A new servant should learn from those thrown out
'And she played the harlot there. And I said after she had played the harlot in all these things: Turn to me. And she did not turn, and faithless Judah saw her faithlessness.'
We too have been reproached — I mean we who sin and do not keep the covenants of God, and do not see that those others, well-born, from Abraham, having received a promise, have lost the covenant. We ought then to reckon that they have fallen from the blessings and the promises, and that being from the fathers did them no good — how much more shall we, if we sin, be abandoned. 'If you were children of Abraham, you would do the works of Abraham,' the Savior says to them. And again John: 'Do not begin to say in yourselves, We have Abraham as father; for I say to you that God is able from these stones to raise children to Abraham' — hinting at us, who have a heart of stone and are hardened toward the truth. And truly God has raised children to Abraham from the stones, if we remain in the bringing-forth of children and keep the spirit of adoption.
So 'faithless Judah saw the faithlessness' of the dwelling of Israel, she who did not keep the covenants toward God, and she saw concerning all the things for which that one was left (for we, Judah, see all these things, if we read the Scripture) — that concerning the things for which the dwelling of Israel was left, in which she committed adultery, God sent her away and gave her a bill of divorce, that we might be trained by what he did to them, judging them according to the sins, abandoning them and giving them over to captivity and to slaughter and to the enemies.
We ought from these things to turn, and each of us to reckon that if God did not spare the natural branches, how much more will he not spare us. If he thrust out those from the fathers when they became sinners, what shall we who were called from the nations suffer? We have reckoned none of these things, we who were called in order that that people might be made jealous, seeing the slave honored, seeing the low-born come near. And if those suffered so many things, how much more, if we sin, shall we be abandoned?
'In the things in which the dwelling of Israel committed adultery, I sent her away and gave her a bill of divorce into her hands; and faithless Judah was not afraid' of what I had done to the dwelling of Israel, that I sent her away and gave her a bill of divorce. She was not afraid from what had come to be for them.
Someone entered the house of a master of a house. He is newly bought. He asks whom of the former household servants the master honored and why, whom he dishonored and why. Having understood, if he wants to remain in the house of the master, he guards himself from falling into what the former slaves did who sinned and were thrown out and given over to punishment. Then, having learned what the former slaves did who were well-pleasing, and upon what sort of things they obtained freedom, he imitates those. We too were not slaves of God, but of idols and demons, Gentiles; yesterday and the day before we came to God. Let us read the Scripture, see who was justified, who was condemned; let us imitate those justified, and guard ourselves from falling into the things into which those taken captive fell, those thrown out from God.
Greek
