The Good is inseparable from God — God gives all, takes nothing
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Hermes — λόγῳ μὲν οὖν ὑπὸ πάντων λέγεται τὸ ἀγαθόν, οὐ νοεῖται δὲ τί ποτέ ἐστιν ὑπὸ πάντων. διὰ τοῦτο οὐδὲ ὁ θεὸς νοεῖται ὑπὸ πάντων, ἀλλ' ἀγνοίᾳ καὶ τοὺς θεοὺς καί τινας τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀγαθοὺς ὀνομάζουσι, μηδέποτε δυναμένους μήτε εἶναι μήτε γενέσθαι ἀν. ἀλλοτριώτατοι γάρ εἰσι τοῦ θεοῦ, τὸ δὲ ἀγαθὸν ἀχώριστον τοῦ θεοῦ, ὡς αὐτὸς ὁ θεὸς ὢν τὸ ἀγαθόν. θεοὶ μὲν οὖν οἱ ἄλλοι πάντες ἀθάνατοι λέγονται τετιμημένοι τῇ τοῦ θεοῦ προσηγορίᾳ· ὁ δὲ θεὸς τὸ ἀγαθόν, οὐ κατὰ τιμήν, ἀλλὰ κατὰ φύσιν. μία γὰρ ἡ φύσις τοῦ θεοῦ τὸ ἀγαθόν καὶ ἓν γένος ἀμφοτέρων, ἐξ οὗ τὰ γένη πάντα. ὁ γὰρ ἀγαθὸς ἅπαντά ἐστι διδοὺς καὶ μηδὲν λαμβάνων. ὁ οὖν θεὸς πάντα δίδωσι καὶ οὐδὲν λαμβάνει. ὁ οὖν θεὸς τἀγαθόν, καὶ τὸ ἀγαθὸν ὁ θεός.
In word, indeed, the Good is spoken of by all, but what it ever is, is not conceived by all. Because of this, neither is God conceived by all; but in their ignorance they call both the gods and some of men 'good,' though these can never either be or become so. For they are most alien to God; but the Good is inseparable from God, since God himself is the Good. The other gods, indeed, are all called immortal, honoured with the name of God; but God is the Good not by honour but by nature. For the nature of God and the Good is one, and one genus of both, from which come all genera. For the good one is he who gives all things and takes nothing; so God gives all and takes nothing. God, therefore, is the Good, and the Good is God.
The Good is spoken of by all in word, but what it truly is, is not conceived by all — and for that reason neither is God conceived by all. In their ignorance they call the gods, and some men, 'good,' though these can never be or become good; they are utterly alien to God. But the Good is inseparable from God, since God himself is the Good. The other gods are called immortal, honoured with the title of God; but God is the Good not by honour of title but by nature. For the nature of God and the Good is one, one genus of both, from which all genera come. For the good one is he who gives all things and takes nothing; so God gives all and takes nothing. God, therefore, is the Good, and the Good is God.
The section pivots on the gap between saying and knowing. 'In word (λόγῳ)' everyone speaks of the Good; but 'what it ever is (τί ποτέ ἐστιν)' — its reality — 'is not conceived (οὐ νοεῖται) by all.' The interlinear holds λέγεται against νοεῖται, spoken against conceived, because the whole distinction rides on that pair: the Good is on every tongue and in almost no mind, and the same is true of God. Loose speech (the ἀσέβεια warned of in II.15) flows precisely from this — people 'name' gods and good men in ignorance, calling 'good' what can never be or become good.
Against that stands the section's hammered identity: the Good is ἀχώριστον, inseparable, from God — the exact opposite of the χωριστόν ('separate') that everything else was in II.14. Other gods bear the title 'god' by honour (κατὰ τιμήν); God is the Good by nature (κατὰ φύσιν), a distinction the reveal layer keeps sharp because English 'god' blurs the courtesy-title and the reality. Then the definition that grounds it all, and it is ethical, not metaphysical: 'the good one gives all things and takes nothing (ἅπαντα… διδοὺς καὶ μηδὲν λαμβάνων).' Goodness is defined as pure, unreciprocated giving — and since only God gives all and receives nothing, only God is good. The section closes with the equation stated as a ring, God→Good and Good→God (ὁ θεὸς τἀγαθόν, καὶ τὸ ἀγαθὸν ὁ θεός), sealing the central teaching of the treatise: to know what the Good is, is to know God, and both are known not by honouring a name but by seeing a nature that only gives.
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Corpus Hermeticum CH2.16 — The Great Library Project interlinear edition · greatlibraryproject.com/book/hermetica/CH2.16/