Dialogue with Trypho 40.3 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Archambault 1:180

Καὶ τὸ κελευσθὲν πρόβατον ἐκεῖνο ὀπτὸν ὅλον γίνεσθαι τοῦ πάθους τοῦ σταυροῦ, διʼ οὗ πάσχειν ἔμελλεν ὁ Χριστός, σύμβολον ἦν. Τὸ γὰρ ὀπτώμενον πρόβατον σχηματιζόμενον ὁμοίως τῷ σχήματι τοῦ σταυροῦ ὀπτᾶται· εἷς γὰρ ὄρθιος ὀβελίσκος διαπερονᾶται ἀπὸ τῶν κατωτάτω μερῶν μέχρι τῆς κεφαλῆς, καὶ εἷς πάλιν κατὰ τὸ μετάφρενον, ᾧ προσαρτῶνται καὶ αἱ χεῖρες τοῦ προβάτου.

English · Claude translation

“And that lamb which was commanded to be roasted whole was a symbol of the suffering of the cross which Christ was to undergo. For the lamb, when it is roasted, is shaped like the figure of the cross; for one spit is thrust straight through from the lower parts up to the head, and one again across the back, to which the forelegs of the lamb are fastened.

About this passage

Source

Archambault 1:180 · 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

Exod 12:9 · allusion, high confidence

Topics

Christology

Notes

Translation notes

Justin describes the Passover lamb roasted on two crossed spits, a detail also found in the Mishnah (m. Pesaḥ. 7:1).

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (digitization slips against Archambault's printed text (dropped letters; wrong breathing)): ὀπτᾶι· εἶς γὰρ → ὀπτᾶται· εἷς γὰρ.

Cite this passage

Justin, Dial. 40.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-dialogue/40/3/).

Plain text

Justin, Dial. 40.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-dialogue/40/3/).