Justin Martyr: Apologies & Dialogue with Trypho
The Plainspoken Classics - Scriptorium Press (First Edition, 2026)
An original AI translation made directly from the source language.
https://openscriptorium.com


======== First Apology ========

To the Emperor Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Pius Caesar Augustus, and to Verissimus his son, a philosopher, and to Lucius, by nature son of a philosopher Caesar and by adoption the son of the Pious emperor, a devotee of learning, and to the sacred Senate and to the whole People of the Romans, on behalf of those of every race of men who are unjustly hated and mistreated, I, Justin, son of Priscus, son of Bacchius, one of those from Flavia Neapolis in Syria Palestine, being myself one of them,
have composed this address and petition. Reason dictates that those who are truly pious and philosophers should honor and cherish only the truth, refusing to follow the opinions of the ancients if they are worthless; for sound reason dictates not only that one should not follow those who have acted or taught unjustly, but that the lover of truth must, in every way and even before his own life, though death be threatened,
choose to say and to do what is just. You, then, are called pious and philosophers and guardians of justice and lovers of learning — this is heard everywhere; but whether you actually are so will be shown. For we have come forward through this writing not to flatter you, nor to speak so as to please you, but to demand that you render judgment according to careful and searching reason, not held fast by prejudgment
nor by a desire to please superstitious men, nor casting your vote against yourselves through irrational impulse or through evil report that has long prevailed. For we have reckoned that we can suffer no evil at anyone's hands, unless we are convicted as workers of wickedness or are found to be evil; you can kill us, but you cannot harm us. But so that this may not seem to be an irrational and rash statement,
we ask that the charges brought against them be examined, and, if they are shown to be true, that they be punished as it is fitting to punish those convicted; but if anyone has nothing to prove, true reason does not dictate that innocent men be wronged because of an evil report — rather, that you wrong yourselves, who resolve to bring matters about not by judgment but by passion. And this challenge every sensible person will declare to be good and the only just one,
that those who are ruled render an account of their own life and conduct that is beyond reproach, and likewise that those who rule cast their vote not by force nor by tyranny but in accordance with piety and philosophy; for thus both the rulers and the ruled would enjoy what is good. For one of the ancients said somewhere: 'Unless the rulers become philosophers
and those who are ruled, it is not possible for cities to be happy.' It is our task, then, to offer to all an examination of our life and our teachings, so that we may not, on behalf of those who think themselves ignorant of what concerns us, bring upon ourselves the punishment for whatever they commit while blind; and it is your task, as reason requires, to be found good judges once you have heard us. For once you have learned this, you will be left without excuse, if you do not act justly,
before God. Now by the mere designation of a name, nothing is judged either good or bad, apart from the actions that fall under that name; since, so far as the name we are accused of goes, we are most excellent. But since we would not think it just that, if we are convicted of being evil, we should ask to be released on account of the name, so again, if nothing is found against us either on account of the appellation of the name or on account of our conduct,
we are found to be wronging anyone, it is for you to be anxious lest, in punishing without justice those whom no court has found guilty, you bring judgment down upon yourselves. For neither praise nor punishment could reasonably be based on a name, unless something virtuous or base can be demonstrated through deeds. Indeed, you do not punish everyone brought before you as accused prior to a verdict; yet with us, you treat the mere name as proof,
though, strictly on the basis of the name alone, it is the accusers you ought to be punishing instead. We are charged with being Christians; but it is not right that what is good should be hated. And again: if one among the accused denies it outright, claiming he is not one, you set him free, since you have nothing to prove against him as wrongdoing; but if someone admits to being one, you punish him for that admission — although you ought also to
examine the life of the one who confesses and of the one who denies, so that each may be shown, through his deeds, for what he is. For in the way that some, having received from their teacher Christ the command not to deny him when examined, encourage others not to deny — in the same way, living badly, they perhaps give occasions to those who choose to charge all Christians generally with impiety and injustice. But this too is not done rightly; for indeed
some assume the name and guise of philosophy who do nothing worthy of that profession; and you know that even those of the ancients who held and taught opposite opinions are called by the one name 'philosophers.' And some of these taught atheism, and the poets who arose proclaim Zeus to be licentious along with his own children; and those who follow after their teachings are not restrained by you,
rather, you set up prizes and honors for those who insult the gods eloquently. What, then, could this be? In our case, though we promise to do no wrong and not to hold these godless opinions, you do not examine our arguments, but, driven by irrational passion and by the scourge of wicked demons, you punish us without judgment, giving it no thought. Let the truth be told plainly: long ago, evil demons, appearing in various forms, both seduced women and corrupted
boys, and showed terrifying apparitions to men, so that those who did not judge by reason the things that were happening were struck with terror; and being seized by fear, and not knowing that they were wicked demons, they called them gods, and addressed each by the name that each of the demons had assigned to himself. And when Socrates, by true and searching reason, tried to bring these things to light and to lead men away from the demons, and
the demons worked through men who delighted in wickedness, so that he was put to death as godless and impious, they saying that he was introducing new divinities; and they do the very same thing in our case as well. For these things were exposed by reason not only among the Greeks through Socrates, but also among non-Greek peoples by the Word itself, once it had taken shape, been made human, and received the name Jesus Christ, in whom
we, having been persuaded, say that the demons who did these things are not only not upright, but are wicked and unholy demons, whose deeds do not even resemble those of men who desire virtue. This is exactly why people brand us atheists: toward gods of that so-called sort, we openly admit the charge—yet not toward the God who is truly real, the Father of justice, self-control, and every other virtue, one unmixed with
evil; but him we worship, together with the Son who proceeded from him and instructed us in these matters, the army of good angels who accompany and resemble him, and the prophetic Spirit—these we revere and adore, giving them honor in speech and in truth, and passing this on freely to anyone eager to learn, just as we ourselves were instructed. But, someone will object, some have already been seized and proven guilty as criminals. True—for you too, often,
examine the life of each of the accused individually, and you do not condemn on account of those who have already been convicted. In general, then, we admit this as well: just as Greek teachers who set forth doctrines agreeable to their own taste get grouped together under the single label 'philosophy,' even though their teachings contradict one another, so too among non-Greek peoples, those who emerged and gained a reputation for wisdom fall under one shared name by which they now stand accused;
for everyone is called a Christian. That is why we request that the conduct of all those brought before you be judged on its own merits, so that anyone proven guilty is punished as a criminal, not as a Christian; and if someone is shown to be innocent, let him go free, since being a Christian carries no guilt in itself. We will not even ask that you punish our accusers; their own wickedness and ignorance of the good already punish them enough. And consider that it is on your behalf
that we have said these things, when it was in our power, being examined, to deny. But we do not wish to live by speaking falsely; for, desiring the eternal and pure life, we lay claim to a manner of life together with God, the Father and maker of all, and we hasten to confess it, persuaded and believing that those who have persuaded God through their deeds that they followed him and desired
the manner of life with him, where evil does not resist, are able to attain these things. So then, to speak briefly, these are the things we look forward to, and have learned through Christ, and teach. Plato likewise said that Rhadamanthus and Minos would punish the unjust who come before them; but we say that the same thing will happen, only through Christ, and in the same bodies, joined again with
their souls, and being punished with eternal punishment, and not merely for a period of a thousand years, as he said. If then anyone will say this is unbelievable or impossible, this error is our own concern and no one else's, so long as we are not convicted of doing any wrong in deed. But neither do we honor with many sacrifices and wreaths of flowers those whom men, having shaped them and set them up in temples, call gods
they attached these names, since we recognize that such objects are lifeless, dead things with no divine shape at all (we do not hold that God possesses whatever shape some claim was copied to honor him), but instead that they bear the titles and outward shapes of those evil spirits who formerly made themselves seen. Why should we spell out for you, who already know it, what craftsmen do to raw material—planing, cutting, and casting
and hammering it? And often, from dishonorable vessels, merely by changing the shape through their craft and giving it form, they call the results gods. This we consider not only irrational but also an outrage committed against God, who, possessing an ineffable glory and form, is named over perishable things that stand in need of tending. And that the craftsmen of these images are licentious and possess every vice — not to enumerate them all —
you know for certain; and they even corrupt their own slave-girls who work alongside them. Oh, what madness — to fashion licentious men to be worshiped as gods, and to say and remake them so, and to appoint such men as guardians of the temples where they are set up, not realizing that it is impious even to imagine or claim that men could be guardians of gods! But we have received that God has no need of material offering from men, since he himself provides
all things, as we can see. Rather we have been taught and are persuaded and believe that he receives only those who imitate the good things that belong to him — temperance, justice, love of humanity, and whatever else is proper to God, who is called by no name that has been assigned him. And we have been taught that, being good from the beginning, he fashioned all things out of formless matter for the sake of human beings; and that those who by their deeds show themselves worthy of his purpose
we have received will be deemed worthy to dwell together with him, reigning as fellow kings, having become incorruptible and free from suffering. For just as at the beginning he made them when they did not exist, so in the same way we hold that, by choosing what pleases him, those who so choose will be counted worthy of incorruption and union with him. Coming into being at the beginning was not, after all, up to us; but to follow what is dear to him, choosing it by means of
the rational powers he himself has granted, is what persuades us and leads us into belief. And we hold that it is for the good of all humanity that people not be barred from learning these things, but rather urged toward them. For what human laws were unable to accomplish, the divine word would have accomplished, had not the wicked demons scattered abroad many false and godless accusations, taking as their ally
the desire present in each person, evil toward everything and by nature manifold — none of which has any place in us. And you, on hearing that we look for a kingdom, have rashly supposed that we mean a human one, when in fact we speak of one that is with God — as is clear also from the fact that, when examined by you, we confess to being Christians, knowing that death lies as the penalty for the one who so confesses. For if we were looking for a human kingdom, we would also have denied it,
so as not to be put to death, and would have tried to escape notice, so as to obtain what we were looking for. But since we do not fix our hopes on the present life, we have no concern for those who kill us, since death is in any case owed by us. We are, more than all other people, your helpers and allies toward peace, we who hold these convictions: that it is impossible for an evildoer, or a greedy man, or a schemer, or a virtuous man, to escape God's notice, and that each one
goes on to eternal punishment or salvation according to the worth of his deeds. For if all people knew this, no one would choose vice even for a short while, knowing that he goes on to eternal condemnation by fire, but would in every way restrain and adorn himself with virtue, so that he might obtain the good things that come from God and be delivered from the places of punishment. For those who,
on account of the laws and punishments laid down by you, try to escape notice while doing wrong, do wrong because they know it is possible for men to escape your notice — but if they had learned and been persuaded that it is impossible for anything, not only a deed but even a plan, to escape God's notice, they would in every way be well-behaved out of fear of what threatens them, as you yourselves would agree. But you seem to be afraid that everyone might act justly and that you
would then have no one left to punish; that would be the work of executioners, not of good rulers. We are persuaded that it is by evil demons — who even demand sacrifices and acts of service from those who live irrationally — that such things are brought about, as we have said before; but we do not suppose that you, who aspire to piety and philosophy, would do anything irrational. But if you too, like the
senseless, honor custom above truth, then do what you are able to do — rulers who honor reputation above truth have just as much power as bandits do in the wilderness. That you will not obtain favorable omens, reason itself demonstrates, since we know of no ruler more kingly and more just than him who comes after God, his begetter. For just as everyone shuns poverty, or sufferings, or inherited paternal disgraces,
so too the sensible man will not choose whatever reason dictates should not be chosen. That all these things would happen, I say, our teacher foretold — Jesus Christ, who is Son and apostle of God, Father of all and Master, from whom also we have come to be called Christians. For this reason too we grow confident regarding everything declared by him, since in fact
it appears in actual fact that the things he foretold, before they came to pass, are indeed coming to pass — which is the work of God: to speak of something before it happens, and thus to have it shown coming to pass just as it was foretold. It would have been possible, resting even on these points alone, to stop and add nothing more, reasoning that what we ask for is both just and true; but since we recognize that it is not easy for a soul held fast by ignorance to change quickly, we have been eager to include a little more, hoping to win over those devoted to truth,
knowing that it is not impossible to escape ignorance once the truth has been set before it. That we are not atheists, then — we who worship the maker of this universe, who has no need of blood and libations and incense, as we have been taught, declaring this by a word of prayer and thanksgiving over everything we offer, praising him with all the power we have, having received that the only honor worthy of him is this: not to consume by fire the things he has made for our sustenance,
but to offer them instead to ourselves and to those in need, and to send up to him, in gratitude, processions and hymns through the word, for our having come into being and for all the resources that make for well-being — for the properties of the various sorts of things and for the seasons' shifting patterns — while also sending up petitions for coming to be again in incorruption through faith in him — who, being of sound mind, will not acknowledge this? And him who became the teacher of these things
to us, having been begotten for this very purpose — Jesus Christ, executed on the cross under Pontius Pilate, governor of Judea during the reign of Tiberius Caesar — having learned him to be the Son of the true God, and holding him in second place, and the prophetic Spirit, whom we honor in third rank because it accords with reason, we will demonstrate. For at this point they show us to be mad, on the grounds that we give second place, after the unchangeable and
ever-existing God, begetter of all things, to a man who was crucified — not knowing the mystery contained in this, to which we urge you to attend as we explain it. For we forewarn you to be on guard, lest the demons we have already exposed deceive you and turn you away from paying any attention at all to and understanding what is said — for they strive to keep you as slaves and servants, at one time through
appearances in dreams, and at another through magical tricks, overpowering all those who do not in any way strive for their own salvation — in the same way that we too, once we were persuaded by the word, departed from them and follow God alone, the unbegotten one, through his Son — we who once delighted in acts of fornication now embrace chastity alone; and we who also practiced magical arts,
have now dedicated ourselves to the good and unbegotten God; and we who cherished the means of acquiring money and property above all else now bring even what we have into a common store and share it with everyone in need; and we who hated one another and killed one another, and would not share a hearth with those not of our own race because of custom, now, after the appearing of Christ, live together with them, and pray
for our enemies, and try to persuade those who hate us unjustly, so that those who have lived according to Christ's good precepts may be of good hope, together with us, of obtaining the same things from God who rules over all. And so that we may not seem to you to be arguing with mere cleverness, we thought it good, before the demonstration, to call to mind a few of the teachings given by Christ himself — and let it be for you, as befits
powerful kings, to examine whether we have truly been taught, and do teach, these things. His words were brief and concise; he had no training as a rhetorician, yet his speech carried the very power of God. Concerning temperance, then, he said only this: 'Whoever looks at a woman so as to desire her has already committed adultery with her in his heart before God.' And: 'If your eye
"...right [eye] causes you to stumble, tear it out; for it is better for you to enter God's kingdom having just one eye than to be thrown, with both, into the everlasting fire." And: "Whoever marries a woman divorced from another man commits adultery." And: "There are some who were made eunuchs by men, and there are some who were born eunuchs, and there are some who made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven;
but not all can accept this." Just as those who under human law practice bigamy are sinners before our Teacher, so too are those who look at a woman with desire for her; for not only is the man who commits adultery in deed cast out by him, but also the man who wishes to commit adultery, since not only the deeds that are visible to God matter, but also the thoughts. And many men
and many women, sixty and seventy years old, who were made disciples of Christ from childhood, remain uncorrupted; and I pray to show such people from every race of mankind. Why, indeed, should we even mention the vast, uncountable number of people who turned away from licentiousness and learned these things? For Christ called to repentance not the righteous nor the temperate, but the impious and licentious and unjust. He said
as follows: "I did not come to summon the righteous, but to call sinners to repentance." For the heavenly Father wills the repentance of the sinner rather than his punishment. And concerning loving all men he taught this: "If you love those who love you, what new thing do you do? For even the fornicators do this. But I say to you: pray for your enemies and"
love those who hate you and bless those who curse you and pray for those who mistreat you." And concerning sharing with those in need and doing nothing for the sake of glory he said this: "Give to everyone who asks, and do not turn away the one who wishes to borrow. For if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what new thing do you do? Even the tax collectors do this. But you,"
"do not store up treasures for yourselves on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and where thieves break in; but store up treasures for yourselves in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys. For what does a man gain, if he gains the whole world but loses his soul? Or what will he give in exchange for it? So lay up your treasure in heaven instead, where neither moth nor decay"
"destroys." And: "Be kind and compassionate, as your Father also is kind and compassionate, and makes his sun rise upon sinners and the righteous and the wicked. Do not be anxious about what you will eat or what you will wear. Do you not surpass the birds and the beasts? And God feeds them. Do not, then, be anxious about what you will eat or what"
"you will wear; for your heavenly Father knows that you have need of these things. But seek the heavenly kingdom, and everything else will be given to you besides. For wherever a person's treasure lies, that is where his mind is fixed." And: "Do not do these things in order to be seen by men; otherwise you have no reward from your Father"
"who is in heaven." And concerning being patient under wrong, and serving all, and being free of anger, these are the things he said: "To the one who strikes your cheek offer also the other, and do not hinder the one who takes your tunic or your cloak. Whoever is angry is liable to the fire. Go with anyone who compels you to go one mile, go two."
"Let your good works shine before men, so that seeing them they may marvel at your Father who is in heaven." For he did not wish us to retaliate, nor to imitate the base, but through endurance and gentleness to lead all men away from shame and from desire for evil things — which we are able to demonstrate even from many cases that have occurred among you;
men who changed from being violent men and tyrants, either overcome, or having observed the steadfastness of life among their neighbors, or having noticed the strange endurance of fellow travelers who were being cheated, or having had experience of business partners. And concerning not swearing oaths at all, but always speaking the truth, he exhorted thus: "Do not swear at all; let your yes be yes and your no, no; whatever is more than these is from the evil one." And that
God alone must be worshiped, he persuaded thus, saying: "The greatest commandment is: You shall worship the Lord your God and serve him alone with all your heart and with all your strength" — the Lord God who made you. And when someone approached him and said, "Good teacher," he answered saying, "No one is good except God alone, who"
"made all things." And whoever is found not living according to what he taught must be recognized as no Christian at all, even if they speak the teachings of Christ with their tongue; for he said that not those who merely say, but those who also do the works, will be saved. For he spoke as follows: "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does"
"the will of my Father who is in heaven. For whoever hears me and does what I say hears him who sent me. And many will say to me: 'Lord, Lord, did we not eat and drink in your name, and do mighty works?' And then I will say to them: 'Depart from me, workers of lawlessness.' Then there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when"
"the righteous shine like the sun, and the unrighteous are sent away into the eternal fire. For many will come in my name, outwardly clothed in sheep's clothing, but inwardly being ravenous wolves; you will recognize them from their works. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." And we hold that those who do not live in accordance
with his teachings, but are called Christians only in name, ought to be punished by you as well. And we try to pay tribute and taxes to those appointed by you over all matters, everywhere, before all others, just as we were taught by him. For at that time certain men approached and asked him whether it is right to pay tribute to Caesar. And he replied, "Tell me—whose likeness is stamped on the coin?" They answered,
"Caesar's." And again he answered them: "Render, then, the things of Caesar to Caesar, and the things of God to God." For this reason we worship God alone, but in everything else we serve you willingly, confessing you as rulers and kings over mankind, and asking that alongside your royal authority you may also be shown to have sound judgment. But if, even though we pray and set everything
in plain view, you disregard us, we ourselves will suffer no harm, since we believe — or rather, are convinced — that each man will pay the penalty for his deeds through eternal fire, and will be required to render account for his conduct in proportion to the powers he received from God, as Christ indicated when he said: "To whomever God gave more, more will also be required of him." Consider the end of each of
the kings that have arisen, that they underwent the death every man shares; and if that death meant the end of all awareness, it would be a stroke of luck for every wicked person. But since perception remains for all who have come into being, and eternal punishment is laid up for them, do not neglect to be persuaded and to believe that these things are true. For necromancies, and the visions of uncorrupted children, and the summonings of human souls, and those called among
the magicians "dream-senders" and "assistant spirits," and the things done by those who have knowledge of these matters, let them persuade you that even after death souls remain in a state of perception; and the men who are seized and thrown about by the souls of the dead, whom everyone calls demon-possessed and mad; and the oracles among you called those of Amphilochus and Dodona and Pytho, and whatever other such things there are, and the
teachings of the writers — of Empedocles and Pythagoras, of Plato and Socrates — and the pit in Homer, and the descent of Odysseus for the viewing of these things, and of those who have said the same things as these: if you would receive us in like manner as these, we believe in God no less than they do — indeed, more — we who expect to receive back again our own bodies, even those that have died and been cast into the earth, since it is impossible
to say that nothing is possible for God. And to one who considers it, what could seem more incredible than this — if we did not exist in a body, and someone said that from some small drop of human seed it was possible for bones and sinews and flesh, fashioned into an image such as we see, to come into being? Let it now be said as a hypothesis: if someone were to say to us, when we did not yet exist as such, and to those not yet existing as such,
showing the seed of a man and a painted image, and affirming that from such-and-such a thing such-and-such would come to be, before seeing it come to be, did you believe? No one would dare say otherwise. In the same way, then, unbelief holds you because you have not yet seen a dead man rise. But just as you would never have imagined, at the outset, that such things could emerge from a tiny drop, and yet you now watch them come to be, in the same
way reckon that it is not impossible that human bodies, having been dissolved and scattered into the earth like seeds, should by the command of God rise again at the appointed time and "put on incorruption." For what worthy power of God the people who claim that each thing passes back into that from which it came, and that God himself can do nothing beyond this, are attributing to him, we cannot say; but this much we do perceive, that
they would never have believed it possible for such beings as they themselves ever to come to be, of the sort they now observe themselves and the entire cosmos to be, made from the very materials they see them composed of. But it is better to believe even things impossible to one's own nature and to men, than to disbelieve like the rest, since we have also come to know our teacher Jesus Christ saying, "The things impossible with men are possible with God." And he said,
"Do not be afraid of those who kill you and can do nothing further after that; rather, fear the one who, after death, has power to throw both soul and body into Gehenna." Now Gehenna is a place where those who have lived unjustly and do not believe that these things which God taught through Christ will come to pass are going to be punished. And the Sibyl and Hystaspes also said there would be
a destruction of corruptible things by fire. And the philosophers called Stoics teach that God himself is dissolved into fire, and that the world in turn comes to be again by a change; but we understand the maker of all things, God, to be something better than the things that change. If, then, we say some things similar to what your honored poets and philosophers say, and other things more fully and divinely, and are alone able to do so with proof, why are we unjustly hated above all others?
For by our saying that all things have been ordered and brought into being by God, we will seem to be saying Plato's doctrine; by our saying there will be a conflagration, the Stoics' doctrine; by our saying that the souls of the unjust exist after death with sensation and are punished, while the souls of the good, freed from punishments, live well, we will seem to be saying the same as the poets and
philosophers; by our saying that one must not worship the works of human hands, we say the same as Menander the comic poet and those who have said this, for they too declared the maker greater than the thing made. By our saying that the Word, who is God's firstborn offspring, was begotten without sexual union — Jesus Christ, our teacher — and that he, having been crucified and
having died and risen again, ascended into heaven, we bring nothing new beyond those said among you to be sons of Zeus. For you know how many sons the writers honored among you say Zeus had: Hermes, the interpretive word and teacher of all; Asclepius, who became a healer and, having been struck by lightning, ascended into heaven; Dionysus, torn to pieces; Heracles, who gave himself to fire in flight from his labors;
the Dioscuri, born of Leda; Perseus, offspring of Danae; and Bellerophon, a mortal man who nonetheless rode the horse Pegasus. What shall we say of Ariadne and those said to have been placed among the stars like her? And what of your own emperors who die, whom you always deem worthy to be made immortal, and produce someone swearing an oath that he saw the burnt Caesar rising from the pyre into
heaven? And as for what deeds are recorded of each of those said to be sons of Zeus, there is no need to tell them to those who already know, except to say that these things were written for the instruction and encouragement of the young; for everyone considers it a fine thing to be an imitator of the gods. Far be it from a sound-minded soul to hold such a notion about the gods as that even the leader and begetter of all, Zeus himself, according to
them, became a father-killer and was born of such a father, and, overcome by desire for evil and shameful pleasures, went after Ganymede and the many women he seduced, and that his own children accepted him after doing similar things. But, as we said before, it was the wicked demons who did these things; we have been taught that only those who live piously and virtuously, close to God, are made immortal, while we believe that those who live
unjustly and do not change are punished in eternal fire. Now Jesus, whom we call the Son of God, would deserve that title on the grounds of wisdom alone even if he were merely a man in the common sense; after all, every one of the ancient authors calls God the father of both men and gods. But if we say that he was begotten of God in a special way, apart from ordinary generation, as Word of God, as we said before, let this be a common
claim for you too, who say that Hermes is the Word who brings messages from God. And if someone should object that he was crucified, this too is common to the sons of Zeus, previously enumerated, who suffered as you tell it. For their deaths are not recorded as alike but as different; so that his own particular suffering should not be thought to make him inferior — rather, as we promised, as the
argument proceeds we will show him to be greater, or rather he has already been shown to be so; for the greater is made known by his deeds. And if we likewise claim that he was born from a virgin, let that too be no different from what you already grant Perseus. And as for our saying that he healed the lame and the paralyzed and those crippled from birth, and raised the dead, we will seem to be saying the same
things claimed to have been done by Asclepius. But in order that this too may now become clear to you, that whatever we say, having learned it from Christ and from the prophets who came before him, alone is true and older than all the writers who have ever existed, and that we do not claim acceptance because we say the same things as they do, but because we speak the truth — and that Jesus Christ alone was begotten as Son to God in a special way, being his Word,
his firstborn, and his power, and becoming man in accordance with his purpose, taught us these things so as to transform and restore the human race; and that before he became man among men, certain beings — I mean the aforementioned evil demons — got ahead of him and, through the poets, told as having happened things they had invented as myths, in the same way that they have also brought about the slanderous
and impious deeds said against us, of which there is no witness or proof — this we shall make our refutation. First, that although we say things similar to the Greeks, we alone are despised for bearing the name Christ, and though guilty of nothing we are killed as though we were criminals, while elsewhere others venerate trees, rivers, mice, cats, crocodiles, and most other unreasoning creatures, and not
are the same things honored by all, but different things in different places, so that all are impious toward one another because they do not worship the same things. This is the only charge you have to bring against us: that we do not worship the same gods as you, nor bring libations and burnt fat and, at burials, wreaths and sacrifices to the dead. For that the same things are among some reckoned gods, among
others beasts, and among others sacrificial victims, you know precisely. Second, that from every race of men those who formerly worshiped Dionysus son of Semele and Apollo son of Leto — who, on account of their loves for boys, did things shameful even to speak of — and those who worshiped Persephone and Aphrodite, who were driven mad by desire on account of Adonis, whose mysteries you also celebrate, or Asclepius or any
of the other so-called gods — although death was threatened through Jesus Christ — have despised these, and have dedicated themselves to the unbegotten and impassible God, whom we are persuaded neither went after Antiope and the other women like her, nor after Ganymede, driven by desire, nor was freed, when he had gotten aid through Thetis, by that hundred-handed one, nor, caring for this reason for Thetis's son Achilles, on account of
the concubine Briseis, destroyed many of the Greeks. And we pity those who are persuaded of such things; but we recognize the demons responsible for them. Third, that even after the ascension of Christ into heaven, the demons put forward certain men who said they themselves were gods, who far from suffering persecution at your hands, were instead granted honors. A certain Simon, a Samaritan, from a village
called Gitta, who under Claudius Caesar, by the art of the demons working through him, performed magical powers in your imperial city of Rome, was believed to be a god, and has been honored by you with a statue as a god — a statue which has been set up in the river Tiber between the two bridges, bearing this Roman inscription: SIMONI DEO SANCTO. And nearly all the Samaritans, and a few
and in other nations too, confessing him as that first god, they worship him — and a certain Helen, who traveled about with him at that time, having earlier stood on a rooftop, they say was the first Thought that came to be from him. And a certain Menander, himself also a Samaritan, from the village of Capparetaea, who became a disciple of Simon and was likewise set in motion by demons, and having come to be in Antioch
deceived many by magical art, as we know — he even persuaded those who followed him that they would not die at all, and even now there are some from his school who profess this. And a certain Marcion of Pontus, who even now is still teaching those who are persuaded to think there is some other god greater than the Demiurge — he, throughout every race of mankind, through the collaboration of the demons, has made many
speak blasphemies and deny that the maker of this universe is god, while confessing that some other, as being greater, has done greater things than this one. All who take their start from these men are called Christians, as we have said, in the same way that those among the philosophers who do not share the same doctrines still hold in common the name of philosophy that is applied to them. But whether they also do those shameful
mythologized deeds — the overturning of the lamp, promiscuous intercourse, and the eating of human flesh — we do not know; but that they are not persecuted or put to death by you, even on account of their doctrines, we do know. We also have a treatise composed against all the heresies that have arisen, which we will give you if you wish to read it. And we, so that we do no wrong and commit no impiety, [have been taught that] to expose
the children that are born is the deed of wicked men, we have been taught. First, because we see that almost all such children are led into prostitution — not only the girls but the boys as well; and just as the ancients are said to have kept herds of cattle or goats or sheep or grazing mares, so now people keep even children for this shameful use alone; and likewise a multitude of women and hermaphrodites and those who commit unspeakable acts
stands throughout every nation given over to this abomination. And you take wages, contributions, and tolls from these people, when you ought instead to root them out of your empire. And one of those who make use of such people, on top of this godless, impious, and unrestrained intercourse, unites, should it happen, with his own child, kinsman, or brother. Some even prostitute their own children and wives, and
some are openly castrated for the purpose of unnatural lust, and trace the mysteries back to the Mother of the Gods; and beside every one of the gods reckoned among you, a serpent is inscribed as a great symbol and mystery. And the things openly done and honored among you as belonging to a divine light that has been overturned and is absent, you write down against us — which, since we are free of doing any of this, brings no harm to us, but rather to those who do it
and bear false witness besides. For among us the leader of the wicked demons goes by the names serpent, Satan, and devil — a fact you may confirm for yourself by searching our own writings. Christ foretold that this being, together with his army and the men who follow him, would be dispatched into the fire to suffer punishment for the endless age. And indeed the delay in doing this as yet
has come about on God's side for the sake of humankind; since he knows in advance that some will be saved through repentance, and perhaps others not yet even born. From the start he made the human race with intelligence, capable of choosing what is true and doing what is right, with the result that no person can plead ignorance before God — for they were born with reason and the capacity to reflect. But if anyone disbelieves that these things matter
to God, then by that very reasoning he must admit either that no God exists, or claim that God exists yet takes pleasure in evil, or that he sits unmoved like a stone — and that virtue and vice are empty words, that people merely imagine by opinion that certain things are good or bad. This would be the height of impiety and injustice. And again, lest one of those exposed, not being taken up, should die and we become murderers; rather
from the start we do not marry except for the raising of children, or else, renouncing marriage, we practice continence altogether. And already one of our number, in order to persuade you that promiscuous intercourse is not a mystery among us, submitted a petition in Alexandria to Felix the governor, asking him to permit a physician to remove his testicles; for the physicians there said it was forbidden to do this without the governor's permission.
And since Felix would in no way agree to sign it, the young man stayed as he was, satisfied with his own conscience and that of his like-minded friends. We thought it not out of place to mention here Antinous as well, a figure of recent times, whom everyone, out of sheer fear, rushed to venerate as divine — even though they knew perfectly well who he was and where he had come from. But lest someone should say in objection to us,
'What prevents the one called Christ among us, being a man born of men, from having performed by magical art the powers we speak of, and from seeming for that reason to be the Son of God' — we will now proceed to the demonstration, trusting not those who merely assert it, but being compelled of necessity to believe those who prophesied before it happened, because of the fact that we can see with our own eyes things foretold that have come to pass and are coming to pass — which is the greatest
and truest proof, and it will strike you the same way, we believe. Among the Jews, then, there arose certain men who served as God's prophets; through them the prophetic Spirit announced in advance the things that were destined to happen, before they came to pass. And the kings who ruled among the Jews at various periods obtained the prophecies — recorded just as they were uttered at the time of prophesying, set down by the prophets themselves in books, in their own Hebrew language — and kept them
carefully in their possession. And when Ptolemy, king of the Egyptians, was building a library and endeavoring to gather together the writings of all men, having learned also of these prophecies, he sent to Herod, then king of the Jews, asking that the books of the prophecies be sent to him. And King Herod sent them, written in their aforesaid Hebrew tongue. But since what was
written in them was not intelligible to the Egyptians, he again asked him, sending men to translate them into the Greek tongue. And when this had been done, the books remained even among the Egyptians until now, and they are everywhere among all the Jews — who, though they read them, do not understand what is said, but consider us enemies and adversaries, killing and punishing us
whenever they are able, as you too can be persuaded. For indeed, in the Jewish war that has now taken place, Bar Kochba, the leader of the Jewish revolt, ordered that Christians alone be led away to terrible punishments, unless they should deny Jesus Christ and blaspheme. In the books of the prophets we found it proclaimed beforehand that he would come, be born through a virgin, grow to manhood, and heal every disease and every
sickness and raise the dead, and be envied and unrecognized and crucified — Jesus our Christ — and die and be raised and ascend into the heavens, and that he is and is called Son of God; and that certain men would be sent by him into every race of mankind to proclaim these things, and that men from the nations would believe in him more [than the Jews would]. It was prophesied, before he appeared, at times
five thousand years before, at times three thousand, at times two thousand, and again a thousand, and at other times eight hundred; for according to the successions of the generations, different prophets arose one after another. Moses, then, being the first of the prophets, said in these very words: "A ruler shall not fail from Judah, nor a leader from between his thighs, until he comes to whom it is reserved; and he himself shall be the expectation
of the nations, tying his colt to the vine and rinsing his cloak in the juice of the grape." It falls to you, then, to look closely into this and learn how long the Jews kept a native ruler and monarch, right up until Jesus Christ appeared — our teacher, the one who unfolds the meaning of prophecies that had gone unrecognized, just as it had been announced beforehand by the divine holy prophetic Spirit through Moses,
that a ruler would not fail from the Jews until he came to whom the kingship was reserved. For Judah is the forefather of the Jews, from whom they also came to be called Jews; and you, after his manifestation had come about, both took the kingship of the Jews and mastered the whole of their land. And the words "he will be what the nations wait for" pointed to the fact that out of every nation, men would set their hope on him
coming again — which you can see for yourselves with your own eyes and be persuaded by the deed; for from every race of men they look for the one who was crucified in Judea, after whom immediately the land of the Jews was captured by the spear and handed over to you. And the words "tying his colt to the vine and rinsing his cloak in the blood of the grape" formed an emblem pointing to what would befall Christ and those
...of what was going to happen. For there stood a certain foal of a donkey at the entrance of a village, tied to a vine, which he then ordered his acquaintances to bring to him; and when it had been brought, he mounted it, sat down, and entered into Jerusalem, where the greatest temple of the Jews stood, which you later tore down. Afterward he was put on the cross, so that what remained of the prophecy might reach fulfillment. For the words "He rinsed his cloak in the blood of the grape"
was a foretelling of the suffering he was going to undergo, by which, through blood, he cleanses those who believe in him. For the "robe" called such by the divine spirit through the prophet is the men who believe in him, in whom dwells the seed that comes from God, the Word. And the stated "blood of the grape" signifies that the one who would appear would indeed have blood,
but not from human seed, rather from divine power. And the first power after the Father and Master of all, God, is also the Son, who is the Word; in what manner he, having been made flesh, became man, we will state in what follows. For in the way that the blood of the vine was made not by man but by God, so too this was disclosed as coming to be
not from human seed but from the power of God, as we said before. And Isaiah too, another prophet, prophesying the same things through other words, spoke as follows: "A star will dawn out of Jacob, and a blossom will spring from the root of Jesse, and in his arm nations will hope." And a shining star has risen, and a flower has come up from the root of Jesse—this
is the Christ. For through a virgin from the seed of Jacob, who became the father of Judah, the one shown to be the father of the Jews, he was born by the power of God; and Jesse became forefather according to the oracle, while by succession of descent he was son of Jacob and of Judah. And again, that he was to be born, word for word, from a virgin was prophesied through Isaiah; listen. It was
said thus: "Behold, the virgin shall conceive in the womb and give birth to a son, and they will speak his name as God-with-us." For the things which men considered unbelievable and impossible to happen, these God foretold beforehand through the prophetic spirit as going to occur, so that when they did occur they would not go disbelieved, but would be believed because they had been foretold. So that
some, not understanding the prophecy set forth, might not bring against us the same charges we ourselves brought against the poets, who say that Zeus went to women for the sake of sexual pleasure, we will attempt to make the meaning clear. "Behold, the virgin shall conceive in the womb" means that the virgin conceived without union with a man; for if she had known any man at all, she would no longer have been a virgin; but a power of God came upon the virgin and overshadowed her,
and made her, while remaining a virgin, conceive. God's angel, dispatched to that very virgin at that moment, brought her the good news, saying: "Behold, you shall conceive in the womb from the Holy Spirit and bring forth a son, and he will be named son of the Most High, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins"—as those who recorded
everything concerning our savior Jesus Christ have taught, whom we have believed, since indeed through Isaiah, who was mentioned before, the prophetic spirit said that this one was going to be born, as we foretold. The spirit, then, and the power from God ought to be understood as nothing other than the Word, who is also firstborn to God, as Moses, the prophet mentioned before, disclosed; and this,
having come upon the virgin and overshadowed her, made her pregnant not through intercourse but through power. And Jesus, a name in the Hebrew tongue, signifies "savior" in the Greek language. Hence the angel also said to the virgin: "And you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." As for the fact that no others are inspired by God
who prophesy, except by the divine Word, you too, I suppose, will say. And where on earth he was going to be born, as another prophet, Micah, foretold, listen. He spoke thus: "And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you shall come a ruler, who will shepherd my people." Now there is a certain village in
the region of the Jews, standing thirty-five stades from Jerusalem, the place where Jesus Christ was born—something you can verify from the registers of the census that took place under Quirinius, who was your first procurator in Judea. And that the Christ, once born, was going to remain unknown to other men until he reached manhood—which indeed happened—listen to the words previously spoken concerning this. They are these:
"A child has been born to us, and a young man has been given to us, whose rule is upon his shoulders"—a disclosure of the power of the cross, to which, when crucified, he added his shoulders, as will be shown more clearly as our discourse proceeds. And again the same prophet Isaiah, inspired by the prophetic spirit, said: "I spread out my hands toward a disobedient, contradictory people, toward those walking in"
a path that is not good. Now they demand justice from me, and presume to approach God." And once more, speaking through a different prophet in other terms, he declares: "They bored through my hands and feet, and cast lots over my clothing." Now David the king and prophet, who spoke these words, experienced none of this; but Jesus Christ had his hands stretched out, having been crucified by
the Jews who contradicted him and claimed that he was not the Christ; for indeed, as the prophet said, mocking him they made him sit upon a judgment seat and said, "Judge for us." And the words "They dug into my hands and feet" are an explanation of the nails that were driven, at his crucifixion, into his hands and his feet. And after they had crucified him, they cast lots for
his clothing, and those who crucified him divided it among themselves. And that these things happened, you can learn from the Acts that took place under Pontius Pilate. And that it was expressly prophesied that he would sit upon a foal of a donkey and enter into Jerusalem, we will state the words of the prophecy of another prophet, Zephaniah. These are they: "Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion, proclaim, daughter of Jerusalem; behold,"
your king comes to you, gentle, mounted upon a donkey, even a foal, the offspring of a beast of burden. Now whenever you hear the prophets' words spoken as if from a person, do not think that these inspired men are speaking on their own account, but rather that it is the divine Word stirring them who speaks. At one moment he speaks in prediction of things to come, at another as though in the voice of the Master of all
and Father, God, at another time as though from the person of the Christ, at another time as though from the person of peoples answering the Lord or his Father—which one can also see done among your own writers, there being one who composes the whole work, while introducing characters who converse. This the Jews who possess the books of the prophets failed to understand,
and so they did not recognize the Christ even when he had come; in fact they despise us for claiming that he has come and for proving, as had been foretold, that he was crucified at their hands. So that this point too may be plain to you, here are words uttered in the Father's voice through the prophet Isaiah, mentioned above: "The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's manger, but Israel"
has failed to know me, and my people has failed to grasp it. Woe, sinful nation, people full of sins, evil seed, lawless sons; you have abandoned the Lord." Elsewhere again, this same prophet, speaking likewise in the Father's voice, says: "What sort of house will you build for me? declares the Lord. The sky is my throne, and the earth the resting place for my feet." And again elsewhere: "Your"
new moons and your sabbaths my soul hates, and a great day of fasting and a day of rest I cannot endure; nor, if you come to appear before me, will I listen to you. Your hands are full of blood. Even if you bring fine flour, incense is an abomination to me; lamb fat and the blood of bulls are not what I want. For who has required these things from your hands? But undo every bond
of injustice, break the knots of forced contracts, shelter the homeless and the naked, break your bread for the hungry." Now you can grasp the character of what is set forth through the prophets, speaking in God's own voice. And whenever the prophetic spirit speaks in the voice of Christ, it speaks thus: "I held out my hands toward a people who disobey and contradict me, toward those who walk"
in a way that was not good." Then once more: "I offered my back to those who struck it and my cheeks to those who slapped them, and I did not hide my face from the disgrace of spitting. The Lord came to my aid; that is why I was not disgraced, but I set my face like flint, and I knew I would not be put to shame, since the one who vindicates me is near"
me." Again, in another place, he says: "They divided my garments by casting lots, and pierced my hands and feet. But I lay down and slept, and I rose up, because the Lord upheld me." And again, when he says: "They spoke with their lips, they shook their heads, saying, Let him rescue himself." From this you can learn that the Jews did all these things to Christ. For when he had been crucified,
they twisted their lips and shook their heads, saying: "He who raised the dead—let him rescue himself." And when the prophetic spirit foretells what is yet to come, it speaks in this way: "For instruction will go out from Zion, and the Lord's message from Jerusalem, and he will render judgment among the nations and correct a great many peoples; they will hammer their swords into plow blades and their spears
into sickles, and nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they learn war anymore." And that this has indeed happened, you can be convinced. For out of Jerusalem twelve men went out into the world, and these were unlearned men, unable to speak, yet through the power of God they made known to every race of men that they had been sent by Christ to teach all
the word of God; and we who once used to slaughter one another not only do not make war on our enemies, but, so as neither to lie nor to deceive those who examine us, we gladly confess Christ and die. For the maxim "my tongue swore the oath, but my mind stayed unsworn" could well have driven us to behave this way. It would have been a ridiculous thing indeed, for you, whose enlisted and conscripted soldiers
embrace your allegiance before their own life and parents and homeland and all their kin, though you are able to give them nothing incorruptible, while we, who love incorruption, should not endure all things for the sake of receiving from him who is able to give what we desire. Now listen to how it was foretold concerning those who proclaimed his teaching and made known his appearing, by the
aforementioned prophet and king, speaking thus through the prophetic spirit: "Day pours forth speech to day, and night declares knowledge to night. There are no speeches nor words whose voices are not heard. Their voice has traveled across the whole earth, and their message reaches to the world's farthest edges. He set his tent
in the sun, and he, like a bridegroom coming forth from his chamber, will rejoice like a giant to run his course." In addition to these, we have thought it fitting and proper to recall also other words prophesied through this same David, from which it is possible for you to learn how the prophetic spirit exhorts men to live, and how it makes known the plot that took place involving Herod, king of the Jews, and
those Jews, and Pilate, your procurator who was among them, together with his soldiers, against Christ, and that he was destined to be believed in by men of every race, and that God calls him son and has promised to subject all his enemies to him, and how the demons, so far as lies in them, try
to flee the authority of God, the father and master of all, and of his Christ, and how, before the day of judgment arrives, God summons everyone to turn back to him. They are spoken thus: "Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the impious, and has not stood in the way of sinners, and has not sat in the seat of the pestilent, but rather his will is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he will meditate day and night. And he will be like the tree planted beside the outlets of waters, which will give its fruit in its season, and its leaf will not fall away, and everything he does will prosper. Not so the impious, not so, but rather like the chaff which the wind scatters
off the face of the earth. That is why the wicked will not stand when judgment comes, nor will sinners hold a place among the assembly of the just, since the Lord watches over the path the righteous walk, while the path of the wicked leads to ruin." "Why did the nations seethe with rage, and the peoples scheme for nothing? The kings of the earth rose up, and the rulers assembled as one, aligned against the Lord and opposing his Christ, saying: Let us break
their bonds and cast off from us their yoke. He who dwells in the heavens will laugh them to scorn, and the Lord will mock them; then he will speak to them in his wrath, and in his fury he will trouble them. But I have been established king by him upon Zion his holy mountain, proclaiming the ordinance of the Lord. The Lord said to
me: You are my son, today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, and the ends of the earth as your possession; you will shepherd them with a rod of iron, you will shatter them like a potter's vessels. And now, kings, understand; be instructed, all who judge the earth. Serve the Lord in fear, and rejoice in him with
trembling. Take hold of instruction, lest the Lord be angered, and you perish from the righteous way, when his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who put their trust in him." And again, when the prophetic spirit through this same David makes known another prophecy, that after being crucified Christ would reign, it spoke thus: "Raise a song to the Lord, every land, and proclaim, day by day
day by day his deliverance; for the Lord is great and highly to be praised, fearsome beyond all gods; since every god of the nations is nothing but an idol of demons, while our God made the heavens. Splendor and honor stand before him, might and pride fill the place of his sanctuary; give to the Lord, father of the ages, splendor. Receive grace
and enter before his face and bow down in his sacred courts; let all the earth stand in awe before him and be made steady, unmoved. Let the nations rejoice; the Lord reigned" from the tree. And when the prophetic spirit speaks of things about to happen as though they had already happened, as is also possible to notice in what has been said above, so that it may give no
excuse to those who read it, we will explain this too. It foretells the things altogether known to be about to happen as though they had already happened; and that it is necessary to understand it this way, fix your minds on what is being said. David spoke the aforementioned words fifteen hundred years before Christ became man and was crucified, and none of those crucified before him gave joy to the nations, nor indeed any of those after him.
