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BOOK 2  (from: _Apostolic Fathers,_ Kirsopp Lake, 1912 (Loeb Classical Library))

                     Didache: The Teaching of the Twelve

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CHAPTER 0
 0:0  The Lord's teaching to the heathen by the Twelve
Apostles.

CHAPTER 1
 1:0  The two Ways -- The Way of Life -- The
explanation -- Almsgiving
 1:1  |There are two Ways, one of Life and one of
Death, and there is a great difference between the two
Ways.
 1:2  |The Way of Life is this: "First, thou shalt love
the God who made thee, secondly, thy neighbour as
thyself; and whatsoever thou wouldst not have done to
thyself, do not thou to another." ^1
 1:3  |Now, the teaching of these words is this: "Bless
those that curse you, and pray for your enemies, and
fast for those that persecute you. For what credit is
it to you if you love those that love you? Do not even
the heathen do the same?" But, for your part, "love
those that hate you," and you will have no enemy.
 1:4  "Abstain from carnal" and bodily "lusts." "If
any man smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the
other cheek also," and thou wilt be perfect. "If any
man impress thee to go with him one mile, go with him
two. If any man take thy coat, give him thy shirt
also. If any man will take from thee what is thine,
refuse it not" -- not even if thou canst. ^2
 1:5  Give to everyone that asks thee, and do not
refuse, for the Father's will is that we give to all
from the gifts we have received. Blessed is he that
gives according to the mandate; for he is innocent.
Woe to him who receives; for if any man receive alms
under pressure of need he is innocent; but he who
receives it without need shall be tried as to why he
took and for what, and being in prison he shall be
examined as to his deeds, and "he shall not come out
thence until he pay the last farthing."
 1:6  But concerning this it was also said, "Let thine
alms sweat into thine hands until thou knowest to whom
thou art giving."

== small type on ==
 ^1  This is the so-called "negative form of the Golden Rule." It is
found in some manuscripts in the "Apostolic decrees" in Acts 15:28,
and is, in various forms, met with in Jewish and early Christian
literature.
 ^2  The Greek is literally "for thou art not even able"; but this
makes no sense, and though an emendation is difficult the sense must
be something like that given by the translation -- unless, indeed,
the whole phrase be merely a flippant gloss, which has been
erroneously taken into the text.
== small type off ==

CHAPTER 2
 2:0  The second part of the teaching
 2:1  |But the second commandment of the teaching is
this:
 2:2  "Thou shalt do no murder; thou shalt not commit
adultery"; thou shalt not commit sodomy; thou shalt
not commit fornication; thou shalt not steal; thou
shalt not use magic; thou shalt not use philtres; thou
shalt not procure abortion, nor commit infanticide;
"thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's goods";
 2:3  thou shalt not commit perjury, "thou shalt not
bear false witness"; thou shalt not speak evil; thou
shalt not bear malice.
 2:4  Thou shalt not be double-minded nor
double-tongued, for to be double-tongued is the snare
of death.
 2:5  Thy speech shall not be false nor vain, but
completed in action.
 2:6  Thou shalt not be covetous nor extortionate, nor
a hypocrite, nor malignant, nor proud; thou shalt make
no evil plan against thy neighbour.
 2:7  Thou shalt hate no man; but some thou shalt
reprove, ^1 and for some shalt thou pray, and some
thou shalt love more than thine own life.

== small type on ==
 ^1  On the ground of a comparison with Jude 22 f. etc., some think
that "and some thou shalt pity" ought to be added.
== small type off ==

CHAPTER 3
 3:0  Further advice to the catechumen
 3:1  |My child, flee from every evil man and from all
like him.
 3:2  Be not proud, for pride leads to murder, nor
jealous, nor contentious, nor passionate, for from all
these murders are engendered.
 3:3  My child, be not lustful, for lust leads to
fornication, nor a speaker of base words, nor a lifter
up of the eyes, for from all these is adultery
engendered.
 3:4  My child, regard not omens, for this leads to
idolatry; neither be an enchanter, nor an astrologer,
nor a magician, neither wish to see these things, for
from them all is idolatry engendered.
 3:5  My child, be not a liar, for lying leads to
theft, nor a lover of money, nor vain-glorious, for
from all these things are thefts engendered.
 3:6  My child, be not a grumbler, for this leads to
blasphemy, nor stubborn, nor a thinker of evil, for
from all these are blasphemies engendered,
 3:7  but be thou "meek, for the meek shall inherit
the earth;"
 3:8  be thou long-suffering, and merciful and
guileless, and quiet, and good, and ever fearing the
words which thou hast heard.
 3:9  Thou shalt not exalt thyself, nor let thy soul
be presumptuous. Thy soul shall not consort with the
lofty, but thou shalt walk with righteous and humble
men.
 3:10  Receive the accidents that befall to thee as
good, knowing that nothing happens without God.

