Sirach 21

1Three things I hated, and four I did not love.

2Flee from sin as from the face of a snake; for if you come near it, it will bite you.

3Like one who grasps a woman’s private parts and urinates, so is one who suddenly enters his neighbor’s house.

4All lawlessness is like a two-edged sword; for its wound there is no healing.

5The prayer of a poor man goes from his mouth to his ears, and his judgment comes quickly.

6One who hates reproof walks in the track of a sinner, but one who fears the Lord will turn back in his heart.

7A man mighty in tongue is known from afar, but one with understanding knows when he slips.

8He who builds his house with another’s money is like one gathering his stones for winter.

9An assembly of the lawless is like a bundle of tow, and their end is a flame of fire.

10The way of sinners is paved with stones, and at its end is the pit of Hades.

11Whoever keeps the law controls his understanding, and the fulfillment of the fear of the Lord is wisdom.

12He who is not shrewd will not be instructed;

13The knowledge of a wise man will increase like a flood, and his counsel is like a spring of life.

14The inward parts of a fool are like a broken vessel, and they will not hold any knowledge.

15If an intelligent man hears a wise word, he will praise it and add to it; a wasteful man heard it and rejected it, and he cast it behind his back.

16A fool’s explanation is like a burden on the road, but grace will be found on the lips of the prudent.

17The mouth of a wise man will be sought in the assembly, and they will ponder his words in their hearts.

18Wisdom to a fool is like a ruined house, and the knowledge of one without understanding is words that cannot be examined.

19Instruction is shackles on the feet of the senseless, and like handcuffs on the right hand.

20A fool raises his voice in laughter, but a shrewd man will scarcely smile quietly.

21Instruction is like a golden ornament to a prudent man, and like a bracelet on his right arm.

22A fool’s foot hurries to a house, but a man of schemes bows low before the great.

23A fool peers into a house from the doorway, but an honorable man will stand outside and speak.

24It is a man's lack of discipline to listen at a door, but a prudent man will be burdened by disgrace.

25The lips of strangers will be weighed down by these things, but the words of the wise will be set on a balance.

26In the mouth of fools is their heart, but the heart of the wise is their mouth.

27When the ungodly curses the Adversary, he curses his own soul.

28The whisperer defiles his own soul, and in the place where he lives he will be hated.