Anonymous (Septuagint) · a new plain-English translation from the original language
1| Death, how harsh is your memory to a man living peacefully amid his possessions, to a man untroubled and prospering in everything, and still strong enough to enjoy his food.
2| O death, good is your sentence to a man in need and failing in strength, worn out with age and anxious about everything, one who resists and has lost all patience.
3| Do not fear death's sentence; remember those who came before you and those who will come after.
4| This is the sentence from the Lord upon all flesh, so why do you refuse the good pleasure of the Most High? Whether it is ten years or a hundred or a thousand, in Hades there is no reproach for a shortened life.
5| Children who are abominable become the children of sinners, and they keep company with the households of the ungodly.
6| The inheritance of sinful children will perish, and disgrace will endure along with their offspring.
7| Children will blame an ungodly father, because on his account they will be reproached.
8| Woe to you, ungodly men, who have abandoned the law of God the Most High.
9| And if you are born, you will be born for a curse, and if you die, a curse will be your portion.
10| Everything that comes from the earth will return to the earth; so the ungodly go from a curse to destruction.
11| Men's mourning is over their bodies, but the good name of sinners will be blotted out.
12| Take care about your name, for it will remain with you longer than a thousand great treasures of gold.
13| A good life has its number of days, but a good name remains forever.
14| Keep instruction in peace, my children; but wisdom hidden away and treasure unseen — what use is there in either?
15| Better is a man who hides his folly than a man who hides his wisdom.
16| So take this teaching to heart: it is not right to keep every kind of shame, and not everything wins approval from all in good faith.
17| Be ashamed before father and mother concerning sexual immorality, and before a ruler and a man of power concerning falsehood,
18| before a judge and a magistrate concerning wrongdoing, before the assembly and the people concerning lawlessness, before a partner and a friend concerning injustice,
19| and before the place where you dwell concerning theft, and before God's truth and his covenant, concerning leaning your elbow on the bread, concerning rude behavior in giving and receiving,
20| and before those who greet you, concerning silence, before the sight of a prostitute,
21| and before turning away the face of a kinsman, concerning taking away a portion and a gift, and before gazing upon a married woman,
22| concerning meddling with his maidservant — and do not approach her bed; before friends concerning words of reproach, and after giving, do not reproach.