Barnabas, Letter of Barnabas

planted by the channels of waters, which will give its fruit in its season, and its leaf will not fall off, and all that he does will prosper. Not so the ungodly, not so, but rather as the chaff, which the wind casts away from the face of the earth. Therefore the ungodly will not rise up in judgment, nor sinners in the council of the righteous, because the Lord knows the way of the righteous, and the way of the ungodly will perish.” 11.7 Do you perceive how he determined the water and the cross for the same purpose? 11.8a For this it says: “blessed,” who, having hoped on the cross, went down into the water, because for the reward it says “in its season”; then, it says, I will repay. But now what it says: “the leaves will not fall off”. This it says: that every word, which will come forth from you through your mouth in faith and love, will be for the conversion and hope of many. 11.9a And again another prophet says: “And the land of Jacob was praised above all the earth.” This it says: he glorifies the vessel of his spirit. 11.10a Then what does it say? “And there was a river flowing from the right, and beautiful trees came up from it; and whoever eats of them, will live forever.” This it says, that we go down into the water full of sins and filth, and we come up bearing fruit in the heart, having fear and hope in Jesus in the spirit. 11.11a “And whoever eats of these, will live forever.” This it says: whoever, it says, hears these things being spoken and believes, will live forever.

12.1a Similarly again concerning the cross he defines in another prophet, saying: “And when will these things be accomplished? says the Lord: When a tree shall be bent and shall rise, and when blood shall drip from a tree.” You have again concerning the cross and the one about to be crucified. 12.2a And again he speaks to Moses, when Israel was being warred against by foreigners, and that he might remind them while they were at war, that because of their sins they were delivered over to death; the spirit speaks to the heart of Moses, that he should make a type of the cross and of the one about to suffer, because if, it says, they do not hope in him, they will be warred against forever. What then does Moses do? He places one weapon on top of another in the midst of the battle, and standing higher than all he stretched out his hands, and so again Israel was victorious. Then, whenever he lowered them, they were again being slain. 12.3 To what end? That they might know that they cannot be saved unless they hope in him. 12.4 And again in another prophet it says: “All the day long I have spread out my hands to a disobedient people that speaks against my righteous way.” 12.5a Again Moses makes a type of Jesus, that he must suffer, and he himself will give life, whom they will think to have destroyed in a sign, when Israel was falling. For the Lord made every serpent to bite them, and they were dying—since the transgression through the serpent came to be in Eve—in order to convict them, that because of their transgression they will be delivered over to the affliction of death. 