Obscure, but not meaningless
It is likely, then, that there are arguments far wiser than our ability allows, which could show that Celsus is lying here and that the prophecies are inspired. Still, we too have done what we could: in the works we have composed on Isaiah, on Ezekiel and on some of the Twelve, we have explained word by word the passages that Celsus calls “frenzied and altogether obscure.” And if God grants progress in his word, at the times he wills, there will be added to what we have already dictated on these books either what is still lacking or as much as we manage to make clear.
Others too, who wish to examine Scripture and have sense, would be able to find its meaning. It is truly unclear in many places, but it is not, as Celsus says, “nothing.” Nor can any fool or sorcerer smooth it out, or make what was said his own in whatever way he likes. Only the one who is truly wise in Christ, and every such person, could set out the whole connected sense of what was spoken with concealment in the prophets, “comparing spiritual things with spiritual” (1 Corinthians 2:13) and establishing each thing he finds from the usage of the Scriptures.
We must not believe Celsus when he says that he heard such men with his own ears. For in Celsus’s time there were no prophets like those of old; otherwise their prophecies too would have been written down one after another by those who accepted and admired them, as were the writings of long ago. And Celsus’s lie seems to me wholly plain from his claim that these supposed prophets whom he heard in person, when Celsus refuted them, admitted to him what they were after, and that they had been making it up, saying things that meant now one thing, now another. He ought also to have given the names of those he claimed to have heard in person, so that from the names, if he had any to give, it might be clear to those able to judge whether he was telling the truth or lying.
Greek
Εἰκὸς μὲν οὖν εἶναι λόγους πολλῷ τῆς ἡμετέρας ἕξεως σοφωτέρους, τοὺς δυναμένους ἀποδεικνύναι ψευδόμενον ἐν τούτοις τὸν Κέλσον καὶ ἐνθέους τὰς προφητείας· πλὴν καὶ ἡμεῖς κατὰ τὸ δυνατὸν ἡμῖν πεποιήκαμεν, τὰ, ὥς φησι Κέλσος, πάροιστρα καὶ πάντῃ ἄδηλα πρὸς λέξιν διηγησάμενοι ἐν τοῖς πραγματευθεῖσιν ἡμῖν εἰς τὸν Ἡσαΐαν καὶ εἰς τὸν Ἰεζεκιὴλ καὶ εἴς τινας τῶν δώδεκα. θεοῦ δὲ διδόντος τὴν ἐν τῷ λόγῳ αὐτοῦ προκοπὴν καθ᾿ οὓς βούλεται χρόνους προστεθήσεται τοῖς ἤδη εἰς ταῦτα ὑπαγορευθεῖσιν ἤτοι τὰ λείποντα ἢ ὅσα γ᾿ ἂν φθάσωμεν σαφηνίσαι. καὶ ἄλλοι δὲ οἱ βουλόμενοι ἐξετάζειν τὴν γραφὴν νοῦν ἔχοντες τὸ γνῶμα αὐτῆς εὑρεῖν ἂν δύναιντο, οὔσης ἀληθῶς πολλαχοῦ ἀσαφοῦς μὲν, οὐ μὴν. ὥς φησι Κέλσος, τὸ μηδέν. ἀλλ᾿ οὐδὲ δύναταί τις ἀνόητος ἢ γόης ἐξομαλίσαι ἢ ὅπῃ ποτὲ τὸ λεχθὲν σφετερίσασθαι· μόνος δὲ καὶ πᾶς ὁ κατ᾿ ἀλήθειαν ἐν Χριστῷ σοφὸς τὸν εἱρμὸν πάντα ἀποδῴη ἂν τῶν μετ᾿ ἐπικρύψεως εἰρημένων ἐν τοῖς προφήταις, „πνευματικα πνευματικοῖς“ συγκρίνων καὶ κατασκευάζων ἀπὸ τῆς συνηθείας τῶν γραφῶν ἕκαστον τῶν εὑρισκομένων. οὐ πιστευτέον δὲ τῷ Κέλσῳ λέγοντι τοιούτων ἀνθρώπων γεγονέναι αὐτήκοον. οὐδὲ γὰρ κατὰ τοὺς Κέλσου χρόνους γεγόνασί τινες π (ροφῆται) τοῖς ἀρχαίοις παραπλήσιοι, ἐπεὶ κἂν παραπλησίως τοῖς πάλαι γρ (αφεῖ) σιν ἀνεγράφησαν καὶ ἑξῆς προφητεῖαι ὑπὸ τῶν ἀποδεξαμένων καὶ θαυμασάντων αὐτάς. δοκεῖ δέ μοι πάντῃ δῆλον εἶναι τὸ τοῦ Κέλσου ψεῦδος, ὅτι οἱ δῆθεν προφῆται, ὧν αὐτήκοος ἐγένετο, ἐλεγχθέντες ὑπὸ Κέλσου ὡμολόγησαν αὐτῷ οὗ τινος ἐδέοντο, καὶ ὅτι ἐπλάσσοντο λέγοντες ἀλλοπρόσαλλα. ἔδει δ᾿ αὐτὸν καὶ ὀνόματα θεῖναι ὧν ἔφασκεν αὐτήκοος γεγονέναι· ἵνα ἐκ τῶν ὀνομάτων, εἴπερ εἶχεν εἰπεῖν, φανῇ τοῖς κρίνειν δυναμένοις, πότερον ἀληθῆ ἢ ψευδῆ ἔλεγεν.