Ecclesiasticus 23
23
1 # ver. 4. O Lord, Father and Master of my life,
Abandon me not to their counsel:
Suffer me not to fall by them.
2Who will set scourges over my thought,
And a discipline of wisdom over mine heart?
That they spare me not for #Tob. 3.3.mine ignorances,
And my heart pass not by their sins:
3That #Tob. 3.3.mine ignorances be not multiplied,
And my sins abound not;
And I shall fall before mine adversaries,
And #Ps. 13.4.mine enemy rejoice over me.#23.3 The remainder of this verse is omitted by the best authorities.
4 # ver. 1. O Lord, Father and God of my life,
Give me not #See Ps. 101.5.a #23.4 Gr. lifting up of eyes.proud look,#23.4 The remainder of this verse is omitted by the best authorities.
5And turn away concupiscence from me.#23.5 The remainder of this verse is omitted by the best authorities.
6 # Cp. Rom. 13.13. Let not #23.6 Gr. appetite of the belly.greediness and chambering overtake me;
And give me not over to a shameless mind.
7Hear ye, my children, the discipline of the mouth;
And he that keepeth it shall not be taken.
8 #
Ps. 59.12. Prov. 12.13. The sinner shall be #23.8 Most authorities read left.overtaken in his lips;
And the reviler and the proud man shall stumble therein.
9 # Cp. ch. 27.14. Accustom not thy mouth to an oath;
And be not accustomed to #Cp. Ex. 20.7.the naming of the Holy One.
10For as a servant that is continually scourged #Cp. ch. 28.17.shall not lack a bruise,
# See ver. 9. So he also that sweareth and nameth God continually shall not be cleansed from sin.
11A man of many oaths shall be filled with iniquity;
And the scourge #Cp. 2 Sam. 12.10.shall not depart from his house:
# See Lev. 5.1. If he shall offend, his sin shall be upon him;
And #Lev. 19.12. Mat. 5.33.if he disregard it, he hath sinned doubly;
And if he hath sworn in vain, #See ch. 1.22.he shall not be justified;
For his house shall be filled with calamities.
12 # See Lev. 24.16. There is a manner of speech that is clothed about with death:
Let it not be found in the heritage of Jacob;
For all these things shall be far from the godly,
And they shall not #Cp. 2 Pet. 2.22.wallow in sins.
13Accustom not thy mouth to gross rudeness,
For therein is the word of sin.
14 # ch. 7.27., See Ex. 20.12. Remember thy father and thy mother,
For thou sittest in the midst of great men;
That thou be not forgetful before them,
And become a fool by thy custom;
So shalt thou wish #Cp. Job 3.3.that thou hadst not been born,
And curse the day of thy nativity.
15A man that is accustomed to words of reproach
Will not be corrected all the days of his life.
16 # Cp. ch. 25.2 & 26.28. TWO sorts of men multiply sins,
And #ver. 18.the third will bring wrath:
A hot mind, as a burning fire, will not be quenched till it be consumed:
A fornicator in the body of his flesh will never cease till he hath #23.16 Or made a fire blaze upburned out the fire.
17All #Cp. Prov. 9.17.bread is sweet to a fornicator:
He will not leave off till he die.
18A man that goeth astray from his own bed,
Saying in his heart, #Job 24.15., Cp. Ps. 10.11 & Is. 29.15.Who seeth me?
# Cp. Prov. 7.9. Darkness is round about me, and the walls hide me,
And no man seeth me; of whom am I afraid?
The Most High will not remember my sins;
19—And the eyes of men are his terror,
And he knoweth not that the eyes of the Lord are ten thousand times brighter than the sun,
# Prov. 5.21., Cp. ch. 15.19. Beholding all the ways of men,
And looking into secret places.
20All things were known unto him or ever they were created;
And #See Gen. 1.31.in like manner also after they were perfected.
21 # Cp. Prov. 6.32-35., See Lev. 20.10. This man shall be punished in the streets of the city;
And where he suspected not he shall be taken.
22So also a wife that leaveth her husband,
And bringeth in an heir by a stranger.
23For first, #See Ex. 20.14.she was disobedient in the law of the Most High;
And secondly, she trespassed against her own husband;
And thirdly, she played the adulteress in whoredom,
And brought in children by a stranger.
24 # See Gen. 38.24. She shall be brought out into the congregation;
And upon her children shall there #Cp. Wis. 2.20 (mg.).be visitation.
25 # Cp. Job 18.16 & Wis. 4.3. Her children shall not spread into roots,
And her branches shall bear no fruit.
26She shall leave her memory for a curse;
And her reproach shall not be blotted out.
27And they that are left behind shall know that #ch. 25.11 & 40.26.there is nothing better than the fear of the Lord,
And #Cp. Ps. 119.103,104.nothing sweeter than to take heed unto the commandments of the Lord.#23.27 Verse 28 is omitted by the best authorities.
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Ecclesiasticus 23: RV1895
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historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society