Sirach - Chapter 27

Passage

Through poverty many have sinned: and he that seeks to be enriched, turns away his eye. As a stake sticks fast in the midst of the joining of stones, so also in the midst of selling and buying, sin shall stick fast. Sin shall be destroyed with the sinner. Unless hold yourself diligently in the fear of the Lord, your house shall quickly be overthrown. As when one sifts with a sieve, the dust will remain: so will the perplexity of a man in his thoughts. The furnace tries the potter's vessels, and the trial of affliction just men. As the dressing of a tree shows the fruit thereof, so a word out of the thought of the heart of man. Praise not a man before he speaks, for this is the trial of men. If you follow justice, you shall obtain her: and shall put her on as a long robe of honor, and you shall dwell with her: and she shall protect you for ever, and in the day of acknowledgment you shall find a strong foundation. Birds resort to their like: so truth will return to them that practise her. The lion always lies in wait for prey: so do sins for them that work iniquities. A holy man continues in wisdom as the sun: but a fool is changed as the moon. In the midst of the unwise keep in the word till its time: but be continually among men that think. The discourse of sinners is hateful, and their laughter is at the pleasures of sin. The speech that swears much shall make the hair of the head stand upright: and its irreverence shall make one stop his ears. In the quarrels of the road is the shedding of blood: and their cursing is a grievous hearing. He that discloses the secret of a friend loses his credit, and shall never find a friend to his mind. Love your neighbor, and be joined to him with fidelity. But if you discover his secrets, follow no more after him. For as a man that destroys his friend, so is he that destroys the friendship of his neighbor. And as one that lets a bird go out of his hand, so have you let your neighbor go, and you shall not get him again. 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. You can no more bind him up. And of a curse there is reconciliation: But to disclose the secrets of a friend, leaves no hope to an unhappy soul. He that winks with the eye forges wicked things, and no one will cast him off: In the sight of your eyes he will sweeten his mouth, and will admire your words: but at the last he will writhe his mouth, and on your words he will lay a stumblingblock. I have hated many things but not like him, and the Lord will hate him. If one cast a stone on high, it will fall upon his own head: and the deceitful stroke will wound the deceitful. He that digs a pit, shall fall into it: and he that sets a stone for his neighbor, shall stumble upon it: and he that lays a snare for another, shall perish in it. A mischievous counsel shall be rolled back upon the author, and he shall not know from where it comes to him. Mockery and reproach are of the proud, and vengeance as a lion shall lie in wait for him. They shall perish in a snare that are delighted with the fall of the just: and sorrow shall consume them before they die. Anger and fury are both of them abominable, and the sinful man shall be subject to them.