Sirach 42
1 Of these things be not thou ashamed,
and accept no person to sin thereby:
2 of the law of the most High, and his
covenant; and of judgment to justify the ungodly;
3 of reckoning with thy partners and
travellers; or of the gift of the heritage of friends;
4 of exactness of balance and weights;
or of getting much or little; 5 and of
merchants' indifferent selling; of much correction of children; and to make
the side of an evil servant to bleed.
6 Sure keeping is good, where an evil
wife is; and locked up, where many hands are.
7 Deliver all things in number and
weight; and put all in writing that thou givest out, or receivest in.
8 Be not ashamed to inform the unwise
and foolish, and the extreme aged that contendeth with those that are young:
thus shalt thou be truly learned, and approved of all men living.
9 A daughter is a wakeful care to a
father; and the care for her taketh away sleep: when she is young, lest she
pass away the flower of her age; and being married, lest she should be hated:
10 in her virginity, lest she should
be defiled and gotten with child in her father's house; and having an husband,
lest she should misbehave herself; and when she is married, lest she should be
barren. 11 Keep a sure watch over a
shameless daughter, lest she make thee a laughingstock to thine enemies, and a
byword in the city, and a reproach among the people, and make thee ashamed
before the multitude. 12 Behold not
everybody's beauty, and sit not in the midst of women.
13 For from garments cometh a moth,
and from women wickedness. 14 Better
is the churlishness of a man than a courteous woman, a woman,
I say, which bringeth shame and reproach.
15 I will now remember the works of
the Lord, and declare the things that I have seen: In the words of the Lord
are his works. 16 The sun that giveth
light looketh upon all things, and the work thereof
is full of the glory of the Lord.
17 The Lord hath not given power to
the saints to declare all his marvellous works, which the Almighty Lord firmly
settled, that whatsoever is might be established for his glory.
18 He seeketh out the deep, and the
heart, and considereth their crafty devices: for the Lord knoweth all that can
be known, and he beholdeth the signs of the world,
19 declaring the things that are
past, and for to come, and revealing the steps of hidden things.
20 No thought escapeth him, neither
any word is hidden from him.
21 He hath garnished the excellent
works of his wisdom, and he is from everlasting to everlasting: unto him may
nothing be added, neither can he be diminished, and he hath no need of any
counsellor. 22 Oh how desirable are
all his works! and that a man may see even to a spark.
23 All these things live and remain
for ever for all uses, and they are all obedient.
24 All things are double one against
another: and he hath made nothing imperfect.
25 One thing establisheth the good of
another: and who shall be filled with beholding his glory?