Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume IX/The Diatessaron of Tatian/The Diatessaron/Section XLI

by Tatian

Section XLI.

[1] ^[1]Therefore, behold, I, the wisdom of God, am sending unto you prophets, and apostles, and wise men, and scribes:  and some of them ye shall slay and crucify; and some of them ye shall beat in your synagogues, and persecute^[2] from city to [2] city:  ^[3]that there may come on you all the blood of the righteous that hath been poured upon the ground^[4] from the blood of Abel the pure to the blood of Zachariah the son of Barachiah, whom ye slew between the temple^[5] and the altar.  [3] ^[6]Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.^[7]

[4] [Arabic, p. 155] ^[8]O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, slayer of the prophets, and stoner of them that are sent unto her! how many times did I wish to gather thy children, as [5] a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!  ^[9]Your house shall [6] be left over you desolate.  ^[10]Verily I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

[7] ^[11]And many of the rulers also believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they [8] were not confessing him, lest they be put^[12] out of the synagogue:  ^[13]and they loved [9] the praise of men more than the praising of God.  ^[14]And Jesus cried and said, [10] Whosoever believeth in me, believeth not in me, but in him that sent me.  ^[15]And [11] whosoever seeth me hath seen him that sent me.  ^[16]I am come a light^[17] into the [12] world, and so every one that believeth in me abideth not in the darkness.  ^[18]And whosoever heareth my sayings, and keepeth them not, I judge him not:  for I came [13] not to judge the world, but to give the world life.^[19] [20]Whosoever wrongeth^[21] me, and receiveth not my sayings, there is one that judgeth him:  the word that I spake, it [14] shall judge him at the last day.  ^[22]I from myself did not speak:  but the Father which sent me, he hath given me commandment,^[23] what I should say, and what I [15] should speak; and I know that his commandment^[24] is eternal life.  ^[25]The things that I say now, as my Father hath said unto me, even so I say.

[16] ^[26]And when he said that unto them, the scribes and Pharisees began their evil-doing, being angry with him, and finding fault with his sayings, and harassing^[27] him [17] in many things; ^[28]seeking to catch something from his mouth, that they might be able to calumniate him.

[18] ^[29]And when there gathered together myriads of great multitudes, which almost trode [Arabic, p. 156] one upon another, Jesus began to say unto his disciples, Preserve yourselves [19] from the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.  ^[30]For there is nothing [20] concealed, that shall not be revealed:  nor hid, that shall not be known.  ^[31]Everything that ye have said in the darkness shall be heard in the light; and what ye have spoken secretly in the ears in the inner chambers shall be proclaimed on the roofs.

[21, 22] ^[32]This said Jesus, and he went and hid himself from them.  ^[33]But notwithstanding [23] his having done all these signs before them, they believed not in him:  ^[34]that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, who said,

My Lord, who is he that hath believed to hear us?

And the arm of the Lord, to whom hath it appeared?

[24] ^[35]And for this reason it is not possible for them to believe, because Isaiah also said,

[25] ^[36]They have blinded their eyes, and made dark their heart;

That they may not see with their eyes, and understand with their heart,

And turn,

So that I should heal them.

[26] ^[37]This said Isaiah when he saw his glory, and spake of him.

[27] ^[38]And when Jesus went out of the temple, certain of his disciples came forward [28] to shew^[39] him the buildings of the temple, ^[40]and its beauty and greatness, and the strength of the stones that were laid in it, and the elegance of its building, and that [29] it was adorned with noble stones and beautiful colours.  ^[41]Jesus answered and said [30] unto them, See ye these great buildings? ^[42]verily I say unto you, Days will come, when there shall not be left here a stone upon another, that shall not be cast down.

[31] ^[43]And two days before^[44] the passover of unleavened bread, the chief priests and [32] the scribes sought how they might take him by deceit,^[45] and kill him:  ^[46]and they said, It shall not be at the feast, lest the people be agitated.

