1. Septuagint, Baruch, 4.2 (10th cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE)
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2. Hebrew Bible, Deuteronomy, 18.10-18.11, 23.1-23.2 (9th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
| 18.11. וְחֹבֵר חָבֶר וְשֹׁאֵל אוֹב וְיִדְּעֹנִי וְדֹרֵשׁ אֶל־הַמֵּתִים׃ 23.1. לֹא־יִקַּח אִישׁ אֶת־אֵשֶׁת אָבִיו וְלֹא יְגַלֶּה כְּנַף אָבִיו׃ 23.1. כִּי־תֵצֵא מַחֲנֶה עַל־אֹיְבֶיךָ וְנִשְׁמַרְתָּ מִכֹּל דָּבָר רָע׃ 23.2. לֹא־תַשִּׁיךְ לְאָחִיךָ נֶשֶׁךְ כֶּסֶף נֶשֶׁךְ אֹכֶל נֶשֶׁךְ כָּל־דָּבָר אֲשֶׁר יִשָּׁךְ׃ 23.2. לֹא־יָבֹא פְצוּעַ־דַּכָּא וּכְרוּת שָׁפְכָה בִּקְהַל יְהוָה׃ | 18.10. There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, one that useth divination, a soothsayer, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer," 18.11. or a charmer, or one that consulteth a ghost or a familiar spirit, or a necromancer." 23.1. A man shall not take his father’s wife, and shall not uncover his father’s skirt." 23.2. He that is crushed or maimed in his privy parts shall not enter into the assembly of the LORD." |
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3. Hebrew Bible, Exodus, 6.26-6.27 (9th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
| 6.26. הוּא אַהֲרֹן וּמֹשֶׁה אֲשֶׁר אָמַר יְהוָה לָהֶם הוֹצִיאוּ אֶת־בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם עַל־צִבְאֹתָם׃ 6.27. הֵם הַמְדַבְּרִים אֶל־פַּרְעֹה מֶלֶךְ־מִצְרַיִם לְהוֹצִיא אֶת־בְּנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל מִמִּצְרָיִם הוּא מֹשֶׁה וְאַהֲרֹן׃ | 6.26. These are that Aaron and Moses, to whom the LORD said: ‘Bring out the children of Israel from the land of Egypt according to their hosts.’" 6.27. These are they that spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring out the children of Israel from Egypt. These are that Moses and Aaron." |
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4. Hebrew Bible, Genesis, 1.26, 6.1-6.4 (9th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
| 1.26. וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים נַעֲשֶׂה אָדָם בְּצַלְמֵנוּ כִּדְמוּתֵנוּ וְיִרְדּוּ בִדְגַת הַיָּם וּבְעוֹף הַשָּׁמַיִם וּבַבְּהֵמָה וּבְכָל־הָאָרֶץ וּבְכָל־הָרֶמֶשׂ הָרֹמֵשׂ עַל־הָאָרֶץ׃ 6.1. וַיְהִי כִּי־הֵחֵל הָאָדָם לָרֹב עַל־פְּנֵי הָאֲדָמָה וּבָנוֹת יֻלְּדוּ לָהֶם׃ 6.1. וַיּוֹלֶד נֹחַ שְׁלֹשָׁה בָנִים אֶת־שֵׁם אֶת־חָם וְאֶת־יָפֶת׃ 6.2. וַיִּרְאוּ בְנֵי־הָאֱלֹהִים אֶת־בְּנוֹת הָאָדָם כִּי טֹבֹת הֵנָּה וַיִּקְחוּ לָהֶם נָשִׁים מִכֹּל אֲשֶׁר בָּחָרוּ׃ 6.2. מֵהָעוֹף לְמִינֵהוּ וּמִן־הַבְּהֵמָה לְמִינָהּ מִכֹּל רֶמֶשׂ הָאֲדָמָה לְמִינֵהוּ שְׁנַיִם מִכֹּל יָבֹאוּ אֵלֶיךָ לְהַחֲיוֹת׃ 6.3. וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה לֹא־יָדוֹן רוּחִי בָאָדָם לְעֹלָם בְּשַׁגַּם הוּא בָשָׂר וְהָיוּ יָמָיו מֵאָה וְעֶשְׂרִים שָׁנָה׃ 6.4. הַנְּפִלִים הָיוּ בָאָרֶץ בַּיָּמִים הָהֵם וְגַם אַחֲרֵי־כֵן אֲשֶׁר יָבֹאוּ בְּנֵי הָאֱלֹהִים אֶל־בְּנוֹת הָאָדָם וְיָלְדוּ לָהֶם הֵמָּה הַגִּבֹּרִים אֲשֶׁר מֵעוֹלָם אַנְשֵׁי הַשֵּׁם׃ | 1.26. And God said: ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.’" 6.1. And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them," 6.2. that the sons of nobles saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives, whomsoever they chose." 6.3. And the LORD said: ‘My spirit shall not abide in man for ever, for that he also is flesh; therefore shall his days be a hundred and twenty years.’" 6.4. The Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of nobles came in unto the daughters of men, and they bore children to them; the same were the mighty men that were of old, the men of renown." |
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5. Hebrew Bible, Proverbs, 8.22 (9th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
| 8.22. יְהוָה קָנָנִי רֵאשִׁית דַּרְכּוֹ קֶדֶם מִפְעָלָיו מֵאָז׃ | 8.22. The LORD made me as the beginning of His way, The first of His works of old." |
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6. Hebrew Bible, Psalms, 33.6 (9th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
| 33.6. בִּדְבַר יְהוָה שָׁמַיִם נַעֲשׂוּ וּבְרוּחַ פִּיו כָּל־צְבָאָם׃ | 33.6. By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; And all the host of them by the breath of His mouth." |
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7. Hebrew Bible, Isaiah, 2.1 (8th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
| 2.1. בּוֹא בַצּוּר וְהִטָּמֵן בֶּעָפָר מִפְּנֵי פַּחַד יְהוָה וּמֵהֲדַר גְּאֹנוֹ׃ 2.1. הַדָּבָר אֲשֶׁר חָזָה יְשַׁעְיָהוּ בֶּן־אָמוֹץ עַל־יְהוּדָה וִירוּשָׁלִָם׃ | 2.1. The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem." |
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8. Hebrew Bible, Jeremiah, 1.2 (8th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
| 1.2. אֲשֶׁר הָיָה דְבַר־יְהוָה אֵלָיו בִּימֵי יֹאשִׁיָּהוּ בֶן־אָמוֹן מֶלֶךְ יְהוּדָה בִּשְׁלֹשׁ־עֶשְׂרֵה שָׁנָה לְמָלְכוֹ׃ | 1.2. to whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign." |
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9. Hesiod, Theogony, 902-905, 901 (8th cent. BCE - 7th cent. BCE)
| 901. A bull, unruly, proud and furious |
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10. Septuagint, Ecclesiasticus (Siracides), 1.4, 1.9, 24.3-24.4, 24.8-24.12, 24.23 (2nd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE)
| 1.4. Wisdom was created before all things,and prudent understanding from eternity. 1.9. The fear of the Lord is glory and exultation,and gladness and a crown of rejoicing. 24.3. I came forth from the mouth of the Most High,and covered the earth like a mist. 24.3. I went forth like a canal from a river and like a water channel into a garden. 24.4. I dwelt in high places,and my throne was in a pillar of cloud. 24.8. Then the Creator of all things gave me a commandment,and the one who created me assigned a place for my tent. And he said, `Make your dwelling in Jacob,and in Israel receive your inheritance. 24.9. From eternity, in the beginning, he created me,and for eternity I shall not cease to exist. 24.11. In the beloved city likewise he gave me a resting place,and in Jerusalem was my dominion. 24.12. So I took root in an honored people,in the portion of the Lord, who is their inheritance. 24.23. All this is the book of the covet of the Most High God,the law which Moses commanded us as an inheritance for the congregations of Jacob. |
