Sirach

¹Have mercy upon us, O Lord the God of all, and look at us with favor; ²and send your fear upon all the nations. ³Lift up your hand against the foreign nations and let them see your mighty power. ⁴As you showed your holiness in us before them, so be magnified in them before us. ⁵Let them know you, as we also have known you, that there is no God but only you, O God. ⁶Show new signs, and work various wonders. Glorify your hand and your right arm. ⁷Raise up indignation and pour out wrath. Take away the adversary and destroy the enemy. ⁸Hasten the time and remember your oath. Let them declare your mighty works. ⁹Let him who escapes be devoured by raging fire. May those who harm your people find destruction. ¹⁰Crush the heads of the rulers of the enemies who say, “There is no one but ourselves.” ¹¹Gather all the tribes of Jacob together, and take them for your inheritance, as from the beginning. ¹²O Lord, have mercy upon the people that is called by your name, and upon Israel, whom you likened to a firstborn. ¹³Have compassion upon the city of your sanctuary, Jerusalem, the place of your rest. ¹⁴Fill Zion. Exalt your oracles and fill your people with your glory. ¹⁵Give testimony to those who were your creatures in the beginning, and fulfill the prophecies that have been spoken in your name. ¹⁶Reward those who wait for you, and men will put their trust in your prophets. ¹⁷Listen, O Lord, to the prayer of your servants, according to the blessing of Aaron concerning your people; and all those who are on the earth will know that you are the Lord, the eternal God.

¹⁸The belly will eat any food, but one food is better than another. ¹⁹The mouth tastes meats taken in hunting, so does an understanding heart detect false speech. ²⁰A contrary heart will cause heaviness. A man of experience will pay him back. ²¹A woman will receive any man, but one daughter is better than another. ²²The beauty of a woman cheers the countenance. A man desires nothing more. ²³If kindness and humility are on her tongue, her husband is not like other sons of men. ²⁴He who gets a wife gets his richest treasure, a help meet for him and a pillar of support. ²⁵Where no hedge is, the property will be plundered. He who has no wife will mourn as he wanders. ²⁶For who would trust a nimble robber who skips from city to city? Even so, who would trust a man who has no nest, and lodges wherever he finds himself at nightfall?