Ecclesiasticus

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Why is Ecclesiasticus not shown with the King James Bible?

Ecclesiasticus, also called the Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach, deuterocanonical biblical work (accepted in the Roman Catholic canon but noncanonical for Jews and Protestants), an outstanding example of the wisdom genre of religious literature that was popular in the early Hellenistic period of Judaism (3rd century BC to 3rd century AD). This book appeared in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, though it was later rejected as apocryphal by Jews. Like other major wisdom books (Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Job, and Wisdom of Solomon), Ecclesiasticus contains practical and moral rules and exhortations, frequently arranged according to subject matter—e.g., hypocrisy, generosity, filial respect. Wisdom, personified as Sophia, or Lady Wisdom, delivers an extended discourse on her eternal relationship with God (chapter 24) and is identified with the Mosaic Law.

The text is the only apocryphal work whose author is known. It was written in Hebrew in Palestine around 180–175 BC by Ben Sira, who was probably a scribe well-versed in Jewish law and custom.

Ben Sira’s grandson, whose name is unknown, carried the book to Alexandria and translated it into Greek shortly after 132 BC for Greek-speaking Jews. The translation was probably intended to encourage adherence to ancestral beliefs and customs and to defend Jewish religious doctrines by showing the essential agreement between Judaism and Hellenistic philosophical truths. The concept of “wisdom” as an active emanation from God, for example, closely approximates the Stoic concept of the universal logos.



Ecclesiasticus
Ecclesiasticus 1 | Ecclesiasticus 2 | Ecclesiasticus 3 | Ecclesiasticus 4 | Ecclesiasticus 5 | Ecclesiasticus 6 | Ecclesiasticus 7 | Ecclesiasticus 8 | Ecclesiasticus 9 | Ecclesiasticus 10 | Ecclesiasticus 11 | Ecclesiasticus 12 | Ecclesiasticus 13 | Ecclesiasticus 14 | Ecclesiasticus 15 | Ecclesiasticus 16 | Ecclesiasticus 17 | Ecclesiasticus 18 | Ecclesiasticus 19 | Ecclesiasticus 20 | Ecclesiasticus 21 | Ecclesiasticus 22 | Ecclesiasticus 23 | Ecclesiasticus 24 | Ecclesiasticus 25 | Ecclesiasticus 26 | Ecclesiasticus 27 | Ecclesiasticus 28 | Ecclesiasticus 29 | Ecclesiasticus 30 | Ecclesiasticus 31 | Ecclesiasticus 32 | Ecclesiasticus 33 | Ecclesiasticus 34 | Ecclesiasticus 35 | Ecclesiasticus 36 | Ecclesiasticus 37 | | Ecclesiasticus 38... Ecclesiasticus PDF