BIBLE CHAPTER STUDY
Sirach 25 — The Joys of Life and the Wickedness of a Bad Wife
Sirach 25 pairs praise for genuine goods (harmony, wisdom, godly fear) with a sustained warning about an evil wife, climaxing in verses 24-26.
Scripture
1Those Who Are Worthy of Praise My soul takes pleasure in three things, and they are beautiful in the sight of the Lord and of men; agreement between brothers, friendship between neighbors, and a wife and a husband who live in harmony.
2My soul hates three kinds of men, and I am greatly offended at their life: a beggar who is proud, a rich man who is a liar, and an adulterous old man who lacks good sense.
3You have gathered nothing in your youth; how then can you find anything in your old age?
4What an attractive thing is judgment in gray-haired men, and for the aged to possess good counsel!
5How attractive is wisdom in the aged, and understanding and counsel in honorable men!
6Rich experience is the crown of the aged, and their boast is the fear of the Lord.
7With nine thoughts I have gladdened my heart, and a tenth I shall tell with my tongue: a man rejoicing in his children; a man who lives to see the downfall of his foes;
8happy is he who lives with an intelligent wife, and he who has not made a slip with his tongue, and he who has not served a man inferior to himself;
9happy is he who has gained good sense, and he who speaks to attentive listeners.
10How great is he who has gained wisdom! But there is no one superior to him who fears the Lord.
11The fear of the Lord surpasses everything; to whom shall be likened the one who holds it fast?
13Some Extreme Forms of Evil Any wound, but not a wound of the heart! Any wickedness, but not the wickedness of a wife!
14Any attack, but not an attack from those who hate! And any vengeance, but not the vengeance of enemies!
15There is no venom worse than a snake’s venom, and no wrath worse than an enemy’s wrath.
16The Evil of a Wicked Woman I would rather dwell with a lion and a dragon than dwell with an evil wife.
17The wickedness of a wife changes her appearance, and darkens her face like that of a bear.
18Her husband takes his meals among the neighbors, and he cannot help sighing bitterly.
19Any iniquity is insignificant compared to a wife’s iniquity; may a sinner’s lot befall her!
20A sandy ascent for the feet of the aged— such is a garrulous wife for a quiet husband.
21Do not be ensnared by a woman’s beauty, and do not desire a woman for her possessions.
22There is wrath and impudence and great disgrace when a wife supports her husband.
23A dejected mind, a gloomy face, and a wounded heart are caused by an evil wife. Drooping hands and weak knees are caused by the wife who does not make her husband happy.
24From a woman sin had its beginning, and because of her we all die.
25Allow no outlet to water, and no boldness of speech in an evil wife.
26If she does not go as you direct, separate her from yourself.
What this passage means
The chapter opens with a structured triad of things that please the soul: brothers in agreement, neighbors in friendship, and a husband and wife living in harmony (v. 1). The matching list of things the soul hates is also a triad — a proud beggar, a lying rich man, and a foolishly lustful old man (v. 2). Both lists frame the chapter's central question: what does genuine human goodness look like, and what ruins it? The youthful/old contrast in v. 3 sets up a meditation on age: judgment, counsel, wisdom, and experience are framed as adornments of the aged (vv. 4-6).
The centerpiece is the numbered list beginning in v. 7: 'With nine thoughts I have gladdened my heart, and a tenth I shall tell with my tongue.' Verses 7-9 supply some of the items: a man rejoicing in his children, a man who sees the downfall of his foes, a man who lives with an intelligent wife, a man who has not slipped with his tongue, a man who has not served one inferior to himself, a man who has gained good sense, and a man who speaks to attentive listeners. Verse 10 then crowns the catalog with wisdom, and v. 11 makes the 'tenth' explicit: 'The fear of the Lord surpasses everything.' The chapter heading for v. 13 is 'Some Extreme Forms of Evil,' and the verses that follow compare every wound to a wife's wound, every attack to the hatred of enemies, and every venom to a snake's. The point of the comparison is not that all wives are evil but that a particular kind of wife is uniquely destructive — a 'sandy ascent' and a snare (vv. 13-21).
The final section (vv. 13-26) presses the warning further with vivid images: the wife's appearance darkens, her husband sighs at neighbors' meals, her iniquity exceeds any other, and the chapter reaches its bluntest statement in v. 24: 'From a woman sin had its beginning, and because of her we all die.' The closing two verses give practical counsel — deny such a wife free speech, and if she will not be guided, separate from her (vv. 25-26). The chapter's structure teaches by pairing: the joy of a worthy wife (v. 1) and the grief of a wicked wife (vv. 16-26) are held up as opposite pictures of the same relationship.
Context
The chapter is internally divided by headings. The first major section (vv. 1-11) catalogs goods: the soul's three delights and three hates, the aged's adornments, and the ten things that gladden the heart, capped by 'The fear of the Lord surpasses everything' (v. 11). The second major section begins at v. 13 under the heading 'Some Extreme Forms of Evil' and runs through v. 26, focusing on the destructive wife. The chapter note states the text was backfilled from Sirach material outside the P0/P1 priority set, which is the only editorial information supplied. No cross-references or original-language entries were provided for this passage.
The supplied chapter text contains no context before or after it, so the chapter functions as a self-contained unit: a chiastic arrangement in which the worthy wife (v. 1) and the wicked wife (vv. 16-26) frame the intervening material, with the fear of the Lord as both the climax of the joys list (v. 11) and the implicit answer to the chapter's anxiety about evil. Readers should treat vv. 12, 15-16, and similar numbering gaps as reflecting the supplied text rather than as omissions to be reconstructed.
Common questions
How many items are in the list that begins at verse 7?
The chapter states 'nine thoughts' with 'a tenth,' and v. 11 makes the tenth explicit: 'The fear of the Lord surpasses everything.' Verses 7-9 supply several of the items, but the chapter does not provide a fully enumerated nine-item sub-list in the supplied text — readers should treat v. 10's 'wisdom' and v. 11's 'fear of the Lord' as the crowning pair rather than counting further.
Does Sirach 25 teach that all wives are evil?
No. The chapter frames a worthy wife as one of the soul's three delights (v. 1: 'a wife and a husband who live in harmony'), and only later warns against 'extreme forms of evil' in the form of a particularly destructive wife (vv. 13-26). The two pictures are held in deliberate contrast.
What is the relationship between verse 11 and verse 24?
Verse 11 crowns the catalog of joys with 'The fear of the Lord surpasses everything,' while v. 24 makes the bleak claim that 'From a woman sin had its beginning, and because of her we all die.' The chapter thus contrasts the highest good (fear of the Lord) with the deepest ruin (an unrestrained evil wife), placing the human remedy in v. 26: separation if she 'does not go as you direct.'