Who will spare Jerusalem after she killed Jesus?
We want to understand the words spoken to Jerusalem with much threat, which run like this: 'Who will spare you, Jerusalem? Or who will look gloomy over you? Or who will turn back to ask after your peace? You have turned away from me, says the Lord.'
'You will go backward, and I will stretch out my hand against you and destroy you, and I will no longer spare you. And I will scatter them in dispersion.' Then: 'I have been made childless. Helplessness has seized me.' I take as an example a certain enemy proved against the one who reigns on earth: that it is not permitted even to give him a share of mercy, lest someone seem to strike against the king who condemned him. And it is not permitted even to pity such a one. Some go further and do not even look gloomy over him, lest by looking gloomy they seem displeased at what the king judged. If you have understood this, look with me at the one condemned by God through his many sins, and see such a person—while there are legions of angels appointed to help human nature—pitied by no one.
For each of the angels, seeing that the one who condemned is God, that the one turned away from is the Creator, and that the nature of the sins is such that the good God was compelled—so to speak—to bring the vote against the sinner, each of those who see does not spare, does not look gloomy, does not pity, does not come back so as to plead concerning peace toward such a one.
So let this Jerusalem (for so it will be said according to the letter) have sinned against my Jesus and done such things that Jesus says about her: 'Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I wanted to gather your children as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.'
'Look—your house is left to you.' Let this Jerusalem be left as she has been left. Let the angels who always help Jerusalem—through whom Moses' law also was arranged, 'arranged through angels by the hand of a mediator'—leave Jerusalem and say: her sins have become great; they killed Jesus; they laid hands on the Christ.
As long as the sins were still smaller, we could still plead and intercede about them; we could spare Jerusalem. Who will spare for this? 'If a man sinning sins against a man, they will pray for him; but if he sins against the Lord, who will pray for him?' 'Jerusalem has sinned a sin; therefore she has become a shaking.' And it is said to this one first: 'Who will spare you, Jerusalem? And who will look gloomy over you?' We do not look gloomy over Jerusalem and her disasters and what has happened to that whole people—for by their trespass our salvation has come, to provoke them to jealousy.
Since their trespass has become so great a sin that the Lord's voice is spoken—'Who then will spare you'—I too say to the one who killed my Jesus: 'Who will spare you, Jerusalem? And who will look gloomy over you?'
Greek
Τὰ λεγόμενα πρὸς τὴν Ἱερουσαλὴμ μετὰ πολλῆς ἀπειλῆς νοῆσαι θέλομεν οὕτως ἔχοντα· «τίς φείσεται ἐπὶ σοί, Ἱερουσαλήμ; ἢ τίς σκυθρωπάσει ἐπὶ σοί; ἢ τίς ἀνακάμψει ἐρωτῆσαι εἰς εἰρήνην σου; σὺ ἀπεστράφης με, λέγει κύριος.
ὀπίσω πορεύσῃ, καὶ ἐκτενῶ τὴν χεῖρά μου ἐπὶ σὲ καὶ διαφθερῶ σε, καὶ οὐκέτι ἀνήσω σε. καὶ διασπερῶ αὐτοὺς ἐν σιασπορᾷ. εἶτα «ἠτεκνώθην. ἀπορία κατέσχε με, παράδειγμα λαμβάνω πολέμιόν τινα ἀποδειχθέντα τοῦ βασιλεύοντος ἐπὶ γῆς, ὅτι τῷ τοιούτῳ οὐδὲ μεταδιδόναι ἐλέου ἔξεστιν, ἕνα μὴ δοκῇ τις προσκρούειν τῷ καταδικάσαντι βασιλεῖ. καὶ οὐκ ἔξεστι τὸν τοιοῦτον οὐδὲ ἐλεῆσαι] προσεπιτείνουσί τινες οὐδὲ σκυθρωπάζοντες ἐπ΄ αὐτῷ, ἵνα μὴ ἐπὶ τῷ σκυθρωπάζειν δοκῶσι δυσαρεστεῖσθαι τῷ κριθέντι ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως. εἰ νενόηκας τοῦτο , ἴδε μοι τὸν καταδικασθέντα ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ διὰ τὰς πολλὰς ἑαυτοῦ ἁμαρτίας, καὶ ὅρα τὸν τοιοῦτον. λεγιώνων ὄντων ἀγγέλων τῶν τεταγμένων ἐπὶ τὸ βοηθεῖν τῇ ἀνθρώπων φύσει, ὑπὸ μηδενὸς ἐλεούμενον.
