Read & explore together
Guarantee a neighbor carefully and honor a guarantor
Sirach 29:14–20 gives practical wisdom about standing with a neighbour in a costly way. It honours generous help, yet it also warns that this kind of support can bring loss, trouble and serious danger.
Understanding the passage
Listening in context
This passage from Sirach is a set of wisdom sayings, not a story. It speaks about being “surety for” a neighbour, remembering kindness, the harm done by sinners and thankless people, and the need for careful limits when helping others.
Sirach 29:14–20Main takeaway
This passage teaches that helping a neighbour is good, but wise help must be given carefully so that the helper does not fall.
Look closely at the words
Open a card to explore the full explanation and its Bible references.
01Kindness and risk appear togetherThe passage begins with praise: “A good man will be surety for his neighbor.” From the wording, this is a costly kind of support for another person.
Explanation
The passage begins with praise: “A good man will be surety for his neighbor.” From the wording, this is a costly kind of support for another person. But the next line adds a warning: “He who has lost shame will fail him.” Sirach starts by holding generosity and danger together.
02Remember the one who helped youSirach then tells the helped person not to forget the guarantor’s kindness. The saying is strong: “he has given his life for you.”
Explanation
Sirach then tells the helped person not to forget the guarantor’s kindness. The saying is strong: “he has given his life for you.” That shows how weighty this help can be. By contrast, “a sinner” wastes the guarantor’s property, and “he who is thankless” fails the one who delivered him.
03Surety can bring great ruinThe warning becomes broader and more severe. Sirach says being surety has undone many who were prospering and shaken them “as a wave of the sea.”
Explanation
The warning becomes broader and more severe. Sirach says being surety has undone many who were prospering and shaken them “as a wave of the sea.” It has driven mighty men from their homes, and they wandered among foreign nations. The passage plainly describes how serious the cost can become.
04Help within your powerThe final sayings return to caution. A sinner who enters suretiship and takes on contracts for work will fall into lawsuits.
Explanation
The final sayings return to caution. A sinner who enters suretiship and takes on contracts for work will fall into lawsuits. The closing command balances the whole passage: “Help your neighbor according to your power, and be careful not to fall yourself.” Sirach encourages help, but not careless self-harm.
Questions to explore
Pause, look back at the verses and talk together.
01What does this passage say people owe to a guarantor?
Notice the command not to forget the guarantor’s kindness and the warning about being thankless to the one who delivered you.
02What dangers of surety are named in these verses?
Look for the losses and troubles listed, including wasted property, being undone, leaving home and lawsuits.
03How does Sirach 29:20 keep help and caution together?
Read the whole verse and notice both parts: help your neighbour, and be careful not to fall yourself.
Read the Bible passage
World English Bible ClassicScripture quotation · Public domain
Sirach 29:14–20
14A good man will be surety for his neighbor. He who has lost shame will fail him.
15Don’t forget the kindness of your guarantor, for he has given his life for you.
16A sinner will waste the property of his guarantor.
17He who is thankless will fail him who delivered him.
18Being surety has undone many who were prospering and shaken them as a wave of the sea. It has driven mighty men from their homes. They wandered among foreign nations.
19A sinner who falls into suretiship and undertakes contracts for work will fall into lawsuits.
20Help your neighbor according to your power, and be careful not to fall yourself.