Sophia Scriptura

2 Clement 16.3

Anonymous · 2 Clement · ca. 100–150 · place unknown · Read in context

Traditional ascription rejected: An anonymous sermon, transmitted in the manuscripts after 1 Clement as Clement's “second letter to the Corinthians.” The text itself names no author and is not a letter; the ascription to Clement of Rome is traditional and not accepted by modern scholars.

Summary: The day of judgment is coming like a furnace; every deed will be revealed.

Textual problem in this passage: the printed text is uncertain or disputed here. See the notes.

Greek text · Lake, LCL 24:154

γινώσκετε δέ, ὅτι ἔρχεται ἤδη ἡ ἡμέρα τῆς κρίσεως ὡς κλίβανος καιόμενος, καὶ τακήσονταί τινες τῶν οὐρανῶν καὶ πᾶσα ἡ γῆ ὡς μόλιβος ἐπὶ πυρὶ τηκόμενος· καὶ τότε φανήσεται τὰ κρύφια καὶ φανερὰ ἔργα τῶν ἀνθρώπων.

English · Claude translation

But you know that the day of judgment is already coming like a burning oven, and some of the heavens will melt, and the whole earth like lead melting in fire; and then the secret and the open works of men will be made manifest.

About this passage

Source
Lake, LCL 24:154 · Kirsopp Lake, ed. and trans., The Apostolic Fathers, vol. 1, LCL 24 (London: Heinemann; New York: Macmillan, 1912), 128–161 · Greek text: K. Lake, The Apostolic Fathers (LCL, 1912-1913), digitized by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0
Text
As printed in Lake, LCL 24. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; the problem in this passage is discussed in the notes.
Translation
Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-26 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Lake (LCL 24, 1912); made independently of existing English translations.
Compare
Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 9 (1896) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made)
Scripture
Topics
Eschatology

Notes

Translation notes

  • “Some of the heavens will melt”: so the text; some editors emend to “the powers of the heavens.”

Cite this passage

2 Clem. 16.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/2-clement/16/3/).

Plain text
2 Clem. 16.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/2-clement/16/3/).

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