1883 Haydock Douay Rheims Bible

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Sirach 33:1 No evils shall happen to him that feareth the Lord, but in temptation God will keep him, and deliver him from evils.

Evils. God will make all turn to the advantage of the elect.
Sirach 33:2 A wise man hateth not the commandments and justices, and he shall not be dashed in pieces as a ship in a storm.
Sirach 33:3 A man of understanding is faithful to the law of God, and the law is faithful to him.

To him. God will fulfill all his promises. (Calmet) --- Greek continues, "as the interrogation (Haydock) of the Urim, (delon. Calmet) prepare what to say, and so thou shalt be heard. Put on instruction, and thus reply." (Haydock) --- Speak not without being prepared.
Sirach 33:4 He that cleareth up a question, shall prepare what to say, and so having prayed he shall be heard, and shall keep discipline, and then he shall answer.
Sirach 33:5 *The heart of a fool is as a wheel of a cart: and his thoughts are like a rolling axle-tree.

Ecclesiasticus 21:17. 		Cart. Inconstant and grating. (Calmet) --- The wicked turn from one vice to another, as heretics devise many errors, not having their heart established in grace, Hebrews 13:9. (Worthington)
Sirach 33:6 A friend that is a mocker, is like a stallion horse: he neigheth under every one that sitteth upon him.

Him. And will be unmanageable, (Menochius) when he has any thing to ridicule. (Calmet) --- Qui captat risus. (Horace, 1:Sat. 4.)
Sirach 33:7 Why doth one day excel another, and one light another, and one year another year, when all come of the sun?

Another. God's will alone appoints one to be holy or fine; and another to be stormy, or dedicated to labour. (Calmet) --- And one. Greek, "and all the light of the day throughout the year proceeds from the sun."
Sirach 33:8 By the knowledge of the Lord they were distinguished, the sun being made, and keeping his commandment.

The sun. Greek, "and he distinguished the seasons and holidays (10.) some," etc.
Sirach 33:9 And he ordered the seasons, and holidays of them, and in them they celebrated festivals at an hour.
Sirach 33:10 Some of them God made high and great days, and some of them he put in the number of ordinary days. And all men are from the ground, *and out of the earth, from whence Adam was created.

Genesis 2:7. 		Great. Greek, "holy." (Haydock) --- Thus all men are by nature equal. Yet what difference do we not find in their condition? Some live in obscurity, who might have shone upon the throne; and this is God's will. (Calmet)
Sirach 33:11 With much knowledge the Lord hath divided them, and diversified their ways.
Sirach 33:12 Some of them hath he blessed, and exalted: and some of them hath he sanctified, and set near himself: and some of them hath he cursed and brought low, and turned them from their station.

Station. Exterminating the Chanaanites. God disposes of all with sovereign power and justice, Romans 9:29.
Sirach 33:13 *As the potter's clay is in his hand, to fashion and order it.

Romans 9:11.
Sirach 33:14 All his ways are according to his ordering: so man is in the hand of him that made him, and he will render to him according to his judgment.

Ordering. All depend on God. (Calmet) --- "The predestination of the saints is nothing but the foreknowledge and preparation of God's benefits, by which those are most certainly liberated who obtain their freedom. But where are the rest left; except in the mass of perdition, by the just judgment of the Deity? (St. Augustine, Persev. xiv. n. 35, and Corrept. xiii. n. 42.)
Sirach 33:15 Good is set against evil, and life against death: so also is the sinner against a just man. And so look upon all the works of the most High. Two and two, and one against another.

Another. Lights and shades both contribute to form the beauty of a picture. (Haydock) --- Antitheses adorn a discourse, as opposite things do the universe. (St. Augustine, City of God 11:18.) --- God will make the wicked subservient to his glory.
Sirach 33:16 And I awaked last of all, and as one that gathereth after the grape-gatherers.

Of all. Solomon, Ezechias, etc., made various collections of similar maxims. (Calmet) --- The books of the Machabees were alone written after this in the Old Testament. (Menochius) --- Greek places what follows after Ecclesiasticus 30:26. These four verses may be regarded as a sort of preface. (Haydock)
Sirach 33:17 In the blessing of God I also have hoped: and as one that gathereth grapes, have I filled the wine-press.
Sirach 33:18 *See that I have not laboured for myself only, but for all that seek discipline.

Ecclesiasticus 24:47.
Sirach 33:19 Hear me, ye great men, and all ye people, and hearken with your ears, ye rulers of the church.
Sirach 33:20 Give not to son or wife, brother or friend, power over thee while thou livest; and give not thy estate to another: lest thou repent, and thou entreat for the same.
Sirach 33:21 As long as thou livest, and hast breath in thee, let no man change thee.

Change thee. That is, so as to have this power over thee. (Challoner) --- Be inflexible on this head. (Calmet)
Sirach 33:22 For it is better that thy children should ask of thee, than that thou look toward the hands of thy children.
Sirach 33:23 In all thy works keep the pre-eminence.

The pre-eminence. That is, be master in thy own house, and part not with thy authority. (Challoner) --- Let not thy wife or servants rule in thy name. (Menochius)
Sirach 33:24 Let no stain sully thy glory. In the time when thou shalt end the days of thy life, and in the time of thy decease, distribute thy inheritance.
Sirach 33:25 Fodder, and a wand, and a burden, are for an ass: bread, and correction, and work, for a slave.

Fodder. Greek prefixes "on slaves." (Haydock) --- They were bought like horses. Aristotle (oecon. 1:5.) gives the like instructions on their treatment. (Calmet)
Sirach 33:26 He worketh under correction, and seeketh to rest: let his hands be idle, and he seeketh liberty.
Sirach 33:27 The yoke and the thong bend a stiff neck, and continual labours bow a slave.

A stiff. Greek, "the neck, (28.) torture," etc. (Haydock)
Sirach 33:28 Torture and fetters are for a malicious slave: send him to work, that he be not idle:
Sirach 33:29 For idleness hath taught much evil.
Sirach 33:30 Set him to work: for so it is fit for him. And if he be not obedient, bring him down with fetters, but be not excessive towards any one: and do no grievous thing without judgment.
Sirach 33:31 *If thou have a faithful servant, let him be to thee as thy own soul: treat him as a brother: because in the blood of thy soul thou hast gotten him.

Ecclesiasticus 7:21. 		Faithful, is not expressed in Greek but must be understood. --- Blood. Taking him prisoner at the hazard of thy life. The like misfortune might easily have befallen thee. (Calmet) --- Seneca (ep. 47.) says, "live so with thy inferior, as thou wouldst have thy superior live with thee."
Sirach 33:32 If thou hurt him unjustly, he will run away:
Sirach 33:33 And if he rise up and depart, thou knowest not whom to ask, and in what way to seek him.

Thou. Greek, "on what road wilt thou seek for him?"