Dialogue with Trypho 141.3 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: Even David was forgiven only after repentance.

Greek text · Archambault 2:306–308

Μαρτύριον δὲ τούτου τὴν μίαν τοῦ Δαυῒδ διὰ τὴν καύχησιν αὐτοῦ γενομένην παράπτωσιν ἔχομεν, ἥτις τότε ἀφείθη, ὅτε οὕτως ἔκλαυσε καὶ ἐθρήνησεν ὡς γέγραπται. Εἰ δὲ τῷ τοιούτῳ ἄφεσις πρὶν μετανοῆσαι οὐκ ἐδόθη, ἀλλʼ ὅτε τοιαῦτα ἔκλαυσε καὶ ἔπραξεν ὁ μέγας οὗτος βασιλεὺς καὶ χριστὸς καὶ προφήτης, πῶς οἱ ἀκάθαρτοι καὶ πάντα ἀπονενοημένοι, ἐὰν μὴ θρηνήσωσι καὶ κόψωνται καὶ μετανοήσωσιν, ἐλπίδα ἔχειν δύνανται ὅτι οὐ μὴ λογίσηται αὐτοῖς κύριος ἁμαρτίαν;

English · Claude translation

“And we have as a testimony of this the one fall of David, which came about through his boasting, which was forgiven only when he wept and lamented as it is written. But if forgiveness was not given to such a man before he repented, but only when this great king and anointed one and prophet wept and acted so, how can the unclean and utterly desperate have hope that the Lord will not reckon sin to them, unless they lament and mourn and repent?

About this passage

Source

Archambault 2:306–308 · Georges Archambault, ed., Justin: Dialogue avec Tryphon, 2 vols., Textes et documents pour l'étude historique du christianisme 8, 11 (Paris: Picard, 1909) · Greek text: G. Archambault, Justin: Dialogue avec Tryphon (Paris, 1909), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library and published by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0

Translation

Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-26 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Archambault (1909); made independently of existing English translations.

Scripture

2 Sam 12:13 · allusion, high confidence
Ps 51:1 (50:3 LXX) · echo, medium confidence

Topics

Ethics

Cite this passage

Justin, Dial. 141.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-dialogue/141/3/).

Plain text

Justin, Dial. 141.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-dialogue/141/3/).