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They say that the old polity was abolished not because of its imperfection, nor because our polity was introduced as something greater, but because of the wickedness of those who were then offering the sacrifices. For Isaiah says: If you stretch out your hands, I will turn my eyes from you; and if you multiply your prayer, I will not hear you. Then adding the cause, he continues, saying: For your hands 48.921 are full of blood. But this is not a condemnation of the sacrifices, but an accusation of the wickedness of those who offer them, and for this reason He did not accept the sacrifices, because they offered them with defiled hands. Again David, having said, I will not accept calves from your house, nor goats from your flocks, continued, saying: But to the sinner God said: Why do you declare my statutes, and take up my covenant in your mouth? But you have hated instruction, and have cast my words behind you. If you saw a thief, you ran with him, and you placed your portion with adulterers. Your mouth has abounded with iniquity, and your tongue has woven deceit. Sitting, you spoke against your brother, and against your mother's son you placed a stumbling block. Hence it is clear that He did not simply reject the sacrifices here, but because they committed adultery, because they stole, because they plotted against their brothers. And each of the prophets, he says, accusing those who offer the sacrifices, says that God rejects them in this way. 4. These things our opponents say; but Paul gave them a sufficient blow, and adequately silenced their shamelessness by means of this testimony. For wishing to show that God rejected the polity itself as being imperfect and made it inactive, he took up this testimony, in which there is no accusation of those who offer, but its imperfection appears plain, in and of itself. For the prophet, having accused the Jews of nothing, simply says this: Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; in burnt offerings and for sin you had no pleasure. And Paul, interpreting this, said: He takes away the first, that he may establish the second. For if he had said, Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, and had been silent, the argument would have had some room for a defense; but now, having said, But a body you prepared for me, and having shown that another sacrifice had been introduced, he gave no hope henceforth for that one to return again. And Paul, interpreting this very thing, said that Through this offering we are sanctified in the will of Christ. