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Chapter 13

Caution Regarding Associates[a]

Touch pitch and you blacken your hand;
    associate with scoundrels and you learn their ways.
Do not lift a weight too heavy for you,
    or associate with anyone wealthier than you.
How can the clay pot go with the metal cauldron?
    When they knock together, the pot will be smashed:

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Footnotes

  1. 13:1–14:2 By means of various images, most of them unfavorable to the rich, Ben Sira indicates the practical impossibility of genuine and sincere companionship between the poor and the rich. He lays down a principle of associating with equals (13:6–19).