DIALOGUE OF TIMOTHY AND AQUILA Translated by Robert A.

Kraft

When our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ had been manifested throughout the whole inhabited earth, and the prophetic voices had been fulfilled, and the apostolic teachings shone forth, and faith in the holy triad had been confirmed for everyone and everywhere in the whole inhabited earth, licentiousness was being routed and virtue was establishing its rule, animosity was being expelled and hospitality was flourishing, the devil was being put to shame and God was being glorified. But the demon who hates good, seeing that God was being glorified and worshipped and that his own works were coming unstrung and being despised, was extremely provoked. And he entered into a certain Jewish man by the name of Aquila, just as in the garden of paradise he entered the 'weak vessel,' the woman, by means of the serpent -- so also now he entered a Jew. Now it is clear that he could not speak against Christ through a Christian, and it is also clear to all that our Lord Jesus Christ was proclaimed by Jews, for all the prophets were Israelites. This Aquila, then, went around in the synagogues interpreting the divine scriptures and saying that the Christ is still to come; "for," he said, "the one whom the Christians worship is not the Christ, but is a man just as we are, and he was condemned to be crucified as a blasphemer because he claimed to be God's son. For the divine scriptures also teach us to worship one God alone, for thus it is written: Hear Israel, the Lord your God is one, and besides me there is no God. And again, he says to Moses at the bush: I am the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, your fathers And he teaches us through all the prophets and in the historical books and everywhere in general to worship one God and not two. As for this Jesus we know whence he comes and we know the name of his father and of his mother. But when the Christ comes, no one will know whence he comes!" Now one day Aquila was sitting in a certain place frequented by the Jews and speaking to the Jews who were present concerning such matter. And while he was saying these things, a certain Christian by the name of Timothy who was present and heard him saying these things, after making the sign of the cross on his forehead and heart, said to Aquila: Would you like to get together with me somewhere so that we might conduct an investigation of this matter based on the holy scripture? And the Jew said: Certainly -- if you would like to, let's do so! And the Christian said: When would you like? And the Jew said: Tommorow.

So it happened on the morrow that they sat at a place called Dromos, and when a large audience gathered, the Jew immediately said: On the basis of which writings do you want to conduct the discussion, my good man? Timothy the Christian said: You don't reject any book from the law or the prophets, do you? The Jew said: Before God almighty, far be it from me to repudiate any of the inspired scriptures! The Christian said: By your mentioning the name of the almighty God the one who speaks through you is now put to shame! The Jew said: And who is the one who speaks through me? The Christian said: You are not yet able to learn, but afterwards you will hear. The Jew said: So then, what are the books on the basis of which you wish to conduct the dialogue with me? The Christian said: I mentioned this matter to you because there are also certain other apocryphal books; for they are also included in the covenant of God. And the 72 Hebrew translators translated them, as did Aquila and Symmachos and Theodotion. And two other versions were also found hidden in jars, one in Jericho and one in Nicopolis; but we do not know who translated them, for they were found in the days of the desolation of Judea which took place under Vespasian. Now these are the inspired books, acknowledged by both Christians and Hebrews: the first book, that of Genesis; second, Exodus; third, Leviticus; fourth, Numbers -- these are the books dictated by God's mouth and written by the hand of Moses. And the fifth book is Deuteronomy, which was not dictated by God's mouth -- thus neither was it deposited in the Arona (that is, in the ark of the covenant). This constitutes the Mosaic Pentateuch. The sixth book is Jesus, son of Naue; seventh is Judges with Ruth; the eighth book is 1 and 2 Chronicles; the ninth book is 1 and 2 Kingdoms; the tenth book is 3 and 4 Kingdoms; eleventh, Job; twelfth, the Psalter of David; thirteenth, the Proverbs of Solomon; fourteenth, Ecclesiastes with Canticles; fifteenth, the Twelve Prophets; then Isaiah, Jeremiah, and further, Ezekiel; then Daniel and further, Esdras makes twenty. The twenty-first book is Judith; twenty-second, Esther; for the 72 translators handed down to us Tobit and the Wisdom of Solomon and the Wisdom of Jesus son of Sirach among the apocrypha. These are the 22 books that are inspired and canonical -- there are, in fact, 27, but they are counted as 22 because five of them are double and because there are only 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet --but all the rest are included among the apocrypha. The Jew said: And which are the ones handed down to you in what you call the "new covenant"?

The Christian said: What need do we have for them? The Jew said: So that just as you intend to refute me on the basis of the canon, I may refute you on the basis of the covenant you accept. The Christian said: The first book is the Gospel, then the Acts of the holy apostles, and further, their epistles and 15 epistles of the apostle Paul. We acknowledge these, but all the rest are apocrypha; and if you wish to say anything based on the apocrypha, you yourself will also have to listen. The Jew said: If you agree, then, let us start the discussion. The Christian said: Do you want to speak first or to listen? The Jew said: If you want to speak, do so. The Christian said: Do you want to be instructed on the basis of the first book, and thus move along to the others? The Jew said: Speak as you wish. The Christian said: The Lord God Almighty spoke to his servant Moses mouth to mouth; and Moses himself, when he wrote, said thus: In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth. And when the Christian rose up to begin to speak, as he bowed his head to the east and sealed himself and wept, he said the words: "In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth". And when the hearers saw him standing up, they were greatly smitten in heart, and they also stood up and likewise bowed their heads. And with one voice they all said: "God is one." The Christian continued: In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth and all their array. God made these things in five days, saying "Let there be," and it was so. But on the sixth day when he created man he did not say "Let there be," but "Let us make man after our image and likeness". To whom, then was he saying "Let us make man after our image and likeness"; or again, "Let there be light, and let the water under the firmament be gathered together and let the dry land appear, and let the earth bring forth herbs for food", and all the rest; and "Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven, and let the waters bring forth creeping things and winged creatures, birds and fish after their kind, and let the earth bring forth wild creatures and cattle and four-footed creatures", and all the rest? But as we said before, he did not say "Let there be" with reference to man, but "Let us make man after our image and likeness"; to whom was he speaking? The Jew said: As for the Almighty's speech with reference to heaven and earth and all other things, instead of saying "I shall make," he said "Let there be." For the scripture continues, saying: And God saw everything he had made, and behold it was very good. And again through David he says: At the beginning you, Lord, laid the earth's foundation, and the heavens are the works of your hands.

And again he speaks thus through Job: When I made the heaven and the earth and adorned the heaven with stars, all my angels praised me. But we have never found anything -- either in the book of Genesis, or in David, or in Job, or contained in any other scripture -- concerning a son; since he would have had to write, "God saw everything the son had made, and behold it was very good." And when he said "Let us make man after our image", he was speaking to his angels. The Christian said: Except for the fact that you acknowledge the angels, you would be putting forward a teaching of the Samaritans, since you named neither son nor Holy Spirit. But I will ask you about the creation, to which you must respond: What architect building a city and designing it would ever say "Let it be" so here and so there? To whom would he speak? Obviously, to those with him. For by the word of the Lord the heavens were established, and by the spirit of his mouth all their power. And if God was saying "Let us make man" to angels, why did he not say "You make man after my image"? The Jew said: Well, he could not have been speaking to the son, for he was not yet in existence then! The Christian said: Everyone who enters upon the study of the alphabet must first learn the force of the alpha, and then he hears the beta named. You also, then, first learn whether God had an advisor in the six days of the creation of the world, and then you may be taught by both the law and the prophets to whom he was speaking. The Jew said: If you give me reasons, fitting proofs, I will believe you. The Christian said: You who have interpreted all the books and loaded the air with words, and suppose that you are second to none -- don't you even know these things? Nevertheless, I will ungrudgingly share with you. For thus it is written in Solomon's book of Proverbs: When God prepared the heaven and the earth, I was there with him, and I was his advisor, and I was governing for him, and I was seated beside his throne; and he delighted in me day by day, and I was the one in whom he rejoiced. But Isaiah also is in harmony with these things and says: A child was born to us and a son was given to us, whose rule came to be on his shoulder; and his name is called angel of great counsel, marvelous advisor, mighty God, authoritative one, ruler of peace, father of the age to come. The Jew said: As to the first passage, you suggested the meaning of two persons, but all the same, it means the Almighty and the Holy Spirit; for the second passage does not qualify as a testimony. And what is the law? A single testimony is not acceptable. But even if you are able to give a second testimony, it is just like the first; as I said before, is concerns the Almighty and the Holy Spirit. For the Almighty himself also says through Moses: Hear, Israel, the Lord you God is one Lord, and you shall not worship a strange God -- for I am, and there is none beside me.

And concerning the Holy Spirit he says: I set my spirit in your midst As for this son, as the memoirs of him contain, in what you call "gospels": We have found out where he comes from, and his parents along with him, so how can this be God? And is God suckled? I will also tell what Luke says about him; for the present discussion is about the one who fled when John was beheaded by Herod, and then was betrayed by his own disciple, and was bound and flogged and spit on and crucified and buried; but first he also hungered and thirsted and was tempted by Satan. Does God, then, endure these things at the hands of men? And who is able to see God? -- not to mention that he also was overpowered and suffered such things as it is impossible for God to suffer! But he was also given wine to drink and was fed gall, and he was struck on the head with a rod and was crowned with thorns, and finally he was condemned to death and was crucified with robbers. I am speaking like a foreigner! How is it that you are not ashamed when you call him God who entered into a woman's womb and was born? For if he was born, he was not yet in existence before the ages. But further, where is he now? What will you say to these things? Give me an answer! The Christian said: All these things, if you listen patiently, the law and the prophets proclaimed beforehand, and I will also show you from the divine scripture. You only demonstrate whether or not God had an advisor in the six days of the creation of the world: and nothing hinders me from demonstrating to you concerning him of whom you spoke. The Jew said: I acknowledge that God had an advisor, his own Wisdom; but he did not have this Jesus! The Christian said: It was necessary that we should not cut off the discussion until I should fully demonstrate to you concerning the advisor, to your satisfaction and that of the listeners. But since you asked me these things as you wandered about, I also say this to you concerning all the things about which you inquired of me. Concerning Jesus Christ, the son of God, I will now present you with proofs; also concerning the things you did not remember to say, I will bring them forward and provide true proofs. With regard to all that he created he said "Let there be," but with regard to man he said "Let us make." And he was speaking to the marvelous advisor who was in the beginning, whose origins are from days of old, whose lineage no one can describe; to the spirit before our face, Christ the Lord who found out all the say of knowledge and gave it to Jacob his servant and to Israel his dearly beloved, and afterward appeared on the earth and associated with men.

Understand, my good man, son of Abraham, for now is the time to understand. For to this one he said "Let us make" -- and God made man, in the image of God he made him; see, a proof is given to us about the advisor. I ask you, then, and you answer me: What God made man, in the image of what God did he make him? And again it says: The Lord rained fire from the Lord from heaven And David likewise says: The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand" and again: The Lord said to me, "You are my son, today I have begotten you". For it is impossible to find other testimonies also, more numerous than these; but since time is lacking, I will go back and reply to what you asked me, setting it out in detail for you. The Jew said: I just now agreed that God had a counsellor, his own wisdom. But about this Jesus, you promised to demonstrate for me, from the divine scriptures that he is the advisor of God -- now fulfill the promise. The Christian said: Those things about which you wish to inquire, you will now hear about in the order you want to inquire. The Jew said: Now whatever I ask you about this Jesus you answer me, one by one. The Christian said: First you asked, if he was God, why he entered the womb of a woman and was born. Learn, Jew, that the prophets informed us of all these things beforehand: that he had to be born of a virgin woman, and worshipped by the Magi, and sought by Herod; and of the slaying of the infants whom Herod destroyed, and of his dwelling with men; and that he healed the various sicknesses of those who were ailing, and that at the Passover he was to be betrayed by his own disciple for thirty pieces of silver, and that he had to be bound, and handed over to Pilate and Herod, and mocked, and spat upon, and scourged, and crucified, and buried, and to rise on the third day, and that Pilate had to wash his hands. And that we might not conceal his entry, which took place when he sat upon the colt and entered Jerusalem, has not this also been written? -And the spitting, and his crucifixion, and the distributing of his garments, and all that he suffered on account of the stubbornness of your forefathers, and their audacity? It was all made known to us through the law and the prophets, and now listen with understanding! Concerning his first coming, Moses said: "The Lord God will raise up for us a prophet like me from your brothers; listen to him in all that he says to you; " and he passed sentence on the one not listening as you also know. And again David says: "He will come down like rain upon a fleece; and even God the Lord, the Lord is God and he has shone upon us." And since to show that he was to be born in Bethlehem, it said thus: "Lo, we heard it in Ephratha, we found it in the fields of the thicket."

And again Joel speaks thus: "And you Bethlehem, house of Ephratha, you are by no means least among the leaders of Judah; for from you will come a leader who will govern my people Israel; and his origins are from days of old." see above And again Isaiah says: "Behold, the virgin will be pregnant and will bear a son, and they will call his name 'EMMANOEUL' which is interpreted 'God is with us.'" but so that you may know this too, half is Syriac, and half Hebrew; for "EMMA" in Syriac means "with us," while "NOVEL" in Hebrew means "God." But also in the 2nd Psalm David says thus: "The Lord said to me: 'You are my son, today I have begotten you,". The Jew said: That which is in the 2nd Psalm was written about Solomon; or don't you know that before he was born God spoke about him saying: "I shall be to him as a father and he shall be to me as a son". Wheretofore also when he was born, he/it said 'Didich', which means 'mine'. The Christian said: He said everything carefully and in order, for God said: "If you walk in my ways as did David your father" and the rest You know that he kept none of the commandments of God, for he also built high places for each of the idols which his wives were worshipping, foreign women whom he took, concerning whom God had spoken to the sons of Israel by the hand of Moses saying: "Do not marry them" namely those gentiles around you. Know therefore then that Solomon greatly provoked God of heaven to anger, for he disobeyed him and the Lord was filled with wrath against Solomon And he told Ahijah the Shilonite to P=anoint Jeroboam the son of Nebat to be King over Israel saying "Except for the sake of my servant David, I would have cut off Solomon," And know, O Jew, that he worshipped graven images and slaughtered locusts to them. The Jew said: He did not slaughter them, but against his will he crushed them in his hand. In any event, these things are not included in the book of the kings, but are written in his Testament. The Christian said: Thereby it is all the more firmly established, because this was not revealed by the hand of a historiographer but was made known from the mouth of Solomon himself. Now the Lord raised up against as an adversary Hazael king of Syrians and rainding parties of the them?/sons Ammon and of the Idumeans and of the rest of the nations around him. Shall I then accept this one as a son of God, who did not even attempt to repent like Manasseh? For this Manasseh sinned against the Lord God exceedingly; and the Lord delivered him into the hands of The Lasarasar King of Babylon and he bound him with brass fetters and led him away into Assyria and placed him in the prison house. And while he was there he caught the Lord the God of his father Hezekiah, and the Lord heard him and led him forth out of the fortress.