CHAPTER 4
 4:0  The duty of the catechumen to the Church
-- Against meanness -- Household duties -- Against
hypocrisy
 4:1  |My child, thou shalt remember, day and night,
him who speaks the word of God to thee, and thou shalt
honour him as the Lord, for where the Lord's nature is
spoken of, there is he present.
 4:2  And thou shalt seek daily the presence of the
saints, that thou mayest find rest in their words.
 4:3  Thou shalt not desire a schism, but shalt
reconcile those that strive. Thou shalt give righteous
judgment; thou shalt favour no man's person in
reproving transgression.
 4:4  Thou shalt not be of two minds whether it shall
be or not.
 4:5  |Be not one who stretches out his hands to
receive, but shuts them when it comes to giving.
 4:6  Of whatsoever thou hast gained by thy hands thou
shalt give a ransom for thy sins.
 4:7  Thou shalt not hesitate to give, nor shalt thou
grumble when thou givest, for thou shalt know who is
the good Paymaster of the reward.
 4:8  Thou shalt not turn away the needy, but shalt
share everything with thy brother, and shalt not say
that it is thine own, for if you are sharers in the
imperishable, how much more in the things which
perish?
 4:9  |Thou shalt not withhold thine hand from thy son
or from thy daughter, but thou shalt teach them the
fear of God from their youth up.
 4:10  Thou shalt not command in thy bitterness thy
slave or thine handmaid, who hope in the same God,
lest they cease to fear the God who is over you both;
for he comes not to call men with respect of persons,
but those whom the Spirit has prepared.
 4:11  But do you who are slaves be subject to your
master, as to God's representative, in reverence and
fear.
 4:12  |Thou shalt hate all hypocrisy, and everything
that is not pleasing to the Lord.
 4:13  Thou shalt not forsake the commandments of the
Lord, but thou shalt keep what thou didst receive,
"adding nothing to it and taking nothing away."
 4:14  In the congregation thou shalt confess thy
transgressions, and thou shalt not betake thyself to
prayer with an evil conscience. This is the Way of
Life.

CHAPTER 5
 5:0  The Way of Death
 5:1  |But the Way of Death is this: First of all, it
is wicked and full of cursing, murders, adulteries,
lusts, fornications, thefts, idolatries, witchcrafts,
charms, robberies, false witness, hypocrisies, a
double heart, fraud, pride, malice, stubbornness,
covetousness, foul speech, jealousy, impudence,
haughtiness, boastfulness.
 5:2  Persecutors of the good, haters of truth, lovers
of lies, knowing not the reward of righteousness, not
cleaving to the good nor to righteous judgment,
spending wakeful nights not for good but for
wickedness, from whom meekness and patience is far,
lovers of vanity, following after reward, unmerciful
to the poor, not working for him who is oppressed with
toil, without knowledge of him who made them,
murderers of children, corrupters of God's creatures,
turning away the needy, oppressing the distressed,
advocates of the rich, unjust judges of the poor,
altogether sinful; may ye be delivered, my children,
from all these.

CHAPTER 6
 6:0  Final exhortation -- Food, and `things offered to
idols.'
 6:1  |See "that no one make thee to err" from this Way
of the teaching, for he teaches thee without God.
 6:2  For if thou canst bear the whole yoke of the
Lord, thou wilt be perfect, but if thou canst not, do
what thou canst.
 6:3  And concerning food, bear what thou canst, but
keep strictly from that which is offered to idols, for
it is the worship of dead gods.

CHAPTER 7
 7:0  Baptism
 7:1  |Concerning baptism, baptise thus: Having first
rehearsed all these things, "baptise, in the Name of
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit," in
running water;
 7:2  but if thou hast no running water, baptise in
other water, and if thou canst not in cold, then in
warm.
 7:3  But if thou hast neither, pour water three times
on the head "in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy
Spirit."
 7:4  And before the baptism let the baptiser and him
who is to be baptised fast, and any others who are
able. And thou shalt bid him who is to be baptised to
fast one or two days before.

CHAPTER 8
 8:0  Fasting -- Prayers
 8:1  |Let not your fasts be with the hypocrites, for
they fast on Mondays and Thursdays, but do you fast on
Wednesdays and Fridays.
 8:2  And do not pray as the hypocrites, but as the
Lord commanded in his Gospel, pray thus: "Our Father,
who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy Name, thy Kingdom
come, thy will be done, as in Heaven so also upon
earth; give us to-day our daily ^1 bread, and forgive
us our debt as we forgive our debtors, and lead us not
into trial, but deliver us from the Evil One, for
thine is the power and the glory for ever."
 8:3  Pray thus three times a day.