But our Jesus Christ, having been crucified and having died, rose again, and reigned, having ascended into heaven; and over the things proclaimed by him through the apostles among all the nations there is joy for those who await the incorruption announced by him. Now so that no one may suppose, from what we have said above, that we say the things that happen, happen by the necessity of fate, on the ground that we foretold things known in advance, we will resolve this too.
from having foretold things known in advance, we will resolve this too. Having learned from the prophets that penalties, punishments, and good rewards are given out according to the value of each person's deeds, we too affirm this to be true; since if this is not so, but all things happen according to fate, then nothing at all is in our power; for if it is fated that this man be good and that man wicked, neither is the one
acceptable nor the other blameworthy. And again, if the human race does not have the power, by free choice, to flee shameful things and choose good things, it is not responsible at all for whatever it does. But we demonstrate as follows that it is by free choice that it both acts rightly and stumbles. We see the same man pursuing opposite courses. But if it had been fated for him to be either wicked or virtuous,
he would never have been receptive of opposites and changed sides many times over; nor again would some men be virtuous and others wicked, since we would then be declaring fate itself to be the cause of good and evil things and acting contrary to itself, or else that former statement would have to be judged true, that there is no virtue or vice at all, but things are considered good or bad only by opinion—which, as
...as true reason shows. It would be the greatest impiety and injustice. But we say that this is fixed and unalterable: fitting rewards for those who choose what is good, and likewise fitting penalties for those who choose the opposite. For God did not make man like the other things — trees, say, and four-footed beasts, which can do nothing by choice — since man would not have been worthy of reward or praise
if he had not chosen the good of his own accord, but simply came to be that way; nor, if he were bad, would he justly meet with punishment, since he would not be such of his own accord, but would be unable to be anything other than what he had been made. The holy prophetic Spirit taught us these things, saying that it was spoken by God through Moses to the first man formed, thus: "Behold, before your face is the good
and the evil; choose the good." And again, through Isaiah, the other prophet, it was said as though from the person of the Father of all and Master, God, to this effect: "Wash yourselves, become clean, remove the evils from your souls, learn to do good, judge on behalf of the orphan and secure justice for the widow; come, let us argue it out together, says the Lord; and though your
sins be crimson, I will bleach them like wool; though they be scarlet, I will bleach them like snow. If you are willing and heed me, you will feed on the good things of the land, but if you refuse to heed me, the sword will consume you; for the mouth of the Lord has said these things." Now this phrase just cited, "the sword will consume you," does not mean that the disobedient will be killed by literal swords, but rather
the sword of God is fire, whose fodder are those who choose to do base deeds. That is why it says, "A sword will consume you, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it." Had he meant a blade that cuts and kills on the spot, he would never have used the word "consume." So too Plato, when he said, "The blame is the chooser's; God is blameless," took this from Moses the prophet and said it — for Moses is older
than all the writers among the Greeks. Everything philosophers and poets alike declared about the soul's deathlessness, or about punishments following death, or about gazing upon the heavens, or kindred teachings—they grasped and expounded only because they drew their starting points from the prophets. This is why every nation appears to hold scattered seeds of truth; yet they are proven mistaken whenever
they contradict themselves. So then, when we say that future events have been prophesied, we do not mean that they come to pass by the necessity of fate; rather, since God foreknows all that is going to be done by every man, and since it is his fixed decree that each man will be repaid according to the merit of his deeds, he foretells through the prophetic
Spirit what will be met with, from him, according to the merit of what is done, ever leading the human race to attention and remembrance, showing that he cares for them and exercises providence over them. But by the working of the base demons, death was ordered for anyone caught reading the books of Hystaspes, the Sibyl, or the prophets—so that fear would keep those who came across them from learning what is good, and would hold them instead in servitude to the demons
and hold them fast — a thing they have not been able to accomplish in the end. For we not only read these books without fear, but, as you see, we even bring them to you for your inspection, knowing they will appear pleasing to all; and even if we persuade only a few, we shall have gained the greatest reward, for like good farmers we shall receive our wages from the Master. Now that the Father of all,
God, was going to bring Christ up into heaven after raising him from the dead, and to hold him there until he strikes down the demons hostile to him, and until the number of those foreknown by him who are to become good and virtuous is completed — for whose sake he has not yet brought about the conflagration — hear what was said through David the prophet. It is this: "The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right
hand, until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. The Lord will send you out of Jerusalem a rod of power; and rule in the midst of your enemies. With you is dominion on the day of your power, amid the splendors of your holy ones; from the womb, before the morning star, I begot you." Now the phrase spoken, "The Lord will send you out of Jerusalem a rod of power,"
is a foretelling of the mighty word, which his apostles, setting out from Jerusalem, proclaimed everywhere; and though death has been ordained for those who teach, or merely acknowledge, the name of Christ, we nonetheless welcome that name everywhere and proclaim it openly. And if you too will meet these words as enemies, you can do no more, as we said before, than kill us — a thing which for us
brings no harm at all, but it brings everlasting fiery punishment on you and on everyone who hates us without cause and refuses to change course. Now so that some, reasoning irrationally, may not say — in order to turn people away from what we teach — that we claim Christ was born a hundred and fifty years before Quirinius, yet only taught, later, in the time of Pontius Pilate, what we say he taught, and thus charge that
all the men born before then bear no responsibility, we will get ahead of the difficulty and resolve it. We have been taught, and have already declared, that Christ is the firstborn of God, being the Word (Logos) in which the whole race of men has shared. And those who have lived according to the Word are Christians, even though they were accounted atheists — among the Greeks this included Socrates, Heraclitus, and others of their sort, and among non-Greek peoples it included Abraham, Ananias, and Azariah
and Mishael and Elijah and many others, whose deeds or names we know it would take long to list, and so for now we forgo doing so. Accordingly, those born before who lived without the Word were useless and enemies of Christ, and murderers of those who lived according to the Word; while those who lived, and now live, according to the Word are Christians, and are fearless and untroubled. For this reason, through
through the Word's power, in keeping with the purpose of God, who is Father and Master of all, he was born a man from a virgin and given the name Jesus, and, after being crucified and dying, rose again and ascended into heaven — as anyone thoughtful will be able to grasp from everything said at such length. But since we don't need, at this point, to argue in proof of this, we will move on to the pressing demonstrations relevant to
the matter at hand. That the land of the Jews was indeed going to be sacked, hear what was said by the prophetic Spirit; the words are spoken as from the mouth of peoples marveling at what had happened. They are these: "Zion has become a desert, Jerusalem has become a desert, our house has become a curse, our holy and glorious place, blessed by our forefathers, has gone up in flames,
and all her glorious things have fallen. And at these things you held back and were silent and humbled us exceedingly." And that Jerusalem was laid desolate, just as it had been foretold to happen, you are convinced of. It has also been said, concerning its desolation, and concerning the fact that none of them would be permitted to dwell there, through Isaiah the prophet, thus: "Their land is desolate; before their faces their enemies
will devour it, and none of them will be left dwelling in it." And that it is guarded by you so that none of them may come to be in it, and that death has been decreed against any Jew who is caught entering it, you know precisely. And that our Christ was prophesied to heal every disease and raise the dead, hear what has been said. It is this: "At his coming the lame man will leap like
a deer, and the tongue of the stammering will be clear; the blind will see again, and lepers will be cleansed, and the dead will rise and walk." And that he did these things, you can learn from the Acts drawn up under Pontius Pilate. And as for how it was foretold beforehand by the prophetic Spirit that he would be put to death together with the men who hoped in him, hear what was said through Isaiah. It is this: "See how the righteous
man has perished, and no one lays it to heart; upright men are swept away, and no one gives it thought. From the face of injustice the righteous man has been taken away, and he will be in peace; his burial has been removed from the midst." And again, how it is said through this same Isaiah, that the peoples of the nations who did not expect him will worship him, while the Jews, who were always expecting him, will fail to recognize him when he comes;
the words were spoken as from the person of Christ himself. They are these: "I became manifest to those who did not ask for me, I was found by those who did not seek me; I said, Here I am, to a nation that did not call upon my name. I spread out my hands toward a disobedient and contrary people, toward those walking a path that is not good, following instead their own sins."
"the people that provokes me to my face." For the Jews, though they had the prophecies and were always expecting the Christ, failed to recognize him when he appeared — not only that, but they even mistreated him; whereas those from the nations, who had never heard anything at all about the Christ until the apostles who went out from Jerusalem made known the things concerning him and passed down the prophecies, responded with faith and gladness,
and turned away from their idols, consecrating themselves through the Christ to the unbegotten God. Now that it was foreknown that these slanders would be spoken against those who confess the Christ, and that those who slander him and say it is good to keep the old customs would be wretched, hear the words spoken briefly through Isaiah. They are these: "Woe to those who call the sweet bitter and"
"the bitter sweet." And that having become man for our sake he endured to suffer and be dishonored, and will again come with glory, hear the prophecies spoken to this effect. Here is what they say: "Because they handed his soul over to death, and he was counted among the lawless, he took upon himself the sins of many and will make atonement for the wrongdoers. For behold, my servant will show understanding,"
"and he shall be exalted and glorified exceedingly. As many shall be astonished at you, so shall your form be without honor before men, and your glory before men, so shall many nations marvel, and kings will fall silent, mouths shut; because those who were told nothing about him will see, and those who have not heard will come to understand. Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom"
"has the arm of the Lord been revealed? We brought news of him before him, like a child, like a root in parched soil. He has no form or splendor; we looked at him, and he had neither form nor beauty, but his appearance was without honor, fading away among men. A man in distress, familiar with bearing sickness, for his face was turned away, he was held in no honor and not"
"esteemed. This one bears our sins and suffers pain for us, and we accounted him to be in trouble and affliction and ill-treatment. But he was wounded because of our transgressions and has been made sick because of our sins; it was the discipline that secures our peace that fell on him, and by his wound we found healing. We all went astray like sheep, each man went astray in his own way; and"
"the Lord delivered him up for our sins, and because he has been ill-treated he does not open his mouth. As a sheep he was led to slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he does not open his mouth at all. In his abasement he was denied justice." So then, after he was crucified, all his acquaintances also deserted him, denying him;
but afterward, once he had been raised from among the dead and had appeared to them, he taught them to search the prophecies where all these things were foretold as things to come. And once they had seen him going up into heaven and had come to believe, and had taken from him the power sent down from that place, they went out to every nation of humankind, taught these things, and were called apostles. So that the prophetic Spirit might reveal to us that this one who suffers these things
has a lineage that cannot be recounted and reigns over his enemies, it spoke thus: "His generation, who shall declare it? For his life is taken up from the earth; because of his people's lawless deeds he goes to his death. I will hand over the wicked in place of his burial and the rich in place of his death, because he committed no lawlessness, nor was deceit found in his"
"mouth; and the Lord wills to cleanse him from his affliction. If you make an offering for sin, your soul will see offspring that lives long. And the Lord wills to take away his soul from pain, to show him light and shape him with understanding, to declare righteous the one who serves many well — for he will carry our sins himself. So he will receive many as his portion, and will divide the"
"spoils of the strong, for his soul was handed over to death; he was counted among the lawless, he himself carried the sins of many, and because of their transgressions he was given up." Now that he was also to ascend into heaven, as was foretold, hear. It was spoken thus: "Lift up the gates of heaven, be opened, that the king of glory may enter. Who is this king"
"of glory? The Lord mighty and the Lord powerful." And that he was also to come from heaven in glory, hear as well the words spoken to this effect through Jeremiah the prophet. They read: "Behold, one like a son of man is coming on the clouds of the sky, with his angels beside him." Since, then, we have shown that everything already fulfilled was foretold before it happened
through the prophets, it is necessary also to have faith concerning the things likewise prophesied but not yet come to pass, that they will certainly come to pass. For just as the things already accomplished, though proclaimed beforehand and unrecognized, turned out just so, in the same way the things still remaining, even though unrecognized and disbelieved, will come to pass. For the prophets proclaimed beforehand two comings of his: one, the one already come to pass, as of a man dishonored and subject to suffering,
and the second, when it has been proclaimed that he will come with glory from heaven together with his angelic host, when he will also raise up the bodies of all men who have ever lived, and will clothe the worthy with incorruption, but will send the unjust, in eternal sensation, together with the wicked demons, into the eternal fire. That these things too have been foretold as coming to pass, we shall show. It was spoken
through Ezekiel the prophet thus: "Joint will join joint and bone will join bone, and flesh will come back over them. Every knee will bow before the Lord, and every tongue will give him praise." As for the kind of feeling and punishment the unrighteous will undergo, hear the words spoken about that as well. They go: "Their worm will never stop, and their fire"
"shall not be quenched." And then they will repent, when repentance profits them nothing. As for what the Jewish peoples will say and do once they behold him arriving in glory, this was spoken beforehand through the prophet Zechariah: "I will command the four winds to bring together the scattered children; I will direct the north wind to carry them in, and tell the south wind not to hinder them. And then in Jerusalem there will be great mourning, not"
"a mourning not of mouths or lips, but a mourning of the heart, and they will tear not their garments but their minds. Tribe will grieve against tribe, and then they will gaze on the one they pierced, and will cry out: Why, Lord, did you make us wander from your path? The glory our fathers praised has turned into shame for us." Now although we have many further prophecies we might bring forward,
we have stopped speaking, considering these sufficient to persuade those who have ears able to hear and understand, and thinking that they are able to understand that we do not merely make the same kind of claim, without being able to prove it, as those who tell myths about the supposed sons of Zeus. For by what reasoning would we have believed in a man who was crucified, that he is firstborn to the unbegotten God
and that he himself is the one who will judge the entire human race — unless, that is, we had discovered prophecies announced concerning him prior to his coming and taking on human form, and had watched them actually unfold: the Jewish land laid waste, and people out of every nation won over by the teaching passed down from his apostles, abandoning the ancient practices in which they had wandered astray, and proving themselves
to be us, since we can see for ourselves that Christians drawn from the nations are more numerous and more truthful than those converts who came from Judaism and Samaria? Every other human race, after all, is termed "nations" by the prophetic Spirit, whereas the Judean and Samaritan tribe is named Israel and the house of Jacob. And just as it was foretold that believers from the nations would outnumber those from the Jews and Samaritans,
we shall report what was prophesied. It was spoken thus: "Rejoice, barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry out, you who are not in labor, for the children of the desolate are many, more than of her who has the husband." For every nation lacked the true God, serving instead things made by human hands; the Jews and Samaritans, however, possessed the word handed down to them by God through the prophets
and always expecting the Christ, failed to recognize him when he appeared, except for a few, whom the holy prophetic Spirit foretold through Isaiah would be saved. It spoke as if from their own person: "Had the Lord not left us offspring, we would have ended up like Sodom and Gomorrah." Now Sodom and Gomorrah are recorded by Moses as certain cities of ungodly men, which having burned with fire and brimstone, [the Lord destroyed].
God destroyed [them], with none of those in the cities saved except a certain foreigner, Chaldean by race, whose name was Lot; with whom his daughters also were saved. And their whole country, being desert and burned and remaining barren, those who wish to see it may see. But since it was foreknown that those from the nations would prove more truthful and more faithful, we will report what was said through Isaiah the prophet.
He spoke thus: "Israel is uncircumcised in heart, but the nations in the foreskin." So many things borne out in this way can reasonably fill with conviction and belief anyone who welcomes the truth and is not driven by love of glory or governed by the passions. But those who hand down the things made into myths by the poets bring no proof to the young people who learn them by heart, and [these things were spoken] for the deceit and leading astray of the human race—
we demonstrate—by the working of the wicked demons. For when they heard it proclaimed through the prophets that Christ would come, and that the impious among mankind would face punishment by fire, they set forth many figures said to have been fathered as sons of Zeus, supposing they could manage to make men regard the things concerning Christ as a wondrous tale, no different from what the poets had told. And these stories circulated among
the Greeks and among all the nations, wherever they had more occasion to hear the prophets proclaiming beforehand that Christ would come to be believed in. But we will make clear that although they heard the things said through the prophets, they did not understand them accurately, but, going astray, imitated the things concerning our Christ. Moses, then, the prophet, as we said before, was older than all writers, and through him, as we indicated before, it was prophesied thus: "There shall not fail
a ruler from Judah, nor a chief from among his descendants, until the one arrives for whom it has been kept in store; and he will be what the nations look forward to, tying his young donkey to a vine and washing his garment in the juice of grapes." On hearing these words of prophecy, the demons then claimed Dionysus as a begotten son of Zeus, and passed down that he had discovered the vine; they then set a donkey among
his mysteries, and taught that, having been torn apart, he ascended into heaven. And since through the prophecy of Moses it was not stated in so many words whether he who was to come is the son of God, and whether, mounted on a foal, he would stay upon the earth or instead rise up to heaven, and because the word "foal" was able to mean the offspring of either a donkey or a horse, not knowing whether
the one proclaimed beforehand—who is the son of God, as we said before, or of man—would come leading the foal of a donkey as a symbol of his coming, or that of a horse, they said that Bellerophon too, a man born of men, ascended into heaven upon the horse Pegasus. And because they heard it said, through the other prophet Isaiah, that a virgin would give birth to him and that he would go up to heaven on his own, they
put forward that this was said of Perseus. And when they learned that it had been foretold, in the prophecies cited above, "Mighty like a giant, running his race," they applied this to Heracles, who was mighty and wandered across the entire earth. Then, learning further that it had been foretold he would cure every sickness and raise the dead back to life, they put forward Asclepius. But in no case, among any of those called sons of Zeus, did they copy the crucifixion—
for it was not understood by them, since all the things said with reference to it were spoken symbolically, as has been shown before. This shape, as the prophet had already declared, stands as the supreme sign of his power and dominion — a fact confirmed even by what falls under our own eyes. Just look at everything that exists in the world: none of it can be governed or share fellowship with anything else apart from this shape. For the sea
is not crossed unless this trophy, which is called the sail, remains sound on the ship; and the earth is not plowed without it; nor do diggers do their work, nor craftsmen likewise, except with tools built in this shape. Nothing distinguishes the human body from that of the other unreasoning creatures except its upright posture and
having outstretched hands, and carrying on the face — projecting down from the brow — the feature called the nose, by means of which the living creature draws breath; and this displays nothing but the shape of the cross. That is why the prophet also spoke these words: "The breath before our face is Christ the Lord." And your own symbols too show the power
of this shape—I mean those of the standards and of the trophies, by means of which your processions everywhere take place, showing in these the signs of your authority and power, even though you do this without understanding it. And you set up the images of your emperors who die upon this shape, and you call them gods by inscriptions. And so through
reason and through the visible shape, as far as our power allows, having exhorted you, we know that we are henceforth blameless, even if you disbelieve; for what was our part has been done and is completed. But the wicked demons were not content, before the manifestation of Christ, to say that those mentioned had been born sons of Zeus, but since, after he had been manifested and had come among men, they learned how he had been proclaimed beforehand through the prophets
and knew that he was believed in and expected among every nation, again, as we showed before, they put forward others—Simon and Menander from Samaria, who, having worked magical powers, deceived many and still hold them deceived. For indeed among you too, as we said before, Simon, having come to the imperial city of Rome in the time of Claudius Caesar, so
astonished the sacred senate and the Roman citizenry so greatly that he was accounted a god and given a statue, honored just as the other gods honored among you are honored. Therefore we ask that the sacred senate and your people take note of this our request as fellow judges, so that, if anyone is held by the teachings of that man, having learned the truth he may be able to flee the error. And the statue, if you wish, take it down. For
the wicked demons are not able to persuade men that the conflagration for the punishment of the impious will not take place, just as they were also unable to prevent Christ from being made manifest when he came—but this alone they are able to do: to make those who live irrationally, who are raised in wicked customs given over to passion, and who love glory, kill us and despise us — people we do not despise in return; rather, as has been made plain, we pity them and want to win them over. Not
because we fear death—since it is agreed that in any case one must die, and nothing new happens except to those who belong to this present order; and unless those who partake of it have their fill even for a year, so that they might always be free of passion and free of want, they must attend to our teachings. But if they refuse to believe that anything follows death, and claim instead that the dying simply lapse into unconsciousness,
then, by delivering us from the passions and needs of this life, they would be doing us a benefit; instead they show themselves wicked and haters of mankind and lovers of glory—for they do not kill us as though setting us free, but murder us as though robbing us of life and pleasure. And Marcion too, from Pontus, as we said before, the wicked demons put forward, who even now teaches that one should deny that the maker of all heavenly and earthly things is God, and deny that the
Christ proclaimed beforehand through the prophets is his son, and he proclaims some other god besides the creator of all things, and likewise another son; by whom many, persuaded as though he alone knew the truth, mock us, having no proof at all for what they say, but, irrationally, like sheep seized by a wolf, become food for godless doctrines and for demons. For
the so-called demons strive for nothing else than to draw people away from the God who fashioned them and from his firstborn, Christ; and those of the earth who are not able to be lifted up, they have nailed and still nail to earthly and man-made things, while those who press on toward the contemplation of things divine, unless they have sound and pure reason and a life free of passion, they trip up and cast into impiety.
And in order that you may learn that Plato too took this from our teachers—I mean from the word spoken through the prophets—namely that God shaped the world by turning formless matter, listen now to the exact words uttered through Moses, the aforementioned first prophet and older than the writers among the Greeks, through whom the prophetic spirit indicated how, and
out of what, God fashioned the world; he spoke thus: "In the beginning God made heaven and earth. And the earth was invisible and unformed, and darkness was over the deep; and the spirit of God was borne over the waters. And God said, 'Let there be light.' And it was so." So that by the word of God, out of the things lying beneath and previously shown to be formless
that the whole cosmos came into being through Moses. Both Plato and those who say the same things learned this, and we ourselves learned it, and you too can be persuaded of it. And we know that what the poets call Erebus was spoken of earlier by Moses. And as for what is treated physically in Plato's Timaeus concerning the Son of God, when he says, "He placed him crosswise in the universe," he likewise took this from Moses and
said it. For it is written in the writings of Moses that at that time, once the Israelites had left Egypt and reached the desert, poisonous creatures attacked them — adders, asps, serpents of every sort — and these were killing the people; and by the inspiration and working that came from God, Moses took bronze and made
a figure of a cross and mounted it on the sacred tabernacle, telling the people, "Whoever gazes on this image and believes will be saved by it." And when this had happened, he recorded that the serpents died, and handed down that the people escaped death in this way. Plato, having read this and not understood it accurately — not grasping that it was a figure of a cross but supposing it to be a chiasm — said that the
power ranking after the first God, which he said had been set crosswise within the universe. As for why he called it a third, this, as we noted earlier, was because he had read Moses' statement that the Spirit of God was carried above the waters. He assigns second rank to the Word that comes from God, which he claims was set in an X-shape across the universe, and he assigns third rank to the Spirit, said to hover over the water, when he writes:
"The third things are concerned with the third." And hear how the prophetic Spirit foretold through Moses that there would be a conflagration. It spoke as follows: "An ever-living fire will come down and consume even to the abyss below." We do not, then, hold the same opinions as others by imitating them; rather, all others speak by imitating what is ours. Among us, then, it is possible to hear and learn these things from people who do not even know
the shapes of letters — men uneducated and foreign in speech, but wise and faithful in mind, and some of them maimed and blind in their eyes — so that one may understand that these things came to be not by human wisdom but are spoken by the power of God. And we will now explain the manner in which we too have dedicated ourselves to God, made new through Christ, so that by omitting this we may not seem to be doing something dishonest
in our exposition. Everyone who is convinced and accepts that what we teach and say here is true, and who pledges to be able to live by it, is instructed to pray and, through fasting, ask God for the forgiveness of past sins, while we pray and fast together with them. Then they are led by us to where there is water, and are regenerated by the same manner of regeneration by which we ourselves were regenerated;
since it is in the name of God, Father and Master of the universe, together with our Savior Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, that they receive the washing in water at that point. For Christ himself said, "Unless you are born again, you will never enter God's kingdom." And that those already born cannot possibly climb back into the wombs that bore them
is evident to everyone. And it has been said through the prophet Isaiah, as we wrote above, in what manner those who have sinned and repent will escape their sins. It was said as follows: "Wash yourselves, become clean, put away the evils from your souls, learn to do good, defend the orphan's cause and secure justice for the widow. Come now, let us argue this out, the Lord says; though your sins are like scarlet,
I will turn them white like wool, and though they are crimson, I will turn them white like snow. But if you refuse to listen to me, the sword will consume you, for the mouth of the Lord has declared it." And we received an account on this matter from the apostles, as follows: since, in our first coming into being, we were begotten with no knowledge of our own, by necessity, out of moist seed, through our parents' union with one another, and
came to be amid base habits and wicked ways of living — in order that we might not remain children of necessity and ignorance but of choice and knowledge, and that we might obtain forgiveness of the sins we had previously committed — the name of God the Father and Master of all is invoked over the water upon the one who has chosen to be regenerated and has repented of his sins, this alone being pronounced by the one who leads the person to be washed to the washing.
For no one can utter a name for the unnameable God; and if anyone should dare to say that there is one, he is mad with an incurable madness. This washing is called illumination, since those who learn these things have their understanding illuminated. And the person receiving this illumination is washed as well, invoking Jesus Christ — crucified under Pontius Pilate — and invoking the Holy Spirit, who spoke through the prophets and announced in advance everything concerning
Jesus. And the demons, having heard that this washing had been proclaimed through the prophet, brought it about that those entering their temples, and about to approach them, likewise sprinkle themselves, after performing libations and burnt offerings; and they even bring it about that those approaching wash themselves completely before coming to the temples where they are established. And indeed, as for the removing of sandals by those entering the temples
— the same practice being enjoined by their priests upon those who worship there — the demons, having learned this from what happened to Moses, the prophet already mentioned, imitated it. For at that time, when Moses was ordered to travel down into Egypt and bring out the Israelite people living there, while he was shepherding in the land of Arabia the flocks of his maternal uncle, our Christ conversed with him in the form of fire out of a bush,
and said: "Remove the sandals from your feet, and come near and listen." And he took off his sandals and, approaching, was told to travel into Egypt and bring the Israelite people out from there; and he received great strength from Christ, who had addressed him in the form of fire, and upon going down he brought the people out, accomplishing feats great and astonishing, which, if you want to know them, you can learn precisely from
his writings. But all the Jews, even now, teach that it was the unnameable God who spoke to Moses. For this reason the prophetic Spirit, through Isaiah the prophet already mentioned, rebuking them, as we wrote above, said: "The ox knew its owner, and the donkey its master's manger, but Israel did not know me, and my people did not understand me." And Jesus too,
the Christ, because the Jews did not know what the Father is and what the Son is, likewise rebuking them, himself said: "No one has known the Father except the Son, nor has anyone known the Son except the Father, along with whoever the Son wills to reveal him to." The divine Word, then, is God's Son, as noted earlier. And he is also called angel and apostle;
for he himself announces whatever must be known, and he is sent to make known whatever is announced, just as our Lord himself also said: "He who hears me hears him who sent me." And this will also become evident from the writings of Moses. For it is said in them as follows: "And the angel of God spoke to Moses out of the bush, in a blaze of fire, and said: I am
The One who is — Abraham's God, Isaac's God, Jacob's God, the God of your ancestors. Go down into Egypt and bring my people out." Should you wish to trace what follows in that account, you have the means to do so; setting down the whole of it here is simply not feasible. Rather these words stand as evidence that Jesus Christ is God's Son and messenger, though he was the Word before that,
and appearing at times in the shape of fire, and at other times in a form without body; but now, by God's will, having taken on humanity for the sake of the human race, he submitted even to the suffering the demons contrived to inflict on him through the senseless Jews' hands. These people, despite having it stated plainly within Moses' own compositions — "And God's angel spoke to Moses in a flame of fire
from within the bush, declaring: I am the One who is, Abraham's God and Isaac's God and Jacob's God" — they claim that the speaker of these words is the Father and Maker of everything. That is why the prophetic Spirit, rebuking them, likewise declared: "But Israel did not know me, and my people failed to understand me." And once more, Jesus, as we have already shown,
would have said to them: "No one has known the Father but the Son, nor has anyone known the Son but the Father and those the Son chooses to reveal him to." The Jews, then, assuming it was always the Father of all speaking to Moses — whereas it was actually God's Son speaking with him, the one also named angel and messenger — are rightly rebuked, both by the prophetic
...spirit and through Christ himself, since they knew neither the Father nor the Son. For those who assert that the Son is the Father are refuted, since they neither understand the Father nor know that the Father of all has a Son; who, being Word and firstborn of God, is also God. And formerly, through the form of fire and a bodiless appearance,
he showed himself to Moses and the rest of the prophets; but now, during the period of your rule, as we noted earlier, he became man through a virgin in keeping with the Father's plan, and for the deliverance of those who put their trust in him, he submitted to being scorned and to suffering, so that through dying and rising again he might defeat death. And as for what was spoken to Moses out of the bush: "I am the one who is, the God
Abraham's God, and Isaac's God, and Jacob's God, and the God of your ancestors"—this shows that those men, though dead, still exist and belong to Christ himself; they were, in fact, the very first humans to devote themselves to seeking after God, since Abraham fathered Isaac, and Isaac fathered Jacob, as Moses likewise wrote. And the setting up
of the idol of the so-called Kore at the springs of waters—that the demons brought this about, calling her a daughter of Zeus, in imitation of what was said through Moses—you can understand from what has already been said. For Moses said, as we wrote above: "In the beginning God made heaven and earth. And the earth was invisible and unformed, and a spirit
of God was borne above the waters." In imitation, then, of this saying, that a spirit of God was borne upon the water, they called Kore a daughter of Zeus. And Athena likewise, acting wickedly in the same way, they called a daughter of Zeus—not from intercourse, but because, when they learned that God, having conceived it in thought, made the world through the Word, they called Athena his first thought—which we consider most ridiculous,
namely, to present an image of a thought in female form. And likewise their deeds refute the others said to be sons of Zeus. Now we, after thus washing the one who has been persuaded and has given his assent, lead him to those called brothers, where they are assembled, to offer common prayers earnestly for ourselves and for the one who has been enlightened and for all others everywhere, so that, having learned the truth,
we may also prove, by our conduct, to be good citizens who keep the commandments, so we may attain to everlasting salvation. Once the prayers are finished, we greet one another with a kiss. Then bread, and a cup of water mixed with wine, are brought to whoever presides over the brothers, and he takes them and sends up praise and glory to the Father of all in the name of the Son and the Holy Spirit, and
offers extended thanks for having been judged worthy to receive these things from him. When he has concluded the prayers and the thanksgiving, everyone present responds with, "Amen." "Amen" is a Hebrew word meaning "may it be so." Once the president has given thanks and the whole assembly has responded, those we call deacons distribute to each person present a portion of what has been consecrated with thanksgiving—
bread and wine and water—and they carry it away to those who are not present. This food is called among us the Eucharist, and no one may share in it unless he believes our teaching to be true, has received the washing for forgiveness of sins and new birth, and lives according to what Christ handed down. For we do not take these as ordinary
bread nor common drink; rather, just as Jesus Christ our savior became flesh through the word of God and took on flesh and blood for the sake of our salvation, in the same way we have been taught that the food consecrated through the word of prayer that comes from him—the food that, through transformation, feeds our own flesh and blood—is itself the flesh and blood of that same incarnate Jesus,
we have been taught it is. In the records the apostles themselves produced, the writings known as Gospels, they passed down the instruction they had received: that Jesus took bread, gave thanks, and said, "Do this in remembrance of me; this is my body"; and likewise, taking the cup and offering thanks, he declared, "This is my blood," giving it to them alone. This practice, too, among
the mysteries of Mithras, the wicked demons handed down to be observed, imitating this; since bread and a cup of water are set out before the one being initiated during those rites, together with certain prescribed words, as you either already know or can find out. As for us, from that time on we always remind one another of these things; and those of us who have possessions help all who are in want, and we are always together with one another. And over everything we partake of we bless
the maker of all things, through his Son Jesus Christ and by the Holy Spirit. On the day named for the sun, all who dwell in the towns or in the countryside gather in a single place, and the apostles' records or the prophets' writings are read aloud for however long the time allows. Once the reader falls silent, the one presiding rises to speak, urging and inviting
and urges us to imitate these good examples. After that we all stand up together and offer prayers; and, as we said before, when we have finished the prayer, bread is brought, and wine and water, and the president likewise sends up prayers and thanksgivings to the best of his ability, and the people acclaim, saying the "Amen"; and the distribution and partaking of the things over which thanks have been given
takes place for each one, and to those not present it is sent through the deacons. And those who have means and are willing to give offer whatever they choose, each according to his own decision; the sum gathered is placed in the president's keeping, and he uses it to assist orphans and widows, those in need because of illness or other hardship, those held in prison, and the foreigners staying among us as
foreigners—in short, he becomes a guardian to all who are in need. And we all hold our common assembly on the day of the sun, since it counts as day one, the day when God turned darkness and matter into an ordered cosmos, and on that same day our savior Jesus Christ rose from the dead; for they crucified him the day before, the day of Saturn,
and then on the day following that of Saturn — the day of the sun — he appeared to his apostles and disciples and taught them what we have likewise handed on to you for your own examination. If these teachings strike you as reasonable and true, give them due honor; but if they strike you as nonsense, dismiss them as foolishness — only do not condemn to death, as though they were enemies, men guilty of no wrong. Yet we warn
you that you will not escape the judgment of God that is to come, if you persist in injustice; and we ourselves shall cry out, "Whatever is pleasing to God, let that come to be!" And although the letter of your father, the supremely great and distinguished Caesar Hadrian, would let us insist that you command the judgments to proceed just as we have asked, it is not on the ground of Hadrian's ruling that we have chosen to press this request, but
because we know how to ask for what is just that we have composed this address and explanation. And we have appended also a copy of Hadrian's letter, so that in this matter too you may recognize that we speak the truth. And this is the copy: "To Minucius Fundanus. I have received a letter written to me by Serenius Granianus, a most illustrious man, whose successor you are. It does not seem good to me, then, to leave the matter uninvestigated, so that neither
the people be disturbed, nor an occasion for mischief be given to informers. If, then, the provincials are able clearly to sustain this charge against the Christians, so as to make answer even before a tribunal, let them resort to this alone, and not to mere petitions or outcries alone. For it is far more fitting, if anyone wishes to bring an accusation, that you examine this. If, then, anyone accuses them and shows that they are doing something
contrary to the laws, determine the penalty according to the gravity of the offense. But—by Hercules!—if anyone puts this forward for the sake of malicious accusation, take up the matter in view of its seriousness, and see to it that you exact a just penalty."

======== Second Apology ========

And the things that happened yesterday and the day before in your city under Urbicus, Romans, and the things done everywhere alike without reason by the governors, have compelled me — on your behalf, since you are men of like feeling and are our brothers, even though you do not know it and, because of your regard for what are considered honors, do not wish it — to compose this discourse. For everywhere, whoever is being brought to his senses by a
father, neighbor, child, friend, brother, husband, or wife over some shortcoming (setting aside, of course, those convinced that the unjust and unrestrained will suffer punishment in eternal fire, while the virtuous — those who lived as Christ lived — will dwell with God free of passion, meaning those who have become Christians), since such a person resists change, loves pleasure, and moves sluggishly toward what is good, and
the wicked demons, hostile to us and holding such judges as their subjects and worshippers, as though they were possessed rulers, arrange for us to be put to death. But so that the cause of everything that happened under Urbicus may be made plain to you, I will relate what was done. A certain woman was living with a licentious husband, she herself having formerly been licentious as well. But when she came to know the teachings of Christ, she became sensible, and
tried to persuade her husband likewise to be sensible, citing the teachings and declaring the punishment that awaits in eternal fire for those who do not live sensibly and according to right reason. But he, persisting in the same debaucheries, alienated his wife by his conduct. For the woman, considering it impious any longer to lie with a man who, contrary to the law of nature and contrary to
justice, sought by every means to procure himself channels of pleasure, wished to be separated from the marriage. And when she was prevailed upon by her own people, who advised her to remain still, on the ground that her husband might someday come to a hope of change, she forced herself and remained. But when her husband, having gone off to Alexandria, was reported to be behaving still more shamefully, in order that she might not become a partner in his wrongdoings and impieties by remaining in the
marriage, sharing his table and his bed, she handed him what you people call a certificate of divorce and separated from him. But her so-called upstanding husband — who should instead have been glad that the acts she once performed so readily with the servants and hired men, reveling in drunkenness and vice of every kind, she had by now given up, and wanted him to give up those same acts too — when he refused, and she had left him, filed a charge against her,
charging that she was a Christian. And she submitted a petition to you, the emperor, asking first to be permitted to settle her own affairs, and then, after the settling of her affairs, to make her defense against the charge; and you granted this. But her former husband, since he could for the moment no longer speak against her, turned instead against a certain Ptolemy, whom Urbicus had summoned, who had been her teacher in the
teachings of Christianity, and he did so in this manner. He persuaded a centurion, who had thrown Ptolemy into prison and was a friend of his, to lay hold of Ptolemy and question him on this one point alone — whether he was a Christian. And Ptolemy, since his temperament loved truth and held nothing of deceit or falsehood, admitted that he was a Christian; whereupon the centurion had him kept in bonds, and for a long time
he was punished in the prison. At last, when the man was brought before Urbicus, he was likewise examined on this one point alone — whether he was a Christian. And again, conscious in himself of the good things that came to him through the teaching of Christ, he confessed the school of divine virtue. For whoever denies anything either has condemned the matter and so disowns it, or, knowing himself unworthy of it and a stranger to
the matter, avoids confessing it — neither of which has any place in a genuine Christian. When Urbicus then commanded that he be led away to execution, a man named Lucius, himself likewise a Christian, seeing this judgment rendered so unreasonably, said to Urbicus: What is the cause, when this man has been convicted neither of adultery, nor fornication, nor murder, nor theft, nor robbery, nor of committing any wrongdoing whatsoever, but merely of confessing to bearing the
name of the appellation "Christian" — why have you punished this man? This judgment of yours, Urbicus, befits neither a pious emperor, nor a philosopher, the son of Caesar, nor the sacred senate. And Urbicus, answering nothing else, said to Lucius: You too seem to me to be one of these. And when Lucius said, Certainly, he in turn ordered him also led away. And Lucius declared himself grateful, knowing that he was being freed from such wicked masters
and was journeying onward to the Father who reigns as King over the heavens. A third man then stepped forward as well and received an added sentence of punishment. But lest someone say, Then go, all of you, kill yourselves, and pass at once into God's presence, and spare us the trouble, I will explain why we do not act this way, and why, when questioned, we confess without fear. It is our teaching that God did not fashion the
world at random, but on account of the human race; and we have taught that he delights in those who model themselves on his own qualities, while he is displeased with those who cling to what is base, in word or in deed. If, then, we were all to put ourselves to death, we would become, as far as lies with us, responsible for no one being born and instructed in the divine teachings — or even for the human race coming to an end altogether —
and in doing so we would ourselves work against the will of God, should we take such a step. But when questioned we do not deny it, for we are aware of nothing base within ourselves, and we regard withholding the truth on any point as an act of impiety — a truthfulness we know pleases God as well — and also because we are now anxious to free you likewise from an unjust prejudice. But should the thought further occur to someone that, if we
confess God as our helper, we would not, as we say, be overpowered and punished by unjust men — I will resolve this too. God, having made the whole world, and having subjected earthly things to men, and having arranged the heavenly elements for the growth of crops and the changes of the seasons, and having appointed a divine law for these — things which he appears to have made for the sake of men — entrusted the providence over men and over the things under
heaven to angels whom he appointed over these matters. But the angels, transgressing this order, were overcome by desire for women and begot children, who are those called demons. And beyond this they subsequently enslaved the human race to themselves, partly through magical writings, partly through the fears and punishments they inflicted, and partly through teaching them sacrifices, incense-offerings,
and libations, of which they had come to stand in need after being enslaved to the passions of desire; and among humans they scattered murders, wars, adultery, debauchery, and every kind of vice. Hence poets and myth-writers, unaware that it was the angels and the demons born from them who committed these deeds against males and females, cities and nations — the very deeds they wrote about — credited them to the god himself and to those who were
For they named each one according to whatever title every angel had assigned to himself and to his own children. As for the Father of all things, since he is unbegotten, no name has been fixed upon him; for anyone who bears any name whatsoever has, as his elder, the one who bestowed that name.
But "Father," "God," "Creator," "Lord," and "Master" are titles, not proper names — they are designations taken from his benefactions and his works. His Son, the only one truly deserving the title Son, the Word — who coexisted with him and was generated prior to everything made, when at the beginning he fashioned and arranged the universe through him — bears the name "Christ" in reference to his anointing and to
God's having ordered all things through him; and this name too contains a meaning that is unknown, just as the term "God" itself is not a name but a notion, rooted in human nature, concerning a reality difficult to define. But "Jesus" carries both the name and the sense of "man" and "savior." For he indeed became man too, as we said earlier, conceived in accordance with the plan of God and
Father, brought forth for the sake of believing men and unto the ruin of the demons; and even now the evidence before your own eyes can teach you this. For throughout the whole world, and in your own city as well, many people possessed by demons have been healed by many of our own people, the Christians, who cast the demons out by invoking Jesus Christ — the one crucified under Pontius Pilate — persons whom all the other exorcists and
enchanters and drug-sellers failed to heal — and they still heal them now, rendering powerless and driving out the demons that hold men in their grip. This is why God still delays bringing about the confusion and dissolution of the whole world, so that the wicked angels and demons and men may cease to exist, on account of the seed of the Christians, which he knows in nature to be the cause
is. For if this were not so, it would not still be possible for these things to be done and worked in you by the wicked demons; but the fire of judgment, coming down, would have utterly sorted out everything, just as before the flood left no one except the one man, called among us Noah but among you Deucalion, together with his own household, from whom
again so many people have come to be, some of them wicked and some upright. For it is in this way that we say the conflagration will come to pass, but not, as the Stoics say, according to the doctrine of the transformation of all things into one another — a thing which has appeared most shameful; nor again that human beings act or suffer what happens according to fate, but that each does right or sins according to free choice, and
that it is by the working of the wicked demons that the upright — such as Socrates and those like him — are persecuted and put in chains, while Sardanapalus and Epicurus and those like them seem to prosper amid abundance and glory. Not understanding this, the Stoics declared that all things happen by the necessity of fate. But since God made both the race of angels and that of men self-determined from the beginning,
they will justly receive punishment in eternal fire for whatever offenses they commit. For this is the nature of everything that has come into being: to be capable of vice and of virtue; for none of these beings would be praiseworthy if it did not have the power to turn to both. And this is shown also by those everywhere who have legislated and philosophized according to right reason,
through their prescribing that these things be done and those be avoided. And the Stoic philosophers too, in their discourse on ethics, vigorously honor these same things, so that it becomes clear that in their discourse on first principles and incorporeal things they do not fare well. For whether they will say that what happens among men happens according to fate, or that there is no God apart from things that are turned and altered and dissolved into
the same elements forever, they will be shown to have grasped only perishable things, and to make God himself, both through his parts and through the whole, become subject to every vice, or else to hold that there is neither vice nor virtue at all — which is contrary to every sound notion, reason, and mind. And as for those who follow the Stoic teachings, since they have become well-ordered at least in their ethical doctrine, as
also some of the poets have, on account of the seed of the Word implanted in the whole race of men, we know they have been hated and put to death: Heraclitus, as we said before, and Musonius too in our own times, and others as well. For as we have indicated, the demons have always worked to bring hatred upon all who make any effort at all to live according to reason and to flee vice. And it is nothing to wonder at, if
the demons, being refuted, work to bring about even greater hatred against those who attain, not merely a part of the seminal Word, but knowledge and contemplation of the whole Word, who is Christ; and they will receive their due chastisement and punishment, shut up in eternal fire. For if they are already being defeated by human beings who call on the name of Jesus Christ, that very fact teaches what punishment in eternal fire is coming both upon them and upon
those who serve them. For thus all the prophets foretold it would happen, and Jesus our teacher taught it. As for me, then, I anticipate that one of the men I have named will scheme against me and have me nailed to a stake — perhaps even Crescens himself, that lover of commotion and lover of self-display. For the man does not deserve to be called a philosopher, seeing that he publicly bears false witness against us concerning matters he does not understand
— that Christians are godless and impious — doing this to win the favor and pleasure of the deceived multitude. For either he attacks us without having encountered the teachings of Christ, in which case he is thoroughly wicked and far worse than ordinary people, who generally take care not to speak or bear false witness about things they have no knowledge of; or else he has in fact come across those teachings and simply failed to grasp their grandeur, or, having grasped it,
does what he does in order not to be suspected of holding such views — in which case he is far more base and thoroughly wicked, being a slave to popular and irrational opinion and to fear. For I want you to know that I put certain such questions to him and asked him, so as both to learn and to refute him, and that he truly knows nothing. And that I speak the truth, if the exchanges of our arguments have not been reported to you, I am ready
to hold them again in your presence; that too would be a task worthy of an emperor. Yet if you have already been informed of my questions and his replies, it is plain to you that he knows nothing of our doctrines — or if he does know them, then because of his hearers he dares not speak, as I said before, like Socrates, and he shows himself to be not a philosopher but a lover of glory, a man who
does not even honor that Socratic maxim worthy of love: "But surely a man is not to be honored above the truth." It is impossible, though, for a Cynic, who has set indifference as his end, to know the good, except indifference itself. And so, to keep anyone from repeating the claim made by men who pass themselves off as philosophers — that our talk of the wicked being punished in eternal fire is mere noise and scare-mongering — and
that we require men to live virtuously out of fear rather than because it is noble and pleasing to live virtuously, I will answer this briefly: that if this is not so, then either God does not exist, or, if he does exist, he takes no interest in humanity, and virtue and vice are nothing at all, and, just as we noted earlier, lawmakers would be wrong to punish those who break the good statutes they themselves established. But since
those lawgivers are not unjust, nor their father, who teaches them through reason to do the very same thing, neither are those who agree with them unjust. But if someone should bring forward the differing laws of men, saying that among some peoples these things are held to be good and those shameful, while among others what is shameful there is held good, and what is good there is held shameful, let him hear also
what is said concerning this. We know that the wicked angels set in order laws similar to their own wickedness, laws in which men who have become like them delight; and when right reason comes forward it does not show all opinions nor all doctrines to be good, but some base and some good; so that the same things, and things like them, will be said also to such people, and will be said
at greater length, if there is need. But for now I return to the matter at hand. Our teachings appear grander than all human teaching because the whole rational element — body, reason, and soul — that appeared for our sake became Christ. For every fine word ever spoken or discovery ever made by philosophers and lawgivers, they achieved through locating and reflecting on some fragment of the Word.
Because they grasped only a portion of the Word, who is Christ, and never the whole of him, they frequently ended up contradicting one another. And those who lived before Christ, when they attempted, through human reasoning, to contemplate and refute matters, were brought before tribunals as impious and meddling. The one of them all who applied himself to this most vigorously, Socrates, was charged with the very same things as we are;
since the charge was that he brought in strange gods and refused to acknowledge as divine those the city recognized as gods. Yet he drove the corrupt spirits from the state — including those who committed the acts the poets described — and expelled Homer and the other poets with them, teaching people to have nothing to do with such beings, and urged them, through the search of reason, toward the knowledge of the God unknown to them, saying: "The
father and maker of all things is neither easy to find, nor, having found him, safe to declare to all." These things our Christ accomplished through his own power. For no one believed in Socrates enough to die for that teaching, but they did so for Christ, whom Socrates grasped only partially — since he is and always has been the Word present in every person, and the one who spoke in advance through the prophets
the things that were to come, and who himself, becoming like us in suffering, taught these things — not only philosophers and men of letters put their trust, but craftsmen too and utterly unlettered people, despising glory and fear and death; since it is the power of the ineffable Father, and not the instrument of human reason, that is at work. Nor indeed would we be put to death, nor would unjust men and demons be more powerful than we,
if it were not altogether owed by every man who is born that he must also die; whence we give thanks even as we pay this debt. And indeed we think it fitting and timely to speak now, against Crescens and those who rave like him, that saying of Xenophon's. Xenophon said that Heracles, walking along a certain crossroad, found both Virtue and Vice, in the form of women
...appearing in [human] forms. And Vice — with delicate clothing, a face fashioned for love and blooming from such arts, immediately alluring to the eyes — told Heracles that following her would bring him a life of constant pleasure, adorned with the most splendid finery, like the finery that surrounded her. And Virtue, with a squalid face and
attire, said: "But if you obey me, you will adorn yourself not with flowing and perishable ornament and beauty, but with everlasting and beautiful ornaments." And we are persuaded that anyone at all who flees the things that seem beautiful, and pursues instead the things reckoned harsh and unreasonable, will obtain happiness. For Vice, screening her own deeds with the qualities that belong to Virtue and that are truly
beautiful, clothing herself through imitation of things incorruptible (for she has nothing incorruptible, nor is she able to produce it), enslaves those men who grovel on the ground, having wrapped her own base qualities around Virtue. But those who have understood what truly are beautiful qualities are themselves incorruptible in virtue. This one must suppose also concerning Christians, and those who came from the contest, and the men who have done such things as the poets have said
concerning the so-called gods — every sensible person must draw this inference from the very fact that we despise death, a thing all men shun. For indeed I myself, while I rejoiced in the teachings of Plato, when I heard Christians slandered, but saw them fearless in the face of death and of all the other things reckoned fearful, considered it impossible that they should be living in vice and love of pleasure. For what lover of pleasure or self-indulgent man, and
one who counts the eating of human flesh a good thing, could embrace death, whereby he would be deprived of his own goods, rather than trying by every means to go on living this present life forever and to escape the notice of the rulers — let alone announce himself as one to be put to death? Indeed, the wicked demons have already brought it about that this too was done through certain wicked men. For, murdering some persons themselves on a false charge laid against
us, they also dragged to torture household servants of ours, or children, or little women, and by fearful abuses compel them to denounce these fabled things, which they themselves openly do. But since none of this belongs to us, we are not troubled, having as witness of both our thoughts and our deeds God, the unbegotten and ineffable one. For what reason would we not also publicly confess these things as good, and
demonstrate them to be divine philosophy — declaring that we celebrate the mysteries of Cronus by murdering men, and by gorging ourselves on blood, as is said, doing the same things as are done to the idol honored among you, on which not only the blood of irrational animals is sprinkled but also human blood, the pouring out of the blood of the slain being performed by the most eminent and noblest man among you — and that we, becoming imitators of Zeus and the
other gods in going after males and in mingling with women without fear, bring forward as our defense the writings of Epicurus and of the poets? But since we persuade men to flee these teachings, and those who do and imitate them, as we have also just now contended through these very words, we are warred against in various ways. But we are not troubled, since we know God to be the just overseer of all things. Would that even
now someone might mount some lofty platform and cry out in a tragic voice: "Be ashamed, be ashamed, you who openly do these things and impute them to the innocent, wrapping around yourselves and your own gods things that belong to yourselves, of which these have not the slightest share. Change your ways, come to your senses." For I too, once I learned that a wicked garment had been thrown, to turn other men away, by the wicked demons
over the divine teachings of the Christians, and that these things were falsely reported, laughed both at the garment and at the reputation held among the many. I openly admit that I pray and struggle with everything in me to prove myself a Christian — not on the grounds that Plato's teachings stand apart from Christ's, but because they don't match at every point, just as the teachings of the Stoics, the poets, and the prose writers don't match either. For each of them, from
the portion of the seminal divine Word he possessed, seeing what was akin to it, spoke well; but those who contradicted themselves on the more essential matters plainly did not possess unfailing knowledge and irrefutable understanding. Whatever, then, has been well said belongs to us Christians. For it is the Word proceeding from the unbegotten and ineffable God whom we adore and cherish, second only to God himself, since he too was made man for our sake,
so that, becoming also a partaker of our sufferings, he might effect a cure. For all the writers, through the implanted seed of the Word dwelling within them, were able to see the realities only dimly. For it is one thing to have a seed of something and an imitation given according to one's capacity, and another thing to have that very thing itself, of which, by the grace that comes from it, the participation and imitation occur. And so we ask you too
to append your judgment and publish this little book, so that our position may become known to others as well, and that they may be able to be freed from false opinion and ignorance of what is good — those who, through no fault of their own, become liable to punishments [so that these things may become known to men] — because the faculty of discerning good and shameful is present in human nature, and
because they condemn us, whom they do not know to do such shameful things as they allege, and because they delight in gods who have done such things, and even now still demand the same from men — so that, by imposing on us too, as though we did such things, death or bonds or some other such penalty, they condemn themselves, having no need of other judges. [And also that which is in my own
nation — the impious and deceitful teaching of the Simonians — I have despised.] And if you publish this as a decree, we for our part would make it known to all, so that, if they are able, they may change their ways; it is for this reason alone that we have composed these words. Our teachings, judged by any sound standard, are not shameful, but are superior to all human philosophy; but if not, they are at any rate not like the writings of Sotades, and Philaenis, and Archestratus, and
Epicurus, and the other poetic teachings of that kind, which all are permitted to encounter, both when spoken and when written. And we will now stop, having done as much as lay in our power, and having further prayed that all men everywhere may be deemed worthy of the truth. May it be granted, then, that you too, worthily of piety and philosophy, judge what is just concerning yourselves.

