Read & explore together
Eat considerately and host generously
Sirach 31:12–24 gives practical wisdom for shared meals. It warns against greed, teaches care for other people at the table, praises moderation, and contrasts generous sharing with stinginess.
Understanding the passage
Listening in context
This passage in Sirach is wisdom instruction about conduct while eating with others. The speaker gives direct commands, later saying, “Hear me, my son.” The teaching moves from behaviour at a rich table to discretion, moderation, rest, and the reputation of people who share food or hold it back.
Sirach 31:12–24Main takeaway
This passage teaches that wise table conduct combines self-control, thoughtfulness toward others, and generosity with food.
Look closely at the words
Open a card to explore the full explanation and its Bible references.
01Restrain greedy desireThe passage begins with someone sitting at “a great table”. Sirach warns against greed in words, eyes, and hands.
Explanation
The passage begins with someone sitting at “a great table”. Sirach warns against greed in words, eyes, and hands. A person should not speak excitedly about the abundance, stare with a “greedy eye”, or push a hand into the dish wherever desire leads. The emphasis is on restraining appetite and action.
02Think about the other personSirach then turns outward: “Consider your neighbor’s feelings by your own.” Discretion is not only inward self-control but behaviour that respects others at the meal.
Explanation
Sirach then turns outward: “Consider your neighbor’s feelings by your own.” Discretion is not only inward self-control but behaviour that respects others at the meal. So the reader is told to eat properly, not greedily, to stop first for manners’ sake, and not to reach out ahead of everyone else.
03Moderation brings reliefA well-mannered person finds “a very little” sufficient. Sirach links moderate eating with healthy sleep, early rising, and clear wits.
Explanation
A well-mannered person finds “a very little” sufficient. Sirach links moderate eating with healthy sleep, early rising, and clear wits. By contrast, the insatiable person is linked with wakefulness and pain. Verse 21 adds that if someone has been forced to eat, getting up partway through will bring rest. The text commends measured eating.
04Words to value, generosity to noticeThe speaker says, “Hear me, my son,” and expects these words to be appreciated in the end.
Explanation
The speaker says, “Hear me, my son,” and expects these words to be appreciated in the end. The passage closes with public reputation. People bless the one who is “liberal with his food”, while the city murmurs against the one who is stingy with food. Shared food becomes a visible test of character.
Questions to explore
Pause, look back at the verses and talk together.
01How does the passage describe greed at a meal?
Look for the warnings about speech, the “greedy eye”, and what the hand does at the dish.
02What actions show consideration for neighbours at the table?
Notice the command to consider your neighbour’s feelings and the instructions about stopping and waiting.
03What different reputations come from being liberal or stingy with food?
Compare the blessing in one verse with the murmuring in the next.
Read the Bible passage
World English Bible ClassicScripture quotation · Public domain
Sirach 31:12–24
12Do you sit at a great table? Don’t be greedy there. Don’t say, “There is a lot of food on it!”
13Remember that a greedy eye is a wicked thing. What has been created more greedy than an eye? Therefore it sheds tears from every face.
14Don’t stretch your hand wherever it looks. Don’t thrust yourself with it into the dish.
15Consider your neighbor’s feelings by your own. Be discreet in every point.
16Eat like a human being those things which are set before you. Don’t eat greedily, lest you be hated.
17Be first to stop for manners’ sake. Don’t be insatiable, lest you offend.
18And if you sit among many, Don’t reach out your hand before them.
19How sufficient to a well-mannered man is a very little. He doesn’t breathe heavily in his bed.
20Healthy sleep comes from moderate eating. He rises early, and his wits are with him. The pain of wakefulness, colic, and griping are with an insatiable man.
21And if you have been forced to eat, rise up in the middle of it, and you shall have rest.
22Hear me, my son, and don’t despise me, and in the end you will appreciate my words. In all your works be skillful, and no disease will come to you.
23People bless him who is liberal with his food. The testimony of his excellence will be believed.
24The city will murmur at him who is a stingy with his food. The testimony of his stinginess will be accurate.