Timeline

Authoritative Deuterocanonical Citations

From the second through fourth centuries CE, patristic writers across the Greek- and Latin-speaking churches regularly quoted Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach, Tobit, Baruch, and 1 and 2 Maccabees alongside the Hebrew Scriptures and New Testament writings, drawing on them for moral and ethical teaching in ways that mirrored their use of other scripture, and this broad acceptance shaped the eventual inclusion of these books in many Christian biblical canons. Rabbinic tradition likewise preserved Sirach in particular as an authority, introducing its verses with the same citation formulas used for the Tanakh and attributing sayings to Ben Sira as if he were a sage among the rabbis, even ranking a verse from Sirach alongside the Torah, Prophets, and Writings despite the book's eventual exclusion from the rabbinic canon.

Timeline

Tobit 4:10 / Cyprian, Epistles 55:22
1. 225–175 BCE
  
  Tobit 4:10
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  8 Give to the poor in proportion to what you have. If you have much, give generously. If you have little, give from that, and do not be afraid to give even from that little, 9 for you store up a good treasure for yourself for a time of need, 10 because giving to the poor saves from death, and does not allow one to come into darkness. 11 Giving to the poor is a good offering in the sight of the Most High for everyone who does so.12 “My child, avoid all sexual immorality. Above all, marry a woman from among your ancestors’ offspring. Do not marry a foreign woman from outside your father’s tribe, for we are the sons of the prophets. Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, our ancestors, remember, my child, that they all took wives from among their relatives, and were blessed in their children, and their offspring will inherit the land.
2. 245–260 CE
  
  Cyprian, Epistles 55:22
  
  Early Christian
  
  I am amazed that some are so obstinate as to think that penance should not be given to the lapsed, or to judge that pardon must be denied to the penitent, when it is written: “Remember from where you have fallen, and do penance, and do the first works.” This is said, surely, to one who has evidently fallen and whom the Lord urges to rise again by works, because it is written: “Almsgiving frees from death,” and surely not from that death which the blood of Christ once extinguished and from which the water of saving baptism and the grace of our Redeemer have freed us, but from that which creeps in afterward through sins. In another place likewise a time of penance is given, and the Lord threatens the one who does not do penance: “I have much against you,” he says, “that you allow your wife Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce my servants to commit sexual immorality and eat of sacrifice; and I gave her time to do penance, and she will not repent of her immorality. Look, I cast her into a bed, and those who have committed immorality with her into very great tribulation, unless they do penance for their works.” The Lord would surely not urge to penance unless he promised pardon to the penitent. And in the gospel: “I say to you,” he says, “so there will be joy in heaven over one sinner doing penance, more than over ninety-nine righteous who have no need of penance.” For since it is written, “God did not make death, nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living,” surely he who wills that no one perish desires that sinners do penance and through penance return again to life. Therefore he also cries through the prophet Joel and says: “And now the Lord your God says: Return to me with your whole heart, and with fasting and weeping and mourning, and rend your hearts and not your garments, and return to the Lord your God, for he is merciful and kind and patient and of great mercy, and one who turns his sentence away from the evil threatened.” In the Psalms too we read the severity and likewise the clemency of God, at once threatening and sparing, punishing to correct and, when he has corrected, preserving: “I will visit their crimes with the rod,” he says, “and their sins with scourges; but my mercy I will not scatter from them.”
Tobit 4:15 / Clement of Alexandria, Stromata 2.23
1. 225–175 BCE
  
  Tobit 4:15
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  14 “Do not let the wages of anyone who works for you remain unpaid. Pay him immediately, and if you serve God, you will be rewarded. Pay attention to yourself, my child, in all your works, and be thoughtful in all your conduct. 15 Do not do to anyone what you yourself hate. Do not drink wine until you are drunk, and do not let drunkenness go with you on your way. 16 Give some of your bread to the hungry, and some of your clothing to those who are naked. Give to the poor from all your abundance, and do not let your eye be grudging when you give to the poor. 17 Pour out your bread and your wine on the tomb of the righteous, and do not give to sinners.18 “Ask advice from everyone who is wise, and do not reject any useful advice.
2. 195 CE
  
  Clement of Alexandria, Stromata 2.23
  
  Early Christian
  
  According to the opinion of the Stoics, marriage and the rearing of children are a thing indifferent; and according to the Peripatetics, a good. In a word, these, following out their dogmas in words, became enslaved to pleasures; some using concubines, some mistresses, and the most youths. And that wise quaternion in the garden with a mistress, honoured pleasure by their acts. Those, then, will not escape the curse of yoking an ass with an ox, who, judging certain things not to suit them, command others to do them, or the reverse. This Scripture has briefly showed, when it says, “What thou hatest, thou shalt not do to another.” But they who approve of marriage say, Nature has adapted us for marriage, as is evident from the structure of our bodies, which are male and female.
Tobit 4:18 / Athanasius, Defense of Constantius 17
1. 225–175 BCE
  
  Tobit 4:18
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  15 Do not do to anyone what you yourself hate. Do not drink wine until you are drunk, and do not let drunkenness go with you on your way. 16 Give some of your bread to the hungry, and some of your clothing to those who are naked. Give to the poor from all your abundance, and do not let your eye be grudging when you give to the poor. 17 Pour out your bread and your wine on the tomb of the righteous, and do not give to sinners.18 “Ask advice from everyone who is wise, and do not reject any useful advice. 19 And bless the Lord your God at all times, and ask him to make your ways straight and to make all your paths and plans succeed, because not every nation has good judgment. But the Lord will give to them all good things. The Lord brings down to the depths of Hades anyone he chooses. And now, child, remember these commandments, and do not let them be erased from your heart.
2. 350–360 CE
  
  Athanasius, Defense of Constantius 17
  
  Early Christian
  
  Now then, I would also meet the other and only remaining objection of my accuser. He says, the building was not completed, and prayer ought not to have been made there. But the Lord said, ‘But you, when you pray, enter into your closet, and shut the door.’ What then will the accuser answer? Or rather what will all prudent and true Christians say? Let your Majesty ask the opinion of such: for it is written of the other, ‘The foolish person will speak foolishness ;’ but of these, ‘Ask counsel of all that are wise.’ When the Churches were too small, and the people so numerous as they were, and desirous to go forth into the deserts, what ought I to have done? The desert has no doors, and all who choose may pass through it, but the Lord’s house is enclosed with walls and doors, and marks the difference between the pious and the profane. Will not every wise person then, as well as your Piety, Sire, give the preference to the latter place? For they know that here prayer is lawfully offered, while a suspicion of irregularity attaches to it there.
Baruch 3:12 / Athanasius, Discourse Against the Arians 2 42:1
1. 200–101 BCE
  
  Baruch 3:12
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  10 How is it, Israel, that you are in your enemies’ land, that you have become old in a foreign country, that you are defiled with the dead,11 that you are counted with those who are in Hades?12 You have abandoned the fountain of wisdom.13 If you had walked in the way of God, you would have dwelled in peace forever.14 Learn where there is wisdom, where there is strength, and where there is understanding, so that you may also know where there are long days and life, where there is the light of the eyes and peace.
2. 355–360 CE
  
  Athanasius, Discourse Against the Arians 2 42:1
  
  Early Christian
  
  Therefore, when He made His promise to the saints, He spoke this way: ‘I and the Father will come and make Our home with him’; and again, ‘so that, as I and You are One, they too may be one in Us.’ And the grace given is one, given from the Father in the Son, as Paul writes in every Epistle: ‘Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.’ For the light must be with the ray, and the radiance must be contemplated together with its own light. So the Jews, since they deny the Son just as these men do, do not have the Father either; for, having left the ‘Fountain of Wisdom,’ as Baruch reproaches them, they put away from themselves the Wisdom that springs from it, our Lord Jesus Christ (for ‘Christ,’ says the Apostle, is ‘God’s power and God’s wisdom’), when they said, ‘We have no king but Cæsar.’ The Jews, then, have the penalty for their denial; for their city as well as their reasoning came to nothing. And these men too put at risk the fullness of the mystery, I mean Baptism. For if the consecration is given to us into the Name of Father and Son, and they do not confess a true Father, because they deny what is from Him and like His Essence, and also deny the true Son, naming another of their own making, created out of nothing, is not the rite they administer altogether empty and useless, making a show, but in reality no help toward religion? For the Arians do not baptize into Father and Son, but into Creator and creature, into Maker and work. And just as a creature is other than the Son, so the Baptism supposedly given by them is other than the truth, though they pretend to name the Name of the Father and the Son because of the words of Scripture. For it is not the one who simply says ‘O Lord’ who gives Baptism, but the one who has the right faith along with the Name. For this reason our Savior too did not simply command to baptize, but first says, ‘Teach,’ then this: ‘Baptize into the Name of Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit,’ so that the right faith might follow on learning, and the consecration of Baptism might come together with faith.
Baruch 3:16 / Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor 2.3
1. 200–101 BCE
  
  Baruch 3:16
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  14 Learn where there is wisdom, where there is strength, and where there is understanding, so that you may also know where there are long days and life, where there is the light of the eyes and peace.15 Who has found her place? Who has come into her treasuries?16 Where are the princes of the nations, and those who ruled the animals that are on the earth,17 those who played with the birds of the air, and those who hoarded silver and gold, in which people trust, and never stopped acquiring it?18 For those who diligently sought silver, and were so anxious, and whose works are beyond understanding,
2. 198 CE
  
  Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor 2.3
  
  Early Christian
  
  For my part, I approve of Plato, who plainly lays it down as a law, that a man is not to labour for wealth of gold or silver, nor to possess a useless vessel which is not for some necessary purpose, and moderate; so that the same thing may serve for many purposes, and the possession of a variety of things may be done away with. Excellently, therefore, the Divine Scripture, addressing boasters and lovers of their own selves, says, Where are the rulers of the nations, and the lords of the wild beasts of the earth, who sport among the birds of heaven, who treasured up silver and gold, in whom men trusted, and there was no end of their substance, who fashioned silver and gold, and were full of care? There is no finding of their works. They have vanished, and gone down to Hades. Such is the reward of display. For though such of us as cultivate the soil need a mattock and plough, none of us will make a pickaxe of silver or a sickle of gold, but we employ the material which is serviceable for agriculture, not what is costly. What prevents those who are capable of considering what is similar from entertaining the same sentiments with respect to household utensils, of which let use, not expense, be the measure?
Baruch 3:35 / Athanasius, Discourse Against the Arians 2 49:1
1. 200–101 BCE
  
  Baruch 3:35
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  33 It is he who sends out the light, and it goes. He called it, and it obeyed him with fear.34 The stars shone at their stations, and were glad. When he called them, they said, “Here we are.” They shone with gladness for him who made them.35 This is our God. No other can be compared to him.36 He has discovered all the way of knowledge, and has given it to Jacob his servant and to Israel who is loved by him.37 Afterward she appeared on earth, and lived among people.
2. 355–360 CE
  
  Athanasius, Discourse Against the Arians 2 49:1
  
  Early Christian
  
  Word were a creature, He would not be first or the beginning of the rest; yet if He is before all, as indeed He is, and is Himself alone First and Son, it does not follow that He is the beginning of all things as to His Essence, for what is the beginning of all is counted among all. And if He is not such a beginning, then neither is He a creature; it is very plain that He differs in essence and nature from the creatures and is other than they, and is the Likeness and Image of the sole and true God, being sole Himself too. So He is not classed with creatures in Scripture; rather, David rebukes those who dare even to think of Him as such, saying, ‘Who among the gods is like the Lord?’ and ‘Who is like the Lord among the sons of God?’ and Baruch, ‘This is our God, and no other shall be compared with Him.’ For the One creates, and the rest are created; and the One is the very Word and Wisdom of the Father’s Essence, and through this Word the things that came to be, which did not exist before, were made.
Baruch 5:1 / Ambrose, On Repentance 1.9
1. 200–101 BCE
  
  Baruch 5:1
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  1 Take off the garment of your mourning and affliction, Jerusalem, and put on forever the beauty of the glory from God.2 Put on the robe of the righteousness from God. Set on your head a crown of the glory of the Everlasting.3 For God will show your splendor everywhere under heaven.4 For your name will be called by God forever: “Righteous Peace, Godly Glory.”5 Rise, Jerusalem, and stand on the heights. Look around you toward the east and see your children gathered from where the sun sets to where it rises at the word of the Holy One, rejoicing that God has remembered them.
2. 390–395 CE
  
  Ambrose, On Repentance 1.9
  
  Early Christian
  
  Rightly, then, is it said: Who shall entreat for him? It implies that it must be someone like as Moses to offer himself for those who sin, or such as Jeremiah, who, though the Lord said to him, Do not pray for this people, and yet he prayed and obtained their forgiveness. For at the intercession of the prophet, and the entreaty of so great a seer, the Lord was moved and said to Jerusalem, which had meanwhile repented for its sins, and had said: O Almighty Lord God of Israel, the soul in anguish, and the troubled spirit cries to You, hear, Lord, and have mercy. And the Lord bids them lay aside the garments of mourning, and to cease the groanings of repentance, saying: Take off, Jerusalem, the garment of your mourning and affliction, and clothe yourself in beauty, the glory which God has given you forever.
Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 1:2 / Alexander of Alexandria, Epistles on Arianism 1:4
1. 195–175 BCE
  
  Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 1:2
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  1 All wisdom comes from the Lord, and is with him forever.2 Who can count the sand of the seas, the drops of rain, and the days of eternity?3 Who will explore the height of the sky, the breadth of the earth, the deep, and wisdom?4 Wisdom was created before all things, and prudent understanding from eternity.
2. 320–328 CE
  
