Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 3

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¹Dearworthy sons, hear ye the doom of the father; and do ye so, that ye be safe.

²For why God honoured the father in sons, and he seeketh, and hath made steadfast the doom of the mother into sons.

³He that loveth God, shall pray for sins, and he shall abstain or with-hold himself from those or them, and he shall be heard in the prayer of days.

⁴And as he that treasureth, so he that honoureth his mother.

⁵He that honoureth his father, shall be made merry in sons, and he shall be heard in the day of his prayer.

⁶He that honoureth his father, shall live by or with longer life; and he that obeyeth to the father, shall refresh the mother, that is, shall comfort her.

⁷He that dreadeth the Lord, honoureth father and mother; and he shall serve in work, and word, and in all patience to them that engendered or begat him, as to lords.

⁸Honour thy father, that the bless-ing of God come to thee; and his blessing dwelleth in the last.

⁹The blessing of the father maketh steadfast the houses of sons; but the cursing of the mother draweth out the foundaments by the root.

¹⁰Have thou not glory in the des-pising or the wrong of thy father; for it is not glory to thee, but confusion or shame.

¹¹For why the glory of a man is of the honour of his father; and the shame of the son is a father without honour.

¹²Son, receive the eld or last age of thy father, and make thou not him sorry or not sorrow thou him in his life;

¹³and if he faileth in wit, give thou forgiveness, and despise thou not him in thy virtue;

¹⁴for why the alms-deeds of the father shall not be in forgetting. For why good shall be restored to thee for the sin of the mother, and building up shall be made to thee in rightful-ness or rightwiseness;

¹⁵and it shall remember of thee in the day of tribulation, and thy sins shall be released or loosed, as ice in clearness, either heat, of the sun.

¹⁶He is of full evil fame, that forsaketh the father; and he that wratheth the mother, is cursed of God.

¹⁷Son, perform thy works in mild-ness, and thou shalt be loved over the glory of men.

¹⁸In as much as thou art great, make thee meek in all things, and thou shalt find grace before God;

¹⁹(This verse is omitted in the original text.)

²⁰for why the power of God alone is great, and he is honoured of meek men.

²¹Seek thou not higher things than thou, and inquire or search thou not stronger things than thou;

²²but evermore think thou those things, which God commanded to thee; and be thou not curious in full many works of him. For it is not needful to thee to see with thine eyes those things, that be hid.

²³In superfluous things do not thou seek or ensearch manyfold; and be thou not curious in many works of him; for why full many things above the wit of men be showed to thee.

²⁴For the suspicion of many men hath deceived them, and withheld their wits in vanity.

²⁵(This verse is omitted in the original text.)

²⁶An hard heart shall have evil in the last time; and he that loveth peril shall perish therein. An heart that entereth by two ways or The heart going into two ways, that is, that hath the knowing of good in under-standing, and malice in will, shall not have prosperities, either rest; and a man of shrewd heart, shall be caused to stumble in those or them.

²⁷A wicked heart shall be grieved in sorrows; and a sinner shall heap or add to or lay to, to do sin.

²⁸Health shall not be to the synagogue of proud men; for why the thick wood of sin shall be drawn out or taken up by the root in them, and it shall not be understood, of sinners who will not think on God’s dooms.

²⁹The heart of a wise man is understood in wisdom, and a good ear shall hear wisdom with all covet-ousness. A wise heart and able to understand shall abstain itself from sins, and shall have prosperities in the works of rightfulness or rightwise-ness.

³⁰Water quencheth fire burning, and alms-deeds against-standeth sins.

³¹And God, the beholder of him that yieldeth grace, that is, doeth alms, hath mind afterward; and he shall find steadfastness in the time of his fall.