Single lesson
Sirach 23: Discipline the mouth against oaths and abuse
Sirach 23:7–15; Sirach 23:16–28
Sirach 23:7–15 teaches that speech needs discipline. This wisdom passage warns that lips can trap a person through insults, oaths, rude speech and abusive habits that become hard to change. This lesson also brings together Secret adultery remains exposed to God.
Before you teach
The speaker addresses “my children” and gives instruction about “the discipline of the mouth”. The passage stays on spoken words and their results: stumbling through the lips, becoming accustomed to oaths, uttering the Holy Name, and speech patterns that bring shame, sin and trouble. This passage is from the Catholic additional books.
Explain the central teaching of Sirach 23: Discipline the mouth against oaths and abuse, using two details from the reading. This passage teaches that repeated sinful speech, especially oaths and abuse, leads to guilt and trouble, so the mouth must be trained with discipline. This passage teaches that secret adultery is fully seen by the Lord and that reverent obedience to his commandments is better than sinful desire.
Welcome: Sirach 23: Discipline the mouth against oaths and abuse
5 minIntroduce “Discipline the mouth against oaths and abuse”, “Secret adultery remains exposed to God” and locate Sirach 23:7–15; Sirach 23:16–28. This passage teaches that repeated sinful speech, especially oaths and abuse, leads to guilt and trouble, so the mouth must be trained with discipline. Invite each learner to name a detail or question they will listen for.
Sirach 23:7, Sirach 23:11, Sirach 23:15
Read and explain the passage
12 minDiscipline the mouth against oaths and abuse (Sirach 23:7–15): The teaching begins with a call to “listen”. “Discipline of the mouth” points to trained speech, not careless speech. One who keeps the mouth “will not be caught”. By contrast, the sinner is “overpowered through his lips”, and insulting and arrogant words make a person stumble.
Secret adultery remains exposed to God (Sirach 23:16–28): The passage begins with a warning about passion that burns like fire. It describes sexual sin as something that keeps going unless it is consumed, and says a fornicator does not stop easily. Verse 17 adds that forbidden pleasure seems sweet, which explains why the sin keeps drawing the person on.
Read the selected verses together, pausing at “Discipline the mouth against oaths and abuse”, “Secret adultery remains exposed to God”. Use the source reading below and check the explanation against the words of the passage.
Sirach 23:7, Sirach 23:8, Sirach 23:16, Sirach 23:17
Discuss the details and their meaning
8 minUse the three questions below. Begin with “What two different outcomes appear at the start of the passage?” and allow time to find the supporting verses. This passage teaches that secret adultery is fully seen by the Lord and that reverent obedience to his commandments is better than sinful desire. Ask learners to explain which details support their answer and to identify a question they would like to explore further.
Sirach 23:7, Sirach 23:8, Sirach 23:9, Sirach 23:10, Sirach 23:27
Make and respond: Wisdom comparison cards
12 minWork on “Sirach 23: Discipline the mouth against oaths and abuse: Wisdom comparison cards”. Follow the materials and steps below, using “Discipline the mouth against oaths and abuse”, “Secret adultery remains exposed to God” as reading headings. Each learner should include at least two accurate details and their verse references. Share one observation from the finished sheet and explain how it connects with the central teaching.
Sirach 23:7, Sirach 23:17, Sirach 23:27
Closing: return to Secret adultery remains exposed to God
3 minRevisit Sirach 23:16–28. Invite a learner to summarise what the group has learned about Secret adultery remains exposed to God and another to support the summary with a verse. Give learners a moment to complete their response sheet. They can share a question or, if appropriate for the group, join the optional prayer.
Sirach 23:16, Sirach 23:22, Sirach 23:27
Questions to explore
What two different outcomes appear at the start of the passage?
Compare the one who keeps the mouth and is not caught with the sinner who is overpowered through his lips.
Sirach 23:7, Sirach 23:8
What repeated habit is forbidden in Sirach 23:9–10?
Look for the warning against becoming accustomed to an oath and to naming the Holy One.
Sirach 23:9, Sirach 23:10
What final lesson are those left behind meant to learn from these warnings?
