Sirach

¹ Through poverty many have sinned: and he that seeketh to be enriched, turneth away his eye.

² As a stake sticketh fast in the midst of the joining of stones, so also in the midst of selling and buying, sin shall stick fast.

³ Sin shall be destroyed with the sinner.

⁴ Unless thou hold thyself diligently in the fear of the Lord, thy house shall quickly be overthrown.

⁵ As when one sifteth with a sieve, the dust will remain: so will the perplexity of a man in his thoughts.

⁶ The furnace trieth the potter’s vessels, and the trial of affliction just men.

⁷ Be the dressing of a tree sheweth the fruit thereof, so a word out of the thought of the heart of man.

⁸ Praise not a man before he speaketh, for this is the trial of men.

⁹ If thou followest justice, thou shalt obtain her: and shalt put her on as a long robe of honour, and thou shalt dwell with her: and she shall protect thee for ever, and in the day of acknowledgment thou shalt find a strong foundation.

¹⁰ Birds resort unto their like: so truth will return to them that practise her.

¹¹ The lion always lieth in wait for prey: so do sins for them that work iniquities.

¹² A holy man continueth in wisdom as the sun: but a fool is changed as the moon.

¹³ In the midst of the unwise keep in the word till its time: but be continually among men that think.

¹⁴ The discourse of sinners is hateful, and their laughter is at the pleasures of sin.

¹⁵ The speech that sweareth much shall make the hair of the head stand upright: and its irreverence shall make one stop his ears.

¹⁶ Is the quarrels of the proud is the shedding of blood: and their cursing is a grievous hearing.

¹⁷ He that discloseth the secret of a friend loseth his credit, and shall never find a friend to his mind.

¹⁸ Love thy neighbour, and be joined to him with fidelity.

¹⁹ But if thou discover his secrets, follow no more after him.

²⁰ For as a man that destroyeth his friend, so also is he that destroyeth the friendship of his neighbour.

²¹ And as one that letteth a bird go out of his hand, so hast thou let thy neighbour go, and thou shalt not get him again.

²² Follow after him no more, for he is gone afar off, he is fled, as a roe escaped out of the snare: because his soul is wounded.

²³ Thou canst no more bind him up. And of a curse there is reconciliation:

²⁴ But to disclose the secrets of a friend, leaveth no hope to an unhappy soul.

²⁵ He that winketh with the eye forgeth wicked things, and no man will cast him off:

²⁶ In the sight of thy eyes he will sweeten his mouth, and will admire thy words: but at the last he will writhe his mouth, and on thy words he will lay a stumblingblock.

²⁷ I have hated many things, but not like him, and the Lord will hate him.

²⁸ If one cast a stone on high, it will fall upon his own head: and the deceitful stroke will wound the deceitful.

²⁹ He that diggeth a pit, shall fall into it: and he that setteth a stone for his neighbour, shall stumble upon it: and he that layeth a snare for another, shall perish in it.

³⁰ A mischievous counsel shall be rolled back upon the author, and he shall not know from whence it cometh to him.

³¹ Mockery and reproach are of the proud, and vengeance as a lion shall lie in wait for him.

³² They shall perish in a snare that are delighted with the fall of the just: and sorrow shall consume them before they die.

³³ Anger and fury are both of them abominable, and the sinful man shall be subject to them.