HOLY BIBLE: Sirach 3 (original) (raw)

1 2 ἐμοῦ τοῦ πατρὸς ἀκούσατε τέκνα καὶ οὕτως ποιήσατε ἵνα σωθῆτε 3 ὁ γὰρ κύριος ἐδόξασεν πατέρα ἐπὶ τέκνοις καὶ κρίσιν μητρὸς ἐστερέωσεν ἐ{F'} υἱοῖς 4 ὁ τιμῶν πατέρα ἐξιλάσκεται ἁμαρτίας 5 καὶ ὡς ὁ ἀποθησαυρίζων ὁ δοξάζων μητέρα αὐτοῦ 6 ὁ τιμῶν πατέρα εὐφρανθήσεται ὑπὸ τέκνων καὶ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ προσευχῆς αὐτοῦ εἰσακουσθήσεται 7 ὁ δοξάζων πατέρα μακροημερεύσει καὶ ὁ εἰσακούων κυρίου ἀναπαύσει μητέρα αὐτοῦ 8 καὶ ὡς δεσπόταις δουλεύσει ἐν τοῖς γεννήσασιν αὐτόν 9 ἐν ἔργῳ καὶ λόγῳ τίμα τὸν πατέρα σου 10 ἵνα ἐπέλθῃ σοι εὐλογία πα{R'} αὐτοῦ 11 εὐλογία γὰρ πατρὸς στηρίζει οἴκους τέκνων κατάρα δὲ μητρὸς ἐκριζοῖ θεμέλια 12 μὴ δοξάζου ἐν ἀτιμίᾳ πατρός σου οὐ γάρ ἐστίν σοι δόξα πατρὸς ἀτιμία 13 ἡ γὰρ δόξα ἀνθρώπου ἐκ τιμῆς πατρὸς αὐτοῦ καὶ ὄνειδος τέκνοις μήτηρ ἐν ἀδοξίᾳ 14 τέκνον ἀντιλαβοῦ ἐν γήρᾳ πατρός σου καὶ μὴ λυπήσῃς αὐτὸν ἐν τῇ ζωῇ αὐτοῦ 15 κἂν ἀπολείπῃ σύνεσιν συγγνώμην ἔχε καὶ μὴ ἀτιμάσῃς αὐτὸν ἐν πάσῃ ἰσχύι σου 16 ἐλεημοσύνη γὰρ πατρὸς οὐκ ἐπιλησθήσεται καὶ ἀντὶ ἁμαρτιῶν προσανοικοδομηθήσεταί σοι 17 ἐν ἡμέρᾳ θλίψεώς σου ἀναμνησθήσεταί σου ὡς εὐδία ἐπὶ παγετῷ οὕτως ἀναλυθήσονταί σου αἱ ἁμαρτίαι 18 ὡς βλάσφημος ὁ ἐγκαταλιπὼν πατέρα καὶ κεκατηραμένος ὑπὸ κυρίου ὁ παροργίζων μητέρα αὐτοῦ

1 Wherever choice souls are found, wisdom is the mother of them; all submissiveness and love their breed is. 2 Speak we now of a father’s rights; do you, sons, give good heed, and follow these counsels, if thrive you would. 3 God will have children honour their fathers; a mother’s rights are his own strict ordinance. 4 A lover of God will fall to prayer over his sins and sin no more; so, all his life long, his prayer shall find audience. 5 … riches he lays up for himself, that gives his mother her due.[1] 6 As thou wouldst have joy of thy own children, as thou wouldst be heard when thou fallest to praying, honour thy father still. 7 A father honoured is long life won; a father well obeyed is a mother’s heart comforted. 8 None that fears the Lord but honours the parents who gave him life, slave to master owes no greater service. 9 Thy father honour, in deed and in word and in all manner of forbearance; 10 so thou shalt have his blessing, a blessing that will endure to thy life’s end. 11 What is the buttress of a man’s house? A father’s blessing. What tears up the foundations of it? A mother’s curse. 12 Never make a boast of thy father’s ill name; what, should his discredit be thy renown? 13 Nay, for a father’s good repute or ill, a son must go proudly, or hang his head. 14 My son, when thy father grows old, take him to thyself; long as he lives, never be thou the cause of his repining. 15 Grow he feeble of wit, make allowance for him, nor in thy manhood’s vigour despise him. The kindness shewn to thy father will not go forgotten; 16 favour it shall bring thee in acquittal of thy mother’s guilt.[2] 17 Faithfully it shall be made good to thee, nor shalt thou be forgotten when the time of affliction comes; like ice in summer the record of thy sins shall melt away. 18 Tarnished his name, that leaves his father forsaken; God’s curse rest on him, that earns a mother’s ill-will.

1

Filii sapientiæ ecclesia justorum,
et natio illorum obedientia et dilectio.

2
Judicium patris audite, filii,
et sic facite, ut salvi sitis. 3
Deus enim honoravit patrem in filiis:
et judicium matris exquirens, firmavit in filios. 4
Qui diligit Deum exorabit pro peccatis,
et continebit se ab illis,
et in oratione dierum exaudietur. 5
Et sicut qui thesaurizat,
ita et qui honorificat matrem suam. 6
Qui honorat patrem suum jucundabitur in filiis,
et in die orationis suæ exaudietur. 7
Qui honorat patrem suum vita vivet longiore,
et qui obedit patri refrigerabit matrem. 8
Qui timet Dominum honorat parentes,
et quasi dominis serviet his qui se genuerunt. 9
In opere, et sermone, et omni patientia, honora patrem tuum, 10
ut superveniat tibi benedictio ab eo,
et benedictio illius in novissimo maneat. 11
Benedictio patris firmat domos filiorum:
maledictio autem matris eradicat fundamenta. 12
Ne glorieris in contumelia patris tui:
non enim est tibi gloria ejus confusio. 13
Gloria enim hominis ex honore patris sui,
et dedecus filii pater sine honore. 14
Fili, suscipe senectam patris tui,
et non contristes eum in vita illius: 15
et si defecerit sensu, veniam da,
et ne spernas eum in virtute tua:
eleemosyna enim patris non erit in oblivione. 16
Nam pro peccato matris restituetur tibi bonum: 17
et in justitia ædificabitur tibi,
et in die tribulationis commemorabitur tui,
et sicut in sereno glacies, solventur peccata tua. 18
Quam malæ famæ est qui derelinquit patrem,
et est maledictus a Deo qui exasperat matrem!

[1] vv. 4, 5: The Latin version here inserts a sentence which seems out of place (perhaps belonging to the end of the foregoing chapter); it omits the words given in the Greek text: ‘He who honours his father will atone for his own sins’.

[2] In the Greek text, the giver of alms atones not for his mother’s sin, but for his own. Cf. however Ps. 50.7.

[3] Some manuscripts and versions add, at the end of this verse, ‘Men’s esteem and honour is to be had for the asking, but it is to the humble that hidden things are revealed’.

[4] Some manuscripts and versions add, at the end of this verse, ‘Want eyes, want light; boast not that thou hast knowledge, where knowledge is none’.

Knox Translation Copyright © 2013 Westminster Diocese
Nihil Obstat. Father Anton Cowan, Censor.
Imprimatur. +Most Rev. Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster. 8th January 2012.
Re-typeset and published in 2012 by Baronius Press Ltd