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Ἐδίδαξε δὲ ἡμᾶς ταῦτα τὸ ἅγιον προφητικὸν πνεῦμα, διὰ Μωϋσέως φῆσαν τῷ πρώτῳ πλασθέντι ἀνθρώπῳ εἰρῆσθαι ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ οὕτως· Ἰδοὺ πρὸ προσώπου σου τὸ ἀγαθὸν καὶ τὸ κακόν, ἔκλεξαι τὸ ἀγαθόν. Καὶ πάλιν διὰ Ἡσαΐου, τοῦ ἑτέρου προφήτου, ὡς ἀπὸ προσώπου τοῦ πατρὸς τῶν ὅλων καὶ δεσπότου θεοῦ εἰς τοῦτο λεχθῆναι οὕτως· Λούσασθε, καθαροὶ γένεσθε, ἀφέλετε τὰς πονηρίας ἀπὸ τῶν ψυχῶν ὑμῶν, μάθετε καλὸν ποιεῖν, κρίνατε ὀρφανῷ καὶ δικαιώσατε χήραν, καὶ δεῦτε καὶ διαλεχθῶμεν, λέγει κύριος· καὶ ἐὰν ὦσιν αἱ ἁμαρτίαι ὑμῶν ὡς φοινικοῦν, ὡσεὶ ἔριον λευκανῶ, καὶ ἐὰν ὦσιν ὡς κόκκινον, ὡς χιόνα λευκανῶ. Καὶ ἐὰν θέλητε καὶ εἰσακούσητέ μου, τὰ ἀγαθὰ τῆς γῆς φάγεσθε, ἐὼν δὲ μὴ εἰσακούσητέ μου, μόχαιρα ὑμᾶς κατέδεται· τὸ γὰρ στόμα κυρίου ἐλάλησε ταῦτα. Τὸ δὲ προειρημένον Μάχαιρα ὑμᾶς κατέδεται οὐ λέγει διὰ μαχαιρῶν φονενθήσεσθαι τοὺς παρακούσαντας, ἀλλ ἡ μάχαιρα τοῦ θεοῖ ἐστι τὸ πῦρ. οὗ βορὰ γίνονται οἱ τὰ φαῦλα πράττειν αἱρούμενοι. Διὰ τοῦτο λέγει· Μάχαιρα ὑμᾶς κατέδεται· τὸ γὰρ στόμα κυρίου ἐλάλησεν. Εἰ δὲ καὶ περὶ τεμνούσης καὶ αὐτίκα ἀπαλλασσούσης μαχαίρας ἔλεγεν, οὐκ ἂν εἶπε Κατέδεται. Ὥστε καὶ Πλάτων εἰπών. Αἰτία ἑλομένου, θεὸςδ ἀναίτιος παρὰ Μωϋσέως τοῦ προφήτου λαβὼν εἶπε· πρεσβύτερος γὰρ Μωϋσῆς καὶ πάντων τῶν ἐν Ἕλλησι συγγραφέων. Καὶ πάντα. ὅσα περὶ ἀθανασίας ψυχῆς ἢ τιμωριῶν τῶν μετὰ θάνατον ἢ θεωρίας οὐρανίων ἢ τῶν ὁμοίων δογμάτων καὶ φιλόσοφοι καὶ ποιηταὶ ἔφασαν, παρὰ τῶν προφητῶν τὰς ἀφορμὰς λαβόντες καὶ νοῆσαι δεδύνηνται καὶ ἐξηγήσαντο. Ὅθεν παρὰ πᾶσι σπέρματα ἀληθείας δοκεῖ εἶναι· ἐλέγχονται δὲ μὴ ἀκριβῶς νοήσαντες. ὅταν ἐναντία αὐτοὶ ἑαυτοῖς λέγωσιν. Ὥστε ὅ φαμεν, πεπροφητεῦσθαι τὰ μέλλοντα γίνεσθαι, οὐ διὰ τὸ εἱμαρμένης ἀνάγκῃ πράττεσθαι λέγομεν· ἀλλὰ προγνώστου τοῦ θεοῦ ὄντος τῶν μελλόντων ὑπὸ πάντων ἀνθρώπων πραχθήσεσθαι, καὶ δόγματος ὄντος παρ αὐτόν κατ ἀξίαν τῶν πράξεων ἕκαστον ἀμείψεσθαι μέλλοντα τῶν ἀνθρώπων. καὶ τὰ παρ αὐτοῦ κατ ἀξίαν τῶν πραττομένων ἀπαντήσεσθαι διὰ τοῦ προφητικοῦ πνεύματος προλέγει, εἰς ἐπίστασιν καὶ ἀνάμνησιν ἀεὶ ἄγων τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένος, δεικνύς, ὅτι καὶ μέλον ἐστιν αὐτῷ καὶ προνοεῖται αἰτῶν. Κατ ἐνέργειαν δὲ τῶν φαύλων δαιμόνων θάνατος ὡρίσθη κατὰ τῶν τὰς Ὑστάσπου ἢ Σιβύλλης ἢ τῶν προφητῶν βίβλους ἀναγινωσκόντων, ὅπως διὰ τοῖ φόβου ἀποστρέψωσιν ἐντυγχάνοντας τοὺς ἀνθρώπους τῶν καλῶν γνῶσιν λαβεῖν, αἰτοῖς δὲ δουλεύοντας κατέχωσιν· ὅπερ εἰς τέλος οὐκ ἴσχυσαν πρᾶξαι. Ἀφόβως μὲν γὰρ οὐ μόνον ἐντυγχάνομεν αὐταῖς, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὑμῖν, ὡς ὁρᾶτε, εἰς ἐπίσκεψιν φέρομεν, ἐπιστάμενοι πᾶσιν εὐάρεστα φανήσεσθαι· κἂν ὀλίγους δὲ πείσωμεν, τὰ μέγιστα κερδήσαντες ἐσόμεθα· ὡς γεωργοὶ γὰρ ἀγαθοὶ παρὰ τοῖ δεσπόζοντος τὴν ἀμοιβὴν ἕξομεν
至聖的預言之靈藉摩西教導我們這些事，說神曾這樣對受造的頭一個人說：「看哪，在你面前有善與惡，你要揀選善。」又藉另一位先知以賽亞，以萬有之父和主宰神的身分，為此說了這樣的話：「你們要洗濯、自潔，從你們心中除掉惡行；學習行善，為孤兒伸冤，為寡婦辨屈；耶和華說：你們來，我們彼此辯論。你們的罪雖像硃紅，我必使它白如羊毛；雖紅如丹顏，我必使它白如雪。你們若甘心聽從我，必吃地上的美物；若不肯聽從我，必被刀劍吞滅；這是耶和華親口說的。」前面所說「必被刀劍吞滅」這話，並不是說違命的人要被刀殺，乃是說神的刀就是火，那些揀選作惡的人要成為火的食物。所以他說：「必被刀劍吞滅，因為這是耶和華親口說的。」他若是指那砍殺、立刻了結人的刀，就不會說「吞滅」。因此柏拉圖說「責任在乎揀選的人，神是無可指責的」，這話也是他從先知摩西取來而說的；因為摩西比希臘一切作家都更古老。凡哲學家和詩人所說論到靈魂不朽、死後的刑罰、對屬天之事的默想、或類似教義的話，都是從眾先知取得了起點，才得以明白並加以闡述。因此在眾人中似乎都有真理的種子；但他們既自相矛盾，就被證明並未準確明白。所以我們說將來的事被預言了，並不是說這些事是憑命定的必然而成就的；乃是因為神預知萬人將要行的事，又因他有定旨，要照各人行為的本當報應各人，所以他藉預言之靈預先說出將要按各人行為臨到他們的事，常常引導人類留意省察、回想記念，顯明他既眷顧他們，又看顧他們。然而，因著惡鬼魔的運作，死刑被定在那些誦讀許斯塔斯佩、或西比拉、或眾先知書卷之人身上，要藉著恐懼把誦讀這些書的人嚇阻，不讓他們得著美善之事的知識，好使他們仍受奴役歸於鬼魔；但這事他們終究未能成就。因為我們不但毫無懼怕地誦讀這些書，並且如你們所見，還把它們呈到你們面前供查考，深知它們必在眾人面前顯為可悅；縱然只說服了少數人，我們也算得了最大的益處；因為像好農夫一樣，我們必從主宰那裡得著賞賜。
