Epistle of Barnabas 6.12

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.

Greek text · Lake, LCL 24:360

λέγει γὰρ ἡ γραφὴ περὶ ἡμῶν, ὡς λέγει τῷ υἱῷ· Ποιήσωμεν κατʼ εἰκόνα καὶ καθʼ ὁμοίωσιν ἡμῶν τὸν ἄνθρωπον, καὶ ἀρχέτωσαν τῶν θηρίων τῆς γῆς καὶ τῶν πετεινῶν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ τῶν ἰχθύων τῆς θαλάσσης. καὶ εἶπεν κύριος, ἰδὼν τὸ καλὸν πλάσμα ἡμῶν· Αὐξάνεσθε καὶ πληθύνεσθε καὶ πληρώσατε τὴν γῆν. ταῦτα πρὸς τὸν υἱόν.

English · Claude translation

For the scripture speaks about us, as he says to the Son: “Let us make man according to our image and likeness, and let them rule over the beasts of the earth and the birds of heaven and the fish of the sea.” And the Lord said, seeing our beautiful form, “Increase and multiply and fill the earth.” These things he said to the Son.

About this passage

Source

Lake, LCL 24:360 · 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

Gen 1:26 · quotation, high confidence
Gen 1:28 · quotation, high confidence

Topics

Christology

Notes

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (digitization slip against Lake's printed text (wrong letter and accent)): Λὐξάνεσθε καὶ πληθυνέσθε → Αὐξάνεσθε καὶ πληθύνεσθε.

Cite this passage

Barn. 6.12 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/barnabas/6/12/).

Plain text

Barn. 6.12 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/barnabas/6/12/).