Sirach 16:1-14
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
God’s Punishment of Sinners
16 Do not desire a multitude of worthless[a] children,
and do not rejoice in ungodly offspring.
2 If they multiply, do not rejoice in them,
unless the fear of the Lord is in them.
3 Do not trust in their survival
or rely on their numbers,[b]
for one can be better than a thousand,
and to die childless is better than to have ungodly children.(A)
4 For through one intelligent person a city can be filled with people,
but through a clan of outlaws it becomes desolate.
5 Many such things my eye has seen,
and my ear has heard things more striking than these.
6 In an assembly of sinners a fire is kindled,
and in a disobedient nation wrath has blazed up.(B)
7 He did not forgive the ancient giants[c]
who revolted in their might.(C)
8 He did not spare the neighbors of Lot,
whom he loathed on account of their arrogance.(D)
9 He showed no pity on the doomed nation,
on those dispossessed because of their sins,[d]
10 or on the six hundred thousand foot soldiers
who assembled in their stubbornness.[e](E)
11 Even 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;[f]
he acquits and forgives,[g] but he also pours out wrath.(F)
12 Great as is his mercy, so also is his chastisement;
he judges people according to their deeds.(G)
13 The sinner will not escape with plunder,
and the patience of the godly will not be frustrated.
14 He makes room for every act of almsgiving;
everyone receives in accordance with his or her deeds.[h](H)
Footnotes
- 16.1 Heb: Gk unprofitable
- 16.3 Other ancient authorities add for you will groan in untimely mourning, and will know of their sudden end
- 16.7 Gk: Heb princes
- 16.9 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
- 16.10 Other ancient authorities add chastising, showing mercy, striking, healing, the Lord persisted in mercy and discipline
- 16.11 Gk him
- 16.11 Heb: Gk a master of propitiations
- 16.14 Other ancient authorities add 16.15–16:
The Lord hardened Pharaoh so that he did not recognize him, in order that his works might be known under heaven. His mercy is manifest to the whole of creation, and he apportioned his light and darkness to Adam.
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.