A people without gods needed prophets
Let Celsus, then, and those who are pleased with what he says against us, tell us whether it is like the shadow of an ass that the prophets of the Jews foretold the birthplace of him who would lead those who have lived good lives and those who are called God’s portion (Micah 5:2; Matthew 2:6; Deuteronomy 32:9); that a virgin would conceive Emmanuel (Isaiah 7:14); that such signs and wonders would be done by the one prophesied; that “his word will run swiftly” (Psalm 147:15), so that the voice of his apostles went out “into all the earth” (Psalm 19:4; Romans 10:18); and what he would suffer when condemned by the Jews, and how he would rise again.
Did the prophets say these things at random, with no convincing reason to move them not only to speak but also to judge their words worthy of being written down? And did so great a nation as the Jews, which long ago received a land of its own to dwell in, with no convincing reason proclaim some men as prophets and reject others as false prophets? Was there nothing among them that moved them to number the words of the later men who were held to be prophets with the books of Moses, which were believed to be sacred?
And can those who accuse Jews and Christians of foolishness show us that the nation of the Jews could have held together if there had been no promise of foreknowledge among them? Can they show that, while the nations around them each believed, according to their ancestral customs, that they received oracles and divinations from those they held to be gods, these alone, who had been taught to despise all the gods held by the nations as being not gods but demons (for their prophets said, “All the gods of the nations are demons” (Psalm 96:5)), had no one who professed to prophesy and who could hold back those who, out of longing to know the future beforehand, wished to desert to the demons of the other peoples?
Consider, then, whether it was not necessary that a whole nation taught to despise the gods of the other peoples should have had an abundance of prophets, who by that very fact showed something greater, surpassing the oracles found everywhere.
Greek
Λεγέτωσαν δὴ ἡμῖν ὁ Κέλσος καὶ οἱ ἀρεσκόμενοι τοῖς καθ᾿ ἡμῶν ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ λεγομένοις, εἰ ὄνου σκιᾷ ἔοικε τὸ προειρηκέναι τοὺς Ἰουδαίων προφήτας τόπον γενέσεως τοῦ ἡγησομένου τῶν καλῶς βεβιωκότων καὶ τῶν χρηματιζόντων μερίδος θεοῦ καὶ παρθένον συλληψομένην τὸν Ἐμμανουὴλ καὶ σημεῖα καὶ τεράστια ἐσόμενα ὑπὸ τοῦ προφητευομένου τοιάδε, καὶ ὅτι „ἕως τάχους δραμεῖται ὁ λόγος αὐτοῦ.“ ὡς „εἰς πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν“ ἐξελθεῖν τὸν φθόγγον αὐτοῦ τῶν ἀποστόλων, τίνα τε πείσεται ὑπὸ Ἰουδαίων καταδικαζόμενος καὶ πῶς ἀναστήσεται. ἆρα γὰρ ὡς ἔτυχε ταῦτ᾿ ἔλεγον οἱ προφῆται σὺν οὐδεμιᾷ πιθανότητι. τῇ κινούσῃ αὐτοὺς ἐπὶ τὸ μὴ μόνον εἰπεῖν ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀναγραφῆς ἀξιῶσαι τὰ λεγόμενα; ἆρα δὲ τὸ τοσοῦτο τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἔθνος, πάλαι χώραν ἰδίαν εἰληφὸς οἰκεῖν. σὺν οὐδεμιᾷ πιθανότητι τινὰς μὲν ὡς προφήτας ἀνηγόρευον ἑτέρους δὲ ὡς ψευδοπροφήτας ἀπεδοκίμαζον; καὶ οὐδὲν ἦν παρ᾿ αὐτοῖς τὸ προκαλούμενον συναριθμεῖν ταῖς ἱεραῖς εἶναι πεπιστευμέναις Μωϋσέως βίβλοις τοὺς λόγους τῶν ἑξῆς νενομισμένων εἶναι προφητῶν; καὶ δύνανται ἡμῖν παραστῆσαι οἱ εὐήθειαν ἐγκαλοῦντες Ἰουδαίοις καὶ Χριστιανοῖς ὅτι ἐδύνατο συνεστηκέναι τὸ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνος, μηδεμιᾶς ἐπαγγελίας προγνώσεων οὔσης παρ᾿ αὐτοῖς. καὶ ὅτι τὰ μὲν περὶ αὐτοὺς ἔθνη [ᾗ] ἕκαστον κατὰ τὰ πάτρια ἐπίστευε χρησμοὺς λαμβάνειν καὶ μαντείας ἀπὸ τῶν παρ᾿ αὐτοῖς νομιζομένων θεῶν, οὗτοι δὲ μόνοι, οἱ διδαχθέντες πάντων τῶν παρὰ τοῖς ἔθνεσι νομιζομένων θεῶν καταφρονεῖν ὡς οὐ θεῶν ἀλλὰ δαιμονίων (ἐπεὶ ἔλεγον αὐτῶν οἱ προφῆται τὸ „πάντες οἱ θεοὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν δαιμόνια“), οὐδένα τὸν ἐπαγγελλόμενον εἶχον προφητεύειν καὶ δυνάμενον περισπᾶν τοὺς πόθῳ προγνώσεως τῶν μελλόντων αὐτομολεῖν (βουλομένους) πρὸς τοὺς παρὰ τοῖς ἄλλοις δαίμονας; ἐπίστησον οὖν εἰ μὴ ἀναγκαῖόν ἐστιν ὅλον ἔθνος διδασκόμενον καταφρονεῖν τῶν παρὰ τοῖς λοιποῖς θεῶν εὐπορηκέναι προφητῶν, τὸ μεῖζον αὐτόθεν ἐμφαινόντων καὶ τὸ ὑπερέχον τὰ πανταχοῦ χρηστήρια.