Sirach 20 - Common English Bible (CEB)

On speech

20 There is a bad time
to rebuke someone.
Those who keep silent
are the prudent ones.
² How much better to investigate
than to be angry!
³ And those who confess openly
will be kept from loss.
⁴ Like eunuchs desiring to violate a girl,
so are those who make decisions
by force.
⁵ There are people who are silent
and are found to be wise,
and there are those who are hated
because they talk a lot.
⁶ There are those who keep silent
because they have nothing to say
in response,
and there are those who keep silent
because they know the right time.
⁷ Wise people keep silent
until the proper moment,
but those who swagger and are senseless will miss the right moment.
⁸ Those who talk excessively will be loathed,
and those who pretend
to have authority will be hated.^[a]

⁹ Some people have success
in bad circumstances,
and there’s a windfall that results
in loss.
¹⁰ There’s a gift that won’t profit you,
and there’s a gift that will bring
twice the return.
¹¹ There are losses suffered
for the sake of one’s reputation,
and there are people who have raised
their heads from humiliation.
¹² There are those who buy a lot for a little,
and they pay for it seven times over.
¹³ Wise people make themselves
dearly loved by means of words,^[b]
but fools pour out gifts.
¹⁴ Gifts from senseless people
won’t profit you,^[c]
because they look for a lot
rather than a little in return.^[d]
15 They will give a little and reproach a lot,
and they will open their mouths
like a town crier.
Today they will lend
and tomorrow ask for it back;
such people are hateful.
¹⁶ Fools say, “I don’t have a friend,
and there’s no gratitude
for my good deeds.”
Those who eat the bread of such people
have mean tongues.
¹⁷ How many will ridicule them,
and how often?^[e]

¹⁸ A slip on the pavement is preferable
to a slip of the tongue;
so the downfall of evil people
will come quickly.
¹⁹ A disagreeable person, an untimely story—
it will always be
in the mouth of the uneducated.
²⁰ Proverbs told by fools will be rejected,
because they’ll never tell them
at their proper time.

²¹ Some are prevented from sinning
because of poverty,
and their conscience won’t be pained
when they rest.
²² Some destroy their life through shame,
and they destroy it
because of foolish appearances.
²³ Some promise a favor to a friend
out of shame,
and they create an enemy for no reason.

²⁴ A lie is a bad blemish on a person;
ignorant people tell them incessantly.
²⁵ A thief is preferable to someone
who continuously lies,
but both will inherit destruction.
²⁶ The character of liars is dishonorable;
their shame is continuously
with them.

Proverbial sayingsl^[f]

²⁷ Wise people distinguish themselves
by their words,
and prudent people will please
the powerful.
²⁸ Those who work the soil
will pile up their harvest,
and those who please the powerful
will secure reconciliation for injuries.
²⁹ Friendly relationships and gifts
will blind the eyes of the wise;
like a muzzle on a mouth,
they turn away reproof.
³⁰ Hidden wisdom and unseen treasure—
of what benefit is either?
³¹ Better are those who hide
their foolishness
than those who hide their wisdom.^[g]

Footnotes

1. Sirach 20:8 LXX^b How good it is when someone who is reproved shows a changed heart and mind! In this way, you will escape sinning voluntarily.
2. Sirach 20:13 Heb a few things
3. Sirach 20:14 LXX^b adds and neither will the gift of a grudging person who’s forced to give.
4. Sirach 20:14 LXX for their eyes are many rather than one
5. Sirach 20:17 LXX^b adds They haven’t received what they have with real feeling, and what they don’t have is similarly indifferent to them.
6. Sirach 20:27 The title appears in Gk manuscripts.
7. Sirach 20:31 LXX^b adds 20:32 Better is unmovable endurance when seeking the Lord than a charioteer of one’s life that has no master.