Ecclesiasticus / Sirach - Chapter 41

¹ O death, how bitter it is to remember you for someone peacefully living with his possessions, for someone with no worries and everything going well and who can still enjoy his food!

² O death, your sentence is welcome to one in want, whose strength is failing, to one worn out with age and a thousand worries, resentful and impatient!

³ Do not dread death's sentence; remember those who came before you and those who will come after.

⁴ This is the sentence passed on all living creatures by the Lord, so why object to what seems good to the Most High? Whether your life lasts ten or a hundred or a thousand years, its length will not be held against you in Sheol.

⁵ Hateful brats, such are the children of sinners, who foregather in the haunts of the godless.

⁶ The inheritance of sinners' children is doomed to perish, their posterity will endure lasting reproach.

⁷ A godless father will be blamed by his children for the reproach he has brought on them.

⁸ A bad outlook for you, godless people, who have forsaken the Law of God Most High.

⁹ When you were born, you were born to be accursed, and when you die, that curse will be your portion.

¹⁰ All that comes from the earth returns to the earth, so too the wicked proceed from curse to destruction.

¹¹ Mourning concerns only the bodies of the dead, but the worthless name of sinners will be blotted out.

¹² Be careful of your reputation, for it will last you longer than a thousand great hoards of gold.

¹³ A good life lasts a certain number of days, but a good reputation lasts for ever.

¹⁴ Keep my instructions and be at peace, my children. Wisdom hidden away and treasure undisplayed, what use is either of these?

¹⁵ Better someone who hides his folly than one who hides his wisdom.

¹⁶ Preserve a sense of shame in the following matters, for not every kind of shame is right to harbour, nor is every situation correctly appraised by all.

¹⁷ Be ashamed, before father and mother, of depraved behaviour, and before prince or potentate of telling lies;

¹⁸ of wrong-doing before judge or magistrate, and of impiety before the assembly of the people;

¹⁹ of sharp practice before your companion and your friend, and of theft before the neighbourhood you live in.

²⁰ Before the truth and covenant of God, be ashamed of leaning elbows on the table,

²¹ of being ungracious when giving or receiving, of ignoring those who greet you,

²² of gazing at a loose woman, of repulsing your fellow-countryman,

²³ of misappropriating another's portion or gift, of paying court to another man's wife,

²⁴ of making advances to his servant-girl -- do not go near her bed-

²⁵ of saying disagreeable things to friends -- do not follow up a gift with a taunt-

²⁶ of repeating everything you hear and of betraying confidences.

²⁷ Then you will know what true shame is, and you will find yourself in everyone's graces.

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