1 Son, when you apply yourself to the service of God, stand in justice and in fear, and prepare your soul for temptation. 2 Humble your heart, and persevere. Incline your ear, and accept words of understanding. And you should not hurry away in the time of distress. 3 Endure steadfastly for God. Join yourself to God, and persevere, so that your life may increase in the very end. 4 Accept everything that will happen to you, and persevere in your sorrow, and have patience in your humiliation. 5 For gold and silver are tested in fire, yet truly, acceptable men are tested in the furnace of humiliation. 6 Believe God, and he will restore you to health. And straighten your way, and hope in him. Observe his fear, and grow old in it. 7 You who fear the Lord, wait for his mercy. And do not turn away from him, lest you fall. 8 You who fear the Lord, believe in him. And your reward will not be taken away. 9 You who fear the Lord, hope in him. And mercy will approach you, to your delight. 10 You who fear the Lord, love him. And your hearts will be illuminated. 11 My sons, consider the nations of men, and know that not one of them hoped in the Lord and was confounded. 12 For who has remained in his commandment and been abandoned? Or who has called upon him, and yet he despised him? 13 For God is upright and merciful, and he will forgive sins in the day of tribulation. And he is the Protector to all those who seek him in truth. 14 Woe to the duplicitous heart, and to the wicked lips, and to the hands that do evil, and to the sinner who walks the earth by two ways! 15 Woe to the dissolute in heart, who do not trust God! For, as a result, they will not be protected by him. 16 Woe to those who have lost endurance, and who have abandoned upright ways, and who have turned aside to depraved ways! 17 And what will they do when the Lord begins to examine them? 18 Those who fear the Lord will not be unbelieving toward his Word. And those who love him will keep to his way. 19 Those who fear the Lord will seek the things that are well-pleasing to him. And those who love him will be filled with his law. 20 Those who fear the Lord will prepare their hearts, and they will sanctify their souls in his sight. 21 Those who fear the Lord keep his commandments, and they will have patience even until his examination, 22 saying: “If we do not do penance, then we will fall into the hands of the Lord, and not into the hands of men.” 23 For according to his greatness, so also is his mercy with him.
Sirach · Catholic Public Domain Version
Sirach 2 Catholic Public Domain Version
Notes on this text (3)
- Esther and Daniel are the Vulgate books (Esther 1–16 with the Greek additions as chapters 10:4–16; Daniel 1–14 with the Song of the Three, Susanna and Bel). Baruch 6 is the Letter of Jeremiah.
- The translator's footnotes, cross-references, chapter summaries and book introductions in the CrossWire module are not shown.
- No imprimatur; single translator.
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
… rise again but what falls, whence they conclude that resurrection pertains to bodies only, and not to souls, because bodies fall, why do they make nothing of the words, "Ye that fear the Lord, wait for His mercy; and go not aside lest ye fall;" and "To his own Master he stands or falls;" and "He that thinketh he standeth, …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)
Where then is that, "Who hath called upon God, and hath been forsaken by Him?" where again is that, "Whosoever shall call on the Name of the Lord, shall be delivered." Immediately reaching forth the help of His right hand, He lifted him up as he was sinking, and rebuked his distrust; "O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 6 (1888)
In such manner evidently Thou wilt be angry, because it hath been written, "My son, drawing near unto the service of God, stand thou in righteousness and in fear, and prepare thy soul for temptation." Think not that now the wrath of God hath passed away, because thou hast been converted.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)