The modern reader's Bible : a series of works from the sacred Scriptures presented in modern literary form...

£be flDobern *Reaber'9 Bible

Wisdom Series

Ecclesiastiais

J0&%

THE MODERN READER'S BIBLE

A SERIES OF WORKS FROM THE SACRED SCRIPTURES PRESENTED
IN MODERN LITERARY FORM

ECCLESIASTICUS

EDITED, WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES
BY

RICHARD G. MOULTON, M.A. (Camp,.), Ph.D. (Penn.)

Professor of Literature in English in the

University of Chicago

Nefo Jgork
MACMILLAN AND CO.

LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., LTD.

1896

All rights reserved

Copyright, 1896,
By MACMILLAN AND CO.

Set up and electrotyped January, 1896. Reprinted
February, 1896; May, 1896.

NorfaootJ $re83

J. S. Cushing & Co. - Berwick & Smith
Norwood Mass. U.S.A.

INTRODUCTION

The series of books popularly known as the Apocrypha
have been by an eminent scholar aptly styled Zwischen-
schriften or Intermediate Writings. To none of them
does the term Intermediate apply with so much fulness as
to that which is the subject of the present volume. Like
the rest of the Apocrypha, Ecclesiasticus stands between
the Old and New Testaments. Like the whole of the
Books of Wisdom, it is intermediate between sacred and
secular literature. In common with two other of these
wisdom books it mediates between purely Jewish thought
and the spirit of the external world by which this was
gradually leavened ; and in the case of Ecclesiasticus what
there is of external influence is, on the explicit authority
of the Preface, to be put clown to that Alexandrian literary
circle which was the great link between Oriental and
Western, between Ancient and Modern. In a yet more
important sense the word has application : so far as Bibli-
cal Philosophy can be presented as a thing of develop-
ment, Ecclesiasticus holds in that development a middle
place. The Book of Proverbs is a series of isolated obser-

->6 Introduction

vations of iife, universal wisdom being not analysed but
adored. On the contrary Ecclesiastes and Wisdom, from
however varied standpoints, agree in turning reflection on
to the universe as a whole. Unlike these, the Book of
Ecclesiasticus makes no attempt to investigate universal
problems ; its matter, apart from the hymns to Wisdom, is,
like that of Prove7'bs, addressed to practical life ; its Greek
title makes it a Manual of Virtue or Panaretos, and a
modern historian has described it as the sanctification of
common sense. But, unlike Proverbs, its observations are
not isolated, but digested into wider though still frag-
mentary surveys. The inquisitive spirit no longer satis-
fies ; systematisation has not yet began ; between comes
the arrangement of material under headings — like the
* topics ' of the Aristotelian system — which is distinctly
a middle stage in philosophic advance.

Here however a misunderstanding is to be avoided.
To discuss the relation of this book to others as regards
the development of the thought reflected in them is by no
means the same thing as settling the chronological order
in which the books were composed. The personal refer-
ences in Ecclesiasticus are so distinct as to enable scholars,
with practical unanimity, to fix the date of its composition
as about 200 B.C. The decision of a date for Ecclesiastes
is a locus classicus for disagreeing doctors ; opinion on
this topic has ranged over a thousand years, from the age
of Solomon to the age of Herod the Great. But if the

Introduction 8<~

earliest date possible be taken for Ecclesiastes, this will
not prevent its representing a later stage of philosophic
thought than the other. The earlier stages of literary
thought and form do not disappear when later stages take
their rise ; the two go on together side by side, each calling
forth fresh representatives, just as the invaders of a coun-
try and the original inhabitants may settle down in it
together. If Ecclesiastes be early and Ecclesiasticus late,
this merely implies that the son of Sirach did not adopt
the philosophic position of his predecessor, but remained
in touch with the still earlier thought from which the
Preacher had made his divergence.

The enlarged thought needs new forms for its expres-
sion ; poetic forms had sufficed for Proverbs, Ecclesiasticus
supplements these with a literature of prose. I desire to
be the more explicit in my explanation at this point, be-
cause I have departed very widely from previous editions
in the form which the book presents to the eye. Hebrew
verse depends, not upon mechanical matters such as
rhymes or the numbering of syllables, but upon the par-
allelism of clauses. But this parallelism of clauses is, in
universal literature, a feature of rhetoric. If then a lan-
guage bases its verse system upon something which also
belongs to prose, it is inevitable that in that language
we should find an overlapping of verse and prose. The
extreme of poetry and the extreme of prose will be as
far apart in Hebrew as in other languages. But there

-*S Introduction

will come a point at which the parallelism of rhetoric and
the parallelism of verse will approach very near to one
another ; to discriminate them will involve examining,
not only the collocation of clauses, but also the general
drift and spirit of the whole. This discrimination I have
endeavoured to make. The reader who is astonished to
find long successions of prose in a book he has been
accustomed to see wholly in the form of verse must not
suppose I am throwing over the authority of previous
editors. All that other editions have implied by the
breaking up into lines is the parallelism of clauses, which
is an unquestionable fact. But I have gone a step further,
and endeavoured to distinguish the rhetoric parallelism
from the poetic parallelism, clothing each with the outer
form in which it is familiar to the modern reader.

It must occur to any student that the usual arrange-
ment of Ecclesiastiais puts a severe strain upon our sense
of form. I instance such a passage as the following, cited
as it appears in the Revised Version.

And Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, is the third in glory,

In that he was zealous in the fear of the Lord,

And stood fast in the good forwardness of his soul when the people

turned away,
And he made reconciliation for Israel.

Therefore was there a covenant of peace established for him,
That he should be leader of the saints and of his people ;
That he and his seed

Introduction 8«-

Should have the dignity of the priesthood for ever.

Also he made a covenant with David the son of Jesse, of the tribe

of Judah ;
The inheritance of the king is his alone from son to son ;
So the inheritance of Aaron is also unto his seed.

This is not parallelism at all, but straightforward prose
cut up into lengths. In the next passage there is parallel-
ism, but such as will appear in any writer of rhetoric
prose.

With a holy garment, with gold and blue and purple, the work of

the embroiderer,
With an oracle of judgement, even with the Urim and Thummim ;
With twisted scarlet, the work of the craftsman ;
With precious stones graven like a signet, in a setting of gold, the

work of the jeweller,
For a memorial engraved in writing, after the number of the tribes

of Israel;
With a crown of gold upon the mitre, having graven on it, as on a

signet, Holiness.

I am persuaded that neither of these passages would have
been supposed verse except through a preconceived idea
that Ecclesiasticus must be understood to be all verse or
all prose. On the other hand, the parallelism of con-
tiguous clauses (as distinguished from the high parallelism
that links together clauses widely separated) belongs to
rhetoric style in all languages. No one doubts that our
Microcosmography is prose; yet (notwithstanding the

-*8 Introduction

greater diffuseness of English as compared with Hebrew)
great part of it might be printed in lines that would have
as good a claim to parallelism as many parts of Ecclesi-
asticus. Thus, of the Alderman :

You must look on him as one of the town gates,

And consider him not as a body, but a corporation.

His eminency above others hath made him a man of worship,

For he had never been preferred but that he was worth thousands.

He oversees the commonwealth as his shop,

And it is an argument of his policy that he has thriven by his

craft. . . .
He is the highest stair of his profession,

And an example to his trade what in time they may come to.
He makes very much of his authority, but more of his satin doublet,
Which, though of good years, bears its age very well,
And looks fresh every Sunday ;
But his scarlet gown is a monument,
And lasts from generation to generation.

My argument is, I repeat, that, in view of the overlapping
of verse and prose, the classification of Hebrew composi-
tions must depend upon wider literary considerations than
the mere coordination of clauses. Such wider examina-
tion will no doubt involve difference of opinion ; but the
general principle will be clear that Wisdom literature, rest-
ing on a basis of the gnomic couplet which is a meeting
point of prose and verse, develops in a twofold direction,
and as the writings of the wise men succeed one another

Introduction Be-

there is a tendency for rhetoric to preponderate over
verse.*

Two new forms then are introduced by the son of
Sirach into Wisdom literature — the Maxim and the
Essay. I use the term Maxim in a definite sense : to
describe a saying which consists of a proverb couplet (or
occasionally the abridgement of a couplet) followed by a
comment in prose. Sometimes this comment is of the
nature of an elucidation (I. lxi) :

The gift of a fool shall not profit thee ;
For his eyes are many instead of one.

He will give little and upbraid much, and he will open his
mouth like a crier; today he will lend, and tomorrow he
will ask it again : such an one is a hateful man.

Here an enigmatic expression, the ; many eyes ' of a fool,
is interpreted of inconstancy. In other cases the com-
ment may apply a general statement to particular cases ;
as in the following (I. Iviii) :

He that despiseth small things
Shall fall by little and little.

Wine and women will make men of understanding to fall
away : and he that cleaveth to harlots will be the more reck-

* The whole subject of the overlapping in Biblical literature of verse and
prose is discussed in Chapter IV. of my Literai-y Study of the Bible (D. C.
Heath & Co., Boston; Isbister & Co., London).
xi

-*8 Introduction

less. Moths and worms shall have him to heritage ; and a
reckless soul shall be taken away.

Or the comment to a maxim may, in the most varied way,
be an enlargement of the text. It will be seen that the
Maxim is the prose counterpart to the verse Epigram :
both consist of a unit proverb enlarged by comment.* It
is natural to rind these two forms abounding in works that
emanate from the Scribes, and from what may fairly be
called the Age of Commentary.

As the Maxim is the counterpart of the Epigram, so is
the Essay of the Sonnet. The two involve, in their re-
spective spheres of Prose and Poetry, an aggregation of
thoughts with no necessary bond beyond the common
theme. To the ode or epic, to the sermon or speech, a
title is a superfluity : to a sonnet or essay its title repre-
sents the very soul of the composition, binding its scattered
thoughts into a unity. The Sonnet gives to such a cluster
of thoughts the attraction of poetic elaboration ; the Essay,
on the contrary, has the free flow of rhetoric style. It is a
common feature of all literatures that they begin with verse,
and afterwards develop a prose style. But it belongs to
Hebrew, with its common ground between verse and prose,
that this development of prose should be a gradual pro-
gression. The writings of the son of Sirach exactly cover
the ground of this progression. Stanley's picturesque

* See Introduction to Proverbs volume, page xxii.
xii

Introduction S«-

description of his style — the closed hand of the Hebrew
proverb changing into the open palm of Greek rhetoric —
may or may not be accurate as regards the degree of Greek
influence, but it admirably describes the transitional style.
I have traced elsewhere* the evolution of the Wisdom Essay
out of the gnomic sentence, with the Proverb Cluster as a
transitional stage, while compositions that must be called
essays still present very different degrees of gnomic stiff-
ness. It may here be added, that the essays of Ecclesias-
ticus shew a yet further development : as between what
may be called the Inorganic Essay — the mere cluster of
thoughts familiar to us in Feltham's Resolves or the Micro-
cosmography — and the commencement of an organic style,
in which the more ordered thought should have the exter-
nal representation of paragraphs. One more literary form
has to be mentioned. The Essay, like the Sonnet, par-
takes in the double function of Wisdom literature — to
celebrate wisdom as well as to present wise thoughts.
Hence we find in this work Rhetoric Encomia, which may
fairly be described as prose hymns.

Literary forms such as these contain the matter of Eccle-
siastiats, which is thus, like Proverbs, a Miscellany of
Wisdom. But it has another difference of form from its
predecessor. Proverbs wras an anthology of anthologies :
no less than five distinct collections put together by an
unknown editor. The book under discussion is the work

* See above, note to page xi.
xiii

•*8 Introduction

of a single editor, who names himself, and keeps his per-
sonality constantly before his readers. Indeed, this out-
breaking of the personality of the author from time to
time has the effect of dividing the whole into distinct
divisions or books : a thing which seems to have been
overlooked by editors of Ecclesiasticus in their discussions
of the divisions of the work.* At the end of chapter
twenty-three — that is, after an amount of matter almost as
long as the whole Book of Proverbs — the author speaks
to announce that Wisdom shall praise herself. There fol-
lows the poetic monologue which is parallel to the great
monologue in Prover&s. Then the author again speaks
to connect this Wisdom with the Covenant of Jehovah,
and to call her exhaustlessness a great sea. From that
sea he himself came out as a stream from a river, as a con-
duit into a garden.

I said, I will water my garden, and will water abundantly my
garden bed ; and, lo, 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 to shine forth afar off.

There is surely nothing in these words of the self-exalta-
tion which some editors have seen ; they contain a modest

* Edersheim (in Wace's Commentary) says that Ecclesiasticus has five
parts, like the Law and the Psalter ; but his five divisions are founded
upon analysis of matter, without reference to the prefatory interruptions.
Fritzsche's sevenfold division and groupings partly agree with the arrange-
ment in this work.

xiv

Introduction 8*-

and felicitous figure by which it is expressed that the au-
thor's materials have grown upon him, and that a second
book must be added to the first. Again, at xxxiii. 16 we
get another brief prefatory interruption.

And I awaked up last, as one that gleaneth after the grape-
gatherers: by the blessing of the Lord I got before them,
and filled my winepress as one that gathereth grapes.

The image is an apposite one for what is to be an addi-
tion to an addition. Another similar passage occurs at
xxxix. 12.

Yet more will I utter which I have thought upon ; and I
am filled as the moon at the full.

The full moon is an appropriate comparison for what is in
reality the final book of the miscellany ; for the fifth divi-
sion contains only two lengthy compositions, both of the
nature of rhetoric encomia, and each is announced sepa-
rately by a few words from the author. When it is remem-
bered how seldom the personal pronoun is used in this
work, it becomes evident that these passages are prefaces
dividing the whole work into books.

With these prefatory notices to particular books may be
compared another interesting passage, which is numbered
as chapter fifty-one of the ordinary editions. This comes
after the work has been brought by its author to the most
formal conclusion possible, in what is, in fact, a regular

-s8 Introduction

medieval colophon ; anything following this must be
either the addition of some editor, or that 'Author's
Preface ' which is naturally the last thing written in any
book that is not a Tristram Shandy or a Hudibras. The
chapter has a title : A Prayer of Jesus the Son of Sirach.
This, like so many others of the traditional titles in our
bibles, is the suggestion only of the opening words, and
has little relevance to the section as a whole. It contains
in reality three paragraphs. The first is a recital in prayer
of the mercies of a lifetime. Then follows an autobio-
graphical paragraph : how the writer has searched for
wisdom all his life and the Lord has granted it. The
third paragraph is an invitation to the unlearned to draw
near and lodge in the house of instruction. The whole
spirit of this invitation is in keeping with the prefatory
passages noted above ; and one single expression —
" Behold with your eyes how that I laboured but a little
and found for myself much rest " — is unintelligible ex-
cept in what is introductory to a collection of writings.
I have then thought it legitimate to transfer this to the
place of an Author's Preface.

Our result then is that the subject of this volume is a
Miscellany of Wisdom literature, divided by an Author's
Preface and subsequent prefatory notices into five books.
The number five may just be noted in passing. The Book
of Proverbs is without question disposed in five books.
We now see that Ecclesiasticits has the same number of

Introduction B*-

divisions. Internal evidence has led me (as will appear
in a subsequent volume of this series) to recognize five
essays in Ecclesiastes and five discourses in Wisdom.
Again, the Book of Psalms, the collection and arrange-
ment of which is the work of the wise men, is plainly
divided by doxologies into five books. It looks as if the
number five had a special significance in Wisdom litera-
ture, as the number seven has elsewhere.

The matter of Ecclesiasticus, it has already been said,
includes the celebration and the presentation of wisdom.
The sonnets in adoration of God and Wisdom make a
much smaller proportion of the whole work of the son of
Sirach than was the case with Proverbs. In general poetic
character they are much the same as the sonnets of that
book. Especially noticeable is the musical poise they sus-
tain/by their elaborate parallelism and use of the refrain, and
by their crescendo through the enumeration of particulars to
a climax. To the great monologue of Wisdom in Proverbs
I have already pointed out a parallel merged in the preface
to the second book of Ecclesiasticus . Wisdom is described
as the breath of the Most High, covering the earth as a
mist, throned in the pillared cloud, moving in loneliness
over the circling heavens and the bottomless abyss, over
the tossing seas, and the limitless peoples of the world,
until the Creator bids her take up her tabernacle in Jacob.
In glorification of this Wisdom follows a tour-de-force of

-»S Introduction

imagery from the world of vegetation : the stateliest trees
express her exaltation, sweetest odours are compared to
the words she breathes, her permeating presence is pict-
ured by stretching branches and graceful flowers. All
are invited to an exhaustless feast: to eat and yet be
hungry. At this point may be seen a suggestive difference
between the spirit of Ecclesiasticus and that of Proverbs.
At the climax of the poem the author breaks in to say (in
prose) that the Wisdom so celebrated is i The Law.' The
word ' law ' does not occur once in Ecclesiastes, nor (in the
technical sense) in Job or Wisdom ; in Proverbs it is used
only as one of a crowd of synonyms for wisdom : in the
present work it occurs more than twenty times. All this
is in accord with what is seen of the personality of the
author ; as Professor Cheyne has well put it, the man of
wisdom has here turned Scribe. But it is to the golden
age of the Scribes that he belongs, before their unchastened
reverence for the letter has degenerated into mechanical
literalism. The book is entirely free from the casuistry
and loss of spiritual perspective that we associate with
so much of the rabbinical utterances which grew into the
Talmud.

I pass from the poetry recommending wisdom to the
poetic and prose forms which contain the wisdom recom-
mended. As in Proverbs, the controversy of Wisdom
with its enemies is present throughout. The Sluggard,
who is the chief butt of the earlier wise men, seems here

Introduction 8<~

to have disappeared, and it is the Fool who bears the
brunt of the whole attack. He naively complains that he
has no friends, those even that eat his bread scorning to
thank him. His discourse has no more consistency than
the changing moon ; his laughter is the wantonness of
sin ; his oaths make the hair stand on end. His thoughts
go round and round like a cart wheel ; his heart is in his
mouth, whereas a wise man's mouth is his heart. To
teach the Fool is as impossible as to glue together a
broken potsherd, or to discourse to one who slumbers and
will presently awake and ask what it is all about. Sand,
salt, lead, a mass of iron, are all figures to express the
oppressiveness of the Fool's company. Seven days are
the days of mourning for the dead : but for a Fool -all the
days of his life.

In contradistinction to all this wisdom is a thing of long
and earnest pursuit. The follower of Wisdom must be as
one that tracketh, prying in at her windows, fastening a
nail in her walls.

At the first she will walk with him in crooked ways, and will
bring fear and dread upon him, and torment him with her disci-
pline, until she may trust his soul, and try him by her judge-
ments : then xvid she return again the straight way unto him,
and will gladden him, and reveal to him her secrets.

There is an approach to a formulated conception of
wisdom. Moral and intellectual knowledge are not to be

-H3 Introduction

separated : praise is not comely for the sinner, and he can
never become wise, because he abominates that godliness
which is the sole way to wisdom (I. iii). One essay (I. lx)
traces various counterfeit forms of wisdom. The knowl-
edge of evil is not wisdom, and the pleasantries of fools
are not wit. Wisdom is not found in the exquisite sub-
tilty that amounts to injustice ; nor in violence of judge-
ment and reproof; nor in the prosperity and adversity
which are really the opposites of what they seem. One
of the longest and most highly finished of all the essays
is devoted to a distinction between two kinds of wisdom
(III. xv) : the wisdom of the busy and the wisdom of the
man of leisure. The agricultural toiler, the skilled graver
of signets, the smith sweating at his furnace, the artistic
potter — all that thus put their trust in their hands are
wise in their work : these maintain the fabric of the world,
and in the handywork of their craft is their prayer. But
these shall not declare wisdom, and where parables are
they shall not be found. To these is opposed the man
that hath applied his soul, and meditated in the law of the
Most High. He shall pour forth wisdom, and in prayer
give thanks : but even he only "if the great Lord will.1'
The Book of Proverbs was concerned, not only with the
contending wisdom and folly, but also with the judgement
that was daily deciding between them. Similarly in this
work we have warnings against the sowing on the furrows
of unrighteousness and the sevenfold reaping that ensues.

Introduction 9«-

But as we noticed a partial formulation of the idea of
wisdom, so we may note an approach to a theory of provi-
dence. The great perplexity of ancient thought was the
visible prosperity of the sinner. Ecclesiasticus emphati-
cally asserts (I. xliv) that prosperity and adversity are
from the Lord. What appearance there is to the contrary
can easily be met by a sudden reversal at the end.

In the day of good things there is a forgetfulness of evil
things ; and in the day of evil things a man will not remem-
ber things that are good. For it is an easy thing in the sight
of the Lord to reward a man in the day of death according to
his ways. The affliction of an hour causeth forgetfulness of
delight; and in the last end of a man is the revelation of his
deeds.

Yet another loophole is offered for escape from the diffi-
culty of appearances : that a man shall be known in his
children. Another essay (I. lii) proclaims that there is
no safety for sinners in their numbers ; as little in their
insignificance : u There is a tempest which no man shall
see ; yea, the more part of his works are hid.1'

Is there any scepticism in Ecclesiasticus, such as even in
Proverbs was for a moment revealed by the sonnet of
Agur? It must be remembered of course that the present
work is not a collection only, but the work of a single
author, who has arranged and modified where he did not
himself compose. I think Professor Cheyne goes too far

-*3 Introduction

in saying that the author of this book is no more troubled
by doubts than the writer of the introduction to Proverbs.
His personal faith is indeed unwavering ; but his wording,
compared with the earlier work, suggests the believer who
has had to confront objectors. Hence in the essay quoted
above the emphasis placed upon final reversals of fort-
une, and the suggestion of the next generation as a still
further chance for the revelation of the ungodly. Of the
same sort is a curious analogy which the son of Sirach sets
himself to trace (II. xxxix) : the perplexing inequalities
among mankind are referred to the absolute will of God,
in the same way that God has created days of honour and
days of dishonour, though his sun illumines alike all the
days of the year. More important still is the preface to
Book IV. It contends that all things have their seasons ;
all things (including evil) have their uses ; all the works
of the Lord will be approved in their seasons. The form
is rhetoric encomium ; but this veils a theory of providence
generated by the necessity of meeting difficulties — ihe
very philosophy of times and seasons which, stated as a
formal theory, Ecclesiastes sets himself to overthrow.

In the introduction to the Proverbs volume I pointed
out the comparative absence of two leading topics of mod-
ern thought — religion and politics. In Ecclesiasticus there
is even less of politics: only one essay (I. xli) can be
ranked under this head, an essay in which the scribe, or
instructed man, is described as the artificer of the work of

Introduction 8«-

good government. But much more space is given in this
book to the topic of religion. Not to speak of the hymns
of adoration, there are exclamations against hypocrisy in
public worship ; and the recognition of dues to the priest
is enumerated among the duties of a household. A
great essay (III. vi) is devoted to the subject of sacrifice.
It breathes the spirit of the fiftieth psalm, that sacrifice
unaccompanied by righteousness is impious. It adds the
duty of offering with cheerfulness ; and concludes with the
power of humble prayer. A prayer for afflicted Israel
follows ; and the collection contains another prayer for
purity of lips and heart (I. lxxix). There is doctrine in
this work, as well as the religious spirit. I must say that
the references found by many commentators to specific
points of theology — such as angelology, the Satan, Messi-
anic hopes — are by no means clear to me. And there
can be no doubt that the doctrine of the resurrection and
future life forms no part of the system of this writer ; there
is no reference to it which is not, to say the least, ambiguous,
and on the other hand the author is constantly relying on
sanctions of another kind — the final judgement implied in
the close of a life, the yet later judgement on his children,
the prize of a good name to last beyond death. But positive
doctrine is not wanting. There is an emphatic assertion
(I. li) of free will : God hath set fire and water before man,
and he shall stretch forth his hand unto whichsoever he
will ; man has been left in the hand of his own counsel.

-*8 Introduction

And one essay (I. liii) seems to contain a complete creed
of the son of Sirach, though a creed that is rhetoric rather
than dogmatic in form. One paragraph proclaims God as
the creator of the universe ; the next as the creator of re-
sponsible man ; this responsibility implies infirmity and the
consequent necessity for repentance ; a climax is found in
the omnipotence that passes into mercy.

As a drop of water from the sea, and a pebble from the sand,
so are a few years in the days of eternity. For this cause the
Lord was longsuffering over them, and poured out his mercy
upon them. . . . The mercy of a man is upon his neighbour ;
but the mercy of the Lord is upon all flesh.

Coming to the topic of conduct we find, as we should
expect, a more rounded treatment of particular subjects
than was seen in Proverbs. In the essay on Meekness
(I.viii), though the individual sentences have the form of
precepts, yet their effect is to frame a complete conception
of the virtue out of its opposition to self-exaltation, to
intellectual anxiety, to fussiness, and to stubbornness and
unrepentance. Pride is elaborately treated (I. xlii) : it is
a disease, the cause of mutations in states and the lives
of individuals ; not human distinctions but meekness and
inner qualities make true honour, and none is greater than
he that feareth the Lord. Niggardliness is presented as
the envy of self. Temperance is connected with the
despising of small things. Temporal ambition seeking

Introduction 8«-

office without regard to fitness is put in the same category
with the spiritual ambition of self-justification in prayer
(I.xxvi). The government of the tongue has a large
place in the writer's thoughts, and his strongest language
is reserved for sins of the flesh. One more topic may be
mentioned in this connection, that of Friendship, which
covers four different essays. Friendship is exalted as the
medicine of life : nothing may be taken in exchange for a
friend. But friends need proving ; " let those that be at
peace with thee be many, but thy counsellors one of a
thousand." Irritable behaviour and the revealing of secrets
will break up friendship as surely as a stone will fray away
the birds.

Is there not a grief in it, even unto death, when a companion
and friend is turned to enmity ? O wicked imagination,
whence earnest thou rolling in to cover the dry land with
deceitfulness ?

On the whole, however, the book contains, not so much
general ethical notions, as the particular applications of
them which we call behaviour. One essay deals with
duties to parents ; others with duties to the poor ; one
with the general duty of a householder, including observ-
ances of religion, charity, and social intercourse. There
is one budget of advice (I. xlv) on the choice of company ;
another (I. xl) prescribes in the widest sense the proper
behaviour towards all kinds of men, ending with the

-*S Introduction

importance of reading character : " as well as thou canst,
guess at thy neighbours." What will strike a modern
reader most in this part of the subject is that the separa-
tion has not yet taken place between ethic and economic
ideas, between manners and morals. He will find discus-
sion of lying, of meddlesomeness, of the bashfulness that
destroys a soul, of the graciousness which is like the dew
assuaging the scorching heat : and side by side with these
he will read about the expediency of getting round influen-
tial people with the gifts that blind the eyes and muzzle
the reproving mouth. In the long essay on Feasting
(II. xxiv), the first paragraph prescribes table manners :

Stretch not thy hand whithersoever it looketh, and thrust not
thyself with it into the dish.

The next is occupied with the importance to health of
moderation in eating, and especially of activity :

Hear me, my son, and despise me not, and at the last thou
shalt find my words true : in all thy works be quick, and no
disease shall come unto thee.

