The Shepherd

Most of the book was written in the form of a dialog between the author and various divine figures. Hermas, seeking guidance, asks many questions and receives many answers.

Authorship and Date: The book was probably written in stages, with the earliest material appearing mostly toward the beginning. The Muratorian Canon identifies the author as having lived during the time of overseer Pius in Rome (d. 161 CE), and the writing does seem to fit during this period. It was probably begun several years before 160 CE and finished around that time. He cites a version of Daniel that may be connected to the translation of Theodotian, which also arose around 160 CE, so the (final?) author may have been associated with Theodotian or the city of Ephesus, even though the original author indicates that he spent "many years" in Italy.

The (first?) author had spent quite some time as a slave. This shows in his choice of words, for he employs language related to slavery frequently throughout the book.

The Shepherd was widely read among early Christians and appears bound into some Biblical codices, including Codex Sinaiticus (IV century). The most complete Greek manuscripts containing Hermas are Codex Sinaticus and the Athos Codex (XIV century), although there are a number of extant fragments. Portions of the Shepherd (near the end) are not extant at all in Greek. Typically, these segments are translated into other languages from Latin.

The Translation:

Visions

Vision 1

ONE

The one who raised me, had sold me to a certain Rhoda in Rome. After many years, I met her again, and began to love her like a sister. After a certain time I saw her bathing in the river Tiber, and I gave her my hand and led her out of the river. Then when I noticed her beauty, I reasoned in my heart, saying, "I would be happy if I had such a woman as my wife, both in beauty and in character." I considered this alone and nothing else.

After a certain time, as I was traveling to Kuma and glorifying God's creatures (as are their greatness and splendor and power), I fell asleep while walking, and a spirit took me and carried me away through a pathless area through which no human being was able to pass. (For the place was dangerous, and cracked because of the waters.) So when I crossed the river, I went into a level place, and I put down my knees and began to pray to the Lord and to acknowledge my sins.

Now while I was praying the sky opened, and I saw that lady, the one whom I had strongly desired, greeting me from the sky, saying, "Hello, Hermas."
And I saw her and said to her, "Lady, what are you doing here?"
Then she answered me: "I was taken up, so that I would convince you of your sins in the Lord's presence."
I said to her, "Are you convincing me now?"
She said, "No. But listen to the declarations that I am about to speak. God, the one who lives in the heavens and who created out of nothing the things that exist, and who multiplied and augmented them for his holy assembly's sake, is angry with you because you sinned against me."

I answered her, saying, "I sinned against you? In what way? Did I ever speak a disgraceful declaration to you? Didn't I always regard you as a goddess? Didn't I always respect you as a sister? Oh woman, why do you falsely charge me with such evil things and uncleanness?"

She laughed, saying to me, "The strong desire for evil entered your heart. No, don't you think that it is an evil practice for a just man if evil strong desire enters his heart?"
She said, "It is indeed a sin and a great one too, for the just man considers just plans. Therefore, while his plans are just, his glory is steadfast in the heavens, and he has the Lord easily atoned in all his practices. But those who plan evil in their hearts bring death and captivity on themselves -- even those who claim for themselves this present work and boast in its riches, and do not cling to the good things that are about to come. Their souls will experience mental change -- those who do not have hope but who have abandoned themselves and their lives. But you pray to God, and he will heal your sins and those of your household, and of all the holy ones."

After she spoke these declarations, the skies were closed, and I was wholly terrified and grieved. Now I said within myself, "If this sin is recorded to me, how am I able to be saved? Or how will I atone to God for my sins which have been completed? Or with what declarations will I beg the Lord, so that he would forgive me?"

While I was agreeing with and separating these matters in my heart, I saw in my presence a large white chair made of white wool. And an older lady came in shimmering clothing, holding a scroll in her hands. And she sat down alone, and she greeted me, "Hello, Hermas." And I was grieving and calling out, saying, "Hello, lady."
And she said to me, "Hermas, why are you sad -- you who are longsuffering and good-tempered and are always smiling? Why are you so downcast in your looks, and not happy?" And I said to her, "Because a good woman has said that I sinned against her."

Then she said, "May this practice be from God's slave! But all these things did enter your heart about her. Now such a plan does indeed bring about sin to God's slave, for it is an evil plan, and it is astounding for it to test a spirit that is already all-majestic -- that it should strongly desire an evil deed. And especially Hermas the self-controlled, who abstains from every evil strong desire, and is full of all simplicity and of great innocence.

