Dialogue with Trypho

"Yet after this, you made a calf and were very eager in committing fornication with the daughters of strangers and in serving idols. And again, when the land was given to you with such a great display of power that you witnessed the sun stand still in the sky by the order of the man whose name was Jesus (Joshua), and not go down for thirty-six hours, along with all the other miracles performed for you as time allowed; it seems good to me now to speak of another miracle, for it helps you understand Jesus, whom we also know to have been Christ, the Son of God, who was crucified, rose again, ascended to heaven, and will come again to judge all men, even up to Adam himself.

You are aware," I continued, "that when the ark of the testimony was seized by the enemies of Ashdod, a terrible and incurable disease broke out among them. They decided to place the ark on a cart yoked to cows that had recently calved, to determine by trial whether they had been plagued by God’s power because of the ark, and whether God wanted it returned to its original place. When they did this, the cows, led by no one, did not go to the place from which the ark had been taken, but instead went to the fields of a man named Oshea—who, as previously mentioned, had his name changed to Jesus (Joshua) and who led the people into the land and divided it among them.

When the cows arrived in those fields, they stayed there, showing you that they were guided by a name of power, just as the people who survived the exodus from Egypt were guided into the land by him who received the name Jesus (Joshua), who was formerly called Oshea."