Miscellanies 6.15.116
Summary: The dark clouds, hail, and coals of Psalm 18 show that Scripture is hidden, clear to knowers but dark to the many; the knower knows when, how, and to whom to speak.
Greek text · Stählin 2:490
αὐτίκα ὁ Δαβὶδ σκοτεινὸν ὕδωρ ἐν νεφέλαις ἀέρων γράφει· ἀπὸ τῆς τηλαυγήσεως ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ αἱ νεφέλαι διῆλθον, χάλαζα καὶ ἄνθρακες πυρός, ἐπικεκρυμμένους τοὺς ἁγίους λόγους εἶναι διδάσκων. καὶ δὴ τοῖς μὲν γνωστικοῖς διειδεῖς καὶ τηλαυγεῖς καθάπερ χάλαζαν ἀβλαβῆ καταπέμπεσθαι θεόθεν μηνύει, σκοτεινοὺς δὲ τοῖς πολλοῖς καθάπερ τοὺς ἐκ πυρὸς ἀπεσβεσμένους ἄνθρακας, οὓς εἰ μή τις ἀνάψαι καὶ ἀναζωπυρήσαι, οὐκ ἐκφλεγήσονται οὐδʼ ἐμφωτισθήσονται. κύριος, οὖν φησι, δίδωσί μοι γλῶσσαν παιδείας τοῦ γνῶναι ἐν καιρῷ, ἡνίκα δεῖ εἰπεῖν λόγον, οὐ κατὰ τὸ μαρτύριον μόνον, ἀλλὰ γὰρ καὶ τὸν κατʼ ἐρώτησιν καὶ ἀπόκρισιν· καὶ ἡ παιδεία κυρίου ἀνοίγει μου τὸ στόμα. γνωστικοῦ ἄρα καὶ τὸ εἰδέναι χρῆσθαι τῷ λόγῳ καὶ ὁπότε καὶ ὅπως καὶ πρὸς οὕστινας.
English · Claude translation
For instance, David writes, “Dark water in clouds of the air; at the brightness before him the clouds passed, hail and coals of fire,” teaching that the holy words are hidden. And he indicates that to those who know they are sent down from God transparent and bright, like harmless hail, but to the many they are dark, like coals quenched from fire, which, unless someone kindles and rekindles them, will not blaze up or give light. “The Lord,” then, he says, “gives me a tongue of instruction, to know in season when I must speak a word”—not only in bearing witness, but also in question and answer—“and the instruction of the Lord opens my mouth.” It belongs, then, to the one who knows to know how to use speech: when, how, and to whom.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Ps 18:11–12 (17:12–13 LXX) and Isa 50:4–5; “not only in bearing witness, but also in question and answer” is Clement's comment.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 6.15.116 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/6/15/116/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 6.15.116 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/6/15/116/).
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