Ecclesiasticus 2

My son, if you come to serve the Lord, get your soul ready to be tested.

1My son, if thou come to serve the Lord, prepare thy soul for temptation.

Note"My son" is the standard address of a wisdom teacher to his student, not necessarily a father to his child; the book is a collection of a teacher's instruction. "Temptation" in 1611 English meant a trial or a test, anything that puts a person under strain: illness, poverty, pressure from others. It did not mean an enticement to do wrong, which is what the word suggests today.

2Set your heart straight, and keep on enduring. Do not act in a rush when trouble comes.

2Set thy heart aright, and constantly endure, and make not haste in time of trouble.

Note"Make not haste" is not about walking or working quickly. The Greek verb covers being thrown into confusion and acting in a panic, so the warning is against rash moves made under pressure.

3Hold on to him and do not turn away, so that you may grow greater at the end of your life.

3Cleave unto him, and depart not away, that thou mayest be increased at thy last end.

Note"Cleave" in 1611 English meant to stick fast to something, to cling. It is the opposite of the other modern sense of cleave, to split apart. "Thy last end" translates a word for a person's final state or the outcome of a life, what a man comes to at the close.

4Take gladly whatever is brought upon you, and be patient when you are brought low.

4Whatsoever is brought upon thee take cheerfully, and be patient when thou art changed to a low estate.

Note"Changed to a low estate" renders a Greek word for being brought down in status. It covers losing money, position, health or standing, the public fall as much as the private loss.

5Gold is tested in the fire, and men who are accepted are tested in the furnace of hardship.

5For gold is tried in the fire, and acceptable men in the furnace of adversity.

NoteGold was refined by heating crushed ore in a furnace until the metal separated from the impurities, which were skimmed or burned off. A metalworker judged the purity of the result by eye and by weight, so "tried" here means tested for quality, and "acceptable men" are those who pass the assay.

6Believe in him, and he will help you. Make your way straight, and put your trust in him.

6Believe in him, and he will help thee; order thy way aright, and trust in him.

Note"Order thy way aright" uses the image of a road: making a path straight and level rather than crooked and broken, so that travel along it is possible.

7You who fear the Lord, wait for his mercy. Do not turn aside, or you will fall.

7Ye that fear the Lord, wait for his mercy; and go not aside, lest ye fall.

Note"Fear the Lord" is a fixed Hebrew phrase that runs through this whole book. It means reverence and awe held together with practical loyalty, the attitude of someone who takes God seriously enough to order his life by it. It does not mean being frightened.

8You who fear the Lord, believe him, and your reward will not fail.

8Ye that fear the Lord, believe him; and your reward shall not fail.

NoteThe word behind "reward" is the ordinary term for a laborer's wages, the pay owed at the end of a job.

9You who fear the Lord, hope for good, and for gladness and mercy that last forever.

9Ye that fear the Lord, hope for good, and for everlasting joy and mercy.

NoteSirach comes down to us in more than one form: Hebrew fragments, a Greek translation made by the author's grandson, and a longer Greek and Latin text carrying extra lines. Wording and verse numbering can differ between editions, so another Bible may read a little differently here.

10Look at the generations of long ago, and see. Did anyone ever trust the Lord and end up ashamed? Did anyone keep on fearing him and get left alone? Did he ever pass over anyone who called on him?

10Look at the generations of old, and see; did ever any trust in the Lord, and was confounded? or did any abide in his fear, and was forsaken? or whom did he ever despise, that called upon him?

Note"Confounded" in 1611 English meant put to shame or publicly disappointed, left standing there having trusted for nothing. It did not mean confused. "The generations of old" points the reader back to the stories of Israel's ancestors as a body of evidence to be examined.

11For the Lord is full of compassion and mercy. He is patient, and full of pity. He forgives sins and saves people in times of suffering.

11For the Lord is full of compassion and mercy, longsuffering, and very pitiful, and forgiveth sins, and saveth in time of affliction.

NoteTwo words have shifted since 1611. "Longsuffering" means slow to anger, putting up with provocation over a long stretch. "Pitiful" meant full of pity, compassionate; today it means contemptible, the near opposite.

12How terrible for fearful hearts, for hands that hang down weak, and for the sinner who walks two ways at once!

12Woe be to fearful hearts, and faint hands, and the sinner that goeth two ways!

Note"Woe" is a formal cry of lament used by the prophets to announce coming disaster. It is closer to a funeral wail said in advance than to a curse. "Faint hands" is body language: hands that drop to the sides from exhaustion or fear, the posture of someone giving up. "Goeth two ways" describes a man walking two roads at once, keeping both options open rather than committing to either.

13How terrible for the person whose heart gives way! He does not believe, and so he will not be protected.

13Woe unto him that is fainthearted! for he believeth not; therefore shall he not be defended.

14How terrible for you who have lost your patience! What will you do when the Lord comes to you?

14Woe unto you that have lost patience! and what will ye do when the Lord shall visit you?

NoteTo "visit" in older English meant to come and inspect, to arrive and settle accounts. A visitation could bring rescue or reckoning, but either way it was the moment when the matter was decided.

15Those who fear the Lord will not disobey his word, and those who love him will keep to his ways.

15They that fear the Lord will not disobey his Word; and they that love him will keep his ways.

16Those who fear the Lord will look for what pleases him, and those who love him will be filled with the law.

16They that fear the Lord will seek that which is well, pleasing unto him; and they that love him shall be filled with the law.

NoteThe comma in "seek that which is well, pleasing unto him" is a printing quirk of the King James edition; the sense is "seek what is well-pleasing to him." "The law" is the Torah, the five books of Moses, understood as instruction and teaching as well as legislation. Sirach repeatedly treats wisdom and that instruction as the same thing.

17Those who fear the Lord will get their hearts ready and will make themselves humble in his sight,

17They that fear the Lord will prepare their hearts, and humble their souls in his sight,

Note"Humble their souls" is an idiom with a physical side. In Jewish practice it commonly meant fasting and going without, the self denial commanded for the Day of Atonement, not merely a modest frame of mind.

18saying, "We will fall into the hands of the Lord, and not into the hands of people. For his mercy is as great as his majesty."

18Saying, We will fall into the hands of the Lord, and not into the hands of men: for as his majesty is, so is his mercy.

Note"Fall into the hands of" means to be put entirely at someone's mercy, with no power left to resist. The phrase echoes King David's choice in 2 Samuel 24, where, offered a penalty, he asked to be dealt with by God rather than handed over to human enemies.