Ecclesiasticus 31

¹Watching after honesty shall pine the flesh, & the thought thereof taketh away sleep.

²The thought of foreknowledge turneth away the understanding, & grievous infirmity maketh a sober soul.

³The rich man hath laboured in gathering of substance together, & in his rest he shall be replenished with his goods.

⁴The poor man hath laboured in the diminishing of his living, and in the end he is made poor.

⁵He that loveth gold shall not be justified: & he that followeth after corruption, shall be replenished of it.

⁶Many have been given into falls for gold, and their perdition hath come by the beauty thereof.

⁷The gold of them that sacrifice is a wood of offence: woe to them, that follow after it, and every unwise man shall perish in it.

⁸Blessed is the rich man that is found without spot: and that hath not gone after gold, nor hoped in money and treasures.

⁹Who is this? & we will praise him, for he hath done marvelous things in his life.

¹⁰Who is proved therein, & perfect, shall have eternal glory. He that could transgress, & hath not transgressed: and do evils, and hath not done:

¹¹therefore are his good things established in our Lord, & all the church of saints shall declare his alms.

¹²Art thou set at a great table? Open not thy jaw thereupon first.

¹³Say not this: There be many things which are upon it.

¹⁴Remember that a naughty eye is evil.

¹⁵What is created worse than the eye? Therefore shall it weep at every face. When it shall see,

¹⁶stretch not out thy hand first, & so contaminated with envy thou be ashamed.

¹⁷Be not oppressed in a feast.

¹⁸Understand by thyself what thy neighbour's things are.

¹⁹Use as a frugal man those things, that are set before thee: lest thou be hated when thou eatest much.

²⁰Leave off first for manner's sake, and exceed not, lest thou perhaps offend.

²¹And if thou be set in the midst of many, stretch not forth thy hand before them: neither do thou first ask to drink.

²²How sufficient is a little wine for a man well taught, and in sleeping thou shalt not be pained with it, and thou shalt feel no grief.

²³Watching, & choler, & torment to an unsatiable man:

²⁴sleep of health is in a man of spare diet: he shall sleep until morning, and his soul with him shall be delighted.

²⁵And if thou hast been forced with eating much, rise from the midst, and vomit, and it shall refresh thee, and thou shalt not bring infirmity to thy body.

²⁶Hear me my son, and despise me not: and in the end thou shalt find my words.

²⁷In all thy works be quick, and all infirmity shall not chance unto thee.

²⁸The lips of many shall bless him that is magnifical in breads, and the testimony of his truth is faithful.

²⁹In naughty bread the city will murmur, and the testimony of the naughtiness thereof is true.

³⁰Provoke not them that love wine: for wine hath destroyed very many.

³¹Fire trieth hard iron: so wine drunken in drunkenness shall rebuke the hearts of the proud.

³²Equal life to all men, wine in sobriety: if thou drink it moderately, thou shalt be sober.

³³What is his life that is diminished with wine?

³⁴What defraudeth life? Death.

³⁵Wine was created for joyfulness, and not for drunkenness from the beginning.

³⁶Wine drunken moderately is the joy of the soul and the heart.

³⁷Sober drinking is health to soul and body.

³⁸Much wine drunken maketh provocation, & wrath, & many ruins.

³⁹Much wine drunken is bitterness of the soul.

⁴⁰The courageousness of drunkenness is offence of the unwise, lessening the strength, and making wounds.

⁴¹In a banquet of wine rebuke not thy neighbour: and despise him not in his mirth.

⁴²Speak not to him words of reproach: and press him not in demanding again.