章节研读

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.

经文

  1. 1.主啊，我生命的父和主，不要把我交在他们的计谋中，也不要让我因他们而跌倒！O Lord, Father and Ruler of my life, do not abandon me to their counsel, and let me not fall because of them!
  2. 2.但愿鞭子管辖我的心思，智慧的管教管辖我的心灵。愿他们不宽恕我的过错，也不忽视我的罪过。O 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;
  3. 3.使我不增添过错，罪恶不加于我，这样我就不会在敌人面前跌倒，我的对头也不会因我而得意。in 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.
  4. 4.主啊，我的生命的父和神，不要让我有高傲的眼目，O Lord, Father and God of my life, do not give me haughty eyes,
  5. 5.并且求你使我远离恶欲and remove from me evil desire.
  6. 6.不要让暴食和淫欲制服我，也不要交给我一个无耻的灵魂。Let neither gluttony nor lust overcome me, and do not surrender me to a shameless soul.
  7. 7.我的孩子们，请听从关于言语的教诲；遵守这教诲的人永远不会陷入困境。Listen, my children, to instruction concerning speech; the one who observes it will never be caught.
  8. 8.罪人被自己的嘴唇所制伏，亵慢的人和骄傲的人都因嘴唇而跌倒。The sinner is overtaken through his lips, the reviler and the arrogant are tripped by them.
  9. 9.不要使你的口习惯于发誓，也不要习惯地提圣者的名；Do not accustom your mouth to oaths, and do not habitually utter the name of the Holy One;
  10. 10.因为一个不断被拷问的仆人不会缺少伤痕，同样，总是发誓并提及圣名的人也不会被洁净 khỏi罪。for 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.
  11. 11.一个常常发誓的人必满了邪恶，鞭打不会离开他的家；他若得罪，罪孽仍然在他身上；他若忽视，罪孽加倍；他若无故发誓，不能被称为义人，因为他的家必满了灾祸。A 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.
  12. 12.污秽的语言 有一句说话与死相比拟，愿它永不见于雅各的后代中，因为所有这些过错都与敬虔的人远离，他们也不沉溺在罪恶中。Foul 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.
  13. 13.不要使你的口习惯于淫秽的污言秽语，因为这涉及到有罪的说话。Do not accustom your mouth to lewd vulgarity, for it involves sinful speech.
  14. 14.当你坐在大人物中间的时候，要记住你的父母，免得你在他们面前忘记， 因你的行为而被视为愚蠢， 那时你将会希望自己从未出生，并且会咒骂自己的出生之日。Remember 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.
  15. 15.习惯使用侮辱性言语的人终身不会变得守纪律。A man accustomed to use insulting words will never become disciplined all his days.
  16. 16.关于性罪 有两种人会使罪恶加剧，还有一种人会招致愤怒。 灵魂如同燃烧的烈火一般，不会停止，直到被完全吞噬； 与近亲通奸的人不会停止，直到烈火吞噬他。Concerning 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.
  17. 17.对于奸淫的人，一切食物都很甜蜜，他不会停止，直到他死去。To a fornicator all bread tastes sweet; he will never cease until he dies.
  18. 18.一个违背婚姻誓言的人对自己说：“谁看见我？黑暗围绕着我，墙壁隐藏着我，没有人看见我。我为什么要害怕？至高者不会注意到我的罪。”A 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.”
  19. 19.他的恐惧仅限于人眼的范围，他没有意识到主的眼睛比太阳亮十万倍，注视着人所有的行为，并洞察到隐秘的地方。His 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.
  20. 20.在宇宙被创造之前，他已经知道了；创造完成之后也是如此。Before the universe was created, it was known to him; so it was also after it was finished.
  21. 21.这个人将在城市的街道上受到惩罚，并且在他最不怀疑的地方，他将被抓住。This man will be punished in the streets of the city, and where he least suspects it, he will be seized.
  22. 22.因此，一个离开丈夫并通过别人生子继承产业的女人也是如此。So it is with a woman who leaves her husband and provides an heir by a stranger.
  23. 23.首先，她违背了至高者的律法，其次，她得罪了她的丈夫，第三，她通过卖淫犯了奸淫的罪，并生下了别人的孩子。For 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.
  24. 24.她自己将被带到众人面前，她的孩子将受到惩罚。She herself will be brought before the assembly, and punishment will fall on her children.
  25. 25.她的孩子不得不拔出根来，她的枝子不得结果子。Her children will not take root, and her branches will not bear fruit.
  26. 26.她必留下她的记念作为咒诅，她的羞辱不得涂抹。She will leave her memory for a curse, and her disgrace will not be blotted out.
  27. 27.那些从她那里幸存下来的人将会认识到，没有什么比敬畏上帝更好，也没有什么比遵守上帝的诫命更甜蜜。Those 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.

这段经文的意思

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).

背景

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.

常见问题

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.

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