"On the contrary, God is not angry with you on account of these things, but so that you would turn your lawless household to the Lord and to you their parents. But out of familial affection you didn't reprove your household, instead allowing them to decay completely. For this reason the Lord is angry with you. But he will heal all of the evils that were done earlier by your household. For you were corrupted by life's practicalities on account of their sins and acts of lawlessness.

"But the Lord's great mercy came to you and your household. And it will strengthen you and establish you in his glory. Only do not be careless; on the contrary, be of good courage, and strengthen your household. For just as the blacksmith hammering his work is victorious over the practice that he wants, so also is the just person's daily message victorious over all evil. Therefore, do not stop warning your children; for I know that if they will change their minds with their whole hearts, they will be written in the scrolls of life with the holy ones."

After the stopping of these declarations of hers, she said to me, "Do you want to listen to me read?"
And I said, "I want that, lady."
She said to me, "Become attentive, and hear of God's glories." I listened greatly and with wonder to things that I was strong enough to remember. For all the declarations were frightening, such as no human being is able to bear. So, I remembered the last declarations, for they made sense for us and were gentle.

"Look, the God of the powers, the one who loves, who created the universe through his mighty power and great intellect, and who clothed his creation in beauty through his glorious plan, and who held fast the sky and founded the land on the waters through his strong declaration, and who created his holy assembly (which he also praised) through his own wisdom and forethought -- Look, he is removing the skies and the mountains and the hills and the seas. And all things are becoming level for his chosen ones, so that he would fulfill to them the promise that he made with much glory and joy, if they pierce God's customs which they received with great trust."

So when she finished reading and got up from her seat, four young men came, and they took away the seat, and they went away toward the east. Now she called me to her, and she touched my chest, and she said to me, "Did my reading please you?" And I said to her, "Lady, these last things please me, but the first ones were difficult and hard." Then she spoke to me, saying, "These last sayings are for the just, but the earlier ones are for the nations and the chaotic."

While she was still speaking with me, a certain two men appeared and took her by the arms. And they left to the place where the seat also had gone, toward the east. Now she smiled as she left, and as she was going, she said to me, "Be a man, Hermas."

Vision 2

During the season (like last year), I was going to Kuma, and I was remembering last year's vision as I walked. And again a spirit took me and carried me away to the same place as last year. So when I came to the place, I put down my knees and began to pray to the Lord, and to glorify his name, because he considered me worthy, and made my earlier sins known to me.

Now after I had risen from prayer, I saw the older lady -- the one whom I had seen last year also -- in my presence, walking and reading a little scroll. And she said to me, "Are you able to relate these things to God's chosen ones?"
I told her, "Lady, I am unable to remember so much. But give me the little scroll, so that I may rewrite it."
"Take it, be certain, and return it to me."

I took it and went away to a certain place in the country, and I rewrote every letter -- for didn't find the syllables. Then when I had finished the letters of the little scroll, the little scroll was suddenly grabbed from my hand -- but by whom I did not see.

Now after fifteen days of my fasting and of much begging the Lord, the knowledge of the writing was revealed to me. And this is what was written:
"Hermas, your descendants have sinned against God, and have spoken evil of the Lord, and have betrayed their parents through great evil. And they are heard to be betrayers of parents, and they did not profit in betraying. On the contrary, they added violence and disarray to their sins, and so their lawless deeds were filled.

"However, make these declarations known to all your children, and to your spouse who is about to be your sister -- for also she does not stop her tongue, with which she does evil. But when she hears these declarations, she will stop and will have mercy. After you have made known to them all of these declarations -- the ones that the Sovereign directed me, so that they be revealed to you -- then will be forgiven of them all those sins of theirs that they sinned previously (and of all the holy ones who have sinned to this day), if they change their minds with their whole hearts, and remove double-mindedness from their hearts.

"For the Sovereign swore according to his own glory about his chosen ones, definitely, that if sins are still happening after this day, they will not have salvation. For mental change for the just has an end. The days of mental change have been completed for all the holy ones. And there is mental change for the nations until that last day.

"Therefore, you will speak to those who are leading in the assembly, so that they would straighten their paths in justification -- so that they would receive in full the promises with much glory.

