When it is said
Pray it in the morning, or before a meal or a conversation you know will test you.
It covers the whole person, from the tongue and the thoughts to the eyes and the appetite.
Where it comes from
Author known
Who wrote it?
The Book of Sirach is the wisdom of a man named Jesus son of Sirach. In its prologue his grandson writes that his grandfather gave himself to reading the Law and the Prophets and then wrote a book of wisdom of his own. The grandson came to Egypt, found the book and translated it from Hebrew into Greek.
In the Orthodox Bible
Sirach belongs to the Greek Old Testament, the Septuagint, and the Orthodox Church keeps it in its Bible for that reason. Protestant churches do not count it as Scripture, so most Protestant Bibles leave it out.
What the words mean
A guard over the mouth
The first line echoes Psalm 141:3, where David asks God to set a guard over his mouth. Here the request becomes a question, “Who will set a guard over my mouth?”, and the next line turns to God, calling Him Father and Master of his life.
The Scripture in it
Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; keep watch at the door of my lips.
Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain.
In Greek
Τίς δώσει μοι ἐπὶ στόμα μου φυλακὴν, καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν χειλέων μου σφραγίδα πανοῦργον, ἵνα μὴ πέσω ἀπʼ αὐτῆς, καὶ ἡ γλῶσσά μου ἀπολέσῃ με;
Κύριε πάτερ καὶ δέσποτα ζωῆς μου, μὴ ἐγκαταλίπῃς με ἐν βουλῇ αὐτῶν, μὴ ἀφῇς με πεσεῖν ἐν αὐτοῖς.
Τίς ἐπιστήσει ἐπὶ τοῦ διανοήματός μου μάστιγας, καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς καρδίας μου παιδείαν σοφίας; ἵνα ἐπὶ τοῖς ἀγνοήμασί μου μὴ φείσωνται, καὶ οὐ μὴ παρῇ τὰ ἁμαρτήματα αὐτῶν,
ὅπως μὴ πληθύνωσιν αἱ ἄγνοιαί μου, καὶ αἱ ἁμαρτίαι μου πλεονάσωσιν, καὶ πεσοῦμαι ἔναντι τῶν ὑπεναντίων, καὶ ἐπιχαρεῖταί μοι ὁ ἐχθρός μου.
Κύριε πάτερ καὶ Θεὲ ζωῆς μου, μετεωρισμὸν ὀφθαλμῶν μὴ δῷς μοι,
καὶ ἐπιθυμίαν ἀπόστρεψον ἀπʼ ἐμοῦ.
Κοιλίας ὄρεξις καὶ συνουσιασμὸς μὴ καταλαβέτωσάν με, καὶ ψυχῇ ἀναιδεῖ μὴ παραδῷς με.