Ecclesiasticus 10

A wise judge will teach his people, and the rule of a sensible man is well ordered.

1A wise judge will instruct his people; and the government of a prudent man is well ordered.

Note"Judge" here does not mean only a man who settles cases in court. Sirach uses the word for the man who governs, as the judges of Israel's early history did, so the verse is about ruling a people rather than about courtrooms.

2The officers of a people are like the judge who leads them, and whatever kind of man the ruler of a city is, all who live in that city are like him.

2As the judge of the people is himself, so are his officers; and what manner of man the ruler of the city is, such are all they that dwell therein.

3A king without wisdom ruins his people, but through the good sense of those in authority a city will be full of people.

3An unwise king destroyeth his people; but through the prudence of them which are in authority the city shall be inhabited.

NoteA city being "inhabited" means full and thriving. Bad rule emptied ancient cities, through famine, flight, war or deportation, so a crowded city was the visible measure of a competent ruler.

4Power over the earth is in the hand of the Lord, and at the right time he will set over it someone who does good.

4The power of the earth is in the hand of the Lord, and in due time he will set over it one that is profitable.

5The success of a person is in God's hand, and he will lay his honor on the scribe.

5In the hand of God is the prosperity of man: and upon the person of the scribe shall he lay his honour.

NoteA scribe in Sirach's world was not a copyist but a trained scholar, expert in the law and in wisdom writing, often serving as an official of the king or the temple. The author counted himself one. "Upon the person of the scribe" renders a phrase meaning "on the face of," that is, on the scribe himself. Some manuscripts read "lawgiver" here instead of "scribe."

6Do not hold hatred against your neighbor for every wrong, and do nothing at all by ways that cause harm.

6Bear not hatred to thy neighbour for every wrong; and do nothing at all by injurious practices.

Note"Injurious practices" renders a Greek word (hybris) that covers insolent, humiliating violence: not merely harm done, but harm done arrogantly, meant to shame the victim.

7Pride is hated by God and by people, and doing wrong offends them both.

7Pride is hateful before God and man: and by both doth one commit iniquity.

NoteThe second half of the verse is obscure in the Greek. It has been read as meaning that injustice offends God and man alike, and as meaning that the proud man commits wrongs against both. Translators have gone both ways.

8Because of unjust dealings, harm done to others, and riches gained by cheating, rule over a kingdom is handed from one people to another.

8Because of unrighteous dealings, injuries, and riches got by deceit, the kingdom is translated from one people to another.

Note"Translated" in 1611 English meant carried across or transferred from one holder to another. It has nothing to do with language. The sentence is about rule over a kingdom passing to a different people.

9Why is dust and ashes proud? There is nothing more wicked than a greedy person, for such a person puts his own soul up for sale, and while he is still alive he throws away his inmost self.

9Why is earth and ashes proud? There is not a more wicked thing than a covetous man: for such an one setteth his own soul to sale; because while he liveth he casteth away his bowels.

Note"Earth and ashes," that is, dust and ashes, is a set phrase for a human being considered as mortal stuff; Abraham uses it of himself in Genesis. "Bowels" meant the inner organs, thought of as the seat of feeling and of a person's inmost self. The line is compressed, and has been read both as the greedy man throwing away his own insides while still alive and as his selling off what is innermost in him.

10The doctor puts an end to a long illness, and the man who is king today will die tomorrow.

10The physician cutteth off a long disease; and he that is to day a king to morrow shall die.

NoteThe Greek of the first line is uncertain and has been read two ways: that the doctor cuts a long illness short, and that a long illness makes light of the doctor. The King James translators took the first.

11For when a man is dead, what he receives is crawling things, animals, and worms.

11For when a man is dead, he shall inherit creeping things, beasts, and worms.

Note"Inherit" is the legal word for the portion a man comes into. Here the man who came into a kingdom comes into nothing but the creatures of the grave.

12Pride begins when a person turns away from God, and his heart is turned away from the one who made him.

12The beginning of pride is when one departeth from God, and his heart is turned away from his Maker.

13For pride is the beginning of sin, and whoever holds on to it will pour out what is disgusting. That is why the Lord brought strange disasters on them and overthrew them completely.

13For pride is the beginning of sin, and he that hath it shall pour out abomination: and therefore the Lord brought upon them strange calamities, and overthrew them utterly.

Note"Abomination" translates a word for what is ritually detestable, the kind of thing that defiles whoever touches it. "Strange calamities" means extraordinary, unheard of ones, not foreign ones. "Them" shifts to the plural without naming anyone; the author has in mind the proud nations and rulers of the past, which the next verses spell out.

14The Lord has thrown down the thrones of proud rulers and has set up the meek in their place.

14The Lord hath cast down the thrones of proud princes, and set up the meek in their stead.

Note"Meek" in 1611 meant humble and unassuming. It is set here against the proud prince, not against the strong man, and does not imply timidity or weakness.

15The Lord has pulled up the roots of proud nations and has planted the lowly in their place.

15The Lord hath plucked up the roots of the proud nations, and planted the lowly in their place.

