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Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 28
Sir
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Chapter 28
1
He who exacts vengeance will experience the vengeance of the Lord, who keeps strict account of sin.
2
Forgive your neighbour the hurt he does you, and when you pray, your sins will be forgiven.
3
If a man nurses anger against another, can he then demand compassion from the Lord?
4
Showing no pity for a man like himself, can he then plead for his own sins?
5
Mere creature of flesh, he cherishes resentment; who will forgive him his sins?
6
Remember the last things, and stop hating, remember dissolution and death, and live by the commandments.
7
Remember the commandments, and do not bear your neighbour ill-will; remember the covenant of the Most High, and overlook the offence.
Quarrels
8
Avoid quarrelling and you will sin less; for a hot-tempered man provokes quarrels,
9
a sinner sows trouble between friends, introducing discord among men at peace.
10
The way a fire burns depends on its fuel, a quarrel spreads in proportion to its violence; a man’s rage depends on his strength, his fury grows fiercer in proportion to his wealth.
11
A sudden quarrel kindles fire, a hasty dispute leads to bloodshed.
12
Blow on a spark and up it flares, spit on it and out it goes; both are the effects of your mouth.
The tongue
13
A curse on the scandal-monger and the deceitful, he has ruined many who lived in concord.
14
That third tongue has shaken many,[*a] and driven them from nation to nation; it has pulled down fortified cities, and overturned the houses of princes.
15
The third tongue has driven virtuous wives out of house and home, and deprived them of the due reward for their hard work.
16
Anyone who listens to it will never know peace of mind, will never live in peace again.
17
A stroke of the whip raises a weal, but a stroke of the tongue breaks bones.
18
Many have fallen by the edge of the sword, but many more have fallen by the tongue.
19
Happy the man who has been sheltered from it, and has not experienced its fury, who has not dragged its yoke about, or been bound in its chains;
20
for its yoke is an iron yoke, its chains are bronze chains;
21
the death it inflicts is a miserable death, Sheol is preferable to it.
22
It cannot gain a hold over the devout, they are not burnt by its flames.
23
Those who desert the Lord will fall into it, it will flare up inextinguishably among them, it will be let loose against them like a lion, it will tear them like a leopard.
24
Look, fence your property round with a quickthorn hedge, lock away your silver and gold;
25
then make scales and weights for your words, then make and put a door with bolts across your mouth.
26
Take care you take no false step through it, in case you fall a prey to him who lies in wait.
Chapters of Ecclesiasticus (Sirach)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
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