But you ought to believe Zechariah as he shows the mystery of Christ in a parable, and preaches Him in hidden fashion. Now this is what is said: Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Sion; for behold I come and will make My dwelling in the midst of thee, saith the Lord. And many nations shall be added unto the Lord in that day, and they shall be My people. And I will make my dwelling in the midst of thee, and they shall know that the Lord of Hosts hath sent me unto thee.
And the Lord shall inherit Judah and his portion in the holy land, and shall again choose Jerusalem. Let all flesh fear at the presence of the Lord, because He hath been raised up from His holy clouds. And He showed me Jesus, the high priest, standing before the face of the angel of the Lord. And the devil was standing on his right hand to oppose him. And the Lord saith unto the devil: The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee! Behold, is not this a brand plucked out from the fire?
And as Trypho was about to answer and contradict me, I said: Wait first, and hear what I say. For I am not about to give the explanation you suppose, to the effect that there never was any priest by the name of Jesus in the land of Babylon where your people had been carried captive. And even if I said so, I should have known that although there was Jesus a priest, in your race, the prophet did not see him in his own person in his revelation, even as he did not see either the devil or the angel of the Lord by his actual eyes, as being in his normal state, but in an ecstasy, for a revelation was made to him.
But now I say that just as God said that by the name Jesus (Joshua), which was given to the son of Nun, he did miracles and other things which proclaimed beforehand what was to be done by our Lord, so will I now prove that also the revelation given in the time of Jesus who was priest in Babylon among your people was a proclamation beforehand of what was to be done by our Priest and God and Christ, son of the Father of the universe.
I wondered indeed already, said I, why you kept quiet a little time ago when I was speaking, or how it was that you did not take me up when I said that the son of Nun was the only one of his contemporaries who went out from Egypt into the Holy Land, together with them who are recorded as being younger members of that generation. For you are like flies settling on wounds as quick as ever they can.
For even if one makes ten thousand statements accurately, and there should be one tiny little thing unpleasing to you, or not understood, or not exact, you give no heed to the many accurate statements, but take up the little tiny word, and do your best to make it out contrary to religion and to righteousness. The result will be that, when you are judged with the same kind of judgement by God, you will have to give the stricter account for your audacious crimes, whether they be evil deeds or worthless expositions, which you make by your false methods. For, with what judgement you judge it is right that you be judged.