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Sirach

Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus

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Chapter 12

1 If you do good, know to whom you do it, and your good deeds will have thanks.⁠ 2 Do good to a godly man, and you will find a reward— if not from him, then from the Most High. 3 No good will come to him who continues to do evil, nor to him who gives no alms. 4 Give to the godly man, and don’t help the sinner. 5 Do good to one who is lowly. Don’t give to an ungodly man. Keep back his bread, and don’t give it to him, lest he subdue you with it; for you would receive twice as much evil for all the good you would have done to him. 6 For the Most High also hates sinners, and will repay vengeance to the ungodly. 7 Give to the good man, and don’t help the sinner. 8 A man’s friend won’t be fully tried in prosperity. His enemy won’t be hidden in adversity. 9 In a man’s prosperity, his enemies are grieved. In his adversity, even his friend leaves. 10 Never trust your enemy, for his wickedness is like corrosion in copper.⁠ 11 Though he humbles himself and walks bowed down, still be careful and beware of him. You will be to him as one who has wiped a mirror, to be sure it doesn’t completely tarnish. 12 Don’t set him next to you, lest he overthrow you and stand in your place. Don’t let him sit on your right hand, lest he seek to take your seat, and at the last you acknowledge my words, and be pricked with my sayings. 13 Who will pity a charmer that is bitten by a snake, or any who come near wild beasts? 14 Even so, who will pity him who goes to a sinner, and is associated with him in his sins? 15 For a while he will stay with you, and if you falter, he will not stay. 16 The enemy will speak sweetly with his lips, and in his heart plan to throw you into a pit. The enemy may weep with his eyes, but if he finds opportunity, he will want more blood. 17 If adversity meets you, you will find him there before you. Pretending to help you, he will trip you. 18 He will shake his head, clap his hands, whisper much, and change his expression.

Texts in conversation

Compare Sirach 12:1 and Didache 1:6

Deuterocanon · Early Christian

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Summary

The Didache uses the language of Sirach to teach that you should give your charity with wisdom and discernment, demonstrating how emerging Christian tradition relied on established Jewish wisdom texts and traditions to shape its teachings.

Passages

Sirach 12:1

Deuterocanon · Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus
1 If you do good, know to whom you do it, and your good deeds will have thanks. 2 Do good to a godly man, and you will find a reward— if not from him, then from the Most High. 3 No good will come to him who continues to do evil, nor to him who gives no alms. 4 Give to the godly man, and don’t help the sinner. 5 Do good to one who is lowly. Don’t give to an ungodly man. Keep back his bread, and don’t give it to him, lest he subdue you with it; for you would receive twice as much evil for all the good you would have done to him.
195–180 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Sirach

Didache 1:6

Early Christian
5 Give to everyone who asks of you, and do not ask for it back, for the Father's will is that we give to all from the gifts we have received. Blessed is the one who gives according to the commandment, for they are innocent. Woe to the one who receives: if someone receives because they are in need, they are innocent, but those who receive without need will be questioned as to why they took and for what purpose. They will be examined for their deeds while in prison, and they will not be released until they pay the last penny. 6 Regarding this matter, it was also said, let your gift to the poor sweat in your hands until you know to whom you are giving.
90–120 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Didache

References

"... In his careful study of the sources of the Didache, Pere J. P. Audet examines again Didache 1:6 and its relation to Sirach 12:1 which he cites as its source. By the postillae of Hugh of St. Cher he is enabled to place the quotation and the various Latin forms of it, seemingly independent of the Didache, in juxtaposition with Sirach 12:1a, to be cited below. Evidence from Stephen Langton reinforces his argument. On the strength of this occurrence in the Didache, he is able to affirm the existence somewhere in Syria-Palestine, by at least the middle of the first century A. D., of what is usually known as the secondary Greek recension of Sirach, which occurs in scattered ms evidence, and underlies the Latin forms of the work. This Greek text in turn he relates to a Hebrew text somewhat evolved from the original ..."
Patrick Wm. Skehan, “Didache 1,6 and Sirach 12,1.,” Bib 44.4 (1963): 533–536.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Sirach 12:1 and Didache 1:6

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