  Alexander of Alexandria, Epistles on Arianism 1:4
  
  Early Christian
  
  comprehension lies the indescribable hypostasis of the only-begotten God. I do not think those who dare to inquire into these things should be counted among the pious, because of their disobedience to the saying: “Do not seek what is too hard for you, and do not examine what is too high for you.” For if the knowledge of many other things, incomparably less significant than these, is hidden from human understanding (as in Paul: “What eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered the heart of man, what God has prepared for those who love him”; and God also says to Abraham that he cannot count the stars; and again, “Who will number the sand of the seas and the drops of rain?”), how could anyone inquire curiously into the hypostasis of the Word of God, unless he were overcome by madness? Concerning it the prophetic Spirit says: “Who will declare his generation?” And our Savior himself, doing good to the pillars of all things in the world, I mean the apostles who speak of God, was eager to relieve them of the burden of knowledge about these things, saying that understanding it lies beyond the nature of any of them, and that the knowledge of this most divine mystery is reserved to the Father alone: “For no one knows who the Son is,” he says, “except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son.” Concerning this I think the Father too says: “My mystery is for me.” That it is madness to think that the Son came into being from things that do not exist, having a beginning in time, is shown at once by the phrase “from things that do not exist,” even if the fools do not recognize the madness of their own expression. For the “was not” must be placed either in times or in some interval of an age. If, then, it is true that all things came into being through him, it is clear that every age and time and interval and the “when,” in which the “was not” is found, came into being through him. And how is it not incredible to say that he who made times and ages and seasons, in which the “was not” is mixed up, himself at some time did not exist? For it is senseless and full of all ignorance to say that the cause of something is himself later than its coming into being. For according to them that interval, in which they say the Son had not been begotten by the Father, precedes the Wisdom of God that fashions the universe; and according to them the Scripture that proclaims him “firstborn of all creation” also lies. In agreement with this the Paul too proclaims most forcefully, saying of him:
Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 1:1 / Clement of Alexandria, Stromata 1.4
1. 195–175 BCE
  
  Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 1:1
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  1 All wisdom comes from the Lord, and is with him forever.2 Who can count the sand of the seas, the drops of rain, and the days of eternity?3 Who will explore the height of the sky, the breadth of the earth, the deep, and wisdom?4 Wisdom was created before all things, and prudent understanding from eternity.6 To whom has the root of wisdom been revealed? Who has known her subtle thoughts?
2. 195–205 CE
  
  Clement of Alexandria, Stromata 1.4
  
  Early Christian
  
  For sensibility finds and invents; since it persuasively exhorts to application. And practice will increase the application which has knowledge for its end. With reason, therefore, the apostle has called the wisdom of God” manifold,” and which has manifested its power “in many departments and in many modes” -- by art, by knowledge, by faith, by prophecy -- for our benefit. “For all wisdom is from the Lord, and is with Him for ever,” as says the wisdom of Jesus. For if thou call on wisdom and knowledge with a loud voice, and seek it as treasures of silver, and eagerly track it out, thou shalt understand godliness and find divine knowledge.” The prophet says this in contradiction to the knowledge according to philosophy, which teaches us to investigate in a magnanimous and noble manner, for our progress in piety.
Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 1:2 / Methodius, Fragments
1. 195–175 BCE
  
  Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 1:2
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  1 All wisdom comes from the Lord, and is with him forever.2 Who can count the sand of the seas, the drops of rain, and the days of eternity?3 Who will explore the height of the sky, the breadth of the earth, the deep, and wisdom?4 Wisdom was created before all things, and prudent understanding from eternity.6 To whom has the root of wisdom been revealed? Who has known her subtle thoughts?
2. 270–310 CE
  
  Methodius, Fragments
  
  Early Christian
  
  For when a thousand years are reckoned as one day in the sight of God, and from the creation of the world to His rest is six days, so also to our time, six days are defined, as those say who are clever arithmeticians. Therefore, they say that an age of six thousand years extends from Adam to our time. For they say that the judgment will come on the seventh day, that is in the seventh thousand years. Therefore, all the days from our time to that which was in the beginning, in which God created the heaven and the earth, are computed to be thirteen days; before which God, because he had as yet created nothing according to their folly, is stripped of His name of Father and Almighty. But if there are thirteen days in the sight of God from the creation of the world, how can Wisdom say, in the Book of the Son of Sirach: Who can number the sand of the sea, and the drops of rain, and the days of eternity? This is what Origen says seriously, and mark how he trifles.
Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 1:9 / Athanasius, Discourse Against the Arians 2 79:1
1. 195–175 BCE
  
  Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 1:9
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  6 To whom has the root of wisdom been revealed? Who has known her subtle thoughts?8 There is one who is wise and greatly to be feared, the Lord, sitting on his throne.9 He created her. He saw and measured her. He poured her out on all his works.10 She is with all flesh according to his gift. He gave her freely to those who love him.11 The fear of the Lord is glory, jubilation, gladness, and a crown of rejoicing.
2. 355–360 CE
  
  Athanasius, Discourse Against the Arians 2 79:1
  
  Early Christian
  
  But if this too fails to persuade them, let them tell us themselves whether there is any wisdom in the creatures or not. If not, how is it that the Apostle complains, ‘For since, in the Wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God’? Or how is it, if there is no wisdom, that a ‘multitude of wise men’ is found in Scripture? For ‘a wise man fears and turns away from evil’; and ‘by wisdom a house is built’; and the Preacher says, ‘A man’s wisdom makes his face shine’; and he rebukes the headstrong this way: ‘Do not say, Why were the former days better than these? For you do not ask about this in wisdom.’ But if, as the Son of Sirach says, ‘He poured her out on all His works; she is with all flesh according to His gift, and He has given her to those who love Him,’ and this outpouring is a mark not of the Essence of the true and Only-begotten Wisdom, but of the wisdom that is imaged in the world, how is it unbelievable that the All-creating and true Wisdom Itself, whose impression is the wisdom and knowledge poured out in the world, should say, as I have already explained, as if of Itself, ‘The Lord created me for His works’? For the wisdom in the world is not creative, but is what is created in the works, according to which ‘the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows His handiwork.’ If people have this within them, they will acknowledge the true Wisdom of God, and will know that they are truly made in God’s Image. Consider a king’s son, when his father wished to build a city: he might have his own name stamped on each of the works as they rose, both to assure them that the works would last, because his name appeared on everything, and to make them remember him and his father from the name; and when he had finished the city and was asked how it was made, he would answer, ‘It is made securely, for according to my father’s will I am imaged in each work, for my name was placed in the works.’ But in saying this he does not mean that his own essence is created, but the impression of himself by means of his name. In the same way, to apply the illustration, the true Wisdom answers those who admire the wisdom in the creatures, ‘The Lord created me for the works,’ for My impression is in them, and I have condescended in this way for the making of all things.
Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 1:18 / Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor 1.8
1. 195–175 BCE
  
  Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 1:18
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  18 The fear of the Lord is the crown of wisdom, making peace and perfect health flourish.19 He both saw and measured her. He rained down skill and knowledge of understanding, and exalted the honor of those who hold firmly to her.20 To fear the Lord is the root of wisdom. Her branches bring long life.21 The fear of the Lord drives away sins. Where it resides, it will turn away all anger.22 Unjust anger can never be justified, for his anger tips the scale to his downfall.
2. 198 CE
  
  Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor 1.8
  
  Early Christian
  
  But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous, who takes vengeance? God forbid. He says, therefore, threatening, I will sharpen my sword, and my hand shall lay hold on judgment; and I will render justice to mine enemies, and requite those who hate me. I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh from the blood of the wounded. It is clear, then, that those who are not at enmity with the truth, and do not hate the Word, will not hate their own salvation, but will escape the punishment of enmity. The crown of wisdom, then, as the book of Wisdom says, is the fear of the Lord. Very clearly, therefore, by the prophet Amos has the Lord unfolded His method of dealing, saying, I have overthrown you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrha; and you shall be as a brand plucked from the fire: and yet you have not returned to me, says the Lord .
Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 1:22 / John Chrysostom, Homily 29 on Acts
1. 195–175 BCE
  
  Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 1:22
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  19 He both saw and measured her. He rained down skill and knowledge of understanding, and exalted the honor of those who hold firmly to her.20 To fear the Lord is the root of wisdom. Her branches bring long life.21 The fear of the Lord drives away sins. Where it resides, it will turn away all anger.22 Unjust anger can never be justified, for his anger tips the scale to his downfall.23 A patient person will endure for a time, and afterward joy will spring up for him.24 He will hide his words until the right moment, and the lips of many will tell of his understanding.25 A wise saying is in the treasures of wisdom, but godliness is an abomination to a sinner.
2. 387–400 CE
  
  John Chrysostom, Homily 29 on Acts
  
  Early Christian
  
  I beg and urge you not to think it enough to have invaded the Church, but to leave having taken something, some medicine to cure your own illnesses. If not from us, at least from the Scriptures you have the remedies appropriate to each. Is someone hot-tempered, for example? Let him pay attention to the Scripture readings, and he will certainly find such remedies, either in history or in exhortation. In exhortation, when it says, The surge of his fury is his destruction; and, A hot-tempered man does not behave respectably, and similar things. Again, A man full of words will not prosper; and Christ again, Whoever is angry with his brother without a cause; and again the Prophet, Be angry and do not sin; and, Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce. In histories, you hear of Pharaoh full of anger, and the Assyrian. Again, is someone held captive by the love of money? Let him hear that There is nothing more wicked than a greedy man, for this man puts even his own soul up for sale; and how Christ says, You cannot serve God and wealth; and the Apostle, The love of money is a root of all evils; and the Prophet, If riches flow in, do not set your heart on them, and many similar sayings. From the histories you hear of Gehazi, Judas, the chief scribes, and that gifts blind the eyes of the wise. Is someone else proud? Let him hear that God resists the proud; and, Pride is the beginning of sin; and, Everyone with an arrogant heart is impure before the Lord. In the histories, the devil and all the rest. In a word, since we cannot recount everything, let each person choose from the Divine Scriptures the remedies for his own wounds.
Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 1:21 / Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor 1.8
1. 195–175 BCE
  
  Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 1:21
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  19 He both saw and measured her. He rained down skill and knowledge of understanding, and exalted the honor of those who hold firmly to her.20 To fear the Lord is the root of wisdom. Her branches bring long life.21 The fear of the Lord drives away sins. Where it resides, it will turn away all anger.22 Unjust anger can never be justified, for his anger tips the scale to his downfall.23 A patient person will endure for a time, and afterward joy will spring up for him.
2. 198 CE
  
  Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor 1.8
  
  Early Christian
  
  God, then, is good. And the Lord speaks many a time and often before He proceeds to act. For my arrows, He says, will make an end of them; they shall be consumed with hunger, and be eaten by birds; and there shall be incurable tetanic incurvature. I will send the teeth of wild beasts upon them, with the rage of serpents creeping on the earth. Without, the sword shall make them childless; and out of their chambers shall be fear. For the Divine Being is not angry in the way that some think; but often restrains, and always exhorts humanity, and shows what ought to be done. And this is a good device, to terrify lest we sin. For the fear of the Lord drives away sins, and he that is without fear cannot be justified, says the Scripture. And God does not inflict punishment from wrath, but for the ends of justice; since it is not expedient that justice should be neglected on our account. Each one of us, who sins, with his own free-will chooses punishment, and the blame lies with him who chooses. God is without blame.
Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 2:4 / Cyprian, Treatises 9:17
1. 195–175 BCE
  
  Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 2:4
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  2 Set your heart right and endure steadily. Do not be hasty in a time of disaster.3 Cling to him, and do not leave him, so that you may prosper at the end.4 Accept whatever is brought on you, and be patient when you suffer humiliation.5 For gold is tested in the fire, and people who are acceptable to God in the furnace of humiliation.6 Put your trust in him, and he will help you. Make your ways straight, and set your hope on him.
2. 245–260 CE
  
  Cyprian, Treatises 9:17
  
  Early Christian
  
  17 Patience is also necessary for the various disadvantages of the flesh and the frequent and hard torments of the body by which the human race is daily wearied and shaken. For since in that first transgression of the precept strength of body departed together with immortality, and weakness came with death, and strength cannot be regained unless immortality too has been regained, we must always struggle and contend in this frailty and bodily weakness; and this struggle and contest can be sustained only by the strength of patience. And to examine and test us, various pains are brought upon us, and manifold kinds of temptation are inflicted: losses of property, burning fevers, torments of wounds, the loss of dear ones. And nothing distinguishes the unrighteous and the righteous more than that in adversity the unrighteous complains and blasphemes through impatience, while the righteous is proved by patience, as it is written: “In pain endure, and in your humiliation have patience, for gold and silver are tried in the fire.”
Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 2:11 / Against Novatian 18
1. 195–175 BCE
  
  Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 2:11
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  9 All you who fear the Lord, hope for good things, and for eternal gladness and mercy.10 Look at the generations of the past and see. Who ever put their trust in the Lord, and was put to shame? Or who continued to fear him and was abandoned? Or who called on him and was neglected?11 For the Lord is full of compassion and mercy. He forgives sins and saves in time of distress.12 How terrible for fearful hearts, to powerless hands, and to the sinner who follows two paths!13 How terrible for the fainthearted! For they do not believe, so they will not be protected.
2. 251–258 CE
  
  Against Novatian 18
  
  Early Christian
  
  While the way of mercy, brethren, is open, let us entreat God with full atonements; let us humble ourselves, that we may be exalted; let us acquiesce in the divine exhortation, whereby we may escape the day of the Lord and His anger. For thus He says: Look, my son, upon the nations of men, and know who has hoped in the Lord, and has been confounded; or has remained in His commandments, and has been forsaken; or has called upon Him, and He has despised him. For the Lord is loving and merciful, and forgiving in time of tribulation their sins to all those that seek after Him in truth. Therefore He says, First tell your sins, that you may be justified. Let there be first in your hand that prayer full of confession.
Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 3:21 / Chagigah 13a
1. 195–175 BCE
  
  Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 3:21
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  17 My son, carry out your business humbly, and you will be loved by a well-regarded person.18 The greater you are, the more you should humble yourself, and you will find favor with the Lord.20 For the power of the Lord is great, and he is glorified by those who are lowly.21 Don’t seek things that are too hard for you, and don’t investigate things that are beyond your ability.22 Think about the things that have been commanded to you, for you have no need of the things that are secret.23 Don’t be overly busy in tasks that are beyond you, for more things are shown to you than people can understand.24 For the conceit of many has led them astray. Bad ideas have made their judgment stumble.
2. 450–550 CE
  
  Chagigah 13a
  
  Rabbinic
  
  The Gemara comments: Until here, you have permission to speak; from this point forward you do not have permission to speak, as it is written in the book of Ben Sira: Seek not things concealed from you, nor search those hidden from you. Reflect on that which is permitted to you; you have no business with secret matters. It is taught in a baraita: Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai said: What response did the Divine Voice provide to that wicked man, Nebuchadnezzar, when he said: “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High” (Isaiah 14:14), thereby intending to rise to heaven? A Divine Voice came and said to him: Wicked man, son of a wicked man, descendant, i.e., follower of the ways, of Nimrod the wicked, who caused the entire world to rebel against Him during the time of his reign.
Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 3:21 / Genesis Rabbah 8:2
1. 195–175 BCE
  
  Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 3:21
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  17 My son, carry out your business humbly, and you will be loved by a well-regarded person.18 The greater you are, the more you should humble yourself, and you will find favor with the Lord.20 For the power of the Lord is great, and he is glorified by those who are lowly.21 Don’t seek things that are too hard for you, and don’t investigate things that are beyond your ability.22 Think about the things that have been commanded to you, for you have no need of the things that are secret.23 Don’t be overly busy in tasks that are beyond you, for more things are shown to you than people can understand.24 For the conceit of many has led them astray. Bad ideas have made their judgment stumble.
2. 500 CE
  
  Genesis Rabbah 8:2
  
  Rabbinic
  
  Rav Ḥama bar Ḥanina began: “Have you known this from [oldest times?]” (Job 20:4). Rav Ḥama bar Ḥanina said: This is analogous to a city that received its supplies by donkey drivers. They would ask one another: ‘What is the price of grain in the province today?’ The Friday ones would inquire of the Thursday ones; the Thursday ones of the Wednesday ones; the Wednesday ones of the Tuesday ones; the Tuesday ones of the Monday ones; the Monday ones of the Sunday ones. The Sunday one, whom would he ask? Would he not ask the businessmen of the city? Here, too, everything that was made on each day would ask one another: ‘What creations did the Holy One blessed be He create on your day?’ The sixth day would ask the fifth day, and so on until the first day. Whom would it [the first day] ask? Is it not the Torah, that preceded the creation of the world? As Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said: The Torah preceded the creation of the world by two thousand years. That is what is written: “I was with Him, as a protégé; [I was a delight day after day]” (Proverbs 8:30), and the day of the Holy One blessed be He is one thousand years, as it is written: “As one thousand years in Your eyes are like yesterday” (Psalms 90:4). That is, “have you known this [from oldest times?]” (Job 20:4). The Torah knows what preceded the creation of the world. But you have license to expound only “from when man was placed upon the earth” (Job 20:4). Rabbi Elazar said, citing ben Sira: “Do not seek what is too great for you, do not interrogate what is stronger than you, do not seek knowledge of what is hidden from you, and do not ask regarding what is concealed from you. Observe what is permitted for you, and you have no business with the esoteric.”
Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 3:21 / Ambrose, On the Christian Faith 5.19
1. 195–175 BCE
  
  Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 3:21
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  20 For the power of the Lord is great, and he is glorified by those who are lowly.21 Don’t seek things that are too hard for you, and don’t investigate things that are beyond your ability.22 Think about the things that have been commanded to you, for you have no need of the things that are secret.23 Don’t be overly busy in tasks that are beyond you, for more things are shown to you than people can understand.24 For the conceit of many has led them astray. Bad ideas have made their judgment stumble.
2. 390–395 CE
  
  Ambrose, On the Christian Faith 5.19
  
  Early Christian
  
  Moses excuses himself from the Priesthood, Peter is for avoiding the obedience demanded in the Ministry; and does Arius examine even the deep things of God? But Arius is not the Holy Spirit. No, it was said even to Arius and to all men: Seek not that which is too deep for you.
Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 3:26 / Augustine, City of God 1.27
1. 195–175 BCE
  
  Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 3:26
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  26 A stubborn heart will do badly at the end. He who loves danger will die in it.27 A stubborn heart will be burdened with troubles. The sinner will pile sin on sin.28 There is no cure for the disaster that strikes the proud, for a weed of wickedness has taken root in him.29 The heart of the prudent will understand a proverb. A wise man desires the ear of a listener.
2. 426 CE
  
  Augustine, City of God 1.27
  
  Early Christian
  
  Why does any person who is freed from the hazards of this life again expose himself to them, when he has the power to rid himself of them all so easily, and when it is written, “He who loves danger shall fall into it?” Why does he love, or at least face, so many serious dangers, by remaining in this life from which he may legitimately depart?
Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 6:16 / Ambrose, On the Duty of the Clergy 2.7
1. 195–175 BCE
  
  Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 6:16
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  14 A faithful friend is a strong defense. He who has found him has found a treasure.15 There is nothing that can be taken in exchange for a faithful friend. His worth is beyond price.16 A faithful friend is a life-saving medicine. Those who fear the Lord will find him.17 He who fears the Lord directs his friendship properly, for his neighbor is like him.18 My son, gather instruction from your youth. Even when you have gray hair you will find wisdom.
2. 390–395 CE
  
  Ambrose, On the Duty of the Clergy 2.7
  
  Early Christian
  
  37 It gives a very great impetus to mutual love if one shows love in return to those who love us and proves that one does not love them less than oneself is loved, especially if one shows it by the proofs that a faithful friendship gives. What is so likely to win favor as gratitude? What more natural than to love one who loves us? What so implanted and so impressed on men’s feelings as the wish to let another, by whom we want to be loved, know that we love him? Well does the wise man say: Lose your money for your brother and your friend. And again: I will not be ashamed to defend a friend, neither will I hide myself from him. If, indeed, the words in Ecclesiasticus testify that the medicine of life and immortality is in a friend; yet none has ever doubted that it is in love that our best defense lies. As the Apostle says: It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things; love never fails.
Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 6:33 / Clement of Alexandria, Stromata 2.5
1. 195–175 BCE
  
  Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 6:33
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  31 You will put her on like a robe of glory, and will put her on like a crown of rejoicing.32 My son, if you are willing, you will be instructed. If you are willing to submit your soul, you will be prudent.33 If you love to listen, you will receive. If you turn your ear to listen, you will be wise.34 Stand in the assembly of the elders. Attach yourself to whomever is wise.35 Be willing to listen to every godly discussion. Don’t let the proverbs of understanding escape you.
2. 195 CE
  
  Clement of Alexandria, Stromata 2.5
  
  Early Christian
  
  For it were strange that the followers of the Samian Pythagoras, rejecting demonstrations of subjects of question, should regard the bare ipse dixit as ground of belief; and that this expression alone sufficed for the confirmation of what they heard, while those devoted to the contemplation of the truth, presuming to disbelieve the trustworthy Teacher, God the only Saviour, should demand of Him tests of His utterances. But He says, “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” And who is he? Let Epicharmus say: “Mind sees, mind hears; all besides is deaf and blind.” Rating some as unbelievers, Heraclitus says, “Not knowing how to hear or to speak;” aided doubtless by Solomon, who says, “If thou lovest to hear, thou shalt comprehend; and if thou incline thine ear, thou shalt be wise.
Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 7:23 / Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor 1.9
1. 195–175 BCE
  
  Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 7:23
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  21 Let your soul love a wise servant. Don’t defraud him of freedom.22 Do you have cattle? Look after them. If they are profitable to you, let them stay by you.23 Do you have children? Correct them, and make them obedient from their youth.24 Do you have daughters? Take care of their bodies, and don’t be overly indulgent toward them.25 Give your daughter in marriage, and you will have accomplished something important. Give her to a man of understanding.
2. 198 CE
  
  Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor 1.9
  
  Early Christian
  
  With all His power, therefore, the Instructor of humanity, the Divine Word, using all the resources of wisdom, devotes Himself to the saving of the children, admonishing, upbraiding, blaming, chiding, reproving, threatening, healing, promising, favouring; and as it were, by many reins, curbing the irrational impulses of humanity. To speak briefly, therefore, the Lord acts towards us as we do towards our children. Do you have children? Correct them, is the exhortation of the book of Wisdom, and bend them from their youth. Do you have daughters? Attend to their body, and let not your face brighten towards them, — although we love our children exceedingly, both sons and daughters, above anything else whatever. For those who speak with a man merely to please him, have little love for him, seeing they do not pain him; while those that speak for his good, though they inflict pain for the time, do him good for ever after. It is not immediate pleasure, but future enjoyment, that the Lord has in view.
Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 10:8 / John Chrysostom, Homily 29 on Acts
1. 195–175 BCE
  
  Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 10:8
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  7 Pride is hateful to the Lord and people. Arrogance is abhorrent in the judgment of both.8 Sovereignty is transferred from nation to nation because of injustice, violence, and greed for money. There is no one more wicked than a greedy man, for he offers his own soul for sale.9 Why are dirt and ashes proud? Because in life, my body decays.10 A long disease mocks the physician. The king of today will die tomorrow.11 For when a man is dead, he will inherit maggots, vermin, and worms.
2. 387–400 CE
  
  John Chrysostom, Homily 29 on Acts
  
  Early Christian
  
  I beg and urge you not to think it enough to have invaded the Church, but to leave having taken something, some medicine to cure your own illnesses. If not from us, at least from the Scriptures you have the remedies appropriate to each. Is someone hot-tempered, for example? Let him pay attention to the Scripture readings, and he will certainly find such remedies, either in history or in exhortation. In exhortation, when it says, The surge of his fury is his destruction; and, A hot-tempered man does not behave respectably, and similar things. Again, A man full of words will not prosper; and Christ again, Whoever is angry with his brother without a cause; and again the Prophet, Be angry and do not sin; and, Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce. In histories, you hear of Pharaoh full of anger, and the Assyrian. Again, is someone held captive by the love of money? Let him hear that There is nothing more wicked than a greedy man, for this man puts even his own soul up for sale; and how Christ says, You cannot serve God and wealth; and the Apostle, The love of money is a root of all evils; and the Prophet, If riches flow in, do not set your heart on them, and many similar sayings. From the histories you hear of Gehazi, Judas, the chief scribes, and that gifts blind the eyes of the wise. Is someone else proud? Let him hear that God resists the proud; and, Pride is the beginning of sin; and, Everyone with an arrogant heart is impure before the Lord. In the histories, the devil and all the rest. In a word, since we cannot recount everything, let each person choose from the Divine Scriptures the remedies for his own wounds.
Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 10:13 / John Chrysostom, Homily 29 on Acts
1. 195–175 BCE
  
  Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 10:13
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  11 For when a man is dead, he will inherit maggots, vermin, and worms.12 Pride begins when a man turns away from the Lord. His heart has departed from him who made him.13 For the beginning of pride is sin. Anyone who clings to it will pour out detestable acts. For this reason the Lord brought extraordinary disasters on them and utterly overthrew them.14 The Lord overturned the thrones of rulers and set the lowly in their place.15 The Lord pulled up the roots of nations and planted the lowly in their place.
2. 387–400 CE
  
  John Chrysostom, Homily 29 on Acts
  
  Early Christian
  
  I beg and urge you not to think it enough to have invaded the Church, but to leave having taken something, some medicine to cure your own illnesses. If not from us, at least from the Scriptures you have the remedies appropriate to each. Is someone hot-tempered, for example? Let him pay attention to the Scripture readings, and he will certainly find such remedies, either in history or in exhortation. In exhortation, when it says, The surge of his fury is his destruction; and, A hot-tempered man does not behave respectably, and similar things. Again, A man full of words will not prosper; and Christ again, Whoever is angry with his brother without a cause; and again the Prophet, Be angry and do not sin; and, Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce. In histories, you hear of Pharaoh full of anger, and the Assyrian. Again, is someone held captive by the love of money? Let him hear that There is nothing more wicked than a greedy man, for this man puts even his own soul up for sale; and how Christ says, You cannot serve God and wealth; and the Apostle, The love of money is a root of all evils; and the Prophet, If riches flow in, do not set your heart on them, and many similar sayings. From the histories you hear of Gehazi, Judas, the chief scribes, and that gifts blind the eyes of the wise. Is someone else proud? Let him hear that God resists the proud; and, Pride is the beginning of sin; and, Everyone with an arrogant heart is impure before the Lord. In the histories, the devil and all the rest. In a word, since we cannot recount everything, let each person choose from the Divine Scriptures the remedies for his own wounds.
Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 11:1 / Jerusalem Berakhot 7.2
1. 195–175 BCE
  
  Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 11:1
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  1 The wisdom of the lowly will lift up his head, and make him sit among important men.2 Don’t praise a man for his good looks. Don’t despise a man for his outward appearance.3 The bee is little among flying creatures, but what it produces is the best of confections.4 Don’t boast about the clothes you wear, and don’t exalt yourself on a day of honor, for the Lord’s works are wonderful, and his works are hidden among people.5 Many kings have sat down on the ground, but one who was never thought of has worn a crown.
2. 375–425 CE
  
  Jerusalem Berakhot 7.2
  
  Rabbinic
  
  He said to him, why did you disappear? He said to him, I heard that my lord was angry with me and I wanted to fulfill the verse (Is. 26:20) “Hide a little bit until the rage passes;” he used about himself (Eccl. 7:12): “Knowledge is an advantage, wisdom lets its possessor live.” He said to him, why did you sit between king and queen? He said to him, it is written in the book of Ben Sirach: “Esteem it and it will raise you and set you between princes.” He said, bring him a cup that he may recite Grace. He took the cup and said: “Let us give praise for the food that Yannai and his company ate.” He said to him, are you still obstinate as ever? He said to him, what should I say, “for the food that we did not eat?” He said, bring him something that he may eat. They brought, he ate and recited: “For the food that we ate.” Rebbi Yoḥanan said, his colleagues disagree with Simeon ben Shetaḥ.
Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 11:28 / Augustine, City of God 13.11
1. 195–175 BCE
  
  Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 11:28
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  27 The distress of an hour causes delights to be forgotten. In the end, a man’s deeds are revealed.28 Call no one happy before death. A man will be known in his children.29 Don’t bring every man into your house, for a deceitful man has many tricks.30 A proud man’s heart is like a decoy partridge in a cage. Like a spy, he looks for your weakness.31 For he lies in wait to turn things that are good into evil, and finds fault with things that are praiseworthy.
2. 426 CE
  
  Augustine, City of God 13.11
  
  Early Christian
  
  Let us, then, speak in the customary way — no man ought to speak otherwise — and let us call the time before death comes, “before death;” as it is written, “Praise no man before his death.” And when it has happened, let us say that “after death” this or that took place. And of the present time let us speak as best we can, as when we say, “He, when dying, made his will, and left this or that to such and such persons,”— though, of course, he could not do so unless he were living, and did this rather before death than in death. And let us use the same phraseology as Scripture uses; for it does not hesitate to say that the dead are not after but in death. So that verse, “For in death there is no remembrance of you.”
Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 13:16 / Bava Kamma 92b
1. 195–175 BCE
  
  Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 13:16
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  12 He who doesn’t keep secrets to himself is unmerciful. He won’t hesitate to harm and to bind.13 Keep them to yourself and be careful, for you walk in danger of falling.15 Every living creature loves its own kind, and every man loves his neighbor.16 All flesh associates with its own kind. A man will stick to people like himself.17 What can a wolf have in common with a lamb? So it is between the sinner and the godly.18 What peace is there between a hyena and a dog? What peace is there between a rich man and the poor?19 Wild donkeys are the prey of lions in the wilderness, and likewise poor men are feeding grounds for the rich.20 Humility is detestable to a proud man, and likewise a poor man is detestable to the rich.
2. 450–550 CE
  
