Ecclesiasticus 42:9
The father waketh for the daughter when no man knoweth, and the care for her taketh away his sleep, when she is young, lest she pass away the flower of her age, and when she is married, lest she should be hateful:
Open Ecclesiasticus 42:9 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Filia patris abscondita est vigilia, et sollicitudo ejus aufert somnum : ne forte in adolescentia sua adulta efficiatur, et cum viro commorata odibilis fiat :
- Septuagint (Swete)
- Verse numbering differs here, so nothing is shown rather than the wrong verse.
Haydock's commentary
Knoweth. Literally, "who is hidden." (Haydock)
An unmarried woman was styled Halma, or "hidden," Isaias vii. 11. (Calmet)
Pass away. Greek, "abuse." (Haydock)
Some read adultera, (Sixtus V; Jansenius) instead of adulta, improperly. It was deemed shameful for a parent not to have his daughter married soon, 1 Corinthians vii. 36.
Hateful. Deuteronomy xxiv.
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St John Chrysostom Treatise Concerning the Christian Priesthood, Book III
17. But in the care of virgins, the fear is greater in proportion as the possession is more precious, and this flock is of a nobler character than the others. Already, indeed, even into the band of these holy ones, an infinite number of women have rushed full of innumerable bad qualities; and in this case our grief is greater than in the other; for there is just the same difference between a virgin and a widow going astray, as between a free-born damsel and her handmaid. With widows, indeed, it has become a common practice to trifle, and to rail at one another, to flatter or to be impudent, to appear everywhere in public, and to perambulate the market-place. …