Dialogue with Trypho 20.1
Summary: Food laws were given to keep an easily straying people mindful of God; Noah could eat all meat.
Greek text · Archambault 1:90
Καὶ γὰρ βρωμάτων τινῶν ἀπέχεσθαι προσέταξεν ὑμῖν, ἵνα καὶ ἐν τῷ ἐσθίειν καὶ πίνειν πρὸ ὀφθαλμῶν ἔχητε τὸν θεόν, εὐκατάφοροι ὄντες καὶ εὐχερεῖς πρὸς τὸ ἀφίστασθαι τῆς γνώσεως αὐτοῦ, ὡς καὶ Μωσῆς φησιν· Ἔφαγε καὶ ἔπιεν ὁ λαὸς καὶ ἀνέστη τοῦ παίζειν. Καὶ πάλιν· Ἔφαγεν Ἰακὼβ καὶ ἐνεπλήσθη, καὶ ἐλιπάνθη, καὶ ἀπελάκτισεν ὁ ἠγαπημένος· ἐλιπάνθη, ἐπαχύνθη, ἐπλατύνθη, καὶ ἐγκατέλιπε θεὸν τὸν ποιήσαντα αὐτόν. Τῷ γὰρ Νῶε ὃτι συγκεχώρητο ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ, δικαίῳ ὄντι, πᾶν ἔμψυχον ἐσθίειν πλὴν κρέας ἐν αἵματι, ὅπερ ἐστὶ νεκριμαῖον, διὰ Μωσέως ἀνιστορήθη ὑμῖν ἐν τῇ βίβλῳ τῆς Γενέσεως.
English · Claude translation
“For he also commanded you to abstain from certain foods, so that even in eating and drinking you might have God before your eyes, since you were prone and quick to depart from the knowledge of him, as Moses also says: ‘The people ate and drank and rose up to play.’ And again: ‘Jacob ate and was filled, and grew fat, and the beloved kicked; he grew fat, grew thick, grew broad, and forsook God who made him.’ For it has been recounted to you by Moses in the book of Genesis that God allowed Noah, a righteous man, to eat every living creature, except flesh with its blood, that is, what has died of itself.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- “Flesh with its blood, that is, what has died of itself” (νεκριμαῖον): Justin's interpretation of Gen 9:4.
Cite this passage
Justin, Dial. 20.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-dialogue/20/1/).
Plain text
Justin, Dial. 20.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-dialogue/20/1/).
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