Chapter 1
1 All wisdom is from the Lord God, and hath been always with him, and is before all time.2 Who hath numbered the sand of the sea, and the drops of rain, and the days of the world? Who hath measured the height of heaven, [Continue ...] |
Chapter 2
1 Son, when thou comest to the service of God, stand in justice and in fear, and prepare thy soul for temptation.2 Humble thy heart, and endure: incline thy ear, and receive the words of understanding: and make [Continue ...] |
Chapter 3
1 The sons of wisdom are the church of the just: and their generation, obedience and love.2 Children, hear the judgment of your father, and so do that you may be saved.3 For God hath made the father honourable to the [Continue ...] |
Chapter 4
1 Son, defraud not the poor of alms, and turn not away thy eyes from the poor.2 Despise not the hungry soul: and provoke not the poor in his want.3 Afflict not the heart of the needy, and defer not to gibe to him [Continue ...] |
Chapter 5
1 Set not thy heart upon unjust possessions, and say not: I have enough to live on: for it shall be of no service in the time of vengeance and darkness.2 Follow not in thy strength the desires of thy heart:3 And say not: [Continue ...] |
Chapter 6
1 Instead of a friend become not an enemy to thy neighbour: for an evil man shall inherit reproach and shame, so shall every sinner that is envious and double tongued.2 Extol not thyself in the thoughts of thy soul like a [Continue ...] |
Chapter 7
1 Do no evils, and no evils shall lay hold of thee.2 Depart from the unjust, and evils shall depart from thee.3 My son, sow not evils in the furrows of injustice, and thou shalt not reap them sevenfold.4 Seek not [Continue ...] |
Chapter 8
1 Strive not with a powerful man, lest thou fall into his hands.2 Contend not with a rich man, lest he bring an action against thee.3 For gold and silver hath destroyed many, and hath reached even to the heart of kings, [Continue ...] |
Chapter 9
1 Be not jealous over the wife of thy bosom, lest she shew in thy regard the malice of a wicked lesson.2 Give not the power of thy soul to a woman, lest she enter upon thy strength, and thou be confounded.3 Look [Continue ...] |
Chapter 10
1 A wise judge shall judge his people, and the government of a prudent man shall be steady.2 As the judge of the people is himself, so also are his ministers: and what manner of man the ruler of a city is, such [Continue ...] |
Chapter 11
1 The wisdom of the humble shall exalt his head, and shall make him sit in the midst of great men.2 Praise not a man for his beauty, neither despise a man for his look.3 The bee is small among flying things but [Continue ...] |
Chapter 12
1 If thou do good, know to whom thou dost it, and there shall be much thanks for thy good deeds.2 Do good to the just, and thou shalt find great recompense: and if not of him, assuredly of the Lord.3 For there is [Continue ...] |
Chapter 13
1 He that toucheth pitch, shall be defiled with it: and he that hath fellowship with the proud, shall put on pride.2 He shall take a burden upon him that hath fellowship with one more honourable than himself. And [Continue ...] |
Chapter 14
1 Blessed is the man that hath not slipped by a word out of his mouth, and is not pricked with the remorse of sin.2 Happy is he that hath had no sadness of his mind, and who is not fallen from his hope.3 Riches are not [Continue ...] |
Chapter 15
1 He that feareth God, will do good: and he that possesseth justice, shall lay hold on her,2 And she will meet him as an honourable mother, and will receive him as a wife married of a virgin.3 With the bread of life and [Continue ...] |
Chapter 16
1 Rejoice not in ungodly children, if they be multiplied: neither be delighted in them, if the fear of God be not with them.2 Trust not to their life, and respect not their labours.3 For better is one that feareth [Continue ...] |
Chapter 17
1 God created man of the earth, and made him after his own image.2 And he turned him into it again, and clothed him with strength according to himself.3 He gave him the number of his days and time, and gave him power over [Continue ...] |
Chapter 18