  Bava Kamma 92b
  
  Rabbinic
  
  Rabba bar Mari explains each of the sources. It is written in the Torah, as it is written: “And so Esau went to Ishmael” (Genesis 28:9). It is repeated in the Prophets, as it is written: “And there were gathered vain fellows to Yiftah, and they went out with him” (Judges 11:3). And it is triplicated in the Writings, as it is written: All fowl will live with its kind, and men with those like him (Book of Ben Sira 13:17). We learned it in a mishna (Kelim 12:2): All that is attached to that which is ritually impure is ritually impure; all that is attached to that which is ritually pure is ritually pure. And we learned it in a baraita: Rabbi Eliezer says: Not for naught did the starling go to the raven but because it is its kind, as it too is a non-kosher bird.
Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 14:17 / Augustine, City of God 16.27
1. 195–175 BCE
  
  Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 14:17
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  15 Won’t you leave what you worked for to another, and won’t the fruit of your toil be divided by lot?16 Give, take, and treat yourself well, because there is no pursuit of luxury in Hades.17 All flesh grows old like clothing, for the covenant from the beginning is, “You must die!”18 A leafy tree sheds some leaves while others grow. So it is with generations of flesh and blood, one comes to an end and another is born.19 Every work rots and falls away, and its builder will depart with it.
2. 426 CE
  
  Augustine, City of God 16.27
  
  Early Christian
  
  For the first covenant, which was made with the first man, is just this: “In the day you eat of it, you shall surely die.” Genesis 2:17 So it is written in the book called Ecclesiasticus, “All flesh grows old like a garment. For the covenant from the beginning is, You shall die the death.” Sirach 15:17 Now, as the law was more plainly given afterward, and the apostle says, “Where there is no law, there is no transgression,” Romans 4:15 on what supposition is what is said in the psalm true, “I counted all the sinners of the earth transgressors,” except that all who are held liable for any sin are accused of transgressing some law?
Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 16:12 / Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor 1.8
1. 195–175 BCE
  
  Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 16:12
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  10 or in the same way, the six hundred thousand foot soldiers who were gathered together in the hardness of their hearts.11 Even if there is one stiff-necked person, it is amazing if he goes unpunished, for mercy and anger are both with him who is mighty to forgive, and he pours out anger.12 His discipline is as great as his mercy. He judges a man according to his works.13 The sinner will not escape with stolen goods. The perseverance of the godly will not be frustrated.14 He will make room for every work of mercy. Each man will receive according to his works.
2. 198 CE
  
  Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor 1.8
  
  Early Christian
  
  For He who placed some on the right hand, and others on the left, conceived as Father, being good, is called that which alone He is — good; but as He is the Son in the Father, being his Word, from their mutual relation, the name of power being measured by equality of love, He is called righteous. He will judge, He says, a man according to his works, — a good balance, even God having made known to us the face of righteousness in the person of Jesus, by whom also, as by even scales, we know God. Of this also the book of Wisdom plainly says, For mercy and wrath are with Him, for He alone is Lord of both, Lord of propitiations, and pouring forth wrath according to the abundance of His mercy. So also is His reproof. For the aim of mercy and of reproof is the salvation of those who are reproved.
Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 18:32 / Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor 2.1
1. 195–175 BCE
  
  Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 18:32
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  30 Don’t go after your strong desires. Restrain your appetites.31 If you give your soul all the pleasure she desires, she will make you the laughingstock of your enemies.32 Don’t celebrate with excessive luxury, and don’t be tied to its expense.33 Don’t become a beggar through feasting with borrowed money when you have nothing in your purse.
2. 198 CE
  
  Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor 2.1
  
  Early Christian
  
  For those that are absorbed in pots, and exquisitely prepared niceties of condiments, are they not plainly abject, earth-born, leading an ephemeral kind of life, as if they were not to live [hereafter]? Those the Holy Spirit, by Isaiah, denounces as wretched, depriving them tacitly of the name of love (agape), since their feasting was not in accordance with the word. But they made mirth, killing calves, and sacrificing sheep, saying, Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. And that He reckons such luxury to be sin, is shown by what He adds, And your sin shall not be forgiven you till you die — not conveying the idea that death, which deprives of sensation, is the forgiveness of sin, but meaning that death of salvation which is the recompense of sin. Take no pleasure in abominable delicacies, says Wisdom. At this point, too, we have to advert to what are called things sacrificed to idols, in order to show how we are enjoined to abstain from them. Polluted and abominable those things seem to me, to the blood of which, fly Souls from Erebus of inanimate corpses.
Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 20:7 / Ambrose, On the Duty of the Clergy 1.5
1. 195–175 BCE
  
  Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 20:7
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  1 There is a correction that comes at the wrong time, and there is a person who is wise enough to keep silent.2 How good it is to correct someone rather than be angry.3 He who confesses will be kept from harm.4 Someone who carries out judgments with violence is like a eunuch who desires to take a virgin’s virginity.5 There is one who keeps silent and is considered wise, and there is one who is hated for his excessive talk.6 There is one who keeps silent, for he has no answer to give, and there is one who keeps silent, knowing when to speak.7 A wise man will be silent until his time has come, but the braggart and fool will miss his time.8 He who uses many words will be detested. He who takes authority for himself will be hated for it.
2. 390–395 CE
  
  Ambrose, On the Duty of the Clergy 1.5
  
  Early Christian
  
  5 Now what ought we to learn before everything else, but to be silent, that we may be able to speak? For fear that my own voice should condemn me before another’s acquits me; for it is written: By your words you shall be condemned. What need is there, then, that you should hasten to undergo the danger of condemnation by speaking, when you can be more safe by keeping silent? How many have I seen to fall into sin by speaking, but scarcely one by keeping silent; and so it is more difficult to know how to keep silent than how to speak. I know that most persons speak because they do not know how to keep silent. It is seldom that any one is silent even when speaking profits him nothing. He is wise, then, who knows how to keep silent. Lastly, the Wisdom of God said: The Lord has given to me the tongue of learning, that I should know when it is good to speak. Justly, then, is he wise who has received of the Lord to know when he ought to speak. So the Scripture says well: A wise man will keep silence until there is opportunity.
Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 21:6 / Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor 1.8
1. 195–175 BCE
  
  Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 21:6
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  4 Terror and violence will waste away riches. So the house of an arrogant man will be devastated.5 A plea from a poor man’s mouth reaches to the ears of God, and his judgment comes quickly.6 One who hates correction is in the path of the sinner. He who fears the Lord will repent in his heart.7 He whose tongue is powerful is known far away, but the man of understanding knows when he slips.8 He who builds his house with other men’s money is like one who gathers stones for his own tomb.
2. 198 CE
  
  Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor 1.8
  
  Early Christian
  
  At this stage some rise up, saying that the Lord, by reason of the rod, and threatening, and fear, is not good; misapprehending, as appears, the Scripture which says, And he that fears the Lord will turn to his heart; and most of all, oblivious of His love, in that for us He became man. For more suitably to Him, the prophet prays in these words: Remember us, for we are dust; that is, Sympathize with us; for You know from personal experience of suffering the weakness of the flesh. In this respect, therefore, the Lord the Instructor is most good and unimpeachable, sympathizing as He does from the exceeding greatness of His love with the nature of each man. For there is nothing which the Lord hates. For assuredly He does not hate anything, and yet wish that which He hates to exist.
Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 21:18 / Origen, Contra Celsum 7.12
1. 195–175 BCE
  
  Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 21:18
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  16 The chatter of a fool is like a burden on the road, but grace will be found on the lips of the wise.17 The words of a prudent man will be sought in the congregation. They will ponder his words in their heart.18 Wisdom to a fool is like a destroyed house. The knowledge of an unwise man is talk without sense.19 Instruction is like shackles on the feet of an unwise man, and like handcuffs on the right hand.20 A fool lifts up his voice with laughter, but a clever man smiles quietly.
2. 248 CE
  
  Origen, Contra Celsum 7.12
  
  Early Christian
  
  He also thinks that those who make their defense about Christ from the prophets can say nothing to the point when anything evil or shameful or unclean or abhorrent seems to be said about the divine. That is why, as though there were no defense, he strings together for himself countless things about matters that are not granted. But one should know that those who wish to live according to the divine Scriptures, who know that “the knowledge of the senseless is words not examined,” and who have read “always ready to give a defense to everyone who asks us for a reason for the hope that is in us,” do not take refuge merely in the fact that these things were foretold, but also try to resolve the apparent absurdities and to show that there is nothing evil in the words, or shameful, or unclean, or abhorrent, but that they become so only for those who do not understand the divine Scripture as it ought to be understood. He ought to have cited from the prophets what appears evil in them, or seemed shameful to him, or was considered unclean by him, or what he supposed abhorrent, if he saw such things said in the prophets; for his argument would have been more striking and more effective for his purpose. But as it is, he has cited nothing, but threatens with a boast that such things appear in the Scriptures, telling lies about them. Reason, then, does not require us to make a defense against empty noises of words, to show that there is nothing evil or shameful or unclean or abhorrent in the words of the prophets.
Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 21:22 / Niddah 16b
1. 195–175 BCE
  
  Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 21:22
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  19 Instruction is like shackles on the feet of an unwise man, and like handcuffs on the right hand.20 A fool lifts up his voice with laughter, but a clever man smiles quietly.21 To a prudent man, instruction is like a gold ornament and like a bracelet on his right arm.22 The foot of a fool rushes into a house, but a man of experience will be ashamed of entering.23 A foolish man peers into the door of a house, but a man who is instructed will stand outside.24 It is rude for someone to listen at a door, but a prudent person will be distressed by the disgrace.
2. 450–550 CE
  
  Niddah 16b
  
  Rabbinic
  
  The Gemara asks: And Rabbi Yoḥanan, how does he interpret that verse cited by Reish Lakish? The Gemara answers that Rabbi Yoḥanan requires that verse: “But he who despises his ways shall die,” to teach that which is written in the book of ben Sira: Three people I have hated, and a fourth I have not loved: A minister who frequents [hanirgal] drinking houses, as he disgraces himself and leads himself to ruin and death; and some say a different version of the text: A minister who chats [hanirgan] in drinking houses; and some say a third version: A minister who is short-tempered [hanirgaz] when in drinking houses. That is the first that he hated. And the others are one who dwells at the highest point of the city, where everyone sees him; and one who holds his penis and urinates. And the fourth, whom he has not loved, is one who enters the house of another suddenly, without warning. Rabbi Yoḥanan says: And this includes even one who comes into his own house without prior warning, as the members of his household might be engaged in private activities.
Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 21:27 / Origen, Homilies on Joshua 15.6
1. 195–175 BCE
  
  Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 21:27
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  22 The foot of a fool rushes into a house, but a man of experience will be ashamed of entering.23 A foolish man peers into the door of a house, but a man who is instructed will stand outside.24 It is rude for someone to listen at a door, but a prudent person will be distressed by the disgrace.25 The lips of strangers will be distressed at these things, but the words of prudent men will be weighed in the balance.26 The heart of fools is in their mouth, but the mouth of wise men is in their heart.27 When the ungodly curses an adversary, he curses his own soul.28 A gossip defiles his own soul, and will be hated wherever he travels.
2. 235–245 CE
  
  Origen, Homilies on Joshua 15.6
  
  Early Christian
  
  For this seems to me to be indicated also in Wisdom, where it is said that “when the ungodly man curses Satan, he curses his own soul.” And in a short book called the Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs, although it is not held in the canon, we find this idea: individual Satans are to be understood in individual sinners. The meaning of his name, as people who know Hebrew explain, seems to make the same point more clearly. For Satan means “adversary.” All, then, who oppose the will of God can be called Satan.
Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 22:22 / John Chrysostom, Homily 40 on Acts
1. 195–175 BCE
  
  Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 22:22
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  21 If you have drawn a sword against a friend, don’t despair, for there may be a way back.22 If you have opened your mouth against a friend, don’t be afraid, for there may be reconciliation, unless it is for insulting, arrogance, revealing a secret, or a treacherous blow, for these things any friend will flee.23 Gain trust with your neighbor in his poverty, so that you may be glad in his prosperity. Stay steadfast to him in his time of distress, so that you may share his inheritance.24 Vapor and smoke from a furnace come before fire. So insults come before bloodshed.25 I won’t be ashamed to shelter a friend. I won’t hide from his face.
2. 387–400 CE
  
  John Chrysostom, Homily 40 on Acts
  
  Early Christian
  
  First, let us put away the things that destroy love, and then we will establish it. Let no one be resentful or envious, no one rejoice in (others’) misfortunes. These things obstruct love; the things that create it are of the opposite kind. It is not enough to remove the obstacles: the things that establish love must also be present. Now Sirach tells us the things that are destructive (of friendship), and does not go on to speak of the things that bring people together. Reproach, he says, and revealing a secret, and a treacherous wound. (cf. Ecclus. 22, 27.) In speaking of the people of those times, such things could well be mentioned, since they were guided by the flesh; but in our case, God forbid that they should (even) be mentioned. We do not draw our appeals to you from these things, but from the others. For us, nothing is good without friendship. Let there be countless good things—wealth, luxury—but what benefit are they without friendship? No possession equals it, even in this life, just as nothing is worse than people hating (us).
Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 22:25 / Ambrose, On the Duty of the Clergy 2.7
1. 195–175 BCE
  
  Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 22:25
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  23 Gain trust with your neighbor in his poverty, so that you may be glad in his prosperity. Stay steadfast to him in his time of distress, so that you may share his inheritance.24 Vapor and smoke from a furnace come before fire. So insults come before bloodshed.25 I won’t be ashamed to shelter a friend. I won’t hide from his face.26 If any evil happens to me because of him, everyone who hears it will beware of him.27 Who will set a watch over my mouth, and a seal of shrewdness on my lips, so that I do not fall from it, and my tongue does not destroy me?
2. 390–395 CE
  
  Ambrose, On the Duty of the Clergy 2.7
  
  Early Christian
  
  37 It gives a very great impetus to mutual love if one shows love in return to those who love us and proves that one does not love them less than oneself is loved, especially if one shows it by the proofs that a faithful friendship gives. What is so likely to win favor as gratitude? What more natural than to love one who loves us? What so implanted and so impressed on men’s feelings as the wish to let another, by whom we want to be loved, know that we love him? Well does the wise man say: Lose your money for your brother and your friend. And again: I will not be ashamed to defend a friend, neither will I hide myself from him. If, indeed, the words in Ecclesiasticus testify that the medicine of life and immortality is in a friend; yet none has ever doubted that it is in love that our best defense lies. As the Apostle says: It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things; love never fails.
Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 23:18 / Ambrose, On the Duty of the Clergy 1.54
1. 195–175 BCE
  
  Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 23:18
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  17 All bread is sweet to someone who practices sexual immorality. He will not stop until he dies.18 A man who goes astray from his own marriage bed says in his heart, “Who sees me? Darkness is around me, and the walls hide me. No one sees me. Who am I afraid of? The Most High will not remember my sins.”19 The eyes of men are his terror. He doesn’t know that the eyes of the Lord are ten thousand times brighter than the sun, seeing all the ways of men, and looking into secret places.
2. 390–395 CE
  
  Ambrose, On the Duty of the Clergy 1.54
  
  Early Christian
  
  54 The idea of these people will not trouble us much if we look at their actions. They will not have Him to be judge over them, Whom nothing deceives; they will not grant to Him the knowledge of things hidden, for they are afraid their own hidden things may be brought to light. But the Lord, also, knowing their works, has given them over to darkness. In the night, he says, he will be as a thief, and the eye of the adulterer will watch for the darkness, saying, No eye shall see me; he has covered up his face. For every one that avoids the light loves darkness, seeking to be hid, though he cannot be hid from God, Who knows not only what is transacted, but also what will be thought of, both in the depths of space and in the minds of men. Thus, again, he who speaks in the book Ecclesiasticus says: Who sees me? The darkness has covered me, and the walls have hidden me; whom do I fear? But although lying on his bed he may think thus, he is caught where he never thought of it. It shall be, it says, a shame to him because he did not know what the fear of the Lord was.
Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 24:3 / Ambrose, On the Christian Faith 1.17
1. 195–175 BCE
  
  Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 24:3
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  1 Wisdom will praise her own soul, and will proclaim her glory among her people.2 She will open her mouth in the congregation of the Most High, and proclaim her glory in the presence of his power.3 “I came out of the mouth of the Most High, and covered the earth like a mist.4 I lived in high places, and my throne is in the pillar of the cloud.5 Alone I circled heaven, and walked in the depth of the abyss.
2. 390–395 CE
  
  Ambrose, On the Christian Faith 1.17
  
  Early Christian
  
  If, then, we inquire into His natural pre-eminence, we find it to consist in being begotten. To deny that the Son of God is begotten [of God] is to deny that He is God’s own Son, and to deny Christ to be God’s own Son is to class Him with the rest of mankind, as no more a Son than any of the rest. If, however, we inquire into the distinctive property of His generation, it is this, that He came forth from God. For while, in our experience, to come out implies something already existent, and that which is said to come out seems to proceed forth from hidden and inward places, we, though it be presented but in short passages, observe the peculiar attribute of the Divine Generation, that the Son does not seem to have come forth out of any place, but as God from God, a Son from a Father, nor to have had a beginning in the course of time, having come forth from the Father by being born, as He Himself Who was born said: I came forth from the mouth of the Most High.
Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 24:3 / Ambrose, On the Christian Faith 4.8
1. 195–175 BCE
  
  Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 24:3
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  1 Wisdom will praise her own soul, and will proclaim her glory among her people.2 She will open her mouth in the congregation of the Most High, and proclaim her glory in the presence of his power.3 “I came out of the mouth of the Most High, and covered the earth like a mist.4 I lived in high places, and my throne is in the pillar of the cloud.5 Alone I circled heaven, and walked in the depth of the abyss.
2. 390–395 CE
  
  Ambrose, On the Christian Faith 4.8
  
  Early Christian
  
  We say, therefore, that it is the function and exercise of His Authority that He has made us sons of God, whereas the oracles of God discover that His generation is in relation to personal attribute, for the Wisdom of God says: I came forth out of the mouth of the Most High, that is to say not of compulsion, but free, not under bond of authority, but born in a hidden birth, according to personal powers of Supreme Sovereignty and rightfulness of authority. Again, concerning the same Wisdom, Which is the Lord Jesus, the Father says in another place: Out of the womb I begot You, before the morning star.
Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 24:3 / Ambrose, On the Holy Spirit 2.5
1. 195–175 BCE
  
  Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 24:3
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  1 Wisdom will praise her own soul, and will proclaim her glory among her people.2 She will open her mouth in the congregation of the Most High, and proclaim her glory in the presence of his power.3 “I came out of the mouth of the Most High, and covered the earth like a mist.4 I lived in high places, and my throne is in the pillar of the cloud.5 Alone I circled heaven, and walked in the depth of the abyss.
2. 390–395 CE
  
  Ambrose, On the Holy Spirit 2.5
  
  Early Christian
  
  For although most authorities read de Spiritu, yet the Greek from which the Latins translated have ἐ χ πνεύματος ἁγίου, that is, ex Spiritu Sancto. For that which is of [ex] any one is either of his substance or of his power. Of his substance, as the Son, Who says: I came forth of the Mouth of the Most High; as the Spirit, Who proceeds from the Father; of Whom the Son says: He shall glorify Me, for He shall receive of Mine. But of the power, as in the passage: One God the Father, of Whom are all things.
Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 28:12 / Leviticus Rabbah 33:1
1. 195–175 BCE
  
  Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 28:12
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  11 A quarrel begun in haste ignites a fire, and hasty fighting sheds blood.12 If you blow on a spark, it will burn, and if you spit on it, it will be put out. Both of these come out of your mouth.13 Curse the gossip and the person who speaks with two tongues, for he has destroyed many who were at peace.14 A slanderer has shaken many, and dispersed them from nation to nation. It has pulled down strong cities and overthrown the houses of important men.
2. 500 CE
  
  Leviticus Rabbah 33:1
  
  Rabbinic
  
  “The Lord spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai, saying” (Leviticus 25:1). “If you sell a sale item to your counterpart, or acquire from the hand of your counterpart, you shall not wrong one another” (Leviticus 25:14). “The Lord spoke to Moses...if you sell a sale item to your counterpart.” That is what is written: “Death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Proverbs 18:21). Aquila translated it regarding a spoon-knife; death from here and life from there. Bar Sira said: If one has a coal before him, if he blows on it, it burns; if he spits on it, it is extinguished. Rabbi Yanai said: If there was an untithed loaf; if one ate it before he tithed it, death is in the power of the tongue. If he tithed it and ate it, life is in the power of the tongue. Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba said: If there was a basket of figs before him; if one ate it before he tithed it, death is in the power of the tongue.
Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 28:24 / Ambrose, On the Christian Faith 1.6
1. 195–175 BCE
  
  Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 28:24
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  22 It will not have power over godly men. They will not be burned in its flame.23 Those who abandon the Lord will fall into it. It will burn among them, and won’t be put out. It will be sent against them like a lion. It will destroy them like a leopard.24 As you surround your possessions with a thorn hedge, and secure your silver and your gold,25 so make a set of scales and a weight for your words, and make a door and a bar for your mouth.26 Be careful not to slip with it, so that you do not fall before one who lies in wait.
2. 390–395 CE
  
  Ambrose, On the Christian Faith 1.6
  
  Early Christian
  
  This monster’s cavern, your sacred Majesty, thick laid, as seafaring men do say it is, with hidden lairs, and all its neighborhood, where the rocks of unbelief echo to the howling of her black dogs, we must pass by with ears in a manner stopped. For it is written: Hedge your ears about with thorns; and again: Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers; and yet again: A man that is an heretic, avoid after the first reproof, knowing that such an one is fallen, and is in sin, being condemned of his own judgment. So then, like prudent pilots, let us set the sails of our faith for the course by which we may pass by most safely, and again follow the coasts of the Scriptures.
Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 29:10 / Ambrose, On the Duty of the Clergy 2.7
1. 195–175 BCE
  
  Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 29:10
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  8 However be patient with a man in poor circumstances. Don’t keep him waiting for your gifts to the poor.9 Help a poor man for the commandment’s sake. Don’t send him away empty-handed when he is in need.10 Lose your money for a brother and a friend. Don’t let it rust under a stone and be lost.11 Allocate your treasure according to the commandments of the Most High and it will profit you more than gold.12 Store up your giving to the poor in your storehouses and it will rescue you from all distress.
2. 390–395 CE
  
  Ambrose, On the Duty of the Clergy 2.7
  
  Early Christian
  
  37 It gives a very great impetus to mutual love if one shows love in return to those who love us and proves that one does not love them less than oneself is loved, especially if one shows it by the proofs that a faithful friendship gives. What is so likely to win favor as gratitude? What more natural than to love one who loves us? What so implanted and so impressed on men’s feelings as the wish to let another, by whom we want to be loved, know that we love him? Well does the wise man say: Lose your money for your brother and your friend. And again: I will not be ashamed to defend a friend, neither will I hide myself from him. If, indeed, the words in Ecclesiasticus testify that the medicine of life and immortality is in a friend; yet none has ever doubted that it is in love that our best defense lies. As the Apostle says: It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things; love never fails.
Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 30:12 / Augustine, City of God 22.22
1. 195–175 BCE
  
  Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 30:12
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  10 Don’t laugh with him, in case you have sorrow with him, and you grind your teeth in the end.11 Give him no freedom in his youth, and don’t ignore his foolish acts.12 Bend his neck in his youth, and beat him on the sides while he is a child, so that he does not become stubborn, and disobey you, bringing sorrow to your soul.13 Discipline your son, and give him work, so that his shameless behavior is not an offense to you.14 A poor man who is healthy and fit is better than a rich man whose body is afflicted.
2. 426 CE
  
  Augustine, City of God 22.22
  
  Early Christian
  
  But because God does not wholly desert those whom He condemns, nor shuts up in His anger His tender mercies, the human race is restrained by law and instruction, which keep guard against the ignorance that besets us, and oppose the assaults of vice, but are themselves full of labor and sorrow. For what is the meaning of those many kinds of threats which are used to restrain the folly of children? What is the meaning of tutors, teachers, the birch, the strap, the cane, the schooling which Scripture says must be given a child, “beating him on the sides so that he does not grow stubborn,” and it becomes hardly possible or not possible at all to subdue him? Why all these punishments, except to overcome ignorance and restrain evil desires — these evils with which we come into the world? For why is it that we remember with difficulty, and without difficulty forget?
Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 30:23 / Augustine, City of God 10.6
1. 195–175 BCE
  
  Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 30:23
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  22 Gladness of heart is the life of a man. Cheerfulness of a man lengthens his days.23 Love your own soul, and comfort your heart. Keep sorrow far away from you, for sorrow has destroyed many, and there is no profit in it.24 Envy and anger shorten life. Anxiety brings old age before its time.25 Those who are cheerful and joyful will benefit from their food.
2. 426 CE
  
  Augustine, City of God 10.6
  
  Early Christian
  
  Thus a true sacrifice is every work which is done so that we may be united to God in holy fellowship, and which is directed to that supreme good and end in which alone we can be truly blessed. And therefore even the mercy we show to men, if it is not shown for God’s sake, is not a sacrifice. For, though made or offered by man, sacrifice is a divine thing, as those who called it sacrifice meant to indicate. Thus man himself, consecrated in the name of God, and vowed to God, is a sacrifice insofar as he dies to the world so that he may live to God. For this is a part of that mercy which each man shows to himself; as it is written, “Have mercy on your soul by pleasing God.”
Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 31:20 / John Chrysostom, Homily 16 on Acts 1:8
1. 195–175 BCE
  
  Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 31:20
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  18 And if you sit among many, don’t reach out your hand before them.19 Very little is enough for a well-mannered man. He doesn’t breathe heavily in his bed.20 Healthy sleep comes from moderate eating. He rises early, and his wits are with him. The pain of wakefulness, colic, and stomach cramps are with an insatiable man.21 And if you have been forced to eat, get up in the middle of it, and you will have rest.22 Listen to me, my son, and don’t despise me, and in the end you will appreciate my words. In all your works be skillful, and no disease will come to you.
2. 387–400 CE
  
  John Chrysostom, Homily 16 on Acts 1:8
  
  Early Christian
  
  The war is twofold, in the body and in the soul; the storm is twofold; the diseases are twofold, not only in this respect, but because both are incurable and bring great calamities with them. Not so with frugality: here there is twofold health, twofold benefit. Healthy sleep, we read, comes from moderate eating. For everywhere, what keeps within measure is pleasant; what goes beyond measure stops being pleasant. Consider: put a huge pile of kindling on a small spark, and you will no longer see the fire shining, only a lot of unpleasant smoke. Lay a load that exceeds his strength on a very strong, big man, and you will see him lying flat on the ground under his load. Load too large a cargo onto your ship, and you have guaranteed a terrible shipwreck.
Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 33:6 / Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor 1.13
1. 195–175 BCE
  
  Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 33:6
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  4 Prepare your speech, and so you will be heard. Bind up instruction, and make your answer.5 The heart of a fool is like a cartwheel. His thoughts are like a rolling axle. A stallion horse is like a mocking friend.6 He neighs under everyone who sits on him.7 Why is one day better than another, when all the light of every day in the year is from the sun?8 They were distinguished by the Lord’s knowledge, and he varied seasons and feasts.
2. 198 CE
  
  Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor 1.13
  
  Early Christian
  
  Indeed, to crown all, philosophy itself is pronounced to be the cultivation of right reason; so that, necessarily, whatever is done through error of reason is transgression, and is rightly called, (ἁμάρτημα) sin. Since, then, the first man sinned and disobeyed God, it is said, And man became like to the beasts: being rightly regarded as irrational, he is likened to the beasts. Whence Wisdom says: The horse for covering; the libidinous and the adulturer has become like to an irrational beast. So also it is added: He neighs, whoever may be sitting on him. The man, it is meant, no longer speaks; for he who transgresses against reason is no longer rational, but an irrational animal, given up to lusts by which he is ridden (as a horse by his rider).
Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 33:15 / Augustine, City of God 11.18
1. 195–175 BCE
  
  Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 33:15
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  13 Just as clay is in a potter’s hand and all his ways follow his pleasure, people are in the hand of their Maker, who gives to them according to his judgment.14 Good is the opposite of evil, and life is the opposite of death, so the sinner is the opposite of the godly.15 Look at all the works of the Most High like this. They come in pairs, one against another.16 I was the last on watch, like one who gleans after the grape gatherers.17 By the Lord’s blessing I arrived before them, and filled my winepress like one who gathers grapes.
2. 426 CE
  
