Do not turn back; flee to the mountain
And to either interpretation of Jerusalem the next words also fit: 'You have turned away from me, says the Lord. You will go backward.' That you have turned away from the Son of God, and through turning away from the Son of God have turned away from God—what need is there even to say it? And since the Jerusalem in Judea turned away from the Christ—from which all the Jews are to be understood—therefore 'You will go backward.' For there was a time when she did not go backward but forward; but now she goes backward, 'and they turned in their hearts toward Egypt'—clearly so that they might go backward. Concerning what 'You will go backward' is, or what it is to stretch forward to the things ahead, we will set it out like this.
The righteous stretches forward to the things ahead, forgetting the things behind. Clearly the one disposed contrary to the righteous remembers the things behind and does not stretch forward to the things ahead. Remembering the things behind, he disobeys Jesus teaching and saying, 'Let him not turn back to take his cloak'; he disobeys Jesus saying, 'Remember Lot's wife'; he disobeys Jesus saying, 'No one who puts hand to the plow and turns back is fit for the kingdom of God.' And in the law it is written that the angels said to Lot who had gone out from Sodom: 'Do not look back, and do not stand in all the surrounding country; escape to the mountain, lest you be taken along.' And this also has a sense worthy of an angelic spirit: 'Do not look back'—always stretch forward to the things ahead. You have left Sodom; do not turn toward Sodom. You have left wickedness and sin; do not turn back to it, 'and do not stand in all the surrounding country.' Even if you keep the former command that says, 'Do not look back,' it is not enough for you to be saved unless you also hear the second command that says, 'And do not stand in all the surrounding country.' For one who has begun to progress must not stand in the country around Sodom, even if he has crossed Sodom, but having crossed from standing in the surrounding country he must be saved onto the mountain, according to 'Do not look back and do not stand in all the surrounding country; escape to the mountain, lest you be taken along.' If you want not to be taken along with the people of Sodom, never turn back, and do not stand in the country around Sodom, and be nowhere else than on the mountain—for only there is it possible to be saved.
And the mountain is the Lord Jesus, to whom is the glory and the power forever. Amen.
Greek
Καὶ πρὸς ἑκατέραν δὲ ἑρμηνείαν τῆς Ἱερουσαλῆμ ἁρμόσει καὶ τὸ ἑξῆς· «σὺ ἀπεστράφης με, λέγει κύριος. ὀπίσω ποερύσῃ. ὅτι ἀπεστράφης τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ, καὶ διὰ τὸ ἀπεστράφθαι τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ ἀπεστράφης τὸν θεόν, τί δεῖ καὶ λέγειν; καὶ ἐπειδὴ ἀπεστράφη ἡ Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἡ ἐν τῇ Ἰουδαίᾳ τὸν Χριστόν, ἀφ’ ἡς πάντας τοὺς Ἰουδαίους νοητέον, διὰ τοῦτο «ὀπίσω πορεύσῃ. ἦν γὰρ ὅτε οὐκ ὀπίσω ἐπορεύετο, ἀλλὰ ἔμπροσθεν· νῦν δὲ ὀπίσω πορεύεται «καὶ ἐστράφησαν ταῖς καρδίαις εἰς Αἴγυπτον«, δῆλον ὅτι ἵνα ὀπίσω πορευθῶσι. περὶ δὲ τοῦ τί ἐστι τὸ «ὀπίσω πορεύσῃ« ἢ τί τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν ἐπεκτείνεσθαι, οὕτω παραστήσομεν.
ὁ δίκαιος Ε;τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν ἐπεκτείνεται, τῶν ὄπισθεν #x003C;. δῆλον ὅτι ὁ ἐναντίως τῷ δικαίῳ διακείμενος τῶν ὀπίσω μέμνηται καὶ τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν οὐκ ἐπεκτείνεται. τῶν δὲ ὀπίσω μεμνημένος παρακούει τοῦ Ἰησοῦ διδάσκοντος καὶ λέγοντος· «μὴ στραφήτω εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω ἆραι τὸ ἱμάτιον αὐτοῦ«, παρακούει τοῦ Ἰησοῦ λέγοντος· «μνημονεύετε τῆς γυναικὸς Λώτ«, παρακούει τοῦ Ἰησοῦ λέγοντος· «οὐδεὶς βαλὼν τὴν χεῖρα ἐπ’ ἄροτρον καὶ στραφεὶς εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω, εὔθετός ἐστι τῇ βασιλείᾳ τοῦ θεοῦ. καὶ ἐν τῷ νόμω δὲ γέγραπται, ὅτι εἶπον οἱ ἄγγελοι πρὸς τὸν ἐξελθόντα ἀπὸ Σοδόμων Λώτ· «μὴ περιβλέψῃ εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω μηδὲ στῇς ἐν πάσῃ τῇ περιχώρῳ· εἰς τὸ ὄρος σῴζου. μήποτε συμπαραληφθῇς. καὶ τοῦτο δὲ ἔχει διάνοιαν ἀξίαν ἀγγελικοῦ πνεύματος· «μὴ περιβλέψῃ εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω«, ἀεὶ τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν ἐπεκτείνου. καταλέλοιπας Σόδομα, μὴ στρέφου εἰς Σόδξομα. καταλέλοιπας τὴν κακίαν καἰ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν , μὴ ἐπιστραφῇς πρὸς αὐτὴν «μηδὲ στῇς ἐν πάσῃ τῇ περιχώρῳ. κἂν τηρήσῃς τὴν προτέραν ἐντολὴν τὴν λέγουσαν· «μὴ περιβλέψῃ εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω«, οὐκ ἀρκεῖ σοι πρὸς τὸ σωθῆναι, ἐὰν μὴ καὶ τῆς δευτέρας ἐντολῆς ἀκούσῃς λεγούσης· «μηδὲ στῇς ἐν πόσῃ τῇ περιχώρῳ. οὐ δεῖ γὰρ ἀρξάμενον προκόπτειν ἑστάναι ἐν τῇ περιχώρῳ Σοδόμων, εἰ καὶ Σόδομα διαβέβηκεν , ἀλλὰ διαβάντα ἀπὸ τοῦ ἑστάναι έν τῇ περιχώρῳ σῴζεσθαι εἰς τὸ ὄρος κατὰ τὸ «μὴ περιβλέψῃ εἰς τά ὀπίσω μηδὲ στῇς έν πάσῃ τῇ περιχώρῳ· εἰς τὸ ὄρος σῴζου, μήποτε συμπαραληφθῇς. εἰ βούλει μὴ συμπαραληφθῆναι Σοδομίταις, μήποτε εἰς τὰ ὁπίσω στραφῇς μηδὲ στῇς ἐν τῇ περιχώρῳ Σοδόμων μηδὲ ἀλλαχοῦ γένῃ ἢ εἰς τὸ ὄρος ἐκεῖ γάρ ἐστι μόνον σωθῆναι.
ἔστι δὲ τὸ ὄρος κύριος Ἰησοῦς, ᾡ έστιν ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κρότος εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας. Ἀμήν.
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.