The book of Ecclesiasticus

The Book of the Wisdom of Ben Sira.

Ecclesiasticus

"Like one who kills a son before his father's eyes
is the person who offers a sacrifice from the property of the poor.
The bread of the needy is the life of the poor;
whoever deprives them of it is a murderer.
To take away a neighbour's living is to commit murder;
to deprive an employee of wages is to shed blood" (Sir 34:24-27).Three years before Martin Luther began the Protestant Reformation by nailing his Ninety-Five Theses to a church door in the German city of Wittenberg, in Cuba a Spanish priest named Bartolomé de Las Casas preached a Pentecost sermon (1514), quoting Sirach's hard-hitting words. He used these words to denounce the harsh treatment of the island's native population by the Spanish conquerors of the Americas. From that time, Las Casas became a sharp critic of the cruelties inflicted by the Spanish in the New World, and is remembered today as a defender of the human rights of the vulnerable.

Name

The Hebrew book is often known as the "Wisdom of Ben Sira," though a longer name is given after the last verse (Sir 51:30) in a medieval manuscript: "Wisdom of Simeon son of Jeshua son of Eleazar son of Sira." Two important early Greek manuscripts (Sinaiticus and Alexandrinus) entitle the book "Wisdom of Jesus son of Sirach," but the name is frequently shortened to Sirach. In the Latin tradition the work is known as "Liber Ecclesiasticus" (= the church book), and this name may indicate that the book was regarded as canonical in the Latin Church but not in Jewish tradition. It is known by the name Ecclesiasticus in the King James Version and other English versions. The book is generally regarded as a unity, but additional verses were inserted by some Greek scribes (e.g., Sir 1:5).

Canonicity

The book was composed in Hebrew, as is evident from the 1st-century BCE manuscript found at Masada by the Dead Sea containing much of Sir 39—44. Because the rabbis did not consider it canonical, the full Hebrew text fell out of use. However, six medieval manuscripts survive from the Cairo Genizah, preserving about two thirds of the text, often in fragmentary form. Because parts of the Hebrew text are lost, most modern translations of the book (e.g., New Revised Standard Version) are based on the Greek text. Other important versions of the book survive in Syriac and Latin, and the book was considered canonical by many church fathers (e.g., Cyprian, Ambrose, Augustine, and John Chrysostom).

Almost twice as long as the Book of Proverbs, the Book of Sirach is similar in its blending of theological teaching and practical wisdom. The female personification of wisdom (Sir 24) develops the ideas of Prov 8. Unlike the book of Proverbs, Sirach includes a long section praising Israelite ancestors from the Genesis patriarchs to Nehemiah, and concluding with a celebration of a recent high priest named Simeon (Sir 44:1—50:24). Whereas the Book of Proverbs ends with an alphabetic poem praising the capable woman (Prov 31:10-31), the Book of Sirach finishes with an alphabetic poem describing his love of Wisdom, personified as a female figure.

Date and authorship

Unlike the Book of Proverbs, the date of Sirach can be pinpointed fairly accurately. The book was composed by a Jerusalem sage around 180 BCE. The description of the high priest Simeon (Sir 50:1-21) is often regarded as the tribute of an eye-witness to his patron. The author was close to the temple circles, regarding the high priest as inheriting not only religious authority from Aaron but also civil power from David. If we follow the Greek tradition, the author's name was Jesus son of Sirach (= Jeshua ben Sira). The Greek prologue indicates that the book was translated into Greek in the late 2nd century BCE, after the grandson of the original author had moved to Egypt (perhaps Alexandria).

Questions of interpretation

Although excluded from the Jewish and Protestant biblical canon as apocryphal, the Book of Sirach is regarded as canonical or deuterocanonical by the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches. Aside from canonical considerations, the book is an important Jewish wisdom text from the pre-Christian era, later than Qoheleth (Ecclesiastes) and roughly contemporary with a major Dead Sea wisdom composition (4QInstruction). In a complex synthesis, the author combines theologies of wisdom and law, prophecy and temple, creation and history. While remaining staunchly Jewish, he is not afraid to borrow selected themes from Greek philosophy and Egyptian wisdom writings. Sirach combines a concern for the proper honouring of the priesthood with an emphasis on almsgiving to the poor and needy (Sir 7:29-35). In the author's social system, dependent on ideas of honour and shame, friendship plays a significant role, though less important than family. The book offers readers a valuable window into the beliefs and social life of the people of Jerusalem in the early 2nd century BCE.