======== Dialogue with Trypho ========

As I was walking early one morning in the walkways of the xystus, someone met me together with some others and said, "Greetings, philosopher!" And having said this he turned and walked along with me, and his friends turned along with him too. And I in turn greeted him and said, "What is it, exactly?" And he said, "I was taught at Argos by Corinthus the Socratic that one ought not to despise or neglect those who wear this garb, but should be friendly toward them in every way and converse with them, in case some benefit should come from the encounter either to him or to me. It is a good thing for both, even if only one of the two is benefited. For this reason, then, whenever I see someone in such a dress, I gladly approach him, and it was for the same reason that I now gladly greeted you."
"...and these men here are accompanying me, hoping that they too will hear something worthwhile from you." "Yet who might you be, best of mortals?" I asked him, needling him with the words. He then gave me his name and ancestry without hesitation. "They call me Trypho," he said, "a Hebrew by birth, circumcised, a refugee from the war still underway, and I spend most of my time in Greece and in Corinth."
"...and these men here are accompanying me, hoping that they too will hear something worthwhile from you." "Yet who might you be, best of mortals?" I asked him, needling him with the words. He then gave me his name and ancestry without hesitation. "They call me Trypho," he said, "a Hebrew by birth, circumcised, a refugee from the war still underway, and I spend most of my time in Greece and in Corinth."
And I said, "What could you gain so greatly from philosophy as from your own lawgiver and the prophets?" "What do you mean?" he said. "Do not the philosophers make their whole discourse about God, and are not their inquiries always concerned with monarchy and providence? Or is it not the very work of philosophy to examine the divine?"
"Yes," I said, "that is our view as well. But most people have not even given thought to this question—whether there is one god or several, and whether they exercise providence over each of us individually or not—as though this knowledge contributed nothing to happiness. Indeed, they even try to persuade us that while God cares for the universe as a whole and for its genera and species, he no longer cares for me and for you individually."
"...since otherwise we would not pray to him through the whole of night and day. It is not hard to see where this leads them: license and freedom to say and follow whatever pleases those who hold such opinions, and to do and say whatever they wish, fearing no punishment and hoping for no good from God."
"How could it be otherwise? These are the ones who say that the same things will always recur, and that you and I will live again just as we do now, having become neither better nor worse. Others, positing that the soul is immortal and incorporeal, think that even if they do wrong they will not pay any penalty (for the incorporeal is not subject to suffering), and that, since the soul is immortal, they no longer have need of God at all." And he, smiling pleasantly, said, "But you—"
"—what do you think about these matters, and what view do you hold about God, and what is your philosophy? Tell us." "I will tell you," I said, "what appears to me to be the case. Philosophy is indeed, in truth, the greatest possession, and the most valuable in the sight of God, to whom it alone leads us and unites us, and truly holy are those who have applied their mind to philosophy."
"But what philosophy actually is, and for what purpose it was sent down to men, has escaped most people's notice. For otherwise there would not be Platonists, Stoics, Peripatetics, Theoretics, and Pythagoreans, since this is a single science. I want to explain why it has become many-headed. It happened that those who first laid hold of it, and thereby became famous, were followed by later men who examined nothing concerning the truth,
but were struck only by the endurance and self-control of those men, and by the strangeness of their teachings, and so considered true whatever each had learned from his own teacher. Then these men in turn, having handed down to those who came after them such things and others resembling them, were called by that name by which the father of the doctrine had been called. And I too, at the beginning, being eager in the same way to associate myself with one of these schools,
gave myself over to a Stoic teacher. After spending a good while under his instruction, since I gained nothing more concerning God (for he himself did not know, and said this kind of learning was not necessary), I left him and went to another, called a Peripatetic, a sharp one, or so he thought himself. This man put up with me for the first few days, and then required me to fix a fee, so that our association might not be unprofitable to us.
And for this reason I left him too, not thinking him a philosopher at all. But since my soul was still yearning to hear the peculiar and distinctive doctrine of philosophy, I went to a Pythagorean who was held in the highest esteem, a man who held an exceedingly high opinion of his own wisdom. Once I had spoken with him, wanting to become his student and follower,
he said, "Well then? Have you studied music, astronomy, and geometry? Or do you suppose you will discern any of the things that contribute to happiness if you have not first been taught these subjects, which will draw the soul away from sensible things and prepare it to be fit for the intelligible, so that it may behold the beautiful itself and the good itself?" And after praising these studies at length and declaring them necessary, he sent me away,
since I had confessed to him that I did not know them. I was distressed, as one would expect, having failed in my hope, and all the more so because I had thought he knew something. And again, considering the time it would take to wear away on those studies, I could not bear to postpone the matter for so long. Being at a loss, it occurred to me to try the Platonists as well, for their fame too was considerable.
And indeed, a wise man, a man of standing among the Platonists, had recently come to live in our city, and I spent as much time as possible with him, and I made progress, advancing very greatly with each day that passed. And the contemplation of incorporeal things and the vision of the Forms took hold of me powerfully; it lifted up my understanding, so that within a short time I thought I had become wise, and in my foolishness
I hoped to behold God at once, for this is the goal of Plato's philosophy. And being in this frame of mind, when it once occurred to me to fill myself with much quiet and to avoid the beaten path of men, I went off to a certain place not far from the sea. And as I was drawing near to that spot, where I intended to be by myself upon arriving, a certain old man, not unimpressive to look at,
displaying a gentle and dignified bearing, was following a little behind me. And when I turned toward him, I stopped and looked at him rather sharply. And he said, "Do you know me?" I said I did not. "Then why," he said to me, "do you look at me so closely?" "I am surprised," I said, "that you happened to be in the same place as I am, for I did not expect to see any man here." And he said, "I have been concerned about some relatives of mine,"
"who are away from home; so I too have come to look into their situation, to see whether they will appear somewhere. But you—why are you here?" he said to me. "I enjoy," I said, "such pastimes, for here my dialogue with myself proceeds unhindered, and places like this are most conducive to the love of learning." "So you are a lover of learning," he said, "but not at all a lover of action,
nor a lover of truth, nor do you try to be a man of practice rather than a sophist?" "But what greater work could one accomplish," I said, "than this: to demonstrate that reason rules over all things, and, once one grasps it and lets it carry him along, to survey from above the wandering paths others take and the pursuits they chase, seeing that they do nothing sound nor pleasing to God? Without philosophy and right reason no one could have understanding."
"Therefore every man ought to practice philosophy, and to consider this the greatest and most valuable work, while regarding the rest as secondary and tertiary—things that, kept subordinate to philosophy, are moderate and worthy of acceptance, but that, deprived of it and not accompanied by it, become vulgar and coarse for those who take them up." "Does philosophy, then, produce happiness?" he said, breaking in. "Yes, indeed,"
I said, "and it alone." "What, then, is philosophy," he said, "and what is the happiness it gives? Tell me, if nothing prevents you from saying." "Philosophy," I said, "is the knowledge of that which is, and the recognition of the truth; and happiness is the prize of this knowledge and wisdom." "But what do you call God?" he said. "That which is always the same and in the same way, and is the cause of being for all other things—this is God."
So I answered him. And he was delighted to hear this from me, and he questioned me again in this way: "Is 'knowledge' not a name common to different subjects? For in all the arts, the one who knows a given art is called knowledgeable in it—likewise in generalship, and in the pilot's art, and in medicine."
But with divine and human matters it is not so. Is there some knowledge that provides an understanding of human and divine things themselves, and then, beyond that, a recognition of their divinity and justice? Very much so, I said. What then? Is knowing man and knowing God alike, as with music and arithmetic and astronomy or something of that sort? Not at all, I said. Then you did not answer me correctly,
he said; for some things come to us from learning or from some practice, while others provide knowledge from seeing. If someone were to tell you that there is in India a creature shaped unlike any other, but built this way or that, many-formed and mottled in color, you would have no prior knowledge of it unless you saw it yourself, nor indeed could you
manage to describe it at all unless you had heard about it from someone who had actually seen it. No indeed, I said. How then, he said, could the philosophers think rightly about God, or say anything true about him, having no knowledge of him, nor having ever seen or heard him? But the divine is not visible to the eyes themselves, father, I said, as the other living beings are, but is apprehended by mind alone,
as Plato says, and I am persuaded by him. Is there then, he said, such and so great a power in our mind, or has it grasped being otherwise than through sense-perception? Will the mind of man ever see God without being adorned with holy spirit? For Plato says, I said, that the eye of the mind itself is of such a nature, and
is given to us for this purpose, so that it may be able to behold that very being itself with that very pure eye — which is the cause of all intelligible things, having no color, no shape, no size, nor anything that the eye sees; but is itself a certain being, he says, a being beyond all essence, neither expressible nor speakable, but only the beautiful and the good, arising suddenly in
well-natured souls, on account of their kinship with it and their desire to see it. What kinship, then, he said, do we have with God? Or is the soul itself divine, deathless, a fragment of that royal mind itself? And just as that mind beholds God, so too our mind can, in the same way, lay hold of the
divine, and thereby already be happy? Certainly, I said. Do all the souls of all living creatures grasp it alike, he asked, or is the soul of man one thing, and that of horse and donkey another? No, but they are the same in all, I answered. Will horses and donkeys, then, see God, he said, or have they ever seen him? No, I said; for not even most
men see him either, unless one has lived justly, purified by righteousness and all the rest of virtue. Then it is not, he said, on account of kinship that one sees God, nor because one has mind, but because one is temperate and just? Yes, I said, and also because one has that with which one thinks God. What then? Do goats or sheep wrong anyone? No one at all, I said.
Will these animals, then, see God according to your argument? he said. No — since a body of that kind stands as a hindrance to them. If these animals were to receive speech, he said, taking up the point, be assured that they would with much better reason reproach our body; but for now let us leave it at that, and let it be granted to you as you say. But tell me this: as long as it is in the
body, does the soul see, or once freed from it? And while it still bears the shape of a man, I said, the mind makes it possible for the soul to reach that point, but it is above all once released from the body and having come to be by itself that it attains that for which it yearned the whole time. And does it remember this again once it has come to be in a man? I do not think so, I said. What benefit, then,
is there to those that have seen, or what advantage does the one who has seen have over the one who has not, if he does not even remember that he saw it? I cannot say, I said. And what happens to the souls judged unworthy of this vision? he said. They are chained into the bodies of particular wild animals — that is their penalty. Do they realize, then, that this is why they now inhabit such bodies,
and that they had sinned in some way? I do not think so. Then there is no benefit to them from the punishment either, it seems; indeed, I would not even call it punishment for them, if they are not aware of being punished. No indeed. So souls neither behold God nor migrate into different bodies; otherwise they would recognize that they were being punished in this manner, and they would be afraid of sinning again by chance in the future. But that they
can think that God exists, and that justice and piety are good — with this too I agree, he said. You speak rightly, I said. Then those philosophers know nothing at all about these matters; for they cannot even say what the soul is. So it seems. Nor indeed should one call it immortal; for if it is immortal, then it is clearly also unbegotten. But it is unbegotten and immortal
according to some who are called Platonists. And do you too say that the world is unbegotten? There are those who say so, but I do not agree with them. You do rightly. For what sense does it make to think that a body so solid, having resistance, composite, changeable, decaying, and coming into being every day, has not come to be from some beginning? And if the world is begotten, it is necessary also that
souls too came to be, and perhaps did not exist somewhere before; for they came to be for the sake of men, and the other living beings too, if indeed you will say that they came to be at all independently and not together with their own bodies. This seems to be correct. Then they are not immortal. No: the world itself, after all, has shown itself to us as something that came into being. But indeed I do not say that all souls die either; for that would be
truly a windfall for the wicked. But — so how does it work? The pious souls dwell in a place that is better, while the souls of the unjust and wicked dwell in a place that is worse, waiting there for the moment of judgment. Thus those which have shown themselves worthy of God no longer die, while the others are punished, for as long as God wills that they both exist and be punished.
Is what you are saying, then, the same sort of thing that Plato hints at in the Timaeus concerning the world, saying that it is indeed perishable insofar as it has come into being, but that it will not be undone, nor will it suffer death's lot, because God so wills it. Do you think the same claim holds for the soul, and indeed for absolutely everything? For whatever exists after God,
or ever will exist, has a perishable nature, and is capable of being made to vanish and of ceasing to exist any longer; for God alone is unbegotten and imperishable, and for this reason is God, while everything else after him is begotten and perishable. That is exactly why souls die and are subject to punishment: if they had no beginning, they would commit no sin and harbor no folly,
nor cowardly and reckless in turn; nor indeed would they ever willingly go into pigs and snakes and dogs, nor is it right that they be compelled to do so, if they are indeed unbegotten. For the unbegotten is like the unbegotten, and equal, and the same, and neither in power nor in honor would one be preferred over the other. Hence the unbegotten things are not many either; for if there were some difference
among them, you would not find, however you searched, the cause of the difference, but, sending your thought on forever into infinity, you would eventually stop, worn out, at some one unbegotten thing, and declare that it is the source behind everything. But did these things escape the notice, I said, of Plato and Pythagoras, wise men, who became for us like a wall and a support of philosophy? I care nothing, he said, for Plato, nor for
Pythagoras, nor indeed for anyone whatsoever who holds such views. Here is the truth of the matter, and you can see it for yourself. The soul is either life, or it possesses life. Suppose it is life: it would then cause something else to live, rather than itself — just as motion moves something else rather than itself. Now, no one would dispute that the soul is alive. Yet if it is alive, it does not
live because it is life itself, but by sharing in life; and whatever shares in something is distinct from the thing it shares in. The soul, then, shares in life because God wants it to be alive. In the same way it will one day stop sharing in life, when he no longer wants it alive. Living is not, as it is for God, something intrinsic to its nature; but just as a man does not exist forever, nor...
The body remains joined to the soul at all times, but once this harmony must come undone, the soul departs from the body and the person ceases to exist; likewise, when the soul itself must cease to be, the vital breath withdraws from it and the soul exists no longer, but it too returns again to the place from which it was taken [cf. Ecclesiastes 12:7].
"What teacher, then," I said, "could one still use, or from what source could one be helped, if the truth is not even in these things?" "There were certain men, long before all these so-called philosophers, older than them, blessed and righteous and beloved of God, who spoke by a divine spirit and foretold things to come, which are indeed now happening; and men call them prophets."
"These alone both saw the truth and declared it to men, neither cowed nor overawed by anyone, not mastered by love of glory, but speaking only what they heard and what they saw, filled with the Holy Spirit. Their writings still survive even now, and one who encounters them can be greatly helped, both concerning first principles and concerning the end, and concerning what the philosopher must know, if he believes them. For they did not compose their arguments then with demonstration,
since they stood above all demonstration, being trustworthy witnesses of the truth. And the things that have come to pass and are coming to pass compel one to agree with what has been spoken through them. And yet also on account of the powers which they performed they were worthy to be believed, since they glorified the maker of all things, God and Father, and announced the Christ who comes from him as his Son."
"This the false prophets, filled with the deceiving and unclean spirit, neither did nor do, but they dare to work certain powers to strike men with amazement, and they glorify the spirits of deceit and demons [cf. 1 Timothy 4:1]. Pray above all that the gates of light be opened to you; for these things are not seen or understood by all, but only by him to whom God
and his Christ grant understanding." Having said these things and many others besides, which it is not the occasion now to relate, he went away, telling me to pursue them; and I did not see him again. But at once a fire was kindled in my soul, and love took hold of me for the prophets and for those men who are friends of Christ; and as I reasoned within myself over his words,
I found this alone to be the sure and beneficial philosophy. This, then, is how and why I am a philosopher. And I could wish that all men, having formed the same eagerness as I have, would not turn away from the words of the Savior; for they have in themselves a certain awe, and they are able to abash those who turn aside from the right way, and there comes a most sweet rest to those who practice them. If, then, you too have any
care for yourself, and lay claim to salvation, and trust in God, since these are not foreign to the matter, it is possible for you, once you have come to know the Christ of God and become perfect, to be happy." When I, dearest friend, had said these things, those with Trypho laughed aloud, but he himself, smiling slightly, said, "Your other views I accept, and I admire your zeal for the divine,
but it would have served you better to go on pursuing philosophy — whether Plato's school or another's — practicing endurance, self-control, and moderation, rather than being taken in by false arguments and following men who are worth nothing. For as long as you stayed within that philosophical way of life and lived without blame, hope of a better lot remained open to you; but now that you have abandoned God and pinned your hope on a man, what salvation is left
for you? Now, if you also want to hear my view — since I already count you a friend — get circumcised first; then observe, as prescribed, the sabbath, the festivals, and God's new moons, and in a word, do everything the law commands, and then perhaps you will receive mercy from God. But the Christ, even supposing he has already been born and exists somewhere, remains unknown,
and he himself does not yet know himself, nor does he possess any power, until Elijah comes and anoints him and makes him manifest to all; but you, having accepted an empty report, fashion for yourselves a certain Christ, and for his sake now perish senselessly." "Pardon me, sir," I said, "and may you be forgiven; for you do not know what you are saying, but you are persuaded by teachers
who fail to grasp the scriptures, guessing aloud at whatever thought happens to cross your mind. Yet should you wish to hear a reasoned account of this — that we have not strayed from the truth, nor will we stop acknowledging him, even when men heap reproaches upon us, even when the harshest of tyrants forces us to renounce him — I will make plain to you, standing right here, that our trust rests not on hollow fables or arguments without proof, but on words full
of divine spirit, teeming with power, and flourishing with grace." Those with him laughed aloud again and made an unruly outcry. But I rose, as if to go away; and he, taking hold of my cloak, said he would not let go before I had finished what I had promised. "Then let your companions," I said, "not make an uproar, nor behave so improperly, but, if they are willing, let them listen in silence,
and if some more pressing business stands in their way, let them go; and let us, withdrawing somewhere and resting, complete the discussion." It seemed good to Trypho too that we should do this, and so, turning aside, we went into the middle of the running-track of the colonnade; but two of those with him, mocking and jeering at our earnestness, went off. And when we had come into
that place where on either side there are stone seats, those with Trypho, sitting on the one side, were talking, one of them having introduced a discussion about the war that had happened in Judea. And when they had stopped, I began again with them thus: "Is it anything else you find fault with us for, friends, than this — that we do not live according to the law, nor in the same way
as your ancestors do we circumcise the flesh, nor do we keep the sabbath as you do? Or has our life and character also been slandered among you? Or is this what I mean — do you too believe of us the report that we devour human flesh, and that once the banquet ends, we douse the lamps and tumble together in forbidden couplings? Or is it this alone that you condemn in us, that we hold fast to such
teachings, and believe, as you think, an opinion that is not true?" "This is what we marvel at," said Trypho, "but as for what the many say, it is not worth believing — it has gone far beyond human nature. But as for the precepts in what is called your gospel, I know them to be so wonderful and great that I suppose no one is able to keep them; for I have
taken care to look into them. But what perplexes us most is this, that you, while claiming to be pious and supposing yourselves to differ from the rest, in nothing fall short of them, nor do you distinguish your manner of life from that of the nations, in that you keep neither the feasts nor the sabbaths nor have circumcision, and further, having set your hopes on a man who was crucified, you nevertheless expect to obtain some good thing from
God, while not doing his commandments. Have you not read, 'That soul shall be cut off from its people which is not circumcised on the eighth day' [Genesis 17:14]? And likewise it has been laid down concerning foreigners and those bought with silver. Having straightway despised this covenant, you neglect also what comes after it, and you attempt to persuade us as though you knew
God, while doing none of the things that those who fear God do. If, then, you have any defense to make against these things, and can show in what way you hope for anything at all, even though you do not keep the law, this we would gladly hear from you most of all, and let us likewise examine the other points together." "There neither will be nor has there ever been from eternity any other God, Trypho," I said to him,
than he who made and set in order this universe. Nor do we hold that there is one God for us and another for you, but that very one who led your fathers out of the land of Egypt 'with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm' [cf. Deuteronomy 5:15; Psalm 135:12] — nor have we placed our hope in anyone else — since none exists — but in this very one, in whom
you also hope, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. But our hope was not fixed by way of Moses or by the law; had it been, we would be acting no differently than you. But now — for I have read, Trypho, that there was to be a final law and a covenant more sovereign than all others, which now all men who lay claim to the inheritance of God must keep. For the
At Horeb there was already an ancient law, and it was yours alone, but the new one is for everyone without distinction; and a law laid down against a former law brings that former one to an end, and likewise a covenant made afterward supersedes the earlier one. An eternal and final law was given to us — Christ — and a covenant to be trusted, after which
there is no more law, no ordinance, no commandment. Or have you not read what Isaiah says? "Hear me, hear me, my people, and you kings, give ear to me, for a law shall go out from me, and my judgment as a light for the nations. Swiftly my righteousness approaches, and my salvation will go out, and the nations will place their hope in my arm"
[Isaiah 51:4-5]. And through Jeremiah he speaks likewise concerning this very new covenant, thus: "Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make with the house of Israel and the house of Judah a new covenant, not like the covenant I made with their fathers on the day I grasped their hand and led them forth out of the land of Egypt" [Jeremiah 31:31-32]. If then God
proclaimed a new covenant that was to be established, and this one a light for the nations, and we see and are persuaded that it is by the name of the crucified Christ, Jesus, that people are turning from idols and from all other wrongdoing to God, and enduring their confession even unto death and practicing piety, and from their works and from the power that attends them it is possible for everyone to understand that this
this is the fresh law, this the fresh covenant; and he stands as the hope of all, gathered from every nation, who await the blessings that come from God. For the true, spiritual Israel, and the race of Judah and Jacob and Isaac and Abraham — who while still uncircumcised was attested for his faith by
God and blessed and called the father of many nations — is us, who through this crucified Christ have been brought near to God, as will be demonstrated as our discourse proceeds. And I went on saying and offering this: that in yet other words Isaiah cries out, "Hear me, and my words, and your soul shall live,"
"and I will make with you an eternal covenant, the sure mercies of David. See, I have set him as a witness to the peoples. Nations who do not know you shall call upon you, peoples who do not understand you shall flee to you, for the sake of the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, because he has glorified you" [Isaiah 55:3-5]. This very law you have dishonored, and this new and holy covenant of his
you have despised, and even now you neither accept it nor repent of having done evil. For your ears are still stopped, your eyes are blinded, and your heart is thickened. Jeremiah has cried out, and even so you do not listen: the lawgiver is present, and you do not see; the poor have the good news preached to them, the blind see, and you
do not understand. There is now need of a second circumcision, and yet you take great pride in your flesh. The new law wishes you to keep sabbath continually, and you, resting one day, think you are being pious, not understanding why it was commanded to you; and when you eat unleavened bread, you claim to have fulfilled God's will. The Lord our God does not delight in these things. If
there is among you a perjurer or a thief, let him stop; if an adulterer, let him repent, and he has kept the delicate and true sabbaths of God; if someone has hands that are not clean, let him wash, and he is clean. For surely Isaiah was not sending you to a bathhouse to wash off there murder and your other sins,
sins that not even the entire sea's water could wash away; but, fittingly, this was long ago that very saving washing he spoke of — the washing meant for those who repent and are cleansed no longer by the blood of goats and sheep, or by a heifer's ashes, or by presenting fine flour, but through faith in the blood of Christ and in his death, who for this reason
died, as Isaiah himself said, speaking thus: "The Lord will lay bare his holy arm in the sight of every nation, and every nation, even to earth's farthest edges, will see the salvation that comes from God. Depart, depart, depart, go out from there, and touch nothing unclean, go out from her midst, be separated, you who carry the vessels of the Lord,"
"for you shall not go out in confusion; for the Lord shall go before your face, and the God of Israel who gathers you together. Behold, my servant shall understand, and he shall be exalted and glorified exceedingly. Just as many were astonished at you, so shall his appearance be dishonored beyond that of men and his glory beyond the sons of men, so shall many nations marvel at him, and kings shall shut"
"their mouths; for those to whom nothing was announced concerning him shall see, and those who have not heard shall understand. Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? We proclaimed him in his presence like a little child, like a root in parched soil. He has neither shape nor splendor; and we looked at him, and he possessed no shape or beauty, but his appearance was"
"dishonored, lacking beyond the sons of men. A man in suffering, and knowing how to bear sickness, for his face was turned away, he was dishonored and not esteemed. This one bears our sins and suffers pain on our behalf, and we accounted him to be in trouble and in suffering and in affliction. But he was wounded because of our sins and was made sick"
"because of our lawless deeds; the discipline that brought us peace fell on him, and by his wound we were healed. All we like sheep went astray, each man went astray in his own way. And the Lord gave him over to our sins, and he, because of his affliction, does not open his mouth. As a sheep he was led to slaughter; and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so"
"he does not open his mouth. In his lowliness, justice was denied him. Yet who will tell of his descendants? For his life is lifted away from the earth; on account of my people's lawless deeds he goes to his death. And I will hand over the wicked in exchange for his burial, and the rich in exchange for his death, because he committed no lawlessness"
"nor was any deceit found in his mouth. The Lord desires to heal him of his wound. If you offer a sacrifice for sin, your soul will see offspring that live long. The Lord wants to relieve the anguish of his soul, to reveal light to him, and to shape him through understanding, so as to declare righteous a just man who serves many faithfully. He himself will carry our sins. Because of"
"Therefore he will possess many as his portion, and will share out the spoil of the mighty, since his soul was given over to death, and he was counted among the lawless, and he bore the sins of many and was handed over because of their lawless deeds. Rejoice, O barren woman who does not bear, break forth and cry out, you who are not in labor, for the children of the desolate are many, more than"
"of her who has a husband. The Lord himself declared: Widen the space of your tent and your curtains, drive the stakes deep, do not hold back, stretch your ropes longer and make your pegs firm, extend on the right hand and on the left; and your seed shall inherit the nations, and you shall inhabit desolate cities. Do not fear because you were put to shame, nor be ashamed because you were reproached, for"
"you shall forget your everlasting shame and shall not remember the reproach of your widowhood; since the Lord has won himself renown, and your redeemer, the God of Israel, will be proclaimed God over all the earth. The Lord has called you as a woman forsaken and fainthearted in spirit, as a woman hated from her youth" [Isaiah 52:10-54:6]. Through the washing, then, of repentance and the knowledge of God,
which came about for the lawlessness of the peoples of God, as Isaiah cries out, we have believed, and we recognize that this is that very thing which he foretold, the baptism which alone is able to cleanse those who repent — this, indeed, is the water of life; whereas the cisterns you yourselves have hewn out are cracked and hold nothing [cf. Jeremiah 2:13; cf. John 4:10, and Revelation]
...and are of no use to you. For what benefit is that baptism which cleanses only the flesh and the body? Baptize your soul from anger and from greed, from envy, from hatred; and behold, the body is clean. For this is the symbol of the unleavened bread, that you should not carry out the old...
...works of the evil leaven. But you have understood everything in a fleshly way, and you consider it piety if, while doing such things, you are filled in your souls with deceit and, simply put, with all wickedness. So too, once the seven days of unleavened bread had passed, God instructed you to knead fresh leaven for yourselves, that is, to perform other works and not the...
...imitation of the old and worthless ones. And to show that this is what this new lawgiver requires of you, I will recount again the sayings I stated before, together with the others that were left out. They were spoken by Isaiah thus: 'Listen to me, so that your soul may live; I will establish for you a covenant that lasts forever, the holy and trustworthy promises made to David. Behold, I have given him as a witness to the nations, a ruler...
...and commander to the nations. Nations that do not know you will call upon you, and peoples that do not understand you will flee to you, because of the Lord your God, Israel's Holy One, since he has brought you glory. Seek God, and when you find him call upon him, while he is drawing near to you. Let the ungodly man abandon his ways, and the lawless man his counsels...
...and let him turn back to the LORD, and he will receive mercy, for he will abundantly forgive your sins. For my counsels are not like your counsels, nor are my ways like your ways, but as the heavens stand far above the earth, so far does my way stand apart from what you walk, and my thinking apart from what you...
...thinking. For as snow or rain comes down from heaven and does not return, until it has drenched the earth, making it bear and bud, yielding seed for the one who sows and bread to eat—so too will my word be, the one that goes forth from my mouth; it will not return until it has accomplished everything that I willed, and...
...I have prospered my commandments. For you will go out in gladness and be taught in joy; for the mountains and the hills will leap up as they await you, and all the trees of the field will clap their branches, and instead of the thornbush the cypress will come up, and instead of the nettle the myrtle will come up, and the Lord will serve as a name and as an everlasting sign, and it will not...
...fail.' Now when these words and others like them had been spoken by the prophets, I said, Trypho, some of them were spoken concerning the first coming of Christ, in which he has been proclaimed as destined to appear dishonored and without form and mortal, while others concern his second coming, when he will be present in glory and above the clouds...
...he will be present, and your people will see and recognize the one they ran through with a spear, as Hosea—one among the twelve prophets—and Daniel had predicted; thus it was said. Learn, then, to keep the fast God truly desires, the way Isaiah describes it, so that you may find favor with God. Isaiah cries out thus: 'Cry aloud with strength, and do not spare,
...lift up your voice like a trumpet, and announce to my people their sins, and to the house of Jacob their lawless deeds. They search for me day upon day, wanting to learn my ways, like a nation that has practiced righteousness and never abandoned God's judgment. They now demand a just verdict from me and long to come close to God, asking: Why did we fast, and...
...you did not see it, we humbled our souls and you did not know it? For on the days of your fasts you pursue your own desires, and you drive on all who are under your hand; behold, you fast for lawsuits and quarrels, and you strike the lowly with your fists. Why do you fast for me as you do today, so that your voice is heard in an outcry? This is not the fast...
...that I have chosen, nor a day for a man to humble his soul; even if you curve your neck the way a hoop bends, and lay sackcloth and ashes under yourself, you still will not have earned the title of a fast, a day welcome to the Lord. Such is not the fast I have chosen, declares the Lord; but loose every bond of injustice, undo the knots of violent contracts, send away the broken in release, and tear apart every unjust...
...contract. Break your bread for the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; if you see someone naked, clothe him, and do not disregard those of your own household and kin. Then your light will break forth early, and your garments will quickly rise, and your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of God will wrap around you. Then you will cry out,
...and God will listen to you; even as you are speaking, he will answer, Here I am. Should you put away from yourself the yoke and the accusing finger and the word of complaint, and offer your bread to the hungry from your own soul, and satisfy the humbled soul, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your darkness will be like midday, and your God will be...
...with you continually, and you will be filled just as your soul desires, and your bones will grow fat, and you will be like a well-watered garden and a spring of water, or like a land whose water has not failed.' Circumcise, then, the foreskin of your heart, as the words of God through all these sayings demand. And God himself cries out through Moses,
...saying thus: 'And you shall circumcise the hardness of your heart, and you shall no longer harden your neck; for the Lord your God and Lord of lords, the great and mighty and fearsome God, who does not regard a person's appearance nor accept a bribe.' And in Leviticus: 'Because they transgressed and disregarded me, and because...
...they walked crookedly before me, I too walked crookedly with them, and I will destroy them in the land of their enemies. Then their uncircumcised heart will be humbled.' For circumcision from Abraham according to the flesh was given as a sign, so that you might be set apart from the other nations and from us, and so that you alone might suffer what...
...you now suffer justly, and so that your lands might turn to waste and your cities be given over to flame, and strangers might devour your fruits before your eyes, and none of you might set foot in Jerusalem. For you are marked out from other people by nothing else than by the circumcision in your flesh. For none of you, I think,
...will dare to say that God was not, and is not, a foreknower of things about to happen, and one who prepares beforehand what is fitting for each person. So then, these things have happened to you rightly and justly. For you killed the Righteous One, and before him his prophets; and now those...
...who hope in him, and the Almighty God who sent him and made all things, you reject and, as far as it depends on you, dishonor, cursing in your synagogues those who believe in Christ. For you do not have the power to lay violent hands on us yourselves, because of those now in power; but as often as you were able, you did this too. Therefore God also cries out to you through...
...Isaiah, saying: 'See how the righteous man has perished, and no one takes it to heart. For from the face of injustice the righteous man has been taken away. He will be in peace; his burial has been removed from the midst. Come here, you lawless sons, offspring of adulterers and children of a prostitute. In what have you taken your pleasure, and against whom have you opened your mouth, and against whom have you let loose your tongue,
...?' For the other nations are not so bound up in this injustice against us and against Christ as you are, who are also the cause for those nations of their evil prejudice against the Righteous One and against us who come from him; for after you crucified him, that only spotless one, and...
...the righteous man, through whom healing of the bruises comes about [cf. Isaiah 53:5] for those who through him draw near to the Father — since you knew that he was raised up from among the dead and taken up into heaven, as the prophecies had foretold would happen, not only did you not repent of the evils you had done, but you chose select men from Jerusalem and sent them out at that time into all the earth,
saying that a godless sect of Christians had appeared, and listing the very things which all who do not know us say against us; so it is you who bear the guilt of wrongdoing, not only toward yourselves, but toward simply all other people as well. And Isaiah rightly cries out: 'On your account my name is reviled among the nations' [Isaiah 52:5]. And: 'Woe to their soul, for they have devised an evil plan
against themselves. They said: Let us bind this righteous one, since he is a nuisance to us. So then, they will feed on the fruit of their own deeds. Woe to the lawless man; evils shall befall him according to the works of his hands' [Isaiah 3:9-11]. And again, elsewhere: 'Woe to those who draw their sins to themselves as with a long rope, and their iniquities as with the strap of a heifer's yoke, who
say: Let his swiftness come close, and let the plan of Israel's Holy One be fulfilled, so that we might know it. Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who set light for darkness and darkness for light, who set bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter' [Isaiah 5:18-20]. Against the only blameless and righteous light, then, sent to men
from God, you were eager to have bitter and dark and unjust things proclaimed in all the earth. For he seemed troublesome to you, crying out among you: 'It is written: My house is a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of robbers' [Matthew 21:13; Luke 19:46]. And in the temple he knocked over the money-changers' tables. Then he cried out:
'Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you tithe mint and rue, but do not attend to the love of God and to judgment; whitewashed tombs, appearing beautiful outside, but within full of dead men's bones' [Matthew 23:23, 27; Luke 11:42]. And to the scribes: 'Woe to you, scribes, for you have the keys, and you yourselves do not
enter, and you hinder those who are entering' [Matthew 23:13; Luke 11:52]; 'blind guides' [Matthew 23:16, 24]. Since you have read, Trypho — as you yourself have admitted — the things taught by that Savior of ours, I do not think it out of place that I have also called to mind, alongside the prophetic sayings, a few of his own words. 'Wash yourselves, then, and now become clean, and remove
the evils from your souls' [cf. Isaiah 1:16]. As for this washing with which God commands you to wash, it is also the true circumcision with which he commands you to be circumcised. For we too would keep this circumcision according to the flesh, and the sabbaths, and indeed every one of the feasts, had we not understood why these were laid upon you as well — namely, on account of
your lawless deeds and your hardness of heart. For if we endure bearing all the things brought upon us by men and by wicked demons, even to the point of the unspeakable — death and torments — praying that mercy be shown even to those who inflict such things on us, and wishing to repay no one even the smallest evil, as the new lawgiver commanded us, how could we not also keep the things that do us no harm at all,
I mean circumcision of the flesh, and the sabbaths, and the feasts — how could we not keep those? And Trypho said: This is the very thing that deserves wonder — that though you endure such things, you do not also keep all the other observances about which we are now inquiring. For this circumcision is not necessary for everyone, but for you alone, so that, as I said earlier, you would undergo what you are now justly undergoing. Nor
do we accept that useless baptism performed in cisterns; for it is nothing in comparison with this baptism of life. Therefore God has also cried out: 'You have forsaken him, the living fountain, and dug for yourselves broken cisterns, which will not be able to hold water' [Jeremiah 2:13]. And you, who are circumcised in the flesh, need our circumcision, while we,
possessing this one, need none of that one at all. Had it truly been necessary, as you claim, God would never have shaped Adam without circumcision, nor would he have looked with favor on the gifts of Abel, who offered his sacrifices while uncircumcised in the flesh [cf. Genesis 4:4], nor would Enoch have been well-pleasing in uncircumcision, and not been found, because God translated him [cf. Genesis 5:24]. Lot, uncircumcised,
was saved out of Sodom, those very angels, and the Lord himself, having sent him on his way [Genesis 19]. Noah, the beginning of another race, entered the ark uncircumcised together with his children. Uncircumcised was Melchizedek, the priest of the Most High, to whom Abraham — the first to receive circumcision of the flesh — gave tithe offerings, and Melchizedek blessed him [cf. Genesis 14:18, 20, 19];
and it is according to his order that God, through David, announced he would appoint the eternal priest [Psalm 110:4]. This circumcision, then, was necessary for you alone, so that the people would become no-people, and the nation would become no-nation — as Hosea, too, states, one of the twelve prophets [Hosea 1:9-10]. For indeed, without keeping the sabbath, the aforementioned
righteous men were all pleasing to God, and after them Abraham and all his sons, down to Moses, in whose time your people showed themselves unjust and ungrateful toward God, making a calf in the wilderness. Hence God, accommodating himself to that people, commanded them also to bring sacrifices as though to his name, so that you would not fall into idolatry; yet you did not even keep this, but
sacrificed even your children to demons. He also commanded you to keep the sabbath, so that you might retain remembrance of God; for indeed his word signifies this, saying: 'That you may know that I am the God who redeemed you' [Ezekiel 20:12, 20]. And indeed he commanded you to abstain from certain foods, so that even in eating and drinking you might keep before your eyes
God — being, as you are, prone to fall and quick to depart from knowledge of him, as Moses too says: 'The people ate, and drank, and got up to make merry' [Exodus 32:6]. And again: 'Jacob ate and was filled, and grew fat, and the beloved kicked; he grew fat, grew thick, grew broad, and forsook the God who made him' [Deuteronomy 32:15].
For that it was granted by God to Noah, who was righteous, to eat every living thing except flesh with blood in it — that is, carrion — has been recorded for you through Moses in the book of Genesis [Genesis 9:4]. And when he was about to say 'as the herbs of the field' [Genesis 9:3], I anticipated him and said: You must not understand 'as the herbs of the field' in the way it has been taken from
God's word — as though, just as God had made the herbs for man's food, so likewise he had given the animals over for eating as flesh. But since we do not eat some of the herbs, you say that a like distinction was drawn for Noah from that time on. It is not to be believed as you interpret it. For, in the first place, to argue and insist that every herb of the field both counts as such and can be eaten — I will not busy myself with this,
I will not busy myself with it. But even if we do distinguish among the herbs of the field, not eating all of them, we do not abstain from eating them because they are common or unclean [cf. Acts 10:14] — we avoid them only because they are bitter, poisonous, or full of thorns; whereas of all the sweet and most nourishing and finest plants, both of sea and of land, we desire and partake. So too of the
unclean and unjust and lawless things God commanded you, through Moses, to abstain, since even while eating the manna in the wilderness and seeing all the wonders being worked for you by God, you made a golden calf and worshiped it. Therefore he rightly cries out continually: 'Sons without understanding, there is no faith in them' [Deuteronomy 32:20; cf. Jeremiah 4:22]. And that
it was on account of your injustices and those of your fathers, as I said before, that God laid the sabbath on you as a sign to be kept, and in the same way had commanded the other precepts, and that he indicates this was because of the nations — so that his name might not be profaned among them — that for this reason he allowed some of you to go on living at all: his own words are able to furnish the proof
to you. They are spoken through Ezekiel as follows: I am the Lord your God; follow my statutes, hold fast to my judgments, and do not mix yourselves with the customs of Egypt; keep my sabbaths holy, and let them stand as a token between myself and you, so you will recognize that I, the Lord, am your God. Yet you provoked me,
and your children did not walk in my commandments, and did not keep my ordinances so as to do them — which, if a man does them, he shall live by them — but they profaned my sabbaths. And I said I would pour out my wrath upon them in the wilderness, to spend my anger fully upon them, and I did not do it, so that my name
should not be profaned at all before the nations, in whose sight I brought them out. And I raised my hand against them in the wilderness, to scatter them among the nations and disperse them in the lands, because they did not do my ordinances, and rejected my commandments, and profaned my sabbaths, and their eyes were
after the devices of their fathers. And I gave them commandments that were not good, and ordinances by which they would not live; and I will defile them through their own gifts, when I make everything that opens the womb pass through, so that I might make them desolate [Ezek 20:19-26]. And that it is because of the sins of your people, and because of the idolatries,
but not because he had need of such offerings, that he likewise commanded these things be done — hear how he speaks about this through Amos, one of the Twelve, crying out: Woe to those who desire the day of the Lord! Why do you want this day of the Lord? It is nothing but darkness, without any light — like a man running from before a
lion, only to be met by a bear, who then rushes into his own house, and as he props his hands against the wall, a serpent strikes him. Is the day of the Lord not darkness rather than light—gloom that has no glimmer in it? I detest, I spurn your festivals, and I will not delight in the scent of your solemn assemblies. For if
you bring me your whole burnt offerings and your sacrifices, I will not accept them, and I will not look upon the appearance of your peace offerings. Take away from me the noise of your songs and psalms; I will not listen to the sound of your instruments. And judgment will roll down like water, and righteousness like an impassable torrent. Did you bring me victims and sacrifices in the wilderness for forty years, house of Israel? says the Lord. And you took up
the tent of Moloch, along with the star belonging to your god Raphan—the idols you fashioned for yourselves. And I will exile you beyond Damascus, says the Lord; Almighty God is his name. Woe to those who live in luxury in Zion, and to those who put their trust in the mountain of Samaria. Those singled out among the leaders of the nations plundered their firstfruits; the house of Israel went in among them. Pass over, all of you, to
Calneh and see, and go from there to Hamath the great, and go down from there to Gath of the Philistines, the mightiest of all these kingdoms — whether their borders are wider than your borders. Those who go toward an evil day, who draw near and lay hold of false sabbaths, who lie on ivory couches and live luxuriously on
their beds, who eat lambs from the flocks and milk-fed calves from the midst of the herds, who clap their hands to the sound of the instruments — they reckoned them as things standing firm, not as things passing away — who drink wine from bowls and anoint themselves with the finest perfumes, and felt no grief at all over the ruin of Joseph. Therefore now they will be captives, at the head of the rulers of those
who are led into exile, and the house of scoundrels will be overturned, and the neighing of horses will be taken away from Ephraim [Amos 5:18-6:7]. And again through Jeremiah: Gather up your meats and your sacrifices, and eat them, for I gave no command to your fathers about sacrifices or libations, on the day I took them by the hand and led them out from the land of Egypt [Jer 7:21-22]. And again through
David, in the forty-ninth psalm, spoke as follows: The God of gods, the Lord, has spoken, summoning the earth from where the sun rises to where it sets. From Zion, the crown of his beauty, shines forth. Our God will come openly, and he will not stay silent; fire will burn before him, and a fierce storm will rage around him. He will summon the heaven above
and the earth, so he can pass judgment on his people. Gather to him his devoted ones, who established his covenant by sacrifice. And the heavens will proclaim his righteousness, since it is God who judges. Listen, my people, and I will address you; Israel, I will bear witness against you: I am God, your God. I will not rebuke you over your sacrifices; your whole burnt offerings
are before me continually. I will not accept bull calves from your house, nor goats from your flocks, for all the wild animals of the field are mine, the cattle on the mountains, and oxen; I know all the birds of the sky, and the beauty of the field is with me. Were I hungry, I would say nothing to you, for the world is mine
and its fullness. Shall I eat bulls' flesh, or drink goats' blood? Offer God a sacrifice of praise, and pay your vows to the Most High; call on me in the day of trouble, and I will rescue you, and you will glorify me. But to the sinner God said: Why do you recite my statutes, and take up
my covenant in your mouth? For you hated discipline, and cast my words behind you. If you saw a thief, you ran along with him, and you cast in your lot with adulterers. Your mouth multiplied wickedness, and your tongue wove deceits together. Sitting, you spoke against your brother, and against your mother's son you set a stumbling block.
These things you did, and I kept silent; you supposed, lawlessly, that I would be like you. I will reprove you, and set your sins before your face. Understand this now, you who forget God, lest he seize you and there be no one to deliver. A sacrifice of praise will glorify me, and there is a path along which I will reveal to him the salvation of God [Ps 49 LXX]. So then he neither receives sacrifices from you,
nor did he command from the beginning that they be done as one in need of them, rather on account of your sins. Indeed, the temple bearing his name in Jerusalem he did not regard as his own dwelling or court because he lacked it, but so that, by heeding him in this matter as well, you would avoid idolatry. Isaiah confirms this when he says: What house did you build for me? says the Lord. Heaven is my throne,
and earth is the footstool of my feet [Isa 66:1]. And if we do not acknowledge these things to be so, it will happen to us that we fall into absurd notions — as though the same God were not the God of Enoch and all the others, who neither had circumcision of the flesh nor kept sabbaths nor the other things, even though Moses had commanded these things
be done — or as though he had not always willed that the whole race of men do these same righteous deeds; which things it plainly appears ridiculous and foolish to admit. But it is possible to declare that, because of the sins of sinful men, though being always the same, he commanded these things and such things, and at the same time to show him to be loving of mankind, foreknowing, in need of nothing, righteous, and good. Since if these things are not so, answer
me, gentlemen, what you think concerning these matters under discussion. And when no one answered anything at all: For these reasons, Trypho, and to those who desire to become proselytes, I will proclaim the divine word which I heard from that man. See that the elements do not rest nor keep sabbath. Remain as you were born. For if before Abraham there was no need of circumcision, nor
before Moses of sabbath-keeping and feasts and offerings, then not now either, after the Son of God, Jesus Christ, was born according to the will of God through Mary, the virgin of the family of Abraham — is there likewise any need. For indeed Abraham himself, being in uncircumcision, was justified and blessed because of the faith by which he believed God [cf. Rom 4,
...as the scripture indicates. But he received circumcision as a sign, not as righteousness, as both the scriptures and the facts compel us to admit. And so it was justly said concerning that people, that that soul shall be utterly destroyed from its race, which shall not be circumcised
on the eighth day. And the fact that the female sex is unable to receive circumcision of the flesh shows that this circumcision was given as a sign, and not as a work of righteousness; for God made it so that women too are equally able to keep everything just and good. Yet we observe that the shape the flesh takes is one thing
in the male and another in the female, yet because of this we understand neither of the two to be righteous or unrighteous, but rather by reason of piety and righteousness. Now this too we were able to demonstrate, gentlemen, I said — that the eighth day held some mystery being proclaimed through these things by God, rather than the seventh. But so that I may not now seem to be
turning aside into other arguments, understand, I cry out, that the blood of that circumcision has been abolished, and we have come to believe through the saving blood; there is a new covenant now, and another law has gone out from Zion. Christ Jesus circumcises everyone willing to receive it, exactly as was foretold long ago
with knives of stone, so that a just nation might arise, a people who hold fast to faith, laying hold of truth and keeping peace. 'Come with me, everyone who reveres God, everyone eager to behold the blessings of Jerusalem. Come, let us walk by the Lord's light; for he has set free his people, the house of Jacob.' Come,
all you nations, let us be gathered together into Jerusalem, which will no longer be warred upon because of the lawless deeds of the peoples.' 'For I became manifest to those who were not seeking me, I was found by those who were not asking for me,' he cries through Isaiah. 'I said, here I am, to a nation that did not call upon my name. I stretched out my hands the whole day toward a people disobedient and contradicting,
walking down a path that is not good, but chasing after their own sins — a people who provoke me to my face.' Along with us these too will wish to inherit even a small place, these who justify themselves and say they are children of Abraham, just as the holy spirit cries out through Isaiah,
speaking as though from their own person, saying this: 'Turn back from heaven, and look down from your holy and glorious house. Where now is your zeal and your might? Where is the abundance of your mercy, that you have held yourself back from us, Lord? For you are our father, since Abraham did not know us, and Israel did not
acknowledge us. But you, Lord our father, deliver us; your name has been upon us from the beginning. Why have you made us wander, Lord, from your way, and hardened our heart so that we do not fear you? Turn back for the sake of your servants, for the sake of the tribes of your inheritance, that we may inherit a little of your holy mountain. We have become as
we were from the beginning, when you did not rule over us, nor was your name called upon us. If you open the heaven, trembling will seize the mountains because of you, and they will melt as wax melts before fire; and fire will consume your adversaries, and your name will become manifest among your adversaries, before your face the nations will be thrown into confusion. When you do glorious deeds, trembling will seize
the mountains because of you. From ages past we have heard nothing, nor have our eyes beheld any god besides you, and your works. He will show mercy to those who repent. He will meet those who do what is righteous, and they will remember your ways. Behold, you grew angry, and we sinned. For this reason we have gone astray and all become unclean, and all our righteousness is
like a filthy rag, and we have fallen like leaves because of our lawless deeds; so the wind will carry us off. And there is no one who calls upon your name and remembers to take hold of you, for you have turned your face away from us and handed us over because of our sins. And now turn back, Lord, for we are all your people. The city of your holy place has become
a wilderness, Zion has become like a wilderness, Jerusalem given over to a curse; the house, our holy place, and the glory that our fathers blessed, has become burned with fire, and all the glorious things of the nations have fallen. And over all this you have held back, Lord, and kept silent, and humbled us exceedingly.' And Trypho said, "What then is this you are saying — that none of us"
"will receive no portion on the holy mountain of God?" And I said, "That is not what I am saying. Rather, those who persecuted Christ and persecute him, and do not repent, will inherit nothing on the holy mountain; but the nations who have believed in him and repented of what they sinned, these will inherit together with the patriarchs and"
the prophets and the righteous, as many as have been born from Jacob — even though they observe no sabbath, undergo no circumcision, and keep none of the festivals, they will most certainly inherit the holy inheritance of God. For God says this through Isaiah: 'I, the Lord God, have called you in righteousness, and I will take hold of your hand and strengthen you, and I have given you as a covenant of the race,
as a light for the nations, giving sight to blind eyes, bringing out the shackled from their bonds and releasing from the prison house those who sit in darkness.' And again: 'Lift up a signal to the nations. For behold, the Lord has made it heard to the end of the earth; say to the daughters of Zion: behold, your savior has come to you, bringing his own reward, and his work is before his face.'"
