Ecclesiasticus 18: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

The chapter begins with praise of the God who lives forever and made all things: no one can tell all his works or reach the bottom of them, and against the days of eternity a human life of a hundred years is a drop of water in the sea. It says the Lord's mercy rests on all flesh, and that he corrects, trains, teaches, and brings people back like a shepherd with his flock. The rest is instruction to a student: give without hurtful words, examine yourself before judgment, pay your vows on time, prepare yourself before you pray, remember hunger while you have plenty, and hold back from your appetites and from feasting on borrowed money.

Claim by Claim

1. 18:1
   • The one who lives forever created all things.
   • He who created all things lives forever.
   • All things without exception were created by him.
2. 18:2
   • The Lord alone is righteous.
   • There is no other besides him.
3. 18:3
   • He governs the world with the palm of his hand.
   • All things obey his will.
   • He is the King of all.
   • By his power he separates holy things from profane things.
4. 18:4
   • No one has been given power sufficient to declare his works.
   • No one will trace out his mighty acts.
5. 18:5
   • No one can number the strength of his majesty.
   • No one can recount his acts of mercy.
6. 18:6
   • Nothing can be taken away from the wondrous works of the Lord.
   • Nothing can be added to them.
   • The ground of them cannot be found out.
7. 18:7
   • When a man has finished, he is only beginning.
   • When a man leaves off, he is at a loss.
8. 18:8
   • It is asked what man is and what use he serves.
   • It is asked what his good is and what his evil is.
9. 18:9
   • The number of a man's days at the most is a hundred years.
10. 18:10
    • A thousand years compared with the days of eternity are like a drop of water taken from the sea.
    • A thousand years compared with the days of eternity are like a single pebble compared with the sand.
11. 18:11
    • For this reason God is patient with human beings.
    • God pours out his mercy upon them.
12. 18:12
    • He saw and perceived that their end is evil.
    • Therefore he multiplied his compassion.
13. 18:13
    • The mercy of a man is toward his neighbour.
    • The mercy of the Lord is upon all flesh.
    • The Lord reproves.
    • The Lord disciplines.
    • The Lord teaches.
    • The Lord brings back, as a shepherd brings back his flock.
14. 18:14
    • He has mercy on those who accept discipline.
    • He has mercy on those who diligently seek after his judgments.
15. 18:15
    • The speaker addresses the hearer as his son.
    • Do not put a blemish on your good deeds.
    • Do not use painful words when you give anything.
16. 18:16
    • Dew relieves the heat.
    • In the same way a word is better than a gift.
17. 18:17
    • A word is better than a gift.
    • Both a word and a gift are found with a gracious man.
18. 18:18
    • A fool reproaches ungraciously.
    • The gift of a grudging man consumes the eyes.
19. 18:19
    • Learn before you speak.
    • Take care of your health before you are sick.
20. 18:20
    • Examine yourself before judgment.
    • In the day of visitation you will find mercy.
21. 18:21
    • Humble yourself before you become sick.
    • In the time of sins show repentance.
22. 18:22
    • Let nothing hinder you from paying your vow at the proper time.
    • Do not wait until death to be justified.
23. 18:23
    • Prepare yourself before you pray.
    • Do not be like a man who tempts the Lord.
24. 18:24
    • Think upon the wrath that comes at the end.
    • Think upon the time of vengeance, when he turns his face away.
25. 18:25
    • When you have enough, remember the time of hunger.
    • When you are rich, think upon poverty and need.
26. 18:26
    • From morning until evening the time changes.
    • All things pass quickly before the Lord.
27. 18:27
    • A wise man is cautious in everything.
    • In a day of sinning a wise man guards against offence.
    • A fool does not observe the time.
28. 18:28
    • Every man of understanding knows wisdom.
    • Every man of understanding gives praise to the one who found wisdom.
29. 18:29
    • Those who were of understanding in sayings became wise themselves.
    • They poured forth exquisite parables.
30. 18:30
    • Do not go after your lusts.
    • Restrain yourself from your appetites.
31. 18:31
    • If you grant your soul the desires that please it, it will make you a laughingstock to your enemies.
    • Your enemies malign you.
32. 18:32
    • Do not take pleasure in much luxury.
    • Do not bind yourself to the expense of it.
33. 18:33
    • Do not become a beggar by feasting on borrowed money when you have nothing in your purse.
    • Doing so means you lie in wait against your own life.
    • Doing so makes you talked about.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

18:1

Ecclesiasticus, also called Sirach or the Wisdom of Jesus son of Sirach, was written in Hebrew about 180 BC and translated into Greek by the author's grandson; the King James translators worked from the Greek. The Greek phrase behind "all things in general" is open: it can mean "all things alike," "all things together," or "all things without exception."

