The Shepherd of Hermas (Vision 1 – Similitude 1)
The Shepherd of Hermas
c. AD 100–160
A long early Christian work in the form of visions, commandments and parables, written in Rome. It was widely read, and some early Bible manuscripts copy it beside the New Testament, though the church did not receive it as Scripture.
A note for readers. The Shepherd was read and valued by many early Christians, but it was never accepted as Scripture. Some of its teaching, especially on repentance after baptism and on how it speaks of the Son and the Holy Spirit, is unclear and has been disputed since ancient times. Read it as a witness to early Roman Christian life and thought, and weigh it against the Bible.
Vision 1
Chapter 1
Hermas and Rhoda
1 The man who raised me sold me to a woman named Rhoda, in Rome. Many years later I met her again, and I began to love her as a sister.[1] 2 Some time later I saw her bathing in the Tiber river. I gave her my hand and helped her out of the water. When I saw how beautiful she was, I thought to myself: “I would be happy if I had a wife with such beauty and character.” That was the only thing I considered, and nothing else, not one thing.
Hermas goes to Cumae
3 Some time later, as I was walking to Cumae and praising God’s creation, how great, glorious and powerful it is, I became drowsy as I walked. A spirit took hold of me and carried me through a trackless place that no person could walk through. The ground was steep and broken up by water. When I had crossed that river, I came to level ground. I knelt down and began to pray to the Lord and to confess my sins.[2]
The Vision of Rhoda speaking from Heaven
4 While I was praying, heaven opened, and I saw the woman I had desired greeting me from heaven. She said, “Hermas, greetings.” 5 I looked at her and said, “Lady, what are you doing here?” She answered, “I was taken up so that I could accuse you of your sins before the Lord.” 6 I said to her, “Are you now accusing me?” “No,” she said, “but listen to the words I am going to say to you. God, who lives in the heavens, made what exists out of what did not exist, and increased and multiplied it for the sake of his holy church. He is angry with you because you sinned against me.” 7 I answered her: “I sinned against you? Where, or when, did I say an indecent word to you? Did I not always regard you as a goddess? Did I not always respect you as a sister? Why do you falsely accuse me, lady, of these wicked and filthy things?”
8 She laughed and said to me: “The desire for evil came up in your heart. Or do you not think it is an evil thing for a righteous man if an evil desire comes up in his heart? It is a sin, and a great one. For the righteous man plans what is right. As long as he plans what is right, his reputation in heaven stands firm, and he finds the Lord easy to be reconciled to in everything he does. But those who plan evil in their hearts bring death and captivity on themselves. This is especially true of those who make this present world their own, take pride in their wealth, and do not hold on to the good things to come.”[3] 9 “Those who have no hope, but have given up on themselves and their lives, will regret it in their souls. But you, pray to God, and he will heal your sins and those of your whole household and of all the saints.”[4]
Chapter 2
The vision of the ancient lady
1 After she had said these words, the heavens were shut. I was shaking all over and filled with sorrow. I said to myself: “If this sin is written down against me, how can I be saved? How will I appease God for my sins, which are fully grown? What words can I use to ask the Lord to be merciful to me?”[5] 2 While I was thinking this over and debating in my heart, I saw in front of me a large white chair made of snow-white wool. An old woman came, in shining clothing, holding a book in her hands. She sat down alone and greeted me: “Hermas, greetings.” I was grieving and crying, and I said, “Greetings, lady.”[6] 3 She said to me: “Why are you gloomy, Hermas? You are patient and slow to anger, always laughing. Why do you look so downcast and not cheerful?” I said to her, “Because of a most excellent woman who says that I have sinned against her.”
4 She said: “Far be such a thing from a servant of God! But the thought certainly did come up in your heart about her. A thought like that brings sin on the servants of God. It is an evil and shocking plan when a deeply reverent spirit, already proven, desires an evil act. This is especially true of Hermas, who is self-controlled, who keeps away from every evil desire, and who is full of complete simplicity and great innocence.”
Chapter 3
Why God is angry
1 “But God is not angry with you for this. He is angry so that you will turn back your household, which has sinned against the Lord and against you, their parents. But because you love your children, you did not correct your household, and you let it be ruined. That is why the Lord is angry with you. But he will heal all the evils in your household from the past. For because of their sins and lawless deeds you have been ruined by the affairs of daily life.”[7] 2 “But the Lord’s great compassion has taken pity on you and your household. He will strengthen you and set you firmly in his glory. Only do not be lazy, but take courage and strengthen your household. For just as a blacksmith, by hammering his work, masters the thing he wants to make, so the righteous word, spoken day by day, overcomes all evil. So do not stop correcting your children. For I know that if they repent with all their heart, they will be written in the books of life with the saints.”
The lady reads to Hermas
3 After she had finished saying these words, she said to me, “Do you want to hear me read?” I said, “I do, lady.” She said to me, “Be a listener and hear the glories of God.” I heard great and wonderful things that I was not able to remember. For all the words were fearsome, more than a person can bear. But I remembered the last words, since they were helpful to us and gentle: 4 “See, the God of the powers, whom I love, created the world by his mighty power and his great understanding, and by his glorious plan put beauty on his creation. By his strong word he fixed the heaven and set the earth on the waters, and by his own wisdom and foresight he created his holy church, which he also blessed. See, he moves the heavens, the mountains, the hills, and the seas, and everything becomes level for his chosen people. He does this so that he may give them the promise he made with great glory and joy, if they keep the laws of God that they received in great faith.”[8]
Chapter 4
The close of the vision
1 When she finished reading and rose from the chair, four young men came, picked up the chair, and went away toward the east. 2 She called me over, touched my chest, and said, “Did you like my reading?” I said to her, “Lady, I like these last parts, but the first parts were hard and harsh.” She said to me, “These last parts are for the righteous, but the first parts are for the pagans and the apostates.” 3 While she was speaking with me, two men appeared, took her by the arms, and went away toward the east, to where the chair had gone. She left cheerfully, and as she went she said to me, “Be brave, Hermas.”[9]
Vision 2
Chapter 1
The second vision at Cumae
1 As I was walking to Cumae, at about the same time of year as the year before, I remembered the vision of the previous year. Again a spirit took me and carried me to the same place as the year before.[10] 2 When I came to the place, I knelt down and began to pray to the Lord and glorify his name, because he had considered me worthy and had made known to me my earlier sins. [Psalm 86; Isaiah 24:15]
The ancient lady returns; The little book
3 After I got up from prayer, I saw in front of me the old woman whom I had seen the year before. She was walking and reading a little book. She said to me, “Can you report these things to God’s chosen ones?” I said to her, “Lady, I cannot remember so much. Give me the little book so that I can copy it.” “Take it,” she said, “and give it back to me.” 4 I took it, went off to a place in the countryside, and copied everything letter by letter, because I could not make out the syllables. When I had finished the letters of the little book, suddenly the book was snatched from my hand. I did not see by whom.
Chapter 2
The contents of the little book
1 After fifteen days, during which I fasted and earnestly begged the Lord, the understanding of the writing was revealed to me. This is what was written: 2 “Your descendants, Hermas, have rejected God, have blasphemed the Lord, and have betrayed their parents with great evil. They have been called betrayers of parents, and their betrayal did them no good. Instead, they have gone on to add debauchery and foul, tangled wickedness to their sins, and so their lawless deeds have reached their full measure.” 3 “But make these words known to all your children and to your wife, who will be a sister to you. For she too does not hold back the tongue she uses to do wrong. But when she hears these words, she will hold back and will receive mercy.”[11] 4 “After you have made known to them these words, which the Master commanded me to reveal to you, all the sins they committed before will be forgiven them. So will the sins of all the saints who have sinned up to this day, if they repent with their whole heart and remove double-mindedness from their hearts.”[12]
5 “For the Master has sworn by his glory concerning his chosen ones: if there is still sin after this day has been set, they will not have salvation. For repentance for the righteous has an end. The days of repentance are fulfilled for all the saints, but for the pagans there is repentance until the last day.”[13] 6 “So tell the leaders of the church to straighten their ways in righteousness, so that they may receive the promises in full with great glory.” 7 “So stay firm, you who work righteousness, and do not be double-minded, so that your passage may be with the holy angels. Blessed are you who endure the great tribulation that is coming, and all who will not deny their life.” 8 “For the Lord swore by his Son that those who have denied their Christ have been cut off from their life, that is, those who are going to deny him in the days to come. But to those who denied him earlier, he has been merciful because of his great compassion.”[14]
Chapter 3
1 “But you, Hermas, must no longer hold a grudge against your children. And do not neglect your sister, so that they may be cleansed from their earlier sins. They will be corrected with just discipline if you do not hold a grudge against them. Holding a grudge produces death. But you, Hermas, have had great troubles of your own because of the sins of your household, because you did not care about them. Instead you neglected them and got tangled up in your own evil business dealings.”[15] 2 “But you are saved because you did not turn away from the living God, and by your simplicity and your great self-control. These things have saved you, if you hold on to them. And they save all who do such things and live in innocence and simplicity. These people will overcome all wickedness and will hold firm to eternal life.” 3 “Blessed are all who work righteousness. They will never be destroyed.”
4 “And you will say to Maximus: ‘See, tribulation is coming. If it seems right to you, deny again. The Lord is near to those who turn to him,’ as it is written in the book of Eldad and Modat, who prophesied to the people in the wilderness.”[16]
Chapter 4
The revelation as to the ancient lady
1 Brothers, while I was asleep, a revelation was given to me by a very handsome young man. He said to me, “Who do you think the old woman is, from whom you received the little book?” I said, “The Sibyl.” “You are wrong,” he said. “She is not.” “Then who is she?” I said. “The church,” he said. I said to him, “Why, then, is she old?” “Because,” he said, “she was created first of all. That is why she is old. And the world was put in order for her sake.”[17]
The ancient lady returns
2 After that I saw a vision in my house. The old woman came and asked me whether I had already given the book to the elders. I said I had not. “You have done well,” she said, “for I have words to add. When I have finished all the words, they will be made known through you to all the chosen.” 3 “So write two little books, and send one to Clement and one to Grapte. Clement will send his to the cities abroad, for that has been entrusted to him. Grapte will instruct the widows and orphans. And you will read yours in this city, with the elders who lead the church.”[18]
Vision 3
Chapter 1
The ancient lady comes again
1 The third vision that I saw, brothers, was like this. 2 I had fasted often and asked the Lord to show me the revelation he had promised to show me through that old woman. That same night the old woman appeared to me and said to me: “Since you are so eager and determined to know everything, come to the field where you farm. At about the fifth hour I will appear to you and show you what you must see.”[19] 3 I asked her, “Lady, to what place in the field?” “Wherever you like,” she said. I chose a beautiful, secluded spot. But before I spoke to her or named the place, she said to me, “I will come there, where you want.”