Then comes a paragraph recommending liberal hospi-
tality ; then a protest against talking of business matters
to one encountered at a feast. Modesty in exercising the
office of president follows ; then come general principles
to regulate conversation at table ; a detail of this section
proclaims the value of music at a banquet, and insists upon
xxvi

Introduction 8«-

the bad manners of talking while music is going on. Else-
where elementary purity and honesty stand side by side
with the fault of leaning on the elbow, or omitting to
salute. There is a strong insistence upon accuracy in
keeping accounts; but it is to be found — along with
celebration of the Law and precepts for the correction
of children — in the essay on Things to be ashamed of
(IV. vi). What economic notions there are of course
belong to those of primitive society.

A sinner that falleth into suretiship, and undertaketh contracts
for work, shall fall into lawsuits.

The notion of a loan as an advantage to the lender as
well as the borrower has not yet appeared ; lending and
suretiship are treated (II. xix) as acts of kindness, but
acts of kindness that are risky, and the writer becomes
modern enough when he describes the ways of debtors.

Many have reckoned a loan as a windfall, and have given
trouble to those that helped them. Till he hath received he
will kiss a man's hands ; and for his neighbour's money he
will speak submissly ; and when payment is due he will pro-
long the time, and return words of heaviness, and complain
of the times. If he prevail, he shall hardly receive the half,
and he will count it as a windfall.

Apart from specific directions for conduct, there is a
contemplation of life and experience in general. The

-*8 Introduction

dignity of work is asserted ; death is pronounced better
than the dependence of a life looking to the table of
another man. Want, it is observed, may be a preventive
against sin and an uneasy conscience ; on the other hand
a mercantile life is a life of constant temptation.

A nail will stick fast between the joinings of stones ; and sin
will force itself in between buying and selling.

The topic of woman is variously treated. The Queen
of Sheba seems to have left no successor amongst the
wise men, and there is a lordly superiority in the way
the son of Sirach considers all women available though
not all equally worth having.

A woman will receive any man ; but one daughter is better
than another.

He easily slips into the subject of woman's frailty, and
seems to think (IV. vii) of a father's duty to a daughter
as that of constantly watching against her sins. On the
other hand, when home is the topic, the strongest writing
is used to exalt the good wife. More than this : woman's
influence on man is treated as a necessity ; a short essay
(II. xx) is devoted to the blessing of possessing a house
of one's own, and another (III. x) scorns the unsettled
single life as that of a nimble robber, skipping from city
to city, lodging nestless wheresoever he findeth himself at
nightfall. Health is in Ecclesiasticus treated as some-
thing beyond riches ; and principles are laid down for

Introduction 9«-

regulation of life in health and in sickness. Dreams are
pronounced vanity (III. iii), with a reservation for those
that may have been sent from the Lord. A beautiful
essay (IV. i) dwells upon the burden of life, pressing on
all men from the day of their coming forth from their
mother's womb, until the day for their burial in the mother
of all things ; even sleep is not free from this oppression.

A little or nothing is his resting, and afterward in his sleep,
as in a day of keeping watch, he is troubled in the vision of
his heart, as one that hath escaped from the front of battle.
In the very time of his deliverance he awaketh, and marvell-
eth that the fear is nought.

Finally there is a sonnet on Death (IV. iv), as the
dread of the happy, the longed-for goal of the miserable
and failing, and the sentence from the Most High over
all flesh.

To the topics of earlier literature Ecclesiasticus makes
a notable addition in history. But this history, like the
general idea of wisdom, is treated in the tone of celebra-
tion, not of reflection. " Let us now praise famous men,"
is the introduction to the longest of the rhetoric encomia;
as in English literature the early Baconian l wisdom ' led
in time to the Worthies of Fuller, so this second work of
Wisdom literature ends with a succession of Hebrew Wor-
thies. The list extends from Enoch to Hezekiah and
Josiah, to Zerubbabel and other leaders of the return from

-*S Introduction

exile ; when it seems to be concluded it reopens to make
mention of Simon son of Onias, and to describe the
splendour of Temple service with a vividness which has
suggested to some commentators the enthusiasm of an
eye-witness. The style is the flowing rhetoric of delighted
recollection ; and in my notes * I have pointed out passages
which suggest to me the possibility of quotations from
historic hymns. There is no criticism of persons or
events, beyond the accepted commonplace of the unhappy
end of Solomon. It was reserved for the final book of
Wisdom literature to marshal the history of the chosen
people so as to read into it a theory of Divine providence.
The style of our author is sufficiently described when
it is recognised as the gradual transition from the stiffness
of the gnomic sentence to the flowing rhetoric which de-
lights to accumulate parallel sentences as an end in itself.
Imagery and other striking forms of expression abound.
The sway of unjust wrath is its downfall ; a proud heart
has rooted a plant of wickedness in its owner; he who
refuses to confess his sins forces the current of the river ;
self-will dries up the soul like a withering tree ; aged feet
climbing up a sandy way make an image for a man weighted
with an unworthy wife. The gossiping fool ; travails' with
his news ; again it is said :

Hast thou heard a word ? let it die with thee : be of good
courage, it will not burst thee.

* Below, pp. 181, 182.
xxx

Introduction 8«-

The images of the spark, the whip, the hedge, are effec-
tively applied to the tongue (II. xviii) ; the impalpable
dream is touched with a profusion of shadowy comparisons.

Dreams give wings to fools. As one that catcheth at a
shadow, and followeth after the wind, so is he that setteth
his mind on dreams. The vision of dreams is as this thing
against that, the likeness of a face over against a face.

The most figurative writing is to be found in the enco-
mium on the Works of the Lord (V. i). The falling
snow is like the lighting of the locust, the hoar frost con-
geals as points of thorns ; the cold north wind devours
the mountains, burns up the wild, and consumes the
green herb as fire ; as it passes, every gathering together
of waters puts "on as it were a breastplate."

Resemblances in Ecclesiasticus to other literature will
strike every reader; they may not be defined enough to
afford a basis of argument, but they will awaken a curious
interest. One would have felt sure that the suggestion of
gratitude as a sense of favours to come was the product
of modern cynicism : but the son of Sirach urges this
gravely.

He that requiteth good turns is mindful of that which cometh
afterward. (I. xi.)

It is startling to find closing one of these wisdom essays
(I. xliv) the familiar Greek warning: Call no man happy
before his death. The reference (I. xlv) to the wiping

-*8 Introduction

of a bronze mirror reminds of the famous passage in the
Agamemnon ; the comparison of the pot and the jar be-
longs to a fable of JEsop ; the likening of the generations
of men to the leaves (I. xlix) calls up the similar use of
the image in Homer; the advice to make a door and bar
for the mouth (II. xviii) suggests the Homeric 'pinfold of
the mouth.' St. James is unquestionably under great
obligations to Ecclesiasticus ; his essay on the Responsi-
bility of Speech is almost a mosaic of quotations. There
is a suggestion of still more important influence. When
we read the proverb (I. Ixxiv) —

The way of sinners is made smooth with stones ;
And at the last end thereof is the pit of Hades —

we cannot help thinking of the " broad road that leadeth
to destruction." And two other passages of Ecclesiasticus
call up two of the parables of Christ.

There is that waxeth rich by his wariness and pinching, and
this is the portion of his reward : when he saith, I have
found rest, and now will I eat of my goods — yet he knoweth
not what time shall pass, and he shall leave them to others,
and die. (I. xliv.)

Forgive thy neighbour the hurt that he hath done thee ; and
then thy sins shall be pardoned when thou prayest. Man
cherisheth anger against man ; and doth he seek healing from
the Lord ? Upon a man like himself he hath no mercy ; and
xxxii

Introduction 8«~

doth he make supplication for his own sins ? He being him-
self flesh nourisheth wrath : who shall make atonement for
his sins ? (II. xvii.)

The Apocrypha has disappeared from our modern
bibles ; and to the ordinary reader of the present
generation Ecclesiasticus is almost an unknown book.
Within a few weeks only the Revised Version has
again made it accessible to him : how far he will be
attracted to it I would not undertake to predict. It is
a far cry from Bacon to Martin Tupper : yet Ecclesiasti-
cus has affinities with both. In English literature it was
Bacon that developed into Tupper : Ecclesiasticus repre-
sents a progression which is as if Martin Tupper developed
into Bacon. To those who like their literary food spiced
with humour it may be said that the son of Sirach makes
the nearest approach to humour in a literature which the
absence of that quality distinguishes from the other great-
est literatures of the world. Formal philosophy has at
least an historic interest in the widening survey of life
which yet stops short of the questioning of life's difficul-
ties. And the reader sensitive to literary form cannot fail
to feel attracted by a work presenting such varieties of
form : from the unit proverbs still collected to fill gaps,
through the intermediary epigrams and maxims, to sonnets
and monologues having the charm of highest poetry, and
essays and encomia which, over and above the force of

-*6 Introduction

their shrewd and reverent thought, offer the constant
attraction of watching a style in the aci of developing.

* *
*

The text used in this edition is that of the Revised
Version, the marginal renderings being often adopted.
For the use of it I must express my obligations to the
University Presses of Oxford and Cambridge.

The Wisdom

of

Jesus the Son of Sirach

otherwise known as

Ecclesiasticus

ECCLESIASTICUS

A MISCELLANY OF WISDOM
IN FIVE BOOKS

PREFACE BY THE TRANSLATOR
THE GRANDSON OF JESUS

Whereas many and great things have been delivered
unto us by the law and the prophets, and by the others
that have followed in their steps, for the which things
we :::ust give Israel the praise of instruction and wis-
dom ; and since not only the readers must needs become
skilful themselves, but also they that love learning must
be able to profit them which are without, both by speak-
ing and writing: my grandfather, Jesus, having much
given himself to the reading of the law and the proph-
ets, and the other books of our fathers, and having
gained great fatniliarity therein, was drawn on also
himself to write somewhat pertaining to instruction and
wisdom ; in order that those who love learning, and are
addicted to these things, might make progress much more
by living accordi7ig to the law. Ye are e?itreated therer
fore to read with favour and attention ; and to pardon
us if in any parts of what we have laboured to inter-
pret we may seem to fail in some of the phrases. For
5

-*8 Translator's Preface

things originally spoken in Hebrew have not the same
force in them when they are translated into another
tongue; and not only these, but the law itself, and the
prophecies, and the rest of the books, have no small
difference when they are spoken in their origi7ial lan-
guage. For having cojne into Egypt in the eight and
thirtieth year of Euergetes the king, and havifig con-
tinued there some ti?ne, I found a copy affording no
small instruction. I thought it therefore most necessary
for me to apply some diligence and travail to interpret
this book; applying indeed much watchfulness and skill
in that space of time to brhig the book to an end, and
set it forth for them also who in the land of their
sojourning are desirous to learn, fashioning their man-
ners beforehand, so as to live according to the law.

THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE

I will give thanks unto thee, O Lord, O King, and
will praise thee, God my Saviour. I do give thanks
unto thy name : for thou wast my protector and helper,
and didst deliver my body out of destruction, and out
of the snare of a sla?iderous tongue, froin lips that
forge lies ; and wast my helper before the7n that stood
by; and didst deliver me, according to the abundance
of thy mercy and greatness of thy name, from the
gnashings of teeth ready to devour, out of the hand of
such as sought my life; out of the manifold afflictions
which I had; from the choking of a fire on every side,
and out of the midst of the fire which I kindled not;
out of the depth of the belly of the grave ; and from an
unclean tongue, a?id from lying words, the slander of
an unrighteous to7igue unto the king. My soul drew
near even unto death, and my life was near to the grave
beneath. They compassed me on every side, and there
was none to help me. I was looking for the succour of
men, and it was not. And I reme?nbered thy ?nercy, O
7

-*8 Author's Preface

Lord, and thy working which hath beefi from everlast-
ing, how thou deliverest them that wait for thee, and
savest them out of the hand of the enemies. And I
lifted up my supplication fro??i the earth, and prayed
for deliverance from death.

I called upon the Lord,

The father of my Lord,
That he would not forsake me in the days of affliction ;

In the time when there was no help against the proud:
I will praise thy name continually,

And will sing praise with thanksgiving.

And my stip plication was heard: for thou savedst me
from destructio7i, a7id deliveredst me fro)n the evil time :
therefore will I give thanks and praise unto thee, and
bless the name of the Lord.

When L was yet young, or ever L went abroad, L
sought wisdom openly in my prayer. Before the tejnpie
L asked for her, and L will seek her out even to the
e?id. From her flower as fro?n the ripening grape my
heart delighted in her; my foot trod in tiprightness,
from 7ny youth L tracked her out. I bowed dow7i 7>ii7ie
ear a little, and received her, a7id foiuid for 77iyself
much instruction. L profited in her; unto him that
giveth ?7ie wisdo77i L will give glory. For L purposed
to practise her, a7id L was zealous for that which is
good; a7id I shall never be put to sha7>ie. My soul
8

Author's Preface 8«-

hath wrestled in her, and in my doing I was exact ; I
spread forth my hands to the heaven above, and
bewailed my ignorances of her; I set my soul aright
unto her : and in pureness I found her. I gat ?ne a
heart joined with her from the beginning; therefore
shall I not be forsake?i. My inward part also was
troubled to seek her: therefore have I gotten a good
possession. The Lord gave me a tongue for my reward;
and I will praise him therewith.

Draw near unto me, ye unlearned, and lodge in the
house of instruction. Say, wherefore are ye lacking in
these things, and your souls are very thirsty t I opened
my mouth and spake, Get her for yourselves without
money ; put your neck under the yoke, and let your
soid receive instruction : she is hard at hand to find.
Behold with your eyes, how that I laboured but a little,
and found for myself much rest. Get you instruc-
tion with a great sum of silver, and gain much gold by
her. May your soul rejoice in his mercy, and may
ye not be put to shame in praising him. Work your
work before the time cometh, and in his ti?ne he will
give you your reward.

Book I

i

Wisdom and the Fear of the Lord

A Sonnet

All wisdom cometh from the Lord,
And is with him for ever.

The sand of the seas,
And the drops of rain,
And the days of eternity, who shall number ?
The height of the heaven,
And the breadth of the earth, and the deep,
And wisdom, who shall search them out ?
Wisdom hath been created before all things,
And the understanding of prudence from everlasting.

To whom hath the root of wisdom been revealed ?
And who hath known her shrewd counsels ?
There is one wise,
Greatly to be feared,
The Lord sitting upon his throne :
He created her,
And saw, and numbered her,
And poured her out upon all his works.
She is with all flesh according to his gift ;
And he gave her freely to them that love him.
13

Book Ii -*8Ecclesiasticusor

The fear of the Lord
Is glory and exultation,
And gladness, and a crown of rejoicing.

The fear of the Lord
Shall delight the heart,
And shall give gladness, and joy, and length of days.

Whoso feareth the Lord,

It shall go well with him at the last,

And in the day of his death he shall be blessed.

To fear the Lord

Is the beginning of wisdom ;

And it was created together with the faithful in the womb.

With men she laid an eternal foundation ;

And with their seed shall she be had in trust.

To fear the Lord

Is the fulness of wisdom ;

And she satiateth men with her fruits.

She shall fill all her house with desirable things,

And her garners with her produce.

The fear of the Lord
Is the crown of wisdom,
Making peace and perfect health to flourish.
14

The Wisdom of Jesus B^ Book I ii, iii

He both saw and numbered her ;

He rained down skill and knowledge of understanding,

And exalted the honour of them that hold her fast.

To fear the Lord

Is the root of wisdom ;

And her branches are length of days.

ii

A Maxim

Unjust wrath can never be justified ;
For the sway of his wrath is his downfall.

A man that is longsufiering will bear for a season, and
afterward gladness shall spring up unto him ; he will hide
his words for a season, and the lips of many shall tell forth
his understanding.

iii

A Maxim

A parable of knowledge is in the treasures of wisdom ;
But godliness is an abomiiiation to a sinner.

If thou desire wisdom, keep the commandments, and the
Lord shall give her unto thee freely ; for the fear of the
Lord is wisdom and instruction, and in faith and meekness
is his good pleasure.

15

Book I iv, v -*g Ecclesiasticus or

iv

A Maxim

Disobey not the fear of the Lord;

And cotne not unto him with a double heart.

Be not a hypocrite in the mouths of men; and take
good heed to thy lips. Exalt not thyself, lest thou fall,
and bring dishonour upon thy soul ; and so the Lord shall
reveal thy secrets, and shall cast thee down in the midst
of the congregation ; because thou earnest not unto the
fear of the Lord, and thy heart was full of deceit.

A Maxim

My son, if thou co7nest to serve the Lord,
Prepare thy soul for temptation.

Set thy heart aright, and constantly endure, and make
not haste in time of calamity. Cleave unto him, and de-
part not, that thou mayest be increased at thy latter end.
Accept whatsoever is brought upon thee, and be long-
suffering when thou passest into humiliation. For gold is
tried in the fire, and acceptable men in the furnace of hu-
miliation. Put thy trust in him, and he will help thee :
order thy ways aright, and set thy hope on him.
16

The Wisdom of Jesus 8«- Book I vi

vi

True and False Fear

A Sonnet
Ye that fear the Lord,

Wait for his mercy ;

And turn not aside, lest ye fall.
Ye that fear the Lord,

Put your trust in him ;

And your reward shall not fail.
Ye that fear the Lord,

Hope for good things,

And for eternal gladness and mercy.

Look at the generations of old, and see,

Who did ever put his trust in the Lord, and was ashamed ?
Or who did abide in his fear, and was forsaken?
Or who did call upon him, and he despised him?

For the Lord is full of compassion,
And mercy ;
And he forgiveth sins,
And saveth in time of affliction.

Woe unto fearful hearts,
And to faint hands,

And to the sinner that goeth two ways !
c i7

Book Ivii -sSEcclesiasticusor

Woe unto the faint heart !

For it believeth not,

Therefore shall it not be defended.
Woe unto you

That have lost your patience !

And what will ye do when the Lord shall visit you?

They that fear the Lord

Will not disobey his words ;

And they that love him will keep his ways.
They that fear the Lord

Will seek his good pleasure ;

And they that love him shall be filled with the law.
They that fear the Lord

Will prepare their hearts,

And will humble their souls in his sight : —

" We will fall into the hands of the Lord,
And not into the hands of men :
For as his majesty is,
So also is his mercy."

vii

Honour to Parents

An Essay

Hear me, your father, O my children, and do thereafter,
that ye mav be saved. For the Lord hath given the father

18

The Wisdom of Jesus 8*- Book I vii

glory as touching the children, and hath confirmed the
judgement of the mother as touching the sons. He that
honoureth his father shall make atonement for sins ; and
he that giveth glory to his mother is as one that layeth up
treasure. Whoso honoureth his father shall have joy of
his children ; and in the day of his prayer he shall be
heard. He that giveth glory to his father shall have
length of days ; and he that hearkeneth unto the Lord
shall bring rest unto his mother, and will do service under
his parents, as unto masters. In deed and word honour
thy father, that a blessing may come upon thee from him ;
for the blessing of the father establisheth the houses of
children, but the curse of the mother rooteth out the foun-
dations. Glory not thyself in the dishonour of thy father ;
for thy fathers dishonour is no glory unto thee. For the
glory of a man is from the honour of his father ; and a
mother in dishonour is a reproach to her children.

My son, help thy father in his old age ; and grieve him
not as long as he liveth. And if he fail in understanding,
have patience with him; and dishonour him not while
thou art in thy full strength. For the relieving of thy
father shall not be forgotten ; and instead of sins it shall
be added to build thee up. In the day of thine affliction
it shall remember thee ; as fair weather upon ice, so shall
thy sins also melt away. He that forsaketh his father is
as a blasphemer; and he that provoketh his mother is
cursed of the Lord.

19

Book I viii, ix -*g Ecclesiasticus or

viii

On Meekness

An Essay

My son, go on with thy business in meekness ; so shalt
thou be beloved of an acceptable man. The greater thou
art, humble thyself the more, and thou shalt find favour
before the Lord : for great is the potency of the Lord, and
he is glorified of them that are lowly. Seek not things
that are too hard for thee, and search not out things that
are above thy strength. The things that have been com-
manded thee, think thereupon ; for thou hast no need of
the things that are secret. Be not over busy in thy super-
fluous works ; for more things are shewed unto thee than
men can understand. For the conceit of many hath led
them astray ; and evil surmising hath caused their judge-
ment to slip. A stubborn heart shall fare ill at the last ;
and he that loveth danger shall perish therein. A stub-
born heart shall be laden with troubles ; and the sinner
shall heap sin upon sin. The calamity of the proud is no
healing ; for a plant of wickedness hath taken root in him.

ix

The heart of the prudent will understand a parable ;
And the ear of a listener is the desire of a wise man.

The Wisdom of Jesus B^ Book I x-xii

Water will quench a flaming fire ;

And almsgiving will make atonement for sins.

xi

He that requiteth good turns is mindful of that which

cometh afterward ;
And in the time of his falling he shall find a support.

211

Consideration for High and Low

An Essay

My son, deprive not the poor of his living, and make
not the needy eyes to wait long. Make not a hungry soul
sorrowful ; neither provoke a man in his distress. To a
heart that is provoked add not more trouble ; and defer
not to give to him that is in need. Reject not a suppliant
in his affliction ; and turn not away thy face from a poor
man. Turn not away thine eye from one that asketh of
thee, and give none occasion to a man to curse thee ; for
if he curse thee, in the bitterness of his soul, he that made
him will hear his supplication. Get thyself the love of the
congregation, and to a great man bow thy head. Incline
thine ear to a poor man, and answer him with peaceable

Book I xiii ^g Ecclesiasticus or

words in meekness. Deliver him that is wronged from the
hand of him that wrongeth him ; and be not fainthearted
in giving judgement. Be as a father unto the fatherless,
and instead of a husband unto their mother : so shalt thou
be as a son of the Most High, and he shall love thee more
than thy mother doth.

Xlll

Wisdom's Way with her Children

An Essay

Wisdom exalteth her sons, and taketh hold of them that
seek her. He that loveth her loveth life ; and they that
seek to her early shall be filled with gladness. He that
holdeth her fast shall inherit glory ; and where he entereth,
the Lord will bless. They that do her service shall minis-
ter to the Holy One; and them that love her the Lord
doth love. He that giveth ear unto her shall judge the
nations ; and he that giveth heed unto her shall dwell
securely. If he trust her, he shall inherit her; and his
generations shall have her in possession. For at the first
she will walk with him in crooked ways, and will bring fear
and dread upon him, and torment him with her discipline,
until she may trust his soul, and try him by her judge-
ments : then will she return again the straight way unto

22

The Wisdom of Jesus &~ Book l xiv> xv

him, and will gladden him, and reveal to him her secrets.
If he go astray, she will forsake him, and give him over to
his fall.

xiv

True and False Shame

An Essay

Observe the opportunity, and beware of evil ; and be
not ashamed concerning thy soul. For there is a shame
that bringeth sin ; and there is a shame that is glory and
grace. Accept not the person of any against thy soul ;
and reverence no man unto thy falling. Refrain not
speech when it tendeth to safety, and hide not thy wis-
dom for the sake of fair-seeming ; for by speech wisdom
shall be known, and instruction by the word of the tongue.
Speak not against the truth ; and be abashed for thine
ignorance. Be not ashamed to make confession of thy
sins ; and force not the current of the river. Lay not
thyself down for a fool to tread upon ; and accept not the
person of one that is mighty. Strive for the truth unto
death, and the Lord God shall fight for thee.

XV

Be not hasty in thy tongue,
And in thy deeds slack and remiss.
23

Book I xvi-xx -oq Ecclesiasticus or

xvi

Be not as a lion in thy house,
Nor fanciful among thy servants.

xvii

Let not thy hand be stretched out to receive,
And closed when thou shouldest repay.

xviii

Set not thy heart upon thy goods ;
And say not, They are sufficient for me.

xix

An Epigram

Follow not thine own mind and thy strength,
To walk in the desires of thy heart ;

And say not, Who shall have dominion over me ?
For the Lord will surely take vengeance on thee.

XX

A Maxim

Say not, " / sinned, and what happened unto me ?
For the Lord is longsuffering"

Concerning atonement, be not without fear, to add sin
upon sins ; and say not, " His compassion is great, he will
24

The Wisdom of Jesus 8*- Book * *xi

be pacified for the multitude of my sins : " for mercy and
wrath are with him, and his indignation will rest upon
sinners. Make no tarrying to turn to the Lord, and put
not off from day to day ; for suddenly shall the wrath of
the Lord come forth, and thou shalt perish in the time of
vengeance. Set not thy heart upon unrighteous gains ;
for thou shalt profit nothing in the day of calamity.

XXI

Government of the Tongue

A Proverb Cluster

Winnow not with every wind,
And walk not in every path :
Thus doeth the sinner that hath a double tongue.

*

Be stedfast in thy understanding ;
And let thy word be one.

Be swift to hear ;

And with patience make thine answer.

If thou hast understanding, answer thy neighbour ;
And if not, let thy hand be upon thy mouth.

25

Book I xxii -*g Ecclesiasticus or

Glory and dishonour is in talk :
And the tongue of a man is his fall.

An Epigram

Be not called a whisperer ;

And lie not in wait with thy tongue :

For upon the thief there is shame,

And an evil condemnation upon him that hath a double
tongue.

An Epigram

In a great matter and in a small be not ignorant ;

And instead of a friend become not an enemy ;
For an evil name shall inherit shame and reproach :
Even so shall the sinner that hath a double tongue.

xxii

Self Will

A Maxim

Exalt not thyself in the conns el of thy sonl ;
That thy soul be not torn in pieces as a bull.

Thou shalt eat up thy leaves, and destroy thy fruits, and
leave thyself as a dry tree. » A wicked soul shall destroy
26

The Wisdom of Jesus 8^ Book I xxiii

him that hath gotten it, and shall make him a laughing-
stock to his enemies.

XX111

Friendship

An Essay

Sweet words will multiply a man's friends ; and a fair-
speaking tongue will multiply courtesies. Let those that
are at peace with thee be many ; but thy counsellors one
of a thousand. If thou wouldest get thee a friend, get
him by proving, and be not in haste to trust him. For
there is a friend that is so for his own occasion, and he
will not continue in the day of thy affliction. And there
is a friend that turneth to enmity; and he will discover
strife to thy reproach. And there is a friend that is a
companion at the table, and he will not continue in the
day of thy affliction : and in thy prosperity he will be
as thyself, and will be bold over thy servants ; if thou
shalt be brought low, he will be against thee, and will hide
himself from thy face. Separate thyself from thine ene-
mies ; and beware of thy friends. A faithful friend is a
strong defence ; and he that hath found him hath found
a treasure. There is nothing that can be taken in ex-
change for a faithful friend ; and his excellency is beyond
price. A faithful friend is a medicine of life ; and they
27

Book I xxiv -eg Ecclesiasticus or

that fear the Lord shall find him. He that feareth the
Lord directeth his friendship aright; for as he is, so is
his neighbour also.

xxiv

The Pursuit of Wisdom
An Essay

My son, gather instruction from thy youth up : and even
unto hoar hairs thou shalt find wisdom. Come unto her
as one that ploweth and soweth, and wait for her good
fruits ; for thy toil shall be little in the tillage of her, and
thou shalt eat of her fruits right soon. How exceeding
harsh is she to the unlearned ! And he that is without
understanding will not abide in her ; as a mighty stone
of trial shall she rest upon him, and he will not delay
to cast her from him. For wisdom is according to her
name ; and she is not manifest unto many.

