Sophia Scriptura

Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 1.8 (50.8)

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

Summary: Instead of fields, buy afflicted souls; care for widows and orphans.

Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:140

ἀντὶ ἀγρῶν οὖν ἀγοράζετε ψυχὰς θλιβομένας, καθά τις δυνατός ἐστι, καὶ χήρας καὶ ὀρφανοὺς ἐπισκέπτεσθε καὶ μὴ παραβλέπετε αὐτούς, καὶ τὸν πλοῦτον ὑμῶν καὶ τὰς παρατάξεις πάσας εἰς τοιούτους ἀγροὺς καὶ οἰκίας δαπανᾶτε, ἃς ἐλάβετε παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ.

English · Claude translation

Instead of fields, then, buy souls in distress, as each one is able, and visit widows and orphans and do not neglect them; and spend your wealth and all your furnishings, which you received from God, on such fields and houses.

About this passage

Source
Lake, LCL 25:140 · Kirsopp Lake, ed. and trans., The Apostolic Fathers, vol. 2, LCL 25 (London: Heinemann; New York: Macmillan, 1913), 138–305 · 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), and from the ancient Latin version where Lake prints it because the Greek is lost (from Sim. 9.30.3); 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
Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

  • “Buy souls in distress”: perhaps ransom captives or slaves, or more generally relieve the needy.

Cite this passage

Herm. Sim. 1.8 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-sim/1/8/).

Plain text
Herm. Sim. 1.8 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-sim/1/8/).

Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)

Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text

Report an error in this passage