1-31:31
Ἄνθρωποι οὖν τινες ἐν Ἰουδαίοις γεγένηνται θεοῦ προφῆται, δι ὧν τὸ προφητικὸν πνεῦμα προεκήρυξε τὰ γενήσεσθαι μέλλοντα πρὶν ἢ γενέσθαι· καὶ τούτων οἱ ἐν Ἰουδαίοις κατὰ καιροὺς γενόμενοι βασιλεῖς τὰς προφητείας, ὡς ἐλέχθησαν ὅτε προεφητεύοντο, τῇ ἰδίᾳ αὐτῶν ἑβραΐδι φωνῇ ἐν βιβλίοις ὑπ αὐτῶν τῶν προφητῶν συντεταγμένας κτώμενοι περιεῖπον. Ὅτε δὲ Πτολεμαῖος, ὁ Αἰγυπτίων βασιλεύς, βιβλιοθήκην κατεσκεύαζε καὶ τὰ πάντων ἀνθρώπων συγγράμματα συνάγειν ἐπειράθη, πυθόμενος καὶ περὶ τῶν προφητειῶν τούτων, προσέπεμψε τῷ τῶν Ἰουδαίων τότε βασιλεύοντι Ἡρώδῃ ἀξιῶν διαπεμφθῆναι αὐτῷ τὰς βίβλους τῶν προφητειῶν. Καὶ ὁ μὲν βασιλεὺς Ἡρώδης τῇ προειρημένῃ ἑβραΐδι αὐτῶν φωνῇ γεγραμμένας διεπέμψατο. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ οὐκ ἦν γνώριμα τὰ ἐν αὐταῖς γεγραμμένα τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις, πάλιν αὐτὸν ἠξίωσε πέμψας τοὺς μεταβαλοῦντας αὐτὰς εἰς τὴν ἑλλάδα φωνὴν ἀθρώπους ἀποστεῖλαι. Καὶ τούτου γενομένου ἔμειναν αἱ βίβλοι καὶ παρ Αἰγυπτίοις μέχρι τοῦ δεῦρο, καὶ πανταχοῦ παρὰ πᾶσίν εἰσιν Ἰουδαίοις, οἳ καὶ ἀναγινώσκοντες οὐ συνιᾶσι τὰ εἰρημένα, ἀλλ ἐχθροὺς ἡμᾶς καὶ πολεμίους ἡγοῦνται, ὁμοίως ὑμῖν ἀναιροῦντες καὶ κολάζοντες ἡμᾶς ὁπόταν δύνωνται, ὡς καὶ πεισθῆναι δύνασθε. Καὶ γὰρ ἐν τῷ νῦν γεγενημένῳ ἰουδαϊκῷ πολέμῳ Βαρχωχέβας, ὁ τῆς Ἰουδαίων ἀποστάσεως ἀρχηγέτης, Χριστιανοὺς μόνους εἰς τιμωρίας δεινάς, εἰ μὴ ἀρνοῖντο Ἰησοῦν τὸν Χριστὸν καὶ βλασφημοῖεν, ἐκέλευεν ἀπάγεσθαι. Ἐν δὴ ταῖς τῶν προφητῶν βίβλοις εὕρομεν προκηρυσσόμενον παραγινόμενον, γεννώμενον διὰ παρθένου, καὶ ἀνδρούμενον καὶ θεραπεύοντα πᾶσαν νόσον καὶ πᾶσαν μαλακίαν καὶ νεκροὺς ἀνεγείροντα, καὶ φθονούμενον καὶ ἀγνοούμενον καὶ σταυρούμενον Ἰησοῦν τὸν ἡμέτερον Χριστόν, καὶ ἀποθνήσκοντα καὶ ἀνεγειρόμενον καὶ εἰς οὐρανοὺς ἀνερχόμενον, καὶ υἱὸν θεοῦ ὄντα καὶ κεκλημένον, καί τινας πεμπομένους ὑπ αὐτοῦ εἰς πᾶν γένος ἀνθρώπων κηρύξοντας ταῦτα, καὶ τοὺς ἐξ ἐθνῶν ἀνθρώπους μᾶλλον αὐτᾷ πιστεύειν. Προεφητεύθη δέ, πρὶν ἢ φανῆναι αὐτόν, ἔτεσι ποτὲ μὲν πεντακισχιλίοις, ποτὲ δὲ τρισχιλίοις, ποτὲ δὲ δισχιλίοις, καὶ πάλιν χιλίοις καὶ ἄλλοτε ὀκτακοσίοις· κατὰ γὰρ τὰς διαδοχὰς τῶν γενῶν ἕτεροι καὶ ἕτεροι ἐγένοντο προφῆται
