Book 1 — Chapter 11 — Testimonies concerning Yochanan the Washer and Yahushua
Eusebius appeals to Yosephus as an external Yehudi historian who mentions Yochanan the Washer, his call to righteousness and washing, the crowds drawn to him, Herod's fear of his influence, and his imprisonment and execution. He then transmits the famous passage about Yahushua found in the received Greek manuscripts of Yosephus, calling him a wise man, worker of remarkable deeds, teacher, condemned to the execution stake by Pilate, and reported alive again by his followers. Because the Yosephus passage has a complicated textual history, HaSefarim preserves Eusebius's quotation as what Eusebius says stood in the Yosephus text known to him, not as proof that every clause originated from Yosephus's own hand. Eusebius's purpose is straightforward: people outside the assemblies knew of Yochanan, Yahushua, and the events surrounding them, so the movement did not arise in an entirely private literary world.