HarperCollins Study Bible
Page 370
4A rich persona will exploit you if you can be of use to him,
but if you are in need he will abandon you.
5If you own something, he will live with you;
he will drain your resources without a qualm.
6When he needs you he will deceive you,
and will smile at you and encourage you;
he will speak to you kindly and say, “What do you need?”
7He will embarrass you with his delicacies,
until he has drained you two or three times,
and finally he will laugh at you.
Should he see you afterwards, he will pass you by
and shake his head at you.
8Take care not to be led astray
and humiliated when you are enjoying yourself.b
9When an influential person invites you, be reserved,
and he will invite you more insistently.
10Do not be forward, or you may be rebuffed;
do not stand aloof, or you will be forgotten.
11Do not try to treat him as an equal,
or trust his lengthy conversations;
for he will test you by prolonged talk,
and while he smiles he will be examining you.
12Cruel are those who do not keep your secrets;
they will not spare you harm or imprisonment.
13Be on your guard and very careful,
for you are walking about with your own downfall.c
15Every creature loves its like,
and every person the neighbor.
16All living beings associate with their own kind,
and people stick close to those like themselves.
17What does a wolf have in common with a lamb?
No more has a sinner with the devout.
18What peace is there between a hyena and a dog?
And what peace between the rich and the poor?
19Wild asses in the wilderness are the prey of lions;
likewise the poor are feeding grounds for the rich.
20Humility is an abomination to the proud;
likewise the poor are an abomination to the rich.
21When the rich person totters, he is supported by friends,
but when the humbled falls, he is pushed away even by friends.
22If the rich person slips, many come to the rescue;
he speaks unseemly words, but they justify him.
If the humble person slips, they even criticize him;
he talks sense, but is not given a hearing.
23The rich person speaks and all are silent;
they extol to the clouds what he says.
The poor person speaks and they say, “Who is this fellow?”
And should he stumble, they even push him down.
24Riches are good if they are free from sin;
poverty is evil only in the opinion of the ungodly.
25The heart changes the countenance, either for good or for evil.e
26The sign of a happy heart is a cheerful face,
but to devise proverbs requires painful thinking.
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a Gk He
b Other ancient authorities read in your folly
c Other ancient authorities add as verse 14, When you hear these things in your sleep, wake up! During all your life love the Lord, and call on him for your salvation.
d Other ancient authorities read poor
e Other ancient authorities add and a glad heart makes a cheerful countenance
13.1–24 Ben Sira gives cautionary advice to prospective scribes who have to negotiate relationships with their wealthy patrons/employers.
13.1a A proverb with a long history that can be traced from Theognis through Sirach and Shakespeare to the present time.
13.5 He will live with you may have the sense of “moving in on you.”
13.19 Feeding grounds, a particularly striking image for social predation. Preying upon the poor was a major concern for the prophets of social justice; see Am 5.11–13; cf. Isaiah’s vision of a society without predation (Isa 11.6–9).
13.24 An exception to the preceding statements about the rich is made for wealth that is free from sin. This probably refers to almsgiving; see 3.30–4.6. Ben Sira does not criticize the rich simply for being rich, nor are the poor sinful for being poor.
13.25–14.2 A short meditation on happiness. The heart (v. 25) was understood as the seat of sentiment, desire, thought, and will.
SIRACH 14
1Happy are those who do not blunder with their lips,
and need not suffer remorse for sin.
2Happy are those whose hearts do not condemn them,
and who have not given up their hope.
Responsible Use of Wealth
3Riches are inappropriate for a small-minded person;
and of what use is wealth to a miser?
4What he denies himself he collects for others;
and others will live in luxury on his goods.
5If one is mean to himself, to whom will he be generous?
He will not enjoy his own riches.
6No one is worse than one who is grudging to himself;
this is the punishment for his meanness.
7If ever he does good, it is by mistake;
and in the end he reveals his meanness.
8The miser is an evil person;
he turns away and disregards people.
9The eye of the greedy person is not satisfied with his share;
greedy injustice withers the soul.
10A miser begrudges bread,
and it is lacking at his table.
11My child, treat yourself well, according to your means,
and present worthy offerings to the Lord.
12Remember that death does not tarry,
and the decreea of Hades has not been shown to you.
13Do good to friends before you die,
and reach out and give to them as much as you can.
14Do not deprive yourself of a day’s enjoyment;
do not let your share of desired good pass by you.
15Will you not leave the fruit of your labors to another,
and what you acquired by toil to be divided by lot?
16Give, and take, and indulge yourself,
because in Hades one cannot look for luxury.
