Every human is made foolish from knowledge
“Every human has been made foolish from knowledge.” If every human has been made foolish from knowledge, and Paul is a human, Paul has been made foolish from knowledge—knowing in part and made foolish from knowledge—seeing “through a mirror” in a many-thousandth part and, if one may say so, seeing and grasping the things in an infinite-thousandth part.
And from the opposite you will understand “every human has been made foolish from knowledge.” There are sins of Jerusalem; there are sins of Sodom. Compare the lesser transgressions: the righteousness of Sodom appears relative to Jerusalem’s injustices, as he says: “Sodom has been justified from you.”
Thus, just as Sodom’s sins are not righteousness, but righteousness emerges only toward the greater injustice, so also Paul’s knowledge, measured against the knowledge among the heavens, is shown as folly before the perfect knowledge.
Therefore the saying holds: “Every human has been made foolish from knowledge.” I think the Preacher also saw this when he said: “I said, I will become wise,” and it stood far from him—depth: who will find it?
Greek
«Ἐμωράνθη πᾶς ἄνθρωπος ἀπὸ γνώσεως((. εἰ πᾶς ἄνθρωπος ἐμωράνθη ἀπὸ γνώσεως, καὶ Παῦλός ἐστιν ἄνθρωπος, Παῦλος ἐμωράνθη ἀπὸ γνώσεως >ἐκ μέρους γινώσκων καὶ ἐκ μέρους ἐμωράνθη ἀπὸ γνώσεως >δἰ ἐσόπτρου βλέπων< ἐν πολλοστημόριον καί, εἰ ἔστιν εἰπεῖν, ἀπειροστημόριον βλέπων καὶ καταλαμβάνων τῶν πραγμάτων. ἐκ τοῦ ἐναντίου δὲ νοήσεις τὸ «ἐμωράνθη πᾶς ἄνθρωπος ἀπὸ γνώσεως. ἔστιν ἁμαρτήματα τῆς Ιερουσαλήμ, ἁμαρτήματα καὶ Σοδόμων, ἀλλὰ συφκρίσει τῶν χειρόνων ἁμαρτημάτων τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ δικαιοσύνη ἐστὶν τὰ Σοδόμων ἁμαρτή- ματα· «ἐδικαιώθη« γάρ φησι «Σόδομα ἐκ σοῦ.
ὥσπερ οὐν οὐχὶ δικαιοσύνη τὰ Σοδόμων ἁμαρτήματα ἀλλὰ ἀλλὰ ὡς πρὸς τὴν πλείονα δὲ ἀδικίαν δικαιοσύνη ἐστίν, οὕτως ἐκ τοῦ τοῦ γνῶσις, ἡ Παύλῳ γνῶσις, ὡς πρὸς τὴν γνῶσιν ἐκείνην τὴν οὖσαν έν τοῖς οὐρα- νοῖς, ὡς πρὸς τὴν τελείαν γνῶσιν μωρία ἐστίν. διὰ τοῦτο «ἐμωράνθη πᾶς ἄνθρωπος ἀπὸ γνώσεως. τοιοῦτόν τι οἶμαι καταλαμβάνων ὁ Ἐκκλησιαστὴς ἔλεγεν. «εἶπα. σοφισθήσομαι. καὶ αὐτὴ ἐμακρύνθη ἀπ ἐμοῦ μακρὰν ὑπὲρ ὅ ἠν, καὶ βαθὺ βάθος, τίς εὑρήσει αὐτό«;
About this text
Origen on Jeremiah. Twenty Greek homilies survive. This page publishes the Pass B English for Homilies 1–20. The rest of the volume is still being translated.
English follows Erich Klostermann, Origenes Werke III (GCS, 1901). A second transcription of that same edition (First1KGreek TEI) was checked; where the TEI drops or garbles a line, the page image wins. This is a reading translation for study, not a new critical edition of the Greek. Homilies that survive only in Jerome’s Latin are not on this page yet. When they are, they will be marked at those homilies.
Witnesses
- Copy-text Klostermann, Origenes Werke III (GCS, 1901) (Greek · Homilies 1–20 Greek (this page: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20))
- Checked print Archive.org page image and DjVu of GCS III (Greek · Same print as the copy-text)
- Checked print First1KGreek TEI of GCS III (Greek · Same print; encoding errors deferred to the page image)
Where the prints differ
- Homily 1.1 — The TEI omits Ἑβραῖον. English follows the GCS page image: Jonah is “a Hebrew prophet.”
- Homily 1.5 — The TEI dropped Ἰσαάκ. English follows the GCS page image: Isaac born of promise.
- Homily 1.11 — The TEI/OCR of this line is garbled. English follows the GCS page image and the quoted verse: “I have sanctified you.”
- Homily 3.2 — The TEI gaps Matthew 5:45 (sun on the evil and [gap]; rain on [gap] and the unjust). English follows the Gospel wording.
This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.