Context No. 3518 of 4322 · Sirach

Sirach 40:1-16: in context

1Great travail is created for every man. A heavy yoke is upon the sons of Adam, from the day of their coming forth from their mother’s womb, until the day for their burial in the mother of all things. 2The expectation of things to come, and the day of death, trouble their thoughts, and cause fear in their hearts. 3From him who sits on a throne of glory, even to him who is humbled in earth and ashes, 4from him who wears purple and a crown, even to him who is clothed in burlap, 5there is wrath, jealousy, trouble, unrest, fear of death, anger, and strife. In the time of rest upon his bed, his night sleep changes his knowledge. 6He gets little or no rest, and afterward in his sleep, as in a day of keeping watch, he is troubled in the vision of his heart, as one who has escaped from the front of battle. 7In the very time of his deliverance, he awakens, and marvels that the fear is nothing. 8To all creatures, human and animal, and upon sinners sevenfold more, 9come death, bloodshed, strife, sword, calamities, famine, suffering, and plague. 10All these things were created for the wicked, and because of them the flood came. 11All things that are of the earth turn to the earth again. All things that are of the waters return into the sea. 12All bribery and injustice will be blotted out. Good faith will stand forever. 13The goods of the unjust will be dried up like a river, and like a great thunder in rain will go off in noise. 14In opening his hands, a man will be made glad; so lawbreakers will utterly fail. 15The children of the ungodly won’t grow many branches, and are as unhealthy roots on a sheer rock. 16The reeds by every water or river bank will be plucked up before all grass.

Sirach paints a sober picture of the human condition. A heavy yoke lies on everyone from the day they are born until the day they return to the earth, kings and paupers alike; anxiety and the fear of death trouble their days and even disturb their sleep at night. It is an honest acknowledgment that life under the sun is full of trouble and dread for everyone, high and low.

But the passage does not leave us in that gloom. It draws a contrast that gives hope: all bribery and injustice will be blotted out, and the gains of the unjust will dry up like a river and go off in noise, but good faith will stand forever. Injustice and ill-gotten wealth are fleeting; faithfulness endures. So amid the universal burden and anxiety of human life, one thing lasts and does not vanish: good faith, integrity, faithfulness to God and to truth. The troubles are common to all, but what we build in faithfulness outlives both the troubles and even death itself.

Amid the anxieties and burdens common to all human life, am I building on the faithfulness and integrity that endure, rather than on the unjust gains that dry up and vanish?

Sources

Sirach 40:12: "All bribery and injustice will be blotted out. Good faith will stand forever."
Sirach 40:1: "Great travail is created for every man. A heavy yoke is upon the sons of Adam."
Sirach 40:13: "The goods of the unjust will be dried up like a river."