ChaplainAbundant mercy

Sirach — Chapter 18 — Hebrew–Greek comparison

Divine Mercy and Human Forethought

Saints Translation · V2 · Hebrew–Greek working comparison

Sirach 18 · 32 source units
Hebrew–English · Literal-Smooth	Greek–English · Literal-Smooth	Classification & Notes
No Hebrew text is available in the selected manuscript coverage for this unit. This is a source gap, not a classified omission.	18:1 He who lives forever created all things together.	Not classified. No paired Hebrew reading is supplied. Inherited Greek note 18:1 Together renders κοινῇ without imposing a theory of the elapsed duration of creation.
No Hebrew text is available in the selected manuscript coverage for this unit. This is a source gap, not a classified omission.	18:2 The Lord alone will be justified.	Not classified. No paired Hebrew reading is supplied. Inherited Greek note 18:2 The next printed label is 4; label 3 is absent.
No Hebrew text is available in the selected manuscript coverage for this unit. This is a source gap, not a classified omission.	18:4 He has empowered no one to declare His works fully; who will trace out His mighty deeds?	Not classified. No paired Hebrew reading is supplied. Inherited Greek note 18:4 Fully is implicit in the question about comprehending the whole, not a claim that no one can mention any divine work.
No Hebrew text is available in the selected manuscript coverage for this unit. This is a source gap, not a classified omission.	18:5 Who will count the might of His greatness? Who will go on to recount His mercies?	Not classified. No paired Hebrew reading is supplied.
No Hebrew text is available in the selected manuscript coverage for this unit. This is a source gap, not a classified omission.	18:6 It is impossible to diminish or to add, and impossible to trace out the Lord’s wonders.	Not classified. No paired Hebrew reading is supplied.
No Hebrew text is available in the selected manuscript coverage for this unit. This is a source gap, not a classified omission.	18:7 When a person finishes, then he begins; when he stops, then he will be at a loss.	Not classified. No paired Hebrew reading is supplied. Inherited Greek note 18:7 The paradox of finishing and beginning is retained.
No Hebrew text is available in the selected manuscript coverage for this unit. This is a source gap, not a classified omission.	18:8 What is a human being, and what is his use? What is his good, and what is his evil?	Not classified. No paired Hebrew reading is supplied.
No Hebrew text is available in the selected manuscript coverage for this unit. This is a source gap, not a classified omission.	18:9 The number of a person’s days, in many years, is a hundred.	Not classified. No paired Hebrew reading is supplied. Inherited Greek note 18:9 The compressed number statement is retained; a precise universal lifespan is not asserted beyond the source’s proverbial expression.
No Hebrew text is available in the selected manuscript coverage for this unit. This is a source gap, not a classified omission.	18:10 Like a drop of water from the sea or a grain of sand, so are a few years in a day of eternity.	Not classified. No paired Hebrew reading is supplied. Inherited Greek note 18:10 Both scale comparisons and the phrase day of eternity are preserved.
No Hebrew text is available in the selected manuscript coverage for this unit. This is a source gap, not a classified omission.	18:11 Therefore the Lord was patient with them and poured His mercy upon them.	Not classified. No paired Hebrew reading is supplied.
No Hebrew text is available in the selected manuscript coverage for this unit. This is a source gap, not a classified omission.	18:12 He saw and knew that their end was grievous; therefore He multiplied His atonement.	Not classified. No paired Hebrew reading is supplied.
No Hebrew text is available in the selected manuscript coverage for this unit. This is a source gap, not a classified omission.	18:13 A person’s mercy is toward his neighbor, but the Lord’s mercy is upon all flesh: rebuking, disciplining, teaching, and bringing back like a shepherd his flock.	Not classified. No paired Hebrew reading is supplied. Inherited Greek note 18:13 All four actions explain the Lord’s mercy; its scope is all flesh.
No Hebrew text is available in the selected manuscript coverage for this unit. This is a source gap, not a classified omission.	18:14 He has mercy on those who receive discipline and those who hasten eagerly toward His judgments.	Not classified. No paired Hebrew reading is supplied.
No Hebrew text is available in the selected manuscript coverage for this unit. This is a source gap, not a classified omission.	18:15 Child, do not add reproach to good deeds, or the grief of words to any gift.	Not classified. No paired Hebrew reading is supplied.
No Hebrew text is available in the selected manuscript coverage for this unit. This is a source gap, not a classified omission.	18:16 Does not dew bring relief from scorching heat? So a word is better than a gift.	Not classified. No paired Hebrew reading is supplied.
No Hebrew text is available in the selected manuscript coverage for this unit. This is a source gap, not a classified omission.	18:17 Look, is not a word beyond a good gift? Yet both are found with a gracious man.	Not classified. No paired Hebrew reading is supplied.
No Hebrew text is available in the selected manuscript coverage for this unit. This is a source gap, not a classified omission.	18:18 A fool will reproach gracelessly, and a grudging person’s gift makes eyes waste away.	Not classified. No paired Hebrew reading is supplied. Inherited Greek note 18:18 The bodily effect on eyes is retained as the image for a painful gift.
