Book of Sirach

The Book of Sirach (/ˈsræk/, Hebrew: ספר בן-סירא, romanizedSēper ben-Sîrāʾ), also known as The Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach[1] or Ecclesiasticus (/ɪˌklziˈæstɪkəs/, and abbreviated Ecclus.),[2] is a Jewish work, originally written in Biblical Hebrew. The longest extant wisdom book from antiquity,[1][3] it consists of ethical teachings, written approximately between 196 and 175 BCE by Yeshua ben Eleazar ben Sira (Ben Sira), a Hellenistic Jewish scribe of the Second Temple period.[1][4]

Ben Sira's grandson translated the text into Koine Greek and added a prologue sometime around 117 BCE.[3] Although the Book of Sirach is not included in the Hebrew Bible, this prologue is generally considered to be the earliest witness to a tripartite canon of the books of the Old Testament,[5] and thus the date of the text is the subject of intense scrutiny by biblical scholars. The ability to precisely date the composition of Sirach within a few years provides great insight into the historical development and evolution of the Jewish canon.

  1. ^ a b c Singer, Isidore, ed. (1905). "Sirach, The Wisdom of Jesus the Son of". The Jewish Encyclopedia. Vol. 11. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. pp. 388–397.
  2. ^ Gigot, Francis Ernest Charles (1913). "Ecclesiasticus". The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. V (2 ed.). New York: The Encyclopedia Press, Inc. pp. 263–269.
  3. ^ a b 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.
  4. ^ Williams, David Salter (1994). "The Date of Ecclesiasticus". Vetus Testamentum. 44 (4): 563–566. doi:10.1163/156853394X00565. JSTOR 1535116.
  5. ^ Gallagher, Edmon L.; Meade, John D. (2017). The Biblical Canon Lists from Early Christianity. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 9–17. ISBN 978-0198792499.

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