Ecclesiasticus 23

Lord, Father and Ruler of my whole life, do not leave me to their advice, and do not let me fall because of them.

1O Lord, Father and Governor of all my whole life, leave me not to their counsels, and let me not fall by them.

NoteVerses 1 to 6 are a prayer, one of the few sustained prayers in this book, which is otherwise a collection of teaching. "Governor" in 1611 English means master or the one in charge of a household, not an elected official. "Their counsels" has no antecedent in this chapter: the prayer carries on from the end of the previous chapter, where the writer asked for a guard over his mouth and a seal on his lips, so "they" is most naturally his own lips and thoughts, though it can also be read as the wicked people described earlier.

2Who will set whips over my thoughts, and the training that comes from wisdom over my heart? Let them not spare me for the wrongs I did without knowing, and let my sins not be passed over.

2Who will set scourges over my thoughts, and the discipline of wisdom over mine heart? that they spare me not for mine ignorances, and it pass not by my sins:

Note"Scourges" are whips. The picture is of a master or schoolmaster correcting a slave or a pupil, and the writer is asking for that kind of severity to be applied to his own thinking. "Discipline" here translates a Greek word meaning upbringing and training, which included correction and punishment as a normal part of education. "Ignorances" is a technical term rather than a vague one: the Law of Moses treated sins committed unknowingly as a distinct category with their own prescribed sacrifices, separate from deliberate wrongdoing.

3If they are passed over, the wrongs I did without knowing will grow, my sins will pile up until they destroy me, I will fall in front of those who stand against me, and my enemy will be glad over me, an enemy whose hope is far from your mercy.

3Lest mine ignorances increase, and my sins abound to my destruction, and I fall before mine adversaries, and mine enemy rejoice over me, whose hope is far from thy mercy.

Note"Whose hope is far from thy mercy" attaches to the enemy: he is someone with no expectation of God's mercy for himself. The clause is loosely hung on the sentence in the Greek, and some readers have taken it as a description of what the writer fears becoming.

4Lord, Father and God of my life, do not give me proud eyes, and always turn a haughty mind away from your servants.

4O Lord, Father and God of my life, give me not a proud look, but turn away from thy servants always a haughty mind.

Note"A proud look" is literally "haughty eyes" in the Greek, a standard idiom for arrogance as it shows in the way a person looks at other people.

5Turn empty hopes and craving away from me, and you will hold up the one who always wants to serve you.

5Turn away from me vain hopes and concupiscence, and thou shalt hold him up that is desirous always to serve thee.

Note"Concupiscence" in 1611 English meant strong craving, most often sexual desire. The sentence switches from "me" to "him that is desirous": the writer's request about himself turns into a general statement about anyone who wants to serve God.

6Do not let a greedy stomach or the lust of the body take hold of me, and do not hand me, your servant, over to a shameless mind.

6Let not the greediness of the belly nor lust of the flesh take hold of me; and give not over me thy servant into an impudent mind.

Note"Impudent" in 1611 English meant shameless, having lost the capacity to feel shame, which is considerably stronger than the modern sense of cheeky or rude.

7Listen, children, to the training of the mouth. Whoever keeps it will never be trapped by his own lips.

7Hear, O ye children, the discipline of the mouth: he that keepeth it shall never be taken in his lips.

Note"Hear, O ye children" is the standard way a wisdom teacher addressed his students, and "children" means pupils rather than the young. "The discipline of the mouth" is training in how to speak. "Taken in his lips" uses the language of trapping an animal: the man is caught in a snare made of his own words.

8The sinner will be left in his foolishness. Both the one who speaks evil and the proud man will fall because of it.

8The sinner shall be left in his foolishness: both the evil speaker and the proud shall fall thereby.

9Do not let your mouth get used to swearing oaths, and do not make a habit of speaking the name of the Holy One.

9Accustom not thy mouth to swearing; neither use thyself to the naming of the Holy One.

Note"Swearing" here does not mean obscene or foul language. It means taking oaths, calling on God as witness to guarantee that what you say is true or that you will do what you promise. Oaths had legal force, so swearing casually devalued them. "The naming of the Holy One" is speaking the name of God, which by this period Jews avoided uttering except in the most formal settings.

