Chapter Thirty-Six

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. Sirach 36:2. 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. Sirach 36:4. 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. Sirach 36:6. Renew Your signs and work new wonders. Sirach 36:7. Glorify Your hand and Your right arm; stir up wrath and pour out anger. Sirach 36:8. Destroy the adversary and blot out the enemy. Sirach 36:9. 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. Sirach 36:11. 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. Sirach 36:13. 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. Sirach 36:15. Fill Zion with the fulfillment of Your promises, and Your people with Your glory. Sirach 36:16. 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. Sirach 36:18. Hear, O Lord, the prayer of Your servants, according to the blessing of Aaron, for Your people. Sirach 36:19. and all who dwell on earth shall know that You are the Lord, God of the ages. Sirach 36:20. The stomach receives all kinds of food, but one food is better than another. Sirach 36:21. The palate distinguishes game as food, so a wise heart distinguishes words of falsehood. Sirach 36:22. A wicked heart brings sorrow, but an experienced man will repay it. Sirach 36:23. A woman accepts any man, but one maiden is better than another. Sirach 36:24. The beauty of a woman gladdens the face and is most desirable to a man. Sirach 36:25. If there is kindness and gentleness on her tongue, her husband is not like other sons of men. Sirach 36:26. He who obtains a wife begins to acquire property, and gains a helper suited to him and a pillar of rest. Sirach 36:27. Where there is no wall, possessions will be plundered; and he who has no wife will wander sighing. Sirach 36:28. For who will trust an armed robber who wanders from city to city? Sirach 36:29. 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.