Sophia Scriptura

Epistle of Barnabas 9.1

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: God circumcised our hearts and ears to hear.

Greek text · Lake, LCL 24:370

Λέγει γὰρ πάλιν περὶ τῶν ὠτίων, πῶς περιέτεμεν ἡμῶν τὴν καρδίαν. λέγει κύριος ἐν τῷ προφήτῃ· Εἰς ἀκοὴν ὠτίου ὑπήκουσάν μου. καὶ πάλιν λέγει· Ἀκοῇ ἀκούσονται οἱ πόρρωθεν, ἃ ἐποίησα γνώσονται. καί· Περιτμήθητε, λέγει κύριος, τὰς καρδίας ὑμῶν.

English · Claude translation

For he speaks again about the ears, how he circumcised our heart. The Lord says in the prophet, “At the hearing of the ear they obeyed me.” And again he says, “Those far off will hear with their hearing; they will know what I have done.” And, “Circumcise your hearts, says the Lord.”

About this passage

Source
Lake, LCL 24:370 · 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
  • Ps 18:44 (17:45 LXX) · quotation, high confidence
  • Isa 33:13 · quotation, high confidence
  • Jer 4:4 · quotation, high confidence

Cite this passage

Barn. 9.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/barnabas/9/1/).

Plain text
Barn. 9.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/barnabas/9/1/).

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