Didache 4.10

Anonymous · Didache · ca. 50–150 (often ca. 100) · place unknown · Read in context

Summary: Do not treat slaves harshly, since God is over both master and slave.

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Greek text · Lake, LCL 24:316

οὐκ ἐπιτάξεις δούλῳ σου ἢ παιδίσκῃ, τοῖς ἐπὶ τὸν αὐτὸν θεὸν ἐλπίζουσιν, ἐν πικρίᾳ σου, μήποτε οὐ μὴ φοβηθήσονται τὸν ἐπʼ ἀμφοτέροις θεόν· οὐ γὰρ ἔρχεται κατὰ πρόσωπον καλέσαι, ἀλλʼ ἐφʼ οὓς τὸ πνεῦμα ἡτοίμασεν.

English · Claude translation

You shall not give orders in bitterness to your male or female slave, who hope in the same God, lest they cease to fear the God who is over you both; for he does not come to call people according to their standing, but those whom the Spirit has prepared.

About this passage

Source

Lake, LCL 24:316 · 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

Eph 6:9 · allusion, medium confidence
Col 4:1 · echo, medium confidence

Topics

Ethics

Notes

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (digitization slip against Lake's printed text (wrong accent)): ἐφʼ οὕς → ἐφʼ οὓς.

Cite this passage

Did. 4.10 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/didache/4/10/).

Plain text

Did. 4.10 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/didache/4/10/).

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