Sirach 36 - New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

A Prayer for God’s People

36 Have mercy upon us, O God[a] of all,
2 and put all the nations in fear of you.
3 Lift up your hand against foreign nations
and let them see your might.(A)
4 As you have used us to show your holiness to them,
so use them to show your glory to us.(B)
5 Then they will know,[b] as we have known,
that there is no God but you, O Lord.(C)
6 Give new signs and work other wonders;
7 make your hand and right arm glorious.
8 Rouse your anger and pour out your wrath;(D)
9 destroy the adversary and wipe out the enemy.
10 Hasten the day, and remember the appointed time,[c]
and let people recount your mighty deeds.
11 Let survivors be consumed in the fiery wrath,
and may those who harm your people meet destruction.
12 Crush the heads of hostile rulers
who say, “There is no one but ourselves.”(E)
13 Gather all the tribes of Jacob,[d](F)
16 and give them their inheritance, as at the beginning.
17 Have mercy, O Lord, on the people called by your name,
on Israel, whom you have named[e] your firstborn.(G)
18 Have pity on the city of your sanctuary,[f]
Jerusalem, the place of your dwelling.[g](H)
19 Fill Zion with your majesty[h]
and your temple[i] with your glory.(I)
20 Bear witness to those whom you created in the beginning,
and fulfill the prophecies spoken in your name.
21 Reward those who wait for you,
and let your prophets be found trustworthy.(J)
22 Hear, O Lord, the prayer of your servants, according to your goodwill toward[j] your people,
and all who are on the earth will know
that you are the Lord, the God of the ages.(K)

Concerning Discrimination

23 The stomach will take any food,
yet one food is better than another.
24 As the palate tastes the kinds of game,
so an intelligent mind detects false words.(L)
25 A perverse mind will cause grief,
but a person with experience will pay him back.(M)
26 A woman will accept any man as a husband,
but one daughter is preferable to another.
27 A woman’s beauty lights up a man’s face,
and there is nothing he desires more.(N)
28 If kindness and humility mark her speech,
her husband is more fortunate than other men.(O)
29 He who acquires a wife gets his best possession,[k]
a helper fit for him and a pillar of support.[l](P)
30 Where there is no fence, the property will be plundered,
and where there is no wife, a man will become a fugitive and a wanderer.[m](Q)
31 For who will trust a nimble robber
who skips from city to city?
So who will trust a man who has no nest
but lodges wherever nighttime finds him?(R)

Footnotes

  1. 36.1Heb: Gk O Master, the God
  2. 36.5Heb: Gk And let them know you
  3. 36.10Other ancient authorities read remember your oath
  4. 36.13Verse numbers 14 and 15 are not used in chapter 36
  5. 36.17Other ancient authorities read you have likened to
  6. 36.18Or on your holy city
  7. 36.18Heb: Gk your rest
  8. 36.19Heb Syr: Gk the celebration of your wondrous deeds
  9. 36.19Heb Syr: Gk Lat people
  10. 36.22Heb and two Gk mss: Lat and most Gk mss read according to the blessing of Aaron for
  11. 36.29Heb: Gk enters upon a possession
  12. 36.29Heb: Gk rest
  13. 36.30Heb: Gk wander about and sigh

Cross references

  1. 36.3 : Ps 79.6; Jer 10.25
  2. 36.4 : Ezek 20.41; 28.25
  3. 36.5 : Josh 4.24; 1 Kings 8.43, 60
  4. 36.8 : Ps 79.6; Jer 10.25
  5. 36.12 : Ps 68.21; 110.6
  6. 36.13 : Sir 48.10
  7. 36.17 : Dan 9.18, 19; 2 Esd 6.58
  8. 36.18 : 2 Chr 6.41; Ps 132.8, 14
  9. 36.19 : Isa 24.23
  10. 36.21 : Isa 40.31
  11. 36.22 : Num 6.23–27; 1 Kings 8.60; 1 Tim 1.17
  12. 36.24 : Job 12.11; 34.3
  13. 36.25 : Sir 34.9
  14. 36.27 : 1 Esd 4.18, 19
  15. 36.28 : Prov 31.26
  16. 36.29 : Gen 2.18; Prov 18.22
  17. 36.30 : Sir 28.24a
  18. 36.31 : Prov 27.8; Sir 29.24

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36 God of all things, have thou mercy on us; and behold thou us, and show to us the light of thy merciful doings. [Have mercy of us, God of all things; and behold us, and show to us the light of thy mercy doings.] 2 And send thy dread on heathen men, that sought not thee, (so) that they know that no...
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Sirach 36 - Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)

A Prayer for God’s People36 Have mercy upon us, O Lord, the God of all, and look upon us,2 and cause the fear of thee to fall upon all the nations.3 Lift up thy hand against foreign nations and let them see thy might.4 As in us thou hast been sanctified before them, so in them be thou magnified bef...
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Sirach 36 - Revised Standard Version (RSV)

A Prayer for God’s People36 Have mercy upon us, O Lord, the God of all, and look upon us,2 and cause the fear of thee to fall upon all the nations.3 Lift up thy hand against foreign nations and let them see thy might.4 As in us thou hast been sanctified before them, so in them be thou magnified bef...
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Sirach 36 - New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised (NRSVA)

A Prayer for God’s People36 Have mercy upon us, O God[a] of all,2 and put all the nations in fear of you.3 Lift up your hand against foreign nations and let them see your might.4 As you have used us to show your holiness to them, so use them to show your glory to us.5 Then they will know,[b] as we ...
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Sirach 36 - New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

A Prayer for God’s People36 Have mercy upon us, O God[a] of all,2 and put all the nations in fear of you.3 Lift up your hand against foreign nations and let them see your might.(A)4 As you have used us to show your holiness to them, so use them to show your glory to us.(B)5 Then they will know,[b] ...
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Sirach 36 - Good News Translation (GNT)

A Prayer for Israel36 O Lord God of the universe, look upon us and have mercy. 2 Make every nation stand in fear of you. 3 Take action against the foreign nations, and let them witness your power! 4 You have used us to show them how holy you are; now use them to show us how great you are. 5 Let them...
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Sirach 36 - Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)

36 Have mercy upon us, O God of all, and behold us, and shew us the light of thy mercies: 2 And send thy fear upon the nations, that have not sought after thee: that they may know that there is no God beside thee, and that they may shew forth thy wonders. 3 Lift up thy hand over the strange nations,...
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Sirach 36 - Common English Bible (CEB)

Prayer for Israel’s deliverance36 Have mercy on us, Lord God of all;2 and teach all nations to stand in awe of you.3 Raise up your handagainst foreign nations, and let them see your power.4 Just as they saw your holinessmade visible in our midst, so let us see your power made visible in their midst...
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