Sirach 43:26
Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus24 Those who sail the sea tell of its dangers, and we marvel at what we hear. 25 In it are strange and marvelous creatures, all kinds of living things, and huge sea-monsters. 26 Because of him each of his messengers succeeds, and by his word all things hold together. 27 We could say more but could never say enough; let the final word be: "He is the all." 28 Where can we find the strength to praise him? For he is greater than all his works. 29 Awesome is the Lord and very great, and marvelous is his power. 30 Glorify the Lord and exalt him as much as you can, for he surpasses even that. When you exalt him, summon all your strength, and do not grow weary, for you cannot praise him enough.
Colossians 1:17
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation, 16 for all things in heaven and on earth were created in him—all things, whether visible or invisible, whether thrones or dominions, whether principalities or powers—all things were created through him and for him. 17 He himself is before all things, and all things are held together in him. 18 He is the head of the body, the church, as well as the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he himself may become first in all things. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in the Son 20 and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross—through him, whether things on earth or things in heaven.
Notes and References
"... This specific verb in verse 17, 'holds together', is not used in this way in the parts of the Septuagint translated from the Hebrew Bible. Scholarly studies typically point to Wisdom of Solomon 1:7 ('and that which holds all things together knows what is said') and Sirach 43:26 ('and by his word all things hold together'), as well as to other Second Temple Jewish sources. A major difficulty with these 'parallels' lies in the fact that neither uses the same Greek verb for 'holding together' ... (and the underlying Hebrew is even more different). Is there any usage of terms, antecedent to these passages, against which the readers would have interpreted these texts? If the Hebrew Bible is not the source, then perhaps the proper background is something in the non-Jewish Hellenistic world whether it be from the philosophers, or from popular religion. There is already evidence for this phenomenon in the term 'providence', which, apparently borrowed from Hellenistic philosophers, appears in Jewish Second Temple material (e.g., Wisdom of Solomon 14:3, 17:2, 3 Maccabees 4:21; 5:30, 4 Maccabees 9:24, 13:19, 17:22), but not in the New Testament (in Acts 24:2 and Romans 13:14 it means something different), and then is widely attested in the early Christian apologists and theologians. It appears likely that the Pauline image of the people of God as a 'body' derives, at least in the form we find it in 1 Corinthians 12 and Romans 12, not from the Hebrew Bible, nor even from the Jewish milieu, but rather from the common Hellenistic image of a political population as a body ..."
Collins, C. John Colossians 1,17 'Hold Together': A Co-opted Term (pp. 64-87) Biblica, Vol. 95, 2014