And the Lord God exalted Thellasarasar king of Babylon look with favor beneficient; and he sent him back to his kingdom in Jerusalem. But of this Solomon, the book of Chronicles of the Kings has nothing about repentance; for all these things have been recorded there. But in order that we might cut off the discussion let us return to the matter at hand. For we were saying that "the Lord said to me: 'you are my son; today I have begotten you' " -These things were said concerning his birth. And concerning the magi who worshipped him and brought gifts, David says thus: "And may he flourish and let there be giveth him of the gold in Arabia. And further again, in Isaiah he says thus: "Before the child knows how to call father or mother, he shall receive the power of Damascus and devour the spoils of Samaria." And concerning the infants which Herod killed, Jeremiah mentioned this to us beforehand saying: "A voice was heard in Rama crying and great mourning; Rachel crying for her children and she would not be comforted for they are not." And concerning his incarnation, the same Jeremiah again said: "This one is our God; No other shall be reckoned before Him. He searched out every way of knowledge and he gave it to Jacob his servant and to Israel who is his beloved by him and after these things he appeared upon the earth and lived among men." And in another place the same prophet says: "And he is a man and who shall know him?". The Jew said: with respect to the former quotation, these words are not written in the Jeremiah. The Christian said: They are in the epistle of Baruch. The Jew said: this is so. The Christian said: But the epistle of Baruch and the Lamentations of Jeremiah and his prophecy designated one book. And concerning the sicknesses and diseases which he healed, Isaiah prophesied, saying: "He carried our sicknesses and bore our diseases" for concerning his holy disciplines David says: "Your sons in place of your fathers; You shall make them rulers over the whole earth". For concerning the disciple who would betray him he says thus: "The one eating my bread lifted up his heel against me". And concerning the reward which the betrayer received from the chief priests, Zechariah spoke thus: "Give me a appointed reward, or you decide; and they agreed upon a reward of thirty pieces of silver for him". And that the infants -- what I mean is children of the Hebrews -- bid him welcome with olive branches by saying "Hosanna" David says in the eight Psalm: "Lord, Our Lord, how marvelous is your name in all the earth, because your majesty is exalted far beyond the heavens; from the mouth of babes and sucklings you have furnished praise."

And he was seated upon an ass - isn't this also written about? -for Isaiah first specifies Zion, but rather the Holy Spirit through Isaiah saying: Speak to the daughter of Zion: 'Fear not; behold your king comes sitting upon a young ass; and his reward is in his hand to repay each one according to his work." And through Zachariah, he says by the same mouth to her: "Rejoice And through Zachariah, he says by the same mouth to her: "Rejoice exceedingly daughter of Zion; Shout daughter of Jerusalem; Behold your king comes to you humbly and savingly, and mounted on a beast of burden and a young ass the offspring of a beast of burden". Concerning the counsel which the chief priests and elders of the people took against Jesus, David says: "Their kinsmen said in their heart in unison come and let us cause the feasts of God to cease from the earth" And again in the 40th Psalm is says thus "All my enemies whispered slanders against me; they devised evil against me." And again in Jeremiah it says thus: "They devised a wicked design against me saying, come and let us cast down the tree into his bread" and let us bind the righteous man because he is a burden to us". Wherefore also being reminded his bonds we might say how excellently the prophets spoke concerning them --for on the one hand, Isaiah said categorically: "Let us bind the righteous man because he is a burden to us". And at the same time David says, scorning them: "Let us tear away their bonds and thrust their yoke from us. And Hosea cries bodly/frankly, saying: "And when they had bound him, they sent a gift to King Jarim," And in Esdras it says thus "They bound me, not as the father, who lead them from the land of Egypt For Pilate sent him bound to Herod, wasn't this also written at that time? For Hosea says: "When they had bound him they send a gift to King Jarim". And when they all cried "Let him be crucified," did the prophets speak at that time concerning this or not? For it says in Isaiah: "wicked and perverse seed, what are you shaking your heads about? And about what are you wagging your tongues? Is it not about the Holy One of Israel?" And again Esdras says: "By crying out at the seat of the, they humiliated me". Now concerning his being mocked and spit upon and scourged, it is written thus: For David says: "I went about in sullenness all the day long because my muscles of loins were satiated with mocking jests" And again: "All day long my enemies reproached me." But Solomon also says in the Proverbs: "And the impious were brought to naught, while they were thinking. And a little later he says: "When they the just man glorified, they said: 'woe to us because we were deceived; is not this the one whom we held in laughter and mockery? How has he come to be reckoned among the sons of God. And the same Solomon again says: Let us run together against the just one because he is inconvenient for us, and he opposes our works. And He reproaches us for sins against the law; and He charges us with the sins of our youth. He professes to have knowledge of God and calls himself a child of God.

He became to us a rebuke of our thoughts; He is a burden to us and he sees that his life is unlike others, and his paths are utterly strange. We were beckoned by him as base and he keeps both from our ways as from uncleannesses. He esteems the end of the righteous happy and boasts that God is his father. Let us see if his words are true; and let us test the issue of his life, for if the just man is God's son, he will assist him, and will deliver him from the hand of his adversaries. By violence and torture let us draw him out, in order that we might know his virtuousness and to a shameful death let us condemn him and let us test his forbearance -for from his words there shall be a visitation.' The foolish thought these things and were deserved, for their evil blinded them and they did not know God's mysteries." And also Isaiah boldly says: "I am not disobedient nor do I gainsay. I have given my back to the scourger and my cheeks to blows and my face I did not turn away from the shame of spitting, and the Lord was my help". And again Jeremiah says in Lamentation "The Spirit before our face if the annointed, the Lord, who was seized because of our corruptions; of whom we spoke among the Gentiles" And concerning Pilate washing his hands, David says: "I was my hands in innocence and I have scourged all day long And concerning his drinking sour wine and gall, he says: "And they gave me gall for my food, and for my drink they gave me sour wine" And concerning the distribution of his clothes, it is written thus: "They parted my garments among themselves and over my clothing they cast a lot" And concerning the crown of thorns with which they crowned him, David first referred to the name of the thorn itself; for finding fault with your self-will and seeing with the eyes of the heart the one who was to be crowned with it, he exhorted through it saying: "Before your thorns should know their thorn bush, while you are alive, in wrath he shall consume you" And Solomon also says in the songs: Go forth daughters of Jerusalem and see Solomon crowned with the crown with which his mother crowned him on the day of his marriages and on the day when his heart rejoiced" And concerning his crucifixion Isaiah says: "As a sheep is led to the slaughter and as a lamb is silent before the one shearing it, so likewise he does not open his mouth in his humiliation; His judgment was taken away and who shall declare his lineage; because his life is taken away from the earth " And that he had to be crucified with thieves it says thus: "And he was reckoned with the lawless" And concerning the descent into Hades David says: "He laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness and in the shadow of death" And another prophet says also: "he threw me, the beloved one, aside as an abominated corpse". And concerning his resurrection the same David says: "Let God arise and let his enemies be scattered".

And that he arose with strength and power and great glory, the same prophet David said: "And the Lord was awakened as one out of sleep as a mighty man revelling from wine and he struck his enemies to the rear; he made them a lasting reproach" And concerning his ascension he says thus: "He mounted cherubim and flew; he soared upon the wings of the wind" And likewise concerning his departure into the heavens, the same prophet said: "God has ascended with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet". For concerning his entrance into heaven the angelic powers cried saying: "Lift up your gates, O Ruler, and be lifted up you eternal doors and the King of Glory shall come in". And concerning his sitting at the right hand of the father, the Almighty, through the mouth of David, he said: "Sit at my right hand until I make of your enemies a stool for your feet". Wherefore Moses indeed knowing all these things reproached the sons of Israel with curses saying: "O crooked and perverted generation, repay these things to the Lord". And again Isaiah seeing their great recklessness, rather their senselessness, and seeing on the other hand such reasonableness belonging to their wives said: "Women coming from a spectacle, come, for the people do not have understanding". The Jew said: All things whatsoever you spoke, interpreting them concerning the one who would come, are written. But concerning this Jesus, neither his name, not again a cross, nor Jesus, nor Christ is contained anywhere in Scripture -- Neither the Law nor the Prophets mentioned a cross. The Christian said: Now I shall show you from the divine scriptures, the words Jesus, Christ, and cross. The Jew said: If you shall show me, I shall be defeated. The Christian said: Concerning the name Jesus, hear Zachariah saying: "And the Lord showed me the high priest standing before an angel of the Lord; And the devil standing as an adversary against him. And Jesus was clothed with filthy garments and the Lord said to the devil: 'The Lord rebuke you, devil, the one who chose Jerusalem.' And the Lord spoke to those standing before the Lord's face: 'Remove from him the filthy garments; and clothe him with a long tunic, and place a mitre upon his head.' And they clothed him with a white garment and placed a mitre upon his head, and the angel of the Lord was standing before him " The Jew said: He spoke these things of Jesus the son of Josedek. The Christian said: In order that we might not gloss over the point, receive the proofs just as you requested concerning the name/signifying Jesus, Christ, and cross, for I shall individually produce them. For concerning Christ, Jeremiah spoke thus: "The Spirit before our face is Christ, the Lord, who was seized because of our corruption, of whom we said/spoke: 'In his shadow we shall live among the gentiles' " And David says: "The Kings of earth array/present themselves and the rulers are gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ. And that he shall exalt the house of his Christ, Anna mentioned/said; Understand, O Jew, that the Scripture called him not only Christ but also Lord.

The Jew said: You promised to show that the things written in Zachariah concerning Josedek don't apply/refer to him -- now fulfill that promise." The Christian said: Indeed it certainly was not Jesus the Son of Josedek, who, from the day that he began his priestly ministry, wore filthy garments. Indeed, no other priest who ministered in Israel from Aaron until the day when God took away the priesthood from Israel, wore completely soiled clothes in Jerusalem." The Jew said: Then the Lord recovered the Priesthood from Israel? The Christian said: Why do you query/ask/question me about this? The Jew said: Then about what do you want me to ask? The Christian said: First about God and secondly about yourself. The Jew said: How do I do this? The Christian said: In this way: Hear God speaking through David: "Sacrifice and Offering you did not desire and I do not eat the flesh of bulls nor do I drink the blood of goats And indeed in Isaiah, utterly rejecting these things and you, he says: "Hear the word of the Lord, rulers of Sodom; Heed the word of God, people of Gomorrah. What is the multitude of your sacrifices to use? I am satiated with whole burnt-offerings; I do not desire the blood of goats, and the blood of bulls, your new moons and your feasts and your sabbaths and your feast day my soul hates. For who sought these things from your hands? No longer assay to trample my court" For concerning those of us who are gentiles, it is written thus in the book of the twelve prophets: "Afterward I shall return and I shall rebuild the fallen house of David, and I shall build up its ruins"; and attain: "The final glory of this dwelling will be great beyond the first." But he also rejected the priests with an oath, that the family of Aaron should no longer be priests, but that his only-begotten son the Lord Jesus Christ should be a priest after the order of Melchizedek forever; saying with regard to those of the nations who believe in God: "The Lord swore and will not repent, 'You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.'" On which account also in Hosea he promised adoption as sons, saying: "And it shall be in the place where it was said to them 'Not my people': and they also shall be called sons of the living God." The Jew said: But even as if they were not rejected, he was not rejected; for even if he promised something to the nations, yet Israel is the firstborn son, and not the nations. The Christian said: But the greater will be subject to the Lesser. The Jew said: Certainly the great nations round about him; but the Lord also said through Moses: "You go into nations greater than you and mightier than you to obtain your inheritance." The Christian said: Then it is not the original Jacob whom you mean; since how were the nations subject to him, the lesser? The Jew said: But who is it whom the scripture means? The Christian said: The scripture says all things well, but it is not interpreted well among you. For look at Jacob and Esau being blessed by Isaac. Isaac had been blessed by the Lord; and Abraham first, when God said to him: "In your seed all the nations will be blessed."

Now Isaac, blessing Jacob, or rather God through Isaac --Isaac tried to bless Esau; but the Lord mystically fulfilled what he promised. For when Isaac said to Esau: "Lo, I have grown old, and I do not know the day of my death; go out into the field and hunt game for me, and make me some food, so that I may eat and bless you," It was Esau the elder son, to whom Isaac said these things, but Rebecca loved Jacob. And having counseled Jacob she made food -- not from game, Jew, but from the flocks. And his mother took the fine garment of Esau her firstborn son, which she had by her, and dressed Jacob in it, and she gave the food into his hands. And he said: "Get up and eat of my game, that your soul may bless me." But that I may speak quickly, he said to Jacob: "Who are you, child?" And he: "I am your firstborn son Esau." And he blessed him as the firstborn, and even having felt him he did not recognize his body, but he recognized the voice and the garment. Wherefore, kissing Jacob, Isaac said: "I have smelled the odor of my son's garments, like the strong smell of a field which the Lord has blessed; and may the Lord give to you of the dew of heaven above, and of the richness of the earth, and abundance of grain and wine; and be master of your brother, and the sons of your father will bow down before you; and cursed be the one who curses you and blessed the one who blesses you." We do not apply these things to Jacob, but to Jesus and those with him. The Jew said: I require of you -- interpret for us how you intend these things; for I do not suppose that these things happened for the patriarch Jacob. The Christian said: You say this making a test. The Jew said: In truth, as the Lord lives. The Christian said: How do you say they are fulfilled? The Jew said: We understand that these things will be for the coming one. The Christian said: Even if the one whom you expect comes, he will find these things fulfilled; for that one comes from the tribe of Dan. For about him Jacob himself, blessing his sons, spoke thus: "And Dan himself will judge his people, as though one tribe in Israel." The Jew said: He said this with reference to Samson; for he judged the people for twenty years. The Christian said: The prophet saying: "He will judge the people just like one tribe in Israel, " it is clear that he signifies something that goes beyond the tribes; and "Dan will be a serpent on the road, biting the horse's heel, and the horseman will fall backward, awaiting the Lord's salvation." Samson did not bite horse and horseman, did he? Surely the foreigners, falling away from his presence, did not await the Lord's salvation in those days? Or did Samson not fall into the hands of foreigners, and they put out his eyes? Assuredly because these things were said about the enemies. Know, then, who it is that you expect. Isaac, having blessed Jacob, did not repent; for when Esau spoke, after Jacob had been blessed, asked by the one blessing, "Who are you?" Esau said: "I am Esau the firstborn," And Isaac was overcome with very great ecstasy. I ask you, Israelite, why was Isaac in ecstasy about this? For can it be that he did not see Esau? Yes, he saw. The Jew said: Isaac was amazed at Jacob.

