Against Celsus, Book I · §53 · Origen of Alexandria

The ruler from Judah and the hope of the nations

And if a second prophecy about Jesus is needed, one that seems to us plain, we shall set out the one written by Moses very many years before Jesus' coming. Moses says that Jacob, as he was departing this life, prophesied to each of his sons (Genesis 49:1), and said to Judah, among other things: "A ruler shall not fail from Judah, nor a leader from his thighs, until the things laid up for him come" (Genesis 49:10).

Anyone who reads this prophecy, which in truth is much older than Moses, though one of the unbelievers might suppose it was spoken by Moses, would wonder how Moses could have foretold that the kings of the Jews, though there were twelve tribes among them, would be born of the tribe of Judah and would rule the people. That is why the whole people are called Jews, taking their name from the ruling tribe.

And one who reads the prophecy fair-mindedly would wonder at it a second time: how, having said that the rulers and leaders of the people would come from the tribe of Judah, he also fixed the end of their rule, saying that a ruler would not fail "from Judah," nor a leader "from his thighs, until the things laid up for him come, and he is the expectation of the nations" (Genesis 49:10). For he has come to whom "the things laid up" belong, the Christ of God, "the ruler" of God's promises. And he alone, beyond all who were before him, and I would boldly say beyond all who came after him too, has clearly become "the expectation of the nations." For people from all the nations have believed in God through him, and, as Isaiah said, the nations have hoped in his name; for he said: "In his name the nations will hope" (Isaiah 42:4).

He also said "Come out" "to those in bonds," since "each one is bound fast by the cords of his own sins" (Proverbs 5:22), and he told those in ignorance to come into the light. These things too were foretold, in this way: "And I have given you as a covenant of the nations, to establish the earth and to inherit a desolate inheritance, saying to those in bonds, Come out, and to those in darkness, Show yourselves" (Isaiah 49:8-9). And at his coming one can see fulfilled, in the simpler believers all over the world, the words: "And in all the ways they shall feed, and in all the paths shall be their pasture" (Isaiah 49:9).

