Anonymous (Septuagint) · a new plain-English translation from the original language
1| Empty and false are the hopes of the senseless man, and dreams give wings to fools.
2| Like a man grasping at a shadow and chasing the wind, so is the one who puts his trust in dreams.
3| This vision of dreams is over against that one, the likeness of a face set opposite a face.
4| From what is unclean, what can be made clean? And from what is false, what can prove true?
5| Divinations and omens and dreams are worthless things, and the heart imagines like a woman in labor.
6| Unless it is sent from the Most High as a visitation, do not set your heart on them.
7| Dreams have led many astray, and those who put their hope in them have fallen.
8| Without falsehood the law will be fulfilled, and wisdom is perfection in a trustworthy mouth.
9| A man who is trained knows many things, and the man of much experience will tell out his understanding.
10| One who has not been tested knows little,
11| but the one who has wandered will multiply cunning.
12| Many things have I seen in my wanderings, and my understanding is greater than my words.
13| Many times I was in danger even to death, and I was delivered for the sake of these things.
14| The spirit of those who fear the Lord will live,
15| for their hope is in the one who saves them.
16| The one who fears the Lord will not be timid, and will not play the coward, for the Lord himself is his hope.
17| Blessed is the soul of the one who fears the Lord.
18| On whom does he depend? And who is his support?
19| The eyes of the Lord are on those who love him, a shield of might and a support of strength, a shelter from scorching heat and a shelter from the noonday sun, a guard from stumbling and a help from falling.
20| He lifts up the soul and gives light to the eyes; he grants healing, life, and blessing.
21| The one who sacrifices from what is unjustly gained offers a mockery of an offering,
22| and the mockeries of the lawless do not win favor.
23| The Most High does not delight in the offerings of the impious, nor is he propitiated for sins by a multitude of sacrifices.
24| The one who brings a sacrifice from the possessions of the poor is like one who slaughters a son before his father's eyes.
25| Bread is life to the poor and needy; the one who withholds it is a man of bloodshed.
26| The one who takes away another's livelihood murders his neighbor,
27| and the one who cheats a hired worker of his wages sheds blood.
28| One builds and one tears down — what have they gained but toil?
29| One prays and one curses — whose voice will the Master listen to?
30| The one who washes himself after touching a corpse, and then touches it again — what did his washing profit him?
31| So too a man fasting for his sins, and then going and doing the same things again — who will listen to his prayer? And what did it profit him to humble himself?