Sirach · World English Bible (Classic, with Deuterocanon)
Sirach 25 World English Bible (Classic, with Deuterocanon)
Notes on this text (1)
- "World English Bible" is a trademark of eBible.org; the text is shown unaltered.
Sirach is not in RV1909.
1 I enjoy three things, and they are beautiful before the Lord and men: the agreement of kindred, the friendship of neighbors, and a woman and her husband who walk together in agreement.
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2 But my soul hates three sorts of people, and I am greatly offended at their life: a poor man who is arrogant, a rich man who is a liar, and an old fool who is an adulterer.
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3 If you gathered nothing in your youth, how could you find anything in your old age?
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4 How beautiful a thing is judgment in the gray-haired, and for elders to know good counsel!
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5 How beautiful is the wisdom of old men, and understanding and counsel to men who are in honor!
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6 Much experience is the crown of the aged. Their glory is the fear of the Lord.
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7 There are nine things that I have thought of, and in my heart counted happy, and the tenth I will utter with my tongue: a man who has joy with his children, and a man who lives and sees the fall of his enemies.
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8 Happy is he who dwells with a wife of understanding, he who has not slipped with his tongue, and he who has not served a man who is unworthy of him.
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9 Happy is he who has found prudence, and he who speaks in the ears of those who listen.
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10 How great is he who has found wisdom! Yet there is none greater than one who fears the Lord.
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11 The fear of the Lord surpasses all things. To whom shall he who holds it be likened?
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12 Not in this translation
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13 Any wound but a wound of the heart! Any wickedness but the wickedness of a woman!
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14 Any calamity but a calamity from those who hate me! Any vengeance but the vengeance of enemies!
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15 There is no venom worse than a snake’s venom. There is no wrath worse than an enemy’s wrath.
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16 I would rather dwell with a lion and a dragon than keep house with a wicked woman.
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17 The wickedness of a woman changes her appearance, and darkens her countenance like that of a bear.
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18 Her husband will sit among his neighbors, and when he hears it, he sighs bitterly.
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19 All malice is small compared to the malice of a woman. Let the portion of a sinner fall on her.
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20 As walking up a sandy hill is to the feet of the aged, so is a wife full of words to a quiet man.
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21 Don’t be ensnared by a woman’s beauty. Don’t desire a woman for her beauty.
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22 There is anger, impudence, and great reproach if a woman supports her husband.
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23 A wicked woman is abasement of heart, sadness of countenance, and a wounded heart. A woman who won’t make her husband happy is like hands that hang down, and weak knees.
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24 The beginning of sin came from a woman. Because of her, we all die.
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25 Don’t give water an outlet, and don’t give a wicked woman freedom of speech.
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26 If she doesn’t go as you direct, cut her away from your flesh.
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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).
For either we shall have spoken in the ears of them that will hear, and our words will bear some fruit, namely an advantage to you (since the Sower soweth the Word upon every kind of mind; and the good and fertile bears fruit), or else you will depart despising this discourse of ours as you have despised others, and …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)