Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 5.3.3 (56.3)

Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:158

δείξω σοι τὰς ἐντολὰς αὐτοῦ· ἐὰν δέ τι ἀγαθὸν ποιήσῃς ἐκτὸς τῆς ἐντολῆς τοῦ θεοῦ, σεαυτῷ περιποιήσῃ δόξαν περισσοτέραν καὶ ἔσῃ ἐνδοξότερος παρὰ τῷ θεῷ οὗ ἔμελλες εἶναι. ἐὰν οὖν φυλάσσων τὰς ἐντολὰς τοῦ θεοῦ προσθῇς καὶ τὰς λειτουργίας ταύτας, χαρήσῃ, ἐὰν τηρήσῃς αὐτὰς κατὰ τὴν ἐμὴν ἐντολήν.

English · Claude translation

I will show you. [Keep] his commandments; but if you do some good beyond God's commandment, you will gain more abundant glory for yourself and be more glorious before God than you would have been. If, then, while keeping God's commandments you also add these services, you will rejoice, if you keep them according to my command.”

About this passage

Source

Lake, LCL 25:158 · 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

Translation notes

The text of 5.3.2–3 seems to be incomplete in this edition; the sense is supplied from the context.
Doing more than is commanded (compare the slave who weeded the vineyard) is a theme later associated with “works of supererogation.”

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (punctuation slip in the digital text): αὐτοῦ ἐὰν δέ τι → αὐτοῦ· ἐὰν δέ τι.

Cite this passage

Herm. Sim. 5.3.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-sim/5/3/3/).

Plain text

Herm. Sim. 5.3.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-sim/5/3/3/).