Sirach 27:30-28:7

"Forgive your neighbor any wrongs. For if someone nurses anger against another, how can they then ask for healing from God?"

Sirach, sometimes called "Ecclesiasticus" or "The Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach," was part of the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible read by Paul and the Greek-speaking church as "scripture." Therefore, it was included in the Old Testament that the church of the Roman Empire approved in the fourth century. But Protestant reformers in the sixteenth century translated the Old Testament from the Hebrew canon, which was established by rabbis at the beginning of the second century and does not include Sirach.  This is the reason why Sirach is not in Protestant Bibles, but is in every Catholic Bible.

The author of this book, we are told in the text, was a teacher in Jerusalem who wrote in Hebrew around 180 BCE. About fifty years later the author's grandson translated the book into Greek. The book of Sirach is similar in content to Proverbs for it is full of instruction on ethical and religious practices for young men. Although Protestants do not read Sirach as scripture, it seems likely that Jesus and Paul were well aware of this teaching.

Grace and peace...Bob