Sirach 16

¹ Do not desire a multitude of useless children, nor rejoice in ungodly sons.

² If they multiply , do not rejoice in them, unless the fear of the Lord is in them.

³ Do not trust in their survival, and do not rely on their multitude; for one is better than a thousand, and to die childless is better than to have ungodly children.

⁴ For through one man of understanding a city will be filled with people, but through a tribe of lawless men it will be made desolate.

⁵ Many such things my eye has seen, and my ear has heard things more striking than these.

⁶ In an assembly of sinners a fire will be kindled, and in a disobedient nation wrath was kindled.

⁷ He was not propitiated for the ancient giants who revolted in their might.

⁸ He did not spare the neighbors of Lot, whom he loathed on account of their insolence.

⁹ He showed no pity for a nation devoted to destruction, for those destroyed in their sins;

¹⁰ nor for the six hundred thousand men on foot, who rebelliously assembled in their stubbornness.

¹¹ Even if there is only one stiff-necked person, it will be a wonder if he remains unpunished. For mercy and wrath are with the Lord; he is mighty to forgive, and he pours out wrath.

¹² As great as his mercy, so great is also his reproof; he judges a man according to his deeds.

¹³ The sinner will not escape with his plunder, and the patience of the godly will not be frustrated.

¹⁴ He will make room for every act of mercy; every one will receive in accordance with his deeds.

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¹⁷ Do not say, "I shall be hidden from the Lord, and who from on high will remember me? Among so many people I shall not be known, for what is my soul in the boundless creation?

¹⁸ Behold, heaven and the highest heaven, the abyss and the earth, will tremble at his visitation.

¹⁹ The mountains also and the foundations of the earth shake with trembling when he looks upon them.

²⁰ And no mind will reflect on this. Who will ponder his ways?

²¹ Like a tempest which no man can see, so most of his works are concealed.

²² Who will announce his acts of justice? Or who will await them? For the covenant is far off."

²³ This is what one devoid of understanding thinks; a senseless and misguided man thinks foolishly.

²⁴ Listen to me, my son, and acquire knowledge, and pay close attention to my words.

²⁵ I will impart instruction by weight, and declare knowledge accurately.

²⁶ The works of the Lord have existed from the beginning by his creation, and when he made them, he determined their divisions.

²⁷ He arranged his works in an eternal order, and their dominion for all generations; they neither hunger nor grow weary, and they do not cease from their labors.

²⁸ They do not crowd one another aside, and they will never disobey his word.

²⁹ After this the Lord looked upon the earth, and filled it with his good things;

³⁰ with all kinds of living beings he covered its surface, and to it they return.