Ben Sira 40:4-14

4 from the one who wears purple and a crown to the one who is clothed in burlap,
5 there is anger and envy and trouble and unrest, and fear of death, and fury and strife. And when one rests upon his bed, his sleep at night confuses his mind.
6 He gets little or no rest; he struggles in his sleep as he did by day. He is troubled by the visions of his mind like one who has escaped from the battlefield.
7 At the moment he reaches safety he wakes up, astonished that his fears were groundless.
8 To all creatures, human and animal, but to sinners seven times more,
9 come death and bloodshed and strife and sword, calamities and famine and ruin and plague.
10 All these were created for the wicked, and on their account the flood came.
11 All that is of earth returns to earth, and what is from above returns above.
12 All bribery and injustice will be blotted out, but good faith will last forever.
13 The wealth of the unjust will dry up like a river, and crash like a loud clap of thunder in a storm.
14 As a generous person has cause to rejoice, so lawbreakers will utterly fail.

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. Arm: Meaning of Gk uncertain
  • [b]. Heb Syr: Gk Lat [from the waters returns to the sea]
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.