Chapter 23

23. O Lord, Father and Governor of all my whole life, leave me not to their counsels, and let me not fall by them, for who will set a watch before my mouth, and a seal of wisdom upon my lips, that I fall not suddenly by them, and that my tongue destroy me not? O Lord, Father and God of my life, give me not a proud look, but turn away from me all lascivious desires; let not the greediness of the belly nor lust of the flesh take hold of me, and give not me over to a shameless mind. Hear, O you children, the discipline of the mouth, for he that keeps it shall never be taken in his lips, and a sinner shall be punished in his foolish talking, while the proud and the evil shall stumble in their lips, and the perjurer shall have anguish. Use not your mouth to swearing, neither use the name of the Holy One, for as a servant that is continually beaten shall not be without a blue mark, so he that sweareth and nameth God continually shall not be faultless, and a man that uses swearing shall be filled with iniquity, and the plague shall never depart from his house. If he break his oath, his sin shall be upon him, and if he dissemble, he offends doubly, and if he swear in vain, he shall not be innocent, but his house shall be full of calamities. There is a word that is clothed about with death, and God grant that it be not found in the heritage of Jacob, for all such things shall be far from the godly, and they shall not wallow in sins. Accustom not your mouth to lewd language, for therein is the word of sin, and remember your father and mother when you sit among great men, lest you forget yourself and behave foolishly, and so wish that you had not been born, and curse the day of your nativity. The man that is accustomed to opprobrious words will never be reformed; two sorts of men multiply sin, and the third brings wrath: a hot mind is as a burning fire, it will never be quenched till it be consumed, and a fornicator in the body of his flesh will never cease till he has taken a fire. All bread is sweet to a whoremonger, he will not leave off till he die, and a man that breaketh wedlock, saying thus in his heart, Who sees me? I am compassed about with darkness, and the walls cover me, and nobody sees me; what need I to fear? The most High will not remember my sins. Such a man fears only the eyes of men, and knows not that the eyes of the Lord are ten thousand times brighter than the sun, beholding all the ways of men, and seeing the most secret parts; all things were known unto him before they were created, and so are they after they are perfected. This man shall be punished in the streets of the city, and where he suspected not, he shall be taken, and they that see him shall be ashamed, and they shall be put to shame, and he shall suffer a lasting shame, and his children shall be a reproach, and his seed shall not increase, and they that remain shall know that there is nothing better than the fear of the Lord, and that there is nothing sweeter than to take heed unto the commandments of the Lord.