Give ear, my son, and accept my judgement, and refuse
not my counsel, and bring thy feet into her fetters, and
thy neck into her chain. Put thy shoulder under her,
and bear her, and be not grieved with her bonds. Come
unto her with all thy soul, and keep her ways with thy
whole power. Search and seek, and she shall be made
known unto thee ; and when thou hast got hold of her,
let her not go. For at the last thou shalt find her rest ;
28

The Wisdom of Jesus 6«~ Book I xxv

and she shall be turned for thee into gladness. And her
fetters shall be to thee for a covering of strength, and
her chains for a robe of glory : for there is a golden orna-
ment upon her, and her bands are a riband of blue ; thou
shalt put her on as a robe of glory, and shalt array thee
with her as a crown of rejoicing.

My son, if thou wilt, thou shalt be instructed ; and if
thou wilt yield thy soul, thou shalt be prudent. If thou
love to hear, thou shalt receive ; and if thou incline thine
ear, thou shalt be wise. Stand thou in the multitude of
the elders ; and whoso is wise, cleave thou unto him. Be
willing to listen to every godly discourse ; and let not the
proverbs of understanding escape thee. If thou seest a
man of understanding, get thee betimes unto him, and let
thy foot wear out the steps of his doors. Let thy mind
dwell upon the ordinances of the Lord, and meditate
continually in his commandments ; he shall establish thine
heart, and thy desire of wisdom shall be given unto thee.

XXV

Sowing and Reaping

An Epigra?n

Do no evil,

So shall no evil overtake thee.
Depart from wrong,
29

Book I xxvi-xxix -*g Ecclesiasticus or

And it shall turn aside from thee.
My son, sow not upon the furrows of unrighteousness,
And thou shalt not reap them sevenfold.

xxvi

A Maxim

Seek not of the Lord preeminence.
Neither of the king the seat of honour.

Justify not thyself in the presence of the Lord ; and
display not thy wisdom before the king. Seek not to be
a judge, lest thou be not able to take away iniquities ;
lest haply thou fear the person of a mighty man, and
lay a stumblingblock in the way of thy uprightness.

xxvii

Sin not against the multitude of the city,
And cast not thyself down in the crowd.

xxviii

Bind not up sin twice ;

For in one sin thou shalt not be unpunished.

xxix

Say not, He will look upon the multitude of my gifts,
And when I offer to the most high God, he will accept it.

The Wisdom of Jesus B^ Book I xxx-xxxv

Be not fainthearted in thy prayer ;
And neglect not to give alms.

xxxi

Laugh not a man to scorn when he is in the bitterness

of his soul ;
For there is one who humbleth and exalteth.

xxxii

Devise not a lie against thy brother ;
Neither do the like to a friend.

xxxiii

Love not to make any manner of lie ;
For the custom thereof is not for good.

xxxiv

Prate not in the multitude of elders ;
And repeat not thy words in thy prayer.

XXXV

Hate not laborious work ;

Neither husbandry, which the Most High hath ordained.
31

Book I xxxvi-xxxix -*g Ecclesiasticus or

xxxvi

Number not thyself among the multitude of sinners :
Remember that wrath will not tarry.

xxxvii

Humble thy soul greatly ;

For the punishment of the ungodly man is fire and the
worm.

xxxviii

Change not a friend for a thing indifferent ;
Neither a true brother for the gold of Ophir.

xxxix

Household Precepts

An Essay

Forego not a wise and good wife : for her grace is above
gold. Entreat not evil a servant that worketh truly, nor
a hireling that giveth thee his life. Let thy soul love a
wise servant; defraud him not of liberty. Hast thou
cattle? have an eye to them ; and if they are profitable to
thee, let them stay by thee. Hast thou children? correct
them, and bow down their neck from their youth. Hast
thou daughters? give heed to their body, and make not
thy face cheerful toward them. Give thy daughter in
marriage, and thou shalt have accomplished a great mat-
32

The Wisdom of Jesus 8*- Book I xl

ter; and give her to a man of understanding. Hast thou
a wife after thy mind ? cast her not out ; but trust not
thyself to one that is hateful. Give glory to thy father
with thy whole heart, and forget not the pangs of thy
mother ; remember that of them thou wast born, and what
wilt thou recompense them for the things that they have
done for thee? Fear the Lord with all thy soul, and
reverence his priests ; with all thy strength love him that
made thee, and forsake not his ministers. Fear the Lord
and glorify the priest, and give him his portion even as
it is commanded thee: the firstfruits, and the trespass
offering, and the gift of the shoulders, and the sacrifice of
sanctification, and the firstfruits of holy things. Also
to the poor man stretch out thy hand, that thy blessing
may be perfected. A gift hath grace in the sight of every
man living ; and for a dead man keep not back grace. Be
not wanting to them that weep, and mourn with them that
mourn. Be not slow to visit a sick man, for by such
things thou shalt gain love. In all thy matters remember
thy last end, and thou shalt never do amiss.

Xl

Adaptation of Behaviour to Various Sorts of Men
An Essay
Contend not with a mighty man, lest haply thou fall into
his hands. Strive not with a rich man, lest haply he over-
D 33

Book Ixl -^SEcclesiasticusor

weigh thee; for gold hath destroyed many, and turned
aside the hearts of kings. Contend not with a man that
is full of tongue, and heap not wood upon his fire. Jest
not with a rude man, lest thine ancestors be dishonoured.
Reproach not a man when he turneth from sin ; remem-
ber that we are all worthy of punishment. Dishonour not
a man in his old age ; for some of us also are waxing old.
Rejoice not over one that is dead ; remember that we
die all. Neglect not the discourse of the wise, and be
conversant with their proverbs ; for of them thou shalt
learn instruction, and how to minister to great men. Miss
not the discourse of the aged (for they also learned of
their fathers) ; because from them thou shalt learn under-
standing, and to give answer in time of need. Kindle
not the coals of a sinner, lest thou be burned with the
flame of his fire. Rise not up from the presence of an
insolent man, lest he lie in wait as an ambush for thy
mouth. Lend not to a man that is mightier than thyself;
and if thou lend, be as one that hath lost. Be not surety
above thy power ; and if thou be surety, take thought as
one that will have to pay. Go not to law with a judge ;
for according to his honour will they give judgement for
him. Go not in the way with a rash man, lest he be
aggrieved with thee ; for he will do according to his own
will, and thou shalt perish with his folly. Fight not with
a wrathful man, and travel not with him through the desert ;
for blood is as nothing in his sight, and where there is no
34

The Wisdom of Jesus 8*- Book I xl

help he will overthrow thee. Take not counsel with a
fool ; for he will not be able to conceal the matter. Do
no secret thing before a stranger ; for thou knowest not
what he will bring forth. Open not thine heart to every
man ; and let him not return the- a favour.

Be not jealous over the wife of thy bosom, and teach her
not an evil lesson against thyself. Give not thy soul unto
a woman, that she should set her foot upon thy strength.
Go not to meet a woman that playeth the harlot, lest
haply thou fall into her snares. Use not the company of
a woman that is a singer, lest haply thou be caught by her
attempts. Gaze not on a maid, lest haply thou be trapped
in her penalties. Give not thy soul unto harlots, that
thou lose not thine inheritance. Look not round about
thee in the streets of the city, neither wander thou in the
solitary places thereof. Turn away thine eye from a
comely woman, and gaze not on another's beauty ; by the
beauty of a woman many have been led astray, and here-
with love is kindled as a fire. Sit not at all with a woman
that hath a husband, and revel not with her at the wine ;
lest haply thy soul turn aside unto her, and with thy spirit
thou slide into destruction.

Forsake not an old friend, for the new is not compara-
ble to him : as new wine, so is a new friend ; if it become
old, thou shalt drink it with gladness. Envy not the
glory of a sinner ; for thou knowest not what shall be his
overthrow. Delight not in the delights of the ungodly ;
35

Book Ixli -sBEcclesiasticiisor

remember they shall not go unpunished unto the grave.
Keep thee far from the man that hath power to kill, and
thou shaft have no suspicion of the fear of death. And
if thou come unto him, commit no fault, lest he take away
thy life ; know surely that thou goest about in the midst
of snares, and walkest upon the battlements of a city. As
well as thou canst, guess at thy neighbours ; and take
counsel with the wise. Let thy converse be with men of
understanding; and let all thy discourse be in the law
of the Most High. Let just men be the companions of
thy board; and let thy glorifying be in the fear of the
Lord.

xli

Wisdom and Government

An Essay

For the hand of the artificers a work shall be com-
mended : and he that ruleth the people shall be counted
wise for his speech. A man full of tongue is dangerous
in his city ; and he that is headlong in his speech shall be
hated. A wise judge will instruct his people ; and the gov-
ernment of a man of understanding shall be well ordered.
As is the judge of his people, so are his ministers ; and
as is the ruler of the city, such are all they that dwell
therein. An uninstructed king will destroy his people;
36

The Wisdom of Jesus &- Book I xlii

and a city will be established through the understanding
of the powerful. In the hand of the Lord is the authority
of the earth ; and in due time he will raise up over it one
that is profitable. In the hand of the Lord is the pros-
perity of a man ; and upon the person of the scribe shall
he lay his honour.

xlii

Pride and True Greatness

An Essay

Be not wroth with thy neighbour for every wrong ; and
do nothing by works of violence. Pride is hateful before
the Lord and before men ; and in the judgement of both
will unrighteousness err. Sovereignty is transferred from
nation to nation because of iniquities, and deeds of vio-
lence, and greed of money. Why is earth and ashes
proud because in his life he hath cast away his bowels? It
is a long disease ; the physician mocketh : and he is a
king today, and tomorrow he shall die. For when a man
is dead, he shall inherit creeping things, and beasts, and
worms. It is the beginning of pride when a man depart -
eth from the Lord ; and his heart is departed from him
that made him. For the beginning of pride is sin ; and
he that keepeth it will pour forth abomination. For this
cause the Lord brought upon them strange calamities, and

Book I xlii ->3 Ecclesiasticus or

overthrew them utterly. The Lord cast down the thrones
of rulers, and set the meek in their stead. The Lord
plucked up the roots of nations, and planted the lowly in
their stead. The Lord overthrew the lands of nations,
and destroyed them unto the foundations of the earth.
He took some of them away, and destroyed them, and
made their memorial to cease from the earth.

Pride hath not been created for men, nor wrathful anger
for the offspring of women.

What manner of seed hath honour?

The seed of man.
What manner of seed hath honour?

They that fear the Lord.

What manner of seed hath no honour?

The seed of man.
What manner of seed hath no honour?

They that transgress the commandments.

In the midst of brethren he that ruleth them hath honour;
and in the eyes of the Lord they that fear him. The rich
man and the honourable, and the poor, their glorying is
the fear of the Lord. It is not right to dishonour a poor
man that hath understanding ; and it is not fitting to
glorify a man that is a sinner. The great man, and the
judge, and the mighty man, shall be glorified : and there
is not one of them greater than he that feareth the Lord.
33

The Wisdom of Jesus 8«- Book x xlii

Free men shall minister unto a wise servant ; and a man
that hath knowledge will not murmur thereat.

Be not over wise in doing thy work. And glorify not
thyself in the time of thy distress : better is he that
laboureth, and aboundeth in all things, than he that
glorifieth himself and lacketh bread. My son, glorify
thy soul in meekness, and give it honour according to the
worthiness thereof. Who will justify him that sinneth
against his own soul ? and who will glorify him that dis-
honoureth his own life ? A poor man is glorified for his
knowledge, and a rich man is glorified for his riches;
but he that is glorified in poverty, how much more in
riches? and he that is inglorious in riches, how much
more in poverty? The wisdom of the lowly shall lift up
his head, and make him to sit in the midst of great men.
Commend not a man for his beauty, and abhor not a man
for his outward appearance : the bee is little among such
as fly, and her fruit is the chief of sweetmeats. Glory
not in the putting on of raiment, and exalt not thyself in
the day of honour. For the works of the Lord are won-
derful, and his works are hidden among men: many kings
have sat down upon the ground, and one that was never
thought of hath worn a diadem ; many mighty men have
been greatly disgraced, and men of renown have been
delivered into other men's hands.

Book I xliii, xliv -59 Ecclesiasticus or

xliii

On Meddlesomeness

A Proverb Cluster

Blame ?iot before thou hast examined : understand first,
and then rebuke. Answer not before thou hast heard;
and interrupt not in the midst of speech.

Strive not in a matter that concerneth thee not ;
And where sinners judge, sit not thou with them.

My son, be not busy about ?nany matters: for if thou
meddle much thou shalt not be unpunished ; and if thou
pursue, thou shalt not overtake ; and thou shalt not
escape by fleeing.

xliv

Prosperity and Adversity are from the Lord

Aft Essay

There is one that toileth, and laboureth, and maketh
haste, and is so much the more behind. There is one
40

The Wisdom of Jesus 8<- Book I xliv

that is sluggish, and hath need of help, lacking in
strength, and that aboundeth in poverty ; and the eyes of
the Lord looked upon him for good, and he set him up
from his low estate, and lifted up his head; and many
marvelled at him. Good things and evil, life and death,
poverty and riches, are from the Lord. The gift of the
Lord remaineth with the godly, and his good pleasure
shall prosper for ever. There is that waxeth rich by his
wariness and pinching, and this is the portion of his
reward : when he saith, I have found rest, and now will I
eat of my goods — yet he knoweth not what time shall
pass, and he shall leave them to others, and die. Be sted-
fast in thy covenant, and be conversant therein, and wax
old in thy work. Marvel not at the works of a sinner, but
trust the Lord, and abide in thy labour ; for it is an easy
thing in the sight of the Lord swiftly on the sudden to
make a poor man rich. The blessing of the Lord is in
the reward of the godly ; and in an hour that cometh
swiftly he maketh his blessing to flourish. Say not, What
use is there of me? And what from henceforth shall my
good things be? Say not, I have sufficient, and from
henceforth what harm shall happen unto me? In the day
of good things there is a forgetfulness of evil things ; and
in the day of evil things a man will not remember
things that are good. For it is an easy thing in the
sight of the Lord to reward a man in the day of death
according to his ways. The affliction of an hour causeth
41

Book Ixlv ->8Ecclesiasticusor

forgetfulness of delight ; and in the last end of a man is
the revelation of his deeds. Call no man blessed before
his death ; and a man shall be known in his children.

xlv

Choice of Company

An Essay

Bring not every man into thine house ; for many are the
plots of the deceitful man. As a decoy partridge in a
cage, so is the heart of a proud man ; and as one that is a
spy, he looketh upon thy falling. For he lieth in wait to
turn things that are good into evil ; and in things that are
praiseworthy he will lay blame. From a spark of fire a
heap of many coals is kindled ; and a sinful man lieth in
wait for blood. Take heed of an evil-doer, for he con-
triveth wicked things ; lest haply he bring upon thee
blame for ever. Receive a stranger into thine house, and
he will distract thee with brawls, and estrange thee from
thine own.

If thou do good, know to whom thou doest it ; and thy
good deeds shall have thanks. Do good to a godly man,
and thou shalt find a recompense ; and if not from him,
yet from the Most High. There shall no good come to
him that continueth to do evil, nor to him that giveth no
alms. Give to the godly man, and help not the sinner.
42

The Wisdom of Jesus 8«- Book I xlv

Do good to one that is lowly, and give not to an ungodly
man ; keep back his bread, and give it not to him, lest he
overmaster thee thereby ; for thou shalt receive twice as
much evil for all the good thou shalt have done unto him.
For the Most High also hateth sinners, and will repay
vengeance unto the ungodly. Give to the good man, and
help not the sinner.

A man's friend will not be fully tried in prosperity ; and
his enemy will not be hidden in adversity. In a man's
prosperity his enemies are grieved ; and in his adversity
even his friend will be separated from him. Never trust
thine enemy, for like as the brass rusteth, so is his wicked-
ness : though he humble himself, and go crouching, yet
take good heed, and beware of him, and thou shalt be
unto him as one that hath wiped a mirror, and thou shalt
know that he hath not utterly rusted it. Set him not by
thee, lest he overthrow thee and stand in thy place ; let
him not sit on thy right hand, lest he seek to take thy
seat, and at the last thou acknowledge my words, and
be pricked with my sayings. Who will pity a charmer
that is bitten with a serpent ? or any that come nigh wild
beasts ? Even so who will pity him that goeth to a
sinner, and is mingled with him in his sins ? For a while
he will abide with thee, and if thou give way, he will not
hold out. And the enemy will speak sweetly with his
lips, and in his heart take counsel how to overthrow thee
into a pit ; the enemy will weep with his eyes, and if he
43

Book I xlv -*g Ecclesiasticus or

find opportunity, he will not be satiated with blood. If
adversity meet thee, thou shalt find him there before thee ;
and as though he would help thee, he will trip up thy heel.
He will shake his head, and clap his hands, and whisper
much, and change his countenance.

He that toucheth pitch shall be denied ; and he that hath
fellowship with a proud man shall become like unto him.
Take not up a burden above thy strength ; and have no
fellowship with one that is mightier and richer than thy-
self. What fellowship shall the earthen pot have with
the kettle ? this shall smite, and that shall be dashed in
pieces. The rich man doeth a wrong, and he threateneth
withal : the poor is wronged, and he shall entreat withal.
If thou be profitable, he will make merchandise of thee ;
and if thou be in want, he will forsake thee. If thou have
substance, he will live with thee ; and he will make thee
bare, and will not be sorry. Hath he had need of thee ?
then he will deceive thee, and smile upon thee, and give
thee hope : he will speak thee fair, and say, What needest
thou? and he will shame thee by his meats, until he have
made thee bare twice or thrice. And at the last he will
laugh thee to scorn ; afterward will he see thee, and will
forsake thee, and shake his head at thee. Beware that
thou be not deceived, and brought low in thy mirth. If a
mighty man invite thee, be retiring, and so much the more
will he invite thee. Press not upon him, lest thou be
thrust back ; and stand not far off, lest thou be forgotten.
44

The Wisdom of Jesus 8«- Eook l xlv

Affect not to speak with him as an equal, and believe not
his many words : for with much talk will he try thee, and
in a smiling manner will search thee out. He that keepeth
not to himself words spoken is unmerciful ; and he will not
spare to hurt and to bind. Keep them to thyself, and take
earnest heed, for thou walkest in peril of thy falling.

Every living creature loveth his like, and every man
loveth his neighbour. All flesh consorteth according to
kind, and a man will cleave to his like. What fellowship
shall the wolf have with the lamb? so is the sinner unto
the godly. What peace is there between the hyena and
the dog? and what peace between the rich man and the
poor? Wild asses are the prey of lions in the wilderness ;
so poor men are pasture for the rich. Lowliness is an
abomination to a proud man ; so a poor man is an abomi-
nation to the rich. A rich man when he is shaken is held
up of his friends ; but one of low degree being down is
thrust away also by his friends. When a rich man is
fallen, there are many helpers; he speaketh things not
to be spoken, and men justify him : a man of low degree
falleth, and men rebuke him withal ; he uttereth wisdom,
and no place is allowed him. A rich man speaketh, and
all keep silence ; and what he saith they extol to the
clouds : a poor man speaketh, and they say, Who is this?
and if he stumble, they will help to overthrow him. Riches
are good that have no sin; and poverty is evil in the
mouth of the ungodly.

45

Book I xlvi-xlix -*8 Ecclesiasticus or

xlvi

The heart of a man changeth his countenance,
Whether it be for good or for evil.

xlvii

A cheerful countenance is a token of a heart that is in

prosperity ;
And the finding out of parables is a weariness of thinking.

xlviii

An Epigram

Blessed is the man that hath not slipped with his mouth,
And is not pricked with sorrow for sins.

Blessed is he whose soul doth not condemn him,

And who is not fallen from his hope.

xlix

Niggardliness

An Essay

Riches are not comely for a niggard ; and what should

an envious man do with money? He that gathereth by

taking from his own soul gathereth for others ; and others

shall revel in his goods. He that is evil to himself, to

46

The Wisdom of Jesus &- Book I xlix

whom will he be good? and he shall not rejoice in his
possessions. There is none more evil than he that envi-
eth himself; and this is a recompense of his wickedness.
Even if he doeth good, he doeth it in forgetfulness ; and
at the last he sheweth forth his wickedness. Evil is he
that envieth with his eye, turning away the face, and de-
spising the souls of men. A covetous man's eye is not
satisfied with his portion ; and wicked injustice drieth up
his soul. An evil eye is grudging of bread, and he is
miserly at his table.

My son, according as thou hast, do well unto thyself,
and bring offerings unto the Lord worthily. Remember
that death will not tarry, and that the covenant of the
grave is not shewed unto thee. Do well unto thy friend
before thou die ; and according to thy ability stretch out
thy hand and give to him. Defraud not thyself of a good
day ; and let not the portion of a good desire pass thee
by. Shalt thou not leave thy labours unto another? and
thy toils to be divided by lot ? Give, and take, and beguile
thy soul ; for there is no seeking of luxury in the grave.
All flesh waxeth old as a garment ; for the covenant from
the beginning is, Thou shalt die the death. As of the
leaves flourishing on a thick tree, some it sheddeth, and
some it maketh to grow : so also of the generations of
flesh and blood, one cometh to an end, and another is
born. Every work rotteth and falleth away, and the
worker thereof shall depart with it.
47

Book II -^gEcclesiasticusor

1

The Pursuer of Wisdom and his Reward

An Essay

Blessed is the man that shall meditate in wisdom, and
that shall discourse by his understanding. He that con-
sidereth her ways in his heart shall also have knowledge
in her secrets. Go forth after her as one that tracketh, and
lie in wait in her ways ; he that prieth in at her windows
shall also hearken at her doors ; he that lodgeth close to
her house shall also fasten a nail in her walls. He shall
pitch his tent nigh at hand to her, and shall lodge in a
lodging where good things are. He shall set his children
under her shelter, and shall rest under her branches. By
her he shall be covered from heat, and shall lodge in her
glory.

He that feareth the Lord will do this ; and he that hath
possession of the law shall obtain her. And as a mother
shall she meet him, and receive him as a wife married in
her virginity. With bread of understanding shall she feed
him, and give him water of wisdom to drink. He shall be
stayed upon her, and shall not be moved ; and shall rely
upon her, and shall not be confounded. And she shall
exalt him above his neighbours ; and in the midst of the
congregation shall she open his mouth. He shall inherit
48

The Wisdom of Jesus 8«- Book I li

joy, and a crown of gladness, and an everlasting name.
Foolish men shall not obtain her; and sinners shall not
see her. She is far from pride ; and liars shall not remem-
ber her. Praise is not comely in the mouth of a sinner;
for it was not sent him from the Lord. For praise shall
be spoken in wisdom, and the Lord will prosper it.

li

On Free Will

An Essay

Say not thou, It is through the Lord that I fell away ;
for thou shalt not do the things that he hateth. Say not
thou, It is he that caused me to err ; for he hath no need
of a sinful man. The Lord hateth every abomination ;
and they that fear him love it not. He himself made man
from the beginning, and left him in the hand of his own
counsel. If thou wilt, thou shalt keep the commandments ;
and to perform faithfulness is of thine own good pleasure.
He hath set fire and water before thee : thou shalt stretch
forth thy hand unto whichsoever thou wilt. Before man
is life and death ; and whichsoever he liketh, it shall be
given him. For great is the wisdom of the Lord : he is
mighty in power, and beholdeth all things ; and his eyes
are upon them that fear him ; and he will take knowledge

E 49

Book Ilii -*8Ecclesiasticusor

of every work of man. He hath not commanded any man
to be ungodly; and he hath not given any man license
to sin.

lii

No Safety for Sinners

An Essay

Desire not a multitude of unprofitable children, neither
delight in ungodly sons. If they multiply, delight not in
them, except the fear of the Lord be with them. Trust
not thou in their life, neither rely on their condition : for
one is better than a thousand, and to die childless than
to have ungodly children. For from one that hath under-
standing shall a city be peopled ; but a race of wicked men
shall be made desolate. Many such things have I seen
with mine eyes ; and mine ear hath heard mightier things
than these. In the congregation of sinners shall a fire be
kindled; and in a disobedient nation wrath is kindled.
He was not pacified toward the giants of old time, who
revolted in their strength ; he spared not those with whom
Lot sojourned, whom he abhorred for their pride ; he pit-
ied not the people of perdition, who were taken away in
their sins ; and in like manner the six hundred thousand
footmen, who were gathered together in the hardness of
50

The Wisdom of Jesus 8«- Bo°k I Hi

their hearts. Even if there be one stiffnecked person, it
is marvel if he shall be unpunished : for mercy and wrath
are with him ; he is mighty to forgive, and he poureth out
wrath ; as his mercy is great, so is his correction also ; he
judgeth a man according to his works. The sinner shall
not escape with his plunder ; and the patience of the godly
shall not be frustrate. He will make room for every work
of mercy ; each man shall find according to his works.

Say not thou, " I shall be hidden from the Lord ; and who
shall remember me from on high? I shall not be known
among so many people ; for what is my soul in a bound-
less creation ? " Behold, the heaven, and the heaven of
heavens, the deep, and the earth, shall be moved when
he shall visit ; the mountains and foundations of the earth
together are shaken with trembling when he looketh upon
them. And no heart shall think upon these things : and
who shall conceive his ways? And there is a tempest
which no man shall see ; yea, the more part of his works
are hid. — " Who shall declare the works of his righteous-
ness ? or who shall endure them ? for his covenant is afar
off." — He that is wanting in understanding thinketh upon
these things ; and an unwise and erring man thinketh
follies.

Book I liii -*8 Ecclesiasticus or

liii

God's Work of Creation and Restoration
An Essay

My son, hearken unto me, and learn knowledge, and:
give heed to my words with thy heart. I will shew forth
instruction by weight, and declare knowledge exactly.

In the judgement of the Lord are his works from the
beginning ; and from the making of them he disposed the
parts thereof.

He garnished his works for ever,

And the beginnings of them unto their generations ;
They neither hunger, nor are weary,

And they cease not from their works.
No one thrusteth aside his neighbour ;

And they shall never disobey his word.

After this also the Lord looked upon the earth, and filled
it with his blessings. All manner of living things covered
the face thereof; and into it is their return.

The Lord created man of the earth, and turned him
back unto it again. He gave them days by number, and a
set time, and gave them authority over the things that are
thereon. He endued them with strength proper to them ;
and made them according to his own image. He put the
52

The Wisdom of Jesus Be- Bo°k I H"

fear of man upon all flesh, and gave him to have dominion
over beasts and fowls. Counsel, and tongue, and eyes,
ears, and heart, gave he them to understand withal. He
filled them with the knowledge of wisdom, and shewed
them good and evil.

He set his eye upon their hearts,
To shew them the majesty of his works ;

And they shall praise the name of his holiness,
That they may declare the majesty of his works.

He added unto them knowledge,
And gave them a law of life for a heritage.

He made an everlasting covenant with them, and shewed
them his judgements. Their eyes saw the majesty of his
glory ; and their ear heard the glory of his voice. And he
said unto them, Beware of all unrighteousness ; and he
gave them commandment, each man concerning his neigh-
bour. Their ways are ever before him ; they shall not be
hid from his eyes.

For every nation he appointed a ruler ;

And Israel is the Lord's portion.
All their works are as the sun before him ;

And his eyes are continually upon their ways.
Their iniquities are not hid from him ;

And all their sins are before the Lord.
With him the alms of a man is as a signet ;

And he will keep the bounty of a man as the apple of the
eye.

