BIBLE CHAPTER STUDY
Sirach 23 — Discipline of Speech, Desire, and Fidelity
Sirach 23 gathers prayers for self-discipline with catechetical instruction on three danger zones: careless speech (oaths, foul language), bodily appetites (gluttony, lust), and marital fidelity, grounded in the awareness that God sees what is hidden.
Scripture
1O Lord, Father and Ruler of my life, do not abandon me to their counsel, and let me not fall because of them!
2O that whips were set over my thoughts, and the discipline of wisdom over my mind! That they may not spare me in my errors, and that it may not pass by my sins;
3in order that my mistakes may not be multiplied, and my sins may not abound; then I will not fall before my adversaries, and my enemy will not rejoice over me.
4O Lord, Father and God of my life, do not give me haughty eyes,
5and remove from me evil desire.
6Let neither gluttony nor lust overcome me, and do not surrender me to a shameless soul.
7Listen, my children, to instruction concerning speech; the one who observes it will never be caught.
8The sinner is overtaken through his lips, the reviler and the arrogant are tripped by them.
9Do not accustom your mouth to oaths, and do not habitually utter the name of the Holy One;
10for as a servant who is continually examined under torture will not lack bruises, so also the man who always swears and utters the Name will not be cleansed from sin.
11A man who swears many oaths will be filled with iniquity, and the scourge will not leave his house; if he offends, his sin remains on him, and if he disregards it, he sins doubly; if he has sworn needlessly, he will not be justified, for his house will be filled with calamities.
12Foul Language There is an utterance which is comparable to death; may it never be found in the inheritance of Jacob! For all these errors will be far from the godly, and they will not wallow in sins.
13Do not accustom your mouth to lewd vulgarity, for it involves sinful speech.
14Remember your father and mother when you sit among great men; lest you be forgetful in their presence, and be deemed a fool on account of your habits; then you will wish that you had never been born, and you will curse the day of your birth.
15A man accustomed to use insulting words will never become disciplined all his days.
16Concerning Sexual Sins Two sorts of men multiply sins, and a third incurs wrath. The soul heated like a burning fire will not be quenched until it is consumed; a man who commits fornication with his near of kin will never cease until the fire burns him up.
17To a fornicator all bread tastes sweet; he will never cease until he dies.
18A man who breaks his marriage vows says to himself, “Who sees me? Darkness surrounds me, and the walls hide me, and no one sees me. Why should I fear? The Most High will not take notice of my sins.”
19His fear is confined to the eyes of men, and he does not realize that the eyes of the Lord are ten thousand times brighter than the sun; they look upon all the ways of men, and perceive even the hidden places.
20Before the universe was created, it was known to him; so it was also after it was finished.
21This man will be punished in the streets of the city, and where he least suspects it, he will be seized.
22So it is with a woman who leaves her husband and provides an heir by a stranger.
23For first of all, she has disobeyed the law of the Most High; second, she has committed an offense against her husband; and third, she has committed adultery through harlotry and brought forth children by another man.
24She herself will be brought before the assembly, and punishment will fall on her children.
25Her children will not take root, and her branches will not bear fruit.
26She will leave her memory for a curse, and her disgrace will not be blotted out.
27Those who survive her will recognize that nothing is better than the fear of the Lord, and nothing sweeter than to heed the commandments of the Lord.
What this passage means
The chapter opens as a prayer in which the speaker asks God, titled 'Lord, Father and Ruler of my life' and 'Lord, Father and God of my life,' to keep him from inner counsel that would lead to stumbling, and to grant a wisdom that does not spare him in error (vv. 1–6). The petition moves from external protection to internal discipline: haughty eyes, evil desire, gluttony, lust, and a shameless soul are named as the specific temptations to be resisted.
The second movement is a teacher’s lecture to 'my children' about the disciplined use of speech (vv. 7–15). Oaths are compared to a servant examined under torture; the one who swears habitually fills his house with calamity. Lewd vulgarity is condemned as 'an utterance which is comparable to death,' from which the godly should be far. Forgetting one’s parents in the presence of the great is described as a path to wishing one had never been born.
The third movement treats sexual sins (vv. 16–27). Two sorts of men multiply sins, and a third kind brings wrath: the adulterous soul kindled like a fire, the man with his near of kin, and the fornicator for whom 'all bread tastes sweet.' The chapter grounds its warning in divine omniscience: before and after creation the deeds were known to God, whose eyes are 'ten thousand times brighter than the sun.' Adultery is punished openly, and the chapter closes with a summary conclusion that 'nothing is better than the fear of the Lord, and nothing sweeter than to heed the commandments of the Lord' (v. 27).
Context
The curated note indicates that Sirach 23 was backfilled from chapters of Sirach outside the previously curated priority range; no further internal commentary is provided. The chapter itself sits within a wisdom book attributed to a scribe whose instruction alternates between prayers (as here) and proverb-style lectures. No cross-references were supplied for this chapter, so connections to other biblical texts cannot be drawn from the provided material.
Common questions
Why does the chapter repeat the titles 'Father and Ruler' and 'Father and God' in the opening prayer?
The chapter uses these titles in verses 1 and 4 to frame the prayer: God is addressed both as the sovereign ruler over the speaker’s life and as the divine parent who gives or withholds inner dispositions like 'haughty eyes' and 'evil desire.' The repetition marks a movement from asking protection to asking character.
What is the 'utterance comparable to death' that the chapter warns against?
The warning appears in verse 12 and concerns foul, lewd, or vulgar speech. The text says that this kind of utterance 'may it never be found in the inheritance of Jacob,' and that the godly will keep far from such errors rather than wallowing in sins.
How does Sirach 23 use God’s omniscience to warn against adultery?
Verses 18–20 present the adulterer’s false assumption—‘Who sees me? Darkness surrounds me’—and then refute it by stating that God’s eyes are ‘ten thousand times brighter than the sun,’ that they ‘look upon all the ways of men, and perceive even the hidden places,’ and that the deed was known ‘before the universe was created’ as well as after. The warning is reinforced by verse 21, which says the offender will be punished in the streets of the city and seized where he least suspects.