1 He that liveth for ever created all things together. God only shall be justified, and he remaineth an invincible king for ever.2 Who is able to declare his works?3 For who shall search out his glorious acts?4 And who [Continue ...] |
Chapter 19
1 A workman that is a drunkard shall not be rich: and he that contemneth small things, shall fall by little and little.2 Wine and women make wise men fall off, and shall rebuke the prudent:3 And he that joineth himself [Continue ...] |
Chapter 20
1 How much better is it to reprove, than to be angry, and not to hinder him that confesseth in prayer.2 The lust of an eunuch shall deflour a young maiden:3 So is he that by violence executeth of the unwise.4 How good is [Continue ...] |
Chapter 21
1 My son, hast thou sinned? do so no more: but for thy former sins also pray that they may be forgiven thee.2 Flee from sins as from the face of a serpent: for if thou comest near them, they will take hold of [Continue ...] |
Chapter 22
1 The sluggard is pelted with a dirty stone, and all men will speak of his disgrace.2 The sluggard is pelted with the dung of oxen: and every one that toucheth him will shake his hands.3 A son ill taught is the confusion [Continue ...] |
Chapter 23
1 O Lord, father, and sovereign ruler of my life, leave me not to their counsel: nor suffer me to fall by them.2 Who will set scourges over my thoughts, and the discipline of wisdom over my heart, that they spare [Continue ...] |
Chapter 24
1 Wisdom shall praise her own self, and shall be honoured in God, and shall glory in the midst of her people,2 And shall open her mouth in the churches of the most High, and shall glorify herself in the sight of [Continue ...] |
Chapter 25
1 With three things my spirit is pleased, which are approved before God and men:2 The concord of brethren, and the love of neighbours, and man and wife that agree well together.3 Three sorts my soul hateth, and I [Continue ...] |
Chapter 26
1 Happy is the husband of a good wife: for the number of his years is double.2 A virtuous woman rejoiceth her husband, and shall fulfil the years of his life in peace.3 A good wife is a good portion, she shall be given in [Continue ...] |
Chapter 27
1 Through poverty many have sinned: and he that seeketh to be enriched, turneth away his eye.2 As a stake sticketh fast in the midst of the joining of stones, so also in the midst of selling and buying, sin shall stick [Continue ...] |
Chapter 28
1 He that seeketh to revenge himself, shall find vengeance from the Lord, and he will surely keep his sins in remembrance.2 Forgive thy neighbour if he hath hurt thee: and then shall thy sins be forgiven to thee [Continue ...] |
Chapter 29
1 He that sheweth mercy, lendeth to his neighbour: and he that is stronger in hand, keepeth the commandments.2 Lend to thy neighbour in the time of his need, and pay thou thy neighbour again in due time.3 Keep thy [Continue ...] |
Chapter 30
1 He that loveth his son, frequently chastiseth him, that he may rejoice in his latter end, and not grope after the doors of his neighbours.2 He that instructeth his son shall be praised in him, and shall glory in him in [Continue ...] |
Chapter 31
1 Watching for riches consumeth the flesh, and the thought thereof driveth away sleep.2 The thinking beforehand turneth away the understanding, and a grievous sickness maketh the soul sober.3 The rich man hath laboured [Continue ...] |
Chapter 32
1 Have they made thee ruler? be not lifted up: be among them as one of them.2 Have care of them, and so sit down, and when thou hast acquitted thyself of all thy charge, take thy place:3 That thou mayst rejoice [Continue ...] |
Chapter 33
1 No evils shall happen to him that feareth the Lord, but in temptation God will keep him and deliver him from evils.2 A wise man hateth not the commandments and justices, and he shall not be dashed in pieces as a [Continue ...] |
Chapter 34
1 The hopes of a man that is void of understanding are vain and deceitful: and dreams lift up fools.2 The man that giveth heed to lying visions, is like to him that catcheth at a shadow, and followeth after the [Continue ...] |
Chapter 35
