Without such deceptions the law will be fulfilled: Good News Translation “The Law is complete without such falsehood [as dreams]” is a possible approach, but better would be “The Law [of the Lord] can be kept [or, obeyed] without relying on dreams for help” or “You can obey the Law of the Lord without relying on dreams that mislead you.” An American Translation has “The Law must be observed without any such falsehoods.”

And wisdom is made perfect in truthful lips is literally “and wisdom to [or, for] a faithful mouth is perfection.” Good News Translation is correct in making the two lines of this verse parallel in meaning; “the righteous” refers to those who are “faithful to the law” (Revised English Bible). The idea here is that both the Law and wisdom are complete without reference to dreams. Perhaps the last line could be rendered “and if you are faithful to the Law, you can speak wisdom perfectly well without referring to dreams.”

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Sirach. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.