Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 9.18.2 (95.2)

Summary: Those who knew God and still do evil will be punished doubly.

Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:266

ἐὰν οὖν ὁ ὀφείλων ἀγαθοποιεῖν πονηρεύηται, οὐ δοκεῖ πλείονα πονηρίαν ποιεῖν παρὰ τὸν μὴ γινώσκοντα τὸν θεόν; διὰ τοῦτο οἱ μὴ ἐγνωκότες θεὸν καὶ πονηρευόμενοι κεκριμένοι εἰσὶν εἰς θάνατον, οἱ δὲ τὸν θεὸν ἐγνωκότες καὶ τὰ μεγαλεῖα αὐτοῦ ἑωρακότες καὶ πονηρευόμενοι δισσῶς κολασθήσονται καὶ ἀποθανοῦνται εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα. οὕτως οὖν καθαρισθήσεται ἡ ἐκκλησία τοῦ θεοῦ.

English · Claude translation

If, then, the one who ought to do good does evil, does he not seem to do greater wickedness than the one who does not know God? This is why those who have not known God and do evil are condemned to death, but those who have known God and seen his mighty works and do evil will be doubly punished and will die forever. In this way, then, the church of God will be cleansed.

About this passage

Source

Lake, LCL 25:266 · 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

Luke 12:47 · echo, medium confidence
Luke 12:48 · echo, medium confidence

Topics

Eschatology

Cite this passage

Herm. Sim. 9.18.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-sim/9/18/2/).

Plain text

Herm. Sim. 9.18.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-sim/9/18/2/).