Church History 5.8.15 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Dindorf 4:209

καὶ οὐδέν γε θαυμαστὸν τοῦτο ἐνηργηκέναι τὸν θεὸν, ὅς γε καὶ ἐν τῇ ἐπὶ Ναβουχοδονόσορ αἰχμαλωσίᾳ τοῦ λαοῦ, διαφθαρεισῶν τῶν γραφῶν, καὶ μετὰ ἑβδομήκοντα ἔτη τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἀνελθόντων εἰς τὴν χώραν αὐτῶν, ἔπειτα ἐν τοῖς χρόνοις Ἀρταξέρξου τοῦ Περσῶν βασιλέως ἐνέπνευσεν Ἔσδρᾳ τῷ ἱερεῖ ἐκ τῆς φυλῆς Λευὶ, τοὺς “τῶν προγεγονότων προφητῶν πάντας ἀνατάξασθαι λόγους, καὶ ἀποκαταστῆσαι τῷ λαῷ τὴν διὰ Μωυσέως νομοθεσίαν.’’ τοσαῦτα ὁ Εἰρήναιος.

English · Claude translation

And it is no wonder that God did this, since also in the captivity of the people under Nebuchadnezzar, when the Scriptures had been destroyed, and the Jews returned to their country after seventy years, then in the times of Artaxerxes king of the Persians he inspired Ezra the priest, of the tribe of Levi, to restore all the words of the former prophets and to re-establish for the people the legislation given through Moses.” So much from Irenaeus.

About this passage

Source

Dindorf 4:209 · 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)

Extrabiblical texts

Irenaeus, Irenaeus, Haer. 3.21.2 (Irenaeus, Against Heresies) · quotation, high confidence
2 Esd 14 (2 Esdras) · allusion, medium confidence

Topics

Scripture and canon

Notes

Translation notes

Quotation from Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.21.2. The legend of Ezra restoring the Scriptures is found in 2 Esd 14 (4 Ezra).

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (repeated syllable in the digital text): διαφθαρεισῶν σῶν → διαφθαρεισῶν.

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 5.8.15 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/5/8/15/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 5.8.15 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/5/8/15/).