53

Book I liii -eg Ecclesiasticus or

Afterwards he will rise up and recompense them, and
render their recompense upon their head.

Howbeit unto them that repent he granteth a return ;
and he comforteth them that are losing patience. Return
unto the Lord, and forsake sins ; make thy prayer before
his face, and lessen the offence. Turn again to the Most
High, and turn away from iniquity ; and greatly hate the
abominable thing. Who shall give praise to the Most
High in the grave, instead of them which live and return
thanks? Thanksgiving perisheth from the dead, as from
one that is not : he that is in life and health shall praise
the Lord. How great is the mercy of the Lord, and his
forgiveness unto them that turn unto him ! For all things
cannot be in men, because the son of man is not immortal.

What is brighter than the sun? yet this faileth:
And an evil man will think on flesh and blood.

He looketh upon the power of the height of heaven:
And all men are earth and ashes.

He that liveth for ever created all things in common.
The Lord alone shall be justified. To none hath he given
power to declare his works : and who shall trace out his
mighty deeds? Who shall number the strength of his
majesty? and who shall also tell out his mercies? As for
the wondrous works of the Lord, it is not possible to take
from them nor add to them, neither is it possible to track

54

The Wisdom of Jesus &- Book I liv

beginning; and when he ceaseth, then shall he be in
perplexity.

What is man?

And whereto serveth he?
What is his good?

And what is his evil?
The number of man's days at the most are a hundred years:

As a drop of water from the sea,

And a pebble from the sand,
So are a few years in the day of eternity.

For this cause the Lord was longsuffering over them, and
poured out his mercy upon them. He saw and perceived
their end, that it is evil ; therefore he multiplied his forgive-
ness. The mercy of a man is upon his neighbour; but
the mercy of the Lord is upon all flesh : reproving and
chastening, and teaching, and bringing again, as a shep-
herd doth his flock. He hath mercy on them that accept
chastening, and that diligently seek after his judgements.

liv

On Graciousness

A Proverb Cluster

My son, to thy good deeds add no blemish ;
And no grief of words in any of thy giving.

55

Book I lv -*g Ecclesiasticus or

Shall not the dew assuage the scorching heat?
So is a word better than a gift.

Lo, is not a word better than a gift?
And both are with a gracious man.

A fool will upbraid ungraciously ;

And the gift of an envious man consumeth the eyes.

IV

On Taking Heed in Time

An Essay

Learn before thou speak ; and have a care of thy health
or ever thou be sick. Before judgement examine thyself;
and in the hour of visitation thou shalt find forgiveness.
Humble thyself before thou be sick ; and in the time of
sins shew repentance. Let nothing hinder thee to pay
thy vow in due time ; and wait not until death to be justi-
fied. Before thou makest a vow, prepare thyself; and be
not as a man that tempteth the Lord. Think upon the
wrath that shall be in the days of the end, and the time
of vengeance, when he turneth away his face. In the

56

The Wisdom of Jesus 6^ Book I lvi-lviii

days of fulness remember the time of hunger, and poverty
and want in the days of wealth. From morning until
evening the time changeth ; and all things are speedy
before the Lord. A wise man will fear in everything ; and
in days of sinning he will beware of offence.

lvi

Every man of understanding knoweth wisdom ;
And he will give thanks unto him that found her.

lvii

They that were of understanding in sayings
Became also wise themselves,
And poured forth apt proverbs.

lviii

Three Temperance Maxims

Go not after thy lusts ;

And refrain thyself 'from thine appetites.

If thou give fully to thy soul the delight of her desire,
she will make thee the laughingstock of thine enemies.
57

Book Ilix -*8Ecclesiasticusor

Make not merry in much luxury ;
Neither be tied to the expense thereof.

Be not made a beggar by banqueting upon borrowing,
when thou hast nothing in thy purse. A workman that
is a drunkard shall not become rich.

He that despiseth small things
Shall fall by little and little.

Wine and women will make men of understanding to
fall away : and he that cleaveth to harlots will be the more
reckless. Moths and worms shall have him to heritage;
and a reckless soul shall be taken away.

lix

Against Gossip

An Essay

He that is hasty to trust is lightminded ; and he that
sinneth shall offend against his own soul. He that maketh
merry in his heart shall be condemned : and he that hateth
talk hath the less wickedness. Never repeat what is told
thee, and thou shalt fare never the worse. Whether it be

S8

The Wisdom of Jesus 8*~ Book I lx

of friend or foe, tell it not ; and unless it is a sin to thee,
reveal it not : for he hath heard thee, and observed thee,
and when the time cometh he will hate thee. Hast thou
heard a word? let it die with thee: be of good courage,
it will not burst thee. A fool will travail in pain with a
word, as a woman in labour with a child. As an arrow
that sticketh in the flesh of the thigh, so is a word in a
fool's belly. Reprove a friend : it may be he did it not,
and if he did something, that he may do it no more. Re-
prove thy neighbour : it may be he said it not, and if he
hath said it, that he may not say it again. Reprove a
friend, for many times there is slander; and trust not
every word. There is one that slippeth, and not from
the heart ; and who is he that hath not sinned with his
tongue? Reprove thy neighbour before thou threaten
him ; and give place to the law of the Most High.

IX

Wisdom and its Counterfeits

An Essay

All wisdom is the fear of the Lord ; and in all wisdom
is the doing of the law. And the knowledge of wicked-
ness is not wisdom ; and the prudence of sinners is not

59

Book Ilx -*3Ecclesiasticusor

counsel. There is a wickedness and the same is abomina-
tion, and there is a fool wanting in wisdom : better is one
that hath small understanding and feareth, than one that
hath much prudence and transgresseth the law.

There is an exquisite subtilty, and the same is unjust ;
and there is one that perverteth favour to gain a judge-
ment. There is one that doeth wickedly, that hangeth
down his head with mourning ; but inwardly he is full of
deceit, bowing down his face, and making as if he were
deaf of one ear : where he is not known, he will be before-
hand with thee. And if for want of power he be hindered
from sinning, if he find opportunity, he will do mischief.
A man shall be known by his look, and one that hath
understanding shall be known by his face, when thou
meetest him ; a man's attire, and grinning laughter, and
gait, shew what he is.

There is a reproof that is not comely ; and there is a
man that keepeth silence, and he is wise. How good is
it to reprove, rather than to be wroth ; and he that maketh
confession shall be kept back from hurt. As is the lust of
an eunuch to deflower a virgin ; so is he that executeth
judgements with violence.

There is one that keepeth silence, and is found wise ;
and there is one that is hated for his much talk. There
is one that keepeth silence, for he hath no answer to
make ; and there is that keepeth silence, as knowing his
time. A wise man will be silent till his time come ; but the

60

The Wisdom of Jesus 8'~ Book I lxi

braggart and fool will overpass his time. He that useth
man)r words shall be abhorred ; and he that taketh to him-
self authority therein shall be hated.

There is a prosperity that a man findeth in misfortunes ;
and there is a gain that turneth to loss. There is a gift
that shall not profit thee ; and there is a gift whose recom-
pense is double. There is an abasement because of glory ;
and there is that hath lifted up his head from alow estate.
There is that buyeth much for a little, and payeth for it
again sevenfold.

He that is wise in words shall make himself beloved ;
but the pleasantries of fools shall be wasted.

lxi

A Maxim

The gift of a fool shall not profit thee',
For his eyes are many instead of one.

He will give little and upbraid much, and he will open
his mouth like a crier ; today he will lend, and tomorrow
he will ask it again : such an one is a hateful man.

61

Book I lxii-lxvi -*g Ecclesiastic us or

lxii

An Epigram

The fool will say, I have no friend,

And I have no thanks for my good deeds ;

They that eat my bread are of evil tongue.

How oft, and of how many, shall he be laughed to scorn!

Ixiii

A slip on a pavement is better than a slip with the tongue ;
So the fall of the wicked shall come speedily.

lxiv

A man without grace is as a tale out of season ;
It will be continually in the mouth of the ignorant.

lxv

A wise sentence from a fooPs mouth will be rejected ;
For he will not speak it in its season.

lxvi

There is that is hindered from sinning through want;
And when he taketh rest, he shall not be troubled.
62

The Wisdom of Jesus 8«~ Book I lxvii-lxxi

lxvii

There is that destroyeth his soul through bashfulness ;
And by a foolish countenance he will destroy it.

lxviii

There is that for bashfulness promiseth to his friend ;
And he maketh him his enemy for nothing.

lxix

A Maxim

A lie is afoul blot in a man :

It will be continually in the mouth of the ignorant.

A thief is better than a man that is continually lying ;
but they both shall inherit destruction. The disposition
of a liar is dishonour ; and his shame is with him con-
tinually.

lxx

He that is wise in words shall advance himself;
And one that is prudent will please great men.

Ixxi

He that tilleth his land shall raise his heap high ;
And he that pleaseth great men shall get pardon for
iniquity.

63

Book I lxxii-lxxiv -*g Ecclesiasticus or

lxxii

Presents and gifts blind the eyes of the wise,
And as a muzzle on the mouth turn away reproofs.

Ixxiii

An Epigram

Wisdom that is hid,
And treasure that is out of sight,
What profit is in them both?
Better is a man that hideth his folly
Than a man that hideth his wisdom.

Ixxiv

Sin and its Judgement

A Proverb Cluster

My son, hast thou sinned? add no more thereto ;
And make supplication for thy former sins.

*•

Fleefro7n sin as from the face of a serpent: for if thou
draw nigh it will bite thee : the teeth thereof are the teeth
of a lion, slaying the souls of men.
64

The Wisdom of Jesus Be- Book I lxxiv

All iniquity is as a two-edged sword ;
Its stroke hath no healing.

Terror and violence will lay waste riches ;

So the house of a haughty man shall be laid waste.

Supplication from a poor man's mouth reacheth to the ears

of God,
And his judgement cometh speedily.

One that hateth reproof is in the path of the sinner ;
And he that feareth the Lord will turn again in his heart.

He that is mighty in tongue is known afar off:

But the man of understanding knoweth when he slippeth.

He that buildeth his house with other men's money

Is like one that gathereth himself stones against winter.

The congregation of wicked men is as tow wrapped to-
gether ;
And the end of them is a flame of fire.
f 65

Book I lxxv -*ig Ecclesiasticus or

The way of sinners is made smooth with stones ;
And at the last end thereof is the pit of Hades.

lxxv

Wise Men and Fools

A Proverb Cluster

He that keepeth the law becometh master of the intent

thereof;
And the end of the fear of the Lord is wisdom.
He that is not clever will not be instructed ;
And there is a cleverness which maketh bitterness to
abound.

The knowledge of a wise man shall be made to abound as
a flood ;

And his counsel as a fountain of life.
The inward parts of a fool are like a broken vessel ;

And he will hold no knowledge.

If a man of knowledge hear a wise word,
He will commend it, and add unto it :
The dissolute man heareth it,

And it displeaseth him, and he putteth it away behind
his back.

66

The Wisdom of Jesus B*- Book l lxxv

The discourse of a fool is like a burden in the way ;
But grace shall be found on the lips of the wise.

The mouth of the prudent man shall be sought for in
the congregation ;

And they will ponder his words in their heart.

As a house that is destroyed, so is wisdom to a fool ;
And the knowledge of an unwise man is as talk without
sense.

An Epigram

Instruction is as fetters on the feet of an unwise man,

And as manacles on the right hand.

(A fool lifteth up his voice with laughter ;

But a clever man will scarce smile quietly.)
Instruction is to a prudent man as an ornament of gold,

And as a bracelet upon his right arm.

A Maxim

The foot of a fool is soon in another maris house ;
But a man of experience will be ashamed of entering.

A foolish man peepeth in from the door of another man's
house ; but a man that is instructed will stand without.
67

Book I lxxvi -^g Ecclesiasticus or

It is a want of instruction in a man to listen at the door ;
but the prudent man will be grieved with the disgrace.
The lips of strangers will be grieved at these things ; but
the words of prudent men will be weighed in the balance.

The heart of fools is in their mouth ;
But the mouth of wise men is their heart.

lxxvi

The Hatefulness of Evil

A Proverb Cluster

When the ungodly curseth Satan,
He curseth his own soul.

A whisperer defileth his own soul,

And shall be hated wheresoever he sojourneth.

A?i Epigram

A slothful man is compared to a stone that is denied ;

And every one will hiss him out in his disgrace.
A slothful man is compared to the filth of a dunghill ;

Every man that taketh it up will shake out his hand.
68

The Wisdom of Jesus 8«- B°ok l lxxvi*

A father hath shame in having begotten an uninstructed son ;
And a foolish daughter is born to his loss.

A prudent daughter shall inherit a husband of her own ;
And she that bringeth shame is the grief of him that
begat her.

She that is bold bringeth shame upon father and husband ;
And she shall be despised of them both.

lxxvii

Commerce with Fools Intolerable

A Proverb Chester

Unseasonable discourse is as music in mourning ;
But stripes and correction are wisdom at every season.

A Maxim

He that teacheth a fool is as one that glueth a potsherd

together ;
Even as o?ie that waketh a sleeper out of a deep sleep.

He that discourseth to a fool is as one discoursing to a
man that slumbereth ; and at the end he will say, What is it?
69

Book I lxxvii -»e Ecclesiasticus or

A Sonnet

Weep for the dead,

For light hath failed him ;
And weep for a fool,

For understanding hath failed him :

Weep more sweetly for the dead,

Because he hath found rest ;

But the life of the fool
Is worse than death.

Seven days are the days of mourning for the dead :

But for a fool and an ungodly man, all the days of his life.

A Maxim

Talk not much with a foolish man,

And go not to one that hath no understanding.

Beware of him, lest thou have trouble ; and so thou
shalt not be defiled in his onslaught. Turn aside from
him, and thou shalt find rest ; and so thou shalt not be
wearied in his madness.

#

What shall be heavier than lead?
And what is the name thereof, but a fool?
70

The Wisdom of Jesus 8«- Book l Ixxviii

Sand, and salt,
And a mass of iron,
Is easier to bear than a man without understanding.

lxxviii

The Stedfast Friend and the Uncertain

An Essay

Timber girt and bound into a building shall not be
loosed with shaking : so a heart established in due season
on well advised counsel shall not be afraid. A heart set-
tled upon a thoughtful understanding is as an ornament of
plaister on a polished wall. Pales 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
that pricketh the eye will make tears to fall ; and he that
pricketh the heart maketh it to shew feeling. Whoso
casteth a stone at birds frayeth them away ; and he that
upbraideth a friend will dissolve friendship.

If thou hast drawn a sword against a friend, despair not,

For there may be a returning ;
If thou hast opened thy mouth against a friend, fear not,

For there may be a reconciling :
7i

Book I lxxix ^8 Ecclesiasticus or

Except it be for upbraiding and arrogance,
And disclosing of a secret,
And a treacherous blow :
For these things every friend will flee.

Gain trust with thy neighbour in his poverty, that in his
prosperity thou mayest have gladness : abide stedfast unto
him in the time of his affliction, that thou mayest be heir
with him in his inheritance. Before fire is the vapour and
smoke of a furnace ; so revilings before bloodshed. I will
not be ashamed to shelter a friend ; and I will not hide
myself from his face : and if any evil happen unto me
because of him, every one that heareth it will beware
of him.

lxxix

Watchfulness of Lips and Heart

A Sonnet

Who shall set a watch over my mouth,
And a seal of shrewdness upon my lips,
That I fall not from it,
And that my tongue destroy me not?

O Lord, Father and Master of my life,
Abandon me not to their counsel :
Suffer me not to fall by them.
72

The Wisdom of Jesus 8«- Book I lxxx

Who will set scourges over my thought,

And a discipline of wisdom over mine heart?
That they spare me not for mine ignorances,

And my heart pass not by their sins :
That mine ignorances be not multiplied,

And my sins abound not ;
And I shall fall before mine adversaries,

And mine enemy rejoice over me ?

O Lord, Father and God of my life,
Give me not a proud look,

And turn away concupiscence from me.
Let not greediness and chambering overtake me,

And give me not over to a shameless mind.

lxxx

The Discipline of the Mouth

An Essay

Hear ye, my children, the discipline of the mouth ; and
he that keepeth it shall not be taken. The sinner shall
be overtaken in his lips ; and the reviler and the proud
man shall stumble therein. Accustom not thy mouth to
an oath ; and be not accustomed to the naming of the
Holy One. For as a servant that is continually scourged
73

Book I lxxxi -*g Ecclesiasticus or

shall not lack a bruise, so he also that sweareth and
nameth God continually shall not be cleansed from sin.
A man of many oaths shall be filled with iniquity ; and
the scourge shall not depart from his house : if he shall
offend, his sin shall be upon him ; and if he disregard it,
he hath sinned doubly ; and if he hath sworn in vain,
he shall not be justified ; for his house shall be filled' with
calamities. There is a manner of speech that is clothed
about with death : let it not be found in the heritage of
Jacob ; for all these things shall be far from the godly,
and they shall not wallow in sins. Accustom not thy
mouth to gross rudeness, for therein is the word of sin.
Remember thy father and thy mother, for thou sittest in
the midst of great men ; that thou be not forgetful before
them, and become a fool by thy custom ; so shalt thou
wish that thou hadst not been born, and curse the day
of thy nativity. A man that is accustomed to words of
reproach will not be corrected all the days of his life.

lxxzi

The Horror of Adultery

An Essay

Two sorts of men multiply sins,
And the third will bring wrath :
A Hot Mind,—
74

The Wisdom of Jesus 8«- Bo°k I lxxxi

as a burning fire, will not be quenched till it be con-
sumed ; —

A Fornicator in the body of his flesh —

will never cease till he hath burned out the fire : all bread
is sweet to a fornicator, he will not leave off till he die. —

A man that goeth astray from his own Bed, —

saying in his heart, "Who seeth me? Darkness is round
about me, and the walls hide me, and no man seeth me :
of whom am 1 afraid? The Most High will not remember
my sins:" — and the eyes of men are his terror, and he
knoweth not that the eyes of the Lord are ten thousand
times brighter than the sun, beholding all the ways of
men, and looking into secret places. All things were
known unto him or ever they were created ; and in like
manner also after they were perfected. This man shall
be punished in the streets of the city; and where he
suspected not he shall be taken.

So also a wife that leaveth her husband, and bringeth
in an heir by a stranger. For first, she was disobedient
in the law of the Most High ; and secondly, she tres-
passed against her own husband ; and thirdly, she played
the adulteress in whoredom, and brought in children by
a stranger. She shall be brought out into the congrega-
tion ; and upon her children shall there be visitation. Her
75

-^SEcclesiasticus or The Wisdom of Jesus

children shall not spread into roots, and her branches
shall bear no fruit. She shall leave her memory for a
curse ; and her reproach shall not be blotted out. And
they that are left behind shall know that there is nothing
better than the fear of the Lord, and nothing sweeter than
to take heed unto the commandments of the Lord.

76

Book II

PREFACE

WITH A MONOLOGUE: WISDOM IN PRAISE OF HERSELF

Wisdom shall praise herself, and shall glory in the
midst of her people. In the congregation of the Most
High shall she ope?i her mouthy and glory in the pres-
ence of his power.

I came forth from the mouth of the Most High,

And covered the earth as a mist.
I dwelt in high places,

And my throne is in the pillar of the cloud.
Alone I compassed 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 got a possession.
With all these I sought rest ;

And in whose inheritance shall I lodge?
Then the Creator of all things gave me a commandment :

And he that created me made my tabernacle to rest,
And said, Let thy tabernacle be in Jacob,

And thine inheritance in Israel.
He created me from the beginning before the world ;

And to the end I shall not fail.
79

-98 Ecclesiasticus or

In the holy tabernacle I ministered before him ;

And so was I established in Sion.
In the beloved city likewise he gave me rest ;

And in Jerusalem was my authority.
And I took root in a people that was glorified,

Even in the portion of the Lord's own inheritance.

I was exalted like a cedar in Libanus,

And as a cypress tree on the mountains of Hermon ;
I was exalted like a palm tree on the sea shore,

And as rose plants in Jericho,

And as a fair olive tree in the plain ;

And I was exalted as a plane tree.

As cinnamon and aspalathus,
I have given a scent of perfumes ;

And as choice myrrh,
I spread abroad a pleasant odour ;

As galbanum, and onyx, and stacte,

And as the fume of frankincense in the tabernacle.

As the terebinth
I stretched out my branches ;
And my branches are branches of glory and grace.

As the vine
I put forth grace,

And my flowers are the fruit of glory and riches.
80

The Wisdom of Jesus Be-
come unto me, ye that are desirous of me,

And be ye filled with my produce.
For my memorial is sweeter than honey,

And mine inheritance than the honeycomb.
They that eat me shall yet be hungry ;

And they that drink me shall yet be thirsty.
He that obeyeth me shall not be ashamed ;

And they that work in me shall not do amiss.

All these things are the book of the covenant of the Most
High God, even the law which Moses commanded ns for a
heritage unto the assemblies of Jacob. It is he that maketh
wisdom abundant as Pishon, and as Tigris in the days of
new fruits ; that maketh understanding full as Euphra-
tes, and as Jordan in the days of harvest ; that maketh
instruction to shine forth as the light, as Gihon in the days
of vintage. The first man knew her not perfectly ; and in
like ma7i7ier the last hath not traced her out. For her
thoughts are filled from the sea, and her counsels from the
great deep.

And I came out as a stream from a river, and as a con-
ditit into a garden. I said, I will water my garden, and
will water abundantly my garden bed ; and lo, my stream
became a river, and my river became a sea. I will yet bring
instructio7i to light as the viorning, and will make these
things to shine forth afar off. I will yet pour out doctrine
g 81

-*6 Ecclesiasticus or The Wisdom of Jesus

as prophecy, and leave it unto generations of ages. Behold

that I have not laboured for ?nyself only, but for all them

that diligently seek her.

82

1

What Wisdom Hates and Loves

A Number Sonnet

In three things I was beautified,
And stood up beautiful before the Lord and men :
The concord of brethren,
And friendship of neighbours,
And a woman and her husband that walk together in
agreement.

But three sorts of men my soul hateth,
And I am greatly offended at their life :
A poor man that is haughty,
And a rich man that is a liar,
And an old man that is an adulterer lacking understanding.

ii

A Maxim

In thy youth thou hast not gathered,

And how shouldest thou find in thine old age f

How beautiful a thing is judgement for grey hairs, and
for elders to know counsel ! How beautiful is the wisdom
83

Book Iliii -^SEcclesiasticusor

of old men, and thought and counsel to men that are in
honour ! Much experience is the crown of old men ; and
their glorying is the fear of the Lord.

Ill

The Love of the Lord

A Number Sonnet

There be nine things that I have thought of,

And in mine heart counted happy ;
And the tenth I will utter with my tongue :

A man that hath joy of his children ;
A man that liveth and looketh upon the fall of his
enemies ;
Happy is he that dwelleth with a wife of understanding ;
And he that hath not slipped with his tongue ;
And he that hath not served a man that is unworthy of
him ;
Happy is he that hath found prudence ;

And he that discourseth in the ears of them that
listen ;
How great is he that hath found wisdom !
Yet is there none above him that feareth the Lord.
84

The Wisdom of Jesus 8«- B^ok II iv, v

The love * of the Lord passeth all things :
He that holdeth it, to whom shall he be likened ?

IV

The Wrath of an Enemy
An Epigram

Any plague but the plague of the heart ;

And any wickedness but the wickedness of a woman ;

Any calamity but a calamity from them that hate me ;

And any vengeance but the vengeance of enemies.
There is no head above the head of a serpent :
And there is no wrath above the wrath of an enemy.

V

Women Bad and Good

A Wisdom Cluster

I will rather dwell with a lion and a dragon, than keep
house with a wicked woman. The wickedness of a woman
changeth her look, and darkeneth her countenance as a bear

* R. V. fear of the Lord: see note..
85

Book II v -*8 Ecclesiasticus or

doth. Her husband shall sit at meat among his neighbours,
and when he heareth it he sigheth bitterly. All malice is
but little to the malice of a woman : let the portion of a
sinner fall on her! As the going up a sandy way is to the
feet of the aged, so is a wife full of words to a quiet man.
Throw not thyself upon the beauty of a woman ; and desire
not a woman for her beauty. There is anger, and impu-
dence, and great reproach, if a woman maintain her husband.
A wicked woman is abasement of heart, and sadness of
countenance, and a wounded heart ; a woman that will not
make her husband happy is as hands that hang down, and
palsied knees. From a woman was the beginning of sin,
and because of her we all die. Give not water an outlet,
neither to a wicked woman freedom of speech. If she go
not as thou wouldest have her, cut her off from thy flesh.

Happy is the husband of a good wife ; and the number
of his days shall be twofold. A brave woman rejoiceth
her husband; and he shall fulfil his years in peace. A
good wife is a good portion ; she shall be given in the
portion of such as fear the Lord. Whether a man be rich
or poor, a good heart maketh at all times a cheerful coun-
tenance.

A Number Sonne/

Of three things my heart was afraid ;
And concerning the fourth kind I made supplication :
86

The Wisdom of Jesus 8«- Bo°k II vi

The slander of a city,

And the assembly of a multitude,

And a false accusation,

(All these are more grievous than death :)
A grief of heart and sorrow is a woman that is jealous of

another woman,
And the scourge of a tongue communicating to all.

vi

Women Bad and Good
A Sonnet
A wicked woman {strophe)

Is as a yoke of oxen shaken to and fro :
He that taketh hold of her is as one that graspeth a
scorpion.
A drunken woman
Causeth great wrath :
And she will not cover her own shame.
The whoredom of a woman
Is in the lifting up of her eyes :
And it shall be known by her eyelids.

Keep strict watch on a headstrong daughter,
Lest she find liberty for herself, and use it.

Look well after an impudent eye ;

And marvel not if it trespass against thee.
87

Book II vi -eg Ecclesiasticus or

She will open her mouth as a thirsty traveller,

And drink of every water that is near :

At every post will she sit down,
And open her quiver against any arrow.

The grace of a wife (antistrophe)

Will delight her husband :
And her knowledge will fatten his bones.

A silent woman

Is a gift of the Lord :
And there is nothing so much worth as a well instructed
soul.

A shamefast woman

Is grace upon grace ;
And there is no price worthy of a continent soul.

As the sun when it ariseth in the highest places of the
Lord,
So is the beauty of a good wife in the ordering of a
man's house.
As the lamp that shineth upon the holy candlestick,
So is the beauty of the face in ripe age.

As the golden pillars

Are upon a base of silver,

So are beautiful feet
With the breasts of one that is stedfast.

The Wisdom of Jesus B*- Book n vii~ix

vii

The Backslider

A Number Sonnet

For two things my heart is grieved,

And for the third anger cometh upon me :

A man of war that suffereth for poverty ;

And men of understanding that are counted as refuse ;
One that turneth back from righteousness to sin :
The Lord shall prepare him for the sword.

viii

A Maxim

A merchant shall hardly keep himself from wrong doing ;
And a huckster shall not be acquitted of sin.

Many have sinned for a thing indifferent ; and he that
seeketh to multiply gain will turn his eye away. A nail
will stick fast between the joinings of stones ; and sin will
force itself in between buying and selling.