View of the afterlife

The Hebrew author follows previous Israelite tradition by rejecting any idea of future resurrection (Sir 17:27-28; 38:21), though this notion emerges later in the 2nd century BCE in Dan 12 and 2 Macc 7. Whereas the Hebrew text of Sir 7:17 refers to the decay of the human body after burial: "Humble yourself to the utmost, for the expectation of mortals is worms," the Greek version refers to judgment after death: "Humble yourself to the utmost, for the punishment of the ungodly is fire and worms."

View of women

Many western readers today are dismayed by Sirach's negative statements about women. In his advice to beware of an evil wife he alludes to Eve, seen as a kind of Pandora figure: "From a woman sin had its beginning, and because of her we all die" (Sir 25:24; also 1 Tim 2:14). While the context for his patriarchal attitude is probably his educational work for the male priests of the Jerusalem temple, another factor influencing him is the exclusion of women from many aspects of Greek civic life. When Ben Sira praises a good wife, her goodness is considered in terms of her benefit to her husband (Sir 26:1-4; also Prov 31:11-12).

New Testament parallels

Several teachings in the gospels have parallels in the Book of Sirach. Jesus' parable of the unforgiving debtor (Matt 18:21-35) conveys the message of Sir 28:3-4: "Does anyone harbor anger against another, and expect healing from the Lord? If one has no mercy toward another like himself, can he then seek pardon for his own sins?" Jesus' invitation to his disciples, "Take my yoke upon you, and you will find rest for your souls" (Matt 11:29) is like the sage's appeal to carry Wisdom's yoke: "Bend your shoulders and carry her. For at last you will find the rest she gives" (Sir 6:25-28).

Within Luke's Gospel, the parable of the rich fool (Luke 12:16-21) develops Ben Sira's observation on the rich man: "When he says, 'I have found rest, and now I shall feast on my goods!' he does not know how long it will be until he leaves them to others and dies" (Sir 11:19). Jesus' parable of the widow who persistently seeks justice (Luke 18:1-8) echoes Sir 35:15-17: "The Lord is the judge, and with him there is no partiality. He will not ignore the supplication of the orphan, or the widow when she pours out her complaint."

The prologue of John's Gospel echoes Sir 24. The gospel speaks of the Word as the divine utterance (John 1:1), just as Wisdom declares: "I came forth from the mouth of the Most High" (Sir 24:3). Later in Ben Sira's poem, Wisdom's quest for a home was resolved by settling in Israel: "My Creator chose the place for my tent. He said, 'Make your dwelling in Jacob'" (Sir 24:8). In John's Gospel the divine Word (similar to Wisdom) settled within human flesh: "The Word became flesh and pitched his tent among us" (John 1:14).

Reception history

Although not viewed as canonical by the rabbis, they quoted a number of sayings from Ben Sira. For instance, Mishnah Abot 4:4 cites Sir 7:17, ascribed to Levitas of Yavneh. Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 100b has a long discussion, quoting Ben Sira verses such as Sir 6:6: "Let those who seek your peace be many; reveal your counsel [only] to one out of a thousand." Among the church fathers, John Chrysostom makes about 300 citations from the Greek version, while Augustine quotes about 300 passages from the Latin text. A translation of the book appears in Luther's German Bible (1534) and in the Authorised Version or King James Version (1611), though relegated to a section called the apocrypha. British village memorials to those who fell in World War I are often inscribed with a phrase drawn from the Authorised Version (King James Version) of Sir 44:14: "Their name liveth for evermore."

Ecclesiasticus.

Yeshua ben Eleazar ben Sira (Ben Sira, or—according to the Greek text—"Joshua the son of Sirach of Jerusalem") was a Hellenistic Jewish scribe of the Second Temple period. He wrote the Book of Sirach in Biblical Hebrew around 180 BCE.[4] Among all Hebrew biblical and apocryphal writers, Ben Sira is unique in that he is the only one to have signed his work.[1]

Sirach is the Greek form of the family name Sira, which in Aramaic likely means "thorn," probably related to the Hebrew word sirim, "thorns." The Greek form adds the letter Chi, an addition comparable to that found in Akeldama(ch) in Acts 1:19. This reflects a common practice in transliterations from Aramaic or Hebrew into Greek during that period.

