Stromata Editions · The Shepherd of Hermas
Mandate III
Man. 3.1–3.5
Complete audiobook →Greek source
Πάλιν μοι λέγει· Ἀλήθειαν ἀγάπα, καὶ πᾶσα ἀλήθεια ἐκ τοῦ στόματός σου ἐκπορευέσθω, ἵνα τὸ πνεῦμα, ὃ ὁ θεὸς κατῴκισεν ἐν τῇ σαρκὶ ταύτῃ, ἀληθὲς εὑρεθῇ παρὰ πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις, καὶ οὕτως δοξασθήσεται ὁ κύριος ὁ ἐν σοὶ κατοικῶν· ὅτι ὁ κύριος ἀληθινὸς ἐν παντὶ ῥήματι, καὶ οὐδὲν παρ’ αὐτῷ ψεῦδος.
Translation
Again he said to me, “Love truth, and let nothing but truth come from your mouth, so that the spirit God has made to dwell in this flesh may be found truthful before everyone. In this way the Lord who dwells in you will be glorified, because the Lord is true in every word, and there is no falsehood in him.
Greek source
οἱ οὖν ψευδόμενοι ἀθετοῦσι τὸν κύριον καὶ γίνονται ἀποστερηταὶ τοῦ κυρίου, μὴ παραδιδόντες αὐτῷ τὴν παρακαταθήκην ἣν ἔλαβον. ἔλαβον γὰρ παρ’ αὐτοῦ πνεῦμα ἄψευστον. τοῦτο ἐὰν ψευδὲς ἀποδώσωσιν, ἐμίαναν τὴν ἐντολὴν τοῦ κυρίου καὶ ἐγένοντο ἀποστερηταί.
Translation
“Those who lie therefore reject the Lord and defraud him, failing to return the deposit entrusted to them. For they received from him a spirit free from falsehood. If they return it false, they have defiled the Lord's commandment and become defrauders.”
Greek source
ταῦτα οὖν ἀκούσας ἐγὼ ἔκλαυσα λίαν. ἰδὼν δέ με κλαίοντα λέγει· Τί κλαίεις; Ὅτι, φημί, κύριε, οὐκ οἶδα εἰ δύναμαι σωθῆναι. Διατί; φησίν. Οὐδέπω γάρ, φημί, κύριε, ἐν τῇ ἐμῇ ζωῇ ἀληθὲς ἐλάλησα ῥῆμα, ἀλλὰ πάντοτε πανούργως ἔζησα μετὰ πάντων, καὶ τὸ ψεῦδός μου ἀληθὲς ἐπέδειξα παρὰ πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις· καὶ οὐδέποτέ μοι οὐδεὶς ἀντεῖπεν, ἀλλ’ ἐπιστεύθη τῷ λόγῳ μου.
Translation
When I heard this, I wept bitterly. Seeing me weep, he said, “Why are you weeping?” “Because, sir,” I said, “I do not know whether I can be saved.” “Why?” he asked. “Sir,” I said, “I have never yet spoken a true word in my life. I have always dealt craftily with everyone and presented my falsehood as truth before all people. No one ever contradicted me; my word was believed.
Greek source
πῶς οὖν, φημί, κύριε, δύναμαι ζῆσαι ταῦτα πράξας; Σὺ μέν, φησί, καλῶς καὶ ἀληθῶς φρονεῖς· ἔδει γάρ σε ὡς θεοῦ δοῦλον ἐν ἀληθείᾳ πορεύεσθαι καὶ πονηρὰν συνείδησιν μετὰ τοῦ πνεύματος τῆς ἀληθείας μὴ κατοικεῖν, μηδὲ λύπην ἐπάγειν τῷ πνεύματι τῷ σεμνῷ καὶ ἀληθεῖ. Οὐδέποτε, φημί, κύριε, τοιαῦτα ῥήματα ἀκριβῶς ἤκουσα.
Translation
“How, then, sir, can I live after doing these things?” “Your understanding is right and true,” he said. “As God's servant, you ought to have lived in truth, not allowed an evil conscience to dwell with the spirit of truth, and not brought grief upon the reverent and truthful spirit.” “Sir,” I said, “I have never heard such words explained so precisely.”
Greek source
Νῦν οὖν, φησίν, ἀκούεις· φύλασσε αὐτά, ἵνα καὶ τὰ πρότερα ἃ ἐλάλησας ψευδῆ ἐν ταῖς πραγματείαις σου, τούτων εὑρεθέντων ἀληθινῶν, κἀκεῖνα πιστὰ γένηται· δύναται γὰρ κἀκεῖνα πιστὰ γενέσθαι. ἐὰν ταῦτα φυλάξῃς καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ νῦν πᾶσαν ἀλήθειαν λαλήσῃς, δυνήσῃ σεαυτῷ ζωὴν περιποιήσασθαι. καὶ ὃς ἂν ἀκούσῃ τὴν ἐντολὴν ταύτην καὶ ἀφέξεται τοῦ πονηροτάτου ψεύσματος, ζήσεται τῷ θεῷ.
Translation
“Now you hear them,” he said. “Keep them. Then, when these words of yours are found true, even the false things you said earlier in your business dealings may become credible. Even those can become credible. If you keep these things and speak nothing but truth from now on, you will be able to gain life for yourself. Whoever hears this commandment and abstains from that most wicked falsehood will live for God.”
Reader’s notes
1. 3.1–2
The spirit dwelling in the flesh and the spirit entrusted as a deposit are retained as the text's own images. They have not been converted into a description of personal authenticity or a later doctrinal formula.
2. 3.5 — open question
The chosen Greek says that Hermas's earlier false statements can become πιστά, “credible.” The repeated assertion is preserved despite its difficulty. The passage may concern the credibility his later truthful conduct gives his earlier dealings; the text does not explicitly explain how statements admitted to be false become credible. “Forgiven” would silently resolve a different problem and is not substituted. The exact force remains open.
About this edition
English translation v02. Greek source v01: Molly Whittaker, second revised edition, 1967; Patristic Text Archive (2018), Annette von Stockhausen — conversion to CTS-compliant PTA TEI and markup of places and persons. Technical derivative: Stromata Editions, 2026-09-29. Fixed version ef861ab3.
Dotted underlining marks editorial supplied spans in the selected source and the corresponding translation, including partial spans. The sign alone does not establish the intervention’s nature or necessarily indicate a conjecture. Original square brackets are preserved.
Latin ending: the ancient Vulgata edited by Adolphus Hilgenfeld, Hermae Pastor (Leipzig, 1873), pp. 155–164; project source HER-ENDING-SOURCE-v01. Hilgenfeld took the insertion in Sim. 10.2.4 from the Palatina and added habet himself. The Greek digital source’s license does not automatically cover the Latin edition or the translations.
The translation is a reviewed working version following an AI editorial pass; human philological review is not claimed.
The reproduced Greek source and its technical derivative: CC BY-SA 4.0. Whitespace adapted for reading; words and diacritics preserved. Attribution does not imply endorsement of Stromata by PTA contributors.
Vulgata · Hilgenfeld 1873 · StromataPTA · ef861ab3CC BY-SA 4.0
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