Sirach (Ecclesiasticus)

1Do not be jealous of the wife of your bosom, lest it teach [reveal] a bad trait of yourself.

2Do not be jealous of the wife of your soul, lest she trample upon your sanctuary.

3Do not meet with a foreign female, lest you fall into her snares.

4With a harlot do not take council, lest thou be captured in her wares.

5Disgraced upon seeing her, and destroyed upon leaving her house.

6With charmed women do not sleep, lest your be burned with their lips.

7Gaze not on a virgin maid, lest thy be snared by her punishments.

8Do not give your soul to a harlot, lest you lose your inheritance.

9Hide your eyes from a graceful woman, and do not ogle beauty not yours;

10By a woman’s beauty many have gone astray [And strong ones her victims], and from her loved ones in fire burned.

11Wit her husband, do not dine, nor go around with him drunk;

12Lest thine heart incline unto her, and by your blood you're pushed into destruction.

13Do not abandon an old friend, for the recent one is not his equal.

14New wine is like a new friend; & if it ages, maybe you will drink it.

15Do not envy a sinner, for you do not know his day of reckoning.

16Do not envy the success of the malicious; remember that until death he is not cleansed.

17Keep far from a person who has authority to kill, and you will not be apprehensive of death,

18and if you are close, do not make a mistake, lest he take your soul.

19Recognize that you are stepping on hot coals, and in a net you are walking.

20With all your power, acquire friends, and consult with the wise.

21With intelligent people should be your calculations, and all your secrets only between yourselves.

22Let righteous men be your bread masters, and fear of the Lord your trappings.

23With the handiwork of wisdom, will it be straight, and a leader in the midst of his people is wise. [Alternative: The work of craftsmen will be praised, and the leader of the people will be wise in his speech.]

24Those who speak rashly sets fire to the town; a man of tongues and those that give orders are hated.