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11. Septuagint, Wisdom of Solomon, 7.15, 7.25-7.29, 8.2-8.9, 8.13, 9.9-9.10, 10.4, 10.10, 24.8-24.11, 24.23 (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE)
| 7.15. May God grant that I speak with judgment and have thought worthy of what I have received,for he is the guide even of wisdom and the corrector of the wise. 7.25. For she is a breath of the power of God,and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty;therefore nothing defiled gains entrance into her. 7.26. For she is a reflection of eternal light,a spotless mirror of the working of God,and an image of his goodness. 7.27. Though she is but one, she can do all things,and while remaining in herself, she renews all things;in every generation she passes into holy souls and makes them friends of God, and prophets; 7.28. for God loves nothing so much as the man who lives with wisdom. 7.29. For she is more beautiful than the sun,and excels every constellation of the stars. Compared with the light she is found to be superior 8.2. I loved her and sought her from my youth,and I desired to take her for my bride,and I became enamored of her beauty. 8.3. She glorifies her noble birth by living with God,and the Lord of all loves her. 8.4. For she is an initiate in the knowledge of God,and an associate in his works. 8.5. If riches are a desirable possession in life,what is richer than wisdom who effects all things? 8.6. And if understanding is effective,who more than she is fashioner of what exists? 8.7. And if any one loves righteousness,her labors are virtues;for she teaches self-control and prudence,justice and courage;nothing in life is more profitable for men than these. 8.8. And if any one longs for wide experience,she knows the things of old, and infers the things to come;she understands turns of speech and the solutions of riddles;she has foreknowledge of signs and wonders and of the outcome of seasons and times. 8.9. Therefore I determined to take her to live with me,knowing that she would give me good counsel and encouragement in cares and grief. 8.13. Because of her I shall have immortality,and leave an everlasting remembrance to those who come after me. 9.9. With thee is wisdom, who knows thy works and was present when thou didst make the world,and who understand what is pleasing in thy sight and what is right according to thy commandments. 9.10. Send her forth from the holy heavens,and from the throne of thy glory send her,that she may be with me and toil,and that I may learn what is pleasing to thee. 10.4. When the earth was flooded because of him,wisdom again saved it,steering the righteous man by a paltry piece of wood. 10.10. When a righteous man fled from his brothers wrath,she guided him on straight paths;she showed him the kingdom of God,and gave him knowledge of angels;she prospered him in his labors,and increased the fruit of his toil. |
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12. Diodorus Siculus, Historical Library, 17.52 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE)
| 17.52. 1. He decided to found a great city in Egypt, and gave orders to the men left behind with this mission to build the city between the marsh and the sea. He laid out the site and traced the streets skilfully and ordered that the city should be called after him Alexandria.,2. It was conveniently situated near the harbour of Pharos, and by selecting the right angle of the streets, Alexander made the city breathe with the etesian winds so that as these blow across a great expanse of sea, they cool the air of the town, and so he provided its inhabitants with a moderate climate and good health.,3. Alexander also laid out the walls so that they were at once exceedingly large and marvellously strong. Lying between a great marsh and the sea, it affords by land only two approaches, both narrow and very easily blocked. In shape, it is similar to a chlamys, and it is approximately bisected by an avenue remarkable for its size and beauty. From gate to gate it runs a distance of forty furlongs; it is a plethron in width, and is bordered throughout its length with rich façades of houses and temples.,4. Alexander gave orders to build a palace notable for its size and massiveness. And not only Alexander, but those who after him ruled Egypt down to our own time, with few exceptions have enlarged this with lavish additions.,5. The city in general has grown so much in later times that many reckon it to be the first city of the civilized world, and it is certainly far ahead of all the rest in elegance and extent and riches and luxury.,6. The number of its inhabitants surpasses that of those in other cities. At the time when we were in Egypt, those who kept the census returns of the population said that its free residents were more than three hundred thousand, and that the king received from the revenues of the country more than six thousand talents.,7. However that may be, King Alexander charged certain of his Friends with the construction of Alexandria, settled all the affairs of Egypt, and returned with his army to Syria. |
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13. Philo of Alexandria, On Husbandry, 51 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)
| 51. and let every one in his turn say the same thing, for it is very becoming to every man who loves God to study such a song as this, but above all this world should sing it. For God, like a shepherd and a king, governs (as if they were a flock of sheep) the earth, and the water, and the air, and the fire, and all the plants, and living creatures that are in them, whether mortal or divine; and he regulates the nature of the heaven, and the periodical revolutions of the sun and moon, and the variations and harmonious movements of the other stars, ruling them according to law and justice; appointing, as their immediate superintendent, his own right reason, his first-born son, who is to receive the charge of this sacred company, as the lieutet of the great king; for it is said somewhere, "Behold, I am he! I will send my messenger before thy face, who shall keep thee in the Road. |
