Sirach 16

1 Do not desire a multitude of useless children or rejoice in ungodly sons. 2 Even if they multiply, do not rejoice over them unless the fear of the Lord is with them. 3 Do not trust in their survival or rely on their number. One is better than a thousand, and it is better to die childless than to have ungodly children. 4 One understanding person can repopulate a city, but a tribe of lawless people will become desolate. 5 My eye has seen many things like these, and my ear has heard things even more powerful.

6 Fire will be kindled in an assembly of sinners, and wrath has been kindled against a disobedient nation. 7 He did not grant atonement to the ancient giants who rebelled in their strength. 8 He did not spare the place where Lot lived as a foreigner; he detested its people because of their pride. 9 He showed no mercy to the nation marked for destruction, those swept away in their sins. 10 The same happened to the 600,000 foot soldiers who gathered together in their hardness of heart.

11 Even if there is only one stiff-necked person, it would be astonishing if he went unpunished. Mercy and wrath are with the Lord; he is powerful both to make atonement and to pour out wrath. 12 As his mercy is great, so is his correction; he judges a person according to his works. 13 A sinner will not escape with stolen goods, and the endurance of the devout will not fail. 14 He makes room for every act of mercy; each person will receive according to his works. 15 The Lord hardened Pharaoh so that Pharaoh would not know him and so that the Lord’s powerful works might become known to the world. [a]

16 His mercy is evident to every creature, and he separated light from darkness with adamant. [b] 17 Do not say, “I will hide from the Lord. Who will remember me from on high? I will not be noticed among so many people. What is my soul within creation beyond measure?” 18 Heaven and the heaven of heaven, the deep, the earth, and everything in them will be shaken when he calls them to account. 19 The mountains and the earth’s foundations tremble together when the Lord looks on them. 20 No heart can properly reflect on these things, and who can comprehend his ways?

21 It is a storm no human being can see, and most of his works remain hidden. 22 Who can announce his righteous works, and who can endure them? His covenant is far away. 23 A person without sense reflects on these things, while a foolish and misguided man imagines foolishness. 24 Listen to me, my child, learn knowledge, and attend to my words with your heart. 25 I will reveal instruction by careful measure and announce knowledge precisely.

26 The Lord’s works were made with judgment from the beginning, and from the time he made them, he arranged their parts. 27 He ordered his works forever and established their beginnings for every generation. They neither hunger nor grow weary nor cease from their work. 28 None of them crowds its neighbor, and they will never disobey his word. 29 Afterward the Lord looked on the earth and filled it with his good things. 30 He covered its surface with every kind of living creature, and they will return to it again.