Gold and food promise satisfaction, yet both can leave a person less free. Sirach follows the anxious search for wealth into the shared meal, where the eye, hand, and cup reveal what the heart serves. The blessed person receives good things without making them a master, and leaves others room to receive them too.
Brenton follows the Greek manuscript order in chapters 30-36, so his chapter numbers differ here.
Gold as Gift or Master (Sirach 31:1-11; Brenton 34:1-11)
1 Watching for riches consumeth the flesh, and the care thereof driveth away sleep. 2 Watching care will not let a man slumber, as a sore disease breaketh sleep. 3 The rich hath great labour in gathering riches together; and when he resteth, he is filled with his delicacies. 4 The poor laboureth in his poor estate; and when he leaveth off, he is still needy. 5 He that loveth gold shall not be justified, and he that followeth corruption shall have enough thereof. 6 Gold hath been the ruin of many, and their destruction was present. 7 It is a stumblingblock unto them that sacrifice unto it, and every fool shall be taken therewith. 8 Blessed is the rich that is found without blemish, and hath not gone after gold. 9 Who is he? and we will call him blessed: for wonderful things hath he done among his people. 10 Who hath been tried thereby, and found perfect? then let him glory. Who might offend, and hath not offended? or done evil, and hath not done it? 11 His goods shall be established, and the congregation shall declare his alms.
Both rich and poor labor, yet their nights and their rest differ. The poor person may stop working and remain needy; the rich person may have abundance and still lose sleep over it. Sirach neither romanticizes poverty nor assumes that wealth is security. He exposes gold’s power to become an object of sacrifice, consuming the person who thinks he possesses it.
The blessing in verses 8-11 falls upon the rich person who has not pursued gold as a master. The test is real opportunity: he could have done wrong and did not. His goods bear witness through alms, not merely through their quantity. This gives a concrete answer to the anxious question whether wealth has begun to rule us. Can it still leave our hands in an act of justice or mercy when keeping it would be easier?
Matthew 19:23-26 places the danger of riches beside salvation that is possible with God. The point is neither despair for those with money nor admiration for their social position. Grace can free a person from a master too strong to overcome by self-congratulation. The rich Christian needs repentance and divine help, just as the poor Christian does, and the community should praise mercy rather than confuse financial success with holiness.
Room for the Neighbor at the Table (Sirach 31:12-18; Brenton 34:12-18)
12 If thou sit at a bountiful table, be not greedy upon it, and say not, There is much meat on it. 13 Remember that a wicked eye is an evil thing: and what is created more wicked than an eye? therefore it weepeth upon every occasion. 14 Stretch not thine hand whithersoever it looketh, and thrust it not with him into the dish. 15 Judge of thy neighbour by thyself: and be discreet in every point. 16 Eat, as it becometh a man, those things which are set before thee; and devour not, lest thou be hated. 17 Leave off first for manners’ sake; and be not unsatiable, lest thou offend. 18 When thou sittest among many, reach not thine hand out first of all.
The eye reaches before the hand. At a full table, appetite can begin calculating how much to take before anyone else has received. Sirach’s manners discipline this inward grasping. Waiting, noticing the shared dish, and judging a neighbor’s needs by our own bring the other person back into view.
The warning about the eye concerns covetous desire, not contempt for the body God made. Nor is an appetite itself a sin. Hunger becomes disordered when the available food erases the people with whom it is shared. Verse 15 supplies the remedy: recognize that the neighbor is a person like you, with hunger, preferences, vulnerability, and a place at the table.
This ordinary meal is not itself the Eucharist, but its discipline is consonant with the life the Eucharist forms. Thanksgiving receives a gift; generosity leaves room for another; restraint keeps pleasure from becoming a demand. The person who approaches Christ’s table can let that communion reach even the speed and attention with which an everyday meal is eaten.
Moderation, Bodily Care, and Hospitality (Sirach 31:19-24; Brenton 34:19-24)
19 A very little is sufficient for a man well nurtured, and he fetcheth not his wind short upon his bed. 20 Sound sleep cometh of moderate eating: he riseth early, and his wits are with him: but the pain of watching, and choler, and pangs of the belly, are with an unsatiable man. 21 And if thou hast been forced to eat, arise, go forth, vomit, and thou shalt have rest. 22 My son, hear me, and despise me not, and at the last thou shalt find as I told thee: in all thy works be quick, so shall there no sickness come unto thee. 23 Whoso is liberal of his meat, men shall speak well of him; and the report of his good housekeeping will be believed. 24 But against him that is a niggard of his meat the whole city shall murmur; and the testimonies of his niggardness shall not be doubted of.
Sirach observes how excess can disturb sleep and diminish alertness. The point is to receive enough: food should sustain the body and shared life rather than rule them. His general promise of health belongs to wisdom’s ordinary counsel; it is not a guarantee that moderation prevents every disease or proof that a sick person ate wrongly.
Verse 21 preserves ancient advice to vomit after being forced to eat. It is not a spiritual rule, a weight-control method, or permission for purging. Eating disorders and compulsive behaviors require compassionate medical and psychological care. Christian ascetic life, including fasting, serves health in the broad sense of an integrated life before God, with appropriate pastoral and medical guidance. It must never make self-injury look like obedience.
The section ends by testing the host as well as the guest. Restraint cannot become stinginess with someone else’s meal. Generous hospitality and personal moderation strengthen one another when the giver seeks the guest’s good. A modest meal offered without resentment can be abundant in welcome, while costly food served to secure admiration can leave love unfed.
