Judah’s sin engraved on the heart
Then there is another prophecy, which somehow we did not find among the Seventy, but we found in the remaining editions—clearly lying in the Hebrew—and it is filled with most necessary matters that can, if we pay attention, turn our soul back. The words run thus: 'The sin of Judah is written with an iron pen, engraved with an adamant point upon the breast of their heart.'
It is easier to give oneself over and say: These things are written about the Jews, that their sin 'is written.' But if you see, as we have often shown, Judah spoken tropically as Christ, perhaps 'the sin of Judah' is ours—of those who believe upon Christ who is from the tribe of Judah. And if you can also hear it more mystically another way, perhaps it prophesies about Judas who handed him over, so that the prophecy about him says: 'The sin of Judah is written with an iron pen, engraved with an adamant point upon the breast of the heart.' But again 'their' does not follow for that one. Perhaps then he was speaking upon us: if we become sinners, these prophesied things reach us.
We have sinned, and our sin is not written outside us, but in our heart, and it is written 'with an iron pen, with an adamant point.' That the sins we commit are inscribed into us by the sinning, the matter itself will show. I did not know this deed or this sin in myself; having done it I have its imprint, and as it were the imprint of my committed sin has been written in my soul. And if my sin had been written with ink, I would have wiped it away; but now it is written 'with an iron pen,' written 'with an adamant point,' written 'upon the breast of our heart,' so that I may come to the place of teaching and the prophecy that says may be fulfilled: 'Nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, and nothing covered that will not be revealed.' My breast was stripped bare, and the heart holding the written letters of the sin—'with the pen upon my breast and in my heart the imprints of my sins.' For 'nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest.'
From these things may the God of all deliver us, that we may rise into the glory that is in Christ, to whom be the glory and the power unto the ages. Amen.
Greek
Εἶτα ἄλλη ἐστὶ προφήτεία, ἣν οὐκ οἶδ᾿ ὅπως παρὰ τοῖς Ἑβδομήκοντα οὐχ εὕρομεν, εὕρομεν δὲ ἐν ταῖς λοιπαῖς ἐκδόσεσι, δῆλον ὅτι κειμένην ἐν τῷ Ἑβραϊκῷ, καὶ πεπλήρωται πραγμάτων ἀναγκαιοτάτων, δυναμένων ἐὰν προσέχωμεν ἐπιστρέχαι τὴν ψυχὴν ἡμῶν. οὕτως δὲ ἔχει τὰ ῥήματα· «ἁμαρτία Ἰούδα γέγραπται ἐν γραφείῳ σιδηρῷ, ἐν ὄνυχι ἀδαμαντίνῳ ἐγκεκολαμμένη ἐπὶ τοῦ στήθους τῆς καρδίας αὐτῶν.
ἔστιν ἐπὶ τὸ εὐχερέστερον ἑαυτὸν ἐπιδοῦναι καὶ εἰπεῖν· περὶ τῶν Ἰουδαίων ταῦτα γέγραπται ὅτι ἡ ἁμαρτία αὐτῶν «γέγραπται. ἀλλ᾿ ἐὰν ἴδῃς, ὡς πολλάκις ἐδείξαμεν, Ἰούδαν τροπικῶς λεγόμενον τὸν Χριστόν, μήποτε «ἁμαρτία Ἰούδα« ἡμῶν ἐστι τῶν πιστευόντων ἐπὶ τὸν Χριστὸν τὸν ἐκ φυλῆς Ἰούδα. εἰ δὲ δύνασαι καὶ ἄλλως ἀκοῦσαι μυστικώτερον, τάχα περὶ Ἰούδα προφητεύει τοῦ παραδόντος, ὡς εἶναι περὶ αὐτοῦ τὴν προφητείαν λέγουσαν· «ἁμαρτία Ἰούδα γέγραπται ἐν γραφείῳ διδηρῷ, ἐν ὄνυχι ἀδαμαντίνῳ ἐγκεκολαμμένη ἐπὶ τοῦ στήθους τῆς καρδίας«· ἀλλὰ πάλιν οὐκ ἀκολουθεῖ ἐπ᾿ ἐκείνου τὸ «αὐτῶν. μήποτε οὖν ἐφ᾿ ἡμᾶς ἔλεγεν, ἐὰν γενώμεθα ἁμαρτωλοί, ταῦτα φθάνειν τὰ προφητευόμενα.
