Sophia Scriptura

Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 9.21.3 (98.3)

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

Summary: In persecution the doubters give way to idolatry.

Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:272

ὥσπερ γὰρ αὗται αἱ βοτάναι ἥλιον ἰδοῦσαι ἐξηράνθησαν, οὕτω καὶ οἱ δίψυχοι, ὅταν θλῖψιν ἀκούσωσι, διὰ τὴν δειλίαν αὐτῶν εἰδωλολατροῦσι καὶ τὸ ὄνομα ἐπαισχύνονται τοῦ κυρίου αὐτῶν.

English · Claude translation

For just as these plants withered when they saw the sun, so also the double-minded, when they hear of tribulation, commit idolatry because of their cowardice and are ashamed of the name of their Lord.

About this passage

Source
Lake, LCL 25:272 · 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
Topics
Persecution

Cite this passage

Herm. Sim. 9.21.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-sim/9/21/3/).

Plain text
Herm. Sim. 9.21.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-sim/9/21/3/).

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