Sophia Scriptura

Miscellanies 1.22.149

Clement of Alexandria · Miscellanies · ca. 198–203 · Alexandria · Read in context

Summary: Seventy elders translated separately, yet their translations agreed word for word by God's will, a kind of Greek prophecy; so too Ezra, inspired, restored the Scriptures lost in the exile.

Greek text · Stählin 2:92

οἳ δὲ ἅτε ἔτι ὑπακούοντες Μακεδόσι τῶν παρὰ σφίσιν εὐδοκιμωτάτων περὶ τὰς γραφὰς ἐμπείρους καὶ τῆς Ἑλληνικῆς διαλέκτου εἰδήμονας ἑβδομήκοντα πρεσβυτέρους ἐκλεξάμενοι ἀπέστειλαν αὐτῷ μετὰ καὶ τῶν θείων βίβλων. ἑκάστου δὲ ἐν μέρει κατʼ ἰδίαν ἑκάστην ἑρμηνεύσαντος προφητείαν συνέπνευσαν αἱ πᾶσαι ἑρμηνεῖαι συναντιβληθεῖσαι καὶ τὰς διανοίας καὶ τὰς λέξεις· θεοῦ γὰρ ἦν βούλημα μεμελετημένον εἰς Ἑλληνικὰς ἀκοάς. οὐ δὴ ξένον ἐπιπνοίᾳ θεοῦ τοῦ τὴν προφητείαν δεδωκότος καὶ τὴν ἑρμηνείαν οἱονεὶ Ἑλληνικὴν προφητείαν ἐνεργεῖσθαι, ἐπεὶ κἀν τῇ ἐπὶ Ναβουχοδονόσορ αἰχμαλωσίᾳ διαφθαρεισῶν τῶν γραφῶν κατὰ τοὺς Ἀρταξέρξου τοῦ Περσῶν βασιλέως χρόνους ἐπίπνους Ἔσδρας ὁ Λευίτης ὁ ἱερεὺς γενόμενος πάσας τὰς παλαιὰς αὖθις ἀνανεούμενος προεφήτευσε γραφάς.

English · Claude translation

And they, since they were still subject to the Macedonians, chose seventy elders from among the most esteemed of their people, experienced in the Scriptures and skilled in the Greek language, and sent them to him with the divine books. When each separately had translated each prophecy, all the translations, compared together, agreed both in sense and in words; for it was the will of God, devised for Greek ears. Indeed it is not strange that by the inspiration of God, who had given the prophecy, the translation too should be produced as a kind of Greek prophecy; since also, when the Scriptures had been destroyed in the captivity under Nebuchadnezzar, in the times of Artaxerxes king of the Persians, Ezra the Levite, the priest, became inspired and prophesied all the ancient Scriptures again, restoring them.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 2:92 · Otto Stählin, ed., Clemens Alexandrinus, vol. 2, Stromata Buch I–VI, GCS 15 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1906); vol. 3, Stromata Buch VII und VIII, GCS 17 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1909) · Greek text: Otto Stählin, Clemens Alexandrinus 2–3 (GCS 15, 17, 1906–1909), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library, CC BY-SA 4.0
Text
As printed in Stählin, GCS 15, 17. 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), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Stählin (1906–1909); 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) · Book 3 is left partly untranslated (in Latin) there.
Extrabiblical texts
  • 2 Esd 14:19–48 (2 Esdras) · allusion, high confidence
Topics
Scripture and canon

Notes

Translation notes

  • The story of Ezra restoring the Scriptures is from 4 Ezra (2 Esd) 14:19–48.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.22.149 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/22/149/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.22.149 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/22/149/).

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