Sirach

World English Bible (Catholic)

Sirach has 51 chapters. Read Sirach in the World English Bible (Catholic), chapter by chapter, free and without an account.

Sirach offers wisdom for daily life grounded in reverence for God and fidelity to the law. Its teachings address speech, friendship, family responsibilities, wealth, work, and worship. Poems praise wisdom and creation, while a long remembrance of Israel’s ancestors leads to praise of the high priest Simon. The book closes with thanksgiving and an invitation to learn.

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In Catholic and Orthodox Bibles, Sirach is among the Wisdom Books of the Old Testament, one of the deuterocanonical books. Protestant Bibles place it in the Apocrypha or leave it out, and it is not part of the Jewish Tanakh. See it on the shelf.

A flourishing olive tree shelters families as clear water flows from a luminous mountain spring into their fields

Sirach 1 presents wisdom as God's gift and teaches that reverence, patience, humility, and obedience allow it to flourish.

Travelers hold to a mountain path through a storm while a goldsmith tends a refining fire in a nearby shelter

Sirach 2 calls those who serve God to endure testing patiently, trust divine mercy, and remain faithful through adversity.

An adult child supports an elderly parent as several generations gather peacefully in a modest courtyard

Sirach 3 connects honoring aging parents with humility, restrained inquiry, attentive wisdom, and generosity toward others.

A seated judge listens closely to a poor petitioner as neighbors bring food and support to an orphaned family

Sirach 4 urges care for the poor, impartial defense of the oppressed, teachability under wisdom, and courage to speak truth.

A prosperous merchant pauses beside stored treasure as loose grain scatters and an open sunlit doorway invites return

Sirach 5 warns against trusting wealth or delaying repentance and commends sincere listening, steady speech, and integrity.

Two faithful friends repair a vineyard wall as a young student approaches a wise elder along well-worn steps

Sirach 6 praises tested friendship as a treasure and portrays disciplined pursuit of wisdom as a path from burden to joy.

A family works, tends animals, helps a poor neighbor, visits the sick, and gathers for prayer in one village scene

Sirach 7 gathers practical counsel on humility, work, family duties, worship, generosity, illness, mourning, and mortality.

A traveler consults a calm elder at a crossroads while angry, powerful, and reckless companions continue down risky paths

Sirach 8 teaches prudent boundaries in conflict, lending, law, travel, counsel, and relationships with powerful or reckless people.

A married couple walks attentively through a busy ancient city toward a table shared with a trusted longtime friend

Sirach 9 counsels marital fidelity, restraint, loyalty to proven friends, wise company, caution around power, and responsible speech.

A modest judge listens to workers and townspeople while an unused elevated throne cracks in the background

Sirach 10 contrasts prudent, humble leadership with destructive pride and teaches that reverence and honest work confer dignity.

A humble laborer is welcomed among civic elders beside a thriving beehive as a richly dressed boaster stands overlooked

Sirach 11 warns against judging by appearances or present fortune and commends listening, steady work, trust, and careful hospitality.

A thoughtful giver offers bread to a humble neighbor while watching a flattering rival beside a rust-stained shield

Sirach 12 joins generosity with discernment and warns that adversity reveals friends while flattering enemies may conceal harmful intent.

A poor petitioner waits outside a wealthy banquet beside a fragile clay jar pressed against a heavy bronze vessel

Sirach 13 warns how unequal relationships can expose the poor to manipulation and contrasts society's treatment of wealth and poverty.

An older householder shares food generously as a young seeker settles beneath the branches beside a welcoming house

Sirach 14 contrasts envy and hoarding with generous enjoyment, remembrance of mortality, and persistent pursuit of wisdom.

A learner receives bread and water from a wise teacher before paths leading toward living water and destructive fire

Sirach 15 portrays Wisdom nourishing the faithful and insists that people freely choose between obedience and sin, life and death.

