Graphic Bible · Scene 6 of 12
Historical Library · Apostolic Fathers
Shepherd of Hermas — Similitude 4
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 49:6
Why Are They Alike
The Trees in Winter and Summer · Shepherd of Hermas 49
Story guide: Hermas asks why the trees appear alike, and the shepherd explains the winter comparison.
Open this scene in the reader →62. “Why then, sir, are they as if dry and alike?” I say. “Because,” he says, “neither the righteous nor the sinners are visible in this age, but they are alike; for this age is winter for the righteous, and they are not visible while dwelling among sinners.”
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