== small type on ==
 ^1  This is the traditional translation of epiousion, but it is by
no means certain that it is correct. The word has from the beginning
been a puzzle, and its meaning is not clearly known. See further any
good commentary on the gospels.
== small type off ==

CHAPTER 9
 9:0  The Eucharist -- The Cup -- The Bread
 9:1  |And concerning the Eucharist, hold ^1 Eucharist
thus:
 9:2  First concerning the Cup, "We give thanks to
thee, our Father, for the Holy Vine of David thy
child, which, thou didst make known to us through
Jesus thy child; to thee be glory for ever."
 9:3  And concerning the broken Bread: "We give thee
thanks, our Father, for the life and knowledge which
thou didst make known to us through Jesus thy Child.
To thee be glory for ever.
 9:4  As this broken bread was scattered upon the
mountains, but was brought together and became one, so
let thy Church be gathered together from the ends of
the earth into thy Kingdom, for thine is the glory and
the power through Jesus Christ for ever."
 9:5  But let none eat or drink of your Eucharist
except those who have been baptised in the Lord's
Name. For concerning this also did the Lord say, "Give
not that which is holy to the dogs."

== small type on ==
 ^1  The translation fails to preserve the play on the words, which
might be rendered "concerning the giving of thanks, give thanks
thus, etc." But this would obscure the fact that eucharistia is here
quite clearly "Eucharist" (cf. verse 5).
== small type off ==

CHAPTER 10
 10:1  The final prayer in the Eucharist
 10:1  |But after you are satisfied with food, thus
give thanks:
 10:2  "We give thanks to thee, O Holy Father, for thy
Holy Name which thou didst make to tabernacle in our
hearts, and for the knowledge and faith and
immortality which thou didst make known to us through
Jesus thy Child. To thee be glory for ever.
 10:3  Thou, Lord Almighty, didst create all things
for thy Name's sake, and didst give food and drink to
men for their enjoyment, that they might give thanks
to thee, but us hast thou blessed with spiritual food
and drink and eternal light through thy Child.
 10:4  Above all we give thanks to thee for that thou
art mighty. To thee be glory for ever.
 10:5  Remember, Lord, thy Church, to deliver it from
all evil and to make it perfect in thy love, and
gather it together in its holiness from the four winds
to thy kingdom which thou hast prepared for it. For
thine is the power and the glory for ever.
 10:6  Let grace come and let this world pass away.
Hosannah to the God of David. If any man be holy, let
him come! if any man be not, let him repent: Maran
atha, ^1 Amen."
 10:7  But suffer the prophets to hold Eucharist as
they will.
 10:8  -- none --

== small type on ==
 ^1  A transliteration of Aramaic words meaning "Our Lord! Come!"
== small type off ==

CHAPTER 11
 11:0  Travelling teachers -- Apostles -- Prophets
 11:1  |Whosoever then comes and teaches you all these
things aforesaid, receive him.
 11:2  But if the teacher himself be perverted and
teach another doctrine to destroy these things, do not
listen to him, but if his teaching be for the increase
of righteousness and knowledge of the Lord, receive
him as the Lord.
 11:3  |And concerning the Apostles and Prophets, act
thus according to the ordinance of the Gospel. ^1
 11:4  Let every Apostle who comes to you be received
as the Lord,
 11:5  but let him not stay more than one day, or if
need be a second as well; but if he stay three days,
he is a false prophet.
 11:6  And when an Apostle goes forth let him accept
nothing but bread till he reach his night's lodging;
but if he ask for money, he is a false prophet.
 11:7  |Do not test or examine any prophet who is
speaking in a spirit, "for every sin shall be
forgiven, but this sin shall not be forgiven."
 11:8  But not everyone who speaks in a spirit is a
prophet, except he have the behaviour of the Lord.
From his behaviour, then, the false prophet and the
true prophet shall be known.
 11:9  And no prophet who orders a meal in a spirit
shall eat of it: otherwise he is a false prophet.
 11:10  And every prophet who teaches the truth, if he
do not what he teaches, is a false prophet.
 11:11  But no prophet who has been tried and is
genuine, though he enact a worldly mystery ^2 of the
Church, if he teach not others to do what he does
himself, shall be judged by you: for he has his
judgment with God, for so also did the prophets of
old.
 11:12  But whosoever shall say in a spirit `Give me
money, or something else,' you shall not listen to
him; but if he tell you to give on behalf of others in
want, let none judge him.

