Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 8.2.9 (68.9)

Summary: God wishes all to live; most will revive.

Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:194

καὶ μετὰ τὸ ποτίσαι αὐτὸν τὰς ῥάβδους λέγει μοι· Ἄγωμεν καὶ μετʼ ὀλίγας ἡμέρας ἐπανέλθωμεν καὶ ἐπισκεψώμεθα τὰς ῥάβδους πάσας· ὁ γὰρ κτίσας τὸ δένδρον τοῦτο θέλει πάντας ζῆν τοὺς λαβόντας ἐκ τοῦ δένδρου τούτου κλάδους. ἐλπίζω δὲ κἀγώ, ὅτι λαβόντα τὰ ῥαβδία ταῦτα ἰκμάδα καὶ ποτισθέντα ὕδατι ζήσονται τὸ πλεῖστον μέρος αὐτῶν.

English · Claude translation

And after he had watered the sticks, he said to me, “Let us go, and after a few days let us come back and inspect all the sticks; for the one who created this tree wishes all who received branches from this tree to live. And I too hope that when these sticks have received moisture and been watered, the greater part of them will live.”

About this passage

Source

Lake, LCL 25:194 · 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.

Scripture

1 Tim 2:4 · echo, medium confidence

Cite this passage

Herm. Sim. 8.2.9 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-sim/8/2/9/).

Plain text

Herm. Sim. 8.2.9 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-sim/8/2/9/).