The Christian said: Isaac was in great ecstasy, for the scripture did not say, "he was amazed," did it? Whoever sees an ecstasy, it is clear that he sees some vision. Or do you not know that Abraham also, being in ecstasy about the setting of the sun, when the Lord made the covenant of circumcision with him, saw the same things? When the scripture says that about the setting of the sun an ecstasy fell upon Abraham. On which account also there was a change of the name; it is clear that "setting of the sun" signifies at the end of days. The Jew said: What then did Isaac see? The Christian said: Isaac saw the people whom he expected to bless rejected, and the one who was not people being near the Lord. For he heard Esau seeking a blessing with bitter weeping. "Your brother coming with cunning deceit took your blessing"; and Esau said to Isaac, "Do you have only one blessing, Father? Bless me too, Father." And Isaac said to Esau: "If I made him your master, if I established him in grain and wine, what shall I do for you, child?" He said "in grain and wine," Jew; certainly not "in flesh and blood of bulls and goats"? is it not so? The Jew said: And what then is "I established him in grain and wine"? The Christian said: To be a priest after the order of Melchizedek, just as David said: "I do not eat the flesh of bulls, nor will I drink the blood of goats, but sacrifice to God the sacrifice of praise," and so on. The Jew said: And the "sacrifice of praise" -- what is it? The Christian said: You cannot understand now, but you will understand afterward, when the Lord gives assent. The Jew said: So Isaac, at that time when he was in ecstasy, saw the people from the nations drawing near to God, and Israel rejected? The Christian said: Yes, but he also saw Emmanuel at that time; for unless he had seen him, he would not have been in ecstasy. The Jew said: Then did Abraham see him too, when he was in ecstasy? The Christian said: For if he did not see him, how did he make Jeblaem swear by him not to take a wife for Isaac from the daughters of the Canaanites, saying: "Put your hand beneath my thigh"? And he made him swear by the God of heaven and earth, "that you will not take a wife for my son Isaac from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live." The Jew said: I exhort you, as God lives, tell us for what reason Abraham sought to have Jeblaem's hand placed beneath his thigh, and made Jeblaem swear thus? The Christian said: Since he was a prophet, as a prophet he signified that God the Word was going to take flesh from him. The Jew said: And this Jesus took from him, being God before? The Christian said: Yes, as he himself ordained and knows, he is descended from Abraham according to the flesh. For also it was said to him by the Lord: "In Isaac shall your seed be named" and "in your seed all the nations of the earth will be blessed." The Jew said: How was he born? Tell me also his origins. The Christian said: Your own mouth has reported how you have read both the old and the new covenant, and you do not know this?

The Jew said: Well, there is a genealogy in the old, and in the new it is in according to Matthew, and is contained thus: "Jacob begot Joseph, the husband of Mary, from whom was born Jesus who is called Christ, and Joseph begot Jesus who is called Christ"; it says he begot him of Mary. The Christian said: You must speak rightly and in order, as we also spoke in truth, speaking from the old thus, as a cup in the hand of the Lord, full of drink of unmixed wine, and he poured from one to the other; and indeed if you think to hide anything at all, we are not ignorant. It is written thus; for beginning from Abraham it says: "Abraham begot Isaac; and Isaac, Jacob; and Jacob, Judah and his brothers; and Judah, Perez and Zerah; and Perez, Hezron; and Hezron, Ram; and Ram, Amminadab; and Amminadab, Nahshon; and Nahshon, Salmon; and Salmon, Boaz; and Boaz Obed, from Ruth; and Obed, Jesse; and Jesse, David the king; and David, Solomon; and Solomon, Rehoboam; and Rehoboam, Abijah; and Abijah, Asaph; and Asaph, Jehoshaphat, Joram; and Joram, Azariah; and Azariah, Jotham; and Jotham, Ahaz; and Ahaz, Hezekiah; and Hezekiah, Manasseh; and Manasseh, Amos; and Amos, Josiah; and Josiah, Jechoniah and his brothers, in the time of the Babylonian deportation. And after the Babylonian deportation, Jechoniah begot Salathiel; and Salathiel, Zerubbabel; and Zerubbabel, Abiud; and Abiud, Eliakim; and Eliakim, Azor; and Azor, Zadok; and Zadok, Achim; and Achim, Elius; and Elius, Eleazar; and Eleazar, Matthan; and Matthan, Jacob; and Jacob, Joseph, to whom was betrothed Mary; of her born Jesus who is called Christ." And after telling the whole genealogy it goes on, saying: "The birth of this Jesus was thus; for his mother Mary having been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit." The Jew said: Do you say that again found to be a virgin after giving birth, she remains so until now? The Christian said: God said through the prophets that this would be, and we find many things about this matter given symbolically. The Jew said: But your gospels contain nothing of these things, unless there is something among the apocrypha. Surely I do not have to believe them? The Christian said: Do not give ear to the apocrypha at all; but it is clear that we have to believe the things of the law and the prophets, even against our will. The Jew said: And now speak, citing from the law and the prophets. I know that you bring forward the passage in Isaiah which says: "Behold, the virgin will conceive and will bear a son"; and clearly, after the birth, it does not say there is anything of that sort, does it? The Christian said: As the Lords lives, I did not intend to speak to you about this; but since you yourself have cited it, read a little before and you will find the truth there.

For thus it is written: "And the Lord spoke to Ahaz, saying, 'Ask for a sign for yourself from the Lord your God, in the depth or in the height'; and Ahaz said, 'I will not ask, nor will I put the Lord to the 'test.' And he said, 'Hear now, house of David, is it a small thing to you to contend with men? How it is that you contend with the Lord? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin will be with child, and will give birth to a son, and they will call his name Emmanuel; wondrous counsellor, mighty God, one in authority, prince of peace, father of the age to come'". And in another he says: "See, you despisers, and be amazed, and perish; for I am doing a deed in your days that you will not believe if someone tells you". The Jew said: By no means did he say these things about what we are inquiring into. The Christian said: These things which we say, now many the Lord spoke on account of your unbelief; for the "therefore the Lord will give you a sign, " and "for I am doing a deed that you will not believe" -- do you seek some greater signs than these? The Jew said: You promised me that you would also give signs from the law; give them to us. The Christian said: Well then, being unsuccessful with the others, we put forward these; for by no means, until you say so, do we boast that we have said enough; we whall not cease offering in addition still greater signs. For behold, we find written in the book of Exodus: "And the angel of the Lord appeared in a flame of fire in a bush; and Moses saw that the bush was burning, but the bush was not being consumed". Is this a sign of the virgin's giving birth, or not? The Jew said: Tell us all that you consider certain. The Christian said: If you were not convinced by these, here is another sign. Daniel was thrown into the lions' den; and the king sealed with his signet-ring, and his nobles, each with his own ring. And we find that the Lord God dispatched Habakkuk, an angel of the Lord carrying him off, and he gave Daniel to eat; and the Lord God restored Habakkuk to Judaea. Now when the king came, did he find the seals intact or not? The Jew said: He found the seals intact. For Habakkuk was not sent to Daniel during descent, but when in the time of Cyrus he was thrown into the pit, Habakkuk came; but the scripture does not say that the den was sealed then. The Christian said; Witless and stupid! What sort of a fool does not know that what happened in the case of a king especailly, happens unfailingly; and just as it was sealed the first time in the time of Dariue, so also in the time of Cyrus. The Jew said: If the scripture does not bring it in, what shall we say? The Christian said: Here, I give you an example; for the book of Genesis goes thus: "And God made man, taking dust from the earth"; but scripture does not, "Let us make his hands and feet and eyes, ears and all the rest, outside the inside." He said only, "Let us make man after our image and likeness"; but we understand that the parts are these.

And in Daniel it is said in the first that the king and his nobles made their seal-impressions. It is clear that also in the second; but in this too I show indulgence to you; listen with understanding. For the scripture that says this continues: "And the king came," it says, "on the seventh day to lament over Daniel. And as he drew near to the pit he cried out in a loud voice, saying, 'Daniel, Daniel, Page inserted in translation on Ezekiel 44.2 servant of the most high God, the God whom you worship persistently, has he been able to rescue you from the mouth of the lions? And Daniel said: 'King live forever, my God whom I worship persistently has sent his angel and shut the mouths of the lions and they have not maltreated/injured me'". Thus I ask you, o Jew, how did the angel go down into the pit? By means of fearful/awesome angelic authority and power, or with gentleness? The Jew said: with gentleness. The Christian said: seeing that the seals were not destroyed, you have answered well. The Jew said: for if he entered by means of angelic power, it is clear to all that the stone would be broken to pieces and scattered. The Christian said: even at that you do not really know, but I will prompt you to make you answer me. The Jew said: I said that he descended with gentleness. And this is clear to all since at the command of the Almighty, the seals were carefully guarded intact. The Christian said: Then the virginity of St. Mary was carefully guarded in that it was commanded but not when she conceived? The Jew said: can you give us another answer concerning this from somewhere? The Christian said: I will not stop, since I have such; for the Almighty clearly showed it to his servants the prophets. But if you do not receive even such proofs, but test them, and ask for still other such from the law and prophets, we do not neglect them since we have such. For the Lord God foreknew your obstinacy, and instead fully revealed to us--for the sake of the people fashioned for the Lord from the gentiles, which the Lord also made--through his prophets everything we inquired after in the divine scriptures. For Ezekiel clearly speaks thus, knowing about this matter: "And the Lord led me to the outer gate to the north, which looks east. And behold, there was one gate full of the glory of the Lord, and that gate was shut. And the Lord said to me: 'This gate shall never be opened, nor will anyone enter or exit through it, for Lord Almighty, he shall enter through it, and the gate will be sealed forever'". What will you tell us about these matters, o Jew? The Jew said: He said these things with reference to the Solomonic temple, for these things happened there, and he spoke concerning it. For the glory of the Lord also filled the house. The Christian said: A cloud filled the house, for it was not the Lord's glory unless remained in the Solomonic temple into which Solomon did not first enter, then the priests and levites,

then Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt who took the golden shields that Solomon made--three hundred beaten shields. And Pharaoh Necho took them when he entered the house of God in the days of Rheoboam son of Solomon. And it was not enough that King Uzziah entered and saw all the furnishings of the temple, but he even ascended to the altar and took fire and offered incense, wherefore the Lord made him contract leprosy because he did this. And again, Nebuchadnezzer king of Babylon came and entered the temple of the Lord and took what Solomon had made--the censers and the sockets and the vessels and the libation bowls and the golden table and the golden lampstand and all the gold objects found in the treasuries of the house, and the silver--all these things Neb. king of B. took. If then he even searched the treasuries of the Lord's house, even down to the Nechota, and searched by entereing into the hidden vaults, which gate do you say escaped their notice, into which they did not enter? But if escaped even their notice, it did not escape that of Nabouzarden, the chief officer of Nebuchadnezzer. For after he took all the gold vessels, he departed to Deblata to fight the Idumeans and Arabs and Syrians. Thus he sent Nabouzardan to Judea, and he entered and took the rest of the vessels and brass and broke the two brazen pillars and the brazen sea and the brazen bulls under it and the brazen altar and the stands and the bells and the pots and the kettles and the flesh-hooks. And Nab. broke all the brass vessels and took their brass to Babylon and burned the temple with fire and likewise burned the city. So what gate remains sealed forever/ Did not everything happen that Jesus said would happen happen to the temple of which you speak-stone will not remain on stone, without being destroyed? Did not Hadrian take its stones and build a theater? The Jew said: We ought to return and make inquiry about everything you said concerning this Jesus. But now, since you have given me proofs from those passages you promised to give, let us now bypass matters concerning Jerusalem. For you promised to tell us from divine scriptures matters concerning the wood on which Jesus was crucified, then he was buried. The Christian said: Whatever you ask of me, I will show you. The Jew said: You promised to speak about the cross, for we have to make a complete inquiry concerning Jesus. The Christian said: Behold, since you asked concerning the cross, the first almighty symbol, as it is written thus in the book of Genesis: "When Jacob fled from Esau his brother, he came to a certain spot and slept there, for the sun was going down. And he took a stone and put it at his head, and Jacob dreamed a dream. And behold, a great ladder was fixed in the earth and its top reached to heaven; And the angels of God ascended and descended on it. And the Lord was supported on it". It is clear to all that the phrase "the Lord was supported on it" is to be understood thus, as when the shepherd leans on his rod. The Jew said: And what do the angels ascending and descending signify? The Christian said: Then you don't know? Notice that it does not say descending and ascending, but first ascending; for as the wood of the cross is first fixed in the ground, just as the ladder was fixed in the Jacob passage, immediately the Lord receives the gentiles and they ascent.

The Jew said: Then who are the ones who descend? The Christian said: They are those to whom he stretched his hands all day long, to a people disobedient and opposing. Wherefore we notice that the gentiles are ascending, but the Jews are rejected and descending. The Jew said: And how have we opposed him or been disobedient to him? The Christian said: You disobeyed him by provoking him to jealousy over those that are no Gods, as Moses said, and again when that one says "I showed you many good works from my father; for which of his works do you stone me?". And you said "you have a demon"; and again "crucify him". These are your disobedient and opposing acts just as also you did similarly in the old covenant/testament. The Jew said: Things mentioned in your scriptural books are not acceptable. The Christian said: Which of these? For did you not do not even in the old --and things even worse than those? The Jew said: What did we do worse than those? The Christian said: Then don't you know? Did they not speak also then, casting contempt on the manna that the Lord rained on them, and they said "MA AN OUDEN", which means "what is this?" and again, "Our soul has nothing except this light/vain manna". And they reviled Moses, or rather, God, by speaking, and they spoke in contempt: "It is enough for you that you rule us and brought us into a land flowing honey and milk". And they said, "Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt--we remember the fish we ate freely and the meat and the cucumbers and leeks and garlics and onions". But since I gave the symbol concerning the cross from Genesis, I am giving you a second from Exodus, which you cannot oppose; for it is written thus: "When the sons of Israel came to Raphidim, Amalek came out to oppose them in a fierce battle, and Moses said to Jesus son of Naue: 'Take twelve thousand men with you from all of Israel and go out to join battle with Amalek. But I will ascend the hill/mountain and pray to the Lord.' And it happened that when Moses stretched out his hands to the Lord, Israel was winning, but when Moses let loose his hands, Amalek was winning". Now Amalek means "antichrist"--wherefore he was also compared to the devil, for the Lord said, "I will completely annihilate Amalek from under heaven", just as it also took place. But tell me, o Jew, when the companions of Moses saw this incredible/marvelous sign, what did they do to him? The Jew said: You tell what they did to him. The Christian said: As the Lord lives, you tell it! The Jew said: They set stones under Moses' hands until he put Amalek flight. The Christian said: And what is a more incredible/marvelous proof of the cross that this?! And again, the Christian said: And in that the man was stretching out his hands, of Jew, what then is that man? The Jew said: Why? Don't you know? The Christian said: In knowing I perceive and believe, because it is thus just as David said that "Our God who was before the eonds brought salvation on earth and reigned in the midst of the earth" this is how we receive eternal life. But I wish to hear also from you, what a man is when he stretches out his hands? The Jew said: Crucified.

