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Sirach
Also called Ecclesiasticus, Wisdom of Jesus son of Sirach, Ben Sira
Sirach offers advice on friendship, family, money and speech, then celebrates Israel’s heroes and the high priest Simon.5 sources5 sources1. Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 1:12. Toy3. Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 44:14. Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 50:15. Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 50:5
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At a glance
- Language
- Hebrew, translated into Greek by the author’s grandson.6 sources6 sources10. Edgecomb11. Studies12. Crawford13. Box8. (ed.)9. Toy
Summary
How should friends, families and neighbours treat one another? Sirach brings poverty, wealth, speech and even table manners into its advice on ordinary life. Poems praise wisdom; in chapter 24, Wisdom speaks and is identified with Moses' law. The book also offers a sweeping tribute to Israel's heroes. Its named writer is Jesus son of Sirach of Jerusalem. The Greek prologue introduces his grandson, who translated it in Egypt. Hebrew manuscripts recovered in Cairo and at Masada also provide evidence of its earlier language.17 sources17 sources1. Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 1:12. Toy3. Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 44:14. Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 50:15. Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 50:516. Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 24:317. Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 24:818. Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 24:2319. (ed.)6. Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 50:277. Toy13. Box8. (ed.)9. Toy20. Toy11. Studies12. Crawford
Contents
Learning to live wisely
Chapters 1–43Counsels about everyday conduct alternate with praise of wisdom. In chapter 24, Wisdom describes coming from God to dwell among Israel, and the poem identifies her with Moses’ law.9 sources9 sources1. Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 1:12. Toy16. Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 24:317. Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 24:818. Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 24:2319. (ed.)3. Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 44:14. Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 50:15. Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 50:5
Israel’s remembered heroes
Chapters 44–50A review of Israel’s heroes ends with Simon son of Onias serving in the temple.4 sources4 sources3. Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 44:14. Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 50:15. Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 50:52. Toy
An invitation to learn
Chapter 51Ben Sira invites the unlearned to his house of learning and pictures wisdom’s discipline as a yoke to take up.4 sources4 sources21. Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 6:2522. Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 51:2623. Matthew 11:2924. (ed.)
Stories
Wisdom makes her home in Israel
Sirach 24Wisdom speaks of her origin with God and her dwelling in Jacob. The chapter brings that poetry to a concrete identification with the law of Moses.4 sources4 sources16. Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 24:317. Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 24:818. Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 24:2319. (ed.)
Simon in the temple
Sirach 50The review of Israel’s heroes ends with the high priest Simon son of Onias in the temple.4 sources4 sources3. Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 44:14. Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 50:15. Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 50:52. Toy
Connections to the Bible
Echoes and allusions
- John 1:14 · Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 24:8medium confidence
Critical commentators Box and Oesterley compare Wisdom being told to make her dwelling in Jacob with the Word dwelling among people in John. Their comparison turns on the image of pitching a tent.17 25 19
- Matthew 11:28–30 · Sirach 6:25; 51:23–26medium confidence
Box and Oesterley compare Jesus’ invitation to take his yoke with Sirach’s invitation to learn wisdom. They also note the shared Jewish image of the yoke of Torah.4 sources4 sources21. Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 6:2522. Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 51:2623. Matthew 11:2924. (ed.)
- James 3:1–12 · Sirach’s teaching on speechmedium confidence
J. B. Mayor notes similar teaching on the tongue in James and Sirach. Box and Oesterley argue that James knew Sirach.26 27
- James 1:5 · Sirach’s wisdom teachingmedium confidence
Box and Oesterley include requests for wisdom among their comparisons with James.26 27
- James 1:12 · Sirach’s wisdom teachingmedium confidence
Box and Oesterley also compare the crown of life in their discussion of Sirach’s relationship with James.26 27
- Luke 12:16–21 · Sirach’s counselsmedium confidence
Box and Oesterley find a strong parallel between Sirach and Luke’s Rich Fool.26 27
- Baruch 3:9–4:4 · Sirach 24low confidence
Both passages identify wisdom with the law given to Israel.4 sources4 sources16. Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 24:317. Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 24:818. Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 24:2319. (ed.)
