Hide the newborn male from the river
Pharaoh next bids his people seize the Hebrew infant at birth and cast him into the river. So the prince of this world ambushes our beginnings — as Jesus, led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted, opened the path of victory by fasting and prayer. If I give alms, I beget a “male,” a work of God; but if I do it to be seen by people, Egyptians snatch it and drown it. Hide what the right hand does; pray to the Father in secret. You who hear are not being told old tales, but taught the order of a living faith.
Latin
Pharao praecipit populo infantem Hebraeum in flumen proici. Princeps mundi primordia nativitatis insidiatur. Christus post baptismum in desertum ductus tentatur — exemplar victoriae. Masculus generatus — opus Dei, eleemosyna — occultandus est; si coram hominibus iustitia, Aegyptii rapiunt et demergunt. Nolite fabulas veterum putare, sed ordinem vitae discite.
About this text
Origen’s Homilia II on Exodus (Rufinus’s Latin). Complete on this page: §§1–4.
English follows Baehrens, Origenes Werke VI (GCS 29, 1920), Rufinus’s Latin of Homilia II. Heine FOTC 71 was not used as wording. This page is Homilia II §§1–4 (closeout).
Witnesses
- Copy-text Baehrens, Origenes Werke VI = GCS 29 (1920) (Latin · Homilia II §§1–4)
English is newly prepared for study from the stated edition. Open Latin on each section (or the Latin source witness link) for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.