Sophia Scriptura

First Apology 47

Justin Martyr · First Apology · ca. 150–155 · Rome · Read in context

Summary: The prophets foretold the desolation of Jerusalem, now forbidden to Jews by Roman law.

Greek text · Rauschen, 80–82

Ὅτι οὖν καὶ ἐκπορθηθήσεσθαι ἡ γῆ Ἰουδαίων ἔμελλεν, ἀκούσατε τῶν εἰρημένων ὑπὸ τοῦ προφητικοῦ πνεύματος· εἴρηνται δὲ οἱ λόγοι ὡς ἀπὸ προσώπου λαῶν θαυμαζόντων τὰ γεγενημένα. Εἰσὶ δὲ οἵδε· „Ἐγενήθη ἔρημος Σιών, ὡς ἔρημος ἐγενήθη Ἱερουσαλήμ, εἰς κατάραν ὁ οἶκος, τὸ ἅγιον ἡμῶν καὶ ἡ δόξα, ἣν εὐλόγησαν οἱ πατέρες ἡμῶν, ἐγενήθη πυρίκαυστος, καὶ πάντα τὰ ἔνδοξα αὐτῆς συνέπεσε. Καὶ ἐπὶ τούτοις ἀνέσχου καὶ ἐσιώπησας καὶ ἐταπείνωσας ἡμᾶς σφόδρα“. Καὶ ὅτι ἠρήμωτο Ἱερουσαλήμ, ὡς προείρητο γεγενῆσθαι, πεπεισμένοι ἐστέ. Εἴρηται δὲ καὶ περὶ τῆς ἐρημώσεως αὐτῆς, καὶ περὶ τοῦ μὴ ἐπιτραπήσεσθαι μηδένα αὐτῶν οἰκεῖν, διὰ Ἡσαΐου τοῦ προφήτου οὕτως· „Ἡ γῆ αὐτῶν ἔρημος, ἔμπροσθεν αὐτῶν οἱ ἐχθροὶ αὐτῶν αὐτὴν φάγονται, καὶ οὐκ ἔσται ἐξ αὐτῶν ὁ κατοικῶν ἐν αὐτῇ“. Ὅτι δὲ φυλάσσεται ὑφʼ ὑμῶν ὅπως μηδεὶς ἐν αὐτῇ γένηται, καὶ θάνατος κατὰ τοῦ καταλαμβανομένου Ἰουδαίου εἰσιόντος ὥρισται, ἀκριβῶς ἐπίστασθε.

English · Claude translation

Hear, then, what was said by the prophetic Spirit, that the land of the Jews was to be laid waste. The words are spoken as from the person of the peoples wondering at what had happened. They are these: “Zion has become a desert; Jerusalem has become like a desert; the house, our sanctuary, has become a curse, and the glory which our fathers blessed has been burned with fire, and all its glorious things have fallen. And at these things you have held back, and been silent, and humbled us greatly.” And you are convinced that Jerusalem has been laid waste, as was foretold. And it was said also about its desolation, and that none of them would be permitted to live there, through Isaiah the prophet thus: “Their land is a desert; before them their enemies will devour it, and none of them shall dwell in it.” And you know well that it is guarded by you so that no one may be in it, and that death has been decreed against any Jew caught entering it.

About this passage

Source
Rauschen, 80–82 · Gerhard Rauschen, ed., S. Iustini Apologiae duae, Florilegium Patristicum 2 (Bonn: Hanstein, 1911), 8–114 · Greek text: G. Rauschen, S. Iustini Apologiae duae (Florilegium Patristicum 2, 1911), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library and published by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0
Text
As printed in Rauschen, FlorPatr 2. 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), 2026-09-26 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Rauschen (Florilegium Patristicum 2, 1911); made independently of existing English translations.
Compare
Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1 (1885) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made)
Scripture
  • Isa 64:10 (64:9 LXX) · quotation, high confidence
  • Isa 64:11 (64:10 LXX) · quotation, high confidence
  • Isa 64:12 (64:11 LXX) · quotation, high confidence
  • Isa 1:7 · quotation, high confidence
  • Jer 50:3 · echo, low confidence
Topics
Scripture and canon

Notes

Translation notes

  • After the Bar Kokhba revolt (135), Hadrian refounded Jerusalem as Aelia Capitolina and barred Jews from entering it.

Cite this passage

Justin, 1 Apol. 47 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-1-apology/47/).

Plain text
Justin, 1 Apol. 47 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-1-apology/47/).

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