The earth in you made desolate when Jesus comes
But if you also want to hear something higher than 'Through me the whole land was made desolate with desolation,' look at the earth in you—how it was made desolate when Jesus came. For it was made desolate when 'the members that are upon the earth' were put to death, and the earth no longer works its own works. No longer do the works of the flesh spring up in the righteous, with which the flesh used to flourish—no longer fornication, no longer uncleanness, no longer sensuality, no idolatry, no sorcery, and the rest. And the Savior also says: 'Do you think that I came to cast peace upon the earth? I did not come to cast peace but a sword.' Truly, before he came there was no sword upon the earth, nor did 'the flesh desire against the Spirit, nor the Spirit against the flesh.' But when he came and we were taught what belongs to the flesh and what to the Spirit, the teaching, become like a sword on earth, divided the flesh and the earth from the Spirit. And 'the earth was made desolate' when we carry about the putting-to-death of Jesus in the body, and we no longer live according to flesh, but the Spirit lives, and we sow nothing into the flesh but everything into the Spirit, so that we may not reap corruption from the flesh but from the Spirit eternal life.
Greek
εἰ δὲ καὶ ὑψηλότερον ἀκοῦσαι βούλει τοῦ «δι᾿ ἐμὲ ἠφανίσθη ἀφανισμῷ πᾶσα ἡ γῆ«, ἴδε τὴν τὴν ἐν σοὶ γῆν τίνα τρόπον ἠφανίσθη ἐλθόντος τοῦ Ἰησοῦ· ἠφανίσθη γὰρ >νεκρωθέντων τῶν μελῶν τῶν ἐπὶ τῆς < καὶ οὐκέτι ἡ τῆ ἐργάζεται τὰ ἑαυτῆς, οὐκέτι γίνεται παρὰ τῷ δικαίῳ τὰ ἔργα τῆς σαρκὸς οἷς ἔθαλλεν ἡ σάρξ, οὐκέτι πορνεία, οὐκέτι ἀκαθαρσία, οὐκ ἀσέλγεια, οὐκ εἰδωλολατρία, οὐ φαρμακεία καὶ τὰ λοιπά. καὶ ὁ σωτὴρ δὲ λέγει· «τί νομίζετε ὅτι ἦλθον βαλεῖν εἰρήνην ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς· οὐκ ἦλθον βαλεῖν βαλεῖν εἰρήνην ἀλλὰ μάχαιραν. ἀληθῶς γὰρ πρὶν μὲν ἐλθῃ, μάχαιρα οὐκ ἦν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς οὐδὲ >ἡ σὰρξ ἐπεθύμει κατὰ τοῦ πνεύματος οὐδὲ τὸ πνεῦμα κατὰ τῆς σαρκός<· ὅτε δὲ ἦλθεν καὶ δεδιδάγμεθα τίνα μέν ἐστιν τῆς σαρκὸς τίνα δὲ τοῦ πνεύματος, ἡ διδασκαλία ὥσπερ μάχαιρα γεγενημένη ἔν γῇ διεῖλεν τὴν σάρκα καὶ τὴν τῆν ἀπὸ τοῦ πνεύματος· καὶ «ἠφανίσθη« μὲν «ἡ γῆ«, ὅτε τὴν νέκρωσιν Ἰησοῦ ἐν τῷ σώματι περιφέρομεν, καὶ οὐκέτι ζῶμεν κατὰ σάρκα ζῇ δὲ τὸ πνεῦμα, καὶ σπείρομεν οὐδὲν εἰς τὴν σάρκα ἀλλὰ πάντα εἰς τὸ πνεῦμα, ἴνα μὴ θερίσωμεν φθορὰν ἐκ τῆς σαρκὸς ἀλλ᾿ ἀπὸ τοῦ πνεύματος ζωὴν αἰώνιον.
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.