Shepherd of Hermas, Vision 1.3.4 (3.4)

Summary: A hymn to God the Creator, who made the church and will fulfill his promise.

Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:14

Ἰδού, ὁ θεὸς τῶν δυνάμεων, ὃν ἀγαπῶ, δυνάμει κραταιᾷ καὶ τῇ μεγάλῃ συνέσει αὐτοῦ κτίσας τὸν κόσμον καὶ τῇ ἐνδόξῳ βουλῇ περιθεὶς τὴν εὐπρέπειαν τῇ κτίσει αὐτοῦ καὶ τῷ ἰσχυρῷ ῥήματι πήξας τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ θεμελιώσας τὴν γῆν ἐπὶ ὑδάτων καὶ τῇ ἰδίᾳ σοφίᾳ καὶ προνοίᾳ κτίσας τὴν ἁγίαν ἐκκλησίαν αὐτοῦ, ἣν καὶ ηὐλόγησεν, ἰδού, μεθιστάνει τοὺς οὐρανούς, καὶ τὰ ὄρη καὶ τοὺς βουνοὺς καὶ τὰς θαλάσσας, καὶ πάντα ὁμαλὰ γίνεται τοῖς ἐκλεκτοῖς αὐτοῦ, ἵνα ἀποδῷ αὐτοῖς τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν, ἣν ἐπηγγείλατο μετὰ πολλῆς δόξης καὶ χαρᾶς, ἐὰν τηρήσωσιν τὰ νόμιμα τοῦ θεοῦ, ἃ παρέλαβον ἐν μεγάλῃ πίστει.

English · Claude translation

“Behold, the God of powers, whom I love, who by his mighty power and great understanding created the world, and by his glorious counsel clothed his creation with beauty, and by his strong word fixed the heaven and founded the earth upon the waters, and by his own wisdom and providence created his holy church, which he also blessed: behold, he is removing the heavens and the mountains and the hills and the seas, and all things are becoming level for his elect, so that he may give them the promise that he promised with much glory and joy, if they keep the ordinances of God that they received in great faith.”

About this passage

Source

Lake, LCL 25:14 · Kirsopp Lake, ed. and trans., The Apostolic Fathers, vol. 2, LCL 25 (London: Heinemann; New York: Macmillan, 1913), 6–71 · 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); 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

Ps 24:2 (23:2 LXX) · echo, medium confidence
Ps 136:6 (135:6 LXX) · echo, low confidence
Isa 40:4 · echo, medium confidence

Topics

Eschatology

Cite this passage

Herm. Vis. 1.3.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-vis/1/3/4/).

Plain text

Herm. Vis. 1.3.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-vis/1/3/4/).