Unless a man hold on diligently in the fear of the Lord,
His house shall soon be overthrown.

Book II x-xiii -*g Ecclesiasticus or

Reasoning the Test of Men

An Epigram

In the shaking of a sieve the refuse remaineth :

So the filth of man in his reasoning.

The furnace will prove the potter's vessels :

And the trial of a man is in his reasoning.

The fruit of a tree declareth the husbandry thereof:

So is the utterance of the thought of the heart of a man.

Praise no man before thou hearest him reason ;

For this is the trial of men.

xi

If thou followest righteousness,
Thou shalt obtain her ;
And put her on as a long robe of glory.

xii

Birds will resort unto their like ;

And truth will return unto them that practise her.

xiii

The lion lieth in wait for prey ;
So doth sin for them that work iniquity.
90

The Wisdom of Jesus 8«- Book II xiv

xiv

Discourse of Wise Men and Fools

A Proverb Cluster

The discourse of a godly man is always wisdom :
But the foolish man changeth as the moon.

Among men void of understanding observe the opportunity ;
But stay continually among the thoughtful.

The discourse of fools is an offence ;

And their laughter is in the wantonness of sin.

The talk of a man of many oaths will make the hair stand

upright ;
And their strife maketh one stop his ears.

The strife of the proud is a shedding of blood ;
And their reviling of each other is a grievous thing to
hear.

9i

Book II xv, xvi ^3 Ecclesiasticus or

XV

A Maxim

He that revealeth secrets destroyeth credit.
And shall not find a f?'iend to his mind.

Love a friend, and keep faith with him : but if thou
reveal his secrets, thou shalt not pursue after him ; for as
a man hath destroyed his enemy, so hast thou destroyed
the friendship of thy neighbour. And as a bird which
thou hast loosed out of thy hand, so hast thou let thy
neighbour go, and thou wilt not catch him again : pursue
him not, for he is gone far away, and hath escaped as a
gazelle out of the snare. For a wound may be bound up,
and after reviling there may be a reconcilement ; but he
that revealeth secrets hath lost hope.

xvi

A Maxim

One that winketh with the eye contriveth evil

things;
And no man will remove him from it.

When thou art present, he will speak sweetly, and
will admire thy words ; but afterward he will writhe his
92

The Wisdom of Jesus S«- Book II xvii

mouth, and set a trap for thee in thy words. I have hated
many things, but nothing like him ; and the Lord will
hate him.

xvii

Retribution and Vengeance
An Essay

One that casteth a stone on high casteth it on his own
head ; and a deceitful stroke will open wounds. He that
diggeth a pit shall fall into it ; and he that setteth a snare
shall be taken therein. He that doeth evil things, they
shall roll upon him ; and he shall not know whence they
have come to him. Mockery and reproach are from the
haughty ; and vengeance, as a lion, shall lie in wait for
him. They that rejoice at the fall of the godly shall be
taken in a snare ; and anguish shall consume them before
they die. Wrath and anger, these also are abominations ;
and a sinful man shall possess them. He that taketh
vengeance shall find vengeance from the Lord ; and he
will surely make firm his sins.

Forgive thy neighbour the hurt that he hath done
thee ; and then thy sins shall be pardoned when thou
prayest. Man cherisheth anger against man ; and doth
he seek healing from the Lord? Upon a man like himself
he hath no mercy ; and doth he make supplication for his
own sins? He being himself flesh nourisheth wrath:
93

Book II xviii ~*8 Eccl esiasticus or

who shall make atonement for his sins? Remember thy
last end, and cease from enmity : remember corruption
and death, and abide in the commandments. Remember
the commandments, and be not wroth with thy neigh-
bour; and remember the covenant of the Highest, and
wink at ignorance. Abstain from strife, and thou shalt
diminish thy sins : for a passionate man will kindle strife ;
and a man that is a sinner will trouble friends, and will
make debate among them that be at peace.

As is the fuel of the fire,

So will it burn ;
And as the stoutness of the strife is,

So will it burn.

As is the strength of the man,

So will be his wrath ;
And as is his wealth,

So will he exalt his anger.

A contention begun in haste kindleth a fire ; and a hasty
fighting sheddeth blood.

xviii

On the Tongue

An Essay

If thou blow a spark, it shall burn ; and if thou spit
upon it, it shall be quenched : and both these shall come
94

The Wisdom of Jesus 8«- Book II xviii

out of thy mouth. Curse the whisperer and double-
tongued : for he hath destroyed many that were at peace.
A third person's tongue hath shaken many, and dispersed
them from nation to nation; and it hath pulled down
strong cities, and overthrown the houses of great men.
A third person's tongue hath cast out brave women, and
deprived them of their labours. He that hearkeneth unto
it shall not find rest, nor shall he dwell quietly. The
stroke of a whip maketh a mark in the flesh ; but the
stroke of a tongue will break bones. Many have fallen
by the edge of the sword ; yet not so many as they that
have fallen because of the tongue. Happy is he that is
sheltered from it, that hath not passed through the wrath
thereof; that hath not drawn its yoke, and hath not been
bound with its bands. For the yoke thereof is a yoke
of iron, and the bands thereof are bands of brass. The
death thereof is an evil death ; and Hades were better
than it. It shall not have rule over godly men; and they
shall not be burned in its flame. They that forsake the
Lord shall fall into it ; and it shall burn among them, and
shall not be quenched : it shall be sent forth upon them
as a lion, and as a leopard it shall destroy them. Look
that thou hedge thy possession about with thorns ; bind
up thy silver and thy gold ; and make a balance and a
weight for thy words ; and make a door and a bar for thy
mouth. Take heed lest thou slip therein; lest thou fall
before one that lieth in wait.
95

Book Ilxix -^SEcclesiasticusor

xix

On Lending and Suretiship
An Essay

He that sheweth mercy will lend unto his neighbour ;
and he that strengtheneth him with his hand keepeth the
commandments. Lend to thy neighbour in time of his
need ; and pay thou thy neighbour again in due season.
Confirm thy word, and keep faith with him ; and at all
seasons thou shalt find what thou needest.

Many have reckoned a loan as a windfall, and have
given trouble to those that helped them. Till he hath
received, he will kiss a man's hands ; and for his neigh-
bours money he will speak submissly : and when pay-
ment is due, he will prolong the time, and return words
of heaviness, and complain of the times. If he prevail,
he shall hardly receive the half, and he will count it as
a windfall ; if not, he hath deprived him of his money,
and he hath gotten him for an enemy without cause ; he
will pay him with cursings and railings, and for honour
he will pay him disgrace. Many on account of men's
ill-dealing have turned away ; they have feared to be
defrauded for naught.

Howbeit with a man in poor estate be longsuffering ;
and let him not wait for thine alms. Help a poor man
96

The Wisdom of Jesus 3«- Book II xix

for the commandment's sake ; and according to his need
send him not empty away. Lose thy money for a brother
and a friend ; and let it not rust under the stone to be
lost. Bestow thy treasure according to the command-
ments of the Most High ; and it shall profit thee more
than gold. Shut up alms in thy store-chambers ; and it
shall deliver thee out of all affliction : it shall fight for
thee against thine enemy better than a mighty shield and
a ponderous spear.

A good man will be surety for his neighbour ; and he that
hath lost shame will fail him. Forget not the good offices
of thy surety; for he hath given his life for thee. A sin-
ner will overthrow the good estate of his surety ; and he
that is of an unthankful mind will fail him that delivered
him. Suretiship hath undone many that were prospering,
and shaken them as a wave of the sea ; mighty men hath
it driven from their homes, and they wandered among
strange nations. A sinner that falleth into suretiship, and
undertaketh contracts for work, shall fall into lawsuits.
Help thy neighbour according to thy power, and take
heed to thyself that thou fall not to the same.

H 97

Book II xx -^Ecclesiasticusor

XX

The Blessing of a House of One's Own

An Essay

The chief thing for life is water, and bread, and a gar-
ment, and a house to cover shame. Better is the life of
a poor man under a shelter of logs, than sumptuous fare
in another man's house. With little or with much, be
well satisfied. It is a miserable life to go from house to
house ; and where thou art a sojourner, thou shalt not
dare to open thy mouth. Thou shalt entertain, and give
to drink, and have no thanks ; and besides this thou shalt
hear bitter words.

Come hither, thou sojourner,

Furnish a table,
And if thou hast aught in thy hand,

Feed me with it.

Go forth, thou sojourner,

From the face of honour;

My brother is come to be my guest;
I have need of my house.

These things are grievous to a man of understanding —
the upbraiding of houseroom, and the reproaching of the
money-lender.

98

The Wisdom of Jesus 8*- Book II xxi

xxi

On the Chastisement of Children

A?i Essay

He that loveth his son will continue to lay stripes upon
him, that he may have joy of him in the end. He that
chastiseth his son shall have profit of him, and shall glory
of him among his acquaintance. He that teacheth his
son shall provoke his enemy to jealousy; and before
friends he shall rejoice of him. His father dieth, and is
as though he had not died, for he hath left one behind him
like himself: in his life he saw and rejoiced in him, and
when he died he sorrowed not ; he left behind him an
avenger against his enemies, and one to requite kindness
to his friends. He that maketh too much of his son shall
bind up his wounds ; and his heart will be troubled at
every cry. An unbroken horse becometh stubborn ; and
a son left at large becometh headstrong. Cocker thy
child, and he shall make thee afraid ; play with him, and
he will grieve thee. Laugh not with him, lest thou have
sorrow with him ; and thou shalt gnash thy teeth in the
end. Give him no liberty in his youth, and wink not at
his follies. Bow down his neck in his youth, and beat
him on the sides while he is a child, lest he wax stubborn,
and be disobedient unto thee ; and there shall be sorrow
99

Book II xxii -*g Ecclesiasticus or

to thy soul. Chastise thy son, and take pains with him,
lest his shameless behaviour be an offence unto thee.

XX11

On Health
An Essay

Better is a poor man, being sound and strong of con-
stitution, than a rich man that is plagued in his body.
Health and a good constitution are better than all gold ;
and a strong body than wealth without measure. There
is no riches better than health of body ; and there is no
gladness above the joy of the heart. Death is better than
a bitter life, and eternal rest than a continual sickness.
Good things poured out upon a mouth that is closed are
as messes of meat laid upon a grave. What doth an
offering profit an idol? for neither shall it eat nor smell;
so is he that is afflicted of the Lord, seeing with his
eyes and groaning, as an eunuch embracing a virgin and
groaning.

Give not over thy soul to sorrow ; and afflict not thyself
in thine own counsel. Gladness of heart is the life of a
man; and the joyfulness of a man is length of days.
Love thine own soul, and comfort thy heart ; and remove
sorrow far from thee ; for sorrow hath destroyed many,

The Wisdom of Jesus 8«- Book n xxiii

and there is no profit therein. Envy and wrath shorten a
man's days ; and care bringeth old age before the time.
A cheerful and good heart will have a care of his meat
and diet.

XX111

On Riches

An Essay

Wakefulness that cometh of riches consumeth the flesh,
and the anxiety thereof putteth away sleep. Wakeful
anxiety will crave slumber; and in a sore disease sleep
will be broken. A rich man toileth in gathering money
together, and when he resteth, he is filled with his good
things ; a poor man toileth in lack of substance, and
when he resteth, he becometh needy. He that loveth
gold shall not be justified ; and he that followeth destruc-
tion shall himself have his fill of it. Many have been
given over to ruin for the sake of gold ; and their perdi-
tion meeteth them face to face. It is a stumblingblock
unto them that sacrifice unto it ; and every fool shall be
taken therewith.

Blessed is the rich that is found without blemish,
And that goeth not after gold.

IOI

Book II xxiv -*g Ecclesiasticus or

Who is he?
And we will call him blessed :
For wonderful things hath he done among his people.

Who hath been tried thereby,
And found perfect?
Then let him glory.

Who hath had the power to transgress.
And hath not transgressed?
And to do evil,
And hath not done it?
His goods shall be made sure,
And the congregation shall declare his alms.

XXIV

On Feasting

An Essay

Sittest thou at a great table ? be not greedy upon it, and
say not, Many are the things upon it. Remember that an
evil eye is a wicked thing.

What hath been created more evil than an eye?
Therefore it sheddeth tears from every face.

Stretch not thine hand whithersoever it looketh, and thrust
not thyself with it into the dish. Consider thy neighbour's

The Wisdom of Jesus S<~ Book II xxiv

liking by thine own ; and be discreet in every point. Eat,
as becometh a man, those things which are set before
thee ; and eat not greedily, lest thou be hated. Be first to
leave off for manners' sake ; and be not insatiable, lest
thou offend. And if thou sittest among many, reach not
out thy hand before them.

How sufficient to a well-mannered man is a very little,
and he doth not breathe hard upon his bed. Healthy
sleep cometh of moderate eating ; he riseth early and his
wits are with him ; the pain of wakefulness, and colic,
and griping, are with an insatiable man. And if thou hast
been forced to eat, rise up in the midst thereof, and thou
shalt have rest. Hear me, my son, and despise me not,
and at the last thou shalt find my words true : in all thy
works be quick, and no disease shall come unto thee.

Him that is liberal of his meat the lips shall bless ; and
the testimony of his excellence shall be believed. Him
that is a niggard of his meat the city shall murmur at ; and
the testimony of his niggardness shall be sure.

Shew not thyself valiant in wine, for wine hath destroyed
many ; the furnace proveth the temper of steel by dipping,
so doth wine prove hearts in the quarrelling of the proud.
Wine is as good as life to men, if thou drink it in its meas-
ure : what life is there to a man that is without wine? and
it hath been created to make men glad. Wine drunk in
season and to satisfy is joy of heart, and gladness of soul :
wine drunk largely is bitterness of soul, with provocation
103

Book II xxiv -eg Ecclesiasticus or

and conflict. Drunkenness increaseth the rage of a fool
unto his hurt ; it diminisheth strength and addeth wounds.
Rebuke not thy neighbour at a banquet of wine, neither
set him at nought in his mirth ; speak not unto him a
word of reproach, and press not upon him by asking back
a debt. Have they made thee ruler of a feast ? be not
lifted up, be thou among them as one of them ; take
thought for them, and so sit down. And when thou hast
done all thy office, take thy place, that thou mayest be
gladdened on their account, and receive a crown for thy
well ordering. Speak, thou that art the elder, for it be-
cometh thee, but with sound knowledge. And hinder not
music : pour not out talk where there is a performance of
music, and display not thy wisdom out of season.

As a signet of carbuncle
In a setting of gold,
So is a concert of music in a banquet of wine.

As a signet of emerald
In a work of gold,
So is a strain of music with pleasant wine.

Speak, young man, if there be need of thee ; yet scarcely
if thou be twice asked : sum up thy speech, many things
in few words ; be as one that knoweth and yet holdeth his
tongue. If thou be among great men, behave not as their
equal ; and when another is speaking, make not much
104

The Wisdom of Jesus 8<~ Book II xxv-xxvii

babbling. Before thunder speedeth lightning ; and before
a shamefast man favour shall go forth. Rise up betimes,
and be not the last ; get thee home quickly and loiter not ;
there take thy pastime, and do what is in thy heart ; and
sin not by proud speech. And for these things bless him
that made thee, and giveth thee to drink freely of his good
things.

XXV

He that feareth the Lord will receive his discipline ;
And they that seek him early shall find favour.

XXVI

He that seeketh the law shall be filled therewith :
But the hypocrite shall stumble thereat.

XXV11

An Epigram

They that fear the Lord shall find judgement,
And shall kindle righteous acts as a light.

A sinful man shunneth reproof.

And will find a judgement according to his will.
ios

Book II xxviii-xxxi ~>8 Ecclesiasticus or

XXVlll

A Maxim

A man of counsel will not neglect a thought ; a strange
and proud man will not crouch in fear, even after he hath
done a thing by himself without counsel.

xxix

Do nothing without counsel ;

And when thou hast once done, repent not.

An Epigram

Go not in a way of conflict ;

And stumble not in stony places.
Be not confident in a smooth way :

And beware of thine own children.

XXXI

In every work trust thine own soul ;
For this is the keeping of the commandments.
106

The Wisdom of Jesus 8«*- Book II xxxii-xxxvii
xxxii

He that believeth the law giveth heed to the commandment ;
And he that trusteth in the Lord shall suffer no loss.

XXX111

There shall no evil happen unto him that feareth the Lord ;
But in temptation once and again will he deliver him.

xxxiv

A wise man will not hate the law ;

But he that is a hypocrite therein is as a ship in a storm.

XXXV

A man of understanding will put his trust in the law ;
And the law is faithful unto him, as when one asketh at
the oracle.

xxxvi

Prepare thy speech, and so shalt thou be heard ;
Bind up instruction and make thine answer.

xxxvii

The heart of a" fool is as a cartwheel ;
And his thoughts like a rolling axletree.
107

Book II xxxviii, xxxix ■*% Ecclesiasticus or

xxxviii

A stallion horse is as a mocking friend ;

He neigheth under every one that sitteth upon him.

XXXIX

An Analogy
An Essay

Why doth one day excel another, when all the light of
every day in the year is of the sun ? By the knowledge of
the Lord they were distinguished ; and he varied seasons
and feasts : some of them he exalted and hallowed, and
some of them hath he made ordinary days.

And all men are from the ground, and Adam was created
of earth. In the abundance of his knowledge the Lord
distinguished them, and made their ways various : some
of them he blessed and exalted, and some of them he
hallowed and brought nigh 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 that made them, to render unto them according to
his judgement.

108

The Wisdom of Jesus B«~ Book II xxxix

Good is set over against evil, and life over against death :
so is the sinner over against the godly. And thus look
upon all the works of the Most High ; two and two, one
against another.

109

BOOK III

PREFACE

And I awaked up last, as one that gleaneth after the
grafiegatherers : by the blessing of the Lord I got before
them, and filled mywi?iepress as one that gather eth grapes.
Consider that I laboured not for myself alo?ie, but for all
them that seek instructioti . Hear 7ne, ye great men of the
people, and hearken with your ears, ye rulers of the con-
gregation.

i 113

On Giving and Bequeathing

An Essay

To son and wife, to brother and friend, give not power
over thee while thou livest ; and give not thy goods to
another, lest thou repent and make supplication for them
again. Whilst thou yet livest, and breath is in thee, give
not thyself over to anybody. For better it is that thy
children should supplicate thee, than that thou shouldest
look to the hand of thy sons. In all thy works keep the
upper hand ; bring not a stain on thine honour. In the
day that thou endest the days of thy life, and in the time
of death, distribute thine inheritance.

ii

On Servants

A?i Essay

Fodder, a stick, and burdens,

For an ass :
Bread, and discipline, and work,

For a servant.
"5

Book Illiii -*SEcclesiasticusor

Set thy servant to work, and thou shalt find rest : leave
his hands idle, and he will seek liberty. Yoke and thong
will bow the neck : and for an evil servant there are racks
and tortures. Send him to labour that he be not idle ; for
idleness teacheth much mischief. Set him to work, as is
fit for him ; and if he obey not, make his fetters heavy.

And be not excessive toward any; and without judge-
ment do nothing. If thou hast a servant, let him be as
thyself, because thou hast bought him with blood. If
thou hast a servant, treat him as thyself; for as thine own
soul wilt thou have need of him : if thou treat him ill, and
he depart and run away, which way wilt thou go to seek
him?

Ill

On Dreams

An Essay

Vain and false hopes are for a man void of understanding ;
and dreams give wings to fools. As one that catcheth at
a shadow, and followeth after the wind, so is he that set-
teth his mind on dreams. The vision of dreams is as this
thing against that, the likeness of a face over against
116

The Wisdom of Jesus 8^ Book III iv

a face. Of an unclean thing what shall be cleansed?
and of that which is false what shall be true? Divinations,
and soothsayings, and dreams, are vain : and the heart
fancieth, as a woman's in travail. If they be not sent
from the Most High in thy visitation, give not thy heart
unto them. For dreams have led many astray : and they
have failed by putting their hope in them. Without lying
shall the law be accomplished ; and wisdom is perfection
to a faithful mouth.

iv

A Maxim

A well-instructed man knoweth many things',
And he that hath much experience will declare under-
standing.

He that hath no experience knoweth few things : but he
that hath wandered shall increase his skill. In my wan-
dering I have seen many things ; and more than my
words is my understanding. Ofttimes was I in danger
even unto death ; and I was preserved because of these
things.

117

Book IIIv -sSEcclesiasticusor

V

The Fearers of the Lord

A Sonnet

The spirit of those that fear the Lord
Shall live ;
For their hope is upon him that saveth them.

Whoso feareth the Lord shall not be afraid,
And shall not play the coward ;
For he is his hope.

Blessed is the soul of him that feareth the Lord :
To whom doth he give heed?
And who is his stay?

The eyes of the Lord are upon them that love him : —

A mighty protection,

And strong stay,

A cover from the hot blast,

And a cover from the noonday,

A guard from stumbling,

And a succour from falling : —
He raiseth up the soul, and enlighteneth the eyes,
He giveth healing, life, and blessing.
118

The Wisdom of Jesus 8«- Book III v£

vi

On Sacrifices Evil and Acceptable

An Essay

He that sacrificeth of a thing wrongfully gotten, his
offering is made in mockery; and the mockeries of wicked
men are not well-pleasing. The Most High hath no pleas-
ure in the offerings of the ungodly ; neither is he pacified
for sins by the multitude of sacrifices.

As one that killeth the son
Before his father's eyes
Is he that bringeth a sacrifice from the goods of the poor.

The bread of the needy is the life of the poor : he that
depriveth him thereof is a man of blood. As one that
slayeth his neighbour is he that taketh away his living;
and as a shedder of blood is he that depriveth a hireling of
his hire.

One building, and another pulling down, what profit
have they had but toil ? One praying, and another cursing,
whose voice will the Lord listen to? He that washeth
himself after touching a dead body, and toucheth it again,
what profit hath he in his washing ? Even so a man fast-
ing for his sins, and going again, and doing the same, who
119

Book Illvi ->SEcclesiasticusor

will listen to his prayer? and what profit hath he in his
humiliation? He that keepeth the law multiplieth offer-
ings ; he that taketh heed to the commandments sacrificeth
a peace offering. He that requiteth a good turn offereth
fine flour; and he that giveth alms sacrificeth a thank
offering. To depart from wickedness is a thing pleasing
to the Lord ; and to depart from unrighteousness is a
propitiation.

See that thou appear not in the presence of the Lord
empty ; for all these things are to be done because of the
commandment. The offering of the righteous maketh the
altar fat ; and the sweet savour thereof is before the Most
High. The sacrifice of a righteous man is acceptable ; and
the memorial thereof shall not be forgotten. Glorify the
Lord with a good eye, and stint not the firstfruits of thine
hands. In every gift shew a cheerful countenance, and
dedicate thy tithe with gladness. Give unto the Most High
according as he hath given ; and as thy hand hath found,
give with a good eye. For the Lord recompensed, and he
will recompense thee sevenfold.

Think not to corrupt with gifts ; for he will not receive
them : and set not thy mind on an unrighteous sacrifice ;
for the Lord is judge, and with him is no respect of per-
sons. He will not accept any person against a poor man ;
and he will listen to the prayer of him that is wronged.
He will in no wise despise the supplication of the father-
less ; nor the widow, when she poureth out her tale.

The Wisdom of Jesus 8*~ Book III vii

Do not the tears of the widow run down her cheek?

And is not her cry against him that hath caused them to fall?

He that serveth God according to his good pleasure shall
be accepted, and his supplication shall reach unto the
clouds.

The prayer of the humble pierceth the clouds ; and till
it come nigh he will not be comforted ; and he will not
depart, till the Most High shall visit ; and he shall judge
righteously, and execute judgement. And the Lord will
not be slack, neither will he be longsuffering toward them,
till he have crushed the loins of the unmerciful ; and he
shall repay vengeance to the heathen ; till he have taken
away the multitude of the haughty, and broken in pieces
the sceptres of the unrighteous ; till he have rendered to
every man according to his doings, and to the works of
men according to their devices ; till he have judged the
cause of his people ; and he shall make them to rejoice in
his mercy. Mercy is seasonable in the time of his afflict-
ing them, as clouds of rain in the time of drought.

Vll

A Prayer for Mercy upon Israel

Have mercy upon us, O Lord the God of all, and behold ;
and send thy fear upon all the nations : lift up thy hand

Book III vii -eg Ecclesiasticus or

against the strange nations : and let them see thy mighty
power. As thou wast sanctified in us before them, so be
thou magnified in them before us ; and let them know thee,
as we also have known thee, that there is no God but only
thou, O God. Shew new signs, and work divers wonders ;
glorify thy hand and thy right arm ; raise up indignation,
and pour out wrath ; take away the adversary, and destroy
the enemy. Hasten the time and remember the oath ; and
let them declare thy mighty works. Let him that escapeth
be devoured by the rage of the fire, and may they that
harm thy people find destruction ; crush the heads of the
rulers of the enemies, that say, There is none but we.
Gather all the tribes of Jacob together, and take them for
thine inheritance, as from the beginning. O Lord, have
mercy upon the people that is called by thy name, and
upon Israel, whom thou didst liken unto a firstborn. Have
compassion upon the city of thy sanctuary, Jerusalem, the
place of thy rest ; fill Sion, exalt thine oracles, and fill thy
people with thy glory. Give testimony unto those that
were thy creatures in the beginning, and raise up the proph-
ecies that have been in thy name. Give reward unto
them that wait for thee : and men shall put their trust in
thy prophets. Hearken, O Lord, to the prayer of thy
suppliants, according to the blessing of Aaron concerning
thy people ; and all they that are on the earth shall know
that thou art the Lord, the eternal God.

The Wisdom of Jesus 8*- Book In viii"x

viii

An Epigram

The belly will eat any meat,
Yet is one meat better than another.
The mouth tasteth meats taken in hunting :
So doth an understanding heart false speeches.

ix

A froward heart will cause heaviness :

And a man of experience will recompense him.

On Wives

An Essay

A woman will receive any man ; but one daughter is
better than another. The beauty of a woman cheereth
the countenance, and a man desireth nothing so much;
if there is on her tongue mercy and meekness, her hus-
band is not like the sons of men. He that getteth a wife
123

Book III xi -ag E cclesiasticus or

entereth upon a possession ; a help meet for him, and a
pillar of rest. Where no hedge is, the possession will be
laid waste : and he that hath no wife will mourn as he
wandereth up and down. For who will trust a nimble
robber, that skippeth from city to city? even so who
shall trust a man that hath no nest, and lodgeth whereso-
ever he findeth himself at nightfall ?

