Sirach 14
14
1You will be happiest
if you keep from sinning
and saying stupid things,
2and if you have no reason
to feel guilty
and have not given up hope.
* 3What's the use of being rich
if you don't enjoy
spending money on yourself?
4Are you just saving it
so others can live in luxury
after you are dead and gone?
5Those who refuse to enjoy
a few things money can buy,
probably won't give much
to someone in need.
6They spend nothing,
and punish themselves
with the greatest misery.
* 7If they do a good deed,
it is only by accident,
and the end of their life
shows how evil they were:
8they pretended not to notice
others in need;
9they were never happy
with their own fair share;
and by taking
what belonged to others,
their souls shriveled away.
10They wouldn't even give
their families enough to eat!
11Be good to yourself
according to what you have
and be generous in your giving
to the Lord.
12You cannot know the time
for you to die,
and when it arrives,
death will not wait,
13so now is the time
to help your friends
with generous gifts.
14Every day, you should enjoy
the good things you want,
15because after you are gone,
others will divide up everything
you worked so hard to get.
16Give and accept gifts,
and treat yourself well,
because there is nothing good
in the world of the dead.
17Every living creature wears out
like old clothes
and obeys the ancient law
that says, “You will die.”
18Generations pass away,
and others are born
to take their place,
just as new leaves
on a tall tree
replace those that fall.
19Everything you ever made
will someday turn to dust,
then even the memory of you
will disappear.
Search for Wisdom
20 #
Pr 8.32-35. Wisdom always blesses those
who learn how to reason
by thinking about her.
21They consider
what Wisdom has done
and the secrets she knows.
22They wait for her
like hunters along a path,
then they follow her 23home,
where they peek
through the windows
and listen at the door.
* 24They set up camp
so close to her house,
that their tent pegs
are hammered into its walls.
25There is no better place to live
than in her home—
26like a shade tree, she protects
the children of her followers
27from the heat,
and they live in a place
of great beauty.
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Sirach 14: CEVDCI
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.