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was served by counsels and actions. 7.1.26 This whole thing, therefore, was brought about by the most philanthropic God and Word of God for the healing and salvation of all humanity, in accordance with the voices of the prophets, who from ancient times of old bore witness beforehand to his wondrous birth from a virgin. And very necessarily the prophet places the turning point before the birth of Christ from a virgin, exclaiming directly to those who hear these things, "if you do not believe, neither shall you understand?" 7.1.27 To which he adds in sequence things that have this manner: "If you do not believe, neither shall you understand. And the Lord added to speak to Ahaz, saying, Ask for yourself a sign from the Lord your God, in the depth or in the height. And Ahaz said, I will not ask, nor will I tempt the Lord. And he said, Hear now, O house of David; Is it a small thing for you to weary men, and how do you weary the Lord? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign; behold, the virgin will conceive in her womb and will bear a son, and you will call his name Emmanuel. He will eat butter and honey before he knows or chooses evil, he will choose the good; because before the child knows good or evil, he disobeys wickedness to choose the good, and the land which you fear shall be abandoned from the face of the two kings." 7.1.28 And the things of the prophecy were something like this. But it is worthwhile to pay attention to the preface of the oracle, which testified to those who encounter it that "if they do not believe, neither will they understand". And it was necessary to point out, showing that not only understanding but also faith is needed for those who will encounter it, and not only faith but also understanding. Whence those of the circumcision, not having believed in the Christ of God, even now hearing these things, have not yet to this day understood the one prophesied, so that the prediction was first fulfilled in their case. 7.1.29 For though they hear with their hearing the prophecies about Christ every day, they do not hear with the ears of the mind. And the cause of their ignorance is nothing other than unbelief, and this the prediction truly declared concerning them and to them. "For if," it says, "you do not believe, neither shall you understand." 