The Instruction of Ankhsheshonq
Gather dung, gather clay, but do not make an occupation out of scavenging. Do not talk much before your master. Be gentle and your reputation will increase in the hearts of all men. If a gardener becomes a fisherman his trees perish. If you have acquired give one part of them for protection.
Sirach 41:11
Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus10 Whatever comes from earth returns to earth; so the ungodly go from curse to destruction. 11 The human body is a fleeting thing, but a virtuous name will never be blotted out. 12 Have regard for your name, since it will outlive you longer than a thousand hoards of gold. 13 The days of a good life are numbered, but a good name lasts forever. 14 My children, be true to your training and be at peace; hidden wisdom and unseen treasure— of what value is either?
Notes and References
"... The larger wisdom tradition also motivates ethical behavior by instilling a concern for one’s reputation or name. (Proverbs 10:7; 22:1; Job 18.17; Ecclesiastes 7.1; Pap. Insinger 2.12; 15.7; 16.9; Instructions of Ankhsheshonq 6:2; 17:26) Ben Sira, too, employs this strategy. At the end of a section on proper speech (Sir 5.9–16), the sage warns against deceit in one’s words, because “you will inherit a bad name, disgrace, and reproach” (Sirach 5.16). Ben Sira also promotes strict control by a father over his daughters, lest she make of him “a byword in the city” (Sirach 42:11). Yet Ben Sira joins even this staple motivator of the wisdom tradition to Jewish piety. In the closing stanza of a section on anxieties and joys in human life (Sirach 40:1 - 41:13), Ben Sira uses the word šēm once in each of the three bicola. He suggests that one’s reputation is even more important than one’s life (Sirach 41:11, 13), and that a “pious name” (šēm ḥesed) will not be cut off (Sirach 41:11) ..."
Goering, Greg Schmidt Wisdom’s Root Revealed: Ben Sira and the Election of Israel (p. 159) Brill, 2009