Iron strength; treasures given as plunder to the nations
Upon these things God answers toward the people accused by the prophet or by Christ and says these things to him: 'Iron and a bronze covering is your strength'—hard, unyielding, not driven. 'Iron and a bronze covering is your strength'—as if your strength were some cutting and dividing force, not being strength for good. 'And I will give your treasures into plunder, an exchange for all your sins.' Which 'treasures' of those who sin does God give 'into plunder,' and give them 'as exchange for all their sins'? Is it sometime those stored up for themselves on earth? For each of humans stores up; if he is base, on earth, but if noble, in heaven, as we were taught from the Gospel.
Or does he say to that people that because of your sins I am about to give your treasures into plunder? What sorts of treasures of that people were given into plunder? See: one of the treasures was Jeremiah, another treasure Isaiah; Moses too was a treasure. God took these treasures from that people and through Christ, who said: 'The kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation producing its fruits,' gave them to us. So 'I will give because of your sins your treasures into plunder.' And he gave that people's treasures to us; for 'first they were entrusted with the oracles of God,' then after them we were entrusted, the oracles of God having been taken from them and given to us. And we say that 'The kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation producing its fruits' was spoken by the Savior and has been fulfilled—not that the writing was taken from them, but now they no longer have the law and the prophets by not seeing the mind in them.
For they have the books, but how was the kingdom of God taken from them? The mind of the Scriptures was taken from them. No longer is a legal or prophetic interpretation saved among them, because of Christ's sojourn, the 'I said to that people: Hearing you will hear and will not understand, and seeing you will see and will not perceive.'
For the heart of this people was made fat. And what was said by Isaiah has also been fulfilled: that 'The Lord will take away from Judea and from Jerusalem the strong man and the strong woman, giant and warrior man, judge and prophet and diviner and wise master-builder and intelligent hearer.' God took all these away from them and gave them—if at least we receive—to us from the nations. These things because of 'And I will give your treasures into plunder. An exchange for all your sins and in all your borders.'
As if he said: because of your sins that have reached upon all your borders; for there is no border of that people that has not been filled with sin. And how would every border of theirs not be about to be filled with sin—as far as it lay with them—who killed righteousness, if Christ is righteousness; who killed wisdom, if Christ is wisdom; who killed truth, if Christ is truth? For through condemning the Son of God to death they cast off and destroyed all these. And my Lord Jesus, risen from the dead, no longer appeared to those who killed him; for we do not have in the history that he appeared to those who killed him, but only to those who believe did he appear risen from the dead.
Greek
Ἐπὶ τούτοις [τί] ἀποκρίνεται ὁ θεὸς πρὸς τὸν λαὸν τὸν κατηγορηθέντα ὑπὸ τοῦ προφήτου ἢ ὑπὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ ταῦτα λέγει πρὸς αὐτόν· «σίδηρος καὶ περιβόλαιον χαλκοῦν ἡ ἰσχύς σου«, σκληρά, ἀνένδοτος, οὐκ ἐλαυνομένη. «σίδηρος καὶ περιβόλαιον χαλκοῦν ἡ ἰσχύς σου«, οἷον τμητική τις καὶ διαιροῦσα ἡ ἰσχύς σου, οὐκ ἐπ᾿ ἀγαθῷ οὖσα ἰσχύς. «καὶ θησαυρούς σου εἰς προνομὴν δώσω, ἀντάλλαγμα διὰ πάσας τὰς ἁμαρτίας σου. τίνας «θησαυροὺς« τῶν ἁμαρτανόντων δίδωσιν «εἰς προνομὴν« ὁ θεός, καὶ δίδωσιν αὐτοὺς «ἀντάλλαγμα διὰ πάσας τὰς ἁμαρτίας« αὐτῶν; πότερόν ποτε τοὺς ἐπὶ γῆς θησαυριζομένους αὑτοῖς; ἕκαστος γὰρ τῶν ἀνθρώπων θησαυρίζει· εἰ μὲν φαῦλός ἐστιν, ἐπὶ γῆς, εἰ δὲ ἀστεῖος, ἐν οὐρανῷ, ὡς ἐδιδάχθημεν ἀπὸ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου.
