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Dialogue with Trypho

Justin Martyr

Chapter 132

About this work

A literary dialogue in which Justin recounts his conversion to Christianity and debates Scripture, covenant, messianic prophecy, law, and the identity of God’s people with a Jewish interlocutor.

Author: Justin Martyr
Date: Mid-2nd century
Origin: Rome
Genre: Dialogue

Chapter CXXXII.—How great the power was of the name of Jesus in the Old Testament.

“Yet after this you made a calf,

‹ Chapter 131 Chapter 133 ›

and

were

very

zealous

in

committing

fornication

with

the

daughters

of

strangers

,

and

in

serving

idols

.

And

again

,

when

the

land

was

given

up

to

you

with

so

great

a

display

of

power

,

that

you

witnessed

the

sun

stand

still

in

the

heavens

by

the

order

of

that

man

whose

name

was

Jesus

(

Joshua

)

,

and

not

go

down

for

thirty

-

six

hours

,

as

well

as

all

the

other

miracles

which

were

wrought

for

you

as

time

served

;

and

of

these

it

seems

good

to

me

now

to

speak

of

another

,

for

it

conduces

to

your

hereby

knowing

Jesus

,

whom

we

also

know

to

have

been

Christ

the

Son

of

God

,

who

was

crucified

,

and

rose

again

,

and

ascended

to

heaven

,

and

will

come

again

to

judge

all

men

,

even

up

to

Adam

himself

.

You

are

aware

,

then

,

”

I

continued

,

“

that

when

the

ark

of

the

testimony

was

seized

by

the

enemies

of

Ashdod

,

and

a

terrible

and

incurable

malady

had

broken

out

among

them

,

they

resolved

to

place

it

on

a

cart

to

which

they

yoked

cows

that

had

recently

calved

,

for

the

purpose

of

ascertaining

by

trial

whether

or

not

they

had

been

plagued

by

God’s

power

on

account

of

the

ark

,

and

if

God

wished

it

to

be

taken

back

to

the

place

from

which

it

had

been

carried

away

.

And

when

they

had

done

this

,

the

cows

,

led

by

no

man

,

went

not

to

the

place

whence

the

ark

had

been

taken

,

but

to

the

fields

of

a

certain

man

whose

name

was

Oshea

,

the

same

as

his

whose

name

was

altered

to

Jesus

(

Joshua

)

,

as

has

been

previously

mentioned

,

who

also

led

the

people

into

the

land

and

meted

it

out

to

them

:

and

when

the

cows

had

come

into

these

fields

they

remained

there

,

showing

to

you

thereby

that

they

were

guided

by

the

name

of

power

;

just

as

formerly

the

people

who

survived

of

those

that

came

out

of

Egypt

,

were

guided

into

the

land

by

him

who

had

received

the

name

Jesus

(

Joshua

)

,

who

before

was

called

Oshea

.

Notes

518
[Another Americanism. Greek, θεάσασθαι.]
519
The anacoluthon is in the original.
520
See 1 Sam. v.
521
Or, “by the power of the name.” [1 Sam. vi. 14. Joshua in English version.]