Ecclesiasticus 33

No evil will happen to the person who fears the Lord. Even in a time of testing, he will rescue him again.

1There shall no evil happen unto him that feareth the Lord; but in temptation even again he will deliver him.

NoteKJV "temptation" keeps its older and wider sense of a trial or test of any kind, including hardship and misfortune. It does not mean an enticement to do wrong.

2A wise man does not hate the law, but the man who only pretends about it is like a ship in a storm.

2A wise man hateth not the law; but he that is an hypocrite therein is as a ship in a storm.

Note"The law" throughout this chapter means the law of Moses, the body of instruction in the first five books of the Bible, which this writer treats as the same thing as wisdom. KJV "an hypocrite therein" translates a Greek word whose root sense is a stage actor: someone who plays a part with the law rather than living by it.

3A man of understanding puts his trust in the law, and the law is dependable to him, like an oracle.

3A man of understanding trusteth in the law; and the law is faithful unto him, as an oracle.

NoteKJV "as an oracle" translates a Greek word used in the Greek Old Testament for the Urim, the object by which the high priest obtained a clear answer from God. The comparison is to a source that gives a dependable answer, not to the riddling oracles of Greek shrines.

4Get ready what you are going to say, and then you will be listened to. Tie your learning together, and then give your answer.

4Prepare what to say, and so thou shalt be heard: and bind up instruction, and then make answer.

NoteThe image behind "bind up instruction" is tying up a bundle: gather what you have learned into one package first, and then speak.

5The mind of a foolish man is like a cart wheel, and his thoughts are like a turning axle.

5The heart of the foolish is like a cartwheel; and his thoughts are like a rolling axletree.

NoteAn "axletree" is the wooden bar that a cart wheel turns on. Both halves of the picture spin constantly in the same place without arriving anywhere.

6A stallion is like a friend who mocks you: he neighs under every man who sits on him.

6A stallion horse is as a mocking friend, he neigheth under every one that sitteth upon him.

NoteA "stallion horse" is an uncastrated male, kept for breeding and known for being noisy and hard to control. It neighs under whoever happens to be riding it, making no distinction between one rider and another.

7Why is one day better than another, when all the daylight of every day in the year comes from the sun?

7Why doth one day excel another, when as all the light of every day in the year is of the sun?

NoteThe question is about the calendar. If every day in the year gets its light from the same sun, why are some days counted as festivals and others not?

8It was by the Lord's knowledge that they were made different from one another, and he varied the seasons and the feasts.

8By the knowledge of the Lord they were distinguished: and he altered seasons and feasts.

Note"Seasons and feasts" are the fixed times of the Jewish year: the weekly sabbath and the annual festivals such as Passover, Weeks and Booths, each falling on a set date.

9Some of them he made into high days and set them apart as holy, and some of them he made ordinary days.

9Some of them hath he made high days, and hallowed them, and some of them hath he made ordinary days.

Note"High days" are festival days, days marked off from the ordinary run of the calendar.

10And all people come from the ground, and Adam was made out of earth.

10And all men are from the ground, and Adam was created of earth:

NoteIn Hebrew, "Adam" is also the ordinary word for a human being, and it sounds like adamah, the word for ground or soil. The two halves of this verse are that play on words: humanity comes from the ground, and the man made of earth is called Earthling.

11With much knowledge the Lord separated them from one another and gave them different ways to go.

11In much knowledge the Lord hath divided them, and made their ways diverse.

NoteThe argument carries over from days to people: as the Lord singled out some days from others that are physically identical, so with human beings.

12Some of them he has blessed and lifted up high, and some of them he has set apart as holy and brought near to himself. But some of them he has cursed and brought low and driven out of their places.

12Some of them hath he blessed and exalted and some of them he sanctified, and set near himself: but some of them hath he cursed and brought low, and turned out of their places.

Note"Set near himself" uses the vocabulary of approaching the sanctuary, which was the privilege of priests. "Turned out of their places" is the vocabulary of peoples driven off their land, as the nations of Canaan were said to have been.

13Clay is in the potter's hand, for him to shape it as he pleases. In the same way, people are in the hand of the one who made them, for him to give to them as he thinks best.

13As the clay is in the potter’s hand, to fashion it at his pleasure: so man is in the hand of him that made him, to render to them as liketh him best.

14Good is set opposite evil, and life opposite death. In the same way, the person who honors God is set opposite the sinner, and the sinner opposite the person who honors God.

14Good is set against evil, and life against death: so is the godly against the sinner, and the sinner against the godly.

NoteIn KJV "against" here means "opposite" or "matched with", as one half of a pair, not "attacking". The claim is that created things come in facing pairs.

15So look at all the works of the Most High. They come two by two, one facing the other.

15So look upon all the works of the most High; and there are two and two, one against another.

16I woke up last of all, like someone who gathers what is left after the grape pickers. By the blessing of the Lord I gained, and I filled my winepress like a gatherer of grapes.

