Miscellanies 1.23.152 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Stählin 2:94–95

ἐνταῦθα ἡ θυγάτηρ τοῦ βασιλέως, συχνῷ χρόνῳ μὴ κυΐσκουσα, τέκνων δὲ ἐπιθυμοῦσα, ἐκείνης ἀφικνεῖται τῆς ἡμέρας ἐπὶ τὸν ποταμὸν λουτροῖς καὶ περιρραντηρίοις χρησομένη, ἐπακούσασα δὲ κλαυθμυριζομένου τοῦ παιδὸς κελεύει προσενεχθῆναι αὐτῇ καὶ κατοικτείρασα ἐζήτει τροφόν. ἐνταῦθα προσδραμοῦσα ἡ ἀδελφὴ τοῦ παιδὸς ἔχειν ἔφασκεν Ἑβραίαν γυναῖκα μὴ πρὸ πολλοῦ τετοκυῖαν παραστῆσαι αὐτῇ τροφόν, εἰ βούλοιτο· τῆς δὲ συνθεμένης καὶ δεηθείσης παρήνεγκε τὴν μητέρα τὴν τοῦ παιδὸς τροφὸν ἐσομένην ὥς τινα ἄλλην οὖσαν ἐπὶ ῥητῷ μισθῷ. εἶτα τίθεται τῷ παιδίῳ ὄνομα ἡ βασιλὶς Μωυσῆν ἐτύμως διὰ τὸ ἐξ ὕδατος ἀνελέσθαι αὐτό (τὸ γὰρ ὕδωρ μῶυ ὀνομάζουσιν Αἰγύπτιοι), εἰς ὃ ἐκτέθειται τεθνηξόμενος. καὶ γάρ τοι Μωυσῆν τὸν ἀποπνεύσαντα τῷ ὕδατι προσαγορεύουσι.

English · Claude translation

Then the king's daughter, who for a long time had not conceived but longed for children, came that day to the river to use its baths and ablutions; and hearing the child crying, she ordered it brought to her, and, taking pity, sought a nurse. Then the child's sister ran up and said that she had a Hebrew woman who had given birth not long before to present to her as a nurse, if she wished; and when she agreed and asked for it, she brought the child's mother to be his nurse, as if she were someone else, for a stated wage. Then the princess gave the child the name Moses, appropriately, because she had taken him out of the water (for the Egyptians call water mōu), into which he had been exposed to die. And indeed they call Moses the one who breathes his last in the water.

About this passage

Source

Stählin 2:94–95 · 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.

Scripture

Exod 2:5 · allusion, high confidence
Exod 2:6 · allusion, high confidence
Exod 2:7 · allusion, high confidence
Exod 2:9 · allusion, high confidence
Exod 2:10 · allusion, high confidence

Extrabiblical texts

Philo, Life of Moses 1.17 (Philo of Alexandria (works)) · allusion, high confidence

Topics

Scripture and canon

Notes

Translation notes

The account follows Exod 2:5–10, with Philo's etymology of Moses' name (Life of Moses 1.17).

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (wrong accent on τοῦ): κλαυθμυριζομένου τοὺ παιδὸς → κλαυθμυριζομένου τοῦ παιδὸς.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.23.152 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/23/152/).

Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.23.152 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/23/152/).