The couch of ivory
4 So, brothers, I went out to the field and counted the hours. I came to the place where I had arranged for her to come, and I saw an ivory bench set there. On the bench lay a linen cushion, and over it a cover of fine linen was spread out.[20] 5 When I saw these things lying there with no one at the place, I was astonished. Trembling took hold of me and my hair stood on end, and a kind of shudder came over me, because I was alone. So I pulled myself together, remembered the glory of God, took courage, knelt down, and confessed my sins to the Lord again, as I had before.
The six young men
6 Then she came with six young men whom I had also seen before. She stood by me and listened to me praying and confessing my sins to the Lord. She touched me and said, “Hermas, stop asking about your sins all the time. Ask about righteousness too, so that you can take some part of it to your household.” 7 She lifted me up by the hand and led me to the bench, and said to the young men, “Go and build.” 8 After the young men had gone away and we were alone, she said to me, “Sit here.” I said to her, “Lady, let the elders sit first.” “Do as I tell you,” she said. “Sit down.”
Hermas and the couch; The place of the martyrs
9 When I wanted to sit on the right side, she did not let me, but motioned with her hand for me to sit on the left. I was thinking about this and feeling hurt that she did not let me sit on the right, and she said to me, “Are you upset, Hermas? The place on the right is for others, those who have already pleased God and have suffered for the sake of the name. You are far from being able to sit with them. But stay as you are in your simplicity, and you will sit with them, along with all who do their works and endure what they endured.”
Chapter 2
1 “What did they endure?” I asked. “Listen,” she said. “Whips, prisons, great tribulations, crosses, wild animals, for the sake of the name. That is why the places on the right of the holy place belong to them, and to anyone who suffers for the name. The rest have the places on the left. But for both, those who sit on the right and those who sit on the left, the gifts and promises are the same. The only difference is that they sit on the right and have a certain glory.”[21] 2 “You want very much to sit on the right with them, but your shortcomings are many. You will be cleansed from your shortcomings. And all who are not double-minded will be cleansed from all their sins up to this day.” 3 After saying this she wanted to leave. But I fell at her feet and begged her, by the Lord, to show me the vision she had promised.
The vision of the town
4 She took my hand again, lifted me up, and sat me on the couch on the left, and she sat on the right. She lifted a shining rod and said to me, “Do you see something great?” I said to her, “Lady, I see nothing.” She said to me, “Look, don’t you see a great tower in front of you, being built over water with shining square stones?” 5 The tower was being built as a square by the six young men who had come with her. Tens of thousands of other men were bringing stones, some from the deep and some from the land, and handing them to the six young men. They took them and built.
The stones
6 All the stones that were dragged up from the deep they set directly into the building, for they were already shaped and fit together with the others. They joined to each other so tightly that their joints could not be seen. The tower looked as though it had been built from a single stone. 7 But of the other stones, the ones brought from dry land, they threw some away and set some into the building. Others they broke up and threw far from the tower. 8 Many other stones lay around the tower, and they did not use them for the building. Some of them were scabby, others had cracks, others were cut short, and others were white and round and did not fit into the building. 9 I saw other stones thrown far from the tower. They came onto the road but did not stay on it, and rolled off the road into rough, pathless ground. Others fell into the fire and burned. Others fell near the water and could not roll into it, though they wanted to roll and get into the water.
Chapter 3
The explanation of the vision
1 After showing me these things, she wanted to hurry away. I said to her, “Lady, what good is it to me to have seen these things and not know what they mean?” She answered, “You are a clever fellow, wanting to know about the tower.” “Yes, lady,” I said, “so that I can tell the brothers, so that they may become more cheerful, and hearing these things may know the Lord in great glory.” 2 She said, “Many will hear. Some of them will rejoice when they hear, and some will weep. But even these, if they hear and repent, will rejoice. So listen to the parables of the tower, for I will reveal everything to you. And do not trouble me anymore about revelations. These revelations are finished; they have been completed. But you will not stop asking for revelations, for you are shameless.”[22]
The tower
3 “The tower that you see being built is I, the church, who have appeared to you now and before. So ask whatever you want about the tower, and I will reveal it to you, so that you can rejoice with the saints.”[23] 4 I said to her, “Lady, since you have once considered me worthy to have everything revealed to me, reveal it.” She said to me, “Whatever can be revealed to you will be revealed. Only let your heart be turned toward God, and do not be double-minded about whatever you see.” 5 I asked her, “Why is the tower built on water, lady?” “I told you before,” she said, “and you are searching carefully. By searching you find the truth. So hear why the tower is built on water: because your life was saved and will be saved through water. The tower has been founded on the word of the almighty and glorious name, and it is held up by the invisible power of the Master.”[24]
Chapter 4
The six young men
1 I answered her, “Lady, this is great and marvelous. But who are the six young men who are building, lady?” “They are the holy angels of God, the first created, to whom the Lord handed over all his creation to increase and build up and rule over all creation. Through them the building of the tower will be finished.”[25] 2 “And who are the others who are bringing the stones?” “They too are holy angels of God. But these six are above them. So the building of the tower will be finished, and everyone will rejoice together around the tower and glorify God, because the building of the tower has been finished.” 3 I asked her, “Lady, I would like to know what becomes of the stones, and what they mean.” She answered me, “It is not because you are worthier than everyone else that this is revealed to you. There are others ahead of you, and better than you, to whom these visions ought to have been revealed. But so that God’s name may be glorified, it has been revealed and will be revealed to you, for the sake of the double-minded, who debate in their hearts whether these things are real or not. Tell them that all these things are true, that nothing is outside the truth, and that everything is strong and sure and well founded.”
Chapter 5
The stones
1 “Now listen about the stones that go into the building. The stones that are square and white and fit together at the joints are the apostles, bishops, teachers, and deacons who lived in the holiness of God. They watched over, taught, and served God’s chosen purely and reverently, some having fallen asleep and some still alive. They always agreed with each other, had peace among themselves, and listened to each other. That is why their joints fit together in the building of the tower.”[26] 2 “And who are the ones dragged up from the deep and set into the building, who fit at the joints with the other stones already built in?” “These are the ones who suffered for the name of the Lord.” 3 “I want to know who the other stones are, the ones brought from dry land, lady.” She said, “The ones that go into the building without being cut are the ones the Lord tested and approved, because they walked in the Lord’s uprightness and carried out his commandments.”
4 “And who are the ones that are brought and placed in the building?” “They are new in the faith, and faithful. They are warned by the angels to do good, because evil has been found in them.”
The rejected stones
5 “And who are the ones they threw away and discarded?” “These are people who have sinned and want to repent. That is why they were not thrown far away from the tower: they will be useful for the building if they repent. So those who intend to repent will be strong in the faith if they repent now, while the tower is still being built. But once the building is finished, they will have no place anymore. They will be cast out. All they have is this: to lie beside the tower.”[27]
Chapter 6
The stones which were broken up
1 “Do you want to know about the ones broken up and thrown far from the tower? These are the sons of lawlessness. Their faith was only pretense, and none of their wickedness left them. That is why they have no salvation: they are not useful for building because of their wickedness. That is why they were broken up and thrown far away, because of the Lord’s anger, since they provoked him.”
The stones put on one side
2 “As for the others, the many you saw lying about and not going into the building: of these, the scabby ones are those who have known the truth but do not remain in it.”[28] 3 “And who are the ones with cracks? These are people who hold things against each other in their hearts and are not at peace with each other. They wear a face of peace, but when they part from each other, their evils remain in their hearts. These are the cracks the stones have.” 4 “The stunted ones are people who have believed, and most of their life is lived in righteousness, but some parts of it are in lawlessness. That is why they are stunted and not whole.”
The round stones
5 “And the white, round ones that did not fit into the building, who are they, lady?” She answered me, “How long will you be foolish and senseless, asking everything and understanding nothing? These are people who have faith, but who also have the wealth of this age. When tribulation comes, because of their wealth and their business affairs, they deny their Lord.”[29] 6 I answered her, “Lady, when will they become useful for the building?” “When,” she said, “the wealth that leads their souls astray has been cut away from them, then they will be useful to God. A round stone cannot become square unless it is trimmed and something is cut away from it. In the same way, those who are rich in this age cannot become useful to the Lord unless their wealth is cut away from them.” 7 “Learn it from yourself first. When you were rich, you were useless. But now you are useful and helpful for life. Be useful to God. You yourself are taken from these same stones.”[30]
Chapter 7
The stones thrown away from the tower
1 “As for the other stones you saw thrown far from the tower, falling onto the road and rolling off the road into the wilderness: these are people who have believed, but because of their double-mindedness they leave their true road. They think they can find a better road, and they wander and suffer, walking in the wilderness.” 2 “The ones falling into the fire and burning are people who have turned away completely from the living God. It no longer comes into their heart to repent, because of their lustful desires and the evil deeds they have done.” 3 “Do you want to know about the others, who fall near the water and cannot roll into the water? These are people who have heard the word and want to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then, when the purity of the truth comes to their mind, they change their minds and go back again after their evil desires.”
4 So she finished the explanation of the tower.
The end of the rejected stones
5 Being bold, I asked her further about all these stones that had been thrown away and did not fit into the building of the tower. Was repentance open to them, and did they have a place in this tower? “Repentance is open to them,” she said, “but they cannot fit into this tower.” 6 “They will fit into another, much lesser place, and only after they have been tormented and have fulfilled the days of their sins. They will be moved because they shared in the righteous word. And then they will be moved out of the torments they suffered for the evil deeds they did. But if repentance does not come into their heart, they are not saved, because of the hardness of their hearts.”[31]
Chapter 8
The vision of the seven women
1 When I stopped asking her about all these things, she said to me, “Do you want to see something else?” I was very eager to see it, and I was delighted at the prospect. 2 She looked at me, smiled, and said, “Do you see seven women around the tower?” “I see them, lady,” I said. “This tower is being carried by them at the command of the Lord.”
