Ecclesiasticus — Ecclesiasticus Jesu, filii Sirach
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Chapter 41
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Douay-Rheims><Vulgate><Knox Bible
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O DEATH, how bitter is the remembrance of thee to a man that hath peace in his possessions!
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O mors, quam amara est memoria tua homini pacem habenti in substantiis suis:
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Out upon thee, death, how bitter is the thought of thee to a man that lives at ease in his own home,
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To a man that is at rest, and whose ways are prosperous in all things, and that is yet able to take meat!
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viro quieto, et cujus viæ directæ sunt in omnibus, et adhuc valenti accipere cibum!
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a man untroubled by care, no difficulties in his path, that his food still relishes!
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O death, thy sentence is welcome to the man that is in need, and to him whose strength faileth:
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O mors, bonum est judicium tuum homini indigenti, et qui minoratur viribus,
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Hail, death! Welcome is thy doom to a man that is in need, and lacks vigour;
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Who is in a decrepit age, and that is in care about all things, and to the distrustful that loseth patience!
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defecto ætate, et cui de omnibus cura est, et incredibili, qui perdit patientiam!
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worn out with age and full of anxieties, that has no confidence left in him, no strength to endure.
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Fear not the sentence of death. Remember what things have been before thee, and what shall come after thee: this sentence is from the Lord upon all flesh.
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Noli metuere judicium mortis: memento quæ ante te fuerunt, et quæ superventura sunt tibi: hoc judicium a Domino omni carni.
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Never fear death’s doom; bethink thee of the years that went before thee, and must come after thee. One sentence the Lord has for all living things.
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And what shall come upon thee by the good pleasure of the most High? whether ten, or a hundred, or a thousand years.
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Et quid superveniet tibi in beneplacito Altissimi? sive decem, sive centum, sive mille anni:
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What the will of the most High has in store for thee, none can tell; what matter, whether it be ten years, or a hundred, or a thousand?
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For among the dead there is no accusing of life.
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non est enim in inferno accusatio vitæ.
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Once thou art dead, thou wilt take no grudging count of the years.
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The children of sinners become children of abominations, and they that converse near the houses of the ungodly.
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Filii abominationum fiunt filii peccatorum, et qui conversantur secus domos impiorum.
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The children wicked men beget are born under a curse, familiars of a godless home;
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The inheritance of the children of sinners shall perish, and with their posterity shall be a perpetual reproach.
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Filiorum peccatorum periet hæreditas, et cum semine illorum assiduitas opprobrii.
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all they inherit is soon lost to them; reproach dogs the footsteps of their posterity.
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The children will complain of an ungodly father, because for his sake they are in reproach.
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De patre impio queruntur filii, quoniam propter illum sunt in opprobrio.
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How bitter their complaints against the father who is the author of their ill fame!
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Woe to you, ungodly men, who have forsaken the law of the most high Lord.
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Væ vobis, viri impii, qui dereliquistis legem Domini Altissimi!
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Woe to you, rebels, that have forsaken the law of the Lord, the most High,
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And if you be born, you shall be born in malediction: and if you die, in malediction shall be your portion.
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Et si nati fueritis, in maledictione nascemini: et si mortui fueritis, in maledictione erit pars vestra.
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born of an unholy birth, an unholy death your destiny!
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All things that are of the earth, shall return into the earth: so the ungodly shall from malediction to destruction.
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Omnia quæ de terra sunt in terram convertentur: sic impii a maledicto in perditionem.
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All that is of earth, to earth must needs return; from ban to bale is the cycle of a life ill lived.
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The mourning of men is about their body, but the name of the ungodly shall be blotted out.
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Luctus hominum in corpore ipsorum: nomen autem impiorum delebitur.
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Man sighs over his body’s loss; what of his name? The wicked are lost to memory.
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Take care of a good name: for this shall continue with thee, more than a thousand treasures precious and great.
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Curam habe de bono nomine: hoc enim magis permanebit tibi quam mille thesauri pretiosi et magni.
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Of thy good name heed take thou; it shall remain thine longer than thousand heaps of rare treasure.
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A good life hath its number of days: but a good name shall continue for ever.
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Bonæ vitæ numerus dierum: bonum autem nomen permanebit in ævum.
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Life is good, but its days are numbered; a good name lasts for ever.
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My children, keep discipline in peace: for wisdom that is hid, and a treasure that is not seen, what profit is there in them both?
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Disciplinam in pace conservate, filii: sapientia enim abscondita, et thesaurus invisus, quæ utilitas in utrisque?
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My sons, here is wholesome teaching. Wisdom hidden, I told you, is wasted, is treasure that never sees the light of day;
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Better is the man that hideth his folly, than the man that hideth his wisdom.
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Melior est homo qui abscondit stultitiam suam, quam homo qui abscondit sapientiam suam.
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silence is rightly used when it masks folly, not when it is the grave of wisdom.
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Wherefore have a shame of these things I am now going to speak of.
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Verumtamen reveremini in his quæ procedunt de ore meo:
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Yet sometimes bashfulness is no fault, as I will now make known to you.
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For it is not good to keep all shame facedness: and all things do not please all men in opinion.
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non est enim bonum omnem reverentiam observare, et non omnia omnibus bene placent in fide.
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It is ill done to be abashed on every occasion; but yet neither is self-confidence for all and every use.
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Be ashamed of fornication before father and mother: and of a lie before a governor and a man in power:
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Erubescite a patre et a matre de fornicatione: et a præsidente et a potente de mendacio:
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Of these things, then, be ashamed; that thy parents should find thee a fornicator, ruler or prince a liar,
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Of an offence before a prince, and a judge: of iniquity before a congregation and a people:
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a principe et a judice de delicto: a synagoga et plebe de iniquitate:
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magistrate or judge a wrong-doer, assembly of the people a law-breaker,
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Of injustice before a companion and friend: and in regard to the place where thou dwellest,
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a socio et amico de injustitia, et de loco in quo habitas:
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partner or friend a knave, or thy neighbour a thief.
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Of theft, and of the truth of God, and the covenant: of leaning with thy elbow over meat, and of deceit in giving and taking:
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de furto, de veritate Dei, et testamento: de discubitu in panibus, et ab obfuscatione dati et accepti:
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… concerning the faithfulness of God, and his covenant; concerning thy sitting over meat … Ashamed be thou of belittling the gift received,
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Of silence before them that salute thee: of looking upon a harlot: and of turning away thy face from thy kinsman.
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a salutantibus de silentio, a respectu mulieris fornicariæ, et ab aversione vultus cognati.
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of leaving the greeting unreturned, of letting thy eyes stray after harlots, of denying thyself to kinsman
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Turn not away thy face from thy neighbour, and of taking away a portion and not restoring.
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Ne avertas faciem a proximo tuo, et ab auferendo partem et non restituendo.
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that has a near claim on thy regard, of property fraudulently shared.
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Gaze not upon another man’s wife, and be not inquisitive after his handmaid, and approach not her bed.
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Ne respicias mulierem alieni viri, et ne scruteris ancillam ejus, neque steteris ad lectum ejus.
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Let not thy eye fall on woman wed to another, nor ever exchange secrets with handmaid of hers, nor come between her sheets.
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Be ashamed of upbraiding speeches before friends: and after thou hast given, upbraid not.
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Ab amicis de sermonibus improperii: et cum dederis, ne improperes.
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Be ashamed of uttering reproach against thy friends, nor insult the receiver of thy gift.