Dialogue with Trypho 94.3

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

Summary: Otherwise the bronze serpent contradicts the law.

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Greek text · Archambault 2:100

Ἐπεὶ εἰ μὴ τοῦτο νοηθήσεται, δότε μοι λόγον τίνος χάριν τὸν χαλκοῦν ὄφιν Μωσῆς ἐπὶ σημείου ἔστησε, καὶ προσβλέπειν αὐτὸν τοὺς δακνομένους ἐκέλευσε, καὶ ἐθεραπεύοντο οἱ δακνόμενοι, καὶ ταῦτα αὐτὸς κελεύσας μηδενὸς ὅλως ὁμοίωμα ποιεῖν.

English · Claude translation

“For if this is not understood, give me a reason why Moses set up the bronze serpent as a sign and ordered those who were bitten to look at it, and those bitten were healed, and this when he himself had commanded that no likeness of anything at all be made.”

About this passage

Source: Archambault 2:100 · 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)

Notes

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (damaged spot in the digital text; restored from the sense): λόγον (??)τον χάριν → λόγον τίνος χάριν.

Cite this passage

Justin, Dial. 94.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-dialogue/94/3/).

Plain text

Justin, Dial. 94.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-dialogue/94/3/).

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