Fragments on Lamentations · §77 · Origen of Alexandria

Dust and ash; hope that does not shame

For he will humble himself saying: “I am earth and ash,” (Genesis 18:27) if indeed he truly is a man, and he has been filled with the hope that does not shame—such as also “my soul was stuck to the floor.” (Genesis 18:27) (Romans 5:5) (Psalm 119:25)

Greek

Klagel. Jerem. 3, 27. 29. 30. Ταπεινώσει γὰρ ἑαυτὸν φάσκων· «ἐγὼ δέ εἰμι γῆ καὶ σποδός«, εἴπερ ὄντως ἐστὶν ἀνήρ, καὶ τῆς μὴ καταισχυνούσης ἐλπίδος πεπλήρωται, ὁποῖον καὶ τὸ «ἐκολλήθη τῷ ἐδάφει ἡ φυχή μου.

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Origen on Lamentations: Jeremiah's grief for captive Jerusalem, read also as the soul taken captive by sin and set free by Christ.

Origen of Alexandria (c. 185–c. 254) was a Christian teacher in Alexandria and head of the catechetical school. This English is his fragments on Lamentations.

The full commentary is lost. What survives are short passages kept in later chains of quotations. He sets out the literal sense, the Hebrew form of the book, and its historical setting, and he compares the Greek translations.

A reader meets Jeremiah lamenting the fall of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem read both as the city and as the soul. Origen quotes Symmachus, Aquila, and Theodotion. He also cites Paul, David, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Habakkuk, Zechariah, and Daniel. He uses Septuagint book names and Psalm numbering.

EditionKlostermann, Origenes Werke III (GCS 6, 1901)

We have not yet re-checked this work against its source. We made this study translation with AI help. No scholar has yet certified it as faithful and complete. Open Greek on any section to see the source text. It is not a critical edition.

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