Sirach 34

1Empty and false hopes are for a senseless man, and dreams give wings to fools.

2Like one grasping at a shadow and chasing the wind, so is one who clings to dreams.

3A dream-vision is this against that: like the likeness of a face opposite a face.

4From the unclean, what will be made clean? And from falsehood, what will become true?

5Divinations and omens and dreams are empty, and the heart imagines them like a woman in labor.

6Unless it is sent from the Most High in visitation, do not give your heart to them.

7For dreams have misled many, and those who hoped in them have fallen.

8Without falsehood the law will be fulfilled, and wisdom is perfection for a faithful mouth.

9A man who has traveled knows many things, and one with much experience will recount understanding.

10A man who has not been tested knows little, but one who has wandered increases cunning.

11I have seen many things in my wandering, and my understanding is more than my words.

12For he is a God of justice, and with him there is no partiality.

13He does not show partiality to the poor, and he hears the plea of the oppressed.

14One who fears the Lord will not be shaken, and will not be afraid, for he is his hope.

15Judge your neighbor's feelings by your own, and think carefully about every matter.

16He set down signs of favor, and a cry made the cloud hasten.

17The cry of the poor passes through the cloud, and until it reaches him it does not rest. It does not cease until God attends, and the righteous Judge executes judgment.

18Even God will not delay, and like a warrior he will go out and not hold back, until he crushes the loins of the cruel, and repays vengeance to the nations; until he dispossesses the scepter of arrogance, and the staff of the wicked he will cut down completely.

19Until he repays a man for his deed, and a person's recompense according to his scheme; until he pleads the case of his people and gladdens them with his salvation.

20The kindness of Yahweh is fitting in a time of distress, like a rain cloud in a time of drought.

21He who offers a sacrifice from the goods of the poor is like one who slaughters a son before his father.

22Bread for the needy is the life of the poor; the one who deprives them of it is a man of blood.

23Whoever takes away a neighbor’s livelihood is murdering him, and whoever withholds a hired worker’s wages is shedding blood.

24One builds and another tears down—what did they gain beyond toil?

25One is praying and one is cursing—whose voice will the Master listen to?

26A furnace tests the tempering in dipping; so wine tests hearts in the strife of the proud.

27Wine is like life to a man, if you drink it in due measure. What is life to one diminished by wine? For it too was created for human gladness.

28Wine drunk at the proper time and in moderation is gladness of heart and joy of soul.

29Wine drunk in excess is bitterness of soul, in provocation and downfall.

30Drunkenness multiplies the anger of a foolish man into stumbling, diminishing strength and producing wounds.

31At a banquet of wine do not rebuke your neighbor, and do not belittle him in his gladness; do not speak a word of reproach to him, and do not distress him by making demands.