Sirach 42 — ASVBT

42Verse 1Of these things be not ashamed,
And accept no man’s person to sin thereby:
^{Verse 2}Of the law of the Most High, and his covenant;
And of judgment to do justice to the ungodly;
^{Verse 3}Of reckoning with a partner and with travelers;
And of a gift from the heritage of friends;
^{Verse 4}Of exactness of balance and weights;
And of getting much or little;
^{Verse 5}Of indifferent selling of merchants;
And of much correction of children;
And of making the side of an evil servant to bleed.
^{Verse 6}Sure keeping is good, where an evil wife is;
And where many hands are, shut thou close.
^{Verse 7}Whatsoever thou handest over, let it be by number and weight;
And in giving and receiving let all be in writing.
^{Verse 8}Be not ashamed to instruct the unwise and foolish,
And one of extreme old age that contendeth with those that are young;
And so shalt thou be well instructed indeed,
And approved in the sight of every man living.^{Verse 9}A daughter is a secret cause of wakefulness to a father;
And the care for her putteth away sleep;
In her youth, lest she pass the flower of her age;
And when she is married, lest she should be hated:
^{Verse 10}In her virginity, lest she should be defiled
And be with child in her father’s house;
And when she hath a husband, lest she should transgress;
And when she is married, lest she should be barren.
^{Verse 11}Keep a strict watch over a headstrong daughter,
Lest she make thee a laughingstock to thine enemies,
A byword in the city and notorious among the people,
And shame thee before the multitude.^{Verse 12}Look not upon every body in regard of beauty,
And sit not in the midst of women;
^{Verse 13}For from garments cometh a moth,
And from a woman a woman’s wickedness.
^{Verse 14}Better is the wickedness of a man than a pleasant-dealing woman,
And a woman who putteth thee to shameful reproach.^{Verse 15}I will make mention now of the works of the Lord,
And will declare the things that I have seen:
In the words of the Lord are his works.
^{Verse 16}The sun that giveth light looketh upon all things;
And the work of the Lord is full of his glory.
^{Verse 17}The Lord hath not given power to the saints to declare all his marvelous works;
Which the Almighty Lord firmly settled,
That whatsoever is might be established in his glory.
^{Verse 18}He searcheth out the deep, and the heart,
And he hath understanding of their cunning devices:
For the Most High knoweth all knowledge,
And he looketh into the signs of the world,
^{Verse 19}Declaring the things that are past, and the things that shall be,
And revealing the traces of hidden things.
^{Verse 20}No thought escapeth him;
There is not a word hidden from him.
^{Verse 21}The mighty works of his wisdom he hath ordered,
Who is from everlasting to everlasting:
Nothing hath been added unto them, nor diminished from them;
And he had no need of any counselor.
^{Verse 22}How desirable are all his works!
One may behold this even unto a spark.
^{Verse 23}All these things live and remain forever in all manner of uses,
And they are all obedient.
^{Verse 24}All things are double one against another:
And he hath made nothing imperfect.
^{Verse 25}One thing establisheth the good things of another:
And who shall be filled with beholding his glory?