Catholic Public Domain Version

Sirach 27:22-31 Catholic Public Domain Version (CPDV)

22. You should no longer seek him, for he is now far away; he has fled like a roe-deer from a snare. For his soul has been wounded.

23. You will no longer be able to bind his wound. For there may be a reconciliation from cursing.

24. But to disclose the secrets of a friend is the hopeless act of an unhappy soul.

25. One who winks with the eye fabricates iniquity, and no one will cast him aside.

26. In the sight of your eyes, he will sweeten his mouth, and he will admire your talk. But at the very end, he will pervert his mouth, and he will offer a scandal from your own words.

27. I have hated many things, but I have not done as he has done, and the Lord will hate him.

28. Whoever throws a stone straight up will find that it falls on his own head. And a deceitful wound will return to wound the deceitful.

29. And whoever digs a pit will fall into it. And whoever positions a stone against his neighbor will stumble over it. And whoever lays a trap for another will perish by it.

30. Whoever sets in motion a wicked plan will find that it rolls back over him, and he will not know from which direction it will arrive.

31. Mockery and derision are of the arrogant, and vengeance will lie in wait for them, like a lion.