2 Clement 2.1

Summary: Isaiah's barren woman is the church, once childless, now fruitful.

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Greek text · Lake, LCL 24:130

Εὐφράνθητι, στεῖρα ἡ οὐ τίκτουσα, ῥῆξον καὶ βόησον, ἡ οὐκ ὠδίνουσα, ὅτι πολλὰ τὰ τέκνα τῆς ἐρήμου μᾶλλον ἢ τῆς ἐχούσης τὸν ἄνδρα. ὃ εἶπεν· Εὐφράνθητι, στεῖρα ἡ οὐ τίκτουσα, ἡμᾶς εἶπεν· στεῖρα γὰρ ἦν ἡ ἐκκλησία ἡμῶν πρὸ τοῦ δοθῆναι αὐτῇ τέκνα.

English · Claude translation

“Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry out, you who are not in labor; for the children of the desolate are more than of her who has the husband.” When he said, “Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear,” he meant us: for our church was barren before children were given to it.

About this passage

Source
Lake, LCL 24:130 · Kirsopp Lake, ed. and trans., The Apostolic Fathers, vol. 1, LCL 24 (London: Heinemann; New York: Macmillan, 1912), 128–161 · Greek text: K. Lake, The Apostolic Fathers (LCL, 1912-1913), digitized 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 24, 1912); made independently of existing English translations.
Scripture
Topics
Scripture and canon

Notes

Translation notes

  • The sermon's first scripture text; the preacher explains it phrase by phrase (2.1–3).

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (digitization slip against Lake's printed text (wrong accents)): στείρα ἦ οὐ τίκτουσα → στεῖρα ἡ οὐ τίκτουσα.

Cite this passage

2 Clem. 2.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/2-clement/2/1/).

Plain text
2 Clem. 2.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/2-clement/2/1/).

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