Chapter 13

Do not lift a burden beyond your strength. Do not enter into fellowship with one who is stronger and richer than you. Do not be obnoxious so as not to be repulsed, and do not stay too far away so as not to be forgotten. Throughout your life love the Lord and call to Him for your salvation. Love your neighbor. Avoid fellowship with the wicked, who may influence you adversely. Do not be unjust toward the rich because he is rich; nor toward the poor because he is poor.

Sirach 13:1. Whoever touches pitch will be blackened, and whoever associates with the proud will become like him. 2. Do not lift a burden beyond your strength, and do not enter into fellowship with one who is stronger and richer than you. 3. What communion is there between a pot and a kettle? When the one strikes the other, it will break. 4. A rich man wrongs, and he himself threatens; a poor man is wronged, and he himself begs. 5. If you are useful to him, he will use you; and if you become poor, he will abandon you. 6. If you are sufficient, he will live with you and will drain you dry, and he will not grieve. 7. If he has need of you, he will flatter you, he will smile at you and will give you hope, he will speak kindly to you and say: “Do you lack anything?” 8. With his entertainments he will shame you, until, robbing you two or three times, he finally will mock you. 9. After that, when he sees you, he will turn away from you and will nod his head when meeting you. 10. Be careful so as not to be deceived 11. and not to be humbled in your merriment. 12. When a powerful man invites you, be reluctant, and he will invite you all the more. 13. Do not be obnoxious so as not to be repulsed, and do not stay too far away so as not to be forgotten. 14. Do not allow yourself to speak with him as with an equal, and do not believe too many of his words; for in long conversation he will put you to the test and, as if jesting, he will examine you. 15. One is unmerciful to himself, who does not restrain himself in his words, and he will not guard himself from harm and from bonds. 16. Be cautious and very attentive, for you walk with your fall. 16. You walk with your fall, that is, you are constantly in danger of falling.

Sirach 13:17. Hearing this in your dream, do not sleep. 18. Throughout your life love the Lord and call to Him for your salvation. 19. Every creature loves its like, and every person loves his neighbor. 20. All flesh unites according to its kind, and a man cleaves to one like himself. 21. What communion is there between a wolf and a lamb? So also between a sinner and the pious. 22. What peace is there between a hyena and a dog? And what peace is there between a rich man and a poor man? 23. The hunting of lions is wild donkeys in the desert, so the pastures of the rich are the poor. 24. Humility is abhorrent to the proud: so is the poor abhorrent to the rich. 25. When a rich man stumbles, he is supported by friends; when a poor man falls, he is even thrust away by friends. 26. When a rich man is afflicted, he has many helpers; he speaks foolishly, and they justify him. 27. A poor man is afflicted, and they revile him besides; he speaks wisely, and he is not heeded. 28. A rich man speaks, and all fall silent and praise his words to the clouds; 29. a poor man speaks, and people say “Who is this?” And if he stumbles, they utterly bring him down. 30. Wealth is good when there is no sin in it, and poverty is evil in the mouth of the wicked. 30. The wicked man in wealth and poverty is equally wicked.

Sirach 13:31. The heart of a man changes his face either for the good or for the bad. 31. The soul’s state of a man is reflected in his face.

Sirach 13:32. The sign of a happy heart is a joyful face, and the invention of proverbs is joined with strained meditation.