1883 Haydock Douay Rheims Bible
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| Sirach 41:1 | O death, how bitter is the remembrance of thee to a man that hath peace in his possessions! | Death is terrible to all, but most to those who live comfortably. (Calmet) --- O vita misero longa, felici brevis. (Seneca) |
| Sirach 41:2 | To a man that is at rest, and whose ways are prosperous in all things, and that is yet able to take meat! | |
| Sirach 41:3 | O death, thy sentence is welcome to the man that is in need, and to him whose strength faileth: | Sentence, pronounced on Adam and all his posterity. (Calmet) |
| Sirach 41:4 | Who is in a decrepit age, and that is in care about all things: and to the distrustful that loseth patience! | |
| Sirach 41:5 | Fear not the sentence of death. Remember what things have been before thee, and what shall come after thee: this sentence is from the Lord upon all flesh. | Flesh. "It is a great consolation to share the fate of all." (Seneca, Provid. v.) |
| Sirach 41:6 | And what shall come upon thee by the good pleasure of the Most High? whether ten, or a hundred, or a thousand years. | What. Greek, "why wouldst thou refuse to submit to the?" etc. (Haydock) |
| Sirach 41:7 | For among the dead there is no accusing of life. | Life. Thou wilt not be asked how long, but how well thou hast lived. No one will then envy thy long life. (Calmet) --- It will be in vain to plead that the length or shortness of life has occasioned thy sins; for God does all with justice and for the best, if men would use rightly his benefits. (Worthington) --- Thou wilt not repine at having lived too short a time. (Menochius) --- An evil life will be alone condemned, Wisdom 5. (Du Hamel) |
| Sirach 41:8 | The children of sinners become children of abominations, and they that converse near the houses of the ungodly. | Ungodly. They adopt the wicked manners of their parents (Calmet) and companions, and thus become still more criminal. (Haydock) oetas parentum pejor avis tulit Nos nequiores, mox daturos Progeniem vitiosiorem. (Horace, 2:ode 6.) --- This was terribly verified in the three French assemblies, which overturned the Church and state. (The year of our Lord 1793.) See Barruel. (Haydock) |
| Sirach 41:9 | The inheritance of the children of sinners shall perish, and with their posterity shall be a perpetual reproach. | |
| Sirach 41:10 | The children will complain of an ungodly father, because for his sake they are a reproach. | Father. He is rather their executioner, (Calmet) and would have been less cruel, if he had murdered them while they were innocent, Wisdom 12:10. (Haydock) |
| Sirach 41:11 | Woe to you, ungodly men, who have forsaken the law of the most high Lord. | |
| Sirach 41:12 | And if you be born, you shall be born in malediction: and if you die, in malediction shall be your portion. | Portion. It would have been better for them never to have existed, Matthew 26:24. This [is] the case of heresiarchs. (Calmet) |
| Sirach 41:13 | *All things that are of the earth, shall return into the earth: so the ungodly shall from malediction to destruction. Ecclesiasticus 40:11. | From. Greek, "go to destruction." (Haydock) --- It is their destination (chap. 40:11.; Calmet) and choice. (Haydock) |
| Sirach 41:14 | The mourning of men is about their body, but the name of the ungodly shall be blotted out. | Body. The death of the body is bewailed in the just, but that of the soul also of wicked people calls for our tears. They will soon perish, Psalm 9:7. |
| Sirach 41:15 | Take care of a good name: for this shall continue with thee more than a thousand treasures, precious and great. | Great. The concern which all have for a good name, is one of the strongest proofs of the souls' immortality, Proverbs 22:11. |
| Sirach 41:16 | A good life hath its number of days: but a good name shall continue for ever. | |
| Sirach 41:17 | My children, keep discipline in peace: *for wisdom that is hid, and a treasure that is not seen, what profit is there in them both? Ecclesiasticus 20:32. | Peace, with docility, (Matthew 11:25.) or in the midst of prosperity, be on your guard, Ecclesiasticus 20:32. (Calmet) |
| Sirach 41:18 | Better is the man that hideth his folly, than the man that hideth his wisdom. | |
| Sirach 41:19 | Wherefore, have a shame of these things I am now going to speak of. | Have a shame, etc. That is to say, be ashamed of doing any of these things, which I am now going to mention: for though sometimes shamefacedness is not to be indulged, yet it is often good and necessary; as in the following cases. (Challoner) --- Disciples ought to esteem what their masters teach, though they do not perceive the reasonableness of what they assert. (Worthington) |
| Sirach 41:20 | For it is not good to keep all shamefacedness, and all things do not please all men, in opinion. | Opinion. Grotius corrects the Greek, "It is not laudable to be incredulous in all." |
| Sirach 41:21 | Be ashamed of fornication before father and mother; and of a lie before a governor and a man in power; | Mother. Thy misconduct seems to redound to their dishonour, as if they had not given thee a proper education. |
| Sirach 41:22 | Of an offence before a prince and a judge; of iniquity before a congregation and a people; | People. They will stone thee. Remember the fate of Roboam, 3 Kings xii. (Calmet) |
| Sirach 41:23 | Of injustice before a companion and friend: And in regard to the place where thou dwellest, | |
| Sirach 41:24 | Of theft, and of the truth of God, and the covenant; of leaning with thy elbow over meat, and of deceit in giving and taking; | And of. Literally, "out of respect for the," etc. De veritate Dei et testamento. (Haydock) --- The same words occur [in] Ecclesiasticus 42:2.; whence Jansenius thinks they have been transferred hither. Most refer them to what goes before. Blush for lying, which is contrary to the truth of God; and for the other sins which injure his covenant. --- Meat. This posture betrays idleness or pride. |
| Sirach 41:25 | Of silence before them that salute thee; of looking upon a harlot; and of turning away thy face from thy kinsman. | Harlot. The eyes must be chaste, Jeremias 9:21., and Matthew 5:28. --- Kinsman, when he is poor, and refusing to assist him. (Calmet) |
| Sirach 41:26 | Turn not away thy face from thy neighbour; and of taking away a portion, and not restoring. | Turn. Greek, "of taking away a portion and gift," made already to God or men; (27.) "of considering attentively another's wife; of being too busy about his," etc. (Haydock) |
| Sirach 41:27 | *Gaze not upon another man's wife, and be not inquisitive after his handmaid, and approach not her bed. Matthew 5:28. | |
| Sirach 41:28 | Be ashamed of upbraiding speeches before friends; and after thou hast given, upbraid not. |