Sophia Scriptura

Exhortation to the Greeks 8.78

Clement of Alexandria · Exhortation to the Greeks · ca. 190–200 · Alexandria · Read in context

Summary: Jeremiah and Isaiah show the greatness of God, who fills heaven and earth, and foretell the shameful end of idols.

Greek text · Stählin 1:59–60

Ἱερεμίας δὲ ὁ προφήτης ὁ πάνσοφος, μᾶλλον δὲ ἐν Ἱερεμίᾳ τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα ἐπιδείκνυσι τὸν θεόν. »θεὸς ἐγγίζων ἐγώ εἰμι«, φησί, »καὶ οὐχὶ θεὸς πόρρωθεν. εἰ ποιήσει τι ἄνθρωπος ἐν κρυφαίοις, καὶ ἐγὼ οὐκ ὄψομαι αὐτόν; οὐχὶ τοὺς οὐρανοὺς καὶ τὴν γῆν ἐγὼ πληρῶ; λέγει κύριος.« πάλιν δὲ αὖ διὰ Ἡσαΐου »τίς μετρήσει«, φησί, »τὸν οὐρανὸν σπιθαμῇ καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν δρακί;« ὅρα τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ καταπλάγηθι. τοῦτον προσκυνήσωμεν, ἐφʼ οὗ φησιν ὁ προφήτης »ἀπὸ προσώπου σου ὄρη τακήσονται, ὡς ἀπὸ προσώπου πυρὸς τήκεται κηρός.« οὗτος, φησίν, ἐστὶν ὁ θεός, »οὗ θρόνος μέν ἐστιν ὁ οὐρανός, ὑποπόδιον δὲ ἡ γῆ«, »ὃς ἐὰν ἀνοίξῃ τὸν οὐρανόν, τρόμος σε λήψεται.« βούλει καὶ περὶ τῶν εἰδώλων ἀκοῦσαι τί φησὶν ὁ προφήτης οὗτος; »παραδειγματισθήσονται ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ ἡλίου καὶ ἔσται τὰ θνησιμαῖα αὐτῶν βρώματα τοῖς πετεινοῖς τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ τοῖς θηρίοις τῆς γῆς, καὶ σαπήσεται ὑπὸ τοῦ ἡλίου καὶ τῆς σελήνης, ἃ αὐτοὶ ἠγάπησαν καὶ οἷς αὐτοὶ ἐδούλευσαν, καὶ ἐμπρησθήσεται ἡ πόλις αὐτῶν.«

English · Claude translation

Jeremiah, the all-wise prophet, or rather the Holy Spirit in Jeremiah, shows us God. “I am a God who is near,” he says, “and not a God far off. If a man does anything in secret, shall I not see him? Do I not fill the heavens and the earth? says the Lord.” And again through Isaiah: “Who will measure heaven with a span, and all the earth with his hand?” See the greatness of God, and be amazed! Let us worship him of whom the prophet says: “Before your face the mountains will melt, as wax melts before the fire.” This, he says, is God, “whose throne is heaven, and the earth his footstool”; “if he opens heaven, trembling will seize you.” Do you wish to hear too what this prophet says about the idols? “They will be made a public example before the sun, and their carcasses will be food for the birds of heaven and the beasts of the earth, and they will rot before the sun and the moon, which they loved and which they served, and their city will be burned.”

About this passage

Source
Stählin 1:59–60 · Otto Stählin, ed., Clemens Alexandrinus, vol. 1, Protrepticus und Paedagogus, GCS 12 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1905) · Greek text: Otto Stählin, Clemens Alexandrinus 1: Protrepticus und Paedagogus (GCS 12, 1905), digitized by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0
Text
As printed in Stählin, GCS 12. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.
Translation
Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-26 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Stählin (1905); made independently of existing English translations.
Compare
Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 2 (1885) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made)
Scripture
Topics
Scripture and canon

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotations are Jer 23:23–24; Isa 40:12; Isa 64:1–2 (63:19–64:1 in the Hebrew numbering); Isa 66:1; and a combination of Jer 8:2 and 7:33 with other phrases.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Protr. 8.78 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-protrepticus/8/78/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Protr. 8.78 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-protrepticus/8/78/).

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