Sirach 21–23: O Lord, Father and Master of My Life": Fools, Friends, and a Prayer for a Guarded Mouth
Scripture: World English Bible
My son, have you sinned?Do it no more;and ask forgiveness for your past sins.Flee from sin as from the face of a snake;for if you go near, it will bite you.Its teeth are like lion’s teeth,slaying people’s souls.All iniquity is as a two-edged sword.Its stroke has no healing.
Terror and violence will waste away riches.So the house of an arrogant man will be laid waste.Supplication from a poor man’s mouth reaches to the ears of God,and his judgment comes speedily.One who hates reproof is in the path of the sinner.He who fears the Lord will repent in his heart.He who is mighty in tongue is known far away;but the man of understanding knows when he slips.
He who builds his house with other men’s moneyis like one who gathers stones for his own tomb.The congregation of wicked men is as a bundle of towwith a flame of fire at the end of them.The way of sinners is paved with stones;and at the end of it is the pit of Hades.
He who keeps the law becomes master of its intent.The fulfilment of the fear of the Lord is wisdom.He who is not clever will not be instructed.There is a cleverness which makes bitterness abound.The knowledge of a wise man will be made to abound as a flood,and his counsel as a fountain of life.The inward parts of a fool are like a broken vessel.He will hold no knowledge.
If a man of knowledge hears a wise word,he will commend it and add to it.The wanton man hears it, and it displeases him,so he throws it away behind his back.The chatter of a fool is like a burden in the way,but grace will be found on the lips of the wise.The utterance of the prudent man will be sought for in the congregation.They will ponder his words in their heart.
As a house that is destroyed, so is wisdom to a fool.The knowledge of an unwise man is talk without sense.Instruction is as fetters on the feet of an unwise man,and as manacles on the right hand.A fool lifts up his voice with laughter,but a clever man smiles quietly.Instruction is to a prudent man as an ornament of gold,and as a bracelet upon his right arm.
The foot of a fool rushes into a house,but a man of experience will be ashamed of entering.A foolish man peers into the door of a house,but a man who is instructed will stand outside.It is rude for someone to listen at a door,but a prudent person will be grieved with the disgrace.The lips of strangers will be grieved at these things,but the words of prudent men will be weighed in the balance.
The heart of fools is in their mouth,but the mouth of wise men is their heart.When the ungodly curses an adversary,he curses his own soul.A whisperer defiles his own soul,and will be hated wherever he travels.
A slothful man is compared to a stone that is defiled.Everyone will hiss at him in his disgrace.A slothful man is compared to the filth of a dunghill.Anyone who picks it up will shake it out of his hand.
An undisciplined child is a disgrace to his father,and a foolish daughter is born to his loss.A prudent daughter will inherit a husband of her own.She who brings shame is the grief of her father.She who is arrogant brings shame on father and husband.She will be despised by both of them.Ill-timed conversation is like music in mourning,but stripes and correction are wisdom in every season.
He who teaches a fool is like one who glues potsherds together,even like one who wakes a sleeper out of a deep sleep.He who teaches a fool is as one who teaches a man who slumbers.In the end he will say, “What is it?”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.Mourning for the dead lasts seven days,but for a fool and an ungodly man, it lasts all the days of his life.
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.What would be heavier than lead?What is its name, but “Fool”?Sand, salt, and a mass of iron is easier to bearthan a man without understanding.
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.A heart settled upon a thoughtful understandingis as an ornament of plaster on a polished wall.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.
He who pricks the eye will make tears fall.He who pricks the heart makes it show feeling.Whoever casts a stone at birds scares them away.He who insults a friend will dissolve friendship.If you have drawn a sword against a friend, don’t despair,for there may be a way back.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.
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.Before fire is the vapor and smoke of a furnace,so insults precede bloodshed.I won’t be ashamed to shelter a friend.I won’t hide myself from his face.If any evil happens to me because of him,everyone who hears it will beware of him.
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?O Lord, Father and Master of my life,don’t abandon me to their counsel.Don’t let me fall because of them.Who will set scourges over my thought,and a discipline of wisdom over my heart,that they spare me not for my errors,and not overlook their sins?Otherwise my errors might be multiplied,and my sins abound,I fall before my adversaries,and my enemy rejoice over me.O Lord, Father and God of my life,don’t give me haughty eyes,and turn away evil desire from me.Let neither gluttony nor lust overtake me.Don’t give me over to a shameless mind.
Listen, my children, to the discipline of the mouth.He who keeps it will not be caught.The sinner will be overpowered through his lips.By them, the insulter and the arrogant will stumble.Don’t accustom your mouth to an oath,and don’t be accustomed to naming the Holy One,for as a servant who is continually scourged will not lack bruises,so he also who swears and continually utters the Name will not be cleansed from sin.A man of many oaths will be filled with iniquity.The scourge will not depart from his house.If he offends, his sin will be upon him.If he disregards it, he has sinned doubly.If he has sworn falsely, he will not be justified,for his house will be filled with calamities.
There is a manner of speech that is clothed with death.Let it not be found in the heritage of Jacob,for all these things will be far from the godly,and they will not wallow in sins.Don’t accustom your mouth to gross rudeness,for it involves sinful speech.Remember your father and your mother,for you sit in the midst of great men,that you be not forgetful before them,and become a fool by your bad habit;so you may wish that you had not been born,and curse the day of your birth.A man who is accustomed to abusive languagewon’t be corrected all the days of his life.
Two sorts of people multiply sins,and the third will bring wrath:a hot passion, like a burning fire, will not be quenched until it is consumed;a fornicator in the body of his flesh will never cease until he has burned out the fire.All bread is sweet to a fornicator.He will not cease until he dies.A man who goes astray from his own marriage bedsays in his heart, “Who sees me?Darkness is around me, and the walls hide me.No one sees me. Of whom am I afraid?The Most High will not remember my sins.”The eyes of men are his terror.He doesn’t know that the eyes of the Lord are ten thousand times brighter than the sun,seeing all the ways of men,and looking into secret places.All things were known to him before they were created,and also after they were completed.This man will be punished in the streets of the city.He will be seized where he least expects it.
So also is a wife who leaves her husband,and produces an heir by another man.For first, she was disobedient in the law of the Most High.Second, she trespassed against her own husband.Third, she played the adulteress in fornication,and had children by another man.She shall be brought out into the congregation.Her punishment will extend to her children.Her children will not take root.Her branches will bear no fruit.She will leave her memory for a curse.Her reproach won’t be blotted out.And those who are left behind will know that there is nothing better than the fear of the Lord,and nothing sweeter than to heed the commandments of the Lord.