Shepherd of Hermas, Vision 3.8.9 (16.9)

Summary: The end will come when the tower is finished, and that will be soon.

Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:48

ἐπηρώτων δὲ αὐτὴν περὶ τῶν καιρῶν, εἰ ἤδη συντέλειά ἐστιν. ἡ δὲ ἀνέκραγε φωνῇ μεγάλῃ λέγουσα· Ἀσύνετε ἄνθρωπε, οὐχ ὁρᾷς τὸν πύργον ἔτι οἰκοδομούμενον; ὡς ἐὰν οὖν συντελεσθῇ ὁ πύργος οἰκοδομούμενος, ἔχει τέλος. ἀλλὰ ταχὺ ἐποικοδομηθήσεται. μηκέτι με ἐπερώτα μηδέν· ἀρκετή σοι ἡ ὑπόμνησις αὕτη καὶ τοῖς ἁγίοις καὶ ἡ ἀνακαίνωσις τῶν πνευμάτων ὑμῶν.

English · Claude translation

And I asked her about the times, whether it is already the end. But she cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Foolish man, do you not see the tower still being built? When the tower has been finished, then comes the end. But it will be built quickly. Ask me nothing more; this reminder and the renewal of your spirits are enough for you and for the saints.

About this passage

Source

Lake, LCL 25:48 · 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)

Topics

Eschatology

Cite this passage

Herm. Vis. 3.8.9 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-vis/3/8/9/).

Plain text

Herm. Vis. 3.8.9 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-vis/3/8/9/).