[33] ^[47]And when Jesus sat on the mount of Olives opposite the temple, his disciples, Simon Cephas and James and John and Andrew, came forward unto him, and said unto him [34] between themselves and him, ^[48]Teacher, tell us when that shall be, and what is the sign [35] [Arabic, p. 157] of thy coming and the end of the world.  ^[49]Jesus answered and said unto them, Days will come, when ye shall long to see one of the days of the Son of [36, 37] ^[50]man, and shall not behold.  ^[51]Take heed lest any man lead you astray.  Many shall [38] come in my name, and say, I am the Messiah; ^[52]and they shall say, The time is come [39] near, and shall lead many astray:  go not therefore after them.  ^[53]And when ye hear of wars and tidings of insurrections, see to it, be^[54] not agitated:  for these things must [40] first be; only the end is not yet come.  ^[55]Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom [41] against kingdom:  ^[56]and great earthquakes shall be in one place and another, and there shall be famines and deaths and agitations:  and there shall be fear and terror and great signs that^[57] shall appear from heaven, and there shall be great [42, 43] storms   ^[58]All these things are the beginning of travail.  ^[59]But before all of that, they shall lay hands upon you, and persecute you, and deliver you unto the synagogues [44] and into prisons, and bring you before kings and judges for my name’s sake.  ^[60]And [45] that shall be unto you for a witness.  ^[61]But first must my gospel be preached unto all [46] nations.  ^[62]And when they bring you into the synagogues before the rulers and the authorities, be not anxious beforehand how ye shall answer for yourselves, or what ye [47, 48] shall say:  ^[63]because it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Spirit.  ^[64]Lay it to your heart, not [49] [Arabic, p. 158] to be anxious before the time what ye shall say:  ^[65]and I shall^[66] give you understanding and wisdom,^[67] which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay.  [50] ^[68]And then shall they deliver you unto constraint, and shall kill you:  and ye shall be [51] hated of all nations because of my name.  ^[69]And then shall many go astray,^[70] and they [52] shall hate one another, and deliver one another unto death.  ^[71]And your parents, and your brethren, and your kinsfolk, and your friends shall deliver you up, and shall [53, 54] slay some of you.  ^[72]But a lock of hair from your heads shall not perish.  ^[73]And by [55] your patience ye shall gain^[74] your souls.  ^[75]And many men,^[76] false prophets, shall arise, [56] and lead many astray.  ^[77]And because of the abounding of iniquity, the love of many [57] shall wax cold.  ^[78]But he that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved.  ^[79]And [58] this, the^[80] gospel of the kingdom, shall be preached in all the world for a testimony to all nations; and then shall come the end of all.

Footnotes

1. Matt. xxiii. 34.
2. cf. 8, 34.
3. Matt. xxiii. 35.
4. Or, earth.
5. Or, sanctuary.
6. Matt. xxiii. 36.
7. See § 1, 49, note.
8. Matt. xxiii. 37.
9. Matt. xxiii. 38.
10. Matt. xxiii. 39.
11. John xii. 42.
12. Lit. become.
13. John xii. 43.
14. John xii. 44.
15. John xii. 45.
16. John xii. 46.
17. The text as it stands ought to mean I am a light.  I am come; but it is a word-for-word reproduction of the Peshitta, and should therefore doubtless be rendered as above.
18. John xii. 47.
19. Or, to save the world (cf. § 1, 78, note).
20. John xii. 48.
21. See § 20, 28, note.
22. John xii. 49.
23. Not the same word.
24. Not the same word.
25. John xii. 50.
26. Luke xi. 53.
27. So Ciasca, following Vat. ms.  The true reading, however, is probably that underlying the Borg. ms.  If we restore diacritical points to the radical letters we get deceiving (cf. § 41, 31), an alternative meaning (or the word laying wait for, used in the Peshitta.  The Arabic follows the Peshitta very closely in this and the following verse.
28. Luke xi. 54.
29. Luke xii. 1.
30. Luke xii. 2.
31. Luke xii. 3.
32. John xii. 36b.
33. John xii. 37.
34. John xii. 38.
35. John xii. 39.
36. John xii. 40.
37. John xii. 41.
38. Matt. xxiv. 1.
39. Or, and shewed.
40. Mark xiii. 1b; Luke xxi. 5b.
41. Matt. xxiv. 2a.
42. Luke xix. 43a; Luke xix. 44b [or rather Matt. xxiv. 2b, or Mark xiii. 2b].
43. Mark xiv. 1.
44. Lit. before two days would be (cf. Sin. and above, § 39, 1, note).
45. cf. § 41, 16, note.
46. Mark xiv. 2.
47. Mark xiii. 3.
48. Luke xxi. 7b; Matt. xxiv. 3b.
49. Matt. xxiv. 4a; Luke xvii. 22b; Matt. xxiv. 4b.
50. Matt. xxiv. 5a.
51. Luke xxi. 8b.
52. Mark xiii. 6b; Luke xxi. 8c.
53. Mark xiii. 7a; Matt. xxiv. 7b; Luke xxi. 9b.
54. Or, that ye be, if we suppose the present text to have resulted from the loss of the second of two alifs.
55. Matt. xxiv. 7a.
56. Luke xxi. 11.
57. Or, omit that.
58. Matt. xxiv. 8.
59. Luke xxi. 12.
60. Luke xxi. 13.
61. Mark xiii. 10.
62. Luke xii. 11.
63. Mark xiii. 11b.
64. Luke xxi. 14.
65. Luke xxi. 15.
66. The Arabic text lacks a letter.
67. Borg. ms. reads you the fruits of wisdom.
68. Matt. xxiv. 9.
69. Matt. xxiv. 30.
70. See § 25, 17, note.
71. Luke xxi. 16.
72. Luke xxi. 18.
73. Luke xxi. 19.
74. Or, possess.
75. Matt. xxiv. 11.
76. So the Arabic text; but it doubtless simply represents the Syriac, which here agrees with the Greek.
77. Matt. xxiv. 12.
78. Matt. xxiv. 13.
79. Matt. xxiv. 14.
80. So the Arabic text; but it doubtless simply represents the Syriac, which here agrees with the Greek.