And all the people laughed. Then the Christian again said: Do you want to have still other testimonies concerning this? The Jew said: From where? The Christian said: So that you will know assuredly concerning this and concerning the designation of the trees; for Isaiah says: "The gentiles will enter Jerusalem with cypress and pine and cedar together to glorify my holy place". And again, Moses said to your ancestors with reference to the one stretched our on these pieces of wood: "And you will see your life hanging before your eyes and you will not believe". The Jew said: You speak well, although you don't want the truth, for the same Moses himself said "cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree" --notice then what you deify! The Christian said: And the divine scriptures also say it all very well in saying: "He who teaches a fool is like one who glues together a potsherd", for such things as have been spoken have been spoken into the ears of one void of comprehension. Review again what has been covered, o pitiful and wretched man; from the beginning of the discourse until now, we said this, that the reason he descended to the earth and took flesh from the virgin Mary through the holy spirit was that he might dissolve all these things contained in the law and the prophets on account of our sins, and along with all these things he might also lift this curse from men, not that he himself would be a curse. Not at all! for as I repeatedly said, it is impossible that God is the one who has the power of life and death unless he can destroy the curse written in the law. The Jew said: No one who is really engaged in a discussion resorts to insult! The Christian said: But again, neither is a man understanding if he receives good answers concerning what he seeks and he does not seek to make an attempt at darkness instead of light. The Jew said: Are there then two persons, father and son, and the holy spirit is a third. The Christian said: There are three particular manifestations but one general reality; and three persons but one deity--one in three and three in one! The Jew said: How can these things be so? The Christian said: Unless we toil hard with many elementary matters and fill the air with words, we profit nothing; yet even now I will answer what you asked me, so listen with understanding. For Isaiah speaks thus: "And it happened that in the year king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on an exalted and elevated throne, and the house was full of his glory, and Seraphim were standing around him-six wings on one and six wings on the other and two wings covering their faces and two covering their feet--and they both cried out as they flew, saying, 'Holy-holy-holy, Lord Sabaoth". They did not say it only once and then become silent, not twice, but three times at once and one time in three; nor again 'holy ones', thus proclaiming a plurality of gods. But in that they said 'holy', the triad is

clearly indicated, and in that they continued and said 'Lord Sabaoth', it clearly indicates to us that the holy triad is of the same basic reality. For the same prophet says: "A holy one resting among holy ones". The Jew said: The reference to "a holy one resting among the holy ones" clearly indicates that he is resting in the things that are well pleasing to him from eternity. And he is resting also with respect to the creatures where his fearsome throne is. The Christian said: What, then; are the creatures holy with respect to which the holy one rests? and if these matters are as you claim, to whom do they cry 'holy-holy' without resting? The Jew said: You tell who it is to whom they cry. The Christian said: They direct the cry 'holy' to the Almighty, even to him concerning whom it is said, "By the word of the Lord were the heavens established," and again concerning the holy spirit, "and by the spirit of his mouth, is all their power". The Jew said: How can these things be? The Christian said: Because the Logos was in the beginning and the Logos was with God and the Logos was God--the Logos became flesh through the holy virgin Mary through the spirit. The Jew said: Will you tell me this by presenting proofs, or how will you demonstrate it? The Christian said: Since I see you are patiently searching concerning this matter, as you wish I will give you as proofs certain matters concerning the virgin and the holy spirit. For in India, the pearl comes into being in the same sort of manner, in water and in a living shell; and it comes into being as follows. For when they have opened to a feed, just as those that are left desire from/of God, lightning flashes. Then when the light of the lightning has filled the sea and the dry land, the creature locks it up and something of the is received within it. Then from the light of the flash and the water, the pearl comes into being. So you should also understand those things that pertain to Christ, how he was begotten from the virgin Mary according to the flesh, through the holy spirit. And we have a testimony in what the prophet Isaiah says: "Behold a virgin will conceive in her womb and will bear a son, and his mother will not know a husband". The Jew said: We find many passages in the divine scriptures concerning the holy spirit and his power and his beneficence. For with reference to Beseleel, the Lord filled them with the holy spirit so that they could plan and embroider with gold and silver and brass and iron and whatever is refined by fire, and carve things in wood and precious stone, and embroider on scarlet and blue and purple and linen, and all the rest. And the spirit of the Lord empowered Barak and Gideon and the other judges. And the spirit of the Lord watched over David. And we find many things said about the holy spirit, but about this son, I am waiting to hear convincingly fully something from the divine scriptures.

The Christian said: We shall once more provide you with proofs concerning the counselor of the almighty without hesitation; wherefore you must also listen with understanding concerning the son of God. For it is written in the first book, thus: "And the Lord appeared to Abraham at the oak at Mambre, where he sat at the door of his tent at midday. And when Abraham looked up he saw that, behold, three men were coming down to him. And after Abraham stood he went; to meet them and bowed to the ground and said to them: 'Come aside with me into the tent, and let your feet be washed with water and be refreshed by the tree and after that, proceed on the journey from which you departed on account of your servant.' And the Lord said to Abraham, 'Do as you have suggested. ' And Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarra his wife and said to her, 'Hurry and mix three measures of fine flour and make loaves.' And Abraham ran to the flocks and took from them a tender and fine calf and gave it to his household servant who hastened to prepare it". Pay attention, o Jew, to the things so accurately spoken, for they are not myths but mysteries of God. For the three men do not have to eat barley meal, but this also was a pattern of the holy triad and of the incarnate stewardship of Christ. For there are three measures, while 20 measures make one <ksestes> accordigng to pure measure. And in the one who appeared to Abraham, note authority and power: "For Abraham took butter and milk and unleavened bread and the calf he prepared and brought in to them and they ate. And the Lord said to Abraham, 'Where is Sarra your wife?' And he said, 'Behold she is in the tent.' And the Lord said, 'I will come to you at this very time which you know, and Sara will have a son'". See, Jew, a promise of God's power! Note also his authority: "For as the men," it says, "were departing"--behold, men, o Jew--"they looked towards Sodom and Gomorra. And the Lord said to Abraham, 'Shall I hide what I will do from Abraham my servant? But Abraham shall become a great and multitudinous nation, and all the nations of earth will be blessed through him.' And the Lord said, 'A report against Sodom and Gomorra is multiplied greatly, and their cry ascends to heaven. Thus when I go down I will see whether they are doing as their cry which came suggests. But if not, I will know.' And when Abraham drew near he bowed down and said, 'No, Lord, do not destroy a righteous one with the impious so that the righteous is as the impious. No, Lord, judge of all the earth, do not judge in this place. Will you not spare the whole place for the sake of 50 righteous, if they are there?' And the Lord said to Abraham, 'If there are 50 righteous there, I will not destroy for the sake of the 50 righteous.' And Abraham said, 'Since I have begun to speak to my Lord, although I am dust and ashes; if 5 are lacking from the 50 righteous, will you not spare for the sake of the 45?' And the Lord said, 'I will spare the whole place if there are 45 there.' And Abraham said to the Lord;

'Since I must continue to speak to my Lord; if 40 are found there?' And the Lord said, 'I will spare the whole place if there are 40 righteous there.' And Abraham said, 'Nay, Lord, if I may speak but once again; if there are 30 righteous there, will you not spare the whole place for the sake of the 30?' And the Lord said, 'I will spare the whole place for the sake of the 30.' And Abraham said, 'May the Lord not be angry and I will speak; if there are 20 there?' And the Lord said, 'I will not destroy it for the sake of the 20.' And Abraham drew near to bow down to the Lord and said, 'Nay, Lord, let me speak once more; what if 10 are found there?' And the Lord said, 'I will not destroy it for the sake of the 10.' And Abraham ceased speaking with the Lord. And Abraham entered his tent, and the men departed on their journey and entered Sodom at evening. And behold, Lot was sitting by the wayside and went out to meet them and bowed down to them on the ground and said, 'Come aside, my Lords, into the house of your servant and stay there; and afterwards resume your journey.' And they said, 'Nay, but we will take our quarters in the street.' And Lot persuaded them and they came in to stay with him. And he brought them unleavened bread and they ate and drank before retiring. And it happened in the middle of the night that the men of the city surrounded Lot's house and called to Lot saying, 'Where are the men who came to visit you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we might co-generate with them.' And Lot went out to them, and closed the door behind him and said to them, 'No, brothers, do not act wickedly towards these men, but I have two daughters who have never had intercourse with a man. And I will bring them out to you, and you may do whatever you want to them, but do not act wickedly towards these men , for they are visiting under the shelter of my roof.' The men of the place answered and said to him, 'Keep out of this! You came to sojourn, and not also to pass judgment. Now, then, shall we do evil to you or to them?' But the men reached out their hands and pulled Lot back to them and closed the door, and struck the men blind. And they groped around seeking the door, but they couldn't find it. And the Lord said to Lot , 'Is anyone with you in this place? Sons or daughters or in-laws? If anyone is with you, bring them out for we are about to destroy this place.' And when Lot went out he spoke to his sons-in-law who had married his daughters and said as follows: 'Arise and leave this city for the Lord will wipe out this place.' And he seemed to be jesting in the sight of his sons-in-law. And it happened that as morning arose, the angels urged Lot on, saying, 'Hurry and leave here, for we can not do our job until you leave.' And they took Lot's hand and his wife's hand and his two daughters' hands so that the Lord might spare them. And they led them outside and said, 'Save your soul/life, flee for safety to the hills, do not turn back lest evils overtake you.' And Lot said to the Lord, 'I cannot be safe in the hills, lest I succumb. No, behold there is this little city to which I can flee. It is not little and my life will be sought.'

And the Lord said to Lot, 'Behold, I will regard your presence also in this respect so as not to abandon the city of which you have spoken. And now, go, behold, because of you the city will not be abandoned.' Wherefore its name was called Segor and the Lord rained fire from the Lord out of heaven on Sodom and Gomorra. Then what Lord rained fire and brimstone from what Lord? Notice, o Jew, that it was 'God powerful with authority'. He promised to give a son to Sara's womb and he did so. He said to Abraham that 'if I find up to 10 righteous in Sodom, I will not abandon it.' And to Lot, the Lord said, 'do not turn back in mind,' but when his wife disobeyed, she became a pillar of salt, a sign to all generations forever. The Jew said, ' Concerning the two presences, just as also I said at first, I confess to be fully satisfied. But I am seeking whether this Jesus really is the one who appeared at that time to Abraham.' The Christian said, Do you want to hear of the awareness/knowledge of the two persons in yet another place, in order that you may not again deny anything? The Jew said, I formerly denied concerning this one, but as I now said concerning the son, I seek accuracy. Nonetheless, whence do you have anything to say again? The Christian said, From Exodus, at the time when Moses asked to see the glory of the Lord, for it is written in Exodus thus, "And Moses said to the Lord, behold, Lord, you said, 'You found grace before me' and, 'I know you above all men.'" You did not show me who will go along up with us. But having heard, I myself will go with you, again Moses said, "If I have found favor before you, make yourself manifest to me. Let me see you clearly, and show me your glory." And the Lord said to Moses, "And this saying I shall effect for you, for you have found favor before me and I know you above all men. I will go along before you with my glory, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you, and I will have mercy on whomever I have mercy on, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion on." And the Lord said to Moses, "You will not be able to see my face, for a man may not see my face and live." And the Lord said, " Behold, now, a place beside me in the rock, and you will stand in the crevice of the rock at the time when the glory of the Lord passes by. And I shall cover with my hand over you, until it passes by, and you will see my back." And the Lord commanded Moses, "Cut two stone tablets like the first ones, and go up on the mountain." And Moses did all the things the Lord commanded him. And when the Lord had written the ten sayings on the two stone tablets, Moses having then entered into the crevice of the rock, the covered his hand over the face of Moses. And The Lord called on the name of the Lord, saying, "The Lord is God, compassionate and merciful, long-suffering, and plentiful in mercy, and true." I ask you, therefore, O Jew, you answer me: what Lord said to what Lord, "The Lord is God, compassionate and merciful, long-suffering and plentiful in mercy?" What Lord called on the name of what Lord?

For a confirmation of all these things, hear the Holy Spirit speaking through Daniel, thus: "At the time when three holy servants /youths/ were thrown into the furnace of fire," the angel of God being there, whom the Lord sent to Moses and the sons of Israel, this /angel/ went down together with those around Azariah into the furnace. Him the king of Babylon having seen, and having asked /if/ the entry into the furnace had been of the three youths only, and having heard that it /was/ truly so, the king himself confessed and made known the vision of the fourth, saying, "Here I see four men, loosed and walking about in the midst of the furnace, and the appearance of the fourth clearly like a son of God" - O Jew. The Jew said, And at the beginning I said that you persuaded me concerning the two persons, but now we are inquiring about the matters concerning this son. The Christian said, And if you concealed the truth, you will again be refuted by many proofs from the divine writings. Know, therefore, O Jew, that the divine writings did not conceal the oneness-in-substance of Father and Son and Holy Spirit. The Jew said, All things you have spoken rightly and in order, that if all things divine scriptures spoke, they spoke concerning this son - and I was persuaded. The Christian said, The whole time, all the things we said we said extraordinarily. The Jew said, We spoke as a result of reminding you of your Christians' gospels, each of which agreed concerning him. But you extended the argument widely, and because of this until now we wasted time. But now as I will ask you, answer me briefly, asking nothing else for yourself, if the one who is proclaimed in the covenant of the law and in the prophets is Christ, that is, Jesus, concerning whom is the argument. The Christian said, Whatever you wish to ask, thus speak, as you are receiving genuine proofs. The Jew said, This one who was seen by Abraham at the oak of Mamre, whence do you make this clear that this is the son? The Christian said, Abraham himself having forseen in the spirit him who was to become incarnate from him, by him who was over his house swear not to take for Issac a Canaanite wife, but Issac and Jacob blessed him. The Jew said, I beg you, explain to us both things: the command of Abraham commanded with an oath and the blessings of Issac and Jacob that are coming to be on him - speak precisely. The Christian said, Now Abraham was very angry with the sons and the daughters of the Canaanites, in two ways being urged on by the Lord, for the Lord said to him, "You are well pleasing to me," all things that were not pleasing to the Lord Abraham hated. But these were the things being done by the Canaanites, let me pass the name of the land, and proceeding from the division of the land under heaven, as Noah divided to his sons after the cataclysm, having given them a law that a man should not plunder his neighbor. And Canaan, the son of Ham, transgressed the command of his father and the oath, for he bound them with an oath. Canaan, then, had this sin, that he seized the land of his brother Shem, for the land of Canaan belonged to Shem by lot.

