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Sirach
Sirach (also called Ecclesiasticus or the Wisdom of Ben Sira) is a long book of wisdom sayings, prayers and poems by a Jewish teacher in Jerusalem, ending with a hymn in praise of Israel's famous ancestors. People read it for practical advice on friendship, speech, money, work and family, and for its picture of wisdom as the fear of the Lord and obedience to the Law of Moses.
- about 180 BC (Greek translation about 132 BC)
- Hebrew (about two-thirds recovered from Cairo, Masada and Qumran)
- Protestant Catholic Orthodox Ethiopian
Should it be in the Bible?
The case for
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The earliest Christians used Sirach widely, and the early church read it as scripture.
The evidence
The Didache (4:5) repeats Sirach 4:31, and Clement of Alexandria, Origen and Cyprian quote it as scripture. Its Latin name, Ecclesiasticus ('the church book'), reflects how much churches used it, and it is included in the great Greek codices Vaticanus, Sinaiticus and Alexandrinus.
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Councils of the early church and the major non-Protestant churches formally received it.
The evidence
The councils of Hippo (393) and Carthage (397) included it among the 'five books of Solomon' in their canon lists. The Council of Trent (1546) confirmed it for Catholics, the Orthodox Synod of Jerusalem (1672) received it, and the Ethiopian church includes it.
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Its origin is unusually clear, and its teaching closely follows Proverbs, the Law and the Prophets.
The evidence
The author, place and approximate date are known, and the Masada scroll shows the Hebrew text was being copied within about a century of its writing. It identifies wisdom with 'the book of the covenant of the Most High God, the law that Moses commanded' (24:23), and Jewish teachers valued it enough that the Talmud quotes it many times.
The case against
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Jewish tradition, which kept the Hebrew scriptures, did not include it in the canon.
The evidence
The Tosefta (Yadayim 2:13) says the books of Ben Sira 'do not defile the hands', meaning they are not sacred scripture. The Talmud (Sanhedrin 100b) records a rabbi saying it was forbidden to read it, and the grandson's prologue itself treats the book as separate from 'the Law, the Prophets and the other books'.
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Important early church voices ranked it below the canonical books.
The evidence
Athanasius (367) put it among books to be read for instruction but not in the canon, and Jerome said the church reads it 'for edification of the people, not to confirm doctrine'. The Reformers followed Jerome, and the Church of England's Article VI keeps it for 'example of life' but not for establishing doctrine.
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Some of its teachings sit uneasily with the rest of the Bible, and its text is unusually unsettled.
The evidence
It says almsgiving atones for sin (3:30), blames the start of sin on a woman (25:24), says a man's wickedness is better than a woman's goodness (42:14), and offers little hope beyond death (17:27–28; 41:4). Its Hebrew and Greek forms differ, there are shorter and longer Greek versions, and the chapter order in chapters 30–36 differs between the two languages.
Both sides are written as strongly as the honest evidence allows, so you can decide for yourself. Researched by claude-opus-5-5.
When, where and by whom
Traditional and scholarly views mostly agree. The author names himself as Jesus son of Eleazar son of Sira of Jerusalem (50:27) and wrote in Hebrew around 190–175 BC, shortly after the high priest Simon II, whom he praises in chapter 50. His grandson's prologue says he translated it into Greek in Egypt after arriving in the 38th year of King Ptolemy VIII Euergetes (132 BC).
Jesus, the New Testament and this book
- Jesus' "come to me… take my yoke… find rest" (Matthew 11:28–30) echoes Sirach 51:23–27.
- Jesus' 'Come to me… take my yoke upon you… and you will find rest' (Matthew 11:28–30) echoes Wisdom's invitation in Sirach 51:23–27: 'Draw near to me… put your neck under her yoke… I have found much rest.' (likely link)
- The Didache 4:5 repeats Sirach 4:31 almost word for word: do not stretch out your hands to receive but pull them back when it is time to give. (strong link)
- 'Forgive your neighbour the wrong he has done, and then your sins will be pardoned when you pray' (Sirach 28:2) shares the idea of the Lord's Prayer and Matthew 6:12–15. (likely link)
- Jesus' parable of the rich fool (Luke 12:16–21) closely parallels Sirach 11:18–19, about a man who saves up to enjoy his goods but does not know when he will die. (likely link)
- James 1:13 ('let no one say… I am being tempted by God') and 1:19 ('quick to listen, slow to speak') echo Sirach 15:11–12 and 5:11. (likely link)
- Wisdom 'pitching her tent' in Israel (Sirach 24:8) is often compared with the Word who 'dwelt' (literally 'tented') among us (John 1:14). (possible link)
- The 'praise of famous men' (Sirach 44–50), a survey of Israel's heroes, is a possible model for the list of heroes of faith in Hebrews 11. (possible link)
How it came down to us
For centuries the book was known mainly in Greek, from the grandson's translation preserved in the great 4th–5th century codices, and in Latin (the Vulgate uses the Old Latin version unrevised) and Syriac. From 1896 onward, Hebrew manuscripts from the medieval Cairo Geniza (manuscripts A–F) came to light. These were followed by a 1st-century BC scroll from Masada (chapters 39–44) and Dead Sea Scrolls fragments (2Q18; Sirach 51 in 11QPsa), so about two-thirds of the Hebrew text has now been recovered. Christian churches kept copying it in Greek, Latin, Syriac, Ge'ez and other languages, and Jewish scribes copied the Hebrew text into the Middle Ages.
- Greek prologue by Ben Sira's grandson
- Cairo Geniza Hebrew manuscripts A–F
- Masada Ben Sira scroll
- Dead Sea Scrolls 2Q18 and 11QPsa (11Q5)
- Codices Vaticanus, Sinaiticus and Alexandrinus
- Tosefta Yadayim 2:13 and Babylonian Talmud (Sanhedrin 100b, other citations)
- Didache 4:5
- Clement of Alexandria, Origen and Cyprian
- Athanasius, Festal Letter 39 (367)
- Jerome, preface to the books of Solomon
- Councils of Hippo (393) and Carthage (397), Council of Trent (1546), Synod of Jerusalem (1672)
- Thirty-Nine Articles, Article VI
- Modern critical commentaries and editions of Ben Sira