18:3

"Profane" in 1611 English means ordinary or common, belonging to everyday use rather than set apart for worship. It does not mean irreverent or blasphemous. This second half of verse 2 and all of verse 3 are missing from the oldest Greek manuscripts and belong to a longer, expanded form of the Greek text.

18:6

"The ground of them" uses "ground" in its older sense of bottom or foundation: the underlying reason for God's works cannot be dug out.

18:7

The saying is about the limits of understanding. A person who thinks he has finished exploring God's works is only at the beginning, and when he gives up he is left baffled. "Doubtful" in 1611 means at a loss or uncertain, not skeptical.

18:9

A hundred years is a round figure for the outer limit of a human life in this kind of writing. Psalm 90 sets the usual span at seventy years, or eighty for the strong.

18:11

"Them" means human beings, the subject of verses 8 to 10. The shortness of human life is the reason given for God's patience.

18:12

"Their end" means the destination people are heading for, their death and what it comes to, rather than a purpose they aim at.

18:13

"All flesh" is a standard biblical phrase for every living creature, sometimes narrowed to all human beings. The contrast is one of range: a person's mercy reaches as far as the people around him, God's reaches everything alive.

18:14

"Judgments" here means his rulings and decisions, the laws and verdicts he lays down, not acts of condemning people.

18:15

"My son" is the standard way a wisdom teacher addresses his pupil throughout this book; it does not mean the hearer is his actual child. "Uncomfortable" in 1611 means giving no comfort, distressing or wounding, not awkward or inconvenient.

18:16

In the land this was written for, no rain falls for months in the dry season, and the heavy night dew was the only relief from the day's heat. The comparison assumes a reader who has felt it.

18:18

To "upbraid" is to reproach or scold someone, here by throwing the favor back in the recipient's face. "Consumeth the eyes" is an old idiom for eyes wearing out with waiting and disappointment: a gift given grudgingly leaves the receiver straining and worse off than before.

18:19

"Physick" means medicine or medical treatment. "Or ever" in 1611 English means "before," not "or." Both halves of the line are about acting in advance.

18:20

"The day of visitation" is a fixed biblical phrase for the time when God comes to inspect and to call people to account. To "visit" in this sense means to come and deal with someone, for good or for ill.

18:21

"The time of sins" is open in the Greek: it can mean the time while you are still sinning, or the time when sins are called in and paid for. "Shew repentance" means show that you are turning back.

18:22

A vow was a formal promise to God to give something, usually an offering or a gift to the temple, often in return for help. The law required that it be paid promptly (Deuteronomy 23:21). "To be justified" here means to be cleared and put in the right; the warning is against leaving that to your deathbed.

18:23

"Tempteth" in 1611 means puts to the test or tries out, not entices into sin. Praying without preparation is treated as testing God to see what he will do.

18:24

Turning the face toward someone means giving them favor and attention; turning it away is the withdrawal of both. The phrase is about God no longer attending, not about physical direction.

18:26

The point is the speed of reversal: a person's whole situation can change between sunrise and sunset, and from God's side the whole business is over in a moment.

18:27

"Observe time" means watch for the right moment to act. The King James Bible uses "observe times" elsewhere for fortune telling, but that is not the sense here.

18:28

Wisdom is a feminine noun in both Hebrew and Greek, so this book regularly speaks of wisdom as "her." "Him that found her" is the person who has found wisdom.

18:29

"Parables" translates a Greek word that stands in for the Hebrew mashal, which covers proverbs, sayings, riddles and comparisons rather than the story-parables of the Gospels. "Exquisite" in 1611 means carefully worked out, finely made.

18:30

An appetite is a strong wanting, like being very hungry for something.

18:31

The word translated "soul" means the appetite, the living self with its hungers and cravings, not an immaterial part of a person. It is grammatically feminine, which is why the verse says "her."

18:32

"Good cheer" in 1611 means food and drink, the fare at a feast, not cheerfulness. Being "tied to the expence thereof" means being bound to the spending such feasting requires.

18:33

"Lie in wait" is what a robber does when he hides to ambush a traveler. The saying turns the image around: the man borrowing to entertain is setting the ambush for himself. "Be talked on" means be gossiped about.