Read & explore together
Self-indulgent pride consumes its owner
Sirach warns that self-exalting pride is not strength. In three sharp images, these verses show a person trusting their own inner counsel, then suffering ruin, emptiness, and disgrace because of that wickedness.
Understanding the passage
Listening in context
This wisdom saying speaks about the inner life. It warns against exalting yourself “in the counsel of your soul” and then describes the outcome with three images: a torn bull, a stripped tree, and a person made a laughing stock to enemies. Each picture shows self-destruction and shame.
Sirach 6:2–4Main takeaway
This passage teaches that wicked self-exaltation harms the very person who holds onto it.
Look closely at the words
Open a card to explore the full explanation and its Bible references.
01Exalting yourself is dangerousThe warning begins with a command: “Don’t exalt yourself in the counsel of your soul”. The focus is on lifting up your own inner counsel.
Explanation
The warning begins with a command: “Don’t exalt yourself in the counsel of your soul”. The focus is on lifting up your own inner counsel. Sirach then gives a fierce picture of the result: your soul being “torn in pieces like a bull”. Pride here is shown as destructive, not secure.
02You consume your own goodThe next image is a tree being ruined from within. “You will eat up your leaves” and “destroy your fruit” shows a person using up what should remain living and fruitful.
Explanation
The next image is a tree being ruined from within. “You will eat up your leaves” and “destroy your fruit” shows a person using up what should remain living and fruitful. The final comparison, “like a dry tree”, points to barrenness and loss. The ruin is pictured as self-inflicted.
03Wickedness turns on its ownerThe last verse states the lesson plainly: “A wicked soul will destroy him who has it”. The source of ruin is inside the person, not merely outside them.
Explanation
The last verse states the lesson plainly: “A wicked soul will destroy him who has it”. The source of ruin is inside the person, not merely outside them. Sirach then adds public shame: such a person becomes “a laughing stock to his enemies”. Wickedness brings both destruction and disgrace.
Questions to explore
Pause, look back at the verses and talk together.
01What does it mean to “exalt yourself in the counsel of your soul”?
Use the wording of the verse to explain that Sirach warns about lifting up your own inner counsel.
02What is lost in the picture of the tree?
Notice the order: leaves, fruit, then a dry tree, and describe how the image shows life and usefulness being consumed.
03How does the last verse explain where the damage comes from?
Focus on the words “a wicked soul will destroy him who has it” and connect them with the added shame before enemies.
Read the Bible passage
World English Bible ClassicScripture quotation · Public domain
Sirach 6:2–4
2Don’t exalt yourself in the counsel of your soul, that your soul not be torn in pieces like a bull.
3You will eat up your leaves, destroy your fruit, and leave yourself like a dry tree.
4A wicked soul will destroy him who has it, and will make him a laughing stock to his enemies.