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14. Philo of Alexandria, On The Cherubim, 42, 44, 50, 127 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)
| 127. And for what reason is it built, except to serve as a shelter and protection? This is the object. Now passing on from these particular buildings, consider the greatest house or city, namely, this world, for you will find that God is the cause of it, by whom it was made. That the materials are the four elements, of which it is composed; that the instrument is the word of God, by means of which it was made; and the object of the building you will find to be the display of the goodness of the Creator. This is the discriminating opinion of men fond of truth, who desire to attain to true and sound knowledge; but they who say that they have gotten anything by means of God, conceive that the cause is the instrument, the Creator namely, and the instrument the cause, namely, the human mind. 127. And if their connections and families are very numerous, then by reason of their intermarriages and the mutual connections formed with different houses the iniquity and injury will proceed and infect the whole city all around. |
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15. Philo of Alexandria, On The Confusion of Tongues, 147, 63, 146 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)
| 146. And even if there be not as yet any one who is worthy to be called a son of God, nevertheless let him labour earnestly to be adorned according to his first-born word, the eldest of his angels, as the great archangel of many names; for he is called, the authority, and the name of God, and the Word, and man according to God's image, and he who sees Israel. |
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16. Philo of Alexandria, On The Preliminary Studies, 81 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)
| 81. Again, she gives Hagar to him, not the first moment that he arrives in the country of the Canaanites, but after he has abode there ten years. And what the meaning of this statement is we must investigate in no careless manner. Now, at the beginning of our existence, our soul dwelt among the passions alone as its fosterbrethren, griefs, pains, fears, desires, and pleasures, which reach it through the medium of the external senses, before reason was as yet able to see good and evil, and to distinguish accurately the points wherein these things differ from one another, but while it was still wavering and hesitating, and as it were closing its eyes in profound sleep; |
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17. Philo of Alexandria, On Drunkenness, 101-129, 13, 130-133, 138, 14, 144-147, 15, 150, 16-18, 184, 19-29, 31-100 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)
| 100. for Moses," says the scripture, "having taken his own tent, fixed it outside the camp," and that too not near it, but a long way off, and at a great distance from the camp. And by these statements he tells us, figuratively, that the wise man is but a sojourner, and a person who leaves war and goes over to peace, and who passes from the mortal and disturbed camp to the undisturbed and peaceful and divine life of rational and happy souls. XXVI. |
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18. Philo of Alexandria, On Flight And Finding, 110, 208, 52, 109 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)
| 109. For Moses says that he cannot be defiled neither in respect of his father, that is, the mind, nor his mother, that is, the external sense; because, I imagine, he has received imperishable and wholly pure parents, God being his father, who is also the father of all things, and wisdom being his mother, by means of whom the universe arrived at creation; |
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19. Philo of Alexandria, On Giants, 25-27, 47-48, 24 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)
| 24. Such also is the spirit of Moses, which came upon the seventy elders, for the sake of making them differ from, and be superior to the rest of the Israelites, who could not possibly be elders in real truth, unless they had partaken of that allwise spirit. For it is said, "I will take of my spirit which is upon thee, and I will pour it upon the seventy Elders. |
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20. Philo of Alexandria, On The Migration of Abraham, 33 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)
| 33. and these things are in their own nature most admirable and most beautiful; for of the things of which the soul is in travail by herself, the greater part are premature and abortive progency; but those on which God pours his showers and which he waters, are produced in a perfect, and entire, and most excellent state. |
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21. Philo of Alexandria, On The Change of Names, 202 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)
| 202. For it is no small number of persons who have been deceived by the similarity of the names of different things, and we had better examine here what I am saying. The name of Ishmael, being interpreted, means "the hearing of God," but some men listen to the divine doctrines to their benefit, and others listen to both his admonitions and to those of others only to their destruction. Do you recollect the case of the soothsayer Balaam? He is represented as hearing the oracles of God, and as having received knowledge from the Most High |
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22. Philo of Alexandria, On The Creation of The World, 25 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)
