Dialogue with Trypho 94.1 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: God forbade images, yet commanded the bronze serpent.

Greek text · Archambault 2:98–100

Εἴπατε γάρ μοι, οὐχὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ ἐντειλάμενος διὰ Μωσέως μήτε εἰκόνα μήτε ὁμοίωμα μήτε τῶν ἐν οὐρανῷ ἄνω μήτε τῶν ἐπὶ γῆς ὅλως ποιῆσαι, καὶ αὐτὸς ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ διὰ τοῦ Μωσέως τὸν χαλκοῦν ὄφιν ἐνήργησε γενέσθαι, καὶ ἐπὶ σημεῖον ἔστησε, διʼ οὖ σημείου ἐσώζοντο οἱ ὀφιόδηκτοι, καὶ ἀναίτιός ἐστιν ἀδικίας;

English · Claude translation

“For tell me, was it not God who commanded through Moses that no image or likeness at all be made of the things in heaven above or on earth, and yet he himself in the wilderness caused the bronze serpent to be made through Moses, and set it up as a sign, by which sign those bitten by serpents were saved; and he is not guilty of wrongdoing?

About this passage

Source

Archambault 2:98–100 · 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 20:4 · allusion, high confidence
Num 21:8 · allusion, high confidence
Num 21:9 · allusion, high confidence

Cite this passage

Justin, Dial. 94.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-dialogue/94/1/).

Plain text

Justin, Dial. 94.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-dialogue/94/1/).