Turn with the whole heart; one flock, one shepherd
'And faithless Judah was not afraid, and she went and played the harlot also.' Israel having played the harlot first, Judah later played the harlot too. 'And her harlotry came to nothing, and she committed adultery with the wood and the stone.' When we sin, we do nothing else than, becoming stone-hearted, commit adultery with the stone. When we sin and play the harlot 'under every grove-tree,' we too commit adultery with the wood.
'And faithless Judah did not turn to me with her whole heart, but in a lie.' If we have turned to God, but deficiently, we are accused as not having turned 'with the whole heart.' Therefore 'faithless Judah did not turn to me with her whole heart.' He did not say: and faithless Judah turned, and she stood; but: 'and faithless Judah did not turn to me with her whole heart, but in a lie' she turned.
True turning, then, is to read the old things, to know those who were justified, to imitate them; to read those things, to see those who were blamed, to guard ourselves from falling into those blames; to read the books of the new covenant, the words of the apostles; after reading, to write all these things into the heart, to live according to them, so that a bill of divorce may not be given to us also, but that we may be able to come to the holy inheritance, and that, the fullness of the nations having been saved, Israel may then be able to enter. For if the fullness of the nations enters, then all Israel will be saved, 'and they shall become one flock, one shepherd,' teaching to glorify the almighty God in Christ Jesus himself, to whom is the glory and the might unto the ages of the ages. Amen.
Greek
«Καὶ οὐκ ἐφοβήθη ἡ ἀσύνθετος Ἰούδα, καὶ ἐπορεύθη καὶ ἐπόρνευσεν καὶ αὐτή. πρότερον πορνεύσαντος τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ πεπόρνευκεν ὕστερον καὶ Ἰούδας. «καὶ ἐγένετο εἰς οὐδὲν ἡ πορνεία αὐτῆς, καὶ ἐμοίχευσε τὸ ξύλον καὶ τὸν λίθον. ὅταν ἁμαρτάνωμεν, οὐδὲν ἄλλο ποιοῦμεν ἢ λιθοκάρδιοι γινόμενοι μοιχεύομεν «τὸν λίθον.
ὅταν ἁμαρτάνωμεν καὶ πορνεύωμεν «ὑποκάτω παντὸς ξύλου ἀλσώδους«, καὶ ἡμεῖς μοιχεύομεν τὸ ξύλο. «καὶ οὐκ ἐπεστράφη πρός με ἡ ἀσύ7 νθετος Ἰούδα ἐξ ὅλης τῆς καρδίας αὐτῆς ἀλλ’ ἐπὶ ψεύδει. εἰ ἐπεστρέψαμεν πρὸς τὸν θεὸν ἐλλιπῶς δέ, ἐγκαλούμεθα ὡς οὐκ «ἐξ ὅλης τῆς καρδίας« ἐπιστρέψαντες. διὸ «οὐκ ἐπεστράφη πρός με ἀσύνθετος Ἰούδα ἐξ ὅλης τῆς καρδίας αὐτῆς. οὐκ εἶπεν· καὶ ἐπέστρεψεν ἡ ἀσύνθετος Ἰούδα, καὶ ἔστη, ἀλλά· «καὶ οὐκ ἐπεστράφη πρός με ἡ ἀσύνθετος Ἰούδα ἐξ ὅλης τῆς καρδίας αὐτῆς, ἀλλ’ ἐπὶ ψεύδει« ἐπέστρεψεν.
ἡ οὖν ἀληθῶς ἐπιστροφή ἐστιν ἀναγνῶναι τὰ παλαιά, εἰδέναι τοὺς δικαιωθέντας, μιμήσασθαι αὐτούς, ἀναγνῶναι ἐκεῖνα, ἰδεῖν τοὺς μεμφθέντας, φυλάξασθαι περιπεσεῖν ταῖς μέμψεσιν ἐκείναις, ἀναγνῶναι τὰ βιβλία τῆς καινῆς διαθήκης, τῶν ἀποστόλων τοὺς λόγους, μετὰ τὸ ἀναγνῶναι γράψαι ταῦτα πάντα εἰς τὴν καρδίαν, βιῶσαι κατ᾿ αὐτά, ἴνα μὴ καὶ ἡμῖν δοθῇ βιβλίον ἀποστασίου, ἀλλὰ δυνηθῶμεν ἥκειν ἐπὶ τὴν κληρονομίαν τὴν ἁγίαν, καὶ τοῦ πληρώματος τῶν ἐθνῶν σωθέντος δυνηθῇ τότε ὁ Ἰσραὴλ εἰσελθεῖν· ἐὰν γὰρ τὸ πλήρωμα τῶν Μνῶν εἰσέλθῃ, τότε πᾶς Ἰσραὴλ σωθήσεται<, «καὶ γενήσονται μία ποίμνη, εἷς ποιμὴν« διδάσκων δοξάζειν τὸν παντοκράτορα θεὸν έν αὐτῷ τῷ Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ, ᾧ ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων.
Ἀμήν.
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.