Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 5.1.4 (54.4)

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

Summary: God does not want an empty fast.

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Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:152

ὁ θεὸς οὐ βούλεται τοιαύτην νηστείαν ματαίαν· οὕτω γὰρ νηστεύων τῷ θεῷ οὐδὲν ἐργάσῃ τῇ δικαιοσύνῃ. νήστευσον δὲ τῷ θεῷ νηστείαν τοιαύτην·

English · Claude translation

“God does not want such a vain fast; for by fasting to God like this you do nothing for righteousness. But fast to God with a fast like this:

About this passage

Source

Lake, LCL 25:152 · 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

Isa 58:5 · echo, medium confidence

Topics

Fasting

Cite this passage

Herm. Sim. 5.1.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-sim/5/1/4/).

Plain text

Herm. Sim. 5.1.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-sim/5/1/4/).

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