XI

On False Friends

An Essay

Every friend will say, I also am his friend: but there
is a friend, which is only a friend in name. Is there not
a grief in it, even unto death, when a companion and
friend is turned to enmity? O wicked imagination, whence
earnest thou rolling in to cover the dry land with deceit-
fulness? There is a companion, which rejoiceth in the
gladness of a friend, but in time of affliction will be against
him. There is a companion, which for the belly's sake
laboureth with his friend, in the face of battle will take up
the buckler. Forget not a friend in thy soul ; and be not
unmindful of him in thy riches.
124

The Wisdom of Jesus &~ Book III xii

xii

On Counsel and Counsellors

An Essay

Every counsellor extolleth counsel; but there is that
counselleth for himself. Let thy soul beware of a coun-
sellor, and know thou before what is his interest — for he
will counsel for himself — lest he cast the lot upon thee,
and say unto thee, Thy way is good : and he will stand over
against thee, to see what shall befall thee. Take not
counsel with one that looketh askance at thee ; and hide
thy counsel from such as are jealous of thee. Take not
counsel with a woman about her rival ; neither with a
coward about war ; nor with a merchant about exchange ;
nor with a buyer about selling ; nor with an envious man
about thankfulness ; nor with an unmerciful man about
kindliness ; nor with a sluggard about any kind of work ;
nor with a hireling in thy house about finishing his
work ; nor with an idle servant about much business :
give not heed to these in any matter of counsel. But
rather be continually with a godly man, whom thou shalt
have known to be a keeper of the commandments, who in
his soul is as thine own soul, and who will grieve with
thee, if thou shalt miscarry. And make the counsel of
125

Book III xii -*g Ecclesiasticus or

thy heart to stand, for there is none more faithful unto
thee than it ; for a man's soul is sometime wont to bring
him tidings, more than seven watchmen that sit on high
on a watch-tower. And above all this entreat the Most
High, that he may direct thy way in truth. Let reason
be the beginning of every work, and let counsel go before
every action.

As a token of the changing of the heart, four manner of
things do rise up, good and evil, life and death ; and that
which ruleth over them continually is the tongue. There
is one that is shrewd and the instructor of many, and
yet is unprofitable to his own soul. There is one that is
subtil in words, and is hated ; he shall be destitute of all
food ; for grace was not given him from the Lord, because
he is deprived of all wisdom. There is one that is wise
to his own soul ; and the fruits of his understanding are
trustworthy in the mouth. A wise man will instruct his
own people ; and the fruits of his understanding are trust-
worthy. A wise man shall be filled with blessing ; and
all they that see him shall call him happy. The life of
man is numbered by days ; and the days of Israel are
innumerable. The wise man shall inherit confidence
among his people, and his name shall live for ever.

126

The Wisdom of Jesus B*- Book III xiii

xiii

On Disease and Physicians

An Essay

My son, prove thy soul in thy life, and see what is evil
for it, and give not that unto it. For all things are not
profitable for all men, neither hath every soul pleasure in
every thing. Be not insatiable in any luxury, and be not
greedy on the things that thou eatest. For in multitude
of meats there shall be disease, and surfeiting shall come
nigh unto colic. Because of surfeiting many have per-
ished ; but he that taketh heed shall prolong his life.

Honour a physician according to thy need of him with
the honours due unto him : for verily the Lord hath created
him. For from the Most High cometh healing; and from
the king he shall receive a gift. The skill of the phy-
sician shall lift up his head ; and in the sight of great
men he shall be admired. The Lord created medicines
out of the earth ; and a prudent man will have no disgust
at them. Was not water made sweet with wood, that the
virtus thereof might be known? And he gave men skill,
that they might be glorified in his marvellous works.
With them doth he heal a man, and taketh away his pain.
With these will the apothecary make a confection; and
127

Book Illxiv -^Ecclesiasticusor

his works shall not be brought to an end ; and from him
is peace upon the face of the earth.

My son, in thy sickness be not negligent ; but pray unto
the Lord, and he shall heal thee. Put away wrong doing,
and order thine hands aright, and cleanse thy heart from
all manner of sin. Give a sweet savour, and a memorial
of fine flour ; and make fat thine offering, as one that is
not. Then give place to the physician, for verily the
Lord hath created him ; and let him not go from thee,
for thou hast need of him. There is a time when in their
very hands is the issue for good. For they also shall
beseech the Lord, that he may prosper them in giving
relief and in healing for the maintenance of life. He that
sinneth before his Maker, let him fall into the hands of
the physician.

XIV

On Mourning for the Dead

An Essay

My son, let thy tears fall over the dead, and as one

that suffereth grievously begin lamentation ; and wind up

his body according to his due, and neglect not his burial ;

make bitter weeping, and make passionate wailing, and let

128

The Wisdom of Jesus 8*- Book ni xv

thy mourning be according to his desert, for one day or
two, lest thou be evil spoken of: — and so be comforted
for thy sorrow. For

Of sorrow cometh death ;

And sorrow of heart will bow down the strength.
In calamity sorrow also remaineth ;

And the poor man's life is grievous to the heart.

Give not thy heart unto sorrow : put it away, remembering
the last end ; forget it not, for there is no returning again ;
him thou shalt not profit, and thou wilt hurt thyself.
Remember the sentence upon him, for so also shall thine
be : yesterday for me and today for thee. When the
dead is at rest, let his remembrance rest ; and be com-
forted for him, when his spirit departeth from him.

XV

The Wisdom of Business and the Wisdom
of Leisure

An Essay

The wisdom of the scribe cometh by opportunity of
leisure ; and he that hath little business shall become
k 129

Book III xv -*SEcclesiasticusor

wise. How shall he become wise that holdeth the plow,
that glorieth in the shaft of the goad, that driveth oxen,
and is occupied in their labours, and whose discourse is of
the stock of bulls ? He will set his heart upon turning his
furrows ; and his wakefulness is to give his heifers their
fodder. So is every artificer and workmaster, that passeth
his time by night as by day ; they that cut gravings of
signets, and his diligence is to make great variety ; he will
set his heart to preserve likeness in his portraiture, and
will be wakeful to finish his work. So is the smith
sitting by the anvil, and considering the unwrought iron ;
the vapour of the fire will waste his flesh, and in the heat
of the furnace will he wrestle with his work ; the noise of
the hammer will be ever in his ear, and his eyes are upon
the pattern of the vessel ; he will set his heart upon per-
fecting his works, and he will be wakeful to adorn them
perfectly. So is the potter sitting at his work, and turning
the wheel about with his feet, who is alway anxiously set
at his work, and all his handywork is by number ; he will
fashion the clay with his arm, and will bend its strength in
front of his feet ; he will apply his heart to finish the
glazing, and he will be wakeful to make clean the furnace.
All these put their trust in their hands ; and each becometh
wise in his own work. Wifbout these shall not a city
be inhabited, and men shall not sojourn nor walk up and
down therein. They shall not be sought for in the council
of the people, and in the assembly they shall not mount on
130

The Wisdom of Jesus &►■ Book III xv

high ; they shall not sit on the seat of the judge, and they
shall not understand the covenant of judgement ; neither
shall they declare instruction and judgement, and where
parables are they shall not be found. But they will
maintain the fabric of the world ; and in the handywork of
their craft is their prayer.

Not so he that hath applied his soul, and meditateth in
the law of the Most High. He will seek out the wisdom
of all the ancients, and will be occupied in prophecies.
He will keep the discourse of the men of renown, and will
enter in amidst the subtilties of parables. He will seek
out the hidden meaning of proverbs, and be conversant in
the dark sayings of parables. He will serve among great
men, and appear before him that ruleth. He will travel
through the land of strange nations ; for he hath tried
good things and evil among men. He will apply his
heart to resort early to the Lord that made him, and will
make supplication before the Most High, and will open
his mouth in prayer, and will make supplication for his
sins. If the great Lord will, he shall be filled with the
spirit of understanding : he shall pour forth the words of
his wisdom, and in prayer give thanks unto the Lord. He
shall direct his counsel and knowledge, and in his secrets
shall he meditate. He shall shew forth the instruction
which he hath been taught, and shall glory in the law of
the covenant of the Lord. Many shall commend his
understanding, and so long as the world endureth, it shall
131

-a8 Ecclesiasticus or The Wisdom of Jesus

not be blotted out ; his memorial shall not depart, and his
name shall live from generation to generation; nations
shall declare his wisdom, and the congregation shall tell
out his praise. If he continue, he shall leave a greater
name than a thousand : and if he die, he addeth thereto.

133

Book IV

PREFACE

WITH AN ENCOMIUM: THE WORKS OF THE LORD

Yet more will I utter, which I have thought upon ; and
I am filled as the moon at the full. Hearken unto ?7ie, ye
holy children, and bud forth as a rose growing by a brook
of 'water ; and give ye a sweet savour as frankincense, and
put forth flowers as a lily ; spread abroad a sweet smell,
and sing a song of praise. Bless ye the Lord for all his
works. Magnify his name, and give utterance to his
praise with the songs of your lips, and with harps. And
thus shall ye say when ye utter his praise : —

All the works of the Lord are exceeding good, and every
command shall be accomplished in his season. None can
say, What is this? wherefore is that? for in his season they
shall all be sought out. At his word the waters stood as
a heap, and the receptacles of waters at the word of his
mouth. At his command is all his good pleasure done;
and there is none that shall hinder his salvation. The
works of all flesh are before him ; and it is not possible to
be hid from his eyes. He beholdeth from everlasting to
everlasting ; and there is nothing wonderful before him.

None can say, What is this? wherefore is that? for all
things are created for their uses. His blessing covered
i35

-*8Ecclesiasticus or The Wisdom of Jesus

the dry land as a river, and saturated it as a flood. As he
hath turned the waters into saltness, so shall the heathen
inherit his wrath. His ways are plain unto the holy ; so
are they stumblingblocks unto the wicked. Good things
are created from the beginning for the good ; so are evil
things for sinners. The chief of all things necessary for
the life of man are water, and fire, and iron, and salt, and
flour of wheat, and honey, and milk, the blood of the
grape, and oil, and clothing. All these things are for
good to the godly ; so to the sinners they shall be turned
into evil. There be winds that are created for vengeance,
and in their fury lay on their scourges heavily ; in the time
of consummation they pour out their strength, and shall
appease the wrath of him that made them. Fire, and
hail, and famine, and death — all these are created for
vengeance ; teeth of wild beasts, and scorpions and
adders, and a sword punishing the ungodly unto destruc-
tion. They shall rejoice in his commandment, and shall
be made ready upon earth, when need is ; and in their
seasons they shall not transgress his word.

Therefore from the beginning I was resolved, and I

thought this, and left it in writing. All the works of the

Lord are good: and he will supply every need in its season.

And notie can say, This is worse than that : for they shall

all be well approved in their season. And now with all

your heart and mouth sing ye praises, and bless the name

of the Lord.

136

i

The Burden of Life

An Essay

Great travail is created for every man, and a heavy yoke
is upon the sons of Adam, from the day of their coming
forth from their mother's womb, until the day for their
burial in the mother of all things. The expectation of
things to come, and the day of death, trouble their
thoughts, and cause fear of heart ; from him that sitteth
upon a throne of glory even unto him that is humbled
in earth and ashes ; from him that weareth purple and
a crown even unto him that is clothed with a hempen
frock. There is wrath, and jealousy, and trouble, and dis-
quiet, and fear of death, and anger, and strife. And in
the time of rest upon his bed his night sleep doth change
his knowledge. A little or nothing is his resting, and
afterward in his sleep, as in a day of keeping watch, he is
troubled in the vision of his heart, as one that hath escaped
from the front of battle ; in the very time of his deliver-
ance he awaketh, and marvelleth that the fear is nought.
It is thus with all flesh, from man to beast ; and upon sin-
137

Book IV ii ~>8Ecclesiasticusor

ners sevenfold more. Death, and bloodshed, and strife,
and sword, calamities, famine, tribulation, and the scourge :
all these things were created for the wicked, and because of
them came the Flood.

11

A Garden of Blessings
A Pair of Sonnets

All things that are of the earth turn to the earth again ;

And all things that are of the waters return into the sea.
All bribery and injustice shall be blotted out ;

And good faith shall stand for ever.
The goods of the unjust shall be dried up like a river,

And like a great thunder in rain shall go off in noise.
In opening his hands a man shall be made glad ;

So shall transgressors utterly fail.
The children of the ungodly shall not put forth many
branches ;

And are as unclean roots upon a sheer rock.
The sedge that groweth upon every water and bank of a
river

Shall be plucked up before all grass.
138

The Wisdom of Jesus B«- Book IV "

Bounty is as a Garden of Blessings,
And almsgiving endureth for ever.

The life of one that laboureth and is contented

Shall be made sweet ;
And he that findeth a treasure is above both.

Children, and the building of a city,

Establish a man's name ;
And a blameless wife is counted above both.

Wine and music

Rejoice the heart ;
And the love of wisdom is above both.

The pipe and the psaltery

Make pleasant melody ;
And a pleasant tongue is above both.

Thine eye shall desire

Grace and beauty ;
And above both the green blade of corn.

A friend and a companion

Never meet amiss ;
And a wife with her husband is above both.

Brethren and succour

Are for a time of affliction ;
And almsgiving is a deliverer above both.
i39

Book IV iii -^Q Ecclesias ticus or

Gold and silver

Will make the foot stand sure ;
And counsel is esteemed above them both.

Riches and strength

Will lift up the heart ;
And the fear of the Lord is above both.

There is nothing wanting in the fear of the Lord,
And there is no need to seek help therein.

The fear of the Lord is as a Garden of Blessing,
And covereth a man above all glory.

Ill

A Maxim

My son, lead not a beggars life ;
Better it is to die than to beg.

A man that looketh unto the table of another, his life is
not to be counted for a life ; he will pollute himself with
another man's meats : but a man wise and well-instructed
will beware thereof. In the mouth of the shameless beg-
ging will be sweet ; and in his belly a fire shall be kindled.
140

The Wisdom of Jesus g^ Book IV iv

iv

On Death

A Sonnet
O Death,

How bitter is the remembrance of thee
To a man that is at peace in his possessions,
Unto the man that hath nothing to distract him,
And hath prosperity in all things,
And that still hath strength to receive meat !

O Death,
Acceptable is thy sentence
Unto a man that is needy, and that faileth in strength,
That is in extreme old age,
And is distracted about all things,
And is perverse, and hath lost patience !

Fear not the sentence of Death ;

Remember them that have been before thee,

And that come after.
This is the sentence from the Lord over all flesh :
And why dost thou refuse,
When it is the good pleasure of the Most High?

Whether it be ten, or a hundred,

Or a thousand years,
There is no inquisition of life in the grave.
141

Book IV v -sgEcclesiasticusor

V

The Posterity of Sinners

An Essay

The children of sinners are abominable children, and
they frequent the dwellings of the ungodly. The inher-
itance of sinners1 children shall perish, and with their
posterity shall be a perpetual reproach. Children will
complain of an ungodly father, because they shall be
reproached for his sake.

Woe unto you, ungodly men,

Which have forsaken the law of the Most High God !
If ye be born,

Ye shall be born to a curse ;
If ye die,

A curse shall be your portion.

All things that are of the earth shall go back to the earth :
so the ungodly shall go from a curse unto perdition. The
mourning of men is about their bodies : but the name of
sinners being evil shall be blotted out. Have regard to thy
name ; for it continueth with thee longer than a thousand
great treasures of gold. A good life hath its number of
days ; and a good name continueth for ever.
142

The Wisdom of Jesus 8«- Book IV vi

vi

Things to be ashamed of
Aft Essay

My children, keep instruction in peace : but —

Wisdom that is hid,

And a treasure that is not seen,

What profit is in them both ?
Better is a man that hideth his foolishness
Than a man that hideth his wisdom.

Wherefore shew reverence to my word : for it is not good
to retain every kind of shame ; and not all things are
approved by all in good faith. Be ashamed of whoredom
before father and mother ; and of a lie before a prince and
a mighty man ; of an offence before a judge and ruler ; of
inquity before the congregation and the people ; of unjust
dealing before a partner and friend ; and of theft, in regard
of the place where thou sojournest, and in regard of the
truth of God and his covenant ; and of leaning with thine
elbow at meat ; and of scurrility in the matter of giving
and taking; and of silence before them that salute thee;
and of looking upon a woman that is a harlot ; and of
turning away thy face from a kinsman ; of taking away a
i43

Book IV vi -^Ecclesiasticusor

portion or a gift ; and of gazing upon a woman that hath a
husband ; of being over busy with his maid, and come not
near her bed ; of upbraiding speeches before friends, and
after thou hast given upbraid not ; of repeating and speak-
ing what thou hast heard ; and of revealing of secrets. So
shalt thou be truly shamefast, and find favour in the sight
of every man.

Of these things be not ashamed, and accept no man's
person to sin thereby : of the law of the Most High, and
his covenant ; and of judgement to do justice to the
ungodly ; of reckoning with a partner and with travellers ;
and of a gift from the heritage of friends ; of exactness
of balance and weights ; and of getting much or little ;
of indifferent selling of merchants ; and of much correc-
tion of children ; and of making the side of an evil servant
to bleed. Sure keeping is good, where an evil wife is ; and
where many hands are, shut thou close. Whatsoever
thou handest over, let it be by number and weight ; and in
giving and receiving let all be in writing. Be not ashamed
to instruct the unwise and foolish, and one of extreme old
age that contendeth with those that are young. And so
shalt thou be well instructed indeed, and approved in the
sight of every man living.

144

The Wisdom of Jesus 8*- Bo°k IV vii

vii

Women as a Source of Trouble
An Essay

A daughter is a secret cause of wakefulness to a father ;
and the care for her putteth away sleep : in her youth,
lest she pass the flower of her age ; and when she is
married, lest she should be hated ; in her virginity, lest
she should be defiled and be with child in her father's
house ; and when she hath a husband, lest she should
transgress ; and when she is married, lest she should be
barren. Keep a strict watch over a headstrong daughter,
lest she make thee a laughingstock to thine enemies, a
byword in the city, and notorious among the people, and
shame thee before the multitude.

Look not upon every body in regard of beauty, and sit
not in the midst of women ; for from garments cometh a
moth, and from a woman a woman's wickedness. Better
is the wickedness of a man than a pleasant-dealing woman,
and a woman which putteth thee to shameful reproach.

L 145

Book V

LONGER WORKS

The Works of the Lord

A Rhetoric Encomium

I will make mention now of the wo?'ks of the Lord,
and will declare the things that I have seen.

In the words of the Lord are his works. The sun that
giveth light looketh upon all things ; and the work of the
Lord is full of his glory. The Lord hath not given power
to the saints to declare all his marvellous works ; which
the Almighty Lord firmly settled, that whatsoever is
might be established in his glory. He searcheth out the
deep, and the heart, and he hath understanding of their
cunning devices ; for the Most High knoweth all knowl-
edge, and he looketh into the signs of the world, declaring
the things that are past, and the things that shall be, and
revealing the traces of hidden things. No thought
escapeth him; there is not a word hid from him. The
mighty works of his wisdom he hath ordered, who is from
everlasting to everlasting : nothing hath been added unto
them, nor diminished from them ; and he had no need of
any counsellor. How desirable are all his works ! One
may behold this even unto a spark. All these things live
149

Book Vi -^SEcclesiasticusor

and remain for ever in all manner of uses, and they are all
obedient. All things are double one against another ; and
he hath made nothing imperfect. One thing established
the good things of another ; and who shall be filled with
beholding his glory?

The pride of the height is the firmament in its clearness,
the appearance of heaven, in the spectacle of its glory.
The sun when he appeareth, bringing tidings as he goeth
forth, is a marvellous instrument, the work of the Most
High. At his noon he drieth up the country, and who
shall stand against his burning heat ? A man blowing a
furnace is in works of heat, but the sun three times more,
burning up the mountains : breathing out fiery vapours,
and sending forth bright beams, he dimmeth the eyes.
Great is the Lord that made him ; and at his word he
hasteneth his course.

The moon also is in all things for her season, for a
declaration of times, and a sign of the world.

From the moon is the sign of the feast day ;

A light that waneth when she is come to the full.
The month is called after her name,

Increasing wonderfully in her changing;
An instrument of the hosts on high,

Shining forth in the firmament of heaven,
The beauty of heaven, the glory of the stars,

An ornament giving light in the highest places of the Lord.
At the word of the Holy One they will stand in due order,

And they will not faint in their watches.
150

The Wisdom of Jesus &- Book V i

Look upon the rainbow, and praise him that made it ;
exceeding beautiful in the brightness thereof. It com-
passeth the heaven round about with a circle of glory ;
the hands of the Most High have stretched it.

By his commandment he maketh the snow to fall apace,
and sendeth swiftly the lightnings of his judgement. By
reason thereof the treasure-houses are opened ; and clouds
fly forth as fowls. By his mighty power he maketh strong
the clouds, and the hailstones are broken small ; and at
his appearing the mountains will be shaken, and at his
will the south wind will blow. The voice of his thunder
maketh the earth to travail ; so doth the northern storm
and the whirlwind. As birds flying down he sprinkleth
the snow, and as the lighting of the locust is the falling
down thereof: the eye will marvel at the beauty of its
whiteness, and the heart will be astonished at the raining
of it. The hoarfrost also he poureth on the earth as salt ;
and when it is congealed, it is as points of thorns. The
cold north wind shall blow, and the ice shall be congealed
on the water : it shall lodge upon every gathering together
of water, and the water shall put on as it were a breast-
plate. It shall devour the mountains, and burn up the
wilderness, and consume the green herb as fire. A mist
coming speedily is the healing of all things ; a dew coming
after heat shall bring cheerfulness. By his counsel he
hath stilled the deep, and planted islands therein. They
that sail on the sea tell of the danger thereof; and when
151

Book V ii -*g Ecclesiasticus or

we hear it with our ears, we marvel. Therein be also
those strange and wondrous works, variety of all that hath
life, the race of sea-monsters.

By reason of him his end hath success, and by his word
all things consist. We may say many things, yet shall we
not attain ; and the sum of our words is, He is all. How
shall we have strength to glorify him? for he is himself
the great one above all his works. The Lord is terrible
and exceeding great ; and marvellous is his power. When
ye glorify the Lord, exalt him as much as ye can, for even
yet will he exceed : and when ye exalt him, put forth your
full strength ; be not weary, for ye will never attain. Who
hath seen him that he may declare him ? and who shall
magnify him as he is? Many things are hidden greater
than these ; for we have seen but a few of his works.
For the Lord made all things ; and to the godly gave he
wisdom.

11

Praise of Famous Men

A Rhetoric Encomium

Let us now praise famous men, and our fathers that
begat us. The Lord manifested in them great glory, even
his mighty power from the beginning. Such as did bear
152

The Wisdom of Jesus 8<- Book V ii

rule in their kingdoms, and were men renowned for their
power, giving counsel by their understanding ; such as
have brought tidings in prophecies ; leaders of the people
by their counsels, and by their understanding men of
learning for the people — wise were their words in their
instruction; such as sought out musical tunes, and set
forth verses in writing; rich men furnished with ability,
living peaceably in their habitations : all these were hon-
oured in their generations, and were a glory in their days.
There be of them, that have left a name behind them, to
declare their praises. And some there be which have no
memorial ; who are perished as though they had not been,
and are become as though they had not been born ; and
their children after them. But these were men of mercy
whose righteous deeds have not been forgotten. With
their seed shall remain continually a good inheritance ;
their children are within the covenants. Their seed
standeth fast, and their children for their sakes. Their
seed shall remain for ever, and their glory shall not be
blotted out. Their bodies were buried in peace, and their
name liveth to all generations. Peoples will declare their
wisdom, and the congregation telleth out their praise.

Enoch pleased the Lord, and was translated, being
an example of repentance to all generations. Noah was
found perfect and righteous ; in the season of wrath he
was taken in exchange for the world; therefore was there
left a remnant unto the earth when the Flood came. Ever-
i53

Book Vii -*8Ecclesiasticusor

lasting covenants were made with him, that all flesh should
no more be blotted out by a flood.

Abraham was a great father of a multitude of nations,
and there was none found like him in glory : who kept the
law of the Most High, and was taken into covenant with
him ; in his flesh he established the covenant, and when
he was proved he was found faithful. Therefore he as-
sured him by an oath that the nations should be blessed in
his seed ; that he would multiply him as the dust of the
earth, and exalt his seed as the stars, and cause them to
inherit from sea to sea, and from the River unto the
utmost part of the earth. In Isaac also did he establish
likewise, for Abraham his father's sake, the blessing of all
men, and the covenant. And he made it rest upon the
head of Jacob ; he acknowledged him in his blessings,
and gave to him by inheritance, and divided his portions;
among twelve tribes did he part them.

And he brought out of him a man of mercy, which
found favour in the sight of all flesh : a man beloved of
God and men, even Moses, whose memorial is blessed.
He made him like to the glory of the saints, and magni-
fied him in the fears of his enemies. By his words he
caused the wonders to cease ; he glorified him in the sight
of kings; he gave him commandment for his people, and
shewed him part of his glory. He sanctified him in his
faithfulness and meekness ; he chose him out of all flesh.
He made him to hear his voice, and led him into the thick
i54

The Wisdom of Jesus 8«- Book V ii

darkness, and gave him commandments face to face, even
the law of life and knowledge, that he might teach Jacob
the covenant, and Israel his judgements.

He exalted Aaron, a holy man like unto him, even
his brother of the tribe of Levi. He established for him
an everlasting covenant, and gave him the priesthood of
the people. He beautified him with comely ornaments,
and girded him about with a robe of glory. He clothed
him with the perfection of exultation ; and strengthened
him with apparel of honour, the linen breeches, the long
robe, and the ephod. And he compassed him with pome-
granates of gold, and with many bells round about, to
send forth a sound as he went, to make a sound that
might be heard in the temple, for a memorial to the chil-
dren of his people ; with a holy garment, with gold and
blue and purple, the work of the embroiderer; with an
oracle of judgement, even with the Urim and Thummim ;
with twisted scarlet, the work of the craftsman ; with
precious stones graven like a signet, in a setting of gold,
the work of the jeweller, for a memorial engraved in
writing, after the number of the tribes of Israel; with a
crown of gold upon the mitre, having graven on it, as on
a signet, Holiness, an ornament of honour, a work of
might, the desires of the eyes, goodly and beautiful. Be-
fore him there never have been any such ; no stranger put
them on, but his sons only and his offspring perpetually.
His sacrifice shall be wholly consumed every day twice
iS5

Book Vii -sSEcclesiasticusor

continually. Moses consecrated him, and anointed him
with holy oil : it was unto him for an everlasting cove-
nant, and to his seed, all the days of heaven, to minister
unto him, and to execute also the priest's office, and bless
his people in his name. He chose him out of all living to
offer sacrifice to the Lord, incense, and a sweet savour, for
a memorial, to make reconciliation for thy people. He
gave unto him in his commandments, yea, authority in the
covenants of judgements, to teach Jacob the testimonies,
and to enlighten Israel in his law. Strangers gathered
themselves together against him, and envied him in the
wilderness, even Dathan and Abiram with their company,
and the congregation of Korah, with wrath and anger.
The Lord saw it, and it displeased him ; and in the wrath
of his anger they were destroyed : he did wonders upon
them, to consume them with flaming fire. And he added
glory to Aaron, and gave him a heritage :

He divided unto him the firstfruits of the increase;

And first did he prepare bread in abundance :
For they shall eat the sacrifices of the Lord,

Which he gave unto him and to his seed.
Howbeit in the land of the people he shall have no
inheritance ;

And he hath no portion among the people :
For He himself is thy portion and inheritance.

And Phinehas the son of Eleazar is the third in glory,
in that he was zealous in the fear of the Lord, and stood
156

The Wisdom of Jesus Se- Book V ii

fast in the good forwardness of his soul when the people
turned away, and he made reconciliation for Israel. There-
fore was there a covenant of peace established for him,
that he should be leader of the saints and of his people ;
that he and his seed should have the dignity of the priest-
hood for ever. Also he made a covenant with David the
son of Jesse, of the tribe of Judah : the inheritance of
the king is his alone from son to son. So the inheritance
of Aaron is also unto his seed. God give you wisdom in
your heart to judge his people in righteousness, that their
good things be not abolished, and that their glory endure
for all their generations.

