We from the nations answer, “We will be yours”
Someone will object: 'Those words were spoken to Israel, yet you drag them over to people from the nations.' We want to show that whenever God means to speak to Israel about turning back, he does not wait long—he adds Israel's name at once.
Next it says: 'If Israel returns to me, says the Lord, he will return; if he removes his abominations from his mouth and stands in awe before my face and swears, “As the Lord lives,” in truth, judgment, and righteousness, then nations will bless themselves in him.' So the earlier words were spoken to those from the nations. For when the fullness of the nations enters, then all Israel will be saved, as the apostle writes to the Romans.
See how God urges us who are turning to turn completely. He promises that if we turn to him as people who turn, he will heal our broken places through Jesus Christ. We answer—not delaying over salvation as that Israel did—'Here we are; we will be yours.'
God said, 'Return, you turning children, and I will heal your broken places.' Those from the nations reply that we will be his servants. We were not his before; we belonged to demons and opposing powers. When the Most High divided the nations, we did not become his portion or Jacob's inheritance allotment; we became portions of others. Yet when he said to us, 'Return, you turning children, and I will heal your broken places,' we who once were other portions answer, 'Here we are.' This is the call we were waiting for. They were called and refused; we who are called do not refuse in the same way.
In the Gospel parables some of those first invited said, 'I have married a wife; excuse me,' and another, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen and am going to test them; excuse me.' We from the nations are not called and then refuse like that. Over what field would we settle? Over what wise wife? Over what else would we busy ourselves? God has said to us, 'Return, you turning children, and I will heal your broken places.' Seeing our broken places and the promise of healing, we answer at once: 'Look—we will be yours, for you are the Lord our God.'
Having heard and said, 'We will be yours,' let us remember that we promised God that very thing. Having said it, let us become nothing else—not a spirit of anger, not a spirit of grief, not a spirit of desire, not the devil, not his angels. Called, and having said, 'Look—we will be yours,' let us show to those left desolate that we have dedicated ourselves to him alone. We say, 'For you are the Lord our God.' We confess no other god—not the belly, as gluttons do, 'whose god is the belly'; not silver, as the greedy do, nor greed, which is idolatry; nor anything else that many deify. For us the God over all is God—over all, through all, and in all. Because love binds us to God, we say: 'Here we are; we will be yours, for you are the Lord our God.'
Greek
Ἀλλ᾿ ἐρεῖ τις· ταῦτα εἴρηται πρὸς τὸν Ἰσραήλ, σὺ δὲ αὐτὰ ἕλκεις ἐπὶ τοὺς ἀπὸ τῶν Μνῶν. θέλομεν παραστῆσαι ὅτι οὐ μετὰ πολλά, ἀλλ’ εὐθύς, ὅπου βούλεται πρὸς τὸν Ἰσραὴλ λέγειν τὰ περὶ ἐπιστροφῆς, προστίθησι τὸ τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ ὄνομα.
ἑξῆς γοῦν λέγεται· «ἐὰν ἐπιστραφῇ Ἰσραὴλ, λέγει κύριος, πρός με, καὶ ἐπιστραφήσεται· καὶ ἐὰν περιέλῃ τὰ βδελύγματα αὐτοῦ ἐκ τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ προσώπου μου εὐλαβηθῇ, καὶ ὀμόσῆ· ζῇ κύριος μετὰ ἀληθείας καὶ ἐν κρίσει καὶ ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ, καὶ εὐλογήσουσιν ἐν αὐτῷ ἔθην. τὰ πρῶτα τοίνυν εἴρηται πρὸς τοὺς ἀπὸ τῶν ἐθνῶν· ἐθνῶν· ἐπεὶ ἐὰν τὸ πλήρωμα τῶν ἐθνῶν εἰσέλθῃ, τότε πᾶς Ἰσραὴλ σωθήσεται<, κατὰ τά εἰρημένα παρὰ τῷ ἀποστόλῳ ἐν τῇ πρὸς Ῥωμαίους ἐπιστολῇ. πρόσχες τίνα τρόπον ὁ μὲν θεὸς προτρέπει ἡμᾶς ἐπιστρέφοντας τελείως ἐπιστρέφειν, ἐπαγγελλόμενος ὅτι ἐὰν «ἐπιστρέφοντες« ἐπιστρέψωμεν πρὸς αὐτόν, ἰάσεται ἡμῶν διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ «τὰ συντρίμ- ματα«· ἡμεῖς δὲ ἀποκρινόμενοι, οἱ μὴ μέλλοντες μηδὲ βραδύνοντες περὶ τῆς σωτηρίας ὡς ἐκεῖνος ὁ Ἰσραήλ, φαμέν· «οἵδε ἡμεῖς ἐσόμεθά σοι.
