Shepherd of Hermas, Mandate 12.3.6 (46.6)

Hermas · Shepherd of Hermas: Mandates · ca. 100–150 · Rome · Read in context

Summary: Whoever decides they cannot be kept will not be saved.

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Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:130

νῦν δέ σοι λέγω· ἐὰν ταύτας μὴ φυλάξῃς, ἀλλὰ παρενθυμηθῇς, οὐχ ἕξεις σωτηρίαν οὔτε τὰ τέκνα σου οὔτε ὁ οἶκός σου. ἐπεὶ ἤδη σεαυτῷ κέκρικας τοῦ μὴ δύνασθαι τὰς ἐντολὰς ταύτας ὑπὸ ἀνθρώπου φυλαχθῆναι.

English · Claude translation

But now I tell you: if you do not keep them, but neglect them, you will not have salvation, nor will your children, nor your household, since you have already judged for yourself that these commandments cannot be kept by a human being.”

About this passage

Source: Lake, LCL 25:130 · 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)

Cite this passage

Herm. Mand. 12.3.6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-mand/12/3/6/).

Plain text

Herm. Mand. 12.3.6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-mand/12/3/6/).

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