The Latin term Poenitentiam agite is used in the first of the Ninety-Five Theses of Martin Luther, and variously translated into English as "Repent" or "Do Penance".[1]
The term is part of the larger quotation from St. Jerome's Vulgate translation of Mt. 3:2 (as said by John the Baptist) and Mt. 4:17 (as repeated by Jesus of Nazareth): "Pœnitentiam agite: appropinquavit enim regnum cælorum" ("Repent: the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand").[2]
The term is translated from the original Greek command μετανοεῖτε (English transliteration: "metanoiete"),[3] which some post-Vulgate translators (including Erasmus) alternatively render in Latin as "resipiscite" – a translation that favors the connotation of changing one's internal state of mind,[4] rather than the connotation of engaging in external penitential action.[5] The Greek μετανοεῖτε is alternatively translated within the Vulgate at Mk. 1:15 as "pœnitemini,"[6] a translation more similar in connotation to "resipiscite."[1] The translational issue is often used to justify positions on the subject of sacramental penance.