The Book of Sirach (or Ecclesiasticus)
Chapter 27
1 – Through poverty many have sinned: and he that seeketh to be enriched, turneth away his eye.
2 – As a stake sticketh fast in the midst of the joining of stones, so also in the midst of selling and buying, sin shall stick fast.
3 – Sin shall be destroyed with the sinner.
4 – Unless thou hold thyself diligently in the fear of the Lord, thy house shall quickly be overthrown.
5 – As when one sifteth with a sieve, the dust will remain: so will the perplexity of a man in his thoughts.
6 – The furnace trieth the potter’s vessels, and the trial of affliction just men.
7 – Be the dressing of a tree sheweth the fruit thereof, so a word out of the thought of the heart of man.
8 – Praise not a man before he speaketh, for this is the trial of men.
9 – If thou followest justice, thou shalt obtain her: and shalt put her on as a long robe of honour, and thou shalt dwell with her: and she shall protect thee for ever, and in the day of acknowledgment thou shalt find a strong foundation.
10 – Birds resort unto their like: so truth will return to them that practise her.
11 – The lion always lieth in wait for prey: so do sine for them that work iniquities.
12 – A holy man continueth in wisdom as the sun: but a fool is changed as the moon.
13 – In the midst of the unwise keep in the word till its time: but be continually among men that think.
14 – The discourse of sinners is hateful, and their laughter is at the pleasures of sin.
15 – The speech that sweareth much shall make the hair of the head stand upright: and its irreverence shall make one stop his ears.
16 – Is the quarrels of the proud is the shedding of blood: and their cursing is a grievous hearing.
17 – He that discloseth the secret of a friend loseth his credit, and shall never find a friend to his mind.
18 – Love thy neighbour, and be joined to him with fidelity.
19 – But if thou discover his secrets, follow no more after him.
20 – For as a man that destroyeth his friend, so also is he that destroyeth the friendship of his neighbour.
21 – And as one that letteth a bird go out of his hand, so hast thou let thy neighbour go, and thou shalt not get him again.
22 – Follow after him no more, for he is gone afar off, he is fled, as a roe escaped out of the snare: because his soul is wounded.
23 – Thou canst no more bind him up. And of a curse there is reconciliation:
24 – But to disclose the secrets of a friend, leaveth no hope to an unhappy soul.
25 – He that winketh with the eye forgeth wicked things, and no man will cast him off:
26 – In the sight of thy eyes he will sweeten his mouth, and will admire thy words: but at the last he will writhe his mouth, and on thy words he will lay a stumblingblock.
27 – I have hated many things, but not like him, and the Lord will hate him.
28 – If one cast a stone on high, it will fall upon his own head: and the deceitful stroke will wound the deceitful.
29 – He that diggeth a pit, shall fall into it: and he that setteth a stone for his neighbour, shall stumble upon it: and he that layeth a snare for another, shall perish in it.
30 – A mischievous counsel shall be rolled back upon the author, and he shall not know from whence it cometh to him.
31 – Mockery and reproach are of the proud, and vengeance as a lion shall lie in wait for him.
32 – They shall perish in a snare that are delighted with the fall of the just: and sorrow shall consume them before they die.
33 – Anger and fury are both of them abominable, and the sinful man shall be subject to them.
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The Catholic Bible Online. Scriptures are from The Douay Rheims Catholic Bible 1582-1610 a.d. Version In the Public Domain. The Douay Rheims Bible is a translation of the Bible from the Latin Vulgate into English undertaken by members of the English College, Douai in the service of the Catholic Church.