Complete turning and abominations of the mouth
Upon these things God says concerning Israel: 'If Israel turns to me, says the Lord, he will also turn'—that is, if he turns completely, he will turn with a turning, not if he merely begins, as it were, to turn. Then he says: 'And if he removes his abominations from his mouth, and stands in awe before my face, and swears, “As the Lord lives,” in truth and in judgment and in righteousness, then nations will bless themselves in him.'
If they do these things, 'nations will bless themselves in him.' What must they do so that nations bless themselves in him? 'If he removes his abominations from his mouth.' What is removing abominations from the mouth? Whatever we speak badly are abominations in our mouth. So let us remove the abominations from our mouth, taking away slanders, empty words, idle words that will make us answerable on the day of judgment—'for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.'
Next is also, 'You will stand in awe before my face.' Let us do this second thing, not simply so that we may be reverent. For there can be a reverence that does not come from the face of God. Those who fear without knowledge, though they propose to fear, do not stand in awe from the face of God. But as many as stand in awe with knowledge—by always looking and painting for themselves the face of God that comes upon those who do evil, to wipe out their memory from the earth—these are the ones who stand in awe from the face of God.
Greek
Ἐπὶ τούτοις περὶ τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ λέγει ὁ θεός· «ἐὰν ἐπιστραφῇ Ἰσραὴλ πρός με, λέγει κύριος, καὶ ἐπιστραφήσεται«· τουτέστιν, ἐὰν τελείως ἐπιστρέψῃ, καὶ ἐπιστραφήσεται ἐπιστροφῇ, οὐκ ἐὰν οἱονεὶ ἄρξηται ἐπιστρέφειν. εἶτά φησι· «καὶ ἐὰν περιέλῃ τὰ βδελύγματα αὐτοῦ ἐκ τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἀπὸ προσώπου μου εὐλαβηθῇ, καὶ ὀμόσῃ· ζῇ κύριος ἐν ἀληθείᾳ καὶ ἐν κρίσει καὶ ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ, καὶ εὐλογήσουσιν ἐν αὐτῷ ἔθνη.
ἐὰν τάδε ποιήσωσιν, «εὐλογήσουσιν ἐν αὐτῷ ἔθνη. τίνα δὲ τάδε ποιήσωσιν, ἵνα εὐλογήσωσιν ἐν αὐτῷ ἔθνη; «ἐὰν περιέλῃ τὰ βδελύγματα αὐτοῦ ἐκ τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ. τί δὲ τὸ περιελεῖν τὰ βδελύγματα ἐκ τοῦ στόματος< ὅσα κακῶς λέγομεν, βδελύγματά εἰσιν ἐν τῷ στόματι ἡμῶν. περιέλωμεν τοίνυν τὰ βδελύγματα ἐκ τοῦ στόματος, ἡμῶν, περιαιροῦντες καταλαλιάς, λόγους ματαίους, ἀργοὺς λόγους καὶ μέλλοντας ἡμᾶς ποιεῖν ἐγκαλεῖσθαι «ἐν ἡμέρᾳ κρίσεως· ἐκ γὰρ τῶν λόγων σου δικαιωθήσῃ, καὶ ἐκ τῶν λόγων σου καταδικασθήσῃ. εἴπερ οὖν θέλομεν ἀπαντῆσαι ἡμῖν τὸ «καὶ εὐλογήσουσιν ἐν αὐτῷ ἔθνη, καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ αἰνέσουσιν τῷ θεῷ ἐν Ἱερουσαλήμ«, ποιήσωμεν τὰ ἀπ᾿ ἀρχῆς εἰρημένα. ποῖον δὲ πρῶτον; περι- ελεῖν «τὰ βδελύγματα ἐκ τοῦ στόματος« ἡμῶν.
ἑξῆς ἐστιν καὶ τὸ «ἀπὸ τοῦπροσώπου μου εὐλαβηθήσῃ. δεύτερον τοῦτο ποιήσωμεν, οὐχ ἁπλῶς, ἵνα εὐλαβθῶμεν· τάχα γάρ ἐστιν εὐλάβεια γινομένη, οὐκ ἀπὸ προσώπου δὲ τοῦ θεοῦ. οἱ γοῦν οὐκ ἐπιστημόνως φοβούμενοι, προτιθέμενοι δὲ φοβεῖσθαι, οὐκ ἀπὸ προσώπου τοῦ θεοῦ εὐλαβοῦνται· ὅσοι δὲ μετ᾿ ἐπιστήμης εὐλαβοῦνται, τῷ ἀεὶ βλέπειν καὶ ἀναζωγραφεῖν ἑαυτοῖς τὸ >πρόσωπον τοῦ θεοῦ γινόμενον ἐπὶ τοὺς ποιοῦντας τὰ κακά, τοῦ ἐξολοθρευθῆναι ἐκ γῆς τὸ μνημόσυνον αὐτῶν<, οὗτοί εἰσιν οἱ ἀπὸ προσώπου τοῦ θεοῦ εὐλαβούμενοι.
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.