Christ

• Yasna 30.3“Thus are the primeval spirits who as a pair (combining their opposite strivings), and (yet each) independent in his action, have been famed (of old). (They are) a better thing, the…”Read + Christian comparison (The two spirits, good and evil) →
• Yasna 45.2“Yea, I will declare the world's two first spirits, of whom the more bountiful thus spake to the harmful: Neither our thoughts, nor commands, nor our understandings, nor our beliefs…”Read + Christian comparison (The two spirits, good and evil) →
• Yasna 44.3“This I ask Thee, O Ahura! tell me aright: Who by generation was the first father of the Righteous Order (within the world)? Who gave the (recurring) sun and stars their (undeviatin…”Read + Christian comparison (One Lord, the Creator) →
• Yasna 44.4“This I ask Thee, O Ahura! tell me aright, who from beneath hath sustained the earth and the clouds above that they do not fall? Who made the waters and the plants? Who to the wind …”Read + Christian comparison (One Lord, the Creator) →
• Yasna 35.2“We are praisers of good thoughts, of good words, and of good actions, of those now and those hereafter. We implant them (with our homage, and we do this) the more, and yet the more…”Read + Christian comparison (Good thoughts, words, deeds) →
• Yasna 30.9“And may we be such as those who bring on this great renovation, and make this world progressive, (till its perfection shall have been reached). (As) the Ahuras of Mazda (even) may …”Read + Christian comparison (Renewal and resurrection) →
• Yasht 19.89“That will cleave unto the victorious Saoshyant and his helpers, when he shall restore the world, which will (thenceforth) never grow old and never die, never decaying and never rot…”Read + Christian comparison (The Saoshyant and the Savior) →
• Yasht 19.92“When Astvat-ereta shall rise up from Lake Kasava, a friend of Ahura Mazda, a son of Vispa-taurvairi, knowing the victorious knowledge. It was that Glory that Thraetaona bore with h…”Read + Christian comparison (The Saoshyant and the Savior) →
• Yasht 19.90“When the creation will grow deathless, the prosperous creation of the Good Spirit, and the Druj shall perish, though she may rush on every side to kill the holy beings; she and her…”Read + Christian comparison (Renewal and resurrection) →

Frequently asked questions

What is the Avesta, and what are the Gathas?

The Avesta is the sacred scripture of Zoroastrianism, one of the world's oldest revealed religions. Its oldest and most sacred core is the Gathas, seventeen hymns believed to come from the prophet Zarathushtra (Zoroaster) himself, gathered within the Yasna liturgy; the Yashts are later hymns of praise. This page indexes only a small, curated set of well-known passages that carry a genuine, clearly-labelled comparison to the teaching of Jesus, not the whole Avesta.

What translations are used?

For the Gathas and the Yasna Haptanghaiti, Lawrence H. Mills' 1887 translation from the Sacred Books of the East (vol. XXXI), sourced from the Internet Archive. For the Zamyad Yasht, James Darmesteter's 1883 translation (Sacred Books of the East vol. XXIII), via avesta.org. Both are firmly in the public domain, reproduced in context; each passage was located and read in its source before publishing.

Does Living Bread change the meaning of the Avesta?

No. We reproduce each passage accurately and describe its meaning within Zoroastrianism fairly. Any comparison to Christian belief is clearly labelled as a Christian comparison, never presented as the Avesta's own meaning.