17All living beings become old like a garment,
for the decreeb from of old is, “You must die!”
18Like abundant leaves on a spreading tree
that sheds some and puts forth others,
so are the generations of flesh and blood:
one dies and another is born.
19Every work decays and ceases to exist,
and the one who made it will pass away with it.
The Happiness of Seeking Wisdom
20Happy is the person who meditates onc wisdom
and reasons intelligently,
21whod reflects in his heart on her ways
and ponders her secrets,
22pursuing her like a hunter,
and lying in wait on her paths;
23who peers through her windows
and listens at her doors;
24who camps near her house
and fastens his tent peg to her walls;
25who pitches his tent near her,
and so occupies an excellent lodging place;
26who places his children under her shelter,
and lodges under her boughs;
27who is sheltered by her from the heat,
and dwells in the midst of her glory.
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a Heb Syr: Gk covenant
b Heb: Gk covenant
c Other ancient authorities read dies in
d The structure adopted in verses 21-27 follows the Heb
14.3–19 Reflections on mortality and the proper use of wealth.
14.3–10 A poetic unit on the miser as a contrast to a wise use
r of wealth.
14.11 According to your means allows for enjoyment of one’s resources. See also v. 14.
14.12 The decree of Hades may refer either to death’s appointed time or to the decree that one must die as expressed in v. 17.
14.15 Divided by lot, a method for distributing an inheritance.
14.16 Indulge yourself, reminiscent of Eccl 7.14; 9.7–10.
14.17 An allusion to Gen 3.3, 19.
14.20–15.10 A poem on personified wisdom in two stanzas developing the theme of seeking (14.20–27) and finding (15.1–10).
14.21–22 On wisdom’s ways, or path, cf. 51.15; Prov 3.17; 8.20, 32.
14.23–25 On the metaphor of approaching wisdom’s house, cf. 51.13–14; Prov 8.34; 9.1–6.
14.26–27 On wisdom as a tree, cf. 1.20; 24.13–17; Prov 3.18.
SIRACH 15
1Whoever fears the Lord will do this,
and whoever holds to the law will obtain wisdom.a
2She will come to meet him like a mother,
and like a young bride she will welcome him.
3She will feed him with the bread of learning,
and give him the water of wisdom to drink.
4He will lean on her and not fall,
and he will rely on her and not be put to shame.
5She will exalt him above his neighbors,
and will open his mouth in the midst of the assembly.
6He will find gladness and a crown of rejoicing,
and will inherit an everlasting name.
7The foolish will not obtain her,
and sinners will not see her.
8She is far from arrogance,
and liars will never think of her.
9Praise is unseemly on the lips of a sinner,
for it has not been sent from the Lord.
10For in wisdom must praise be uttered,
and the Lord will make it prosper.
Freedom of Choice
11Do not say, “It was the Lord’s doing that I fell away”
for he does not dob what he hates.
12Do not say, “It was he who led me astray”
for he has no need of the sinful.
13The Lord hates all abominations;
such things are not loved by those who fear him.
14It was he who created humankind in the beginning,
and he left them in the power of their own free choice.
15If you choose, you can keep the commandments,
and to act faithfully is a matter of your own choice.
16He has placed before you fire and water;
stretch out your hand for whichever you choose.
17Before each person are life and death,
and whichever one chooses will be given.
18For great is the wisdom of the Lord;
he is mighty in power and sees everything;
19his eyes are on those who fear him,
and he knows every human action.
20He has not commanded anyone to be wicked,
and he has not given anyone permission to sin.
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a Gk her
b Heb: Gk you ought not to do
15.1 On the connection of wisdom and Torah, see ch. 24.
15.2 On wisdom as mother and bride, cf. Prov 7.4; Wis 7.12; 8.2.
15.3 On receiving bread and water (or wine) from wisdom, cf. 1.16; 24.19–21; Prov 9.5.
15.5 On the assembly as the place for speech and praise, see 21.17; 24.2; 31.11; 33.19; 38.32–33; 39.10; 44.15; Wis 8.10–12.
15.11–20 A diatribe, or fictional debate, introduces the question of responsibility for sin in the light of its devastating consequences, a theme that has surfaced with increasing frequency in the preceding chapters. The position argued against is that God ultimately must be responsible because he created the world in such a way as to make sin possible. Ben Sira argues that God is not responsible because humans have free choice. This is a theodicy similar to that argued by the friends of Job, but quite different from that proposed by the author of Job.
