Sirach · Douay-Rheims (Challoner), American Edition 1899
Sirach 5 Douay-Rheims (Challoner), American Edition 1899
DRB Douay-Rheims (Challoner), American Edition 1899
WEB World English Bible (Classic, with Deuterocanon)
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.
1 Don’t set your heart upon your goods. Don’t say, “They are sufficient for me.”
2 Follow not in thy strength the desires of thy heart:
2 Don’t follow your own mind and your strength to walk in the desires of your heart.
3 And say not: How mighty am I? and who shall bring me under for my deeds? for God will surely take revenge.
3 Don’t say, “Who will have dominion over me?” for the Lord will surely take vengeance on you.
4 Say not: I have sinned, and whet harm hath befallen me? for the most High is a patient rewarder.
4 Don’t say, “I sinned, and what happened to me?” for the Lord is patient.
5 Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin:
5 Don’t be so confident of atonement that you add sin upon sins.
6 And say not: The mercy of the Lord is great, he will have mercy on the multitude of my sins.
6 Don’t say, “His compassion is great. He will be pacified for the multitude of my sins,” for mercy and wrath are with him, and his indignation will rest on sinners.
7 For mercy and wrath quickly come from him, and his wrath looketh upon sinners.
7 Don’t wait to turn to the Lord. Don’t put off from day to day; for suddenly the wrath of the Lord will come on you, and you will perish in the time of vengeance.
8 Delay not to be converted to the Lord, and defer it not from day to day.
8 Don’t set your heart upon unrighteous gains, for you will profit nothing in the day of calamity.
9 For his wrath shall come on a sudden, and in the time of vengeance he will destroy thee.
9 Don’t winnow with every wind. Don’t walk in every path. This is what the sinner who has a double tongue does.
10 Be not anxious for goods unjustly gotten: for they shall not profit thee in the day of calamity and revenge.
10 Be steadfast in your understanding. Let your speech be consistent.
11 Winnow not with every wind, and go not into every way: for so is every sinner proved by a double tongue.
11 Be swift to hear and answer with patience.
12 Be steadfast in the way of the Lord, and in the truth of thy judgment, and in knowledge, and let the word of peace and justice keep with thee.
12 If you have understanding, answer your neighbor; but if not, put your hand over your mouth.
13 Be meek to hear the word, that thou mayst understand: and return a true answer with wisdom.
13 Glory and dishonor is in talk. A man’s tongue may be his downfall.
14 If thou have understanding, answer thy neighbour: but if not, let thy hand be upon thy mouth, lest thou be surprised in an unskillful word, and be confounded.
14 Don’t be called a whisperer. Don’t lie in wait with your tongue; for shame is on the thief, and an evil condemnation is on him who has a double tongue.
15 Honour and glory is in the word of the wise, but the tongue of the fool is his ruin.
15 Don’t be ignorant in a great or small matter.
16 Be not called a whisperer, and be not taken in thy tongue, and confounded.
16 Not in this translation
17 For confusion and repentance is upon a thief, and an evil mark of disgrace upon the double tongued, but to the whisperer hatred, and enmity, and reproach.
17 Not in this translation
18 Justify alike the small and the great.
18 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).
… despaired wrongly, and were lost in their despair, and called them back to hope; so doth He go forth to these also who would perish through an evil hope; and by another book He saith to them, "Make no tarrying to turn to the Lord." As He had said to the others, "In whatsoever day a man shall turn from …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 6 (1888)