  Augustine, City of God 11.18
  
  Early Christian
  
  This is quite plainly stated in the Book of Ecclesiasticus, in this way: “Good is set against evil, and life against death: so is the sinner against the godly. So look on all the works of the Most High, and these are two and two, one against another.”
Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 34:30 / Council of Carthage
1. 195–175 BCE
  
  Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 34:30
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  28 When one builds, and another pulls down, what profit do they have but toil?29 When one prays, and another curses, whose voice will the Lord listen to?30 What does a man gain by washing after touching a dead body if he touches it again?31 In the same way, who will listen to the prayer of a man who fasts for his sins and goes back and does the same? What profit does he have in his humiliation?
2. 256 CE
  
  Council of Carthage
  
  Early Christian
  
  Quietus of Baruch said: We who live by faith ought to obey with careful observance those things which before have been foretold for our instruction. For it is written in Solomon: He that is baptized from the dead, (and again touches the dead) what avails his washing? which certainly speaks of those who are washed by heretics, and of those that wash them. For if those who are baptized among them obtain by remission of their sins life eternal, why do they come to the Church? But if from a dead person no salvation is received, and therefore, acknowledging their previous error, they return to the truth with penitence, they ought to be sanctified with the one vital baptism which is in the Catholic Church.
Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 36:1 / Augustine, City of God 17.20
1. 195–175 BCE
  
  Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 36:1
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  1 Have mercy on us, Lord the God of all, and look at us with favor,2 and send your fear on all the nations.3 Lift up your hand against the foreign nations and let them see your mighty power.4 As you showed your holiness in us before them, so make your greatness visible in them before us.5 Let them recognize, as we also have recognized, that there is no God but you alone, God.
2. 426 CE
  
  Augustine, City of God 17.20
  
  Early Christian
  
  Let us examine him with insult and torture, so that we may know his reverence, and test his patience. Let us condemn him to the most shameful death; for by His own sayings He shall be respected. These things they devised, and were mistaken; for their own malice has quite blinded them.” But in Ecclesiasticus the future faith of the nations is predicted in this manner: “Have mercy on us, God, Ruler of all, and send Your fear on all the nations: lift up Your hand over the strange nations, and let them see Your power. As You were sanctified in us before them, so be sanctified in them before us, and let them acknowledge You, as we also have acknowledged You; for there is no God besides You, Lord.”
Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 38:4 / Genesis Rabbah 10
1. 195–175 BCE
  
  Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 38:4
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  1 Honor a physician according to your need with the honors due to him, for truly the Lord has created him.2 For healing comes from the Most High, and he will receive a gift from the king.3 The skill of the physician will lift up his head. He will be admired in the sight of important men.4 The Lord created medicines out of the earth. A prudent man will not despise them.5 Wasn’t water made sweet with wood, so that its power might be known?6 He gave men skill so that he might be glorified in his marvelous works.7 With them he heals and takes away pain.8 With these, the pharmacist makes a mixture. God’s works won’t be brought to an end. From him, peace is on the face of the earth.
2. 500 CE
  
  Genesis Rabbah 10
  
  Rabbinic
  
  Bar Sira said: God produced drugs from the earth with which the physician heals the wound, and with which the pharmacist mixes his compounds. Rabbi Simon said: There is not a single blade of grass that does not have a constellation in the firmament that strikes it and says to it: ‘Grow.’ That is what is written: “Do you know the rules of the heavens? Will you establish its dominion [mishtaro] on earth?” (Job 38:33). It is an expression of being in charge [shoter]. “Will you tie the chains of the Pleiades, or untie the reins of Orion?” (Job 38:31) – Rabbi Ḥanina bar Pappa and Rabbi Simon said: Pleiades renders fruits delicate and Orion draws it out from knot to knot. That is what is written: “Will you bring out the Mazarot in its season and guide Ursa with its sons?” (Job 38:32). Rabbi Tanḥuma said: It [Mazarot] is a constellation that softens [memazer] the produce.
Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 42:9 / Sanhedrin 100b
1. 195–175 BCE
  
  Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 42:9
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  9 A daughter is a secret cause of wakefulness to a father. Care for her takes away sleep: in her youth, for fear that she will move past the bloom of her youth, when she is married, for fear that she will be hated,10 in her virginity, for fear that she will be defiled and become pregnant in her father’s house, when she has a husband, for fear that she will do wrong, and when she is married, for fear that she will be unable to have children.11 Keep a strict watch over a headstrong daughter, so that she does not make you a laughingstock to your enemies, a byword in the city and notorious among the people, and shame you in public.12 Don’t gaze at every beautiful body. Don’t sit among women.13 For a moth comes from garments, and a woman’s wickedness comes from a woman.14 A man’s wickedness is better than a pleasant woman, a woman who puts you to shame and disgrace.
2. 450–550 CE
  
  Sanhedrin 100b
  
  Rabbinic
  
  If your difficulty is from its literal meaning, that does not pose a difficulty, as in the Torah, God also wrote: “You shall not destroy its trees” (Deuteronomy 20:19). It is prohibited to destroy both trees and fish skin arbitrarily. If your difficulty is from its homiletic interpretation as a euphemism, ben Sira is teaching us proper conduct: A man should not engage in sexual intercourse in an atypical manner, i.e., anal intercourse, with his wife, as it causes her discomfort. Rather, perhaps the book poses a difficulty because it is written there: A daughter is for her father false treasure; due to fear for her he will not sleep at night: During her minority, lest she be seduced; during her young womanhood lest she engage in licentiousness; once she has reached her majority, lest she not marry; once she marries, lest she have no children; once she grows old, lest she engage in witchcraft (Ben Sira 42:11–14). Perhaps you believe that one should not say this to the father of daughters. Didn’t the Sages also say it with regard to women? They said: It is impossible for the world to exist without males and without females; nevertheless, happy is one whose children are males and woe unto him whose children are females.
Wisdom of Solomon 1:4 / Gregory of Nyssa, On Virginity 15
1. 50 BCE – 50 CE
  
  Wisdom of Solomon 1:4
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  2 because he is found by those who don’t put him to the test, and reveals himself to those who trust him.3 For crooked thoughts separate from God. His Power convicts when it is tested, and exposes the foolish,4 because wisdom will not enter a soul that devises evil, or live in a body that is enslaved by sin.5 For a holy spirit of discipline will flee deceit, and will turn away from senseless thoughts, and will be ashamed when unrighteousness comes in.6 For wisdom is a spirit who loves humanity, and she will not leave a blasphemer unpunished for what his lips say, because God witnesses his innermost self, and truly watches over his heart and hears what his tongue says.
2. 372–380 CE
  
  Gregory of Nyssa, On Virginity 15
  
  Early Christian
  
  Now let us suppose a lady, prepossessing and lovely above her peers, and on that account wedded to a king, but besieged because of her beauty by profligate lovers. As long as she remains indignant at these would-be seducers and complains of them to her lawful husband, she keeps her chastity and has no one before her eyes but her bridegroom; the profligates find no vantage ground for their attack upon her. But if she were to listen to a single one of them, her chastity with regard to the rest would not exempt her from the retribution; it would be sufficient to condemn her, that she had allowed that one to defile the marriage bed. So the soul whose life is in God will find her pleasure in no single one of those things which make a beauteous show to deceive her. If she were, in some fit of weakness, to admit the defilement to her heart, she would herself have broken the covenant of her spiritual marriage; and, as the Scripture tells us, into the malicious soul Wisdom cannot come. It may, in a word, be truly said that the Good Husband cannot come to dwell with the soul that is irascible, or malice-bearing, or harbours any other disposition which jars with that concord.
Wisdom of Solomon 1:7 / Ambrose, On the Holy Spirit 1.7
1. 50 BCE – 50 CE
  
  Wisdom of Solomon 1:7
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  5 For a holy spirit of discipline will flee deceit, and will turn away from senseless thoughts, and will be ashamed when unrighteousness comes in.6 For wisdom is a spirit who loves humanity, and she will not leave a blasphemer unpunished for what his lips say, because God witnesses his innermost self, and truly watches over his heart and hears what his tongue says.7 Because the spirit of the Lord has filled the world, and what holds all things together knows what is said.8 Therefore no one who speaks unrighteous things will be unnoticed, nor will Justice, when it convicts, pass him by.9 For the plans of the ungodly will be investigated, and the sound of his words will come to the Lord to convict him of his lawless deeds,
2. 390–395 CE
  
  Ambrose, On the Holy Spirit 1.7
  
  Early Christian
  
  But so that they do not object that this was said according to the flesh, though He alone from Whose flesh went forth virtue to heal all, was more than all; yet, as the Lord fills all things, so, too, we read of the Spirit: For the Spirit of the Lord filled the whole world. And you find it said of all who had consorted with the Apostles that, filled with the Holy Spirit they spoke the word of God with boldness. You see that the Spirit gives both fullness and boldness, Whose operation the archangel announces to Mary, saying: The Holy Spirit shall come on you.
Wisdom of Solomon 1:9 / Augustine, City of God 20.26
1. 50 BCE – 50 CE
  
  Wisdom of Solomon 1:9
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  7 Because the spirit of the Lord has filled the world, and what holds all things together knows what is said.8 Therefore no one who speaks unrighteous things will be unnoticed, nor will Justice, when it convicts, pass him by.9 For the plans of the ungodly will be investigated, and the sound of his words will come to the Lord to convict him of his lawless deeds,10 because a jealous ear listens to all things, and the sound of complaints is not hidden.11 Beware then of pointless complaining, and keep your tongue from slander, because no secret utterance will go without effect, and a lying mouth destroys a soul.
2. 426 CE
  
  Augustine, City of God 20.26
  
  Early Christian
  
  “For,” as it is written, “in the thoughts of the wicked His examination shall be conducted.” And the apostle says, “The thoughts accusing or else excusing, on the day on which God shall judge the hidden things of men, according to my gospel in Jesus Christ.” Romans 2:15-16 In this way, then, the Lord will be a swift witness, when He suddenly brings back into the memory what will convict and punish the conscience.
Wisdom of Solomon 1:13 / Cyprian, Epistles 55:22
1. 50 BCE – 50 CE
  
  Wisdom of Solomon 1:13
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  11 Beware then of pointless complaining, and keep your tongue from slander, because no secret utterance will go without effect, and a lying mouth destroys a soul.12 Don’t court death through the errors of your life. Don’t draw destruction on yourselves by the works of your hands,13 because God didn’t make death, nor does he delight when the living perish.14 For he created all things so that they might exist. The generative powers of the world are wholesome, and there is no poison of destruction in them, and Hades has no royal power on earth,15 for righteousness is immortal,
2. 245–260 CE
  
  Cyprian, Epistles 55:22
  
  Early Christian
  
  I am amazed that some are so obstinate as to think that penance should not be given to the lapsed, or to judge that pardon must be denied to the penitent, when it is written: “Remember from where you have fallen, and do penance, and do the first works.” This is said, surely, to one who has evidently fallen and whom the Lord urges to rise again by works, because it is written: “Almsgiving frees from death,” and surely not from that death which the blood of Christ once extinguished and from which the water of saving baptism and the grace of our Redeemer have freed us, but from that which creeps in afterward through sins. In another place likewise a time of penance is given, and the Lord threatens the one who does not do penance: “I have much against you,” he says, “that you allow your wife Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce my servants to commit sexual immorality and eat of sacrifice; and I gave her time to do penance, and she will not repent of her immorality. Look, I cast her into a bed, and those who have committed immorality with her into very great tribulation, unless they do penance for their works.” The Lord would surely not urge to penance unless he promised pardon to the penitent. And in the gospel: “I say to you,” he says, “so there will be joy in heaven over one sinner doing penance, more than over ninety-nine righteous who have no need of penance.” For since it is written, “God did not make death, nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living,” surely he who wills that no one perish desires that sinners do penance and through penance return again to life. Therefore he also cries through the prophet Joel and says: “And now the Lord your God says: Return to me with your whole heart, and with fasting and weeping and mourning, and rend your hearts and not your garments, and return to the Lord your God, for he is merciful and kind and patient and of great mercy, and one who turns his sentence away from the evil threatened.” In the Psalms too we read the severity and likewise the clemency of God, at once threatening and sparing, punishing to correct and, when he has corrected, preserving: “I will visit their crimes with the rod,” he says, “and their sins with scourges; but my mercy I will not scatter from them.”
Wisdom of Solomon 1:14 / Methodius, Discourse on the Resurrection 1:10
1. 50 BCE – 50 CE
  
  Wisdom of Solomon 1:14
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  12 Don’t court death through the errors of your life. Don’t draw destruction on yourselves by the works of your hands,13 because God didn’t make death, nor does he delight when the living perish.14 For he created all things so that they might exist. The generative powers of the world are wholesome, and there is no poison of destruction in them, and Hades has no royal power on earth,15 for righteousness is immortal,16 but ungodly people by their hands and their words summoned death. Considering him a friend, they longed for him. They made a covenant with him, because they are worthy to belong with him.
2. 270–310 CE
  
  Methodius, Discourse on the Resurrection 1:10
  
  Early Christian
  
  But it is not satisfactory to say that the universe will be utterly destroyed, and sea and air and sky will be no longer. For the whole world will be deluged with fire from heaven, and burnt for the purpose of purification and renewal; it will not, however, come to complete ruin and corruption. For if it were better for the world not to be than to be, why did God, in making the world, take the worse course? But God did not work in vain, or do that which was worst. God therefore ordered the creation with a view to its existence and continuance, as also the Book of Wisdom confirms, saying, For God created all things that they might have their being; and the generations of the world were healthful, and there is no poison of destruction in them. And Paul clearly testifies this, saying, For the earnest expectation of the creature waits for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him that subjected the same in hope: because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For the creation was made subject to vanity, he says, and he expects that it will be set free from such servitude, as he intends to call this world by the name of creation. For it is not what is unseen but what is seen that is subject to corruption
Wisdom of Solomon 2:12 / Augustine, City of God 17.20
1. 50 BCE – 50 CE
  
  Wisdom of Solomon 2:12
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  11 But let our strength be the law of what is right, because what is weak is proven useless.12 “But let’s lie in wait for the righteous man, because he annoys us, opposes what we do, accuses us of sins against the law, and charges us with sins against our training.13 He professes to have knowledge of God, and calls himself a child of the Lord.14 He has become a rebuke to our thoughts.15 Even the sight of him is a burden to us, because his life is unlike other people’s, and his paths are strange.16 He regards us as something worthless, and he abstains from our ways as though they were unclean. He calls the final end of the righteous happy. He boasts that God is his father.17 “Let’s see if his words are true. Let’s test what will happen at the end of his life.18 For if the righteous man is God’s son, he will support him, and he will rescue him from the hand of his enemies.19 Let’s test him with insult and torture, so that we may find out how gentle he is, and test his patience.20 Let’s condemn him to a shameful death, for he will be protected, as he says.”21 This is how they reasoned, and they were led astray, because their wickedness blinded them,
2. 426 CE
  
