Sirach 23

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

23 O Lord, Father and Ruler of my life,
    do not abandon me to their counsel,
    and let me not fall because of them!
² O that whips were set over my thoughts,
    and the discipline of wisdom over my mind!^[a]
That they may not spare me in my errors,
    and that it may not pass by my^[b] sins;
³ in order that my mistakes may not be multiplied,
    and my sins may not abound;
then I will not fall before my adversaries,
    and my enemy will not rejoice over me.
⁴ O Lord, Father and God of my life,
    do not give me haughty eyes,
⁵     and remove from me evil desire.
⁶ Let neither gluttony nor lust overcome me,
    and do not surrender me to a shameless soul.

¹² There is an utterance which is comparable to death;^[c]
    may it never be found in the inheritance of Jacob!
For all these errors will be far from the godly,
    and they will not wallow in sins.
¹³ Do not accustom your mouth to lewd vulgarity,
    for it involves sinful speech.
¹⁴ Remember your father and mother
    when^[d] you sit among great men;
lest you be forgetful in their presence,
    and be deemed a fool on account of your habits;
then you will wish that you had never been born,
    and you will curse the day of your birth.
¹⁵ A man accustomed to use insulting words
    will never become disciplined all his days.

¹⁶ Two sorts of men multiply sins,
    and a third incurs wrath.
The soul heated like a burning fire
    will not be quenched until it is consumed;
a man who commits fornication with his near of kin^[e]
    will never cease until the fire burns him up.
¹⁷ To a fornicator all bread tastes sweet;
    he will never cease until he dies.
¹⁸ A man who breaks his marriage vows
    says to himself, “Who sees me?
Darkness surrounds me, and the walls hide me,
    and no one sees me. Why should I fear?
The Most High will not take notice of my sins.”
¹⁹ His fear is confined to the eyes of men,
    and he does not realize that the eyes of the Lord
    are ten thousand times brighter than the sun;
they look upon all the ways of men,
    and perceive even the hidden places.
²⁰ Before the universe was created, it was known to him;
    so it was also after it was finished.
²¹ This man will be punished in the streets of the city,
    and where he least suspects it, he will be seized.
²² So it is with a woman who leaves her husband
    and provides an heir by a stranger.
²³ For first of all, she has disobeyed the law of the Most High;
    second, she has committed an offense against her husband;
and third, she has committed adultery through harlotry
    and brought forth children by another man.
²⁴ She herself will be brought before the assembly,
    and punishment will fall on her children.
²⁵ Her children will not take root,
    and her branches will not bear fruit.
²⁶ She will leave her memory for a curse,
    and her disgrace will not be blotted out.
²⁷ Those who survive her will recognize
    that nothing is better than the fear of the Lord,
and nothing sweeter than to heed the commandments of the Lord.^[f]