Ben Sira - chapter 29

29: 1-28 (part of this chapter is an acrostic: translated by Edgar Goodspeed)
The man who shows mercy will lend to his neighbor, and the man who takes him by the hand keeps the commandments.  Lend to your neighbor when he is in need, and pay your neighbor back again when it is time.  Keep your word and keep faith with him, and in every emergency you will find what you need.  Many consider a loan as a windfall, and bring trouble on those who help them.  A man will kiss another man's hands until he gets it; and speak humbly about his neighbor's money; but when payment is due, he extends the time, and answers indifferently, and find fault about the time of payment.  If a man succeeds, he will hardly get half of it, and he will consider that a windfall.  If he does not, the other has defrauded him of his money, and needlessly made him his enemy; he will pay him with curses and abuse, and repay him with insults instead of honor.  Many refuse to lend, not from their wickedness, but they are afraid of being needlessly defrauded.  But be patient with a poor man, and do not make him wait for charity.  For the commandment's sake help the needy man, and in view of his need, do not send him away unsatisfied.  Lose your money for the sake of a brother or a friend, and do not let it rust to ruin under a stone.  Lay up your treasure according to the commandments of the Most High, and it will be more profitable to you than gold.  Store up gifts to charity in your storerooms, and it will deliver you from all harm.  Better than a mighty shield and a ponderous spear, it will fight for you against your enemy.  A good man will go surety for his neighbor, but the man who has lost his sense of shame will abandon him.  Do not forget the favor your surety has done you, for he has put himself in your place.  A sinner will disregard the service done him by his surety, and an ungrateful man will forsake the man who saved him.  Going surety has ruined many prosperous men, and shaken them like an ocean wave.  It has driven influential men out of their houses, and made them wander among foreign nations.  A sinner fails in acting as security, and the man who pursues profits falls into lawsuits.  Help your neighbor to the best of your ability, but take heed that you do not fall.  The basis of life is water and bread and clothing, and a house to cover one's nakedness.  The life of a poor man under a shelter of logs is better than splendid fare in someone else's house.  Be contented with much or little, and you will not hear the reporach of being a stranger.  It is a miserable life to go from house to house; and where you are a stranger, you cannot open your mouth.  If you entertain others and give them drink, you will have not thanks, and besides that you will have bitter things to hear: "Come in, stranger, set the table, and if you have anything with you, let me have it to eat."  "Get out stranger, here is somebody more important; my brother has come to be my gues; I need my house."  These things are trying to a man of sensiblity: the reproach of a household and the abuse of a creditor.