Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 6.2.4 (62.4)

Summary: Those corrupted but not blasphemous can still repent.

Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:174

ἃ δὲ εἶδες πρόβατα μὴ σκιρτῶντα, ἀλλʼ ἐν τόπῳ ἑνὶ βοσκόμενα, οὗτοί εἰσιν οἱ παραδεδωκότες μὲν ἑαυτοὺς ταῖς τρυφαῖς καὶ ἀπάταις, εἰς δὲ τὸν κύριον οὐδὲν ἐβλασφήμησαν· οὗτοι οὖν κατεφθαρμένοι εἰσὶν ἀπὸ τῆς ἀληθείας. ἐν τούτοις ἐλπίς ἐστι μετανοίας, ἐν ᾗ δύνανται ζῆσαι. ἡ καταφθορὰ οὖν ἐλπίδα ἔχει ἀνανεώσεώς τινος, ὁ δὲ θάνατος ἀπώλειαν ἔχει αἰώνιον.

English · Claude translation

But the sheep you saw not skipping, but feeding in one place, are those who have given themselves over to luxuries and deceits but have not blasphemed the Lord at all. These, then, are corrupted from the truth. In these there is hope of repentance, in which they can live. Corruption, then, has hope of some renewal, but death has eternal destruction.

About this passage

Source

Lake, LCL 25:174 · 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.

Cite this passage

Herm. Sim. 6.2.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-sim/6/2/4/).

Plain text

Herm. Sim. 6.2.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-sim/6/2/4/).