Ben Sira - chapter 16

16: 1 - 14, 17 - 30 (Translated by Edgar Goodspeed)
Do not desire a multitude of unprofitable children, nor delight in ungodly sons.  If they multiply, do not rejoice in them, unless the fear of the Lord is with them.  Do not put your trust in their lives, and do not rely on their number; for one is better than a thousand, and to die childless than to have children that are ungodly.  For from one person of understanding, a city will be peopled, but a tribe of outlaws will be destroyed. 
Many such things my eyes have seen, and mightier things than these my ears have heard.  In a gathering of sinners a fire is kindled, and in a disobedient nation wrath burns.  The Lord did not forgive the giants of old (Genesis 6:4) who rebelled in their strength; He did not spare the people among whom Lot was living, whom He detested for their pride.  The Lord did not have mercy on the doomed nation, who were dispossessed for their sins; or on the 600,000 foot soldiers who gathered against Him in their obstinacy.  Why, if there is one stiff-necked man, it is a wonder if he goes unpunished; for both mercy and wrath are with the Lord.  He is mighty in forgiveness, and yet pours out his wrath; great is His mercy, so great is his chastisement also; He will judge a person by his doings.  A sinner will not escape with his booty, and the steadfastness of the godly will not be disappointed.  He will make room for all mercy. Yet what everyone receives will be governed by one's deeds. (Verse 17 picks up here). Do not say, "I will be hidden from the Lord, and on high who will remember me?  Among so many people I will not be noticed, and what is my soul in a boundless creation?  Behold the heaven and the heaven of heavens, the abyss and the earth shake when He inspects them; yes, the mountains and the foundations of the earth shake and tremble when he looks at them.  No mind can think about them, and who can grasp His ways?  There are hurricanes which one sees, and the most of His doings are done in secret.  Who can declare His upright deeds, or who can endure them?  For His agreement/decree is far from me."  Someone who is wanting in understanding thinks in this way, and a senseless, misguided person has these foolish thoughts.  Listen to me, my child, and receive instruction, and apply your mind to what I say; I will disclose instruction by weight, and declare knowledge with exactness.  When the Lord created His works in the beginning, He organized his works in a system forever, and their divisions for all their generations.  They do not grow hungry or tired, and they do not stop working.  None of them crowds his neighbor aside, and they never disobey his command.  After that, the Lord looked at the earth, and filled it with His blessings.  He covered the face of it with every living creature, and to it they return.