Trust not you in their life, neither respect their multitude: for one that is just is better than a thousand; and better it is to die without children, than to have them that are ungodly.
All Commentaries on Wisdom of Sirach 16:3 Go To Wisdom of Sirach 16
John Chrysostom
AD 407
"O that my head were water, and my eyes a fountain of tears!" It is seasonable for me to utter these words now, yes, much more than for the prophet in his time. For although I am not about to mourn over many cities or whole nations, yet shall I mourn over a soul that is of equal value with many such nations, yes, even more precious. For if one person who does the will of God is better than ten thousand transgressors, then you were formerly better than ten thousand Jews. This is why no one would now blame me if I were to compose more lamentations than those that are contained in the prophet and to utter complaints yet more vehement. For it is not the overthrow of a city that I mourn, or the captivity of wicked people, but the desolation of a sacred soul, the destruction and effacement of a Christ-bearing temple.
