Sirach 16

God’s Punishment of Sinners

¹⁶Do not desire a multitude of worthless^o children,

and do not rejoice in ungodly offspring.

²If they multiply, do not rejoice in them,

unless the fear of the Lord is in them.

³Do not trust in their survival

or rely on their numbers,^p

for one can be better than a thousand,

and to die childless is better than to have ungodly children.^*

⁴For through one intelligent person a city can be filled with people,

but through a clan of outlaws it becomes desolate.

⁵Many such things my eye has seen,

and my ear has heard things more striking than these.

⁶In an assembly of sinners a fire is kindled,

and in a disobedient nation wrath has blazed up.^*

⁷He did not forgive the ancient giants^q

who revolted in their might.^*

⁸He did not spare the neighbors of Lot,

whom he loathed on account of their arrogance.^*

⁹He showed no pity on the doomed nation,

on those dispossessed because of their sins,^r

¹⁰or on the six hundred thousand foot soldiers

who assembled in their stubbornness.^s*

¹¹Even if there were only one stiff-necked person,

it would be a wonder if he remained unpunished.

For mercy and wrath are with the Lord;^t

he acquits and forgives,^u but he also pours out wrath.^*

¹²Great as is his mercy, so also is his chastisement;

he judges people according to their deeds.^*

¹³The sinner will not escape with plunder,

and the patience of the godly will not be frustrated.

¹⁴He makes room for every act of almsgiving;

everyone receives in accordance with his or her deeds.^v*

¹⁷Do not say, “I am hidden from the Lord,

and who from on high has me in mind?

Among so many people I am unknown,

for what am I in a boundless creation?^*

¹⁸Look, heaven and the highest heaven,

the abyss and the earth tremble at his visitation!^w*

¹⁹Together the mountains and the foundations of the earth

shake and tremble when he looks upon them.^*

²⁰But no human mind can grasp this,

and who can comprehend his ways?^*

²¹Like a tempest that no one can see,

so most of his works are concealed.^x*

²²Who is to announce his acts of justice?

Or who can await them? For his decree^y is far off.”^z

²³Such are the thoughts of one devoid of understanding;

a senseless and misguided person thinks foolishly.

God’s Wisdom Seen in Creation

²⁴Listen to me, my child, and acquire knowledge,

and pay close attention to my words.^*

²⁵I will impart discipline precisely^a

and declare knowledge accurately.^*

²⁶When the Lord created^b his works from the beginning

and, in making them, determined their boundaries,

²⁷he arranged their works in an eternal order

and their dominion^c for all generations.

They neither hunger nor grow weary,

and they do not abandon their tasks.^*

²⁸They do not crowd one another,

and they never disobey his word.

²⁹Then the Lord looked upon the earth

and filled it with his good things.^*

³⁰With all kinds of living beings he covered its surface,

and into it they must return.^*