Sirach 27:17-30: a reflection

17Love a friend, and keep faith with him; but if you reveal his secrets, you shall not follow him; 18for as a man has destroyed his enemy, so you have destroyed the friendship of your neighbor. 19As a bird which you have released out of your hand, so you have let your neighbor go, and you will not catch him again. 20Don’t pursue him, for he has gone far away, and has escaped like a gazelle out of the snare. 21For a wound may be bound up, and after abuse there may be reconciliation; but he who reveals secrets is without hope. 22One who winks the eye contrives evil things; and those who know him will keep their distance. 23When you are present, he will speak sweetly, and will admire your words; but afterward he will twist his speech and set a trap in your words. 24I have hated many things, but nothing like him. The Lord will hate him. 25One who casts a stone straight up casts it on his own head. A deceitful blow opens wounds. 26He who digs a pit will fall into it. He who sets a snare will be caught in it. 27He who does evil things, they will roll back upon him, and he will not know where they came from. 28Mockery and reproach are from the arrogant. Vengeance lies in wait for them like a lion. 29Those who rejoice at the fall of the godly will be caught in a snare. Anguish will consume them before they die. 30Wrath and anger, these also are abominations. A sinner will possess them.

Sirach warns of the grave and often irreparable harm of betraying a friend's confidence: to reveal a friend's secrets is to destroy the friendship, perhaps beyond recovery. Love a friend, and keep faith with him, Sirach says; but if you reveal his secrets, you shall not follow him. He who reveals secrets is without hope of keeping the friendship. Sirach compares the lost friend to a bird released from the hand, gone and not to be caught again; and he says that while a wound may be bound up and after a quarrel there may be reconciliation, the one who betrays secrets is without hope of restoring the friendship. Betraying a confidence does grave, often irreparable harm to a friendship. This shows the importance of keeping a friend's confidence, and the harm of betraying it. Keep faith with your friend; do not reveal his secrets. Betraying a confidence can destroy a friendship beyond repair. Guarding a friend's secrets keeps faith with them. Revealing secrets does grave, often irreparable harm.

Notice the gravity Sirach ascribes to betraying a confidence. He counsels loving a friend and keeping faith with him; and he warns that revealing a friend's secrets destroys the friendship. He uses a striking image: the betrayed friend is like a bird let go from the hand, flown away and not to be caught again. And he draws a sobering contrast: many wrongs can be repaired, a wound can be bound up, after a quarrel there can be reconciliation; but the betrayal of secrets is often beyond such repair, leaving the betrayer without hope of restoring the friendship. This reveals how serious a thing it is to betray a confidence. When a friend trusts us with their secrets, and we reveal them, we do a grave and often irreparable harm; we break the trust that is the very foundation of friendship, and such broken trust can be hard or impossible to restore. This calls us to guard the confidences entrusted to us, to keep faith with our friends, not to reveal what has been shared with us in trust. Keeping a friend's secrets is part of keeping faith with them; betraying them can destroy the friendship beyond repair. We do well to be trustworthy with what others confide in us, guarding their confidences carefully. Guard the confidences your friends entrust to you. Betraying a secret can destroy a friendship beyond repair. Keeping faith means keeping a friend's secrets. Be trustworthy with what others confide in you.

That is worth taking to heart, for betraying a friend's confidence does grave, often irreparable harm, and we do well to guard the secrets entrusted to us and keep faith with our friends. We can betray a confidence, revealing what a friend has shared with us in trust, thinking it a small thing; but Sirach warns that this destroys the friendship, often beyond repair, like a bird flown from the hand. Keeping confidences keeps faith. Guard the secrets your friends entrust to you; do not betray their confidence, which can do irreparable harm to the friendship. Guard the confidences your friends entrust to you and keep faith with them, not betraying their secrets, which does grave and often irreparable harm, as Sirach counsels us to love a friend and keep faith with him but warns that whoever reveals a friend's secrets destroys the friendship, comparing the betrayed friend to a bird let go from the hand that flies away and is not caught again, and noting that while a wound may be bound up and after a quarrel there may be reconciliation, the one who betrays secrets is without hope of restoring the friendship; for when a friend trusts us with their secrets and we reveal them, we do a grave and often irreparable harm, breaking the trust that is the very foundation of friendship, and such broken trust can be hard or impossible to restore, so that keeping a friend's secrets is part of keeping faith with them, and we do well to be trustworthy with what others confide in us, guarding their confidences carefully rather than betraying them.

Lord, Sirach warns of the grave and often irreparable harm of betraying a friend's confidence: to reveal a friend's secrets is to destroy the friendship, perhaps beyond recovery. Love a friend, and keep faith with him, Sirach says; but if you reveal his secrets, you shall not follow him. He who reveals secrets is without hope of keeping the friendship. Sirach compares the lost friend to a bird released from the hand, gone and not to be caught again; and he says that while a wound may be bound up and after a quarrel there may be reconciliation, the one who betrays secrets is without hope of restoring the friendship. Betraying a confidence does grave, often irreparable harm to a friendship. This shows the importance of keeping a friend's confidence. Show me the gravity Sirach ascribes to betraying a confidence. He counsels loving a friend and keeping faith with him; and he warns that revealing a friend's secrets destroys the friendship, like a bird flown from the hand and not to be caught again. And he draws a sobering contrast: many wrongs can be repaired, but the betrayal of secrets is often beyond such repair. This reveals how serious a thing it is to betray a confidence. When a friend trusts me with their secrets, and I reveal them, I do a grave and often irreparable harm; I break the trust that is the very foundation of friendship, and such broken trust can be hard or impossible to restore. This calls me to guard the confidences entrusted to me, to keep faith with my friends, not to reveal what has been shared with me in trust. Take that to my heart, for betraying a friend's confidence does grave, often irreparable harm. Keep me from betraying the confidences my friends entrust to me, thinking it a small thing; help me guard their secrets carefully, Lord, and keep faith with them, being trustworthy with what others confide in me rather than revealing it and doing irreparable harm to the friendship.