Ecclesiasticus, 25

1. There are three things my soul delights in, and which are delightful to God and to all people: concord between brothers, friendship between neighbours, and a wife and husband who live happily together.

1. Wisdom will praise herself, and will glory in the midst of her people.

2. There are three sorts of people my soul hates, and whose existence I consider an outrage: the poor swollen with pride, the rich who is a liar and an adulterous old man who has no sense.

2. In the assembly of the Most High she will open her mouth, and in the presence of his host she will glory:

3. If you have gathered nothing in your youth, how can you discover anything in your old age?

3. "I came forth from the mouth of the Most High, and covered the earth like a mist.

4. How fine a thing: sound judgement with grey hairs, and for greybeards to know how to advise!

4. I dwelt in high places, and my throne was in a pillar of cloud.

5. How fine a thing: wisdom in the aged, and considered advice coming from people of distinction!

5. Alone I have made the circuit of the vault of heaven and have walked in the depths of the abyss.

6. The crown of the aged is ripe experience, their glory, the fear of the Lord.

6. In the waves of the sea, in the whole earth, and in every people and nation I have gotten a possession.

7. There are nine things I can think of which strike me as happy, and a tenth which is now on my tongue: the man who can be proud of his children, he who lives to see the downfall of his enemies;

7. Among all these I sought a resting place; I sought in whose territory I might lodge.

8. happy is he who keeps house with a sensible wife; he who does not toil with ox and donkey; he who has never sinned with his tongue; he who does not serve a man less worthy than himself;

8. "Then the Creator of all things gave me a commandment, and the one who created me assigned a place for my tent. And he said, `Make your dwelling in Jacob, and in Israel receive your inheritance.'

9. happy is he who has acquired good sense and can find attentive ears for what he has to say;

9. From eternity, in the beginning, he created me, and for eternity I shall not cease to exist.

10. how great is he who has acquired wisdom; but unsurpassed is one who fears the Lord.

10. In the holy tabernacle I ministered before him, and so I was established in Zion.

11. The fear of the Lord surpasses everything; what can compare with someone who has mastered that?

11. In the beloved city likewise he gave me a resting place, and in Jerusalem was my dominion.

12.

12. So I took root in an honored people, in the portion of the Lord, who is their inheritance.

13. Any wound rather than a wound of the heart! Any spite rather than the spite of woman!

13. "I grew tall like a cedar in Lebanon, and like a cypress on the heights of Hermon.

14. Any evil rather than an evil caused by an enemy! Any vengeance rather than the vengeance of a foe!

14. I grew tall like a palm tree in En-ge'di, and like rose plants in Jericho; like a beautiful olive tree in the field, and like a plane tree I grew tall.

15. There is no poison worse than the poison of a snake, there is no fury worse than the fury of an enemy.

15. Like cassia and camel's thorn I gave forth the aroma of spices, and like choice myrrh I spread a pleasant odor, like galbanum, onycha, and stacte, and like the fragrance of frankincense in the tabernacle.

16. I would sooner keep house with a lion or a dragon than keep house with a spiteful wife.

16. Like a terebinth I spread out my branches, and my branches are glorious and graceful.

17. A woman's spite changes her appearance and makes her face as grim as a bear's.

17. Like a vine I caused loveliness to bud, and my blossoms became glorious and abundant fruit.

18. When her husband goes out to dinner with his neighbours, he cannot help heaving bitter sighs.

18.

19. No spite can approach the spite of a woman, may a sinner's lot be hers!

19. "Come to me, you who desire me, and eat your fill of my produce.

20. Like the climbing of a sandhill for elderly feet, such is a garrulous wife for a quiet husband.

20. For the remembrance of me is sweeter than honey, and my inheritance sweeter than the honeycomb.

21. Do not be taken in by a woman's beauty, never lose your head over a woman.

21. Those who eat me will hunger for more, and those who drink me will thirst for more.

22. Bad temper, insolence and shame hold sway where the wife supports the husband.

22. Whoever obeys me will not be put to shame, and those who work with my help will not sin."

23. Low spirits, gloomy face, stricken heart: such is a spiteful wife. Slack hands and sagging knees: such is the wife who does not make her husband happy.

23. All this is the book of the covenant of the Most High God, the law which Moses commanded us as an inheritance for the congregations of Jacob.

24. Sin began with a woman, and thanks to her we must all die.

24.

25. Do not let water find a leak, nor a spiteful woman give free rein to her tongue.

25. It fills men with wisdom, like the Pishon, and like the Tigris at the time of the first fruits.

26. If she will not do as you tell her, get rid of her.

26. It makes them full of understanding, like the Euphrates, and like the Jordan at harvest time.

27.

27. It makes instruction shine forth like light, like the Gihon at the time of vintage.

28.

28. Just as the first man did not know her perfectly, the last one has not fathomed her;

29.

29. for her thought is more abundant than the sea, and her counsel deeper than the great abyss.

30.

30. I went forth like a canal from a river and like a water channel into a garden.

31.

31. I said, "I will water my orchard and drench my garden plot"; and lo, my canal became a river, and my river became a sea.

32.

32. I will again make instruction shine forth like the dawn, and I will make it shine afar;

33.

33. I will again pour out teaching like prophecy, and leave it to all future generations.

34.

34. Observe that I have not labored for myself alone, but for all who seek instruction.