Sophia Scriptura

Dialogue with Trypho 132.2

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

Summary: The Philistines sent the ark back on a cart drawn by heifers.

Greek text · Archambault 2:272–274

Ἐπίστασθε οὖν, ἔλεγον, ὅτι, τῆς σκηνῆς τοῦ μαρτυρίου ὑπὸ τῶν περὶ Ἀζωτίους πολεμίων ἁρπαγείσης καὶ πληγῆς αὐτοῖς γεγενημένης φοβερᾶς καὶ ἀνιάτου, ἐβουλεύσαντο ἐφʼ ἁμάξης, ὑφʼ ᾗ δαμάλεις νεοτόκους ἔζευξαν, ἐπιθεῖναι, εἰς πεῖραν τοῦ γνῶναι εἰ δυνάμει θεοῦ διὰ τὴν σκηνὴν πεπληγμένοι εἰσὶ καὶ βούλεται ὁ θεὸς ἀπενεχθῆναι αὐτὴν ὅθεν ἐλήφθη.

English · Claude translation

“You know, then,” I said, “that when the ark of the covenant had been seized by the enemy around Azotus, and a terrible and incurable plague had befallen them, they decided to put it on a wagon to which they yoked calving heifers, to test whether they had been struck by the power of God because of the ark, and whether God wished it to be carried back to the place from which it was taken.

About this passage

Source
Archambault 2:272–274 · 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

Notes

Translation notes

  • Justin says “tabernacle” (σκηνή), meaning the ark (1 Sam 5–6).

Cite this passage

Justin, Dial. 132.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-dialogue/132/2/).

Plain text
Justin, Dial. 132.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-dialogue/132/2/).

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