Ecclesiasticus 15

¹He that feareth God, shall do good things, and he that hath justice shall apprehend her,

²and she will meet him as an honourable mother, & a wife from virginity she will receive him.

³She shall feed him with the bread of life and understanding, and give him the water of wholesome wisdom to drink: and she shall be made sure in him, and he shall not be bowed:

⁴and she shall hold him fast, and he shall not be confounded: and she shall exalt him before his neighbours,

⁵and in the midst of the Church she shall open his mouth, and shall fill him with the spirit of wisdom and understanding, and shall clothe him with a stole of glory.

⁶Joy & exultation she shall heap upon him, & shall make him inherit an everlasting name.

⁷Foolish men shall not apprehend her, & wise men shall meet her, foolish men shall not see her: for she is far from pride and deceit.

⁸Lying men shall not be mindful of her: and true men shall be found in her, and shall have success, even to the beholding of God.

⁹Praise is not comely in the mouth of a sinner:

¹⁰because wisdom proceeded from God. For praise shall be with the wisdom of God, & shall abound in a faithful mouth, & the dominatour will give praise to it.

¹¹Say not: It is by God, that she is absent: for do not thou the things that he hateth.

¹²Say not: He hath made me err: for impious men are not necessary for him.

¹³Our Lord hateth all abomination of error, and it shall not be amiable to them, that fear him.

¹⁴God from the beginning made man, and left him in the hand of his own counsel.

¹⁵He added his commandments and precepts.

¹⁶If thou will keep the commandment, and keep acceptable fidelity for ever, they shall preserve thee.

¹⁷He hath set before thee water and fire: to which thou wilt, stretch forth thine hand.

¹⁸Before man there is life and death, good and evil: what pleaseth him shall be given him:

¹⁹Because the wisdom of God is much, and he is strong in might, seeing all men without intermission.

²⁰The eyes of our Lord are towards them that fear him, and he knoweth all the work of man.

²¹He hath commanded no man to do impiously, and he hath given no man space to sin:

²²for he desireth not a multitude of faithless and unprofitable children.