43.8 divine Some ancient authorities omit.
11 “Now hear,” he said, “about the earthly and worthless spirit, which has no power but is foolish. 12 In the first place, that person who seems to have a spirit exalts himself and wants to have a seat of honor, and immediately is arrogant and shameless and talkative and well-acquainted with many luxuries and with many other pleasures, and receives money for his prophesying, and if he does not receive money, he does not prophesy. Now, can a divine spirit receive money and still prophesy? It is impossible for a prophet of God to do this, but the spirit of such prophets who do so is earthly. 13 Next, he never comes near an assembly of righteous people; instead he avoids them, and associates with the double-minded and the empty-headed, and prophesies to them in a corner and deceives them; everything he says is in accordance with their own desires and characterized by his own empty manner, for he is answering those who are empty. For the empty vessel placed together with other empty vessels is not broken, but they match one another. 14 But when he does come to an assembly full of righteous people who have a divine spirit, and intercession is made by them, that person is emptied and the earthly spirit flees from him in fear, and that person is rendered speechless and is completely shattered, unable to say a thing. 15 For if you store wine or oil in a storeroom and place an empty jar in among them and then later you wish to clear out the storeroom, you will find that empty jar you placed there still empty. So it is with empty prophets; whenever they encounter the spirits of the righteous, they are found to be just as they were when they arrived. 16 You now have descriptions of the life of both kinds of prophets. Therefore test by actions and life the person who claims to be spirit-inspired. 17 Put your trust in the spirit that comes from God and has power, but do not trust in any way the earthly and empty spirit, because it has no power, for it comes from the devil. 18 Listen to the parable I am about to tell you. Take a stone and throw it toward the sky; see if you can reach it. Or, for another example, take a water pump and squirt it toward the sky; see if you can penetrate it.” 19 “How,” I asked, “can these things be, sir? For both these things you just said are impossible.” “Well then,” he said, “just as these things are impossible, so also are the earthly spirits powerless and weak. 20 Now consider the power that comes from above. A hailstone is a very small pellet, but when it falls on a man’s head, what pain it causes! Or, for another example, take a drop that falls on the ground from the roofing tiles, and wears a hole in the rock. 21 You see, then, that even the smallest things from above falling on the earth have great power; so also the divine spirit that comes from above is powerful. So put your trust in this spirit, but have nothing to do with the other one.”
Commandment 12
Evil and Good Desires
12.1
44 He said to me, “Rid yourself of all evil desire, and clothe yourself with the desire that is good and holy, for when you have clothed yourself with this desire, you will hate the evil desire and will control it as you wish. 2 For the evil desire is savage and only tamed with difficulty, for it is terrible and utterly destroys people by its savageness; in particular, if servants of God become entangled in it and lack understanding, they will be terribly destroyed by it. It destroys those who do not have the garment of the good desire but are entangled with this world. These it hands over to death.” 3 “What, sir,” I said, “are the works of this evil desire that hand people over to death? Tell me, so that I may avoid them.” “Hear,” he said, “about the kind of works by which the evil desire puts to death God’s servants.”
12.2
45 “Above all is the desire for someone else’s wife or husband, and for the extravagance of wealth, and for many needless things to eat and drink, and for many other foolish luxuries. For every luxury is foolish and empty for God’s servants. 2 These desires, then, are evil and bring death to God’s servants. For this evil desire is a daughter of the devil. You must keep away, therefore, from evil desires, in order that by keeping away from them you may live to God. 3 But those who are mastered by them and do not resist them will utterly perish, for these desires are deadly. 4 But put on the desire of righteousness and, having armed yourself with the fear of the Lord, resist them. For the fear of God lives in the good desire. If the evil desire sees you armed with the fear of God and resisting it, it will flee far from you and will no longer be seen by you, because it fears your weapons. 5 So you, when you have gained the victory and triumphed over the evil desire, come to the desire of righteousness and deliver to it the victory you have won, and serve it just as it desires. If you serve the good desire and submit to it, you will be able to master the evil desire and control it as you wish.”
45.5 gained the victory and Some ancient authorities omit.
12.3
46 “I would like to know, sir,” I said, “in what ways I must serve the good desire.” “Listen,” he said. “Practice righteousness and virtue, truth and fear of the Lord, faith and gentleness, and whatever good things are like these. By practicing these you will be an acceptable servant of God and will live to him; indeed, all who serve the good desire will live to God.”
