Shepherd of Hermas 19

First Testament

Second Testament

Shepherd of Hermas

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Kirsopp Lake ▾

1“Listen,” he said, “concerning the forms which you are asking about. 2Why did she appear to you in the first vision as old and seated on a chair? Because your spirit is old and already fading away, and has no power through your weakness and double-mindedness.^a 3For just as old people, who have no longer any hope of becoming young again, look for nothing except their last sleep, so also you, who have been weakened by the occupations of this life, have given yourself up to worry, and have not ‘cast your cares upon the Lord.’ But your mind was broken, and you grew old in your sorrows.” 4“Why, then, I should like to know, did she sit in a chair, sir?” “Because every sick person sits in a chair because of his sickness, that the weakness of the body may find support. Here you have the type of the first vision.

Footnotes

a2 Because your — This ‘your’ is plural, in contrast to the ‘you’ in the preceding sentence, which is singular.