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, he says, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh: how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot, purge our conscience from dead works? That those things, therefore, have ceased, and others have been introduced in their place, and will no longer be raised up again, has been sufficiently demonstrated from this. Come now, then, let us make plain what we have long been eager to show—that that manner of priesthood also no longer appears, nor will it return again—let us make this plainly and clearly manifest from the Scriptures themselves, having first said a few things to you, so that the interpretation of what is said may become clearer. Abraham, having returned from Persia, begot Isaac, then he begot Jacob, Jacob the twelve patriarchs, from whom came the twelve tribes, or rather thirteen; 48.922 for instead of Joseph, his children, Ephraim and Manasseh, became heads of tribes. And just as for each of the sons of Jacob there was a tribe named after him—of Reuben, of Simeon, of Levi, of Judah, of Naphtali, of Gad, of Asher, of Benjamin—so in the case of Joseph, his children, Manasseh and Ephraim, became the eponyms of two tribes; and one tribe was called that of Ephraim, and the other that of Manasseh. Of these thirteen tribes, therefore, all the others had fields and much revenue, and they all farmed, and did all the other things of life; but the tribe of Levi, having been honored with the priesthood, alone

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λέγουσιν, ὅτι ἡ παλαιὰ καταλέλυται πολιτεία οὐ διὰ τὸ ἀτέλεστον αὐτῆς, οὐδὲ διὰ τὸ μείζονα εἰσενεχθῆναι τὴν ἡμετέραν πολιτείαν, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὴν πονηρίαν τῶν τότε προσφερόντων τὰς θυσίας. Ὁ γοῦν Ἡσαΐας φησίν· Ἐὰνἐκτείνητε τὰς χεῖρας ὑμῶν, ἀποστρέψω τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς μου ἀφ' ὑμῶν· καὶ ἐὰν πληθύνητε τὴν δέησιν, οὐκ εἰσακούσομαι ὑμῶν. Εἶτα τὴν αἰτίαν προσθεὶς, ἐπάγει λέγων· Αἱ γὰρ χεῖρες ὑμῶν 48.921 αἵματος πλήρεις. Τοῦτο δὲ οὐκ ἔστι τῶν θυσιῶν κατηγορία, ἀλλὰ τῆς τῶν προσαγόντων πονηρίας ἔγκλημα, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο οὐκ ἐδέχετο τὰς θυσίας, ἐπειδὴ μιαραῖς αὐτὰς προσῆγον χερσί. Πάλιν ὁ ∆αυῒδ εἰπὼν, ὅτι Οὐ δέξομαι ἐκ τοῦ οἴκου σου μόσχους, οὐδὲ ἐκ τῶν ποιμνίων σου χιμάῤῥους, ἐπήγαγε λέγων· Τῷ δὲ ἁμαρτωλῷ εἶπεν ὁ Θεός· Ἱνατί σὺ ἐκδιηγῇ τὰ δικαιώματά μου, καὶ ἀναλαμβάνεις τὴν διαθήκην μου διὰ τοῦ στόματός σου; Σὺ δὲ ἐμίσησας παιδείαν, καὶ ἐξέβαλες τοὺς λόγους μου εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω. Εἰ ἐθεώρεις κλέπτην, συνέτρεχες αὐτῷ, καὶ μετὰ μοιχῶν τὴν μερίδα σου ἐτίθεις. Τὸ στόμα σου ἐπλεόνασε ἀδικίαν, καὶ ἡ γλῶσσά σου περιέπλεκε δολιότητας. Καθήμενος κατὰ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ σου κατελάλεις, καὶ κατὰ τοῦ υἱοῦ τῆς μητρός σου ἐτίθεις σκάνδαλον. Ὅθεν δῆλον ὅτι οὐχ ἁπλῶς ἐνταῦθα