ὁ μὲν θεὸς εἶπεν· ἐπιστράφητε, υἱοὶ ἐπιστρέφοντες, καὶ ἰάσο- μαι τὰ συντρίμματα ὑμῶν«· οἱ δὲ ἀπὸ τῶν ἐθνῶν· >δοῦλοι ἐσόμεθα ἡμεὶς<, οὐ πρότερον ὄντες «σοί«, ἀλλὰ δαιμόνων ὄντες, ἀλλὰ δυνάμεων ἀντικειμένων τυγχάνοντες. >ὅτε< γὰρ >διεμέριζεν ὁ ὕψιστος ἔθνη, ἐγενήθημεν ἡμεῖς οὐ μερίς σου οὐδὲ μετὰ τοῦ λαοῦ Ἰακώβ σχοίνισμα κληρονομίας , ἀλλὰ γεγόναμεν ἄλλων μερίδες· ὅμως δὲ ἡμεῖς οἱ γενόμενοι ποτὲ ποτὲ μερίδες, σοῦ εἰπόντος ἡμῖν «ἐπιστράφητε, υἱοὶ ἐπιστρέφοντες, καὶ ἐάσομαι τὰ συντρίμματα ὑμῶν« ἀποκρινόμεθα· «οἵδε ἡμεῖς«· τοῦτο γὰρ περιεμένομεν, τὴν κλῆσιν, οὐχ ὡς ἐκεῖνοι ἐκλήθησαν καὶ παρῃτήσαντο, οὕτω καὶ ἡμεῖς καλούμενοι παραιτούμεθα.
ἔχομεν γὰρ ἐν ταῖς τοῦ εὐαγγελίου παραβολαῖς, ὅτι τινῶν κεκλημένων προηγουμένως >ὁ μέν τις ἔλεγε· γυναῖκα ἔχε με παρῃτημένον, ὁ δέ τις· ζεύγη βοῶν ἠγόρασα πέντε, πορεύομαι δοκιμάσαι αὐτά, ἔχε με παρῃτημένον<. οὐχ οὕτως οὖν ἡμεῖς, οἱ ἀπὸ τῶν Μνῶν, ἐκλήθημεν καὶ παραιτούμεθα. διὰ τί; περὶ ποῖον ἀγρὸν ἵνα καταγενώμεθα; περὶ ποίαν γυναῖκα σοφήν; ἀλλὰ περὶ τί ἄλλο ἀσχοληθῶμεν; Εἴρηκεν οὖν ὁ θεὸς ἡμῖν· «ἐπιστράφητε, υἱοὶ ἐπιστρέφοντες, καὶ ἰάσομαι τὰ συντρίμματα ὑμῶν«· καὶ βλέποντες ἑαυτῶν τὰ συντρίμματα καὶ περὶ τῆς ἰάσεως ἐπαγγελίαν, εὐθέως ἡμεῖς ἁποκρινόμεθα καὶ λέγομεν· «ἰδοὺ ἡμεῖς ἐσόμεθά σοι, ὅτι σὺ κύριος ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν.
ἐπακούσαντες οὖν καὶ εἰπόντες «ἐσόμεθά σοι« μνημονεύωμεν, ὅτι ὑπεσχόμεθ θεῷ, λέγοντες αὐτῷ τὸ «ἐσόμεθά σοι«· καὶ εἰπόντες αὐτῷ τὸ «ἐσόμεθά σοι« μηδενὸς ἄλλου γενώμεθα, μὴ πνεύματος ὀργῆς, μὴ πνεύματος λύπης, μὴ πνεύματος ἐπιθυμίας, μὴ τοῦ διαβόλου γενώμεθα, μὴ τῶν ἀΠέλων αὐτοῦ· ἀλλὰ κληθέντες καὶ εἰπόντες· 224V «ἰδοὺ ἡμεῖς ἐσόμεθά σοι«, δείξωμεν τοῖς ἔρηοις, ὅτι | γενέσθαι αὐτοῦ, οὐδενὶ ἄλλῳ ἢ αὐτῷ ἑαυτοὺς ἀνεθήκαμεν. καὶ λέγομεν· «ὅτι σὺ κύριος ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν εἶ«· οὐδένα γὰρ θεὸν ἡμεῖς ὁμολογοῦμεν (οὐ τὴν κοιλίαν ὡς οἱ γαστρίμαργοι, «ὧν ὁ θεὸς ἡ κοιλία«· οὐ τὸ ἀργύριον ὡς οἱ φιλάργυροι, καὶ τὴν πλεονεξίαν, ἥτις ἐστὶν εἰδωλολατρία, οὐδὲ ἄλλο τι ἐκθεοῦμεν καὶ θεοποιοῦμεν, ὡν οἱ πολλοὶ θεοποιοῦσιν, ἀλλὰ ἡμῖν ὁ ἐπὶ πᾶσι θεός, >ὁ ἐπὶ πάντων, ὁ διὰ ὁ ἐν πᾶσι< θεός ἐστιν, καὶ ἐπεὶ ἠρτήμεθα τῆς πρὸς τὸν θεόν ἡ γὰρ ἀγάπη κολλᾷ ἡμᾶς θεῷ) θεῷ) λέγομεν· οἵδε ἡμεῖς ἐσόμεθά σοι, ὅτι σὺ κύριος ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν.
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.