Against Celsus 1.34
Summary: Celsus ignored Isaiah's prophecy that a virgin would bear Emmanuel; Origen quotes it and defends the translation "virgin" against the rendering "young woman."
Greek text · Koetschau 1:85–86
ἀλλʼ ὡς καὶ προφῆται προεῖπον, ἀπὸ παρθένου. κατʼ ἐπαγγελίαν σημείου γεννώσης τὸν ἐπώνυμον πράγματος, δηλοῦντος ὅτι ἐπὶ τῇ γενέσει αὐτοῦ μετʼ ἀνθρώπων ἔσται θεός. Καὶ οἰκεῖόν γε φαίνεταί μοι πρὸς τὴν τοῦ Ἰουδαίου προσωποποιΐαν παραθέσθαι τὴν τοῦ Ἡσαΐου προφητείαν, λέγουσαν ἐκ παρθένου τεχθήσεσθαι τὸν Ἐμμανουήλ· ἣν οὐκ ἐξέθετο, εἴτε μὴ ἐπιστάμενος ὁ πάντʼ ἐπαγγελλόμενος εἰδέναι Κέλσος εἴτʼ ἀναγνοὺς μὲν ἑκὼν δὲ σιωπήσας, ἵνα μὴ δοκοίη κατασκευάζειν ἄκων τὸν λόγον ἐναντιούμενον αὐτοῦ τῇ προαιρέσει. ἔχει δʼ οὕτως ἡ λέξις· „καὶ προσέθετο κύριος τῷ Ἄχαζ λέγων· αἴτησαι σεαυτῷ σημεῖον παρὰ κυρίου θεοῦ σου εἰς βάθος ἢ εἰς ὕψος. καὶ εἶπεν Ἄχαζ· οὐ μὴ αἰτήσω οὐδʼ οὐ μὴ πειράσω τὸν κύριον. (καὶ εἶπεν·) ἀκούσατε δὴ, οἶκος Δαυὶδ, μὴ μικρὸν ὑμῖν ἀγῶνα παρέχειν ἀνθρώποις, καὶ πῶς κυρίῳ παρέχετε ἀγῶνα; διὰ τοῦτο δώσει κύριος αὐτὸς ὑμῖν σημεῖον· ἰδοὺ ἡ παρθένος ἐν γαστρὶ λήψεται καὶ τέξεται υἱὸν, καὶ καλέσεις τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ Ἐμμανουὴλ“, ὅπερ ἑρμηνεύεται „μεθʼ ἡμῶν ὁ θεός“. ὅτι δὲ κακουργῶν ὁ Κέλσος οὐκ ἐξέθετο τὴν προφητείαν, δῆλόν μοι γίνεται ἐκ τοῦ παραθέμενον αὐτὸν πολλὰ ἀπὸ τοῦ κατὰ Ματθαῖον εὐαγγελίου, ὥσπερ τὸν ἀνατείλαντα ἀστέρα ἐπὶ τῇ γενέσει τοῦ Ἰησοῦ καὶ ἄλλα τῶν παραδόξων, μηδὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν τούτου ἐμνημονευκέναι. ἐὰν δὲ Ἰουδαῖος εὑρεσιλογῶν τὸ „ἰδοὺ ἡ παρθένος“ μὴ γεγράφθαι λέγῃ ἀλλʼ ἀντʼ αὐτοῦ „ἰδοὺ ἡ νεᾶνις“, φήσομεν πρὸς αὐτὸν ὅτι ἡ μὲν λέξις ἡ ἀαλμὰ, ἣν οἱ μὲν ἑβδομήκοντα μετειλήφασι πρὸς τὴν παρθένον ἄλλοι δʼ εἰς τὴν νεᾶνιν, κεῖται, ὥς φασι, καὶ ἐν τῷ Δευτερονομίῳ ἐπὶ παρθένου, οὕτως ἔχουσα·„ἐὰν δὲ γένηται παῖς παρθένος μεμνηστευμένη ἀνδρὶ, καὶ εὑρὼν αὐτὴν ἄνθρωπος ἐν πόλει κοιμηθῇ μετʼ αὐτῆς, καὶ ἐξάξετε ἀμφοτέρους ἐπὶ τὴν πύλην τῆς πόλεως αὐτῶν, καὶ λιθοβοληθήσονται λίθοις, καὶ ἀποθανοῦνται· τὴν νεᾶνιν ἐπὶ λόγου, διότι οὐκ ἐβόησεν ἐν τῇ πόλει, καὶ τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἐπὶ λόγου, διότι ἐταπείνωσε τὴν γυναῖκα τοῦ πλησίον αὐτοῦ·“ καὶ ἑξῆς· „ἐὰν δὲ ἐν πεδίῳ εὕρῃ ἄνθρωπος τὴν παῖδα τὴν μεμνηστευμένην καὶ βιασάμενος αὐτὴν ὁ ἄνθρωπος κοιμηθῇ μετʼ αὐτῆς, ἀποκτενεῖτε τὸν ἄνθρωπον τὸν κοιμώμενον μετʼ αὐτῆς μόνον, καὶ τῇ νεάνιδι οὐ ποιήσετε οὐδέν· οὐκ ἔστι τῇ νεάνιδι ἁμάρτημα θανάτου.“
English · Claude translation
but, as the prophets also foretold, from a virgin who, according to the promise of a sign, would bear one named for the reality, showing that at his birth God would be with human beings. It seems to me fitting, in answer to the speech put in the Jew's mouth, to set out the prophecy of Isaiah that says Emmanuel will be born of a virgin. Celsus, who professes to know everything, did not quote it, either because he did not know it, or because, having read it, he deliberately kept silent, so as not to seem unwillingly to establish the teaching that opposes his purpose. The text runs thus: "And the Lord spoke again to Ahaz, saying: Ask for yourself a sign from the Lord your God, in the depth or in the height. And Ahaz said: I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test. And he said: Hear then, O house of David: is it a small thing for you to weary men, and how will you weary the Lord? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin will conceive in the womb and will bear a son, and you shall call his name Emmanuel," which is interpreted, "God with us." That Celsus maliciously did not quote the prophecy is clear to me from the fact that, though he cites much from the Gospel according to Matthew, such as the star that rose at the birth of Jesus and other wonders, he did not mention this at all. And if a Jew, quibbling, says that "Behold, the virgin" is not written, but instead "Behold, the young woman," we will say to him that the word "almah," which the Seventy translated "virgin" and others "young woman," occurs, as they say, also in Deuteronomy of a virgin, as follows: "If there is a girl, a virgin, betrothed to a man, and a man finds her in the city and lies with her, you shall bring them both out to the gate of their city, and they shall be stoned with stones and shall die: the young woman because she did not cry out in the city, and the man because he humbled his neighbor's wife." And next: "But if a man finds the betrothed girl in the field, and the man forces her and lies with her, you shall kill only the man who lay with her, and to the young woman you shall do nothing; the young woman has no sin worthy of death."
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The opening phrase completes the sentence of 1.33. The quotations are Isa 7:10–14 (LXX), with the interpretation from Matt 1:23, and Deut 22:23–26. The "others" who rendered "young woman" (νεᾶνις) are Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion. Origen's claim, reported "as they say," that ʿalmah occurs in Deut 22 is not borne out by the Hebrew, which has naʿarah there; the LXX of that passage uses both παρθένος and νεᾶνις.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (misread vowel): ἐν τᾷ Δευτερονομίῳ → ἐν τῷ Δευτερονομίῳ.
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 1.34 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/1/34/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 1.34 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/1/34/).
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