A faithful family tends a flourishing garden as distant ruins and an immense ordered sky suggest mercy and correction

Sirach 16 places mercy and correction within God's ordered creation and values one righteous person above a multitude without wisdom.

A family tends animals and the earth as a repentant traveler leaves a shadowed road and returns toward communal light

Sirach 17 celebrates humanity's created dignity and responsibility while emphasizing compassion, repentance, and thankful return to God.

A giver offers bread and gentle comfort to a weary traveler while morning dew brightens the surrounding fields

Sirach 18 reflects on divine patience and teaches gracious giving, self-examination, timely repentance, prayer, and restraint.

A thoughtful listener refuses a chain of whispers and speaks privately with a friend beside a clear flowing fountain

Sirach 19 warns against excess and gossip, urges private correction before accusation, and distinguishes obedience from deceptive cleverness.

A wise teacher gently corrects a receptive worker as balanced scales stand beside a refused gift and cultivated field

Sirach 20 examines timely speech, correction, confession, deceptive gifts, broken promises, lies, bribery, and wisdom responsibly shared.

A repentant traveler leaves a dangerous serpent-shadowed path for wise elders gathered beside a clear fountain

Sirach 21 calls for repentance from destructive sin and contrasts receptive wisdom and good manners with foolish speech and intrusion.

Two friends repair a cracked vessel beside a strongly braced wall as a quiet mourning procession passes in the distance

Sirach 22 contrasts stubborn folly with stable counsel and teaches when wounded friendship can be reconciled or finally broken.

A worshiper kneels at dawn beside cooled coals while a faithful household gathers peacefully in the background

Sirach 23 prays for disciplined thoughts, appetites, and speech, and warns that hidden sexual betrayal cannot remain concealed.

A cedar and fruitful olive shelter an ancient city while a garden stream widens into a river flowing across the land

Sirach 24 portrays Wisdom dwelling among Israel, flourishing like fragrant trees, and overflowing through covenant instruction.

Siblings, neighbors, and a married couple share a peaceful table as experienced elders offer thoughtful counsel

Sirach 25 praises harmony, experienced counsel, wisdom, reverence, and faithful marriage while lamenting destructive household conflict.

A married couple works together in a peaceful household as a wise woman tends a clear-burning lamp

Sirach 26 praises faithful character and peaceful marriage while warning against jealousy, slander, exploitation, and corrupt trade.

A potter tests a fired vessel as two friends protect a sealed container and a distant trap closes on its maker

Sirach 27 teaches that speech reveals character and warns that betrayed confidence, deceit, malice, and revenge destroy friendship.

Two neighbors reconcile while a small spark is safely extinguished and a garden gate closes against whispering conflict

Sirach 28 calls for forgiveness and warns that anger, strife, gossip, and slander spread like destructive fire unless restrained.

Neighbors exchange a modest loan with mutual trust as a nearby family offers bread, water, clothing, and shelter

Sirach 29 balances merciful lending and aid to the poor with faithful repayment, caution in guarantees, and contentment with a modest home.

A parent patiently teaches a child a skilled task as the household prepares healthy food and comforts a weary elder

Sirach 30 joins ancient counsel on parental discipline with praise of health, wholesome care, joy, and freedom from consuming sorrow.

A generous host serves a varied table while eating and drinking moderately among relaxed guests and resting workers

Sirach 31 warns against greed and anxiety while commending generous wealth, considerate eating, and moderation in wine.

A humble feast leader serves guests as musicians play and elders and younger people listen attentively to one another

Sirach 32 teaches humble hospitality, timely speech, attentive listening, reverence, and seeking counsel before acting.

A wise householder observes the seasons while sharing work and food respectfully with family and a dependent laborer

Sirach 33 reflects on ordered times and responsible stewardship, ending with a call to treat a dependent worker as a brother.

A wise householder gathers grapes with his household and works respectfully beside a fellow laborer beneath an ordered sky

Sirach 34 exposes empty dreams and divination, then condemns offerings taken from the poor and fasting that never changes conduct.

