Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 47

¹ After him arose Nathan, to prophesy in the time of David.

² As the fat is set apart from the communion sacrifice, so David was chosen out of all the sons of Israel.

³ He played with lions as though with kids, and with bears as though with lambs of the flock.

⁴ While still a boy, did he not slay the giant, and relieve the people of their shame, by putting out a hand to sling a stone which brought down the arrogance of Goliath?

⁵ For he called on the Lord Most High, who gave strength to his right arm to put a mighty warrior to death, and lift up the horn of his people.

⁶ Hence they gave him credit for ten thousand, and praised him while they blessed the Lord, by offering him a crown of glory;

⁷ for he massacred enemies on every side, he annihilated his foes the Philistines, and crushed their horn to this very day.

⁸ In all his activities he gave thanks to the Holy One, the Most High, in words of glory;[*a] he put all his heart into his songs out of love for his Maker.

⁹ He placed harps before the altar to make the singing sweeter with their music;

¹⁰ he gave the feasts their splendour, the festivals their solemn pomp, causing the Lord’s holy name to be praised and the sanctuary to resound from dawn.

¹¹ The Lord took away his sins, and exalted his horn for ever; he gave him a royal covenant, and a glorious throne in Israel.

¹² A wise son succeeded him, who lived spaciously, thanks to him.

¹³ Solomon reigned in a time of peace, is and God gave him peace all round so that he could raise a house to his name and prepare an everlasting sanctuary.

¹⁴ How wise you were in your youth, brimming over with understanding like a river!

¹⁵ Your mind ranged the earth, you filled it with mysterious sayings.

¹⁶ Your name reached the distant islands, and you were loved for your peace.[*b]

¹⁷ Your songs, your proverbs, your sayings and your retorts made you the wonder of the world.

¹⁸ In the name of the Lord God, of him who is called the God of Israel, you amassed gold like so much tin, and made silver as common as lead.

¹⁹ You abandoned your body to women, you became the slave of your appetites.

²⁰ You stained your honour, you profaned your stock, so bringing wrath on your children and grief on your posterity:

²¹ the sovereignty was split in two, from Ephraim arose a rebel kingdom.

²² But the Lord would not go back on his mercy, or undo any of his words, he would not obliterate the issue of his elect, nor destroy the stock of the man who loved him; and so he granted a remnant to Jacob, and to David a root springing from him.

²³ Solomon rested with his ancestors, leaving one of his stock as his successor, the stupidest member of the nation, brainless Rehoboam, whose policy drove the nation to rebel.

²⁴ Next, Jeroboam son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, and set Ephraim on the way of evil; from then on their sins multiplied so excessively as to drive them out of their country;

²⁵ for they tried out every kind of wickedness, until vengeance overtook them.