Ecclesiasticus / Sirach - The Old Testament

¹ Take pity on us, Master, Lord of the universe, look at us, spread fear of yourself throughout all other nations.

² Raise your hand against the foreign nations and let them see your might.

³ As, in their sight, you have proved yourself holy to us, so now, in our sight, prove yourself great to them.

⁴ Let them acknowledge you, just as we have acknowledged that there is no God but you, Lord.

⁵ Send new portents, do fresh wonders, win glory for your hand and your right arm.

⁶ Rouse your fury, pour out your rage, destroy the opponent, annihilate the enemy.

⁷ Hasten the day, remember the oath, and let people tell of your mighty deeds.

⁸ Let fiery wrath swallow up the survivor, and destruction overtake those who oppress your people.

⁹ Crush the heads of hostile rulers who say, 'There is no one else but us!'

¹⁰ Gather together all the tribes of Jacob, restore them their heritage as at the beginning.

¹¹ Take pity, Lord, on the people called by your name, on Israel whom you have made your first-born.

¹² Have compassion on your holy city, on Jerusalem, the place where you rest.

¹³ Fill Zion with your praises and your sanctuary with your glory.

¹⁴ Vindicate those whom you created first, fulfil what has been prophesied in your name.

¹⁵ Give those who wait for you their reward, let your prophets be proved true.

¹⁶ Grant, Lord, the prayer of your servants, in the terms of Aaron's blessing on your people,

¹⁷ so that all the earth's inhabitants may acknowledge that you are the Lord, the everlasting God.

¹⁸ The stomach takes in all kinds of food, but some foods are better than others.

¹⁹ As the palate discerns the flavour of game, so a shrewd listener detects lying words.

²⁰ A perverse character causes depression in others; it needs experience to know how to repay such a one.

²¹ A woman will accept any husband, but some daughters are better than others.

²² A woman's beauty delights the beholder, a man likes nothing better.

²³ If her tongue is kind and gentle, her husband is the happiest of men.

²⁴ The man who takes a wife has the makings of a fortune, a helper to match himself, a pillar of support.

²⁵ When property has no fence, it is open to plunder, when a man has no wife, he is aimless and querulous.

²⁶ Will anyone trust an armed thief who flits from town to town?

²⁷ So it is with the man who has no nest, and lodges wherever night overtakes him.