Shepherd of Hermas, Mandate 12.6.2 (49.2)

Summary: God will heal past sins if you turn to him; the devil is powerless.

Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:136

πιστεύσατε οὖν τῷ θεῷ ὑμεῖς οἱ διὰ τὰς ἁμαρτίας ὑμῶν ἀπεγνωκότες τὴν ζωὴν ὑμῶν καὶ προστιθέντες ἁμαρτίαις καὶ καταβαρύνοντες τὴν ζωὴν ὑμῶν, ὅτι, ἐὰν ἐπιστραφῆτε πρὸς τὸν κύριον ἐξ ὅλης τῆς καρδίας ὑμῶν καὶ ἐργάσησθε τὴν δικαιοσύνην, τὰς λοιπὰς ἡμέρας τῆς ζωῆς ὑμῶν καὶ δουλεύσητε αὐτῷ ὀρθῶς κατὰ τὸ θέλημα αὐτοῦ, ποιήσει ἴασιν τοῖς προτέροις ὑμῶν ἁμαρτήμασι καὶ ἕξετε δύναμιν τοῦ κατακυριεῦσαι τῶν ἔργων τοῦ διαβόλου. τὴν δὲ ἀπειλὴν τοῦ διαβόλου ὅλως μὴ φοβήθητε· ἄτονος γάρ ἐστιν ὥσπερ νεκροῦ νεῦρα.

English · Claude translation

Believe God, then, you who because of your sins have despaired of your life and are adding to your sins and weighing down your life, that if you turn to the Lord with your whole heart and do righteousness for the rest of the days of your life and serve him rightly according to his will, he will bring healing to your former sins, and you will have power to master the works of the devil. And do not fear the threat of the devil at all; for he is powerless, like the sinews of a dead man.

About this passage

Source

Lake, LCL 25:136 · Kirsopp Lake, ed. and trans., The Apostolic Fathers, vol. 2, LCL 25 (London: Heinemann; New York: Macmillan, 1913), 70–137 · 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.

Cite this passage

Herm. Mand. 12.6.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-mand/12/6/2/).

Plain text

Herm. Mand. 12.6.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-mand/12/6/2/).