(ECCLESIASTICUS) WISDOM OF SIRACH CHAPTER 9 - 17

SIRACH 9

1 Do not be jealous of the wife
Of your bosom, and don’t teach strife
To her in wicked chart for loss.
2 Don’t let a woman be your boss
Controlling your strength as in dross.
3 Don’t go to meet a prostitute,
Lest you fall in her snares to boot.
4 Don’t follow after a pop star
Lest you be put in the same jar.
5 Don’t rest your eyes on virgin beauty,
Lest you stumble and shirk your duty.
6 Don’t give yourself to harlots lest
You waste your heritage in jest.
7 Don’t look around the city streets,
Nor wander deserted retreats.
8 Turn aside from the female form,
Do not rest eyes on beauty warm,
Many have been misled by that,
Kindled where fiery passions sat.
9 Never dine with another’s wife,
Nor entertain her at wine’s life,
Lest your heart turn aside to her,
And in blood you sink from life’s view.

I wonder if the wisdom of mankind
Will ever find the medium unblind:
Avoidance of the harlot on the hill,
Avoidance of male chauvinistic bill.
The feminist ideal seems not to take
A step without immoral acts in wake.
I’d much prefer to let a woman be
A boss in firm and factory than see
Breakdown of eternal moralty.
Beloved, there is no boss at all but You,
And power struggles in this land and view
Are futile escapes into dark and dust.
The silver turns to brass, the gold to rust.
I turn again and circle as I must.

10 Forsake not an old friend, a new
Does not compare with pride in true.
A new friend is like the new wine,
When it has aged you’ll find it fine.
11 Don’t envy sinful honour’s place,
You don’t know when’s the end of grace.
12 Do not delight in what is fair
To the ungodly eye, beware
They’ll not be held guiltless as long
As they have been living in wrong.
13 Keep far from a man who has power
To kill, and you will not be sour
In fear of death. But if you come
Near him, make not misstep in sum
Lest he rob you of your life too.
Know that you tread where traps not few
Are hidden round the battlements
Of the city and near its tents.
14 As much as you can, aim to know
Your neighbours, and give the wise show.
15 Converse with men of understanding,
And talk of what Most High’s commanding.
16 Let righteous men sit at your meal,
And let your glorying conceal
The fear of YHWH. 17 A work is praised
For the skill that the craftsmen raised,
So a folk’s leader is proved wise
By his words as he will advise.
18 A babbler is feared in his town,
And reckless speech met with a frown.

Old friends of mine for the most part are gone
Through death and distance from my youthful dawn.
New friends may be insipid, it is true,
But I tend to rejoice in prattle’s dew.
If I prefer new friends, the truth is told
When whispered that the wine, when aged and old,
I set aside for others, the more bold,
To drink, as Rechabite with water cold.
Beloved, You are a friend both old and new,
The oldest in my memory and heart,
And new with each sip of the heady start.
The babbling of a fool has not a shred
Of fear in hermitage where I am led,
And reckless speech is tasty when I’m fed.

SIRACH 10

1 A wise ruler will educate
His people, and the law in state
Of an understanding man will
Be well ordered to fit the bill.
2 Like the magistrate of the folk,
So are his officers to stoke,
And like the ruler of the town,
So are its dwellers up and down.
3 A king without discipline brings
The ruin on his people’s wings,
But a town will grow and increase
Through the wisdom of rulers’ fleece.
4 The government of earth’s in hand
Of YHWH, and over it He’ll stand
The right man for the time and age.
5 The success of a man to wage
Is in the hands of YHWH, and he
Confers his honour on the fee
Of the scribe. 6 Do not be angry
With your neighbour for injury,
And do not attempt anything
By acts of insolence for shame.
7 Arrogance is hateful to YHWH
And before men, injustice too
Is outrageous to both in view.
8 Sovereignty passes from one nation
To another because of ration
Of injustice and insolence
And wealth at interest in the tents.

Philosophy political that bears
The tale from age to age and unawares
Comes from the prophet Daniel who wrote late
Of governments and kings, affairs of state.
He saw each kingdom have its chance to show
Justice divine for generations’ go,
And then fall to the conquest of another
Arising from the sweltered sea to smother.
The son of Sirach here explains the fate
And why such kingdoms fall before the slate.
Injustice and the insolence that share
Both rulers and the populace with care
Are reasons for the fall. I’d like to add
There must be more than acting like a cad.

9 How can he who is dust and ashes
Be proud? For even under life’s sashes
His guts rot. 10 A long illness will
Stump the physician, king on hill
Today will die tomorrow led.
11 For when a mortal man is dead,
He will inherit in his bed
The creeping things, and wild beasts, and
Worms come out there to feast as planned.
12 The start of man’s pride’s to depart
From YHWH, his heart has left the cart
Of His Maker. 13 For the beginning
Of pride is sin, and the man winning
It pours abominations’ ginning.
Therefore YHWH brought upon them great
Afflictions, and destroyed their state.
14 The Lord has cast down thrones of kings,
And seated lowly in their rings.
15 The Lord has pulled up nations’ roots,
And planted humble in their suits.
16 The Lord will overthrow the lands
Of all the nations, and the bands
Of the earth He’ll destroy in hands.
17 He has removed some of them and
Destroyed them, and put out the strand
Of their remembrance from the earth.