For Ham fathered Cush, from whom are the Ethiopians; and Mizraim, from whom are the Egyptians; and Phoud, from whom are the Libyians; and Canaan, by whom was fathered Sidon, his firstborn. And the Canaanite and Hittite and Hivite and Jesubite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Girgashite and the Arukite and Asennite and the Aradite and the Samaritan and the Amathite, these, having been fathered by Canaan, sons of Canaan, son of Ham, son of Noah, rose up and oppressed Shem and lifted up his land. Now, God said to Abraham, 'The sins of Amorites are not yet filled up,' For God is eagerly awaiting when he will give back the land to Shem and will let loose their curse. But they did not understand. This is the second curse of the sons of Ham, for the first had come about under Noah. At the time when Ham saw the nakedness of his father who was drunk, from the vineyard he planted, after the flood -- Ham not having covered him but having held him up to shame -- when Noah had risen from his drunkeness and sleep, he knew what Ham his youngest son had done to him, and he cursed him, saying, 'Cursed be Ham, a slave, a servant, he will be to his brothers.' But knowing concerning Shem and Japheth, that they had covered the nakedness of their father, he blessed them, saying, 'Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem, and Canaan will be his servant, God expand Japheth, and led him dwell in the tents of Shem, and Canaan will be their slave.' -- These two curses Ham had. And under them he led their sons and daughters in fire to the demonic. Knowing this, Abraham did not wish to take for Isaac a wife from the daughters of Canaan, so that his seed might become accessory to these evils. For Isaac was blessed by the mouth of God almighty, at the time he was sacraficed by his own master having become a type. Now the Lord God having sent forth a ram, which Abraham saw held fast by the horns in a plant. Sabek, that is forgiveness, for 'sabek' is thus translated: 'forgiveness.' This ram Abraham offered in place of Isaac his son. But the Lord blessed them, saying to Abraham, 'I swear by myself saying the Lord says, Of a truth blessing I shall bless you, and causing to multiply I shall cause you to multiply, as the stars of the heaven and the sand of the earth, because you obeyed my voice.' This blessing Isaac gave to Jacob in duplicate, and Jacob to Judah. Now, Moses spoke thus concerning this son, 'The Lord your God will raise up a prophet for you out of your brothers, like me. Hear him in all things he will say to you.' Through David he also testified us a testimony, saying, 'Hear, my people, and I am testifying, Israel, if you hear me: there will not be in you a new god, nor will you worship a foreign god. For I am the Lord your God who led you out of the land of Egypt; your mouth having been widened, I shall fill it.' Again Isaiah says, 'I, God, first, and into the coming ages I am.' And in Jeremiah it is written thus, 'This is our God, another will not be considered in place of him. He found every way of knowledge and gave it to Jacob his servant and to Israel his beloved after him.

After this things he was seen on earth and was gathered together with men.' The Jew said, I want to know the blessings of Isaac and Jacob in these things -- in whom do you think them fulfilled, in each of those blessed, I say, i.e., in Jacob and Judah, or in someone else? The Christian said, To Jacob and Judah none of these things came to pass, for Isaac blessed his son, and it did not turn out thus. Having fixed him with grain and wine, how Jacob went down in Egypt because of the famine? How his son was sold into slavery, whom he established as lord of his brothers? And if Jacob was lord of Esau, how he prayed to the Lord, saying, 'Deliver me, Lord, out of the hand of Esau my brother, because I fear him?' Does the lord fear his slave? The Jew said, What then? Does the scripture lie in blessing him? The Christian said, God forbid! It does not lie. For all things the scripture said are true. But listen to the scripture speaking: 'Isaac smelled the smell of the garments of Jacob.' But the garments which Jacob was then wearing were Esau's. And Isaac said, 'Behold, the smell of the garments of my son, as a smell full of the field -- the son whom the Lord blessed.' And let us see of which garments he said it was the smell. These are the garments spoken of through Isaiah, concerning which he says, 'My soul rejoice in the Lord, for he put on me the garment of salvation, and an undergarment of gladness he put around me. He placed around me, as on a bridegroom, a headdress, and as a bride he adorned me with adornment.' For the smell of the garments is, concerning which smell David spoke. 'as myrrh on the head, flowing down upon the fringe of his clothing.' Solomon, in his Songs, says, 'My beloved went down into his orchard, he gathered in every fruit his fragrant herbs.' But Isaiah the prophet speaks thus concerning this smell: 'My elect ones will eat upon my holy mountain, they will eat joy, they will drink wine, they will anoint themselves with myrrh.' The Jew said, All the things you think to interpret you speak having concealed them, and not plainly. But if it seems good to you, make known these things to us freely. The Christian said, It is for you now to listen freely? But you will listen whenever the Lord shall will it. The Jew said, On my account you would not have grounds to say these things, but perhaps on account of these here present, make them plain. The Christian said, All of these who happen to be Christians will surely know from so many proofs. The Jew said, Show us then the blessing on Judah. The Christian said, Also the blessing that came to pass for Judah was not fulfilled for Judah but for the son. For the scripture speaks thus, 'Judah, may your brothers praise you, your hands upon the back of your enemies, and the sons of your father will worship you. You went up from a shoot, my son, having fallen down you fell asleep like a lion and like a whelp. -- Who will rouse you?

Until there comes that which is laid up in store, and he will be the expectation of the nations, tying his donkey to a vineyard and the foal of his donkey to the tendril of a vine. Gladdening are his eyes from wine, and white his teeth as milk.' If, then, all things were not fulfilled in the son, O Jew, hold me as having lied completely. The Jew said, tell us how they were fulfilled. The Christian said, In the first place, Judah did not go up from a shoot, for again it says, 'Leah bore a fourth son to Jacob, and he called his name Judah.' How so? For the one spoken of by Isaiah is 'from a shoot': 'A boy will be given to you, and his mother will not know man.' and again, 'Behold, the virgin will conceive in womb and will give birth to a son, and they will call his name Emmanuel.' The Jew said, Isaiah said, 'Behold, the young woman', not 'the virgin'. The Christian said, If He indeed said neanis -- neanis is the Hebrew, but in order that I may thus be understood by you, neanis is translated parthenos. For it says in Deuteronomy, 'If a man having come upon a neanis, a parthenos, in the field, and having overpowered her, violates her, and it becomes known to her father and mother, they will give her to him for a wife. But if refusing he will refuse, with a stoning they will stone him and will kill him, because he made an abomination in Israel. But to the neanis nothing will be done, for the neanis cried out, and there was none who rescued her. Know, therefore, O Jew, that the neanis is equal to the parthenos. But concerning who the Logos to us, again Daniel saw it cut out of a mountain, without hands; strike the image on iron and clay feet, and it shattered them completely--into all kinds of things--the clay, the iron, the copper, the silver, the gold--and made them like a cloud of dust from a summer threshing floor. And the great force of the Spirit removed them, and a place was not found for them. For Jesus himself, having come into world, removed all idols from the earth, even as it is written: 'And he removed the names of the Baals from the earth, and there will be no remembrance of them.' These things the prophets spoke because of the son who came from the shoot. The Jew said, How, then, do all the scriptures want to call this Jesus the son of David, and even your gospels we find the blind calling to him and the Canaanite woman saying, 'O son of David.', The Christian said, Speak the more sure and certain thing, O Jew. For the spirits cried, 'O, what do you have to do with us, son of David? Have you come before the time to torment us? I know who you are,' they cried, 'God, son of God.' The Jew said, And because of these voices, I ask you, how then is he son of God? The Christian said, It was necessary that all things written in the Law be fulfilled. For it was spoken to Abraham, 'In your seed all the nations of the earth will be blessed.' And again to David, 'That from the fruit of your womb I will place on my throne.'

God, therefore, fulfilling the promise of both of these, raised up this Jesus announced through Isaiah, the son, according to the flesh, from the root of Jesse, whom God filled with the spirit of wisdom, the spirit of strength, the spirit of power, the spirit of knowledge, the spirit of godliness, the spirit of truth, the spirit of understanding, the spirit of the fear of God; not according to appearance did he judge, nor according to common talk did he convict, but he judged righteousness. And he has been taken into the truth with respect to his ribs and into righteousness with respect to his loin, he is the truth that arose out of the earth, according to the flesh, and righteousness that looked out from heaven according to the spirit. And this is the of the seed of Abraham and David according to the flesh. Abraham begot Isaac; and Isaac begot Jacob; and Jacob begot Judah and his brothers. And Judah begot Perez and Zerah of Tamar; and Perez begot Hezron. And Hezron begot Ram, and Ram begot Amminadab. And Amminadab begot Nahashon; and Nahashon begot Salmon. And Salmon begot Boaz; and Boaz begot Obed of Ruth. And Obed begot Jesse; and Jesse begot David the king. And David begot Solomon of the wife of Uriah. And Solomon begot Rehoboam. And Rehoboam begot Abijah; and Abijah begot Asa. And Asa begot Jehoshaphat; and Jehoshaphat begot Joram. And Joram begot Ahaz; and Ahaz begot Hezekiah. And Hezekiah begot Manasseh, and Manasseh begot Amon. And Amon begot Josiah; and Josiah begot Jeconiah and his brethren at the time of the removal to Babylon. And after the removal to Babylon, Jeconiah begot Shealtiel. And Shealtiel begot Zerubbabel; and Zerubbabel begot Abiud. And Abiud begot Eliakim, and Eliakim begot Azor. And Azor begot Sadok, and Sadok begot Achim. And Achim begot Eliud; and Eliud begot Eleazar. And Eleazar begot Matthan; and Matthan begot Jacob. And Jacob begot Joseph who betrothed Mary, from whom was born the Christ the Son of God. Jacob even said this: 'from a shoot, my Son, you went up,' and this is the genealogy according to his flesh; but as for that according to the spirit 'who shall declare it?' The Jew said: This Jesus is the one from a shoot? The Christian said: Not as one who is comely and ripe to the sight did He say this concerning him: 'From a shoot, my Son, you went up,' but because without intercourse with me he proceeded forth from a holy virgin. And now you pervert his suffering, the prophet said: 'We speak before him as a child, as a root cut out of parched ground; and we saw him and behold he had no beauty. But his form was dishonored and forsaken beyond that of all men; a man having a wound and knowing the burden of a weakness. For he has turned aside his face from unrighteousness and he was dishonored and not esteemed. He bears our sins; and he bears suffering for us. As a sheep he is lead to the slaughter; and as a lamb before the shearer is speechless, so also he opens not his mouth in his humiliation; his judgement is taken away.

And who shall declare his lineage because his life is taken away from the earth and he was reckoned with the lawless; he was taken from the lawless of my people unto death. And I shall give evil doers in place of his death; because he did no sin nor was deceit found in his mouth.' The Jew said: All nations that are under heaven know that the Lord, the God of our fathers, appointed a covenant in blood in Horeb. And the Lord God said: 'Whoever shall break this my covenant shall be put to death because he broke my covenant. And this book of the law he sprinkled, and the tent and all its utensils. And the people likewise he sprinkled saying: 'This is the blood of the covenant, which the Lord God established with you.' And are you now saying that the Lord is abolishing his covenant? The Christian said: For this reason God is reproaching you, that you forsook his covenant and his law and you worshipped other gods, and the Lord God is reproaching you. He says through Jeremiah the prophet: 'I shall complete a new covenant with the house of Israel and Judah, not according to the covenant which I established with your fathers in the day that I took their hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. Since they did not remain in my covenant, I also set them aside, says the Lord. For there is another covenant which I shall make with them after these days, says the Lord; I shall place my laws in their minds and upon the affections of their heart I shall write them, and I shall be God to them and they shall be my people, says the Lord.' Likewise also reproaching you through Hosea he says: "Speak to your brother 'not my people' and to your sister 'not having obtained mercy.' Judge against your mother, judge, because she is not my wife and I am not her husband; because having given herself to fornication she was unfaithful in following the Lord and went after Baalim. And she forgot me, says the Lord Almighty." And concerning us gentiles he says thus through the same prophet: "And it shall be in the place where it was said to them 'you are my people' there they themselves shall be called 'sons of the living God.'" And again in another place the same prophet says: 'And it shall be in that day, says the Lord, I shall establish for them a covenant with the birds of heaven and the beasts of the earth.' And a little later he says: "And I shall say is 'not my people' you and shall say you are my Lord God." And then Moses spoke thus concerning your having forsaken the Lord and concerning us who have turned to the Lord from the gentiles: 'They provoked me to jealousy with one not God, they enraged me with their idols; and I shall provoke them to jealousy with one not a nation, with a nation void of understanding shall I provoke them to anger.' The Jew said, The Lord God gave commandment to the sons of Israel through Moses that they might not associate with gentiles. And now, then, did he speak these things in secret?

The Christian said, The Lord God himself spoke to Moses concerning your hardness of heart and disobedience, and saying to him with respect to the Dispersion: 'Behold you shall die, and this people having risen up after you, shall fornicate after other gods; and they shall forsake me and having gone they shall worship foreign gods, and I shall be enraged against them, and shall scatter them to the four winds of heaven.' Did not these things happen to you? For on account of while Moses mourned and bewailed you, he bore solemn witness particularly to these things in Deuteronomy and in the Song. And then he spoke concerning the gentiles in the Song; for beholding their manner of life before God he said: 'Rejoice, O nations, with his people and let all the sons of God be strengthened.' And reproaching you concerning idols which you worshipped he said: 'Where are their gods in whom they trusted whose fat of their sacrifices you eat and wine of their drink-offerings you drink? Let them rise up and help you and let them be your shelter.' The Jew said, After all these things were made quite manifest to us, Moses indeed died; and through the commandment of the Lord, Jesus the son of Nave distributed the land by lot to Israel, so how can you say that he did not give to us the land? The Christian said: I did not say that you didn't receive the land; but that having received the promises made by God to you, you set the Lord aside. And since the Lord had become angry with you, he scattered you into every nation of the earth. For concerning the salvation being appointed by the Lord for the gentiles, he spoke thus through Hosea and at the same time against you who despise it, saying: 'Behold, you despisers, and marvel; and be heard no more; because I shall work a work in your days which you would in no wise believe if someone should declare it to you' The Jew said: As you willed, you Christians perverted the scriptures. For you cited many points from the different books which are not contained in the Hebrew but in the Greek only; and with respect to this matter I wanted to know, why is this so? Is it not that you Christians truly, as you willed, perverted the scriptures? The Christian said: It is well you ask, not knowing truly the plot against the divine scriptures made by Aquila the translator, and more the damage he brought to himself and the holy scriptures just as it appeared to him. For this Aquila desiring to conceal the testimonies concerning Christ, having learned the letters and the tongue of the Hebrews, in the fortieth year of life, perverted the scriptures. And in order that we might not omit we shall make inquiry respecting the translation made by the seventy-two translators for Ptolemy and the likewise make the inquiry concerning Aquila. For Alexander, the king of the Macedonians, being about to die, divided his kingdom among his four peers -- that is to say: to Antiochus, and to Philip and to Seleucus, and to Ptolemy. This Ptolemy, dwelling in Egypt became a patron of learning and built a library on the island of a certain Pharos.