A seasoned traveler leaves shadowy dream images and joins an honest worker receiving fair wages near a humble altar

Sirach 35 presents obedience and generosity as true offerings and promises that God hears the orphan, the widow, and the humble.

A family offers firstfruits cheerfully while a widow, an orphan, and a laborer pray as merciful rain gathers overhead

Sirach 36 prays for mercy on Israel, the gathering of the tribes, and Zion's glory, then commends discernment and a good marriage.

Scattered families journey toward Jerusalem as a kind married couple welcomes travelers to a sheltered household table

Sirach 37 warns against false friends and self-interested advisers, commends tested counsel and prayer, and urges restraint at the table.

A traveler consults a proven faithful friend in prayer before choosing a road and eating a modest nourishing meal

Sirach 38 honors physicians and medicine, sets limits to mourning, and praises the craftsmen whose daily work sustains the world.

A physician prepares herbs beside a grieving family as farmers, a smith, a carpenter, and a potter practice their crafts

Sirach 39 portrays the scribe's prayerful study and turns to praise for works that are good in their season and serve their purpose.

A scholar prays over a blank scroll at dawn as a river nourishes lilies, grain, and a flourishing landscape

Sirach 40 weighs the heavy yoke of human toil against the things that are genuinely good, with reverence for the Lord above them all.

A ruler and laborer stand beneath one fading sky while a generous household shares counsel in a fruitful garden

Sirach 41 contrasts a cursed name with an enduring good one and lists the things a person should rightly be ashamed of.

An elder passes a lamp to young learners as neighbors practice honest trade, marital fidelity, and confidential friendship

Sirach 42 lists what brings no shame, then turns to God's complete knowledge and the ordered creation that needs no addition.

A merchant uses fair scales before gathered neighbors as sunlight reveals a vast and harmonious created landscape

Sirach 43 surveys sun, moon, stars, rainbow, snow, wind, and sea, then concludes that all praise still falls short of the Lord.

Sun, moon, stars, rainbow, storm clouds, snow, and mist fill the sky above a small ship on a vast living sea

Sirach 44 begins the praise of the ancestors, remembered and forgotten alike, and opens the roll call with Enoch, Noah, and Abraham.

Several generations gather beneath stars and a rainbow while elders recall faithful ancestors and a covenant carried forward

Sirach 45 honors Moses, the everlasting priesthood of Aaron, and the covenant of peace given to Phinehas for his zeal.

Moses carries unmarked stone tablets from a clouded mountain as Aaron serves the gathered people in priestly garments

Sirach 46 praises Joshua and Caleb, the faithful judges, and Samuel, whose integrity and prophecy outlasted his own lifetime.

Joshua and an elderly Caleb guide families into fertile hills as Samuel listens impartially to the gathered community

Sirach 47 recalls Nathan and David's songs and victories, then Solomon's temple, wisdom, compromise, and the divided kingdom.

David leads musicians in worship as Solomon oversees peaceful building beside a road dividing toward two distant kingdoms

Sirach 48 honors Elijah's fire, Elisha's double portion, Hezekiah's prayer against Sennacherib, and the visions of Isaiah.

Elijah stands boldly beneath a storm while Elisha, Hezekiah, and Isaiah lead Jerusalem's people in prayer beside flowing water

Sirach 49 remembers Josiah's reform, the prophets, the rebuilders of Jerusalem, and closes with Joseph, Shem, Seth, and Adam.

Josiah leads renewed worship while Jeremiah mourns ruins and later leaders rebuild Jerusalem's temple, walls, and gates

Sirach 50 celebrates Simon the high priest, his repairs to the temple, and the liturgy that ends in blessing over the people.

Simon the high priest leads worship as priests, silver trumpeters, singers, and a gathered congregation receive a blessing

Sirach 51 closes with thanksgiving for rescue and an acrostic poem inviting the untaught to seek wisdom without money.