A Letter from Origen to Africanus.

 2.  You begin by saying, that when, in my discussion with our friend Bassus, I used the Scripture which contains the prophecy of Daniel when yet a you

 3.  And in many other of the sacred books I found sometimes more in our copies than in the Hebrew, sometimes less.  I shall adduce a few examples, sin

 4.  Again, through the whole of Job there are many passages in the Hebrew which are wanting in our copies, generally four or five verses, but sometime

 5.  In all these cases consider whether it would not be well to remember the words, “Thou shalt not remove the ancient landmarks which thy fathers hav

 6.  Let us now look at the things you find fault with in the story itself.  And here let us begin with what would probably make any one averse to rece

 7.  Moreover, I remember hearing from a learned Hebrew, said among themselves to be the son of a wise man, and to have been specially trained to succe

 8.  And I knew another Hebrew, who told about these elders such traditions as the following:  that they pretended to the Jews in captivity, who were h

 9.  But probably to this you will say, Why then is the “History” not in their Daniel, if, as you say, their wise men hand down by tradition such stori

 10.  Your next objection is, that in this writing Daniel is said to have been seized by the Spirit, and to have cried out that the sentence was unjust

 11.  Your other objections are stated, as it appears to me, somewhat irreverently, and without the becoming spirit of piety.  I cannot do better than

 12.  I had nearly forgotten an additional remark I have to make about the prino-prisein and schino-schisein Essa chos isouoth essa is Hesre aïs is ess

 13.  You raise another objection, which I give in your own words:  “Moreover, how is it that they, who were captives among the Chaldeans, lost and won

 14.  But you say, “How could they who were in captivity pass sentence of death?” asserting, I know not on what grounds, that Susanna was the wife of a

 15.  I find in your letter yet another objection in these words:  “And add, that among all the many prophets who had been before, there is no one who

 Your last objection is, that the style is different.  This I cannot see.

4.  Again, through the whole of Job there are many passages in the Hebrew which are wanting in our copies, generally four or five verses, but sometimes, however, even fourteen, and nineteen, and sixteen.  But why should I enumerate all the instances I collected with so much labour, to prove that the difference between our copies and those of the Jews did not escape me?  In Jeremiah I noticed many instances, and indeed in that book I found much transposition and variation in the readings of the prophecies.  Again, in Genesis, the words, “God saw that it was good,” when the firmament was made, are not found in the Hebrew, and there is no small dispute among them about this; and other instances are to be found in Genesis, which I marked, for the sake of distinction, with the sign the Greeks call an obelisk, as on the other hand I marked with an asterisk those passages in our copies which are not found in the Hebrew.  What needs there to speak of Exodus, where there is such diversity in what is said about the tabernacle and its court, and the ark, and the garments of the high priest and the priests, that sometimes the meaning even does not seem to be akin?  And, forsooth, when we notice such things, we are forthwith to reject as spurious the copies in use in our Churches, and enjoin the brotherhood to put away the sacred books current among them, and to coax the Jews, and persuade them to give us copies which shall be untampered with, and free from forgery!  Are we to suppose that that Providence which in the sacred Scriptures has ministered to the edification of all the Churches of Christ, had no thought for those bought with a price, for whom Christ died;4    1 Cor. vi. 20; Rom. xiv. 15. whom, although His Son, God who is love spared not, but gave Him up for us all, that with Him He might freely give us all things?5    Rom. viii. 32.

Πάλιν τε αὖ πλεῖστά τε ὅσα διὰ μέσου ὅλου τοῦ Ἰὼβ παρ' Ἑβραίοις μὲν κεῖται, παρ' ἡμῖν δὲ οὐχί: καὶ πολλάκις μὲν ἔπη τέσσαρα ἢ τρία, ἔσθ' ὅτε δὲ καὶ δεκατέσσαρα καὶ δεκαεννέα καὶ δεκαέξ. Καὶ τί με δεῖ καταλέγειν ἃ μετὰ πολλοῦ καμάτου ἀνελεξάμεθα, ὑπὲρ τοῦ μὴ λανθάνειν ἡμᾶς τὴν διαφορὰν τῶν παρὰ Ἰουδαίοις καὶ ἡμῖν ἀντιγράφων; Πολλὰ δὲ τοιαῦτα καὶ ἐν τῷ Ἱερεμίᾳ κατενοήσαμεν, ἐν ᾧ καὶ πολλὴν μετάθεσιν καὶ ἐναλλαγὴν τῆς λέξεως τῶν προφητευομένων εὕρομεν. Καὶ ἐν τῇ Γενέσει δὲ τό: »Εἶδεν ὁ Θεὸς, ὅτι καλὸν,« ἐπὶ τῷ γενέσθαι στερέωμα, παρ' Ἑβραίοις οὐχ εὑρίσκεται: καὶ πρόβλημα δέ ἐστι παρ' αὐτοῖς οὐ τὸ τυχὸν τοῦτο. Καὶ ἄλλα δὲ ἔστιν εὑρεῖν ἐν τῇ Γενέσει, οἷς σημεῖα παρεθήκαμεν τοὺς καλουμένους παρ' Ἕλλησιν ὀβελοὺς, ἵν' ἡμῖν γνώριμον ᾖ τὸ τοιοῦτον: ὡς πάλιν ἀστερίσκους, τοῖς κειμένοις μὲν ἐν τῷ Ἑβραϊκῷ, παρ' ἡμῖν δὲ μὴ εὑρισκομένοις. Τί δέ με δεῖ λέγειν περὶ τῆς Ἐξόδου, ἔνθα τὰ περὶ τὴν σκηνὴν καὶ τὴν αὐλὴν αὐτῆς, καὶ τὴν κιβωτὸν, καὶ τὰ ἐνδύματα τοῦ ἀρχιερέως, καὶ τῶν ἱερέων, ἐπὶ πολὺ παρήλλακται, ὡς μηδὲ τὴν διάνοιαν παραπλησίαν εἶναι δοκεῖν; Ὥρα τοίνυν, εἰ μὴ λανθάνει ἡμᾶς τὰ τοιαῦτα, ἀθετεῖν τὰ ἐν ταῖς Ἐκκλησίαις φερόμενα ἀντίγραφα, καὶ νομοθετῆσαι τῇ ἀδελφότητι, ἀποθέσθαι μὲν τὰς παρ' αὐτοῖς ἐπιφερομένας ἱερὰς βίβλους, κολακεύειν δὲ Ἰουδαίους, καὶ πείθειν, ἵνα μεταδῶσιν ἡμῖν τῶν καθαρῶν, καὶ μηδὲν πλάσμα ἐχόντων. Ἆρα δὲ καὶ ἡ Πρόνοια, ἐν ἁγίαις Γραφαῖς δεδωκυῖα πάσαις ταῖς Χριστοῦ Ἐκκλησίαις οἰκοδομὴν, οὐκ ἐφρόντισε »τῶν τιμῆς ἀγορασθέντων, ὑπὲρ ὧν Χριστὸς ἀπέθανεν:« οὗ Υἱοῦ ὄντος »οὐκ ἐφείσατο ὁ Θεὸς,« ἡ ἀγάπη, »ἀλλ' ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν πάντων παρέδωκεν αὐτὸν, ἵνα σὺν αὐτῷ τὰ πάντα ἡμῖν χαρίσηται;«