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Care in Choosing Friends

29 Do not invite everyone into your home,
    for many are the tricks of the crafty.
30 Like a decoy partridge in a cage, so is the mind of the proud,
    and like spies they observe your weakness;[a]
31 for they lie in wait, turning good into evil,
    and to worthy actions they attach blame.
32 From a spark many coals are kindled,
    and a sinner lies in wait to shed blood.
33 Beware of scoundrels, for they devise evil,
    and they may ruin your reputation forever.
34 Receive strangers into your home and they will stir up trouble for you,
    and will make you a stranger to your own family.

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Footnotes

  1. Sirach 11:30 Heb: Gk downfall

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