Sirach · WEB-C
Sirach
31
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Wakefulness that comes from riches consumes the flesh, and anxiety about it takes away sleep. Wakeful anxiety will crave slumber. In a severe disease, sleep will be broken. A rich man toils in gathering money together. When he rests, he is filled with his good things. A poor man toils in lack of substance. When he rests, he becomes needy. He who loves gold won’t be justified. He who follows destruction will himself have his fill of it. Many have been given over to ruin for the sake of gold. Their destruction meets them face to face. It is a stumbling block to those who sacrifice to it. Every fool will be taken by it. Blessed is the rich person who is found blameless, and who doesn’t go after gold. Who is he, that we may call him blessed? For he has done wonderful things among his people. Who has been tried by it, and found perfect? Then let him boast. Who has had the power to transgress, and has not transgressed? And to do evil, and has not done it? His prosperity will be made sure. The congregation will proclaim his alms. Do you sit at a great table? Don’t be greedy there. Don’t say, “There is a lot of food on it!” Remember that a greedy eye is a wicked thing. What has been created more greedy than an eye? Therefore it sheds tears from every face. Don’t stretch your hand wherever it looks. Don’t thrust yourself with it into the dish. Consider your neighbor’s feelings by your own. Be discreet in every point. Eat like a human being those things which are set before you. Don’t eat greedily, lest you be hated. Be first to stop for manners’ sake. Don’t be insatiable, lest you offend. And if you sit among many, Don’t reach out your hand before them. How sufficient to a well-mannered man is a very little. He doesn’t breathe heavily in his bed. Healthy sleep comes from moderate eating. He rises early, and his wits are with him. The pain of wakefulness, colic, and griping are with an insatiable man. And if you have been forced to eat, rise up in the middle of it, and you shall have rest. Hear me, my son, and don’t despise me, and in the end you will appreciate my words. In all your works be skillful, and no disease will come to you. People bless him who is liberal with his food. The testimony of his excellence will be believed. The city will murmur at him who is a stingy with his food. The testimony of his stinginess will be accurate. Don’t show yourself valiant in wine, for wine has destroyed many. The furnace tests the temper of steel by dipping; so does wine test hearts in the quarreling of the proud. Wine is as good as life to men, if you drink it in moderation. What life is there to a man who is without wine? It has been created to make men glad. Wine drunk in season and in moderation is joy of heart and gladness of soul: Wine drunk excessively is bitterness of soul, with provocation and conflict. Drunkenness increases the rage of a fool to his hurt. It diminishes strength and adds wounds. Don’t rebuke your neighbor at a banquet of wine. Don’t despise him in his mirth. Don’t speak a word of reproach to him. Don’t distress him by making demands of him.
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Notes · Haydock (1859, public domain)25 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 31:1
Ver. 1. Riches. Lit. "honesty" has this sense. H. --- The study of virtue and of the Scriptures removes temptations of the flesh. S. Jer. ad Rust. W.
↑ 1Sirach 31:2
Ver. 2. Hand. With too much anxiety. C. --- Gr. "the solicitude of watching will drive away slumber, and a grievous malady will moderate sleep," (Grabe. H.) or
"sleep will alleviate a severe illness," as experience evinces. C.
↑ 2Sirach 31:4
Ver. 4. Poor. All have not equal success. Prov. x. 22. Ps. cxxvi. 1. Drus.
↑ 4Sirach 31:5
Ver. 5. Justified. He is exposed to various temptations. 1 Tim. vi. 9.
↑ 5Sirach 31:7
Ver. 7. To it. Being a sort of idol. Col. iii. 5. C. --- Woe. Gr. "and every," &c.
↑ 7Sirach 31:8
Ver. 8. Nor, &c. Gr. (9.) who, &c. "Pride is the worm of riches." S. Aug. --- "In delights, chastity is endangered; and humility in the midst of riches." S. Bern.
conv. Cler. xxx. --- Not to transgress, on such occasions, is the greatest miracle. C. --- Man has free will, and those are happy, who, by God's grace, do not abuse it. W.