Now among the Jews there arose certain men who were prophets of God, through whom the prophetic Spirit foretold things that were to happen before they came to pass. Their prophecies, just as they were spoken when they were uttered, the kings who arose among the Jews from time to time possessed and carefully preserved, composed in books in their own Hebrew tongue by the prophets themselves. When Ptolemy, king of the Egyptians, was furnishing a library and endeavoring to gather the writings of all peoples, he learned also of these prophecies and sent to Herod, who was then king of the Jews, asking that the books of the prophecies be dispatched to him. King Herod sent them, written in the aforementioned Hebrew tongue. But since what was written in them was not intelligible to the Egyptians, he again sent and asked Herod to dispatch men to translate them into the Greek language. When this was done, the books remained among the Egyptians down to the present day, and they are everywhere among all the Jews, who, though they read them, do not understand what is said, but regard us as enemies and adversaries, putting us to death and punishing us just as you do, whenever they are able, as you yourselves can be assured. For even in the Jewish war that has just now taken place, Bar Kokhba, the leader of the Jewish revolt, ordered that Christians alone be led off to terrible punishments unless they would deny Jesus the Christ and blaspheme him. In the books of the prophets, then, we found Jesus our Christ foretold: coming, born of a virgin, growing to manhood, healing every disease and every sickness and raising the dead, envied and unrecognized and crucified, dying and rising again and ascending into the heavens, being and being called the Son of God; and that certain men would be sent by him to every race of mankind to proclaim these things, and that the people of the nations rather would believe in him. He was prophesied before he appeared, sometimes five thousand years, sometimes three thousand, sometimes two thousand, and again a thousand, and at another time eight hundred years before; for according to the successions of the generations, different prophets arose at different times.
在猶太人中曾興起一些人，是神的先知，預言之靈藉著他們在事情發生之前就預先宣告將要成就的事。這些猶太人中歷代興起的君王，便擁有並謹慎保存這些預言——正如它們被說出、被預言時的樣子——是由眾先知親自用他們自己的希伯來語編寫成書的。當埃及人的王托勒密建立圖書館、設法收集萬民的著作時，他也得知了這些預言，便差人去見當時作猶太人王的希律，求他將這些預言的書卷送來。希律王就將那些用前述希伯來語寫成的書卷送去。但因書中所寫的埃及人看不懂，他又差人去求希律，請他派人來把這些書翻成希臘語。此事成就後，這些書卷便留在埃及人中直到如今，並且遍存於各處眾猶太人當中。他們雖然誦讀，卻不明白其中所說的，反倒把我們當作仇敵和對頭，一有能力便像你們一樣殺害、刑罰我們，這也是你們可以確知的。就連在剛剛發生的猶太戰爭中，猶太人叛亂的首領巴柯巴也下令，惟獨將基督徒押去受可怕的酷刑，除非他們肯否認耶穌基督並褻瀆他。在眾先知的書中，我們便發現預先宣告的、就是我們的基督耶穌：他要降臨，由童女所生，長大成人，醫治各樣的疾病和各樣的病痛，叫死人復活，遭人嫉妒、不被認識、被釘十字架，死了又復活、升到諸天之上，是神的兒子並被稱為神的兒子；又有人要被他差往各族人中傳揚這些事，並且外邦人反倒要更多信他。在他顯現以先，這些事已預先說過，有時是五千年前，有時三千年前，有時兩千年前，又有一千年前，另有八百年前；因為按著世代的相承，不同的時候興起了不同的先知。