Sirach — Chapter 21 — Hebrew–Greek comparison
Sin, Wisdom, and Foolish Speech
| 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. | Child, have you sinned? Do not add to it any more, and pray concerning your earlier 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. | Flee from sin as from the presence of a snake, for if you approach it, it will bite you. Its teeth are lions’ teeth, destroying human lives. | 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. | All lawlessness is like a two-edged sword; there is no healing for its wound. | 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. | Intimidation and insolence will lay wealth waste; so the house of a proud person will be laid waste. | 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. | A poor person’s petition goes from his mouth to His ears, and His judgment comes swiftly. | Not classified. No paired Hebrew reading is supplied. Inherited Greek note21:5 His ears and His judgment are provisionally understood as the Lord’s; the source does not name the subject explicitly in this verse. |
No Hebrew text is available in the selected manuscript coverage for this unit. This is a source gap, not a classified omission. | The one who hates rebuke is in a sinner’s tracks, but the one who fears the Lord will turn back in heart. | 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. | One who is powerful with the tongue is known from far away, but an understanding person knows when he slips. | Not classified. No paired Hebrew reading is supplied. Inherited Greek note21:7 The final he can refer to the powerful speaker; that referent remains unexpressed beyond the pronoun. |
No Hebrew text is available in the selected manuscript coverage for this unit. This is a source gap, not a classified omission. | The one who builds his house with others’ money is like someone gathering its stones for a storm. | Not classified. No paired Hebrew reading is supplied. Inherited Greek note21:8 Storm renders χειμών; the house’s exposure to ruin is retained without inventing a precise weather event. |
No Hebrew text is available in the selected manuscript coverage for this unit. This is a source gap, not a classified omission. | An assembly of the lawless is gathered tow, and their end is a flame of fire. | Not classified. No paired Hebrew reading is supplied. Inherited Greek note21:9 Tow is the combustible loose fiber in the image. |
No Hebrew text is available in the selected manuscript coverage for this unit. This is a source gap, not a classified omission. | The sinners’ road is smoothed with stones, but at its end is the pit of Hades. | 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. | The one who keeps the law masters his thoughts, and wisdom is the fulfillment of the fear of 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. | The one who is not shrewd will not be instructed, yet there is a shrewdness that multiplies bitterness. | Not classified. No paired Hebrew reading is supplied. Inherited Greek note21:12 Both the positive aptitude and its harmful misuse are retained. |
No Hebrew text is available in the selected manuscript coverage for this unit. This is a source gap, not a classified omission. | A wise person’s knowledge will increase like a flood, and his counsel is like a spring of life. | 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. | A fool’s inward parts are like a broken vessel; he will retain no knowledge. | 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. | If a knowledgeable person hears a wise word, he will praise it and add to it. A self-indulgent person hears it, and it displeases him; he casts it behind his back. | 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. | A fool’s explanation is like a burden on a journey, but grace will be found on an understanding person’s lip. | 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. | The mouth of a prudent person will be sought in the assembly, and they will consider his words in their heart. | 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. | Wisdom is like a ruined house to a fool, and an uncomprehending person’s knowledge is unexamined words. | Not classified. No paired Hebrew reading is supplied. Inherited Greek note21:18 Unexamined preserves ἀδιεξέταστοι; unintelligible is another possible contextual force, not silently adopted. |
No Hebrew text is available in the selected manuscript coverage for this unit. This is a source gap, not a classified omission. | Instruction is fetters on the feet of the senseless, and like handcuffs on his right hand. | 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. | A fool raises his voice in laughter, but a shrewd man will barely smile quietly. | 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. | Instruction is like a golden ornament to the prudent, and like a bracelet on his right arm. | Not classified. No paired Hebrew reading is supplied. |
Hebrew 21:22 · fragmentary A fool’s foot hastens […] a house; but honor for a man […] to stand. Hebrew witness C · C VI Rectoרגל נבל ממהרת א[ ] / [בית וכבוד לאיש בח ] / יעמוד | A fool’s foot is quick to enter a house, but an experienced person will feel shame before it. | Similar · Hebrew 21:22 — C damaged; specific location not reconstructed. Classification assesses only the surviving/readable wording, not lost portions. Inherited Greek note21:22 The final presence or face expression is terse; the rendering preserves restraint before entering without adding an invitation procedure. |
Hebrew 21:23 · translated A fool looks into a house from the doorway, but a man of deliberation lowers his face. Hebrew witness C · C VI Recto· כסיל מפתח / יביט אל בית ואיש מזמות / יכניע פנים · | A foolish person peers into a house from its door, but an instructed man will stand outside. | Different · Hebrew 21:23 — Hebrew lowers face versus Greek stands outside. |
No Hebrew text is available in the selected manuscript coverage for this unit. This is a source gap, not a classified omission. | It is a person’s lack of instruction to listen at a door, but the prudent will feel weighed down by the dishonor. | 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. | Strangers’ lips will talk about these things, but the words of the prudent will be weighed in a balance. | Not classified. No paired Hebrew reading is supplied. Inherited Greek note21:25 Strangers renders actual ἀλλοτρίων; it is not silently replaced by fools or babblers. |
Hebrew 21:26 · translated In the mouth of fools is their heart; in the heart of the wise is their mouth. | Fools have their heart in their mouth, but the heart of the wise is their mouth. | Different · Hebrew 21:26 — Hebrew explicitly has in the heart; inherited Greek rendering notes its second clause lacks expressed preposition. Inherited Greek note21:26 The second clause has καρδία, “heart,” without an expressed preposition: “the heart of the wise is their mouth.” This wording was visually confirmed in Swete, p. 686. Whether a parallel locative expression is implied remains open; the draft does not silently add one. [SWETE-SIR] |
No Hebrew text is available in the selected manuscript coverage for this unit. This is a source gap, not a classified omission. | When an ungodly person curses Satan, he curses his own soul. | Not classified. No paired Hebrew reading is supplied. Inherited Greek note21:27 Satan transliterates σατανᾶν; an adversary sense remains possible in this context. The verse is not expanded into a theory of demonic identity. |
No Hebrew text is available in the selected manuscript coverage for this unit. This is a source gap, not a classified omission. | The whisperer stains his own soul and will be hated where he dwells. | Not classified. No paired Hebrew reading is supplied. |
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.