A prophet to the nations
'I have set you as a prophet to the nations.' If you look for this in Jeremiah — 'I have set you as a prophet to the nations' — watch later on: he is commanded to prophesy 'against all the nations,' and there is a heading, 'What Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations,' against Elam, against Damascus, against Moab. And we have it that he 'prophesied against all the nations,' as regards the letter of 'I have set you as a prophet to the nations,' said to him.
If it is a matter of the higher sense: if of Jeremiah, we have already spoken; if of the Savior, what need is there even to say it? He truly prophesied to all the nations. For he is, as he is ten thousand other things, also a prophet. As he is high priest, as he is savior, as he is physician, so he is also prophet. Moses, prophesying about him, did not say only 'a prophet,' but said it with a special force: 'The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet from your brothers, like me; him you shall hear, and it shall be that whoever does not hear that prophet shall be destroyed from his people.'
This one, then, is also the prophet set 'to the nations,' and he received grace from God poured out on his lips, so that not only when he was present in the body, but also now, when he is present in power and in the Spirit, he may prophesy 'to all the nations,' so that from all the nations his prophecy may reach its end and draw men to salvation.
Greek
«προφήτην εἰς ἔθνη τέθεικά σε. ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἱερεμίου ἐὰν ἀναζητήσῃς τὸ «προφήτην εἰς ἔθνη τέθεικά σε«, τήρησον ἐν τοῖς ἑξῆς, ὅτι κελεύεται προφητεῦσαι «ἐπὶ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη«, καὶ ἔστι προγραφή· «Ἃ προεφήτευσεν Ἱερεμίας ἐπὶ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη« τῇ «Αἰλὰμ«, «τῇ Δαμασκῷ«, «τῇ Μωάβ. καὶ ἔχομεν, ὅτι «προεφήτευσεν ἐπὶ πάντα τά ἔθνη«, ὡς πρὸς τὸ ῥητὸν ὅτι «προφήτην εἰς ἔθνη τέθεικά σε« πρὸς ἐκεῖνον. ἐὰν δὲ πρὸς ἀναγωγήν , ἐὰν μὲν ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἱερεμίου, προειρήκαμεν, ἐὰν δὲ ἐπὶ τοῦ σωτῆρος, τί δεῖ καὶ λέγειν; οὑτος ἀληθῶς ἐπὶ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη προεφήτευσεν· ἔστι γὰρ ὥσπερ ἄλλα μυρία οὕτως καὶ προφήτης. ὥς ἐστιν ἀρχιερεύς, ὥς ἐστι σωτήρ, ὥς έστιν ἰατρός, οὕτως καὶ προφήτης.
Μωσῆς γοῦν προφητεύων περὶ αὐτοῦ οὐχὶ προφήτην μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐξαιρέτως εἶπεν εἰπών· «προξήτην ἐκ τῶν ἀδελφῶν ὑμῶν ἀναστήσει ὑμῖν κύριος ό θεὸς ὡς ἐμέ, αὐτοῦ καὶ ἔσται, ὃς ἂν μὴ ἀκούσῃ τοῦ προφήτου ἐκείνου ἐξολοθρευθήσεται ἐκ τοῦ λαοῦ αὐτοῦ. οὑτος οὖν έστιν ὁ καὶ προφήτης «εἰς ἔθνη« τεθειμένος καὶ ἔλαβε χάριν ἀπὸ θεοῦ ἐκχυθεῖσαν ἐν τοῖς χείλεσιν αὐτοῦ, ἴνα μὴ μόνον, ὅτε παρῆν τῷ οώματι, ἀλλὰ καὶ νῦν, ὅτε πάρεστι δυνάμει καὶ τῷ πνεύματι, προφητεύῃ «ἐπὶ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη«, ὥστε ἀπὸ πάντων τῶν Μνῶν ἀνύειν αὐτοῦ τὴν προφητείαν καὶ ἕλκειν ἀνθρώπους ἐπὶ σωτηρίαν.
About this text
Origen on Jeremiah. Twenty Greek homilies survive. This page publishes the Pass B English for Homilies 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20. Homily 8 remains a machine draft and is not shipped yet. The rest of the volume is still being translated.
English follows Erich Klostermann, Origenes Werke III (GCS, 1901). A second transcription of that same edition (First1KGreek TEI) was checked; where the TEI drops or garbles a line, the page image wins. This is a reading translation for study, not a new critical edition of the Greek. Homilies that survive only in Jerome’s Latin are not on this page yet. When they are, they will be marked at those homilies.
Witnesses
- Copy-text Klostermann, Origenes Werke III (GCS, 1901) (Greek · Homilies 1–20 Greek (this page: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20))
- Checked print Archive.org page image and DjVu of GCS III (Greek · Same print as the copy-text)
- Checked print First1KGreek TEI of GCS III (Greek · Same print; encoding errors deferred to the page image)
Where the prints differ
- Homily 1.1 — The TEI omits Ἑβραῖον. English follows the GCS page image: Jonah is “a Hebrew prophet.”
- Homily 1.5 — The TEI dropped Ἰσαάκ. English follows the GCS page image: Isaac born of promise.
- Homily 1.11 — The TEI/OCR of this line is garbled. English follows the GCS page image and the quoted verse: “I have sanctified you.”
- Homily 3.2 — The TEI gaps Matthew 5:45 (sun on the evil and [gap]; rain on [gap] and the unjust). English follows the Gospel wording.
English is newly prepared for study from the stated edition. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.