And he gathered together books from every writing, both of Greek and other histories and discourses having been composed by all of the nations. And when he had completed this task for all the kings and rulers, he brought their books and appointed as Librarian a certain man by the name of Demetrius. And the King asked him saying: 'How many books have we gathered, if you know?' And he said: 'There are 54,800 more or less.' And Demetrius says to him, 'We have heard there is still a large number in Egypt and in Thebes and in Ethiopia and in Persia and in Syria. But also in Judea there are books containing matters concerning God and the creation of the world. And if my Lord the King wishes, send to the priests and High Priests in Jerusalem, and they will send to you their books into which having peered, my Lord the King will be profited greatly.' For this Demetrius was a Hebrew by race. Then the king sent men to Jerusalem to the high priest of that time, a man by the name of Eleazar, having written a letter to him and at the same time to the rest of the priests, a letter which contained the following: 'King Ptolemy, to the teachers of the worship of God, supreme greeting: I prepared a library on the island of Pharos and gathered there an exceedingly great number of books. And I heard that there were among you books containing matters concerning God and the creation of the world, and I desired also to add these too to the library which I made. Therefore call to mind how prisoners of war were brought from your country into mine, and all that I found I sent forth with supplies; having healed and clothed the wounded and the naked, I sent them forth to you with supplies. And in saying these things I am not reproaching you but to make known to you that I want the books not for a joke or for mocking - - Be this far from me! - - but as a profitable gift. Behold I sent to you gold and silver, and I have also sent a golden altar, and vessels for the temple of your God, but these gifts shall be yours.' And when they received the gifts and the altar and the vessels, they rejoiced with great joy. And not having neglected the matter they thus sent the books having transcribed them in golden Hebrew letters and language. And having received them and having unrolled them, he found these books written in Hebrew letters and language. And not being able to read this, he again compelled that a second epistle be written to them containing the following: 'King Ptolemy to the teachers of the worship of God, supreme greeting! When a spring has been sealed and a treasure has been hidden, who is profited by either? Thus are the books sent to me by you, for with the letters and their language I am not aquainted. Therefore, will to send to me upright men who know the language of the Greeks and the Hebrews so that having transcribed these books they might translate them into Greek.' The, therefore, seventy-two translators were sent, men apiece from each tribe. Therefore Ptolemy built thirty-six rooms for them on the island of Pharos, and thus having shut them up in pairs he made in each room translate every phrase.

And he did not allow even windows in those rooms, so that the scriptures might not be adulterated by those having collaborated, but windows in the ceiling of the rooms for light. And if they diminished a 'speaking', from the abundance, subtracting words in one pair, the remaining thirty five pairs also diminished the discourse. And if they added a discourse in one pair as though the word were commanding, they all added it -- so that indeed the Holy Spirit spoke through these partners. The Jew said: Who, therefore, is he having adulterated the divine scriptures in which we do not find the majority of points about which you have spoken? The Christian said: He is Aquila; now listen intelligently also about this man, how he became a translator and why; and how many years after the seventy two, and for what reason. And you yourself be the judge whether I should trust this man more than the things of the seventy two. This Aqulia was indeed from Sinope in Pontus; and a long time. For it was after this Ptolemy who had commanded that the inspired scriptures be translated, just as he reigned after the one having reigned after Alexander the Macedonian. For Alexander reigned 18 years; Ptolemy Lagos 40 years; Ptolemy Philadelphus, the one having translated the scriptures, 38 years; Ptolemy Eyergetes, 25 years; Ptolemy Philopator, 17 years; Ptolemy Epiphanes, 24 years; Ptolemy Philometor, 34 years; Ptolemy Philologos, 29 years; Ptolemy Physcon, 17 years; Ptolemy Soter, 25 years; Ptolemy the exiled, 26 years; Ptolemy Alexis, 8 years; Ptolemy Dionysius, 30 years; Cleopatra, 22 years. and after these the Romans ruled as follows: Augustus, 56 years; Tiberius, 23 years; Gaius, 3 years and 9 months; Claudius, 13 years and 8 months; Nero, 13 years; Vespasian, 9 years; Titus 15 years, 15 months, Nerva, 4 years; Trajan, 19 years; Hadrian, 21 years; altogether 533 years. Then after so many years this Aquila appeared, who was also a brother in law of Hadrian the king/emperor. And this Hadrian was a patron of learning, and he desired to see all the territory under his rule. And having come first to Jerusalem and having found the city completely devastated, he was enraged against the Jews. And having seized them and having brought them down in solemn assembly to a place known in Hebron, he sold them four by four in accordance with a measure of barley. The he began to rebuild the city and its walls, although not the temple. And Hadrian having taken Aqulia being a Greek as Hadrian himself was Greek, he appointed him overseer of the works. And Aqulia in those days seeing Christians growing in the faith and seeing the Lord God performing signs through them, being pricked in heart, became a Christian. And this man was an astronomer of the highest attainment as he did not cease from the work of astronomy after he became a Christian.

The priests of the Christians said to him: 'It is not lawful for you to be an astronomer,' but Aquila, having the presumption of royalty did not obey them. They, therefore, again having warned him from the divine scriptures, and not at all being pleased by him, cast him out of the church, admonishing to abstain, out of honor, from the lawless practice of astronomy. But this man, filled with rage and having devised evil things in his heart seized upon the wrong doing as a desirable goal and having cursed Christianity and denied his life, he went away to the priests of the Hebrews and having been circumcized, he became a Jew. And having patiently learned the power of the letters of the Hebrews and having been instructed most excellently in their language he prepared a second translation for himself, desiring to conceal the testimonies concerning Christ. Whenever, therefore, you should find the testimonies concerning Christ shrouded, whether in the Hebrew or in the Greek, know that the treachery is due to Aquila! Surely, then, rather than Aquila, the seventy two will be acceptable, who translated the scriptures authentically -- or rather the Holy Spirit, who spoke though them as he chose? For I am of the opinion that they shared in the Holy Spirit, since being in the separateness of the thirty-six huts, nowhere was a difference of words found among them, but they all spoke with one voice. The Jew said: Then you accept the seventy-two translators as speaking from the Holy Spirit? The Christian said: I accept them whole heartedly. The Jew said: How then do the seventy two translators translate in Isaiah, saying: 'The Lord swears to you, Jerusalem, that I will no longer give your food to your enemies, and your goods to those who hate you' and so on. Yet now we see that the nations have taken possession of Jerusalem and Judah. But the son spoke to Zion and Jerusalem -- for are they not different from the nations? The Christian said: The Lord said to Abraham: 'In your seed all the nations of the earth will be blessed'; And again David says: 'Praise the Lord, all nations, extol him, all peoples' And again: 'All nations, clap your hands'; And again in Isaiah: 'He will be the root of Jesse and the one rising up to rule nations; nations will hope in him'; For about Jerusalem, that she will drink 'the cup of calamity, the vessel of wrath'; And that the sons will stand trial before the Lord The Jew said: Where is it written? The Christian said: In Isaiah, and in Ezekial, and in Hosea. The Jew said: I did not see the fall of Jerusalem written in Isaiah. The Christian said: For first at the beginning of the prophesy of Isaiah it says thus: "Listen, heaven, and give ear, earth; for the Lord has said, 'I begot sons and raised them up, and they broke faith with me. The ox knows his owner, and the ass his master's crib, but Israel did not know me, and the people did not understand me. And being a lost nation, a people full of lawlessness, a wicked seed, impious sons, you forsook the Lord and provoked to anger the Holy One of Israel'".

And a little later it says: 'And if the Lord had not left behind a seed for us, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been made like Gomorrah': and that 'the Lord arose for judgment in the midst of his people, and in the midst of the rulers of the people and their elders.' The Jew said: Have those things taken place, or are they going to take place? The Christian said: Even if you say this in mockery, yet in truth these things have taken place, and he examined and decided; and having decided he passed sentence; and as he decided, so also it happened. The Jew said: I exhort you, tell me in detail; what did he say in the 'courtroom', and what did he decide and pass sentence, and how did his judgement turn out -- tell me. For we see him whom you hold to have passed sentence: Jesus, condemned to the cross; how then could he condemn? The Christian said: I too know that he was unjustly condemned; 'for he did no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth; but through the lawlessness of my people he was led to his death.' What he said to them at the 'trial' is this; first addressing them through Hosea he says: 'My people, your collectors gather you up; and those who bless you lead you astray' And having found out their wrong-doings he says to them: 'Why did you set fire to my vineyard, and the spoils taken from the poor in your houses; for what purpose do you harm my people, and dishonor the faces of the lowly?'. And he gave them a judgment against Jerusalem and Zion and their children, saying: 'The master, the Lord Sabaoth says this; because the daughters of Zion were exalted, and walked with their heads held high, and with beckonings of the eyes, and trailing their robes as they moved; the Lord will humble your daughters who rule over Zion, and the Lord will uncover their form on that day. And he will take away the glory of their apparel, and their adornment, and the hair-clasps, and the hair-nets, and the necklaces, the collar; and the adornment of their face, and the collection of the adornment in its splendor, and the anklets, and the bracelets, and the armlets, and the finger-rings, and the ear-rings, and the purplebordered garments and the mantles worn at home, and the transparent garments; and the fine linens, and the blue and scarlet materials, and the linen interwoven with gold; and the splendid summer garments. And it shall be, instead of sweet fragrances, a cloud of dust will come down; and instead of a robe interwoven with purple, you will wear a sack; and instead of a girdle of gold, you will gird yourself with a rope; and instead of the ornament of your head, you will have a bald head on account of your works. And your son, the fairest, whom you love, will fall by the sword.' And I reckon that all these things were fulfilled; and this is the judgment which the Lord God gave against Jerusalem and her sons, these from Abraham according to the flesh, because they sinned against the Lord God of heaven and earth. The Jew said: Jesus uttered none of these things when he was on trial before Pilate, but kept silence.

The Christian said: Isaiah himself testified to you the parable which Jesus spoke, saying for the sake of testimony: 'I will sing a song of the beloved for, my vineyard; the beloved had a vineyard on a hill in a fertile spot. And I built a wall in it, and I surrounded it with a hedge, and I built a tower in the middle of it, and I dug a vat in it. And I expected it to produce grapes, but it produced thorns. And now, man of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem, judge between me and my vineyard. What shall I do for my vineyard I did not do for it? Since I expected it to produce grapes, but it produced thorns; now I will tell you what I will do for my vineyard. I will pull down its wall, and it shall be for plundering; and I will take away its hedge, and it shall be for trampling underfoot; and it shall not be pruned or dug. And thorns shall spring up in it as on barren land, and I shall order the clouds not to rain upon it. For the vineyard of the Lord Sabaoth is the house of Israel, and the man of Judah is the beloved plant. I expected it to produce righteousness, and it produced lawlessness and injustice.' The Jew said: Neither was this parable spoken by Jesus when he was on trial. The Christian said: When the children of the Hebrews went to meet him shouting 'Hosanna' as he went into the Temple, then the chief priests and the elders of the people surrounded him, saying, 'Do you not hear what these are witnessing against you?' And Jesus said, "Yes; for it is written, 'Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings you have furnished praise'" Then he told them this parable, the very one which Isaiah at that time foretold, saying: 'A certain man planted a vineyard, and he built for it a wall and a tower; and he made a winepress in it, and a vat; and he let it out to tenants and went abroad. And it came to pass that at vintage time the owner of the vineyard sent his servants to receive some of the fruit. But the tenants took those servants and one they abused, another they beat, and they sent them away empty-handed. The owner of that vineyard sent other servants; and in like manner those also, on they killed, another they wounded, and them too they sent away empty-handed. Last of all, he sent his only-begotten son, saying, 'They will respect my son.' But when they saw him coming the tenants said, 'This is truly the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.' And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. Now, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants? He will put those wretches to a wretched death, and he will give the vineyard to other tenants.' Have these things taken place or not? For standing in judgement he said only this: 'Behold your house is left desolate.' Will it be so? The Jew said: How then again through Isaiah did the Lord say to Jerusalem: 'Afterward you will be called city of righteousness, faithful mother-city Zion. For her captivity will be redeemed with judgment and with mercy.' The Christian said: Read a little before and you will find the truth. For it is written thus: "How has Zion, faithful city, and filled with justice, become a whore? Righteousness has fallen asleep in her, and now murderers.

Your silver is debased; your sellers dilute the wine with water. Your rulers are disobedient, partners of thieves, loving gifts, not judging orphans and not giving heed to a widow's cause. Therefore the Lord Sabaoth says this: 'Woe to the powerful of Israel; for my wrath will not cease among enemies, and I shall pass judgment among the nations. And I will lay my hand upon you, and I will refine you to purify with fire. I will destroy the disobedient, and I will remove all the lawless from the earth; I will humble the arrogant, and I will establish your judges as before, and your consellors as from the beginning. And afterward she will be called city of righteousness, faithful mother-city Zion; for her captivity will be redeemed with judgment and with mercy' " Know then, O Jew, that even in the passage itself, after the Lord's wrath against Jerusalem and the Jews who were then her sons was satisfied, he then promised her that she would become a 'city of righteousness, faithful mother-city Zion.' For after judging her, he then remembered the oaths which he swore through his holy prophets, saying through David: 'If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand be forgotten.' But through Isaiah he drove Jerusalem herself to despair, and having come to despair she said: 'The Lord has forsaken me, and God has forgotten me.' And Jerusalem wept, as Jeremiah says: 'And her tears ran down her cheeks.' And the Lord seeing her weeping felt pity for her, and he poured out his mercy upon her and comforted her, saying through Isaiah: 'I take pity on you, humbled and forsaken; will a woman forget her child, or to have pity on the offspring of her womb? Yet even if a woman should forget these, I will not forget you, says the Lord.' And Jerusalem, weeping, said to the Lord: 'Lord, turn back our captivity.' And the Lord said to her: 'Do you supplicate again for those who led you astray? Did they not take my sons and daughters and make them pass through fire? Did Manasseh not fill you with blood from gate to gate, on account of whom I have also caused my wrath to come upon you you?' And the Lord swore to Jerusalem concerning the nations, saying: 'As I live, says the Master, the Lord Sabaoth, the nations by whom it was destroyed, by them will it be rebuilt. And you will wear them all and put them on like a bride's adornment.' And the Lord said to Jerusalem: 'Put on your might; behold, I have branded you on the palms of my hands; and your walls are always before me. And I will bring your children from east and west and north and south, for your desolate places and your ruins will now be crowded by your children dwelling in you; and those who swallowed you up will be far away from you. And your sons will say to you, 'The place is cramped for me; now make room for me to dwell in.' And you will say in your heart, 'Who has produced these for me? I was childless and a widow, who has reared these for me?' And the Lord said to Jerusalem, 'Behold, I will raise my hand to the nations and hoist the signal for the islands. And they will bring your sons in their bosom, and lift your daughters on their shoulders; and kings will be your foster-fathers and they will fall prostrate on the ground before you. And you shall know that I am the Lord.'