1 He that keepeth the law, multiplieth offerings.2 It is a wholesome sacrifice to take heed to the commandments, and to depart from all iniquity.3 And to depart from injustice, is to offer a propitiatory sacrifice [Continue ...] |
Chapter 36
1 Have mercy upon us, O God of all, and behold us, and shew us the light of thy mercies:2 And send thy fear upon the nations, that have not sought after thee: that they may know that there is no God beside thee, and that [Continue ...] |
Chapter 37
1 Every friend will say: I also am his friend: but there is a friend, that is only a friend in name. Is not this a grief even to death?2 But a companion and a friend shall be turned to an enemy.3 O wicked presumption, [Continue ...] |
Chapter 38
1 Honour the physician for the need thou hast of him: for the most High hath created him.2 For all healing is from God, and he shall receive gifts of the king.3 The skill of the physician shall lift up his head, and in the [Continue ...] |
Chapter 39
1 The wise man will seek out the wisdom of all the ancients, and will be occupied in the prophets.2 He will keep the sayings of renowned men, and will enter withal into the subtilties of parables.3 He will search out the [Continue ...] |
Chapter 40
1 Great labour is created for all men, and a heavy yoke is upon the children of Adam from the day of their coming out of their mother’s womb, until the day of their burial into the mother of all.2 Their thoughts, and [Continue ...] |
Chapter 41
1 O death, how bitter is the remembrance of thee to a man that hath peace in his possessions!2 To a man that is at rest, and whose ways are prosperous in all things, and that is yet able to take meat!3 O death thy [Continue ...] |
Chapter 42
1 Repeat not the word which thou hast heard, and disclose not the thing that is secret; so shalt thou be truly without confusion, and shalt find favour before all men: be not ashamed of any of these things, and [Continue ...] |
Chapter 43
1 The firmament on high is his beauty, the beauty of heaven with its glorious shew.2 The sun when he appeareth shewing forth at his rising, an admirable instrument, the work of the most High.3 At noon he burneth the earth, [Continue ...] |
Chapter 44
1 Let us now praise men of renown and our fathers in their generation.2 The Lord hath wrought great glory through his magnificence from the beginning.3 Such as have borne rule in their dominions, men of great power, and [Continue ...] |
Chapter 45
1 Moses was beloved of God, and men: whose memory is in benediction.2 He made him like the saints in glory, and magnified him in the fear of his enemies, and with his words he made prodigies to cease.3 He glorified him in [Continue ...] |
Chapter 46
1 Valiant in war was Jesus the son of Nave, who was successor of Moses among the prophets, who was great according to his name, Jesus the son of Nave... So Josue is named in the Greek Bibles. For Josue and Jesus [Continue ...] |
Chapter 47
1 Then Nathan the prophet arose in the days of David.2 And as the fat taken away from the flesh, so was David chosen from among the children of Israel.3 He played with lions as with lambs: and with bears he did in [Continue ...] |
Chapter 48
1 And Elias the prophet stood up, as a fire, and his word burnt like a torch.2 He brought a famine upon them, and they that provoked him in their envy, were reduced to a small number, for they could not endure the [Continue ...] |
Chapter 49
1 The memory of Josias is like the composition of a sweet smell made by the art of a perfumer:2 His remembrance shall be sweet as honey in every mouth, and as music at a banquet of wine.3 He was directed by God unto the [Continue ...] |
Chapter 50
1 Simon the high priest, the son of Onias, who in his life propped up the house, and in his days fortified the temple.2 By him also the height of the temple was founded, the double building and the high walls of [Continue ...] |
Chapter 51
1 A prayer of Jesus the son of Sirach. I will give glory to thee, O Lord, O King, and I will praise thee, O God my Saviour.2 I will give glory to thy name: for thou hast been a helper and protector to me.3 And hast [Continue ...] |
