What we hold in common with the Jews
Next Celsus says: “So the same God belongs to the Jews and to these people,” plainly meaning the Christians. And as if he were drawing a conclusion that would never be conceded, he says this: “Clearly so, since those of the great church admit this, and accept as true the account of the world’s making that is current among the Jews, at least about the six days and the seventh.” On that seventh day, as Scripture says, God “ceased from his works” (Genesis 2:2), withdrawing into his own exalted contemplation. But according to Celsus, who neither attended to what is written nor understood it, God “rested,” which is not written. About the making of the world, and the Sabbath rest that remains after it for the people of God (Hebrews 4:9), there would be “much to say,” and it would be mystical and deep and “hard to explain” (Hebrews 5:11).
Then, wanting to fill out his book and to make it look large, he seems to me to add certain things at random, such as the matter of the first man: that we say he is the same man the Jews speak of, and that we trace the line of descent from him in the same way they do. But we know of no plotting of brothers against one another. We know that Cain plotted against Abel (Genesis 4:8), and Esau against Jacob (Genesis 27:41); but Abel did not plot against Cain, nor Jacob against Esau. Had that happened, Celsus would have been right to say that we tell the same stories as the Jews about brothers plotting against one another.
Grant too that we speak, as they do, of the same going down into Egypt (Genesis 46:6) and of the return from there (Exodus 12:41), and not of a flight, as Celsus supposes. What, then, do these things contribute to the charge against us or against the Jews? Where he thought he would mock us in the account of the Hebrews, he called it a flight. But where the real business was to examine the scourges which are recorded to have come upon Egypt from God (Exodus 7:14–12:30), that he deliberately passed over in silence.
Greek
Εἶθ᾿ ἑξῆς φησιν ὁ Κέλσος· οὐκοῦν ὁ αὐτὸς θεὸς Ἰουδαίοις τε καὶ τοῖσδε, δῆλον δ᾿ ὅτι τοῖς Χριστιανοῖς· καὶ ὡσπερεὶ τὸ οὐκ ἂν διδόμενον συνάγων τοῦτό φησι· σαφῶς γε τῶν ἀπὸ μεγάλης ἐκκλησίας τοῦτο ὁμολογούντων καὶ τὰ τῆς παρὰ Ἰουδαίοις φερομένης κοσμογονίας προσιεμένων ὡς ἀληθῆ περί γε τῶν ἓξ ἡμερῶν καὶ τῆς ἑβδόμης, ἐν ᾗ, ὡς μὲν ἡ γραφὴ λέγει, „κατέπαυσεν“ „ἀπὸ τῶν ἔργων ἑαυτοῦ“ ὁ θεὸς ἀναχωρῶν εἰς τὴν ἑαυτοῦ περιωπὴν, ὡς δ᾿ ὁ Κέλσος μὴ τηρήσας τὰ γεγραμμένα μηδὲ συνιεὶς αὐτά φησιν, ἀναπαυσάμενος, ὅπερ οὐ γέγραπται. περὶ δὲ τῆς κοσμοποιΐας καὶ τοῦ μετ᾿ αὐτὴν ἀπολειπομένου σαββατισμοῦ τῷ λαῷ τοῦ θεοῦ „πολὺς“ ἂν εἴη καὶ μυστικὸς καὶ βαθὺς καὶ „δυσερμήνευτος λόγος.“ εἶτα δοκεῖ μοι τὸ βιβλίον συμπληρῶσαι θέλων καὶ μέγα δοκεῖν εἶναι ποιῶν εἰκῇ προστιθέναι τινὰ, ὁποῖά ἐστι καὶ τὰ κατὰ τὸν πρῶτον ἄνθρωπον, ὡς ἄρα λέγομεν τὸν αὐτὸν εἶναι ὡς καὶ Ἰουδαῖοι καὶ τὴν ἀπ᾿ ἐκείνου διαδοχὴν ὁμοίως αὐτοῖς γενεαλογοῦμεν. ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰς ἀλλήλους μὲν ἐπιβουλὴν ἀδελφῶν οὐκ ἴσμεν, τὸν δὲ Κάϊν ἐπιβεβουλευκέναι τῷ Ἄβελ καὶ τὸν Ἠσαῦ τῷ Ἰακώβ· οὐ γὰρ Ἄβελ τῷ Κάϊν ἐπεβούλευσεν οὐδὲ ὁ Ἰακὼβ τῷ Ἠσαῦ· ὅπερ εἰ ἐγεγόνει, ἀκολούθως ἂν εἶπεν ὁ Κέλσος τὰς εἰς ἀλλήλους τῶν ἀδελφῶν ἐπιβουλὰς τὰς αὐτὰς ἡμᾶς Ἰουδαίοις ἱστορεῖν. ἔστω δὲ καὶ τὴν εἰς Αἴγυπτον ἡμᾶς ἀποδημίαν τὴν αὐτὴν λέγειν ἐκείνοις καὶ τὴν ἐκεῖθεν ἐπάνοδον καὶ οὐ φυγὴν, ὡς ὁ Κέλσος νομίζει· τί οὖν ταῦτα συμβάλλεται πρὸς τὴν καθ᾿ ἡμῶν ἢ κατὰ Ἰουδαίων κατηγορίαν; ἔνθα μὲν οὖν ᾤετο χλευάσειν ἡμᾶς ἐν τῷ περὶ τῶν Ἑβραίων λόγῳ, φυγὴν ὠνόμαζεν· ὅπου δ᾿ ἦν τὸ πραγματικὸν ἐξετάσαι περὶ τῶν ἀναγεγραμμένων μαστίγων ἐπεληλυθέναι τῇ Αἰγύπτῳ ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ, τοῦθ᾿ ἑκὼν ἐσιώπησεν.