Sirach 27

¹ Because of need, many have sinned. And whoever seeks to be enriched, averts his eye.

² Like a post fixed in the middle of adjoining stones, so also will sin become wedged between selling and buying.

³ Sin will be crushed with the one who sins.

⁴ If you do not hold yourself steadfastly to the fear of the Lord, your house will be quickly overthrown.

⁵ Just as the dust remains when one shakes a sieve, so will the doubt of a man remain in his thoughts.

⁶ The furnace tests the potter’s vessels, and the trial of the tribulation tests just men.

⁷ As the pruning of a tree reveals its fruit, so does a word reveal the thoughts in the heart of a man.

⁸ You should not praise a man before he speaks; for such is the testing of men.

⁹ If you pursue justice, you will obtain it. And you will be clothed with justice, as with a long robe of honor. And you will live with justice. And justice will protect you continually. And on the day of reckoning, you will find a strong foundation.

¹⁰ Birds flock to their own kind. And truth will return to those who practice it.

¹¹ The lion lies in wait for its prey continually. So also do sins lie in wait for those who work iniquity.

¹² A holy man persists in wisdom like the sun. But a senseless man changes like the moon.

¹³ In the midst of the senseless, retain a word for the proper time. But be continually in the midst those who are thoughtful.

¹⁴ The discussions of sinners are hateful, and their laughter is a delight in sin.

¹⁵ The speech that swears many oaths will cause the hair of the head to stand upright; and its irreverence will cause the ears to be blocked.

¹⁶ The shedding of blood is in the quarrels of the arrogant; and their evil talk is grievous to hear.

¹⁷ Whoever discloses the secret of a friend breaks faith; and he will not find a friend for his soul.

¹⁸ Love your neighbor, and be united with him faithfully.

¹⁹ But if you disclose his secrets, you should not continue to follow after him.

²⁰ For like a man who destroys his friend, so also is he who destroys the friendship of his neighbor.

²¹ And like someone releasing a bird from his hand, so have you abandoned your neighbor, and you will not obtain him again.

²² You should no longer seek him, for he is now far away; he has fled like a roe-deer from a snare. For his soul has been wounded.

²³ You will no longer be able to bind his wound. For there may be a reconciliation from cursing.

²⁴ But to disclose the secrets of a friend is the hopeless act of an unhappy soul.

²⁵ One who winks with the eye fabricates iniquity, and no one will cast him aside.

²⁶ In the sight of your eyes, he will sweeten his mouth, and he will admire your talk. But at the very end, he will pervert his mouth, and he will offer a scandal from your own words.

²⁷ I have hated many things, but I have not done as he has done, and the Lord will hate him.

²⁸ Whoever throws a stone straight up will find that it falls on his own head. And a deceitful wound will return to wound the deceitful.

²⁹ And whoever digs a pit will fall into it. And whoever positions a stone against his neighbor will stumble over it. And whoever lays a trap for another will perish by it.

³⁰ Whoever sets in motion a wicked plan will find that it rolls back over him, and he will not know from which direction it will arrive.

³¹ Mockery and derision are of the arrogant, and vengeance will lie in wait for them, like a lion.

³² Whoever enjoys the fall of the just will perish in a snare, and grief will consume them before they die.

³³ Anger and fury are both abominable, and the sinful man will be held by them.