I became a laugh; hear my words
Next after these he says he became a laugh. Hear the place. Jeremiah came to be in times of people most sinful—for in his days the captivity came to be—and they were so sinful as to sneer and laugh and mock whenever the prophet spoke the prophetic opening, 'Thus says the Lord.' The hearers laughed and sneered at what was said. The one deceived and benefited from being deceived guarded himself from saying 'Thus says the Lord.' Therefore he also, wanting to deceive for benefit from deceiving, said: I speak my own words to you, since you do not hear the Lord’s words. Then they offered their ears as to words of Jeremiah and heard words of God. These things the one who handed the place over to me said, examining the openings and beginnings of the prophecies.
There is then also a beginning of Jeremiah’s prophecy among us, as the Seventy have handed down—I do not know with what aim: 'The word of God which came upon Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah from the priests'; but in the Hebrew and the remaining editions: 'Words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah,' and all agreed to say: 'Words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah.' Why then 'Words of Jeremiah'? Because his opening toward those not wanting to hear was: Hear my words.
And we also sometimes do such things when it appears profitable to us. Sometimes we bring words to those from the nations wanting to lead them to the faith, and if we see that they are slandered against Christianity and abominate the name and hate to hear that this word is of Christians, we do not pretend to speak a useful word of Christians. But when that word has been built up according to power by us, and we seem to take the hearer as one who has not heard what was said as it chanced, then we confess that this praiseworthy word was a word of Christians. And we do something near to the one who said no longer 'Thus says the Lord' but: Hear words of me, Jeremiah. These things because of 'I became a laugh.' And we are indignant if ever speaking we are laughed at, where such a Jeremiah says: 'I became a laugh all the day.'
Greek
(19,) Ἑξῆς τούτοις λέγει· «ἐγενόμην τὸν τόπον ταῦτα ἤκουον, ὅτι Ἱερεμίας γέγονε κατὰ χρόνους ἁμαρτωλοτάτων (ἐπ᾿ αὐτοῦ γοῦν γέγονεν ἡ αἰγμαλωσία). καὶ οὕτως ἦσαν ἁμαρτωλοὶ ὥστε μυκτηρίζειν καὶ γελᾶν καὶ χλευάζειν, εἴ ποτε ὁ προφήτης τὸ προοίμιον ἔλεγε τὸ προφητικόν, τὸ «τάδε λέγει κύριος. ἐγέλων οἱ ἀκούοντες καὶ ἐμυκτήριζον τὰ λεγόμνα.
ἐφυλάξατο εἰπεῖν τὸ «τάδε λέγει κύριος« ὁ ἀπατηθεὶς καὶ ὠφεληθεὶς ἐκ τοῦ ἀπατᾶσθαι. διὸ καὶ αὐτὸς βουλόμενος ἀπατᾶν ἐπὶ τῷ ὠφελεῖσθαι ἐκ τοῦ ἀπατᾶν ἔλεγεν· ὅτι ἐμοὺς ὑμῖν λαλῶ, ἐπεὶ οὐκ ἀκούετε τοὺς τοῦ κυρίου λόγους. εἶτα ἐκεῖνοι παρεῖχον τὰς ἀκοὰς ὡς λόγοις Ἱερεμίου καὶ ἤκουον λόγων θεοῦ. ταῦτα δέ μοι ἔλεγεν ὁ παραδιδούς μοι τὸν τόπον, ἐξετάζων τὰ προοίμια καὶ τὰς ἀρχὰς τῶν προφητειῶν.
