Sophia Scriptura

Dialogue with Trypho 42.1

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

Summary: The twelve bells on the high priest's robe symbolized the twelve apostles.

Greek text · Archambault 1:186

Ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ δώδεκα κώδωνας ἐξῆφθαι τοῦ ποδήρους τοῦ ἀρχιερέως παραδεδόσθαι τῶν δώδεκα ἀποστόλων τῶν ἐξαφθέντων ἀπὸ τῆς δυνάμεως τοῦ αἰωνίου ἱερέως Χριστοῦ, διʼ ὧν τῆς φωνῆς ἡ πᾶσα γῆ τῆς δόξης καὶ χάριτος τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τοῦ Χριστοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐπληρώθη, σύμβολον ἦν. Διὸ καὶ ὁ Δαυῒδ λέγει· Εἰς πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν ἐξῆλθεν ὁ φθόγγος αὐτῶν καὶ εἰς τὰ πέρατα τῆς οἰκουμένης τὰ ῥήματα αὐτῶν.

English · Claude translation

“And the handing down that twelve bells were attached to the robe of the high priest was a symbol of the twelve apostles who were attached to the power of Christ, the eternal priest, by whose voice all the earth was filled with the glory and grace of God and of his Christ. That is why David too says: ‘Their sound went out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.’

About this passage

Source
Archambault 1:186 · 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

  • Exod 28:33–35 does not specify twelve bells; Justin follows a tradition that did.

Cite this passage

Justin, Dial. 42.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-dialogue/42/1/).

Plain text
Justin, Dial. 42.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-dialogue/42/1/).

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