First the consuming fire, then the goods
What then? First it follows that, because of the wood, one receive the fire that consumes the wood and the grass and the straw. For our God is said—by those able to understand—to be by substance a consuming fire. And the prophet was silent about what it consumes when he said: 'Our God is a consuming fire,' but he left it for us to understand. Because he said 'God is a consuming fire,' there is something that is consumed. What then is consumed? He does not consume that which is according to the image and likeness; he does not consume his own creature, but the grass built upon it, the wood built upon it, the straw built upon it.
The place was extremely hard to narrate. There were promises, and after the promises he says: 'And I will repay first double their injustices.' The 'first' is necessarily set beside it; for first the things of injustice are repaid, then the things of righteousness, for God does not repay in reverse. If he first repaid the goods so that we might receive the goods, and now repaid the evils, the goods would have to stop so that we might receive the evils. But first we will receive the evils, and after these the goods, so that through the disappearance of the evils the punishment of those who suffered may come to an end, and after these he may repay the goods.
Therefore you will find in the holy writings God saying first the things that seem more gloomy and after these the better: 'I will kill and make alive; I will strike, and I will heal.' 'He himself causes pain and again restores; he struck, and his hands healed.' Upon these things the one who understands and is piously set toward what is said can say: 'Lord, who will sojourn in your tent? Or who will encamp on your holy mountain? Walking blameless and working righteousness, speaking truth in his heart; who has not dealt deceitfully with his tongue, and has not done evil to his neighbor, and has not taken up a reproach against those nearest him.' (But we reproach even those who repent and turn back, though Scripture says: 'Do not reproach a man turning away from sin.') 'He has not taken up a reproach against those nearest him; an evildoer is despised before him, but he honors those who fear the Lord.' We will receive our sins.
Greek
τί οὖν;πρῶτον ἀκολουθεῖ ἀπολαβεῖν διὰ τὰ ξύλα τὸ πῦρ τὸ ἀναλίσκον [τὸ πῦρ] τὰ ξύλα καὶ τὸν χόρτον καὶ τὴν καλάμην· ὁ θεὸς γὰρ ἡμῶν τῇ οὐσίᾳ λέγεται τοῖς συνιέναι δυναμένοις πῦρ εἶναι καταναλίσκον. καὶ ἐσιώπησε μὲν τὸ τί καταναλίσκον ὁ προφήτης λέγων· «ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν πῦρ καταναλίσκον«, ἡμῖν δὲ καταλέλοιπε λέλοιπε νοεῖν. ὅτι εἶπεν· «ὁ θεὸς πῦρ ἐστι καταναλίσκον«, ἔστι τι τὸ καταναλισκόμενον. τί οὖν ἐστι τὸ καταναλισκόμενον; οὐ γὰρ τὸ κατ᾿ εἰκόνα καὶ ὁμοίωσιν ἀναλίσκει, οὐ τὸ ἴδιον κτίσμα καταναλίσκει, ἀλλὰ τὸν ἐποικοδομηθέντα χόρτον, τὰ ἐποικοδομηθέντα ξύλα, τὴν ἐποικοδομηθεῖσαν καλάμην. Ὁ τόπος ἦν δυσδιήγητος σφόδρα.
ἐπαγγελίαι ἦσαν, καὶ μετὰ τὰς ἐπαγγελίας λέγει· «καὶ ἀνταποδώσω πρῶτον διπλᾶς τὰς ἀδικίας αὐτῶν. ἀναγκαίως πρόσκειται τὸ «πρῶτον«· πρῶτον γὰρ τὰ τῆς ἀδικίας, εἶτα τὰ τῆς δικαιοσύνης ἀποδίδοται, οὐ γὰρ ἀνάπαλιν ὀ θεὸς ἀνταποδίδωσιν. εἰ πρῶτον ἀπεδίδου τὰ ἀγαθά, ἵνα ἀπολάβωμεν τὰ ἀγαθά, νῦν δὲ ἀποδίδωσι τὰ κακά, ἔδει λῆξαι τὰ ἀγαθά, ἵνα ἀπολάβωμεν τὰ κακά. ἀλλὰ πρῶτον ἀποληψόμεθα τὰ κακά, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα τὰ ἀγαθά, ἵνα τέλος λάβῃ διὰ τοῦ ἀφανισμοῦ τῶν κακῶν τὰ τῆς κολάσεως τῶν παθόντων, ἵνα μετὰ ταῦτα ἀποδῷ τὰ ἀγαθά. διὸ εὑρήσεις ἐν ταῖς ἱεραῖς γραφαίς τὸν θεὸν λέγοντα πρῶτον τὰ δοκοῦντα εἶναι σκυθρωπότερα καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα τὰ κρείττονα. «ἐγὼ ἀποκτενῶ καὶ ζῆν ποιήσω· πατάξω, κἀγὼ ἰάσομαι. «αὐτὸς ἀλγεῖν ποιεῖ καὶ πάλιν ἀποκαθίστησιν· ἔπαισε, καὶ αἱ χεῖρες αὐτοῦ ἰάσαντο.
ἐπὶ τούτοις ἔστι τὸν νοοῦντα καὶ εὐσεβῶς διακείμενον πρὸς τὰ λεγόμενα ἰπεῖν· «κύριε, τίς παροικήσει ἐν τῷ σκηνώματί σου; ἢ τίς κατασκηνώσει ἐν ὄρει ἁγίῳ σου; πορευόμενος ἄμωμος καὶ ἐργαζόμενος δικαιοσύνην, λαλῶν ἀλήθειαν ἐν καρδίᾳ αὐτοῦ· ὃς οὐκ ἐδόλωσεν ἐν γλώσσῃ αὐτοῦ, καὶ οὐκ ἐποίησε τῷ πλησίον αὐτοῦ κακόν, καὶ ὀνειδισμὸν οὐκ ἔλαβεν ἐπὶ τοὺς ἔγγιστα αὐτοῦ. (ἡμεῖς δὲ ὀνειδίζομεν καὶ τοὺς μετανοοῦντας καὶ ἐπιστρέφοντας, λεγούσης τῆς γραφῆς· «μὴ ὀνείδιζε ἄνθρωπον ἀποστρέφοντα ἀπὸ ἁμαρ- τίας.) «ὀνειδισμὸν οὐκ ἔλαβεν ἐπὶ τοὺς ἔγγιστα αὐτοῦ· ἐξουδένωται ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ πονηρευόμενος, τοὺς δὲ φοβουμένους ἀποληψόμεθα τὰ ἁμαρτήματα ἡμῶν.
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.