---
title: "Sirach 48 – Catholic Bible (CPDV) & Latin Vulgate · Bless"
url: https://blessbible.app/bible/sirach/48/
description: "The praise of Elias, of Eliseus, of Ezechias, and of Isaias. Sirach 48 in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin Vulgate."
---

# Sirach 48

Sirach 48 is chapter 48 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.

> The praise of Elias, of Eliseus, of Ezechias, and of Isaias.
>
> — Bp. Richard Challoner, chapter summary

## Sirach 48 (Catholic Public Domain Version)

1. And the prophet Elijah arose like a fire, and his word burned like a torch.
2. He brought a famine upon them, and those who provoked him in their envy became few. For they could not bear the precepts of the Lord.
3. By the word of the Lord, he closed the heavens, and he brought down fire from heaven three times.
4. In this way, Elijah was magnified in his wondrous works. So who can say that he is similar to you in glory?
5. He raised up a dead man from the grave, from the fate of death, by the word of the Lord God.
6. He threw down kings unto perdition, and he easily shattered their power and boasting from his bed.
7. He heeded the judgment at Sinai, and the judgments of punishment at Horeb.
8. He anointed kings unto repentance, and he chose the prophets who would follow after him.
9. He was received into a whirlwind of fire, into a swift chariot with fiery horses.
10. He is written in the judgments of the times, so as to lessen the wrath of the Lord, to reconcile the heart of the father to the son, and to restore the tribes of Jacob.
11. Blessed are those who saw you, and who were adorned with your friendship.
12. For we live only in our life, and after death, our name will not be the same.
13. Certainly, Elijah was covered by the whirlwind, and his spirit was completed in Elisha. In his days, he was not fearful of the ruler, and no power defeated him.
14. No word overwhelmed him, and after death, his body prophesied.
15. In his life, he gave great portents, and in death, he wrought miracles.
16. In all these things, the people did not repent, and they did not withdraw from their sins, even until they were cast out of their land, and were dispersed throughout all the earth.
17. And there was left behind a people very few in number, but with a leader in the house of David.
18. Some of these did what pleased God. But others committed many sins.
19. Hezekiah fortified his city, and he brought water into its midst, and he dug into rock with iron, and he built a well for water.
20. In his days, Sennacherib rose up, and he sent Rabshakeh, and he lifted up his hand against them, and he extended his hand against Zion, and he became arrogant in his power.
21. Then their hearts and hands shook. And they were in pain, like women giving birth.
22. And they called upon the merciful Lord. And they spread their hands and lifted them up to heaven. And the holy Lord God quickly heeded their voice.
23. He was not mindful of their sins, and he did not give them over to their enemies. Instead, he purified them by the hand of Isaiah, the holy prophet.
24. He threw down the army of the Assyrians, and the Angel of the Lord crushed them.
25. For Hezekiah did what pleased God, and he went with fortitude in the way of David his father, just as he had been commanded by Isaiah, a prophet great and faithful in the sight of God.
26. In his days, the sun went backwards, and he added to the king’s life.
27. With a great spirit he saw the final things. And he consoled the mourners in Zion.
28. He revealed the future, even the distant future, and hidden things before they occurred.

## Sirach 48 in Latin (Clementine Vulgate, 1592)

1. Et surrexit Elias propheta quasi ignis, et verbum ipsius quasi facula ardebat.
2. Qui induxit in illos famem: et irritantes illum invidia sua pauci facti sunt: non enim poterant sustinere præcepta Domini.
3. Verbo Domini continuit cælum, et dejecit de cælo ignem ter.
4. Sic amplificatus est Elias in mirabilibus suis. Et quis potest similiter sic gloriari tibi?
5. qui sustulisti mortuum ab inferis de sorte mortis, in verbo Domini Dei:
6. qui dejecisti reges ad pernicem, et confregisti facile potentiam ipsorum, et gloriosos de lecto suo:
7. qui audis in Sina judicium, et in Horeb judicia defensionis:
8. qui ungis reges ad pœnitentiam, et prophetas facis successores post te:
9. qui receptus es in turbine ignis, in curru equorum igneorum:
10. qui scriptus es in judiciis temporum, lenire iracundiam Domini, conciliare cor patris ad filium, et restituere tribus Jacob.
11. Beati sunt qui te viderunt, et in amicitia tua decorati sunt.
12. Nam nos vita vivimus tantum: post mortem autem non erit tale nomen nostrum.
13. Elias quidem in turbine tectus est, et in Eliseo completus est spiritus ejus: in diebus suis non pertimuit principem, et potentia nemo vicit illum:
14. nec superavit illum verbum aliquod, et mortuum prophetavit corpus ejus.
15. In vita sua fecit monstra, et in morte mirabilia operatus est.
16. In omnibus istis non pœnituit populus, et non recesserunt a peccatis suis, usque dum ejecti sunt de terra sua, et dispersi sunt in omnem terram:
17. et relicta est gens perpauca, et princeps in domo David.
18. Quidam ipsorum fecerunt quod placeret Deo: alii autem multa commiserunt peccata.
19. Ezechias munivit civitatem suam, et induxit in medium ipsius aquam: et fodit ferro rupem, et ædificavit ad aquam puteum.
20. In diebus ipsius ascendit Sennacherib, et misit Rabsacen, et sustulit manum suam contra illos: et extulit manum suam in Sion, et superbus factus est potentia sua.
21. Tunc mota sunt corda et manus ipsorum: et doluerunt quasi parturientes mulieres.
22. Et invocaverunt Dominum misericordem, et expandentes manus suas extulerunt ad cælum: et Sanctus, Dominus Deus, audivit cito vocem ipsorum.
23. Non est commemoratus peccatorum illorum, neque dedit illos inimicis suis: sed purgavit eos in manu Isaiæ sancti prophetæ.
24. Dejecit castra Assyriorum, et contrivit illos angelus Domini:
25. nam fecit Ezechias quod placuit Deo, et fortiter ivit in via David patris sui, quam mandavit illi Isaias, propheta magnus, et fidelis in conspectu Dei.
26. In diebus ipsius retro rediit sol, et addidit regi vitam.
27. Spiritu magno vidit ultima, et consolatus est lugentes in Sion usque in sempiternum.
28. Ostendit futura, et abscondita antequam evenirent.

## Catechism of the Catholic Church

Paragraph numbers and the Catechism's own section headings (never quoted); text at vatican.va.
- CCC ¶ 696: The Name, Titles, and Symbols of the Holy Spirit ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))

## Read at Mass (US)

- Sat, Dec 11, 2027 (computed): Saturday of the Second Week of Advent — First Reading, Sirach 48:1-4, 9-11
- Thu, Jun 22, 2028 (computed): Thursday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time — First Reading, Sirach 48:1-14
- Sat, Dec 16, 2028 (computed): Saturday of the Second Week of Advent — First Reading, Sirach 48:1-4, 9-11

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).