"'And he will name it a holy people, ransomed by the Lord, and you yourself will be called a city that is sought after, not abandoned. Who is that approaching from Edom, his garments crimson from Bosor? This one, beautiful in his robe, going up mightily with strength? It is I who proclaim righteousness and the verdict of salvation. Why is your clothing so red, your garments like those of one who has trodden
a full winepress? I trod the winepress by myself, and from the nations not one man stood with me; I trampled them down in fury, crushed them as though they were dust, and poured their blood out on the earth. For a day of recompense has come upon them, and a year of redemption is at hand. And I looked, and there was no helper, and I gave heed, and no one lent aid; and my own arm brought deliverance,
and my wrath stood by me; and I trod them down in my anger, and brought their blood down to the ground.'" And Trypho said, "Why do you speak by selecting whatever you wish from the words of the prophets, but fail to recall what plainly commands the keeping of the sabbath? For through Isaiah it is said thus: 'If you turn back your foot from the"
"'sabbaths, so as not to do your own wishes on the holy day, and call the sabbaths a delight, holy to your God, and do not lift your foot for work nor speak a word from your mouth, then you will be one who trusts in the Lord, and he will raise you up upon the good things of the land and feed you with the inheritance of Jacob
your father; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken these things.'" And I said, "It is not as though these prophecies were opposed to me, my friends, that I left them out, but because I supposed you had understood, and do understand, that even though through all the prophets he commands you to do the very things he also commanded through Moses, it is because of your hard-heartedness and your ingratitude toward"
him that he keeps crying out the same charges, so that even by this means, once you have finally repented, you might come to please him — that you would stop offering your children as sacrifices to demons, stop keeping company with thieves, loving gifts, and chasing after repayment, failing to judge for the orphan and paying no heed to the widow's cause, your hands still full of blood. For indeed
"The daughters of Zion walked with necks stretched high, and with glances of their eyes, playing and dragging their tunics." "For all alike have turned aside," it cries, "all together have become worthless; there is none who understands, not even a single one. Their tongues have practiced deceit; their throat is an open tomb; the venom of asps is under their lips; ruin and misery"
are in their ways, and they have never learned the path of peace." So then, just as at the beginning he ordained these things because of your wickedness, in the same way, because of your persistence in them—or rather your intensifying of them—he calls you through these same things to remembrance and knowledge of him. But you are a hard-hearted people
and senseless and blind and lame, and "children in whom there is no faithfulness," as he himself says—that is what you are—honoring him with your lips only, while your heart is far from him, teaching your own doctrines and not
his doctrines. Since—tell me—did God want the high priests to sin by offering their offerings on the sabbaths, or those who are circumcised and who perform circumcision on the day of the sabbaths, since he commands that those who are born be circumcised on the eighth day without exception, even should it fall on a sabbath day? Or was he unable, one day before
or one day after the sabbath, to bring it about that those being born be circumcised, if he had known it to be an evil thing on the sabbaths? Or again, as for those before Moses and Abraham who were called righteous and became pleasing to him, though they had neither been circumcised in the foreskin nor kept the sabbaths, why did he not teach them to do these things? And Trypho said: We have heard you raise this point before as well, and we have taken note of it—
for it truly deserves attention, to speak truly. And it does not seem right to me, as it does to most, to say that it simply "seemed good to him"; for this is always the excuse of those who are unable to answer the question at issue. And I said: Since I base both my proofs and my discourses on the scriptures and on the facts, do not delay nor hesitate to believe
me, the uncircumcised. Little time for turning remains to you—if the Christ should come first. In vain will you repent, in vain will you weep, for he will not listen to you. "Break up for yourselves new ground," Jeremiah cries to the people, "and do not sow into thorn-bushes. Be circumcised for the Lord — cut away the foreskin of your hearts." Do not, then, sow into thorns and ground that has never been plowed, from which for you
there is no fruit. Know Christ, and behold, a fine fallow field—fine and rich—in your hearts. "For behold, days are coming, says the Lord, and I will visit upon all who are circumcised in their foreskin—upon Egypt and upon Judah and upon Edom and upon the sons of Moab—because all the nations are uncircumcised, and the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart."
You see that this is not the circumcision God wants — the one given as a sign; it does the Egyptians no good, nor the sons of Moab, nor the sons of Edom. But even someone who happens to be Scythian or Persian, provided he has come to know God and his Christ, and keeps the eternal righteous statutes,
he undergoes that good and profitable circumcision, and becomes a friend to God, whose heart delights in his gifts and offerings. And I will set before you, my friends, God's own words too, spoken to the people through Malachi, one of the twelve prophets. They are these: "I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord, and your sacrifices
I will not accept anything from your hands; for from where the sun rises to where it sets, my name has gained glory among the nations, and everywhere a sacrifice is brought to my name, a pure sacrifice, because my name is honored among the nations, says the Lord, but you defile it." And through David he said: "a people
whom I did not know has become my servant; the moment its ear heard, it obeyed me." Let us glorify God, we the nations gathered together, because he has visited us also; let us glorify him through the King of glory, through the Lord of hosts. For he was well pleased also toward the nations, and receives our sacrifices more gladly than yours
does. What further use, then, is circumcision to me, once God himself has borne witness to me? What use is that washing to someone already baptized with the Holy Spirit? In saying this I believe I will convince even those of slight understanding. For these words were not composed by me, nor dressed up with human artistry, but David sang them, Isaiah announced them as good news, Zechariah proclaimed them, and Moses
wrote them down. Do you recognize them, Trypho? They lie stored in your own writings—or rather, not your own but ours; for we obey them, while you, though you read them, do not understand the sense in them. Do not, then, be vexed, nor reproach us for the foreskin of our body, which God himself formed, nor consider it a terrible thing that we drink warm water on the sabbaths, since
God likewise carries on the same governance of the world on this day just as on all the other days, and the high priests were commanded to make their offerings on this day just as on the other days, and so many righteous men, who performed none of these observances, have been attested by God himself. But you blame your own wickedness, saying that
God can even be slandered by those who lack understanding, as though he had not always taught the same just requirements to all people. For to many men such teachings have seemed irrational and unworthy of God, since they have not received the grace to know that he called your people—who were behaving wickedly and were sick in soul—to conversion and repentance of spirit
and that the prophecy which came forth after the death of Moses is eternal. This too is said through the psalm, my friends. And that those of us instructed by them acknowledge them to be "sweeter than honey and the honeycomb" is clear from this: we stay unshaken even to death in confessing his name—
this is evident to all. And that we too, who believe in him, ask him to keep us safe from "strangers"—that is, from wicked and deceiving spirits—the word of the prophecy says, having taken on the person of one of those who believe in him, as is plain to all. For from the demons, which are strangers to the true worship of God, to whom formerly
we used to worship, we now continually ask God, through Jesus Christ, to keep us safe, so that once we have turned back to God through him we might be found without blemish. We call him our helper and our ransomer — it is the power of his very name that makes even the demons shudder, and still today, when they are exorcised in Jesus Christ's name, the one crucified under Pontius Pilate,
who became procurator of Judea, they submit—so that from this too it is plain to all that his Father gave him such power that even the demons submit both to his name and to the ordered plan of the suffering he underwent. But if such great power is shown to have accompanied, and still to accompany, the dispensation of his suffering, how great will be the power in his
glorious coming that is yet to be? For as son of man he will come upon the clouds, as Daniel indicated, with angels arriving together with him. These are the words: "I watched until thrones were set up, and the Ancient of Days sat, wearing a robe white like snow, the hair on his head like clean wool; his throne was like a flame of fire, its wheels
were burning fire. A river of fire came pouring out from before him; a thousand thousands served him, while myriads upon myriads stood in attendance before him. Books were opened, and the court sat in judgment. I watched then because of the sound of the great words which the horn was speaking, and the beast was slain, and its body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire; and the rest of the beasts were removed from
...of their dominion, though the beasts were granted a span of life lasting until a set time and season. [fol. 79] I was watching in a vision of the night, and behold, with the clouds of heaven one like a son of man was coming; and he came up to the Ancient of Days and stood present before him, and those who stood by brought him near. And to him was given authority and royal honor, and all
the nations of the earth, by tribes, and every glory, serving him; his authority is an everlasting authority that will never be removed, and his kingdom will never be brought to ruin. My spirit was shaken inside me, and the visions in my mind disturbed me greatly. And I approached one of those who stood there, and I sought from him
the exact truth concerning all these things. He answered and spoke to me, and made known to me the meaning of the matter: 'These four huge beasts represent four kingdoms that will vanish from the earth and will never possess the kingdom forever, even to the age of ages.' Then I wished to know exactly concerning the fourth beast, the one devouring everything and exceedingly terrible, whose
teeth were of iron and whose claws were of bronze, eating and crushing fine, and trampling the rest with its feet; and concerning its ten horns that were upon its head, and the one that sprang up afterward, before which three of the former horns fell out — that horn possessed eyes and a mouth uttering boastful words, and its
appearance surpassed that of the others. I kept watching as that horn waged war on the holy ones and gained the upper hand over them, till the Ancient of Days arrived and rendered judgment in favor of the holy ones of the Most High, and the appointed time came, and the holy ones of the Most High took possession of the kingdom. And it was said to me concerning the fourth beast: 'There shall be a fourth kingdom on the earth,
which shall be unlike all the other kingdoms, devouring the whole earth, laying it waste, and grinding it to dust. And as for the ten horns: ten kings shall arise, and another after them, and this one shall be unlike the earlier ones in the evils he commits, and shall bring low three kings, and shall utter words against the Most High, and shall overthrow other holy ones of the Most High, and shall intend to change
seasons and times; and it will be handed over into his power until a season and seasons and half a season. Then judgment took its seat, and they took away his dominion, to wipe it out and destroy it completely, to the end. And the kingdom and the authority and the majesty of the territories of the kingdoms under heaven were given to the holy people [fol. 80] of the Most High, to reign as an everlasting kingdom;
and every authority will submit to him and render him obedience. Here the account ends. I, Daniel, was overwhelmed with terror, and my composure gave way within me, and I kept the matter in my heart' [Dan. 7:9-28]. And when I had finished, Trypho said: 'Sir, these scriptures, and others like them, compel us to expect one glorious and great, who receives the everlasting kingdom from
the Ancient of Days as a son of man; but this one whom you call the Christ has become dishonored and inglorious, so much so that he even fell under the final curse that is in the law of God — for he was crucified.' And I said to him: 'If, gentlemen, [these things] were not...
...[foretold] from the scriptures which I set out before — that his appearance would carry no glory and his descent could not be recounted, that instead of his own death the rich would be handed over to death, that by his wound we found healing, and that he would be brought like a sheep [Is. 53:2-9] — and had I not shown that his coming would happen twice, first when you pierced him, and again when you will acknowledge the one whom
you pierced, and your tribes shall mourn, tribe by tribe, the women [fol. 81] by themselves and the men by themselves [cf. Zech. 12:10-14; John 19:37; Rev. 1:7] — I might have seemed to be saying things obscure and hard to grasp. But as it is, through every one of these words I offer all my proofs from the sacred and prophetic scriptures that are current among you, hoping
that a few of you might prove able, by the grace flowing from the Lord Sabaoth, to be numbered among the remnant left for everlasting salvation [cf. Is. 1:9; 10:22; Rom. 9:27-29; 11:15]. So that what we are now examining may become even plainer to you, I will give you further words spoken through David the blessed, from which you will grasp both that the Christ
is called Lord by the holy prophetic spirit, and that the Lord of all, the Father, brings him up from the earth and seats him at his right hand, until he makes his enemies a footstool for his feet [cf. Ps. 109:1] — which has been taking place from the time he was taken up into heaven, after our Lord Jesus
Christ rose from the dead — the appointed times now being completed, and the one destined to utter blasphemous and reckless words against the Most High already standing at the doors, of whom Daniel declares he will hold sway for a season and seasons and half a season [Dan. 7:25]. And you, unaware how long he will hold power, take it to mean something different; for you construe the 'season' as a hundred-year span. Yet granting that reading, then the
man of lawlessness [cf. 2 Thess. 2:8ff.] must reign for at least three hundred fifty years, [fol. 81] so that what was said by the holy Daniel — 'and times' — we may reckon to mean only two seasons. And all these things I have been saying to you as a digression, so that, being persuaded at last by what has been said against you by God — that 'you are senseless sons'
[cf. Jer. 4:22], and by, 'Therefore behold, I will go on to remove this people, and I will remove them, and I will strip away the sages' wisdom, and conceal the discernment of their discerning men' [cf. Is. 29:14] — you may stop both deceiving yourselves and those who listen to you, and may learn instead from us, who have been made wise by the grace of Christ.
These, then, are also the words spoken through David: 'The Lord declared to my lord: Take your seat at my right hand, until I place your enemies as a footstool beneath your feet. The Lord will send forth from Zion a rod of power for you; rule in the midst of your enemies. With you is dominion in the day of your power; amid
the splendors of your holy ones, from the womb, before the morning star, I have begotten you. The Lord has sworn, and will not change his mind: you are a priest forever, in the manner of Melchizedek's priesthood. The Lord stands at your right hand; on the day of his fury he has crushed kings. He will pass judgment among the nations, he will fill the earth with the slain. He will drink from the torrent by the road; therefore [fol. 82] he will lift up his head' [Ps. 109]. And that
you dare to explain this psalm as spoken of Hezekiah the king, I am not unaware, I said; but that you are mistaken I will show you at once from the very words themselves. It was said, 'The Lord has sworn, and will not change his mind,' and, 'You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek' [Ps. 109:4], and what follows and what precedes it. But that Hezekiah neither became a priest
nor is an everlasting priest of God, not even you will dare to deny; but that it was said concerning our Jesus, the very words themselves show. But your ears are stopped up and your hearts have grown calloused [cf. Is. 6:10; John 12:40, etc.]. For the words, 'The Lord has sworn, and will not change his mind: you are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek'
[Ps. 109, again] — with an oath God, because of your unbelief, declared that he would be a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek; that is, in the very manner in which Melchizedek is recorded by Moses to have been the priest of the Most High for those in uncircumcision, and to have blessed Abraham, who was circumcised, when Abraham brought him tithes — so likewise God declared that his own everlasting priest and Lord [Ps. 109:1]
called by the Holy Spirit, would become priest of those in uncircumcision; and that those in circumcision who come [fol. 82] to him — that is, who believe in him and seek blessings from him — [cf. Phil. 2:8-9; Luke 1:52] he will likewise receive and bless. And that the man is to be lowly first, and afterward exalted, is shown by what comes at the end of the psalm.
For 'he will drink from the torrent along the way,' and at the same time, 'therefore he will lift up his head' [Ps. 109:7]. And further, to persuade you that you have understood nothing of the scriptures, I will call to mind another psalm spoken by David through the holy spirit, which you say was spoken about Solomon, who himself also became your king; but it was spoken about our Christ as well, and
about him it too was spoken. But you deceive yourselves by means of words that share the same name. For where it is said, 'the law of the Lord is spotless' [Ps. 18:8], you interpret this not of the law that was to come after that one, but of the law given through Moses—even though God cries out about a new law [Is. 2:3; 51:4; Mic. 4:2] and a new covenant [Jer. 31:34; Is. 54:3; Heb.
8:7-8] that he would make. And where it is said, 'O God, give your judgment to the king' [Ps. 71:4], since Solomon became king, you say this psalm was spoken about him—although the words of the psalm plainly proclaim that it was spoken about the eternal king, that is, about the Christ. For the Christ stands proclaimed as king, as priest, as God, as Lord, as angel, and
man and commander-in-chief and stone and a child being born, and one who first becomes subject to suffering, then ascends into heaven, and comes again with glory, and holds an eternal kingdom, as I demonstrate from all the scriptures. So that you may also understand what I said, I mean the words of the psalm. I am referring to the psalm's own wording. It reads as follows: 'O God, give your judgment to the king,
and your righteousness to the son of the king, that he may judge your people in righteousness and your poor in judgment. Let the mountains take up peace for the people, and the hills righteousness. He will judge the poor of the people and will save the sons of the needy, and will humble the slanderer; and he will last as long as the sun and continue on before the moon, throughout the generations
of generations. He will come down like rain upon a fleece, and like a drop that falls upon the earth. In his days righteousness will dawn, and abundance of peace, until the moon is taken away. And he will hold sway from sea to sea, from the rivers to earth's farthest bounds. Before him the Ethiopians will fall down, and his enemies will lick the dust. Kings of Tarshish and the islands
will offer gifts; kings of Arabia and Sheba will offer gifts; every king on earth will bow to him, and every nation will serve him; because he has rescued the poor man from the powerful, and the needy man who had no helper. He will spare the poor and the needy, and will save the souls of the needy; he will redeem their souls from usury and from injustice, and honored will be the name
of him before them. And he will live, and there will be given to him of the gold of Arabia, and they will pray for him continually; all day long they will bless him. And he will be a support in the land; upon the tops of the mountains he will be exalted; above Lebanon will be his fruit, and they will blossom forth from the city like the grass of the earth. His name will be blessed forever,
his name will remain before the sun. And in him all the tribes of the earth will be blessed; every nation will pronounce him blessed. Praised be the Lord, Israel's God, the only worker of wonders; and blessed be the name of his glory forever and for the age of the age; and let all the earth be filled with his glory.'
'So be it, so be it.' And at the end of this psalm, the one I mentioned, it is written: 'The hymns of David, son of Jesse, have ended' [Ps. 71]. Now that Solomon became a splendid and great king, in whose time the house called in Jerusalem was built, I know well. But that none of what is said in the psalm happened to him is plain. For neither
did every king bow to him, nor did his rule extend to the earth's farthest edges, nor did his foes collapse before him and lick the dust. Indeed I even dare to say what is written in the Book of Kingdoms as having been done by him—that because of a woman he practiced idolatry in Sidon [3 Kgdms 11:3?]—something those from the nations who, through Jesus who was crucified,
have come to know the maker of all things as God do not endure to do; rather they endure every outrage and punishment even to the point of death sooner than practice idolatry or eat food sacrificed to idols. And Trypho said: Yet I hear of many who claim to acknowledge Jesus and go by the name Christians, but who eat meat offered to idols and insist they take no harm from it. And I answered: The fact that there are such men, who confess
themselves to be Christians and confess the crucified Jesus as both Lord and Christ, yet do not teach his teachings but those from the spirits of error [cf. 1 Tim. 4:1]—this makes us, the disciples of the true and pure teaching of Jesus Christ, more faithful and more steadfast in the hope he proclaimed. For the things
which he foretold would happen in his name, these we see being fulfilled before our eyes and in actual effect. For he said: 'Many will appear under my name, wearing sheepskins on the outside, but underneath they are predatory wolves' [Mt. 24:5, 7, 15]. And: 'There will be schisms and heresies' [cf. 1 Cor. 11:18-19]. And: 'Beware of the false prophets, who will come to you
clothed outwardly in sheep's skins, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves' [Mt. 7:15]. And: 'Many false christs and false apostles will arise, and will lead many of the faithful astray' [Mt. 24:11, 24; Mk. 13:22]. There are, then, and there have been, my friends, many who have taught people to say and do godless and blasphemous things, coming forward in the name of Jesus [Mt. 24:5]; and
they are called by us after the surname of the men from whom each teaching and opinion began. For different men in different ways teach blasphemy against the maker of all things, and against the Christ foretold by him as one who would come, and against the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob; with none of these do we have any fellowship, since we recognize them as godless and impious and unjust and lawless
men, who instead of worshiping Jesus merely confess him in name. And they call themselves Christians, in the same way that among the nations men inscribe the name of God upon things made by hand, and take part in lawless and godless rites. And some of them are called Marcians, others Valentinians, others Basilidians, others Saturnilians, and others by yet another
name, each one named after the founder of his school, in the way that each person who fancies himself a philosopher, as I noted earlier, believes he derives the name of the philosophy he follows from the father of that teaching. So that from these facts too we, as I said, know that Jesus foreknew those who would come after him; and likewise from many other things as well which he foretold would happen
to those who believe and confess him as Christ. For indeed all the things we suffer, being put to death by our own kin, he foretold to us would happen [Mt. 10:21-22], so that in no way could his word or his deed appear open to reproach. Therefore we also pray on your behalf, and on behalf of everyone else who hates us, that you may repent along with us and not blaspheme against him who, through
both the works and the powers even now being done in his name, and through the words of his teaching, and through the prophecies foretold concerning him, has been proclaimed Christ Jesus, blameless and beyond reproach in every way; but that instead, believing in him, at his glorious coming that will happen again, you may be saved and not be condemned by him to the fire. And he
answered: Let these things be as you say—both that a Christ subject to suffering was foretold to be, and that he is called a stone, and that after his first coming, in which he was proclaimed to appear subject to suffering, he will come again glorious, and will at last become judge of all and eternal king and priest. But that this man is the one about whom these things were foretold, prove it. And I said: As you wish, Trypho.
I will come to whatever proofs you wish, at the fitting place, I said. But for now allow me first to call to mind the prophecies I want to mention, as a demonstration that the holy spirit names the Christ both God and Lord of hosts, and even calls him Jacob in a parable, and that your own interpreters, as God cries out [Jer. 4:22], are without understanding, not
they say was spoken not of Christ but of Solomon, when he brought the tabernacle of testimony into the temple which he had built. But this is David's psalm: "The earth is the LORD's, and its fullness, the world and all who dwell in it. He founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the rivers. Who shall go up to the mountain
of the LORD? Or who will take his stand in that holy place? Someone whose hands are clean and whose heart is pure, who has not set his soul on emptiness, nor sworn falsely against his neighbor. That one will carry off a blessing sent from the LORD, and mercy given by God his deliverer. This is the generation seeking him, seeking the presence of the God of
Jacob. Lift up your gates, you rulers; be lifted, you everlasting gates, so the King of glory may enter. Who, then, is this King of glory? The LORD, strong and mighty in battle. Lift up your gates, you rulers; be lifted, you everlasting doors, and the King of glory will enter. Who, then, is this King of glory? He is the LORD of Hosts—he
is the King of glory" [Ps. 24]. That the LORD of hosts is not Solomon has therefore been shown; but it is our Christ, who, when he rose from the dead and was ascending into heaven, commanded the rulers stationed in the heavens by God to open the gates of the heavens, so that he who is the King of glory might enter — and having gone up,
he might be seated at the Father's right hand, until he lays his enemies as a stool beneath his feet, as the other psalm makes clear [Ps. 110:1]. For since the rulers in heaven beheld him in a form lacking beauty, lacking honor, and lacking glory [cf. Is. 53:2-3], failing to know who he was, they asked: who is this King of
glory? And the Holy Spirit answers them, either from the person of the Father or from his own: "He who is LORD of Hosts—this one is the King of glory" [Ps. 24:10]. For that it was said neither of Solomon, who was a king so glorious, nor of the tabernacle of testimony whose gates stood at the gates of the temple of Jerusalem, no one would have dared to
say, "Who is this King of glory?" [ibid.] — everyone whoever he may be will admit. And in the interlude of the forty-sixth psalm [46:6-9], I said, it is spoken thus of Christ: "God has ascended amid shouting, the LORD amid the blast of a trumpet. Sing to our God, sing; sing to our King, sing. For God is King over all the earth—sing with understanding."
"God has become king over all nations; God is seated on his sacred throne. Leaders of the peoples have assembled with the God of Abraham, for the powerful of the earth belong utterly to God — they are highly exalted." Then, within Psalm 98, the Holy Spirit reproaches you, showing that this one — whom you refuse to accept as king — is both king and lord, of Samuel and of
Aaron and Moses and simply of all the others. These are the words of the psalm: "The LORD has become king, let the peoples be angry; the one enthroned upon the cherubim, let the earth quake. The LORD is exalted in Zion, towering above all the peoples. Let them give thanks to your great name, for it is fearsome and holy; and,
the honor of a king loves justice. You have established fairness; you have done judgment and righteousness in Jacob. Lift high the LORD our God, and bow low before the stool his feet rest on, since he is holy. Both Moses and Aaron stand among his priests, and Samuel is numbered with those invoking his name; they called out to the LORD, scripture tells us, and he answered them. In the
pillar of cloud he spoke to them; they kept his testimonies, and the command which he gave them. LORD our God, you heard them; O God, you became merciful to them, and one who takes vengeance on all their practices. Lift up the LORD our God, and bow down toward his sacred mountain, for the LORD our God is holy." And Trypho
said: My friend, it would have been good for us to obey our teachers, who made it a law that no one should converse with any of you, and that I should have no share in these words with you at all — for you say many blasphemous things, insisting that this crucified man coexisted with Moses and Aaron, speaking to them out of the pillar of cloud, and then, having become a man, was crucified, and ascended into heaven, and is coming again
upon the earth, and is to be worshiped. And I replied: I am aware — for so the word of God has declared — that this great wisdom of the maker of all things and almighty God is hidden from you [cf. Is. 29:14; 1 Cor. 1:19-22; 2:7]. Therefore, out of sympathy for you, I strive to labor on, that you may understand these paradoxical things of ours; but if you do
not, that at least I myself may be blameless on the day of judgment. For you will yet hear other statements that seem even more paradoxical; but do not be troubled — rather, becoming more eager, remain hearers who examine, scorning what your teachers have handed down to you, seeing that they cannot grasp the things that come through God by the prophetic spirit, being convicted of this, but prefer rather to teach their own notions. In the forty-
fourth psalm, then, these words likewise have been said of Christ: "My heart has overflowed with a good word; I declare my deeds to the king. My tongue is the stylus of a scribe who writes swiftly. You are beautiful beyond the sons of men; grace has been poured out upon your lips; therefore God has blessed you forever. Gird your sword upon
your thigh, O mighty one, in your beauty and your comeliness; and bend your bow, and proceed prosperously, and reign, for the sake of truth and meekness and righteousness; and your right hand shall guide you wondrously. Your arrows are sharpened, O mighty one — peoples shall fall beneath you — piercing the hearts of the king's enemies. Your throne, O God, is forever and ever;
a scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions. Myrrh and aloes and cassia breathe from your garments, from ivory palaces, by which they have made you glad. Daughters of kings are among your honored women; the queen stood at your right hand,
clothed in garments woven with gold, arrayed in many colors. Hear, O daughter, and see, and incline your ear; forget your people and your father's house; and the king shall desire your beauty, for he is your lord, and they shall worship him. And the daughter of Tyre shall come with gifts; the rich among the people shall entreat your face. All the
glory of the king's daughter is within, clothed in fringes of gold, arrayed in many colors. Virgins shall be brought to the king after her; her companions shall be brought to you. They shall be brought with gladness and rejoicing; they shall be led into the temple of the king. Instead of your fathers, your sons have been born to you; you shall make them rulers over all the earth. I will remember your name in every generation
and generation; therefore the peoples will give thanks to you forever, and forever and ever." And it is no wonder, I added, if you hate us too, who understand these things and expose the ever-hardened purpose of your hearts. For Elijah too, pleading with God about you, speaks thus: "LORD, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars;
and I alone am left, and they seek my life." And he answers him: "I still have seven thousand men who have not bent the knee to Baal" [cf. 1 Kings 19:10-18; Rom. 11:2-4]. Just as, then, for the sake of those seven thousand God did not bring his wrath at that time, in the same way even now he has not yet brought judgment, or
brings it, knowing that even now, day by day, some are becoming disciples in the name of his Christ and are abandoning the way of error — men who also receive gifts, each as he is worthy, being illuminated through this Christ's name: one receiving the spirit of understanding, another the spirit of counsel, another of might, another of healing, another of foreknowledge, another
...and another the spirit of teaching, and another the fear of God [cf. Is. 11:2; 1 Cor. 12:7-10]. And Trypho said to me in response to this: "I want you to know that you are talking nonsense in saying these things." And I said to him: "Listen, my friend," I said, "I am not mad, nor do I talk nonsense [cf. Acts 26:25]; but after Christ's ascension into heaven it was prophesied"
that he would take us captive from our error and give us gifts. These are the words: "He went up to the heights, he took captivity itself captive, he gave gifts to mankind" [Ps. 67:18; Eph. 4:8]. We, then, who have received gifts from Christ who went up to the heights, address you, who are wise in your own eyes and understanding in your own sight [cf. Is. 5:21],
we prove from the prophetic words to be senseless and to honor God and his Christ with the lips only [cf. Is. 29:13]; but we, who have been made disciples out of the whole truth [cf. John 8:31-32; 16:13], honor him in deed, in understanding, and in heart, all the way to death. You, however, may still hesitate to confess for this reason too, that this man is
the Christ, as the scriptures prove, and as do the things that are seen and the things that are happening in his name — so that you may not be persecuted by the rulers, who will not cease, through the working of the wicked and deceiving spirit, the serpent, from killing and hounding those who profess the name of Christ, until he returns and puts an end to them all, rendering to each what is
due to him. And Trypho said: "Give us the account now, then, that this one, whom you say was crucified and has risen into heaven, is God's Christ. For that the Christ is proclaimed through the scriptures as subject to suffering, and that he will come again with glory, and will receive the eternal kingdom of all the nations, every kingdom being subjected to him, has been sufficiently"
demonstrated through the scriptures you have already related; but show us that this is indeed the one." I replied: "It has indeed already been demonstrated, gentlemen, to those who have ears, and from what has been agreed by you yourselves; but so that you may not think that I am at a loss and unable to produce proofs also for what you require, as I promised, I will do so in the proper place; for now I return to the connection"
of the arguments I was making. The mystery of the sheep, then—the one God commanded be slaughtered as the Passover—prefigured Christ; believers, in proportion to their faith in him, mark their houses with his blood,
that is, themselves. For that the form which God formed, Adam, became a house of the breath that comes from God [cf. Gen. 2:7; 1 Cor. 3:16], you are all able to understand. And that this commandment too was temporary, I demonstrate as follows. God nowhere permits the sheep of the Passover to be sacrificed except in the place where his name has been invoked [cf. Deut. 16:5-6], knowing
that days would come, after Christ suffered, when the place of Jerusalem would be handed over to your enemies and all offerings whatsoever would simply cease being made. And the command that the sheep be roasted whole [cf. Exod. 12:9] pointed symbolically to the cross's suffering, through which Christ was destined to suffer. For the roasted sheep is arranged in a shape resembling the
shape of the cross: one skewer runs upright, piercing straight from the lowest parts to the head, while a second crosses it at the back, and the sheep's forelegs are fastened to that one. And the two goats likewise, commanded to be alike, offered at the fast [Lev. 16:5ff.], of which the one became the scapegoat and the other was for the offering, were a proclamation of the
two comings of Christ: of the first, in which, like the scapegoat, your nation's elders and its priests drove him out, seizing him and putting him to death; and of his second coming, in that in that same place of Jerusalem you will recognize him, the one you dishonored, and he was an offering on behalf of all
sinners willing to repent, and who fast that fast which Isaiah describes — "loosing the knots of violent contracts," and the other things likewise enumerated by him [Is. 58:5-7], which I too have already related — kept by those who believe in Jesus. And that the offering of the two goats commanded to be offered at the fast was likewise nowhere permitted to take place except in
Jerusalem, you know. And the offering of fine flour too, gentlemen," I said, "which was handed down to be offered on behalf of those being cleansed from leprosy [cf. Lev. 14:10], prefigured the eucharistic bread, which our Lord Jesus Christ instituted to be prepared in remembrance of the suffering he endured on behalf of those who purify their souls from all human wickedness [cf. 1
Cor. 11:24; Luke 22:19], so that at the same time we might give thanks to God both for having created the world with all that is in it for man's sake, and for having freed us from the wickedness in which we had come to be, and for having utterly destroyed the rulers and the authorities — a complete destruction — through him who became capable of suffering according to
his own will. Whence, concerning the sacrifices offered by you at that time, God speaks, as I said before, through Malachi, one of the twelve: "It is not my will that rests in you, says the Lord; I will take no delight in the sacrifices you bring from your own hands, for my name has been glorified among the nations from sunrise to sunset, and in every"
"place, incense and a clean offering are brought to my name, since my name is great among the nations, says the Lord, but you defile it" [Mal. 1:10-12]. And concerning the sacrifices offered to him in every place by us the nations, that is, the bread of the eucharist and likewise the cup of the eucharist, he foretells even then, saying also that
his name would be glorified by us, and profaned by you. And the commandment of circumcision, commanding that every child born be circumcised on the eighth day without exception [cf. Gen. 17:12-14], prefigured the true circumcision, the one by which we have been freed from error and wickedness by Jesus Christ our Lord, who was raised from the dead on the first day of the week. For the first
day of the week, though it is the first of all the days, is called, according to the count of all the days of the cycle, the eighth, and yet remains the first. But also that twelve bells were hung from the robe of the high priest was handed down as a type of the twelve apostles, who hang from the power of the eternal priest, Christ, through whose voice the whole earth
was filled with the splendor and grace of God and his Anointed One — this too was a symbol. Whence David also says: "Their voice has gone out to the whole earth, and their words to the edges of the inhabited world" [Ps. 18:4]. And Isaiah, speaking as though in the person of the apostles, who tell Christ that people do not come to believe by their own hearing
but by the power of the one who sent them, and so speaks thus: "Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? We announced him, before he came, like a child, like a root in thirsty ground" [Is. 53:1-2], and the rest of the prophecy already related. Now the saying of the word as though in the person of many, "We announced him, before he came," and
the addition, "as a child," is indicative of the fact that his wicked subjects, having become his servants, ministered to his command, and all became as one child. Such a thing one can also see in the case of the body: though many members are counted, the whole is called one and is a body; for indeed a people and a church, though many in number as persons, are called and addressed as one thing, by the one
designation [cf. 1 Cor. 12:12]. And all the other things too, simply," I said, "gentlemen, which were ordained by Moses, I am able, simply by listing them, to show that they are types, symbols, and proclamations — foretelling what would happen to Christ, foretelling those foreknown to put their faith in him, and foretelling likewise what would come to pass through Christ himself. But since I have already listed
For now this seems sufficient to me; I move on and come to the argument in due order. So then, circumcision took its start with Abraham, while the Sabbath, the sacrifices, the offerings, and the feasts took their start with Moses; and since it was shown that these were established because of your people's hardness of heart, they likewise had to come to an end, by the Father's will, once the one born through her, descended from Abraham's line, had come
and of the tribe of Judah and of David, born of a virgin — the Son of God, Christ — who was proclaimed as both an eternal law and a new covenant, about to come forth for the whole world, as the previously stated prophecies indicate. And we, who through him have drawn near to God, did not
receive that circumcision which is according to the flesh, but a spiritual one, which Enoch and those like him kept; we received it through baptism, since we had become sinners, on account of the mercy that comes from God, and it is equally to be desired that all receive it. But concerning the mystery of his birth, since the argument now presses, I will speak. Isaiah, then, concerning the
race of Christ himself, that it is indescribable to men, spoke in this way, exactly as was also written above: "Who can describe his generation? For his life is being lifted up from the earth; because of the transgressions of my people he was brought to death" [Is 53:8]. Since, then, this race was indescribable and yet had to die, so that we sinful men might find healing through his wound,
the prophetic Spirit said this. Furthermore, so that those who believe in him could recognize the manner of his birth into the world, that same prophetic Spirit, speaking again through Isaiah, foretold beforehand how it would come about, in this way: "And the Lord spoke to Ahaz once more, saying: Request for yourself a sign from the Lord your God, whether in the depths below or the heights above." And
Ahaz answered: "I will make no request, nor will I test the Lord." Then Isaiah said: "Listen now, house of David! Is it too little for you to try the patience of men? Must you try the patience of the Lord as well? So the Lord will give you a sign himself: look, the virgin will conceive in the womb and give birth to a son, and his name will be called Emmanuel. He will eat butter and honey. Before
before he knows to recognize or choose evil, he will choose what is good; because before the infant knows good or evil, he rejects what is wicked in order to choose what is good. Because before the infant knows how to say "father" or "mother," he will take the power of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria before the Assyrian king. And the land will be taken, which you will endure bitterly, because of the two
kings. But God will bring days upon you, upon your people, and upon your father's house — days that have not yet arrived, counting from the day when Ephraim withdrew the king of the Assyrians from Judah" [Is 17:10–16a; 8:4; 7:16b–17]. That, then, in the race according to the flesh of
Abraham no one has ever been born of a virgin, nor is anyone said to have been so born, except this our Christ, is plain to all. But since you and your teachers dare to say that it is not even written in the prophecy of Isaiah, "Behold, the virgin shall conceive in the womb," but rather, "Behold, the young woman shall conceive in the womb and bear a son," and you interpret the
prophecy as referring to Hezekiah, who became your king, I will try, on this point too, to give a brief explanation against you, and to demonstrate that it was spoken of him whom we confess to be the Christ. For in this way I shall in every respect be found blameless as far as you are concerned, if, while I strive by demonstrations to persuade you, you nevertheless, remaining hard of heart or weak in judgment on account of the death appointed for Christians,
are unwilling to agree with the truth — you will show yourselves responsible for your own selves. And you deceive yourselves, imagining that, being Abraham's offspring by physical descent, you are certain to inherit the good things God announced would be given through Christ. For no one can receive any of those things from any source whatsoever, except those who have been made like in mind to
the faith of Abraham and have come to know all the mysteries — I mean, that one commandment was ordained for piety and righteous conduct, while another commandment and practice was likewise prescribed either for the mystery of Christ or on account of the hardness of heart of your people. And that this is so, God, declaring concerning this matter in Ezekiel, said: "If
Noah and Jacob and Daniel should ask for sons or daughters, it shall not be given to them" [Ez 14:20]. And in Isaiah he spoke to this very point as follows: "The Lord God said: And they will go out and look upon the limbs of the men who rebelled against me; their worm will never die, their fire will never go out, and they will be a horror
to all flesh" [Is 66:23–24]. You must therefore cut off this hope from your souls, and be eager to recognize the way by which forgiveness of your sins will come to you, and the hope of the inheritance of the promised good things; and it is no other than this: that, having come to know this Christ, and having washed in the washing proclaimed through Isaiah for the forgiveness of sins [Is 1:16],
you should henceforth live without sin. And Trypho said: Even if I seem to be interrupting these arguments of yours, which you say need to be examined, still, since the question I wish to raise is pressing, bear with me for a moment first. And I said: Examine whatever you wish, as it occurs to you; for I too, after the examination and the answers, will try to take up the argument again and complete it. And he said: Tell
me then, he said: will those who have lived according to the law ordained through Moses live, at the resurrection of the dead, in the same way as Jacob and Enoch and Noah, or not? And I said to him: My friend, when I quoted Ezekiel's words — that even if Noah, Daniel, and Jacob were to ask for sons and daughters, none would be given
to them, but each would clearly be saved by his own righteousness [Ez 14:20, 14], I meant this: that those who lived as citizens under the law of Moses would likewise be saved. For indeed in the law of Moses, the things that are by nature good and pious and just have been legislated for those who obey them to practice, and it has likewise been recorded that things ordained on account of the hardness of heart of the people were to take place, which those under the law also did.
Since those who practiced what is good in every sense — by nature, everywhere, and for all time — are pleasing to God, they too will be saved in the resurrection through this Christ, just like the righteous who came before them: Noah, Enoch, Jacob, and any others there may have been — together with those who have come to recognize this Christ, the Son of God, who existed even before the morning star
[Ps 109:3] and before the moon [Ps 71:5], and who, having been made flesh, endured to be born through this virgin of the family of David, so that through this dispensation the serpent who did evil from the beginning, and the angels who became like him, might be
destroyed, and death be held in contempt, and at his second coming, that of Christ, death might cease entirely from those who believe in him and live pleasingly to him, no longer existing thereafter — when the one group is sent to judgment and the condemnation of unceasing fire, while the other group lives on in freedom from suffering, in incorruption, in freedom from grief, and in immortality. But if any now wish to live while keeping the things ordained through Moses, and believe
in this Jesus who was crucified, recognizing that he is the Christ of God and that to him has been given the power to judge everyone without exception, and that the eternal kingdom is his [cf. Dan 7:26–27] — can they too be saved? he asked me. And I again: Let us also consider this, I said, if you please — whether it is possible to keep everything ordained through Moses now. And he answered: No; for we know
that, as you noted, it is impossible to sacrifice the paschal lamb anywhere else, nor to offer the goats prescribed for the fast, nor really any of the other offerings at all. And I said: Tell me, then, I beg you, which things can be kept — say it yourself; for you will be convinced that anyone who does not keep, or has not practiced, the eternal ordinances can in no way be saved. And he said: I mean keeping the sabbath and being circumcised
and observing menstrual purity, and being baptized after touching anything Moses has forbidden, or after intercourse. And I said: Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Noah and Job, and any others who lived either before or after them and were equally righteous — I mean also Sarah, Abraham's wife, and Rebecca, the wife of
Isaac, and Rachel, Jacob's wife, along with Leah, and the rest of the women of that sort, down to Moses, the faithful servant [cf. Num. 12:7, and Heb. 3:2, 5] — do you suppose that, since they kept none of these things, they will be saved? And Trypho answered: Was not Abraham circumcised, along with those who came after him? And I said: I know that Abraham was circumcised, and
those after him. But I have already explained, in much of what has been said, why circumcision was given to them; and unless these statements trouble you, let us look at the argument once more. That down to Moses no one who was simply righteous kept any of these things at all that we were inquiring about, nor received a commandment to keep them — except circumcision, which took its beginning from Abraham — this you understand. And he said: We understand it,
and we agree that they are saved. And I said again: Because of the hard-heartedness of your people you think that God, through Moses, commanded you all such precepts in order that, through many of these, you might always have God before your eyes in every action, and might refrain from doing wrong and from impiety. For example, he commanded you to attach the scarlet thread [cf. Num. 15:37-40 (?)],
so that through this forgetfulness of God should not seize you, and he ordered you to wear a phylactery, on very thin skins with certain characters written on them, which we consider altogether holy, bound about you [cf. Exod. 13:9-16, and Deut. 6:8; 11:18 (?)], and through these things, putting you to shame, to always keep the memory of God, and at the same time a reproof, in your
hearts. Yet you do not keep even a small memory of piety toward God, and even so you were not persuaded to refrain from idolatry, but rather he spoke, at the time of Elijah, naming the number of those who had not bent the knee to Baal, saying they were seven thousand in number [cf. Rom. 11:4, and 1 Kings 19:18], and in Isaiah he convicts you of having also made your children a sacrifice to idols
[cf. Is. 57:4-5]. But we, rather than sacrifice to those to whom we once sacrificed, endure the ultimate punishments, and we are glad to die, trusting that God, through his Christ, will raise us again and render us incorruptible, impassible, and immortal; and we know that the things ordained on account of the hard-heartedness of your people contribute nothing toward righteous conduct and piety. And
Trypho again inquired: But if someone, knowing that these things are so, together with knowing plainly that this man is the Christ, and having believed and obeyed him, wishes also to keep these observances, will he be saved? And I said: As it seems to me, Trypho, I say that such a person will be saved, provided he does not strive by every means to persuade other people — I mean those from the nations circumcised from their error through
Christ — to observe the same practices he does, claiming that without keeping them there is no salvation for them, precisely what you yourself did at the start of our conversation, declaring that without keeping these things there would be no salvation for me. And he said: Then why did you say, "As it seems to me, such a person will be saved," as though there are some who say that
such people never attain salvation? Yes, such people exist, I replied, Trypho — persons who will not even share talk or a hearth with people like these; with them I have no agreement. But if such a one, on account of the weakness of his conviction, wishes to keep as much as he can of the observances of Moses — which we hold to have been ordained on account of the hard-heartedness of the people — while at the same time hoping in this Christ, and keeping the
eternal and naturally righteous and pious observances, and chooses to live together with Christians and believers, as I said before, without urging them to be circumcised as he was, to observe the Sabbath, or to follow any of the other similar practices — I declare that we ought to receive him and share everything with him, as with kin of the same womb, as brothers. But if those of your own race who say they believe in
this Christ, Trypho, I said, insist by every means on compelling those from the nations who believe in this Christ to live according to the law ordained through Moses, or choose not to share such fellowship with them, then I likewise do not accept these either. But those who are persuaded by them to adopt the lawful way of life, while also keeping their confession of faith in the Christ of God,
these, I suppose, will perhaps also be saved. But as for those who once confessed and recognized that this man is the Christ, and then, for whatever cause, went over to the lawful way of life, denying that this is the Christ, and did not repent before death — these, I declare, will not be saved at all. And in the same way, those descended from Abraham's line who follow the law yet do not put their faith in this Christ before
the end of their life, I likewise declare will not be saved — and especially those in the synagogues who have anathematized and continue to anathematize those who believe in this very Christ, in the hope that they might attain salvation and be delivered from the punishment that is in the fire. For the kindness and love of God for mankind [cf. Titus 3:4, and Rom. 2:4], and the immeasurable extent of
his riches, regard the one who repents from his sins, as Ezekiel makes known [Ezek. 33:12-20], as a righteous man without sin; while the one who turns away from piety or righteous conduct toward injustice and godlessness, he regards as a sinner and unjust and impious. For this reason our Lord Jesus Christ himself declared: "Whatever condition I find you in, in that I will judge you."
And Trypho said: We have heard your opinions concerning these matters. So take up the argument again from where you left off, and finish it. For it seems to me to be something paradoxical and altogether incapable of being proved: that you say this Christ existed before as God prior to the ages, and then submitted also to be born and become man, and that he is not a man born of men — this seems to me not only
paradoxical but also foolish. And I said in reply to this: I know that the argument seems paradoxical, and especially to those of your race, who have never been willing either to understand or to do the things of God, but only the things of your teachers, as God himself cries out [cf. Is. 29:13]. Even so, however, Trypho, I said,
The claim that this man is God's Christ does not collapse even if I cannot demonstrate that he existed beforehand, that he was the Son of the one who made all things, that he was God, and that he was born a man through the virgin. Since it is established by every argument that he — whoever he turns out to be — is God's Christ, my case stands even without proving he pre-existed and was born human, sharing our same passions, possessing flesh,
and submitted to this according to the will of the Father — even in that case it would only be right to say that I am mistaken in this point, but not to deny that this is the Christ, if he is shown to appear as a man born of men, and it is proven that he has become the Christ by election. Indeed, my friends, I said, some among your own people confess him to be the Christ, yet claim he became a man born of
men; with these I do not agree, not even if very many who hold the same opinion as they should say so, since we have been commanded to be persuaded not by human teachings, but by those proclaimed through the blessed prophets and taught through him himself. And Trypho said: To me those who say that he became a man and was anointed by election and became the Christ seem to speak more persuasively than you
do who say what you say. For indeed all of us expect that the Christ will be a human being born of human parents, and that Elijah will come to anoint him. But if this man should appear to be the Christ, he must certainly be known to be a man born of men. But from the fact that Elijah has not yet come, I declare that this man is not he either. And I again asked him:
Does not the word say, through Zechariah, that Elijah will come before that great and terrible day of the Lord [cf. Mal. 4:5]? And he answered: Certainly. If, then, the word compels us to acknowledge that two comings of the Christ were prophesied to take place — one, in which he will appear suffering and dishonored and without comeliness [cf. Is. 53:2-3], and the other,
in which he will come, glorious and judge of all [cf. Dan. 7:26-27], as has been demonstrated in many of the things said before — shall we understand that Elijah's becoming a forerunner is not of the fearful and great day, that is, of his second coming, but that he has proclaimed the word of God?" "Certainly," he answered. "Our Lord, then," I said, "handed down this very thing in his teachings
as something that would happen, saying that Elijah too would come [cf. Matt. 17:11]; and we know that this will happen, when our Lord Jesus Christ is about to come in glory from the heavens — of whose first manifestation the herald that went before was the spirit of God that had been in Elijah, [now] in John [cf. Luke 1:17], who became a prophet among your nation,
after whom no other prophet appeared any longer among you. This man sat by the Jordan river and cried out: 'I baptize you with water for repentance; but the one stronger than I is coming, whose sandals I am not fit to carry; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. The winnowing fork is in his grasp, and he will fully clear'
his threshing floor and collect the wheat into his storehouse, while he burns the chaff with unquenchable fire' [Matt. 3:11-12, and Luke 3:16]. This very prophet had been locked away in prison by your king Herod; and when his birthday celebration was held, and his cousin danced in a way that pleased him, he told her to request whatever she wanted. And the mother of the girl
prompted her to ask for the head of John, who was in the prison; and when she had asked, he sent and ordered that John's head be brought on a platter [cf. Matt. 14:3-11; Mark 6:17-28, and Luke 3:20]. For this reason our Christ, while still on earth, had said to those who claimed that Elijah must come before the Christ: 'Elijah indeed will come and restore all things;
but I say to you: Elijah has already come, yet they failed to recognize him, and instead did to him everything they wanted.' And it stands written that 'then the disciples understood that he had spoken to them about John the Baptist' [Matt. 17:11-13]. And Trypho said: "This too seems to me a strange thing for you to say — that the prophetic spirit of God which was in Elijah also came to be
in John." And I replied to this: "Does it not seem to you that this very thing occurred also with Jesus son of Nun, who succeeded Moses as leader of the people, at the time Moses was commanded to lay his hands upon Joshua [cf. Num. 27:18, and Deut. 34:9], with God himself declaring: 'And I will transfer some of the spirit that is in you upon him' [cf. Num. 11:17]?"