Use the exact conclusion in verse 27 about the fear of the Lord and his commandments.
Sirach 23:27
Make, think or respond
Sirach 23: Discipline the mouth against oaths and abuse: Wisdom comparison cards
What you’ll need
- plain paper or card
- pencils or pens
- a Bible or the source reading on this page
Try it together
- Fold a sheet into three panels or draw three columns. Label them “What the passage commends”, “What it warns against”, “The reason or outcome stated”.
- Read Sirach 23:7–15; Sirach 23:16–28. Use “Discipline the mouth against oaths and abuse”, “Secret adultery remains exposed to God” as your reading headings and add a short quotation or detail with its verse reference to each panel.
- Compare your notes with a partner. Check that every quotation is accurate and every conclusion has support in the passage.
- Write a proposed everyday example beside one teaching. Label it as your example and explain which words in the text guided it.
The finished sheet keeps the details of Sirach 23: Discipline the mouth against oaths and abuse connected to their Bible references and gives the group a way to explain what they noticed.
Adapt for your group
- For learners who need more support, prepare the reading headings “Discipline the mouth against oaths and abuse”, “Secret adultery remains exposed to God” and let them match short quotations to the correct heading.
- For confident readers, compare two sections of Sirach 23:7–15; Sirach 23:16–28. Ask for a written explanation with two supporting references and one question that the text leaves open.
An optional closing prayer
“God, help us listen carefully as we read Sirach 23:7–15; Sirach 23:16–28. Help us understand what we have read, ask thoughtful questions and respond with care for others. Amen.”
Read the Bible passage World English Bible Classic
Sirach 23
7 Listen, my children, to the discipline of the mouth. He who keeps it will not be caught.
8 The sinner will be overpowered through his lips. By them, the insulter and the arrogant will stumble.
9 Don’t accustom your mouth to an oath, and don’t be accustomed to naming the Holy One,
10 for as a servant who is continually scourged will not lack bruises, so he also who swears and continually utters the Name will not be cleansed from sin.
11 A man of many oaths will be filled with iniquity. The scourge will not depart from his house. If he offends, his sin will be upon him. If he disregards it, he has sinned doubly. If he has sworn falsely, he will not be justified, for his house will be filled with calamities.
12 There is a manner of speech that is clothed with death. Let it not be found in the heritage of Jacob, for all these things will be far from the godly, and they will not wallow in sins.
13 Don’t accustom your mouth to gross rudeness, for it involves sinful speech.
14 Remember your father and your mother, for you sit in the midst of great men, that you be not forgetful before them, and become a fool by your bad habit; so you may wish that you had not been born, and curse the day of your birth.
15 A man who is accustomed to abusive language won’t be corrected all the days of his life.
16 Two sorts of people multiply sins, and the third will bring wrath: a hot passion, like a burning fire, will not be quenched until it is consumed; a fornicator in the body of his flesh will never cease until he has burned out the fire.
17 All bread is sweet to a fornicator. He will not cease until he dies.
18 A man who goes astray from his own marriage bed says in his heart, “Who sees me? Darkness is around me, and the walls hide me. No one sees me. Of whom am I afraid? The Most High will not remember my sins.”
19 The eyes of men are his terror. He doesn’t know that the eyes of the Lord are ten thousand times brighter than the sun, seeing all the ways of men, and looking into secret places.
20 All things were known to him before they were created, and also after they were completed.
21 This man will be punished in the streets of the city. He will be seized where he least expects it.
22 So also is a wife who leaves her husband, and produces an heir by another man.
23 For first, she was disobedient in the law of the Most High. Second, she trespassed against her own husband. Third, she played the adulteress in fornication, and had children by another man.
24 She shall be brought out into the congregation. Her punishment will extend to her children.
25 Her children will not take root. Her branches will bear no fruit.
26 She will leave her memory for a curse. Her reproach won’t be blotted out.
27 And those who are left behind will know that there is nothing better than the fear of the Lord, and nothing sweeter than to heed the commandments of the Lord.
World English Bible Classic. Public domain.
Source passages
Some verse numbers are represented by textual notes in World English Bible Classic. The reading below follows the text printed in the main passage.