Sophia Scriptura

Shepherd of Hermas, Mandate 4.1.9 (29.9)

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

Summary: Idolatry is also adultery; do not live with one who persists in it.

Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:80

οὐ μόνον, φησίν, μοιχεία ἐστίν, ἐάν τις τὴν σάρκα αὐτοῦ μιάνῃ, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὃς ἂν τὰ ὁμοιώματα ποιῇ τοῖς ἔθνεσιν, μοιχᾶται. ὥστε καὶ ἐν τοῖς τοιούτοις ἔργοις ἐὰν ἐμμένῃ τις καὶ μὴ μετανοῇ, ἀπέχου ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ καὶ μὴ συνζῆθι αὐτῷ· εἰ δὲ μή, καὶ σὺ μέτοχος εἶ τῆς ἁμαρτίας αὐτοῦ.

English · Claude translation

Not only is it adultery,” he said, “if someone defiles his flesh, but whoever does things like the Gentiles also commits adultery. So if anyone persists in such deeds and does not repent, keep away from him and do not live with him; otherwise you too share in his sin.

About this passage

Source
Lake, LCL 25:80 · 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
Topics
Marriage, Divorce

Notes

Translation notes

  • “Things like the Gentiles”: idolatry, often called spiritual adultery in the Old Testament (e.g. Jer 3:8–9).

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (digitization slip against Lake's printed text (wrong breathing)): τῆς ἀμαρτίας αὐτοῦ → τῆς ἁμαρτίας αὐτοῦ.

Cite this passage

Herm. Mand. 4.1.9 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-mand/4/1/9/).

Plain text
Herm. Mand. 4.1.9 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-mand/4/1/9/).

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