The explanation
3 “Now listen to what they do. The first of them, the one with her hands clasped, is called Faith. Through her God’s chosen are saved.” 4 “The second, the one who wears a belt as if ready for action and who acts with courage, is called Self-control. She is the daughter of Faith. Whoever follows her is blessed in his life, because he will keep away from all evil deeds, believing that if he keeps away from all evil desire, he will inherit eternal life.” 5 “And who are the others, lady?” “They are daughters of each other. Their names are Simplicity, Knowledge, Innocence, Reverence, and Love. When you do all the works of their mother, you can live.”[32]
The powers of the Virtues
6 “I would like to know, lady,” I said, “what power each of them has.” “Listen,” she said, “to the powers they have.” 7 “Their powers are held up by each other and follow each other, just as they were born. From Faith is born Self-control, from Self-control Simplicity, from Simplicity Innocence, from Innocence Reverence, from Reverence Knowledge, and from Knowledge Love. Their works are pure, reverent, and divine.” 8 “Whoever serves these women and is strong enough to hold on to their works will have his dwelling in the tower with God’s saints.”
The end
9 I asked her about the times, whether the end was already here. She cried out in a loud voice: “Foolish man, don’t you see the tower still being built? When the building of the tower is finished, the end will come. But it will be built up quickly. Ask me nothing more. This reminder and the renewal of your spirits are enough for you and for the saints.” 10 “But this was not revealed to you alone. You are to make it known to everyone, 11 after three days, for you must understand it first. First I order you, Hermas, to speak all these words that I am going to tell you into the ears of the saints, so that when they hear them and do them, they will be cleansed from their evils, and you with them.”
Chapter 9
The charge of the Church
1 “Listen to me, children. I brought you up in great simplicity, innocence, and reverence, through the mercy of the Lord who let righteousness drip down upon you, so that you would be made righteous and holy, free from all wickedness and all crookedness. But you do not want to stop your wickedness.”[33] 2 “So now listen to me. Be at peace with each other, look after each other, and help each other. Do not enjoy God’s creations lavishly by yourselves, but share them also with those who are in need.”[34] 3 “For some people bring weakness on their bodies by eating too much, and they harm their flesh. But those who have no food suffer harm in their flesh because they do not have enough to eat, and their bodies waste away.” 4 “So this failure to share is harmful to you who have plenty and do not share with those in need.”
5 “Consider the judgment that is coming. So you who have more than enough, seek out the hungry while the tower is not yet finished. For after the tower is finished, you will want to do good, and you will not have the chance.”[35] 6 “So take care, you who boast in your wealth, in case those in need groan, and their groaning goes up to the Lord, and you are shut out with your goods outside the door of the tower.”[36] 7 “So now I speak to you who lead the church and who take the seats of honor. Do not be like the poisoners. Poisoners carry their drugs in boxes, but you carry your drug and your poison in your heart.”[37] 8 “You are hardened, and you do not want to cleanse your hearts and join your thinking together with a pure heart, so that you may receive mercy from the great King.”
9 “So watch out, children, that these divisions do not rob you of your life.” 10 “How can you expect to discipline the Lord’s chosen when you have no discipline yourselves? So discipline each other and be at peace with each other. Then I too can stand joyfully before the Father and give an account for all of you to the Lord.”
Chapter 10
The departure of the ancient lady
1 When she stopped speaking with me, the six young men who were building came and took her away to the tower. Four others picked up the couch and also carried it to the tower. I did not see their faces, because they were turned away. 2 As she left, I asked her to give me a revelation about the three forms in which she had appeared to me. She answered, “You must ask someone else about these, so that they may be revealed to you.” 3 Brothers, in the first vision last year she had appeared to me very old, sitting in a chair. 4 In the second vision her face was younger, though her body and hair were old, and she spoke to me standing. She was more cheerful than before. 5 In the third vision she was entirely young and extremely beautiful. Only her hair was old. She was completely cheerful, and she sat on a couch.
6 I was deeply troubled about this and wanted to understand the revelation. In a vision of the night I saw the old woman saying to me, “Every request needs humility. So fast, and you will receive what you ask from the Lord.”
The young man
7 So I fasted one day, and that same night a young man appeared to me and said, “Why do you keep asking for revelations in your prayers? Be careful that you do not harm your flesh by asking so much.” 8 “These revelations are enough for you. Can you see greater revelations than the ones you have seen?” 9 I answered him, “Sir, this is all I ask: that the revelation about the three forms of the old woman may be complete.” He answered me, “How long will you people be without understanding? Your double-mindedness makes you senseless, and so does the fact that your hearts are not turned to the Lord.” 10 I answered him again, “But from you, sir, we will learn about them more accurately.”
Chapter 11
The three forms of the ancient lady
1 “Listen,” he said, “to what I have to say about the forms you are asking about.” 2 “Why did she appear to you in the first vision as an older woman, sitting in a chair? Because your spirit is old and already withered and has no power, because of your weaknesses and double-mindedness.” 3 “For old people no longer have hope of becoming young again, and they expect nothing but their last sleep. In the same way you too, weakened by the affairs of this life, gave yourselves up to listlessness and did not throw your cares on the Lord. Instead your mind was broken, and you grew old in your sorrows.”[38] [1 Peter 5:7] 4 “Then why was she sitting in a chair, sir? I would like to know.” “Because anyone who is sick sits in a chair because of his weakness, so that the weakness of his body may be supported. There you have the meaning of the figure in the first vision.”
Chapter 12
1 “In the second vision you saw her standing, with a younger and more cheerful face than before, but with the body and hair of an older woman. Listen to this parable too,” he said. 2 “Suppose an older man has already given up hope for himself because of his weakness and poverty, and expects nothing but the last day of his life. Then suddenly an inheritance is left to him. He hears it and gets up, and filled with joy puts on strength. He no longer lies down but stands, and his spirit, already worn out by his earlier ways, is renewed. He no longer sits but takes courage. In the same way you also, when you heard the revelation the Lord revealed to you,” 3 “that he had compassion on you, he renewed your spirits, and you laid aside your weaknesses. Strength came to you and you were made strong in faith. The Lord saw that you had been made strong, and he rejoiced. That is why he showed you the building of the tower, and he will show you other things if you are at peace among yourselves with your whole heart.”
Chapter 13
1 “In the third vision you saw her younger, beautiful, and cheerful, and her form was beautiful.” 2 “For suppose someone who is grieving receives good news. At once he forgets his earlier sorrows and gives his mind to nothing but the news he has heard. From then on he is strengthened for what is good, and his spirit is renewed because of the joy he has received. In the same way you have received renewal of your spirits by seeing these good things.” 3 “And that you saw her sitting on a couch means that the position is strong, for a couch has four feet and stands firmly. Even the world is held together by four elements.”[39] 4 “So those who have repented will become completely young again and firmly founded: those who have repented with their whole heart. You have the complete revelation. Do not ask anything more about revelation. If anything is needed, it will be revealed to you.”
Vision 4
Chapter 1
The vision of the Leviathan
1 The fourth vision I saw, brothers, came twenty days after the previous vision. It was a picture of the tribulation that is coming. 2 I was going into the country along the Via Campana. The place is about ten stades from the public road, and it is easy to get to.[40] 3 As I walked along by myself, I asked the Lord to complete the revelations and visions he had shown me through his holy church. I asked him to strengthen me and to give repentance to his servants who had stumbled, so that his great and glorious name would be glorified, because he had considered me worthy to be shown his wonders. [Psalm 100] 4 While I was glorifying him and thanking him, something like the sound of a voice answered me: “Do not be double-minded, Hermas.” I began to think to myself and say, “How could I be double-minded, when I have been so firmly founded by the Lord and have seen such glorious things?”[41]
5 I went a little further, brothers, and look, I saw a cloud of dust that seemed to reach the sky. I began to say to myself, “Could it be cattle coming and raising the dust?” It was about a stade away from me. 6 As the dust grew bigger and bigger, I suspected it was something supernatural. The sun shone out a little, and look, I saw an enormous beast, like some sea monster, with fiery locusts coming out of its mouth. The beast was about a hundred feet long, and its head looked like pottery.[42] 7 I began to cry and ask the Lord to rescue me from it. And I remembered the word I had heard: “Do not be double-minded, Hermas.” 8 So, brothers, clothing myself with faith in the Lord and remembering the great things he had taught me, I took courage and went straight toward the beast. The beast came on with such a rushing roar that it could have destroyed a city.
9 I came close to it, and this huge sea monster stretched itself out on the ground and put out nothing but its tongue. It did not move at all until I had gone past it. 10 On its head the beast had four colors: black, then the color of fire and blood, then gold, then white.[43]
Chapter 2
The ancient lady
1 After I had passed the beast and gone on about thirty feet, look, a young woman met me, dressed as though she were coming out of a bridal room. She was entirely in white, with white sandals, veiled to the forehead, with a headband for a veil. Yet her hair was white. 2 From the earlier visions I knew that it was the church, and I became more cheerful. She greeted me, saying, “Greetings, man.” And I greeted her back: “Greetings, lady.”[44] 3 She answered, “Did nothing meet you?” I said to her, “Lady, such a huge beast, one that could destroy whole peoples! But by the power of the Lord and by his great mercy, I escaped it.” 4 “You escaped well,” she said, “because you threw your care on God and opened your heart to the Lord, believing that you can be saved by nothing except the great and glorious name. That is why the Lord sent his angel who is over the beasts, whose name is Thegri, and shut its mouth so that it would not harm you. You escaped a great tribulation because of your faith, and because you were not double-minded when you saw such a beast.”[45] [Daniel 6:22]
The explanation of the Leviathan
5 “So go and explain his great deeds to the Lord’s chosen ones. Tell them that this beast is a picture of the great tribulation to come. If you prepare yourselves beforehand and turn to the Lord in repentance with all your heart, you will be able to escape it. But your heart must become pure and without blemish, and you must serve the Lord blamelessly for the rest of your life. Throw your cares on the Lord, and he will set them right.”[46] 6 “You who are double-minded, believe the Lord: believe that he can do all things, that he turns his anger away from you, and that he sends scourges on you who are double-minded. Woe to those who hear these words and ignore them. It would have been better for them not to have been born.”[47]
Chapter 3
The four colours on the Leviathan
1 I asked her about the four colors the beast had on its head. She answered me, “You are curious again about such things.” “Yes, lady,” I said, “tell me what these are.” 2 “Listen,” she said. “The black is this world in which you live.” 3 “The fiery and bloody part means that this world must be destroyed by blood and fire.” 4 “The golden part is you, who have escaped this world. Just as gold is tested by fire and becomes useful, so you who live among these things are being tested. Those of you who remain and pass through their fire will be purified. Just as gold throws off its dross, so you will throw off all sorrow and distress. You will be purified and will be useful for building the tower.”[48] 5 “The white part is the age to come, in which God’s chosen will live. For those chosen by God for eternal life will be spotless and pure.”
