The Savior judged with all the earth
This prophetic word is more properly referred to the Savior. Grant that the prophet says it; yet he will not say it truly, but perhaps by exaggeration—for he was not examined against all the earth. But if I come to my Savior and Lord, and especially because he will come to judgment, and because of the word 'that you may be justified in your words, and may prevail when you are judged,' I will see that my Savior and Lord is about to stand before the Father, being judged with all of us humans. And he is judged with all humans. I mean: he is judged, he himself is examined, and he stood defending the truth—not as an accuser. 'Woe is me, mother, as what man did you bear me—a man judged and examined in all the earth?' A prophet cannot say 'in all the earth.'
But some who love the Lord are also angry and say that the Savior does not speak this, that the voice is not fitting for the Son of God. Yet one must show that 'Woe is me, mother' is not alien to the Son of God: 'My soul is very sorrowful unto death,' and 'My soul is troubled,' and of the things said in the prophets likewise also here: 'Woe is me, mother, as what man did you bear me—a man judged and examined in all the earth'—or when the gleaning has failed for finding a cluster: 'Woe is me, soul, for the godly one has perished from the earth, and the one who acts uprightly among men does not exist.'
Who says there, 'Woe, for I became as one gathering stubble in harvest'? Does the prophet gather, and want to gather? Does the prophet have a field? But it belongs to no one to gather everything from the harvest and from what was sown, except the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Since therefore there are many falls among the nations, and also sins among us, he says: 'Woe is me, for I became as one gathering stubble.' Let each of us examine himself: is he an ear of grain? Will the Son of God find in him something to glean or to harvest? We will find that some of us are wind-blasted; and if we still have a little in ourselves—two or three grains—our sins are many upon us.
Seeing then also the churches that are so called, filled with sinners, he says: 'Woe, for I became as one gathering stubble in harvest and as a gleaning in vintage.' He came seeking fruit in the vineyard; for each of us is planted, and as a vine 'in a rich place,' and 'he transplanted a vine from Egypt,' and 'I planted you a fruitful vine, wholly true.' He comes, and seeks somehow to glean; he finds some gleaning and short clusters, not flourishing and not many. Which of us has clusters of virtue? Which of us has offspring of God?
Greek
Κυριώτερόν γε τοῦτο δύναται τὸ προφητικὸν εἶναι ἀναφερόμενον ἐπὶ τὸν σωτῆρα. ἔστω γὰρ τὸν προφήτην τοῦτο λέγειν, ἀλλ᾿ οὐκ ἀληθῶς τοῦτο ἐρεῖ, ἀλλὰ τάχα ὑπερβολικῶς· οὐ γὰρ διεκρίθη πρὸς πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν.
ἐὰν δὲ ἔλθω πρὸς τὸν σωτῆρά μου καὶ κύριον, καὶ μάλιστα διὰ τὸ >εἰς κρίσιν ἥξει< καὶ τὸ «ὅπως ἂν δικαιωθῇς δικαιωθῇς ἐν τοῖς λόγοις σου, καὶ νικήσῃς ἐν τῷ κρίνεσθαί σε«, ὄψομαι ὅτι ὁ σωτήρ μου καὶ κύριος μέλλει ἐπὶ τοῦ πατρὸς ἑστάναι, κρινόμενος μετὰ πάντων ἡμῶν τῶν ἀνθρώπων. καὶ κρίνεται μετὰ πάντων τῶν ἀνθρώπων. λέγω· κρίνεται, ἐξετάζεται καὶ αὐτός, καὶ ἔστη μὲν ἐκδικῶν τὴν ἀλήθειαν, οὐχ ὡς κατήγορος δέ. «οἴμοι ἐγώ, μῆτερ, ὡς τίνα με ἔτεκες ἄνδρα δικαζόμενον καὶ διακρινόμενον ἐν πάσῃ τῇ γῇ;« οὐ δύναται προφήτης τὸ «πάσῃ τῇ γῇ« λέγειν.
