Sirach 5:12-14

New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

¹²If you know what to say, answer your neighbor;
but if not, put your hand over your mouth.

¹³Honor and dishonor come from speaking,
    and the tongue of mortals may be their downfall.
¹⁴Do not be called double-tongued^[a]
    and do not lay traps with your tongue;
for shame comes to the thief,
    and severe condemnation to the double-tongued.

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Footnotes

Sirach 5:14 Heb: Gk a slanderer

New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE)

New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.