Shepherd of Hermas, Mandate 11.12 (43.12)

Summary: The false prophet seeks honor, lives in luxury, and prophesies for pay.

Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:120–122

πρῶτον μὲν ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἐκεῖνος ὁ δοκῶν πνεῦμα ἔχειν ὑψοῖ ἑαυτὸν καὶ θέλει πρωτοκαθεδρίαν ἔχειν, καὶ εὐθὺς ἰταμός ἐστι καὶ ἀναιδὴς καὶ πολύλαλος καὶ ἐν τρυφαῖς πολλαῖς ἀναστρεφόμενος καὶ ἐν ἑτέραις πολλαῖς ἀπάταις καὶ μισθοὺς λαμβάνων τῆς προφητείας αὐτοῦ· ἐὰν δὲ μὴ λάβῃ, οὐ προφητεύει. δύναται οὖν πνεῦμα θεῖον μισθοὺς λαμβάνειν καὶ προφητεύειν; οὐκ ἐνδέχεται τοῦτο ποιεῖν θεοῦ προφήτην, ἀλλὰ τῶν τοιούτων προφητῶν ἐπίγειόν ἐστι τὸ πνεῦμα.

English · Claude translation

First, the man who seems to have a spirit exalts himself and wants to have the first seat, and at once he is bold and shameless and talkative, and lives in much luxury and in many other deceptions, and takes pay for his prophecy; and if he does not receive it, he does not prophesy. Can, then, a divine Spirit take pay and prophesy? It is not possible for a prophet of God to do this; but the spirit of such prophets is earthly.

About this passage

Source

Lake, LCL 25:120–122 · Kirsopp Lake, ed. and trans., The Apostolic Fathers, vol. 2, LCL 25 (London: Heinemann; New York: Macmillan, 1913), 70–137 · Greek text: K. Lake, The Apostolic Fathers (LCL, 1912-1913), 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 25. 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 25, 1913); made independently of existing English translations.

Compare

Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 2 (1885) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made)

Scripture

Mic 3:11 · echo, low confidence

Topics

Heresy

Cite this passage

Herm. Mand. 11.12 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-mand/11/12/).

Plain text

Herm. Mand. 11.12 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-mand/11/12/).