Church History 5.8.10

Summary: Irenaeus defends the Septuagint's “virgin” in Isaiah 7:14 against the “young woman” of Theodotion and Aquila, whom the Ebionites follow.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:208

καὶ περὶ τῆς κατὰ τοὺς ἑβδομήκοντα ἑρμηνείας τῶν θεοπνεύστων γραφῶν ἄκουε οἷα κατὰ λέξιν γράφει ὁ θεὸς οὖν ἄνθρωπος ἐγένετο, καὶ αὐτὸς κύριος ἔσωσεν ἡμᾶς, δοὺς τὸ τῆς παρθένου σημεῖον· ἀλλʼ οὐχ ὡς ἔνιοι φασι τῶν νῦν τολμώντων μεθερμηνεύειν τὴν γραφὴν ‘ ἴδοὺ ἡ νεᾶνις ἐν γαστρὶ ἔξει καὶ τέξεται υἱόνʼ, ὡς Θεοδοτίων ἡρμήνευσεν ὁ Ἐφέσιος, καὶ Ἀκύλας ὁ Ποντικὸς, ἀμφότεροι Ἰουδαῖοι προσήλυτοι, οἷς κατακολουθήσαντες οἱ Ἐβιωναῖοι ἐξ Ἰωσὴφ αὐτὸν γεγενῆσθαι φάσκουσι.’’

English · Claude translation

And hear what he writes, word for word, about the translation of the inspired Scriptures by the Seventy: “God then became man, and the Lord himself saved us, giving the sign of the virgin; but not as some of those now venturing to translate the Scripture say, ‘Behold, the young woman shall conceive and bear a son,’ as Theodotion of Ephesus translated, and Aquila of Pontus, both Jewish proselytes; following them the Ebionites say that he was begotten of Joseph.”

About this passage

Source

Dindorf 4:208 · Wilhelm Dindorf, ed., Eusebii Caesariensis Opera, vol. 4: Historiae ecclesiasticae libri I–X (Leipzig: Teubner, 1871) · Greek text: W. Dindorf, Eusebii Caesariensis Opera 4 (Leipzig: Teubner, 1871), digitized by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0

Text

As printed in Dindorf, Eusebii Opera 4. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.

Translation

Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Dindorf, Eusebii Caesariensis Opera 4 (Teubner, 1871); made independently of existing English translations.

Compare

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 1 (1890) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made)

Scripture

Isa 7:14 · quotation, high confidence

Extrabiblical texts

Irenaeus, Irenaeus, Haer. 3.21.1 (Irenaeus, Against Heresies) · quotation, high confidence

Topics

Christology, Scripture and canon, Heresy

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 5.8.10 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/5/8/10/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 5.8.10 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/5/8/10/).

Greek text · Dindorf 4:208

English · Claude translation

About this passage

Notes

Translation notes

Cite this passage