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1 Clement

First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians

About this book

Do Not Doubt That the Lord Will Come

Chapter 23

1 The Father, who is merciful in all things, and ready to do good, has compassion on those who fear Him, and kindly and lovingly gives His favors on those who draw near to Him with a single mind. 2 Therefore let us not be double-minded, and let our soul not indulge in idle fancies about His surpassing and glorious gifts. 3 Let this scripture be far from us where He says, “Wretched are the double-minded, who doubt in their soul and say, ‘We heard these things in the days of our fathers too, and look, we have grown old, and none of these things has happened to us.’”⁠ 4 “You fools, compare yourselves to a tree; take a vine. First it sheds its leaves, then a shoot comes, then a leaf, then a flower, and after these a sour berry, then a fully ripe grape. You see that in a short time the fruit of the tree reaches ripeness.” 5 “Truly His will shall be accomplished quickly and suddenly,” the scripture also bearing witness to it, saying, “He shall come quickly and shall not delay; and the Lord shall come suddenly into His temple, the Holy One, whom you expect.”⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare LXX Malachi 3:1 and Clement of Rome, 1 Clement 23:5

Septuagint · Early Christian

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Summary

In 1 Clement, the author quotes as scripture a promise that God will come quickly, which joins Isaiah 13 to Malachi 3 in a form unlike the Greek Septuagint translation. It may come from the same lost Jewish writing that Clement quotes just before it.

Passages

LXX Malachi 3:1

Septuagint
1 Look, I send forth my messenger, and he shall survey the way before my face: and the Lord, whom you seek, shall suddenly come into his temple, even the angel of the covenant, whom you take pleasure in: look, he is coming, says the Lord Almighty. 2 And who will endure the day of his coming? or who will withstand at his appearing? for he is coming in as the fire of a furnace and as the herb of fullers. 3 He shall sit to melt and purify as it were silver, and as it were gold: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and refine them as gold and silver, and they shall offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness.
100–1 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Malachi

Clement of Rome, 1 Clement 23:5

Early Christian · First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians
3 Let this scripture be far from us where He says, “Wretched are the double-minded, who doubt in their soul and say, ‘We heard these things in the days of our fathers too, and look, we have grown old, and none of these things has happened to us.’” 4 “You fools, compare yourselves to a tree; take a vine. First it sheds its leaves, then a shoot comes, then a leaf, then a flower, and after these a sour berry, then a fully ripe grape. You see that in a short time the fruit of the tree reaches ripeness.” 5 “Truly His will shall be accomplished quickly and suddenly,” the scripture also bearing witness to it, saying, “He shall come quickly and shall not delay; and the Lord shall come suddenly into His temple, the Holy One, whom you expect.”
90–100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Clement of Rome, 1 Clement

References

“... However, we have argued (see Form/Structure/Setting section on 3:1–4) that 2 Peter’s Jewish apocalyptic source was explicitly concerned with the problem of eschatological delay, and since the arguments in vv 8–9 certainly derive from Jewish apocalyptic (see Comment), it is plausible to attribute them to the same source as the author has followed in vv 4–7. (With the allusion to Hab 2:3 in 2 Pet 3:9, cf. the composite quotation of Isa 13:22 and Mal 3:1, in a version differing from the LXX, in 1 Clem 23:5, immediately following 1 Clem’s quotation from the Jewish apocalypse. This quotation may well come from the same apocalypse.) ...”
Richard Bauckham, Word Biblical Commentary: Jude-2 Peter (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1983), 512.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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LXX Malachi 3:1 and Clement of Rome, 1 Clement 23:5

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