Sirach Chapter 27

English (Douay-Rheims)

1 Through poverty many have sinned: and he that seeketh to be enriched, turneth away his eye.
2 As a stake sticketh fast in the midst of the joining of stones, so also in the midst of selling and buying, sin shall stick fast.
3 Sin shall be destroyed with the sinner.
4 Unless thou hold thyself diligently in the fear of the Lord, thy house shall quickly be overthrown.

5 As when one sifteth with a sieve, the dust will remain: so will the perplexity of a man in his thoughts.
6 The furnace trieth the potter's vessels, and the trial of affliction just men.
7 As the dressing of a tree showeth the fruit thereof, so a word out of the thought of the heart of man.
8 Praise not a man before he speaketh, for this is the trial of men.
9 If thou followest justice, thou shalt obtain her: and shalt put her on as a long robe of honour, and thou shalt dwell with her: and she shall protect thee for ever, and in the day of acknowledgment thou shalt find a strong foundation.
10 Birds resort unto their like: so truth will return to them that practise her.
11 The lion always lieth in wait for prey: so do sins for them that work iniquities.
12 A holy man continueth in wisdom as the sun: but a fool is changed as the moon.
13 In the midst of the unwise keep in the word till its time: but be continually among men that think.
14 The discourse of sinners is hateful, and their laughter is at the pleasures of sin.
15 The speech that sweareth much shall make the hair of the head stand upright: and its irreverence shall make one stop his ears.
16 In the quarrels of the road is the shedding of blood: and their cursing is a grievous hearing.
17 He that discloseth the secret of a friend loseth his credit, and shall never find a friend to his mind.
18 Love thy neighbour, and be joined to him with fidelity.
19 But if thou discover his secrets, follow no more after him.
20 For as a man that destroyeth his friend, so is he that destroyeth the friendship of his neighbour.
21 And as one that letteth a bird go out of his hand, so hast thou let thy neighbour go, and thou shalt not get him again.
22 Follow after him no more, for he is gone afar off, he is fled, as a roe escaped out of the snare because his soul is wounded.
23 Thou canst no more bind him up. And of a curse there is reconciliation: And of a curse there is reconciliation... That is, it is easier to obtain a reconciliation after a curse, than after disclosing a secret.
24 But to disclose the secrets of a friend, leaveth no hope to an unhappy soul.

25 He that winketh with the eye forgeth wicked things, and no man will cast him off:
26 In the sight of thy eyes he will sweeten his mouth, and will admire thy words: but at the last he will writhe his mouth, and on thy words he will lay a stumbling block.
27 I have hated many things but not like him, and the Lord will hate him.
28 If one cast a stone on high, it will fall upon his own head: and the deceitful stroke will wound the deceitful.
29 He that diggeth a pit, shall fall into it: and he that setteth a stone for his neighbour, shall stumble upon it: and he that layeth a snare for another, shall perish in it.
30 A mischievous counsel shall be rolled back upon the author, and he shall not know from whence it cometh to him.
31 Mockery and reproach are of the proud, and vengeance as a lion shall lie in wait for him.
32 They shall perish in a snare that are delighted with the fall of the just: and sorrow shall consume them before they die.

33 Anger and fury are both of them abominable, and the sinful man shall be subject to them.

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 Propter inopiam multi deliquerunt:
et qui quærit locupletari avertit oculum suum.
2 Sicut in medio compaginis lapidum palus figitur,
sic et inter medium venditionis et emptionis angustiabitur peccatum:
3 conteretur cum delinquente delictum.
4 Si non in timore Domini tenueris te instanter,
cito subvertetur domus tua.

5 Sicut in percussura cribri remanebit pulvis,
sic aporia hominis in cogitatu illius.
6 Vasa figuli probat fornax,
et homines justos tentatio tribulationis.
7 Sicut rusticatio de ligno ostendit fructum illius,
sic verbum ex cogitatu cordis hominis.
8 Ante sermonem non laudes virum:
hæc enim tentatio est hominum.
9 Si sequaris justitiam, apprehendes illam,
et indues quasi poderem honoris:
et inhabitabis cum ea, et proteget te in sempiternum,
et in die agnitionis invenies firmamentum.
10 Volatilia ad sibi similia conveniunt:
et veritas ad eos qui operantur illam revertetur.
11 Leo venationi insidiatur semper:
sic peccata operantibus iniquitates.
12 Homo sanctus in sapientia manet sicut sol:
nam stultus sicut luna mutatur.
13 In medio insensatorum serva verbum tempori:
in medio autem cogitantium assiduus esto.
14 Narratio peccantium odiosa,
et risus illorum in deliciis peccati.
15 Loquela multum jurans horripilationem capiti statuet,
et irreverentia ipsius obturatio aurium.
16 Effusio sanguinis in rixa superborum,
et maledictio illorum auditus gravis.
17 Qui denudat arcana amici fidem perdit,
et non inveniet amicum ad animum suum.
18 Dilige proximum,
et conjungere fide cum illo.
19 Quod si denudaveris absconsa illius,
non persequeris post eum.
20 Sicut enim homo qui perdit amicum suum,
sic et qui perdit amicitiam proximi sui.
21 Et sicut qui dimittit avem de manu sua,
sic dereliquisti proximum tuum, et non eum capies.
22 Non illum sequaris, quoniam longe abest:
effugit enim quasi caprea de laqueo, quoniam vulnerata est anima ejus:
23 ultra eum non poteris colligare.
Et maledicti est concordatio:
24 denudare autem amici mysteria, desperatio est animæ infelicis.

25 Annuens oculo fabricat iniqua,
et nemo eum abjiciet.
26 In conspectu oculorum tuorum condulcabit os suum,
et super sermones tuos admirabitur:
novissime autem pervertet os suum,
et in verbis tuis dabit scandalum.
27 Multa odivi, et non coæquavi ei,
et Dominus odiet illum.
28 Qui in altum mittit lapidem, super caput ejus cadet:
et plaga dolosa dolosi dividet vulnera.
29 Et qui foveam fodit incidet in eam:
et qui statuit lapidem proximo offendet in eo:
et qui laqueum alii ponit, peribit in illo.
30 Facienti nequissimum consilium, super ipsum devolvetur,
et non agnoscet unde adveniat illi.
31 Illusio et improperium superborum,
et vindicta sicut leo insidiabitur illi.
32 Laqueo peribunt qui oblectantur casu justorum,
dolor autem consumet illos antequam moriantur.

33 Ira et furor utraque execrabilia sunt,
et vir peccator continens erit 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

CONTACT US