«Καὶ ἐπόρνευσεν ἐκεῖ. καὶ εἶπα μετὰ τὸ πορνεῦσαι αὐτὴν ταῦτα πάντα· πρός με ἀνάστρεψον· καὶ οὐκ ἀνέστρεψεν, καὶ εἶδεν τὴν ἀσυνθεσίαν αὐτῆς ἡ ἀσύνθετος Ἰούδα. λελοιδορήμεθα καὶ ἡμεῖς, λέγω οἱ ἁμαρτάνοντες καὶ μὴ τηροῦντες τὰς συνθήκας τοῦ θεοῦ μηδὲ βλέποντες ὅτι ἀπολωλέκασιν ἐκεῖνοι τὴν διαθήκην εὐγενεῖς ὄντες, ἐξ Ἀβραὰμ ὄντες, ἐπαγγελίαν λαβόντες. δέον οὖν ἡμᾶς λογίζεσθαι, ὅτι ἐκπεπτώκασιν ἐκεῖνοι τῶν εὐλογιῶν καὶ τῶν ἐπαγγελιῶν καὶ οὐδὲν ὤνησεν αὐτοὺς τὸ εἶναι ἀπὸ τῶν πατέρων, πόσῳ πλέον ἡμεῖς ἁμαρτάνοντες ἐγκαταλειφθησόμεθα. εἰ ἦτε τέκνα τοῦ Ἀβραάμ, τὰ ἔργα τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ ἂν ἐποιεῖτε« λέγει αὐτοῖς ὁ σωτήρ. καὶ πάλιν ὁ Ἰωάννης· «μὴ ἄρξησθε λέγειν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς, ὄτι πατέρα ἔχομεν τὸν Ἀβραάμ· λέγω γὰρ ὑμῖν ὅτι δύναται ὁ θεὸς ἐκ τῶν λίθων τούτων ἐγεῖραι τέκνα τῷ Ἀβραάμ«· λίθους αἰνισσόμενος ἡμᾶς τοὺς λιθίνην ἔχοντας τὴν καρ- δίαν< καὶ ἐσκληρυμμένους πρὸς τὴν ἀλήθειαν. καὶ ἀληθῶς ὁ θεὸς ἤγειρε τέκνα τῷ Ἀβραὰμ ἀπὸ τῶν λίθων, ἐὰν μείνωμεν ἐν τῇ τεκνογονίᾳ< καὶ τηρήσωμεν τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς . οὖν «τὴν ἀσυνθεσίαν αὐτῆς« τῆς κατοικίας τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ «ἡ ασύνθετος Ἰούδα«, ἡ μὴ τηρήσασα τὰς συνθήκας τὰς πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ εἶδεν διότι περὶ πάντων, ὡν κατελείφθη« ἐκείνη (ταῦτα γὰρ πάντα ἡμεῖς βλέπομεν ὁ Ἰούδας, ἐὰν ἀναγινώσκωμεν τὴν γραφήν) >ὅτιπερὶ ὡν κατελείφθη ἡ κατοικία τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ ἐν οἷς ἐμοιχᾶτο, ἐξαπέστειλεν αὐτὴν ὁ θεὸς καὶ ἔδωκεν αὐτῇ βιβλίον ἀποστασίου ἡμᾶς παιδευθῆναι ἐξ ὧν ἐκείνοις ἐποίησε κρίνας αὐτοὺς κατὰ τά ἁμαρτήματα, ἐγκαταλιπὼν καὶ παραδοὺς εἰς αἰχμαλωσίαν καὶ παραδοὺς εἰς φόνον καὶ παραδοὺς τοῖς πολεμίοις· δέον ἐκ τούτων ἡμᾶς ἐπιστρέψαι καὶ ἕκαστον ἡμῶν λογίσασθαι ὅτι, εἰ ὁ θεὸς τῶν κατὰ φύσιν κλάδων οὐκ ἐφείσατο, πόσῳ πλέον ἡμῶν οὐ φείσεται ἀπὸ τῶν πατέρων οὕτως ἐξέωσε γενομένους ἁμαρτωλούς, τί ἡμεῖς οἱ ἀπὸ τῶν ἐθνῶν κληθέντες πεισόμεθα, ἡμεῖς οὐδὲν τούτων ἐλογισάμεθα, κληθέντες ἵνα παραζηλώσῃ ἐκεῖνος ὁ λαὸς ὁρῶν τὸν δοῦλον τετιμημένον, βλέπων τὸν ἀγενῆ προσεληλυθότα. εἰ δὲ τοσαῦτα ἐκεῖνοι πεπόνθασι, πόσῳ πλέον, ἐὰν ἁμαρτάνωμεν, ἡμεῖς ἐγκαταλειφθησόμεθα; «Ἐν οἷς ἐμοιχᾶτο ἡ κατοικία τοῦ Ἰσραήλ, ἐξαπέστειλα αὐτὴν καὶ ἔδωκα αὐτῇ βιβλίον ἀποστασίου εἰς τὰς χεῖρας αὐτῆς· καὶ οὐκ ἐφοβήθη ἡ ἀσύνθετος Ἰούδα« ἃ πεποίηκα τῇ κατοικίᾳ τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ ὅτι «ἐξαπέστειλα αὐτὴν καὶ ἔδωκα αὐτῇ βιβλίον ἀποστασίου. «οὐκ ἐφοβήθη« ἐκ τῶν ἐκείνοις γεγενημένων. εἰσῆλθέ τις εἰς οἰκίαν οἰκοδεσπότου· νεώνητός ἐστι, πυνθάνεται τίνα τῶν προτέρων οἰκετῶν ἐτίμησε καὶ διὰ τί, τίνα ἠτίμασε τῶν οἰκετῶν καὶ διὰ τί. κατανοήσας, εἰ βούλεται μ εῖναι ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ τοῦ οἰκοδεσπότου, φυλάσσεται περιπεσεῖν, ἃ πεποιήκασιν οἱ πρότεροι δοῦλοι καὶ ἡμαρτηκότες καὶ ἐκβεβλημένοι καὶ κολάσει παραδεδομένοι. εἶτα μαθὼν τίνα πεποιήκασιν οἱ πρότεροι δοῦλοι καὶ εὐδοκιμηκότες, καὶ ἐπὶ ποταποῖς ἐλευθερίας τετυχήκασι, ζηλοῖ ἐκείνους. καὶ ἡμεῖς δὲ οὐκ ἠμεν δοῦλοι τοῦ θεοῦ, ἀλλὰ εἰδώλων καὶ δαιμόνων, ἐθνικοί, ἐχθὲς καὶ πρώην προσεληλύθαμεν τῷ θεῷ, ἀναγινώσκωμεν τὴν γραφήν, ἴδωμεν τίς ἐδικαιώθη, τίς κατεδικάσθη, μιμησώμεθα τοὺς δικαιωθέντας, φυλασσώμεθα περιπεσεῖν τούτοις, οἷς περιπεπτώκασιν οἱ αἰχμαλωτευθέντες, οἱ ἐκβληθέντες ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ.
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.