In days when human wisdom had attained
The knowledge of what the new grave contained
Political theory rose to admit
That You are Sovereign everywhere You sit.
In later days autopsies would reveal
The inner trauma of the cloven heel,
And find an economic reason for
The woe and weal of the communal store.
Beloved, I too stand up to guess if right
Can be attained by any human might.
Without a single case to spare my heart,
I still take Your commandments and their part.
Whether You are the Lord of nations or
The impotent by-stander, Yours is core.

18 Pride was not made for men, nor wrath
For those born of a woman’s path.
19 What race is worthy of renown?
The human race. What race come down
Is worthy of honour? Those who
Fear YHWH. What race deserves no crown?
The human race. What race is void
Of grace? Those who transgress the law,
Commandments of YHWH spoke for awe.
20 Among brothers their first-born’s chief,
And those who fear YHWH, without grief
Are worthy of grace in His eyes.
21 22 Rich, eminent, the poor in guise—
Their glory is the fear of YHWH.
23 It is not right then to despise
A poor wise man, nor is it due
To give sinful man honour’s brew.
24 The nobleman, the judge, and chief
Will all be honoured, but no sheaf
Of them is greater than the man
Who fears YHWH in his righteous plan.

Beloved, I seek my honour above all
Things that seduce upon the earthly ball.
I thank You that the revelation small
To all mankind and women in the stall
Reveals the most direct and easy way
To enter into glory and to stay.
I make my name immortal in the light
Of Your commandments kept here in my sight,
And grasp with greed the honour that’s still bright
When all the supposed great fall left and right.
Beloved, I seek my honour every day,
Ready to trample all else in the lay
As I take prizes to my breast and heart
In Your commandments’ easy way to start.

25 Free men will serve a wise servant,
A man with understanding’s slant
Will not grumble. 26 Don’t make display
Of your wisdom on your work day,
Nor glorify yourself in time
When you are in want of a rhyme.
27 Better’s a man who works and keeps
Abundance of all things he reaps,
Than one who goes about in boast,
But lacks the bread and wine and host.
28 My son, praise your humility,
And count your honour by your fee.
29 Who’ll justify the man that sins
Against himself? And what man wins
Honour that dishonours his life?
30 A poor man’s honoured for his rife
Knowledge, while a rich man is praised
For his wealth. 31 A man praised while poor,
How much more when his wealth is sure!
And a man dishonoured in wealth,
How much more in poverty’s stealth!

The wealth of beauty that turns around me
In every sort of winter leafless tree,
In rare ice crystals on the frozen air,
On delicately hued sky where I dare
Lift hope and help, remains eternal share.
The wealth of light and sound about my choice
Gives subject to my urges to rejoice
And praise the silent scattering of weeds
Caught up in curls of brown and dried up seeds.
Beloved, a poor man’s honoured for his mind,
And wealthy men are glorified and wined,
But I am rich and wise merely to see
Creation spread upon eternity.

SIRACH 11

1 The wisdom of a humble man
Will lift up his head, and in plan
Will set him up among the great.
2 Do not praise a man for the rate
Of his good looks, nor loathe a man
Because he looks bad in a pan.
3 The bee is just a small insect,
But she produces sweets select.
4 Don’t boast about wearing fine clothes,
Nor raise yourself in the day’s pose
That you are honoured, for the works
Of YHWH are wonderful for quirks,
And His works are concealed from men.
5 Many kings are cast down again,
While one unnoticed wore a crown.
6 Many rulers have met the frown
Of their disgrace, and high-placed men
Have been arrested, put in den.
7 Don’t find fault till you check things out,
Consider first, then raise a shout.
8 Don’t answer before you have heard,
Don’t interrupt a speaker’s word.

Just because bees make honey’s no excuse
To praise them all about the calaboose.
I don’t know why, Beloved, your man in Rome
Is writing here to strike so far from home.
The pop stars and celebrities that smile
And foster this and that market awhile
Must always be followed in hope or guile.
There is no other way to live aground
This sunken planet and always be found
The darling of the neighbour and the friend.
Beloved, I beg Your pardon in the end,
But choice is here between the civilized
And sweet and tempered and in glory guised,
And You. You are just one. Your vote must bend.

9 Do not argue about a matter
Which does not appear on your platter,
Nor sit with sinners when they judge
A case with their injustice’ smudge.
10 My son, do not busy yourself
With many matters like an elf,
If you multiply what you do,
You’ll not go unpunished in view,
You’ll not catch up when you pursue,
And fleeing you will not escape.
11 There is a man who works like ape
And labours and presses the cape
But all the more lies in his lack.
12 There is another who is slow
And needs help and pat on the back,
Who lacks strength and is always poor,
But YHWH’s eyes see that man for good,
He lifts him out of swamp and wood,
13 And raises up his head, so many
Are amazed at his gains in penny.
14 Good things and bad, both life and death,
Poverty and wealth in a breath,
Come from YHWH as everything should.

