Chapter 17

1Jesus plays with boys at hide and seek. 3 Some women put his playfellows in a furnace, 7 where they are transformed by Jesus into kids. 10 Jesus calls them to go and play, and they me restored to their former shape . ON another day the Lord Jesus going out into the street, and seeing some boys who were met to play, joined himself to their company:
2But when they saw him, they hid themselves, and left him to seek for them:
3The Lord Jesus came to the gate of a certain house, and asked some women who were standing there, Where the boys were gone?
4And when they answered, That there was no one there; the Lord Jesus said, Who are those whom ye see in the furnace?
5They answered, They were kids of three years old.
6Then Jesus cried out aloud, and said, Come out hither, O ye kids, to your shepherd;
7And presently the boys came forth like kids, and leaped about him; which when the women saw, they were exceedingly amazed, and trembled.
8Then they immediately worshipped the Lord Jesus, and beseeched him, saying, O our Lord Jesus, son of Mary, thou art truly that good shepherd of Israel! have mercy on thy handmaids, who stand before thee, who do not doubt, but that thou, O Lord, art come to save, and not to destroy.
9After that, when the Lord Jesus said, the children of Israel are like Ethiopians among the people; the women said, Thou, Lord, knowest all things, nor is any thing concealed from thee; but now we entreat thee, and beseech of thy mercy that thou wouldst restore those boys to their former state.
10Then Jesus said, Come hither O boys, that we may go and play; and immediately, in the presence of these women, the kids were changed and returned into the shape of boys.