Sirach — Chapter 34
Dreams, Experience, and Just Worship
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Hebrew–Greek comparison and notes · III. Wisdom
34:1 Empty and false hopes belong to a man without understanding, and dreams give wings to fools.
34:2 Like someone grasping a shadow and chasing wind is the one who relies on dreams.
34:3 A dream vision is this set against that, a likeness of a face opposite a face.
34:4 What will be cleansed from something unclean? What will prove true from something false?
34:5 Divinations, omens, and dreams are vain, and the heart imagines like a woman in labor.
34:6 Unless they are sent from the Most High in a visitation, do not give your heart to them.
34:7 For dreams have led many astray, and those who hoped in them fell away.
34:8 The law will be fulfilled without falsehood, and wisdom is fulfillment in a faithful mouth.
34:9 A man who has wandered has learned much, and one with much experience will recount understanding.
34:10 The one who has not been tested knows little, but the one who has wandered will increase in skill.
34:11 I have seen many things in my wandering, and my understanding exceeds my words.
34:12 Often I was in danger to the point of death, and because of these things I was preserved.
34:13 The spirit of those who fear the Lord will live, for their hope rests upon the One who saves them.
34:14 The one who fears the Lord will fear nothing and certainly not be cowardly, because He Himself is his hope.
34:15 Happy is the soul of the one who fears the Lord! On whom does he rely? Who is his support?
34:16 The Lord’s eyes are upon those who love Him: a mighty shield and strong support, shelter from scorching heat and shelter from midday, protection from stumbling and help against falling,
34:17 raising the soul and brightening the eyes, giving healing, life, and blessing.
34:18 One who sacrifices from unjust gain makes a blemished offering, and the gifts of the lawless bring no acceptance.
34:19 The Most High takes no pleasure in the offerings of the ungodly, nor does He atone for sins through a multitude of sacrifices.
34:20 The one who presents a sacrifice from the property of the poor is slaughtering a son before his father.
34:21 The bread of the needy is the life of the poor; the one who deprives them of it is a man of blood.
34:22 The one who takes away a livelihood murders his neighbor, and the one who withholds a hired worker’s wage sheds blood.
34:23 One builds and another tears down; what have they gained beyond toil?
34:24 One prays and another curses; whose voice will the Master hear?
34:25 Someone washes after contact with a corpse and then touches it again; what has he gained by his washing?
34:26 So is a person who fasts over his sins and goes again to do the same things. Who will hear his prayer, and what has he gained by humbling himself?
Source and editorial notes
Working translation preserved from the recovered manuscript of 8 September 2026. Declared source: Septuaginta, Rahlfs–Hanhart, 2006, Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, publisher’s Greek main text. Independent linguistic and critical-apparatus review remains outstanding. Source-access and reception claims in the inherited notes have not been freshly revalidated. Chapter and section headings are editorial.
The translator’s prologue is separate from the 51 chapters. Its eight source units map to publisher labels 1, 1a–1g; main-text 1:1 maps to 1h. Source 5:15 includes material often numbered 6:1, so chapter 6 begins at 6:2. Source label gaps are preserved; no text is invented.
34:3 The mirror-like comparison follows the terse source without claiming every dream predicts an external event.
34:6 The explicit exception is preserved.
34:8 The concise nominal wisdom clause is retained rather than replaced by an unprinted promise.
34:12 These things refers to the experience and understanding in context; no unprinted rescue episode is supplied.
34:16 All six protective expressions are retained.
34:20 The severe sacrificial comparison is retained.
34:22 Both explicit murder and bloodshed comparisons are preserved.
34:25 The washing verb βαπτίζομαι concerns corpse-related purification here, not a supplied reference to Christian baptism.