Ecclesiasticus / Sirach - The Old Testament

¹ No evil will befall one who fears the Lord, such a one will be rescued even in the ordeal.

² No one who hates the Law is wise, one who is hypocritical about it is like a storm-tossed ship.

³ An intelligent person will put faith in the Law, for such a one the Law is as dependable as a prophecy.

⁴ Prepare what you have to say and you will get a hearing, marshal your information before you answer.

⁵ The feelings of a fool are like a cart-wheel, a fool's thought revolves like a turning axle.

⁶ A rutting stallion is like a sarcastic friend; he neighs, whoever rides him.

⁷ Why is one day better than another, though the sun gives the same daylight throughout the year?

⁸ They have been differentiated in the mind of the Lord, who has diversified the seasons and feasts;

⁹ some he has made more important and has hallowed, others he has made ordinary days.

¹⁰ Human beings come from the ground, Adam himself was formed out of earth;

¹¹ in the fullness of his wisdom the Lord has made distinctions between them, and diversified their conditions.

¹² Some of them he has blessed, hallowing and setting them near him; others he has cursed and humiliated by degrading them from their positions.

¹³ Like clay in the hands of the potter to mould as it pleases him, so are human beings in the hands of their Maker to reward as he judges right.

¹⁴ Opposite evil stands good, opposite death, life; so too opposite the devout stands the sinner.

¹⁵ Contemplate all the works of the Most High, you will find they go in pairs, by opposites.

¹⁶ Although the last to come, I have kept my eyes open like a man picking up what the grape-pickers have left.

¹⁷ By the blessing of the Lord I have come in first, and like a true grape-picker have filled my winepress.

¹⁸ And note, I have not been working merely for myself, but for all who seek instruction.

¹⁹ Listen to me, important public figures, presidents of the assembly, give ear!

²⁰ Neither to son nor wife, brother nor friend, give power over yourself during your own lifetime. And do not give your property to anyone else, in case you regret it and have to ask for it back.

²¹ As long as you live and there is breath in your body, do not yield power over yourself to anyone;

²² better for your children to come begging to you, than for you to have to go begging to them.

²³ In all you do be the master, and leave a reputation unstained.

²⁴ The day your life draws to a close, at the hour of death, then distribute your heritage.

²⁵ Fodder, the stick and burdens for a donkey, bread, discipline and work for a slave.

²⁶ Work your slave hard, and you will have peace of mind, leave his hands idle, and he will be asking for his freedom.

²⁷ Yoke and harness will bow the neck, for a bad servant, torments and the rack.

²⁸ Set him to work, so that he will not be idle; idleness teaches every kind of mischief.

²⁹ Keep him at his duties, where he should be, if he is disobedient, clap him in irons.

³⁰ But do not be over-exacting with anyone, and do nothing contrary to justice.

³¹ You have only one slave? Treat him like yourself, since you have acquired him with blood.

³² You have only one slave? Treat him as a brother, since you need him as you need yourself.

³³ If you ill-treat him and he runs away, which way will you go to look for him?