Joshua the son of Nun was valiant in war, and was the
successor of Moses in prophecies : who according to his
name was made great for the saving of God's elect, to take
vengeance of the enemies that rose up against them, that
he might give Israel their inheritance. How was he
glorified in the lifting up his hands, and in stretching out
his sword against the cities ! Who before him so stood
fast? For the Lord himself brought his enemies unto
him. Did not the sun go back by his hand? And did
not one day become as two? He called upon the Most
High and Mighty One, when his foes pressed him round
about ; and the great Lord heard him. With hailstones
of mighty power he caused war to break violently upon the
nation, and in the going down he destroyed them that
resisted; that the nations might know his armour, how
157

Book V ii -*g Ecclesiasticus or

that he fought in the sight of the Lord ; for he followed
after the Mighty One. Also in the time of Moses he did
a work of mercy, he and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, in
that they withstood the adversary, hindered the people
from sin, and stilled the murmuring of wickedness. And
of six hundred thousand people on foot, they two alone
were preserved to bring them into the heritage, even into
a land flowing with milk and honey. Also the Lord gave
strength unto Caleb, and it remained with him unto his old
age ; so that he entered upon the height of the land, and
his seed obtained it for a heritage : that all the children of
Israel might see that it is good to walk after the Lord.

Also the judges, every one by his name, all whose hearts
went not a whoring, and who turned not away from the
Lord, may their memorial be blessed. May their bones
flourish again out of their place, and may the name of
them that have been honoured be renewed upon their
children.

Samuel, the prophet of the Lord, beloved of his Lord,
established a kingdom, and anointed princes over his
people. By the law of the Lord he judged the congrega-
tion, and the Lord visited Jacob. By his faithfulness he
was proved to be a prophet, and by his words he was
known to be faithful in vision. Also when his enemies
pressed him round about he called upon the Lord, the
Mighty One, with the offering of the sucking lamb ; and
the Lord thundered from heaven, and with a mighty sound
158

The Wisdom of Jesus 8«- Book V ii

made his voice to be heard. And he utterly destroyed the
rulers of the Tyrians, and all the princes of the Philistines.
Also before the time of his long sleep he made protesta-
tions in the sight of the Lord and his anointed : " I have
not taken any man's goods, so much as a shoe:1' and no
man did accuse him. And after he fell asleep, he prophe-
sied, and showed the king his end, and lifted up his voice
from the earth in prophecy, to blot out the wickedness of
the people.

And after him rose up Nathan to prophesy in the days
of David. As is the fat when it is separated from the
peace offering, so was David separated from the children
of Israel. He played with lions as with kids, and with
bears as with lambs of the flock. In his youth did he not
slay a giant, and take away reproach from the people,
when he lifted up his hand with a sling stone and beat
down the boasting of Goliath? For he called upon the
Most High Lord ; and he gave him strength in his right
hand, to slay a man mighty in war, to exalt the horn of
his people. So they glorified him for his ten thousands,
and praised him for the blessings of the Lord, in that there
was given him a diadem of glory. For he destroyed the
enemies on every side, and brought to nought the Philis-
tines his adversaries, brake their horn in pieces unto this
day. In every work of his he gave thanks to the Holy
One Most High with words of glory ; with his whole heart
he sang praise, and loved him that made him. Also he set
i59

Book V ii ^S Ecclesiastic us or

singers before the altar, and to make sweet melody by
their music. He gave comeliness to the feasts, and set in
order the seasons to perfection, while they praised his holy
name, and the sanctuary sounded from early morning.
The Lord took away his sins, and exalted his horn for
ever ; and gave him a covenant of kings, and a throne of
glory in Israel.

After him rose up a son, a man of understanding ; and
for his sake he dwelt at large. Solomon reigned in days
of peace ; and to him God gave rest round about, that he
might set up a house for his name, and prepare a sanctu-
ary for ever.

How wise wast thou made in thy youth,

And filled as a river with understanding !
Thy soul covered the earth,

And thou filledst it with dark parables.
Thy name reached unto the isles afar off;

And for thy peace thou wast beloved.
For thy songs and proverbs and parables,

And for thine interpretations, the countries marvelled at
thee.
By the name of the Lord God,

Which is called the God of Israel,
Thou didst gather gold as tin,

And didst multiply silver as lead.
Thou didst bow thy loins unto women,

And in thy body thou wast brought into subjection.
Thou didst blemish thine honour,

And profane thy seed,

160

The Wisdom of Jesus 8«~ Book V ii

To bring wrath upon thy children ;

And I was grieved for thy folly :
So that the sovereignty was divided,

And out of Ephraim ruled a disobedient kingdom.
But the Lord will never forsake his mercy ;

And he will not destroy any of his works,
Nor blot out the posterity of his elect ;

And the seed of him that loved him he will not take
away ;
And he gave a remnant unto Jacob,

And unto David a root out of him.

And so rested Solomon with his fathers ; and of his seed
he left behind him Rehoboam, even the foolishness of the
people, and one that lacked understanding, who made the
people to revolt by his counsel. Also Jeroboam the son
of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, and gave unto Ephraim
a way of sin. And their sins were multiplied exceedingly,
to remove them from their land. For they sought out all
manner of wickedness, till vengeance should come upon
them.

Also there arose Elijah the prophet as fire, and his word
burned like a torch : who brought a famine upon them,
and by his zeal made them few in number. By the word
of the Lord he shut up the heaven : thrice did he thus
bring down fire.

How wast thou glorified, O Elijah, in thy wondrous deeds 1
And who shall glory like unto thee?
M i6i

Book Vii ->3Ecclesiasticusor

Who did raise up a dead man from death,

And from the place of the dead by the word of the Most
High;
Who brought down kings to destruction,

And honourable men from their bed ;
Who heard rebuke in Sinai,

And judgements of vengeance in Horeb;
Who anointed kings for retribution,

And prophets to succeed after him ;
Who was taken up in a tempest of fire,

In a chariot of fiery horses ;
Who was recorded for reproofs in their seasons,

To pacify anger before it brake forth into wrath ;
To turn the heart of the father unto the son,

And to restore the tribes of Jacob.

Blessed are they that saw thee,

And they that have been beautified with love;
For we also shall surely live.

Elijah it was who was wrapped in a tempest : and Elisha
was filled with his spirit ; and in all his days he was not
moved by the fear of any ruler, and no one brought him
into subjection. Nothing was too high for him ; and when
he was laid on sleep his body prophesied. As in his life
he did wonders, so in death were his works marvellous.
For all this the people repented not, and they departed
not from their sins, till they were carried away as a spoil
from their land, and were scattered through all the earth ;
and the people was left very few in number, and a ruler
162

The Wisdom of Jesus 8«- Book V ii

was left in the house of David. Some of them did that
which was pleasing to God, and some multiplied sins.

Hezekiah fortified his city and brought in water into the
midst of them : he digged the sheer rock with iron, and
builded up wells for waters. In his days Sennacherib
came up, and sent Rabshakeh, and departed ; and he lifted
up his hand against Sion, and boasted great things in his
arrogancy. Then were their hearts and their hands
shaken, and they were in pain, as women in travail ; and
they called upon the Lord which is merciful, spreading
forth their hands unto him : and the Holy One heard them
speedily out of heaven, and delivered them by the hand
of Isaiah. He smote the camp of the Assyrians, and his
angel utterly destroyed them. For Hezekiah did that
which was pleasing to the Lord, and was strong in the
ways of David his father, which Isaiah the prophet com-
manded, who was great and faithful in his vision. In his
days the sun went backward ; and he added life to the
king. He saw by an excellent spirit what should come to
pass at the last ; and he comforted them that mourned in
Sion. He shewed the things that should be to the end of
time, and the hidden things or ever they came.

The memorial of Josiah is like the composition of in-
cense prepared by the work of the apothecary : it shall be
sweet as honey in every mouth, and as music at a banquet
of wine. He behaved himself uprightly in the conversion
of the people, and took away the abominations of iniquity.
163

Book Vii ^gEcclesiasticusor

He set his heart right toward the Lord; in the days of
wicked men he made godliness to prevail. Except David
and Hezekiah and Josiah, all committed trespass : for they
forsook the law of the Most High ; the Kings of Judah
failed. For they gave their power unto others, and their
glory to a strange nation. They set on fire the chosen
city of the sanctuary, and made her streets desolate, as
it was written by the hand of Jeremiah. For they en-
treated him evil ; and yet he was sanctified in the womb
to be a prophet, to root out, and to afflict, and to destroy ;
and in like manner to build and to plant.

It was Ezekiel who saw the vision of glory, which God
shewed him upon the chariot of the cherubim —

For verily he remembered the enemies in storm,
And to do good to them that directed their ways aright —

Also of the twelve prophets may the bones flourish again
out of their place —

And he comforted Jacob,

And delivered them by confidence of hope —

How shall we magnify Zerubbabel ? —

And he was as a signet on the right hand —

so was Jesus, the son of Josedek : who in their days
builded the house, and exalted a people holy to the Lord,

164

The Wisdom of Jesus &- Book V ii

prepared for everlasting glory. Also of Nehemiah the
memorial is great; who raised up for us the walls that
were fallen, and set up the gates and bars, and raised
up our homes again.

No man was created upon the earth such as was
Enoch ; for he was taken up from the earth. Neither
was there a man born like unto Joseph, a governor of his
brethren, a stay of the people : yea, his bones were
visited. Shem and Seth were glorified among men ; and
above every living thing in the creation is Adam.

It was Simon, the son of Onias, the great priest, who
in his life repaired the house, and in his days strengthened
the temple ; and by him was built from the foundation the
height of the double wall, the lofty underworks of the
enclosure of the temple ; in his days the cistern of waters
was diminished, the brasen vessel in compass as the sea.
It was he that took thought for his people that they should
not fall, and fortified the city against besieging. How
glorious was he when the people gathered round him at
his coming forth out of the sanctuary : as the morning
star in the midst of a cloud, as the moon at the full, as the
sun shining forth upon the temple of the Most High, and
as the rainbow giving light in clouds of glory; as the
flower of roses in the days of new fruits, as lilies at the
waterspring, as the shoot of the frankincense tree in
the time of summer ; as fire and incense in the censer, as
165

Book Vii ^SEcclesiasticusor

a vessel all of beaten gold adorned with all manner of
precious stones ; as an olive tree budding forth fruits, and
as a cypress growing high among the clouds ! When he
took up the robe of glory, and put on the perfection of
exultation, in the ascent of the holy altar, he made
glorious the precinct of the sanctuary. And when he
received the portions out of the priests' hands, himself
also standing by the hearth of the altar, his brethren as
a garland round about him, he was as a young cedar in
Libanus ; and as stems of palm trees compassed they him
round about, and all the sons of Aaron in their glory, and
the Lord's offering in their hands, before all the congre-
gation of Israel. And finishing the service at the altars,
that he might adorn the offering of the Most High, the
Almighty, he stretched out his hand to the cup, and
poured of the blood of the grape ; he poured out at the
foot of the altar a sweet-smelling savour unto the Most
High, the King of all. Then shouted the sons of Aaron,
they sounded the trumpets of beaten work, they made a
great noise to be heard, for a remembrance before the
Most High. Then all the people together hasted, and fell
down upon the earth on their faces to worship their Lord,
the Almighty, God most high. The singers also praised
him with their voices ; in the whole house was there made
sweet melody. And the people besought the Lord Most
High, in prayer before him that is merciful, till the worship
of the Lord should be ended. And so they accomplished
166

The Wisdom of Jesus 8«- Book V ii

his service. Then he went down, and lifted up his hands
over the whole congregation of the children of Israel, to
give blessing unto the Lord with his lips, and to glory in
his name. And he bowed himself down in worship the
second time, to declare the blessing from the Most High.
And now bless ye the God of all, which everywhere
doeth great things, which exalteth our days from the
womb, and dealeth with us according to his mercy. May
he grant us joy fulness of heart, and that peace may be in
our days in Israel for the days of eternity : to intrust his
mercy with us ; and let him deliver us in his time.
x67

-*8 Ecclesiasticus or The Wisdom of Jesus

With two nations is my soul vexed,
And the third is no nation :

They that sit upon the mountain of Samaria,

And the Philistines,
And that foolish people that dwelleth in Sichem.

I have written in this book

The instruction of tinder standing and knowledge i

I "Jesus

The son of Sirach Eleazar

Of Jerusale?n

Who out of his heart

poured forth

Wisdom.

Blessed is he that shall be exercised in these things ;

And he that layeth them up in his heart shall become
wise.
For if he do them, he shall be strong to all things :
For the light of the Lord is his guide.
168

Notes

On Quotations and Buried Verses

It will be noted in this edition of Ecclesiasticus that in certain
compositions which are presented as prose, there occur isolated
passages having the form of verse. These quotations, or verse
passages buried in prose compositions, are both interesting in
themselves, and further furnish an important instrument of exe-
gesis, which will often assist over obscurities or irregularities of
sentence flow.

To begin with one example which is unquestionable. In the
last essay of Book I, that on 'The Horror of Adultery,' there
is thus ' buried ' a number sonnet on the same theme.

Two sorts of men multiply sins,
And the third will bring wrath :

A Hot Mind,

A Fornicator in the body of his flesh,
A Man that goeth astray from his own Bed.

No literary form is so unmistakable as a number sonnet : and
the above is found without the omission of a single word in the
essay; only, it does not stand out by itself, but is ' buried ' in the
prose of the essay, its several clauses worked into sentences of
comment. (See page 74.)

With this may be taken other cases, scarcely less clear. The
epigram represented as a quotation at the commencement of

171

-*8 Ecclesiasticus

IV. vi occurs by itself as I. lxxiii; and Fritzsche recognises this
as a popular proverb. The verses printed on page 71 have a
flow of sentence quite different from the uniform flow that pre-
cedes and follows in Essay I. lxxviii : and the suggestion of
these as a quotation is confirmed by what seems a reference to
the same at the end of II. xv. To my own mind the conclusion
of II. xxiii (see page 102) is not less clearly a verse quotation :
parallelism in prose can be carried to great lengths, but a
passage which is found to be a pair of triplets, with a third
triplet regularly duplicated, can hardly be other than a sonnet,
or portion of a sonnet.

The objection may possibly be made that other editors treat
the whole context in which these passages occur as verse. But
this does not meet the point : the question here is not what is
to be called verse and what prose, but whether there is not a
break or divergence between the literary form of these passages
and that of their context, such as a citation might readily
account for. »

When once the occurrence of such ' buried verses ' has been
established, it will be easy to point out other cases in which such
a suggestion cannot indeed be insisted on, but may be claimed
as an improvement. In the ' chapter li,' which is here treated
as an ' Author's Preface,' occurs a passage which, if printed as
straightforward prose, will run as follows :

And I lifted up my supplication from the earth, and
prayed for deliverance from death. I called upon the
Lord, the father of my Lord, that he would not forsake me
172

N otes S«-

in the days of affliction, in the time when there was no
help against the proud. I will praise thy name continu-
ally, and will sing praise with thanksgiving. And my
supplicatioti was heard : for thou savedst me from de~
struction, and deliver edst me from the evil time : therefore
will I give thanks and praise unto thee, and bless the
na??ie of the Lord.

The grammatical structure of this passage is difficult, not to say
impossible, and altogether out of keeping with the easy rhetoric
flow of the rest of this preface. The sudden future, "I will
praise," might stand by itself, but there is a return to the past
— "and my supplication was heard"; another future follows.
Even the elasticity of the parenthesis can hardly be stretched
so far as to make the first future clause harmonious. But if
once a citation be supposed, the whole becomes easy.

And I lifted up my supplication from the earth, and
prayed for deliverance from death.

I called upon the Lord,

The father of my Lord,
That he woidd not forsake me in the days of affliction ;

In the time when there was no help against the
proud : —
I will praise thy name continually,

And will sing praise with thanksgiving.

And my supplication was heard: for thou savedst me
from destruction, and deliver edst me from the evil time :

173

-*S Ecclesiasticus

therefore will I give thanks and praise unto thee, and
bless the name of the Lord.

As so arranged it is easy to see how the opening prose — "I
lifted up my supplication " — is resumed — " And my supplica-
tion was heard": what comes between is precisely of the char-
acter of the psalms of deliverance in which the psalter abounds,
and in which the abrupt future is a constant feature (compare
Psalms cxxxix. 14; lxix. 30; lxxi. 22; cxliv. 9). Moreover the
much-disputed passage, " I called upon the Lord, the father of
my Lord," is less difficult to understand in a poetic psalm than
in an autobiographical preface.

Again, on page 129 is suggested the following quotation:

Of sorrow cometh death ;

And sorrow of heart will bozv down the strength.
In calamity sorrow also remaineth ;

And the poor man's life is grievous to the heart.

The essay in which this occurs is short and extremely simple;
every sentence of it has to do with the one topic — mourning
for the dead. Of the above passage the first two lines are
strictly relevant; the other two deal with sorrowful circum-
stances of another order. Now, it is quite natural for a writer,
making an apposite quotation, to cite a whole verse where only
half of it is essential to his point; but, if the passage be not a
quotation, it is impossible to understand how the writer puts
one wholly irrelevant sentence into the midst of other sentences
which are all to the point.

174

Notes Be-

lt would be tedious to discuss every single case. If the
reader will examine the verse quotations suggested on pages 38,
94, 98, 104, 115, 119, 121, 142, the arrangement will speak
for itself.

In all but one of the quotations suggested so far the matter
quoted is Wisdom literature. For such cases the term ' quota-
tion' is almost too strong, since the evolution of Wisdom
literature consists in a gradual progression from the welding
together of current sayings to the style which consists in the
developing of thoughts. I pass on to a more important set of
citations, found in the two compositions of Book V and in I. liii,
which may be taken with these. Here the case for recognising
quotations is specially strong; moreover, such treatment solves
the most obscure sentences of these compositions, and the pas-
sages so quoted represent a special literature with an interest of
its own.

To take first Essay I. liii. The verse passages — I refer to
the first three, the rest being gnomic — stand out from their con-
text as couched in different style : the pictorial phrase ' gar-
nished ' and the semipersonifications of the first passage, the
highly poetical expression in the second, " He set his eye upon
their hearts," are unlike the plain prose of the whole essay.
In each case the resumption of prose after the suggested
quotation comes in naturally; whereas if the whole be supposed
to be continuous writing, there is great redundancy and repeti-
tion. Similar comments may be made on passages represented
as verse on pages 150 and 156. The first does not join on
naturally to what precedes if the whole be continuous. The

175

^8 Ecclesiasticus

second disturbs the narrative flow of sentences, but becomes
entirely natural if regarded as a portion of a priestly hymn,
introduced to support the statement : " He gave him a heritage."
The case is still clearer when we come to the longer quota-
tion where the Praise of Famous Men reaches the name of
Solomon.

How wise wast thou made in thy youth,

And filled as a river with understanding !
Thy soul covered the earth,

And thou filledst it with dark parables.
Thy name reached tinto the isles afar off ;

And for thy peace thou wast beloved.
For thy songs and proverbs and parables,

And for thine interpretations, the countries marvelled
at thee.
By the name of the Lord God,

Which is called the God of Israel,
Thou didst gather gold as tin,

And didst multiply silver as lead.
Thoii didst bow thy loins unto women,

And in thy body thou wast brought into subjection.
Thou didst blemish thine honour,

And profane thy seed,
To bring wrath upon thy children ;

And I was grieved for thy folly :
So that the sovereignty was divided,

And out of Ephraim ruled a disobedient kingdom.
176

Notes 8«-

But the Lord will never forsake his mercy ;

And he will not destroy any of his works,
Nor blot out the posterity of his elect ;

And the seed of him that loved him he will not take
away ;
And he gave a remnant unto Jacob,

And unto David a root out of him.

Of course there is nothing impossible in the idea of a prose com-
position apostrophising a personage to whom it alludes. But as
a matter of fact, this and the similar passage on Elijah are the
only apostrophes addressed to personages in Ecclesiasticus. It
will be seen at once how different their style is from that of
the context. There is, moreover, in the address to Solomon
the unusual expression : " And I was grieved for thy folly."
Fritzsche and other commentators translate the aorist by a pres-
ent, and understand the words as a remark of the author. It is
natural for the author to say he hates particular types of char-
acter; it would be less natural for him to speak of being grieved
with a personage who had been dead for centuries. On the
other hand, if this be part of a poetic hymn, the ' I ' represents
the sudden interposition of the Divine Speaker, which is com-
mon in the psalms (compare xxxii. 8 ; xlvi. 10 ; xiv. 4 ; xci. 14).
The apostrophe to Elijah is in all respects an important and
a difficult passage.

How wast thou glorified, 0 Elijah, in thy wondrous
deeds !
And who shall glory like unto thee ?
N 177

-*8 Ecclesiasticus

Who did raise up a dead man from death,

And from the place of the dead, by the word of the
Most High ;
Who brought down kings to destruction,

And honourable men from their bed :
Who heard rebuke in Sinai,

And judgements of vengeance in Horeb ;
Who anointed kings for retribution,

And prophets to succeed after him ;
Who was taken up in a tempest of fire,

In a chariot of fiery horses ;
Who was recorded for reproofs in their seasons,

To pacify anger before it brake forth into wrath;
To turn the heart of the father unto the son,

And to restore the tribes of Jacob.

Blessed are they that saw thee,

And they that have been beautified with love :
Tor we also shall surely live.

Elijah it was who was ivrapped in a tempest : and Elisha
was filled with his spirit ; and in all his days he was not
moved by fear of any ruler, and no one brought him into
subjection.

The prose portion of this extract seems difficult if one author

has been speaking throughout ; all is quite natural if it be read

as the author commenting on a quotation he has made. It is

178

Notes 8«-

the concluding triplet which needs his comment ; and he says in
effect that, Elijah being the subject of the whole description,
Elisha is the one to be understood in connection with the words,
" they that have been beautified with love " : Elisha was the
loved companion who saw his master taken up, and so was filled
with his spirit.

This arrangement further throws light upon the third line of
that triplet,

For we also shall surely live —

which is perhaps the most difficult passage in Ecclesiasticus.
The words are surely a small peg on which to hang a resurrec-
tion doctrine which appears nowhere else in our author. Nor is
the passage made clear by trying to associate it with Messianic
hopes : the words are too vague to hold such a meaning. But
if we have here a prophetic hymn — a hymn perhaps emanating
originally from the very schools of prophets which figure so
prominently in the biblical story of Elijah and Elisha — then the
words, " we also shall surely live," are a simple expression on
the part of the singers of the sense of deliverance wrought by the
heroic Elijah for the worshippers of Jehovah compelled under
Jezebel to hide in caves and dens. In any case, what obscurity
may attach to that line is of less consequence if it be a portion
of an old hymn than if it contain the words of the son of Sirach
himself.

Another difficult passage is found where this Praise of Fa?nous
Men reaches Ezekiel and the later worthies. Printed as con-
tinuous prose it would run as follows :
179

-s8 Ecclesiasticus

// was Ezekiel who saw the vision of glory, which God
shewed him upon the chariot of the cherubim. For verily
he remembered the enemies in storm, and to do good to
them that directed their ways aright. Also of the twelve
prophets may the bones flourish again out of their place.
And he comforted Jacob, and delivered them by confidence
of hope. How shall we magnify Zerubbabel? And he
was as a signet on the right hand : so was Jesus the son
of Josedek : etc.

Every commentator finds the exegesis of this passage difficult.
Fritzsche and others transpose sentences, so as to take the words
" he comforted Jacob " with the reference to Ezekiel before the
twelve prophets are mentioned. But this does not strip the pas-
sage of difficulties; and in particular the connective particles
are unnatural. But without any alteration the passage may
be made intelligible by distribution between the author's own
words and his brief quotations from prophetic hymns.

7/ was Ezekiel who saw the vision of glory, which God
shewed him upon the chariot of the cherubim —

For verily He remembered the enemies in storm,

And to do good to them that directed their ways aright —

Also of the twelve prophets may the bones flourish again
out of their place —

And He coynforted Jacob,
And delivered them by confidence of hope —
1 80

Notes 8«~

How shall we magnify Zerubbabel ? —

And he was as a signet on the right hand —
so was Jesus the son ofjosedek: etc.

The writer has been touching in his own words upon succes-
sive worthies, and supplementing his treatment by citations
from familiar hymns. When he reaches Ezekiel and the minor
prophets he is compelled to quicken his pace; his own remarks
become single sentences, his quotations mere snatches. The
lines written above as verses are intelligible as broken quotations
from a hymn, and the ' he ' of the first four lines refers to God.
There is a close precedent for this supporting of hurried narra-
tive by snatches of song mPsalt?i lxviii; verses 12-14 of which
are now generally interpreted as fragments of battle songs.

It is evident that the plea for the recognition of quoted pas-
sages gains with the multiplication of the cases where such an
explanation seems in point. It becomes stronger still when we
recognise a family likeness in the passages put forward as cita-
tions. If the reader will read together the passages so suggested
on pages 52, 53, 150, 156, 160, 161, 162, 164, he will be struck
with their uniformity of style. All are composed in the same
flow of alternate parallelism, such as would be consistent with
their forming parts of one whole, or of a series of similar poems.
And the general model is that found in Psalm cv, together with
what are modifications of that poem — Psalms lxxviii, cvi. The
whole points to a literature of prophetic hymns : traditional rather
than written, and thus admitting free modification such as might
181

-*8 Ecclesiasticus

make the hundred and fifth psalm into the seventy-eighth or
hundred and sixth, when the bright period of the first life in
Canaan had given place to the solitude of Judah after Israel had
been carried away, or even to the captivity of Judah itself.
Such poems seem to start with the calling of a chosen people,
with the appointment of priests and their feast days, with the
succession of prophets and kings. All the extracts here dealt
with would fit into the different parts of such a poem. One
passage, indeed, seems separate from the others : that (on page
150) dealing with the heavenly bodies. But it is noticeable that
the creation of sun, moon, and stars is given a place at the com-
mencement of the hundred and thirty-sixth psalm, which seems
the primitive model of these national anthems, belonging by
internal evidence to a history that is not carried further than the
wilderness and conquests on the east of Jordan.*

TITLE: ECCLESIASTICUS

This is the title in the Vulgate, and seems to have come into
use in the fourth century. It is antithetic to 'canonical';
and is thus a book 'for reading in church,' as distinguished
from a book of authority in matters of faith. But in long usage
the title has been so much identified with the ' Wisdom of Jesus
the son of Sirach ' as to have become the usual name for it.

* See on National Anthems in my Literary Study of the Bible, page 142
(D. C. Heath & Co., Boston; Isbister & Co., London).
182

Notes ge-

PREFACE BY THE TRANSLATOR

This is self-explaining. The materials it affords for determin-
ing the date of the original composition are not as decisive
as they at first appear, inasmuch as there are two kings bearing
the name Euergetes. But there is a fair consensus in favour of
a date about 200 B.C.

