Sophia Scriptura

Dialogue with Trypho 125.3

Justin Martyr · Dialogue with Trypho · ca. 155–160 · Rome · Read in context

Summary: “Israel” means “a man who conquers power”; Jacob's wrestling foretold Christ's struggle.

Greek text · Archambault 2:242–244

Καὶ τὸ οὖν Ἰσραὴλ ὄνομα τοῦτο σημαίνει· ἄνθρωπος νικῶν δύναμιν· τὸ γὰρ ἴσρα ἄνθρωπος νικῶν ἐστι, τὸ δὲ ἢλ δύναμις. Ὅπερ καὶ διὰ τοῦ μυστηρίου τῆς πάλης, ἣν ἐπάλαισεν Ἰακὼβ μετὰ τοῦ φαινομένου μὲν ἐκ τοῦ τῇ τοῦ πατρὸς βουλῇ ὑπηρετεῖν, θεοῦ δὲ ἐκ τοῦ εἶναι τέκνον πρωτότοκον τῶν ὅλων κτισμάτων, ἐπεπροφήτευτο οὕτως καὶ ἄνθρωπος γενόμενος ὁ Χριστὸς πονήσειν.

English · Claude translation

“The name Israel, then, means this: a man who conquers power; for ‘Isra’ is a man conquering, and ‘El’ is power. This had been prophesied also through the mystery of the wrestling which Jacob wrestled with him who appeared, in that he served the Father's will, and was God in that he is the firstborn child of all created things, that Christ too, when he became man, would so struggle.

About this passage

Source
Archambault 2:242–244 · Georges Archambault, ed., Justin: Dialogue avec Tryphon, 2 vols., Textes et documents pour l'étude historique du christianisme 8, 11 (Paris: Picard, 1909) · Greek text: G. Archambault, Justin: Dialogue avec Tryphon (Paris, 1909), 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 Archambault. 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 Archambault (1909); 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
Topics
Christology

Notes

Translation notes

  • Justin's etymology of Israel is fanciful; compare Gen 32:28, “you have striven with God.”

Cite this passage

Justin, Dial. 125.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-dialogue/125/3/).

Plain text
Justin, Dial. 125.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-dialogue/125/3/).

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