If he did not spare the natural branches, how much more not us
If then he says, as it were: first I sent Israel away because of the sins, and I sent him into a removal, and Judah, hearing what had happened to Israel, did not turn — he is speaking about our sins.
The things that happened to Israel are read, and the falls concerning that people. We ought to fear: 'if he did not spare the natural branches, how much more not you?' If, not sparing those who boast to be a cultivated olive, those rooted into the root of the patriarchs Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the God who is kind and also a lover of man cut them out, how much more will he not spare us?
For he is not kind and not severe, nor severe and not kind. If he were only kind, and not severe, we would have despised his kindness still more. If he were severe, and not kind, perhaps we would even have despaired over our sins. But now, as God — for we who repent need his kindness, and we who remain in sins need his severity — God is both kind and severe.
And he speaks to us through the prophets and says: 'Have you seen what the dwelling of Israel has done to me?' Understand that Israel as that people. 'She went upon every high mountain and under every shady tree.'
If you see the Pharisee going up into the temple boastfully, not striking his own breast, not caring for his own evils, but saying, 'I thank you that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax-collector; I fast twice in the sabbath, I tithe what I have,' you will see that he has gone up 'upon every high mountain' in a blameworthy way, and having loved high-mindedness, and according to boast and according to pride every high hill, and has come to be 'under every tree' not fruit-bearing, but 'of a grove.' For a grove-tree is one thing, and a tree planted into groves is another: when they plant trees, they do not plant the fruit-bearing ones, not a fig, not a vine, but only, for pleasure, trees without fruit. You will find the words of the heterodox like that, and the beauties of their persuasions, not turning those who hear.
When then someone gives himself to such words, he has gone 'under every grove-tree.' He did not say 'every tree' and stop, nor again add 'every fruit-bearing tree,' but said 'under every grove-tree.' For this reason you will understand why the lawgiver says: 'You shall not plant any tree beside the altar of the Lord your God, and you shall not make a grove.' For you have the name of the grove itself forbidden.
Greek
Ἐὰν οὖν λέγῃ ὡς πρῶτον ἐξαπέστειλα διὰ τὰ ἁμαρτήματα τὸν Ἰσραὴλ καὶ ἐξαπέστειλα εἰς μετοικίαν αὐτόν, ὁ δὲ Ἰούδας ἀκούων τὰ γενόμενα τῷ Ἰσραὴλ οὐκ ἐπέστρεψε, λέγει περὶ τῶν ἡμετέρων ἁμαρτημάτων.
ὅτι ἀναγινώσκονται τὰ τῷ Ἰσραὴλ συμβεβηκότα καὶ τὰ πταίσματα τὰ περὶ ἐκεῖνον τὸν λαόν, δέον ἡμᾶς φοβεῖσθαι καὶ >εἰ τῶν κατὰ φύσιν κλάδων οὐκ ἐφείσατο, πόσῳ πλέον οὐδὲ ; εἰ ἐκείνους τοὺς αὐχοῦντας εἶναι «καλλιέλαιον«, τοὺς ἐρριζωμένους εἰς «τὴν ῥίζαν« τῶν πατριαρχῶν Ἀβραὰμ καὶ Ἰσαὰκ καὶ Ἰακὼβ μὴ φεισάμενος ὁ χρηστὸς ἅμα καὶ φιλάνθρωπος θεὸς ἐξέκοψε, πόσῳ πλέον ἡμῶν οὐ φείσεται θεοῦ. οὐ γὰρ χρηστὸς μὲν οὐκ ἀπότομος δέ, οὐδὲ ἀπότομος μὲν χρηστὸς δὲ οὔ. εἰ γὰρ χρηστὸς μόνον ἦν, ἀπότομος δὲ μὴ ἦν, ἐπὶ πλεῖον ἂν κατεφρονήσαμεν «τῆς χρηστότητος αὐτοῦ. εἰ ἀπότομος μὲν ἦν, χρηστὸς δὲ μὴ ἦν, τάχα ἂν καὶ ἀπέγνωμεν ἐπὶ ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις ἡμῶν. νῦν δὲ ὡς θεὸς (χρῄζομεν γὰρ οἱ ἄνθρωποι μετανοοῦντες τῆς χρηστότητος αὐτοῦ, ἐμμένοντες δὲ ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις τῆς ἀποτομίας) καὶ χρηστός ἐστι καὶ ἀπότομος ὁ θεός, καὶ λαλεῖ ἡμῖν διὰ τῶν προφητῶν καὶ λέγει· «εἶδες ἃ ἐποίησάν μοι ἡ κατοικία τοῦ Ἰσραήλ«; τὸν Ἰσραὴλ τὸν λαόν μοι νόει ἐκεῖνον· «ἐπορεύθη ἐπὶ πάν ὄρος ὑψηλὸν καὶ ὑποκάτω παντὸς ξύλου κατασκίου.
ἐὰν ἴδῃς τὸν Φαρισαῖον εἰς τὸ ἱερὸν ἀναβαίνοντα ἀλαζονικῶς καὶ μὴ τύπτοντα ἑαυτοῦ τὸ στῆθος μηδὲ κηδόμενον τῶν ἰδίων κακῶν, ἀλλὰ λέγοντα· «εὐχαριστῶ σοι ὅτι οὐκ εἰμὶ ὡς οἱ λοιποὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ἅρπαγεσ, ἄδικοι, μοιχοί, ἢ καὶ ὡς οὗτος ὁ τελώνης· νηστεύω δὶς τοῦ σαββάτου, ἀποδεκατῶ τὰ ὑπάρχοντά μου«, ὄψει ὅτι ἀναβέβηκεν «ἐπὶ πᾶν ὄρος ὑψηλὸν« ψεκτῶς καὶ ἀγαπήσας μεγαλοφροσύνην καὶ κατὰ τὴν ἀλαζονείαν καὶ κατὰ τὴν ὑπερηφανίαν πάντα βουνὸν ὑψηλὸν καὶ γέγονεν «ὑποκάτω παντὸς ξύλου« οὐ καρ- πίμου, ἀλλ᾿ «ἀλσώδους«· ἄλλο γὰρ τὸ ἀλσῶδες ξύλον, ἄλλο τὸ εἰς ἄλση ὅταν φυτεύωσι ξύλα, φυτεύουσιν οὐ τὰ καρποφόρα, οὐ συκῆν οὐδὲ ἄμπελον, ἀλλὰ μόνον τέρψεως χάριν ἄκαρπα ξύλα. τοιούτους εὑρήσεις τοὺς λόγους τῶν ἑτεροδόξων καὶ τὰ κάλλη τῶν πιθανοτήτων αὐτῶν οὐκ ἐπιστρεφόντων τοὺς ἀκούοντας.
ὅταν οὐν τοῖς τοιούτοις λόγοις τις ἑαυτὸν ἐπιδῷ, πεπόρευται «ὑποκάτω παντὸς ξύλου ἀλσώδους. οὐκ εἴρηκε «παντὸς ξύλου« καὶ σεσιώπηκεν, οὐδὲ πάλιν προσέθηκε· παντὸς ξύλου τοῦ καρπίμου, ἀλλ᾿ εἴρηκεν «ὑποκάτω παντὸς ξύλου ἀλσώδους. διὰ τοῦτο νοήσεις τί δήποτε ὁ νομοθέτης λέγει· «οὐ φυτεύσεις πᾶν ξύλον παρὰ τὸ θυσιαστήριον κυρίου τοῦ θεοῦ σου, καὶ οὐ ποιήσεις ἄλσος( ἔχεις γὰρ καὶ τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ ἄλσους ἀπηγορευμένον.
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.