1And he said to me: 'Do you see this shepherd?' 'I see, Lord,' said I. 'This,' said he, 'is the angel of self-indulgence and deceit. He destroys the souls of the servants of God and turns them away from the truth, deceiving them with evil desires, in which they perish.'
2'For they forget the commandments of the living God, and walk in vain delights and deceits, and are destroyed by this angel, some to death and others to corruption.'
3I said to him: 'Lord, I do not understand what "to death" means and what "to corruption" means.'
4'Listen,' said he. 'The sheep you saw leaping and in delight, these are those who were separated from God and gave themselves to the desires of this world. In these, therefore, there is no repentance for life, because they added to their blasphemy the name of the Lord. Such persons, therefore, are destined to death.'
5'But the sheep you saw not leaping, but feeding in one place, these are those who gave themselves to delights and deceits, but did not utter any blasphemy against the Lord; these, therefore, were corrupted from the truth. In these there is hope of repentance, in which they may live.'
6'Corruption, therefore, has hope of a certain renewal, but death has eternal destruction.'
7Again we advanced a little, and he showed me a great shepherd, of rude and cruel appearance, dressed in a white goat skin, and a kind of bag on his shoulders, and a staff in his hand, very hard and having knots in it, and a long whip. And his look was frowning, so that I was afraid of him, such was his look.