Sirach 13:21-23

Good News Translation

²¹ When a rich person stumbles, his friends will steady him, but if a poor person falls, his friends will have nothing to do with him. ²² When someone rich makes a mistake, there are many people to cover up for him and explain away all the things he never should have said. But let someone poor make a mistake, and he gets nothing but criticism. Even if what he says makes good sense, nobody will listen. ²³ When a rich person speaks, everyone is silent, and they praise him to the skies for what he says. But let a poor person speak, and everybody says,