"Therefore you who are doing what is right be steadfast, and don't be double-minded, so that you would make passage with the holy messengers. You are blessed, as many as endure the great affliction that is coming, and as many as do not deny their lives. For the Lord swore about his son's life, that those who denied their anointed one would be rejected from their life -- those who are now about to deny in the coming days. But to those who denied previously, mercy has happened to them on account of his many mercies.

"Now you, Hermas, no longer hold a grudge against your children, nor allow your sister to do so, so that they would be cleansed from their former sins. For they will be educated with a just education if you don't hold a grudge against them. The holding of a grudge works death. But you, Hermas, have had great afflictions of your own, on account of your household's wanderings, because you did not care about them. On the contrary, you neglected them and were mixed up with your evil practices.

"But this saves you: that you did not depart from the living God, and from your simplicity and your great self-control. These things will have saved you, if you remain. And they save all who do such things, and walk in innocence and simplicity. These people are victorious over all evil, and they continue into eternal life.

"Blessed are all those who do what is right; they will not be destroyed into the age.

"But you will say to Maximus, 'Look, if you think it makes sense to deny a second time, then affliction is coming.' 'Yahweh is near those who turn to him,' as it is written in Eldad and Modat, who prophesied to the people in the desert."

Now brothers, it was revealed while I was sleeping -- by a young man with an attractive form, who said to me, "Who do you think the older woman is, the one from whom you received the scroll?"
I said, "The Sibyl."
"You are wrong," he said. "She is not."
"Then who is she," I said.
"The assembly," he said.
I said to him, "Then why is she old?"
He said, "Because she was created before all things; therefore is she old; and the creation was framed on her behalf."

And later I saw a vision in my house. The older woman came and asked me whether I had already given the scroll to the older people. I said that I had not given it. She said, "You have done well, for I have declarations to add. So when I have finished all the declarations, it will be made known by you to all the chosen ones. Therefore, you will write two little scrolls, and you will send one to Clement, and one to Grapte. Then Clement will send one to the foreign cities, for this is his service; now Grapte will instruct the widows and the orphans. But you will read to this city and to the old people who are outstanding examples to the assembly.

Vision 3

Brothers, what I saw was like this:

After fasting much, and begging the Lord so that he would make known to me the revelation which he promised (through that old woman) to show me, that same night the older woman was seen by me and said to me, "Since you are so persistent and eager to know all things, go into that field where you spend time, and I will appear at about the fifth hour, and I will show you what it is necessary for you to see."

I asked her, saying, "Lady, to what part of the field should I go?" "Wherever you want," she said. I chose a beautiful and secluded place. Now before I spoke to her and named the place, she said to me, "I will come wherever you want."

Then, brothers, I went into the field, and I counted the hours, and I went to the place that I had chosen for her to come. And I saw that an ivory couch had been placed there, and a linen cushion was lying on the couch, and a sheet of fine linen was spread out on the cushion.

When I saw these things all laid out, and that no one was in the place, I became amazed, and a tremor took me, and my hair was stirred up; and shivering happened to me, because I was alone. So, after I recovered and remembered God's glory, and took courage, I put my knees on the ground and acknowledged my sins to the Lord again, just as I had done previously.

Now she came with six young men, the ones I had seen perviously, and she stood by me, and listened attentively, as I prayed and acknowledged my sins to the Lord. And she touched me and said, "Hermas, stop begging merely about your sins; beg also about justification, that you would take some part of it to your household."

And she lifted me by the hand, and led me to the couch. And she said to the young men, "Go and construct."

And after the young men had gone away and happened to be alone, she said to me, "Sit down here."
I said to her, "Lady, the older people should sit down first."
She said, "I ask you, sit down."
So when I wanted to sit down at her right side, she would not allow me to sit at her right side. ((translation follows Sinaiticus here)) "Hermas, the place on the right side is for others, for those who have already been well-pleasing to God, and have suffered for the name's sake. But you lack much that you should sit with them. However, as you continue in your simplicity, continue and you will sit with them -- and as many as will have done their deeds, and who have suffered what they suffered."

I said, "What did they suffer?"
"Listen," she said. "Beatings, jails, great afflictions, crosses, and wild animals, for the name's sake. On account of this, the right side of holiness belongs to them -- and to any who should suffer on account of the name. But the left side is for the rest. However, to both of them (both those who at the right and those who sit at the left) are the same gifts and the same promises; only those people sit on the right and have a certain glory. Now you very strongly desire to sit at the right with them, but your faults are many. However, you will be cleansed from your faults. And all those who are not double-minded will be cleansed from all their sins to this day."

