Ecclesiasticus 34

The hopes of a man with no understanding are empty and false, and dreams lift fools up.

1The hopes of a man void of understanding are vain and false: and dreams lift up fools.

NoteDreams were widely treated in the ancient world as a channel for messages from the gods, and there was a working trade in dream interpretation. That is the practice being argued against here. To be "lifted up" by a dream is to be buoyed up with a confidence that has nothing under it.

2Anyone who pays attention to dreams is like a man grabbing at a shadow and chasing the wind.

2Whoso regardeth dreams is like him that catcheth at a shadow, and followeth after the wind.

3What you see in dreams is one thing made to look like another, the way a face looks like the face in front of it.

3The vision of dreams is the resemblance of one thing to another, even as the likeness of a face to a face.

NoteThe comparison is to a reflection: a face bending over water or a mirror and meeting its own image. The likeness is exact and completely insubstantial, which is the point of the comparison.

4What can be made clean out of something unclean? And what truth can come out of something false?

4Of an unclean thing what can be cleansed? and from that thing which is false what truth can come?

Note"Clean" and "unclean" here are the vocabulary of ritual purity rather than of dirt. An unclean thing or person could not be brought near what was holy until a prescribed rite had dealt with it. Verse 25 returns to the same vocabulary.

5Divinations, soothsayings, and dreams are empty. The heart imagines things, like the heart of a woman in labor.

5Divinations, and soothsayings, and dreams, are vain: and the heart fancieth, as a woman’s heart in travail.

NoteDivination is reading the future from signs: the markings of a sacrificed animal's liver, the flight of birds, the fall of lots. Soothsaying is the announcing of what is to come, whether from omens or from claimed inspiration. Both were ordinary professions across the ancient Near East, and both are forbidden in Israel's law. The second half of the verse is compressed and its sense is disputed, but it seems to mean that the mind under strain throws up vivid pictures, as a woman in labor does.

6If they are not sent from the Most High when he comes to you, do not set your heart on them.

6If they be not sent from the most High in thy visitation, set not thy heart upon them.

NoteA "visitation" is a moment when God steps in and acts, whether to rescue or to judge. The word marks the one exception being allowed: a dream counts for something only if it was sent deliberately.

7For dreams have fooled many people, and those who put their trust in them have fallen.

7For dreams have deceived many, and they have failed that put their trust in them.

8The law will be found complete, with no lies in it, and wisdom is complete in a mouth that can be trusted.

8The law shall be found perfect without lies: and wisdom is perfection to a faithful mouth.

Note"The law" is the Torah, the instruction given to Israel through Moses and read aloud in the assemblies of the writer's day. It is being set against dreams and divination as the source of knowledge that can be relied on.

9A man who has traveled knows many things, and a man with much experience will speak wisdom.

9A man that hath travelled knoweth many things; and he that hath much experience will declare wisdom.

NoteThe Greek manuscripts and the old versions differ here by a single word. The King James follows a reading that means "a man who has traveled"; other witnesses read "a man who has been taught," which is why some modern translations say "well-instructed" instead. Both readings then run on into the same praise of experience.

10A man with no experience knows little, but a man who has traveled is full of good sense.

10He that hath no experience knoweth little: but he that hath travelled is full of prudence.

11When I traveled, I saw many things, and I understand more than I can put into words.

11When I travelled, I saw many things; and I understand more than I can express.

12Many times I was in danger of death, but I was brought through safely because of these things.

12I was ofttimes in danger of death: yet I was delivered because of these things.

NoteAncient travel meant bandits, shipwreck and sickness far from anyone who knew you, so the danger of death is literal rather than figurative. What brought him through is left open: "these things" may mean the experience he had just described, or the dangers themselves, or what he goes on to say in the next verses.

13The spirit of those who fear the Lord will live, because their hope is in the one who saves them.

13The spirit of those that fear the Lord shall live; for their hope is in him that saveth them.

Note"Fear of the Lord" is this book's standing phrase for a whole way of living: reverence for God carried out in practice. It does not mean fright. The next verse turns on exactly that difference, since the person who fears God in this sense is the one who is not afraid of anything else.

14Whoever fears the Lord will not be frightened and will not be afraid, because the Lord is his hope.

14Whoso feareth the Lord shall not fear nor be afraid; for he is his hope.

15Happy is the soul of the man who fears the Lord. Who does he look to? Who is his strength?

