At the moment of his rescue he wakes up: The Greek manuscripts read at the moment of his rescue. Good News Translation prefers an emended Greek text that reads “in the time of his need,” which it renders “just as we are about to be caught.” For this textual problem see the comments on 4.23. The Handbook suggests staying with the unemended Greek text here. This line may be best taken as a continuation of the sentence ending verse 6 by saying “and just as we are about to reach safety, we wake up.”

And wonders that his fear came to nothing: Good News Translation seems to give the right shade of meaning to wonders with “and are relieved to find there is [or, was] nothing to be afraid of.”

It may be helpful to bring all the suggestions made for verses 1-7 into one place:

• There is a great fear that every human being must face, a heavy burden that lies on all of us from the day our mother gives us birth until the day we are buried in the earth—the mother of us all. That heavy burden is the thought that someday we must die. It fills our hearts with such dread, such fear! We all get angry, jealous, and troubled. Things disturb us. We live with furious conflicts and the fear of death—all of us, from the king sitting on his splendid throne, wearing his royal robes and crown, to the humblest [or, poorest] person dressed in burlap and living in poverty [or, sitting in dirt and grime]. Even when we go to bed, we dream the same fears in a distorted form. We get little rest, if any at all. While we sleep, we struggle just as hard as we do during the day. In a frightening nightmare, we are trying to escape a war zone [or, from where soldiers are fighting], and just as we are about to reach safety, we wake up, relieved to find that there was nothing to be afraid of.

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.