Ecclesiasticus 41

1O death, how bitter is the remembrance of thee to a man that hath peace in his possessions!● 2To a man that is at rest, and whose ways are prosperous in all things, and that is yet able to take meat!● 3O death thy sentence is welcome to the man that is in need, and to him whose strength faileth:● 4Who is in a decrepit age, and that is in care about all things, and to the distrustful that loseth patience!● 5Fear not the sentence of death. Remember what things have been before thee, and what shall come after thee: this sentence is from the Lord upon all flesh.● 6And what shall come upon thee by the good pleasure of the most High? whether ten, or a hundred, or a thousand years.● 7For among the dead there is no accusing of life.● 8The children of sinners become children of abominations, and they that converse near the houses of the ungodly.● 9The inheritance of the children of sinners shall perish, and with their posterity shall be a perpetual reproach.● 10The children will complain of an ungodly father, because for his sake they are in reproach.● 11Woe to you, ungodly men, who have forsaken the law of the most high Lord.● 12And if you be born, you shall be born in malediction: and if you die, in malediction shall be your portion.● 13All things that are of the earth, shall return into the earth: so the ungodly shall from malediction to destruction.● 14The mourning of men is about their body, but the name of the ungodly shall be blotted out.● 15Take care of a good name: for this shall continue with thee, more than a thousand treasures precious and great.● 16A good life hath its number of days: but a good name shall continue for ever.● 17My children, keep discipline in peace: for wisdom that is hid, and a treasure that is not seen, what profit is there in them both?● 18Better is the man that hideth his folly, than the man that hideth his wisdom.● 19Wherefore have a shame of these things I am now going to speak of.● 20For it is not good to keep all shamefacedness: and all things do not please all men in opinion.● 21Be ashamed of fornication before father and mother: and of a lie before a governor and a man in power:● 22Of an offence before a prince, and a judge: of iniquity before a congregation and a people:● 23Of injustice before a companion and friend: and in regard to the place where thou dwellest,● 24Of theft, and of the truth of God, and the covenant: of leaning with thy elbow over meat, and of deceit in giving and taking:● 25Of silence before them that salute thee: of looking upon a harlot: and of turning away thy face from thy kinsman.● 26Turn not away thy face from thy neighbour, and of taking away a portion and not restoring.● 27Gaze not upon another man's wife, and be not inquisitive after his handmaid, and approach not her bed.● 28Be ashamed of upbraiding speeches before friends: and after thou hast given, upbraid not.●