Sirach 10:1-18

New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

10 A wise magistrate educates his people,
    and the rule of an intelligent person is well ordered.
² As the people’s judge is, so are his officials;
    as the ruler of the city is, so are all its inhabitants.
³ An undisciplined king ruins his people,
    but a city becomes fit to live in through the understanding of its rulers.
⁴ The government of the earth is in the hand of the Lord,
    and over it he will raise up the right leader for the time.
⁵ Human success is in the hand of the Lord,
    and it is he who confers honor upon the lawgiver.^[a]

⁶ Do not get angry with your neighbor for every injury,
    and do not resort to acts of insolence.
⁷ Arrogance is hateful to the Lord and to mortals,
    and injustice is outrageous to both.
⁸ Sovereignty passes from nation to nation
    on account of injustice and insolence and wealth.^[b]
9 How can dust and ashes be proud?
    Even in life the human body decays.^[c]
10 A long illness baffles the physician;^[d]
    the king of today will die tomorrow.
¹¹ For when one is dead
    he inherits maggots and vermin^[e] and worms.
¹² The beginning of human pride is to forsake the Lord;
    the heart has withdrawn from its Maker.
¹³ For the beginning of pride is sin,
    and the one who clings to it pours out abominations.
Therefore the Lord brings upon them unheard-of calamities,
    and destroys them completely.
¹⁴ The Lord overthrows the thrones of rulers,
    and enthrones the lowly in their place.
¹⁵ The Lord plucks up the roots of the nations,^[f]
    and plants the humble in their place.
¹⁶ The Lord lays waste the lands of the nations,
    and destroys them to the foundations of the earth.
¹⁷ He removes some of them and destroys them,
    and erases the memory of them from the earth.
¹⁸ Pride was not created for human beings,
    or violent anger for those born of women.