Shepherd of Hermas — Similitude 3 · Chapter 1
Similitude 3.1.1
Greek (Lake printed text, including explicitly identified versional reconstructions)
Similitude 3.1.1 He showed me many trees without leaves. They seemed to me to be dry, for they were all alike. He said to me, “Do you see these trees?” “I do, sir,” I said. “They are alike and dry.” He answered me, “These trees you see are those who inhabit this age.”
Textual & reception notes
Similitude 3.1.1 — Textual: Leafless trees appear alike and dry to Hermas; appearance is distinguished from the life later disclosed. Reception: No section-specific reception verified in the sources checked.
Similitude 3.1.2
Greek (Lake printed text, including explicitly identified versional reconstructions)
Similitude 3.1.2 “Why, then, sir,” I asked, “are they alike and seemingly dry?” “Because,” he said, “in this age neither the righteous nor sinners are distinguishable; they are alike. For this age is winter for the righteous, and they are not distinguishable while living among sinners.
Textual & reception notes
Similitude 3.1.2 — Textual: The present age is winter for the righteous, concealing their difference from sinners; the comparison concerns recognition, not moral equivalence. Reception: No section-specific reception verified in the sources checked.
Similitude 3.1.3
Greek (Lake printed text, including explicitly identified versional reconstructions)
Similitude 3.1.3 “Just as trees in winter have shed their leaves and look alike, so that one cannot distinguish which are dry and which are alive, so in this age neither the righteous nor sinners are distinguishable: all are alike.”
Textual & reception notes
Similitude 3.1.3 — Textual: Winter leaf-loss makes living and dead trees outwardly similar, completing the image of presently hidden moral distinction. Reception: No section-specific reception verified in the sources checked.