| 25. this is the doctrine of Moses, not mine. Accordingly he, when recording the creation of man, in words which follow, asserts expressly, that he was made in the image of God--and if the image be a part of the image, then manifestly so is the entire form, namely, the whole of this world perceptible by the external senses, which is a greater imitation of the divine image than the human form is. It is manifest also, that the archetypal seal, which we call that world which is perceptible only to the intellect, must itself be the archetypal model, the idea of ideas, the Reason of God. VII. |
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23. Philo of Alexandria, On Planting, 50 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)
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24. Philo of Alexandria, On The Posterity of Cain, 135 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)
| 135. on which account Moses, in strict accordance with the principles of natural philosophy, represents Leah as Hated. For those whom the charms of pleasures, which are with Rachel, that is to say, with the outward sense, cannot be endured by Leah, who is situated out of the reach of the passions; on which account they repudiate and detest her. But as far as she herself is concerned, her alienation from the creature produces her a close connection with God, from whom she receives the seeds of wisdom, and conceives, and travails, and brings forth virtuous ideas, worthy of the father who begot them. If therefore, you, O my soul, imitating Leah, reject mortal things, you will of necessity turn to the incorruptible God, who will shed over you all the fountains of his good. XLI. |
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25. Philo of Alexandria, On Curses, 165, 159 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)
| 159. For the love of virtue being inflamed and excited by the brilliant appearance of virtue, burns to ashes the pleasures of the body, and then cuts them to pieces and pounds them to nothing, using the divine word which can at all times divide everything. And in this manner he teaches us that among the bodily advantages are health, and beauty, and the accuracy of the outward senses, and the perfection of bodily vigour with strength and mighty energy; but still that all these things are common to accursed and wicked persons, while if they were really good no wicked person would be allowed to partake of them. |
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26. Philo of Alexandria, On Dreams, 1.68, 1.215, 2.6, 2.45, 2.242-2.245 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)
| 1.68. These things, then, being defined as a necessary preliminary, when the practiser of virtue comes to Charran, the outward sense, he does not "meet" the place, nor that place either which is filled by a mortal body; for all those who are born of the dust, and who occupy any place whatever, and who do of necessity fill some position, partake of that; nor the third and most excellent kind of place, of which it was scarcely possible for that man to form an idea who made his abode at the well which was entitled the "well of the oath," where the self-taught race, Isaac, abides, who never abandons his faith in God and his invisible comprehension of him, but who keeps to the intermediate divine word, which affords him the best suggestions, and teaches him everything which is suitable to the times. 1.215. For there are, as it seems, two temples belonging to God; one being this world, in which the high priest is the divine word, his own firstborn son. The other is the rational soul, the priest of which is the real true man, the copy of whom, perceptible to the senses, is he who performs his paternal vows and sacrifices, to whom it is enjoined to put on the aforesaid tunic, the representation of the universal heaven, in order that the world may join with the man in offering sacrifice, and that the man may likewise co-operate with the universe. 2.6. and it may be well at all times to begin our instruction with the first instances. Now the first dreams are those which Joseph beheld, receiving two visions from the two parts of the world, heaven and earth. From the earth the dream about the harvest; and that is as follows, "I thought that we were all binding sheaves in the middle of the field; and my sheaf stood Up. 2.45. for God gives to the soul a seal, a very beautiful gift, to show that he has invested with shape the essence of all things which was previously devoid of shape, and has stamped with a particular character that which previously had no character, and has endowed with form that which had previously no distinctive form, and having perfected the entire world, he has impressed upon it an image and appearance, namely, his own word. 2.242. and by the name Eden he means the wisdom of the living God, and the interpretation of the name Eden is "delight," because I imagine wisdom is the delight of God, and God is the delight of wisdom, as it is said also in the Psalms, "Delight thou in the Lord." And the divine word, like a river, flows forth from wisdom as from a spring, in order to irrigate and fertilize the celestial and heavenly shoots and plants of such souls as love virtue, as if they were a paradise. 2.243. And this sacred word is divided into four beginnings, by which I mean it is portioned out into four virtues, each of which is a princess, for to be divided into beginnings, does not resemble divisions of place, but a kingdom, in order than any one, after having shown the virtues as boundaries, may immediately proceed to show the wise man who follows them to be king, being elected a such, not by men, but by the only free nature which cannot err, and which cannot be corrupted; 2.244. for those who behold the excellence of Abraham say unto him, "Thou art a king, sent from God among Us:" proposing as a maxim, for those who study philosophy, that the wise man alone is a ruler and a king, and that virtue is the only irresponsible authority and sovereignty. XXXVII. 2.245. Accordingly, one of the followers of Moses, having compared this speech to a river, has said in the Psalms, "The river of God was filled with Water;" and it is absurd to give such a title to any of the rivers which flow upon the earth. But as it seems the psalmist is here speaking of the divine word, which is full of streams and wisdom, and which has no part of itself empty or desolate, or rather, as some one has said, which is diffused everywhere over the universe, and is raised up on high, on account of the continued and incessant rapidity of that ever-flowing spring. |