Concluding Instructions
2 So he finished the twelve commandments, and said to me: “You have the commandments; walk in them and encourage your listeners, in order that their repentance may be pure the rest of the days of their lives. 3 Carefully execute this ministry that I am giving you and you will accomplish much. For you will find favor with those who are going to repent, and they will obey your words, for I will be with you and will compel them to obey you.” 4 I said to him, “Sir, these commandments are great and good and glorious, and are able to gladden the heart of the one who is able to keep them. But I do not know if these commandments can be kept by a human, for they are very hard.” 5 He answered and said to me, “If you propose to yourself that they can be kept, you will keep them easily and they will not be hard. But if the idea that they cannot be kept by a human has already entered your heart, you will not keep them. 6 But now I say to you: if you do not keep them, but neglect them, you will not have salvation, nor will your children nor your household, since you have already decided for yourself that these commandments cannot be kept by a human.”
12.4
47 He said these things to me very angrily, which confused me, and I feared him greatly, for his appearance was so changed that one could not endure his anger. 2 And when he saw that I was extremely agitated and confused, he began to speak to me more gently and cheerfully, and said, “Foolish man, lacking understanding and double-minded, do you not understand how great and mighty and marvelous God’s glory is, because he created the world for the sake of humankind, and subjected all his creation to humankind, and gave them all authority to rule over everything under heaven? 3 If then,” he said, “humankind is lord of all God’s creatures and rules over everything, cannot humankind also master these commandments? Those who have the Lord in their heart,” he said, “can master everything, including all these commandments. 4 But to those who have the Lord on their lips but whose heart is hardened and who are far from the Lord, these commandments are hard and difficult. 5 You, therefore, who are empty and fickle in the faith, put the Lord in your heart and you will realize that nothing is easier or sweeter or more gentle than these commandments. 6 You who walk in the commandments of the devil, which are difficult and bitter and savage and licentious, be converted and do not fear the devil, for he has no power against you. 7 For I, the angel of repentance, rule over him; I will be with you. The devil can only cause fear, but his fear has no force. Do not fear him, therefore, and he will flee from you.”
47.2 and cheerfully One ancient authority omits.
12.5
48 I said to him, “Sir, listen to a few words from me.” “Say what you wish,” he replied. “Sir,” I said, “everyone 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 obey them, but the devil is hard and oppresses them.” 2
“He cannot,” he said, “oppress God’s servants who hope in him with all their heart. The devil can wrestle with them, but he cannot throw and pin them. So, if you resist him, he will be defeated and flee from you in disgrace. But those,” he said, “who are empty fear the devil, as if he had power. 3 When someone fills a large number of jars with good wine, and among these jars a few are partially empty, he does not bother to examine the full jars when he comes to the jars, for he knows that they are full. But he does examine the partially empty ones because he fears that they may have turned sour. For partially empty jars quickly turn sour, and the taste of the wine is ruined. 4 So also the devil comes to all God’s servants to tempt them. All those who are full in the faith resist him mightily, and he leaves them alone, because he finds no place where he can gain entrance. So then he comes to those who are partially empty, and finding a place he enters them, and then he does what he wants with them, and they become enslaved to him.”
47.3 everything, including One ancient authority omits. 47.4 the Lord One ancient authority reads God.
12.6
49 “But I, the angel of repentance, say to you: do not fear the devil. For I was sent,” he said, “to be with you who repent with all your heart, and to strengthen you in the faith. 2 So believe in God, you who because of your sins have despaired of your life and are adding to your sins and making your life hard, because if you turn to the Lord with all your heart and practice righteousness the rest of the days of your life and serve him rightly according to his will, he will heal your previous sins and you will have power to conquer the devil’s works. But do not fear the devil’s threats at all, for he is as powerless as a dead man’s sinews. 3 Listen to me, therefore, and fear the one who is able to do everything, to save and to destroy, and keep these commandments, and you will live to God.” 4 I said to him, “Sir, now I am strengthened in all the Lord’s commandments, because you are with me. I know that you will crush all the power of the devil, and we will rule over him and prevail over all his works. And I hope, sir, that I am now able to keep these commandments that you have commanded, as the Lord enables me.” 5 “You will keep them,” he said, “if your heart is pure toward the Lord; indeed, all who cleanse their hearts of the vain desires of this world will keep them, and will live to God.”