6 “So do not stop speaking into the ears of the saints. You also have the picture of the great tribulation to come. But if you are willing, it will be nothing. Remember what was written before.” 7 After saying this she left, and I did not see where she went, for a cloud came up. I turned back in fear, thinking the beast was coming.
Vision 5: The Shepherd comes
Chapter 1
The coming of the shepherd
1 While I was praying at home and sitting on my couch, a man came in who was glorious in appearance and dressed like a shepherd. He wore a white goatskin and had a bag on his shoulders and a staff in his hand. He greeted me, and I greeted him back.[49] 2 At once he sat down next to me and said, “I was sent by the most venerable angel to live with you for the rest of the days of your life.”[50] 3 I thought he had come to test me, and I said to him, “Who are you? I know the one to whom I was handed over.” He said to me, “Don’t you recognize me?” “No,” I said. “I am the shepherd,” he said, “to whom you were handed over.” 4 While he was still speaking, his appearance changed, and I recognized him. He was the one to whom I had been handed over. At once I was confused. Fear took hold of me, and I was completely broken with grief, because I had answered him so badly and foolishly.
5 He answered me, “Do not be confused, but strengthen yourself in my commandments, which I am about to give you. I was sent to show you again everything you saw before, the main points that are useful for you. First of all, write down my commandments and the parables. The rest you will write as I show you. That is why I order you to write down the commandments and parables first: so that you can have them at hand to read, and be able to keep them.” 6 So I wrote down the commandments and parables, as he had ordered me. 7 If you hear them and keep them, walk in them, and do them with a pure heart, you will receive from the Lord all he promised you. But if you hear them and do not repent, but go on adding to your sins, you will receive the opposite from the Lord. The shepherd, the angel of repentance, ordered me to write all these things down in this way.
Mandate 1
Chapter 1
Belief in God
1 First of all, believe that God is one. He created all things and put them in order, and he made all things come into being out of what did not exist. He contains everything, but he alone cannot be contained.[51] 2 So believe him and fear him, and in fear practice self-control. Keep these things, and you will throw all wickedness away from yourself and put on every virtue of righteousness, and live to God, if you keep this commandment.
Mandate 2
Chapter 1
Simplicity
1 He said to me, “Have simplicity and be innocent, and you will be like children who do not know the evil that destroys people’s lives.” 2 “First, do not speak against anyone, and do not listen with pleasure to someone who does. Otherwise you who listen will also be guilty of the sin of the one who slanders, if you believe the slander you hear. For if you believe it, you too will hold something against your brother. In this way you will be guilty of the sin of the one who slanders.” [James 4:11]
Evil-speaking
3 “Slander is evil. It is a restless demon, never at peace, always living among divisions. So keep away from it, and you will always enjoy well-being with everyone.” 4 “Put on reverence. In it there is nothing evil to stumble over; everything is smooth and cheerful. Do good, and from the earnings God gives you, give simply to all who are in need, without hesitating over whom to give to and whom not to. Give to everyone, for God wants gifts to be given to all from his own bounty.” 5 “Those who receive will give an account to God of why they received and for what. Those who receive because they are in distress will not be judged, but those who receive hypocritically will pay the penalty.” 6 “So the giver is innocent. For he received from the Lord this service to carry out, and he carried it out simply, without making distinctions about whom to give to and whom not. So this service, done simply, was honored by God. Whoever serves simply in this way will live to God.”
7 “So keep this commandment as I have told you, so that your repentance and that of your household may be found in simplicity, and your innocence pure and undefiled.”
Mandate 3
Chapter 1
Truth
1 Again he said to me, “Love truth, and let all truth come out of your mouth, so that the spirit God made to live in this flesh may be found true by all people. In this way the Lord who lives in you will be glorified, for the Lord is true in every word and with him there is no falsehood.” 2 “So those who lie reject the Lord and defraud him, because they do not hand back to him the deposit they received. For they received from him a spirit that does not lie. If they give it back as a lying spirit, they have defiled the Lord’s commandment and have defrauded him.” 3 When I heard this, I wept bitterly. When he saw me weeping, he said, “Why are you crying?” “Because, sir,” I said, “I do not know whether I can be saved.” “Why?” he said. “Because, sir, I have never in my life spoken a true word. I have always spoken deceitfully with everyone, and I presented my lie as truth to everyone. No one ever contradicted me. They believed my word. So how, sir, can I live after doing this?”
4 “You are thinking well and truly,” he said. “For as God’s servant you should have walked in truth. An evil conscience should not live with the spirit of truth, nor should grief be brought on the holy and true spirit.” “Sir,” I said, “I have never properly heard such words before.” 5 “Now you are hearing them,” he said. “Keep them. Then, when what you say now is found to be true, even the lies you told earlier in your business can become trustworthy. For those too can become trustworthy. If you keep these things and from now on speak all truth, you will be able to secure life for yourself. And whoever hears this commandment and keeps away from lying, that most evil thing, will live to God.”
Mandate 4
Chapter 1
Purity
1 “I command you,” he said, “to keep purity, and do not let any thought come into your heart about another man’s wife, or about sexual immorality, or any such evil things. For when you do this, you commit a great sin. But if you always remember your own wife, you will never go wrong.” 2 “For if this thought comes into your heart, you will go wrong, and if other evil thoughts like it come, you commit sin. For this thought is a great sin for a servant of God. And if someone does this evil deed, he brings death on himself.” 3 “So watch out. Keep away from this thought. For where holiness lives, lawlessness ought not to come up into the heart of a righteous man.”
Man and wife
4 I said to him, “Sir, allow me to ask you a few questions.” “Ask,” he said. “Sir,” I said, “if a man has a wife who is a believer in the Lord, and he discovers that she has committed adultery, does the husband sin by living with her?” 5 “As long as he does not know, he does not sin,” he said. “But if the husband knows about her sin, and the wife does not repent but persists in her immorality, and the husband keeps living with her, he becomes guilty of her sin and shares in her adultery.” 6 “What, then, sir,” I said, “should the husband do if the wife keeps on in this passion?” “Let him divorce her,” he said, “and let the husband live by himself. But if he divorces his wife and marries another, he also commits adultery.” [Mark 10:11; Matthew 5:32; Matthew 19:9; 1 Corinthians 7:11] 7 “If, then, sir,” I said, “after the wife has been divorced she repents and wants to return to her own husband, will she not be taken back?”
8 “Certainly,” he said. “If the husband does not take her back, he sins and brings a great sin on himself. The one who has sinned and repents must be taken back, but not many times. For God’s servants have only one repentance. So, for the sake of her repentance, the husband should not marry someone else. This course of action applies to both wife and husband.” 9 “It is not only adultery,” he said, “if someone defiles his flesh. Whoever does the same things the pagans do also commits adultery. So if someone persists in such deeds and does not repent, keep away from him and do not live with him. Otherwise you also share in his sin.” 10 “That is why you were commanded to live by yourselves, whether husband or wife, for repentance is possible in such cases.” 11 “So I am not,” he said, “giving an excuse for this kind of thing to be carried on. I say this so that the one who has sinned will sin no more. As for his earlier sin, there is one who can give healing, for he is the one who has authority over all things.”
Chapter 2
1 I asked him again: “Since the Lord has considered me worthy to have you live with me always, put up with a few more words from me. For I understand nothing, and my heart has been hardened by my earlier deeds. Help me understand, because I am very foolish and understand nothing at all.” [Mark 6:52] 2 He answered me, “I am set over repentance, and I give understanding to all who repent. Don’t you think that repenting is itself understanding? To repent,” he said, “is great understanding. For the one who has sinned understands that he has done evil before the Lord, and the deed he did comes up in his heart, and he repents and no longer does evil, but does good lavishly, and humbles his own soul and torments it because he sinned. You see, then, that repentance is great understanding.” 3 “That is why, sir,” I said, “I am asking you for everything in detail. First, because I am a sinner, so that I may know what deeds I should do in order to live, since my sins are many and varied.”
4 “You will live,” he said, “if you keep my commandments and walk in them. And whoever hears these commandments and keeps them will live to God.”
Chapter 3
Repentance for sin after baptism
1 “Sir,” I said, “I will go on to ask something more.” “Speak,” he said. “Sir,” I said, “I have heard from some teachers that there is no other repentance except the one when we went down into the water and received forgiveness of our earlier sins.” 2 He said to me, “You heard correctly. For that is how it is. For someone who has received forgiveness of sins should not sin again, but live in purity.” 3 “But since you are asking about everything in detail, I will explain this to you as well, without giving an excuse to those who are going to believe or who have recently believed in the Lord. For those who have recently believed or are going to believe do not have repentance for sins. But they do have forgiveness of their earlier sins.” 4 “So for those who were called before these days, the Lord has set repentance. For the Lord knows the heart and knows everything beforehand. He knew the weakness of people and the cunning of the devil, and that the devil would do some harm to God’s servants and act wickedly toward them.”
5 “So the Lord, being very compassionate, had compassion on his creation, and set this repentance. And the authority over this repentance was given to me.” 6 “But I tell you,” he said, “that after that great and holy calling, if someone is tempted by the devil and sins, he has one repentance. But if he keeps on sinning and repenting, it does that person no good, for he will scarcely live.”[52] 7 I said to him, “I have been given new life by hearing these things so precisely from you. For I know that if I no longer add to my sins, I will be saved.” “You will be saved,” he said, “and so will all who do these things.”
