Read & explore together
Accept wisdom’s discipline and discover her rest
Sirach 6:18–31 urges a learner to accept wisdom’s discipline early and keep pursuing it. The passage speaks in vivid pictures of farming, weight, chains and clothing to show that wisdom may feel hard at first but leads to rest and honour.
Understanding the passage
Listening in context
This passage from the Catholic additional book of Sirach is written as direct instruction: “My son”. It presents wisdom as something to seek, accept and hold onto. The speaker moves from a call to begin young, to warnings that wisdom is hard for the unlearned, and then to promises about her final reward.
Sirach 6:18–31Main takeaway
This passage teaches that wisdom requires willing discipline and steady seeking, yet those who hold onto her will find rest, gladness and honour.
Look closely at the words
Open a card to explore the full explanation and its Bible references.
01Start young and wait for wisdom’s fruitThe passage begins with a call to gather instruction from youth so that wisdom will still be found in old age.
Explanation
The passage begins with a call to gather instruction from youth so that wisdom will still be found in old age. Wisdom is compared to farming: ploughing, sowing and waiting for fruit. That picture shows effort and patience, yet it also says the labour will not be endless, because the fruit will come.
02Wisdom can feel hard to carryWisdom is described as harsh to the unlearned and like a heavy testing stone to one without understanding.
Explanation
Wisdom is described as harsh to the unlearned and like a heavy testing stone to one without understanding. These lines do not deny wisdom’s value. They show why some people reject it. Wisdom is not obvious to many, so the learner is urged to listen carefully and accept counsel.
03Accept her discipline fullyThe speaker then uses strong images of fetters, chains, burden and bonds. In this passage these images describe submitting to wisdom’s training.
Explanation
The speaker then uses strong images of fetters, chains, burden and bonds. In this passage these images describe submitting to wisdom’s training. The learner is told to bring feet, neck and shoulder under her discipline, not with half-hearted effort, but with all the soul and whole power.
04Seek, hold fast, and find restThe final movement is a promise. The learner must search and seek until wisdom is made known, then not let her go.
Explanation
The final movement is a promise. The learner must search and seek until wisdom is made known, then not let her go. What first looked like chains becomes strength, glory and joy. Wisdom is finally pictured not as a burden but as a robe, ornament and crown.
Questions to explore
Pause, look back at the verses and talk together.
01How does the farming picture shape the way we should expect wisdom to grow in our lives?
Notice the actions of ploughing, sowing, waiting and then eating fruit, which suggest patient work before visible results.
02Why might some people turn away from wisdom according to this passage?
Look at the words “harsh”, “stone of trial” and the statement that wisdom is not manifest to many.
03What changes in the description of wisdom’s chains and bonds by the end of the passage?
Compare the earlier burden imagery with the later pictures of strength, glory, a robe and a crown.
Read the Bible passage
World English Bible ClassicScripture quotation · Public domain
Sirach 6:18–31
18My son, gather instruction from your youth up. Even when you have gray hair you will find wisdom.
19Come to her as one who plows and sows and wait for her good fruit; for your toil will be little in her cultivation, and you will soon eat of her fruit.
20How exceedingly harsh she is to the unlearned! He who is without understanding will not remain in her.
21She will rest upon him as a mighty stone of trial. He won’t hesitate to cast her from him.
22For wisdom is according to her name. She isn’t manifest to many.
23Give ear, my son, and accept my judgment. Don’t refuse my counsel.
24Bring your feet into her fetters, and your neck into her chain.
25Put your shoulder under her and bear her. Don’t be grieved with her bonds.
26Come to her with all your soul. Keep her ways with your whole power.
27Search and seek, and she will be made known to you. When you get hold of her, don’t let her go.
28For at the last you will find her rest; and she will be turned for you into gladness.
29Her fetters will be to you for a covering of strength, and her chains for a robe of glory.
30For there is a golden ornament upon her, and her bands are a purple cord.
31You shall put her on as a robe of glory, and shall put her on as a crown of rejoicing.