Shepherd of Hermas, Mandate 7.2 (37.2)

Summary: Do not fear the devil, who has no power over those who fear God.

Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:100

τὸν δὲ διάβολον μὴ φοβηθῇς· φοβούμενος γὰρ τὸν κύριον κατακυριεύσεις τοῦ διαβόλου, ὅτι δύναμις ἐν αὐτῷ οὐκ ἔστιν. ἐν ᾧ δὲ δύναμις οὐκ ἔστιν, οὐδὲ φόβος· ἐν ᾧ δὲ δύναμις ἡ ἔνδοξος, καὶ φόβος ἐν αὐτῷ. πᾶς γὰρ ὁ δύναμιν ἔχων φόβον ἔχει· ὁ δὲ μὴ ἔχων δύναμιν ὑπὸ πάντων καταφρονεῖται.

English · Claude translation

But do not fear the devil; for by fearing the Lord you will master the devil, because there is no power in him. And where there is no power, there is no fear either; but where there is glorious power, there is fear too. For everyone who has power inspires fear; but one who has no power is despised by all.

About this passage

Source

Lake, LCL 25:100 · 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

Jas 4:7 · echo, medium confidence

Cite this passage

Herm. Mand. 7.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-mand/7/2/).

Plain text

Herm. Mand. 7.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-mand/7/2/).