ἡμάτρομεν, καὶ ἡ ἁμαρτία ἡμῶν οὐκ ἔξω ἡμῶν γέγραπται,κ ἀλλ᾿ ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ ἡμῶν, καὶ γράφεται «ἐν σιδηρῷ γρφείῳ, ἐν ὄνυχι ἀδαμαντίνῳ.
ὅτι δὲ τὰ ἁμαρτήματα, ἃ ἁμαρτάνομεν, ἐγγράφεται εἰς ἡμᾶς διὰ τοῦ ἁμαρτάνειν, παραστήσει αὐτὸ τὸ πρᾶγμα. οὐ συνῄδειν ἐματῷ τόδε τὸ πρᾶγμα ἢ τήνδε τὴν ἁμρτίαν. ποιήσας αὐτὴν ἔχω τύπον αὐτῆς, καὶ οἱονεὶ γέγραπται ὁ τύπος [αὐ]τῆς ἁμαρτίας μου τῆς ἡμαρτημένης ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ μου. καὶ εἰ μὲν ἦν ἡ ἁμαρτία μου γεγραμμένη μέλανι, ἀπήλειψα ἂν αὐτήν· νῦν δὲ γέγραπται «ἐν σιδηρῷ γραφείῳ«, γέγραπται «ἐν ὄνυχι ἀδαμαντίνῳ«, γέγραπται «ἐπὶ τοῦ στήθους τῆς καρδίας« ἡμῶν, ἵνα ἔλθω ἐπὶ τὸ διδαστήριον καὶ πληρωθῇ ἡ λέγουσα προφητεία· «οὐδὲν κρυπτὸν ὃ οὐ φανερωθήσεται, καὶ οὐδὲν κεκαλυμμένον ὃ οὐκ ἀποκαλυφθήσεται.
ἐγυμνώθη μου τὸ στῆθος καὶ ἡ καρδία ἔχουσα τὸ γράμματα ἐγγεγραμμένα τῆς ἁμαρτίας «ἐν τῷ γραφείῳ τῷ στήθει μου καὶ ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ μου τοὺς τύπους μου τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων. «οὐδὲν γὰρ κρυπτὸν ὃ οὐ φανερωθήσεται«, ἀλλὰ «καὶ μεταξὺ ἀλλήλων τῶν λογισμῶν κατηγορούντων ἢ καὶ ἀπολογουμένων«, καὶ «μὴ πρὸ καιροῦ τι κρίνετε, ἕως ἂν ἔλθῃ ὁ κύριος, ὃς καὶ φωτίσει τὰ κρυπτὰ τοῦ σκότους καὶ φανερώσει τὰς βουλὰς τῶν καρδιῶν. τίνι φανερώσει; οὐχ αὑτῷ· αὐτὸς γὰρ οἶδε «τὰ πάντα πρὶν γενέσεως αὐτῶν. ἀλλὰ [καὶ] τίνι φανερώσει; πᾶσι τοῖς μέλλουσι βλέπειν διὰ τὴν αὐτῶν καθαρότητα τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τοῦ ἡμαρτηκότος, ἵνα οἱ ἁμαρτωλοὶ >ἀναστρῶσιν εἰς ὀνειδισμὸν καὶ εἰς αἰσχύνην αἰώνιον<· ἀφ᾿ ὧν ῥύσηται ἡμᾶς ὁ τῶν ὅλων θεός, ἵν᾿ εἰς δόξαν τὴν ἐν Χριστῷ ἀναστῶμεν, ᾧ ἐστιν ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος 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.