Sirach · Revised Version with Apocrypha
Sirach 42 Revised Version with Apocrypha
Sirach is not in RV1909.
1 Of these things be not ashamed, And accept no man’s person to sin [thereby: ]
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2 Of the law of the Most High, and his covenant; And of judgement to do justice to the ungodly;
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3 Of reckoning with a partner and with travellers; And of a gift from the heritage of friends;
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4 Of exactness of balance and weights; And of getting much or little;
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5 Of indifferent selling of merchants; And of much correction of children; And of making the side of an evil servant to bleed.
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6 Sure keeping is good, where an evil wife is; And where many hands are, shut thou close.
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7 Whatsoever thou handest over, let it be by number and weight; And in giving and receiving let all be in writing.
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8 [Be not ashamed ] to instruct the unwise and foolish, And one of extreme old age that contendeth with those that are young; And so shalt thou be well instructed indeed, And approved in the sight of every man living.
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9 A daughter is a secret cause of wakefulness to a father; And the care for her putteth away sleep; In her youth, lest she pass the flower of her age; And when she is married, lest she should be hated:
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10 In her virginity, lest she should be defiled And be with child in her father’s house; And when she hath a husband, lest she should transgress; And when she is married, lest she should be barren.
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11 Keep a strict watch over a headstrong daughter, Lest she make thee a laughingstock to thine enemies, A byword in the city and notorious among the people, And shame thee before the multitude.
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12 Look not upon every body in regard of beauty, And sit not in the midst of women;
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13 For from garments cometh a moth, And from a woman a woman’s wickedness.
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14 Better is the wickedness of a man than a pleasant-dealing woman, And a woman which putteth thee to shameful reproach.
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15 I will make mention now of the works of the Lord, And will declare the things that I have seen: In the words of the Lord are his works.
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16 The sun that giveth light looketh upon all things; And the work of the Lord is full of his glory.
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17 The Lord hath not given power to the saints to declare all his marvellous works; Which the Almighty Lord firmly settled, That whatsoever is might be established in his glory.
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18 He searcheth out the deep, and the heart, And he hath understanding of their cunning devices: For the Most High knoweth all knowledge, And he looketh into the signs of the world,
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19 Declaring the things that are past, and the things that shall be, And revealing the traces of hidden things.
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20 No thought escapeth him; There is not a word hid from him.
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21 The mighty works of his wisdom he hath ordered, Who is from everlasting to everlasting: Nothing hath been added unto them, nor diminished from them; And he had no need of any counsellor.
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22 How desirable are all his works! One may behold [this ] even unto a spark.
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23 All these things live and remain for ever in all manner of uses, And they are all obedient.
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24 All things are double one against another: And he hath made nothing imperfect.
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25 One thing establisheth the good things of another: And who shall be filled with beholding his glory?
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