Sirach 10

Common English Bible

10 Wise judges will instruct their people,
    and an intelligent person’s rule
    will be orderly.
²As the people’s judges are,
so will their officials be,
    and as the ruler of a city is,
    so also are all of its inhabitants.
³An uneducated king will ruin his people,
    and a city is founded
    on the intelligence of its rulers.
⁴Authority over the earth
belongs to the Lord,
    and he will identify the person
    who is right for the time.
⁵A people’s success belongs to the Lord,
    and he will give glory
    to the legal expert.^[a]

On pride

⁶Don’t become angry with your neighbor over every wrong,
    and don’t do anything that offers
    a flagrant insult.
⁷Arrogance is hateful to God and people,
    and injustice is wrong to both.
⁸Sovereignty passes from
nation to nation
    because of injustice, pride, and money.^[b]
⁹How can dust and ashes be arrogant?
    Even when they are alive,
    human bodies are decaying.^[c]
¹⁰A long illness mocks a doctor;
        today’s king will die tomorrow.
¹¹    When people are dead,
        they inherit maggots, vermin,^[d]
        and worms.
¹²Human arrogance begins when people rebel against the Lord,
    and their hearts rebel
    against the one who made them.
¹³The beginning of arrogance is sin,
        and those who cling to it
        will pour out blasphemy.
    For this reason
    the Lord brings calamities upon them,
        and he ruins them completely.
¹⁴The Lord destroyed the thrones of rulers,
    and he raised up the gentle
    in their place.
¹⁵The Lord plucked up the roots of nations,
    and he planted the humble
    in their place.
¹⁶The Lord ruined the lands of the nations,
    and he leveled them
    to their very foundations.
¹⁷He removed some people
and destroyed them,
    and he erased their memory
    from the earth.
¹⁸Humans were not created to be arrogant,
    nor were those born of women
    made to indulge in anger.

Honor and humility

¹⁹What offspring are honorable?
Human offspring.
    What offspring are honorable?
    Those who fear the Lord.
    What offspring are dishonorable?
    Human offspring.
    What offspring are dishonorable?
    Those who violate
    the commandments.
²⁰Among brothers and sisters,
their leader is honored,
    and those who fear the Lord
    are honored in his sight.^[e]
²²The rich, the heroes, and the poor—
    their pride is the fear of the Lord.
²³It’s not right to dishonor
someone who is intelligent but poor,
    and it’s not proper to give glory
    to a sinful person.
²⁴The official, the judge, and the ruler
will be glorified,
    but none of them are greater
    than the one who fears the Lord.
²⁵Free people will serve the wise person
who has been enslaved,
    and a knowledgeable person
    won’t complain.

²⁶Don’t show off your wisdom
when you do your work,
    and don’t magnify yourself
    when you have difficulties.
²⁷Those who work and have what they need
in abundance are better
    than those who walk around
    glorifying themselves but lack bread.
²⁸My child, hold yourself in honor
with gentleness,
    and give yourself honor as you deserve it.
²⁹Who will justify those
who sin against themselves?
    And who will honor those
    who bring dishonor to their own lives?
³⁰Poor people will be honored
because of their knowledge,
    and rich people will be honored
    because of their wealth.
³¹Whoever is honored in poverty,
how much more will he or she
be honored in wealth?
    And whoever is disreputable in wealth,
    how much more will he or she
    be disreputable in poverty?

Footnotes

Sirach 10:5 Or he will glorify the scribe.
Sirach 10:8 LXX^badds For there is nothing more lawless than love of money, because such people put their own souls up for sale.
Sirach 10:9 Heb; LXX I threw off its entrails.
Sirach 10:11 LXX beasts
Sirach 10:20 LXX^badds 10:21 Fear of the Lord is the beginning of acceptance, but the beginning of rejection is stubbornness and arrogance.