Sirach Chapter 10

English (Douay-Rheims)

1 A wise judge shall judge his people, and the government of a prudent man shall be steady. Judge his people... In the Greek it is, instruct his people.
2 As the judge of the people is himself, so also are his ministers: and what manner of man the ruler of a city is, such also are they that dwell therein.
3 An unwise king shall be the ruin of his people: and cities shall be inhabited through the prudence of the rulers.
4 The power of the earth is in the hand of God, and in his time he will raise up a profitable ruler over it.
5 The prosperity of man is in the hand of God, and upon the person of the scribe he shall lay his honour. The scribe... That is, the man that is wise and learned in the law.

6 Remember not any injury done thee by thy neighbour, and do thou nothing by deeds of injury.
7 Pride is hateful before God and men: and all iniquity of nations is execrable.
8 A kingdom is translated from one people to another, because of injustices, and wrongs, and injuries, and divers deceits.
9 But nothing is more wicked than the covetous man. Why is earth, and ashes proud?
10 There is not a more wicked thing than to love money: for such a one setteth even his own soul to sale: because while he liveth he hath cast away his bowels.
11 All power is of short life. A long sickness is troublesome to the physician.
12 The physician cutteth off a short sickness: so also a king is to day, and to morrow he shall die.
13 For when a man shall die, he shall inherit serpents, and beasts, and worms.
14 The beginning of the pride of man, is to fall off from God:
15 Because his heart is departed from him that made him: for pride is the beginning of all sin: he that holdeth it, shall be filled with maledictions, and it shall ruin him in the end.
16 Therefore hath the Lord disgraced the assemblies of the wicked, and hath utterly destroyed them.
17 God hath overturned the thrones of proud princes, and hath set up the meek in their stead.
18 God hath made the roots of proud nations to wither, and hath planted the humble of these nations.
19 The Lord hath overthrown the lands of the Gentiles, and hath destroyed them even to the foundation.
20 He hath made some of them to wither away, and hath destroyed them, and hath made the memory of them to cease from the earth.
21 God hath abolished the memory of the proud, and hath preserved the memory of them that are humble in mind.
22 Pride was not made for men: nor wrath for the race of women.

23 That seed of men shall be honoured, which feareth God: but that seed shall be dishonoured, which transgresseth the commandments of the Lord.
24 In the midst of brethren their chief is honourable: so shall they that fear the Lord, be in his eyes.
25 The fear of God is the glory of the rich, and of the honourable, and of the poor.
26 Despise not a just man that is poor, and do not magnify a sinful man that is rich.
27 The great man, and the judge, and the mighty is in honour: and there is none greater than he that feareth God.
28 They that are free shall serve a servant that is wise: and a man that is prudent and well instructed will not murmur when he is reproved; and he that is ignorant, shall not be honoured.
29 Extol not thyself in doing thy work, and linger not in the time of distress;
30 Better is he that laboureth, and aboundeth in all things, than he that boasteth himself and wanteth bread.
31 My son, keep thy soul in meekness, and give it honour according to its desert.
32 Who will justify him that sinneth against his own soul? and who will honour him that dishonoureth his own soul?
33 The poor man is glorified by his discipline and fear, and there is a man that is honoured for his wealth.
34 But he that is glorified in poverty, how much more in wealth? and he that is glorified in wealth, let him fear poverty.

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 Judex sapiens judicabit populum suum,
et principatus sensati stabilis erit.
2 Secundum judicem populi, sic et ministri ejus:
et qualis rector est civitatis, tales et inhabitantes in ea.
3 Rex insipiens perdet populum suum:
et civitates inhabitabuntur per sensum potentium.
4 In manu Dei potestas terræ:
et utilem rectorem suscitabit in tempus super illam.
5 In manu Dei prosperitas hominis,
et super faciem scribæ imponet honorem suum.

6 Omnis injuriæ proximi ne memineris,
et nihil agas in operibus injuriæ.
7 Odibilis coram Deo est et hominibus superbia,
et execrabilis omnis iniquitas gentium.
8 Regnum a gente in gentem transfertur propter injustitias,
et injurias, et contumelias, et diversos dolos.
9 Avaro autem nihil est scelestius.
Quid superbit terra et cinis?
10 Nihil est iniquius quam amare pecuniam:
hic enim et animam suam venalem habet,
quoniam in vita sua projecit intima sua.
11 Omnis potentatus brevis vita;
languor prolixior gravat medicum.
12 Brevem languorem præcidit medicus:
sic et rex hodie est, et cras morietur.
13 Cum enim morietur homo,
hæreditabit serpentes, et bestias, et vermes.
14 Initium superbiæ hominis apostatare a Deo:
15 quoniam ab eo qui fecit illum recessit cor ejus,
quoniam initium omnis peccati est superbia.
Qui tenuerit illam adimplebitur maledictis,
et subvertet eum in finem.
16 Propterea exhonoravit Dominus conventus malorum,
et destruxit eos usque in finem.
17 Sedes ducum superborum destruxit Deus,
et sedere fecit mites pro eis.
18 Radices gentium superbarum arefecit Deus,
et plantavit humiles ex ipsis gentibus.
19 Terras gentium evertit Dominus,
et perdidit eas usque ad fundamentum.
20 Arefecit ex ipsis, et disperdidit eos,
et cessare fecit memoriam eorum a terra.
21 Memoria superborum perdidit Deus,
et reliquit memoriam humilium sensu.
22 Non est creata hominibus superbia,
neque iracundia nationi mulierum.

23 Semen hominum honorabitur hoc, quod timet Deum:
semen autem hoc exhonorabitur, quod præterit mandata Domini.
24 In medio fratrum rector illorum in honore:
et qui timent Dominum erunt in oculis illius.
25 Gloria divitum, honoratorum, et pauperum,
timor Dei est.
26 Noli despicere hominem justum pauperem,
et noli magnificare virum peccatorem divitem.
27 Magnus, et judex, et potens est in honore:
et non est major illo qui timet Deum.
28 Servo sensato liberi servient:
et vir prudens et disciplinatus non murmurabit correptus,
et inscius non honorabitur.
29 Noli extollere te in faciendo opere tuo,
et noli cunctari in tempore angustiæ.
30 Melior est qui operatur et abundat in omnibus,
quam qui gloriatur et eget pane.
31 Fili, in mansuetudine serva animam tuam,
et da illi honorem secundum meritum suum.
32 Peccantem in animam suam quis justificabit?
et quis honorificabit exhonorantem animam suam?
33 Pauper gloriatur per disciplinam et timorem suum:
et est homo qui honorificatur propter substantiam suam.
34 Qui autem gloriatur in paupertate, quanto magis in substantia!
et qui gloriatur in substantia, paupertatem vereatur.

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

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