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Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 25
Proverbs
1 There are three things my soul delights in, and which are delightful to God and to men: concord between brothers, friendship between neighbours, and a wife and husband who live happily together.
2 There are three sorts of people my soul hates, and whose existence I consider an outrage: a poor man swollen with pride, a rich man who is a liar and an adulterous old man who has no sense.
Old men
3 If you have gathered nothing in your youth, how can you find anything in your old age?
4 How fine a thing: sound judgement with grey hairs, and for greybeards to know how to advise!
5 How fine a thing: wisdom in the aged, and considered advice coming from men of distinction!
6 The crown of old men is ripe experience, their true glory, the fear of the Lord.
Numerical proverbs
7 There are nine things I can think of which strike me as happy, and a tenth which is now on my tongue: a man whose joy is in his children, he who lives to see the downfall of his enemies;
8 happy the man who keeps house with a sensible wife; he who does not toil with ox and donkey[*a]; he who has never sinned with his tongue; he who does not serve a man less worthy than himself;
9 happy the man who has acquired good sense and can find attentive ears for what he has to say;
10 how great the man is who has acquired wisdom; but no one excels the man who fears the Lord.
11 The fear of the Lord surpasses everything; what can compare with a man who has mastered that?
Women
13 Any wound rather than a wound of the heart! Any spite rather than the spite of woman!
14 Any evil rather than an evil caused by an enemy! Any vengeance rather than the vengeance of a foe!
15 There is no poison worse than the poison of a snake, there is no fury worse than the fury of an enemy.
16 I would sooner keep house with a lion or a dragon than keep house with a spiteful wife.
17 A woman’s spite changes her appearance and makes her face as grim as any bear’s.
18 When her husband goes out to dinner with his neighbours, he cannot help heaving bitter sighs.
19 No wickedness comes anywhere near the wickedness of a woman, may a sinner’s lot be hers!
20 As climbing up a sandhill is for elderly feet such is a garrulous wife for a quiet husband.
21 Do not be taken in by a woman’s beauty, never lose your head over a woman.
22 Bad temper, insolence and shame hold sway where the wife supports the husband.
23 Low spirits, gloomy face, stricken heart: such the achievements of a spiteful wife. Slack hands and sagging knees indicate a wife who makes her husband wretched.
24 Sin began with a woman, and thanks to her we all must die.
25 Do not let water find a leak, do not allow a spiteful woman free rein for her tongue.
26 If she will not do as you tell her, get rid of her[*b].