Sirach 6:5-31
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Friendship, False and True
5 Pleasant speech multiplies friends,
and a gracious tongue multiplies courtesies.(A)
6 Let those who are at peace with you be many,
but let your advisers be one in a thousand.(B)
7 When you gain friends, gain them through testing,
and do not trust them hastily.(C)
8 For there are friends who are such when it suits them,
but they will not stand by you in time of trouble.(D)
9 And there are friends who turn to enmity
and tell of the quarrel to your disgrace.
10 And there are friends who are companions at the table,
but they will not stand by you in time of trouble.(E)
11 When you are prosperous, they become your second self
and boldly command your slaves,
12 but if you are brought low, they turn against you
and hide themselves from you.
13 Keep away from your enemies,
and be on guard with your friends.
14 Faithful friends are a sturdy shelter;
whoever finds one has found a treasure.(F)
15 Faithful friends are beyond price;
no amount can balance their worth.
16 Faithful friends are life-saving medicine,
and those who fear the Lord will find them.
17 Those who fear the Lord direct their friendship aright,
for as they are, so are their neighbors also.
Blessings of Wisdom
18 My child, from your youth choose discipline,
and when you have gray hair you will find wisdom.
19 Come to her like one who plows and sows,
and wait for her good harvest.
For when you cultivate her you will toil but little,
and soon you will eat of her produce.(G)
20 She seems very harsh to the undisciplined;
fools will not remain with her.(H)
21 She will be like a heavy stone to test them,
and they will not delay in casting her aside.(I)
22 For wisdom is like her name;
she is not readily perceived by many.
23 Listen, my child, and accept my judgment;
do not reject my counsel.(J)
24 Put your feet into her fetters
and your neck into her collar.(K)
25 Bend your shoulder and carry her,
and do not become angry with her bonds.(L)
26 Come to her with all your soul,
and keep her ways with all your might.
27 Search out and seek, and she will become known to you,
and when you get hold of her, do not let her go.(M)
28 For at last you will find her rest,
and she will be changed into joy for you.
29 Then her fetters will become for you a strong defense,
and her collar a glorious robe.(N)
30 Her yoke[a] is a golden ornament
and her bonds a purple cord.(O)
31 You will wear her like a glorious robe
and put her on like a splendid crown.[b](P)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.