en Sira
Or.1102

Date: 10th century

MATERIAL:Paper

LANGUAGE: Hebrew, late Second Temple period

CONTENT:

This is a book of proverbs written in Hebrew by Jeshua ben Sira in the second century b.c.e. and translated into Greek by his grandson. It reflects the ideas of a leading member of the intelligentsia with a closeness to the Temple and to priesthood. He is wholly committed to wisdom, to education and to Torah and is anxious to convince his fellow Jews to maintain their traditional beliefs and practices, to enjoy a good family life, and to behave in a polite and orderly fashion. It is included in what is for the Jews and Protestant non-canonical literature but is regarded as deuterocanonical by the Roman Catholic Church.

IMPORTANCE:Most of the texts of this work were transmitted by the Church in Greek and Syriac and only a few quotations survived in rabbinic literature. The discovery of many Genizah fragments from the early middle ages in Hebrew testify to the existence of the work during the early Christian centuries and its transmission among Jewish groups. They have also proved invaluable for reconstructing the original Hebrew text and not relying primarily on the Greek and Syriac renderings.

QUOTE: "Fire, hailstones, misfortune and plague, all such are created with just intent, as scorpions and vipers, so beasts of prey, the vengeful sword too effaces the vile"

READING: The Book of Ben Sira in Hebrew, ed. P. C. Beentjes, Brill, Leiden, 2003