Sirach Chapter 16

It is better to have none than many wicked children. Of the justice and mercy of God. His ways are unsearchable.

English (Douay-Rheims)

1 Rejoice not in ungodly children, if they be multiplied: neither be delighted in them, if the fear of God be not with them.
2 Trust not to their life, and respect not their labours.
3 For better is one that feareth God, than a thousand ungodly children.
4 And it is better to die without children, than to leave ungodly children.
5 By one that is wise a country shall be inhabited, the tribe of the ungodly shall become desolate.
6 Many such things hath my eyes seen, and greater things than these my ear hath heard.
7 In the congregation of sinners a fire shall be kindled, and in an unbelieving nation wrath shall flame out.
8 The ancient giants did not obtain pardon for their sins, who were destroyed trusting to their own strength:
9 And he spared not the place where Lot sojourned, but abhorred them for the pride of their word.
10 He had not pity on them, destroying the whole nation that extolled themselves in their sins.
11 So did he with the six hundred thousand footmen, who were gathered together in the hardness of their heart: and if one had been stiffnecked, it is a wonder if he had escaped unpunished: Six hundred thousand footmen, etc... Viz., the children of Israel, whom he sentenced to die in the wilderness. Num. 14.
12 For mercy and wrath are with him. He is mighty to forgive, and to pour out indignation:
13 According as his mercy is, so his correction judgeth a man according to his works.
14 The sinner shall not escape in his rapines, and the patience of him that showeth mercy shall not be put off.
15 All mercy shall make a place for every man according to the merit of his works, and according to the wisdom of his sojournment.

16 Say not: I shall be hidden from God, and who shall remember me from on high?
17 In such a multitude I shall not be known: for what is my soul in such an immense creation?
18 Behold the heaven, and the heavens of heavens, the deep, and all the earth, and the things that are in them, shall be moved in his sight,
19 The mountains also, and the hills, and the foundations of the earth: when God shall look upon them, they shall be shaken with trembling.
20 And in all these things the heart is senseless: and every heart is understood by him.
21 And his ways who shall understand, and the storm, which no eye of man shall see?
22 For many of his works are hidden, but the works of his justice who shall declare? or who shall endure? for the testament is far from some, and the examination of all is in the end.
23 He that wanteth understanding thinketh vain things, and the foolish, and erring man, thinketh foolish things.

24 Hearken to me, my son, and learn the discipline of understanding, and attend to my words in thy heart.
25 And I will show forth good doctrine in equity, and will seek to declare wisdom: and attend to my words in thy heart, whilst with equity of spirit I tell thee the virtues that God hath put upon his works from the beginning, and I show forth in truth his knowledge.
26 The works of God are done in judgment from the beginning, and from the making of them he distinguished their parts, and their beginnings in their generations.
27 He beautified their works for ever, they have neither hungered, nor laboured, and they have not ceased from their works.
28 Nor shall any of them straiten his neighbour at any time.
29 Be not thou incredulous to his word.
30 After this God looked upon the earth, and filled it with his goods.
31 The soul of every living thing hath shown forth before the face thereof, and into it they return again. Shown forth... Viz., the glory and power of God upon the earth.

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 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.

16 Non dicas: A Deo abscondar:
et ex summo, quis mei memorabitur?
17 in populo magno non agnoscar:
quæ est enim anima mea in tam immensa creatura?
18 Ecce cælum et cæli cælorum,
abyssus, et universa terra, et quæ in eis sunt,
in conspectu illius commovebuntur.
19 Montes simul, et colles, et fundamenta terræ,
cum conspexerit illa Deus, tremore concutientur.
20 Et in omnibus his insensatum est cor,
et omne cor intelligitur ab illo.
21 Et vias illius quis intelligit,
et procellam quam nec oculus videbit hominis?
22 Nam plurima illius opera sunt in absconsis:
sed opera justitiæ ejus quis enuntiabit, aut quis sustinebit?
longe enim est testamentum a quibusdam,
et interrogatio omnium in consummatione est.
23 Qui minoratur corde cogitat inania,
et vir imprudens et errans cogitat stulta.

24 Audi me, fili, et disce disciplinam sensus,
et in verbis meis attende in corde tuo:
25 et dicam in æquitate disciplinam,
et scrutabor enarrare sapientiam:
et in verbis meis attende in corde tuo,
et dico in æquitate spiritus virtutes
quas posuit Deus in opera sua ab initio,
et in veritate enuntio scientiam ejus.
26 In judicio Dei opera ejus ab initio,
et ab institutione ipsorum distinxit partes illorum,
et initia eorum in gentibus suis.
27 Ornavit in æternum opera illorum:
nec esurierunt, nec laboraverunt,
et non destiterunt ab operibus suis.
28 Unusquisque proximum sibi non angustiabit in æternum:
29 non sis incredibilis verbo illius.
30 Post hæc Deus in terram respexit,
et implevit illam bonis suis:
31 anima omnis vitalis denuntiavit ante faciem ipsius,
et in ipsam iterum reversio illorum.

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