Sophia Scriptura

Dialogue with Trypho 19.2

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

Summary: Circumcision was not for all; Jewish washings are broken cisterns compared with the baptism of life.

Greek text · Archambault 1:84

Οὐ γὰρ πᾶσιν ἀναγκαῖα αὕτη ἡ περιτομή, ἀλλʼ ὑμῖν μόνοις, ἵνα, ὡς προέφην, ταῦτα πάθητε ἃ νῦν ἐν δίκῃ πάσχετε. Οὐδὲ γὰρ τὸ βάπτισμα ἐκεῖνο τὸ ἀνωφελὲς τὸ τῶν λάκκων προσλαμβάνομεν· οὐδὲν γὰρ πρὸς τὸ βάπτισμα τοῦτο τὸ τῆς ζωῆς ἐστι. Διὸ καὶ κέκραγεν ὁ θεός, ὅτι Ἐγκατελίπετε αὐτόν, πηγὴν ζῶσαν, καὶ ὠρύξατε ἑαυτοῖς λάκκους συντετριμμένους, οἳ οὐ δυνήσονται συνέχειν ὕδωρ.

English · Claude translation

“For this circumcision is not necessary for all men, but for you alone, so that, as I said before, you might suffer what you now justly suffer. Nor do we receive that useless baptism of cisterns; for it is nothing compared with this baptism of life. That is why God cried out: ‘You have forsaken him, the living spring, and dug for yourselves broken cisterns, which cannot hold water.’

About this passage

Source
Archambault 1:84 · 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
Baptism

Notes

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (digitization slip (missing space)): κέκραγεν ὁθεός → κέκραγεν ὁ θεός.

Cite this passage

Justin, Dial. 19.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-dialogue/19/2/).

Plain text
Justin, Dial. 19.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-dialogue/19/2/).

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