Sirach · WEB-C
Sirach
33
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No evil will happen to him who fears the Lord, but in trials once and again he will deliver him. A wise man will not hate the law, but he who is a hypocrite about it is like a boat in a storm. A man of understanding will put his trust in the law. And the law is faithful to him, as when one asks a divine oracle. Prepare your speech, and so you will be heard. Bind up instruction, and make your answer. The heart of a fool is like a cartwheel. His thoughts are like a rolling axle. A stallion horse is like a mocking friend. He neighs under every one who sits upon him. Why does one day excel another, when all the light of every day in the year is from the sun? They were distinguished by the Lord’s knowledge, and he varied seasons and feasts. Some of them he exalted and hallowed, and some of them he has made ordinary days. And all men are from the ground. Adam was created from dust. In the abundance of his knowledge the Lord distinguished them, and made their ways different. Some of them he blessed and exalted, and some of them he made holy and brought near to himself. Some of them he cursed and brought low, and overthrew them from their place. As the clay of the potter in his hand, all his ways are according to his good pleasure, so men are in the hand of him who made them, to give to them according to his judgment. Good is the opposite of evil, and life is the opposite of death; so the sinner is the opposite of the godly. Look upon all the works of the Most High like this, they come in pairs, one against another. I was the last on watch, like one who gleans after the grape gatherers. By the Lord’s blessing I arrived before them, and filled my winepress like one who gathers grapes. Consider that I labored not for myself alone, but for all those who seek instruction. Hear me, you great men of the people, and listen with your ears, you rulers of the congregation. To son and wife, to brother and friend, don’t give power over yourself while you live, and don’t give your goods to another, lest you regret it and must ask for them. While you still live and breath is in you, don’t give yourself over to anybody. For it is better that your children should ask from you than that you should look to the hand of your children. Excel in all your works. Don’t bring a stain on your honor. In the day that you end the days of your life, in the time of death, distribute your inheritance. Fodder, a stick, and burdens are for a donkey. Bread, discipline, and work are for a servant. Set your slave to work, and you will find rest. Leave his hands idle, and he will seek liberty. Yoke and whip will bow the neck. For an evil slave there are racks and tortures. Send him to labor, that he not be idle, for idleness teaches much mischief. Set him to work, as is fit for him. If he doesn’t obey, make his fetters heavy. Don’t be excessive toward any. Do nothing unjust. If you have a slave, treat him like yourself, because you have bought him with blood. If you have a slave, treat him like yourself. For like your own soul, you will need him. If you treat him ill, and he departs and runs away, which way will you go to seek him?
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Notes · Haydock (1859, public domain)17 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 33:1
Ver. 1. Evils. God will make all turn to the advantage of the elect.
↑ 1Sirach 33:3
Ver. 3. To him. God will fulfill all his promises. C. --- Gr. continues, "as the interrogation (H.) of the Urim, ( delon. C.) prepare what to say, and so thou shalt be heard. Put on instruction, and thus reply." H. --- Speak not without being prepared.
↑ 3Sirach 33:5
This 19th-century note uses polemical language; read it in the light of the note at the top of this panel.
Ver. 5. Cart. Inconstant and grating. C. --- The wicked turn from one vice to another, as heretics devise many errors, not having their heart established in grace. Heb. xiii. 9. W.
↑ 5Sirach 33:6
Ver. 6. Him. And will be unmanageable, (M.) when he has any thing to ridicule.
C. --- Qui captat risus. Hor. i. Sat. 4.
↑ 6Sirach 33:7
Ver. 7. Another. God's will alone appoints one to be holy or fine; and another to be stormy, or dedicated to labour. C. --- And one. Gr. "and all the light of the day throughout the year proceeds from the sun."
↑ 7Sirach 33:8
Ver. 8. The sun. Gr. "and he distinguished the seasons and holidays (10.) some," &c.
↑ 8Sirach 33:10
Ver. 10. Great. Gr. "holy." H. --- Thus all men are by nature equal. Yet what difference do we not find in their condition? Some live in obscurity, who might have shone upon the throne; and this is God's will. C.
↑ 10Sirach 33:12
Ver. 12. Station. Exterminating the Chanaanites. God disposes of all with sovereign power and justice. Rom. ix. 29.
↑ 12Sirach 33:14
Ver. 14. Ordering. All depend on God. C. --- "The predestination of the saints is nothing but the foreknowledge and preparation of God's benefits, by which those are most certainly liberated who obtain their freedom. But where are the rest left; except in the mass of perdition, by the just judgment of the Deity? S.
Aug. Persev. xiv. n. 35, and Corrept. xiii. n. 42.
↑ 14Sirach 33:15
Ver. 15. Another. Lights and shades both contribute to form the beauty of a picture. H. ---
Antitheses adorn a discourse, as opposite things do the universe. S. Aug. de Civ. Dei. xi. 18. ---
God will make the wicked subservient to his glory.
↑ 15Sirach 33:16
Ver. 16. Of all. Solomon, Ezechias, &c. made various collections of similar maxims. C. --- The books of the Machabees were alone written after this in the Old Testament. M. --- Gr. places what follows after C. xxx. 26. These four verses may be regarded as a sort of preface. H.
↑ 16Sirach 33:21
Ver. 21. Change thee. That is, so as to have this power over thee. Ch. --- Be inflexible on this head. C.
↑ 21Sirach 33:23
Ver. 23. The pre-eminence. That is, be master in thy own house, and part not with thy authority.
Ch. --- Let not thy wife or servants rule in thy name. M.
↑ 23Sirach 33:25
Ver. 25. Fodder. Gr. prefixes "on slaves." H. --- They were bought like horses.
Aristotle (Œcon.
i. 5.) gives the like instructions on their treatment. C.
↑ 25Sirach 33:27
Ver. 27. A still. Gr. "the neck, (28.) torture," &c. H.
↑ 27Sirach 33:31
Ver. 31. Faithful, is not expressed in Gr. but must be understood. --- Blood.
Taking him prisoner at the hazard of thy life. The like misfortune might easily have befallen thee. C. --- Seneca (ep.
47.) says, "live so with thy inferior, as thou wouldst have thy superior live with thee."
↑ 31Sirach 33:33
Ver. 33. Thou. Gr. "on what road wilt thou seek for him?"
↑ 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