After she said these things, she wanted to go away, but I fell to her feet and begged her according to the Lord that she would show me the vision that she had promised. Now again she took me by the hand, and lifted me up, and sat me on the couch at the left side; now she sat at my right. And she lifted up a certain glowing rod and said to me, "Do you see a great act?" I said to her, "Lady, I see nothing." She said to me, "Look. Don't you see in front of you a great tower being constructed on the waters, built out of glowing stone cubes?"

Now the tower was being constructed as a square by the six young men that had come with her. And tens of thousands of other men were bringing stones, some indeed from the deep waters, and others from the land, and they were handing them to the six young men; they took them and contstructed. Indeed they placed the stones that were dredged from the deep waters into the building always just as they were, for they were so that they fit together with the others. And they matched so closely one with another that their joints were not apparent. And the tower's construction appeared as though it were built of one stone.

But of the other stones which had been carried from the dry land: indeed they threw some away; but some they put into the building; now others they broke up and threw away from the tower. Now many other stones were lying around the tower, and they did not use them for construction. For some of them were untimely; others had divisions in them; others were too small; others were white and round, and did not fit into the building.

Now I saw other stones thrown away from the tower that came to the road and yet not did not stay in the road, but rolled from the road to a roadless place. Now others fell into the fire and burned there; and others fell near the waters and were unable to roll into the water, although they wanted to roll and enter the water.

When she had shown me these things, she wanted to rush away. I said to her, "Lady, what advantage is it to me to have seen these things, and yet not to know what is their application?"
She answered me, saying, "You are a curious person, wanting to know the things about the tower."
I said, "Yes, lady: so that I might announce them to my brothers, and so they would be the happier when they hear these things and would know the Lord in great glory."
Now she said, "Many indeed will hear, but when they hear, some of them will be glad, but others will cry. But even these, if they hear and change their minds, they will also be glad. Therefore, listen to the analogies of the tower, for I will reveal all things to you. And do not give me worry any longer about revelation; for these revelations have an end, for they have been fulfilled. But you will not stop asking for revelations, for you are shameless.

"Indeed, the tower, the one that you see being constructed: it is I, the assembly, which was seen by you both now and previously. Therefore, ask what you want about the tower, and I will reveal it to you, so that you would rejoice with the holy ones."

I said to her, "Lady, since you considered me worthy once, to reveal all things to me, reveal them."
Now she said to me, "Whatever is possible to be revealed to you, will be revealed. Only let your heart be directed toward God, and don't be double-minded and formless about what you see."

I asked her, "Why is the tower built on waters, lady?" She said, "I told you; that is, the previous time. And indeed you are hunting diligently; in hunting you discover the truth. Therefore, hear why the tower is built on waters: It is because your lives are saved through water and will be saved. But the tower has been founded by the declaration of the almighty and glorious name, and it is strengthened by the Sovereign's unseen power."

I answered, saying to her, "Lady, this act has greatness and wonder. But the six young men who are constructing, who are they, lady?"
"These are God's holy messengers, who were created first of all, to whom the Lord delivered all his creation to enlarge and construct it, and to be sovereign over all creation. Therefore, through them the tower's construction will be completed."
"And who are the others who are bringing the stones?"
"They are also holy messengers of God; but the six are greater than they are. Therefore, the tower's construction will be completed, and all will rejoice together at the tower's stirring, and they will glorify God because the construction of the tower was completed."

I asked her, saying, "Lady, I want to know what is the aim of the stones, and their power, of what kind it is."
She answered, saying to me, "It is not that you, of all people, are worthy so that it should be revealed to you. For others are ahead of you and better than you are, to whom these visions might have been revealed. But it has been revealed to you so that God's name would be glorified, and will be revealed on account of the double-minded ones who debate in their hearts whether these things are so or not. Tell them that all these things are true, and that there is nothing beside the truth, but that all are strong, and sure, and are firmly placed.

"Hear now about the stones that go to the construction. Indeed the white cubic stones that also fit together in their joints, these are the envoys, and overseers, and teachers, and servants -- the ones who walked according to God's dignity and oversaw, and taught, and served purely and with dignity for God's chosen ones. Indeed, they are asleep, but they still exist. And since they always accepted one one another, and had peace among one another, and listened one to another, on account of this their joints fit together in the tower's construction.

