Sirach · WEB-C
Sirach
24
Bible textSynthetic voice (AI)
Wisdom will praise her own soul, and will proclaim her glory in the midst of her people. She will open her mouth in the congregation of the Most High, and proclaim her glory in the presence of his power. “I came out of the mouth of the Most High, and covered the earth as a mist. I lived in high places, and my throne is in the pillar of the cloud. Alone I surrounded the circuit of heaven, and walked in the depth of the abyss. In the waves of the sea, and in all the earth, and in every people and nation, I obtained a possession. With all these I sought rest. In whose inheritance shall I lodge? Then the Creator of all things gave me a command. He who created me made my tent to rest, and said, ‘Let your dwelling be in Jacob, and your inheritance in Israel.’ He created me from the beginning, before the ages. For all ages, I will not cease to exist. In the holy tabernacle, I ministered before him. So I was established in Zion. In the beloved city, likewise he gave me rest. In Jerusalem was my domain. I took root in a people that was honored, even in the portion of the Lord’s own inheritance. I was exalted like a cedar in Lebanon, And like a cypress tree on the mountains of Hermon. I was exalted like a palm tree on the sea shore, like rose bushes in Jericho, and like a fair olive tree in the plain. I was exalted like a plane tree. Like cinnamon and aspalathus, I have given a scent to perfumes. Like choice myrrh, I spread abroad a pleasant fragrance, like galbanum, onycha, stacte, and as the smell of frankincense in the tabernacle. Like the terebinth, I stretched out my branches. My branches are glorious and graceful. Like the vine, I put forth grace. My flowers are the fruit of glory and riches. “Come to me, all you who desire me, and be filled with my fruits. For my memory is sweeter than honey, and my inheritance than the honeycomb. Those who eat me will be hungry for more. Those who drink me will be thirsty for more. He who obeys me will not be ashamed. Those who work with me will not sin.” All these things are the book of the covenant of the Most High God, the law which Moses commanded us for an inheritance for the assemblies of Jacob. It is he who makes wisdom abundant, as Pishon, and as Tigris in the days of first fruits. He makes understanding full as the Euphrates, and as the Jordan in the days of harvest, who makes instruction shine forth as the light, as Gihon in the days of vintage. The first man didn’t know her perfectly. In like manner, the last has not explored her. For her thoughts are filled from the sea, and her counsels from the great deep. I came out as a canal stream from a river, and as an irrigation ditch into a garden. I said, “I will water my garden, and will drench my garden bed.” Behold, my stream became a river, and my river became a sea. I will yet bring instruction to light as the morning, and will make these things clear from far away. I will continue to pour out teaching like prophecy, and leave it to all generations. See that I have not labored for myself only, but for all those who diligently seek wisdom.
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Notes · Haydock (1859, public domain)33 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 24:1
Ver. 1. Wisdom. Gr. title, "the praise of wisdom." Here the book of Ecclesiastes is imitated. H.
--- See also Prov. viii. and Wisd. vii. 24. and viii. 1. The pagans boasted of their philosophy. But it was not to be compared with the true religion, which the Israelites possessed. --- Own self. Lit.
"soul." She alone is capable of this office. C. --- In God. Referring all the glory to him. M. ---
This sentence is not in Gr. H. --- The second person of the Trinity proclaims his own praises. W.
↑ 1Sirach 24:2
Ver. 2. Power. The temple, rather than in the schools of Athens. C.
↑ 2Sirach 24:3
Ver. 3. And. Gr. (5.) "I came out of the mouth of the Highest, (6.) and as," &c. H.
--- He alludes to the darkness which covered the earth. Gen. i. 2. Job xxxviii. 9.
Many explain this of the uncreated wisdom, born in the womb of the blessed Virgin; and the Church, in her office, applies it to her in a mystical sense. But it seems literally to refer to the wisdom and grace granted to the saints, which enlightens every man, and presides over the creation.
↑ 3Sirach 24:7
Ver. 7. Cloud. Guiding the Israelites (Ex. xiii. 21.) or near the throne of God.
Wisd. ix. 4. C.
↑ 7Sirach 24:8
Ver. 8. Penetrated. Gr. "walled in."
↑ 8Sirach 24:11
Ver. 11. By. Gr. "with all," &c. H. --- Lord. Israel was chosen gratuitously. C. ---
Gr. of whom?
↑ 11Sirach 24:12
Ver. 12. Rested. Gr. "gave rest to my tent." H. --- So Virgil says, requierun.
flumina cursus. M.
--- God offers grace, but forces none to accept of it. W.
↑ 12Sirach 24:13
Ver. 13. And take, &c. is not in Gr. H. --- This may be explained of the true religion, or (C.) of the word of the Father. S. Aug. Trin. i. 12. --- In the Church only is effectual grace, (W.) or none will receive it, who refuses to hear the Church. H.
↑ 13Sirach 24:14
Ver. 14. Created. Or engendered. Prov. viii. 22. --- Him. As his priestess, directing all the ministers of the temple. C. --- Christ is begotten by the understanding, and the Holy Ghost proceeds from love. Creation is not here taken strictly. W.
↑ 14Sirach 24:16
Ver. 16. His. Gr. "of his inheritance, (17.) I," &c. H.
