Graphic Bible · Scene 6 of 7
Historical Library · Apostolic Fathers
Shepherd of Hermas — Vision 3, section vi
The available POB edition is a partial translation, not a summary or the complete ancient work. Popular, not Scripture. Artwork interprets literary visions and teaching; it does not establish their portrayals as historical events.
Source and translation notes
The text names Hermas as its narrator. The illustrations do not identify a historical author or supply authenticated portraits.
Existing reader manuscript-image reference: Codex Sinaiticus. Working source: Lightfoot & Harmer 1891 (normalized OCR) · Greek
English witness: People's Open Bible provisional English rendering (Cartha Inc. and contributors) · CC BY 4.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ — for POB project outputs; source editions retain their original licenses
Numbered reading units are modern paragraph divisions, not ancient verse numbers. The available units follow Visions, Mandates, and Similitudes; absent passages are not reconstructed.
- The available edition begins mid-dialogue and ends mid-sentence in Similitude 8.iv; absent passages are not supplied.
Shepherd of Hermas 14:6
When Will They Become Fit?
Cracked Stones, Round Stones and Useful Lives · Shepherd of Hermas 14
Story guide: Their seated exchange leads to a static comparison of rounded, partly pared and square stone forms. This essay illustrates the spoken simile.
Open this scene in the reader →66. And I answered her, “Lady, when then will they become fit for the building?” She said, “When their wealth that ensnares them has been cut away, then they will be useful to God. For just as a round stone, unless it is cut and casts off something from itself, cannot become square, so also those who are rich in this age, unless their wealth is cut away, cannot become useful to the Lord.
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