There is just one thing in the maze of truths
That ply upon the hearts and minds of youths,
The great concerns for how the planet may
Revolve or not despite the human pay,
Which is of value on the judgement day.
That one thing is that I have done Your will
No matter what the others in the mill
Vote for. Beloved, You are not democratic.
You know no progress, You are far too static.
If You came out each year with fashions new
Instead of the same old commands in view,
Then You too would have a fan club as great
As You-know-who, for gear and golf and gate.
As it stands, You’re alone in Your own pew.

15 16 17 The gift of YHWH endures for those
Who are godly, what He approves
Will have success to last in rows.
18 There is a man who’s rich in grooves
Of diligence and self-denial,
And this is what he gets in style:
19 When he says “I have found rest, and
Now I shall enjoy my goods’ band!”
He does not know how much time will
Pass till he kicks bucket of swill.
20 Stand by your promise and attend,
And grow old working to the end.
21 Don’t wonder at the sinner’s acts,
But trust in YHWH and stick to facts,
For it is easy in YHWH’s sight
To give a poor man wealth outright
And suddenly without respite.
22 YHWH’s blessing’s a good man’s reward,
And quickly Ælohim’s restored
His blessing to abound once scored.
23 Do not say “What do I need, and
What prosperity could in hand
Be mine upon the future stand?”
24 Do not say, “I’ve enough, and what
Calamity could come and shut?”

Your man at home writes for the great elite
Who would repress the funds that now complete
The pensions of the retired on their feet.
Keep working till the day you die, says he.
Keep working till the grave shall make you free.
Beloved, I have a better plan in glee:
A pension plan that butters faithfully
The bread on both sides and at sixty-five
Promotes a holiday to stay alive.
I know it might encourage rat and mouse
To think prosperity in the old house
Will keep them to the end without a shred
Of trust in You. Don’t wake the living dead.
Calamity or hope, by You I’m led.

25 In the day of prosperity,
Adversity’s forgotten plea,
And in day of adversity,
None minds of his prosperity.
26 For it’s an easy task for YHWH
To reward a man in his due
Upon the day of death’s review
According to all he would do.
27 The misery of one hour makes
One forget luxury in stakes,
And at the close of a man’s life
His deeds will be shown thick and rife.
28 Call no one happy before death,
A man will be known through the breath
Of his children. 29 Do not bring each
Man into your home, for the reach
Of the crafty is manifold.
30 Like partridge decoy in a cage,
So is the mind of pride in rage,
And like a spy before he’s told
He will observe your weakness bold,
31 For he lies in wait, turning good
Into evil: do what you should
He’ll still blame you with a heart cold.
32 From a spark of fire many coals
Come burning, and a sinner trolls
In wait to shed blood as his goals.
33 Beware a scoundrel, who devises
Evil, lest he give in his guises
A lasting blemish. 34 Bring a stranger
Into your home and he’ll be danger
To cause commotion and estrange
You from your family in range.

I blame the Protestants so smug and brief
That I lived so long in sorrow and grief.
If I had had the Catholic teaching sooner
I might have saved myself from wicked gooner.
I’ve opened doors to many wicked folk
Because I thought that angels in a stroke
Might be among the guests, I took in all.
But if I’d read Apocryphal in stall,
I might have known that wisdom and restraint
Are blessings for the bold as well as faint.
So many scoundrels have eaten my table
That I’m reduced to hermit and a fable.
But there’s still room for You, Beloved, and I
Keep my door open in my forest sly.

SIRACH 12

1 If you do a kindness, be sure
You do it to one known and pure,
And you will be thanked for what you
Do in goodness and mercy’s view.
2 Do good to a godly man, and
You will be repaid by his hand
Or certainly by the Most High.
3 No good will come to the man who
Continues in the evil stew,
Or to one who does not lay by
Alms to give to the poor in pew.
4 Give to the godly man, but do
Not help the sinner or his crew.
5 Do good to the humble, but not
To the ungodly in his plot,
Hold back his bread, and do not give
It to him, lest by its strength live
To overcome you, for you’ll get
Twice the evil for all the set
Of good that you have done to him.
6 For the Most High also takes dim
View of sinners and will inflict
Punishment on ungodly tricked.
7 Give to the good man, but don’t help
The sinner and his woeful whelp.

Take care, Beloved, when giving such advice
Having a loophole to do things not nice.
Of all the men and women of the realm
Many may be righteous and steer the helm
Among the shoals with cunning hand and true,
Still they may seem in my eyes ugly crew.
Mayhap my choice of doing good to those
Come in my likeness will neglect the rows
Eternally praised by the words You chose.
Let me do good to all, or let me know
Who is the righteous and the wicked crow.
All I can say or should is in the glow
I find Your Decalogue to teach and preach.
No more can I say truly each of each.

8 A friend will not be known in time
Of prosperity, nor will rhyme
Of enemy be hidden in
Adversity. 9 A man’s foes grin
Not when he prospers, and in his
Adversity a friend of his
May turn aside from him and his.
10 Don’t ever trust your enemy,
For like the tarnishing you see
On copper, so’s his wicked spree.
11 Even if he humbles himself
And cringes like a little elf,
Watch and be on your guard for him,
And you’ll be like one not to dim
A mirror for him, and you’ll know
Not without reason tarnished show.
12 Don’t put him next to you, lest he
Overthrow you and take your fee,
Do not have him sit at your right,
Lest he try to take your seat’s light,
And at last you will realize
The truth of my words, and be wise
To what I’ve said not to despise.
13 Does anyone take pity on
The snake charmer bitten at dawn
By his serpent, or any who
Train wild beasts to do what they do?
14 So no one will take pity on
A man who meets with sinners drawn
And takes part in their sin as pawn.

