Sirach · Catholic Public Domain Version
Sirach 12 Catholic Public Domain Version
Notes on this text (3)
- Esther and Daniel are the Vulgate books (Esther 1–16 with the Greek additions as chapters 10:4–16; Daniel 1–14 with the Song of the Three, Susanna and Bel). Baruch 6 is the Letter of Jeremiah.
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- No imprimatur; single translator.
1 If you do good, know to whom you do it, and there will be many thanks for your good deeds.
1 If you do good, know to whom you do it, and your good deeds will have thanks.
2 Do good to the just, and you will find great recompense, and if not from him, certainly from the Lord.
2 Do good to a godly man, and you will find a reward— if not from him, then from the Most High.
3 For there is no good for someone who is always occupied in evil, or who does not give alms. For the Most High holds hatred for sinners, but he takes pity on the repentant.
3 No good will come to him who continues to do evil, nor to him who gives no alms.
4 Give to the merciful, and you should not assist the sinner. For the impious and the sinner will be repaid with the vengeance being held for them on the day of retribution.
4 Give to the godly man, and don’t help the sinner.
5 Give to the good, but you should not receive from a sinner.
5 Do good to one who is lowly. Don’t give to an ungodly man. Keep back his bread, and don’t give it to him, lest he subdue you with it; for you would receive twice as much evil for all the good you would have done to him.
6 Do good to the humble, but you should not give to the impious; withhold your bread, do not give it to him, otherwise he may overpower you with it.
6 For the Most High also hates sinners, and will repay vengeance to the ungodly.
7 For you will find twice the evil for all the good you will have done to him. For the Most High also holds hatred for sinners, and he will repay vengeance to the impious.
7 Give to the good man, and don’t help the sinner.
8 A friend will not be known in good times, and an enemy will not be hidden in adversity.
8 A man’s friend won’t be fully tried in prosperity. His enemy won’t be hidden in adversity.
9 By the good fortune of a man, his enemies are grieved; and by his misfortune, a friend is revealed.
9 In a man’s prosperity, his enemies are grieved. In his adversity, even his friend leaves.
10 You should never trust your enemy. For his wickedness rusts like a brass pot.
10 Never trust your enemy, for his wickedness is like corrosion in copper.
11 And if he humbles himself and goes about bowed down, increase your alertness and guard yourself from him.
11 Though he humbles himself and walks bowed down, still be careful and beware of him. You will be to him as one who has wiped a mirror, to be sure it doesn’t completely tarnish.
12 You should not sit down anywhere near him, nor should you allow him to sit at your right hand, lest perhaps he may turn toward your place, and seek your seat, and then, in the very end, you would understand my words and be stung by my sermon.
12 Don’t set him next to you, lest he overthrow you and stand in your place. Don’t let him sit on your right hand, lest he seek to take your seat, and at the last you acknowledge my words, and be pricked with my sayings.
13 Who will take pity on an enchanter struck by a serpent, or on someone who draws near to wild beasts? And so it is with one who keeps company with an iniquitous man and is involved in his sins.
13 Who will pity a charmer that is bitten by a snake, or any who come near wild beasts?
14 For one hour, he will abide with you. But if you begin to turn aside, he will not permit it.
14 Even so, who will pity him who goes to a sinner, and is associated with him in his sins?
15 An enemy speaks sweetly with his lips, but in his heart, he waits in ambush, so that he may throw you into a pit.
15 For a while he will stay with you, and if you falter, he will not stay.
16 An enemy has tears in his eyes. But if he finds an opportunity, he will not be satisfied with blood.
16 The enemy will speak sweetly with his lips, and in his heart plan to throw you into a pit. The enemy may weep with his eyes, but if he finds opportunity, he will want more blood.
17 And if misfortunes happen upon you, you will find him there first.
17 If adversity meets you, you will find him there before you. Pretending to help you, he will trip you.
18 An enemy has tears in his eyes, but while pretending to help you, he will dig under your feet.
18 He will shake his head, clap his hands, whisper much, and change his countenance.
19 He will shake his head, and clap his hands, and whisper much, and change his expression.
19 Not in this translation
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
It is written: "Give to the godly man, and help not a sinner." The latter clause of this sentence seems to forbid benevolence; for it says, "help not a sinner." Understand, therefore, that "sinner" is put figuratively for sin, so that it is his sin you are not to help.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)
"But who," it is said, "will pity a charmer that is bitten with a serpent?" For we ought, knowing its cruel tyranny, to flee that slavery, and destroy that grievous longing.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)
"Help not a sinner:" and, "give not to the ungodly;" and yet, "give unto every man that asketh of thee." But it is a sinner who asketh of me.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)