Sirach 13–14

Chapter 13

¹Whoever touches pitch will be defiled,

and whoever associates with a proud man will become like him.

²Do not lift a weight beyond your strength,

nor associate with a man mightier and richer than you.

How can the clay pot associate with the iron kettle?

The pot will strike against it, and will itself be broken.

³A rich man does wrong, and he even adds reproaches;

a poor man suffers wrong, and he must add apologies.

⁴A rich man will exploit you if you can be of use to him,

but if you are in need he will forsake you.

⁵If you own something, he will live with you;

he will drain your resources and he will not care.

⁶When he needs you he will deceive you,

he will smile at you and give you hope.

He will speak to you kindly and say, “What do you need?”

⁷He will shame you with his foods,

until he has drained you two or three times;

and finally he will deride you.

Should he see you afterwards, he will forsake you,

and shake his head at you.

⁸Take care not to be led astray,

and not to be humiliated in your feasting.

⁹When a powerful man invites you, be reserved;

and he will invite you the more often.

¹⁰Do not push forward, lest you be repulsed;

and do not remain at a distance, lest you be forgotten.

¹¹Do not try to treat him as an equal,

nor trust his abundance of words;

for he will test you through much talk,

and while he smiles he will be examining you.

¹²Cruel is he who does not keep words to himself;

he will not hesitate to injure or to imprison.

¹³Keep words to yourself and be very watchful,

for you are walking about with your own downfall.

¹⁵Every creature loves its like,

and every person his neighbor;

¹⁶all living beings associate by species,

and a man clings to one like himself.

¹⁷What fellowship has a wolf with a lamb?

No more has a sinner with a godly man.

¹⁸What peace is there between a hyena and a dog?

And what peace between a rich man and a poor man?

¹⁹Wild asses in the wilderness are the prey of lions;

likewise the poor are pastures for the rich.

²⁰Humility is an abomination to a proud man;

likewise a poor man is an abomination to a rich one.

²¹When a rich man totters, he is steadied by friends,

but when a humble man falls, he is even pushed away by friends.

²²If a rich man slips, his helpers are many;

he speaks unseemly words, and they justify him.

If a humble man slips, they even reproach him;

he speaks sensibly, and receives no attention.

²³When the rich man speaks all are silent,

and they extol to the clouds what he says.

When the poor man speaks they say, “Who is this fellow?”

And should he stumble, they even push him down.

²⁴Riches are good if they are free from sin,

and poverty is evil in the opinion of the ungodly.

²⁵A man’s heart changes his countenance,

either for good or for evil.

²⁶The mark of a happy heart is a cheerful face,

but to devise proverbs requires painful thinking.

Chapter 14

¹Blessed is the man who does not blunder with his lips

and need not suffer grief for sin.

²Blessed is he whose heart does not condemn him,

and who has not given up his hope.

³Riches are not seemly for a stingy man;

and of what use is property to an envious man?

⁴Whoever accumulates by depriving himself, accumulates for others;

and others will live in luxury on his goods.

⁵If a man is mean to himself, to whom will he be generous?

He will not enjoy his own riches.

⁶No one is meaner than the man who is grudging to himself,

and this is the retribution for his baseness;

⁷even if he does good, he does it unintentionally,

and betrays his baseness in the end.

⁸Evil is the man with a grudging eye;

he averts his face and disregards people.

⁹A greedy man’s eye is not satisfied with a portion,

and mean injustice withers the soul.

¹⁰A stingy man’s eye begrudges bread,

and it is lacking at his table.

¹¹My son, treat yourself well, according to your means,

and present worthy offerings to the Lord.

¹²Remember that death will not delay,

and the decree of Hades has not been shown to you.

¹³Do good to a friend before you die,

and reach out and give to him as much as you can.

¹⁴Do not deprive yourself of a happy day;

let not your share of desired good pass by you.

¹⁵Will you not leave the fruit of your labors to another,

and what you acquired by toil to be divided by lot?

¹⁶Give, and take, and beguile yourself,

because in Hades one cannot look for luxury.

¹⁷All living beings become old like a garment,

for the decree from of old is, “You must surely die!”

¹⁸Like flourishing leaves on a spreading tree

which sheds some and puts forth others,

so are the generations of flesh and blood:

one dies and another is born.

¹⁹Every product decays and ceases to exist,

and the man who made it will pass away with it.

²⁰Blessed is the man who meditates on wisdom

and who reasons intelligently.

²¹He who reflects in his mind on her ways

will also ponder her secrets.

²²Pursue wisdom like a hunter,

and lie in wait on her paths.

²³He who peers through her windows

will also listen at her doors;

²⁴he who encamps near her house

will also fasten his tent peg to her walls;

²⁵he will pitch his tent near her,

and will lodge in an excellent lodging place;

²⁶he will place his children under her shelter,

and will camp under her boughs;

²⁷he will be sheltered by her from the heat,

and will dwell in the midst of her glory.