I trust a bright and shiny copper penny,
Despite the words Jesus Sirach for any
Writes in a warning fair and true to be
The admonition of righteous and free.
Friendship with evil-doers, it is true,
Abides until the colour changes hue,
And what was burnished bright with hardihood
Becomes green with the envy not withstood.
Beloved, I look about me where I live
And fail to find a soul ready to give
Your Decalogue it’s due. Explain to me
Why so few know the truth upon the tree.
It’s in the catechism and the round
Of schoolwork to which all children are bound.

15 He’ll stay with you for a brief time,
But if you falter in your climb,
He’ll not stand by you for a dime.
16 An enemy will speak sweetly
With his lips, but in his mind free
He’ll plan to throw you in a pit.
An enemy weeps with his eyes,
But if he finds a chance in guise,
His thirst for blood will not be slaked.
17 If a calamity has smacked
You, you will find he got there first,
And while pretending help uncursed,
He’ll trip you by the heel when durst,
And clap his hands and whisper much,
And grimace gladly at the touch.

I too have grimaced at the fate of one
Who tucked his foot both in his mouth and bun.
Perhaps I should have been a better friend
And feel the weight of courage on his end.
But then I think it was the man’s own fault
For reading too illiterate occult.
I leave the mass to judgement day and hope
That You will justify us both who cope
The best we can, and come repentant where
You dispense grace and mercy without care.
Beloved the danger runs the other way:
It’s I who often tolerate the gay
And gruesome crowd in lawless living’s pay.
Let me retreat from such men and their share.

SIRACH 13

1 Whoever touches pitch will be
Defiled, and whoever is free
With a proud man will be like him.
2 Don’t lift a weight beyond your vim,
Nor buddy with the rich and great.
How can clay pot associate
With the iron kettle in its fate?
The pot will dash against it and
Will itself be reduced to sand.
3 A rich man does wrong, and then he
Blames everyone around to see,
But a poor man suffers the wrong
And adds apologies along.
4 A rich man will exploit you if
You can be used to row his skiff,
But if you’re needy he’ll refuse
To help you, but only abuse.
5 If you own something, he will live
On you and pour through like a sieve
Your bank account, not care to give.
6 When he needs you he will deceive,
He’ll smile at you in hope’s reprieve.
He’ll say kind words and ask what he
Can do for you and faithfully.
7 He’ll shame you with his feastings till
He’s emptied you to foot the bill,
And then he’ll make fun of your case.
If he should see you at the chase
After that, he’ll forsake your face
And wag his head at your disgrace.

I shall beware, Beloved, the hopeful fair
Who have a name for good in what they dare.
Treatment is not according to the rate
Humanity deserves for the bald pate
Or greying hair, or for the good one’s done.
Such things were never seen under the sun.
It’s always whom you know, not what is true,
Nor ever at all what good thing is due.
Beloved, help me to live along the path
Of the sweet woods away from raging wrath
Of wealth and power, until I find the song
Of dandelion and coltsfoot not gone wrong.
The wealth I seek is gold of buttercup
When other golds have passed the traveller up.

8 Take care not to be led astray,
And not be humbled on feast day.
9 When a great man invites you in,
Be circumspect and you will win
An invitation day by day.
10 Don’t push yourself forward, lest you
Be sent back in a line or two,
And yet do not remain afar
Lest you’re forgotten as a star.
11 Don’t try to be his equal nor
Trust in his many words in store,
For he will test you through much talk,
And smiling put you through your walk.

I’ve been the guest of great and good and seen
Sometimes my words have broken on the sheen,
And other times my boldness to beware
Has turned out to my benefit in share.
Truth is the human race is fickle and
Sometimes smiles and sometimes will lend a hand,
And other times will beat down on the back
Of innocence or wickedness a stack.
The happy median Jesus Sirach
Advises is no easy thing to thwack.
Between the elbow pushers and the track
Of those who find nothing at all at last
Is hope and hesitation, cast, recast.
I flee to You alone, Beloved, for lack.

12 Cruel is he who does not keep words
To himself, he will not leave birds
To injure or imprison you.
13 Keep words to yourself and be true
And watchful, for you’re walking round
With your own downfall on the ground.
14 15 For every creature loves its like,
And every man his neighbour’s spike,
16 All living things gather by feather
And fur, and so a man in weather
Clings to one like himself in tether.
17 What friendship have a wolf and lamb?
No more has sinner with a ram
Who’s godly. 18 What peace is there twixt
Hyena and a dog when mixed?
And what peace between a rich man
And a poor man within his scan?
19 Wild asses in the wilderness
Are the prey of lions’ address,
Likewise the poor are pastures for
The rich. 20 Humility in store
Is an abomination found
To a proud man, likewise the ground
Of poor men is a wretched site
To a rich one who thinks he’s right.

