Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) — Chapter 25

With three things my spirit is pleased, which are approved before God and men: the concord of brethren, and the love of neighbours, and man and wife that agree well together. Three things pleasing to wisdom: fraternal concord, love of neighbor, and marital harmony. Lapide notes that these correspond to the three grades of social love: brothers, neighbors, and spouses.

Three sorts of men my soul hateth, and I am greatly grieved at their life: a poor man that is proud, a rich man that is a liar, an old man that is a fool. Three things displeasing: proud poverty (pretending greatness without the means), lying wealth (gaining possessions by deceit), and foolish old age (having failed to acquire wisdom over a lifetime). Lapide treats each as a specific deformation of human dignity.

Nine things that are not to be imagined by the heart have I magnified; and the tenth I will utter to men with my tongue. Nine beatitudes enumerated, surpassing human imagination. Lapide provides a systematic exposition of all ten blessings: joy in children, faithful friendship, wise speech, and above all the fear of the Lord.

How great is he that findeth wisdom and knowledge! but there is none above him that feareth the Lord. The supremacy of the fear of the Lord over all other goods. Lapide identifies this as the capping beatitude: wisdom, knowledge, good friends, even holiness—all are subordinate to and derived from the fear of God.

All plague is little compared to the plague of the heart; and no wickedness is above the wickedness of a woman. The transition to the treatment of bad women: Lapide notes the hyperbolic rhetoric of the Eastern wisdom tradition, explaining that Siracides here speaks specifically of the truly wicked wife, not of all women.

There is no head above the head of a serpent; and there is no wrath above the wrath of a woman. The wicked woman's wrath is compared to the serpent's head—the most venomous of creatures. Lapide expounds this in light of Gen. 3:15, noting the spiritual typology of the serpent as tempter and the fallen Eve as his instrument.

If she walk not at thy hand, cut her off from thy flesh. The harsh counsel to separate from an incorrigibly wicked wife. Lapide interprets this not as approval of divorce (forbidden by Christ) but as a metaphorical exhortation to interior detachment and, in the Old Testament context, to legitimate separation from an unfaithful spouse.