Greek

Εἰ δὲ καὶ δευτέρας προφητείας ἐναργοῦς ἡμῖν εἶναι φαινομένης περὶ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ χρεία ἐστὶν, ἐκθησόμεθα τὴν ἀναγραφεῖσαν πρὸ πλείστων ὅσων ἐτῶν τῆς Ἰησοῦ ἐπιδημίας ὑπὸ Μω(??)σέως, φήσαντος τὸν Ἰακὼβ ἀπαλλασσόμενον τοῦ βίου πεπροφητευκέναι ἑκάστῳ τῶν υἱῶν καὶ τῷ Ἰούδᾳ εἰρηκέναι μετὰ καὶ ἄλλων τό· „οὐκ ἐκλείψει ἄρχων ἐξ Ἰούδα καὶ ἡγούμενος ἐκ τῶν μηρῶν αὐτοῦ, ἕως ἂν ἔλθῃ τὰ ἀποκείμενα αὐτῷ.“ ἐντυγχάνων δέ τις τῇ προφητείᾳ ταύτῃ, κατὰ μὲν τὸ ἀληθὲς πολλῷ πρεσβυτέρᾳ τυγχανούσῃ Μω(??)σέως, ὡς δ᾿ ἂν ὑπονοήσαι τις τῶν οὐ πιστῶν, ὑπὸ Μωϋσέως λεχθείσῃ, θαυμάσαι ἂν, πῶς Μωϋσῆς δεδύνηται προειπεῖν ὅτι οἱ τῶν Ἰουδαίων βασιλεύοντες, δώδεκα οὐσῶν φυλῶν ἐν αὐτοῖς, ἀπὸ τῆς Ἰούδα φυλῆς γεννηθέντες ἄρξουσι τοῦ λαοῦ· διὸ καὶ ὁ πᾶς λαὸς Ἰουδαῖοι ὀνομάζονται, τῆς βασιλευούσης φυλῆς ὄντες ἐπώνυμοι. καὶ δεύτερον δ᾿ ἂν θαυμάσαι τὴν προφητείαν ὁ εὐγνωμόνως αὐτῇ ἐντυγχάνων, τίνα τρόπον εἰπὼν ἀπὸ τῆς Ἰούδα φυλῆς ἔσεσθαι τοὺς ἄρχοντας καὶ ἡγεμόνας τοῦ λαοῦ ἔστησε καὶ τὸ τέλος τῆς ἀρχῆς αὐτῆς εἰπὼν οὐκ ἐκλείψειν ἄρχοντα „ἐξ Ἰούδα“ καὶ ἡγούμενον „ἐκ τῶν μηρῶν αὐτοῦ, ἕως ἂν ἔλθῃ τὰ ἀποκείμενα αὐτῷ, καὶ αὐτὸς προσδοκία ἐθνῶν.“ ἦλθε γὰρ ᾧ ἐστι „τὰ ἀποκείμενα,“ ὁ Χριστὸς τοῦ θεοῦ, „ὁ ἄρχων“ τῶν ἐπαγγελιῶν τοῦ θεοῦ· καὶ σαφῶς γέγονεν οὗτος μόνος παρὰ τοὺς πρὸ αὐτοῦ πάντας, θαῤῥῶν δ᾿ ἂν εἴποιμι καὶ τοὺς μετ᾿ αὐτὸν, „προσδοκία ἐθνῶν“· ἀπὸ γὰρ πάντων τῶν ἐθνῶν πεπιστεύκασι τῷ θεῷ δι᾿ αὐτοῦ, καὶ κατὰ τὸ εἰρημένον ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἡσαΐου ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματι αὐτοῦ ἔθνη ἤλπισαν εἰπόντος· „ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματι αὐτοῦ ἔθνη ἐλπιοῦσιν.“ οὗτος δὲ καὶ εἶπε „τοῖς ἐν δεσμοῖς,“ καθὸ „σειραῖς τῶν ἑαυτοῦ ἁμαρτιῶν ἕκαστος σφίγγεται,“ τὸ „ἐξέλθατε“ καὶ τοῖς ἐν τῇ ἀγνοίᾳ τὸ εἰς φῶς ἥκειν, καὶ τούτων οὕτω προφητευθέντων· „καὶ ἔδωκά σε εἰς διαθήκην ἐθνῶν τοῦ καταστῆσαι τὴν γῆν καὶ κληρονομῆσαι κληρονομίαν ἐρήμου, λέγοντα τοῖς ἐν δεσμοῖς ἐξέλθατε, καὶ τοῖς ἐν σκότει ἀνακαλυφθῆναι.“ καὶ ἔστιν ἰδεῖν ἐπὶ τῇ τούτου παρουσίᾳ διὰ τοὺς πανταχοῦ τῆς οἰκουμένης ἁπλούστερον πιστεύοντας πληρούμενον τὸ „καὶ ἐν πάσαις ταῖς ὁδοῖς βοσκηθήσονται, καὶ ἐν πάσαις ταῖς τρίβοις ἡ νομὴ αὐτῶν.“

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About this text

Origen answers Celsus’s opening charges: that Christians meet in secret against the law, that their teaching is barbarian and borrowed, and that they ask for faith without reasons. He then answers the Jew whom Celsus sets against Jesus, meeting the slander about Jesus’ birth and the charge of magic with the prophecies of the virgin, of Bethlehem and of the suffering Servant, and with the lives Jesus changed.

Base text: Paul Koetschau's edition, GCS 2–3 (Leipzig, 1899), read in the Perseus Digital Library digital text. The English is translated from that Greek, chapter by chapter, and each chapter was then checked clause by clause against the Greek. Koetschau's supplements are followed.

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Translated from Koetschau GCS 2 – 3 (1899) — Greek, Perseus digital text (Greek · Book I, chapters 1 – 71)

We have not yet re-checked this work against its source. We made this study translation with AI help. No scholar has yet certified it as faithful and complete. Open Greek on any section to see the source text. It is not a critical edition.

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