Sirach 36

¹Have mercy upon us, O Lord the God of all, and look at us with favor;1

²and send your fear upon all the nations.1

³Lift up your hand against the foreign nations

and let them see your mighty power.1

⁴As you showed your holiness in us before them,

so be magnified in them before us.1

⁵Let them know you, as we also have known you,

that there is no God but only you, O God.1

⁶Show new signs, and work various wonders.

Glorify your hand and your right arm.

⁷Raise up indignation and pour out wrath.

Take away the adversary and destroy the enemy.

⁸Hasten the time and remember your oath.

Let them declare your mighty works.

⁹Let him who escapes be devoured by raging fire.

May those who harm your people find destruction.

¹⁰Crush the heads of the rulers of the enemies

who say, “There is no one but ourselves.”

¹¹Gather all the tribes of Jacob together,

and take them for your inheritance, as from the beginning.

¹²O Lord, have mercy upon the people that is called by your name,

and upon Israel, whom you likened to a firstborn.

¹³Have compassion upon the city of your sanctuary,

Jerusalem, the place of your rest.

¹⁴Fill Zion. Exalt your oracles

and fill your people with your glory.

¹⁵Give testimony to those who were your creatures in the beginning,

and fulfill the prophecies that have been spoken in your name.

¹⁶Reward those who wait for you,

and men will put their trust in your prophets.

¹⁷Listen, O Lord, to the prayer of your servants,

according to the blessing of Aaron concerning your people;

and all those who are on the earth will know

that you are the Lord, the eternal God.

¹⁸The belly will eat any food,

but one food is better than another.1

¹⁹The mouth tastes meats taken in hunting,

so does an understanding heart detect false speech.

²⁰A contrary heart will cause heaviness.

A man of experience will pay him back.

²¹A woman will receive any man,

but one daughter is better than another.

²²The beauty of a woman cheers the countenance.

A man desires nothing more.

²³If kindness and humility are on her tongue,

her husband is not like other sons of men.

²⁴He who gets a wife gets his richest treasure,

a help meet for him and a pillar of support.

²⁵Where no hedge is, the property will be plundered.

He who has no wife will mourn as he wanders.

²⁶For who would trust a nimble robber who skips from city to city?

Even so, who would trust a man who has no nest, and lodges wherever he finds himself at nightfall?