Sirach 29:14-20

Common English Bible

¹⁴ Good people will guarantee a loan
for neighbors,
    and those who have lost any
    sense of shame will abandon them.
¹⁵ Don’t forget the kindness of those
who have guaranteed a loan,
    since they gave their life
    on your behalf.
¹⁶ Sinners will ruin
their guarantor’s property,
¹⁷     and ungrateful persons
    intentionally abandon their rescuers.
¹⁸ Guaranteeing a loan
has ruined many prosperous people
    and tossed them about
    like a wave on the sea.
    It has led to the exile of the powerful,
    and they have wandered
    among foreign nations.
¹⁹ Sinners will fall into guaranteeing loans,
    and when they chase profits,
    they will fall into lawsuits.
²⁰ Help your neighbor as much as you can,
    but keep yourself from ruin.