Ben Sira 23:18-26
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
18 The man who dishonors his marriage bed
says to himself, “Who can see me?
Darkness surrounds me, walls hide me,
no one sees me. Who can stop me from sinning?”(A)
He is not mindful of the Most High,
19 fearing only human eyes.
He does not realize that the eyes of the Lord,
ten thousand times brighter than the sun,
Observe every step taken
and peer into hidden corners.
20 The one who knows all things before they exist
still knows them all after they are made.
21 Such a man will be denounced in the streets of the city;(B)
and where he least suspects it, he will be apprehended.
22 So it is with the woman unfaithful to her husband,
who offers him an heir by another man.
23 First of all, she has disobeyed the law of the Most High;
second, she has wronged her husband;
Third, through her wanton adultery
she has brought forth children by another man.
24 Such a woman will be dragged before the assembly,[a]
and her punishment will extend to her children.
25 Her children will not take root;
her branches will not bring forth fruit.
26 She will leave behind an accursed memory;
her disgrace will never be blotted out.
Footnotes
- 23:24–25 The judgment of the assembly determined the illegitimacy of children born of adultery or incest and excluded them from the “community of the Lord” (Dt 23:3). Cf. Wis 3:16–19; 4:3–6.
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