Sirach 19:1-16: a reflection

1A worker who is a drunkard will not become rich. He who despises small things will fall little by little. 2Wine and women will make men of understanding go astray. He who joins with prostitutes is reckless. 3Decay and worms will have him as their heritage. A reckless soul will be taken away. 4He who is hasty to trust is shallow-hearted. He who sins offends against his own soul. 5He who rejoices in wickedness will be condemned. 6He who hates gossip has less wickedness. 7Never repeat what is told you, and you won’t lose anything. 8Whether it is of friend or foe, don’t tell it. Unless it is a sin to you, don’t reveal it. 9For if he has heard you and observed you, when the time comes, he will hate you. 10Have you heard something? Let it die with you. Be brave: it will not make you burst! 11A fool will travail in pain with a word, as a woman in labor with a child. 12As an arrow that sticks in the flesh of the thigh, so is gossip in a fool. 13Question a friend; it may be he didn’t do it. If he did something, it may be that he may do it no more. 14Question your neighbor; it may be he didn’t say it. If he has said it, it may be that he may not say it again. 15Question a friend; for many times there is slander. Don’t trust every word. 16There is one who slips, and not from the heart. Who is he who hasn’t sinned with his tongue?

This passage in Sirach deals with the tongue, and especially with gossip and slander. Never repeat what is told you, it counsels, and you will lose nothing; let what you have heard die with you. It warns how a foolish person cannot hold a word in, but must blurt it out, like an arrow that will not stay in the flesh. And it counsels caution before believing an ill report: question your neighbor first, for many times it is slander; do not trust every word.

Notice the two counsels here about the tongue and the ear. First, guard what you say: do not repeat what is told you, but let it die with you; much harm is done by passing along what should have been kept. Second, guard what you believe: do not trust every ill report you hear, for often it is slander; question before you believe. Both the passing on of gossip and the believing of slander do real harm, and the wise person guards against both.

That is practical wisdom for how we handle words, our own and others'. We are often tempted to repeat what we have heard, to pass along a juicy report; and we are quick to believe an ill word about someone without questioning it. But both do harm: the repeating spreads it, and the believing wrongs the one slandered. Guard your tongue: do not pass along what should be kept; let it die with you. And guard your ear: do not believe every ill report, but question it, for often it is slander. Be one who neither spreads gossip nor believes it readily, handling words, your own and others', with the care that guards against the harm the careless tongue and the credulous ear can do.

Lord, this passage in Sirach counsels me about the tongue: never repeat what is told me, but let it die with me; and do not trust every ill report, for often it is slander, but question before believing. Give me that practical wisdom for how I handle words, my own and others'. I am often tempted to repeat what I have heard, to pass along a juicy report; and I am quick to believe an ill word about someone without questioning it. But both do harm: the repeating spreads it, and the believing wrongs the one slandered. Help me guard my tongue: not to pass along what should be kept, but to let it die with me. And help me guard my ear: not to believe every ill report, but to question it, for often it is slander. Make me one who neither spreads gossip nor believes it readily, handling words, my own and others', with the care that guards against the harm the careless tongue and the credulous ear can do. Set a guard over my mouth and my ear, Lord.