Sirach 21:1-10

Common English Bible

On sin

21 My child, if you have sinned,
don’t do it any longer,
    and pray concerning your previous sins.
²Run away from sin
like you would from a snake:
    If you go near it, it will bite you.
    Its teeth are lion’s teeth,
    destroying a person’s life.
³All lawlessness is a two-edged sword,
    and there’s no healing for its wound.

⁴Alarm and insolence will strip away wealth;
    thus will an arrogant person’s house
    be uprooted.
⁵The petition of the poor goes
from their mouth to God’s ears,
    and his judgment comes quickly.
⁶Anyone who hates reproof
walks in the footsteps of a sinner,
    and those who fear the Lord
    will turn back to him from the heart.
⁷Those who are powerful in speech
are widely known,
    but those who are thoughtful
    know when they slip.

⁸Those who build their houses
with another person’s money
    are like those who gather stones
    for their own burial mound.
⁹A gathering of lawless people
is the same as bundled flax;
    their end is a flaming fire.
¹⁰The path of sinners
is made level with stones,
    but its end is the pit of hell.^[a]