Sirach 12:1

Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus
Deuterocanon

1 If you do good, know to whom you do it, and you will be thanked for your good deeds. 2 Do good to the devout, and you will be repaid— if not by them, certainly by the Most High. 3 No good comes to one who persists in evil or to one who does not give alms. 4 Give to the devout, but do not help the sinner. 5 Do good to the humble, but do not give to the ungodly; hold back their bread, and do not give it to them, for by means of it they might subdue you; then you will receive twice as much evil for all the good you have done to them.

Didache 1:6

Patristic

5 Give to everyone who asks of you, and do not refuse, 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 mandate, for they are innocent; but those who receive without need shall be questioned as to why they took and for what purpose. They shall be examined for their deeds while in prison, and they shall not be released until they pay the last farthing. 6 Regarding this matter, it was also said, let your alms sweat into your hands until you know to whom you are giving.

 Notes and 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 tum he relates to a Hebrew text somewhat evolved from the original ..."

Skehan, Patrick Wm. Didache 1,6 and Sirach 12,1. (pp. 533-536) Biblica 44, no. 4, 1963

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