Ben Sira 20:13-23

13 When a person with good judgment speaks, he wins friends. A stupid person, though, can shower compliments on everybody, and it won't help him a bit.
14 If such a person gives you something, it won't do any good; it won't be as valuable as he thinks it is.
15 He isn't generous with anything but criticism, which he will shout for all the world to hear. If he lends you something today, he'll want it back tomorrow. (Don't you hate people like that?)
16 Then that fool will say, "Nobody likes me. Nobody appreciates what I do for them. They'll take what I give them, but then talk about me behind my back."
17 And he's right - he's a constant joke to everyone.
18 A slip of the tongue is worse than a slip on the pavement; the wicked will go to ruin just as suddenly as a person slips and falls.
19 An impolite person is like one of those off-color stories that ignorant people are always telling.
20 Nobody takes a proverb seriously when some fool quotes it at the wrong time.
21 If a person is too poor to afford sin, he can rest without a guilty conscience.
22 You can lose all your self-respect by being reluctant to speak up in the presence of stupidity.
23 If you promise a friend something because you are too bashful to say no, you're needlessly making an enemy.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. it won't be . . . it is; [or] he only expects to be repaid.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.