Sirach 36:18-26

Good News Translation

Choosing a Wife

¹⁸ Any kind of food can be eaten, but some foods are better than others. ¹⁹ And just as the tongue can distinguish the flavors of different kinds of meat, so a sharp mind can detect lies. ²⁰ A person with a warped mind causes trouble, but an experienced person knows how to pay it back.

²¹ A woman has to take any man as a husband, but a man must choose his wife carefully. ²² A woman's beauty makes a man happy; there is no fairer sight for the human eye to see. ²³ If the woman is kind and gentle in her speech, her husband is the most fortunate of men. ²⁴ When a man marries, he gets the finest thing he will ever have—a wife to help and encourage him.

²⁵ If property is not fenced in, thieves will wander in and help themselves. And if a man has no wife, he is a sighing wanderer; ²⁶ people have no more trust in a homeless person who sleeps in a different place every night than they have in a wandering thief who goes from town to town.