Shepherd of Hermas, Mandate 8.2 (38.2)

Summary: Refrain from evil, never from good.

Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:102

Γνώρισόν μοι, φημί, κύριε, ἐπὶ τίνων δεῖ ἐγκρατεύεσθαι, ἐπὶ τίνων δὲ οὐ δεῖ. Ἄκουε, φησί. τὸ πονηρὸν ἐγκρατεύου καὶ μὴ ποίει αὐτό· τὸ δὲ ἀγαθὸν μὴ ἐγκρατεύου, ἀλλὰ ποίει αὐτὸ. ἐὰν γὰρ ἐγκρατεύσῃ τὸ ἀγαθὸν μὴ ποιεῖν, ἁμαρτίαν μεγάλην ἐργάζῃ· ἐὰν δὲ ἐγκρατεύσῃ τὸ πονηρὸν μὴ ποιεῖν, δικαιοσύνην μεγάλην ἐργάζῃ. ἐγκράτευσαι οὖν ἀπὸ πονηρίας πάσης ἐργαζόμενος τὸ ἀγαθόν.

English · Claude translation

“Make known to me, sir,” I said, “in what things one must be self-controlled and in what not.” “Hear,” he said. “Refrain from evil and do not do it; but do not refrain from good, but do it. For if you refrain from doing good, you commit a great sin; but if you refrain from doing evil, you do great righteousness. Refrain, then, from all wickedness, and do what is good.”

About this passage

Source

Lake, LCL 25:102 · 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.

Topics

Ethics

Cite this passage

Herm. Mand. 8.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-mand/8/2/).

Plain text

Herm. Mand. 8.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-mand/8/2/).