---
title: "Sirach 3 – Catholic Bible (CPDV) & Latin Vulgate · Bless"
url: https://blessbible.app/bible/sirach/3/
description: "Lessons concerning the honour of parents, and humility, and avoiding curiosity. Sirach 3 in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin Vulgate."
---

# Sirach 3

Sirach 3 is chapter 3 of 51 in the Book of Sirach. Here are all 34 verses in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin of the Clementine Vulgate beside them.

> Lessons concerning the honour of parents, and humility, and avoiding curiosity.
>
> — Bp. Richard Challoner, chapter summary

## Sirach 3 (Catholic Public Domain Version)

1. The sons of wisdom are the Church of the just: and their generation is obedience and love.
2. Sons, listen to the judgment of your father, and act accordingly, so that you may be saved.
3. For God has honored the father in the sons, and, when seeking the judgment of the mother, he has confirmed it in the children.
4. He who loves God will plead with him on behalf of sins, and will keep himself away from sin, and will be heeded in the prayers of his days.
5. And, like one who stores up treasure, so also is he who honors his mother.
6. He who honors his father will find happiness in his own children, and he will be heeded in the day of his prayer.
7. He who honors his father will live a long life. And he who obeys his father will be a refreshment to his mother.
8. He who fears the Lord honors his parents, and he will serve them as masters, for it is they who conceived him.
9. In word and deed, and in all things, honor your father with patience,
10. so that a blessing may come to you from him, and so that his blessing may remain to the very end.
11. The blessing of the father strengthens the houses of the sons; but the curse of the mother uproots even its foundation.
12. Do not boast in the disgrace of your father; for his shame is not your glory.
13. For the glory of a man is from the honor of his father, and a father without honor is a discredit to the son.
14. Son, support your father in his old age, and do not grieve him in his life.
15. And if his mind should fail, show kindness; and do not spurn him when you are in your strength. For almsgiving to the father will never be forgotten.
16. For even in return for the sin of the mother, good will be repaid to you.
17. And you will be built up in justice, and you will be remembered in the day of tribulation. And your sins will dissolve like ice in warm weather.
18. What an evil form has he who forsakes his father! And whoever exasperates his mother is accursed by God.
19. Son, perform your works in meekness, and you shall be loved beyond the glory of men.
20. However great you may be, humble yourself in all things, and you will find grace in the presence of God.
21. For only the power of God is great, and he is honored by the humble.
22. You should not seek the things that are too high for you, and you should not examine the things that are beyond your ability. But as for the things that God has entrusted to you, consider these always. But you should not be curious in too many of his works.
23. For it is not necessary for you to see with your own eyes the things that are hidden.
24. In unnecessary matters, do not choose to be an examiner of many different things, and you should not be curious about too many of his works.
25. For many things have been revealed to you, beyond the understanding of men.
26. Yet uncertainty in these things has also undermined many persons and has detained their minds in vanity.
27. A hardened heart will have evil in the very end, and he who loves peril will perish in it.
28. A heart advancing in two directions will not have success, and the depraved heart will be scandalized in this way.
29. A wicked heart will be burdened with sorrows, and a sinner will add further sins.
30. The synagogue of the arrogant will not be healed. For the stalk of sinfulness will take root in them, and it will not be understood.
31. The heart of the wise is understood by wisdom, and a good ear will listen to wisdom with all its desire.
32. A wise and understanding heart will abstain from sins, and will have success in works of justice.
33. Water extinguishes a burning fire, and almsgiving withstands sins.
34. And God is the watchman for him who repays a kindness. He remembers him afterwards, and in the time of his fall, he will find a firm support.

