Polyglot Bible: Sirach: Sirach 34

This is a parallel-text scholarly edition of a passage from the Book of Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), a deuterocanonical Jewish wisdom text from roughly the 2nd century BCE, displayed simultaneously in an English Apocrypha translation, the Greek Septuagint, and the Latin Vulgate. The passage opens by dismissing dreams and divination as vain and deceptive, arguing that unless sent directly by God, they mislead fools and should be ignored. It then pivots to praise experiential wisdom gained through travel and hardship, with the speaker reflecting on personal near-death experiences as the source of genuine understanding. The central theological argument is that fear of the Lord provides total security and protection, while religious observance divorced from ethical conduct — specifically sacrifices funded by exploitation of the poor — is not only useless but morally equivalent to murder. The passage closes with pointed rhetorical questions condemning the futility of fasting or ritual purification when a person immediately returns to the same sins. The tripartite layout makes this a text-critical resource, inviting comparison of how each tradition renders the same verses — notably the Vulgate numbers the verses differently and occasionally expands the text.

Polyglot Bible: Sirach: Sirach 34

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