Ecclesiasticus 7

Do no evil, and no evil will come upon you.

1Do no evil, so shall no harm come unto thee.

2Keep away from what is unjust, and wrongdoing will turn away from you.

2Depart from the unjust, and iniquity shall turn away from thee.

3My son, do not sow seed in the plowed rows of wrongdoing, and you will not harvest seven times as much of it.

3My son, sow not upon the furrows of unrighteousness, and thou shalt not reap them sevenfold.

Note"My son" is how a teacher in this tradition addresses a pupil; the whole book is instruction delivered in that voice, and the son need not be the speaker's own child. The image is farming: a furrow is the trench the plow cuts for the seed, and a sevenfold crop is a spectacular return, so the line pictures deliberate wrongdoing as seed that comes back multiplied.

4Do not ask the Lord to give you first place, and do not ask the king for the seat of honor.

4Seek not of the Lord preeminence, neither of the king the seat of honour.

NoteThe "seat of honour" is a literal place. At a royal court a man's rank was displayed by where he was seated and how near the king he sat, so asking for that seat means angling openly for promotion.

5Do not declare yourself to be in the right in front of the Lord, and do not make a show of your wisdom in front of the king.

5justify not thyself before the Lord; and boast not of thy wisdom before the king.

NoteIn 1611 English "justify" did not mean make excuses for. It was a courtroom word meaning to declare someone innocent, so "justify not thyself before the Lord" warns against pronouncing your own verdict of not guilty.

6Do not seek to be a judge, in case you are not able to put an end to wrongdoing, and in case you are ever afraid of a powerful person and so lay a stumbling block in the path of your own uprightness.

6Seek not to be judge, being not able to take away iniquity; lest at any time thou fear the person of the mighty, an stumblingblock in the way of thy uprightness.

NoteThe judges meant here are the local elders who heard disputes in public, not trained officials. To "fear the person of the mighty" is a set idiom for letting a man's rank bend your ruling; the Greek word for "person" is literally "face," and the same idiom lies behind the older English phrase "respect of persons." A stumbling block is a stone left lying in a path to trip someone, used throughout the Bible for whatever makes a person fall.

7Do not do wrong against the whole crowd of a city, and then you will not throw yourself down among the people.

7Offend not against the multitude of a city, and then thou shalt not cast thyself down among the people.

Note"The multitude of a city" means the assembled citizens, the town acting as one body, whose collective goodwill a man depended on. The second half is compressed even in the Greek and is generally taken to mean "do not bring humiliation on yourself in front of the crowd," the disgrace being what follows on offending them.

8Do not tie one sin on top of another, for even for one you will not go unpunished.

8Bind not one sin upon another; for in one thou shalt not be unpunished.

NoteThe Greek can be read two ways: do not commit the same sin twice, or do not pile a second sin on top of the first. Either reading runs into the same conclusion, that one is already enough to be punished for.

9Do not say, "God will look at how many offerings I bring, and when I make an offering to the Most High God, he will accept it."

9Say not, God will look upon the multitude of my oblations, and when I offer to the most high God, he will accept it.

NoteOfferings were animals, grain, oil and wine brought to the temple in Jerusalem and handed over to the priests; part was burned on the altar, part fed the priests, part went back to the worshiper. The attitude being quoted treats a large volume of them as a running account that covers whatever else a man does.

10Do not lose heart when you pray, and do not neglect to give gifts to the poor.

10Be not fainthearted when thou makest thy prayer, and neglect not to give alms.

NoteAlms are gifts of money or food to the poor. By this period they were reckoned a religious obligation standing alongside prayer and sacrifice rather than optional charity, which is why prayer and almsgiving sit in a single sentence here.

11Do not laugh at any person while his soul is bitter, for there is One who brings low and lifts up.

11Laugh no man to scorn in the bitterness of his soul: for there is one which humbleth and exalteth.

Note"There is one which humbleth and exalteth" is a deliberately indirect way of naming God. Writers of this period often avoided the name and referred instead to what God does. Compare Hannah's song: "The LORD maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up."

12Do not invent a lie against your brother, and do not do the same to your friend.

12Devise not a lie against thy brother; neither do the like to thy friend.

