Read & explore together
Beware a destructive guest
This wisdom passage warns against giving easy access to a deceitful person. It uses sharp comparisons to show how pride, blame and quarrels can enter a household and damage both reputation and family relationships.
Understanding the passage
Listening in context
In Sirach 11:29–34, the writer gives a connected series of warnings. The passage starts with who is brought into a house, then describes a proud man watching for weakness, turning good into evil, and causing harm that spreads further than first expected.
Sirach 11:29–34Main takeaway
Sirach 11:29–34 teaches that welcoming a deceitful or evil-doing person too closely can lead to blame, harm, damaged reputation and family division.
Look closely at the words
Open a card to explore the full explanation and its Bible references.
01A house is not open without discernmentThe passage opens with a direct warning: “Don’t bring every man into your house”. Sirach gives the reason in the same verse: “many are the tricks of a deceitful man”.
Explanation
The passage opens with a direct warning: “Don’t bring every man into your house”. Sirach gives the reason in the same verse: “many are the tricks of a deceitful man”. The focus is on careful discernment about who is brought into the home and given close access to household life.
02The proud person studies weaknessSirach then uses two comparisons. The heart of a proud man is “like a decoy partridge in a cage”, and “like a spy, he looks for your weakness”.
Explanation
Sirach then uses two comparisons. The heart of a proud man is “like a decoy partridge in a cage”, and “like a spy, he looks for your weakness”. Whatever the first picture suggests, the verse clearly explains the danger: this person watches closely, searching for a vulnerable point to use.
03Good can be twisted into harmThe warning deepens because this person does not merely observe. He “lies in wait” to turn “things that are good into evil” and even “assigns blame in things that are praiseworthy”.
Explanation
The warning deepens because this person does not merely observe. He “lies in wait” to turn “things that are good into evil” and even “assigns blame in things that are praiseworthy”. Sirach adds the image of a spark becoming many coals, showing how destructive harm can spread from what first seems small.
04Reputation and family may both sufferThe final verses tell what can be lost. An evil-doer “plans wicked things” and may “ruin your reputation forever”.
Explanation
The final verses tell what can be lost. An evil-doer “plans wicked things” and may “ruin your reputation forever”. Then the passage returns to the home: receiving a stranger can bring distracting arguments and leave a person “estranged” from family. Sirach ends by showing that private access can lead to lasting public and relational damage.
Questions to explore
Pause, look back at the verses and talk together.
01What reason does Sirach give for not bringing every man into your house?
Look for the explanation attached to the command and name the exact danger mentioned there: the tricks of a deceitful man.
02How does Sirach describe the proud man’s way of acting?
Notice both comparisons and the plain statement that explains them: he looks for your weakness like a spy.
03What forms of damage appear by the end of the passage?
Trace the movement from twisted good and false blame to bloodshed, ruined reputation, arguments and estrangement from family.
Read the Bible passage
World English Bible ClassicScripture quotation · Public domain
Sirach 11:29–34
29Don’t bring every man into your house, for many are the tricks of a deceitful man.
30Like a decoy partridge in a cage, so is the heart of a proud man. Like a spy, he looks for your weakness.
31For he lies in wait to turn things that are good into evil, and assigns blame in things that are praiseworthy.
32From a spark of fire, a heap of many coals is kindled, and a sinful man lies in wait to shed blood.
33Take heed of an evil-doer, for he plans wicked things, lest perhaps he ruin your reputation forever.
34Receive a stranger into your house, and he will distract you with arguments and estrange you from your own family.