"But those who are being dredged from the deep waters and placed into the building, and that fit together in their joints with the other stones that have already been constructed, who are they?"
"These are the ones who suffered on account of the Lord's name."
"But the other stones that are being carried from the dry place, I want to know who these are, lady."
She said, "Those indeed which are going to the building and which have not been polished, the Lord has esteemed these because they walked in the uprightness of the Lord, and rightly did his precepts."
"But those who are being brought and placed into the building, who are they?"
"These are new in trust and are trustworthy, but they have been warned by the messengers to do good, since evil was found in them."

"But the ones whom they rejected and threw away, who are they?"
"These ones are sinning and want to change their minds. On account of this they were not thrown a great distance out of the tower, because they will be useful for construction if they change their minds. Therefore, those who are about to change their minds, if they do change their minds, they will be strong in trust, if they change their minds now while the tower is being constructed. But if the building should be finished, they will no longer have a place, but will be tossed aside. This is the only thing they would have: to lie near the tower.

"Now do you want to know about those who are broken in pieces, and discarded far away from the tower? These are the sons of lawlessness. They trusted in hypocrisy, and no evil thing was missing from them. For this reason they do not have salvation, because they are not useful for construction on account of their evil. On account of this they were broken up and thrown far away, on account of the Lord's anger -- because they enraged him.

"Now the others, those whom you have seen lying in great numbers, that are not going to the building: these indeed are those who are untimely -- those who knew the truth but did not continue in it, nor did they cling to the holy ones. Therefore they are useless."
"But the ones who have the divisions, who are they?"
"These are the ones who have strife in their hearts against one another, and are not at peace among themselves. They have an appearance of peace, but when they go away from one another, their evil remains in their hearts. These are the divisions, the ones that the stones have.
Now those who are broken off short, these ones are those who indeed trusted, and have their majority in what is right. But they have parts of lawlessness; for this reason these are short, and are not whole."

"Now, the white and round stones that did not fit into the building, who are they, lady?"
She answered, saying to me, "Until when will you be foolish and unintelligent, and ask about everything, and be mindful of nothing? These are the ones who trust, but have also the wealth of this age. When affliction happens, they deny their Lord on account of their riches and their business matters."

And I answered, saying to her, "Lady, then when will they be useful for construction?"
She replied, "When their wealth that is leading their souls astray is cut off, then will they be useful for God. For just as the round stone is unable to become a cube, unless it is carved and loses part of itself, so also those who are wealthy in this age are do not have the power to become useful to the Lord unless their wealth is cut off.

"Now know first of yourself. When you were wealthy you were useless, but now you are useful and a benefit for life. Become useful for God, [for you to were taken from these stones.]***These words are not in Sinaiticus.

"Now the other stones that you saw cast far away from the tower and falling into the road and rolling out of the road into the roadless places, these are the ones who trusted indeed, but because of their double mind they abandoned their true path. Therefore, opining that they are able to find a better road, they wander and have lamented since the beginning, as they wander in the roadless places.

"Now those who fall into the fire and are burned, these are those who rebelled from the living God in the end, and it no longer entered their hearts to change their minds, on account of the strong desires of their lewdness and of the evils that they were working.

"Now the others that are near the waters and yet are unable to roll into the water, they are certain ones. These are the ones who heard the message and wanted to be baptized into the name of the Lord. Then, when they came into remembrance of the purity of the truth, they changed their minds and were driven again back to their evil strong desires."

Therefore she finished the explanation of the tower.

Still persistent, I asked her if for all these stones that were rejected and would not fit into the tower's construction, if they could change their minds and have a place in this tower. "They are able to have mental change," she said, "but they are unable to be fit into this tower. But they will be fit into another, more humble, place. And this will be when they have been tormented, and have completed the days of their sins. And they will be changed for this reason, because they shared in the just declaration. And then it will happen that they will be relieved from their tortures -- if the evil deeds that they have done come into their hearts. But if these don't come into their hearts, they will not be saved, because of the stupidity of their hearts."

So, when I stopped asking her about all these things, she said to me; "Do you want to see anything else?" Wanting very much to observe, I rejoiced greatly to see it. She looked on me, and smiled, and she said to me, "Do you see seven women around the tower?"
I said, "I see them, lady,"
"This tower is supported by them by the Lord's direction.

