Read & explore together
Release vengeance and forgive your neighbor
This wisdom passage from Sirach, a Catholic additional book, warns against wrath, anger and vengeance. It urges forgiveness and uses sharp questions to show that ongoing anger does not fit with asking the Lord for mercy, healing and pardon.
Understanding the passage
Listening in context
In these verses from Sirach, a teacher speaks about conflict between neighbours, the danger of vengeance, prayer about sins, and the call to remember death, the commandments and the covenant of the Highest. The passage is wisdom instruction, not a story, and it presses the reader to leave enmity behind.
Sirach 27:30–28:7Main takeaway
Sirach teaches that anyone seeking the Lord’s mercy should turn from vengeance, forgive a neighbour, and remember God’s commandments and covenant.
Look closely at the words
Open a card to explore the full explanation and its Bible references.
01Wrath, anger and vengeance are condemnedThe passage opens by naming wrath and anger as “abominations” and saying that a sinner will possess them.
Explanation
The passage opens by naming wrath and anger as “abominations” and saying that a sinner will possess them. It then gives a warning about vengeance: the person who takes vengeance will find vengeance from the Lord. Sirach also says that such a person’s sins will be made firm, which makes vengeance spiritually serious.
02Forgive your neighbour’s hurtSirach then gives a direct instruction: forgive your neighbour for the hurt he has done. The verse connects this with prayer, saying that then your sins will be pardoned when you pray.
Explanation
Sirach then gives a direct instruction: forgive your neighbour for the hurt he has done. The verse connects this with prayer, saying that then your sins will be pardoned when you pray. The teaching places forgiveness of another person alongside a person’s own need for pardon before God.
03Questions that expose angerThe next verses use questions to challenge the reader. Can someone keep anger against another and still expect healing from the Lord?
Explanation
The next verses use questions to challenge the reader. Can someone keep anger against another and still expect healing from the Lord? Can someone refuse mercy to another person like himself, yet ask for mercy for his own sins? Since a person is “flesh”, Sirach says he should not keep nourishing wrath.
04Remember what leads away from enmityThe passage ends with repeated reminders: remember your last end, corruption and death, the commandments, and the covenant of the Highest.
Explanation
The passage ends with repeated reminders: remember your last end, corruption and death, the commandments, and the covenant of the Highest. These are given with practical purpose. They are meant to stop enmity, turn a person from anger against a neighbour, and help him overlook ignorance rather than continue hostility.
Questions to explore
Pause, look back at the verses and talk together.
01What warning does Sirach give to the person who takes vengeance?
Look at the exact consequences named in the verse, including what the Lord will do and what happens to that person’s sins.
02How does Sirach connect forgiving a neighbour with praying about your own sins?
Use the verse that directly joins forgiveness of hurt with pardon when you pray.
03What are the reader’s repeated reminders at the end, and what are they meant to stop?
List each thing the passage says to remember, then note the neighbour-related anger or enmity those reminders address.
Read the Bible passages
World English Bible ClassicScripture quotation · Public domain
Sirach 27:30
30Wrath and anger, these also are abominations. A sinner will possess them.
Sirach 28:1–7
1He who takes vengeance will find vengeance from the Lord, and he will surely make his sins firm.
2Forgive your neighbor the hurt that he has done, and then your sins will be pardoned when you pray.
3Does anyone harbor anger against another and expect healing from the Lord?
4Upon a man like himself he has no mercy, and does he make supplication for his own sins?
5He himself, being flesh, nourishes wrath. Who will make atonement for his sins?
6Remember your last end, and stop enmity. Remember corruption and death, and be true to the commandments.
7Remember the commandments, and don’t be angry with your neighbor. Remember the covenant of the Highest, and overlook ignorance.