Date and historical setting

The Book of Sirach is generally dated to the first quarter of the 2nd century BCE. The text refers in the past tense to "the high priest, Simon son of Onias" in 50:1.[8] This passage almost certainly refers to Simon the High Priest, the son of Onias II, who died in 196 BCE. Because the struggles between Simon's successors (Onias III, Jason, and Menelaus) are not alluded to in the book, nor is the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes (who acceded to the throne in 175 BCE), the book must therefore have been written between 196 and 175 BCE.[5]

Translation into Koine Greek

The person who translated the Book of Sirach into Koine Greek states in his prologue that he was the grandson of the author, and that he came to Egypt (most likely Alexandria) in the thirty-eighth year of the reign of "Euergetes".[4] This epithet was borne by only two of the Ptolemaic kings. Of these, Ptolemy III Euergetes reigned only twenty-five years (247–222 BCE), and thus Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II must be intended. Since this king dated his reign from the date of his first ascension to the throne in the year 170 BCE, the translator must therefore have gone to Egypt in 132 BCE. Ben Sira's grandson completed his translation and added the prologue circa 117 BCE, around the time of the death of Ptolemy VIII.[4] At that time, the usurping Hasmonean dynasty had ousted the heirs of Simon II after long struggles and was finally in control of the High Priesthood. A comparison of the Hebrew and Greek versions shows that he altered the prayer for Simon and broadened its application ("may He entrust to us his mercy") to avoid closing a work praising God's covenanted faithfulness on an unanswered prayer.[9]

The Greek version of the Book of Sirach is found in many codices of the Septuagint.[10]

Content

The Book of Sirach is a collection of ethical teachings that closely resembles Proverbs, except that—unlike the latter—it is presented as the work of a single author and not as an anthology of maxims or aphorisms drawn from various sources. The teachings of the Book of Sirach are intended to apply to all people regardless of circumstances, although commentator Verna Holyhead suggests that Sirach can be read as "a collection of wisdom for the "middle classes".[14] Many of its teachings are rules of courtesy and politeness, and they contain advice and instruction as to the duties of man toward himself and others, especially the poor and the oppressed, as well as toward society and the state and, most of all, toward God. Wisdom, in Ben Sira's view, is synonymous with fear of God and sometimes is identified in the text with adherence to the Law of Moses. The question of which sayings originated with the Book of Sirach is open to debate, although scholars tend to regard Ben Sira as a compiler or anthologist.[4]

By contrast, the author exhibits little compassion for women and slaves. He advocates distrust of and possessiveness over women,[15] and the harsh treatment of slaves (which presupposes the validity of slavery as an institution),[16] positions which are not only difficult for modern readers, but cannot be completely reconciled with the social milieu at the time of its composition.[improper synthesis?]

The Book of Sirach contains the only instance in a biblical text of explicit praise for physicians,[17] though other biblical passages take for granted that medical treatment should be used when necessary.[18][19] This is a direct challenge against the idea that illness and disease were seen as penalties for sin, to be cured only by repentance.[20]

As in Ecclesiastes, the author exhibits two opposing tendencies: the faith and the morality of earlier times and an Epicureanism of modern date. Occasionally, Ben Sira digresses to attack theories that he considers dangerous; for example, that man has no freedom of will and that God is indifferent to the actions of humankind and does not reward virtue. Some of the refutations of these views are developed at considerable length.

Throughout the text runs the prayer of Israel imploring God to gather together his scattered children, to fulfill the Prophets' predictions, and to have mercy upon his Temple and his people. The book concludes with a justification of God, whose wisdom and greatness are said to be revealed in all God's works and in the history of Israel. The book ends with the author's attestation, followed by two hymns, the latter a sort of alphabetical acrostic.[21]

Of particular interest to biblical scholars are chapters 44–50,[22] in which Ben Sira praises "famous men, our ancestors in their generations", starting from the antediluvian Enoch and continuing through to Simon, son of Onias (300–270 BCE). Within the text of these chapters, Ben Sira identifies, either directly or indirectly, each of the books of the Hebrew Bible that would eventually become canonical (all of the five books of the Torah, the eight books of the Nevi'im, and six of the eleven books of the Ketuvim). The only books that are not referenced are Ezra, Daniel, Ruth, Esther, and perhaps Chronicles.[23] The ability to date the composition of Sirach within a few years, given the autobiographical hints of Ben Sira and his grandson (author of the introduction to the work), provides great insight regarding the historical development and evolution of the Jewish canon.[24]

