Chapter LXXII.—Passages have been removed by the Jews from Esdras and
Jeremiah.
And I said, “I shall do as you please. From the statements, then, which Esdras made in
reference to the law of the passover, they have taken away the following: ‘And Esdras said
to the people, This passover is our Saviour and our refuge. And if you have understood, and
your heart has taken it in, that we shall humble Him on a standard, and454 thereafter hope
in Him, then this place shall not be forsaken for ever, says the God of hosts. But if you will
not believe Him, and will not listen to His declaration, you shall be a laughing-stock to the
nations.’455 And from the sayings of Jeremiah they have cut out the following: ‘I [was] like
a lamb that is brought to the slaughter: they devised a device against me, saying, Come, let
us lay on wood on His bread, and let us blot Him out from the land of the living; and His
name shall no more be remembered.’456 And since this passage from the sayings of
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Jeremiah is still written in some copies [of the Scriptures] in the synagogues of the Jews
(for it is only a short time since they were cut out), and since from these words it is
demonstrated that the Jews deliberated about the Christ Himself, to crucify and put Him
to death, He Himself is both declared to be led as a sheep to the slaughter, as was predicted
by Isaiah, and is here represented as a harmless lamb; but being in a difficulty about them,
they give themselves over to blasphemy. And again, from the sayings of the same Jeremiah
these have been cut out: ‘The Lord God remembered His dead people of Israel who lay in
the graves; and He descended to preach to them His own salvation.’457
454 Or, “even if we.”
455 It is not known where this passage comes from.
456 Jer. xi. 19.
457 This is wanting in our Scriptures: it is cited by Iren., iii. 20, under the name of Isaiah, and in iv. 22 under
that of Jeremiah.—Maranus.
Chapter LXXII.—Passages have been removed by the Jews from Esdras and Jeremiah.
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Chapter LXXII.—Passages have been removed by the Jews from Esdras and J…