# Epistle of Barnabas 4.9

- Author: Anonymous
- Work: [Epistle of Barnabas](https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/barnabas/) (*Epistula Barnabae*)
- Date: ca. 70–135 (often ca. 130) (disputed)
- Source: Lake, LCL 24:350–352; Kirsopp Lake, ed. and trans., The Apostolic Fathers, vol. 1, LCL 24 (London: Heinemann; New York: Macmillan, 1912), 340–407 (Greek text: K. Lake, The Apostolic Fathers (LCL, 1912), 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)
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-26
- Canonical URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/barnabas/4/9/

Summary: In the last days, resist so that the devil cannot slip in.

## Greek text

πολλὰ δὲ θέλων γράφειν, οὐχ ὡς διδάσκαλος, ἀλλʼ ὡς πρέπει ἀγαπῶντι ἀφʼ ὧν ἔχομεν μὴ ἐλλείπειν, γράφειν ἐσπούδασα, περίψημα ὑμῶν. διὸ προσέχωμεν ἐν ταῖς ἐσχάταις ἡμέραις· οὐδὲν γὰρ ὠφελήσει ἡμᾶς ὁ πᾶς χρόνος τῆς πίστεως ἡμῶν, ἐὰν μὴ νῦν ἐν τῷ ἀνόμῳ καιρῷ καὶ τοῖς μέλλουσιν σκανδάλοις, ὡς πρέπει υἱοῖς θεοῦ, ἀντιστῶμεν, ἵνα μὴ σχῇ παρείσδυσιν ὁ μέλας.

## English translation (Claude)

Though I wish to write many things, not as a teacher but as befits one who loves, not to fall short of what we have, I have hastened to write, I your devoted servant. So let us take heed in the last days; for the whole time of our faith will profit us nothing unless now, in the lawless time and in the stumbling blocks to come, we resist, as befits sons of God, so that the Black One may not find a way in.

## Translation notes

- “Your devoted servant” (περίψημα ὑμῶν): literally “your scapegoat” or “offscouring”; a phrase of humble devotion (compare 6.5; Ign. Eph. 8.1).
- “The Black One”: the devil.

## Citation (SBL)

Barn. 4.9 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/barnabas/4/9/).