2 Clement 2

1“Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not; for she that is desolate hath many more children than she that hath an husband.” In that He said, “Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not,” He referred to us, for our church was barren before that children were given to her. But when He said, “Cry out, thou that travailest not,” He means this, that we should sincerely offer up our prayers to God, and should not, like women in travail, show signs of weakness. And in that He said, “For she that is desolate hath many more children than she that hath an husband,” [He means] that our people seemed to be outcast from God, but now, through believing, have become more numerous than those who are reckoned to possess God. And another Scripture saith, “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” This means that those who are perishing must be saved. For it is indeed a great and admirable thing to establish not the things which are standing, but those that are falling. Thus also did Christ desire to save the things which were perishing, and has saved many by coming and calling us when hastening to destruction.

ΕΥὐφράνθητι, ετεῖρὰ ἡ oy τίκτογοδ᾽ ῥῆξον Kal BdHCON, ἡὶ τ. οὐκ WAINOYCA, ὅτι πολλὰ τὰ τέκνὰ τῆς ἐρήμου μᾶλλον H τῆς ἐχοΐοης τὸν ἄνδρα. Ὃ εἶπεν εὐφράνθητι creipa H oY TikToyca, ἐξ Lake ἡμᾶς εἶπεν στεῖρα γὰρ ἦν ἡ ἐκκλησία ἡμῶν πρὸ τοῦ δοθῆναι αὐτῇ τέκνα. ὃ δὲ εἶπεν Βόηςον ἡ οὐκ ὠλίνογολ, τοῦτο λέγει’ τὰς προσευχὰς ἡμῶν ἁπλῶς ἀναφέρειν πρὸς τὸν Θεὰν μή, ὡς αἱ ὠδίνουσαι, ἐγκακῶμεν. ὃ δὲ εἶπεν ὅτι πολλὰ τὰ τέκνὰ τῆς ἐρήμου μᾶλλον H τῆς ἐχούοης τὸν ἄνδρα, ἐπεὶ ἔρημος ἐδόκει εἶναι ἀπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ ὁ λαὸς ἡμῶν, νυνὶ δὲ πιστεύσαντες πλείονες ἐγενόμεθα τῶν δοκοῦντων ἔχειν Θεόν. καὶ ἑτέρα δὲ γραφὴ λόγει ὅτι Οὐκ HAGON κἀλέοδι AiKatoyc, ἀλλὰ ἁμδλρτω- AOYC, τοῦτο λέγει, ὅτι δεῖ τοὺς ἀπολλυμένους σώζειν" ἐκεῖνο γάρ ἐστιν μέγα καὶ θαυμαστόν, οὐ τὰ ἑστῶτα στη- ρίζειν ἀλλὰ τὰ πίπτοντα. οὕτως καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς ἠθέλησεν σῶσαι τὰ ἀπολλύμενα, καὶ ἔσωσεν πολλούς, ἐλθὼν καὶ καλέ- σας ἡμᾶς ἤδη ἀπολλυμένους.