And he said: "Certainly." "As then," I said, "while Moses was still among men, God transferred some of the spirit that was in Moses onto Joshua, so too God was able to make some of the spirit that was in Elijah come upon John, so that, just as Christ appeared without glory at his first coming, so too the spirit that was in Elijah
was always pure, as that of Christ was, [and so] the first coming might be understood as without glory. For it is said that the Lord fought against Amalek with a hidden hand [Exod. 18:8], and Amalek's fall is not something you can dispute. Yet suppose someone claims Amalek is to be fought against only at the glorious coming of Christ — what fruit would then remain in the saying which states: 'With a hidden hand God fights against
Amalek'? Can you understand that a hidden power of God came to be present in the Christ who was crucified, at whom the demons tremble, and simply all the rulers and authorities of the earth?" And Trypho said: "You seem to me, from much rubbing against many people over all the questions under inquiry, to have become practiced, and for this reason to be ready to answer whatever you may be asked.
Answer me then first, how you are able to demonstrate that a second god exists apart from the maker of all things, and only after that will you show that he also submitted to being born through the virgin." And I said: "First allow me to speak certain words from the prophecy of Isaiah, the ones spoken concerning the forerunning by which John the Baptist went before this same our Lord Jesus Christ,
having himself also become a prophet." And he said: "I allow it." And I said: "Isaiah then foretold the forerunning of John thus: 'And Hezekiah spoke to Isaiah, saying: The word of the Lord which he has spoken is good; may peace and righteousness prevail throughout my days' [Isa. 39:8]. And: 'Comfort the people; you priests, tell it to the heart of Jerusalem and give her comfort, for her humiliation is fulfilled;
her sin is forgiven, for she has received from the Lord's hand twice over for all her sins. A voice crying out in the desert: Make ready the way of the Lord, straighten out the paths of our God. Every ravine will be leveled, every mountain and hill brought low; all the crooked ground will become straight, and the rugged places smooth paths; and
the Lord's glory shall be uncovered, and every living being will see God's salvation, for it is the Lord who has spoken. A voice says: Call out. And I answered: What am I to call? All flesh is like grass, and all human glory like the bloom of the field. The grass dries up, its flower drops away, but the Lord's word endures forever. Climb a high mountain, herald of good news to Zion; raise
your voice with strength, herald of good news to Jerusalem. Raise it, do not fear. Tell the towns of Judah: Here is your God; look, the Lord arrives in power, and his arm arrives ruling. See, his recompense goes with him, and his labor precedes him. Like a shepherd he will tend his flock, gather the lambs in his arm, and gently carry the one who is with
child he will comfort. Who has taken the water's measure in his hand, gauged the sky with a span, and gathered all the earth into a handful? Who has set the mountains on a scale and weighed the hills in a balance? Who has grasped the Lord's mind, or become his adviser able to teach him anything? Whom did he consult, and who gave him instruction? Who showed him what is right?
Or who instructed him in the path of understanding? Every nation counts as a drop falling from a bucket, reckoned as the tilt of a scale, counted as mere spittle. Lebanon itself is not enough for fuel, nor are its beasts enough for a whole burnt offering; all the nations are nothing, counted as nothing' [Isa. 40:1-17]." And when I had stopped, Trypho said: "All
the words of the prophecy you cite, O man, are ambiguous, and have nothing decisive for the proof of what you wish to prove." To this I replied: "Trypho, if prophecy had not stopped, if prophets kept rising up among your people even after this John, then perhaps what is said might strike you as unclear. But if John came forth crying to men to repent [cf. Matt.
3:2, and parallels], and Christ, while he was still sitting by the Jordan river, came upon him and stopped him from prophesying and baptizing, and himself began to preach good news, saying that the kingdom of heaven is near [cf. Matt. 4:17 and parallels], and adding that he was destined to endure much at the hands of the scribes and Pharisees, to be crucified, and on the third
day rise again [cf. Matt. 16:21 and parallels], and come again to Jerusalem and then drink and eat again with his disciples [cf. Matt. 26:29 and parallels] — and in the time between his comings, as I said before, foretold that there would be heresies [cf. 1 Cor. 11:19(?)] and false prophets in his name [cf.
Matt. 24:5, 11] — and it is seen to be so; how then can one still doubt, when you have the proof by the very fact? And he had spoken also concerning there no longer being a prophet among your nation, and concerning the recognition that the new covenant, long ago proclaimed by God as about to be ordained, was already then present — that is, that he himself was the Christ — thus: 'The law and the
prophets [prophesied] up to the time of John the Baptist; from him onward the kingdom of heaven is taken by force, and forceful men lay hold of it. And if you are willing to accept it, he himself is Elijah who is to come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear' [cf. Matt. 11:12-15 and parallels]. And it was also prophesied through the patriarch Jacob that there would be two comings of Christ, and that in the first
...will suffer, and that after his coming your nation would be left without either prophet or king — this I added — and that the nations, believing in the suffering Christ, will look for him to come again. It was in parable and in veiled form, I said, that the Holy Spirit spoke these things for this reason. And I added that it had spoken thus: 'Judah, your brothers praised you, your hands
are upon the back of your enemies; the sons of your father will bow down to you. Judah is a lion's cub; from the shoot, my son, you have gone up. He lay down and slept like a lion, and like a lion's cub — who will rouse him? A ruler will not fail from Judah, nor a leader from his thighs, until the things stored up for him come; and he himself will be the expectation of the nations,
tying his young donkey to a vine, and the colt of his ass to the choicest branch. He will wash his robe in wine, and dip his garment in the blood of grapes; his eyes will gleam from wine, and his teeth be white as milk' [Gen. 49:8-12]. Since, then, neither prophet nor ruler ever ceased from your nation,
from the time it took its beginning until this Jesus Christ both came to be and suffered, you will not dare to say this shamelessly, nor are you able to prove it. For even in the case of Herod, under whom he suffered — though you say he was born an Ascalonite — you nevertheless say that there was in your nation at that time a high priest, so that, there being for you at that time one who acted according to the law of Moses, both offering sacrifices and keeping the other observances,
and prophets having arisen in succession up to John — just as also, when your people were led away to Babylon, when the land had been ravaged in war and the sacred vessels taken, a prophet did not cease from among you, a figure who served as master, guide, and governor over your nation. For it was the spirit in the prophets that also anointed and appointed your kings for you. After
the manifestation and death of Jesus our Christ in your nation, however, no prophet has arisen anywhere among you, nor is there one now; but also your being under a king of your own has ceased, and moreover your land has been laid waste and left like a watchman's hut in an orchard [cf. Is. 1:7-8]. Now the saying of the word through Jacob, 'And he himself will be the expectation of the nations' [Gen.
49:10], symbolically signified his two comings, and that the nations would come to believe in him — which it is at last given to you to see now. For we who from all the nations, through faith in Christ, have become God-fearing and righteous, look for him to come again. And the words 'binding his foal to the vine, and the colt of his donkey to the tendril' [Gen.
49:11] were a prior signification both of the works done by him at his first coming, and likewise of the nations who were to believe in him. For these were like an untamed colt, having no yoke of its own upon its neck, until this Christ came and, sending his disciples, made them his disciples, and, having taken up the yoke of
his word upon their back, submitted themselves to endure all things for the sake of the good things expected and proclaimed by him. And indeed a certain donkey, in truth, tied together with her colt at the entrance of a village called Bethphage, when our Lord Jesus Christ was about to enter Jerusalem, he commanded his disciples to bring to him [cf. Matt. 21:2 and
parallels]; and, sitting upon it, he entered into Jerusalem. This, since it had been plainly prophesied by the Christ that it would happen, its having come to pass through him and been recognized made it evident that he was indeed the Christ. Yet even with all these things having occurred and being demonstrated from the scriptures, you remain hard of heart. This was prophesied, that it would come to pass thus, by Zechariah, one of the twelve: 'Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion, shout aloud,
proclaim, daughter of Jerusalem: behold, your king comes to you, righteous and himself saving, and gentle, and poor, mounted upon a beast of burden and a colt, the foal of a donkey' [Zech. 9:9]. And that the prophetic spirit, already together with the patriarch Jacob, names the donkey too — a beast of burden — along with her colt, meaning that he has it in his possession; and that he himself too commanded his disciples,
as I said before, to bring both animals, was a prior announcement both to those from your synagogue and, together with them, to those from the nations who were to believe in him. For as the untamed colt was a symbol of those from the nations, so too the tamed donkey was a symbol of those from your own people; for you have the law lying upon you through the prophets.
But it was also prophesied through the prophet Zechariah that this very Christ would be struck and his disciples scattered — which indeed came to pass. For after he was crucified, the disciples who were with him were scattered, and remained so till he was raised from the dead and convinced them that it had been foretold long before that he must suffer in just this way [cf. Luke 24:25-26 and 44-46]; and
having thus been persuaded, they went out into the whole inhabited world and taught these things. Hence we too are firm in faith and in discipleship to him, since we hold our conviction both from the prophets and from those seen throughout the inhabited world who, in the name of that crucified one, have become and are seen to be God-fearing. Now the words spoken by Zechariah are these: 'Sword, awake against
my shepherd and against the man who is my people, says the Lord of hosts; strike the shepherd, and his sheep will be scattered' [Zech. 13:17]. And what was recorded by Moses and foretold by the patriarch Jacob — 'He will wash his robe in wine, and his garment in the blood of the grape' [Gen. 49:11] —
made clear that he was to wash clean with his own blood those who believe in him. For the Holy Spirit called his robe those who through him have received forgiveness of sins, in whom he is always present in power, and in whom he will be present manifestly at his second coming. And the word's saying 'the blood of the grape' made clear, through this figure, that Christ does have blood,
but not from human seed, but from the power of God. For in the way that the blood of the vine was not begotten by man but by God, so too it foretold that the blood of Christ would come not from a human line, but out of God's own power. This prophecy, gentlemen, which I was speaking of, proves that the Christ is not a man born from
men, begotten in the common manner of men. And Trypho answered: We will remember this interpretation of yours too, if you also confirm this difficult point by other means. But for now, take up the argument again and show us that the prophetic spirit acknowledges a god distinct from the one who made all things — being careful not to say the sun and the moon,
[cf. Deut. 4:19], which it is written that God allowed the nations to worship as gods; and as if making use of this expression, the prophets often say that 'your God is God of gods and Lord of lords,' frequently adding 'the great, and the mighty, and the terrible' [Deut. 10:17]. For these things are not said as though there really were gods,
but because the word teaches us that, of those reckoned gods and lords, he who is truly God, who made all things, alone is Lord. For in order that the Holy Spirit might also refute this very point, it said through holy David: 'The gods of the nations, reckoned to be gods, are idols of demons, and not gods' [cf. Ps. 95:5, and 1 Chr.
16:26]. And it brings a curse upon those who make them and worship them [cf. Ps. 113:16]. And I said: These, Trypho, are not the proofs I was intending to bring — proofs by which I know that those who worship these and similar things stand condemned — but rather such proofs as no one will be able to contradict. They will seem strange to you, though they are read by you every day, so
that from this too you may understand that, on account of your wickedness, God has hidden from you the ability to perceive the wisdom that is in his words [cf. 2 Cor. 3:14], except for a few, to whom, in keeping with the grace of his overflowing compassion, Isaiah declared that a seed for salvation has been left behind, so that your race would not become utterly and completely like the Sodomites and the Gomorrahites and
...your race may perish [cf. Is 1:9; 10:22, and Rom 9:27-29]. Pay attention, then, to what I am about to remind you of from the holy scriptures, which need no interpretation but only to be heard. Moses—that blessed servant, faithful to God [cf. Num 12:7, and Heb 3:2-5]—showing that the one who appeared to Abraham by the oak of
Mamre was God, together with the two angels sent with him to the judgment of Sodom - sent by another, who abides forever in the realms above the heavens and has never been seen by anyone or spoken with anyone in his own person, whom we understand to be the maker of all things and father. For thus he says: 'And God appeared to him by the oak of Mamre, as he sat at the door of the
tent at midday. Looking up, he saw three men standing before him. And upon seeing them he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them, bowed to the ground, and said' [Gen 18:1-3]; and the rest, down to: 'Abraham got up at dawn and went to the place where he had stood in the Lord's presence, and he gazed out
over the face of Sodom and Gomorrah, and over the face of the surrounding country, and he saw, and behold, a flame was going up from the land like the vapor of a furnace' [Gen 19:27-28]. And when I had finished speaking, I asked them whether they had understood what had been said. And they said that they had understood it, but had nothing by way of proof from the words spoken that it was God
or another Lord that was spoken of by the Holy Spirit, apart from the maker of all things. And I again said: 'What I say I will try to persuade you of, once you have understood the scriptures - that there is, and is spoken of as, a God and Lord distinct from, and subject to, the one who made all things—one who is termed angel, since he announces to men whatever the maker of all things
wishes to have announced to them - above whom there is no other God.' And going back again over what had been said before, I asked Trypho: 'Do you agree that God was seen by Abraham beneath the oak of Mamre, as scripture states?' And he said: 'Certainly.' And I said: 'And was he one of those three whom the holy prophetic spirit says appeared to Abraham as men?' And he said: 'No; rather God had appeared
to him before the three appeared; those three figures, whom the text names men, were in fact angels - two dispatched to destroy Sodom, and one who announced to Sarah that she would bear a child, the very purpose for which he had been sent, and once he had fulfilled it he left.' 'How then,' I said, 'can the one among the three who stood in the tent, the one who said,
"At this season I will return to you, and Sarah shall have a son" [Gen 18:14], appear to come back once the son had been born to Sarah, and the prophetic word signify there too that he is God? So that what I am saying may become clear to you, listen to what was said explicitly through Moses. It is this: 'And when Sarah saw the son of Hagar the
Egyptian woman, whom Abraham had fathered, playing alongside her son Isaac, she told Abraham: "Drive out this slave and her boy; the child of that slave will not share the inheritance with my son Isaac." This word struck Abraham as deeply painful regarding his own child. Yet God told Abraham: "Do not let it seem painful
in your sight concerning the child and the slave woman; whatever Sarah says to you, listen to her voice, for it is in Isaac that your offspring shall be called"' [Gen 21:9-12]. 'Have you grasped, then, that the one who earlier, beneath the oak, promised to return - knowing in advance that he would need to advise Abraham about what Sarah wanted for him - returned, just as scripture records, and that he is God,
as the words themselves indicate, spoken this way: "And God told Abraham: Do not let it seem painful in your sight concerning the child and the slave woman"' [ibid.] - this is what I was asking. And Trypho said: 'Certainly; but you have not by this shown that there is another God besides the one who appeared to Abraham — the same one who was also seen by the other patriarchs
and prophets - only that you have shown us that we had not rightly understood that the three who appeared in the tent beside Abraham were, all of them, angels.' And I again said: 'Well then, suppose I could not even prove to you out of scripture that one among those three is both God [cf. Gen 18:1] and is termed angel [cf. Gen 31:11],
from his role as messenger - as I said before - announcing to whomever the maker of all things, God, wishes his messages delivered: he appeared on earth in a man's form, just as the two angels accompanying him also appeared to Abraham, and this same one existed as God even before the world was made. It would have made sense for you to understand him this way, and indeed your whole nation does understand him so.' 'Quite so,' he said,
'for that is how we have held it up to now.' And I said again: 'Let me go back to the scriptures and try to persuade you that this one - of whom it is said and written that he was seen as God by Abraham, by Jacob, and by Moses - is other than the God who made all things: other in number, I mean, but not in will. For I say that he has never done or
said anything except what he who made the world - beyond whom no other God exists - determined that he should do and say [cf. John 12:49].' And Trypho said: 'Prove this now, so we too can accept it; for we don't take you to mean he speaks or acts in any way against what the creator of all things intends.'
And I said: 'The scripture I quoted before will make this clear to you. It is this: "The sun had risen over the land when Lot entered Zoar. Then the Lord rained sulfur and fire on Sodom, sent down out of heaven from the Lord, and it laid waste to those cities and the entire surrounding region"' [Gen 19:23-25].
Then the fourth man among Trypho's companions who had stayed spoke up: 'So the one whom Moses' account calls "Lord" - being one of the two angels who went down to Sodom - must, we conclude, be another, distinct from the God who appeared to Abraham.' 'That fact alone,' I replied, 'true as it was, did not make it necessary in every respect to admit that, besides the one understood as maker of
all things, another is spoken of as Lord by the Holy Spirit - not only through Moses, but also through David. For through him too it is said: "The Lord declared to my lord, Take your seat at my right side, until I place your enemies beneath your feet as a stool"' [Ps 109:1], as I stated earlier. 'And again, in other words: "Your throne,
O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions"' [Ps 44:6-7]. 'If, then, you yourselves say that the Holy Spirit speaks of and calls another one "God" and "Lord" besides
the Father of all and his Christ, then answer me, since I promise to demonstrate to you from the very scriptures that it is not either of the pair of angels sent down into Sodom whom scripture names Lord, but that other one - the one who came with them and is also called God - who appeared to Abraham.' And Trypho said: 'Demonstrate it; for indeed, as you see, the
day is growing late, and none of us is ready to give such risky answers, since we have never heard of anyone investigating or inquiring into or demonstrating these things. And we would not have tolerated your speaking at all, if you had not traced everything back to the scriptures; for you are eager to build your proofs from them, and you declare that no one is God above the maker of all things.' And I said: 'Know then,'
I said, 'that scripture states: "The Lord asked Abraham: Why did Sarah laugh and say, Will I truly bear a child? For I have become old. Is anything too hard for God? At this season I will return to you, and Sarah shall have a son"' [Gen 18:13-14]. And a little after: "And the men rose up from there"
they looked down over the face of Sodom and Gomorrah, and Abraham went along with them, escorting them on their way. And the Lord said: 'I will not keep hidden from Abraham my servant what I am about to do.' And after a little he says again thus: 'The Lord said: The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah has been multiplied, and their sins are very great. Let me go down, then, and see whether...'
...they are accomplishing deeds answering to the outcry that has reached me — but if not, then I will know it for certain.' Then the men turned and departed from there, going toward Sodom, while Abraham remained standing in the Lord's presence; drawing closer, Abraham said: 'Will you destroy the righteous together with the wicked?' — and so on; for it does not seem right to me to write out the same things again, since they have all been written above, but rather...
...those things through which I have made my demonstration to Trypho and those with him — these it is necessary to state. So then I came to what follows, in which this is said: 'And the Lord departed, when he had finished speaking with Abraham, and went away to his own place. And the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting at the gate of Sodom...'
...and what follows likewise, up to: 'And the men stretched out their hands and pulled Lot in to themselves into the house, and shut the door of the house'; and what comes after, up to: 'And the angels seized his hand, and the hand of his wife, and the hands...
...of his daughters' — in the Lord's sparing him. 'So it happened that, once they had led them outside the city, they said: Save yourself, save your life. Do not look back behind you, nor stand anywhere in the surrounding region; flee to the mountain for safety, lest you be swept away with them.' And Lot said to them: 'I beg you, lord, since your servant has found mercy before you, and...
...you have magnified your righteousness which you show toward me in keeping my life alive; but I am not able to escape to safety on the mountain, in case disaster catches up with me and I perish. Look — this town is close by, within reach for flight, and small enough; let me take refuge there, since it is so small, and my life will be spared.' And he said to him: 'Behold, I have marveled at your...
...face, and on account of this word, in not overthrowing the city of which you spoke. Hurry to be saved there; for I will not be able to do anything until you enter it.' That is why this city came to be called Zoar by name. The sun had risen over the earth when Lot entered Zoar. Then the Lord poured down upon Sodom and Gomorrah...
...sulfur and fire sent by the Lord from heaven, destroying those cities and the whole region around them.' And again, pausing, I continued: 'Now, my friends, have you not realized that this one of the three — who is himself god and lord — serves the one enthroned in the heavens, and is lord over the pair of angels? For as they approached Sodom, he...
...remained behind and conversed with Abraham in the things recorded by Moses; and when he too had gone away after the conversation, Abraham returned to his own place. When he had gone, it is no longer two angels who converse with Lot but he himself — as the account shows — who is also lord, having received from the Lord in heaven, that is, from the maker of all things, the charge of bringing these things...
...upon Sodom and Gomorrah, the very things which the account enumerates, speaking thus: 'The Lord rained sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, sent by the Lord down from the sky.' And Trypho, when I had fallen silent, said: 'That the scripture compels us to admit this is evident; but it is worth raising a difficulty about what is said, that he ate the things prepared by Abraham...'
...and set before him — this too you would admit.' And I answered: 'That they ate is written; but if we are to understand it said that the three ate, and not the two only, who were in fact angels and are in the heavens, it is clear to us that they are nourished, even if not by the same food that we humans use, but are nourished nonetheless (for concerning the...
...food of the manna, on which your fathers were nourished in the wilderness, scripture speaks thus, that they ate the bread of angels) — I would say that the account, in saying they ate, would speak in the way that we ourselves would also say of fire that it devoured everything, but that one should not by all means take this to mean that they ate by chewing with teeth and jaws.
So that on this point too we would find no difficulty at all, if we had even a little skill in figurative interpretation.' And Trypho said: 'It is possible for this too to be resolved in this way concerning the manner of eating, by which it is written that, having consumed what was prepared by Abraham, they ate. So come now and render to us the account of how this one who appeared to Abraham as god, and who was a servant of the maker of...
...all things, God, was born through the virgin and became a man subject to the same passions as all, as you said before.' And I said: 'Allow me first, Trypho, I said, to gather also some other proofs for this topic through many passages, so that you too may be persuaded concerning this matter as well, and after that I will render the account you demand.' And he said: 'Do as seems good to you; for it is a matter very much desired by me too, that you...
...should do.' And I said: 'I am going to recount scriptures to you; I am not eager to display a contrivance of words in mere skill alone — for I have no such power — but only a grace from God alone was given to me for understanding his scriptures, a grace of which I urge all to become partakers as well, without payment and without grudging, so that I may not on this account too incur condemnation at that...
...judgment which the maker of all things, God, is about to hold through my Lord Jesus Christ.' And Trypho said: 'This, too, you do in keeping with piety toward God; yet you seem to me to be speaking with irony when you claim you lack any skill in artful speech.' And I answered again: 'Since it seems to you that this is so, let it be so; but I am persuaded that it is truly the case. But so that I may rather...'
...now proceed to make the remaining proofs, pay attention.' And he said: 'Speak.' And I said: 'By Moses again it is written, brothers, I said, that this one who appeared to the patriarchs is called both god and angel and lord, so that from these passages as well you may recognize that he serves the father of all things, just as you already conceded, and...'
...through further proofs remain firmly persuaded. So then, the word of God, recounting through Moses the things concerning Jacob, the grandson of Abraham, speaks thus: 'And it happened, when the flocks were conceiving in the womb, I looked upon them with my own eyes in a dream; there were male goats and rams climbing on the ewes and the goats, marked white and...'
...speckled and ash-colored and spotted. Then, in a dream, God's angel called to me: 'Jacob, Jacob!' I answered, 'Here I am, lord.' And he said, 'Raise your eyes and observe the he-goats and the rams climbing on the ewes and the goats, white-streaked, speckled, ash-colored, and spotted; for I have seen everything that Laban has been doing to you.'
I am the God who appeared to you in the place of God, where you anointed a pillar for me and there vowed a vow to me. Now rise up, leave this territory, and travel on to the land of your birth; I will be with you.' And again, in other passages, speaking thus concerning Jacob himself, he says...
...'And rising up that night, he took his two wives and his two maidservants and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok, and took them and crossed the torrent, and brought all that was his across. But Jacob remained behind alone, and a man grappled with him until daybreak. Seeing that he could not overpower him,
...and he touched the socket of his thigh, and the socket of Jacob's thigh was numbed as he wrestled with him. And he said to him: Let me go, for the dawn has risen. But he replied, 'I will not release you until you give me a blessing.' Then he asked him, 'What are you called?' 'Jacob,' he answered. Then he said to him...
"Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name, because you have prevailed with God and will be powerful with men." And Jacob asked and said, "Tell me your name." And he replied, "Why do you ask my name?" There he pronounced a blessing on him. Jacob then named that place
"The Face of God, since I looked upon God face to face, and my soul was filled with joy" [Gen. 32:22-30]. And again elsewhere, telling of this same Jacob, he says this: "And Jacob came to Luza, which is in the land of Canaan, that is, Bethel, he and all the people who were with him. And he built an altar there, and called"
that place's name Bethel, since God had appeared to him there while he was running away from his brother Esau. Deborah, Rebecca's nurse, then died and was buried beneath Bethel, under the oak, and Jacob named it the Oak of Weeping. God appeared to Jacob again at Luza, when he arrived from Mesopotamia
"of Syria, and blessed him. And God said to him, 'Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name'" [Gen. 35:6-10]. He is called God, and is God, and will be God. And when all had nodded their heads, I said: And as for the words that report how he appeared to him while he was fleeing his brother Esau, this same one
functions as angel, as God, and as Lord alike — he appeared to Abraham in human shape [cf. Gen. 18:2] and wrestled with Jacob himself, likewise in human shape [cf. Gen. 32:24]. I judge it necessary to tell you these words. Here they are: "Jacob set out from the well called Oath and traveled toward Haran. He reached a certain place and lay down there to sleep"
"there, because the sun had gone down. He picked up one of the stones lying in that place and set it under his head, then lay down to sleep there. In a dream he saw a ladder standing on the ground, its top reaching all the way to heaven, with God's angels climbing up and down on it, and the Lord stood fixed at its top."
"And he said, 'I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father, and of Isaac. Do not be afraid. The land on which you are lying, I will give it to you and to your seed; and your seed shall be as the sand of the earth, and it shall spread out to the sea and the south and the north and the east, and in you shall be blessed"
"all the tribes of the earth, and in your offspring. And look, I am with you, protecting you on every road you travel, and I will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until everything I have told you is accomplished.' Jacob then woke from his sleep and said"
"'The Lord is in this place, and I didn't realize it.' He grew afraid and said, 'How awe-inspiring this place is! It can be nothing less than the house of God — this is the very gate of heaven.' Jacob got up at dawn, took the stone he had rested his head on, set it upright as a pillar, and poured"
"oil upon its top. Jacob named that place House of God, though the city had earlier been called Oulammaous" [Gen. 28:10-19]. Having said this, I continued: Bear with me while I show you, this time from Exodus, that the very one who is angel, God, Lord, and man [cf. Gen. 18:2]
and human [cf. Gen. 32:24], having appeared to Abraham and to Jacob, has also appeared in the fire of a flame out of a bush and conversed with Moses [cf. Exod. 3:2]. And when they said they were listening gladly and tirelessly and eagerly, I went on: These things are in the book that is entitled Exodus. "Now a long time later, Egypt's king died, and Israel's sons"
"groaned because of their labors" [Exod. 2:23]; and the rest, down to: "Assemble Israel's elders and tell them this: The Lord, the God of your fathers, has appeared to me — the God of Abraham, Isaac's God, and Jacob's God — saying: I have indeed taken note of you and everything that has befallen you in Egypt" [Exod. 3:16].
And upon these words I went on: Men, have you noticed, I said, that the one whom Moses says spoke to him as an angel in the fire of a flame — this very one, being God, signifies to Moses that he himself is the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob? And Trypho said: We do not understand it this way from the words already stated, but rather that the one who appeared in the flame of fire was an angel,
[cf. Exod. 3:2; and Acts 7:30], while it was God who spoke with Moses, so that both an angel and God, being two together, were present in that vision at that time. And I answered again: Even if it did happen then, my friends, that both an angel and God together were present in the vision that came to Moses, as
has also been demonstrated to you through the words written above: it is not the maker of all things who is God, the one who told Moses he was Abraham's God, Isaac's God, and Jacob's God — rather it is the one already shown to you as appearing to Abraham and Jacob, serving the maker of all things' will, and in the same way serving his purpose in the judgment against Sodom,
having ministered — so that, even if it is as you say, that there were two, both an angel and God, no one whatever, even one who has but a little sense, will dare to say that it was the maker of all things and Father, having left behind all that is above the heaven, who appeared in a small portion of earth. And Trypho said: Since it has already been demonstrated beforehand that the one who appeared to Abraham, having been named God and Lord,
by the Lord who is in the heavens, took what had been brought against the land of Sodom and brought it down upon it — so too now, even if he was an angel who had come into being alongside the God who was manifest to Moses, we will not conclude that it was the maker of all things who spoke with Moses out of the bush, but rather that same one, already demonstrated to be the one who appeared to Abraham and Jacob, who was made manifest, and who is also called an angel of the
maker of all things, and is understood to be so, from his announcing to men the things that come from the Father, who is himself maker of everything. I then replied: Now then, Trypho, I will demonstrate that it was this very same one alone, both called an angel and being God, who appeared and conversed with Moses in the vision granted to Moses. For thus the word says: "There appeared to him"
"an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire out of a bush; and he sees that the bush is ablaze with fire, yet the bush was not being consumed. Moses then said, 'Let me go over and view this great sight — why the bush does not burn up.' And when the Lord saw that he was drawing near to look, the Lord summoned him from within the bush" [Exod. 3:2-4]. In the same way, then, that
the word calls the one who appeared to Jacob in his sleep an angel, and then says that this same one who appeared to him in his sleep as an angel said to him, "I am the God who appeared to you when you were fleeing from the face of Esau your brother" [cf. Gen. 31:13, and 35:1-7], and concerning Abraham, in the judgment of Sodom, said that the Lord
had brought judgment down from that Lord who dwells in heaven [cf. Gen. 19:24] — so too here the word, when it says that an angel of the Lord was seen by Moses and afterward indicates that he himself was Lord and God, means the same one whom it also means through the many things said, means the same one whom it also means through the many things said as ministering to the God who is above the world,
beyond whom there is no other. And I will give you, my friends, I said, another testimony as well from the scriptures, that before all created things God begot as a beginning a certain rational power from himself, which is called the Glory of the Lord by the Holy Spirit, and at other times the Son [cf. Ps. 2:7,
...at another time wisdom, at another an angel, at another god, at another lord and word, at another commander-in-chief - he calls himself, having appeared in the form of a man to Joshua the son of Nun. For he can be given all these names, both from his serving the Father's will and
from his having been begotten by the will of the Father. But is this not the very sort of thing we see happening among ourselves too? For when we put forth some word, we beget a word - not by cutting off, so that the word within us is diminished by our putting it forth. And it is like what we see happening with fire: another fire is kindled from it, without that from which the kindling came being diminished, but it remains the same, and
that which was kindled from it and itself appears as fire does not diminish that from which it was kindled. And the word of wisdom will bear witness for me - this same being who is God, begotten from the Father of all things, and existing as word and wisdom and power and glory of him who begot him - speaking also through Solomon, who said these things: "If I announce to you the things that happen day by day, I will call to mind
the things from eternity, to number them. The Lord brought me into being at the start of his ways, unto his works. Before time itself he laid my foundation, at the outset, prior to his making the earth, and before he made the abysses, before the springs of the waters came forth, before the mountains were set firm; and before all the hills he brings me forth. God made the land,
both the uninhabited and the inhabited regions under heaven. While he was making the heaven ready, I stood at his side; and when he set his throne upon the winds, when he made the clouds above strong and secured the springs of the abyss, when he secured the earth's foundations, I was there with him, fitting everything together. I was the one in whom he delighted; and day by day I took joy before his face, at
every season, because he rejoiced when he had completed the world, and he rejoiced in the sons of men. Now then, son, listen to me. Blessed is the man who will listen to me, and the person who will keep my ways, watching daily at my doors, guarding the posts of my entrances; for my ways out are the ways out of life, and a will has been prepared from the Lord. But those who
sin against me act impiously against their own souls, and those who hate me love death." And this very same thing, my friends, the Word of God said also through Moses, showing us the one whom he made plain that God addresses with this same intention concerning the making of man, saying these words: "Let us make man according to our image and likeness;
and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of heaven and the cattle and all the earth and all the creeping things that creep upon the earth." And God made man, according to the image of God he made him; male and female he made them. And God blessed them, saying: "Increase and multiply and fill the
earth and subdue it." Now, so that you may not, twisting the words just quoted, say the things your teachers say - either that God was speaking to himself when he said "Let us make," the way we too, when we are about to do something, often say to ourselves "Let us make it," or that he was speaking to the elements, that is, to the earth and the other things likewise, out of
which we understand man to have been made, when God said "Let us make" - I will again set out the words spoken by Moses himself, from which we can recognize beyond doubt that he was conversing with someone who is other in number and possesses reason. Here is what it says: "Then God said, Look, Adam has come to be like one of us, in the knowledge of good and evil."
So then, by saying "as one of us," he has indicated both a number of beings present together with one another, and, at minimum, two. I would not concede that the doctrine taught by the sect known among you holds truth, nor can its teachers demonstrate that he was speaking to angels, or that the human body was the workmanship of angels. Rather, this, the truly
begotten offspring, sent forth by the Father, coexisted with the Father prior to all things made, and it is with this one that the Father converses, as the Word made clear through Solomon - namely that this same being, a beginning before all things made and an offspring begotten by God, whom wisdom is called through Solomon, and this same being, through the revelation that came to Joshua the son of Nun,
said this very thing. And so that this too may become clear to you from these words, listen also to the words from the book of Joshua. They are these: "And it came about that, as Joshua was in Jericho, lifting up his eyes he saw a man standing opposite him. And Joshua came up and said to him: Are you one of ours, or an enemy? He answered him: I am commander of the power
of the Lord; I have now come." And Joshua fell on his face to the ground, and said to him: "Master, what do you command your servant?" And the commander-in-chief of the Lord says to Joshua: "Loose the sandals from your feet, for the ground beneath you is holy." Jericho, meanwhile, remained sealed and defended, with no one going out from it. And
the Lord said to Joshua: "Behold, I hand over to you Jericho and its king who is in it, under your power, mighty as they are in strength." And Trypho said: "This is shown to you forcefully and through many proofs, my friend. It remains, then, for you to demonstrate also that this one submitted to be born a man through the virgin, in accordance with the will of his Father, and
to be crucified and to die; and make clear too that after this, having risen, he ascended into heaven." And I answered: "This too has already been demonstrated by me, gentlemen, in the words of the prophecies related earlier, which, for your sake, I will again try, by recalling and expounding them, to bring you to agreement about this matter. Take, then, the word that Isaiah spoke: Who shall declare his
generation? His life, indeed, is lifted away from the earth. Does it not seem to you that this is said of one whose origin is not from men, who is spoken of by God as having been handed over to death on account of the lawless deeds of the people? Concerning whom Moses too, speaking in a parable of his blood, as I said before, called it the blood of the grape,
and said that he would wash his robe in it, showing that his blood was begotten not from human seed but from the will of God. And the words spoken by David: "In the splendors of your holy ones, from the womb, before the morning star, I begot you. The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: You are a priest forever, according to the order
of Melchizedek." Does this not show you that the Father and God of all things intended for him to be born both from above and through a human womb? And speaking in another place, in words also quoted before: "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; therefore God, your God, has anointed
you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions. Myrrh and stacte and cassia from your garments, from ivory palaces, by which they have made you glad. Daughters of kings are among your honored women; the queen stood at your right hand, clothed in gold-woven garments, adorned in many colors. Hear, daughter, and see, and incline your ear
and forget your people and your father's house; and the king will desire your beauty, for he is your lord, and you shall worship him." That he, then, is both to be worshipped and is God and Christ, borne witness to by the one who made these things, these words too plainly signify. And that to those who believe
in him, as being of one soul and one assembly and one church, the Word of God speaks as to a daughter - to the church that arose out of his name and takes part in that name (since all of us bear the title Christians) - these words likewise plainly proclaim, teaching us also to forget the old ancestral customs; they run thus: "Hear, daughter, and see, and incline
"...your ear, and forget your people and your father's house; and the king will desire your beauty, since he is your lord, and you shall worship him" [Ps. 44:11-13]. And Trypho said: "Let him be recognized among you Gentiles as Lord, Christ, and God, since that is what the scriptures show — you who have indeed all come to be called by his name"
"Christians." But we, being worshippers of the God who also made this one, have no need of confessing him nor of worshipping him." And I said in response to this: "Trypho, if I were as fond of dispute and as empty as you are, I would no longer have stayed on sharing arguments with you, since you are preparing yourselves not to understand what is said, but only to say something
in order merely to sharpen yourselves for it. But as things stand, because I dread the judgment of God, I refrain from passing sentence on anyone of your race, except concerning those who, by the grace that comes from the Lord Sabaoth, are able to be saved. Therefore, even if you act maliciously, I will remain, answering whatever objection you put forward and raise against me; and I do the same, quite simply, toward all men of every race
who wish to debate with me or inquire of me about these matters. That, then, those from your own race who are saved are saved through this one, and are in his portion — if you had paid attention to what I said earlier from the scriptures, you would already have understood this, and you clearly would not have asked me about it. But I will say again the things I said earlier from David,
and I ask you to press yourselves toward understanding, not merely to spur yourselves on toward acting maliciously and disputing. These, then, are the words that David speaks: 'The Lord has become king, let the peoples be angry; he who is enthroned above the Cherubim — let the earth tremble. The Lord is great in Zion, towering over all the peoples. Let them confess your great name,
for it is fearsome and holy, and the honor of a king loves judgment. You have established what is upright; you have carried out judgment and righteousness within Jacob. Lift high the Lord our God, and bow low at the resting-place beneath his feet, since he is holy. Moses and Aaron number among his priests, and Samuel is among those who call on his name; they cried out to the Lord, and he
listened to them. He spoke to them in a pillar of cloud, because they kept his testimonies and the commandments he gave them' [Ps. 98:1-7]. And in other words as well, also recounted earlier, spoken through David, which you foolishly claim were said about Solomon — being inscribed to Solomon — from which it is also proved that they were not said about Solomon, and
that this one existed even before the sun, and that those from your people who are saved will be saved through him. These are they: 'O God, give your judgment to the king, and your righteousness to the king's son; he will judge your people in righteousness and your poor in judgment. Let the mountains take up peace for the people, and
the hills righteousness. He will judge the poor of the people, and save the sons of the needy, and humble the slanderer; and he will endure alongside the sun, and stand before the moon, across all generations to come' [Ps. 71:1-5] — and the rest, down to: 'Before the sun his name endures. And in him all the tribes of the earth shall be blessed; all
all nations will pronounce him blessed. Praised be the Lord, Israel's God, who alone works wonders, and praised be the name of his glory forever and ever; may the whole earth overflow with his glory. So be it, so be it' [Ps. 71:17-19]. And from among the other words which I said earlier were likewise spoken through David — that he was to come forth from the ends of the heavens
and was again to go up to the same places — it was signified; recall these, so that you may recognize both that he came forth from above as God and that he became man among men, and again that he will come, that one whom those who pierced him are going to see and mourn [cf. Zech. 12:10]. These are they: 'The heavens tell out the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims the work of his hands. Day after day
pours forth speech, and night to night proclaims knowledge. There are no speeches nor words whose voices are not heard. Their voice has traveled across the whole earth, and their words to the farthest reaches of the inhabited world. In the sun he has set his tent, and he, like a bridegroom coming forth from his chamber, will rejoice, strong
as a giant, to run his course. His going forth is from the end of heaven, and his circuit unto the end of heaven, and there is no one who will be hidden from his heat' [Ps. 18:1-6]. And Trypho said: "Overwhelmed by so many scriptures, I do not know what to say concerning the scripture which Isaiah spoke, according to which God says he gives his glory to no other,
speaking thus: 'I, the Lord God, bear this name; I will yield my glory to no other, nor my praises to another' [Is. 42:8]." And I said: "If you spoke these words simply and without malice, Trypho, and then fell silent, neither stating what comes before them nor joining what follows them, you are pardonable; but if
you supposed that you could, by favor of that, throw the argument into difficulty, so that I would say the scriptures are contrary to one another, you are mistaken; for I will never dare either to think or to say this, but if some scripture that seems to be of this sort is put forward, and has the appearance of being contrary, being altogether persuaded that no scripture is contrary to another, I will rather admit that I myself do not understand
what has been said, than strive to persuade those who suppose the scriptures to be contrary that they mean the same thing. But in what spirit you put forward the problem, God knows. As for me, as the passage was stated, I will remind you of it, so that from this very passage you may see that God bestows his glory on his Christ, and on him alone. I will take up a few brief
words, gentlemen, those joined in sequence to what was said by Trypho, and those similarly connected to them in what follows; for I will not speak them from a different passage, but as a single unit, just as they are joined together — and give me your attention. These are they: 'Thus speaks the Lord God, maker of heaven, who set it firm, who made the earth solid
and everything in it, giving breath to the people who live there and the breath of life to those who walk upon it. I, the Lord God, have summoned you in righteousness; I will grasp your hand and give you strength. I have appointed you as a covenant for the people, as a light for the nations — to open blind eyes, to lead out the bound from their chains, and those who sit in
darkness. I, the Lord God — such is my name — will hand my glory to no one else, nor my praises to carved images. Behold, the former things have come, and new things I now announce; and before they were announced, they were made known to you. Sing to God a new hymn; his beginning is from the end of the earth — you who go down to the sea and sail it, the islands
and those who dwell in them. Rejoice, desert, and their villages and their settlements, and let those who dwell in Kedar rejoice, and let those who dwell on the rock cry out from the top of the mountains; they will give glory to God, and across the islands they will make his praises known. The Lord God of the hosts will march out, he will crush war, he will stir up zeal, and he will cry out against his enemies
with strength' [Is. 42:6-13]." And having said this, I said to them: "Have you understood, friends, that God says he will give glory to this one, whom he appointed as a light of the nations, and to no one else — and not, as Trypho said, as though God kept the glory for himself?" And Trypho answered: "We have understood this too. Finish, then, the rest of the
argument." And I, again taking up the argument from the point where I had left off — establishing that he was born from a virgin, and that Isaiah had prophesied his birth through a virgin — again recited that very prophecy. It is this: 'And the Lord spoke once more to Ahaz: Request a sign for yourself from the Lord your God, whether in the depths or in the heights above.' And Ahaz said: 'I will not
"...I will not ask, nor will I put the Lord to the test." And Isaiah said: "Hear then, house of David. Is it too small a thing for you to cause trouble to men? So the Lord will provide you a sign of his own initiative: a virgin will conceive within her womb and bring forth a son, and his name will be called Emmanuel. He will eat butter and honey. Before he knows
how to prefer evil, he will choose the good; because before the child knows evil or good, he refuses evil in order to choose the good. Because before the child learns to say father or mother, he will seize Damascus's strength and Samaria's plunder before the king of the Assyrians. And the land will be taken — the land whose burden you will bear harshly because of the two kings. But
God will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father's house days that have not yet come, from the day when Ephraim was removed from Judah, along with the king of the Assyrians" [Isa 7:10–16; 8:4; 7:16–17]. And they added: "That in the race according to the flesh of Abraham no one has ever been born of a virgin, nor has anyone ever been said to have been so born, except this our Christ, is plain to all."
And Trypho answered: "The scripture does not say, 'Behold, the virgin will conceive in her womb and bear a son,' but 'Behold, the young woman will conceive in her womb and bear a son,' and the rest as you said. And the whole prophecy was spoken concerning Hezekiah,
concerning whom it is also shown to have come to pass according to this prophecy. And among the myths of the so-called Greeks it is said that Perseus was born of Danae, who was a virgin, when the one among them called Zeus flowed upon her in the form of gold; and you, saying the same things as they do, ought to be ashamed, and would do better to say that this Jesus became man from men,
and, if you can show from the writings that this man is the Christ, then say that because he lived under the law and blamelessly he was judged worthy to be chosen as the Christ — but do not dare to tell monstrous tales, so that you may not be convicted of talking as foolishly as the Greeks." And I said in reply to this: "O Trypho, I want you to be persuaded of this, and simply all men, that even if in jesting or mockery you say something rather crude,
you will not move me from what lies before us; rather, out of the very things which you think to put forward as a refutation, whether words or deeds, from those very things I will always construct proofs of what I say, backed by the witness of scripture. Yet you are not acting rightly, nor as a lover of truth, when you try to explain away even those points on which you have always agreed with us — namely, that because of the hard-heartedness of your people, some of the commandments
were laid down through Moses. For you said that because he lived lawfully he was chosen and became Christ — if indeed he should be shown to be such." And Trypho said: "For you agreed with us that he was both circumcised and kept the other legal observances ordained through Moses." And I answered: "I agreed, and I do agree; but I did not agree that he endured all these things
in order to be justified through them, but as fulfilling the plan which his Father, and maker and Lord and God of all things, willed. For indeed I agree that he endured to die crucified and to become man and to suffer as many things as those of your race inflicted upon him. Since then, O Trypho, do not now retract what you have already agreed to — answer
me this: the righteous men and patriarchs who lived before Moses, who kept none of the things which the word shows to have received their institution beginning with Moses — are they saved in the inheritance of the blessed, or not?" Trypho replied, "Scripture forces me to admit it." "In the same way let me ask you again," I said, "did God command your fathers to make offerings and sacrifices out of need,
or because of their hard-heartedness and their readiness for idolatry?" "This too," he said, "the scriptures likewise compel us to agree." "And that God has promised to establish a new covenant apart from the one made on Mount Horeb — did the scriptures likewise foretell this?" And he agreed that this too had been foretold. And I again said: "And the old covenant,"
"was laid down for your ancestors amid fear and trembling, to the point that they could not even bear to hear God" [cf. Exod 19:16–18; 20:18–19; Heb 12:18–19]; and he agreed to this. "What then?" I said. "God promised there would be another covenant, not ordained as that one was, and said it would be ordained for them without fear and trembling and lightning, and would show what commandment and work God knows to be eternal and fitting for every race,
and what he had commanded as suited to the hard-heartedness of your people, as he also cries out through the prophets." "And to this," he said, "all who love the truth, and not those who love strife, must by every means agree." And I said: "It puzzles me that, though you brand some men as lovers of strife, you yourself have often been caught doing exactly that,
contradicting many times the very things you had agreed to." And Trypho said: "For you are attempting to demonstrate a thing that is nearly unbelievable and impossible — that God endured to be born and to become man." "If," I said, "I had undertaken to demonstrate this by human teachings or arguments, you would have no need to bear with me; but since it is by scriptures spoken for this very purpose — so many of them, and I have quoted them very often — I ask you to recognize
them, and stop hardening your hearts against grasping what God intends and wills. Yet if you choose to stay this way indefinitely, no harm would come to me from it; holding fast to the very same views I held before ever meeting you, I will depart from you." And Trypho said: "See, my friend, that it has cost you much labor and toil to acquire these convictions; and
we too, then, having tested everything that comes up, must agree with what the scriptures compel us to." And I said in reply to this: "I do not ask you to refrain from striving by every means to carry out the examination of the questions before us, but rather that you not again contradict the very things you said you agreed to, when you have nothing to say against them." And Trypho said: "We will try to do this." Again I said: "In addition to what has already been asked, I now
want to ask you some further questions; for through these further questions I will strive also to bring the discussion to a swift conclusion." And Trypho said: "Ask." And I said: "Do you think there is any other who is called an object of worship, and Lord, and God, in the scriptures, besides the one who made the universe, and the Christ, who through so many scriptures
has been demonstrated to you as having become man?" And Trypho replied: "How could we possibly grant this, given that we have conducted such an extensive investigation into whether anyone exists besides the Father alone?" And I said again: "I need to put these questions to you as well, so I can know whether you now hold any view differing from what you have already conceded." And he said: "No, sir." And I said again: "Since, then, you genuinely agree to these things, and
since the word declares, 'Who shall recount his generation?' [Isa 53:8] — should you not already grasp that he does not come from human seed?" And Trypho asked: "In that case, how can the word tell David that God will take from his own loins a son for himself, establish his kingdom, and seat him upon the throne of his glory
[cf. Ps 131:11; 2 Kgdms 7:12–16; Acts 2:30]?" And I said: "O Trypho, if the prophecy which Isaiah spoke — 'Behold, the virgin will conceive in her womb' [Isa 7:13–14] — were not addressed to the house of David but to some other house among the twelve tribes, perhaps the matter would present a difficulty; but since
this prophecy too was spoken to the house of David, what was said to David by God in a mystery through Isaiah was explained as to how it was going to come to pass; unless you do not know this, my friends," I said, "that many sayings, spoken covertly and in parables or mysteries or in symbols of deeds, were explained by the prophets who came after those who had spoken or done them."
And Trypho said, "Quite so." "If then I demonstrate that this prophecy of Isaiah was spoken concerning this our Christ, and not concerning Hezekiah, as you say, will I not by this too shame you into not trusting your teachers, who dare to assert that the interpretation which your seventy elders made at the court of Ptolemy, king of the..."
...who became [translators] for the king of the Egyptians, that not all things are true in some cases? For whatever things plainly appear in the scriptures to refute their foolish and self-loving opinion, these things they dare to say were not written this way; but whatever they think they can drag to fit human actions of their own choosing, these they say were not spoken concerning this our Jesus Christ, but concerning the one whom they themselves
attempt to interpret. Such is the case even with this scripture, about which our present discussion concerns, which they taught you to say was spoken concerning Hezekiah — which, as I promised, I will show they are lying about. But whatever scriptures we cite to them, which plainly show Christ to be both subject to suffering and to be worshiped and God, which I have already related to you, these, though compelled to agree were spoken concerning Christ,
they concede, yet they dare to say that this one is not the Christ, but they confess that another will come, and suffer, and reign, and become a God to be worshiped — which is ridiculous and foolish, and I will likewise demonstrate this. But since it is more urgent for me to answer first what was said by you in a ridiculous manner, I will make my answers to that, and I will give my demonstrations concerning the remaining points afterward.