Ἀλλὰ τὸν κύριον ἡμῶν ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀγαπῶντας, ἀγανακτοῦντας καὶ λέγοντας ὅτι οὐχὶ ὁ σωτὴρ λέγει, ὅτι ἡ φωνὴ οὐκ ἔστι κατὰ τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ. δεῖ δὲ δεῖξαι, ὅτι οὐκ ἀλλότριον τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ τὸ «οἴμοι ἐγώ, μῆτερ«; «περίλυπός ἐστιν ἡ ψυχή μου ἕως θανάτου«, καὶ «ἡ ψυχή μου τετάρακται«, καὶ τῶν ἐν τοῖς προφήταις εἰρημένων ὁμοίως καὶ ἐνθάδε· «οἴμοι ἐγώ, μῆτερ, ὡς τίνα με ἔτεκες ἄνδρα δικαζόμενον καὶ διακρινόμενον ἐν πάσῃ τῇ γῇ«, ἢ ὅταν ἀπόλωλεν ἐπιφυλλὶς τοῦ εὑρεῖν βότρυν· «οἴμοι ψυχή, ὅτι ἀπόλωλεν εὐλαβὴς ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς, καὶ ὁ κατορθῶν ἐν ἀνθρώποις οὐχ ὑπάρχει. τίς ἐκεῖ λέγει τὸ «οἴμοι, ὅτι ἐγενήθην ὡς συνάγων καλάμην ἐν ἀμητῷ«; ἆρα γὰρ ὁ προφήτης συνῆγε καὶ θέλει συνάγειν; ἆρα γὰρ ἀγρὸν ἔχει ὁ προφήτης; ἀλλ᾿ οὐδενός ἐστι συνάγειν [καὶ] πάντα ἀπὸ τοῦ θερισμοῦ καὶ τῶν ἐσπαρμένων, εἰ μὴ τοῦ κκυρίου καὶ σωτῆρος Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ.
ἐπεὶ οὖν πολλὰ πτώματα ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν ἡμῖν τοῖς ἁμαρτήματα λέγων· «οἴμοι ἐγώ, ὅτι ἐγενήθην ὡς συνάγων καλάμην. ἕκαστος ἡμῶς ἑαυτὸν ἐξεταζέτω· ἆρα στάχυς ἐστίν; ἆρα εὑρήσει ἐν αὐτῷ τρυγῆσαι ἢ θερίσαι ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ; εὑρήσομεν ὅτι ἀνεμόφθοροί τινές ἐσμεν· ἐὰν ἄρα ὀλίγον ἔτι ἔχοντες, ἐν αὑτοῖς, κόκκους δύο ἢ τρεῖς, αἱ ἁματρίαι ἡμῶν πολλαί εἰσιν ἐφ᾿ ἡμῖν. ὁρῶν οὖν καὶ τὰς ἐκκλησίας, τὰς χρηματιζούσας, πεπληρωμένας ἁμαρτωλῶν λέγει· «οἴμοι, ὅτι ἐγενήθην ὡς συνάγων καλάμην ἐν ἀμητῷ καὶ ὡς ἐπιφυλλίδα ἐν τρυγητῷ.
ἦλθε ζητῶν καρπὸν ἐν τῇ ἀμπέλῳ· ἕκαστος γὰρ ἡμῶν καταφυτεύεται . . . καὶ ὡς ἄμπελος «ἐν τόπῳ πίονι«, καὶ «ἄμπελον ἐξ Αἰγύπτου μετῆρεν«, «ἐγὼ δὲ κατεφύτευσά σε ἄμπελον καρποφόρον πᾶσαν ἀληθινήν. ἔρχεται, ζητεῖ πως τρυγῆσαι· εὑρίσκει ἐπιφυλλίδα τινὰ καὶ βραχεῖς βότρυας, οὐκ εὐθαλεῖς οὐδὲ πολλούς. τίε ἡμῶν ἔχει βότρυας ἀρετῆς; τίε ἡμῶν ἔχει γεννήματα τοῦ θεοῦ; «κύριε ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν, ὡς θαυμαστὸν τὸ ὄνομά σου ἐν πάσῃ τῇ γῇ.
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.