Sirach 42

^aOf these things be not thou ashamed,

And ^baccept no person to sin thereby:

^2cOf the law of the most High, and his covenant;

And of judgment to justify the ungodly;

³Of reckoning with thy partners and travellers;

Or of the gift of the heritage of friends;

^4dOf exactness of balance and weights;

Or ^eof getting much or little;

⁵And of merchants’ indifferent selling;

Of much ^fcorrection of children;

And ^gto make the side of an evil servant to bleed.

⁶Sure keeping is good, where an evil wife is;

And shut up, where many hands are.

^7hDeliver all things in number and weight;

And put all in writing that thou givest out, or receivest in.

⁸ⁱBe not ashamed to inform the unwise and foolish,

And ^kthe extreme aged that contendeth with those that are young:

Thus shalt thou be truly learned,

And approved of all men living.

^9lThe father waketh for the daughter, when no man knoweth;

And the care for her taketh away sleep:

When she is young, lest she ^mpass away the flower of her age;

And being married, lest she should be hated;

¹⁰In her virginity, ⁿlest she should be defiled

And gotten with child in her father’s house;

And having a husband, lest she should misbehave herself;

And when she is married, lest she should be barren.

^11oKeep a sure watch over a shameless daughter,

Lest she make thee a laughing-stock to thine enemies,

And a byword in the city, and a reproach among the people,

And make thee ashamed before the multitude.

¹²Behold not every body’s beauty,

And ^psit not in the midst of women.

¹³For from garments cometh a moth,

And ^qfrom women wickedness.

¹⁴Better is the churlishness of a man than a ^rcourteous woman,

A woman, I say, which bringeth shame and reproach.

¹⁵I will now remember the works of the Lord,

And declare the things that I have seen;

^sIn the words of the Lord are his works.

¹⁶The sun that giveth light looketh upon all things,

And the work thereof is full of the glory of the Lord.

^17tThe Lord hath not given power to the saints to declare all his marvellous works,

Which the ^uAlmighty Lord firmly settled,

That whatsoever is might be established for his glory.

¹⁸He seeketh out the deep, and the heart,

And considereth their ^vcrafty devices;

For the Lord knoweth all that may be known,

And he beholdeth ^wthe signs of the world.

^19xHe declareth the things that are past, and for to come,

And revealeth the steps of hidden things.

^20yNo thought escapeth him,

Neither any word is hidden from him.

^21zHe hath garnished ^zthe excellent works of his wisdom,

And he is from everlasting to everlasting:

^aUnto him may nothing be added, neither can he be diminished,

And ^bhe hath no need of any counseller.

²²O how desirable are all his works!

And that a man may see even to a spark.

²³All these things live and remain for ever

For all uses, and ^cthey are all obedient.

^24dAll things are double one against another:

And he hath made nothing unperfect.

²⁵One thing establisheth the good or another:

And who shall be filled with beholding his glory?

XLIII.