Sirach 22 Clementine Vulgate
1 [In lapide luteo lapidatus est piger: et omnes loquentur super aspernationem illius.
1 A slothful man is compared to a stone that is defiled. Everyone will hiss at him in his disgrace.
2 De stercore boum lapidatus est piger: et omnis qui tetigerit eum excutiet manus.]
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 [Confusio patris est de filio indisciplinato: filia autem in deminoratione fiet.
3 An undisciplined child is a disgrace to his father, and a foolish daughter is born to his loss.
4 Filia prudens hæreditas viro suo: nam quæ confundit, in contumeliam fit genitoris.
4 A prudent daughter will inherit a husband of her own. She who brings shame is the grief of her father.
5 Patrem et virum confundit audax, et ab impiis non minorabitur: ab utrisque autem inhonorabitur.
5 She who is arrogant brings shame on father and husband. She will be despised by both of them.
6 Musica in luctu importuna narratio: flagella et doctrina in omni tempore sapientia.]
6 Ill-timed conversation is like music in mourning, but stripes and correction are wisdom in every season.
7 [Qui docet fatuum, quasi qui conglutinat testam.
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 Qui narrat verbum non audienti, quasi qui excitat dormientem de gravi somno.
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 Cum dormiente loquitur qui enarrat stulto sapientiam: et in fine narrationis dicit: Quis est hic?
9 Not in this translation
10 Supra mortuum plora, defecit enim lux ejus: et supra fatuum plora, defecit enim sensus.
10 Not in this translation
11 Modicum plora super mortuum, quoniam requievit:
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 nequissimi enim nequissima vita super mortem fatui.
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 Luctus mortui septem dies: fatui autem et impii omnes dies vitæ illorum.
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 Cum stulto ne multum loquaris, et cum insensato ne abieris.
14 What would be heavier than lead? What is its name, but “Fool”?
15 Serva te ab illo, ut non molestiam habeas, et non coinquinaberis peccato illius.
15 Sand, salt, and a mass of iron is easier to bear than a man without understanding.
16 Deflecte ab illo, et invenies requiem, et non acediaberis in stultitia illius.
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 Super plumbum quid gravabitur? et quod illi aliud nomen quam fatuus?
17 A heart settled upon a thoughtful understanding is as an ornament of plaster on a polished wall.
18 Arenam, et salem, et massam ferri facilius est ferre quam hominem imprudentem, et fatuum, et impium.]
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 [Loramentum ligneum colligatum in fundamento ædificii non dissolvetur, sic et cor confirmatum in cogitatione consilii.
19 He who pricks the eye will make tears fall. He who pricks the heart makes it show feeling.
20 Cogitatus sensati in omni tempore metu non depravabitur.
20 Whoever casts a stone at birds scares them away. He who insults a friend will dissolve friendship.
21 Sicut pali in excelsis, et cæmenta sine impensa posita, contra faciem venti non permanebunt:
21 If you have drawn a sword against a friend, don’t despair, for there may be a way back.
22 sic et cor timidum in cogitatione stulti contra impetum timoris non resistet.
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 Sicut cor trepidum in cogitatione fatui omni tempore non metuet, sic et qui in præceptis Dei permanet semper.]
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 [Pungens oculum deducit lacrimas, et qui pungit cor profert sensum.
24 Before fire is the vapor and smoke of a furnace, so insults precede bloodshed.
25 Mittens lapidem in volatilia, dejiciet illa: sic et qui conviciatur amico, dissolvit amicitiam.
25 I won’t be ashamed to shelter a friend. I won’t hide myself from his face.
26 Ad amicum etsi produxeris gladium, non desperes: est enim regressus. Ad amicum
26 If any evil happens to me because of him, everyone who hears it will beware of him.
27 si aperueris os triste, non timeas: est enim concordatio: excepto convitio, et improperio, et superbia, et mysterii revelatione, et plaga dolosa: in his omnibus effugiet amicus.
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 Fidem posside cum amico in paupertate illius, ut et in bonis illius læteris.
28 Not in this translation
29 In tempore tribulationis illius permane illi fidelis, ut et in hæreditate illius cohæres sis.
29 Not in this translation
30 Ante ignem camini vapor et fumus ignis inaltatur: sic et ante sanguinem maledicta, et contumeliæ, et minæ.
30 Not in this translation
31 Amicum salutare non confundar, a facie illius non me abscondam: et si mala mihi evenerint per illum, sustinebo.
31 Not in this translation
32 Omnis qui audiet cavebit se ab eo.]
32 Not in this translation
33 [Quis dabit ori meo custodiam, et super labia mea signaculum certum, ut non cadam ab ipsis, et lingua mea perdat me?]
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)