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

by Tatian

Section XXXVI.

[1] ^[1]Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever keepeth my word shall not see death [2] for ever.  ^[2]The Jews said unto him, Now we know that thou hast demons.  Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, Whosoever keepeth my word shall not [3] taste death for ever.  ^[3]Art thou haply greater than our father Abraham, who is [4] dead, and than the prophets, which are dead? whom makest thou thyself?  ^[4]Jesus said unto them, If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing:  my Father is he that [5] glorifieth me; of whom ye say, that he is our^[5] God; ^[6]and yet ye have not known him:  but I know him; and if I should say that I know him not, I should become [6] [Arabic, p. 137] a liar like you:  but I know him, and keep his word.  ^[7]Abraham your father [7] longed to see my day; and he saw, and rejoiced.  ^[8]The Jews said unto him, [8] Thou art now not fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?  ^[9]Jesus said unto [9] them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.  ^[10]And they take^[11] stones to stone him:  ^[12]but Jesus concealed himself, and went out of the temple.  And he passed through them, and went his way.

[10] ^[13]And as he passed, he saw a man blind from his mother’s womb.  ^[14]And his [11] disciples asked him, and said, Our Master, who sinned, this man, or his parents, so [12] that he was born blind?^{[15]  [16]}Jesus said unto them, Neither did he sin, nor his parents:  [13] but that the works of God may be seen in him.^{[17]  [18]}It is incumbent on me to do the deeds of him that sent me, while it is day:  a night will come, and no man will be [14] able to busy himself.  ^[19]As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.  [15] ^[20]And when he said that, he spat upon the ground, and made clay of his spittle, and [16] smeared it on the eyes of the blind man, and said unto him, ^[21]Go and wash thyself in [17] the pool^[22] of Siloam.^{[23]  [24]}And he went and washed, and came seeing.  And his neighbours, which saw him of old begging, said, Is not this he that was sitting begging?  [18] ^[25]And some said, It is he; and others said, Nay, but he resembles him much.  He [19, 20] said, I am he.  ^[26]They said unto him, How then were thine eyes opened?  ^[27]He answered and said unto them, A man named Jesus made clay, and smeared it on my eyes, and said unto me, Go and wash in the water of Siloam:  and I went and [21] washed, and received sight.^{[28]  [29]}They said unto him, Where is he?  He said, I know not.  [22, 23] [Arabic, p. 138] ^[30]And they brought him that was previously blind to the Pharisees.  ^[31]And the day in which Jesus made clay and opened with it his eyes was a sabbath [24] day.  ^[32]And again the Pharisees asked him, How didst thou receive sight?  And he said [25] unto them, He put clay on mine eyes, and I washed, and received sight.  ^[33]The people^[34] of the Pharisees said, This man is not from God, for he keepeth not the sabbath.  And others said, How can a man that is a sinner do these signs?  And there came [26] to be a division amongst them.  ^[35]And again they said to that blind man, Thou, then, what sayest thou of him that opened for thee thine eyes?  He said unto them, [27] I say that he is a prophet.  ^[36]And the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he was blind, and received sight, until they summoned the parents of him who received [28] sight, and asked them, ^[37]Is this^[38] your son, of whom ye said that he was born blind? [29] how then, behold, doth he now see?  ^[39]His parents answered and said, We know [30] that this is our son, and that he was born blind:  ^[40]but how he has come to see now, or who it is that opened his eyes, we know not:  and he also has reached his prime; [31] ask him, and he will speak for himself.  ^[41]This said his parents, because they were fearing the Jews:  and the Jews decided, that if any man should confess of him that [32] he was the Messiah, they would put him out of the synagogue.  ^[42]For this reason [33] said his parents, He hath reached his prime; ask him.  ^[43]And they called the man a second time, him that was blind, and said unto him, Praise God:  we know that this [34] man is a sinner.  ^[44]He answered and said unto them, Whether he be a sinner, I know [35] not:  I know one thing, that I was blind, and I now see.  ^[45]They said unto him again, [36] [Arabic, p. 139] What did he unto thee? how opened he for thee thine eyes?  ^[46]He said unto them, I said unto you, and ye did not hear:  what^[47] wish ye further to hear? [37] ye also, do ye wish to become disciples to him?  ^[48]And they reviled him, and said unto him, Thou art the disciple^[49] of that man; but as for us, we are the disciples of [38] Moses.  ^[50]And we know that God spake unto Moses:  but this man, we know not [39] whence he is.  ^[51]The man answered and said unto them, From this is the wonder, [40] because ye know not whence he is, and mine eyes hath he opened.  ^[52]And we know that God heareth not the voice of sinners:  but whosoever feareth him, and doeth [41] his will, him he heareth.  ^[53]From eternity hath it not been heard of, that a man [42] opened the eyes of a blind man, who had been born in blindness.  ^[54]If then this man [43] were not from God, he could not do that.  ^[55]They answered and said unto him, Thou wast all of thee born in sins, and dost thou teach us?  And they put him forth without.

[44] ^[56]And Jesus heard of his being put forth without, and found him, and said unto [45] him, Dost thou believe in the Son of God?  ^[57]He that was made whole answered [46] and said, Who is he, my Lord, that I may believe in him?  ^[58]Jesus said unto him, [47] Thou hast seen him, and he that speaketh to thee is he.  ^[59]And he said, I believe, my Lord.  And he fell down worshipping him.

Footnotes

1. John viii. 51.
2. John viii. 52.
3. John viii. 53.
4. John viii. 54.
5. cf. Peshitta.  The Sinaitic omits our.
6. John viii. 55.
7. John viii. 56.
8. John viii. 57.
9. John viii. 58.
10. John viii. 59.
11. The Vat. ms. has took him, probably omitting stones, though Ciasca does not say so.  Take is probably a copyist’s error (change in diacritical paints) for took.
12. John viii. 60 [reckoned to verse 59 in the Greek.].
13. John ix. 1.
14. John ix. 2.
15. A different word in Arabic from that used in verses 1 and 6.
16. John ix. 3.
17. The Vat. ms. has that we may see the works of God in him.  By the addition of a diacritical point this would give the same sense as in the text above, and more grammatically.
18. John ix. 4.
19. John ix. 5.
20. John ix. 6.
21. John ix. 7.
22. The Arabic word properly means baptism.  The Syriac has both meanings.
23. Lit. Shiloha, as in Syriac.
24. John ix. 8.
25. John ix. 9.
26. John ix. 10.
27. John ix. 11.
28. Lit. saw.
29. John ix. 12.
30. John ix. 13.
31. John ix. 14.
32. John ix. 15.
33. John ix. 16.
34. An easy clerical error for Some.
35. John ix. 17.
36. John ix. 18.
37. John ix. 19.
38. Lit. them, whether this be.
39. John ix. 20.
40. John ix. 21.
41. John ix. 22.
42. John ix. 23.
43. John ix. 24.
44. John ix. 25.
45. John ix. 26.
46. John ix. 27.
47. Or, why (cf. note, § 7, 38).
48. John ix. 28.
49. Disciples is probably simply a misprint in Ciasca’s text.
50. John ix. 29.
51. John ix. 30.
52. John ix. 31.
53. John ix. 32.
54. John ix. 33.
55. John ix. 34.
56. John ix. 35.
57. John ix. 36.
58. John ix. 37.
59. John ix. 38.