"... Two observations are in order concerning this litany of God’s judgment on the many. First, ben Sira does not use the stories of Sodom and Gomorrah (fire) and the giants (warfare/flood) as types of a final conflagration. Rather, these two stories take their place among others as example stories. This is a subtle indication that ben Sira’s view of the judgment does not include a catastrophe of cosmic proportions. Second, the statement that God “did not forgive the primeval giants” (אלא נשא לפניכי קדם, Sirach 16:7a) is intriguing. In the Disputation context of Sirach 5:1–8, ben Sira quoted the sinner as presuming that God in his great mercy “will forgive” (סלס, 5:6b) his many sins. Although the verb in Sirach 5:6b is not reused in 16:7a, the two verbs are synonyms and appear together in the present instruction (16:11d). Along with the idea of presuming on forgiveness, there are a number of other parallels between the two contexts that suggest ben Sira is alluding to 5:6 in 16:7. Ben Sira, then, once again offers instruction about the relationship of forgiveness and judgment, but in this instance the instruction is based on the example of the giants of old ..."