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27. Philo of Alexandria, On The Special Laws, 1.96, 1.277, 3.195 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)
| 1.96. and it also attracts the intellect of philosophers to examine its different parts. For God intends that the high priest should in the first place have a visible representation of the universe about him, in order that from the continual sight of it he may be reminded to make his own life worthy of the nature of the universe, and secondly, in order that the whole world may co-operate with him in the performance of his sacred rites. And it is exceedingly becoming that the man who is consecrated to the service of the Father of the world should also bring his son to the service of him who has begotten him. 1.277. And this command is a symbol of nothing else but of the fact that in the eyes of God it is not the number of things sacrificed that is accounted valuable, but the purity of the rational spirit of the sacrificer. Unless, indeed, one can suppose that a judge who is anxious to pronounce a holy judgment will never receive gifts from any of those whose conduct comes before his tribunal, or that, if he does receive such presents, he will be liable to an accusation of corruption; and that a good man will not receive gifts from a wicked person, not even though he may be poor and the other rich, and he himself perhaps in actual want of what he would so receive; and yet that God can be corrupted by bribes, who is most all-sufficient for himself and who has no need of any thing created; who, being himself the first and most perfect good thing, the everlasting fountain of wisdom, and justice, and of every virtue, rejects the gifts of the wicked. 3.195. If therefore any one has ever plotted against this most excellent and most domit of all the outward senses, namely sight, so as ever to have struck out the eye of a free man, let him suffer the same infliction himself, but not so if he have only struck out the eye of a slave; not because he is entitled to pardon, or because the injury which he has done is less, but because the man who has been injured will have a still worse master if he has been mutilated in retaliation, since he will for ever bear a grudge against him for the calamity which has fallen upon him, and will revenge himself on him every day as an irreconcileable enemy by harsh commands beyond his power to perform, by which the slave will be so oppressed that he will be ready to die. |
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28. Philo of Alexandria, On The Virtues, 62-63, 61 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)
| 61. But Moses would reply: "It is proper to make God the judge in every thing, and most especially in those things in which the acting well or ill brings innumerable multitudes to happiness, or on the contrary to misery. And there is nothing of greater importance than sovereign authority, to which all the affairs of cities, in war or peace, are committed. For as in order to make a successful voyage one has need of a pilot who is both virtuous and skilful, in the same manner there is need of a very wise governor, in order to secure the good government of the subjects in every quarter. |
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29. Philo of Alexandria, On The Contemplative Life, 35, 68, 20 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)
| 20. but they take up their abode outside of walls, or gardens, or solitary lands, seeking for a desert place, not because of any ill-natured misanthropy to which they have learnt to devote themselves, but because of the associations with people of wholly dissimilar dispositions to which they would otherwise be compelled, and which they know to be unprofitable and mischievous. III. |
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30. Philo of Alexandria, On The Life of Moses, 2.134, 2.197-2.198, 2.202-2.203 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)
| 2.134. For it was indispensable that the man who was consecrated to the Father of the world, should have as a paraclete, his son, the being most perfect in all virtue, to procure forgiveness of sins, and a supply of unlimited blessings; 2.197. Wherefore Moses, marvelling at his insanity and at the extravagance of his audacity, although he was filled with a noble impetuosity and indignation, and desired to slay the man with his own hand, nevertheless feared lest he should be inflicting on him too light a punishment; for he conceived that no man could possibly devise any punishment adequate to such enormous impiety. 2.198. And since it followed of necessity that a man who did not worship God could not honour his father either, or his mother, or his country, or his benefactors, this man, in addition to not reverencing them, dared to speak ill of them. And then what extravagance of wickedness did he fall short of? And yet evil-speaking, if compared with cursing, is the lighter evil of the two. But when intemperate language and an unbridled tongue are subservient to lawless folly, then inevitably and invariably some iniquitous conduct must follow. 2.202. And God commanded him to be stoned, considering, as I imagine, the punishment of stoning to be a suitable and appropriate one for a man who had a stony and hardened heart, and wishing at the same time that all his fellow countrymen should have a share in inflicting punishment on him, as he knew that they were very indigt and eager to slay him; and the only punishment which so many myriads of men could possibly join in was that which was inflicted by throwing stones. 2.203. But after the punishment of this impious murderer, a new commandment was enacted, which had never before been thought worthy of being reduced to writing; but unexpected innovations cause new laws to be devised for the repression of their evils. At all events, the following law was immediately introduced: "Whoever curses God shall be guilty of sin, and whoever names the name of the Lord shall Die."{2}{#le 24:15.} |
