Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 5.3.1 (56.1)

Summary: Hermas asks for an explanation.

BothGreekEnglish

Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:158

Λέγω· Κύριε, ἐγὼ ταύτας τὰς παραβολὰς οὐ γινώσκω οὐδὲ δύναμαι νοῆσαι, ἐὰν μή μοι ἐπιλύσῃς αὐτὰς.

I said, “Sir, I do not know these parables, nor can I understand them unless you explain them to me.”

Source: Lake, LCL 25:158 · 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)

Herm. Sim. 5.3.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-sim/5/3/1/).

Plain text

Herm. Sim. 5.3.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-sim/5/3/1/).