16I awaked up last of all, as one that gathereth after the grapegatherers: by the blessing of the Lord I profited, and tred my winepress like a gatherer of grapes.

NoteKJV "I awaked up last of all" means the writer came last in time, after generations of earlier teachers. Under the harvest laws the poor were allowed to follow the pickers through a vineyard and take whatever they had left behind (Leviticus 19:10, Deuteronomy 24:21), and he casts himself as one of those latecomers who nonetheless filled his press. A winepress was a shallow trough cut in rock where grapes were crushed underfoot, the juice running off into a lower basin.

17Think about this: I did not work for myself alone, but for everyone who looks for learning.

17Consider that I laboured not for myself only, but for all them that seek learning.

18Hear me, you great men of the people, and listen with your ears, you rulers of the assembly.

18Hear me, O ye great men of the people, and hearken with your ears, ye rulers of the congregation.

Note"The congregation" translates the Greek word for the assembled community of Israel, the people gathered as a body to hear and decide. It does not mean a church congregation.

19Do not give your son or your wife, your brother or your friend, power over you while you are alive, and do not hand your property over to someone else. If you do, you may come to regret it and have to beg to get it back.

19Give not thy son and wife, thy brother and friend, power over thee while thou livest, and give not thy goods to another: lest it repent thee, and thou intreat for the same again.

NoteHanding property to heirs before death was a real and risky option in this world: the transfer was final, and the giver spent the rest of his life dependent on the people he had given it to. KJV "intreat for the same again" means to have to beg for it back.

20As long as you live and have breath in you, do not hand yourself over to anyone.

20As long as thou livest and hast breath in thee, give not thyself over to any.

21It is better for your children to come asking you for what they need than for you to depend on their kindness.

21For better it is that thy children should seek to thee, than that thou shouldest stand to their courtesy.

Note"Stand to their courtesy" is an old English idiom meaning to be left at the mercy of someone else's goodwill, with no claim you can enforce.

22In everything you do, keep the leading place for yourself. Do not leave a stain on your honor.

22In all thy works keep to thyself the preeminence; leave not a stain in thine honour.

Note"Honour" here means public standing in the eyes of the community, the reputation that determined how a man was treated. A visible loss of position was a stain on it.

23When the time comes for you to end your days and finish your life, then hand out your inheritance.

23At the time when thou shalt end thy days, and finish thy life, distribute thine inheritance.

24Feed, a stick, and loads are for the donkey; bread, correction, and work are for a servant.

24Fodder, a wand, and burdens, are for the ass; and bread, correction, and work, for a servant.

NoteFrom here to the end of the chapter, KJV "servant" means a slave: a person owned as property and bought for a price, as verse 30 states outright. The advice assumes that ownership, and ancient readers heard it that way. KJV "a wand" means a stick for driving an animal, a goad, with nothing magical about it.

25If you set your servant to work, you will find rest. But if you let him stay idle, he will look for freedom.

25If thou set thy servant to labour, thou shalt find rest: but if thou let him go idle, he shall seek liberty.

Note"He shall seek liberty" means he will start looking for a way out, whether by pressing for his release or by running, which is the danger verse 31 returns to.

26A yoke and a collar bend the neck; in the same way, tortures and torments are for a bad servant.

26A yoke and a collar do bow the neck: so are tortures and torments for an evil servant.

NoteA yoke is the wooden beam laid across the neck of a draft animal, and the collar is the band that holds it in place. The verse takes the working gear of an ox and applies it to a human being.

27Send him to work, so that he is not idle, because idleness teaches much that is evil.

27Send him to labour, that he be not idle; for idleness teacheth much evil.

28Set him to work that suits him. If he will not obey, put heavier chains on him.

28Set him to work, as is fit for him: if he be not obedient, put on more heavy fetters.

Note"Fetters" are iron shackles locked around the ankles to stop a person from walking away.

29But do not go too far with anyone, and do nothing without good judgment.

29But be not excessive toward any; and without discretion do nothing.

30If you have a servant, let him be to you like yourself, because you bought him with a price.

30If thou have a servant, let him be unto thee as thyself, because thou hast bought him with a price.

Note"Let him be unto thee as thyself" echoes the wording of Leviticus 19:18, "thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself", here applied to a slave. The second half of the verse gives the owner's reason in the same breath: he is your property.

31If you have a servant, treat him like a brother, because you need him as you need your own life. If you treat him badly and he runs away from you, which way will you go to look for him?

31If thou have a servant, entreat him as a brother: for thou hast need of him, as of thine own soul: if thou entreat him evil, and he run from thee, which way wilt thou go to seek him?

NoteKJV "entreat him as a brother" and "if thou entreat him evil" use "entreat" in its older sense of "treat" or "deal with". It has nothing to do with begging. "As of thine own soul" means as you need your own life or your own self; "soul" in this idiom is the whole living person, not a part of one. The closing question is practical: a slave who escaped into a large country was in most cases simply gone.