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31. Philo of Alexandria, Against Flaccus, 177 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)
| 177. no good omen ever appeared to him, everything bore a hostile appearance, every report was ill-omened, his waking was painful, his sleep fearful, his solitude resembling that of wild beasts, nevertheless the solitude of his herds was what was most pleasant to him, any dwelling in the city was his greatest affliction; his safe reproach was a solitary abiding in the fields, a dangerous, and painful, and unseemly way of life; every one who approached him, however justly, was an object of suspicion to him. |
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32. Philo of Alexandria, Allegorical Interpretation, 1.13, 1.49, 1.65, 2.21-2.22, 2.96, 3.46, 3.96, 3.218-3.219 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)
| 1.13. Again, the secretions are seven--tears, mucus from the nose, saliva, the generative fluid, the two excremental discharges, and the sweat that proceeds from every part of the body. Moreover, in diseases the seventh day is the most critical period--and in women the catamenial purifications extend to the seventh day. V. 1.49. But the selfish and atheistical mind, thinking itself equal with God while it appears to be doing something, is found in reality to be rather suffering. And though God sows and plants good things in the soul, the mind which says, "I plant," is acting impiously. You shall not plant therefore where God is planting: but if, O mind, you fix plants in the soul, take care to plant only such trees as bear fruit, and not a grove; for in a grove there are trees of a character to bear cultivation, and also wild trees. But to plant vice, which is unproductive in the soul, along with cultivated and fertile virtue, is the act of a doublenatured and confused leprosy. 1.65. Let us examine the expressions of the writer: "A river," says he, "goes forth out of Eden, to water the Paradise." This river is generic goodness; and this issues forth out of the Eden of the wisdom of God, and that is the word of God. For it is according to the word of God, that generic virtue was created. And generic virtue waters the Paradise: that is to say, it waters the particular virtues. But it does not derive its beginnings from any principle of locality, but from a principle of preeminence. For each of the virtues is really and truly a ruler and a queen. And the expression, "is separated," is equivalent to "is marked off by fixed boundaries;" since wisdom appoints them settled limits with reference to what is to be done. Courage with respect to what is to be endured; temperance with reference to what is to be chosen; and justice in respect of what is to be distributed. XX. |
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33. Philo of Alexandria, Questions On Genesis, 1.4, 1.8 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)
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34. Philo of Alexandria, Who Is The Heir, 62, 191 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)
| 191. Again this heavenly food of the soul which Moses calls manna, the word of God divides in equal portions among all who are to use it; taking care of equality in an extraordinary degree. And Moses bears witness to this where he says, "He who had much had not too much, and he who had but little was in no Want;" since they all used that wonderful and most desirable of proportion. On which account it happened to the Israelites to learn that each of them was collecting not more for the men who were related to him than for the reasonings and manners which were akin to him. For as much as was sufficient for each man, that he was allotted in a prudent manner, so as neither to feel any want or any superfluity. XL. |
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35. Philo of Alexandria, That The Worse Attacks The Better, 54, 60, 114 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)
| 114. but of the lovers of knowledge the prophet speaks in a great song, and says, "That she has made them to ascend upon the strength of the earth, and has fed them upon the produce of the Fields," showing plainly that the godless man fails in attaining his object, in order that he may grieve the more while strength is not added to these operations in which he expends his energies, but while on the other hand it is take from them; but they who follow after virtue, placing it above all these things which are earthly and mortal, disregard their strength in their exceeding abundance, using God as the guide to conduct them in their ascent, who proffers to them the produce of the earth for their enjoyment and most profitable use, likening the virtues to fields, and the fruits of the virtues to the produce of the fields, according to the principles of their generation; for from prudence is derived prudent action, and from temperance temperate action, and from piety pious conduct, and from each of the other virtues is derived the energy in accordance with it. XXXI. |
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36. Philo of Alexandria, That God Is Unchangeable, 181-183, 5, 137 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)
| 137. For she also being a widow, was commanded to sit down in the house of the father, the only Saviour; 37 on whose account, having forsaken for ever the company and society of men, she is at a distance from and widowhood of all human pleasures, and receives a divine seed; and being filled with the seeds of virtue, she conceives, and is in travail of virtuous actions. And when she has brought them forth, she carries off the prize against her adversaries, and is enrolled as victorious, bearing the palm as the emblem of her victory. For the name Thamar, being interpreted, means the palm-tree. |
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37. Philo of Alexandria, Plant., 50 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)
