Ecclesiasticus 5: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

This chapter is a set of warnings against false confidence: trusting what you own, trusting your own mind and strength, and assuming that because punishment has not come yet, sin costs nothing. It says the Lord is patient but that mercy and anger both come from him, and it urges turning to him without delay. The second half turns to speech, calling for steady understanding, consistent words, quick listening, patient answers, silence when you lack understanding, and no whispering or trapping others with your tongue.

Claim by Claim

1. 5:1
   • The hearer is told not to rely on his wealth.
   • The hearer is told not to say, "I have enough for my life."
2. 5:2
   • The hearer is told not to follow his own mind and his own strength.
   • Following one's own mind and strength means walking in the desires of one's heart.
3. 5:3
   • The hearer is told not to say, "Who shall control me for my works?"
   • The Lord will surely take vengeance.
   • The vengeance the Lord takes is upon the hearer's pride.
4. 5:4
   • The hearer is told not to say, "I have sinned, and what harm has happened to me?"
   • The Lord is longsuffering.
   • The Lord will in no wise let the hearer go.
5. 5:5
   • Concerning propitiation, the hearer is told not to be without fear.
   • Being without fear about propitiation leads to adding sin upon sin.
6. 5:6
   • The hearer is told not to say, "His mercy is great; he will be pacified for the multitude of my sins."
   • Mercy comes from him.
   • Wrath comes from him.
   • His indignation rests upon sinners.
7. 5:7
   • The hearer is told to make no delay in turning to the Lord.
   • The hearer is told not to put off from day to day.
   • The wrath of the Lord will come forth suddenly.
   • The hearer will be destroyed in his security.
   • The hearer will perish in the day of vengeance.
8. 5:8
   • The hearer is told not to set his heart on goods unjustly gotten.
   • Goods unjustly gotten will not profit the hearer in the day of calamity.
9. 5:9
   • The hearer is told not to winnow with every wind.
   • The hearer is told not to go into every way.
   • The sinner who has a double tongue does so.
10. 5:10
    • The hearer is told to be steadfast in his understanding.
    • The hearer is told to let his word be one and the same.
11. 5:11
    • The hearer is told to be swift to hear.
    • The hearer is told to let his life be sincere.
    • The hearer is told to give answer with patience.
12. 5:12
    • If the hearer has understanding, he is to answer his neighbour.
    • If the hearer does not have understanding, he is to lay his hand upon his mouth.
13. 5:13
    • Honour is in talk.
    • Shame is in talk.
    • A man's tongue is his fall.
14. 5:14
    • The hearer is told not to be called a whisperer.
    • The hearer is told not to lie in wait with his tongue.
    • Shame is upon the thief.
    • An evil condemnation is upon the double tongue.
15. 5:15
    • The hearer is told not to be ignorant in a great matter or in a small one.

Words Worth Explaining

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

5:1

Some King James printings read "Set not thy heart upon thy goods," and that negative is what the Greek has; without it the line reads as advice to do the very thing the chapter is warning against. Every sentence from here to verse 9 is a warning of the same shape. "Goods" in 1611 meant property or wealth of any kind, not merchandise for sale.

5:2

"The ways of thy heart" is not about feelings. In this literature the heart is the seat of thinking, wanting and deciding, so the phrase means going wherever your own judgment and appetite point.

5:3

"Controul" is the 1611 spelling of control, and in that English it meant to check, restrain or call to account, closer to "who can stop me or make me answer for this" than to modern managing or directing. "Revenge" in 1611 simply meant to punish or to exact justice; it did not carry the modern sense of spite.

5:4

"Longsuffering" is an older English word for patient, slow to anger, willing to put up with a great deal for a long time. "In no wise" means in no way at all, so "he will in no wise let thee go" means he will certainly not let you off.

5:5

"Propitiation" is a technical word from the world of sacrifice: the offering or act that turns anger aside and makes forgiveness possible. "Concerning propitiation, be not without fear" means, roughly, do not be so confident that atonement is always available that you keep piling up offenses on the strength of it.

5:6

"Pacified" means appeased or satisfied, calmed down. "His indignation resteth upon sinners" uses "rest" in the sense of settling onto something and staying there, not of relaxing.

5:7

"Make no tarrying" means do not delay. "In thy security" is a trap for modern readers: in 1611 English security meant a false sense of safety, being carelessly off your guard, from a Latin word meaning "without care." It described the person's complacency, not any protection he actually had.

5:9

Winnowing was the last step of harvesting grain. The threshed mixture was tossed into the air with a fork or shovel so the breeze carried off the light chaff while the heavy kernels fell back on the floor. A farmer waited for a steady, reliable wind; tossing grain up into whatever gust happened along would scatter the crop. The image is of a person with no fixed direction. "A double tongue" translates a word for someone who says one thing to one party and something else to another.

5:10

"Stedfast" is the old spelling of steadfast, which means steady and not easily moved.

5:11

The clause "let thy life be sincere" is in the longer Greek form of this book that stood behind the King James; the shorter manuscripts used by most modern translations do not have it. "Sincere" in 1611 meant unmixed, unfeigned, without anything false stirred into it.

5:12

Putting a hand over the mouth was a recognized gesture in the ancient Near East for deliberate, respectful silence: the deliberate refusal to speak, not embarrassment.

5:13

Honor and shame were public standing, what the whole community thought of you and said about you. In this society that reputation was a person's main asset, and verse 13 observes that it is won or lost in speech.

5:14

A "whisperer" is a slanderer, someone who circulates damaging talk about people quietly and behind their backs. "Lie in wait with thy tongue" is hunting language, the picture of an ambush set for someone who does not see it coming. "Condemnation" here means the sentence handed down by a court.

5:15

This closes the chapter's advice about talking. Being "ignorant" here means speaking about something without knowing the facts, whether the subject is big or small.