Shepherd of Hermas, Mandate 4.1.2 (29.2)

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

Summary: Even the thought is sin; the deed brings death.

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Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:76

ἐὰν γὰρ αὕτη ἡ ἐνθύμησις ἐπὶ τὴν καρδίαν σου ἀναβῇ, διαμαρτήσεις, καὶ ἐὰν ἕτερα οὕτως πονηρά, ἁμαρτίαν ἐργάζῃ· ἡ γὰρ ἐνθύμησις αὕτη θεοῦ δούλῳ ἁμαρτία μεγάλη ἐστίν· ἐὰν δέ τις ἐργάσηται τὸ ἔργον τὸ πονηρὸν τοῦτο, θάνατον ἑαυτῷ κατεργάζεται.

English · Claude translation

For if this thought enters your heart, you will sin; and if other evil things like it, you commit sin. For this thought is a great sin for a servant of God; and if anyone does this evil deed, he brings death on himself.

About this passage

Source: Lake, LCL 25:76 · 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)
Topics: Marriage, Ethics

Cite this passage

Herm. Mand. 4.1.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-mand/4/1/2/).

Plain text

Herm. Mand. 4.1.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-mand/4/1/2/).

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