Sophia Scriptura

Dialogue with Trypho 79.4

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

Summary: Zechariah, Job, Genesis, Exodus, and the Psalms all speak of the devil and demons.

Greek text · Archambault 2:28–30

Ἀλλὰ καὶ Ζαχαρίας φησίν, ὡς καὶ αὐτὸς ἐμνημόνευσας, ὅτι ὁ διάβολος εἱστήκει ἐκ δεξιῶν Ἰησοῦ τοῦ ἱερέως, ἀντικεῖσθαι αὐτῷ, καὶ εἰπεῖν κύριον· Ἐπιτιμήσαι σοι κύριος, ὁ ἐκλεξάμενος Ἱερουσαλήμ. Καὶ πάλιν ἐν τῷ Ἰὼβ γέγραπται, ὡς καὶ αὐτὸς ἔφης, ὅτι οἱ ἄγγελοι ἦλθον στῆναι ἔμπροσθεν κυρίου, καὶ ὁ διάβολος ἅμα αὐτοῖς ἐληλύθει. Καὶ ὑπὸ Μωσέως ἐν ἀρχῇ τῆς Γενέσεως ὄφιν πλανήσαντα τὴν Εὔαν γεγραμμένον ἔχομεν καὶ κεκατηραμένον. Καὶ ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ ὅτι μάγοι ἐπείρησαν ἐξισοῦσθαι τῇ δυνάμει τῇ ἐνεργουμένῃ διὰ τοῦ πιστοῦ θεράποντος Μωσέως ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ, ἔγνωμεν. Καὶ Δαυῒδ ὅτι Οἱ θεοὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν δαιμόνιά εἰσιν εἶπεν, ἐπίστασθε.

English · Claude translation

“And Zechariah too says, as you yourself mentioned, that the devil stood at the right hand of Joshua the priest to oppose him, and the Lord said, ‘The Lord rebuke you, he who has chosen Jerusalem.’ And again it is written in Job, as you yourself said, that the angels came to stand before the Lord, and the devil came with them. And we have it written by Moses at the beginning of Genesis that the serpent deceived Eve and was cursed. And we know that in Egypt magicians tried to equal the power worked by God through his faithful servant Moses. And you know that David said, ‘The gods of the nations are demons.’”

About this passage

Source
Archambault 2:28–30 · 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
  • Zech 3:1 · allusion, high confidence
  • Zech 3:2 · quotation, high confidence
  • Job 1:6 · allusion, high confidence
  • Gen 3:1 · allusion, high confidence
  • Gen 3:14 · allusion, high confidence
  • Exod 7:11 · allusion, high confidence
  • Ps 96:5 (95:5 LXX) · quotation, high confidence

Notes

Translation notes

  • “As you yourself mentioned”: Trypho's remark is in the lost part of the Dialogue.

Cite this passage

Justin, Dial. 79.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-dialogue/79/4/).

Plain text
Justin, Dial. 79.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-dialogue/79/4/).

Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)

Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text

Report an error in this passage