The politics of the day where I live
Fail to remember what the words would give
From Jesus Sirach, who notes well the poor
Are pasture to the proud, and that is sure.
The poor are dupes of careful advertisement
Paid for by what they buy in thick advisement.
They vote for the one who has loudest voice
To make himself heard as the media’s choice.
Beloved, the fact is vote for wealthy men
Is why this world is running to the den.
The attitude that all is here for pay,
To be consumed before another day
Is blessed and bleated in the praises grey.
Let the poor vote for the poor once again.

21 When a rich man stumbles, his friends
Rush in to help and make amends,
But when a humble man falls down,
Even his friends return the crown.
22 If a rich man slips up, many
Come to his aid, if he is free
To speak unseemly words’ folly,
They’re there to justify his spree.
A humble man may slip and they
Rush to reproach him for his stay.
If he arrives to speak good sense,
No one will listen to his vents.
23 When the rich speaks, all hold their tongue,
Then praise to the clouds what he’s sung.
When the poor man speaks, they will say
“Who is this fellow anyway?”
And should he stumble they are there
To push him down the stony stair.
24 Riches are good when free of sin
And poverty’s to blame in din,
Is the opinion of such men
As are ungodly in their den.
25 A man’s heart’s revealed in his face,
Either for good or evil trace.
26 Mark of a happy heart is found
In a cheerful face, but to sound
Proverbs requires deep thought, profound.

I know a rich man who goes to the mosque
Each Friday and gives those around his kiosk
A twenty dinar note from the thick stack
He pulls out from the pocket at his back
Until the stack is gone and all the men
Are satisfied to go away again.
I do not doubt that many live the week
And eat from that one bill they came to seek.
Beloved, reward the man who does not speak
A word to draw attention to his cheek,
But always comes to help the poor who know
The sweetness of his alms without a show.
Beloved, reward that man, I pray again,
And give him a long life, four score and ten.

SIRACH 14

1 Blessed is
the man who does not blunder
With his lips and not suffer thunder
For sin. 2 Blesèd is he whose heart
Does not condemn him, and whose part
Still has his hope. 3 Riches are not
Seemly for stingy men in plot,
And of what use is property
To a man who’s filled with envy?
4 Whatever man accumulates
By depriving his own estates,
Accumulates for other men,
And others will live in his den
Of luxury and on his goods.
5 If a man’s mean in livelihoods
To himself, to whom will he be
Generous? He’ll not in degree
Enjoy his own wealth joyously.
6 No one is meaner than the man
Who’s grudging to himself in span,
And this is what he gets for being
So basely false in all his seeing,
7 Even if he does good, he will
Do it without intention’s skill,
And so betrays at last his bill.

The great beatitudes that Jesus taught
Have been repeated round the world for thought.
Of all the things the dear Lord had to share
Most have not had effect on human care.
Among beatitudes, his own namesake
Summed up the truth as though a piece of cake.
Make sure the tongue errs not in wickedness,
Come out of all things with the heart’s address
Enough to reassure commandments’ view
Lives in the life and makes that living true.
When men come into judgement on a day
Around the table spread, before the ray
In Sabbath’s welter, or before the throne,
None are so blessed as those who stand alone.

8 Evil’s the man with grudging eye,
He turns his face and walks on by.
9 A greedy man’s eye is not filled
With his portion, and mean, unstilled
Injustice will dry up his soul.
10 A stingy man begrudges bread,
It’s missing from his table spread.
11 My son, treat yourself well, by all
You have in store, and from the stall
Bring worthy offerings at YHWH’s call.
12 Remember death will not delay,
Hades’ decree has hidden sway.
13 Do a friend good before you die,
And reach out and give on the sly
As much as you can without pay.
14 Don’t deprive yourself of a day
Of happiness, nor let your share
Of pleasant good pass under care.

The man is evil with his grudging eye.
How I remember in Istanbul by
One pleasant mosque for Friday prayers how I
Made my way past a beggar at the door
Along the stony path before the shore
Sunken of my own heart. I left no change.
Many said those who came within that range
Came out from plenty and took alms as strange.
Evil was my heart, since I had no proof
Lounging before me was rich man aloof.
Without a thought since then, when I have found
Another beggar on the mosquely ground
I’ve made atonement for that deed unsound.
Now, my Beloved, forgive me for my goof.

15 Shall you not leave what you have earned
To others, and what you’ve discerned,
Shall it not be divided out,
And given to those round about?
16 Give, and take, and beguile yourself,
Because when you’re on the grave’s shelf
You cannot look for luxury.
17 All living things that come to be
Grow old like a garment in fee,
For from old has come the decree:
“You must surely die presently.”
18 Like leaves upon a spreading tree
Which drops some and fresh buds renews,
So are the generations’ views
Of flesh and blood: one dies and one
Is born before the set of sun.
19 All things decay, cease to exist,
And the man who made it and kissed
Will pass away with it unmissed.
20 Blessed is the man who meditates
On wisdom and reason relates.
21 The one who bears in mind her ways
Will also ponder secret maze.

