Chapter 23

¹ O Lord, Father and Governor of my life,

Sir 23:1

² Who will set scourges over my thoughts,

Sir 23:2

³ Lest mine ignorances increase,

Sir 23:3

⁴ O Lord, Father and God of my life,

Sir 23:4

⁵ Turn away concupiscence from me.

Sir 23:5

⁶ Let not the greediness of the belly nor lust of the flesh take hold of me;

Sir 23:6

⁷ Hear, O ye children, the discipline of the mouth:

Sir 23:7

⁸ The sinner shall be left in his foolishness:

Sir 23:8

⁹ Accustom not thy mouth to swearing;

Sir 23:9

¹⁰ For as a servant that is continually beaten shall not be without a blue mark:

Sir 23:10

¹¹ A man that useth much swearing shall be filled with iniquity,

Sir 23:11

¹² There is a word that is clothed about with death:

Sir 23:12

¹³ Use not thy mouth to intemperate swearing,

Sir 23:13

¹⁴ Remember thy father and thy mother,

Sir 23:14

¹⁵ The man that is accustomed to opprobrious words

Sir 23:15

¹⁶ Two sorts of men multiply sin,

Sir 23:16

¹⁷ All bread is sweet to a whoremonger,

Sir 23:17

¹⁸ A man that breaketh wedlock,

Sir 23:18

¹⁹ Such a man only feareth the eyes of men,

Sir 23:19

²⁰ He knew all things ere ever they were created;

Sir 23:20

²¹ This man shall be punished in the streets of the city,

Sir 23:21

²² Thus shall it go also with the wife that leaveth her husband,

Sir 23:22

²³ For first, she hath disobeyed the law of the most High;

Sir 23:23

²⁴ She shall be brought out into the congregation,

Sir 23:24

²⁵ Her children shall not take root,

Sir 23:25

²⁶ She shall leave her memory to be cursed,

Sir 23:26

²⁷ And they that remain shall know that there is nothing better than the fear of the Lord,

Sir 23:27