Where each church stands
Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) Full table →
Why some kept it, why others left it out
Jewish use and scriptural status did not always coincide: the Tosefta excludes Ben Sira from holy Scripture, while the Talmud quotes it and permits teaching its better sayings. In the early church, Athanasius recommended Sirach for new converts outside his canon; Augustine counted it authoritative. Jerome knew it in Hebrew but recommended reading it without using it to confirm doctrine. Trent named Sirach in its Catholic canon, and the Orthodox Synod of Jerusalem defended it as Scripture.11 sources11 sources37. (Sefaria38. Talmud39. Toy40. Talmud41. Talmud42. Alexandria43. Hippo10. Edgecomb44. Fremantle) 189345. Waterworth 184846. Robertson) 1899
Kept
Early church: Latin
Augustine treated Sirach’s recognition as authoritative as grounds for counting it among the prophetical books.43
Orthodox
The Synod of Jerusalem in 1672 explicitly defended the Wisdom of Sirach as a genuine part of Scripture.46
Left out
Jewish: rabbinic
The Tosefta places Ben Sira outside holy Scripture. This did not end its use: the Talmud quotes the book and allows selected sayings to be taught.5 sources5 sources37. (Sefaria40. Talmud41. Talmud38. Talmud39. Toy
Protestant: Anglican
Article VI follows Jerome in recommending these books for instruction while denying their use to establish doctrine.47
Misconceptions
Further reading
- Sirach, The Wisdom of Jesus the Son of (Jewish Encyclopedia, 1906) · Crawford Howell Toy and Israel Lévi2
- Ecclesiasticus (Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 5, 1909) · Francis Gigot49
- The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, vol. 1 (Oxford, 1913), Sirach, Introduction section 7 · R. H. Charles (ed.), G. H. Box and W. O. E. Oesterley on Sirach26
Sources
50 sources from 44 works
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- 14Checked in this site's verse database: Chapters of Sir (Brenton)↩
How this was derived
select count(distinct chapter) from verses where work_id='brenton' and book='Sir' and chapter>0 Francis Gigot, “Ecclesiasticus (Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 5, 1909)”
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Crawford Howell Toy and Israel Lévi, “Sirach, The Wisdom of Jesus the Son of (Jewish Encyclopedia, 1906)”, Contents
Crawford Howell Toy and Israel Lévi, “Sirach, The Wisdom of Jesus the Son of (Jewish Encyclopedia, 1906)”, Author
R. H. Charles (ed.), G. H. Box and W. O. E. Oesterley on Sirach, The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, vol. 1 (Oxford, 1913), Sirach, Introduction section 6, p. 293
Crawford Howell Toy and Israel Lévi, “Sirach, The Wisdom of Jesus the Son of (Jewish Encyclopedia, 1906)”, Date
Jerome (tr. Kevin P. Edgecomb, 2006, public domain), Prologue to the Books of Solomon, second paragraph
Center for Online Judaic Studies, “Ben Sira Scroll from Masada, 73 CE”, description
Sidnie White Crawford, “Review of Masada VI (Talmon, Hebrew Fragments from Masada; Yadin, The Ben Sira Scroll from Masada), BASOR 319 (2000) 81-82”, p. 81
Prologue to Sirach (tr. G. H. Box and W. O. E. Oesterley, in R. H. Charles, ed., 1913), The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, vol. 1 (Oxford, 1913), Sirach, Prologue, p. 316, Prologue
Francis Gigot, “Ecclesiasticus (Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 5, 1909)”, opening sentence
R. H. Charles (ed.), G. H. Box and W. O. E. Oesterley on Sirach, The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, vol. 1 (Oxford, 1913), Sirach, note on 24:8, note on 24:8
Crawford Howell Toy and Israel Lévi, “Sirach, The Wisdom of Jesus the Son of (Jewish Encyclopedia, 1906)”, Discovery of Hebrew Fragments
Matthew 11:29
29Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
R. H. Charles (ed.), G. H. Box and W. O. E. Oesterley on Sirach, The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, vol. 1 (Oxford, 1913), Sirach, note on 6:25, note on 6:25
John 1:14
14The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
R. H. Charles (ed.), G. H. Box and W. O. E. Oesterley on Sirach, The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, vol. 1 (Oxford, 1913), Sirach, Introduction section 7, p. 294
J. B. Mayor, The Epistle of St. James (2nd ed., 1897), Introduction, parallels from the Apocrypha, Introduction, 'Wisdom of Jesus, Son of Sirach'
Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion (1571), Article VI, as printed in E. J. Bicknell, A Theological Introduction to the Thirty-Nine Articles (1919)
Council of Trent, Session IV (8 April 1546), Decree concerning the canonical Scriptures
Synod of Jerusalem (1672), Confession of Dositheus, Question III
Apostoliki Diakonia of the Church of Greece, online Old Testament (Septuagint text)
NRSV with Apocrypha, 'The Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books of the Old Testament' (To the Reader)
Russian Synodal Bible, as published by Azbuka Very (azbyka.ru): contents and chapter notes
The Longer Catechism of the Orthodox, Catholic, Eastern Church (St Philaret of Moscow), 'Examined and Approved by the Most Holy Governing Synod'; English as in Schaff, Creeds of Christendom vol. 2
R. W. Cowley, 'The Biblical Canon of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church Today', Ostkirchliche Studien 23 (1974) 318–323
Tosefta Yadayim 2:13 (Sefaria, Vilna ed., English), Tosefta Yadayim 2, 133
Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 100b (William Davidson tr., Sefaria), Sanhedrin 100b, 100b
Crawford Howell Toy and Israel Lévi, “Sirach, The Wisdom of Jesus the Son of (Jewish Encyclopedia, 1906)”, Importance for the History of Thought
Babylonian Talmud, Bava Kamma 92b (William Davidson tr., Sefaria), Bava Kamma 92b, 92b
Babylonian Talmud, Chagigah 13a (William Davidson tr., Sefaria), Chagigah 13a, 13a
Athanasius of Alexandria, Festal Letter 39 (NPNF series 2, vol. 4), section 7
Augustine of Hippo, On Christian Doctrine, book 2, ch. 8 (NPNF series 1, vol. 2), 2.8.13
Jerome (tr. W. H. Fremantle), Preface to Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and the Song of Songs (NPNF2 vol. 6), via Wikisource (1893)
Council of Trent (tr. J. Waterworth, 1848), Session IV, Decree concerning the canonical Scriptures, Hanover Historical Texts Project (1848)
Synod of Jerusalem (tr. J. N. W. B. Robertson), The Acts and Decrees of the Synod of Jerusalem (London 1899), archive.org OCR (1899), pp. 155-156, Question III
Church of England, Articles of Religion (1571), as printed in E. J. Bicknell, A Theological Introduction to the Thirty-Nine Articles (1919), newscriptorium.com (1919), Article VI
Timothy H. Lim, “How was the Canon Formed?, The Expository Times 133.9 (2022) (author's copy, University of Pretoria repository)” (2022), abstract
Francis Gigot, “Ecclesiasticus (Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 5, 1909)”, Title
Crawford Howell Toy and Israel Lévi, “Sirach, The Wisdom of Jesus the Son of (Jewish Encyclopedia, 1906)”, Names