The ways of wisdom I do meditate.
However long I tremble in the sound
Of wisdom while I’m living on the ground,
My heart is empty of the knowing state.
Among the great men who tell me the rate,
Some are appalled to hear the common bound,
Most live in certainty of knowledge found.
Come my release, I’m still with empty plate.
Each day I seek the sweetness of Your word,
Long on the able limits I replay
What propositions for the grace and gold.
Among the broken shards of tribute heard
I find the diamonds in the dust and clay,
No comprehensive hope in what I’m told.

22 Pursue understanding like hunters,
And lie in ambush for her view.
23 One who peers through her windows will
Also listen at her doorsill,
24 He who encamps near her house will
Also fasten his tent peg still
To her walls, 25 he will pitch his tent
Near her, and spend the night in scent,
26 He’ll place his children in her care,
Encamp under her boughs and fair,
27 She’ll shelter him both from the heat
And make him live in glory’s seat.

The dawn is barely glowing like a thread
Hung by the velvet hope on darkened lake.
Out from the sullen sky above the stake
My minutes tinkle from my sleeping bed.
Along the pebbled archways widely spread
Sheer past the frozen words of prayer I take,
My wilderness for harbour where I wake
Contents the murmurings by prophet led.
Even the growing light seems frail beside
Long shadowless remains of divine aid.
While help and healing stake the stars above
Around my grassy crusts of ice and pride,
I leap the lower walls of prayer’s parade,
Not failing to defend my morning love.

SIRACH 15

1 The man who fears YHWH will do this,
Who holds the law has wisdom’s bliss.
2 She’ll meet him like a mother, and
Like the wife of his youthful hand
She’ll welcome him and make him stand.
3 She’ll feed him with bread of the wise,
Water of understanding’s guise.
4 He’ll lean on her and will not fall,
Rely on her and find no pall
Of shame. 5 She will exalt him over
His neighbours, and will like a drover
Open his mouth in congregation.
6 He will find gladness and elation,
A crown rejoicing, and acquire
An everlasting name’s desire.
7 Foolish men will not obtain her,
And sinful men will not see her.

Tradition is to translate “she” and not
“It” for wisdom within the Hebrew plot.
But fact is it is never found at all
And he and she serve for the common call
Of it depending on the gender set
By Hebrew grammar everywhere we get.
Your wisdom is personified indeed
In early Jewish writings without greed,
Which only goes to show the Trinity
Could just as well be a Quadrinity.
Anything will do I expect that stays
The human mind from shying in its craze
From oneness of divine reality,
Revealed in every word of prophecy.

8 She is far from all men of pride,
And liars will never find her side.
9 A hymn of praise is not one fit
To be on sinner’s lips to sit,
For it has not been sent from YHWH.
10 A hymn of praise should be sung with
Wisdom, and YHWH will prosper myth.
11 Do not say “Just because of YHWH
I left the right way I should do”,
For He will not do what He hates.
12 Don’t say, “He led me out the gates”,
For He does not need sinful mates.
13 The Lord hates all abominations,
And they’re not loved by those in nations
Who fear Him. 14 It was He who made
Man from the start, and so he stayed
In the power of his own will’s grade.

The old Baptists of former time took this
Great principle that hymns of common bliss
Must never be sung in assembly’s voice,
Because there may be present to rejoice
One who has not believed yet in Your Word
And singing such hypocrisy incurred.
The hymn is fit only for holy lips,
And anyone who takes it without slips.
The province of the sinner’s not to sing,
But bow in abject repentance to cling
In sorrow to the earth until the grace
Divine has blotted out the sinful trace.
Forgive or not, Beloved, the sinful score
Of churches full of sin and song in store.

15 If you will, you can keep commandments,
And act in faith without disbandments,
It’s your own choice that you have made.
16 He has placed before you both fire
And water: stretch out your hand higher
For whichever you want to take.
17 Before a man are life and death,
And whichever he chooses breath
Will be given to him in stake.
18 For great is the wisdom of YHWH,
He is mighty in power and true
Sees everything, 19 His eyes are on
Those who fear Him, and He knows drawn
Every deed of a man. 20 He’s not
Commanded any one in plot
To be ungodly, and he’s not
Given permission for sin taught.

Commandment keeping simply is a choice,
Despite the preachers raising avid voice
To say that You command impossibles
To those who cannot meet the wicked bulls.
The truth is simple and a child can know
Obedience is no impossible show.
The fire and water are the choices now:
Some choose their hell, others baptismal vow.
Beloved, I choose neither the fire nor yet
The waters of denominations’ bet,
But only You, Beloved, and only You
Be my joy and the choice I have in view,
Until obedience to each command
Bring me into the hoped for Promised Land.

SIRACH 16

1 Do not desire a multitude
Of useless children, nor the crude
Rejoicing in ungodly sons.
2 If they multiply into tons,
Do not rejoice in them, unless
The fear of YHWH’s in their address.
3 Do not trust in their survival,
Do not rely on numbers’ pall,
For one’s better than thousands, and
To die childless is better planned
Than to have ungodly children.
4 For through one man of understanding
A city will be filled like den,
But through a tribe of lawless men
It will be made desolate landing.
5 Many such things my eye has seen,
And my ear has heard things between
More wonderful than these commanding.
6 In sinners’ assembly a fire
Will be struck, and a nation’s ire
In disobedience upraised.
7 He was not appeased nor amazed
For ancient giants who rebelled
In their strength that at last was quelled.