The Parables
* * *
Parable 1
A Parable of Two Cities
50 He spoke to me: “You know,” he said, “that you who are servants of God are living in a foreign country, for your city is far from this city. If, therefore, you know,” he said, “your city in which you are destined to live, why do you prepare fields and expensive possessions and buildings and useless rooms here? 2 If you are preparing these things for this city, you obviously are not planning to return to your own city. 3 Foolish and double-minded and miserable person, do you not realize 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; instead, leave this city, because you do not conform to my laws.’ 4 So, you who have fields and dwellings and many other possessions, what will you do with your field and your house and all the other things you have prepared for yourself when you are expelled by him? For the lord of this country has every right to say to you, ‘Either conform to my laws, or get out of my country.’ 5 So what are you going to do, since you are subject to the law of your own city? For the sake of your fields and the rest of your possessions, will you totally renounce your own law and live according to the law of this city? Take care; it may not be in your best interest to renounce your law, for if you should want to return to your city, you will certainly not be accepted, because you have renounced the law of your city, and will be shut out of it. 6 So take care; as one living in a foreign land, do not prepare for yourself one thing more than is necessary to be self-sufficient, and be prepared so that whenever the master of this city wants to expel you because of your opposition to his law, you can leave his city and come to your own city, and joyfully conform to your law, free from all insult. 7 Take care, therefore, that you serve the Lord and have him in your heart; do God’s works, remembering his commandments and the promises that he made, and trust him to keep them, if his commandments are kept. 8 So instead of fields, buy souls that are in distress, as anyone is able, and visit widows and orphans, and do not neglect them; and spend your wealth and all your possessions, which you received from God, on fields and houses of this kind. 9 For this is why the Master made you rich, so that you might perform these ministries for him. It is much better to purchase fields and possessions and houses of this kind, which you will find in your own city when you go home to it. 10 This lavish expenditure is beautiful and joyous; it does not bring grief or fear, but joy. So do not practice the extravagance of the outsiders, for it is unprofitable to you, the servants of God. 11 But do practice your own extravagance, in which you can rejoice; and do not imitate or touch what belongs to another or covet it, for it is evil to covet someone else’s things. But do your own task, and you will be saved.”
50 Title The Parables Latin Similitudines; consequently, this part of The Shepherd (Herm. 50–114) is often referred to as the Similitudes (abbreviated Sim.). The ancient authorities read Parables That He Spoke with Me or Here Begin the Parables That He Spoke with Me. • Parable 1 One ancient authority includes the heading First Parable. 50.1 he said, “that you Some ancient authorities omit he said. • he said, “your city Some ancient authorities omit he said.
Parable 2
The Elm and the Vine
51 As I was walking in the country, I noticed an elm tree and a vine and was comparing them and their fruits when the shepherd appeared to me and said, “What are you thinking about?” “I am thinking, sir,” I said, “about the elm and the vine; specifically, that they are very well suited to one another.” 2 “These two trees,” he said, “are intended as a model for God’s servants.” “Sir,” I said, “I would like to know the model represented by these trees of which you speak.” “Do you see,” he asked, “the elm and the vine?” “I see them, sir,” I replied. 3 “This vine,” he said, “bears fruit, but the elm is a fruitless tree. But unless it climbs the elm, this vine cannot bear much fruit when it is spread out on the ground, and what fruit it does bear is rotten, because it is not suspended from the elm. So, when the vine is attached to the elm it bears fruit both from itself and from the elm. 4 You see, therefore, that the elm also bears much fruit, not less than the vine, but even more.” “How, sir,” I asked, “does it bear more?” “Because,” he said, “the vine, when hanging on the elm, bears its fruit in abundance and in good condition; but when it is spread out on the ground, it bears little fruit, and what it does bear is rotten. So this parable is applicable to God’s servants, to poor and rich alike.” 5 “How so, sir?” I asked. “Explain this to me.” “Listen,” he said. “The rich have much wealth, but are poor in the things of the Lord, being distracted by their wealth, and they have very little confession and prayer with the Lord, and what they do have is small and weak and has no power above. So whenever the rich go up to the poor and supply them their needs, they believe that what they do for the poor will be able to find a reward from God, because the poor are rich in intercession and confession, and their intercession has great power with God. The rich, therefore, unhesitatingly provide the poor with everything. 6 And the poor, being provided for by the rich, pray for them, thanking God for those who share with them. And the rich in turn are all the more zealous on behalf of the poor, in order that they may lack nothing in their life, for the rich know that the intercession of the poor is acceptable and rich before God. 7 They both, then, complete their work: the poor work with prayer, in which they are rich, which they received from the Lord; this they return to the Lord who supplies them with it. And the rich likewise unhesitatingly share with the poor the wealth that they received from the Lord. And this work is great and acceptable to God, because the rich understand about their wealth and work fo
r the poor by using the gifts of the Lord, and correctly fulfill their ministry. 8 So, as far as people are concerned, the elm does not seem to bear fruit, and they neither know nor realize that if a drought comes the elm, which has water, nourishes the vine, and the vine, having a constant supply of water, bears double the fruit, both for itself and for the elm. So also the poor, by appealing to the Lord on behalf of the rich, complement their wealth, and again, the rich, by providing for the needs of the poor, complement their souls. 9 So, then, both become partners in the righteous work. Therefore, the one who does these things will not be abandoned by God, but will be enrolled in the books of the living. 10 Blessed are the rich who also understand that they have been made rich by the Lord, for the one who comprehends this will be able to do some good work.”
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