Sirach

¹ Of these things be not ashamed, And accept no man’s person to sin thereby:

² Of the law of the Most High, and his covenant; And of judgement to do justice to the ungodly;

³ Of reckoning with a partner and with travellers; And of a gift from the heritage of friends;

⁴ Of exactness of balance and weights; And of getting much or little;

⁵ Of indifferent selling of merchants; And of much correction of children; And of making the side of an evil servant to bleed.

⁶ Sure keeping is good, where an evil wife is; And where many hands are, shut thou close.

⁷ Whatsoever thou handest over, let it be by number and weight; And in giving and receiving let all be in writing.

⁸ Be not ashamed to instruct the unwise and foolish, And one of extreme old age that contendeth with those that are young; And so shalt thou be well instructed indeed, And approved in the sight of every man living.

⁹ A daughter is a secret cause of wakefulness to a father; And the care for her putteth away sleep; In her youth, lest she pass the flower of her age; And when she is married, lest she should be hated:

¹⁰ In her virginity, lest she should be defiled And be with child in her father’s house; And when she hath a husband, lest she should transgress; And when she is married, lest she should be barren.

¹¹ Keep a strict watch over a headstrong daughter, Lest she make thee a laughingstock to thine enemies, A byword in the city and notorious among the people, And shame thee before the multitude.

¹² Look not upon every body in regard of beauty, And sit not in the midst of women;

¹³ For from garments cometh a moth, And from a woman a woman’s wickedness.

¹⁴ Better is the wickedness of a man than a pleasant-dealing woman, And a woman which putteth thee to shameful reproach.

¹⁵ I will make mention now of the works of the Lord, And will declare the things that I have seen: In the words of the Lord are his works.

¹⁶ The sun that giveth light looketh upon all things; And the work of the Lord is full of his glory.

¹⁷ The Lord hath not given power to the saints to declare all his marvellous works; Which the Almighty Lord firmly settled, That whatsoever is might be established in his glory.

¹⁸ He searcheth out the deep, and the heart, And he hath understanding of their cunning devices: For the Most High knoweth all knowledge, And he looketh into the signs of the world,

¹⁹ Declaring the things that are past, and the things that shall be, And revealing the traces of hidden things.

²⁰ No thought escapeth him; There is not a word hid from him.

²¹ The mighty works of his wisdom he hath ordered, Who is from everlasting to everlasting: Nothing hath been added unto them, nor diminished from them; And he had no need of any counsellor.

²² How desirable are all his works! One may behold this even unto a spark.

²³ All these things live and remain for ever in all manner of uses, And they are all obedient.

²⁴ All things are double one against another: And he hath made nothing imperfect.

²⁵ One thing establisheth the good things of another: And who shall be filled with beholding his glory?