  Augustine, City of God 17.20
  
  Early Christian
  
  He also is found to have prophesied in his books, of which three are received as of canonical authority, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs. But it has been customary to ascribe to Solomon two others, of which one is called Wisdom, the other Ecclesiasticus, on account of some resemblance of style — but the more learned have no doubt that they are not his; yet from early times the Church, especially the Western, received them into authority — in the one of which, called the Wisdom of Solomon, the passion of Christ is most openly prophesied. For indeed His impious murderers are quoted as saying, “Let us lie in wait for the righteous, for he is unpleasant to us, and contrary to our works; and he upbraids us with our transgressions of the law, and charges us to our disgrace with the transgressions of our upbringing. He professes to have the knowledge of God, and he calls himself the Son of God. He was made to reprove our thoughts. He is grievous for us even to look at; for his life is unlike other men’s and his ways are different. We are regarded by him as counterfeits; and he abstains from our ways as from filthiness. He extols the final end of the righteous; and glories that he has God for his Father. Let us see, therefore, if his words are true; and let us test what will happen to him, and we shall know what his end will be. For if the righteous man is the Son of God, He will take up his cause, and deliver him from the hand of those who are against him. Let us examine him with insult and torture, so that we may know his reverence, and test his patience. Let us condemn him to the most shameful death; for by His own sayings He shall be respected. These things they devised, and were mistaken; for their own malice has quite blinded them.” But in Ecclesiasticus the future faith of the nations is predicted in this manner: “Have mercy on us, God, Ruler of all, and send Your fear on all the nations: lift up Your hand over the strange nations, and let them see Your power. As You were sanctified in us before them, so be sanctified in them before us, and let them acknowledge You, as we also have acknowledged You; for there is no God besides You, Lord.”
Wisdom of Solomon 2:23 / Methodius, Discourse on the Resurrection 1:14
1. 50 BCE – 50 CE
  
  Wisdom of Solomon 2:23
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  20 Let’s condemn him to a shameful death, for he will be protected, as he says.”21 This is how they reasoned, and they were led astray, because their wickedness blinded them,22 and they didn’t know the mysteries of God, nor did they hope for a reward for holiness, nor did they discern that there is a prize for blameless souls.23 Because God created humans to be imperishable, and made them an image of his own eternity,24 but death entered into the world by the envy of the devil, and those who belong to him experience it.
2. 270–310 CE
  
  Methodius, Discourse on the Resurrection 1:14
  
  Early Christian
  
  Neither did God, as if He had made man badly, or committed a mistake in the formation of him, determine afterwards to make an angel, repenting of His work, as the worst of craftsmen do; nor did He fashion man, after He had wished originally to make an angel, and failed; for this would be a sign of weakness, etc. Why even then did He make man and not angels, if He wished men to be angels and not men? Was it because He was unable? It is blasphemy to suppose so. Or was He so busy in making the worse as to loiter about the better? This too is absurd. For He does not fail in making what is good, nor defers it, nor is incapable of it; but He has the power to act how and when He pleases, inasmuch as He is Himself power. Wherefore it was because He intended man to be man, that He originally made him so. But if He so intended — since He intends what is good— man is good. Now man is said to be composed of soul and body; he cannot then exist without a body, but with a body, unless there be produced another man besides man. For all the orders of immortal beings must be preserved by God, and among these is man. For, says the Book of Wisdom, God created man to be immortal, and made him to be an image of His own eternity. The body then perishes not; for man is composed of soul and body.
Wisdom of Solomon 3:11 / Cyprian, Treatises 2:1
1. 50 BCE – 50 CE
  
  Wisdom of Solomon 3:11
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  9 Those who trust him will understand truth. The faithful will live with him in love, because grace and mercy are with his chosen ones.10 But the ungodly will be punished just as their reasoning deserves, those who neglected righteousness and rebelled against the Lord,11 for he who despises wisdom and discipline is miserable. Their hope is empty and their efforts bear no benefit. Their works are useless.12 Their wives are foolish and their children are wicked.13 Their descendants are cursed. For the woman who cannot bear children and has remained pure is happy, she who has not conceived a child through sin. She will have fruit when God examines souls.
2. 245–260 CE
  
  Cyprian, Treatises 2:1
  
  Early Christian
  
  1 Discipline, the guardian of hope, the anchor of faith, the guide on the way of salvation, the kindling and nourishment of a good disposition, the teacher of virtue, makes us abide always in Christ and live continually for God, and come to the heavenly promises and the divine rewards. To follow it is wholesome; to turn from it and neglect it is deadly. In the Psalms the Holy Spirit speaks: “Keep hold of discipline, so that the Lord does not become angry and you perish from the right way, when his anger quickly blazes against you.” And again: “But to the sinner God says: Why do you recite my ordinances and take my covenant in your mouth? But you have hated discipline and cast my words behind you.” And once more we read: “He who casts away discipline is wretched.” And from Solomon we have received the commands of Wisdom as she warns: “My son, do not neglect the discipline of God, and do not faint when you are rebuked by him; for whom God loves he rebukes.” Now if God rebukes whom he loves, and rebukes in order to correct, then brothers too, and above all priests, do not hate but love those whom they rebuke in order to correct, since God also foretold through Jeremiah, and signified our own times, saying: “And I will give you shepherds after my heart, and they shall feed you, feeding you with discipline.”
Wisdom of Solomon 5:8 / Cyprian, Treatises 2:10
1. 50 BCE – 50 CE
  
  Wisdom of Solomon 5:8
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  6 “Truly we went astray from the way of truth. The light of righteousness didn’t shine for us. The sun didn’t rise for us.7 We had our fill of the paths of lawlessness and destruction. We traveled through trackless deserts, but we didn’t know the Lord’s way.8 What did our arrogance gain us? What good have riches and boasting brought us?9 Those things all passed away like a shadow, like a rumor that runs by,10 like a ship passing through the surging water. When it has passed, no trace can be found, no pathway of its keel in the waves.
2. 245–260 CE
  
  Cyprian, Treatises 2:10
  
  Early Christian
  
  10 You say you are wealthy and rich. But it does not befit a virgin to boast of her riches, since divine Scripture says: “What has pride profited us, or what has the boasting of riches brought us? All those things have passed away like a shadow”; and the apostle again warns and says: “And let those who buy be as though they did not possess, and those who use this world as though they did not use it; for the form of this world is passing away.” Peter also, to whom the Lord commends his sheep to be fed and guarded, upon whom he placed and founded the church, denies indeed that he has gold and silver, but says that he is rich in the grace of Christ, wealthy in his faith and power, by which he did many mighty works with wonder, by which he abounded in spiritual goods for the grace of glory. These riches, this wealth, she cannot possess who would rather be rich for the world than for Christ.
Wisdom of Solomon 6:18 / Athanasius, On the Incarnation of the Word 4:6
1. 50 BCE – 50 CE
  
  Wisdom of Solomon 6:18
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  14 Anyone who gets up early to seek her won’t have difficulty, for he will find her sitting at his gates.15 For to think about her brings complete understanding, and he who watches for her will quickly be free from worry,16 because she herself goes around, seeking those who are worthy of her, appears graciously to them along their paths, and in every thought she meets them.17 For her true beginning is desire for instruction, and care for instruction is love.18 And love is observance of her laws. Paying attention to her laws confirms immortality.19 Immortality brings closeness to God.20 So then desire for wisdom leads to a kingdom.
2. 335 CE
  
  Athanasius, On the Incarnation of the Word 4:6
  
  Early Christian
  
  6 For man is mortal by nature, since he is made out of what is not; but because of his likeness to Him who is (and if he still preserved this likeness by keeping Him in his knowledge), he would hold off his natural corruption and remain incorrupt; as Wisdom says: Paying attention to His laws is the assurance of immortality. And being incorrupt, he would live from then on as God, which I suppose divine Scripture refers to when it says: I said, you are gods, and you are all sons of the Most High; but you die like men, and fall like one of the princes.
Wisdom of Solomon 6:17 / Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor 2.1
1. 50 BCE – 50 CE
  
  Wisdom of Solomon 6:17
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  15 For to think about her brings complete understanding, and he who watches for her will quickly be free from worry,16 because she herself goes around, seeking those who are worthy of her, appears graciously to them along their paths, and in every thought she meets them.17 For her true beginning is desire for instruction, and care for instruction is love.18 And love is observance of her laws. Paying attention to her laws confirms immortality.19 Immortality brings closeness to God.
2. 198 CE
  
  Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor 2.1
  
  Early Christian
  
  Love, then, is something pure and worthy of God, and its work is communication. And the care of discipline is love, as Wisdom says; and love is the keeping of the law. And these joys have an inspiration of love from the public nutriment, which accustoms to everlasting dainties. Love (agape), then, is not a supper. But let the entertainment depend on love. For it is said, Let the children whom You have loved, O Lord, learn that it is not the products of fruits that nourish man; but it is Your word which preserves those who believe in You. For the righteous shall not live by bread. But let our diet be light and digestible, and suitable for keeping awake, unmixed with diverse varieties. Nor is this a point which is beyond the sphere of discipline. For love is a good nurse for communication; having as its rich provision sufficiency, which, presiding over diet measured in due quantity, and treating the body in a healthful way, distributes something from its resources to those near us. But the diet which exceeds sufficiency injures a man, deteriorates his spirit, and renders his body prone to disease. Besides, those dainty tastes, which trouble themselves about rich dishes, drive to practices of ill-repute, daintiness, gluttony, greed, voracity, insatiability. Appropriate designations of such people as so indulge are flies, weasels, flatterers, gladiators, and the monstrous tribes of parasites — the one class surrendering reason, the other friendship, and the other life, for the gratification of the belly; crawling on their bellies, beasts in human shape after the image of their father, the voracious beast. People first called the abandoned ἀσώτους, and so appear to me to indicate their end, understanding them as those who are (ἀσώστους) unsaved, excluding the σ.
Wisdom of Solomon 7:22 / Ambrose, On the Holy Spirit 3.6
1. 50 BCE – 50 CE
  
  Wisdom of Solomon 7:22
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  20 the natures of living creatures and the raging of wild animals, the violence of winds and human thoughts, the varieties of plants and the properties of roots.21 I learned everything that is either hidden or visible,22 for wisdom, that is the architect of all things, taught me. For in her there is a spirit that is quick to understand, holy, unique, having many forms, subtle, freely moving, clear in expression, unpolluted, distinct, invulnerable, loving what is good, keen, unhindered,23 kind, loving toward humanity, steadfast, sure, free from worry, all-powerful, seeing everything, and penetrating through all spirits that are quick to understand, pure, most subtle.24 For wisdom is more mobile than any motion. Yes, she pervades and penetrates all things because of her purity.
2. 390–395 CE
  
  Ambrose, On the Holy Spirit 3.6
  
  Early Christian
  
  But where is the madness of faithless men leading us, so that we appear to be proving, as if it were a matter of doubt, that the Holy Spirit rebukes, whereas judges themselves are unable to judge, except through the Spirit. Lastly, that famous judgment of Solomon, when, among the difficulties arising from those who were contending, as one, having overlain the child which she had borne, wished to claim the child of another, and the other was protecting her own son, he both discovered deceit in the very hidden thoughts, and affection in the mother’s heart, was certainly so admirable only by the gift of the Holy Spirit. For no other sword would have penetrated the hidden feeling of those women, except the sword of the Spirit, of which the Lord says: I am not come to send peace but a sword. For the inmost mind cannot be penetrated by steel, but by the Spirit: For the Spirit of understanding is holy, one only, manifold, subtle, lively, and, farther on, overseeing all things.
Wisdom of Solomon 7:22 / Ambrose, On the Holy Spirit 3.18
1. 50 BCE – 50 CE
  
  Wisdom of Solomon 7:22
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  20 the natures of living creatures and the raging of wild animals, the violence of winds and human thoughts, the varieties of plants and the properties of roots.21 I learned everything that is either hidden or visible,22 for wisdom, that is the architect of all things, taught me. For in her there is a spirit that is quick to understand, holy, unique, having many forms, subtle, freely moving, clear in expression, unpolluted, distinct, invulnerable, loving what is good, keen, unhindered,23 kind, loving toward humanity, steadfast, sure, free from worry, all-powerful, seeing everything, and penetrating through all spirits that are quick to understand, pure, most subtle.24 For wisdom is more mobile than any motion. Yes, she pervades and penetrates all things because of her purity.
2. 390–395 CE
  
  Ambrose, On the Holy Spirit 3.18
  
  Early Christian
  
  But they are unable to show us this, and demand our authority from us, namely, that we should show by texts that the Holy Spirit has not sinned, as it is said of the Son that He did no sin. Let them learn that we teach by authority of the Scriptures; for it is written: For in Wisdom is a Spirit of understanding, holy, one only, manifold, subtle, easy to move, eloquent, undefiled. The Scripture says He is undefiled, has it lied concerning the Son, that you should believe it to have lied concerning the Spirit? For the prophet said in the same place concerning Wisdom, that nothing that defiles enters into her. She herself is undefiled, and her Spirit is undefiled. Therefore if the Spirit have not sin, He is God.
Wisdom of Solomon 7:22 / Ambrose, On the Holy Spirit 3.22
1. 50 BCE – 50 CE
  
  Wisdom of Solomon 7:22
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  20 the natures of living creatures and the raging of wild animals, the violence of winds and human thoughts, the varieties of plants and the properties of roots.21 I learned everything that is either hidden or visible,22 for wisdom, that is the architect of all things, taught me. For in her there is a spirit that is quick to understand, holy, unique, having many forms, subtle, freely moving, clear in expression, unpolluted, distinct, invulnerable, loving what is good, keen, unhindered,23 kind, loving toward humanity, steadfast, sure, free from worry, all-powerful, seeing everything, and penetrating through all spirits that are quick to understand, pure, most subtle.24 For wisdom is more mobile than any motion. Yes, she pervades and penetrates all things because of her purity.
2. 390–395 CE
  