13Do not tell any kind of lie, for making a habit of it leads to nothing good.

13Use not to make any manner of lie: for the custom thereof is not good.

Note"Use not to make" is 1611 English for "do not make a practice of." The verse is about the habit rather than a single lie, which the second half spells out.

14Do not use many words when the elders are gathered, and do not run on and on when you pray.

14Use not many words in a multitude of elders, and make not much babbling when thou prayest.

NoteThe elders were the senior men of a town, who met as a council and settled its affairs; speaking at length in that gathering claimed a standing a younger or lesser man did not have. The second half warns against the idea that repeating words makes a prayer take effect.

15Do not hate hard labor, or farm work, which the Most High set in place.

15Hate not laborious work, neither husbandry, which the most High hath ordained.

Note"Husbandry" is the old English word for farming and has nothing to do with husbands in the modern sense; a husbandman was a farmer. The Greek verb behind "hath ordained" is "created," placing field labor among the things God set up at the beginning.

16Do not count yourself among the crowd of sinners, but remember that anger will not hold off for long.

16Number not thyself among the multitude of sinners, but remember that wrath will not tarry long.

Note"Wrath" standing alone, with no owner named, means God's judgment. The word is used by itself in this way all through the writings of this period.

17Humble yourself deeply, for the punishment of the ungodly is fire and worms.

17Humble thyself greatly: for the vengeance of the ungodly is fire and worms.

NoteFire and worms together are stock imagery for what becomes of unburied corpses, drawn from the last verse of Isaiah: "their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched." The surviving Hebrew of this verse reads differently, roughly "the expectation of man is worms," which makes the line a statement about death in general rather than about punishment.

18Do not trade a friend for anything at all, nor a faithful brother for the gold of Ophir.

18Change not a friend for any good by no means; neither a faithful brother for the gold of Ophir.

NoteOphir was a distant land reached by ship, proverbial for gold of the highest quality. Where it actually lay is unknown, with the Arabian coast, East Africa and India all proposed. "The gold of Ophir" functions here as a byword for the most valuable thing a hearer could picture.

19Do not give up a wise and good woman, for her grace is worth more than gold.

19Forego not a wise and good woman: for her grace is above gold.

NoteThe Greek word means both "woman" and "wife," and a wife is meant: the advice is not to divorce a good one. A husband in this society could initiate divorce on his own. "Grace" here is charm or attractiveness, not a religious term.

20When your servant works honestly, do not treat him badly, and do not treat badly the hired worker who gives himself completely to you.

20Whereas thy servant worketh truly, entreat him not evil, nor the hireling that bestoweth himself wholly for thee.

NoteA "servant" in this book is normally a slave, a person owned by the household. A "hireling" is a free laborer working for wages, usually hired by the day. Both were exposed to being overworked and to being paid late or not at all, which is what the warning addresses.

21Let your soul love a good servant, and do not cheat him out of his freedom.

21Let thy soul love a good servant, and defraud him not of liberty.

NoteFreeing a slave was a real legal act, and Jewish law limited how long a fellow Israelite could be held, with release due in the seventh year. To "defraud him of liberty" is to withhold a freedom that was owed rather than to deny a favor.

22Do you have cattle? Keep an eye on them, and if they bring you profit, keep them with you.

22Hast thou cattle? have an eye to them: and if they be for thy profit, keep them with thee.

23Do you have children? Teach them, and bend their necks low from the time they are young.

23Hast thou children? instruct them, and bow down their neck from their youth.

Note"Bow down their neck" is the image of fitting a yoke onto a young ox, an animal broken in while it is still small. Applied to children it means training them to obedience early, and the Greek verb carries the sense of bodily discipline, beating included.

24Do you have daughters? Take care of their bodies, and do not be free and easy with them.

24Hast thou daughters? have a care of their body, and shew not thyself cheerful toward them.

Note"Have a care of their body" means guarding a daughter's chastity, on which her prospects of marriage and her family's standing both depended. "Shew not thyself cheerful toward them" is misleading to a modern ear: it means do not be indulgent or overly familiar with them.

25Give your daughter in marriage, and by that you will have carried out a weighty matter; but give her to a man of understanding.

