Through the washing of repentance, then, and of the knowledge of God—which came about on behalf of the lawlessness of the peoples of God, as Isaiah cries out—we have believed, and we recognize that this is that very thing which he foretold, the baptism, which alone is able to cleanse those who repent: this is the water of life. But the cisterns which you have dug for yourselves are broken and of no use to you. For what profit is there in that baptism which brightens the flesh and the body only?
Baptize the soul from anger and from greed, from envy, from hatred—and behold, the body is clean. For this is the symbol of the unleavened bread, that you should not perform the old works of the wicked leaven. But you have understood everything in a fleshly way, and you reckon it piety if, while doing such things, your souls remain filled with guile and, in short, with every kind of wickedness.
This is why God commanded that, after the seven days of eating unleavened bread, people should knead for themselves new leaven—that is, the practice of other works, and not the imitation of the old and worthless ones. And to show that this is what this new Lawgiver requires of you, I will recount once more the words I have already spoken, together with the others I left out. They were spoken by Isaiah as follows:
"Listen to me, and your soul shall live, and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, the sure mercies of David. Behold, I have given him as a witness to the nations, a ruler and commander to the nations. Nations that do not know you shall call upon you, and peoples who do not understand you shall take refuge in you, for the sake of your God, the Holy One of Israel, because he has glorified you."
"Seek the Lord, and call upon him while he may be found, when he draws near to you. Let the wicked forsake his ways, and the lawless man his counsels, and let him return to the Lord, and he will obtain mercy, for he will abundantly pardon your sins. For my counsels are not as your counsels, nor my ways as your ways; but as far as the heaven is distant from the earth, so far is my way distant from your way, and your thoughts from my thinking."
"For as the snow or the rain comes down from heaven and does not return until it has soaked the earth and made it bring forth and sprout, and given seed to the sower and bread for food, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return until all that I willed has been accomplished, and I will make my commandments prosper."
"For you shall go out with gladness and be led forth in joy; for the mountains and the hills shall break forth in jubilation to welcome you, and all the trees of the fields shall clap their branches. Instead of the thornbush the cypress shall come up, and instead of the nettle the myrtle shall come up; and the Lord shall be for a name and an everlasting sign that shall not fail."
Now, O Trypho, I said, since these and similar words have been spoken by the prophets, some of them were spoken concerning the first coming of Christ, in which it was proclaimed that he would appear without honor, without form, and mortal; and others concerning his second coming, when he will be present in glory and above the clouds, and your people will see and recognize the one whom they pierced—just as Hosea, one of the twelve prophets, and Daniel foretold; these things have indeed been spoken.