↑ 16Sirach 24:17
Ver. 17. Sion. Beyond the Jordan. Gr. "Hermon." Deut. iv. 48.
↑ 17Sirach 24:18
Ver. 18. Cades- barne. Num. xx. 1. Gr. "Engaddi," (C.) or Rom. and Alex. edit.
"on the sea shore." H.
↑ 18Sirach 24:19
Ver. 19. In the streets, in not in Gr. C. --- Grabe inserts, by the waters. H. ---
These trees flourish most in such situations, and people delighted to walk under them in hot countries.
↑ 19Sirach 24:20
Ver. 20. Myrrh. Which distills through the bark, without any incision.
↑ 20Sirach 24:21
Ver. 21. Onyx. A shell-fish in the Indies, which feeds on the spica nardi, and hence becomes odoriferous. --- Aloes, ( gutta) the finest myrrh. --- Not cut. Gr.
"in a tent." --- And my, &c. is not in Gr. Wisdom is compared to what was most esteemed. C.
↑ 21Sirach 24:22
Ver. 22. Honour. Rich and pleasant. H.
↑ 22Sirach 24:24
Ver. 24. I, &c. Grabe restores this verse, and, instead of the next, has, "but I am given to all my children, being born myself for ever, to those who are specified by him. (26.) Come," &c. H. ---
The text seems to be corrupt. C.
↑ 24Sirach 24:25
Ver. 25. Life. Christ declares himself to be, the way, the truth, and the life.
↑ 25Sirach 24:27
Ver. 27. Spirit. Greek, "remembrance." It has not the following verse.
↑ 27Sirach 24:29
Ver. 29. Thirst. Without being ever disgusted. Jo. iv. 13. C. --- Experience of carnal delights is quite the reverse. S. Greg. hom. xxxvi. Ev. --- The more grace a person has, the more he desireth and receiveth from God. W.
↑ 29Sirach 24:30
Ver. 30. Sin. Or lose their labour. They shall be directed in the paths of life. C.
↑ 30Sirach 24:31
Ver. 31. They. Gr. "all these things are the book of the covenant of the most high God, the law which Moses gave unto us, an inheritance to the synagogues of Jacob." Grabe puts in a different character from the Compl.
"Lose not strength in the Lord, but stick to him, that he may strengthen you.
The Lord Almighty is the only God, and there is no other Saviour." Then follows, (v. 35.)
"who," &c. H. --- Everlasting. Provided his life correspond with his doctrine. No occupation can be more glorious. C. --- Let thy Scriptures be my chaste delights: let me not be deceived in them, nor deceive others by them. S. Aug.
Conf. xi. 2. C. Dan. xii. M.
↑ 31Sirach 24:32
Ver. 32. Truth. They are equally certain, and no more is required. C. --- He that loves has fulfilled the law. H.
↑ 32Sirach 24:34
Ver. 34. King. Viz. Christ, who by his gospel, like an overflowing river, hath enriched the earth with heavenly wisdom. Ch. --- Ever. The Lord (H.) is a king, (Carriers) who, &c. v. 35. H. ---
Solomon's wisdom is also praised. C. --- The sceptre of David remained till the captivity, and the royal family continued in esteem till Christ. Yet David was only a figure of Christ, the eternal king. W.
↑ 34Sirach 24:35
Ver. 35. Phison. Or Phase of Colchis, which rises in Armenia, like the Tigris and Euphrates, all which overflow their banks at the beginning of summer, on account of the snow melting.
↑ 35Sirach 24:36
Ver. 36. Harvest. The snow of Libanus make the Jordan swell at Pentecost.
Jos. iii. 15.
↑ 36Sirach 24:37
Ver. 37. Light. Giving to all the light of reason, and to Israel the law. Ps. cxlvii.
20. --- Gehon.
Or Araxes, which descends from Armenia into the Caspian sea, though some erroneously take it to be the Nile, (C.) which overflows at the same time as the Euphrates. Pliny xviii. 18. Solon xlvi.
↑ 37Sirach 24:38
Ver. 38. Of her. Christ was the first that had perfect knowledge of heavenly wisdom. Ch. ---
This is the privilege of God. Gr. "the first hath not perfect," &c.
↑ 38Sirach 24:40
Ver. 40. Rivers of saving waters, on all, but particularly (H.) on Judea. v. 42. Gr.
"and like a ditch ( dioryx. C.) from a river, and as an aqueduct, I came into paradise," (H.) like the four rivers aforesaid. Gen. ii.
↑ 40Sirach 24:44
Ver. 44. Off. He alludes to the conversion of the Gentiles.
↑ 44Sirach 24:45
Ver. 45. I will. Many Fathers explain this of Christ's descent into hell. But as it occurs not in the Gr. if may be considered as the tradition of the first Christians, who gave this version, (C.) or they found it in their copies. H.
↑ 45Sirach 24:46
Ver. 46. Prophecy. Of no less authority. The prophets had ceased for some time before Christ.
C. --- Them. Gr. "to ages of ages. See," &c. H.
↑ 46Sirach 24:47
Ver. 47. I. Wisdom, or the author of this book. C. xxxiii. 18. Wisd. vii. 13. C.
↑ 47License: 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