Sirach 14:3-19
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Responsible Use of Wealth
3 Riches are inappropriate for the small-minded,
and of what use is wealth to misers?(A)
4 What they deny themselves they collect for others,
and others will live in luxury on their goods.(B)
5 If they are mean to themselves, to whom will they be generous?
They will not enjoy their own riches.
6 No one is worse than those who are grudging to themselves;
this is the repayment for their meanness.
7 If ever they do good, it is by mistake,[a]
and in the end they reveal their meanness.
8 Misers are evil people;
they turn away and disregard people.(C)
9 The eyes of the greedy are not satisfied with their share;
greedy injustice withers the soul.(D)
10 Misers begrudge bread,
and it is lacking at their tables.(E)
11 My child, treat yourself well, according to your means,
and present worthy offerings to the Lord.(F)
12 Remember that death does not tarry,
and the decree[b] of Hades has not been shown to you.
13 Do good to friends before you die,
and reach out and give to them as much as you can.
14 Do not deprive yourself of a day’s enjoyment;
do not let your share of desired good pass by you.(G)
15 Will you not leave the fruit of your labors to another,
and what you acquired by toil to be divided by lot?(H)
16 Give and take and indulge yourself,
because in Hades one cannot look for luxury.
17 All living beings become old like a garment,
for the decree[c] from of old is, “You must die!”(I)
18 Like abundant leaves on a spreading tree
that sheds some and puts forth others,
so are the generations of flesh and blood:
one dies, and another is born.(J)
19 Every work decays and ceases to exist,
and the one who made it will pass away with it.
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.