16The Lord overthrew the countries of the nations and destroyed them right down to the foundations of the earth.

16The Lord overthrew countries of the heathen, and destroyed them to the foundations of the earth.

Note"Heathen" translates the ordinary Greek word for the nations, meaning peoples other than Israel; in 1611 it carried none of the contempt it carries now. "Destroyed them to the foundations of the earth" is the language of a city razed so completely that only the footings of its walls remain.

17He took some of them away and destroyed them, and he made all memory of them stop from the earth.

17He took some of them away, and destroyed them, and hath made their memorial to cease from the earth.

NoteTo make a people's "memorial to cease" is to wipe out all remembrance of them, name and line together. Being remembered by descendants and neighbors was what survival after death chiefly amounted to in this culture, so erasure of memory was the heaviest loss the writer could name.

18Pride was not made for human beings, nor raging anger for those born of a woman.

18Pride was not made for men, nor furious anger for them that are born of a woman.

Note"Born of a woman" is a standard Hebrew way of saying "a human being," used when the point is human frailty and mortality.

19Those who fear the Lord are a seed that can be relied on, and those who love him are an honorable plant. Those who pay no attention to the law are a shameful seed; those who break the commandments are a seed that is led astray.

19They that fear the Lord are a sure seed, and they that love him an honourable plant: they that regard not the law are a dishonourable seed; they that transgress the commandments are a deceivable seed.

Note"Seed" means offspring, a line of descendants; honor and shame attached to a whole family line, not to an individual alone. "Deceivable" in 1611 meant liable to be deceived, easily led astray, not deceitful. "Fear of the Lord," the phrase that runs through the rest of the chapter, means reverent awe together with the obedience that goes with it, not fright.

20Among brothers, the one who is chief is honored, and so, in the Lord's eyes, are those who fear him.

20Among brethren he that is chief is honorable; so are they that fear the Lord in his eyes.

21The fear of the Lord comes before a person gains authority, but harshness and pride are how it is lost.

21The fear of the Lord goeth before the obtaining of authority: but roughness and pride is the losing thereof.

NoteThis verse is missing from the oldest and best Greek manuscripts of Sirach. It belongs to an expanded Greek text that passed into the Latin Bible, which is where the King James translators found it. Modern editions often omit it or bracket it.

22Whether a person is rich, of high birth, or poor, their glory is the fear of the Lord.

22Whether he be rich, noble, or poor, their glory is the fear of the Lord.

23It is not right to look down on a poor man who has understanding, and it is not fitting to praise a man who does wrong.

23It is not meet to despise the poor man that hath understanding; neither is it convenient to magnify a sinful man.

Note"Meet" and "convenient" both meant fitting or proper in 1611; neither carries its modern sense here. "Magnify" means to make much of someone, to build him up in public.

24Great men, judges, and rulers will be honored, yet none of them is greater than the one who fears the Lord.

24Great men, and judges, and potentates, shall be honoured; yet is there none of them greater than he that feareth the Lord.

25Free people will serve the servant who is wise, and the person who has knowledge will not complain when he is corrected.

25Unto the servant that is wise shall they that are free do service: and he that hath knowledge will not grudge when he is reformed.

Note"Servant" translates the Greek word for a slave. A capable household slave could manage an estate and give orders to free members of the household, which is the situation the line pictures. "Grudge" in 1611 meant to grumble or complain, and "reformed" meant corrected or disciplined.

26Do not act too clever while doing your work, and do not boast about yourself at a time when you are in trouble.

26Be not overwise in doing thy business; and boast not thyself in the time of thy distress.

Note"Overwise" renders a phrase meaning roughly "do not play the wise man." The line is compressed and has been read as a warning against showing off cleverness instead of getting the work done, and as a warning against overworking a job past what it needs.

27Better is the one who works and has plenty of everything than the one who boasts about himself and has no bread.

27Better is he that laboureth, and aboundeth in all things, than he that boasteth himself, and wanteth bread.

Note"Wanteth" means lacks. "Bread" stands for food in general, as it does throughout the Bible, so the boaster of this line is going hungry.

28My son, give your soul glory by being humble, and give it the honor that matches its worth.

28My son, glorify thy soul in meekness, and give it honour according to the dignity thereof.

Note"Soul" here means yourself, your life, not a part of a person set apart from the body. "Meekness" is humility. "According to the dignity thereof" means according to its actual worth, the measure being neither more nor less than what is really there.

29Who will declare a man in the right when he sins against his own soul? And who will honor the man who brings shame on his own life?

29Who will justify him that sinneth against his own soul? and who will honour him that dishonoureth his own life?

30The poor man is honored for his skill, and the rich man is honored for his riches.

30The poor man is honoured for his skill, and the rich man is honoured for his riches.

Note"Skill" translates a word for knowledge or understanding. The line sets what a man knows against what a man owns, using the same verb, "is honoured," for both.

31If a man is honored while he is poor, how much more will he be honored when he is rich? And if a man is treated as worthless while he is rich, how much more when he is poor?

31He that is honoured in poverty, how much more in riches? and he that is dishonourable in riches, how much more in poverty?