Sirach 23

1 Lord, Father and Master of my life, do not abandon me to their counsel or let me fall because of them.

2 Who will set whips over my thoughts and wisdom’s discipline over my heart, so that they do not spare my errors or overlook my sins,

3 so that my errors do not multiply and my sins increase, causing me to fall before my opponents and my enemy to rejoice over me?

4 Lord, Father and God of my life, do not give me arrogant eyes.

5 Turn desire away from me.

6 Do not let gluttony or sexual desire take hold of me, and do not hand me over to a shameless soul.

7 Children, listen to the discipline of the mouth. Whoever keeps it will not be caught.

8 A sinner is caught by his own lips, and an abusive or arrogant person stumbles through them.

9 Do not accustom your mouth to oaths or make a habit of naming the Holy One.

10 Just as a household servant under constant scrutiny does not escape a bruise, someone who continually swears and invokes God will not be free from sin.

11 Someone who swears constantly will be filled with lawlessness, and a scourge will never leave his house. If he offends, his sin rests on him; if he ignores it, he has sinned twice; if he swears falsely, he will not be found righteous, for his house will be filled with disasters.

12 There is a kind of speech comparable to death. May it not be found in Jacob’s inheritance, for all such things remain far from the devout, and they do not wallow in sins.

13 Do not accustom your mouth to coarse, undisciplined speech, for it contains sinful words.

14 Remember your father and mother when you sit among the great. Do not forget yourself in their presence, become foolish through habit, wish you had never been born, and curse the day of your birth.

15 Someone accustomed to insulting words will never be instructed throughout his life.

16 Two kinds of people multiply sins, and the third brings wrath: a heated soul is like a burning fire that will not be extinguished until it consumes itself; a man sexually immoral in his own flesh will not stop until he has kindled a fire.

17 Every kind of bread is sweet to a sexually immoral man; he will not stop until he dies.

18 A man who violates his marriage bed says in his soul, “Who sees me? Darkness surrounds me, the walls cover me, and no one sees me. Why should I be afraid? The Most High will not remember my sins.”

19 He fears only human eyes and does not know that the Lord’s eyes are ten thousand times brighter than the sun, watching every human path and seeing into hidden places.

20 All things were known to him before they were created, and they remained known after they were completed.

21 This man will be punished in the city streets and caught where he never expected it.

22 So too will the wife who leaves her husband and presents him with an heir by another man.

23 First, she disobeyed the law of the Most High; second, she wronged her own husband; third, she committed adultery through sexual immorality and presented children by another man.

24 She will be brought before the assembly, and her children will be called to account.

25 Her children will not spread roots, and her branches will bear no fruit.

26 She will leave behind a cursed memory, and her disgrace will not be erased.

27 Those left behind will know that nothing is better than the fear of the Lord and nothing sweeter than heeding the Lord’s commands.

28 Following the Lord is great glory, and being received by him is long life.