Dialogue with Trypho 77.3 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: The phrase “before the child knows father or mother” fits only Christ.

Greek text · Archambault 2:14

Εἰ γὰρ μὴ μετὰ προσθήκης ταῦτα εἶπε τὸ προφητικὸν πνεῦμα· Πρὶν ἢ γνῶναι τὸ παιδίον καλεῖν πατέρα ἢ μητέρα λήψεται δύναμιν Δαμασκοῦ καὶ σκύλα Σαμαρείας, ἀλλὰ μόνον εἰρήκει· Καὶ τέξεται υἱὸν καὶ λήψεται δύναμιν Δαμασκοῦ καὶ σκύλα Σαμαρείας, ἐδύνασθε λέγειν· Ἐπειδὴ προεγίνωσκεν ὁ θεὸς μέλλειν αὐτὸν λήψεσθαι ταῦτα, προειρήκει. Νῦν δὲ μετὰ τῆς προσθήκης ταύτης εἴρηκεν ἡ προφητεία· Πρὶν ἢ γνῶναι τὸ παιδίον καλεῖν πατέρα ἢ μητέρα λήψεται δύναμιν Δαμασκοῦ καὶ σκύλα Σαμαρείας. Καὶ οὐδενὶ τῶν ἐν Ἰουδαίοις ποτὲ συμβεβηκέναι τοῦτο ἀποδεῖξαι ἔχετε, ἡμεῖς δὲ ἔχομεν ἀποδεῖξαι τοῦτο γενόμενον ἐν τῷ ἡμετέρῳ Χριστῷ.

English · Claude translation

“For if the prophetic Spirit had not said this with the addition, ‘Before the child knows how to call father or mother he shall take the power of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria,’ but had said only, ‘And she shall bear a son, and he shall take the power of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria,’ you could say: Since God foreknew that he would take these things, he foretold it. But now the prophecy has spoken with this addition: ‘Before the child knows how to call father or mother he shall take the power of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria.’ And you cannot prove that this ever happened to anyone among the Jews; but we can prove that it happened in our Christ.

About this passage

Source

Archambault 2:14 · 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

Isa 8:4 · quotation, high confidence

Topics

Christology

Cite this passage

Justin, Dial. 77.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-dialogue/77/3/).

Plain text

Justin, Dial. 77.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-dialogue/77/3/).