Sophia Scriptura

Epistle of Barnabas 15.1

Anonymous · Epistle of Barnabas · ca. 70–135 (often ca. 130) · place unknown · Read in context

Traditional ascription rejected: The letter names no author. From Clement of Alexandria (late second century) onward it was ascribed to Barnabas, Paul's companion (Acts 4:36), but its date and its hostility to Jewish practice make that unlikely; modern scholars treat it as anonymous.

Summary: The commandment to keep the Sabbath holy.

Greek text · Lake, LCL 24:392

Ἔτι οὖν καὶ περὶ τοῦ σαββάτου γέγραπται ἐν τοῖς δέκα λόγοις, ἐν οἷς ἐλάλησεν ἐν τῷ ὄρει Σινᾶ πρὸς Μωϋσῆν κατὰ πρόσωπον· Καὶ ἁγιάσατε τὸ σάββατον κυρίου χερσὶν καθαραῖς καὶ καρδίᾳ καθαρᾷ.

English · Claude translation

Further, then, concerning the Sabbath also it is written in the Ten Words, in which he spoke face to face to Moses on Mount Sinai: “And sanctify the Sabbath of the Lord with clean hands and a clean heart.”

About this passage

Source
Lake, LCL 24:392 · Kirsopp Lake, ed. and trans., The Apostolic Fathers, vol. 1, LCL 24 (London: Heinemann; New York: Macmillan, 1912), 340–407 · Greek text: K. Lake, The Apostolic Fathers (LCL, 1912), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library and published 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; no textual problem is noted in this passage.
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. 1 (1885) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made)
Scripture
  • Exod 20:8 · allusion, high confidence
  • Deut 5:12 · allusion, high confidence
  • Ps 24:4 (23:4 LXX) · allusion, medium confidence

Notes

Translation notes

  • The words “with clean hands and a clean heart” are added from Ps 24:4.

Cite this passage

Barn. 15.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/barnabas/15/1/).

Plain text
Barn. 15.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/barnabas/15/1/).

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