Sirach · WEB-C
Sirach
22
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A slothful man is compared to a stone that is defiled. Everyone will hiss at him in his disgrace. A slothful man is compared to the filth of a dunghill. Anyone who picks it up will shake it out of his hand. An undisciplined child is a disgrace to his father, and a foolish daughter is born to his loss. A prudent daughter will inherit a husband of her own. She who brings shame is the grief of her father. She who is arrogant brings shame on father and husband. She will be despised by both of them. Ill-timed conversation is like music in mourning, but stripes and correction are wisdom in every season. He who teaches a fool is like one who glues potsherds together, even like one who wakes a sleeper out of a deep sleep. He who teaches a fool is as one who teaches a man who slumbers. In the end he will say, “What is it?” Weep for the dead, for he lacks light. Weep for a fool, for he lacks understanding. Weep more sweetly for the dead, because he has found rest, but the life of the fool is worse than death. Mourning for the dead lasts seven days, but for a fool and an ungodly man, it lasts all the days of his life. Don’t talk much with a foolish man, and don’t go to one who has no understanding. Beware of him, lest you have trouble and be defiled in his onslaught. Turn away from him, and you will find rest, and you won’t be wearied in his madness. What would be heavier than lead? What is its name, but “Fool”? Sand, salt, and a mass of iron is easier to bear than a man without understanding. Timber girded and bound into a building will not be released with shaking. So a heart established in due season on well advised counsel will not be afraid. A heart settled upon a thoughtful understanding is as an ornament of plaster on a polished wall. Fences set on a high place will not stand against the wind; so a fearful heart in the imagination of a fool will not stand against any fear. He who pricks the eye will make tears fall. He who pricks the heart makes it show feeling. Whoever casts a stone at birds scares them away. He who insults a friend will dissolve friendship. If you have drawn a sword against a friend, don’t despair, for there may be a way back. If you have opened your mouth against a friend, don’t be afraid, for there may be reconciliation, unless it is for insulting, arrogance, disclosing of a secret, or a treacherous blow— for these things any friend will flee. Gain trust with your neighbor in his poverty, that in his prosperity you may have gladness. Stay steadfast to him in the time of his affliction, that you may be heir with him in his inheritance. Before fire is the vapor and smoke of a furnace, so insults precede bloodshed. I won’t be ashamed to shelter a friend. I won’t hide myself from his face. If any evil happens to me because of him, everyone who hears it will beware of him. Who will set a watch over my mouth, and a seal of shrewdness upon my lips, that I may not fall from it, and that my tongue may not destroy me?
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Notes · Haydock (1859, public domain)19 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 22:1
Ver. 1. Sluggard. Who neglects his own and others' welfare. C. --- Disgrace. He is still despised here, and punished eternally. Matt. xxv. 30. W.
↑ 1Sirach 22:2
Ver. 2. Pelted. Gr. "compared to a lump of dung." H.
↑ 2Sirach 22:3
Ver. 3. Loss. "I wish," said Augustus, "I had never married, or that I had died without children."
Suet.
↑ 3Sirach 22:4
Ver. 4. Inheritance. Her wisdom and economy. Prov. xxxi. 29. Women had no inheritance among the Jews, when they had brothers.
↑ 4Sirach 22:5
Ver. 5. Bold. In speaking and acting without restraint. C.
↑ 5Sirach 22:6
Ver. 6. Mourning. S. Jer. (ep. ad Julian) quoting this sentence, calls it "divine Scripture." Prov.
xxv. 20. --- Of time. Or "stripes and instruction well-timed, are wisdom." H. ---
Only the wise know how to correct with advantage.
↑ 6Sirach 22:7
Ver. 7. Fool. Who is incapable of understanding. Those who have sense may be corrected, though they may have taken evil courses.
↑ 7Sirach 22:9
Ver. 9. This? The Athenian philosophers and Festus derided S. Paul. Acts xvii.
32.
↑ 9Sirach 22:10
Ver. 10. For the fool. In the language of the Holy Ghost, he is styled a fool that turns away from God to follow vanity and sin. And what is said by the wise man against fools is meant of such fools as these. Ch. --- Their wicked life is worse than death. W.
↑ 10Sirach 22:13
Ver. 13. Day. There was a longer time assigned for great men. Gen. l. 3. Num.
xx. 30. and Deut. xxxiv. 8. --- Life. This is understood of those who have lost all reason, or sense of religion.
S. Monica wept for her son, hoping that he would repent, as a certain bishop had comforted her.
S. Aug. Conf. iii. ult.
↑ 13Sirach 22:17
Ver. 17. Lead? Gold alone is heavier. But the fool is compared with lead, and is most insupportable.
↑ 17Sirach 22:19
Ver. 19. Wood. Such were used in the walls of Jerusalem, (4 Mac. ii.) and of the temple and palace. 3 K. vi. 36. and vii. 12.
↑ 19Sirach 22:21
Ver. 21. Cost. Of lime. C. --- Gr. omits this comparison, as well as the 23d verse.
H.
↑ 21Sirach 22:23
Ver. 23. Not fear. This seems contrary to what goes before. But fools are sometimes intrepid even to harshness. C.
↑ 23Sirach 22:24
Ver. 24. Resentment. Or "sense," (H.) by means of pungent reprimands. C.
↑ 24Sirach 22:25
Ver. 25. Away, (Gr.) Lit. "will knock them down," dejiciet. H. --- Deliberate provocations (v. 27.) are pardoned with more difficulty than a sudden impulse of wrath. v. 26. On such occasions we may withdraw our confidence, but not our charity and patience. Matt. v. 11. C. --- A true friend will not be lost for a temporal damage; but he must not be slighted. W.
↑ 25Sirach 22:29
Ver. 29. Inheritance. Gr. adds, "for poverty is not always contemptible, nor is the senseless rich worthy of admiration." H.
↑ 29Sirach 22:32
Ver. 32. Of him. Yet I will not follow their example. C. --- If my friend has behaved ill to me, he will be the greatest sufferer. H.
↑ 32Sirach 22:33
Ver. 33. Not. Ps. cxl. 3. Who can sufficiently guard his tongue? C.
↑ 33License: 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