Know well then, Trypho, I continued, saying, that the things which he who is called the devil, by counterfeiting, caused to be said among the Greeks — just as he was also active through the magicians in Egypt and through the false prophets in the time of Elijah — these very things have established the certainty of my knowledge in the scriptures and my faith. For whenever
they claim that Dionysus was fathered by Zeus through a union with Semele, and became the one who discovered the vine, and that after being torn to pieces and dying he came back to life and went up into heaven, and when they display a donkey among his mysteries, do I not recognize that he has mimicked the prophecy the patriarch Jacob spoke beforehand and Moses wrote down? And when
they say that Heracles was mighty and roamed across the entire earth, and that Zeus fathered him by Alcmene, and that upon dying he went up into heaven, do I not likewise recognize that he has mimicked the scripture said of the Anointed One, "Mighty as a giant, running his course"? And when he displays Asclepius as one who brought the dead back and cured other ailments, do I not
say likewise that in this case too he has imitated the prophecies concerning Christ? But since I have not yet related to you such a scripture, which signifies that Christ would do these things, I will necessarily mention one, from which you also can understand how, even to those destitute of the knowledge of God — I mean the nations — who though having eyes did not see, and though having a heart
did not understand, worshiping the things fashioned out of matter — the word foretold that they would renounce these and hope in this Christ. It is spoken thus: "Be glad, thirsty wilderness; let the wilderness rejoice and blossom like a lily. And the deserts of the Jordan shall blossom and rejoice, for Lebanon's splendor was granted to it, together with the"
"honor of Carmel. My people will witness the majesty of the Lord, the splendor of our God. Strengthen the drooping hands, steady the weak knees. Say to the faint of heart, take courage, do not be afraid. See, our God brings judgment and will bring it; he himself is coming to rescue us. On that day blind eyes will be opened and deaf ears unstopped; then"
"the lame man will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will speak clearly, because water has broken out in the desert and a torrent-bed in the parched land, and the dry ground will turn into pools, and springs of water will rise in the thirsty land." A living spring of water from God has welled up in the wilderness of the knowledge of God, in the land of the nations — this
is this Christ, who has also appeared among your own people, and healed those blind, deaf, and lame from birth and according to the flesh, causing the one to leap, another to hear, and another to see by his word; and he raised the dead and made them live, and through his works he strove to persuade the men then living to recognize
him. But they, seeing these very things happening, said that they were a magical illusion; for they dared to call him a sorcerer who led the people astray. But he did these things also to persuade those who were about to believe in him, that even if someone, being in some bodily affliction,
should become a keeper of the teachings handed down by him, he will raise that person whole at his second coming, having also made him immortal, incorruptible, and free from pain. And when the transmitters of the Mithraic mysteries say that he was begotten from a stone, and name a cave as the spot where they induct his devotees, is it not exactly there that the saying
by Daniel, that "a stone was cut without hands from a great mountain," that I know they have imitated? And likewise the things spoken by Isaiah, whose words they have attempted to imitate in every respect? For they contrived that words of righteous conduct should be spoken also among them. But I will necessarily relate to you the words spoken by Isaiah, so that from them you may know these things
stand thus. These are they: "Listen, you who dwell at a distance, to what I have done; those drawing near will come to know my strength. The lawless in Zion have fallen away; trembling will seize the godless. Who will declare to you the eternal place? The one who walks in righteousness, speaks an honest path, hates lawlessness and wrongdoing, keeps his hands consecrated, untouched by bribes, and stops up his ears so as not to hear an unjust judgment of"
"blood, and closes his eyes so as not to look on wrongdoing — this man will dwell in the lofty cave of a mighty rock. He will be given bread, and his water will not fail. You will see a king in his glory, and your eyes will look upon what is distant. Your soul will meditate on reverence for the Lord. Where now is the man of letters? Where are those who give counsel? Where is the one numbering the people who are fed,"
"the people, both small and great? A people whose counsel they never sought, nor did they grasp the depths of the voices, so that they failed to hear — a people despised, in whom the hearer has no understanding." Now that in this same prophecy he is also speaking of the bread, which our Christ handed down for us to do in remembrance of his becoming embodied for the sake of those who believe in him, for whose sake
he also came to be capable of suffering, and concerning the cup, which he handed down for us to do in remembrance of his blood, offering thanks — this much is plain. And that we will see him as king in glory, this prophecy makes evident. And that the people destined in advance to believe in him were likewise destined to ponder the fear of the Lord, these words of the
prophecy declares. And that those who suppose they grasp the letters of scripture, and who listen to the prophecies, understand nothing at all — this too the same writings proclaim aloud. And when, Trypho, I said, I hear that Perseus was said to be born from a virgin, I recognize that the deceiving serpent has copied this as well. But I place no confidence in your teachers, who have not agreed among themselves to explain rightly the matters
produced by the seventy elders serving under Ptolemy, the king the Egyptians then had, but instead try to interpret them on their own. I also want you to know that they have completely stripped out many scriptures from the interpretations made by those elders under Ptolemy, scriptures from which it is plainly shown that this very man who was crucified is proclaimed as God and man, and as one crucified and dying; which scriptures, since I know that all of
those of your race deny, I do not press such disputes, but I come to conduct my inquiries from those things which are still acknowledged among you. For indeed you recognize all the scriptures which I have brought forward to you, except that concerning the phrase, "Behold, the virgin shall conceive in the womb," you objected, saying that it was spoken thus: "Behold, the young woman shall conceive in the womb." And
I promised to make a demonstration that the prophecy was spoken not concerning Hezekiah, as you were taught, but concerning this my Christ; and indeed I will make the demonstration. And Trypho said: First we ask that you tell us also some of the scriptures which you say have been entirely excised. And I said: I will do as is pleasing to you. Now, from the interpretations which Ezra gave concerning the law...
they removed this interpretation concerning the Passover: 'And Ezra spoke these words to the people: This Passover is our salvation and our shelter. And if you reflect, and it rises up upon your heart, that we are about to humble him by a sign, and after this we hope in him, this place shall never be made desolate for all
time, declares the God of hosts. Yet if you do not trust him, nor heed his proclamation, you will become an object of mockery to the nations' [Ezra?]. And from the words spoken through Jeremiah they cut out this line: 'I was like a harmless lamb led away to be slaughtered. They plotted a scheme against me, saying: Come, let us throw wood into his bread, and cut him off from the land of the living,
and let his name no longer be remembered' [Jer. 11:19]. And since this passage, taken from Jeremiah's words, can still be found in some copies preserved among the Jewish synagogues (they only cut it out a little while ago), and since these very words demonstrate that the Jews deliberated about this very Christ, planning to destroy him by crucifixion,
having so plotted — and he himself is indicated, just as he was also prophesied through Isaiah as a sheep led to slaughter [cf. Is. 53:7], and here too is shown as an innocent lamb [cf. Jer. 11:19] — so that, finding themselves at a loss, they resort to blasphemy. And from the words of that same Jeremiah they likewise cut out this: 'And the LORD, the holy God of Israel, remembered his
dead, those who had fallen asleep in the dust of the earth, and went down to them to preach to them the good news of his salvation' [Jer.? cf. 1 Pet. 3:19 and 4:6]. And from the ninety-fifth psalm, of the words spoken through David, they removed these few words: 'from the wood.' For where the saying was spoken, 'Say among the nations: The LORD reigned
from the wood,' they left it: 'Say among the nations: The LORD reigned' [Ps. 95:10]. Now among the nations it was never said by any man of your race, concerning anyone as god and lord, that he reigned, except concerning this one alone who was crucified — of whom the Holy Spirit says in this same psalm that, having risen, he was also saved, signifying
that he is not like the gods of the nations; for those are idols of demons [cf. Ps. 95:5 and 1 Chr. 16:26]. But so that you may understand what is meant, I will recite the whole psalm to you. It is this: 'Sing to the Lord a new song, sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord and bless his name; proclaim the good news of
his salvation day by day. Declare his splendor to the nations, his marvels to every people; for great is the Lord, worthy of much praise — he inspires more awe than every god; every god the nations worship is a demon, but the Lord made the heavens. Splendor and beauty stand before him, holiness and majesty
are in his sanctuary. Offer to the Lord, you tribes of the nations, offer to the Lord glory and honor, offer to the Lord the glory owed to his name. Lift up offerings and come into his courts; bow down to the Lord in his sacred court. Let all the earth tremble before his face. Declare among the nations: The Lord has become king from the
wood. For indeed he set the world firm, and it shall not be shaken; he will judge the peoples in uprightness. Let the heavens rejoice and let the earth exult, let the sea and its fullness be stirred. Let the fields be glad and everything in them, let all the trees of the forest exult before the face of the Lord, because he comes, because he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in'
righteousness, and the peoples in his truth' [Ps. 95]. And Trypho said: 'Whether the rulers of the people falsified something from the scriptures, as you say, God alone is able to know; but such a thing seems incredible.' 'Yes,' I said, 'it does seem incredible; for it is more dreadful than the making of the calf, which they did on earth while stuffed full of manna, and than their sacrificing the children
to demons, or than their having killed the prophets themselves. But indeed,' I said, 'you seem to me not even to have heard the scriptures I said they had cut out. For as many as have already been recounted are sufficient for the proof of the matters under inquiry, together with what is going to be said, which is carefully guarded among you.' And Trypho said: 'We understand that you recounted them because we asked it of you. But as for this psalm,'
which you said last, from the words of David, it does not seem to me to have been spoken of anyone else but the Father, who also made the heavens and the earth; but you say it was spoken of this one who suffered, whom you are eager to prove to be the Christ.' And I answered: 'Through the wording which the Holy Spirit uttered in this psalm, understand,
I beg you, as I speak it, and you will know both that I do not speak evil and that you have indeed been bewitched; for in this way, coming to your senses, you will also be able to understand many other things said by the Holy Spirit. "Sing to the Lord a new song, sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord and bless his name; proclaim the good news day by day of his
salvation... his wonders among all the peoples" [Ps. 95:1-3]. He commands those from every part of the earth who have come to know this saving mystery — that is, the passion of Christ, through which he saved them — to spend their lives singing and making music as to the God and Father of all, having recognized that he is both praiseworthy and terrible, and the maker both of heaven
and of earth — he who accomplished this salvation on behalf of the human race, who also, after being crucified and dying, was deemed worthy by him to reign over all the earth, as also through [...] of the earth, into which this one is entering: 'and they will forsake me, and shatter the covenant I established with them on that day. And'
'I will abandon them and turn my face away from them; and it shall become something to be devoured, and many evils and afflictions shall find it. And on that day it will say: It is because the Lord my God is no longer among us that these evils have found me. But I will indeed turn my face away from them on that day, because of all the evils which
they did, because they turned to other gods' [Deut. 31:16-18]. And in the book of Exodus, that the name of God was also Jesus — which he says was not revealed either to Abraham or to Jacob — was likewise declared in a mystery through Moses, and we have come to understand it. It is said thus: 'And the Lord said to Moses: Say to this people: Behold,
I am sending my angel ahead of you, to keep watch over you on the road, so that he may lead you into the land I have made ready for you. Pay attention to him and obey his voice; do not resist him, for he will not pull back from you, since my name rests upon him' [Exod. 20:22; 23:20-21]. Who then, into the land,
led your fathers? Understand at last that the one named with this name, Jesus, was previously called Auses. For if you will understand this, and that the name of the one who said to Moses, 'for my name is upon him' [Exod. 23:21; cf. Num. 13:17], was Jesus, you will recognize it. For indeed he himself was also called Israel,
and he had likewise renamed Jacob with this same name [cf. Gen. 32:28]. And that the prophets sent by him to announce his messages are called both angels and apostles of God is made clear in Isaiah. For Isaiah says there: 'Send me' [Is. 6:8]. And that a strong and great prophet arose who was named with the name of Jesus
is plain to everyone. Since, then, we know that God appeared in so many different forms to Abraham, Jacob, and Moses, why should we hesitate or refuse to believe that, in keeping with the purpose of the Father of all, he was also able to be born a man through a virgin — especially when we possess so many scriptures from which one can clearly gather that, in accordance with the
...of the Father's plan, and this too has come to pass. For when Daniel says that one like a son of man receives the eternal kingdom [cf. Dan. 7:13-14], is he not hinting at this very thing? For to say 'like a son of man' shows one who appeared and became man, yet indicates that he does not exist from human seed. And to say that this stone was cut without hands [cf. ibid. 2:34]
cries out the same thing in a mystery; for to say that it was cut without hands shows that it is not a human work, but belongs to the plan of the Father of all, God, who put it forward. And for Isaiah to say, 'Who shall declare his generation?' [Is. 53:8], showed that he has a generation that cannot be declared; for no one who is a man born of men has a generation that cannot be declared.
And when Moses says that he would cleanse his garment in the blood of the grape [Gen. 49:11], this is nothing other than what I have already told you many times before — that he was prophesying in veiled language: he was signaling in advance that Christ would have blood, but not human blood, just as the blood of the vine is produced not by a man but by God. And Isaiah too,
by calling him the angel of great counsel [Is. 9:6], did he not proclaim beforehand that he would become a teacher of these very things which he taught when he came? For the great things which the Father had planned for all men, both those who have been and those who will be well-pleasing to him, and likewise for those men or angels who revolted from his plan, this one alone taught without concealment, saying: 'They shall come from the east and the west,'
'and will recline at the banquet together with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob within heaven's kingdom, while the sons of that kingdom get cast out into the outer darkness' [Matt. 8:11-12]. And: 'On that day many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not eat and drink, and prophesy, and drive out demons, all in your name? And I will tell them plainly, Get away from me' [Matt. 7:22-23, and Luke 13:26-27].
And in other words, by which he is going to condemn the unworthy so that they are not saved, he said he would say: 'Go into the outer darkness which the Father prepared for Satan and his angels' [Matt. 25:41]. And again in other words he said: 'I give you authority to trample upon serpents and scorpions and centipedes and'
'upon all the power of the enemy' [Luke 10:19]. And now we, who believe in Jesus our Lord, crucified under Pontius Pilate, exorcise all demons and evil spirits and hold them subject to us. For although it had been announced in veiled language by the prophets — that the Messiah was destined to suffer and afterward to become lord of all — still no one was able to grasp it,
until he himself persuaded the apostles that this had been proclaimed plainly in the scriptures. For before being crucified he cried out: 'The Son of man is destined to endure great suffering, to be repudiated by the scribes and Pharisees, to be crucified, and to rise again on the third day' [Mark 8:31; Luke 9:22]. And David too, according to the plan of the Father, proclaimed that he would be begotten from the womb before the sun and moon
[cf. Ps. 109:3, and 71:5, 17], and he showed him to be a mighty God [cf. Ps. 18:6] and one to be worshiped [cf. Ps. 44:13, and 71:11], being Christ. And Trypho said: 'That such and so many proofs as these are enough to make one blush, I grant you; but I want you to know that I demand of you the argument
which you have often put forward before, that you demonstrate it. So finish it for us as well, that we may see how you show that, just as that other passage, this one too is spoken of your Christ; for we say that it was prophesied concerning Hezekiah.' And I said: 'As you wish, I will do this too; but you first show me that this refers to Hezekiah — that before he was able to say "father"'
'or mother, he took the strength of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria before the king of the Assyrians.' You are not permitted to interpret this however you please — claiming that Hezekiah waged war against Damascus or Samaria before the king of the Assyrians. For 'before the child could say father or mother,' the prophetic word declared, 'he shall take the strength of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria before the king'
'of the Assyrians' [Is. 8:4]. Now if the prophetic spirit had spoken this without that added clause — if it had simply said, 'Before the child can say father or mother, he will seize Damascus's strength and Samaria's plunder,' rather than adding, 'And she will bear a son, and he will seize Damascus's strength and Samaria's plunder' — you might object: Since God knew in advance that the child would obtain these things, he simply predicted it ahead of time. But as it stands,
the prophecy speaks with this very addition: 'Before the child can say father or mother, he will seize Damascus's strength and Samaria's plunder.' And you have no way to show that this ever came true for anyone among the Jews, while we can show that it came true in our Christ. For at the moment of his birth, magi from Arabia arrived and bowed down to worship him, having first traveled
to Herod, who at that time was reigning in your land, whom the word calls king of the Assyrians on account of his godless and lawless disposition. For you know, I said, that the Holy Spirit often speaks in this way, in parables and comparisons, just as it also did to all the people in Jerusalem, saying to them often: 'Your father is an Amorite'
'and your mother a Hittite' [Ez. 16:3]. For this King Herod, when he had learned from the elders of your people (the magi from Arabia having then come to him and said that from a star that appeared in the sky, they had learned a king was born in your land, 'and we have come to worship him' [cf. Matt. 2:2]), and
when the elders said that it was in Bethlehem, since it is written in the prophet thus: 'And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people' [cf. ibid. 5, 6, and Mic. 5:2] — so when the magi from Arabia had come to Bethlehem and worshiped the child and
offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh, then, by revelation, after worshiping the child in Bethlehem, they were commanded not to return to Herod [cf. Matt. 2:11-12]. And Joseph, the one betrothed to Mary, having first wished to put away his betrothed Mary, supposing that she was pregnant by intercourse with a man, that is, by fornication, was commanded through a vision
not to put away his wife, the angel who appeared to him telling him that what she carried in her womb was of the Holy Spirit. Being afraid, then, he did not put her away [cf. Matt. 1:18-20], but, since there was then a first census in Judea under Cyrenius, he had traveled from Nazareth, his home, to Bethlehem, his ancestral town, to be registered; for his lineage was from the tribe of Judah which inhabited that land.
[cf. Luke 2:1-5]. And he himself, together with Mary, was commanded to go out into Egypt and to be there with the child, until it should again be revealed to them to return to Judea [cf. Matt. 2:13]. Now when the child had been born at that time in Bethlehem [cf. Matt. 2:1], since Joseph had nowhere to lodge in
that village, he lodged in a certain cave [cf. Protevangelium of James 17:3] near the village; and then, while they were there, Mary gave birth to the Christ and laid him in a manger [Luke 2:6-7], where the magi from Arabia came and found him [Matt. 2:11]. And that Isaiah also foretold beforehand concerning the sign relating to
the cave [Is. 33:16], I have already related to you, I said, and because those who came with you today should hear it as well, I will bring the passage to mind once more, I said; and I related and quoted beforehand the passage from Isaiah, saying it on account of those words that hand down the mysteries of Mithras, in a place among them called a cave, where they are initiated by them, this having been contrived by the
devil, I said, to be spoken. And Herod — since the magi from Arabia failed to come back to him as he had requested, and instead, following what had been commanded them, went off to their own land by a different road, and since Joseph, together with Mary and the child, having likewise been warned, had already departed into Egypt — not knowing which child it was that they had come to worship
...the magi, he ordered simply all the children in Bethlehem to be killed. And this had been prophesied to be about to happen through Jeremiah, who said through the Holy Spirit himself thus: 'A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and much lamentation; Rachel weeping for her children, and she was not willing to be comforted, because they are not.'
Because, then, of the voice that was to be heard from Ramah — that is, from Arabia (for even now there is a place in Arabia called Ramah) — weeping was about to overtake the spot where Rachel is buried, the wife of Jacob, who was renamed Israel, the holy patriarch — that is, Bethlehem — [fol. 133] with the women weeping over their own slaughtered children, and...
...having no comfort over what had befallen them. For indeed, when Isaiah says, 'He will seize Damascus's power and Samaria's spoils' [Is 8:4], this meant that the strength of the evil demon dwelling in Damascus would be overcome by Christ the moment he was born — and this is shown to have happened. For the magi, whom that demon had stripped bare toward every evil deed he worked in them, having come and...
...worshiped Christ, are shown to have departed from that power which had plundered them, which the word signified to us in a mystery as dwelling in Damascus. And that power, being sinful and unjust, he fittingly calls 'Samaria' by way of parable. And that Damascus was and is part of the land of Arabia, even though it is now reckoned as belonging to what is called Syrophoenicia, not even...
...some of you can deny. It would therefore be good for you, gentlemen, to learn what you have not understood from those who have received grace from our God, the Christians, rather than striving in every way to reinforce your own teachings, dishonoring the things of God. For this reason this grace has been transferred to us, [fol. 133] as Isaiah says, speaking thus: 'This people draws near to me...
...this people honors me with their lips, but their heart stays far removed from me; their worship of me is empty, since they teach human commands and instructions. Because of this, look — I am going to unsettle this people further, and unsettle them I will, and I will strip away the wisdom of their wise ones, and set at nothing the discernment of their discerning ones.' And...
Trypho, somewhat indignant yet respectful toward the scriptures, as was shown by the expression on his face, said to me: 'The things of God are holy, but your interpretations are contrived, as is plain even from what you have interpreted — or rather, they are even blasphemous, for you say that angels acted wickedly and revolted from God.' And I, in a more yielding tone, wishing to make him ready...
...to listen to me, answered, saying: 'I admire this reverence of yours, sir, and I pray that you may have this same disposition also toward him whom, as Daniel says, the angels are written to minister to — that as a son of man he is brought before the Ancient of Days, and to him is given all dominion forever and ever.' And so that...
...you may know, I said, sir, that we have not made this interpretation, which you find fault with, by our own presumption, I will give you testimony from Isaiah himself that he says that evil angels have dwelt and still dwell also in Tanis, the region of Egypt. These are the words: 'Woe, apostate children, thus says the Lord: you have made a plan not through me, and covenants...
...not through my spirit, adding sins to sins — you who set out to go down into Egypt, but have not asked me, in order to be helped by Pharaoh and sheltered under the shelter of the Egyptians. For Pharaoh's shelter will turn into disgrace for you, and those who put their confidence in the Egyptians will be shamed, since in Tanis there are wicked angels holding rule. In vain will they toil for a people who will not profit them...
...for help, but only for shame and reproach.' But Zechariah too says, as you yourself have mentioned, that the devil stood at the right hand of Jesus the priest to oppose him, and that the Lord said: 'The Lord rebuke you, who has chosen Jerusalem.' And again it is written in Job, as you yourself said, that the angels...
...took their place before the Lord, and the devil arrived along with them. And we have it written by Moses, at the beginning of Genesis, that the serpent deceived Eve and was cursed for it. And in Egypt we know that magicians attempted to equal the power worked by God through his faithful servant...
...Moses. And you're aware that David declared, 'The nations' gods are demons.' Trypho then replied: 'I already said to you, sir, that you're determined to stay secure on every point by fastening onto the scriptures. Now tell me this — do you Christians actually maintain that this place, Jerusalem, will be rebuilt, and that your people...
...will be gathered together and rejoice with the Christ, alongside the patriarchs, the prophets, and the saints of our race, or even of those who became proselytes before your Christ came — is this what you expect, or have you gone so far as to confess these things merely so that you may seem to get the better of us in our debates?' And I said: 'I am not so wretched, Trypho, as to say things other than what...
...I actually think. I confessed to you also before that I, along with many others, hold this view, so much so as to know with certainty that it is going to happen; but I also made clear to you that many of those who hold the pure and pious mind of the Christians do not recognize this. For as for those who are called Christians but are in fact godless and impious sectarians, who in every respect teach blasphemous and godless and...
...senseless things, this I made clear to you. And to show you that this isn't something I'm saying only when you're present, I will put together, as best I can, a record of everything discussed between us, in which I will also record this very confession of mine, which I confess to you as well. For I choose to follow not men, nor human teachings, but God, and...
...the teachings that come from him. For if you yourselves have encountered some who go by the name Christians but do not confess this, and who even venture to blaspheme the God whom Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob worshiped — people who claim there's no resurrection of the dead at all, but that their souls get taken up into heaven the instant they die — do not count these as Christians, just as no one, examining the matter rightly, would...
...admit the Sadducees to be Jews, nor the similar sects of the Genistae and the Meristae and the Galileans and the Hellenians and the Pharisees and the Baptists (and do not be displeased to hear me say everything I think), but rather those who are called Jews and children of Abraham, who confess God with their lips, as God himself has cried out, while keeping their heart far...
...from him. But I — and any Christians who think rightly on every point — know that the flesh will indeed rise again, and that a thousand years will pass in a rebuilt Jerusalem, adorned, [fol. 135] and made spacious, just as the prophets Ezekiel and Isaiah, along with the rest, affirm. For this is what Isaiah said about that thousand-year age: 'For there shall be...
...the heaven will be new and the earth new, and the former things will not be remembered nor come to mind, but they will find delight and rejoicing in it, in all that I create; for see, I am making Jerusalem a rejoicing and my people a delight, and I will take joy in Jerusalem and delight in my people. And no longer...
...shall the voice of weeping be heard in it, nor the voice of crying, nor shall there any longer be there one who dies before his time, nor an old man who does not fulfill his years; for the young man shall die at a hundred years old, and the sinner who dies at a hundred years old shall be under a curse. They will build houses and dwell in them themselves, and they shall plant vineyards and they themselves shall eat...
...their fruits. They will not build for others to inhabit, nor plant for others to eat; for the days of my people will match the days of the tree of life, and they will outlast the toil of their own labors. My chosen ones shall not labor in vain, nor bear children for a curse; for they are a righteous seed, blessed...
"...will be from the LORD, their offspring together with them. And before they cry out, I myself will have heard; while the word is still on their lips, I will say: What is it? Then wolf and lamb shall graze together, the lion shall eat chaff as the ox does, while the serpent eats dust as bread. Nothing shall harm or ruin anything on my holy mountain, says the LORD" [Isaiah 65:17-25].
"Now as for what is said in these words," I said, "As the days of the tree, so will the days of my people be; the works of their labors they will wear away" [Isaiah 65:22] — we have understood that this signifies, in a mystery, a thousand years. For just as it was said to Adam that on whatever day he ate from the tree, on that day he would die [Genesis 2:17],
we recognize that his life did not add up to a full thousand years. We have likewise grasped that the statement, "With the LORD one day is like a thousand years" [cf. Psalm 89:4], points to this very thing. Then too, a man from among our own number, John by name, one of Christ's apostles, foretold in a revelation granted to him that believers in our Christ would spend a thousand years in Jerusalem [Revelation 20:4-6],
and that after this will come the universal — in short, everlasting [cf. Hebrews 6:2] — resurrection of everyone together, along with the judgment. This is precisely what our Lord declared, that "they will not take wives nor be given as wives, but will be equal to angels, being children of God as children of the resurrection" [Luke 20:35-36]. For among us, even now, prophetic gifts are still found,
from which you yourselves ought to understand that the things which formerly existed in your race have been transferred to us. And in the same way that there were false prophets alongside the holy prophets who arose among you, so too among us now there are many false teachers, against whom our Lord warned us beforehand to be on guard, so that we should lack nothing, knowing that he had foreknowledge of the things
that were destined to befall us once he rose from the dead and went up into heaven. He told us we would be killed and despised because of his name, and that a great number of false prophets and false messiahs would appear claiming his name and would deceive many [cf. Matthew 24:5, 9, 11, 24, and 10:21-22]; and this has proven true. For many,
in his name, have taught godless and blasphemous and unjust things, corrupting the truth, and have taught, and still teach to this day, the things injected into their minds by the unclean spirit of the devil. We strive to persuade such people, just as we do you, not to be led astray, knowing that everyone who is able to speak the truth and does not speak it will be judged by God, just as God testified through Ezekiel,
saying: "I have made you a watchman for the house of Judah. If the sinner sins and you do not warn him, he will perish in his own sin, but I will require his blood from your hand; but if you warn him, you will be innocent" [cf. Ezekiel 3:17-19 and 33:7-9]. It is out of fear, then, that we too are eager to speak in accordance with the scriptures,
and not out of love of money or love of glory or love of pleasure — for on none of these counts can anyone prove us guilty. Nor, again, do we wish to live as the rulers of your people live — those whom God rebukes, saying: "Your officials keep company with thieves, they love bribes, they chase after payoffs" [Isaiah 1:23]. But if you know of any such people even among us, still,
do not blaspheme the scriptures and Christ on account of such people, nor be eager to twist their meaning. For indeed, "The Lord declared to my lord, 'Sit at my right hand, till I place your enemies as a footstool beneath your feet'" [Psalm 109:1] — your teachers have dared to interpret this as spoken of Hezekiah, as though he had been commanded to sit at the right of the temple,
when the king of the Assyrians sent to him with threats, and it was signified to him through Isaiah not to fear him. And that what was spoken by Isaiah did in fact happen [cf. Isaiah 37:33-38, and 4 Kingdoms 19:32-37] — that the king of the Assyrians turned back and did not make war on Jerusalem in the days of Hezekiah, and an angel of the LORD destroyed from
the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and eighty-five thousand men — this we know and confess. But that the psalm was not spoken of him is plain. For it reads: "The Lord declared to my lord, 'Sit at my right hand, till I place your enemies as a footstool beneath your feet. He will send out a rod of power from Jerusalem, and you will rule in the midst of your enemies.'"
"In the splendor of the holy ones, before the morning star I begot you. The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind: You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek" [Psalm 109:1-4]. Now that Hezekiah is not a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek, who does not acknowledge? And that he is not the one who redeems Jerusalem, who does not know? And that
he himself never sent out a rod of power to Jerusalem or ruled over his surrounding foes — rather it was God who turned the enemies back while Hezekiah wept and grieved; who does not know this? Yet our Jesus, though he has not yet come in glory, has already sent out a rod of power into Jerusalem — the message of calling and of repentance addressed to every nation, in the very place where the
demons had held mastery over them, just as David states: "The nations' gods are demons" [Psalm 96:5]. And his word carries such strength that it has led many to forsake the demons they once served and, through him, to put their trust in the almighty God, knowing that the gods of the nations are demons. And the saying "In the splendor of the holy ones, from the womb, before the morning star I begot you"
[Psalm 109:3] was spoken of Christ, as we have said before. And "Behold, the virgin will conceive in her womb and bear a son" [Isaiah 7:14] was foretold concerning this one. For if he of whom Isaiah spoke was not going to be born of a virgin, then to whom was the Holy Spirit calling out: "Look, the Lord himself will give us a sign — look, the virgin will conceive in her womb"
and bear a son" [ibid.]? For if this one too, like all other firstborn, were going to be born from intercourse, why would God be saying that he would perform a sign that is not common to all firstborn? Rather, what was truly to be a sign, and a trustworthy one, for the human race, was this: that through a virgin's womb the firstborn [cf. Colossians 1:15] of
all created things should truly become a human child made flesh, God having anticipated this, in various different ways, through the prophetic spirit — as I have narrated to you — foretelling it in advance, so that when it happened, brought about through the might and purpose of the one who made all things, it would be known for what it was; just as Eve, too, arose from a single rib of Adam, and just as every other living creature was brought into existence by God's word. Yet you
dare, even in these matters, to reject the interpretations that your elders made under Ptolemy the king of the Egyptians, saying that the scripture does not read as they interpreted it, but instead: "Behold," it says, "the young woman will conceive in her womb" — as though great matters were being signified by the fact that a woman would give birth after intercourse, which all young women do,
except for the barren — whom too God, when he wills it, is able to make bear children. For the mother of Samuel, though barren, bore a child by the will of God [cf. 1 Kingdoms 1:20], as did the wife of the holy patriarch Abraham [cf. Genesis 21:2], and Elizabeth who bore John the Baptist [cf. Luke 1:57], and certain others likewise. So that it is not impossible for you to suppose
that God can do all things he wills. And especially since it had been prophesied that this was going to happen, you must not dare to reject or twist the meaning of the prophecies, since you will only harm yourselves and will not injure God at all. For indeed the prophecy that says, "Lift up the gates, you rulers of yours, and be lifted up, you everlasting gates, that the king of glory may enter" [Psalm 23:7], likewise
some among you dare to interpret as spoken of Hezekiah, others of Solomon. But it cannot be shown to have been spoken of this one, nor of that one, nor simply of any other king of yours at all, but only of this Christ of ours, who appeared without form or honor [cf. Isaiah 53:2-3], as Isaiah said, and David, and all
...the scriptures, who is "the Lord of powers" [cf. Ps 23:10] because of the will of the Father who gave it to him — he who was raised up from among the dead and went up into heaven, just as this psalm and the other scriptures showed plainly, declaring him Lord of powers — so that now too, from what is happening before your very eyes, it may be easier for you to be persuaded, if
you are willing. For against this very name of him, the Son of God and firstborn of all creation [cf. Col 1:15], born through a virgin and become a man capable of suffering, crucified under Pontius Pilate by your people and put to death, and risen from the dead and ascended into heaven — every demon that is exorcised is conquered and subjected. But if
you exorcise by invoking the name of any figure who has arisen among you — whether kings, righteous men, prophets, or patriarchs — none of the demons will submit; but if one of you exorcises by invoking the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, it may well submit. Indeed, your own exorcists, already using the same technique as the pagans, exorcise using
incense and use binding-spells, I said. And that there are also angels and powers, to whom the word of the prophecy spoken through David — "lift up the gates," so that this one who rose from the dead, the Lord of powers, might enter according to the will of the Father, Jesus Christ — the word of David likewise showed, and I will mention it again on account of those
who weren't with us yesterday either, and for their sake I go back over much of what was said yesterday, in summary. So here, even though I've said this repeatedly, I don't think it's pointless to say again: it's an absurd thing, watching the sun, moon, and the rest of the stars endlessly trace the same path, and the seasons turn,
and a man skilled in reckoning, if asked how much twice two is, because he has often said "four," not stop saying "four" again — and likewise all the other things that are firmly agreed always to be said and acknowledged in the same way — and yet to let the man who builds his discourse from the prophetic scriptures alone and not always say the same scriptures, but
suppose himself better than the scripture that begot him, and speak as he pleases. This, then, is the word by which I indicated that God shows that there are also angels in heaven and powers: "Give praise to the Lord out of the heavens; give him praise in the heights. Give him praise, all his angels; give him praise, all his hosts" [Ps 148:1-2]. And
a certain man named Mnaseas, one of those who had come together with them on the second day, said: "We too rejoice again as you try to say the same things for our sake." And I said: "Listen, friends, to what scripture I obey in doing these things. Jesus directed us to show love even toward our enemies [cf. Matt 5:44 and Luke 6:27], which had also been proclaimed through Isaiah at greater length, in which also"
the mystery of our second birth, and simply of all those who expect Christ to appear in Jerusalem and are eager to please him through works. These are the words spoken through Isaiah: "Hear the word of the Lord, you who tremble at his word. Say: our brothers, to those who hate you and abhor you, let the Lord's name be honored. He appeared in their joy,
and they will be put to shame. A voice of an outcry from the city, a voice of a people, a voice of the Lord rendering recompense to the arrogant. Before she who was in labor gave birth, and before the pain of labor came upon her, she brought forth a male child. Who has heard such a thing, and who has seen it thus — if the earth were in labor in a single day, or if a nation were born all at once, because Zion was in labor and bore her"
"children? But this was the expectation I gave, though you were not bearing, declares the Lord. See, it is I who caused her to conceive and made her barren, says the Lord. Rejoice, Jerusalem, and hold festival, all you who love her; rejoice, all you who mourn over her, that you may nurse and be filled from the breast of her consolation, that having nursed you may delight in the abundance of her glory" [Isa 66:5-11].
And having said these things I added: "That after this one was crucified, whom the scriptures show will come again in glory [cf. Dan 7:13-14 and Ps 23:7], he had as a symbol the tree of life [cf. Gen 2:9 and Prov 3:18] — the tree that, as tradition tells it, grew within paradise — and also of the things to come for all the righteous — listen. Moses was sent with a rod
for the redemption of the people [cf. Exod 4:17], and with that same staff gripped in his hand, standing before the people, he split the sea apart [cf. Exod 14:16], and through it he saw water gush forth from the rock [cf. Exod 17:5-6, and Num 20:8]; and by throwing a piece of wood into the water at Marah, which was bitter, he made it sweet [cf.
Exod 15:23-25]. Jacob, by throwing rods into the water-troughs, succeeded in making the sheep of his mother's brother conceive spotted young, so that he might acquire for himself what was born of them; the same Jacob boasts that he crossed the river with his rod [cf. Gen 30:37-38, and 32:10]. He claims to have seen a ladder in a vision, and scripture makes clear that God stood firmly at its top [cf. Gen
28:12-13]; and that it was not the Father, we have demonstrated from the scriptures. And by pouring oil upon a stone in that same place, Jacob is testified to have anointed a pillar to the God who had appeared to him, at the command of that very God who appeared to him [cf. Gen 28:18, and 31:13]. And that Christ was symbolically proclaimed as a stone through many scriptures, we have likewise demonstrated;
and that every anointing, whether of oil or of myrrh-oil or of the other unguents in the composition of perfume, belonged to him, we have likewise demonstrated, the Word saying: "Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions" [Ps 44:7]. For indeed all the kings and the anointed ones received their share from this, and
were called kings and anointed ones — just as he himself likewise received from the Father the names king, Christ, priest, and angel, along with whatever other titles of that kind he holds or once held. The rod of Aaron that bore a bud showed him to be high priest [cf. Num 17:8]. Isaiah prophesied that Christ would come as a rod from the root of Jesse [cf. Isa 11:1]. And David spoke of him as
the tree planted along the channels of water, yielding fruit at the proper time, its leaves never withering — this, he says, is the righteous man [cf. Ps 1:3]. And it is said that the righteous man will flourish like a palm tree [cf. Ps 91:12]. God appeared to Abraham from a tree, as it is written, by the oak
of Mamre [cf. Gen 18:1]. Crossing the Jordan, the people came upon twelve springs and seventy willow trees [cf. Exod 15:27 and Num 33:9]. David says he was comforted by God with rod and staff [cf. Ps 22:4]. Elisha, by throwing a stick into the Jordan river, raised the iron axe-head that belonged to one of the sons of the prophets, who had gone
to cut wood for building the house in which they wished to speak of and study the law and the ordinances of God [cf. 2 Kings 6:1-7]; just as us too, baptized though we were in the heaviest sins we had committed, our Christ redeemed through being crucified upon the wood and through purifying us by water, and made us a house of prayer and
worship. And it was a rod that showed Judah to be the father of those born from Tamar through a great mystery [cf. Gen 38:25-26]." And Trypho, when I had said these things, said: "Do not suppose any longer that in asking whatever I ask I am trying to overturn what is said by you, but rather that I wish to learn concerning these very things about which I ask. Tell me, then, concerning the"
word spoken through Isaiah: "A staff will emerge out of Jesse's root, and a blossom will spring up out of Jesse's root, and God's Spirit will settle upon him — a Spirit of wisdom and insight, a Spirit of counsel and strength, a Spirit of knowledge and reverence — and he will fill him with a Spirit of fear toward God" [Isa 11:1-3]. And having acknowledged these things to me, he was saying that they are spoken of Christ, and of God...
"You say that he pre-existed, and that in accordance with the will of God he was made flesh and, you say, was born a man through the virgin — how can it be demonstrated that he pre-existed, if it is he who is filled, as though he lacked them, through the powers of the Holy Spirit which the word enumerates through Isaiah?" And I answered: "You have asked most intelligently and most shrewdly; indeed it seems truly to be a difficulty. But—"
"—so that you may see the account concerning these things too, listen to what I say. These enumerated powers of the Spirit, the word says, came upon him not because he was in need of them, but because they were about to come to rest upon him, that is, to come to an end in him, so that there would no longer arise in your nation, according to the ancient custom, prophets — which you can also see for yourselves,"
"for after him no prophet whatsoever has arisen among you. And that the prophets among you, each receiving one power from God, or even a second, did and spoke those things which we too have learned from the scriptures — consider also what is said by me. Solomon had the spirit of wisdom, and Daniel that of understanding and"
"counsel, while Moses held that of strength and piety, and Elijah held the one of fear, and Isaiah the one of knowledge; the rest likewise possessed either a single power each, or at times one power combined with another — as, for instance, Jeremiah, and the Twelve, and David, and simply all the others who have arisen as prophets among you. He rested, then — that is, it ceased — when that one came, after"
"whom, since this dispensation of his among men took place in time, it was necessary that these powers should cease from among you, and that in him, having again received rest, as had been prophesied, they should become gifts, which he gives from the grace of the power of that Spirit to those who believe on him, as he knows each to be worthy. And that it had been prophesied that this was going to happen through him after his ascension into heaven,"
"I have already said, and I say again. He said, then: 'He went up on high, took captivity itself captive, and gave gifts to mankind's sons' [Ps. 68:18, cf. Eph. 4:8]. And again it is said in another prophecy: 'And it shall be after these things, I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and upon my menservants and upon my maidservants,'"
"'and they shall prophesy' [Joel 2:28-29]. And among us it is possible to see both women and men possessing gifts from the Spirit of God. So it was not for lack of power in him that Isaiah's list of powers was foretold to descend upon him, but because nothing was meant to exist beyond him. Let this also be a testimony for you,"
"which I told you had come about through the magi from Arabia — the moment the child was born, they arrived and bowed down to him. For even at his birth he had his own power; and as he grew up in the common way of all other men, using what was fitting, he assigned to each stage of growth what belonged to it, being fed with all kinds of food, and having remained thirty years, or"
"more or even fewer, until John stepped forward to proclaim his arrival and to clear the road toward baptism, as I have already demonstrated. Then, once Jesus arrived at the Jordan river, where John was baptizing, and Jesus descended into the water, a fire blazed up in the Jordan, and as he rose up from"
"the water, this same Christ's own apostles recorded that the Holy Spirit descended onto him in the likeness of a dove [cf. Luke 3:21-22, Matt 3:13-16]. And we understand that he approached the river not out of any personal need to be baptized, nor from a need for the Spirit that settled on him shaped like a dove, just as he did not submit to birth and crucifixion out of need"
"of these things, but on behalf of the human race, which since Adam had fallen under death and the serpent's deception, each person sinning through his own individual fault. For God, wanting these beings — angels as well as men — made with free choice and self-determination, to do whatever each was empowered to do, arranged things so that if"
"they should choose the things pleasing to him, he would keep them incorruptible and unpunished, but if they should sin, he would punish each as seems good to him. And indeed, that he sat upon a donkey and entered into Jerusalem, as we have shown had been prophesied, did not create in him the power to be the Christ, but rather bore for men a sign that he is the Christ — in the same way as, in the case of John also,"
"there had to be a sign for men, so that they might recognize who the Christ is. For John, sitting beside the Jordan and proclaiming a baptism of repentance, dressed only in a leather belt and a garment made of camel's hair, and eating nothing except locusts and wild honey [cf. Matt 3:1-4, Mark 1:4-6, Luke 3:3], was supposed by people to be"
"the Christ [cf. Luke 3:15]; to which very people he himself cried out: 'I am not the Christ, but a voice of one crying' [cf. John 1:20-23]; 'for one mightier than I is coming, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry' [cf. Matt 3:11, Luke 3:16]. And when Jesus came to the Jordan, taken to be Joseph the carpenter's son"
"[cf. Matt 13:55, Luke 3:23], and appearing without comeliness, as the scriptures proclaimed [cf. Isa 53:2-3], and being supposed to be a carpenter [cf. Mark 6:3] — for he used to perform these carpenter's works among men, plows and yokes, teaching through these also symbols of justice and a life of active work [cf. Gospel of Thomas 13:1] — then the Holy Spirit, likewise for humanity's sake, as I said before, descended onto him like a dove, and at the same moment a voice sounded from the heavens,"
"which, spoken also through David, as though from his own person, saying what was about to be said to him by the Father: 'You are my son; today I have begotten you' [cf. Luke 3:21-22 and Ps. 2:7] — meaning by this that his generation was then coming to be for men, from the time when knowledge of him was about to come to be."
And Trypho said: "Know well," he said, "that our whole nation awaits the Christ, and that all the scriptures you have mentioned were spoken concerning him — this we confess; and that the name Jesus has moved me, that it was given to the son of Nun,"
"as a persuasive point in favor of this too, this I say. But whether the Christ should be crucified so dishonorably, we are at a loss — for the law itself declares anyone hung on a cross to be under a curse [cf. Deut 21:23, Gal 3:13]; so on this point I am still hard to persuade. That the Christ is one who suffers, since the scriptures proclaim it, is evident; but if it is by"
"the suffering that is cursed in the law, we wish to learn, if you are able to demonstrate this too concerning it." "If the Christ were not going to suffer," I said to him, "and the prophets had not foretold that because of the transgressions of the people he would be led to death [Isa 53:8], and would be dishonored [ibid. 3], and would be scourged, and would be reckoned among the lawless [ibid. 12], and"
"would be brought like a lamb to slaughter [ibid. 7], whose lineage, as the prophet says, no one can recount [ibid. 8], it would be right to marvel. But if this is the very thing that marks him and reveals him to all, how is it that we too have not confidently come to believe in him? And as many as have understood the words of the prophets will say that it is this one, and no other, if only they hear that this man was crucified."
"Then bring us forward too," he said, "from the scriptures, so that we too may be persuaded by you. That he was to suffer, and to be led as a sheep [Isa 53:7], we know; but that he was also to be crucified, and to die so shamefully and dishonorably by the death cursed in the law [cf. Deut 21:23, Gal 3:13], demonstrate to us; for we are not able even to"
"come to a conception of this." "Do you know," I said, "that whatever the prophets said and did, as has also been agreed by you, they revealed through parables and types, so that most things would not easily be understood by everyone, concealing the truth in them, so that those seeking to find and learn would also labor?" And they said: "This too has been agreed by us." "Listen, then," I said, "to the—"
after this. For Moses first revealed this seeming curse of his through the signs he performed. "Which signs are these," he said, "that you mean?" "When the people," I said, "were warring against Amalek, and the son of Nun, who was surnamed with the name Jesus, was leading the battle, Moses himself prayed to God, stretching out his hands on both sides, and Hor and Aaron held them up all day long,
so that they would not slacken if he grew weary. For if he had let go of any part of this posture, which imitates the cross, as it is written in the scriptures of Moses [cf. Ex. 17:9ff.], the people were being defeated; but if he remained in this position, Amalek was so thoroughly conquered, and it was through the cross that he who was strong prevailed. For it was not because Moses prayed in this way that the people became stronger,
but because, while the name of Jesus stood at the battle's forefront, Moses himself traced the sign of the cross. Which of you is unaware that most of all a prayer offered with lamenting and tears softens God, especially with a prostrate posture, or with someone kneeling down? But in this manner, sitting upon a stone, neither
did he himself pray in this way, nor did anyone else afterward. And the stone too has a symbolic reference, as I have shown, to Christ. For indeed, revealing through another means the power of the mystery of the cross, God spoke through Moses in the blessing with which he blessed Joseph: "His land comes from the LORD's blessing, from the seasons of heaven and the dew, and from the deep springs below
below, and from the season of the produce of the sun's turnings, and from the conjunctions of the months, and from the top of the chief mountains, and from the top of the hills, and from the ever-flowing rivers, and from the fullness of the fruits of the earth. And may the things acceptable to him who appeared in the bush come upon the head of Joseph and upon the crown. Glorified among his brothers as firstborn, the beauty of a bull is his, the horns of a unicorn are his horns,
with them he shall gore the nations together, even to the end of the earth" [Deut. 33:13-17]. For the horns of a unicorn could be said and shown to belong to no other thing or shape than the figure which displays the cross. For the upright piece is one single beam, and from it the uppermost part rises into the likeness of a horn, once the crossbeam is joined onto it,
and on both sides the ends appear like horns joined to the one horn; and the piece fixed in the middle, which likewise projects, is also like a horn, on which those who are crucified are mounted, and it too is seen as a horn, shaped and fixed together with the other horns. And the text "With them he shall gore the nations together, even to the end of the earth" [Deut. 33:17]
is a sign of what has now come to pass among all the nations. For being gored, that is, pierced to the heart, those from every nation have through this mystery been turned to the worship of God, away from vain idols and demons, while for the unbelieving this same figure is shown to be for their ruin and condemnation; in the same way that among the people who came out of Egypt,
through both the type of the stretching out of the hands of Moses and the invocation of the name Jesus by the son of Nun, Amalek was defeated and Israel was victorious. And through the type and sign against the serpents that were biting Israel, the setting up of the bronze serpent appears to have come about for the salvation of those who believe [cf. John 3:15], because through him who was about to be crucified
death would come to be proclaimed beforehand from that time against the serpent, but salvation to those who are bitten by it and who flee for refuge to him who sent his crucified Son into the world [cf. John 3:14-16]; for the prophetic Spirit was not teaching us through Moses to believe in a serpent, since it also shows that the serpent was cursed by God from the beginning [cf. Gen. 3:14],
and in Isaiah it signifies that it will be destroyed as an enemy by the great sword, which is Christ [Is. 27:1]. If, then, someone should not receive, along with great grace from God, the understanding of what has been spoken and done by the prophets, it will profit him nothing merely to seem to recite the words or the events, if he does not also have a rational account to give concerning them.
