Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 9.2.7 (79.7)

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

Summary: Master what you see; the Shepherd will explain.

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Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:222

τὰ ὀπίσω σου ἰδεῖν οὐ δύνῃ, τὰ δὲ ἔμπροσθέν σου βλέπεις. ἃ οὖν ἰδεῖν οὐ δύνασαι, ἔασον, καὶ μὴ στρέβλου σεαυτόν· ἃ δὲ βλέπεις, ἐκείνων κατακυρίευε καὶ περὶ τῶν λοιπῶν μὴ περιεργάζου· πάντα δέ σοι ἐγὼ δηλώσω, ὅσα ἄν σοι δείξω. ἔμβλεπε οὖν τοῖς λοιποῖς.

English · Claude translation

You cannot see what is behind you, but you see what is in front of you. What you cannot see, then, leave alone, and do not torment yourself; but master what you see, and do not be curious about the rest. But I will make clear to you everything that I show you. Look, then, at the rest.”

About this passage

Source: Lake, LCL 25:222 · 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)

Cite this passage

Herm. Sim. 9.2.7 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-sim/9/2/7/).

Plain text

Herm. Sim. 9.2.7 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-sim/9/2/7/).

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