Texts in Conversation
Proverbs warns that talking too much can lead to making mistakes, but that wisdom is shown by speaking with restraint. Sirach builds on this wisdom saying, describing how a wise person shows their insight by choosing their words carefully.
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Proverbs 10:19
Hebrew Bible
17 The one who heeds instruction is on the way to life, but the one who rejects rebuke goes astray. 18 The one who conceals hatred utters lies, and the one who spreads slander is certainly a fool. 19 When words abound, transgression is inevitable, but the one who restrains his words is wise. 20 What the righteous say is like the best silver, but what the wicked think is of little value. 21 The teaching of the righteous feeds many, but fools die for lack of sense.
Date: 6th-3rd Centuries B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
Sirach 20:8
Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus
Deuterocanon
6 Some people keep silent because they have nothing to say, while others keep silent because they know when to speak. 7 The wise remain silent until the right moment, but a boasting fool misses the right moment. 8 Whoever talks too much is detested, and whoever pretends to authority is hated. 9 There may be good fortune for a person in adversity, and a windfall may result in a loss. 10 There is the gift that profits you nothing, and the gift to be paid back double.
Date: 195-175 B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
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Notes and References
"... As a contrast with the rich person whose words are “loathsome,” Ben Sira takes the case of a pauper who “will speak giving insight”. The word is the hiphil masculine participle from the root (“have insight,” “be prosperous”); the cognate noun (“insight”) occurs in 13:23. The exact syntactic function in 13:22 is uncertain. It could refer to what is spoken, since the form occurs thirteen times in the Masoretic text as a title for various psalms, possibly in the sense of “didactic poem” or “skillful composition.” However, the uncertainty over the meaning as a psalm title makes this suggestion suspect, and so it seems better to understand the word as describing the action of a person “giving insight.” In the book of Proverbs the participle refers to “one giving insight” or “an insightful person”; for example, Proverbs 10:19 teaches: “One who restrains his words is an insightful person” (compare Prov 15:24) ..."
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