Chapter 4
Second marriages
1 I asked him again, “Sir, since you are putting up with me, explain this to me as well.” “Speak,” he said. “Sir,” I said, “if a wife, or a husband, dies, and the one who is left marries again, does the one who marries sin?” 2 “He does not sin,” he said. “But if he remains single, he gains greater honor and great glory with the Lord. Yet if he does marry, he does not sin.”[53] 3 “So keep purity and reverence, and you will live to God. From now on, from the day you were handed over to me, keep everything I tell you and will tell you, and I will live in your house.” 4 “And there will be forgiveness for your earlier sins if you keep my commandments. And there will be forgiveness for everyone if they keep these commandments of mine and walk in this purity.”
Mandate 5
Chapter 1
Long-suffering
1 “Be patient and understanding,” he said, “and you will overcome all evil deeds and do all righteousness.”[54] 2 “For if you are patient, the Holy Spirit who lives in you will be pure, not darkened by another, evil spirit. Living in a roomy place, he will rejoice and be glad with the vessel in which he lives, and will serve God with great cheerfulness, having well-being in himself.”[55]
Against ill temper
3 “But if any quick temper comes in, the Holy Spirit, being delicate, is immediately cramped, since the place is not clean, and he seeks to leave the place. For he is choked by the evil spirit and has no room to serve the Lord as he wants, being defiled by quick temper. For the Lord lives in patience, but the devil lives in quick temper.” 4 “So when both spirits live in the same place, it is bad and harmful for the person in whom they live.” 5 “If you take a very little wormwood and pour it into a jar of honey, isn’t all the honey ruined? Isn’t so much honey spoiled by the smallest bit of wormwood? The wormwood destroys the sweetness of the honey, and the master no longer values it as he did, because it has turned bitter and lost its usefulness. But if wormwood is not put into the honey, the honey stays sweet and is useful to its master.”
6 “You see that patience is sweeter than honey and is useful to the Lord, and he lives in it. But quick temper is bitter and useless. So if quick temper is mixed with patience, patience is defiled, and its prayer is no longer useful to God.” 7 “Sir,” I said, “I would like to know how quick temper works, so that I can guard against it.” “Yes indeed,” he said, “if you and your household do not guard against it, you have lost all your hope. But guard against it, for I am with you. And all who repent with their whole heart will keep away from it. For I will be with them and keep them safe, for they have all been justified by the most venerable angel.”[56]
Chapter 2
1 “Now listen,” he said, “to how quick temper works, how evil it is, how it overturns my servants by its working, and how it leads them away from righteousness. But it does not lead away those who are full of faith, and it cannot work against them, because my power is with them. It leads away the empty and the double-minded.”[57] 2 “When it sees such people at peace, it forces its way into that person’s heart. Then, over nothing, the man or woman becomes bitter: over daily affairs, or food, or some petty matter, or a friend, or giving or receiving, or other silly things like these. For all these things are silly and empty and foolish and useless to God’s servants.” 3 “But patience is great and strong. It has power that is solid and thrives in a wide, open space. It is cheerful, joyful, and free of worry, praising the Lord at all times. It has nothing bitter in itself, and it always remains gentle and calm. So this patience lives with those who have complete faith.”
4 “But quick temper is first of all silly, light, and foolish. Then from foolishness comes bitterness, from bitterness anger, from anger wrath, and from wrath rage. Then this rage, built up from so many evils, becomes a great and incurable sin.” 5 “For when these spirits live in one vessel where the Holy Spirit also lives, the vessel cannot hold them, but overflows.” 6 “So the delicate Spirit, not used to living with an evil spirit or with harshness, leaves such a person and seeks to live with gentleness and calm.” 7 “Then, when he leaves the person in whom he lived, that person becomes empty of the righteous Spirit. From then on he is filled with evil spirits and is unstable in everything he does. He is pulled back and forth by the evil spirits and is completely blinded to good thinking. This is what happens to all who are quick-tempered.”[58] 8 “So keep away from quick temper, the most evil spirit. Put on patience, and stand against quick temper and bitterness, and you will be found with the reverence that is loved by the Lord. So be careful that you do not neglect this commandment. For if you master this commandment, you will also be able to keep the other commandments I am going to give you. Be strong in them and be strengthened, and let all be strengthened who want to walk in them.”
Mandate 6
Chapter 1
Expansion of the first Mandate
1 “I commanded you,” he said, “in the first commandment to keep faith, fear, and self-control.” “Yes, sir,” I said. “But now,” he said, “I also want to show you their powers, so that you understand what power and working each one has. For their workings are of two kinds. They apply to what is righteous and to what is unrighteous:”[59] 2 “So believe what is righteous, but do not believe what is unrighteous. For what is righteous has a straight way, but what is unrighteous has a crooked one. But you, walk on the straight and level way, and leave the crooked one alone.” 3 “For the crooked way has no tracks, only pathless ground and many stumbling blocks, and it is rough and thorny. So it is harmful to those who walk on it.” 4 “But those who walk the straight way walk smoothly and without stumbling. For it is neither rough nor thorny. You see, then, that it is more beneficial to walk this way.”
5 “It pleases me, sir,” I said, “to walk this way.” “You will walk it,” he said, “and whoever turns to the Lord with his whole heart will walk in it.” [Joel 2:12]
Chapter 2
Faith
1 “Now listen,” he said, “about faith. There are two angels with a person, one of righteousness and one of wickedness.”[60] 2 “How, then, sir,” I said, “will I know what they do, since both angels live with me?” 3 “Listen,” he said, “and you will understand them. The angel of righteousness is gentle, modest, mild, and quiet. When he comes up into your heart, he immediately speaks with you about righteousness, purity, reverence, contentment, every righteous deed, and every glorious virtue. When all these things come up into your heart, know that the angel of righteousness is with you. These are the works of the angel of righteousness. So believe him and his works.” 4 “Now look at the works of the angel of wickedness. First of all, he is quick-tempered, bitter, and foolish, and his works are evil and bring ruin on God’s servants. So when he comes up into your heart, know him by his works.”
5 “Sir,” I said, “I don’t know how to recognize him.” “Listen,” he said. “When quick temper or bitterness comes upon you, know that he is in you. Next come the desire for many activities, and extravagance in much food and drink, in many drinking bouts, and in all kinds of foods that are not needed. Then come desires for women and for gain, much pride and boasting, and everything like these. When these come up into your heart, know that the angel of wickedness is in you.” 6 “So when you recognize his works, keep away from him. Do not trust him at all, because his works are evil and harmful to God’s servants. So you have the workings of both angels. Understand them and believe the angel of righteousness,” 7 “but stay away from the angel of wickedness, because his teaching is evil in every action. For if someone is a faithful person, and a thought from this angel comes up into his heart, that man or woman is bound to commit some sin.”
8 “But on the other hand, if someone is very wicked, man or woman, and the works of the angel of righteousness come up into his heart, he is bound to do something good.” 9 “You see, then,” he said, “that it is good to follow the angel of righteousness, and to renounce the angel of wickedness.” 10 “This commandment explains the things that concern faith, so that you may believe the works of the angel of righteousness, and by doing them live to God. And believe that the works of the angel of wickedness are harmful. So by not doing them you will live to God.”
Mandate 7
Chapter 1
Fear
1 “Fear the Lord,” he said, “and keep his commandments. By keeping God’s commandments you will be strong in everything you do, and your conduct will be beyond compare. For by fearing the Lord you will do everything well. This is the fear you must have, and so be saved.”[61] 2 “But do not fear the devil. For by fearing the Lord you will have mastery over the devil, since there is no power in him. And where there is no power, there is no fear either. But where there is glorious power, there is fear too. For everyone who has power inspires fear. But the one who has no power is despised by everyone.”[62] 3 “But fear the devil’s works, because they are evil. So if you fear the Lord, you will not do them, but will keep away from them.” 4 “So there are two kinds of fear. If you want to do evil, fear the Lord, and you will not do it. And if you want to do good, fear the Lord, and you will do it. So the fear of the Lord is strong, great, and glorious. So fear the Lord, and you will live to him. And all who fear him and keep his commandments will live to God.”
5 “Why, sir,” I said, “did you say about those who keep his commandments, ‘They will live to God’?” “Because,” he said, “all creation fears the Lord, but does not keep his commandments. So those who fear him and keep his commandments have life with God. But those who do not keep his commandments have no life in him.”
Mandate 8
Chapter 1
Temperance
1 “I told you,” he said, “that God’s creations are of two kinds. And self-control is also of two kinds. For there are some things you must restrain yourself from, and some things you must not.”[63] 2 “Show me, sir,” I said, “what we must restrain ourselves from and what we must not.” “Listen,” he said. “Restrain yourself from what is evil, and do not do it. But do not restrain yourself from what is good; do it. For if you hold back from doing good, you commit a great sin. But if you hold back from doing evil, you do great righteousness. So hold back from all evil, and do good.” 3 “What, sir,” I said, “are the evils we must hold back from?” “Listen,” he said. “From adultery and sexual immorality, from lawless drunkenness, from wicked luxury, from overindulgence in food, from lavish spending of wealth, from boasting, arrogance, and pride, and from lying, slander, hypocrisy, holding grudges, and all blasphemy.”
4 “These are the most evil deeds in human life. So God’s servant must hold back from these deeds. For whoever does not hold back from these cannot live to God. So hear also the things that come next after these.” 5 “Sir,” I said, “are there still other evil deeds?” “Yes, many,” he said, “from which God’s servant must hold back: theft, lying, fraud, false witness, greed, evil desire, deceit, vanity, boasting, and everything like these.” 6 “Do you not think these are evil?” “Very evil,” I said, “for God’s servants.” “The one who serves God must hold back from all these. So hold back from all these, so that you may live to God and be enrolled among those who hold back from them. So these are the things you must hold back from.” 7 “Now hear what you must not hold back from but do,” he said. “Do not hold back from what is good, but do it.”
8 “Explain to me too, sir,” I said, “the power of the good things, so that I may walk in them and serve them, and so that by doing them I may be saved.” “Listen also,” he said, “to the good works that you must do and not hold back from.” 9 “First of all: faith, the fear of the Lord, love, harmony, words of righteousness, truth, and patience. Nothing is better than these in the life of people. If someone keeps these things and does not hold back from them, he becomes blessed in his life.” 10 “Then hear what follows: to serve widows; to look after orphans and those in need; to ransom God’s servants from their distress; to be hospitable, for doing good is found in hospitality; to oppose no one; to be calm; to become poorer than all people; to respect the elderly; to practice justice; to preserve brotherhood; to bear insult; to be patient; to hold no grudge; to encourage those who are weary in soul; not to cast off those who have stumbled in the faith, but to bring them back and cheer them; to warn those who sin; not to oppress debtors and the needy; and anything like these.”[64]
11 “Do you think these are good?” he said. “What, sir,” I said, “is better than these?” “Then walk in them,” he said, “and do not hold back from them, and you will live to God.” 12 “So keep this commandment. If you do good and do not hold back from it, you will live to God, and all who do so will live to God. And again, if you do not do evil and hold back from it, you will live to God, and all will live to God who keep these commandments and walk in them.”
