Sirach 23:12-21

Revised Standard Version

¹² There is an utterance which is comparable to death;^[a]
    may it never be found in the inheritance of Jacob!
For all these errors will be far from the godly,
    and they will not wallow in sins.
¹³ Do not accustom your mouth to lewd vulgarity,
    for it involves sinful speech.
¹⁴ Remember your father and mother
    when^[b] you sit among great men;
lest you be forgetful in their presence,
    and be deemed a fool on account of your habits;
then you will wish that you had never been born,
    and you will curse the day of your birth.
¹⁵ A man accustomed to use insulting words
    will never become disciplined all his days.

¹⁶ Two sorts of men multiply sins,
    and a third incurs wrath.
The soul heated like a burning fire
    will not be quenched until it is consumed;
a man who commits fornication with his near of kin^[c]
    will never cease until the fire burns him up.
¹⁷ To a fornicator all bread tastes sweet;
    he will never cease until he dies.
¹⁸ A man who breaks his marriage vows
    says to himself, “Who sees me?
Darkness surrounds me, and the walls hide me,
    and no one sees me. Why should I fear?
The Most High will not take notice of my sins.”
¹⁹ His fear is confined to the eyes of men,
    and he does not realize that the eyes of the Lord
    are ten thousand times brighter than the sun;
they look upon all the ways of men,
    and perceive even the hidden places.
²⁰ Before the universe was created, it was known to him;
    so it was also after it was finished.
²¹ This man will be punished in the streets of the city,
    and where he least suspects it, he will be seized.