Book of Sirach

The Book of Sirach (/ˈsaɪræk/), also known as The Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach, The Wisdom of Jesus son of Eleazar, or Ecclesiasticus (/ɪˌkliːziˈæstɪkəs/), is a Jewish literary work originally written in Biblical Hebrew. The longest extant wisdom book from antiquity, it consists of ethical teachings, written by Yeshua ben Eleazar ben Sira (Ben Sira), a Hellenistic Jewish scribe of the Second Temple period.

The text was written sometime between 196 and 175 BCE, and Ben Sira's grandson translated the text into Koine Greek and added a prologue sometime around 117 BCE. The prologue is generally considered to be the earliest witness to a tripartite canon of the books of the Hebrew Bible. The fact that the text and its prologue can be so precisely dated has profound implications for the development of the Hebrew Bible canon.

Although the Book of Sirach is not included in the Hebrew Bible, and therefore not considered scripture in Judaism, it is included in the Septuagint and the Old Testament of the Catholic and Orthodox churches. In the Protestant traditions, historically, and still in continuation today in Lutheranism and Anglicanism, the Book of Sirach is an intertestamental text found in the Apocrypha, though it is regarded as noncanonical.

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. Among all Hebrew Biblical and apocryphal writers, Ben Sira is unique in that he is the only one to have signed his work.

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. 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.

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". 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. 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.

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

The Koine Greek translation was accepted in the Septuagint under the abbreviated name of the author: Sirakh (Σιραχ). Some Greek manuscripts give as the title the "Wisdom of Iēsous Son of Sirakh" or in short the "Wisdom of Sirakh". The Vetus Latina Bible was based on the Septuagint, and simply transliterated the Greek title into Latin letters: Sirach. In the Latin Vulgate, the book is called Sapientia Jesu Filii Sirach ("The Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach").