Wisdom of Ben Sira 44

New Catholic Bible

¹ Let us now praise illustrious men,
    our ancestors in their successive generations.
² The Most High apportioned to them an abundance of glory
    and displayed his greatness from of old.
³ Some ruled over kingdoms
    and were renowned for their valor.
Others were prudent counselors
    and spoke with prophetic power.
⁴ Some guided the people by their counsel,
    by their knowledge of the popular mind,
    and by the wise words of their instruction.
⁵ Some were composers of music
    or authors of poetry.
⁶ Others were rich and powerful,
    living peacefully in their homes.
⁷ All these were honored in their own generation
    and were illustrious in their day.
⁸ Some of them have left behind a name,
    so that their praiseworthy deeds are recounted.
⁹ But of others no memory remains;
    they have perished as though they had never existed.
They have become as though they had never been born,
    they and their children after them.
¹⁰ Yet these also were godly men
    whose virtuous deeds have not been forgotten.
¹¹ Their wealth has been handed on to their descendants,
    and their inheritance to future generations.
¹² Their descendants have remained faithful to the covenants,
    and, so have their children for their sake.
¹³ Their offspring will endure for all time,
    and their glory will never fade.
¹⁴ Their bodies are buried in peace,
    but their name lives on for all generations.
¹⁵ The peoples proclaim their wisdom,
    and the assembly sings their praise.

¹⁶ Enoch pleased the Lord and was taken up
    as an example of repentance for future generations.

¹⁷ Noah was found to be perfect and righteous,
    and in the time of God’s wrath he kept the race alive.
Because of him a remnant survived on the earth,
    and with a pledge to him the flood came to an end.
¹⁸ Everlasting covenants were established with him,
    that never again would all life be blotted out by a flood.

¹⁹ Abraham was the great father of a multitude of nations;
    no one has been found to be his equal in glory.
²⁰ He observed the law of the Most High
    and entered into a covenant with him.
He confirmed the covenant in his flesh,^[d]
    and when he was tested he proved faithful.
²¹ Therefore, God assured him with an oath
    that the nations would be blessed through his descendants,
that he would make his offspring as numerous as the dust of the earth,
    and that they would be exalted like the stars,
and that he would give them an inheritance extending from sea to sea,
    and from the river to the ends of the earth.^[e]

²² To Isaac also, God gave the same assurance
    for the sake of Abraham his father.
²³ He caused the blessing of all people and the covenant
    to rest on the head of Jacob.
He acknowledged him with his blessings
    and gave him the land as his inheritance.
He divided the land into portions
    and distributed them to the twelve tribes.