References

Singer, Isidore, ed. (1905). "Sirach, The Wisdom of Jesus the Son of". The Jewish Encyclopedia. Vol. 11. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. pp. 388–397.
New Living Translation Catholic Edition
Gigot, Francis Ernest Charles (1913). "Ecclesiasticus". The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. V (2 ed.). New York: The Encyclopedia Press, Inc. pp. 263–269.
Coogan, Michael D., ed. (2010). "Ecclesiasticus, or the Wisdom of Jesus, Son of Sirach". The New Oxford Annotated Bible: New Revised Standard Version (4 ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 1457–1528. ISBN 978-0195289602.
Williams, David Salter (1994). "The Date of Ecclesiasticus". Vetus Testamentum. 44 (4): 563–566. doi:10.1163/156853394X00565. JSTOR 1535116.
Gallagher, Edmon L.; Meade, John D. (2017). The Biblical Canon Lists from Early Christianity. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 9–17. ISBN 978-0198792499.
Readings from the Apocrypha. Forward Movement Publications. 1981. p. 5.
50:1
Guillaume, Philippe (2004). "New Light on the Nebiim from Alexandria: A Chronography to Replace the Deuteronomistic History" (PDF). Journal of Hebrew Scriptures (5: Section: 3. The Date of Ben Sira). Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 February 2021. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
Stone, Michael E., ed. (1984). Jewish Writings of the Second Temple Period: Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, Qumran, sectarian writings, Philo, Josephus. Van Gorcum, Assen, Netherlands, p. 290, ISBN 0800606035
Testimonia, ii. 1; iii. 1, 35, 51, 95, et passim
Trenchard, Warren C. (1982). Ben Sira's View of Woman: A Literary Analysis. Chico, CA: Scholars Press.
Mulder, p. 11. However, other scholars take the position that the Book of Sirach started with chapters 1–23 and 51, with the intermediate sections being inserted thereafter. Mulder, pp. 30–31.
Holyhead, V. (2006), Welcoming the Word in Year C: With Burning Hearts, p. 164, Liturgical Press, Collegeville, Minnesota
See, e.g., Sirach 42:12–14, especially v. 14a ("Better the wickedness of a man than the goodness of a woman."); Sirach 22:3 ("A father is disgraced by producing an ignorant son, But a daughter is born to his loss."). For these translations, see Trenchard, Ben Sira's View of Women, pp. 147, 135 respectively. The Book of Sirach also has some neutral and positive remarks about women, e.g., 7:27; 36:24–25.
See: Sirach 33:24–28 ("Fodder and a stick and burdens for an ass; bread and discipline and work for a servant. Set your slave to work, and you will find rest; leave his hands idle, and he will seek liberty. Yoke and thong will bow the neck, and for a wicked servant there are racks and tortures ... Set him to work, as is fitting for him, and if he does not obey, make his fetters heavy."). But see: Sirach 33:30–31 ("If you have a servant, let him be as yourself, because you have bought him with blood. If you have a servant, treat him as a brother, for as your own soul you will need him.")
Sirach 38
Exodus 21:19
Ezekiel 34:4
Snaith, John G. (1974), Ecclesiasticus, or the Wisdom of Jesus Son of Sirach, The Cambridge Bible Commentary on the New English Bible, Cambridge University Press [page needed]
Sirach 51
Sirach 44–50
Marttila, Marko. Foreign Nations in the Wisdom of Ben Sira: A Jewish Sage between Opposition and Assimilation, pp. 196–199 (Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. 2012), ISBN 978-3110270105.
Perspectives on Hebrew Scriptures II, Volume 5, Ehud Ben Zvi ed., pp. 179–190 (Gorgias Press LLC 2007), ISBN 978-1593336127.

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Ben Sirach

Ben Sira, also called Ben Sirach, Jesus ben Sira, Joshua ben Sira, or Sirach (Hebrew: שמעון בן יהושע בן אליעזר בן סירא, romanized: Šīmʿōn ben Yəhōšuaʿ ben ʾĔliʿezer ben Sirāʾ; fl. 2nd century BCE) was a Hellenistic Jewish scribe, sage, and allegorist from Seleucid-controlled Jerusalem of the Second Temple period. He is the author of the Book of Sirach, also known as "Ecclesiasticus".

Ben Sira wrote his work in Hebrew, possibly in Alexandria in the Ptolemaic Kingdom c. 180–175 BCE, where he is thought to have established a school.[1]

While Ben Sira is sometimes claimed to be a contemporary of Simeon the Just, it is more likely that his contemporary was High Priest Simon II (219–199 BCE) and this is due to confusion with his father, Joshua.[2]

A medieval text, the Alphabet of Sirach, was falsely attributed to him.

Name

In the Koine Greek text of the Book of Sirach, the author, who the translator claims is his grandfather, is called "Jesus the son of Sirach of Jerusalem" (Greek: Ἰησοῦς υἱὸς Σειρὰχ Ἱεροσολυμίτης).[3][4][5][failed verification] Jesus is the Anglicized form of the Greek name Ἰησοῦς, the equivalent of the Aramaic form borrowed from late Biblical Hebrew Yeshua, derived from the older Masoretic Hebrew Yehoshua.

