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better from such a saying; for he says, “what son will ask for a fish, and he will give him a serpent, or for an egg, a scorpion?” and later he says, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more your 2.135 heavenly Father?” If, therefore, he has called a fish and an egg good gifts, what is received with thanksgiving, having been graciously given by God, is not evil, and your depravity is refuted from all sides. 20Scholion20 ˉκˉε. The part about Jonah the prophet has been truncated. For it had, “this generation, a sign will not be given to it.” But it did not have the part about Nineveh and the queen of the south and Solomon. 20Refutation20 ˉκˉε. And in those things you seem to truncate, you are not able, O Marcion, to escape the truth. For even if you take away the part about Jonah the prophet, which signifies the economy of the Savior, and you take away the saving account of the queen of the south and Solomon and Nineveh and the preaching of Jonah, the very preceding word of the Savior refutes you. For he says, “this generation asks for a sign, and a sign will not be given to it,” as those of the generation before this were deemed worthy of signs from God from heaven; as Elijah performed a sign through the fire that came down from heaven and took the sacrifice, and Moses parts the sea and strikes the rock and pours forth water and brings manna from heaven, and Joshua son of Nun makes the sun and the moon stand still. And in every way, even if the deceiver hides what is written, he will not harm the truth at all, but alienates himself from the truth. 20Scholion20 ˉκˉς. Instead of “you pass over the judgment of God,” it had “you pass over the call of God.” 20Refutation20 ˉκˉ. From where are you not refuted, and from where is the testimony not gathered against you? For the first things agree with the later, your villainy being refuted. For if he says, “you hold to the traditions of your elders and pass over the mercy and the judgment of God,” learn from what time he accuses them of doing 2.136 this, and when the tradition of the elders came to them, and you will find that of Addas after the return from Babylon, and that of Akiba even before the Babylonian captivities took place, and that of the sons of Asamonaios in the times of Alexander and Antiochus, one hundred and ninety years before the coming of Christ. Therefore, indeed, even from that time there was judgment through the law and mercy through the prophets, and your fraudulent argument falls apart from all sides. 20Scholion20 ˉκˉζ. “Woe to you, because you build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them.” 20Refutation20 ˉκˉζ. If he is concerned for the prophets, reproaching those who killed them, the prophets were not alien to him, but servants sent beforehand by him and the Father and the Holy Spirit as preparers of his incarnate coming, who also testified to the new covenant; Moses saying, “a prophet the Lord God will raise up for you from your brothers, like me,” and before him Jacob saying, “From a shoot, my son Judah, you have gone up; you have lain down and slept; a ruler shall not fail from Judah,” and after a little, “until he comes for whom it is reserved, and he is the expectation of nations, and in him will nations hope,” and Isaiah, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive,” and Jeremiah, “and he is a man, and who will know him?”, Micah, “And you, Bethlehem,” and after other things, “out of you shall come forth to me a ruler,” and what follows, and Malachi, “suddenly the Lord will come to his temple,” and David, “The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand,” and what follows. And there are many things to say, and the Savior himself saying, “If you believed Moses, you would believe me also. For he wrote about