12.6a Finally, Moses himself having commanded: “You shall not have for yourselves either a molten or a graven image as a god for yourselves”—he himself makes one, in order to show a type of Jesus. Therefore Moses makes a bronze serpent and places it gloriously and by proclamation calls the people. 12.7a Coming therefore to the same place they begged Moses, that he might offer up a prayer on their behalf concerning their healing. And Moses said to them: “Whenever,” he says, “one of you is bitten, let him come to the serpent that is placed upon the wood and let him hope, believing, that it, though being dead, is able to give life, and immediately he will be saved”—and so they did. You have again also in these things the glory of Jesus, that in him are all things and unto him. 12.8 What again does Moses say to Jesus, son of Nave, giving him this name, being a prophet, so that all the people might hear only this, that the Father reveals all things concerning his Son, Jesus? 12.9a Moses therefore says to Jesus, son of Nave, giving him this name, when he sent him as a spy of the land: “Take a book into your hands and write what he says

πεφυτευμένον παρὰ τὰς διε ξόδους τῶν ὑδάτων, ὃ τὸν καρπὸν αὐτοῦ δώσει ἐν καιρῷ αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὰ φύλλα αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἀπορρυήσεται, καὶ πάντα ὅσα ἂν ποιῇ κατευοδωθήσεται. Οὐχ οὕτως οἱ ἀσε βεῖς, οὐχ οὕτως, ἀλλ' ἢ ὡς ὁ χνοῦς, ὃν ἐκρίπτει ὁ ἄνεμος ἀπὸ προσώπου τῆς γῆς. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο οὐκ ἀναστήσονται ἀσεβεῖς ἐν κρίσει οὐδὲ ἁμαρτωλοὶ ἐν βουλῇ δικαίων, ὅτι γινώσκει κύριος ὁδὸν δικαίων, καὶ ὁδὸς ἀσεβῶν ἀπολεῖται. » 11.7 ̔8̓ Αἰσθάνεσθε, πῶς τὸ ὕδωρ καὶ τὸν σταυρὸν ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ ὥρισεν. 11.8a Τοῦτο γὰρ λέγει· «μακάριοι», οἳ ἐπὶ τὸν σταυρὸν ἐλπίσαντες κατέβησαν εἰς τὸ ὕδωρ, ὅτι τὸν μὲν μισθὸν λέγει «ἐν καιρῷ αὐτοῦ»· τότε, φησίν, ἀποδώσω. Νῦν δὲ ὃ λέγει· «τὰ φύλλα οὐκ ἀπορρυήσεται». Τοῦτο λέγει· ὅτι πᾶν ῥῆμα, ὃ ἐὰν ἐξελεύσεται ἐξ ὑμῶν διὰ τοῦ στόματος ὑμῶν ἐν πίστει καὶ ἀγάπῃ, ἔσται εἰς ἐπι στροφὴν καὶ ἐλπίδα πολλοῖς. 11.9a Καὶ πάλιν ἕτερος προφήτης λέγει· «Καὶ ἦν ἡ γῆ τοῦ Ἰακὼβ ἐπαινουμένη παρὰ πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν. » Τοῦτο λέγει· τὸ σκεῦος τοῦ πνεύματος αὐτοῦ δοξάζει. 11.10a Εἶτα τί λέγει; «Καὶ ἦν ποταμὸς ἕλκων ἐκ δεξιῶν, καὶ ἀνέβαινεν ἐξ αὐτοῦ δένδρα ὡραῖα· καὶ ὃς ἂν φάγῃ ἐξ αὐτῶν, ζήσεται εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα. » Τοῦτο λέγει, ὅτι ἡμεῖς μὲν καταβαί νομεν εἰς τὸ ὕδωρ γέμοντες ἁμαρτιῶν καὶ ῥύπου, καὶ ἀναβαί νομεν καρποφοροῦντες ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ τὸν φόβον καὶ τὴν ἐλπίδα εἰς τὸν Ἰησοῦν ἐν τῷ πνεύματι ἔχοντες. 11.11a «Καὶ ὃς ἂν φάγῃ ἀπὸ τούτων, ζήσεται εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα. » Τοῦτο λέγει· ὃς ἄν, φησίν, ἀκούσῃ τούτων λαλουμένων καὶ πιστεύσῃ, ζήσεται εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα.