Textual questions are excluded from this series, which accepts
the text of the Revised Version, or its marginal alternatives. A
remark, however, may be permitted on the peculiarity of Eccle-
siasticus as the representative of a lost Hebrew work through a
Greek translation. There are other versions, especially a Syriac
Version ; and experts are divided on the question whether this
Syriac Version is made from the Greek translation or indepen-
dently from the original Hebrew. The Revisers appear from
their results not to have given independent weight to this
Syriac Version. I point out in the notes a few passages where
difficulties in the English text are simplified if suggestions based
on the Syriac Version be accepted.

AUTHOR'S PREFACE

On this compare Introduction page xv. I called upon the
Lord, the father of my Lord, etc. For the suggestion of a verse
quotation, see above, page 172. The expression the father of
my Lord seems impossible in a work of this date. The
parallel sometimes cited {Psalm ex. 1) gives it but little support.
183

-*8 Ecclesiasticus

The Revised Version has followed the unanimous authority of
the Greek manuscripts. But it is pointed out (by Edersheim,
in Wace's Commentary, and others) that the Syriac Version
would give unto the Lord, my Father, O Lord : suggesting
a slight misreading of the Hebrew by the Greek translator. As
pointed out above (page 174), the reading in the English text
is slightly less difficult if the passage be part of a hymn than if
it be the words of Ben-Sirach.

BOOK I

i. This sonnet combines antistrophic and stanza structure
(compare Proverbs I. iii and xvi). In the series of stanzas
there is the further effect of augmenting {Proverbs, page 168):
from three lines to five lines, six lines ; finally there is a return
to three lines.

ii. For these and other * maxims ' compare Introduction,
page xi.

iv. This passage is variously translated. As rendered by
Revised Version, the point of the comment seems to be that
hypocritical worship is equivalent to rebellion against the au-
thority of God.

vi. Sonnet with stanza structure : intermixture of two kinds
of stanza : triple triplets (strengthened by refrains) and simple
quatrains. The triplet stanzas convey exhortation and expos-
tulation ; the quatrains, confidence.

vii. Essay in two paragraphs : Honour in general to parents
— special consideration for parents in old age.
184

Notes 8<~

xiv. Be not ashamed concerning thy soul. The context shews
the meaning of this to be : do not let shame hinder thee in a
matter in which thy soul is concerned.

xix. An Epigram. I understand this literary form {Proverbs,
Introduction, page xxii) to indicate a unit proverb expanded :
two lines of an epigram (not necessarily consecutive) contain the
proverb germ, and the rest are for exegesis or emphasis. The
germ lines stand out to the left in the printing adopted in this
series. In the present case, the first and third lines together
would make a proverb couplet.

xxi. For the Proverb Cluster, compare Proverbs volume,
Introduction, page xxii ; and for examples Proverbs IV. i, xxiii,
xxiv, xxv.

The last epigram of this cluster is of a form that occurs only
in two other cases {Proverbs IV. i; and below, III. viii). The
comment precedes the text and prepares for it. The present
case is difficult, but the last two lines must be the germ proverb.
The 'evil name' is the 'great matter,' which incurs hostility;
the point of the proverb is that the double tongue is only a
smaller case of the same evil.

xxii. Assuming the translation of the Revised Version, we
must suppose the comment of this maxim to be an enlargement :
one image is supported by another. But it must be confessed
that the first image — of the bull — is very difficult to catch.
Edersheim understands of a bull straying alone. It would be
more to the point to compare the blind rush of a bull against a
wall to his own destruction. Most commentators emend the
Greek : by the smallest of changes {/ids stauros instead of /ids
185

->8 Ecclesiasticus

tauros) the reading becomes " as a palm " : this directly con-
nects with what follows, and one image is preserved throughout
the whole maxim.

xxiv. An Essay in three paragraphs : Pursuit of wisdom
without understanding must fail — with understanding it will
be a glorious success — if the means be applied the end must
follow.

Stone of trial : compare Zechariah xii. 3. An athletic test:
the unwise man will soon drop it. — Wisdom is according to her
name: this is one of the recognised difficulties of the book.
The natural explanation seems to be a play upon words in the
original Hebrew, which, however, no Hebrew experts are now
able to discover. Fritzsche, as an alternative possible explana-
tion, understands reputation by ' name ' : wisdom is as inacces-
sible as the high reputation in which it is held would lead us to
expect.

xxvi. This difficult passage is best arranged as a maxim. The
point of the exegetical comment is that pharisaism is a sort of
spiritual ambition.

xxxix and xl. Here we find precepts of behaviour so grouped
as to make two essays. The second, on adaptation of behaviour
to various sorts of men, becomes slightly organic by the middle
portion dealing with behaviour to woman.

xli. An Essay. The point of the first sentence, and so of
the whole, is that it is wise speech (or instruction) that makes
the artist in the art of government.

xlii. An Essay in three paragraphs : Pride is a disease and
source of Divine visitations — no greatness is greater than the
186

Notes &~

fear of the Lord — not outer things but inner qualities make
true greatness.

xlv. An Essay on the Choice of Company, in five para-
graphs: The danger of unknown company in a house — the
good only are proper objects of charity — friendship not trust-
worthy until tested by adversity — the humble can only be de-
filed by contact with the proud — like will to like, and riches
cannot consort with poverty.

xlix. An Essay in two paragraphs : Niggardliness violates
duty to self — duty to self emphasised by the shortness of life.

1. An Essay in two paragraphs : The pursuit and winning of
wisdom — the successful in this are the fearers of the Lord. —
Praise is not comely in the month of a sinner : compare Intro-
duction, pages xix, xx.

lii. An Essay in two paragraphs : No safety for sinners in
their numbers — as little in their insignificance.

The giants of old time : compare Genesis vi. 1-4 — the people
of perdition : as the illustrations follow in chronological order
this would seem to refer to the Egyptian army drowned in the
Red Sea — the six hundred thousand fooh?ien : compare V. ii
(page 153). — And there is a tempest zuhich no man shall see :
i.e. till it is upon them. — " Who shall declare,'''' etc.: the words
in quotation marks are supposed to be spoken by the man
wanting in understanding of the following sentence.

liii. Compare Introduction, page xxiv ; and for the quota-
tions, see above, page 175.

This is an Essay, amounting to a formal rhetoric creed : a
few words of solemn introduction, and four paragraphs : God
187

-*8 Ecclesiasticus

the Creator of nature — God the Creator of responsible man —
responsibility involves frailty and repentance, and the Creator
is merciful — the Creator's omnipotence is a measure of his
mercy. — The last paragraph is strikingly close to Wisdom xi.
21-6.

He set his eye upon their hearts : i.e. the Creator has given
man a portion of the Divine insight into the wonders of nature.
Compare Ecclesiastes iii. 1 1 . — For every nation he appointed a
ruler: there are two possible interpretations of this passage,
(i) It may refer to angelic overseers, such as are recognised in
the prologue to Job, and (according to Cheyne) in Psalm lxxxii.
Or (2) it may be an assertion of the theocracy of Israel (com-
pare Deuteronomy xxxii. 8, 9). From the small prominence of
angelology in this work (if indeed it appears at all), I prefer the
latter explanation. — He looketh upon the power, etc. : he is the
Sun.

lx. An Essay on Wisdom and its Counterfeits, in six clearly
marked paragraphs : Counterfeit knowledge, the knowledge of
wickedness — counterfeit subtlety, hypocrisy — counterfeit re-
proof, violence — counterfeit wise speech, as contrasted with
wise silence — counterfeit prosperity and adversity — counterfeit
wit.

lxxiv. Like one that gather eth himself stones against winter.
The image is a difficult one, but I can offer no better explanation
than that of stones instead of wood. Or perhaps ' stone ' is used
(as in Luke iv. 3 ; xi. 11) as antithetic to ' bread.' This passage
and Ecclesiastes iii. 5 suggest that 'gathering stones' may have
been a proverbial expression, of which the point is now lost.
188

Notes 8«-

Edersheim (in Wace's Commentary), assuming a misreading of
the Hebrew, translates : " stones for the tomb of his burial."

lxxv. The lips of strangers will be grieved at these things :
the R. V. gives it thus, adding that the Greek text is probably
corrupt. If so translated, the words must be part of the preced-
ing maxim; the 'these things' will be the gossip gathered by
such eavesdropping.

Ixxvi. Satan: the only reference to Satan in this work.
The proverb is too general to throw any light on the conception
of this being.

lxxviii. I have felt considerable difficulty about the division
of the text here; on the whole it seems best to make the whole
passage an Essay on the Stedfast Friend and the Uncertain.
First we have three images of unstedfastness; then two images
of irritable behaviour, the last bringing the first mention of
friendship as that to which the images are applied. The rest
continues the theme of friendship and nagging behaviour. —
For the quotation, compare above, page 172.

lxxix. A Prayer in Sonnet form. It furnishes an interesting
application of duplication to antistrophic structure (see Proverbs
volume, page 168); a quatrain question (strophe 1) has a coup-
let answer (strophe 2) ; then the question is duplicated into an
octet (antistrophe 1), and the answer is duplicated into a
quatrain (antistrophe 2). Strophe and antistrophe 2 have a
line of invocation outside their structure.

It is worth while to note how blind to anything like literary
structure were those who were originally responsible for the
division of chapters. Chapter xxii ends with a question, of
189

-*8 Ecclesiasticus

which the answer belongs to the first verse of the chapter fol-
lowing; although the form of question and answer are empha-
sised by being repeated. Other examples may be noted at the
beginning of chapters vi, xix, xxvii.

lxxxi. An Essay in two paragraphs : Uncleanness and adul-
tery in man — in woman. For the number sonnet buried in
this essay, see above, page 171.

BOOK II

Preface. On this Preface, with the Monologue it contains,
see Introduction, page xiv.

The Monologue is in alternate parallelism, with a middle cli-
max in stanzas (three sextets varied : for variation see Proverbs
volume, page 16S).

That maketh instruction to shine forth as the light, as Gihon
in the days of vintage. Most commentators hold that the Greek
word translated ' light ' was a misreading for another Hebrew
word signifying ' the River,' namely the Nile. So ' Gihon,' be-
sides being the name of a place in the vicinity of Jerusalem,
is also used for the Nile in the LXX of Jeremiah ii. 18. The
run of the whole passage suggests the name of a river in this
place; and the Syriac version so interprets it.

iii. In the last line but one of this number sonnet the R. V.
(with the greater part of the Greek MSS.) reads The fear of the
Lord. But this leaves the number sonnet without the tenth
item promised by its introductory words : which is impossible.
The Syriac version introduces (after the tenth line) the clause .-
190

Notes &~

Happy is he who is not cast down in poverty, And who in mis-
fortune does not lose courage. But this is evidently the conject-
ure of one who has not caught the form of the sonnet, in which
the nine items are being enumerated in nine lines, and a longer
expression is reserved for the climax. The reading The Love of
the Lord has the support of one important MS., and makes the
form of the sonnet exact.

iv. The head of a serpent. So the Greek. But it has been
pointed out that a Hebrew word has the two meanings of 'head'
and ' venom ' : this was probably the word in the original, and
it has been misinterpreted.

XV. As a bird, etc. : compare above, page 172.

xvii. An Essay in two paragraphs : Vengeance and its retribu-
tion — forgiveness.

xix. An Essay in four paragraphs : Lending and repaying —
the ways of debtors — charity as a motive for lending — risks of
lending.

xxii. An Essay in two paragraphs : Health the supreme good
— cheerfulness a promoter of health.

xxiii. For the verse quotation, see above, page 172.

xxiv. An Essay in five paragraphs: Greedy eating — moder-
ate eating and health — hospitality — temperance in wine —
behaviour at a feast.

xxxix. An Essay tracing an analog}7, in three paragraphs:
One sunshine, yet God has made days sacred and days secular —
one origin of man, yet God has exalted some and overthrown
others — Good and Life, Evil and Death, these make one of the
oppositions that are traced through all nature.
191

-*8 Ecclesiasticus

The last paragraph is not an assertion of predestination of
individuals (compare I. li), but an answer to the question, Why
has not God made all men good?

BOOK III

Preface. See Introduction, page xv.

ii. An Essay on Servants, in two paragraphs : Work — good
treatment.

V. The structure of this Sonnet gives four similar triplet stan-
zas, the last 'interrupted' (compare Proverbs volume, page 169).

vi. An Essay in five paragraphs : Sacrifice with wrongdoing
— sacrifice without rightdoing — liberality in offerings — sacri-
fice is not bribery — the power of humble prayer.

viii. See above, note to I. xxi.

xii. An Essay in two paragraphs: Counsel — different kinds
of counsellors.

The second paragraph is obscure; I have elsewhere inter-
preted it as follows. Man's whole experience for good or evil
depends upon the direction of his purposes; and a force con-
tinually influencing these purposes is the speech of his fellow-
men. Hence the importance of marking the characters of those
who counsel. One type has the power of imparting instruction,
but no morale to make the instruction worth having : for all his
wisdom, he is unprofitable to his own soul. One is false in
speech, and so wholly hateful. A third has his wisdom bounded
by selfishness; but what he is willing to speak will be worth
marking. The truly wise will have not only wisdom, but also
192

Notes 8«-

the desire to impart it to his fellow-cc antrymen; his blessedness
will be as much beyond that of the other as a nation is wider
and more lasting than an individual.

xiii. An Essay in three paragraphs: Regimen in health —
the physician — regimen in disease.

xiv. For the poetic quotation, see above, page 174.

xv. An Essay in two paragraphs: Wisdom of the busy — of
the man of leisure.

BOOK IV

Preface with Encomium. It is not without great hesitation
that I present this as a rhetoric encomium, and not a hymn.
It must be remembered that the simple parallelism (of ad-
jacent lines), as distinguished from high parallelism (between
clauses widely separate), is as thoroughly within the scope of
rhetoric as of Hebrew versification. On the other hand, there
are clauses in this passage which suit prose literature better than
verse. The introductory words — Give utterance to his praise
with the songs of your lips, and with harps ; and thus shall ye
say when ye utter his praise — at first, no doubt, suggest a hymn
to follow. But a careful study of the whole leaves on me the
impression that what is added is intended as the philosophical
theory on which praise is to be founded, not the praise itself.
Again, the position of this composition in the whole work, in
which rhetoric style can be seen to be steadily gaining ground
as against poetic and strictly gnomic, favours the classification
as an encomium.

o i93

-*8 Ecclesiasticus

The argument is in two paragraphs : All things are good
in their seasons — all things (even evil) have their uses. — The
whole makes up the Philosophy of Times and Seasons cited and
attacked in Ecclesiastes, chapter iii.

ii. A pair of Sonnets: each an enumeration working to a
climax in the phrase ' Garden of Blessings.' The first has
couplets of alternate parallelism, climaxing in a couplet of sim-
ilar parallelism; the second has similar triplets climaxing in a
quatrain.

iv. Sonnet in antistrophic structure with a conclusion
{Proverbs volume, page 165).

vi. An Essay in two paragraphs : What to be ashamed of —
what not to be ashamed of.

vii. An Essay in two paragraphs : Trouble from a daughter —
from women in general.

BOOK V

i. For the verse quotations, see above, page 175.
ii. On the general matter of this encomium compare Introduc-
tion, page xxix. For the verse quotations, see above, pages
176-81.

Page 161 : And I was grieved for thy folly : see above, page 177.
Page 162: Blessed are they that saw thee . . . for we also
shall surely live : this important passage is fuliy discussed above,
pages 177-9-
Page 164: He reme?nbered the enemies in storm: for this,
and the difficulties of the sentences that follow, see above,

pages 179-81.

194

Notes See-

page 1 68 or Epilogue

They that sit upon the mountain of Samaria. So the R. V.
and all Greek MSS. The difficulty is that the fifth line, And
that foolish people that dwelleth in Sichem, can refer to nothing
but the Samaritans. The Syriac and other versions give in the
first line, Mount Seir : suggesting that the original Hebrew
word was a term for ' mountain country,' which was tradition-
ally used of a region of Edom. — If the R. V. translation be
maintained, the only explanation can be a surprise saying, some-
thing like the familiar quotation: "The first thing in oratory
is action, the second is action, and the third is action." But
there is no case resembling this in the biblical epigrams or
sonnets.

195

Index

REFERENCE TABLE

To connect the Numbering in the Present Edition with the Chapters
and Verses of the Apocrypha

Chap. Verse
Author s Preface .... LI

Book I
I I

i 22

ii 25

v 28

VI . .

vii . .
viii .
ix . .
x . ..
xi . .
xii . .
xiii .
xiv. .

XV .

xvi .
xvii .
xviii
xix .
xx . .
xxi .
xxii .

II
III

IV

VI

xxm. . .
xxiv . ,
xxv . .
xxvi . . ,
xxvii .
xxviii
xxix .
xxx . .
xxxi . ,
xxxii .
xxxiii
xxxiv
xxxv .
xxxvi
xxxvii
xxxviii
xxxix

xl

xli ...
xlii . . .
xliii . . ,
xliv . .
xlv . . ,
xlvi . .

Chap.

Verse

VI

5

18

VII

1

4

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

VIII

1

IX

17

X

6

XI

7

11

29

XIII

25

199

-*8 Reference Table

xlvii

xlviii

xlix

1

li

lii . .

Chap.

XIII

XIV

XV

XVI

Verse
26

1

3

20
11

1
24
15
19

23

29

30

4

20

14
16
18

19
20
21
22

23
24
27
28
29

30
1
11
27
6
16
27

2<

Ixxx

Lxxxi

Book II

Preface

i

Chap.
. . XXIII

. . . XXIV
XXV

Verse

7

16

1

liii

ii

3
7
13
16

liv

XVIII

XIX

XX

lv

iv

Ivi

v

. . . XXVI

7
28

lix

29
3
4
8

lx

lxi .

ix

... XXVII

lxii

9

10

Ixv

xiv

11
16

22

25

12

1

lxix

xviii

...XXVIII
. . . XXIX

21

xxi

. . . XXX

1

14

XXI

. . . XXXI

12

XXV

... XXXII

14
16

XXII

18

)0

Reference Table 8*-

xxix

Chap.
. . XXXII

Verse

19
20

23

24

2
3
4
5
6

7

16

19

24

1

9

13

18

1

18

2<

ix

Chap.
.. XXXVI

.. XXXVII
.XXXVIII

. . XXXIX
XL

XLI

XLII

Verse
20

xi

7
27
16

..XXXIII

xiv

24

Book IV
Preface

Book III

ii

11

28

Preface

5

14
9

. . XXXIV

Book V

v

15

. . XXXVI

XLIV
L

Epilogue . .

31

25

GENERAL INDEX

Page

Translator 's Preface 5

Author's Preface 7

BOOK I

i Sonnet : Wisdom and the Fear of the Lord 13

ii A Maxim (" Unjust wrath ") 15

iii A Maxim (" A parable of knowledge ") 15

iv A Maxim (" Disobey not the fear ") 16

v A Maxim (" My son, if thou comest ") 16

vi Sonnet : True and False Fear 17

vii Essay : Honour to Parents 18

viii Essay : On Meekness 20

ix-xi Unit Proverbs 20

xii Essay: Consideration for High and Low 21

xiii Essay : Wisdom's Way with her Children 22

xiv Essay : True and False Shame 23

xv-xviii Unit Proverbs 23

xix An Epigram (" Follow not thine own mind ") 24

xx A Maxim (" Say not, I sinned ") 24

xxi Proverb Cluster : Government of the Tongue 25

xxii Maxim : Self Will 26

xxiii Essay : Friendship 27

xxiv Essay : The Pursuit of Wisdom 28

203

-*6 General Index

Page

xxv Epigram : Sowing and Reaping 29

xxvi A Maxim (" Seek not of the Lord ") 30

xxvii-xxxviii Unit Proverbs 30

xxxix Essay: Household Precepts 32

xl Essay: Adaptation of Behaviour to Various Sorts of Men 33

xli Essay : Wisdom and Government 36

xlii Essay : Pride and True Greatness 37

xliii Proverb Cluster : On Meddlesomeness 40

xliv Essay : Prosperity and Adversity are from the Lord 40

xlv Essay : Choice of Company 42

xlvi, xlvii Unit Proverbs 46

xlviii An Epigram (" Blessed is the man ") 46

xlix Essay : Niggardliness 46

1 Essay : The Pursuer of Wisdom and His Reward 48

li Essay : On Free Will 49

lii Essay : No Safety for Sinners 50

liii Essay : God's Work of Creation and Restoration 52

liv Proverb Cluster : On Graciousness 55

lv Essay : On Taking Heed in Time 56

Ivi, lvii Unit Proverbs 57

lviii Three Temperance Maxims 57

lix Essay : Against Gossip 58

lx Essay : Wisdom and its Counterfeits 59

lxi A Maxim (" The gift of a fool ") 61

lxii An Epigram (" The fool will say ") 62

lxiii-lxviii Unit Proverbs 62

Ixix A Maxim (" A lie is a foul blot ") 63

lxx-lxxii Unit Proverbs 63

Ixxiii An Epigram (" Wisdom that is hid ") 64

lxxiv Proverb Cluster : Sin and its Judgement 64

204

General Index 8*-

Page

Ixxv Proverb Cluster : Wise Men and Fools 66

Ixxvi Proverb Cluster : The Hatefulness of Evil 68

lxxvii Proverb Cluster: Commerce with Fools Intolerable. ... 69

lxxviii Essay : The Stedfast Friend and the Uncertain 71

lxxix Sonnet : Watchfulness of Lips and Heart 72

lxxx Essay : The Discipline of the Mouth 73

Ixxxi Essay : The Horror of Adultery 74

BOOK II

Preface {with Monologue) 79

i Number Sonnet : What Wisdom Hates and Loves 83

ii A Maxim (" In thy youth ") 83

iii Number Sonnet : The Love of the Lord 84

iv Epigram : The Wrath of an Enemy 85

v Wisdom Cluster : Women Bad and Good 85

vi Sonnet : Women Bad and Good 87

vii Number Sonnet : The Backslider 89

viii A Maxim (" A merchant ") 89

ix Unit Proverb 89

x Epigram : Reasoning the Test of Men 90

xi-xiii Unit Proverbs 90

xiv Proverb Cluster : Discourse of Wise Men and Fools. . . 91

xv A Maxim (" He that revealeth secrets ") 92

xvi A Maxim (" One that winketh ") 92

xvii Essay : Retribution and Vengeance 93

xviii Essay : On the Tongue 94

xix Essay : On Lending and Suretiship 96

xx Essay : The Blessing of a House of One's Own 98

xxi Essay : On the Chastisement of Children 99

205

-»8 General Index

Page

xxii Essay: On Health ioo

xxiii Essay : On Riches 101

xxiv Essay : On Feasting 102

xxv, xxvi Unit Proverbs 105

xxvii An Epigram (" They that fear the Lord ") 105

xxviii A Maxim (" A man of counsel ") , 106

xxix Unit Proverb 106

xxx An Epigram (" Go not in a way ") 106

xxxi-xxxviii Unit Proverbs 106

xxxix Essay : An Analogy 108

BOOK HI
Preface 113

i Essay : On Giving and Bequeathing 115

ii Essay : On Servants 115

iii Essay : On Dreams 116

iv A Maxim (" A well-instructed man ") 117

v Sonnet : The Fearers of the Lord 118

vi Essay : On Sacrifices, Evil and Acceptable 119

vii A Prayer for Mercy upon Israel 121

viii An Epigram (" The belly will eat ") 123

ix Unit Proverb 123

x Essay : On Wives 123

xi Essay : On False Friends 124

xii Essay : On Counsel and Counsellors 125

xiii Essay : On Disease and Physicians 127

xiv Essay : On Mourning for the Dead 128

xv Essay : The Wisdom of Business and the Wisdom of

Leisure 129

206

General Index 8*-

BOOK IV

Page

Preface with Encomium on tke Works of the Lord 135

i Essay: The Burden of Life 137

ii A Pair of Sonnets : A Garden of Blessing 138

iii A Maxim (" My son, lead not ") 140

iv Sonnet : On Death 141

v Essay: The Posterity of Sinners 142

vi Essay : Things to be ashamed of 143

vii Essay : Women as a Source of Trouble 145

BOOK V

Longer Works

j Rhetoric Encomium : The Works of the Lord 149

ii Rhetoric Encomium : Praise of Famous Men 152

Epilogue 168

207

In small i8mo volumes. Cloth extra. Price, 50 cents each.

The Modern Reader's Bible

A Series of Books from the Sacred Scriptures pre-
sented in Modern Literary Form

The purpose of this Series has regard to the Bible as part of the
World's Literature, without reference to questions of religious or
historic criticism.

It is based upon the belief that the natural interest of Sacred
Literature is considerably impaired by the form in which the Bible
is usually read. The division into chapters and verses was made
at a time when the literary significance of Scripture was not much
considered. Moreover, the proper arrangement of the printed page,
which to z. modern reader has. by.familiarity become essential, and
which is adopted as a matter of course in a modern edition of a
Greek or Roman classic, has never been applied to our Bibles.
Such arrangement includes the distinction between prose and Verse ;
in verse passages the indication to the eye of different metrical
forms ; the insertion of the names of speakers in dialogue ; the
assignment of titles to such compositions as Discourses and Essays.
It may be added that the inclusion of many diverse kinds of litera-
ture in a single volume is unfavourable to the due appreciation of
each.

Each number of the Series will be issued as a separate volume,
edited, with an introduction, by

RICHARD G. MOULTON,

M.A. (Camb.), Ph.D. (Penn.),
Professor of Literature in English in the University of Chicago.

The Introductions will be confined strictly to the consideration of
the book as a piece of literature ; what little is added in the way of
annotation will be of the same kind. The text will be that of the
Revised Version, the marginal readings being usually preferred.

The order in which it is proposed to issue the volumes
is as follows :

WISDOM SERIES

IN FOUR VOLUMES

THE PROVERBS

A Miscellany of Sayings and Poems embodying Isolated Obser-
vations of Life. Ready

ECCLESIAST5CUS

A Miscellany including longer compositions, still embodying
only Isolated Observations of Life. Ready

ECCLESIASTES — WISDOH OF SOLOHON

Each is a Series of Connected Writings embodying, from dif-
ferent standpoints, a Solution of the Whole Mystery of Life.

Ready

THE BOOK OF JOB

A Dramatic Poem in which are embodied Varying Solutions of
the Mystery of Life. April

DEUTERONOriY

The Orations and Songs of Moses, constituting his Farewell to
the People of Israel. May

BIBLICAL IDYLS

The Lyric Idyl of Solomon's Song, and the Epic Idyls of Ruth,
Esther, and Tobit. June

HISTORY SERIES

GENESIS ,N F,VE V0LUMES

Bible History, Part I : Formation of the Chosen Nation. July

THE EXODUS

Bible History, Part II : Migration of the Chosen Nation to the
Land of Promise. — Book of Exodus with Leviticus and Num-
bers. August

THE JUDGES

Bible History, Part III : The Chosen Nation in its Efforts
towards Secular Government. — Books of Joshua, Judges,
I Samuel. September

THE KINGS

Bible History, Part IV: The Chosen Nation under a Secular
Government side by side with a Theocracy. — Books of II
Samuel, I and II Kings. October

THE CHRONICLES

Ecclesiastical History of the Chosen Nation. Books ot Chron-
icles, Ezra, Nehemiah. November

PROPHECY SERIES

IN FOUR VOLUMES

ISAIAH December

JEREMIAH January

EZEKIEL February

THE HINOR PROPHETS .... March

MACMILLAN & CO., Publishers,

66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK.

■

Date Due

***,

*

<f>