Now hear their jobs: The first of them, indeed, the woman with the strong hands, is called Trust; through her God's chosen ones are saved.

And the second, the one who is wrapped with a belt and who looks like a man, she is called Self-Control; she is the daughter of Trust. So, whoever follows her becomes blessed in his life, because he will keep away from all evil deeds, trusting that he will inherit eternal life if he keeps away from every evil strong desire."

"And the others, lady, who are they?"
"Each is one of the other's daughters. The name of the first is Simplicity, then Skill, then Innocence, then Reverence, then Love. So, when you do all the deeds of their mother, you are able to live."

I said, "I would like to know, lady, what power each of them possesses."
She said, "Then listen then to the powers that they have:

"Now these powers are controlled by one another, and they follow each other, just as also they were born. From Trust is born Self-Control, from Self-Control, Simplicity; from Simplicity, Innocence; from Innocence, Reverence; from Reverence, Skill; and from Skill, Love. Therefore, their deeds are pure and reverent and divine.

"Therefore, whoever is enslaved to these women, and has the strength to control their deeds, will live with God's holy ones in the tower."

Then I asked her about the seasons, if it is already in completion. But she made a great sound, saying, "Unintelligent person, don't you see that the tower is still being constructed? Then the end will come whenever the tower is finished being constructed. But it will be built up quickly. Ask me no more questions. This reminder is enough for you and for the holy ones, and is the renewal of your spirits. But this was not revealed to you alone, but so that you would show these things to everyone after three days.

"For it is necessary for you to be mindful first. Now first I instruct you, Hermas, to speak all of these things, these declarations that I am about to tell you, into the ears of the holy ones, so that when they hear them and do them they would be cleansed from their evils, and you with them also."

"Hear me, children. I brought you up in much simplicity and innocence and reverence, through the mercy of that Lord who placed justification in you, so that you would be justified and made holy from all evil and all twistedness. But you don't want to stop your evil!

"Now then listen to me and be at peace among yourselves, and respect one another, and take one another in, and do not partake of God's creations alone in abundance, but share them also with those that are in need.

For through their much eating, some people pursue weakness for the flesh, and they injure their flesh. But the flesh of those who have nothing to eat is injured on account of their not having enough food, and their bodies are distorted. Therefore, this lack of control is harmful to you who have and do not share with those who are in need.

"Look to the coming judgment. Therefore, those who have more should seek out those who are hungry, while the tower is still unfinished. For after the tower is completed, you will want to do good and will have no place for it.

Therefore, those of you who are reveling in your wealth should watch out. Otherwise, those who are in need will complain, and their complaint will go up to the Lord, and you with your good things will be shut outside the door of the tower.

Now therefore I am telling you who are foremost leaders of the assembly, and who are in the front seats; do not become like the alchemists. Indeed, the alchemists carry their drugs in boxes, but you carry your drug and your poison in the heart. You are hardened, and you don't want to cleanse your hearts and mix your intelligence together with a clean heart so that you would receive mercy from the Great King.

Therefore children, watch out. Otherwise these divisions of yours will deprive you of your lives.

How do you want to teach the Lord's chosen ones, while you have no instruction? Therefore, teach one another, and be at peace among yourselves, so that I too would stand glad in the Father's presence and would give an account on behalf of all of you to your Lord."

Then when she stopped speaking with me, the six young men who were constructing came and took her away to the tower, and four others lifted the couch and took it also away to the tower. I did not see their faces for they were turned away.

Now as she was going away, I asked her, so that she would reveal to me about the three forms in which she had appeared to me. She answered, saying to me; "It is necessary for you to ask another person about these things, that they would be revealed to you."

Now brothers, indeed she was seen by me in my first vision of last year as a very old woman, and seated on a chair. Now in the other vision indeed her face had youth, but her flesh and her hair were old. Now she spoke to me as she stood; and she was happier than previously. But in the third vision she was wholly young and very beautiful; only her hair was old. Now she was happy to the end and was sitting on a couch. About these things I was very anxious to know for myself this revelation.

And I saw the older woman in a vision at night, saying to me, "Each question requires humility. Therefore, fast, and you will receive what you are asking from the Lord."

