On dreams

¹Senseless people

have empty and false hopes,

and dreams excite fools.

²Those who pay attention to dreams

are just like people who grasp

at a shadow or pursue the wind.

³What one sees in a dream is a reflection,

a face looking at its own likeness.

⁴What will be made clean

from something unclean?

And what will be true

of something false?

⁵Divinations, omens,

and dreams are empty.

The mind has fantasies,

just like a woman in labor does.

⁶Unless the Most High sends a dream

by means of a visitation,

don’t pay any attention to it.

⁷Dreams have misled many,

and those who have placed hope in them have fallen.

⁸The Law will be fulfilled without lies;

wisdom in a faithful person’s mouth

is fulfillment.

Experience and fear of the Lord

⁹People who have traveled know a lot,

and those who are experienced

will speak sense.

¹⁰People with no experience know little,

¹¹but those who have traveled

have become more clever.

¹²I have seen a lot in my wandering,

and I understand more than I can tell.

¹³I’ve often been in danger,

close to death,

and I was saved

because of these experiences.

¹⁴The spirit of those who fear the Lord

will live,

¹⁵because their hope is in the one

who saves them.

¹⁶Those who fear the Lord

won’t be timid about anything;

they will never turn coward,

because the Lord is their hope.

¹⁷The souls of those who fear the Lord

are favored.

¹⁸To whom do they look?

And who is their support?

¹⁹The Lord’s eyes

are upon those who love him.

The Lord is a powerful shield,

a strong support,

a shelter from the heat,

a shade from the midday sun,

a guard against stumbling,

and a help against falling;

²⁰one who lifts up the spirit,

one who gives light to the eyes,

and one who gives healing

for life and blessing.

On sacrifice and worship

²¹When someone sacrifices something unjustly gotten,

the offering is flawed;

²²the gifts of those who don’t follow

the Law are not acceptable.

²³The Most High is not pleased

with the offerings of the ungodly,

nor will he forgive sins

for a multitude of sacrifices.

²⁴Someone who brings a sacrifice that comes from the property of the needy

is like someone who slaughters a son

in the presence of his father.

²⁵The needy person’s bread

means life for that poor person;

whoever withholds it is a murderer.

²⁶Whoever takes away a neighbor’s living

commits murder,

²⁷and whoever deprives a worker

of wages sheds blood.

²⁸One person builds,

and another tears down;

what have they gained

other than hard work?

²⁹One person prays,

and another person curses;

to whose voice will the master listen?

³⁰When people bathe after touching

a corpse and touch it again,

what have they gained by washing?

³¹So when people fast because of their sins,

and then go and do the same

things again,

who will listen to their prayer,

and what did they gain

by humbling themselves?