| 50. And accordingly what is said afterwards is in strict agreement with what is said before, namely, that the world is the beautiful and properly prepared house of God, appreciable by the external senses; and that he himself made it and that it is not uncreated, as some persons have thought. And he uses the word "sanctuary," as meaning a splendour emitted from holy objects, an imitation of the archetypal model; since those things which are beautiful to the external senses are to the intellectual senses models of what is beautiful. The expression that "it was prepared by the hands of God," means that it was made by his worldcreating powers. |
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38. Arrian, Anabasis of Alexander, 3.1.5 (1st cent. CE
| 3.1.5. ἐλθὼν δὲ ἐς Κάνωβον καὶ κατὰ τὴν λίμνην τὴν Μαρίαν περιπλεύσας ἀποβαίνει, ὅτου νῦν Ἀλεξάνδρεια πόλις ᾤκισται, Ἀλεξάνδρου ἐπώνυμος. καὶ ἔδοξεν αὐτῷ ὁ χῶρος κάλλιστος κτίσαι ἐν αὐτῷ πόλιν καὶ γενέσθαι ἂν εὐδαίμονα τὴν πόλιν. πόθος οὖν λαμβάνει αὐτὸν τοῦ ἔργου, καὶ αὐτὸς τὰ σημεῖα τῇ πόλει ἔθηκεν, ἵνα τε ἀγορὰν ἐν αὐτῇ δείμασθαι ἔδει καὶ ἱερὰ ὅσα καὶ θεῶν ὧντινων, τῶν μὲν Ἑλληνικῶν, Ἴσιδος δὲ Αἰγυπτίας, καὶ τὸ τεῖχος ᾗ περιβεβλῆσθαι. καὶ ἐπὶ τούτοις ἐθύετο, καὶ τὰ ἱερὰ καλὰ ἐφαίνετο. | |
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39. Mishnah, Avot, 6.6 (1st cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
| 6.6. Greater is learning Torah than the priesthood and than royalty, for royalty is acquired by thirty stages, and the priesthood by twenty-four, but the Torah by forty-eight things. By study, Attentive listening, Proper speech, By an understanding heart, By an intelligent heart, By awe, By fear, By humility, By joy, By attending to the sages, By critical give and take with friends, By fine argumentation with disciples, By clear thinking, By study of Scripture, By study of mishnah, By a minimum of sleep, By a minimum of chatter, By a minimum of pleasure, By a minimum of frivolity, By a minimum of preoccupation with worldly matters, By long-suffering, By generosity, By faith in the sages, By acceptance of suffering. [Learning of Torah is also acquired by one] Who recognizes his place, Who rejoices in his portion, Who makes a fence about his words, Who takes no credit for himself, Who is loved, Who loves God, Who loves [his fellow] creatures, Who loves righteous ways, Who loves reproof, Who loves uprightness, Who keeps himself far from honors, Who does not let his heart become swelled on account of his learning, Who does not delight in giving legal decisions, Who shares in the bearing of a burden with his colleague, Who judges with the scales weighted in his favor, Who leads him on to truth, Who leads him on to peace, Who composes himself at his study, Who asks and answers, Who listens [to others], and [himself] adds [to his knowledge], Who learns in order to teach, Who learns in order to practice, Who makes his teacher wiser, Who is exact in what he has learned, And who says a thing in the name of him who said it. Thus you have learned: everyone who says a thing in the name of him who said it, brings deliverance into the world, as it is said: “And Esther told the king in Mordecai’s name” (Esther 2:22)." |
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40. New Testament, 2 Corinthians, 12.4 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
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41. New Testament, Apocalypse, 1.5 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 1.5. and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us, and washed us from our sins by his blood; |
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42. New Testament, Colossians, 1.15-1.20 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 1.15. who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 1.16. For by him were all things created, in the heavens and on the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through him, and for him. 1.17. He is before all things, and in him all things are held together. 1.18. He is the head of the body, the assembly, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. 1.19. For all the fullness was pleased to dwell in him; 1.20. and through him to reconcile all things to himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross. Through him, I say, whether things on the earth, or things in the heavens. |
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43. New Testament, Hebrews, 11.13-11.14, 11.16 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 11.13. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them and embraced them from afar, and having confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 11.14. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking after a country of their own. 11.16. But now they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. |
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44. New Testament, Romans, 8.29 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 8.29. For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. |
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45. New Testament, John, 1.10, 1.14b, 15.10, 15.4, 15.5, 15.6, 15.7, 4.13, 4.14, 6.35 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 1.10. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world didn't recognize him. |
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46. New Testament, Luke, 1.5 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 1.5. There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the priestly division of Abijah. He had a wife of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. |
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47. Alciphron, Letters, 2.27 (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
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48. Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies, 7.20.1 (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
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49. Irenaeus, Refutation of All Heresies, 1.30.2 (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
