Swear in truth, judgment, and righteousness
'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.'
Let us look at ourselves who swear—how we do not swear in judgment but without judgment, so that our oaths come by habit rather than by judgment. We are carried away, and the word, exposing this, says: 'And if he swears, “As the Lord lives,” in truth and in judgment and in righteousness.' We know what the Lord said to the disciples in the Gospel: 'But I say to you, do not swear at all.' Let us look at this saying too; and if God grants, both will be examined together. Perhaps one must first swear 'in truth and in judgment and in righteousness.'
In the one who swears I first look for what is not false but true, so that he may swear with truth. Yet we wretched ones even swear falsely. But even if it is 'with truth,' an oath is still not well made unless it is also 'in judgment.' For grant that I swear by habit—I do not swear 'in judgment.' If one must take for such an oath the God of all and his Christ upon this matter, how great must the matter be before I bend the knee and swear? Perhaps I would do it sometime to heal unbelief that has arisen in some about my word.
He has joined both—those from the nations and Israel. He spoke about the nations; he spoke also about Israel.
Greek
«Ἐὰν περιέλῃ τὰ βδελύγματα<αὐτοῦ>ἀπὸ τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ προσώπου μου εὐλαβηθῇ, καὶ ὀμόσῃ· ζῇ κύριος ἐν ἀληθείᾳ καὶ ἐν κρίσει καὶ ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ.
ἴδωμεν ἡμεῖς ἑαυτοὺς οἱ ὀμνύοντες, τίνα τρόπον οὐκ ἐν κρίσει ὀμνύομεν ἀλλ᾿ ἀκρίτω, ὥστε γενέσθαι ἡμῶν τοὺς ὅρκους ἔθει μᾶλλον ἢ κρίσει. συναρπαζόμεθα γοῦν, καὶ τοῦτο ἐλέγχων ὁ λόγος φησίν· «καὶ ἐὰν ὀμόσῃ· ζῇ κύριος ἐν ἀληθείᾳ καὶ ἐν κρίσει καὶ ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ. οἴδαμεν ἐν τῷ εὐαγγε- λίῳ εἰρημένον ὑπὸ τοῦ κυρίου πρὸς τοὺς μαθητάς· «ἐγὼ δὲ λέγω ὑμῖν μὴ ὀμόσαι ὅλως«, ἴδωμεν δὲ καὶ τοῦτο τὸ ῥητόν· καὶ ἐὰν διδῷ θεός, συνεξετασθήσεται τὰ ἀμφότερα. τάχα γὰρ πρῶτον δεῖ ὀμόσαι «ἐν ἀληθείᾳ καὶ ἐν κρίσει καὶ ἐν δικαιρσύνῃ«, ἵνα μετὰ τοῦτο προκόψας τις ἄξιος γένηται τοῦ μὴ ὀμνύειν ὅλως, ἀλλ᾿ ἔχειν «ναὶ« μὴ δεόμενον μαρτύρων τοῦ εἶναι τοῦτο, καὶ ἔχειν αὐτὸν «οὒ« μὴ δεόμενον μαρτύρων τοῦ εἶναι αὐτὸ ἀληθῶς «οὔ. «καὶ ὀμόσῃ« οὖν «ζῇ κύριος ἐν ἀληθίᾳ.
ἐν τῷ ὀμνύοντι πρῶτον ζητῶ τὸ μὴ ψεῦδος, ἀλλὰ τὸ ἀληθές, ἵνα μετὰ ἀληθείας ὀμόσῃ· ἡμεῖς δὲ οἱ τάλανες καὶ ἐπιορκοῦμεν. ἀλλ᾿ ἔστω «μετὰ ἀληθείας« οὐδὲ οὕτως καλῶς ὅρκος γίνεται, ἀλλ᾿ «ἐν κρίσει. δεδόσθω γάρ, ἔθει ὀμνύω· οὐκ ὀμνύω «ἐν κρίσει. εἰ δέοι παραλαμβάνειν εἰς, τὸν τοιοῦτον ὅρκον τὸν θεὸν τὸν τοῦ παντός, καὶ τὸν Χριστὸν αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τόδε τὸ πρᾶγμα, πηλίκον δεῖ εἶναι τὸ πρᾶγμα, ἵνα γόνατα θῶ καὶ ὀμόσω; πρὸς τὴν ἀπιστίαν γενομένην ἔν τισιν περὶ τοῦ λόγου μου θεραπεύων τοῦτο ποιήσαιμί ποτε, εἰ δὲ ὡς ἔτυχεν, εἰ οὕτως ὀμνύοιμι, ἁμάρτοιμι ἄν. «Ἐὰν« οὖν «ὀμόσῃ· ζῇ κύριος μετὰ ἀληθείας καὶ ἐν κρίσει« μὴ ἀκρίτως «καὶ ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ« μὴ ἀδίκως, «καὶ εὐλογήσουσιν ἐν αὐτῷ ἔθνη.
ἥνωσεν ἀμφότερα, τοὺς ἀπὸ τῶν ἐθνῶν καὶ τὸν Ἰσραήλ. εἶπεν περὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν, εἶπεν καὶ περὶ τοῦ Ἰσραήλ.
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.