Didache 2.2 · Sophia Scriptura

Didache 2.2

Anonymous · Didache · ca. 50–150 (often ca. 100) · place unknown · Read in context

Pseudonymous: Its title presents it as 'the teaching of the Lord through the twelve apostles'; it was compiled by unknown authors from earlier material. It was rediscovered in 1873 in a manuscript of 1056 (Codex Hierosolymitanus) and published in 1883.

Greek text · Lake, LCL 24:310–312

οὐ φονεύσεις, οὐ μοιχεύσεις, οὐ παιδοφθορήσεις, οὐ πορνεύσεις, οὐ κλέψεις, οὐ μαγεύσεις, οὐ φαρμακεύσεις, οὐ φονεύσεις τέκνον ἐν φθορᾷ, οὐδὲ γεννηθὲν ἀποκτενεῖς, οὐκ ἐπιθυμήσεις τὰ τοῦ πλησίον.

English · Claude translation

You shall not murder; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not corrupt boys; you shall not commit sexual immorality; you shall not steal; you shall not practice magic; you shall not use sorcery; you shall not murder a child by abortion, nor kill one that has been born; you shall not covet your neighbor's goods.

About this passage

Source

Lake, LCL 24:310–312 · Kirsopp Lake, ed. and trans., The Apostolic Fathers, vol. 1, LCL 24 (London: Heinemann; New York: Macmillan, 1912), 308–333 · 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. 7 (1886) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made)

Scripture

Exod 20:13 · allusion, high confidence
Exod 20:14 · allusion, high confidence
Exod 20:15 · allusion, high confidence
Exod 20:17 · allusion, high confidence
Matt 19:18 · echo, medium confidence

Topics

Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

“Corrupt boys” (παιδοφθορήσεις): the sexual abuse of boys, a practice widely tolerated in Greco-Roman society.
“Commit sexual immorality” (πορνεύσεις): see the glossary on πορνεία.
“Use sorcery” (φαρμακεύσεις): the making of potions and drugs, a word also used of drugs taken to cause abortion.
“By abortion” (ἐν φθορᾷ): literally “by destruction”; the usual ancient Christian term for abortion.

Cite this passage

Did. 2.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/didache/2/2/).

Plain text

Did. 2.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/didache/2/2/).