12.1a Ὁμοίως πάλιν περὶ τοῦ σταυροῦ ὁρίζει ἐν ἄλλῳ προφήτῃ λέγοντι· «Καὶ πότε ταῦτα συντελεσθήσεται; λέγει κύριος· Ὅταν ξύλον κλιθῇ καὶ ἀναστῇ, καὶ ὅταν ἐκ ξύλου αἷμα στάξῃ. » Ἔχεις πάλιν περὶ τοῦ σταυροῦ καὶ τοῦ σταυροῦσθαι μέλλοντος. 12.2a Λέγει δὲ πάλιν τῷ Μωϋσῇ, πολεμουμένου τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ ὑπὸ τῶν ἀλλοφύλων, καὶ ἵνα ὑπομνήσῃ αὐτοὺς πολεμουμέ νους, ὅτι διὰ τὰς ἁμαρτίας αὐτῶν παρεδόθησαν εἰς θάνατον· λέγει εἰς τὴν καρδίαν Μωϋσέως τὸ πνεῦμα, ἵνα ποιήσῃ τύπον σταυροῦ καὶ τοῦ μέλλοντος πάσχειν, ὅτι ἐὰν μή, φησίν, ἐλπίσωσιν ἐπ' αὐτῷ, εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα πολεμηθήσονται. Τί θησιν οὖν Μωϋσῆς ἓν ἐφ' ἓν ὅπλον ἐν μέσῳ τῆς πυγμῆς, καὶ σταθεὶς ὑψηλότερος πάντων ἐξέτεινεν τὰς χεῖρας, καὶ οὕτως πάλιν ἐνίκα ὁ Ἰσραήλ. Εἶτα, ὁπόταν καθεῖλεν, πάλιν ἐθανα τοῦντο. 12.3 Πρὸς τί; ἵνα γνῶσιν ὅτι οὐ δύνανται σωθῆναι ἐὰν μὴ ἐπ' αὐτῷ ἐλπίσωσιν. 12.4 Καὶ πάλιν ἐν ἑτέρῳ προφήτῃ λέγει· «Ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν διεπέτασα τὰς χεῖράς μου πρὸς λαὸν ἀπειθοῦντα καὶ ἀντι λέγοντα ὁδῷ δικαίᾳ μου. » 12.5a Πάλιν Μωϋσῆς ποιεῖ τύπον τοῦ Ἰησοῦ, ὅτι δεῖ αὐτὸν παθεῖν, καὶ αὐτὸς ζωοποιήσει, ὃν δόξουσιν ἀπολωλεκέναι ἐν σημείῳ, πίπτοντος τοῦ Ἰσραήλ. Ἐποίησεν γὰρ κύριος πάντα ὄφιν δάκνειν αὐτούς, καὶ ἀπέθνησκον-ἐπειδὴ ἡ παράβασις διὰ τοῦ ὄφεως ἐν Εὔᾳ ἐγένετο-ἵνα ἐλέγξῃ αὐτούς, ὅτι διὰ τὴν παράβασιν αὐτῶν εἰς θλῖψιν θανάτου παραδοθή σονται. 12.6a Πέρας γέ τοι αὐτὸς Μωϋσῆς ἐντειλάμενος· «Οὐκ ἔσται ὑμῖν οὔτε χωνευτὸν οὔτε γλυπτὸν εἰς θεὸν ὑμῖν»-αὐτὸς ποιεῖ, ἵνα τύπον τοῦ Ἰησοῦ δείξῃ. Ποιεῖ οὖν Μωϋσῆς χαλκοῦν ὄφιν καὶ τίθησιν ἐνδόξως καὶ κηρύγ ματι καλεῖ τὸν λαόν. 12.7a Ἐλθόντες οὖν ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ ἐδέοντο Μωϋσέως, ἵνα περὶ αὐτῶν ἀνενέγκῃ δέησιν περὶ τῆς ἰάσεως αὐτῶν. Εἶπεν δὲ Μωϋσῆς πρὸς αὐτούς· «Ὅταν», φησίν, «δηχθῇ τις ὑμῶν, ἐλθέτω ἐπὶ τὸν ὄφιν τὸν ἐπὶ τοῦ ξύλου ἐπικείμενον καὶ ἐλπισάτω πιστεύσας, ὅτι αὐτὸς ὢν νεκρὸς δύναται ζωοποιῆσαι, καὶ παραχρῆμα σωθήσεται» -καὶ οὕτως ἐποίουν. Ἔχεις πάλιν καὶ ἐν τούτοις τὴν δόξαν τοῦ Ἰησοῦ, ὅτι ἐν αὐτῷ πάντα καὶ εἰς αὐτόν. 12.8 Τί λέγει πάλιν Μωϋσῆς Ἰησοῦ, υἱῷ Ναυή, ἐπιθεὶς αὐτῷ τοῦτο τὸ ὄνομα, ὄντι προφήτῃ, ἵνα μόνον ἀκούσῃ πᾶς ὁ λαός, ὅτι πάντα ὁ πατὴρ φανεροῖ περὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ Ἰησοῦ; 12.9a Λέγει οὖν Μωϋσῆς Ἰησοῦ, υἱῷ Ναυή, ἐπιθεὶς αὐτῷ τοῦτο τὸ ὄνομα, ὁπότε ἔπεμψεν αὐτὸν κατάσκοπον τῆς γῆς· «Λάβε βιβλίον εἰς τὰς χεῖράς σου καὶ γράψον, ἃ λέγει