Sirach · Douay-Rheims (Challoner), American Edition 1899
Sirach 22 Douay-Rheims (Challoner), American Edition 1899
DRB Douay-Rheims (Challoner), American Edition 1899
WEB World English Bible (Classic, with Deuterocanon)
1 The sluggard is pelted with a dirty stone, and all men will speak of his disgrace.
1 A slothful man is compared to a stone that is defiled. Everyone will hiss at him in his disgrace.
2 The sluggard is pelted with the dung of oxen: and every one that toucheth him will shake his hands.
2 A slothful man is compared to the filth of a dunghill. Anyone who picks it up will shake it out of his hand.
3 A son ill taught is the confusion of the father: and a foolish daughter shall be to his loss.
3 An undisciplined child is a disgrace to his father, and a foolish daughter is born to his loss.
4 A wise daughter shall bring an inheritance to her husband: but she that confoundeth, becometh a disgrace to her father.
4 A prudent daughter will inherit a husband of her own. She who brings shame is the grief of her father.
5 She that is bold shameth both her father and husband, and will not be inferior to the ungodly: and shall be disgraced by them both.
5 She who is arrogant brings shame on father and husband. She will be despised by both of them.
6 A tale out of time is like music in mourning: but the stripes and instruction of wisdom are never out of time.
6 Ill-timed conversation is like music in mourning, but stripes and correction are wisdom in every season.
7 He that teacheth a fool, is like one that glueth a potsherd together.
7 He who teaches a fool is like one who glues potsherds together, even like one who wakes a sleeper out of a deep sleep.
8 He that telleth a word to him that heareth not, is like one that waketh a man out of a deep sleep.
8 He who teaches a fool is as one who teaches a man who slumbers. In the end he will say, “What is it?”
9 He speaketh with one that is asleep, who uttereth wisdom to a fool: and in the end of the discourse he saith: Who is this?
9 Not in this translation
10 Weep for the dead, for his light hath failed: and weep for the fool, for his understanding faileth.
10 Not in this translation
11 Weep but a little for the dead, for he is at rest.
11 Weep for the dead, for he lacks light. Weep for a fool, for he lacks understanding. Weep more sweetly for the dead, because he has found rest, but the life of the fool is worse than death.
12 For the wicked life of a wicked fool is worse than death.
12 Mourning for the dead lasts seven days, but for a fool and an ungodly man, it lasts all the days of his life.
13 The mourning for the dead is seven days: but for a fool and an ungodly man all the days of their life.
13 Don’t talk much with a foolish man, and don’t go to one who has no understanding. Beware of him, lest you have trouble and be defiled in his onslaught. Turn away from him, and you will find rest, and you won’t be wearied in his madness.
14 Talk not much with a fool, and go not with him that hath no sense.
14 What would be heavier than lead? What is its name, but “Fool”?
15 Keep thyself from him, that thou mayst not have trouble, and thou shalt not be defiled with his sin.
15 Sand, salt, and a mass of iron is easier to bear than a man without understanding.
16 Turn away from him, and thou shalt find rest, and shalt not be wearied out with his folly.
16 Timber girded and bound into a building will not be released with shaking. So a heart established in due season on well advised counsel will not be afraid.
17 What is heavier than lead? and what other name hath he but fool?
17 A heart settled upon a thoughtful understanding is as an ornament of plaster on a polished wall.
18 Sand and salt, and a mass of iron is easier to bear, than a man without sense, that is both foolish and wicked.
18 Fences set on a high place will not stand against the wind; so a fearful heart in the imagination of a fool will not stand against any fear.
19 A frame of wood bound together in the foundation of a building, shall not be loosed: so neither shall the heart that is established by advised counsel.
19 He who pricks the eye will make tears fall. He who pricks the heart makes it show feeling.
20 The thought of him that is wise at all times, shall not be depraved by fear.
20 Whoever casts a stone at birds scares them away. He who insults a friend will dissolve friendship.
21 As pales set in high places, and plasterings made without cost, will not stand against the face of the wind:
21 If you have drawn a sword against a friend, don’t despair, for there may be a way back.
22 So also a fearful heart in the imagination of a fool shall not resist against the violence of fear.
22 If you have opened your mouth against a friend, don’t be afraid, for there may be reconciliation, unless it is for insulting, arrogance, disclosing of a secret, or a treacherous blow— for these things any friend will flee.
23 As a fearful heart in the thought of a fool at all times will not fear, so neither shall he that continueth always in the commandments of God.
23 Gain trust with your neighbor in his poverty, that in his prosperity you may have gladness. Stay steadfast to him in the time of his affliction, that you may be heir with him in his inheritance.
24 He that pricketh the eye, bringeth out tears: and he that pricketh the heart, bringeth forth resentment.
24 Before fire is the vapor and smoke of a furnace, so insults precede bloodshed.
25 He that flingeth a stone at birds, shall drive them away: so he that upbraideth his friend, breaketh friendship.
25 I won’t be ashamed to shelter a friend. I won’t hide myself from his face.
26 Although thou hast drawn a sword at a friend, despair not: for there may be a returning. To a friend,
26 If any evil happens to me because of him, everyone who hears it will beware of him.
27 If thou hast opened a sad mouth, fear not, for there may be a reconciliation: except upbraiding, and reproach, and pride, and disclosing of secrets, or a treacherous wound: for in all these cases a friend will flee away.
27 Who will set a watch over my mouth, and a seal of shrewdness upon my lips, that I may not fall from it, and that my tongue may not destroy me?
28 Keep fidelity with a friend in his poverty, that in his prosperity also thou mayst rejoice.
28 Not in this translation
29 In the time of his trouble continue faithful to him, that thou mayst also be heir with him in his inheritance.
29 Not in this translation
30 As the vapour of a chimney, and the smoke of the fire goeth up before the fire: so also injurious words, and reproaches, and threats, before blood.
30 Not in this translation
31 I will not be ashamed to salute a friend, neither will I hide myself from his face: and if any evil happen to me by him, I will bear it.
31 Not in this translation
32 But every one that shall hear it, will beware of him.
32 Not in this translation
33 Who will set a guard before my mouth, and a sure seal upon my lips, that I fall not by them, and that my tongue destroy me not?
33 Not in this translation
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).
It is written, "The mourning for the dead is seven days; for a fool and an ungodly man all the days of his life." What!
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 6 (1888)