10A servant who is beaten all the time is never without a bruise. In the same way, a man who swears and names God all the time will not be free from fault.

10For as a servant that is continually beaten shall not be without a blue mark: so he that sweareth and nameth God continually shall not be faultless.

Note"A blue mark" is a bruise. A household slave was legally subject to beating, so the comparison would have been an everyday one to the first readers.

11A man who swears a great deal will be filled with wrongdoing, and trouble will never leave his house. If he does wrong, his sin is on him. If he does not admit his sin, he commits a double offense. If he swears an empty oath, he will not be innocent, and his house will be full of disasters.

11A man that useth much swearing shall be filled with iniquity, and the plague shall never depart from his house: if he shall offend, his sin shall be upon him: and if he acknowledge not his sin, he maketh a double offence: and if he swear in vain, he shall not be innocent, but his house shall be full of calamities.

Note"Plague" in 1611 English means any blow or affliction, not specifically disease. "Swear in vain" echoes the wording of the commandment against taking God's name in vain, Exodus 20:7. The "double offence" is sinning and then refusing to acknowledge it, which counts as two wrongs rather than one.

12There is a way of speaking that is wrapped around with death. God grant that it is not found in the inheritance of Jacob, for all such things stay far from those who are devoted to God, and they will not wallow in their sins.

12There is a word that is clothed about with death: God grant that it be not found in the heritage of Jacob; for all such things shall be far from the godly, and they shall not wallow in their sins.

Note"A word that is clothed about with death" means speech that carries the death penalty, understood as cursing or blaspheming the name of God, which Leviticus 24:16 punished by stoning. The writer will not repeat the words themselves, only pray that they are never heard in Israel. "The heritage of Jacob" is Israel: the people descended from Jacob together with the land held to be given them.

13Do not use your mouth for wild, uncontrolled swearing, for sinful speech is in it.

13Use not thy mouth to intemperate swearing, for therein is the word of sin.

14Remember your father and your mother when you sit among important men. Do not forget yourself in front of them, and so by habit become a fool, and wish that you had not been born, and curse the day you were born.

14Remember thy father and thy mother, when thou sittest among great men. Be not forgetful before them, and so thou by thy custom become a fool, and wish that thou hadst not been born, and curse they day of thy nativity.

NoteThe setting is a banquet or a council of prominent men, where a younger man might be carried away and let his speech run loose. Remembering your parents means remembering the household you came from and would disgrace. "Curse the day of thy nativity" is to curse the day you were born; the same wish is spoken by Job in Job 3:3 and by Jeremiah in Jeremiah 20:14. "They day" in the King James text is a printing error for "thy day."

15The man who is used to insulting speech will never be corrected as long as he lives.

15The man that is accustomed to opprobrious words will never be reformed all the days of his life.

Note"Opprobrious words" are insulting and abusive speech, language meant to shame the person it is aimed at.

16Two kinds of men multiply sin, and the third brings down anger. A burning passion is like a blazing fire; it will never be put out until it has burned itself up. A man who is sexually immoral, in the body of his flesh, will never stop until he has kindled a fire.

16Two sorts of men multiply sin, and the third will bring wrath: a hot mind is as a burning fire, it will never be quenched till it be consumed: a fornicator in the body of his flesh will never cease till he hath kindled a fire.

Note"Two sorts of men... and the third" is a standard device in Jewish wisdom writing, where a list counts up and the final item is the real point. Here the third kind, the adulterer, is described at length from verse 18 onward. "A hot mind" translates a phrase about a soul heated like a furnace, meaning burning sexual appetite rather than a hot temper.

17To a man who goes after prostitutes, all bread is sweet. He will not leave off until he dies.

17All bread is sweet to a whoremonger, he will not leave off till he die.

Note"All bread is sweet to a whoremonger" is a proverb: to such a man any food will do, so any woman will do, and he draws no distinctions. "Whoremonger" in 1611 English meant a man who habitually goes with prostitutes.

18There is the man who breaks his marriage, saying this in his heart: Who sees me? Darkness is all around me, the walls hide me, and nobody sees me. What do I need to fear? The Most High will not remember my sins.

