# Didache 16.5

- Author: Anonymous
- Work: [Didache](https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/didache/) (*Doctrina duodecim apostolorum*)
- Date: ca. 50–150 (often ca. 100) (disputed)
- Source: Lake, LCL 24:332; Kirsopp Lake, ed. and trans., The Apostolic Fathers, vol. 1, LCL 24 (London: Heinemann; New York: Macmillan, 1912), 308–333 (Greek text: K. Lake, The Apostolic Fathers (LCL, 1912-1913), digitized 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/didache/16/5/

Summary: Many will fall away in the final testing, but those who endure will be saved.

## Greek text

τότε ἥξει ἡ κτίσις τῶν ἀνθρώπων εἰς τὴν πύρωσιν τῆς δοκιμασίας, καὶ σκανδαλισθήσονται πολλοὶ καὶ ἀπολοῦνται, οἱ δὲ ὑπομείναντες ἐν τῇ πίστει αὐτῶν σωθήσονται ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ τοῦ καταθέματος.

## English translation (Claude)

Then the human creation will come into the fire of testing, and many will fall away and perish; but those who endure in their faith will be saved by the curse itself.

## Scripture references

- Matt 24:10: allusion, high confidence
- Matt 24:13: allusion, high confidence
- 1 Pet 4:12: echo, medium confidence
- Gal 3:13: echo, low confidence

## Translation notes

- “By the curse itself” (ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ τοῦ καταθέματος): obscure. Perhaps Christ, who became a curse for us (Gal 3:13); others translate “from the curse itself.”

## Citation (SBL)

Did. 16.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/didache/16/5/).