The books of Jubilees and Enoch note
The former giants who rebelled to gloat
And who found no forgiveness in the boat.
You did not hear the prayer of Enoch when
He came to plead for those unrighteous men.
So is always the wicked human den.
Beloved, I see the tribe of lawless ones
Rise up about me in their gloried tons
In praise of jungle’s wayward ways and guns.
The law of the majority is best
They say because it hampers royal crest
And spreads out justice to the blooming rest.
In fact it just gives more wicked men power
Over a feoff of pastured folk that cower.

8 He did not spare neighbours of Lot,
Whom He loathed for their wicked plot.
9 He showed no pity for a nation
Devoted to destruction’s ration,
And for those destroyed in their sins,
10 Nor for six hundred thousand men
On foot, who rebelled to their shins
Assembled in their stubbornness.
11 Even if there’s just one in den
Who is stiff-necked in his address,
A miracle then to confess
If he goes unpunished for less.
For mercy and wrath are with YHWH,
He’s mighty to forgive when due,
And He pours out His wrath in view.
12 As great as His mercy, so great
Is also His reproof in state,
He judges a man by his deeds.
13 The sinner will not escape needs
With his plunder, and those who wait
In godly patience not frustrate.
14 He will make room for every act
Of mercy, every one will stacked
Receive according to his deeds.

Expression that brings fear into my find
More than any other that pricks the rind
Is that Your fair reproof is just as great
As is Your mercy in Your divine state.
The preachers always taught me that Your grace
Would overcome Your justice in this place,
And I could get by with a sin or two
Conforming to the common sort of view.
But if reproof is equal in its share
With mercy, then I’m likely to stand bare
Before the judgement and fail in the glare.
Beloved, measure today Your vast reproof
Upon me where I stand stricken aloof
Before Your law of love to build my roof.

15 16 17 Don’t say “I’ll be hidden from YHWH,
And who from on high will mind me?
Among so many people I
Shall not be known, for what is my
Soul in bound of eternity?
18 “See, heaven and highest heaven’s view,
Tehowm and earth tremble in pew
At His appearance in time due.
19 “The mountains also and the beds
Of earth’s foundations shake to shreds
When He looks on them and their spreads.
20 “And no mind will reflect on this.
Who will ponder His ways of bliss?
21 “Like a storm that no man can see,
So His works mostly hidden be.
22 “Who will declare His righteous acts?
Or who’ll wait for their thundered pacts?
For covenant’s in distant facts.”

Humility is human in the way
The robber trusts the darkness in the day
To cover him and what he does to stray.
A man is sure he’s not seen in the crowd
By all the people shouting there aloud,
But though no human eye is turned to see,
You do not bat an eyelash on the spree,
But with unmoving calm gaze out and know
All Your creation as a gaudy show.
The greatness of Your doings does not veil
The gnat and atom from Creator’s sight.
All things lie open in eternal right.
The eye of calm is the heart of the gale,
The sea though vast marks out each passing sail.

23 This is what one devoid of sense
Thinks misguidedly in his tents.
24 Listen to me, my son, acquire
Knowledge, and listen and not tire
Of my words. 25 Then I shall impart
Instruction measured, and the start
Of wisdom’s calculated cart.
26 The works of YHWH have been drawn out
From the start by creation’s clout,
And when He made them, He set line
Upon divisions of their kine.
27 He set His works in order wrought
Eternal, with dominion sought
To generations faithfully,
Neither be hungry nor weary,
Not ceasing from their labours’ fee.
28 They do not jostle each by each,
Nor disobey His word to reach.
29 After this YHWH looked on the earth,
And filled it with good things of worth,
30 With all sorts of life spread the plain,
And to it they return again.

I see the suns in twinkling majesty
Pass through the courses of the sky and me,
And find that they obey the track set out
Beyond eternity to turn and rout.
I feel the movement of the dust and tone
Of moisture that bears off the waiting throne
Of microscopic motion, and alone
I know that all is caught in web and cone.
Beloved, though I am thus laid out to be
Obedient to the natural laws that see
My weight and posture in the light and sound,
I know that I am more than duty bound.
I have the choice of turning all around
And breathing air above the dancing ground.

SIRACH 17

1 The Lord created man from earth,
And turned him back to it for berth.
2 He gave to men few days to live,
A brief time, but the power to give
Over the things upon the earth.
3 He granted them authority
Like his own, and made them to be
In His own image. 4 He placed fear
Of them in all life round them near,
And gave power over beast and bird.
5 6 He made for them tongue and eyes stirred,
He gave them ears and mind unblurred.

The son of Sirach knows creation story
And how You made man after Your own glory.
I must be the only man on the earth
Who reads the text as of another worth,
Not that the male and female on the shore
Were Your own image before all the store,
But that as the last piece in crossword puzzle
You set them between sharpened beak and muzzle
Within Your image made of all creation
To take part in universal elation.
The great dominion that You gave to all
Was that men might not munch the grass in stall
But eat the fruit, the seed, the grain, the nut
Until the grinding mills of grace were shut.

