Sirach 28

NEW JERUSALEM	NEW AMERICAN BIBLE
1 Whoever exacts vengeance wil experience the vengeance of the Lord, who keeps strict account of sin.	1 The vengeful will suffer the LORD'S vengeance, for he remembers their sins in detail.
2 Pardon your neighbour any wrongs done to you, and when you pray, your sins will be forgiven.	2 Forgive your neighbor's injustice; then when you pray, your own sins will be forgiven.
3 If anyone nurses anger against another, can one then demand compassion from the Lord?	3 Should a man nourish anger against his fellows and expect healing from the LORD?
4 Showing no pity for someone like oneself, can one then plead for one's own sins?	4 Should a man refuse mercy to his fellows, yet seek pardon for his own sins?
5 Mere creature of flesh, yet cherishing resentment!-who wil forgive one for sinning?	5 If he who is but flesh cherishes wrath, who will forgive his sins?
6 Remember the last things, and stop hating, corruption and death, and be faithful to the commandments.	6 Remember your last days, set enmity aside; remember death and decay, and cease from sin!
7 Remember the commandments, and do not bear your fel ow il -wil , remember the covenant of the MostHigh, and ignore the offence.	7 Think of the commandments, hate not your neighbor; of the Most High's covenant, and overlook faults.
8 Avoid quarrel ing and you wil sin less; for the hot-tempered provokes quarrels,	8 Avoid strife and your sins will be fewer, for a quarrelsome man kindles disputes,
9 a sinner sows trouble between friends, introducing discord among the peaceful.	9 Commits the sin of disrupting friendship and sows discord among those at peace.
10 The way a fire burns depends on its fuel, a quarrel spreads in proportion to its violence; a man's ragedepends on his strength, his fury grows fiercer in proportion to his wealth.	10 The more wood, the greater the fire, the more underlying it, the fiercer the fight; The greater a man's strength, the sterner his anger, the greater his power, the greater his wrath.
11 A sudden quarrel kindles fire, a hasty dispute leads to bloodshed.	11 Pitch and resin make fires flare up, and insistent quarrels provoke bloodshed.
12 Blow on a spark and up it flares, spit on it and out it goes; both are the effects of your mouth.	12 If you blow upon a spark, it quickens into flame, if you spit on it, it dies out; yet both you do with your mouth!
13 A curse on the scandal-monger and double-talker, such a person has ruined many who lived inconcord.	13 Cursed be gossips and the double-tongued, for they destroy the peace of many.
14 That third tongue has shattered the peace of many and driven them from nation to nation; it has pul eddown fortified cities, and overthrown the houses of the great.	14 A meddlesome tongue subverts many, and makes them refugees among the peoples; It destroys walled cities, and overthrows powerful dynasties.
15 The third tongue has had upright wives divorced, depriving them of reward for their hard work.	15 A meddlesome tongue can drive virtuous women from their homes and rob them of the fruit of their toil;
16 No one who listens to it wil ever know peace of mind, wil ever live in peace again.	16 Whoever heeds it has no rest, nor can he dwell in peace.
17 A stroke of the whip raises a weal, but a stroke of the tongue breaks bones.	17 A blow from a whip raises a welt, but a blow from the tongue smashes bones;
18 Many have fal en by the edge of the sword, but many more have fal en by the tongue.	18 Many have fallen by the edge of the sword, but not as many as by the tongue.
19 Blessed is anyone who has been sheltered from it, and has not experienced its fury, who has notdragged its yoke about, or been bound in its chains;	19 Happy he who is sheltered from it, and has not endured its wrath; Who has not borne its yoke nor been fettered with its chain;
20 for its yoke is an iron yoke, its chains are bronze chains;	20 For its yoke is a yoke of iron and its chains are chains of bronze!
21 the death it inflicts is a miserable death, Sheol is preferable to it.	21 Dire is the death it inflicts, besides which even the nether world is a gain;
22 It cannot gain a hold over the devout, they are not burnt by its flames.	22 It will not take hold among the just nor scorch them in its flame,
23 Those who desert the Lord wil fal into it, it wil flare up inextinguishably among them, it wil be letloose against them like a lion, it wil tear them like a leopard.	23 But those who forsake the LORD will fall victims to it, as it burns among them unquenchably! It will hurl itself against them like a lion; like a panther, it will tear them to pieces.
24 Be sure you put a thorn-hedge round your property, lock away your silver and gold;	24 As you hedge round your vineyard with thorns, set barred doors over your mouth;
25 then make scales and weights for your words, and put a door with bolts across your mouth.	25 As you seal up your silver and gold, so balance and weigh your words.
26 Take care you take no false step through it, in case you fal a prey to him who lies in wait.	26 Take care not to slip by your tongue and fall victim to your foe waiting in ambush.