Church History 6.16.1 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Dindorf 4:259

Τοσαύτη δὲ εἰσήγετο τῷ Ὠριγένει τῶν θείων λόγων ἀπηκριβωμένη ἐξέτασις ὡς καὶ τὴν Ἑβραίδα γλῶτταν ἐκμαθεῖν, τάς τε παρὰ τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις φερομένας πρωτοτύπους αὐτοῖς Ἑβραίων στοιχείοις γραφὰς κτῆμα ἴδιον ποιήσασθαι, ἀνιχνεῦσαί τε τὰς τῶν ἑτέρων παρὰ τοὺς ἑβδομήκοντα τὰς ἱερὰς γραφὰς ἡρμηνευκότων ἐκδόσεις, καί τινας ἑτέρας παρὰ τὰς καθημαξευμένας ἑρμηνείας ἐναλλαττούσας, τὴν Ἀκύλου καὶ Συμμάχου καὶ Θεοδοτίωνος, ἐφευρεῖν, ἃς οὐκ οἶδʼ ὁπόθεν ἔκ τινων μυχῶν τὸν πάλαι λανθανούσας χρόνον εἰς φῶς ἀνιχνεύσας προήγαγεν.

English · Claude translation

So precise an examination of the divine words was undertaken by Origen that he even learned the Hebrew language and obtained for his own the original Scriptures current among the Jews in the Hebrew letters themselves. He also traced the editions of the others besides the Seventy who had translated the sacred Scriptures, and discovered certain other translations differing from the well-worn versions, those of Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion, which, from I know not what hiding places where they had lain hidden for a long time, he tracked down and brought to light.

About this passage

Source

Dindorf 4:259 · Wilhelm Dindorf, ed., Eusebii Caesariensis Opera, vol. 4: Historiae ecclesiasticae libri I–X (Leipzig: Teubner, 1871) · Greek text: W. Dindorf, Eusebii Caesariensis Opera 4 (Leipzig: Teubner, 1871), digitized by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0

Text

As printed in Dindorf, Eusebii Opera 4. 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 Dindorf, Eusebii Caesariensis Opera 4 (Teubner, 1871); made independently of existing English translations.

Compare

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 1 (1890) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made)

Topics

Scripture and canon

Notes

Translation notes

Eusebius's wording (“discovered … besides … Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion”) is loose; the “other” versions are those described in 6.16.2–3.

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 6.16.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/6/16/1/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 6.16.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/6/16/1/).