Sirach — Chapter 6
Faithful Friends and Wisdom’s Discipline
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Hebrew–Greek comparison and notes · III. Wisdom
6:2 Do not lift yourself up in the counsel of your soul, lest your soul be torn apart like a bull.
6:3 You will devour your leaves and destroy your fruits, and leave yourself like a dry tree.
6:4 An evil soul will destroy its possessor and make him an object of his enemies’ gloating.
6:5 A sweet voice will multiply its friends, and a well-spoken tongue will multiply friendly greetings.
6:6 Let those at peace with you be many, but your counselors one out of a thousand.
6:7 If you acquire a friend, acquire him through testing, and do not trust him quickly.
6:8 For there is a friend for his own occasion who will certainly not remain on the day of your affliction.
6:9 There is also a friend who turns to enmity and will expose a quarrel to your reproach.
6:10 There is also a friend who shares your tables but will certainly not remain on the day of your affliction.
6:11 In your prosperity he will be like you, and he will speak freely to your household slaves;
6:12 if you are brought low, he will be against you and hide from your face.
6:13 Separate yourself from your enemies, and be cautious with your friends.
6:14 A faithful friend is a strong shelter; the one who has found him has found a treasure.
6:15 There is no exchange for a faithful friend, and no weight to measure his excellence.
6:16 A faithful friend is medicine for life, and those who fear the Lord will find him.
6:17 The one who fears the Lord will guide his friendship rightly, for as he is, so also is his neighbor.
6:18 Child, choose instruction from your youth, and until gray hair you will find wisdom.
6:19 Approach her like one who plows and sows, and wait for her good fruits. For you will labor a little in her cultivation and soon eat from her produce.
6:20 How very harsh she is to the uninstructed! The fainthearted will not remain with her.
6:21 She will be upon him like a heavy testing stone, and he will not delay throwing her away.
6:22 For wisdom is according to her name, and she is not manifest to many.
6:23 Listen, child, and receive my judgment; do not reject my counsel.
6:24 Put your feet into her fetters and your neck into her collar.
6:25 Place your shoulder beneath her and carry her, and do not resent her bonds.
6:26 Approach her with all your soul, and keep her ways with your whole strength.
6:27 Trace her out and seek her, and she will become known to you; when you have gained hold of her, do not let her go.
6:28 For at the last you will find her rest, and she will turn to gladness for you.
6:29 Her fetters will become a strong shelter for you, and her collars a robe of glory.
6:30 For there is a golden ornament upon her, and her bonds are a blue thread.
6:31 You will put her on as a robe of glory and place a crown of rejoicing upon yourself.
6:32 If you are willing, child, you will be instructed; if you give your soul to it, you will become skillful.
6:33 If you love to listen, you will receive; if you incline your ear, you will become wise.
6:34 Stand among a multitude of elders, and if anyone is wise, cling to him.
6:35 Be willing to listen to every godly discourse, and do not let proverbs of understanding escape you.
6:36 If you see someone understanding, rise early to go to him, and let your foot wear down the steps of his doors.
6:37 Consider the Lord’s ordinances and meditate continually on His commandments. He Himself will establish your heart, and the wisdom you desire will be given to you.
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.
6:2 The actual Greek comparison is difficult: the verb is passive, while like a bull gives no explicit agent. The unusual wording is retained without adding alone or silently making the bull the stated attacker. The usual material of 6:1 occurs under source 5:15.
6:3 All three second-person actions are retained, including leave yourself rather than a passive statement.
6:5 Voice renders literally throat; greetings renders the neuter plural εὐπροσήγορα.
6:9 The compressed phrase μάχην ὀνειδισμοῦ σου retains both quarrel and reproach; no secret is inserted.
6:11 Speak freely or boldly follows παρρησιάσεται; a precise claim that he commands the slaves is not inserted.
6:15 The value-by-weight image is retained.
6:19 The agricultural sequence is preserved.
6:21 Testing stone renders λίθος δοκιμασίας; no particular athletic procedure is supplied.
6:22 The name saying remains difficult in Greek; no unattested Hebrew wordplay is reconstructed.
6:29 The same restraint imagery becomes protection and honor; it is not removed from the earlier verses.
6:30 Blue renders ὑακίνθινος, also blue-violet or hyacinth-colored; the thread image is kept.
6:33 Receive retains ἐκδέξῃ, whose object is understood from instruction in context.
6:37 The final phrase is literally the desire of wisdom; the rendering takes wisdom as its object rather than introducing an unprinted new desire.