Глава 23

Have a scourge for your evil thoughts and a teacher of wisdom for your unclean desires. Do not accustom your lips to swear. Do not sin with rude language. Remember your parents when you sit among nobles. Do not expect to hide your sins from the omniscient God. There is nothing better than the fear of God, and there is nothing sweeter than heeding the commandments of the Lord. Sir.23:1 Lord, Father and Master of my life! Do not leave me to their will and do not let me fall through them. 1. Refers to Art. 31. Chapter XXII Sir.23:2 Who will put a scourge on my thoughts and on the heart of my teacher in wisdom, so that they do not spare my transgressions and do not condone their errors; Sir.23:3 So that my transgressions do not increase and my errors do not increase; lest I fall before my adversaries, and lest my enemy rejoice over me? Sir.23:4 Lord, Father and God of my life! Do not give me uplifted eyes and turn away lust from me. Sir.23:5 Let not the desires of the womb and lust take possession of me, and do not give me over to a shameless soul. Sir.23:6 Hear, children, the instruction of the lips: he who observes it will not be caught with his lips. Sir.23:7 The sinner will be caught by them, and the slanderer and the arrogant will be stumbled through them. Sir.23:8 Do not accustom your mouth to swear Sir.23:9 and do not make it a habit to use the name of the Holy One in an oath. Sir.23:10 For just as a servant who is constantly being punished does not get rid of his wounds, so one who constantly swears by the name of the Holy One will not be cleansed from sin. Sir.23:11 A man who swears often will be filled with iniquity, and the scourge will not depart from his house. Sir.23:12 If he sins, his sin is on him; and if he is careless, he will sin greatly; Sir.23:13 and if he swore in vain, he will not be justified, and his house will be filled with misfortunes. Sir.23:14 There is speech clothed with death: let it not be found in the inheritance of Jacob! Sir.23:15 For all this will be removed from the pious, and they will not be entangled in sins. 8–15. One should not swear unnecessarily. A frivolous mention of the Holy Name of God is already a sin in itself and, in addition, leads to many other sins: one who swears often and frivolously will not avoid breaking his frivolous oath. His speech is, truly, a speech clothed with death, calling misfortune upon him and his house. Sir.23:16 Do not accustom your lips to gross impoliteness, for with it there are sinful words. Sir.23:17 Remember your father and mother when you sit among nobles, 17. When you are in the company of people higher than you, do not forget about your origin, nor about the wise instructions of your father and mother. Sir.23:18 So that you do not forget yourself before them and do something stupid out of habit, and do not wish that it would have been better for you not to have been born, and do not curse the day of your birth. Sir.23:19 A person who gets used to abusive words will never learn. 19. Will not learn wisdom. Sir.23:20 Two qualities multiply sins, and the third brings wrath: Sir.23:21 A hot soul, like a blazing fire, will not be quenched until it is exhausted; Sir.23:22 A man who commits fornication in the body of his flesh will not cease until the fire is burned out. Sir.23:23 All bread is sweet to a fornicator; he will not cease until he dies. 23. An incorrigible fornicator sins to the point of death. All bread is sweet to Him, i.e. all cases of his debauchery are pleasant. Sir.23:24 A man who sins against his bed says in his soul: “Who can see me? Sir.23:25 There is darkness around me, and walls close me in, and no one sees me: why should I be afraid? The Almighty will not remember my sins.” Sir.23:26 His fear is only the eyes of men, Sir.23:27 And he does not know that the eyes of the Lord are ten thousand times brighter than the sun Sir.23:28 And they look upon all the ways of men, and penetrate into the hidden places. Sir.23:29 He knew everything before it was created, as well as after it was done. Sir.23:30 Such a person will be punished on the streets of the city and will be caught where he did not think. Sir.23:31 So is the wife who leaves her husband and produces an heir from someone else: Sir.23:32 for, firstly, she did not submit to the law of the Most High, secondly, she sinned against her husband and, thirdly, she committed adultery and gave birth to children from someone else’s husband. Sir.23:33 She will be brought before the assembly, and an investigation will be made about her children. Sir.23:34 Her children will not take root, and her branches will not bear fruit. Sir.23:35 She will leave her memory to be cursed, and her shame will not be erased. Sir.23:36 Those who remain will know that there is nothing better than the fear of the Lord and nothing sweeter than to heed the commandments of the Lord. Sir.23:37 It is great glory to follow the Lord, and to be accepted from Him is long life.