Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 9.19.3 (96.3)

Summary: They did not blaspheme or betray, so they may repent, though they will be punished.

Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:270

Διατί, φημί, κύριε, τούτοις μετάνοιά ἐστι, τοῖς δὲ πρώτοις οὐκ ἔστι; παρά τι γὰρ αἱ αὐταὶ αἱ πράξεις αὐτῶν εἰσί. Διὰ τοῦτο, φησί, τούτοις μετάνοια κεῖται, ὅτι οὐκ ἐβλασφήμησαν τὸν κύριον αὐτῶν οὐδὲ ἐγένοντο προδόται τῶν δούλων τοῦ θεοῦ· διὰ δὲ τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν τοῦ λήμματος ὑπεκρίθησαν καὶ ἐδίδαξεν ἕκαστος κατὰ τὰς ἐπιθυμίας τῶν ἀνθρώπων τῶν ἁμαρτανόντων. ἀλλὰ τίσουσι δίκην τινά· κεῖται δὲ αὐτοῖς μετάνοια διὰ τὸ μὴ γενέσθαι αὐτοὺς βλασφήμους μηδὲ προδότας.

English · Claude translation

“Why, sir,” I said, “is there repentance for these, but not for the first? For their deeds are almost the same.” “This is why,” he said, “repentance is laid down for these: because they did not blaspheme their Lord nor become betrayers of God's servants; but through desire for gain they played the hypocrite, and each taught according to the desires of sinful people. But they will pay some penalty; yet repentance is laid down for them because they did not become blasphemers or betrayers.

About this passage

Source

Lake, LCL 25:270 · 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

Heresy

Cite this passage

Herm. Sim. 9.19.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-sim/9/19/3/).

Plain text

Herm. Sim. 9.19.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-sim/9/19/3/).