The bill of divorce, and the call of the nations
'Go, then, and read these words toward the north.' If the wording has been understood, let us see what he wants to be shown in these things.
The call of the nations had its beginning from the fall of Israel. And the apostles, preaching to the synagogues of the Jews, say: 'To you the word of salvation was sent; since you judge yourselves unworthy, behold, we turn to the nations.' And the apostle, knowing what he knows about these things, says: 'By their fall salvation has come to the nations, to make them jealous.'
So the many sins of that people made it to be abandoned, and made us come to the hope of the promise, we who were strangers to the covenants. For how else is it that I, a foreigner from wherever I came, from the so-called holy land, now speak about the promises of God, and believe in the God of the patriarchs Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and receive Jesus Christ, who was announced by the prophets, by the grace of God?
If you understand these two peoples, the one from Israel and the one from the nations, see with me the removal of Israel also upon that people of Israel, and understand it written about them: 'I have sent her away and given her a bill of divorce.' For God sent that people away and gave it a bill of divorce.
It is like those who have married: if the wife is displeasing to the husband, the law of Moses says a bill of divorce came from the husband and the wife was sent away, and it was permitted to the one who sent the first wife away, because she seemed to have acted unseemly, to marry another. In the same way, by the Word, see those receiving a bill of divorce. And because they received the bill of divorce, they were abandoned altogether. Where are prophets still among them? Where signs still among them? Where an appearing of God? Where the worship, the temple, the sacrifices? They have been thrown out from their own place. So he gave Israel a bill of divorce.
Then we, Judah — Judah because the Savior sprang from Judah; for you know that our Lord has sprung from Judah — turned to the Lord. And our last things, which I pray may not already be, seem likely to become like their last things, if not even worse.
Greek
«πορεύου« οὖν «καὶ ἀνάγνωθι τοὺς λόγους τούτους πρὸς βορρᾶν. Εἰ νενόηται τὸ ῥητόν, ἴδωμεν τί βούλεται ἐν τούτοις δηλοῦσθαι.
ἡ κλῆσις τῶν ἐθνῶν ἀρχὴν ἔσχεν ἐκ τοῦ παραπτώματος τοῦ Ἰσραή, | καὶ λέγουσιν οἱ ἀπόστολοι κηρύξαντες ταῖς τῶν Ἰουδαίων συναγωγαῖς ὅτι >ὑμῖν ἦν ἐξαπεσταλμένος ὁ λόγος τῆς σωτηρίας· ἐπειδὴ ἀνξίους κρίνετε ἑαυτούς, ἰδοὺ στρεφόμεθα εἰς τὰ . καὶ ὁ ἀπόστολος περὶ τούτων εἰδὼς ἃ οἶδε λέγει· «τῷ αὐτῶν παραπτώματι ἡ σωτηρία τοῖς ἔθνεσιν, εἰς τὸ παραζηλῶσαι αὐτούς. οὐκοῦν αἱ πολλαὶ ἁμαρτίαι ἐκείνου τοῦ λαοῦ πεποιήκασιν αὐτὸν ἐγκατυαλειφθῆναι καὶ ἡμᾶς ἥκειν ἐπὶ τὴν ἐλπίδα τῆς , ποὺς τοὺς τῶν διαθηκῶν, τοὺς ἀλλοτρίους τῶν . πόθεν γὰρ ἐμοὶ τῷ ὁπουποτοῦν γενομένῳ ξένῳ τῆς λεγομένης ἁγίας γῆς, νῦν περὶ τῶν ἐπαγγελιῶν διαλέγεσθαι τοῦ θεοῦ, καὶ πιστεύειν εἰς τὸν θεὸν τῶν πατριαρχῶν Ἀβραὰμ καὶ Ἰσαὰκ καὶ Ἰακώβ, καὶ Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν τὸν < ὑπὸ τῶν προφητῶν χάριτι θεοῦ παραδέχεσθαι; εἰ νοεῖς τοὺς δύο τούτους λαούς, τὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ καὶ τὸν ἀπὸ τῶν ἐθνῶν, ἴδε μοι τὴν μετοικίαν τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ λαοῦ ἐκείνου τοῦ Ἰσραήλ, καὶ περὶ ἐκείνου νόει μοι γεγράφθαι· «ἐξαπέσταλκα αὐτὴν καὶ ἔδωκα αὐτῇ βιβλίον ἀποστασίου«· ἐξαπέστειλε γὰρ τὸν λαὸν ἐκεῖνον ὁ θεὸς καὶ ἔδωκεν αὐτῷ βιβλίον ἀποστασίου.
ὅπερ τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν ἐπὶ τῶν γεγαμηκότων· ἐὰν δυσάρεστος ᾖ ᾗ γυνὴ τῷ ἀνδρί, λέγει ὁ Μωσέως νόμος, «βιβλίον ἀποστασίου« ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς ἐγίνετο καὶ ἐξαπεστέλλετο ἡ γυνή, καὶ ἐξῆν τῷ ἀποστείλαντι τὴν προτέραν γυναῖκα διὰ τὸ δοκεῖν ἠσχημονηκέναι γαμεῖν ἑτέραν γυναῖκα. οὕτως τῷ λόγῳ ἴδε ἐκείνους λαμβάνοντας βιβλίον ἀποστασίου. καὶ ἐπεὶ ἔλαβον τὸ βιβλίον τοῦ ἀποστασίου, διὰ τοῦτο ἐγκατελείφθησαν πάντῃ. ποῦ γὰρ προφῆται ἔτι παρ᾿ αὐτοῖς; ποῦ σημεῖα ἔτι παρ᾿ αὐτοῖς; ποῦ ἐπιφάνεια θεοῦ; ποῦ ἡ λατρεία, ὁ ναός, αἱ θυσίαι; ἐξεβλή- θησαν ἀπὸ τοῦ τόπου ἑαυτῶν· ἔδωκεν οὖν τῷ Ἰσραὴλ «βιβλίον ἀποστασίου.
Εἶτα ἡμεῖς Ἰούδα (Ἱούσας δὲ διὰ τὸν σωτῆρα ἐξ Ἰούδα ἀνατείλαντα· πρόΜον γὰρ ὅτι ἐξ Ἰούδα ἀνατέταλκεν ὁ κύριος ἡμῶν«) ἐπεστρέψαμεν πρὸς κύριον, καὶ τὰ τελευταῖα ἡμῶν, ἅπερ Με μὴ ἤδη εἴη, παραπλήσια ἔοικε γίνεσθαι τοῖς ἐκείνων τελευταίοις, εἰ μὴ ἄρα καὶ χείρονα.
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.