---
title: "Sirach 34 – Catholic Bible (CPDV) & Latin Vulgate · Bless"
url: https://blessbible.app/bible/sirach/34/
description: "The vanity of dreams. The advantage of experience, and of the fear of God. Sirach 34 in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin Vulgate."
---

# Sirach 34

Sirach 34 is chapter 34 of 51 in the Book of Sirach. Here are all 31 verses in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin of the Clementine Vulgate beside them.

> The vanity of dreams. The advantage of experience, and of the fear of God.
>
> — Bp. Richard Challoner, chapter summary

## Sirach 34 (Catholic Public Domain Version)

1. The hopes of a senseless man are empty and false; and dreams extol the imprudent.
2. Like one who chases a shadow and pursues the wind, so also is one who pays attention to lying visions.
3. In the vision of dreams, one thing represents another, as when a mask is before the face of a man.
4. What can be cleansed by the unclean? And what truth can be spoken from a lie?
5. Erroneous divinations and false signs and the dreams of evildoers are emptiness.
6. For your heart suffers from imagination, like a woman suffering in childbirth. Unless it is a visitation sent from the Most High, you should not set your heart upon it.
7. For dreams have caused many to go astray, and those who have hoped in them have fallen away.
8. The word of the law will be fulfilled without a lie, and wisdom will be made plain in the mouths of the faithful.
9. He who has not been tested, what does he know? A man with much experience will consider many things. And whoever has learned much will explain with understanding.
10. He who has no experience knows little. And he who has done many things has made many mistakes.
11. He who has not been tested, what kind of things can he know? He who has been deceived will be more cunning.
12. I have seen much by wandering, and the customs of many things.
13. At times, I have even been in danger of death because of these things, but I was freed by the grace of God.
14. The spirit of those who fear God is sought, and they will be blessed by his providence.
15. For their hope is in him who saves them, and the eyes of God are on those who love him.
16. Those who fear the Lord will tremble at nothing, and they will not be terrified. For he is their hope.
17. The soul of him who fears the Lord is blessed.
18. To whom should he look, and who is his strength?
19. The eyes of the Lord are upon those who fear him. He is a powerful Protector, a Firmament of virtue, a Shelter from the heat, and a Covering from the midday sun,
20. a Guardian from offenses, and a Helper from falling, who exalts the soul and illuminates the eyes, and who gives health and life and blessing.
21. An immolation from iniquity is a stained oblation, and the derisions of the unjust are not well pleasing.
22. The Lord is only for those who persevere for him in the way of truth and justice.
23. The Most High does not approve of the gifts of the iniquitous. Neither does he have respect for the oblations of the unjust; neither will he forgive their sins because of the multitude of their sacrifices.
24. Whoever offers a sacrifice from the substance of the poor is like one who sacrifices the son in the sight of his father.
25. The bread of the indigent is the life of the poor. Whoever cheats them out of it is a man of blood.
26. Whoever takes away the bread of sweat is like one who kills his neighbor.
27. He who sheds blood, and he who cheats the hired hand out of his wages, are brothers.
28. When one builds and another destroys, what benefit do they have from their labor?
29. When one prays and another curses, whose voice will God heed?
30. He who washes himself after touching the dead, and then touches him again, what was the benefit of his washing?
31. Similarly, a man who fasts for his sins, and then does the same again, what was the benefit of his humbling himself? Who will heed his prayer?

## Sirach 34 in Latin (Clementine Vulgate, 1592)

1. Vana spes et mendacium viro insensato: et somnia extollunt imprudentes.
2. Quasi qui apprehendit umbram et persequitur ventum, sic et qui attendit ad visa mendacia.
3. Hoc secundum hoc visio somniorum, ante faciem hominis similitudo hominis.
4. Ab immundo, quid mundabitur? et a mendace, quid verum dicetur?
5. Divinatio erroris, et auguria mendacia, et somnia malefacientium, vanitas est:
6. et sicut parturientis, cor tuum phantasias patitur. Nisi ab Altissimo fuerit emissa visitatio, ne dederis in illis cor tuum:
7. multos enim errare fecerunt somnia, et exciderunt sperantes in illis.
8. Sine mendacio consummabitur verbum legis, et sapientia in ore fidelis complanabitur.
9. Qui non est tentatus quid scit? vir in multis expertus cogitabit multa: et qui multa didicit enarrabit intellectum.
10. Qui non est expertus pauca recognoscit: qui autem in multis factus est, multiplicat malitiam.
11. Qui tentatus non est qualia scit? qui implanatus est abundabit nequitia.
12. Multa vidi errando, et plurimas verborum consuetudines.
13. Aliquoties usque ad mortem periclitatus sum horum causa, et liberatus sum gratia Dei.
14. Spiritus timentium Deum quæritur, et in respectu illius benedicetur.
15. Spes enim illorum in salvantem illos, et oculi Dei in diligentes se.
16. Qui timet Dominum nihil trepidabit: et non pavebit, quoniam ipse est spes ejus.
17. Timentis Dominum, beata est anima ejus.
18. Ad quem respicit, et quis est fortitudo ejus?
19. Oculi Domini super timentes eum: protector potentiæ, firmamentum virtutis, tegimen ardoris, et umbraculum meridiani:
20. deprecatio offensionis, et adjutorium casus: exaltans animam, et illuminans oculos, dans sanitatem, et vitam, et benedictionem.
21. Immolantis ex iniquo oblatio est maculata, et non sunt beneplacitæ subsannationes injustorum.
22. Dominus solus sustinentibus se in via veritatis et justitiæ.
23. Dona iniquorum non probat Altissimus, nec respicit in oblationes iniquorum, nec in multitudine sacrificiorum eorum propitiabitur peccatis.
24. Qui offert sacrificium ex substantia pauperum, quasi qui victimat filium in conspectu patris sui.
25. Panis egentium vita pauperum est: qui defraudat illum homo sanguinis est.
26. Qui aufert in sudore panem, quasi qui occidit proximum suum.
27. Qui effundit sanguinem, et qui fraudem facit mercenario, fratres sunt.
28. Unus ædificans, et unus destruens: quid prodest illis, nisi labor?
29. Unus orans, et unus maledicens: cujus vocem exaudiet Deus?
30. Qui baptizatur a mortuo, et iterum tangit eum, quid proficit lavatio illius?
31. Sic homo qui jejunat in peccatis suis, et iterum eadem faciens: quid proficit humiliando se? orationem illius quis exaudiet?

Source: Catholic Public Domain Version (Ronald L. Conte Jr., 2009), public domain; Latin: Clementine Vulgate (1592).