Sirach 19

¹ A drunken workman wil never grow rich, and one who makes light of small matters will gradual y sink.

² Wine and women corrupt intel igent men, the customer of whores loses al sense of shame.

³ Grubs and worms wil have him as their legacy, and the man who knows no shame will lose his life.

⁴ Being too ready to trust shows shal owness of mind, and sinning harms the sinner.

⁵ Taking pleasure in evil earns condemnation;

⁶ by hating gossip one avoids evil.

⁷ Never repeat what you are told and you wil 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 wil not burst you!

¹¹ A fool wil suffer birthpangs over a piece of news, like a woman labouring with child.

¹² Like an arrow stuck in the flesh of the thigh, so is a piece of news inside a fool.

¹³ Question your friend, he may have done nothing at al ; and if he has done anything, he wil not do itagain.

¹⁴ Question your neighbour, he may have said nothing at al ; and if he has said anything, he wil not sayit again.

¹⁵ Question your friend, for slander is very common, do not believe al you hear.

¹⁶ People sometimes make a slip, without meaning what they say; and which of us has never sinned byspeech?

¹⁷ Question your neighbour before you threaten him, and defer to the Law of the Most High.

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²⁰ Wisdom consists entirely in fearing the Lord, and wisdom is entirely constituted by the fulfil ing of theLaw.

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²² Being learned in evil, however, is not wisdom, there is no prudence in the advice of sinners.

²³ There is a cleverness that is detestable; whoever has no wisdom is a fool.

²⁴ Better be short of sense and ful of fear, than abound in shrewdness and violate the Law.

²⁵ There is a wickedness which is scrupulous but nonetheless dishonest, and there are those whomisuse kindness to win their case.

²⁶ There is the person who wil walk bowed down with grief, when inwardly this is nothing but deceit:

²⁷ he hides his face and pretends to be deaf, if he is not unmasked, he wil take advantage of you.

²⁸ There is the person who is prevented from sinning by lack of strength, yet he wil do wrong when hegets the chance.

²⁹ You can tel a person by his appearance, you can tell a thinker by the look on his face.

³⁰ The way a person dresses, the way he laughs, the way he walks, tel you what he is.