top 1 Clement ch 53

Chapter 53

The intercession of Moses

1 Ἐπίστασθε γὰρ καὶ καλῶς ἐπίστασθε τὰς ἱερὰς γραφάς, ἀγαπητοί, καὶ ἐγκεκύφατε εἰς τὰ λόγια τοῦ θεοῦ. πρὸς ἀνάμνησιν οὖν ταῦτα γράφομεν. For you know, and you know well the sacred scriptures, dear friends, and you have studied the oracles of God. Therefore we write these things to be a reminder.
2 Μωϋσέως γὰρ ἀναβάντος εἰς τὸ ὄρος καὶ ποιήσαντος τεσσαράκοντα ἡμέρας καὶ τεσσαράκοντα νύκτας ἐν νηστείᾳ καὶ ταπεινώσει, εἶπεν πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ θεός· Μωϋσῆ, Μωϋσῆ, Κατάβηθι τὸ τάχος ἐντεῦθεν, ὅτι ἠνόμησεν ὁ λαός σου, οὓς ἐξήγαγες ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου· παρέβησαν ταχὺ ἐκ τῆς ὁδοῦ ἧς ἐνετείλω αὐτοῖς, ἐποίησαν ἑαυτοῖς χωνεύματα. When Moses went up the mountain and had spent forty days and forty nights in fasting and humiliation, God said to him, "Moses, Moses, go down quickly from here, for your people whom you led out of the land of Egypt have broken the law. They have quickly turned away from the way that you commanded them. They have made molten idols for themselves" (Deut. 9:12; Ex. 32:7-8).
3 καὶ εἶπεν κύριος πρὸς αὐτόν· Λελάληκα πρός σε ἅπαξ καὶ δὶς λέγων· Ἑώρακα τὸν λαὸν τοῦτον, καὶ ἰδού ἐστιν σκληροτράχηλος· ἔασόν με ἐξολεθρεῦσαι αὐτούς, καὶ ἐξαλείψω τὸ ὄνομα αὐτῶν ὑποκάτωθεν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, καὶ ποιήσω σε εἰς ἔθνος μέγα καὶ θαυμαστὸν καὶ πολὺ μᾶλλον ἢ τοῦτο. And the Lord said to him, "I have spoken to you time and again saying, 'I have seen this people and behold they are stiff-necked. Let Me destroy them utterly, and I will blot out their name from under heaven, and I will make you into a great and wonderful nation and more numerous than this one.’” (Deut. 9:13-14; Ex. 32:9-10).
4 καὶ εἶπεν Μωϋσῆς· Μηδαμῶς, κύριε· ἄφες τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τῷ λαῷ τούτῳ ἢ κἀμὲ ἐξάλειψον ἐκ βίβλου ζώντων. And Moses said, "By no means, Lord. Forgive this people their sin, or blot me also out of the book of the living.”
5 ὢ μεγάλης ἀγάπης, ὢ τελειότητος ἀνυπερβλήτου. παρρησιάζεται θεράπων πρὸς κύριον, αἰτεῖται ἄφεσιν τῷ πλήθει, ἢ καὶ ἑαυτὸν ἐξαλειφθῆναι μετ᾿ αὐτῶν ἀξιοῖ. Oh great love! Oh limitless perfection! The servant speaks boldly with the Lord; he asks for forgiveness for the multitude, or else demands that he himself also be blotted out with them.