To Diognetus 12.3

Anonymous · To Diognetus · ca. 150–200 (disputed) · place unknown · Read in context

Summary: God planted both trees; misuse of knowledge through the serpent's deceit led to the fall.

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Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:376

οὐδὲ γὰρ ἄσημα τὰ γεγραμμένα, ὡς θεὸς ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς ξύλον γνώσεως καὶ ξύλον ζωῆς ἐν μέσῳ παραδείσου ἐφύτευσε, διὰ γνώσεως ζωὴν ἐπιδεικνύς· ᾗ μὴ καθαρῶς χρησάμενοι οἱ ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς πλάνῃ τοῦ ὄφεως γεγύμνωνται.

English · Claude translation

For what is written is not without meaning: that God from the beginning planted a tree of knowledge and a tree of life in the midst of paradise, showing life through knowledge; because the first people did not use it purely, they were stripped naked by the deceit of the serpent.

About this passage

Source

Lake, LCL 25:376 · Kirsopp Lake, ed. and trans., The Apostolic Fathers, vol. 2, LCL 25 (London: Heinemann; New York: Macmillan, 1913), 350–379 · 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

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.

Scripture

Gen 2:9 · allusion, high confidence
Gen 3:7 · echo, medium confidence

Cite this passage

Diogn. 12.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/diognetus/12/3/).

Plain text

Diogn. 12.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/diognetus/12/3/).

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