The language used is classical Mandaic, a dialect of Eastern Aramaic written in

Mandaic script (Parthian chancellory script), similar to Syriac script. The

authorship is unknown, and dating is a matter of debate. Some scholars place it in
the 2nd-3rd centuries AD,[1] while others such as S. F. Dunlap place it in the 1st
century

The Ginza Rba is divided into two parts - the Right Ginza, containing 18 books, and
the Left Ginza, containing 3 books.
The book, still mainly hand written, traditionally contains the Right Ginza on one
side, and, when turned upside-down and back to front, contains the Left Ginza, this
latter also called "The Book of the Dead." The Right Ginza part of the Ginza Rba
contains sections dealing with theology, creation, ethics, historical, and mythical
narratives; its six colophons reveal that it was last redacted in the early Islamic
Era. The Left Ginza section of Ginza Rba deals with man's soul in the afterlife;
its colophon reveals that it was redacted for the last time hundreds of years
before the Islamic Era.

The book is a compilation of various oral teachings and written texts, most
predating their editing into the two volumes. It includes literature on a wide
variety of topics, including liturgy and hymns, theological texts, didactic texts,
as well as both religious and secular poetry.

The Right Ginza

Books 1 & 2, prose texts, contain two versions of a very stylized history of
creation and of Mandaeism. Book 2 also contains three small appended pieces.
Book 3 is a reconstructed poem also dealing with creation themes but concentrating
more on the origin of evil.
Book 4 is a small text usually ignored.
Book 5 contains five separate prose texts, the first and largest dealing with a
journey to the Underworld.
Book 6 deals with a "heavenly journey" theme.
Book 7 consists of John the Baptist's words.
Book 8 deals briefly with creation and evil.
Book 9 part 1 deals with other religions and the nature of the Godhead; a smaller
part 2 deals with the Holy Unique One.
Book 10 deals with the sacrament.
Book 11 deals with classical gnostic themes, and is the most difficult to
interpret.
Book 12, in seven parts, mixes poetry and prose and provides a basic introduction
to Mandaean beliefs.
Book 13 comprises a short interim conclusion to what seems to be the original
version of the Ginza.
Book 14, a prose text, deals with material from book 3.
Book 15 is a collection of 21 poems.
Book 16 contains 10 or 11 mostly shorter poems, many comparatively simple and
straightforward.
Book 17 contains 2 rather obscure but colorful poems.
Book 18 is a history-of-the-world plus an apocalypse

The Left Ginza

Book 1 is a four-part prose text on the salvation process, beginning with the
ascension to heaven of Seth, in advance of his father Adam (compare Sethian
Gnosticism).
Book 2, poetic, comprises 28 hymns.
Book 3, poetic, comprises 62 hymns. The last two books, especially the third, seem
to have a more rudimentary doctrinal content than found in the Right Ginza.

At present, there are two published Mandaic-language editions of the Ginza

published by Mandaeans themselves. Readers of Aramaic can read the original books,
which have been published and are freely accessible in university research
libraries, and in online archives[specify].
Important sources for scholars today who cannot read Mandaean Aramaic are still the
German translations, notably that by Mark Lidzbarski (1869�1928): "Der Ginza oder
das grosse Buch der Mandaer" published by Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, G�ttingen, 1925.
He translated an edition of the Ginza by Petermann (1860s) which in turn relied
upon four different Ginzas; Lidzbarski was also able to include some material from
a fifth Ginza, that at Leiden, Holland.
The first full English translation of the Ginza Rba was made by author Carlos
Gelbert, The Great Treasure Living Water Books (2011) Sydney, Australia.
Under the official auspices of the Mandaean spiritual leadership, Dr. Qais Al-Saadi
and Hamed Al-Saadi made an equivalent English translation of the Ginza "Ginza
Rabba, The Great Treasure", published by Drabsha, Germany, 2012.[3][citation
needed]