ἢ λέγει τῷ λαῷ ἐκείνῳ, ὅτι μέλλω διὰ τὰ ἁμαρτήματά σου τοὺς θησαυρούς σου διδόναι εἰς προνομήν; ποῖοι θησαυροὶ ἐκείνου τοῦ λαοῦ ἐδόθησαν εἰς προνομήν; ἴδε εἷς τῶν θησαυρῶν Ἱερεμίας, ἄλλος θησαυρὸς Ἡσαΐας, θησαυρὸς ἦν καὶ Μωσῆς. τούτους τοὺς θησαυροὺς ἔλαβεν ὁ θεὸς ἀπ᾿ ἐκείνου τοῦ λαοῦ καὶ διὰ Χριστοῦ, εἰπόντος· «ἀρθήσεται ἀφ᾿ ὑμῶν ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ δοθήσεται ἔθνει ποιοῦντι τοὺς καρποὺς αὐτῆς«, ἔδωκεν ἡμῖν. «Δώσω« οὖν «διὰ τὰς ἁμαρτίας σου τοὺς θησαυρούς σου εἰς προνομήν. καὶ ἔδωκεν τοὺς θησαυροὺς τοῦ λαοῦ ἐκείνου ἡμῖν· >πρῶτοι γὰρ ἐκείνοι ἐπιστεύθησαν τὰ λόγια τοῦ θεοῦ>, εἶτα μετ᾿ ἐκείνους ἡμεῖς ἐπιστεύθημεν, ἀρθέντων τῶν λογίων τοῦ θεοῦ ἐπ᾿ ἐκείνων καὶ δοθέντων ἡμῖν. καὶ λέγομεν τὸ «ἀρθήσεται ἀφ᾿ ὑμῶν ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ δοθήσεται ἔθνει ποιοῦντι τοὺς καρποὺς αὐτῆς« εἰρῆσθαι ὑπὸ τοῦ σωτῆρος καὶ πεπληρῶσθαι. οὐχ ὅτι ἤρθη ἀπ᾿ αὐτῶν ἡ γραφή, ἀλλὰ νῦν οὐκέτι ἔχυσι τὸν νόμον καὶ τοὺς προφήτας τῷ μὴ θεωρεῖν τὸν ἐν αὐτοῖς νοῦν.
ἔχουσι γὰρ τὰ βιβλία, ἀλλὰ πῶς ἤρθη ἀπ᾿ αὐτῶν ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ; ὁ νοῦς τῶν γραφῶν ἤρθη ἀπ᾿ αὐτῶν. οὐκέτι σῴζεται διήγησις παρ᾿ αὐτοῖς νομικὴ ἢ προφηδιὰ τὴν Χριστοῦ ἐπιδημίαν τὸ «εἶπον τῷ λαῷ ἐκείνῳ· ἀκοῇ ἀκούσετε καὶ οὐ μὴ συνῆτε, καὶ βλέποντες βλέψετε καὶ οὐ μὴ ἴδητε.
ἐπαχύνθη γὰρ ἡ καρδία τοῦ λαοῦ τούτου. πεπλήρωται καὶ τὸ εἰρημένον ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἡσαΐου ὅτι «ἀφελεῖ κύριος ἀπὸ τῆς Ἰουδαίας καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἰσχύοντα καὶ ἰσχύουσαν, γίγαντα καὶ πολεμιστὴν ἄνθρωπον, σικαστὴν καὶ προφήτην καὶ στοχαστὴν καὶ σοφὸν ἀρχιτέκτονα καὶ συνετὸν ἀκροατην. ταῦτα πάντα ἀφεῖλεν ὁ θεὸς ἀπ᾿ ἐκείνων καὶ ἔδωκεν, ἐάν γε ἡμεῖς δεξώμεθα, ἡμῖν τοῖς ἀπὸ τῶν ἐθνῶν. ταῦτα διὰ τὸ «καὶ τοὺς θησαυρούς σου εἰς ἁρονομὴν δώσω. «Ἀντάλλαγμα διὰ πάσας τὰς ἁμαρτίας σου καὶ ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς ὁρίοις σου.
ὡσεὶ ἔλεγε· διὰ τὰς ἁμαρτίας σου τὰς ἐπὶ πάντα τὰ ὅριά σου ἐφθακυίας· οὐδὲν γὰρ ὅριον ἐκείνου τοῦ λαοῦ ἐστιν, ὅ ἁμαρτίας οὐ πεπλήρωται. καὶ πῶς πᾶν ὅριον αὐτῶν οὐκ ἔμελλεν ἁμαρτίας πληροῦσθαι [ἐπ᾿ αὐτοῖς], τὸ ὅσον ἐπ᾿ αὐτοῖς ἀποκτεινάντων δικαιοσύνην, εἰ Χριστὸς δικαιοσύνη, ἀποκτεινάντων [τὴν] σοφίαν, εἰ Χριστὸς σοφία, ἀποκτεινάντων ἀλήθειαν, εἰ Χριστὸς ἀλήθεια; διὰ γὰρ τοῦ καταδεδικακέναι τὴν ἐπὶ θανάτῳ τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ ταῦτα πάντα ἀπέβαλον καὶ ἀπώλεσαν. καὶ ἀναστάς μου ὁ κύριος Ἰησοῦς ἐν νεκρῶν οὐκέτι ἐφάνη τοῖς ἀποκτείνασιν αὐτόν· οὐ γὰρ ἔχομεν ἐν τῇ ἱστορίᾳ ὅτι ἐφάνη τοῖς ἀποκτείνασιν αὐτόν, ἀλλὰ μόνοις τοῖς πιστεύουσιν ἐφάνη ἀναστὰς ἀπὸ τῶν νεκρῶν.
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.