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Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 19
Sir
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Chapter 19
1
Behave like that and you will never grow rich; he who despises trifles will sink down little by little.
2
Wine and women corrupt sensible men, the customer of whores loses all sense of shame.
3
Grubs and worms will have him as their legacy, and the man who knows no shame shall lose his life.
Against loose talk
4
Being too ready to trust shows shallowness of mind, by committing sin a man does wrong to himself.
5
Taking pleasure in evil earns condemnation,
6
by hating gossip a man avoids evil.
7
Never repeat what you are told and you will come to no harm;
8
whether to friend or foe, do not talk about it, unless it would be sinful not to, do not reveal it;
9
you would be heard out, then mistrusted, and in due course you would be hated.
10
Have you heard something? Let it die with you. Courage! It will not burst you!
11
A fool will suffer birthpangs over something told him, like a woman labouring with child.
12
Like an arrow stuck in the flesh of the thigh, such is a piece of news inside a fool.
Do not trust everything you hear
13
Question your friend, he may have done nothing at all, and if he has done anything, he will not do it again.
14
Question your neighbour, he may have said nothing at all, and if he has said anything, he will not say it again.
15
Question your friend, for slander is very common, do not believe all you hear.
16
A man sometimes makes a slip, without meaning what he says; and which of us has never sinned by speech?
17
Question your neighbour before you threaten him, and leave scope for the Law of the Most High.
True and false wisdom
20
Wisdom consists entirely in fearing the Lord, and wisdom is entirely constituted by the fulfilling of the Law.
22
But being learned in evil is not wisdom, and there is no shrewd judgement in the advice of sinners.
23
There is a cleverness that is foul, he who does not have wisdom is a fool.
24
Better be short of sense and full of fear, than abound in shrewdness and violate the Law.
25
There is an adroit sort of cleverness promoting injustice, there is the man who will abuse favours to establish his case.
26
There is the man who will walk bowed down with grief, when inwardly this is nothing but deceit:
27
he hides his face and pretends to be deaf, and when you are off your guard he takes advantage of you.
28
This man may think he lacks the power to sin, but he will do wrong when he gets the chance.
29
You can tell a man by his appearance, you can tell a thinking man by the look on his face.
30
A man’s dress tells you what he does, and a man’s walk tells you what he is.
Chapters of Ecclesiasticus (Sirach)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
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