“A slip on the pavement
Is better than a slip of the tongue.
The downfall of the wicked
Will occur just as speedily.
A coarse person is
Like an inappropriate story,
That is continually on the lips
Of the ignorant.
A proverb from a fool’s lips
Will be rejected.
He does not tell it
At the proper time.”
Sirach notes that it is better to slip on the pavement than to have a slip of the tongue. The wicked fall speedily. A crude vulgar person is like an inappropriate story that ignorant people keep telling all the time. Thus a proverb from the lips of a fool will be rejected because he will not tell it at the right time.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 