Ancient source · Josephus
Josephus, Jewish War 2.162–166
The Pharisees and Sadducees in the Jewish War
¶1 But then as to the two other orders at first mentioned, the Pharisees are those who are esteemed most skillful in the exact explication of their laws, and introduce the first sect. These ascribe all to fate [or providence], and to God, and yet allow, that to act what is right, or the contrary, is principally in the power of men, although fate does co-operate in every action. They say that all souls are incorruptible, but that the souls of good men only are removed into other bodies, - but that the souls of bad men are subject to eternal punishment. But the Sadducees are those that compose the second order, and take away fate entirely, and suppose that God is not concerned in our doing or not doing what is evil; and they say, that to act what is good, or what is evil, is at men's own choice, and that the one or the other belongs so to every one, that they may act as they please. They also take away the belief of the immortal duration of the soul, and the punishments and rewards in Hades. Moreover, the Pharisees are friendly to one another, and are for the exercise of concord, and regard for the public; but the behavior of the Sadducees one towards another is in some degree wild, and their conversation with those that are of their own party is as barbarous as if they were strangers to them. And this is what I had to say concerning the philosophic sects among the Jews.
The Greek text (Niese), sections 162–166
162 Δύο δὲ τῶν προτέρων Φαρισαῖοι μὲν οἱ μετὰ ἀκριβείας δοκοῦντες ἐξηγεῖσθαι τὰ νόμιμα καὶ τὴν πρώτην ἀπάγοντες αἵρεσιν εἱμαρμένῃ τε καὶ θεῷ προσάπτουσι πάντα,
163 καὶ τὸ μὲν πράττειν τὰ δίκαια καὶ μὴ κατὰ τὸ πλεῖστον ἐπὶ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις κεῖσθαι, βοηθεῖν δὲ εἰς ἕκαστον καὶ τὴν εἱμαρμένην· ψυχήν τε πᾶσαν μὲν ἄφθαρτον, μεταβαίνειν δὲ εἰς ἕτερον σῶμα τὴν τῶν ἀγαθῶν μόνην, τὰς δὲ τῶν φαύλων ἀιδίῳ τιμωρίᾳ κολάζεσθαι.
164 Σαδδουκαῖοι δέ, τὸ δεύτερον τάγμα, τὴν μὲν εἱμαρμένην παντάπασιν ἀναιροῦσιν καὶ τὸν θεὸν ἔξω τοῦ δρᾶν τι κακὸν ἢ ἐφορᾶν τίθενται·
165 φασὶν δʼ ἐπʼ ἀνθρώπων ἐκλογῇ τό τε καλὸν καὶ τὸ κακὸν προκεῖσθαι καὶ κατὰ γνώμην ἑκάστου τούτων ἑκατέρῳ προσιέναι. ψυχῆς τε τὴν διαμονὴν καὶ τὰς καθʼ ᾅδου τιμωρίας καὶ τιμὰς ἀναιροῦσιν.
166 καὶ Φαρισαῖοι μὲν φιλάλληλοί τε καὶ τὴν εἰς τὸ κοινὸν ὁμόνοιαν ἀσκοῦντες, Σαδδουκαίων δὲ καὶ πρὸς ἀλλήλους τὸ ἦθος ἀγριώτερον αἵ τε ἐπιμιξίαι πρὸς τοὺς ὁμοίους ἀπηνεῖς ὡς πρὸς ἀλλοτρίους. τοιαῦτα μὲν περὶ τῶν ἐν Ἰουδαίοις φιλοσοφούντων εἶχον εἰπεῖν.
Where this text comes from
- English: William Whiston's translation (1737), as printed in 1856. Whiston translated an earlier Greek text (Sigebert Havercamp's edition, 1726), not the Niese text shown here, so the two can differ in places. Words in square brackets in the English are Whiston's own additions, not in the Greek. Whiston grouped sections, so this extract covers 2.162–166.
- Greek: Benedikt Niese's critical edition (Berlin, 1885–1895), with Niese's section numbers.
- Digital text: Perseus Digital Library,
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0526.tlg004.perseus-eng2:2.162, fixed at commita6eb0cc3e6f6. Open the source file. - Rights: Niese Greek text and Whiston translation public domain; Perseus digital encoding CC BY-SA 4.0 (Trustees of Tufts University). Attribution and share-alike apply to the extracted text.
- Checked: the files were verified against their SHA-256 checksums before extraction (
data/ask/sources.json). Fingerprint of this English text:f92148204e4e1616. - Why this passage is in the Atlas: 23 passages of Josephus that bear on people, groups and events of the New Testament are included, not his whole works.