Sophia Scriptura

Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 3.1 (52.1)

Hermas · Shepherd of Hermas: Similitudes · ca. 100–150 · Rome · Read in context

Summary: Leafless trees are the people of this world.

Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:146–148

Ἔδειξέ μοι δένδρα πολλὰ μὴ ἔχοντα φύλλα, ἀλλʼ ὡσεὶ ξηρὰ ἐδόκει μοι εἶναι· ὅμοια γὰρ ἦν πάντα. καὶ λέγει μοι· Βλέπεις τὰ δένδρα ταῦτα; Βλέπω, φημί, κύριε, ὅμοια ὄντα καὶ ξηρά. ἀποκριθείς μοι λέγει· Ταῦτα τὰ δένδρα, ἃ βλέπεις, οἱ κατοικοῦντές εἰσιν ἐν τῷ αἰῶνι τούτῳ.

English · Claude translation

He showed me many trees without leaves, and they seemed to me to be withered; for they were all alike. And he said to me, “Do you see these trees?” “I see them, sir,” I said, “all alike and withered.” He answered me, “These trees that you see are those who live in this world.”

About this passage

Source
Lake, LCL 25:146–148 · 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.

Notes

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (digitization slip against Lake's printed text (wrong accent); digitization slip: word split in two): ὅμοια γὰρ ἧν → ὅμοια γὰρ ἦν; ἀπο κριθείς → ἀποκριθείς.

Cite this passage

Herm. Sim. 3.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-sim/3/1/).

Plain text
Herm. Sim. 3.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-sim/3/1/).

Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)

Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text

Report an error in this passage