On the Lapsed 19
Summary: Even Moses, Jeremiah, Noah, Daniel, and Job could not obtain forgiveness for others against God's will; so no human petition can override God's judgment.
Latin text · CSEL 3.1:250–252
Nam et Moyses pro peccatis populi petit nec tamen peccantibus ueniam cum petisset accepit. precor, ait, Domine, deliquit populus hic delictum grande: et nunc si dimittis eis delictum, dimitte: sin autem, dele me de libro quem scripsisti. et dixit Dominus ad Moysen: si qui deliquit ante me, deleam eum de libro meo. ille amicus Dei, ille facie ad faciem locutus saepe cum Domino quod petit inpetrare non potuit nec Dei indignantis offensam sua deprecatione placauit. Hieremiam Deus laudat et praedicat dicens: priusquam te formarem in utero, noui te, et priusquam exires de uulua, sanctificaui te et prophetam in gentes posui te, et eidem pro peccatis populi deprecanti frequenter et oranti noli, inquit, orare pro populo hoc et noli postulare pro eis in prece et oratione, quia non exaudiam in tempore quo inuocabunt me, in tempore adflictationis suae. quid uero iustius Noe, qui cum repleta esset terra peccatis, solus inuentus est iustus in terris? quid gloriosius Danihele? quid ad facienda martyria in fidei firmitate robustius, in Dei dignatione felicius, qui totiens et cum confligeret uicit et cum uinceret superuixit? quid Iob in operibus promptius, in temptationibus fortius, in dolore patientius, in timore summissius, in fide uerius? nec hi tamen si rogarent, concessurum se Deus dixit. cum propheta Ezechiel pro delicto populi deprecaretur, terra, inquit, quaecumque peccauerit mihi ut delinquat delictum, extendam manum meam super eam et obteram stabilimentum panis et inmittam in eam famem et auferam ab ea hominem et pecora. et si fuerint tres uiri hi in medio eius Noe et Danihel et Iob, non liberabunt filios neque filias, ipsi soli salui erunt. adeo non omne quod petitur in praeiudicio petentis sed in dantis arbitrio est, nec quicquam sibi usurpat et uindicat humana sententia, nisi adnuat et censura diuina.
English · Claude translation
For Moses too prayed for the sins of the people, and yet, though he had prayed, he did not receive pardon for the sinners. “I pray, O Lord,” he said, “this people has sinned a great sin; and now, if you forgive them their sin, forgive; but if not, blot me out of the book which you have written.” And the Lord said to Moses, “If anyone has sinned before me, him will I blot out of my book.” He, the friend of God, he who often spoke face to face with the Lord, could not obtain what he asked, nor appease by his entreaty the offense of the indignant God. God praises and commends Jeremiah, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you came out of the womb I sanctified you and appointed you a prophet to the nations”; and to the same man, when he often entreated and prayed for the sins of the people, he says, “Do not pray for this people, and do not ask for them in prayer and supplication, because I will not hear them in the time when they call upon me, in the time of their affliction.” Yet who was more righteous than Noah, who, when the earth was filled with sins, alone was found righteous on the earth? Who more glorious than Daniel? Who stronger in firmness of faith for undergoing martyrdom, happier in God's favor, who so many times both conquered when he fought and survived when he conquered? Who readier in works than Job, braver in temptations, more patient in pain, more submissive in fear, truer in faith? Yet God said that he would not grant it even if these asked. When the prophet Ezekiel entreated for the sin of the people, he says, “Whatever land sins against me to commit an offense, I will stretch out my hand upon it and crush its support of bread and send famine into it and take away from it man and beast. And if these three men were in its midst, Noah and Daniel and Job, they shall not deliver sons or daughters; they alone shall be saved.” So not everything that is asked depends on the prejudgment of the one asking, but on the will of the one giving; and a human sentence claims and assumes nothing to itself unless the divine censure also consents.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Exod 32:31–33, Jer 1:5, Jer 11:14 (cf. 7:16), and Ezek 14:13–14, 16; the allusions are Exod 33:11 and Gen 6:9.
Cite this passage
Cyprian, Laps. 19 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/cyprian-lapsis/19/).
Plain text
Cyprian, Laps. 19 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/cyprian-lapsis/19/).
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