Shepherd of Hermas, Vision 3.9.5 (17.5)

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

Summary: Help the hungry now, before it is too late.

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Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:50

βλέπετε τὴν κρίσιν τὴν ἐπερχομένην. οἱ ὑπερέχοντες οὖν ἐκζητεῖτε τοὺς πεινῶντας, ἕως οὔπω ὁ πύργος ἐτελέσθη· μετὰ γὰρ τὸ τελεσθῆναι τὸν πύργον θελήσετε ἀγαθοποιεῖν, καὶ οὐχ ἕξετε τόπον.

English · Claude translation

Look at the judgment that is coming. You who have abundance, then, seek out the hungry while the tower is not yet finished; for after the tower is finished you will wish to do good and will have no opportunity.

About this passage

Source: Lake, LCL 25:50 · 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: Ethics, Eschatology

Cite this passage

Herm. Vis. 3.9.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-vis/3/9/5/).

Plain text

Herm. Vis. 3.9.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-vis/3/9/5/).

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