7.1.30 But if they should say that not a virgin, but a young woman was named in the scripture—for so they say it is rendered among them—what kind of sign, we will say, worthy of God's promise would it be, if some young woman were about to give birth in the usual way, as all women do, having conceived in the womb from intercourse with a man? And how was the one born of her also God? And not simply God but "the one with us"? For this is what Emmanuel means, which he says the one born should be named: "For behold, the virgin," it says, "will conceive in her womb, and will bear a son, and you will call his name Emmanuel, which is translated, God with us." 7.1.31 And what sort of struggle for God or what sort of toil and labor would there be in the case of a woman giving birth in the usual manner? For in our copies, translated by seventy men in all, Hebrews by race from of old and tested for their accuracy in their ancestral learning, it is rendered something like this: "Is it a small thing for you to weary men, and how do you weary the Lord? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign; 7.1.32 behold, the virgin will conceive in her womb and will bear a son," who will be called "God with us," for this, as I said, the name Emmanuel means. But in the Jews' own copies, which are rendered according to the version of Aquila—and Aquila was a proselyte, not a Jew by nature—nevertheless even according to him it is said in this manner: "Hear now, O house of David, is it in some small way that you toil men, that you also toil my God? Therefore he himself will give you a sign. Behold, the young woman conceives in the womb and bears a son, and you will call his name Emmanuel." 7.1.33 But with Symmachus, these things are so—and Symmachus is said to be an Ebionite; and it was a heresy of certain Jews so called who were said to believe in Christ, from whom Symmachus

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βουλαῖς τε καὶ πράξεσιν διηκονεῖτο. 7.1.26 Τοῦτο οὖν ὅλον τῷ φιλανθρωποτάτῳ θεῷ τε καὶ θεοῦ λόγῳ ὑπὲρ τῆς πάντων ἀνθρώπων θεραπείας τε καὶ σωτηρίας ταῖς τῶν προφητῶν ἀκολούθως ἐνηργεῖτο φωναῖς, ἄνωθεν ἐκ παλαιῶν χρόνων τὴν θαυμασίαν ἐκ παρθένου γέννησιν αὐτοῦ προμαρτυρομέναις. σφόδρα δὲ ἀναγκαίως ὁ προφήτης προτάττει τῆς ἐκ παρθένου γενέσεως τοῦ Χριστοῦ τὸ ἐπιστρεφές, ἐπιφωνῶν ἄντικρυς τοῖς τούτων ἀκροωμένοις τὸ «ἐὰν μὴ πιστεύσητε, οὐδὲ μὴ συνῆτε;» 7.1.27 ᾧ ἐπιφέρει ἑξῆς τὰ τοῦτον ἔχοντα τὸν τρόπον· «ἐὰν μὴ πιστεύσητε, οὐδὲ μὴ συνῆτε. καὶ προσέθετο κύριος λαλῆσαι τῷ Ἄχαζ λέγων, αἴτησαι σεαυτῷ σημεῖον παρὰ κυρίου τοῦ θεοῦ σου εἰς βάθος ἢ εἰς ὕψος. καὶ εἶπεν Ἄχαζ, οὐ μὴ αἰτήσω, οὐδὲ μὴ πειράσω κύριον. καὶ εἶπεν, ἀκούσατε δή, οἶκος ∆αβίδ· μὴ μικρὸν ὑμῖν ἀνθρώποις παρέχειν ἀγῶνα, καὶ πῶς κυρίῳ παρέχετε ἀγῶνα; διὰ τοῦτο δώσει κύριος αὐτὸς ὑμῖν σημεῖον· ἰδοὺ ἡ παρθένος ἐν γαστρὶ λήψεται καὶ τέξεται υἱόν, καὶ καλέσεις τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ Ἐμμανουήλ· βούτυρον καὶ μέλι φάγεται πρὶν ἢ γνῶναι αὐτὸν ἢ προελέσθαι πονηρά, ἐκλέξεται τὸ ἀγαθόν· διότι πρὶν ἢ γνῶναι τὸ παιδίον ἀγαθὸν ἢ κακόν, ἀπειθεῖ πονηρίᾳ τοῦ ἐκλέξασθαι τὸ ἀγαθόν, καὶ καταλειφθήσεται ἡ γῆ ἣν σὺ φοβῇ ἀπὸ προσώπου τῶν δύο βασιλέων.» 