παρῃτήσατο τὰς θυσίας, ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ ἐμοίχευον, ἐπειδὴ ἔκλεπτον, ἐπειδὴ τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς ἐπεβούλευον. Καὶ ἕκαστος δὲ, φησὶ, τῶν προφητῶν, κατηγορῶν τῶν προσαγόντων τὰς θυσίας, οὕτως αὐτὰς τὸν Θεὸν παραιτεῖσθαι λέγει. δʹ. Ταῦτα οἱ ἀντιλέγοντες ἡμῖν λέγουσιν· ἀλλ' ἀρκοῦσαν ἔδωκεν αὐτοῖς πληγὴν ὁ Παῦλος, καὶ ἱκανῶς αὐτῶν ἐπεστόμισε τὴν ἀναισχυντίαν διὰ τῆς μαρτυρίας ταύτης. Βουλόμενος γὰρ δεῖξαι ὅτι αὐτὴν τὴν πολιτείαν ὡς ἀτελεστέραν ἀπώσατο ὁ Θεὸς καὶ ἀργεῖν ἐποίησε, ταύτης ἐπελάβετο τῆς μαρτυρίας, ἐν ᾗ κατηγορία μὲν τῶν προσαγόντων οὐκ ἔστι, τὸ δὲ ἀτελὲς αὐτῆς γυμνὸν αὐτὸ καθ' ἑαυτὸ φαίνεται. Ὁ γὰρ προφήτης οὐδὲν κατηγορήσας τῶν Ἰουδαίων, ἁπλῶς οὕτω φησίν· Θυσίαν καὶ προσφορὰν οὐκ ἠθέλησας, σῶμα δὲ κατηρτίσω μοι, ὁλοκαυτώματα καὶ περὶ τῆς ἁμαρτίας οὐκ ηὐδόκησας. Καὶ ἑρμηνεύων τοῦτο ὁ Παῦλος ἔλεγεν· Ἀναιρεῖ τὸ πρῶτον, ἵνα τὸ δεύτερον στήσῃ. Εἰ μὲν γὰρ εἶπε, Θυσίαν καὶ προσφορὰν οὐκ ἠθέλησας, καὶ ἐσίγησεν, εἶχεν ἄν τινα χώραν εἰς ἀπολογίαν ὁ λόγος· νῦν δὲ εἰπὼν, Σῶμα δὲ κατηρτίσω μοι, καὶ δείξας ἑτέραν εἰσενηνεχθεῖσαν θυσίαν, οὐδεμίαν λοιπὸν ἐλπίδα ἔδωκε τοῦ πάλιν ἐκείνην ἐπανελθεῖν. Καὶ αὐτὸ τοῦτο ἑρμηνεύων ὁ Παῦλος ἔλεγεν, ὅτι ∆ιὰ τῆς προσφορᾶς ταύτης ἡγιασμένοι ἐσμὲν ἐν τῷ θελήματι τοῦ Χριστοῦ. Εἰ γὰρ αἷμα ταύρων καὶ τράγων, φησὶ, καὶ σποδὸς δαμάλεως ῥαντίζουσα τοὺς κεκοινωμένους ἁγιάζει πρὸς τὴν τῆς σαρκὸς καθαρότητα, πόσῳ μᾶλλον τὸ αἷμα τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὃς διὰ Πνεύματος ἁγίου προσήνεγκεν ἑαυτὸν ἄμωμον, καθαριεῖ τὴν συνείδησιν ἡμῶν ἀπὸ νεκρῶν ἔργων; Ὅτι μὲν οὖν ἐκεῖνα πέπαυται, καὶ ἕτερα ἀντεισενήνεκται, καὶ οὐκ ἔτι λοιπὸν ἀναστήσεται, ἱκανῶς ἐντεῦθεν ἀποδέδεικται. Φέρε δὴ λοιπὸν, ὃ πάλαι ἐσπουδάζομεν δεῖξαι, ὅτι καὶ τῆς ἱερωσύνης ὁ τρόπος ἐκεῖνος οὐκ ἔτι φαίνεται, οὐδὲ ἐπανήξει πάλιν, ῥητῶς τοῦτο καὶ σαφῶς ἀπὸ τῶν Γραφῶν αὐτῶν ποιήσωμεν φανερὸν, ὀλίγα πρότερον ὑμῖν προειπόντες, ὥστε σαφεστέραν γενέσθαι τῶν λεγομένων τὴν ἑρμηνείαν. Ἀβραὰμ ἐπανελθὼν ἀπὸ τῆς Περσίδος ἐγέννησε τὸν Ἰσαὰκ, εἶτα ἐκεῖνος τὸν Ἰακὼβ, ὁ Ἰακὼβ τοὺς δώδεκα πατριάρχας, ἐξ ὧν ἐγένοντο δέκα καὶ δύο φυλαὶ, μᾶλλον δὲ τρισκαίδεκα· 48.922 ἀντὶ γὰρ τοῦ Ἰωσὴφ οἱ παῖδες αὐτοῦ, Ἐφραῒμ καὶ Μανασσῆς ἐγένοντο φύλαρχοι. Καὶ καθάπερ ἑκάστῳ τῶν υἱῶν Ἰακὼβ ἐπώνυμος ἦν φυλὴ, τοῦ Ῥουβὶμ, τοῦ Συμεὼν, τοῦ Λευῒ, τοῦ Ἰούδα, τοῦ Νεφθαλὶμ, τοῦ Γὰδ, τοῦ Ἀσὴρ, τοῦ Βενιαμὶν, οὕτως ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἰωσὴφ οἱ παῖδες οἱ ἐκείνου, Μανασσῆς καὶ Ἐφραῒμ, δύο φυλῶν γεγόνασιν ἐπώνυμοι· καὶ ἐκαλεῖτο φυλὴ ἡ μὲν τοῦ Ἐφραῒμ, ἡ δὲ τοῦ Μανασσῆ. Τῶν τρισκαίδεκα τοίνυν τούτων φυλῶν, αἱ μὲν ἄλλαι πᾶσαι ἀγροὺς ἔσχον καὶ προσόδους πολλὰς, καὶ ἐγεώργουν πᾶσαι, καὶ τὰ ἄλλα ἅπαντα ἔπραττον τὰ βιωτικά· ἡ δὲ τοῦ Λευῒ φυλὴ ἱερωσύνῃ τιμηθεῖσα, μόνη