15.14 Free choice translates the Hebrew yetser, a term for the “design,” “plan,” or “intention” one has in mind when preparing to form, craft, or create something. Yetser is used of evil design or imagination in Gen 6.5; 8.21, and of good design in 1 Chr 29.28; Isa 26.3. Sirach documents an early use of the term to define human nature. Cf. 17.6; 21.11; 27.6; 37.3. Later rabbinic tradition sometimes refers to two yetsers, meaning that each person has both a good and an evil “inclination.” The Greek is diaboulion, meaning “deliberation.” V. 15 and the context show that free choice is an appropriate translation. Cf. 6.32.
15.16 Fire and water, metaphors for destruction and the generation of life.
15.17 Life and death. Cf. Deut 30.19. The image of choosing between “two ways,” one of life and one of death, is a common theme in Jewish and early Christian literature as well as in the Greek tradition.
15.18 That the Lord sees everything is a notion essential to Ben Sira’s theodicy with its insistence upon divine reward (or rescue) for the righteous and punishment for sinners. See 16.17–23; 17.15–19; 23.19–21; 34.19–20; 39.19–20; 42.16–20; cf. Job 34.21–22; Pss 33.13–15; 90.8; Prov 5.21; 15.3; Heb 4.13.
SIRACH 16
God’s Punishment of Sinners
1Do not desire a multitude of worthlessc children,
and do not rejoice in ungodly offspring.
2If they multiply, do not rejoice in them,
unless the fear of the Lord is in them.
3Do not trust in their survival,
or rely on their numbers;d
for one can be better than a thousand,
and to die childless is better than to have ungodly children.
4For through one intelligent person a city can be filled with people,
but through a clan of outlaws it becomes desolate.
5Many such things my eye has seen,
and my ear has heard things more striking than these.
6In an assembly of sinners a fire is kindled,
and in a disobedient nation wrath blazes up.
7He did not forgive the ancient giants
who revolted in their might.
8He did not spare the neighbors of Lot,
whom he loathed on account of their arrogance.
9He showed no pity on the doomed nation,
on those dispossessed because of their sins;e
10or on the six hundred thousand foot soldiers
who assembled in their stubbornness.f
11Even if there were only one stiff-necked person,
it would be a wonder if he remained unpunished.
For mercy and wrath are with the Lord;g
he is mighty to forgive—but he also pours out wrath.
12Great as is his mercy, so also is his chastisement;
he judges a person according to his or her deeds.
13The sinner will not escape with plunder,
and the patience of the godly will not be frustrated.
14He makes room for every act of mercy;
everyone receives in accordance with his or her deeds.h
17Do not say, “I am hidden from the Lord,
and who from on high has me in mind?
Among so many people I am unknown,
for what am I in a boundless creation?
18Lo, heaven and the highest heaven,
the abyss and the earth, tremble at his visitation!i
19The very mountains and the foundations of the earth
quiver and quake when he looks upon them.
20But no human mind can grasp this,
and who can comprehend his ways?
21Like a tempest that no one can see,
so most of his works are concealed.j
22Who is to announce his acts of justice?
Or who can await them? For his decreek is far off.”l
23Such are the thoughts of one devoid of understanding;
a senseless and misguided person thinks foolishly.
God’s Wisdom Seen in Creation
24Listen to me, my child, and acquire knowledge,
and pay close attention to my words.
25I will impart discipline preciselym
and declare knowledge accurately.
26When the Lord createdn his works from the beginning,
and, in making them, determined their boundaries,
27he arranged his works in an eternal order,
and their dominiono for all generations.
They neither hunger nor grow weary,
and they do not abandon their tasks.
28They do not crowd one another,
and they never disobey his word.
29Then the Lord looked upon the earth,
and filled it with his good things.
30With all kinds of living beings he covered its surface,
and into it they must return.
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c Heb: Gk unprofitable
d Other ancient authorities add For you will groan in untimely mourning, and will know of their sudden end.
e Other ancient authorities add All these things he did to the hard-hearted nations, and by the multitude of his holy ones he was not appeased.
f Other ancient authorities add Chastising, showing mercy, striking, healing, the Lord persisted in mercy and discipline.
g Gk him
h Other ancient authorities add 15The Lord hardened Pharaoh so that he did not recognize him, in order that his works might be known under heaven. 16His mercy is manifest to the whole of creation, and he divided his light and darkness with a plumb line.
i Other ancient authorities add The whole world past and present is in his will.
j Meaning of Gk uncertain: Heb Syr If I sin, no eye can see me, and if I am disloyal all in secret, who is to know?
k Heb the decree: Gk the covenant
l Other ancient authorities add and a scrutiny for all comes at the end