The Jew said: How then does the same prophet say what follows, thus: 'Look on Abraham your father and Sarah who bore you; for he was one; and I blessed him and increased him and loved him.' How do you say that the race of Abraham has been rejected? The Christian said: It is in many places in the holy scriptures that God took the kingdom away from the Hebrews and gave it to the nations through Jesus. For when Amon the son of Manasseh was king, God said this: 'And I will also put Judah away from my presence, as I put Israel away.' For the Lord delivered Israel into the hand of Sennacherib and Anachorda kings of the Assyrians, and they were deported to dwell among the Assyrians, until this day. Surely, O Jew, you will not tell me these things have not taken place? And again through David, testifying against you and saying: 'Hear, my people, and I will testify to you; O Israel, if you listen to me, there shall not be any new god in you, nor shall you worship any strange god. For I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, open your mouth and I will fill it. My people did not listen to my voice, and Israel did not heed me; and I abandoned them to the pursuits of their own hearts; they will go their own way. Behold, I have abandoned them.' And again it is contained thus in Isaiah, just as I rehearsed to you the context, for after the Lord says to Jerusalem through the prophet: 'Kings will be your foster-fathers, and queens your nurses, and they will fall prostrate on the ground before you; and you shall know that I am the Lord'; then the Lord continues on, speaking to the Jews through the prophet. And here again reproaching them for their hardness of heart he says to them: 'Behold, you are all burning like fire, and you are fanning the fire's flame; he said, get you into the light of the fire and the flame which you kindled. Thanks to me these things have taken place; you shall lie down in torment.' And despising them for reading the law and not knowing it, he mocked them and said: 'Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and seek the Lord; look at the solid rock which you quarried and at the hole of the pit which you dug. Look on Abraham your father and Sarah who bore you; for he was one; and I called him, and I increased him and loved him.' But the Lord God gave everlasting consolation to Zion, after he rebuked the sons of Israel for their disobedience; and making Zion glad he said: 'And now I will comfort you, Zion, and I will call your desolate places the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness will find you, thanksgiving and the sound of praise.' And the Lord said to the sons of Israel: 'On account of you my name is blasphemed among the nations.' But while Jerusalem was still standing, the Lord said to her: 'I will take pity on you, humbled and unsettled, you have not been comforted. Behold, I am preparing your stone of carbuncle and your foundations of sapphire; and I will make your dwellings jasper, and your gates crystal stones, and your walls precious stones; and all your sons taught by God. Your children will be in great felicity, and you will be built on righteousness.' And the Lord said to those of the nations: 'The inheritance for those who seek the Lord is with the Lord; and you will be my holy ones, says the Lord.

Listen to me and your soul will revel in good things; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you; and I will give you the holy pledges of David. Behold, I have given him as a testimony among the nations.' The Jew said: The Lord God swore to David saying: 'I have sworn once and for all on my holiness; I shall not break faith with David. His seed will remain forever, and his throne shall be established like the sun before me, and like the moon forever.' Thus God having sworn, demands back his words and oaths. Or did you not know that in the same psalm he says: 'If His sons forsake my law and walk not in my judgments; if they profane my sentences and keep not my commandments, I shall visit their lawlessness with a rod and their unrighteousness with a scourge. But my mercy I shall in no way remove from them; nor shall I in any way injure my truth nor shall I in any way profane my covenant; and the things going forth through my lips I shall in no wise set aside.' The Christian said: You spoke all these things rightly and orderly, but I shall invite you to show me this: for I ask you where is the wooden throne of David -- I speak, now, of his kingly upon which he sat ruling? For writes it thus: 'Forever as the sun, and established as the moon forever.' You indeed, are not able in any way to show me Solomon's ivory throne which he made, are you? And where does the race of Hebrew kings rule? If you should bring these things to light it shall be known to all men that these things were spoken by the Lord concerning the Hebrew race and not concerning the gentiles. The Jew said: Then are you able to demonstrate that he spoke these things concerning the gentiles? The Christian said: The scriptures prove to you for I do not have to demonstrate these things out of inventiveness do I? For it is written thus in the 88th Psalm: 'Your mercies, Lord, I shall sing forever; with my mouth I shall declare your truth unto generation and generation. Because you said 'Mercy shall be built forever; 'your truth shall be prepared in the heavens. I made a covenant with my elect; I swore to my servant David, I shall prepare your seed forever and I shall build up your throne to generation and generation. Your wonders, Lord, shall the heavens confess, and your truth in the assembly of the saints.' Know therefore O Jew, that indeed the Lord made a promise to David and he shall fulfill the blessing which he promised to his seed, that is, to the Son, and to the people from the gentiles believing on him, just as it is written in another Psalm: 'For this reason they shall confess to you among the nations, O Lord; and to your name I shall sing.' And the saying: 'your truth shall be prepared in the heavens' signifies this, clearly that Christ is truth just as it also says in Isaiah: 'And he shall be one having taken truth or his sides and having put on righteousness as his belt.' And again it says in David: 'Truth rose up from the earth; and righteousness poured out from heaven;' and truth was being built up in the heavens. And Moses also of which he commanded to make the antitype also. For he says: 'See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you in the mountain.' Therefore, Moses, having made the antitype of the truths, gave them to Israel after the flesh.

But the true things are 'the sure mercies of David' which he also gave to the gentiles; which we sought out, i.e. this David our king; concerning whom also the Lord swore to David; of whom also he placed his hand in the sea and his right hand in the rivers; whom also The Lord appointed firstborn and higher than the kings of earth; and in whom God kept mercy forever and established a sure covenant in him, and the enemy shall not be profited in him-- but also having thrashed his enemies, he plagued them. The Lord called the man 'Rising' through Zachariah the prophet; whom also the Lord God gave to the gentiles, viz., Jesus the Nazarene who is Christ the Lord. The Jew said: God became a man then or what? The Christian said: Certainly not; but he assumed flesh from the holy virgin Mary through the Holy Spirit as he willed, just as also we earlier spoke concerning these things. And even Jeremiah the prophet shall testify for me concerning the incarnate coming of Christ, saying: 'This is our God; no other shall be reckoned before him. He searched out every path of knowledge and gave it to Jacob his child and Israel his beloved. And after these things he appeared upon the earth and lived among men.' And in another place, the same Jeremiah says, 'Is he a man? And who shall know him?' And again in David it says thus: 'A man will say Mother Zion and a man was born in her; and the Most High himself established her.' And Isaiah says thus concerning this: 'Egypt toiled and the merchandise of the Ethiopians and Sabeans, men of stature shall be an inheritance for you. They shall go over to you; and they shall pray to you; and being bound in chains they shall do you homage; because the Lord God of Israel is in you.' The Jew said: Isaiah said these things because of Jerusalem. The Christian said: Was Jerusalem herself walking about? Because the Egyptians and the Ethiopians, and the Sabeans had to follow her. The Jew said: They did not have to follow her but her laws. The Christian said: What kind of laws? The Jew said: Those given by Moses in Horeb. The Christian said: And why did the Lord God deliver you into the hands of foreigners and Moabites? And to the King of Zouba? And again into the hands of the Midian and the rest of the gentiles around you? God didn't do these things unjustly did he? Certainly not ! The Jew said: And why didn't they follow? Tell us. The Christian said: Is there any nation under heaven, or tribe or tongue that does not go after the Lord Jesus Christ? Are the things prophesied perhaps visible? The Christian: Then don't you know what has been written in the minor prophets? For it says thus: 'As I live says the Lord every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall confess to God.' And again in Daniel it says thus: 'And all peoples, tribes, tongues shall serve him, because his kingdom, which shall not pass away, and his authority, which shall not be destroyed.' And again in David it says: 'All nations which you have made shall worship before you Lord; and they shall glorify your name, because you are great and do wonders; you are God alone.' And in Isaiah: "In the last days the mountain of the Lord shall be manifest, and the house of God beyond the hills.

And many peoples shall come and many nations and they shall say: 'Come, let us go up into the mountain of the Lord and into the house of Jacob's God; and he shall declare to us his way and we shall walk in it.' For out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of God from Jerusalem." The Jew said: Didn't I just say that, that the Egyptians and Ethiopians and Sabeans followed her laws? Behold, now you also said the same things: 'A law went forth from Zion and a word of the Lord from Jerusalem.' The Christian said: Concerning the old Jerusalem about which you are discoursing, which Solomon built, hear this, and hear again also about the New Jerusalem: For first concerning her whom you say he reproached, the Lord indeed immediately banished her saying through Hosea: "Thus designate 'not my people,' 'my people' and call to your sister 'not having obtained mercy.' Against your mother, judge, because she is not mine; and I am not her husband, because having fornicated she has committed fornication after her lovers, and she has forgotten me says the Lord. And she said I shall go after my lovers who give to me my bread and my wine and my oil and my linen and all things whatsoever he sent down to me. And she did not know that I gave to her the wheat and the wine and the oil, and I multiplied silver and gold to her; and she made the silver and gold into Baal. And behold I will her way with thorns and her paths with stones and she shall not find her way and she shall pursue her lovers and shall not overtake them, and I shall reveal her shame before her lovers. And no one shall take her out of my hand, and I shall kill her with thirst and not have mercy on her children." And Isaiah to me after the passage about the taking away of her gold raiment, the clothing and the braids and the fringes or hair nets and the crescents, and the and the face jewelry; and the array of glorious ornaments of her and of her daughters, and the armlets; and the bracelets and the braids and the ornaments of the right hand, and the finger rings and the earrings, and the garments with purple borders and the shawls to be worn in the house, and the Spartan transparent dresses and those made of fine linen and the purple ones and the scarlet ones; and the fine linen interwoven with gold and purple, and light coverings for; and after the Lord God to her daughters instead of a sweet smell, dust; and instead of a tunic of mixed purple, sackcloth; and instead of a girdle, a rope; and instead of an ornament for the head, baldness. The Lord said to her: 'Her sons shall fall by the sword and she alone shall be left.' And again he said concerning her: 'The daughter of Zion shall be left as a tent in a vineyard and as a storehouse of fruit in a cucumber garden.' And Micah said concerning her thus: 'Zion being plowed, shall be plowed as a field.' And Ezekiel again said thus: "And the word of the Lord came to me saying: 'Son of Man, set your face in Jerusalem and declare to her unrighteousness and speak to her: 'Thus says the Lord God; 'Your birth is this: Your father was a Hittite and your mother was an Amorite.

And in the day in which you were born, know that you were not washed and with salt you were not salted; and your breasts were not erect and you were naked and polluted in your blood, and you were cast out naked and indecent upon the face of the field. And your lovers passed by you and passed opposite you. And I sent forth my hands to you and I covered your indecency; and I washed you with water, and I put salt upon you; and I anointed you with oil. And I clothed you with clothing; and I put a golden necklace around your neck and ear-rings in your ears; and rings on your hands, and a jewel on your nose, and a crown of glory upon your head. With honey and oil and fine flour I fattened your; and having bloomed with beauty you became extremely beautiful; and I came to you with my covenant and I said to you: you shall not be another man's. But you forsook me and forgot me, says the Lord Adonay; and you set up your fornications in every street, and your upper rooms in every passage-way. And you poured out your fornication; and you brought your legs forwards to every man. And you took my gold and my silver and you made idols for yourself, and you sat them in your upper rooms. And you took my garments and you clothed them. And you took the fine flour and the wine and the oil which I gave you; and you to them, and you forgot me says the Lord. And you did not remember the day of your infancy, when you were naked and bare. On account of this, hear the word of the Lord: 'Thus says the Lord Adonay: Behold I upon you; and I shall remove my silver and my gold and my raiment. And I shall restore you to nakedness and obscenity, just as you were in the day of your infancy." All these things the Lord spoke to the Jerusalem built by Solomon and we see all having happened to her. For Hadrian, having come to Jerusalem found the city devastate, overthrown and set afire, and those having been slaughtered by the sword, for then mothers ate their children, by Vespasian and Titus, just a it is written in Isaiah. Therefore, this Hadrian, being enraged, took the remaining Jews and went down to Hebron to a certain feast. And he sold them at the rate of 4 apiece for a measure of barley-corn. And having thrown down the stones of the temple, he built from them the city wall and a theatre, and the temple he ploughed up. The Jew said: You have not yet mentioned the Jerusalem as David and Isaiah and you spoke of it. The Christian said: Let us not hinder the discussion; indeed I shall tell you everything. For concerning the Jerusalem about which David spoke, i.e., 'Jerusalem built as a city whose communion is in itself;' he spoke first about her position saying: 'Mount Zion, on the sides of the North, the city of the great king,' concerning which Solomon says in the songs: 'Come, my consort, my beautiful, my dove, come under the shelter of rock which has an outwork.' With respect to this Jerusalem Isaiah said 'Rejoice, O barren one who did not bear; speak out, you who did not have birth pangs; because many are the children of the desolate, more than of the one having a husband.' And knowing beforehand her joy, he said: 'Shine forth, shine forth, Jerusalem. For your light has come; and the glory of the Lord shall rise upon you. For behold darkness and gloom shall cover the whole earth; and upon you shall the Lord shine. And Kings shall walk in your light; and nations in your splendor.

Lift up your eyes round about and see the children of Jerusalem gathered together; for behold they have come and they shall be taken up upon shoulders. Then you shall be amazed in heart, because the Lord shall turn upon you the wealth of the sea and of nations and of peoples. And camels of Midian and Gaepha shall come to you; and rams of Nabaioth; all from Saba shall come bearing gold and silver, and they shall bring frankincense to you. And sacrafices shall be offered upon my altar, and my house of prayer shall be glorified. And ships of Tharsis shall come bringing your children; and silver and gold on account of the holy man of the Lord God. And foreigners shall build your walls; and their Kings shall stand by you; for because of wrath I smashed you and because of mercy I loved you. And I shall make you an eternal joy and you shall suck the milk of nations and shall eat the wealth of kings; and you shall know that I am the Lord who is saving you.' And the people from the nations, seeing that the Lord is their reconciliation also themselves giving thanks to the Lord in return, said: 'Let my soul rejoice in the Lord; for he clothed me with a garment of salvation and a tunic of joy. As on a bride-groom he put a cap upon me and as a bride he adorned me with jewelery.' And again, the Lord, fulfilling his good promises to the people from the nations and to Zion, said: 'For Zion's sake I will not be silent; and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest until her righteousness shall go forth as light; and my salvation shall burn as a torch. And nations shall see your righteousness; and kings your glory; and the Lord shall call you by a new name which shall be blessed upon the earth.' The Jew said: Just as you have now said, i.e., 'You shall be called by a new name which shall be blessed upon the earth,' he has spoken this of Jacob; for being called Jacob at first, it was changed to Israel by the Lord. The Christian said: The scripture did not say that you were called by a new name, but it was speaking about future things; thus, 'you shall be called by a new name which blessed upon the earth.' For concerning your sons of Israel he spoke thus: 'For you are those having forsaken me, says the Lord, and those having forgotten my holy mountain, and who prepare a table with demons, and who mix the drink offering to Fortune. I shall deliver you unto death; by the sword you shall fall says the Lord.' And after a while he quotes saying: 'Behold my servants shall eat, but you shall be hungry; behold my servants shall drink but you shall be thirsty; behold my servants shall rejoice, but you shall cry out. Because I called you and you did not listen to me, you have cried out for the sorrow of your heart. For you left your name as a delusion among nations, and the Lord shall slay you. And those serving me shall be called by a new name which is blessed upon the earth; for they shall bless the true God; for as the days of the tree of life so shall be the days of my people. Because they are a seed blessed by the Lord; and their offspring with them. While he is still speaking I shall say: What is it? Behold I am he.'

