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Sirach

Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus

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Chapter 23

1 O Lord, Father and Master of my life, don’t abandon me to their counsel. Don’t let me fall because of them. 2 Who will set scourges over my thought, and a discipline of wisdom over my heart, that they do not spare me for my errors, and not overlook their sins? 3 Otherwise my errors might be multiplied, and my sins abound, I fall before my adversaries, and my enemy rejoice over me. 4 O Lord, Father and God of my life, don’t give me a haughty eyes,⁠ 5 and turn away evil desire from me. 6 Let neither gluttony nor lust overtake me. Don’t give me over to a shameless mind.⁠ 7 Listen, my children, to the discipline of the mouth. He who keeps it will not be caught.⁠ 8 The sinner will be overpowered through his lips. By them, the insulter and the arrogant will stumble. 9 Don’t accustom your mouth to an oath, and don’t be accustomed to naming the Holy One,⁠ 10 for as a servant who is continually scourged will not lack bruises, so he also who swears and continually utters the Name will not be cleansed from sin. 11 A man of many oaths will be filled with iniquity. The scourge will not depart from his house. If he offends, his sin will be upon him. If he disregards it, he has sinned doubly. If he has sworn falsely, he will not be justified, for his house will be filled with calamities. 12 There is a manner of speech that is clothed with death. Let it not be found in the heritage of Jacob, for all these things will be far from the godly, and they will not wallow in sins. 13 Don’t accustom your mouth to gross rudeness, for it involves sinful speech. 14 Remember your father and your mother, for you sit in the midst of great men, that you not be forgetful before them, and become a fool by your bad habit; so you may wish that you had not been born, and curse the day of your birth. 15 A man who is accustomed to abusive language won’t be corrected all the days of his life. 16 Two sorts of people multiply sins, and the third will bring wrath: a hot passion, like a burning fire, will not be quenched until it is consumed; a fornicator in the body of his flesh will never cease until he has burned out the fire. 17 All bread is sweet to a fornicator. He will not cease until he dies. 18 A man who goes astray from his own marriage bed says in his heart, “Who sees me? Darkness is around me, and the walls hide me. No one sees me. Of whom am I afraid? The Most High will not remember my sins.”⁠ 19 The eyes of men are his terror. He doesn’t know that the eyes of the Lord are ten thousand times brighter than the sun,⁠ seeing all the ways of men, and looking into secret places.⁠ 20 All things were known to him before they were created, and also after they were completed. 21 This man will be punished in the streets of the city. He will be seized where he least expects it.⁠ 22 So also is a wife who leaves her husband, and produces an heir by another man. 23 For first, she was disobedient in the law of the Most High. Second, she trespassed against her own husband. Third, she played the adulteress in fornication, and had children by another man. 24 She shall be brought out into the congregation. Her punishment will extend to her children. 25 Her children will not take root. Her branches will bear no fruit.⁠ 26 She will leave her memory for a curse. Her reproach won’t be blotted out. 27 And those who are left behind will know that there is nothing better than the fear of the Lord, and nothing sweeter than to heed the commandments of the Lord.

Texts in conversation

Compare Sirach 23:7 and James 3:9

Deuterocanon · New Testament

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Summary

James participates in the Jewish wisdom tradition by drawing on teachings in Sirach that reject careless speech, false oaths, and harmful language. In repeating these themes, James connects them to early Christian tradition.

Passages

Sirach 23:7

Deuterocanon · Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus
7 Listen, my children, to the discipline of the mouth. He who keeps it will not be caught. 8 The sinner will be overpowered through his lips. By them, the insulter and the arrogant will stumble. 9 Don’t accustom your mouth to an oath, and don’t be accustomed to naming the Holy One, 10 for as a servant who is continually scourged will not lack bruises, so he also who swears and continually utters the Name will not be cleansed from sin. 11 A man of many oaths will be filled with iniquity. The scourge will not depart from his house. If he offends, his sin will be upon him. If he disregards it, he has sinned doubly. If he has sworn falsely, he will not be justified, for his house will be filled with calamities. 12 There is a manner of speech that is clothed with death. Let it not be found in the heritage of Jacob, for all these things will be far from the godly, and they will not wallow in sins. 13 Don’t accustom your mouth to gross rudeness, for it involves sinful speech. 14 Remember your father and your mother, for you sit in the midst of great men, that you not be forgetful before them, and become a fool by your bad habit; so you may wish that you had not been born, and curse the day of your birth.
195–180 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Sirach

James 3:9

New Testament
6 And the tongue is a fire! The tongue represents the world of wrongdoing among the parts of our bodies. It pollutes the entire body and sets fire to the course of human existence—and is set on fire by hell. 7 For every kind of animal, bird, reptile, and sea creature is subdued and has been subdued by humankind. 8 But no human being can subdue the tongue; it is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse people made in God’s image. 10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. These things should not be so, my brothers and sisters. 11 A spring does not pour out fresh water and bitter water from the same opening, does it? 12 Can a fig tree produce olives, my brothers and sisters, or a vine produce figs? Neither can a salt water spring produce fresh water.
80–90 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in James

References

"... In 4:6, James explicitly cites Proverbs 3:34, 'God resists the haughty but gives a gift to the lowly.' And as in James' use of Leviticus 19, the influence of the original context of Proverbs 3:34 can be found throughout James 3:13-4:6 (compare Proverbs 3:19-35). James also echoes the language of Proverbs 10:12 in his statement of 5:20, that converting a sinner 'will cover a multitude of sins.' James has a number of themes whose language and content bear an unmistakable 'wisdom' coloration: the testing of the righteous person's virtue (James 1:2; see Proverbs 27:21; Sirach 2:1; Wisdom of Solomon 3:4), of which Job is the obvious paradigm (5:11; see Job 1:21-2:10); the importance of deliberation in speech (James 1:19; see Sirach 5:11; Ecclesiastes 5:1); the incompatibility of anger and true piety (James 1:20; Ecclesiastes 7:9; Proverbs 15:1); the instability of human life (James 4:14; see Proverbs 27:1; Ecclesiastes 1:1-6); the necessity and difficulty of controlling the tongue (James 1:26; 3:1-12; sec LXX Psalm 33:14; Sirach 5:13; 19:6-12; 23:7-8; 28:12); the importance of helping those in need (James 1:27; 2:14-16; see Proverbs 19:17; 21:3; 31:9, 20; Sirach 4:9; 29:8-9; 34:21-22; 35:2). Despite all these resemblances to the wisdom tradition, however, James is scarcely defined by it. James' appropriation of the legal and prophetic aspects of the biblical tradition are equally important ..."
Luke Timothy Johnson, The Letter of James: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (New York: Doubleday, 1995), 33.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Sirach 23:7 and James 3:9

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