Sirach 10:6-18
New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition
The Sin of Pride
6 Do not get angry with your neighbor for every injury,
and do not resort to acts of insolence.
7 Arrogance is hateful to the Lord and to mortals,
and injustice is outrageous to both.
8 Sovereignty passes from nation to nation
on account of injustice and insolence and wealth.[a]
9 How can dust and ashes be proud?
Even in life the human body decays.[b]
10 A long illness baffles the physician;[c]
the king of today will die tomorrow.
11 For when one is dead
he inherits maggots and vermin[d] and worms.
12 The beginning of human pride is to forsake the Lord;
the heart has withdrawn from its Maker.
13 For the beginning of pride is sin,
and the one who clings to it pours out abominations.
Therefore the Lord brings upon them unheard-of calamities,
and destroys them completely.
14 The Lord overthrows the thrones of rulers,
and enthrones the lowly in their place.
15 The Lord plucks up the roots of the nations,[e]
and plants the humble in their place.
16 The Lord lays waste the lands of the nations,
and destroys them to the foundations of the earth.
17 He removes some of them and destroys them,
and erases the memory of them from the earth.
18 Pride was not created for human beings,
or violent anger for those born of women.
Footnotes
- Sirach 10:8 Other ancient authorities add here or after verse 9a, Nothing is more wicked than one who loves money, for such a person puts his own soul up for sale.
- Sirach 10:9 Heb: Meaning of Gk uncertain
- Sirach 10:10 Heb Lat: Meaning of Gk uncertain
- Sirach 10:11 Heb: Gk wild animals
- Sirach 10:15 Other ancient authorities read proud nations
New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.