Read & explore together
Distinguish professed friendship from loyal companionship
Sirach 37:1–6 warns that spoken friendship is not always loyal friendship. These sayings contrast empty claims, painful betrayal, and the duty to remember a true friend.
Understanding the passage
Listening in context
This passage comes from Sirach, a wisdom book in the Catholic additional books. The verses move through short sayings about friends, grief, deceit, affliction, battle, and riches. Together they expose false companionship and end with a command about how a friend should be remembered.
Sirach 37:1–6Main takeaway
This passage teaches that true friendship is shown by loyalty, not just by words or advantage.
Look closely at the words
Open a card to explore the full explanation and its Bible references.
01Friendship can be only a nameThe first saying warns that many people may speak as if they are friends, yet some are only friends “in name”.
Explanation
The first saying warns that many people may speak as if they are friends, yet some are only friends “in name”. The contrast is between what is said and what is true. Sirach begins by teaching readers not to measure friendship by claims alone.
02Betrayal brings deep griefThe next verse describes the pain when a companion and friend turns into an enemy. The text calls this grief severe, “even to death”.
Explanation
The next verse describes the pain when a companion and friend turns into an enemy. The text calls this grief severe, “even to death”. Sirach does not treat friendship lightly. Broken trust is presented as a serious sorrow, not a small disappointment.
03Deceit is condemnedSirach 37:3 cries out against “wicked imagination” that covers the land with deceit. The verse is a protest, not an explanation of how deceit began.
Explanation
Sirach 37:3 cries out against “wicked imagination” that covers the land with deceit. The verse is a protest, not an explanation of how deceit began. In this passage, it matches the warning that false friendship hides itself under friendly words and behaviour.
04Hard times reveal companionsThe last sayings give tests of companionship. One companion enjoys gladness but is against a friend in affliction.
Explanation
The last sayings give tests of companionship. One companion enjoys gladness but is against a friend in affliction. Another labours with a friend “for the belly’s sake” and is described “in the face of battle” with his buckler. The passage ends by telling readers not to forget a friend in the soul or be unmindful of him in riches.
Questions to explore
Pause, look back at the verses and talk together.
01What is the difference between saying you are a friend and being more than a friend “in name”?
Compare the spoken claim in Sirach 37:1 with the warning that some friendship is only a title.
02How does Sirach describe the hurt caused when a friend becomes an enemy?
Look closely at the strength of the language in Sirach 37:2 and what it says about grief.
03Which situations in these verses reveal whether companionship is genuine?
Notice the settings named in the passage: gladness, affliction, labour “for the belly’s sake”, battle, and riches.
Read the Bible passage
World English Bible ClassicScripture quotation · Public domain
Sirach 37:1–6
1Every friend will say, “I also am his friend”; but there is a friend which is only a friend in name.
2Isn’t there a grief in it even to death when a companion and friend is turned into an enemy?
3O wicked imagination, why were you formed to cover the dry land with deceit?
4There is a companion who rejoices in the gladness of a friend, but in time of affliction will be against him.
5There is a companion who for the belly’s sake labors with his friend, yet in the face of battle will carry his buckler.
6Don’t forget a friend in your soul. Don’t be unmindful of him in your riches.