The copy owned by Saadia Gaon, the prominent rabbi, Jewish philosopher, and exegete of the 10th century, had the reading "Shimʽon, son of Yeshuaʽ, son of Elʽazar ben Siraʼ" (Hebrew: שמעון בן ישוע בן אלעזר בן סירא); and a similar reading occurs in the Hebrew manuscript B.[6][7]

Sirach is the Greek form of the family name Sira. It adds the letter Chi, an addition like that in Akeldama(ch) in Acts 1:19.[citation needed]

Life

According to the Greek version, though not according to the Syriac, the author traveled extensively (Sirach 34:12) and was frequently in danger of death (34:13). Collins comments that unfortunately "he gives no details of his travels".[8] Corley surmises from these travels that Ben Sira may have been a diplomat or counsellor.[9] In the hymn of chapter 51, he speaks of the perils of all sorts from which God had delivered him, although this is probably only a poetic theme in imitation of the Psalms.[citation needed] The calumnies to which he was exposed in the presence of a certain king, supposed to be one of the Ptolemaic dynasty, are mentioned only in the Greek version, being ignored both in the Syriac and in the Hebrew text. The only fact known with certainty, drawn from the text itself, is that Ben Sira was a scholar, and a scribe thoroughly versed in the Law, and especially in the "Books of Wisdom".

Ben Sira's grandson

Very little is known about his grandson, who claims in the prologue to the Greek text to be the translator of Sirach into Greek.[10] He probably undertook the translation many years after the original was written.[citation needed]

The grandson states that he came to Egypt in the thirty-eighth year of the reign of Euergetes. Ptolemy VIII Physcon must be intended; he ascended the throne in 170 BCE, together with his brother Philometor, but he soon became sole ruler of Cyrene, and from 146 to 117 BCE, held sway over all Egypt. He dated his reign from the year in which he received the crown (i.e., from 170 BCE). The translator must therefore have gone to Egypt in 132 BCE.[11]

The prologue is generally considered the earliest witness to a canon of the books of the prophets.[12]

References

See Guillaume, Philippe, New Light on the Nebiim from Alexandria: A Chronography to Replace the Deuteronomistic History. PDF Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 5.9 (2004): sections 3–5: full notes and bibliography
אנציקלופדיה יהודית דעת – בן סירא. Jewish Encyclopedia Daat (in Hebrew). Herzog College. Retrieved 2013-09-06.
"SIRACH / ΣΟΦΙΑ ΣΕΙΡΑΧ50 - Bilingual Septuagint". www.ellopos.net. Retrieved 2025-08-08.
"Bible Gateway passage: Sirach 50:27 - New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition". Bible Gateway. Retrieved 2025-08-08.
"Catholic Encyclopedia : Ecclesiasticus (Sirach)". Newadvent.org. 1909-05-01. Retrieved 2013-09-06.
Wm. Oscar Oesterley & George Herbert Box, introduction to Sirach, in Robt. H. Charles, The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament in English (1913, Oxford) vol. 1 page 270.
"The Book of Ben Sira: B XX Recto" (PDF). bensira.org. Archived from the original on 2025-08-08. Retrieved 2025-08-08.
Collins, J. J., "44. Ecclesiasticus, or The Wisdom of Jesus Son of Sirach", in Barton, J. and Muddiman, J. (2001), The Oxford Bible Commentary Archived 2017-11-22 at the Wayback Machine, p. 689
Corley, J., Ben Sira's Teaching on Friendship, Brown Judaic Studies, number 316, published 2020, p. 17, accessed 10 July 2023
Sirach 1
Baxter, J. Sidlow (1968). The Strategic Grasp of the Bible. Zondervan. p. 46.
Wm. Oscar Oesterley & George Herbert Box, annotations to Sirach, in Robt. H. Charles, The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament in English (1913, Oxford) vol. 1 page 316.

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The book of Ecclesiasticus

The book of Ecclesiasticus

The Book of the Wisdom of Ben Sira.

Ecclesiasticus

Name

Canonicity

Contents

Date and authorship

Questions of interpretation

View of the afterlife

View of women

New Testament parallels

Reception history

Further reading

Ecclesiasticus.

Date and historical setting

Translation into Koine Greek

Content

References

Ben Sirach

Name

Life

Ben Sira's grandson

See also

References