Shepherd of Hermas, Mandate 9.7 (39.7)

Summary: If an answer is slow, do not doubt; there is a reason.

Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:108

καθάρισον οὖν τὴν καρδίαν σου ἀπὸ τῆς διψυχίας, ἔνδυσαι δὲ τὴν πίστιν, ὅτι ἰσχυρά ἐστι, καὶ πίστευε τῷ θεῷ, ὅτι πάντα τὰ αἰτήματά σου ἃ αἰτεῖς λήψῃ, καὶ ἐὰν αἰτησάμενός ποτε παρὰ τοῦ κυρίου αἴτημά τι βραδύτερον λαμβάνῃς, μὴ διψυχήσῃς, ὅτι ταχὺ οὐκ ἔλαβες τὸ αἴτημα τῆς ψυχῆς σου· πάντως γὰρ διὰ πειρασμόν τινα ἢ παράπτωμά τι, ὃ σὺ ἀγνοεῖς, βραδύτερον λαμβάνεις τὸ αἴτημά σου.

English · Claude translation

Cleanse, then, your heart from double-mindedness, and put on faith, because it is strong, and trust God that you will receive all the requests you ask. And if, having asked the Lord for something, you receive it rather slowly, do not be double-minded because you did not receive your soul's request quickly; for surely it is because of some temptation or some transgression, which you do not know, that you receive your request more slowly.

About this passage

Source

Lake, LCL 25:108 · 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

Prayer

Cite this passage

Herm. Mand. 9.7 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-mand/9/7/).

Plain text

Herm. Mand. 9.7 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-mand/9/7/).