The chapter opens with a warning that ungodly children are worthless -- better one righteous child than a thousand wicked ones. It then defends divine justice against the skeptic who says God does not notice individual sins. Ben Sira recites a catalogue of historical judgments: the ancient giants, Sodom, the Canaanites, the six hundred thousand Israelites in the wilderness. The chapter closes with a creation hymn celebrating God's ordering of the cosmos.
The historical catalogue (vv. 7-12) compresses the entire sweep of biblical judgment history into a few verses, functioning as a miniature theodicy. The creation passage (vv. 24-30) transitions from history to cosmology, grounding divine justice in the very structure of the universe. The claim that even the 600,000 Israelites perished for their hard-heartedness is a remarkably bold reading of the wilderness tradition.
The statement that ungodly children are worse than no children at all (vv. 1-4) sits in tension with the biblical blessing of fertility. In a culture where childlessness was a curse, Ben Sira subordinates biological continuity to moral quality -- a provocative claim. The appeal to historical judgments could also be read as selective: why these examples and not others?
Genesis 6:4 (the Nephilim); Genesis 19 (Sodom and Gomorrah); Numbers 14:29-30 (death of the wilderness generation); Wisdom 10 (parallel catalogue of divine judgments); 2 Peter 2:4-8 (similar catalogue: angels, Sodom, Noah); Psalm 104 (creation hymn).
Ne iucunderis in filiis impiis si multiplicentur nec oblecteris super ipsos si non est timor Dei in illis.
Do not rejoice in ungodly children, though they multiply; do not take pleasure in them if the fear of God is not in them.
Non credas vitae illorum et ne respexeris in labores eorum.
Do not trust in their survival, and do not look to their labors.
Melior est enim unus timens Deum quam mille filii impii.
For one who fears God is better than a thousand ungodly children.
Et utile est mori sine filiis quam relinquere filios impios.
And it is better to die childless than to leave behind ungodly children.
Ab uno sensato inhabitabitur patria per tribum vero impiorum deserta fiet.
Through one person of understanding a city will be populated, but through a tribe of the ungodly it will become a wasteland.
Multa talia vidit oculus meus et fortiora horum audivit auris mea.
My eye has seen many such things, and my ear has heard things mightier than these.
In synagoga peccantium exardebit ignis et in gente incredibili exarsit ira.
In the assembly of sinners fire blazes forth, and among an unbelieving people wrath is kindled.
Non exoravit pro peccatis suis antiqui gigantes qui destructi sunt confidentes suae virtuti.
The ancient giants did not obtain pardon for their sins; they were destroyed, trusting in their own strength.
The Nephilim or Rephaim of pre-flood legend; their destruction by the flood is the archetypal judgment.
Et non pepercit peregrinationi Loth et execratus est eos prae superbia verbi illorum.
And he did not spare the place where Lot sojourned, and he abhorred them for the pride of their speech.
Non misertus est illis gentem totam perdens et extollentem se in peccatis suis.
He showed no mercy to them, destroying an entire nation that exalted itself in its sins.
Et sicut sescenta milia peditum qui congregati sunt in duritia cordis sui et si unus fuisset cervicatus mirum si fuisset inmunis.
And likewise the six hundred thousand foot soldiers who were gathered in their hardness of heart; and if even one of them had been stiff-necked, it would be a wonder if he had gone unpunished.
The traditional number of Israelite men who left Egypt (Exodus 12:37); their wilderness deaths prove that collective size provides no protection from divine justice.
Misericordia enim et ira est cum illo potens exoratio et effundens iram.
For both mercy and wrath are with him; he is mighty in forgiveness and in pouring out wrath.
Secundum misericordiam suam sic correptio illius hominem secundum opera sua iudicat.
As great as his mercy, so also is his correction; he judges a person according to his works.
Non effugiet in rapina peccator et non retardabit sufferentia misericordiam facientis.
The sinner will not escape with his plunder, and the patience of the one who shows mercy will not be delayed.
Omnis misericordia faciet locum unicuique secundum meritum operum suorum et secundum intellectum peregrinationis ipsius.
Every act of mercy makes a place for each person according to the merit of his works, and according to the understanding of his sojourning.
Non dicas in abscondito peccavi quis me videt tenebrarum enim est quod faciam et parietes cooperiunt me et nemo circumspicit me quem vereor delicta mea non memorabitur Altissimus.
Do not say, 'I have sinned in secret; who sees me? Darkness surrounds what I do, and walls cover me, and no one watches me. Whom should I fear? The Most High will not remember my sins.'
Et ne metuas nam intellectus illius quis intelleget.
And do not be afraid, for who understands his mind?
Ecce caelum et caelum caeli Deo abyssus et universa terra et quae in eis sunt in conspectu illius commovebuntur.
Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens, the abyss and the whole earth and all that is in them -- they tremble at his visitation.
The highest heaven, beyond the visible sky; God's domain encompasses every level of reality.
Montes simul et fundamenta terrae cum conspexerit illa Deus tremore concutientur.
The mountains and the foundations of the earth alike, when God looks upon them, are shaken with trembling.
Et non est de illis sensus in omni corde et vias illius quis intelleget.
And concerning all these things, no heart has understanding, and who comprehends his ways?
Nam et procella quam nec oculus videbit hominis plurima autem operum eius in absconditis.
For even the tempest, which no human eye can see -- many of his works are hidden.
Opera iustitiae eius quis adnuntiabit aut quis sustinebit testamentum enim longe est.
Who will declare his works of justice, or who will endure them? For the covenant is far off.
Qui minoratur corde cogitat inania et vir imprudens et errans cogitat stulta.
The one diminished in heart thinks vain things, and the foolish and erring man thinks foolishly.
Audi me fili et disce disciplinam sensus et in verbis meis adtende in corde tuo.
Listen to me, my son, and learn the discipline of understanding, and attend to my words in your heart.
Et dicam in aequitate disciplinam et scrutabor enarrare sapientiam et in verbis meis adtende in corde tuo et dico in aequitate spiritus virtutes quas posuit Deus in opera sua ab initio et in veritate enuntio scientiam eius.
And I will declare discipline with equity, and will search out and narrate wisdom; attend to my words in your heart, and I will speak with an upright spirit of the powers that God placed in his works from the beginning, and in truth I will proclaim his knowledge.
In iudicio Dei opera eius ab initio et ab institutione ipsorum distinxit partes illorum et initia eorum in gentibus suis.
In the judgment of God his works have existed from the beginning, and from their creation he distinguished their parts and their origins among their kinds.
Ornavit in aevum opera illorum nec esurierunt nec laboraverunt et non destiterunt ab operibus suis.
He adorned their works forever; they do not hunger or grow weary, and they do not cease from their tasks.
Unusquisque proximum sibi non angustiavit.
No one of them crowds its neighbor.
Et usque in aeternum non erunt inoboedientes verbo illius.
And to all eternity they will not disobey his word.
Post haec Dominus in terram respexit et implevit illam bonis suis.
After all this, the Lord looked upon the earth and filled it with his good things.
Anima omnis vitalis denuntiavit ante faciem ipsius et in ipsam iterum reversio illorum.
The soul of every living thing is manifest before his face, and to him is their return.