7 He filled them with knowledge and skill,
And showed them good and evil will.
8 He set His eye upon their hearts
To show them His majestic arts.
9 10 And they will praise His holy name,
The grandeur of His works proclaim.
11 He bestowed them with knowledge, and
Allotted them life’s law in hand.
12 He set with them eternal pact,
And showed them His judgements in fact.
13 Their eyes saw His great majesty,
Their ears heard His voice’s glory.

If humankind is given the power to eat
The nut, the grain as well as the fruit sweet,
His purpose in creation is a treat.
You made the man and woman on the street
For one thing only, and that thing is meet,
To praise Your holy name and lift it up
In sweetness from the alabaster cup.
All human knowledge is set out in claim
To be the source and harbour of Your fame
Sprung up in Psalms of gratitude and game.
My skill though small I set to praise Your name
And show Your wonders in the cloud and flame.
I spread my arms and heart to take the good
And give the blessing out as all men should.

14 He said to them, “Beware of all
Unrighteousness.” He would install
Commandment to each of his neighbours.
15 Their ways are always in their labours
Before Him, they will not be hidden
From His eyes and as though unbidden.
16 17 He set a chief for every nation,
But Israel is the Lord’s own ration.
18 19 Everything they do is as clear
As the sun before Him for cheer,
And His eyes constantly relate
The ways upon which they are late.
20 Their sins are not hidden from Him,
Before YHWH their deeds are not dim.
21 22 A man’s almsgiving’s like a ring
With YHWH, and He will keep saving
A man’s kindness like apple of
His eye. 23 After He’ll go above
And take vengeance for them, and He
Will bring recompense on their tree.

There is no chief of nations that has taken
The crown by force or stealth that is not shaken
To rule by Your will and Your lone accord.
No man exists to govern: You are Lord.
It is a fickle view and poor conceit
That some men are elected from defeat
To sit in legislation and in power.
Yours is the only rulership and tower.
Some are set where they think the rod remains,
Some sit among the cinders and their stains,
But all are valued only for the pains
They spend in alms and kindness in their gains.
Beloved, take vengeance on those whom You will,
And recompense with justice my own bill.

24 Yet to those who repent He grants
Return, and He favours the dance
Of those whose strength fails as in trance.
25 Turn to YHWH and forsake your sins,
Pray in His presence and that wins
Decrease of you offences’ bins.
26 Return to the Most High and turn
Away from wickedness, and spurn
Abominations intensely.

The way of Your salvation is set plain:
To those who shall repent there is the gain.
I turn to You, Beloved, forsaking sin,
Pray in Your presence for the grace to win,
And spend no groat on sacrifice to pay
Some hidden and imagined fee to sway
You from Your judgement to look down in grace.
I lay no hopes in sacrificial trace
Of crosses or of dark Gethsemanes.
Repentance and forsaking sin agrees
With my own sense of what Your word stakes out.
I wonder that sweet Christians fail to doubt
The heathen message of their gospel’s rout.
Beloved, I turn to You on bended knees.

27 Who will sing praises to Most High
In Hades, as do those who vie
In life and give thanks to the sky?
28 From the dead, as from one who does
Not exist, thanksgiving that was
Has ceased, he who’s alive and well
Sings the Lord’s praises hill and dell.

The Hellenistic beat that soul’s a thing
Eternal on the silvered, shining wing
Is unknown to the desert man and he
Who stands within Semitic pageantry.
There is no singing to Your praise when life
Has fluttered from the lip, and earthly strife
Lies quiet on the field, the body slipped
Into the tomb to wait for the unshipped.
Beloved, death is a sleep, as all must know
Who see the corpse laid out to neighbour’s show.
None have returned to say what dreams invest
The darkened kingdom of the fatal west,
And so I lend my praises to the air
While life returns to me in measured share.

29 How great is the mercy of YHWH,
And His forgiveness for those who
Turn to Him! 30 For all things cannot
Be in men, since son of man taught
Is not immortal. 31 What is brighter
Than the sun? Yet its light fails slighter.
So flesh and blood devise the ill.
32 He marshals the host of the hill
Of heaven, but all men are dust
And ashes and no thing to trust.

Though You alone set kings upon the earth,
Both in the nations of their heathen worth
And Israel and Judah on the reign,
Your kingdom is established without gain
To David and his sons upon the plain.
The roads are filled with goods on cart piled higher
To markets in Jerusalem and Tyre,
But nowhere do I see the promised fire.
The kingdom of Your David’s only met
In Psalms sung to Your praises to forget
The weight of taxes given to the throng
Of butchers and the bakers of the wrong.
Some hope the fair messiah will appear,
Some wait for his return, some stand in fear.

AUTHOR: THOMAS G. MCELWAIN

Copyright © 2007 Adams & McElwain Publishers and Thomas McElwain First Published in two volumes, The Beloved and I 2005, and Led of the Beloved, 2006. Second Edition, 2010 Third and revised edition, 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this verse commentary on the sacred Scriptures may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in a retrieval system, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from publisher.

To purchase the books, please go to:

http://www.lulu.com/shop/thomas-mcelwain/the-beloved-and-i-genesis-to-maccabees/paperback/product-20136835.html

http://www.lulu.com/shop/thomas-mcelwain/the-beloved-and-i-job-to-revelation/paperback/product-20050862.html