Therefore I fasted for one day, and that night a young man appeared to me, and he said to me, "Since you are asking me for revelations by hand with begging, watch out. Otherwise in asking much, you would also injure your flesh. These revelations are enough for you. Are you able to see stronger revelations than those you have seen?"

I answered him, saying, "Sir, I ask only this: about the three forms of the older woman, so that a whole revelation would happen."
He answered, saying to me, "How long will you be without intelligence? On the contrary, your double-mindedness makes you without intelligence -- and not having your heart directed toward the Lord."

I answered, saying to him again, "But from you, sir, we will know these things more accurately."

He said, "Listen about the forms about which you were seeking.

"In the first vision, why did she appear to you as an elderly woman, and seated on a chair? Because your spirit was aged, and already decayed, and had no power because of your illnesses and acts of double-mindedness.

"For just as elderly people, who no longer have the hope of renewal, expect nothing except their sleep, so also, since you are weakened with the matters of life, you gave yourselves over to neglect, and don't cast your cares on the Lord; but your minds were broken, and you were aged by your sorrows."

"Then why was she seated on a chair? I want to know, sir."
"Because every weak person sits on a chair on account of his weakness, so that the weakness of his body may be supported. You have the type of the first vision."

"Now in the second vision you saw her standing, and with her face having youth and more pleasant than previously; but the flesh and hair were old. Listen to this analogy also," he said.

"When a certain old man who has already hopeless for himself on account of his weakness and his poverty, he expects nothing else except the last day of his life. Suddenly an inheritance is left to him. Now after hearing, he gets up full of joy and becomes clothed with strength, and he no longer lies down. On the contrary, he stands up, and his spirit which had been broken by his previous matters is renewed again, and he no longer sits, but takes courage. This was also with all of you when you heard the revelation that the Lord revealed to you.

"Because he had compassion on you, and renewed your spirits, and you put aside your illness, and strength came to you, and you were empowered in trust. And the Lord rejoiced in seeing you made strong. And on account of these things he showed you the construction of the tower. And he will show you other things also, if you are at peace among yourselves with your whole hearts.

"Now in the third vision you saw her younger and nice and happy, and her form was nice.

"For as when a good message comes to a certain mourner, immediately he forgets his previous sorrows and receives nothing else except the message that he has heard, and he is strengthened for the rest of the time to what is good, and his spirit is renewed through the joy that he has received -- similarly also you have received a renewal of your spirits by seeing these good things.

"And because you saw her seated on a couch, the position is strong; because the couch has four feet and stands firmly; for the creation is also controlled by means of four elements.

"So, those who have wholly changed their minds will be young again, and founded firmly, since they have changed their minds with their whole hearts. You have the whole, complete revelation. You will ask nothing more regarding a revelation, but if anything is necessary, it will be revealed to you."

Vision 4

Brothers, this is what I saw twenty days after the previous vision that happened. It was for a type of the coming affliction.

I was going out to the country by the Companion Road. It is about ten stadia from the high road, and the place is easy for traveling. So while I was walking alone, I begged the Lord that he would complete the revelations and the visions that he had shown me through his holy assembly -- so that he would strengthen me and would give mental change to those slaves of his who have stumbled -- so that his great and glorious name would be glorified, because he considered me worthy to show me his wondrous things.

And as I was glorifying and thanking him, he answered me with an echo of a voice, "Don't be double-minded, Hermas."
I began to reason within myself and to say, "How can I have double-mindedness, since I have been so firmly grounded by the Lord, and have seen glorious actions?"

And I went on a little, brothers, and look, I saw a dust-cloud rising as if into the sky, and I began to say within myself, "Is it possible that cattle are coming, and are stirring a cloud of dust?" (Now it was about a stadium away from me.) As the dust-cloud became greater and greater, [I suspected that it was something spiritual. Then] the sun shone a little, and look: I saw a large wild animal (like a sea creature). And flaming locusts were coming from its mouth. And the wild animal was about a hundred feet long. Now it had a head like pottery.

And I began to call out, and to beg the Lord to ransom me from it. And I remembered the declaration that I had heard, "Don't be double-minded, Hermas." Therefore, brothers, since I had put on the trust of the Lord and had recalled the great deeds that he had taught me, I became courageous and handed myself over to the wild animal. Now the wild animal was coming with a charge strong enough to demolish a city!

