Proverbs 4:8

Hebrew Bible

6 Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you;love her, and she will guard you. 7 Wisdom is supreme—so acquire wisdom,and whatever you acquire, acquire understanding! 8 Esteem her highly and she will exalt you; she will honor you if you embrace her. 9 She will place a fair garland on your head; she will bestow a beautiful crown on you.” 10 Listen, my child, and accept my words so that the years of your life will be many.

Sirach 11:1

Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus
Deuterocanon

1 The wisdom of the humble lifts their heads high, and seats them among the great. 2 Do not praise individuals for their good looks, or loathe anyone because of appearance alone. 3 The bee is small among flying creatures, but what it produces is the best of sweet things. 4 Do not boast about wearing fine clothes, and do not exalt yourself when you are honored; for the works of the Lord are wonderful, and his works are concealed from humankind. 5 Many kings have had to sit on the ground, but one who was never thought of has worn a crown.

 Notes and References

"... Source (1) is from Ben Sira 3:21–22. These lines appear in the name of R. Eleazar (a third-generation Palestinian Amora) in the Yerushalmi and in Bereshit Rabba. The tradition appears in a related context in the Babylonian Talmud in the name of an Amora known to cite Palestinian traditions (see above), and this source can therefore be considered secondary to the two Palestinian traditions, not an essentially Babylonian tradition. The closeness between all three of these rabbinic traditions and its two extant Hebrew versions in Ben Sira is striking. In fact, the second clause varies slightly both between the manuscripts of Ben Sira and between the rabbinic versions, but the rest of the text is almost identical in all five witnesses ..."

Labendz, Jenny R. The Book of Ben Sira in Rabbinic Literature (pp. 347-392) AJS Review, 30, 2006

 User Comments

Do you have questions or comments about these texts? Please submit them here.