18A man that breaketh wedlock, saying thus in his heart, Who seeth me? I am compassed about with darkness, the walls cover me, and no body seeth me; what need I to fear? the most High will not remember my sins:

Note"Breaketh wedlock" means commits adultery. "The most High" is a title for God, in Hebrew Elyon, meaning the one above all others.

19Such a man is afraid only of the eyes of people. He does not know that the eyes of the Lord are ten thousand times brighter than the sun, watching all the ways of people and looking into the most hidden parts.

19Such a man only feareth the eyes of men, and knoweth not that the eyes of the Lord are ten thousand times brighter than the sun, beholding all the ways of men, and considering the most secret parts.

Note"The most secret parts" means the most hidden places, the dark corners and concealed spots, not parts of the body. It answers directly the adulterer's confidence in verse 18 that walls and darkness hide him.

20He knew all things before they were ever created, and in the same way, after they were finished, he looked at them all.

20He knew all things ere ever they were created; so also after they were perfected he looked upon them all.

Note"Ere ever" means before. "Perfected" in 1611 English means completed or finished, not made flawless.

21This man will be punished in the streets of the city, and he will be seized where he does not expect it.

21This man shall be punished in the streets of the city, and where he suspecteth not he shall be taken.

NotePunishment "in the streets of the city" means public exposure and public penalty, carried out where everyone can see, which is the exact reverse of the secrecy the man relied on.

22It will go the same way with the wife who leaves her husband and brings in an heir by another man.

22Thus shall it go also with the wife that leaveth her husband, and bringeth in an heir by another.

NoteThe offense named is not only unfaithfulness. A child by another man would be raised as the husband's own and would inherit his property and carry on his family line, so the wrong falls on the whole household and its future as well as on the marriage.

23For first, she has disobeyed the law of the Most High. Second, she has done wrong against her own husband. And third, she has played the whore in adultery and had children by another man.

23For first, she hath disobeyed the law of the most High; and secondly, she hath trespassed against her own husband; and thirdly, she hath played the whore in adultery, and brought children by another man.

NoteThe law referred to is the prohibition of adultery in the Ten Commandments, Exodus 20:14, which carried the death penalty for both parties under Leviticus 20:10 and Deuteronomy 22:22.

24She will be brought out in front of the assembly, and an inquiry will be made about her children.

24She shall be brought out into the congregation, and inquisition shall be made of her children.

Note"The congregation" is the assembled community, which functioned as a public court in cases like this. "Inquisition shall be made of her children" means a formal inquiry into who fathered them. A child judged illegitimate lost standing within the assembly, a disability set out in Deuteronomy 23:2.

25Her children will not take root, and her branches will bear no fruit.

25Her children shall not take root, and her branches shall bring forth no fruit.

NoteThe image is of a plant: children are the shoots and branches of the family tree, and a line that puts down no roots and bears no fruit simply ends. In a society where a person's name and memory survived through descendants, having no surviving children was regarded as the most complete disaster that could befall someone.

26She will leave her memory behind to be cursed, and her disgrace will not be wiped out.

26She shall leave her memory to be cursed, and her reproach shall not be blotted out.

Note"Blotted out" is the language of erasing writing from a surface, so the sense is that her disgrace stays permanently on the record rather than being wiped away over time.

27And those who are left will know that there is nothing better than the fear of the Lord, and that there is nothing sweeter than paying attention to the commandments of the Lord.

27And they that remain shall know that there is nothing better than the fear of the Lord, and that there is nothing sweeter than to take heed unto the commandments of the Lord.

Note"The fear of the Lord" is a fixed phrase in Jewish wisdom writing and does not mean being frightened. It covers reverence and awe toward God, and in practice the whole of a life lived by his commands. The book returns to this phrase repeatedly as the summary of what wisdom is.

28It is a great honor to follow the Lord, and to be received by him is long life.

28It is great glory to follow the Lord, and to be received of him is long life.

NoteThe Greek here is compressed, and "to be received of him" can mean either to be accepted by him or to be taken up by him. "Long life" translates the ordinary idiom "length of days." This verse does not appear in all Greek manuscripts and may be a later addition rounding off the chapter.