The holy prophetic Spirit taught us these things, saying through Moses that God spoke thus to the first-formed man: "Behold, before your face are good and evil; choose the good." And again through Isaiah, the other prophet, it was said to this same effect, as from the person of the Father of all and Master, God: "Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean, put away wickedness from your souls; learn to do good, render judgment for the orphan and justice for the widow; and come, let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white as wool; and though they be as crimson, I will make them white as snow. And if you are willing and obey me, you shall eat the good things of the earth; but if you are not willing and do not obey me, a sword shall devour you; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken these things." Now the foregoing words "a sword shall devour you" do not mean that the disobedient shall be slain by swords, but the sword of God is fire, of which those who choose to do evil become the food. Therefore he says: "A sword shall devour you, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken." For if he had been speaking of a sword that cuts and dispatches at once, he would not have said "shall devour." So that Plato too, when he said "The blame is his who chooses; God is blameless," took it from Moses the prophet and said it; for Moses is older than all the Greek writers. And all that the philosophers and poets said concerning the immortality of the soul, or punishments after death, or the contemplation of heavenly things, or doctrines of the like, they took the starting points from the prophets, and were enabled both to understand and to expound them. Whence among all there seem to be seeds of truth; but they are convicted of not having understood accurately, when they contradict themselves. So that, when we say that things to come have been prophesied, we do not say that they are brought about by the necessity of fate; but, since God foreknows the things that all men will do, and since it is a decree of his that each of men shall be requited according to the merit of his deeds, he foretells through the prophetic Spirit the things that will befall them according to the merit of their deeds, ever leading the race of men to attention and recollection, showing that he both cares for them and provides for them. But by the operation of the wicked demons, death was decreed against those who read the books of Hystaspes or of the Sibyl or of the prophets, so that through fear they might turn men who read them away from receiving knowledge of good things, and might keep them in slavery to themselves; which, however, they were not able to accomplish to the end. For not only do we read them fearlessly, but, as you see, we bring them to you for your examination, knowing that they will appear acceptable to all; and even if we persuade only a few, we shall have gained the greatest things; for like good farmers we shall have our reward from the Master.