“All bribery
Will be blotted out.
All injustice
Will be blotted out.
But good faith
Will last forever.
The wealth of the unjust
Will dry up like a river.
The wealth of the unjust
Will crash like a loud clap
Of thunder in a storm.
A generous person
Has cause to rejoice.
Lawbreakers
Will utterly fail.
The children of the ungodly
Put out few branches.
They are unhealthy roots
On sheer rock.
The reeds by any water
Or river bank
Are plucked up
Before any grass.
Kindness is
Like a garden of blessings.
Almsgiving endures forever.”
Sirach utters some proverbs or sayings about injustice and life. Bribery and injustice will be blotted out, but good faith will last forever. The wealth of the unjust will disappear like a dried up river or thunder in a storm, here today, but gone tomorrow. Generous people should rejoice, while the lawbreakers will fail. The children of the ungodly will have few branches because their unhealthy roots are on solid rocks so they will have no yield. They are like reeds near water that is plucked before the grass. Kindness, on the other hand, grows into a garden of blessings. Then too almsgiving endures forever.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 