Ben Sira 31:12

12 Are you seated at the table of the great? Do not be greedy at it, and do not say, "How much food there is here!"

Ben Sira 31:12 In-Context

10 Who has been tested by it and been found perfect? Let it be for him a ground for boasting. Who has had the power to transgress and did not transgress, and to do evil and did not do it?
11 His prosperity will be established, and the assembly will proclaim his acts of charity.
12 Are you seated at the table of the great? Do not be greedy at it, and do not say, "How much food there is here!"
13 Remember that a greedy eye is a bad thing. What has been created more greedy than the eye? Therefore it sheds tears for any reason.
14 Do not reach out your hand for everything you see, and do not crowd your neighbor at the dish.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Heb Syr: Gk [at a great table]
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.