Old Testament

New Testament

Sirach 23:7-26 Catholic Public Domain Version (CPDV)

7. O sons: listen to the doctrine of my mouth. For those who observe it will not perish by the lips, nor be scandalized into wicked works.

8. A sinner is held by his own emptiness. And the arrogant and those who speak evil will be scandalized by these things.

9. Do not allow your mouth to become accustomed to swearing oaths. For in this, there are many pitfalls.

10. Truly, do not allow the naming of God to be continually in your mouth, and do not treat as if common the names of the holy ones. For you will not escape punishment by them.

11. Just as a servant, continually interrogated, will not be without a bruise, so everyone who swears oaths and takes God's name will not be entirely free from sin.

12. A man who swears many oaths will be filled with iniquity, and scourges will not depart from his house.

13. And if he fails to fulfill it, his offense will be over him, and if he pretends he fulfilled it, he offends doubly.

14. And if he swears an oath insincerely, he will not be justified. For his house will be filled with retribution for him.

15. There is yet another kind of talk which faces death; let it not be found in the inheritance of Jacob.

16. For all these things will be taken away from the merciful, and they shall not wallow in offenses.

17. Do not allow your mouth to become accustomed to undisciplined speech. For in this, there is the sin of words.

18. When you sit in the midst of great men, remember your father and mother.

19. Otherwise, God may forget you, when you are in their sight, and then you would be repeatedly ridiculed and would suffer disgrace, and you might wish that you had never been born, and you might curse the day of your nativity.

20. The man who is accustomed to disgraceful words will not accept instruction, all the days of his life.

21. Two kinds of persons abound in sins, and a third adds wrath and perdition.

22. A desirous soul is like a burning fire, it will not be quenched, until it devours something.

23. And a man who is wicked in the desires of his flesh will not desist until he has kindled a fire.

24. To a man of fornication, all bread is sweet; he will not tire of transgression, to the very end.

25. Every man who transgresses his own bed has contempt for his own soul. And so he says: "Who can see me?

26. Darkness surrounds me, and the walls enclose me, and no one catches sight of me. Whom should I fear? The Most High will not remember my offenses."

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