25Marry thy daughter, and so shalt thou have performed a weighty matter: but give her to a man of understanding.

NoteMarriages were arranged by the father, who negotiated with the groom's family and provided a dowry. "A weighty matter" is a heavy obligation discharged: a daughter's future remained her father's responsibility until she was settled in a household of her own.

26Do you have a wife who suits you? Do not leave her. But do not hand yourself over to a woman who has been put away.

26Hast thou a wife after thy mind? forsake her not: but give not thyself over to a light woman.

NoteThe Greek word behind "a light woman" means "hated" or "detested," and it was also the standard legal term for a wife who has been divorced or set aside. The line may therefore warn against binding yourself to a woman you despise, or against taking up with a woman another man has put away. The King James translators read it as a woman of loose morals.

27Honor your father with your whole heart, and do not forget the pains your mother had in giving you birth.

27Honour thy father with thy whole heart, and forget not the sorrows of thy mother.

NoteThis pair of lines restates the commandment to honor father and mother found in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. The "sorrows" of the mother are specifically the pains of childbirth.

28Remember that you were born from the two of them. How can you pay them back for what they have done for you?

28Remember that thou wast begotten of them; and how canst thou recompense them the things that they have done for thee?

29Fear the Lord with all your soul, and treat his priests with reverence.

29Fear the Lord with all thy soul, and reverence his priests.

NoteThe priests were the hereditary descendants of Aaron, the only men permitted to serve at the temple altar in Jerusalem, killing and burning the offerings and receiving a fixed share of what worshipers brought.

30Love the one who made you with all your strength, and do not abandon those who serve him.

30Love him that made thee with all thy strength, and forsake not his ministers.

Note"Ministers" simply means those who serve, with no modern sense of clergy attached. Here it covers the temple staff: the priests and the Levites who assisted them.

31Fear the Lord and honor the priest. Give him his share, as you have been commanded: the first part of the harvest, the offering for wrongdoing, the gift of the shoulders, the sacrifice that makes holy, and the first part of the holy things.

31Fear the Lord, and honor the priest; and give him his portion, as it is commanded thee; the firstfruits, and the trespass offering, and the gift of the shoulders, and the sacrifice of sanctification, and the firstfruits of the holy things.

NotePriests held no farmland and lived entirely on assigned shares of what worshipers brought, so this list is their income. Firstfruits: the first and best of each harvest of grain, wine, oil and fruit. The trespass offering: a sacrifice made to make good a wrong done to God or to a neighbor. The gift of the shoulders: the foreleg of a sacrificed animal, one of the cuts the law assigned to the priest along with the cheeks and the stomach (Deuteronomy 18:3). The sacrifice of sanctification: an offering dedicated as holy, most likely the peace or thanksgiving offering, whose meat was shared. The firstfruits of the holy things covers whatever else was set apart for sacred use.

32Reach out your hand to the poor, so that your blessing may be complete.

32And stretch thine hand unto the poor, that thy blessing may be perfected.

33A gift finds favor in the sight of every living person; and do not hold your gift back from the dead.

33A gift hath grace in the sight of every man living; and for the dead detain it not.

NoteThe gift owed to the dead is the customary provision at a funeral: paying for a decent burial, bringing food to the bereaved household, and in some Jewish practice setting food at the grave. Withholding it was a recognized failure of duty, and the dead could not repay it, which is the point of pairing it with gifts to the living.

34Do not fail to be with those who weep, and mourn with those who mourn.

34Fail not to be with them that weep, and mourn with them that mourn.

NoteMourning was public and followed a fixed pattern, seven days of formal grief at the house of the bereaved, with neighbors expected to come and lament aloud with the family. The instruction is about attending, not about private feeling.

35Do not be slow to visit the sick, for doing that will make you loved.

35Be not slow to visit the sick: for that shall make thee to be beloved.

36Whatever you take in hand, remember how your own life will end, and you will never go wrong.

36Whatsoever thou takest in hand, remember the end, and thou shalt never do amiss.

Note"Remember the end" translates a phrase that can mean your own death and what follows it, or the outcome of the thing you are about to do. The Greek, literally "your last things," holds both senses at once, and translators split over which to bring out.