Saturday 16 September 2017

Day 200: Sirach 35 - 39


(ECCLESIASTICUS, OR THE WISDOM OF JESUS, SON OF SIRACH)
Chapter 35

1: One who keeps the law makes many offerings;
2: one who heeds the commandments makes an offering of well-being.
3: One who returns a kindness offers choice flour,
4: and one who gives alms sacrifices a thank-offering.
5: To keep from wickedness is pleasing to the Lord, and to forsake unrighteousness is an atonement.
6: Do not appear before the Lord empty-handed,
7: for all that you offer is in fulfilment of the commandment.
8: The offering of the righteous enriches the altar, and its pleasing odour rises before the Most High.
9: The sacrifice of the righteous is acceptable, and it will never be forgotten.
10: Be generous when you worship the Lord, and do not stint the first fruits of your hands.
11: With every gift show a cheerful face, and dedicate your tithe with gladness.
12: Give to the Most High as he has given to you, and as generously as you can afford.
13: For the Lord is the one who repays, and he will repay you sevenfold.
14: Do not offer him a bribe, for he will not accept it;
15: and do not rely on a dishonest sacrifice; for the Lord is the judge, and with him there is no partiality.
16: He will not show partiality to the poor; but he will listen to the prayer of one who is wronged.
17: He will not ignore the supplication of the orphan, or the widow when she pours out her complaint.
18: Do not the tears of the widow run down her cheek
19: as she cries out against the one who causes them to fall?
20: One whose service is pleasing to the Lord will be accepted, and his prayer will reach to the clouds.
21: The prayer of the humble pierces the clouds, and it will not rest until it reaches its goal; it will not desist until the Most High responds
22: and does justice to the righteous, and executes judgement. Indeed, the Lord will not delay, and like a warrior will not be patient until he crushes the loins of the unmerciful
23: and repays vengeance on the nations; until he destroys the multitude of the insolent, and breaks the sceptres of the unrighteous;
24: until he repays mortals according to their deeds, and the works of all according to their thoughts;
25: until he judges the case of his people and makes them rejoice in his mercy.
26: His mercy is as welcome in time of distress as clouds of rain in time of drought.

Chapter 36

1: Have mercy upon us, O God of all,
2: and put all the nations in fear of you.
3: Lift up your hand against foreign nations and let them see your might.
4: As you have used us to show your holiness to them, so use them to show your glory to us.
5: Then they will know, as we have known, that there is no God but you, O Lord.
6: Give new signs, and work other wonders;
7: make your hand and right arm glorious.
8: Rouse your anger and pour out your wrath;
9: destroy the adversary and wipe out the enemy.
10: Hasten the day, and remember the appointed time, and let people recount your mighty deeds.
11: Let survivors be consumed in the fiery wrath, and may those who harm your people meet destruction.
12: Crush the heads of hostile rulers who say, ‘There is no one but ourselves.’
13: Gather all the tribes of Jacob,

(Owing to a dislocation in the Greek mss of Sirach, the verse numbers 14 and 15 are not used in chapter 36, though no text is missing)

16: and give them their inheritance, as at the beginning.
17: Have mercy, O Lord, on the people called by your name, on Israel, whom you have named your firstborn,
18: Have pity on the city of your sanctuary, Jerusalem, the place of your dwelling.
19: Fill Zion with your majesty, and your temple with your glory.
20: Bear witness to those whom you created in the beginning, and fulfil the prophecies spoken in your name.
21: Reward those who wait for you and let your prophets be found trustworthy.
22: Hear, O Lord, the prayer of your servants, according to your goodwill towards your people, and all who are on the earth will know that you are the Lord, the God of the ages.
23: The stomach will take any food, yet one food is better than another.
24: As the palate tastes the kinds of game, so an intelligent mind detects false words.
25: A perverse mind will cause grief, but a person with experience will pay him back.
26: A woman will accept any man as a husband, but one girl is preferable to another.
27: A woman’s beauty lights up a man’s face, and there is nothing he desires more.
28: If kindness and humility mark her speech, her husband is more fortunate than other men.
29: He who acquires a wife gets his best possession, a helper fit for him and a pillar of support.
30: Where there is no fence, the property will be plundered; and where there is no wife, a man will become a fugitive and a wanderer.
31: For who will trust a nimble robber that skips from city to city? So who will trust a man that has no nest, but lodges wherever night overtakes him?

