Sirach 6:5-17
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Friendship, False and True
5 Pleasant speech multiplies friends,
and a gracious tongue multiplies courtesies.(A)
6 Let those who are at peace with you be many,
but let your advisers be one in a thousand.(B)
7 When you gain friends, gain them through testing,
and do not trust them hastily.(C)
8 For there are friends who are such when it suits them,
but they will not stand by you in time of trouble.(D)
9 And there are friends who turn to enmity
and tell of the quarrel to your disgrace.
10 And there are friends who are companions at the table,
but they will not stand by you in time of trouble.(E)
11 When you are prosperous, they become your second self
and boldly command your slaves,
12 but if you are brought low, they turn against you
and hide themselves from you.
13 Keep away from your enemies,
and be on guard with your friends.
14 Faithful friends are a sturdy shelter;
whoever finds one has found a treasure.(F)
15 Faithful friends are beyond price;
no amount can balance their worth.
16 Faithful friends are life-saving medicine,
and those who fear the Lord will find them.
17 Those who fear the Lord direct their friendship aright,
for as they are, so are their neighbors also.
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.