Sirach 20:1
Est correptio quae non est decens in tempore et est qui tacet et ipse est prudens.
There is a rebuke that is untimely, and there is the one who keeps silent -- he is the prudent one.
Translator's Introduction
What This Chapter Is About
Chapter 20 is a masterful collection of paradoxes and contrasts centered on speech and silence. Ben Sira explores when silence is golden and when it is cowardly, when a gift builds friendship and when it is a bribe, and how apparent loss can be real gain. The chapter is organized as a series of antithetical proverbs rather than a sustained argument.
What Makes This Chapter Remarkable
The paradoxical structure of this chapter is among the most sophisticated in wisdom literature. 'There is one who is silent and is found to be wise, and there is one who is hated for his excessive talk' (v. 5) -- the same external behavior (silence) can spring from wisdom or from inability. Ben Sira refuses simple rules and insists on discernment. The observation that a gift from a fool brings no profit because 'his eyes are seven for one' (v. 14) reveals sharp social observation about the hidden costs of patronage.
Translation Friction
The proverb about the eunuch embracing a young woman (v. 4) is startling and has generated varied interpretations -- it may be a metaphor for futility or for inappropriate desire without capacity. The chapter's rapid-fire structure makes it difficult to identify a coherent progression of thought.
Connections
Proverbs 10-15 (antithetical proverb collections); Ecclesiastes 3:7 (a time to be silent and a time to speak); Proverbs 17:28 (even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise); James 3:1-12 (the tongue).
Sirach 20:2
Quam bonum est arguere quam irasci.
How much better it is to rebuke than to be angry in silence!
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
- Open confrontation is preferable to smoldering resentment -- a complement to 19:13.
Sirach 20:3
Et confitenti in oratione non prohibeas gratiam.
And do not withhold kindness from one who confesses in prayer.
Sirach 20:4
Concupiscentia spadonis devirginabit iuvenculam sic qui facit per vim iudicium iniquum.
Like the desire of a eunuch to deflower a young woman, so is the one who enforces a judgment by violence.
Notes & Key Terms 1 term
Key Terms
spadonis
"eunuch"
The eunuch serves as a figure of frustrated desire and inherent incapacity -- violence cannot produce justice any more than the eunuch can produce offspring.
Translator Notes
- A shocking simile: unjust coercion is as grotesque and futile as sexual desire without the capacity to fulfill it rightly.
Sirach 20:5
Est qui tacendo invenitur sapiens et est odibilis qui procax est ad loquendum.
There is one who by keeping silent is found wise, and there is one who is hated for his boldness in speaking.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
- The chapter's signature verse: silence and speech are morally neutral acts whose value depends entirely on context and motive.
Sirach 20:6
Est qui tacet non habens sensum loquellae et est qui tacet sciens tempus apti temporis.
There is one who keeps silent because he has no sense for speaking, and there is one who keeps silent because he knows the right time.
Notes & Key Terms 1 term
Key Terms
apti temporis
"the right time"
The concept of kairos -- the fitting moment -- is central to wisdom. Knowing what to say is incomplete without knowing when to say it.
Translator Notes
- Two kinds of silence: the silence of ignorance and the silence of discernment. They look identical from outside.
Sirach 20:7
Homo sapiens tacebit usque ad tempus lascivus autem et inprudens non servabunt tempus.
A wise person will keep silent until the right moment, but a reckless and imprudent one will not observe the proper time.
Sirach 20:8
Qui multis utitur verbis laedet animam suam et qui potestatem sibi sumit iniuste odietur.
Whoever uses many words injures his own soul, and whoever seizes authority for himself unjustly will be hated.
Sirach 20:9
Est processio in malis viro indisciplinato et est inventio in detrimentum.
There is success in evil things for the undisciplined person, and there is a windfall that turns to loss.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
- Apparent prosperity may be a trap -- a theme that pervades the paradoxes of this chapter.
Sirach 20:10
Est datio quae non est utilis et est datio cuius retributio duplex.
There is a gift that is of no benefit, and there is a gift whose repayment is double.
Sirach 20:11
Est propter gloriam minoratio et est qui ab humilitate levabit caput.
There is a humiliation that comes from glory, and there is one who from lowliness will lift up his head.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
- The reversal pattern: exaltation leads to abasement, humility to honor -- resonating with Hannah's Song and the Magnificat.
Sirach 20:12
Est qui multa redimat modico pretio et restituens ea in septuplum.
There is one who buys much for a small price, yet pays it back sevenfold.
Sirach 20:13
Sapiens in verbis se ipsum amabilem facit gratiae autem fatuorum effundentur.
A wise person makes himself beloved through his words, but the charms of fools are wasted.
Sirach 20:14
Datus insipientis non erit utilis oculi enim illius septemplices sunt.
The gift of a fool will bring you no profit, for his eyes expect sevenfold in return.
Notes & Key Terms 1 term
Key Terms
septemplices
"sevenfold"
Seven eyes -- the fool scrutinizes every gift he gives, calculating the return. Generosity with strings attached is no generosity at all.
