Sirach

36

1 There shall no evil happen unto him that feareth the Lord; but in temptation even again he will deliver him.

2 A wise man hateth not the law; but he that is an hypocrite therein is as a ship in a storm.

3 A man of understanding trusteth in the law; and the law is faithful unto him, as an oracle.

4 Prepare what to say, and so thou shalt be heard: and bind up instruction, and then make answer.

5 The heart of the foolish is like a cartwheel; and his thoughts are like a rolling axle-tree.

6 A stallion horse is as a mocking friend, he neigheth under every one that sitteth upon him.

7 Why doth one day excel another, when as all the light of every day in the year is of the sun?

8 By the knowledge of the Lord they were distinguished: and he altered seasons and feasts.

9 Some of them hath he made high days, and hallowed them, and some of them hath he made ordinary days.

10 And all men are from the ground, and Adam was created of earth.

11 In much knowledge the Lord hath divided them, and made their ways diverse.

12 Some of them hath he blessed and exalted, and some of them hath he sanctified, and set near himself: but some of them hath he cursed and brought low, and turned out of their places.

13 As the clay is in the potter's hand, to fashion it at his pleasure: so man is in the hand of him that made him, to render to them as liketh him best.

14 Good is set against evil, and life against death: so is the godly against the sinner, and the sinner against the godly.

15 So look upon all the works of the most High; and there are two and two, one against another.

16 Though I was the last to wake up, yet I received their inheritance as from the beginning.

17 O Lord have mercy upon the people that is called by thy name, and upon Israel, whom thou hast named thy firstborn.

18 O be merciful unto Jerusalem, thy holy city, the place of thy rest.

19 Fill Sion with thine unspeakable oracles, and thy people with thy glory.

20 Give testimony unto those that thou hast possessed from the beginning, and raise up prophets that have been in thy name.

21 Reward them that wait for thee, and let thy prophets be found faithful.

22 O Lord, hear the prayer of thy servants, according to the blessing of Aaron over thy people, that all they which dwell upon the earth may know that thou art the Lord, the eternal God.

23 The belly devoureth all meats, yet is one meat better than another.

24 As the palate tasteth divers kinds of venison: so doth an heart of understanding false speeches.

25 A froward heart causeth heaviness: but a man of experience will recompense him.

26 A woman will receive every man, yet is one daughter better than another.

27 The beauty of a woman cheereth the countenance, and a man loveth nothing better.

28 If there be kindness, meekness, and comfort, in her tongue, then is not her husband like other men.

29 He that getteth a wife beginneth a possession, a help like unto himself, and a pillar of rest.

30 Where no hedge is, there the possession is spoiled: and he that hath no wife will wander up and down mourning.

31 Who will trust a thief well appointed, that skippeth from city to city? so [who will believe] a man that hath no house, and lodgeth wheresoever the night taketh him?