Ecclesiasticus 31 - Revised Version with Apocrypha 1885, 1895(RV1895)

1 in a sore disease sleep will be broken.

3 meeteth them face to face.

7It is a stumblingblock unto them that ch. 37.29. Cp. Prov. 23.1-3.be not greedy upon it,

And say not, Many are the things upon it.

13Remember that Cp. ch. 35.8. See ch. 14.8-10.an evil eye is a wicked thing:

What hath been created more evil than an eye?

Therefore it sheddeth tears from every face.

14 ver. 18. Stretch not thine hand whithersoever it looketh,

And thrust not thyself with it into the dish.

15 Cp. Tob. 4.15. Consider thy neighbour's liking by thine own;

And be discreet in every point.

16 Luke 10.8. Eat, as becometh a man, those things which are set before thee;

And ch. 37.29. Cp. Prov. 23.1-3.eat not greedily, lest thou be hated.

17Be first to leave off for manners' sake;

And be not insatiable, lest thou offend.

18And if thou sittest among many,

ver. 14. Reach not out thy hand before them.

19HOW sufficient to a well-mannered man is a very little,

And he doth not breathe hard upon his bed.

20 Cp. Eccles. 5.12. Healthy sleep cometh of moderate eating;

He riseth early, and his wits are with him:

Cp. ch. 37.30. The pain of wakefulness, and colic,

And griping, are with an insatiable man.

21And if thou hast been forced to eat,

Rise up in the midst thereof, and thou shalt have rest.

22Hear me, my son, and despise me not,

And at the last thou shalt find my words true:

Cp. Prov. 22.29. In all thy works be quick,

And no disease shall come unto thee.

23 Cp. Prov. 22.9. HIM that is liberal of his meat the lips shall bless;

And the testimony of his excellence shall be believed.

24Him that is Cp. ch. 14.10, & Job 31.17.a niggard of his meat the city shall murmur at;

And the testimony of his niggardness shall be sure.

25 Is. 5.22. Shew not thyself valiant in wine;

ch. 19.2. Cp. Judith 13.2,8. For wine hath destroyed many.

26The furnace proveth the temper of steel by dipping;

Prov. 23.29,30. So doth wine prove hearts in the quarrelling of the proud.

27 Cp. 1 Tim. 5.23. Wine is as good as life to men,

If thou drink it in its measure:

What life is there to a man that is without wine?

And ch. 40.20. See Ps. 104.15, & 1 Esd. 3.20.it hath been created to make men glad.

28Wine Cp. Eccles. 10.17.drunk in season and to satisfy

Is joy of heart, and gladness of soul:

29 1 Esd. 3.22. Wine drunk largely is bitterness of soul,

With provocation and conflict.

30 Prov. 20.1. Drunkenness increaseth the rage of a fool unto his hurt;

It diminisheth strength, and addeth wounds.

31REBUKE not thy neighbour at a banquet of wine,

Neither set him at nought in his mirth:

Speak not unto him a word of reproach,

And press not upon him Cp. ch. 29.28.by asking back a debt.