Epistle of Barnabas 21.8

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: While in the body, keep every commandment.

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Greek text · Lake, LCL 24:408

ἕως ἔτι τὸ καλὸν σκεῦός ἐστιν μεθʼ ὑμῶν, μὴ ἐλλείπητε μηδενὶ ἑαυτῶν, ἀλλὰ συνεχῶς ἐκζητεῖτε ταῦτα καὶ ἀναπληροῦτε πᾶσαν ἐντολήν· ἔστιν γὰρ ἄξια.

English · Claude translation

While the good vessel is still with you, do not fail in any of these things, but seek them out constantly and fulfill every commandment; for they are worthy.

About this passage

Source: Lake, LCL 24:408 · 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)

Notes

Translation notes

“The good vessel”: the body.

Cite this passage

Barn. 21.8 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/barnabas/21/8/).

Plain text

Barn. 21.8 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/barnabas/21/8/).

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