But perhaps these things, spoken by those who do not understand them, will seem contemptible to most people? For if someone should wish to examine you as to why Enoch and Noah, together with his children, and any others of that kind who have existed, though neither circumcised nor keeping the sabbath, were well-pleasing to God, what is the reason that after so many generations God should see fit, through other guardians and a legislation,
to justify those from Abraham until Moses through circumcision, but those from Moses onward both through circumcision and through the other commandments, that is, the sabbath and sacrifices and libations and offerings, unless, as I have said before, you can show that it is because God, being foreknowing, knew that your people would deserve to be cast out
from Jerusalem and that no one would be permitted to enter there? For you are recognized by nothing else, as I have said, except by the circumcision of the flesh. For not even Abraham was testified by God to be righteous because of circumcision, but because of faith; for before he was circumcised it was said of him thus: "And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned
to him as righteousness" [Gen. 15:6; cf. Rom. 4:10]. So we too, though our flesh remains uncircumcised, trust God through Christ, and we hold the circumcision that truly profits those who possess it—that is, the circumcision of the heart—hoping to be shown righteous and pleasing to God, since he has already borne witness to us through the prophetic words. As for
your being commanded to keep the sabbath and to bring offerings, and for the Lord's permitting a place to be called by the name of God, it was, as has been said, so that you would not turn into idol-worshippers who forget God and so become godless and irreverent—which is exactly what you always seem to have been. And that God gave the commandments concerning sabbaths and offerings for these reasons has already been shown by me through what has been said before; but concerning
those who have come today, I want to take up almost all the same points again. Since, if this is not so, God will be falsely accused, as though he had neither foreknowledge nor taught all people the same just things to know and to do (since many generations of humanity clearly lived before Moses ever appeared), and there would be no truth in the saying that God is true and just, and all
his paths are just judgments, and no wrongdoing is found in him [Deut. 32:4; cf. Ps. 91:16 LXX (92:15)]. Since, then, the saying is true, and God always wishes you not to be such senseless and self-loving people, so that you may be saved along with Christ, who is well-pleasing to God and has been testified to, as I said before, God having wrought the demonstration through the holy prophetic words.
For the things that are just always and altogether he provides, and all righteousness, in every race of men, and every race knows that adultery is evil, and fornication, and murder, and all other such things. And even if all should do them, yet they are not free from wrongdoing when they do these things, since they know it, except for those who, being filled with an unclean spirit, and being corrupted by upbringing
and by base customs and wicked laws, have lost their natural conceptions, or rather have quenched them, or hold them suppressed. For it is possible to see that even such people do not wish to suffer the same things which they themselves inflict on others, and, in mutually hostile consciences, reproach one another for the very things they themselves do. Hence it seems to me to have been well said by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
that all righteousness and piety are fulfilled in two commandments [Matt. 22:40]; and these are: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your strength, and your neighbor as yourself" [Luke 10:27; cf. Mark 12:30-31]. For the one who loves God with all his heart and with all his strength,
being full of a godly mind, will honor no other god; and he will honor that angel, if God so wishes, who is loved by him, the Lord and God. And the one who loves his neighbor as himself will wish for him too the good things he wishes for himself; and no one will wish evil things for himself. These same things, then, he would both pray and work to come about for his neighbor,
which also to himself — he who loves his neighbor; and man's neighbor is nothing other than a fellow-feeling and rational living being, man. Since all righteousness is thus divided in two, toward both God and men, whoever, says the word, "loves the Lord God with all his heart and with all his strength, and his neighbor as himself,"
would truly be righteous. But you have never once shown friendship or love toward God, or toward the prophets, or toward one another; rather, as is being shown, you are found to be idolaters at all times and murderers of the righteous, to the point that you laid violent hands on Christ himself, continuing in your wickedness even now, cursing also those who
prove that this one crucified by you is the Christ; and beyond this you insist on proving that he was crucified as an enemy of God and one accursed — which is the work of your irrational thinking. For although you have grounds, from the signs that took place through Moses, to understand that this is he, you are unwilling; and besides this, supposing that we are unable to reason, you raise objections which fall back upon yourselves, and you find yourselves at a loss for words whenever you encounter a vigorous Christian.
Answer me this: did not God himself instruct, through Moses, that no image or likeness be made of anything at all—whether of what is above in heaven or what is on earth—and yet this very God, in the wilderness, had Moses fashion the bronze serpent and raise it up as a sign,
by which sign those bitten by serpents were saved — and is he not free of wrongdoing? For through this, as I said before, he was proclaiming a mystery, by which he proclaimed that he would abolish the power of the serpent — the very one who had also brought about the transgression through Adam — and proclaimed salvation for those who believe on this one who, through this sign,
that is, the cross, was to die because of the bites of the serpent — which are evil deeds, idolatries and other injustices. Since, if this is not to be understood in this way, give me an account of why Moses set up the bronze serpent as a sign, and commanded those who were bitten to look upon it, and the bitten were healed — and this though he himself had commanded that no likeness of anything whatever be made. And
the other man, one from the group who had arrived on the second day, spoke up: "What you say is true; we have no answer to give. I myself have often put this question to our teachers, and none of them answered me. So go on and say what you have to say, for we are listening closely as you lay open a mystery by which the teachings of the prophets themselves are shown to have been distorted." And I replied: Just as
God ordered the sign of the bronze serpent to be made and bears no guilt for it, so likewise the law pronounces a curse on men who are crucified; yet that curse no longer rests on the Christ of God, through whom he rescues everyone whose deeds have earned a curse. For the entire human race, in fact, stands condemned under a curse by the law of Moses. As it is written,
"Cursed is everyone who does not persist in doing all the things set down in the book of the law." No one has carried out everything with precision, and you will not dare to say otherwise; rather, some have kept what was commanded more fully than others, and some less. And if those who live under this law are shown to be under a curse
because they did not keep all things, will it not be far more evident that all the nations are under a curse, given that they practice idolatry, and the corruption of children, and work the other evils? If then the Father of all willed that his own Christ should take upon himself the curses of all, on behalf of men of every race,
knowing that he would raise him up after he had been crucified and had died, why do you brand as accursed the one who, in obedience to the Father's plan, endured this suffering, rather than mourning for yourselves? For if both his Father and he himself brought it about that he should suffer these things on behalf of the human race, you did not act in this as men serving the purpose of God; for neither did you, in killing the prophets, perform an act of piety.
And let none of you say: "If the Father willed him to suffer these things, so that by his wound he might become equal to the race of men, we have done no wrong." If, then, repenting of your sins and recognizing that this is the Christ and keeping his commandments, you will say this, forgiveness of your sins will be yours, as I said before.
But if you curse him and those who believe in him, and, whenever you have the power, kill them, how will it not be charged against you that you laid your hands upon him, seeing you act as unjust and sinful men, utterly hard-hearted and senseless? For indeed that which is said in the law, "Cursed is everyone who hangs upon
a tree," is not to be understood by us — as though God were cursing this crucified one — as weakening our hope, which hangs upon the crucified Christ, but rather as God having foretold what would be done by all of you and those like you, who do not know that this is he who is, before all ages, the eternal priest of God
and king and Christ who was to come. And this you may see happening even before your eyes; for in your synagogues you curse all who have become Christians through him, while the other nations put the curse into actual effect, killing those who simply admit to being Christians. To every one of them we say: "You are our brothers;
acknowledge rather the truth of God." And if we fail to persuade either them or you, and instead you press us to renounce the name of Christ, we would rather die and hold firm, convinced that all the good things God has promised through Christ he will render to us. And besides all this we pray for you, that you may obtain mercy from Christ. For he
it was who taught us to pray even for our enemies, saying: "Show kindness and compassion, just as your heavenly Father does." And indeed we see that God the Almighty is kind and merciful, making his sun rise upon the ungrateful and the just, and sending rain upon the holy and the wicked,
all of whom, he taught, he is also going to judge. For indeed the fact that the prophet Moses remained until evening, when Hur and Aaron were supporting his hands, did not happen by chance in that posture; for the Lord too remained on the tree almost until evening, and toward evening they buried him;
then he rose on the third day. This had been proclaimed beforehand through David in this way: "With my voice I cried out to the Lord, and he heard me from his holy mountain. I lay down and slept; I awoke, because the Lord sustained me." And through Isaiah it had likewise been spoken concerning him, as to the manner in which he was to die, thus: "I stretched out my hands
to a disobedient and contradicting people, who walk along a path that is not good." Isaiah likewise declared that he would rise again, saying: "His tomb has been removed from its place." And again: "I will give the rich in exchange for his death." And in other words again David spoke of the suffering and the cross, in
a mysterious parable, thus, in the twenty-first psalm: "They dug my hands and my feet, they numbered all my bones; and they themselves looked on and gazed at me. They divided my garments among themselves, and cast lots for my clothing." Indeed, at the moment of his crucifixion, as the nails were hammered in, his hands and his feet were pierced,
and those who crucified him divided his garments among themselves, each casting his lot according to what the throw of the lot allotted him to choose. And you say that this very psalm was not spoken concerning Christ, being blind in every respect, and not understanding that no one among the
a king was once spoken of, from your race, who was pierced through the hands and feet while alive and died through this mystery — that is, through being crucified — if this is not Jesus alone. And I would say the whole psalm, so that you may also hear his piety toward the Father, and how he refers everything to him, and how he himself asks to be saved by him from this
death, while at the same time showing in the psalm what sort of men were rising up against him, and demonstrating that he truly became a man capable of suffering. It is this: "God, my God, attend to me. Why have you forsaken me? Far from my salvation are the words of my transgressions. My God, I will cry out by day to you and
you will not hear, and by night, and it is not folly in me. But you dwell in the holy place, O praise of Israel. In you our fathers hoped; they hoped and you delivered them. To you they cried out and were saved; in you they hoped and were not put to shame. But I am a worm and not a man, a reproach of men and despised by the people. All who see
me mocked me, and they spoke with their lips, they shook their heads: "He trusted in the Lord—let the Lord set him free, let him rescue him, since he delights in him." For you are the one who pulled me forth from the womb, my trust even at my mother's breasts; upon you I was thrown from the moment of birth, and from my mother's belly you have been my God. Do not stand apart from me, for tribulation is near, for
there is no one to help me. Many calves surrounded me, fat bulls encircled me; they opened their mouth against me like a lion seizing prey and roaring. My bones were poured out like water and all scattered. My heart became like wax melting within my belly; my vigor withered like a shard of pottery, and my tongue
clung to my throat, and you laid me down in the dust of death; a pack of dogs closed in around me, a band of evildoers surrounded me. They bored through my hands and my feet; they counted every one of my bones; and they watched and gloated over me. They divided my garments among themselves, and cast lots for my clothing. But you, Lord, do not
put your help far from me; give heed to my defense. Rescue my soul from the sword; save my only life from the grip of the dog; deliver me from the mouth of the lion, and my humble state from the horns of the wild oxen. I will proclaim your name to my brothers, in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise. You who fear the Lord, praise him, all the
offspring of Jacob, glorify him; let all the offspring of Israel fear him" [Ps 21:2-23]. And having said this, I added: I will thus show you that the whole psalm was spoken concerning Christ, and I will explain it to you again point by point. What it says right at the start: "God, my God, attend to me; why have you forsaken me?" [Ps 21:2] — this he foretold long ago
as what was to be said by Christ. For when he was crucified he said, "God, God, why have you forsaken me?" [Matt 27:46; Mark 15:34]. And what follows: "Far from my salvation are the words of my transgressions; my God, I will cry out by day to you and you will not hear, and by night, and it is not folly in me" [Ps 21:2-3],
just as the very deeds he intended to perform had already been predicted. On the day he was due to be crucified, he took three of his disciples up to the mountain called the Mount of Olives, situated close beside the temple in Jerusalem, and prayed: "Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me" [Matt 26:39]. And after this, praying, he says, "Not
as I will, but as you wish" — thereby revealing through these words that he had genuinely become a man subject to suffering. But lest anyone claim, "He therefore had no idea he was about to suffer" — he immediately follows in the psalm with the words: "nor is it senselessness in me." Just as it was no sign of folly for God to ask Adam where he was [cf. Gen 3:9], nor to ask
Cain where Abel was [cf. Gen 4:9], but rather so as to convict each of them of what sort of person he was, and so that knowledge of all these things might come to us through their being written down — so too this man was signifying not his own folly, but that of those who thought he was not the Christ, but rather those who imagined they could kill him and expected him to remain in Hades as an ordinary man. What follows: "But you
dwell in the holy place, O praise of Israel" [Ps 21:4] — this signified that he was about to do something worthy of praise and wonder, being about to rise on the third day following his crucifixion, a rising he has received from his Father [cf. John 10:18]. I have already demonstrated that both the names Jacob and Israel are applied to Christ; and not only in the blessing of
Joseph and Judah did I show that the things concerning him were proclaimed in mystery, but the gospel too records him saying: "All things have been given over to me by my Father, and none knows the Father but the Son, and none knows the Son but the Father and whoever the Son chooses to reveal him to" [Matt 11:27]. He has therefore revealed to us everything that
we have also come to understand from the scriptures through his grace, learning that he is the firstborn of God and before all created things [cf. Col 1:15-17], and the son of the patriarchs, since, having been made flesh through the virgin from their race, he submitted to becoming a man without beauty, without honor, and capable of suffering [cf. Isa 53:2-3]. Hence also in his words
he said, when he was speaking about his coming suffering, that "the Son of man is destined to suffer greatly, to be spurned by the Pharisees and scribes, to be crucified, and to rise again on the third day" [Mark 8:31; Luke 9:22]. He therefore called himself Son of man, either from his birth through the virgin, which was, as I have said, from
the lineage of David, Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham—or since Adam is the father not only of these listed men but also of the virgin herself, from whom Mary's line descends [cf. Luke 3:38]; for we know that the fathers of daughters' offspring are reckoned as the begetters of the children born to those females. And indeed, when Simon, one of his disciples, previously called by that name, recognized him as Christ, the Son of God, according to the revelation of his Father,
he renamed him Peter [cf. Matt 16:15-18]. And since the apostles' memoirs record him as Son of God [ibid.], and since they call him Son, we have come to understand that he existed prior to all created things, having proceeded from the Father through his power and purpose—he who is also called Wisdom [Prov 8:1
and following], and Day [Ps 117:24], and Dayspring [Zech 6:12], and Sword [Isa 27:1], and Stone [Dan 2:34], and Rod [Isa 11:1], and Jacob [Ps 23:6], and Israel [Ps 71:18] — called by one name and another in the words of the prophets — and that he became man through the virgin, so that
by the same path along which the disobedience originating from the serpent had its beginning, through that same path it might also find its undoing. For Eve, a virgin still untouched, conceived the serpent's word and brought forth disobedience and death [cf. Jas 1:15]; but Mary the virgin, receiving faith and gladness when the angel Gabriel brought her the good news that the Lord's Spirit was about to come
upon her and the power of the Most High would overshadow her, and that therefore the one born of her would be holy, the Son of God [cf. Luke 1:26,35; Protevangelium of James 11:2ff; 12:2], answered: "Let it be to me according to your word" [cf. Luke 1:38]. And through her this man was born, concerning whom we have shown so many scriptures to have been spoken,
through whom God dissolves both the serpent and the angels and men who became like it, and works release from death for those who repent of their evil deeds and believe in him. What follows in the psalm is this, where it says: "In you our fathers hoped; they hoped and you delivered them; to you they cried out and were saved; in
'in you they hoped and were not put to shame; but I am a worm and not a man, a reproach of men and despised by the people' [Ps. 21:5-7]—these words indicate that he acknowledges as fathers those who placed their hope in God and were rescued by him—men who were indeed the fathers of the virgin through whom he was born, having taken on human flesh, and he thereby signals that he himself would be saved by that same God,
but not boasting that he acts by his own will or strength. For on earth too he did the same thing: when someone said to him, 'Good teacher,' he answered, 'Why do you address me as good? Only one is good — my Father, who dwells in the heavens' [cf. Matt. 19:16-17; Mark 10:17-18; Luke 18:18-19]. And his saying, 'I am a worm and not
a man, a reproach of men and despised by the people,' foretold things that plainly both were and were coming to be for him. For it is a reproach to us, the men who believe in him, everywhere; and it is 'despised by the people,' because he was despised and dishonored by your people and suffered these things which you contrived against him. And what follows: 'All who saw me mocked me, and spoke with their lips,'
'they shook their heads: he set his hope on the Lord; let the Lord rescue him, let him save him, since he delights in him' [Ps. 21:8-9]—he likewise foretold that these same things would happen to him. For those who saw him crucified each shook their heads [cf. Matt. 27:39 and Mark 15:29] and twisted their lips, and sneering at one another through their nostrils [cf. Luke 23:35] said,
mocking, these very words which are also written in the memoirs of his apostles: 'He claimed to be God's Son; let him descend and walk among us; let God rescue him' [cf. Matt. 27:40-43; Mark 15:29-30; Luke 23:35]. And what follows: 'My hope has been yours since my mother's breasts; I was flung upon you at birth, from my mother's womb you have been my God,
for there is no one to help me. Many calves surrounded me, fat bulls encompassed me; they opened their mouth against me like a lion seizing prey and roaring. I was poured out like water, and all my bones were scattered. My heart turned to wax, melting within my inward parts; my vigor withered like a shard of pottery, and my tongue
clung to my throat' [Ps. 21:10-16]—he was making a prediction of what would happen. For the words 'My hope is from my mother's breasts': for the moment he was born in Bethlehem, as noted earlier, King Herod, having learned from the magi from Arabia what concerned him, schemed to have him killed, and by God's command Joseph took
him along with Mary and departed for Egypt. For after he, having grown to manhood, proclaimed the word that came from him, the Father had determined that the one he had begotten would be put to death. And if someone should say to us, 'Could not God rather have killed Herod?'—I answer in advance: 'Could not God have removed the serpent from the beginning'
so that it would not exist, and instead not have said, 'I will set enmity between it and the woman, and between its offspring and her offspring' [Gen. 3:15]? Could he not immediately have made a multitude of men? But, as he knew it was good for it to come about, he made both angels and men free to act rightly, and he set fixed times until which he knew
it was good for them to have free will; and just as he likewise knew it was good, he rendered both universal and particular judgments, while free will was nonetheless preserved. Hence the word speaks of these very things also at the building of the tower and the confusion and multiplying of tongues. And the Lord said: 'Behold, one race and one lip belong to all, and this is what they have started to do; and
now nothing that they undertake to do will fail them' [Gen. 11:6]. And also the words 'My strength has withered like a piece of broken pottery, and my tongue sticks fast to my throat' were likewise a foretelling of what would happen to him, in keeping with the Father's plan. For the strength of his powerful word, through which he
always confuted the Pharisees and scribes who disputed with him, and simply the teachers among your race, came to a halt, like a plentiful and strong spring whose water has been turned away, when he fell silent and no longer wished to answer anyone before Pilate, as is shown in the memoirs of his apostles [cf. Matt. 27:13-14; Mark 15:4-5; Luke 23:9], so that
what was said through Isaiah might also have its effect fulfilled, where it is said: 'The Lord gives me a tongue, to know when I ought to speak a word' [Isa. 50:4]. And his saying, 'You are my God, do not depart from me,' teaches at the same time that everyone ought to place hope in the God who created everything, and seek deliverance and aid from him and him only,
and not, like the rest of mankind, suppose that they can be saved through race or wealth or strength or wisdom—the very thing you have always done, once making a calf, but always ungrateful and murderers of the righteous and puffed up, priding yourselves on your race. For if the Son of God appears able to be saved neither because he is a son, nor because
he is strong, nor because he is wise — as he himself declares — but because he is without sin—as Isaiah says, that he sinned not even so much as with his voice, for 'he committed no lawlessness, nor deceit with his mouth' [Isa. 53:9]—unable to be saved apart from God, how is it that you and the others who expect to be saved apart from this hope do not
consider that you are deceiving yourselves? And the words that follow in the psalm: 'For affliction is near, for there is no one to help me. Many calves surrounded me, fat bulls encompassed me; they opened their mouth against me like a lion seizing prey and roaring; I was poured out like water and all my bones were scattered' [Ps. 21:11-15]—were a prediction of things that would happen to him in like manner.
For on that night [cf. Matt. 26:30], when those from your people came upon him on the Mount of Olives [cf. Matt. 26:47; Mark 14:43], sent by the Pharisees and scribes and the teachers, they surrounded him—those whom the word called goring calves and doomed to destruction [cf. Exod. 21:29?]. And as for the words 'fat bulls'
encompassed me'—this referred to those who acted just as the calves did, at the time he was brought before your teachers; the word named them bulls for this reason, since we know that bulls father calves. Thus, just as bulls beget calves, your teachers likewise bore responsibility for their children going out
to the Mount of Olives and seizing him and leading him to them [cf. Matt. 26:3 and 47]. And the saying 'for there is no one to help' likewise signified what happened. For no one, not even a single man, stood by him to help, as one who was without sin [cf. Matt. 26:56 and Mark 14:50, 52]. And
'they opened their mouth against me like a roaring lion' signifies the king of the Jews who was then reigning—himself also called Herod, having become successor to that Herod who, when he was born, killed all the children born in Bethlehem at that time, because he suspected that among them was surely the one about whom the magi who had come from Arabia had told him—not knowing
the plan of the one who is stronger than all — the plan by which he had ordered Joseph and Mary to gather up the child and flee into Egypt, staying there until it was revealed to them once more that they should go back to their homeland; and there they remained, having gone away, until the Herod who slaughtered the infants of Bethlehem died, and Archelaus took his place [cf. Matt. 2:1-23]; and this man too died
before Christ came to the fulfillment of the plan, carried out by him according to the Father's will, that he should be crucified. And when Herod, the successor of Archelaus, had received the authority allotted to him—to whom also Pilate, doing him a favor, sent Jesus bound [cf. Luke 23:7-8]—this too God, foreseeing that it would happen, had spoken thus: 'And having bound him, into...'
...of Assyria, they brought gifts to the king. Or perhaps by "the roaring lion" set against him he meant the devil — the one Moses names the serpent, though Job and Zechariah both call him "the devil," while Jesus addresses him as "Satan," a name drawn from his conduct
which he committed, indicating that he has acquired it as a compound name: for "sata" in the language of the Jews and the Syrians means "apostate," while "nas" is a name from which comes the translation "serpent"; from these two words taken together the one name "Satan" results. For indeed this devil, as soon as he came up from the river Jordan, when the voice was spoken to him, "You are
my Son, today I have begotten you" — it is written in the memoirs of the apostles that he came to him and tempted him, even to the point of saying to him, "Worship me," and that Christ answered him, "Go behind me, Satan; you shall worship the Lord your God, and him alone shall you serve." For just as
he led Adam astray, so he supposed he might likewise achieve something against this man. And the words "I am poured out like water, and all my bones are scattered; my heart has become like wax melting within my belly" foretold what befell him that same night, the night his captors came out to lay hold of him on the Mount of Olives. For in the
memoirs — which I say were composed by his apostles and by those who followed them — it is written that sweat poured from him like clots of blood, as he prayed and said, "Let this cup pass, if it is possible" — his heart evidently trembling, and his bones likewise, and his heart being like wax melting
within his belly — so that we might know that the Father truly willed his own Son to undergo such sufferings for our sake, and so that none of us would claim that the Son of God failed to perceive what was happening and occurring to him. And the words "My strength has dried up like a piece of broken pottery, and my tongue sticks fast to my throat" were, as I said earlier, a prophecy of his
silence, when he who exposes all your teachers as devoid of wisdom answered nothing to anyone. And the words "You have laid me low in death's dust; a pack of dogs has closed in around me, a band of evildoers has hemmed me in; they bored through my hands and feet, they numbered all my bones; they stared and gloated over me; they divided my garments among themselves,
and upon my clothing they cast lots" — as I said before, this was a prophecy of by what kind of death the congregation of evildoers, whom he also calls dogs, was going to condemn him, indicating hunters — that those who hunted him and gathered together were the ones contending for his condemnation; which his apostles' own memoirs likewise record as having taken place
[Matt. 26:57, and Mark 14:53]. And that after he was crucified, those who crucified him divided his garments among themselves, I have shown. And the words that follow in the psalm: "But you, O Lord, do not put your help far from me; attend to my defense; rescue my soul from the sword, and my only child from the power of the dog; save me
from the mouth of the lion, and my lowliness from the horns of unicorns" [Ps. 21:20-22] — this again, likewise, is both teaching and prophecy of what belonged to him and was going to befall him. For that he was only-begotten of the Father of all, having been begotten from him distinctly as Word and Power, and that later he became man through the virgin, as we learned from the memoirs,
I have shown beforehand. And that, once crucified, he died, this too was foretold. For the words "Rescue my soul from the sword, and my only child from the power of the dog; save me out of the lion's mouth, and my lowliness from the horns of unicorns" likewise pointed to the manner of suffering by which he was to die — namely, crucifixion; for "the horns of unicorns" signifies the shape of the cross
alone, I explained to you before. And his asking that his soul be saved from the sword and from the mouth of the lion and from the hand of the dog was a petition that no one should have mastery over his soul, so that we, too, when we reach life's end, might make the same request of God, who has power to keep every shameless, wicked angel from seizing our soul. And
that souls continue to exist I have already demonstrated to you, since Samuel's soul was summoned by the woman possessing the divining spirit, at Saul's own request. It is also evident that the souls of all the righteous and of the prophets likewise fell under the power of such spirits — a fact confirmed by the very events themselves in the case of that woman with the divining spirit.
Hence God also teaches us, through his Son, to strive by every means to become righteous, and at our departure to ask that our souls not fall under the power of any such spirit. For as he breathed out his last breath on the cross, he declared, "Father, I entrust my spirit into your hands," just as
I likewise learned this from the memoirs. And indeed, urging his disciples to surpass the way of life of the Pharisees — since otherwise, he said, they should know that they would not be saved — it is written in the memoirs that he spoke these words: "Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven." And
that he was certain his Father would provide him with all he requested, and would bring him back from among the dead; and he called on everyone who reveres God to give thanks to God for extending mercy, through the mystery of this crucified one, to the entire race of believing people; and that in the midst
of his brothers, the apostles, he stood — who, after he rose from the dead and were convinced by him that even before his suffering he had already told them he was bound to undergo these sufferings, and that the prophets had foretold them long before, regretted having abandoned him when he was crucified
[cf. Luke 24:25-26, 44-46, 50, and Gospel of Peter 26], and staying with them he hymned God — as it is likewise shown to have happened in the memoirs of the apostles — and made clear the remaining part of the psalm. It is this: "I will declare your name to my brothers; in the midst of the assembly I will hymn you. You who fear the Lord,
praise him; all the offspring of Jacob, glorify him; let all the offspring of Israel fear him" [Ps. 21:22-23]. And the statement that he renamed one of the apostles Peter, and that this too is written to have happened in his memoirs, together with his renaming two other brothers, sons of Zebedee, by the name
Boanerges, that is, "sons of thunder" — was significant that he was that very one by whom the surname Israel was given to Jacob who bore that name, and by whom the name Jesus was given to Hoshea, by which name also the people who survived from those who had come out of Egypt were brought into the land pledged to the patriarchs. And that he would rise like a star through
the race of Abraham, Moses made plain when he said: "A star will come forth from Jacob, and a ruler will arise from Israel." And another scripture says, "Behold a man; his name is Dawn." Since, then, a star also appeared in heaven at the very moment of his birth, as is written in the memoirs of his apostles,
the magi from Arabia, recognizing this, came and worshiped him. And that on the third day he was going to rise after being crucified is written in the memoirs, that those of your race, disputing with him, said, "Show us a sign." And he answered them, "An evil and adulterous generation demands a sign, yet none will be given to it"
"except the sign of Jonah." And when he said this, it was concealed from his hearers that after he was crucified he would rise on the third day. And he was showing that your generation is more wicked and adulterous than the city of the Ninevites, who, when Jonah preached to them, after being cast up on the third
day from the belly of the huge fish, that after three days they would utterly perish, proclaimed a fast of absolutely all living creatures, both men and beasts, together with sackcloth and continual wailing, and from their hearts they proclaimed true repentance and a renunciation of wrongdoing, believing that God is merciful and loving toward mankind toward all who turn away from wickedness, so that
even the king of that city himself and his nobles likewise put on sackcloth and persevered in fasting and supplication, and obtained that their city not be overthrown. But when Jonah grieved that the city was not overthrown on the third day, as he had preached, through God's providence he caused
a gourd to grow up over him, so that sitting beneath it he found shelter from the heat (the gourd shot up in an instant, since Jonah had neither planted it nor watered it, but it sprang up suddenly to give him shade), and the next day God made it wither; at this Jonah grieved, and God rebuked him for being wrongly downcast over the fact that the city of the Ninevites had not been overthrown, saying: "You had pity on the gourd, for which you did not
labor, and did not cause it to grow, a plant that appeared overnight and was gone the next—should I not, then, spare Nineveh, that great city, where more than one hundred twenty thousand people live who cannot tell their right hand from their left, along with much livestock?" And these things, all
of your race know full well were done by Jonah, and also that Christ cried out among you that he would give you the sign of Jonah, urging that, even after he rose from the dead, you might repent of the evils you had done and, like the Ninevites, weep before God, so that your nation and your city might not be captured and overthrown, as
it was overthrown—yet you not only did not repent, even though you were told he had been raised from death, yet, as I mentioned earlier, you appointed chosen men and sent them out into all the world, proclaiming that a godless and lawless sect had sprung up from a certain Jesus, a Galilean deceiver, whom, after we crucified him, his disciples stole away by night from the tomb, from where he had been laid after being taken down
from the cross, and are deceiving people by claiming that he was raised from death and taken up into heaven—having declared that he taught these things, you now say, against everyone who confesses Christ as teacher and Son of God, before every nation of humankind, that they are godless and lawless and
unholy. Besides this, even though your city has been captured and your land laid waste, you still do not repent — instead you dare to curse both him and everyone who trusts in him. Even so, we do not hate you, nor do we hate those who, because of you, have come to hold such views about us; instead we pray that, if you turn back now, you may all find mercy from the compassionate and abundantly merciful Father of
all things, God. But that the nations should repent from the wickedness in which they lived astray, having heard the word proclaimed by his apostles from Jerusalem and having learned it through them—allow me to cite a brief passage from Micah's prophecy, one of the twelve minor prophets. It reads: "In the last days it will come about that the mountain of the Lord will be revealed, standing at
the top of the mountains, raised up above the hills; and peoples shall stream to it like a river, and many nations shall go and say: 'Come, let us climb up to the mountain of the Lord, to the dwelling of the God of Jacob, so that he may teach us his way and we may walk in his paths.' For the law will go out from Zion, and from Jerusalem comes the word of the Lord,
and he shall judge between many peoples and shall rebuke strong nations even to a great distance; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into sickles, and no nation will raise the sword against another, and they shall no longer learn war. And every man shall sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree, and there shall be no one to make him afraid, for
the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken it. For every people will walk, each in the name of its own god, yet we, for our part, will walk forever and always in the name of the Lord our God. On that day, I will gather the one who was afflicted, and I will assemble the one who was driven out, along with her whom I had brought low, and I will turn the afflicted into a remnant, and the oppressed into a strong nation;
and the Lord shall reign over them on Mount Zion from now and forevermore." And when I had finished this, I added: And that your teachers, gentlemen, confess that all the words of this passage were spoken concerning the Christ, I know; and that they say he has not yet come, this too I know. But if they do say
that he has come, they say, it is not known who he is; rather, when he becomes manifest and glorious, then it will be known who he is—so they say. And they say that then the things spoken in this passage will come to pass, as though no fruit at all had yet come from the words of the prophecy—senseless men, not understanding what has been demonstrated through all these words: that two comings of his have been proclaimed;
one, in which he has been proclaimed as subject to suffering, without glory, without honor, and crucified; and the second, in which he shall come with glory from the heavens, when also the man of apostasy, who speaks arrogant things even against the Most High,
shall dare to commit lawless deeds on earth against us Christians—who, having recognized true religion from the law and from the word that went out of Jerusalem by way of Jesus' apostles, have fled for refuge to the God of Jacob, the God of Israel; and we, formerly gorged on war, mutual bloodshed, and wickedness of every sort,
have each of us, throughout the whole earth, changed our instruments of war—our swords into plowshares and our spears into farming tools—and we cultivate piety, righteousness, love of mankind, faith, and the hope granted by the Father in person through the one who was crucified, each of us sitting under his own vine, that is, each of us making use of his wedded wife alone;
since you know that the prophetic word says: "His wife will be like a thriving vine." And it is plain that nothing can frighten or enslave those of us who have believed in Jesus throughout the whole earth. For even when our heads are cut off, we are crucified, thrown to wild animals, bound in chains, burned with fire, and subjected to all
the other torments, it is clear that we do not abandon our profession; rather, in proportion as such things occur, all the more do growing numbers come to trust and revere God because of the name of Jesus. Just as, when a vine has its fruit-laden branches pruned off, it sends up fresh shoots that grow vigorously and bear fruit in their place, the very same thing happens with us too;
for the vine planted by God, the vine of the Savior Christ, is his own people. The remainder of the prophecy, however, will be fulfilled at his second coming. For "she who was afflicted and driven out"—driven out, that is, from the world, insofar as it lies with you and all other men—every Christian has been cast out not merely from
his own possessions, but from the whole world as well, since you leave no Christian free to go on living anywhere. Yet you claim this same fate befell your own nation. If you were driven out because you waged war, you deserve what you suffered, as every scripture attests; but we, having done nothing of this sort since we came to know the truth of God, receive God's own testimony,
together with the wholly just and only unstained and sinless Christ, because we are taken up from the earth. For Isaiah cries out: "See how the righteous man perishes, yet no one takes it to heart; righteous men are being taken away, and no one understands." And that two comings of this Christ would take place, symbolically, was foretold even by Moses; I have already told you through the symbol of the goats offered in
the fast. Again, in the actions of Moses and Joshua that same reality was symbolically announced and declared in advance. One of them stayed on the hill with his arms stretched out until evening, his hands being propped up — a gesture pointing to nothing other than the cross — while the other, given the new name Jesus, commanded the battle, and
Israel prevailed. This too was granted for those two holy men and prophets of God to grasp: that neither could carry both mysteries alone — that is, the figure of the cross together with the figure of calling on the name; for this power belongs to one alone, has always belonged, and always will, whose
very name every rule dreads, writhing in labor because through it they are destined to be destroyed. Our Christ, then, who suffered and was crucified, was not cursed by the law, but showed himself alone able to save those who do not fall away from faith in him. And those in Egypt who were saved, when the firstborn of the Egyptians were being destroyed, the blood of the Passover rescued, smeared on both sides of the doorposts and on the
lintel. For the Passover was Christ, who was afterward sacrificed, just as Isaiah said: "He was led to slaughter like a sheep." And it is written that you arrested him on Passover day and crucified him during that same Passover. And just as the blood of the Passover kept safe those in Egypt, so too the
blood of Christ will rescue from death those who have believed. Was God then going to be mistaken, if this sign had not been made upon the doors? I do not say so; but rather that it announced beforehand, by means of Christ's blood, the salvation destined to come to humankind. Indeed the
symbol of the scarlet cord, which the spies sent by Joshua son of Nun gave to Rahab the harlot in Jericho, telling her to fasten it at the window from which she had lowered them down so that they might escape the notice of their enemies, likewise made plain the symbol of the blood of Christ, through which those who were formerly harlots and unjust from among all the nations are saved,
receiving forgiveness of sins and sinning no more. But you, by interpreting these things in a lowly manner, charge God with great weakness, if you hear these things thus baldly and do not examine the power of what has been said. Since in that case Moses too would be judged a lawbreaker; for he himself, having commanded that no likeness be made of anything, neither of what is in heaven nor of what is on earth or in the sea,
nevertheless himself made a bronze serpent, and having set it up on a standard, ordered those who had been bitten to look at it; and they were saved by looking at it. Will the serpent then be understood to have saved the people at that time — the very serpent which, as I said before, God cursed from the beginning, and which he will destroy with the great sword, as Isaiah cries out?
And shall we so foolishly accept such things, as your teachers say, and not as symbols? Shall we not instead refer the sign to the image of Jesus who was crucified, since Moses too, by the stretching out of his hands together with the name invoked as Jesus, was working out a triumph on behalf of your people? So then we shall no longer be puzzled over the things the
lawgiver did. For he did not persuade the people to hope, having abandoned God for a beast, the very transgression and disobedience through which it all began. And these things happened and were spoken with much thought and mystery through the blessed prophet; and there is nothing that anyone can justly find fault with in what has been said or done by all the prophets simply, if you have the
knowledge that is in them. But if you ask your teachers why the female camels are not called such in this passage, or what the so-called female camels are, or why the offerings call for such quantities of fine flour and of oil measured out, they explain to you only these things, and that in a lowly and grovelling manner, but the
great things worthy of inquiry they never dare to speak of or explain, nor, even when we explain them, do they allow you to listen at all or to enter into fellowship of discussion — will they not justly hear what our Lord Jesus Christ said against them: "Whitewashed tombs, appearing beautiful outside and full of dead men's bones within," tithing mint, but
swallowing the camel, blind guides? If then you do not despise the teachings of those who exalt themselves and want to be called "rabbi, rabbi," and approach the prophetic words with such stubbornness and mind, so that you suffer at the hands of your own people the same things the prophets themselves suffered, you cannot gain any benefit at all
from the prophetic writings. What I mean is this. Jesus, as I have said many times before, called Hoshea, that same spy sent with Caleb into Canaan, into the land, Moses called Jesus. This you do not inquire into, for what reason he did it; you are not puzzled, nor do you seek to learn; and so the Christ has slipped by you unnoticed, and though you go on reading
you do not understand, nor even now, hearing that Jesus is our Christ, do you reckon that it was not idly nor by chance that this name was given to him. But as to why one alpha was added to the name Abraham at first, you speak theology, and as to why one rho was added to the name of Sarah, you likewise boast learnedly; but as to why the patronymic name of Hoshea,
the son of Nun, was wholly changed to Jesus, you do not inquire in the same way. Since not only was his name changed, but also, becoming Moses' successor, he alone of those who came out of Egypt who were of such an age brought the remaining people into the holy land; and in the manner that he brought
the people into the holy land, and not Moses, and as he divided it by lot to those who entered with him, so too Jesus the Christ will turn back the dispersion of the people, and will divide the good land to each, though no longer in the same way. For the one gave them a temporary inheritance, since he was not Christ, God, nor Son of God, but the other, after
the holy resurrection, will give us the possession forever. That one made the sun stand still, having first been renamed with the name Jesus and having received strength from his spirit. For that it was Jesus who appeared to Moses and to Abraham and simply to the other patriarchs and spoke with them, serving the will of the Father, I have shown; he who also came to be born a man
through the virgin Mary, and exists forever. For it is he from whom also came heaven and earth, and through whom the Father is about to make all things new; it is he who is about to shine as an eternal light in Jerusalem; it is he who, according to the order of Melchizedek, is king of Salem and eternal priest of the Most High —
that one is said to have circumcised the people with a second circumcision, with stone knives, which was a proclamation of the circumcision by which Jesus Christ himself cut us free from stones and the rest of the idols, heaping up those cut away from the foreskin — that is, freed from the world's deception — in every
place circumcised with stone knives, by the words of Jesus our Lord. For that Christ was proclaimed in parables by the prophets as a stone and a rock has been demonstrated by me. And so we shall understand the stone knives to be his words, by which so many who were wandering in the error of the foreskin have had their hearts circumcised — a circumcision which those who are of Abraham also need to undergo.
God, through Jesus, kept on urging forward, from that point on, the circumcision that had taken its beginning earlier, and said that Jesus circumcised those who entered that holy land with stone knives — a second circumcision. For at times the Holy Spirit caused something to be done clearly and visibly, which was a type of what was going to happen, and at times it also uttered words concerning the things that were going to come to pass,
speaking of them as though they were then taking place or had already taken place. And unless readers of the prophets grasp this technique, they will be unable to properly track the prophetic wording. Let me offer, by way of example, a few prophetic statements, so that you can follow what is meant. When, through Isaiah, he says, "Like a sheep he was led to slaughter, and like a lamb silent before its shearer" [Is 53:7],
he speaks as though the suffering had already taken place. And again, when he says, "I spread out my hands to a people who disobey and contradict" [Is 65:2], and when he says, "Lord, who has believed our report?" [Is 53:1] — these words, in signifying an announcement of things already accomplished, are spoken as such. For indeed I have shown that in many places he calls Christ a stone, in a parable,
and, in a manner of speech, as Jacob and Israel. Then, when he declares, "I will gaze upon the heavens, the works of your fingers" [Ps 8:4], unless I hear this as pointing to the working of his word, I will not understand it rightly — the way your teachers do, imagining that the unbegotten Father of all has hands, feet, fingers, and a soul, like some composite creature, and
who for this very reason teach that the Father in his own person appeared to Abraham and to Jacob. How fortunate we are, then, to have received the second circumcision, cut with knives of stone. Your first circumcision was performed, and is still performed, with iron, since your hearts remain hard; ours, however — second in sequence, revealed only after yours — is by sharp-cut stones,
that is, through the words spoken by the apostles concerning the cornerstone [cf. Is 28:16; Eph 2:20; 1 Pet 2:6] and the stone cut out without hands [cf. Dan 2:34] — it circumcises us from idolatry and, simply, from all wickedness; and the hearts of those so circumcised are cut off from evil to such a degree that they even rejoice in dying for
the name of the good rock, which pours forth living water into the hearts of those who through it have loved the Father of all, and gives to drink to those who wish to drink the water of life [cf. John 4:14]. But you do not understand these things when they are spoken; for you have not understood what has been prophesied that Christ would do, nor do you believe us when we bring you to what is written. Jeremiah,
indeed, cries out thus: "Woe to you, for you have abandoned the living spring and dug for yourselves broken cisterns, which will not be able to hold water" [cf. Jer 2:13]. "Is the place where Mount Zion stands to be deserted?" [cf. Is 16:1]; "for I have given Jerusalem a certificate of divorce before you" [cf. Jer 3:8]. But you ought to believe Zechariah, who in a parable reveals the mystery of
Christ, and proclaims him under a veil. This is what is said: "Rejoice and be glad, daughter of Zion, for look, I am coming and will make my dwelling in your midst, says the Lord. Many nations will attach themselves to the Lord on that day, and they will become a people belonging to me; and I will dwell in your midst, and they will come to know that the Lord of hosts
has sent me to you. The Lord will take Judah as his inheritance, his portion on the holy land, and will choose Jerusalem once more. Let all flesh stand in reverence before the Lord's presence, for he has stirred himself out of his holy clouds. Then he showed me Jesus, the great priest, standing before the presence of the angel of the Lord; with the devil positioned at his right, ready to
oppose him. Then the Lord said to the devil: "May the Lord rebuke you, he who has chosen Jerusalem. Is this not a brand snatched from the fire?" [Zech 2:10–3:2]. When Trypho was on the point of answering and raising an objection, I said: "Wait, first hear what I have to say. I am not going to offer the explanation you're expecting, as if there had been no priest actually named Jesus
in the land of Babylon, where your people were held captive. But even granting that were so, I have shown that Jesus was indeed a priest among your people; yet the prophet did not see this very man in his revelation with his own eyes, just as he did not see the devil and the angel of the Lord by actual sight while in a normal state, but in a trance, a revelation having
been made to him. Now I say that, in the same way I said he performed, through the name Jesus given to the son of Nun, certain powers and deeds that proclaimed beforehand the things that were going to happen through our Lord, so also I now come to show that the revelation concerning Jesus who became a priest in Babylon among your people is a proclamation beforehand of the things that were going to happen through our
priest and God and Christ, the Son of the Father of all. Indeed, I said, I was already wondering why, a little while ago, you fell silent while I was speaking, and how you did not seize on it when I said that the son of Nun alone, of those his own age who came out of Egypt, entered the holy land, along with those of that generation recorded as too young. Just as
flies rush and swoop down upon sores, so you rush upon faults. For even if someone says ten thousand things well, but there is one small thing, whatever it may be, that is not pleasing to you, or not understood, or not exactly precise, you take no thought for the many good things, but seize upon the one small phrase and are eager to make it out to be an impiety and a wrong, so that by that same like judgment
you yourselves, being judged by God, will answer all the more for your great presumptions — whether wicked deeds or worthless interpretations that you twist in your expounding. For it is just that you be judged by the very judgment you judge with [cf. Matt 7:2]. But so that I may lay out for you the account concerning the revelation of Jesus Christ the Holy One, let me resume the discussion and say further that also that
revelation came to be for us who believe in this crucified Christ, the high priest — we who, existing in acts of fornication and, simply, in every filthy practice, have through the grace given by our Jesus according to the will of his Father stripped off all the filthy garments [cf. Zech 3:3–4], the evils with which we were clothed, garments over which the devil, ever opposing us, has stood watch [cf. 2 Thess
2:3–4], wanting to draw every man to himself; but the angel of God — that is, God's power dispatched to us by way of Jesus Christ — sets him in check, and he retreats from us. And we, like a stick snatched out of the flame [cf. Zech 3:2], are washed clean of our earlier sins, and likewise from the distress and the consuming fire with which
the devil and all his servants burn us, from which Jesus the Son of God again draws us out. He has promised to clothe us in the garments that have been prepared, if we do his commandments, and he has pledged to provide an eternal kingdom [cf. Zech 3:4–7]. For in the same way that that Jesus, called by the prophet a priest, appeared to be wearing filthy
garments, because it was said he had taken a prostitute as his wife [cf. 1 Esdr 10:8?], and was named a stick pulled from the fire because he had obtained forgiveness of sins [cf. Zech 3:4], once the devil opposing him had been checked — in just this way we, who by the name of Jesus have, as though a single man [cf. Gal 3:28?], come to believe in the maker of
all things, God, having through the name of his firstborn Son shed the soiled garments — that is, our sins [cf. Zech 3:4] — and having been tried by fire through the word of his calling, form the genuine priestly nation belonging to God, just as God himself bears witness, declaring that in every place among the nations we bring him sacrifices that are acceptable and pure [Mal
1:11]. Yet God receives offerings from no one unless they come by way of his own priests. So then, regarding every sacrifice presented in this name — the ones Jesus Christ instituted for us to carry out, namely the thanksgiving meal of bread and cup — which are carried out by Christians in every place on earth, God, knowing this beforehand, testifies that they please him.
But the offerings brought by you and offered through your own priests he rejects, saying: 'And I will not accept your sacrifices from your hands, for from where the sun rises to where it sets my name has won glory,' he says, 'among the nations, but you defile it' [cf. Mal 1:10-12]. And even now, still quarreling, you claim that...
...God does not accept the sacrifices offered in Jerusalem by those Israelites, as they were then called, who lived there at that time, but that he said he accepts the prayers offered through the men of that race who were then in the dispersion, and calls their prayers sacrifices. That prayers and thanksgivings, then, when offered by the worthy, are the only perfect and pleasing...
...sacrifices to God — this I too affirm. For these alone are what Christians have received to do, and also in remembrance of their food, both dry and liquid, in which they also call to mind the suffering that the Son of God endured on their behalf — whose name the chief priests of your people and the teachers...
...have caused to be profaned and blasphemed throughout the whole earth. These very things are the filthy garments [cf. Zech 3:3] which you have put upon all who have become Christians through the name of Jesus; God will show that they are taken away from us when he raises up all people, and makes some incorruptible and immortal and free from pain in an eternal and indissoluble kingdom, but sends others off to eternal punishment of fire. And that you yourselves...
...deceive both yourselves and your teachers, by explaining that the word spoke of those of your race who are in the dispersion [cf. Mal 1:11], claiming it spoke of their prayers and sacrifices as pure and pleasing when offered in every place — know that you are lying and are trying in every way to deceive yourselves, because, in the first place, not even now...
...is your people scattered from where the sun rises to where it sets, yet there are nations in which not a single person of your race has ever lived. For there is no race of human beings whatsoever — whether barbarians or Greeks, or those called by any name at all, whether wagon-dwellers, or the homeless, or those who live as herdsmen in tents — among whom, through the name of...
...Jesus, who was crucified, prayers and thanksgivings are not offered to the Father and maker of all things. Furthermore, at that time when the prophet Malachi said this, your dispersion throughout all the earth in which you now find yourselves had not yet occurred, as is also proven from the scriptures. So rather than persisting in contentiousness, repent, before the great day...
...of judgment comes [cf. Mal 4:5], in which all who are of your tribes, having pierced this Christ [cf. Zech 12:2; John 19:37; Rev 1:7], are destined to mourn, just as I showed from scripture had been foretold. And that the Lord swore according to the order of Melchizedek [cf. Ps 109(110):4], and what this foretelling means, I have explained. And...
...that the prophecy of Isaiah concerned Christ, who was destined to be buried and to rise, since he said, 'His burial has been taken away from the midst' [cf. Isa 57:2], I have said above. And that this same Christ stands as judge over everyone, both the living and the dead [cf. Dan 7:26; and NT: Acts 10:42; 2 Tim 4:1; 1 Pet 4:5, etc.], I have stated in many places.
And Nathan too, speaking about this to David in the same way, went on to say: 'I will be a father to him, and he will be a son to me, and I will never withdraw my mercy from him, as I withdrew it from those who came before him; and I will set him firmly in my house and in his kingdom forever...'
...[2 Kgdms 7:14-16]. And Ezekiel likewise says that the leader in the house is none other than this very one [cf. Ezek 44:3]. For he, the Christ, is the elect priest and everlasting king, being Son of God; do not imagine that at his second coming Isaiah or the other prophets are speaking of sacrifices of blood or libations to be offered upon the...
...altar, but rather true and spiritual praises and thanksgivings. And it is not in vain that we have believed in him, nor were we deceived by those who taught us so, but this has come about by the wonderful providence of God, so that we might be found more understanding and more devout than you — who are reputed to be, but are not, lovers of God or understanding people — through the calling that is new [cf. Jer 31:31] and...
