Chapter 36

A prayer to the Lord God for mercy on the chosen people of God oppressed by other nations. A tribute to a virtuous wife.

Sirach 36:1. Have mercy on us, Master, God of all, and look upon us. 2. and bring fear of Yourself upon all nations. 2. Explained by the following verses.

Sirach 36:3. Lift up Your hand against foreign nations, and let them know Your might. 4. As You have shown Your holiness before them in us, show Your greatness before us in them. 4. As before them, the gentiles, You revealed Your holiness in us, Your chosen people, by granting us Your holy laws and institutions for a holy and God-pleasing life: likewise, show Your greatness before us in them, enlightening them by awe-inspiring and glorious signs of Your divine might.

Sirach 36:5. and let them know You as we have known that there is no God except You, O Lord. 6. Renew Your signs and work new wonders. 7. Glorify Your hand and Your right arm; stir up wrath and pour out anger. 8. Destroy the adversary and blot out the enemy. 9. Hasten the time and remember the oath, and let Your great deeds be proclaimed. 9. Hasten the time of the manifestation of Your mercy toward us, remember the oath to our fathers, and let those instructed and enlightened by You proclaim the great deeds of Your righteous might.

Sirach 36:10. Let those who flee the sword be destroyed by the fury of fire, and let those who oppress Your people find ruin. 11. Crush the heads of hostile rulers who say “there is no one but us!” 10–11. These refer to foreigners who oppressed the Hebrew people after its return from the Babylonian captivity.

Sirach 36:12. Gather all the tribes of Jacob and make them Your possession as in the beginning. 13. Have mercy, O Lord, on the people called by Your name, and on Israel, whom You called Your firstborn. 13. Cf. Gen 32:24-32; Exod 4:22.

Sirach 36:14. Show compassion for the city of Your holiness, for Jerusalem, the place of Your rest. 15. Fill Zion with the fulfillment of Your promises, and Your people with Your glory. 16. Grant testimony to those who have been Your possession from the beginning, and raise up prophecies in Your name. 16. Grant testimony to Your mercy to those who have been Your possession from the beginning, that is, to Your chosen people, and raise up, restore, prophecies in Your name, which ceased with the death of the post-exilic prophets Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.

Sirach 36:17. Grant reward to those who hope in You, and let all believe in Your prophets. 18. Hear, O Lord, the prayer of Your servants, according to the blessing of Aaron, for Your people. 19. and all who dwell on earth shall know that You are the Lord, God of the ages. 20. The stomach receives all kinds of food, but one food is better than another. 21. The palate distinguishes game as food, so a wise heart distinguishes words of falsehood. 22. A wicked heart brings sorrow, but an experienced man will repay it. 23. A woman accepts any man, but one maiden is better than another. 24. The beauty of a woman gladdens the face and is most desirable to a man. 25. If there is kindness and gentleness on her tongue, her husband is not like other sons of men. 26. He who obtains a wife begins to acquire property, and gains a helper suited to him and a pillar of rest. 27. Where there is no wall, possessions will be plundered; and he who has no wife will wander sighing. 28. For who will trust an armed robber who wanders from city to city? 29. So too a man without a dwelling place who stops for the night wherever he is overtaken by darkness. 20–29. Just as the palate is not indifferent to the quality of food it receives, nor a wise heart to the quality of words it hears, nor a well-brought-up maiden to a strange man; so for a husband the qualities of his wife are not a matter of indifference: an intelligent, good, kind, and beautiful wife is joy, an adornment, and a guarantee of prosperity for her husband.