↑ 8Sirach 31:11
Ver. 11. In, &c. Gr. Alex. "and wisdom (Grabe substitutes the Church) shall proclaim his alms."
H. --- God will bless his riches. C.
↑ 11Sirach 31:12
Ver. 12. Be, &c. Gr. "do not open," (H.) shew not too much greediness.
↑ 12Sirach 31:14
Ver. 14. Wicked. Jealous or avaricious, as if the person feared lest he should have to prepare the like sumptuous entertainment. Prov. xxiii. 1. Judas blamed the profusion of Magdalene. Jo. xii.
5.
↑ 14Sirach 31:15
Ver. 15. Face. Or portion set before him. 1 K. i. 5. C. --- When. Gr. "wheresoever it, (H.) or he (C.) shall look, stretch forth thy hand, and strive not with him in the dish. Judge," &c. Let the envious person (H.) or the master be served first.
C.
↑ 15Sirach 31:19
Ver. 19. Use. Gr. "in all act considerately. Eat like a man," &c. (H.) not like a beast.
↑ 19Sirach 31:20
Ver. 20. First. Yet not too soon, lest the others should seem to be gluttons. C.
↑ 20Sirach 31:21
Ver. 21. Of all. Gr. "of them. How," &c. H. --- Politeness is grounded on virtue.
C.
↑ 21Sirach 31:22
Ver. 22. Wine. Gr. specifies nothing, and to eat much is unwholesome. H.
↑ 22Sirach 31:23
Ver. 23. Choler. Or the cholic. The intemperate, infrunito, (C.) Gr. "insatiable,"
cannot sleep. H.
↑ 23Sirach 31:25
Ver. 25. Vomit. Some have omitted this term as indelicate; but the Scripture does not approve of intemperance, while it advises the preventing of a disorder. A man's stomach may sometimes be innocently overcharged. On such occasions, an emetic was prescribed. The ancients had nt the same horror of it as moderns. Prov. xxiii. 8. C. --- Cicero, addressing Cæsar, says, Cum te vomere post cænam velli dixisses. Pro. R. Dejot. --- And thou. Gr.
"hear," &c.
↑ 25Sirach 31:27
Ver. 27. Quick. Intemperance and idleness are the great sources of illness.
↑ 27Sirach 31:28
Ver. 28. Bread. And other provisions; while the miser is contemned. Prov. xxii.
9. C. --- Bread supports the body, and instruction the soul. If it be bad, it does the reverse. W.
↑ 28Sirach 31:30
Ver. 30. Challenge. Not to fight, or rather (H.) to drink. Is. v. 22. C.
↑ 30Sirach 31:31
Ver. 31. Rebuke. Or disorder. Gr. "prove," (H.) or "lay open." C. --- Consilium retegis Lydo.
Hor. iii. ode 21.
↑ 31Sirach 31:32
Ver. 32. Taken. Gr. "is as good as life," &c. --- Thou shalt. Gr. "what," &c.
↑ 32Sirach 31:33
Ver. 33. With. Gr. "destitute of wine, (35.) and this was created to," &c.
↑ 33Sirach 31:35
Ver. 35. And not. Greek, (36.) "sufficient wine taken in season is the," &c.
↑ 35Sirach 31:37
Ver. 37. Sober. Greek, (39.) "wine," &c. H. --- Anacharsis said that "the vine bore three clusters; the first of pleasure, the second of drunkenness, the third of discontent." Laert. i.
↑ 37Sirach 31:42
Ver. 42. Reproach. Alexander transfixed Clytus for so doing. Curt. viii. --- Again.
By the pernicious custom of drinking healths, which still prevails in some countries, (C.) and occasions people to get drunk. Drus. --- Such abuses ought to be discouraged by every one. H.
↑ 42License: 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