15Blessed is the soul of him that feareth the Lord: to whom doth he look? and who is his strength?

Note"Soul" in this vocabulary is the whole living person, the self, rather than a part of a person that could be separated from the body.

16For the eyes of the Lord are on those who love him. He is their mighty protection and firm support, a shield from the heat and shade from the noon sun, a guard that keeps them from stumbling, and a help that keeps them from falling.

16For the eyes of the Lord are upon them that love him, he is their mighty protection and strong stay, a defence from heat, and a cover from the sun at noon, a preservation from stumbling, and an help from falling.

NoteThe heat is the scorching wind off the desert, which could wither a crop in a day, and shade at midday was a matter of survival rather than comfort. All four images are of shelter and footing given to someone out in the open.

17He lifts up the soul and makes the eyes bright. He gives health, life, and blessing.

17He raiseth up the soul, and lighteneth the eyes: he giveth health, life, and blessing.

NoteBright eyes were the ordinary sign of health and strength in this idiom, and dull or darkened eyes the sign of exhaustion, grief or approaching death. To make someone's eyes bright is to bring them back to life.

18When a man sacrifices something he got by doing wrong, his offering is a mockery, and the gifts of unjust men are not accepted.

18He that sacrificeth of a thing wrongfully gotten, his offering is ridiculous; and the gifts of unjust men are not accepted.

NoteIn 1611 "ridiculous" meant laughable in the sense of being held up to mockery, not silly. The Greek says the offering is made in mockery. An offering was supposed to come out of what the worshiper lawfully owned, so a gift bought with property taken from someone else turned the act itself into a joke.

19The Most High takes no pleasure in the offerings of wicked people, and many sacrifices will not make him at peace about sin.

19The most High is not pleased with the offerings of the wicked; neither is he pacified for sin by the multitude of sacrifices.

Note"Pacified for sin" is the language of atonement: sacrifices were understood to settle what stood between a worshiper and God. What is being denied is that offering a great many of them can do this for someone who continues doing wrong.

20Whoever brings an offering paid for with goods taken from the poor does the same as a man who kills a son in front of his father's eyes.

20Whoso bringeth an offering of the goods of the poor doeth as one that killeth the son before his father’s eyes.

21The bread of the needy is their life. Whoever cheats them out of it is a man of blood.

21The bread of the needy is their life: he that defraudeth him thereof is a man of blood.

Note"A man of blood" is a fixed Hebrew expression for someone with blood on his hands, that is, a murderer. The bread of the needy is called their life because for a person with no reserves there is no difference between the two.

22The man who takes away his neighbor's living kills him, and the man who cheats a worker out of his wages sheds blood.

22He that taketh away his neighbour’s living slayeth him; and he that defraudeth the labourer of his hire is a bloodshedder.

NoteDay laborers were hired and paid one day at a time, and the day's wage bought that evening's food for the household. Israel's law required the wage to be handed over before sundown for exactly this reason (Leviticus 19 and Deuteronomy 24). Holding it back overnight was not a late payment but a night with nothing to eat.

23When one man builds and another tears it down, what do they gain but hard work?

23When one buildeth, and another pulleth down, what profit have they then but labour?

24When one man prays and another curses, whose voice will the Lord listen to?

24When one prayeth, and another curseth, whose voice will the Lord hear?

NoteTo curse is to call down harm on someone by invoking God against them, a formal spoken act rather than foul language. The two voices in the verse are appealing to the same power for opposite outcomes.

25A man washes himself after touching a dead body. If he touches it again, what good did his washing do?

25He that washeth himself after the touching of a dead body, if he touch it again, what availeth his washing?

NoteTouching a corpse made a person ritually unclean for seven days. The prescribed remedy was washing, together with being sprinkled on the third and seventh days with water mixed with the ashes of a red heifer (Numbers 19). Until the process was finished the person could not come near the sanctuary.

26It is the same with a man who fasts because of his sins, and then goes back and does the very same things. Who will listen to his prayer? What good does his humbling of himself do him?

26So is it with a man that fasteth for his sins, and goeth again, and doeth the same: who will hear his prayer? or what doth his humbling profit him?

NoteFasting, going without food for a set time, was the standard outward sign of grief and of repentance, often accompanied by torn clothes and ashes. "Humbling" is the same idea in another word: deliberately bringing yourself low.