Sirach 10:7-18

Revised Standard Version

⁷ Arrogance is hateful before the Lord and before men,
    and injustice is outrageous to both.
⁸ Sovereignty passes from nation to nation
    on account of injustice and insolence and wealth.
⁹ How can he who is dust and ashes be proud?
    for even in life his bowels decay.^[a]
10 A long illness baffles the physician;^[b]
    the king of today will die tomorrow.
¹¹ For when a man is dead,
    he will inherit creeping things, and wild beasts, and worms.
¹² The beginning of man’s pride is to depart from the Lord;
    his heart has forsaken his Maker.
¹³ For the beginning of pride is sin,
    and the man who clings to it pours out abominations.
Therefore the Lord brought upon them extraordinary afflictions,
    and destroyed them utterly.
¹⁴ The Lord has cast down the thrones of rulers,
    and has seated the lowly in their place.
¹⁵ The Lord has plucked up the roots of the nations,^[c]
    and has planted the humble in their place.
¹⁶ The Lord has overthrown the lands of the nations,
    and has destroyed them to the foundations of the earth.
¹⁷ He has removed some of them and destroyed them,
    and has extinguished the memory of them from the earth.
¹⁸ Pride was not created for men,
    nor fierce anger for those born of women.