And at the end of the book of the prophesy of Isaiah; indeed to the people of the gentiles he gave an eternal covenant; and the sons of Jacob, he made an object of unceasing malignant joy and reproach saying: 'For as the new heaven and the new earth which I shall make will endure before me, also your name, says the Lord; and your seed and your name will abide before me, says the Lord. And it shall be month after month, and Sabbath after Sabbath, and year after year, all flesh will come to Jerusalem to bow down before me, says the Lord Almighty. And they will go out and will see the limbs of the men who have sinned against me. For their worm will not die, and their fire will not be quenched; and they will be a spectacle for all flesh.' These things have all been fulfilled, haven't they -- the good things for the nations, and the bad things for the Jews? The Jew said: You have not yet shown where or for whom the new name was named. The Christian said: The new name, blessed on earth, was named by the holy disciples of our savior Jesus Christ, first of all at Antioch, as it is written in the Acts of the Apostles: 'They first bore the name in Antioch, that the disciples be called Christians.' See, I have shown you about the blessed name, when and through whom the Lord gave the same name as he was called. The Jew said: And if my fathers had known and understood about this Jesus, that he is God, would they have had to lay their hands upon him? By no means did they know that he was God. For concerning a prophet the Lord God commanded through Zechariah that no longer should anyone prophesy: 'If anyone prophesies, his father and mother who produced him shall bind him hand and foot, 'You shall be put to death and you shall not live, because you have uttered lying prophesies.' And the prophets shall be ashamed, each of his own vision, when prophesies.' If, then, the Holy Spirit said through the prophet that in those days there should be no prophet, how shall we say about this Jesus that he was a prophet? Yet was he not a prophet, but God? Behold, from the holy scriptures, our fathers would not have known he was God. The Christian said: As the holy scriptures have shown us, they truly did know, but 'their heart was made gross, and they shut their eyes, and they listened with dull ears,' as Isaiah said. They regarded him as an enemy because he opposed their wicked deeds, and they were filled with jealousy. And beholding the signs which he did because he is in God, while their works were unacceptable to God, they hated him without cause, also in accordance with scriptures. And they took counsel together and they crucified him, as he himself consented to suffer. But they supposed that he was subject to death, being ignorant of his plan, which he accomplished for the race of men. And they handed over to a sentence of death the one who is going to judge the living and the dead. The Jew said: Remember to keep them separate, for you are about to begin giving a proof about these two points. The Christian said: Which two?

The Jew said: That you said he suffered voluntarily and foreknew his suffering; and that he is the one who will judge the living and the dead. The Christian said: I will prove everything; but now let us turn to what lies before us. For we said that they handed over to a sentence of death the one who is going to judge the living and the dead. When he was crucified, the sun was darkened, and there was darkness over all the land from the sixth hour until the ninth hour; and there was light again, as it is written in Isaiah: "The sun will be darkened at noon, and the sun will grow dark in the middle of the day; and toward evening there will be light. And in the morning you will say, 'How has it become evening?' And in the evening you will say, 'How has it become morning?'" And again, the veil of the Temple was torn in two; the mountains were shaken; and the rocks were shattered; and the tombs were opened and many bodies of those who had fallen asleep rose, and went into the holy city and appeared to many. And they questioned those who had risen. One said, 'Aren't you so-andso?' And he said, "Yes." "Aren't you," he said, "the one who died so many years before?" And he said, "I am." But one questioned one, one another of those who had risen, and they received the same reply. Therefore he said to them again, "How did you rise from the dead?" And those who had risen from the dead said, "Don't you know what has just taken place here?" And the living said, "We don't know." And they said to them, "Didn't you crucify a man called Jesus?" And the living said, "We crucified him because he said he was God, Son of God." And those who had risen from the dead said, "In truth the Lord is the Son of God. For when you supposed that he was dead, then he came to Hades, and smashing his gates and bars he bound him, but he released us and raised us with him." The Jew said: Give us the proofs of these things. The Christian said: Easily, with a few words. The Jew said: If possible, tell them to us. The Christian said: First concerning Jesus, that being God he went down by his own will and did these things to Hades and to death, listen to David saying: 'Leading out those who were bound in might, in like manner the rebels dwelling in graves.' And again: 'He sent his Word and healed them; and he rescued them from their destruction;' and "For he smashed bronze gates and crushed iron bars." And in Isaiah it says: 'Not an elder, not an angel, but the Lord himself saved them.' And concerning the dead, the same Isaiah says: 'The dead will rise, and those in the tombs will awaken, and those in the ground will rejoice.' And in Daniel it says: 'And many of those sleeping in the dust of the earth will rise to everlasting life.' And in Hosea it says: 'The Lord our God will heal us, and the Lord will bandage our wounds; and on the third day we will rise, and we will live in his presence.' Foreseeing all this, David said to the people of the nations in warning: 'In the evening, weeping will remain through the night; and in the morning, great joy.' The Jew said: And who was the one in sorrow then? The Christian said: Toward the first day, the faithful people, together with his disciples, and the women with the Magdalene on the first day of the week. Hearing of his resurrection, they cast aside sorrow and received the good news of joy from the angels first, and then from the soldiers guarding the tomb.

But you received everlasting sorrow, as Zechariah prophesies. The Jew said: No fellow-inquirer in a discussion speaks importunately or insults someone. The Christian said: The living God forbid that I should importunately insult any of my neighbors. But all that the Holy Spirit spoke through the prophets, so I too will speak. But when they saw the signs occurring at his crucifixion, and seeing the resurrection of the dead and hearing from the soldiers that he had risen from the dead, it was not possible to disbelieve them, since they, having themselves guarded the tomb, knew accurately. Therefore, after taking counsel together they gave sufficient money to the soldiers, saying: "Say, 'his disciples came at night and stole him while we were asleep.'" And taking the money, they did as they were told. The Lord reproached them for this through the prophet Isaiah, summoning the holy women who beheld the risen God, and saying: 'Women coming from the spectacle, come; for the people are without understanding.' On which account they reported to us; and they showed us another leading astray. And again the Lord said through Jonah: 'They embraced vanity and falsehood and they abandoned the merciful one.' Having seen all these things accomplished, the Jews mourned with a great wailing, as it was written through the prophet Zechariah: 'They will look to me, because they have insulted; and they will look on the one whom they pierced, and they will mourn for themselves as for a loved one; and they will grieve as for a first-born child. And it shall be in that day, says the Lord, the mourning of Jerusalem will be great like the mourning of Roon in the cut-off plain. And all the clans of the earth will mourn, clan by clan -- the clan of the house of David by itself, and their women by themselves; the clan of the house of Nathan by itself, and their women by themselves; the clan of the house of Levi by itself, and their women by themselves; the clan of the house of Simeon by itself, and their women by themselves; all the remaining clans, clan by clan, and their women by themselves.' Know then, O Jew, that I did not say anything wishing to insult anyone. God forbid; but see, I have shown you what was spoken through the prophet by the Lord. The Jew said: Now it is time for you to show us first of all that he suffered voluntarily, and that he foreknew this. The Christian said: You know that the holy prophets were sent to speak what was commanded them? The Jew said: This is certain. The Christian said: Know then that Jeremiah says this because he knew about his suffering, and as it were in the person of Jesus he speaks thus: "I, like an innocent lamb being led to be slaughtered, did I not know? They took evil counsel against me, saying, 'Come, and let us put wood in his bread, and let us blot him out from the land of the living.'" And also in David he says concerning this: 'Take notice, you stupid ones among the people; and when will you fools understand? Does the one who made the ear not hear? Or does the one who fashioned the eye not perceive? Will the one who disciplines the nations not chastise? The Lord, the one who teaches men wisdom, knows men's thoughts, that they are empty.' And again in Isaiah it says: 'I do not resist or oppose. I gave my back to whips and my cheeks to blows.

I did not turn my face from the shame of spitting.' Did these things not happen to Jesus? The Jew said: Often these things were written not about Jesus, but about someone else. The Christian said: Concerning this, it is easy to prove that these things were prophesied about Jesus. The Jew said: If you can do this from the holy scriptures, you have spoken the truth in all things. The Christian said: Proving truthfully all many things about the Lord Jesus, we have done no good. But as it is written, explaining to one who is asleep, at the end we heard, 'What is it?' Nevertheless, we will not grow weary. God forbid. For the Lord Jesus gives us what to say and what to speak, according to his promise. In Psalm 21 it is written thus: 'They pierced my hands and feet, they counted all my bones; they observed and looked upon me. And they divided my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.' We see these things fulfilled in Jesus. For they pierced his hands and feet with nails and they looked upon him and said: "If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross." And the soldiers, casting lots, dividing his garments. And again in Psalm 68 it is written thus: 'They gave me gall for my food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.' And we see them fulfilled in Jesus. For surely David did not submit to any of these things? But neither did anyone else, except Jesus alone. For hanging on the cross he said, 'I am thirsty,' and filling a sponge with vinegar mixed with gall and putting it on a reed they gave him to drink. Again it was said in Psalm 21: 'God, my God, attend to me; why have you forsaken me?' And Jesus, hanging on the cross, said: 'Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani,' which is translated, 'God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' If then, O Jew, you will show that these things have not been fulfilled in this Jesus, all that I have said from the beginning of the discussion until now, refute them now. The Jew said: You promised me you would prove from the holy scriptures that he is the one who is going to judge the living and the dead; and now fulfill your promise. The Christian said: What use is it for us to work hard? For it is written for the ear of those who hear, not of those without understanding. The Jew said: In the letter of Paul, whose book you also consider counted in the new covenant, he himself writing says, 'Let the teacher not be idle in teaching.' The Christian said: The same one writes saying: 'To speak is not troublesome to me, and is safe for you.' And that we may satisfy even this request, we will speak at the command of God, especially for the sake of those who are listening, about what you now ask, O man of God. It is written thus in Daniel: 'In the first year of Baltasar king of the Chaldaeans, Daniel saw a dream; and the vision of his head, upon his bed; and he wrote down the dream: 'I, Daniel, watched, and lo! the four winds of heaven were buffeting/lashing the great sea.

And four beasts came up out of the sea, differing from one another. The first was like a lioness, and its wings like an eagle's. I watched until its wings were plucked off and it was lifted from the earth and on the feet of a man was given to it. And lo! the second beast was like a bear, and it was raised up on one side and had three ribs in its mouth, between its teeth. And thus one spoke to it, 'Rise, eat much flesh.' After this I watched, and lo! the third beast was like a leopard, and its four wings like a bird's above it; and this beast had four heads, and authority was given to it. After this I watched, and lo! a fourth beast, fearful, and very terrible, and strong. Its teeth were iron, and its claws bronze; devouring and crushing, and what remained it trampled with its feet. And it was very different from all the beasts before it, and it had ten horns. And I was observing its horns; and lo! another horn grew up in their midst. And it rooted out three horns of the ones that were before it. And lo! there were eyes like a man's in this horn, and a mouth speaking big words. I watched until thrones were set in place and the Ancient of Days sat down.'" And saying this the Christian rose, weeping; and bowing his head toward the east he said to the Jew: Pay attention, fellow; see, this is about the End. And he said what follows in scripture: "The hair of the one seated on the throne was like pure wool, and his robe white as snow. His throne was a blaze of fire and its wheels a burning fire. A river of fire flowed before him; a thousand thousands served him, and thousand times ten thousand stood beside him. The court sat and the books were opened. Then I watched, from the sound of the words which that horn spoke until the beast was killed and destroyed, and its body was consigned to the burning of the fire. And the sovereignty of the other beasts was taken away, and length of life was given to them for a time. I watched in the vision of the night and lo! there was one like a son of man coming on the clouds of heaven; and he came to the Ancient of Days and was brought before him. And the sovereignty was given to him, and honor, and the kingdom, and the authority. His authority is an everlasting authority, which will not pass away; and his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, which will not be destroyed." The Jew sat dumbfounded for about an hour, and said nothing. The Christian said to him: Have you understood all these things, O man of God? The Jew said: I have understood. The Christian said: And what is your opinion concerning all these things? The Jew said: In truth you have persuaded me from every side that he is God of gods and Lord of lords and King of kings, and that our fathers sinned greatly by laying hands on him. Now, then, man of God, tell me what I may do to be saved. The Christian said: If you believe with all your heart, and with all your mind, and with all your strength, and with all your understanding, get up, be baptized and wash away your sins by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus, so that you, along with the others who hear, may hear the psalmist-king and prophet and patriarch David when he says: 'Blessed are those whose transgressions have been forgiven and whose sins have been covered over.'

And when he had said these things, the Christian stood up, because the crowd clamored for the believer and said: 'The faith of the Christians is victorious!' while the king and his revered bishop applauded. And the Jew got up and fell at the feet of the Christian, and raising his voice in wailing he said to the Christian: The Lord will require my soul at your hands if you do not make me a Christian. And the Christian made him get up, telling him to remain there. And the Christian went before the most holy bishop 'My son, the husbandman who toils ought to be first to partake of the fruits; you have toiled, so you first take the fruit.' But when he said, 'I am not one of the clergy, the bishop went quickly into the church. And when he had given the salutation of Peace, he ordained him deacon; and once again giving the salutation of Peace, he made him a presbyter. And he gave him other presbyters and deacons for the service of the liturgy, and they gave him a parchment inscribed with the invocations and prayers of the rite. And the most holy Timothy, henceforth a presbyter, went off with the other priests and deacons to the place where Aquila was waiting eagerly, and taking him, he brought him into the church. And he performed the entire rite, and baptized him in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, renaming him Theognostos. And partaking of the undefiled mysteries, the latter became a receptacle of the Holy Spirit -- once a Jew, but now a Christian by the grace of God, once a wolf, but now become Christ's sheep. And the presbyter Timothy took him into his own house, and they were continually glorifying together Father and Son and Holy Spirit -- to whom be all honor and glory for ever and ever, amen.

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