Sirach 9

Be not jealous over ^athe wife of thy bosom,

And teach her not an evil lesson against thyself.

²Give not thy soul unto a woman

To set her foot upon thy ^bsubstance.

^3cMeet not with a harlot,

Lest thou fall into her snares.

⁴Use not much the company of a woman that is a singer,

Lest thou be taken with her attempts. ^5dGaze not on a maid,

^eThat thou fall not by ^fthose things that are precious in her.

⁶Give not thy soul unto harlots,

That thou lose not thine inheritance.

⁷Look not round about thee in the streets of the city,

Neither wander thou in the solitary places thereof.

⁸Turn away thine eye from a beautiful woman,

And look not upon another’s beauty;

For ^gmany have been ^hdeceived by the beauty of a woman;

For herewith ⁱlove is kindled as a fire.

⁹Sit not at all with ^janother man’s wife,

Nor sit down with her in thine arms,

And spend not thy money with her at the wine;

Lest thine heart incline unto her,

And so through thy desire thou fall into destruction.

¹⁰Forsake not an old friend;

For the new is not comparable to him:

A new friend is as new wine;

^kWhen it is old, thou shalt drink it with pleasure.

^11lEnvy not the glory of a sinner:

For thou knowest not what shall be his ^mend.

¹²ⁿDelight not in the thing that the ungodly have pleasure in;

But remember they shall not go unpunished unto their grave.

¹³Keep thee far from the man that hath power to kill;

So shalt thou not doubt the fear of death:

And if thou come unto him, make no fault,

Lest he take away thy life presently:

Remember that thou goest in the midst of snares,

And that thou walkest upon the battlements of the city.

¹⁴As near as thou canst, guess at thy neighbour,

And ^oconsult with the wise.

¹⁵Let thy talk be with the wise,

And ^pall thy communication in the law of the most High.

¹⁶And let just men eat and drink with thee;

And let thy glorying be in the fear of the Lord.

¹⁷For the hand of the artificer the work shall be commended:

And the wise ruler of the people for his speech.

¹⁸A man ^qof an ill tongue is dangerous in his city;

And he that is rash in his talk shall be hated.

X.