ἔστι τοίνυν καὶ ἀρχὴ τῆς προφητείας Ἱερεμίου παρὰ μὲν ἡμῖν, ὡς οἱ Ἑβδομήκοντα παραδεδώκασιν οὐκ οἶδ᾿ ὅ, τι σκοπήσαντες· «τὸ ῥῆμα τοῦ θεοῦ ὅ ἐγἐνετο ἐπὶ Ἱεεμίαν τὸν τοῦ Χελκίου ἐκ τῶν ἱερέων«, ἐν δὲ τῷ Ἑβραϊκῷ καὶ ταῖς λοιπαῖς ἐκδόσεσι· «λόγοι Ἱερεμίου υἱοῦ Χελκίου«, καὶ πάντες συνεφώνησαν τῷ εἰπεῖν· «λόγοι Ἱερεμίου υἱοῦ Χελκίου. διὰ τί οὖν «λόγοι Ἱερεμίου«; ἐπειδήπερ τὸ προοίμιον αὐτῷ ἐν τῷ λέγειν πρὸς τοὺς μὴ βουλομένους ακοῦσαι ἦν· ἀκούσατέ μου τοὺς λόγους. Καὶ ἡμεῖς ἔσθ᾿ ὅτε τοιαῦτα, ὅταν λυσιτελὲς ἡμῖν φανῇ, ποιοῦμεν.
ἐνίοτε λόγους >τοῖς< ἀπὸ τῶν ἐθνῶν προσάγομεν βουλόμενοι αὐτοὺς προσαγαγεῖν τῇ πίστει, καὶ ἐὰν ἴδωμεν ὅτι διαβεβλημένοι εἰσὶ πρὸς Χριστιανισμὸν καὶ βδελύσσονται τὸ ὄνομα καὶ μισοοῦσι τὸ ἀκοῦσαι, ὅτι οὗτος ὁ λόγος Χριστιανῶν ἐστιν, οὐ προσποιούμεθα Χριστιανῶν λέγειν λόγον ὠφέλιμον. ἀλλ᾿ ὅταν ὁ λόγος ἐκεῖνος κατασκευασθῇ κατὰ δύναμιν ὑφ᾿ ἡμῶν, καὶ δοκῶμεν αἱρεῖν τὸν ἀκροατὴν οὐχ ὡς ἔτυχε τοῦ λεγομένου ἀκούσαντα, τότε ὁμολογοῦμεν ὅτι οὗτος ὁ ἐπαινετὸς λόγος Χριστιανῶν λόγος ἦν. καὶ ποιοῦμέν τι παραπλήσιον τῷ εἰπόντι οὐκέτι «τάδε λέγει κυριος« ἀλλὰ· ἀκούσατε λόγους ἐμοῦ τοῦ Ἱερεμίου. ταῦτα διὰ τὸ «ἐγενόμην εἰς γέλωτα.
Καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀγανακτοῦμεν, ἐὰν ποτε λαλοῦντες γελασθῶμεν, ὅπου Ἱερεμίας ὁ τοιοῦτός φησιν· «ἐγενόμην εἰς γέλωτα, πᾶσαν ἡμέραν διετέλεσα μυκτηριζόμενος«; τί λέγω, Ἱερεμίας; καὶ ὁ ἐμὸς Ἰησοῦς ἐμυκτηρίζετο· «ἤκουον« γάρ φησι «ταῦτα πάντα οἱ Φαρισαῖοι φιλάργυροι ὑπάρχοντες, καὶ ἐμυκτήριζον αὐτόν. ἀλλ᾿ 〉ὁ κύριος ἐκμυκτηρίζει〈 πάντας τοὺς ἐκμυκτηρίζοντας τοὺς λόγους τοῦ θεοῦ. «ἐγενόμην εἰς γέλωτα.
ὅρα ποταποὺς βίους ἐβίωσαν οἱ προφῆται, πῆ μὲν καταγελώμενοι, πῆ δὲ κινδυνεύοντες καὶ καταβαλλόμενοι καὶ λιθοβολούμενοι ὑπὸ τοῦ λαοῦ, ἀναιρούμενοι, μισούμενοι, ἐκδιωκόμενοι· και πάντα ἔπασχον καὶ ὑπέμενον, ἵνα κατὰ τὸ βούλημα τοῦ θεοῦ 〉δόξαν τὴν παρὰ τοῦ μόνου ζητοῦντες〈, κηρύσσοντες τὸν λόγον τύχωσι τοῦ τέλους τοῦ παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ. «πᾶσαν τὴν ἡμέραν διετέλεσα μυκτηριζόμενος. ἡμέραν διετέλεσε μυκτηριζόμενος·.
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.