Read & explore together
Distinguish honorable shame from cowardice
Sirach 4:20–31 teaches that shame is not always the same. Some shame leads a person into wrong, while another kind belongs with grace. This passage gives wise sayings about truth, speech, courage, humility and fairness.
Understanding the passage
Listening in context
In this part of Sirach, the writer gives a sequence of short instructions. The passage stays in the style of wisdom teaching, moving from warnings about shame to advice about speaking, confessing sins, resisting pressure, using words carefully and acting justly in the home and with money.
Sirach 4:20–31Main takeaway
This passage teaches that wise people should reject cowardly shame and instead choose truthful, humble and just actions.
Look closely at the words
Open a card to explore the full explanation and its Bible references.
01Shame can go in two very different directionsThe passage begins with alertness and caution: “Watch for the opportunity, and beware of evil.”
Explanation
The passage begins with alertness and caution: “Watch for the opportunity, and beware of evil.” Then it says not to be ashamed of your soul. Sirach explains why: one kind of shame “brings sin”, while another is “glory and grace”. So shame is not automatically good or bad. It depends on what it leads a person to do.
02Do not stay silent to please peopleSirach warns against showing partiality or giving another person such honour that you fall because of it.
Explanation
Sirach warns against showing partiality or giving another person such honour that you fall because of it. It also says not to hold back speech “when it is for safety” and not to hide wisdom just to appear fair. Wisdom and instruction become known through truthful speech, not silent compromise.
03Truthful humility is better than proud resistanceThe next sayings join truth with humility. A person should not “speak against the truth” and then be ashamed because ignorance is exposed.
Explanation
The next sayings join truth with humility. A person should not “speak against the truth” and then be ashamed because ignorance is exposed. Nor should someone be ashamed to confess sins. The image about not fighting a river’s current warns against stubborn resistance when a person should instead yield and admit wrong.
04Courage, restraint and fairness belong togetherSirach says not to let a fool trample you or to favour the mighty. It calls for striving “for the truth to death”, with confidence that the Lord God will fight for such a person.
Explanation
Sirach says not to let a fool trample you or to favour the mighty. It calls for striving “for the truth to death”, with confidence that the Lord God will fight for such a person. The closing sayings add practical wisdom: avoid rash speech, laziness in deeds, harsh rule at home and greedy taking without proper repayment.
Questions to explore
Pause, look back at the verses and talk together.
01According to this passage, what is the difference between shame that brings sin and shame that brings glory and grace?
Compare the warning not to be ashamed of your soul with the commands to confess sins and to avoid speaking against the truth.
02When does Sirach say speaking up is the right thing to do?
Look at the lines about speaking for safety and about wisdom and instruction being known by speech.
03What everyday actions at the end of the passage show whether a person is living truthfully and justly?
Notice the warnings about the tongue, deeds, treatment of servants and receiving and repaying.
Read the Bible passage
World English Bible ClassicScripture quotation · Public domain
Sirach 4:20–31
20Watch for the opportunity, and beware of evil. Don’t be ashamed of your soul.
21For there is a shame that brings sin, and there is a shame that is glory and grace.
22Don’t show partiality, discrediting your soul. Don’t revere any man to your falling.
23Don’t refrain from speaking when it is for safety. Don’t hide your wisdom for the sake of seeming fair.
24For wisdom will be known by speech, and instruction by the word of the tongue.
25Don’t speak against the truth and be shamed for your ignorance.
26Don’t be ashamed to confess your sins. Don’t fight the river’s current.
27Don’t lay yourself down for a fool to tread upon. Don’t be partial to one who is mighty.
28Strive for the truth to death, and the Lord God will fight for you.
29Don’t be hasty with your tongue, or slack and negligent in your deeds.
30Don’t be like a lion in your house, or suspicious of your servants.
31Don’t let your hand be stretched out to receive, and closed when you should repay.