Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 4.6 (53.6)

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

Summary: Those who serve God receive what they ask.

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Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:150

πῶς οὖν, φησίν, ὁ τοιοῦτος δύναταί τι αἰτήσασθαι παρὰ τοῦ κυρίου καὶ λαβεῖν, μὴ δουλεύων τῷ κυρίῳ; οἱ δουλεύοντες αὐτῷ, ἐκεῖνοι λήψονται τὰ αἰτήματα αὐτῶν. οἱ δὲ μὴ δουλεύοντες τῷ κυρίῳ, ἐκεῖνοι οὐδὲν λήψονται.

English · Claude translation

How, then,” he said, “can such a person ask anything of the Lord and receive it, when he does not serve the Lord? Those who serve him will receive their requests; but those who do not serve the Lord will receive nothing.

About this passage

Source: Lake, LCL 25:150 · 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)
Topics: Prayer

Cite this passage

Herm. Sim. 4.6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-sim/4/6/).

Plain text

Herm. Sim. 4.6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-sim/4/6/).

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