Sirach · Douay-Rheims (Challoner), American Edition 1899
Sirach 27 Douay-Rheims (Challoner), American Edition 1899
DRB Douay-Rheims (Challoner), American Edition 1899
WEB World English Bible (Classic, with Deuterocanon)
1 Through poverty many have sinned: and he that seeketh to be enriched, turneth away his eye.
1 Many have sinned for profit. He who seeks to multiply wealth will turn his eye away.
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 fast.
2 As a nail will stick fast between the joinings of stones, so sin will thrust itself in between buying and selling.
3 Sin shall be destroyed with the sinner.
3 Unless a person holds on diligently to the fear of the Lord, his house will be overthrown quickly.
4 Unless thou hold thyself diligently in the fear of the Lord, thy house shall quickly be overthrown.
4 In the shaking of a sieve, the refuse remains, so does the filth of man in his thoughts.
5 As when one sifteth with a sieve, the dust will remain: so will the perplexity of a man in his thoughts.
5 The furnace tests the potter’s vessels; so the test of a person is in his thoughts.
6 The furnace trieth the potter’s vessels, and the trial of affliction just men.
6 The fruit of a tree discloses its cultivation, so is the utterance of the thought of a person’s heart.
7 Be the dressing of a tree sheweth the fruit thereof, so a word out of the thought of the heart of man.
7 Praise no man before you hear his thoughts, for this is how people are tested.
8 Praise not a man before he speaketh, for this is the trial of men.
8 If you follow righteousness, you will obtain it, and put it on like a long robe of glory.
9 If thou followest justice, thou shalt obtain her: and shalt put her on as a long robe of honour, and thou shalt dwell with her: and she shall protect thee for ever, and in the day of acknowledgment thou shalt find a strong foundation.
9 Birds will return to their own kind, so truth will return to those who practice it.
10 Birds resort unto their like: so truth will return to them that practise her.
10 The lion lies in wait for prey. So does sin for those who do evil.
11 The lion always lieth in wait for prey: so do sins for them that work iniquities.
11 The discourse of a godly man is always wise, but the fool changes like the moon.
12 A holy man continueth in wisdom as the sun: but a fool is changed as the moon.
12 Limit your time among people void of understanding, but persevere among the thoughtful.
13 In the midst of the unwise keep in the word till its time: but be continually among men that think.
13 The talk of fools is offensive. Their laughter is wantonly sinful.
14 The discourse of sinners is hateful, and their laughter is at the pleasures of sin.
14 Their talk with much swearing makes hair stand upright. Their strife makes others plug their ears.
15 The speech that sweareth much shall make the hair of the head stand upright: and its irreverence shall make one stop his ears.
15 The strife of the proud leads to bloodshed. Their abuse of each other is a grievous thing to hear.
16 Is the quarrels of the proud is the shedding of blood: and their cursing is a grievous hearing.
16 He who reveals secrets destroys trust, and will not find a close friend.
17 He that discloseth the secret of a friend loseth his credit, and shall never find a friend to his mind.
17 Love a friend, and keep faith with him; but if you reveal his secrets, you shall not follow him;
18 Love thy neighbour, and be joined to him with fidelity.
18 for as a man has destroyed his enemy, so you have destroyed the friendship of your neighbor.
19 But if thou discover his secrets, follow no more after him.
19 As a bird which you have released out of your hand, so you have let your neighbor go, and you will not catch him again.
20 For as a man that destroyeth his friend, so also is he that destroyeth the friendship of his neighbour.
20 Don’t pursue him, for he has gone far away, and has escaped like a gazelle out of the snare.
21 And as one that letteth a bird go out of his hand, so hast thou let thy neighbour go, and thou shalt not get him again.
21 For a wound may be bound up, and after abuse there may be reconciliation; but he who reveals secrets is without hope.
22 Follow after him no more, for he is gone afar off, he is fled, as a roe escaped out of the snare: because his soul is wounded.
22 One who winks the eye contrives evil things; and those who know him will keep their distance.
23 Thou canst no more bind him up. And of a curse there is reconciliation:
23 When you are present, he will speak sweetly, and will admire your words; but afterward he will twist his speech and set a trap in your words.
24 But to disclose the secrets of a friend, leaveth no hope to an unhappy soul.
24 I have hated many things, but nothing like him. The Lord will hate him.
25 He that winketh with the eye forgeth wicked things, and no man will cast him off:
25 One who casts a stone straight up casts it on his own head. A deceitful blow opens wounds.
26 In the sight of thy eyes he will sweeten his mouth, and will admire thy words: but at the last he will writhe his mouth, and on thy words he will lay a stumblingblock.
26 He who digs a pit will fall into it. He who sets a snare will be caught in it.
27 I have hated many things, but not like him, and the Lord will hate him.
27 He who does evil things, they will roll back upon him, and he will not know where they came from.
28 If one cast a stone on high, it will fall upon his own head: and the deceitful stroke will wound the deceitful.
28 Mockery and reproach are from the arrogant. Vengeance lies in wait for them like a lion.
29 He that diggeth a pit, shall fall into it: and he that setteth a stone for his neighbour, shall stumble upon it: and he that layeth a snare for another, shall perish in it.
29 Those who rejoice at the fall of the godly will be caught in a snare. Anguish will consume them before they die.
30 A mischievous counsel shall be rolled back upon the author, and he shall not know from whence it cometh to him.
30 Wrath and anger, these also are abominations. A sinner will possess them.
31 Mockery and reproach are of the proud, and vengeance as a lion shall lie in wait for him.
31 Not in this translation
32 They shall perish in a snare that are delighted with the fall of the just: and sorrow shall consume them before they die.
32 Not in this translation
33 Anger and fury are both of them abominable, and the sinful man shall be subject to them.
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).
… manifest: for the day shall declare it,"--the day, no doubt, of tribulation--"because," says he, "it shall be revealed by fire." He calls tribulation fire, just as it is elsewhere said, "The furnace proves the vessels of the potter, and the trial of affliction righteous men." And "The fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)
What Scripture says is very true, "As for a fool he changeth as the moon." I believe also that the variations of the moon do not take place without exerting great influence upon the organization of animals and of all living things.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 8 (1895)
For "the furnace proveth the potter's vessels, and the trial of tribulation righteous men." Joseph therefore was tempted with the allurement of debauchery, but he was not brought into temptation.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 6 (1888)