Ecclesiasticus, 13
1. Whoever touches pitch will be defiled, and anyone who associates with the proud will come to be like them.
1. If you do a kindness, know to whom you do it, and you will be thanked for your good deeds.
2. Do not try to carry a burden too heavy for you, do not associate with someone more powerful and wealthy than yourself. Why put the clay pot next to the iron cauldron? It will only break when they bang against each other.
2. Do good to a godly man, and you will be repaid -- if not by him, certainly by the Most High.
3. The rich does wrong and takes a high line; the poor is wronged and has to beg for pardon.
3. No good will come to the man who persists in evil or to him who does not give alms.
4. If you are useful the rich will exploit you, if you go bankrupt he will desert you.
4. Give to the godly man, but do not help the sinner.
5. Are you well off? - he will live with you, he will clean you out without a single qualm.
5. Do good to the humble, but do not give to the ungodly; hold back his bread, and do not give it to him, lest by means of it he subdue you; for you will receive twice as much evil for all the good which you do to him.
6. Does he need you? - he will hoodwink you, smile at you and raise your hopes; he will speak politely to you and say, 'Is there anything you need?'
6. For the Most High also hates sinners and will inflict punishment on the ungodly.
7. He will make you feel small at his dinner parties and, having cleaned you out two or three times over, will end by laughing at you. Afterwards, when he sees you, he will avoid you and shake his head about you.
7. Give to the good man, but do not help the sinner.
8. Take care you are not hoodwinked and thus humiliated through your own stupidity.
8. A friend will not be known in prosperity, nor will an enemy be hidden in adversity.
9. When an influential person invites you, show reluctance, and he will press his invitation all the more.
9. A man's enemies are grieved when he prospers, and in his adversity even his friend will separate from him.
10. Do not thrust yourself forward, in case you are pushed aside, but do not stand aloof, or you will be overlooked.
10. Never trust your enemy, for like the rusting of copper, so is his wickedness.
11. Do not affect to treat him as an equal, do not trust his flow of words; since all this talking is expressly meant to test you, under cover of geniality he will be weighing you up.
11. Even if he humbles himself and goes about cringing, watch yourself, and be on your guard against him; and you will be to him like one who has polished a mirror, and you will know that it was not hopelessly tarnished.
12. Pitiless is anyone who retails gossip; he will not spare you either blows or chains.
12. Do not put him next to you, lest he overthrow you and take your place; do not have him sit at your right, lest he try to take your seat of honor, and at last you will realize the truth of my words, and be stung by what I have said.
13. Be wary, take very great care, because you are walking with your own downfall.
13. Who will pity a snake charmer bitten by a serpent, or any who go near wild beasts?
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14. So no one will pity a man who associates with a sinner and becomes involved in his sins.
15. Every living thing loves its own sort, and every man his fellow.
15. He will stay with you for a time, but if you falter, he will not stand by you.
16. Every creature mixes with its kind, and human beings stick to their own sort.
16. An enemy will speak sweetly with his lips, but in his mind he will plan to throw you into a pit; an enemy will weep with his eyes, but if he finds an opportunity his thirst for blood will be insatiable.
17. How can wolf and lamb agree? - Just so with sinner and devout.
17. If calamity befalls you, you will find him there ahead of you; and while pretending to help you, he will trip you by the heel;
18. What peace can there be between hyena and dog? And what peace between rich and poor?
18. he will shake his head, and clap his hands, and whisper much, and change his expression.
19. Wild desert donkeys are the prey of lions; so too, the poor is the quarry of the rich.
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20. The proud thinks humility abhorrent; so too, the rich abominates the poor.
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21. When the rich stumbles he is supported by friends; when the poor falls, his friends push him away.
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22. When the rich slips, there are many hands to catch him, if he talks nonsense he is congratulated. The poor slips, and is blamed for it, he may talk good sense, but no room is made for him.
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23. The rich speaks and everyone stops talking, and then they praise his discourse to the skies. The poor speaks and people say, 'Who is this?' and if he stumbles, they trip him up yet more.
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24. Wealth is good where there is no sin, poverty is evil, the godless say.
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25. The heart moulds a person's expression whether for better or worse.
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26. Happy heart, cheerful expression; but wearisome work, inventing proverbs.
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