Ben Sira 31:1-10

1 Worrying about money will make you lose weight and lose sleep.
2 Worrying about business will keep you from sleeping just as surely as a serious illness does.
3 Rich people work hard to make a lot of money; then they can sit back and live in luxury.
4 Poor people work hard and have nothing to show for it, and when they rest, they are still poor.
5 No one who loves money can be judged innocent; his efforts to get rich have led him into sin.
6 Many people have been ruined because of money, brought face-to-face with disaster.
7 Money is a trap for those who are fascinated by it, a trap that every fool falls into.
8 A person who gets rich without sinfully chasing after money is fortunate.
9 Do you know anyone like that? If so, we will congratulate him for performing a miracle that no one else has ever been able to do.
10 If anyone has ever passed this test, he can well be proud. Has anyone ever known that he could get away with cheating someone, and not taken advantage of it?

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. [Hebrew] Worrying about business; [Greek] Sleepless worry.
  • [b]. [Hebrew] have . . . sin; [Greek] will destroy him.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.