Sirach 15–16

Chapter 15

He that feareth God, will do good: and he that possesseth justice, shall lay hold on her,

²And she will meet him as an honourable mother, and will receive him as a wife married of a virgin.

³With the bread of life and understanding, she shall feed him, and give him the water of wholesome wisdom to drink: and she shall be made strong in him, and he shall not be moved.

⁴And she shall hold him fast, and he shall not be confounded: and she shall exalt him among his neighbours.

⁵And in the midst of the church she shall open his mouth, and shall fill him with the spirit of wisdom and understanding, and shall clothe him with a robe of glory.

⁶She shall heap upon him a treasure of joy and gladness, and shall cause him to inherit an everlasting name.

⁷But foolish men shall not obtain her, and wise men shall meet her, foolish men shall not see her: for she is far from pride and deceit.

⁸Lying men shall be mindful of her: but men that speak truth shall be found with her, and shall advance, even till they come to the sight of God.

⁹Praise is not seemly in the mouth of a sinner:

¹⁰For wisdom came forth from God: for praise shall be with the wisdom of God, and shall abound in a faithful mouth, and the sovereign Lord will give praise unto it.

¹¹Say not: It is through God, that she is not with me: for do not thou the things that he hateth.

¹²Say not: He hath caused me to err: for he hath no need of wicked men.

¹³The Lord hateth all abomination of error, and they that fear him shall not love it.

¹⁴God made man from the beginning, and left him in the hand of his own counsel.

¹⁵He added his commandments and precepts.

¹⁶If thou wilt keep the commandments and perform acceptable fidelity for ever, they shall preserve thee.

¹⁷He hath set water and fire before thee: stretch forth thy hand to which thou wilt.

¹⁸Before man is life and death, good and evil, that which he shall choose shall be given him:

¹⁹For the wisdom of God is great, and he is strong in power, seeing all men without ceasing.

²⁰The eyes of the Lord are towards them that fear him, and he knoweth all the work of man.

²¹He hath commanded no man to do wickedly, and he hath given no man license to sin;

²²For he desireth not a multitude of faithless and unprofitable children.

Chapter 16

Rejoice not in ungodly children, if they be multiplied: neither be delighted in them, if the fear of God be not with them.

²Trust not to their life, and respect not their labours.

³For better is one that feareth God, than a thousand ungodly children.

⁴And it is better to die without children, than to leave ungodly children.

⁵By one that is wise a country shall be inhabited, the tribe of the ungodly shall become desolate.

⁶Many such things hath my eyes seen, and greater things than these my ear hath heard.

⁷In the congregation of sinners a fire shall be kindled, and in an unbelieving nation wrath shall flame out.

⁸The ancient giants did not obtain pardon for their sins, who were destroyed trusting to their own strength:

⁹And he spared not the place where Lot sojourned, but abhorred them for the pride of their word.

¹⁰He had not pity on them, destroying the whole nation that extolled themselves in their sins.

¹¹So did he with the six hundred thousand footmen, who were gathered together in the hardness of their heart: and if one had been stiffnecked, it is a wonder if he had escaped unpunished:

¹²For mercy and wrath are with him. He is mighty to forgive, and to pour out indignation:

¹³According as his mercy is, so his correction judgeth a man according to his works.

¹⁴The sinner shall not escape in his rapines, and the patience of him that sheweth mercy shall not be put off.

¹⁵All mercy shall make a place for every man according to the merit of his works, and according to the wisdom of his sojournment.

¹⁶Say not: I shall be hidden from God, and who shall remember me from on high?

¹⁷In such a multitude I shall not be known: for what is my soul in such an immense creation?

¹⁸Behold the heaven, and the heavens of heavens, the deep, and all the earth, and the things that are in them, shall be moved in his sight,

¹⁹The mountains also, and the hills, and the foundations of the earth: when God shall look upon them, they shall be shaken with trembling.

²⁰And in all these things the heart is senseless: and every heart is understood by him.

²¹And his ways who shall understand, and the storm, which no eye of man shall see?

²²For many of his works are hidden, but the works of his justice who shall declare? or who shall endure? for the testament is far from some, and the examination of all is in the end.

²³He that wanteth understanding thinketh vain things, and the foolish, and erring man, thinketh foolish things.

²⁴Hearken to me, my son, and learn the discipline of understanding, and attend to my words in thy heart.

²⁵And I will shew forth good doctrine in equity, and will seek to declare wisdom: and attend to my words in thy heart, whilst with equity of spirit I tell thee the virtues that God hath put upon his works from the beginning, and I shew forth in truth his knowledge.

²⁶The works of God are done in judgment from the beginning, and from the making of them he distinguished their parts, and their beginnings in their generations.

²⁷He beautified their works for ever, they have neither hungered, nor laboured, and they have not ceased from their works.

²⁸Nor shall any of them straiten his neighbour at any time.

²⁹Be not thou incredulous to his word.

³⁰After this God looked upon the earth, and filled it with his goods.

³¹The soul of every living thing hath shewn forth before the face thereof, and into it they return again.