  Ambrose, On the Holy Spirit 3.22
  
  Early Christian
  
  And why should I say that, as the Father and the Son, so, too, the Spirit is free from stain and Almighty, for Solomon called Him in Greek παντοδύναμον, πᾶνέπίσχοπον, because He is Almighty and beholds all things, as we showed above to be, is read in the Book of Wisdom. Therefore the Spirit enjoys honor and glory.
Wisdom of Solomon 7:25 / Athanasius, On the Opinion of Dionysius 9:1
1. 50 BCE – 50 CE
  
  Wisdom of Solomon 7:25
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  23 kind, loving toward humanity, steadfast, sure, free from worry, all-powerful, seeing everything, and penetrating through all spirits that are quick to understand, pure, most subtle.24 For wisdom is more mobile than any motion. Yes, she pervades and penetrates all things because of her purity.25 For she is a breath of the power of God, and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty. Therefore nothing defiled can enter her.26 For she is a reflection of everlasting light, a spotless mirror of the working of God, and an image of his goodness.27 Although she is one, she has power to do all things. Remaining herself, she renews all things. Passing into holy souls from generation to generation, she makes friends of God and prophets.
2. 387–400 CE
  
  Athanasius, On the Opinion of Dionysius 9:1
  
  Early Christian
  
  And Dionysius, accordingly, did as he had learned from the Apostles. For as the heresy of Sabellius was creeping in, he was forced, as I said before, to write the letter in question, and to hurl at them what is said of the Savior with reference to His humanity and His humiliation, so as to stop them, by means of His human attributes, from saying that the Father was a son, and so to make the teaching about the Godhead of the Son easier for them, when in his other letters he calls Him from the Scriptures the word, wisdom, power, breath, and brightness of the Father. For example, in the letters written in his defense, speaking as I have described, he grows bold in the faith and in devotion to Christ. So just as the Apostles are not to be accused because of their human language about the Lord — since the Lord has been made man — but are all the more worthy of admiration for their wise reserve and timely teaching, so Dionysius is no Arian because of his letter to Euphranor and Ammonius against Sabellius.
Wisdom of Solomon 7:25 / Athanasius, On the Opinion of Dionysius 15:2
1. 50 BCE – 50 CE
  
  Wisdom of Solomon 7:25
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  23 kind, loving toward humanity, steadfast, sure, free from worry, all-powerful, seeing everything, and penetrating through all spirits that are quick to understand, pure, most subtle.24 For wisdom is more mobile than any motion. Yes, she pervades and penetrates all things because of her purity.25 For she is a breath of the power of God, and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty. Therefore nothing defiled can enter her.26 For she is a reflection of everlasting light, a spotless mirror of the working of God, and an image of his goodness.27 Although she is one, she has power to do all things. Remaining herself, she renews all things. Passing into holy souls from generation to generation, she makes friends of God and prophets.
2. 387–400 CE
  
  Athanasius, On the Opinion of Dionysius 15:2
  
  Early Christian
  
  But God is eternal light, never beginning nor ceasing. So the brightness lies before Him eternally, and is with Him without beginning and ever-begotten, shining in His Presence, being that Wisdom which said, I was the one in whom he rejoiced, and daily I was glad in his presence at all times.’ And again after a little he takes up the same subject with the words, ‘Since the Father, then, is eternal, the Son is eternal, being Light from Light; for if there is a parent, there is also a child. But if there were no child, how and of whom could there be a parent? But there are both, and eternally.’ Then again he adds, ‘Since God, then, is light, Christ is brightness; and since He is Spirit, for God is a Spirit — in the same way Christ is called the breath, for He is the breath of the power of God.’ And again, to quote the second book, he says, ‘But only the Son, who is always with the Father and is filled with Him who IS, Himself also IS from the Father.’
Wisdom of Solomon 7:26 / Ambrose, On the Christian Faith 1.7
1. 50 BCE – 50 CE
  
  Wisdom of Solomon 7:26
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  24 For wisdom is more mobile than any motion. Yes, she pervades and penetrates all things because of her purity.25 For she is a breath of the power of God, and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty. Therefore nothing defiled can enter her.26 For she is a reflection of everlasting light, a spotless mirror of the working of God, and an image of his goodness.27 Although she is one, she has power to do all things. Remaining herself, she renews all things. Passing into holy souls from generation to generation, she makes friends of God and prophets.28 For God loves nothing except one who lives with wisdom.
2. 390–395 CE
  
  Ambrose, On the Christian Faith 1.7
  
  Early Christian
  
  The prophets say: In Your light we shall see light; and again: Wisdom is the brightness of everlasting light, and the spotless mirror of God’s majesty, the image of His goodness. See what great names are declared! Brightness, because in the Son the Father’s glory shines clearly: spotless mirror, because the Father is seen in the Son: image of goodness, because it is not one body seen reflected in another, but the whole power [of the Godhead] in the Son. The word image teaches us that there is no difference; expression, that He is the counterpart of the Father’s form; and brightness declares His eternity. The image in truth is not that of a bodily face, not one made up of colors, nor modelled in wax, but simply derived from God, coming out from the Father, drawn from the fountainhead.
Wisdom of Solomon 7:27 / Ambrose, On the Christian Faith 4.11
1. 50 BCE – 50 CE
  
  Wisdom of Solomon 7:27
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  25 For she is a breath of the power of God, and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty. Therefore nothing defiled can enter her.26 For she is a reflection of everlasting light, a spotless mirror of the working of God, and an image of his goodness.27 Although she is one, she has power to do all things. Remaining herself, she renews all things. Passing into holy souls from generation to generation, she makes friends of God and prophets.28 For God loves nothing except one who lives with wisdom.29 For she is more beautiful than the sun, and above all the constellations of the stars. She is better than light.
2. 390–395 CE
  
  Ambrose, On the Christian Faith 4.11
  
  Early Christian
  
  Who, then, think they, is here spoken of — the Father or the Son? If it be the Father — then we answer that the Father is not the Wisdom of God, for the Son is. But what is there that is impossible to Wisdom, of Whom it is written: Seeing that she is almighty and abiding, she makes all things new in herself? We read of Wisdom, then, not as approaching, but as abiding. Thus have you the authority of Solomon to teach you of the Omnipotence and Eternity of Wisdom, and of her Goodness as well, for it is written: But malice overcomes not Wisdom.
Wisdom of Solomon 7:30 / Ambrose, On the Christian Faith 4.11
1. 50 BCE – 50 CE
  
  Wisdom of Solomon 7:30
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  28 For God loves nothing except one who lives with wisdom.29 For she is more beautiful than the sun, and above all the constellations of the stars. She is better than light.30 For daylight yields to night, but evil does not prevail against wisdom.
2. 390–395 CE
  
  Ambrose, On the Christian Faith 4.11
  
  Early Christian
  
  Who, then, think they, is here spoken of — the Father or the Son? If it be the Father — then we answer that the Father is not the Wisdom of God, for the Son is. But what is there that is impossible to Wisdom, of Whom it is written: Seeing that she is almighty and abiding, she makes all things new in herself? We read of Wisdom, then, not as approaching, but as abiding. Thus have you the authority of Solomon to teach you of the Omnipotence and Eternity of Wisdom, and of her Goodness as well, for it is written: But malice overcomes not Wisdom.
Wisdom of Solomon 8:1 / Augustine, City of God 15.3
1. 50 BCE – 50 CE
  
  Wisdom of Solomon 8:1
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  1 But she reaches from one end to the other with full strength, and orders all things well.2 I loved her and sought her from my youth. I sought to make her my bride. I fell in love with her beauty.3 She glorifies her noble birth by living with God. The Sovereign Lord of all loves her.4 For she is initiated into the knowledge of God, and she chooses his works.5 But if riches are a desired possession in life, what is richer than wisdom, which makes all things?
2. 426 CE
  
  Augustine, City of God 15.3
  
  Early Christian
  
  Therefore it is said that he was born “according to the flesh,”— not because such births are not the gifts of God, nor His handiwork, whose creative wisdom “reaches,” as it is written, “from one end to another mightily, and she orders all things sweetly,” but because, in a case in which the gift of God, which was not due to men and was the free gift of grace, was to be conspicuous, it was necessary for a son to be given in a way that no effort of nature could achieve. Nature denies children to persons of the age which Abraham and Sarah had now reached; and besides, in Sarah’s case, she was barren even in her prime.
Wisdom of Solomon 8:13 / Ambrose, On the Christian Faith 3.3
1. 50 BCE – 50 CE
  
  Wisdom of Solomon 8:13
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  11 I will be seen as perceptive when I give judgment. I will be admired in the presence of rulers.12 When I am silent, they will wait for me. When I open my lips, they will pay attention to what I say. If I continue speaking, they will put their hands on their mouths.13 Because of her, I will have immortality, and leave behind an eternal memory to those who come after me.14 I will govern peoples. Nations will be subject to me.15 Dreaded monarchs will fear me when they hear of me. Among the people, I will show myself to be good, and courageous in war.
2. 390–395 CE
  
  Ambrose, On the Christian Faith 3.3
  
  Early Christian
  
  Why, then, should there be no thought of the Son in this place, seeing that all these things hold good of the Son also? If they do not so, then deny His Godhead, and so you may deny what is proper to be said of God. His Blessedness cannot be denied, Who bestows blessings, for Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven. He cannot but be called Blessed, Who has given us wholesome teaching, even as it is written: Which is according to the Gospel of the beauty of the Blessed God. His Power cannot be denied, of Whom the Father says: I have laid help upon One that is mighty. And who dare refuse to acknowledge Him to be immortal, when He Himself has made others also immortal, as it is written of the Wisdom of God: By her shall I possess immortality.
Wisdom of Solomon 9:13 / Augustine, City of God 12.15
1. 50 BCE – 50 CE
  
  Wisdom of Solomon 9:13
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  11 For she knows all things and understands, and she will guide me wisely in my actions. She will guard me in her glory.12 So my works will be acceptable. I will judge your people righteously, and I will be worthy of my father’s throne.13 “For who can know the counsel of God? Or who will understand what the Lord wants?14 For the thoughts of mortals are unstable, and our plans are prone to fail.15 For a perishable body weighs down the soul. The tent made of earth burdens a mind that is full of worries.
2. 426 CE
  
  Augustine, City of God 12.15
  
  Early Christian
  
  For my own part, indeed, just as I dare not say that there ever was a time when the Lord God was not Lord, so I ought not to doubt that man did not exist before time, and was first created in time. But when I consider what God could be the Lord of, if there was not always some creature, I shrink from making any assertion, remembering my own insignificance, and that it is written, “What man can know the counsel of God? Or who can think what the will of the Lord is? For the thoughts of mortal men are timid, and our devices are but uncertain. For the corruptible body presses down the soul, and the earthly tabernacle weighs down the mind that muses on many things.”
Wisdom of Solomon 12:1 / Origen, Contra Celsum 4.37
1. 50 BCE – 50 CE
  
  Wisdom of Solomon 12:1
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  1 For your imperishable spirit is in all things.2 Therefore you convict little by little those who fall from the right way, and, reminding them through the things in which they sin, you warn them so that they may escape their wickedness and believe in you, Lord.3 As for the ancient inhabitants of your holy land,4 you hated them because they practiced detestable acts of sorcery and unholy rites,5 merciless slaughters of children and sacrificial banquets of human flesh and of blood.
2. 248 CE
  
  Origen, Contra Celsum 4.37
  
  Early Christian
  
  He accuses us of introducing a man formed by the hands of God, though the book of Genesis mentions God’s hands neither for the making of man nor for his forming; but Job and David said, “Your hands made me and formed me,” concerning which “there is much to say” to show what was meant by those who said it, not only about the difference between making and forming but also about the hands of God. Those who have not understood these and similar expressions of the divine Scriptures think that we attribute to the God over all a shape like the human one; and by their reasoning it would follow that we think there are wings on God’s body, since the Scriptures taken literally say this too of our God. The present work does not require us to interpret these things now; for we have examined them as best we could, primarily, in our exegetical works on Genesis. Then see Celsus’s malice in what follows. For when our Scripture says of the forming of man, “And he breathed into his face the breath of life, and the man became a living soul,” he, maliciously wishing to ridicule “he breathed into his face the breath of life,” which he did not even understand in what sense it is said, wrote that they composed a story of “a man formed by the hands of God and breathed into,” so that someone, thinking “breathed into” was said like bellows blown up, might laugh at “he breathed into his face the breath of life,” which is said figuratively and needs an explanation showing that God gave man a share of the imperishable Spirit, as it is said: “Your imperishable Spirit is in all things.”
Wisdom of Solomon 16:26 / Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor 2.1
1. 50 BCE – 50 CE
  
  Wisdom of Solomon 16:26
  
  Deuterocanon
  
  24 For the creation, serving you, its maker, exerts its strength against the unrighteous for punishment and, in kindness, relaxes it on behalf of those who trust in you.25 Therefore at that time also, changing itself into all forms, it served your generosity that nourishes all, according to the desire of those in need,26 so that your children, whom you loved, Lord, might learn that it is not the growth of crops that nourishes a person, but that your word preserves those who trust you.27 For what was not destroyed by fire melted away when it was simply warmed by a faint sunbeam,28 so that it might be known that we must rise before the sun to give you thanks, and must pray to you at the first light of dawn,
2. 198 CE
  
  Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor 2.1
  
  Early Christian
  
  Love, then, is something pure and worthy of God, and its work is communication. And the care of discipline is love, as Wisdom says; and love is the keeping of the law. And these joys have an inspiration of love from the public nutriment, which accustoms to everlasting dainties. Love (agape), then, is not a supper. But let the entertainment depend on love. For it is said, Let the children whom You have loved, O Lord, learn that it is not the products of fruits that nourish man; but it is Your word which preserves those who believe in You. For the righteous shall not live by bread. But let our diet be light and digestible, and suitable for keeping awake, unmixed with diverse varieties. Nor is this a point which is beyond the sphere of discipline. For love is a good nurse for communication; having as its rich provision sufficiency, which, presiding over diet measured in due quantity, and treating the body in a healthful way, distributes something from its resources to those near us. But the diet which exceeds sufficiency injures a man, deteriorates his spirit, and renders his body prone to disease. Besides, those dainty tastes, which trouble themselves about rich dishes, drive to practices of ill-repute, daintiness, gluttony, greed, voracity, insatiability. Appropriate designations of such people as so indulge are flies, weasels, flatterers, gladiators, and the monstrous tribes of parasites — the one class surrendering reason, the other friendship, and the other life, for the gratification of the belly; crawling on their bellies, beasts in human shape after the image of their father, the voracious beast. People first called the abandoned ἀσώτους, and so appear to me to indicate their end, understanding them as those who are (ἀσώστους) unsaved, excluding the σ.