Sirach 23 O lorde, father and gouernour of all my whole life, leaue me not to their counsell, and let me not fall by them.

Geneva⁽ⁱ⁾ ¹ O lorde, father and gouernour of all my whole life, leaue me not to their counsell, and let me not fall by them. ² Who will correct my thought, and put the doctrine of wisedome in mine heart, that they may not spare me in mine ignorance, neither let their faultes passe? ³ Least mine ignorances increase, & my sinnesabounde to my destruction, and least I fall before mine aduersarie, & mine enemies reioyce ouer mee, whose hope is farre from thy mercy. ⁴ O Lord, Father and God of my life, leaue me not in their imagination neither giue mee a proude looke, but turne away from thy seruants a stout minde. ⁵ Take from me vaine hope, & concupiscence, and reteyne him in obedience, that desireth continually to serue thee. ⁶ Let not the greedines of the bellie, nor lust of the flesh holde me, and giue not me thy seruant ouer into an impudent minde. ⁷ Heare, O yee children, the instruction of a mouth that shall speake trueth: who so keepeth it, shall not perish through his lips, nor bee hurt by wicked workes. ⁸ The sinner shall be taken by his owne lippes: for the euill speaker and the proude doe offende by them. ⁹ Accustome not thy mouth to swearing: for in it there are many falles, neither take vp for a custome the naming of the Holy one: for thou shalt not be vnpunished for such thinges. ¹⁰ For as a seruant which is ofte punished, cannot be without some skarre, so he that sweareth, & nameth God continually, shall not be fautelesse. ¹¹ A man that vseth much swearing, shalbe filled with wickednesse, & the plague shall neuer goe from his house: when he shal offend, his faute shalbe vpon him, and if he knowledge not his sinne, he maketh a double offence: and if he sweare in vaine, hee shall not bee innocent, but his house shalbe full of plagues. ¹² There is a word which is clothed with death: God graunt that it bee not found in the herytage of Iacob: but they that feare God, eschewe al such, and are not wrapped in sinne. ¹³ Vse not thy mouth to ignorant rashnes: for therein is the occasion of sinne. ¹⁴ Remember thy father & thy mother whe thou art set among great men, least thou bee forgotten in their sight, and so through thy custome become a foole, and wish that thou haddest not bene borne, and curse the day of thy natiuitie. ¹⁵ The man that is accustomed to opprobrious wordes, will neuer bee reformed all the dayes of his life. ¹⁶ There are two sortes of men that abound in sinne, and the third bringeth wrath and destruction: a minde hote as fire, that cannot be quenched till it bee consumed: an adulterous man that giueth his body no rest, till he haue kindled a fire. ¹⁷ (All bread is sweete to a whoremonger: hee will not leaue off till he perish.) ¹⁸ A man that breaketh wedlocke, and thinketh thus in his heart, Who seeth me? I am compassed about with darkenesse: the walles couer me: no body seeth me: whome neede I to feare? the most High will not remember my sinnes. ¹⁹ Such a man only feareth the eyes of men, and knoweth not that the eyes of the Lorde are ten thousand times brighter then the sunne, beholding all the wayes of men, and the ground of the deepe, and considereth the most secret partes. ²⁰ He knewe al things or euer they were made, and after they bee brought to passe also, he looketh vpon them all. ²¹ The same man shall bee punished in the streetes of the citie, and shal be chased like a yong horsefoale, and when hee thinketh not vpon it, he shalbe taken: thus shall hee be put to shame of euery man, because hee would not vnderstand the feare of the Lord. ²² And thus shal it go also with euery wife, that leaueth her husbande, and getteth inheritance by another. ²³ For first shee hath disobeyed the Lawe of the most High, and secondly shee hath trespassed against her owne husband, and thirdlye, shee hath played the whore in adultery, and gotten her children by another man. ²⁴ Shee shalbe brought out into the congregation, and examination shalbe made of her children. ²⁵ Her children shall not take roote, and her branches shall bring forth no fruite. ²⁶ A shamefull report shall shee leaue, and her reproche shall not be put out. ²⁷ And they that remaine, shall knowe that there is nothing better then the feare of the Lord, & that there is nothing sweeter then to take heede vnto the commandements of the Lorde. ²⁸ It is great glorie to follow the Lord, and to be receiued of him is long life.