Sirach Chapter 9

Cautions with regard to women, and dangerous conversations.

English (Douay-Rheims)

1 Be not jealous over the wife of thy bosom, lest she show in thy regard the malice of a wicked lesson.
2 Give not the power of thy soul to a woman, lest she enter upon thy strength, and thou be confounded.
3 Look not upon a woman that hath a mind for many: lest thou fall into her snares.
4 Use not much the company of her that is a dancer, and hearken not to her, lest thou perish by the force of her charms.
5 Gaze not upon a maiden, lest her beauty be a stumbling block to thee.
6 Give not thy soul to harlots in any point: lest thou destroy thyself and thy inheritance.
7 Look not round about thee in the ways of the city, nor wander up and down in the streets thereof.
8 Turn away thy face from a woman dressed up, and gaze not about upon another's beauty.
9 For many have perished by the beauty of a woman, and hereby lust is enkindled as a fire.
10 Every woman that is a harlot, shall be trodden upon as dung in the way.
11 Many by admiring the beauty of another man's wife, have become reprobate, for her conversation burneth as fire.
12 Sit not at all with another man's wife, nor repose upon the bed with her:
13 And strive not with her over wine, lest thy heart decline towards her and by thy blood thou fall into destruction.

14 Forsake not an old friend, for the new will not be like to him.
15 A new friend is as new wine: it shall grow old, and thou shalt drink it with pleasure.
16 Envy not the glory and riches of a sinner: for thou knowest not what his ruin shall be.
17 Be not pleased with the wrong done by the unjust, knowing that even to hell the wicked shall not please.
18 Keep thee far from the man that hath power to kill, so thou shalt not suspect the fear of death.
19 And if thou come to him, commit no fault, lest he take away thy life.
20 Know it to be a communication with death: for thou art going in the midst of snares, and walking upon the arms of them that are grieved.
21 According to thy power beware of thy neighbour, and treat with the wise and prudent.
22 Let just men be thy guests, and let thy glory be in the fear of God.
23 And let the thought of God be in thy mind, and all thy discourse on the commandments of the Highest.
24 Works shall be praised for the hand of the artificers, and the prince of the people for the wisdom of his speech, but the word of the ancients for the sense.
25 A man full of tongue is terrible in his city, and he that is rash in his word shall be hateful.

Old Testament first published 1609 by the English College at Douay
New Testament first published 1582 by the English College at Rheims
Revised and Annotated 1749 by Bishop Richard Challoner
Imprimatur. +James Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore, September 1, 1899

Latin (Clementine Vulgate)

1 Non zeles mulierem sinus tui,
ne ostendat super te malitiam doctrinæ nequam.
2 Non des mulieri potestatem animæ tuæ,
ne ingrediatur in virtutem tuam, et confundaris.
3 Ne respicias mulierem multivolam,
ne forte incidas in laqueos illius.
4 Cum saltatrice ne assiduus sis,
nec audias illam, ne forte pereas in efficacia illius.
5 Virginem ne conspicias,
ne forte scandalizeris in decore illius.
6 Ne des fornicariis animam tuam in ullo,
ne perdas te et hæreditatem tuam.
7 Noli circumspicere in vicis civitatis,
nec oberraveris in plateis illius.
8 Averte faciem tuam a muliere compta,
et ne circumspicias speciem alienam.
9 Propter speciem mulieris multi perierunt:
et ex hoc concupiscentia quasi ignis exardescit.
10 Omnis mulier quæ est fornicaria,
quasi stercus in via conculcabitur.
11 Speciem mulieris alienæ multi admirati, reprobi facti sunt:
colloquium enim illius quasi ignis exardescit.
12 Cum aliena muliere ne sedeas omnino,
nec accumbas cum ea super cubitum:
13 et non alterceris cum illa in vino,
ne forte declinet cor tuum in illam,
et sanguine tuo labaris in perditionem.

14 Ne derelinquas amicum antiquum:
novus enim non erit similis illi.
15 Vinum novum amicus novus:
veterascet, et cum suavitate bibes illud.
16 Non zeles gloriam et opes peccatoris:
non enim scis quæ futura sit illius subversio.
17 Non placeat tibi injuria injustorum,
sciens quoniam usque ad inferos non placebit impius.
18 Longe abesto ab homine potestatem habente occidendi,
et non suspicaberis timorem mortis.
19 Et si accesseris ad illum, noli aliquid committere,
ne forte auferat vitam tuam.
20 Communionem mortis scito,
quoniam in medio laqueorum ingredieris,
et super dolentium arma ambulabis.
21 Secundum virtutem tuam cave te a proximo tuo,
et cum sapientibus et prudentibus tracta.
22 Viri justi sint tibi convivæ,
et in timore Dei sit tibi gloriatio:
23 et in sensu sit tibi cogitatus Dei,
et omnis enarratio tua in præceptis Altissimi.
24 In manu artificum opera laudabuntur,
et princeps populi in sapientia sermonis sui,
in sensu vero seniorum verbum.
25 Terribilis est in civitate sua homo linguosus:
et temerarius in verbo suo odibilis erit.

Transcribed as part of the Clementine Vulgate Project
Please notify the original transcriber (little.mouth@soon.com) of any errors in this Latin edition