【Sirach】Chapter 36 << Last Chapter Next Chapter >>

36:1 Come to our aid, O God of the universe, and put all the nations in dread of you!

36:2 Raise your hand against the heathen, that they may realize your power.

36:3 As you have used us to show them your holiness, so now use them to show us your glory.

36:4 Thus they will know, as we know, that there is no God but you.

36:5 Give new signs and work new wonders; show forth the splendor of your right hand and arm;

36:6 Rouse your anger, pour out wrath, humble the enemy, scatter the foe.

36:7 Hasten the day, bring on the time;

36:9 crush the heads of the hostile rulers.

36:8 Let raging fire consume the fugitive, and your people’s oppressors meet destruction.

36:10 Gather all the tribes of Jacob, that they may inherit the land as of old,

36:11 Show mercy to the people called by your name; Israel, whom you named your first-born.

36:12 Take pity on your holy city, Jerusalem, your dwelling place.

36:13 Fill Zion with your majesty, your temple with your glory.

36:14 Give evidence of your deeds of old; fulfill the prophecies spoken in your name,

36:15 Reward those who have hoped in you, and let your prophets be proved true.

36:16 Hear the prayer of your servants, for you are ever gracious to your people;

36:17 Thus it will be known to the very ends of the earth that you are the eternal God.

36:18 The throat can swallow any food, yet some foods are more agreeable than others;

36:19 As the palate tests meat by its savor, so does a keen mind insincere words.

36:20 A deceitful character causes grief, but an experienced man can turn the tables on him.

36:21 Though any man may be accepted as a husband, yet one girl will be more suitable than another:

36:22 A woman’s beauty makes her husband’s face light up, for it surpasses all else that charms the eye;

36:23 And if, besides, her speech is kindly, his lot is beyond that of mortal men.

36:24 A wife is her husband’s richest treasure, a helpmate, a steadying column.

36:25 A vineyard with no hedge will be overrun; a man with no wife becomes a homeless wanderer.

36:26 Who will trust an armed band that shifts from city to city?

36:27 Or a man who has no nest, but lodges where night overtakes him?

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