Sirach 25

1 Three things made me beautiful and let me stand beautifully before the Lord and humanity: harmony among brothers, friendship among neighbors, and a husband and wife living in harmony.

2 My soul hates three kinds of people, and I deeply resent their lives: a proud poor person, a lying rich person, and an adulterous old man who lacks understanding.

3 If you gathered nothing in your youth, how can you find anything in your old age?

4 How fitting judgment is for gray-haired people and recognition of good counsel for elders!

5 How fitting wisdom is for the aged, and thoughtfulness and counsel for honored people!

6 Much experience is the crown of the aged, and the fear of the Lord is their glory.

7 I have called nine thoughts blessed in my heart, and I will name a tenth with my tongue: someone who rejoices in his children and lives to see the fall of his enemies;

8 blessed is someone who lives with an understanding wife, does not slip with the tongue, and has not served someone unworthy of him;

9 blessed is someone who has found good sense and speaks to ears willing to listen.

10 How great is someone who finds wisdom! Yet no one is greater than the person who fears the Lord.

11 The fear of the Lord surpasses everything. To whom can the person who possesses it be compared?

12 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of loving him, and faith is the beginning of clinging to him.

13 Give me any blow except a blow to the heart, and any wickedness except a woman’s wickedness;

14 any disaster except one brought by those who hate me, and any vengeance except an enemy’s vengeance.

15 No head is worse than a snake’s head, and no wrath is worse than an enemy’s wrath.

16 I would rather live with a lion or serpent than share a home with a wicked woman.

17 A woman’s wickedness changes her appearance and darkens her face like a bear.

18 Her husband sits among his neighbors and involuntarily sighs bitterly.

19 Every other evil is small beside a woman’s evil; may a sinner’s lot fall on her.

20 A talkative wife is to a quiet husband like a sandy climb beneath an old man’s feet.

21 Do not fall for a woman’s beauty or long for a woman.

22 If a woman supports her husband, it brings anger, shamelessness, and great disgrace.

23 A wicked woman means a humbled heart, a gloomy face, and a wounded heart; a wife who does not make her husband happy means weak hands and feeble knees.

24 Sin began with a woman, and because of her we all die.

25 Do not give water an outlet or a wicked woman freedom.

26 If she does not follow your guidance, cut her away from your flesh.