Ecclesiasticus / Sirach - The Old Testament

¹ Children, listen to me for I am your father: do what I tell you, and so be safe;

² for the Lord honours the father above his children and upholds the rights of a mother over her sons.

³ Whoever respects a father expiates sins,

⁴ whoever honours a mother is like someone amassing a fortune.

⁵ Whoever respects a father will in turn be happy with children, the day he prays for help, he will be heard.

⁶ Long life comes to anyone who honours a father, whoever obeys the Lord makes a mother happy.

⁷ Such a one serves parents as well as the Lord.

⁸ Respect your father in deed as well as word, so that blessing may come on you from him;

⁹ since a father's blessing makes his children's house firm, while a mother's curse tears up its foundations.

¹⁰ Do not make a boast of disgrace overtaking your father, your father's disgrace reflects no honour on you;

¹¹ for a person's own honour derives from the respect shown to his father, and a mother held in dishonour is a reproach to her children.

¹² My child, support your father in his old age, do not grieve him during his life.

¹³ Even if his mind should fail, show him sympathy, do not despise him in your health and strength;

¹⁴ for kindness to a father will not be forgotten but will serve as reparation for your sins.

¹⁵ On your own day of ordeal God will remember you: like frost in sunshine, your sins will melt away.

¹⁶ Whoever deserts a father is no better than a blasphemer, and whoever distresses a mother is accursed of the Lord.

¹⁷ My child, be gentle in carrying out your business, and you will be better loved than a lavish giver.

¹⁸ The greater you are, the more humbly you should behave, and then you will find favour with the Lord;

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20</sup> for great though the power of the Lord is, he accepts the homage of the humble.

²¹ Do not try to understand things that are too difficult for you, or try to discover what is beyond your powers.

²² Concentrate on what has been assigned you, you have no need to worry over mysteries.

²³ Do not meddle with matters that are beyond you; what you have been taught already exceeds the scope of the human mind.

²⁴ For many have been misled by their own notions, wicked presumption having warped their judgement.

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26</sup> A stubborn heart will come to a bad end, and whoever dallies with danger will perish in it.

²⁷ A stubborn heart is weighed down with troubles, the sinner heaps sin on sin.

²⁸ For the disease of the proud there is no cure, since an evil growth has taken root there.

²⁹ The heart of the sensible will reflect on parables, an attentive ear is the sage's dream.

³⁰ Water puts out a blazing fire, almsgiving expiates sins.

³¹ Whoever gives favours in return is mindful of the future; at the moment of falling, such a person will find support.