Chapter 37

1: Every friend says, ‘I too am a friend’; but some friends are friends only in name.
2: Is it not a sorrow like that for death itself when a dear friend turns into an enemy?
3: O inclination to evil, why were you formed to cover the land with deceit?
4: Some companions rejoice in the happiness of a friend, but in time of trouble they are against him.
5: Some companions help a friend for their stomachs’ sake, yet in battle they will carry his shield.
6: Do not forget a friend during the battle, and do not be unmindful of him when you distribute your spoils.
7: All counsellors praise the counsel they give, but some give counsel in their own interest.
8: Be wary of a counsellor, and learn first what is his interest, for he will take thought for himself. He may cast the lot against you
9: and tell you, ‘Your way is good’, and then stand aside to see what happens to you.
10: Do not consult one who regards you with suspicion; hide your intentions from those who are jealous of you.
11: Do not consult with a woman about her rival or with a coward about war, with a merchant about business or with a buyer about selling, with a miser about generosity or with the merciless about kindness, with an idler about any work or with a seasonal labourer about completing his work, with a lazy servant about a big task - pay no attention to any advice they give.
12: But associate with a godly person whom you know to be a keeper of the commandments, who is like-minded with yourself, and who will grieve with you if you fail.
13: And heed the counsel of your own heart, for no one is more faithful to you than it is.
14: For our own mind sometimes keeps us better informed than seven sentinels sitting high on a watch-tower.
15: But above all pray to the Most High that he may direct your way in truth.
16: Discussion is the beginning of every work, and counsel precedes every undertaking.
17: The mind is the root of all conduct;
18: it sprouts four branches, good and evil, life and death; and it is the tongue that continually rules them.
19: Some people may be clever enough to teach many, and yet be useless to themselves.
20: A skilful speaker may be hated; he will be destitute of all food,
21: for the Lord has withheld the gift of charm, since he is lacking in all wisdom.
22: If a person is wise to his own advantage, the fruits of his good sense will be praiseworthy.
23: A wise person instructs his own people, and the fruits of his good sense will endure.
24: A wise person will have praise heaped upon him, and all who see him will call him happy.
25: The days of a person’s life are numbered, but the days of Israel are without number.
26: One who is wise among his people will inherit honour, and his name will live forever.
27: My child, test yourself while you live; see what is bad for you and do not give in to it.
28: For not everything is good for everyone, and no one enjoys everything.
29: Do not be greedy for every delicacy, and do not eat without restraint;
30: for overeating brings sickness, and gluttony leads to nausea.
31: Many have died of gluttony, but one who guards against it prolongs his life.

Chapter 38

1: Honour physicians for their services, for the Lord created them;
2: for their gift of healing comes from the Most High, and they are rewarded by the king.
3: The skill of physicians makes them distinguished, and in the presence of the great they are admired.
4: The Lord created medicines out of the earth, and the sensible will not despise them.
5: Was not water made sweet with a tree in order that its power might be known?
6: And he gave skill to human beings that he might be glorified in his marvellous works.
7: By them the physician heals and takes away pain;
8: the pharmacist makes a mixture from them. God’s works will never be finished; and from him health spreads over all the earth.
9: My child, when you are ill, do not delay, but pray to the Lord, and he will heal you.
10: Give up your faults and direct your hands rightly, and cleanse your heart from all sin.
11: Offer a sweet-smelling sacrifice, and a memorial portion of choice flour, and pour oil on your offering, as much as you can afford.
12: Then give the physician his place, for the Lord created him; do not let him leave you, for you need him.
13: There may come a time when recovery lies in the hands of physicians,
14: for they too pray to the Lord that he will grant them success in diagnosis and in healing, for the sake of preserving life.
15: He who sins against his Maker will be defiant towards the physician
16: My child, let your tears fall for the dead, and as one in great pain begin the lament.
Lay out the body with due ceremony, and do not neglect the burial.
17: Let your weeping be bitter and your wailing fervent; make your mourning worthy of the departed, for one day, or two, to avoid criticism; then be comforted for your grief.
18: For grief may result in death, and a sorrowful heart saps one’s strength.
19: When a person is taken away, sorrow is over; but the life of the poor weighs down the heart.
20: Do not give your heart to grief; drive it away, and remember your own end.
21: Do not forget there is no coming back; you do the dead no good, and you injure yourself.
22: Remember his fate, for yours is like it; yesterday it was his, and today it is yours.
23: When the dead is at rest, let his remembrance rest too, and be comforted for him when his spirit has departed.
24: The wisdom of the scribe depends on the opportunity of leisure; only the one who has little business can become wise.
25: How can one become wise who handles the plough, and who glories in the shaft of a goad, who drives oxen and is occupied with their work, and whose talk is about bulls?
26: He sets his heart on ploughing furrows, and he is careful about fodder for the heifers.
27: So it is with every artisan and master artisan who labours by night as well as by day; those who cut the signets of seals, each is diligent in making a great variety; they set their heart on painting a lifelike image, and they are careful to finish their work.
28: So it is with the smith, sitting by the anvil, intent on his ironwork; the breath of the fire melts his flesh, and he struggles with the heat of the furnace; the sound of the hammer deafens his ears, and his eyes are on the pattern of the object. He sets his heart on finishing his handiwork, and he is careful to complete its decoration.
29: So it is with is the potter sitting at his work and turning the wheel with his feet; he is always deeply concerned over his products, and he produces them in quantity.
30: He moulds the clay with his arm and makes it pliable with his feet; he sets his heart on finishing the glazing, and he takes care in firing the kiln.
31: All these rely on their hands, and all are skilful in their own work.
32: Without them no city can be inhabited, and wherever they live, they will not go hungry. Yet they are not sought out for the council of the people,
33: nor do they attain eminence in the public assembly. They do not sit in the judge’s seat, nor do they understand the decisions of the courts; they cannot expound discipline or judgement, and they are not found among the rulers.
34: But they maintain the fabric of the world, and their concern is for the exercise of their trade. How different the one who devotes himself to the study of the law of the Most High!