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50. Diogenes Laertius, Lives of The Philosophers, 10.119 (3rd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
| 10.119. Nor, again, will the wise man marry and rear a family: so Epicurus says in the Problems and in the De Natura. Occasionally he may marry owing to special circumstances in his life. Some too will turn aside from their purpose. Nor will he drivel, when drunken: so Epicurus says in the Symposium. Nor will he take part in politics, as is stated in the first book On Life; nor will he make himself a tyrant; nor will he turn Cynic (so the second book On Life tells us); nor will he be a mendicant. But even when he has lost his sight, he will not withdraw himself from life: this is stated in the same book. The wise man will also feel grief, according to Diogenes in the fifth book of his Epilecta. |
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51. Origen, On First Principles, 1.2.3, 1.2.6 (3rd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
| 1.2.3. Now, in the same way in which we have understood that Wisdom was the beginning of the ways of God, and is said to be created, forming beforehand and containing within herself the species and beginnings of all creatures, must we understand her to be the Word of God, because of her disclosing to all other beings, i.e., to universal creation, the nature of the mysteries and secrets which are contained within the divine wisdom; and on this account she is called the Word, because she is, as it were, the interpreter of the secrets of the mind. And therefore that language which is found in the Acts of Paul, where it is said that here is the Word a living being, appears to me to be rightly used. John, however, with more sublimity and propriety, says in the beginning of his Gospel, when defining God by a special definition to be the Word, And God was the Word, and this was in the beginning with God. Let him, then, who assigns a beginning to the Word or Wisdom of God, take care that he be not guilty of impiety against the unbegotten Father Himself, seeing he denies that He had always been a Father, and had generated the Word, and had possessed wisdom in all preceding periods, whether they be called times or ages, or anything else that can be so entitled. 1.2.6. Let us now see how we are to understand the expression invisible image, that we may in this way perceive how God is rightly called the Father of His Son; and let us, in the first place, draw our conclusions from what are customarily called images among men. That is sometimes called an image which is painted or sculptured on some material substance, such as wood or stone; and sometimes a child is called the image of his parent, when the features of the child in no respect belie their resemblance to the father. I think, therefore, that that man who was formed after the image and likeness of God may be fittingly compared to the first illustration. Respecting him, however, we shall see more precisely, God willing, when we come to expound the passage in Genesis. But the image of the Son of God, of whom we are now speaking, may be compared to the second of the above examples, even in respect of this, that He is the invisible image of the invisible God, in the same manner as we say, according to the sacred history, that the image of Adam is his son Seth. The words are, And Adam begot Seth in his own likeness, and after his own image. Now this image contains the unity of nature and substance belonging to Father and Son. For if the Son do, in like manner, all those things which the Father does, then, in virtue of the Son doing all things like the Father, is the image of the Father formed in the Son, who is born of Him, like an act of His will proceeding from the mind. And I am therefore of opinion that the will of the Father ought alone to be sufficient for the existence of that which He wishes to exist. For in the exercise of His will He employs no other way than that which is made known by the counsel of His will. And thus also the existence of the Son is generated by Him. For this point must above all others be maintained by those who allow nothing to be unbegotten, i.e., unborn, save God the Father only. And we must be careful not to fall into the absurdities of those who picture to themselves certain emanations, so as to divide the divine nature into parts, and who divide God the Father as far as they can, since even to entertain the remotest suspicion of such a thing regarding an incorporeal being is not only the height of impiety, but a mark of the greatest folly, it being most remote from any intelligent conception that there should be any physical division of any incorporeal nature. Rather, therefore, as an act of the will proceeds from the understanding, and neither cuts off any part nor is separated or divided from it, so after some such fashion is the Father to be supposed as having begotten the Son, His own image; namely, so that, as He is Himself invisible by nature, He also begot an image that was invisible. For the Son is the Word, and therefore we are not to understand that anything in Him is cognisable by the senses. He is wisdom, and in wisdom there can be no suspicion of anything corporeal. He is the true light, which enlightens every man that comes into this world; but He has nothing in common with the light of this sun. Our Saviour, therefore, is the image of the invisible God, inasmuch as compared with the Father Himself He is the truth: and as compared with us, to whom He reveals the Father, He is the image by which we come to the knowledge of the Father, whom no one knows save the Son, and he to whom the Son is pleased to reveal Him. And the method of revealing Him is through the understanding. For He by whom the Son Himself is understood, understands, as a consequence, the Father also, according to His own words: He that has seen Me, has seen the Father also. |
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52. Pseudo Clementine Literature, Homilies, 17 (3rd cent. CE - 4th cent. CE)
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