Mandate 9
Chapter 1
Against double-mindedness
1 He said to me, “Take double-mindedness away from yourself, and do not be at all double-minded about asking God for anything, saying to yourself, ‘How can I ask the Lord and receive, having sinned so much against him?’”[65] 2 “Do not think these things. Turn to the Lord with your whole heart and ask him without doubting, and you will know his great compassion, that he will not abandon you but will fulfill the request of your soul.” 3 “For God is not like people who hold grudges. He holds no grudge and has compassion on what he has made.” 4 “So cleanse your heart of all the emptiness of this age and of the words just mentioned. Then ask the Lord, and you will receive everything. You will not lack any of your requests, if you ask the Lord without doubting.” 5 “But if you doubt in your heart, you will receive none of your requests. For those who doubt toward God are the double-minded, and they get none of what they ask for.”
6 “But those who are complete in faith ask for everything, trusting in the Lord, and they receive, because they ask without doubting and are not double-minded in anything. For every double-minded person, unless he repents, will be saved with difficulty.” 7 “So cleanse your heart of double-mindedness and put on faith, for it is strong. Believe God that you will receive all the requests you make. And if you ever ask the Lord for something and receive it rather slowly, do not be double-minded because you did not receive the request of your soul quickly. For it is certainly because of some temptation or some wrongdoing you do not know about that you are receiving your request more slowly.” 8 “So do not stop asking for the request of your soul, and you will receive it. But if you give up and are double-minded in asking, blame yourself and not the one who gives to you.”
9 “Watch out for this double-mindedness. For it is evil and senseless, and it uproots many from the faith, even very faithful and strong people. For this double-mindedness is the devil’s daughter and does great evil to God’s servants.” 10 “So despise double-mindedness and rule over it in everything, putting on strong and powerful faith. For faith promises everything and completes everything, but double-mindedness, which does not trust itself, fails in all the works it undertakes.” 11 “You see, then,” he said, “that faith is from above, from the Lord, and has great power. But double-mindedness is an earthly spirit, from the devil, and has no power.”[66] 12 “So serve faith, which has power, and keep away from double-mindedness, which has no power, and you will live to God. And all who think this way will live to God.”
Mandate 10
Chapter 1
Grief
1 “Take grief away from yourself,” he said, “for it is also a sister of double-mindedness and quick temper.”[67] 2 “How, sir,” I said, “is she their sister? It seems to me that quick temper is one thing, double-mindedness another, and grief another.” “You are senseless, man,” he said, “and do not understand that grief is more evil than all the spirits and most terrible for God’s servants. It ruins a person more than any other spirit does. It wears out the Holy Spirit, and yet it also saves.” 3 “Sir,” I said, “I am senseless and do not understand these parables. I do not see how it can wear out the Spirit and also save.” 4 “Listen,” he said. “Some have never inquired into the truth or sought to know about God. They have only believed, and they are mixed up with business and wealth and friendships with unbelievers and many other affairs of this age. All who are attached to these things do not understand the parables about God. For they are darkened by these activities, and they become corrupted and turn into wasteland.”
5 “Just as good vineyards, when they are neglected, turn to wasteland, choked by thorns and various weeds, so people who have believed, and fall into these many activities mentioned above, wander away from their understanding. They understand nothing at all about righteousness. Even when they hear about God and the truth, their mind is occupied with their business, and they understand nothing at all.” 6 “But some have the fear of God, inquire about God and the truth, and have their heart turned to the Lord. They understand and grasp everything said to them more quickly, because they have the fear of the Lord in themselves. For where the Lord lives, there is also great understanding. So hold fast to the Lord, and you will understand and grasp everything.” [Psalm 112]
Chapter 2
Grief and the Holy Spirit
1 “Now listen, you senseless man,” he said, “to how grief wears out the Holy Spirit and also saves.” 2 “When the double-minded person sets out on some action and fails at it because of his double-mindedness, this grief comes into the person. It grieves the Holy Spirit and wears the Spirit out.” 3 “Then again, when quick temper attaches itself to a person over some matter and he becomes very bitter, grief again comes into the heart of the quick-tempered person. He is sorry for the thing he did, and repents, because he did something evil.” 4 “So this grief seems to bring salvation, because after doing evil he repented. Still, both actions grieve the Spirit. Double-mindedness grieves the Spirit because the person did not succeed in what he set out to do. Quick temper grieves the Spirit because the person did evil. So both are painful to the Holy Spirit, double-mindedness and quick temper.”[68] [Ephesians 4:30]
5 “So take grief away from yourself, and do not afflict the Holy Spirit who lives in you, in case he pleads with God and leaves you.” 6 “For the Spirit of God, given to this flesh, does not put up with grief or distress.”
Chapter 3
Joyfulness
1 “So put on cheerfulness, which always has favor with God and is acceptable to him, and delight in it. For every cheerful person does good things, thinks good things, and despises grief.” 2 “But the gloomy person always does evil. First, he does evil because he grieves the Holy Spirit, who was given to the person as a cheerful spirit. Second, by grieving the Holy Spirit he does lawless things, since he does not pray or confess to the Lord. For the prayer of a gloomy person never has the power to go up to the altar of God.”[69] 3 “Why,” I said, “does the prayer of the gloomy person not go up to the altar?” “Because,” he said, “grief sits in his heart. Grief, mixed with the prayer, does not let the prayer go up pure to the altar. For just as vinegar and wine mixed together do not have the same pleasant taste, so grief mixed with the Holy Spirit does not make the same prayer.”
4 “So cleanse yourself of this evil grief, and you will live to God. And all who throw grief off themselves and put on complete cheerfulness will live to God.”
Mandate 11
Chapter 1
False and true prophets
1 He showed me some people sitting on a bench and another man sitting on a chair, and said to me, “Do you see the ones sitting on the bench?” “I see them, sir,” I said. “These,” he said, “are faithful, and the one sitting on the chair is a false prophet, who destroys the minds of God’s servants. But it is the minds of the double-minded he destroys, not of the faithful.”[70] 2 “So these double-minded people go to him as to a fortune-teller and ask him what will happen to them. And that false prophet, having no power of the divine Spirit in himself, speaks to them according to their questions and the desires of their wickedness, and fills their souls just as they wish.” 3 “For he himself is empty, and gives empty answers to the empty. Whatever he is asked, he answers according to the emptiness of the person. But he also speaks some true words, for the devil fills him with his own spirit, to see if he can break any of the righteous.”
4 “So all who are strong in the faith of the Lord, clothed in truth, do not attach themselves to such spirits but keep away from them. But those who are double-minded and are always repenting consult fortune-tellers as the pagans do. They bring a greater sin on themselves by their idolatry. For whoever asks a false prophet about some action is an idolater, empty of the truth, and foolish.” 5 “For no spirit given by God is consulted with questions. Instead, having the power of God, it speaks everything of itself, because it is from above, from the power of the divine Spirit.” 6 “But the spirit that is questioned and speaks according to people’s desires is earthly and lightweight, with no power. And it does not speak at all unless it is asked.” 7 “How then, sir,” I said, “will a person know which of them is a prophet and which is a false prophet?” “Listen,” he said, “about both prophets. And as I am going to tell you, so you will test the prophet and the false prophet. Test the person who has the divine Spirit by his life.”
8 “First, the one who has the Spirit from above is gentle, quiet, humble, and keeps away from all evil and the empty desires of this age. He makes himself poorer than all people. He gives no answer to anyone who asks him, and does not speak privately. The Holy Spirit does not speak when a person wants to speak, but speaks when God wants him to speak.” 9 “So when the person who has the divine Spirit comes into a gathering of righteous men who have faith in the divine Spirit, and prayer is made to God by the gathering of those men, then the angel of the prophetic spirit who is assigned to him fills the person. And the person, filled with the Holy Spirit, speaks to the congregation as the Lord wishes.”[71] 10 “In this way, then, the Spirit of God will be made plain. This is the power of the Lord concerning the Spirit of God.”
11 “Now listen,” he said, “about the earthly spirit that is empty, has no power, and is foolish.” 12 “First, that person who seems to have a spirit exalts himself and wants to have the seat of honor. At once he is brash, shameless, and talkative. He lives in much luxury and in many other deceptions, and he takes payment for his prophecy. If he does not get paid, he does not prophesy. Can a divine Spirit take payment and prophesy? It is not possible for a prophet of God to do this. The spirit of such prophets is earthly.”[72] 13 “Next, he does not come near a gathering of righteous men at all, but avoids them. He attaches himself to the double-minded and empty. He prophesies to them in a corner and deceives them, saying empty things about everything, just as they want to hear. For he is giving answers to empty people. An empty jar placed with other empty jars does not break; they fit together.”
14 “But when he comes into a gathering full of righteous men who have the Spirit of God, and prayer is made by them, that person is emptied. The earthly spirit flees from him in fear, and that person is struck dumb and is completely broken, unable to say anything.” 15 “For if you store wine or oil in a cellar, and put an empty jar among them, and then want to clear the cellar again, you will find that jar, which you put in empty, still empty. In the same way, when empty prophets come among the spirits of righteous people, they are found to be just as they came.” 16 “Now you know how both kinds of prophet live. So test the person who claims to be spirit-filled by his deeds and his life.” 17 “But you, believe the Spirit that comes from God and has power. Do not believe the earthly, empty spirit at all, because there is no power in it, for it comes from the devil.”
18 “Now listen to the parable I am going to tell you. Take a stone and throw it up at the sky; see if you can touch it. Or take a water squirt and squirt it at the sky; see if you can make a hole in the sky.” 19 “How, sir,” I said, “can these things happen? You have named two impossible things.” “Just as these things are impossible,” he said, “so the earthly spirits are powerless and weak.”[73] 20 “Now take the power that comes from above. Hail is a tiny pellet, and when it falls on a person’s head, how much pain it causes. Or take a drop that falls from a roof to the ground and bores through the stone.” 21 “You see, then, that the smallest things that fall from above onto the earth have great power. In the same way the divine Spirit coming from above is powerful. So believe this Spirit, and keep away from the other.”
