Sirach 42

1 Be ashamed of repeating what you have heard and of revealing confidential words. Then you will show true shame and find favor before everyone. But do not be ashamed of the following things, and do not show partiality in a way that leads you to sin: 2 the law of the Most High and his covenant, and a judgment that vindicates an ungodly person; 3 settling accounts with a partner or traveling companion, and distributing an inheritance among friends; 4 accuracy in scales and weights, and gaining much or little; 5 fair dealing in merchants’ sales, strict discipline of children, and drawing blood from the side of a wicked household servant. 6 A seal is good when there is a wicked wife, and where many hands are present, lock things up. 7 Whatever you hand over, do it by number and weight, and put everything you give or receive in writing. 8 Do not be ashamed to instruct the senseless or foolish, or someone extremely old who disputes with the young. Then you will be truly instructed and approved before everyone alive.

9 A daughter is a father’s secret cause of sleeplessness, and concern for her drives away sleep: when she is young, that she may pass the prime of her youth, and when married, that she may be hated; 10 while she is a virgin, that she may be defiled and become pregnant in her father’s house; when she has a husband, that she may be unfaithful; and when married, that she may be unable to have children. 11 Keep a strict watch over a shameless daughter so that she does not make you a laughingstock to your enemies, a subject of talk in the city, a public reproach, and a source of shame before a great crowd. 12 Do not gaze at anyone’s beauty, and do not sit among women. 13 A moth comes from clothing, and a woman’s wickedness comes from a woman. 14 A man’s wickedness is better than a woman who does good, and a woman who causes shame brings reproach.