HOLY BIBLE: Sirach 16 (original) (raw)

1 μὴ ἐπιθύμει τέκνων πλῆθος ἀχρήστων μηδὲ εὐφραίνου ἐπὶ υἱοῖς ἀσεβέσιν ἐὰν πληθύνωσιν μὴ εὐφραίνου ἐ{P'} αὐτοῖς εἰ μή ἐστιν φόβος κυρίου με{T'} αὐτῶν 2 μὴ ἐμπιστεύσῃς τῇ ζωῇ αὐτῶν καὶ μὴ ἔπεχε ἐπὶ τὸ πλῆθος αὐτῶν 3 κρείσσων γὰρ εἷς ἢ χίλιοι 4 καὶ ἀποθανεῖν ἄτεκνον ἢ ἔχειν τέκνα ἀσεβῆ 5 ἀπὸ γὰρ ἑνὸς συνετοῦ συνοικισθήσεται πόλις φυλὴ δὲ ἀνόμων ἐρημωθήσεται 6 πολλὰ τοιαῦτα ἑόρακεν ὁ ὀφθαλμός μου καὶ ἰσχυρότερα τούτων ἀκήκοεν τὸ οὖς μου 7 ἐν συναγωγῇ ἁμαρτωλῶν ἐκκαυθήσεται πῦρ καὶ ἐν ἔθνει ἀπειθεῖ ἐξεκαύθη ὀργή 8 οὐκ ἐξιλάσατο περὶ τῶν ἀρχαίων γιγάντων οἳ ἀπέστησαν τῇ ἰσχύι αὐτῶν 9 οὐκ ἐφείσατο περὶ τῆς παροικίας Λωτ οὓς ἐβδελύξατο διὰ τὴν ὑπερηφανίαν αὐτῶν 10 οὐκ ἠλέησεν ἔθνος ἀπωλείας τοὺς ἐξηρμένους ἐν ἁμαρτίαις αὐτῶν 11 καὶ οὕτως ἑξακοσίας χιλιάδας πεζῶν τοὺς ἐπισυναχθέντας ἐν σκληροκαρδίᾳ αὐτῶν κἂν ᾖ εἷς σκληροτράχηλος θαυμαστὸν τοῦτο εἰ ἀθῳωθήσεται 12 ἔλεος γὰρ καὶ ὀργὴ πα{R'} αὐτῷ δυνάστης ἐξιλασμῶν καὶ ἐκχέων ὀργήν 13 κατὰ τὸ πολὺ ἔλεος αὐτοῦ οὕτως καὶ πολὺς ὁ ἔλεγχος αὐτοῦ ἄνδρα κατὰ τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ κρινεῖ 14 οὐκ ἐκφεύξεται ἐν ἁρπάγματι ἁμαρτωλός καὶ οὐ μὴ καθυστερήσει ὑπομονὴ εὐσεβοῦς 15 πάσῃ ἐλεημοσύνῃ ποιήσει τόπον ἕκαστος κατὰ τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ εὑρήσει

1 A brood of disloyal sons, let not thy eye dwell on these with pleasure; the fear of God lacking, let not a multitude of children be thy comfort. 2 Not on such lives as these set thy hopes, little regard have thou for such doings as theirs; 3 better one son who fears God than a thousand who grow up rebellious; 4 better die childless than have rebels to succeed thee. 5 Through one man that is well-minded a whole country may thrive, and sinners, a whole race of them, may be extinguished; 6 much proof of this my own eyes have seen, and stronger proof yet are the tales that have come to my hearing, 7 of fire breaking out where sinners were met in company, fires of vengeance to consume a disobedient race. 8 Those giants of long ago who perished in the pride of their strength, did they find pardon of their guilt? 9 Lot’s neighbours, did God spare them? Did he not attest his hatred of their insolence, 10 destroying a whole nation without pity, for the sinfulness that defied him? 11 And what of those six hundred thousand that marched out into the desert, men of stubborn heart? Stiff-necked if he had been like the others, Caleb himself should not have had God’s pardon.[1] 12 His to pity, his to punish; intercession avails with him, but in full flood comes his vengeance; 13 his severity, no less than his clemency, judges men by their deeds. 14 Never may sinner enjoy his ill-gotten gains in safety, nor the hope of the generous be disappointed. 15 No generous act but shall win God’s consideration; he weighs each man’s merits, knows how each passed his time on earth.

1

Ne jucunderis in filiis impiis, si multiplicentur:
nec oblecteris super ipsos, si non est timor Dei in illis.

2
Non credas vitæ illorum,
et ne respexeris in labores eorum. 3
Melior est enim unus timens Deum,
quam mille filii impii: 4
et utile est mori sine filiis,
quam relinquere filios impios. 5
Ab uno sensato inhabitabitur patria:
tribus impiorum deseretur. 6
Multa talia vidit oculis meus,
et fortiora horum audivit auris mea. 7
In synagoga peccantium exardebit ignis,
et in gente incredibili exardescet ira. 8
Non exoraverunt pro peccatis suis antiqui gigantes,
qui destructi sunt confidentes suæ virtuti. 9
Et non pepercit peregrinationi Lot,
et execratus est eos præ superbia verbi illorum. 10
Non misertus est illis, gentem totam perdens,
et extollentem se in peccatis suis. 11
Et sicut sexcenta millia peditum,
qui congregati sunt in duritia cordis sui:
et si unus fuisset cervicatus,
mirum si fuisset immunis. 12
Misericordia enim et ira est cum illo:
potens exoratio, et effundens iram. 13
Secundum misericordiam suam,
sic correptio illius homines secundum opera sua judicat. 14
Non effugiet in rapina peccator,
et non retardabit sufferentia misericordiam facientis. 15
Omnis misericordia faciet locum unicuique,
secundum meritum operum suorum,
et secundum intellectum peregrinationis ipsius.

[1] The words ‘into the desert’ have been inserted to make it clear that the Exodus is alluded to; they are not in the text. Nor is the name ‘Caleb’, but the grammar of the Latin version necessarily implies that one person was excepted from the general doom, cf. Num. 14.24 and elsewhere. The Greek text has ‘And if there is one stiff-necked person, it is a marvel if he escapes’.

[2] ‘All these have a heart, though it be a heart void of reason’; or perhaps, ‘and in all these matters, the (human) heart is powerless to reason’, which is the sense of the Greek text.

[3] The sense of the Greek text is probably rather ‘the acts which win his approval’.

[4] vv. 18-22: In the Latin version, this is apparently regarded as an answer to the notions mentioned in verses 16, 17; in the Greek text, it seems to be a continuation of them, the answer being delayed till verse 24.

[5] That is, according to the Greek text, the forces of nature are bound to obey it; the Latin version represents it as a warning against human disobedience.

[6] This is the meaning of the Greek text. The Latin version has ‘denounced before the face of it’, which yields no satisfactory sense.

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