Didache 2.2

Summary: Commandments against murder, adultery, abuse of boys, sexual immorality, theft, magic, abortion, and infanticide.

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Greek text · Lake, LCL 24:310–312

οὐ φονεύσεις, οὐ μοιχεύσεις, οὐ παιδοφθορήσεις, οὐ πορνεύσεις, οὐ κλέψεις, οὐ μαγεύσεις, οὐ φαρμακεύσεις, οὐ φονεύσεις τέκνον ἐν φθορᾷ, οὐδὲ γεννηθὲν ἀποκτενεῖς, οὐκ ἐπιθυμήσεις τὰ τοῦ πλησίον.

English · Claude translation

You shall not murder; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not corrupt boys; you shall not commit sexual immorality; you shall not steal; you shall not practice magic; you shall not use sorcery; you shall not murder a child by abortion, nor kill one that has been born; you shall not covet your neighbor's goods.

About this passage

Source
Lake, LCL 24:310–312 · 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 translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-26 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Lake (LCL 24, 1912); made independently of existing English translations.
Scripture
Topics
Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

  • “Corrupt boys” (παιδοφθορήσεις): the sexual abuse of boys, a practice widely tolerated in Greco-Roman society.
  • “Commit sexual immorality” (πορνεύσεις): see the glossary on πορνεία.
  • “Use sorcery” (φαρμακεύσεις): the making of potions and drugs, a word also used of drugs taken to cause abortion.
  • “By abortion” (ἐν φθορᾷ): literally “by destruction”; the usual ancient Christian term for abortion.

Cite this passage

Did. 2.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/didache/2/2/).

Plain text
Did. 2.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/didache/2/2/).

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