Chapter 39

1: He seeks out the wisdom of all the ancients, and is concerned with prophecies;
2: he preserves the sayings of the famous and penetrates the subtleties of parables;
3: he seeks out the hidden meanings of proverbs and is at home with the obscurities of parables.
4: He serves among the great and appears before rulers; he travels in foreign lands and learns what is good and evil in the human lot.
5: He sets his heart on rising early to seek the Lord who made him, and to petition the Most High; he opens his mouth in prayer and asks pardon for his sins.
6: If the great Lord is willing, he will be filled with the spirit of understanding; he will pour forth words of wisdom of his own and give thanks to the Lord in prayer.
7: The Lord will direct his counsel and knowledge, as he meditates on his mysteries.
8: He will show the wisdom of what he has learned, and will glory in the law of the Lord’s covenant.
9: Many will praise his understanding; it will never be blotted out. His memory will not disappear, and his name will live through all generations.
10: Nations will speak of his wisdom, and the congregation will proclaim his praise.
11: If he lives long, he will leave a name greater than a thousand, and if he goes to rest, it is enough for him.
12: I have more on my mind to express; I am full like the full moon.
13: Listen to me, my faithful children, and blossom like a rose growing by a stream of water.
14: Send out fragrance like incense, and put forth blossoms like a lily. Scatter the fragrance, and sing a hymn of praise; bless the Lord for all his works.
15: Ascribe majesty to his name and give thanks to him with praise, with songs on your lips, and with harps; this is what you shall say in thanksgiving:
16: ‘All the works of the Lord are very good, and whatever he commands will be done at the appointed time.
17: No one can say, “What is this?” or “Why is that?”- for at the appointed time all such questions will be answered. At his word the waters stood in a heap, and the reservoirs of water at the word of his mouth.
18: When he commands, his every purpose is fulfilled, and none can limit his saving power.
19: The works of all are before him, and nothing can be hidden from his eyes.
20: From the beginning to the end of time he can see everything, and nothing is too marvellous for him.
21: No one can say, “What is this?” or “Why is that?” - for everything has been created for its own purpose.
22: ‘His blessing covers the dry land like a river, and drenches it like a flood.
23: But his wrath drives out the nations, as when he turned a watered land into salt.
24: To the faithful his ways are straight, but full of pitfalls for the wicked.
25: From the beginning good things were created for the good, but for sinners, good things and bad.
26: The basic necessities of human life are water and fire and iron and salt and wheat flour and milk and honey, the blood of the grape and oil and clothing.
27: All these are good for the godly, but for sinners they turn into evils.
28: ‘There are winds created for vengeance, and in their anger they can dislodge mountains; on the day of reckoning they will pour out their strength and calm the anger of their Maker.
29: Fire and hail and famine and pestilence, all these have been created for vengeance;
30: the fangs of wild animals and scorpions and vipers, and the sword that punishes the ungodly with destruction.
31: They take delight in doing his bidding, always ready for his service on earth; and when their time comes they never disobey his command.’
32: So from the beginning I have been convinced of all this and have thought it out and left it in writing:
33: All the works of the Lord are good, and he will supply every need in its time.
34: No one can say, ‘This is not as good as that’, for everything proves good in its appointed time.
35: So now sing praise with all your heart and voice, and bless the name of the Lord.

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