Against Celsus 4.22

And the Christians, according to Celsus, adding some words to what the Jews say, claim that “because of the sins of the Jews the Son of God has already been sent, and that the Jews, having punished Jesus and given him gall to drink, drew upon themselves the wrath of God.” Let whoever wishes refute this statement as false, if the whole Jewish nation was not overthrown within one whole generation after Jesus suffered these things at their hands. For there were, I think, forty-two years from the time they crucified Jesus to the destruction of Jerusalem. And never, since the Jews have existed, is it recorded that they were cast out for so long a time from their holy worship and service, subdued by those more powerful; but even if at times they seemed to be forsaken because of sin, they were nonetheless visited, and returning they recovered their own and practiced their customary rites unhindered. One of the proofs, then, that Jesus was something divine and holy is that such great and grievous things have now for a long time befallen the Jews on his account. And we shall say with confidence that they will not even be restored. For they committed the most unholy crime of all in plotting against the Savior of the human race in the city where they performed for God the customary symbols of great mysteries. That city, then, where Jesus suffered these things, had to be utterly destroyed, the Jewish nation overthrown, and God's call to blessedness transferred to others, I mean the Christians, to whom came the teaching about sincere and pure worship of God, and who received new laws suited to the constitution established everywhere; since the laws given before, as to one nation ruled by kings of its own race and customs, could not all be carried out now.