Clouds drawn from the last; lightning from clouds’ clash

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If we have considered what the clouds are, let us see how God draws up clouds from the farthest part of the earth. How “from the farthest part of the earth”? The Savior says: “Whoever wishes to be first among you shall be last of all.” Paul observed this commandment and became last in this world; therefore he says: “I think that God has displayed us the apostles last, as condemned to death, for we have become a spectacle to the world and to angels and to human beings.” (1 Corinthians 4:9) Therefore whoever keeps the Savior’s commandment and becomes last as regards this life becomes a cloud; and God draws up clouds not from the first of the earth, nor from consuls, nor from rulers, nor from the rich—for “Blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” You see how God draws up from the last and forms the clouds into bodies. Therefore if we wish to become clouds upon which God’s truth reaches, we must become last of all and declare in work and disposition: “I think that God has displayed us the apostles last” (even if I am not an apostle, it is permitted for me to become last, so that God, drawing up clouds from “the farthest part of the earth,” may draw me up). And he made lightnings for rain. Those clever about these things say that the generation of lightning comes to be from clouds rubbing against one another.

For just as it happens with fiery stones thrown upon the earth—when one or two stones strike each other and fire is kindled—so they say it happens with the clouds: when the clouds strike together in winter, lightning comes to be. Hence, as lightning always comes to be together with thunder, the thunder manifests the sound of the clouds’ collision, and the lightning produces the light.

Greek

Εἰ δὲ νενόηται ἡμῖν, τίνες εἰσὶν αἱ νεφέλαι, ἴδωμεν πῶς ὁ θεὸς ἀνάγων ἐστὶν νεφέλας ἐξ ἐσχάτου τῆς γῆς. πῶς ἀπ’ «ἐσχάτου τῆς γῆς«; φησὶν ὁ σωτήρ. «ὁ θέλων έν ὑμῖν εἶναι πρῶτος ἔσται πάντων ἔσχατος.

ἐτήρησεν ταύτην τὴν ἐντολὴν Παῦλος, καὶ ἡν ἔσχατος έν τούτῳ τῷ κκόσμῳ. διό φησιν· «δοκῶ γάρ, ὁ θεὸς θεὸς τοὺς ἀποστό- λους ἐσχάτους ἀπέδειξεν, ὡς ἐπιθανατίους, ὅτι θέατρον ἐγενήθημεν τῷ κόσμῳ καὶ ἀγγέλοις καὶ ἀνθρώποις. εἴ τις οὖν οὖν τηρῶν τὴν τοῦ σωτῆρος ἐντολὴν καὶ γενόμενος ἔσχατος ὡς πρὸς τὸν βίον τοῦτον, οὑτος γίνεται νεφέλη. καὶ ἀνάγει νεφέλας ὁ θεὸς οὐκ ἀπὸ τῶν πρώτων τῆς γῆς, οὐκ ἀπὸ ὑπατικῶν ἀνάγει νεφέλας, οὐκ ἀπὸ ἡγουμένων ἀνάγει νεφέλας, οὐκ ἀπὸ πλουσίων· «μακάριοι« γὰρ «οἱ πτωχοί, ὅτι ὑμετέρα ἐστὶν ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ.

ὁρᾷς πῶς ἀπὸ τῶν ἐσχάτων ἀνάγει ὁ θεὸς καὶ σωματοποιεῖ τὰς νεφέλας; διὰ τοῦτο εἰ βουλόμεθα γενέσθαι νεφέλαι, ἐφ' ἃς φθάνει ἡ ἀλήθεια τοῦ θεοῦ, ἔσχατοι πάντων γενώμεθα καὶ εἴπωμεν ἔργοις καὶ διαθέσει τὸ «δοκῶ γάρ, ὁ θεὸς ἡμᾶς τοὺς ἀποστόλους ἐσχάτους ἀπέδειξεν( κἂν μὴ ἀπόστολος ὦ, ἔξεστί μοι γενέσθαι ἐσχάτῳ, ἵνα ὁ θεὸς ἀνάγων νεφέλας 241r | ἀπ' «ἐσχάτου τῆς γῆς« ἀναγάγῃ με. «Καὶ ἀστραπὰς εἰς ὑετὸν ἐποίησεν. λέγουσιν οἱ περὶ ταῦτα δεινοί, ὅτι ἡ γένεσις τῶν ἀστραπῶν ἀπὸ τῶν νεφελῶν γίνεται ἀλλή- λαις προστριβομένων.

ὅπερ γὰρ συμβαίνει περὶ τοὺς πυροβόλους λί- θους ἐπὶ γῆς, ἕνα δύο λίθων προσκρουσάντων πῦρ γενγθῇ, τοῦτο γίνεσθαι καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν νεφελῶν φασιν. προσκρουομένων τῶν νεφελῶν κατὰ τοὺς χειμῶνας γίνεται ἡ ἀστραπή. διὸ ὡς ἐπίπαν ἡ άστραπὴ ἅμα βροντῇ γίνεται, τῆς μὲν βροντῆς ἐμφαινούσης τὸν ἡχον τοῦ συγ- κρουσμοῦ τῶν νεφελῶν, τῆς δὲ ἀστραπῆς γεννώσης τὸ φῶς.

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.