Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 28

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¹He that will be avenged, shall find of the Lord vengeance; and he keeping shall keep his sins to be punished harder by his rightfulness.

²Forgive thou to thy neighbour that annoyeth thee, and then sins shall be released or be forgiven to thee after praying.

³A man keepeth ire or wrath to man; and seeketh he of God medi-cine?

⁴He hath no mercy on a man like himself; and beseecheth he the High-est for his own sins?

⁵He the while he is flesh, reserve-eth ire; and asketh he of God mercy? who shall pray for his sins?

⁶Have thou mind on the last things, and cease thou to be anyone’s enemy. For why failing and death nigh not in the commandments of God.

⁷Have thou mind on or Remem-ber the dread of the Lord, and be not wroth to the neighbour. Have thou mind on or Remember the testament of the Highest, and despise thou the ignorance of thy neighbour.

⁸Abstain thee from strife, and thou shalt decrease or lessen, either abridge, sins. For why a wrathful man kindleth strife;

⁹and a sinful man, that is, a sower of discords, shall disturb or trouble friends, and he shall send in enmity in the midst or in the middle of men having peace.

¹⁰For why after the trees of the wood, so fire shall burn on high; and after the might of a man, so his wrathfulness shall be, and after his chattel or substance he shall enhance his ire.

¹¹Hasty striving or strife shall kindle fire, and hasty chiding shall shed out blood; and a tongue bearing witnessing shall bring death.

¹²If thou blowest, as fire it shall burn on high; and if thou spittest thereon, it shall be quenched; ever either, that is, a word kindling ire, and a word refraining it, come forth of the mouth.

¹³A privy backbiter, and a double-tongued man or The whispering grutcher, and the twisel tongue cursed, yea, he that speaketh fair before a man, and evil behind him, is cursed; for he disturbed or troubled many men having peace.

¹⁴The third tongue hath stirred many men, and hath scattered them from folk into folk. It hath destroyed walled cities of rich men, and hath mined down or undermined the houses of great men. It hath cut down the virtues of peoples, and hath unknit strong folks.

¹⁵The third tongue hath cast out wedded, or honest, women, and hath deprived them of their travails.

¹⁶He that beholdeth the third tongue or it, shall not have rest; neither shall have a friend, in whom he shall rest.

¹⁷The wound of a beating or scourge maketh wanness; but the wound of a tongue shall make less or shall bruise or break the bones.

¹⁸Many men fell down by the sharpness of sword; but not so many as they that perished or died by their tongue.

¹⁹He is blessed that is covered from a wicked or a shrewd tongue; and he that passed not in the wrathfulness thereof, and he that drew not the yoke thereof, and was not bound in the bonds thereof.

²⁰For why the yoke thereof is an iron yoke, and the bond thereof is a brazen bond.

²¹The death thereof is the worst death; and hell is more profitable, that is, the pain of hell is less evil, than it.

²²The perseverance thereof shall not dwell, but it shall hold the ways of unjust men, or The steadfastness of it shall not abide still, but shall hold the ways of unrightwise men; in his flame it shall not burn just or rightwise men.

²³They that forsake God, shall fall into it; and it shall burn greatly in them, and it shall not be quenched; and as a lion it shall be sent into them, and as a leopard it shall hurt them.

²⁴Beset or Hedge thine ears with thorns, and do not thou hear a wicked tongue; and make thou doors to thy mouth, and locks to thine ears. Well thou or melt together, or temper thou, thy gold, and thy silver;

²⁵and make thou a balance to thy words, and rightful or right bridles to thy mouth.

²⁶And take heed, lest peradventure thou slide in tongue, and fall in the sight of enemies, setting treason or waiting or laying wait to thee, and thy fall be uncurable or unhealable into death.