Wisdom on Whippings (from Sirach)

By | September 3, 2009

Sirach has some advice on raising children:

Sirach 30:1 (NRSV) “He who loves his son will whip him often, so that he may rejoice at the way he turns out.”

Sirach 30:9 (NRSV) “Pamper a child, and he will terrorize you; play with him, and he will grieve you.”

And here are a couple of other things that I wouldn’t say either:

Sirach 31:21 (NRSV) “If you are overstuffed with food, get up to vomit, and you will have relief.”

Sirach 42:14 (NRSV) “Better is the wickedness of a man than a woman who does good; it is woman who brings shame and disgrace.”

So maybe there is a reason that this book didn’t quite make the cut.  (Actually more thoughts about that soon…)

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