Sirach 21

1 My child, have you sinned? Do not do it again, but pray about your former sins.

2 Flee from sin as from a snake. If you approach it, it will bite you; its teeth are lion’s teeth that destroy human lives.

3 All lawlessness is like a double-edged sword; its wound cannot be healed.

4 Terror and insolence devastate wealth; in the same way, a proud person’s house will be made desolate.

5 A poor person’s plea rises from his mouth to God’s ears, and judgment for him comes quickly.

6 Whoever hates correction follows a sinner’s path, but whoever fears the Lord will turn back in his heart.

7 Someone powerful in speech is known from far away, but an understanding person recognizes when he slips.

8 Whoever builds his house with another person’s money is like someone gathering his stones for winter.

9 An assembly of lawless people is like bundled flax, and their end is a flame of fire.

10 The road of sinners is paved smooth with stones, but at its end is the pit of Hades.

11 Whoever keeps the law grasps its meaning, and the fulfillment of the fear of the Lord is wisdom.

12 Someone who is not shrewd cannot be instructed, yet some kinds of cunning multiply bitterness.

13 A wise person’s knowledge will overflow like a flood, and his counsel is like a spring of life.

14 A fool’s inner being is like a broken vessel and cannot retain any knowledge.

15 When a knowledgeable person hears a wise saying, he praises it and adds to it. A self-indulgent person hears it, dislikes it, and throws it behind his back.

16 A fool’s explanation is like a burden on the road, but favor is found on the lips of the understanding.

17 The assembly seeks the words of a person with good sense, and people reflect on his words in their hearts.

18 Wisdom is like a ruined house to a fool, and the knowledge of someone without understanding is a mass of incoherent words.

19 Instruction is like shackles on a fool’s feet and like handcuffs on his right hand.

20 A fool raises his voice when laughing, but a shrewd man barely smiles in silence.

21 Instruction is like a gold ornament to someone with good sense and like a bracelet on his right arm.

22 A fool’s foot rushes into a house, but an experienced person hangs back, abashed.

23 A fool peers into a house from the doorway, but an instructed man waits outside.

24 Listening beside a door shows a person’s lack of instruction, and a person with good sense is distressed by the disgrace.

25 The lips of strangers recount such things, but the words of people with good sense are weighed on a balance.

26 The hearts of fools are in their mouths, but the mouths of the wise are in their hearts.

27 When an ungodly person curses Satan, he curses his own soul.

28 A whisperer defiles his own soul and is hated wherever he lives.