Mandate 12
Chapter 1
Desire
1 He said to me, “Take every evil desire away from yourself, and put on the good and holy desire. For clothed with this desire, you will hate the evil desire and rein it in as you wish.”[74] 2 “For evil desire is wild and hard to tame. It is fearsome, and in its wildness it devours people. This is especially true if a servant of God falls into it and is not wise: he is terribly consumed by it. It consumes those who do not have the clothing of good desire but are mixed up with this age. It hands these over to death.” 3 “What are the works of evil desire, sir,” I said, “that hand people over to death? Show me so that I can keep away from them.” “Listen,” he said, “to the works through which evil desire kills the servants of God.”
Chapter 2
Carnal desires
1 “Above all is desire for another man’s wife or another woman’s husband. Then comes desire for extravagant wealth, for many useless foods and strong drinks, and for many other foolish luxuries. For every luxury is foolish and empty for God’s servants.” 2 “These desires are evil, and they kill God’s servants. For this evil desire is a daughter of the devil. So you must keep away from the evil desires, so that by keeping away you may live to God.” 3 “But all who are overpowered by them and do not resist them will die completely. For these desires are deadly.” 4 “But you, put on the desire for righteousness, and armed with the fear of the Lord, stand against them. For the fear of God lives in good desire. If evil desire sees you armed with the fear of God and standing against it, it will run far away from you, afraid of your weapons, and you will not see it again.”[75]
5 “So when you have defeated it and won the crown of victory over it, go to the desire for righteousness. Hand over to her the victory you won, and serve her as she wishes. If you serve the good desire and submit to her, you will be able to master the evil desire and subdue it as you wish.”
Chapter 3
1 “Sir,” I said, “I wanted to know in what ways I must serve the good desire.” “Listen,” he said. “Work righteousness and virtue, truth and the fear of the Lord, faith and gentleness, and whatever good things are like these. By doing these you will be a servant well pleasing to God and will live to him. And everyone who serves the good desire will live to God.”
Conclusion of Mandates
2 So he finished the twelve commandments and said to me, “You have these commandments. Walk in them and encourage those who hear, so that their repentance may be pure for the rest of the days of their life.” 3 “Carry out this ministry that I give you with care, and you will accomplish much. For you will find favor with those who are about to repent, and they will be persuaded by your words. For I will be with you, and I will compel them to be persuaded by you.” 4 I said to him, “Sir, these commandments are great, good, glorious, and able to gladden the heart of the person who can keep them. But I do not know whether people can keep these commandments, because they are very hard.” 5 He answered me, “If you make up your mind that they can be kept, you will easily keep them, and they will not be hard. But if the thought has already entered your heart that they cannot be kept by a person, you will not keep them.”[76]
6 “Now I tell you: if you do not keep these but neglect them, you will not have salvation, nor your children, nor your household. For you have already decided for yourself that these commandments cannot be kept by a person.”
Chapter 4
1 He said this to me very angrily, so that I was confused and very afraid of him. His appearance changed, so that no human being could bear his anger. 2 When he saw me completely shaken and confused, he began to speak to me more gently and cheerfully. He said, “Foolish, senseless, double-minded man, don’t you understand the glory of God, how great, strong, and wonderful it is, that he created the world for the sake of man, and put all his creation under man, and gave him all authority to rule over everything under heaven?”[77] 3 “So if man,” he said, “is lord of all God’s creatures and rules over everything, can he not also rule over these commandments? The person who has the Lord in his heart,” he said, “can rule over everything, including all these commandments.” 4 “But those who have the Lord on their lips, while their heart is hardened and they are far from the Lord: for them these commandments are hard and difficult to walk in.”[78]
5 “So you who are empty and light in faith, put your Lord in your heart, and you will know that nothing is easier than these commandments, or sweeter, or gentler.” 6 “Turn back, you who walk in the commandments of the devil, which are difficult, bitter, wild, and shameless, and do not fear the devil, because there is no power in him against you.” 7 “For I, the angel of repentance who rules over him, will be with you. The devil has only fear to work with, and the fear he causes has no strength. So do not fear him, and he will run from you.”
Chapter 5
1 I said to him, “Sir, listen to a few words from me.” “Say what you want,” he said. “Sir,” I said, “a person is eager to keep God’s commandments, and there is no one who does not ask the Lord to be strengthened in his commandments and submit to them. But the devil is harsh and overpowers them.” 2 “He cannot,” he said, “overpower God’s servants who hope in God with their whole heart. The devil can wrestle with them, but he cannot throw them down. So if you stand against him, he will be defeated and flee from you in shame. But those who are completely empty,” he said, “fear the devil as though he had power.”[79] 3 “When someone fills a great many jars with good wine, and among those jars a few are only half full, he comes to the jars and doesn’t check the full ones, for he knows they are full. He checks the half-empty ones, afraid they have turned to vinegar. For half-empty jars quickly turn to vinegar, and the pleasure of the wine is lost.”
4 “In the same way the devil comes to all God’s servants to tempt them. All who are full in faith stand strongly against him, and he leaves them, because he has no place to get in. Then he goes to the half-empty ones, and finding room, he gets into them. He does what he wants in them, and they become his slaves.”
Chapter 6
1 “But I, the angel of repentance, tell you: do not fear the devil. For I was sent,” he said, “to be with you who repent with your whole heart and to strengthen you in faith.” 2 “So believe God, you who have given up on your life because of your sins, who keep adding to your sins and weighing down your life. Believe that if you turn to the Lord with your whole heart, and do what is right for the rest of your life, and serve him rightly according to his will, he will heal your earlier sins. Then you will have power to master the works of the devil. But do not fear the devil’s threats at all, for he has no strength, like the sinews of a dead man.” 3 “So listen to me, and fear the one who can do all things, who is able to save and to destroy. Keep these commandments, and you will live to God.”[80]
4 I said to him, “Sir, now I have been strengthened in all the requirements of the Lord, because you are with me. I know that you will crush all the power of the devil, and we will master him and prevail over all his works. And I hope, sir, that I can keep these commandments you have given, with the Lord strengthening me.” 5 “You will keep them,” he said, “if your heart becomes pure toward the Lord. And all will keep them who cleanse their hearts of the empty desires of this age, and they will live to God.”
Similitude 1
Chapter 1
Christians are strangers in the world
1 He said to me, “You know that you, God’s servants, are living in a foreign land. For your city is far from this city. So if you know your city, where you are going to live,” he said, “why are you preparing fields, costly furnishings, buildings, and useless dwellings here?”[81] 2 “So whoever prepares these things for this city cannot return to his own city.” 3 “You foolish, double-minded, wretched person, don’t you understand that all these things are foreign to you and under someone else’s authority? For the lord of this city will say, ‘I do not want you to live in my city. Leave this city, because you do not follow my laws.’” 4 “So you, who have fields, houses, and many other possessions, when he throws you out, what will you do with your field, your house, and the rest of what you prepared for yourself? For the lord of this country rightly says to you, ‘Either follow my laws or leave my country.’”
5 “So what will you do, you who have a law in your own city? Will you completely deny your law because of your fields and the rest of your property, and walk by the law of this city? Be careful that denying your law does not turn out to harm you. For if you want to return to your city, you will not be received, because you denied the law of your city, and you will be shut out from it.” 6 “So watch out. Since you are living in a foreign land, prepare nothing more for yourself than what is enough for you. And be ready. Then, when the master of this city wants to throw you out for opposing his law, you can leave his city and go to your own city. There you can follow your own law with joy, and no one will mistreat you.” 7 “So watch out, you who serve the Lord and have him in your heart. Do the works of God, remembering his commandments and the promises he made. Trust him to fulfill those promises, if his commandments are kept.”
8 “So instead of fields, buy souls in distress, as each of you is able. Visit widows and orphans, and do not overlook them. Spend your wealth and all your possessions on fields and houses of this kind, which you received from God.”[82] 9 “For the Master made you rich for this purpose, to carry out these services for him. It is much better to buy such fields, possessions, and houses, which you will find in your own city when you arrive there.”[83] 10 “This extravagance is good and holy. It brings no grief or fear, only joy. So do not practice the extravagance of the Gentiles, for it does you no good, since you are God’s servants.” 11 “But practice your own extravagance, in which you can rejoice. Do not counterfeit, and do not touch what belongs to someone else or desire it, for it is evil to desire what belongs to others. Do your own work, and you will be saved.”[84]
Notes
[1] This opens the first of the “Visions.” Hermas tells his story in the first person. Almost everything we know about him comes from the book itself. A later document, the Muratorian Fragment, says that Hermas wrote the book in Rome while his brother Pius was bishop there.
[2] The Greek place name is usually taken to mean Cumae, a town on the coast near Naples. Some scholars think it refers to a place nearer Rome, or simply means “the villages.”
[3] This echoes Jesus’ teaching that sin begins in the heart (Matthew 5:28).
[4] The verb usually means “repent,” but here it may mean a regret that comes too late.
[5] “Fully grown” translates a Greek word meaning “complete” or “full-grown.” It may refer to sins actually carried out, as opposed to sinful thoughts.
[6] The old woman is the church. This is revealed in Vision 2, and Vision 3 explains why she appears old.
[7] This points to a major theme of the book. Hermas’s children have sinned against the Lord, even blaspheming him and betraying their parents (Vision 2.2), and Hermas has failed to correct them.
[8] “Set the earth on the waters” echoes Psalm 24:2 and Psalm 136:6.
[9] The word for “be brave” (andrizou) is the same verb Paul uses in 1 Corinthians 16:13 (“act like men,” “be courageous”).
[10] Most translators take Kōmas as the town of Cumae near Naples. Some scholars have suggested it may simply mean “to the countryside” or “to the villages.”
[11] “Who will be a sister to you” is usually understood to mean that Hermas and his wife will from now on live together without sexual relations, though the exact sense is debated.
[12] “Double-mindedness” (dipsychia), literally “two-souledness,” is one of Hermas’s most important words. It means being divided in loyalty, wavering in trust toward God. James 1:8 and 4:8 use the related adjective dipsychos (“double-minded”).