== small type on ==
 ^1  It is unknown to what ordinance the writer refers.
 ^2  This passage has never been satisfactorily explained: it
probably refers to a tendency among some prophets to introduce forms
of worship, or of illustration of their teaching, of doubtful
propriety, if so the reference below to the prophets of old is
perhaps an allusion to Hosea (Hos. 1:2 ff.).
== small type off ==

CHAPTER 12
 12:0  Travelling Christians
 12:1  |Let everyone who "comes in the Name of the
Lord" be received; but when you have tested him you
shall know him, for you shall have understanding of
true and false. ^1
 12:2  If he who comes is a traveller, help him as
much as you can, but he shall not remain with you more
than two days, or, if need be, three.
 12:3  And if he wishes to settle among you and has a
craft, let him work for his bread.
 12:4  But if he has no craft provide for him
according to your understanding, so that no man shall
live among you in idleness because he is a Christian.
 12:5  But if he will not do so, he is making traffic
of Christ; beware of such.

== small type on ==
 ^1  Literally, "right and left understanding."
== small type off ==

CHAPTER 13
 13:0  Prophets who desire to remain -- Their payment
by firstfruits
 13:1  |But every true prophet who wishes to settle
among you is "worthy of his food."
 13:2  Likewise a true teacher is himself worthy, like
the workman, of his food.
 13:3  Therefore thou shalt take the firstfruit of the
produce of the winepress and of the threshing-floor and
of oxen and sheep, and shalt give them as the
firstfruits to the prophets, for they are your high
priests.
 13:4  But if you have not a prophet, give to the
poor.
 13:5  If thou makest bread, take the firstfruits, and
give it according to the commandment.
 13:6  Likewise when thou openest a jar of wine or
oil, give the firstfruits to the prophets.
 13:7  Of money also and clothes, and of all your
possessions, take the firstfruits, as it seem best to
you, and give according to the commandment.

CHAPTER 14
 14:0  The Sunday worship
 14:1  |On the Lord's Day of the Lord come together,
break bread and hold Eucharist, after confessing your
transgressions that your offering may be pure;
 14:2  but let none who has a quarrel with his fellow
join in your meeting until they be reconciled, that
your sacrifice be not defiled.
 14:3  For this is that which was spoken by the Lord,
"In every place and time offer me a pure sacrifice,
for I am a great king," saith the Lord, "and my name
is wonderful among the heathen."

CHAPTER 15
 15:0  Bishops and Deacons -- Mutual reproofs
 15:1  |Appoint therefore for yourselves bishops and
deacons worthy of the Lord, meek men, and not lovers
of money, and truthful and approved, for they also
minister to you the ministry of the prophets and
teachers.
 15:2  Therefore do not despise them, for they are
your honourable men together with the prophets and
teachers.
 15:3  |And reprove one another not in wrath but in
peace as you find in the Gospel, and let none speak
with any who has done a wrong to his neighbour, nor
let him hear a word from you until he repents.
 15:4  But your prayers and alms and all your acts
perform as ye find in the Gospel of our Lord.

CHAPTER 16
 16:2  Warning that the end is at hand
 16:1  |"Watch" over your life: "let your lamps" be not
quenched "and your loins" be not ungirded, but be
"ready," for ye know not "the hour in which our Lord
cometh."
 16:2  But be frequently gathered together seeking the
things which are profitable for your souls, for the
whole time of your faith shall not profit you except
ye be found perfect at the last time;
 16:3  for in the last days the false prophets and the
corrupters shall be multiplied, and the sheep shall be
turned into wolves, and love shall change to hate;
 16:4  for as lawlessness increaseth they shall hate
one another and persecute and betray, and then shall
appear the deceiver of the world as a Son of God, and
shall do signs and wonders and the earth shall be
given over into his hands and he shall commit
iniquities which have never been since the world
began.
 16:5  Then shall the creation of mankind come to the
fiery trial and "many shall be offended" and be lost,
but "they who endure" in their faith "shall be saved"
by the curse itself. ^1
 16:6  And "then shall appear the signs" of the truth.
First the sign spread out in Heaven, then the sign of
the sound of the trumpet, and thirdly the resurrection
of the dead:
 16:7  but not of all the dead, but as it was said,
"The Lord shall come and all his saints with him."
 16:8  Then shall the world "see the Lord coming on
the clouds of Heaven."

== small type on ==
 ^1  The meaning is obscure; but there seem to be other traces in
early literature of a doctrine that each curse also contained the
elements of a counterbalancing power to salvation. There is a
valuable and long note on the subject in Rendel Harris's edition of
the Didache.
== small type off ==