Philo Judaeus, De Mutatione Nominum, ed. Paul Wendland, 14

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[14] οὕτω
μέντοι τὸ ὂν ἄρρητόν ἐστιν, ὥστ’ οὐδὲ αἱ ὑπηρετούμεναι δυνάμεις κύριον ὄνομα ἡμῖν λέγουσι· μετὰ γοῦν τὴν πάλην, ἣν ὑπὲρ κτήσεως ἀρετῆς ὁ ἀσκητὴς ἐπάλαισε, φησὶ τῷ ἀοράτῳ ἐπιστάτῃ· „ἀνάγγειλόν μοι τὸ ὄνομά σου“, ὁ δὲ εἶπεν· „ἵνα τί τοῦτο ἐρωτᾷς τὸ ὄνομά μου;“ (Gen. 32,29), καὶ οὐ μηνύει τὸ ἴδιον καὶ κύριον. ἀπόχρη γάρ σοι, φησίν, ὠφελεῖσθαι
κατὰ τὰς ἐμὰς εὐφημίας, τὰ δὲ γενητῶν σύμβολα, ὀνόματα, μὴ ζήτει παρὰ φύσεσιν ἀφθάρτοις·

De Mutatione Nominum. Philo Judaeus. ed. Paul Wendland. Germany. 2014.

Funding provided by European Social Fund Saxony.

Current edition First1KGreek

De Mutatione Nominum (Greek) (Philo Judaeus. Opera quae supersunt, Volume 3. Wendland, Paul, editor. Berlin: Reimer, 1898.)

Translations (1)

On the question why certain Names in the Holy Scriptures are changed First1KGreek (The works of Philo Judaeus, the contemporary of Josephus, Volume 2. Yonge, C. D., translator. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1854.) — 14 focus

[14] And, indeed, the living God is so completely indescribable, that even those powers which minister unto him do not ¹² announce his proper name to us. At all events, after the wrestling match in which the practiser of virtue wrestled for the sake of the acquisition of virtue, he says to the invisible Master, "Tell me thy name;" ³ but he said, "Why askest thou me my name?" And he does not tell him his peculiar and proper name, for says he, it is sufficient for thee to be taught my ordinary explanations. But as for names which are the symbols of created things, do not seek to find them among immortal natures.

Philo Judaeus De Mutatione Nominum 14

ed. Paul Wendland

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