...eternal [cf. Isa 55:3; 61:8; Jer 32:40; Heb 13:20] covenant, that is, of Christ. Marveling at this, Isaiah said: 'Kings will close their mouths, because those who were told nothing about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand. Lord, who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?' [Isa 52:15-53:1]
'And in saying these things, Trypho,' I said, 'I am trying, as far as possible, to speak them again for the sake of those who have arrived with you today, though briefly and in condensed form.' And he said, 'You do well; and even if you say the same things again at greater length, know that I and those with me rejoice to hear them.' And I in turn said, 'Do you suppose, gentlemen, that we could ever...
...have been able to understand these things in the scriptures, had we not received, by the will of him who willed them, the grace to understand? So that what was said by Moses might also come to pass: 'They provoked me with strange gods, they embittered me through their vile practices; they offered sacrifice to demons they did not know — gods newly appeared, freshly arrived, unknown to their fathers. You abandoned the God who begot you, and you forgot...'
'...the God who nourished you. The Lord watched this, grew jealous, and burned with anger toward his sons and daughters; he declared: I will hide my face from them, and I will show what will happen to them in the last days, for they are a twisted generation, children in whom there is no faithfulness. They stirred my jealousy with what is not god, they roused my anger with their idols...'
'...and I will stir their jealousy with what is not even a nation, I will rouse their anger through a senseless people; for a fire has flared up from my wrath, and it will burn all the way to Hades; it will consume the earth and everything it yields, it will scorch the mountains down to their foundations. I will heap disasters upon them' [Deut 32:16-23]. Then, once that righteous man had been killed [cf. Isa 3:10; 57:1]...
...we, a different people, have sprung up new, sprouting like fresh, thriving ears of grain, just as the prophets declared: 'And many nations will find refuge in the Lord on that day, becoming one people, settling in the heart of the whole earth' [cf. Zech 2:11]. We are, moreover, not merely a people but a holy people too, as has already been demonstrated. 'And they shall call him a...'
'holy people, ransomed by the Lord' [cf. Isa 62:12]. We are, then, no contemptible people, nor a barbarian tribe, nor comparable to the nations of the Carians or Phrygians — rather, God chose us too [cf. Deut 14:2], revealing himself to those who never sought him. 'Behold, I am God,' he says, 'to a nation that did not call upon my name' [cf. Isa 65:1].
For this is that nation which God pledged to Abraham long ago, promising that he would set him as father of many nations [cf. Gen 12:2] — not meaning Arabs, nor Egyptians, nor Idumeans; for Ishmael too became father of a great nation, as did Esau, and even now the Ammonites form a vast multitude. And Noah was the father of Abraham himself, and simply of the whole...
...race of mankind, while different men are the ancestors of different peoples. What further favor, then, does Christ here grant to Abraham? That he called him by a voice in a like calling, telling him to go out from the land in which he dwelt [cf. Gen 12:1]. And he has called us all likewise by that same voice, and we have already gone out from the way of life in which we lived...
...badly, following the common ways of earth's other inhabitants; and alongside Abraham we shall receive the holy land as our inheritance, taking possession of it for endless ages, being Abraham's children through a faith like his [cf. Gal 3:7]. For just as he trusted the voice of God, and this was counted to him as righteousness [cf. Gal 3:7]...
In the same way we too, believing the voice of God — spoken again through the apostles of Christ, and proclaimed to us through the prophets — have renounced all who are in the world, even to death. A nation of like faith, then, godly and righteous, gladdening the Father, is what he promises to himself — but not you,
in whom there is no faith. Notice, however, that he promises the same things to Isaac and to Jacob as well. For thus he says to Isaac: 'And in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed'; and to Jacob: 'And in you shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed, and
in your seed.' He no longer says this to Esau, nor to Reuben, nor to anyone else, but to those from whom, according to the plan carried out through the virgin Mary, Christ was to come. And if you would examine the blessing of Judah, you would see what I mean. For the seed is divided from
Jacob, and descends through Judah and Perez and Jesse and David. These things were signs that some of your people would turn out to be Abraham's children, found within Christ's portion, while others, though Abraham's offspring, would resemble the sand lying along the seashore [cf. Gen 22:17] — sand that is barren and
unfruitful — great in quantity and countless, yet producing no fruit whatsoever, but only drinking the water of the sea. This is exactly what the great multitude in your race is proved to be, drinking in together the teachings of bitterness and godlessness, while spitting out the word of God. He says, then, also in the passage about Judah: 'A ruler shall not fail from Judah, nor a leader from his
loins, until the one arrives for whom it is kept, and he will be what the nations look for.' It's clear that these words were addressed not to Judah but to Christ; for we, drawn together from every nation, do not look for Judah at all — we look for Jesus, the one who also led your fathers out of Egypt. For until Christ's coming
the prophecy had foretold: 'Until there comes the one to whom it belongs, and he shall be what the nations hope for.' He has indeed come, as we have shown in many other passages, and he is expected to appear again above the clouds — Jesus, whose name you people profane, causing that profanation to spread across the whole earth. It was possible for me, I said, gentlemen,
to contend with you over the wording, which you interpret as saying: 'Until the things reserved for him come'; since the Seventy did not render it this way, but: 'Until he comes to whom it is reserved.' But since what follows shows that this was said concerning Christ — for it continues thus: 'And he shall be the expectation of the nations' — I do not come to dispute with you over
the little word, just as I likewise have not been keen to build my proof about Christ on writings you do not acknowledge — texts I have nonetheless quoted, drawing on sayings from Jeremiah the prophet, from Ezra, and from David — but rather on what you yourselves have acknowledged up to now. Had your teachers grasped these passages, be certain they would have erased them, just as they did with what concerns the
death of Isaiah, whom you sawed in two with a wooden saw — this too being a mystery of Christ, who was to cut your race in two, deeming the worthy, together with the holy patriarchs and prophets, worthy of the eternal kingdom, while already declaring that he would send the rest, together with the disobedient and unrepentant of every kind from all the nations, to the condemnation of the unquenchable fire. 'They shall come,'
he said, 'from west and east, and recline at the banquet alongside Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob within heaven's kingdom — while the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness.' And I say this, I said, because my only concern is speaking truthfully, unwilling to be intimidated by anyone, even if I must at once by you
be torn limb from limb. For not even out of concern for anyone of my own race — I mean the Samaritans — when addressing Caesar in writing, did I refrain from saying that they are deceived in trusting the magician Simon from their own race, whom they say is a god above every rule and authority and power. And while they kept silence, I went on: Speaking of this same
Christ, my friends, David no longer said that the nations would be blessed in his seed, but in him. For thus it stands there: 'His name endures forever; his name will rise beyond the sun, and in him every nation will find blessing.' Now if it is in Christ that all the nations are blessed, and it is out of all the nations that in this one
we believe, then this is the Christ, and we are those blessed through him. Now God had earlier given the sun for men to worship, as it is written, and it is not possible to see anyone who has ever endured death for faith in the sun; but for the sake of the name of Jesus, out of every race of men, there are those who have endured and are enduring
suffering of every kind rather than deny him — this is to be seen. For the word of truth and wisdom is more fiery than the sun, and more radiant than the sun's powers, and it penetrates into the depths of the heart and mind. Hence the word also said: 'His name shall rise above the sun.' And again: 'The Dawn is his name,'
says Zechariah. And speaking of this same one he said: 'They shall mourn, tribe by tribe.' Now if in his first coming — dishonored, without comeliness, and despised — he shone forth and prevailed to such a degree that he is unknown to no race, and repentance from the former evil way of life has been made by every race, so that
even the demons are subjected to his name, and every principality and kingdom fears this name more than all the dead — will he not, in every way, at his glorious coming, destroy all who have hated him and unjustly fallen away from him, while giving rest to his own, rendering to them all that is expected? To us, then, it has been given both to hear
and to understand and to be saved through this Christ, and to come to know all the things of the Father. For this reason he said to him: 'It is no small thing that you are named my servant — to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back the scattered of Israel. I have appointed you a light to the nations, so that you may bring them salvation to
the end of the earth.' You suppose that this was said concerning the resident alien and the proselytes, but in reality it was said concerning us, who have been enlightened through Jesus. For otherwise Christ would bear witness to them as well; but instead, as he himself said, you become sons of Gehenna twice over. It is not to them, then, nor to the things said through
the prophets, that this is said, but to us, concerning whom the word says: 'I will guide the blind along a road they did not know, and they will walk paths unfamiliar to them. And I myself am a witness, declares the LORD God, as is my servant whom I chose.' To whom, then, does Christ testify? Plainly to those who have come to believe. The proselytes, however, do
not only not believe, but blaspheme his name twice as much as you do, and they wish both to murder and to abuse us who believe in him; for they are eager to be made like you in every respect. And again elsewhere he cries out: 'I the Lord have called you in righteousness, and I will take hold of your hand and strengthen you, and I will make you a covenant of the people, a light
for the nations, to give sight to eyes that are blind, to release from their fetters those who are bound.' Since this too, gentlemen, was said with reference to Christ and concerning the nations who have been enlightened. Or will you again say: does this refer to the Law and the proselytes? And, as if in a theater, some of those who had arrived on the second day cried out: But what? Does it not refer to the Law
"...and those enlightened by it?" "These are the proselytes." "No," I said, looking toward Trypho. "For if the law were able to bring light to the nations and to those who hold it, why would a new covenant be needed at all? But because God announced in advance that he would send a new covenant, together with an eternal law and commandment, we cannot take this to mean the old law and its proselytes,"
but Christ and his proselytes—us, the nations, whom he has enlightened—as he says somewhere: "Thus says the LORD: In an acceptable time I heard you, and in a day of salvation I helped you, and I have given you as a covenant of nations, to establish the land and to inherit the desolate inheritances" [Isaiah 49:8]. What, then, is the inheritance of Christ? Is it not the nations?
What, then, is God's covenant? Is it not Christ himself? As he says in another place: "You are my son, today I have begotten you; ask of me, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, and the ends of the earth as your possession" [Psalm 2:7-8]. So then, just as all these things are said with reference to Christ and the nations, in the same way you must suppose those other passages too to have been said—
as I have said. Proselytes, in fact, have no need at all of a covenant, since one identical law is laid down for everyone circumcised, and scripture says of them: "And the sojourner also shall be added to them, and shall be added to the house of Jacob" [Isaiah 14:1]. And that the circumcised proselyte is one who has drawn near to the people so as to be like a native, while we—
though we have been thought worthy to bear the name of a people, we are nonetheless a nation as well, since we are uncircumcised—[this too has been shown]. Furthermore, it is also ridiculous for you to suppose that the eyes of the proselytes themselves have been opened, but not yours, and that you are called blind and deaf, while they are called enlightened. And the matter will turn out even more ridiculous for you, if you claim that the law was given to the nations, while you
yourselves did not know that law. For you would have feared the wrath of God, and would not be lawless and wandering sons, ashamed to hear him constantly saying: "Sons in whom there is no faithfulness" [cf. Deuteronomy 32:20]; and: "Who is blind, if not my servants, and deaf, if not their masters? And God's servants were struck blind—"
"—of God. Time and again you saw, yet kept no watch; your ears were unstopped, yet you failed to listen" [Isaiah 42:19-20]. Or is God's praise of you a fine thing, and God's testimony fitting for servants? Are you not ashamed to hear the same things over and over, nor do you shudder when God threatens, but instead you are a foolish and hard-hearted people? "Therefore, behold, I will go on to remove this people,"
"declares the LORD; I will set them aside, and I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will hide the understanding of the prudent" [Isaiah 29:14]. And rightly so. You possess neither wisdom nor prudence, only sharpness and cunning—clever solely at wrongdoing [cf. Jeremiah 4:22], yet powerless to grasp God's hidden purpose, or the LORD's trustworthy covenant, or to discover the eternal paths
[cf. Jeremiah 6:16]. Therefore: "I will raise up," he says, "for Israel and for Judah a seed of men and a seed of cattle" [cf. Jeremiah 38:27 LXX]. And through Isaiah he speaks thus about another Israel: "On that day Israel shall become a third alongside the Assyrians and the Egyptians, a blessing in the midst of the land the LORD of hosts has blessed, saying: 'Blessed be my people'"
"'the one in Egypt, and the one in Assyria, and Israel my inheritance'" [Isaiah 19:24-25]. Given, then, that God pronounces a blessing on this people, names it Israel, and declares it his own possession, why do you not turn back—both from the delusion that you alone constitute Israel, and from cursing the people God has blessed? For indeed, when he was speaking to
Jerusalem and the regions around it, he went on to add this: "And I will beget men over you, Israel my people, and they will take possession of you, and you will belong to them as an inheritance, and you will never again be stripped of your children on their account" [Ezekiel 36:12]. "What then?" said Trypho. "Are you Israel, and does he say these things about you?" "If indeed," I said
to him, "we had not spent much discussion on these matters, I might have doubted that you were asking this from some lack of understanding. But since we have already worked out this question with proof and agreement, I do not think you are ignorant of what has already been said, nor again that you are being quarrelsome, but rather that you are inviting me to produce the same demonstration on these points as well." And when he assented by a nod of his eyes,
I said again: "Once more, in Isaiah—hearing with your ears, if indeed you hear—God, speaking about Christ in a figure, names him Jacob and Israel, speaking as follows: 'Jacob my servant, I will support him; Israel my chosen one, I will set my spirit on him, and he will carry judgment out to the nations. He shall not strive nor cry out, nor shall anyone hear
his voice in the open streets; he will not snap a broken reed, nor put out a smoking wick, but he will carry judgment forth to truth; he will take up judgment and not be broken, until he has set judgment on the earth; and the nations will place their hope in his name' [Isaiah 42:1-4; cf. Matthew 12:18-21]. So then, just as from that one Jacob, who
was also called Israel, your whole nation took the names Jacob and Israel; so too we, begotten by Christ unto God, just as those men were likewise called Jacob, Israel, Judah, Joseph, and David, are named—and truly are—children of God, we who keep the commandments of Christ [cf. John 1:12, and 1 John 3:1-3]. And
since I saw that they were troubled at my saying that we too are children of God, I anticipated being questioned and said: "Listen, gentlemen, how the Holy Spirit speaks concerning this people—that they are all sons of the Most High, and that in their assembly this very Christ will be present, rendering judgment upon every race of men. Now these words were spoken
through David, as you yourselves interpret them, thus: 'God stood in the assembly of gods, and in the midst he judges gods. How long will you judge unjustly and show favor to the persons of sinners? Give justice to the orphan and the poor; grant right judgment to the lowly and the needy. Rescue the needy, and deliver the poor from the hand of the sinner. They did not know nor understand, they walk about in darkness; all the
foundations of the earth will be shaken.' I declared: 'You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you; yet you will perish as a man does, and drop like any one of the rulers. Rise up, O God, and judge the earth, since you will take every nation as your inheritance' [Psalm 81(82)]. Yet the Seventy render it this way: 'See now, you perish as mortals do, and drop like any one of the rulers'—
so as to indicate both the disobedience of men—I mean Adam and Eve—and the fall of the one of the princes, that is, of the one called the serpent, who fell a great fall by leading Eve astray. But since my argument is not aimed at this point now, but at demonstrating to you that the Holy Spirit reproaches the
men who, having been made impassible and immortal like God himself if they keep his commandments, and having been deemed worthy by him to be called his sons, nevertheless, becoming like Adam and Eve in this same way, bring death upon themselves—you may take the psalm's meaning however you like; for even so it has been shown that they have been deemed worthy to become gods, and that all are able
to be deemed worthy to become sons of the Most High, and that, because of themselves, they are also going to be judged and condemned, just as Adam and Eve were. And that the psalm also calls Christ God has been demonstrated in many places. I said: I would like to learn from you, gentlemen, what is the force of the name 'Israel.' And when they remained silent, I added: I will state what I understand; for I do not consider it fair to conceal what I know, nor, when I suspect
that you know it, to suppose that you are always taking care to deceive yourselves out of envy or inexperience—but rather to say everything simply and without guile, as my Lord said: 'The sower went out to sow the seed; and some fell along the road, and some among the thorns, and some on the rocky ground, and some on'
...the good [land]. So one must speak in hope that there is somewhere a good land; since indeed that Lord of mine, as strong and mighty [cf. Ps 23:8], will come and demand back what is his own from everyone, and will not condemn his own steward, if he recognizes him, because he knows that his lord is mighty
and coming will demand back what is his own, giving to every table, but not to the one who for whatever reason buried it [cf. Luke 19:12-23]. So then, this name Israel signifies: a man prevailing over power; for "isra" is "man prevailing," and "el" is "power." This too was shown through the mystery of the wrestling match which Jacob wrestled with the one who appeared indeed
to be man from his serving the Father's counsel, but God from his being the firstborn child of all created things [cf. Col 1:15] — it was prophesied in this way that Christ too, having become man, would suffer toil. For when he became man, as I said before, the devil approached him, that is, that power which is also called serpent and Satan, tempting him and struggling to cast him down through
demanding that he worship him. But he overthrew and cast him down, refuting him as wicked, since contrary to scripture he demanded to be worshiped as god, having become an apostate from God's own purpose. He replies to him: 'Scripture says: You shall worship the Lord your God, and him alone shall you serve' [Deut 6:13-14]. And having been defeated and refuted, the devil then withdrew [cf. Matt 4:10-11].
But since our Christ was also going to grow numb — that is, in pain and in the seizure of suffering — when he was going to be crucified, he made a preliminary proclamation of this by touching Jacob's thigh and making it grow numb [cf. Gen 32:25]. And Israel was his name from above, which he gave when he blessed the blessed Jacob with his own
name, proclaiming through this too that all who take refuge with the Father through him are blessed Israel [cf. Isa 19:24-25]. You, however, grasping nothing of this and making no effort even to grasp it, being children of Jacob by fleshly descent, assume you will be saved regardless. But that you deceive yourselves in this too has been demonstrated by me in many places. Who then is this one,
who is at one time called angel of great counsel, and man through Ezekiel, and as son of man through Daniel, and child through Isaiah, and Christ and God worthy of worship through David, and Christ and stone through many, and wisdom through Solomon, and Joseph and Judah and star through Moses, and dawn through Zechariah, and one who suffers, and Jacob and Israel
again through Isaiah, and is called rod and flower and cornerstone and Son of God — if you had known this, Trypho, I said, you would not now blaspheme against him who has already come, been born, suffered, and ascended into heaven; who will also be present again, and then your twelve tribes will beat their breasts [Zech 12:12]. For if you had understood the things spoken
by the prophets, you would not deny that he is God, the son of the only, unbegotten, and ineffable God. For somewhere, too, it is said through Moses in Exodus, as follows: "The Lord addressed Moses and told him: 'I, the Lord, appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as their God, and my name
I did not make known to them, and with them I set up my covenant'" [Exod 6:2-4]. Again it says thus: "A man wrestled with Jacob" [Gen 32:24]; and it calls him God. "I have seen God face to face, yet my life was spared" [Gen 32:30] — these are the words it attributes to Jacob. And that the place where he wrestled with him too
and appeared and blessed him, he called "Form of God" — this he wrote. Likewise, as Moses says, God appeared to Abraham beside the oak of Mamre while he sat at the entrance of his tent at midday [Gen 18:1]. Having said this, he then continues: "He raised his eyes and looked, and there before him stood three men. As soon as he caught sight of them, he ran to greet
them" [Gen 18:2]. And shortly after, one of them promises Abraham a son: "Why is it that Sarah laughed, saying, 'Shall I really give birth? For I have grown old.' Is anything impossible with God? At this appointed time I will return, at this season, and Sarah shall have a son" [Gen 18:13-14]. And they depart from Abraham. And thus again concerning them
it says again: "And the men rose up from there and looked down toward Sodom" [Gen 18:16]. Then again the one who was and is speaks to Abraham thus: "I will not hide from my servant Abraham what I am about to do" [Gen 18:17]; and the things narrated in sequence from Moses, and expounded by me before, again
I said, by which it has been shown that this one — who appeared to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the rest of the patriarchs — stands subordinate to the Father and Lord, serving his purpose, and is recorded as God — this I said. I added too, though I had not said it earlier: In just this way, when the people craved meat to eat and Moses disbelieves
the angel spoken of there as well, who promises that God will give them their fill, he himself, being both God and angel, sent from the Father, is shown to have said and done these things. For the scripture goes on thus, saying: "And the Lord said to Moses: 'Shall the hand of the Lord not suffice? Now you shall know whether my word will overtake you or not'" [Num 11:23].
And again, in other words, it says thus: "The Lord said to me: 'You shall not cross this Jordan. The Lord your God, who goes before your face, he himself will destroy the nations'" [Deut 31:2-3]. And other such things have been said by the lawgiver and the prophets. And I suppose I have said enough to show that, when my
God says: "God went up from Abraham" [Gen 17:22], or "The Lord spoke to Moses" [Exod 6:29], and "The Lord came down to see the tower that the sons of men had raised" [Gen 11:5], or when "God shut the door of Noah's ark from outside" [Gen 7:16] — you should not think that the unbegotten God in his own person descended or ascended
from anywhere. The unspeakable Father and Master of everything never journeys to a place, never paces about, never sleeps, and never gets up — he simply stays where he is, wherever that may be, seeing keenly and hearing keenly, not through eyes or ears but through a power beyond description; he watches over everything and knows everything, and not one of us slips past his notice; he does not shift position, since no place contains him
and by the whole world, since he existed even before the world came to be. How then could this one either speak to anyone or appear to anyone or show himself in the smallest part of the earth, when the people were not even able to look upon the glory of the one sent from him on Sinai [cf. Exod 19:21], nor was Moses himself able to enter into the
tent he built, once that tent had been filled with the glory coming from God — for that matter, the priest could not even remain standing before the temple, when Solomon carried the ark into the Jerusalem house that Solomon himself had constructed [cf. 2 Chron 5:14]? So none of them — not Abraham, not Isaac, not Jacob, nor any other human being — saw the Father [cf.
John 1:18] and ineffable Lord of all simply, nor even Christ himself did, but rather that one who, according to his counsel, is also God, his Son, and an angel from his ministering to his will; whom he also willed to be born a man through the virgin, and who once became fire in his conversation with Moses from the
bush [cf. Exod 3:2ff]. Because unless we read the scriptures this way, the result would be that the Father and Master of everything was not, at that moment, in heaven — given what Moses says: "The Lord rained fire and sulfur on Sodom, sent from the Lord out of heaven" [Gen 19:24]; and again through David's words, when it is said thus: "Lift up..."
"...gates, you rulers, and be lifted up, you everlasting gates, so the king of glory may enter" [Ps 23:7]; and again, where it states: "The Lord says to him who is my Lord: Take your seat at my right, until I put your enemies beneath your feet as a footstool" [Ps 109:1]. And that Christ, being Lord, and being God, God's Son, and..."
...appearing earlier through power in the form of a man and of an angel, and amid a fiery glory, as at the bush, likewise appeared at the judgment carried out against Sodom - this point has already been established across much of what has been said. And I went back over everything I had previously set out from Exodus, both about the vision at the bush and about calling on the name of Jesus, and continued:
"Do not think, my friends, that I say these things so often out of mere wordiness, but because I know that some wish to argue this point in advance, and to claim that the power which appeared to Moses or Abraham or Jacob, coming from the Father of all, is called an angel because of its advance toward men, since through it the things from the Father are announced to men, and it is called glory...
...since it sometimes appears in a manifestation that cannot be contained; and at times it goes by the name man, indeed a human being, since it appears molded into whatever shape the Father wills; and they call it Word, since it also carries the Father's communications to men. And this power, they say, is undivided and inseparable from the Father, in the way they say the light of the sun...
...is on the earth undivided and inseparable, while the sun itself remains in heaven; and when it sets, the light is carried off together with it - so too the Father, they say, when he wishes, makes his power leap forth, and when he wishes, draws it back again into himself. In this same manner they teach that he also makes the angels. But that there are angels, and that they remain forever and...
...are not dissolved back into that from which they came - this has been demonstrated; and this force - the one the prophetic word likewise names God, as has equally been shown through many passages, and also calls angel - is not reckoned merely one in name, as the sun's light is, but is also a distinct entity in number - this too I examined briefly in what was said before, stating that this power had been begotten...
...out of the Father, through his power and will - yet not by a cutting-off, as if the Father's own substance were being parceled out, the way everything else, once divided and cut, ceases to be what it was before the cut; and by way of illustration I had pointed to how we see other fires kindled from one fire, with that original fire suffering no lessening, even though many fires can be kindled from it, but...
...remaining the same. Now let me restate again the very words I spoke to prove this. When it says that fire came down upon them from the Lord, poured out by the Lord from heaven [Gen 19:24], the prophetic word signals that two are distinct in number: the one on earth, who is said to have come down to see the outcry of Sodom [Gen 18:21], and the one in the heavens...
...who exists, and who holds lordship over the Lord on earth, being his Father and God, and the cause of his being powerful, Lord, and God. And again, when the word states that God said at the beginning, "See, Adam has come to be like one of us" [Gen 3:22], this phrase, "like one of us," likewise indicates number,
...and these words do not admit of a figurative reading, as the sophists attempt to explain them - men able neither to speak the truth nor to understand it. And it is said in Wisdom: "If I should declare to you the things that happen day by day, I would recall and number the things from eternity. The Lord brought me into being as the first of his undertakings, at the outset of his works. He founded me before the age, in the beginning, before...
...making the earth, and before making the depths, and before the springs of the waters came forth, before the mountains were set in place; and before all the hills he begets me" [Prov 8:21-25]. And having said this I went on: "Understand, O hearers, if indeed you are paying attention with your mind; and that the Father brought this offspring into being prior to all...
...the creatures without qualification, the word made plain; and that what is begotten is distinct in number from the one who begets, anyone whatsoever would agree. And once all had assented to this I said: I will now also speak certain words which I did not mention before; they were spoken in veiled fashion by the faithful servant [cf. Num 12:7] Moses. They run thus: "Rejoice, O heavens, at his side, and let every angel of God bow down to him;
...all the angels of God." And I went on to add the next words of the passage: "Rejoice, O nations, alongside his people, and may all God's angels grow strong for him, for the blood of his sons is avenged, and he will avenge it, and will repay justice to his enemies, and will repay those who hate him, and the Lord will cleanse the land of his people" [Deut 32:43]. And having said this...
...I said that it speaks of us, the nations, rejoicing with his people - by which I mean Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the prophets, and - put simply - everyone from that people who is pleasing to God - in keeping with what we have already agreed among ourselves; but we will not understand this of all those of your race, since we also know through Isaiah that the limbs of those who have transgressed are to be devoured by an unceasing...
...worm and unceasing fire, remaining immortal, so as to become a spectacle for all flesh [Is 66:24]. And I wish to say to you in addition to this, men, I said, some other words from the very words of Moses [cf. Gen 11:6, Deut 32:8], from which you can also understand that from of old...
...God scattered all mankind, both their races and their tongues; and that having taken for himself, out of all the races, your race, a useless and disobedient and faithless race [cf. Hos 8:8; Is 30:9 and 65:2; Deut 32:20], he showed that those chosen out of every race who are persuaded by his will through Christ - whom he also calls Jacob and...
...names Israel - these too, as I have said before in many places, must be Jacob and Israel. For by saying, "Rejoice, O nations, with his people" [Deut 32:43], he assigns to them the same inheritance and gives them the same name; and by calling them nations and saying that they rejoice with his people, he speaks of your nation to its reproach. For in the very manner that you too...
...provoked him to anger by practicing idolatry, so too he deemed those - though they too were idolaters - worthy to know his will and to inherit the inheritance that is with him. And I will also state the words by which it is shown that God divided all the nations. They are these: "Ask your father, and he will declare it to you; your elders, and they will tell you. When the Most High divided the nations,
...when he scattered abroad the sons of Adam, he fixed the borders of the nations to match the count of the sons of Israel; and the Lord's share became his people Jacob, Israel the measuring-cord of his inheritance" [Deut 32:7-9]. Having said this, I added that the Seventy rendered it: "He fixed the borders of the nations to match the number of God's angels." But since even on this reading my argument loses nothing,
...I stated your interpretation as well. And you too, if you are willing to confess the truth, must admit that we are more faithful toward God - we who, having been called by God through the despised mystery of the cross, so full of reproach, endure, on account of our confession and obedience and piety, punishments even unto death at the hands of the demons and the army of the devil, through the...
...service rendered to them by you, punishments which have thereby been increased - we endure all things so as not to deny Christ even so much as in word, through whom we were summoned to the deliverance the Father made ready in advance, we who hold greater faith than you did when you were ransomed out of Egypt by a raised arm and the oversight of great glory [cf. Deut 4:34; Exod 6:1ff.; 13:21; 16:10; Acts 13:17], from...
...Egypt, the sea having been cut apart for you and become a dry road, in which he killed those pursuing you with very great force and glorious chariots, by flooding upon them the sea that had been made into a road for your sake [cf. Exod 14:6]; you, for whom also a pillar of light shone [cf. Exod 13:21, etc.], so that beyond every other people in the world, in your own...
...so that you might have light that never fails and never sets to use. For them he rained down bread for food through heavenly angels, the manna, so that you would not even need to seek breadmaking. The bitter water at Marah, too, was turned sweet, and it became a sign of the one who was about to be crucified also in the case of the serpents that bit you, as I said before (all
of it was God, in his foresight, granting you the mysteries before their proper times — toward whom you are proved to have always been ungrateful) — and through the pattern of the stretching out of the hands of Moses, and of the one renamed Jesus, who fought against Amalek, concerning which God said that what had happened should be recorded, saying that he would also set the name of Jesus into your ears,
saying that this is the one who is going to blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. And that the memory of Amalek remains even after the son of Nun is plain to see; but that through Jesus who was crucified, of whom those symbols were proclamations in advance of all the things concerning him,
namely that the demons are going to be utterly destroyed and dread his very name, and that every rule and realm alike will eye him with suspicion, and that from every race of men those who believe in him are shown to be godly and peaceable — this it makes plain, and the things I have narrated before also signify it, Trypho. And so great a quantity of quail was given to you when you desired to eat meat, as much as would be countless
to tell. For them also water gushed out from a rock, and a cloud followed them as shade from the heat and protection from the cold, declaring in advance the manner and proclamation of another, new heaven. Of whom also
the straps of their sandals did not break, nor did the sandals themselves grow old, nor were their clothes worn out, but even those of the younger ones grew along with them. And in addition to this you made a calf, and you were eager to fornicate with the daughters of foreigners and to worship idols; and after this again, when the land had been given over to you with such great power,
that you even saw the sun, at the command of that man renamed with the name Jesus, stand still in the sky and not set for thirty-six hours, and all the other mighty deeds that happened to you from time to time — of which it seems good to me now to recount one more, for it contributes toward
your understanding, from it, of Jesus, whom we too have recognized as Christ, God's Son, crucified, raised, and taken up into the heavens, who will come again as judge of simply all men, back to Adam himself. Know then, I said, that when the tabernacle of testimony had been seized by the enemies around Azotus, and a terrible and incurable plague had come upon them, they took counsel
to place it upon a cart, under which they yoked cows that had newly calved, as a test to know whether they had been struck by the power of God on account of the tabernacle, and whether God wanted the ark sent back to the site it had originally come from. And when they did this, the cows, guided by no man, did not indeed go to the place from which the tabernacle had been taken, but into the field of a certain man called Hoshea, who bore the same name as
that man renamed with the name Jesus, as was said before, who also brought the people into the land and allotted it to them; and having come into that field they remained there, this being demonstrated to you as well, in that they were led by that power's name — just as, earlier, the remnant of the people who had come out of Egypt was led into the land by the man who had taken the name Jesus, previously called Hoshea,
was guided into the land. And though these and all such paradoxical and marvelous things happened to you and were seen from time to time, you are convicted through the prophets even to the point of having sacrificed your own children to demons, and on top of all this of having dared such things against the Christ and of still daring them — for all of which may it happen to you,
that you receive mercy from God and his Christ and are saved. For through the prophet Isaiah, foreknowing that you were going to do these things, God cursed you thus: 'Woe to their soul; they have plotted a wicked plan against themselves, declaring, "Let us tie up the just man, for he is a nuisance to us." So then they will eat the produce of their own deeds. Woe to the lawless one; evil things according to
the deeds of his own hands will come back upon him. My people, your extortioners strip you like stubble, and those who demand payment shall lord it over you. My people, those who call you blessed lead you astray and throw into confusion the path of your ways. But now he will set his people up for judgment, and the Lord in person will enter into judgment alongside the people's elders and its rulers
of his people. "But you — why have you burned up my vineyard, and why is the plunder of the poor sitting in your homes? Why do you wrong my people and disgrace the faces of the lowly?"' And again in other words the same prophet said to the same effect: 'Woe to those who draw their sins after them as with a long rope,
and their sins as with a heifer-yoke's strap — those who say, "Let his speed hasten near, and let the plan of Israel's Holy One arrive, so we may learn it." Woe to those who call the evil good and the good evil, who make the light darkness and the darkness light, who make the bitter sweet and the sweet bitter. Woe to those who are wise
in their own eyes and knowing in their own sight. Woe to those strong among you, who drink wine, and the potentates, and those who mix strong drink, who justify the ungodly for the sake of gifts, and take away the justice of the righteous. Therefore, just as stubble will be burned by a coal of fire and will be consumed together by a burning flame, so their root shall be like chaff, and their
flower shall rise up like dust; for they refused the law belonging to the Lord of Sabaoth, and instead provoked the utterance of Israel's Holy One. So the Lord of Sabaoth burned with anger, laid hands upon them, struck them down, and turned in wrath against the mountains; their corpses lay in the midst like dung along the road; yet through all this they did not turn back,
but their hand is still raised high.' For truly your hand is still raised high for evildoing, since even after killing the Christ you do not repent even so, but you hate and murder us too, who through him have come to believe in God the Father of all, whenever you get the power to do so, and you ceaselessly curse both him himself and those descended from
him, though every one of us prays on your behalf and indeed for absolutely everyone, since this is exactly what our Christ and Lord instructed us to practice — he who charged us to intercede on behalf of enemies too, to show love toward those who hate us, and to speak blessing over those who curse us. If, then, the teachings of the prophets and those
of that very man shame you as well, you would do better following God rather than your senseless, blind teachers — men who, even now, permit each man among you to marry four or five wives, and, should he see a beautiful woman and desire her, they point to what Jacob (that is, Israel) and the other patriarchs did, claiming that anyone acting likewise commits no wrong — wretched men and
foolish, and in this respect too. For as I said before, certain dispensations of great mysteries were accomplished in each such act. For I will tell what dispensation and advance proclamation was accomplished in the marriages of Jacob, so that in these matters too you may recognize that your teachers have never looked to the more divine purpose for the sake of which each act took place, but rather to
the passions of corruption instead. Attend, then, to what I am saying. The marriages of Jacob were types of the deed that was going to be accomplished by Christ. For Jacob was not permitted to take two sisters as wives at the same time; and he served Laban for the sake of the daughters, and having been deceived regarding the younger one, he served again seven
...years. But Leah is your people and synagogue, while Rachel is our church. And it is for these that Christ has served up to now, and for the slaves in both of them. For since Noah gave the seed of the third son into slavery to the two sons [cf. Gen. 9:25], now again, for the restoration both of the free children
and of the slaves among them, Christ has come, deeming all of them worthy of the same things who keep his commandments, in the same way that both those born of the free women and those born of the slave women became to Jacob all sons and of equal honor; but according to the order and according to the foreknowledge, what sort each would be, was foretold beforehand [cf. Gen. 49:1ff]. Jacob served
Laban for the speckled and multiform flocks [cf. Gen. 30-31]; and Christ too served, even unto the slavery of the cross [cf. Phil. 2:7-8], on behalf of the varied and manifold men of every race, acquiring them through the blood and mystery of the cross. Leah's eyes were weak [cf. Gen. 29:17]; for indeed the eyes of your soul are exceedingly so.
Rachel stole Laban's gods and hid them until this very day [cf. Gen. 31:19-34]; and for us the ancestral and material gods have perished. For all that time Jacob was hated by his brother; so now, our Lord along with us is despised by you [fol. 187] and by other people in general, though all
are by nature brothers. Jacob was surnamed Israel; and Israel too has been shown to be Christ, who is and is called Jesus. And when the scripture says, 'I am the Lord, God, Israel's Holy One, the one who established Israel as your king' [Is. 43:15], will you not truly hear this as referring to Christ the eternal king? For you know that Jacob, the son of Isaac, never
became a king. And for this reason the scripture, again explaining to us whom it calls king of Jacob and Israel, spoke thus: 'Jacob my servant, I will lay hold of him; and Israel my chosen, my soul will receive him. I have put my spirit upon him, and he will bring forth judgment to the nations. He will not cry out, nor will his voice be heard outside; a reed
that is bruised he will not break, and smoking flax he will not quench, until he brings forth judgment unto victory; he will take up judgment, and will not be broken, until he sets judgment upon the earth; and in his name the nations will hope' [Is. 42:1-4]. Do those from the nations, then, hope in Jacob the patriarch, and not in Christ — and you yourselves as well?
Just as scripture calls Christ also Israel and Jacob, so we too, hewn from the womb of Christ, are the true Israelite race. But let us rather attend to the very saying itself. 'And I will bring forth,' it says, 'the seed from Jacob and from Judah; and [fol. 187] it will inherit my holy mountain, and my chosen ones will inherit it, and my servants,'
'and they will dwell there; and in the forest there will be folds of flocks, and the valley of Achor a resting place for herds, for my people who have sought me. But you, who forsake me and neglect my sacred mountain, who set a table before the demons and fill a mixed offering-cup for the demon, I will hand you over to the sword; you will all fall in slaughter, because I called you'
'and you did not obey; I spoke, and you disobeyed, and you did what was evil before me, and you chose the things I did not want' [Is. 65:9-12]. That is what the scripture says; and consider yourselves too, that something else is now meant by 'the seed from Jacob,' not what someone might suppose is said about the people. For it is not possible that, to those born from Jacob,
there should be left an addition of those sown from Jacob, nor that, while reproaching the people as unworthy of the inheritance, it should again, as though relenting, be promising the same things to the very same people. But just as the prophet says elsewhere, 'And now, O house of Jacob, come — let us go forward in the light of the Lord'; for he dismissed his people, the house of Jacob, since their land had become full, as
it was from the beginning, with divinations and omens [Is. 2:5-6] — so here too we must recognize [fol. 188] two seeds of Judah and two distinct races, like two houses of Jacob: one begotten of blood [cf. John 1:13] and flesh, the other begotten of faith and spirit. For you see that it now speaks to the people, having said above: 'As
a grape will be found in a cluster, and they will say, Do not destroy it, for a blessing is in it — this is what I will do for the sake of the one who serves me; on his account I will not wipe them all out'; and after this it adds: 'And I will bring forth the seed from Jacob and from Judah' [Is. 65:8-9]. It is clear, then, that if he is so angry with those and threatens to leave only a few, he promises to bring forth certain others
who will dwell on his mountain [Is. 65:9]. These are the ones he said he would sow [cf. Jer. 38:27] and beget [cf. Ezek. 36:12]; for you neither endure him when he calls nor listen when he speaks, but you have also done evil before the Lord [Is. 65:12]. But the height of your wickedness is that you also hate the one whom
you murdered, and think it right that those who have received from him should be what they are — pious and righteous and loving of mankind. For that reason the Lord says, 'Woe to their soul, because they have plotted a wicked scheme to their own harm, declaring, Let us do away with the righteous man, for he is a burden to us' [Is. 3:9-10 and Wisdom 2:12]. For did you not also sacrifice to Baal, as your fathers did, nor
make cakes in shaded or high places for the host of heaven [cf. Jer. 7:18]? No — but rather because you did not receive [fol. 188] his Christ. For whoever is ignorant of him is also ignorant of the counsel of God, and whoever insults and hates him also hates the one who sent him; clearly he both hates and insults him; and if anyone does not believe in him,
he does not believe the proclamations of the prophets, who announced him as good news and proclaimed him to all [cf. John 5:23 and 46]. So do not, brothers, say anything evil against that crucified one, and do not mock his wounds, by which it is possible for all to be healed, just as we too have been healed [cf. Is. 53:5]. For it would be good, if you, persuaded by these words, were circumcised in your
hardness of heart, which you hold not as a resolve arising through yourselves — since it was given as a sign, not as a work of righteous conduct, as the words compel us to see. Agreeing, then, do not revile the Son of God, nor, obeying your Pharisee teachers, ever mock the king of Israel, in accordance with what your synagogue rulers teach, after the prayer. For if he who touches those not
pleasing to God is as one who touches the pupil of God's eye [cf. Zech. 2:8], how much more he who lays hold of the Beloved [cf. Eph. 1:6]. And that this one is he himself has also been sufficiently demonstrated." And when they were silent, I said: "My friends, I am now speaking the scriptures as the Seventy interpreted them; for having spoken them earlier as you yourselves have them,
I was making trial of you, to see how [fol. 189] your minds were already disposed. For when I spoke the scripture that says, 'Woe to them, for they have devised an evil plan against themselves, saying' — as the Seventy interpreted it I added, 'Let us take away the righteous one, for he is troublesome to us' — whereas when I first said, at the beginning of our discussion, what you yourselves would wish to have been said, saying, 'Let us bind the righteous one, for he is troublesome to us'
[Is. 3:9-10 and Wisdom 2:12] — you did other things, and you do not seem to me to have listened attentively to the words. But since even now the day is already about to reach its end — for the sun is already toward its setting — I will add one more thing to what has been said and stop; this same thing was indeed already said among the things spoken by me, but again
it seems to me right that it should be worked out further. Know then, gentlemen," I said, "that it is said in Isaiah by God to Jerusalem, 'At the flood of Noah I saved you' [cf. Is. 54:8-9?]. And this is what God meant: that the mystery of the men being saved took place at the flood. For the righteous man"
Noah with the other people at the flood — that is, his wife and his three children and the wives of his sons — who were eight in number, held a symbol of the day that is eighth in number, on which our Christ appeared, having risen from the dead, though in power he has always existed as first. For Christ,
being firstborn of all creation [Col 1:15], became in turn the beginning of another race, the race regenerated by him through water and faith and wood, which holds the mystery of the cross — just as Noah too was saved in wood, carried upon the waters together with his own. So when the prophet says, 'On account of Noah I saved you,' as I said before, he speaks to the
people who are likewise faithful toward God and possess these symbols. For Moses too, holding a rod in hand, led your people through the sea. But you suppose that he spoke only of your race, or only of the land. For that the whole earth, as scripture says [Gen 7:19-20], was flooded, and the
water rose fifteen cubits above all the mountains, God appears to have said not to the earth but to the people obedient to him, for whom he had also prepared beforehand a rest in Jerusalem, as has already been shown through all the symbols connected with the flood. And I said that through water and faith and wood those who prepare themselves beforehand and repent of what they have sinned will escape the coming judgment of God
For indeed another mystery was prophesied to be fulfilled in the case of Noah, which you do not understand. It is this: in the blessings with which Noah blessed his two sons, he curses the son of his son. For the son, having been blessed together with them by God, the prophetic spirit was not about to curse; but, since through the whole race of the one
who laughed at his son's nakedness the penalty for the sin was going to fall, he made the curse proceed from the son [cf. Gen 9]. And in what he said, he was foretelling that those descended from Shem would come to possess the properties and dwellings of Canaan, and again that those descended from Japheth would possess these same properties, which those from Shem, having taken them over from the sons of Canaan,
would themselves come to possess, taking them away from those descended from Shem — in the same way that, when they were taken away from the sons of Canaan, they themselves had come to possess them. And that this is indeed what happened, listen. For you, who trace your race from Shem, went up against the land of the sons of Canaan according to the will of God and took possession of it. And that the sons of Japheth, coming according to the judgment of God, and
coming themselves against you, took your land away from you and took possession of it, is evident. Now this was said as follows: 'And Noah woke up from the wine and realized what his youngest son had done to him. And he said: Cursed be the boy Canaan; he will be a slave to his brothers. And he said: Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem, and Canaan will be his slave. May the Lord make room for
Japheth, so that he may dwell in the tents of Shem, and Canaan will become his slave' [Gen 9:24-27]. Two nations, then, were blessed — those descended from Shem and those descended from Japheth — and it is understood that the descendants of Shem were the first to hold the tents of Canaan, while the descendants of Japheth would later inherit from them these same possessions mentioned earlier, and to the two peoples
the one people from Canaan having been handed over into slavery, Christ came according to the power given to him by the almighty Father, calling them to friendship and blessing [cf. 1 Pet 3:9] and repentance and a shared dwelling — the dwelling in that same land which is destined to belong to all the saints, of which possession, as has already been demonstrated, he has promised. Whence people from everywhere, whether slaves
or free, believe in Christ and have come to recognize the truth contained in his sayings and those of his prophets, understand that, once they come to be with him in that land, they will inherit the eternal and imperishable things as well. Whence also Jacob, as I said before, being himself too a type of Christ, had also married the two slave women belonging to his two free wives, and from
them he begot sons, so that it might be foretold beforehand that Christ would take to himself, along with the free, all who are of the race of Japheth born from Canaan, and would have them as children who are joint heirs — which is what we are, though you are not able to understand it, because you are not able to drink from the living fountain of God, but from the broken cisterns which are unable to hold
water, as scripture says [Jer 2:13]. And the broken cisterns that do not hold water are the ones your own teachers have dug for you, as scripture also expressly says: 'teaching teachings, the commandments of men' [Isa 29:13; cf. Matt 15:9]. And besides this, they deceive both themselves and you, supposing that assuredly to those who are of the seed
according to the flesh of Abraham [cf. Matt 3:9], even if they are sinful and faithless and disobedient toward God, the eternal kingdom will be given — which the scriptures have shown not to be so. For indeed Isaiah would not have said this: 'If the Lord of Sabaoth had not left us offspring, we would have become like Sodom and Gomorrah' [Isa 1:9];
and Ezekiel: that 'even if Noah and Jacob and Daniel should ask for sons or daughters, it shall not be given to them; but neither father for son nor son for father, but each will perish for his own wrongdoing, and each will be delivered by his own righteous deeds' [cf. Ezek 14:14-20; 18:4, 20; and Deut 24:26]; and again Isaiah: 'They shall see the limbs
of those who rebelled; their worm will never die, their fire will never go out, and they will be a spectacle to all humanity' [Isa 66:24]. And our Lord, following the purpose of the Father and Master of all things who sent him, would not have said: 'Many will arrive from east and west and take their place at table with Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob within the kingdom of heaven, while the heirs of the kingdom will be thrown into the darkness outside' [Matt 8:11-12]. But that it is not on account of God that those foreknown and destined to become unjust — whether angels or men — become wicked, but that each is such as each will be shown to be through his own cause, I have demonstrated already above as well. And so that
you may not have a pretext to say that it was necessary for Christ to be crucified, or that there should be transgressors even within your own race, and that it could not have come about otherwise, I said briefly beforehand that, wishing the angels and men to follow his will, God chose to make them self-determined toward righteous conduct, with the reason to know him by whom they came to be,
and through whom they exist, having previously not existed, and to be judged by the law that governs them, if they act contrary to right reason; and it is through our own selves — we men and the angels — that we shall be convicted of having done evil, if we do not change beforehand. Now if God's word declares in advance without qualification that certain angels and men are destined for punishment, it is because he knew in advance that they would become unchangeably
wicked that he foretold these things, and not because God made them so. Hence, if they repent, all who wish can obtain mercy from God, and the word foretells them blessed, saying: 'Blessed is he to whom the Lord will not impute sin' [Ps 31:2]; and this means: he who, having repented of his sins, receives from God
forgiveness of his sins — but not as you deceive yourselves, and certain others like you in this respect, who claim that sinners who are acquainted with God will still escape having their sin counted against them by the Lord. As witness of this we have the one transgression of David, which came about through his boasting [cf. Ps 26:2ff], which was then forgiven when he wept
and mourned, as it is written [cf. 2 Kgdms 12:13]. And if to such a man forgiveness was not given before he repented, but only when this great king and christ and prophet wept and did such things, how can the unclean, and those utterly given over to recklessness, hope for their sin to go uncounted by the Lord, unless they mourn and beat their breasts and repent?
"And this single act as well, gentlemen," I said, "the affair of David's transgression with Uriah's wife, shows that the patriarchs did not have many wives as men given to fornication, but that a certain economy and all manner of mysteries were accomplished through them. For if it had been permitted to take a woman — whichever one a man wished, and in whatever way he wished, and as many as he wished —
the way the men of your own race do, in every land, wherever they settle or are sent, taking women to themselves in the name of marriage, then this would have been permitted to David to do all the more. Having said these things, my dearest Marcus Pompeius, I stopped. And after Trypho had paused for a while, he said, 'You see that it was not by design that we came together in these matters. And I confess that I was especially delighted by the'
conversation, and I think these men here were affected in the same way as I was. We discovered more than we had anticipated — more, in fact, than one could ever have hoped to find. And if it were possible for us to do this more continually, we would profit still more by examining the very arguments themselves. But since,' he said, 'you are on the point of departure and expect to set sail any day now, don't fail to keep us in mind as friends once you have gotten away.'
"'As for me,' I said, 'for my own sake, if I were staying on, I would wish this same thing to happen every day. But since I now expect to be put to sea shortly, God permitting and cooperating, I urge you, now that you have entered upon this greatest of contests on behalf of your own salvation, to be zealous to prefer the Christ of the almighty God above your teachers.' After this they went away, praying for my safety, both from the voyage and from all"
wickedness. And I too, praying on their behalf, said: "I can wish nothing greater for you, gentlemen, than this — that, having recognized that by this way it is granted to every man to attain happiness, you yourselves also would do just as we have done in every respect: confess that Jesus is the Christ of God."