Sophia Scriptura

Didache 1.4

Anonymous · Didache · ca. 50–150 (often ca. 100) · place unknown · Read in context

Summary: Turn the other cheek, go the second mile, and do not demand back what is taken.

Greek text · Lake, LCL 24:308–310

ἀπέχου τῶν σαρκικῶν καὶ σωματικῶν ἐπιθυμιῶν· ἐάν τίς σοι δῷ ῥάπισμα εἰς τὴν δεξιὰν σιαγόνα, στρέψον αὐτῷ καὶ τὴν ἄλλην, καὶ ἔσῃ τέλειος· ἐὰν ἀγγαρεύσῃ σέ τις μίλιον ἕν, ὕπαγε μετʼ αὐτοῦ δύο· ἐὰν ἄρῃ τις τὸ ἱμάτιόν σου, δὸς αὐτῷ καὶ τὸν χιτῶνα· ἐὰν λάβῃ τις ἀπὸ σοῦ τὸ σόν, μὴ ἀπαίτει· οὐδὲ γὰρ δύνασαι.

English · Claude translation

Abstain from fleshly and bodily desires. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other to him as well, and you will be perfect. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two. If someone takes your cloak, give him your tunic as well. If someone takes from you what is yours, do not demand it back; for you cannot.

About this passage

Source
Lake, LCL 24:308–310 · Kirsopp Lake, ed. and trans., The Apostolic Fathers, vol. 1, LCL 24 (London: Heinemann; New York: Macmillan, 1912), 308–333 · 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
Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

  • “For you cannot”: perhaps “a Christian may not,” or simply “you could not get it back anyway”; the sense is debated.

Cite this passage

Did. 1.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/didache/1/4/).

Plain text
Did. 1.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/didache/1/4/).

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