Ecclesiasticus 27

¹Through poverty many have offended: and he that seeketh to be made rich, turneth away his eye.

²As a stake is fastened in the midst of stones compact together, so also in the midst of selling and buying, sin shall be straitened.

³Sin shall be destroyed with the sinner.

⁴If thou hold not thyself instantly in the fear of our Lord, thy house shall quickly be subverted.

⁵As in the shaking of a sieve the dust will remain: so the perplexity of a man in his cogitation.

⁶The furnace trieth the potter's vessels, and the tentation of tribulation just men.

⁷As the husbandry about a tree sheweth the fruit thereof, so a word out of the thought of the heart of man.

⁸Praise not a man before full discourse, for this is the trial of men.

⁹If thou follow justice, thou shalt apprehend it: and shalt put it on as a long robe of honour, and thou shalt dwell with it: and it shall protect thee for ever, and in the day of acknowledging thou shalt find steadfastness.

¹⁰The fowls flock together to their like: and truth shall return to them that work it.

¹¹The lion always lieth in wait for a prey: so sins for them that work iniquities.

¹²A holy man continueth in wisdom as the sun: for a fool is changed as the moon.

¹³In the midst of the unwise keep the word till his time: but in the midst of deep considerers be continually.

¹⁴The narration of sinners is odious, & their laughter is in the delights of sin.

¹⁵Speech that sweareth much shall make the hair of the head to stand upright: and his lack of reverence is the stopping of the ears.

¹⁶Shedding of blood is in the brawling of the proud: and their cursing is a grievous hearing.

¹⁷He that discloseth the secret of a friend loseth credit, and he shall not find a friend to his mind.

¹⁸Love thy neighbour, and be joined with him in fidelity.

¹⁹But if thou discover his secrets, thou shalt not pursue after him.

²⁰For as a man that loseth his friend, so also he that loseth the friendship of his neighbour.

²¹And as he that letteth a bird go out of his hand, so hast thou left thy neighbour, & shalt not take him.

²²Follow him not, because he is far absent, for he is fled, as a doe out of the snare: because his soul is wounded.

²³Thou canst no more bind him, and of a curse there is reconciliation:

²⁴but to disclose the secrets of a friend, is the desperation of an unhappy soul.

²⁵He that winketh with the eye, forgeth wicked things, and no man will cast him off:

²⁶in the sight of thine eyes he will sweeten his mouth, and will be in admiration upon thy words: but at the last he will pervert his mouth, and in thy words he will lay a scandal.

²⁷I have heard many things, & have not esteemed them equal to him, and our Lord will hate him.

²⁸He that casteth a stone on high, it will fall upon his head: & the deceitful stroke will divide the wounds of the deceitful.

²⁹He that diggeth a pit, shall fall into it: and he that setteth a stone for his neighbour, shall stumble on it: & he that layeth a snare for another, shall perish in it.

³⁰To a man that doth most wicked counsel, it shall be turned upon himself, and he shall not know from whence it cometh to him.

³¹Derision & reproach of the proud, and vengeance as a lion shall lie in wait for him.

³²They shall perish in a snare that are delighted with the fall of the just: and sorrow shall consume them before they die.

³³Anger and fury, both are execrable, and the sinful man shall be subject to them.