Shepherd of Hermas 33

First Testament

Second Testament

Shepherd of Hermas

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Kirsopp Lake ▾

1“Be,” said he, “long-suffering and prudent and you shall have power over all evil deeds and shalt do all righteousness.^a 2For if you are courageous the Holy Spirit which dwells in you will be pure, not obscured by another evil spirit, but will dwell at large and rejoice and be glad with the body in which it dwells, and will serve God in great cheerfulness, having well-being in itself. 3But if any against ill temper enter, at once the Holy Spirit, which is delicate, is oppressed, finding the place impure, and seeks to depart out of the place, for it is choked by the evil spirit, having no room to serve the Lord as it will, but is contaminated by the bitterness. For the Lord dwells in long-suffering and the devil dwells in ill temper. 4If therefore, both spirits dwell in the same place it is unprofitable and evil for that man in whom they dwell. 5For if you take a little wormwood, and pour into it a jar of honey, is not the whole honey spoilt? And a great quantity of honey is ruined by a very little wormwood, and it spoils the sweetness of the honey, and it has no longer the same favour with the master, because it has been mixed and he has lost its use. But if no wormwood be put into the honey, the honey is found to be sweet, and becomes valuable to the master. 6You see that long suffering is very sweet, surpassing honey, and is valuable to the Lord and he dwells in it. But ill temper is bitter and useless. If, therefore, ill temper be mixed with courage, the courage is defiled, and its intercession is no longer valuable before God.” 7“I would like, sir,” said I, “to know the working of ill temper, that I may be preserved from it.” “Indeed,” said he, “if you do not keep from it, both you and your house, you have destroyed all your hope. But keep from it, for I am with you. And all shall refrain from it, who repent with all their heart; for I will be with them, and will preserve them, for all have been made righteous by the most revered angel.

Footnotes

a1 said he, “ long-suffering — The translation of μακροθυμία and ὀξυχολία is difficult. Maxpoduula is a little more than “long suffering ” and almost equals courage. ὀξυχολία is a rare word, literally ‘‘ quickness to wrath,” but this phrase does not convey in English the bad sense which Hermas obviously implies.