Homilies on Jeremiah · §12.7 · Origen of Alexandria

Hear and give ear; do not exalt yourselves

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One chapter having been marked off, let us also see what the other teaches us: 'Hear and give ear, and do not exalt yourselves, for the Lord has spoken. Give glory to the Lord our God before it grows dark, and before your feet stumble on dark mountains; and you will wait for light, and there is a shadow of death, and they will be placed into darkness.' (Jeremiah 13:16)

'But if you do not hear in a hidden way, your soul will weep from before insult, and your eyes will bring down tears, because the Lord's flock was crushed.' He wants the same people both to hear and to give ear, not content either with their hearing alone or with their giving ear. Therefore he says: 'Hear and give ear.' Then after this he commands them not to exalt themselves, and teaches what must be done. What then is hearing and what is giving ear? Let us understand from the wording itself. 'Give ear'—receive into the ears; and 'hear'—if it is said in distinction from 'give ear'—perhaps is: receive into the mind. And among the things said in the Scriptures some are more ineffable and more mystical, and some are useful at once to those who understand. About the more ineffable I think 'hear' is said; about those useful at once and able without interpretation to benefit the hearer, 'give ear.' So if we examine the whole Scripture we will say, becoming 'approved bankers': hear this, but give ear to that.

Then when we have heard and given ear, he commands us: 'And do not exalt yourselves.' (Matthew 11:29) For 'everyone who exalts himself will be humbled.' (Isaiah 5:30 (cf.) And the Savior too, in saying, 'Learn from me that I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls,' (Jeremiah 13:16; Ps 23:4) teaches us not to exalt ourselves. For among the other human evils this sin also is much in us—sometimes exalting ourselves quite irrationally and over what one ought not exalt oneself even in the least, and sometimes with a semblance of reason, that what we exalt ourselves over is reasonable, yet even over that exaltation is not sound.

Greek

Περιγεγραμμένου δὲ τοῦ ἑνὸς κεφαλαίου ἴδωμεν καὶ τὸ ἕτερον τί ἡμᾶς διδάσκει· «ἀκούσατε καὶ ἐνωτίσασθε, καὶ μὴ ἐπαίρεσθε, ὅτι κύριος ἐλάλησε. δότε τῷ κυρίῳ θεῷ ἡμῶν δόξαν πρὸ τοῦ συσκοτάσαι, καὶ πρὸ τοῦ προσκόψαι τοὺς πόδας ὑμῶν ἐπ᾿ ὄρη σκοτεινά· καὶ ἀναμενεῖτε εἰς φῶς, καὶ ἐκεῖ σκιὰ θανάτου, καὶ τεθήσονται εἰς σκότος.

ἐὰν δὲ μὴ ἀκούσητε κεκρυμμένως, κλαύσεται ἠ ψυχὴ ὑμῶν ἀπὸ προσώπου ὕβρεως, καὶ κατάξουσιν οἱ ἀφθαλμοὶ ὑμῶν δάκρυα, διότι συνετρίβη τὸ ποίμνιον κυρίου. [του]τοὺς αὐτοὺς βούλεται ἀκοῦσαι καὶ ἐνωτίσασθαι, οὐκ ἀρκούμενος οὔτε τῷ ἀκούειν αὐτοὺς μόνον οὔτε τῷ ἐνωτίζεσθαι. διό φησιν· «ἀκούσατε καὶ ἐνωτίσασθε. εἶτα μετὰ τοῦτο προστάσσει αὐτοῖς μὴ ἐπαίρεσθαι, καὶ διδάσκει ὃ ποιητέον. τί οὖν τὸ ἀκοῦσαι καὶ τί τὸ ἐνωτίσασθαι, ἀπ᾿ αὐτῆς τῆς λέξεως κατανοήσωμεν. τὸ «ἐνωτίσασθαε« εἰς τὰ ὦτα δέξασθε, καὶ τὸ «ἀκούσατε«, εἰ πρὸς ἀντιδιαστολὴν λέγεται τοῦ «ἐνωτίσασθε«, μήποτέ ἐστιν εἰς τὴν διάνοιαν δέξασθε. καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν λεγομένων ἐν ταῖς γραφαῖς ἃ μέν ἐστιν ἀπορρητότερα καὶ μυστικώτερα, ἃ δὲ αὐτόθεν χρήσιμα τοῖς νοοῦσι. περὶ μὲν τῶν ἀπορρητοτέρων οἶμαι λέγεται τὸ «ἀκούσατε«, περὶ δὲ τῶν αὐτόθεν χρησίμων καὶ χωρὶς ἑρμηνείας δυναμενων ὠφελῆσαι τὸν ἀκούοντα τὸ «ἐνωτίσασθε«· ὅλην οὖν τὴν γραφὴν ἐὰν ἐξετάσωμεν, ἐροῦμεν >δόκιμοι γενόμενοι τραπεζῖται<· τοῦτο μὲν ἀκούσατε, τοῦτο δὲ ἐνωτίσασθε.

Εἶτα ἐπὰν ἐπακούσωμεν καὶ ἐνωτισώμεθα, προστάσσει ἡμῖν. «καὶ μὴ ἐπαίρεσθε. «πᾶς« γὰρ «ὸ ὺψῶν ἐαυτὸν ταπεινωθήσεται. καὶ ὁ σωτὴρ δὲ ἐν τῷ λέγειν. «μάθετε ἀπ' ἐμοῦ, ὅτι πραύς εἰμι καὶ ταπεινὸς τῇ καρδίᾳ, καὶ εὑρήσετε ἀνάπαυσιν ταῖς ψυχαῖς ὑμῶν‘, διδάσκει ἡμᾶς τὸ μὴ ἐπαίρεσθαι. μετὰ γὰρ τῶν ἄλλων ἀνθρωπίνων κακῶν καὶ τοῦτο τὸ ἁμάρτημα πολὺ ἐν ἡμῖν ἐστιν, ὸτὲ μὲν γὰρ πάνυ ἀλόγως ἐπαιρομένοις καὶ ἐφ' ᾠ οὐδὲ κατὰ τὸ ποσὸν ἐπαίρεσθαι χρή , ὁτὲ δὲ μετὰ πιθανότητος, ὅτι εὔλογον τὸ ἐφ’ ᾧ ἐπαιρόμεθα, οὐ μὴν ὑγιὲς καὶ ἐπ’ ἐκείνῳ τὸ ἐπαίρεσθαι.

About this text

Origen on Jeremiah. Twenty Greek homilies survive. This page has 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.