Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 1.9 (50.9)

Summary: God made you rich to serve the needy; such property awaits you in heaven.

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Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:140

εἰς τοῦτο γὰρ ἐπλούτισεν ὑμᾶς ὁ δεσπότης, ἵνα ταύτας τὰς διακονίας τελέσητε αὐτῷ· πολὺ βέλτιόν ἐστι τοιούτους ἀγροὺς ἀγοράζειν καὶ κτήματα καὶ οἴκους, οὓς εὑρήσεις ἐν τῇ πόλει σου, ὅταν ἐπιδημήσῃς εἰς αὐτήν.

English · Claude translation

For this is why the Master made you rich, so that you might perform these ministries for him. It is much better to buy such fields and possessions and houses, which you will find in your own city when you come to live in it.

About this passage

Source
Lake, LCL 25:140 · Kirsopp Lake, ed. and trans., The Apostolic Fathers, vol. 2, LCL 25 (London: Heinemann; New York: Macmillan, 1913), 138–305 · 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), and from the ancient Latin version where Lake prints it because the Greek is lost (from Sim. 9.30.3); made independently of existing English translations.
Scripture
Topics
Ethics

Cite this passage

Herm. Sim. 1.9 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-sim/1/9/).

Plain text
Herm. Sim. 1.9 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-sim/1/9/).

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