Gladness Without Drunkenness (Sirach 31:25-31; Brenton 34:25-31)
25 Shew not thy valiantness in wine; for wine hath destroyed many. 26 The furnace proveth the edge by dipping: so doth wine the hearts of the proud by drunkenness. 27 Wine is as good as life to a man, if it be drunk moderately: what life is then to a man that is without wine? for it was made to make men glad. 28 Wine measurably drunk and in season bringeth gladness of the heart, and cheerfulness of the mind: 29 but wine drunken with excess maketh bitterness of the mind, with brawling and quarrelling. 30 Drunkenness increaseth the rage of a fool till he offend: it diminisheth strength, and maketh wounds. 31 Rebuke not thy neighbour at the wine, and despise him not in his mirth: give him no despiteful words, and press not upon him with urging him [to drink].
Wine is praised as a gift capable of bringing gladness, and condemned when it becomes an arena for pride. The furnace image returns: drinking can disclose what the proud heart has concealed. Bravado gives way to quarrelling, diminished strength, and wounds. The measure is the fruit of the gift in the life that receives it.
John 2:1-11 shows Christ blessing a wedding with wine, while Ephesians 5:18 forbids drunkenness and directs the Church toward life in the Spirit. Joy belongs to Christian life, but intoxication cannot be its source or its test. Sirach’s rhetorical question about life without wine is praise of a customary good, not a command to drink. Abstinence may be the wise and necessary path for recovery, health, conscience, or personal circumstances.
The last verse turns toward the neighbor: do not humiliate someone at the feast or pressure him to drink. A host’s freedom is shown by making abstinence unremarkable and protecting guests from coercion. If alcohol has begun to damage trust, safety, or work, the right response is truthful help and treatment, not a more persuasive claim to self-control.
Spiritual Fruit 🍇
Let money answer to mercy. Review one financial choice that has occupied more attention than it deserves. Decide whether it serves an actual responsibility or merely the wish to feel invulnerable. Set aside a concrete gift, settle an obligation, or stop one dishonest advantage. The amount is less important than the freedom of the act. Pray for the grace to use what you have without needing possession to tell you who you are.
Notice one person at the table. During a meal this week, slow down enough to see who has been served, who needs help, and who has been left out of conversation. Let the meal include listening rather than only eating. If your food needs differ for medical or other reasons, receive that provision without shame and extend the same courtesy to another. Thanksgiving becomes visible when no one’s ordinary need is treated as a nuisance.
Choose care rather than punishment for the body. Practice moderation through regular nourishment and attentive limits, not through compensating for a meal by purging or self-imposed deprivation. Where eating has become frightening or compulsive, seek qualified help and wise pastoral support. Christ receives a person in need of healing, not a body that has successfully met an ideal. Fasting should be guided toward freedom and love rather than used to hide a destructive struggle.
Make gladness hospitable. If you host, provide a good nonalcoholic choice and never ask a guest to defend abstinence. If drinking is weakening your own freedom, tell the truth to someone who can help and take the next concrete step toward treatment or support. Innocent celebration can remain, though its form may need to change. At the end of the meal, give thanks for both the gifts and the people. The table is blessed when no one must surrender dignity in order to belong.
Teaching Notes
Suggested timing: 60-75 minutes, including 10 minutes for Spiritual Fruit and prayer. Allow longer for difficult verses rather than rushing a personal disclosure.
Gold as Gift or Master (Sirach 31:1-11; Brenton 34:1-11)
- Ask: How do verses 8-11 define a blessed rich person?
- Emphasize: The test is freedom for honesty and almsgiving.
- Watch for: Neither poverty nor wealth automatically proves a person’s spiritual condition.
- Key phrases to say slowly: “Could have done wrong and did not”; “Praise mercy, not abundance.”
Room for the Neighbor at the Table (Sirach 31:12-18; Brenton 34:12-18)
- Ask: How can the eye begin taking before the hand moves?
- Emphasize: Table manners can train attention to another person’s needs.
- Watch for: Do not shame normal hunger, body size, or medical dietary needs.
- Key phrases to say slowly: “Leave room for another”; “Receive the meal as a gift.”
Moderation, Bodily Care, and Hospitality (Sirach 31:19-24; Brenton 34:19-24)
- Ask: How does the ending test the host as well as the guest?
- Emphasize: Moderation and hospitality can serve the same love.
- Watch for: Reject purging, body shame, and claims that illness proves excess.
- Key phrases to say slowly: “Food should sustain life”; “Welcome can be abundant.”
Gladness Without Drunkenness (Sirach 31:25-31; Brenton 34:25-31)
- Ask: What makes a feast safe for a person who abstains?
- Emphasize: God’s gifts are received freely, never under social pressure.
- Watch for: Do not suggest moderate drinking is a realistic requirement for someone in recovery.
- Key phrases to say slowly: “Never pressure a guest to drink”; “Joy does not require intoxication.”
Sources
Embedded Scripture is from Brenton’s English Septuagint (LXX).
Primary sources
Brenton, The Septuagint Version of the Old Testament: every verse of familiar Sirach 31:1-31 corresponds, by its words, to Brenton 34:1-31. The opening is “Watching for riches”; the ending forbids pressing a neighbor to drink.
@andraws/lectionary-data 1.3.3: no appointment of familiar Sirach 31 appears in the package’s Sirach reading records.
World English Bible Classic, Sirach 31 is used only to compare familiar verse divisions and clause content, not as the embedded Scripture translation.
No direct patristic commentary on this passage surfaced in the sources used for this guide. No thematic patristic witness is included.
Secondary academic sources
None used.
Coptic Orthodox and pastoral sources
No additional Coptic pastoral commentary is used.
Web pages and non-academic sources
eBible.org supplies the familiar-numbering comparison linked above.