Translator Notes
- The fool's generosity is actually investment with expected returns -- he gives one and watches for seven.
Sirach 20:15
Exigua dabit et multa inproperabit et apertio oris illius inflammatio est.
He will give little and reproach much, and the opening of his mouth is like a fire.
Sirach 20:16
Hodie fenerat et cras repetit odibilis est homo huiusmodi.
Today he lends and tomorrow he demands it back -- hateful is a person like this.
Sirach 20:17
Fatuo non erit amicus et non erit gratia bonis illius.
A fool will have no friend, and there will be no gratitude for his good deeds.
Sirach 20:18
Qui enim edunt panem illius falsi sunt linguae ipsi quam saepe et quanti inridebunt eum.
For those who eat his bread have false tongues. How often and how many will ridicule him!
Sirach 20:19
Neque enim quod habendum erat directo sensu distribuit similiter et quod non erat habendum.
For he does not distribute with right judgment what ought to be given, and likewise what ought not to be given.
Sirach 20:20
Lapsus falsae linguae quasi qui in pavimento cadens sic casus malorum festinanter veniet.
A slip of a lying tongue is like one falling on a pavement -- so the downfall of the wicked will come swiftly.
Sirach 20:21
Homo acharis quasi fabula vana in ore indisciplinatorum adsidua erit.
A graceless person is like a pointless tale that is constantly on the lips of the ill-mannered.
Notes & Key Terms 1 term
Key Terms
acharis
"graceless"
Greek loanword in the Vulgate (acharis) meaning devoid of charm or grace -- a person whose company adds nothing.
Sirach 20:22
Ex ore fatui reprobabitur parabola non enim illam dicit in tempore suo.
A proverb from the mouth of a fool will be rejected, for he does not speak it at the right time.
Notes & Key Terms 1 term
Key Terms
parabola
"proverb"
Latin parabola translates the Hebrew mashal -- a compressed wisdom saying that requires skill to deploy effectively.
Translator Notes
- Even a true saying fails when badly timed -- wisdom requires not only content but delivery.
Sirach 20:23
Est qui vetatur peccare prae inopia et in requie sua stimulabitur.
There is one who is kept from sinning by poverty, and in his rest he will not be troubled by conscience.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
- An ironic observation: poverty can be an involuntary virtue. The person lacks the means to sin, not the desire.
Sirach 20:24
Est qui perdet animam suam prae confusione et ab inprudenti persona perdet eam.
There is one who destroys his soul through false shame, and loses it for the sake of a foolish person's opinion.
Notes & Key Terms 1 term
Key Terms
confusione
"false shame"
Not genuine moral shame but social embarrassment -- the cowardice of caring more about appearances than about right action.
Sirach 20:25
Est qui prae confusione promittit amico et lucratus est eum inimicum gratis.
There is one who out of false shame makes a promise to a friend, and so gains him as an enemy for nothing.
Sirach 20:26
Opprobrium nequam in homine mendacium et in ore indisciplinatorum adsidue erit.
A wicked reproach upon a person is a lie, yet it will be constantly on the lips of the undisciplined.
Sirach 20:27
Potior fur quam adsiduitas viri mendacis perditionem autem ambo hereditabunt.
Better a thief than the habitual liar, but destruction will be the inheritance of both.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
- A startling comparison: the thief at least acts honestly in his dishonesty, while the chronic liar corrupts the very medium of human trust.
Sirach 20:28
Mores hominum mendacium sine honore et confusio illorum cum ipsis sine intermissione.
The habits of a lying person are without honor, and his shame is with him without ceasing.
Sirach 20:29
Sapiens in verbis producet se ipsum et homo prudens placebit magnatis.
A wise person advances himself through his words, and a prudent man finds favor with the great.
Sirach 20:30
Qui operatur terram suam inaltabit acervum frugum et qui operatur iustitiam ipse exaltabitur qui vero placet magnatis effugiet iniquitatem.
Whoever works his land will heap up his harvest, and whoever practices justice will himself be exalted; and whoever pleases the great will escape injustice.
Sirach 20:31
Xenia et dona excaecant oculos iudicum et quasi mutus in ore avertit correptiones eorum.
Presents and gifts blind the eyes of judges, and like a muzzle on the mouth they turn aside their rebukes.
Notes & Key Terms 1 term
Key Terms
xenia et dona
"presents and gifts"
Xenia are hospitality gifts, dona are outright presents -- together they describe the full spectrum of socially acceptable bribery.
Translator Notes
- A direct echo of Deuteronomy 16:19 ('a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise') -- corruption of justice through patronage.
Sirach 20:32
Sapientia absconsa et thesaurus invisus quae utilitas in utrisque.
Hidden wisdom and an unseen treasure -- what use is either of them?
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
- The chapter's closing proverb: wisdom that is not shared and wealth that is not used are equally pointless.
Sirach 20:33
Melior est qui celat insipientiam suam quam homo qui abscondit sapientiam suam.
Better is the one who conceals his foolishness than the one who hides his wisdom.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
- The hiding of foolishness at least avoids harm; the hiding of wisdom deprives the community of benefit. The latter is the greater loss.