Wisdom of Ben Sira 16:24-18:14

New Catholic Bible

²⁴ Listen to me, my child, and acquire knowledge;
    pay close attention to what I have to say.
²⁵ I will impart discipline precisely
    and proclaim knowledge accurately.
²⁶ When God created his works in the beginning,
    in doing so he determined their boundaries.
²⁷ He defined their functions for all time
    and their domains for all generations.
They never hunger or grow weary,
    nor do they ever abandon their tasks.
²⁸ Never do they crowd one another,
    nor do they ever disobey his word.
²⁹ Then the Lord looked upon the earth
    and filled it with his good things.
³⁰ With every kind of living creature he covered its surface,
    and into it they must return.

¹ The Lord fashioned man from the earth
    and causes him to return to it again.
² He granted him a fixed span of days
    and gave him dominion over everything on earth.
³ He endowed him with strength like his own
    and made him in his own image.
⁴ He put the fear of him into all living things
    and made him the master over beasts and birds.
[⁵ He received the use of the five faculties from the Lord;
    as a sixth he gave him the gift of mind,
    and as a seventh the gift of reason, the interpreter of one’s faculties.]^[b]
6 He fashioned men’s tongues, eyes, and ears
    and gave them minds with which to think.
⁷ He filled them with wisdom and understanding
    and a knowledge of good and evil.
⁸ He placed the fear of him into their hearts
    to display to them the majesty of his works
[⁹ and to enable them to proclaim his marvelous deeds]^[c]
10     so that they may give praise to his holy name.
¹¹ He granted knowledge to them,
    endowing them with the law of life.
    [Thus, they might know that those who are living are mortal.]^[d]
12 An everlasting covenant he established with them,
    and his decrees^[e] he revealed to them.
¹³ Their eyes beheld his glorious majesty,
    and their ears heard the glory of his voice.^[f]
14 He said to them, “Refrain from all wrongdoing,”
    and he gave them a commandment concerning duties toward one’s neighbor.
¹⁵ Their ways are always known to him;
    they cannot be hidden from his sight.
[¹⁶ Their ways from childhood tend toward evil,
    and they cannot transform their stony hearts into hearts of flesh.]^[g]
17 He appointed a ruler^[h] over every nation,
    but Israel is the Lord’s own portion.
[¹⁸ Since Israel is his firstborn,
    he rears him with discipline,
bestowing on him the light of his love
    and not neglecting him.]^[i]
19 All their deeds are as clear as the sun to him,
    and his eyes are ever upon their ways.
²⁰ Their iniquities are not hidden from him;
    all their sins are before the Lord.
[²¹ Yet the Lord, who is compassionate
    and knows how they are formed,
has neither left nor abandoned them
    but spared them.]^[j]
22 Almsgiving is like a signet ring to him,
    and he cherishes kindness like the apple of his eye.
    [He apportions repentance to his sons and daughters.]^[k]
23 In the end, he will rise up and repay the wicked,
    bringing down retribution on their heads.
²⁴ But to those who repent he allows a return,
    and he encourages those who have lost hope.

²⁵ Therefore, return to the Lord and renounce your wicked ways;
    pray in his presence and lessen your offense.
²⁶ Return to the Most High, turn away from iniquity,
    [for he will guide you out of darkness and into the light of health,]^[m]
    and hate intensely what he abhors.
^27 [n]Who will glorify the Most High in the netherworld
    in place of the living who give praise?
²⁸ The dead cannot offer praise anymore than those who have never lived;
    only those who are alive and well sing the Lord’s praises.
²⁹ How great is the mercy of the Lord
    and the forgiveness he offers to those who return to him!
³⁰ Many things are beyond the human capacity to achieve,
    since the son of man is not immortal.
³¹ Is anything brighter than the sun? Yet it is subject to eclipse.
    Thus, flesh and blood devise evil plans.^[o]
32 God watches over the hosts of the highest heavens,
    but all men are merely dust and ashes.

¹ He who lives forever is the Creator of the entire universe;
²     the Lord alone is righteous.
[^2b [q]And there are no others beside him.
³ He guides the world with a turn of his hand,
    and all things obey his will;
for he is king of all things by his power,
    separating the holy things among them from the profane.]
⁴ To no one has he given the power to adequately proclaim his works,
    and who can fathom his mighty deeds?
⁵ Who can assess his majestic power
    or fully recount all of his mercies?
⁶ The wonders of the Lord can be neither diminished nor increased,
    nor are they possible to fathom.
⁷ When a man finishes, he is still only beginning,
    and when he stops, he is still confused.

⁸ What is a man? What purpose does he serve?
    What about him is good, and what is evil?
⁹ The span of his life is great
    if he attains one hundred years.
    [But the death of each one is beyond the calculation of all.]^[s]
10 Like a drop of water from the sea or a grain of sand,
    such are these few years compared with eternity.
¹¹ That is why the Lord is patient with men
    and pours out his mercy on them.
¹² He sees and recognizes how wretched their end will be,
    and thus he is even more lavish with his compassion.
¹³ Man’s compassion is for his neighbor,
    but the compassion of the Lord extends to everyone.
He rebukes, trains, and teaches them,
    and he brings them back into the fold as a shepherd does his flock.
¹⁴ He has compassion on those who accept his teaching
    and are diligent in obeying his precepts.