[13] Hermas teaches that a set time of repentance has been fixed for believers, after which there is no more. The New Testament sets no such deadline. It promises forgiveness to believers who confess their sins (1 John 1:9), though Hebrews 6:4–6 does give a stern warning about falling away. Later, in Mandate 4.3, Hermas explains his teaching as a single repentance granted to believers who sin after baptism.
[14] Christians in the Roman world sometimes faced persecution, and some denied Christ under pressure. Here Hermas treats past and future denial differently. Those who denied Christ before this revelation can find mercy. Those who deny him in the coming tribulation are said to be cut off.
[15] “Your sister” most likely means Hermas’s wife. Earlier, in 2.2.3, she is called the wife “who is to be your sister.” This seems to mean that from now on they will live together as brother and sister in the faith.
[16] Eldad and Modat are the two men called Eldad and Medad in Numbers 11:26–29, who prophesied in the camp. The book quoted here, a writing under their names, has not survived.
[17] The Sibyl was a legendary prophetess of the pagan world, and Jews and Christians also wrote “Sibylline” oracles. Hermas’s first guess shows how people in his world thought about revelations. The idea that the church existed “first of all” can be compared with Ephesians 1:4, where God chose his people “before the foundation of the world.”
[18] This Clement is probably the Clement of Rome who wrote 1 Clement, but we cannot be sure. The passage shows that the church at Rome already had leaders who were called “elders,” and a person who handled letters to other churches. Nothing else is known of Grapte.
[19] The Greek verb behind “where you farm” is rare and its exact sense is uncertain. It may be connected with growing grain.
[20] The Greek word for “bench” is borrowed from the Latin subsellium, a bench or seat.
[21] Compare Mark 10:35–40, where James and John ask to sit at Jesus’ right and left. Jesus answers by speaking of the suffering they will share with him.
[22] Hermas is told that these revelations are finished, yet more revelations follow later in the book. The author probably means that this particular series of revelations is complete.
[23] The image of the church as a building made of stones (people) fits 1 Peter 2:5 and Ephesians 2:20–22.
[24] “The name” may mean God’s name or the name of the Son of God; later in the book Hermas says the name of the Son of God holds up the whole world (Parables 9.14.5).
[25] The six building angels are Hermas’s own picture. The Bible speaks of angels as servants sent to help those who will inherit salvation (Hebrews 1:14), but it never describes them as builders of the church.
[26] This is one of the early lists of church ministries. Hermas speaks of “bishops” (overseers) and “deacons”, as Paul does in Philippians 1:1. The three verbs “watched over, taught, and served” match the three offices of bishop, teacher and deacon.
[27] Hermas offers sinners a limited time to repent, before the tower is finished; this deadline is a distinctive feature of his book.
[28] The Greek word describes a rough, scaly surface, like skin with a rash or mange.
[29] This is one of the book’s main warnings: wealth and business make it hard for Christians to stay faithful under pressure. Compare Mark 10:23–25 and 1 Timothy 6:9–10.
[30] The Greek of the last sentence is difficult and may be corrupt. It seems to mean that Hermas himself was once one of these stones.
[31] Hermas does not say whether this torment happens in this life or after death; in Parables 6–7 (also called Similitudes), “torment” means troubles in this life, such as losses and sickness, sent to punish and correct.
[32] The seven women (Faith, Self-control, Simplicity, Knowledge, Innocence, Reverence, Love) are virtues that carry the tower. Compare the chain of virtues in 2 Peter 1:5–7.
[33] The speaker is the elderly woman, who was revealed in Vision 2 to be the Church. “Children” means the church’s members.
[34] The Greek phrase rendered “lavishly” (ek katachymatos) is unusual. It seems to mean “in overflowing abundance.”
[35] In this vision the tower being built stands for the church (Vision 3.3.3).
[36] Compare James 5:1–6, which also warns the rich that the cries of the poor reach God.
[37] Compare Jesus’ warning against those who love the best seats (Matthew 23:6).
[38] “Throw your cares on the Lord” echoes Psalm 55:22 and 1 Peter 5:7.
[39] The “four elements” are those of Greek natural philosophy: earth, water, air, and fire.
[40] The Via Campana was a road leading out of Rome. It is usually thought to have run along the right bank of the Tiber toward the coast. A stade was about 185 meters, so ten stades is a little under two kilometers.
[41] “Double-minded” (Greek dipsychos) means wavering between trust and doubt. It is one of Hermas’s favorite words. The same adjective appears in James 1:8 and 4:8.
[42] The Greek word (keramos) can mean an earthenware jar or a roof tile, so the exact picture is unclear.
[43] The four colors are explained later in this vision (4.3).
[44] The church’s bridal appearance (4.2.1) recalls Revelation 21:2, where the new Jerusalem comes down “as a bride adorned for her husband.”
[45] Thegri is the angel set over wild beasts. The name is not known from any other source, and the manuscripts spell it in different ways. Compare Daniel 6:22, where God’s angel shuts the lions’ mouths.
[46] “Throw your cares on the Lord” echoes Psalm 55:22 (54:23 in the Greek Old Testament) and 1 Peter 5:7.
[47] The last sentence echoes Jesus’ words about Judas in Matthew 26:24 and Mark 14:21.
[48] Compare 1 Peter 1:6–7, where faith is tested by trials as gold is tested by fire.
[49] This is the Shepherd who gives the book its name. In 5.1.7 Hermas calls him “the angel of repentance.”
[50] “The most venerable angel” is not named. Some readers have taken him to be Christ, others Michael, but Hermas does not say.
[51] This is the first Mandate (commandment). Irenaeus quotes it as “Scripture,” without naming Hermas (Against Heresies 4.20.2), and Origen and others also valued it highly. Compare Ephesians 4:6.
[52] This is one of the best-known and most debated teachings of the book. After baptism there is a single further chance of repentance, which Hermas presents as offered to those already called. Tertullian, writing later as a Montanist (On Modesty 10, 20), attacked the book from the opposite side: he thought it too lenient and called it the “Shepherd of adulterers.” The New Testament promises forgiveness to believers who confess their sins (1 John 1:9) and speaks of Christ as their advocate when they sin (1 John 2:1), with no such limit.
[53] Compare 1 Corinthians 7:8–9, 39–40. Like Paul, Hermas says remarriage after a spouse’s death is not sin, while counting remaining single as the better course.
[54] This begins the fifth Mandate (Commandment), which is about patience and quick temper.
[55] “The vessel” is the person in whom the Spirit lives. For the Holy Spirit living in the believer, compare 1 Corinthians 6:19.
[56] Hermas does not say who “the most venerable angel” is, and scholars disagree; some think of Michael, others of the Son of God. In the New Testament, people are justified by God through Christ (Romans 3:24–26), not by an angel.
[57] “Double-minded” is a favorite word of Hermas. The same Greek word appears in James 1:8 and 4:8.
[58] Compare the picture in Matthew 12:43–45 of a person left empty and then filled with evil spirits.
[59] This is the sixth Mandate. The first commandment (6.1) told Hermas to believe in God, fear him and practise self-control.
[60] Similar ideas appear in Jewish writings of the period, such as the Dead Sea Scrolls’ Community Rule, which speaks of two spirits of truth and falsehood. Barnabas 18 also sets angels of light and angels of Satan over the two ways. Scripture speaks of the struggle between flesh and Spirit (Galatians 5:17), but it does not teach that two angels dwell with each person.
[61] This is the seventh Mandate. Its opening words echo Ecclesiastes 12:13 (“Fear God and keep his commandments”). “Fear” here means reverence for God, as in Proverbs 1:7.
[62] Compare James 4:7: “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
[63] This is the eighth Mandate.
[64] Caring for widows and orphans echoes James 1:27, and the call to hospitality echoes Hebrews 13:2. Ransoming fellow Christians from captivity or slavery is also mentioned in other early Christian writings (for example, 1 Clement 55:2).
[65] This is the ninth Mandate, on prayer and doubt. Compare James 1:5–8, where “double-minded” (dipsychos) is the adjective related to Hermas’s “double-mindedness” (dipsychia).
[66] Compare James 3:15–17, which contrasts wisdom “from above” with wisdom that is “earthly” and “demonic.”
[67] This is the tenth Mandate. The word for “grief” (lypē) means sadness or sorrow. Hermas goes on to say that grief harms the Holy Spirit, yet it can also lead to repentance. Compare Paul’s distinction between godly and worldly grief in 2 Corinthians 7:10.
[68] The phrase “grieve the Holy Spirit” echoes Ephesians 4:30.
[69] The “grief” (lypē) Hermas condemns here is gloom or sullen sadness, treated as a vice that grieves the Holy Spirit.
[70] This is the eleventh Mandate, on how to tell true and false prophets apart. Compare the Didache 11–12, 1 John 4:1 and Matthew 7:15–20.
[71] Hermas pictures Christian prophecy as happening in the gathered church, in the context of prayer. Compare 1 Corinthians 14:29–32.
[72] Compare the Didache 11.6, which says an apostle who asks for money is a false prophet, and 11.12, which says not to listen to one who says in the Spirit, “Give me money.”
[73] There is a wordplay in the Greek. The same word, adynata, means “impossible” when used of the two tasks and “powerless” when used of the earthly spirits.
[74] This is the twelfth Mandate. Compare Romans 13:14 and Galatians 5:16.
[75] Compare Ephesians 6:11–17 and James 4:7.
[76] Compare 1 John 5:3: “His commandments are not burdensome.”
[77] Compare Psalm 8:6 and Genesis 1:28.
[78] Compare Isaiah 29:13, quoted by Jesus in Matthew 15:8: “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.”
[79] Compare James 4:7: “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
[80] The phrase “able to save and to destroy” echoes James 4:12. Compare also Matthew 10:28.
[81] This is the first Parable (Similitude). It pictures Christians as foreigners living in this world. Compare Philippians 3:20, Hebrews 11:13–16, Hebrews 13:14 and 1 Peter 2:11.
[82] Compare James 1:27. “Buying” souls in distress may mean paying to free people from slavery or captivity, or more generally spending money to relieve those in need.
[83] Compare Matthew 6:19–20 and Luke 16:9.
[84] The Greek word for “counterfeit” was used of forging or debasing coins. Exactly what Hermas means by it here is not clear.