7.1.28 καὶ τὰ μὲν τῆς προφητείας ὧδέ πη εἶχεν. ἐπιστῆσαι δὲ ἄξιον τῷ τοῦ λόγου προοιμίῳ, μαρτυραμένῳ τοῖς ἐντυγχάνουσιν, ὅτι «ἐὰν μὴ πιστεύσωσιν, οὐδὲ μὴ συνῶσιν». καὶ ἀναγκαίως χρῆν ἐπισημήνασθαι, δεικνύντας ὅτι μὴ μόνον συνέσεως ἀλλὰ καὶ πίστεως δεῖ τοῖς ἐντευξομένοις, καὶ οὐ μόνον πίστεως ἀλλὰ καὶ συνέσεως. ὅθεν οἱ ἐκ περιτομῆς, μὴ πιστεύσαντες εἰς τὸν Χριστὸν τοῦ θεοῦ, εἰσέτι καὶ νῦν τούτων ἀκροώμενοι, οὔπω καὶ εἰς δεῦρο συνῆκαν τὸν προφητευόμενον, ὥστε ἐπ' αὐτοῖς πρώτοις ἐπαληθεῦσαι τὴν πρόρρησιν. 7.1.29 ἀκοῇ γὰρ τῶν περὶ τοῦ Χριστοῦ προφητειῶν διὰ πάσης ἡμέρας ἀκούοντες ὠσὶν διανοίας οὐκ ἀκούουσιν. τῆς. τε ἀγνοίας αὐτῶν αἴτιον οὐδὲν ἕτερον ἢ ἡ ἀπιστία τυγχάνει, καὶ τοῦτο τῆς προρρήσεως ἀψευδῶς περὶ αὐτῶν καὶ πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἀποφηναμένης. «ἐάν», γάρ φησι, «μὴ πιστεύσητε, οὐδὲ μὴ συνῆτε». 7.1.30 Ἀλλ' εἰ φαῖεν μὴ παρθένον, νεᾶνιν δὲ ὠνομάσθαι ἐν τῇ γραφῇ οὕτως γάρ φασι φέρεσθαι παρ' αὐτοῖς, καὶ ποῖον ἂν γένοιτο, φήσομεν, σημεῖον ἐπαγγελίας θεοῦ ἄξιον, εἰ συνήθως τίκτειν, οἷα καὶ πᾶσαι γυναῖκες ἐξ ὁμιλίας ἀνδρὸς ἐν γαστρὶ λαβοῦσα, νεᾶνίς τις ἔμελλεν; πῶς δὲ καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ ἐξ αὐτῆς γεννώμενος; καὶ οὐκ ἁπλῶς θεὸς ἀλλ' «ὁ μεθ' ἡμῶν»; τοῦτο γὰρ σημαίνειν βούλεται τὸ Ἐμμανουήλ, ὅπερ φησὶν δεῖν ὀνομάζειν τὸν γεννώμενον· «ἰδοὺ γὰρ ἡ παρθένος», φησίν, «ἐν γαστρὶ λήψεται, καὶ τέξεται υἱόν, καὶ καλέσεις τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ Ἐμμανουήλ, ὅ ἐστι μεθερμηνευόμενον μεθ' ἡμῶν ὁ θεός». 7.1.31 ποῖος δὲ καὶ ἀγὼν θεῷ ἢ ποῖος ἂν εἴη κόπος καὶ μόχθος ἐπὶ συνήθει τρόπῳ γυναικὸς τικτούσης; ἐν μὲν γὰρ τοῖς ἡμετέροις ἀντιγράφοις ὑφ' ἑβδομήκοντα ὅλων ἀνδρῶν, ἄνωθεν μὲν Ἑβραίων τὸ γένος ἐπ' ἀκριβείᾳ δὲ τῆς πατρίου παιδείας δεδοκιμασμένων, ἑρμηνευομένοις ὧδέ πως φέρεται· «μὴ μικρὸν ὑμῖν ἀγῶνα παρέχειν ἀνθρώποις, καὶ πῶς κυρίῳ παρέχετε ἀγῶνα; διὰ τοῦτο δώσει κύριος αὐτὸς ὑμῖν σημεῖον· 7.1.32 ἰδοὺ ἡ παρθένος ἐν γαστρὶ λήψεται καὶ τέξεται υἱόν», ὃς κεκλήσεται «ὁ μεθ' ἡμῶν θεός», τοῦτο γὰρ, ὡς ἔφην, δηλοῦν βούλεται τὸ Ἐμμανουὴλ ὄνομα. ἐν δὲ τοῖς αὐτῶν Ἰουδαίων ἀντιγράφοις κατὰ τὴν Ἀκύλου μεταβολὴν φερομένοις προσήλυτος δὲ ὁ Ἀκύλας ἦν, οὐ φύσει Ἰουδαῖος, ὅμως δ' οὖν καὶ κατ' αὐτὸν τοῦτον εἴρηται τὸν τρόπον· «ἀκούσατε δὴ οἶκος ∆αβίδ, μή τι ὀλίγον ἀπὸ ὑμῶν μοχθοῦν ἄνδρας, ὅτι μοχθοῦτε καί γε τὸν θεόν μου; διὰ τοῦτο δώσει αὐτὸς ὑμῖν σημεῖον. ἰδοὺ ἡ νεᾶνις ἐν γαστρὶ συλλαμβάνει καὶ τίκτει υἱόν, καὶ καλέσεις ὄνομα αὐτοῦ Ἐμμανουήλ». 7.1.33 παρὰ δὲ τῷ Συμμάχῳ ταῦθ' οὕτως ἔχει λέγεται δὲ ὁ Σύμμαχος Ἐβιωναῖος εἶναι· αἵρεσις δὲ ἦν οὕτω καλουμένων τινῶν Ἰουδαίων εἰς Χριστὸν πιστεύειν λεγομένων, ἐξ ὧν ὁ Σύμμαχος