Read & explore together
Wise counsel must benefit both teacher and people
Sirach 37:16–26 teaches that counsel should come before action. It compares empty cleverness with wisdom that truly helps the speaker and also benefits other people.
Understanding the passage
Listening in context
This wisdom passage in the Catholic additional books presents linked sayings about reason, counsel, the heart, the tongue, wisdom, blessing, and a lasting name. The verses stay in the form of instruction and contrast, showing what wise speech produces and what mere verbal skill cannot do.
Sirach 37:16–26Main takeaway
This passage teaches that true wisdom is shown not by clever words alone but by counsel that is trustworthy, beneficial, and fruitful for both the teacher and the people.
Look closely at the words
Open a card to explore the full explanation and its Bible references.
01Counsel comes firstThe opening gives an order for living. Reason is to begin every work, and counsel is to come before action.
Explanation
The opening gives an order for living. Reason is to begin every work, and counsel is to come before action. That means thinking and guidance are placed at the start, not at the end. The next verses then move to the heart and to weighty opposites, showing that choices matter.
02The tongue has great influenceSirach mentions good and evil, life and death, then says the tongue rules over them continually.
Explanation
Sirach mentions good and evil, life and death, then says the tongue rules over them continually. The passage does not explain every detail, but it clearly treats speech as powerful. Verse 17’s reference to the changing of the heart keeps inner life and spoken words close together.
03Clever speech can still failA person may be clever and teach many, yet be unprofitable to his own soul. Another may be subtle in words and still be hated and left without food.
Explanation
A person may be clever and teach many, yet be unprofitable to his own soul. Another may be subtle in words and still be hated and left without food. Sirach says this happens because grace was not given to him from the Lord and he lacks wisdom. Eloquence alone is not enough.
04Wisdom benefits self and peopleThe wise person is different. His understanding is trustworthy, he instructs his own people, and he is filled with blessing.
Explanation
The wise person is different. His understanding is trustworthy, he instructs his own people, and he is filled with blessing. Others call him happy. Though a person’s life is counted by days, the wise man gains confidence among his people, and his name is said to live forever.
Questions to explore
Pause, look back at the verses and talk together.
01What comes before action in this passage?
Answer from the wording of Sirach 37:16, which gives the order for work and action.
02How does Sirach describe the power of the tongue?
Notice the strong pairings in Sirach 37:18 and the statement about what rules over them.
03How is the wise person different from the merely clever speaker?
Compare the person in Sirach 37:19–21 with the wise person in Sirach 37:22–24.
Read the Bible passage
World English Bible ClassicScripture quotation · Public domain
Sirach 37:16–26
16Let reason be the beginning of every work. Let counsel go before every action.
17As a token of the changing of the heart,
18four kinds of things rise up: good and evil, life and death. That which rules over them continually is the tongue.
19There is one who is clever and the instructor of many, and yet is unprofitable to his own soul.
20There is one who is subtle in words, and is hated. He will be destitute of all food.
21For grace was not given to him from the Lord, because he is deprived of all wisdom.
22There is one who is wise to his own soul; and the fruits of his understanding are trustworthy in the mouth.
23A wise man will instruct his own people. The fruits of his understanding are trustworthy.
24A wise man will be filled with blessing. All those who see him will call him happy.
25The life of a man is counted by days. The days of Israel are innumerable.
26The wise man will inherit confidence among his people. His name will live forever.