## Sirach 3 in Latin (Clementine Vulgate, 1592)

1. Filii sapientiæ ecclesia justorum, et natio illorum obedientia et dilectio.
2. Judicium patris audite, filii, et sic facite, ut salvi sitis.
3. Deus enim honoravit patrem in filiis: et judicium matris exquirens, firmavit in filios.
4. Qui diligit Deum exorabit pro peccatis, et continebit se ab illis, et in oratione dierum exaudietur.
5. Et sicut qui thesaurizat, ita et qui honorificat matrem suam.
6. Qui honorat patrem suum jucundabitur in filiis, et in die orationis suæ exaudietur.
7. Qui honorat patrem suum vita vivet longiore, et qui obedit patri refrigerabit matrem.
8. Qui timet Dominum honorat parentes, et quasi dominis serviet his qui se genuerunt.
9. In opere, et sermone, et omni patientia, honora patrem tuum,
10. ut superveniat tibi benedictio ab eo, et benedictio illius in novissimo maneat.
11. Benedictio patris firmat domos filiorum: maledictio autem matris eradicat fundamenta.
12. Ne glorieris in contumelia patris tui: non enim est tibi gloria ejus confusio.
13. Gloria enim hominis ex honore patris sui, et dedecus filii pater sine honore.
14. Fili, suscipe senectam patris tui, et non contristes eum in vita illius:
15. et si defecerit sensu, veniam da, et ne spernas eum in virtute tua: eleemosyna enim patris non erit in oblivione.
16. Nam pro peccato matris restituetur tibi bonum:
17. et in justitia ædificabitur tibi, et in die tribulationis commemorabitur tui, et sicut in sereno glacies, solventur peccata tua.
18. Quam malæ famæ est qui derelinquit patrem, et est maledictus a Deo qui exasperat matrem!
19. Fili, in mansuetudine opera tua perfice, et super hominum gloriam diligeris.
20. Quanto magnus es, humilia te in omnibus, et coram Deo invenies gratiam:
21. quoniam magna potentia Dei solius, et ab humilibus honoratur.
22. Altiora te ne quæsieris, et fortiora te ne scrutatus fueris: sed quæ præcepit tibi Deus, illa cogita semper, et in pluribus operibus ejus ne fueris curiosus.
23. Non est enim tibi necessarium ea, quæ abscondita sunt, videre oculis tuis.
24. In supervacuis rebus noli scrutari multipliciter, et in pluribus operibus ejus non eris curiosus.
25. Plurima enim super sensum hominum ostensa sunt tibi:
26. multos quoque supplantavit suspicio illorum, et in vanitate detinuit sensus illorum.
27. Cor durum habebit male in novissimo, et qui amat periculum in illo peribit.
28. Cor ingrediens duas vias non habebit successus, et pravus corde in illis scandalizabitur.
29. Cor nequam gravabitur in doloribus, et peccator adjiciet ad peccandum.
30. Synagogæ superborum non erit sanitas, frutex enim peccati radicabitur in illis, et non intelligetur.
31. Cor sapientis intelligitur in sapientia, et auris bona audiet cum omni concupiscentia sapientiam.
32. Sapiens cor et intelligibile abstinebit se a peccatis, et in operibus justitiæ successus habebit.
33. Ignem ardentem exstinguit aqua, et eleemosyna resistit peccatis:
34. et Deus prospector est ejus qui reddit gratiam: meminit ejus in posterum, et in tempore casus sui inveniet firmamentum.

## Catechism of the Catholic Church

Paragraph numbers and the Catechism's own section headings (never quoted); text at vatican.va.
- CCC ¶ 2218: The Duties of Family Members ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))

## Read at Mass (US)

- Sun, Dec 27, 2026: The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph — First Reading, Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14
- Sun, Dec 26, 2027 (computed): The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph — First Reading, Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14
- Sun, Sep 3, 2028 (computed): Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time — First Reading, Sirach 3:17-18, 20, 28-29
- Sun, Dec 31, 2028 (computed): The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph — First Reading, Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14

Citations as published in the USCCB liturgical calendar (principal Mass, first option). Dates after May 31, 2027 are computed by Bless from the US Lectionary cycle — confirm with your parish.

Source: Catholic Public Domain Version (Ronald L. Conte Jr., 2009), public domain; Latin: Clementine Vulgate (1592).