ἕκαστος γὰρ τῶν ἀγγέλων ἰδὼν τὸν καταδικάσαντα ὅτι θεός ἐστι, τὸν ἀποστραφέντα ὅτι δημιουργός ἐστι, τὴν φύσιν τῶν ἀμαρτιῶν ὅτι τοιαύτη ὥστε τὸν ἀγαθὸν θεὸν ἀναγκασθῆναι, ἱν οὕτως εἴπω τὴν ψῆφον ἀγαγεῖν κατὰ τοῦ ἡμαρτηκότος, ἕκαστος τῶν ὁρώντων οὐ φείδεται, οὐ σκυθρωπάζει, οὐκ ἐλεεῖ, οὐκ ἐπανέρχεται ὥστε παρακαλέσαι περὶ τῆς πρὸς τὸν τοιοῦτον εἰρήνης.
Ἡ Ἱερουσαλὴμ τοίνυν αὕτη οὕτω γὰρ λελέξεται διὰ τὸ γράμμα) ἡμαρτηκέτω μου εἰς τὸν Ἰησοῦν, καὶ τοιαῦτα πεποιηκέτω, ἕνα εἴπῃ περὶ αὐτῆς ὁ Ἰησοῦς· «Ἱερουσαλὴμ Ἱερουσαλήμ, ἡ ἀποκτείνουσα τοὺς προφήτας καὶ λιθοβολοῦσα τοὺς ἀπεσταλμένους πρὸς αὐτήν, ποσάκις ἠθέλησα ἐπισυνάξαι τὰ τέκνα σου ὃν τρόπον ὄρνις ἐπισυνάγει τὰ νοσσία ὑπὸ τὰς πτέρυγας, καὶ οὐκ ἠθελήσατε.
ἰδοὺ ἀφίεται ὑμῖν ὁ οἶκος ἡμῶν. καταλειπέσθω αὕτη ἡ Ἱερουσαλήμ ὡς καταλέλειπται. οἱ ἄγγελοι οἱ ἀεὶ βοηθοῦντες τῇ Ἱερουσαλήμ, δι’ ὧν διετάγη καὶ ὁ Μωσέως νόμος «διαταγεὶς δι’ ἀγγέλων ἐν χειρὶ μεσίτου«, καταλειπέτωσαν τὴν Ἱερουσαλὴμ καὶ λεγέτωσαν· τὰ ἁμαρτήματα αὐτῆς μεγάλα γέγονε, τὸν Ἰησοῦν ἀπέκτειναν , ἐπὶ τὸν Χριστὸν τὰς χεῖρας ἐπιβεβλήκασιν.
ὅσον ἔτι μικρότερα ἡν τὰ ἁμαρτήματα, ἐδυνάμεθα ἔτι περὶ αὐτῶν ἀξιοῦν καὶ παρακαλεῖν , ἐδυνάμεθα φείδεσθαι τῆς Ιερουσαλήμ· τίς ἐπὶ τούτῳ φείσεται; «ἐὰν ἁμαρτάνων ἁμάρτῃ ἀνὴρ εἰς ἄνδρα, καὶ προσεύξονται περὶ αὐτοῦ· ἐὰν δὲ εἰς κύριον ἁμάρτῃ, τίς προσεύξεται περὶ αὐτοῦ«; «ἁμαρτίαν ἥμαρτεν Ἱερουσαλήμ, διὰ τοῦτο εἰς σάλον ἐγένετο«· καὶ λέγεται πρὸς αὐτὴν ταύτην πρῶτον· τίς φείσεται ἐπὶ σοί, Ἱερουσαλήμ; καὶ τίς σκυθρωπάσει ἐπὶ σοί«; ἡμεῖς οὐ σκυθρωπάζομεν ἐπὶ τῇ Ἱερουσαλήμ καὶ ταῖς συμφοραῖς αὐτῆς καὶ τοῖς γενομένοις παντὶ τῷ λαῷ ἐκείνῳ· Ε;τῷ γὰρ ἐκείνων παραπτώματι ἡ σωτηρία ἡμῶν γέγονεν εἰς τὸ παραζηλῶσαι <αὐτούς.
ἐπεὶ τὸ παράπτωμα αὐτῶν τηλικαύτη γέγονεν ἁμαρτία ὣστε φωνῆς κυρίου λεχθῆναι· «τίς οὐν φείσεται ἐπὶ σοί, λέγω πρὸς τὴν ἀποκτείνασάν μου τὸν Ἰησοῦν καὶ ἐγώ· «τίς φείσεται ἐπὶ σοί, Ἱερουσαλήμ; καὶ τίς σκυθρωπάσει ἐπὶ σοί«;
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.