Home Master Index
←Prev   Sirach 14 as rendered by/in  Next→ 



14:1  Blessed is the man who has not come to grief through careless speech and who has no need to feel remorse for sin.
14:2  Blessed is the man whose conscience does not reproach him and who has never lost hope.
14:3  Wealth serves no purpose for the stingy man; of what use are riches to the covetous?
14:4  He deprives himself only to amass wealth for others, and others will live luxuriously on his possessions.
14:5  To whom will a person be generous when he is stingy with himself? He does not even enjoy his own riches.
14:6  There is nobody worse than the man who is grudging to himself; in this way, he receives just recompense for his miserliness.
14:7  If he does any good, he does so by mistake, and in the end his greed will be revealed.
14:8  Wicked is the eye of the miser, looking the other way and despising the lives of others.
14:9  The eyes of a greedy man are not content with his share; greed shrivels his soul.
14:10  The miser begrudges bread and sets a table with scanty provisions.
14:11  My child, treat yourself as well as you can in accord with your means, and present worthy offerings to the Lord.
14:12  Remember that death does not tarry and that the decree of the netherworld has not been revealed to you.
14:13  Be kind to your friend before you die and give him a generous portion according to your ability.
14:14  Do not deprive yourself of the good things of today; do not forgo your share of good things.
14:15  Will you not have to leave your riches to others, with the fruit of your labors to be divided by lot?
14:16  Give and receive; enjoy life, because no pleasures will be found in the netherworld.
14:17  As is true of a garment, all flesh wears away; the age-old decree is: all must die.
14:18  Like thick foliage on a spreading tree, with some leaves falling and others sprouting, so with the generations of flesh and blood: one dies and another is born.
14:19  All work decays and ceases to exist, and its author will pass away with it.
14:20  Blessed is the man who meditates on Wisdom and reasons with intelligence,
14:21  who reflects on her ways in his heart and ponders her secrets,
14:22  who pursues her like a hunter and lies in watch by her paths,
14:23  who peers through her windows and listens at her doors,
14:24  who lodges near her house and drives his tent-peg into her walls,
14:25  who pitches his tent near her, having found there an excellent lodging,
14:26  who places his children under her shade and camps beneath her branches,
14:27  who is sheltered by her from the heat and makes his home in her glory.