---
title: "Sirach 41 – Catholic Bible (CPDV) & Latin Vulgate · Bless"
url: https://blessbible.app/bible/sirach/41/
description: "Of the remembrance of death: of an evil and of a good name: of what things we… Sirach 41 in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin Vulgate."
---

# Sirach 41

Sirach 41 is chapter 41 of 51 in the Book of Sirach. Here are all 28 verses in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin of the Clementine Vulgate beside them.

> Of the remembrance of death: of an evil and of a good name: of what things we ought to be ashamed.
>
> — Bp. Richard Challoner, chapter summary

## Sirach 41 (Catholic Public Domain Version)

1. O death, how bitter is the memory of you: to a man who has peace in his substance,
2. to a quiet man, and to him whose ways are directed properly in all things, and who still has the strength to take nourishment.
3. O death, your judgment is good to the indigent man, and to him whose strength has diminished,
4. who is failing due to old age, and who is anxious about all things, and to the unbelieving man who has lost patience.
5. Do not choose to dread the judgment of death. Remember the things that occurred before you, and the things that will occur after you. This judgment is from the Lord upon all flesh.
6. And what will happen to you is well-pleasing to the Most High, whether in ten, or one hundred, or one thousand years.
7. For death is no indictment of life.
8. The sons of sinners, and those who pass their time in the manner of the houses of the impious, become sons of abominations.
9. The inheritance of the sons of sinners will perish, and continual disgrace will be with their offspring.
10. The sons of an impious father will complain, for they are in disgrace because of him.
11. Woe to you, impious men, who have abandoned the law of the Most High Lord!
12. And when you are born, you will be born into a curse; and when you die, your portion will be in a curse.
13. All things that are from the earth shall return to the earth. Similarly, the impious will proceed from a curse unto perdition.
14. The grieving of men is in their body, but the name of the impious will be wiped away.
15. Have concern for your good name. For this will continue with you, more so than a thousand precious and great treasures.
16. A good life has its number of days, but a good name will continue forever.
17. Sons, practice discipline peacefully. For what use is there in either concealed wisdom, or undiscovered treasure?
18. Better is the man who hides his foolishness than the man who hides his wisdom.
19. Yet truly, have respect for these things which proceed from my mouth.
20. For it is not good to observe every reverence. And all things do not please all persons in their beliefs.
21. Have shame of these things: of fornication before father and mother, and of a lie before the first leader and the powerful,
22. of a crime before a ruler or a judge, of iniquity before a congregation or a people,
23. of injustice before a companion or a friend, and of the place in which you live,
24. of theft, and of the truth before God, and of the covenant, of reclining to eat bread, and of deceitfulness in giving or receiving,
25. of silence before those who greet you, of looking upon a woman of fornication, and of averting your face from a relative.
26. You should not avert your face from your neighbor, nor should you take away a portion and not restore it.
27. You should not stare at another man’s wife, nor pursue his handmaid, nor approach her bed.
28. Avoid reproachful speeches before friends, and when you give, you should not place blame.

## Sirach 41 in Latin (Clementine Vulgate, 1592)

1. O mors, quam amara est memoria tua homini pacem habenti in substantiis suis:
2. viro quieto, et cujus viæ directæ sunt in omnibus, et adhuc valenti accipere cibum!
3. O mors, bonum est judicium tuum homini indigenti, et qui minoratur viribus,
4. defecto ætate, et cui de omnibus cura est, et incredibili, qui perdit patientiam!
5. Noli metuere judicium mortis: memento quæ ante te fuerunt, et quæ superventura sunt tibi: hoc judicium a Domino omni carni.
6. Et quid superveniet tibi in beneplacito Altissimi? sive decem, sive centum, sive mille anni:
7. non est enim in inferno accusatio vitæ.
8. Filii abominationum fiunt filii peccatorum, et qui conversantur secus domos impiorum.
9. Filiorum peccatorum periet hæreditas, et cum semine illorum assiduitas opprobrii.
10. De patre impio queruntur filii, quoniam propter illum sunt in opprobrio.
11. Væ vobis, viri impii, qui dereliquistis legem Domini Altissimi!
12. Et si nati fueritis, in maledictione nascemini: et si mortui fueritis, in maledictione erit pars vestra.
13. Omnia quæ de terra sunt in terram convertentur: sic impii a maledicto in perditionem.
14. Luctus hominum in corpore ipsorum: nomen autem impiorum delebitur.
15. Curam habe de bono nomine: hoc enim magis permanebit tibi quam mille thesauri pretiosi et magni.
16. Bonæ vitæ numerus dierum: bonum autem nomen permanebit in ævum.
17. Disciplinam in pace conservate, filii: sapientia enim abscondita, et thesaurus invisus, quæ utilitas in utrisque?
18. Melior est homo qui abscondit stultitiam suam, quam homo qui abscondit sapientiam suam.
19. Verumtamen reveremini in his quæ procedunt de ore meo:
20. non est enim bonum omnem reverentiam observare, et non omnia omnibus bene placent in fide.
21. Erubescite a patre et a matre de fornicatione: et a præsidente et a potente de mendacio:
22. a principe et a judice de delicto: a synagoga et plebe de iniquitate:
23. a socio et amico de injustitia, et de loco in quo habitas:
24. de furto, de veritate Dei, et testamento: de discubitu in panibus, et ab obfuscatione dati et accepti:
25. a salutantibus de silentio, a respectu mulieris fornicariæ, et ab aversione vultus cognati.
26. Ne avertas faciem a proximo tuo, et ab auferendo partem et non restituendo.
27. Ne respicias mulierem alieni viri, et ne scruteris ancillam ejus, neque steteris ad lectum ejus.
28. Ab amicis de sermonibus improperii: et cum dederis, ne improperes.

## Bishop Challoner's notes

Bp. Richard Challoner, notes on the Douay-Rheims (1750); they comment on its older wording.
- Verse 19: That is to say, be ashamed of doing any of these things, which I am now going to mention; for though sometimes shamefacedness is not to be indulged: yet it is often good and necessary: as in the following cases.

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