Striking the prophet; Christ still gives his back
The enchanters of the Egyptians also had rods that wanted to refute the rods of Moses and Aaron as not being from God. But the rods from God overturn those of the sophists and enchanters; 'Aaron’s swallowed them'—for it alone was enough for this even without Moses’ rod. So then Pashhur 'struck Jeremiah the prophet,' and with character: 'and he struck Jeremiah the prophet.' 'The prophet' is also added. Here then the one who struck struck Jeremiah the prophet.
And it is written in Acts that someone struck Paul, ordered by Ananias the high priest. Therefore Paul said: 'God is about to strike you, whitewashed wall.' And until now Ebionites, ordered by an unlawful high-priestly word, strike the apostle of Jesus Christ with blasphemous words. And Paul says toward such a high-priestly word: 'God is about to strike you.' And such a high priest is handsome on the surface and a whitewashed wall.
Christ says: 'I have given my back to scourges, and my cheeks to blows, and I did not turn my face away from the shame of spit.' The simple know these things only of that time when Pilate scourged him, when Jews planned against him. But I see Jesus daily 'giving his back to scourges.' Go into the synagogues of the Jews and see Jesus scourged by them with the tongue of blasphemy. See those gathered from the nations planning against Christians, how they take Jesus, and there too he 'gives his own back to scourges.' Consider the Word of God being insulted, spoken ill of, hated by the unbelievers. See that 'he gave his cheeks to blows,' and having taught that if someone strikes you on the cheek turn also the other, he himself does it. So many strike and scourge him, and he is silent and does not speak. For it is written that he does not speak when being scourged. And 'until now Jesus has not turned his face away from the shame of spit.'
Greek
(18,) ....................................................... ............................................................... ............................................................... Εἶχον καὶ οἱ ἐπαοιδοὶ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων ῥάβδους, τὰς βουλομένας τὴν Μωσέως διαβαλεῖν καὶ <τὴν< Ἀαρὼν ὡς οὐκ οὔσας ἀπὸ θεοῦ. ἀλλὰ ἀνατρέπουσι τὰς τῶν σοφιστῶν καὶ ἐπαοιδῶν αἱ ἀπὸ θεοῦ· >κατέπιεν αὐτὰς ἡ τοῦ Ἀαρών<· ἤρκει γὰρ πρὸς τοῦτο αὐτὴ καὶ χωρὶς τῆς Μωσέως ῥάβδου. «ἐπάταξε« τοίνυν «Ἱερεμίαν τὸν προφήτην« ὁ Πασχώρ, καὶ μετὰ ἤθους· «καὶ ἐπάταξεν Ἱερεμίαν τὸν προφήτην. πρόσκειται καὶ τὸ «τὸν προφήτην. ἐνθάδε μὲν οὖν ὁ πατάξας τὸν Ἱερεμίαν τὸν προφήτην ἐπάταξεν.
ἐναγέγραπται δὲ ἐν ταῖς Πράξεσιν ὅτι ἐπάταξέ τις τὸν Παῦλον ὑπὸ Ἀνανίου τοῦ ἀρχιερέως κελευσθείς. διὸ εἴρηκεν ὁ Παῦλος· «τύπτειν σε μέλλει ὁ θεός, τοῖχε κεκονιαμένε. καὶ μέχρι νῦν ὑπὸ παρανόμου ἀρχιερέως λόγου προστασσόμενοι Ἐβιωναῖοι ναῖοι τύπτουσι τὸν ἀπόστολον Ἰησοῦ χριστοῦ λόγοις δυσφήμοις. καὶ Παῦλός φησι πρὸς τὸν τοιοῦτον λόγον ἀρχιερέα τὸ «τύπτειν σε μέλλει ὁ θεός. καὶ ἔστιν ὁ τοιοῦτος ἀρχιερεὺς ἐξ ἐπιπολῆς ὡραῖος καὶ τοῖχος κεκονιαμένος, >τὸν νῶτόν μου δέδωκα εἰς μάστιγας, τὰς δὲ σιαγόνας χριστός φησι· τὸν νῶτόν μου δέδωκα εἰς μάστιγας, τὰς δὲ σιαγόνας μου εἰς ῥαπίσματα, τὸ δὲ πρόσωπόν μου οὐκ ἀπέστρεψα ἀπὸ αἰσχύνης ἐμπτυσμάτων. ταῦτα οἱ ἀκέραιοι ἴσασιν ἐπὶ τὸν τότε μόνον καιρόν, ὅτε ἐμαστίγωσεν αὐτὸν ὁ Πιλᾶτος, ὅτε ἐβουλεύσαντο κατ᾿ αὐτοῦ Ἰουδαῖοι.
ἐγὼ δὲ βλέπω τὸν Ἰησοῦν καθ᾿ ἡμέραν >διδόντα τὸν νῶτον αὐτοῦ εἰς μάστιγας<. εἴσελθε εἰς τὰς τῶν Ἰουδαίων συναγωγάς, καὶ ἴδε τὸν Ἰησοῦν ὑπ᾿ αὐτῶν τῇ γλώσσῃ τῆς βλασφημίας μαστιγούμενον. ἴδε τοὺς ἀπὸ τῶν ἐθνῶν συναγομένους, βουλευομένους κατὰ Χριστιανῶν, τίνα τρόπον λαμβάνουσι τὸν ἰησοῦν, κἀκεῖνος >τὸν ἑαυτοῦ νῶτον δίδωσιν εἰς μάστιγας<. κατανόει ὑβριζόμενον τὸν τοῦ θεοῦ λόγον, κακολογούμενον, μισούμενον ὑπὸ τῶν ἀπίστων.
ὅρα ὅτι >τὰς σιαγόνας ἕδωκεν εἰς ῥαπίσματα<, καὶ διδάξας ὅτι ἐὰν τύπτῃ τίς «σε εἰς τὴν σιαγόνα στρέψον καὶ τὴν ἄλλην«, αὐτὸς αὐτὸ ποιεῖ. τοσοῦτοι αὐτὸν ῥαπίζουσιν καὶ μαστιγοῦσι, καὶ σιωπᾷ καὶ οὐ λαλεῖ. ἀναγέγραπται γὰρ μὴ λαλῶν ἐν τῷ μαστιγοῦσθαι. καὶ >τὸ πρόσωπον μέχρι τοῦ δεῦρο Ἰησοῦς οὐκ ἀπέστρεψεν ἀπὸ αἰσχύνης ἐμπτυσμάτων<. τίς τῶν ἐξευτελιζόντων ευτελιζόντων τὴν διδασκαλίαν οὐχὶ οἱονεὶ ἐμπτύει μέχρι τοῦ δεῦρο τῷ Ἰησοῦ ἀνεχομένῳ;
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.