Sirach · Douay-Rheims (Challoner), American Edition 1899
Sirach 16 Douay-Rheims (Challoner), American Edition 1899
Sirach is not in RV1909.
1 Rejoice not in ungodly children, if they be multiplied: neither be delighted in them, if the fear of God be not with them.
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2 Trust not to their life, and respect not their labours.
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3 For better is one that feareth God, than a thousand ungodly children.
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4 And it is better to die without children, than to leave ungodly children.
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5 By one that is wise a country shall be inhabited, the tribe of the ungodly shall become desolate.
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6 Many such things hath my eyes seen, and greater things than these my ear hath heard.
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7 In the congregation of sinners a fire shall be kindled, and in an unbelieving nation wrath shall dame out.
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8 The ancient giants did not obtain pardon for their sins, who were destroyed trusting to their own strength:
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9 And he spared not the place where Lot sojourned, but abhorred them for the pride of their word.
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10 He had not pity on them, destroying the whole nation that extolled themselves in their sins.
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11 So 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:
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12 For mercy and wrath are with him. He is mighty to forgive, and to pour out indignation:
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13 According as his mercy is, so his correction judgeth a man according to his works.
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14 The sinner shall not escape in his rapines, and the patience of him that sheweth mercy shall not be put off.
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15 All mercy shall make a place for every man according to the merit of his works, and according to the wisdom of his sojournment.
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16 Say not: I shall be hidden from God. and who shall remember me from on high?
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17 In such a multitude I shall not be known: for what is my soul in such an immense creation?
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18 Behold 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,
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19 The mountains also, and the hills, and the foundations of the earth: when God shall look upon them, they shall be shaken with trembling.
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20 And in all these things the heart is senseless: and every heart is understood by him:
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21 And his ways who shall understand, and the storm, which no eye of man see?
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22 For many of his works are hidden: hut 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.
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23 He that wanteth understanding thinketh vain things: and the foolish, and erring man, thinketh foolish things.
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24 Hearken to me, my son, and learn the discipline of understanding, and attend to my words in thy heart.
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25 And 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.
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26 The 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.
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27 He beautified their works for ever, they have neither hungered, nor laboured, and they have not ceased from their works.
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28 Nor shall any of them straiten his neighbour at any time.
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29 Be not thou incredulous to his word.
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30 After this God looked upon the earth, and filled it with his goods.
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31 The soul of every living thing hath shewn forth before the face thereof, and into it they return again.
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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).
"For," as it is written, "God filled the earth with His good things." What is "His"?
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)