My LORD’s Bible1 Clement 53
1Ye understand, beloved, ye understand well the sacred Scriptures, and ye have looked very earnestly into the oracles of God. Call then these things to your remembrance. When Moses went up into the mount, and abode there, with fasting and humiliation, forty days and forty nights, the Lord said unto him, “Moses, Moses, get thee down quickly from hence; for thy people whom thou didst bring out of the land of Egypt have committed iniquity. They have speedily departed from the way in which I commanded them to walk, and have made to themselves molten images.” And the Lord said unto him, “I have spoken to thee once and again, saying, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiff-necked people: let me destroy them, and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make thee a great and wonderful nation, and one much more numerous than this.” But Moses said, “Far be it from Thee, Lord: pardon the sin of this people; else blot me also out of the book of the living.” O marvellous love! O insuperable perfection! The servant speaks freely to his Lord, and asks forgiveness for the people, or begs that he himself might perish along with them.
Ἐπίστασθε γὰρ καὶ καλῶς ἐπίστασθε τὰς ἱερὰς γραφάς, ἀγαπητοί, καὶ ἐγκεκύφατε εἰς τὰ λόγια τοῦ Θεοῦ πρὸς ἀνάμνησιν οὖν ταῦτα γράφομεν. Μωῦσέως γὰρ ἀναβαίνοντος εἰς τὸ ὄρος καὶ ποιήσαντος τεσσεράκοντα ἡμέ- ρας καὶ τεσσεράκοντα νύκτας ἐν νηστείᾳ καὶ ταπεινώσει, εἶπεν πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ Θεός: ΛΛωΥΐςἢ, Λλωγοῆ, κατάβηθι τὸ τάχος ἐντεῦθεν, ὅτι HNGMHCEN ὁ Aadc coy oyc ἐξήγαγες ἐκ γῆς Airyn- ὅδ Toy’ πδρέβηςδν Tayy ἐκ THc ὁδοῦ Hc ἐνετείλω AYTOIC, ETOIHCAN ἑδυτοῖς ywneymata. Kai εἶπεν Κύριος πρὸς δὐτόν" Λελά- ληκὰ πρός ce ἅπαξ kal δὶς λέγων, ᾿Εεώρδκὰ τὸν λδὸν τοῦτον, Kal ἰδού ἐστιν εκληροτράχηλος ἔδοόν με ἐξολεθρεῖοδλι δύτογς, Kai ἐξαλείψω τὸ ὄνομὰ δὐτῶν ὑποκάτωθεν TOY οὐρὰνοῦ Kal ποιήοω cé εἰς ἔθνος μέγδ Kal θδγμδοτὸν Kal TIOAY μάλλον κε τοῦτο. Καὶ εἶπε Μωῦσῆς: ΛΛηθομῶς Κύριε ἄφες τὴν ἁμδρτίδν τῷ λδῷ τούτῳ καὶ KAM ἐξάλειψον ἐκ BIBAOY ζώντων. ὦ μεγάλης >? 3” ὠγάπης, ὦ τελειότητος ἀνυπερβλήτου" παρρησιάξεται θερά- wey πρὸς κύριον, αἰτεῖται ἄφεσιν τῷ πλήθει ἣ καὶ ἑαυτὸν ἐξαλειφθῆναι per αὐτών ἀξιοῖ.