Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) — Chapter 23

Lord, Father and God of my life, leave me not in their counsel; and let me not fall by them. The opening prayer: Siracides addresses God as Lord, Father, and God of his life, seeking protection from the inner \"counsel\" of evil desires. Lapide treats this as a model of petitionary prayer—invoking God's three-fold relationship to us as our sovereign, our parent, and the source of our life.

Take from me, O Lord, the greediness of the belly, and let not the lust of the couch seize upon me; and give me not over to a shameless and foolish mind. The prayer for mortification of the two greatest concupiscences: gluttony and lust. Lapide notes that Siracides prays here what Christ teaches in the Lord's Prayer: deliverance from temptation. He cites multiple Fathers on the primacy of these two concupiscences as enemies of wisdom.

The doctrine of the mouth is the word of God; and his commandments shall be kept. The laws of good speech are divine commandments, not merely social convention. Lapide connects every precept about speech to its ultimate foundation in the divine law of truth.

Accustom not thy mouth to swearing; for there are many falls in it. Habitual swearing multiplies occasions of false or rash oaths. Lapide treats this as a specific commentary on the Second Commandment, noting the multiple types of oath-abuse condemned by canon law and theology.

A man that sweareth much shall be filled with iniquity, and a scourge shall not depart from his house. The house of the habitual swearer is struck by God with punishments analogous to the abuse of His name. Lapide cites multiple examples from Scripture and history of divine punishment falling upon oath-breakers.

Two sorts of men multiply sins, and the third bringeth wrath and destruction. The \"three sorts\" of the habitually lustful: the man of burning passion, the fornicator, and the adulterer. Lapide systematically expounds the gravity and social consequences of each, citing canonical penalties.

Every man that passeth beyond his own bed, despising his own soul, and saying: Who seeth me? Darkness compasseth me about. The adulterer's self-deceiving reasoning: \"No one sees me.\" Lapide refutes this with the divine omniscience: God's eyes are \"much more lucid than the sun\" and penetrate every hidden action and thought.

So every woman also that leaveth her husband, and bringeth in an heir by another. The adulteress is treated as triple sinner: against the law, against her husband, and against society through introducing illegitimate heirs. Lapide treats the legal, moral, and theological dimensions of marital fidelity.

And they shall know that there is nothing better than the fear of God, and that there is nothing sweeter than to have regard to the commandments of the Lord. The conclusion: the fear of the Lord is the best and sweetest of all goods. Lapide closes with an encomium of the fear of God as the summary virtue that prevents all the evils described in the chapter.