Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 27

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

¹Many men have trespassed for neediness or mis-ease; and he that seeketh to be made rich, turneth away his eye.

²As a stake or a pale is fastened in the midst of a heap or a joining of stones, so and a man shall be an-guished by sins betwixt the midst of selling and buying. Trespass shall be all-broken with him that trespasseth.

³If thou holdest not thee diligently in the dread of the Lord, thine house shall soon be turned upside-down.

⁴As dust shall dwell in the holes of a riddle, so the anguish of a man shall dwell in the thoughts of him.

⁵A furnace proveth the vessels of a potter; and the temptation of tribu-lation proveth just or rightwise men.

⁶As churl-like travail or earth-working about a tree showeth the fruit thereof, so a word of thought showeth the heart of man.

⁷Praise thou not a man before a word fully ended; for why this is the temptation, that is, proving, of men.

⁸If thou pursuest rightfulness or followest rightwiseness, thou shalt take it; thou shalt clothe it as a long cloth or aube of honour, and thou shalt dwell with it, and it shall defend thee without end, and in the day of knowing thou shalt find steadfastness.

⁹Volatiles or Fowls come together to birds like themselves; and truth shall turn again to them that work it.

¹⁰A lion setteth espies ever to hunting or A lion to hunting waiteth evermore; so sins to them that work wickedness.

¹¹An holy man dwelleth in wisdom, as the sun dwelleth; for why a fool is changed as the moon.

¹²In the midst of unwise men keep thou a word to time; but be thou busy in the midst of them that think the law of God.

¹³The telling of sinners is hateful; and the laughing of them is in the trespasses of sin.

¹⁴Speech swearing much shall make standing up of hairs, for aston-ishing, to the head; and unreverence thereof or irreverence of it is stop-ping of ears.

¹⁵The shedding out of blood is in the chiding or jangling of proud men; and the cursing of them is grievous hearing, for in their chiding they blaspheme God often, and it is full grievous to faithful ears to hear such blasphemy of God.

¹⁶He that showeth openly the privates of a friend, loseth faithfulness or the faith of a friend; and he shall not find a friend to his soul.

¹⁷Love thou a neighbour, and be thou joined with him in faith. For if thou showest openly the privates of him, thou shalt not perfectly pursue after him or pursue thou not after him.

¹⁸For as a man that loseth his friend, so he that loseth the friendship of his neighbour.

¹⁹And as a man that letteth go a bird from or out of his hand, so thou that hast forsaken thy neighbour, and thou shalt not take him.

²⁰Thou shalt not pursue or follow him, for he is far absent or away; for he escaped as a capret from a snare, for the soul of him is wounded.

²¹Thou shalt no more be able to bind him together; but of evil saying is according. Soothly to show openly the privates of a friend, is despair of a soul unblessed, or To make naked forsooth the privates of a friend, is the despairing of the unfaithful soul.

²²He that twinkleth with the eye, maketh or forgeth wicked things; and no man shall cast him away.

²³In the sight of thine eyes he shall defoul his mouth, and he shall wonder on thy words; but at the last he shall turn waywardly or shall pervert his mouth, and in his word or in thy words he shall give slander.

²⁴I have heard many things, that is, evils, and I made them not even to him, yea, I areckoned not another malice even to the malice of this man; and the Lord shall hate him.

²⁵If a man casteth a stone on high, it shall fall on his head; and the guileful wound of a guileful or treacherous man shall part wounds.

²⁶And he that diggeth a ditch, shall fall into it; and he that setteth a stone to a neighbour, shall offend therein or stumble in it; and he that setteth a snare to another man, shall perish therein.

²⁷If a man maketh worst or wicked counsel, it shall be turned on him; and he shall not know from whence it shall come to him.

²⁸The scorning and despising of proud men and vengeance shall set espy to him, as a lion doeth. Illusion, or scorn, and reproof of proud men and vengeance, as a lion shall espy to him.

²⁹They that delight in the fall of just or rightwise men, shall perish by a snare; forsooth sorrow shall waste them, before that they die.

³⁰Ire or Wrath and madness or rage, ever either be abominable; and a sinful man shall hold those or them.