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κάλλιον ἀπὸ τοῦ τοιούτου ῥητοῦ· λέγει γάρ «τίνα ὁ υἱὸς αἰτήσει ἰχθύν, μὴ ὄφιν αὐτῷ ἐπιδώσει ἢ ἀντὶ ᾠοῦ σκορπίον;» καὶ ὕστερόν φησιν «εἰ οὖν ὑμεῖς πονηροὶ ὄντες οἴδατε δόματα ἀγαθὰ διδόναι τοῖς τέκνοις ὑμῶν, πόσῳ μᾶλλον ὁ πατὴρ 2.135 ὑμῶν ὁ ἐπουράνιος;» εἰ τοίνυν δόματα ἀγαθὰ κέκληκεν ἰχθὺν καὶ ᾠόν, οὐ πονηρὸν τὸ μετὰ εὐχαριστίας ἐκ θεοῦ χαρισθὲν μεταλαμβανόμενον, καὶ ἐλήλεγκταί σου πανταχόθεν ἡ κακοτροπία. 20Σχόλιον20 ˉκˉε. Παρακέκοπται τὸ περὶ Ἰωνᾶ τοῦ προφήτου. εἶχεν γάρ «ἡ γενεὰ αὕτη, σημεῖον οὐ δοθήσεται αὐτῇ». οὐκ εἶχεν δὲ περὶ Νινευὴ καὶ βασιλίσσης νότου καὶ Σαλομῶνος. 20Ἔλεγχος20 ˉκˉε. Καὶ ἐν αὐτοῖς οἷς δοκεῖς παρακόπτειν οὐ δύνασαι, ὦ Μαρκίων, λαθεῖν τὴν ἀλήθειαν. κἂν ἀφέλῃς γὰρ τὸ περὶ Ἰωνᾶ τοῦ προφήτου, ὃ τὴν οἰκονομίαν σημαίνει τοῦ σωτῆρος, ἀφέλῃς δὲ καὶ τὸ περὶ τῆς βασιλίσσης τοῦ νότου καὶ Σαλομῶνος καὶ τῆς Νινευὴ τὴν σωτηριώδη ὑπόθεσιν καὶ τοῦ Ἰωνᾶ τὸ κήρυγμα, αὐτὸς ὁ προκείμενος λόγος τοῦ σωτῆρός σε ἐλέγχει. λέγει γάρ «ἡ γενεὰ αὕτη σημεῖον αἰτεῖ, καὶ σημεῖον οὐ δοθήσεται αὐτῇ», ὡς τῶν πρὸ ταύτης τῆς γενεᾶς καταξιωθεισῶν σημείων παρὰ θεοῦ ἀπ' οὐρανοῦ· ὡς ὁ μὲν Ἠλίας σημεῖον ἐποίει διὰ τοῦ ἀπ' οὐρανοῦ πυρὸς καταβεβηκότος καὶ λαβόντος τὴν θυσίαν, καὶ Μωυσῆς τέμνει τὴν θάλασσαν καὶ τὴν πέτραν νύσσει καὶ προχέει ὕδωρ καὶ μάννα ἀπ' οὐρανοῦ φέρει, καὶ Ἰησοῦς ὁ τοῦ Ναυῆ ἵστησι τὸν ἥλιον καὶ τὴν σελήνην. καὶ κατὰ πάντα τρόπον, κἂν κρύψῃ τὰ γεγραμμένα ὁ ἀπατεών, οὐδὲν βλάψει τὴν ἀλήθειαν, ἀλλὰ ἑαυτὸν ἀπαλλοτριοῖ τῆς ἀληθείας. 20Σχόλιον20 ˉκˉς. Ἀντὶ τοῦ «παρέρχεσθε τὴν κρίσιν τοῦ θεοῦ» εἶχεν «παρέρχεσθε τὴν κλῆσιν τοῦ θεοῦ». 20Ἔλεγχος20 ˉκˉ. Πόθεν οὐκ ἐλέγχῃ, πόθεν δὲ οὐ κατὰ σοῦ συναχθῇ ἡ μαρτυρία; τὰ πρῶτα γὰρ συνᾴδει τοῖς μετέπειτα, ἐλεγχομένης τῆς παρὰ σοῦ ῥᾳδιουργίας. ἐὰν γὰρ εἴπῃ «κατέχετε τὰς παραδόσεις τῶν πρεσβυτέρων ὑμῶν καὶ παρέρχεσθε τὸ ἔλεος καὶ τὴν κρίσιν τοῦ θεοῦ», μάθε ἀπὸ ποίου χρόνου αἰτιᾶται αὐτοὺς τοῦτο ἐπιτελοῦν2.136 τας, πότε δὲ ἡ παράδοσις αὐτοῖς γέγονε τῶν πρεσβυτέρων, καὶ εὑρήσεις ὅτι τοῦ μὲν Ἀδδᾶ μετὰ τὴν ἐκ Βαβυλῶνος ἐπάνοδον, τοῦ δὲ Ἀκίβα καὶ πρὸ τῶν Βαβυλωνικῶν αἰχμαλωσιῶν γεγένηται, τῶν δὲ υἱῶν Ἀσαμωναίου ἐν χρόνοις Ἀλεξάνδρου καὶ Ἀντιόχου, πρὸ τῆςτοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐνδημίας ἑκατὸν ἐνενήκοντα ἔτεσιν. ἄρα γοῦν καὶ ἔκτοτε διὰ νόμου ἦν ἡ κρίσις καὶ διὰ προφητῶν τὸ ἔλεος, καὶ πανταχόθεν ἐκπίπτει ὁ ἀγυρτώδης σου λόγος. 20Σχόλιον20 ˉκˉζ. «Οὐαὶ ὑμῖν, ὅτι οἰκοδομεῖτε τὰ μνημεῖα τῶν προφητῶν, καὶ οἱ πατέρες ὑμῶν ἀπέκτειναν αὐτούς». 20Ἔλεγχος20 ˉκˉζ. Εἰ τῶν προφητῶν ποιεῖται τὴν φροντίδα, τοὺς ἀποκτείναντας ὀνειδίζων, οὐκ ἀλλότριοι αὐτοῦ ἦσαν οἱ προφῆται, ἀλλὰ δοῦλοι καὶ ὑπ' αὐτοῦ καὶ τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος προαποσταλέντες προετοιμασταὶ τῆς ἐνσάρκου αὐτοῦ παρουσίας, οἳ καὶ ἐμαρτύρησαν τῇ καινῇ διαθήκῃ· Μωυσῆς μὲν λέγων «προφήτην ὑμῖν ἀναστήσει κύριος ὁ θεὸς ἐκ τῶν ἀδελφῶν ὑμῶν, ὡς ἐμέ», καὶ πρὸ αὐτοῦ Ἰακὼβ λέγων «ἐκ βλαστοῦ υἱέ μου Ἰούδα ἀνέβης, ἀναπεσὼν ἐκοιμήθης· οὐκ ἐκλείψει ἄρχων ἐξ Ἰούδα» καὶ μετ' ὀλίγα «ἕως ἔλθῃ ᾧ τὰ ἀποκείμενα, καὶ αὐτὸς προσδοκία ἐθνῶν, καὶ ἐπ' αὐτὸν ἔθνη ἐλπιοῦσιν», Ἠσαΐας δέ «ἰδού, ἡ παρθένος ἐν γαστρὶ ἕξει», Ἰερεμίας δέ «καὶ ἄνθρωπός ἐστιν, καὶ τίς γνώσεται αὐτόν;», Μιχαίας «καὶ σὺ Βηθλεέμ» καὶ μεθ' ἕτερα «ἐκ σοῦ μοι ἐξελεύσεται ἡγούμενος» καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς, ὁ δὲ Μαλαχίας «ἐξαίφνης εἰς τὸν ναὸν ἥξει κύριος», ὁ δὲ ∆αυίδ «εἶπεν ὁ κύριος τῷ κυρίῳ μου, κάθου ἐκ δεξιῶν μου» καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. καὶ πολλὰ ἔστιν λέγειν, καὶ αὐτοῦ λέγοντος τοῦ σωτῆρος «εἰ Μωυσῇ ἐπιστεύετε, ἐπιστεύετε ἂν καὶ ἐμοί. ἐκεῖνος γὰρ περὶ