No Hebrew text is available in the selected manuscript coverage for this unit. This is a source gap, not a classified omission.	18:19 Learn before speaking, and attend to your health before illness.	Not classified. No paired Hebrew reading is supplied.
No Hebrew text is available in the selected manuscript coverage for this unit. This is a source gap, not a classified omission.	18:20 Examine yourself before judgment, and at the hour of visitation you will find atonement.	Not classified. No paired Hebrew reading is supplied.
No Hebrew text is available in the selected manuscript coverage for this unit. This is a source gap, not a classified omission.	18:21 Humble yourself before you fall ill, and show repentance at the time of sins.	Not classified. No paired Hebrew reading is supplied.
No Hebrew text is available in the selected manuscript coverage for this unit. This is a source gap, not a classified omission.	18:22 Do not be held back from repaying a vow at the right time, and do not wait until death to be justified.	Not classified. No paired Hebrew reading is supplied. Inherited Greek note 18:22 Vow renders εὐχή in the context of repaying it; the justification language remains explicit.
No Hebrew text is available in the selected manuscript coverage for this unit. This is a source gap, not a classified omission.	18:23 Prepare yourself before making a vow, and do not become like a person testing the Lord.	Not classified. No paired Hebrew reading is supplied. Inherited Greek note 18:23 Making a vow follows the preceding context; εὔξασθαι can also mean praying.
No Hebrew text is available in the selected manuscript coverage for this unit. This is a source gap, not a classified omission.	18:24 Remember wrath in the days of death, and the time of retribution when the face is turned away.	Not classified. No paired Hebrew reading is supplied. Inherited Greek note 18:24 The Greek does not expressly name the possessor of face in the final phrase; no new subject is inserted.
No Hebrew text is available in the selected manuscript coverage for this unit. This is a source gap, not a classified omission.	18:25 Remember a time of famine in a time of fullness, poverty and need in days of wealth.	Not classified. No paired Hebrew reading is supplied.
No Hebrew text is available in the selected manuscript coverage for this unit. This is a source gap, not a classified omission.	18:26 From morning until evening the time changes, and all things are swift before the Lord.	Not classified. No paired Hebrew reading is supplied.
No Hebrew text is available in the selected manuscript coverage for this unit. This is a source gap, not a classified omission.	18:27 A wise person will be cautious in everything, and in days of sins will guard against wrongdoing.	Not classified. No paired Hebrew reading is supplied.
No Hebrew text is available in the selected manuscript coverage for this unit. This is a source gap, not a classified omission.	18:28 Every understanding person has known wisdom and will give acknowledgment to the one who finds her.	Not classified. No paired Hebrew reading is supplied.
No Hebrew text is available in the selected manuscript coverage for this unit. This is a source gap, not a classified omission.	18:29 Those understanding in words have themselves become wise and rained down precise proverbs.	Not classified. No paired Hebrew reading is supplied. Inherited Greek note 18:29 The rain image is retained.
No Hebrew text is available in the selected manuscript coverage for this unit. This is a source gap, not a classified omission.	18:30 Do not walk after your desires, and restrain your appetites.	Not classified. No paired Hebrew reading is supplied.
Hebrew 18:31 · fragmentary […] enemy. Hebrew witness C · C V Recto (Beentjes: C IV Recto) שונא· Manuscript transcription	18:31 If you supply your soul with the satisfaction of desire, it will make you an object of your enemies’ gloating.	Not classified · Hebrew 18:31 — Only the final word survives in this excerpt; too little for a meaningful comparison.
Hebrew 18:32 · translated Do not rejoice in a speck of pleasure whose poverty is double. Hebrew witness C · C V Recto (Beentjes: C IV Recto) אל תשמח אל שמץ / תענוג אשר פי שנים רישו Manuscript transcription	18:32 Do not rejoice in great luxury, lest you be bound to its contribution.	Different · Hebrew 18:32 — C שמץ a trace/speck and doubled poverty differ Greek great luxury and contribution. Inherited Greek note 18:32 Contribution renders συμβολή, the share paid into a common feast or expenditure; the financial restraint is retained.
Hebrew 18:33 · fragmentary Do not be a glutton and a drunkard while there is noth[ing] in the purse. Hebrew witness C · C V Recto (Beentjes: C IV Recto) אל תהי זולל וסובא ומאומ[ה] / אין בכיס· Manuscript transcription	18:33 Do not become poor by feasting on borrowed money when you have nothing in your purse.	Different · Hebrew 18:33 — Hebrew gluttony/drunkenness versus Greek feasting on borrowed money. Classification assesses only the surviving/readable wording, not lost portions.

Source and numbering

Hebrew English is newly translated from the manuscript-specific transcriptions in The Book of Ben Sira portal. Each translated unit identifies its selected witness and folio. This is a selected-witness working edition, not an exhaustive collation of every manuscript or a reconstruction of lost Hebrew. Brackets and fragmentary status identify uncertainty; no Greek text has been back-translated to fill Hebrew gaps.

The Greek-source English and its notes are inherited from the existing Sirach edition. The comparison categories are provisional editorial assessments against that English; this update is not a fresh verification of every Greek reading or its apparatus.

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.