Sirach

¹A wise judge will instruct his people. The government of a man of understanding will be well ordered. ²As is the judge of his people, so are his officials. As the city’s ruler is, so are all those who dwell in it. ³An undisciplined king will destroy his people. A city will be established through the understanding of the powerful. ⁴The government of the earth is in the Lord’s hand. In due time, he will raise up over it the right person at the right time. ⁵A man’s prosperity is in the Lord’s hand. He will lay his honor upon the person of the scribe. ⁶Don’t be angry with your neighbor for every wrong. Do nothing by works of violence. ⁷Pride is hateful before the Lord and men. Arrogance is abhorrent in the judgment of both. ⁸Sovereignty is transferred from nation to nation because of injustice, violence, and greed for money. ⁹Why are dirt and ashes proud? Because in life, my body decays. ¹⁰A long disease mocks the physician. The king of today will die tomorrow. ¹¹For when a man is dead, he will inherit maggots, vermin, and worms. ¹²It is the beginning of pride when a man departs from the Lord. His heart has departed from him who made him. ¹³For the beginning of pride is sin. He who keeps it will pour out abomination. For this cause the Lord brought upon them strange calamities and utterly overthrew them. ¹⁴The Lord cast down the thrones of rulers and set the lowly in their place. ¹⁵The Lord plucked up the roots of nations and planted the lowly in their place. ¹⁶The Lord overthrew the lands of nations and destroyed them to the foundations of the earth. ¹⁷He took some of them away and destroyed them, and made their memory to cease from the earth. ¹⁸Pride has not been created for men, nor wrathful anger for the offspring of women.

¹⁹Whose offspring has honor? Human offspring who fear the Lord. Whose offspring has no honor? Human offspring who break the commandments. ²⁰In the midst of kindred he who rules them has honor. Those who fear the Lord have honor in his eyes. ²²The rich man, the honorable, and the poor all glory in the fear of the Lord. ²³It is not right to dishonor a poor man who has understanding. It is not fitting to glorify a man who is a sinner. ²⁴The prince, the judge, and the mighty man will be honored. There is not one of them greater than he who fears the Lord. ²⁵Free men will minister to a wise servant. A man who has knowledge will not complain.

²⁶Don’t flaunt your wisdom in doing your work. Don’t boast in the time of your distress. ²⁷Better is he who labors and abounds in all things, than he who boasts and lacks bread. ²⁸My son, glorify your soul in humility, and ascribe to yourself honor according to your worthiness. ²⁹Who will justify him who sins against his own soul? Who will honor him who dishonors his own life? ³⁰A poor man is honored for his knowledge. A rich man is honored for his riches. ³¹But he who is honored in poverty, how much more in riches? He who is dishonored in riches, how much more in poverty?