---
title: "Sirach 8 – Catholic Bible (CPDV) & Latin Vulgate · Bless"
url: https://blessbible.app/bible/sirach/8/
description: "Other lessons of wisdom and virtue. Sirach 8 in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin Vulgate."
---

# Sirach 8

Sirach 8 is chapter 8 of 51 in the Book of Sirach. Here are all 22 verses in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin of the Clementine Vulgate beside them.

> Other lessons of wisdom and virtue.
>
> — Bp. Richard Challoner, chapter summary

## Sirach 8 (Catholic Public Domain Version)

1. You should not quarrel with a powerful man, lest perhaps you may fall into his hands.
2. You should not contend with a wealthy man, lest perhaps he may bring an action against you.
3. For gold and silver have destroyed many, and have reached and corrupted even the hearts of kings.
4. You should not quarrel with a man who is full of words, for you should not cast wood upon his fire.
5. You should not confide in an ignorant man, lest he speak evil about your family.
6. You should not despise a man who turns himself away from sin, nor reproach him with it. Remember that we are all subject to correction.
7. You should not spurn a man in his old age. For we are all subject to growing old.
8. Do not be willing to rejoice at the death of your enemy, knowing that we all die, and that we do not want others to rejoice over us.
9. You should not despise the discourse of those who are old and wise; instead, ponder their proverbs.
10. For from them, you will learn wisdom and intelligent doctrine, so as to serve great men without blame.
11. Do not allow the discourse of your elders to pass you by. For they have learned from their fathers.
12. And from them, you will learn understanding, and you will learn what response to give in a time of necessity.
13. You should not kindle the coals of sinners by arguing with them. For you might be scorched by the flame from the fire of their sins.
14. You should not stand against the face of a contemptuous person, otherwise he may sit down as if waiting in ambush against your words.
15. You should not lend to a man who is stronger than you. But if you do lend, consider it lost.
16. You should not promise beyond your ability. But if you do promise, consider how to fulfill it.
17. You should not judge against a judge. For he judges according to what is just.
18. You should not go forth on the way with an audacious man, lest perhaps he may burden you with his evils. For he goes forth according to his own will, and you will perish with him in his folly.
19. You should not start a conflict with an angry man, and you should not go into the desert with an audacious man. For shedding blood is nothing to him, and in a place where there is no help for you, he will overthrow you.
20. You should not hold counsel with the foolish. For they are not able to love anything except what pleases them.
21. You should not take counsel in the sight of an outsider. For you do not know what he will do next.
22. You should not reveal your heart to every man, lest perhaps he may offer a false kindness to you, and then speak reproachfully about you.

## Sirach 8 in Latin (Clementine Vulgate, 1592)

1. Non litiges cum homine potente, ne forte incidas in manus illius.
2. Non contendas cum viro locuplete, ne forte contra te constituat litem tibi:
3. multos enim perdidit aurum et argentum, et usque ad cor regum extendit et convertit.
4. Non litiges cum homine linguato, et non strues in ignem illius ligna.
5. Non communices homini indocto, ne male de progenie tua loquatur.
6. Ne despicias hominem avertentem se a peccato, neque improperes ei: memento quoniam omnes in correptione sumus.
7. Ne spernas hominem in sua senectute, etenim ex nobis senescunt.
8. Noli de mortuo inimico tuo gaudere: sciens quoniam omnes morimur, et in gaudium nolumus venire.
9. Ne despicias narrationem presbyterorum sapientium, et in proverbiis eorum conversare:
10. ab ipsis enim disces sapientiam et doctrinam intellectus, et servire magnatis sine querela.
11. Non te prætereat narratio seniorum, ipsi enim didicerunt a patribus suis:
12. quoniam ab ipsis disces intellectum, et in tempore necessitatis dare responsum.
13. Non incendas carbones peccatorum arguens eos, et ne incendaris flamma ignis peccatorum illorum.
14. Ne contra faciem stes contumeliosi, ne sedeat quasi insidiator ori tuo.
15. Noli fœnerari homini fortiori te: quod si fœneraveris, quasi perditum habe.
16. Non spondeas super virtutem tuam: quod si spoponderis, quasi restituens cogita.
17. Non judices contra judicem, quoniam secundum quod justum est judicat.
18. Cum audace non eas in via, ne forte gravet mala sua in te: ipse enim secundum voluntatem suam vadit, et simul cum stultitia illius peries.
19. Cum iracundo non facias rixam, et cum audace non eas in desertum: quoniam quasi nihil est ante illum sanguis, et ubi non est adjutorium, elidet te.
20. Cum fatuis consilium non habeas: non enim poterunt diligere nisi quæ eis placent.
21. Coram extraneo ne facias consilium: nescis enim quid pariet.
22. Non omni homini cor tuum manifestes, ne forte inferat tibi gratiam falsam, et convicietur tibi.

Source: Catholic Public Domain Version (Ronald L. Conte Jr., 2009), public domain; Latin: Clementine Vulgate (1592).