The scourging of some trains others
But if you want to take Scripture as witness that sinners are punished also for the training of others, even if these at some time are given up as beyond healing, hear Solomon in the Proverbs saying: 'When a pestilent one is scourged, the foolish becomes more shrewd.' He did not say that the one scourged himself will be more shrewd and more prudent through the scourgings, but that the foolish changes from folly to prudence through the scourgings applied to the pestilent one; for this is what the name of shrewdness signifies here. And the foolish changes by seeing others scourged. So it benefits us—if at least we become worthy of salvation through others being punished—the punishment of others. And as Israel's trespass benefited the salvation of the nations, so the punishment of some will benefit the salvation of others. For this reason God, being good, says: 'I will not spare and I will not pity from their destruction.'
Greek
Εἰ δὲ θέλεις τὴν γραφὴν μάρτυρα λαβεῖν, ὅτι καὶ εἰς ἑτέρων παίδευσιν οἱ ἁμαρτωλοὶ κολάζονται, κἂν οὗτοί ποτε ἀπεγνωσμένοι ὦσι περὶ θεραπείας, ἄκουε Σολομῶντος ἐν ταῖς Παροιμίαις λέγοντος· «λοιμοῦ μαστιγουμένου ἄφρων πανουργότερος ἔται. οὐκ αὐτὸν τὸν μαστιγούμενον εἶπεν ἔσεσθαι πανουργότερον καὶ φρονιμώτερον διὰ τὰς μάστιγας, ἀλλὰ τὸν ἄφρονά φησι μεταβάλλειν ἀπὸ ἀφροσύνης εἰς φρόνησιν διὰ τὰς προσαγμοένας τῷ λοιμῷ μάστιγας· τοῦτο γὰρ σημαίνεται ἐκ τοῦ ὀνόματος ἐνταῦθα τῆς πανουργίας. καὶ μεταβάλλει διὰ τοῦ βλέπειν ἑτέρους μαστιγουμένους ὁ ἄφρων. οὐκοῦν συμφέρει ἡμῖν, ἐάν γε σωτηρίας ἄξιοι γενώμεθα δι᾿ ἄλλων κλαζομένων, ἡ ἄλλων κόλασις. καὶ ὡς συνήνεγκεν τὸ παράπτωμα τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ τῇ σωτηρίᾳ τῶν ἐθνῶν, οὕτως συνοίσει ἡ κόλασίς τινων τῇ ἑτέρων σωτηρίᾳ. διὰ τοῦτο ἀγαθὸς ὢν ὁ θεός φησιν· «οὐ φείσομαι καὶ οὐκ οἰκτειρήσω ἀπὸ διαφθορᾶς αὐτῶν.
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.