Dialogue with Trypho 88.7 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: John denied that he was the Christ.

Greek text · Archambault 2:76

Ἰωάννου γὰρ καθεζομένου ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἰορδάνου καὶ κηρύσσοντος βάπτισμα μετανοίας, καὶ ζώνην δερματίνην καὶ ἔνδυμα ἀπὸ τριχῶν καμήλου μόνον φοροῦντος καὶ μηδὲν ἐσθίοντος πλὴν ἀκρίδας καὶ μέλι ἄγριον, οἱ ἄνθρωποι ὑπελάμβανον αὐτὸν εἶναι τὸν Χριστόν· πρὸς οὓς καὶ αὐτὸς ἐβόα· Οὐκ εἰμὶ ὁ Χριστός, ἀλλὰ φωνὴ βοῶντος· ἥξει γὰρ ὁ ἰσχυρότερός μου, οὗ οὐκ εἰμὶ ἱκανὸς τὰ ὑποδήματα βαστάσαι.

English · Claude translation

“For when John sat by the Jordan and preached a baptism of repentance, wearing only a leather belt and a garment of camel's hair, and eating nothing but locusts and wild honey, men supposed him to be the Christ; to whom he himself cried: ‘I am not the Christ, but the voice of one crying; for one stronger than I will come, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry.’

About this passage

Source

Archambault 2:76 · 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

Matt 3:4 · allusion, high confidence
Luke 3:15 · allusion, high confidence
John 1:20 · quotation, high confidence
John 1:23 · quotation, high confidence
Luke 3:16 · quotation, high confidence

Cite this passage

Justin, Dial. 88.7 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-dialogue/88/7/).

Plain text

Justin, Dial. 88.7 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-dialogue/88/7/).