Sirach · WEB-C
Sirach
12
Bible textSynthetic voice (AI)
If you do good, know to whom you do it, and your good deeds will have thanks. Do good to a godly man, and you will find a reward— if not from him, then from the Most High. No good will come to him who continues to do evil, nor to him who gives no alms. Give to the godly man, and don’t help the sinner. Do good to one who is lowly. Don’t give to an ungodly man. Keep back his bread, and don’t give it to him, lest he subdue you with it; for you would receive twice as much evil for all the good you would have done to him. For the Most High also hates sinners, and will repay vengeance to the ungodly. Give to the good man, and don’t help the sinner. A man’s friend won’t be fully tried in prosperity. His enemy won’t be hidden in adversity. In a man’s prosperity, his enemies are grieved. In his adversity, even his friend leaves. Never trust your enemy, for his wickedness is like corrosion in copper. Though he humbles himself and walks bowed down, still be careful and beware of him. You will be to him as one who has wiped a mirror, to be sure it doesn’t completely tarnish. Don’t set him next to you, lest he overthrow you and stand in your place. Don’t let him sit on your right hand, lest he seek to take your seat, and at the last you acknowledge my words, and be pricked with my sayings. Who will pity a charmer that is bitten by a snake, or any who come near wild beasts? Even so, who will pity him who goes to a sinner, and is associated with him in his sins? For a while he will stay with you, and if you falter, he will not stay. The enemy will speak sweetly with his lips, and in his heart plan to throw you into a pit. The enemy may weep with his eyes, but if he finds opportunity, he will want more blood. If adversity meets you, you will find him there before you. Pretending to help you, he will trip you. He will shake his head, clap his hands, whisper much, and change his countenance.
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Notes · Haydock (1859, public domain)8 notes
Notes in English 19th-century Catholic commentary by Fr. George Leo Haydock, shown as published.
These notes keep the polemics of their time: some speak harshly of the Jewish people or of other Christians. The Church teaches otherwise today. The Jewish people may not be blamed for the death of Christ (Nostra Aetate 4; Catechism 597–598), and Christians of other communities are our brothers and sisters in the Lord (Unitatis Redintegratio 3). Christian unity
Sirach 12:1
Ver. 1. To whom. All must not be admitted into the house, nor treated with marks of particular esteem. Yet daily alms must be given without too scrupulous an enquiry. Lu. vi. 30. C. --- It would be wrong to encourage sinners, who would run to their ruin. But we must relieve the penitent. W.
↑ 1Sirach 12:2
Ver. 2. Lord. Christ rewards what good is done to his poor brethren.
↑ 2Sirach 12:3
Ver. 3. For. Gr. (4.) "Give to the pious, and receive not the sinner, (6.) Do," &c.
H. --- The gospel enjoins us to do good to all. S. Aug. (Dort. iii. 16.) and S. Tho.
(ii. 2. q. xxxii. a ix.) explain this in a spiritual sense, that we must not partake in the crimes of others. We may also make presents to the virtuous, and pass over people of a different character, particularly when they would abuse our gifts. The honest poor must be preserved.
↑ 3Sirach 12:10
Ver. 10. Rusteth. So his malice always returns, (C.) and he shews what he is.
Vat. ---
Christianity does not blame due reserve in treating with those whom we know not, or who have formerly injured us. Though we must love them from our heart, yet we need not intrust our secrets to them, nor even to every friend.
Joab always retained a hatred for Abner, and Absalom for his brother and father, though they dissembled their resentment. C. --- So the wicked commonly act. H. --- We must love, but not trust them, being wise as serpents.
Matt. x. W.
↑ 10Sirach 12:11
Ver. 11. Of him. Gr. adds, "and thou shalt be to him as one who has rubbed a mirror, (of brass from the rust. It returns perpetually. C.) and shalt know that the rust is not removed for ever.
Grabe. H.
↑ 11Sirach 12:13
Ver. 13. Beasts. Vipers, &c. Why should they familiarize themselves with such?
Some Italians still handle serpents without fear, pretending that they are the descendants of S. Paul. C. --- But he was never married, (1 Cor. vii. H.) and they are rather of the race of the Marsi, who formerly claimed the same privilege, having made use of some drugs to prevent the poison. The ancients believed that they could charm serpents.
↑ 13Sirach 12:16
Ver. 16. Blood. Jer. xli. 6. Samson yielded to the tears of women. Judg. xiv. 16.
and xvi. 6.
↑ 16Sirach 12:18
Ver. 18. Eyes. Is taken from v. 16. It is not in Gr. H. --- His tears are like those of crocodiles, which cry when they are going to kill a man. C.
↑ 18License: Notes by Fr. George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), from the Douay-Rheims Bible with Haydock's commentary (first ed. Thomas Haydock, Manchester/Dublin, 1811–1814; New York: Edward Dunigan & Brother, 1859); New Testament notes compiled with Fr. Benedict Rayment. Public domain. Digital text: "The Haydock Bible", Internet Archive (archive.org/details/TheHaydockBible), uploaded 2011 under the Public Domain Mark. · Credits and licenses