I went near it, and, since it was such a large creature, it stretched itself on the ground, and stuck out its tongue. And it was wholly motionless until I had passed by it. Now the wild animal had four colors on its head: black, then the color of fire and blood, then gold, then white.

Now after I had passed the wild animal and had gone ahead about thirty feet, look: a virgin met me, clothed as if she were leaving a bridal-chamber: wholly in white and with white sandals, veiled to her forehead. Now her head-covering was a shawl; she had white hair.

I knew from the previous visions that she was the assembly, and I became happier. She greeted me, saying, "Hello to you, person."
And I greeted her in return, "Lady, hello."

She answered, saying to me, "Hasn't something met you?"
I said to her, "Lady, such a large wild animal powerful enough to remove whole peoples. But, by the Lord's power and by his great mercy, I escaped it."
She said, "You escaped it well because you gave your concern to God, and you opened your heart to the Lord, trusting that you were able to be saved through no more power than his great and glorious name. And the Lord sent that messenger of his who is over wild animals, whose name is Thegri, and closed his mouth, so that it wouldn't hurt you. You have escaped a great affliction through your trust, and because, though you saw such a large animal, you were not double-minded.

"Therefore, get up and tell the Lord's chosen ones about his great things, and say to them that this wild animal is a type of the coming great affliction. Therefore, if you prepare yourselves ahead of time, and change your minds toward the Lord with your whole hearts, you will be able to escape it -- if your hearts become clean and without blemish, and if for the remaining days of your life you serve the Lord blamelessly. Give your concerns to the Lord, and he will straighten them. You double-minded people, trust in the Lord, because double-minded people, he is able to do all things. He both turns away his anger from you, and again he is sending out his plagues to you double-minded people. Woe to those who hear these declarations and who refuse to listen; it would be better for them if they had not been born."

I asked her about the four colors that the wild animal had on its head. Then she answered me, saying, "Again you are curious about such matters."
I said, "Yes, lady. Make known to me what these things are."
She said, "Listen. Indeed the black color is this creation in which you are living. Now the color of fire and blood is because that it is necessary for the creation to be destroyed by blood and fire. And the golden part are you who have escaped from this creation. For just as gold is tested by fire and becomes useful, so also you are being tested within yourselves. Therefore, you who continue and pass through the fire will be cleansed by it. For as gold loses its slag, so you will also throw away all sorrow and narrowness, and will be cleansed, and will be useful for the construction of the tower.

"Now the white part is the coming age, in which God's chosen ones will live, because those who are chosen by God will be spotless and clean for the eternal life. Why don't you stop speaking into the ears of the holy ones? You too have the type of the coming great affliction. But if you want, it will be nothing. Remember the things that were written previously."

With these things she left, and I did not see in what direction she left. For a noise happened, and I turned backwards in fear, thinking that the wild animal was coming.

Revelation 5

As I was praying in the house and sitting on the couch, a man with a glorious visage entered, in the scheme of a shepherd. He had a white fur wrapped about him, and had a pouch on his shoulders and a staff in his hand. And he greeted me, and I greeted him in return. And immediately he sat down at my side, and he said to me, "I was sent by the revered messenger, so that I would live with you for the remaining days of your life."

I thought that he had come to test me, and I said to him, "Who are you? For it is my opinion that know to whom I was given."
He said to me, "Don't you recognize me?"
"No," I opined.
He said, "I am the shepherd, the one to whom you were handed over."

While he was still speaking, his form was changed, and I recognized him as being the same person to whom I was given. And immediately I became confused, and fear seized me, and I was completely overwhelmed with distress -- because I had answered him so wickedly and senselessly.

But he answered, saying to me, "Don't be confused, but strengthen yourself in those precepts of mine that I am about to give you. For I was sent," he said "so that I would show you again all those things that you saw earlier -- the heads -- these will make sense for you. First of all, write my precepts and my analogies; and you will write other things as I show you."
He said, "For this reason I am giving you the precepts first to write, and the analogies: so that you would read them handily, and would be able to keep them."
Therefore I wrote down the precepts and analogies, just as he gave them to me.

So, if when you hear them, you keep them and walk in them, and work them with a clean heart, you will receive from the Lord as much as he promised you. But if when you hear them, you do not change your minds, but you still continue your sins, you will receive the opposite things from the Lord. The messenger of mental change, the shepherd, directed me to write all of these things.